March 25th 2015 Pegasus Galaxy. Atlantis.
He was hurt, really, really hurt, hurt enough that he couldn't actually remember how long he had been held for, what day it was or even what time of day it was. He couldn't even remember the name of the planet he had originally travelled to in the beginning, he wasn't even sure how he'd gotten himself into such a predicament, he knew Claire was going to be pissed at him. He couldn't help laughing, before doubling over as pain ripped across his side, he really shouldn't have laughed, there was no way he should be moving at all, but he had to keep going, he didn't know how long he was going to have before the 'people' came back again.
Pushing himself up from the floor, blood dripping from the new hole that had made an appearance in the last few days, he remembered the weapon being fired at him, remembered the white hot pain as it tore through his side, he hoped it was a straight through hole. He really didn't want to get so far before he had to stop to dig the damn thing out, and then after all that it became a bit of a blur, the people who held him drugged him with something. Or at least he thought he'd been drugged, there had definitely been a needle in his arm at some point, if the bruise there was anything to go by.
Something that made him black out at odd times, he'd come to, to hear them whispering about him, shadows on the walls, the shadows were whispering about him before he'd pass out again. It was not a nice experience, at all, he brought a hand up from his side, his fingers were coated in fresh blood, fresh warm blood and he found himself actually giggling at the sight. Damn whatever had been given to him, as he stumbled from the stone room, he hadn't even been chained up or anything, as though they didn't expect him to become coherent enough to move. It was going to be a tough trip back to the Stargate that much he knew and he knew he had to get back to the Gate, every instinct he had not stopped screaming at him to get back to the Gate, to get home.
Caleb caught sight of his vest sat on a table, a very wonky looking table, there was a wedge of wood under one leg as though to hold it upright, there were no weapons attached to it, but at least everything else was still there. He stumbled his way across the room using the wall as a support, blood dripping onto the floor, each drip echoing in the room and into the table, his hand crunching between his body and the hole in his side, he cursed loudly as sweat broke out on his forehead, pain raced through every nerve ending he had.
He rested his head on the table, the coolness a welcome change from the heat that seemed to be encasing his body at the moment, oh he was in so much trouble when he finally made it back to Atlantis. He just wanted to sleep, to sleep and forget the whole nightmare that was currently playing out and he didn't think he would be allowed off world for a very long time after this stint.
Caleb didn't know how or where it came from, but he once again pushed himself away from the table, half heartedly tugging the vest on with one hand – a lot more difficult than he actually thought it would be – cursing every time he had to stop to catch his breath, loosing more blood the more he moved around and he was ready to move again. Well as ready as anyone could be with a gaping hole in there side, a battered faced, a crushed hand, and if he listened to his body close enough he was sure there was a cracked rib or two rubbing together, the fire running across his side noticeable every time he moved.
* * *
Making it out of whatever place he'd actually been held, it seemed whoever had taken him had since cleared out, clearly having gotten whatever the hell they wanted off of him before leaving him for dead. He wasn't sure what was worse in that moment, the injuries he'd sustained or the fact that he had just been left to die where he was. He did momentarily consider just sitting down, just letting himself go, he hurt so much that it would be so easy just to close his eyes, go to sleep, and he found himself leaning against the nearest tree, eyes slipping closed.
That was until an image of Claire appeared in his head, her smile, the way she would just roll her eyes at him when he told her a joke, the way she knew exactly what to do to get him to smile and he found he didn't want to stop, he had to see her again. Even if that did mean he'd get his arse kicked for getting this injured, he opened his eyes again, took in a deep breath and kept moving.
Of course that didn't help the fact that every step he took seemed to send fire racing through his body, the outside was cool, cool, dull and windy, which was so nice against his face. It was like he could breath again, he rested once more against one of the nearest trees for a moment, trying to listen to see if he could hear anyone around. Yet all he could hear was a combination of the damn wildlife on the planet and his own blood rushing through his head.
He put a hand to his side again, he could feel the stickiness of blood coming through his t-shirt and jacket – he really liked the jacket -, even after he'd tightened the black vest around him tightly to try to stem some of the blood from leaving his body. Claire was so going to be pissed at him, he hefted himself away from the tree, scratching up his arm as he did, he wasn't a light weight to move around even for himself.
