This is my first SGA fic and first slash fic; I'm not usually one to like slash, but these two just fit really well for me. There'll be more to come soon, so PLEASE let me know what you think, constructive critism is very welcome.

Col John Sheppard smiled with satisfaction as the stargate came into view; that smile was then turned on his team as they strode along beside him. Yup, it was a great day; it'd been a full two weeks since anyone had shot at them; the weather had been absolutely gorgeous the entire five days they'd been here; and they didn't even have to perform any crazy native rituals to seal the trade agreement. Of course the best part of his day was going to be reuniting with the love of his life in about ten minutes; who knew five days could feel so long.

Teyla glanced at Sheppard, seeing the far off look in his eyes she knew exactly where his mind was. "I see that you are anxious to return to Atlantis, Col."

John gave her a sheepish grin, "yeah, I guess I am." They'd only been together a few months, but apparently the attraction had been obvious to everyone but them for much longer than that.

"Yes, yes, and we're all very happy that you both finally managed to jump on the get-a-clue bus, but do you have pine away for each other every second that you're separated." McKay roughly punched in the gate address for Atlantis; in truth, he was very happy for his friends; but the thought of sleeping in his own bed had him nearly as anxious to get back to Atlantis as Sheppard was. His body was simply not made for sleeping on a straw mat.

The tension and exhaustion were palpable as they stepped through the puddle into the gate room. Sheppard couldn't help but notice that no one would meet his eyes; he glanced up toward Elizabeth's office and was surprised to find her leaning heavily on the catwalk railing.

Weir sighed heavily as their happy faces fell when they realized something was definitely going on. "Nice to have you all back. Come up to the conference room for a debriefing."

"Sure, right after we get back from the infirmary," John stated as he cocked an eyebrow at her odd command.

"No Col, now."

That got everyone's attention; the first order of business upon returning from a mission was always a post-mission check up lest they bring back some unknown and deadly antigen. They silently trudged up the steps after shooting each other a 'what the hell' look. The expedition leader had already taken a seat at the far end of the table and had her head buried in her hands when they got there.

"Dr. Weir?"

Ronan's prompt received no response; it was obvious the she was off in her own little world.

Elizabeth grabbed for a consol as the control room shuddered again. She risked letting go with one hand as the shaking continued and reached for her radio, "Lt?"

"I don't know ma'am, it may have been a secondary explosion or we may have lost part of the ceiling. I'll get back to you."

"How many people do we have left in there?"

Chuck looked up after studying the life signs detector for several seconds, "We have four ma'am. Lt Black thinks it will be another twenty-five minutes before they can enlarge the whole enough to get the medical equipment in and everyone out safely."

"Major, come in please." When there was no response, Weir touched her earpiece again, "Major? Doctor?"

Chuck looked up expectantly as static continued over the line, "should I tell Lt Black to hurry up ma'am?"

Weir nodded, "and tell them I'm on my way."

"Elizabeth!"

Weir jerked back to reality, and stared at the team, not realizing they'd been standing there for a solid two minutes.

"Elizabeth, what's going on, and why the hell didn't you call us if it's got you this freaked out?" Weir wasn't the only one that was freaked out, her behavior was seriously unnerving Sheppard and the rest of the team.

"We tried," she whispered quietly. She bit her lip as she locked eyes with Sheppard, "there was an accident yesterday afternoon, an explosion in one of the ancient labs."

Even Rodney and Ronan dropped their heads at the news; unfortunately this type of accident was much more common than any of them were comfortable with, but it must have been really bad if Weir was this distraught.

"Who did we lose?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "no one… yet, but there were seven injured, two severely."

"What did the Doc say about the injured, they going to make it?"

"He didn't say anything."

They waited for the other shoe to drop, there was definitely more going on than anyone would say. Teyla cocked her head, "What is it that you are not telling us, Dr. Weir?"

Elizabeth dropped her head into her hands again, "Carson and Major Lorne were first on the scene so they went in to secure the area and organize triage. There were secondary explosions, both were injured."

