-------------

THREE WEEKS LATER

Elizabeth had been walking to her office when she heard the commotion from the mess hall. From what she could hear people were clapping and cheering.

Her interest piqued she walked down towards the noise and peered in.

The last thing she had expected to see was Sheppard stood up on one of the tables and juggling.

She walked further into the room and leant against a nearby pillar, watching the man as he continued to juggle. Finally he stopped, catching the fruit in his hands to a round of applause, "And that…." He said, "Couldn't have been done last week." He smiled and bowed to the people in front of them.

He noticed Elizabeth and jumped down off the table and pushed through the disbanding crowd to get to her, "Hey," he said tossing her an apple.

She caught it and rolled it around in her hands, "You know I'm tempted to ask if you've been drinking," she said with a smile. She couldn't quite decide if this sudden cheerfulness of his was a good or bad thing. She had noticed his mood steadily increasing over the passed few weeks, but she and the others also felt it was symptomatic of denial.

"I couldn't do that drunk," he said biting into an apple, "No I'm just happy," he said bounding over to one of the tables and putting down the orange he also had, "As you can see I am finally free of injury." He raised a quizzical eyebrow and made a show to move his arm.

The three weeks had passed in haze of boredom. Sheppard had spent a lot of that time in his room, but being isolated to his room had forced him to deal with the chair events mentally and it helped not to be in pain. The pain medication he had been so against taking had worked wonders and the only matters to be resolved were the non physical.

"I can see," she said, "I'm just surprised I guess."

His facial features seemed to drop from the manic smile he had and down to what she would consider normal for him, "Why?"

She walked away from the throng of people behind them and he followed her out into the corridor where she kept her tone light, "I'm really happy to see you looking…well happier but Beckett says you haven't spoken to him about what happened and we've hardly seen you in weeks."

"I've been recovering," he said leaning against the wall. "And they were Beckett's orders."

"I know that John, but I have a responsibility to ensure that you're not just glossing over what happened."

His eyes conveyed recognition of what she was trying to say and he let out a small laugh, "I'm not in denial Elizabeth," he countered making sure to use her first name, "I'm just in a good mood."

She didn't look so convinced. "You look on edge."

"I've been in my room for three weeks with nothing but the chair and its damn ramifications to think about. I have a little nervous energy okay. You want me to go to talk to Beckett, I'll go now."

She shook her head, "I don't mean it like that."

"I don't need to talk to Beckett. He's cleared me health wise so I'm set to go to work now and to forget this all ever happened."

------------

Mckay was looking over the only data from the chair which hadn't been destroyed in Sheppard's reckless display.

He shook his head, Sheppard was right. He would be bitching too if he had had to see Gaul's death again. The first time was enough and he had had to go through all of that alone. Sheppard hadn't wanted to go into it too much. He even remembered on telling him he had shared a moments minutes of silence and then had immediately started talking about the ship and how it needed repairing.

Mckay was just about to settle down to more work when he heard somebody whistling as they came down the corridor. He was just about to shout out a snarky comment when the owner of the irritating whistle bounced in and started talking immediately, "Hey Mckay."

"What are you doing up at this time?" asked Mckay checking his watch.

"Couldn't sleep," said Sheppard walking over to the central table and starting to pick up one of the devices there, "I guess I'm excited about tomorrows mission."

"Really?" asked Mckay jumping up from his seat and snatching the device out of Sheppard's hands.

He picked up another device and walked away from Mckay whilst attempting to activate it, "Well not looking forward to it in the sense of the mission, but stepping through the gate, getting off Atlantis," he smiled and held up the device, "Any idea what this is?"

Mckay shook his head and started to gather up the equipment on the table to stop Sheppard from picking it up. There was something very strange about him which he couldn't put his finger on. He seemed too happy, if that was possible.

"Are you okay?" he asked returning to his stool and finding Sheppard sitting it and rotating himself round and round very slowly.

