Chapter XIII

Thwack!

Teyla blocked the attack with ease and returned one of her own. Naturally, it didn't phase her partner, but it did make it so that he was more open for her next move. She aimed her bantos rod at his now-exposed flank and heard it connect with a loud thump. Her opponent grunted and stepped back, effectively resetting their match and allowing them both to prepare for another round.

"What do you think of the Doctor?" Ronon asked as he twirled his rods in his hands. The move could have been taken for a show of skill but Teyla knew that it was more to stretch and loosen his wrists than anything else.

The question surprised her. Ronon wasn't the type to ask something like that out of the blue which meant that something was on his mind. What it was Teyla had no idea but she was sure that she would soon find out.

"I am not sure," she answered honestly. She stepped to her right as Ronon did the same, giving her own set of rods a twirl of their own. "He is, confusing."

They went through the first of many strikes and swings, neither one adding any effort to them, before Ronon responded. He didn't say anything but he didn't have to. The slight tilt of his head showed her what he wanted to know.

Teyla dropped her rods, her chest beginning to heave as her heart rate increased with the exercise, and then stepped off the mat. If she were going to have this conversation – or any for that matter – she was not going to do it where Ronon was free to take advantage of her lack of defense.

"He acts very upbeat and smiles more than any other person that I have known." At that Ronon gave a smile, showing that he agreed. "And yet, he seems to deliberately leave out details, thus keeping not only us but his companion as well out of the loop."

"We've kept him out of the loop as well," Ronon reminded her.

She still did not feel easy about that. While the virus appeared to only affect the wraith, they did not know how it would affect the Doctor. John had brushed it off, assuring her and everyone else that the alien's physiology was similar enough to human that it wouldn't change him in any harmful ways. Of course he had needed Carson's help in solidifying that belief, help which Carson had not been entirely too willing to give. Ever since he had been taken by Michael, Carson had regarded the virus with something akin to disgust and fear. For the most part he refused to go near it let alone use it or test it. Whatever Michael had done to him had solidified in his memory such feelings that Carson seemed to loathe himself for making it.

It occurred to her that it was Carson's reaction to the thing which he created that had made her most uneasy. Doctor Weir had had to force Carson to use it and in doing so had made Carson look as though he had been betrayed by not only their leader but all of his friends. Even though she had been against the plan and had argued against it, she still felt guilty.

Her thoughts of Carson had her remembering the scene in the dart bay. Carson had looked stricken as well as admonished and guilty, the Doctor appeared to be stunned but unrelenting and John had seemed not five seconds from shooting the alien where he stood. It puzzled her but as she was not involved in anything she was not about to talk to any of those involved about it.

"What?" Ronon asked, apparently having seen something in her expression as she'd thought. She didn't answer him, not wanting to give anything more away, and he instead asked, "Does it have to do with why Sheppard has asked me to keep an eye on the Doctor?"

Teyla's brow wrinkled in confusion. John was not the type to become overly suspicious for no reason. And yet, he had not talked with her about his plans regarding the Doctor or the potential risks the alien may present. "Is that why you wished to know my opinion?" she asked him. She wondered if the Satedan was uneasy about his task and wanted to know more information before he proceeded.

Now it was Ronon's turn not to reply. His expression was neutral enough but his eyes told her what he would not. They confirmed her suspicions as much as they could but they also spoke of his concern with regards to John's mental state.

To give herself time, Teyla packed her things into her bag and, after waiting from Ronon to grab the towel that he'd brought, walked out of the training room.

"I believe something happened between the Doctor, John and Carson while we were on the hive ship," she said once they were on their way to her quarters. Their voices mixed with others so that their words were drowned out in the multiple conversations that happened around them. "I do not know what it was but when I entered, things were..strained between them."

Beside her, Ronon nodded. "I'll talk to Sheppard," he said. The words were nothing more than him letting her know that he'd heard and decided what to do. Since there was no need for her to respond, she didn't. They continued their walk towards her quarters, parting shortly before they arrived.

Teyla watched the bigger man go. Her unease over the situation hadn't abated. If anything, it had increased, even more so with the realization that her friends were acting strangely and secretively. With Ronon talking to John, Teyla decided that it would be best, and easiest, for her to talk to Carson.

