Ronon was dozing in a corner, his boots up on Sheppard's bed. Rodney had been half asleep at Sheppard's side, his laptop open to the latest reports from the science team.

Sheppard suddenly twitched in unconsciousness, then threw his hands up to his head, pulling and twisting at his hair, making the rakish mess even more wild than before.

Ronon was startled awake as McKay's laptop crashed to the ground. Sheppard tumbled off the bed, panting desperately and scrabbling at the scrubs he was wearing, ripping out IVs and monitors. Alarms began screeching as Ronon sprang to his feet.

Sheppard was up in a flash, crashing into the bedside medical cart, sending it to the floor. Sparks flew as the monitor cracked, and Sheppard didn't stop, throwing himself into the side of the bed, then McKay's chair, crashing to his knees then surging up again, his movements erratic, his eyes wild and unseeing as he alternately tore at his head and then his scrubs, as though something was crawling all over him and he was trying to get it off.

"John!" McKay shouted.

The man didn't seem to hear McKay and he didn't stop the crazed whirlwind of motion. Medical aides rushed into the room followed closely by Keller. Sheppard bolted, and Ronon stepped in his way. Merely lowering one shoulder, Sheppard was clearly intent on tackling the Satedan, so Ronon adjusted, stepping to one side and using Sheppard's momentum to slam him up against the wall, grabbing one of his arms and pressing his other forearm across his chest to keep him in place.

With his face this close to Sheppard's, Ronon could see the wild, unseeing, animal look in the man's eyes up close. He truly had no idea where he was or what was going on.

"Sheppard!" Ronon growled, his face inches from the Colonel's as he shook the man.

Slowly, the dark eyes slid from wild and unseeing to clear and confused.

"Ronon?" Sheppard's voice was hoarse and soft.

Ronon nodded. "You with me, buddy?"

Sheppard's eyes closed as his body finally relaxed, his knees giving way beneath him. Ronon went down with him to the ground, not wanting to let up his grip in case the man decided to go crazy again.

"Oh God …" Sheppard whispered faintly. His dark head tilted forward, his shoulders heaving as he began to pull in deep breaths.

Ronon slowly released him, as McKay, Keller, and the aides hovering over his shoulder. There was a swish of fabric and he knew Teyla had also entered the room. He waved them back.

"You're home," Ronon said.

Sheppard started shaking, trembling as if he were freezing as sweat broke out on his forehead.

"How long?" he asked.

"They had you three days," Ronon replied softly.

Sheppard leaned his head back against the wall. The lines of pain in his face were beginning to ease, but he did not open his eyes.

"Hey. You ok?" Ronon asked gently.

Sheppard shivered violently and finally opened his eyes. The glassy look had returned, but Ronon could tell he was fighting the effect of the drugs.

"'s cold," he murmured.

Ronon looked over at Keller who was hovering in the background, letting him take charge. He knew that Sheppard's state was fragile but they didn't know to what extent. Keller was probably making sure that Sheppard wasn't going to bolt again.

Gripping Sheppard's elbows, Ronon pulled him to his feet but had to catch him when the man's knees buckled again.

"I got you," he said, wrapping an arm around his torso. Sheppard leaned into him, and Ronon could feel the tremors beginning to wrack his body. His skin was hot to the touch and his shirt was damp with sweat. Ronon hoped it meant the drugs were beginning to work their way out of his system.

"Colonel Sheppard," Keller appeared next to Ronon. "Can we help you get back to bed?"

Sheppard gave no sign that he had heard her, but at her soft commands, the aides gently took him from Ronon and eased him back into the bed where things had been hastily re-arranged, trays righted, and a new monitor was at the bedside.

Sheppard looked exhausted, but Keller wanted to take advantage of every moment of lucidity.

"Do you know where you are?" she asked, shining a bright light in the man's eyes.

He winced at the light, but took a moment to observe his surroundings. He was starting to heave for breath and Keller wordlessly motioned for oxygen.

"Atlantis."

Keller nodded. "Name, rank?"

"Lieutenant Colonel … John Sheppard, U.S. Air Force." He shivered violently again, still gasping, dark locks plastered to his forehead. "You … want my … serial number, too?"

Keller laughed lightly. "I think we have the basics, Colonel. But I also think you might be going through some withdrawal symptoms. We aren't quite sure what the drugs are that they gave you but your body is working hard to get them out of your system. It might be a rough road but I just need you to hang in there and let me know if there's anything you need, ok?"

Sheppard nodded, his eyes sliding closed as he relaxed back into the bed.

Keller frowned as she took her readings, checking his pulse and temperature.

"I need some ice packs, the saline line reinstated, and the O2 unit hooked up," she ordered the aides quietly. "Move gently and slowly, no sudden moves and don't force anything."

They began bustling around the room, with someone already rolling up with the machine she had indicated earlier.

