MGM owns all characters. Some dialogue taken from GateWorld.
Thanks HalCooper and scr1tno for their beta work and all my loyal reviewers and the new ones, too.
A/N: Poisoning the Well is a pivotal episode in my AU story, so I am splitting it into two parts. Once you read, you will understand why. Sorry to do this, but long chapters are hard to read and I realize everyone needs time to do other stuff besides read my ramblings. Thanks for understanding and hope you enjoy.
Jennifer was exhausted, but kept running alongside Sergeants Richards, Stackhouse and Warrington. The last week since her return from M7G677 had been one of frustration for the young doctor. Carson and Rodney hovered around her like she was going to break and Sheppard just laughed about it. She was never alone in the city except in her quarters and even then, she was sure someone from the military was hanging around. Poor Mace and Markham got the worst assignments imaginable and if she tried to talk to them, they basically ran from her.
When Jennifer tried to address the amount of attention paid to her safety in Atlantis, it was John who pulled her aside telling her how much the soldiers admired her and felt awful she got hurt under their protection. Jennifer went out of her way to make the soldiers feel important, respected and listened closely to their orders and her battles with Kavanagh and several other arrogant jerks from Rodney's department only cemented her status among the soldiers; they would do anything to protect her. The young physician relented in her threats to go to Weir if they did not lay-off and accepted her fate.
Sheppard's team had been off world for almost two days, so she spent most of her time in the infirmary on duty, working on one of her many research projects or doing something to keep busy and keep her mind off the constant concern she felt when they were off world. Hence her current run through the city with the Marines during her lunch break.
"Doctor Keller," Chuck's voice came over her radio.
"Go ahead, Chuck," Jennifer said as she paused in her run slightly out of breath. Her knee still hurt occasionally, so she had not run much since her injury.
"Major Sheppard's team is coming back and Doctor Weir wants you to attend a meeting in the conference room in twenty minutes."
"Okay. On my way." Jennifer looked at the Marines, who stopped running and stood around her. "I've been summoned by Doctor Weir. I'm heading back."
"Come on. I'll show you a shortcut to the transporter," Richards said as he nodded for her to follow him into one of the nearby doorways.
After grabbing a five-minute shower and racing to her lab to get her laptop, Jennifer arrived in the conference room to see Carson, Doctor Weir and Team Sheppard seated around the table. Jennifer sat between Rodney and Carson while Sheppard updated Elizabeth and Carson on an interesting find on this planet, Hoff. The Hoffans believed that they had created a biological way to stop Wraith from feeding on humans.
"According to Chancellor Druhin the drug is still several years away from being finished," Teyla said.
"I'd say, given their current level of technology that…er… could be an understatement. Just because they believe they're close to a breakthrough, it doesn't mean that they are," Rodney added.
"You saw for yourself, their entire civilization is based upon the completion of that goal, Doctor McKay. I would not underestimate them," Teyla replied.
"Do we even know for certain that the Wraith are an immediate threat?" Elizabeth asked.
Jennifer and Carson were still digesting the original news of a biological means of combating the Wraith. The bright eyes on Carson's face told Jennifer that she was not going to be able to rein him in on this one.
"We can probably bet they don't have fifty years," John said finally getting Jennifer's attention and smiling.
"Hence Major Sheppard has generously offered our help to the Hoffans." Rodney shifted, crossing his arms, and appeared annoyed when he looked at Jennifer.
She raised her eyebrows at Rodney and then glanced at Sheppard across from them as if to ask, what's up with him?
"He did, did he?" Carson said leaning forward.
"Look, the fact is, if they're onto something, maybe we can speed up the process," John said.
"Please, Major. What level of technology are we talking about here?" Carson said. "We can't run in to help every group that has some half-baked idea."
"I think Mendeleev would feel at home in that lab," McKay added.
Carson rolled his eyes and John jumped in with the closing argument. "Fine. If you don't want to do it, I'm sure Doctor Keller would be happy to step back in history a little."
"Absolutely not. Fine." Carson said crossing his arms and glaring at the Major. "But you can't go volunteering us for something without consulting with me first. That's not even volunteering, is it? It's being pressed into service. Not to mention the fact that I'm not..."
"Not military, I can't give you orders. I know," Sheppard finished for him.
