Carson was awake again when they brought Rodney back from the Operating Theatre. The Scot was beginning to feel a wee bit better. The extreme dizziness and the complete inability to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time had passed. His arm, however, seemed even sorer than before as the painkillers they had given him wore off. The swelling on the arm had prevented them from putting it in a cast immediately, and no matter how careful Carson was, he seemed to manage to knock his arm, sending shooting pains up the length of it.

He watched as they settled Rodney's prone figure back into the cubicle where he had been lying previously, and hooked him up to the various machines to monitor his vital signs. Carson felt a moment of pride when he watched his staff working like that. They worked smoothly and efficiently, while making sure that their patient was as comfortable as possible.

Just as they had settled Rodney, an emergency call was received. A team had returned through the Stargate with casualties. As Carson watched, his staff quickly organized an emergency team who rushed to the Gate Room, while those remaining started organizing beds and other equipment they might need. Again Carson felt proud of them.

He instinctively started to move to help his staff, but Stanton was obviously half expecting his boss to react like that. He turned to the Scot and slowly shook his head. Carson gave him a rueful grin, and settled back onto his bed.

As the injured team started to appear in the Infirmary, Carson noticed that Rodney had been left alone. There was no real reason for someone to hover over the scientist. The equipment would immediately alert the medical staff to any problems. Carson decided to take the opportunity to check his friend out himself.

He slowly got to his feet, making sure that the gown was not exposing any part of his anatomy that he didn't really want on public view. He stood still for a moment, letting the dizziness that surrounded him subside. When the world stopped spinning, he moved slowly over to where Rodney lay. He kept his broken arm close to his side, to protect it.

Once he reached Rodney, he looked down at his friend. His hand automatically reached out to take his pulse. Even though the monitor told him the scientist's heartbeat was regular, Carson still preferred the old-fashioned method of taking a pulse. You got so much more information from the touch.

Rodney's pulse was strong and regular, surprisingly so. Carson checked the charts and nodded. The signs were good. Rodney was still seriously ill, but he was now heading in the right direction.

After looking at the charts for a few moments longer, Carson turned, picked up a syringe, and turned back to Rodney.

oOoOoOo

As John and Radek made their way to Elizabeth's office, John heart felt heavy. He was trying to work out the gentlest way to tell Elizabeth that someone had deliberately tried to kill her Chief Scientist. And at the moment, the evidence suggested that the likeliest suspect was her Chief Medical Officer.

John's heart fell even further when he saw that Caldwell was with Elizabeth.

As soon as she saw them, she moved quickly towards them. John tried to warn Elizabeth with his eyes, that she might not want to discuss this in front of Caldwell. But she seemed oblivious to his warning.

"Did you find anything?" she asked, her tone eager.

Radek seemed equally oblivious to John's warning.

"Yes," he replied with all the eagerness of a scientist with a mystery to solve. "We have found what caused the ZPM to explode. There was a device, an Ancient device, which was used to make it explode."

Elizabeth's eager expression turned to a worried frown.

"It was a deliberate act, then?" Caldwell asked from behind her.

"Yes," Radek replied. "It was deliberately targeted on the ZPM and linked to the Chair so that as soon as the Chair was powered up, it targeted the ZPM, making it explode."

"What sort of device was it?" Elizabeth asked. She was feeling uneasy about this. Just the fact that someone had deliberately tried to kill Rodney was bad enough, but something in John's body language suggested to her that she still had to hear the worst of it.

"It was an Ancient medical device," Radek responded, in his helpful manner. "It was a kind of laser."

"I hadn't heard about such a device," Elizabeth said, looking slightly puzzled. Rodney and Radek both tended to keep her informed of any new and useful Ancient devices they might have found.

"Carson only discovered it the other day," Radek explained.

John stood back, helplessly, as Radek dug a bigger hole in which to bury Beckett.

"Who else knew about this device?" Caldwell asked.

Radek turned to John so that he could give the reply he had given earlier. Reluctantly, John answered.

"The Doc, me and a couple of other medics."

Elizabeth exchanged a glance with Caldwell. She didn't like the conclusions that seemed to be being forced upon them.

"You have to put Beckett under arrest," Caldwell said, a threatening note in his voice.

Elizabeth took a deep breath. The last thing she wanted to do was accuse one of her senior staff of attempting to kill another member of her senior staff. And especially when the person she had to accuse was Carson. He was her rock, her confidante, her sounding board. The last person she could see as a murderer was Carson.

"Let's not me hasty here," John replied, earning himself a scornful look for Caldwell.

"I think we've bent over backwards to avoid accusing the good Doctor of what seems to be more obvious by the minute," the captain of the Daedalus replied.

"Come on, Elizabeth," John said, ignoring the other man. "D'you honestly think Beckett tried to kill Rodney. Hell, I've wanted to kill Rodney a few times myself, but not Beckett."

Elizabeth had her thoughtful expression on her face, the sort of expression that told John she was weighing up the evidence and arguments before making a decision. He held his breathe as he waited for her to make a pronouncement.

Before she spoke, she gave John an apologetic look that meant her words did not surprise him.

"I don't think we have any choice," she said sadly. "We need to question Carson." She held up her hand as John tried to butt in. "I'm not suggesting we arrest him." She shot a look at Caldwell as she said this. "But I think we need to ask him about this."

"But he's already said that he didn't know that Rodney was going to ask him to use the Chair, so how could he have set this up," John argued.

"And he was going to admit to setting it up?" Caldwell asked, his voice laced with irony.

"And what happened to 'innocent before proven guilty?" John asked, before adding a belated "Sir".

"All I'm suggesting is that we give Carson a chance to put his side of the story," Elizabeth said in a reasonable tone.

John just looked at her, his eyebrows quirking.

"And you plan to do that with a couple of gun-totting marines?" he said nodding at the two security guards who were standing just outside her office.

"They are just a precaution," Caldwell said, defensively.

"Yeah," John replied, a challenge in his voice. "And just what sort of message does that give. Gonna have a nice, reasonable chat, and just ignore the guns trained on you."

"I've made my decision, John," Elizabeth said, a hint of steel in her voice. Their eyes locked, a silent battle of wills taking place. But John saw the stubborn set of her chin, and knew she wasn't going to chance her mind.

Before John could argue further, she headed for the door of her office, Caldwell just behind her. An anxious Radek trailed behind them, leaving John to follow on at the end. He wanted to be there when they confronted Carson, to try to help the doctor in any way possible. John doubted that Elizabeth believed Carson to be guilty, but he knew she had to be seen to be doing the right thing. Caldwell, on the other hand, might just believe the doctor capable of this, and John wanted to be on hand to counter anything his senior office might say or do.

They passed a number of people on their way to the Infirmary, and received many strange looks. Ronon and Teyla were among those they passed, and they tagged on at the end, joining John.

"What's up?" Ronon asked.

They're expressions became incredulous as John quickly, and quietly explained what had happened.

"You do not believe Dr Beckett has done this?" Teyla asked.

"Of course not," John replied. "We just need to prove that he hasn't."

Ronon nodded his agreement, just as they reached the Infirmary.

There was seeming chaos before them, as the members of the recently returned team were being treated. John's eyes immediately flew to the far corner of the Infirmary where Rodney and Carson had been treated. The sight that met his eyes made his heart sink.

Carson was standing over Rodney, a syringe in his hand, ready to inject the scientist.

John wasn't the only one who had noticed this. Before John could react, Caldwell's voice had rung out over the noise of the Infirmary.

"Beckett!" he shouted. "Drop that syringe, or we shoot!"