Chapter 19: An investigation.

Shalite watched as John gasped for breath and she had no idea what to do, so she opened her mouth and started to yell, "Joe get in here now!"

She was relieved when Joe came rushing in and Carson wasn't far behind him. Carson immediately placed an oxygen mask over John's face and Joe placed a device on his chest to help put oxygen straight into his lungs. Much to her relief his breathing soon evened out. "What was that?"

"Sometimes the tincara leaf can affect breathing as well." Joe informed her.

She took a deep breath, and took John's hand again, "will he be alright?"

Joe sighed, and she could sense his uncertainty, "I'm not sure, all we can do is watch and wait, as I said earlier the fact that he was vomiting a lot last night is probably a good thing, because it got a lot of the leaf out of his system."

"I'm going to sit with him for a bit longer if it's alright."

"Go ahead," Carson and I will be in the office if you need us.

"Thanks Joe."

Shalite watched as the two doctors left and then turned back to John, she leant down and whispered in his ear, "don't worry John, we'll find out who did this to you."

John moaned from the bed and turned to look at her, "Wha…append?" He whispered from underneath the oxygen mask.

"We think that someone poisoned you and I promise you I will find out who did it to you."

"Thanks," he whispered, right before his eyes closed again.

She sat holding his hand for a while longer, before deciding that she needed to do a little investigating. She knew that Julian and Rohan had a meeting with Luchias in half an hours' time, so she made up her mind that she would sit in on the meeting and get as much information as she could out of him. She was convinced that he was the one who had poisoned John, but she just didn't have any evidence to prove it.

"I'll be back soon, "she told him, leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Standing up and getting ready to leave the room, she heard the guards talking to someone outside. Walking slowly up to the closed door she put her ear to it to try and hear who they were talking too, it actually sounded like Jolie speaking to them and she wondered why Jolie would be up in the infirmary talking to the guards.

She listened for a while longer and when she was sure that Jolie was gone she left the room and addressed the guard, "what did Jolie want?"

"She just wanted to know how John was and she seemed genuinely concerned about him."

That really worried her, she was fairly sure that Jolie had never met John, so why would she be interested in his wellbeing. "You do know that no one is allowed in there other than the medical staff, Rodney or me."

"Yes, we are aware of that," the guard replied indignantly.

"Can you please keep an eye on him while I attend a meeting. I should be back in about an hours' time."

"Yes Ma'am."

Shalite smiled at the young Satedan guard and headed of towards the meeting room, still feeling confused as to why Jolie wanted to know how John was.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John was lying in the darkness and he couldn't quite work out what was happening to him, his head was pounding, his body was trembling, he felt a little to hot and he felt incredibly nauseous. He lay still hoping it would pass, but it just became worse. There was something over his nose and mouth, so he tried lifting his hand to remove it and was distraught to find that he couldn't lift his hand. Trying to roll on his side he started to gag, he was relieved when he felt the mask being taken off his face and gentle hands were rolling him on his side.

As soon as he was on his side he started to retch and he emptied what little he had in his stomach. When he had finished the same gentle hands helped roll him onto his back again. Moaning he opened his eyes to find a glass of water with a bendy straw in front of his lips. He drank greedily and was disappointed when it was pulled away.

"Easy lad, you don't want to be sick again."

"Carson what happened to me this time and why am I so dammed hot?" He asked his voice barely above a whisper.

"What did Shalite tell you when she was in here earlier?"

He furrowed his brow, he certainly didn't remember her being there with him, "Shalite was here?"

"How about we get you cleaned up and then I will answer all of your questions?"

He nodded and immediately regretted it when the pounding in his head intensified. He laid still and waited to be cleaned up, still not understanding what was going on. The last thing he remembered was leaving the dining room feeling incredibly nauseous.

Ten minutes later when Carson and a nurse had cleaned him up and changed his gown, he felt his eyelids drooping, but he really needed to hear what Carson had to say, so he did his best to keep his eyes open.

"Okay Doc, what happened to me and why do I feel so dammed hot?"

"Well you have been poisoned and one of the effects of the tincara leaf, which you somehow ingested, is a fever along with shortness of breath and nausea. In high enough quantities, combined with alcohol, it can kill you."

"Is that why the guards are outside the door, to make sure whoever did this doesn't come back and finish the job?"

"Shalite and Rohan are conducting an investigation at the moment, so hopefully they'll find out something soon."

"Doc, why is my head pounding, and why is my vision blurry?"

"Well when you collapsed in the bathroom you hit your head on the way down."

