A/N: Ya know, when I started out writing this thing I did NOT expect a gorram novel. And there were still a few things I never did get to add, couldn't find a place for. Oh well, just have to save them for another time. When, I don't know ... :)

X: Wrap Up

I tried to stay asleep, I really did, but the sound of somebody's heart monitor going absolutely batshit crazy finally destroyed all my efforts to remain oblivious. I didn't open my eyes right away because I had one of those all-through-the-head-thud-in-time-to-your-pulse headaches that come from either anesthesia or massive blood loss, and I just knew the lights were going to make it worse. So I just laid there a moment and took stock of the various complaints my body was phoning in. My left arm felt oddly heavy and cold, and every breath brought a pull from my right side that meant I more than likely had a tube hanging out of me. Great. Collapsed lung, I bet. And I ached all over but didn't really care. Cool, Carson had me on the good stuff.

I rolled my head towards the obnoxious beeping, cracked open my eyes, and had my second out-of-body experience of the week. It actually took me a moment to realize it was Shadow in the bed next to me. The kid's neck was a mass of white bandages, and his skin was so pale under his tan, it made his tan look like a fake bake job. His chest rose and fell rapidly under his hospital gown and thin blanket.

That was when a real shadow loomed over me. I turned my head back and found Ronon grinning down at me. "Yep, his eyes are open," he rumbled and glanced back across the aisle.

"Wonderful!" Teyla said from the bedside of the little guy with the broken leg. She said something to him then got up and came over.

"Hey," I said. At least that's what my brain told me I did. What actually came out sounded like a door that hadn't been opened in, oh, a century. I made the mistake of trying to swallow, and that just made me cough, and … oh fuck. I kind of lost track of things for a moment, then somebody saved me by spooning some ice chips in my mouth once things calmed down. I squinted up at Carson. "Thanks, doc," I croaked out, and hey – it was intelligible.

Carson smiled and fed me a couple more spoonfuls. Then he sat the cup aside and I'm pretty sure I whimpered. "In a moment," he said. "How are you feeling, besides 'like crap'?"

I offered a weak, lopsided grin. "Took the words out of my mouth. And the ice. Could I …?" I twitched my eyebrows towards the cup that sat there just out of reach, mocking me.

Carson grunted as he checked my side. "Well, I can honestly say I set a new personal record for stitches with you two." He adjusted something and I heard a faint hiss. Wasn't sure if that came from me or whatever he just did.

"How is he?" I asked with a faint twitch of my chin in Shadow's direction.

"He'll be fine. He damn near bled out." Then Carson sighed and shook his head. "He should have bled out. His left jugular and carotid were sliced, but he stopped the bleeding. The vessels looked fused when he was brought in, but the tissue around them was still open. Took a lot of fancy stitching to close him up."

"Wow," was all I managed.

"I've had to keep him heavily sedated – twice he started to change in his sleep and ripped sutures out. It was a bloidy mess, literally." Then he frowned down at me. "And you, Colonel, are lucky your arm is still attached – it was sliced nearly to the bone." Then Carson did something that told me it was a lot worse than he let on – he pursed his lips and his eyebrows crooked up briefly. I wonder if he knew how easily we could read him. Any moment now he'll be saying …. "We'll talk later, when you're up to it." Yup, it's bad.

I glanced to the foot of the bed at Teyla and Ronon. They could keep poker faces a whole helluva lot better – I couldn't tell anything from them at the moment. Shit. "How's Lorne?" I asked.

"You can ask him yuirself," Carson said and grinned. He nodded to my left.

I rolled my head that way and saw Lorne in the next bed. His head was still swathed in bandages and he offered me the faintest of nods. "So, Major, how are you feeling?"

"Got one helluva headache, sir," he said carefully, like every syllable was about to split his head open. "And I'm still seeing double."

I squinted at him. "Funny," I croaked out. I cleared my throat, grimaced, and Carson was there with the ice chips again. About damned time. I was already getting tired and my head was really thudding so I decided to close my eyes for a moment. Then that damn hyperactive heart monitor started to get on my nerves again, and when I opened my eyes everyone was gone and the lights were dimmed. Huh. I glanced at Shadow and saw Nurse Carrie injecting something into his i.v.. Then she adjusted his blanket, ran a hand across his cheek, and turned to face me. When she saw I was awake she gave me the sweetest smile. After she checked my i.v. she brought me more ice chips, and when she left I had a feeling I wouldn't be experiencing anymore unscheduled shaves from her any more. I tried to go back to sleep, but all I could hear was that rapid beep-beep-beep-beep-beep. "Damn it, can't somebody turn that thing down?" I croaked out.

"Eh, you get used to it after awhile," Lorne said from my left. I rolled my head that way. "Kind of has a disco beat, though," he said and I could see a faint frown. "And that can be bad."

