As Jennifer walked through the Gate back into the clean and powered control room Woolsey greeted her.
"Dr Keller. Welcome back." He looked like he wanted to say something but on seeing Jennifer's face held back. "May I suggest you get some rest." He finally added. "I am sure there will be plenty to do tomorrow."
Jennifer was sure something was a little off, but she needed sleep. After a month of watching people getting very sick and trying to treat them she was exhausted, so she nodded and left the control room. However, she was still CMO and knew she should check in with her staff first, sleep could wait. So she made her way through the quiet corridors of Atlantis focusing on the long, hot bath she was going to have when she finally made it to her quarters. As she neared the infirmary she heard a familiar voice, Rodney's. As much as she liked the physicist she was too tired to put up with his hypochondria and considered going to her room after all. However, her conscience got the better of her and she walked into the infirmary.
"Jennifer!" McKay exclaimed on seeing Jennifer enter the room. "Thank god you're back." He added. "I don't know how much more of your incompetent staff I could take."
"What's wrong Rodney?" Jennifer said trying to mask her weariness.
"Ronon is dying and your useless team aren't helping him." McKay explained. "And there attitude really sucks. At least if you take crap from House you get results. Here you just get crap."
"Ronon? What's wrong with Ronon?" Jennifer asked, all traces of tiredness washed from her body.
"You haven't heard?" McKay asked surprised.
"No. I only returned to the city three minutes ago." Jennifer said scanning the infirmary for Ronon.
"Really? Oh well he's over here." McKay said walking off towards one of the isolation rooms. Dropping her bag in the corner Jennifer quickly followed the physicist through the door. In the room she saw Ronon lying, unmoving, on the bed in the middle of the room, connected to various machines and drips. As she entered Teyla and John, both of whom looked like they were going to collapse from exhaustion, looked round.
"Doc. Good to see you." Sheppard said. Jennifer nodded and rushed over to Ronon, picking up his chart.
"What happened?" Jennifer asked.
"He collapsed on a mission, but no one knows why he collapsed and he seems to be getting worse." Sheppard explained as Jennifer flicked through the chart. "He's been sedated because of the pain."
"How long has he been like this?"
"Nearly three days. There have been lots of tests, but no useful results." Sheppard said.
"Ok, I need to go talk to the doctor on duty, I'll be back." Jennifer replied before leaving, wondering why she had not been contacted before.
When she finally returned Sheppard was pacing the room. "Anything?" He asked hopefully.
"Not yet. Look I know you have gone through these questions several times but I need to get a history, just in case something was missed."
"Sure thing doc." Sheppard said wearily.
After going through the events of the mission again Jennifer nodded and asked.
"Anything unusual before the mission?"
"No. He was eating and beating like normal." Sheppard replied.
"Ok then, I'll go look over some test results." Jennifer said standing.
"What about the Apollo?" Teyla asked.
"Apollo?" Jennifer questioned.
"Yeah, that was strange." Sheppard said rubbing his stubble. "But he was fine after."
"The Apollo?" Jennifer interrupted his musing, frustrated at how much she had missed in her absence. "What happened on the Apollo?"
"He was sick. Ended up hiding in his quarters for most of the trip."
"Did he get seen by a doctor?" Jennifer asked, unaware of this event and silently seething that no one had reported it to her during the daily transmissions.
"When we got back I brought him in here and saw a doctor...something or other. They said he was fine, but drew some blood anyway. But we didn't hear anything else, so I guess everything came back normal." Sheppard explained as Jennifer reached for Ronon's file and desperately flicked through the pages.
"There's no mention in here of a check up or a blood test." Jennifer said eventually.
"It definitely happened." Sheppard said.
"I'm going to try and trace down the blood test results. Can you remember which doctor it was you saw?"
"No, only that they were heading back to Earth on the Apollo. But Marie sorted it." He said hoping Marie could tell Jennifer what she needed, until he remembered the nurse was no longer on base. "But she is on the Apollo and out of contact so no use. Sorry."
"It's ok. If I find anything I'll let you know." Jennifer said leaving.
"Why didn't I think of the Apollo earlier?" Sheppard asked guiltily.
"Because it is probably nothing. So he was sick. He got better and was fine." McKay consoled him. Teyla nodded her appreciation to Rodney who just shrugged as the group fell silent again.
"Why hasn't she found something?" McKay asked after a few hours.
"Give her time Rodney." Sheppard said.
"But-"
"Rodney, she has only just got back, she'll will need time to review the evidence." Teyla said, causing the men to raise their eyebrows at her wording.
"I'm not sure if it Rodney or Woolsey you need to spend less time round." Sheppard commented as Ronon began to stir.
"Ronon, how are you feeling?" Teyla asked squeezing Ronon's hand, trying to offer him support.
"Hurt." He croaked moments before screaming in pain.
"Ronon? Ronon, what's wrong?" Teyla asked full of concern as Sheppard went and called for medical support.
"Make it stop." Ronon cried snatching his hand away from Teyla and placing it over his ear as he screamed in pain.
"Ronon, what's hurting?" Jennifer asked as she sprinted to his side.
"Ear." Ronon gasped between cries.
"Your right one?" Jennifer asked. Ronon nodded in response as he cried out when another wave of pain hit him.
"Ronon, I'm going to give you something for the pain." Jennifer said pushing something through his IV line. "But I need to ask you some questions, so I can't give you anything too strong yet." She said calmly. After a few moments Ronon's writhing became less noticeable.
"Ronon is it just your right ear?"
"Yes." Ronon said through clenched teeth.
"Is that the only new symptom?"
"Pain's worse everywhere." He said looking at Jennifer, who saw raw fear in his eyes.
"I'm going to find out what's wrong. You need to hang in there." She tried to comfort him, before pushing another mixture into his IV line, knocking the former runner out.
"What's happening to him?" Sheppard asked.
"I'm not sure." Jennifer confessed, her voice frustrated. "Whatever it is is spreading. We are running out of time. All his blood work keeps came back normal. Every test that has been run has come back fine. His symptoms are consistent with him having several different illnesses, but none of the tests come back positive."
"I'm sure you'll find the answer." Sheppard said, sensing her feeling of helplessness. "But doc don't push yourself too hard."
"I found the blood taken when you brought him in a month ago." Jennifer said changing subject.
"No new insight though?"
"I don't know yet. The tests were never run. The sample has been sitting in the freezer for the last month. I'm running some tests now. Hopefully they will show something."
A/N: Many thanks to Vana1970 for the House inspiration this morning.