Personally, I think this should be in a story called John's Really Bad Weeks, but, oh well...

Sakurablue13 - Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

Jasminesmommy - I know. For Rodney, it's John telling him he's safe and he gets hurt. For John, it's Rodney.

Sparklyshimmer2010 - Ah, but remember that not all people would be able to tell just how old he is. He might appear younger to some. LOL. Well, that was my first and only attempt at a kid shot, so... LOL

Debbie418uk2 - True. I wasn't really thinking of that, to be honest. As for shortnes... Hm, I didn't think about it, really. Here's one that's longer. A two-parter. :P

Puddle-Jumper38 - Unless she just didn't want people teasing the Colonel about being such a shortie. LOL Or maybe she wanted them to tease him. Hm, you never know. Ah, well, this was an older chapter, and I was spelling Zelenka with an 'a', so it was just in case I made the mistake.

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(Normal POV)

So Rodney had managed to create a macro that was able to expand the shield around Atlantis, just a little, without using a lot more power from the ZPM, and had once again opened up a previously unexplored section. And once again, this section included about half a dozen unexplored labs. Most had been destroyed by the time they spent submerged under water, but one still seemed operational.

Which of course Rodney had to explore. And, of course, he had to take the rest of the team along.

Ok, so it's not like a lot of us are complaining. John thought in boredom as he wandered through the powerless door that had been stuck open. Flashing the light of his P90 around the lab, he sighed quietly. Two weeks of less-than-interesting off world missions, except maybe the one with the cute little Queen, and no, I don't mean Harmony. Not even a run in with Wraith, Genii, Wraith or Genii sympathizers, or alien bugs... Shuddering at the last thought, John focused on scanning the room. "Clear!"

The others entered the room warily, and Rodney quickly made his way past them and to the closest console. Typing on it briefly, his face was set seriously as he pulled his computer pad out. "Hmm, this is strange. There's no power running through any of these systems. Hang on, I'm gonna run a diagnostic."

With a curt nod, John turned back to his own explorations. Knowing Rodney, those scans could take hours. Hours he could be spending watching movies and drinking beer. He grimaced. Oh, right. Finished off the new movies and my supply of beer last night. New shipment doesn't arrive 'till next week. On second thought... He waved his P90 around and walked over to one of the powerless consoles.

There was a beep from Rodney's computer. "Ok, so there doesn't seem to be any problems with the systems here, it looks like the power was just shut off."

"Then maybe we should leave it off." Ronon suggested with a raised eyebrow. "Was probably turned off for a reason."

"Yes, or maybe it was just to conserve power." Tapping the computer, he held up a hand. "It looks like the controls here don't take much power. I'm gonna reroute a little power from one of the naqueda generators to see if I can figure...out..." He was tapping away and trailed off for a moment before tapping a final key and raising his hand again, in triumph. "There! Got it."

"So, what was this lab here for?" John asked as he stared down at the console in front of him. There was an image of a human body, but the only part highlighted was the brain. Hmm, odd. Just then the console lit up and he almost jumped in surprise. The body remained a blue lined outline, but the image of the grain lit up and flickered.

"It looks like some kind of sleep study lab, or something." Rodney mumbled absently.

Staring at the screen in front of him, John didn't even realize he'd reached out to touch it until he felt an electric jolt run through his hand, from his finger. "Ow!" Talk about a shock!

"What?? What did you do?!"

Spinning in place, John shook his hand and his head. "Nothing. I zapped myself on the console."

Rodney rolled his eyes at this. "Colonel, how many times do I have to ask-"

"'Would you please not touch anything?!'" It was John's turn to roll his eyes. "Relax, Rodney. It wasn't a button, and I didn't fry the computer."

"No, you don't understand. You don't have to touch a button to activate one of these machines." He pointed to the several consoles in exasperation. "All you need is the gene and to touch one of the screens." He touched one of them and a pile of text appeared in front of him. Rodney scowled. "Oh, great. It's in Ancient."

"Ok." Looking to the others, John saw Teyla and Ronon standing by the door, looking bored out of their minds. Turning back to Rodney, he nodded. "So we'll just get Elizabeth to come translate it, then."

"Look, I don't even know if she'll be able to translate it. There's a lot here, and it seems more complex than usual." Pursing his lips in thought, he grabbed his computer tablet and plugged it into the console in front of him. "I'm gonna download it, it worse comes to worse, I guess I can always ask Dr. Jackson."

"Yeah, right. You just wanna see Colonel Carter again." John muttered under his breath as he made his way to the door. "Fine. Just hurry up and let's go."

(Day 2)

Making his way to the mess hall, John yawned widely, politely covering his gaping mouth with his hand and waving absently at a couple of marines who giggled at him as he walked by. He was exhausted! Having failed at sleep last night, he ended up in the gym doing training exercises, and back in bed, only to fail again. John ran a hand through his hair for the umpteenth time, wondering why he hadn't bothered to comb it, but then shrugged it off. As he entered the room, the first thing he noticed was the almost intoxicating aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

Yes! Walking forward briskly, he dodged a couple of people, grabbed a large mug and poured himself a mug of coffee. Leaving it black, he turned and gazed out over the room until his eyes landed on Elizabeth. Seeing no one else he knew well enough to join on a whim, John made his way over to her and plopped down across the table from her, taking a large sip from the coffee.

