Chapter 36: Answers
Jennifer thought she had finally found the source of John's miraculous powers of healing. She had been examining the blue fluid that the King had pumped into Sheppard's veins. With Lorne's return she had been able to obtain other samples of the same solution. However, there were minute differences in the one that had been in Sheppard's IV. She knew that the differences were probably a mistake but they had reacted with the colonel's body chemistry. This, along with acute physical stress seemed to have triggered the change.
She was disappointed that she couldn't offer a definite answer past what she had deduced yet at the same time she felt relief that she wasn't going to be able to reverse engineer the change, something she had been worried about being asked to do.
She looked away from her microscope, resting her tired eyes briefly before deciding to once more check on Sheppard. She knew that the real reason that he had deteriorated was because he had healed Lorne, causing himself more physical stress. She hadn't shared her conclusions with anyone else, preferring to first discuss the matter with John, when he was coherent enough to remember their conversation.
As it was he was still drifting in and out of consciousness, back on the good pain medication, and she knew it would probably be a while before she could clear everything up.
Happy to see Lorne and his team in one piece and having their checkups Jennifer ducked into ICU. She was used to the various positions that Sheppard's team waited in and quickly bypassed each individual to access her patient.
He opened his eyes as she approached and she saw very little of the drug induced haze she normally saw.
Making a snap decision to take advantage of what was likely going to be a brief window she said "I want to have a word with Colonel Sheppard in private please." And before even a single syllable could be uttered she had ushered all the other astounded team members out of the ICU and closed the door.
Turning back, she saw the puzzled look on John's face and snapped; " don't look at me like that, you know perfectly well what we need to talk about."
A deep sigh escaped his lips, ending in a pain wracked cough as Sheppard's damaged lung protested strongly at the extra work.
When the coughing had passed and John had caught his breath, Keller had been watching the monitors to ensure that his O2 stats had not dropped too low, he said "I couldn't just sit there and watch Lorne be sent away for saving my life, not when I had the power to change things."
"Yes, well… not only has it created a hell of a lot of paperwork for Sam, she could have passed what happened on that planet off as something else but there were too many witnesses here to do that but, you undid all your healing .no more skin to skin contact for you colonel- not until you are one hundred percent at the very least.
Sheppard went to sigh but caught himself and just nodded instead.
"If anymore wounded soldiers come in I will restrain you if i think you're going to try something" she warned
Sheppard nodded looking very disheartened; changing the subject he asked "How long am I confined this time?"
Keller paused for a moment trying to decide how best to answer yet another difficult question "For a while yet, I won't release you, not until you've started physiotherapy and have regained the ability to get around without any help." She didn't want to saound harsh but at the same time she didn't want the restless colonel to cause himself further injury by being inadequately prepared.
"When can I start physio then?" Sheppard enquired shifting slightly as though he was about to try and sit up.
"Not…" Jennifer never got the chance to complete her reply as the alarms began to blare and "Medical teams to the gate room" was announced over the intercom. Jennifer's shoulders slumped in resignation "this is going to be a long day." She announced to no-one in particular. Turning back to Sheppard she noticed the tense position the man was now lying in. "I think you could use some more sleep" she told him, making a snap decision and pumping the drugs into his IV before he had the chance to argue. Seeing john's eyes begin to droop she turned away and went to grab her kit, ready for the next emergency.
A/N: i know, i know, its been ages since i last posted an for that i sincerly apologise. its not that the chapters werent written, thanks t long and very uneventful days at work this chapter has been down on paper for the better part of a month, its just finding the time to type it up that seems to be impossible...anyway hope you enjoy the chap... reviews might encourage me to put aside other jobs in order to get the nxt chap out in the next couple of days, again its not that its not written i just havent had the time to type...blame my slow typing... anyway please do let me know what you think.