Carson sat in front of the computer screen in the medical lab, reading the latest results from his retrovirus experiments. Thanks to the information he'd found in the Wraith complex two months ago, he'd made steady progress improving on his initial design to correct the genetic flaws caused by the Wraith mutations to the underlying human DNA.

It could work, he thought. He finished reading the report and sat back on the stool. His longshot idea of curing the Wraith could actually work.

"Doctor Beckett?" Sharon called from the doorway.

"Ahh, Sharon, love, you're just in time," Carson said with a smile. "I have the latest results from the retrovirus tests." He pointed to the computer.

Sharon walked into the lab and glanced at the computer. "Do you really think it's going to work?" she asked.

"Well, these are still simulations," Carson replied. "And there is still work to be done. But if everything goes to plan, we might be ready to test the retrovirus on a Wraith in another few months."

Sharon frowned and stepped back from the computer. "That soon? I thought you said the retrovirus was still a year or more away from live trials."

"That was before everything we found at that Wraith compound," Carson replied. "The medical information we brought back was the key. If we hadn't found that, it's possible the retrovirus never would have worked. Wraith DNA is far more complex than I first imagined."

He paused and glanced at the sequencer in the corner of the lab. "It's no wonder my first attempt failed," he continued in a near whisper as memories of Sheppard transforming into a hybrid Wraith played in his mind.

"Anyway," Carson said, shaking himself out of the memory. "Was there something you needed?"

"Doctor Weir called. Major Lorne and his team are coming back from M4X-405."

"They've only been gone a few hours," Carson said with a worried frown and stood from the stool. "What happened?" he asked.

He walked into the main infirmary and found David had a gurney prepped. Jason handed him the medical kit, and Carson looped the strap over his shoulder as he followed David out of the infirmary.

"It sounds like Corporal Resnik had an allergic reaction to some of the plants," Sharon reported as they stepped into the transporter.

"Is he conscious?" Carson asked.

"He was when Major Lorne made contact with us."

"Why does Evan think it was an allergic reaction?" Carson asked as they hurried down the hallway to the gateroom.

"Major Lorne reported some sort of rash covering Corporal Resnik's arms and face," Sharon replied.

Carson grimaced as he hurried into the gateroom. The 'gate was active, and Elizabeth nodded to him even as she continued to speak over the radio.

"Doctor Beckett and his team are ready and waiting, Major. You're clear to return to base." She tapped her earpiece and turned to Carson and the medical team. "They should be here soon," she said.

"Do they know which plant Corporal Resnik reacted to?" Carson asked. He dropped the medical kit on the gurney, opened it, and found the epi-pen.

"Major Lorne is bringing back some samples. Hopefully, one of them is the plant in question."

Carson nodded and turned toward the 'gate as Sergeant Valdés and Corporal Resnik stepped through the event horizon. Resnik could barely walk, and Valdés half carried him toward the waiting gurney as Lorne and McNair came through the 'gate behind them.

Resnik collapsed on the gurney, and Carson saw the angry red blotches and the lines of tiny blisters running across the backs of Resnik's hands past his wrist until they disappeared under the sleeves of his uniform jacket. Another swath of red covered his neck and lower face.

"This isn't any sort of allergic reaction I've ever seen," he muttered with a glance at Sharon, who shook her head.

"Matthew, lad," Carson said as he pulled on a pair of gloves, gently picked up one of Resnik's arms, and checked the rash. "Can you hear me?"

Resnik moaned in response and tried to curl his arm against his chest.

"All right, that's all for now," Carson softly said as he released the arm. He lifted the cuff of one of Resnik's trouser legs and grimaced when he saw the same rash on Resnik's leg. "We'll get this sorted and have you right as rain in no time," he said with a gentle smile and nodded to David waiting at the head of the gurney.

"What's wrong with him, Doc?" Lorne asked as David pushed the gurney toward the exit.

"I have a suspicion," Carson replied to Lorne and turned to Sharon. "Get him into a decontamination shower. Do not touch his skin, uniform, or pack unless you are wearing gloves. Dispose of everything he's wearing or has touched in biohazard bags."