Elizabeth looked up from a small pad she was looking at and stared at him in confusion for a moment, before a grin quirked at the edges of her mouth. "Um, John? Going casual today?"

"Huh?" He stared back in confusion.

Raising her eyebrow, she leaned forward and openly ran her eyes down over his chest, to where his body disappeared behind the table, and back to his eyes, then up to his hair and back.

Raising a hand self-consciously, John felt at his hair gingerly and frowned at how it felt more mussed than usual. "Oh, I didn't feel like combing my hair first thing this morning." He muttered absently, not even realizing what he was saying. Taking another large gulp of his coffee, he made a face as it stung at his throat.

"Hmm, and the panda t-shirt?"

Panda... John's eyes slowly widened as he looked down. Sure enough, he'd walked to the mess hall in his Pajamas, a black pair of jogging pants with white vertical stripes down the legs, and a black t-shirt with a white panda head outlined on the chest. Not to mention he was barefoot. Funny how he'd failed to notice that before. "Oh...." Looking up again, he noticed everyone staring at him and swallowed heavily. "Crap!"

(Day 3)

"Hey, Carson." Irritated, and struggling to wake straight, despite things fading in and out of focus at times from being so exhausted, John strolled into the infirmary with a deep frown. Ok, sure he'd gone basically 48 hours without sleep before, but he usually didn't have upcoming off world missions, the next day, and briefings that same day to look forward to.

It had taken him until now to finally report his sleeplessness to anyone because he felt it was pretty much nothing unusual. Just a bout of insomnia that was sure to fade soon. At least, that's what he thought it was. Although... Explaining his P.J. day yesterday had been fun, and Elizabeth's blatant amusement wasn't making it any easier.

Seeing the look, the pale face and the dark circles under the Colonel's eyes, Carson's almost jovial expression turned grim. "What's wrong, lad?"

"Can't sleep." He stated with a shrug and sigh. "This is the second night now. I'm exhausted, but I can't seem to fall asleep." He rubbed at his hand absently.

With a nod and frown, Carson led him over to one of the beds and patted it in a sign he should hop up. "Have a seat and let me have a look at you."

Hopping up on the bed, John clenched his eyes closed as he was hit with a sudden dizzy spell. Opening his eyes, he stared almost transfixed, as everything in the room, and hell, even the room itself spun in front of his eyes. He stared, puzzled, as an upside down Carson walked towards him, and closed his eyes, rubbing them while they were closed, before reopening them.

Everything was still kind of spinning, but not nearly as bad, and at least Carson was upright this time. "I think it's just the stress, doc."

Carson snorted in a very undoctorly way. "Stress of what, lad? No mission?"

Pausing for a moment, John thought about that. "It is possible. You know me, I like my action."

"Alright." Checking his eyes, Carson shone a light in them and frowned a moment before checking his throat. He took a vial of blood for analysis, and ran blood pressure.

John took this all in stride, starting to get irritated when the room stopped spinning, only to reverse and start spinning the other way. Things were kind of blurry and indistinct, and Carson's voice sounded like it was coming from really far away. Then, a small jolt in his hand almost made him jump, and everything refocused. Everything turned back to normal, even the room finally decided to stop spinning, completely.

"Hm, well, besides being a little low on iron, everything seems to be alright." Dr. Beckett looked up from a pad he was looking at, as he walked back into the room. "Any ideas as to the cause? Or any other symptoms?"

"Nothing that I know of." Frowning for a moment, John turned his gaze down to his hand. "Though... While we were checking out that lab, the day before yesterday, I touched one of the machines and got a bit of a jolt." Scratching at the small red patch on the back of the said hand, he forced himself to stop. "Now, every time I try to fall asleep, the only times I seem to get close, a jolt runs through my hand and I wake right up again. Haven't been able to sleep since that day, so far."

Walking over, Carson took John's hand and raised it a little, looking at the red patch. "Did you tell Rodney about this? He knows more about those damned contraptions than I do, certainly. All I can tell is you need to stop scratching."

"Right, doc. No, I didn't tell him."

"I think you should."

"'K, I'll do that now, then, I guess."

"No, you should get something to eat. Your body was slightly low on some essential nutrients. It's not dangerous now, but I don't want you putting eating on the backburner."

"Doc?" Checking his watch, John raised an eyebrow. "Its 7:30am, Rodney's bound to be in the mess hall by now."

"Oh." Nodding briefly, Carson waved him off. "Right. His second coffee break, already. Alright, off you go, then."