The doors to her quarters opened with a mechanical swish and Teyla stepped in. The security she felt while inside helped to ease her a little but she knew it would not last. With a sigh and no little amount of determination, Teyla set her things down and went to get cleaned up.

oOo

"Doctor Weir?"

Elizabeth's head shot up and her eyes squinted. As she managed to force the image of Chuck into one person rather than two, it occurred to her that she had been staring at her computer screen for far too long and that she needed a break.

After noticing that he had her attention, the tech held up a paper on which she could see his messy scroll and read the note. "The Queen known as Amara offers a trade to the people of Atlantis and the being known as the Doctor." He paused to make sure that he retained her attention and, with her stomach settling into a rock of unease, Elizabeth nodded at him to continue. He seemed hesitant to do so but after a moment, he finally finished reading. "Give us the human known as Carson Beckett and we will release the beings known as the Gabrihath."

oOo

"Doctor Weir to Col. Sheppard."

Elizabeth's heart was racing. She knew what her answer was – an unequivocal no. Yet there was still a small, almost miniscule part of her that was tempted to take the offer. It made her sick but that was the harsh truth. No leader would ever hand one of her own people over and she knew that. But she also knew that that same leader would also consider it, at least a little, before they had decided on not doing it.

"This is Sheppard, go ahead Elizabeth."

John's voice sounded wispy, almost as though he were out of breath. No doubt he had been sparring with Ronon. Elizabeth only hoped that he hadn't provided Ronon with an open target due to her call.

"John, I need you to grab Carson, Teyla, Ronon, and the Doctor and meet me in the conference room." At least her voice sounded strong and sure. Since it was two things that she didn't feel at the moment, she took that for a good sign. "We've heard from the wraith."

oOo

Once everyone was assembled, Elizabeth joined them. The doors to the room closed with a mechanical hiss which she'd begun to find soothing more so than not. She waited for all of the doors – there were three entries – to be closed and sealed before she began.

For the most part, no one looked worried, yet. Most of the expressions her team wore were neutral, although some were more relaxed than others. She noticed that John had brought more people than she had specified – namely the Doctor's companion, Rose, and Major Lorne. While she supposed that Lorne had every right to be here since it would probably his team that would bail out John's, she wasn't sure of the wisdom of bringing in Rose. The girl was smart enough, to be sure, but she didn't seem to have any tactical experience, thus making her a bit unnecessary in this meeting.

They all looked at her, evidently patiently waiting for her to begin. She gave them a small smile, though she was sure that the effort behind it showed.

"As you all know, we have received word from the wraith on PX3-525," she began, not bothering to beat around the bush. "They have offered us a deal – they will release the inhabitants if we give them Carson."

Slowly everyone's, or mostly everyone's, expressions changed in one form or another. Carson's face was awash with fear; his eyes widened and Elizabeth could see his breathing get faster as his heart rate climbed. John's expression was cold and hard with anger filling every pore. Although both Teyla and Ronon hadn't appeared to think one thing or the other about the idea, Elizabeth could tell that they, too, were upset by the news. Teyla's face was too neutral to be normal and the way she kept looking at everyone else, as though expecting someone to immediately burst out against the idea, spoke of her unease with the "plan". Ronon's eyes practically glittered at her. While Elizabeth didn't think that the Satedan would outright attack her, she knew that the desire was there if she even considered turning the Scot over to the wraith. Even the Rose's face showed her shock; apparently she had taken the statement to mean that Elizabeth would give Carson to the wraith as a sacrificial lamb of sorts. Elizabeth didn't take it to heart, knowing that the girl didn't know her as well as the others did. Only the Doctor remained impassive. Oh, he watched her more closely, trying to determine where she was going with this, but he didn't seem to care either way what happened to Carson and that bothered her.

"Now, obviously I have no intention of complying with their deal," she said still managing to sound clam and reassuring. "But I am curious if anyone else has any other ideas." She turned her attention specifically to the Doctor since it was he who had promised to help the Gabr..somethings in the first place. "Is there anyway that you or your ship could help free the inhabitants without the cooperation of the wraith?"