"I must agree with Doctor Beckett's comments and ask you to refrain from volunteering anyone for anything without checking in with me first," Elizabeth said as she leaned forward.
"He's not upset, he just doesn't like going through the Stargate," Rodney said looking smugly at Carson.
"He's worse than Doctor McCoy," Sheppard added.
"Who?" Teyla asked.
"The TV character that Doctor Beckett plays in real life," the Major explained.
"Converting a human body into energy and sending it millions of light years through a wormhole; bloody insanity," Beckett continued to protest.
"C'mon, how often do you voodoo doctors get to travel to an alien planet?" Rodney said trying and failing not to smile.
"I'm already on an alien planet!" Carson barked at him.
Elizabeth watched the banter and laughed internally. She had wondered how all these personalities would mix and it has gone pretty smoothly. The administrator was not too removed to notice the tension between her head of research and head of the military where the young Doctor Keller was concerned. It appeared as if her injury on M7G677 was a sore point between all of them including Doctor Beckett. She decided to stay out of it and let the adults work it out for themselves.
As usual, Doctor Keller's sense of humor was able to break the tension. Jennifer burst out laughing, so everyone turned to look at her. "You're not fooling me, Carson."
"So now you're going to jump to my defense? You have been exceptionally quiet today." Beckett glared at his young friend.
"No. But, I know how you love the opportunity to debunk bad medicine so don't act high-and-mighty. Thou shall not volunteer the Great Carson Beckett without his permission," Jennifer said in an exaggerated voice like she was proclaiming the Ten Commandments. She then broke into laughter and several others joined her as Carson visibly deflated.
"I'll get you back, love. You won't know when, but I'll do it," Carson said.
"I would love to see you try," she grinned at her boss.
"OK, Major, you have a go. But if the drug really is just a pipe dream…" Doctor Weir left the rest unsaid as they got up to head out.
The next morning, Rodney McKay looked around the mess hall at 0700 looking for Jennifer. She had been avoiding being alone with him since the incident on M7G677 and he was more upset than he wanted to admit about it. Something transpired between her and Sheppard, but no one would tell him what. According to Carson, John was furious with the soldiers, who let her get hurt. The CMO confided that they suspected something terrible happened to her when they first found her. She looked like someone had tried to attack her. Rodney's blood boiled when he heard that. The thought of someone hurting sweet Jennifer caused him to feel a rage he never felt before. The scratch on her face had finally healed, but looking at it for several days made him want to punch someone. Instead of resorting to physical violence, he took it out on his scientists by demanding a week's worth of work in two days.
"Doctor Keller?" Rodney called on his radio and got no response. "Jennifer? Where are you?"
"Rodney?" A sleepy voice came over the headset. An image of Jennifer in her bed just waking up filled his head and he found he had to turn his back on the others in the mess hall. A blush rose over his cheeks as he remembered her appearance when he woke her up on their second day in Atlantis, the messy hair, relaxed look and her t-shirt stretching over her…
"I'm… Breakfast… You're late. You're late for breakfast. I'm waiting in the mess hall for you." He found a way to get his mind back from a place it ventured far too often lately.
"Oh no. My clock's not working. Okay. I'll grab a shower and be there in fifteen. Save me some muffins. I know they're almost gone," Jennifer said. He could hear the rustling of sheets in the background, as she climbed out of bed.
"Sure." He quickly shut off the radio because the sounds of clothing being taken off or water running would be too much for him to take. He might need to head to his own quarters for his second shower of the morning.
Jennifer could not stop laughing as Rodney told her about Carson's encounter with the female doctor who ran the program on Hoff. The woman was beautiful according to McKay. Carson had said the lab looked dreadful until her appearance then it was perfectly charming.
"And then he introduces himself as Carson. Beckett. Doctor. I mean, call me Carson." Rodney was laughing with her now.
Rodney's laughter was a sound Jennifer loved. She had not remembered hearing it since Christmas. Wow, had it really only been a couple weeks since Christmas. New Years was not very eventful because Jennifer fell asleep before midnight like always. Rodney told her he would force her to stay awake next year. When she awoke on New Years day, she ran into Amanda in the mess hall; she had a silly grin. Apparently, John Sheppard kissed her at the stroke of midnight. The thought of Rodney kissing her at midnight made her start to blush. What would a kiss from Rodney McKay be like?
"I will admit she is beautiful, though," Rodney said as he stared at nothing in particular on his tray.
