Note: You aren't going to believe this, but this is it – the final chapter. I kept it short – aren't you proud??

Infirmary Nightmares – Chapter 2

Elizabeth watched Collin pace back and forth across the waiting area. With the exception of Ronon, who was casually leaning against one wall, everyone else was seated, nervously moving their feet or wringing their hands. They could see Beckett and two nurses working over Sheppard on the other side of the room, but they couldn't actually see much of the injured man other than his feet.

"No! Stop . . . please stop!" John's pleading voice sliced through the silence, making Collin stop dead in his tracks as the others stood reflexively. They could see the medical personnel struggling with Sheppard, speaking to him softly and trying to calm him. Collin started forward, but Teyla grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him.

"I can help," he said softly, pulling away from her and hurrying over to the bed. Collin touched the nurse beside Sheppard's head on the shoulder. "Let me help."

Beckett looked up from his patient. "Major, I'm afraid you need to get out of here. We'll take care of the colonel. He's a bit combative sometimes when he's disoriented."

Collin stood firm and stared at the doctor. "Sometimes there's a reason for things, Dr. Beckett. Now I'm going to help."

Beckett could tell the soldier wouldn't be taking no for an answer and Sheppard was getting harder to handle. "All right, then."

The nurse moved aside and Collin stepped in, immediately placing his hands on either side of Sheppard's face and turning it so he could look him in the eyes. His hold was firm, yet gentle enough not to hurt the man as he tried to pull away, mumbling incoherently the whole time. Collin bent over so that their faces were inches apart.

"Shep, it's Collin. I need you to look at me. We're in Atlantis and this is Dr. Beckett trying to help you. Do you understand? You aren't in Iraq, you're in Atlantis. Dr. Beckett is going to help you, not hurt you. Shep . . . John . . . listen to me. We're in Atlantis. Focus . . . Atlantis."

Sheppard's struggles had lessened up to the point Collin said Atlantis the last time, loud and with emphasis. Sheppard stilled and seemed to focus on Collin's face, a frown creasing his brow. "Atlantis?"

Collin's face relaxed as a smile spread across it. "Yeah, Shep. Atlantis. You're safe, no one's going to hurt you any more."

Collin relaxed his hold on Sheppard's face, allowing his head to turn the other way. "Carson?"

Beckett sighed deeply and smiled at the wounded man. "Aye, son, it's me. I'm trying to help you, if you'll let me."

Sheppard looked at him a few seconds, as if slowly processing what he'd said. "Yeah . . . sorry. Thought I was . . . " Sheppard flinched and turned away, back toward Collin. The two men exchanged a knowing glance.

"Thank you, Major, but we need to get the colonel ready for surgery," said Beckett.

Collin nodded. "Yeah, okay." He looked down at Sheppard and gripped the man's shoulder firmly. "We'll be waiting on you when you come out."

"Thanks," Sheppard said softly just before his eyes closed.

Collin let the nurse back in and slowly made his way to where the others stood in a cluster, staring at him in confusion. "What was that all about?" asked McKay.

Collin looked back across the infirmary. "Uh . . . Shep doesn't like hospitals or infirmaries much, especially when he's been injured and his mind is fuzzy."

"We kind of noticed that a while ago," said Elizabeth, narrowing her eyes at the new man. "Care to enlighten us on that matter?"

Collin brought his eyes around to face the expedition leader. "I . . . let's just say he had a bad experience a long time ago . . . and leave it at that for now."

Elizabeth studied the face of Sheppard's old friend, desperate to know what event had so colored John's view of medical care as to still be affecting him this much. But she saw in Collin's face a genuine concern for John, so she let it go. "All right. I'm just glad you were here to help. Other times have been . . . not so good."

Collin nodded and she knew he understood. Sounds from the other side of the room brought their attention back to Sheppard and they looked just in time to see Beckett and one of the nurses wheeling him back to surgery. The second nurse strode purposefully toward them.

"Dr. Beckett is taking the colonel to surgery to remove the bullet. He said to tell all of you that it will most likely be a while, so don't worry. Dr. Biro is on her way to do post mission checks on the rest of you, so if you'll just come with me, I'll get everyone settled."

