Boys' vacation Chapter 18: The healing compound, a stargate: atlantis fanfic

Chapter 18: The healing compound.

John was walking through a dark forest and there were huge trees as far as the eye could see, he had no idea how he'd gotten there and what his purpose was for being there. One thing he did know was that it was incredibly cold. Continuing on down a narrow path in front of him, he started to shiver, and it didn't take him to long to realise that he didn't have a shirt or any shoes and socks on.

A real sense of foreboding came over him as he continued on, but for some reason he couldn't stop himself. Suddenly he heard a shuffling in the bushes beside of him and his first reaction was to stop. Trembling with fear he looked around at his surroundings and he was horrified by what he saw, standing in front of him was the largest spider he had ever seen, it had to be the size of a standard SUV, before he had a chance to back away, it pounced on him and all he could do as the spider began to devour him was scream….

He awoke to the sound of someone screaming and when he found Carson by his side it didn't take him to realise that it had been him. He'd had the same dream every night for a week and he was fairly sure that he'd kept it hidden until now, because he was sure that this was the first time that he'd actually screamed.

Carson's face came into view and as usual recently, he still had his mask and gown on. He was only supposed to be in isolation for two days, but it had turned into a week when some of the skin grafts became infected. Now that Carson was here, he was really hoping to get permission to go back to the general ward, or better still go back to his quarters.

"Are you alright laddie," Carson asked him with a look of concern on his face, a look that he had seen far too often lately.

"Yeah, I'm alright Doc. It was just a bad dream." He tried to wipe his hand over his face, but only succeeded in hitting himself in the head with his splinted hand, "it wont be the first and I'm sure it won't be the last."

"Perhaps you should talk to Kate and before you complain, this has been a difficult time for you and you really need to talk to someone?"

"I understand what you're saying doc, but you know how I feel about talking to Heightmeyer. I will talk to my team when I am good a ready, so until then I will ask you to leave it alone?"

Carson nodded, but he didn't stay quiet, "you do realise that I won't even be putting you back on light duty until you've spoken to her, don't you?"

"Yeah, and considering I'm still stuck in and isolation room after a week, I know that won't be for a while, so let me deal with this in my own way for now."

"Well then lad, there's one piece of good news I have for you. Your grafts are healing nicely, so I was going to take you to the general ward after lunch and I know that there are a few people who are desperate to see you."

"That's great doc, but for now can I be left alone?"

"Alright then lad, I'll send Marie in soon with your lunch."

"Thanks Doc," he whispered, as his friend walked away.

Closing his eyes again, the thought of getting out of the isolation room made him feel a little better. At last, he would be able to see his friends again, since he had only seen each of them once in the last week. Once some of the grafts had become infected the only people allowed in the isolation room, were Beckett, Keller, and Marie. Before Rodney and the other's had been banished, Rodney had told him that the healing compound was almost ready, so as soon as he was moved out of the isolation room, it would be ready to use. That thought alone brought a smile to his face, because maybe his recovery would be quick and he could get back to doing what he loved; going off world and protecting his people.

Elizabeth had also told him that she wanted him in on the negotiations with the Ngerans as soon as he was well enough and Rodney had planned a trip for him to XCZ-997 as well, claiming that there was something that he must see, but none of that would happen if he never got out of the infirmary.

For now, he knew that nothing was happening until after lunch, so he might as well close his eyes and go back to sleep again, but part of him didn't want to in case he had another nightmare. He was really tired though, so he allowed himself to drift off and five minutes later he was fast asleep again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rodney had spent most of the last week in his lab, researching the healing compound and what had happened to the John Sheppard who had gone to Ngering ten thousand years ago and at last, he had found answers. The formula for the healing compound had been sent to Keller and Beckett three days ago and they had managed to formulate the compound. Tests had been conducted and they had concluded it was safe to use on Sheppard. A day ago he had also worked out what had happened to the other Sheppard. He hadn't told anyone yet, as he wanted to surprise Sheppard with his findings. His friend would definitely need something to cheer him up, because he knew how it drove him mad being stuck in the infirmary for extended periods of time and it had been two weeks already, so Sheppard would definitely be going insane by now.

