Disclaimer - I do not own Stargate Atlantis, any of the characters or the events depicted in this story. I only own my character Rayne, her background and family, also anything not privy to the show.

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Enjoy!

While Ronon and Rayne were readying themselves for a well-deserved rest, Sheppard is wheeled into the infirmary on a gurney, after his right arm had been injured by the feeding hand of Ellia.

"This really isn't necessary, Doc."

Beckett walks beside the gurney, "Yes, it is. You've got a serious laceration on your arm, and you've lost a good deal of blood."

McKay walks in behind them grumbling, "Yeah, well, enjoy the ride, Colonel. They're making me walk." He takes a seat on the bed beside Sheppard, staring down at his hand.

"You have a splinter, Rodney." Carson huffs in annoyance.

"It's a very nasty, painful splinter."

"All right, let's have a look at this." Beckett takes the field dressing off of Sheppard's arm to reveal an angry red abrasion on the inside of his right forearm. He takes a medicated swab from a nurse. "All right. Thank you. This might hurt a wee bit."

In the next bed, a nurse removes the splinter from McKay's hand and he cries out like they just removed an organ without anesthetic. "Ow! Ow."

John glances over at Rodney, "I'm sure it will."

Beckett starts cleaning Sheppard's cut and he doesn't so much as flinch. "This doesn't sting?"

"No."

"I know you have a high threshold for pain, but this…" Carson says as he cleans the remainder of the blood off and freezes mid-swipe.

"This is what?" John asks seeing the concern on Carson's face.

There's no sign of a wound once the blood is removed. "Gone." Carson states.

"What?"

"The feeding mark. It's completely healed."

Beckett draws blood from Sheppard's left arm, all the while glancing nervously at the right one where the marks should have been.

"Maybe the wound wasn't that bad." John offers.

"Then where did all the blood come from?" Carson interrogates.

"I don't know. Maybe it just looked a lot worse than it was."

"I don't see evidence of any cut at all." He declares as he wraps a piece of gauze around the spot he'd taken blood from.

"That's weird, because it hurt like hell."

"You're sure the skin was broken?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. There was a lot of blood. Maybe it was hers."

"It was definitely human."

"I don't know. Maybe it was a nosebleed."

"Is that supposed to be a joke, Colonel?"

Sheppard stands and puts his vest back on. "Believe me, this isn't funny."

"Give me half a day to run your blood work and analyze it with the data we already have. We'll figure it out."

"And until then?"

"You're welcome to look over my shoulder."

John smirks, "Yeah, that's tempting, but…"

"Just go about your day."

Later that day up in the metal catwalk structure Sheppard runs, followed closely by Ronon. He stops suddenly, as if surprised as Ronon leans over the railing, out of breath.

"I thought you said you were a runner."

"That's funny." Ronon snaps back glaring over his shoulder as he takes deep breaths.

"I can usually barely keep up. What's with you?"

"What's with you?" Ronon shoots back.

"Water?" He gives the water bottle to Ronon. "Hey, sore loser, I don't act like a jerk when you beat me."

"Yes, you do."

"Okay, then we'll go around again."

"Go ahead." Ronon says as he hands the bottle back and starts to walk away.

"Okay, grumpy. I will." Sheppard snarks back as he takes off fast in the other direction.

Down in the infirmary Beckett is working at a laptop when a nurse enters. "Dr. Beckett? I thought you'd want to see this."

She hands him a tablet, his face instantly shows his shock and concern as he looks at the results on the screen. "Is this from Colonel Sheppard's blood sample?

"That's right."

"And you've run it twice?"

"Of course."

"Okay, let's run it one more time. I want to be certain before I tell him."

"All right." They walk out hurriedly together.

Inside the east pier training room Teyla and Sheppard spar with the wooden bantos rods, both of them covered in a light sheen of sweat that indicates they've been at it for a while. Sheppard moves quickly, able to keep up with Teyla. They pause, Teyla looking surprised at his speed and his sudden offense.

"Not bad, huh?" John says cockily.

"Yes, yes. You are doing very well."

They spare some more, Sheppard approaching aggressively, the sticks striking harder than they have in the past.

"You have been practicing."

"Not really."

He tosses one of the rods to the floor. They spar again, Sheppard with one arm behind his back. He parries every move from Teyla and backs her against the wall, a very different look in his eyes as he pins her there.

"You are showing a considerable leap in ability, Colonel Sheppard."

"You can call me John when we're off the clock." He says intently, not releasing her.

"Very well… John."

"There you go."

"Should we continue, or do you…"

Her words are cut off as he drops his remaining rod, then grabs Teyla's head and kisses her passionately. He pulls away, leaving her in shock.

He looks genuinely confused. "I'm not really sure just what happened."

"Colonel…"

"That was interesting."

Dr. Beckett's voice then comes over the intercom, "Colonel Sheppard, please report to the infirmary."

John looks at Teyla concerned, "Are you okay?"

"Dr. Beckett will be expecting you."

He gives her a once over visually. "Yeah."

John heads to the infirmary where he finds both Beckett and Weir waiting for him, he hops up onto one of the beds as Carson explains what he found during his tests.

"The good news is we can now say with some certainty that Ellia didn't drain away any of your life."

"We already knew that." John states.

"I suppose."

"That's the best good news you could come up with?"

"It looks like you've been infected with the iratus bug retrovirus, the one we're working on to turn Ellia into a human."

"You mean the one that didn't turn her into a human."

Carson scrambles to defend himself, "Ellia administered the treatment prematurely. It wasn't ready. It wasn't even supposed to be—"

"I'm not blaming you, Doc." John reassures the Irishman.

"But you're right. Her transformation was into a creature closer to the iratus bug than a to a human, and I know how much you—"

"Hate those bugs?" John finishes for him with a grimace.

