I don't own SGA or any of it's characters. I only own the badguy and my story, with a few extras thrown in there for good measure. Hey there ya'll! I was able to write another chapter. I guess I don't have writer's block yet. It seems to be flowing out of me because I am in the midst of writing another one too. I may or may not get that one uploaded tonight. But have fun with this one. Later. And thanks for the reviews. :)

Chapter Thirteen

As night slowly crept up on the floating city of Atlantis things seemed relatively quiet. Colonel Sheppard and Ronan Dex, along with a few other patients, lay unmoving in their beds. The low level lights were on and shadows danced around the room as infirmary personnel moved about. In the Control Room situated in the centre tower, a skeleton crew of technicians kept watch over the Stargate while Dr. Elizabeth Weir wiled away her hours in her office, thinking about her crew in the hospital wing and trying to keep her mind occupied. It wasn't working very well. There were only so many computer games to be played and she was almost beyond bored with all of them. Waiting for any news about the operation of the pods in the lab was driving her crazy. And she hated the fact that she was not in the least bit tired. It was a good thing that the sun had only set less than an hour before or she would have felt guilty about staying up late. In the lab situated in the lower levels of Atlantis, Dr. Rodney McKay and Teyla Emeggan were busily trying to get the pods to work that would help Colonel Sheppard get rid of the burden in his mind called Puren. It was not going as fast as they would have liked. Rodney was ever steadily becoming more and more frustrated, which in turn meant that he was getting even more annoying to Teyla. As well as rude. The physicist could just not help it. It was the way he was wired. And the fact that he kept complaining about his back made the Athosian woman want to throttle him. Teyla, for her part, tried to remain in good spirits but it was extremely hard. She knew they were doing this for John so she kept her mouth shut the best she could. But there were instances where she could not help it. Where she just had to voice her opinion to Rodney. All he seemed to do was rant. So maybe in the depths of the city things were not all that quiet. Dr. Carson Beckett had fallen asleep at the desk in his office. His head was resting on his folded arms which were on the desk. He could no longer keep his eyes open. His staff just continued to work while they let the man sleep. They would wake him up if anything happened. Things were quiet. Or so they all thought at the time. They were in for a rude awakening. In more ways than one.

"Oh that's just great!" Rodney said with a pissed off undertone. "Where the hell did that sub-routine come from? That wasn't there a moment ago." His eyes squinted in anger and he pressed a few more buttons on his data pad.

"Is there a problem Dr. McKay?" Teyla asked as she came around to stand in front of him on the other side of the console.

"What do you think? Of course there's a problem." He said without looking up from his data pad. "Every time I seem to be getting somewhere something else pops up and gets in my way."

"What is it this time?" she said placing her hands on the console in front of her.

"Some sub-routine just came out of nowhere and booted me out. Now I have to figure out what its purpose is and try to bypass it." He said sighing. "Why can't Ancient technology just be simple? And why the hell don't they have instruction books? I mean 'Ancient Technology for Dummies' would have been perfect here."

Teyla cocked her head to the side indicating confusion. "What do you mean Ancient Technology for Dummies?"

Still not raising his head to look at her he said, "It's a series of books back on Earth. You know, 'Computers for Dummies', 'Cooking for Dummies', etcetera, etcetera? There are all sorts of them. It's just a lamens way of explaining things to people. A kind of instruction book if you will. Get it?" He continued to type.

"I believe so." She said as her mind worked in overtime.

"Good, good. Very good. Now please let me finish what I was doing." He said with a hint of anger.

Teyla just creased her brow and returned to what she had previously been working on. Throttling the man was still on her mind.

Ten minutes later Teyla heard something come out of Rodney's mouth that she knew she had not wanted to hear. That she had been dreading to hear. Two words so simple in their connotation… "Uh oh."

She turned towards him and saw the look on his face as he continued to stare at his data pad. It was fright. "What is wrong Rodney?"

He did not answer right away. When he finally did his words spoke volumes. "I think I just created a feedback loop. We have to get out of here now!" He unhooked his data pad, grabbed hold of Teyla's arm and took off running for the door.