McKay looked at Elizabeth. "Why don't you and the Major go get yourselves a cup of coffee while we get checked? Sounds like it'll be a while before we know anything."

Elizabeth looked uncertain, her eyes going to the doors they had taken Sheppard through.

"Good idea, Dr. McKay," said Collin. "Dr. Weir, let's go get that cup of coffee. I don't know about you, but I could sure use one. No use just sitting here worrying. Shep's already told me what a good doc Beckett is."

"Go, Elizabeth, he'll be fine," encouraged McKay. "And bring me back a cup."

Elizabeth sighed and nodded, giving in to the prodding of the two men. "All right, you win, I'm going. I'd better not miss anything."

"You won't," promised Collin as he winked at McKay and led Elizabeth out of the infirmary.

oOo

The sound of the doors opening brought five people immediately to their feet. Beckett waved at them to sit back down as he pulled up a chair to join them, the tired smile on his face putting them slightly more at ease. "He'll be fine," reported the doctor. "The bullet nicked the femur, so I had to clean out some bone fragments. He's fortunate it wasn't an inch over. He's already got a metal rod in his leg and I'd hate to think what a direct hit on it would have done."

"He's got a what?" asked Rodney, his eyes wide.

"A metal rod in his femur. He's broken it before, and it appears to have been pretty bad, judging from the scar tissue in the area. Of course I knew from his records that he'd fractured it before, but I hadn't realized how badly until now."

"That's why he limps sometimes," commented Rodney, realization dawning on him. Elizabeth looked up at him questioningly. "Sometimes late at night, when he's really tired and he thinks no one is looking, I've noticed him limping."

"I've seen it too," said Ronon. "After that marathon three-day run from the Wraith session a few weeks ago, I saw him leaving the balcony near his room and he could barely walk. He didn't see me because it was late and dark."

Teyla nodded. "I too have seen him favoring his leg after a hard mission. I just thought he had strained a muscle or something similar."

Beckett nodded. "I'm not surprised that you've begun to notice. I think it's been giving him more trouble these last few months. He actually came to me for some pain meds not long ago because it was bothering him so much he couldn't sleep."

"Why didn't he say something?" asked Rodney. He instantly shook his head. "Never mind, it's Sheppard. What was I thinking?"

"When can we see him?" asked Teyla.

"We're giving him a couple of units of blood to replace what he's lost, but he's pretty weak. I imagine it'll be tomorrow at the earliest before he's awake enough to talk to anyone." Beckett turned to the nurse that walked up and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Here you go, Dr. Beckett. Dr. Biro thought you might need this."

Beckett nodded and smiled as he accepted the cup. "Oh, thank you lass, I do. Be sure to thank Dr. Biro for me as well." He sipped the hot liquid and sighed in contentment as the nurse grinned and left.

"So, Sheppard will be okay, right?" asked Rodney.

"Aye, he should recover nicely. He may be off his feet for a bit, but he'll be fine." Beckett looked over at Collin. "I don't suppose you'd care to tell me what your little performance was all about, would you?"

They all looked at Collin, silently begging him to share what he knew. Collin frowned as he stared at the floor, studying it as if the answers he needed were there. After a couple of tense minutes, he sighed and looked back up, his gaze moving to each one of them.

"I've been trying to figure out for the last three hours if I should tell you what happened. I may not have been here long, but I've already seen how close you are to him . . . like family. And that's something special because I know Shep doesn't let people in very often since . . . " Collin shut his eyes and shook his head. "No, that's another story entirely. Let's just say that I know how hard it can be to get close to Shep. But he seems to care for you all very much and I know he trusts you, so . . . I'm going to tell you what happened. As his friends . . . as the people who are there when he gets hurt . . . you need to know."

Collin grinned grimly. "Ronon, I may have need of a body guard when Shep finds out I blabbed."

Ronon nodded, understanding on his face. "You'll have one."