"Yes."

"But for one, Ellia was a Wraith, and she took a massive dose of the retrovirus. Do we know how the Colonel's system might respond to the drug?" Elizabeth questions.

"I have no idea. It was never engineered to be given to a human. It was never intended to be given to anyone—"

"Doc, let it go." Sheppard states.

"The problem is I have no idea how your body will react. I can't even begin to guess."

"Well, if how I feel is any indication, I'm fine."

"It's certainly possible that it's already breaking down in your system. Ellia's transformation was extreme and immediate."

"See?"

"But the wound on your arm healed unnaturally fast."

"If there was a wound—" John says diving deep into denial.

"Well, there had to be, otherwise, I don't see how you got infected in the first place." Carson says interrupting him.

"Well, she was spitting an awful lot."

Beckett sighs and Elizabeth asks what they do now. "So, what, we just monitor it for now?"

"Aye. You'll need to check in every six hours."

"I can do that."

"And you should probably—"

"Suspend my off-world activities until we know more." John says knowing exactly what Elizabeth was going to say.

"Thank you."

"See you in six hours." He says hopping down off of the bed and patting Carson on the back before he leaves.

Inside of her office Weir is working on her tablet computer when Colonel Caldwell enters.

"You're working late."

"No, not really." She holds up her tablet with a rueful grin to show him she was playing solitaire.

"Yeah." He smiles as he sits down in the chair across from her casually crossing his legs. "We keep trying to remove it from the terminals on the Daedalus. Somehow, the crew keeps finding a way of putting it back."

"Never get between a genius and a computer game… Aren't you scheduled to fly out?"

He grins, "I was supposed to, yes, until I heard about Sheppard."

Weir nods, "He's under Beckett's supervision."

"If Lieutenant Colonel finds himself unable to perform his duties, that's…"

Elizabeth realizes what he's suggesting, cocking an eyebrow she leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. "You have a ship to command, Colonel. I wouldn't want to spread you too thin."

"Novak and Hermiod are running a full diagnostic on our FTL drive. They're worried about the constant use jumping between galaxies. Which is to say, if I need to, I have some time."

She still looks skeptical of his motives. "Okay. Let me think about it."

"Thank you. You got chess on there?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Well, I have to warn you that I am a career military strategist."

"Well, I'll have to take my chances." She smiles as they both lean forward towards the desk.

John heads back to his room, taking off his jacket as he sits down on the bed removing his comms device. He notices there is a large growth at the point where Ellia wounded him. Purple tendrils radiate outward from a firm center, he lightly prods at it noticing that it doesn't hurt, which causes him to worry. He puts his earpiece back in. "Hey, Doc… this is Sheppard."

"Yes, Colonel."

"We may have to bump up our first check-in."

Sheppard lies on a bed, his eyes closed, while a technician runs a scanner on him. Beckett turns and walks toward Weir, who is gnawing a thumbnail over by the wall. She stops as the doctor approaches and tries to look prepared to hear anything. Their whole conversation takes place in fairly low voices.

"The retrovirus isn't breaking down in his system like we hoped it would."

"You're positive?"

"Yes. In fact, it's beginning to alter his DNA. If it's allowed to continue, he'll devolve into a creature similar to what Ellia became."

"How long do we have?"

"I'm not sure, exactly."

"Ballpark. Months? Weeks?"

"Days. We have days."

She leans over the desk, looking intent. "Okay, what's the plan?"

"I've injected him with a viral inhibitor. It should slow down the retrovirus as far as the cognitive abilities are concerned. But I'm afraid that's it so far. We're exploring various treatments that may or may not be effective, so—"

"No, Carson. We don't have any time to explore. Come on. There's got to be something in the Ancient database that can help you find a treatment."

"I know that, Elizabeth. We're doing our best."

She stands up with a sigh, "I'm sorry. I know. Of course you are."

Across the room, Sheppard is awake staring rather fixedly at the ceiling, looking grim.

"You should talk to him. He's hiding it very well, but if I was him, I'd be scared to death." Carson suggests.

Sheppard sits up suddenly and looks over. "How'm I doing?"

Weir exchanges a somewhat desperate-to-get-out-of-this glance with Beckett, who nods at her. She goes over to Sheppard's exam bed. Sheppard looks her up and down, then frowns, but sounds like himself for this conversation.

"Anything that has you speechless has me concerned."

"You're gonna be fine." She tells him.

"Wow. That's dead man talk."

"No, it isn't."

Sheppard turns up his right arm, showing that the scaly patch has grown a bit and changed to an icky shiny, carbuncle-looking thing. "Have you seen this?"

"Beckett is gonna figure this one out."

"I think I already have. You know who I'm starting to feel like? Ford."

"Yeah, what happened to you is completely different."

"I know, I know. Still, I can feel it. I mean, I can feel it changing me inside, like he did."

"I don't think that's even possible. Look, you're very worried—"

He shakes his head lightly as a small laugh leaves his mouth. "No, no. No, it's uh… one of the best weeks of my life was when I got my wisdom teeth out. I was on codeine for a full seven days. This is kind of the same. I know I should be in pain, or at the very least freaked out by this, and I'm not… And that freaks me out more than anything."

"We're gonna beat this."

"'We're gonna beat this?' 'Beckett will figure this out.' 'You're gonna be fine?' You really suck at the whole bedside manner thing."

"I'm know. I'm sorry." She says looking away in embarrassment.

"But I appreciate the effort."

Many Scientists and medical staff wearing their lab coats and uniforms, along with Beckett have set up in the briefing room with laptops and white boards. Beckett sighs rubbing his temples as he listens to the scientists around him arguing their theories to one another.

"No. No. That would only work if the retrovirus was doing what we had originally intended it to do."

