Rodney pulled out from underneath the Control Chair as another shot pitched the ship back and forth. He held onto the arm to keep his balance. He looked back at Sheppard while Moab performed real voodoo.
Sheppard's back arched and his hands tried to move theirs from his chest. When finished, Moab released Teyla as she lifted their hands away. His eyes opened and Rodney and Ronon flinched.
"Cataracts," McKay whispered to himself.
"What's wrong with his eyes?" Ronon asked getting a little closer to McKay searching for clarification. "Did she do this?"
"No," answered Teyla. "It happened after the first time Orodi brought him back. I think it was the chair." She looked at Ronon and Mayor as she leaned back against the wall. "Your eyes did not change."
"They're cataracts," repeated McKay louder.
Moab placed her hand on Sheppard's shoulder. "Welcome back John the Shepherd. We are keeping the wolves at bay." She moved her hand to Teyla's shoulder. "Rest, Teyla Emmagan."
Unlike Ronon and the Lilliputian, Sheppard did not seem oriented. He mumbled and fidgeted while Teyla tried to soothe him.
"You can fix the rest, right?" Rodney asked with concern.
"Of course, it will have to wait until we are out of our current predicament though." She stood and returned to the front of the bridge.
Sheppard abruptly sat up frantically grabbing for his legs. Teyla sat up with him. "His last memory was an illusion. We were in a terrible accident," she explained.
Rodney did not have to imagine too hard what Sheppard thought had happened. Not the way he was feeling for his legs.
"Oh thank God," Sheppard sighed as his hands connected with thigh, knee and finally shin. He collapsed back towards Teyla. She caught him and eased him into a resting position.
He patted her hand as she guided him against her. "I'll be waiting for you Lou when you're through. Everything'll be fine."
Teyla just placed her hand on his.
McKay stepped around the chair to the monitor and compared the readings on his pad to the ones on the wall. He checked each system and link until he was satisfied. He kept stealing glances at the rest of his team. Whatever had happened here; it had been so much more than using Ol' Sparky for target practice. It sounded like the other Dormi had been playing mind games.
"I'm finished. It's operational again," he said. "The fail safes are still disengaged and I couldn't correct the major flaw in the power compatibility problem, but it's lethally usable."
Moab nodded, "Solar needs…" She tilted her head in concentration for a second. "…four minutes. Then, she will be able to run as fast as she can with her fold mechanisms."
Rodney flexed his hands as he stood in front of the chair. "One for the money; two for the show; three…I'm so not ready; and four, it's time to go." He sat down. "Ronon, go over to the monitor and press the flashing symbol. And, try not to enjoy it."
Smirking, Ronon left Teyla and walked to the monitor. A moment later, the power surged through Rodney burning every nerve ending he could possibly feel and then some. His chest felt like Kavanaugh's ego was sitting on it.
"Mother fucker!" Rodney shrieked shrilly. That was all he could get out. All his muscles had one position: contracted. He vaguely heard Teyla and then the fire calmed to a relentless throb.
"I am sorry Dr. McKay. I did not realize that Orodi had manipulated Col. Sheppard so he could remain in the chair and work it." Moab's face filled with remorse. "Can you concentrate and do the task ahead?"
"Now I can," McKay replied acerbically.
He concentrated on the Wraith positions. A voice spoke sweetly to him and showed him how Sheppard had done it. Locate, paint, shoot, explode- the exploding part was for the other ships to do, it pointed out. He resisted a 'ha, ha' answer.
This was too cool. He could talk with the ship. He started firing with limited success at first. With each shot, his aim improved and his link to the ship became seamless. He began anticipating how she moved- it was like a dance. They played hide and seek amongst the celestial bodies in order to evade the other ships and their artillery. Except for the shots that struck- making her scream in his head and enveloping him in a nerve damaging fire- this was exhilarating.
Finally, the Solar Tempest was ready to make her final escape.
A Hive and three more cruisers decided to show up.
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Teyla almost cried when Rodney screamed. She had forgotten that Orodi had muted the effects of the chair. Once Moab relieved the pain, she slumped against the wall again.
Ronon crept back over to her side. He nodded to Mayor of the Thack'eeryn who remained silently seated next to her on the floor. Since his last statement, Col. Sheppard said nothing more and felt heavy against her. His body jerked with a spasm occasionally. She watched Ronon study him.
