Too Much Time - Part 2

By Titan5

John jerked his head up and stared at Ronon. "Thank God!" he said, sliding the headphones down around his neck and pointing toward the rear hatch. "I almost shot myself with a stunner." He was a little concerned at how close to the truth that was. He didn't even think they had one on the ship, but he'd caught himself looking a few times.

"Yeah, I understand," Ronon responded with a smile.

Removing the headphones, he glanced around to look out the front window. "Where are we?"

"Deadalus 302 bay."

That matched what he'd seen outside the jumper. "What's the status of SGC?"

"Secure. Teal'c and I took care of the Wraith."

John relaxed, some of the tension of the last several day evaporating. "I figured you would."

"Come on. Let's get the hell out of here."

"Yeah," John said firmly, grabbing his vest. The idea of going somewhere else, anywhere else, besides the jumper almost made him dizzy with relief. Surely a prisoner being released couldn't feel any more elated than he did right now.

"Oh, and I passed my interview at the IOA."

"Really?" John had been so concerned with little things like survival and Wraith invading the Earth that he'd temporarily forgotten about the much dreaded IOA inquisition.

"Yeah. They said they like me."

"Well, what's not to like?" John quipped lightly and in total opposition to the surprise he felt. They stepped off the ramp into the huge bay. The sudden wide open space along with the bright lights made John's sleeping headache flare up again as he squinted. He felt a little light-headed all of a sudden and had to focus on not swaying as they walked across the deck. He could see Colonel Caldwell waiting for them near the edge of the room and they came to a stop in front of him.

"Colonel," John said with a nod.

"Colonel," Caldwell returned. "I hear you've been waiting for a ride for a few days." He made no attempt to hide the smirk on his face. "I guess the jumper can be rather close quarters for that many people."

"Yeah," John drawled. "You could say that. I understand the Wraith that made it through were taken care of."

Caldwell nodded. "Yes, they were. It seems that Teal'c and Ronon here make a pretty unbeatable team."

Nodding, John smiled, filling with pride. "They sure do, fortunately for us, sir. I'm sorry about Midway. The Wraith managed to booby-trap it before we regained control."

Caldwell grimaced. "Dr. McKay filled me in, all in roughly forty-five seconds."

Wincing, John gave a small nod, which felt a little like someone slamming a board in the back of his eyeballs. He reminded himself not to do that again any time soon. "Rodney tends to get a little wound up. And after almost ten days in a jumper, he's wound pretty tightly."

"I noticed. We'll be assigning you to temporary quarters. I'm sure you'll want to get cleaned up and get something to eat."

A lop-sided grin slid across John's face. "Are you suggesting that I smell bad?"

Caldwell snorted and grinned back. "No, I'm telling you outright. Colonel, please, take a shower."

"That is one order I'm quite anxious to obey, sir. Just point me the right way."

"If you'll follow me, I'll even take you there personally."

John and Ronon followed Caldwell down the hall. They hadn't gone far when the Colonel paused to listen to his radio. "Yes, I understand. I'll send him right down."

John had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as Caldwell pinned him with his eyes. "What?"

"Colonel Sheppard, it seems you need to report to the infirmary."

John hesitated, wanting a really hot shower more than anything in the world. "I should probably take that shower first, sir. Besides, we've just been sitting on a jumper for the last week and a half. I'm fine."

Caldwell raised one eyebrow and then glanced at Ronon. "Ronon, I'll expect you to see that Colonel Sheppard gets to the infirmary and then you can show him to his quarters. We're assigning him the room directly across the hall from yours."

Ronon nodded, smiling in what John found to be an irritating manner. "I'll make sure he gets there."

Nodding, Caldwell turned to leave. "Nice to have you back, Colonel," he called over his shoulder.

John looked up at Ronon hopefully. "I'm sure the doc would appreciate a clean patient who doesn't reek quite so much."

"I'm sure they've had worse . . . but maybe not by much," he chuckled. "Infirmary first."