"I disagree. You are not taking into account what's happening to his somatic cells."

"The only thing I have to take into account is how off you are, and I don't think I'm the only one who sees that. So, let's move on."

"Wait, wait, wait. Oh, God…" Carson says as he paces the room. "We're looking at this all wrong. The best idea we've had so far is to try to repair his system on the genetic level by administering a massive, cloned embryonic stem cell treatment."

"I still think it's our best bet."

"Introducing more human genetic material into his body is only going to give the retrovirus more fuel. I don't know how much simpler I can say that."

"Yes, yes, I agree. That's why we have to use the iratus bug stem cells." Carson states.

"I'm sorry?" The scientists look at him quizzically.

"The iratus bug stem cell, programmed with human RNA, wouldn't get rejected by his system, and would be practically ignored by the current strain of retrovirus."

"We attack it from the inside."

"Exactly. It would be like our own magic bullet that could navigate the retrovirus and start to repair his mutated cells."

"The only bug pieces we have are from a sample that died a year ago. I have no doubt we could program the cells if we had them, but we do not have the time to artificially produce a gene therapy of that kind of volume."

Beckett considers this for a moment, "Which means, ladies and gentlemen, we need to go on an egg hunt."

Caldwell is sitting inside his office busily typing on his laptop as the door hisses open and an irritated Weir enters, he starts to stand but she waves him off. "It's okay. Sit. Please."

"How's the Colonel?"

"Not very well."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, so am I. I think it would be best if you do assume Colonel Sheppard's duties, until he—"

"Consider it done." He answers quickly cutting her off.

"Just until he's back on his feet." She starts to leave, but he speaks again and she turns around.

"You two are pretty close, aren't you?"

"Well, we've been through a lot together, yes."

"You've got the best team in two galaxies working on a way to get him back to normal. My money's on success. And if you need someone to talk to—"

"If you could assume those duties effective immediately…" She replies completely businesslike.

"I can do that."

"Thank you."

She leaves, Caldwell sits back in his chair and contemplates.

McKay meets with Weir, Beckett, and Lorne inside the briefing room, they are going over their plan to retrieve the iratus bug stem cells.

"The Ancient database has quite a lot of information about the iratus bug. We know what planet it's on, we know that it likes cool, damp, dark places to lay its eggs. It shouldn't be that hard to locate." McKay offers.

Elizabeth shakes her head, "Wait a minute. The last time we ran into one of these things, we almost lost Sheppard. How do you expect to just walk right into one of their nests?"

"I don't see that we have any other choice. We need the iratus stem cells. The best stem cells come from embryos. With them, we actually have a chance of saving Colonel Sheppard. Without them, he'll die." Carson states to them plainly.

"And this is the only option we have?"

"And time's an issue as well."

"You have no idea what will happen."

"There's only one certainty—what will happen if we do nothing."

"We all understand the risks, Dr. Weir. And I believe that Colonel Sheppard would do the same for any one of us." Lorne states.

McKay still looks hesitant over the bug part, but definitely seems to agree with the no alternative to saving Sheppard part. Weir looks down for a moment, then nods her head. "Permission granted."

"I need an hour to get my things together." Beckett says.

"Okay, gear up. One hour."

Weir enters her office alongside Rayne, she had been informing the young woman on what was happening and how they were planning on fixing it. It would be a dangerous mission so she wanted to make sure that each member had the opportunity to back out if they wanted; of course Rayne had stated that she would do anything to save her friend.

Sheppard arrives as they are talking with an armed Marine behind him, now dressed in civilian clothing. "Look. I made a new friend." He says sarcastically as he smiles at the two women.

Weir looks up, hesitates at the sight of his face, and then puts her file folder down with no other visible reaction to his altered appearance. "It's only protocol."

"That's your answer for everything."

"You look well." Elizabeth states trying hard to keep her eyes from straying.

Both women can see that his right hand has transformed to be like Ellia's. He notices them staring and puts it in his pocket. The right side of his neck is also transforming, a blue tint growing over his skin.

"Should you be out of bed?"

"I was going a little crazy down there, so they said I could walk around for a bit."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Look, I'm trying to say I want to go on this mission." He states.

"Hey, you said yourself, you are not fit for any off-world activity."

He ducks his head, then looks up at the two women. "The inhibitor that Beckett's got me on, the one that's keeping me lucid, they keep having to up the dose."

"I know. They told me."

Rayne can see that he's becoming more agitated and her hand slowly slides down to rest on the hilt of her energy pistol, her thumb clicking it over to stun.

"I don't know how much more time I have, but the last thing I want to do is sit on my…" He raises his right hand from his pocket, along with his voice. "…mutating hands, while my team puts their lives on the line trying to find me a cure! I should be with them."

"No. I'm sorry."

"What's the worst that can happen? I die?"

"You could compromise the mission. They have enough things to worry about—"

He snaps cutting her off, "So, what? What? Suddenly, I'm a liability?"

"Your condition can change rapidly—"

"I know, and I know I can do this!"

"I'm glad you feel that way, but it would be irresponsible of—"

"This is my life we're talking about."

"I know that."

"I'm going on that mission."

"No, John, you're not."

"Damn it!" His face twists in rage as he turns and puts his right hand through the glass wall of the office, shattering it. The Marine raises his weapon and Weir rushes to stop him. "It's okay! Put it down."

"John." Rayne calls to him softly. He turns to see her pointing her pistol at his chest, her eyes misting over as she stares into his eyes. "Please."

Hearing her voice dissipates the fog clouding his mind and he shakes his head as if coming back to himself; glancing around he sees everyone in the control room staring at him in shock and some in fear. "I'm betting that didn't sell you."

"No. No, not really."

"I should go back to the infirmary." He says softly.