"Weelll," the alien said, dragging out the word in a way which she was noticing he was prone to doing. "There's always a way, isn't there?" He gave her a smile but she didn't return it. Nothing in this situation was worth smiling over. "It just depends on how many men and women you plan on putting at risk to do it."

Elizabeth clenched her jaw, effectively biting back the first thought that had come to her mind. Now was not the time to get petty and point fingers. Right now, they had to figure out how to best get the mission done with as little bloodshed and casualties as possible. "Would the..," she trailed off, not wanting to show just how little she'd memorized the inhabitants' name.

"The Gabrihath," Rose interjected for her, her voice helpful and nonjudgmental.

"The Gabrihath, thank you. Would the Gabrihath be willing to meet with us in order to work out a plan?" she asked, her attention still on the Doctor.

"Oh, they already have a plan," the Doctor answered back, his cheeky smile still in place, though Elizabeth noticed that it didn't reach his eyes at all.

"Which is?" She was a little annoyed that she was just hearing about it now, but she tried to keep that out of her voice and posture as much as possible.

Now that the announcement had been made, Elizabeth made to join the others at the table and sat down in the spot in between John and Carson. The Doctor sat directly across from her with Rose to his right and Teyla to his left. Lorne sat to Carson's left and Ronon occupied the seat across the table from him, to John's right. Rodney somehow managed to sit in the middle, looking like he was at the head of it all. All of them were looking to the Doctor for an explanation – all except Rose, that is.

"The Gabrihath are a very proud race," the Doctor said, evidently thinking it better to give them a history lesson before he answered her question. "They do not like to ask for help and only do so when their need is dire. Whilst Col. Sheppard's team, Rose and myself were captured, they were desperate. Now that the wraith have your lot's attention, their focus has diminished on the Gabrihath, leaving them to decide that they no longer want or need your help." Elizabeth had a feeling that she didn't like where this was going but she remained silent and attentive, exuding patience where she felt none. "I believe they would agree to a meeting with your lot but for their own purpose," he added, this time talking much slower than when he had been giving them basic background.

"You believe they will attempt to trap us and give Carson to the wraith themselves," Teyla said, essentially voicing what the others have already concluded.

"Weelll, yeah, but, tell me, is that truly a bad idea?"

"I'm sorry?" Elizabeth asked, feeling her hackles rising.

"Doctor," Rose half-whispered in warning to her friend.

"You can't seriously be suggesting that we give them Carson?" John asked without bothering to hide his shock and slowly growing anger.

"Oi, now, hear me out," the Doctor said. Somehow he had managed to make the statement an admonishment as well as a placation. And how did an alien from another planet manage to sound so..British?

"You're not going to suggest what I think you're going to suggest," Rose said, her tone a mixture of incredulous and despairing. There was resignation in there was well and Elizabeth guessed that this wasn't the first time she had gone through this with the Doctor.

"It could work," the Doctor said, evidently not seeing the same problem that Rose saw.

"Only if you want to get yourself bloody killed," the girl retorted. "And if you do, you had better bring your regenerated self back here so we can got tell my mum why you've changed your face again."

For the first time since he'd come to Atlantis, the Doctor seemed to take a moment to think better of his plan. Whomever Rose's mother was, she was apparently a formidable woman whom the Doctor didn't like to trifle with. Then the second changed to another and his smile returned. "Oh, I'm sure Amara won't kill me," he said with enough confidence that it proved to everyone else that the wraith most likely would, in fact, kill him. "Weeelll, at least I'm about 92% sure that she wouldn't."

"You did abandon her in the wrong galaxy, where she eventually became a different creature entirely," Rose reminded him.

"Okay, 77% sure," the alien amended.

"So let me get this straight," said a very annoyed-sounding Rodney who had, up until this point, remained silent. "Your brilliant idea is to not only let them take Carson but to let them have you as well?" He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest in what Elizabeth as come to fondly think of as his "arrogant-you're-an-idiot" pose. "Oh that sounds like a great idea. While you're at it, why don't you throw in your companion as well, give the wraith a little snack in case they get hungry from all that torture and killing."

