I know, I'm going on and on. I have such a hard time not dragging things out. Thanks for the very flattering and encouraging reviews. They are the reason I'm sitting here finishing this chapter at one a.m. in the morning...again. I wish I was younger and then I wouldn't sleep through class tomorrow (as if).

Emrys1 - Okay, don't believe everything rogue1503 says. SHE is the one with the hot masseuse, not me. I got my information from her. Now, if I find one, you will be the first to know. I could use a good massage right now - definitely got the tense shoulder, back, and neck thing going. If he happened to be hot to boot, I wouldn't argue.

rogue1503 - You are in so much trouble. Been spreading gossip through your reviews, I see. I happen to know you are in the rather nerve-racking middle of no less than two stories - so get to work woman. Let's focus here.

reyclou - Two can play the "I won't write til you write something" game. No withholding stories - so unfair. (LOL)

Chapter 21

"Elizabeth, this is Carson. Have you seen Major Sheppard this morning?"

Elizabeth looked up from the pile of papers on her desk as she answered the radio call. "No, not this morning. Why? Is there a problem?"

She heard him sigh before answering. "Aye, isn't there always with that lad. He's almost an hour late for his check this morning and I can't find him anywhere. He's not answerin' his radio and no one's seen him."

Elizabeth frowned. "Have you tried his quarters? Maybe he overslept."

"Aye, he's not there. I even went in to check, in case somethin' was wrong, but he wasn't there. His bed didn't look slept in either. When was the last time you saw him?"

Elizabeth stood and began pacing back and forth, the worry starting to set in. "We ate dinner in the mess hall last night with his team. He seemed in very good spirits when we left. I think he headed for his quarters, but I'm not sure. I'll put out a call city wide and see if I can raise him. I'll let you know in a few minutes if I hear anything or not."

"Okay. You know where to find me."

Elizabeth walked out of her office and over to Peter Grodin. "I need to go city wide for a minute."

He touched a panel on the console in front of him and then nodded to her. "May I have your attention. Major Sheppard needs to contact the control room immediately. I repeat, Major Sheppard should contact the control room as soon as possible." She nodded to Peter and he disconnected the link.

"Problem?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I hope not. Let me know if you hear from him."

Five minutes later, Elizabeth received a call. "Dr. Weir, this is Sgt. Miller. Have you found the major yet?"

"No, not yet. Have you seen him?" She was trying to place the soldier in her mind.

"No, ma'm. I don't know if this is important or not but the major came to see Dr. Kavanagh last night and...it got pretty intense."

The fear Elizabeth had been feeling kicked up about three notches. She tried to keep her voice calm. "Okay, thank you Sgt. I'm not sure if that's important or not, but I'm glad you let me know. It might help."

When another ten minutes passed with no word from Sheppard, she called Beckett back. "Carson, it's Elizabeth. No word from John, yet, but I found out he went to see Kavanagh last night. I'm thinking this is not a good sign. I'm going to send out search parties just as soon as I can get them assembled."

"Aye, that's probably wise. We'll be ready when you find him. I imagine our services will be needed."

"I hope not, Carson, but I'll let you know something either way." She paused a second and then changed gears. "Lt. Ford, this is Dr. Weir. I need you to report to the control room."

"I'm here ma'm." Realizing the voice wasn't coming from the radio, she turned to see Ford, McKay,and Teyla standing in her doorway.

"What's wrong with the major?" asked McKay.

She smiled and shook her head. No wonder John had picked these people for his team. They were one step ahead of her. "Major Sheppard is missing. He's an hour late for a check with Carson and no one's seen him. He isn't in his quarters and he doesn't answer his radio. And...I just found out that he went to see Kavanagh last night."

McKay looked worried. "Oh, that can't be good. We need to find him."

Elizabeth nodded. "I want a team searching in the inhabited part of the city and two teams searching the outer areas. Lt., can you coordinate with Sgt. Bates for the other two teams? I'm assuming you guys want to be part of this."

They all nodded. McKay looked at Ford. "Let's take the east side of the uninhabitated area. That's where he usually goes running and probably our best bet."

"Okay. I'll get Bates to set up the other two teams. Get geared up and I'll meet you at the transporter to the east side in...thirty minutes."

As they turned to leave, Teyla looked at Weir. "We'll find him, Dr. Weir." Elizabeth nodded to her, hoping she was right.

