A/N - Thanks for such lovely reviews (blush!) here's some more...

Chapter 6 – Gaining Control and Losing It

In the science lab, John whispered his mantra into Rodney's ear, trying to get the scientist to focus and will himself out of phase. He muttered softly, "Phase out of time… decode the data… remove the device…"

He said the loop a few times and winced as he saw the tight collar around McKay's neck up close for the first time. It looked like it was barely giving the scientist enough leeway to breathe.

As John spoke, Rodney suddenly vanished and the chair he had been sitting on skipped impossibly in space and then fell onto the floor at the same time as a gunshot rang out.

There was silence in the lab as the scientists all stopped working at the loud and unexpected sound. The hush was only broken by the sounds of rapid and gasping breaths coming from near the door and John looked up to see Rodney standing in the open area of the lab.

Sheppard dashed over to him and took the red tinted knife he had grasped in his shaking hand. John thought Rodney was holding himself like he was hurt and he did not like the way McKay clutched his side so tightly.

He tapped his radio and called for a medical team.

Rodney had his mouth open and was panting like he had just run a mile. He blinked slowly at John, who rested a hand on his shoulder and steered him over to a chair.

The scientists were all watching to see what was happening to their boss. At the moment he was far more interesting to them than futilely staring at indecipherable lines of code.

John indicated for Rodney to sit and asked, "What happened, McKay?"

Rodney glanced at John blankly and gingerly lifted his hand away from his side. He frowned and grimaced at the small amount of blood on his fingers and pressed it more tightly against himself. Before he sat down, Rodney used his free hand to remove the laptop from his tac vest. He groaned and bent over at the motion and John grabbed his shoulders to steady him and forced him to sit.

Rodney held the computer in his lap and hunched forwards as he began to shake a little. John took the laptop and handed it to Radek who was nervously hovering nearby.

McKay kept a tight grip on the computer, but eventually let it go and muttered, "Make sure you unlink it from the network. Solian did something to it. I… I don't know what."

"I will look at it for you, Rodney. Do not worry."

Rodney brought his trembling hand up again to study the blood and John saw it this time. "McKay! What happened? Where are you hurt?"

Sheppard grabbed Rodney's shoulders tightly as he tilted a little in the seat. He carefully lowered him down to the floor and laid him down flat on his back. McKay said quietly, "Had a fight with Rorkan. He got me."

John saw that Rodney had pressed his hand firmly on his side again and grabbed his wrist to pull it away, "What the hell did I tell you about not fighting?" He had meant it in a friendly way, but his voice was sterner than he had planned and Rodney flinched and closed his eyes.

John unzipped Rodney's tac vest and soon found the gash across his right side. He pulled a bandage out of McKay's vest and pushed Rodney's shirt up so that he could press it down on the wound.

Radek knelt down close to McKay's head while John tried to stop the bleeding.

McKay winced and tensed up as John pressed his hand against the bandage more firmly. Rodney muttered, "Rorkan cheated. But I still got him."

"You mean he's dead?"

"No, but I'll have him next time."

John narrowed his eyes. "No, you won't, McKay. He could kill you next time."

Rodney furrowed his brow and scrunched up his face in pain and anguish. He said sadly, "It's getting harder to return to normal time. It feels like I'm slipping away every hour I spend with this thing strapped around my neck like an ever tightening noose. I also think my head's going to split open soon if this headache doesn't go away." He ended his speech in a deep sigh and bunched his hands into fists.

Radek shared a concerned look with John and then they both turned to look back down at McKay. Zelenka reassured his injured friend, "We will see what Solian did to the code. Hopefully it will be the answer to everything."

Rodney shivered but did not speak. This worried John even more when he did not hear a sarcastic comment or the usual pessimistic and morbid denial that anyone would be able to help him.

The medical team came into the room, led by Dr Keller. Her mouth opened in an 'oh' and she exclaimed, "Rodney! You've only been out of the infirmary for a few minutes!" She looked at John as her team took over from him and asked, "What happened?"

John waved his hand down at McKay's prone form, where the med team were wrapping the bandage around his abdomen and giving him oxygen. "He had another run in with someone out of phase with normal time. Thought he might try some heroics, but lost."

