Rodney lay in a heap on the floor with his eyes closed. Within a few seconds, Sheppard joined him, dropping like a sack of potatoes and successfully bringing down Adair with him. The Texan managed to control the fall somewhat, just barely able to keep the officer from landing on McKay, though it didn't stop Sheppard from gasping as his wounded shoulder was jarred painfully.
Leaping into action, Kelley grabbed Sheppard and eased him back into a prone position. Taking in the large crimson stain covering both the front and back of Sheppard's shirt as well as the unmistakable holes, he called for fresh 4x4 gauze pads.
The semi-conscious colonel groaned and tried to push the doctor away as Kelley applied pressure to the wound. "Hurts."
"Alright, I know it does," Kelly said, trying to sooth the distressed man. "What happened?" he asked the captain.
Adair caught hold of Sheppard's wrist and held his arm out of the way while the doctor stripped off the blood soaked pads and replaced them with a fresh dressing the nurse handed him. "One of the saboteurs shot him, almost point blank."
As Kelley resumed the pressure in an attempt to slow the bleeding, Sheppard moaned again and swore, struggling weakly against Adair's grip on his arm, reaching instinctively toward his injured shoulder. A nurse knelt down and put an oxygen mask on his face, sliding the elastic band around his head to hold it in place. He stopped fighting then, and lay back gasping.
Knowing Sheppard was in the best hands possible, Beckett had slid off his bed to take up a position on the floor beside Rodney, his fingers pressed against the unconscious man's carotid artery. Relieved to find a pulse thrumming against his fingertips, he quickly checked the scientist from head to toe for any telltale bleeding. There were slight wisps of smoke still emanating from some of the tattered remains of his clothing. Catching the captain's glance in his direction, he nodded toward his charge, "Rodney wasn't shot?"
"No." Adair shook his head and then frowned, "At least I don't think so. He beamed us to safety then blew the hell outta the bad guys."
"And himself by the looks of it." Beckett briefly examined the scientist, relieved to see that the majority of the burns looked superficial. He glanced Sheppard who peered back at him blearily.
"He gonna to be okay, Doc?" Sheppard slurred right before his eyes rolled back and his arm went limp in Adair's hand.
Carson nodded his head. "He'll be fine, Colonel," he said quietly as he watched two orderlies appear at Kelley's wave and lift the man carefully onto a gurney. They whisked him into a treatment room, followed closely by the doctor issuing orders to the nurse for blood and various IV medications on the fly.
Once Sheppard was out of sight, Beckett returned his attention to the scientist. "Rodney?" he encouraged, giving the man a light tap on the face, but received no response.
"He was talking a bit right after," volunteered Adair.
"Alright, let's get him onto a bed," said Beckett. Nodding at the Captain to take the scientist's feet, he leaned down to get Rodney's shoulders but had to stop and to lean against the bed when he was hit by a wave of dizziness.
"You okay? Should you be tending to folks?" the Texan asked warily, glancing around the infirmary to see if there was anyone else available who could assist them.
Beckett firmly swallowed down his nausea. "I'm fine, just a little aftereffect of the poison."
Adair studied the pale face a moment. "Begging your pardon, Doc, but you look like death munchin' on a soda cracker to me."
"It's just a little queasiness…"
"And dizziness and a headache by the looks of your face," said the nurse, taking the doctor by the arm and steering him out of the way so that one of Sheppard's returning orderlies could help Adair. As they lifted Rodney onto a bed, the nurse continued to pull Beckett towards a nearby chair. "Just sit down for one minute, will you?" she asked in exasperation when he continued to resist her efforts. He grunted and allowed her to push him into the chair. "You know he's not in any immediate danger, so let us get his clothes off and treat the burns, then you can have your go at him."
She picked up a pair of scissors and walked back over to Rodney and Adair. Nodding a dismissal to the orderly, she caught the captain's eye and tipped her head in Beckett's direction, lowering her voice. "Don't worry, we're keeping an eye on him, too. He's okay so long as he doesn't overexert himself. Now out," she said firmly, drawing the curtains around Rodney's bed before beginning to cut off the charred clothing.
Adair quickly vacated the cubicle and took up residence by Beckett's side. He tucked his hands in his pockets, feeling awkward now that there was nothing for him to do. "When it rains, it pours, huh, Doc?"
"You're not hurt, too, are you?" the doctor asked tiredly, eyeing the captain for any signs of injury.
Adair looked down, apparently realizing for the first time his shirt was covered in Sheppard's blood. "No. Not yet," he amended. "Leastways, not until the commander finds out we blew another hole in his ship…then I may have a few extra holes in me."
