"Any luck with Colonel Crazy in there?"

Abby sighed, "Don't call him that."

Matt offered her an apologetic smile but she could still sense that he meant it.

"Did you manage to get hold of the wife?"

"Ex wife. I rang the number I was given but she doesn't live there anymore."

Abby leaned against the counter and groaned.

"But, I was able to get a forwarding number from the current owner. She said he doesn't have any allergies."

"Good."

And it was good news. It meant she was getting somewhere with her mysterious patient. It also had to mean she was closer to going home, closer to having a nice hot bubble bath and closer to sleep than she had been all night.

"I think she was surprised to hear from him."

"Don't pry Matt."

"I'm just saying. Sounds like he hasn't been around all that much."

"I never hear from my Ex," Abby provided with a grim smile. And just as well, he was a drunken low life, "I just got his lab results back as well so I can finally give him some antibiotics for that fever."

"Figured out who the hell he is yet? I mean all this tight security on his file. He's got to be black ops right? Or maybe he's defected."

"Or maybe he's just a normal guy?"

"Maybe. I prefer the black ops theory myself."

"Of course you do."

--------------------------------------

Doctor Ling entered the patient's room and found him sitting up in bed, plucking at the covers and staring off into space. It took a while for him to notice she was there and it was only when she scraped a chair over to the side of the bed did he turn to her. He looked over her shoulder as if he were expecting someone else to follow and then fixed her with a stare.

"Mr. Sheppard," she said crossing her legs and flipping open a notepad.

He regarded her with a suspicious look, "The shrink right?"

Ling smiled and held out her hand. He gave it a look and made no moves to shake it so she retracted it quickly, flushing slightly with embarrassment.

"I'm Doctor Ling."

"Are you supposed to be in here?" he asked shifting back on the bed slightly.

He tried to disguise a hiss of pain but failed miserably. Ling wanted to suck in her own breath when she noticed the bruises and cuts on his face, feet and hands.

She schooled her face into a mask of neutralism, "Do you know why I've been called down to see you?"

Sheppard stopped plucking at the covers, went to cross his arms and then seemed to think better of it. She could tell he had stopped for a reason. He probably knew, crossed arms signified a defensive position and she noted it down.

"Not really," he said in a low voice.

"Doctor Jenner was a little concerned about you. She just wanted me to have a chat with you."

"I don't really feel like talking."

"And why's that?"

"Why do you think?"

"Why don't you tell me?"

"You know, you doctors always answer a question with another question."

Ling smiled, "So you have seen a lot of Doctors?"

Sheppard laughed. It was forced. Constricted.

"You have us troubled Mr. Sheppard. Why were you wandering the streets in the middle of the night?"

Sheppard moved to dangle his legs over the edge of the bed and looked towards the door.

"Have they called my team yet?"

He was distracted, slightly despondent and Ling was beginning to feel on edge herself. She had been informed about his fever. She knew that was partly responsible for his behavior and yet unlike any other patient he seemed determined not to lie back and rest.

"I don't….. think so."

"They should be here by now," he looked behind him and then back at the door.

"Who is this team? Are they members of your unit?"

Sheppard blinked slowly and gave her a surprised look, "Who told you about my team?"

Ling was practiced at being patient. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forwards, appearing approachable and smiling deliberately.

"Doctor McKay," he said as if she should know who he was, "Teyla and Ronon. They're my team."

"Doctor McKay. Is he your Doctor?"

"No," Sheppard seemed to find that funny and laughed, "McKay is not my Doctor."

"No?"

Sheppard was still vibrating with suppressed amusement and held out a shaky hand in apology. She witnessed the exact moment Sheppard realized he had let his defenses down. His mood shifted quickly and the forced smile became a thin hard line and the kind creases around his eyes gave way to a darker look.

"No, he's head scientist. My Doctor is Beckett."

"Beckett."

He seemed distracted, disinterested in her, "Yes, Beckett. He's……he should be here by now. All of them should be."

"When you were brought in, the paramedics noted that you referred to your team as the fantastic four."

Sheppard nodded and didn't meet her eyes.

Ling needed to find a way to connect. Sheppard wasn't going to give information voluntarily. His body language, the way he evaded questions, his paranoia, it was all indicative of a man who had seen countless Psychiatrists. He knew the game, only this time he wasn't going to win.

"Aren't the fantastic four a fictional group of superheroes?"

Sheppard smiled faintly but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Do you identify with them? Do you think you have……special powers?"

Sheppard finally met her eyes and smiled, "I………I shouldn't really talk about that with you. It could get me in trouble."

"With who?"

Sheppard leaned in, "You don't have clearance."

Ling noted that down.

"Look, anything you say to me will be held in the strictest of confidence. You really can trust me."

"You still don't have clearance," Sheppard said with a scowl.

Ling cleared her throat, for no other reason that to fill the vacuous silence of the room. He was making her feel uncomfortable. His jittery hands, his restlessness, his paranoia; for some reason it frightened Ling. She felt small and vulnerable and worst of all ill-prepared to deal with a man that seemed to hide behind clever remarks and winning smiles.