"So you've said before," Jennifer said with a hint of anger in her voice. After fantasizing about kissing him, the last thing she needed was for him to talk about another woman.
"Hhhmm… she is a blond," Rodney said with a dreamy look on his face.
"Barbie?" Jennifer's voice rose enough so that Stackhouse and Warrington who were at the next table glanced over.
"Yeah. Blue-eyed blond. Reminds me of my girlfriends from high school and college and this Russian woman I met." Rodney was not paying any attention to the red-faced woman seated across from him.
The two sergeants glanced at each other both realizing that Jennifer was jealous of Rodney talking about the other women. Sly grins crossed their faces as they both realized they had the most interesting piece of gossip ever, Doctor Keller likes Doctor McKay.
"You have a real thing for blue-eyed blonds don't you? Especially the statuesque ones." Jennifer's voice was so cold, the Marines thought they saw frost coming out of her mouth.
"Well, I wouldn't call her statuesque. She was a little shorter than me. Like Samantha Carter," Rodney said as he continued to reminisce about the women of his past. It was surprising to him, but the longing he felt for them was not there. It was as if he were looking at pictures of them and they did not register as anything more than women he once knew. He had been intimate with most of them, Samantha Carter being one of the exceptions. But she was much smarter than the other women I'd been with. Not the dumb blond-type I usually ended up with. But none of them measured up to his closest friend seated across from him. When he glanced across the table at her and met the brown eyes that haunted his sleep whenever he was not exhausted enough to pass out, he found the angriest expression he ever saw there. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, just peachy," Jennifer said coldly and stood up abruptly. "Think I'll leave you to dreaming about your conquests. I hope Carson keeps this particular one away from you."
"What are you babbling about?" Rodney still thought they were joking around. "I'm not interested in her."
"Oh, I forgot. No voodoo doctors for the Great Rodney McKay!" Jennifer stomped off.
"What the hell was that about?" Rodney looked at the two young Marines nearby with a bewildered expression.
The two Marines looked at each other and Stackhouse said, "Can't help you Doctor McKay." Both men started laughing as they left.
Jennifer had spent the rest of her day working with Peter and Radek configuring and testing a device to measure neural interfaces between those with active ATA genes and Ancient technology. They had been working on it for a couple of months now. When Rodney called at lunchtime, she ignored him.
"Jennifer?" Carson's voice sounded in her radio."Yes, Carson?"
"Jennifer, meet us in the conference room as soon as you can," Carson sounded more excited than she ever remembered.
"I'll be right there," Jennifer answered and left the engineers to finish their work.
She arrived at the conference room to find Doctor Weir and Carson discussing his visit to Hoff.
"I saw it with my own eyes, Doctor Weir," her boss was saying waving his hands excitedly.
"Yes, in a Petri dish, and we are talking about a hundred and fifty year old Wraith cells. I mean, for all we know, they could be immune to the drug by now or come up with defenses against it," Elizabeth countered as Jennifer sat down.
She had reviewed Carson's notes on her laptop at lunchtime and knew he was running a few experiments with the Hoffan samples and the Wraith cells from the arm Sheppard brought them. Apparently they found a protein from a man who was immune to Wraith feeding and Carson was helping them purify and test it.
"Well, I don't think so, Doctor. I took the liberty of running a few tests of my own using cells taken from the Wraith arm Major Sheppard brought back from Athos. The results were the same: near complete resistance. They've definitely got something. Believe me, I'm more surprised than anyone," Carson responded.
"So what do you recommend?" Elizabeth asked.
"That we take their work to the next level. I've informed the Hoffans of our guest in the brig," Carson said looking between Jennifer and Elizabeth with a wild gleam in his eye.
"Was that wise, Carson?" Jennifer asked. Why did he tell them about the Wraith? There is no reason for them to know that. What if they want it for experiments?
"I didn't think it could hurt," Carson answered with a confused look on his face because Jennifer looked troubled.
"You realize what you're asking for?" Doctor Weir said with the same concern Jennifer felt echoed on her face.
"I do." Carson nodded as SGA-1 entered the conference room.
After they all settled, Carson started his briefing. John ended up seated next to Jennifer with Rodney across from them with an angry expression on his face.
"Using living Wraith cells is our only recourse at this juncture. Without them we have no way of knowing for certain if the drug is actually viable," Carson said.
