You guys are totally amazing. Two hundred reviews? This time I needed an ambulance and a trip to the hospital. Gasping for air! Sorry to have left you in such a bad spot (Okay, I lie. I did it on purpose because, as many of you have figured out, I am totally evil. I didn't even realize until now.) Anyway, I hope it was worth it. By the way, we used to call someone a buttinsky that stuck their nose in someone else's business. (You know - butted in).

Chapter 11

McKay tried to sit up, only to find his arms and legs tangled hopelessly with those of Beckett and Sheppard. He managed to get up on one elbow, trying to see what had happened. His ears were ringing from the close proximity of the gun shot and he was terrified to find out if it had hit the intended target. As he pulled his other hand free of whatever had pinned it, he saw blood. Cold fingers of icy fear plunged deep into his gut, twisting his insides into a painful knot. He could feel Beckett pulling himself free from the clump of legs and heard him gasp as he saw what McKay saw. The right side of Sheppard's face and head was covered in blood and a pool was forming and spreading beneath him. McKay couldn't tell how bad the damage was...all he could see was blood and hair and...

McKay rolled to his right, away from Sheppard, and vomited. He tried closing his eyes, but all he could see was Sheppard's head in the ever-widening puddle of blood. He hugged his stomach as he dry heaved until he thought his insides should be laying on the ground in front of him. He felt someone's hand on his shoulder, steadying him. He could hear Beckett barking out orders behind him, but it seemed like it was coming from another reality or another time...not here...not now. How had it ever come to this? He didn't dare turn and look again. He knew Sheppard was dead.

Once Beckett had pulled his legs free, he'd launched into action. Tapping his radio link as he crawled over to Sheppard, he called, "This is Beckett! We have a medical emergency in the conference room. I need a medical team NOW! We have a gunshop wound to the head." He placed one hand on the side of Sheppard's neck, feeling for the pulse he didn't really expect to find. He was wearing quite a bit of the major's blood. He shook his head against the loud ringing in his ears. He knew he had gotten a hand on Sheppard's forearm, but wasn't sure if it was fast enough to deflect the shot. And then he felt it. It was weak, but it was there. He was alive. At this point, Beckett wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Beckett looked carefully at the side of Sheppard's head. He was aware of activity behind him, but concentrating on the still form before him. He and McKay must have at least partially deflected the bullet, because the wound seemed to travel the whole side of Sheppard's head as opposed to being a simple entry wound. That meant Sheppard might have a chance of avoiding major brain damage if the bullet had not penetrated the skull. He wouldn't know that until he got him back to the infirmary. Where was the medical team?

Elizabeth had finally made it around the table about the time McKay vomited on the conference room floor. When she saw John, she almost lost it herself. She quickly turned away and leaned against the table, closing her eyes against the realization that he was probably gone. She felt as if something had sucked the breath from her lungs and she wasn't sure she could get it back. She wasn't even sure she wanted to.

"I've got a weak pulse. He's alive." Beckett's words brought looks of amazement from almost everyone. The thought that Sheppard was dead had pretty much been a universal one. The medical team raced in with the gurney and several pieces of equipment in tow. Beckett and his staff immediately began prepping Sheppard for transfer to the infirmary. Within a few minutes they were moving him. His head hidden by bloody bandages, an IV in place, and the heart monitor beeping, somewhat quickly and irradically, they began the race to the infirmary. Weir looked at Peter, no longer trying to stop the flow of tears streaming down her face.

"Go," he said. "I'll tend to things here."

She nodded gratefully and fell in beside Rodney. following Beckett to the infirmary. Peter just stood for several minutes, looking at the blood splattered on the wall and pooled on the floor. He wasn't sure anyone would ever be able to concentrate on a meeting in here again. And it wasn't the blood stains he was worried about.

