Sorry if the medical stuff's wonky…remember: it's just for fun!

Chapter 21 – One Hell of a Day

The moment the Lantean sun rose above the horizon coincided with a satisfying hum throughout the city of Atlantis as the ZPM was put back in place and gave power back to all the systems.

The weary eyes of the city's occupants met the light of the dawn as they continued to work at getting everything back in order.

The air in the city was thick with unspoken tension as they all knew by now that one of their number had their life held in the balance which could still go one way or the other.

Sheppard was very glad the transporters were working as he stepped out into the Gate Room.

Now that the lights were on and the early morning sunlight was streaming through the window and the hole in the wall he could truly see the devastation the drone had wrought in the Control Room. Blackened scorch marks ran along the floor and broken computers had been swept out of the way in haste to clear a path up the stairs in the Gate Room.

He carefully walked up and met Ronon and Teyla who had been talking with Dr Weir.

Teyla turned at the approaching footsteps, "Colonel, we have just had an update from the Daedalus."

Dr Weir pursed her lips together and then spoke, "Carson was able to beam up a while ago. It took so long for you to get down to the ZPM room he has been helping Colonel Caldwell's staff."

Sheppard silently drew in a large breath and held it while she continued.

"He said Rodney's condition is still very serious but the surgery is going well and should be finished soon."

Sheppard let out the breath in a heavy sigh, "That's good."

Dr Weir smiled, "Yes. Carson also said that they are going to keep him in the Daedalus infirmary for a while until it is safe for him to be beamed down to Atlantis. In the meantime, I would like Teyla and Ronon to assist the science teams as they put our city back together and Colonel, I believe there are some free parking spaces in the hanger above us."

Sheppard grinned and for the first time since waking up to a nasty shock the morning before he actually felt genuine relief passing over him. He knew that Rodney would be fine with Dr Beckett and half the medical team on the Daedalus looking after him. He wondered how much Ancient equipment the Doctor had insisted on being beamed up with him to help and shook his head as images of the top of Beckett's head poking out from under a mountain of crates assailed him.

Weir, Ronon and Teyla returned his smile; although Teyla was still looking worried and they all had lines of tiredness etched into their faces.

They were content just to stand there for a few seconds until a gust of sea air blew in through the hole in the wall and disturbed some dust, which had been scattered across the remains of the control panels.

Sheppard nodded to his team and walked away to the Jumper Bay. He tapped his radio, "Sheppard to Major Lorne… We've got a little job to do."

Ronon turned to Teyla, "Come on, let's see where Dr Zelenka wants us."

Dr Beckett radioed Atlantis as soon as Rodney was released to intensive care. He sounded worn out but relieved.

Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon and Weir beamed straight up to the Daedalus, Sheppard having only just finished his mission and looking like he was about to keel over from exhaustion. He pushed himself to stay awake until he knew about his friend's condition.

Carson walked over to them as they entered the infirmary and guided them to a corner in the cramped room. Dr Newall was no longer on board as he had been stabilised and was strong enough to be beamed down to Atlantis for observation.

Beckett looked around at them sadly, "Aye…"

Sheppard suddenly felt more worried than he had done since he first saw Rodney lying on the floor in the lab. What had made even Carson speechless? "How is…" he began.

The Doctor snapped his head up and looked around at the people gathered in front of him as they watched him expectantly. "Rodney's condition is still very critical. Dr Griggs and I have done all we can for now, but there was a lot of damage. The bruising we already knew about and the graze to his leg was superficial, but the bullet in his side…" he shook his head slowly and sighed. "If he hadn't been wearing the tac vest…"

Teyla furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes as Beckett looked away from them, "It broke several of his ribs and perforated his stomach. I'm not going to make any false promises; it's up to Rodney now. He'll need you, all of you if he's to pull through."

Sheppard winced as Carson spoke and hoped that Rodney had not at any time been conscious after he was shot. Sheppard had heard that a shot in the stomach was the most painful way to die. Based on McKay's previous complaints about splinters and his low pain threshold, Sheppard now felt even more awful about letting his guard down and allowing Rodney to be injured on P3X-778.

Ronon grimaced as he spoke, "Can we see him?"

Carson nodded, "Aye, but not for too long. He's still very weak. Quite frankly I'm surprised he stayed alive for as long as he did with such injuries."

Ronon frowned, "McKay's all talk with his constant complaining, but deep down, when he actually is hurt, he's as tough as the rest of us."

Sheppard felt a little bit better at Ronon's unwavering faith in McKay's strength and recovery. He followed the others as they gathered around the scientist's bed.