He nodded, and that was when he noticed the strange device on his chest. "What's this supposed to do?"

"It's supposed to help with your breathing." Carson sighed before continuing, "If you were back in your own time I would have had to intubate by now."

"Well I'm glad I dodged that bullet then, but is there anything you can do about my headache and the fact that it's so hot?"

"I'm sorry lad, but I can't give you anything for the pain right now, because there is still traces of the tincara leaf in you system. I will get a cooling blanket for you thought. Your temperature is only 101 at the moment, so hopefully it won't get much higher."

His eyelids were beginning to droop again and he hoped that the conversation was over. He was relieved when Carson stood up and patted him on the shoulder. It wasn't long before he felt the blanket being placed over him and then he heard Carson leaving the room. Closing his eyes, he thought of home and he wondered if he would survive long enough to see It again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shalite arrived in the meeting room, just as Julian arrived; Luchias was already there.

Julian was the first to greet her with a big smile on his face. "Good morning Shalite it is good that you could join us."

"Thank you Julian I'm happy to be here," she replied putting on her biggest smile for Luchias' sake.

"What is she doing here?" Luchias asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"I asked her to come, because I believe that other than Dr McKay she is our foremost expert on Atlantis, so in my opinion she should be the one to lead the expedition to explore and restore the ancient city!" Julian answered forcefully.

"I totally agree," McKay said, as he walked into the room and sat next to Shalite.

"Is everyone here?!" Luchias asked and Shalite could see that he was barely holding his temper.

"Where is Rohan?" Shalite asked looking around the room.

"He is currently conducting an investigation into the attempt on John's life." Julian informed her.

Shalite looked at Luchias trying to get some sense as to whether he was involved or not, but unfortunately, he had a blank look on his face, so even if he was involved, he was not giving anything away. "Shall we get back to the matter at hand."

Julian smiled, "well we're here to discuss the members of the expedition for Atlantis and I put forward that Shalite should be in charge. I believe that Dr McKay should also be a part of the team because he is our expert on ancient systems. I would like the suggest that Dr Joe Jarvis and Dr Carson Beckett be included as well, because you will certainly need the finest doctors out there. They will represent New Sateda if that is alright with them."

"It's fine by me. I love being here on New Sateda!" Rodney exclaimed with excitement.

Shalite nodded, "I agree to represent New Sateda, if fact I have decided that I would like to have my child in the infirmary here."

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Julian answered her, with a smile, "I just need to check that it's okay with Joe and Carson, but I don't think they'll be any problems.

Julian turned to stare at Luchias. "Now, what do you think of my proposal?"

"I will take the matter under advisement and I will let the coalition council know what your suggestions are. I will also ask the member planets from the coalition for a list of people they recommend for the expedition." Luchias said and she didn't miss the glare that he gave her.

"Okay now that is sorted." Julian turned his face towards Shalite before continuing, "can you possibly tell us where Atlantis is?"

Shalite looked at Julian and gently shook her head, "I would rather wait and talk to John first, since I value his opinion."

"Of course, you do." Luchias muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Rodney asked

"Never mind, if we're finished, I'm going to the kitchen to get something to eat."

Shalite pricked up her ears, she wondered how often he went to the kitchen and could he have placed the tincara leaf in John's food the night before. Perhaps she would follow him and try to find out if that were possible. She also had a recording device in her pocket, and she intended to record any conversation that he had.

She watched as he left and waited a few minutes before following him to the kitchen, she had no idea how she was going to listen to him, but she knew she had to try.

Five minutes later she entered the kitchen and found that Luchias was talking to the cook, she hid in the corner and pressed the button on her recorder, hoping that he would say something to incriminate himself.

"I'm starving what's for lunch?" Luchias asked.

"We're serving roast meat again Mr Tinkle."

Luchias screwed up his face, "really, can't I have something else, I hated that?"

"I'll see what I can do for you."

"Thanks, can you have it sent up to my room."

"Certainly, Mr Tinkle."

Luchias left the kitchen and left her feeling confused, was he involved in John's poisoning and why didn't he like roast meat. She assumed that he ate it last night the same as everyone else. Only one way to find out, she thought stepping out from her hiding place.

"Excuse me?"

"Ah Ms Flensing, what can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering if Luchias had Roast meat last night." Shalite asked holding her breath.

"He certainly did, and I thought that he thoroughly enjoyed it, so I wonder why he claimed he didn't like it."

"I have absolutely no idea but thank you for your help." Shalite told him leaving the kitchen, she knew that she needed to tell Rohan what was going on. Luchias was still on the top of her list of suspects after all.

