Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Oh, I want to, but I don't own anything!

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry this took so long and that it was preceded by short chapters. Also, as with any Physics mentioned in this story, I do not know medical terms or radio talk so where it is I've made it up. If anybody knows what the real terms are, that would be a nice piece of info if you feel like passing it on. Any mistakes are my fault. Enjoy and please review!

Beckett ran his hand through his hair and tried to look optimistic - it wasn't as easy task. The major had been in a coma-like state now for two days. His condition hadn't worsened, but then it hadn't improved either. And Carson was beginning to lose hope.

Looking up to across the table Carson knew he wasn't the only one feeling this way. Teyla was not her usual self. There was no welcoming, friendly smile on her face and she looked withdrawn and drained. The Athosians were very worried about their leader, they said she had not been like this since her father died. It showed how much she really did care for the major. Sitting next to her was Ford. The only visible sign of worry on him was the indicative bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. His military training would not allow him to show any other signs, but it was enough. The young lieutenant sat by his commanding officers side as often as he could, normally sitting beside Teyla. Next to him was Elizabeth Weir, leader of Atlantis. She was almost white with worry and lack of sleep. Carson reminded himself to prescribe her something, between him and Rodney they should be able to get her to take it. The pressure of running Atlantis on her own and not being able to do anything for the major was affecting her. He would definitely need Rodney's help in getting her some relief.

Looking around again, Carson could see Ford begin to fidget. He had practically taken over running Atlantis' military and was very busy; sitting around waiting for Rodney must be unnerving him slightly. And Rodney of course was late. Almost twenty minutes, which was unusual for him.

The sound of heavy footsteps vibrated into the room, preceding Rodney's entrance.

He barged into the room, holding a large stack of folders and mumbling obscenities under his breath.

"Rodney?" Elizabeth asked "something wrong?" her voice was half playful, due to Rodney's obvious predicament, and half serious, as she knew he was working on the device.

Rodney was fuming "Cavanar," he spat "Needs to be sent through the gate to a wraith occupied world."

"What happened?" Ford asked, leaning forward with a note of urgency in his voice.

"He wasn't watching the energy levels properly so failed to notice them dropping, and then had the-the audacity to interrupt me when I was trying to fix his mistake! He almost broke my concentration! The lousy, no-good-"

"Alright Rodney calm down." Elizabeth said softly.

"There was no damage done, was there?" Teyla asked. Her voice was rougher than usual and didn't seem to flow anymore.

"No," Rodney said relenting his tirade and sitting down "But he could have done. Which is why I kicked him off the research team."

"Rodney! We need all the information we can get on tha-" Weir began.

"He's not working on the device," Rodney said firmly, in a tone which brooked no argument "He endangered the major's life by not doing his research as he should have. The only way we are going to find out how that thing works is by working together and by using everyone's best skills in a joint effort. Cavanar is not doing that so he is just getting in the way. I will not have his carelessness being the reason we can't find out what the thing does."

"What happened?" Carson could see whatever had happened had upset his friend deeply.

"The energy output readings on the device decreased," Rodney said "If Cavanar had noticed and forewarned me I would have had more time to assess the problem. Lucky for the major I'm a fast thinker."

"What do you mean?" Ford and Weir said at the same time, whilst Teyla stiffened.

"The device's energy was decreasing; in short I think it may have been shutting down."

"Shutting down?" Elizabeth whispered.

Rodney nodded.

"But if it shuts down…" Ford said.

"If it shuts down the major could wake up." Carson suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, but it's more likely that it would kill Sheppard," Rodney said angrily "But we don't know! Dammit we don't know."

There was silence in the room after Rodney said that. Each of them were thinking of different options and different memories of the major.

"Carson," Weir began, desperate for a change in where the conversation was going "Is there anything you could try to do medically that might wake John up?"

"There are a few procedures but I daren't use them. They could worsen the major's condition easily."

"There has to be something." Ford muttered.

"Is there no spiritual healings that your people have?" Teyla asked uncertainly.

"'Spiritual healings'?" Rodney asked.

"My people, when we could not find a certain herb for an injury, we would use our spiritual healings, handed down from our ancestors, instead. Your people do not have such teachings?"

"No Teyla," Elizabeth said softly "Our people have too many different spiritual views to be that specific. Besides, I don't think that Major Sheppard was a very spiritual person."