Weir gives a firm nod, "Yes."

"Come on, John. I'll take you." Rayne says as she holsters her weapon and gently takes him by the arm, leading him out of the room with the Marine following close behind.

Rayne escorts him back down to the infirmary, her lips curving into a frown as she sees the torment in his eyes. She sits down beside him on the bed, seeing him instantly pull his mutated hand away from her. Sighing she reaches over and gently takes his gruesome hand into her own.

"I know what you're thinking, John. It won't come to that." She tells him softly.

"I can't become one of them, Rayne. I won't." He confesses, his eyes lifting from their joined hands up to her eyes which comforted him more than anything right now. "If it comes down to it, promise me that you'll put me down."

She shakes her head vehemently in protest. "John, that's not going to happen. We're gonna go find this bug and bring it back, and Carson is gonna fix you good as new."

"Promise me!" He states vehemently, before his voice softens to a whisper, "Please."

Blinking back the tears in her eyes at merely the thought of what he was asking her to do, she nodded weakly in agreement. "I promise." She whispered dropping her head in defeat.

John tipped her head up with a finger under her chin, then lightly brushed away the tiny tears that had escaped from her eyes. Knowing he'd possibly never have the courage to do what he was thinking just then again, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

After a sweet moment of bliss he pulled away from her, clearing his throat nervously he smirked. "If anyone ever asks, I'm blaming that on the virus."

Surprisingly to him she smiled, before leaning forward and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips once more. "Our secret." She gave him another brighter smile to ease his worries before she left the infirmary and headed to the armory to gear up for the mission.

Once through the Stargate the team searches the planet, Ronon and Rayne leading the way through the dense forest. Teyla, McKay, Beckett, Lorne and several other Marines bring up the rear.

"So, what are we looking for?" Lorne questions, wondering how they are going to find this mysterious bug.

"According to the Ancient database, probably a cave. Cool, damp, and dark, which I translate to "scary, awful, bad." McKay snarks.

"They wouldn't want their nests out in the open. A cave keeps the eggs away from the predators." Ronon informs the scientist.

"I always figured they were the predator."

"I guarantee there's something out here worse."

"Really?" He asks nervously.

"They've got to feed on something."

"Thank you. Thank you for that!"

"You're welcome." Ronon tells Rodney as he smirks, Teyla and Rayne smiling as well.

"The foot of that mountain range starts about a mile up this way. That's probably our best bet for caves." Lorne says pointing to the hillside before them.

"Agreed." Beckett nods.

"Okay, let's pick up the pace."

Back in Atlantis Elizabeth has just discovered Caldwell's first order to all personnel and she is less than happy. Caldwell is meeting with a special ops soldier inside of his office when Weir bursts in.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snaps at him.

"Sergeant, you want to give us a minute, please?" The Sergeant leaves and Caldwell looks up at Elizabeth. "What's the problem?"

Weir holds up her tablet computer showing him the email on the screen. "This. This is the problem. "Memo to all Atlantis personnel regarding new security protocols"?"

"Is there a part there that you disagree with in particular?"

"You are just keeping Sheppard's chair warm, Colonel. Don't lose sight of that."

Caldwell scoffs gently, "Look, he's done a good job here. There's just some rookie mistakes that I thought needed fixing."

"So you went ahead and changed them without talking to me."

"I don't need to check with you about how I run the military operations on this base, ma'am." Caldwell turns back to his desk and stands behind it in a fairly clear attempt at gaining a position of power in this discussion.

"They tell me you're also thinking of rearranging the off-world teams."

"Again, Sheppard had things a little backwards. I figure, while I'm here—"

"Well, you figured wrong." Weir steps quickly up to the other side of his desk to glare directly at him.

"There's no telling when Sheppard's going to be better. None of the estimates that I've heard are "soon." On the contrary, I think I may be doing a little more than keeping the Colonel's chair warm, ma'am. I mean, just look at his scheduling, labor distribution…"

"I don't need to."

"Well somebody needed to."

"Do you think I don't know what you're doing?" She questions him.

"I'm trying to improve things."

"Look, I'm not saying that you're wrong, or even that I object to all of these changes."

"Excuse me? Because I thought that's exactly—"

"You could have waited a week, or even a day. You making sweeping changes to the way John Sheppard runs things just hours after you've been assigned to this position sends only one message— that he's not coming back."

The team has reached the entrance to a cave. They all have night vision goggles on their heads, although they are not wearing them as of yet.

Lorne holds out an extra pair to Rayne, "Here you go ma'am."

Rayne smiles as she shakes her head, "Thanks, but I don't need them Major." She closes her eyes for a moment tapping into her power, when she opens them the Marines balk at her glowing aqua orbs. "Perks of being a Siren, we were born with night vision."

Lorne stares into her eyes fascinated and smiles, "Now that, is very cool. I'm a little jealous." He gives her a wink before turning his attention to the others. "You think this is it?"

"It certainly smells like there's something living in there." Beckett says taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, or dying." Rodney quips.

"I cannot see that far into the cave." Teyla admits staring down into the darkness.

Ronon picks up some bright orange matter from the ground and smells it. Rodney scrunches up his nose at the motion, "Oh, well that is disgusting!"

"They're in there." The Satedan announces.

"And you had to pick it up and smell it to figure that out?"

"To know it's recent."

"Well, how recent?"

"So, what's the plan?" Lorne says taking the focus off of Rodney's annoying questions.

"Well, we go in there, we get some eggs, and then we come out." Carson states.

"Okay. Ronon, Teyla you're with me up front. Walker, Stevens, you take our six. Docs just stay in the middle and try not to get bit, okay?" He then turns to Rayne, "Bright eyes, you got point."

As Rayne nods in agreement Rodney shows just how not okay he is with this mission. "Well, maybe someone should, um… stay out here."