Rodney watched the team of people surrounding Sheppard work. Or, rather, he watched their backs. He couldn't actually see Sheppard with all the people and machinery around him. Maybe that was a good thing. Beckett kept barking out orders for drugs and tests and procedures. Nurses kept feeding him numbers that meant nothing to McKay except that the major must still be alive or there wouldn't be any numbers to report. He watched in morbid fascination the things that kept hitting the floor. Bloody bandages, empty medical supplies packaging, and bits of clothing. He saw as part of Sheppard's shirt, bloody and cut from his body, hit the floor beside the gurney. Then the other half of the shirt. He thought he might have seen a couple of drops of blood splatter from the saturated clothing as it plummeted into the hard, cold surface. Another flurry of activity and then at least part of Sheppard's pants hit the floor, a few feet from the other discarded items of clothing. As the pants hit the floor, something flew out of one pocket and skittered across the smooth floor towards Rodney. It stopped a few feet away, spinning slightly as it came to rest. A small turquoise stone with gold and black flecks. Rodney almost fainted.

"Oh my God!..Radek!" In a panic, Rodney reached for the stone while contacting Radek on his radio. "Radek, where are you?"

"Rodney, what's going on?" asked Weir. Rodney waved her away.

"I am in Kavanagh's lab on his computer. You were right...it is all here, that bastard." Zelenka started muttering something in Czech until he was interrupted by McKay.

"Listen, something's happened. Kavanagh's probably on his way there right now. Get the computer and get out as fast as you can. Bring it to the infirmary."

"Right!" responded Zelenka. Before he could click off his radio, he heard something behind him. He felt a shiver of fear run down the length of his spine as he turned around. Kavanagh was standing in the doorway and he didn't look very happy.

"Dr. Zelenka, what are you doing in my lab?"

McKay heard the exchange. "We're coming, Radek. Stall him," he whispered. He turned to Elizabeth. "Short version is Kavanagh is behind poisoning the major. Radek has the proof on his computer in his lab, but Kavanagh just got there and caught him. We have to get down there now."

Weir nodded, the expedition leader in her taking over and shoving the fear and worry to the back burner. "Sgt. Bates? I need a security detail to Dr. Kavanagh's lab as soon as possible. He's responsible for Sheppard's poisoning and we think Dr. Zelenka may be with him and in danger."

"Roger that, Dr. Weir. We're on our way."

"You stay here with John, Elizabeth. I have to go see about Radek. I'm the one who sent him down there...I need to make sure he's okay. I'll be back to explain." He reached onto one of the shelves of medical supplies and grabbed a gauze pad. Wrapping the stone in it, he headed out the door. He paused briefly over the threshold, looking back toward where they were still working on Sheppard. I'll get him, John, he thought. And then he was gone.

Kavanagh was getting red in the face as he approached Zelenka. Zelenka had run out of things to say to make small talk and pitiful excuses as to why he was in the lab. Kavanagh wasn't buying any of it and Zelenka just kept thinking about how dangerous anyone was who do this to the major. He certainly wouldn't hesitate to do harm to a little Czech scientist he saw as stupid and annoying. Zelenka was starting to sweat.

"You know, I think Rodney is on way to speak to you...something about Major Sheppard. We should wait."

"No one is on the way. And you have no right to be in my lab...is that my laptop behind you? You better not have ruined any of the data from my experiments. I'll..."

"You'll what?" asked McKay from behind him. Zelenka breathed an obvious sigh of relief. Kavanagh turned to give a sarcastic retort, but stopped himself when he saw five guns pointed at him. The smile he had been wearing slowly dissolved into confusion.

"Now...wait guys...What's going on?"

Ford made a show of aiming his gun at Kavanagh. "We're here to take you into custody for poisoning Major Sheppard. Back away from Dr. Zelenka. Men, if he resists...shoot to kill."

All the color drained from Kavanagh's face. He held his hands up defensively. "I'm...I'm not going to resist. It's all a mistake. I can...I can clear this right up. Just let me explain. It was just an experiment."

Zelenka quickly grabbed the laptop and moved behind the soldiers, closer to McKay. He nodded his thanks.