McKay pushed away the oxygen mask as the team lifted him up onto the gurney. "I did not lose! He jumped about all over the place, ugh…" John was smirking at Rodney's indignant face and the scientist took a few seconds to realise it was only a tease.

John was glad that McKay was more alert after being given the oxygen and took it as a good omen as he followed the gurney out of the lab.

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"Oh, ow! Would you quit that?!" Rodney said angrily as he lay on his side on a bed in the infirmary while Dr Keller stitched the cut on his flank from Rorkan's spike. He had taken off his shirt and had his arm drawn up to give her access. He bunched his hand into the pillow as an outlet for the pain.

Jennifer pursed her lips and carried on anyway.

John was standing nearby keeping a watchful eye over his charge and said quietly, "McKay, why don't you let the lovely Doctor help you?"

Rodney scowled and twitched as Jennifer continued her needlework on his skin. "Are you even using any anaesthetic? It feels like you're stabbing knitting needles into me!"

Jennifer frowned and shook her head in exasperation, while John smirked at them. She continued to sew together the cut and Rodney flinched again and nearly made her pull the last stitch. "Rodney! You must try to keep still. This is delicate work."

John smiled at the fun and said, "Don't want you falling apart on us now do we, McKay?"

"Oh, ha, ha…Ow! That hurts!"

Jennifer glared down at him and paused with the needle poised above his side. "Rodney, if I give you any more anaesthetic, it'll knock you out. With your headache, that's not a good idea. You might not wake up again."

Rodney's expression softened a little and he looked down sadly at the pillow next to him. "I know. I didn't think I'd ever get back here after the last phase. I was there for over twelve hours."

John baulked, "That moment I saw was twelve hours for you!? What did you do in all that time?"

Rodney spoke while Jennifer resumed her work. It seemed to distract him and he stopped laying into her. "Well, you know; the usual stuff you'd think of doing when no-one else can see you." He closed his eyes in mock dreaminess and smiled.

John frowned in confusion and rolled his eyes.

Jennifer finished off the stitches and grabbed a roll of gauze. She said, "Okay, all done. If you sit up, I'll wrap this around you to keep it clean."

Rodney blinked his eyes open and looked up at her, "What, that's it? I thought it was going to take hours."

John looked incredulous while Jennifer shook her head, "You were lucky, the cut was very shallow. Hopefully it won't get infected, but I want you back here in a few hours so that we can check it."

John raised his eyebrows at them. "That's a few in your timeline, McKay."

Jennifer helped Rodney to sit up with a hand on his back and started rolling the bandage around his abdomen. She paused for a moment and looked up at him as he sat there without his shirt on.

Rodney gazed at her suspiciously and snapped, "What?"

Jennifer shook her head and quickly refocused her attention on the task of bandaging his midsection. "Nothing."

John rolled his eyes again so that they did not see and looked around the infirmary as though he was pretending not to be there.

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A few minutes later, John and Rodney were walking slowly back to the lab to check up on Radek's progress with the laptop. John thought Rodney was beginning to look quite ill. His face was pale and drawn and his features were in a constant grimace. His mouth turned down sharply as he looked at the ground and studied his feet.

John patted his back as they walked and McKay winced and wrapped his arm across himself over the cut which was now sealed and hidden under his clothes. He had the tac vest on again and John had given him a clean knife.

"So, Rodney, any luck controlling the time phasing thing yet?"

Rodney glanced at him and mumbled, "Not really. I think that last time was a fluke and then my mind made the device cooperate just as I was about to be stabbed in the chest, which is reassuring."

"Didn't stop you from getting a nasty scrape though."

Rodney shivered and lifted his hand up to the metal against his throat. He frowned and lowered his arm down again. "Would be quite interesting if I could learn to control it. Shame about the crazy people."

John raised his eyebrows, "Just imagine all the things you could do…"

Rodney sighed and said, "It's a bit limiting though, as I can't move anything when time's frozen and the speeding up thing is just plain disturbing."

"This Rorkan guy, you said he cheated and that's how he cut you. How did he do it?"

"Don't know. He seems to be able to double freeze time somehow." John gave him a confused look so Rodney elaborated, "It was frozen for me, but then he jumped about, so must be able to create a second layer of frozen time for that purpose."

