A/N: OH MY GOSH! I am SO sorry it has taken me so long to update! I have been super busy lately with school, finals, work, transferring to UCR, family, church, children's ministry, eating, breathing—you get the idea. However, I never forgot about you guys and I valiantly waged the war against it all and finally managed to finish refining this rather difficult chapter to write. I hope you all enjoy it and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Rodney awoke slowly. He felt better than he had in what felt like forever, though his body protested when he shifted slightly. Apparently better was still a relative term.

He glanced at the clock by his bedside and realized he had been asleep for almost 12 hours straight. Jolting out of bed in shock at that information, Rodney began to mutter to himself as he worked on getting ready for the day, "I can't believe how long I slept! Why didn't my alarm wake me? Did I forget to set it last night? I had wanted to get an early start today and now I'm hours behind and there is still someone out there trying to kill Sheppard, unless they succeeded while I was sleeping—no, Sheppard can't be dead. Someone would have woken me up to tell me if he was, right? Of course, right! Besides, there is no way John could die; he's too stubborn. Though, since they would have radioed me to tell me he's worse it also probably means they would have radioed me if he was better. So, Carson must not have found anything yet, so he isn't better either."

Rodney sighed disheartened at the idea of John not being better, though the relief at the idea that John wasn't worse was also there.

Pulling a shirt over his head after his shower, Rodney thought of what things he should do first when he got to his lab to help him gain more information on who was trying to kill Sheppard, so he could eliminate that threat. He was after all a genius and had saved the day countless times before, so there was no reason why he couldn't figure everything out this time too, right?

Thinking about all the work he needed to do, though, Rodney was once again surprised by how much he had slept last night. He never slept that long when he was required to work his magic to help bring order back to his kingdom, especially when he had a lot on his mind such as someone trying to kill one of his best friends.

Rodney couldn't even pinpoint the time were the people he worked with on Atlantis went from being colleagues to friends, or in some cases—family. Nonetheless, Rodney was certainly glad that it had happened, though he tried to hide from everyone how much his friends meant to him, not that it was easy to keep it hidden when you kept being afraid that they were going to die!

The door chimed and Rodney called out for whomever to come in.

"Morning" Ronon said, entering with a large tray filled with food. "Figured you'd be ready for breakfast about now."

"What are you doing here?" Rodney asked even as he grabbed a piece of bacon off the tray and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Carson asked me to bring you some breakfast and make sure you ate it."

"Huh? Why would he do that?"

"He thought you might just grab a power bar and head straight to your lab and he said he wanted to make sure you had a real breakfast."

Rodney could not deny that since that had been exactly what he had been planning on doing and simply munched on a piece of toast instead while Ronon snatched up a yellowish-pink fruit that looked almost like a pear.

"So how did you end up being my waiter?"

"Carson asked me too?"

"Well, yeah. I mean why you and not someone else?"

"Convenience. Carson asked me to bring it to you last night while I was getting the sleeping pill I gave you."

"Oh," Rodney nodded about to take another bite of bacon when he registered what Ronon had just said. "Wait! What?!" he exclaimed his outrage pouring through his gaze with a look that would have instantly killed most people, though of course it simply bounced off Ronon. "You gave me a sleeping pill! Why would you do that?!"

"Yesterday after the meeting I got you back to your room like Dr. Weir asked. You kept trying to do work in here even though you were told to rest. I figured the easiest way to make sure you got sleep was to ask Carson to give you a sleeping pill and he had no problem in giving it to me after I explained the situation."

"You drugged me!"

"You needed it and Carson agreed it was for the best."

"I can't believe you guys! What if there had been an emergency?! Who else can fix all the problems on Atlantis like I can? Zelenka certainly can't! You're lucky Atlantis wasn't blown up during the night!"

At that, Rodney became silent as it brought too mind the all too recent explosion he had been a part of. In a hesitant voice he asked, "How's Sheppard? Has Carson discovered what he was poisoned with?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Carson's been working on it all night though. He stopped a bunch of the medication as he's afraid they have been interacting with the poison making John worse. It's helped some Carson said. John's not getting worse and he's more lucid when he is awake. But, it also means he's in a lot more pain as Carson isn't willing to risk the more potent painkillers anymore."

