Chapter 12

24 hours later…

Weir looked down at the unmoving forms of her expedition's Senior Military Officer and the Head of the scientific team lying in the infirmary in adjacent beds. The sense of relief she felt on hearing the news that they were both alive had been muted somewhat when she had seen them both being carried into the infirmary. Ford and Teyla, neither of whom had left the infirmary since they had brought in the missing half of their team stood next to her while around them the medical team bustled, still engaged in returning the infirmary to its normal operating status after the evacuation order.

"How are they, Carson?" Weir asked as Beckett approached.

"Given time and rest, they'll both be okay," the Scottish Doctor said quietly, not wanting to disturb his patients. He looked over at McKay lying in the nearest bed. The filthy bandages he had been sporting on head and hand when he had been carried in had been replaced by ones clean, white and infinitely more neatly tied. "Rodney's had a close scrape of it this go around. It seems he picked up a chest infection that was on the verge of slipping into full blown pneumonia. I think we've caught it in time and the antibiotics we've got him on should head that off, but he'll still need to take it easy for awhile. The head injury looked worse that it was: no real concussion but it bled a lot as head wounds do. The burns on his hand and back were nae too bad: most were fairly superficial and should heal cleanly enough. And all the walking and whatever that he's been doing has nae done his ankle a jot of good. He'll be off that for some weeks yet."

Beckett walked past McKay and over to the side of Sheppard's bed, looked at the readout on the ECG the Major was connected up to and sighed. "It's the Major's condition that's been worrying me more. He's got himself a couple of broken ribs which have shifted about some. There was a wee bit of internal bleeding, most likely caused by one or other of them moving about, but we've gone in and managed to clear that up. Right now, though, it's his heart that's got me concerned: if I didnae know better, I'd read that ECG he's hooked up to and say not so long ago the laddie's had a heart attack, but too many of his other symptoms are off for me to make that diagnosis which has made knowing how to treat his condition a wee bit problematic. I've ended up just treating the symptoms and the readout's better now than it was when he was brought in, so it looks like he's recovering from it, whatever it was. With that uncertainty, I don't want to use any more aggressive heart medications unless his condition takes a turn for the worse and I have to. He has nae woken up yet, but Rodney briefly came to a couple of hours back and said something about the Chair nae working as it should, so that may be to do with what's caused it." Beckett shrugged, at a loss when it came to the vicissitudes of Ancient technology. "How about everything else going?" he asked.

"Slowly getting back to normal," Weir replied. "The major repairs are mostly completed. The Naquada generator Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay borrowed should be usable after a thorough overhaul; we've lost too many of those already not to try to get this one back into working order. Doctor Zelenka and Captain Roberts have managed to get the Gate Shield back up and running in record time. And it would seem that in the process Captain Roberts has acquired an interesting, if somewhat specialised, Czech vocabulary," she smiled.

"Aye, and it's not just the Captain. That Sergeant Callaghan was down here not too long ago doing some of the engineering work. I do wonder what Radek is going to think when he hears 'do prdele' in a Geordie accent!"

They grinned at the thought. Zelenka's reaction would surely be something to see.

"Elizabeth?" came a faint, slightly querulous voice from McKay's bed.

A warm, genuine smile crossed her features as she went to his bedside followed by the others. "Good to see you awake, Rodney," she said, the sentiment echoed quietly, but no less heartfelt by Ford and Teyla.

McKay offered her a half smile in reply and looked around, recognising the depressingly familiar sight of Atlantis' infirmary. "I'm guessing this means it worked out then."

Weir nodded. "We were only a few hours from the deadline, then out of nowhere everything just came back on line so I figured you must have succeeded. I sent Lieutenant Ford and Teyla out to find you not long after."

"Major Sheppard, is he okay?" McKay asked, ill-concealed anxiety creeping into his voice.

"Aye," said Beckett, "a bit the worse for wear,. He's sedated right now, but with a bit of time he'll be okay. Now get some rest. You can talk more later," he promised, shooed the others out of the curtained off part of the infirmary and dimmed the lights a little. Ford and Teyla exchanged glances and settled into chairs nearby.

o0o

Later that night, nudged into awareness by the sounds of quiet conversation, Sheppard's mind slowly surfaced from the drugged twilight where it had been comfortably floating. He cranked open an eye to see Ford and Teyla lightly dozing in the infirmary chairs that he recalled from personal experience were apparently designed for something other than comfort. Beyond them on the next bed along he could just make out McKay's slumbering form, and noted with relief that he was not attached to too much of Beckett's equipment. From further off he heard the hushed voices of Weir and Beckett in muted discussion at the other end of the infirmary.

Their presence there was reassurance enough that despite everything, McKay's plan had actually worked and both City and expedition had once again beaten the odds and survived, more or less intact. John Sheppard smiled and drifted back to sleep, absently wondering as he did why he kept dreaming of ocean.

Fin

A/N: Well, that's it! A big "Thank You" to everyone who has taken the time to write a review. Your comments and encouragement over the past few weeks have been very much appreciated.

And as for the critter(s) Rodney was so worried about – although they didn't make an appearance in this fic, they're probably still down there… possibly awaiting their opportunity for when I next can find time to write!