"Yes, Doctor Beckett," Sharon said with a curt nod and followed David and the gurney out of the gateroom.

"Doc?" Lorne drawled with a glance at the gurney as it disappeared. "What's going on?"

Carson ignored him, carefully stripped off the gloves he was wearing, and turned to Valdés, who was staring at his hands and flexing his fingers. "Javier?" Carson asked. "What's wrong?"

"My hands kind of ache a little," Valdés replied, holding up his hands.

Carson spotted the same red rash on Javier's palms and shook his head. "You need to come with me as well. Don't touch anything, especially your face or any exposed skin."

"What's wrong?" Valdés asked and winced as he curled his fingers.

"You were touching Matthew as you helped him back through the 'gate," Carson explained. "Which means whatever oils are on his skin and uniform are probably on yours as well."

"Oils?" Lorne asked with a confused glance as Carson. "I thought he had an allergic reaction to something." Evan held up several specimen bags. "We collected some samples. Thought it might help narrow down what he reacted to."

Carson glanced at the sample bags and wasn't surprised to see one of the samples was a plant with the tell-tale three leaflets.

"And the botany team will find them very useful, I'm sure," Carson replied with a resigned sigh. "For now, all of you need to come down to the infirmary, scrub down, and let us check you over."

"Carson?" Elizabeth asked. "What's going on?"

"Poison oak," he replied. "Or at least whatever the Pegasus galaxy equivalent of poison oak would be."

"Oh, wonderful," Lorne muttered behind him.

"They should all be fine," Carson said to Elizabeth as he herded the rest of Lorne's team out of the gateroom. "The trick will be finding an ointment for the rash."

"Keep me informed," Elizabeth said and walked up the steps to the control room.

"Certainly," Carson said with a nod at Elizabeth, then followed Lorne's team out of the gateroom. "Don't touch anything!" he admonished as he hurried after Lorne.

~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~

A few hours later, Carson stopped next to Valdés' bed and smiled. "Javier, lad, how are your hands feeling?"

"I don't think the ointment you tried worked, Doc," Valdés replied and held up his hands for inspection.

Carson frowned when he saw the rash had spread. Where the rash had been blotchy before, now the skin across the back of both hands was red and swollen, and there were lines of tiny blisters radiating out from Valdés' palms and up his fingers.

Carson pulled on a pair of gloves and checked the blisters across Javier's palms and fingertips. "Where is your pain level?"

Valdés shrugged. "Five? Maybe? It's more of a nagging kind of pain. Kinda throbs, you know?" He glanced at his hands and winced as he tried to flex his fingers.

"I'll start the lab techs working on another ointment we can try." Carson smiled. "Believe it or not, you were lucky. It doesn't appear as though your reaction was as severe as Matthew's. In the meantime, I'll have Sharon give you something for the pain."

"Thanks, Doc."

Carson carefully stripped off his gloves and dumped them in a biohazard bag next to Valdés' bed. "You're welcome, lad."

"Major," Carson said as he moved to Evan's bed and pulled on another set of gloves. "How are you doing? Any signs of rash?"

"Nope," Lorne replied and turned his hands and arms so Carson could check his skin. "Any ideas what caused this?"

"From what we've been able to determine so far, it looks like I was right. You all found a nasty strain of poison oak. Unlike poison oak on Earth, however, the effects of this Pegasus version appears more quickly and causes severe pain more than itching. We've had to keep Matthew sedated while we look for a treatment."

Evan glanced at Resnik in the next bed and crossed his arms over his chest. "But he's going to be all right?"

Carson studied the monitor next to Resnik's bed. "Assuming we can find an ointment to treat the rash and blisters, and assuming there's no permanent scarring, yes, I think he will be fine."

Evan blew out a breath of relief. "And the rest of us should be okay? I was wearing tactical gloves when I cut the samples of the plants. Maybe that was enough to keep the oil or whatever off my hands?"

"Possibly," Carson agreed, pulling off his gloves. "But I want you and Graham to stay here a few more hours just to be sure there aren't any surprises."

"Told ya you should have just drawn the plants, Boss," Graham McNair teased from the bed next to Javier.

