Chapter One

John could hear footsteps and hushed voices, the steady beeping of a machine. He knew where he was before he opened his eyes – he just didn't know why he was there.

John blinked his eyes open and discovered that, sure enough, he was in the infirmary as he'd thought. Why though? And how?

A second later, John's head started to throb painfully, and he surmised that that might be why. The how was still a mystery though.

John waited for the pain in his head to ease slightly and then slowly propped himself up on his elbows. He was lying on a bed in one of the corners of the infirmary, hooked up to several monitors and wearing a set of cream-coloured scrubs. The place was pretty deserted except for a couple of nurses in the far corner. John frowned – he could have sworn he knew all the medical personnel, but he didn't recognise either of them. Also, the infirmary looked different. All the beds and equipment had been moved around, and there were definitely some machines in there that he hadn't noticed before. Weird.

"Oh good, you're awake."

John's head jerked round and he winced at the pain caused by the sudden movement. He soon forgot it though – here was another person he didn't recognise. It was a woman, and judging by her outfit and the stethoscope hanging round her neck she was a doctor. But John was positive, absolutely positive, that he knew all the doctors, if not the nurses.

The doctor stepped up beside his bed and peered into his eyes. "How do you feel Colonel?" She asked.

"Er… I have a bit of a – wait, what did you call me?" He must have misheard her.

The doctor frowned at his question. "Are you alright Colonel?"

"Colonel?" John repeated, confusion and a little but of panic taking hold of him. Maybe she was just mixing him up with someone else… not that there were any colonels on Atlantis… she must just be confused.

But who the hell was she?

"Er… I don't know what's going on here, but I'm just a major," John said, trying to stay calm.

The doctor's eyes widened at his words, and he saw a flash of fear in her eyes. She swallowed. "A major?" She asked.

"Yeah," said John.

She took a small step back. "Do… do you recognise me?" She asked him.

"Should I?"

Something very weird was going on. This woman was looking at him like he'd gone mad or something – and it was clear that his last answer had not been what she'd wanted to hear.

"What year is this?" She asked now.

John was slightly taken aback. What the hell kind of question was that? "It's 2004," he answered. "And who are you?"

The doctor's mouth opened like she was going to say something, but no words came out. She just stood there and gaped at him. John frowned back at her.

Suddenly John heard footsteps coming from the entrance behind the doctor, growing louder. A moment later, Dr McKay appeared. John had never been so pleased to see him.

"McKay!" He said, sounding overly relieved even to his own ears.

McKay stopped at the end of his bed. He held a half-eaten power bar in one hand. "Typical – you don't wake up the three hours I stay here, you choose the ten minutes I go to get food," he snarked. John rolled his eyes but felt inordinately comforted by McKay's words – this was the McKay he knew. Though he noticed that McKay didn't seem at all bothered by the strange doctor.

"How you feeling?" McKay asked now. "Look I'm really sorry about what happened – there was no way of knowing that it was active, and Zelenka's looking at it right now –"

John's head was starting to hurt again. "McKay, what's going on?" He asked.

McKay frowned slightly but before he could answer the doctor walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. "Rodney, I need to talk to you," she said.

McKay glanced over at John, but he nodded and took a couple of steps closer to the archway through which he'd appeared. John's eyebrows shot up. Rodney? Obviously this doctor person knew McKay pretty well, and vice versa. He lay very still, to try and hear what they were saying – luckily the infirmary was really quiet, and he could hear them pretty well.

"There's something wrong," the doctor said, sounding very worried. "I think he has amnesia."

"What?"

John frowned, entirely empathising with McKay's shocked tone of voice. Amnesia?

"He doesn't know who I am," the doctor said. "And when I called him Colonel, he told me he was only a major."

Rodney had his back to John, but he clearly saw his shoulders tense up. "But… but the device is meant to help you remember – how could this...?"

"I don't know how – all I know is that Colonel Sheppard thinks it's 2004." She sighed. "I'm gonna go set up some tests; you should talk to him."

"Me? Why me?"

"He knows who you are," the doctor said calmly. "Try to explain what's going on. I'll be back in a minute."

And with that she turned on her heel and swept away, leaving McKay staring after her. John watched him closely – he took a deep breath and turned round slowly.

"Amnesia?" John asked, getting straight to the point. McKay looked shocked, and John rolled his eyes. "I've got a headache, but I'm not deaf McKay."

McKay walked back over to his bedside, looking incredibly awkward. "You remember me?" He asked tentatively.

"Er… yeah." Duh. He'd called him McKay like five times.

"Good – great," said McKay. He sounded very nervous. "So…"

John rolled his eyes again – that doctor sure picked the right person to tell him what was happening here. "So what's going on?" He prompted.

McKay paused. "What's the last thing you remember?"

John thought about it. "I read some more War and Peace, I went to sleep, and I woke up here," he said truthfully. Lord knows how he actually got to the infirmary.

McKay frowned. "Okay that doesn't really – what's the last mission you remember?" He asked instead.

"M7G-677," answered John. They'd only got back two days ago.

Rodney frowned, thinking about it. His face cleared, and then he looked really worried. "The planet with the kids?" He asked, flabbergasted. "The first time we went there?"

John was bemused. "The first…? Yeah, the first time. McKay –"

McKay was slowly shaking his head. "That was over three years ago."

John thought suddenly that if this was a movie, this would be the part with the funky camera shot that made the background zoom in around him while the 'dun dun DUN!' music played. "What?"

"It's… that was… it's not 2004," McKay said. "It's 2008."

John blinked. "2008?"

"Yeah."

"And… I'm a Colonel?"

"A Lieutenant Colonel – yeah."

"Whatever." John sat up properly and started to push away the blankets covering his body. "As practical jokes go, McKay, this one's pretty lame –"

"John, I'm not joking!"

It wasn't the sincerity or panic in his tone that made John pause in what he was doing. It wasn't the look of fear on McKay's face. It was the John. McKay had never used his first name before. He looked up at McKay silently. What if he was telling the truth? What if it really was 2008?

No, this was stupid. This was either a really bad joke, or a really weird dream.

"McKay, this is –" He started, but McKay cut him off.

"I was working on a device in my lab," he said. "It's meant to be a memory recall device – I had you activate it, and you… well, you said you were remembering things, and we told you to let go but before you could there was this light and then you were knocked out. It must have… I don't know… it must have short-circuited, and made you lose the memories instead… or something."

"You're saying a device has made me lose my memories? Of only the last three years?" John said incredulously.

"Look at me!" McKay burst out suddenly. "Don't I look different?"

John frowned and obediently looked at him. He did look… well, not that different… but… there was definitely something. He looked… older? No – it was more like he'd…seen stuff.

John shook his head slightly – now that was a stupid thought. It didn't make any sense at all.

"Look at your arm!"

John frowned. "My arm?"

"Look –" McKay pointed wildly at John's right arm. John looked down and saw what he was pointing at; there, on the inside of his forearm, was a strange scar. It was big, but barely noticeable, really, unless you were looking for it. He ran his fingertips over the scar tissue – it felt scaly.

He sure as hell hadn't had that scar before. John reached up a hand to the side of his neck, where that bug thing had been latched onto him a couple of months before. The wounds were almost fully healed, but he could still feel them when he touched his neck.

Not now though. They were completely gone.

"That happened in… I think it was 2005. Yeah," said McKay. It took John a moment to realise he was talking about the scar on his arm.

2005. It was still two months away. He could swear it was still two months away. But… but the scars. And McKay. The new doctor – the new nurses. The infirmary looked so different. She'd called him Colonel.

John slumped back against his pillows. "Oh crap."

TBC