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Thank you for all your comments and for answering my questions. A little Talmera is being sent your way. :)

Title: Uncommon Alliance
by Stargalaxy

Chapter 36

When Sheppard suddenly materialized to find himself standing in the infirmary, his legs immediately gave way and he felt Beckett and a nurse move swiftly to catch him before he hit the floor. However, he could not stop a hiss of pain from escaping his lips when an unsuspecting hand caught his injured rib the wrong way.

Beckett frowned, instantly repositioned his hand as he gently guided Sheppard to one of the empty infirmary beds. "Easy there, Colonel. Lie down now while I do a full examination on ya. Why didn't you tell me that you had a cracked rib, lad? Did that bastard Rogunie do that to ya?"

Sheppard bit his lip and closed his eyes, feeling relieved and exhausted at the same time. "Yeah… and t-thanks," he muttered a bit breathlessly, "… for getting me o-out of there."

Beckett activated his radio. "This is Carson, I've got Colonel Sheppard safely in the infirmary," he informed the others. He paused obviously listening to those speaking on the other side. "Aye, Elizabeth, I'll inform the Colonel that Rogunie is currently having a happy time trapped in the isolation ward. Oh, did he hurt his hand now, punching into a wall? Well, served the daft bugger right, I say we leave him there for a while to contemplate his actions. No, Rodney…, Sheppard doesn't appear to have suffered serious injury, only a cracked rib and some bruises, so tell the others not to worry. Oh and Colonel Caldwell, please send someone down to the infirmary immediately with the keys to remove the bloody handcuffs from my patient."

Sheppard didn't open his eyes but a wry smile formed on his lips as he listened to Beckett's words. When the doctor finished speaking, he turned his attention back to him.

"Well now, laddie, looks like you've got your team worrying about you. But it's not me you should be thanking, but Rodney and Caldwell. It was their idea to use Daedalus' transport beam to get you out of there."

"T-took them long enough…" he sighed, wishing he could sleep forever but knowing that he couldn't afford to. A small frown formed, he could sense that the other Wraith was still alive. He felt slightly stronger now and his nose bleed seemed to have stopped.

"How's t-the Wraith?" He opened his eyes to look at Beckett.

"How did you know that the Wraith was in … Oh, of course, you would have felt it," Beckett guessed as he took out a BP cuff and placed it on the bed while he tried to attach Sheppard to some IV lines. He paused and frowned darkly when he saw that Sheppard's handcuffs were in the way. "Bloody hell, what's taking Major Lorne so long to get here?! I understood from Caldwell that he's not far from the infirmary!"

Just as he finished speaking, the young major arrived, looking slightly out of breath as if he had been running the entire way. "Sorry, Dr Beckett. But I tried to get here as fast as I could!"

Beckett moved away so that Lorne could unlock the cuffs. "Glad to see that you're all right, sir. I'm also pleased to get these off you, sir," Lorne said as he unlocked the cuffs and removed them from Sheppard's wrists.

"So a-am I, Major," Sheppard replied wryly, feeling relieved.

Lorne nodded and promptly left to allow Carson to treat his patient.

Becket smiled at Sheppard, attaching the IV lines back on his patient's wrist before replying to the colonel's earlier question concerning the Wraith. "The Wraith is still alive. It went into cardiac arrest but we managed to get its heart started again. However, the chance of its survival doesn't look good, which means…"

"I'm a dead man…" Sheppard stated bluntly, squeezing his eyes shut. He had to leave now. He needed a Puddle jumper and access to the Stargate. He needed to meet up with Lf'wyne before it was too late. If only he didn't feel like crap and his head wasn't pounding so badly that it felt like he had a jackhammer drilling a hole into his brain. He knew that he was still woozy and he wasn't sure that his legs would hold him. The effects of the stun he had received earlier obviously hadn't quite worn off yet. He also wondered about Snacks, hoping that the little critter would be able to find its way out of the ventilation system and back to them somehow.

He felt a hand touch his upper arm and he automatically flinched. The hand instantly removed itself as if the doctor understood the cause of his reaction.

"Sorry lad, but I need to check your blood pressure," Beckett stated gently, this time giving him ample warning before placing his hand on Sheppard again to attach the BP cuff around his upper arm. It didn't take long for him to feel the pressure in the BP cuff gripping his arm tightly as the doctor began to pump the cuff before releasing the pressure to get the readings.

