A/N: Aside from the basic no duh stuff, I have no medical knowledge what so ever so don't be surprised if anything is incorrect. Just think of it as me using my creative license and that in my own little world it all makes sense and is plausible.

--

In Carson's office Elizabeth paced back and forth like a caged animal waitingfor word on Skyler. It had been a little over an hour since Dr. Jamsen had dialed Atlantis requesting back up to put out a fire that had started in the Kenshi village. They weren't sure what exactly had started the fire but the theory they were going with at the moment was that the hot, dry weather had led to a series of heat-lightning strikes.

Skyler had been brought through the gate about half an hour ago after the burning building he'd gone into to rescue a small boy had collapsed on him. It still stunned her that he'd willingly gone into a burning building. She was thankful that the little boy and his mother were both fine, but she just couldn't figure out what had made Skyler run into that building.

Finally seeing Skyler wheeled in on a gurney Elizabeth headed for the door only to be met there by Carson. "Let's talk in here, while the nurses get the major settled."

"How is he?" Elizabeth sat down in one of the visitor's chairs.

"He's stable for the moment. He has a few minor burns and a moderate to severe case of smoke inhalation, we've begun treatment for those and he should be fine in a couple of days. He also has a sever concussion, which we'll have to keep an eye on." He moved to perch on the edge of his desk. "Preliminary test show that there is some swelling, but until I get all the tests back and he wakes up I won't know the full extent of damage."

"Damage? You mean brain damage?"

"I won't lie to you Elizabeth that is a possibility. Depending on the damage – if any – he could have anything from loss of memory to the loss of the ability to speak or understand language." Seeing the worried look on Elizabeth's face he was quick to reassure her, "But like I said I won't know anything until the swelling goes down and he wakes up. Let's not jump to the worse case scenario,"

"Can I sit with him?"

"Aye, you can for a minute." He led her out of the office over to Skyler's bed.

--

The room was quiet, except for the sound of Skyler's coarse breathing and his occasional reflexive coughing. A nurse came in every half hour to check on him, but other than that, no one disturbed the quiet. Carson had left instructions to be paged if Skyler started to wake up but so far her nephew had given them no signs of waking.

"Should you still be here, it's after midnight?" John questioned as stepped up behind the chair Elizabeth was sitting in.

"Probably not." She never took her eyes off Skyler.

"He's gonna to be ok." He gently laid a hand on her shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze.

Gripping the hand on her shoulder Elizabeth took her gaze off of Skyler to look at John. "I know…I just hate seeing him like this."

"You should get some sleep."

"In a little bit." John nodded, turning to leave.

"John…" He turned back to look at her. "Thanks."

"Anytime. I'm here for you always." With that he left the room.

--

Elizabeth dozed in the chair beside the bed. Something woke her, but she wasn't sure just what it was. The room was still dark, but she could see the sun just starting to rise outside the window. She looked around, her eyes coming to rest on Skyler. She smiled when she saw him blinking sluggishly.

"Sky?" She moved to stand over him, gently grasping his hand. She grinned when she felt a small pressure on her hand.

Skyler tried to turn towards the gentle voice, only succeeding in the slightest of movements. "Li'b'th?" he slurred, trying to respond.

"How do you feel?" She helped him take a sip of water from the cup that had been on the bedside table.

"Head hurts." Skyler struggled to stay awake, his eyelids growing heavy once again.

"I'll go find someone to give you something for that." She squeezed his hand before going in search of a nurse.

Elizabeth returned shortly with a nurse, who turned on the lights and listened to his chest. Deep breaths triggered a deep cough, but his lungs were clearing.

"Dr. Beckett should be here shortly." The nurse informed them.

A few minutes later a bed haggled Carson entered the infirmary. He immediately started checking his patient over.

Pulling his penlight out he directed, "Skyler, I want you to follow the light with your eyes." Satisfied that his eyes were focused and tracking, Carson slipped the light back into her pocket.

When he looked at Skyler again, his eyes were closed. "Skyler?"

Skyler sluggishly opened his eyes again, "Tired" He slurred out.

"I know you are, but I need you to answer some questions for me first. Then you can go back to sleep." At Skyler's nodded he continued, "Can you tell me where you are?"

"Infirmary." He could feel his eyes slipping closed again.

"Good. Any pain or nausea, anything abnormal?"

"Head, no, and no."

"Kay you can go ahead and go back to sleep. I'll see you in a bit," Carson turned to the nurse, "Give him a shot of pain meds and keep monitoring his vitals. I'd like to get another MRI to see how the swelling is coming along so alert me the minute he's awake again."

