Chapter 16: Healing.

John was surrounded by a sea of darkness when he heard voices. They were voices that he recognised, and he knew that he should open his eyes to find out who they were. But things were peaceful where he was, there was no light and no sound – until now. He knew that he had something to tell these people, but he really couldn't remember what it was. He had no idea what had been happening to him and trying to think about it just addled his brain further.

Sighing he decided to try and open his eyes and when he finally managed the feat, he wished he hadn't because every pain in his body awakened – except for his left side as that was totally numb – and to top it all off he couldn't see.

"Teyla…," he whispered hopefully.

"Yes, John I am here as is Maddie. Torren had just gone for a walk with the children."

Suddenly everything came back to him and remembered what he was supposed to tell them, "Torren…needs…to…get…the…ZPM's…connected," he panted through the excruciating pain.

"I believe that is where he is going now," Teyla told him soothingly.

"I…have…to…get…back…in…the…chair."

"There is no way that is happening until I have assessed your injuries!" Maddie told him forcefully.

He hissed with pain at the volume of her voice, "can…you…keep…the…volume…down…doc?"

He felt a soft silky hand in his and he assumed that it was Teyla's – his assumption was confirmed when she started to talk to him, "John what did you mean when you were shouting about the Wraith? I do not sense their presence here?"

"No…the…Virus…in…the…city…put…there…by…the Wraith," he panted desperately wanting to pass out again, but knowing that he still needed to eliminate the virus in Arastica's operating system.

A voice to his left caught his attention, "John other than your broken arm and the gash on your head, can you tell me if you have any other injuries?"

"Can't…see…doc…and…my…left…side is numb." He was panting so heavily now that he wondered whether there was any internal damage.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped as he wasn't expecting it, he knew that it was Maddie because Teyla was still holding his right hand.

"John, I'm just going to take your vitals and then I want to check for internal bleeding, okay?"

"Doc…Just…do…it…so…I…can…get…back…in…the…chair?"

Maddie mumbled something and it sounded like she was calling him a stubborn idiot. It wasn't the first time that a member of the medical profession had called him that and it probably wouldn't be the last.

After a few minutes of poking and prodding Maddie started to talk and for a moment he thought that she was talking to him, but it didn't take him long to figure out that she was talking to someone over the comms – Torren he assumed.

"What have you got?"

"He's severely injured and I suspect that he has internal bleeding."

"No there's not much I can do about it until I can perform surgery and I can't do that without a fully functional OR."

"Yes, I can help him into the chair, but you must find the OR so that I can perform surgery when this is all over."

He lay listening to the one-sided conversation, and he knew that he was in trouble, even they could find an OR. Because if they didn't fix the city, it wouldn't matter anyway. Turning his head to the side he listened to the rest of the conversation that Maddie was having with Torren.

"Okay let me know what you find, Maddie out."

"Okay John, Torren has connected the ZPM's, and I have done all that I can do for you now, so you'd better be quick. And when you have finished, I will have to take you into surgery as I believe that you have internal bleeding."

"Whatever…Doc…Can…you…help…me…into…the…chair?"

She nodded and helped him up and supported him on one side while Teyla supported him on the other. They then helped him stagger the few feet to the chair where he was able to sit down, which was a relief because there was no way he should be standing on his feet right now.

A few minutes later he was back in the system and talking to Arastica again and she appeared to be becoming weaker by the minute.

"Arastica I am here. The ZPM's have been connected and power has been restored. What do you need me to do now?"

"It is good to see you again John Sheppard, now that I have more power, we may be able to get rid of this virus. I will show you a redundant system that you can trap it in so that it will be in the one spot making it easier for me to eliminate."

"What am I looking for Arastica?"

"I have no idea what form it will take, but I suspect it will be something familiar to you."

Looking for the virus, he began to move about the virtual environment that was being created by Arastica. She appeared to be using every ounce of energy to create the virtual world around him, which appeared to be Atlantis. He knew that it was all in his head, so Arastica had to be reading his mind.

His injuries didn't seem to exist in this world, but he knew that in the physical world he was gravely injured so he had to act fast.

Up ahead he saw the back of a figure which looked like a wraith, – he suspected it was the virus – so he continued to move in that direction. Eventually, he caught up to the figure and it spoke to him in a hissing voice, "John Sheppard, it has been a while since I last saw you, but I must tell you that I will destroy Arastica, and you will never leave this place.

How the hell did the virus know who he was? Perhaps it was reading his mind just like Arastica was.

"Well, why don't you come with me, and we can discuss this, Josh. Can I call you Josh?"