"So that you're all alone when a dozen of them come stampeding out of here?" Ronon says looking at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm in the middle."

"Let's do it." Ronon says as they lower their goggles and enter, Rayne leading the way down inside.

"Everyone watch your footing." Rayne says as she scans their route, they can now hear rustling, chittering and chirping coming from further inside the cave.

"Hear that?" Ronon announces to the rest of them.

"Looks like we've got the right address." Lorne states as they move slowly and cautiously behind the Siren.

McKay zips up his collar around his neck, Carson notices and has to say something. "You don't seriously think that's going to help, do you?"

"Yeah, when they see your neck before mine, you won't think it's stupid."

"Where are these eggs supposed to be?" Teyla whispers.

"The database says they have a central nest. I'm hoping we'll know it when we see it."

The Marine stands guard in front of the door to Sheppard's quarters, he nods and steps out of the way as Weir approaches and opens the door. It is dark inside and she looks back over her shoulder at the Marine, who nods in confirmation that Colonel Sheppard is inside.

"John?" She starts to reach for the lights.

"Leave 'em off." Sheppard is sitting on the far side of his bed, his back to the door.

"What?"

"The lights. Leave the lights off."

The door closes behind her, the Marine remains outside as she stands nervously by the door. "Okay. I thought I should come by and practice my bedside manner. How are you?"

"My body's mutating into a bug. How are you?"

"Would you like an update on your team's progress?" She asks as she walks slowly over to the foot of the bed. "They've found an iratus cave, and they've headed in."

"Good."

"They should locate some eggs and be back here in no time."

"No time." He says, his tone condescending.

"Yes."

"Then what?" As he speaks he turns his head staring at the wall so that she can't see the right side of his face.

"Honestly, I don't know." Long silence, as he conspicuously doesn't look in her direction. "Hey, are you all right? Would you like me to call someone?"

"Who would you call?"

"If you need to see a doctor—"

He cuts her off saying, "I need a bigger security detail."

"Excuse me?" She walks right up to stand within touching distance. He keeps his face firmly averted. She can see the whole left side of his face, which looks perfectly normal

"At least two men stationed at my door. Sooner rather than later."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just trust me, Elizabeth. You're gonna need it."

"Listen, John—"

Her words catch in her throat as he turns to face her. The right side of his neck and lower face are now covered with the blue scales with a blackened ridge crawling up from his collar line, and his right eye has changed from his soft blue to yellow-green with a large slit-pupil.

"Oh, my God."

"They need to hurry."

"You should be in the infirmary."

"The infirmary isn't secure. The inhibitor is only keeping me lucid. It's not slowing the retrovirus."

"Still—"

He stands and confronts her screaming, "Don't argue with me! I'm not safe to be around anymore. Get some more men at my door, and get the hell out of here."

"Okay. Okay." She steps away, opens the door and approaches the Marine. "Double the detail."

The Marine nods as he reaches for his radio. "Code one-six."

The team arrives at a cavern in which the floor is covered with a mass of iratus bugs, Rayne pauses them all at the edge of the area. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody stop. We've reached the hive."

Lorne takes a look around seeing sacs hanging from the ceiling and bugs covering the walls as well as the floor. "Doc…"

"Good God! I think this is it." Through his night vision goggles, he can see the enormous egg sacs hanging from the ceiling. They're deep enough into the cave that it will be impossible to reach them without walking through the swarm on the floor.

"So how do we want to play this?" Lorne questions.

"They'll defend their young." Ronon warns them all.

"Maybe we should make a diversion." McKay offers and Lorne smirks, "Are you volunteering?"

"I'll shut up."

"I do not believe we can get close enough to retrieve the eggs without these creatures attacking." Teyla states.

Carson holds up a tool to retrieve an egg, "I have this, but I need to get under that. Hand me that water canister. If there's one thing we know about these little buggers, it's that they hate salt water."

"How's that gonna help us?" Lorne inquires.

"Just watch." Beckett says as he steps forward.

"Hold on Carson, let me help. If they attack it should be me, their bite should have no effect on Arcadians." Rayne says as she takes the canister from him and starts to splash salt water on the bugs, forcing them back away from the area under the egg.

"See? Not so stupid." McKay snarks as he sees Carson zipping up the collar of his jacket to hide his neck.

"Ah, shut it." Carson retorts as he moves forward behind Rayne, picking up the long tool and starts to move towards the egg.

"Doc…" Lorne says warningly.

"We've come this far."

"Heads up!" Ronon shouts as a bug descends from the ceiling, he fires at it causing the other bugs to become agitated.

"Oh, crap." Carson mumbles.

"Carson, Rayne, run!" Teyla shouts.

Ronon, Teyla, Lorne, and the other personnel start firing on the bugs as they retreat back to the cave entrance through the narrow passages.

Lorne urges them all faster towards the entrance. "Let's go! Come on! Get out of here! Don't look back! Don't look back! Come on! Walker, Stevens, get the hell out of there!" As he yells they hear men scream in the distance. "Walker, Stevens, do you copy?" Getting no response, he reluctantly pulls the pin out of a grenade. "Fire in the hole! Let's go!"

Lorne throws it back into the cavern, the others run out of the cave taking cover in the bushes. Lorne runs out last, the grenade exploding behind him sending a ball of flames bursting out of the cave mouth just as he exits; the force of the explosion knocking them all down. The other two Marines are not there.

"I think that stopped them." Ronon comments as they all stand up.

"We're not sticking around to find out. I'm pulling the plug on this mission. Let's get back to the gate."

"We can't give up." Carson tells them knowing that their friend's life is on the line.

"We just lost two men in there, Doc. So unless you can find another way to get those eggs out of there, we're done. Understand? Let's go." Lorne says leading the way back to the gate.