"Did Sheppard hit his head?" Ronon asked as he pointed to her shirt and arm. "There's blood on you where his head rested against you. Not much, but enough to be concerned." He felt the back and looked at her. "It feels indented."
She scowled, "The Wraith did it when they tried to take him." Now, she feared that Moab had saved him only for him to die slowly from a head injury.
The ship continued to take hits here and there until McKay's voice and her senses announced the presence of more Wraith.
The ship shuddered so hard from the volley; she had to steady herself by bracing her arm against the floor. McKay screamed again. Without hesitation, Ronon jumped up to pull him from the chair.
"No Ronon! Do not touch him!" Teyla yelled, with his hands just centimeters away.
Moab redirected him. "Ronon, stand ready to turn the Control Chair off at my command. Solar, are your folding mechanisms still operational?" She paused and concentrated on the console. "You have one of their minutes."
Teyla clutched the Colonel closer. She watched her two remaining conscious team members and felt pride. Dr. McKay's belligerence and constant vocalizations and Ronon's hot temper and coolness in battle, reminded her of Rel. She smiled and latched on to that. If she lost any of them on this day…but she already had lost two of them. It tore at her, but there they were doing what was needed.
She looked at the crown of Sheppard's head as it lay against her chest. She could almost hear a smart remark about his head's positioning on her body- another similarity to her intended. Rel may have not lived, but the parts of him that resided in the others did. She was starting to cherish the similarities again. No matter what, she would make sure this strange band of family held together.
"Moab, Dr. McKay will need to come out of that chair very soon. Col. Sheppard only stayed in it for less than fifteen minutes each time and it killed him."
"What?" Rodney yelled from the chair.
"I know, and believe me Teyla; I will not let that happen." Moab ran her hands across the control panel. "Understood Solar!" She turned to Ronon. "Disengage it now Ronon. Let's fly Solar and go anywhere but here!"
The chair returned to its upright position. Rodney blinked a few times in succession and said nothing for those few seconds. Of course, it did not last.
"Oh God, I feel like someone forgot to wet the sponge on my head," he said only to collapsed forward. Ronon caught him and eased him to the floor.
"We are clear and no sign of pursuit. I did not really expect them to follow since we are in another galaxy. Well done Solar Tempest, daughter of Nocturnal Song and preserver of the beacon." She approached Rodney and ran her hands up and down his body. "We will take Col. Sheppard and Dr. McKay to the medical bay."
She looked at Mayor and the smile returned to her face as the pink lessened. "No, we will not leave you alone."
He nervously smiled back as the floor swallowed him.
Teyla also smiled, none of them would be left behind.
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They had drifted apart so slowly- the slowness of grass growing. You mow the lawn; and then one day you walk out to the car and it is up to your shin. Her standing in the living room with bags packed and smiling sadly was not a surprise. He had been thinking of doing the same thing.
"They need me in Spain." He had to smile; he was looking at Germany. "We would have been great parents."
"Yeah." After that day, he actually followed his father's callous, yet practical advice. He would protect himself. He never wanted to face that kind of pain again. Everyone would remain an arm's length away. He had hoped that would change sometime.
He had sat in the Labor and Delivery waiting room reading parenting magazines. How cruel was that since she was there for neither? After about an hour and a half, they wheeled her out and he followed the bed and attendant back to the room. He thought he would always be there for her. A month later, he knew as they both sat quietly at the kitchen table; their relationship would end. They could not get past the emptiness left by what could have been. He tried to be stronger. He really did. Avoidance was so ingrained in his psyche that he just was not able to overcome it.
Apparently, they shared some of the same shortcomings. Three months after the waiting room, Louisa hugged him and gave him one last kiss. She picked up the bags, "The rest will be moved tomorrow."
Somehow, he kept his optimism even at times that strained it. He showed the proper concern at times of sorrow. Buddies lost, earned a last drink at the bar. Women seduced and left, more commiseration drinks at the bar. Complete strangers like Greg, a solitary toast to him and a swallow of Knob's Creek. He never knew Greg's full name. They had just met in the commanding officer's office. He was new to the base just like Sheppard. They would forever be linked because of that one event.
However, it was also a day that he wept. It was the kid: his complexion, his hair, and his…his eyes that may or may not have been green. He gave him green eyes because that is what he imagined his kid as having. How convoluted was that? A chink in the armor allowed the unwanted reaction. Afterwards, his arm went right back out.