Rodney's face was pale and the dark circles were now even more accentuated around his eyes. A steady puff and sigh of a ventilator kept him breathing and his leg and torso were swathed in bandages. IV lines pierced his skin and a heart monitor beeped softly in the background.

Carson checked the readout and turned to look down at Rodney with the others, "I'm going to keep him on the ventilator and in a medical coma for a few days until he's stronger. We should be able to send him back to Atlantis by then. I'm sure he'd prefer to be back in the city even if he is only vaguely aware of it."

They stood there for a few minutes, each of them trying to channel as much of their own strength towards their injured friend as possible. At length Carson turned to them, "I need you to leave now. I'll call you if there's any news."

Dr Weir, Teyla and Ronon reluctantly left, but Sheppard stayed standing there for a while longer.

Carson looked into the Colonel's face and saw the sadness and guilt, "John, I've already spoken to Colonel Caldwell. He's agreed that you can stay on the Daedalus until Rodney can be sent back to Atlantis."

Sheppard wished he could stay next to Rodney but knew that his duty was to the city far below. If he did not help it would only make him feel worse. He nodded slowly and narrowed his eyes, "I can't stay here. There's still work to be done on Atlantis."

Carson frowned, "Dr Newall?"

Sheppard nodded, "Dr Newall…"

Rodney did not know where he was or even who he was. In fact the only thing he did know was that he was completely numb, but blissfully warm and snug.

He could hear a steady high pitched bleep and an intermittent mumbling.

There was a friendly quality to the sounds and he felt a sense of calm flowing through him. As he became slightly more aware he could hear that the mumbling was in fact speech. At first he did not understand and then he caught fragments of words. Something about 'Rescuing Puddle Jumpers,' 'Beaming' and sarcastic disappointment at not having to complete 'EVAs.'

This confused him slightly but the speech seemed to be in good humour so he just relaxed further. He allowed the words to wash over him until they faded out to a quiet drone and then disappeared altogether as he drifted off again.

Sheppard stalked down the corridor towards the Atlantis brig. Dr Newall had not needed very long in the infirmary and had been confined as soon as Carson gave him the all clear.

Colonel Caldwell had been very against the idea of letting Newall back on Atlantis as he would need to be taken back to Earth to face his punishment.

No civil court could ever be used to do the man's trial so it would have to be held at the SGC. He had a string of charges listed against his name including many counts of assault, although indirectly, using the Lantean systems and one count of direct and brutal attempted murder.

Dr Perkins was already safely confined aboard the Daedalus and had a charge of assault against his name for when he had attacked Rodney.

Sheppard marched into the brig and indicated for the guards to lower the forcefield.

They did as he asked and he walked right up to Newall who was sitting on a small bench in the middle of the room.

He blinked up at Sheppard and asked, "How is Dr Li?"

The Colonel was surprised at the strange question and narrowed his eyes, "She's still very ill but Dr Beckett says she should be fine. Why?"

"That's good…good…" Newall gazed down at the palm of his right hand and rubbed it gently with the fingers of his left.

Sheppard frowned, "I asked why?"

Newall sighed, "The device. It was so powerful. I could feel the link to many bases in that system. I don't know what it was. I just felt the compulsion to use it as much as possible."

"Many bases?"

"Yes. Like some kind of control mechanism. Probably so the Ancient's could monitor and control lots of places at once even with just one person."

"And Atlantis?"

"No, not that far, but I could easily link up to all the systems here."

Sheppard's frown deepened as Newall continued stare at his right palm and rub more vigorously into it; he almost seemed to be trying the wipe away the skin to get underneath.

"Why McKay?"

Newall stopped rubbing and looked up into Sheppard furious glare. "Oh! I never wanted to hurt him!"

"Well you did and you nearly killed him!"

Sheppard suddenly grabbed the collar of Newall's shirt and lifted him off the bench roughly. John spun him around and pinned him forcefully against the side of the bars in the brig.

The marines on guard shared a concerned look and hinted at moving to stop their superior before he lost control, but they just stayed were they were and just watched warily.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes as Newall breathed quickly, "What I want to know is why?!"

Newall frowned, "He just got in the way, that's all."

"Not good enough!" Sheppard shouted as he pressed a forearm against Newall's throat and started to choke him. He wanted to make the man pay for the trauma he had inflicted on everyone and for what he had done to McKay.

"John! No!" A female voice called across the room.

Sheppard suddenly felt strong hands pulling him away from Newall. The man collapsed on the floor and held his throat as he coughed weakly.

