AN: When watching the new episode in the hotel room last friday while half of my mind remained completely baffled by the episode (until the end wrapped things up in a nice sized package) the other half couldn't help but think, damn, the Wraith make hot goth. Now this just might just be my gothy tendencies but I found him attractive. I don't normally find Wraith attractive (certainly not Todd althought I did think he was kinda hot as Halling) but this was different. Or, this could just be cause Ronon wasn't there and Carson wasn't and John was... well a bit of a loser so I was going through fangirl withdrawal but... I dunno damn.

But, anyway, on with the chapter (or not) I'm writing this while I'm in Florida on my sisters laptop. I saw the new episode and I just had to write this chapter vacation or no vacation. It's the final one by the way, I had a lot of fun writing this story and thanks guys for all your reviews and stuff they're what keep me going. Next story will be out within a week probably, maybe two. It'll be primarily Carson whump, Ronon and John too maybe even Rodney if the mood strikes me. Well... probably everyone'll be whumped to some extent.

I'm really done now, thanks for everything and I'll see ya in my next story hopefully!

Solution

Carson stood at the machine with Rodney, John and Ronon beside him as Jennifer wheeled clone Carson into the room with Sam. Everyone was attempting to have looks of optimism but no one save for the Carson's seemed to be pulling it off to well. Rodney turned to look at his still transparent friend standing beside him, the smile on his face wasn't large but it was enough to tell Rodney that Carson wasn't as nervous as he should be.

"How do you do it?" Rodney mumbled.

"What?" Carson asked smile fading into a look of confusion.

"Be so... happy and ready. In don't even know if this'll work and I could very well kill you rather then save you." Rodney shifted as he glanced around at the machine. "I wish I had just a little more time to test it, make sure it works."

"It works," Carson said causing Rodney to raise his eyebrow at him. "And if it doesn't ya tried, I'm glad ya tried, and now this time at least I can say goodbye before my possible death." Before Rodney could protest more to the death part Carson began again. "I lived for a year without any o' ye bein' able ta see me, or hear me and I know that's probably not as bad as what my clone went through but it was still bloody awful. Ye saved me from that. I got a few days here able ta talk to ye. Even if the worst possible thing happens, remember that wee bit."

Rodney nodded, "yeah... I'll remember that. So," he said in a stronger voice. "If you could just stand over there," he motioned to the spot next to the clone under a large panel. "We can start this before... we can start this. And it's probably best if you weren't in the chair... I know it'll probably be pretty taxing to stand but the chair would only do more harm them good in this... we don't need you fusing with the chair."

John furrowed his brow. "Could that actually happen?"

Rodney shrugged. "I have no idea with this thing, but better be safe then sorry."

He nodded and accepted that as a suitable answer.

"Thank ya," clone Carson said standing up from his wheel chair and allowing Jeniffer to roll it away. "For everythin' ya did for me, even though I'm not the real Carson."

"You're realer then I am." Carson smirked motioning vaguely to his transparent state.

"No matter what happens." Rodney said with his back to them and facing the control panel of the machine. "One of you will be coming out... I just don't know which one."

"Or it could be both of us." Carson said keeping with the optimism.

"Or it could be that." Rodney confirmed. "Are you both ready?"

"Aye." they answered simultaneously.

"Right." He said stealing a glance at the others who stood near the door, they were all fidgeting and looked like they wanted to say something, probably a goodbye to Carson as the odds of this actually working weren't exactly in his favor but they stood reluctant. None of them wanted to say their goodbyes to either of them.

Rodney closed his eyes and pulled the lever he could hear the machine power to life and he cringed as the immense heat radiating off it warmed his back. As he turned around he found he had to shield his eyes from the brilliant light and a new worry came into play as he watched the various neon colors dance around before his eyes and eventually settle on blinding white. If the machine didn't kill him, or them, then the heat and light surly would've done some damage. He tried to think positively like Carson would've if he could as he waited. The machine only took a few seconds to work but it seemed like ages before the light faded and there was only a single Carson.

No one moved, no one said a word as they stood in the room, the only sound was the gentle hum of the machine dying down now that it had finished its task. Carson stood in the center of the panel with a far off look in his eyes. He swayed where he stood and for a moment Rodney wondered if the machine had done something, caused some sort of brain damage. Damn! He knew he should've tested it more first, but Carson had been so insistent, he didn't want to go back to floating around Atlantis like... like a ghost.

"Doc?" Ronon said being the first to speak.

Carson turned his head toward him but not long after his blue eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed forward. Being too far away to do much of anything the team rushed to his side. Almost everyone was baffled at what to do save for Jennifer who was busy checking his vitals as she called for a stretcher on her headset.

"You think he's okay?" Sam breathed pushing some blonde locks behind her ear.

Rodney swallowed a lump in his throat. "Honestly? I have no idea."

