A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews! I continue to shamelessly beg for more; I'd love to hear any thoughts, feedback, suggestions...all that good stuff. Now, less groveling and more story:

"I can't believe you let him go on his own!" Sheppard stared at Weir, as if her reasoning behind the decision could be read in her face. "You know as well as I do how good he is at getting into trouble. You should've sent the whole team."

She returned his gaze evenly. "I understand how you feel, John, but for now, this is just a simple discussion. He needs to patch things up with Regent Therell before we can actually begin investigating."

"And that's another thing! This is Ronon we're talking about. You're acting like we're trading beans or something." Sheppard raked his fingers through his hair as he walked erratically around Weir's desk.

"Don't think for a moment that I care less about his well-being than you do, Colonel," she replied, a slight edge to her voice. "But alienating the Ardonians will not help Ronon."

"What're we going to do, just keep him penned up in the infirmary with that excuse of quarantine? You saw the charts, Elizabeth." He stopped to look at her. Her face was calm and diplomatic, but the tightness around her eyes betrayed her worry. Maybe she wasn't as indifferent as her words might imply. Softening his tone slightly, he added, "Something is seriously wrong here."

For a moment Elizabeth's eyes avoided his. "Teyla told me Ronon said something about his 'spirit being cleansed.' After what happened to Rodney with--" She paused, swallowing. Sheppard understood the reaction; the memory of the situation still stung. They had been so close to losing him, so very close. "--With the ascension device, I wonder if this could be related."

Sheppard struggled for an answer. None came to mind; he did not need to be reminded of the machine that had dragged his friend to the brink of death, and he knew that ranting about the Ancients now would only bring Weir to valiantly defend them. Again. "I've got to go," he said at length. "I'll be back for the briefing when Rodney gets back." Because he would get back. Sheppard just needed to keep reminding himself of that.

"Doctor McKay," Regent Therell said politely, motioning the scientist to a roughly-carved chair. "It is an honor to have your company again. Please sit down."

"Uh, sure. Right." Rodney lowered himself into the chair and promptly began to shift and fidget. He wasn't good in diplomatic or negotiating situations by any stretch of the imagination, and the fact that he was here to admit to the very thing the Regent had forbidden didn't make it any easier. "So, uh, how's the farming?" He winced a little the moment the words were out of his mouth, kicking himself inwardly.

Therell did not seem bothered. "The weather has been kind to us, and the crop should be plentiful when it comes."

"Great. Great stuff, farming. Very fascinating and, uh...fascinating. Always interested me." Okay. This was not helping. He craned his neck to look out the window behind him. "Nice weather today." Wait, no, hadn't someone already mentioned that? He was beginning to regret not bringing Teyla, after all.

"You are interested in farming?" Therell's tone betrayed neither belief nor sarcasm. "Perhaps I could gather a group to show you around our farmlands. We are beginning to develop new methods of watering our crops, and we are open to advice."

Rodney fumbled for a response that wouldn't force him to admit that he was ignorant of the subject. "That's, well, that's not exactly why I came here..."

Therell dipped his head slightly. "Of course. Then what is it?"

McKay braced himself. Might as well get it over with. "There was an, uh, well I wouldn't say mistake, but it wasn't entirely intentional, and what I mean to say is..." He paused, then blurt out, "One of our team picked up the device attatched to that statue in the Pergatum."

For a moment the Regent only stared at him. He did not move, hands still clasped formally before him, face impassive. "It wasn't actually me," Rodney continued to ramble, unnerved by the gaze. "And you can't really blame Ronon, he thought I wanted to and he doesn't always think before doing things! Why, there was one time when--"

"He picked it up? With his hands?"

"No. With his feet. Gorillas are good at that, you know," snapped Rodney, nervousness shortening already-strained patience.

Therell rose to his feet. His expression changed little, but his tone was unmistakable. "Out."

"Wait! Look, sorry! Oh, God, I told them I wasn't good at these things." Rodney sprang up as well, waving his hands. "Just listen to me."

"We gave you orders."

"We didn't know at the time!" Rodney insisted.

Therell took one step closer, and McKay supressed the urge to step away. "You were told to touch nothing, to wait for our assistance!"

"We're-- We're really, really sorry about that." Why did he refuse Teyla's help again? Stupid, stupid, stupid! "But we need to figure out that thing, and--"

"Dr. McKay," said Therell icily, "you will leave now. Your people are no longer welcome here."

"Look!" Rodney burst out, "Something is wrong with my friend, and it's my fault. He needs help and I'm not taking no for an answer!"

"You have little choice. Synde will escort you back to the Ancestral Ring." The air was brittle with tension as they stared at each other.

It wasn't long before McKay found himself at the foot of the stargate with Synde hovering behind him. The escort watched him closely as he dialed the gate. Though McKay strongly doubted Synde would realize that the sequence for Atlantis wasn't being entered, he couldn't help but be nervous under the observation. A terse goodbye was exchanged when the wormhole whirled into existence, and without a glance back at Ardon, McKay left for the alpha site.

Lt. Daniels, above average. Cpt. Stanley, above average. Sgt. King...who was that, again? Must be a new assignment. Oh well, above average. Maj. Lorne, excellent. Sgt. Everson, above average.

Sheppard leaned his chair back, keeping it steady with a foot on a leg of the mess hall table, checking off box after box on the performance evaluation list. Weir probably wasn't going to buy this, but there was no harm trying.

Above average...above average...why not an excellent, now...

"What is that?" Sheppard looked up to see Teyla standing nearby. Her face was as serene as ever, but only years of friendship allowed him to see the tension beneath.

"Performance evaluations. Figured I might as well get them out of the way now, since..." Sheppard caught himself.

