I really liked this--picking up on the lengths he had to go to get into that room as well as how the team felt as they learned they were being excluded was just brilliant! I particularly liked how Rodney doesn't know everyone, and so he has to guess and intimidate, and how subtly you show that John > stuff that isn't John in Rodney's world. I reread the original before and after reading this, because you picked up on stuff I had completely missed ('I worked on [the salve] with Carson')!

Plus the snapshot of the original story made it all the more real... and seeing that the team stopped being excluded and got to see John after Rodney's visit was the perfect ending. Excellent!