Dreams

"John, come on, let's talk about this." Rodney pleaded. Sheppard advanced on the cowering scientist, angrier than either had ever seen him.

"Why Rodney?" John sneered, "So you can lie to me again?"

"John, I've never lied to you." McKay tried to make his friend see reason, but John still advanced.

Sheppard picked Rodney up and threw him against the wall. The scientist slid to the floor, insensate.

John woke up in a sweat, sat up in his bed and panted.

"Oh god," he said aloud, "Why would I dream something like that?"

He got up, wandered around the room for a while and then decided to hit the gym, burn off the excess energy left by the dream. As he traveled, he let his thoughts wander, "Why would I dream I hurt Rodney? He's an arrogant, annoying asshole at times, but he's my friend too. I get irritated with him, I've never been truly angry at him…certainly nothing like I felt in the dream. What was that all about?"

John spent the rest of the night in the gym, punching a bag or practicing the fighting techniques Teyla had been teaching him. He tried not to think about the dream again.

The next morning at a scheduled briefing for an upcoming meeting, John, Teyla, Ronon and Weir waited for Rodney to arrive. When he was 15 minutes late, and didn't answer when they called him repeated, John and Ronon went to his cabin. What they found stopped John's heart. Rodney was lying at the base of the far wall, exactly where he had landed in John's dream.

Carson briefed the waiting team, plus Elizabeth, a half an hour later.

"Well, I can't say what happened to him, but he has wounds consistent with having been thrown against the wall with great force, as Major Sheppard has suggested. He has a severe concussion, is unconscious, and doesn't really show signs of waking yet. There doesn't seem to be any actual brain damage, and, aside from a few cracked ribs and bruising over most of his body, he should be fine…once he wakes up."

"How can that be?" John was perplexed. "I woke up in my room. I thought it was just a dream."

After a long meeting, with much debate on any of a number of sides, it was decided that a guard would be placed on John, after he underwent a thorough physical examination. Theories abounded, with everything from alien entities to teleportation being discussed. But one thing that everyone agreed upon, including John, was that right now, he seemed to be connected to what had happened to Rodney, and everyone, including John, wanted to make sure than nothing like this happened again.

"John, this is not you." Teyla tried to talk to the enraged major as he pointed a berretta at her. "Please, put down the weapon. You don't want to do this."

He aimed the pistol and fired.

John woke up in a sweat once again, and tore out of the room, only to be stopped by the two guards who had been placed outside.

"Wait just a minute sir," One of them addressed the major. "You were ordered to stay in your room."

"Teyla," Sheppard blurted out. "I've got to check on Teyla. I think I just shot her!"

"Sir," the other guard put in, "You were in your room the whole time."

John tried to start down the hall again, but was restrained. "Just check on Teyla! She's been shot! Please!"

The guard turned to debate the relative merits of John's suggestion, and Sheppard used that moment to escape. He ran, leading both guards down the hall at a dead run until he skidded to a halt in front of Teyla's door. As the guards caught up with him, he entered his friend's quarters and found just what he had feared.

"Call the infirmary!" John was frantic as he grabbed Teyla's bloody body and was awarded with a weak grunt, "Get help!"

"John," Teyla was still conscious, but just barely. "Was it really you?"

The question tore at John's heart. Teyla wasn't sure. Actually, he wasn't sure himself. "I don't know. I thought I was dreaming. I had no control of it, Teyla. You have to believe me."

"I do, John," she murmured before passing out.

"Teyla's going to be alright," Carson announced after surgery. "The bullet missed any major arteries, and lodged in her shoulder."

"What's going on with me?" John was despondent, "I dreamt this, too."

"Major," Carson addressed the question, "I want you to stay here tonight. We'll hook you up to machines, see if can't figure this out."

John reluctantly agreed.

Carson alerted to the first sign of REM sleep in the major. Almost immediately, Ronon called in for help from security in his quarters…something about John attacking.

The doctor woke Sheppard immediately and Ronon cancelled the request for security.

Carson and Zelenka each called for a debriefing at roughly the same time and filled in the crew on what they had found.

"It seems you've picked up a passenger somewhere, Major." Carson started, "Once you started into REM sleep, I picked up another life-sign. As soon as you woke, it receded, but now that I know where to look for, I can tell it's still there."

"Well, how do we get rid of it?"

"I've been doing some research in the database for any mention of a connection between violent dreams and actual violence." Zelenka announced. "There is an entry about such an entity. It seems that a certain kind of radiation will eliminate it without injuring Major Sheppard. There's also a way to look for similar entities in other personnel."

With the entity eliminated, and all other staff members cleared, John had only to apologize to his two injured friends. Both were conscious and healing in the infirmary.

"Neither of us blames you, John." Teyla assured. "It wasn't you."

"But," Rodney put in, "If you're feeling guilty, you can get me some more dessert."

John had to smile, "Lemon pie coming right up".

Rodney threw his dinner tray, John ducked, and Teyla smiled. Life was back to normal.