No Means NO!

 

Title: No Means NO!
Author: Ladyholder
Series: Agent Very Far Afloat
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate: Atlantis
Pairing: Tony/Ian
Rating: R
Warnings: Some violence, sexual misconduct
Summary: Sexual Harassment isn’t just for Clarence Thomas
Wordcount: 8,614
Beta: Azure Hart

How Not To Be an Asshole

 

“Agent DiNozzo, can I have a few minutes of your time?” a soft voice called from the outer office and Tony looked up from his computer in surprise.

“Sure… Dr. Parrish, right?” Tony asked as he looked up at the scientist.

“Yeah,” the other man said before fidgeting.

“What can I do for you, Doctor?” Tony asked, voice gentle.

“I’ve been thinking about this since you and Dr. Weir held that whole sensitivity seminar. I think I’m being harassed.” Parrish said in a rush.

Tony reached out to Atlantis and requested the door to the outer office be closed. He would pull the monitoring footage Atlantis recorded of all her public spaces, later. Waving a hand at the Botanist, he gestured towards the conversation setup.

“Come on over here, Doctor. Tell me why you think you are being harassed,” Tony directed.

“Thanks,” Parrish looked around the room for several moments before turning back to look at Tony. “I just want you to know ahead of time that this has nothing to do with Major Lorne. He’s been completely respectful of my boundaries and we’re going out on a date on Friday.”

“Congratulations,” Tony told him, voice utterly sincere. He made a note to keep an eye on the books Zelenka kept on all the bets on Atlantis. Hurt feelings could lead to hurt people after all. “So, whoever is bothering you, it isn’t Lorne. Who is it?”

“Corporal Letty Walter,” Parish told him after taking a deep breath.

“Okay,” Tony reached out and carefully grabbed one of the spare tablets he kept on hand for note-taking. They weren’t as convenient as a pen and paper, but they did the trick. “What’s she done?”

“It’s a whole lot of little things,” Parrish admitted. Pulling in a deep breath, he started describing Cpl. Walter’s behavior.

It seemed that things had started slow and Parrish hadn’t paid much attention to what Walter had been doing. She had seemed to be interested in Botany and had been a genuine help when Parrish was planting some of the city’s crops. After that time, she kept coming back to see him.

Parrish had welcomed the help. Botany was, supposedly fully staffed but in reality, they needed a half-dozen more bodies. Due to that and the help she was offering, Walter coming round hadn’t been looked at too closely. And the corporal had started taking advantage of that.

The flirting had started subtly. Parrish hadn’t noticed at first and then ignored it when he finally clued in. When that didn’t work, he had tried to let Walter down easily. She hadn’t taken the clue and stepped up her game.

Heavy-handed flirting had turned to touches, which turned into groping which had wandered into talks about what Walter wanted Parrish to do to her. When Parrish had told her he was utterly gay and there was no way he was going to ever do what she was suggesting, she ignored that and told him she always got her man.

Parrish had come to him after Walter had groped him again that morning. He had shoved her out of the greenhouses and let everyone in his department know she wasn’t welcome in their spaces anymore.

“Then I came down here to see what you could do about her since she’s hit all the points you and Dr. Weir covered in your lectures. Plus, you did say that you would take harassment seriously,” Parrish ended with a rush.

Right, no pressure, Tony mentally muttered. He hated sexual harassment cases because the harasser rarely seemed to clue in that their behavior was inappropriate. That this harasser was pressing on with her behavior, even after the three-day seminar on how not to be an asshole proved she didn’t care.

“Okay, Dr. Parrish, I’ll start looking into this. I know it sounds trite, but please make sure you are with someone at all times. When you are out in public, we’ll get Atlantis to monitor you as well. Have you told the Major about Cpl Walter and what she’s doing?”

The blush that spread over Parrish’s cheeks was very fetching and Tony could see what Evan saw in him. When Parrish shook his head no, Tony didn’t sigh, but it was a close thing. “Why not?”

“Walters said if I reported her to the Major or the Colonel, she would go to General O’Neill and report that I had raped her and they were covering for me,” Parrish told him, eyes reflecting his anguish.

Tony sucked in a deep breath and clamped down on his anger. It would do Parrish no good if he vented his spleen where he could hear. After the interview though, he was going to see if Teyla would give him a few hours to work his mood off.

“Okay. Well, I can understand why you come to me then,” Tony told him, voice quiet and soothing. “I will be looking into this and I can assure you, it will be my main focus.”

“Thanks,” Parrish said, relief coloring his tone. The smile that crossed his face was mostly that relief, but Tony didn’t take it as a slight. He understood that having someone believe you would be an awesome feeling.

“Okay, remember to have people around you, even when you are working. I can’t guarantee it will keep her away, but it will give you witnesses to her behavior,” Tony directed.

“Yes, sir,” Parrish agreed. “Thank you.”

Tony watched as he walked out and drew in a deep breath after the door to his office closed. “Fuck!”

Atlantis chose that moment to bring up all the occasions Walter had been in Parrish’s company and show it on his TV. Tony watched the whole reel in silence. Parrish seemed to have underestimated Walter’s willingness to push things because the ‘groping’ he had reported was sexual assault while clothes were on. In the end, he directed the city to transfer the file to one of his networked computers as the start of his file.