As the mask was fitted over Sheppard's head, Teyla confronted Keller. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Just stay out of our way for a bit," Keller said. "He's not in a good place, but I'm glad he knows where he is and who he is now. We need to get his fever down, get him rehydrated, and just help him ride out the withdrawal. It could be hours, it could be days. I'm still waiting on the bloodwork and I have a feeling we won't know what they did to him for a while. Now, if you'll excuse me?"

Teyla stepped aside, and Keller began bustling around the room, taking command of the aides.

McKay drifted to the Athosian's side along with Ronon.

"Do you think he's going to be ok?" McKay asked.

Ronon looked down at the physicist, surprised at the empathy.

"He will be fine, Rodney," Teyla said warmly.

"He's always fine," Ronon said.

But he was sure he said it to reassure himself more than anything.

After fourteen hours of uninterrupted sleep, Sheppard finally stirred from feverish dreams to find his team still with him. He was sure they had all been in and out in the past several hours, but it was comforting to wake and find that he wasn't alone, and it wasn't so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

Despite the amount of sleep, he realized he was still too tired to ask Atlantis to do anything as basic as room controls.

"Can you turn the lights up?" he asked Teyla, his voice hoarse.

"Of course," she said, turning the soft glow of the lamp at his bedside to a brighter setting.

She laid a warm hand on his arm, moving slowly and gauging him for any reaction. He flinched at her touch but accepted it.

"That ship was darker than the pits of Takshish," Ronon said, picking up on Sheppard's discomfort.

"But there was that light over the —" McKay began. He snapped his mouth shut when Teyla shot him a look.

"It's ok," Sheppard pressed a hand to his aching head then tried to sit up. Finding himself weaker than a kitten he embarrassingly accepted the button from Teyla that controlled the bed and raised himself to a sitting position.

Teyla offered him a glass of water and he downed it in only a few gulps. It was the sweetest water he had ever tasted. He saw the saline line and knew that they were working on rehydrating him but nothing was as good as drinking actual water.

Ronon leaned in when Sheppard set the cup down. "What did they want?" he pressed.

Sheppard sighed, closing his eyes as he pulled a blanket tighter around his shoulders.

They wanted to go there. No rest for the weary — but he knew he had to live with that when Rodney McKay was a member of your team. His sense of curiosity had leaked into the others over the years. Even stoic Ronon.

"I don't know. That chair … That chair was like a mind tool. Made me relive some memories I'd rather not relive. Then they dug around and played with my pain receptors for a while."

His eyes snapped opened as he suddenly remembered something else. Besides the feeling of pain and despair, when his team had arrived he had felt something that did not belong to him.

"What is it?" Teyla asked.

He paused, then shook his head, remembering the almost alien feeling of hope and compassion. And love. Unsure of what it meant, he said, "I don't know. Why'd they let me go?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," McKay said. "We searched the area you went missing and never saw the ship until they pinged us. They never said anything, just sent a homing beacon and a countdown."

"We figured rescue first, ask questions later," Ronon shrugged.

"And now they are officially on the enemies list," McKay added absently.

Sheppard laid his head back on the pillows and closed his eyes. He unconsciously rubbed at his bruised arms and found bandages around his wrists.

"I don't know if they're really enemies. I think they were trying to figure us out," he finally said, opening his eyes. "I'm … not even sure if they meant to hurt me."

"What makes you think that?" McKay demanded, curiosity piqued.

"I think they were mapping my mind. Maybe they hadn't come across people like us before."

"Did you see what they looked like?" Teyla asked.

Sheppard shook his head. "I don't even know if they were human. They kept their faces covered. But they wanted to know something, and I think when you showed up they had the answer they needed."

McKay frowned. "What were they looking for?"

Sheppard shook his head, reliving the strong surge of emotion he had felt when his team had showed up. "I don't know. Empathy."

"And they let you go because of that?"

Sheppard remembered the cold darkness of the chair, remembered it twining its fingers into his mind and making him relieve the worst parts of himself. But he remembered the feelings that washed over him when his team had appeared. Something that he had held back and refused to share in case that was what they wanted. In trying to keep the focus on himself he had lost the positive feelings he could have shared instead.

Loyalty. Friendship. Kindness.

Love.

"Maybe."

He hoped whatever they had found had been enough. And he hoped he'd never see that ship or that chair again — good intentions from the faceless ones or not.

They sat in silence, only stirring when Sheppard finally opened his eyes and said softly, "I knew you'd come."

Teyla reached forward and gripped his bruised hand gently. "Of course we would come for you."

He gave them a faint smile, then closed his eyes again.

As if there were ever any doubt.

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for reading! still seems to be struggling with allowing everyone to see certain stories, so I hope you were able to read everything and enjoy. This is just a short, gratuitous whump of Shep from me. Maybe someday I'll expand on the faceless ones as I still have some ideas in my head for them.