I'm thinking I am going to try finish posting this today or tonight since I'll be pretty busy these next few weeks. Also, though I haven't been answering individual reviews, I'd like to answer a few questions that have popped up. I know Rodney is allergic to all citrus, but sgaan33 got it right when she said I only mentioned lemons because it was easier for John to remember. Plus, I've given a lot of thought to ages, and I just have always felt that John was younger than Rodney. I know some people feel different (and it was really interesting about how Joe, David, and Paul are only a year or so apart), but I took artistic license since they don't specify it on the official site. And, you'll find out what Ammontech is a little later.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Doctor Weir stood in the darkness, watching the two boys sleep. The nurses had pushed two beds together so that John could sleep close to Rodney, the two inseparable. Right now they were curled together, looking so very lost and alone.

Weir sighed, an all-too-common occurrence in the five days since Sheppard and McKay had been turned into children. Just now Dr. Beckett had bleakly informed her that Rodney was slowly dying of unknown causes. All they knew was that his cells and organs were failing, causing extreme pain…both for Rodney and for those who cared about him. Beckett had given him three days to live.

Three days. Not enough time for Dr. Zelenka and his team who were working around to clock to find some way to reverse the de-aging process. Not enough time for the doctors and nurses of Atlantis to come up with a cure. Not enough bloody time.

Elizabeth was brought out of her musings by soft crying. Rodney had woken up, and from the looks of it he had just suffered another nightmare like the ones that had plagued the twins continuously. Without a second thought, Weir sat on the bed next to the boy. Careful of the wires connected to the thin body, she pulled him into an embrace.

The child felt limp in her arms, too weak from the attacks of pain to do anything but cry. Almost automatically Elizabeth began gently rocking the boy, humming an old lullaby from her childhood. Rodney soon quieted down until she thought he was asleep again. She was wrong.

"Lizbeth?" She smiled at the name. After Weir had introduced herself to little Rodney, he had almost immediately begun calling her Lizbeth. Despite her disdain for nicknames, somehow she couldn't bring herself to ask that he stop. "Lizbeth, I'm worried 'bout John."

"Why's that, sweetie?"

"He's really smart. I don't want him to feel bad when he figures it out."

Weir was glad Rodney couldn't see her frown in the dark. "Figure what out?"

"That it's our fault Mom and Dad died."

That caught Weir's attention. "Rodney, it is not your fault. Why would you say that?"

Rodney shivered. "They killed them to get us. John can heal people just by thinking. He has to think really, really hard and it tires him out, but we both know most people can't do that. Mom and Dad said it made him special. Just like me being able to sense what other people are feeling. Or at least I could. They wanted us 'cause of that." Elizabeth felt him move his head to look at her. "Please don't let him feel bad. And don't let him blame himself when I die."

A shock rolled through Weir at his words, too old for one his age. "You are not going to die, Rodney."

"Yes I am," the boy calmly responded. "I'm glad it's here, though. You and Dr. Carson and Aiden have been so nice. I wish we could be better friends. I wish…" his words trailed off as he loss consciousness again.

For a moment Elizabeth felt an icy fear, that Rodney had already died. But no, his heart still beat strongly. For now. In silence she continued to rock the child in her lap, tears tracing warm paths down her face.

00000

Ensconced in Dr. McKay's lab, Radek Zelenka continued working feverously deep into the night. There was so much he didn't know! The inventor who created the cylindrical device had been trying to find immortality by de-aging the body. Unfortunately, the device seemed to turn back time instead of rejuvenating aging cells. All who attempted to use the machine lost everything they had done in their lives. Apparently one test subject had gone back to an age when he had almost died…and had almost died again.

The Atlantean Council had shut the project down. Zelenka could find no mention of a way to return the test subjects to their original age. If indeed they had ever been able to do so. The Czech scientist groaned in frustration. There wasn't enough time!

00000

John Callaghan couldn't sleep, not with his brother being so sick. The boy sighed. If only Rodney would let him help! Nonetheless, Rodney was refusing, just as he had in the dark cell they shared at Ammontech. He had told John before he had been hurt again that he didn't want his brother to heal him anymore. That Rodney just couldn't take the pain, the torture anymore and just wanted it to be over.

John's hands balled into fists. Why did Rodney have to be so stubborn! He knew he was the younger twin but was eight minutes really so much of a difference? All John wanted to do was be able to take care of the older twin, but he couldn't because of that stupid promise!

Tears leaked from the boy's eyes, but he hid them. If he couldn't heal Rodney, the least he could do was not disturb him as he tried to sleep through the pain.

00000

Carson Beckett let out a string of curses at the computer in front of him. After maddening attempts at isolating a cause for Rodney's deterioration, the doctor had decided to try another route. Obviously something had been done to the boy during his captivity, so that would be the place to start looking. Unfortunately, the only mention of 'Ammontech' in the database was labeled 'classified'.

A thought came to him and he hesitated. Maybe, just maybe… Carson shook his head. It was terribly illegal. Oh, the heck with it. He was on another planet, in another galaxy, and his friend was in danger. Who cared? Beckett carefully removed the disks he had hidden in the bottom drawer of his desk and slipped one into his computer. He hit a few buttons and, finally finding what he was looking for, he began reading.

A few hours later Carson had finished, his face paler than the moon over Atlantis. Clenching his teeth, the doctor slowly stood, his hands bunched into fists. Barely controlling the emotions running through his soul, Carson strode to the makeshift fitness center. The few marines working out that late at night were surprised to see him enter and head straight for the punching bag. They were even more surprised when the kind-hearted doctor began hitting the bag with all his strength, not stopping until his hands were bloody.

Carson let everything out on the punching bag. Finally, exhausted, he grabbed the bag and leaned against it, eyes closed. After catching his breath, the doctor gave the bag one last punch before storming back to the infirmary to bandage his hands.

What did Beckett discover? Find out in the next chapter of Stargate Atlantis: Forgotten Half.