Chapter Twenty Three

Sheppard and Sergeant Bates walked at a fast pace towards the area that had been designated as the armoury, the place had everything that you could think of and you could definitely tell the military were heavily involved with this mission as soon as you gained access. "So where did you put it?" Sheppard asked as the doors opened.

"Over here," Bates answered reaching over a crate of C4.

"Be careful with it," Sheppard muttered.

"I know how to handle a knife," Bates retorted then remembered who he was talking to. "Sir."

"I've no doubt, just wouldn't want you to end up cutting yourself and infecting yourself with something."

"Excuse me?" Bates asked, immediately retracting his hand to look at Sheppard who was slowly growing impatient.

"Just grab the damn knife!"

Bates quickly carried out the order, making sure to steer clear of the blade and offering it to Sheppard who held up a sheath for it. He took it off him and inserted it, making sure the whole blade was concealed before giving it to him. Now Sheppard deemed it safe and took the knife from him. "Let's get this down to the infirmary."

--

Beckett was sitting at his desk, going over the data once, then another three or four times just for good measure. The treatment he had set up seemed to be working wonders on McKay and he was even hopeful that he might well regain consciousness within a matter of hours. More importantly, he was stabilised. "Oh curse you," he muttered at the laptop as he tried to make sense of the information. "You bloody thing!" For some reason, trying to figure out Ancient technology that was thousands of years old looked simpler when you compared it to these infernal contraptions. Gritting his teeth, he used his index finger to hit the return button, which only brought up another window. "Now how the hell did I do that?" Beckett asked, running his finger over the touchpad to get the window he was working on back up. He let out a low growling sound, thankful that he was alone in the infirmary with the exception of the unconscious McKay of course. "Oh for pity's sake," Beckett said raising his voice slightly. "I'm a doctor not an I.T technician," he muttered while he desperately tried to carry on regardless. "Oh I give up!"

"Problem?"

Beckett looked up from the monitor, glad for the interruption until he saw both Sheppard and Bates. "Not at all Major, just trying to figure out why we had to bring this damned technology with us."

"As if figuring out Ancient technology wasn't bad enough," Sheppard commented quickly crossing the distance between them.

"My thoughts exactly," Beckett agreed quietly as his eyes went back to the screen, determined to get to the source of the problem. When Sheppard didn't speak, move or offer any explanation for his presence here, Beckett looked up at him and Bates. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Yeah," Sheppard said as he placed the knife down at the table. Beckett stared at the weapon a moment then his eyes ticked back up to him.

"What is it you want me to do?" Beckett asked quietly, somewhat unnerved by the sight of Kiki's weapon and more importantly, why Sheppard had brought it to him specifically.

"I want you to run some kind of test on it," Sheppard answered as calmly as he could muster. "Like for any toxins or contaminates."

"You're not serious?" Beckett asked, eyes widening ever so slightly.

"I am," Sheppard replied firmly. "I've got a pretty good feeling that this infection you spoke about was caused by this." His eyes ticked down to the weapon on the table between them. "Wouldn't it explain the nature of it?"

"Aye but there's other explanations aswell."

"Then please enlighten me!"

Beckett got off his chair and stood up. Not caring one bit that Sheppard was taller than him, even when Beckett was at his full height. "I'm working on it," he finally answered looking up at him. "I don't like your attitude Major."

"What do you mean?" Sheppard asked, as if he really needed to.

"You do realise that if I do conduct my tests and find something out of the ordinary on this knife," Beckett said taking a hold of it in his hand and holding it up for emphasis then slamming it back down on the table. "That it'll give you even more reason not to trust Kiki."

"What do you mean that I don't trust Kiki," Sheppard countered a little defensively. "I never said I didn't trust the kid."

"Oh pull the other bloody one," Beckett said, anger evident in his voice. "You haven't trusted her from the moment you laid eyes on her."

"Well she did attack Rodney."

"She thought he was a threat," Beckett answered, keeping his tone as the same level as Sheppard. For the timebeing at least. Bates wanted desperately to interfere because things were looking pretty heated already.

"Or so she says."

"So what exactly are you implying Major? That this knife is covered with some sort of toxin and she knew about it?" Beckett asked, his voice going up a touch.

"I wouldn't say it's out of the question."

"You know," the Scottish doctor replied, his accent even more pronounced when he was angry. "I really don't like the tone of your voice." He couldn't see how Sheppard could stand there and outwardly accuse Kiki for having some sort of involvement with McKay's illness. "I know for a fact that Kiki would not intentionally do this to anyone."

"You can't say that for sure," Sheppard retorted. "You don't even know the kid, you saw how vicious she was when she was attacked why not ensure your opponent stays down with a little extra persuasion."

"By persuasion you mean poison?" Beckett asked, anger still rising and coursing throughout his body. Sheppard offered a half shrug and said, "Yeah. I guess so."

Beckett had a feeling that Sheppard didn't need to guess, he had already made up his mind and come to the conclusion that Kiki was guilty of whatever crimes he was accusing her of. He hadn't taken into account that she was just a young frightened girl who had felt the need to defend herself against an unknown and unseen threat. "Do you really find it hard to trust that Kiki is telling the truth."

"The facts seem to speak for themselves," Sheppard replied with confidence. "She knows more than she letting on."

"Well I don't think so," Beckett said, disagreeing completely.

"Then you've obviously been taken in by her."

"You only have to look at her to believe her." Beckett was growing tired of this conversation but he felt this overwhelming need to stand up and defend Kiki. She was genuine. Sheppard was shaking his head as if to dismiss the whole thing. "Well then, you've obviously never been a parent."

"Neither have you," Sheppard said with a stern look.

The words had left his mouth before he had even thought about it, Beckett hadn't meant to say that outloud as Sheppard was right. He was not Kiki's father, not even close and to think Sheppard had replied with that sort of comeback. He snatched the knife back up. "Let's just see what the results have to say," Beckett said in an attempt to cover up his emotions.

"Let's," was all Sheppard said.