Carson dialed a phone number he'd known by heart for two years now. "Colonel Samantha Carter, please. This is Carson Beckett." He waited while he was transferred. Thank God she wasn't off-world.
"Carter."
"Thank God! Colonel Carter, Rodney was awake for a bit. I don't understand it, but he wrote walls full of math. He said Radek had to see it, to find it. Whatever went wrong, I mean. He said that."
"Calm down. You said he was speaking?" Sam's voice held disbelief.
"Aye, he knew who I was, as well." Carson swallowed, torn between elation and anxiety. "He knew what had happened. He remembered almost dying. He said- he said that I- we got it wrong."
"He remembered? Tell me exactly what happened." She was calm and firm. "Don't leave anything out."
He did. He told her about Rodney's sudden wakening, his writing, his talking. It was difficult, but he knew that if anyone could understand what Rodney had written, it would be Samantha Carter and Radek Zelenka.
"I'll have Radek recalled to Earth as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I'll be there in, uh, five hours."
Carson hung up the telephone and buried his face in his hands. How had Rodney been there for those few precious minutes? God, were they so wrong? Had he really known what happened? The data from all the scans they did showed such low levels of brain function that they'd really, truly believed he wasn't there anymore. How had he missed this?
Carson went back inside to find the girl, Lindsey wiping Rodney's hands and face. She looked up at him with a sympathetic smile. "He's back to normal now, Dr. Beckett. I'll have him cleaned up and in fresh clothes in no time."
And this made Carson so bloody angry that for a minute he wanted to hit her. Back to normal? This was not Rodney McKay at all. This was an imitation, a shadow. "Get out. I'll take care of him for the rest of the day."
"Uh, are you sure... I mean with the change in the routine and all?" Lindsey sounded uncertain.
"Do ye or do ye nae work for me? Then git yer arse out o' here!" His accent thickened. He was full of emotion, torturous and twisting. He steadied himself. "I'll call you if you need to come back. You'll get paid until we place you with another patient."
He watched as she carefully filled out Rodney's chart. She gathered her belongings and slowly walked to the door. With a last look around, she was gone, leaving him alone with not-Rodney.
"What the hell are we going to do with you? What did we do to you?" Carson couldn't wait until Samantha Carter arrived.
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Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard watched Radek Zelenka disappear into the event horizon with hooded eyes. No one knew how much he wanted to go. Well, maybe Ronon did. Or Teyla. But he didn't think anyone else would know.
When Elizabeth had told them about McKay this morning, he had actually felt himself turn white. Rodney had been speaking, no, not just speaking, but talking directly to Carson. It had made something inside of him break, something he'd though had healed long ago. Well, scabbed over maybe.
Radek hadn't even packed. He'd simply grabbed a laptop and run from the labs to the gateroom. He told Elizabeth to assign a temporary replacement as Chief Science Officer and to make sure to cancel his meetings.
The rest of them sat in the conference room. They didn't really have much to officially discuss, but the news was so important that they wanted, needed to talk about it.
Ronon got that intense look he wore when he was thinking. John noticed he rolled his shoulders a few times, probably remembering the scars McKay had healed. He only asked one question, "When do we get to see him?" No one liked the answer, "Not anytime soon."
Teyla suggested bringing Rodney home, to Atlantis. She'd been against them sending him to Earth in the first place. He knew this was going to be a repeat of the same argument they'd had many times before. He was right.
Elizabeth shook her head. "No. Until Rodney can at least function well enough to take care of himself, he can't be here. He would be completely vulnerable in any attack or crisis. We don't have the facilities to care for a person like Rodney, nor can we spare the manpower. The level of care he needs is more than we can provide."
"Perhaps, then, since Rodney is such a burden to your people, he would be better off living with my own. They would welcome him with open arms, even if they had to care for him as one would care for a small child." Teyla's voice was rather cold, John thought. "After all he has done for the Athosians, for the people of our galaxy, we love him. Surely it is better that he be among people who love him." Rather than people who don't and see him as an inconvenience, was the unfinished thought.
John rolled his lips. This was getting a little more heated than the usual 'We should bring Rodney home' discussion. He wasn't sure that if he said anything it wouldn't make it worse.
"Teyla, it isn't that we don't care for Rodney, but someone like him doesn't belong in Atlantis." They all stared at the head of the Atlantis expedition. She held her hands in front of her body. "You all know that we can't take care of him. This galaxy is too dangerous to let him come. The city itself is dangerous to him! He doesn't even know that he must eat!" Her voice betrayed her own frustration and regrets.
"So?" When Ronon growled like that, it wasn't good. "People born here like that, too. You think they shouldn't be here either? Where should they go? Earth?"
John made a silent 'O' with his lips. Elizabeth had walked into this one. Only Teyla and John knew that Ronon's younger brother had been born with brain damage. It was a sore spot with him that when they'd been evacuating Sateda his brother had been rejected-and killed- for just that reason.
"No, Ronon. I'm just saying that he would be in danger all the time, not just from the Wraith, this city, or the Replicators, but from himself."
"I'll take him." All eyes swiveled to Ronon. "I can keep him safe. We'll go to the mainland.. You don't want him? I do. I don't forget my friends."
"We have not forgotten-" Elizabeth started.
"Yes, you did!" John turned to Teyla. Boy, she was ticked. "You have all forgotten what he's done for you, for all of us. You used him. You took the knowledge he gave you and created a way to defend against the Replicators, so that all who come to this planet have a chance at survival. Will you turn away those seeking sanctuary if they are not whole?"
"This is not the same! Rodney wasn't born in the Pegasus galaxy! He was born on Earth." Elizabeth raised her brow. "I think we need to end this conversation."
"I do not wish to 'end the conversation'. I think I deserve to know why you feel we cannot care for him as easily as the people of Earth! We"- she swept her hand to indicate Ronon, John and herself- "are as close as his family. And Rodney may not have been born in this galaxy, but he is as much of this place as we are."
Yeah, John thought, Teyla wasn't just mad, she was offended. He hadn't seen her at odds with Weir since Bates had thought the Athosians were Wraith spies. And that wasn't half as bad as this seemed to be.
"It isn't that. But Earth has technology-"
"That has done nothing for him!" Teyla interrupted her again. "There is no progress, no improvement. And he is not with his family or friends there. His sister could not take him in, so he is alone but for hired companions!"
"Teyla, whether or not I agree, it isn't a decision I can make." Elizabeth sighed.
John felt his mouth open, "Then ask Jeannie. She's the one who can make the decision." Ah, hell. Now he'd done it.
Elizabeth turned her glare to him. "John, you don't believe this is even worth considering, do you?"
"Actually, I kinda do. Just listen. Teyla's right. Earth's whole medical profession couldn't do anything for him. He's been there for almost a year, Elizabeth. Now, I'm not a doctor or anything, but that seems like a long time to me. Maybe, I don't know, he deserves to at least be with people who care about him."
"He doesn't even know where he is!" Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Let's just see what Radek and Carson have to say before we start arguing about something that can't happen."