The nurse nodded making notations into Skyler's chart. Satisfied that Skyler was indeed on the mend, Carson turned his attention to Elizabeth. "So far everything looks ok."

Elizabeth let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "So he's going to be ok?"

"There are still some tests I'll need to run when he's more awake, but I'm hopeful." He started leading her out of the infirmary. "Now I want you to go get so sleep in a real bed. I know you've been here all night even though I told you, you could only sit with him for a minute." Elizabeth knew better than to argue and allowed him to lead her out of the infirmary.

--

"Well Major so far you're batting four for four." Carson spoke as he sat on a stool next to Skyler's bed later that afternoon going over some test results. "You're awake, you can speak, you can walk, and your memory appears intact, with the exception of the fire itself. But that's common with head injuries." He set a pad of paper along with a pencil, on the rolling table in front of Skyler. "Just a few more things and you'll be done for today."

"Why am I not surprised?" Skyler let out a frustrated sigh as he reached out to fiddle with the pencil.

"Look Skyler I know you're tired of all this, but these tests really need to be done."

"To rule out brain damage, yeah, yeah I know."

"Just bare with me a little longer." Carson picked up Skyler's water cup from the bedside table, "Can you tell me what this is?"

Skyler looked at Carson like he was crazy, "You're joking right?"

"I need to measure your ability to recognize and correctly identify objects," Carson answered, shaking the cup.

He sighed again, "Cup, white." He'd done these kinds of tests before; this wasn't the first concussion he'd had. He pointed at the table, "Table, brown," he tapped the pencil, "Pencil, yellow-ish-y color," He indicated the pad of paper, "Paper, white."

Carson smiled. "That's very good Major. You seem to be able to identify objects on sight," Carson indicated the pad of paper. "Next I want you to write your name."

When Skyler was finished he sat staring at the paper in front of him with a strange expression on his face. Carson glanced at the paper as well, but didn't say anything instead handed the still man a book next.

"Pick a page and read something out loud," he instructed.

Opening the book Skyler stared at the page, "Ha, ha, very funny. Now give me something in English." Seeing the serious look on the other man's face Skyler, closing his eyes, dropped his head back on his pillow closing the book. "Shit."

"I'll let you get some rest," Carson said, patting his arm, he could see that Skyler wanted to be left alone at the moment. He gathered up the items from the tabletop and walked away. As he walked away, Carson glanced down at the notepad. Sharp black lines stretched across the page, occasionally overlapping. It could have been the scribbling of a two year old.

--

"Carson, come in." Elizabeth looked up from the report in front of her at the sound of a knock on her office doorway. "How's Skyler?" She didn't like the grim look on Carson's face.

"He's doing ok. His speech is unaffected, he is able to walk, and he is able to remember everything with the exception of the fire itself…which is not unusual with a head injury," he quickly added. "Skyler is able to identify objects on sight as well as colors."

"But…?" Things sounded good so far so of course there had to be a but.

"He's demonstrating diminished cognitive processes."

"Meaning?" Elizabeth just wanted straight answers.

"At the moment he is unable to read or write. When I tested him he was unable to identify written words and when I asked him to write his name this," He handed Elizabeth a sheet of paper. "Is what he wrote."

Elizabeth sighed rubbing her temple, she studied the erratic lines, none of which even vaguely resembled Skyler's name. "Will he recover?"

"Possibly. He could recover or relearn the lost skills. Or, he may never recover these skills."

"Thank you Carson, keep me updated." He nodded his head. "And let him know I'll be by to see him later."

"Of course."

As soon as Carson left Elizabeth rubbed her irritated eyes, lowering her head. This was going to be devastating for Skyler if it was permanent, it would mean no more off world missions and no more flying – except for maybe the puddle jumpers since those were flown pretty much by thought.

--

Laying in bed Skyler stared at the ceiling, trying no to think. It had been three days since he'd woken up and it seemed like all he did was think, think about his career, his future, about what was going to happen next. If his condition didn't change there was no way he'd be allowed back to active duty and that scared Skyler, it scared him to think about not being able to do his job, to do what he loved.

"Cain?" John stepped around the privacy curtain.

"Sir," Skyler sat up at seeing his CO. He'd had visitors – mostly his team and Elizabeth – coming in and out all the time in the last three days but this was the first time Sheppard had been to see him – that he was conscious for anyway.

"Just thought I'd come see how you were doing." Spotting a chair he pulled it next to the bed and sat down.