"You said it worked effectively on the cells of the severed Wraith arm we brought back," Teyla said.
"It did, but those were already in a partially decayed state. We need live samples," Carson said.
Jennifer could not help but shudder at the thought of harvesting those samples. John noticed and smiled at her as he leaned closer. It was as if he wanted his presence to scare away thoughts of the Wraith. She could not help but smile at him.
"And with new samples you think it's possible to create a prototype?" Weir asked.
"Given enough time, yes I do," Doctor Beckett said.
"He's got a good point, the Hoffans are practically obsessed," Rodney said.
"Thank you, Rodney," Carson said.
"I agree, Doctor McKay," Teyla said and turning to Elizabeth, "But their obsession may become their undoing."
"Well, even if they do... undo, it'd be good for us. I mean, given the choice, wouldn't you want to be immune?" Rodney asked glancing around the room, glaring at John and Jennifer seated close together.
"Not if it meant the lives the Wraith might otherwise spare. This drug would only be of value if everyone, everywhere, possessed the same immunity," Teyla said.
"There's a thought worth pursuing," John said pointing at Teyla to his left.
"Scaling up a protein to inoculate an entire galaxy will take a sizable effort," Jennifer added feeling rather useless for the first time in her life. She was excited that Carson got to run this project and do exciting new research, but was uncertain of some of his decisions so far.
"I agree with Doctor Keller and also with Major Sheppard," Elizabeth added. Looking at the soldier, she said, "Major, have you made any progress with your prisoner?"
"Well, not yet, but he just blinked," John said.
"He blinked? What does that mean?" Rodney could not keep in his anger at John and Jennifer sitting together and sharing glances.
"It means he's still holding on but he's indicated to me that he may break soon," the Major clarified.
"And he indicated this to you by... blinking?" Rodney growled at him.
"Yes," John said with a smug look. Jealous of Jennifer again? He is so easy to tease.
"No offence, Major, but so far he hasn't told you a thing. For all we know he could linger this way for months and ultimately we'll learn nothing," Carson said.
"The Wraith could be on their way to Hoff as we speak. If your prisoner holds the key to the creation of this drug, should we not take advantage of this?" Teyla asked.
"How can we get the sample off him safely?" Elizabeth asked.
"We still possess the weapons used in his capture. It would be a simple matter of incapacitating him again," Teyla said.
Jennifer swallowed hard, imagining someone in the cell with that monster. Based on the reports from Sheppard and Ford of what happened to Colonel Sumner and the data gathered from the arm and Hoffans, the feeding process is horrific.
"So, then, it's possible?" Elizabeth asked.
"It's possible," Sheppard said glancing at Ford and Teyla, the warriors on his team.
"Someone would have to be brain dead to go in there. Be sure to pick one of the stupidest soldiers you have," McKay said chuckling.
"John and I will sort it out. We'll send the cells through later this evening, Carson. I suggest you get back and get ready for them," Jennifer said in her take-charge voice.
"Thank you, Doctor Keller," Elizabeth said.
"All right. Ford, get the stunner. I'll meet you outside the holding area in twenty minutes," John said as he rose.
"So… sending in Markham or Mace," Rodney asked chuckling as he walked out ahead of them.
All fear of the Wraith vanished in a wave of anger for Jennifer. Her jealousy of the other women in Rodney's life, her annoyance at his lack of concern for the soldiers, the way he and Carson sheltered her lately and just a general desire to show she was as tough as the others pushed her to offer something that she never would have if she was behaving rationally. After she was alone with John, she said, "I'll get the cells. It will be faster and we won't have to do it again if someone messes up."
John felt a moment's hesitation, but seeing the determination in her eyes and the set in her jaw, he decided to let it go. "Sure. Go get your stuff. See you there."
Once Jennifer left, he got on the headset, "Stackhouse, Warrington, Richards, I need you three to meet Bates at the holding cell. We're paying Steve a visit."
"Hey Doc, is that all you need? Where's your firearm? I know you're qualified because I approved it," John smiled and then saw doubt on Jennifer's face.
"Do you think I need one?" She asked with big eyes.
"No. We'll stun him a couple times and I brought in all your buddies to protect you, so nothing to worry about." John smiled and projected a calm persona to ease any fear she might have.
