Here is the next installment!

Lyralollygagger is now my Beta, (cue cheering and applause ^^)

Chapter 3

Rodney sat on the edge of the medical bed and watched Nortan perform the last of her tests on him. Slowly he rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants nervously. He really hated doctors and there was only one he would put up with and he was currently unconscious. "Shouldn't you be focused on figuring out what's wrong with Carson?" The physicist asked finally, crossing his arms over his chest like a child that just got a shot and no lollypop as a consolation prize.

"Nurse Joy will let me know the moment when the tests we ran come back," Olivia assured him with a caring smile, typing something into a computer. "Now, your vitals all look fine so I'm not going to admit you at the moment. It would be nice if you stuck around the infirmary until the blood tests I ran came back, just in case. But the scan was good and you seem to be functioning within all normal parameters."

Rodney dropped his eyes, not moving to get off the bed, hands still rubbing absentmindedly on his knees. The sudden plunge into silence caused the young doctor to study her patient carefully. "Dr. McKay, is something else on your mind?"

"It's just," Rodney started, risking a look at the young woman in front of him before sighing and dropping his eyes again, "I was wondering, about Carson." He sighed, managing to sound frustrated and annoyed at the same time, avoiding revealing his true feelings. "Could I have done this to him?"

Olivia tipped her head lightly, dipping down slightly to catch Rodney's eyes. She saw traces of fear. "What do you mean?"

The physicist's eyes rolled to the ceiling, skillfully avoiding making eye contact with the doctor as the guilt he had been trying so hard to conceal leaked out through his nervous body language. "I wasn't exactly holding back at the end…" Rodney started, rambling with nervous tension. "When I figured out how to save my life. I…communicated with Carson, telepathically. I was rushed; I felt myself dying. I was panicked, rough. I didn't hold back when I was in his mind. Could that have been the traumatic shock?"

Olivia straightened slightly after processing what she was being told. "That actually would explain…" Abruptly the doctor stopped talking and turned before she rushed over to Carson's side, causing Elizabeth and John to jump out of their seats as she approached.

"Is something wrong?" Elizabeth asked, glancing at Rodney as he joined them, although hanging back and out of the way. His face looked pained, but not from any physical ailment.

"I'm going to run a few more scans-they should only take a moment," Olivia told the group, not going into detail on what the scans were for. She ran a light over Beckett's head and glanced at the screen it was hooked up to, eyeing the readouts.

"Well?" Rodney demanded both hesitantly and sounding on the verge of choking on his own hiccupping breath due to the panic he was feeling. "Was it me?"

"You, what?" John asked, confused watching Rodney as he took a step closer to Carson's bed before turning to look at Carson and than Olivia.

Elizabeth turned from Rodney to John and finally settled her eyes on Olivia. "Doctor, can you tell us what's going on?"

Olivia finally took her eyes away from the information on the screen and nodded. "Yes, Rodney just confessed that he might have been a bit rough with Carson's mind in his last ditch effort on communicating," she explained warily before turning to Rodney with an apologetic look in her green eyes. "Unfortunately these scans are limited. I won't know how much brain damage, if any, Dr. Beckett sustained until he wakes up. However, I am very positive that he will wake up. His brain activity is normal, if not a little above normal."

"What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked, trying to mask her obvious concern.

Olivia smiled lightly, answering, "It could mean any number of things, none of which are overly worrisome. It could be that his brain is regaining balance after a 'power surge', if you will, or even simply he's having an intense and detailed dream. I want to stress that the extra activity is not nearly high enough for us to worry about at the moment. I'd be more concerned if the brain activity was decreasing." She promised confidently, "We'll know more when he wakes up. For now we're just going to have to wait."

Three hours later and John Sheppard was taking his watch over a still pale Carson. The team had broken up into groups-he and Rodney were supposed to be on 'Carson watch' at the moment, however the scientist was currently MIA. That was fine, John would enjoy the silence while it lasted. That is, unless Carson were to wake up, then John would be thrilled for the silence to fade away.

Ever since Dr. Nortan had mentioned the possibility of brain damage, the pilot's heart had been beating faster with worry. Carson was more than just a doctor; he was a friend to just about everyone on the Atlantis team. The idea of Carson being mentally different was hard for Sheppard to swallow.

And then there were other fears. Although he hadn't mentioned it to Olivia, John had wondered if maybe Carson had been 'infected' with the same problem Rodney had. He was not a medical or science genius, Sheppard was only a brilliant pilot, however he couldn't help but see a bit of similarity with more-active-brain-ness. Even though Dr. Nortan had claimed the brain activity to be too close to normal to worry about, John found himself uneasy.

A groan caused the pilot's panic to spike, "Carson?" John asked, bolting out of his seat and leaning over his pale friend. Briefly the pilot thought of calling for the beautiful Dr. Nortan, but stopped himself. Elizabeth had mentioned Carson stirring slightly during her watch before John had taken his turn and he didn't particularly want to give Nortan any more false alarms. Olivia was like Carson in a lot of ways-they were the type of doctors that wouldn't rest until their patient was well again.

A second, louder groan met John's ears and his heartbeat staggered, the noise the man was making sounded as though he was in pain. "Olivia!" John called out with no more hesitation, wincing slightly to himself when it caused Carson to flinch away from the sound, "Sorry buddy, I'll try not to be so loud." He promised in a softer voice.

Having been summoned Dr. Nortan magically appeared on the other side of Carson's bed just as slivers of bright blue cracked open in an unfocused manor.

"Carson?" Olivia asked lightly, keeping her voice soft as she checked Carson's vitals, her small fingers on his wrist. The blue widened, eyes blinking away confusion.

Blinking owlishly, the downed doctor stared blankly up at the two concerned faces before recognition flickered in the man's expressive eyes. "R'dn'y," Carson's weak voice mumbled, muscles tensing with a pathetic attempt to rise up off the bed. The monitors Carson was hooked up to started beeping wildly as the doctor's heartbeat started to race.

"Dr. Beckett, Rodney is fine, you need to calm down," Nortan's voice soothed gently, her hand squeezing Carson's shoulder lightly, trying to draw him back to the present.

"Dn't und'rst'nd," Carson slurred, his voice thick with his native accent. "Gotta save…R'nd'ny." The monitor sped up again, only to abruptly slow when Carson went limp again with a sigh.

"Doc?" John questioned Olivia as she checked Carson's vitals again.

With a sigh of relief Nortan looked up at John. "He just fell asleep," she promised.

There was a moment of silence as they both processed what had just happened. "That was weird, right?" John asked finally, not looking up from his friend's motionless face.

Olivia glanced up at John and shook her head slowly, "Not necessarily. The last thing Carson remembers is the urgency to save Rodney, the way he reacted suggests that he might not have been fully awake just yet and found himself reliving his last actions of consciousness." Something in her voice didn't sound as convinced as John wanted her to be, but he backed off. "Try to remain positive," Olivia offered lightly, reaching out to squeeze John's hand reassuringly before walking down the row of beds to another patient.

Once again I'd like to thank Lyra! You rock!

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Until next time!

- Strawberrywaltz

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