"Rodney," Elizabeth said with her voice at a halfway point between exasperated and scolding.

"Well I'm sorry but does no one else see how utterly stupid this plan is?"

No one answered his question. Elizabeth couldn't tell what the others were thinking but since it wasn't their lives on the line, they weren't the ones that she wanted to hear from. Turning to her left, at her CMO and her friend, she asked, "Carson, what do you think?"

All throughout the conversation, Carson's expression had slowly begun to fade from scared to something else entirely. It wasn't acceptance, per se, but it was close. Whatever it was, she didn't like it. It came too close to grimm resignation, as though he had not only considered making the trade but had also decided to go through with it.

"I'll do it," he said with a hoarse voice. He was looking down at the table, careful too keep his true thoughts and expressions to himself. John, Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney were about five nanoseconds from jumping to their feet in outrage when Carson's head suddenly shot up and the fire in his eyes lite them to a sapphire blue. He looked over at the SGA1 team and said, "But you had better come and get me once the Gabrihath are free or you are the first ones I'm haunting."

oOo

To say that Grace was angry was a gross understatement. Livid would be more accurate but even that didn't quite do it. She wasn't only angry. She was worried and feeling protective again. This time, reminding herself that she had no right to feel that way towards her boss wasn't working. She used the excuse that he was also her patient to justify feelings but it didn't necessarily make her feel any better. Because what she was feeling was coming from her heart and not from her duties as a health professional.

Even so, her trepidations didn't stop her from seeking Carson out. She eventually found him in one of the lower labs with Rodney where the physicist had evidently cornered the Scot into testing out some ancient tech. Stopping in the doorway, Grace leaned against the frame and watched, waiting for Carson to finish up so that she could talk to him without his friend there.

The device in his hand spluttered, causing sparks to shoot out and into Carson's hand. The Scot dropped the device to avoid any further pain and then examined the hand. From her vantage point, Grace could see small red dots, burns no doubt, all over the palm of his hand with a more localized one in the center. It looked red and painful but not serious. Still, she kept quiet, waiting for his rather vehement declaration of not being a battery for Rodney to use whenever he wanted, to end and for him to notice that she was there. Carson turned around and his annoyance seemed to fade as a smile replaced any sign of it.

"Grace," he said and she felt a small thrill when she realized that he actually sounded happy to see her. Granted, after being with Rodney, she wasn't sure there wasn't anyone that Carson wouldn't be happy to see but she still took it at face value and left it alone. "What are you doing here?"

She waited for him to get to the doorway before she pushed off it and began walking with him, glad to see that he was heading in the direction of the infirmary, no doubt for some burn cream.

"I just got a call from Doctor Weir saying that you are going to give yourself over to the wraith," she answered with annoyance in her voice. She hadn't wanted it to slip through but she had had long enough to get worked up about it that controlling her emotions was no longer happening. "Please tell me that she has been misinformed!"

With a sigh, Carson stopped and the door to his right opened. Evidently either Atlantis or Carson thought that they needed a more private place to talk and had provided one for them. Grace eyed Carson, daring him to try and go somewhere else and waiting for him to take the hint. He lowered his right hand, which up until this moment had rested in his left, wincing a little, and then walked onto the balcony.

He waited until she had joined him and the doors were closed before he answered her. "She hasn't been misinformed," he said, using the same voice that she'd heard him use whenever he was talking to an agitated patient.

Grace sighed, the sound managing to be angry and annoyed in one. "Carson, what are you thinking?!" she cried out while doing her best to reign in her volume. "Look, I know that you want to help and I also know that this is what the wraith have demanded, but surely sacrificing yourself for a species who would have only betrayed you isn't worth it."

"That's not it," Carson argued back. His voice held resignation, guilt, and exhaustion.

It didn't take a genius to understand why he felt that he had to do this and Grace sighed, grabbing his hands into hers. He winced when her fingers brushed the burn on his palm and so she shifted her hold to his wrist so she didn't hurt him.