Rodney, having swallowed his own painkillers right after waking up, didn't even want to begin to imagine how much pain John must be in right now. Pushing the thought away he tried to focus on the positive.

"Well shouldn't the poison just leave his system now and once it's gone Carson can give him the good stuff again?"

"That's the thing, whatever is in John's system isn't leaving and Carson's not sure how to treat it yet."

"But you said that John's not deteriorating, so besides him being in some pain it's not like he's going to die, right? Carson will have plenty of time to figure it out."

Ronon shook his head clearly bothered by what he was about to say. "Carson said the poison has already done so much damage to John's system that unless he can begin to repair the damage John will still die. All he's managed to do so far is stabilize John for the time being. He said he's not sure how long that will last though."

Rodney felt his stomach clench as his fear almost overwhelmed at the idea of losing John. Life on Atlantis would be awful without John, the one who never got defensive when Rodney was arrogant, was always ready to trade good-natured ribbing, was way smarter than he pretended to be, and was even willing to give up his life if it would save Rodney's.

"What about Zelenka? Has he figured anything else out? No, don't answer that. Of course, he hasn't. He isn't me after all. I still can't believe you drugged me. Seriously, why would you do that? I told that sheep-herder I was fine, yet instead I'm sent to bed like a five year old, and then if that wasn't enough you DRUG me!"

Ronon just grinned at him as Rodney continued his rant, obviously not bothered in the least by Rodney's ire and enjoying the food still on the tray. After a minute Rodney decided it would be in his best interest to focus more on eating before Ronon ate all the food as his beneficial and overwhelmingly valuable monologue was being wasted on the caveman who had no interest in the enlightenment Rodney was offering.

Rodney took a swallow of the marvelous coffee Ronon had brought him and decided wondered if he should head down to the infirmary and check on Sheppard or if he should head straight to his lab to work on finding out who was trying to kill him.

Taking in consideration how sore he still felt he decided that it might be better to stay away from Carson and not risk getting told he wasn't allowed to work yet. After all, the evil sadist, otherwise known as Carson, was well known for keeping people from their important and life changing work when it suited his evil designs.

Rodney took another bite from the non-citrus fruit he was eating and glanced over at Ronon whose feet were propped up upon his desk. Rodney could see how tense Ronon was holding his shoulders and knew that Ronon was hating having nothing to do to help John. It was how the team was. Whenever a teammate was in danger not being able to do anything to help was the worst thing possible.

Sadly, it happened all too often that a member of the team was in life threatening peril; and it was those times that Rodney realized the most how important his team was to him. For instance, it wasn't until Ronon had been captured by a wraith to be used as a runner again that he appreciated how Ronon had come to be part of his surrogate family: the 'that's-my-annoying-brother-who-could-beat-me-up-with-his-eyes-closed-and-both-hands-tied-behind-his-back' brother, but surrogate brother nonetheless.

Rodney could think of several times on missions were Ronon had ensured that Rodney was safe from attack, and Rodney had once gone off on a scientist moronic enough to imply Ronon was stupid. Not that he didn't say it all the time himself, but he wasn't about to allow another person say anything against his teammate. Friends at all were still too much of a novelty for Rodney not to.

It had shocked Rodney when he had first realized not only how much he had come to care for Ronon, John, and Teyla, but how they had come to like him as well. Rodney knew he was not the easiest—okay so he was downright impossible to get along with, yet despite his lack of people skills, his team had come too actually like him. They had learned to read between the lines of his arrogant and insensitive comments and see his insecurities, which had to be both the most terrifying and most exhilarating thing Rodney could imagine; even more wonderful then winning the Nobel Prize. Not that he would let anyone know that.

Finishing the last of his coffee, Rodney set it on the tray and stood up while picking up the tray with one hand and balancing it on his cast. However, Rodney belatedly realized he was not as well as he had thought as in standing he overbalanced and almost fell; his equilibrium clearly not up to his normal standards. However, right before he and the tray went crashing to the floor Ronon grabbed his arm to steady him.