"Yeah, like I said I cant sleep." He stopped the stool and looked up at Mckay, "What?"

"You're in my seat," said Mckay.

Sheppard got up and shoved his hands in his pockets as he paced back and forth, "I wanted you to know that I'm sorry I broke your chair."

"Of course you are."
"No really I am," said Sheppard, "But you understand why I did it right?"

Mckay looked up at him and could see that he looked agitated. His hands were continuously flexing and unflexing. "Yeah, well It doesn't matter now does it?"
"No," said Sheppard slapping him on the back, "Because I'm okay."

"You know they all think you're in denial," said Mckay offhandedly and he continued to stare at his computer screen.

Sheppard smiled and crossed his arms, "Yeah, well……they are all wrong."

He turned and knocked some of Mckay's papers on the floor and bent down to retrieve them. Something dropped from his pocket and clattered to the floor and it was Mckay who managed to grab it before Sheppard's uncoordinated hands could get to it.,

"What are these?" he asked reading over the label, "I thought you were better now."
Sheppard snatched them back, "Yeah I am. I forgot they were in this jacket." He looked at Mckay's expression and passed them to him. He threw them into the bin.

---------

Beckett walked into the infirmary and saw Sheppard stood next to the medical cabinet and closing it.

Sheppard turned and on seeing him he said, "You should really keep this closed, anyone could get into it."

"It was open?" said Beckett.

Sheppard nodded and walked over to the infirmary bed.

"Its that nurse of mine. She has a mind like a sieve. I tell her to get urine, she brings me blood. God knows what she would do if I told her to take someone's temperature."

Sheppard shivered at the thought and hopped up onto the bed. As a condition of returning to work he was required to have a pre-mission check up before setting off. Beckett noted how Sheppard was dangling his legs back and forth like a child, "How have you been?"

"Yeah my shoulder feels good and my rib's not so bad."

"You can rotate your arm fully?"

"Good as new," said Sheppard tapping his hands on the mattress.

Beckett nodded and put the blood pressure cuff over his arm, "No other problems?"

"Nope," said Sheppard still tapping his fingers.

"Your bps a little elevated."

"Well….. I'm all fired up on adrenaline." Said Sheppard.

"I guess that could make it rise. No dizziness or headaches? No adverse side effects from the percocet before?"
"Nope."

"No side effects at all? Unusual."

Sheppard sighed, "Yeah okay I had a headache for a while but that's it."

Beckett nodded, "I'll keep an eye on it."

Sheppard hopped off the bed and Beckett caught his arm, "Let me just look at your eyes," he said reaching into his pocket for his pocket penlight, "They're looking a bit glassy."

"I've been staring at a computer screen all day."

"Okay, you're clear to go. But I want you to come back here when you get back in."

Sheppard nodded, "Cheers Doc."

----------------

Sheppard had never done so much walking in all his life. That's how it felt at the moment anyway. Mckay had been following the energy signal on his scanner and they seemed to be going around in complete circles. That in itself would have been bad if it hadn't been so damn hot and the terrain mercilessly unkind.

Sheppard had found his composure cracking and instead of the euphoria he had been experiencing earlier, he know found himself feeling restless and unhappy. He finally stopped mid stride and though Teyla stopped beside him, McKay continued to walk, muttering to himself under his breath.

On the realisation that he was alone, he stopped and turned back to them, "We just had a break," he said dropping his hands down to his sides.

"We've also just been past that tree," said Sheppard gesticulating with the end of his P90.

Mckay walked over to him, "How can you tell? It's a tree."

"I just can Mckay," he said folding his arms across his chest and resting them on top of his weapon.

"We're close," said Mckay showing him the energy readings, "Its definitely around here, it must be hidden."

"Obviously, otherwise we have found something by now."

"Can we just look for a bit longer?" Mckay pleaded.

"Fine," said Sheppard stabbing at his watch angrily, "Spread out, see if you can find anything, keep in contact via the radio."

