Chapter 4 – Unravelling

Sheppard sat impatiently in the infirmary. He was itching to get out of there and help Rodney. He was not quite as tense as he could have been though because he knew Ronon was with McKay.

The nurse gently wrapped bandages around his burnt hands. They had put some kind of cream on them, which had soothed the worst of the stinging pain in his hands.

Teyla had been taken away behind a curtain for her injuries to be assessed in private.

Sheppard kept his eyes on the nurse as she took the spare bandages and bottle of cream away and placed them inside a cabinet on the far side of the room. He noted where they were, got up and went over to stand by the curtain.

"How's it going Teyla?"

"I am fine Colonel. Hang on a moment."

Sheppard waited for a few seconds and straightened up as the curtain was drawn back. Teyla was dressed and dabbing some cream onto her arm.

"They told me that the burns were not too severe. I need to put this cream on every few hours and they should heal on their own."

"Glad to hear it," Sheppard said as he smiled at her.

"Where did Rodney go?" Teyla asked, "I am sure I saw him before we came here."

"He had to go and shut off the water supply at the source."

Teyla frowned, "It is nearly nine o'clock. We should head up to the briefing."

"Agreed. Hopefully we can meet up with Rodney and Ronon and try and figure out what's happening."

Sheppard looked around the room and made sure no one spotted him as he sidled up to the cabinet and grabbed the burn cream and some spare bandages. He quickly shoved them into his pockets and put his finger on his lips in response to Teyla's questioning look.

Rodney sat on the floor in the Water Control Room for a moment and then released a breath he had been holding. He opened his eyes and looked at Ronon who was peering into his face. He waved a bandaged hand impatiently, "The infirmary will have to wait until I can figure out exactly what just happened." The bandages were beginning to slip and bunch up where Rodney had continued to use his hands. Red and angry skin was visible through some of the strips.

Ronon raised his eyebrows and shook his head. Almost as if he had been expecting no less from the scientist.

Ronon said, "It's nearly time for the briefing. We should head up."

He leant forward and grabbed Rodney under the shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

Rodney bent over to retrieve his computer and the toolkit, but Ronon patted his arms away gently, "I'll get it."

"Uh…thanks," Rodney mumbled straightening up as much as he dared. He followed Ronon out of the room and absent-mindedly fiddled with the bandages on his hands trying to smooth them out and cover the sore exposed patches of raw skin.

He reached up and tapped his radio, "McKay to Zelenka. Report."

"Ah, Rodney. We have just finished releasing the last of the trapped people. There have been no more reports for the last half an hour."

Rodney sighed in relief.

"However," Rodney tensed as Zelenka continued, "We have just had another call that there is a dangerous gas venting into Lab Two."

Rodney's eyebrows raised, "Lab Two? That's where I sent that useless bumbling Perkins moron earlier."

"Don't worry Rodney. Everyone got out. Perkins was able to seal the door and prevent the gas from escaping into the rest of the city. We are heading over there now."

"Okay. I've got a briefing now. I'll meet up with you later."

Dr Weir cast a critical eye on the people sitting in front of her in the Briefing Room. Out of all of them, only Ronon appeared to be unscathed. Teyla's face was shiny and red. Sheppard and Rodney both had bandaged hands and Rodney was leaning at the waist as he sat with his elbows on the table, obviously ill at ease about something.

Weir had already been told about that morning's escapades. Her frown deepened in concern as McKay rattled off the list of malfunctions and the improvised fixes.

"So what exactly is causing all these malfunctions?" She asked at length.

Rodney tapped on his computer, "We don't know yet. We've been concentrating on damage control so far and haven't had the time to try and locate the source."

Weir narrowed her eyes, "There are a lot of worried and frightened people out there. They are beginning to wonder what will happen next and whether they are safe."

Teyla said, "I am sure we will be able to handle any more problems as they arise. I believe it would be better for Rodney to work at finding the cause while we continue to help people as needed."

Sheppard smiled at Teyla and ignored Rodney's grimace, "I agree. It's no good just pulling systems apart to shut them down all the time. We need to stamp this out rather than break all the systems in Atlantis one by one."

Ronon looked happy at the prospect of destruction, "Sounds good. Think we'll be done by lunchtime?"