Scowling, John sighed and began walking down the hall. "When did you become Caldwell's henchman? And I'm remembering that comment, just so you know."

"Just trying to keep my CO out of trouble. It's not easy sometimes."

John snorted loudly. "Have I ever explained the Earth saying of a pot calling a kettle black?"

"No, but I think McKay did."

John stopped and snapped his fingers. "McKay! I'm going to kill him. He just can't keep his mouth shut. I know he's got something to do with this!"

"He said he was going to the mess hall."

"Yeah, well, what do you want to bet he stopped by the infirmary first? Don't worry, I'll think of some way to repay him by the time we get back to Atlantis."

As they entered the infirmary, Sgt. Brooks passed them. He cringed when he saw Sheppard. "Sorry, sir."

Stopping, John watched the soldier's quickly retreating back. "Dang. Ratted out by one of my own men. Stupid Trojan horse Tylenol. I should have seen this coming a mile away."

"Colonel Sheppard, I need you to come with me, please."

John looked around to see a young doctor with short blonde hair and wire-rimmed glasses approaching him, large smile plastered on his face. "Oh, great," he muttered. "I hate you, Ronon."

Ronon laughed out loud. "Yeah, I kind of figured."

"Colonel Sheppard, if you could just follow me? I'm Dr. Winslow and I've been told you've possibly suffered some head trauma and are still experiencing some adverse effects. We need to get you checked out, sir."

John looked at Ronon with the most menacing expression he could muster. "I owe you and Brooks both now." He heard Ronon laughing as the doctor led him away.

"Not scared, Sheppard."

oOo

Rodney spotted Sheppard as soon as he stepped into the infirmary. It was hard to miss someone who was that pissed off. He was sitting in bed with his arms crossed, well, as crossed as he could get them with an IV taped to the back of his hand, and a frown so deep you almost couldn't see his eyes. Sighing, Rodney strolled across the room and stood looking at the colonel.

"How do you do this? We sit in a jumper for ten days and you still manage to end up in the infirmary." When John looked up at him, Rodney was suddenly glad the pilot was confined to bed.

"Sgt. Brooks has permanent toilet scrubbing duty when we get back."

"What?" Rodney said blankly. Who was Brooks?

"Sgt. Brooks. The marine that ran down here to tell the doc he thought I was injured and needed to be checked out."

Rodney nodded toward the IV. "Well, pardon me for stating the obvious, but since you're sitting in a bed dressed in scrubs and sporting an IV, I'm guessing he was right."

"I'm fine," John snapped.

"Right. Okay. So, what did the doctor say?"

John took a deep breath and let it out slowly, obviously trying to keep calm. "He said there was evidence of head trauma, probably a concussion and possibly a contusion or something like that. Apparently that Wraith rattled me around pretty good."

"That was ten days ago. Even Keller doesn't keep you in the infirmary ten days for a concussion."

Sighing, John let his eyes move up to meet Rodney's. "He flashed that stupid light in my eyes, like they teach them in Torturing Patients 101, and then said I was light sensitive. I'm sorry, sitting in a relatively dark jumper for days on end will do that to you. Then he kept telling me to follow his finger with my eyes. I . . .got a little dizzy. So now they're keeping me for observation."

"Oh. Did they say how long?"

"Not exactly. He said he'd evaluate my condition tomorrow and if he was satisfied, I could be dismissed to quarters. Otherwise, I'm stuck in here a while."

"What about the IV?" Rodney asked, waving one hand at the bag hanging from a pole.

"Slightly dehydrated. He said as long as I was in here, he might as well clear that up."

"Hah!" Rodney exclaimed. "I knew you weren't eating and drinking enough. You only ate about half your rations."

"I was nauseous the first couple of days. I didn't think puking in that close a space was a good idea."

Rodney made a "that's disgusting" face and shook his head. "No, not good at all. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Hey, look at it this way. At least you're clean, so I'm guessing they let you take a shower."

Grimacing, John slid his eyes back up at Rodney. "Oh, yeah," he said bitterly. "A supervised shower. Still no privacy. Oh, and lucky me isn't to go to the bathroom by myself either. They're afraid I'll get dizzy and fall."