Sheppard turned around and caught sight of Teyla and Ronon who were both looking flustered and shocked.

They continued to drag him away until the marines were able to raise the forcefield again.

When they were out of the brig and walking along the corridor, Ronon grabbed Sheppard's arm and made him stop.

Teyla said, "John, I know you are very angry and upset; because we all are. Dr Newall is only on Atlantis so that Dr Weir may question him before he is sent back to Earth. We will find out what happened and why eventually and I am sure Rodney will also be able to help us when he wakes up."

Ronon patted Sheppard on the back, "I think Newall deserved it. Although I also know that Dr Weir would probably chuck me off Atlantis faster than a blaster shot if I ever took action on half of my 'opinions.'"

Sheppard raised an eyebrow at the Satedan who was grinning back at him.

The rage dissipated to a dull feeling in the back of Sheppard's mind and he hoped no one reported what he had just done. He had been so angry at Newall's cavalier disregard of his actions and failing to provide any reasoning behind them.

Ronon said, "Let's go and check on McKay."

Rodney groaned as he woke up. He had already been stuck in the infirmary for a week and had Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon with him.

His team had frequently visited and talked to him, even when he was completely unconscious in the days immediately after he was injured.

Rodney began to shake and his breathing became shallow and rapid as he placed one of his hands on his abdomen and furrowed his brow.

Sheppard frowned as he asked, "Does it hurt? I could get Carson."

"No, I'm just doing this for fun!" Rodney said sarcastically through gritted teeth and then gasped as he became more alert and the pain spread out intensely.

Dr Beckett came rushing over and inserted something into Rodney's IV line. He held the man still until he relaxed and stopped fighting against the urge to writhe in agony.

"That's it lad. I know it hurts, but you're making excellent progress."

"If you say so…" Rodney said sleepily as he fell unconscious.

As Carson let go of Rodney's shoulders and straightened up Sheppard asked him, "How much longer do you think?"

"I don't know yet. We scan him every day and his injuries are healing nicely, but it will take time for him to completely recover."

Teyla asked, "Do you think he will ever completely recover?"

"Aye, the surgery was a complete success and thanks to all of your support he is getting better all the time."

Teyla smiled at him and moved her eyes back to observe the steady rise and fall of McKay's chest as his breathing finally evened out.

Ronon got up from his seat and addressed Teyla and Sheppard, "He'll be out for hours. Want to join me for lunch?"

Sheppard nodded and took his eyes off Rodney as he got up and left.

Another week later and Carson had had enough of Rodney in his infirmary. He cited harassment and constant nagging sarcasm as he signed McKay off for light duties based on Atlantis.

Although earlier that week and after two days of constant whining he had had to relent and allow McKay to have a laptop. He reasoned that the man had already self-certified himself for light duties before he had even been unleashed back onto the general population of Atlantis.

Rodney had been very upset when Sheppard told him he had asked Zelenka to go on a mission with them a few days earlier. However, he was quickly silenced when Sheppard told him it was to retrieve a downed Jumper on P3X-778 and gather some more intel about the device they found in Newall.

Rodney shuffled slowly out of the infirmary and Carson called after him, "I want you back at least once a day so we can check up on you."

"I know Carson," McKay responded in annoyance.

Carson shook his head and let Rodney go, praying the others had learnt their lesson from that fateful day and would keep an eye on the man to not let him get worn out in his weakened state.

Rodney walked into the science lab and sat down. He hunched over in the chair and grimaced as he pulled a computer towards himself. He looked around the room and at some Ancient artefacts scattered across the table. "The action never stops here…" he muttered as he picked up one of the devices and turned it over in his hand. It was round and about the size of his palm.

His eyes suddenly widened in fright and he tossed the object away to the other side of the table. It looked so much like the retrieval object Sheppard had used to pull the Ancient control device out of Newall's hand.

He sighed and took a couple of deep steadying breaths which only made his broken ribs shift painfully. He reassured himself that Newall was now on Earth, Dr Li would be back on duty soon and the Ancient device was locked securely in deep storage with warning labels all around it.

He felt a little sorry for Dr Li as he knew she and Dr Perkins had been close. Then again, he thought she probably had no idea that Perkins was such a violent man until she had seen the report about the attack. Rodney bet she was glad she had managed to get out of that one.

Rodney chuckled softly and winced. He shook his head to clear it and grabbed another piece of Ancient tech to analyse.

"Ah yes…" he muttered turning it over in his hand, "The good life…" He settled back in the chair for a relaxing and stress free day of analysing and cataloguing.

TBC

A/N – just an epilogue to go now…rapid update…ping!