The wind howled, more furious than they'd yet seen, as Ronon struggled towards Teyla and McKay who were floundering with Sheppard's body. He'd made it perhaps halfway when the air around him suddenly ceased, supremely calm. Ronon could still see the trees and grass whipping wildly further off in the meadow, but the path to the Stargate was clear. With a wide grin, Ronon dashed to the others.
"We've got to take Sheppard's body too," Rodney was panting, out of breath with the exertion. "He hasn't ascended fully."
Ronon shrugged. Of course they were going to take him. He reached down and wrapped his arms around Sheppard's chest, lifting him easily and leaving the legs for McKay and Teyla. He grunted, balancing his weight, and took a step backwards, so near the shimmering event horizion that Ronon could feel the characteristic tingle of its energy beckoning him. His job suddenly became much harder when at that instant Sheppard's body seized again and began flopping wildly in shuddering tension. Ronon faltered, then with a heave, threw himself and his burden backwards into the 'gate, pulling the others along as they hung on to John's feet.
He tumbled into the strangely quiet and beautifully sterile Gateroom on Atlantis, falling in a controlled heap and managing to protect Sheppard's head and still feebly twitching shoulders. Teyla and Rodney stumbled through only a moment later, passing him by a few inches with the force of their momentum. Ronon heard quiet cheers quickly mutate into concerned gasps and mutters as the welcoming Atlantians took in the condition of the new arrivals.
Sheppard's SOs stationed at the 'gate were quickly beside him, offering a hand up and gently tugging their badly wounded C/O further into the room.
Ronon wobbled unsteadily into a crouch, then dropped back onto one knee. He felt terrible. The kind of terrible he hadn't felt since he'd run from the Wraith for a solid week without sleep or food. He watched dully as the SOs ran through basic first-aid procedures, then gratefully turned Sheppard over to a medical team that arrived on the scene. One man, a newer recruit had who seemed quite in awe of the Colonel, was shaking his head with a horrified expression.
Shoving his concern for Sheppard aside, Ronon looked around finally to check on Teyla and McKay. The Athosian was sitting in an ungraceful sprawl not far from John, looking as bad as Ronon felt. Dr. Weir was squatting next to her, patting her shoulder encouragingly with an expression so torn between relief and concern and desperate curiosity that Ronon actually chuckled. He turned his head to find McKay and felt another jolt of worry – the scientist was lying full out on the floor, nearly unconscious, with another pair of med techs hovering over him.
"Sir, can I help?" A young doctor approached him confidently, the question no more than a formality as his manner indicated he would be checking Ronon out no matter what he answered.
"I'm fine. Help Sheppard."
"The Colonel is getting the best care, I promise you. He's nearly ready to move to the infirmary. That…wound isn't bothering you?"
Ronon looked at the doctor with confusion, then followed the man's gaze to his own chest. A small hole and a large stain of dark, dried and stiffened blood spread across the loose fabric of his shirt. Feeling a bit ridiculous, Ronon wildly patted his chest and torso, sighing with relief when he felt no holes or damage in his skin. Why hadn't he noticed that before?
A sudden, overpowering rush of memory came crashing in upon him and with a gasp, he fell off his knee to sit with his face buried in his hands. He remembered the shot that made the hole, he remembered lying in the grass in furious impotence as more bullets passed over his head towards Sheppard. He remembered Sheppard dying, again and again. And he remembered…not remembering. The shame and horror overwhelmed him.
Dr. Weir's voice reached him through the palpable visions. "Ronon, they've taken the others to the infirmary. You should go now too." Ronon liked how Dr. Weir could always find that balance in her voice between command and concern.
Instead of agreeing, he lifted his head to find her watching him closely. "How long?" he grunted.
For a moment she looked like she might not answer, or was so surprised by the question she wasn't sure if she should. At last she just nodded. "Four days. You've been gone for just over four days."
The second McKay recovered enough to come to his wits, he began bellowing for Zelenka and for news of Sheppard. Zelenka arrived, the open relief on his expression only dimmed by the smile on his face, in time to hear a much harassed nurse reporting that the Colonel was about to be moved from surgery into recovery and that the abdominal and leg wounds had been repaired successfully. The damage had been extensive, but luckily had missed vital organs. McKay only shook his head worriedly.
"Radek!" he pounced as the nurse left them, "Go get that ascension device that I used before. We need to get it on Sheppard."
"You mean the machine that altered your DNA?"