"...Since you can't keep your mind on anything else?" she finished for him. Okay, perhaps years of friendship had made him more transparent, too. Looking up to meet her eyes, he realized that she knew because she felt the same.

Sheppard rocked the chair back into place and tossed the list onto the desk. "Yeah." He picked up the pen lying next to the performance evaluation list, dropping it onto the table, picking it up, dropping it again. Clatter, clatter, clatter. It seemed like a clock, slowly ticking off the moments. "McKay should've been back by now," he finally said. "I can't believe Weir let him go alone."

"It was not an easy decision."

When he looked at Teyla, she was studying her hands. "Not an easy decision?" he repeated. "It's McKay. If there's a way to get into trouble, he'll find it."

"A trait he shares with you," she reminded him with a fond smile.

Sheppard smirked concedingly before growing serious again. "If he's not back by check-in time, we're heading out with Lorne to find him." He dropped the pen onto the table again. Clatter.

Teyla nodded. "It will be...strange, going to find him without Ronon with us."

The Colonel sat up quickly, leaning over the table towards her. "Now that's just it," he said emphatically, "For some reason, it's just worse because it's Ronon. With all the things that we've been through, he's always just the same old Ronon. Unless you count the time Lucius was here."

Teyla looked at him with a reproachful smile. "Let us not bring that up." She stood as she added, "I am going to go see him. Did you wish to come with me?"

Sheppard's expression darkened. "Maybe later."

"He is still Ronon, John," Teyla said quietly.

Clatter. "Be ready to head out in two hours."

He felt Teyla's gaze on him, but he snatched up his list like a shield. "Of course," he heard her say, then her retreating footsteps faded.

McKay's arrival at the alpha site was predictably met with surprise. However, the nominal guard there, led by one Major Delvens, seemed hesitant to question him. And rightly so. The moment he stepped through the gate, McKay summoned up his patent arrogant bluster and began to walk by the major as if he wasn't even there.

"Doctor McKay."

Rodney spun to stare at the speaker. "What is it, Delvens?"

"We weren't expecting anyone from Atlantis to be checking in today. Is anything wrong?"

"Yes. Atlantis's chief scientist's time is being wasted on having to answer stupid questions instead of getting important work done."

The major frowned. "What kind of important work?"

Rodney shot the man his strongest "I can't believe you just asked me such a stupid question" glare. He sighed. "Even if I felt like taking the time to explain it so you can understand, I don't think any of us have three million years to spare. Anything else you'd like to ask?"

As he had hoped, the others suddenly remembered important things to do elsewhere, leaving him alone. Rodney allowed himself a proud smirk as he began to go about his business.

The equipment at the alpha site was simple and basic, but it was easy to make a show of tinkering with it, checking scanners and making adjustments. Every now and then a marine would wander by, but a belittling glare usually sent them on their way soon enough.

After this went on for an hour or so, the thought occurred to him that Atlantis might be wondering why he was gone so long. He checked his watch. There was still plenty of time before the official check-in, but even so a simple talk with Regent Therell—even one that didn't end as pathetically bad as it had—would have had him back at Atlantis by now. Rodney scowled down at the circuits he was toying with. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to show up on Ardon, making a lot of noise and drawing attention to themselves before he could finish.

Rodney stood, slinging his pack on and brushing off the knees of his pants. The others were paying little to no attention to him, but he announced, "Back to Atlantis!" on his way back to the stargate, just in case. He hesitated a moment before dialing Ardon's gate address. The only thing worse than having a team from Atlantis show up when he was there would be for him to come back into a pack of Ardonians weeding around the stargate or something ridiculous like that. But there was little choice now, and this would most likely be his only chance.

As luck would have it (despite the fact McKay would scoff as such a suggestion), the area around the gate was deserted when he stepped out of the wormhole. This didn't do much to help his nerves. Trying to not imagine the possibility of a hundred Ardonians jumping out from behind the bushes and fences with pitchforks and torches, he set out for the Pergatum.

"It's a good thing Sheppard's not here," he mumbled under his breath to distract himself. "His sense of direction is laughable. I'm surprised he doesn't get lost in his own room. Especially considering how messy he keeps it."

He stopped stiff, straining to listen. Was that a sound? No, just his imagination. He went on. "Like those DvDs I lent him. Two entire seasons of the Batman Animated Series. Swallowed up in the black abyss, couldn't find them for at least a week. Does he have any idea of the sentimental value of those? Clueless, that's Sheppard. Pretty much describes him." Rodney jumped at another sound, then relaxed as he saw a lizard run across the road. He swallowed nervously before continuing on, trying to ignore just how much he wished Sheppard the Clueless was with him now.

The way he was taking to the Pergatum was definitely the scenic route (using the word "scenic" loosely, of course), but well before he expected it he arrived at his destination. Once just a plain, blocky building of muted, vine-striped gray, the sight appeared suddenly sinister and dangerous. Instead of sniffing critically at the mustiness spilling from the entrance, he found himself hesitating outside.

This place changed Ronon. And as much as Rodney might joke about how his teammate could use an IQ boost or some "How to not be a Caveman 101," that terrified him. Ronon had always been the same, an anchor, despite what happened to the team. Between Sheppard's insectile transformation, Teyla's struggle with her Wraith connection, and his own bizzare mishaps with the ascension machine and Cadman (he quickly shoved that memory aside)--until now, Rodney hadn't realized how much he depended on Ronon's quiet but fierce loyalty.

It was time to get all of that back. He let himself dwell on Ronon's courage and ridiculous, nigh-insane toughness as approached the statue. It was time to take matters into his own hands—with gloves on, of course.