Teyla just obediently followed him, knowing full well the implications in what he had just said to her. Nothing else was said between the two as they raced for cover. They had just reached the confines of the lab at the end of the hall when they heard an explosion emanate from where they had just been. They both ducked but they had been safe where they were. When the noise had died down Rodney slowly stepped out in to the hall with Teyla at his side. They stood for what seemed like an eternity while they stared at the entrance to the lab where the pods were. This was so bad.

In the Control Room, the technicians were surprised when they felt the city shake. They all looked around confusedly. Elizabeth came running out of her office. "What was that?" she asked as she came to stand beside the tech that sat by the DHD.

"Unknown Ma'am. We're checking on it now."

Instinctively she looked at the Stargate but it just sat there idly mocking her.

"There was an explosion on Sub-Level Three. I believe it's the area where Dr. McKay and Teyla are working." The tech said with a hint of fear in his voice.

Elizabeth immediately tapped the com in her ear. "Rodney? Teyla? Are you there? Can you hear me?" She was relieved when she automatically heard a response to her barrage of questions.

"We're here Elizabeth. We were able to get out before the explosion. We're both okay." She heard Rodney say in a shaky voice.

"What happened? What exploded?"

"A new sub-routine cut me out of the program and when I tried to bypass it I created a feedback loop and a few of the pods exploded. We managed to get to the lab at the end of the hall before they exploded."

She could hear things being moved out of the way as Rodney spoke over the radio. "Have you managed to get back in to the lab yet?"

"That's what we're doing now. We're going to have to get back to you after we've been able to assess the damages."

"Do you think we'll still be able to use the pods to help John?" she asked worriedly.

"I sure hope so Elizabeth, because if we can't then I have no idea how we're supposed to help Sheppard."

"Do the best you can Rodney. I'll be waiting for your update."

"You'll be the first to know Elizabeth."

She sighed in resignation and tapped her com off. Then she turned and faced the tech that sat beside her. "Let me know if you come across any other problems. I don't care how small you think they are. I want to know."

"Yes Ma'am." He said with a nod.

She slowly turned and headed back to her office. How could anything else get worse. If it wasn't one thing then it was another. And it all started because a certain pig headed Colonel wouldn't tell anybody that he had the flu. When he got better she wasn't going to let him forget this. This was something that she could hold over him for a long time to come. She liked leverage. She smiled lightly at the thought and could just see John smiling at her with that lop-sided grin of his saying 'how was I supposed to know a megalomaniac Ancient device would try to take me over. I was sick after all.' She could read him like a book. If she were a betting person she would bet her life savings that something close to those very words would come out of his mouth. She smiled again and then decided that she would head down to the infirmary and see how John and Ronan were doing. She wanted to do something besides sitting around in her office doing nothing.

In the infirmary John's eyes slowly opened up. He did not make a sound as he looked around the room. He spotted Ronan lying in a bed not far from his left. Then he saw two Military personnel lying further on his right. He was extremely confused. He tried to move his arms but could not. He looked at his left arm and saw that it was restrained to the bed. He became even more confused. He turned his head to the right when he heard somebody come into the room. It was a nurse. She seemed to be heading towards Beckett's office. At first he had wondered why he had woken up. Then he remembered feeling that something had happened to Atlantis. So he had forced himself to wake up. Pushed Puren to the back of his mind for the time being. It was hard to keep him there but he was managing for the moment. He licked his dry lips and spoke. "Hey?" he said and coughed when it came out as a whisper. He closed his eyes for a moment and then tried again. "Hey?"

The nurse stopped abruptly in her tracks and turned around. When she spotted John wide awake a large smile formed on her face. She quickly walked over to him and leaned over him slightly. "Is that you Colonel Sheppard?" she asked.

"Ya. It is. I need to speak to Dr. Beckett." He said hoarsely.

"I'll go get him for you." And with that she hurried off to his office.

Within minutes both Beckett and the nurse were at his side. "Well now Colonel, it's nice to finally speak to ya. How did you manage to push Puren back?" he asked as he took John's pulse.

