AN: Thanks to everyone for their kind words!

Chapter 5

Twenty-five minutes later, Weir, McKay, Zelenka, Teyla, and Ronon were already waiting outside the infirmary. Carson looked at his watch and waited the full five minutes before he went out to speak with them. All eyes were on him as he stepped out into the hall where they had gathered.

"All right, he's awake, but heavily sedated," Beckett told them. "Of course, the man is still probably more stubborn than the lot of you combined. He wants to see McKay and Zelenka. The rest of you get to wait your turn, and if he's too tired after speaking with the good doctors, then that might mean waiting for a while."

The group nodded in quiet acceptance of Carson's rules. Elizabeth was silently thankful that the two scientists were going in first. Her gut told her that it was likely to start a healing process, one she wondered if the men even realized they might need. She was actually somewhat surprised that Sheppard hadn't wanted to avoid speaking with McKay and Zelenka, and she wondered if perhaps Carson had influenced John at all. She just hoped that Sheppard's condition didn't make anything any worse between the men.

McKay had his lips pursed, and Zelenka was looking a bit pale again. Carson had a feeling it had little to do with his blood loss earlier; at least not directly. "Are you lads sure that yer up for this right now?" he asked, concerned for the physical and psychological well being of all his patients. Immediately, both men were shaken out of whatever thoughts they had been wandering in.

"Of course!" McKay snapped in irritation, pushing his way past Carson, followed closely by Zelenka. The two scientists approached the unmistakable dark haired figure laying on a bed in the corner of the infirmary. McKay swallowed a lump in this throat as he saw the the Colonel was still strapped down, in spite of the sedation; but he didn't say anything.

"Hey," came the raspy voice from the bed. Radek pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose several times before he dared to look into the Colonel's face. When he did, he saw not a distorted mask; but a pale, tired visage. Sheppard's eyes were droopy, but the relief in them was obvious. Zelenka couldn't help feeling a bit relieved as well.

Until that moment, Sheppard had been unable to fully believe Carson's reassurances that both Radek and Rodney were all right. As much as his guilt made him want to hole up and not face either man for a long time, he'd needed to see them for himself. In spite of his current predicament, John felt a huge weight lift from his chest. A twinge of it returned as he looked at Zelenka's sling and McKay's crutches, but the fact was both men were alive and relatively well. Still, he couldn't bring himself to look them in the eye.

"I'm sorry," John said, though the words felt pathetic on his tongue. McKay waved his hand dismissively.

"There is nothing to apologize for," Zelenka said. Sheppard opened his mouth to argue, but Rodney cut him off.

"You were obviously not acting of your own volition, and the fact that you told us to run and we just kind of stood there like doorstops until the gun went off didn't help matters," he babbled. "But anyway, how are you feeling?" he stammered, not able to keep himself from glancing down at Sheppard's restrained wrists. The colonel noticed the nervous tick, and closed his eyes for a moment.

"As well as can be expected, I guess," Sheppard said. "They've got me doped up pretty well, I don't think I could move anything but my face right now, even if I wanted to. These are just an added bonus," he said, glancing down to his own wrist. A nervous smile flickered across McKay's features for a moment, but it was unconvincing. An uncomfortable silence settled on the men.

"Look, we're gonna figure this out," McKay finally blurted. "So just, I don't know, just keep it together until we get things worked out." Sheppard managed a small smile.

"I'll do my best," he said. Before the silence could settle again, he continued. "Is Elizabeth out there?" Both McKay and Zelenka nodded.

"Teyla and Ronon too," Rodney added. John drew a slow breath.

"Would you mind sending the next shift in?" he asked. "I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be able to stay awake, and I'd like to check in with everyone before I pass out." He didn't mention the nagging guilt that was building back up as he looked at the injuries that his betrayal, no matter how unintentional, had caused.

The scientists nodded again, and turned to leave. None of the men were really satisfied leaving it at that, but for the moment, they all knew it would have to suffice. The wounds were still too fresh.

As McKay and Zelenka passed by Carson, they told him of John's request, and the medical doctor nodded, motioning for Elizabeth to go in next. Teyla and Ronon could wait, and Elizabeth would need all the information she could get before making her final decision about sending anyone back to that planet.

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Three hours later, the decision was made. Carson's scans had shown some abnormal activity in part of Sheppard's brain, something called the amygdala. "It's part of the fight or flight defense system we have," Carson had told them. He also spoke of blood tests and chemistry coming back basically normal, no signs of any pathogens; just elevated levels of adrenaline, which would not seem to come down. The finer medical details were lost on most of the group, but they got the gist. What it boiled down to was that Beckett had no idea how to fix what was going on with Sheppard's brain, but something needed to be done.