It took him several moments before he could talk and he hoped his voice was normal sounding when he connected. “Colonel Sheppard, this is Agent DiNozzo. Can you come to my office, please?”

The carrier line was silent for several heartbeats before the Colonel drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I can. How soon do you need me?”

“Twenty minutes?” Tony asked. It would give him time to work on the paperwork this cluster fuck was going to generate. Because this was a cluster fuck. Walter, from what he had seen, was just as much a predator as Keller had been, she just didn’t go for the young and mostly innocent.

Tony pulled up the program he had designed for all the NCIS paperwork he was required to do and started filling it out. If Gibbs was looking for him, the various blanks he was leaving in the documents had to be driving the man mad. Unwillingly amused at the thought, he started filling in boxes.

“You know, you and Evan have an unhealthy love of paperwork,” Sheppard told him as he slid into the loveseat that was in the informal conversation area.

“I hate paperwork. The person who came up with all these stupid forms needs to be strung up by their toes and used as target practice for a rousing round of ‘death by paper cuts’, Tony muttered as he saved the document he was working on. “But if I don’t keep after it, it breeds worse than a Tribble colony and there’s no handy Klingon ship to dump them on.”

There was an amused gleam in Sheppard’s eyes as he took a calculated sip of his coffee. “So, there’s more to you than being a cop, huh?”

Tony cooked one finger at the colonel in admonishment. “Don’t even act like you haven’t read my file. You know I’m more than just a Federal level copper.”

“So you are, Agent DiNozzo, so you are. What can I do for you?” Sheppard asked expression amused.

“Number one, call me Tony. I’m seriously tired of the ‘Agent’ label,” Tony started. At Sheppard’s nod, he pushed on. “I have some stuff for you to watch. It’s going to totally fuck with your head, so please keep your reaction contained until the end. I can’t deal with your drama on top of my own.”

Sheppard gave him a narrow-eyed stare before nodding. “Okay. And it’s ‘John’ by the way.”

Tony let out a small sigh before he nodded as well. Prodding Atlantis, he got her to show John the same horrific review he had just finished. As things started, Tony pulled up a blank Word doc and started taking notes.

From the progressive stiffening and the forcible relaxing John was doing, he was not a happy camper at what he was seeing. The first time Walter started touching Parrish after being warned off, Tony could see John’s free hand clench on nothing and his knuckles turn white.

When she told Parrish he was going to sleep with her or she would implicate John and Evan in a cover-up, Sheppard snarled. Not that Tony could blame him. He had done much the same thing.

The video ended there, but Tony reached out to Atlantis to ask her to keep an eye on Parrish and let him know if Walter approached him. While he was doing that, John was taking a number of deep breaths. Listening in, Tony was sure they were in the meditation pattern Teyla taught along with stick fighting.

“How’s that working for you?” Tony asked as he typed his last observation.

“Not well. Jesus wept,” John let his head fall back as he stared up at the ceiling. “Have you asked Atlantis to monitor David?”

“Yup. She’s pretty pleased to be helping.” Tony admitted. “She likes him.”

“She always is and she does,” John agreed. “How did we miss this? And why does she think she can get away with it?”

The sigh Tony let out was heartfelt. John wasn’t going to like his answer at all. “Because, most of the time, when we think of sexual harassment, we see a male doing the harassing, ala Clarence Thomas.”

From the look John was giving him, he wasn’t happy with that answer. He was really going to hate the next bit too. “As to why she thinks she can get away with doing this? It’s because she likely has gotten away with it before. I’m going need to put a request into NCIS for any records they may have of her.”

“Do you really think she’s done this before?” John asked.

“Yes. She’s too practiced, too slick at her approach for her not to have done this before,” Tony pulled in a deep breath. “And from her confidence level, she’s gone the reporting route and ruined someone at least once.”

“That’s horrific,” Sheppard muttered. “Okay, I want her little ass off this city as soon as possible. The Daedalus can’t get here soon enough. I wonder if I can get Elizabeth to authorize the use of the wraith cage?”

“I’m not objecting,” Tony told him when Sheppard turned to look at him. “I don’t actually have a brig to put anyone in and your soldiers would be the ones guarding any prisoners anyway. If it makes you feel better to use the wraith cage, I’m game.”

“No brig?” John looked a bit startled at that. Waving a hand at the two obvious doors in the room he looked at Tony and demanded an answer.

Pointing at door number one Tony said, “The lab I use to process evidence in and store it securely. There used to be an outer door, but when Atlantis put this one in, I asked her to take it away as a security precaution. Door number two leads to my actual office. I keep any idea boards in there along with case files. I have those locked up, so please don’t go in. You’ll cause the evidence to be considered contaminated if you do.”

John nodded once before staring at the door to the lab for several seconds. “Well, I can tell Atlantis likes you because she really doesn’t want to let me in. I figure I could get in if I put my back into it, but I won’t.”

Tony suppressed a sigh of relief at that news. He had been wondering if John was able to override him. Apparently, the answer was ‘with great difficulty’. He could live with that.

“Do you think Walter will keep pushing?” John asked, looking pissed as he turned to stare at the frozen image of Walter groping Parrish.

“Yeah, she will. I told Dr. Parrish to make sure that he’s never alone while on duty, so I expect Walter to get frustrated that her prey is out of her reach. Parrish won’t give in to her because that man seems to have a backbone of weaponry grade naquadah.”

