A/N – Sorry for the long delay on this one! Several illnesses in the family followed by a long awaited vacation in Aruba, then I had another story I needed to finish up! This one in just about complete and the last chapter should be up shortly.

A/N2 – I have no idea what Dr. Cole's first name was and none of the sites on google/Wikipedia listed her as anything other than Dr. Cole. I thought the actress, Caroline Cave, looked like a Miranda, so that's now her name in my SGA universe.

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Chapter 10

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The curtain around Sheppard's bed moved and all eyes focused on Dr. Miranda Cole as she stepped out, closing it behind her. She smiled, but more than one noticed that it didn't make it all the way to her eyes.

"John?" McKay asked quietly, gripping the tablet he'd been working on, his knuckles turning white.

"His temperature spiked from the infection, causing seizures. Normally this wouldn't cause it to happen in adults as it's more common in children. It's possible it's from a combination of things. We really don't understand the drug he was given, and it might have been a contributing factor. We gave him some Clonazepam and they've stopped." She paused. "For now."

"For now? What does that mean?" McKay sputtered.

"It means, Dr. McKay, that his temperature is still dangerously high. We've instituted cooling measures but that will only work for so long. We need to get this under control. Luckily, his latest blood work shows that the drug Dr. Hanson injected him with has dissipated. We were able to increase the antibiotic treatment as we no longer have to worry that the other drug will cause any unexpected, and dangerous, interactions." She sighed. "Right now, all we can do is wait."

"All we've been doing is waiting!" Ronon snarled.

Lorne lifted an eyebrow. "You've been hanging around McKay too long, Ronon."

"Hey! What does that mean?" McKay turned on Lorne, who raised a hand.

"I simply meant that you aren't always the most…patient person and Ronon seems to be channeling that right now."

"I'm a very patient person! I'm the epitome of patience!"

Several disbelieving eyes focused on him. "Well I am." He muttered under his breath.

They were saved from any further disagreements when Carson and Jennifer arrived. Everyone turned their attention on the two doctors, praying for some good news for a change. Carson raised his hand with a vial held in it.

"Jennifer synthesized the antidote for Teyla. It's been tested and looks like it should work." He didn't sound as excited as he should.

"Doc?" Lorne asked.

"While Jennifer was creating the antidote, I did some deeper digging intae the ancient database on the background of both drugs and was able tae find more information on them. They were well hidden. Both accounts were disturbing and were the work of one scientist. I'm still not sure if he was trying tae find a weapon against the Wraith or if he was just working towards his own agenda. The tests did not appear tae be…sanctioned by the council." He paused, not sure what he thought about the logs he'd read. The underlying impression he'd got was that the lead scientist was more interested in gaining advantages for himself, including removing several key people who opposed his type of work. Continuing, he said. "The one given tae Teyla, if enough is ingested, leads tae a very unpleasant death. As he found out when he tested on…human subjects." His disdain was clear.

"Human? You mean he tested on other Ancients?" Radek asked.

"No, he tested on non Lantean subjects. Supposedly, all were volunteers but there was nothing in the database that leads me tae believe the subjects understood the risk. None of the tests were done here on Atlantis. In fact, they appear tae have been conducted in secrecy on various worlds. The deaths from the full dosage were not easy ones. Basically, their autonomic nervous system shut down and the subject would suffocate tae death…and not quickly." He refused to call them patients. "Lower dosages led tae the persistent coma like state Teyla is in. If the lassie had eaten her whole meal…well, let's just say that we would nae be having this conversation right now. Only when these results were discovered, was an antidote created and even then, it was only effective if administered within a short time period. Past that and the subject never regained consciousness, remaining unresponsive until death." He also didn't add that he'd found several suspicious deaths on Atlantis at that time. Deaths he was pretty sure this man had caused and found a way to cover up, although he had no real proof.

He sucked in a deep breath. "The drug given tae the Colonel was even worse, if ye can believe it. Most of the test subjects had no ill effects from the initial dose, other than responding tae all commands with no volition of their own. That changed when they were given multiple doses, each when the prior one wore off. The number of doses tae reach that point varied depending on the individual, but the end result was that the effects were cumulative. At some point, the subject became incapable of doing even the simplest things for themselves, including eating or using the…facilities. If not commanded tae eat or relieve themselves, the subjects starved tae death, sitting in their own waste. There were a small group of test subjects who reacted very badly tae the initial dosage and died in extreme pain."

"He did test one Lantean subject, once he knew an individual dose was not usually lethal, although I don't believe that subject had any idea he'd been experimented on. Other than the sedative effect, the Lantean subject was not controllable when he regained consciousness. This scientist then theorized that the ATA gene protected his unsuspecting subject. He didn't test it on any others tae see if the long-term effects would be any different, I would imagine because he feared being caught. Truthfully, I'm surprised he wasn't. It's conceivable the cumulative effects would hae been just as bad on them as they were on the other poor buggers he used."