It was some time before Keller stepped out of the infirmary to meet the team. her face was blank, neither an expression of happiness nor was it a one of sadness. That was good on some degree. "He's sleeping now, everything seems to be fine. All his vitals are working as they should be, I took some blood samples and ran a few tests but the results won't be back for a bit. However from what I did see his cells are breaking down slower, he had at least another two days before he has to go into the statis pod."

"Brain damage? Do we know which one he is? Is he both?" Rodney asked hurriedly.

She shrugged. "It's impossible to tell until he wakes up or the tests come back and the tests won't be back for a little while. I think he'll wake up before then. You can go in and see him now. I think he'll want some friendly faces around." She smiled sadly knowing she wasn't necessarily one of those friendly faces. Carson was working with John, Ronon and Rodney long before she came along. As she stayed on the outskirts of the men bay she felt Sam's hand on her shoulder.

"I think he'd be happy to see your face as well, Doctor." She said with a soft smile and the older woman lead her to the rest of the team. "You're part of this team, you have been for some time now. It's only fitting you be there."

"I'm also his doctor."

Sam grinned. "And that."

The pair walked over to the bed where he lay silently and took a couple seats next to him. Jennifer knew she had other patients but there were nurses on duty and Carson was the most serious case they had at the moment so she stayed and allowed her eyes to drift to the men and woman around her. Ronon was sitting on a nearby bed with John on the chair below him, Rodney was next to Carson's bed staring at his closed eyes willing them to open and as what exactly he was doing staring at him like that. Sam was at the foot of the bed with a soft look in her eyes, she hadn't known the Scottish Doctor long, actually she met him when the expedition began back in Antarctica but she hadn't seen him much since.

They stood by his side in almost complete silence for only a half hour, no one had said anything or moved from their current position. Except for Jennifer who had gotten up to check on another patient after getting a call from a nurse on her when that half hour was up the first signs of his waking came into view by Rodney who saw first because he was the closest one.

"Hey, uh, guys," he said when he first noticed the twitch of Carson's hand. "I think he's waking up!" Rodney called out looking around to his friends.

Immediately everyone was at his side and standing over him. "Come on, Carson." Jeniffer said as she looked at the monitors around the bed. "Wake up for us... come on."

"You can do it, Doc..." John mumbled under his breath.

It was obvious he was fighting to wake up, but it was another few minutes before they said his eyelids peel open and blue eyes shine through. He was a little delirious and he murmured a few things the team didn't understand before Rodney tried to break him out of his dream.

"Hey, Carson, it's us, back on Atlantis now." Rodney was the only one who recognized the names he had given, his older brothers, he must've been dreaming about being back in Scotland. Rodney almost hated to wake him from what was probably a nice dream but he needed to return to world of the living now. "Come on, look at me."

"R'dney?"

Deja'vu was settling in for the scientist now, this was the first time Carson had woken up like that in the past few days. "Yeah, it's me, John's here and Ronon and Jennifer and Sam too... do you remember them?"

Carson blinked and rolled his head away from Rodney to see the rest of the people standing around them. It seemed to take a moment but he eventually gave them a small smile. "Hey..." he whispered, they weren't sure if he recognized any of them as his eyes still seemed unfocused but they all returned the smile none the less.

"How you feeling, buddy?" John asked.

Carson thought about it only to wince. "Head... hurts."

Rodney nodded, he figured there would be some serious headaches after the machine did it's work, in fact e wouldn't be surprised if they all sustained some massive headache later.

"Carson? It's Doctor Keller," Jennifer said as she walked closer to his head. "I need you to do something for me, you're a doctor, you know I have to do this. Can you tell me your full name?"

"Carson..." He took a deep breath. "Carson Ian Beckett... MD." He added with a faint smile.

"When were you born?"

Knowing he had to answer the questions he sighed and thought for a moment. "January fifth... 1969."

John smile. "Hey thats -" everyone looked at him and his exclamation suddenly became far less important. "Nevermind."

"The same month and day as mine." Carson finished with the smile still in place, it seemed as though he was beginning to wake up more now. "'Cept you're a wee bit older now, aren't ye?"

"Hey," John interjected. "How do you -"

Carson cut him off again. "I've seen your medical records, lad, I know everythin'."

"That's not creepy, not at all." John said crossing him arms and exchanging a look with Ronon who was obviously thinking the same thing.

Jennifer ceased from asking anymore questions, if he was able to remember John's medical records then chances are he remembered the date and who was president. She gave a smile but then it quickly disappeared as the crucial question came up, which Carson was he? So far he had given answers and responses that both Carson's would know. "Okay, I'm going to have to ask you some more questions, I think its safe to say you didn't suffer any brain injury during your ordeal, however, I have to ask... what have you been doing the past year or two?"

Everyone was silent and they turned their attention to him. Carson blink slowly and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers in deep thought. "Ah... I... I dunno. I really don't," he looked up to everyone with a pained expression. "I remember my first two or so years on Atlantis perfectly and everythin' before that med. school, growin' up in Scotland, everythin'... but after its all jumbled..."