Beckett chuckled briefly before his face took on a more serious expression. "We don't have to worry about another attack, do we?"
"Nah, like I said, Dr. McKay there blew 'em all to kingdom come. You'll have to scrape up what's left of them with a stick and a spoon. And good riddance!" he added vehemently.
Beckett nodded wearily in agreement.
Half an hour later, Rodney moaned and began to stir.
From his position on a stool beside the bed, Beckett gave the man's arm a reassuring squeeze, "Rodney? You with us?"
The scientist's eyes blinked open and squinted past his headache, looking around confused at first, then suddenly becoming alert. "Where's Sheppard?"
"In surgery. Dr. Kelley is doing some repair work on that shoulder. Last update said he was stable and there's a good chance there won't be any permanent damage."
Rodney nodded at the news. Suddenly frowning uncertainly, he lifted his sheet and peeked beneath it. His face turned bright red and he quickly tucked it back into place. "Where are my clothes?"
"There's no smoking allowed in my infirmary," chided Beckett with a tired smile.
"What?" blinked the still somewhat dazed scientist.
"Your clothes were still smoldering."
"Oh. Well, could I at least have some scrubs or something? It's a little drafty," he pleaded, giving a sidelong glance of embarrassment at a nurse as she passed by.
Suppressing another smile, Beckett caught her eye and gave her a nod.
She disappeared toward the supply room, returning a few minutes later with a pair of red scrubs and dropping them lightly on the scientist's chest with a wicked grin at his obvious discomfort. McKay was a notoriously bad patient and while she was a consummate professional, she was also human enough to enjoy his embarrassment at being nude in a ward full of people--half of them female at that. "I've seen it all before," she said, just loudly enough for his ears and gave him a wink. She had the pleasure of seeing him turn at least three shades darker crimson before she vacated the area.
Rodney made a grab for the curtain, missing it by a good six inches. Beckett reached over, pulling the screen around the bed and helped steady the scientist as he slid to the floor to slip into the scrubs.
"Teyla and Radek?" asked Rodney, trying to untangle himself from the IV line he didn't remember getting, while letting Beckett help him back into bed. He settled against the pillows with a relieved sigh that wasn't entirely due to aching muscles.
"Teyla's doing fine, though it will take a few weeks for her lungs to completely recover."
Rodney cocked his head at him. "Radek," he asked, concerned that Beckett hadn't put him in the same category as Teyla.
The doctor sighed and wearily sat down again on the stool, "He seems to be out of danger."
"Seems to be?"
"The coolant caused inflammation of his epiglottis, limiting his ability to breathe or swallow. We're keeping a close eye on him but he's stable for the time being."
McKay absorbed the information for a minute. "Adair?"
Beckett snorted in amusement. "Not a scratch on him. He's sitting with Colonel Caldwell at the moment. He did want to see you when you woke up though. If you feel up to it?"
"Yeah, sure." Rodney stopped examining his creamed-smeared arms and scooted up a little higher on the pillows.
"Alright, I'll get him." Standing stiffly, he stifled a groan and hobbled to the edge of the fabric enclosed cubical.
"Hey um, how are you doing?" the scientist asked as he suddenly remembered the doctor's condition the last time they had been together.
Beckett paused, hand on the curtain's edge. "I'm quarrelsome and too contentious for my own good, or so my staff informs me." He gave Rodney a brief, weary smile before sliding the curtain out of the way and walking over to hold a brief conversation with Adair.
Once concluded, Beckett walked slowly toward his office and disappeared through the door only to reappear a few seconds later escorted by a petite, dark-haired, scolding nurse. Rodney could hear her berating her boss as they passed, insisting that he return to his quarters and get some rest. Beckett opened his mouth to argue several times but the nurse never paused for breath. Once they reached the infirmary door, she finally stopped talking and stood looking up at him, her head cocked and hands on her hips. Her eyes dared him to make a comment. Barely as tall as his chest, her fierce demeanor more than made up for any lack in height.
He opened his mouth once more, but she cut him off before he could even get started. "I already told you we'd send for you if anyone's condition takes a turn for the worse." She pointed to the door. "Now out." Beaten, he gathered his shredded dignity about him and shuffled out the infirmary door, finally headed for his own bed.
In the meantime, the Texan had arrived at Rodney's bedside and was chuckling at the scene until the nurse suddenly turned and pinned them both with an intense glare. The smile instantly melted off Rodney's face and he pulled the blanket a little higher on his chest as if it would afford some sort of protective shield against her ire as she approached. Adair's grin only grew wider as she glared up at him.
"Something amusing, Captain?"
