Chapter Sixteen

Teyla left Rodney standing at Sheppard's side whilst she fetched the cynical Keller from her office once more. It had only been just under an hour since she had last checked Sheppard's condition and she hadn't expected to be called back in so soon. But as soon as she opened the doors and approached the pilot's bed, she saw for herself his very apparent return from the depths.

"Colonel, I know you can't speak at the moment, "she had noticed the burgeoning signs of distress apparent in his eyes, "you've got a vent in place. Your lung was badly damaged by the bullet that entered your chest, so we've had to keep you on the vent to ease the pressure and allow your body the leeway it needed to heal…." She placed her hand on Sheppard's, "Colonel, if you can hear and understand me, just squeeze my hand." She glanced down and smiled as she felt the slight pressure on her fingers, "That's excellent Colonel. Now I know you've been asleep a while now, but your body still has a great deal of healing to do – so take your time." Keller placed Sheppard's hand back on the bed and turned to the waiting figures behind her, "Well, he again continues to surprise me…" she smiled and turned her attention back to her patient, "Okay Colonel, how's the pain – and please be honest with me…, just squeeze my hand again if you need something to just take the edge off." Again she felt the slight squeeze on her hand, but she hadn't needed the indication to tell her that Sheppard was struggling, she had already seen the beads of perspiration that had broken out on his forehead and upper lip, and the slight frown that had appeared on his previously relaxed features.

"Is he okay..?" Rodney was hovering in the background, but he had also seen the subtle signs of distress that had appeared on Sheppard's face.

"He'll be fine Dr McKay, I'm just going to give him a little something to take the discomfort away." Keller leant to the side and picked up the pre-prepared syringe that she had placed there earlier. Moving to stand at Sheppard's head she pricked the needle into the IV port hanging above the bed and slowly injected the contents. "That should help Colonel, rest now.." Keller turned to the two team mates, "He's going to be very sore at the moment so I'm really not surprised that he was honest with me about how he feels, I know I wouldn't want to be going through what he's going through at the moment, he just needs time."

"Rest John, we will still be here when you wake." Teyla couldn't hide the happiness that she was feeling as she smiled down at her friend, but his eyes had already closed again, and the room was silent for a moment as the group absorbed the new development. Teyla looked down at the now sleeping figure then turned to Keller, "How long will he have to be connected to the vent Dr Keller?"

"Well, when he wakes again he's going to feel understandably weak; he's been unconscious for a far length of time and we really can't expect too much from him too quickly. Obviously the sooner we can get him breathing on his own the better, so we'll see about changing the settings to allow him to have a bit more control over his breathing than he does at present. At the moment the vent is actually breathing for him, but we can adjust the output to actually allow him to breath on his own, but with help if he needs it; so in answer to your question, if every thing goes well, I'm hopeful that we should be able to remove the vent within the next day or two."

"I'm sure that John will feel a lot more comfortable when the tubes are gone, they are very ..intrusive for him." Teyla stared at her friend, his face now relaxed in a pain free sleep.

"Time is all important now Teyla, he needs lots of time to let his body heal. Let me get the vent settings changed over and we'll see how things go from there okay." Teyla nodded and turned to look at Rodney, "We should let Dr Keller tend to John, we can return shortly. I am sure that Elizabeth and Ronon will want to know that John has woken, we should let them know."

"Yes, of course…you're right," Rodney nodded his agreement with Teyla and with a slight backwards glance at Keller, who had crouched beside the bed to adjust the settings on the vent, they left.

Sheppard continued to show good signs of recovery and after a further day, Keller decided that it was time to remove the vent altogether. Sheppard had started to struggle with the intrusion of the breathing apparatus, and Keller knew that the time had come to remove it.

Elizabeth stood at Sheppard's side as Keller prepared to remove the vent.

"Easy Colonel, don't fight it – that's it… easy now, well done." Keller pulled the vent free from Sheppard's throat and indicated to the ICU nurse, who stepped up and slipped the waiting oxygen mask onto Sheppard's nose and mouth. Sheppard closed his eyes as the stress of having the vent removed took its toll. He lay still for several minutes before opening his eyes once more and looking up at the faces above him. Elizabeth smiled warmly down at her 2IC, and Sheppard tried to respond to her smile with one of his own, but his muscles wouldn't respond as he wanted, his body weakened incredibly by the week of trauma that he had endured. He lay still for several minutes, but then lifted his hand off the sheet and brought it up to his face, trying to shift the mask that sat there.

