A/N: Your reviews make me smile big time. There's massive satisfaction (not to mention relief) knowing each and every chapter is being enjoyed. You make the muses sing, then go to all you can eat buffets where they plot and scheme, which in turn provokes them into giving me ideas for future stories. Blast those all you can eat buffets! And blast me thinking about them when I'm hungry!
10
John couldn't stop shaking, and it was making the rails of the bed rattle.
" Can't you do something about it, doc?"
Beckett seemed more preoccupied with taking Sheppard's pulse via the wrist than listening. " Not as of yet, lad, sorry." He released John's wrist, and John wrapped his arms around his chest in a self-hug to preserve warmth. Cool infirmaries topped the list of reasons why scrubs were so despised. Today was particularly arctic, and it made John wonder what hard-to-pronounce chemical Carson was trying to preserve.
" You starting to rent this place out as a meat locker, doc?"
Beckett flashed a short-lived grin. John rubbed his hands up and down his arms, but didn't feel the effects.
" But... Seriously, doc, I'm not talking about the cold. My head's killing me. Why the hell is it killing me? Can't you fix it?"
Carson, perusing his chart, looked up. His face was like a picture book – open in its honesty and sympathy. " I don't know John. I don't know anything yet."
John's shivering was now more than simply him being cold. His heart felt like it was cowering against his ribs, pressing into them, trying to squeeze through and away from the growing knot of dread in his chest. " Doc, it hurts... it hurts so much..." he was pleading, not listing symptoms. " I – I can't..."
Anger flashed cold in Carson's eyes, and it made John's heart lurch.
" Don't," Carson stated like a Drill Sargent's command. " You can, lad. Of course you can. You've been through worse. I've saved ya through worse. You will not die, and by heaven you will not give up. Since when do you give in? When have you ever given in?" Carson's eyes softened back to sympathy. " You'll be all right lad. You're almost there."
John stilled. " Where?"
" Where do ya think? You've always had a goal, John. It's always been about that goal."
John nodded numbly. " The reason. But... What was... the reason again?"
Carson gave John a sad smile. " You already know. You're almost there."
John thought. Faces without names. But they had names.
John cleared his throat. " Home."
SGA
John peeled his eyelids apart, and from his angle on the ground, curled on an unrelenting surface that seemed to crush his bones, he saw the faces. Faces without names. But they had names. Or did. Or should. No, they have names. John liked the faces. They made him feel... feel... something good, like safety, like warmth. and though their presence made his head throb and swim, he couldn't stop staring at them. He wanted to remember, but even if he couldn't – no big deal. As long as the faces remained, he didn't care. He liked the way they made him feel, the flitting images that sometimes darted to and from his mind. Nothing bad there. Good things, all good.
Home. Home? Something about home, except he couldn't quite recall home. Shiny place, he thought. These people, these faces, emphasized home. Knew home. Were home?
Home...
John's eyes slid closed, but not before he coughed.
SGA
Kace was a conditioned man, and missing one night of sleep had about as much affect on him as a drop of water had on moistening the entire world. He took full watch while Sheppard's four friends interchanged watch. To watch Kace, of course. Trust wasn't going to be won overnight, but Kace didn't care. He had an aunt who used to say that the greatest gift and bane of a telepath was a constant understanding for everyone's plight, faults, and purposes. These people had trust issues with good reason, so no reason what so ever for Kace to take offense. Simple laws of the wild applied here – you leave them alone, they leave you alone. Since he wasn't a threat, wouldn't become a threat, trust would manifest eventually. And even if it didn't, as long as they let him go on his pleasant way after this fiasco, it was no never-mind to him.
Besides, Sheppard trusted him. It may not have seemed like much considering the man's state, but it had been a trust that had to be earned, which meant something – don't take it for granted. Kace had rarely known absolute trust, and found it rather flattering.
Reclined against a tree with legs stretched out toward the dead fire, one ankle crossed over the other, Kace studied the four plus Sheppard. They called the man Colonel sometimes, John at other times. A basic scan showed him a complete name of military rank significance; Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. Delving deeper, Kace found what his curiosity had been pushing for, namely the man's story. He was a leader, team leader, military leader, protector of a whole city. That alone pulled Kace even deeper into the minds of these team mates. He saw Sheppard through their eyes, their opinions. He was liked, trusted, respected... loved, like a friend and a brother.