"Thanks" Rodney said as Ronon then took the tray with one hand, clearly preferring to carry it rather than watch Rodney dump it all over the floor, and steadied Rodney with his other hand until Rodney's balance was such that he was not about to fall. Rodney realized as Ronon helped him that despite the pain having friends caused, when they insisted on almost dying all the time, there were also some benefits to having friends; like having someone there to keep you from falling.

Rodney just hoped that they could keep John from falling as well.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So what do you think of the rumors Teuila?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure, Kristina. I never would have believed that Colonel Sheppard would do anything to hurt this city or the people in it, but I don't think Dr. Weir would have him under guard unless she had a valid reason, especially considering how much she's trusted him in the past."

"Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. Rudy, in botany, believes that Colonel Sheppard finally cracked. He says that all the stress of being in command must have been too much for him, and he finally just broke."

"Dr. Collins is of the same opinion. Though, he figures it's probably been more gradual and simply no one really noticed the signs."

"I suppose that's possible, but I really think if he is responsible for the explosion and crash, he has to be under the influence of some alien or technology."

"Like the stories from the 2nd year on Atlantis?"

"Yeah, you know how everyone claims that Dr. Weir and Colonel Sheppard were taken over by some alien consciousness and then tried to kill each other. Well, I think this has to be something like that. I really don't believe Colonel Sheppard could have cracked. I've talked with him a few times and he's always seemed perfectly sane to me."

"They always do, before they crack Kristina. Besides, are you sure the fact he is incredibly hot isn't influencing your opinion?"

Kristina laughed good-naturedly at this not denying the fact she thought Colonel Sheppard was a dreamboat. "That is true" she drawled, "but seriously, Teuila, after all the times he's risked his life for this city and everyone here, there is no way you are going to get me to believe he was knowingly responsible for the explosion. You might be able to get me to believe he was responsible for the jumper crash, but the explosion, never."

There was silence for a few moments and then Kristina asked, "so, what does your handsome marine think of all this? He's knows Colonel Sheppard better than either of us."

"Kevin hasn't really talked about it much with me. He's one of the marines taking shifts guarding him and I think he knows more and isn't allowed to say. However, I can tell he's bothered by all this. He deeply respects Colonel Sheppard and is proud to serve under him, so having to keep watch over him is difficult. I mean, one of the few times I've seen Kevin really upset, I mean really upset, was when a new marine was badmouthing Colonel Sheppard right after arriving on Atlantis. He was talking about how he had no interest serving under an air force pilot who only got to be in command because of luck. If Major Lorne wasn't in the room, I seriously believe that Kevin would have knocked him down. For the next few days, Kevin was constantly ranting against the man, and going on and on about how amazing Colonel Sheppard is and how perfect he is for the job, and how only an idiot would think otherwise."

"What happened to the marine?"

"Kevin got a bunch of the other guys who had been on Atlantis from the beginning to help him play some practical jokes on the marine, until he got the idea, as far as Colonel Sheppard was concerned, he should just shut up."

"What did they do?"

"Well, they didn't do anything too serious as they didn't want to get in trouble, but Kevin has a friend in the science department who helped him override the door controls to the marine's room. Once there they set up the toilet so instead of it flushing it sprayed him with the water to refill the tank, they put some green dye in his shampoo so his hair turned green for a few days, and duck taped all his drawers shut, so he couldn't get them open, but they looked normal."

Imagining the sight of a marine desperately trying to open dresser drawers that simply refused to open sent Kristina into laughter, but finally she managed to gasp out, "Did the marine report any of this?"

"He did, but he reported it to Major Lorne, who also knew the marine had problems with Colonel Sheppard. Let's just say, that though Major Lorne was not able to openly approve of the pranks, he wasn't exactly sympathetic to a marine who had put down Colonel Sheppard, so nothing was really done about it."

"Did the marine ever change his opinion of Colonel Sheppard?"

