Chapter Fifteen

The team could do no more than stay at Sheppard's side as he fought for his life, and one by one they took it in turns to sit a vigil at the side of their desperately ill friend. Each dealt with the situation in their own way, their individual thoughts private – tucked away.

Keller respected the privacy of their vigils, and apart from checking in every hour to satisfy herself that the Colonel was holding his own, she stayed out of the room; remaining at a distance and allowing each team member space to deal with their own thoughts.

Elizabeth took to sitting by John's bedside with either a novel or a stack of reports, occasionally asking John's advice about aspects of the day to day running of the city, posing questions, hoping to stimulate a response. She was determined that if he could hear anything at all, that it should be the normality of the city and friendly voices and not the monotone bleeping of the monitors beside him.

Ronon handled things very differently. He sat silently during his stints on watch; pulling up a second chair, stretching out his legs on the hard seat and crossing his arms. He would nod briefly at Keller or the ICU nurse that they had come to know quite well, as they stopped in hourly, but he rarely spoke to them, preferring instead to keep his thoughts to himself and unwilling to share them with anyone else.

Teyla stood in sharp contrast to her Satedan team mate. As she sat at Sheppard's side, she spoke constantly, her soft voice telling him of those in the city who had asked after his condition. She spoke freely about the day to day comings and goings in the city and she constantly reminded him how much he was missed as 'their team could not return to active duty without him'. The last part wasn't strictly true. Elizabeth had gently suggested that maybe, they should return to active status under the leadership of Major Lorne, but the suggestion had fallen on stony ground and Elizabeth had not raised it again.

Sheppard's condition remained critical and as his friends came and went, he lay unaware of their concerns, lost as he was in the depths of unconsciousness. His body functions had been stabilised by the mechanical intervention of the vent and the multitude of IV's that snaked over his body, disappearing into his skin and feeding him the pain meds and antibiotics that were helping his body to heal, but he was totally unaware of the worry that his condition had caused for those around him. He had been kept under a heavy sedation since returning from the planet. Keller had deciding that to allow him to return to consciousness too early would set back his healing process; but as the hours turned into days, she began to gradually reduce the levels of the drugs that were being pumped into his body and he started to show definite signs of improvement. The infection that had stricken his body was finally showing signs of disappearing and the chest drain that had been pushed between his ribs was now running clear as the damage to his lung and the surrounding tissue finally started to heal.

As Rodney pushed through the double doors to relieve Ronon from his period of watch beside the critical care bed, he carried his ever present laptop under his arm. It was coming up to a week since they had returned through the gate with Sheppard and even though their off world missions had been placed on hold indefinitely, life in the city went on and Rodney had been forced to return to the labs and to continue the research that took up a large proportion of his time. New discoveries and of course, existing problems, never really went away and Rodney had re-immersed himself into his work. The work helped. At first he had found that his focus wouldn't come, his thoughts constantly returning to the image of Sheppard's body contorting on the bed as Keller struggled to keep him alive; but as time had passed and he had spent more time at Sheppard's side, the images had faded and the horror that he had felt had gradually been replaced with more positive thoughts as Sheppard's condition had stabilized. Now, as Rodney sat down into the chair beside Sheppard, its seat still warm from Ronon's occupation, he settled himself in for his turn on watch and with a quick side ways glance at Sheppard's relaxed face, he opened the lid of his computer and activated the programmes that he needed to access.

Rodney had found himself surprised by Radek's supportiveness during the last few days. He had never really considered the man as a friend, but things had changed so much since they had came to Atlantis and Rodney had progressed slowly from forgetting Radek's name completely, to actually calling on him for his advise more and more over the last few months, so it shouldn't have come as a shock to him that Radek had taken it upon himself to deal with many of the more mundane system related tasks that Rodney usually had to deal with, as well as fielding research questions that would normally have found themselves at Rodney's door. This had allowed Rodney to be left alone more than usual and although he hadn't realised it and he may not have noticed, his colleagues were well aware of the distraction that plagued his thoughts.

As Rodney now focused his attention on the glowing screen of his computer, drifting through page after page of text and system schematics, he didn't notice at first the minute flicker of movement that touched Sheppard's face. He didn't notice immediately the slight curl of Sheppard's finger, so engrossed was he in the text that flashed across the laptop screen. It wasn't until he raised a hand to his face to push at his tired eyes that he looked across to the bed – and noticed.

He placed the computer down on the empty bed beside him and leant over towards Sheppard's side. Once more Sheppard's fingers scratched slowly at the sheet that still covered his lower body, but this time Rodney saw and his eyes lit up.

"Sheppard! ..Oh my god, you moved! Did you, …did you just move?" Rodney moved closer to the bed and studied Sheppard's face. This time there was no doubt – the twitch of an eye. Rodney didn't need a second prompt and he ran through the double doors and towards Keller's office. Dr Keller sat studying papers at her desk as Rodney burst through the doors, and the sight of Rodney's agitated state pushed her to her feet, immediately fearing the worst,

"Dr McKay, what's wrong?"

