"Oh god I want to die." Rodney wheezed as his threw himself to the ground at the top of the lift shaft.
"It could be arranged." Ronon replied standing over him, just as Teyla emerged.
"No…no I think that is taken care of….already." Rodney continued between noisy intakes of breath.
"McKay why are you lying down there?" Sheppard asked as he climbed out of the shaft.
"Legs gone to jelly…..Can't breathe."
"Well that does it, no more snacking and you can join Ronon and me on runs." Sheppard responded.
"Not my fault my body is not designed to do this." Rodney replied still gasping for breath.
"So whose fault is it? The cook?" Sheppard smirked.
"My body has evolved to maximise my intelligence not my muscles." He defended, just as Ronon placed a hand on his tac vest and hauled him to his feet.
"Come on." He growled.
Rodney opened his mouth to speak and was about to say something when he looked at Ronon and decided against it. He snapped he mouth shut, and then sagged slightly as Ronon released him and walked off.
"Why is he so crabby?" Rodney asked.
"It's Ronon." Sheppard shrugged as he walked past McKay towards the exit.
When they finally reached the Jumper they saw Carson treating a couple of teenagers. On hearing their approach Carson looked up.
"Colonel. Good to see you. You had me worried for a bit. You and Ronon should go to the Jumper I will be in to see you in a bit." Sheppard nodded and signalled for Ronon to go to the Jumper with him, as Carson turned to one of the marines. After a brief discussion Carson followed them to the Jumper.
"How is the evacuation going?" Sheppard asked.
"Most of the freed prisoners have returned to their home-worlds. The two out there don't know the gate address; so will join about twenty others and the people from the settlement on the Alpha site. Apparently their people did not use the gate. In terms of injuries a lot have injuries similar to what our people came back with, but more worryingly a lot are displaying signs of lung problems. I have taken samples and run scans and I suggest we visit them on their home-worlds to offer further treatment." Carson summarised. "So what about you two?"
"We're fine." Ronon said.
"Well I think I will be the judge of that." Carson said. "And you look far from fine."
Carson ran a hand-held scanner over the man, then examined his face and ordered him to lift up his shirt. Ronon glared back unmoving.
"Listen lad I might not be able to sweet talk you the way Jennifer does, but I still expect you to do what I say. Now lift up your shirt."
Ronon and Carson locked gazes, both unmoving. Eventually Ronon lifted his shirt revealing a very bruised torso.
"What the hell happened? What did you do? Go twelve rounds with Benny Lynch?"
"Who?" Ronon asked looking at Sheppard.
"Beats me." Sheppard shrugged.
"Famous Scottish boxer." Carson said shaking his head. "Ok then I want you back on Atlantis ASAP to get your ribs looked at. I think you will need a couple of stitches as well. Colonel, you should get checked out as well. In fact any one who went down the mine I want checked out so I can monitor the health of their lungs."
"You expecting problems?" Sheppard asked, looking slightly concerned.
"Hopefully not. It is likely the problems the others are experiencing are caused by long-term exposure, but it is best to be careful.
"Ok I will organise everyone. We will leave the teams who haven't gone down to help evacuate the settlement." Sheppard said leaving the jumper to issue orders to the marines. When he returned McKay was in the Jumper interrogating Carson.
"Could it be a symptom? I mean you can't rule it out can you? And I think I have a cough." Rodney spluttered on cue.
"Relax Rodney I am sure you are fine, but I will do a full barrage of tests when we get back. For now just try to relax."
"How can I relax when I could have some sort of fatal lung disease?"
"I never said it was fatal." Carson sighed.
"Rodney we are going." Sheppard interrupted as he headed to the cockpit.
"Good. That's good. We need to get back as soon as possible, before it is too late."
"If you want I could stun you." Ronon suggested.
"How exactly would that help?" Rodney questioned.
"Well it would slow down your metabolic rate and hence slow the progression of anything that might be wrong." Carson answered on Ronon's behalf.
"Actually I was just thinking it would give the rest of us a peaceful ride home." Ronon shrugged.
