Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

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"I will go check on our patients," Elizabeth said decidedly, and she left them to return to the infirmary to see if there were any changes. Not having McKay and Sheppard at her side was like missing a limb. She had grown so accustomed to their work as a team and being able to depend on them when things were going wrong. This mystery was continuing to unfold and she wished there was a clearer answer with a path forward. Lourne and Zelenka were certainly capable, but she trusted the Colonel and McKay in a way she didn't trust the others.

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They had been in the infirmary for several hours and John was slowly going stir crazy. He wasn't good at sitting still when he was injured, and while the ear drums were annoying, now that he had some pain meds on board he was ready to get back to work. "Pain's going away, I think my hearings getting better too, what about you?" John asked turning towards McKay.

Rodney didn't look up from his tablet, he continued to work as though he hadn't heard John at all, which didn't exactly mean he couldn't hear John. McKay had a habit of ignoring people and things when he was focused, or simply didn't want to be bothered.

"Rodney?" John called, testing to see if it was the former or the later this time. When there was still no response, John smirked. "Canadian football leagues a joke," he said playfully and when he still got no response he continued. "Celine Dion is overrated..." Nothing. "Zelenka is smarter than you are!" he hollered loud enough half the people in the infirmary turned to look his way. He grinned unrepentantly.

"HEY," McKay called turning towards him. "I FOUND REFERENCE OF A BIO LAB IN THE DATABASE. ANCIENT SCIENTISTS USED IT TO STUDY ANIMAL LIFE. WE SHOULD CHECK IT OUT."

John scoffed and let out a sigh. "Okay, Meredith," he agreed with a shake of his head.

John's cut to where Kai was resting, her eyes were closed, and there was  a grimace of pain on her face. It seemed unlikely she could hear them, so either she had finally fallen asleep, or she was choosing to ignore their antics.

The doors slid open and Elizabeth stepped in. She spotted Carson across the room and moved towards him. He looked tired, but still offered her a warm smile as she approached. "How's it going?" she asked.

Carson set aside his chart, his mouth was pinched into a concerned line. "More people have fallen ill. Headaches, nose bleeds...I've given everyone pain killers hopefully to buy some time until we can figure out how to stop this."

Elizabeth nodded looking around the rapidly filling infirmary with concern. "And how are you feeling?" she asked, stepping closer to him and dropping her voice.

Carson's eyes warmed at her concern. "My head's throbbing a wee bit, but I'll manage. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Elizabeth said, but her tone was a little sharper than usual.

"Here," Carson said, pulling out a packet of pain killers from his jacket pocket. "Pain killers, just in case." He closed his hands over hers, and held on for a moment longer than was necessary.

"Thank you," she said gratefully and her cheeks warmed, "I hope it doesn't-" she stopped with a frown as the door behind Carson slid open and McKay and Sheppard came through. She quickly stepped back from Carson and turned to the boys. "Hey, hey, what's this?" she asked, her tone sharp.

"That's a damn good question, who said you could get out of bed?" Beckett demanded. His normal gentle tone falling away beneath the air of authority he commanded in the infirmary.

Sheppard looked a little guilty, but he puffed himself up trying to use his bravado to get past Weir and Beckett. "WE'RE FEELING A LOT BETTER," John called, his voice still overly loud.