Presenting the Symptoms

AN: Did I here you say: what the hell?! Well, ladies and gentlemen, here's a chapter to explain how our beloved Sheppard ended up getting far closer to his inner child than he might have wanted to. This is basically the 'what happened' chapter, so bare with me here.... Oh, and, as always, feedback is my life blood, so feed me!

missmcweir: Thank you! Here's an update...

Quezacolt: Thanks! I'm keeping it up. And I can prove it, too. Just read on! (and keep reviewing). ;)

Harper's Pixie: Hey, it's a 'DROM fan! From Ex-Isle! Yay! Have some more, my Harperchondriac friend, and tell me what you think!

PurpleYin: Intriguing? Good. That was what I was going for. Hope you like this!

Jenny Ruest: This is an explanation of what happened earlier, and it isn't just Teyla and Sheppard that have been reduced to pre-teens... ;)

jj: Interesting, eh? Well, I hope it stays interesting. Keep reviewing!

Happy: Are you still happy, Happy? Let me know!

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"Well, I think we may have found out how the ancients lived so long," Doctor Beckette remarked, shining a light into the eyes of a ten year old John Sheppard.

The boy, dressed in a medical gown that swamped his under-developed form, swung his legs and blinked, "Beckette, I'm ten years old. Fix me!"

"And what about the others?" Elizabeth stood on the sidelines, looking perplexed. The fact that her flag ship team had been reduced to pre-pubescent children was not an encouraging one, especially considering that none save for Sheppard himself seemed to have any memory whatsoever of their adulthood.

"As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with them." Beckette shrugged.

"Nothing wrong?!" The astonished outrage on the child's face was comical to the point where Elizabeth was forced to bite her lip to stop herself laughing, "they're friggin' eight year olds! You're telling me there's nothing wrong?!"

"Alright, alright, calm down, wee man," Beckette shook his head, "look, that's exactly what they are. Fit, happy, healthy eight year olds. Well, Teyla and Rodney are about eight. Ford I'd place as some years younger. Five, maybe six. Though, he's been hiding under my medical table's for most of the time, so it's quite difficult to tell, really…"

"Yes, Carson, we understand: children; they are all children," Elizabeth held up her hands, "now can you reverse whatever that thing did to them?"

Beckette gave a helpless shrug, "Doctor Weir, I'm only a medical doctor. I'm no' a scientist. I haven't got the slightest clue how that machine did what it did to them. All I can do is present you with the symptoms: Sheppard, Ford, McKay and Teyla all appear to have had reverted to their physical state, as it was, twenty years previously. And in all but the Major, they've also reverted to that mental state, too."

"So why not Sheppard?" Elizabeth demanded, "why is he the only who remembers that he's actually an adult?"

Sheppard scratched his head, "well," he piped up, "it kind of makes sense. I mean, if the Ancients used that thing as a kind of… fountain of youth, make themselves twenty years younger… what use would it be if their greatest scientists got a new lease of life, and got too young mentally to make use of it? I've got the ancient gene… maybe that's why I kept the memory. Maybe the machine only affected the others by accident."

"But that doesn't explain why Rodney has shut himself in one of my cabinets and is refusing to come out unless someone brings him Curly-bear," Beckette pointed out.

Sheppard shrugged, "hey, I'm ten years old. Give me a break."

Elizabeth sighed. "Okay, look, clearly, something has to be done. I'll get Simpson, Kavanagh and Zelenka to look at the machine, see if they can work out exactly how it works, whether it can be reversed, though… they'll have to be careful. The last thing we need are three eight year old scientists on our hands."

"Sounds like a plan," Sheppard continued to swing his legs, "tell 'em not to touch the blue dial-ey thing. That's what I touched right before everything went blank."

"The blue dial," Elizabeth repeated, "right. Okay."

"Uh… Doctor, I hate to be picky here," Beckette held up a hand, "but aren't we over-looking one wee bitty thing?"

"What?" Enquired Elizabeth.

Beckette pointed at the room to which this particular area in the medical bay was connected, via a two way mirror.

The eight year old Teyla could be seen sitting with her back to the farthest wall, sucking solemnly on a strand of braided hair, while a hyper-active five year old Ford raced round and round a table in the middle of the floor, an extremely flustered nurse hurrying distractedly after him. There was no sign of McKay.

"What, exactly, are we meant to do with SGA:1 junior through there?" Beckette asked.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows as Ford shot right past the mirror, laughing hysterically as he flapped his arms. "No one happened to bring any crayons with them from Earth, did they?"