"He did actually. Kevin said he didn't know much about it, but apparently when on a mission with Colonel Sheppard, Sheppard saved the marine's life with some brilliant strategy and impressive fighting. Afterwards, the marine joined the ranks of those who refuse to hear a word against the man."

Teuila and Kristina were silent for a moment as they thought about the fact that that man was now under suspicion and under guard even though he was still in the infirmary.

Sighing, Teuila stood up. "I need to get going. I'm supposed to meet Kevin after he gets off duty today, and I want to take a shower first."

Kristina couldn't help but smile at this. "I have the distinct impression it's that you want to get fixed up to impress him when he gets off duty."

"What can I say, I'm in love?"

"Oh get out of here, you make me sick."

"I do try!" Teuila said with a laugh as she left the table; all thoughts of Colonel Sheppard forgotten as her thoughts were filled with what Kevin's dark eyes would think of her when he saw her in a few hours.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

John felt as if he was on fire and his brain felt fuzzy as he awoke from another nightmare. He became aware along with the dull pain in his side of all sorts of wires attached to various parts of him, and he grimaced. He slowly opened his eyes and was thankful that the lights were dim as even that was almost too much for his overly sensitive eyes.

Shifting uncomfortably, John became aware of the fact his wrists were in restraints. It was hard to think straight, and John felt his heartbeat quicken. Why was he restrained? He was in the infirmary on Atlantis, he reminded himself firmly, and there had to be a good reason for it. Yet, John felt his panic rising as his mind flashed through the times he had been restrained before. Most of the times, being nightmarish experiences he longed to forget.

Glancing around, John hoped to see Carson or one of his team, so they could explain everything, but instead his eyes locked on a marine standing near his bed clearly guarding him. His heartbeat almost quadrupled in speed and he had to struggle to get air as he began to hyperventilate.

He hadn't done anything had he? Not like when he had been on the retrovirus, right? He couldn't think of any reason why he would be a security risk, but the evidence that everyone else apparently thought he was, was right there in front of his face—and around his wrists. John found himself jerking his restraints, and sought to still his hands until he had more information, as it hurt, especially for his left wrist, which had a bandage around it indicating some sort of injury.

John's perplexed mind desperately tried to trace back to why this was happening. He remembered Elizabeth being upset with him over the jumper crash, but surely that wasn't enough to have him restrained, and wouldn't she have done it immediately if she was going to do it at all? No, it couldn't be that, or at least not only that—wait, hadn't Rodney said something about his activating the consol being what caused the explosion?

Did they think that he had done it on purpose and was trying to sabotage Atlantis? Why would they think that? Surely, Elizabeth no matter how angry she was with him wouldn't think he would do that, would she?

With startling clarity his mind recalled the nightmares he had had and John struggled to assure himself they had only been dreams. Rodney was alive, Elizabeth wasn't blaming him for his death, and he wasn't in the brig. Yet the restraints and the guard pushed away any stability those thoughts might have brought.

Suddenly, John wasn't as sure that those things were from his nightmares and once again he began to feel the lines between reality and dream blur.

Suddenly, John was startled out of his thoughts by Carson, who had apparently been calling out to him for awhile now, trying to get his attention. "Ca…Carson?" John gasped out. "Why…why am I restrained…and what's…what's with the marine?" He tried to speak calmly and rationally, but he knew the heart monitor was ensuring that anyone within hearing range knew how not calm he was.

"John, please calm down. Everything is going ta be fine. I had ye restrained, because I was afraid ye would hurt yerself. Please just relax now, kay."

"What…what about Sergeant Erikson over there? It sure looks like he's supposed to be guarding me? I didn't do anything did I?"

John watched Carson pass a glance to Teyla, who had shown up while he had been panicking and he now noticed had placed her hand gently upon his shoulder.

"Its okay, John," Teyla answered with a look that begged him to trust her, "You didn't do anything. It's just a safety precaution, alright?"

"I…I don't understand. It was just a nightmare that Rodney had died, right?" At Carson's nod he continued, "Is this about the explosion? I didn't mean for it to happen! Honestly, it was just an accident, just like the jumper. Both of them malfunctioned, but I didn't do anything to cause it. You have to believe me! I just activated it like Rodney said to. I had no clue it was going to explode!"

