Chap. 10:

The following morning, Lexi wakes up to the first rays of light filtering into the room through the curtains hanging over the windows. Letting out a sigh, as she feels absolutely exhausted, the previous night replays in her mind and the exhaustion makes perfect sense. She had fallen asleep, positive that John was going to have an easy night, only to be up every hour on the hour with him tossing and turning through nightmares and a couple of trips to the bathroom.

Shifting a little in the bed, she realizes that John's arm is draped over her stomach and he's curled up next to her, his stomach to her back. Smiling to herself, she entwines her fingers with his and snuggles further into him, stopping as she hears his intake of breath, "John, are you up?"

Pulling her into him, "not…really."

Chuckling, but turning onto her right side, she frowns at the pain lines creasing his forehead, "how're you feeling?"

Opening his eyes and shrugging a little, "would it surprise you if I said I feel like crap?"

Raising her eyebrows, "yeah, actually it would." and leaning in to kiss him, pulling away, "but it's a nice change of pace."

Scowling at her, "oh come on Lexi, cut me some slack."

Frowning again, "well, someone certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed." and seeing the glare he fixes her with, "okay, okay. I'm sorry. I'll be right back." she says, as she scoots out of the bed and heads for the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

Turning over onto his back, closing his eyes and scrubbing his face, wincing as his side pulls, he startles as he feels Lexi climbing back onto the bed. Opening his eyes, he smiles as she is staring back at him, concern written across her face, "no Lexi, I'm sorry." and accepting the pills and water bottle she is handing him, "it's just."

Watching him as he fumbles for the right words and takes the pills, "I know." and accepting the water bottle he hands her, "go back to sleep."

Closing his eyes, "that's…easier…then it should…be." he mumbles out as his breathing evens out.

Scooting down under the blankets next to him, she's asleep before her head hits the pillow. Two hours later, she wakes up again and turning over onto her back, she takes a peak at the clock on the bedside table and knowing that she won't be able to fall back to sleep as the conversation they were having the previous evening has been bothering her, she gets out of the bed and heading over to the dresser she pulls out her workout clothes. Changing into them, stretching out and grabbing a Gatorade from the mini fridge she swipes herself out of the room and sets off for the East pier.

An hour and half later, she stops at the mess to grab some food and two bottles of water. Food and drink in hand, she walks out of the mess, juggling everything and walking to the transporter. Stepping into it, she tries to hit the screen to take her to her quarters, but turns at the sound of someone calling her name.

"Lexi."

"Hi Ronon."

"Hey." he says, smiling at her and hitting the screen for her.

"Thanks," she says, as the transporter deposits them in the corridor leading to her quarters, "so, are you coming to see John?"

"Yeah, how's he doing?"

Walking side-by-side, "he's doing okay."

"When will he be back on duty?"

"Jen will be putting him on desk duty on Wednesday. But only if he behaves himself."

Laughing, "I'd like to see that happen."

Raising an eyebrow at him, "and what makes you think that he won't?"

Reaching the doors to her quarters, he stops laughing catching on to her meaning and he winks at her as she swipes them into the room.

Stepping into the quarters, they are met with John sitting up in bed, staring at them, "hey, where'd you go?" he asks, as he sees them walk in.

Coming to sit on the edge of the bed next to him, "I went for a run." she answers, as she sees Ronon sprawl out on the couch.

She hands him one of the sandwiches and a water bottle and not missing the look he is giving her as she reaches for the medicine bottles on the bedside table, "what?"

Taking the pills and handing her the water bottle, "how far did you run?"

Placing the bottle down on the bedside table, "oh I don't know. I did the East Pier route and then some."

"You're scary, Lexi." Ronon says, and sticking his chin out at her, "Sheppard, this one's a keeper."

Looking her in the eyes, "I plan on it." he says.

Blushing, she gets up and as she walks over to the desk, she opens up her sandwich. Reaching it, she sits down and starts eating, listening to and watching the two men chatting.

Twenty minutes later, after finishing her water, "guys, I'm gonna grab a shower." she says, as she walks over to the dresser and grabs a change of clothing.

Seeing her heading for the bathroom, "Lexi, don't you have work?" John asks.

Stopping at the door, she turns to face him, smiling, "it's one of the benefits of being the boss of your own department. I get to delegate. Ronon, keep an eye on him for me and John, don't even think about going anywhere." and turning around she heads into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

xxxx

Fifteen minutes later, showered and dressed in Lorne's hoody and a pair of sweats, she opens the door to the bathroom to find Ronon rummaging through her DVD collection, calling out the names of the movies to John.

"Movie morning?" she asks, as she walks over to the bed and climbs up onto it. Settling back into the pillows, on John's left side she wraps her fingers around his wrist and looking down at her watch she does a mental count of his pulse.

"You know, that's what Keller is for." he says, the annoyance clearly evident in his voice.

"Yeah, well it can't hurt." she says, and as she finishes the count and looks at him, "so Ronon, what's the pick?"

Turning to face them, holding up the case of Transformers, "this one looks interesting."

