Chapter 25
One Little, Two Little, Three Little…
He would make sure she stayed dead this time. Fighting the Wraith was like playing a game of Cowboys and Indians: shoot them, count to ten, and wait for them to pop back up ready to play again. Apparently, blasting the back of her head off was just not enough. He scowled right into her face, except the face was not hers. It was a man's with dark hair instead of amber and piercing blue eyes instead of tangerine. The face was very familiar and in a good way.
Voices filtered into his ears as his roar quieted. These calm, yet tense voices spoke or, more accurately, pleaded with him to let Dr. Beckett go. Lucy's cadaverous grin returned and he strengthened his hold. They could play tricks with your head. A deep rumbling voice also asked him to release the doctor. No screaming, no yelling, no panic- except his - and no taunting were in any of the requests.
He could feel hands on him, and once again, not as he expected. They were not fighting with him; they were resting solidly on him from different positions, a sign of comfort and reassurance. Two were around his right wrist trying to loosen his grip. One hand placed just below them with another on his shoulder. Another set of hands was on his left side holding his other shoulder and his left wrist.
"Please Col. Sheppard, it is Dr. Beckett. You must let him go." He recognized Teyla's voice. Teyla did not understand that Lucy would only get back up after counting to ten. Splattering the Queen's brains on the wall did not stop her. He could not let her live.
"Sheppard, let…the…doctor…go." Ronon's voice was right in his ear. He should have understood. Killing Wraith had been a matter of survival for seven years after all. "We don't want to hurt you."
It was the final voice that broke through the murky fugue. He felt a hand rest on his leg and he looked at the person at the foot of the bed.
"Colonel, if you kill Carson, then we'll be stuck with Dr. Biro. You know how much she loves dealing with the live ones. Remember the last time you were in her care? No? Let me refresh your obvious defective memory. She tried to perform an autopsy on you."
"McKay? She won't stop…" Sheppard looked at Lucy only to see Carson turning red. His eyes widened as the rest of the room and people came into focus. He retracted his hand and began shaking. "Doc…I'm…I'm sorry."
He flopped back into the bed. This was…he did not know what this was, but it was bad. For the second time since he had been back, he had attacked Beckett. That would definitely not look good on his permanent record. They would never let him back into Atlantis in this present state of mind.
"Colonel, it is understandable," Teyla said trying to ease his apparently very confused mind. Nothing was making much sense. "You were startled from a bad dream."
"Colonel, we're getting ready to prepare you for surgery to remove the tracking device and to repair the wounds on your chest," Carson rasped out. He kept swallowing and massaging his neck. A nurse stood near him trying to get his hands out of the way so she could see.
"Sheppard, we'll watch your back," stated Ronon and then he swore Ronon hissed.
"What?" Sheppard squeaked. He saw movement from others entering the room. The door, it was the door opening that he had heard hiss. Please God, let that be true.
"This is Dr. Lam and Dr. Singh; they'll be assisting me," Carson said by way of introduction. They nodded at him and he tried to smile charmingly back except Osy stood behind them winking at him. "See you soon," she mouthed. He shrank back towards Ronon who looked like Linus and he could not help it anymore and let out a surprised yell.
"Sheppard!" John looked at the end of the bed at Rodney. "There are no Wraith here. Would I lie to you?"
Sheppard shook his head.
"Then, trust us; trust me."
He swallowed and kept his focus on McKay. "All the way."
"Now that that's settled, let's get that goddamn thing out of you." McKay was intensely focused on him and John did not miss the nervous swallow.
He looked at Teyla, Ronon and back at Rodney and then sighed, "Okay." He could do this. He could trust them to watch his back. That was what family did, right?
"Col. Sheppard, I'm going to give you something to relax you and then we'll wheel you down to the O.R." Dr. Singh walked up to his side and he felt her grab his arm with the IV. His eyes flicked there and Roy stood in her place grinning. "You won't feel a thing,"
Hands held him down as he screamed and he tried to fight them. In mere seconds, grogginess overtook him and he collapsed into the bed. No, he was not on the ship with all the ghosts. He was home and his team was here. They were the people he had been focusing on to keep himself going. They were his anchor. It just took him constantly reminding himself that they were actually here and not so very far away. The ghosts were all in his head, and that sucked on toast because they kept escaping.
"John," Teyla's earthy voice whispered in his ear. "We will be here when you wake up. You are safe."
The lambs giggled in his other ear as the bed started to move, "We like her."
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As Sheppard was wheeled out, Teyla grabbed Beckett's arm. "Doctor, who is the base psychiatrist?"
"A Dr. Meeks. Why, besides the obvious?"
"Have him…"
"Her."
