AN: You ask, I provide! Thank you all for your kind words!

Oh, pardon the OC's, I just get sick of saying "guard #1," and it happens that once they get named, they like to count. They're annoying to me like that.

Chapter 3

Lieutenant Healy raced back along the path towards the gate. He was sure that Smith and Spinnicchia had already gotten Colonel Sheppard through the gate and back to Atlantis, but he needed to let the base know what Dr. McKay had just told them. He practically crashed into the DHD, fumbling to dial as quickly as he could. It seemed to take far longer than usual to establish the wormhole. He activated his GDO, waited a moment for the shield to lower on the other side, then rushed through.

"Lieutenant," Dr. Weir greeted as he stumbled through the other side. Concern was etched on her face, but she kept her tone relatively neutral. "Any news on Drs. McKay and Zelenka?"

"Yes, ma'am, both are alive," Healy told her. "The Major, Teyla, and Ronon are assisting them. But," he said, lowering his voice slightly, "I have important news regarding the Colonel, ma'am." Weir's brow furrowed, and she motioned for the young soldier to follow her to the infirmary. She had been on her way there when the unscheduled incoming wormhole drew her back to the gateroom.

As they walked, Healy quickly told her what McKay had reported, and Weir's face grew very grim. By the time they reached the infirmary, Sheppard was already in scrubs, and had been hooked up to various wires and IV's. As Weir and Healy entered, Dr. Carson Beckett approached them.

"How is he, Carson?" Elizabeth asked. The Scotsman sighed and shook his head slightly.

"He's been better, he's been worse," Beckett replied. "Soon enough, I'm going to have assigned beds for him and his teammates." Weir nodded and a half smile tugged at her lips in spite of the situation.

"Speaking of which, the Lieutenant here has reported that both Dr. McKay and Dr. Zelenka are alive and will probably be on their way back here in short order," Elizabeth told him.

"Thank God for that," Carson breathed in a sigh of relief. When word of the attack had reached them, it had put everyone on edge, dreading the worst.

"It's not all good news, though, sir," Healy said. He cast a glance towards the unconscious Colonel. "Dr. McKay informed us that it was Colonel Sheppard who attacked himself and Dr. Zelenka. Radio contact was spotty, at best, and Major Lorne felt it was imperative that this information get to Atlantis ASAP, so I don't have any further details."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Dr. Weir said, dismissing the young man with a nod. Healy turned and left the infirmary. He hated being the bearer of bad news, and the sooner he could get away from the frustrated looks on Dr Beckett and Dr. Weir, the better. With the young soldier gone, Carson turned to Elizabeth.

"What happened out there?" he asked. Weir sighed.

"The men who can answer that question are hopefully on their way back to fill us in," she said, rubbing her temple. "In the meantime, Colonel Sheppard should probably be restrained. As a precaution."

'Why did this sort of thing keep happening...' Elizabeth suppressed a shudder, thinking of Lieutenant Ford; of the incident where Sheppard had nearly transformed completely into a... creature; of Colonel Caldwell; of the still far too recent events involving Phoebus and Thalan.

She half jumped when a warm hand squeezed her bicep. She didn't realize how tense she was, her arms crossed beneath her breasts, fingers gripping her forearms tightly. She looked into the blue eyes of her Chief Surgeon and kind friend.

"We'll figure this out," he said in his soft brogue. "We always do." With a final pat on her arm, he moved towards Sheppard's bed to secure the man. Weir hovered behind him, close enough to watch, but not so close as to be in the way. As Carson tightened the first velcro strap on Sheppard's right wrist, the steady beeping of the heart monitor suddenly picked up it's pace. In seconds, two nurses materialized at the colonel's bedside, ready to assist Beckett with whatever he needed.

Swiftly, they finished securing the restraints on Sheppard's wrists and ankles. The beeping of the heart monitor reached a frantic pace, and Sheppard's eyes flew open. The muscles in his arms and legs snapped tight, and one of the nurses jumped away as he tried to lunge towards her.

"John!" Elizabeth cried before she could stop herself. She heard Carson calling for something, probably a sedative, but she paid no attention to it. Her eyes locked with Sheppard's, only for a moment before he squeezed them shut again, but the desperate look he had given her was enough to wrench her heart.