John was out of the room before the words were out of her mouth, the rest of his team close on his heels. Carson and Evan were both well liked throughout the base; and while Lorne was military and therefore somewhat used to being injured, Carson was not. Sheppard didn't waste any energy on breathing as he sprinted for the infirmary; he knew Elizabeth would have given him more information if he'd waited around, but it wasn't information that he needed right now, it was reassurance.

He skidded to a halt just inside the infirmary door; his eyes scanned the beds looking for one particular face. Several of the scientists occupied of beds in the main portion of the room. Lorne was sprawled out on the one closest to the door a large white pad of gauze covered the area above his left eye, a deep bruising peeking from beneath it, and his left arm encased in a padded immobilizer.

He cracked an eye open at the commotion Elizabeth and the team made entering the infirmary. "Col, I'm sorry sir, I-" He felt gentle hands push him back down as he tried to sit up.

"Where is he?"

Lorne dipped his head, "still in the ICU, sir."

John disappeared before anyone could stop him.

"Lorne, what happened? It wasn't my lab, was it?

"Rodney," Teyla gently admonished. She knew the man wasn't nearly as insensitive as he often seemed, he simply didn't know how to handle certain types of stress. "Major, tell us what happened."

Evan sank back into the bed; his head and shoulder throbbing in time and varying for the majority of his attention.

Lorne stepped from the shower after his mid-afternoon work out enjoying the lingering relaxation from the warm water. There were definitely perks to having your boss off-world, being a few minutes late getting back to the office being the main one; not that Sheppard was exactly strict on things like that. He dressed quickly and headed toward the control room; no need to be too late.

An explosion shook the hallway just as he reached the transporter; instinctively he knew that it had come from several levels below him. He stepped from the transporter on what he hoped was the right level only to run straight into Dr Beckett. "Doc?"

"Dr. Marsh asked me to come down and help with a piece of ancient technology, something must have gone wrong."

The Major nodded as they jogged in the direction Carson had been heading. "Got you're kit with you Doc?"

"Aye, always do when it comes to ancient technology." He patted the bag that was slung over his shoulder as they rounded the corner and were surrounded by a cloud of smoke and debris. Carson looked around, spotting a couple of the engineers unconscious a little further into the lab. "We need to get them out of here Major; this room doesn' look very stable. I'll check them out, you move them."

Lorne coughed and quickly covered his mouth and nose with his jacket, "You got it Doc, just be careful." He quickly grabbed the nearest scientist and dragged him further down the hall once Beckett had cleared him to be moved. He reached for his radio as he moved back into the room, "Dr Weir?"

"Yes, Major?"

"There was an explosion in an ancient lab on level 2 ma'am. Dr Beckett and I are getting people out, but we could use some help down here."

"Understood Major, a team is on their way. Be careful."

"Yes ma'am, Lorne out."

Beckett had cleared two more for transport by the time he made it back into the lab; he grabbed both by the collars and began dragging them back toward the hall. A low rumble echoed through the level just as he deposited the two in relative safety. "Doc! Time to go!"

Evan raced back into the lab to find Carson leaning over the last two scientists, trying to shield them from the falling chunks of the ceiling. He started toward the trio only to dive to the side three steps later to avoid falling debris.

"So that's when you and Dr Beckett were injured," Ronan asked, trying to clarify.

"Yes and no; I apparently dislocated my shoulder and I know the Doc was hit by some debris, but he wouldn't admit to being hurt."

Elizabeth hadn't missed that Lorne's voice continued to get weaker as the story progressed. Everyone in the lab had been unconscious when they'd finally gotten through the door, and the Major had only woken for the first time a couple of hours ago. According to Dr Brio, the young man had a whopper of a concussion. "Major, why don't you rest now, you can finish filling us in later."

"Yes ma'am." Evan's eyes drifted closed before he'd finished answering her.

Rodney took the opportunity to wander over to the ICU as Teyla and Ronan submitted to their post-mission check ups. He paused in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt a private moment, even though he knew Beckett was still out cold. What he didn't expect to see was Sheppard standing frozen by the bedside, his eyes glued to Carson's battered face and his own face a mask of absolute fear. "Sheppard?"

John looked up with a deer-in-the-headlights expression, "I can't... he looks so… I mean, every inch…" He fled the room without ever having put together a coherent sentence.