The Long Trip Home - Chapter 6
McKay tapped his radio. "Atlantis, this is Jumper One. We're about five minutes out. Be sure you have a medical team waiting."
Weir's response was, once again, immediate. "Good to hear, Rodney. Medical team is already in the jumper bay."
"Beckett?" Any ole medical team wasn't good enough.
"He's there," Weir replied reassuringly. She knew they wanted the best doctor available and that was most assuredly Carson Beckett. And Beckett himself wouldn't have let anyone else take his place. A real bond had formed between some members of the Atlantis family. A bond that was stronger, in ways, than family ties. A bond born of experiencing both wonders and horrors that, not so long ago, would have seemed unimaginable. A bond from helping each other cope with the sometimes relentless blows this galaxy could produce. A bond born from the complete dependency on others that you had to face when stranded in a galaxy far from home.
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Teyla breathed a sigh of relief as Jumper One began descending toward the jumper bay. "We are home," she told Sheppard as she placed her hand lightly on his cheek. Heat radiated from his body.
His eyes fluttered open for a second and she wondered if he had heard her. His sweat drenched body shivered under the blanket. Suddenly, his body stiffened and he groaned from deep within as he reached out blindly. She could see him gasping for air under the oxygen mask.
"Major!" she called sharply. His eyes rolled back in his head as his body shuddered and went limp. Teyla jumped to her feet, frantically searching for a pulse.
"What's wrong?" yelled McKay.
"Get us down quickly! There is no pulse and I don't think he's breathing," she shouted, panic edging her voice.
McKay yelled into his radio as he set the jumper down. "Beckett, get in here. NOW! We're losing him!"
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Sheppard had been drifting. The pain was there, but as long as he drifted at this level, it was bearable. Sometimes he heard far away voices and sounds, but they had no meaning. He wanted to stay here, at least for a while. He knew if he went closer to the surface, the pain would be much worse and he wasn't ready for that yet.
A comforting voice. A light touch. It seemed so soothing. Maybe he could surface just a little. He tried to focus on the familiar voice that seemed to be calling him.
NO! The white hot pain returned - exploding inside him and suffocating him. He couldn't breathe. Pressure. He felt as though he were drowning. The pain spread like molten lava into his chest. No air...no air...He couldn't hang on. Exhausted, he let go and slid quietly into the cool darkness.
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Beckett and his medical team took Jumper One by storm. Teyla moved quickly out of the way while vying for a vantage point from which she could see what was happening.
"Get him to the floor!" Beckett ordered. Two techs quickly moved Sheppard to the middle of the jumper floor where he could be tended from both sides. A nurse removed the oxygen mask and replaced it with a mask that had a bag on the side. She immediately began pumping air into Sheppard's lungs. Simultaneously, a second nurse had quickly cut his shirt and chest wrapping off and connected him to a heart monitor. Beckett was listening with his stethoscope. He probed around the major's side and abdomen, frowned, and listened again with the stethoscope. Although this organized and experienced flurry of activity occurred very quickly, it seemed to go in slow motion to Telya and Rodney.
"Do something!" McKay shouted as he listened to the steady alarm that warned of the flat line displayed on the monitor screen.
"I bloody well am," yelled Beckett. He grabbed the charged defibrillator from the nurse. Planting the paddles in the appropriate place on Sheppard's chest, he yelled "Clear!" and discharged them. Sheppard's back arched briefly before falling back to the floor of the jumper. The monitor still showed a flat line. Beckett tried again with the same results.
Beckett leaned forward and listened with his stethoscope once again. He moved around as if searching for something, frowning in worry the whole time. McKay shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other. He had this incredible sense of deja vu as he flashed back to a similar scene when Beckett had revived Sheppard after an alien bug encounter. Silently, he willed this scene to end the same way.
Beckett barked an order to one of the nurses, who handed him a large, empty syringe. Beckett carefully probed Sheppard's injured side until he found the spot he was seeking. He inserted a needle so large it made McKay's knees go weak into Sheppard's side and began withdrawing blood. When the syringe was full, he pulled out the needle and yelled, "Let's try it again."
Shock! Arch. Relax. And this time the alarm turned into a beeping...irregular at first, but slowly leveling out.
Beckett still did not look happy. He motioned for the girl who had resumed bagging Sheppard to stop. Listening through the stethoscope again he muttered, "He's still not breathing. We'll have to intubate."
Beckett moved around to Sheppard's head. He tilted the major's head back and skillfully slid a tube down his throat. The nurse then connected the bagging mechanism to the tube. Someone had started an IV during the flurry of activity and one of the tech's held the bag. Beckett listened with the stethoscope again.
"Okay, let's move him," he directed his staff. Sheppard was carefully lifted onto a gurney, along with the monitor, and wheeled away. Weir had joined the group watching the revival efforts at some point, McKay wasn't sure when. This wasn't the first time she had witnessed efforts to basically bring John Sheppard back from the dead. How many times could he tempt fate like this before he lost? She shuddered, hoping it wasn't today.
"Carson?" she asked, fear in her eyes.
Beckett just looked at her and the others blankly. "I'll do what I can," he said softly and turned to join his team.