Author's Note: Thank you for being patient. This is now complete (I know you all would probably scream as much as cheer LOL but it is done). I have finals this week and then that too is finished! I will also be on break in two weeks from everything (work, school, etc) and am looking forward to writing a lot again! And that one about Rodney's flying lesson is about half-finished and won't be posted until it's complete so it'll be huge.

Chapter 9

Questions Unanswered

Sheppard woke abruptly. His mind went from a slurred state of sleep to alertness with little time to adjust. His senses started filtering in information. A vague opaqueness despite his eyes being closed let him know he was in a lighted room. Noise around him signaled the daytime activities of others. Shoes padding across the floor, swishes of fabric and a general jumble of voices speaking in louder than night levels.

He opened his eyes and took in the location. He was in the infirmary, in Atlantis. He was home. He didn't know how. He didn't care. He felt warm, tired, and to be truthful, a little disconnected.

"Hey."

The voice spoke from his left startling him. He turned and saw McKay sitting in a chair. He seemed subdued. Not a word he would have attributed to the enigmatic and at times, frantic, physicist.

"Hey yourself." He said back hoarsely.

McKay frowned. "How do you feel?"

Sheppard thought about that. He felt…different. "Weird McKay. I feel weird."

McKay looked away from Sheppard and caught Beckett's eye, waving him over. Carson approached his bed eying Sheppard critically. "You're awake."

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "I noticed."

Beckett pulled up a chair and sat down heavily. Beckett had had a rough time of it. He hadn't been fully recovered from his brush with the virus and then had stayed up caring for Sheppard during the night. He'd had problems maintaining a decent oxygen saturation level in Sheppard, coupled with the Major's general poor condition. He'd wanted to keep a close eye on the man.

"I need to ask you some questions."

Sheppard grimaced, "General John Sheppard, at your service."

McKay snorted. Beckett leaned back, "Funny Major, who are the members of your team?"

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Sheppard figured at the rate he was going he'd be dead long before he was even eligible for his stars. "Doctor Rodney McKay, Lieutenant Aiden Ford and Teyla Emmagen."

Beckett nodded, "Good. Do you know where we are?"

"Kansas?"

"Major."

"Sorry! I feel goofy." Sheppard did actually, kind of giggly. "You've got me drugged, don't you?" He accused, understanding why he felt weird.

"It's for your benefit, believe me." Beckett assured him. "Now focus."

"Atlantis." He answered, fighting the urge to make another stupid crack.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Beckett prodded.

That made Sheppard think. What was the last thing he remembered? He remembered standing on the balcony with Teyla, getting ready for a briefing…then cold and ice, but the pictures seemed jumbled and distorted in his mind. There was something…something important, but it was elusive and every time he thought he could unlock the memory it flitted away, like a reticent butterfly avoiding the net.

"Major?" Beckett was watching him with concern.

Sheppard fought for a concrete memory, "Teyla." He said.

McKay smiled tightly. "Teyla was probably the last person he thought of."

Sheppard raised his eyes to look at McKay, "I…don't know. It's all…mixed."

"What is the last thing you remember clearly?" Beckett wasn't surprised. Sheppard had been through a lot and that was without the unexplained return from what had to have been a certain death.

"Teyla and I talking, on the balcony."

McKay stood up, frustrated. "You don't remember anything from after the cave-in?"

Sheppard shook his head, "Cave-in? I thought…wraith?"

Beckett could see Sheppard was beginning to get agitated. "It isn't important. In fact, it's probably to be expected."

Sheppard wasn't buying it. "What do you mean it isn't important? There's something there Doctor, something I should know. What happened?"

"You died." McKay said, his voice hard and weary at the same time, before stalking from the room.

Sheppard stared at the empty spot where McKay had been moments before. "I died?"

Beckett wondered where along the way did he lose control of the situation. McKay was a complex psyche, taking things to heart that you wouldn't expect and being affected by events to a degree that he couldn't predict. Sheppard's death had hit him hard, and it seemed his reappearance and aftermath was going to be something McKay was going to have to get through. There wasn't an easy way to get past the psychological trauma of recent events. Hell, psychological trauma wasn't something he considered on a regular basis but seeing your friend killed in front of you then magically return probably qualified.

Sheppard pushed himself up, the effort obviously costing him. "Beckett, explain. I died?"

"We thought so." Beckett wasn't happy with how Sheppard looked. The conversation had taken too much out of him. He stood up.

Sheppard clutched the blanket, he didn't remember dying. Wouldn't you remember something? Anything? "Tell me." He demanded evenly.

Beckett shook his head, "Not right now Major. You need to rest." He leaned towards the IV line and pulled out a syringe, injecting it swiftly into the port.

Sheppard swore as he felt the cold liquid trace into his veins and felt himself drifting off. "Beckett…" He trailed into a drugged sleep.

Beckett patted him on the shoulder. "Rest Major. For now all that matters is that your back." And he meant it. They probably would never know what happened. The only person who was there couldn't remember.

Sheppard stood at the edge of the balcony. It was a place that had somehow become the focus of his introspection. When he was troubled or just needed to think, he always wound up here, staring out onto the rolling waves of the vast ocean. Maybe it was the lull of the water or the solitude, he didn't know, but it had a calming effect on his soul.

It had been almost a week since he had woken in the infirmary. He hadn't gained any concrete memories from the events on the ice planet, the events in the Ancient's outpost, vague impressions of cold, pain, and an ethereal place that caused a feeling of frustration.

He felt rather than heard her approaching from behind. He turned; still stiff from the events he couldn't remember. He smiled, "Hi Teyla."

She inclined her head, "Major Sheppard."

He saw her studying him, "I'm not going to break."

Her lips quirked in mild embarrassment, "Maybe."

He leaned against the rail, "I'm fine Teyla. Whatever happened, I'm here, and I'm alive."

"I know." She continued to search his face, coming alongside him, "My father once told me there were forces at work in the world that we could not see. I think that perhaps he was right."

"Your father was a wise man."

Teyla paused, maybe remembering her father, or all the Athosians who had died before they had stumbled upon them. "Tell me about this Star Wars." She finally said, crooking her face back towards Sheppard.

He looked at her blankly, "Star Wars?"

THE END