Collin chuckled. "Thanks. Okay, well, you already know we did our first overseas duty together. We were kids. Not literally, but we were young and immortal, or so we thought. We were stationed in the Middle East, part of Operation Southern Watch keeping an eye on the no fly zone over Iraq. One of our planes was shot down just over the border, so they sent in a ground patrol to retrieve our guys. They got there about the same time as the Iraqis and there was a skirmish. Our guys came out on top, but several men were injured, so they called for help. Shep and I each took a medivac chopper."

Collin stopped to rub his chin and take a deep breath, noticing his audience was silently hanging on every word. "We got the wounded loaded up and took off without any problems. Apparently reinforcements had arrived by then, because we hadn't gone very far when Shep took a hit. He radioed me that he couldn't make it back in and for me to go on, that he'd put down somewhere and wait for me to get help. I had two criticals on board, so I didn't have much choice. I radioed him to be careful and we'd be back ASAP." Abruptly standing, Collin paced back and forth a few times.

Elizabeth looked nervously at Carson and then stood, walking over to stand beside Collin and put her hand on his arm. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Collin smiled and patted her hand with his free one. "Thanks, but yes I do. I just haven't let myself think about any of this for a long time. I guess you've picked up on the fact that I have a hard time being serious, and this . . . this is definitely serious."

Elizabeth nodded and grinned. "Now that, I've noticed."

Collin sighed and looked at the worried faces in front of him. He knew he couldn't leave them like that. He knew he'd have to finish. Letting go of Elizabeth's hand, he returned to his seat and Elizabeth followed.

"We went back for Shep, but his helicopter had taken another hit and he ended up crashing instead of setting down. The chopper went down on its left side and we could tell from the blood that Shep must have been hurt pretty badly, but he was gone. The patients in the back were all dead, killed in the crash or died shortly after. His co-pilot wasn't hurt badly in the crash and we guessed he must have tried to put up a fight, because he'd been shot in the head. It took us three weeks to find Shep and get him out. He was in the hospital wing of a prison camp . . . if you can use the word hospital with that place. He was almost dead from blood loss, starvation, and infection."

Collin closed his eyes, still able to see the hollow shell of a man he'd barely recognized lying so still and pale. "He didn't know us when we got there. He just . . . he screamed and begged when we touched him. He kept pleading with us to stop hurting him. He was out of his mind with pain and fear and fever."

Collin took a deep, shuddering breath, the memories rushing back all too real. He thought he'd stored them all away so they couldn't touch him any more, and yet here they were again. Guilt overwhelmed him. This was the reason he'd avoided seeing Sheppard for so many years, the reason he'd never tried to find him after that one chance meeting.

"Are you all right?" asked Teyla, her eyes moist and the sadness in her voice evident.

The major nodded. "Yeah, I just . . . it's hard to remember it. Shep . . . had taken a hard hit in the crash. He broke several ribs, left arm and collar bone, the two bones in his lower leg and a couple in his foot. The femur was the bad one though. Compound fracture. He told me later . . . he didn't think their medical people were actually doctors, more like medics, and the supplies for prisoners was very limited. They didn't waste pain medicine on the enemy. They just held him down while they tried to align the bone in his leg."

"Oh, bloody . . . " Carson got up and walked back and forth a few times, muttering curses beneath his breath while clenching and unclenching his hands. He finally stopped a few feet away, facing the wall, silent except for the sound of his rapid breathing. After regaining control of himself, Carson came back over and sat down, anger radiating from his posture and expression. "I'm sorry for that. I just can't bloody well understand how one human could do that to another."

Collin shook his head. "You aren't the only one. Shep said he screamed until he didn't have any voice left. It . . . apparently took them several tries to get the bone lined up, and even then the bastards didn't do it right. If they gave him antibiotics, it was minimal and that place was far from sterile. He was septic by the time we got to him." Collin took a deep breath to steady himself.

"When we got him home, the doctors almost immediately began talking amputation. When they finally got Shep lucid enough to make him understand what they wanted to do, he went nuts. He told them not to take his leg under any circumstances, even if it meant he didn't make it. He made me promise not to let them cut his leg off." Collin's voice hitched and he turned away from the others. He had to take several breaths to regain his composure. "I knew I'd feel the same way under the circumstances, so I fought the doctors tooth and nail for him."

"I guess we know how that turned out," said Rodney. "At least you did the right thing for him, saved his leg."

