Alright, here's an update.

He felt the blood splash on his face. It wasn't cold like water, but even so he shivered. The body tumbled, the weight forcing him to the ground. He wanted to push it off him, but couldn't. He couldn't push his mother away.

"Lad, wake up."

John was trying to pull him away, but it was too late. They grabbed him, he felt a pin-prick, and soon the world faded away.

"Rodney, you need to wake up, you're having a nightmare."

Rodney Callaghan blinked his eyes, trying to focus on the face in front of him. His face froze in fear at the sight of the dark-haired man in a lab coat, so much like those who had terrorized him the past few months.

A hand touched his arm and Rodney instantly relaxed, recognizing the feel of his brother. "It's OK, Quinn, he's the one who helped fix you. His name's Dr. Carson."

"Where…where're we?" Rodney muttered, his mouth dry.

Beckett helped the boy drink some water before answering. "I was just telling your brother about that. You are in the infirmary on a secret military installation codenamed Atlantis. Though we don't know how you got here, I can promise you that you're safe. No one will hurt you."

Rodney nodded slightly, his eyelids drooping. John smiled at his brother. "Go to sleep, Quinn. I'm right here." Grasping his brother's hand, Rodney drifted calmly off to sleep.

Beckett left the boys together, both looking much better after seeing each other well. As he headed to the blood lab, Dr. Weir entered the infirmary followed closely by Lieutenant Ford. "You're just in time, I was just about to get the blood results."

Entering the lab, Beckett quickly took a seat at the Ancient computer. After pressing a few buttons and giving a few mental commands, data appeared on the screen that only Beckett seemed to understand. A frown grew on his face, deepening as his concentration grew more centered. At last he sat back in the chair and rubbed a hand over his face. "Well, that's interesting."

"What?"

Beckett pushed back the chair and looked at Ford and Weir. "I ordered three blood tests. One, which searches for alien viruses and such, isn't finished yet. The other two were DNA tests. They confirm that John and Rodney Callaghan are our John Sheppard and Rodney McKay and that they are, in fact, brothers."

Elizabeth couldn't help but feel shocked. Even though they had had their suspicions, to hear that her chief science officer and chief of military operations were twin brothers was still stunning. "How did this happen?"

Beckett looked at her like she was crazy. "How the bloody well am I supposed to know that? All I know is that the last time I saw them, Major Sheppard and Rodney were grown men and now they're 7 year-old orphans."

"The cylinders." Weir and Beckett turned to Ford. "In McKay's lab we found their boots and three cylinders, one near each pair of boots and one in between. My guess is it was an experiment gone wrong. Way wrong."

Weir sighed. "I'll get Dr. Zelenka on it right away."

00000

"Dr. Zelenka, any progress?" Dr. Weir entered McKay's lab where Zelenka had taken up residence to solve their current problem. It had been three days since the boys had been found and she was beginning to get frustrated. Neither child had been forthcoming over their experience, rarely talking to anyone except each other. Beckett had come to her with worries about their mental health, plus worrying at the fact that Rodney was not healing as quickly as he should.

"No, not much. Rodney, he keeps no notes on his research. Claims he remembers every detail, writes it down later for us 'lesser folk'. I must start my own research on the device, which brings many problems. All I can say is that it was abandoned as a failure."

Weir stared at the Czech. "Obviously it works."

Zelenka bobbed his head, still not looking up from his work. "Work, yes. Work correctly, not so. It is supposed to de-age the person using the device, but the creator found problem in it. What the problem is, I do not know."

Weir opened her mouth to ask another question when her radio beeped. "Dr. Weir."

"Elizabeth, this is Carson. You need to get down here lass. Something's wrong."

ooo

Dr. Beckett glanced briefly at his now-sleeping patient before moving to his office. Weir didn't like the grim look on his face when she entered. "Carson, what is it?"

The doctor sighed, his blue eyes full of worry. "I told you earlier that Rodney wasn't healing as quickly as I would like. Now he's getting worse."

"Worse?"

"Aye. He has a fever, but I cannot isolate the cause. His wound isn't infected and we can't detect any virus or bacteria in his blood stream. Not only that, in the past few hours he's been having bouts of intense pain that cause severe convulsions. And I don't know how to treat him."

00000

Though asleep, Rodney Callaghan still felt the pain his body was putting him through. He could tell that something was terribly wrong with him. It hadn't felt this way when he had been given that horrible shot, the one that made his stomach hurt when he tried to feel. At seven years old it had become second nature for him to be able to feel another person's feelings, to tell if they were bad or good. Now, when he did it, he only felt pain. Still, this pain was different. It flowed throughout his whole body, gradually increasing until he could barely breathe. Only then did the pain ebb, until the next time.

The boy sensed a familiar, warm sensation that forced him to wake up again, too soon after the pain medication had put him to sleep. "J.D., stop it!" he demanded weakly.

John glared at his brother. "Quinn, you're hurt. I have to make you better."

Rodney didn't have the strength to shake his head, so he contented himself with glaring back. "No. I told you before when…I told you not to help me. It's hurting you."

"I don't care!"

"I do! No more, I can't take it, J.D. I can't. Please."

John's lower lip began trembling. "Don't give up Quinn. The people here are good, they'll help you. Please, I…I need you."

Rodney closed his eyes. "I promise not to give up until you let me. Just, don't try to help Dr. Carson. I don't want you hurting too." Content with this, John squeezed Rodney's hand and curled up in the chair next to the bed. Rodney couldn't bring himself to open his eyes again, to look at his brother. While John had the uncanny ability to heal others, Rodney knew it sapped his strength. He didn't want his brother to waste his energy on what, deep down, he knew was a lost cause.

I'll try to post the next chapter soon.