Rating: M/R for mild language
Spoilers: None
'Tis The Wind, And Nothing More
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The small wind seemed to chase them and play at their heels the entire way back. No one noticed the little wind as it followed them up the ramp and swirled around them, before blending into the shadows.
Nothing actually registered with the crew as consciously being wrong; Teyla felt a gust tug her hair, maybe a little too sharply. Ronon caught flickers out of the corner of his eyes, yet saw nothing when he looked. Rodney heard far away, faint giggles that faded, the more he strained to hear. Bates refused to turn around to see who was watching him. Even John heard a whisper. He looked sideways at a distracted McKay and muttered under his breath, "Fuckin' Waltons". Jesse was the only one who might have seen something, but she was fast losing consciousness as the little gust stole her breath.
"Colonel Sheppard, we need Dr. Beckett now." Teyla said urgently
Sheppard looked back at where Teyla and Ronon were kneeling at Jesse's side. "No stops to pee, and fast lane all the way. Got it!" Turning back around, he alerted Atlantis of their situation, "Control, this is Sheppard, we're going to be coming back in a slight hurry. Could you patch me through to Dr. Beckett? We've got someone hurt."
"Message received sir. Connecting to Dr. Beckett now sir. Oh and Colonel, Dr. Weir wants you to report as soon as you land sir."
"Understood, we'll be there soon." John finished and waited for the doctor's voice.
"Colonel? You have wounded?" Carson's brogue carried over the puddle's intercom.
"Yep. Got a head injury, dislocated shoulder, and possible broken arm. Bone didn't break the skin, but there is a definite lump on it. There's also some difficulty in breathing"
"Aye lad, did you finally try and knock some sense into Rodney?"
"No, not this time. It's Jesse Braddock. Some damaged ceiling fell down on her. Rodney did have to dig her out though. He may have some scrapes that he'll want you to kiss and make better. Besides that, he isn't really talking, and she isn't making any sense."
"Ye haven't let her close her eyes have ye? Ye have to keep her talking!" Carson said alarmed.
"She can't really talk now." Sheppard said crisply.
"What? Ye have to keep her conscious."
"She can barely breathe doc. Her eyes keep rolling up, and her lips look a little blue from over here. It's kind of freaky."
"Ah!" Carson began throwing stuff together like a madman before continuing, "John, I have a dream. In this dream, ye and yer team, for once, come back uninjured, and no unknown diseases. Is there any possible way ye could help me make this dream a reality?"
"Carson! We do not purposely go off world and say, 'what kind of new and interesting injuries can we bring back for poor bored Dr. Beckett, who is confined to his office'. Because I'll have you know, while you may love your infirmary, we do not."
"Oh, so ye were just roaming around structures that were obviously unstable for yer own good eh?"
"FYI, we were searching for uncorrupted data crystals or devices, I'm not sure which one …" Sheppard spluttered distractedly as he came in for a landing.
"Probably another bloody device for Rodney. Ye at least should know he doesn't need anymore unknown Ancient contraptions." Carson retorted as he hustled toward the jumper.
Rodney finally entered the conversation at that and snapped, "I have a FYI of my own. It wasn't my idea this time. I was all set to come back, but nooo, the Colonel decided we needed information on what happened to the outpost thousands of years ago. So this time, it is definitely his fault."
John looked over at him and asked, "Do you keep a tally of whose fault it is? You do, don't you? You keep a count of whose fault it is when something goes wrong. I can't believe you do that!"
"Oh for the love of god, open the bloody doors and let me get to my patient!" Carson snapped, a few feet from the parked jumper.
Once Sheppard had let the door down, Bates couldn't wait to get off, and flew passed the harassed doctor as he was entering. Rodney and John looked back from their seats cautiously at the small group by the exit. Beckett wasted no time in unloading his equipment as he gave Sgt. Braddock a cursorary once over with his eyes. First he pulled out his penlight and flicked it on, checking her eyes.
"Having a wee bit of difficulty are ye? Care to tell me anything about it?" Carson asked cheerfully. He watched worriedly as she attempted to focus on him and work her mouth. She didn't have any breath to create sounds though. "No worries if you can't lass, we'll fix ye right up." He said soothingly.