Adair cleared his throat and made a sorry attempt to wipe the grin off his face. "No, ma'am"
"Are you injured?" her tone was deceptively concerned. Rodney was almost tempted to warn the man, but not at the risk of his own neck.
"No, ma'am."
"And I suppose you want to wait here until Colonel Sheppard is out of surgery?"
"Yes, 'em."
"Then I suggest you sit down, be quiet, and stay out of trouble, or you'll be the next one out that door," she said, pointing in the direction their wayward chief surgeon had gone.
"Yes, ma'am," agreed Adair, dropping into the chair without so much as a backward glance as to its location.
She thrust a piece of fabric at him and then gave them both a calculating squint of her eyes before heading back towards Beckett's office.
Adair watched her disappear through the door with a smitten look on his face before looking at the item she had handed him. He grinned and stripped off his blood stained shirt, exchanging it for the clean scrub top before turning his attention back to Rodney. "I didn't give you enough credit, Doc," he said. "You're made out of stronger stuff than I thought."
"That means so much to me coming from a man who clearly got his education from watching far too many episodes of Hee-Haw!"
The scientist's tone was caustic but Adair now knew better than to take Rodney's comments at face value, so his grin only grew larger at the acidic response as he clasped his hands behind his head and leaned the chair back against the wall. "Yes sir, that show did have a few good things for a young boy to admire while growing up." He cocked his eyes sideways towards the scientist. "And I'm not talking about the singing."
Rodney rolled his eyes in disgust.
oOo
The next day, Teyla was moved into the general ward, though she was still being given breathing treatments every few hours. The Athosian bore the whole thing with her usual stoic attitude.
While Rodney wasn't exactly glad the woman had been injured, it was nice to know she wasn't bullet-proof--so to speak. In the past, her agility and fighting skills had often left her without so much as a scratch and free as a bird while the rest of them were forced to undergo various voodoo treatments under Carson's watchful eye in the infirmary.
Beckett showed up around noon, clean shaven and looking much better than he had the day before. He sent an exhausted Kelley and several of the other medical staff to their own beds -- the diminutive martialette included, Rodney was happy to note.
Though Sheppard remained in ICU, Beckett assured them all that he was doing well, and barring any complications, would be moved to the general ward within the next day or two. Elizabeth's cheerful attitude when she visited all of them reinforced that belief.
Caldwell awoke late that afternoon, testily demanding to see his second in command. Beckett allowed Adair a short visit, taking the captain aside beforehand and forbidding him from mentioning anything more than that the saboteurs had been ferreted out and there was no longer any danger of further attacks on the ship or its personnel.
The doctor hovered nearby and intervened when Caldwell began to press his officer too hard for more details, sending Adair out of the infirmary despite the colonel's protests. Beckett easily won the argument that ensued, which only served to prove that Caldwell was still much weaker than he wanted to admit.
oOo
Sheppard and Zelenka were moved into the main ward two days later. The latter remained on oxygen, and though the intubation tube had been removed, his throat was still too sore to speak more than a few whispered words. Rodney and Teyla had been released the previous day. The Athosian was given strict instructions to return to the infirmary regularly for her breathing treatments and was prohibited in participating in any activity that would place too great a strain on her healing lungs. When Rodney had begun nagging the doctor mercilessly for his laptop, he was told to just go before Beckett did something he would regret.
When Rodney found out Radek had been moved out of the ICU, he returned with an extra laptop to go over some of the data, still trying to pinpoint the exact times and dates when the sabotage occurred..
"Three, then" the Czech whispered painfully as he compared the data on his laptop with McKay's.
"Rodney," snapped a voice behind him, the 'r' burred slightly. "You pestered me until I released you and now you're right back here, disturbing my patients." Beckett pulled the device out of Zelenka's slightly resisting hands and handed it to Rodney who had to juggle his own computer to keep from dropping it.
"I'm not disturbing anyone," the scientist huffed, balancing act achieved. "Radek, am I disturbing you?"
"Don't answer that." Beckett quickly held up a hand to forestall any reply from the Czech. "He shouldn't be talking at all," he told Rodney, his voice tightly clipped.
"You said he was fine," replied the scientist, apparently oblivious to Radek's pale, drawn face.
Beckett narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "I said he would be fine."
"Look, this is important stuff we're discussing here…"
"Marian," called Beckett, loudly.
Rodney caught sight of a small black-haired head as it poked up from among the medical personnel and looked around. "Um, on second thought, we can take this up later, when you're feeling better," he said hastily, making for the door.
Zelenka sighed in relief and leaned back against his pillow. "Díky," he rasped.