Back in Atlantis Beckett briefs Weir inside of her office. "The nest is incredibly well-protected. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. I just don't think it's possible."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Without the stem cells, our plan is not promising."

Elizabeth turns to the door where she finds Rayne standing in the hall, her face a mask of sorrow. She knows that Rayne will want to be the one who tells him so she nods giving her permission.

Rayne nods in return thanking her. "Okay. I'll tell him."

Rayne arrives outside of Sheppard's quarters addressing the two guards posted outside. "How is he?"

The guards exchange tepid looks before the younger one replies, "I wouldn't go in there, ma'am."

"I'll be fine." She says allowing her eyes to flash which startles the two guards, before she opens the door and enters. Sheppard is not visible. "John?" She calls softly signaling to the Marine to close the door behind her, which he does. "I'm guessing this is when Earthlings ask a dumb question like, 'How are you feeling?' But I'm not going to do that, because I know you're not okay."

"John?" She walks further into the room allowing her eyes to pierce through the darkness, but she sees so sign of the Colonel anywhere. "John? Our team got back from the mission."

She hears a light thump and feels a presence, she turns to find Sheppard standing right behind her. The majority of his face, except for around his eyes and the tip of his nose has scaled over and both of his eyes are now transformed. His neck has profound ridges on it with small tentacles protruding from it.

"The nest was too well-protected. We were unable to retrieve the eggs. We tried our best."

"Best?" He questions her, his face within inches from hers.

"The bugs attacked—"

"Try again."

"I can't do that."

"Why?"

"John—"

"No."

"I understand—"

"If you won't… then keep your promise and kill me now." He states.

Her eyes instantly mist over as she whispers, "John…"

"It's better for the both of us."

She stares at him in anguish, "I won't do that."

"Then try again." She shakes her head slowly, he growls as he grabs her by the shoulder, pushing her backwards and slamming her back up against the wall, before grabbing her by the throat cutting off her most valuable weapon. She doesn't try to fight him, her arms hanging limply at her sides.

Rayne struggles to speak around his tightening grip. "We lost Walker and Stevens. Elizabeth won't send another team. She won't risk more lives! I'm sorry, John."

Sheppard squeezes harder for a moment, then lets her drop. He leaves the room and disables the two security officers. Rayne gets up and goes outside the room, her voice raspy as she touches her hand to her comms.

"This is Rayne. We have a security breach. Colonel Sheppard's quarters."

Caldwell and many personnel have gathered inside the control room. They look at a large display where Sheppard's transmitter shows his position. "Okay. We've got a lock on him." McKay announces.

"That can't be him. It's moving too fast." Caldwell states, obviously not understanding the full complexity of Sheppard's condition.

"It's him." Ronon confirms.

"All right. Four teams. Surround him and close in. I want him stopped, and gentlemen use whatever level of force you deem necessary. Move out."

"You will only use such force as a last resort." Rayne threatens him, her eyes glowing bright as she enters the control room.

"You do not give the orders around here, and that's not Sheppard anymore."

"You heard her." Elizabeth says entering behind the Siren, backing her up against the Colonel.

Ronon lightly touches Rayne's already bruising neck, giving her a light kiss he turns to Teyla. "You coming?"

She looks at Elizabeth who gives her a nod of acceptance. "Yes."

As the troops move out Elizabeth turns her attention Rodney, "Lock down the Stargate."

"Right."

Rayne looks at Weir speaking in a low tone so that Caldwell does not hear her. "I can find him before any of them."

Weir nods, "Go."

Inside of a corridor Sheppard grabs a scientist from inside the transporter and throws him to the floor, then gets inside.

In the control room Caldwell is taken aback as they see that Sheppard has transported. "I thought you said that he couldn't use the transporters."

"I said I doubted he was lucid enough." Rodney states.

"Well, shut them down. He's not going to do it again."

"Thus stranding your search teams." Nevertheless he does as requested.

Ronon, Teyla, and other soldiers search when Caldwell comes over their comms. "Bravo Team, you're on deck. Our tango is on the floor right below you."

"You heard the man. Down the stairs." The leader says, but Ronon takes off in another direction.

"Ronon, where are you going?" Teyla hollers after him.

"Let him go." The soldier says as they go down the stairs.

"Bravo Team and Sheppard are in the same room." McKay says watching in shock as he stares at the monitor.

"Stay sharp. He should be right there with you." Caldwell tells the team.

Bravo Team doesn't see him as they scan the room cautiously. It's a very high-ceilinged room with a glass wall on one side. On the level above them Ronon wanders around with a look on his face that suggests that his Wraith-sense is tingling. He moves along the corridor and steps back into an alcove, just as Rayne arrives in the same area, the Siren nodding to her warrior as they reach a silent agreement. Back in the room, the team continues to search.

"Anyone have a visual?"

Teyla sees Sheppard climbing the metal scaffolding very quickly. "Above us!"

Sheppard drops down from the ceiling into the middle of Bravo Team. He takes out two members before they can react, slamming his arms out and backhanding both Marines. Two others fire stunners at him hitting him directly in the chest, but they have no effect. They drop the stunners and pull their pistols. Sheppard jumps on them with one super-human bound and takes them out. He starts to run up the stairs, but Teyla yells to him.

"Colonel!" He turns around and starts to approach her. She aims her P-90 at him. "Please. Do not make me do this."

She fires a warning shot at the floor. He steps down closer. She switches to rapid-fire and levels an extended burst at the stairs below him. He turns and runs.

Sheppard runs down the corridor on the next level, halting in his tracks as he finds Rayne blocking his way, her gun pointed at his chest. "Do it." He orders her.

She shakes her head, her voice barely above a whisper. "No."