"Don't think that I don't know what you're doing John Sheppard so I will not follow you as I know that you desire to capture me and save this city."

Suddenly the wraith slammed his feeding hand into his chest, his body began to contort and convulse as he felt excruciating pain rip through him and he felt his life being drained from him as the Wraith began to feed…

He awoke to the sound of someone screaming and it didn't take him too long to figure out that it was him. Luckily this time he hadn't been thrown on the floor and he was still sitting in the chair.

Once he had stopped screaming, he took time to try and access his surroundings and he very quickly sensed that the others were nearby.

Torren was the first to speak, "Dad, what just happened?"

"Wraith…started…to…feed," he suspected that he must have sounded delirious to the others, but that had definitely happened when he had been connected to Arastica.

"John, listen to me?" He slowly turned his head towards Teyla's voice, "you have not been fed upon, but you do have severe injuries that need attention."

He nodded his head, "I've…got…to…get…back…in…there."

Before anyone had a chance to argue with him, he lay back in the chair and connected with Arastica again. He longed to feel the warmth of Atlantis' embrace and he hoped that when Arastica was functioning properly again he would feel something similar.

"Arastica, you have to help me?"

There was no response, so he walked in the direction of the prison cell that he was supposed to trap the virus in. He walked on in silence, he had no idea where the Wraith was or when it would pop up again, but he knew that he would see it eventually.

He didn't have to wait long because as he rounded the corner he saw the wraith in his path, "Ah, John, I see that you have made your way back in here. That's a real shame as I really don't want to kill you."

He laughed at the ridiculous hologram or virus or whatever it was because he had no idea what to call it. What was even funnier was that this was all going on in his head.

The next thing he knew was the wraith had slammed its feeding hand into his chest again, "I can do this all day Sheppard," the wraith hissed, "and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

He felt excruciating pain shoot through his body as his life began to drain away, and then he felt the darkness encroaching on him once more.

He awoke with a start and was relieved to find that he was still in the chair. His breathing was heavy, and his heart felt as if it was going to beat right out of his chest. Again, he sensed the presence of his friends around him.

"Sorry…guys…but…I'm…going…back…in," he said before he leant back in the chair and connected with Arastica again.

"Arastica I'm back, but you have to help me because I'm not sure I can do this without you."

There was no reply, so he started to walk towards the prison cell again. He had no idea where Josh the wraith had gone, but he knew that he would turn up eventually. Continuing, he very quickly reached the place where he had encountered Josh the last time he'd been here. It was probably a good sign that he hadn't encountered Josh because it meant that he was getting him closer to the prison cell.

"Finally, Josh the wraith, jumped out at him, "you don't give up easily do you, Sheppard?"

"Neither do you, it would seem," he replied.

"Never mind I will enjoy feasting on your defiance."

The Wraith stepped forward with his feeding hand outstretched and he knew what was coming, but there was no way he was going to give up on saving Arastica, "are you sure you really want to do that Josh?" He asked trying to stall for time and hoping that Arastica would come up with a way to help him.

"Nice try Sheppard, but you must know by now that no one can stop me."

A voice spoke from behind him, and John couldn't believe his ears, "I can."

He stood open-mouthed as Todd stepped out from behind Josh, "John Sheppard I am here to help you."

"Well, it's about time you turned up Todd," John knew that Arastica was reading his mind again to try and help him, but it was good that Todd had shown up all the same.

"Who the hell are you and what claim do you have over this human?" Josh asked with confusion.

"This human is loyal to me and no one will feed on him, but me. If it's humans, you want I know where there is a whole city full."

"If you are deceiving me Wraith, I will feed on you and then I will feed on your human," Josh hissed.

"This is my final offer, if you don't follow me now, I will feed on you as I will not allow you to feed on my human." Todd hissed.

He had a feeling that Todd wasn't really getting through to Josh so what happened next didn't really surprise him – Todd stretched out his feeding hand and slammed it into Josh's chest and all that he could do was stand and watch as Todd sucked Josh dry...

He awoke with a start and instantly knew that Teyla and Maddie were sitting beside him because he could smell their perfume. He had no idea where Torren or the children were, but at least his girlfriend and his doctor were there. Wow! He'd just called Teyla his girlfriend – sure it sounded a little immature – but at least he'd acknowledged it.

"John what has happened," Teyla asked

"The…virus…has…been…eliminated," he told them in between shallow breaths.

"That's great, Torren has found the infirmary so now we can get you there and fix up your injuries!" Maddie insisted.

