Chapter 17: Stuck in the infirmary.

Teyla entered the infirmary with Torren asleep in her arms. She had just spent the afternoon with Ronan, before he had gone to sit with John and keep an eye on him. She had asked for his advice on how to proceed with letting Woolsey know about her new relationship with John, so that she could ask about using one of the apartments on the South Pier and he had told her that moving in together was a great idea, but she should discuss telling Woolsey with John.

She entered John's private room, to find him sitting and staring at a bowl of runny looking broth.

"Good evening John, I see that Ronan has left you alone."

John looked up at her and smiled, "Yeah, he just left if you're looking for him. Anyway I'm so glad you're here, maybe you can save me from having to eat this repugnant looking broth. I swear I've had better food when I've been tortured," he complained.

Teyla looked at him with understanding and smiled, "I know what you mean. Why is it when one is in the infirmary the doctors insist on feeding you such bland food?"

"Who knows, but I'm not really hungry anyway." He said as he pushed the tray table away. "It's good to see you Teyla, I missed you."

She headed in and put Torren on the bed next to John. For a moment she thought that he would wake up, but he just turned over and snuggled into John and settled down again.

She smiled at the two of then lying there together like father and son, she couldn't wait for John to get out of the infirmary and for them to start living together as a family, it is something that she had wanted for a long time and now she knew that is was going to happen, she couldn't be happier.

She looked up from her musings to find that John was staring at her with a twinkle in his eye, "penny for your thoughts?" He muttered, keeping his gaze fixed on her.

"I am sorry John I do not know what you mean."

"It means, what are you thinking." He replied with a smirk on his face.

"I was just wondering when we should start telling people that we are a family? I think that Carson has figured it out and I know for a fact that Ronan knows, but I was wondering if we should tell Mr Woolsey, because I really want to know that it is okay with your military if we pursue a relationship."

She felt John's hand in hers as he looked into her eyes, "I really don't care what the air force thinks, I will resign if I have to, but you are right we should really tell Woolsey sooner rather than later. I think if I feel up to it in the morning maybe we can tell him.

She looked at him lovingly and then leant over to give him a kiss on the lips and he responded the best he could, considering he had a little boy sleeping beside him. He pulled back from her and she wondered why.

She had to admit she was a little upset by it, "John why did you pull away from me, do you not want to kiss me?"

"Sorry Teyla I'm still feeling a little breathless. Although I'm totally clear of the virus now, I'm still not one hundred percent recovered from it."

That is a relief, she thought leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. "I understand John, maybe if you are not going to eat your food maybe you should go back to sleep."

At that moment they heard a loud noise from the door and they both turned to see Ronan standing in the doorway with a huge grin on his face.

Teyla felt totally embarrassed and wondered how much Ronan had seen, before she had a chance to say anything John interjected, "What?" He asked with a glare.

He continued to grin as he replied. "You two have finally worked out how you feel about one another. It's about time too."

"Is there a reason that you're here Chewie?" John asked still glaring at him.

"Yep I'm here to sit with you and make sure that no-one disturbs you."

Teyla took that as her cue to leave, "well seeing as you have your bodyguard here, I think that it is time that Torren and I left." She chortled.

She was staring at him and waiting for an answer when a little voice spoke up from the bed, "DA!" Torren squealed. He was obviously excited to be with John again.

Teyla looked at her son and smiled, "you can stay with daddy for a few minutes longer and then we must go, daddy still has a sore leg and he needs a lot of rest."

"Otay Momma," Torren said, before he started babbling to John about nothing.

Teyla watched as John nodded and agreed with Torren and answered back, when it was obvious that Torren was asking some sort of question.

She was so engrossed in watching Torren and John that she didn't realise that Carson had entered to room until he spoke.

"Okay it's time for my patient to get some rest, so Teyla I suggest that you take Torren and say goodnight."

She nodded at him and leant down to kiss John before picking Torren up. "I love you John," she whispered in his ear before heading out of the door.

Ronan followed closely behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carson was sitting in his office when he saw Ronan enter the infirmary; he knew that the big man was on his way to sit with Colonel Sheppard again. He'd barely left his bedside all afternoon and Carson knew that Ronan was there as a bodyguard for the Colonel.

Looking at his watch he found that it was time to go and check on his patient and give him his pain meds, but the squeals of laughter coming from the room told him that maybe he should wait a while.

Glancing at the pile of paperwork on his desk, he sighed; it never seemed to go down and sometimes he swore that every time he turned away for a second it grew by itself.

He picked up the file on top of the pile and looked back at his computer. Five minutes later he was so engrossed in what he was doing that he barely heard the knock at his office door.

He looked up to find Rodney there fiddling with his hands, he suspected that the scientist was nervous, because playing with his hands was a sure sign that something was up.

"What can I do for you Rodney?"

"Ummm…. I was wondering if I could….Ummm." Rodney stuttered.

Carson sighed yet again; he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, "spit it out Rodney?"

"Umm… I was wondering if I could see Sheppard, but umm… I'm not really sure he wants to see me right now? After all he did shout at me this afternoon."

"Rodney he is in a great deal of pain at the moment despite the pain medication he is on, so give him a break." Carson chastised him.

"He doesn't seem to be in any pain right now. I can hear him laughing a mile off."

