I know its been a very long time since I updated this :o I've actually written the next couple of chapters but got a block on this one, then went on internship, then my 21st, then christmas, then back at uni for my final semester, so it kinda got put on the back burner :s I should be slightly less busy over the next three weeks so hopefully I'll get this story back on track :)

Chapter 5

As John's senses came back to him he immediately knew his surroundings, infirmary.

His hearing felt a little fluffy but quickly came around when he recognised an irate voice.

"What do you mean you're getting nowhere?" Rodney screamed into his comm.

John fought through the blackness to open his eyes but to no avail. He was just about to give in, realising that he was quite content to stay in peace for a while longer, when he felt something collide with his foot – his still healing foot.

"Will you watch what you're bloody doing." Carson yelled.

"Well you can tell my team of so-called scientists how incompetent they are then." Rodney snapped back.

"John." Teyla seemed to be the only one who noticed that Sheppard's eyes had snapped open.

"Hey" He croaked out.

"Hmm, not so sexy on you." Rodney commented but shook his head at John's perplexed furrowed brow.

"Nice to see you too McKay." Wow, he actually wished he'd not tried to say a whole sentence when his throat felt like sandpaper.

But that wasn't the worst of his problems, his stomach clenched and his mouth filled with saliva. He turned to the side of his bed and threw up into the bedpan that was quickly thrust under his chin.

"Yeah, you look it." Rodney pointed out.

"Sorry doc." John groaned.

"Ack no, completely expected." Carson comforted as he disposed of the bedpan. "Take a few moments to compose yourself laddie, I need to let a few people know that sleeping beauty has awoken."

John pulled a face back at Carson; it was about as much of a response as he could muster at the moment. He looked over at Teyla relieved to see her smiling and awake. If he never moved again, which was a high possibility in John's mind given how he was feeling, then it would have all been worth it just to see that she was OK.

"I hear I have a thank you to make." Teyla said softly.

John tried to wave his hand in indifference but only managed to raise it a couple of centimetres off his bed sheets.

"Hey I told you before, don't go thinking your special. I'd have done it for anyone." Mostly, he thought as he lazily attempted to wink.

"I know you would have John," his first name always sounded more elegant when pronounced by the Athosian, "But I am still grateful."

"Don't mention it," John paused in an attempt to stop the slurring of his words, "I'm just glad your OK." He smiled back.

"Huh" Rodney snorted reminding the two patients that they were not alone. "Just remember to take a bit more care of yourself next time… not that I want there to be a next time." He clarified sheepishly.

John was prevented from any snide response when Carson re-entered the room. "Elizabeth's on her way down and Ronon…" the doors whooshed open "is here now." Carson explained.

"Hey" Ronon said.

"Hey" John replied.

"Wow, eloquent." Rodney said not quite under his breath but regretted it at seeing the glares he was receiving from the two men in question.

"How you feeling, son." Carson asked while checking John's blood pressure.

"Just peachy, doc." John was rocked by a fitful of heavy coughs, his chest burning out through his ribs.

"I think that answers enough." Carson said as he rubbed John's back trying to sooth his patient.

John groaned as he settled back against his pillow, still feeling the after burn of his coughing fit in his chest. To be truthful, he felt like he'd just climbed a pyramid with Ronon strapped to his back, exhausted and aching both physically and mentally.

"How long?" He breathed out.

"Bout 36 hours, lad, and you'll be staying here for while longer."

"Great" John groaned.

"Carson?" Elizabeth sounded through the radio.

"Yes, Elizabeth." He indicated towards his earpiece to let the others know he wasn't just talking to himself.

"Can you put me on to John?" He took off his comm. and placed it over John's ear. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hey Liz'beth." He said into the small microphone.

"John," she said soothingly, "It's good to hear your voice."

"Sure it is." He said trying to hold back a cough.

"I'll be down to see you as soon as I can, I've got a few things to sort out here…nothing for you to worry about." She added on before getting the inevitable question of if he could help.