"Hmm, I don't like the look of your pressure, lad." Once the reading was done, the cuff was swiftly removed. "Do ya mind taking off ye shirt for me? I need to check on your ribs."

When Sheppard didn't move, he could sense the concern radiating from Beckett. "Colonel Sheppard? Are you feeling all right? Nurse Amy, why don't you help the Colonel remove his shirt?"

"No!" he suddenly gulped, opening his eyes. "No time! I ... n-need to leave now, before it's too late."

Beckett frowned. "Leave? Lad, you're not making any sense. What are ye yammering about? Rest easy, son. You're safe, with Rogunie trapped in the isolation ward, he can't hurt you. We'll make sure that he doesn't have the opportunity to harm you and to hell with the consequences of his threats. What he did to ye was uncalled for. So don't worry, we'll take care of you."

"No! You don't ... u-understand!" Sheppard said as he opened his eyes. "I've got to get b-back to Lf'wyne…"

"What are you talking about?" Beckett stated with another frown. "Whose Lf'wyne?"

At that moment McKay, Ronon and Teyla entered the infirmary. Teyla and Ronon greeted him with friendly but concerned smiles while Rodney bombarded him with questions. "Sheppard are you all right? Carson, are you sure he's all right? Did Rogunie hurt you? What did he want from you?"

"I'm f-fine, Rodney."

"Oh yeah, like we believe you. How is he, Carson? Really?" Rodney turned to Beckett, obviously wanting confirmation from the doctor himself.

"He's doing okay considering everything that he's been through. The Colonel currently has a cracked rib which I need to attend to."

"Rogunie did that to him?" Dex asked with a dark look.

"Hey g-guys… he is right h-here," Sheppard stated a little annoyed that he was being spoken about as if he wasn't there.

"Sorry Colonel," Beckett turned back to him. "Now are you going to allow me to examine your chest?"

Sheppard considered the question. If he had to meet up with Lf'wyne, it would be better to get his ribs attended to. "Okay, but make i-it quick. There's s-something that I n-need to tell you guys, and there's n-not much time left."

---

With his ribs firmly bandaged now, Sheppard found himself sitting up on the infirmary bed with Beckett and his team watching him. Weir had arrived a few minutes ago and she had greeted him with a smile and apologised about Rogunie.

"I'm so sorry John," Weir said looking a little upset, "I didn't know what he was going to do to you, if I had known, I won't have allowed it."

"Hey, it's all right, Elizabeth. I k-know…. But listen, I need to t-tell you guys something important."

So now they waited for him to speak. Sheppard looked at them, wondering how to begin. Finally he took a deep breath and stated, "Look, I know that this is going to sound crazy, but I need to leave now. I know someone who might be able to help me but you guys got to trust me." He looked at Weir then. "I need Puddle jumper and access to the Stargate, I have to meet someone."

Weir frowned, not liking the sound of this. "Who, John?"

"Lf'wyne," he answered, his mind thinking back to the last dream message that he had. He looked at the time and he knew that he needed to leave now. Time was ticking away and he didn't have much time left.

"What? What the hell are you talking about, Sheppard? Whose Lf'wyne?" McKay demanded.

Sheppard looked at the astrophysicist. "The Wraith," he said, knowing how it sounded. At his answer, he saw the look of horror on McKay's face.

"Oh god, the IOA is correct, you've been brainwashed!" the scientist exclaimed.

Sheppard's frown darkened and he felt heated anger and frustration course through his veins. He hated having to explain about what had happened to him, he wished he didn't have to speak about it, but his anger forced out the words. "No damn it! I haven't been b-brainwashed or compromised or lost it! It's Kolya's Wraith. The Wraith who h-helped me escape from Kolya's prison. It's the same Wraith who h-helped me back t-there on that wraith worshippers' world. It's the Wraith that gave me the Gift of Life, t-twice now! He's the r-reason why I'm sitting here, back in Atlantis, instead of r-rotting in some Wraith cell being e-experimented on and tortured!"

He saw McKay blanch at his words, paling and looking sick with horror shining in his blue eyes. For an instant, he thought the revulsion he saw there was because he had admitted allying himself to a Wraith, but when Rodney spoke, he realised that it wasn't the reason at all.