Rodney shrugged his shoulders, not sure how to comfort the man. He knew he wouldn't want to be confined to a bed right after finally getting out of their puddle-jumper captivity. Of course on the other hand, he didn't relish the idea of finding Sheppard collapsed in his room after who knows how long either. "Look, it'll probably just be for a day or two at most. At least there's no yapping, annoying scientists in the room this time." When John narrowed his eyes and stared at him, he grimaced. "Oh, that is so not funny. Do not compare me to those two or you'll be taking cold showers for the next year."

Sighing, John shifted in the bed and stared at his feet. "I just . . . I need to be up moving, you know? I feel like I'm about to jump out of my skin."

"Cabin fever, I know. I've been pacing around the hallways since I ate. I can't sit still to get anything done."

John returned his gaze back to Rodney. "Now imagine being stuck in this bed attached to an IV. If I lose it completely, you can mount my defense."

"Maybe they could sedate you or something."

"I don't want to be sedated, I want to get out of here!" John roared, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. Dr. Winslow came rushing across the room, an angry scowl on his face.

"Colonel Sheppard, is something wrong? I'd like to point out that you aren't the only one in the infirmary and you'll need to hold your voice down."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, something is wrong. I need out of here right now. There is nothing wrong with me." It occurred to Rodney that if the man came a couple of steps closer, Sheppard might just pop him in the face. Judging from the man's position and stance, the doctor seemed to be thinking the same thing.

The physician sighed as if he was trying to be patient with a whining child. "Colonel Sheppard, we've already had this discussion. You're exhausted and dehydrated, your blood pressure is high, and you're still experiencing headaches and dizziness from the concussion. I'd also like to monitor you for any side effects of the hypoxia you experienced. You aren't leaving until tomorrow at the earliest. If I need to get Colonel Caldwell down here, I will."

"Fine, I get it. I don't have to like it."

Sighing again, the doctor looked at Rodney. "Is he always so cheerful and cooperative?"

"Nope," Rodney said lightly. "Sometimes he's much worse."

Rodney watched Winslow shake his head and walk off and then turned to find John glaring at him. "Thanks, McKay."

"No problem. Think you can keep yourself out of trouble for the next day or so til he releases you?"

"I doubt it." John looked down at his hands, now folded in his lap.

It struck Rodney that the man did look exhausted, as if he'd spent the last week and a half running from the Wraith instead of sitting cooped up in a jumper. Maybe the man had been running from something. No, not running. The opposite. He had nowhere to run, so things had caught up to him. All the death and despair and frustration of the last few years had finally hit home and they'd hit pretty hard. He'd had nothing to do but sit and deal with the loss of Carson and Elizabeth and his father, as well as all the men that had died. They hadn't known if Ronon was safe or if Earth was secure. Maybe Rodney had been the lucky one, trapped in the back of the jumper with the nerd version of Abbott and Costello. He'd been so busy trying not to kill them, that there had been little time to think of anything else.

"Hey, Ronon and I will come keep you company after dinner. We can cheer you up and keep you out of trouble until you're tired enough to go to sleep. Then you'll wake up tomorrow and the doc will let you out and you can stop pouting."

"I'm not . . . okay . . . maybe I am pouting."

Grinning, Rodney looked down at Sheppard. With the admission had come a small smile and the pilot seemed a little more relaxed than he had before. At least he no longer looked like he was about to explode. "Rest, Sheppard. We'll be back in a while."

John nodded and leaned his head back against the pillows. "Thanks."

"Sure," Rodney said, patting Sheppard's arm. "Try not to hit anyone until we get back."

"No promises," John said with a smile. "But I'll try."

oOo

Rodney returned three hours later with Ronon, as well as the two marines. They had ended up eating together and when Rodney explained how antsy Sheppard was, the soldiers had insisted on coming along to keep their CO entertained and out of trouble. Momentarily thrown when the bed Sheppard had occupied was empty, Rodney turned in a full circle, looking for the missing colonel.