"You didn't tell the Gunny I was doing this, did you?" Jennifer asked. She knew he would have a heart attack and might actually physically bar her way.
"He'll be there to protect you. You have nothing to worry about." John led the way to the transport and ran into Aiden with the large stunner that he always thought looked like a giant grub with a tail.
"Joining us, Doc?" Aiden asked.
"Yup," Jennifer said smiling. Everything was going to be okay. Nothing will go wrong.
Almost as soon as she thought it, she stepped off the transporter into a nightmare; Rodney McKay was standing in the middle of the corridor with Gunny Richards, who was decked out in tactical armor, a 9mil holstered on each leg and his P90 clipped to his vest. The astrophysicist was looking bored, but when he saw her with a tray of vials, his handsome face contorted into the angriest expression she ever could have imagined. His face flushed red and then it turned white as every vein in his neck could be seen. His fists clenched into white-knuckled balls visible over his crossed arms. "John, this had better be an elaborate hoax to see how pissed off I can get."
"Calm down, Rodney."
John shot his oldest soldier a glance and the Sergeant returned his look with ice in his eyes. Damn. I'm sure he's as pissed as Rodney. "What are you doing here, McKay?"
"I was wondering how you were going to harvest the cells," he said as his eyes drifted from John back to Jennifer. "Now I see you're letting Jennifer go in there with that monster."
"You don't need to be here, so leave," Jennifer said coldly to Rodney.
"Only with you," Rodney said standing his ground.
"This is ridiculous, McKay. There are six heavily armed soldiers here. We'll stun it a couple times and if he twitches, we'll put him down again. When are you going to trust that I don't want her harmed any more than you?" John did not want to have this particular discussion in front of his men, but he realized his messing around with Rodney's jealous nature where Jennifer was concerned might have carried on too long.
"Funny way of showing it," Rodney spat at the Major.
"Enough! Carson is waiting for these, so let's do this." Jennifer made to walk past Rodney only to have him grab her arm. She held his angry blue gaze with her own and it strengthened her resolve."Hey! What are you doing? Let me go."
"Only when you start showing some common sense. Have you seen that thing? It's about twice your size." Rodney was getting desperation in his voice.
His grip on her upper arm was not painful, but it was tight enough that she could not pull out of it without a lot of effort. Perhaps fighting with him is not the best method. "Okay, Rodney, I get it, you're trying to do my father's bidding, but I will be fine. If it bothers you so much, stay and watch."
When her eyes connected with Richards', she saw fear on his face and it shocked her.
"You can show me how to do it, Doctor Keller. You don't need to put yourself in danger," Dwayne said in his calm baritone voice.
Now Jennifer was in a tough situation. She did not want to disobey one of the soldiers, but she could not back down in front of Rodney. He would never let her out of her quarters without an armed escort if she caved in. "I appreciate the offer, but we need to do this quickly. I'll scrape them off his hands and be done with it."
Rodney still had not let go of her. "Rodney, I'll be fine." She raised one hand and put it over his hand holding her arm.
Richards was suddenly handing his gun to Ford and taking off his tactical armor. "Put this on to be safe."
"What? That weighs like fifty pounds," she said shaking her head. Rodney released her arm and reached out taking the vest from Richards.
"Twenty-four to be exact," Dwayne said.
"Turn around," Rodney ordered as he held the vest out for her to put on.
"John?" Jennifer looked at Sheppard who realized a long time ago that he had lost a handle on this situation.
"Just humor them. It can't hurt," John said.
"You are all acting ridiculous. I trust every one of you guys to keep me safe." Jennifer really meant what she said and it allowed a calm to settle over her. Rodney was putting the vest on and turned her back around to zip it up. As his hands brushed over her chest, she felt a blush rise up her cheeks. Looking at the man in front of her, she saw he did not seem to notice, as he was fixated with adjusting straps.
"There. Now I'll take a hand gun if you don't mind Sergeant Richards." Rodney turned and reached out his hand.
"What are you going to do with that?" Jennifer asked incredulously. She had been on the firing range with Rodney and he barely passed his certification.
Jennifer looked at John and shook her head. He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "All right. Now that Doctor Keller is suited up and McKay is armed, we can get this party started. Bates, open the door. When we get inside, assume positions flanking the cell door. I'll deactivate the shield and open it. Ford will stun him. Jennifer will be right behind me. She'll go into the cell with Ford and I…"
"And me," Rodney added although his voice did not sound as strong as it did before.
