TITLE: Wait Until Dark
AUTHOR: Susan Zell
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Gekko and Sci-Fi and to those luckier than I. All I know is that they aren't mine so no profit has been made by this venture.
SUMMARY: Nightmares and paranoia plague Major Sheppard and his team must determine why before he sinks so deep that there may be no returning.
SPOILERS: Everything up until after "Childhood's End."
RATINGS: PG-13
TYPE: Drama mainly and some minor hurt/comfort; also some very minor 'shipping though I haven't made my decision between the ShepWeir or the Sheyla camps. So I'm keeping both ends open for now. I always try to follow show canon so I'll leave that decision up to them.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: My first Stargate Atlantis fic so be gentle. If it goes well, I may write another.
Chapter Two
"The Rising of Ghosts"
Major Sheppard sat shirtless on the edge of an infirmary bed while his arm was cleaned and wrapped by one of the nurses. Though his attention was focused Doctor Beckett as the man worked on Teyla. The laser had gone clean through her thigh. Muscle and tissue damage was definite, but luckily it hadn't hit bone or any arteries. It would be painful but not life threatening. Beckett had given her something for the pain and she was practically asleep while they worked on her. The nurse beside Sheppard offered him some pain medication as well, which he declined. He almost accepted just in order to get a good night's sleep for a change, but he never did like being too deep in Morpheus' arms, just in case there was something to his nightmares.
Beckett glanced over at him. "You might want to reconsider, Major.
"I don't like being a heavy sleeper."
"You look like you could use the rest, son. I doubt it will knock you out unless you want it to, but it will take the edge off. At least take the pills with you in case you change your mind."
Sheppard conceded and pocketed the envelope, not that he had any intention of taking the pills, but it would make Beckett happy. He looked on the bright side. The doctor wasn't demanding that all his patients have shots right there on the spot. Pills gave Sheppard a semblance of control anyway.
McKay and Ford had only some minor scrapes and contusions but nothing serious and they were released. Weir had sent word for the two to report to the debriefing room when they were given clean bills of health.
McKay scowled the whole way out of sickbay. "Don't we get a breather?"
Ford clapped the scientist on the shoulder. "She wants the details while they're fresh."
"Fresh? I'm not fresh! I'm covered in mud."
"That can wait. Just dust yourself off and pick yourself up."
"Oh my God. Did you just quote a musical to me?"
Ford grinned in that broad way of his. "Be happy it was just me and not the Doc."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. Boy, you're easy today."
"It comes from being shot at by Luke Skywalker and reenacting The Defiant Ones."
Their voices faded away and Sheppard made a mental note to call a time out to movie night for a while. He eased himself off the bed. Coming over to Teyla, he laid a hand on her arm. Her warm eyes tinged now with drug-induced drowsiness opened to stare at him.
"I feel very strange," she muttered distantly.
Sheppard realized that this was her first experience with human drugs. The major regarded Beckett with a raised querying eyebrow.
"I gave her a low shot of morphine. I'm afraid to give her more until I see she has no side effects."
Sheppard squeezed Teyla's arm. "Don't worry. Doc's taking good care of you. He gave you something for the pain. It will make you sleepy that's all. Don't fight it."
"You don't look sleepy and you were wounded also," she observed.
"Ah, there you're wrong. I'm sleepy as hell and I don't even need the morphine."
"You speak very oddly."
Sheppard grinned. "It's the drugs."
Her head thrashed back and forth weakly on the pillow. "You always speak oddly. I never understand what you say. You're very strange. And I still don't know what a Ferris wheel is." Her eyes slipped closed at the behest of the drugs.
Beckett jerked his head towards the door. "You best leave while you're able, Major. Patients have been known to be a wee bit too honest while under morphine."
"Yeah, well, don't believe everything you hear," he warned with a grin. "I'm innocent as all get out." His tired grin waned a little as he looked again down at Teyla. "Take good care of her, Doc."
"I will. Go to your quarters and rest, Major. That's an order. Any ill effects you contact me."
"Sure, Doc," Sheppard said complacently.
Beckett groaned inwardly. Sheppard had a tendency to say one thing and mean exactly the opposite. Still his wound wasn't too severe and it had been treated for infection. He should be fine. In fact, he didn't foresee too much trouble from either patient. Maybe it would be a quiet night.
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A scream jerked Sheppard from his sleep. It took him several seconds to realize the scream was his own. It died in his throat as he sat up in a rush and shoved his back against the wall, eyes darting wildly about the room. There were voices still whispering. He could hear them.
"Shut up!" he screamed. "Shut up!" His hand came up clutching the pistol tucked under his pillow and he waved it wildly about the room searching for a target.