"Where is he?" asked Ronon.

"How should I know?" Rodney sputtered, pointing to the bed where Sheppard had been earlier. "I left him right there. You don't think he ran off, do you?"

Ronon shrugged his shoulders and then pointed across the room. "There's the doctor that was here when I brought him in."

"Right," Rodney said, spotting the man heading their way. "Hey, what happened to Sheppard? I leave for a few hours and you lose him."

Dr. Winslow rolled his eyes and put one hand on his hip as he reached the group. "We did not lose Colonel Sheppard, we moved him. His headache got a lot worse and the lights were bothering him, so we put him in one of the smaller rooms in the back. That way he can be in the dark."

Rodney's annoyance was quickly replaced with worry. "What's happened? Does this mean there really is a problem?"

The doctor shook his head. "No, we checked and there's no sign of bleeding or swelling in the brain. I think it's just built up stress and tension finally catching up with him, and probably aggravated by the head injury and hypoxia. He should be fine in a day or two."

"Can we see him?" asked Ronon.

"No, I've given him something pretty strong. The nurse just checked him and he was asleep. I think it's best if we don't disturb him." The doctor looked over at Sgt. Brooks. "Sgt, it's a good thing you reported his injuries so we could get him down here."

Blushing, the soldier nodded, looking almost ashamed of what he'd done. Rodney sighed, deciding to rescue the poor man. "Look, don't worry about tattling. We've all done it. If we didn't, we'd be finding him passed out in the hall all the time. He's got this absurd pain threshold and this freaky sense of duty that tells him he's fine as long as he's breathing and his heart is still beating. He tends to ignore things like dizziness, pain, and bleeding as signs of weakness that he shouldn't acknowledge. Welcome to the Saving Sheppard from Himself Club."

The two marines exchanged a look that said they were trying to decide whether to believe Rodney or not. Ronon broke the silence by clapping Rodney on the shoulder. "Let's go do something since we can't see Sheppard. You want to play cards?"

"No!" said three voices in unison.

oOo

His head still throbbed, but it was a dull pain, not the stabbing, mind-numbing agony from before. He could handle this easily. When he tried to shift, he realized he was lying on his side, curled up in a tight ball. That explained why his muscles were so stiff and achy. Stretching, he rolled over on his back as he allowed his eyes to open.

"Hey, Sheppard . . . are you awake?" The voice was so quiet that he didn't identify it as Rodney's at first. He wasn't sure he even knew the man could speak so softly. John blinked a few times to bring his surroundings into focus. He was still in the small room they had moved him to so he could have complete quiet and darkness, but there was now a small lamp on in the corner, casting long shadows across his bed.

"Yeah . . . I'm 'wake," he said as he tried to stifle a yawn.

"How do you feel?" asked Ronon, coming up to stand beside Rodney.

Rubbing the stubble in his chin, John looked up at them. "Not bad . . . got that heavy, drugged feeling. Head feels better, though. How long?"

Sighing, Rodney let his shoulders drop a little. "Better part of three days. They wouldn't let us in the last two. Said you were in too much pain and they didn't want us disturbing you, as if that was possible with all the drugs they were pumping you full of. The doctor finally said you were doing better this morning and that he was cutting back. Let us in to sit with you a couple of hours ago."

John blew out a slow breath. He wasn't that concerned about losing the three days because it wasn't like he was able to do much right now anyway. What he did hate was being weak and out of control. Not to mention the lethargy the heavy drugs brought on. Even now he could feel his eyelids starting to droop, but he pushed himself up a bit and fought against it.

"Could I have some water?" He was parched and maybe some water would help wake him up.

Rodney poured a cup of water and stuck a straw in it while Ronon raised the head of the bed a little. John took the cup and made himself take several small sips slowly before handing it back to Rodney. "Thanks."

A nurse walked in and smiled when she saw that John was awake. "Nice to see you awake, Colonel. How's your headache?" she asked as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm.