"You can explain later. Right now you're going to the holding cell." stated Bates. "Now move. And after what you've done to Sheppard, you better not even twitch without permission or we'll shoot you where you stand."

McKay could feel the fury building within him, threatening to explode out his head. He kept seeing Sheppard on the floor...blood everywhere. He had been so sure he was dead. As Kavanagh started to walk past him, that patent smug expression on his face, McKay lost it. He grabbed Kavanagh by the front of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall so hard his head bounced off with a thud. "You tell me WHY!" He loosened his grip only to slam Kavanagh against the wall again, this time so hard he knocked his glasses off.

"Quit it McKay! You can't just stand there and let him do this!" he shouted in protest.

"Do what? I didn't see Dr. McKay do anything," said Bates innocently. He turned to Ford and the other soldiers. "Did you guys see anything?"

"Well," said Ford. "I think Dr. Kavanagh might be giving us a hard time. Sometimes when you resist, you get a little roughed up." Bates nodded in agreement.

"You tell me why and you tell me now." McKay was talking through teeth clenched in anger. He had to resist the urge to just kill Kavanagh now.

"Look McKay. As a scientist, you should understand. It was just an experiment. No one was supposed to get hurt. I honestly didn't know what the stone did. It was just a test. You have Sheppard turn stuff on all the time and sometimes he gets hurt doing it. I haven't seen anyone throw you ina cellbecause of it. This is so unfair."

"When he's hurt turning stuff on for me, I quit. You just kept going after him. Didn't you see what it was doing to him? Even if it had been a legitimate experiment, you should have stopped. You went after him twice knowing the pain it had caused."

"It's just a little pain. He wasn't really sick or dying or anything. Soldiers are trained to take pain. It's kind of like it was part of his job. How was I supposed to know he was unstable and would try to kill himself? Not my fault."

McKay couldn't believe what he was hearing. A little pain? Unstable? "Kavanagh, you're the biggest moron I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. Did you ever bother to go see what kind of hell you were putting him through? It was a lot more than a LITTLE pain. Try agony for the better part of ten days straight, twenty -four hours a day. If I could find a way of making you suffer through this like he did, I would. As it is..." He had to satisfy himself with slamming Kavanagh against the wall one last time before they hauled him off, whining about his head hurting.

Rodney looked down at his hands. They were shaking so hard he figured he looked like someone in the advanced stages of palsy. "I think you better carry the computer, Radek. I don't want to drop the evidence. Let's head for the infimary so we can show Elizabeth."

Zelenka nodded. "Did something happen to major?"

"Yeah, something..." replied McKay tiredly. "Come on and I'll fill you in."

They arrived at the infirmary a few minutes later to find Elizabeth sitting in a chair with her hands fidgeting nervously in her lap as she stared blankly into space. McKay looked beyond her to where they had been working on Sheppard earlier. Only one nurse remained, slowly picking up the materials he had so intently watched being discarded just a short while before.

"Elizabeth?" he asked, fear in his voice.

She stood up, just now noticing she was no longer alone. "It's okay, Rodney. They're stitching him up. Apparently one or both of you got to him in time. The bullet skimmed along the side of his skull, but never actually penetrated. Carson said there's some deep tissue damage, but it should heal. He does have a severe concussion and possible a brain contusion. He's not totally out of the woods...but he's not dead and he's not..." She didn't have to say it. They both knew what she meant. When Carson had first stated Sheppard was alive, they thought he meant alive with a bullet in his brain...which wasn't really alive at all. Elizabeth shuddered and sat down heavily. afraid she might fall if she didn't.

"What about the toxin?"

"Blood work is still pending. It should be up soon, though. Carson said his vitals are all over the place and they were having a lot of trouble stabilizing him...more than you would expect with just the head wound. It's a good bet the toxin levels are up again. Now tell me what happened."

Zelenka spoke up. "We can do better. We can show you." He turned on Kavanagh's computer to show them what he had found.

TBC

Better?