Looking at his watch he realised that it was time to go and get some lunch. Carson had told him that he could see John this afternoon, before they tried the healing compound on him, so he wanted to spend as much time with him as he could. According to the data base one of the side effects of the healing compound was people could sleep for anywhere up to a week, so if Sheppard were going to sleep for another week, he may as well spend some quality time with him now. He knew that Teyla would definitely like to see him awake as well and Ronon would as well, so perhaps it wouldn't matter if they were there when he told them the news about the other Sheppard.

His contemplations were interrupted a few minutes later when his com device activated, "McKay here," he said tapping his earpiece.

"Dr McKay it is Teyla here and I was wondering if you would like to join Ronon, Elizabeth and I for lunch, before we go and see John?"

"Umm…., just give me a few minutes and I'll be down to join you."

"There is Pizza for lunch, so please join us soon, Teyla out."

Taking one last look around his lab to make sure that everything was in order, he left and headed to the mess hall. They seemed to have pizza on the menu a lot these days, but he didn't care because he loved pizza and right now, he was starving.

When he arrived in the mess hall five minutes later, he was surprised to see how busy it was, but then it was after 1200 hours, so perhaps most people had their lunch around midday, which was something he couldn't fathom. Why would people be so routine in the time they ate, he just ate when he was hungry, which could be anytime of the day or night.

Scanning the room, he realised that his friends were at their favourite table overlooking the ocean. Grabbing several slices of pizza and a juice, he balanced his tray precariously on top of his laptop and headed over to greet them.

"Hey guys, guess what!?" He asked with excitement, before he'd even bothered to sit down.

Teyla spoke in her usual soothing tone, "Dr McKay why do you not sit down?"

Looking at his tray he realised how unsteady it was and the thought crossed his mind that he could lose his pizza at any moment, so he carefully set it on the table and sat next to Teyla.

"Now that you are sitting down what would you like to tell us?" Teyla asked gently.

He couldn't wipe the smile off of his face as he told them his secret, "I've found out what the other Sheppard was doing on Ngering ten thousand years ago and I know what happened to him afterwards."

Remaining silent, he started at the faces of his friends at the table.

"Are you going to tell us, or are you going to keep it a secret? Elizabeth asked and Rodney could see the eagerness in her eyes.

"Nope, I want to tell Sheppard first, but I'm quite happy for you to be there with me when I tell him," he replied smugly.

"I could order you to tell me," Elizabeth stated, with a twinkle in her eyes.

Teyla sighed, "Please do not tease him Dr Weir, I am happy to wait, so that we can all enjoy our lunch in peace."

"I can wait," Ronon mumbled.

"Then it's settled I will tell everyone when I've been to see Sheppard. I don't know whether Carson will let us all in to see Sheppard at the same time, but if he doesn't, I want to go first?"

"I am happy to let you go first Dr McKay, but I am hoping that Carson will let us all visit with John together. It has been a while since we have seen him after all." Teyla said in a reassuring tone.

For some reason Teyla could manage to sooth and calm him like no-one could. The only other person who could settle him down was John Sheppard, but that was usually with the smart-ass banter that went on between the two of them.

Now that it had been decided that he would be the first to see Sheppard, he sat back and enjoyed his meal, not bothering to comment on the conversation at the table unless he had something to say.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next time John awoke, he almost jumped out of bed, when he saw that Carson was sitting beside him without a gown or mask, obviously they had moved him out of isolation while he'd been asleep. A bowl of soup had been placed on his tray table and he had an awfully bad feeling that Carson was about to feed him. His fingers were still splinted up and they probably would be for at least another four weeks, so unless he wanted the feeding tube, put back in, he didn't really see as if he had much of a choice.