“Yeah, Parrish has a hell of a backbone. Case in point, he managed to kill one of the Wraith during the Siege defending his coworkers. He’s just quiet, not a pushover,” John explained.

“Huh. Good to know.” Tony said, impressed.

“Anything else you need, Tony?” John asked. At the shake of Tony’s head, he nodded. “Okay, then. I’m going to see if Teyla wants to use me as a set of pells. I need to work off my temper.”

Tony watched him walk out and sighed. He’d ask Teyla for some time later. After he went over the evidence again. Restarting the tape he sighed. Yeah, he was going to need the exercise after this.

—-

“Why do I get invited to these things again?” Tony asked Evan quietly as he slid into a seat beside the military 2IC. The weekly development meeting had appeared on his schedule and nothing he had been able to do had gotten him out of it.

“Because Dr. Weir has said you are the Sheriff of our fair floating town and you need to be aware of what’s happening in it,” Evan told him, voice just as quiet. “And that includes any insanity the scientists get into.”

“Well, damn it,” Tory bitched quietly.

“Yeah, sucks when she makes you actually volunteer for more responsibility, doesn’t it?” John asked as he slid into his spot on the other side of Evan.

“Yeah. John, did you pass Evan the information I gave you last night?” Tony asked. He was waiting to arrest her because he needed to make sure Walter hadn’t already pushed her plan of blame forward. There had been a weekly data burst during Walter’s escalations and she had sent several emails out. Since he didn’t know the contents, Tony was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Yeah, he did. David’s got a new assistant this week,” Evan told him. “One of our guys is master gardener certified and is getting a refresher course from David. The fact he looks like The Rock’s slightly larger cousin is just a bonus.”

“Good. So what’s up?”

“We have a mission to a possible Beta site. MALP sensors show a high level of radiation similar to that of a microwave. Beckett and the xeno-biologists say that the Wraith don’t do well in that type of an environment, long-term.” McKay started the report and laid out all the reasons why going to the planet was a good thing.

“So the background radiation? Is it safe for people to be exposed to it?” Tony asked. He had nothing to add in regards to the actual mission, but the whole ‘radioactive planet thing’ just bothered him.

“For a short while. If nothing else, it’s a good place to break our trail if we need to,” John said as he went over the written report McKay had submitted.

“Are you guys going in the whole MOPP suit route?” Tony asked after reading over the suggested supply list. MOPP or personal protective gear that was rated for all sorts of dangerous situations was high on the list.

“Are we going to be there long enough to be dangerous?” John asked.

“I’m wearing one, no matter how long we stay on the planet. Even if it’s at night, the planet is still being microwaved,” McKay muttered.

From the amused glance, John was giving the scientist, Tony was sure he thought the McKay was just being his hypochondriac self. But Tony had a hunch that wasn’t it at all. “Dr. McKay? Why do you think going in MOPP gear would be good?”

“Because we are going into a situation where all we know is that the Wraith don’t seem to go to that planet, it gets microwaved during the day, at lethal levels at that, and none of our missions has lasted ever two hours and a return,” McKay told him, blue eyes level as he stared at Tony. “Plus, I’ve already come close to my lifetime limit on that class of radiation and I don’t want to see if the Ancients had a cure for cancer that I can use.”

Tony noticed the amused look on John’s face was wiped away by the end of McKay’s explanation. Good. He’d discovered that the good doctor was normally only this intense about safety precautions when there was a damn good reason to be. It didn’t hurt him to back the good doctor up. Besides, radiation poisoning sounded like a horrific way to die.

“We’ll go in MOPP then,” John said. “But I want all of us to have full camel packs on. The planet is reported to be in the high 90’s and that means we’ll dehydrate fast if we’re not careful.”

The rest of the meeting seemed to be the day-to-day running of the city and Tony’s report on crime in the city did not mention Dr. Parrish’s case specifically. It was filed under the heading of ‘active investigation’ and everyone left it alone.

Not long after his report, the meeting broke up and Tony wandered down to his office. The data burst was later that day and he needed to compose his email requesting information to NCIS. When he walked in he found McKay relaxing on his couch.

“Don’t you have a mission to prep for, Doctor McKay?” Tony asked as he set his coffee cup down on the conference table.

“I do. John can wait five minutes though,” McKay told him. “I wanted to say thank you for making everyone take the time to find out why I wanted the protective gear.”

“You’re welcome, Doctor. It only made sense to me to find out why you were having a problem,” Tony admitted.

“Well, I need to go,” McKay said with a smile as he stood up and headed towards the door. “And it’s Rodney.”

Tony watched as the door closed and shook his head. The senior staff here were so weird!

—-

“So I hear you guys picked up a stray?” Tony asked as he sat down next to John.

“Not a stray, a Runner,” John told him, voice wrecked.

“What’s a Runner?” Tony asked. From the way John was acting, he was sure it was nothing good.

“A Runner,” John started with a deep breath. “Is a person picked by the wraith to be a training tool. They implant a tracking device into the spine, right between the shoulder blades, heal the poor bastard up and then let them go. Then they chase them around the galaxy to try and kill them.”

“Oh, my, god,” Tony breathed out. “Please tell me we were able to get the tracker out of the poor guy’s back?”

