Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis...yet.

Thanks to Lucinda.

John walked up to Carson sleeping on the couch in the lounge room. Carson's head was leaning against the armrest while his arms were folded across his chest and one of his legs was off the couch. Shaking his head at his soon-to-be husband John moved to where Carson's head lay then bent down and kissed him on softly on the lips. Pulling back, Carson's eyes slowly opened.

"Hey." He said, his accent strong as it usually was just after he woke up.

"Hey yourself." John replied, "I guess that work was tiring?"

"Very. One particular case kept squirming in her mother's lap when I tried to give her an injection." Carson paused and attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes. Sitting up, Carson continued. "Her mother managed to get her to stop moving, but when the needle got close she got afraid again and managed to break free from her mother's grip and run around the room. I managed to vaccinate her after her mother and I cornered her."

John smiled as he imagined Carson and a grown woman chasing a little girl in one of the rooms in his clinic. "Sounds like fun. And you wonder why I chose to go into plastics instead of paediatrics. At least my patients don't go around screaming."

"No, they just whine about how they aren't pretty enough." Carson countered. Apparently wanting to change the topic before John could think of a come-back, Carson smiled and asked him "Ready for next week?"

John's face lit up at the question. "You bet! I can't believe that we're finally doing this. How long has it been since we first met each other till now?"

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we're together now and next week, we'll show it will last forever." Carson replied, and leant forward to kiss his fiance.

---

Opening his eyes, John groaned silently when he realised it was a dream. Admittedly he didn't like the idea of not being a pilot however being with the man who was currently curled up against his chest for the rest of his life more than made up for it.

John could feel Carson breathing beneath his arms and wished he could stay here forever. Unfortunately, Pegasus was not a nice galaxy and they had to work. John kissed the back of Carson's neck to wake him.

"Carson? Come on, we have to get up. You have a shift soon and I have mission." John spoke softly, wanting to wake Carson slowly.

Carson made a noise and John could hear him grumble "I don't want to move."

John sighed. He knew how Carson felt. "Neither do I. Too bad that we have to." Reluctantly moving himself off the bed, John walked over to the other side and crouched, putting his head on the same level as Carson's. John leant in and kissed him lightly. "Come on, shower first." John pulled up Carson, and they walked to the shower.

They didn't do anything over-amorous in the shower by mutual agreement except kissing and washing each other. Sex in the morning would leave them too exhausted to do anything else later on. When they were finished, they dryed each other off, changed into their respective uniforms and walked out of their shared quarters.

They started going out after Sumner died and John was left as military commander due to Teyla and Elizabeth's pushing. Rodney found out a while after the Iratus bug incident when he noticed the amount of attention Carson was giving John was more than usual. Rodney being Rodney, figured it out after further observation and . The final member of John's team found out when Ford walked in on them when they were supposed to be preparing the Jumpers for the Athosians moving to the mainland. John and Carson both were quite relieved when Aiden said he would keep their secret.

Breakfast in the mess was done quickly and after they were done eating they seperated, Carson to the infirmary and John to the briefing room to learn about the mission. When he arrived there, he found everyone else already seated. "Am I late?" He asked as he sat down.

Ford spoke. "No sir, we were just starting."

"Okay then." John was relieved he was spared a lecture from Rodney on his tardiness. "Where are we going today?"

Teyla was the one that replied "We are going to the Manarians."

John turned to Elizabeth and gave her a questioning look. "Why are we going there? I thought we already secured a trade agreement and we got all of our people back after the storm hit."

"We have, but the trade team we sent while you were responding to that Wraith distress signal haven't come back and we can't contact them by radio." Elizabeth replied.

"We can't?"

"Unfortunately no. We believe their radios weren't shielded from the EMP pulse you activated after the nanite scare and thus short-circuited, frying the wiring. We believe they were unaware of it when they stepped through the gate."

Teyla stepped in "Also, we aren't the only ones who have had their traders missing."