Arriving in Rohan's office a few minutes later, she was surprised to see that he was sitting with Luchias.

Rohan looked up from his conversation, "what can I do for you?"

She had no idea why Luchias was there, so she thought that she would tell Rohan her suspicions later, "don't worry I'll come back later."

Turning around, she rushed out of the room. Why was Luchias talking to Rohan, surely Rohan had nothing to do with poisoning John and if he did why?

It was all too much for her, so she decided that it was about time she went to visit John, but she decided she needed to tell Rodney what was going of first, since he was one of the only three people she trusted not to hurt John, the other two being Carson and Joe. She was due in the library later to do some more study on the history of the Pegasus galaxy and Beth and Lach had agreed to meet her there, so she thought that she'd better be on time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John was in a dark place and he was in a great deal of pain, there was something or someone standing over him and he had no idea why it was there.

He started to cough and was shocked when the face turned towards him, it was Tuart and his face was deformed. It looked as if someone had tried to turn him into a wraith and the back of his head was caved in.

Tuart's eyes flashed golden, "you did this to me, and you deserve to die!"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to happen!" John screamed….

John woke up to a coughing fit, sweat was dripping down his face and he was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm, Carson was helping him sit up and Shalite was holding his hand.

When the coughing has subsided, he rasped out, "what happened?"

"Your temperature has shot up to 105 degrees, and I suspect that you had a nightmare, because right before you woke up you started screaming. Do you want to talk about anything?" Carson asked him with a look of compassion, and it was a look that John hated on the Doctor's face

"I'm fine!" He spat out using his usual response.

Carson spoke to a nurse who had just entered the room, "can you put a cooling blanket back on him luv?"

"I don't need a cooling blanket Doc, I'm freezing," he told him shivering.

Carson checked his temperature again and tutted like he usually did when he was worried.

"What!? John growled still shivering.

"Your temperature is still 105 and I'm worried if we don't get it down it may cause seizures."

"All of this because I've been poisoned?" John asked grabbing his throbbing head.

"Aye lad, but you'll be glad to know that the tincara leaf is almost out of your system, so we should be able to give you something for the pain you're obviously experiencing.

"I'm fine!" He said again, between gritted teeth.

"You let me be the judge of that laddie, now why don't you try and get some sleep and Shalite will sit with you for a while."

"Kay…" he muttered, still trying to cope with the pain in his head and the fact that he was shivering.

"I'm going to have something to eat, so Joe will be in the office if you need anything." Carson told him, before he left the room.

Once Carson had gone, he opened his eyes and looked at Shalite, she was obviously troubled by something and he wanted to know what it was, "are you okay, Shalite?

"I'm not sure, I'm trying to work out who did this to you. Luchias is lying to everyone about what he thought about the roast meat we had last night, Jolie is asking the guards how you are, and I had no idea she even knew you. Finally, I went to tell Rohan of my suspicions and Luchias was eating lunch with him, so basically I have no idea what to think."

"How about you leave Rohan to do his job?" He felt his eyes drooping, so he decided that he really needed to let Shalite know that he wanted to go to sleep, "how about you take this cooling blanket off of me, because I'm freezing and I want to go to sleep."

"Alright, but if Carson or Joe insist on putting it back on, I will have to abide by their wishes."

He nodded slightly, not wanting to hurt his head anymore that it was already hurting, "stay with me Shalite?"

"Definitely, go to sleep now John and I will be here when you wake up."

John felt her hand in his and was of two minds as to whether he wanted to go back to sleep or not, but in the end, he didn't have a choice, because before too long sleep claimed him once again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rodney rushed through the corridors of the presidential palace, he really needed to talk to Rohan. Shalite had just been to talk to him and told him of her suspicions about Luchias and he wanted to know why Rohan had had lunch with him.

When he arrived at Rohan's office the door was shut, so he knocked on the door, hoping that he was alone.

"Come in," a voice said from the other side of the door.

Rodney pushed the door open and was relieved to find that Rohan was alone. "Can I talk to you please?" He asked trying to use his best manners.

"Sure, come in and close the door behind you please," Rohan instructed, before pointing to a seat in front of his desk. "What can I do for you Dr McKay," he asked once Rodney was seated.

"I've come to tell you what Shalite discovered earlier."

"And what would that be Dr McKay?"

"Well she was in the kitchen earlier and she heard Luchias talking to the cook. Apparently, he decided that he didn't like the meat this morning, but he had no problem with it, last night. She also told me that Jolie was in the infirmary asking how John was and it is our understanding that Jolie has never even met John." Rodney took a deep breath before continuing, since he didn't want to appear as being rude, "and why were you having lunch with Luchias today?"

