Chapter Two

Upon awakening, Rodney managed a deep breath and he immediately relaxed. Breathing unimpeded had never seemed so sweet. When he opened his still swollen eyelids, he saw his team surrounding his bed and the next bed over where Sheppard was sitting on its edge with an ice pack on the back of his left elbow.

"Okay, Colonel, now that Rodney's condition has stabilized, let me look at your arm. Did the ice pack help much?"

Jennifer Keller lifted the ice pack from Sheppard's arm and put it on the nearby instrument tray she had pulled into the area. On the tray were also various rolls of adhesive tapes and ace bandages. Sheppard did his typical shrug. "It's not that bad. Rodney's the one you need to worry about."

Jennifer ignored his usual response. "Rodney's been treated and is holding his own. By the way, a hyper-extended elbow is not that good, either, Colonel, but not to worry, I'll have you fixed up in no time."

She picked up an elastic bandage and swiftly began wrapping it around Sheppard's arm covering an area from his forearm to his biceps.

"I was interested in sports medicine for a while when I was in med school after a boyfriend got into jujitsu. He was always hyper-extending his elbow and so I came up with my own combination of techniques to use as a wrap to immobilize the joint," she said.

Rodney watched Jennifer with an interested air as she worked. Jennifer was in her element. She always shone as a doctor, Rodney thought. In the next thought, he felt more than a twinge of sadness that things hadn't worked out between the two of them.

After watching for a moment, Rodney realized everyone was focused on Sheppard and not him, but for some reason, it didn't seem to faze him much. Granted, he'd nearly drowned, then had to claw his way to safety, only to almost die from an allergic reaction, and now their attention was on some minor arm injury of one of the rescue heroes, instead of him, but he didn't really care – he was just happy to be alive and breathing.

"It'll be really sore for a few weeks, but if that stiffens up on you a lot, Colonel, let me know. In the meanwhile, I want you to see our physical therapy people about doing some ultrasound treatments. Ice and compression will be your closest friends for a while."

Securing the end of the elastic bandage, Jennifer patted Sheppard's forearm gently. "And you have to take it easy – that means no golfing or much of anything else for a few weeks."

"Thanks, Doc, but I think it will be okay," Sheppard said as he tested the strength of the support. Rodney rolled his eyes, knowing Jennifer's words of caution were a waste of breath. Gauging by her expression, she knew it, too.

Jennifer smirked as she picked up an arm sling and helped Sheppard put it on. "Too bad you didn't have better luck. I doubt you would have overextended that elbow if you'd have had to pull Teyla out of a raging river instead of Rodney. She weighs a lot less than Rodney."

Sheppard grunted, then agreed, "Yeah, probably. So, you're sure McKay's gonna be okay? I mean, his face is still pretty swollen."

Jennifer nodded and gave the rest of the team a firm smile as she moved the tray over to one wall. "I know it looks bad, but he'll be fine. You got him here in time for us to treat him and he's responding well to therapy. The swelling should go down in the next few days."

She paused, deep in thought for a moment. "You know, I'm trying to decide if his time in the water helped or hindered his allergic reaction. I'm sure it helped by removing the allergen, but the shock of his fall into the water and the danger involved couldn't have been good for his system."

"Damned straight," Rodney said softly, finally speaking, if one could call it that. The words came out scratchy and squeaky, his enlarged lips making it a little difficult to talk. "I could have passed on the whole affair."

Sheppard got up from his sitting position on the bed with a big grin on his face. "I can't wait to hear the story of how you fell into a roaring river all by yourself, Rodney. And for the second time in less than a year."

Rodney watched him for a moment before saying, "Normally, I'd just tell you to go to hell, but you've found me in a mellow mood. In fact, I'm in a really good mood."

There was an exchange of looks amongst his team members that told him they were more alarmed about his condition than he was. Brushing away their concern, Rodney put a hand over his eyes and started to rub them.

"No scratching!" Jennifer said sharply.