"I said 'no talking'," admonished the Doctor sharply, but then gave him a kindly pat on the shoulder and a small smile. "But you're welcome."
oOo
Sheppard found himself confined and bored in Beckett's lair. If it hadn't been for Rodney's impromptu visits that miraculously coincided with when Carson went on break, or Dex bearing coffee for his team leader, while totally ignoring the hostile glares sent his way from the medical personnel; the dark-haired man would have attempted to jump ship a long time ago. Now dressed in his own grey sweats and t-shirt courtesy of McKay, he swung his feet over the side of his bed, adjusted his sling so that it didn't pinch the back of his neck, and took in the latest in today's Caldwell/Adair entertainment.
"Let me get this right, Captain." Caldwell's tight glare pierced his second in command, his anger barely in check. "You blew up my ship… AGAIN?"
Sheppard cringed from his vantage point in the opposite corner of the infirmary as the Daedalus's commander proceeded to rip Adair a new one. About this time, Weir and Rodney entered the infirmary. Taking one quick glance towards the two men, they held a short discussion, then wisely chose to ignore the scene and proceeded to Sheppard's bedside. He noticed Rodney still looked a little singed around the edges, especially his eyebrows, which Beckett had assured the panicked man would grow back. But overall, the scientist had walked away from the entire ordeal with only a few minor burns courtesy of a certain little Asgard and his amazing machine.
"How are you feeling?" Elizabeth asked, taking in her own second-in-command's pale appearance and sling.
"I feel fine," was his automatic response.
She raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Rodney snorted, "You look like death warmed over."
Shifting his shoulder, he grimaced slightly and then grinned. "Okay, it hurts a little. But doc says if I behave myself I can probably be released in a day or two."
The noise of Caldwell's ranting increased and Weir made a concerted effort not to look in that direction. Rodney had no such compunction. "Wow, poor guy."
"Yeah, poor guy." Sheppard glanced in the captain's direction to see Adair standing at attention and staring straight ahead with no expression on his face. But on closer inspection, he could have sworn that he could see the Texan's eyes twinkling and remembered what the Captain had said earlier when they had first been working to free Caldwell. Knowing the officer could take care of himself, the colonel decided it was time for a little revenge of his own for Rodney's 'death warmed over' crack. He shook his head sadly and released an exaggerated sigh, "Especially since, technically speaking, it was you who blew up the Daedalus this time."
The scientist momentarily froze and then flicked a worried glance at Sheppard. "He, um, hasn't mentioned that, has he?"
"Not yet, but there's still time," he needled, enjoying the look of terror that briefly crossed Rodney's face. The scientist's antipathy towards the military was as well-known as Weir's, but there was something about Caldwell that seemed to actually intimidate the scientist, an unusual occurrence seeing how it was usually Rodney doing the intimidating…well, except maybe in the case of one Colonel Samantha Carter. Sheppard smiled.
"Now I want to know exactly how this latest explosion happened." Caldwell ordered, his anger radiating across the room.
"Uh-oh," Sheppard quipped, grinning at McKay.
The scientist turned a shade paler than his friend. "I, uh, have some things in the lab I need to take care of," he said suddenly but realized there was no way he'd make it across the infirmary in time.
"That's enough of that!" snapped Beckett as he strode through the infirmary towards the Daedalus officers.
"Saved by the Beckett," murmured Sheppard to Rodney. The scientist took a relieved breath and headed towards the door, escaping while he had the opportunity. Weir gave Sheppard a wink and made her way out as well.
"This is an infirmary, not a bloody pub," the doctor continued, rubbing his temples. The poison had left him with a nagging headache, though he was back to normal otherwise. "You!" he said, pointing a finger at Adair, "Out!" He turned his attention to Caldwell not even looking to see if the captain was following his orders. "You, get some rest!" he said more quietly but no less emphatically.
"Doctor…" began Caldwell.
"Not another word," insisted the Scot. "In fact," he looked around the infirmary, taking in the multitudes of visitors for all the injured Daedalus crewmembers and the noise level they were creating, "the whole lot of you can leave right now."
Here was his chance for escape. Slipping off his bed and attempting to blend in with the visitors, Sheppard found himself stopped when a hand dropped on his good arm.
"Not you," growled the familiar brogue from behind him.
He had the good grace to look guilty but it didn't stop him from pouring on the charm.
"You said you wanted everyone to leave," he said innocently.
"Bed. Now," replied the Scot.
Hmmm…let's see …whumped Caldwell, Beckett, Teyla, Zelenka, Sheppard, & Rodney. Did we miss anybody? Oh, and we blew a few new holes in the ship as well as a couple of saboteurs to bits for good measure. Yep, that should just about do it. No? Okay, stay tuned then, one more chapter to go.
Oh, and one more thing, we are writing for two. Don't forget to feed us.