"Whoa there Colonel," Keller pulled his hand away from the mask and placed it back down beside him, "Lets not run before we can walk okay!" she gave the pilot a stern look, "Give yourself a few minutes at least before you start going 'freestyle' okay!"

Sheppard smiled briefly up at Keller's reprimand, but he could see the warmth written in her eyes and once more made to move the mask from his face.

"Good god Sheppard, you are so stubborn!" Rodney had appeared at the door and now entered to stand beside Elizabeth, he looked at Keller, "I told you he was stubborn…and foolhardy!"

"Rodney, a little understanding wouldn't go amiss at the moment don't you think. John has only just had the vent removed and it's understandable he would want to communicate if he can." Elizabeth frowned at the scientist, then returned her attention to John as he attempted once more to remove the mask.

"John are you okay?"

Sheppard indicated that he wanted the mask off and Elizabeth looked over at Keller who shrugged in consternation. The pilot had amazed her over the last few days with his resilience and determination. His refusal to give in and his strong will had shown her another side to the cocky, self assured man.

As military leader of the city, he had shown himself to be steadfast and passionate in his command style, but during her short time in the city, she had also seen his deep respect and loyalty to his team mates and friends, a completely different side of him.

She had only had limited contact with the man since she had been forced to take over the medical post that had been left open by Carson's sudden death, and if she was honest, she had been nervous of any involvement in command, even though she had been force to become involved due to her new position.

Colonel Sheppard had been present when she had been told of her new position originally and she remembered his smile as she had nervously shaken hands and the wry look that he had given her as she had admitted her anxiety.

His eyes then had been full of humour and she remembered feeling herself relaxing as she laughed with him. Now as she looked into those same eyes, she could see the determination that she knew existed there and she saw the same strength that had brought him back from the brink of death and she gave in,

"Alright, if he wants the mask off, then okay, but just for a minute…."

Elizabeth lifted the mask off of Sheppard's face and he tried to pull in a deep breath, coughing as the cool air in the room hit his healing lungs. Keller lifted a small container from the side table and placed a small ice chip between his dry lips. As the cool liquid hit his throat, Sheppard closed his eyes and savoured the relief that it offered, waiting as the fluid eased the rawness from his throat. The vent had saved his life, but he really hated the after effects that the intrusive devise left. Keller checked the IV's as he lay quietly, then crouched and checked the wound in his left side where the chest drain protruded. Satisfied that everything was in order, she nodded briefly at Elizabeth and Rodney, "Just a moment mind, don't go overtaxing the Colonel; the last thing we need is a relapse! You know where I am if you need me," she then looked down at Sheppard, "Don't overdue it Colonel, just a few minutes then I expect that mask to be back in place.." she smiled at the group, turned away and left.

Sheppard watched Keller leave, then raised a shaking hand to his face and rubbed at his red rimmed eyes, the dark circles underneath accentuating his gaunt features. Elizabeth was worried about him, "Can I get you anything John?"

Sheppard looked up at her worried face and a thin smile broke his features, "M'good…"

"Are you sure John, are you in any pain…?"

"M'okay Lizbeth, …what's happn'd." He coughed as the effort of speaking strained his vocal cords. His muscles hadn't been used for over a week and he was discovering how much his inactivity had affected him. Once more he struggled to speak, "Mich'l….did he get away?" He closed his eyes as the effort drained his strength.

Elizabeth looked over at Rodney before answering John's question, but he just shrugged, "He needs to know Elizabeth." She sighed and waited until Sheppard opened his eyes once more before speaking.

"He's gone John. He escaped from the planet," she could see the pain that the news caused Sheppard, but Rodney was right; he had a right to know the truth. "We sent two teams back to the planet after you were rescued, but they could find no trace of Michael there either dead or alive, so we have to accept that he managed to get away. The governing council were incredibly concerned about what happened, they have asked after your condition repetitively, but according to them they were totally unaware of what was going on under their noses. We do know that between the two of you, Ronon and yourself managed to 'remove' the bad apples from the security division, and the government are casting no dispersions about what happened. They are now aware that those few well placed individuals could actually have been responsible for the disappearance of more than a hundred people over the last few months, and they are very keen to ensure that everyone responsible is brought to justice, so they have offered to help us in our search for Michael."