Collin nodded. "Yeah. They didn't know for a while if he'd make it or not, but Shep was always a fighter. They let me stay with him for a while because he was so sick and disoriented. He kept thinking he was back in that . . . place. He told me later that when the soldiers came to interrogate him, they'd try to get him to answer by pushing on his injuries, usually his leg since it was the most obvious and painful. They apparently came by almost every day and hurt him and those supposed doctors just stood by and let them. If he yelled or complained about hurting or being hungry or thirsty, they'd just hit him and press on one of his broken bones until he promised to be good."

Collin stood again and walked over to the wall, leaning against it for support. "After a couple of weeks, when they knew he'd make it and he was a little more coherent, they shipped him back to the states. I didn't see him again for almost a year. I was attending a special training school at another base and I ran into him. He was working a desk job while he finished his physical therapy, limping, but getting around better than anyone thought he ever would. He told me they tried to force him into a medical discharge because there was no chance of him ever walking normally again, but he fought it. Said he'd walk again or die trying. We had dinner together to catch up. That was when he told me what they'd done to him there and how much pain he'd been in and how afraid he was."

Collin smiled without humor. "We got pretty drunk that night at his place or I doubt he would have ever admitted any of it. He told me he'd spent the better part of the last year in the hospital. It took several surgeries to fix what they'd done to his leg and a whole lot of physical therapy. I got the idea that the real medical treatment sometimes hurt almost as much as the torture sessions. Anyway, Shep told me that night that he never wanted to visit another hospital as long as he lived because he was certain he'd already served his allotted time."

Beckett sighed and rubbed his face. "No wonder he fights me so when he's disoriented or confused. And now I understand why he's in such a bloody hurry to get out of here. I wish I'd known this earlier."

"I doubt John would have ever told any of us this," commented Elizabeth.

"No, probably not," said Carson.

"So what do we do with this information?" asked Rodney, looking a bit pale.

"We make sure to ground him when he is injured so that he knows where he is and that we will not hurt him," said Teyla.

"And I'll try to get him out of here as soon as I can. I don't hold the man longer than I think necessary, in spite of what he thinks, but there may be times I can release him to his quarters earlier if someone will agree to stay with him," said Beckett.

"We can do that," said Ronon. "We're his team and he watches after us. We can help watch after him when he's down."

They all nodded in agreement.

Collin smiled, relief flooding his face. "I'm glad I told you. Shep will still kill me, but it was worth it. I knew I wasn't wrong about you people, that you'd use the information to help him instead of pity him. Pity is one thing Shep can't stand. I think maybe that was one reason he had such a hard time handling his leg injury for that year. He could see the pity in people's faces when they thought he was a cripple."

"Oh, we know better than to go the pity road," said Rodney emphatically, the others nodding in agreement.

"I'm surprised that leg hasn't given him more trouble," said Beckett.

"It probably has," said Rodney. "You know how he is."

Beckett nodded sadly. "Aye, I do. Stubborn fool."

They all turned at the sound of clanking to see Sheppard's bed being rolled back out into the infirmary and set into place. They watched the nurses fuss with monitors and IV and blood bags for a few seconds as they got their patient settled.

"Carson . . . " Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Beckett, the silent question hanging in the air.

Beckett sighed. "All right, but just for a minute. He won't be awake."

"That is all right, Dr. Beckett. We just need to see for ourselves that John is okay." Teyla smiled at Beckett and he nodded back to her.

They stood and followed Beckett over to Sheppard's bed, surrounding it and watching the man sleep. His features were pale, but relaxed and his breathing even. A few minutes later, Beckett began shooing them out.

"All right, now you've seen him. I want to the lot of you to get some rest. You can come back tomorrow."

Collin looked worried as he moved his eyes from Sheppard up to Beckett. "Maybe someone should stay with him tonight . . . in case he wakes up."

