Touched By An Ancient

By Ann3

Writer's Note:- Apologies, first of all, to hypercaz, and anyone else, who needed tissues for that last chapter - you should have seen the pile I got through while writing it ! Bit more angsty stuff to come for our favourite wee doctor, but some chuckles later on too, as the story heads for the home stretch. I'm still working on an idea for the final chapter, but all the ones preceding it are more or less finished, so they'll be posted soon. Including the final one, there's another nine chapters to come.

Just another very quick reference to Thirty Eight Minutes here, for a scene I've already touched on before.

Thanks so much for all the comments and encouragement, it's all been very much appreciated ! I hope you go on enjoying this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it :o)

Chapter Nineteen

They'd become so familiar during the last four days that their presence, however surreal, had grown equally comforting. The light that enshrouded him seemed to be protecting Carson from the many dangers of reality, just as his peaceful stillness confirmed the healing of an exhausted body and haunted mind.

Even McKay had come to grudgingly accept the steady, three-way beep on the monitor beside him. In fact it had become his friend, lulling him to sleep when exhaustion finally staked its claim – reassuring him with its precious, life-confirming sound when, as now, he drifted out of fitful dreams.

Except there was something different this time, something odd, that Rodney couldn't quite place.

…beep beep beep… beep beep beep… beep beep…

Three heartbeats.

…beeeeeeeeeeeep…

…be… beep beep… beep beep… beep beep… be…

Two heartbeats.

…beeeeeeeeeeeep…

…beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep…

One heartbeat. One single, slow and steady signal, now making its lone journey across the screen.

One heartbeat.

By the time he realised what had happened, McKay's anxious yell of alarm was no longer needed. This sudden change on their own monitors had already brought Kate and the rest of her team running – so much so that Rodney had to move fast to get out of their way as they surrounded Carson's bed.

To medically trained eyes, it was the blessedly reassuring sound of a normal, strong, healthy heartbeat. Unfortunately, the cautious smile on Kate Buchanan's face meant little to a physically and mentally drained hyper-hypochondriac.

"Why's it doing that…? What's happening, what – what's wrong with him…?"

"It's alright, Rodney, there's nothing wrong… quite the opposite, in fact…" Kate assured him, whatever she'd been planning to say next becoming lost in a collective murmur of hopeful relief.

"Yeah, it's okay, Rodney… yeah, I'm kinda guessing this is a good sign…" John Sheppard agreed, still spellbound by the two pulsating columns of light which now slowly rose from Carson's body.

Guardedly hopeful, still cautious words – but they were all Rodney McKay needed to hear.

"You – You mean it's over…? They're – They're gonna let him wake up now…?"

Hating as she did to dash his hopes, Kate was already shaking her head even as she smiled back at him

"I'm sorry, Rodney, but no…" she replied gently, forestalling the inevitable protest with practised ease. "But it's alright, Rodney. His vitals are stable and normal again, and now he's just... well, sleeping…"

Those reassurances should have satisfied anybody. But then, Rodney McKay wasn't just anybody. He was a tired and anxious scientist who, if truth be told, only trusted the word of one medical doctor. And that medical doctor, his friend and surrogate brother, was still as far away from him as ever.

"But he's been sleeping for almost four days now…!" he said at last, unable to hide his frustration.

"No, Rodney, he's been in a state of semi Ascension… there is a difference…" Kate corrected him – her next words spoken just as gently, yet still firmly enough to make her point inarguably clear. "Now he's in normal, and natural, REM sleep… and with what his body and mind have just been through, he'll likely be so for some hours yet…"

Finally realising it was pointless to argue, too drained and disappointed to try, McKay just nodded – his own needs, for once, taking second place to those of another as a muffled sob escaped from the silent figure beside them.

They'd seen it all before, of course, this stricken wince – the heart-rending tears that always followed. But the sobs which now shook through Carson's body were the loudest, most worryingly violent yet.

Watching him in helpless sympathy, two anxious friends traded glances of pre-knowledged concern. Earlier that morning, John Sheppard had talked, freely and emotionally, about his own experience – revealing to a shocked and shaken Elizabeth how part of him hadn't wanted to come back.

After all that he'd been through, Carson Beckett now faced the same heartbreaking return to reality – prompting more grim faced words as a day of planned celebration drew to a far from happy, deeply worryingclose.

"Yeah, one hell of a way to be spending your birthday…"