"Okaaay," Rodney said as he pulled his hand away, then his fingers gently probed the skin around his eyes, nose and mouth. Those areas felt grossly swollen. Maybe he wasn't doing quite as well as he thought.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bark at you, but scratching will only make things worse," Jennifer said in a chagrined tone as she moved closer. "How are you doing, Rodney?"

He went to speak and coughed instead. Teyla quickly poured him a glass of water from the pitcher on his bedside tray and extended the glass in his direction. "Perhaps this will help?"

Rodney nodded and took the glass gratefully, downing half of it in one gulp. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and grunted. "Thanks. After being in that river, I thought I'd never be thirsty again, but I am."

His voice wasn't quite so hoarse that time.

Jennifer sighed. "I'm afraid you'll feel a little dried out from the heavy dose of antihistamines I gave you – and more than a little drowsy."

Rodney shook his head. "I'm fine."

Sheppard grunted. "Dude, you don't look fine at all. Your face looks like a melting Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

Rodney sighed. "Okay, I'm not exactly fine – but thank you so much, Sheppard, for the visual image I now have in my head. A melting Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Great. To be honest, I itch all over, but in general, I'm doing a hell of a lot better than I was in that damned river."

One of the nurses came in at that moment and handed Jennifer a report. She studied it for a moment, then frowned before looking over at Rodney. "Rodney, tell me about what triggered your allergic reaction."

He paused for a moment, recalling the incident and rubbed his forehead, stopping just short of scratching. He really hated the hives and edema that came from severe reactions, but even more he hated the way he always felt after receiving an injected dose of epinephrine, and he'd had two of them.

Luckily, the side effects had passed quickly enough and now he was happy to be alive. If all he had to worry about was a little itching, he wasn't complaining. Yep, there was a lot to be said for being alive.

He took a deep breath and said, "There was this patch of flowers along the trail. I was adjusting my backpack as I passed them and the ground was slippery. I tripped and fell into the flowers. One of them sprayed me."

Jennifer looked puzzled. Sheppard only smirked. "It sprayed you?" she asked carefully.

"Yeah, well, in a way – I guess I knocked it with enough force when I tripped into it for it to shower my face with – with its pollen, and then I started sneezing. I blindly backed away, not realizing I was so close to the riverbank, only to have the edge of the riverbank give way and there I went into the water."

"That's it?" Sheppard asked, shaking his head. "Seems to be a rather boring reason for almost dying. I mean, collapsing riverbanks and spraying flowers."

"Do you want me to make something up more exciting?" Rodney asked in a mocking tone, but he couldn't get too acerbic. He was riding on the crest of not being dead. In fact, he felt awesome mood-wise. He couldn't remove the grin from his face, but he grew a little alarmed by Jennifer's serious behavior.

Jennifer's natural state was lighthearted and happy. It was a trait in her he often envied, because... well, Rodney's natural state was typically the opposite. Funny how his usual cloud of doom-and-gloom didn't seem to be hanging over his head right now. Maybe there was a lot to be said for surviving life-threatening experiences.

Jennifer pulled out her stethoscope. "Rodney, I need to check you out more closely. Your blood work shows you had a significant immune response to that pollen, which we already knew, but I hadn't anticipated the extent of that response. In addition, the neurotransmitters levels in your brain are little squirrely right now."

"What are you saying, Doc? He's already a lot squirrely," Sheppard said with a puzzled grin, like he was joking to cover his nervousness.

"Ha, funny, Sheppard. Real funny," Rodney said, falling into a standard dialog with Sheppard, but there was little of his normally withering sarcasm present in his words.

Jennifer's smile wavered and her gaze swept over the test results again. Sheppard's eyebrows went up in that little way they did when he was concerned and he stepped closer to her, lowering his voice. "Is it serious?" he asked.

Jennifer shook her head. "I don't think so, but it's better to play it safe."

Rodney noticed the others all had concerned expressions and hadn't moved away from his bedside. Their compassion warmed his heart in ways he had never thought possible a few years earlier. Their bond as comrades was the strongest thing Rodney had ever known.