Rodney seemed to be the only one who found this to be excellent news. "Yes!" He cried out causing everyone to jump.

Now everyone was looking at him. "How is that good?" Carson asked. "I don't even remember what I had for breakfast."

"But that means everything went how it was supposed to!" He said not trying to suppress the large grin spreading across his face. "If it went wrong you should only have the memories of well one of... you but it went good."

"But I don't have memories o' either."

"Give it time." Samatha said understanding the entire process of the machine and what happened to him. "You just woke up soon you'll start to remember."

"I hope," he sighed leaning back into the pile of pillows behind him. "So far, this is very disturbin' I know whats happenin' I know the year and everythin' but for the life of me I don't know what I did for the last two years of me life. I know I existed... somewhere but its all a blur. Like I had one to many."

"It's alright," Rodney said. "Give it a couple hours." He couldn't explain the relief he was feeling, it worked, the machine did what it was supposed to do and merged their minds. Now all they had to do was wait and see if there were any seems. If there were then Carson would be very confused and maybe have some permanent side effects similar to a split personality however different since both personalities would be exactly the same. It would be like talking to him one minute and then the next he not remembering the conversation and then suddenly remembering it again in a couple more minutes but not remembering not remembering. It would certainly be confusing and maybe even put a toll on his medical career.

However if there were not any seems then both minds would be melded into one and he would simply have double memories from those two years of his life. That too would be confusing for him but over time he would learn to live with it. The next step after he sorted out his memories would have to be going home and telling him mother and siblings he was certainly not dead, that was for later on though.

"Why don't you rest Carson," Jennifer suggested. "I can give you something for your head if you like, and when you wake up your memories should be more intact then they are now."

He smiled and lowered himself in the bed. "That would be simply wonderful, lass, I could use somethin' right now."

She nodded and began preparing something to inject into his IV and within seconds his eyes were dropping. "Well that worked bloody fast." He sighed and shut his eyes.

"See you in a bit, Carson." Rodney mumbled as his friend dozed off.

"What do you think?" Sam asked when they were sure he was out cold.

Rodney shrugged. "Hope?" He guessed.

Hours went by and Rodney was getting worried that Carson would never wake up. he was the only one left still sitting by his side, Jennifer had other patients, Sam had duties to attend to as did John, and Ronon was having trouble sitting still for so long. However they all still popped in whenever they had the chance, Ronon the most Rodney noticed since he had no prerssing matters to attend to.

In fact, Ronon had left again barley five minutes ago when Rodney once again noticed Carson's eyes flutter open again. With lightening speed Rodney was at his side his laptop already closed and on the chair beside him. "Hey, you waking up?"

"I am now." Came the weak Scottish brogue from the bed.

Rodney smirked, "you were already waking up and you know it... how do you feel? Head still hurt?"

He nodded but quickly regretted the movement. "Aye, but a bit though."

He raised an eyebrow. "Right, do I have to ask you how old you are or how many brothers you have?"

"No..."

"How much do you remember?"

Carson moaned and shut his eyes, Rodney could see the headache was getting worse, he knew he should call Keller but he had to find out what Carson remembered. "I dunno... its confusin'. I remember everythin', I remember you almost dyin'."

"That's vague, I nearly die a lot."

"When ye decided havin' superpowers was a good idea." He smirked.

"Ah yes... that."

"Oh, and when we had those bloody awful hallucinations. I don't think I ever could forget that."

Rodney nodded, "Do you remember anything else? Something that wouldn't be your memory here on Atlantis for the past couple years?"

"Aye," Carson said without nodding. "I do... I... I remember bein' with Michael, God it was terrible, but they're my memories, I remember doin' it all, how can I remember bein' in two places at once? Both of them are real, I know they are."

"They both are real, the machine works, since he was your perfect clone your minds were able to merge together seamlessly." He grinned in relief as he spoke. "It'll be a little confusing for a while, but soon it'll just be like any other memory."

"So... so I'm both." He said. "That's weird. Since... I didn't have a body before and I was just a transparent... thing that means I'm usin' my body that Michael cloned from me and I merged with myself ta create me... Ach, I have a headache." He repeated.

"Yeah me too," he sighed rubbing his face. "I hate to kill the mood but as you probably already figured out your body is still breaking down... rapidly." He said earning a nod from Carson. "Though the machine did manage to give you a couple more days."

"Oh, lovely."

"You will have to go in the pod though."

"I know."

"And we'll get you out."

A pause. "I know."

"I'm gonna go get Jeniffer." He said getting up before patting the bed. "We'll figure out the serum you need."

Carson nodded. "I know you will."

AN:This used to be two parts, but I decided to merge it all into one since I wanted to get this done and start working on that other fic. Although, I might post an epilouge sorta thing, so keep an eye out for that as well as my next fic. Remember it'll have uber Carson whump so if you like that stop by.

By the way, OH MY GOD THE FINAL EPISDOE IS TOMOROW!!!! AAAH!!!! Okay, just had to get that outta my system.