"What are we looking for?" asked Teyla.

"Anything which looks….peculiar," said Sheppard with a shrug. He leant in closer to her and whispered, "Look just skirt around the trees for about ten minutes, he'll soon get bored."

Teyla nodded and walked off to their left, whilst Sheppard walked to the right and Mckay on ahead.

They had been searching for longer than ten minutes when Mckay unfortunately found something and called them over to a large rock which appeared to have a small entrance, "Here," he said with a smile, "-is our energy reading."

"A rock," said Sheppard.

"Yes," said Mckay, "But its obviously an interesting and important rock."

"The words interesting don't spring to mind," said Sheppard running his hand along it.

"There's an entrance," said Teyla.

Sheppard bent down and switched on his P90 light to look into the hole.

"We should probably check it out," said Mckay, "Seems a shame when we've walked so far."

"And whose fault was that?" muttered Sheppard, "Okay, I'll go."

Mckay, as usual, didn't argue. On his first attempt his tactical vest caught on the opening and made it difficult for him to slide in. Cursing he pulled off his vest and pushing his P90 ahead of him started to squirm through the cave opening. He had scrambled a few metres when it opened out into a large walkway high enough to stand and beyond that was some kind of cavern.

"Some kind of cave," said Sheppard as he scanned around with his P90.

"Anything interesting?" he heard the reply.

"No," said Sheppard deadpan.

"No?"

Sheppard made a full sweep and was just about to turn back to the exit when he bumped into Mckay, "Jesus!" he called out, stumbling backwards and catching himself before he tripped over, "You could have given me some warning."

"Your military. I thought you were supposed to sense this sort of stuff," said Mckay looking around the cavern.

"Wheres Teyla?"

"Outside," said Mckay, "I told her to keep us covered."

Sheppard shook his head, "She wont like that," he said as he looked upwards to the craggy ceiling.

As McKay was walking around the cavern Sheppard could swear he felt a slight rumble under his feet, "Did you feel that?" he asked bracing himself on a wall.

Mckay looked around to him, "No, I didn't."

The rumbling repeated and shook the cave spraying various debris down in a cloud of dust, "Now you had to have felt that."

Mckay nodded, "Yep."
"Mckay, is there any chance your strange readings could have something to do with that."

There was that rumbling again and Mckay watched as the scanner information peaked, "We should get out of here."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when the ground beneath them seemed to shake.

"Is it an earthquake?" Sheppard shouted over the crunching overhead.

"I don't know," shouted Mckay over the cracks above.

He pushed Mckay forward towards the exit.

"Its definitely something," Mckay shouted.

In slow motion the ceiling in front of them seemed to fall down and spew forth dust and dirt. Sheppard felt himself getting trapped under rock and Mckay beside him made a pained noise which indicated he too had been caught.

------------

Sheppard opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor beneath rubble and various sized rock. He managed to get his arms free and push away some mud which had also been bought down in the tremors. He sat up, touching his head and feeling blood on his cheek.

"Mckay?" he called out, blinking through the dirt and grime. The air was filled with unsettled dust and it was difficult to make anything out in the haze, "Mckay," he repeated.

A sound beside him, rocks falling and a cough alerted him to his fallen friend and despite the new pain in his previously healed shoulder he scrambled over to the prone form.

Mckay was still coughing, "What…hap…pened?" he asked.

Sheppard noted immediately that McKay had a nasty gash on his forehead which was bleeding stubbornly.

"I think the roof caved in," said Sheppard trying to make out where the exit had used to be. It was now blocked by the ceiling.

Mckay groaned and Sheppard helped to pull him up, "We're trapped?"

"I think so," said Sheppard. He bought his hand up to his radio, "Teyla?"

"Yes Major," she said quickly through the static, "What happened, the entrance seems blocked."

"Yeah, slight problem in here. The roof caved in."

"Can you dig yourselves out?" she asked her voice breaking up.

"I don't know, but it wouldn't hurt to go back to the gate and get some backup."