Turning away from them, Jennifer waved a handheld scanner over Rodney's chest, focusing on its readings before moving the scanner toward his head. She asked, "Describe the flower. Was it listed in the Ancients' botanical index for the planet?"

Rodney shrugged. "Well, it was long and tubular, deep blue-green and the pollen was bright yellow. There was a bunch of them right next to the trail by the river. Teyla, did you see them or did you join the trail after that point?"

Teyla shook her head. "No, I do not remember seeing them."

Rodney nodded. "Understandable. I was the last one coming through that area and it wasn't a big patch of flowers. They weren't something I remember from the botanical index, but I really only had a chance to skim over it quickly before we left on the mission."

Jennifer stood silent for a moment. "The more I think about it, it's really too bad you fell into that stream."

The words "ya think?" normally would have sprung to the tip of Rodney's tongue, but he didn't feel the need to say them right then. The warm glow of life seemed to tame many of his standard more caustic responses. He looked at her and asked, "Why?"

She took a deep breath. "The water effectively washed away all the evidence of the pollen. I would have liked to have had a sample of it to identify more specifically and log the allergy into your chart."

Ronon straightened his stance. "I can go back for it if you want."

"I will accompany you, Ronon," Teyla said.

Sheppard nodded. "Sure, it wouldn't take us long."

Jennifer smiled and put a hand out towards them. "Whoa, hold on a moment. It doesn't have to be right away. You've just come back from a mission that involved a rescue. Give yourselves a chance to rest before you go back. Right now, it isn't essential to Rodney's treatment."

"Are you sure, Doc? We can go – "

"I'm sure."

Rodney listened to them and felt a swell of emotion sweep over him. What good friends and teammates he had, offering to go for a sample of the plant without hesitation. If he'd been standing, he would have hugged them. He sighed with the depth of his feelings.

The others looked at him strangely in response. It took a moment to register with Rodney. He put out his hands, sarcasm creeping back into his voice, because he was, after all, Rodney McKay. "What? Can't I enjoy a moment of – a moment of camaraderie? Here I am, under the weather, and you guys volunteer to do something that might save my life. It's very moving."

Ronon tilted his head slightly to one side as he stared at him oddly, forcing Rodney to reconsider – maybe he was acting a little squirrelly, so he added, "I mean, if I was the kind of guy who would be moved by such things."

The lines of concern on Teyla's face deepened. Sheppard turned to Keller. "What the hell is wrong with him?"

Jennifer looked a little confused. "What?"

Sheppard extended a hand in Rodney's direction. "This – this isn't Rodney, so what's the matter with him? And is it something you can fix?"

It would have been funny if Sheppard hadn't been so serious. Rodney began chuckling as he realized it was still funny. Sheppard looked totally bewildered at Rodney's laughter. When the others saw his reaction, their perplexed expressions grew, which made him laugh harder.

Jennifer gazed at him a little slack-jawed, then took a deep breath and glanced at the others. "Honestly, I can't find anything wrong with him except the allergic response and the neurotransmitters – wait, that's got to be it."

She snapped her fingers rapidly in a gesture that was reminiscent of Rodney's own mannerism and glanced back at Sheppard. "There are dozens of different neurotransmitters that we've identified in the human brain. Four of the most important ones in Rodney's system are definitely out of whack. His dopamine level is abnormally high, along with his serotonin. On the other end, his GABA and glutamate levels are very low. All of them affects mood and behavior. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that increases pleasure with the use of drugs, causing the 'high' addicts feel. Serotonin also affects mood. Glutamate helps to regulate the fear response. GABA manages excitability. That's got to be it. Plus the high dose steroids I've got him on, which in itself can cause significant mood swings. It's all adding up to... this." She put out her hands in Rodney's direction.

Sheppard sighed, jerking a thumb toward Rodney. "So, he's high right now?"

"Ah, come on, John," Rodney started, "That's not fair. It's not that bad – just because I'm in a good mood is no reason to jump to the conclusion that I'm high or anything."

Jennifer smiled, then nodded.

