(by Era Yachi)
AN: In opposition to what I said earlier, there's still one more chapter after this. (nods) It will be a few days however, since I am apparently leaving for the weekend. Thanks for the all the wonderful feedback!
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Awake and Dreaming
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The faint howling of Wraith darts buzzed through his mind. John snapped awake, instinctively trying to reach for his P90 that wasn't there. His eyes slowly came into focus as the high-pitched scream of the enemy craft grew louder and more intense.
Instead of Wraith warriors, however, he spotted the white coats blue uniforms of the Atlantis infirmary moving around the end of his bed. The sound of the screaming darts slowly blended into a single, flat tone that seemed to overwhelm everything else.
He felt the tug of an IV in his wrist. Grimacing, he wrenched it out and chucked it aside. Beckett could complain all he wanted later, just as soon as he figured out what the hell the commotion was about. One of the nurses must have heard him, because she turned around and said something to one of the doctors—Dr. Eldman something or other. He couldn't hear her over the jumble of other voices.
The dark-skinned Dr. Eldman crossed the floor in a few quick strides. Sheppard turned his eyes sharply towards him. He didn't like the other man's expression.
Looking past him, the colonel focused on the center of the event across from him—he recognized the crash cart, but he didn't recognize the sickly pale man in the bed. Someone reached over and switched off the heart monitor, ending the drone of the flatline. Nothing more could be done, evidently.
Okay. Sheppard felt the clenched sensation in his chest ease. Not Rodney.
Under other circumstances, he might have felt bad not asking about this other guy. But right now, he knew his teammate was probably inches away from undergoing the same fate.
"Where's McKay?" he asked, before Eldman could get a word in edgewise.
The older man clasped his hands in front of him. "Dr. McKay is with Dr. Beckett, in surgery. Rest assured, he's in good hands. How are you feeling, Colonel?"
"I'm fine. Teyla and Ronon?"
"Oh, you mean the two friendly-looking folk waiting just outside the room?" the doctor said with a brief smile. He had a good-natured chuckle. "Fine enough they weren't even admitted. Mr. Dex had some slight bruising around the ribs, but he's a stalwart figure. He'll survive. I think they miss you," he added, with a slight lift of his brow.
Sheppard almost laughed. If Eldman were anything like Carson, he'd have chased Ronon down, tackled him, strapped him to a bed and condemned him to a week's worth of recovery. But it sounded like Carson had his hands full already.
"I'll bet they do," John said. His voice was hoarse. "How's…Rodney?"
Ah, here was the part where it got complicated. The corners of the doctor's mouth and eyes dropped, his one hand unconsciously gripping the other a little more tightly. Eldman reached over and pulled a chair closer to the side of the bed, sat down, and sighed lengthily.
"There are some difficulties…with the procedure," the doctor explained, keeping his voice low enough so only Sheppard could hear. "Now I'll be honest, this whole thing scares me silly. We're talking about massive internal bleeding, torn arteries, serious infections, Colonel, the likes of which I've never seen while looking down at the living. The object of incursion punctured his kidney, and messily. I can't even guess how long he'd kept on if you hadn't brought him here."
Sheppard absorbed this with a dispassionate exterior. But inside, he felt the answer eat away at him. If the 'gate hadn't magically opened by itself, or if the Wraith had beaten them to the site, then Ronon would probably be in the bed across from him. And Beckett wouldn't be performing an autopsy instead of surgery. And he'd have a bigger headache.
He glanced at the floor sharply. "What about now? Can't you give me a…a percentage, or something? What are his chances?"
"Of surviving the surgery?" said Dr. Eldman with a sigh that sounded like a half-hearted laugh. "I don't know. I've seen too many miracles today to be sure. But I'd say he has a very slim chance of surviving Dr. Beckett's wrath even if he does pull through."
"Yeah, that sounds like Carson."
"Indeed it does." The doctor stood up, eyeing him with that familiar 'stay-in-bed-or-I'll-drug-you' look. "As for you, Colonel, you have a fractured collar bone and a few bruises—I won't tell you how many, though. You'll find out soon enough. Believe me, it's enough to keep your grounded for a few days, and that's merciful compared to what Dr. Beckett would have done with you."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, doc," said Sheppard, feeling as though he'd rather be alone now.
