Chapter 22: Finally some answers.
Teyla sat in the mess hall looking out of the window. The view was really amazing, but she didn't really notice it, because all she could think about was John. They had just admitted their feelings for one another and she had even found an apartment, so that they could move in together as a family when John came out of the infirmary. But the way things were looking she didn't know if or when that would ever happen.
She couldn't keep thinking like this, she had a son to take care of and right now he was trying to talk to her.
"Momma, where Da?"
She looked at her son with sadness in her eyes; John was the only father that Torren had ever known. Kanaan was his biological father, but that was where it ended. John was the one who had sat with him at night when he was crying, or was there every night before bed to read him a story. John loved Torren as if he was his own son and she knew that Torren was really missing John.
"His leg is still very sore and now he is having a big sleep, so you won't be able to see him for a while yet." She told him with tears brimming in her eyes.
"It otay momma I here." Torren told her patting her arm.
She looked at him and smiled. "Thank you my sweet darling."
Before she had a chance to say anything else, Torren squealed, "Unca wonan."
"Hello little buddy, is it okay if I join you and Momma for dinner?"
Torren nodded his head and Ronon sat down next to Teyla.
'How are you feeling Teyla?" Ronan asked with a soft gentle voice.
She felt the tears brimming in her eyes again, but she did not want Ronon to see her crying so she tried to control her shaky voice as she spoke, "I'm doing okay considering the circumstances."
When she felt Ronon's arm around her, she couldn't hold the tears back any longer, so she let them fall.
"Ronon why do people keep wanting to hurt John? This always seems to happen to him." She asked through her tears.
"He's a good man who protects the innocent and that plus his ancient gene always equal trouble."
"I think once he is better I will be taking him away somewhere were no-one can ever hurt him again."
She felt Ronon hug her tighter as he spoke, "I couldn't agree with you more."
A little voice, spoke in her ear. "Momma why you sad? I here." Torren asked putting his arms around her neck.
"Thank you Torren. I'm very sad because I want Daddy to come home with us."
"Where we live?" Torren asked letting go of her neck.
"I have found the most wonderful home for us all to share when daddy is better, but I just need to check with Mr Woolsey if it is okay for us to move in."
Torren looked up at her with his puppy dog eyes; the ones that were so like John's. "I see?"
"Yes when we have finished dinner I will take you there. Uncle Ronan can come with us if he would like."
"I think I might take you up on that offer, now what's for dinner." Ronon mumbled, as a smile crossed his face.
Teyla smiled back and answered him, "Torren's favourite, meatloaf and mash potatoes. Mind you if he makes the mess he usually makes with this meal, I will have to give him a bath before we take him to look at the apartment."
Ronon laughed as he got up to go and get his meal, he looked back at her and Torren before heading off, "would you like me to get you two some food."
"Yes thankyou Ronon that would be lovely."
Torren just nodded and a big grin crossed his face.
A few minutes later Ronon arrived back at the table with food for them all. Teyla sat with her friend and son for another hour enjoying the stories that Ronon was telling her from when he was a young boy on Sateda.
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John walked out of the darkness and found himself by the campfire again. He looked up to see that giant Ronon, giant Rodney and giant Teyla were sitting on a large log. Giant Torren sat next Teyla, looking up at him.
"Ya not my dad, go way!" Torren yelled at him.
Teyla's head turned to look at him, "John why are you here, you mean nothing to us, so run away and never return."
Her words crushed him, he knew that this was all a dream, but is that what Teyla really thought of him. If she didn't think that way about him, then perhaps she should. He brought nothing but harm or even death to anyone who got close to him. Perhaps it was better if they didn't bother to pursue a relationship.
Next it was Ronon who spoke to him, "You're just a weakling, why did you let yourself get captured and beat up, you should have been stronger and if you think you're man enough to protect Teyla you're just plain delusional."
And again he knew that Ronan was probably right, why couldn't he do something to stop himself from being taken, he knew he was sick at the time, but it was no excuse.
Finally Rodney stood up and spoke to him in his usual acerbic tone, "you think you're so smart but you're not. Just because you could have got in to MENSA, doesn't mean you should have, so you made the right decision not to. They wouldn't want a loser like you."
Again John knew he was probably right, all of his friends were telling him exactly what his father used to tell him, if he went into the air force and didn't work for the family business. He was wasting his abilities and talents, by working for the air force. He'd let his family down and now here he was just proving his father right by letting his friends down too.
He turned around to go, but he didn't have to go, because his friends go up and turned their backs on him. He screamed at them to come back, but they just kept on walking and it wasn't long before the darkness enveloped him again.
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It had been an hour since Ronon had left the infirmary and Carson had sat with John the entire time. His friend had been quiet for most of that time.
Now John was starting to thrash about and moan again and Carson feared another seizure, he stood up and held his leg to make sure that he didn't injure it further. He had meant to put a cast on it that afternoon, but given the seizures that John had experienced, he had decided to just keep an eye on him for now.
He watched the monitors as John started to twitch and he wasn't surprised to see that his EEG reading were off the chart, something was happening to John while he was unconscious and he really wasn't sure what at this point.
Rodney had called him a few minutes ago to tell him that Todd was with him in his lab and that Todd had a fair idea what was wrong with Sheppard. He hoped that they would have some answers for him soon; because John seemed to be working himself up to another seizure and he was positive if John had another seizure he would probably suffer some permanent brain damage.