Jesse took that as permission to lose consciousness, and her eyes rolled back one last time as she went limp and just stopped. All attempts at remaining conscious, at breathing, at understanding, at trying to warn them..stopped. They were all grown-ups. They could look after themselves.
"No! No! No lass! I didn't mean for ye to stop everything. We do need your co-operation in some of the effort." Carson said frantically as he hurriedly intubated her. "I would have preferred to use a nebulizer lass." He scolded her unconscious form as he gestured for his medical staff to come forward to help load her onto a backboard. He gestured at Teyla and Ronon to move off and said distractedly, "Off with ye, and let me do my job."
The crew stood back and watched as Beckett's entourage scurried back to the infirmary. With the closing of the hanger doors, John looked at everyone, and stated firmly, 'There were no laughing voices, nobody watching, nothing moving out of the corner of your eyes, and no one called me John-boy. It was just Braddock and her spooky stories."
Teyla opened her mouth to say something, and John held up his hand. "I think there is enough going on right now, that we don't need to dwell on what something might have been. Now, I have to go and report to Elizabeth. Then I'm going to find some of Zelenka's rotgut, or even some of Braddock's wine. It tastes better."
Rodney looked at the others and asked, "Does he remember that her wine has been known to cause hallucinations?" After he said that, one could almost see the light bulb that lit up in his mind. "Maybe that's why she was delusional. She drank some of her own wine before coming on the mission." He frowned at everyone and continued indignantly, "That bitch! She could have endangered the lives of everyone!"
Bates looked relieved at McKay's words. They were a good, solid, plausible, and more importantly, believable explanation of events. Some cold hard explanation from reality that could spell away the nameless dread that followed him around and away from the ancient outpost. He said almost happily, "Yeah, she could have. I think I'll file that in my report of events. Thanks doc." He turned on his heel quickly and jogged out of the hanger's darkening shadows, refusing to look back.
Teyla and Ronon both had disapproving looks on their faces. Teyla said adamantly, "I don't believe that Jesse is capable of that."
"Neither do I." Ronon agreed.
"What? She's lazy, sneaky, vengeful, and smart enough, in a devious sort of way, to pull it off. Of course she's capable." Rodney elaborated.
"Why would she do it?" Teyla asked sensibly.
"Why? Why she asks." Rodney started casting for a reason. "Well, uhm, well …John took out of the kitchen, where she ruled like a tyrant, and placed her on the away teams, where she is a low man on the totem pole." McKay finished in satisfaction, as his if explanation fit.
Teyla and Ronon had their eyebrows raised. "What is a tyrant?" Teyla asked.
"And what is a 'low man on totem'?" asked Ronon.
"They're very irritating and annoying little people with dreams of grandeur and power!" Rodney snapped back.
Ronon abruptly went back to the subject, "When and how did she do it?"
"Excuse me?"
"Jesse is small, she can be vengeful, she is sneaky and devious, and she didn't want to leave her kitchen to become a member of the away teams. I agree with all of those things, but once the course was set, she wouldn't have done anything to jeopardize the mission, or anyone on it."
"Oh, you know her that well?"
"Yes, I believe I do, and I believe that you do also." Ronon paused a moment before continuing, "And if you don't, then think on these questions. When and how?"
"What?" Rodney asked befuddled.
"When and how did she have the time, and opportunity, to perform such an elaborate hoax, at a place she'd never been, and was never out of anyone's presence Dr. McKay?" Teyla queried softly.
Rodney spluttered for a few seconds before snapping, "Yes, well thank you very much for destroying my much needed theory that banished my inexplicable fear away. Now that you have upset my ulcers, I have some data I'm going to attempt to retrieve." With that, McKay also turned on his heel, and with something between a skip and a fast pace, left for well-lit areas of Atlantis.
Teyla looked troubled, "I do not like this."
Ronon looked up at the creeping shadows and said abruptly, "I'm going to the infirmary to see how Jesse is. Are you coming also?"
TBC