"It's very hard. He's there at the edge of my mind trying to get back. I don't know how much longer I can keep him there. I felt something happen to Atlantis. What happened?" he asked and then winced with pain.

"There was an explosion in a lab. Rodney and Teyla were there but they were unharmed thank god. Rodney just seems to keep babbling about needing instruction manuals. Teyla's on the verge of killing the wee bugger if he doesn't stop complaining about that and the pain in his back and wrist."

"Puren hurt Ronan didn't he? It was like a blurry afterimage. I could faintly see him doing something to Ronan but I wasn't sure what exactly. Every time he attacks somebody that happens. And it's even worse that I can't stop him. Can't stop myself. I hope you guys figure something out soon because I don't know how much more I can take of this." he swallowed and then winced again.

"Just try to hold out John." Came a familiar voice from behind Beckett. When Elizabeth came in to view John smiled slightly.

"I'm trying my best Elizabeth. But it's just so hard. I'm able to keep him away from certain intel but he's going to get to it eventually. Then he'll know all there is to know about Atlantis. That can't happen. And I'm just wondering why you haven't brought Zelenka into all of this? Rodney and Radek would make an unbeatable combination. Am I missing something?"

"John, Radek is still off world with Major Lorne and his team. Remember? They've been on PFJ-468 for the last four days, trying to set up the communications outpost."

John blinked and then he suddenly remembered. "Oh yeah. Radek was complaining that it should have been Rodney going and not him. That he was not meant for off world missions. And if I remember correctly there were a few choice Czech swear words sent Rodney's way."

"You remember correctly John." Weir said with a smile. "He was one of the most unhappy people I have ever seen. I think he's still mad with Rodney over that incident with the children where he came back with his hair in ties and makeup on his face. He wouldn't speak to Rodney for days after that."

The pilot chuckled as he remembered the incident and then closed his eyes in pain as he tried to keep Puren at bay. He was scared. So scared. But he didn't want to let the others know exactly how he felt. Although they could probably figure it out for themselves. He was in too much pain to keep a lot of his emotions to himself.

"Are you alright Colonel?" Beckett asked as he placed his hand on the man's right arm.

He received no answer for several minutes and then John seemed to collect himself and he opened his eyes. "Yeah. I can feel him nudging away in there. It's really starting to grate on me Carson. Get this freak out of me as quickly as you can please. Or I'm going to try and find a way to do it myself." The intonation of his voice let them know just how serious he was about the latter part of his statement.

Carson and Elizabeth glanced at each other and then looked back at the Colonel. "We're doing our best John." Weir said. "We've just run into a snag right at the moment. But I'm sure that Rodney will be able to fix it. You know him."

Sheppard sighed and then looked at the ceiling for a moment. When he turned back to Elizabeth he had a slight look of resignation on his face. Then it was gone. "Yeah, I know Rodney. Too well if you ask me. But I get what you're saying. If there was anyone I could trust with something like this, Rodney is it. But please don't tell him I said that. Either of you." He said as he looked from Weir to Beckett. "I don't want his head to explode from how big his ego will become."

Weir and Beckett both laughed at the sarcastic comment. It sure sounded like their Colonel Sheppard. The one person who could stand up to Rodney with stinging sarcasm. "Don't worry John. He won't hear it from us. Will he Carson?" Weir said as she glanced over at the doctor on the other side of the bed.

"Not a word Colonel. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Beckett said as he tried to keep the amusement out of his voice.

Sheppard could barely keep in the laugh. His lips were pressed tight together. Then he could no longer suppress it and he laughed heartily. The nursing staff were completely confused at why the head staff of Atlantis was laughing so hard at a time like this. They shook their heads and continued on about their business. The three expedition members just continued to laugh, their faces slowly turning red.

TBC in Chapter Fourteen….

A/N: Hope you liked this one. And I didn't leave it as a cliff hanger. I just wanted to end one of my chapters on an up note. And it shows that Sheppard is still there and so is his sense of humour. But that probably won't last too long because you know who is still around waiting to cause even more havoc. Chow. Later days folks. :)