Touched By An Ancient

By Ann3

Writer's Note: Hmmm, wasn't that mean of me, to leave you last time on such a cliffie…? See what happens when you decide to watch The Siege as part of your… um… research, and think 'ooooh, cliffhanger…! I'd like to write one of those…!'

So we'd better find out what's happened to our favourite wee doctor, hadn't we…?

Another quick reference to that scene in Rising (you're seeing a pattern developing here, right…?) along with a missing scene at the SGC, just my thoughts on Elizabeth's first encounter with Carson, and how she came to choose him for her team..

Now, where were we…? Oh yes… cliffhangers… just gotta love 'em… ;o)

Chapter Twenty Five

They'd expected it, of course. They'd prepared, as much as possible, for what had just happened.

For every monitor in the room to suddenly go haywire, though, had not been part of the plan. Amid the frenzied activity which had erupted around them, a lone voice now cut effortlessly through it.

"No, wait…! It's – It's okay, this is what he wants to do. This is what Carson knew would happen…"

Still animatedly checking his monitors, McKay then threw up a hand, commanding instant order – his turn to blink, in startled surprise when, for once, this demand for quiet wasn't snarkily ignored. Instead all eyes turned in complete, hopeful seriousness towards him, waiting for him to continue – John Sheppard's quiet voice the first to make sense of the excitable scientist's unusual calm.

"You're tuned in with him, right…? Because of that mind-link you made with him last time…?"

Rodney McKay was never happier than when at the centre of attention, yet now he just nodded – his concerns, for once, completely focussed on the well-being of someone other than himself.

"He's okay…" he said at last, echoing the same assurances that Carson himself had made earlier. "Carson's okay, he – he knows what he's doing… he knows none of this is going to hurt him…"

"And at least he hasn't launched a load of drones…" John agreed, also pensively studying his friend – memories of one hell of a flight over Antarctica prompting a rueful, somewhat uneasy afterthought. "Yet…"

"He's come a long way since then, John… learned to control his abilities…" Elizabeth replied softly, their warmth making her words less of a rebuke and more a simple statement as she smiled up at him. "I have to admit, though, it staggers me… remembering the first time I met him, to see how far he's come…"

"Yeah, I can imagine… you and Rodney have known him a lot longer than I have…" John agreed – conceding the point, as only he could, as curiosity caused one of his eyebrows to quirk upright. "Don't tell me he fired a rogue drone at you too…?"

"No, not exactly…" Elizabeth conceded in turn, her next words threaded with bittersweet pride. "Halfway through his interview at the SGC, three off-world teams returned with heavy casualties. Carson heard the call go out, and the next thing I knew, he was on his way to the Gate Room…"

Enjoying the wryly knowing grin on her second in command's face, her own widened just as proudly.

"I'd been struggling until then, to make my choice, but as soon as I saw him run out of that room… well, I knew I didn't have to interview anyone else. I knew I'd found my CMO for the mission to Antarctica…"

"Yeah, way to go on that, Liz…" John murmured, a brief twinge at his conscience remaining unvoiced. When he'd first joined her team, he'd had serious misgivings over Carson Beckett's role within it.

Within days of arriving on Atlantis, though, every one of those doubts had been replaced with pride – a humbled admiration which, even now, so many months after their arrival, still continued to grow.

Elizabeth's words, however proudly she'd spoken them, had merely tipped a Titanic sized iceberg. Oh yes, John mused, that jittery bundle of Scottish nerves had, indeed, changed beyond recognition.

Carson Beckett, as Elizabeth had said, had come far. Perhaps, he reflected sadly, he'd come too far. Their CMO had seen things, been forced into decisions and actions, that went against all he believed in

That he'd avoided burn-out, an occupational hazard which John himself had seen, all too often – well, it spoke further volumes for Carson Beckett's courage, his astonishing strength of character.

That strength of character had already survived one incredible challenge. Now it faced another.

Speaking of burnout.

Acrid smoke now invaded John Sheppard's senses, leaving them, and his thoughts, reeling in shock. Beside him, Elizabeth's mouth dropped open too, in rising alarm at the sight which now met her eyes.

Overloaded with immeasurable power, one of McKay's computers had erupted in a shower of sparks. That alone had triggered yet another flurry of activity as the rest of his team came instantly running.

Yet that drama paled into insignificance as, almost dreading to do so, Elizabeth glanced to her other side – more grateful than she'd ever been, or ever would be, for John Sheppard's supportive arm around her.

"Oh, my God…"