"And McKay," John corrected. "Doc says she'll need a minute or two, so let's get this over with."
When the door to the holding room opened, Jennifer got her first real look at a live Wraith. It was twice her size as Rodney said and looked angry. She glanced at Rodney, who was close to her right side with the gun raised staring straight ahead, and Richards, who held his P90 in both hands on her left, to get a bit of courage.
This is a stupid idea. It was the last thought she had before darkness invaded her mind. Darkness was the only way to describe it. It blocked out her thoughts and left her feeling violated. A shudder went through her body as her eyes focused on the Wraith to see its never-blinking eyes staring at her. It quickly charged forward when Sheppard opened the cell.
Jennifer jumped, as did Rodney by her side. Aiden hit it with the stunner. It went down and struggled to get up, so Ford hit it again. It lay spread-eagle on the floor in front of Sheppard and Ford.
The physician was frozen to the spot. The speed it moved as it charged scared her even more than she wanted to admit. If not for her stubborn pride, she would have turned and buried herself in Rodney's arms as soon as she felt it touch her mind. She was certain the feeling had been caused by the Wraith.
"He's out," John said from inside the cell. "It's time to play with your Christmas present, Doc."
"Very funny," Jennifer said without much emotion in her voice. Glancing at Rodney who had the handgun aimed at the Wraith and his eyes glued on it, she moved into the cell. Richards and Rodney were still flanking her as her eyes took in the Wraith, dressed in a Goth-like outfit complete with floor length black leather coat. Its hair was an unnatural white and skin had a greenish tint. It looked like a childhood nightmare come to life.
"He kind of looks peaceful," Aiden added.
"You're sick," Jennifer said as they moved past the Lieutenant, who had slung the stunner back over his shoulder, leaving Rodney and Richards slightly behind her. Outside the cell Bates, Stackhouse and Warrington had their P90s aimed through the bars at the fallen Wraith. Taking a deep breath and kneeling to the side of it, Jennifer set her vials and equipment down.
The attack was sudden. Neither Jennifer nor the soldiers could react immediately. It sat up, grabbed her around the neck with one hand and slammed his feeding hand into her chest. The pain was intense. Her vision blurred. Her last image was the snarling face of the Wraith with its transparent teeth bared. Her chest felt like her sternum had been broken. The weight of the battle armor dragged at her shoulders.
Jennifer felt another mind touching hers, evil, invading her thoughts. A voice told her she belonged to him. She tried to fight by raising her hands to the hand gripping her neck. The feel of dry flesh was under her fingers as she struggled to pry its hand away. Her vision was gone. Pain tore through her throat as her windpipe was slowly crushed, causing her to gasp for breath. The cold touch of its hand, which she could feel piercing her chest even through the body armor, caused terror to grip her.
Sounds still registered. Gunshots. Screams. Shoot it! Stun it again! It'll hit Keller. Do it! Voices registered in her darkening mind, Rodney, Sheppard, Ford, Richards. Her last conscious thought was that she hoped everyone made it back to Earth alive and then an intense shock knocked her unconscious.
John did not take his eyes off the Wraith but thought it was out. He stood near its feet. When it sat up and grabbed Jennifer by the throat, slamming its feeding hand into her chest, his first thought was to shoot, but it was too close range.
"Shoot it," McKay yelled as he obviously thought the same thing. As he fired, his shots went wide, which was a good thing because the scientist might have hit Jennifer.
"Stun it again," John shouted at Ford as he reached for his knife to cut the Wraith's arm.
"It might hit Keller!" The Lieutenant said in a terrified voice.
"Do it!" Gunny Richards screamed as he ran to Jennifer. His fear of hurting the doctor kept him from using his guns as well, so he pulled his knife.
When the stun blast hit Jennifer and the Wraith, Rodney joined Richards and Sheppard kneeling next to them. The doctor was still clutched in the Wraith's grip, so she fell onto its chest. Rodney slid an arm around her waist pulling her off the creature.
"Get it off her," he cried. His voice sounded foreign to his ears. He was quite certain there were tears leaking out of his eyes. A fear unlike any the scientist had felt before gripped his heart when the Wraith grabbed Jennifer.