"Much better. Kind of dull throb, but at least the guy with the ice pick finally gave up and went home."

"Ice pick?" Rodney said inquisitively, his eyes going wide.

"Metaphorical," said John, watching the nurse take his blood pressure.

"Much better, Colonel Sheppard," the nurse said as the cuff deflated. "I think the sleep has helped a lot."

"God, I hope so," he moaned. "I'm so sick of lying around."

"Don't get too excited. You still need to take it easy. You've had a rough couple of days and if you rush out and do too much, you could end up right back where you were," the nurse warned as she checked his IV bag. "Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm good," he said with a smile.

"I'll just let you visit with your friends, then. The doctor will be in to talk to you in a few minutes and then we'll see about getting you some supper."

"Thanks," John said and then covered his mouth as he yawned so big it made his eyes water. By the time he finished rubbing the moisture from his eyes and face, the nurse was gone.

"How can you still be sleepy?" asked Rodney, annoyance permeating his voice.

"They had me pretty drugged up, Rodney. It takes a while to work all that stuff out of your system." Which was one of the reasons he had to be hurting pretty badly before he'd let himself get this medicated. He hated the way he felt afterward as everything slowly made its way out of his body.

Dragging the chair a little closer to the bed, Rodney plopped down in it. "Oh, and you need to have a talk with that one soldier . . . uh, Rivers."

John looked at him blankly for a moment. "Do you mean Brooks?"

"Brooks, yeah, that's it. I knew it was some kind of body of water. Anyway, he thinks you're mad at him for telling the doc about the headaches and stuff and he's all worried you'll kick him out of Atlantis or something."

"You aren't . . . are you?" asked Ronon.

John looked at them for a moment and then sighed. "No, of course not. He was just doing what he thought was best. I'll just have to do a better job of training him. I still think a little toilet-scrubbing duty might be a good idea though."

"Do you military people really do that? That's somewhat barbaric, you know," commented Rodney.

Frowning at the scientist, John tilted his head a bit. "We're barbaric? I seem to recall you giving Kavanagh sewer repair duty shortly after the jumper got stuck in the gate a few years ago."

Rodney's eyes widened as he processed the memory. "Oh, I forgot about that." He smiled broadly. "It probably was barbaric, but it was still sweet. I can still see him coming down the hall covered in raw sewage." Wrinkling his nose, he frowned. "I can still smell it too. That was pretty rank."

"More so than the two of you were?"

Nodding emphatically, Rodney grinned. "Oh, yes, it was much worse."

"I'd like to have seen that," said Ronon. "I can find Brooks if you want."

Rubbing his heavy-lidded eyes, John let his hand drop to look at the Satedan. "Yeah . . . go get him. I guess I need to put his mind at ease. Don't take too long, though. Not sure how much longer I can keep my eyes open."

"Not worried," Ronon quipped as he headed for the door. "McKay's here to keep you awake."

As the door closed, Rodney whirled around to look at it. "What'd he mean by that?"

John grinned as he leaned back against the pillows. "I have no idea."

oOo

John stopped at the bottom of the ramp to fully take in the sight and smell of Atlantis. The open space of the pier around him left him almost breathless with relief. He'd only been released from the infirmary two days ago and he was feeling about as claustrophobic as he ever remembered feeling in his whole life. The thrum of Atlantis surged through him like a tingle of electricity, leaving him a bit light-headed. He braced his legs to keep from swaying and chancing being hurried off to the infirmary again. He fully planned on staying away from there for a while.

"Are you just gonna stand there all day?" Rodney asked as he walked by with Ronon.

"No," John replied, joining them as they made their way across the deck to where Teyla and Carter stood. Kavanagh and Lee were joining the two women just as they reached them.

"Welcome back, gentlemen," said Carter with a smile. "I'm glad to see you made it back in one piece."

John winced, the comment reminding him of those who hadn't made it back and the letters he still needed to type up. "We're glad to be back. You have no idea how glad," he added with a little more emotion than he had intended.