"Carson, you do not need to do this," she said, this time sounding calm and with concerned conviction. His eyes went sad and she knew he was about to say that he did. Well she wasn't about to listen. "No, you listen to me Carson Beckett. Whatever sins you think you have stacked against you, sacrificing yourself to these monsters won't wipe that away." The hurt in his expression had her wincing. She hadn't meant to make it sound like whatever he'd done would never be forgiven. She shook her head, "That didn't come out right." She sighed, frustrated that she couldn't make herself understood.

She finally gave up and gave in to what she truly wanted to do. Dropping his hands, she grabbed his face and pulled him close to her, her brown eyes burning with fire and pleading. She kissed him before he could pull away and was pleasantly surprised when he kissed her back. Pulling away before her message could get lost in her actions, she looked into his beautiful blue eyes and added, "You do not have to pay any sort of penance for what you have done or created while on Atlantis. Please do not give yourself over to these creatures."

With that she walked away before her courage failed her. She had said all that she had come to say and she had done far more than she had ever planned. The rest was up to him.

oOo

John's heart was racing. He could feel it as it threatened to beat right out of his chest. He didn't relent, though. In spite of the burning in his legs and the tiring of his muscles, he refused to stop. His shoulder was beginning to throb in that way that meant that he was going to far but he tucked the arm closer to his body and kept running. Chewie was ahead of him, no doubt laughing because John was lagging behind but come on, he was injured.

They both stopped short when the saw Grace Porter come into the hallway, leaving behind the ocean breeze in her wake. She looked..angry. Not just angry, though, John thought, but that was the most prevalent emotion on her face. She didn't notice either him or Ronon as she very deliberately did not look to where she'd just left. Clearly, she had had an altercation with someone and was fighting the urge to continue.

When Carson exited not long after, John had to fight the impulses of laughing and hiding. The bewildered expression on the Scot's face was one that John had seen many a time on a man who had just gotten thrown for a loop by a woman and the sight of it had John wanting to snigger and tease him. However, self-preservation also had him thinking that it was best to run off in the immediate and opposite direction so that the doctor didn't notice just how not-good of a patient he was being.

Unfortunately for him, fate was a fickle bitch and she'd decided that he needed a telling off. His shoulder, which was screaming its own complaints, agreed and wasn't relenting any time soon. Carson's face went from dumbstruck to angry-Scot in an instant. Then, almost as soon as it had begun, the expression faded into one of neutrality and acceptance. Evidently the doctor wasn't in the mood to be annoyed at the moment.

John was happy to note that Carson's limp, which had been quite noticeable when they'd arrived back on Atlantis, was no longer easily seen. He was glad that the injury which Major Leonard had caused was finally receding, little by little. Sure there were times when it was still obvious but they were few and far between, providing Carson – and his staff, John suspected – took care of himself.

"Been running, have ye?" Carson asked, his accent getting just a little bit thicker. Okay, so maybe he did have the energy to get angry. Still, John took it as a good sign that he wasn't being ushered to the infirmary while be berated by the Scot.

"Had some energy to burn," Ronon answered with a shrug. It was apparent that he didn't see the point in hiding the truth and so, basically, threw John under the proverbial bus.

"Aye, I'm sure ya did. But did it ever occur to either of you that the Colonel does not, in fact, need to burn off the energy by running with a bloody hole in his shoulder?"

Yep, Carson was actually mad. Oh well, there was nothing John could do about that now.

"I'm fine," he said in his casual way, adding a one-shouldered shrug into the mix for good measure.

"And I suppose that the small droplets of blood I can see on your tee shirt are nothing as well?"

John grimaced. He knew he shouldn't have worn the gray this morning! He looked to, not surprised to find that Carson was right. What the doctor had described as 'droplets' however was more akin to a rather small trickle. John hadn't even noticed it until the Scot had pointed it out and he now knew that the infirmary was going to happen whether he wanted it to or not.

Without saying anything more, Carson walked up to John and began to inspect the wound. More than once, John heard the doctor's breath catch and he didn't fail to notice that it usually coincided with whenever the palm of Carson's right hand brushed against his shirt or his skin. He didn't say anything about it because he would rather not draw Carson's attention to him but one look at Chewie told him that Ronon had noticed it to.