"You promised!" He bellows advancing towards her menacingly.

"Please, John. Don't make me do this." She pleads with him, tears falling from her eyes as she takes a few steps back in retreat.

John stalks towards her growling, his attention solely on her, and that's when Ronon steps out behind him and fires twice stunning him. Rayne sees the betrayed look he gives to her before he falls face first to the floor.

Teyla arrives, Ronon still holding his gun on Sheppard speaks to her over his shoulder. "Get the doctor down here. I have him."

Sheppard is lying motionless, his eyes open.

Beckett arrives and loads Sheppard onto a gurney, they then transport him to the infirmary where he is restrained to a bed, his left hand now fully covered in scales and brandishing the claws every Wraith has on the tips of their fingers.

"I've put him in a medically induced coma for now. I was afraid he might break through the restraints." Beckett tells Caldwell and Weir as they stand beside him.

"That's a good call, Doctor."

"So, what now?" Elizabeth asks.

"The retrovirus has wreaked havoc on his system, and it's taking over."

"What does that mean?"

"It means if we don't find a way to stop the retrovirus in the next 24 hours, what is left of the John Sheppard we know will be gone."

Rayne is leaning against a railing inside the mess hall along with Ronon, she seems to be staring at nothing. Teyla and McKay are sitting at the table in front of them, the doctor seeming to be the only one with an appetite at the moment.

"You guys are up late." Weir says as she approaches them.

"Can't sleep either?" McKay asks her and she shakes her head.

"Any progress?" Teyla questions.

"No. He's still in a coma. At least he isn't in any pain."

"Maybe if I went alone, maybe—"

She cuts Ronon off shaking her head, "It's not open for discussion."

"I'm not good at sitting still." He tells her.

"I understand. Believe me, I appreciate how you feel. Look, we have closed down that section of the infirmary but if you feel the need to… What I mean to say is if you would like to have a private goodbye, you should probably do it soon."

Rodney is visibly upset at her words, "Are we really there?"

"I think we might be." Elizabeth replies somberly.

"No." They all turn their heads towards Rayne who hadn't said a word up until that point. "It does not end like this."

"Rayne, I know you're upset—"

"You know nothing!" Rayne snaps cutting Elizabeth off, her eyes flashing dangerously as tears streak down her cheeks. "If it was any one of us lying in there, Colonel Sheppard would do everything in his power to help us. Now I am not giving up on him. I made him a promise that I will not keep." Her voice breaks into a whisper, before she takes a breath and it returns to normal. "Send me back, alone. We know that the Wraith toxin has no effect on me, so it stands to reason that the iratus bugs will not harm me either."

Elizabeth opens her mouth to answer but she is interrupted by Carson speaking over the radio. "Dr. Weir, I need to speak to you immediately."

"What is it?"

"Meet me in your office. I think I have an idea."

Weir nods to them all indicating that they should follow her, which they do arriving in the control room just as Beckett walks in. "I'm sorry. It just came to me. The fact that his mutation has progressed as far as it has may be his salvation."

"Explain that."

"His sweat glands are actually producing trace amounts of their signature pheromone."

"And?"

"When we were in the cave, those bugs knew we didn't belong there. So they didn't really fancy us getting close to their nest."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I see where you're going with this. If we can artificially create the pheromone, we might be able to confuse them enough to leave us alone." McKay states.

"Aye, that would work."

"Well, that's an excellent plan, Carson." Rodney admits excitedly.

"I wish it was."

"You can't do that in time?" Ronon questions.

"No. It would take days."

"But you said Sheppard only had 24 hours before the damage the retrovirus is causing would be irreparable." Elizabeth remembers.

"Exactly."

"Well, then that's a terrible plan, Carson." McKay says this time.

"There's only one person on this base that wouldn't need the artificial pheromone."

Elizabeth is surprised at what Carson is suggesting. "Sheppard?"

"He could walk right into that cave, and those bugs wouldn't pay him any mind."

Rodney looks at him with wide eyes, "Um, I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but Colonel Sheppard's not feeling very well."

"He stopped taking the inhibitor we were administering. It was able to keep him lucid."

"I thought its effectiveness had worn off."

"True, but I believe if we give him a massive dose, he may be clear-headed enough to complete the mission before we lose him completely."

"Yeah, but won't giving him that much inhibitor, like…" McKay says waving his hand.

"Kill him?" Carson finishes with a nod. "Yes, it's a definite possibility. Even if I knew it would for certain, I'd be tempted to offer him one last hour of lucidity."

"Do it. Gear up. Take him as far as the cave." Weir orders them giving a pointed nod to Rayne.

Inside the infirmary Sheppard comes awake with a start, his transformed eyes wide open as the inhibitor takes effect.

"John? John…" Elizabeth calls softly to him as he looks at her. "Hey. You're in the infirmary."

"Sorry about the headache. It's a side effect of the inhibitor." Carson apologizes to him.

"Did I hurt anyone?" He asks not remembering things very clearly, but he can see Rayne's glowing eyes in his mind.

"No, not seriously." She tells him.

"Did Ronon shoot me?"

Elizabeth smiles, "You had it coming. Look, we don't have a lot of time. This dose of the inhibitor drug will only last about an hour. How would you like to go on a mission?"

The Stargate is already active as Rayne, Teyla, McKay, and Ronon approach it dressed in full tactical gear, the two warriors carrying their stunners in hand.

"Now, you realize that you may have to, uh…" McKay says nodding to their guns.

"It's already set to stun." Ronon states.

Weir, Sheppard, and Beckett arrive, the Colonel dressed in a floor length gray cloak with the hood pulled up around his face. "He's ready." She tells them.

"Good to see you up and, uh… about." McKay says smiling, but Sheppard walks past without looking at him.