"Rodney, believe me when I say that right now he is in a lot of pain. I know when he is putting on a brave front for his visitors; I can hear it in his voice."

"When can I see him then Carson?" Rodney whined.

"Maybe you should come back tomorrow, as I'm about to go in and chase Teyla and Torren out, so that I can give him his meds and hopefully then he'll go back to sleep."

Carson entered John's room to find that Torren was lying on John's bed beside him and the two of them were laughing and joking. He could see the pain lines around John's eyes and he saw that the laughter didn't quite reach his eyes, so he knew that John was in pain.

"Okay it's time for my patient to get some rest, so Teyla I suggest that you take Torren and say goodnight."

She nodded at him and leant down to kiss John before picking Torren up. Carson heard her whisper something in John's ear, which he couldn't quite make out, but he suspected she was expressing the way she felt about him.

He watched as Teyla and Ronan left the room and then he turned to his patient, "okay laddie how's the pain?"

Looking down at him he saw that John had closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, so he suspected that it was fairly high.

"Honestly doc, it really hurts, are you sure it's healing properly." John asked the pain evident in his voice.

Carson looked at him with compassion, he suspected that John was going to get very frustrated and angry in the coming days if the pain in his leg continued, but for now the only thing he could do was continue to keep his pain meds topped up.

"Aye lad according to the scans we took this morning your leg is healing well, but it may still be a few more days before the pain begins to diminish."

"Is it time for my pain meds yet doc?"

"Yes I will give them to you now and then maybe you can try and get some rest." He looked over at the half empty bowl of broth, before continuing. "And I would like to see you eat a little bit more in the morning as well. You need to keep you strength up if we are ever going to release you from the infirmary."

"Sure doc. When can I get out of here?" He asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"If all goes well I will release you this time next week. Now it's time to get some rest John."

Carson injected a syringe into John's IV and sat there watching his eyes droop, before long his breathing evened out and Carson knew that he was asleep.

He turned around to leave just as Ronan entered the room, "Are you coming to keep watch over him?" Carson asked with amusement.

"Sure am." Ronan mumbled and sat in his usual position at the end of John's bed.

"Goodnight then Ronan."

"Goodnight doc."

Carson left the room knowing that his patient was in safe hands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

John was walking through the forest in a set of hospital scrubs, he had no idea how he'd gotten there and he had no idea why he wasn't dressed. He looked around hoping to find someone who could answer his questions, but he saw no-one.

A ghostly sound whistled through the trees and the darkness was menacing. Up ahead he saw a light and he felt compelled to head towards it. As he got closer to the light and saw a clearing in the distance, he became anxious. Who would he find when he got there; hopefully a friendly face.

Upon entering the clearing he had a good look around and saw absolutely nothing. That was good, so he decided to sit down and enjoy the fire that was already lit. It looked like a huge bonfire and he wondered why someone would light such a huge fire and then walk away and leave it.

Suddenly he heard a branch snapping behind him and he turned around to see the biggest giant he had ever seen coming towards him. He turned the other way to try and run, but he saw two more giants coming towards him and they must have been thirty feet tall. It didn't take the largest one long at all to pick him up. He felt himself being lifted in to the air towards the giant's mouth and just before the giant dropped him into his mouth, he screamed…..

He awoke to the sound of his own screaming to find that Ronan was at his side and shaking him. All of a sudden he felt sick, so he tried to roll on his side, but he realised that was a bad idea, when his leg hit the bed rail. He felt gentle hands trying to sit him up and then someone was holding a dish in front of him and it didn't take him long to empty his stomach contents. When he had finished retching, he felt himself being laid back down and someone was wiping his brow with a cool cloth.

Finally when his heart had slowed down he looked around the room and found that Jennifer was wiping his brow with a damp cloth, Carson was sitting next to him taking his pulse and Ronan was standing on the other side of his bed with his hand on his shoulder.

"How long was I asleep?" He managed to croak out.

"Around four hours." Ronan answered, while squeezing his shoulder.

"Are you okay laddie?" Carson asked, as he injected something into his IV.

"What did you just give me Doc? I don't want to go back to sleep anytime soon."

"Don't worry lad, I'm just giving you some Compazine for the nausea." Carson explained.

He noticed that Jennifer had stopped wiping his brow and was looking at him with her worried look.

"Did you have a bad dream Colonel?" She asked him.

He looked at her and attempted a smile, but he was sure that is looked more like a grimace, "Just a little nightmare, I'll be fine, as long as I stay awake."

Carson opened his mouth to speak and he knew exactly what the Scott was going to say to him, so he interrupted before Carson even got a word out of his mouth, "no Carson I don't want to talk to anyone. What I do want is to be left alone for a while, so if everyone could please leave that would be great."

They all stood up to leave the room. Jennifer stopped to speak to him quietly before she left, "If you need anything Colonel I will be in my office."

He smiled at her and watched her leave the room followed by Carson and that left only Ronan in the room.

"Why are you not leaving Chewie?" He asked a little impatiently.

"I'm staying to watch over you."

John sighed; this was getting old real fast. What he wanted was to be left alone. He felt his pain levels notching up again and he hadn't even bothered to ask for pain meds. "Okay stay if you must, but don't talk to me."

He closed his eyes and heard Ronan settle down into his favourite position at the end of the bed. It wasn't too long before he felt himself drifting off into a restless sleep.

TBC…