And, it worked until Atlantis. They relied so heavily on each other that first year his arm kept growing shorter. No one got past a certain point in his armor, but certain people poked dents into it. He allowed for friendship. He allowed someone to give him a second chance. He allowed for losing people- more drinks at the figurative bar.
He would revert and avoid certain strong emotions on occasion. Because, why on earth did he need the distraction? His job was never ending. The constant pressure from Earth and the Pegasus galaxy weighed him down. Mistrust from allies, enemies, and friends made his head hurt. All of it compounded until his skull felt like it was being pushed out from the inside and popped back into place. His brain throbbed in time to his heartbeat as the pressure increased to eventually even out.
His own guilt for big mistakes made his eyes burn as if a liquid fire was poured into them. Elizabeth chewing him out for those mistakes made his ears ring painfully. All of the weight to stay on Atlantis, to do his job well, and not to disappoint anyone who placed their faith in him, made his skin prickle and itch.
The sorrow, for a day long ago that would have precluded him ever being there, gave him permission to scream. It hurt so badly. He had only mourned for himself. He had never grieved for that little lost life. It was about time he did. It was time to let everything go for the third time in his adult life.
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"Moab! Are you sure you're doing this right?" McKay blurted from his little bed. Sheppard writhed like an unhappy pit of snakes. "I mean, that can't be right."
"Yes," was the singular response.
"Look at him! Teyla? Ronon? Does he look like he's getting better?" Rodney could barely lift his own head let alone help Sheppard. "Are you sure you know human physiology well enough?"
"Dr. McKay, trust her," directed Teyla. She was stronger, but still lay on the bed, wilted.
"He's fine McKay." Even though Ronon sounded resolute, his body's posture betrayed him. He was fighting the urge to make her stop.
"Look, he's scaring the little guy."
Mayor stood away from the others against a counter. He looked green. The sound of a skull popping back into the correct shape tended to do that. The scream that followed even made Rodney queasy.
"McKay," warned Ronon. "Relax."
"Yeah right," said McKay peeved. "You relax!"
Ronon shot him a glare.
McKay looked to Teyla for help only to hear her quietly whispering to herself, "All the same."
Moab's garroting tackle of her brother lessoned his goddess worship. Then to completely cool the embers of love (or maybe it was just lust), she snapped his neck like a glass stirring rod. He would distance himself from her short-cropped haired etherealness.
A grief-stricken wail returned him from his musings and made him shrink back into the bed. It even gave Ronon and Teyla pause. A sound like that was not something he had expected even on this day of the unexpected. He looked from Ronon to Teyla. She closed her eyes and nodded in some sort of understanding. She rolled onto her side and whispered to herself. If it was a prayer or just ravings, he was not sure. Ronon just stared impassively towards Sheppard's bed giving nothing away.
The commotion from the bed stopped as he heard a loud wet intake of air, also better known as a sob. "John the Shepherd, it is good to see you. You are healing nicely."
Rodney could not see him. He just listened and took her word for it.
"Have we met?" Sheppard asked after a few seconds of silence. His voice quavered.
"Mostly, but not quite."
"Okay." He sounded child-like and not quite as strong as usual.
"Rest and soon you will be home." Moab took a blanket that appeared from overhead and placed it on him. "Solar, finish repairs and then it will be time to return our guests."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Rodney groused. "Mostly, but not quite?"
"You need sleep too."
"McKay," warned Ronon again. "Do as she says since she was the one who restarted your heart."
The interaction with the chair put him into fibrillation. The ship and Moab corrected the problem. He just could not wait to tick of all the ailments for Carson when he got home. Well, Ronon, Lillian and Sheppard were dead…Sheppard also had massive head trauma and burns…my heart stopped…yada, yada, yada…Teyla and I brought people back to life. The good doctor was going to pop a blood vessel.
With Teyla sadly smiling, Ronon glowering, Mayor cowering and Sheppard snoring, he laid back. Sensing that no answer would be forthcoming from Moab, he figured, he could wheedle the answer out of her later.
"Not likely," answered Moab shooting an amused glance over her shoulder. She stepped up to Teyla's bed. "Now Teyla, let's take a look at your burns. Your next Ronon, I see the Wraith got in a few good licks."
Rodney sobered; he had never heard Sheppard sound as miserable as he did with that cry. He hoped that whatever it was for; it was over. He rubbed at his sore chest- at least, for now.
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A/N: Yes, a little Rodder's whump for y'all. Looking forJulie, I believe the activities were a little too stressful for our older passengers. Now, let's go find Issac and have that drink at the bar.