"But he did continue to test on other humans?" Ronon asked, disturbed by more evidence that some of the Ancestors appeared to have so little concern for human life. He wasn't as enamored of them as Teyla was, but even so, they had been part of his childhood. He knew Teyla would see this as one more strike against the ones her people had revered for so long and that it would disturb her.

"Aye, he continued tae test on others. The experimentation only stopped when they abandoned the city tae return tae Earth. Who knows if he continued his work there?"

Lorne spoke up. "Sounds like way too much of a coincidence that Hanson happened to come up with the same two drugs. Do you think she found this in the database and followed their lead?"

Rodney poked at the tablet in his hands and spoke without looking up. "I know she did, and I know she knew the intended effect but maybe not the full end results."

"How can you know that?" Ronon asked.

"After the fiasco with Colonel Caldwell and the Goa'uld, Radek and I installed software that tracks all use of the Ancient database, with Elizabeth's approval. Every search leaves a log behind." Lorne opened his mouth to protest and Rodney held up a hand. "We don't review every search, it's there for the purpose of protection only. We get alerts when someone is poking around where they shouldn't. Like a botanist researching bombs." He looked up with a haunted look. "A botanist searching for files related to a specific plant, wouldn't have raised any red flags." He paused and looked from where John's bed was hidden, over towards Teyla's. "Maybe if it had…."

Jennifer placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "It's not your fault Rodney. There's no way any of us could have seen this happening. Even if you had been alerted and confronted her about her search, I'm sure she would've told you she was just checking to see if her research had already been done so she wouldn't waste her time or to make sure she didn't make any of the same mistakes a Lantean scientist might have." He reached up and covered her hand with his, showing his appreciation for her support, although he didn't really feel any better.

"So, if she did read the logs, I can, in a way, understand the drug she gave Teyla, but not Sheppard. What if his human heritage had resulted in the same painful death? He may be the closest thing we have, but he isn't an Ancient, right? Or if his ATA gene was strong enough to protect him, then why take the chance? He wouldn't obey her, and she'd have one very irritable Colonel on her hands." Lorne asked.

"I said she knew the intended effect, I didn't say she did the amount of digging that Carson did. I doubt she had any idea that the drug she gave Sheppard would do anything other than make him do everything she asked him to. Had to be tempting." He remembered the time Lucius Lavin had spent on Atlantis and exposed them all to his "special herb" and shuddered. He'd been tempted and had actually used it on Sheppard, getting him to clean his quarters. It had seemed kind of funny at the time, but he was no longer amused. "From what I can tell of her search, she didn't go any further than Carson did on his first try. The really dirty details were hidden deep, away from prying eyes, and it would have taken someone with extensive experience with the database to be able to dig as deep as he did to find the actual scientific logs."

"Well, whether she knew or not, is not of any real importance right now. We have the antidote for Teyla and can administer it now. Carson?" Jennifer gestured towards Teyla's bed and he nodded. Marie handed him a sterile syringe without his asking. He plunged the needle into the vial and drew what the database said would be the correct amount of antidote and then paused. He looked up to find himself the center of attention. Lorne, Ronon, Radek, Jennifer, Katie and all of the medical staff on duty, except the nurse still monitoring Sheppard, were watching him with anxious expressions. He nodded and carefully inserted the needle into the IV port, took a deep breath, and pushed the plunger. He drew the needle out and started to watch the machines monitoring her.

"It's not working! Why isn't it working?" Rodney asked, one hand washing the other nervously.

"Rodney, it won't be instantaneous. It will take time to work its way through her bloodstream and do what it needs to do. It could be several hours before we see positive results." Jennifer responded calmly.

"Could be? You mean you don't know? How can you not know?"

"Because we don't." Jennifer looked at the group of people surrounding them. "Look, why don't you and Ronon sit with her for a while? The rest of us have other things we can be doing." Rodney nodded and grabbed the chair closest the bed, not taking his eyes off her. He couldn't do anything for Sheppard right now, but he could watch Teyla for any signs that she was coming out of it. Ronon dragged another chair in and sat on her other side. The others moved away to give the teammates some space. The other bed drew them. Drs. Cole, Beckett and Keller made their way behind the curtains to check on their other patient, leaving the rest not sure what to do as they took chairs to wait. About an hour later, the sound of a new voice made Lorne wince and Radek slouch down in his chair, hiding his face as it went bright red.