"Weird," John said as they stepped out of the transporter into the corridor leading to the lab. He smirked and asked, "Hey, Rodney, if you really concentrated maybe you could triple freeze time on his ass?"

There was no reply and John stopped walking and looked around. McKay was gone. "Uh, Rodney?" He unholstered his sidearm and held it ready.

There was a loud clatter behind him and he spun around to see an ammo clip on the floor. He sighed and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly a force shoved him in the small of his back and he stumbled forwards. He turned around again and frowned at the empty corridor. "Rodney, this isn't funny!"

McKay reappeared in front of him and John had to restrain himself not to shoot him in shock. He was smiling, but his expression faltered and he reached up a shaking hand and held his head. "Oh, that's not so good."

John shook his head, "Don't do that again, McKay!"

Rodney shrugged, "Just practising. Seems like I've got it down now. I have one more theory though. Throw your knife."

"What?!"

Rodney quickly lifted his hands in surrender and widened his eyes, "Well, obviously not at me!"

John turned around and unsheathed the blade from his belt. He made sure the corridor was completely clear, drew the knife back and threw it straight and true towards a nearby wall. As the blade flew through the air it suddenly changed course as though it had hit an invisible barrier and hit the wall quite a distance away from where John had been aiming.

Rodney reappeared next to him and said a little breathlessly, "I stopped time as you tossed it. Pushed it a little, but it didn't move, it seems that impacts when time is frozen are felt more acutely when it unfreezes for you. I then sped time up to stay out of phase and here I am."

John looked impressed and retrieved his knife from the floor. He also grabbed the fallen ammo clip and handed it to Rodney. "That would be quite handy on a mission if we all had those things and could get rid of the headache and passing out issues."

Rodney smiled, but then John's face suddenly hardened and McKay's expression fell in worry. Sheppard asked softly and almost dangerously, "Have you slept at all since it latched on? Or eaten anything?"

Rodney muttered, "Um…"

John saw the hesitation and took McKay's upper arm in a firm grasp, wishing he could anchor the scientist in normal time through the contact.

Rodney looked alarmed and shrugged off the grip violently until John had to let go for fear of bruising him. He cried, "Don't touch me! It could be dangerous!"

John continued a little louder, "Honestly, Rodney, if I were you I'd be spending every moment trying to figure out how to get that thing off me and not playing pranks. It could kill you, did you even think of that?" John's voice rose as his concern turned into anger at his own helplessness to defend his friend and frustration at McKay's apparent disregard for his own physical and mental health.

Rodney said sadly, "Do you really think so? I mean the other two I've seen, although not exactly the perfect cover examples for this month's edition of 'Sane Monthly,' they're still alive."

John frowned at him angrily and said hotly, "Are they alive? Truly?"

Rodney furrowed his brow and grimaced. John waved his hand and said to him, "Well, you don't know do you? So maybe you need to carry on working instead of messing around."

Rodney clenched his teeth and looked hurt almost as though John had struck him. He spun around and stalked off up the corridor away from Sheppard as fast as he could.

John suddenly had a thought. He caught up with McKay and grabbed his shoulder firmly to stop him in his tracks. "How long?"

"What?"

"How long were you out of phase that time?"

Rodney looked a little uncomfortable and tried to brush him off, "Not that long."

John noticed that Rodney had not met his eyes as he spoke so he grabbed the scientist's wrist. McKay struggled to release the grasp as John forced his sleeve up and looked at his watch. "Two days!"

Rodney grimaced as he was found out and said, "It took me a little longer to get used to it than I had intended!"

"And you haven't you even eaten anything in all that time?!"

"No, I haven't." John opened his mouth to speak, but Rodney quickly kept going, "And before you say anything else, I didn't see any sign of Solian or Rorkan. Oh, and my cut's healed up a bit now, thanks for asking. It only hurts like a sharp knife is constantly scratching me as opposed to a thousand red hot pokers jabbed under my skin."

John scolded him, "If you hadn't been fooling around, you could've got some more painkillers from Keller."

Rodney sighed sadly and muttered, "I know, but I got stuck again. I told you before; it's getting harder to drag myself back to real time, even with the control I now have. That's not the only thing either." He swallowed and looked away from John in fear. "You disappeared for a while when I was out of phase. That's not happened before. The city was still here, albeit in an unsteady form, but you were gone."

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TBC