Disclaimer: SGA - not mine, don't sue! For fan enjoyment, not profit….

AN: Thanks to everyone for their reviews. I have to tell you, this story has taken on a life of its own! I was just planning on getting Rodney to the infirmary and saying 'The End', but I can't get the mental image of Radek slinking dejectedly off into the darkness out of my mind…

Decompression - Take 2

By Kerr Avon

"Come on, Rodney, time to wake up." The low-pitched Scottish voice was accompanied by an equally-gentle hand on his shoulder.

McKay groaned and tried to roll away. "Leave me alone. Look, if I were going to die of an intracranial hemorrhage, I would have done so already."

Carson couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice. "I agree."

McKay rolled back and squinted open an eye. "You do? Then why are you waking me up?"

"Ride's here. Time to go." Beckett gestured behind himself, where Rodney now noticed a gurney and two medics.

Rodney thought about sitting up, but decided against it. Right now his head, while pounding, felt like it might actually stay attached to his body, and he didn't want to upset the fragile truce. "Decompression's over?"

The physician chuckled, "Obviously. Sheppard and Zelenka are already off to debrief Weir."

Carson's turn of phrase brought up pun-ny images that Rodney promptly squelched, deciding that your average twelve-year old might go there, but he wouldn't. He was distracted from that train of thought by the doctor's next question.

"So how are you feeling? Up to climbing onto the stretcher, or would you rather we move you?"

McKay took stock of his body. The first thing he noticed was that he was blessedly warm and dry. Further evaluation showed that his muscle aches had mostly resolved with the decompression, but he felt stiff. Still, it was no worse than the aftermath of his average trip through the Gate with Sheppard. His head throbbed abominably, but that was manageable. The nausea had vanished, and he was pleased to note that he was actually hungry.

"I…think I can move myself," he hazarded, and was rewarded by a smile from Beckett.

"Good man. Take it slowly, though; you've been through quite an ordeal."

McKay managed a withering glance that screamed, 'Well, duh. Ya' think?', before trying to sit up. Instantly he felt the physician's arm behind his shoulders, and between the two of them he managed it. Panting to catch his breath, he paused a moment to let the world stop whirling.

"All right?" asked Beckett simply. Another deep breath, and the scientist nodded. "OK, then, here we go."

It took the help of one of the orderlies as well, but Rodney was soon ensconced beneath a dozen blankets and was rolling to the medical bay. Once there, Carson insisted on CT scanning his head regardless of the fact that he had survived the night. Next was a complete spine series, chest x-ray, and bloodwork, by which time McKay was truly exhausted. He was dozing in the infirmary when Carson sauntered up, flipping through his chart.

"Well, not too bad at all," he commented, causing McKay to crack open one eye. The doctor's obvious lack of anxiety was reassuring, so he closed it again.

"So I'll live?" he inquired rhetorically.

With a snort, Carson patted his shoulder. "I'd say so. I'd like to keep you here for observation one more night, but tomorrow I expect you can go to your own quarters."

"Is the patient up for visitors?" interrupted a calm, feminine voice.

"Doctor Weir," acknowledged Beckett. "Yes, I'd say so, but only for a few minutes. If you will excuse me…" Carson took the opportunity to go check on another patient.

Rodney opened his eyes and squinted in the light. Cupping a hand over them, he smiled wanly at his commanding officer. "Hey, thanks for coming to see me."

"What happened out there?" Elizabeth was nothing if not direct.

McKay shook his head once, gingerly. "I'm not sure. We did fine to the Mainland; not a hitch. However, about halfway back the right drive pod started intermittently switching to reverse thrust. When I tried to take it off-line, the Jumper refused to recognize any of my commands. I accessed one of the side control panels for a more direct link, but we crashed before I had a chance to do anything."

"What about Griffin?" She left the question purposefully open-ended.

Rodney glanced down, brain flashing back to the accident. He looked up and met her eyes frankly. "Griffin was a hero. He stayed calm, got out a distress call, and ultimately sacrificed his life to save mine."

"What happened?"

"The windshield was giving way under the pressure of the water. We got into the rear compartment, but the bulkhead door control had been damaged in the crash. He closed it from the pilot's console just before the water rushed in." His voice cracked slightly. "His last words were, 'Good luck, Rodney'. Can you believe that?"

"Sounds like you would have both died otherwise." Weir was sympathetic.

"Yeah, but how…", he looked at her searchingly. "How does someone come to that decision? To give his life for someone he barely knows?"

Elizabeth laid her hand on his reassuringly. "I could say, 'He was trained to', or 'That's a soldier's job', but I won't insult your intelligence. I think you had it right at the beginning."

McKay was confused. "What?"

Weir gave him a sad smile. "He was a hero." Taking a deep breath, she patted the hand beneath hers and smiled wider. "And partly because he was, we have our Chief Scientist back. Get well soon, Rodney." With a nod of her head, she left the room.

