Many many thanks to lorellipsis and to drdredd.
Dr. Schwartz was surprised when he saw Carson on the gurney. He had a pretty nasty cut on his forehead, but what worried the doctor more was the burn on his arm.
"Prepare him for surgery." He announced after a brief examination. He turned towards Rodney and asked him, "Were you there when this happened?"
"Yes." Rodney bowed his head.
"What happened? I need to know."
"He was in the Chair, he said something felt different and then he was thrown off."
"That explains the cut on his forehead then. But what about the burns?"
"I tried to power the Chair using a naquadah reactor. Maybe it overloaded..."
"Oh my God!" Schwartz was beginning to understand the nature of Carson's injuries. "Okay, Dr. McKay. You should leave now, we're gonna operate and -"
"I'll leave, don't worry." Rodney left the infirmary, preparing to let the others know about the accident.
He found Weir, Zelenka, Ronon and Teyla all in the Chair Room. Zelenka was trying to explain to Elizabeth that he wasn't responsible for the current havoc that governed the room.
"Rodney! What's the meaning of all this?" Weir asked as she pointed toward the Chair.
Looking at it, Rodney saw the burn marks. "I tried to power it using a naquadah reactor."
"Of course you did!" Radek was furious. "You never listen! I told you to wait for us to finish the simulations!"
"Where's the blood coming from?" Ronon asked, looking at the floor.
"You didn't try it on yourself?" Radek was looking at Rodney, trying to find a possible source for the blood.
"No, not me... Carson."
Elizabeth felt the blood leave her face. "Where is he?"
"He's... he's in surgery."
They exchanged looks amongst themselves, afraid to ask the question they were all thinking.
"How bad is it?" Elizabeth was grateful when Ronon asked the question.
"He banged his head against the floor when he landed and... burnt his right arm."
"Who's performing the surgery?" Weir asked.
"Schwartz."
"He'll report when he's done. I suggest you all to go to your quarters and get some rest."
"I have to -"
"Rodney, you should rest. There's nothing more you can do."
Elizabeth left the room, remembering everything that had happened during the past two days. She hoped that Schwartz would bring her good news.
Rodney went to his room, trying to find something to do. After a few disappointing attempts at studying a little ancient device, he returned to his lab.
Radek wasn't happy to see him, but realized that there was nothing that could keep the scientist away from his work. "What are you doing here, Rodney?"
"I wanted to run some of those simulations..."
"They are here. Let's see..."
After two hours of testing, Rodney exclaimed happily, "See! My calculations were correct!"
"Yes, but you had no way of understanding the way things would work out."
"I did! It was his fault!"
"You mean it wasn't your fault."
"Whatever."
About four hours after the accident, Dr. Schwartz entered Elizabeth Weir's office.
"How is he?" She instinctively raised from her chair, wanting to go to the infirmary to see Carson.
"He's in post-op right now. He should wake up tomorrow. He suffered second-degree burns to his arm. The burns on his fingers were harder to asses, they're like nothing I've seen before."
"Will he recover?"
"Hopefully." Schwartz was afraid that Carson would never fully recover. But that was between him and his patient.
The next day they all went to see how he was doing. He was lying on a slightly elevated bed, surrounded by monitors and with his right hand wrapped in a bandage.
Dr. Schwartz stopped them before they reached his bed: "His condition isn't good. We've given him pain relievers and a mild sedative. He's still recovering from the shock. Don't stay too long."
He remembered how many times he'd heard these words spoken by Carson to one of those in front of him.
They expected to find Carson sleeping.
"Hullo."
"Carson, you're awake!" Elizabeth reached to touch his arm, but realized it was the burnt arm and withdrew her hand.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't feel it, anyway."
"How are you feeling, Doctor Beckett?" Teyla seemed genuinely concerned. Carson felt a twinge of sadness as he realized that Elizabeth and Rodney were probably only there because they felt guilty.
"I'll be fine, don't worry, lass."
At that point, one of the nurses came and checked the readings on the monitors. She scribbled something on Carson's file and left in a hurry.
Rodney was staring at all the wires. He knew he should say something, but he didn't know what. It wasn't his fault. And he didn't know what else to say.
Carson realized why people hated to be in the infirmary. All the visitors were afraid to talk, not wanting to say too much or too little.
At that moment, Schwartz came over to check the monitors and started mumbling. "Nurse, get me a syringe." He demanded.
That was the other reason people hated to be here.
"I need you to leave."
"Is everything okay?" Rodney muttered.
Carson sighed and turned towards Schwartz and the monitors, thinking that must've been an automated question on Rodney's side. If he really cared, things wouldn't have gotten there.
"Everything's fine." Schwartz said dismissively, his eyes urging them to leave.