He knew she was right, as he felt absolutely terrible, his entire body felt numb, and he couldn't see, and he didn't know what concerned him the most – the fact that he was numb or the fact that he was relieved for that numbness because he couldn't feel any pain.

"I…just…need…to…talk…to…Arastica…again."

Before Maddie or Teyla had a chance to protest he lay back in the chair and it wasn't long before he found himself out of one of Atlantis' balconies.

"Arastica, I just want to make sure that you are okay.?"

There was no reply, but before he had a chance to speak a figure walked towards him and it was someone who he thought that he would never see again.

"Elizabeth," he whispered.

"No John, I am the AI that is Arastica. I have chosen to take this form as she was a great leader of my sister city, and she was someone very important to you."

"So, I guess that you know about Atlantis then?"

"I have many sister cities, but Atlantis is by far the greatest that the ancients ever constructed. It has been many thousands of years since I was last connected with her. I would like the opportunity to do that again if it is possible."

That had to be the most incredible thing he'd ever heard. He had no idea that the cities were able to connect, "I guess that we can try and make that happen for you, but I need to get home to my time, is there is any way you can arrange that, or can you heal my injuries?"

"I can help heal your injuries John Sheppard, but I do not have the ability to send you back in time. I believe that the inhabitants of Arastica were experimenting with time travel before they abandoned this galaxy. I am sure if Torren looks through the database, he may find answers for you."

"I'm sure he'll find something, but for now can you please heal me so that I can get on with the task of finding a way home."

"It is a pity that you have to go as I have enjoyed connecting with you. I haven't had anyone to connect with, in ten thousand years and if you leave, I may not find another as compatible with my systems as you are."

Chuckling he smiled at the image of Elizabeth, "believe me, I am sure you will find plenty of others 'compatible' with you when we manage to contact Atlantis. Torren tells me you have a stargate, so when it is up and running, we will contact Atlantis straight away."

"Thank you, John Sheppard, you are incredibly helpful and kind, but what I can't work out is why there were two of you on this planet. I tried to connect with the other one, but he stole a jumper with a zpm and run. You however stayed to help me, and I will be forever grateful for that."

"I am sorry that the other me didn't help and I have no idea what his problem was, but I assure you that there will be others to help you in the future."

"Thank you, John Sheppard. I will now heal your internal injuries, your arm and eliminate the strange bacteria from your system. It is indigenous to this planet as is the strange radiation that slows down its progress. I believe that you will find research in my database on that as well."

"What about my eyes," he asked beginning to panic.

"By messing around with your brain I may injure you further. Your eyes will heal in time and your sight will be restored."

He nodded at the image of Elizabeth, just as she raised her hands towards him. A blue glow and welcoming hum surrounded him, and it wasn't long before he felt the darkness surrounding him once again…

When he next became aware he was no longer in the chair but was moving. For some reason, the fast movement made him feel incredibly nauseous and not being able to see made things worse, "hey guys what's happening?" He managed to choke out while trying to roll on his side.

The movement stopped but it did nothing to alleviate the nausea he was feeling.

"John we are taking you to the infirmary, "Teyla told him while helping him roll on his side.

"Sick," was his reply before he started retching, he had no idea why he was vomiting as he hadn't eaten anything for quite a while.

He retched for a long time after his meagre stomach contents had been expelled and when he had finished all he could do was moan as Teyla rubbed tiny circles on his back – he assumed it was Teyla anyway.

"John we are taking you to the infirmary, we're not sure how, but your arm appears to be healed," Maddie told him while patting him on the shoulder.

"Arastica has healed everything except my eyes, and she has even eliminated the strange bacteria in my system."

"We still need to get you to the infirmary to run some scans and do some tests. I will need to check out your eyes as well, although your optical nerves a probably irritated from the bump you took to your head."

"Okay doc, "I'll go to the infirmary with you, but can I please walk?"

"No, you may not, I still don't know whether you are healed or not!" Maddie stated forcefully.

"Come on Doc…"

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence Maddie interrupted, "you will do as I say, John Sheppard, because at this moment I am you doctor and believe it or not I am worried about your health!"

He had no idea what he was supposed to say to that, so he changed the subject, "where's Torren?"

"He is in the control room with Dave and Charlie, now if you'll kindly be quiet, we will get moving again," Maddie suggested.

Feeling exhausted he very quickly acquiesced to her demands and lay on his back as the gurney began to move – luckily for his stomach it appeared to be moving at a much slower pace this time.

When they reached the infirmary a few minutes later he was almost asleep and he would have quite happily nodded off, if Maddie hadn't spoken to him, "here we are John, I'm going to help you onto the scanner bed and then we'll be able to assess whatever injuries you may still have."