There was a knock at the door to his quarters and his weapon swung in its direction. Everything felt disconnected, as if he weren't himself. But thankfully sanity crept back in before he fired.
"Major?" came a voice with a hint of Scottish brogue from the other side.
Of the door, not hell, Sheppard reminded himself as he lowered the gun
It was Dr. Beckett. Again there was a knock, more insistent now.
Sheppard took a second to steady his voice. He slid the gun back into its place under the pillow, but not before he took one last check around the shadows of the room for intruders before inviting the doctor inside. It kind of always freaked him how he could just think the door open instead of waving a palm at them like most of the Atlantis expedition.
The door whooshed open and a very concerned Beckett stood there, hand poised to knock again.
"What?" snapped Sheppard. "You're precognitive now too? What are you doing here?"
"Makin' my rounds." Beckett's critical eye took in Sheppard's haggard appearance.
"At 0200 hours?"
Beckett shrugged, maintaining his concentration on more important matters. "Security mentioned he heard some noise comin' from your room. I thought I'd look into it."
"What? Spying on me?" Sheppard couldn't keep the annoyance from his tone and for the life of him he couldn't figure out what he was mad at. The doctor was just doing his job. Sheppard rubbed his face roughly. "Sorry, Doc."
Beckett didn't seem to take offense. Instead the worry was still plastered on his face but with greater intensity.
"It was just a nightmare," Sheppard admitted reluctantly in an attempt to sway the doctor's anxiety. Anything was better than the doctor thinking he had lost his marbles.
"Are you runnin' a fever?" Beckett's primary concern was an infection from the wound.
Sheppard shook his head vehemently. "No. Just some nightmares. I thought someone was in the room. You know, ghosts." He thought about how that sounded. "Well, not real ones. Just the dream induced kind."
Beckett made for a chair and sat down.
Oh God. He's not leaving. Resigned, Sheppard leaned his head back against the wall.
"Did you take the pills I gave ya?" Beckett asked.
It took a moment to think about it but then he remembered. "No. Didn't need them."
"Does your arm hurt?"
"I told you I didn't need them. Went right to sleep."
Beckett settled back in the chair, observing his patient. "You seem on edge, Major."
"Well, lack of sleep will do that to you."
"You haven't been sleeping then?"
A groan escaped his lips. "Not lately," he admitted. Sheppard glanced up at Beckett and shook his dark head with weary amusement. "Geez, you're good at this. You got a psychiatrist's degree along with your physician's degree?"
"Comes with the territory, Major. Any good doctor worth his salt will take some psychiatry courses. It helps one understand difficult patients." Beckett's lips turned up in a slight grin.
"I'm not difficult," Sheppard groused. "Just don't like people poking at me or messing with my head."
"Sounds like something is though. Nightmares are born of some internal conflict. Anything botherin' you lately?"
Sheppard laughed humorlessly. "What isn't? In the last few months lives have been turned upside down, enemies have been made, lives have been lost."
"You are still thinkin' about Colonel Sumner."
"Oh, you're an observant one, aren't you? What do you think?" Again, there was that unwarranted snap in his tone.
"It wasn't a question."
Sheppard sighed and leaned his head into his hands, which rested on his raised knees. Fingers scrubbed hard at his scalp causing his hair to shift into even more of a wild disarray. "God, Doc. I know I'm being a prick. Lack of sleep has just made me irritable, that's all."
"Why don't you take the pills I prescribed, Major. You'll sleep well tonight and tomorrow we can talk some more." Beckett found the packet on the bedside table and poured out two yellow pills. He handed them to Sheppard who was scowling. "Don't make me make it an order, John. You need sleep. You've got all the classic symptoms of someone experiencing early sleep deprivation and a good night's rest will do you wonders. Trust me."
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The minute Beckett left Sheppard rose from the bed. He dropped the pills back onto the nightstand and got dressed. His face was a mask of determination. Beckett had stumbled onto something that he hadn't considered. It was stupid really. Shepard should have seen it a mile off.
He strode down to the lower levels but not before stopping at the research department and picking up something. As he approached the detention center, he nodded to the guard on duty and walked nonchalantly into the room.
"Hello, Steve."
The Wraith in the cell turned and stared at him with cold fish eyes. The perpetual look of hatred remained on his face.
"Stay out of my damn head," Sheppard commanded and then shot him.
Steve crumpled immediately to the ground as the blast from his own stun weapon hit him in a blue blur. The guard rushed in with a look of bewilderment on his face as Sheppard once again raised the shield on the cell.
"Major?"
"The bastard was messing with my head. Maybe now I can get a good night's sleep." Sheppard strode past him and went back to his quarters.
"Uh, yes, sir."
tbc