"No, no! Stop grinning like a fool and listen to me. The modified EEG, the one that monitors brain activity. Go!" Radek was too happy to be offended, so he scurried off, leaving McKay to struggle out of his bed and wander around the infirmary in search of the rest of his team, dragging his IV pole along with him. He found them nearby, sitting up restlessly in their own beds, looking as exhausted and worried as he felt. They too, were fiddling with wires and tubes. Apparently the being that had held and befuddled them for 4 days had sustained their bodies to the degree needed for its games, but all were suffering the effects of dehydration, malnutrition and exhaustion.
Rodney still felt exhausted, from more than loss of sleep. They were all also feeling extremely unsettled by the memories that had returned to them, the ordeal they'd endured being even more horrible for the manner in which their minds had been tampered with. Suddenly timid, McKay just nodded to Teyla, allowing the worry to show in his eyes, and sat down at the edge of the bed to wait silently with them.
Only a few comfortable minutes had passed when Elizabeth entered from another corner of the infirmary and strode purposefully towards them. She stopped at a respectful distance and smiled an encouraging, worried smile. She took a deep breath.
"John's in recovery, he survived the surgery and... if all goes well, he shouldn't have any long-term repercussions." She hesitated briefly, looking at her feet.
"But." Ronon prompted, impatient.
"But, he's been in a coma since you returned."
She seemed about to go on when Rodney interrupted brusquely, spotting Zalenka enter from across the room, burdened with an armful of wires and equipment. "He might not actually be in a coma. He might still be trying to ascend."
Elizabeth, was taken aback. "How exactly…what do you…he's what?" The usually unflappable Dr. Weir was wearily speechless.
"We'll…try to explain everything later, but right now, we have to hook him up to the EEG device to know for sure. We…" and he paused, looking at the worried faces of his team around him, "we need to know."
A short time and a lot of arm twisting later, Teyla, Ronon, and McKay sat around Sheppard in the recovery room as Zalenka finally got the EEG device active. Leaning forward intently, Rodney studied the readouts as the data began to flow across the screen. He gave a low whistle. "Will you look at that. He's there. He's doing it. He could ascend…if he wanted to."
"But he didn't? Isn't? I mean…?" Ronon was still confused about the whole thing.
"I don't know. I haven't seen anything in the Ancient database about anything like this… except, of course, those Ancients that tried what I tried and… Well, there's nothing anywhere about hanging around so long in this state, in any case. He could do it though. He's there." Rodney repeated the comment, his voice tinged with something like admiring jealousy.
"Can he get back?" This time the terse question was from Teyla.
McKay just shook his head, bewildered. "I don't know, and it seems like I've been saying that a lot lately. What I do know is – it helps to have…friends around, when, you know." He shrugged, staring at Sheppard. Teyla nodded with understanding and immediately scooted her chair closer to be able to pat John's hand.
A few, long, agonizing hours of silence passed in the infirmary. Nurses and doctors came and went, along with Elizabeth, who would spend an hour or so at a time waiting, then leave the brooding team to themselves.
Perhaps 8 hours after Ronon dragged John through the 'gate, the whole infirmary was startled by alarms and loud beeps of the monitors surrounding him. John's heart rate spiked into fast arrhythmia, then pounded with frantic intensity. His body seized, much like he had on the planet, and Rodney jostled for position at Sheppard's side along with the nurses and doctors who descended on the rigidly twitching form.
The medical team responded efficiently to the physical symptoms, but Rodney kept his eyes locked on the EEG. The numbers had begun to fluctuate wildly, careening back and forth from the nearly non-existent ascension state to hyper-excited brain activity. After agonizing minutes of tense watching, Sheppard's heart-rate calmed and his body stilled. The medical staff froze as they paused to watch all the monitors, some stepping back to wait, allowing McKay to shoulder his way even closer.
John's eyes fluttered open so quietly, that McKay, still making nervous glances at the EEG readouts, didn't notice until a quiet groan snapped his gaze back to Sheppard's face. Grinning foolishly, Rodney flashed a look at Teyla and Ronon, then leaned over the vacant, light hazel eyes. There was no recognition in their swirling depths – only exhausted confusion, weary hope, and a steel core of determination. Even that was quickly clouded by the realization of deep pain, and the eyes closed tightly before relaxing into unconsciousness again.
McKay forced himself to look at the EEG one last time before sighing deeply in genuine, contented relief. The numbers remained hovering in a healthy sleep state. His grin growing, if possible, even more wide and goofy, he turned to the equally happy faces nearby and wagged his thumb roughly in the direction of Sheppard's chest. "He's back," was all he said.
Teyla patted Rodney joyfully on the arm as Ronon ruffled John's hair, "I knew he'd get bored out there."
John Sheppard was home.