Beckett took a deep breath and looked down at Sheppard. "It's okay. I'll be keeping the colonel company tonight. If he does wake, I can promise you, he won't be alone."

oOo

Beckett was awakened from his dozing by the sounds of rustling covers, thrashing noises, and mumbling. He lifted his head from its slumped forward position, causing his neck muscles to scream at him in pain. Muffling a groan, he reached his hand up and massaged his aching cervical area with his fingers as he stood and looked down toward the bed. Sheppard was now making sad whimpering sounds as his head turned one direction, only to suddenly turn the opposite way. One hand gripped the railing while the other flailed about as if seeking something to hold onto.

"Colonel?" Beckett was beside Sheppard in a second, taking the hand that had been seeking contact of some kind. "John, it's Carson, can you hear me? You're in Atlantis, son, you're safe."

Sheppard's eyes flew open and he gasped for air, immediately trying to sit up. Beckett put his hand on his chest before he had moved more than a few inches and applied just enough pressure to lay the man back down. "John, you're safe . . . you're in Atlantis."

Sheppard lay staring straight up for a few seconds, his eyes unfocused. He finally blinked and licked his lips, slowly turning his head toward Beckett. He looked blankly at the doctor for several moments before finally speaking.

"Carson?"

Beckett grinned, relieved that his patient was lucid. "Aye, son. Glad to have you back. How do you feel?"

Sheppard blinked a few more times as if trying to clear his vision. "Fuzzy . . . thirsty."

Beckett nodded. "I'll bet you are." Beckett turned to the pitcher on the table and poured a cup of water. Sticking a straw in it, he turned back to Sheppard. "All right, colonel, let me do all the work." Beckett slid his arm behind Sheppard and propped him up enough he could drink without choking and then brought the cup up so he could reach the straw. As soon as his patient had taken a few sips, he took the water away and eased Sheppard back down. "There you go, not too much at first, as you know."

Beckett set the cup down and checked Sheppard's lines and monitor readings before turning back to his patient. "Do you remember what happened?"

Sheppard seemed to be thinking, his eyes only half open as he blinked sluggishly. "Shot . . . after the ceremony. Some nasty guys across the river." Sheppard's eyes widened as he suddenly looked up at Beckett. "My team?"

Beckett laid a steadying hand on Sheppard's shoulder. "They're all okay, Colonel. You were the only seriously injured. A bullet grazed Rodney's arm, but he was fine after a few stitches and some antibiotics." Carson frowned and tilted his head. "Come to think of it, he didn't even complain much."

Sheppard gave a small smile. "Cool." He felt his eyelids pulling closed, but he fought it, forcing them open to see Beckett looking sadly at him. "What?" Fear suddenly filled his face as he realized where most of the pain was coming from and remembered the many warning he'd received about seriously injuring that leg again. "Doc . . . my leg okay?"

Beckett sighed and nodded quickly. "Yes, lad, the leg will heal fine. The bullet just nicked the bone a tad. You'll be off your feet for a bit, but you'll heal."

Sheppard frowned. "Then what?"

Beckett looked down for a few seconds and then back up at Sheppard. "Collin had a talk with us."

Beckett wasn't sure he'd ever seen the color drain from anyone's face as quickly as it did from Sheppard. What was really sad was that he didn't have much color to lose at the moment. "Oh no . . . he didn't . . . tell me he didn't tell you . . . "

Beckett's smile tightened, almost morphing into a frown. "He told us something I wish you'd told us a long time ago. Colonel . . . " Beckett sighed and shook his head, not really sure if he was angry or sad.

"He had no right," said Sheppard sharply. He sucked in a quick breath and winced at the pain his unintentional shifting had awakened. Squeezing his eyes shut, he gripped the railing and held his breath through a wave of pain that made his eyes water. When the pain finally ebbed back enough that he could relax and open his eyes, he saw Beckett injecting something into his IV.

"That should take the edge off so you can get some more rest. We can talk about this later."

John watched Beckett dispose of the syringe and pull his chair a little closer to the bed. He then noticed the stubble on the doctor's face and the dark smudges under his tired eyes and he realized Beckett had been watching over him all night. His line of vision was shrinking as his eyelids pulled closed. "Thanks," he whispered, just before losing the battle to stay awake.