“Yeah, we were able to get the damn thing out. Rodney got a lot of scans of the nasty thing before we destroyed it.” John told him.

“Well, that’s good,” Tony said with a sigh. “Is he healing?”

“Yeah, he’s in the infirmary, under Beckett’s tender care,” John said. “It seems that he tried, several times, to cut it out on his own. It never worked and he gave up when it impacted his ability to defend himself.”

“Jesus,” Tony muttered. “That’s a nightmare thinking about. So we’re hosting a new resident alien?”

“Looks like it,” John admitted. “He knows the gate address to his homeworld and I was hoping to check it out before he wakes up. Ronon, our newest alien, said that he had been captured when his world was culled.”

“And if the world hasn’t  been culled to extinction, we can have some help there if he loses his shit?” Tony asked.

“Yes.”

—-

Six hours later, the mood on the city was subdued. The pictures from Sateda had been horrific. If anyone had lived through the bombardment the wraith had rained down, they must have left right after because there was no one left. Tony had watched as Ronon Dex had taken in the video of his world and had been impressed that he hadn’t fallen apart.

He had, however, offered his services up to Colonel Sheppard as a guide and gun in Pegasus. Since he seemed to get along with Rodney and Teyla, Dr. Weir had signed off on the appointment. Then she had sent Ronon to Tony for an interview. Tony had no idea why, but he was game to give the whole idea a whirl.

“Thank you for indulging our customs, Specialist Dex,” Tony told him.

Dex looked at him and then around the room. There was no way Tony could change the room since it was the main space for the Agent Afloat position. It looked like a cross between someone’s living room and a conference room and most of the time that relaxed the people he wanted to talk to.

“Do you people always mix jobs like this?” Dex asked with a wave.

“We do when our jobs cover more than one area,” Tony admitted.

“Understood. So your leader wants me to talk to you so you can figure out where I might fit in with your military?” Dex asked over his shoulder as he went to poke at the shelves Tony had placed some of his movies and knick-knacks on.

“Yes,” he said. Tony wasn’t going to try to play this man. He had survived almost seven years on the run from the wraith and that had to be respected.

“Okay. What do you want to know?” Dex asked as he sat down on the couch.

“Oh, lots,” Tony said as he sat down in the only armchair in the room. Reaching out he nudged Atlantis to record the meeting. “If you are okay, I was hoping to start with your rank in the Satedan military, what is a Specialist?”

—-

Tony was putting the finishing touches on his report on the interview with Ronon when his TV flared to life. It wasn’t until he heard a voice he recognized that he looked up. Dr. Parrish was shaking his head and walking away from Cpl. Walter and he looked deeply upset.

“Leave me alone, Cpl. Walter. I’ve told you, time and again that I want nothing to do with you. I’m not attracted to you. You repulse me. Leave me alone,” Parrish said as he walked away from her.

Tony didn’t stick around to see what Walter’s response would be. He had to trust that Atlantis would record the whole incident. He was too busy running for the transporter to worry about that.

“Colonel Sheppard, this is Agent DiNozzo,” Tony rapped out as he hit the icon for the area nearest Botany. One flash of light later and he was off running again.

“Agent DiNozzo, what can I do for you?” Sheppard asked.

“It seems that Cpl. Walter has cornered Dr. Parrish,” Tony reported as he swung around a corner.

“Oh, fuck me,” John groaned. “I’ll have some of the MP’s meet you there.”

“Okay, I’m there,” Tony told him as he rounded the last corner and found Parrish in a fight with Walter. He had no idea who had started it, but the botanist seemed to be catching most of her blows while tagging the corporal with several well-aimed punches.

“Corporal Walter, Dr. Parrish! What the fuck is going on here?” Tony yelled. While he didn’t have the same depth to his voice that Gibbs’ did, he could still make an impression.

As soon as Parrish heard him, he stepped back and disengaged from the fight. Walter, on the other hand, kept her hands up and moved closer. “Cpl. Walter, stand down.”

His voice didn’t seem to be doing the trick and he wasn’t armed, so that left getting in between the two combatants. Sighing Tony moved forward and inserted himself into the space between Parrish and Walter, making certain he was facing the Corporal.

The set, focused look on Walter’s face cleared up as soon as she saw him. “Agent DiNozzo!”

“What the fuck is going on here?” Tony demanded. He had a hunch Walter would accuse Parrish in an attempt to distract attention from herself.

“Sir! Dr. Parrish tried to rape me!” Walter told him, eyes filling with tears.

If Tony hadn’t seen the videos of her harassing Parrish and threatening just this, he might have bought her performance As it was, he was looking forward to destroying all her illusions “Oh? From the look of it, it seemed that you were doing the attacking when I got here.”

“No man is going to get away with raping or trying to rape me,” Walter told him, eyes level.

“I’m sure that’s absolutely true,” Tony allowed. And he was. “But while you won’t let a man get away with rape, you sure seem to want to get away with it.”

“I am not a rapist!” Walter yelled, face white.

“Really? A jury will be determining that. At any rate, Dr. Parrish, by his own words and video that the city recorded, has told you that he isn’t interested in you. That he does not want or welcome your interest,” Tony stared at her. “And yet you’ve been recorded putting your hands on him, verbally assaulting him and today physically assaulting him.”