"Oh very funny. Mock a dying man." Rodney replied.
"Rodney is it not John, Ronon and Lieutenant Young who have had the most exposure and therefore the most likely to be at risk?" Teyla asked. "And they are not displaying any symptoms."
"Well yes, but bad things always happen to me." Rodney responded.
"Yeah he talked himself into an illness during the quarantine." Sheppard quipped.
"Not what I meant. It was me who nearly got ascended, me who had a parasite in my brain, me who-"
"McKay I nearly turned into a bug." Sheppard responded as the Jumper took-off. "Bad things happen to all of us. But I am sure you will be fine."
As they approached the gate, Sheppard dialled and sent through his IDC.
"Colonel Sheppard this is Atlantis." Woolsey's voice sounded in the Jumper. "Is everyone ok?"
"Mr Woolsey." Sheppard's voice sounded round the control room. "We all got out ok. Carson wants anyone who was down the mine to report to the infirmary for tests, including Lorne's team and Keller."
"Understood. I will meet you in the infirmary on your return." Woolsey signed off.
Cutting the signal Sheppard said, "can't wait." He then flew the Jumper through the gate.
When his team and the other personal that had been down the mines reached the infirmary Carson issued orders to take blood samples and scans from each off them, whilst he treated Ronon.
When he was done he emerged from the curtained area and saw Jennifer talking to Lorne, Sheppard and Teyla. He approached the group.
"How is he?" Sheppard questioned.
"He'll be fine. His ribs are just bruised. Other than that he needed four stitches in the head wound. He should be back to his normal self in no time." Carson started before turning to Jennifer. "He was asking to see you."
"Thanks Carson." Jennifer replied before disappearing round the curtain.
"Ronon." Jennifer greeted as she saw him, relief washing over her face. Ronon who was already standing smiled and then embraced her awkwardly, he trying to avoid her back, she his ribs. "I was so worried about you." Jennifer said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I'm fine." Ronon said.
"You sure?" Jennifer asked, pulling back.
"Yeah."
"Good." Jennifer said before her expression changed suddenly to anger, surprising Ronon. "Then you can tell me why you felt the need to hit Evan. I don't want you to go and beat up people on my behalf, especially my friends. What possessed you to do it? Do you really think I want that? I thought you knew me and understood me, obviously I was wrong." Not giving Ronon a chance to respond she stormed out of the cubicle and the infirmary causing Sheppard, Teyla and Carson to exchange confused glances.
"She kind of put two and two together." Lorne explained.
"Ahhh." Sheppard said as Teyla nodded. Carson still stood looked confused.
"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" Carson asked.
"Long story. Maybe I should go talk to him."
"I think I will leave before he blames me for this." Lorne said.
"I will talk to Jennifer." Teyla volunteered.
Sheppard nodded and then walked towards Ronon's curtained area. As he entered he saw Ronon standing looking confused, annoyed and something that Sheppard could not place.
"Buddy." Sheppard greeted. "I take it the doc was not happy about you thumping Lorne."
Ronon just made a sound that was a cross between a growl and a grunt.
"Sorry was that a 'yes you are right and I need help' grunt or a 'leave me alone' grunt?" Sheppard questioned.
Ronon grunted.
"Yeah thought so. You will need help on this one. I mean she looked really pissed. She is definitely not the type of girl who appreciates violence. You have major grovelling to do."
Ronon grunted again.
"Well the first thing is for the doc to witness you apologising to Lorne."
Another grunt.
"Well then it gets more tricky. I mean you know her better than anyone."
Another grunt, but with more growl.
"Hey you got yourself into this mess not me. But it might be that she needs time, I mean she has been through a lot. Also she is a woman so it could be hormonal, but don't tell Teyla I said that, nor the doc for that matter. Seriously though I think you just need to talk to her."
Ronon grunted again and left.
"You're welcome." Sheppard called after him.
A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. Sorry it has only been two chapters this weekend. I have spent the week suffering from Word rage and it has stiffled my creativity slightly!
