A Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Part 3
Author: MacGateFan
Disclaimers in Part 1

Kavanagh looked around; making certain no one was following him. As long as everything went according to plan, Sheppard would be lying in the infirmary by tomorrow morning!

He glanced at his watch, knowing Dr. Maria Cunningham would be arriving in the chemistry lab shortly. She would have no choice but to cal in the head of security when she noticed someone had broken into her lab.

Yes. Everything would be perfect!

Maria walked down the hall towards her office, glancing through one of her assistant's report on the affect of hydrofluoric acid to some of the Atlantean plants. She looked up and nodded at Kavanagh as he walked past her. Goodness how she despised that man!

With a shrug, Maria entered her lab.

John was just about to head off to his quarters when someone's panicked voice came over the radio. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Maria Cunningham in chem lab three. We have a situation down here."

"What's wrong?" he asked, heading for the nearest transporter.

"I found some sort of explosive device. It's set to go off in about seven minutes!"

"I'll be right down," John replied worriedly. "Elizabeth, I need Lt. Cadman and a containment team down to chem lab three ASAP. Dr. Cunningham thinks there's some kind of explosive device set to go off. Big explosions and chemicals are not a good mix."

"Understood, John. I'll contact them now. Be careful."

"Will do."

John arrived in chem lab three to find a frantic doctor on his hands. "Colonel!" she exclaimed, "I don't know what to do. If that goes off..." She shook her head.

"We'll be fine," he replied. "Lt. Cadman is on her way. She's an explosives expert."

He took a deep breath and sighed. Things could never be easy. The makeshift timer said they had less than two minutes to disarm the bomb. Cadman wasn't going to make it in time. "Everyone stop where they are!" he ordered.

"Colonel?"

"Sir?"

"John?"

John paid the most attention to Elizabeth's cry. He never heard so much emotion in one word before. "Stop!" he said again. "We'll be fine and there's no time for you guys to get down here!"

John grabbed Maria by the arm and shoved her out the door just as the timer went off. He was surprised that there was no explosion, however the door slid shut. John inched closer to the device, stopping when his eyes began to burn.

"John!"

He was snapped from his reverie by Elizabeth's voice. John's throat began to bother him as well and he began to cough. Whatever the hell was in that vile was not healthy for him as now he was having trouble breathing.

Spots danced in front of his eyes as he sank to the floor. His last thought was of Elizabeth and how he wished he could kiss her again.

Rodney growled, moving to the door controls. The tech upstairs was having trouble getting them to respond to his commands, which pretty much meant that someone had purposely rigged them to close in first place.

The astrophysicist was betting that it was the same person who set the device off. If Rodney ever found out who it was, he was not going to be responsible for his actions.

"Dr. Cunningham, are you all right, love?" Maria nodded slowly as Carson, complete with a red containment suit knelt beside her. "I'm going to send you up to the infirmary with one of my nurses just to be certain, all right?"

"All right. Dr. Beckett, I think Colonel Sheppard may have been exposed to hydrofluoric acid."

Carson nodded. "Thank you. That will be most helpful. Go on now." He walked over to Rodney. "When you get that door open, you might want to get out of the area as soon as possible. I don't know how fast the chemical is going to spread and what it does."

"Yes, yes, of course," Rodney replied. "And interrupting doesn't help!"

Carson shook his head and left Rodney to his work.

Elizabeth's heart was slamming against her ribcage. She was nervous and beyond pissed. Whoever had set this up was going to have a line of people waiting to beat them to a pulp. Elizabeth said a silent prayer of thanks that Teyla and Ronon were currently on the mainland.

She looked up when she heard a knock at the door. "Major Lorne, please come in. I assume you've heard what happened to Colonel Sheppard?"

"Yes, I have, Dr. Weir," he replied. She could tell he wasn't too happy about it either.

"I want you to start an investigation. I want to know how this was able to happen and want the culprit found immediately!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Lorne said.

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Talk to Dr. Cunningham first. She was the last one with Colonel Sheppard."

Rodney let out an exclamation when the doors finally opened. He stepped aside to allow Carson and his team into the room. "I got it, Elizabeth," he said.

"Good job, Rodney. Now get out of there before Carson kicks your ass."

Rodney took a quick glance in the room. He shuddered thinking how close they came to losing him again. What was it with Sheppard and bad luck? He seemed to have it spades! With a sigh, Rodney headed up to the infirmary. He wanted to be there for his friend.

"Colonel Sheppard, can you hear me, son?" Carson pursed his lips. "His breathing is hitched, let's get him upstairs quickly now!"

"Doc?" John gasped out as they placed him on the gurney.

"Aye, Colonel. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. My eyes are... burning; I can't... can't seem to open them."

Carson placed a hand on his forehead. "Rest for now, John. We'll get you fixed up in no time, I promise."

"Know you will, Doc."

"Let's go ladies and gentlemen!"