As the wounded bird melted off Walter’s face, Tony reached back and grabbed the handcuffs off his belt. The motion to grab one waving hand was quick and easy, and he got them on her before she had time to react. She stayed docile as he placed the cuffs on her, right up until the final click. As the cuffs were settled into place she turned to glare at Parrish. “You’ll regret this, Dr. Parrish.”

“No, I’m pretty sure you will,” Tony told her. The MPs showed up and Tony nodded towards Parish. “Markham, please escort Dr. Parrish to medical for an exam. Nash, you’re with me. We’re escorting Cpl. Walter to medical after they leave.”

Both men murmured their agreement before Markham split off to take care of Parrish and Nash came to stand behind Walter. Tony stopped listening as the corporal started muttering threats against everyone. Well, he stopped taking the mutterings personally. He was sure counting all the times Walter threatened everyone.

Glancing at his watch, Tony nodded. Five minutes had passed since Parrish had been taken to medical, “Let’s go,” he told Nash.

Walter bitched the whole way down. Tony looked back and found John following behind him. When the Colonel slipped in the transporter with them, Tony raised an eyebrow at his actions.

“Sir!” Walter seemed pleased to see Sheppard.

Sheppard stared at the corporal before raising an eyebrow back at Tony. “You going to brief me on what’s happening here?”

“Oh yeah,” Tony promised. “But first, Cpl. Walter here needs to go to medical to get checked out before she goes to the wraith cage.”

“But I’m the victim! Why are you putting me in there?” Walter asked, voice showing panic.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Tony told her. “I’d put you in a brig if I had one.”

Walter shut up at that as they made it to medical. A nurse took charge of the Corporal and used a medical scanner to get a full printout of her injuries. It seemed that she had a few bruises on her ribs where Parrish had tagged her, some on the forearms that looked defensive from his counterpunches and that was it. There seemed to be a dearth of defensive wounds like there would be if she had been attacked. Even her clothes were in good condition.

Tony had her escorted to his office and booked Walter. Fingerprints, photographs, and a change of clothes given to her so hers could be admitted to evidence and then she was escorted down to the wraith cage. Tony was going to let Lorne or better yet, John decide which of the female officers were to stand guard over her. He had already locked the door and she wasn’t getting out.

Walter taken care of, Tony headed back to Medical to check on Parrish. “Dr. Beckett? Can I get a list of injuries Dr. Parrish has suffered emailed to me?”

“Certainly, lad,” Beckett agreed with a smile. “He’s…”

Tony held up one hand before walking over to the CMO’s office. The door closed behind him and he turned to stare at the doctor. “What in the hell are you doing trying to give out confidential patient information like that in public? I asked for an email.”

“You are the only investigator we have here, shouldn’t I tell you?” Beckett asked, obviously confused.

“While I may be the only investigator on Atlantis, that doesn’t mean that I have the right to hear private. Medical. Information,” Tony ground out between clenched teeth. “Especially not in public.”

“The only people in here are mine,” Beckett looked offended and his Scots was starting to thicken his voice as he got more wound up. “None of them will talk about what they hear.”

“Are you being willfully blind or just an asshole?” Tony asked, shocked. “I know you worked at the SGC for long enough to know what HIPPA is. Let alone what security clearances are and how not all are made the same.”

“I know what they are,” Beckett told him, voice snippy.

“So why do you think those regulations don’t apply to you?” Tony pressed. “Just because we’re in the Pegasus galaxy doesn’t mean you can ignore the rules when you want to!”

Beckett’s face got very ruddy before he drew in a deep breath. “It doesn’t hurt anyone to discuss the information, Agent DiNozzo.”

“Patient privacy is not something to shrug off, Dr. Beckett,” Tony told the CMO. “I would like a written report on the extent of Dr. Parrish’s wounds and any wounds Cpl. Walter had. I need it sent to my email and I need it by the end of your shift.”

“Fine. You don’t have to be so pushy about the whole thing.” Beckett huffed.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Tony said, voice neutral. His next stop was going to be Dr. Weir.

His conversation with Dr. Weir was not fun. To say that she was unhappy at the news of ethics violations in medical was a massive understatement. Tony couldn’t say as he blamed her. He had hoped Keller had been blowing smoke and just making unfounded accusations. It looked like she hadn’t been. And wasn’t that a burn?

“Do we need someone in to inspect Medical?” Weir asked,

“I would suggest it,” Tony told her. “If this is an indication of the way medical is run, I have concerns.”

“Okay, I think we want someone to come out and inspect everything,” Weir suggested with a sigh. “I want every single file opened and experiment scrutinized. If anything violates the rules of our contracts I want it stopped. If it’s ethically questionable, I want it stopped.”

“Then whoever you get had better have a steel spine and iron willpower,” Tony told her. “Because I can see Dr. Beckett raising hell about some of his pet research projects getting scrutinized for ethics violations.”

“I know,” Weir said with a wince. “He’s got one going that will need special handling.”

Like that didn’t sound ominous, Tony thought. “Do I want to know?”

“I’m pretty sure you need to know,” Weir admitted. “He’s been poking on a variation of the Hoff vaccine. He’s looking for something to turn the Wraith human and take away their need to feed.”