Rodney shook his head, mildly disturbed by their behavior. "No, I am not high. I'm just – I'm just happy. What's so wrong with that?"

Sheppard looked at Ronon. "Yep, higher than a kite."

Teyla met Rodney's gaze and said, "I find it a refreshing aspect to your personality, Rodney, one that we do not see often enough."

"See? I can always count on Teyla to back me up," Rodney said with a nod, grateful for Teyla's support, at least until he realized what she had said wasn't much of a supporting statement. "Well, usually," he added, giving her closer scrutiny.

Sheppard stood unmoving with one hand on his hip. Slowly, he began to nod his head. "You know, this could be a lot of fun," he said with a roguish grin, then he wiggled his eyebrows.

Jennifer put up a hand. "I will not let you take advantage of Rodney's... condition, so go on, get some dinner. He'll be back to his cranky self soon enough."

Teyla nodded. "I agree. It would not be fair to Rodney – "

"Rodney's right here," Rodney said, feeling like a spectator as he put up a hand.

Sheppard refused to let go of it. "Ah, come on, you can't say that if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't be begging to hang around."

Jennifer shook her head firmly. "Doesn't matter. Vamoose."

Rodney started to say something more, but Jennifer just put up a finger to silence him, then her gaze turned stern as she faced the rest of Rodney's team. "Go."

"You never let us have any fun," Sheppard muttered, which was something Rodney thought was hysterically funny and he began to chuckle. It quickly progressed to laughing out loud.

"Shush!" Jennifer said and Rodney noticed almost all of them were having trouble keeping a straight face. "You aren't helping here."

Sheppard waved his fingers at Rodney. "Well, Doc, if you insist, we'll just leave 'Happy' with you," Sheppard said.

"Yeah, Dopey," Rodney replied. "Doc and I don't need you. Take Grumpy and Snow White along with you."

Sheppard grunted. "Okay, let us know if you want us to go back to collect the flower sample. We'll grab some dinner and then be back for part two of Rodney, the Very Happy Incredible Melting Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

Rodney sneered, but it was only halfhearted. Then a certain word caught his attention.

"Dinner?" Rodney said, his voice cracking as his head popped up.

John nodded. "It's Salisbury steak and chocolate cake today. Don't wanna be late for that."

Rodney glanced over at Jennifer. "I'm really, really hungry. Maybe, I could go eat and come right back."

Jennifer shook her head. "You need to rest. I'll have something brought to you from the mess hall."

Rodney muttered, "I bet by then there won't be any chocolate cake left."

Teyla leaned closer to Rodney and smiled. "Do not worry, Rodney, I will save some for you."

"God bless you, Teyla. You are a true blue friend indeed."

Rodney was encouraged. If there was chocolate cake to be had, Teyla would get it for him.

He nodded. "Just be sure to get in line ahead of Sheppard and Ronon so they can't hog it all. And – and maybe some Salisbury steak, too. And mashed potatoes with some of the steak sauce on them. They always serve green beans with that, so some of those. And a dinner roll. But... but hold the butter."

When Teyla's eyebrows went up in an unspoken question, Rodney added, "Jennifer keeps insisting I need to watch my weight."

"As if all that other stuff isn't going to add up to mega-calories," Jennifer said, shaking her head. "But I'm not going to give you a hard time about it tonight. You've had a bad day. Eat what you want."

"Cool," Rodney said, catching Teyla's eye. "Then grab some butter, too."

Sheppard rolled his eyes.

Jennifer made motions again with her hands for them to leave. A moment later, they were gone. Rodney sighed, the room was infinitely lonelier without them there.

"How long will these tests take?" Rodney asked.

Jennifer didn't answer for a moment as she skimmed over his chart again, deep in thought. Finally, she shook her head. "Not long, Rodney. You'll be done with them by the time they come back with your dinner." She flashed him one of her best smiles. "Just relax, I'll be right back."

Rodney nodded and settled against his pillows. Relaxed was something he could definitely get into. Why wasn't he like this more often? He really needed to reevaluate the way he looked at the world. He sighed with contentment. Life was good.

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