"Hi Marie, how are John and Teyla doing?" Celia Larm waltzed into the infirmary to begin her shift. "Were Carson and Jennifer able to find anything to help them?" What she knew about their condition was what she'd heard through the grapevine and the citywide broadcast of the rescue efforts. She really wasn't all that interested unless she was able to be the star and hadn't made any effort to offer her services early, unlike the rest of the medical staff who had shown up in the infirmary before the rescuers had even had a chance to get him there. They'd all chipped in where they could, her absence noted, although it engendered relief not anger. She didn't notice the audience at first.

Marie stiffened but responded with polite chilliness. "Colonel Sheppard is still in critical condition. Dr. Beckett and Dr. Keller were able to find and synthesize an antidote for Teyla with help from Dr. Brown."

"Dr. Brown?" Celia perked up. Was this a new doctor who had joined the team? If so, why hadn't she heard about them.

"Yes, Dr. Brown is a botanist and was…"

Celia interrupted. "Oh, a botanist. Not a real doctor then." She dismissed Katie with a wave of her hand and Lorne was out of his chair without thinking about it, stalking towards the two women. Marie saw him coming and made no effort to warn her coworker.

"Actually, Miss. Larm, Katie is a real doctor and a damn fine one." Lorne stated coldly.

"Oh, Evan, I didn't know you were here." She looked behind him to see the rest sitting along the wall and watching with avid interest, even Radek had raised his head, his earlier embarrassment forgotten. She had the grace to blush. "I didn't mean anything by that, I just meant not a medical doctor. I'm sure her assistance was invaluable."

"It was. Just as was the assistance from everyone else who came in off shift to offer their help wherever it was needed." His meaning obvious as he replied. Marie was surprised, she didn't realize he'd noticed, and she fought to keep the smile from her face. Celia rubbed her the wrong way and had from the beginning. She wasn't a bad nurse, just not the kind they needed here where everyone was far from home and could use a warm and friendly presence when spending time in the infirmary.

"Well, that's…that's good. What can I do to help?" She asked belatedly, trying to make up ground.

Marie, as head nurse, was the one who responded. "You can take inventory and restock the shelves. We've used up quite a bit of inventory between Teyla and the Colonel, with some additional smaller emergencies." One of the marines had come in with a gash over his left eye, opened up when he was sparring. It had required several stitches, but he'd been released right away. Several other small incidents had been dealt with, but none had been major.

Celia opened her mouth to protest but never got the chance to complain that it was beneath her capabilities to do such menial work, when Rodney yelled from beside Teyla's bed. "Jennifer? Carson? Get in here! I think she's waking up!" All attention was diverted away from the little scene and onto Teyla's bed. Carson and Jennifer hurried to her side, leaving Miranda Cole with the Colonel as they were still concerned that his temperature was remaining stubbornly high.

Jennifer checked the monitors while Carson leaned over the bed. He checked her vitals the old-fashioned way and received a slight moan when he shone his penlight into her eyes, eliciting a huge smile from the Scot. He lightly tapped her on the cheek. "Teyla? Come on luv, open those beautiful eyes for me." Her lids fluttered. "You can do it Teyla, come on now." Her eyes opened and closed a couple times before focusing on him.

"Carson?"

"Aye lassie, you gave us quite the scare!"

"What happened?" She looked around and saw the worried faces of Ronon and Rodney, along with Lorne, Radek and, was that Katie Brown? The one face she wanted to see was not there. "John?" Another thought crossed her mind and she struggled to sit up. "Torren? Where is my son?"

"Calm down Teyla, he's fine! He's with Amelia and she's spoiling him rotten!" Rodney replied, awkwardly patting her hand.

She relaxed and then tensed again when she realized she'd only gotten one of her questions answered. "John?"

Carson stepped in. "John is…a bit under the weather. I know he'd be so happy to know that you're back with us."

"John is ill? And what happened to me?"

"What do you remember?" Lorne asked.

"I had just gotten back to my quarters from my morning classes. I was going to see if John wanted to get lunch when someone showed up at the door. I did not know her but had seen her around the base. She introduced herself as…Dr. Hanson? She was quite nice and said that John had been on his way with lunch for us but had gotten called away. She said she was coming this way anyway and offered to deliver it for him. She also said that I should go ahead as he had indicated he was not sure how long he would be. I thanked her, and she left. I ate a little and sipped a bit of the water, but I wanted to wait to see if he would join me. I do not remember anything after that."

"Well, it's a good thing ye waited lassie. If you'd eaten more of what she'd brought you, things would have been very different right now."

"Why?"

Lorne answered. "You know John's stalker we were worried about?" She nodded. "Turns out it was Dr. Hanson and she somehow found out about you and John. She wanted you out of the way. The food was laced with a poison that one of the Ancients had developed. She created the same drug and it would have killed you if you'd gotten a bigger dose."

"John?" She knew they were avoiding answering her questions, wanting to protect her but she needed to know, and she needed to know now. Her tone left no room for any more prevarication.