"Ummm…. Carson you're not thinking of feeding me, are you?"

"Well, Dr Keller is off duty, Maire and Sally are busy with another patient, so unless you want Elizabeth or one of your team to do it, I'm the only one available."

Taking a deep breath, he looked at his friend, "well I guess you'd better feed me then," he smirked.

He Knew that until his hands were healed, he would have to rely on others feeding him and other things that he didn't even want to contemplate right now, so perhaps this was part of the emotional healing process for him. Wow! He thought, I may not have to see Heightmeyer after all, because I actually sound like a shrink.

Looking at his Doctor he nodded, and Carson spooned the first mouthful of soup into his mouth. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, because at that moment Carson was his doctor and not his friend.

"Well done lad," Carson said when he'd finished the bowl and for some reason he felt like a little child.

"Okay Doc, what's for desert?"

"You may have some Jello; I will send Marie to get you some when she has finished what she is doing. Now there are some people outside who want to see you. I will allow them all to come in together for a while, but if you begin to feel tired or you are in any pain, please let me know?"

For the first time in a week he felt marginally better, his left shoulder and the skin grafts on his right arm were still aching a bit, but thanks to one of Carson's pain relieving cocktails the pain was muted for now. The wounds in his leg and side were healing nicely and the stitches had been taken out a few days ago. In fact Carson planned to have him on his feet in the next couple of days and he certainly wasn't looking forward to stumbling around the infirmary like some old drunk.

Before he had a chance to contemplate his fate any further, a loud obnoxious voice filled the room, "hey Sheppard, I found out what happened to the John Sheppard from ten thousand years ago. Do you want me to tell you what happened?"

Rolling his eyes at the excitable scientist, he plastered a fake smile on his face, "Sure why not." He replied.

"Rodney! Teyla admonished, "how about you let everyone sit down and say hello to John first?"

"Uhhh…Sorry," he replied looking downcast.

John watched the scene play out in front of him and he kind of felt sorry for McKay; almost. The last thing he needed was one of Rodney's excitable rants since he was still feeling incredibly tired.

"How are you feeling John?" Elizabeth asked with one of her gentle smiles.

He decided to use a different answer to his standard one this time, "okay I guess."

"Would you like to listen to Rodney's information, if not it can wait for another time?" Elizabeth asked glaring at Rodney.

Now was as good a time as any to hear it, since he was quite interested himself as to what had happened to his double ten thousand years ago, "go ahead Rodney, but make it short, because I'm feeling tired and since Carson wants to get me on my feet in the next couple of days, I need as much rest as I can get."

"Well, I researched the records of the ancients who went back to earth and apparently there was a John Sheppard among them, but the strange thing is that Elizabeth Weir's name was on the list as well."

"Why would that be?" Teyla asked and it was obvious to John that she was slightly confused.

"Well, remember Janus was the one who suggested that she stay on Atlantis, to rotate the ZPM's periodically over the ten thousand years that she was in stasis," John said and when everyone nodded, he continued on. "What I don't understand though is why the other John Sheppard feared for his life?"

"From what I understand, Janus was infatuated with Elizabeth, but he didn't want anything to do with the other Sheppard, so he claimed that he was dead, and I suspect that he went out of his way to make sure it became fact. Obviously, Sheppard managed to avoid him and make it back to earth." Rodney told them in and demonstrative tone.

All he could do was roll his eyes at his friend, and hope that the story was almost at an end, because he really didn't want to have to listen to him much longer, "so Rodney, is it possible that I became my own ancestor?"

"It's possible, but I don't have any records of what happened when the ancients went back to earth."

"Do you know why the Ngerans were so rude to him?" Ronon asked speaking for the first time since he'd entered the room.

"I did some research into the Ngerans history and supposedly by the time that the other Sheppard visited, they already knew that the ancients were abandoning them, so they wanted nothing to do with him."