Zelenka was getting his things together, and he made a mental note to thank Klein for packing everything up so well. The two scientists made their way to the gateroom, with Klein hauling most of the gear. Teyla and Ronon were already waiting for them.

"Here, let me take one of those," the Athosian offered, indicating the packs, but Klein shook his head.

"That's ok, I've got it," he said with a smile. Ronon raised an eyebrow at the lanky scientist and the three bulky bags he was carrying. The man must be stronger than he looked.

In a moment, Major Lorne and his team joined them in the gateroom. Elizabeth had insisted - though no one had argued - that the military team should go as well. They were to remain at the gate, to alert Atlantis for backup if anything went... awry.

Radek cast a glance up at Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay standing above them in the control area. A nervous smile flickered across his lips before he broke eye contact with them and the gate began to dial out. He closed his eyes and commanded the flutter in his chest and the throb in his shoulder to subside. The last chevron locked in place, and the familiar whoosh of the wormhole opening dragged his eyelids open once more.

"Good luck," Elizabeth called to them. Her voice sounded very far away, as Radek listened to his pulse in his ears. The two teams down below only nodded as they made their way through the event horizon.

Once on the other side of the gate, Teyla wasted no time leading the way back towards the cave. Radek and Klein followed as quickly as they could, and Ronon followed behind the scientists, his keen eyes scanning for threats. The team traveled in silence until they reached the now-familiar location of the cave. Klein and Zelenka immediately set to work with sensors and tools that neither Teyla nor Ronon understood.

Radek threw himself into the work, focusing on rooting out the source of the energy spikes from earlier. The more technical the situation turned, the less personal, the less painful it became.

Teyla watched with interest as the scientists worked. Though she didn't fully understand most of what they did, it was educational simply watching them. In fifteen minutes, the men had located a device embedded in the wall of the cave, near the mouth. Teyla radioed their progress to Lorne, though the signal was still quite weak from the interference, so she doubted that much information got through. Her gaze came to rest on Dr. Zelenka as he stared at the device in the wall.

"I think this is where the Colonel was standing before he..." Radek trailed off as he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. It hardly mattered, after all, as he had only been speaking to himself, so he covered up the stray thought with some czech mumbling. He willed himself to remain focused on the device itself. He and Klein poked and prodded the device as much as they could, but all they could establish was that there were no extraneous energy spikes from the contraption at the moment.

"Think we should chance taking it out?" Klein asked. "We can't really work on it in there. There are no ports, no way for us to get any information out of it from this angle."

"Is that wise?" Teyla asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Perhaps not, but it looks like our only option at the moment," Radek sighed, then nodded at Klein.

Zelenka tried to help with removing the device; but space was tight, and Klein, with two good arms, was doing most of the work. Radek found that he was more in the way than anything, so he busied himself by pacing along the back wall of the cave. With a sigh, he leaned against the cold rock, tipping his head back against the unyielding surface.

Well, it should have been unyielding, anyway.

Radek Zelenka never heard Brent Klein's shout of triumph as he wrested the piece of machinery from the wall. He didn't hear Teyla and Ronon calling for him. He didn't see the group searching frantically for him. He didn't see Ronon send Teyla and Klein back to the gate with the piece of equipment. He didn't see Ronon try to tear the cave apart, howl in frustration and slam his fist into truly unyielding stone.

All that Dr. Radek Zelenka could see was darkness. All he was aware of was falling, and pain. For the second time that day, he was tumbling head over heels down a steep incline. This time, instead of soft dirt, he was pounded mercilessly against cold, solid stone. By reflex, he tried to fling his arms out to slow himself, but he only succeeded in sending nauseating waves of pain radiating out from his wounded shoulder. The cry that tried to escape him was cut short by a blow to his ribs from some unseen object in his path.

He changed tactics, trying to curl into himself, but only managed moderate success as he accelerated down the seemingly never ending ramp. His head was slammed against rock more times than he would have cared to keep track of, even if he had been able. Without warning, he struck level ground, but inertia carried him a fair distance across the floor before he came to abrupt halt, his lower body slamming into something very sharp. Radek became acutely aware of a tearing sensation in his left thigh as some incredibly sharp, pointy thing buried itself into his flesh.

"That's not good," he gasped before consciousness fled him.

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End Notes: Ok, so I've kinda been bad and not had much time for writing lately... so I called in sick tomorrow! Take that, semi-corporate America! I'm calling in sick to work so that I can sit at home and write fanfiction! (That and this damn chest cold...)