Skyler closed his eyes and thought about the question. How was he? That was a good question. He was alive. He was breathing. He could think. He could walk. He could talk. Guess he should count his blessings.

"Hey, I'm alive. What more can I ask for?" He shrugged his shoulders. The two fell silent for a moment.

"So what happens now?" Skyler questioned after a moment. "I mean there's no way I'm gonna be cleared for active duty and I really don't feel like spending the rest of my life being a lab rat for the beakers."

"You sound like you think this is permanent."

"Even if it isn't, how long do you think it'll take me to relearn how to read and write?"

"I don't care how long it takes, you'll get better and I'll make that a direct order if I have to."

Skyler couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped, "That would be a first. I don't think I've ever heard you give a direct order."

"If that's what it takes." He shrugged getting up from his seat. "Now get some sleep, it's late and the last thing either of us needs is a ticked off Scotsman breathing down our necks.

"Yes, sir." He watched as John headed for the door. "Hey Sheppard…"

"Yeah?" John stopped at the door.

"Thanks…not just for this but for looking after her too."

John didn't need to ask who her was. He nodded his head then left the infirmary.

--

Unable to sleep Skyler turned onto his side and let his eyes roam around the room. The duty nurse was in her usual spot, tucked against the far wall at her desk, other than that the room was empty. The last of the Kenshi wounded had been released earlier that day leaving him the only patient in the infirmary.

Looking away from the duty nurse his eyes came to focus on a book someone – probably Elizabeth, she'd always been a bookworm – had left on the bedside table. Picking it up he opened it to stare at the writing inside. No matter how much he willed it the jumbled mess of words refused to resolve into anything recognizable to him.

Books, reading, writing. Things Skyler was going to have to learn how to learn to live without. His whole life he'd never been much of a reader, always preferring to go out and live his adventures instead of just reading about them, but now that he couldn't read he found that he missed it. Frustrated he slammed the book shut tossing it back onto the table.

"Not giving up are you?"

Skyler's head snapped up at the female voice to his right. "Wha?"

"Sorry didn't mean to startle you." Aria moved to sit in the chair next to the bed. "I hope you don't mind some company," she questioned as she sat.

"I don't think I'm the best company right now."

"I can leave if you want…" She stood up ready to leave Skyler alone.

He grabbed her hand stopping her, "No don't go. That's not what I meant. Stay please, I don't think I want to be alone right now." He pulled her closer, shifting over so that she could join him on the bed.

Aria offered him a smile and settled on the bed beside him. Rather than talk, she turned and wrapped her arm around his waist and settled her head on his shoulder. She knew that what she was doing wasn't exactly professional, but at the moment professionalism could take a hike, she was off duty and there as a friend.

"Sleep," she whispered.

--

Aria was gone by the time Skyler woke up the next morning. Whether it was the loss of the body warmth next to him or the pressure of a blood pressure cuff inflating on his arm that woke him, he was unsure. Blearily, he squinted up at the body hovering over him.

"This sure as hell better not be a dream." Skyler mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Cause you'd be the ugliest nurse I've ever dreamt."

"Ha, ha, morning to you too." Blue unwrapped the cuff and circled his fingers around Skyler's wrist.

"What time is it?"

"Little after eight." Blue glanced at his watch. "Duty nurse went to get breakfast, while I offered to take your vitals for her."

"Wondered why you were playing nurse." Skyler sat up as said duty nurse appeared with a tray of food. Shortly after breakfast Carson came over to speak with Skyler.

"Good news Major." Carson smiled as he pulled up a stool to sit on. "I've been going over your latest scans and things look good. There's still some swelling in you brain, but right now that could be a good thing."

"Uh, ok I'm no doctor or anything but how is that a good thing?" Skyler raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Because there's a very good chance that it's the swelling that's causing your loss of cognitive abilities and not any permanent damage to the brain itself. Hopefully as the swelling goes down you'll regain your abilities to read and write."

--

Much to Skyler's relief Carson had been right about the swelling being the cause of his lost cognitive abilities. Due to the sever nature of his concussion the swelling had been slow to reduce, but as it did Skyler found himself slowly regaining his ability to read and write. It hadn't be easy, he'd been frustrated and angry a lot, snapping at people when he hadn't meant to.

But with help from Elizabeth and his friends he'd made progress. He still had trouble sometimes, but with his friends – his family – by his side it was nothing he couldn't get through. It had been a long hard road but after the longest month of his life Skyler had been cleared for light duty. It would still be another few weeks or so before Carson would clear him for full duty but Skyler had no doubt that he would get there.