Carson glanced from McNair to Lorne. "You draw, Major?"

Evan shrugged. "Paint more than draw. My mother was an art teacher, so I kinda grew up around artists."

Carson remembered Teyla's comment about photographs, and an idea began to form in his head. "Interesting."

"Doc?"

Carson shook his head and smiled. "I'll just go check on the lab techs, then. Let Sharon or one of the other nurses know if you need something."

"Sure thing," Lorne replied with a puzzled frown.

Carson spent the rest of the afternoon working with the lab technicians to find a treatment for the rash and blisters. It took some creative thinking, but they finally found a combination that seemed to work after some trial and error.

Carson strolled over to the corner of the infirmary where Lorne and his team were eating dinner and stopped at the end of Javier's bed, watching as Valdés finished his meal. "You seem to be doing better. Can I assume this lotion worked, then?"

"My hands feel a lot better, Doc," Valdés replied with a smile. "Pain is mostly gone. My fingers just feel kinda stiff."

Carson nodded and jotted a few notes on the computer in his hand.

"How's Matty?" Valdés asked.

"He's doing much better," Carson replied with a glance at the monitor. "He should be awake in the morning. However, the pair of you will need to stay here until we're certain the rash is clearing up. We don't want any recontamination."

Valdés pursed his lips and nodded. "How long?"

"Hopefully no more than a day or two," Carson said with a smile and turned to Evan and Graham. "As for you two, it's been almost twelve hours since your initial exposure, and there's still no sign of the rash or the blisters. I think it's safe to let you go back to your quarters."

"Thanks, Doc," Evan replied, and McNair nodded.

"You're welcome. I'll have one of the med techs bring you some fresh clothes." Carson started to walk away, then paused as he considered once again asking Lorne to help him with Teyla's problem. He weighed the pros and cons for a moment longer, then turned back to Evan sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Major, if you could stop by my office before you leave?" Carson asked. "There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Evan glanced at the rest of his team with a puzzled expression. "Umm, sure thing, Doc."

Carson nodded and walked back to his office.

Thirty minutes later, he heard a tap on his door and looked up.

"Doc?" Evan asked and stepped into the office. "You said there was something you wanted to talk about?"

Carson stood and waved his hand at the chair at the end of his desk. He glanced out of the office door, then closed it. He turned and found Evan watching him with a concerned expression on his face.

"Is everything all right?" Lorne asked as he sat in the chair. "I thought you said Resnik and Valdés were going to be fine."

"Oh, they will be," Carson replied and sat behind his desk. "No, this is a more personal matter." He clasped his hands together on the desk and looked over at Evan. "I have a favor to ask of you."

Evan relaxed in the chair and smiled. "Anything you need, Doc. You only need to ask. You know that."

"The favor is not so much for me as it is for Teyla," Carson said with a hesitant glance at Lorne.

"Okay. Shoot."

Carson took a deep breath. "As you know, Teyla recently lost someone important to her." Evan nodded, and Carson continued, "I spoke to her before we returned from the mainland, and she mentioned that she had no real way to remember Charin. No photos or the like, you understand."

Evan sat forward in his chair, his expression serious. "I think I see where you're going, and while I'd like to help, I don't really paint people. I'm more of a landscape kind of guy."

"Oh," Carson replied, and his face fell. "In that case, never -" He stopped speaking when Lorne held up a hand.

"I did do some portrait drawing when I was in college," Lorne said. "It was a way to make some extra money. I might be able to sketch something if you think that would work."

Carson leant back in his chair and smiled. "I think that would do nicely," he replied.

Lorne nodded and stood. "I'll talk to Teyla -"

"No," Carson said. "I want this to be a surprise. The Athosians give gifts during the upcoming winter festival. I'd like to present the drawing to Teyla then."

Evan shook his head. "I'm not sure that's going to work, Doc. I never met Charin."

"But I did. Many times," Carson replied. "I can describe her to you."

"This is that important to you?" Lorne asked.

"It is," Carson replied.

"Okay," Lorne replied with a smile. "I'll meet you tomorrow, and we can get started."