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About an hour after leaving the transporter, McKay saw him. He had been checking the outer walkway and connecting rooms while Ford and Teyla searched the inner halls and rooms. "Ford, I found him out here on the walkway. Tell Carson to get a medical team down here!"

McKay rushed over to Sheppard, curled up on his side as he lay on the cold platform floor. He kneeled beside the still figure and placed his fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse. He noted how cold and pale Sheppard was as he found the slow, weak pulse. "Oh major, what have you done to yourself this time?" He placed a hand on the major's shoulder and shook him gently. "Major, can you hear me? We're here. Carson will be here in a little while. Can you open your eyes and look at me major?" Sheppard's uniform was soaked and McKay realized he was shivering. Teyla and Ford appeared by his side.

"How is he?" asked Teyla.

"Not good. I think he must have been out here all night. His clothes are soaking wet and he's shivering. His skin feels like ice and his pulse is weak and pretty slow." McKay looked down and noticed Sheppard was lying in a puddle of water that had accumulated in a low area. He guessed even the Ancients themselves couldn't avoid those water-collecting low areas that always seemed to appear. "Let Carson know his condition while I try to move him out of this water puddle." He got behind Sheppard and sat him up a little, placing his arms under Sheppard's and around his torso. He then proceeded to drag the unconscious man back toward the wall where the ground was dry.

"I know you're no genius, major, but the least you could do is have enough sense to come in out of the rain," he said to Sheppard as he began removing his vest and coat.

Ford updated Dr. Beckett and then he and Teyla joined McKay. "What are you doing, Dr. McKay?"

McKay sat down with his back against the wall and pulled Sheppard's upper body into his lap. He then lay his jacket across Sheppard's chest. "He's bound to be hypothermic. I'm trying to warm him up. You haven't seen anything that looked like a blanket, have you?"

They both shook their head. They began removing their vests so they could get to their jackets as well. Once they had been removed, they draped them across Sheppard's shivering form, just below McKay's. McKay could feel the pressure of Sheppard's cold, wet clothes pressing into his shirt and making him wet as well. He was already getting chilly in the breezy morning air and he had only been here a few minutes No wonder Sheppard felt so cold. "Hey, major. It's time to wake up."

To his surprise, Sheppard's eyes began to flutter. He looked up at McKay, his slitted eyes looking unfocused, his speech slurred. "Mmmmm...kkkkay...c-c-c-c-c-cold-d-d," he managed through chattering teeth.

"I know, major. Carson is on his way and if I know him, he'll have about thirty blankets for you. We'll have you warmed up in no time. Just hang on and talk to me until he gets here. You can start by telling me why you've been outside in the rain all night. What were you thinking? If you like the infirmary that much, I'm sure there are easier ways of getting yourself back in there. Carson's going to have your hide, you know."

"S-s-s-s-s-so-o-o-o-o...c-c-c-c-cold...B-b-b-b-bec-c-c-tttt," Sheppard closed his eyes as he lost consciousness again.

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Sheppard was vaguely aware of voices beginning to pierce the icy blackness. He didn't know when he'd ever been so cold. After several tries, he finally managed to get his eyes open a slit. A familiar face swam briefly in the gray fog of his vision before the pen light hit, first one eye, then the other, sending lightning bolts of pain stabbing through his head.

"Major, can you hear me?" Beckett's face swam in and out of focus. It was hard keeping his lids open, even for this little bit, because they were so very heavy. He couldn't remember where he was or why he was so cold.

"Doc-c-c-c?" He thought Beckett looked relieved.

"Aye, major. Just hang in there, lad. We'll have you back in no time." He turned away and began talking to someone outside Sheppard's limited vision. "We've got to get him out of those wet clothes and wrapped up in some dry blankets. It'll take a while to walk him back to the transporter and we need to start getting him warm right away."

His eyes had drifted closed, but when he felt hands starting to remove his clothes, he began fighting them, pushing the hands away and trying to kick out. "Nooooooo!" He didn't know what they were doing, but he wanted to be left alone.

Firm hand on his shoulder. "Major, stop fighting. You're suffering from hypothermia and we have to get these wet things off you now. You'll feel a lot better once we have you in some warm, dry blankets." Sheppard stopped struggling, but Beckett thought it was probably due to loss of consciousness instead of his plea to the major. They removed his shirt, put a blanket over him, and then slid his wet pants off. Beckett then made sure he was cocooned tightly inside several blankets as they put him on the gurney and began the long journey back to the infirmary.

