A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews. Here it is, chapter 3!
As Carson Beckett approached the makeshift waiting room he sighed as he noticed that Elizabeth Weir was still relentlessly pacing back and forth.
"I know the chairs aren't all that comfy lass, but you're going to wear a hole in my floor"
"Carson" Elizabeth exclaimed, wheeling around to face the Scot
"Easy lass, sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's ok, I was just thinking." She paused before continuing "Sorry I snapped at you earlier, it was just a shock. Them coming through the gate like that, and without…John."
"Ach, there's no need to apologise, I quite understand"
"How are they?" She asked cautiously eyeing Beckett, trying to gauge what his answer might be. Hoping upon hope that it was going to good, however her hopes were quickly dashed when his face fell.
"Well" he responded warily, slightly worried that she might snap at him again. Although she hardly ever showed that side of herself she could be quite intimidating when she wanted to be. "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that Teyla's wound wasn't too serious. She was lucky in that the bullet missed her major organs. We've stitched her up, and we're giving her a blood transfusion, because as you saw for yourself she's lost a lot of blood."
Elizabeth nodded silently, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she asked, "and the bad news?"
"Aye" he sighed heavily "They have me completely stumped. They're all still unconscious and I can find no medical reasons for it. I've ran all of the tests that I could think of and there is nothing physically wrong with them"
She sat heavily on one of the chairs lining the makeshift waiting room before replying dejectedly "Except that they're unconscious"
"Aye" replied Carson sadly
"So what do we do now?"
"There's nothing we can do except wait and hope that they come around"
"Wait" She replied quietly, more to herself then to Carson
"Elizabeth" Carson placed a hand gently on her shoulder "why don't you go get some sleep, you look exhausted"
"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately" she quipped jokingly "You look awful" She hadn't missed the fact that dark circles were beginning to form, under heavy lidded eyes, his shoulders were slumped, and clothes ruffled. He had been running himself ragged since the team had come back through the gate five hours ago.
"Aye, probably. But I'm needed here, your not. Elizabeth I know your worried, both for John and his team, but there really is nothing you can do for them right now. Go get some sleep, and I'll be sure to keep you posted if there's any change."
"Sorry Carson, but I'm not leaving until I know they're going to be ok. Besides I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that John's still out there somewhere."
"Elizabeth" Carson began, putting on his best I'm-the-doctor-and-you-will-listen-to-me-face, but was quickly silenced when she glared at him with her my-decision-is-final look, which was equally intimidating, if not more than his own. Relenting he added "Aye, ok. I'll let you know the minute there's any change." With that he turned and left, to see to his patient, leaving Elizabeth to resume her incessant pacing.
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The first thing he became aware of as he found himself being pulled from the depths of unconsciousness was the relentless beeping. What the hell was that. His head was pounding and the noise was only serving to make it worse. He could feel something soft but not entirely comfortable beneath him, along with the tug of something in his right hand. Quickly gaining his bearings he realised he must be in the infirmary back on Atlantis. The beeping he had heard was obviously a heart monitor. What the hell happened on their last mission? He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a familiar Scottish voice calling him.
"Rodney, can you hear me? If you can hear me open your eyes."
Slowly, cautiously he cracked his eyes open a slit before yelping in pain and promptly squeezing them shut again as the bright overhead lights made his headache spike. He could hear Carson's worried voice calling him
"Rodney! Rodney! What's wrong? Are you in pain?"
"Bloody hell Carson, are you trying to blind me or just make my head explode"
"Carson not taking the bait replied, "I'm guessing by that reaction you've got a doozey of a headache."
"Yah think" McKay replied weakly
Carson promptly dimmed the lights before replying "You can open your eyes now Rodney, I've dimmed the lights.
"Thanks" he mumbled, before attempting to open his eyes again, this time finding his efforts unhindered by the infirmary lights. The worried, and he noted, exhausted faces of Carson Beckett and Elizabeth Weir swam into
view.
"What happened" he asked feebly. God, he felt like shit.
"You've been unconscious for almost twelve hours" Carson stated
"Twelve hours?" Rodney asked incredulously. When Elizabeth gave him a barely imperceptible nod, he surmised that there must be something more going on. Not seeing the rest of his team he made to move his head to scan the infirmary, sending another spike of pain shooting through his head, making him nauseous. Deciding it was not the wisest move he turned his gaze back to Elizabeth, and shooting her a questioning look, he asked,
"Where is everyone?"
"Teyla and Ford are still unconscious. We had to take Teyla to surgery but the bullet missed any vital organs, so she'll be fine"
Bullet? What bullet? What the hell happened to them on their last mission? Getting slightly annoyed now he asked "And where's Shepherd?"
Carson and Elizabeth exchanged worried glances with each other, before Carson gently probed.