I snorted and my head throbbed. I tried not to think of a song that would go to that tempo, because I knew damn well I'd sit there and obsess about it. I was just starting to nod off again when I heard Lorne muttering. I looked back at him and saw his head bobbing slightly in time to the monitor, and a second later I heard him sing under his breath, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive. Stayin' – oh, God damnit!" That made me laugh, which in turn made me cough, and that was pretty much it for awhile.

The next time I opened my eyes Rodney was sitting next to my bed. He was focused on his tablet, of course, and didn't notice I was awake. "Oh, fuck," I groaned and his head whipped up. "I've died and gone to hell."

"Oh, har har har – give anyone morphine and they think they're a comedian," Rodney said with a crooked grimace. But his eyes were dancing.

"I thought it was funny," Lorne said quietly.

Rodney glared his way. "Well, that just proves Carson was wrong and you really do have brain damage."

"Ouch," I said. Not because of the comeback, but because chuckling hurt.

Rodney instantly got worried. "Do I need to get Carson? Have him take you off the drip and set up a panic button?"

"I'm fine, Rodney," I said and waved my right hand.

"Are you sure? Because Carson is right over there," he said and pointed over his shoulder.

"Yeah." I rolled my head to the right and saw an empty bed. Then it dawned on me I wasn't hearing that annoying beep-beep-beep-beep. I must have looked panicked because Rodney instantly started babbling.

"Shadow's okay – Dr. Vandenheiden just has him over in neuro doing some brain scans." At my continued gawping, he said, "Nothing's wrong. He's fine – really. We think we found out why he has a direct link with the Temple." Rodney's hand came up and fluttered by his temple. "We fine tuned one of the scanners and found about twenty of the leads from the download process had broken off in his brain. Makes sense, considering the equipment hadn't been used in over fifteen hundred years. There's bound to be failures." He flinched at my expression. "They're not causing any damage – the things are the diameter of spider silk, but they are acting like …."

"An antenna?" I said.

"Exactly!"

"Huh." And that was about the extent of my end of the conversation because the panic attack from thinking Shadow was dead left me wiped. So I just listened to Rodney babble and nodded every once in awhile until they wheeled Shadow back. As they locked the wheels on his wheelchair, I saw his skin had actual color against the scrubs he now wore. He saw me looking at him and he just raised his chin and eyebrows briefly as he settled back against the pillows. I did the same thing back.

"Okay, that is just – disturbing," Rodney said.

"I hear yae," Carson said. He patted Shadow on the leg. "Let's see about getting you some dinner, lad."

Dinner? Whoa, I lost a day. More than a day. "What about me?" I asked and cringed at how utterly pathetic I sounded.

Carson nodded my way. "Aye, we could start you on some broth. Don't sneer at me – anything is better than that blue crap," he said and nodded toward my i.v. stand. I glanced up and noticed the feeding tube for the first time. No wonder why the back of my nose and throat were sore.

"I'll need protein," Shadow said, his voice hardly more than a whisper. His hand went to his throat, and Carson immediately caught it and sat it back on the bed.

"Don't pick," Carson said, patted his hand, and left.

"I, ah, need to run," Rodney said after a quick glance at his watch. "I need to go over the newest scans with Dr. Vandenheiden. I'll swing by later," he said as he backed up, waved sheepishly, and was gone.

Let's see, it's close to dinner time and he lit out of here like his ass was on fire. Yup, must be serving Spam stew tonight. I chuckled and instantly regretted it. I caught a worried frown from Shadow. "I'm fine," I croaked out.

Shadow tried to chuff, and his face screwed up briefly in pain. "How is your arm?" he asked in raspy whisper.

Yeah, the arm. I was getting worried – I had made several attempts to lift it the few times I was awake, and just couldn't. And I could barely feel my fingers. I could move them, kind of, but I just couldn't feel them. "It hurts," I said. I glanced his way and could tell from his expression that he knew I was lying through my not so pointy teeth. He just lifted his eyebrows at me and was about to say something when we were distracted by Nurse Carrie stopping by with some honest to God ice water. I think we were both about ready to propose, and she blushed crimson at our expressions.

oOo

I lurched awake to the worst pins-and-needles sensation I had ever experienced in my entire life. My left arm was screaming, and when I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was Shadow standing next to my bed, his head down and his eyes closed. He had one hand wrapped around the bandage on my upper arm, the other around my wrist, and in the dim light I could see sweat rolling down his face and dripping off his chin. My fingers started twitching spasmodically and the tingling sensation backed off, but man, they hurt like a mother. A moment later he let go and opened his eyes. He wiped his face with the hem of his scrub top and gave me a tired, lopsided grin.

"Hey, now – what are ye doing out of bed?" Carson said quietly as he stormed up to us in a flurry of white lab coat and stubble. Then he saw me holding up my left hand and wiggling my fingers. He froze, and his head swiveled toward Shadow. His mouth opened and it took a moment for the words to come out. "I thought you couldn't heal others yet."