Beckett shook his head and sighed heavily. "You're welcome . . . bloody fool."

oOo

He heard the voices even before it registered that they were voices. He just lay listening to the familiar tones and patterns. It was the laughter that caused awareness to creep in, waking the sense of smell and the memories that reminded him of where he was. Someone leaned against the lower edge of the mattress, shifting his leg and sending a flash of pain through his leg that caught him off guard. Sheppard groaned loudly as his eyes flew open and he instinctively raised up a few inches before dropping back down, his arms reaching protectively toward his injured leg.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh, crap I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Get Carson in case I damaged his leg again. I'm sorry, Colonel, it was an accident. I just wanted to –"

"McKay!" Sheppard clenched his jaw tightly as he tried to breath through the stabbing pain in his thigh. "Just . . . shut . . . up."

McKay stood with his mouth open and his face pale as looked down on Sheppard's face, tight with pain as he fisted his hand around a wad of blanket. "I'm sorry."

After a minute, Sheppard began to relax his grip on the covers and some of the tension eased from his face. His breathing seemed to ease as well. "S'okay . . . just . . . surprised me."

Beckett arrived with a worried Teyla about the time Sheppard discovered he could breathe again. "Colonel, how are you doing?" Beckett moved to the side of the bed and lifted the covers up from the side, examining the bandaging around Sheppard's leg.

"I'm good," said Sheppard, his breathing almost back to normal and some of the color returning to his face. "Just . . . wasn't expecting it."

Beckett lowered the covers and straightened them. "Everything looks okay, no damage done." The doctor took a couple of steps toward the head of the bed and took Sheppard's pulse and then listened to his chest.

While Beckett did his doctoring, Sheppard took note of a few things. First, most of the monitoring equipment had been removed, although he still had the IV. Next he noticed the high volume of people surrounding his bed and wondered how long they had been watching him sleep. He really had to talk to Carson about making a few private rooms and he figured if anyone had earned the right to have one, it was him.

"Looking good, Colonel," commented Beckett as he raised the head of the bed so Sheppard could actually look at his visitors.

"Thanks, Doc," he said as he rubbed his eyes. "How long have you people been here and don't you have anything better to do than watch me sleep?"

McKay sighed loudly. "Of course I have better things to do, and I'm wounded to boot, but here I sit, good friend that I am, waiting on your ungrateful self to wake up so we can see that you're still in the land of the living and not brain damaged somehow . . . not that we could tell or anything. And this is the thanks we get. You really should learn some manners Sheppard."

Sheppard looked at McKay for a few seconds before shifting his gaze to Elizabeth. "Did Rodney just advise me that I need more manners?"

Elizabeth grinned. "Yes, I believe he did."

Sheppard shook his head. "I must be delirious." He looked around to see Ronon and Teyla grinning and he returned their smile. He was glad to actually see that everyone seemed all right. His gaze finally fell on Collin, standing silently half behind the folded privacy curtain. Sheppard's grin faded as they made eye contact, guilt clouding the major's expression.

"Collin . . . I have a bone to pick with you." Anger made his voice sharp, causing the people in the room to wince.

Collin stepped forward a couple of steps. "Look, Shep . . . I'm sorry. You were disoriented and fighting the good doctor here where he was having a hard time treating you. I helped calm you down and . . . they kind of wondered what was going on. I just thought as your friends, they needed to know what happened."

Sheppard frowned, his eyes going down to the bed for a few moments before returning to Collin. "I don't remember. But still . . . it's my life . . . You had no right to tell them."

"He shouldn't have had to tell us because you should have told us," said Rodney, the hurt obvious from his tone.

Sheppard's eyes flashed. "Why? So you could feel sorry for me? Poor Sheppard, tortured by the Iraqis. Poor Sheppard, almost crippled. I thought you knew me better than that Rodney. I don't want your pity."

Rodney frowned and shook his head slowly. "And I thought you knew us better than that. No one here wants to pity you. We just want the opportunity to help our friend when we can."

"I don't do pity . . . for anyone," said Ronon firmly.

Beckett put his hand firmly on Sheppard's upper arm. "Son, no one here is going to think less of you or baby you because of what happened. But by understanding, we can help comfort you when you're disoriented and fighting us. We'll know what the problem is next time so we can bring you back a little sooner. And if I'd known all this time why you were chomping at the bit to get out of here, I might could have made some allowances to get you back to your quarters sooner. We just want to help you because we're your friends and that's what friends do."