The Athosian woman – Kace knew of the Athosians, but only the name from snatches of conversation. She held no pretenses, hid very little if anything at all. She knew hardship, and was a well grounded individual because of it, taking in joy where she could, sorrow when she had to, and always cherishing friendship. Her joy over Sheppard's return stayed strong, but hand in hand with it was a painful sorrow for what had happened to him, and what it had done to him.
The man like Sheppard, the one who called him sir – Lorne - a lesser ranking man under Sheppard's authority, was more reserved in his emotional reactions. He tempered them, but couldn't hide them. He was shocked, surprised, but he was relieved. He harbored a mountain of respect for Sheppard, and was anxious to get him home where he belonged.
The Satedan - Kace knew a Satedan when he saw one, and not through mind scanning. He'd met one once, a survivor, had listened to his story, seen the mental images of the destruction of that world, and had carried that man's story with him since. Too bad that man was dead. This one might have liked to have met him. This one still longed for remnants of home, listened without seeming to to rumors and small talk concerning anything of his world. He would jump on those rumors should they come, but never at the expense that would cost him one of this team. He had nearly died getting himself and the scientist off of a hive ship. At this moment, the Satedan was the one awake, so Kace could not let his gaze linger on him for long, because the man had a glare that could crack rock. Kace didn't have to probe deep. Only one emotion vibrated from the man hot as magma, and that was anger. Whatever his outward attitude toward Sheppard on any given 'normal' day, he held the man in regard as a brother. Sheppard's suffering stoked the rage enough that had it been a real heat, it would have melted the skin off Kace's bones.
Kace grinned as he pictured this man being let loose into Harl's home. Kace wasn't a violent man, but the destruction would have been a sight to remember.
The scientist, the one called McKay, now there was a mind that sucked Kace in. He was a funny little man. Brilliant, and because of it, arrogant. He wore intelligence and the superiority it sometimes gave him like armor. But armor had its flaws, chinks, and his had many. He tried to be a man of cold realism, of hard facts, dooms-day logic, and pure pessimism (though the latter he seemed more than willing to forgo, just didn't know how to). He thought himself comfortable in the fact that no one ever understood him. Problem was, he was thinking along the lines of understanding in terms of science and knowledge. Him as a person – flawed and faulty, callous sometimes but generally good in the long run – he didn't even consider. Most people saw him only on the surface, only a few looked beneath it. His team mates, for one. Kace knew this from their own minds. McKay might annoy them, but they still called him friend. Sheppard for another, and was the best at it. Had to be, because McKay was aware of it, and whether he liked it or not, Sheppard was the only person he acknowledged as his friend.
It was a friendship he pretended to fight. Why? Long story there. Friends were rare as rain in the desert for this little scientist. When they came, half the time they were lost since McKay wasn't too fond of getting attached to anything in the fear of losing it. Sheppard hadn't let that happen, and pushed his friendship on Rodney whether he liked it or not. McKay's biggest secret – he did like that friendship. He mocked Sheppard, and Sheppard mocked back. He spat sarcasm and Sheppard shielded with clever teasing. McKay threw everything he had at the Colonel, and the Colonel still referred to him as 'pal'. McKay could say 'I hate you' until the universe imploded, and Sheppard would still give the title of best friend to McKay. McKay couldn't help but like it, he just wouldn't ever admit it out loud, not if he could help it.
Kind of an odd friendship in Kace's point of view, which was why it must be working out so well.
McKay's reaction to all of this was something Kace had to pick through. There was confusion, uncertainty, anger. The scientist was having a hard time grasping his friend's sudden reemergence into the land of the living. Kace had picked up remnants of anger toward Sheppard – one, for having 'supposedly' died trying to take on the hive ships, and two for miraculously showing up on what McKay considered to be a random time on a random world. McKay seemed to like anger, and Kace knew why. Sorrow hurt, and no one liked to hurt. Except that McKay was sorrowing, he just wouldn't let himself realize it, or feel it. So he urged anger on to keep out the hurt. It was honed, though, on Sheppard's tormentors. Very honed. He probably would have aided the Satedan in tearing Harl's head off by holding him down.
