The next day I again found myself alone on Atlantis. The team had been called to the mainland to talk with the Athosians. I was tired of doing nothing so I decided to change the light bulb in the hallway outside my quarters which had gone out a few days before. I'd found a ladder and the bulb. I was standing about 9 feet in the air perched precariously because of my arm being in a sling. I had almost gotten the new bulb screwed in when I heard noise from below me. I turned slightly and saw Dr. Beckett standing at the foot of the ladder looking panicked.
"Lass what're ye doin' up there?" he said his voice full of concern.
"I'm changing a light bulb" I said irritated turning back to screw it in. "I'm not here for your entertainment Dr. Beckett."
"Ye can call me Carson" Beckett said "Now please get down before you fall and hurt yourself."
"Carson I'm not a child" I said giving the bulb a final turn just to make sure it was secure. "There I'm finished." I started making my way down the ladder when my foot slipped off the rung and I fell backward landing on Beckett. We ended up in a pile on the floor.
"Holy Crap" Beckett said "don't do that again please" I winced as I got up from the floor. I was going to feel this in the morning.
"I'll try not to" I said sarcastically holding out my hand to help him up. He grabbed the arm that had been shot to steady himself. "Ow!" I yelped.
"Ach! Sorry Lass" Carson said letting go immediately. "Let me have a look at your stitches. I gingerly took my arm out of its sling. Beckett examined the small wound where he'd cut the bullet out of my arm. He breathed a sigh of relief. "They're still holding. Ye should be back on duty in the next couple of days"
"Thank goodness for that" I said helping Beckett fold up the ladder. "I'm going crazy being stuck inside all the time"
"I'm sure" Beckett said smiling. We carried the ladder back to storage. I was going to head up to the commissary to eat dinner when my radio buzzed. Beckett's must have buzzed as well because he jumped at the same time.
*This is Weir. Sheppard just came back from the mainland. I'd like both of you to come up to my office to meet with him*
I sighed.
"We'd better head up there I guess." Beckett nodded. We took the lift to Weir's office. Sheppard and Teyla were sitting in the chairs by Weir's desk and Rodney was pacing the floor. "What's going on?" I asked as soon as Beckett and I were through the door.
"The Athosians want to move to another planet." Lorne said speaking up from his slouched position on one wall.
"and that's a problem?" I asked. Sheppard stood up.
"We don't have a planet to send them to." He said glancing at Teyla.
"John there are many planets in the database where we could move my people." She argued
"Ones that haven't been checked out. For all we know there could be Wraith or Genii on them." Sheppard replied. "and I don't have the manpower to check them all out."
"Actually John" Elizabeth spoke up. "That's why I called Col. Darrow here. Dr. Beckett has just informed me that Ronan will be returning to active duty tomorrow and therefore Col. Darrow would be free to check out these planets with a team of her own. I was thinking Rodney could help her out." I looked first from Weir to Sheppard to McKay.
"What about my research?" Rodney objected before I had a chance to say anything. "I have important research that needs to be finished." Weir looked hard at Rodney.
"What ever it is I'm sure Dr. Zalenka can handle it until you get done helping the Colonel. In fact it should give you some incentive to work faster." She said ending the discussion.
"Elizabeth, ye haven't even asked if I've cleared Col. Darrow for duty" Beckett said.
"Is she cleared Carson?" Weir said.
"Well yes she is in a couple more days, as long as she doesn't fall off anymore ladders" he looked sideways at me and I had the decency to flush slightly.
"Then the matter is settled. You two can head out Thursday morning. If you need military backup you can take Maj. Lorne's team." I nodded and then headed to my quarters. I'd unpacked almost everything in the free time I'd had over the past few days. The picture of my team was still sitting on the bedside table, but all my clothes were put away. I'd asked for some mats to be brought from the gym so I could work out in the peace of my own room. I started throwing my field gear together for Thursday when my door buzzed. I answered it to find Dr. McKay standing outside his arms crossed.
"Can I come in?" he asked before even saying hello. I turned and started putting my gear together again. "Listen, it's not like I don't want to go off-world with you." He said walking into my rooms. "I just have this research that's really important and…." he trailed off. He'd been making his way around my room. He paused by the bed and picked up the picture of my team much like Carson had back at the SGC. "Is this them?" he asked. I nodded. I started cleaning my gun as McKay continued talking. "Sheppard said they were all killed off-world. Is that why you got so mad at me?" I looked up at him.
"That mission was a little too close to home." I said rubbing furiously at my gun barrel. "To be honest you remind me a lot of Felix, but more whiney." McKay didn't seem to be phased by my insult. "I just didn't want to lose my team again. It almost killed me the last time." McKay didn't say a word but gave me a puzzled look. I sighed and blew a stray lock of hair out of my face. "The reason I was living at the SGC is because for three months after my team died I had a total of 4 suicide attempts by ODing on Pain Killers. Gen. O'Neill made me start seeing the shrink everyday as well as Dr. Lam the medical doctor. I didn't start making it out of my slump until 8 months after it all happened. Then when the year anniversary of the incident was coming up I slipped back into it. I started walking around the base at weird times, and sleeping during the day. Jack finally cornered me and transferred me out here." I finished cleaning my gun and noticed that my hands were shaking. Rodney looked uncomfortable.
"You still didn't have to yell at me." He said his voice very soft. I laughed a little.
"I'll try to remember that next time I save your ass from the Genii" I said "Although I'm hoping we don't run into anything on these planets."