“He’s trying to turn a bunch of psychotic serial killers into human beings? Why?” Tony asked voice harsh with shock.

“Because he’s convinced that if they don’t want to eat the life source of humans, the Wraith will be decent people,” Weir explained.

“Yeah, no,” Tony told her. He didn’t even have to think about it. There was no way a Wraith was going to turn into a fluffy hippy, just because Beckett wanted them to. “Every single report I’ve read and all the stuff I’ve seen says the Wraith enjoy killing, enjoy the fear they cause, and don’t have any interest in changing.”

“And just like on Earth, those that like or even love the rush of the kill can’t really be helped,” Weir said. “Getting him to let this go is going to suck.”

Tony snorted in unwilling amusement. “Yes, it will. But ma’am, I’m really glad the buck stops with you. Also, you may want to lay down a rule that none of our scientists can use a live Wraith in their experiments. Because you know they are going to want to try.”

The look Weir gave him was full of horror but Tony only raised an eyebrow at her. The obvious step once Beckett was happy with his work, would be to request a test subject from John and the other military assets. And since all Wraith were telepaths? That idea was a recipe for disaster.

“Do you think Rodney could rein him in?” Weir asked as she tapped out notes on her tablet.

Tony tilted his head as he considered that option. “From what I’ve seen in meetings, he understands everything Beckett is talking about; he just thinks it’s all boring and basically voodoo. I’m pretty sure if he wanted to, he could have a fourth or fifth doctorate if he put his mind to it.”

Dr. Weir nodded at that point. “Yes, I’m sure he could. He’s shown that he does understand what all the scientists in the city are saying. And for the most part, he seems to have iron ethics. And he hates certain facets of medicine. Although I’ve never really figured out why.”

“He’s got several fatal-level allergies, right?” At Weir’s slow nod, Tony laid out his theory on why Rodney would hate doctors and medicine so much. “I’m sure that he had several brushes with them as a child and I know not being able to breathe would freak anyone out.”

“Add in how adults don’t explain stuff to kids and you get a hell of a good basis for a phobia,” Weir murmured. “What a mess.”

“Yeah, it is. But I think Rodney would be a good one to back up any inspector you import,” Tony admitted.

“Okay, I’ll get one requested in the data burst. We just got this week’s, so it’s going to be a bit.”

He nodded before powering down his tablet. “I don’t have anything else right now, Dr. Weir. If I find anything due, I’ll bring it to your attention.”

—-

When Tony reached his office he dropped the tablet he had carried on the recharging and syncing rack. He never made the mistake of using a networked machine anywhere on Atlantis since that could mean that they could be hacked. The syncing would take care of that and all the data went onto a non-networked computer. His networked machine was used to receive reports from NCIS and the SGC and for him to do his reports back.

After years of watching McGee and Abby hack the world, he wasn’t taking any chances with any of the data he had. That idea had been reinforced when he had met Rodney and Kusanagi along with every single member of the IT department. Atlantis was nice enough to not allow snooping, but Tony wasn’t going to rely on any one thing for information security.

One long complex password later and he was in his system. His email was bulging with inbound missives that he needed to go through as soon as possible. Scanning the headers, he found that he had one from Kate. The title seemed to indicate that she had gotten him the answers he needed to take care of the Walter case. Clicking the email up he started to read.

Tony,

What a mess you missed by transferring out when you did. I got shot due to that terrorist that Gibbs was so damn obsessed with. First time I’ve ever had that happen and no one ever told me that a gunshot hurt that much! Seriously, how in the hell do you and Gibbs not curl up and whimper as much as you get hurt?

About a week after you left, Morrow told us he was heading out to Homeland and we got a new Director. Jennifer Shepard is an old girlfriend of Gibbs and seems to want to change old to current. It’s creepy. Obviously, she’s a redhead, with all that entails.

The changeover has been rough. I hope the problems are because she’s new, but I have a bad feeling that it’s not. She’s micromanaging. She’s controlling. She keeps sticking her nose into our cases and it’s making Gibbs be a bigger bastard than normal. Plus, she tried to add to the team without clearing it with the Boss. The new ‘agent’ didn’t last a day. Why would we need a Mossad agent on MCRT?

I decided to do some research and then when Gibbs seemed to be ignoring things, dumped the whole thing on the proper authority. SECNAV was very unhappy with that conversation.

Anyway, Haswari died right before we got the temp Mossad agent. I have no idea if that’s related. Gibbs seems to have killed him which is all to the good. The Director shipped his corpse home to Israel. Can you imagine? His father was Eli David, the director of Mossad and the father of our temp agent. See why I went to SECNAV?

McGee is struggling, but getting better every day. I won’t lie, so did I, but I like to think I’ve managed to adapt. Our new SFA is Casey Yates and she’s managed to stand up to the Boss every once in a while. I figure a few more months and she’ll be able to call him on his shit, just like you used to.

Okay, enough office gossip.

Your perp, Corporal Walter, has indeed filed rape charges against people in her chain of command before. None of the charges stuck, but the stain has impacted their careers. One of the men she filed against had filed harassment charges against Walter before she had filed and they were dismissed by his command with a note that the guy needed to learn how to handle flirting.