John waved before hopping down and leaving the infirmary, making his way immediately to the mess hall, and only staggering twice. The room had begun to spin again, as he entered it, and he stopped, closing his eyes and leaning against the door frame as he took a deep breath. Ok, I don't know how long I'm gonna be able to put up with this. He thought darkly as he opened his eyes, and upon being able to see clearly again, walked further in.

Rodney was at the team's usual table, alone. He was always an early one, as it made getting freshly brewed coffee easier on the caffeine-dependant scientist. Teyla and Ronon would probably join him in about twenty minutes, and usually, John was only a few minutes behind them. In this case, he was earlier, and he wondered if anyone would notice.

Grabbing one of the biggest mugs set aside for senior staff, John poured himself a hot, black coffee and waltzed over to Rodney. As he sat down, his mind drifted to a song that was stuck in his head, and his body almost began swaying to it. Sit, sit, sit! He wasn't a public dancer, especially at this time in the morning! Damn, I really need sleep!

"Colonel? Oh, you're early this morning." Rodney barely bit back a yawn and typed away on his computer. "But that's good, I guess. I just got the results of the translation back."

"Hummm?" John also yawned, and took a big drink of his coffee.

"The Translation?" McKay was starting to sound irritated, but didn't bother glancing up from his computer and finding out why his CO seemed out of it this morning. "Elizabeth was able to get a small part of it, but we dialed earth and sent the rest through to Dr. Jackson. He managed to finish it up late last night, and it was sent back first thing this morning."

"Oh."

Now Rodney did look up. "'Oh'? That's it?" Frowning for a moment, he studied John's face and raised an eyebrow, his look almost turning concerned. "John, are you ok? You look like death warmed over."

"Thanks, Rodney." Giving him a dry grin, John took another sip at his coffee before thinking of his answer. "Remember that machine I touched in the lab?"

McKay's eyes went vague, showing he was trying to recall it and having difficulty. After a moment, they widened. "Oh, tell me you didn't activate something!"

"I don't knooooooowwww..." Blushing as that yawn caught him off guard, John waved off the look in Rodney's face. "I don't know. I just know I haven't been able to sleep for one minute, since. And every time I come close, I get a jolt in my hand, like I did when I touched the machine."

Pushing his breakfast, which was almost gone by this point, aside, Rodney pulled his computer tablet over and began typing. "Oh, this isn't good. This isn't good at all. Tell me, Colonel, do you recall the theory that humans can't go longer than seven days without sleep, before going insane?"

John paused, the half empty coffee cup by his lips. "Rodney..."

"Well, it's an old earth theory. Humans need sleep, seven days without it and pretty much everyone can be proven clinically insane. They hallucinate, can get irrational, are snappy-"

"Oh, basically you on a good day." John grinned pointedly at Rodney's glare before sighing. "Ok, yes, I know the theory. I also know at least one man was able to prove it false."

Now it was Rodney's turn to pause. "How did you...? Never mind." Shaking his head, he tapped on the screen of his computer tablet. "It looks like this machine was meant to test human reactions to the lack of sleep. The jolt gives a slight start to the body, and keeps it going, when someone is about to fall asleep. Uh-oh..."

John's eyes narrowed. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Probably because you shouldn't." Rodney was typing on his computer, his eyes focused on and scanning the screen in front of him. "According to records, only five percent of the people tested were able to last any longer than seven days, and most of them lost it at ten."

"Rodney, I've been without sleep for two days. I'm already having problems, and we have a mission tomorrow. I'd really like to have a good night's rest before then, ok? Do you think you can reverse the effects?"

"No."

Eyes widening for a moment, they quickly narrowed again and John raised an eyebrow. "What the hell do you mean, 'no'?!" He almost shouted. Realizing how loud he was being, he looked around and noticed a few people staring in confusion, but as he stared at them, they quickly turned away. Hm, being Colonel does have its advantages. He thought smugly as he turned back to Rodney.

"I mean there don't seem to be any algorithms to reverse the effect of the machine." Rodney was frowning and glaring at the screen. "It looks like there's some work done on a reversal process, but it just trails off, not really sure why."

John nodded with a look that clearly stated he didn't give a rat's ass. "Look, can you set up some sort of reversal program by tonight?"

"Do you have any idea how difficult this will be?!" Rodney was already typing away. "I'll need about a month!"

"You don't have a month."

"I-I..." He looked about ready to slam his computer tablet into the table, but then seemed to think better of it. "Ok, I might be able to get it done in about a week."

"Rodney."

"Let me see! I need to read over this, first, before I can even begin to work on reversing the process!"

The two of them sat together silently, John wondering if he decided to pester Rodney, if it would make him move faster, and Rodney focusing deeply on the work at hand. Ronon and Teyla came in and joined them, and they chatted normally, neither John or Rodney thinking to explain why the Colonel looked like hell, or why Rodney was so immersed in his work so early in the morning.

Hell, it was Rodney. Being so immersed was probably normal.

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Hope you like it, another two parter.

R+R please

Thank you

Tenshi