This team, these four people, they were good people, and Kace wondered if Sheppard realized what he had. He must have, since memories revealed a man willing to die for them. So willing that here he was, wasted and fragmented, touching death's shadow, and eventually death if they didn't get him home in time. Kace looked at Sheppard wrapped like a sack in the blanket, curled and listless as he slept. The seizure had drained the man. He'd overdone it trying to grasp the memories the faces sent crashing through his brain. The attempt had his brain short-circuiting into overload, taking his body down with it, in his desperation to recall. But there was no fear. There was contentment, an actual wave of peace that made Kace smile.
He'd been right about the man. He'd been worth saving.
SGA
Teyla glanced back over her shoulder at John when he started up another round of lung expelling coughs. He was leaning all his weight against Ronon, which in all truth wasn't much weight to bare for the bigger man. Ronon kept his hand on John's arm to hold him up as they trudged through the woods with its spongy carpet of moss hidden obstacles. Kace led the way, with Lorne taking up the rear. It would take the majority of the day to reach the ring, Kace had told them, and didn't seem happy about it, especially when he looked at Sheppard.
Their way was meandering, skirting these 'presences' Kace talked of, which she assumed to be the soldiers hunting them. The further they went, the more labored the Colonel's breathing became, and the amount of coughing increased.
John coughed again, gasping in wheezing breaths. Teyla stepped up her pace to catch up with Kace.
" Why is he like this today?" she asked. " He was not this poorly off yesterday."
Kace looked at her solemnly. " That last seizure knocked him wide and his body isn't too happy about it. It's weakened him, helped the infection turn into sickness." Kace then furrowed his brow. " You've got some kind of gift, right? Not strong but... something. Didn't look into it too deep seeing as how it was none of my business. Got any wide range sensory ability?"
" Only if wraith are present."
Kace's brow smooth. " Ah, that's right, Athosian. I heard someone say something about that little gift. Damn. Would have been nice to have another brain help keep watch. It gets a little tiring after a time, stretching my awareness..."
They heard someone's footsteps falter, and slowed, glancing back to see Ronon pulling Sheppard back to his feet. Teyla immediately turned to go help, only to have Rodney beat her to it.
" I got him," he said. He took Sheppard's arm to drape around his shoulder, Ronon following suit, both men taking all of John's meager weight so he barely had to walk at all.
" You've got quite a team there, friend Teyla," Kace said. Teyla smiled, looking back to Kace.
" I know."
The day aged, and breaks were far and few between. When the next moment for rest came, Ronon and Rodney gently set John to the ground, lying prone on a bed of moist, soft leaves and moss. They drank water, had a brief lunch, then readied to set off.
Rodney and Ronon took Sheppard's arms to lift him onto legs that wouldn't support him. The Colonel was limp as a rag, eyes barely open, breath rattling to and from his lungs. Gently, as though Sheppard were made of glass, Ronon gathered the emaciated body into his arms. Teyla adjusted John's head to rest against the runner's broad shoulder rather than let it hang limp from the neck, and lifted the ragged hood to cover Sheppard's eyes from the daylight.
" You know Sheppard hates it when you do that," Rodney said.
" Doubt he'll even know it happened," Ronon rumbled in reply.
They set off again, the day fading, going from golden noon to graying twilight. Ronon grunted. " He's shaking, bad."
Teyla fell back to walk along side the Satedan and placed her hand on John's forehead hidden under the hood. It was burning hot to the touch.
" We're almost there," Kace announced. " So don't worry. Well, worry a little. The hard parts just beginning. And whatever you do, don't talk."
The increasing darkness of the forest became their cover as they approached the clearing where the gate rose up; solitary perfection in the mis-matched wild. They stopped within the tree line and crouched behind a mess of shrubs, parting the branches to see through to the gate. The guards were shadow figures – five in all – milling about while talking in soft murmurs.
" So when's this change of guard supposed to happen?" McKay whispered.
" Probably already has," Kace whispered back. " In which case, it'll be two hours before the next. If not, then we need to move fast. Three guards will go, leaving two behind until the next five arrive." Even in the darkness, Teyla was able to discern Kace's face twisting in concentration. " Wait... All right, we got here just in time. Five minutes, then the change. The short one won't stop thinking about it. Seems he's got a girl waiting for him or something. After the three leave, we need to wait two minutes, then attack. Get some good distance between us and the thug squad. We'll only have five to six minutes total before the replacements arrive."