Rodney sighed. "She gave him a different drug that knocked him out for a while. It was supposed to make him do whatever she wanted."

"Like Lucius's herb?" Rodney had to smile a bit as he thought about how their common experiences bound them together. She'd made the same connection he had.

"Yes, but not quite as…simple. Turns out long term exposure has some very serious side effects." The alarm on her face had him stumbling over his words. "No, no, no, nothing like that happened to him. He wasn't effected by the drug, so he broke out and went for a little swim."

"Rodney! Broke out from where? Went for a swim where?"

Ronon took over, placing a heavy hand on McKay's shoulder, warning him to shut up. "She kidnapped him and locked him away. When he couldn't get out the door, he went out the window and swam to the East Pier."

"Why would he not just wait for rescue?"

"We're not 100% sure, but we think she threatened you and he was desperate to get out and protect you." Lorne replied.

"Where is she?" Her question was fierce, and they had no doubt that, if she wasn't already in custody, Dr. Hanson would have needed protection from the force known as Teyla Emmagen.

Lorne smiled at her. "She's in a holding cell and might even be awake by now." When she looked at him questioningly, he smirked. "Ronon stunned her."

"Of course he did." She smiled her thanks at the big Satedan. She turned back to the rest.

"Is he alright?" She asked the question but only watched Rodney's face, knowing he had a hard time hiding the truth there and that John meant more to him than anyone other than Jennifer and his sister Jeannie. What she saw there, scared her. "I want to see him!" She struggled to sit up, feeling dizzy and weak but determined.

Jennifer put a hand on her shoulder, easily keeping her in the bed. "Teyla…Teyla, I'm not going to lie to you. He's very ill."

"From the drug?"

"No, that's worn off now. However, it was still in his bloodstream when he went into the water and he just wasn't as strong as he normally would have been. Ronon, Lorne and a team rescued him but he…he stopped breathing for a while. The team got him back, but we aren't sure yet what the long-term effects might be. We don't know for sure how long he was without oxygen. Right now, he's fighting a bacterial infection from something he most likely picked up in the water when his system was already compromised. His temperature is very high, and he's had several episodes of convulsions."

"Several?" Rodney exclaimed. "I thought there was only the one?"

"He's had several smaller ones since the one you witnessed. It's similar tae febrile seizures in children when their temperature spikes. John's are a combination of his fever, the bacterial infection and probably what remains of the drug Hanson injected him with." Carson answered. "They've stopped now but his temperature is still high."

"Please, Carson, Jennifer, I want to see him!" The two doctors exchanged looks and Carson finally nodded.

"On two conditions. First, you use a wheelchair and second, you head back to bed when you're tired or if we tell you to." Jennifer said.

"Anything." Teyla whispered back, suddenly afraid to do the very thing she'd been begging for.

Ronon stepped away and returned with a wheelchair. He scooped her up and sat her in it carefully. Rodney appeared with a blanket from somewhere and gently tucked it in around her legs. The others watched the care and gentleness the warrior giant and the clueless scientist showed her and more than one choked up at the scene, Radek furiously clearing his throat. They made quite the procession as they crossed the short distance between the two beds. Carson stepped up and rapped on the metal edge of the privacy screen surrounding the bed.

Miranda stuck her head out and smiled widely at the sight of Teyla up and about, albeit in the chair. She stepped forward, leaned down and put a hand on Teyla's arm. "It's so good to see you awake Teyla. Colonel Sheppard will be very relieved." She smiled up at the rest of them before returning her attention back to Teyla. "He's doing better. The cooling blankets have helped bring his temperature down and that will let the antibiotics do their work. He's still unconscious but I firmly believe he'll know you're there. Talk to him and let him know that you're alright. That should alleviate some of the worry I'm sure he's still feeling and allow him to concentrate on getting better, so he can be back with you and Torren." She patted the arm and straightened up, gently moving the screen aside enough to allow the wheelchair and her attendants to move inside. Once they passed, she moved it back into place and turned to face the others.

"Is he really doing better doc?" Lorne asked.

"He is. He's still not out of the woods yet, but he's better than he was a few hours ago. He's one of the strongest men I've ever met, and I would never bet against him beating the odds."

Carson looked at the screen longingly. While he trusted Dr. Cole, he wanted to see with his own two eyes but also wanted to give the team their time together. He was surprised when Ronon and Rodney slid through the screen and rejoined them a few moments later.

"I thought you two would want to spend time with the Colonel?" He asked.

"We will but, right now, Teyla needs this time alone with him more." Rodney answered. Several eyebrows shot up at the untypical response and Ronon grinned.

"He made me leave them alone together. I think Jennifer has brought out the romantic side of one Dr. Rodney McKay." Both Jennifer and Rodney blushed while the rest laughed quietly. Things still weren't back to normal, but they were looking up.

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