"A nurse will be with you shortly to plug you in again." Eldman nodded at the IV tube dangling over the side of the bed as he moved off. "No sudden movements. I'm watching you, boy."
Sheppard slowly leaned back against the soft mattress, letting the sounds of the tragic aftermath take him to a state of deep thought. There were days he'd actually felt like wrapping his hands around McKay's neck until he shut up, but now he'd settle for just a single, mumbled complaint to put his mind at ease. The doctor had spent a good few days in the infirmary before, and most other times it was spent barking orders at every passing nurse to make his stay all the more comfortable for him. When—or if—Rodney arrived, fresh from surgery, the only thing John would be treated to was the monotonous blipping of a heart monitor.
Some days it really sucked to have friends.
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Elizabeth gazed at the walls of her office, reflecting on the previous day's catastrophe until the room started to spin. Words did not exist that could describe how tired she felt, after losing a night of sleep over Dr. McKay's condition. Carson paid her a visit an hour ago to update her on the condition of the physicist. Even though he'd tried to wash the better part of the blood from his hands, it had the tendency to stick in places, like fingernails. He was also a victim of lost sleep, and far worse for it.
Rodney was neither improving nor faring worse after he'd finished with the surgery. As far as they were concerned, the bleeding had stopped and his pulse was steady, if a wee bit weaker than he had hoped for. They could only wait and hope for the best.
It wasn't so much the words he spoke that bothered her, but the way he said them. Carson was a good man with a good heart, but did poorly when it came to concealing certain truths. McKay had a slim to zero chance of ever opening his eyes again.
He'd reached over the desk and gently patted her hand before leaving. Somehow, despite this encouragement, she couldn't make herself smile in return.
The walls of her office continued to turn mercilessly, until she heard a gentle knock just outside the door across from her desk. She raised her head to find a familiar Athosian face standing just a few feet away.
"Teyla," she said, surprising herself with how scratchy her voice sounded. "Please, come in. I'm sorry, I was just thinking to myself and I must have lost track of time."
With a comforting expression, Teyla approached her and sat in the chair across from the expedition leader. "Dr. Weir, I have come to…talk to you about something."
More than glad to have her mind distracted by something other than Rodney, Elizabeth leaned forward, folding her hands on top of the desk in front of her. "Of course. What's on your mind?"
Teyla was obviously disturbed by something, though not upset in any way. The Athosian inhaled deeply before starting. "I believe I have solved the mystery surrounding the Stargate opening on M4W-020."
"What?" Weir felt her heart skip a beat. "Not that I doubt you in the least, Teyla, but can you be certain of that?"
"Yes," Teyla said with an edge of uncertainty, "Ronon did tell you about the blood we encountered when we arrived at the 'gate."
Weir nodded, remembering the conversation she'd had with the Satedan about the mysterious blood covering the stones around the Stargate on H4W-020. She'd barely thought about it after that, given the circumstances.
"I discovered some of the blood as I was removing my gear. I'm not sure why I thought to have it analyzed, but now I am glad. I gave the sample to one of Dr. Beckett's associates and the results were…rather unusual."
"You mean to say that a match was found in our records?"
Teyla nodded solemnly. "There was. The blood is Dr. Zelenka's."
Weir lifted a hand to cover her mouth. "Oh my God."
The Athosian answered with a small sigh. "I realize how crazy it must sound, but the test was run several times. They were all positive."
"But Radek never left Atlantis," Elizabeth reasoned. "I was in the 'gate room the entire time you were on that planet. There's no way…"
"Believe me, Dr. Weir. I doubt we will ever truly know what happened on that planet, but I am very sure that Dr. Zelenka was responsible for opening the 'gate and ensuring our save arrival in Atlantis."
Elizaebth was struck with a sudden wave of sadness. She knew, just by Ronon's accurate and horrific description, that something awful must have happened to the Zelenka accountable for all this. Clearly, more had happened on that world than they could start to imagine.