Sheppard rubbed his forehead, suddenly feeling very foolish for his outburst. "Look . . . I'm sorry . . . I just . . . I don't . . . I have a hard time getting close to people, letting them in and trusting them. I've let you guys get closer than I ever meant to." Sheppard laughed bitterly. "I need to work on my defenses a little better next time."

"But why? Why work so hard to keep people out?" asked Elizabeth.

Sheppard just stared at the foot of the bed. "Because when I get too close to someone, they die. I just . . . I just got tired of always hurting. I thought it would be easier not to care about anyone, not to trust anyone. I don't let people help me because the next thing you know, you've developed some kind of relationship." Sheppard chuckled. "But then you guys came along . . . this city came along . . . and all my rules just seemed to go out the window."

Teyla walked up and took Sheppard's hand. "As you started to care, you kept trying to push us away."

Sheppard snorted and looked up at her. "Tried. Didn't succeed. You guys are kind of hard to ignore." He waved his hand around the room as he laughed. "It's really hard to ignore a whole herd of people surrounding your bed when you wake up." Sheppard paused for a moment as he looked at his friends. "It's kind of unnerving in a way, but . . . I can't say that I want to change it. It's sort of comforting . . . disturbing, but . . . comforting."

They snickered at that, understanding his point.

Sheppard looked up at Beckett and cocked his head to one side. "You'd really try to get me out of here sooner?"

Beckett nodded. "What I can do is possibly release you sooner under the condition that someone stay with you or check on you every couple of hours. Sometimes you end up staying here longer because of the nature of this city. We each have our own quarters, so there's no one to send you home with to look after you when you can't get around. It's not like we're living in family units on Earth. Your team has agreed that they can share that responsibility so that we can get you back to your quarters faster, if you want."

Sheppard nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes, I want. But . . . " His enthusiasm waned as he looked at his teammates. "On the other hand, that will just stick you guys with babysitting duty. That can't be fun."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," said McKay. "We're perfectly capable of keeping ourselves entertained while you sleep or lie around uselessly."

Sheppard smiled. "Thanks, Rodney . . . I think."

"And Colonel," Beckett said sternly. "I'm well aware that injuries like the one to your leg leave you with lingering pain when you're tired or you've been on your feet all day or even due to weather changes. Don't hesitate to come to me for help. There's no use hurting if you don't have to. I can give you pain medication that won't make you sleepy, but will help take the edge off enough you can function."

Sheppard smiled sheepishly. "Okay, thanks." He looked up at Collin, standing at the foot of the bed with his hands in his pockets. "Okay, Collin . . . looks like you live to see another day."

Collin grinned broadly, his whole face lighting up. "Ronon, I may not need body guard service after all." He turned to Sheppard. "I knew you couldn't stay mad at me for long."

Sheppard grinned his cocky, lop-sided grin. "I didn't say I wasn't mad, I just said I wouldn't kill you. Wait until I'm back on my feet."

Collin grinned smugly. "That gives me a few weeks to work with. Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time the locals brought us some of their native dishes? They used some odd, local spice in this one dish that Shep was allergic to and his face swelled up and got all patchy looking."

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Yes, and that was so much fun, especially the part about not being able to breathe."

"Don't be a baby. So you had to wear one of those oxygen tube things for a couple of days. You were fine. We called him watermelon head for weeks."

"Watermelon head? Seriously? You called him that?" Rodney was bouncing up and down and rubbing his hands together as he chuckled.

Sheppard groaned and dropped his head forward, rubbing his forehead at the building headache.

Collin snapped his finger and pointed at Rodney. "Hey, I might still have a picture."

"That would be sweet. We could send it out in a city wide email. Watermelon head. I love it," said Rodney.

Sheppard shook his head and grimaced. "I really hate you."

Collin grinned and crossed his arms. "I know. I wouldn't have it any other way."

THE END

Yeah, I know – mushy. I can't help it. So I'm both a dork and a geek. I think it's genetic (but don't tell my family). Love you guys!!!