The voices around him were muffled, as if coming from far away. He couldn't discern who was talking. All he registered was how nice the cold floor felt against his forehead. He would have liked to get up, but his body was refusing to cooperate. So he had no choice but to stay where he was.

"Sheppard!"

"The Wraith? Are they gone?"

"No, Beckett, wait. We might still need you."

"But I need to take care of him."

"Three Wraith ships destroyed. The fourth ship escaped. I think we're safe."

"The damn chair knocked him out cold."

Someone was touching him. "Help me turn him around."

More hands were on him and he was rolled onto his back.

Sheppard let out a moan of protest as he blinked into the light, his headache spiking up a notch or two.

"I'm not unconscious yet," he muttered, squinting. "I sure wish I was, though."

Beckett's slightly worried face came into focus. Ronon and Teyla were there beside him, looking rather relieved to see him awake. McKay was working on a tablet, probably still checking some readings.

"How are ye feeling, lad?" the doctor asked.

"As if someone just knocked me over the head pretty good," Sheppard replied. The face of the doctor became blurry and he closed his eyes. "What happened?"

"I don't know for sure," Beckett said quietly. "But fighting the Wraith like that…" He trailed off.

"Yeah, wonder how I did that," Sheppard muttered.

"You don't know?" Ronon asked, taken aback.

"It was as if the chair had taken over," Sheppard replied, rather subdued.

Once more, he tried to get up, but failed. He hated to ask, but if he didn't want to remain on the floor, he had no other choice. "Could anyone give me a hand?"

Both Ronon and Teyla pulled him into a sitting position. He was actually surprised that he managed to stay that way. He pulled up his knees until he could rest his arms on them, breathing through the wave of dizziness that hit him.

"The Wraith are really gone," McKay announced happily. "And after what you just did to them, I very much doubt they will come back anytime soon."

Sheppard ran a weary hand through his hair. "What I did? Atlantis did that – it wasn't me."

"Oh, yes, it was," McKay disagreed.

"But how?" Sheppard asked. "Are you telling me that two ZPMs make such a difference? If that was true, why didn't the Ancients defeat the Wraith when they had three of them?"

A slight smirk appeared in the corner of the physicist's lips. "If I tell you that, do you promise not to strangle me?"

Sheppard frowned. "Rodney? What did you do?"

"While you were catching up on your beauty sleep, I retrieved the assistant device from MX-650 and plugged it into our system." McKay beamed, looking pretty satisfied with himself.

"You did what?" Sheppard exclaimed, his eyes widening. "The same damn thing that zapped me not only once but twice? Are you insane?"

"It worked, didn't it?" McKay replied smugly. "And you surely wouldn't have dared to use that chair if you'd known about it."

"Damn right, I wouldn't!" Sheppard was seething with anger. "You risked our lives on a hunch?"

McKay shook his head. "Keep your shirt on, John. I used the assisting device to contact Atlantis and she helped me modify the device in such a way that it would help you, instead of zapping you, as you like to call it. It was reasonably safe."

"That's a huge relief," Sheppard replied sarcastically. "So the device was controlling Atlantis?"

McKay let out an exasperated sigh, as if he was forced to talk to a particularly dumb child. "I told you, it was you. The device just helped you focus on the task in a way that you never could without it. So, what was it like being connected to the city like that?"

"Intense," Sheppard muttered. "Almost as if I was the city." A shiver ran through him as he remembered how the exploding Wraith darts had rained down on his body. He wasn't sure he wanted to experience anything like that ever again. "You're going to remove the device, aren't you?"

"Of course," McKay assured him. "I found out that the Ancients never installed the device here, because it seems to have some adverse effects if used too often."

"No kidding," the Colonel commented.

"You should have told us, McKay," Beckett grumbled. "I should at least have set up some monitoring equipment."

McKay ignored him. "The Rahelians need it more than we do. Besides, it's unlikely that any of their people need to operate the chair more than once in their lifetime."