"Hmn" John grunted in indignation.

"He's not goin anywhere, I've already told him that." Carson informed her.

"Good," Elizabeth said thoughtfully, "I'll see you first chance I get."

"Looking forward to it…" John yawned out.

"Time for you to get some rest son." Carson said as he retrieved his comm.

"All I've been doing is resting." John said, using all his strength to glare meaningfully at the doctor. But it wasn't long before he gave in and slipped back off to sleep.

…………………

When he next awoke it was to the sound of shuffling and groaning.

He opened his eyes out of curiosity, to see Elizabeth helping Teyla into a wheelchair. He watched as the two women managed to manoeuvre themselves without too much difficulty.

He must have spaced out for a few seconds as the next thing he knew Elizabeth was starring down at him.

"Hello." She said playfully.

He smiled raising the right hand corner of his mouth. "Hey… everything sorted?"

"Yes," she said not giving away anything other than that, "well at least we know your memory hasn't been affected."

"Huh" He responded, still groggy from his latest snooze fest.

"Never mind, I was just taking Teyla out for a walk."

"Yeah, can I…"

"No you cannot go!" Carson shouted from somewhere else in the infirmary.

Teyla stifled a grin, "If you wish to talk we can go later." She offered.

"Noooo." John said adamantly. "I know what its like cooped up in here, you've got to take these chances while you can, Hitler over there might not let you out again."

"I can hear you." Carson responded indifferently.

"You were supposed to." John said, beaming at Teyla.

"We will not be long." Teyla said as she squeezed John's hand.

With that Elizabeth grabbed the handles on Teyla's wheelchair and pushed her out of the infirmary.

Carson finally came into John's peripheral vision as he approached the bed.

"How are you feeling now, any better than before?" He asked.

"Much thanks, not gonna throw up on you if that's what you're asking."

"Well, its good to know." Carson contemplated.

…………………

After a few hours Sheppard decided he was thoroughly bored of starring at the ceiling and wanted to test out his muscles by getting out of bed.

Teyla had returned about twenty minutes after she had left but didn't last long before the exhaustion over took her and she fell back to sleep.

John had gotten that bored that he even started reciting Pi to as many numbers as he could remember. Back at school, in the advanced math class they had a competition to see who could remember Pi to the longest decimal place. He'd got to about 30 before losing his path, which he thought, was pretty good until a classmate recited it to over 100 places! So far he'd got 3.1415923564 but gave up when he realised that if Rodney new what he was doing he'd never hear the end of it.

So he found himself looking around to make sure there weren't any busybody Scottish doctors in the near vicinity before pushing aside his bed covers. He gingerly lifted his legs over the side and shuffled to the edge so that his bare feet were planted firmly on the floor. Using the bed to steady himself he pushed off so that he was standing upright.

He paused for a few seconds, beaming with pride. He took one step forward and decided that was enough adventure for one day, he'd achieved more than expected. Still there was a niggle in the back of mind pushing him to carry on. He thought better of it and slowly moved back to the bed.

"You are not supposed to be doing that." Teyla almost shocked the life out of him.

He whipped his head around too fast sending his vision dizzy for a second.

"Shh, I'm getting back into bed now, there's no need to alert anyone." He whispered as he pulled the covers back over his legs.

"Are you OK? Teyla asked sincerely.

"Yeah, better than I expected actually." Feeling that his experiment had been vindicated.

"I agree, my strength is slowly returning, I can no longer feel the exhaustion in my muscles while resting."

"I'm getting there." He said smiling back at her.

"So how are my two favourite patients doing?" Carson asked as he approached their beds.

"Good, thanks." John answered immediately.

"I am feeling much better thank you Carson." Teyla replied warmly.

"How long till we're outta here?" John asked, he thought he'd left it a reasonable amount of time before asking.

