Chapter 6

What Teyla wore

Elizabeth didn't look too well, Rodney thought as he watched all the colour leave her face after Carson asked her what she had dreamt about. Elizabeth looked as horrified as if she'd been suddenly faced by a Wraith who hadn't had a decent human life in a few millennia.

"Nothing" she blurted out, after a few second's pause "absolutely nothing. I don't dream."

Rodney didn't believe her for a minute. Whatever she had dreamt it had obviously been completely terrifying. She had also repeated exactly what Sheppard had said during the briefing. Come to think of it, Sheppard had also had that look of panic when asked that question earlier.

"Interesting" Rodney mused aloud. "Major Sheppard also claimed to not have dreamt last night"

Turning to him, Rodney saw that Sheppard had stopped sulking against the wall and was now paying Elizabeth a lot of attention. Looking at Elizabeth, Rodney could see that she was availing the floor of her full and undivided attention.

"Are you sure that you didn't dream, or is that you won't remember it?" Rodney found himself now intensely curious. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Rodney" Elizabeth lifted her head up from the floor, but was unable to stop Rodney's flow,

"Did both of you not dream?" Rodney continued. "Or did you both have the same dream but you can't remember?"

"McKay" Sheppard growled clenching his fists. Somewhere in the back of Rodney's mind a warning light flashed, but Rodney had been good at ignoring that particular facet of his personality, especially when he thought he was onto something. Carson, however, had also noticed.

"Rodney" Carson warned. "I'd shut up if I were you…"

"What?" Rodney turned to him "Perhaps they had a nightmare? Did you have a nightmare?" he turned to Elizabeth. " After all, the dreams that have been described by almost everyone in Atlantis have been good, except perhaps for Peter's unfortunate losing streak."

Elizabeth was glaring at him, so was Sheppard. Everyone else in the room was looking at either Elizabeth or Sheppard.

"No Rodney" Elizabeth spoke through clenched teeth. "I did not have a nightmare. I didn't dream."

"Neither did I" frothed Sheppard. "And I can't see why you're persisting with this line of thought McKay!"

"Major," Rodney looked at Sheppard, and pitied, as he did daily, the man's puny brain. How he had passed the Mensa test Rodney hadn't been able to fathom, unless of course he was some kind of idiot savant. "This could be extremely important, if you and Dr Weir are the only two people who did not dream last night it could give us some insight as to what is causing this."

"And why would that be?" Sheppard scowled.

"Well, firstly, the whole of Atlantis experienced some kind of memory loss and then everyone has been dreaming en masse, I would say that was pretty unusual even by standards in the Pegasus galaxy…"

There was a sudden silence.

"Could the two be related somehow?" Elizabeth said. "Carson, could the Athosian gin be causing some sort of mass hallucination effect?"

Beckett thought for a moment. "It's possible. I haven't started my analysis yet Dr Weir, I'm afraid, my time was spent yesterday attending to the sick and hungover." He glared at Rodney.

"What?" Rodney exclaimed, defensively. "I thought that I had been poisoned! I'm sure my kidneys were permanently damaged by that concoction."

"I didn't notice you holding back on the drinking of that concoction." Sheppard sneered.

Elizabeth, Rodney was pleased to note, shot the snarky Major a stern look. "None of us did Major" she said pointedly.

Sheppard blushed. He actually blushed. Rodney couldn't believe it, he was about to point it out to all and sundry, his mouth was open, the message was passing from his brain to his vocal chords, when Elizabeth glared at him, her eyes flashing red. Or so he imagined. He shut his mouth.

"Carson," Elizabeth moved toward the door, the conversation was obviously over as far as she was concerned "Can you and Rodney please analyse the Athosian gin and report back to me anything that might explain this situation."

"Dr Weir" Teyla had been quiet for most of the time, just merely watching the exchanges amongst her colleagues, Rodney could never figure out whether she just found these types of conversations beneath her or whether they were just going over her head. Teyla could be an enigma sometimes. "I seem to remember my father describing a similar incident after a wedding celebration but I cannot recall all the details. May I travel to the mainland and make enquiries?"

Weir smiled at the shorter woman, "Of course Teyla, anything you can tell us would be very useful. Major Sheppard will take you over, won't you Major?" Rodney noticed that Sheppard looked a bit put out at this. What was with him? Normally, prising Sheppard away from his beloved puddlejumpers was like getting Rodney away from a glowing ZPM.

"Yeah sure," Sheppard rubbed the back of his neck, making his hair stick up more than usual. "Just give me a few minutes Teyla."

"Thank you Major" the Athosian smiled at him, and nodded her head. "I will meet you in the bay in one hour."

Sheppard nodded. Weir and Teyla left the room, Sheppard and Ford following soon after, leaving Carson and Rodney alone to start their analysis.

Which they were engrossed in doing and just about to run the gin through the liquid chromatograph when Teyla burst into the infirmary half-an-hour later.

Which was unusual, because Teyla didn't usually burst in anywhere, she usually entered a room quietly, and with a fair amount of grace. However, this time she came running into the room.

"Dr McKay" she said breathily. "I must speak with you" she held up what appeared be a bra, with a long, green thing trailing from it.

"Teyla" Rodney said, his heart racing just a little more than was normal. "Is that your…"

"Brasserie?" squeaked Carson.

"Well recognized Doctor," Rodney said sarcastically. "I remember it" said Rodney, "You were wearing that.."

"In the dream, yes" said Teyla. "I also remember what you were wearing Dr McKay" she said pointedly, giving him a look that made him shrivel, in more ways than one.

"Or not wearing, as the case may be" smirked Carson.

"You were hardly well dressed yourself"

"Doctors" Teyla looked irritated, "This is one of my undergarments, granted. But it is this I wish to draw to your attention" She held out the long green thing.

"What is it?" said Rodney

Carson took the end of the thing in his hand. "I don't know Rodney," he said, "but it looks a lot like …"

"Seaweed" exclaimed Rodney. "It looks like seaweed! But.." he looked at Carson and then Teyla. "How did seaweed get attached to your…"

"Undergarment" Carson interjected helpfully.

"But that was a dream" spluttered Rodney. "Wasn't it?"

There was an appalled silence in the room.