Smiling wide and looking from him to Lexi, "it's a very good one."

Smiling back at John, "okay, grab my laptop." and as Ronon walks over to the desk to grab the laptop, "after the movie, we're heading to the infirmary.

Pouting at her, "oh come on Lexi. I feel fine."

"We ready for the movie?" Ronon asks, as he sits down on the bed on Lexi's other side.

Leaning back against the pillows again, resting her right arm around John's shoulders, as he shifts to lean against her, resting his head on her shoulder, "yeah Ronon, we're ready." and kissing John on his forehead, which she can tell embarrasses him, "it's either that or no desk duty on Wednesday."

She feels him sigh against her and looking to her left, she sees Ronon lounging back against the pillows. Smiling, she hits the play button on the remote, which he had handed to her as he climbed onto the bed and the movie starts.

About halfway through the film, she hears snoring on her left side and looking down she sees Ronon fast asleep with his head on her shoulder. She turns her head to say something to John, only to see that he's asleep, as well.

Smiling to herself, she inwardly chuckles and goes back to watching the movie. Ten minutes later, her radio goes off and sighing, she raises her right hand from John's shoulder, relieved that he doesn't stir, to hit the radio in her ear.

"Yes Jen, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you were bringing Colonel Sheppard down for his check up?"

"I was planning on it, but, ah, I'm currently not able to move."

"Are you okay?"

Looking from John to Ronon, laughing softly, "yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I'm a Ronon-John Oreo right now."

"Ah, okay. Should I come to you?"

"Yeah, I think that might be a good idea."

"Okay, I'll be there in twenty. Keller out."

The radio link closes and she goes back to watching the movie. As it ends, the door chime goes off and she mentally opens it, to allow Keller to enter, smiling at the look on her face.

"You weren't kidding about being an Oreo." Keller whispers, as she comes over to the right side of the bed and puts the med bag down on the floor. She pulls out the LSD from the bag and pulling up the chair from the desk, "how's he doing?"

"He had a rough night. But it's probably because of the meds."

"Can you wake him?"

Nodding, she gently squeezes his shoulder, "John?"

Bolting upright, looking around confused and eyes coming to rest on her, he slumps back down onto the pillows, "uh, Lexi, I was having a great dream."

"Sorry Colonel." Keller says, taking the opportunity to scan him and ask him a couple of questions.

Lexi sits there watching her checking him over and turning her head to look at Ronon, as the snoring has stopped, she notices that he is now awake and is keeping an eye on everything that is going on.

"Hey, how're you doing?" he asks John.

Taking his eyes off Keller and turning his head to look at him, "I'm good, buddy."

Catching Lexi's eye, Keller motions for her to follow her and stands up to walk out of the quarters, carrying the med bag.

"I'll be right back." she says, as she crawls her way to the bottom of the bed. Climbing out of it, she follows Keller out of the door, the doors closing behind them, "what's up?"

Frowning, "you were right. He's running a low grade fever and his BP is a little higher then I'd like."

"So what do you want to do?"

Shifting the med bag to her other shoulder, "I've changed the pain meds and I've left the new ones on the dresser. If you can get him to drink more water that'd be great, his temp's not that high, but I don't want to have to put him on an IV if I don't have to. I'm happy he's sleeping though, so there is that."

Smiling, "okay, I'll keep him hydrated. What about walking around?"

Returning the smile, "well, the wound is healing nicely. If you can get him to walk around longer than he did yesterday that would be great. But, don't push him. The best thing is what he's doing. If he doesn't walk around that much today, it's okay. But definitely get him up and around tomorrow."

Smiling fading, "good to know." and not meeting her eyes, "anything else I should do?"

"No. But something is bugging you, what is it?"

Still not meeting her eyes, "it's nothing really. I'm just worried about him."

Resting a hand on her arm, "he's really doing as well as can be expected."

Sighing, "physically, maybe."

"Lexi, he's been through a lot in the past two weeks, I'm not surprised if he's having a little bout of depression."

"I know. It's just that, it's frustrating. He won't talk about it and instead, he's doubting certain things."

"Like, being with you?" she asks, taking her hand from Lexi's arm, to shift the bag higher on her shoulder.

"Yeah."

"Give him time. He'll get over it, he always does." and turning to head for the transporter, looking over her shoulder, "I've gotta go. Maybe take him to the mess tonight for dinner and then bring him by."

Smiling at her, "will do, see you later." and turning to head back into her quarters, she nearly walks into Ronon.

"He's asleep again." he says, as she steps aside to allow him to pass.

"Good, he needs it. How're you doing?" she asks.

"I'm good, just didn't sleep well last night."

"Bad dreams?"

He shifts slightly on his feet and sticks his hands in his pockets, "no not really."

Nodding, knowing that he's just like John and the rest of the military members that she treats on a daily basis and won't confess to how he's really feeling, "well, if you need to talk, you know where to find me."