Sheppard grimaced. Though using the chair hadn't been painful this time, it had had quite an unsettling effect on him. His limbs were still refusing to do anything but keep him in a sitting position. He didn't feel quite as wiped out, but still he longed to rest. His head seemed entirely too heavy for his neck muscles and he rested it on his forearms.

"Unplug the second ZPM and the assisting device and see to it that the Rahelian's get both things back," he said tiredly.

"Come on, John," he heard Beckett beside him. "Let's get you back to the infirmary. I need to have a thorough look at you."

Sheppard gave him a wry smile. "Is there any hope that you have that thorough look in my quarters and let me rest there?"

Beckett pursed his lips and shook his head.

Sheppard heaved a sigh. "Didn't think so."

With Beckett's help he managed to get up. When he looked up, the nurse who'd been with him when he'd woken up had already brought a wheel chair. His buckling knees kept him from refusing the offer. So he simply sat down, to out of it to really argue.

Once he was settled, he looked up and saw Tarhan standing in front of him . Teyla and Ronon were close by, still guarding him. The security detail Lorne had installed looked like the proverbial third wheel.

"Before you rest, Colonel, I should apologize," Tarhan said, looking rather crestfallen. "When your friends said that you were our only hope to ever defeat the Wraith, I did not really believe them. But now I know they are right. I am deeply sorry for everything we did to you."

Sheppard nodded. "I know you were just trying to protect your people. We will keep our end of the trade agreement. Your people will receive the gene therapy. And I will talk to our gene carriers about arrangements to ensure that the next generation will carry a natural gene. I can't make any promises on their behalf, though."

Tarhan took a bow before Sheppard. "I understand. We will accept anything you have to offer."

"I am sorry, but we should go now," Beckett said. "I'm sure ye understand that the Colonel needs to rest."

Not waiting for anyone's reply, Beckett grabbed the wheel chair and took Sheppard back to the infirmary.

Beckett's examination had been mercifully quick. And since he hadn't actually found anything wrong with the Colonel, he had indeed allowed him to leave the infirmary after a few hours of observation. Sheppard had spent them catching up on some much needed food and sleep. So his stay in the infirmary had almost been pleasant for once.

When he'd woken up again, the doctor had given him one last check-up and had released him to his quarters. So, a few hours later, Sheppard was walking to his room, feeling better than he had in days. Beckett hadn't yet cleared him for light-duty, but since the next couple of days would mostly be busy with getting all evacuated personal back to the base, he didn't mind terribly that he had to leave that particular task in Lorne's capable hands.

"I see Beckett released you." Teyla's voice startled him out of his musings. He hadn't heard her approach and he hadn't really paid attention to his surroundings. "How are you doing, John?"

"Better," Sheppard said with a smile.

His heart did a little dance as he drank in her beauty and the warm sound of her voice. Her face was positively glowing as she looked at him. There was a stray lock of hair falling into her face that he longed to brush aside. But he didn't. Sometimes, it seemed like his chest wanted to explode with all the feelings he kept hidden there. Sometimes, he thought that sooner or later he was going to choke on all the things he wanted to tell her but couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to burden her with the knowledge of how he felt, when nothing could become of it. So he kept his feelings to himself.

"I hate what the Rahelian's tried to do to you," she said softly. "You have already given so much. It was not fair to ask for more. I was furious when I found you tied to that beam, while…" She trailed off, instinctively knowing that he wouldn't want to talk about it. That was one of the many things he loved about her.

"It's okay," Sheppard said quietly. "They just did what they thought they had to do. And thanks to you, nothing actually happened to me."

"It was not nothing," Teyla insisted. "You should have told us about it the first time they tried to attack you."

He blushed. "Perhaps, I should have." He heaved a sigh. "To be honest, I wasn't quite sure if maybe you'd agree that I should help these people with my gene."

A horrified expression flashes across her face. She shook her head vigorously, but slowed that motion quickly as she seemed to contemplate what he'd just said. Then she laid her hand on his arm in a comforting gesture. She took a step forward and touched her forehead to his in the traditional Athosian greeting.

"I would not dream of asking more of you than you are willing to give, John Sheppard." A faint blush crept across her cheeks. "Sometimes you think too much for your own good."

The End