Yet in her experience, with as many alternate universes and time devices she knew existed, it was entirely possible that another Radek had died saving Sheppard's team. She felt a sudden swell of affection for the scientist. He'd done more for them than he knew, had been braver than he anyone suspected of him and she knew, without a doubt, that she had to pass this on to him.
"Thank you, Teyla," she said, after a lengthy pause. Her voice was hoarse now, for a different reason. "Knowing about this is…is more than I could ask for right now."
"I understand." Teyla said gently. "I…think I will return to the infirmary now, with Ronon. Visiting hours will begin soon.
As she stood up to leave, Weir found herself unable to be alone anymore. "Wait."
Teyla stopped, turning around to face her.
"I'm coming, too," Weir informed her with a new resoluteness.
Teyla smiled.
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Blip.
Ow…
Blip. Blip.
Of course, the first thing he had to wake to was the rush of pain just above his shoulder. Sheppard grimaced as the lights made his eyes dance out of focus, before turning his head towards the rows of beds next to him.
There lay the man of the hour, in bed number four. A few empty sheets separated him and the scientist. The annoying—yet wholly reassuring blipping noise was coming from that heart monitor John had been expecting. It was attached to the annoying—yet wholly reassuring Rodney lying motionless on the mattress beside it.
Son of a…He shut the thought off abruptly. He chest hurt like two hells for the price of one, but the fact that one of his closest friends was lying unconscious with a hole through his stomach nearby made his own injury seem like a pinprick.
But still.
His next question was: how long had he been out? He didn't even remember falling asleep. Which was dumb, since people usually don't remember that kind of thing anyway. He could really use an aspirin right now. One that could knock out a horse.
"Sheppard?"
Oh, Ronon. John slowly titled his head towards the entrance to the infirmary to find not only Ronon, but Teyla and Elizabeth coming towards him as well. Someone started a party and didn't even think to invite him. How thoughtful.
They were all momentarily distracted by McKay, whose only response to the arrival of their guests was to continue acting comatose. Weir went right over to the side of Rodney's bed and just sort of…looked down at him for a while—okay, this was a bad time to feel jealous, but he also felt kind of…sorry. He was the team leader after all, and if McKay didn't make it, he might as well wear a sign that read 'I let him die' for the rest of his life.
Right. That was a little overdramatic. Hell, he needed painkillers.
"How are you feeling, John?" said Teyla as she neared him. Ronon stood next to her, dividing his attention between Sheppard and McKay with short glances.
Sheppard sighed—and regretted it an instant later as another flash of pain shot through his body. He grunted. "Ah…yeah, I'm great. Pain medication's wearing off, I think. Hurts like hell. I've been through worse. You guys can shut me up any time now."
"How long are they keeping you here?" said Ronon.
"Long enough. A couple of days, tops," the forced response came. "It's nice for you guys to drop by."
"It's nice to see you," Teyla said gently.
A silence ensued where no one found anything to say. That was probably because they were saying all the wrong things—at least, the things that weren't immediately on their mind.
"Yeah, we can stop the bullshit now," John said, not bothering to hide the harsh tinge of his voice. "We're all thinking about Rodney. Truth is, you probably know tons more than I do, so spill it."
"He's stable for now," Weir announced, breaking her personal silence. "Carson seems to think he's going to take a long time to recover. Apparently, it's still likely he can crash at any moment."
Sheppard glanced at her appraisingly. "Beckett told you that?"
She turned to face him, with 'that look'.
He bobbed his head. "Oh, right."
"We were very lucky to reach the Stargate in time," Teyla pointed out quietly. "We have you to thank for that, John."
"Don't…just don't," Sheppard said with an unexpected sharpness. "The only one we should be thanking is whoever dialed the 'gate for us. And what's up with that, anyway? I'm still a little creeped out by the fact we were saving by an invisible bleeding man."
And the expression on both Weir's and Teyla's faces told him that he should be prepared for a long-winded explanation for that, too. That's okay. He had a lot of time.
"That's it," he said, sighing raggedly. "Someone start explaining before I pass out."
So they did.
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AN: One more chapter to go! I need a hamster.