Ronon carefully set John on the ground. He pulled his weapon from off his shoulder to hand it to Rodney. Rodney eyed the weapon, then Ronon, then back to the weapon.
" W-what...?"
" Take it. I won't be able to use it. It's already on stun, so don't worry about killing anyone. Just worry if you accidentally stun one of us."
Rodney kept eying both like he was being offered a jar full of diseases. " B-b-but..."
" McKay," Ronon growled, and Teyla could sense his glare more than see it. Rodney grabbed the gun, holding it out as though it might try to turn on him. Ronon regathered John, adjusting him so his head ended up back on Ronon's shoulder.
Kace turned to face them all, grinning with teeth flashing through the darkness. " Time to play."
SGA
Ronon didn't like this arrangement. Not being unarmed. That was only a minor annoyance in the long run, and Ronon knew how to use his hands for a quick kill. But those hands were occupied carrying Sheppard, which wasn't a big deal in itself, except that anyone who took a shot at Ronon would more than likely end up hitting Sheppard. Then there was Rodney, armed with a weapon he had no idea how to use. It was like that time Sheppard had put a sign on McKay's back that read 'kick me', only now it was a gun screaming 'shoot him!'
If a firefight ensued, Ronon would be hard pressed on protecting both men. He would have considered getting that Kace guy to carry Sheppard – he looked strong enough to – but Ronon didn't trust him enough for that. Truthfully, Ronon didn't trust anyone else to do it. Kace for already mentioned reasons, and everyone else because they wouldn't last long, even with Sheppard barely weighing anything.
They were going to have to run.
Kace, Teyla, and Lorne darted out first, with Lorne and Teyla firing into the air and shouting for the two remaining guards to drop their weapons, then to drop to the ground. The two young soldiers were quick to comply, tossing their guns and kneeling to the ground. Kace shoved them the rest of the way, binding their hands behind them and their feet together with bits of rope and cloth. He pulled them away from the gate as Lorne dialed and Teyla readied the IDC. The guards dispatched without any real violence, Ronon and Rodney emerged from hiding and ran to the gate.
Ronon nearly dropped Sheppard when the Colonel's wasted body convulsed in a fit of violent coughs. He sucked in a shuddering, ragged breath that took more effort than it should have, and went still.
" Hurry it up!" Ronon snarled. Lorne already hit the last symbol, and the gate rushed to life, punching out like a fist of crystal liquid. It barely began congealing when gunfire ripped through the air, bullets pinging off the gate and DHD. Everyone cringed with nothing to duck behind. Shots interchanged with the gunfire as three men came rushing toward the team.
Ronon turned away enough to keep any stray bullets from hitting Sheppard. Lorne and Teyla returned fire, Teyla shouting into the radio at her ear. McKay had Ronon's gun lifted, firing, missing, and cussing himself out for it. Ronon had to hand it to the scientist – he'd come a long way in focusing his anger for a more useful purpose. When a stun blast caught one of the soldiers, knocking him down with McKay mumbling a "serves you right, you punctual SOB", it made Ronon grin.
Sheppard would be proud.
" The shield is down!" Teyla cried over the onslaught of weapons barrage. " Go through now!"
Lorne laid cover fire, and the group darted into the event horizon, Ronon being hustled through first, clutching Sheppard's shivering frame tight. They careened through the wormhole, and the moment Ronon stepped out onto the smooth metal floor of Atlantis, he whirled around to witness the rest of the team following through; Rodney, Kace, Teyla, and a few seconds later a panting Lorne. All accounted for and then some, Ronon bellowed for the shield to be raised. The prismatic energy-field blinked on.
Ronon had paused only long enough for assurances. He turned to start moving toward the stairs when Elizabeth met him half-way, eyes tight with trepidation, but reactions controlled.
" What's going on? What happened?"
Sheppard's trembling had been joined by panting, wheezing breaths, increasing the coughs. " No time," Ronon growled, and maneuvered around Weir to continue with his goal. He was stopped by a hand on his arm.
" Specialist Dex! Where are you going? Who is that?"
Ronon turned on her, staring down at her, urgency grinding out his anger. " Dr. Weir..." he said low, dangerously. Not that he would do anything against this woman, never even if his life depended on it, but it wasn't his life that was the problem. Sheppard needed help.