McKay leaned back on the pillows, feeling vaguely better about something that he couldn't quite put a finger on. Finally he gave up trying and surrendered to sleep.

Two days later found him not only out of the infirmary, but vehemently back at work. His small residual headache resulted in his terrorizing several members of his department, even so far as Dr. Lindsey running to Heightmeyer in tears. Zelenka managed to absent himself from any involvement with his prickly superior, and in fact rarely showed his face outside his own lab. For his part, Rodney was still fuming at Radek's convincing him to test the shuttle in the first place, and was perfectly content with not seeing hide nor hair of the Czech scientist for the time being. Sheppard, however, was increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of interaction between the 'two smartest men' on Atlantis, and decided to look into the situation.

Standing at the door of Zelenka's lab, he silently studied its sole occupant. The slight man sat hunched over his laptop, chin in hand, staring morosely at the screen and intermittently typing in information or queries. Clearly not getting the answers he wanted, he slammed a fist down on the countertop, then ran trembling fingers through his hair. Sheppard suddenly felt as if he were eavesdropping, so he cleared his throat to announce his presence.

Zelenka responded as if to an electric shock, jerking around so fast that he almost fell off his stool.

"Woah, there. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to see how you were doing." The LTC strolled nonchalantly into the lab, gazing around as non-threateningly as he could manage.

Radek sighed and turned back to his computer. "I am fine. I did not crash in a Jumper that sank to bottom of ocean. You should ask McKay."

John shrugged as he came up beside the engineer. "Nah, Rodney's on a rampage. Anyone with an ounce of sense is staying out of range." He tried to act interested in the laptop as he noted the dark circles beneath the other man's eyes and the fine lines of stress that accented his face. "So, I haven't seen you around much lately…what'cha up to?"

Zelenka slapped the screen in front of him in disgust. "I have been rerunning the pre-flight diagnostics on Jumper 6, trying to discover what went wrong. It is frustrating without having the actual crashed vehicle to work with."

Sheppard put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. Accidents happen."

"If I do not discover what my mistake was, there is no way I can prevent it from happening again!" Radek spat, unmollified.

Sheppard pulled up a stool and sat down next to him. He studiously avoided looking directly at the scientist, so as not to intimidate the man. Instead he studied the screen in front of them as he asked, "What makes you so sure it was your mistake?"

"I was in charge of the repairs to that vessel; everything seemed fine with our tests here on Atlantis." His voice dropped until it was barely audible. "Clearly everything was not fine, and that is my responsibility."

There was one question that had been bothering Sheppard since the decompression chamber, and this seemed like as good a time as any to ask it. "So…if you repaired the Jumper, why did you ask Rodney to do the test-flight?"

"Mnnpfhh," came the mumbled reply as Radek wrapped his arms around himself as if to ward off a chill.

Sheppard hated to ask, but, "I'm sorry? I couldn't hear you…"

Zelenka glared at him defensively. "I am afraid of flying!" he enunciated clearly.

Sheppard was taken aback. "So, that was why…"

"I didn't want to go with you. Yes." He swung back to his computer and punched a few keys.

The pilot digested this information with some incredulity. It was always hard for him to believe that anyone could be afraid of flying, but he knew that those people existed. What amazed him was that he didn't know something so important about a key member of the base staff. Finally he managed, "Why didn't you tell somebody?"

"I did. I told Doctor McKay. That is how he ended up injured at the bottom of the sea." Zelenka stated this factually, as if quoting the time of day.

"But when Weir and I…" he began, but was cut off by the scientist turning to face him again and holding up a hand for silence.

"If I had not gone with you, would we have been in time to save Dr. McKay?"

Sheppard shrugged, "Probably not, but still…"

"My weakness endangered an important member of this base. If I had a chance to rectify that…" He spread his arms apart, "How could I not push my fears aside?"

Sheppard was suddenly very grateful that the skittish scientist was on Atlantis. "Well said. Still, it doesn't look like you're going to get anything accomplished here," he gestured to the laptop, "So why don't you call it a day? Get some sleep, and maybe a bite to eat." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Between you and me, if McKay keeps up his current behavior, someone's going to spike his coffee with lemon juice. I need you to be in top form so you can take over when that happens." He shot the dejected man a lopsided grin and slapped him on the shoulder as he stood up.

A ghost of a smile flashed across the other man's face, and he nodded. "Entirely possible. I shall take your advice." He stood as well, shutting down his laptop as he did so.

Sheppard was almost at the door when Zelenka softly called, "And Colonel?"

He turned expectantly.

Radek shrugged and smiled again. "Thank you for coming by."

Snorting, Sheppard gave a dismissive wave. "No problem. Like I said, no one with an ounce of sense is going anywhere near McKay, and I could have joined MENSA!" Grinning, he set off down the corridor. His smile widened as he heard Zelenka leave the lab and head towards the mess hall.

TBC……

AN: Believe it or not, this story is FAR from over! In fact, it's just beginning to get good….Just wait until the next chapter!