"The festival is in a few weeks," Carson pointed out. "With your other duties, will that give you enough time to finish the drawing?"

"I think I can have something ready by then," Evan replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, Doc."

~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~

Radek sat at the end of the work table in his lab, ignoring Gemma DeCampo and her report regarding the status of her engineering team.

If this Ancient Way somehow connected Rodney and Colonel Sheppard to each other, when would it have occurred? Radek wondered. And a better question, why would they choose to share this mental bond in the first place? Colonel Sheppard's military training and calm sense of command was the opposite of Rodney's intuitive logic leaps, not to mention his erratic shifts in mood.

Though they do seem to be rather good friends, Radek reminded himself.

Moodiness aside, Rodney had appeared genuinely distraught when the Wraith retrovirus had infected Sheppard. Then there was the incident with the transformer explosion. Sheppard had rarely left Rodney's side while they waited to see if McKay would regain his eyesight.

That still didn't explain -

"Doctor Zelenka?"

Radek felt a hand on his arm and glanced over at Doctor DeCampo. "Hmm? Yes?"

"Is everything all right? You disappeared on me for a moment."

"Oh, yes, yes," Radek replied with a quick smile. "My mind wandered." He waved a hand near his head. "Thinking about another problem. My apologies."

"Is there something I can help with?"

"No, no." Radek pushed up his glasses and picked up a random component on the table. "It is more … personal."

Gemma studied him for a moment, then said, "If you're sure?"

"Very sure," Radek replied. Putting down the component. "Now, you were saying something about repairs to Jumper Six?"

"Yes. I wanted to let you know the repairs to the drive systems are almost complete. We still need to rewire the secondary systems to function with the Earth-based machinery we had to substitute for the damage to the engines. Still, the jumper should be ready for computer simulation tests in a few more weeks and flight tests a week or so after that."

"Good work," Radek said with a smile. "I will inform Doctor Weir the repairs are proceeding and should be finished soon."

"Other than that, all of our other projects are on schedule. Oh," DeCampo looked up from her tablet computer, "Doctor Marcus was doing some routine maintenance out at the silo. He says there's some sort of weird rocket system set up inside?"

Radek pushed up his glasses and nodded. "That is one of Doctor McKay's projects," he explained. "Just leave it be for now."

DeCampo nodded. "What is it?" she asked.

"A new design for the shield emitters," Radek replied.

"Oh," Gemma said with a slightly stunned expression. "I didn't …" She shook her head and stood. "Did you have anything else you wanted us to start working on?"

Radek shook his head. "The only critical project is the jumper repairs. Please let me know when you are ready to start the simulations."

"Sure thing," DeCampo replied, and with a quick nod and a smile, she left Radek's lab.

Once she was gone, Radek closed and locked the lab door and walked over to the computer sitting on the other end of his work table. He had started searching the Ancient database for more information on the Ancient Way mentioned in the diary and ascension before DeCampo arrived and had hurriedly set the machine aside when she had entered the room.

If what he suspected was true, and Rodney and Colonel Sheppard did share some sort of Ancient connection, Radek was certain of two things: Both of them would need help dealing with the effects of such a link. Neither of them would ever ask for such assistance. Which meant if Radek wanted to be ready for whatever came next, he needed information.

He checked the computer and frowned. His search results so far were disappointing, to say the least. A few entries in the medical database mentioned a mental bond but nothing of any substance. Radek read what little information there was from the database and shook his head.

"No wonder Rodney wanted the diary translated," Radek muttered as he tried a different set of search parameters.

The new search listed something about bonded pairs and several symbiotic systems accessible at different 'entry ways' scattered around the city but little of any real substance. Radek sat back on the stool with his arms crossed over his chest.

"That cannot be right," he muttered. "Were these pairs common? Rare? And what are these symbiotic systems in Atlantis? Why is there so little information about them?"

Radek cleared all evidence of his searches and closed the computer. If the database was no help in giving him the information, he would need to find another source. He needed to talk to someone, but who? Who would Rodney and Colonel Sheppard trust with such information? he wondered. And would whoever it was talk to him about what he had learnt so far?