It seemed to take an hour or longer if the fact he had to stop to black out twice was anything to go by, before he finally reached the Stargate. It had never been a more lovely sight to see, and he felt his knees go weak at how close to home he actually was, of course as he approached the Gate he realised one thing, he needed his damn code to get through to Atlantis, so he didn't become a blob on the windscreen.
Reaching the DHD, he sat himself on the floor, or rather his legs gave out for a moment, as he used his hand to pat down the vest, pleased to note it was still there. Clearly whoever had taken him, had just wanted the weapons, he even found a power bar in one of the pockets, he had no idea how long that had been there, he didn't usually carry them around so refused to actually tuck into it, not only that but his stomach turned at the sight of food.
Resting his head back against the DHD he closed his eyes for a moment, he wanted to sleep, to relax to be back home again. He had to keep going though, had to keep moving, the top of his trousers were soaked through with blood now, all the moving around wasn't actually doing him any good but he couldn't just sit and wait to die. He wiggled himself around so he was on his knees, high enough to press the buttons on the DHD, the home address ingrained into his memory like a burn. It was the one thing that everyone was taught when they first joined, that home address, no one was allowed off world without memorising it.
Once the Gate had opened, he sighed in relief, punched in his code, whilst still sat on the floor, at least this way it as going to give the guys chance to take down the shield, he really didn't want to be a fly on a windscreen. For a moment he couldn't quite move as the blue of the wormhole its self sat there, tormenting him, he closed his eyes, his forehead falling to the DHD as he blacked out once more..
* * *
Elizabeth was tired, exhausted even as she sat at her desk trying to come up with some reasonable way to send a team back through the Gate to retrieve their missing member. But with no way of knowing where he had been taken, no team in any fit condition to actually make the trip, and no idea who had taken the Chief Petty Officer, she had, had no choice but to suspend looking for him.
It was forty eight hours later, she'd had the awful task of informing Claire that they were suspending the search, that had gone down exactly as she had predicted. It was going to be a long time before Elizabeth was able to look not only at Claire again, but herself in the mirror as well, she hated loosing any of there members, they were all one big family at the end of the day, especially the people that stayed on Atlantis permanently and everyone would do anything for anyone.
She had already had to deny the request by Williams old team to go back to the original planet he'd been taken, they were all beaten up themselves. Elizabeth pushed her hands through her hair, before closing the laptop down in front of her, she didn't think the days were going to get any easier, especially not once she had him declared dead.
Pushing up from her seat, she was going to head out to the mess maybe they would have some of that hear warming Athosian broth on the go, it always reminded her of home and she needed that remind at the moment. She had made her way into the main control room, when the Gate sprang to life, her eyes widened as everyone rushed into place, doing exactly as they'd been trained.
She heard the shield come to life as well, as the wormhole established itself, she had no teams off world, she didn't want to get her hopes up, maybe this would be the one time, someone came back.
“Dr Weir, it's Williams IDC,” someone said to the left of her.
Elizabeth had a split second of hesitation, no one knew what had happened to him, where he'd been taken and she wasn't sure if she could take that shield down. But she had no choice, they'd dealt with worse coming though the gate, they'd deal with this. She gave the order to lower the shield and waited, praying it was Williams that waltzed through the Gate unharmed.
Of course she became concerned when no one stepped through the Gate, “Medical team to the Gateroom,” he said over the city wide intercom, just literally as the horizon shimmered and Caleb Williams appeared and collapsed on there floor.
* * *
Shaking his head, Caleb woke himself back up again, home was right there, he had to move, he had to keep going. He pushed himself back to his feet, his legs feeling a bit like lead weights now, everything was beginning to hurt as he pushed himself towards that event horizon, his mind felt foggy and dizzy all at the same time and there was definitely a metallic taste in his mouth now.
But he had to make it to that damn puddle, had to step through, every step he took was like getting shot all over again, he still had no idea if the thing had gone all the way through, he just knew it hurt a hell of a lot. He almost laughed with joy as the event horizon of the Gate was there, right there, before he stepped through, he heard shouts, people almost screaming at him. It seemed he wasn't quite as alone on that planet as he had hoped he was, even as more shots seemed to be fired through the air, hopefully none actually hit him, he wasn't sure, his whole body just felt numb now as he finally stepped into the waiting puddle.
He didn't really register that was back on Atlantis, it didn't really register that he had crashed onto the hard floor, nor that there was a nice growing puddle of blood beneath him. All he knew was that he was somewhere safe, he was going to be fine, and he let himself have that sleep that he had finally wanted for so damn long.
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