Rohan's eyes narrowed, "I will have lunch with whoever I choose Dr McKay, but if you must know I was trying to work out whether he was guilty of poisoning John or not. Thank you for the other information you've given me, I will keep it in mind."

Rodney felt severely chastised by Rohan's reaction, so he decided that he had better get out of there quickly, "umm…Shalite did record the conversation between the cook and Luchias."

Rodney could see that Rohan was clearly losing his patience, "Well bring me the tape and I'll review it then?"

"Okay, I'll be going now, and I'll get that tape to you as soon as possible." Rodney told him, before standing up and practically running out of the room.

That was interesting, he thought, I wonder if Rohan is tied up in this whole mess somehow?

He would have to talk to Shalite again later, but for now he was going to catch up with Carson and have a meal, which was something he used to do a lot on Atlantis. He really hoped that Carson wouldn't ask him to go fishing anytime soon though.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John was trapped in the cave again and this time Carson was with him talking soothing words to him, it felt good to have a friend with him in his hour of need. He didn't feel too good, his head was pounding, and he thought that he was probably going to die, but at least he wouldn't have to die alone.

He closed his eyes and listened to his friend and Doctor hoping that it would all be over soon.

Opening his eyes, he looked up at his friend and was terrified to see that his face had changed into the face of a monster. Carson leant down and placed his hands around his throat, and he felt himself beginning to shake. As Carson squeezed tighter, he found it more difficult to breathe and just as he thought he was going to choke to death, he saw Teyla screaming at him and asking him to come and rescue her. Before he had a chance to try to reply the darkness claimed him again….

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shalite wandered into John's room after spending the afternoon with Beth and Lach, she was constantly amazed by what she read in the Satedan history books. Michael had been harassing the galaxy for thousands of years on and off and apparently the Coalition knew about it but hadn't bothered to record it in their history books. She had definitely made up her mind that when she wasn't on Atlantis that New Sateda would be her home and she suspected that Joe, Rodney, and Carson would probably feel the same.

"How are you feeling Shalite?" Carson asked interrupting her contemplations.

Before she had a chance to answer, the bed began to shake, and John started to thrash about as he began to convulse. Carson pressed the call button while trying to hold John's head so that he didn't injure it further, while Shalite held his arms and legs and yelled for Joe to come.

Joe came rushing into the room and Carson started yelling instructions, "give him 20mls of Lorazepam, or whatever you use these days," Joe didn't waste any time in injecting the anticonvulsant into his IV. Shalite and Carson held on to him until the convulsions had ceased, while Joe took his temperature again.

"His temperature is up to 107 we need to get him into a cooling bath now. Carson I'll need your help."

"Just let me know what you want me to do?"

"Can you and Shalite get him ready while I go and run the bath? "

Shalite and Carson nodded and then they got to work making sure the heart monitor leads and IV's were disconnected. The device was still on his chest to help him breath, so they decided to keep that there for the moment.

Thirty minutes later John was unconscious and back in his bed again and his temperature had dropped to 102. Shalite and Carson were sitting by his bed again when Joe came in.

"How is he Joe?" Shalite asked with a look of anguish in her eyes.

"I'm really not sure. It's almost as if the tincara leaf is building up in his system again, I will have to do some more blood tests to be sure."

She looked at him with a look of horror on her face, "do you think that anyone could have given him more?"

"Did he eat anything for lunch?" Carson asked and Shalite could see that he was looking at the tray table with a half-eaten meal on it.

"It appears that he ate some of the roast meat from last night, but I wasn't hear when the meal was brought in." Joe said with a look of bewilderment on his face.

Shalite stood up and went over to talk to the guard, "who brought him his lunch?"

"One of the nurses," the guard replied.

"Can you tell me which one?"

"Of, course Dr Jarvis, it was the new nurse named Sally."

"I didn't even know there was a new nurse here." Shalite said with confusion.

Joe nodded, "yes apparently she arrived yesterday, and she came with some really good references. He told her while checking John's vitals.

"Well we should let Rohan know about this as soon as possible and while we're at it we should make sure we get the left-over food tested for tincara leaf." Shalite suggested with determination in her voice.

"Aye how about I take some blood, while you go and test the food?" Carson suggested looking at Joe.

"How is he?" Shalite asked when Joe had finished taking his vitals.

"I'm sorry," but he has slipped into a coma.

TBC…

I'm sorry about the cliff-hanger, but there's obviously still someone who wants to prevent John from going back in time.