"I can't," Shadow replied a bit sheepishly and ducked his head. "But I can heal myself," he added. Then he looked at me and shrugged. "And we aren't all that different …."

Carson made Shadow go stand on the other side of the bed while he dug a pair of scissors out of the stand between my and Lorne's bed. He started slicing away dressings, and when my upper arm was finally exposed he let out a quiet, "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." I glanced down and felt sweat break out all over and I got really, really cold. Carson took one look at me and grabbed the small garbage pail that sat on the floor. I managed to keep what little dinner I ate down, but it was a near thing.

Sliced to the bone, my ass – the First One nearly took my arm clean off.

For the next few minutes Carson kept asking me can you feel this, can you do this, while I just nodded and laid there and shook. My arm protested with every twitch and movement, and I was fully aware of how good a thing that was. Shadow stood on my right the whole time, a faintly smug and very cat-like smile on his face.

oOo

I was sitting in a budget meeting and trying really hard to pay attention. My left hand was tingling from sitting with my arms crossed for so long, so I just let that arm dangle and shook out my hand. It had been four weeks since the showdown with the First Ones, and my arm still had a tendency to fall asleep if I held it wrong or slept in certain positions. But it was functional, and that was a fucking miracle in itself. I had this new thin scar that started practically in my armpit in the front, wrapped completely around to my back, and actually went a few inches onto the muscles there. And it looked years old as opposed to weeks. Shadow left Atlantis the day after he healed my arm and the spear wound that had punctured and collapsed my right lung. He was pretty much healed himself and was concerned for his people since there were a dozen First Ones still running around loose. Rodney reported that they had left the scanner's range by the following morning, but Shadow didn't want to take any chances.

And I knew he was just raring to go hunt them down and get rid of them once and for all. Hell, Carson figured that bit out, too, and tried everything he could to get him to stay, but the kid was stubborn – gee, wonder where he got that from? – and absolutely nothing short of total incapacitation was going to keep him here. There were still some Marines there keeping an eye on things, but I could understand his concern. When I was released from the infirmary a week later I made a special trip to retrieve my boys and leave Shadow an IDC and a radio just in case he needed to get a hold of us. Elizabeth still hadn't been able to sit with him and discuss a trade for fresh produce and meat, and Shadow promised to return as soon as he had his little pest problem taken care of. And that was exactly how he worded it – pest problem. He's been working with plants too much, if you ask me.

My hand finally quit buzzing and I just leaned back in my chair and laced my hands over my stomach. I heard a snort and looked across the table at Col. Caldwell. The Daedelus was down for some routine maintenance of its sublight engines and he had decided to attend the meeting to go over the next supply run requests. That he willingly asked to sit in on the meeting lent more precedence to my theory that he had a sweet spot for Elizabeth. "Are we boring you, Colonel?" he asked with a bit of a sneer. Man, that just rankled his ass every time he had to call me that. Even after this long.

I gave him a little squinty smirk and was about to snark something back when the sound of the 'gate dialing in came through the open conference room doors. I was on my feet and heading out of the room before Chuck even said, "Unscheduled off-world activation." I almost tripped over Zelenka's legs from where he was lying under a console and doing some routine maintenance. Rodney and Elizabeth joined me a moment later – yeah, they hated those damn meetings as much as I did – and all three of us grunted in surprise when Chuck said, "I'm picking up Shadow's IDC."

"Lower the shield and tell him he can come through," Elizabeth said. We all moved to the railing, and I had to admit, my pulse had shot up a few beats.

Caldwell joined us. "Wait, is this the Shadow that's your clone?" he asked. I glanced at him and judging from his smirk he knew damn well which Shadow it was. "As in the one that runs around naked?"

"Not entirely naked," Rodney said with a little head waggle. "But close enough for all intents and purposes."

Oh, great. "You're not going to start that crap again, are you?" I said through my teeth as the party in question stepped through the 'gate. And yup, he wasn't wearing much, as usual. I heard Caldwell choke back a laugh and just ignored him.

Shadow stopped about halfway across the floor and looked up at us and grinned. He had a huge leather wrapped bundle under his right arm, and draped over his left shoulder was the strap to a basket the size of a backpack. He had his belt over a black loin cloth that had some designs embroidered in crimson near its hem. Looked pretty snazzy – must be his new 'formal' one. I waved him towards the stairs. He nodded and took them two at a time. When we met him at the top I saw he was sporting several new scars himself. There were four across his chest and several on his arms, and a little one across the bridge of his nose. There was a bit of a gap now in his right eyebrow, too, and a sizeable nick in the rim of his left ear. But the one that had me staring was the one on his neck – it was thick and white against his tan skin and ran from just above his Adam's apple to just below his ear. Man, that was nasty.