"Fine doc, but can we get this over with as I think it's about time for a nap."

"Really John, you want to sleep in the middle of the day?" Teyla asked in a teasing way and if he could see, he was positive that she would have been smirking.

"Yes really."

Ten minutes later when Maddie had conducted her scans and taken some of his blood, he was relieved when she left, leaving Teyla in the room with him.

"How are you doing Sweetie? There's certainly been a lot going on over the last few days."

"Sheppard called me sweetie once and I hated it, but I am quite happy for you to call me that."

"I'm glad you approve because for a while I was afraid you were going to hit me. But how are you doing? Because I am worried about you."

"I will admit that it has been quite tiring, but I am happy that you are going to be alright. I do feel a certain sense of loss at the fact that Sheppard has passed away though."

"I haven't really given it much thought over the last couple of days. One thing I do know though is that Arastica tried to reach out to him, and he just ran. I have no idea why he would have done that. I know that I could never do anything like that."

"I would like to think you are right about that John, but at some point, Sheppard was you and things must have been so bad for him at some point that he lost his zest for life. I really do hope that never happens to you."

He didn't know what to say to that, he knew that she was right that if Sheppard could give up on life when things got too hard then perhaps in the same circumstances he could too. At one point Sheppard and he had been the same person, but life had thrown them both different lives, thanks to a strange anomaly which he now suspected was an experiment by the ancients that had gone wrong. The Ancients certainly had a lot to answer for because as usual they had destroyed lives and they weren't around to care about it.

Turning to where he thought she was sitting he put on his best smile, "I'll think about what you have said Sweetie, but right now I need to go to sleep because believe it or not it has been a very tiring day for me too."

"Goodnight then Honey," she said, and he was surprised when he felt her lips brushing his.

He heard her leaving the room and he would have loved to see it because he knew that watching her was one thing that he would never get tired of.

Closing his eyes, he tried to settle his mind, Teyla was right it had been an intense few day's – in reality it had been, an intense ten days and he couldn't wait to get home to Atlantis, where hopefully they could have a long vacation. The first thing he was going to do when he got home was to go back to New Athos and pick Torren up and take him back to Atlantis. Then he was going to ask Teyla to marry him.

Laying there and thinking of Teyla he felt his eyelids beginning to droop, he knew that there would be plenty of time to think about their future together when they got home, but for now, he was happy to fall into a deep sleep.

A loud sound awoke him, and he had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but he certainly didn't want to be awake right now.

"Sorry to wake you, John."

"What can I do for you Dr Miller," he asked feeling less than charitable to her for waking him up?

"I have the results of your tests and I thought that you might want to hear them."

Sighing he turned in the direction of her voice, "okay doc, let me, have it?"

"You'll be happy to know that your arm is one hundred percent healed and the bacteria has been eliminated from your system. There is no trace of internal bleeding and your sight should return to normal within the next couple of days."

"That's great, doc, but do you have any idea what's happening with Arastica."

"Torren is in the control room getting the systems up and running and when he's done with that, he hopes to get the stargate online so that he can contact Atlantis to let them know about Arastica. I keep telling him to go to bed, but he's the same as Uncle Rodney when he's working."

"What's happening with Dave and Charin?"

"Teyla has taken them back to the cabin for the night."

That surprised him because he could have sworn that Teyla was sitting beside him a few minutes ago, "how long have I been asleep doc?"

"Around four hours."

"Well, you know what doc? I think it's time I went back to sleep for a while."

Feeling incredibly tired he rolled over, turned his back to her, closed his eyes and feigned sleep. He was relieved when she walked out of the room a few minutes later and he was finally able to fall asleep again.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed a blurry shape sitting next to him – at least his eyesight was beginning to return to normal. It was too big to be Maddie or Teyla so he assumed that it must be Torren.

"Torren," he whispered not really sure whether his son was awake or not.

"Yeah dad, it's me how are you feeling?"

"My eyesight's getting better. I can see blurry shapes now."

"That's great Dad."

He suspected that Torren wasn't there just to talk about his health so obviously, something was wrong.

"How's it going getting Arastica back online?"

Torren looked at his feet so now John knew that something was wrong, "Torren what is it?"

"Umm…"

"Spit it out Torren?"

"I've just got the long-range sensors up and running and they have detected a Wraith hive ship on the way."

"How long before they get here?"

"They'll be above us in two days."

Great! He thought, Now the wraith are on the way, will Teyla and I ever get home?

TBC…