"All right, come on. We don't have a lot of time." Carson tells them as they all enter the wormhole.

"Good luck." Elizabeth whispers.

They arrive through the Stargate and head directly to the cave, where Beckett hands him a container and the grabber, then instructs Sheppard on what he needs to do. "Use this, and collect as many as you can." He notices that John may not fully grasp what he is telling him. "Oh, God. At least a container full. Do you understand?"

After a moment, Sheppard takes the container from Beckett.

"Colonel Sheppard?" Teyla says approaching him. "You know that we cannot go in there with you, but you need to hurry. It took us a little longer to get here than we would have liked."

He walks past her giving a long look to Rayne before he disappears into the cave.

Sheppard arrives inside the cavern, he takes off his cloak, pulls out a flare, and tosses it into the cavern. It illuminates the many bugs, they chitter angrily but don't attack him. He walks across the ground to where the eggs are hanging. He jumps vertically and latches onto a large egg sac, then plunges his hand into the sac.

Outside Beckett's watch alarm goes off startling Rodney who asks, "What is that?"

"That's how long I estimated the inhibitor would work."

"So that means he's…" Ronon says.

"There's no way to know for certain."

Sheppard finishes and drops to the ground, and puts the top on the container, which is full of eggs. As he finishes he suddenly grimaces and falls to the ground in pain as the inhibitor wears off.

"We should go in." Ronon says staring in the cave corridor.

"And do what?" McKay snaps.

"If the inhibitor has worn off—" Teyla says what they are all thinking.

"Then he's beyond our help." Carson finishes for her.

"I hear something." Rayne says as she moves closer to the entrance. "Colonel!"

Sheppard comes running out of the cave, grunting. He knocks Ronon over, but the Satedan stuns him and he falls to the ground, unconscious.

"Do you have enough?" Teyla asks as Carson examines the container.

"Aye, I think so."

Ronon hefts Sheppard up into his arms and they all rush back towards the Stargate.

Night has fallen as Beckett comes out from a curtained area in the infirmary, behind which Colonel Sheppard lies restrained to a bed. "It's not going to happen overnight, you can bet on that, but the transformation has begun to reverse itself."

"So eventually he'll be back in uniform." Caldwell surmises.

"Eventually."

"Well done, Carson for once again elevating medicine to actual science."

"Well, thank you, Rodney."

"You'll finally be able to get some sleep. Keep me posted." Elizabeth says as she and Caldwell take their leave.

"We might, uh…" Ronon says motioning to the two empty beds behind them.

"Stay a while." Teyla finishes for him.

"Well, if that's all right." Rodney says crossing his arms.

"Of course." Carson tells them. "Rayne is already sitting by his bedside."

Inside the curtained area they can see Sheppard sleeping, his hand holding onto Rayne's as she sits curled in the chair to his left.

Caldwell and Weir walk together as they head back to the control room before calling it a long night. "If and when Colonel Sheppard resumes his duties, I hope he'll consider some of the changes that I've made." Caldwell offers.

"When he does, that will be up to him."

"Of course, and the Daedalus will head back to Earth in less than a week. I'll be out of your hair in no time."

"We'll try to manage without you till you get back." She starts to walk away from him.

"Despite what you may think of my intentions, Dr. Weir, I'm not your enemy."

"Believe me, Colonel… you don't want to be."

A few weeks later Rayne and Teyla are in the gym training several of the female crew-members in fighting tactics. "Good. Lift, lock, serpentine, lock, and hold. Understood?" Teyla asks as she and Rayne demonstrate.

The door opens, and Sheppard steps in. He looks normal again. He's wearing civilian clothing.

"Colonel." Teyla addresses him before she touches foreheads with the woman, who then leaves with the others. "Should you be up and about?"

"Hey, I've been cooped up in that damn infirmary for a couple of weeks. Give me a break." He snarks to them as he walks over and picks up two bantos rods.

"You are looking well. Are you feeling more like yourself?" Teyla asks him.

"Well, according to my DNA, I'm one hundred percent John Sheppard again… although, I've got to say I'm looking forward to getting rid of this thing one day." He shows them his right forearm, which still has some blue discoloration.

"Doc says it'll clear up eventually. Ah, so listen…" He looks at them both for a moment, looking awkward. "…while I've been lying there the past few weeks, I've been remembering things… Some things I might have done that you could call out of character."

"You mean when you attacked the security detail?" Teyla questions, deliberately misunderstanding him.

"Yeah, that was one of them."

"Or when you tried to choke me out?" Rayne queries which causes John to duck his head, ashamed of his actions.

"Yeah. Sorry bout that."

"You're forgiven." The Siren says giving him a wink.

He sighs rubbing his neck as he looks at Teyla, "There is another thing I should probably apologize for."

"Give it no further thought."

He looks relieved at her words, "Good. I won't."

"Nice to have you back… John." She leaves with a smile as John absentmindedly twirls the bantos rods.

"So… what else did you need to apologize for?" Rayne asks him as she leans against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest.

John sees the curious gaze that she has pegged him with and he sighs, clearing his throat. "Um, I… may have kissed her."

Rayne's eyes widen as she tries to hide the small smirk that graces her lips. "You kissed her too? And here I thought I was the only one. I thought I was special."

"Well… you are… special… to me." He stutters out completely flustered.

"Hmm." She mumbles pushing herself off the wall and walking towards him. He leans back slightly out of fear, but she only presses a soft kiss to his cheek. "It's good to have you back boss."

He lets out a deep breath as she turns and heads for the door, but she pauses just outside the doorway. "Perhaps when you're fully cleared, we should have a little sparring match."

He sees the feral grin that graces her lips before she walks out of sight; he groans wondering if Carson could hold an empty bed for him, he had a feeling he was gonna need it. "Ah, hell."