"Okay, what about your reference to a place called Atlantis. A flying ship?"

Silence.

"It isn't uncommon for……..some individuals to retreat. Seek solace in an imaginary world to escape events that bother them. Is that what you are doing?"

Sheppard fanned his scrubs top. He was making a display out of ignoring her. He was being evasive, non-committal, but he was listening.

"Has something happened? Something while you were serving away perhaps that has led you to-"

"I'm fine," Sheppard responded sharply, "Nothing happened. Nothing….."

He was repeating himself in what Ling would call positive reinforcement. If you say something enough you become to believe it. Something had obviously happened.

"Mr Sheppard," she scooted her chair closer, "I have some experience dealing with soldiers and-"

Sheppard cut her off, "You haven't seen what I've seen."

Ling smiled and dipped her head. She'd had years of experience talking to soldiers and helping them deal with post traumatic stress syndromes. She had become accustomed to their gruesome stories. On occasion she had seen footage, photographs; truly horrifying images that had made her feel as though she had been there with them. Out of all the terrible things that this Sheppard could have witnessed, she doubted she hadn't already dealt with it in one of her sessions.

She was growing frustrated. She didn't seem to be making progress and Sheppard was beginning to get irate.

"Have you been injecting? There are marks on your arms and-"

"I didn't do that. They did."

"They?"

He was beginning to get agitated. The mention of 'they' seemed to break down his defenses.

"I can't talk about that!"

"Mr Sheppard, if you are unwilling to face whatever it is that has……affected you then…..we will have no choice but to keep you here for a while longer."

Ling knew that soldier's personalities dictated that they thrived on order, logic and a sense of routine. It had shown great success in her sessions. Sheppard's personality was different. He ignored the threat and gave her a listless shake of his head.

"Do you want to stay for longer?"

She realized that even this soldier's hair wasn't regulation. She noted that down too. His unruly hair could be the key. Perhaps he hadn't been away serving after all; perhaps he was simply in care at another hospital.

He was plucking at the covers again and making no moves to hide his hostility.

"Are my team here yet?"
"No," Ling adjusted her glasses, "No Mr-"

"Colonel Sheppard." He snapped suddenly, "It's Colonel Sheppard. I need to get back. People rely on me."

"Who relies on you?"

Sheppard finally slid off the bed and sighed when his I.V caught on his hand. He tugged it out in one practiced move, placing a shaking hand over the droplet of blood that had formed.

"Hundreds of people."

"Your squad?"

"No. Civilians."

"Civilians?"
"Yes, why do you keep repeating what I say?"

"If you want to talk. I will listen."

"I don't want to talk," he said, "I don't like talking to shrinks. You twist everything around and……." He reached out for the bed railing and gripped it with white knuckles, "I just want my team. I just want to go home."

---------------------------------

Abby steered Doctor Ling away from the exam room and away from Matt's prying ears, "Well?"

Doctor Ling smoothed down her hair and tucked her notepad under her arm, "He's definitely hiding something."

Abby looked passed her to where there were two security personnel hovering outside her exam room. It was making her disquietly nervous.

"It is my recommendation that we section him for now. I'd like to talk to him again when he's calmed down."

"Really? He seemed okay when I was talking to him earlier."

Abby felt a pang of sympathy. She didn't know the guy but he seemed to have been through a tough time and she wasn't sure it was the right call.

"He's talked to Doctor's before. He's very good at what he thinks is manipulating the outcome of a session. Something is going on and I want to find out what it is before you release him."

She'd never liked Doctor Ling. Unfortunately; she still respected her professional opinion.

"You think he's a danger?"

"I think he's dangerous full stop. Anyone with military training, who isn't fully adjusted, should not be allowed to roam the streets."

Abby could understand her reasoning, but still. It didn't make her happy about it.

"Okay, we'll keep him in overnight and once-"

Abby couldn't finish her sentence. She noticed her patient walking out of the exam room, kitted out in his uniform again, and arguing with the security men to let him pass.

"I'm going" Sheppard said loudly, oblivious to the looks that were coming his way from patients and Nurses, "Get out of my way!"

Abby left Doctor Ling and jogged over to him, "John!"

He turned to her, flushed and sweating, "Doctor Jenner," and he held himself up straighter, "I'm discharging myself. I've waited long enough."

"Hang on;" Abby gave the two security men a nod to say she had everything under control and then tried to guide Sheppard back to his room, "You can't leave yet. You're not well. Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know. I'll find somewhere." He scrubbed a hand through his hair, "Did you call Beckett?"

Abby bit her lip. She hadn't been able to locate him.

"You haven't, have you?"

Sheppard brought his hands up to the back of his head and moved in a tight circle, "Then I can't stay….."

Abby didn't know what to say. She had tried to find this Doctor, tried to locate his 'team' and yet she hadn't known where to start. Everything about him was impossibly closed off.

"I'm not safe here," and his hand was at his thigh holster, fingers tensing.

"Remember I said you were safe here?" Abby tried, "You are."