Carson rolled his eyes but answered truthfully, "Not too long, at least another 24 hours though."

John groaned, even though it wasn't as long as he'd feared.

"Thank you Carson, that is good news." Teyla spoke for the both of them.

"Ah, fed up of him already?" McKay teases as he walked towards their beds.

"Not at all Rodney." Teyla responded even though she knew he was only trying to annoy Sheppard.

"Hey, we've been asleep most of the time." John couldn't resist responding to Rodney's attempt at winding him up.

"Yes and they need to get some more, especially the Colonel after his little trip." Carson glared at Sheppard letting him know without doubt that he knew what Sheppard had just done.

"Fine, whatever, its you I wanted anyway." McKay said to Carsen.

John kept quiet as the two men walked away, still dumb struck as to how Carson could possibly have known.

Huh, maybe Rodney's right about all that voodoo magic.

…………………

Sergeant Davies was looking over Dr Zelenka's shoulder as he went through the environmental controls for a fifth time. "I just can't see what went wrong!!" The Cezch doctor exclaimed before going off on a tirade in his native language. Davies couldn't understand a word but he got the gist of the doc's frustration.

"Calm down doc." Davies said. "I'm sure you'll find what went wrong, whatever the problem was it seems to have corrected itself now so there's no danger to live anymore." The Sergeant patted Zelenka on the back.

"I know." Zelenka said, taking off his glasses and leading his forehead on the back of his hand. "That is good but it is also worrying, I just can't see how this could have happened, these controls are far more advanced than anything we have on earth, there is just no reason why they should malfunction like this… Which leads to the only other explanation." He said as he put his glasses back in place.

"What other explanation?" Davies asked.

"That the controls were tamped with. But who could have done that and why?" Zelenka concentrated back on his screen.

"I'm sure that's not the case doc, like you said, who had the knowhow and why would they target the Colonel." Davies said as he stood. "I better get off doc." He stalked out of the lab.

Zelenka pondered for a moment, why would he assume that the Colonel was the target, especially when they were in Teyla's quarters?

………………………

Carson had finally given John and Teyla permission to leave the infirmary, but only on the condition that they rested in their quarters for the next couple of days. They'd both agreed immediately, John longed to stare at some different walls and he was quite looking forward to getting the chance to watch some of the new DVD's that the Daedalous brought over on its latest trip.

Ronon brought around a wheelchair to transport him but one look told the Satadan not to bother.

"John," Teyla said calmly, "if Carson wants you to still use the wheelchair then maybe you should."

"Nah," he waved off her concerns, "I never needed it in the first place, I can walk fine." He said as he stood up and took a couple of steps just to prove his point.

"If that is the way you feel." Teyla nodded her understanding. Carson had already let her have a wander around the infirmary minus the wheelchair to see how she coped, she knew how much it had grated on John that he was still that small amount weaker than her.

"Ready?" Ronon asked.

Both John and Teyla nodded as enthusiastically as their tired bodies would allow.

Carson approached, giving John a glare at seeing him standing but left it at that. "Complete bed rest for both you, and any problems call me straight away."

"Yes doc." John said sincerely.

"Thank you Carson." Teyla said as she gave the doctor's arm a light squeeze.

The trio walked out of the infirmary and slowly made their way down the corridor. John was feeling light headed but felt he was coping with the movement well. His mind drifted off to thinking about the city and any incidents he might have missed while being in the infirmary, Lorne and Elizabeth had been updating him but he knew they were only keeping it to the light details. He was just considering one of Lorne's comments when his shoulder collided with the corridor wall.

"Woah." Ronon was immediately behind him holding him up. John shook his head and looked around, Teyla was watching him with concern. She stepped over to him and gently held his elbow, "Are you ok John?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said as he pushed off from the wall. "Just got distracted with my thoughts." He could feel Ronon's smirk at that.

Teyla's hand remained on his elbow and Ronon right behind him as they proceeded to their destination.

tbc...