John was in hell, pure and simple. He felt his limbs pulling against the restraints, and he felt himself fighting them. He willed his body to obey him, and it ignored him. It was similar to when Thalan had taken over his body; but this time, there was no other consciousness in his mind fighting him for control. There was only himself, his own thoughts, his own awareness; and his body, a separate entity in it's own right, with it's own wicked objectives. In a rush, his memories flooded back to him, bringing with them a wave of sickness.

He couldn't bring himself to look at Elizabeth or Carson. With a supreme effort, he turned his head and opened his eyes, but saw no signs of McKay or Zelenka. He was certain he'd shot Radek; he'd seen the scientist fall. It was at that point that he had fought so hard against whatever was affecting him that he guessed that he'd blacked out. He only hoped that his body had collapsed at the same time, and had not continued on after his friends, unhampered by his pesky consciousness. His body thrashed wildly against the restraints, but a new sensation was taking over.

Slowly, a heavy warmth settled over his limbs, and he guessed that Carson had put some kind of tranquilizer into his IV. John took a shaky breath, and found that with his ability to move hampered, he did not have to consciously fight himself every moment. That meant that he could focus more on speaking, and experimentally he let out a groan. Not entirely conclusive, but promising.

However, this meant he may be able to find out about McKay and Zelenka. Which meant he might well have to hear that he'd killed them. He closed his eyes again, not sure if he was ready to deal with this.

He became aware of the weight of a hand on his shoulder. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and looked up into the face of Carson Beckett. The Scot had a tight smile on his face, and Sheppard hoped it was simply due to his own circumstances, and not any worse news. 'Can't avoid it forever. Might as well get it over with,' he thought.

"McKay?" he whispered, his voice tight, but nothing like the horrid croak that had escaped him back at the cave. "Zelenka?" Elizabeth came into his line of vision, standing next to Beckett. He felt her hand on his arm. He could feel the muscles tense with the urge to strike out. To his relief, though, they didn't have the power to do more than twitch.

"They're alive," Weir told him. With those two simple words, she could see the fear rush out of his face, to be replaced by relief. "They're still on the planet, but should be back soon."

"What happened?" John whispered. A worried frown settled on Weir's features.

"We were kinda hopin that you'd be able to tell us, lad," Carson said, careful to keep his expression as neutral as possible. John took a breath to steady himself. He was starting to get tired as the sedative wrapped it's lazy tendrils around his brain.

"At the cave... something shocked me," he said, battling to keep his eyes open. "Then... I dunno... just like my body went berserk... drew my sidearm... shot at Zelenka and McKay... I think I hit Zelenka... then I blacked out..." It was a losing battle. He forced his eyes open and looked Beckett in the eye. He had to get one more thing across. "Keep me restrained. Physically, chemically, whatever." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Talking was rapidly becoming too much for him.

"Relax, son, no one else is going to get hurt, I promise," said Carson's soothing voice, from very far away. The blood rushed in his ears, and once again, everything was dark.

Carson heaved a deep sigh and bowed his head slightly. Turning back to Elizabeth, he found she had once again wrapped her arms around herself. In spite of her defensive posture, her eyes were determined as she looked at Sheppard.

"Let me know as soon as you have any answers," she said, not making eye contact with Beckett. She waited until he acknowledged her order before turning and making her way out of the infirmary. Beckett shook his head slightly.

"This is too damn much for any one group of people to deal with," he sighed as he turned to a nurse. "All right, let's draw blood for labs, then an MRI and EEG. Let's see what that tells us and we'll go from there."

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More than two hours later, the Stargate opened again on Atlantis.

"Dr. Weir? This is Teyla, do you read?" came the calm voice of the Athosian. Elizabeth responded right away.

"This is Weir. How are our men? Do you have them?" she asked.

"They are doing as well as can be expected after their ordeal. They are about five minutes behind me, so if medical teams can be waiting for them, it would make things go much more... smoothly." Weir could almost hear the small smile she knew had settled on Teyla's features. She breathed a small sigh of relief, trusting that McKay and Zelenka were both well enough to be making nuisances of themselves.

'Well, at least McKay is,' she mused, and her own ghost of a smile flickered briefly across her lips. "Understood. Dr. Beckett, we need a med team to the gateroom for incoming casualties."