I cleared my throat. "So, kid – what brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"My pest problem has been eliminated," Shadow replied with just a hint of a smug smile. "And since we will be harvesting our first crops after the rainy season in a few weeks, I felt it was time to discuss trade." He turned his head toward Elizabeth as he spoke and offered her a faint bow.

"Wonderful!" Elizabeth said and I saw her ears grow a tiny bit pink. Caldwell's smirk faltered for a moment and I grinned briefly. Yup, he's so sweet on her. "Shall we go to the conference room?" Elizabeth said.

As we all headed that way I saw Rodney stop by Zelenka, who was now standing, and whisper something in his ear. Zelenka let out a short laugh, nodded vigorously, and went over to a control panel and started doing … something. Rodney saw me frowning at him and just rocked back on his heels, did that little finger-snappy thing, and smirked crookedly. Oh, hell, that made me nervous.

We all piled into the conference room and Shadow set the bundle on the table before he swiveled the pack off his shoulder and set that on the floor. "Whatcha got there?" I asked. I had a feeling I knew what the bundle was.

Shadow patted said bundle. "This is for you. Kintu and the others felt you deserved it."

I couldn't resist – I ran my hand across the suede soft leather before I untied the thongs that held the bundle together. With a quick snap I spread the urtal hide across the table. It covered it completely, and the spotted fur looked flawless. "Thanks," I said. "This is awesome."

Elizabeth even stepped over and buried her hands in the thick, soft fur. "Oh, my," she breathed. I saw Caldwell swallow and wanted to deck him.

Rodney was even looking impressed. "Holy crap! That's the thing you two killed in the middle of the night?" He glanced between us and received twin smug nods. "Holy crap!"

"Holy crap, indeed," Carson said a little breathlessly from the doorway. He must have ran from the infirmary judging how red his face was. Damn, I forgot how fast word travelled around here. "And I still say you were both bloidy idiots." He came all the way in and I could see Zelenka just standing outside. He made an okay sign and I turned around just in time to see Rodney give a thumbs-up in reply. Then he saw me and tried to go all innocent. "Oh, dear lord," Carson said as he, too, petted the fur. "That thing is enormous."

"Ah, doctor, I am glad you are here," Shadow said with a big smile. He pulled the top off the basket and pulled a quart-sized metal cylinder from inside. "This is for you."

Carson took it and beamed. As he unscrewed the cap I asked, "What is that?"

"Zaxutl gum," Carson replied as the smell of birthday cake filled the air. "I'm thinkin' of stocking the emergency kits with it. It travels easier than morphine, and works just as well. Och, that's quite a lot." He screwed the cap back on. "Thanks, lad."

"You are welcome," Shadow replied. "And I have plenty more, whenever you need it."

Carson grinned and tucked the canister under his arm.

"I have other gifts as well," Shadow said. He rubbed his arms briefly before he was back digging in the basket. Yeah, it was getting cooler in the conference room. I glanced at Rodney and he pretended not to notice. "The villagers wanted to thank you and your warriors for protecting them from the First Ones. The artisans and knappers made one of these for each of you, including the one who fell." Harper was my only casualty – the kid took a sling stone right between the eyes and was dead instantly. "For his family," Shadow continued as he unwrapped a bone handled knife in a leather sheath. He pulled it, and the finely worked obsidian blade glittered in the lights of the conference room. The bone handle was carved with delicate patterns that resembled the tattoos I'd seen on the hunters. Yeah, Harper had a brother back home who was an avid hunter – I think he'll appreciate it.

"Thanks, I'll see they get them," I said as he re-wrapped the knife.

"Um, you know – Zelenka and I both helped that night, too," Rodney said. "Granted we didn't actually shoot anything, but …."

Shadow chuffed. "Yes, I believe there are ones for you, too," he said with a sigh. "And I have gifts for everyone who had visited, as well." He rubbed his arms again and just kept them crossed this time.

Caldwell was standing next to Shadow and smirking again. And he was not bothering to hide it. He saw me frowning at him and that just made it all the more amusing to him.

Shadow didn't seem to notice as he looked past Caldwell to Elizabeth. "Dr. Weir, I am getting cold. Do you mind if I change?"

"Not at all, Shadow," Elizabeth replied. Then she frowned faintly. "It does seem rather … cool in here today."

When I heard Rodney snort I figured out what was up. I saw Caldwell snort, too. I bet he thought Shadow was referring to clothes, so when the kid shifted less than two feet from him into his intermediate form I was so wishing I had a camera. No, wait – Rodney was probably having his partner in crime, Zelenka, recording it. Anyhow, Caldwell's reaction was priceless. His face froze, his eyes got wide, and he flinched backwards so violently he damn near knocked Elizabeth over.

Then he blurted out, "What the fuck?"