"Rodney, what's the last thing that you remember"
Rodney, getting extremely frustrated that they wouldn't tell him where Shepherd was, furrowed his brow in concentration.
"We were on MX4-238, except that it wasn't MX4-238." His mind finally clicked as he jumped up and shouted "Shepherd!" His body instantly rebelling against the sudden movement, he was extremely grateful to find a bowl shoved in front of him as he was violently sick. Completely exhausted by the exertion he flopped back down on the bed as Carson handed the bowl to a nearby nurse.
"Shepherd" he repeated weakly "Those bastards have Shepherd. I don't even know what they wanted, they said that he had something they needed, and they just took him."
He was interrupted by a pained cry of "Colonel" coming from the bed next to him. Elizabeth was first to reach Ford's bedside as he sat panting as if he had just run a marathon. She placed a calming hand on his shoulder as she saw a mixture of pain and fear play across his face.
"Shh, it's okay" she said soothingly
"Easy lad. How are you feeling?"
"What?" Aiden stared at them in confusion for a few seconds as if only just registering their presence. "Colonel Shepherd, they took him."
"We know" Elizabeth replied calmly "Rodney" she indicated the next bed, "was just telling us, when you woke up."
"Doc, you okay?" Ford asked looking over at McKay
"Yeah. I'm fine. How are you feeling?"
"Are you trying to take my job now too, Rodney" Beckett chided. He turned
back to Ford, and asked, "How are you feeling son?"
Aiden furrowed his brow slightly as he thought about the question "Awful. I have a splitting headache"
"You and Rodney both. I'll go get you something, and you Rodney" he added glancing over at Rodney, before he disappeared to get some of his 'magic' pills.
Turning back to face Rodney, Elizabeth indicated for him to continue.
"They took him" was all he could manage as another wave of nausea rolled over him, a nurse was instantly at his side. Seeing that Rodney was in good hands Elizabeth turned her head back to Ford
"Lieutenant" she asked gently "do you feel up to telling me what happened?"
"Yes ma'am" he replied, although all he really felt like was drifting back into peaceful oblivion, but the thought of his CO needing his help made him continue. "We stepped through the gate onto MX4-238, although it wasn't MX4-238, at least that's what Teyla said."
"What do you mean it wasn't MX4-238, that's the address we dialled" she asked worriedly
"I don't know what to tell you ma'am, it's just what Teyla said" He looked at her to see if she would question him further before continuing "We couldn't find any signs of civilisation but the Colonel said we may as well look around anyway, since we were there. He pulled out his life signs detector, but there were no signs of life. We were barely five minutes from the gate, when these guys appeared, as if from thin air and surrounded us"
"They must have had cloaking capabilities because they didn't show up on the LSD." Rodney having sufficiently recovered rejoined the conversation, seeing the looks of scepticism pointed his way he added defensively "Hello, Genius here, do you have a better explanation." When no one spoke for several seconds, he flashed then his I-know-I'm-right smirk before adding "Please continue"
Ford as if trying to remember where in the retelling he'd got too waited for a second before continuing "They grabbed the Colonel and said that he had something they wanted. When he tried to resist, they shot Teyla" As if just remembering her, he scanned the room for his team mate. Finding her still unconscious, he asked. "Is she ok?"
"She'll be fine" answered Carson, who had just re-entered the room. She's still unconscious but her bodies been through a lot."
"Good" Obviously satisfied Teyla was indeed ok, he continued "Colonel Shepherd said he would go with them as long as they let us go."
"We tried to stop him, told him not to be so stupid. Damn hero complex. He's always sacrificing himself to save others." Rodney snapped.
"It's not like we had much choice" Aiden added slightly defensively, "they had us outnumbered three to one. Three of them took the Colonel, while the rest of them frogmarched the three of us back to the gate. I dialled the address, while Dr McKay entered the IDC.
"Don't worry I didn't let them see" he added quickly
Ignoring McKay, Ford continued " We were walking up the steps to the gate when I felt as if something pushed me in the back, the next thing that I knew I was waking up here"
"Hmm, must have been some kind of stun weapon" Rodney voiced his thoughts aloud
"So you have no idea who these people are, or what they wanted?" Elizabeth questioned, disappointed that they could not provide her with anymore information
"Sorry, ma'am, they just said that he had something that they wanted"
"Ok thank you. Try to get some sleep. We'll do everything we can to find the Colonel. In the mean time I want you to try and get some rest.
McKay and Ford both nodded weakly, the pain meds that Carson had provided finally kicking in as they drifted off to sleep.
There would be no sleeping for Elizabeth though, after speaking with Rodney and Ford, she had gained more questions then answers. Worst of all she still had no idea where her second in command was, or even who had taken him.
A/N: Sorry, I know I'm evil but I promise answers to come in the next chapter along with plenty of Shep whumping. Hope you liked this chapter anyway, even if it did provide more questions than answers.
As always reviews are great appreciated!