"Ye might as well follow me to the infirmary," Carson said once he'd finished and stepped back.

A small flash of red on the Scot's hand drew John's notice and he nodded to it. "What happened to your hand, Doc?"

Carson looked down at the limb in question and then rolled his eyes. "Rodney and his bloody ancient devices. I was heading to the infirmary to get some cream for it when I got sidetracked."

"I'll bet you did." Ronon's rough grumble was filled with humor and John couldn't help but smile as well.

"And that's enough about that, thank you Ronon," Carson said as he stepped to the side. "If you'll excuse us, the Colonel and I have a stop to make before he gets back to work."

Ronon's eyes practically sparkled with laughter but he walked away without saying another word. John made it all of ten steps before he couldn't hold back any longer. "So," he said as nonchalantly as he knew how. "I see Grace finally spoke up."

Next to him, Carson sighed. "Aye, that she did."

Something in the way Carson said it had John thinking that more than something fun had happened. He was certain there had been a kiss, there was no doubt of that, but his friend also looked thoughtful which meant that Grace had said something which made the Scot think. Curious as to what she had said, John asked, "I take it it wasn't all pleasant things."

Carson was quiet for a while before he responded. "Well, it depends on your definition of pleasant, doesn't it?" He looked at John who's expression never changed and then he sighed. "She's not happy about our next mission."

And who could blame her? John wasn't sure what the exact number was but he knew that it was at least the entirety of Carson's staff, plus John's own team who knew that Grace had a thing for Carson. In fact, he was willing to be that the only person to whom it had been a surprise was Carson himself. From there, it wasn't too big of a leap to guess that Grace was unhappy because Carson was basically agreeing to being held prisoner and no doubt tortured for a race that couldn't care less about his well-being. Hell, John wasn't happy about it and he was only coming at it from a friend's perspective! He couldn't imagine how it would have been coming from a lover's.

Still, there was no need to tell Carson all this. He knew how everyone felt. No one had held back their opinions in the meeting, except of course for the Doctor and Rose, whom seemed to simply accept the decision at face value. The idea that the timelord also planned on going didn't settle well with John whatsoever but as he knew that the wraith were a bigger threat to Carson than the alien with a blue spaceship, he had held his tongue on that score.

"She thinks that I'm doing this out of misplaced desire for penance," Carson said, shocking John with his frankness. Usually Carson wasn't the one to open up to John; he usually went to Rodney for that. But given that the Scot was probably a bit annoyed with the physicist at the moment, John supposed that he was the next best thing.

"Are you?" he asked, careful to keep his tone neutral. He agreed wholeheartedly with Grace but he wasn't about to say that to Carson if the man didn't agree.

This time Carson's sigh was heavy and filled with all the perceived sins that he'd accumulated. He didn't need to say more as John heard what the Scot was unwilling to voice. Yes, Carson did agree, but not entirely. To Carson, he did deserve some sort of punishment for his part in creating the virus that served as motivation for the wraith to wipe out hundreds of villages. While John could both understand and empathize with that, he didn't agree.

But how did he explain that to Carson in a way that he wouldn't bristle immediately?

He was saved from having to try by their arrival at the infirmary. While Carson guided him to a bed that was out of the way of potential traffic, the doctor also grabbed a suture kit, gloves, what appeared to be a tube of ointment a gauze patch and a roll of gauze. Evidently he planned on taking care of himself as well as John.

Once John was seated and the curtain was drawn, Carson went to work on patching up the laser wound. Thanks to the heat of the blast, there had been a lot of work which had gone in to making sure that his shoulder healed correctly. The energy had cauterized the wound, making it so the surgical team had had to cut out that prematurely sealed tissue before sewing the hold shut. From what John could tell, the internal muscles and tissue were healing nicely but the jogging had managed to tear a couple of the stitches that had been placed on the surface.

While Carson worked, John thought. He bit his lip, chewing on it as though he were trying out the words he wanted to say and disliking them all.