Given what you’ve told me about her behavior, I’m not surprised she did it again. I’m just surprised she got caught. JAG is waiting on your report and Rabb has said he will give it special attention. I’ll be reaching out to the last man Walter ruined to let him know she’s struck again. That way Rabb can call on him as needed and so he knows that someone is taking the time to deal with her.

The case files from all three previous incidents are attached to this email. Stay safe Tony.

                Kate

Tony smiled at the chatty letter he had gotten back from Kate before moving on to the reports concerning Walter. They were honestly worse than Kate had described. Walter had accused three different men of rape at three different commands and gotten away with it due to confidentiality laws.

He wasn’t going to let her get away with it at this command too. If Landry didn’t prosecute her, he would go to O’Neill and have the General do it. And wouldn’t that be awesome for his relationship to the General at the SGC? Thinking things over, Tony nodded once. He was going to go straight to O’Neill and skip Landry entirely.

Filling out paperwork was normally the most boring part of any case. Given his history, he was used to filling out documents while recovering from various wounds, while he was half-asleep or just hyper. So doing all the various documents dealing with Walter’s arrest was easy.

Stretching his arms over his head, Tony grabbed the remote for his stereo and hit play. He had loaded his iPod with thousands of CDs and individual songs and set the little device to random. It meant he wasn’t going to get bored quickly and he was always surprised.

The sound of a drum and bugle corps performance coming out of his speakers made him raise an eyebrow but he had heard weirder. And he enjoyed the genre when done right, so he was happy. Humming along with the music, he settled back into the rhythm of typing out every fact on his current case.

He was finishing the last page of the transfer paperwork to get Walter off Atlantis and back to the SGC when the chime on his door went off. It took him only a few moments to finish, save, and then close the document he was working on before opening the door.

Ian was standing on the other side and he looked like hell. Tony stood to the side and let his partner in. “Given how you look, I’m guessing there was a struggle when you ran Ford to ground?”

The groan his partner let out was pained but satisfied. “He’s a fast and determined fighter. That enzyme might have made some permanent changes to him because he was stronger than expected.”

“But you got him down?” Tony asked. He made a note to check with Rodney about any research on the enzyme. If the stuff caused physical changes, he wanted to bury that information deep. He wouldn’t put it past some boffin on Earth to try and use it in human experiments. The Hulk should stay fiction.

Ian nodded as he walked forward to stand in front of Tony. “Yeah, I did. He’s okay. Some minor bruising, mild malnutrition, and a funky eye are the extent of his troubles at the moment. The zat thing is awesome and O’Neill is not getting it back.”

Tony snickered softly at that. He agreed with Ian and had a request in for a dozen of the little thingies. He figured he could bargain his way down to one.

When Ian pulled him close Tony let his body sway forward to brush against his lovers. “You look satisfied,” Ian murmured.

Tony smiled and nodded before brushing a light kiss across Ian’s lips. “I am, we had an asshole on the city and due to their own actions, they’re going to be returned to Earth. And I get to throw the whole book at them.”

The hum Ian let out at the kiss was sounded just as satisfied as Tony felt. “Good to know. Do you need to stay here for anything?”

“Nope,” Tony said, making sure to pop the ‘p’. “All my work is done.”

“Wonderful,” Ian muttered as he pressed kisses onto Tony’s lips. “Because I want to go back to your place and have a really hot shower and then I want to have you.”

“I can get behind that,” Tony agreed with a smile.

“I’m sure you can,” Ian said before pressing one last kiss to his lips. “Now march!”

The laughter that bubbled up was warm and Tony made sure his office was closed on their way out. He grabbed one of Ian’s hands in his and drew him towards the transporter. When Atlantis moved them to the transporter nearest his quarters without him touching the map, he patted the wall in thanks.

It was just another item he was adding to his ‘Atlantis is sentient list’. One of these days, he was going to have to look into that, Tony thought.

His rooms were painfully neat and Tony barely noticed that Ian had dropped his gear off before going to get him. He was too busy pulling Ian’s clothes off to worry about minor shit like the mess he was making.

Ian had bruises covering his torso and Tony hissed at the colors. Ford had fought back harder than his lover had let on. He was incredibly glad Ian had managed to knick the alien weapon when he had been in the SGC. “Did you get checked out by Beckett and his crew?”

“Yeah, I did when I delivered Ford to the isolation room they are going to keep him while he gets treatment,” Ian reported. He twisted carefully, showing he had the full range of motion. “I’ve got bruises, but nothing’s broken, cracked or twisted. I’m just gonna be sore.”

Tony just nodded before pulling his man into the bathroom. The shower came on as they entered and hot water flowed over them. They both groaned at the feel and Tony grabbed the washcloth and started lathering it up. His lover was almost purring from the hands-on attention and Tony grinned at the sight. It was rare that he could get Ian under his hands for long enough to give him a massage.

Every pass of his hands on Ian’s skin led to more relaxation and Tony suppressed a sigh of relief at that. As soon as Ian’s skin was clean enough for him, Tony grabbed the shampoo and started lathering up his lover’s hair. “Getting a bit long for you,”

“I know,” Ian murmured. “But I’m not sure about getting it cut.”

“They do have some people who can cut hair, you know,” Tony teased gently. As picky as he was about his hair, Ian was honestly worse.

“Do they meet your standards?” Ian asked.

Tony nodded, even if Ian couldn’t see. “Yeah, they do. They do more than marine high and tights.”