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Elizabeth arrived at the infirmary to find Teyla, Ford, and McKay pacing nervously around the waiting area. "How is he?"

"We just got back a few minutes ago. Carson's still with him. It looks like he was outside the rain all night last night. He's got hypothermia. Beyond that...?" McKay shrugged his shoulders.

Beckett joined them several minutes later. "He's got a moderately severe case of hypothermia. His body temperature's down to about 32 degrees Celsius...uh...around ...90 degrees Fahrenheit. We've got him under some warming blankets and I've started some warm fluids through an IV. He's somewhat disoriented now, but that's fairly normal. I'm not sure what else we're dealing with at this time...right now we're just tryin' to get him warmed up. For the most part it looks like he just...over did it and exhausted himself. I'm not sure how many steps backwards we just took...but we did go backwards."

They all stood silently for a few moments, knowing exactly what had caused the backwards steps...Kavanagh.

"If he'd just told us he was going to see Kavanagh...maybe one of us could have gone with him. Why does he think he has to do everything alone?" asked McKay angrily.

"That's just who he is," sighed Elizabeth. "I have a feeling he's always been that way and we're not going to change that. We just have to learn to deal with it and work around it. If we want to help him, we have to make him accept that help."

Teyla set her expression firmly. "Then that is what we will do."

"Well," said Beckett. "He's not going to be doin' any talkin' to anyone for a while. I'd suggest you all go on about your business and drop by later this afternoon. I probably won't know any more until then and the major's going to be out a while." Beckett turned and headed back towards Sheppard's bed.

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Sheppard was first aware of the warmth that surrounded him. He had finally stopped shivering and the blankets that were wrapped tightly around him were comforting, making him feel somehow safe and protected. He slowly opened his eyes to the muted light of the infirmary at night. He tried to move around and shift positions and was surprised by both the heaviness of his muscles and the pain that stabbed through his legs and chest, causing him to emit a slight groan. Almost instantly, Nick and Kelly were standing beside him.

"Hi major. I see you've decided to join the land of the conscious." Nick smiled down at him as he took his pulse.

"What...what happened?"

"How much do you remember?" Nick watched him as he struggled to remember what had happened.

"I remember eating supper...I went...to see Kavanagh...and then..." He saw Kavanagh's smirk in his head and then it all came crashing back on him. "I had to get away...I just ran...Ran until I couldn't run any more. And then I guess I was too tired to make it back."

"Anything else you care to share?" Nick was looking at him with an expression of 'I know there is more'.

"I guess the running...I guess it caused some muscle spasms."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I would think. Major, you're lucky you didn't really injure yourself. As it is, you've taken several steps backwards."

Sheppard felt his face flush hot with...with what? Anger? Embarrassment? He wasn't sure. "Look...I'm sorry I messed up you and Dr. Beckett's little regimen. I just had to get away from him before I..." Nick didn't miss the look of fear that crossed Sheppard's face.

"Before you what?"

Sheppard breathed deeply and let it out slowly. His voice was low and dark. "Before I killed him." He closed his eyes, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he remembered the hot flash of anger as he had advanced on Kavanagh and pressed the barrel of his gun into the scientist's forehead. He shuddered and felt the light twitching of the muscles in his sides and abdomen. He struggled to move his arms up to cradle his midsection against the oncoming spasms.

Nick pressed him back against the bed. "Major, you need to lie still. You need rest."

"No...spasms coming back...get me out of here." He struggled more violently against the tightly wrapped blankets, the frustration and fear showing in his face.

Nick sent Kelly off to get something while he helped Sheppard loosen the covers. "Take it easy, major. I'll get you loose."

Sheppard seemed to calm a little and Nick finished working the blankets loose so that the major could move freely beneath them. Sheppard rolled onto his side, clutching his ribcage as the muscles began to twitch in earnest. He knew he could handle this. It hurt, but it wasn't near the pain level that had been produced by Kavanagh's little toxic rock. Still, he was somewhat relieved when the happy drugs Nick had just injected into his IV line began to ease the tension and help him slip into the soft, dark void of sleep.

TBC