"…..v……….y……….w………..l…………….bac……..s……"

"I didn't catch that?" He waited but static awaited him. "Damn it, the connection broke up."

"Well I'm sure there must be a way out of here," said Mckay hopefully.

"We just looked around," said Sheppard, "That's the only way out."

--------------

They hadn't heard from anybody on the radio in five hours and McKay's head was still bleeding sluggishly. The cavern they were in had no exit besides the one that was inconveniently cut off and it contained nothing of immediate interest.

Mckay had taken to sitting on some of the debris and he was looking over the energy readings on his data pad, grumbling now and again about the fact that he had been convinced it was something worth investigating.

Sheppard however was sat up against the cavern wall, his eyes closed, head resting back.

Mckay had been watching the Major for a few hours now aware that he was obviously unwell.

"The energy fluctuations were obviously seismic activity," he said and tossed the data pad onto the floor, "Where are they?"

Sheppard stood up and started slowly pacing around the cave again. He had done that an hour ago and an hour before that, so he guessed it was time for him to make him feel nauseous again, "I don't know," said Sheppard and he was rubbing his arms, scratching at them as he walked. He seemed on edge somehow, agitated. Every time Mckay spoke Sheppard seemed to flinch involuntarily.

"I'm sure they're outside," said Mckay, "Right now, digging away to get us out."

Sheppard continued to rub and scratch at his arms, alarmingly till they were red raw, "The walk back to the gate was at least four hours alone," he said as he paced.

Mckay nodded and stretched out his legs, "Yeah I remember."

He continued to watch Sheppard. Something about him seemed off and he just couldn't place what that something was. He seemed distracted and Mckay was beginning to wonder if it had something to do with that chair.

"I guess that's why you never spoke to me after Gaul died," said Mckay all of a sudden. He shocked himself at his own question.

Sheppard looked over at him, blinked through constricted pupils and started the scratching again, "What?"

"I mean Gaul shot himself, Davey shot himself before that. You could have at least talked to me, showed me you understood."

"I spoke to you a bit," said Sheppard, "But I couldn't….." he didn't finish what he was saying, got distracted and walked over to the rocks, "We should get ourselves out of here. Who knows if there's enough air to breathe."

Mckay was panicked at his unfamiliar tone, "There's air," he said gulping.

Sheppard crouched down and started to pull away pieces of rock and putting it to the side.

"It's too compacted," said Mckay, "Plus we don't know what moving this stuff will do to the ceiling."
Sheppard continued to grapple with the debris, "We need to get out of here,"

Mckay grabbed his shoulder to stop him when he tried to move a piece which was obviously too heavy and when Sheppard turned to him he could see how pale the man was and how he was sweating. Something wasn't right.

---------

Elizabeth was sitting in her office when Beckett ran in without knocking.

"What can I do for you Carson," she asked.

"I've just discovered something very disturbing," he said sitting down.

Elizabeth dropped the file she had been reading and leant forward, "What?"

"A few weeks ago in a data burst to earth I asked one of the medical team there to do some digging on Sheppard's medical file. There was a deletion point on his here. I didn't mention it because I wasn't sure if it was just an error."

"And?" She asked realising Beckett was quite shaken by what he had read.
"In the latest data burst they told me information had been deleted."
"Beckett?"

"It says Major Sheppard developed an unnatural dependency on the pain medication given to him for his shoulder. Elizabeth, he was addicted to pain killers for over four months and I just gave him some more."

"What?" Elizabeth couldn't hide the shock she felt at receiving this information.

"I know," said Beckett, "Whoever deleted it has been totally irresponsible. Narcotic addiction is a major risk anyway with prolonged use but for a previous user," he shook his head, "Sheppard would know exactly how much to take."

"We cant be sure though," she said hopefully.