Sheppard closes his eyes as he absorbed the news and a frown played across his forehead. Elizabeth looked across at Rodney worriedly,

"John are you okay, should I get Dr Keller?"

"M'okay," he opened his eyes once more and studied Elizabeths face, "N-no Michael then…."

"Sorry, No Michael. It looks likely that he escaped before we even had you back in the city, he must have had a transport waiting… John, what did he want with you, we…we haven't been able to find out..?" Elizabeth was aware that Sheppard was getting very close to the limits of his endurance, but she really needed to know what had happened.

Sheppard took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling tiles above him, "He wanted to use h-his 'bug juice' on me.." the effort was starting to show on Sheppard's face and Elizabeth moved to stop him from continuing, but he raised a hand at her, "S'okay, j-just give me a second…." She sat back down and waited until he was able to continue. He lay still on the bed for a few seconds and then opened his eyes once more, this time looking at Elizabeth as he spoke, "He w-wanted to create a s-soldier who would do h-his bidding, but also b-be able to…" he drew in a short breath and coughed, "..to use the ancient equipment …and h-he wanted to use m-my body to achieve it…." Sheppard had had enough and he grasped weakly at the mask that sat around his throat, but Elizabeth was there before him and her hands brought the mask up to rest over his mouth and nose again. Sheppard was exhausted, but relieved. He had desperately needed to tell them of Michaels plan and now as he drew in the oxygen that his body was craving, he felt more at peace - the burden shared. He had suffered dreadful nightmares whilst under the influence of the sedatives; his dreams filled with the images of himself as a bug soldier, of being unable to pull away from Michael's control, of attacking his friends, of killing….

"John…." Elizabeth's concern cut through his thoughts and he forced his heavy lids open, "Do you need anything…." He shook his head.

"Good god Sheppard, do you mean to say that Michael wanted you to 'experiment' on!...We thought it was just his bitter revengeful brain needing a resolution, but that's just," Rodney couldn't find the words to describe how he felt, "that's just …appalling!"

"John, you need to rest now. If you like we can talk later…?" Elizabeth was concerned. Sheppard had turned his head away from them and now faced the empty bed to his side, his eyes closed, "Maybe when you're feeling better I can get Kate to come talk to you, it may help…"

Sheppard shook his head and once more moved his hand up to remove the mask from his face, "At the m-moment L'zbeth, t-the only thing that will h-help me is f-for Ronon's blaster to catch that d-damned Wraith between the eyes…"

"I'm pretty sure that Ronon agrees with you on that count. Lets just say that he's a tad annoyed with Michael at the moment should we." Rodney could see that Sheppard was done in, but he also knew that his friend needed reassurance at the moment; what he had been through shouldn't happen to anyone, and as tough as Sheppard was, he'd suffered more than most people should have to. "Ronon won't rest until Michael's dead you know, he's sworn to kill him for what he did to you,"

"Rodney, I'm sure John doesn't need to know that now, he's….."

"H-he's right here L'zbeth and…." Sheppard turned to look at their faces, once more free of the mask, "…and that's the b-best news I could h-hear…"

"And what news would that be Colonel?" Keller entered the room again as Sheppard finished speaking and she immediately noticed the sheen of sweat that coated his face and the strain that showed around his eyes, "I see you decided to ignore my advice Colonel. I believe we may have to restrict visiting hours if you can't listen to me," the twinkle in her eye as she spoke wasn't lost on the group and a smile twitched at her lips as she approached the Colonel's bed, "lets check you over, get that mask back on and then I believe you need to rest – alone." She leant over and checked the monitors that bleeped noisily beside the bed and than crouched down to check the chest drain.

"I believe that was our cue to leave Rodney."

"What, oh yes, of course…well, we'll come back later when you're feeling a bit stronger then."

Sheppard turned towards Rodney, "S'okay, I'm g-good McKay." As he drew in a deep breath, his face screwed up as his chest pulled and he winced, then he looked down at Keller beside him and noticed the chest tube for the first time.

He swallowed hard at the sight of the tube disappearing into his side, "On second thoughts…. m-maybe n-not so good" He groaned at the sight of the drain disappearing under the bed, but as he slide down into the soft material of the pillow and closed his eyes, there was only one thought running through his mind. He was home. He was safe. And it felt really, really good.

The End

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time and effort to review my story, your comments are always encouraging and I hope sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this tale.