Sheppard shook his head, eyes darkening.

He took a step away from her and was met by two sets of hands that rooted him to the ground.

"Come on John. You're not well. You need to get back into bed."

He wasn't listening. In fact, he was ignoring her and tugging at the arms that held him in place.

"Guys!" Abby called out to the guards, "It's okay."

"You really need to let go of me," Sheppard threatened with a hiss, "Get off me now!"

Abby turned to the growing group of people crowding the halls and attempted to wave them away, "Don't worry. Everyone get back to your rooms. It's fine."

Ling was pulling her away, "He's a danger to everyone here."

"I said everything's fine," Abby asserted, "Aren't you John? You're fine."

The man in question was still struggling, his lithe body twisting mercilessly in the security men's grip.

"Doctor Jenner, leave this to the professionals," Ling admonished.

Abby tore her eyes away from Sheppard.

"I'm his Doctor."

"Get off!"

Abby turned back just in time to see Sheppard wrench out of one man's grip, kick the other in the shin with a well aimed blow and then arch his elbow around to send one of the security men, Burt, to the ground. There was blood spilling from his mouth as he lay on the floor, eyes closed, motionless. Sheppard rammed the other man, Harry, into the wall, kept his hand across his throat and before Abby had time to blink he was wielding the mans 9.mil handgun and pointing it in front of him, finger hovering over the trigger. He stumbled backwards, wiping his face with the back of his hand, eyes darting wildly around.

It had all happened so quickly and Abby found herself standing in front of him, mouth gaping open and eyebrows raised. She was a Doctor. She wasn't prepared…for this!

"I just need to find my team!" he shouted to Abby, to the patients watching, to the cowering Nurses by the admittance desk.

"This morning I was on Atlantis and now I'm……" he looked over his shoulder and back, "I don't know what happened but I'm not supposed to be here. That's why I need my team. They'll know what happened and…"

"Colonel Sheppard!" Doctor Ling was stepping forward into the fray, hands raised placating, "Let's talk about this."

Sheppard dragged his eyes away from Abby and looked a little startled by Ling, "I don't want to talk."

Sheppard raised his hand up to his face and rubbed at his eyes, swallowing repeatedly and turning paler by the minute.

"John, you're not well," Abby repeated in a calm voice, fingers reaching out for his trembling hands.

He flinched away, the barrel swinging around out of dizziness rather than maliciousness, and a few of the nurses started crying. It seemed to drag him out of his fugue and it was as if he was only just realizing where he was and what he was doing.

He wavered, blinked heavily and then took another step backwards.

"I…." he looked at the gun in his hand and sagged, "I'm not going to……"

Abby swallowed thickly and summoned the courage to speak. Behind the gun, his eyes were still kind.

"John."

His eyes were slow to track her and it was in that instance that she realized the he really wasn't looking all that hot. His face was flushed, he was sweating profusely and his eyes were wide and glassy. He was truly sick. Something inside switched and practiced professionalism took over. Abby was already ordering tests and instructing nurses for cold compresses in her mind.

"John, why don't you put the gun down?"

Sheppard met her eyes and dropped his aim, "I wouldn't use it," he muttered.

He un-clicked the safety.

"Really," he dropped the gun's magazine to the ground.

"It's okay," Abby said, hands still outstretched.

"Sorry," Sheppard said with a weak smile.

He went to put the gun in his thigh holster, maybe out of habit, then remembering it wasn't his, he dropped it.

It hadn't even clattered to the earth and one of the guards was tackling him to the floor. Sheppard was plaint, keeping his hands outstretched and planted flat out in front of him.

"Get me some Haldol," Abby instructed one of the nurses.

Sheppard was still being pinned and when she saw the look in her eyes she felt conflicted. He was scared. Confused.

"Careful guys," Abby warned the guards that were crushing him into the hard ground.

She crouched down beside Sheppard and rolled up his sleeve.

"I didn't mean…..I just need to get home," he said, almost whispered.

Abby prepped the syringe.

"I…."

She touched his arm and could feel the heat radiating off it. His fever was obviously spiking and he had no idea what he was doing, but still, the image of his attack was fresh. He was dangerous. It didn't matter that he seemed to be decent underneath, it didn't even matter that he was showing remorse. The fact was that he was a trained soldier and he had already injured three members of her staff. She had to do what was right.

"Sorry about his but…you kind of deserve it."

She jabbed him in the arm, Sheppard let out a groan and she instructed Harry to release him.

"We're not going far," Burt muttered around the blood in his mouth.

"It's okay," Abby said as she rubbed Sheppard's shoulder gently, "He'll be out like a light in a minute."

Sheppard made a groveling attempt to get up to his knees but the sedative was already beginning to kick in.

"I don't like…." He licked his lips.

"Nobody likes sedatives," Abby said in a low voice.

"Make me feel…..weird."

"Like I said……"

"I asked for it," he slurred.

Abby rubbed the spot where she had injected him and waited for the gurney to arrive.

Sheppard finally his eyes closed.

TBC………………