"Shoot it," he had yelled as he started firing wildly with the Beretta. He was not aiming at the Wraith for fear of hitting Jennifer, but he had to do something.
John stabbed the Wraith's arm and pried it off her neck. Rodney pulled her into his arms cradling her on his lap as he kneeled on the cell floor. She appeared so small that his heart ached. Her neck was already turning black and blue on the sides where it had gripped her and pinpricks of blood could be seen where its claws dug in.
He heard someone calling the infirmary. Rodney shifted Jennifer in his arms. Richards was saying something, but he could not hear because of the blood pounding through his ears. The older man reached over Jennifer's chest to open the zipper and clasps on the body armor. Realizing that they needed to make sure the Wraith did not start feeding on her through the armor, Rodney pulled a shaking hand from under her knees to help the Sergeant peal it off.
Once removed, Richards pulled the zipper down on her jacket and pulled her t-shirt up. Realizing the soldiers would see Jennifer clad in a bra caused a wave of protectiveness to wash over Rodney. He leaned over her to shield her from too many prying eyes.
She was wearing a dark blue sports bra and there were no bloody marks on her chest. Black and blue patches were forming where the armor impacted her breastbone, however.
"He didn't start feeding," Richards said with a sigh of relief that was echoed from around the room.
"Let's get her to the infirmary!" Sheppard yelled. "Bates, deal with the Wraith."
After Richards pulled her shirt back down, Rodney scooped her up and stood.
"I'll take her, Doctor," Dwayne offered, but Rodney only shook his head.
No one is going to be responsible for her safety any longer but me. If he could quench the fear still flowing through his veins, his anger would have provided him enough strength to knock out every man in the room if they got in his way. "I got her."
Rodney vaguely heard men calling Control to tell them to get Carson off Hoff and then the infirmary to inform them of Jennifer's condition. A stunner at close range plus the near strangulation were situations that required immediate attention.
Time seemed to move too slowly for Rodney. It seemed he was looking at the peaceful face in his arms for hours. Her hair was coming out of its binding to hang down over his arm. He had her head resting against his shoulder and without thinking; he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. I'm sorry, Jennifer. I should have made you stop. I'm so sorry. The physicist could not get the feeling that he failed her out of his mind.
When they finally got to the infirmary, Amanda Cole and several doctors, who were visibly shaken, led them to the private room in the back where she was after the incident on M7G677.
"Put her down Doctor McKay," Amanda said as she laid a hand on Rodney's arm.
"But she's still unconscious," Rodney's mind was still stuck back in the cell with the horrible image of the near death of Jennifer.
"I know. She's probably paralyzed like you were by the stunner. Please let us treat her." The Air Force doctor was trying to speak calmly, but failed as her voice cracked.
"Her throat. It was strangling her. We tried to get it off as quick as we could, but it was too strong." Rodney was beginning to let his panic out and began to ramble as he set her gently on the bed, stroking her hair before stepping back. "Sheppard stabbed it. What if it held on too long? What if she has brain damage? What if it can feed another way?"
"Doctor McKay," the voice of Richards permeated his near hysterical mind. "They will check for all those things. We need to let them work. You can see her when they're done."
The bigger, stronger man plus Sheppard took an arm of the scientist and steered him out of the room. As soon as Rodney realized John Sheppard was next to him, the rage he felt initially at this entire situation boiled over. "Outside. Now."
He yanked his arm from John's grip and marched out of the infirmary. He heard the sound of Carson coming up the corridor from the other direction screaming questions. Allowing himself a moment of relief at the sound of the Scotsman, who was the only doctor besides Jennifer that he trusted, the angry man got his bearings. There was a balcony up ahead, so he headed that way.
Gunny Richards was angrier than ever as well. He was mad that he allowed this to happen and angry that he was duty-bound to prevent McKay from slugging his CO, something he would have done if he were not a proud Marine.
Rodney waited until John was through the door then swung his right fist with all his might hoping to get in one punch before the soldier beat him senseless. His fist slammed into the hand of Sergeant Richards, however.
"I'm sorry, Doctor McKay, but I can't let you hit my commanding officer," Richards said it as if it was an apology. It was obvious by his eyes that he felt Rodney had every right to hit his CO.
TBC
A/N: The second part should be up in a few days. For any other chemists out there, threw out Mendeleev (19th century) chemist to give you a chuckle. Not a lot of chemistry humor out there :-)