"What happened to Radek?" Rodney asked, any notions of fatigue quickly fading.

"It's a long story, Rodney. Elizabeth wouldn't have sent them on the mission if she had had a choice."

"What does that mean?" Rodney wouldn't be satisfied.

"Sheppard and the others crashed on a planet together with a Wraith Dart. Teyla and Sheppard were attacked by one of them."

When Carson saw Rodney's shocked expression, he quickly continued.

"The Wraith didn't feed off them long enough to age them, but what we didn't know was that when a Wraith feeds, it releases a toxin that will slowly kill the victim. Luckily the Athosians knew of an antidote. Elizabeth sent them to Athos to find the plant we needed. Halling got back just in time last night."

"Are they going to be all right?" Rodney asked tension evident in his voice.

"I hope so; they have been through a lot. Teyla and Aiden are well on their road to recovery, but to be honest, it's going to be a long one for both of them."

"What about John?" Rodney asked tentatively.

"We are treating his head injury, but there is only so much we can do. He is responding to the antidote to the Wraith toxin, so he is stabilizing quickly..." Carson ran out of things to say.

"Spare me the bullshit Carson. How bad is it really?" Rodney wanted to know. He recalled John's words back in the abandoned house. He had mentioned that his head had taken a hit. Rodney was afraid that John was going to die after all.

"He's got a hairline fracture to his skull. Also, there is some swelling to his brain. We hope that the medication we have him on will fix that. But I'm concerned because he has been unconscious for several days and Teyla told me that he'd been having seizure shortly after his injury. There are indications of permanent damage. At the moment we can just hope for the best and wait for him to wake up. But if he doesn't wake up soon, the chances that he ever does aren't very good." Carson said. Rodney had wanted all the facts, and then he was going to give them to him. Carson wasn't going to lie to his friend.

Rodney couldn't recall John having a seizure while they had been on the planet, but the time at their camp had passed in a haze of pain and fevered dreams.

"I don't remember." Rodney shook his head.

"It's all right." Carson reassured him. He couldn't imagine what Rodney had been through. The effort it must have cost him to find his way back to Atlantis was unbelievable.

"No, it's not all right. You have no idea what happened back there. It's my fault." Rodney snapped. Glowy-John had tried to absolve him of his guilt, but still, if Rodney hadn't rushed John, it would never have come to this.

"The truth is that I don't know what happened on the planet where John was held prisoner. Teyla told me some things, but only bits and pieces, mainly information relevant to treatment." Carson replied.

"They messed with his mind, made him believe we weren't real. He fought against us when we came to rescue him." Rodney recalled.

"Are you sure?" Carson asked.

"Of course, I'm sure. They used some sort of drugs. I told me himself." Rodney said without thinking.

Carson shot him a questioning look. Rodney for once didn't know what to say.

"When did John tell you that he was drugged?" Carson asked sharply.

Rodney looked down on covers. "You are not going to believe it."

"I think I will." Carson said quietly and Rodney looked up. Carson had a knowing impression on his face.

Rodney fidgeted. "I saw John, but it wasn't quite him. He was all Ancient." It sounded even crazier to Rodney when he said it out loud.

Rodney felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I saw him too."

Rodney looked up to Carson.

"You too?"

"That's right. He told me that you were still alive and he warned us about the Wraith on Athos. But it was too late to get Bates and Radek back from there."

"So, I'm not just crazy?"

"No, you're not." Carson smiled at him.

oOo

Radek sat on a fallen log. So far, Bates and he had been basically lost. He had left the lead to Bates, who had resorted to his survival training, proceeding to locate the nearest water source. Less than three hours after they had found themselves in the little clearing, Bates had found a small stream. Now he was gathering firewood. Zelenka was looking on. His headache was getting worse, the longer they were out in the woods. Something was tugging on his conscious mind, but it didn't quite rise to the surface. He closed his eyes. Images flitted in front of his mental eye. The female Wraith, the view of the Wraith base, but then other, unfamiliar images. Two other Wraith, their mouths moving without sound. He was looking up at them. Radek shook his head. It didn't make sense. More images rose to the surface in quick succession. The female Wraith together with the other two. She was telling him something. One of the other two Wraith was holding a small metallic object, waving it in front of him. A sharp pain lanced through his head and everything went black.

oOo

Rodney had given into Carson and rested until after lunch before he had gone to see John. Only seeing him alive could convince him that he had not killed his friend. Still, despite what John had said, Rodney felt utterly guilty. More than anything, he wished he could undo what he had done in the underground prison. It didn't matter that it had been John who had seriously injured him; he had not been himself. If Rodney had not provoke him, if he had thought about what he was doing, if he had taken care to analyse the situation, then maybe, things wouldn't have escalated in the way they had.