He turns and also heads for the transporter, "I know, thanks. See you later."

xxxx

Walking over to John's side she recovers him with the comforter and runs her fingers through his hair, frowning at the sweat that comes away on them. Sighing, she sits down at her desk and opening up her email program, she works her way through it. She answers the most pressing ones and two hours later, after putting out some fires in regards to who is taking whose shifts, she stands up and heads over to the fridge to grab a sandwich. She sits back down at the desk and keeping her eyes on John, she eats the sandwich. Washing down the last of the sandwich with some water, she gets up and throws away the carton and climbs onto the bed.

Lying down and grabbing her book and iPod, she switches it on and flips to the bookmark, continuing the story from where she left off. A few minutes later, John shifts in the bed, resting his right arm over her stomach, pulling her towards him. Putting the book down on the bedside table and taking off the iPod, she allows him to cuddle up to her, "John are you up?"

Cracking his eyes open, "yeah and I'm freezing."

Frowning, she places her left hand on his forehead and feeling the heat radiating from it, she reaches for his wrist taking his pulse. Finishing the count and frowning, she rolls over and reaches for her radio on the bedside table.

"Lexi, I'm not going down to the infirmary."

She stops reaching for the radio and looks down at him. Seeing his eyes locked on her, pleading, "I'm not gonna take you down there, but I promised Jen that I'd keep you hydrated and with your temp spiking the way it is, I want to get an IV into you."

"Oh, come on. I'll drink whatever you want me to." and as a shiver runs through him, "do I have to have an IV?"

"It's either that or you're spending the night in the infirmary." she tells him, as she reaches for her radio again and slipping it in her ear, fixing him with a stern glare, "Dr. Carter to Dr. Keller."

"Go ahead, Lexi."

"Jen, can you bring me an IV?"

"Is everything okay?"

"No. John's temp is spiking."

"All right, I'll have Marie bring one down to you. Do you need anything else?"

"Nope, I've got Tylenol here, but you might have to come here for his check tonight."

"No problem. See you later."

"Thanks, Carter out."

Taking out the radio and placing it on the bedside table she gets out of the bed and walks over to her desk. Opening the draw, she hits the combo on the digital safe, and opening it, she takes out the Tylenol. On her way back to the bed, she grabs a bottle of water.

Coming to sit next to him, handing him the pills and the water, "here, take these."

He props himself up and swallows the pills, handing the water back to her, "I thought Keller said I was getting better."

"You are getting better. But you're having a reaction to the pain meds. She changed them when she was here earlier, so I'm hoping that this won't last long."

"You think I'll be okay to be cleared for desk duty by Wednesday?"

"Yeah, if you keep taking it easy, I don't see why not."

"Good. You got any food?"

"Yeah, you want a sandwich?"

"Turkey?"

Smiling as she gets up and walks over to the fridge, "of course."

After handing him the sandwich, she climbs up on the bed next to him and settling back on the pillows, she grabs her book.

"Whatcha reading?" he asks around bites of food.

"Covert One: The Paris Option. I like the main character." she tells him, as he continues to finish off his sandwich.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees him toss the sandwich wrapper in the trashcan, "why do you like him?"

Smiling at him, "he reminds me of you."

Eyebrows shooting up, "really? Why?"

Kissing him on his forehead, "well, you both care for others more than yourselves." and feeling him snuggle further down in the bed, she shifts her arm around his shoulders so that he's leaning against her, her fingers running along the upper part of his right arm.

A couple of minutes later, the door chime goes off, "come in Marie." she yells and she feels him startle awake.

She looks down at him and then her eyes track Marie as she walks over to his right side. She watches as Marie quickly inserts the IV and without a word she heads out of the room.

"I'm sorry Lexi."

Eyes darting from the door to him, "for what?"

Frowning, "for what I said yesterday about us not being good for each other. I didn't mean it."

Smiling at him, "don't worry about it. I don't scare that easily." and catching the yawn that he tries to hide from her, "let's get some sleep."

They snuggle down under the blankets, "I love…you." he manages to get out before his breathing evens out and she can tell that he's out again.

She lies there for a while listening to him sleep and a little while later, she too falls asleep.

Around 1820 Keller comes by again. Walking into the room, she sees him asleep next to Lexi, who is reading again, although this time she is reading some research on her tablet. Checking him over, without waking him up, she is happy as the results of the check reveal that his temp is back to normal. Smiling at Lexi, she leaves with the promise of coming by in the morning.

A couple hours later, Ronon, Teyla, carrying a very cranky Torren and McKay all stop by, bringing some dinner for the two of them. While Lexi fawns over Torren, chatting with Teyla, McKay and Ronon keep John entertained and help him walk around the quarters for a little while, until he is so tired from the effort that they get him back into bed and with "see you later" all around they leave. Once they're alone, Lexi gets changed and coming back out into the room, she smiles at sight of John fast asleep. Climbing onto the bed, she mentally shuts the lights off and is asleep in seconds.

Two weeks later, Keller clears John for off world duty. But as usual, the calm that the city was enjoying during the time leading up to Woolsey's arrival gets dashed to pieces the week he arrives.