"We aren't? Who else have had their traders stuck at the Manarian world?" John wondered.

"The Deymans and the Foebans have had their traders missing as well. The Iodar and the Yurians also report missing traders."

"Have there been any contact with them? Ransom demands? Announcements?"

"No and that's the odd thing. The Manarians haven't spoken to anyone else and any person that went to their planet to investigate never came back."

"Then why are we going there if we might not come back? Especially considering they gave their IDC to the Genii! This might be just another ploy to attack Atlantis!" Rodney complained

"The Genii apparently forced them into helping them and other than needing our personnel back, the Athosians need the food. The storm hit their reserves hard." Elizabeth answered.

"And they wouldn't keep the Foeban and Deyman traders even if they were working for the Genii to trap us." Teyla added

"So what are we going to do?" John asked once Rodney was chastised.

"Your team will go to Manaria and try to find out what's happened to them and hopefully free them if they are captured."

"Are we going to have back-up?"

"We're going to have Gray's team standing by the Stargate."

"So if we run into trouble we can radio them for help and we get reinforcements for Atlantis?"

"Precisely. We've lost enough personnel to the nanite infection and this solar system's lone Wraith."

"Is that it?"

"Pretty much. Unless the team has any problems with it?"

"No ma'am."

"No Dr. Weir."

"Unless you count the fact that we're going into certain death, nothing."

"Okay then. Good luck, and come back safe."

"We'll try." John signalled to his team. "Let's go get ready." and the team left to prepare.

---

John found that flying the team quietly after they geared up and went through the Stargate that to be boring. Wanting to needle Rodney for a bit, John turned to him and asked "So, want your shield now?"

Rodney's sarcasm came as expected. "Yeah, like I would give up food and drink just to be Captain Untouchable again." John snickered at his boyfriend's proposed nickname for Rodney. Rodney ignored him, but John noticed his tone shifted when he continued speaking, "But after everything I've been through, including convincing militant children armed with bows that they were protected by a shield and not their suicide pact and mist aliens messing with my head and making me think I'm going home, I'm sort of used to doing things I'm forced to do."

"And the whining during briefing was?" Ford asked in behind them.

"I said I was used to doing things I'm forced to. Doesn't mean I can't try not to do them beforehand or complain about it." Snarky Rodney was back.

"Which by now we are used to." Teyla said, inserting herself into the bantering.

"I don't complain that much." Rodney was met with looks from everyone. "What? I don't!"

"Right." John said, dragging the vowel. Aiden and Teyla attempted hide their smiles while Rodney glared at all three of them, ending the short conversation. John flew the Puddle Jumper on in silence until the city came in sight. Landing the jumper, he opened the door. He looked at his team and nodded and his P90 down but ready walked out of the Jumper and towards the city.

The first thing that alerted John that there was something wrong in the Manarian town was how silent the town was as they were approaching it. There were still smoke coming from the houses, but the loud trade center was for once quiet. Another thing that tipped John off that all was not right in the town was absence of the sentries at the nearest watchposts. John knew the people of Pegasus always had sentries at settlement boundaries to warn them about the Wraith, but the small huts that marked the sentries' position were empty. Signalling to his team to cover him, he took point. Carefully entering the town boundaries, he walked through the streets and wondered what made them so empty he heard someone call out.

"Major Sheppard!" John turned towards the sound of the voice. A familiar face was walking up to them

"Smeadon?" John asked and the man nodded in reply. "Smeadon what's happened here? And where are the missing traders?" John's second line of questioning went straight to the point

"Follow me. I'll explain as we go along." John nodded at his teammates as Smeadon turned and they followed him as he walked towards the bazaar. "What's happened?" John asked.

"A plague has hit Manaria causing everyone to come down with fevers and headaches among other things that leaves them very weak. Your traders told me something you call quarantine and how to do it. So we have kept everyone who has come here, here. This includes all traders including yours." John was slightly relieved that he now knew what happened to his people, but there were a few questions that popped up.