"Oh god, how could I forget that you were… t-tortured…" McKay stumbled over the last word.

Sheppard suddenly felt embarrassed. In the heat of his anger, he had inadvertently revealed something that he hadn't meant to, especially not to McKay who was always squeamish about such things. Painful blue eyes were staring back at him before a puzzled frown formed. "Hang on, Sheppard, did you just say Kolya's wraith? You mean your Wraith buddy that gave you the Gift of Life the first time?"

Sheppard scowled back at him. "Haven't y-you heard a word I've s-said, McKay? Yes. The s-same one," he replied. "He was in the same prison that I was in. He and Snacks helped me escape. He s-saved my ass. I would h-have been dead now if it wasn't for him! Look, I don't k-know how to say this and I know that it's n-not going to make a hell of a l-lot of sense, but Kolya's Wraith contacted me in a d-dream, he told me that he has i-information that would h-help me." He tried his damnedest to sound credible, to make McKay and the others believe what he was telling them.

There was stunned silence now and he looked up to see his team, Weir and Beckett looking at him as if they wondered whether he was nuts, gone around the bend, ready for the nut house.

Finally Beckett slammed shut his mouth and spoke gently to him. There was a look of pity in his eyes. "Colonel Sheppard, I don't know how to phrase this in a nicer way, but are you sure it wasn't another hallucination implanted in your mind? I mean about Kolya's Wraith being there at all. After all, when we found you on that planet, you were delirious, suffering from a high fever. You attacked your own team, lad. In fact, you still have a fever that I'm not too happy about. This dream you had, it could be something that your mind made up just to help you cope."

Sheppard's face clouded over and for the first time since arriving back, he felt the black shadow of despair clutch at his heart. His team didn't believe him. They were looking at him as if he had lost it. He had suspected that his team might not believe him but in his heart he always held out the hope that he could convince them with the truth. He never really truly believed that his team would not believe him and the realisation hurt. It hurt a hell of a lot. He felt a tremor run through his body and he realised that it was shock, his body was reacting to shock because he had truly expected that somehow, despite how crazy his words sounded, that his team would back him up on this and believe him. He shoved the thoughts away as he closed his eyes and tried to compose himself, to calm himself down. Damn it! Snap out of it, John. It's no big deal! So what if your team don't trust or believe you? You will just have to find a way to do this alone! But despite trying to convince himself otherwise, he knew that it was a big deal. The trust of his team meant everything to him. To lose that trust had left him feeling devastated and empty.

"John? Are you all right?" He felt Teyla's hand touch him on his upper arm. He didn't expect it and he involuntarily flinched at the contact. He jerked his hand away, knowing that it looked like he was throwing a tantrum because they didn't believe him, but this time he didn't care. Rather that than to allow his team to see how the lack of trust had hurt his feelings. He had too much of that lately, even now he still could hear Rogunie's voice in his mind, accusing him of betraying Atlantis.

"Whoa wait!' Rodney suddenly stated. "I believe I have a way to prove whether Sheppard is telling us the truth, that is, whether Kolya's Wraith is a hallucination or not! In fact, it was what I meant to tell you earlier, Elizabeth. Remember the Wraith implant that we removed from his brain? Well, I managed to fix it and wrote a translation program that allows our computers to read it. It was what I've been working on for so long. It actually shows a visual history of everything that Sheppard experienced, heard and saw when the Wraith device was activated. It basically gives us a proof of what hallucinations he experienced and how he replied and responded to those hallucinations. I watched a little bit of it and…" he turned wide blue eyes to abruptly stare at Sheppard. There was a look of intense horror and pain in the scientist eyes. In them, Sheppard also recognised the look of compassion and pity for him.

"Oh God, Sheppard, I understand now why you were so freaked out when we first met you down on that planet, I mean, I saw how we hurt you, beat you up." He turned away then, took a large swallow as if he found it hard to continue speaking. Finally McKay turned back to Sheppard and said, "I'm sorry Sheppard, sorry for what that Wraith SOB made you think we did to you."