"She's right, you know," he said after a minute. Carson took a second to look at him but made no response before he went back to his work. "Grace, I mean," John added for clarification. "What you plan on doing won't change anything." Carson's hands stilled and John knew that he had reached to the heart of things. He didn't like how little this could really help but he continued anyways as Carson did the same. "I know that you feel guilty for the Hoffan plague, the retrovirus, and Michael. But we were all just trying to survive in a world that seemed so alien to us that we didn't know how to effectively protect ourselves." Again, Carson's hands stilled for a second and John could see his friend's breathing increase but still, the doctor said nothing. "And yeah, I'm guessing that Michael did something to you when he captured you, and while I don't know specifically what it was I can take a guess."

This time, Carson stopped entirely, evidently finished with his work as he peeled off his gloves with a wince and went to the nearest sink to wash his hands. He gently patted the right one and then deposited the paper towel into the trash, coming to sit back down in the exam area.

While Carson then started to gingerly rub some of the cream into his palm, John went on. "I think that Michael created a virus of his own," he said, lowering his voice so that only Carson could hear. The extreme concentration with which the doctor was using told John that he was getting closer. Carson's breathing slowly began to get faster and though he had to know that he was being watched, he didn't look at John at all. "I think Michael used the virus on you so that you could know how it felt when you used the retrovirus on the wraith."

And the thought of that made John want to go running again. More than anything, he wanted to take his anger out on Michael, but since he couldn't, he would settle for pounding it out on the floors of Atlantis. It was cruel enough to be entirely something that Michael would do, but what made it worse, John thought, was when the Doctor had said that the half-wraith had been right to do it; that Carson had needed a taste of his own medicine. That had been the final nail in the guilt coffin.

"Do you believe in Karma, Colonel?" Carson asked, his voice barely a whisper. His hands were in his lap and unmoving. It appeared as though he'd finally given up on the act of doctoring himself for the moment and now he simply sat there, staring at the limbs with equal parts desolation and anger.

John eased off the bed, doing his best not to move his arm so that Carson wouldn't have to redo the stitches so soon. He pulled up a chair, instead, and sat across from Carson. Although he wasn't as trained in the medical field as the Scot, he had enough med training to be able to finish up what Carson had started.

"No," he said as he grabbed the Scot's hand and placed the patch over the burn. With swift and effective movements, he wrapped the gauze bandaging around the patch and then placed tape over the end piece. No doubt Carson or one of his staff could have done better but john wasn't about to invite anyone over to hear this conversation. The news of everything that Carson was trying to keep private would spread like wildfire. "And if I did, I still wouldn't believe that you deserved that."

And nor does the Doctor.

Both John and Carson jumped at the new voice within their heads. John winced when the movement jerked his shoulder and Carson looked around to make sure that no one else was there before he had realized that it had been Atlantis.

Give us some warning next time, John groused at the city.

My apologies, Atlantis said, though the city/ship sounded anything but regretful. Even though neither man could see her, they both knew that she had transferred her attention from John back to Carson. I know that he may seem..rude and cold. But the Doctor is a child of a war long past which still affects him. When he sees things that could potentially lead to the same thing that happened to him, he gets angry. The timelord had two hearts and both are capable of great caring. But both are filled with centuries of pain and guilt. He spoke unjustly to you, my child, when you were on the wraith ship. He is sorry for that, though I do not believe that he will ever admit to that.

No, he will not, a new voice added and both men winced at the strength of the presence. They felt it instantly pull back so that it was much dimmer and the voiced added, My apologies, Atlanteans. I did not realize how strongly you could hear me. My understanding was that your connection with Atlantis was stronger and therefore you would not be able to understand me as clearly. However, what Atlantis says is truth – the Doctor does not believe that the wraith known as Michael was in the right when he tortured you, Doctor Beckett. My thief often lets his words come out without bothering to think of the consequences to those around him.

Carson's smile was genuine but unconvinced. I appreciate that ladies, thank you.

None who were involved in the conversation believed him but none called him on it.

Get some rest, my children, Atlantis said and they felt the presence of the TARDIS withdraw from their minds. You both have much to prepare for and tomorrow, I fear, will be the start of a difficult and troubling week.

And with that, Atlantis also withdrew from their minds, leaving John and Carson to contemplate on the implications of her pronouncement on their own.

TBC