A/N: Thanks once again for all the great reviews. Hope that you enjoy this chapter.

He ran, and he just kept running, focused solely on his final destination. He was oblivious to the worried glances he was eliciting from the Atlantis personnel as he tore through the inhabited parts of the city. He rounded the corner that would take him past the science labs, and down into the uninhabited parts of the city, and ran head long into Rodney Mckay, who had been too engrossed in a new ancient toy to see Sheppard come flying round the corner, knocking him back into the wall.

Putting a hand against the wall to steady himself, Rodney prepared for his verbal tirade, "What the hell do you think you're doing", he began, before looking up to find Sheppard already half way down to the corridor. His anger quickly turned to worry as he called after Sheppard's retreating form, "Sheppard, Colonel?". Realising that he was probably already too far away to hear him, Rodney tried his radio, he tapped his earpiece, "Colonel Sheppard? Answer me, damn it." Getting no answer, Rodney ducked back into his lab to pick up a life signs detector before starting after him. He already had a head start, and although he wasn't back up to full fitness after his kidnapping, he was still faster than Rodney, running just wasn't his forte.

As he headed off through the maze off corridors, Rodney tried his radio again. "Sheppard? Where are you?", no answer again, his worry dialled up a notch.

His radio chirped before he heard Elizabeth's concerned voice, "Rodney, what's wrong with Colonel Sheppard?"

Rodney winced, Sheppard was going to be in serious trouble if Elizabeth, not to mention Beckett, discovered he was running around Atlantis, just days after being released from the infirmary. Rodney's worry for Sheppard over rode his loyalty though, as he replied, "He just ran straight into me, knocked me into the wall, and I think I may have bruised my back, I have a very sensitive back."

"Rodney!", Elizabeth's voice bringing him back to the matter at hand.

"Oh yes, sorry. Anyway, he ran into me by my lab, and just kept running down into the uninhabited parts of the city.

"He did what?" This time Carson Beckett's furious voice blasted over the radio, "What the bloody hell was he thinking?"

"Well, I don't know Carson, since I don't read minds and he didn't seem to want to stop to chat", Rodney was quickly becoming frustrated, he didn't have time to deal with stupid questions, he just had to find John. "Look, I'm headed out after him now. I have a life signs detector, but he's too far out at the moment. Can you get Zelenka to widen the internal sensors to include the uninhabited parts of the city."

"I am on it," this time it was Zelenka's voice that sounded in his ear.

"Rodney kept running until he reached a junction, not knowing which way to turn, he tapped his radio once more, "Zelenka, right about now would be good. I know it's difficult for you to be able to do it without me, but use what little brain you have, and hurry up. This is an emergency," he was becoming more and more anxious.

"Got it!" Zelenka shouted, ignoring the insult, "There is two life signs in uninhabited part of city. One just down from labs, and one in…chair room."

"The chair room, what would he be doing in there?" Rodney snapped, moving from worried to downright confused. They had discovered that Atlantis had a weapons chair, but had been unable to power it due to a lack of a ZPM. No one had been down there for months.

"How should I know, as you said earlier to Doctor Beckett, I am not mind reader", Zelenka snapped back.

"Rodney, go find him, I'll join you momentarily," sounded in his ear "He may need medical attention, he shouldn't even be out of his room, let alone running around half of Atlantis."

Uh, oh. Carson was pissed, John was going to be in serious trouble when they found him, Rodney considered, and it would serve him right for making him chase him halfway through Atlantis.

"Very well, keep me informed," was Elizabeth's curt reply.

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John stood panting, breathlessly, steadying himself against the wall as his legs felt like they'd turned to jelly. His kidnapping had left him weaker than he had realised, both physically and mentally.

He knew that by now Rodney would be looking for him. He had heard his almost desperate calls over the radio, barely able to pull enough oxygen into his burning lungs, he had ignored the hails. He had eventually pulled the radio from his ear when Elizabeth and Carson had joined in the fray, trying to get his attention. But he had to do this, couldn't allow himself to get distracted from what needed to be done, the reason he was here in this room.

He could do this, had seen Rodney do it hundreds of times, needed to find the access panel to the control crystals. If he could just pull the crystals, throw them over the balcony, then Atlantis would be safe, safe from him. Although they didn't have a ZPM, and therefore no way to power the chair, he knew that they would find one eventually, and the chair had already done so much damage in his hands, he needed to prevent it from being able to do anymore.

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Rodney entered the chair room to find Sheppard feverishly circling the chair, looking for something.

"Sheppard?" Rodney asked quietly so as not to startle him, "What are you doing?"

Not taking his eyes from the chair, still pacing, he replied, "The crystals, need to find the control crystals."

Rodney, totally perplexed, and extremely worried by his friends erratic behaviour, stepped closer. "Why do you need the crystals John?" He asked in a calm voice.

"Need to take them out, need to get rid of them, not safe, not safe."

Rodney noticed that Sheppard's movements were becoming more and more erratic, and he looked to be on the edge of tears. He knew there had been something wrong with him, he knew John, better then he'd let anyone believe. He had tried to tell Elizabeth that there was something wrong, but she had simply shrugged off his concerned. Now looking at his friend he for once was not glad to be right, he would have given anything just this once for his assumptions of his friends emotional state to be wrong, but taking in the bedraggled figure in front of him, he realised that he wasn't, he tried to calm him, "Why don't you come and sit down a minute, ok?"

Sheppard pulled away from his grip, and began pacing again, fingers desperately searching over the base of the chair for an access panel. "No! Need to find the crystals. I need to get rid off them. Help me!" He looked up at Rodney with imploring eyes. Rodney not knowing what else he could do to placate his friend, bent down at the base of the chair and exposed the crystals. Sheppard, seeing the crystals, ran round to Rodney's side, shoving him out of the way as he did so, pulled the crystals, and before Rodney could react, he was running out the door, headed for the nearest balcony.

"Damn it!" Rodney yelled to the now empty room, quickly scrabbling to his feet and running after him.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and once again all reviews are greatly appreciated.