"Have her contact Dr. Heightmeyer. I believe that watching the queen feed on children and others has had more of a drastic effect on him than such an act normally would. It may have to do with the memories brought on by our experience on the Solar Tempest."
Beckett kept looking at the door. "I understand and will relay the information as soon as possible. Right now, let me get the physical taken care of."
She stepped back from him. "Of course, doctor." She watched him hurry from the room and turned back to her teammates where McKay stared at her angrily.
"Teyla!" Rodney emphatically whispered with a hiss. "What are you doing?" His eyes darted up to the observation room where Col. Carter watched the group below her. "Do you want him to stay here?"
"No Dr. McKay, just the opposite. I want him to come back to his true home. Dr. Heightmeyer has the knowledge to help him. I do not know if Dr. Beckett has this knowledge, so I gambled." She walked up to McKay. "Somehow, the queen found this weakness-- it is a sign of strength normally, but in that creature's hand, a weapon."
"You know what Orodi did. You know what he dredged up," McKay accused.
"Not exactly, I have pieced together enough to understand. He is scarred in more ways than the physical. It is still not my place to speculate or share that speculation, especially with so many ears." She looked over her shoulder at the observation room where SG-1 had joined Carter. "Just know, the man that left this room has been exposed to many horrors and he has been on the receiving end of them as well. That man is not the Lt. Col. John Sheppard that was captured on the planet. He will need understanding, patience and strength of conviction if he is to return to us and with us. They were very generous to allow us to stay for two months while he convalesces. I am going to make the most of it and do whatever it takes to make sure he does return." She held her arm out to Ronon to come join them. "He will need all of us."
The teammates stood shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle. "Agreed," said Ronon with unwavering confidence. He looked at McKay.
"Of course I agree, what do you take me for?" He looked at them both. "No, don't answer that. It's just, he's so…" McKay waved his arms around. "…so confused. You have to let us in on what happened. I saw your preliminary report. You left out details, didn't you?"
"Yes. She was vicious and cruel. It is not as if a Wraith Queen is anything but, but she was a singularly vile creature."
"Let us know of anything we need to do or know," Ronon said in his lowest voice.
"Like she's psychic and can see into the future. Teyla the mystic, sees all and knows all," Rodney retorted in an otherworldly voice. "We'll do what needs to be done."
They all exchanged knowing glances before they were interrupted by Col. Mitchell, Dr. Jackson and Teal'c entering the room.
"Hey all, sorry to break up the love fest, but since Lt. Col. Sheppard will be indisposed for awhile, we thought ya might like to take a gander at a slice of Earth life." He continued speaking while ignoring the glares from Atlantis' lead team. Teyla had to admit, her interest was peaked. It was just now was not necessarily the right time. "Dr. Simpson has to run errands for a third of the women in the science division on Atlantis and we thought you might like to tag along."
Teyla, Ronon and Rodney exchanged surprised looks. McKay shook his head. "No, I'll stay here, but if you guys want to get a little taste of Earth…"
"No, we will wait for another day," interrupted Teyla. She had promised Sheppard that they would be there upon his awakening.
"Right. Like we're all going to sulk and skulk around here for the next three or four hours while he's in surgery and recovery? No, I know you two are just dying to get out. I'll call if there's any news." Rodney smiled at his two teammates. "It'll be my part of the contribution to the recovery effort."
Teyla smiled proudly back at Rodney. "It would do us some good to get out. And, I must admit, I am curious about your world."
And, Ronon smiled mischievously. "I feel the need to move and waiting around is not my thing."
Mitchell clapped his hands together and practically cheered, "Good! It's settled then. Come on; let's get you some less conspicuous clothes."
Ronon looked down and pointed to his leather clad self. "What's wrong with this?"
Mitchell laughed, "You'll see."
Jackson also laughed, "This should be fun and informative."
"Is Bates going?" Ronon asked.
"He insisted," replied Jackson while giving Teyla a sideways glance.
Teyla sighed and Ronon nudged her with his elbow. "Good, he can show me the dangers of this world, and I want to check out TV."
"No, no you don't," replied Teal'c. "It is very confusing."
SG-1 herded the Atlantis team out of the room. Teyla looked at Rodney and bowed her head in acknowledgement of his part in their plan to help John. She turned to Mitchell and asked, "Where are we going?"
A gleam entered the colonel's eyes. "Only the happiest place on Earth!"
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"Teyla and Ronon have been introduced to Wally World," Rodney relayed to a really doped-up Sheppard. "They got back just in time to greet you when nurse-zilla rolled you out. I can see why some are called orderlies. They should actually be called bouncers."