"Aye, on our way," came the response. By the time two gurneys, corresponding nurses and orderlies, and Dr. Beckett himself had made their way to the gateroom, the wormhole had begun to deposit a rather bedraggled group of people.

Major Lorne came through first, supporting a very pale Radek Zelenka. Next came an extremely irritated looking Ronon half-carrying a very loud Rodney McKay. Teyla came through last, still smiling serenely. She shared Dr. Weir's relief at having found the two scientists alive and as well as could be expected, and could not help but be amused at the protests Dr. McKay was lodging against Ronon.

"OW! What part of injured is so difficult to understand!" McKay barked as Ronon jostled him onto one of the waiting gurneys. Ronon said nothing, but gave Beckett a 'he's all yours' look before he stalked away towards the infirmary. Beckett rolled his eyes slightly, half a smirk on his face. In spite of the gravity of the circumstances, all the members of Atlantis were filled with a sense of giddy relief now that everyone was home and in one piece.

"Well, Rodney seems to be awake and alert," Beckett said, turning to Radek who was laying back on the other gurney. "How are you doin, then?" The scientist was pale, but he managed a small smile as the gurneys began rolling down the hall after Ronon. Beckett did a quick survey of the man, noting his respiration and checking his pulse as they went.

"I will live," Zelenka replied. He closed his eyes a moment. "How is Colonel Sheppard?" he asked, trying to hide the quaver in his voice. Beckett made sure his response was loud enough for both Rodney and Radek to hear.

"He's in one piece. He was very concerned about the both of you, though."

"Is he..." Rodney trailed off, unsure how to finish the question.

"Don't you worry about him, for the moment he's well enough," Carson said, keeping his tone light. "Let's get you two taken care of, first. Then I'm sure Dr. Weir will want to speak with both of ye, and we'll sort out the details." The gurneys rolled to a stop and Beckett was all business. He began firing questions off at the men as he started their physical exams. By the time he'd finished with them and sent them off to be poked and irradiated by the lab techs, Dr. Weir was standing right outside his office. She stepped inside as he strode over to her, and he followed her in, closing the door behind them.

"How are they?" she asked as he drew his hand across his face.

"Not that bad, all things considered," he said. "Colonel Sheppard was right, he did shoot Radek, but it was only through the shoulder. Hurts like hell, I'm sure, but no nerve damage. A fair amount of blood loss, probably since he was running like a madman and his heart was goin a mile a minute, but nothing we can't handle. Rodney managed to sprain his ankle pretty badly, an probably twisted his knee as well. Aside from that, they've got a load of bumps an bruises, an that's about it. They should both be up an about in no time giving me grief."

"Did they say anything about Colonel Sheppard?" Elizabeth's arms were tightly crossed again. She did that a lot, Carson noted.

"Aye," he sighed. "They were concerned about him. Just going on my gut reaction, I'd say that they're not holding any grudges. I didn't let them go on about the details, though. I wanted to make sure they were sound first, before they got themselves worked up."

"How long until I can speak with them?"

"It shouldn't be too long," the Scotsman said, half surprised at the admission. "Actually, if all their tests come back clear, they'll probably both be released in a few hours. I don't want them exerting themselves any time soon, though." Weir nodded slowly.

"How is John doing?" she asked.

"No real change in his condition, I'm afraid. In spite of his actions -- or reactions, or whatever they are -- his body is perfectly healthy. Though, we did pick up some strange readings on his EEG," Carson replied.

"What does that mean?"

"His brain waves are showing some irregularities. We're doing some more scans now to see if we can get any better answers, but what with having to keep him sedated, I don't know if the results will even be reliable," he said, drawing a hand through his unruly hair.

"Is there any way we'll be able to speak with him, without..." she trailed off, but she knew that Carson would understand what she was asking.

"Aye, I believe we can work something out so that he'll be able to talk with us without having to worry about any kinds of outbursts."

"Very well, then. Contact me when they're ready."

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End Notes: I hope y'all like this chapter as much as the previous ones! And for those of you who don't like waiting a day between updates, you could check out my previous story, "Faith and Misery!" Hee hee, is it pathetic that I plug my stories in my own stories? But in all seriousness, I think there might end up being a tie between the two stories (though this one will still be able to be understood and appreciated independent of F&M).