Beckett leant forward, elbows resting on his legs and sighed, "One of my nurses reported that some percocet was missing from the medical cabinet. Right after Sheppard had come in for his pre-mission check up." He looked up, "We need to get him back here right now. He was agitated this morning and I didn't see it," he hung his head and let out a shaky breath. "I should have known."

"Its okay Carson, we'll recall him."

"What bothers is me is who deleted that file from his record," said Beckett looking up again.

"Well right now the most important thing is getting Sheppard back and talking to him. Maybe he knows who is responsible."

"If he has been taking the percocet and he misses a dose," he shook his head, "the onset of withdrawal symptoms is quick."

"What are the symptoms?" Elizabeth asked, worry now beginning to work its way through her body.

"They can be anything from hot sweats-"

----------

Sheppard pulled up another rock from the pile and set it aside, "Its hot in here," he said throwing another rock behind him, "Are you hot?"

"It's a little stuffy," said Mckay staring nervously at Sheppard's bruised and bloody hands.

---------

"Dizziness, headaches, depression, stomach cramping-"

---------

Mckay watched as Sheppard picked up another rock, hefted it over his shoulder and tossed it to the side. When he moved back to his previous position he seemed to sway and closed his eyes.

"You should really wait until they get to us," said Mckay.

Sheppard opened his eyes and swallowing against a wave of nausea that hurt his stomach said, "We have to get of here," he said setting himself back to his task and raking away more dirt with his bloody fingers.

---------

"And that's just some of the symptoms. Its going to be difficult getting him of them. Addictive drugs activate the brain's reward systems. The promise of that reward is very intense, causing the individual to crave the drug and to focus their activities around taking that drug."

------------

Sheppard continued to move the earth as Mckay behind him worried about his condition and repeatedly suggested he wait for them to be rescued. He stopped for a second to scratch at his crawling skin and then resumed his work.

He'd left his vest outside with Teyla. His vest contained his percocet and he needed it. He needed it to make him feel normal again and being here, trapped, was enough to make him go insane. He just had to dig his way out of here and get to the meds and then he would be fine.

----------

"They also reduce a person's level of consciousness, harming the ability to think or be fully aware of present surroundings. He shouldn't have gone on that mission."

-------------

"I told you shouldn't have destroyed that chair," Mckay was saying.

Sheppard turned to him and blinked away the fog, "What?" he asked twitching and curling his fingers.

"That's why you're ill isnt it. It's a side effect of the chair."

Sheppard shook his head and returned to pulling away rock, "You're insane."

"I'm insane," said Mckay, "Have you seen your hands?"

Sheppard's face held a hint of confusion and then he looked down.

He hadn't realised his fingers were bleeding so much. One of his nails had come off and his knuckles were bruised and sore. He barely felt the pain though, just his own internal yearning for the numbness of his pills.

"Well we have to get out of here," he said looking at the rocks.

"How long have you not been yourself since getting out of the chair?"

"Shut up about the damn chair," Sheppard snapped suddenly.

A rumble above his head made him look up.

"You hear that?" asked Mckay, "We need to move back."

Sheppard watched as dust began to float down in front of him. He barely registered Mckay grabbing him by his hand and wrenching him away as more of the ceiling came down, halting any progress he had made on getting out.

"No!" he shouted as he watched pressed against the wall.

"You're not thinking straight," said Mckay helping him to sit on the floor.

-------

"He wont be thinking straight," said Beckett.

Elizabeth nodded and was about to speak when the gate activated and one of the techs called her over.

"What is it?" she asked as she walked over to the main console with Beckett trailing behind her.

"Its Teyla, she said the Major and Doctor Mckay have been trapped in some kind of cave. They need help."

Beckett sighed, "The Major certainly does."

TBC

I found these chapters really hard to write as I wanted Sheppard's behaviour to be weird for you to suspect something was up but at the same time not guess it was the pills.

Trying to get this finished as fast as possible without compromising my writing.

I'm going travelling round the world for six months on December the 28th so I'll be disappearing off this site for a while, so like I said I want this finished.