"If that's what's happened, then why are we heading to the bazaar? Why haven't you contacted us sooner? And why aren't you sick? " John noted the symptoms of the illness that Smeadon described were absent on him. Smeadon was talking, walking and otherwise quite well from what John could see. And if the illness really was as bad as Smeadon described, then John wondered why they didn't even ask the Atlanteans for help.

"I'm not the only one that is not sick. Others in the village have also been unaffected by the disease. We don't know why we aren't affected, but we're too busy treating the sick to find out. We're also too busy to go to the gate and contact you. Your people's radios also did not function correctly and your team was too ill to fix them. As for why we're going to the bazaar... well see for yourself." Walking further into the town, John began to hear the sounds of people moving. Smeadon apparently heard it as well, and they moved faster towards the source of the noise. Soon, the sounds of people moving were joined low moans of the sick. The volume increased until they reached their source.

"So many people became ill that our small care centres overflowed. We decided to convert the bazaar into this." Smeadon explained as John looked around. What was once bustling trade center on their last visit was turned into god's waiting room. John saw people lying on mats some of them coughing violently while some of the healthy Manarians rushed around trying to administer drinks of water and food. Among the people lying down, he saw the Atlantean trade team somewhere near the middle.

"How long has this been going on?" John asked Smeadon.

"A couple of weeks."

John wasted no time and activated his radio. "Gray?"

"Yes sir?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Go back to Atlantis, and call for a medical team to come here. Quickly. Tell them that there's an epidemic and that we're under quarantine."

"Got it. What about you sir?"

"We're staying to help the sick." And John turned his radio off.

As he requested for the medical team, his team already dispersed to help the Manarians in their nursing knowing that with a something as widespread as this, they were probably already infected. John got some supplies from one of the healthy villagers and started to supply the sick people with what they needed, whether it was simply water, or another blanket. He didn't even notice how much time pass until his radio blared to life again.

"Major Sheppard? John? What's happened over there?"

"Carson?" John wanting to make sure who the voice was, although the scottish brogue was a big hint.

"Yes John, it's me. Now tell me what's happened there?"

"Well apparently a disease is running through this place and the Manarians have decided to put it into quarantine." Summarizing everything down to one sentence was something John prided himself in.

"This disease, what are the symptoms?"

"Headaches, muscle pain, sore throat, weakness, tiredness, vomiting, coughs, some swelling, fevers-"

Carson interrupted John "Where is this swelling? And is diarrhea one of the symptoms "

John looked at the patient in front of him "There's some swelling in the neck. And yes diarrhea is one of the symptoms... Why?"

"John I want you to stay calm, but it sounds like the place has been hit by the bubonic plague."

"What!?" John exclaimed, but got his emotions under wraps. "Wait I have to check something..."

John walked over to Smeadon and asked "Did you have a rodent problem very recently?"

Smeadon looked surprised at the question, and began to think for a few moments. "Why yes, we have had a large number of rats here but we exterminated almost immediately after they appeared. What does that have to do with our plague?"

John held off answering the question, instead activating his radio again "Carson, they've had a rat problem but they said they got rid of it quickly."

"Oh god. That makes it very likely that it is the plague. Even if they were exterminated, they already could've been infected, considering the plague can take up to six days to manifest. But how can Pestis Bubonica be here? Nevermind. Don't answer. We'll be there with treatment very soon."

"We?" John was somewhat surprised by that word. He thought Carson wouldn't have liked to aid another race off-world so soon after the Hoff incident.

"Yes we. Meaning I'm coming. John, relax. I'm completely fine with this." Carson apparently knew what John was thinking.

"Okay then. Just.. come quickly." John turned off his radio and looked up at Smeadon who was still expecting an answer to his question. John replied. "We've had a plague like this where we come from. Let's just say it wasn't very good for the people affected-"

"Oh by the Ancestors.." Smeadon swore

"But we have treatment now, and we'll try to tend to as many people as we can."