Suddenly John shot up in his bed and started to scream, but it wasn't long before he fell back to the bed and was quiet again.
Looking over at the EEG monitor he realised that his brain patters had returned to normal.
He was so relieved that he barely heard his radio. When he finally realised that Rodney was trying to contact him he tapped his radio,
"Beckett here, what have you got Rodney?"
"Todd and I are heading your way; can you have the scans of Sheppard's brain and his leg ready? We know what we're looking for now and if we find it, we can shut it down from your lab."
"I'll meet you in the med lab in a few minutes then, I'll send Jennifer down to sit with Colonel Sheppard while you tell me what is going on, Beckett out."
"Okay, see you then, McKay out."
He stood up ready to go to his office and was surprised by Jennifer entering the room, "How is he Carson?"
"He's resting peacefully at the moment, but it appears that a few moments ago he had a bad dream and I was afraid that he was going to have a seizure, but after he screamed he settled down."
"How about I keep an eye on him for a while and then maybe you can go and get some rest? You still seem a little tired after being sick with the Red Spot." Jennifer suggested
"I am feeling a wee bit tired, but Rodney and Todd want to meet me in the office, they claim to know what is wrong with Colonel Sheppard and how to fix it."
"Well I hope they have a solution, because I don't think Colonel Sheppard has much time."
Carson just nodded his head and left the room. He arrived in the med lab a few minutes later to find that Rodney and Todd were already there.
"Okay gentlemen," Carson said to Todd and Rodney, practically laughing at the thought of Todd being a gentleman, "what have you got?"
Before Rodney had a chance to answer Todd answered for him, "well I believe that there is a tiny cloaked chip imbedded in JJohn SShheppard's brain which is being manipulated by Goliath."
"I'd check his leg to see if there's anything imbedded in there as well, because that may be why he's actually experiencing more pain than he should," Rodney added.
Carson looked at both of them with a little scepticism, "If the chips are cloaked how the hell are we supposed to see them?"
"I have modified this hand held device to scan for them." Todd hissed, showing his crooked yellow smile.
"Okay, if we detect the chips how do we get them out of Colonel Sheppard and more to the point how did Goliath get them into his body without major surgery?" Carson asked with confusion.
"Well they probably used a mini transport device; I have helped Dr McKay modify this scanner to transport the chips out of JJohn SShheppard's body, when we have detected them." Todd said with a creepy smile.
A worried look crossed Carson's face, "won't that take out half of his brain as well?"
Carson waited for an answer and when Rodney finally answered, he didn't like what he heard. "Well there's obviously a risk of brain damage, if you're messing around with someone's brain, but we believe the risk will be minimal."
Before Carson had a chance to reply, Todd spoke up, "I really don't see we have much of a choice. If it is indeed the device I'm thinking of, then he will suffer brain damage eventually anyway, so we need to be quick."
That was when Carson made his decision, the Colonel was at risk of brain damage if he had another seizure anyway, so now was the time to act.
"Let's do it then." He told them, as he led the way to the Colonel's room.
"How is he?" He asked Jennifer, as soon as he'd entered the room.
He could see the worry in her eyes as she answered him, "he's becoming restless again and I'm hoping he's not heading for another seizure."
"Well Rodney and Todd have a solution, so if you could stand back and allow them to get to work," Carson told her, still not entirely convinced himself that it would work.
He watched intently as Todd waved the device over Sheppard's head, watching the video monitor that was monitoring his brain waves he noticed a dot the size of a pin prick show up. He got closer to the screen and adjusted the magnification to make it more visible.
"Wow that definitely looks like a computer chip, "Carson stated, still shocked that the wraith had that kind of technology. But then he remembered the device a few years ago that messed with everyone's head and made them see things that were not there, to the point where Colonel Sheppard had shot Rodney.
"Shall we look at his leg now?" Rodney suggested.
Carson and Todd nodded and Todd walked up and waved the device over Sheppard's leg and sure enough when the scan of his broken bone came up on the computer screen they had hooked the device up to they saw a tiny computer chip.
"I suggest we try your device on his leg first and if it doesn't take out half his leg, we'll try it on his brain."
"I agree Doctor Beckett, so shall we get started?" Todd hissed, showing his yellow teeth; yet again."
When Carson nodded Todd changed the settings on his device and waved the device over John's leg again. Looking at his leg a few minutes later Carson was happy to see that the chip was gone, but he had no idea where it had gone.
"Where has the chip gone?" Carson asked staring at Todd.
"It was transported into my scanner and then destroyed, so that no-one can ever use it again."
"That's great," Rodney chimed in, "now can we get this thing out of Sheppard's brain, so things can get back to normal?"
Todd waved the device over John's head and as he did John began to moan and Thrash about. Carson kept a close eye on him, because the last think he needed now was a full blown seizure.
When Todd had finished he kept an eye on John and watched as he continued to twitch. All of a sudden his muscles began to convulse and his back arched of the bed.
"He's seizing again!" He yelled trying to hold John's head, while Rodney and Todd tried to hold the rest of his body.
Jennifer sprang into motion and injected an anticonvulsant into his IV port, slowly the convulsions ceased and John was quiet again.
As Carson looked down at John, he was worried that the last seizure may have caused brain damage. He knew that he should probably do some scans, but they wouldn't know for sure until he woke up.
"What happens now?" Rodney asked quietly.
Carson sighed and said the only thing he could in the circumstances, "now we wait."
TBC…