John was brought from his speech as he once again became aware of the fact that Carson was calling out to him, desperately trying to get him to calm down. "Come on John. I need ye ta breathe. Yer not doing yerself any favors by not breathin. Everythin is okay. We're going ta take care of ye. Everything is goin ta be fine."

John caught his breath as Carson and Teyla continued to reassure him, and he found that his body was too exhausted and hot to continue trying to figure out what was going on. He allowed his body's demands to win and draw him back into the blackness of his nightmares.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Teyla continued to gently comb her fingers through John's damp hair even though John had been asleep for sometime now. Yet, considering how many times she had wondered if she had lost him for good in just the last few days time, the idea of leaving him was repulsive. Her mind kept replaying the fear, panic, and confusion in his eyes as he tried to figure out why he was restrained and guarded.

Teyla wished that she could have simply told him directly that the guard was there to protect him, but she understood the reasons why they needed to act more as if John was under suspicion. The deception was one of the things helping to keep John safe and alive. She was simply glad that everyone had agreed that even if John was under suspicion it would be perfectly believable for the team to stay with him and show their concern for him.

John moaned, and shifted restlessly. Even in sleep he had no rest right now and Teyla felt her heart clench at the sight.

Softly she began to sing, hoping that it would help soothe him and keep any nightmares at bay. After only a few moments of the Anthosian melody hanging in the air, she watched as he stilled and a few of the lines of pain and fear around his eyes eased. However, the relief was tainted by the heat radiating off of him.

Continuing to sing quietly, Teyla desperately hoped that Carson would discover the cause of John's current decline in health and be able to fix it. In fact, she wanted everything fixed. She wanted whoever was trying to kill John caught and brought to justice. She wanted John to be out of danger and all the rumors silenced.

All the suspicion and whispers against John reminded her of how she had felt the first year on Atlantis when she had been under suspicion due to her wraith DNA. She hated how everyone had looked at her differently, but she also remembered with perfect clarity how valiantly and steadfastly John had defended her.

Not being able to do the same for John felt disloyal.

The fact that it hadn't taken long for all of Atlantis to be a buzz with the knowledge that John was under suspicion didn't help. Like any news in a place with a small and mostly confined population it had spread like wile fire. Wherever Teyla went she would overhear speculations over it, though the voices usually quieted when they became aware of her, knowing that she and the rest of the team, were fully behind John in this.

Still, it was impossible not to contemplate the conversations she heard no matter how quiet they had become. The words continued to echo in her head almost like the voice of a wraith queen.

However, Teyla felt a growing pride in many of the people of Atlantis as their loyalty to John was clearly evident. Teyla knew that John sometimes doubted the respect and honor he had earned on Atlantis, and Teyla, and to see that devotion shine forth in the midst of opposition gave a bit of a silver lining in what was otherwise a dark cloud.

……………………………………………………………………………………………....

Carson frowned as he looked at John's newest stats. He needed to figure out what John had been poisoned with. Yet, the problem was, there were so many possible causes for John's symptoms, and some of them had opposite remedies. Not to mention the fact, they had continued giving John all sorts of other medications, which would have interacted with the poison causing even more problems and concealing others.

Yet, whatever it was, Carson was having a difficult time pinpointing it in John's blood with all the other drugs that he had been giving to him. If only he had a sample of what had been given to John, but he doubted that whoever was trying to kill John would oblige.

Suddenly Carson sat up straight. What if he could find the syringe that had been used to deliver the poison, so he could test that? The killer would have tried to dispose it of course, but often the best way to do that was to put it in plain view; like where the infirmary disposed of hundreds of syringes!

"Kelly," Carson called out with excitement at his newest idea. "I need yer help. I think I've thought of a way ta find out what John was poisoned with."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

To be continued

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Once again, I'm sorry it took me so long to post it. I'm afraid reality has been winning the fights lately… However, I'm hopeful I will be able to update much sooner than I did this time—though of course no promises ;) Please REVIEW!!! :D