"Thank you Major Sheppard. How can we ever thank you?"
"Think the favour repaid." And don't sell us out to the Genii was a part that John left unspoken

"Done." Smeadon siad, and left to help others.

John returned to focusing on nursing the people affected by the plague. Putting a damp cloth at the forehead of one of the Atlantean traders, he almost jumped when he heard Rodney's voice sputtering

"Was that Carson? What do these people have? What do I have?"

John rolled his eyes and answered his questions. "Yes Rodney that was Carson, these people may, I repeat MAY have the Black Plague, and you have a worse condition of being incredibly annoying right now." Rodney became bug-eyed and hysterical.

"The Black Plague? As in THE Black Plague? I COULD HAVE THE BLACK PLAGUE?"

"Shhh Rodney. Keep it down. Some people are sleeping." John admonished. "But Rodney, I thought you were used to this. Especially considering you faced down an infection by tiny machine that make people go cuckoo and then you gave us such a rousing speech during the flight..." John was tilting a man's head back and giving him water while he said this.

"But I was immune to the nanites!" Rodney started to sound like a child.

"Which we found out after you were infected and passed the danger zone. Get over it." John moved on to another sick patient, ignored Rodney's further rants and began to lose track of the time again.

---

John looked up at the sky. The moon of Manaria was waxing, and the stars were twinkling. If he weren't currently busy administering treatment to the Manarians, he would've considered this romantic. Giving the dose of Doxycycline to one of the Manarians, he moved on to the next one. The medical team arrived shortly after he informed Rodney of his condition and quickly diagnosed the Manarans with the suspected bubonic plague. Luckily the expedition came prepared for the situation and doled out the medical supplies as needed. Some of the healthy Manarans were setting up accommodation for the Atlantis teams in the nearby inns.

"John, are you finished assigning that man's medication?" Carson asked, walking towards him.

"Yeah, just about." John said softly, standing up.

"Good. That means we can go to our room and get those mission reports done." Carson started walking towards the inn.

John groaned as he followed. "Paperwork? You kidding me. Can't we do it later?"

"John, come on. Even RODNEY manages to do his paperwork."

"I manage to do mine!" John went defensive a bit too loudly.

"Shhh John. There are sleeping people. And Rodney manages to do his reports before the deadline."

"Come on Carson! Can't we do it tomorrow? I mean, we ARE stuck here until the Manarians and others finish their treatment. Who knows how long THAT will take!" John's volume was lowered, but the tone remained the same.

"Seven days."

"What?" John was momentarily dumbfounded.

"You wondered how long the the plague victims' treatment will take. I told you. Seven days."

"Oh. So that means we have seven days to do the reports" John was still looking at procrastinating.

"Fine. But if it isn't done by the time we get back to Atlantis, I'm going to be very disappointed in you." Carson turned as they reached the inn door.

"Yes Mom." John teased as he turned the knob.

"If I were your mother, that would make what we have somewhat odd."

"Odd wouldn't begin to describe it! I was thinking more on the lines of.." John couldn't think of anything extreme enough.

"Bloody weird?" Carson offered, as he entered their room.

"No, that would be a bit mild too..." John trailed off as he lit the lamps. "I'm thinking really, excessively freaky." Carson just hmmed in response. John turned and noticed he was already getting ready for sleep.

"Are you going to get ready and lie down, or are you just going to stay awake all night standing there?"

"Wait a second." John undressed and blew out the lamp. When he came to the reasonably large bed, Carson was already lying down. "So does this mean I don't have to do the report today?"Carson shifted, and John could see him smile in the moonlight. "What do you think?" Carson brushed his lips over John. "Now let's get to sleep. You need it."

John nodded slightly and yawned. Throwing an arm over Carson, John rested his head on Carson's shoulder, closed his eyes and went to sleep wondering what dream he'd have tonight.

---

The End