Title: Androcles and the Lion
Author: seleneheart
Rating: R
Warnings: None
Pairings: Beckett/Dex
Word count: 648
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, not for profit
Summary: Carson tames the lion
Notes: Inspired by Sheppard's analogy in Runner, for Bring Back the Porn day.




Carson stares in dismay at the ruinous scars marring otherwise smooth skin. Androcles and the lion, Sheppard said, and Carson sees that the description fits this man all too well, with his mane of disordered hair and sleek golden skin. He growls like a lion too, and Carson pulls the authority of his profession around him like a shield against a fearsome attack.

His gut twists, imagining the desperation impelling this runaway soldier to attempt surgery on his own back. Carson feels an unwilling admiration for such ruthless courage, knowing he isn’t capable of such single-mindedness.

His hands tremble and he takes a moment to quiet himself, meeting Teyla’s calm gaze in the process. She has spent time with this savage and she doesn’t seem worried about his ability to endure the pain without flinching.

Carson loses himself in the rhythm of his healing. The thing is done while he is in a zone of mind and hands working in perfect harmony, and it ends with a twisted bit of Wraith technology on the end of his forceps. The thorn removed from the lion. He saves the nasty little bugger for later, as his patient slowly collapses. Teyla helps him catch the warrior as he falls and only then does Carson realise how big the lion is.

The lion’s name is Ronon Dex and Elizabeth has given permission for him come to Atlantis. Carson approaches him in the infirmary to do the SOP scan of every alien that enters the city. He doesn’t know whether he’ll be growled at or not, but Ronon watches his every move with a quiet intensity in his green eyes. But this is Carson’s home, his kingdom, not a grubby field surgery and Carson’s confidence returns.

Dex is healthy, if a bit thin, and Carson points out the way to the mess, with a word to the guards to make sure that their guest has plenty to eat.

Days later, after a quite heated staff meeting where Colonel Sheppard convinced Elizabeth to let Ronon on his team, Carson finds the lion at his door, prowling with long strides the short length of the corridor. Carson has seen the big cats at the Edinburgh zoo and Ronon has the same caged restlessness.

“Are yeh all right, Ronon?”

“Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Carson doesn’t think twice about letting that leashed energy into his limited quarters, his medical instincts taking over and out-weighing any nervousness.

“Are yeh ill?”

But Ronon slides gracefully to the floor in front of him and Carson can only stare in boggled disbelief at large man kneeling at his feet. He’s too surprised to object when Dex’s long nimble fingers work his flies open with ease. His cock spills out when Ronon lowers his boxers. Carson takes a breath, ready to protest, but he is sucked into an expert mouth, working him into full erection.

Carson had never expected this sort of thing to happen to him, this is more Colonel Sheppard’s line, but it feels too good and he stops fighting it.

Although he wonders if is perhaps the best idea to stick parts of his body into the lion’s maw, but the heat and slickness make him forget caution and he clenches his ass against the urge to drive into the welcoming mouth. Vibrations echo along his cock and it seems the lion is purring.

It is too much, the suction and the flexible tongue twisting around him. Carson doesn’t hold back his shout of shocked ecstasy. His knees buckle, but strong arms go around his hips and lower him to the floor. He is languid, his bones feeling as though the heat has liquified them.

Heavy warmth wraps around him, cocooning him. “Thank you,” Ronon whispers into his ear. Carson thinks he should return the sentiment, but he’s too cozy, snuggled up with his lion.