Sheppard was healing physically. It had been about three days since his release from the Hive ship and from the clutches of the Queen of the Damned. He was on an antibiotic, an anti-depressant and liquid gruel. There were probably other things going on in and through his body that Rodney guessed the better part of valor restricted him from asking or knowing about. The Rocketman was flying high as a kite, right now.
"Back to Pegasus goes to Wal-mart-- Apparently, Simpson had a list from just about everyone in her section and a few from other sections. I believe some might have even been military. Some of the items, I think we manly men need know nothing about, but other stuff we need to get for ourselves as barter items for the poker games. Snickers are a real valuable commodity, Cheetos too. The cans of Starbucks doubleshots are liquid gold and I'm trying to figure out were to store the cases since they're not part of my official supplies requisition list."
Sheppard blinked slowly and stared at an indistinct point in space. Rodney hoped he was listening. He hoped there would be some kind of interaction with him. The only time the Colonel showed any sign of recognition to outward stimuli was when he was touched. Then he showed recognition with extreme prejudice resulting in bloody noses and black-eyes. To Rodney's infinite sadness, the restraints were still present and very necessary.
The damnable tracking device had been removed with little problem according to Beckett. They had had enough practice with Ronon, Elizabeth, and him so the fourth time should have been a piece of cake. He really hoped that it was the last time for any of them to be tagged like cattle. The other wounds from the feedings and from being poked with claws were repaired with minor surgeries. They had to monitor him to make sure that all organs were functioning correctly and not malfunctioning from the stress of the queen's repeated touch.
The recuperation process was getting under way, as well. Tomorrow, they would start physical therapy once a day so his muscles would not lose anymore tone. Food was going to be reintroduced any day now and boy, was that going to be fun. And to reiterate, they had him hepped-up on goofballs to keep him from killing anyone whether it was on purpose or accidentally when they finally released him from the restraints. Rodney decided this was pure, unadulterated hell watching his friend flounder in a miasma of distantness.
"Ronon was in heaven with all the little samples they hand out. It was late so the store only had a few people in it which meant more for him. Well, that is- empty for Wally World. Bates had to practically stun him and drag his gluttonous ass out of the frozen food section. Then, he found the chips aisle, the bakery section and the cereal aisle-- all the pretty colors distracted him. I think he was hoping to spend the night there."
Sheppard shifted and briefly matched gazes with his friend. It was so quick, McKay almost missed it. Hope fluttered for the briefest of seconds. He exhaled and continued on with his tale.
"Teyla loved all the clothes, the skirts especially, freedom of movement she said. Then, she loved the gardening section and wanted to bring the seeds back to try on the mainland. Unfortunately, that idea was nixed due to contamination of native species or some other such nonsense. Maybe, we can set up something in hydroponics or the greenhouse on Atlantis? I'll have to suggest that at the next meeting."
Sheppard's eyes flicked to different spots for a moment never resting on McKay. It was like he was watching someone else walk around McKay's perch on the stool. Rodney looked around nervously and tried to shake away the willies.
"Both Ronon and she could not be moved from the sporting goods. The fishing rods and reels were a hit. We're surrounded by an ocean with sea life; we should fish. Next, they discovered pool cues and thought they were fighting staffs. Really flimsy fighting staffs-- weapons of the easily breakable kind. Clearly, that's something we need, a pool table. Spent a lot of time using the crappy ones in the basement of the science labs at the University. Maybe, I could become the first Pegasus galaxy pool hall grifter…"
A smile crooked in one corner of Sheppard's mouth. Rodney swallowed and let a small smile play on his face as well.
"You see, Paul Newman and I have the blue eyes in common-- Dr. Rodney McKay, the Hustler. Although, I'd like to keep my fingers intact, thank you very much."
"…y'…wish…" whispered Sheppard. His green eyes found the blue ones of Rodney's for just a second before they returned to that indeterminate point in space.
McKay rubbed his face to hide the emotions surfacing. He could not look up at the observation room where the rest of his team and Carson sat or they would see his traitorous watery eyes. His stomach did the good kind of flip-flop and he continued on with his story.
"Teyla truly fell in love with the personal care aisle and all the hair care products. You know how she's always complaining how unmanageable it is."
This time, he did look up to the smirking faces of Teyla, Ronon and Carson. Teyla wore her obligatory eyebrow arch with a tour de force glare. He was going to pay for that one. It would be worth it though; Sheppard had reacted to something other than touch and it was not followed by a punch. Rodney might have moved himself up the rung from Hell to Purgatory.
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A/N: Well, you have reached the second to last full chapter. There is also a very short epilogue and that will be it folks. The bunnies rejoice at finally being able to do other things besides work on this story. I knew it would be long but did not think it would take months to tell. Alas, it was fun though. Thanks for sticking with it and for all of the feedback.