“Good to know. I’ll go talk to them in a few days.” Ian told him, voice dreamy as Tony massaged his scalp. You have the best hands.”

“Thank you,” Tony told him. Once the shampoo was rinsed out of his lover’s hair, he added a bit of conditioner before attending to his own hygiene. A quick wash and he was good. Ian was smiling under the hot spray, clearly enjoying being clean.

“Come on, Ian. Let’s get dry and then bed,” Tony directed as he reached out to steer the other man out of the shower.

As they stepped out, they were surrounded by a swirl of warm air. Mostly dry they grabbed towels to take care of the last of the damp and to scrub their hair dry. Once that was done it was time to get into bed.

“Why did you get a bunk bed?” Ian asked as he climbed up the ladder to sprawl on the bed.

“Well, the view was an unexpected bonus, but I got it because all the quarters out here are seriously small. Maximizing my floor space was the goal,” Tony admitted as he watched his lover’s ass as he climbed.

“Letch,” Ian muttered into his pillow as he spread his legs to make room for Tony.

“Your letch,” Tony told him before dropping a kiss on the small of Ian’s back. “Do you want to be on your belly or your back?”

“Back. I want to see you,” Ian told him before pulling his knees up and flipping over.

Tony leaned down and kissed right above the indent of Ian’s belly button before dipping his tongue into the small space. He smiled at the giggle it earned him before placing kisses down the sparse trail of hair pointing to Ian’s groin. As his lips brushed the coarser hair growing around his lover’s cock, Tony ignored the stirring of interest from it.

Instead, he moved over to where hip met torso and sucked a small tender spot at the very top before turning to do the same on the other side. Settling down between Ian’s legs, he slid his hands under his lover’s ass and tilted his hips to open him for Tony to feast on. The sigh Ian let out was replete with satisfaction and he spread his legs wider to offer inset f up to whatever Tony wished.

And what Tony wished was to take his lover apart, piece by piece and drive him over the edge. Everywhere he could reach with his tongue got worshiped and the moans and groans Ian let loose were the best thing ever. The rhythmic clenching and relaxing of his lover’s muscles reflected his enjoyment.

The sting of his hair being pulled finally drew him out of his haze and he rested his chin on Ian’s hip. Tony smirked at how wrecked Ian looked. His hair was standing on end, his eyes were wild and his lips were flushed a deep pink from biting them. He looked edible.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Ian demanded.

Tony kept his eyes on Ian’s as he turned slightly to suck the head of his cock into his mouth. The low guttural moan that answered his actions was very satisfying.

“Stop teasing me and fuck me,” Ian ordered, eyes wild.

The hum Tony let loose at that earned him a firm pull on his hair and he let his treat go with reluctance. Climbing back to his knees, he leaned over to grab the lube off the tabletop he was using as a nightstand. Two quick pumps and he had enough to get everything just slick enough.

Fingering Ian was always a pleasure. The intensely focused look that he got as his prostate was stroked was an intense turn-on. The whimper he let out when Tony pulled his fingers out made his inner caveman happy. The low moan Ian released when his slicked up cock slid home made him preen.

Because the man under him wasn’t the carefully control sniper anymore. He wasn’t quiet or reserved; he was loud and demanding, reaching for his pleasure with both hands and greedy for more. His enjoyment of the pleasure Tony was giving him rang loud and clear in his ears and he had no shame.

Tony loved it. He loved knowing that he could make Ian so uncontrolled. Each cry of pleasure stoked his own until he was holding to his orgasm by the thinnest of margins. He wanted to come but not as much as he wanted Ian to. When he heard the changes in Ian’s breathing that signaled the approach of his lover’s orgasm he shifted slightly to more fully rub against Ian’s prostate. That seemed to be the final straw and Ian clamped down on him as he thrust in and then came.

Tony relaxed the control he had held over himself and let his orgasm rush over him. The pleasure was so intense the edges of his vision went dark. When he came back to himself he was being held in Ian’s arms.

Pressing a sloppy kiss on Ian’s cheek, Tony sighed. “Thank you,”

Ian hummed back before his voice slid off into sleep.

 

Introducing…?

8 Comments:

  1. I’m thoroughly enjoying this growing tale 🙂 It’s a quiet, happy, “Hmmmm :)” when I see a notification off a new part in my emails.
    I like the characters you are enriching, I like their interactions, and the way the story keeps widening it’s scope too. You don’t leave discordant over manipulated cliff hangers, (thank you, thank you!) but you do leave enough threads teased out that tend to give your reader the happy notion that there will be more chapters to come.
    I hope it’s still a pleasure for you to write. It’s very much one to read.
    Kind regards,
    Mary

  2. Great!thank you

  3. Good Grief! No is a complete sentence! Thank you for addressing that women too can be block heads. I know it’s not the case statistically, but still.

    And Tony and Ian… volcanic. 😀 Happy purring!

  4. Great. Thank you for sharing

  5. Love the way Walter was taken down. I hate assholes like that whether they are male or female, just selfish, egotistical pricks who need to be dropped in an oubliette and forgotten. The ending was perfect. I always loved Ian Edgerton and felt he wasn’t utilized enough in Numb3rs. Glad to see him paired with Tony.

  6. Walter’s a nasty piece of goods. Glad Tony shut her down.

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