Rodney frowned at Ronon, "Talk about piling the pressure on. And as usual, I'm the only one who can save all of you and the whole city!"

Weir looked at Rodney, "Get someone to help you." She narrowed her eyes, "Make sure it's someone you can trust. We still don't know exactly what we're dealing with."

They all got up to leave. Sheppard grabbed Rodney's upper arm as he approached the door.

"Hold on a minute McKay."

The others walked past and through the doors, which swung closed behind them, leaving Sheppard alone with Rodney.

Sheppard searched McKay's face as the other man looked grimly down at the floor and refused to meet his eyes.

"Have you seen Carson yet?" He asked.

Rodney finally looked up at Sheppard and appeared to visibly steel and harden his resolve even while Sheppard watched. Sheppard was slightly taken aback, but he had seen this before many times in the scientist.

"There will be plenty of time for lazing around in the infirmary once the city has been saved, Colonel. At the moment it seems to be falling apart at the seams."

Sheppard frowned and grabbed both of McKay's shoulders as he looked at him, "As long as you don't fall apart at the seams while trying to fix it."

Rodney looked at him sadly and did not pull away from his grip, "If I go down there, Carson will probably relieve me of duty. Even as the city burns and locks us out of everything he'll keep me trapped."

Sheppard's face cracked into a mischievous grin, "I thought you might be like this."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rodney said indignantly.

Sheppard just pressed his lips together tightly in a grim smile as he dug his hands into his pockets and brought out the bottle of pilfered burn cream and the bandages. He handed them to Rodney and said, "You're such a stubborn ass McKay."

Rodney chuckled lightly as he gratefully took the items from Sheppard, "You know me too well."

Sheppard helped Rodney to apply the cream and wrap the fresh bandages around his sore hands.

When they were done, they both left the Briefing Room. Sheppard walked across to the Control Room and Rodney went over to the transporter and down to the science labs.

As McKay approached the main lab, he heard quietly talking voices. As he reached the door and breezed inside he narrowed his eyes when Dr Li and Dr Perkins abruptly stopped talking and turned to look at him.

Perkins was sitting down and Li had her hand resting on his. She quickly drew it back and looked away guiltily.

Rodney frowned and narrowed his eyes in fury at them, "This isn't a social gathering people. We have a lot of work to do. Shouldn't you both be helping Zelenka?"

Dr Li straightened up and folded her arms defensively across her chest, "You told us to keep working on these Ancient devices, Sir."

"Yes, but that was hours ago and since then, in case you haven't noticed, the city has tried to kill half of the expedition. Don't you consider prioritising at all?" Rodney looked at Perkins, "Although the rate you work at probably wouldn't have made much of an impact on fixing the malfunctions anyway."

Dr Li stepped in front of Perkins and glared at McKay, "He nearly died, Sir."

Perkins snaked a hand around her elbow, "Sally, don't, it's not worth it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rodney said as he matched and exceeded the glare from Dr Li with one of his own.

She faltered a little under his furious gaze, "Just saying," she muttered.

Rodney opened his mouth again to let rip a spectacular rant at his mutinous and defiant staff when Dr Newall walked into the lab behind him.

Newall studied the scene in front of him. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Dr Li standing protectively in front of Perkins as McKay looked like he was about to unleash scathing oral violence against them. Newall frowned and scowled when he saw Perkins' hand possessively around her arm.

Rodney pressed his lips together in a thin line, "Perkins, Li, go and help Zelenka."

"But Sir, Dr Li is due off-world in a few minutes," Perkins said quietly from behind her back.

"Alright. Perkins go and help Zelenka."

McKay turned his back on them and faced Newall, "And you can go and help Zelenka too."

"I came to escort Dr Li to the gate. I went to the planet a few weeks ago and thought I could impart some last minute tips."

Dr Li smiled sadly and walked over to Newall.

McKay muttered, "So much hand-holding. No wonder hardly any work ever gets done around here by anyone other than me."

Perkins looked quite put out as Newall left the lab with Li. When he met McKay's steely eyes he quickly fled from the lab.

Rodney rubbed his sore belly and closed his eyes when the three of them were out of his sight. He sighed and sat down heavily in a chair. He pulled a laptop over to begin trying to trace the problem with Atlantis.

TBC