He stifled a yawn, "Wow Rodney! John said sarcastically, "now we know what happened to the other John Sheppard and to be honest I don't even want to contemplate being my own ancestor right now."

"Okay Rodney, you've told your story, so how about you let my patient get some rest." Carson said as he started to fuss.

Closing his eyes and feigning sleep, he was glad when Carson ushered his friends out of the room.

"I know you're not asleep lad, so I will say what I have to say and then you can go back to sleep."

Sighing, he opened his eyes and turned to look at Carson, "what is it Doc?"

"Jennifer and I are going to look over the information on the healing compound one last time and if all looks well, we would like to try using it on your right leg, right side and left shoulder wounds later this afternoon. For now, I don't want to mess with the skin grafts. If all goes well, I will use it on your right shoulder and fingers at a later date."

"That sound's great Doc, so can I go back to sleep for a while?"

"Aye lad, I'll give you something for the pain and then you can sleep for as long as you want."

"Thanks Doc."

Closing his eyes again, he felt relieved when Carson deposited his pain meds into his IV and he was able to drift off to sleep again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Elizabeth sat in her office surrounded by John's friends and they were all worried about him. She had called a meeting after they had all been to visit him and she had concluded that he definitely wasn't himself.

"Carson, can you tell me how his physical healing is going?"

"His right side and leg are healing nicely, and I am happy with the way the skin grafts are healing, but it's his emotional state that I'm worried about. He has been having nightmares for the last week and he is continuing to lose weight, since every time he eats, he has a nightmare and vomits it up. I have suggested that he talks to Kate, but you know how he feels about that."

"What do you suggest then Carson, we can't force him to see Kate, can we?" Teyla asked and Elizabeth could see the worry in her eyes.

"Jennifer and I feel that the healing compound is safe, so I suggest that we start by using it on his right side and leg first, because they are almost healed. I also want to try it on his left shoulder and then hopefully he can avoid having to have extensive physical therapy on it."

Elizabeth nodded, before asking, "and what about his fingers and the skin grafts, Carson?"

"The skin grafts are healing well and shouldn't cause any long-term problems if we don't use the compound and his fingers shouldn't take too much longer to heal. The main thing I want to do is to get him back on his feet, as quickly as possible. It is my intention once I know that the healing compound has worked to send him back to his quarters to rest and I will want a member of his team with him at all times. Hopefully, he will find it easy to open up to those he is closest too then."

"I will arrange a roster, "Teyla suggested and Ronon and Rodney nodded their agreement.

Elizabeth looked at the faces of John's team and she knew that if anyone could get him to open up, they certainly could, "sounds like a plan." She turned to Carson before she continued, "Carson can you please keep me informed."

"Aye love, we'll be administering the first dose of the compound this afternoon."

"Okay then Carson, let me know as soon as you've finished?" Looking around at the others, she saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes, "alright you're all dismissed."

She watched as they got up and left her office one by one and she was grateful that she had the rest of the day free of meetings, so that she could catch up with some paperwork and get some rest.

Lorne was back on Atlantis, now that the Ngerans had appointed a new military leader and everyone from the Ngerans old planet had now been transported to the new one. Trade negotiations were still on hold, because Ziall had insisted that he wanted Colonel Sheppard involved. Apparently, Sheppard was a hero to their people, and they wanted to honour him for all that he had done for them.

Looking down at the pile of paperwork on her desk, she decided that she didn't really want to do any right now and what she really needed was a rest.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A real sense of foreboding came over him as he continued on, but for some reason he couldn't stop himself. Suddenly he heard a shuffling in the bushes beside of him and his first reaction was to stop. Trembling with fear he looked around at his surroundings and he was horrified by what he saw, standing in front of him was the largest spider he had ever seen, it had to be the size of a standard SUV and what he saw behind it absolutely terrified him a cluster of spiders that were even bigger were coming towards him, before he had a chance to back away, they pounced on him and all he could do as the spiders began to devour him was scream….

