Pretty much everyone in the city could agree that Rodney wasn't all that threatening of a presence. Appropriately, Kavanagh didn't seem all that concerned when the scientist brought him into Atlantis' conference room that evening for a little chat.

"Are we doing this again?" Kavanagh asked. "What the hell happened now that just HAS to be my fault?"

"You know exactly what's happened, so let's just skip to the part where you start talking. We both know how bravely you held out the last time reinforcements were sent in." Kavanagh glared, but was noticeably uncomfortable as he shifted in his chair.

"I was innocent," he shot.

"Yes. WAS being the key word. Different day, different crime."

"SUPPOSED crime."

"Right, right, yes." They both looked up as the door opened, and Kavanagh went unnaturally pale before he realized that it was only Teyla, holding two cups. "Thank you," Rodney told her as he took one of them. The other was put on the table in front of Kavanagh before she left the room. "You might as well drink it," Rodney told him when he saw the scientist hesitate. "We're going to be here for a while if you don't start talking."

"Talking about what?" he asked as he took the mug.

"Well…the reason that I'm the one wasting my time in here with you is because both Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir have fallen ill. No one on our wonderful little medical team seems to know what caused it."

Kavanagh took a sip of his coffee, but Rodney noticed that he looked a little bit surprised. "And automatically it's my fault," he said.

"Your words, not mine." Rodney pulled a small red vile out of his pocket and held it up in view. "So…how much of this stuff do you have to use for one good dose? There really should be an instruction label on the side." Kavanagh spit his coffee back into the cup. "What's the matter?"

"You didn't really…did you?"

Rodney smiled. "We wanted to. But see, then you would be unable to talk. And as enjoyable as that would be, it wouldn't be very useful in helping Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir."

Kavanagh decided to pretend to be brave. "I was just 'doing what has to be done'," he said. "Wasn't that how sticking that freak on me was justified?"

"One big difference – Ronon never did anything to you."

"Are you trying to tell me he wouldn't have if given the chance?" Rodney didn't answer. "Sheppard wasn't even my target, although I can't say I'm disappointed. They'll be fine in another 48 hours or so."

"You know this for a fact?"

"That's what I was told when I obtained the stuff. It's not lethal, and if an antidote actually exists, it's in another galaxy. Anything else?"

"Yeah. McKay to Ronon," Rodney said after turning on his radio. The door opened to reveal the ex-runner. "Can you take Dr. Kavanagh to his new living accommodations?"

Ronon nodded once. "Sure."

"Good." Rodney smiled at the other scientist. "It might be a little bit of a…rough trip."

It was difficult for everyone in the infirmary to see the city's two leaders in their current state. Sheppard and Weir didn't even understand each other, but a combination of attempting to speak and hand motions worked better with each other than trying to communicate with anyone else. They were cut off from everyone in the city, from people who only stood ten feet away, but couldn't do anything to help them.

"This is going to be a very long couple of days," Carson commented to Kate Heightmeyer when the psychiatrist stopped by late the next morning to observe. "I think I'd even prefer Rodney screaming at me to this."

"At least they are trying to continue talking," Heightmeyer told him. "I'm sure it would be far less frustrating to simply pull away from everything into their own minds."

"Aye. I'd guess that was what Kavanagh had thought would happen, the little bastard…I wish we could tell them that we know what's happening now; that hopefully this should only be temporary."

"Have you tried talking to them?"

"It didn't work out too well. We're trying to just make sure that they're comfortable. That's about all we can do for them right now."

John and Elizabeth had no idea what was going on, but they both knew that no one around them seemed to be too terribly concerned – a fact that could either be comforting or very disturbing.

"Kay-rik-fal food." Both of them looked up in surprise as they heard their first sensible word in hours. Even more shocking, it had come from John's mouth. "Whoa," was the next thing he said, just as unexpected. It took a bit of concentration, but he actually forced a sentence out: "Can you understand?"

"Y-yes," Elizabeth replied, her eyes wide. "What…just happened?"

"No idea."

Even though he'd originally been out of earshot, the looks on their faces had gotten Beckett's attention by that point. He heard the tail end of their conversation as he and Kate approached. "You can both speak and understand each other?" he asked the pair.

"I can understand you, too," Elizabeth said. John nodded.

"I don't believe it."

"What the hell has been going on?" Sheppard asked.

"You were both poisoned, which caused the aphasia you were experiencing. However, I don't understand why you're all right now."

John raised an eyebrow. "Doc, we were doing baby-talk for almost a day. I'm quite happy to be all right now, so what are you talking about?"

"It's supposed to take forty-eight hours for the drug to get out of your system."

"You know what it was?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not exactly. But we know who did it."

TBC...