From behind he heard someone approach. He turned and saw one of the nurses bring Teyla in wheelchair. She stopped next to him.

"Rodney?" Teyla asked.

For a moment Rodney was confused. He looked at Teyla, took in the way she was not looking at him, the way her eyes darted around the room without finding focus and the way she turned her head the wrong angle.

"I'm right here." He replied. He wanted to ask her how she was doing, but then thought of it. Teyla was blind, how should she be doing.

"Dr. Beckett told me that you had returned to Atlantis. I was very glad to hear this. I must apologize to you. We should never have abandoned you on the planet. As your friend you did nothing to deserve this."

"You set your priorities. You needed to get Sheppard help. You did the right thing." Rodney replied.

Teyla frowned.

"Your apology is appreciated." Rodney added. "I'm glad you got Sheppard back to Atlantis."

"I fear it is too late." Teyla replied, missing her usual optimism, for all her experience of violence and death, Teyla seemed to believe in survival and the good in people.

"I heard from Carson." Rodney couldn't help but agree. It didn't look too good for John. "I feel responsible." he confessed. "If I had recognized the situation, none of this would have happened. You wouldn't be in this situation."

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Dr. McKay. You couldn't have foreseen how the major would react." Teyla paused.

"Dr. Beckett believes that I will see again soon." Teyla hesitated. Rodney could tell that she wasn't as convinced as the physician. He would have liked to say something, anything to encourage her, but he didn't know the right words. If she indeed faced a life of blindness, were there even the right words?

oOo

The first thing Radek became aware of was that all his muscles hurt like he had just run a marathon. The second thing he noticed was that he was lying on something hard and unyielding, except that there was something under his head. Tentatively he moved, but other than the pain, he could move all his limbs. Slowly, he opened his eyes. It took an enormous effort to get them open. A cerulean sky came into view. Carefully he turned his head to the right. A small fire was burning. Bates? Radek pushed himself up. What had happened?

He saw Bates a few meters away at the small stream.

Radek got to his feet and walked up to the other man.

"Sergeant?"

"Dr. Zelenka! I didn't expect you back on your feet. Are you all right?"

"I'm not sure. Can you tell me what happened?"

"You suddenly blacked up and then you had some kind of a seizure. It really freaked me out, to be honest. Has this ever happened before, Doctor?"

"No, never. Dr. Beckett wouldn't have let me go off-world otherwise." Radek shook his head.

"Well, we have water and I got a fire going while you were out. For one night we can make do here, but after that we should secure better shelter. We still have at least six hours of sunlight left; we should use the time to find a food source." Bates stated all business again.

An image flashed through Radek's mind.

"The 'Gate is about three miles from here. North-East." Radek suddenly said to his own surprise.

Bates stared at him. Radek shrugged.

"I don't know how." He apologized. "I just know." Slowly he was scaring himself. First the flashbacks, then the black-out, the seizure, then the sudden surge of intuition.

"Seriously, doc. This is just freaky." Bates shook his head.

oOo

Elizabeth wasn't sure whether Carson had been fully honest with her when he'd declared Rodney not fit to give her an informal report. He himself had handed her his report. She had gone back to her office. reading his report, she had found it detailed and logical, but something seemed to be missing. Still, she couldn't exactly put her finger on it.

When Grodin knocked on her door, it was a welcome distraction.

"Come in."

"Dr. Weir? It's the Alpha site again."

"I'm coming." Elizabeth followed Grodin out into the control room.

"I have Sergeant Teager on the radio." Grodin announced.

"Thank you. Sergeant Teager. This is Weir. What is going on?"

"Teager here. We are finally seeing some action here. Sergeant Bates and Dr. Zelenka just gated in."

"Do you need assistance?" Elizabeth hoped that they were all right, but she knew the circumstances under which they had gone missing, Lately, they seemed to have bad luck with their missions.

"No, they are all right from what it seems, although the sergeant mentioned that they needed to see a medic when they got back." Sergeant Teager communicated.

"Okay, transmit your IDC and we'll be ready to receive them with a medical team standing by." Elizabeth motioned to Grodin to make the necessary call.

oOo

"So, what happened?" Carson asked Radek, who was sitting on the exam table. Dr. Biro was taking care of Bates post mission exam.

"Apparently, I had blacked out and had seizure after that. But for the details, you will really have to ask the sergeant. I wasn't present for the event." Radek said.

"I will ask him." Carson said an shone a pen light in Radek's eyes. Radek waved his hand away.

"Ow. That hurts." Carson made a note on his clip board.

"Does anything hurt?"

"Everything."

"Have you ever had a black-out like this before?"

"Funny, the sergeant asked the same thing before. Same answer, this has never happened. I wouldn't have passed the mission screening." Radek replied.

Carson made another note.

"I would like to take you for an MRI, to see what's going on in that head of yours."

TBC