Thanks so much for all the wonderful feedback guys! I really appreciate all the reviews. This chapter's all talk talk talk, but the action (such as it is) should pick up in the next chapter. There may even be plot – daring, I know, but that's me; Maverick Ruby.

Enjoy.

Chapter Two

"So… I'm assuming we got back in touch with Earth," said John as Dr Keller drew some blood from his arm. "I mean – you're new, right?"

Keller gave him a small, slightly strained smile. "Yes, Atlantis re-established contact with Earth after about a year," she told him. "I've been here just over a year now."

John nodded. "Right," he said. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs swinging over the side. He glanced over at McKay, who was standing a few feet away, looking fretful. John rolled his eyes. "Relax McKay," he told him. "You'll figure it out."

"I don't know how you can be so calm about this," said McKay.

John shrugged. "It's probably the drugs," he said, smirking at Keller. She'd given him something for the headache. McKay glared at him, and John rolled his eyes. "Okay – truth is, it's kind of hard to believe right now. I mean, I do believe you, but I guess it's just not sunk in yet."

McKay's eyes widened suddenly. "Ronon's going to kill me," he said.

John frowned. "Who's Ronon?" He asked.

"He's… he's a guy we met a few years ago, and he's been on the team ever since," McKay said.

"The team? Our team?"

McKay took a deep breath. "He replaced Ford," he said quietly.

There was a horrible kind of silence in the infirmary as John stared at McKay. "Replaced… what happened to Ford?"

McKay took another deep breath and Keller gathered up her equipment and made herself scarce. Suddenly, John wasn't so sure he wanted to hear the explanation. He could tell he wasn't going to like it.

"He was being fed on by a wraith, and the wraith was killed," McKay said quickly. "But Ford got an overdose of the enzyme the wraith inject into you when they feed, and it… it changed him. He took on certain wraith characteristics, like super strength and speed, and he became addicted to the enzyme. He went AWOL. He got together a group of guys who all took the enzyme too, and the last time we saw him – well, you saw him, I wasn't there – was on a hive ship. He covered you while you rescued Ronon and Teyla, and… well, we haven't heard from him since."

John was well aware that he was gaping at McKay, but really – could you blame him? Wraith enzyme? Ford going AWOL? Ford? His young buddy who followed orders to the letter, and sucked at naming things? Ford?

"How long ago was that?" John asked after a moment.

"Almost three years now."

"Three – three years?!" John exclaimed. "And he's – we've been looking for him, right?" McKay was silent. "Right?" John demanded.

McKay's mouth opened and closed like a floundering fish. "We've been – that is we've – well, no, I guess not…" John must have looked as furious as he felt, because McKay took a small step back. "If he was still – if he wanted to, he'd find us," he said quietly.

John narrowed his eyes at the scientist. "You think he's dead," he said.

McKay was silent for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I do," he said. "And… you've never said it, but I think you do too."

John didn't have an answer for that. Obviously he couldn't refute it, because for all he knew maybe he did think Ford was dead. He just couldn't believe – didn't want to believe – that he would stop searching until he knew for sure. He'd bring it up with Dr Weir later on.

John's eyes fell on Keller at the far end of the infirmary, where she and yet another nurse he didn't recognise were setting up some kind of machine, presumably to use on him for tests.

"Where's Beckett?" John asked, wanting to change the subject.

John wasn't prepared for the silence that greeted his question. He looked over at McKay, and saw that he was clearly thinking hard, trying to think of how to answer, and was unable to mask the sadness in his eyes when they met John's. John's breath caught. Not Beckett too.

"He's… ill," said McKay.

John frowned. "What?"

"He… he's got this disease that – well, it's a long story, but we've put him in stasis to give Keller a chance to work on a cure."

John stared at McKay, and the scientist quickly looked away. John frowned. "What aren't you telling me?" He asked him.

McKay looked back at him and sighed. "He was killed in an explosion a year ago," he said bluntly. "The Carson we have in stasis is a clone."

A clone? John didn't even know what to think of that. This was all starting to sound like something out of a Star Trek episode. Admittedly, his life had become slightly more like a TV show after coming to Atlantis, but… cloning? Wraith enzymes?

Devices that caused amnesia?

"So," he said tersely. "Ford is MIA, Beckett's dead. Anyone else?"

McKay looked surprised by his tone, but John didn't care – he wasn't feeling so calm anymore. And McKay was looking sad again. There was someone else.

"Elizabeth."

McKay said her name so quietly John almost didn't hear him. But he did. He wished he hadn't.

"Dr Weir?" John said quietly. McKay nodded and John swallowed hard against a sudden lump in his throat. "When? How?" He managed.

"It was… almost a year ago," McKay said. "She – she was with us on a mission and she got captured. She sacrificed herself to – to give us a chance to get away. We only found out she died a few months later."

John's head was reeling. "A mission? Since when does Dr Weir go on missions with us?" He demanded. "And we left her behind?"

McKay looked tense enough to snap as he nodded. John clenched his hands into fists on the mattress either side of him. "Why would we do that?"

"It's… it's a long story," said McKay lamely.

John had no doubt about that – and he was determined to hear every detail. But at that moment he was distracted by someone walking into the infirmary. It was yet another person he didn't know, but this guy looked different to all the other people he'd seen, who were clearly Atlantis personnel. He wasn't wearing anything resembling an Atlantis uniform for starters. He wore brown leather trousers and a loose-fitting cream shirt, and a strange-looking alien gun was hanging from a hip holster. He was tall, and had long, shaggy dreadlocks that must have taken him years to grow, though his beard was neat enough. He spotted John across the room and headed straight for him.

McKay also noticed the man enter, and looked panicked all of a sudden. He opened his mouth to talk but the guy started talking before he could say anything.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked John, stopping a couple of feet away from McKay.

John raised his eyebrows at McKay. "Ronon, I'm guessing?" He said. He saw Ronon frown, and considered for a moment that he was being a bit rude, but he was still reeling from the shock of finding that he'd lost half his memories and had apparently turned into an ass who allowed all his friends to get killed.

McKay addressed Ronon. "He's lost his memory," he said, getting straight to the point.

Ronon blinked. "What?"

"He's lost all memory of the past three and a half years," said McKay. "Closer on four, really – to him, we've only been on Atlantis a couple of months."

"I'm right here you know," said John crossly. McKay turned back to him, rolling his eyes, but Ronon kept staring at McKay, obviously in shock. Eventually he also turned to face John, his arms folded across his chest.

They stared at each other for a moment before he spoke. "So… you don't know who I am."

John shrugged. "McKay told me who you are, but I don't remember you," he said.

Ronon's eyes narrowed and he nodded slightly. Then, without another word, he turned around and walked back out of the infirmary.

John gave a humourless chuckle. "He seems nice," he said dryly.

"He is," said McKay quickly. Then he shook his head. "No, actually, he's not really. Nice isn't really how I'd – he's your friend."

John scowled. "So was Ford, and it didn't seem to do him much good," he said darkly.

McKay didn't seem to have anything to say to that, and John was glad. They sat silently, staring at different parts of the floor, until Dr Keller came in a few moments later to lead him off for tests.

TBC