Title: Adapting

Chapter: Medical Geeks

Author: Gypsy Lupin-Black

A/N: I did some research for this chapter, lol, but if something doesn't make sense, let me know… on the other hand, it is sci-fi, so we may just have to run with it! :-P Thanks for the lovely reviews, keep it up!!

Dr. Miriam Halvorsten and Dr. Jacob Henning were annoying. Rodney had sat through scans, and questions, had been poked and prodded, and the doctors still couldn't get over the technology at their fingertips. Normally, he would have been happy to answer their technology questions and baffle them with his brilliance, but at the moment, he only had one thing on his mind. He hated being this dependant on others for answers. For help.

Carson must have noticed Rodney's growing displeasure. "Well, doctors, you've seen the scans and gotten the history. Any ideas?" he prompted them.

Dr. Henning leaned back in his chair. It creaked under his weight. "The wounds themselves have healed nicely," he replied. "There's some scarring, but that can be taken care of easily enough."

"Do we know what was coating the sticks?" Dr. Halvorsten jumped in.

Carson flipped through Rodney's cart, "we pulled some traces from the wounds." Finding the relevant page, he handed her the chart.

Henning leaned over so he could see it too. Rodney was finding it harder and harder to keep quiet.

Suddenly, Henning laughed. Rodney jumped at the sound, and he and Carson both watched in confusion as he hauled himself out of his chair and over to the computer. "How to I look at all the scans done since the injury?" he asked. Carson moved to pull them up onscreen for him.

Henning stared at them for a moment, then nodded. "Have they been bothering you at all recently, Dr. McKay?"

"Uh, no," Rodney replied, and his voice sounded irritated. "They bugged me off and on last week, but nothing recently."

Henning nodded again, not looking at Rodney. Halvorsten moved up beside her colleague. "What is it, Jacob?"

Henning pointed to something on the screen. "The nerve is regenerating."

At this, Carson moved to look at the scans again as well. "Och, look at that…" he said to himself.

"And that means what, exactly?" Rodney snapped.

Henning ignored him. "The nerve is regenerating, but something is blocking the photoreceptors."

Rodney shifted, about to let loose a scathing verbal barrage, but Carson turned to him. "No light is getting to the part of your eye that receives it, Rodney. The nerves, damaged by the sticks, is healing itself."

"Do you think that it's the chemical coating on the sticks?" Halvorsten asked. Henning nodded.

"Look at the scans, it's coated them like some kind of goo. But his eye pressure isn't elevated," he turned to look at Carson. "Any chance of running some extra tests on the samples?"

Carson shook his head, "I'm afraid not. The compounds broke down fairly soon after we did the initial tests."

"Do you think it's converting the vitreous? The scans show a slow difference in the thickness," Halvorsten asked.

Henning nodded again, "That's what I'm thinking. But if that's the case, we've never seen it before. I was hoping to run some lab tests to confirm it."

Rodney suddenly thought that this must be what Elizabeth felt like whenever he and Radek started off on something. His head started to ache as he tried to keep up. Medicine was voodoo anyway, he'd never given it much attention before. Finally he cut in, "do you think you can fix it or not?"

All three doctors turned to look at him as if they'd forgotten he was sitting there. It was Henning who answered, "it's hard to say yet, but we'll know more if we can get a sample of the chemicals."

Rodney's heart sank. He knew what that meant. Someone was going to have to go back to the planet. Or maybe not, considering how Carson was staring at Henning.

"You want to get a sample from Rodney?"

"That would be the quickest way to determine what's going on," Henning answered. "We can get a sample and culture it, see what it does."

Rodney blanched, "You want to *what*?!"

Carson came to stand in front of him, "Rodney, it would be the quickest way. The other option is to go back to the planet and try to collect the chemical, but that would put another team at risk in hostile territory."

"I know that, I'm not an idiot, Carson. They're talking about sticking a needle in my eye!" Rodney could feel his heart rate speeding up. Memories were dancing in his head, trying to get his attention. Carson put a hand on his arm.

"We wont be doing anything without your consent, Rodney. But the more I think about it, the more I agree that it would be the best option. I can fully sedate you, and I'll be with you the whole time." Carson's words were soothing, and his hand on Rodney's arm gave him something to focus on. Slowly, Rodney clamped down on the memories and pushed them back. They were right, he knew.

And he trusted Carson.