Carter looked at him funny a moment, but quickly recovered and nodded to Ronon. "I hear congratulations are in order. The IOA was very impressed with you. The SGA and the President send their thanks for your part in defeating the Wraith. Looks like you made quite an impression."

"We helped too," said Rodney. "We stopped the rest of them from making it to Earth."

"Yes, you did," admitted Carter. "You also destroyed the Midway station we worked so hard to build."

"That was not my fault," whined Rodney. "You can thank Kavanagh for that one."

"Hey, at least I was trying to do something," Kavanagh argued. "How was I supposed to know they bobby-trapped the bypass?"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't know, perhaps because we told you not to touch anything to avoid just such a disaster."

"You didn't say any such thing. You blew me off and told me to stand by the door."

"Which means you weren't supposed to touch anything," said Rodney. "We knew the Wraith might do something just like that, which is why neither one of us used the critical systems bypass to shut off the gate."

Kavanagh's face was beginning to turn red and he'd fisted his hands by his sides. "Well, if you'd ever bother to share information instead of hogging all the glory for yourself."

Rodney leaned back and slapped himself in the head. "We were under attack, you moron. There wasn't time for a lesson on Wraith habits and besides, you wouldn't have listened anyway."

"Gentlemen!" Carter said forcefully.

"Ten days," John growled, his eyes meeting Carter's.

"No wonder you ended up in the infirmary," Carter said. Teyla smiled and exchanged a look with Ronon.

"Oh, please," Rodney said in exasperation. "He missed most of the insanity by locking himself up in the front compartment. I'm the one that sat in the back with these idiots."

"The walls aren't that thick," John said insistently. "Besides, I had a head injury, remember?"

"Oh, now he admits he was injured."

Carter sighed and rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes. John watched her for a moment before recognizing the action. "Elizabeth used to do that."

Rodney closed his mouth and looked at Carter. "She did, didn't she?"

John knew what it meant when one of Teyla's eyebrows arched up and she gave him her impatient look. "There is a reason for that, and if you think about it, I am sure you will both figure out what it is."

Rodney and John looked at each other and then back to Carter. "I think I probably need to check with Lorne about some things," John said.

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm sure I'll need to speak with Zelenka," added Rodney.

The two men nodded to the rest of the group and headed for the doors leading into the city. John was pretty sure he heard Teyla talking to Carter as they left.

"Do not worry. You grow accustomed to it."

They pushed through the doors a few minutes later and Rodney turned to John. "I, uh, I'm sorry about that crack about admitting you were injured. Kavanagh makes me crazy."

"Understood," John replied.

"So, are you really okay?"

John rolled his eyes and sighed. "McKay, the doc released me two days ago. And as paranoid as that guy was, you know I have to be okay."

"Uh, that wasn't what I meant." Rodney stopped walking and John stopped to face him.

"Oh." He rubbed his chin, trying to figure out what to say. "I'm okay, or at least I'm getting there. Being back here helps, probably more than anything. I just need things to get back to normal."

Rodney snorted. "Normal. What is that any more?"

John didn't answer, for he didn't have one. After a moment, he resumed walking. "I'm going to check with Lorne, see what's been going on the last few weeks."

Hurrying to catch up, Rodney fell into step beside him. "Okay, and I'm going to find Radek. You, uh, want to meet for lunch later?"

Smiling, John nodded. "Yeah, and let's get Ronon and Teyla to join us. It's been a long time since the four of us have been together." He didn't say it out loud, but he'd missed it. He knew that was what he needed to truly feel like he was back home.

Normal? Well, as Rodney had indicated, there wasn't really a normal any more. People who could never be replaced were gone. Teyla was about to become a mother, which would change everything. He just didn't know how yet. The Athosians, their oldest ally in the galaxy and many of them close friends, were missing. They even periodically worked with a Wraith now. How was any of that normal? Things would never be normal again. But as long as they stayed together and worked together, they would have family and they would have home . . . they would have Atlantis.

John could live with that. And he would do everything in his power to make it stay that way.

THE END