" Ronon," Rodney interrupted. He hurried over to the runner, stopping on his other side. McKay looked at Dr. Weir, then at the man cradled in Ronon's arms. He He reached up and tugged back the hood.
Weir gasped with her hand shooting to her mouth and stumbled a step back. " Oh my gosh...!"
Enough hesitating. Ronon started up again, almost at a run, negotiating the corridors until he came to the infirmary. He did not stop – or acknowledge the looks of speechless shock – until he came to the nearest bed and lowered Sheppard onto it. He stepped back a ways. He was done, but he didn't leave, and wasn't planning to just yet.
Dr. Beckett was by the bed the moment Ronon had stepped back, and for a moment it seemed as though the doctor had forgotten what it was he was supposed to do. He just stood there, staring, and Ronon was about to bark the doctor into action when Beckett finally started up like a machine.
" Bloody hell... someone get an I.V. ready and help me get these clothes off him..."
Beckett's aids surrounded the bed until Sheppard was completely obscured from view. Ronon, keeping an appropriate distance, circled around, craning his neck to see. He witnessed them cutting then tearing away the ragged shirt, getting to the body of skin and bones that was bruised, bloody, and scabbed. Beckett had his stethoscope on, listening to the Colonel's heart.
Sheppard moaned, coughed, and moaned again. His head moved, his eyelids fluttered, and suddenly snapped wide. Sheppard screamed, and with a strength that shouldn't have been possible, jerked upright with a cry of mad terror. Hands grabbed him to try and push him down, so Sheppard struggled, writhing, pushing, squirming, thrashing, panicked as a diseased animal.
" Colonel Sheppard!" Beckett called, his arm wrapped around Sheppard's chest, pushing as Sheppard pulled. " Colonel Sheppard! Lad, calm down! You're all right! You're in the infirmary!"
Sheppard's struggles intensified. His arm lashed out to strike a nurse in the face with his elbow. He swung, intending to smash another face with his fist, only the nurses were quick to duck it. Sheppard screamed, and within the scream Ronon thought he could hear a no, over and over again, almost pleading. He kept trying to strike out while jerking forward to break free of the restraining limbs. He lowered his head to bite the nearest arm, which happened to be Beckett's, and the doctor became the one who screamed.
Ronon didn't care if it was getting in the way. He hurried over and joined the effort in pushing Sheppard down onto the bed. With his strength in the mix, Sheppard slowly descended though he bucked and writhed. The moment his head hit the pillow, the nurses pinned his arms as Ronon put his weight on Sheppard's thin shoulders. The nurses strapped the restraints around Sheppard's wrists. Beckett, his arm bleeding, filled a syringe and plunged it into the crook of Sheppard's arm. Sheppard shook with coughing, sucked in air, and screamed with back arched until his ribs looked ready to rip through the skin.
Then, finally, his body slammed down onto the bed. Gasping became panting, and despite his struggles, Sheppard's eye lids slid closed.
The infirmary fell into a state of unnatural silence. Breathing hard, Beckett looked at Ronon.
" T-Thanks," he rasped, pale and ever so slightly shaking.
Ronon inclined his head and said nothing. He looked at the breakable body he had forced down, and wondered – distantly – what injury he made worse. Even sedated, Sheppard still shook, and his eyes were tight in an expression of pain.
Ronon was impressed. It never mattered how scrawny Sheppard got, the man always had a reserve of strength somewhere.
Above that, Ronon was pissed.
Sheppard had been right there, under their noses, tortured and tormented as the team sifted through Ancestor junk. And that wasn't right.
Ronon turned and stalked from the infirmary. No use staying, Sheppard was in better hands. The moment he stepped out of the infirmary doors, he stopped. Everyone was there, waiting, Weir included, plus that Kace guy who quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at him. Ronon wasn't the doctor and wasn't in the mood to make assurances. That was Beckett's department. But he did turn his attention to Rodney.
" Not so stupid going to that world, was it?" he asked.
Rodney smiled nervously and shrugged sheepishly. " Um... No... I guess not."
TBC...
SGA
A/N: Now, on to the recovery, which is usually the other half of the whumping fun. If I did well enough, there should be many tear-jerking moments. And, since writing wise I'm nearing the end, I'm going to increase updates to two a week, maybe more. So keep an eye out.