Sheppard felt numb; his mind finding it extremely difficult to process what McKay had just told him. Did Rodney witness some of what Daffy had put him through? He found the thought disturbing. It was bad enough that he had to experience what had been done to him, but to have his team and others watch what he had been through was ten times worse. He felt irrationally ashamed and embarrassed as if somehow this was his fault. To be tortured by hallucinations of his own team mates was not something that he was proud of, nor was being helpless and unable to help as his team when they were tortured before his eyes while screaming for his help. He could not meet the McKay's eyes as he mumbled, "Not y-your fault, Rodney. It w-wasn't you guys. I k-knew it wasn't you."

He had to look away then. He did not want to be reminded of his nightmares, of the damn Wraith hallucinations, he had experienced too many of them to last a lifetime. They invaded his dreams, his waking hours. He was plagued by them day and night; they were what woke him screaming sometimes in the infirmary ward. He knew that his experiences had scarred him and he didn't know what to do about it. He didn't want to watch them again or for his team to watch what he had been through. The last thing in this world he needed was further reminders of what he had experienced through the Wraith mind device. His heart rate started to accelerate, his breath started to increase and his vision started to go blur, he suddenly felt nauseous - sick to the stomach.

"John? Are you all right?" he heard Weir ask, her voice sounding concerned before a roaring noise filled his ears and drowned out her voice all together.

Suddenly, he felt hands on him, supporting him, guiding him to the edge of the bed. Someone brought a large thin container and placed it under his face. He found himself puking his guts out, the action sending violent waves of pain to the centre of his stomach as he emptied himself into the container below him. He groaned, hating himself as pain ripped through him and he puked some more. The smell of his puke was awful and he opened his eyes only to feel alarmed to see that his vomit was greenish black in colour again.

"Oh God, what is that? God it smells awful! What is he puking out?" he heard McKay's voice ask in horror.

"It's that bloody wraith device inside him that's causing this, Rodney. As I told you before, Colonel Sheppard is a very sick man…," Beckett stated solemnly.

More hands were upon him then and he felt hands thumping and rubbing him gently on the back.

"It is okay, John, you are going to be okay," Teyla's voice reassured him speaking softly, as she held his hand.

"Just hang in there John, we're here for you," Weir's hand squeezed his shoulder gently, while the other patted his back.

"Just ride it out, son. Calm down, breathe easy and you'll be okay." Beckett's voice instructed him.

Ronon didn't say anything, but he felt the big guy standing there nearby, staying out the way but close enough to let him know that he was there should he need him. McKay just looked away as if he couldn't handle the scene and looked ready to puke himself.

Finally his nausea ended. And he found himself being pushed gently back into bed again. Someone was wiping his face down with a damp clean cloth, wiping whatever horrible gunk from his mouth, cleaning the mess that he had made of himself. He closed his eyes, feeling exhausted, finding it hard to stay awake now. A new cool and clean cloth was now wiping at his forehead, brushing away strands of unruly dark hair from his eyes. Then it moved to his neck, wiping away his sweat. The action felt good against his heated skin.

"Are you feeling better, John?" The female voice asked. He swallowed and nodded, his eyes still closed.

As if from faraway, he heard Beckett giving someone instructions to have his puke taken away and analysed. When he heard Carson instructing a nurse to change him into scrubs, his eyes snapped open. He reached out and grabbed Beckett's hand in a tight grip. He gave the Scotsman his most determined and stubborn glare. "No!" he commanded. "No… scrubs! I h-have to leave now… b-before… it's too l-late. Lf'wyne's w-waiting for me!"

He stared at Beckett's surprised face. He knew that Carson would probably think him mad or delusional now, but he refused to back down on this. He knew he was screwed, that he was dying, but he also knew that this was his only chance. He had to make them understand how important this was to him.

"What if Sheppard is telling the truth?" This question came from Ronon, surprising him for he knew how the big guy hated Wraiths.

He let go of the physician's wrist as Beckett turned to face Ronon. Sheppard was finding it difficult to stay awake now. His earlier panic attack had exhausted him. His eyelids felt heavy, he could not muster up enough strength to stop his eyelids from sliding close.

"Rodney? Would we be able to watch whatever is in that device in fast forward?" He heard Weir question the scientist.

There was a pause as McKay thought about it. "Yes, I should be able to modify the command. If we watched it through picture search, we should be able to see whether there are scenes of Sheppard's Wraith friend there. If not, then…" McKay's excited voice faded away as he finally passed out.

---

To be continued