"He moved! I was sitting there and all of a sudden he moved!"

"Okay, let's go take a look shall we..." Keller grabbed her scope and followed Rodney back towards the ICU room.

As they entered the room, there was no mistaking that Sheppard had become more aware. The minute shift in his leg position was evident and once more his fingers curled slowly against the crisp sheeting that covered his lower body.

"Okay, that's a good sign, isn't it?" Rodney held back as Keller approached the bedside, speaking over her shoulder as she did,

"I've been gradually reducing the levels of sedative and pain meds he's been getting over the course of the the last day or two. We need him to come back gently and it's not going to be easy for him, but…yes Dr McKay, these are all good signs."

"So, he's going to be waking up soon then….."

"Give him time Dr, don't be in too much of a rush. The progress he's made over the last two days has been very encouraging, the infection that has been ravaging his body has finally dissipated and his temperature is much better, but there's still a long way to go yet and as I said, it's not going to be easy for him."

"But he's going to 'get there'…?" Rodney looked from the face of his friend to Keller.

"If you mean will he make a full recovery…" she looked at Sheppard's still form, "I think the prognosis is very good. Based on the way that he's been able to cope with the trauma of his injuries and the subsequent infection that attacked him….as I said before, he's definitely a fighter."

"Yes, as well as stubborn, foolhardy and irritating beyond words!"

Keller smiled warmly at the affection hidden behind Rodney's words. She wasn't blind, she had seen the way that Sheppard's team had supported him; selflessly giving up their time to be at his side. She had almost felt a pang of jealousy at their closeness, but she had read all the files and she knew what they had been through together over the years, and if those experiences hadn't brought them closer together, she would have been very surprised.

As she turned back to her patient, there was no doubt that he was definitely showing signs of improvement. His eyes flickered under dark rimmed lids and his legs and hands twitched intermittently as she studied the readouts from the monitors to his side. As she leant over and lifted one of his eyelids to flash her penlight at his pupil, she nodded to herself, pleased with the improvement. Standing, she adjusted the output levels on the IV's once more and then checked his hand where the needles pierced his vein, the port wrapped in stark white bandages.

"You can stay Dr McKay," she had noticed that Rodney stood looking uncomfortable as she had gone about her regular checks, "he's getting there, but it's going to be a few more hours yet before we see any further improvement. I've reduced the level of his sedative and pain medication a shade more, so he should start to respond a bit more soon."

"Will he be in, um… any pain, you know as you've cut back on the pain medication..?" Rodney felt awkward asking, but he had seen Sheppard in agony already and couldn't face seeing him in any more distress.

"If he's going to pull out of this, then I've got to start weaning him off the meds very slowly. I'm not talking about removing them altogether, just giving him back a bit of feeling that's all; he needs to be able to feel to come back to us.."

"I see…" Rodney's face betrayed the doubt that he felt, but after everything that he had seen since their return from the planet, he had developed a new respect Keller and now found himself deferring to her skill as Sheppard's physician.

"If you'll excuse me Dr, I'll go write up the latest improvements in the Colonel's condition…?" Keller hooked her thumb towards the door, indicating that she was leaving and Rodney nodded haphazardly towards her, his attention still fixed on the subtle movements that indicated that his friend truly was on the road to recovery.

"He's getting there Dr McKay, just don't expect too much too soon that's all..okay?" Keller took a final look towards Rodney and her patient, then turned and left.

Rodney nodded towards the closing door as he sat once more in the chair, buzzing at the new turn of events. Kellers words drifted through his thoughts and even though she had remained cautious, he knew in his heart that she was right, that Sheppard was indeed a fighter... as well as stubborn and irritating.Rodney smiled to himself as he shook his head; Sheppard sure had a way of creeping under your skin! Taking a final long look towards Sheppard, Rodney picked up his previously discarded laptop and once more immersed himself in the figures that needed his attention.

As his shift at Sheppard's side finally came to an end, Rodney shut off the programmes that were running on the computer and instead started to think about his rumbling stomach and what 'delights' would be waiting for him in the mess hall. Leaning back in the chair, he rubbed at his tired eyes and rested his head back against the cool surface of the wall. Eyes closed, he grimaced at the headache that he could feel building in his skull. The last few days had been exhausting – he had thrown himself back into his work, trying to juggle both his commitments to the science team, with his need to be with his friend and he could feel the lack of sleep and the stress of it all now starting to take its toll. Sighing deeply and with his thoughts fixed on the next project that waited him in the labs, he pushed himself away from the wall, rubbed at his eyes once more and bent over to pick up the now silent laptop. He caught a glimpse of Teyla at the doorway waiting to take his place at Sheppard's side as he rose to his feet, but as he turned towards the bed to say his goodbye, he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

A pair of hazel eyes.

They were slightly glazed and the discomfort was evident, but still, a pair of hazel eyes and they were looking straight at him.