Part 9 – I Know What You Did!

Sheppard woke to find Rodney dozing in the chair near his bed. For some reason, he felt like hell this morning and really didn't feel in the mood for Rodney chatter. As if on cue, McKay opened his eyes and stared at him in such a way that it gave John a very bad feeling indeed.

McKay continued to stare for several long minutes before suddenly asking a question. "So what kind of relics did the monks show you? Or…was it…herb remedies?"

Swallowing hard, John murmured. "You know the usual kind."

"Don't lie to me, Sheppard. I'm not that naïve," Rodney's voice was colder than John had ever heard it.

Knowing he couldn't reason with him lying flat on his front, John tried to ease himself onto his side but the effort left him dizzy and weak. McKay relented somewhat to help him until John was propped awkwardly facing him. "How did you find out?" John whispered.

"Oh, come on. You suddenly end up here and nobody bothers to tell me. It didn't take much brain power, and as you know I have plenty, to add two and two together. After you'd gone to sleep last night, Carson and I had a long conversation until in the end I got the whole story out of him." John glanced angrily towards Beckett's office. "Oh, and before you go chewing out the good doctor, he did an Oscar winning performance before admitting to the truth. Then there was Elizabeth's act yesterday. She did her utmost to keep me busy with this and that but none of it was truly important. I should have known then that something was foul."

Rodney paused for a second to look Sheppard in the eye. "All I want to know is why the hell you thought you had to play hero again and protect me against something that I could have handled? What do you take me for, a baby who needs coddling all the time? I was the one who touched their goddamn shrine and it should have been - me - they punished!" he shouted.

Sheppard cringed under McKay's harsh words. His head felt ready to explode as a drumbeat of a headache rose behind his brow. How could he find a way to explain and keep Rodney for turning against him forever? "I did it for selfish reasons," he finally admitted.

"I beg our pardon?" Rodney asked looking very confused.

"I couldn't stand by and watch someone else being…being mistreated again."

When Sheppard didn't add anymore, Rodney asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Desperately, John looked for a way out this. He really didn't want to tell anyone about his experience four years ago in the bleak foot hills one hundred miles north of Kabul. He swallowed hard against the dryness of his aching throat. Rodney must have seen his discomfort and reached out to hand him over a glass of water. John took it gratefully and swallowed nearly half before giving back to McKay.

Rodney looked at him. "Well?"

"I don't want to go there, Rodney, I really don't. Please drop it."

McKay looked at him sourly. "Sorry but I want to know."

"I asked you to drop it." John nearly shouted, "But I'll tell you this much. The kid's name was Joe. He never did fully recover from his ordeal, ended up getting shipped back to the States."

When Sheppard wasn't more forthcoming, Rodney persisted. "That doesn't help me understand your motives, so you're going to have to do better than that."

"Do the words Afghanistan, the War on Terror, Taliban mean anything to you? If so, use your endless grey matter, Rodney, and come to your own conclusions. Now please don't ask for anymore. I'm sorry, but if I'd let you take the punishment, I couldn't have stood by and watched. I may have flipped out or something and opened fire on a group of unarmed monks and how would that of looked?"

Rodney considered things for a moment. "Not good, but couldn't you have just threaten them or something?"

John sighed wearily. "It was kind of like a catch-22 situation, if it had meant anything then – yes - but I don't believe Vatu or his fellow monks would have given in no matter what I did to threaten them. They were adamant in their beliefs and somehow I respected that, so I decided the best way out was to take the punishment myself. I knew you'd feel this way, that's why I've tried to keep it from you. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry," he whispered.

Before Rodney could say anything more, a nurse bustled up and started to fuss over Sheppard. She placed her hand against his brow and muttered. "I think we'd better measure your temperature again, it seems to have gone up even more since the last check." Saying no more, she produced a thermometer and stuck it in Sheppard's ear. A few minutes later, she looked at the display and with a forced smile went off in search of Dr. Beckett.

Rodney watched her go before turning back to Sheppard. He wanted to say more but John was already dozing off. "Err…I guess we can finish this later, huh?"

John murmured. "If you don't mind, Rodney, I don't feel so good."

Rodney looked worriedly towards his friend as the nurse returned with Carson. "What's wrong with him?"

"I can't tell ya right now, Rodney. His temperature is giving us some cause for concern, so we're going to do some more blood work and check his back again. Why don't ya take a break and let him rest. I'll let ya know how he is later."

"Fine, you do that." Rodney called as he left the infirmary.

-SGA-

Later turned out to be sooner as Carson's concerned voice came over Elizabeth's radio. Rodney had been chewing her out about Sheppard, so she was glad of the distraction. "Elizabeth is Rodney with ya?" When Elizabeth confirmed his presence, Carson continued. "Well, could you both please come to the infirmary?"

Elizabeth felt her heart quicken. "Of course, Carson, we're on our way."

Exchanging a worried look, they headed off as quickly as possible.

Carson was waiting for them as well as Teyla and Ronon. Elizabeth wanted to go over and check on John but the doctor led them straight into his office.

After everyone settled down, Carson came straight to the point. "Sheppard's not at all well. In fact, he's a very sick man and he's growing worse by the hour. We've done loads of tests but they all point one thing, septicemia. If that isn't halted soon, it could lead to septic shock and I think ya all know how dangerous that is?"

Both Rodney and Elizabeth nodded in understanding but Ronon and Teyla looked a little confused. Carson clarified things for them. "It's toxins flooding the body as a result of septicemia which is a result of an infection. I don't think I need tell ya where the infection site started. Now normally, intravenous board spectrum antibiotic treatment for the infection should have cleared up. Unfortunately, it hasn't because we're dealing with a very nasty bacteria which he must have picked up on Dalenia. It kind of reminds me of the Superbug - MRSA - that they're having to deal with back on Earth. We're testing cultures right now to see if any of our antibiotics have any effect but so far, nothing has touched it. We've been kind of worried about something like this happening since we arrived in the Pegasus Galaxy. After all, different worlds different bacteria and viruses."

Carson wiped a hand across his worried brow. "Quite frankly, I'm at a loss to know what to do next. He's burning up so fast that we're having trouble keeping his temperature down despite fever reducing drugs and cooling methods. His immune system is failing because it's being overwhelmed, although it wasn't too healthy to being with."

"Why's that?" Rodney asked.

"Well, it's only been a short while since we nearly lost him to the retrovirus and the treatment for that left his immune system a little under par."

Elizabeth nodded in understanding. "How long are we looking at?"

"Without an effective treatment, maybe thirty six hours, tops."

Elizabeth's eyes misted over and she knew she wasn't alone. "Can we see him?"

"Aye, but he's not really with us at the moment, although talking and giving comfort may help him fight it."

They all went to see Sheppard apart from Rodney who sat lost in deep thought.

TBC

For those of you who predicted that Rodney would find out, you were right. Thanks again for all your great reviews. All medical information was taken from trusty BMA - Complete Family Health Encyclopedia, so if it's wrong blame them.