He awoke with a start and he started to thrash about, trying to get the images of being devoured alive out of his head. It was the worst nightmare that he had ever had and his whole body was trembling and there was sweat running down his face. Trying to steady himself he realised that his stomach was starting to churn, but he just couldn't stop trembling, so when he started to gag, he feared that he was going to choke. Gentle hands rolled him on his side and he lost his meger stomach contents all over the floor.

A voice penetrated the fog he was in, "breath laddie."

Trying to focus on the voice he took in deep breaths and was relieved when he began to settle a few minutes later.

"Carson," he whispered, "what's happening to me?"

"I believe you've had another nightmare and when you have been cleaned up, I want to talk to you about what we are going to do about it."

He nodded and closed his eyes again, to exhausted to say anything.

"Just lay back Colonel and I'll send Marie and Sally to clean you up."

Half an hour later, when he was dressed in clean scrubs and his bedding had been changed, Carson came back into his room and sat by his bed.

"Okay Colonel, this is what is going to happen, I am going to try the healing compound on you and once I know how well it has worked, I am going to release you to your quarters, where your team are going to keep an eye on you and I hope that you can open up to them about the nightmares you've been having, because if you don't, I will make you speak to Kate."

"I understand Carson and as long as I can get out of here, I will consider talking to my team."

"Okay then, that's all I ask. I would like to try the healing compound now if you feel up to it?"

"Yeah, the sooner the better doc."

Carson patted him on his good leg," I'll just go and get Jennifer and then we'll get started."

It wasn't long before he felt his eyelids drooping again and he knew that the nightmares he'd had over the last week had left him feeling tired, exhausted, and weak, so perhaps Carson was right, it was time to talk to his team.

He was just dozing off when he heard someone enter the room, the footsteps were soft and gentle, so he assumed that it was Jennifer, the floral perfume gave it away as well. Opening his eyes, he was happy to see that he was right.

Although she was young and reasonably new to Atlantis he had come to respect and value her, she had proved herself on countless occasions over the last two weeks and he could see that she was going to fit in perfectly on Atlantis.

"Okay then Colonel, we're going to inject the compound directly into the wound sites, then we will wait a few days and see what happens."

Carson came into the room a few seconds later with a tray full of instruments and it didn't take long for the two doctors to get to work unbandaging his wounds.

"Are you ready laddie?" Carson asked, as he began to poke the wound in this side.

By this point he'd had enough of the poking and prodding, "just do it Doc!"

Gritting his teeth, he watched as Carson injected the compound into the wound in his side. After the initial pain of the needle puncturing his wound, a numbing feeling began to creep through his side.

"How are you feeling Colonel?" Jennifer asked as she prepared another syringe.

"The area around the wound is feeling numb."

"I'm going to inject the compound into your shoulder now, while Carson injects your thigh

Watching the two doctors, he gritted his teeth, while they injected the wound sites on his left shoulder and his right thigh, and it wasn't long before he felt the numbing feeling as the compound began to take effect.

"How are you feeling John?" Carson asked with concern in his eyes.

"Other that feeling a bit numb, I feel fine."

"Jennifer is going to tidy up and then I think I will sit with you for a while, to make sure you are alright.

Suddenly he began to feel strange and a weird foggy feeling entered his brain. The numbness in his wounds, turned to the feeling of a raging fire tearing through him. His muscles started to shake and despite the fog he heard the bed rails beginning to rattle. It wasn't long before the darkness started to beckon him, and he knew that he couldn't hold on much longer. Having no idea what was happening to him he tried to cry out and found that his teeth were so tightly clenched that he couldn't open his mouth. His vision began to blur as the darkness came closer and all he could do was let it claim him and he wondered if it would be for the last time.

TBC…

This is definitely my last update for 2020 and I want to wish everyone a safe and happy new year. I know that it has been a difficult year for many and we can only hope that 2021 will be a much better year.

I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my stories this year, I really appreciate your encouragement and support.