"No he wasn't," Ford said "He was more a-"

But Ford was cut off when Beckett's pager went off.

"Dammit!" Beckett leaped to his feet.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Elizabeth said as everyone followed Beckett out of the room.

"Doc!" Ford shouted.

"Carson!" McKay yelled.

"It's the major! He just went into cardiac arrest!"

"What!"

"His heart just stopped!"

Same time on Earth's Alpha site

Nurse Claire Warren was quietly sitting at her desk, absently watching over General O'Neill's comatose body, when Sgt. Chris Street walked in.

"Hey."

Claire looked up "Hey Chris."

"How is he?" the female brunette army officer asked, looking at O'Neill.

"The same."

"The same? That's it?"

"Yep," the blonde replied "No change. No development, no destabilization. Nothing. Just the same."

"Any idea what's wrong with him?"

"Nope. Apparently he touched some device and collapsed. Been like this since."

"Is it just me or is it always a member of sg-1 that gets themselves into these kinds of situations?"

"He's not a member of sg-1 anymore." Claire pointed out.

Chris shrugged "Once a member, always a member in my book. Besides, they're all like family anyway."

"Most teams are, aren't they?"

"Not as close as sg-1." Chris said.

Claire smiled and shook her head "Y'know girl-"

But she was interrupted by the bleeping of O'Neill's heart monitor. The bleeping which told the nurse the colonel's heart had just stopped.

Grabbing a radio as she ran over to the General's bed she yelled into "I got a code 3! Code 3! On General O'Neill! Doctor and panel unit stat! I repeat General O'Neill is code 3!"

Atlantis

"I need 50g of adrenaline now!" Beckett yelled, pushing on the major's chest in the third round of compressions. "Start a second IV line, push it through."

Beckett looked up at the monitor where Sheppard was still flat lining and swore. If they didn't get a change in him soon… Beckett tried not to think of what he would have to do, but his medical training kicked in and told his brain what he didn't want to accept. If Sheppard didn't start to respond soon, he would have to pronounce.

"Ok, get the panels," Beckett ordered "Charge to 200."

Elizabeth couldn't bear to watch it, but her body had stopped working and she just stood there, immobilized. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ford turning Teyla around so she wouldn't have to see them shocking John. She wished someone would turn her around – she didn't want to be watching either.

As if he was in tune with her thoughts, Rodney reached out and turned her around gently. His eyes were soft and sad as she looked up at them. Pulling her forward, Rodney wrapped his arms around Elizabeth and just held her, giving her what comfort he had to offer.

Ford did the same to Teyla, holding her as she let the tears fall down her face.

"Still nothing," the nurse said as Beckett charged the panels "I don't get it. It's like he's just switched off."

Beckett was about to order some more adrenaline when his brain kicked in again. This time reminding him of what Rodney had said earlier.

"The device's energy was decreasing, in short I think it may have been shutting down." … "Shutting down?" … "If it shuts down the major could wake up." … "Yeah, but it's more likely that it would kill Sheppard,"

"Rodney!" He yelled.

"What?"

"The device!"

"What about it?"

"You said that if it shut down then it would probably kill the major!"

"Yeah, s-"Realization dawned on McKay's face "Ford! Come with me!"

Elizabeth and Teyla watched as the two men ran out the room at lightening speed. Teyla looked bewilderedly at Elizabeth, her eyes, sad and empty, searching for answers. Elizabeth felt her heart drop as she knew she could give none. Walking over to Teyla she embraced her, hoping that it would at least be enough to keep the Athosian going. For now.

Rodney ran faster than he had ever done in his life before. All the time praying with every fiber of his being that he was, for once, wrong about what had happened, and that the major would be ok.

"What's going on McKay?" Ford yelled as they ran through Atlantis.

McKay just shook his head, concentrating on running. His mind exploded when he reached the lab however, as all his suspicions were confirmed.

Tell me what you think, please! Next chappie's in the works!

Oh and a little bonus thing for any of you guys interested out there. Can you tell which two characters I crossed with another character from their origins and then used in this story? Prize to be determined. I was just watching both these things before I started writing this so decided to do a little in-joke and include them. If you can't be bothered, don't worry it's probably just one of my crazy things – just ignore this and review!