Hope is a Waking Dream

Chapter 15

It had been over a month since Carter had called off the search for Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. They had been sure that the Genii had killed him, although when they revisited the planet where they had been ambushed, there had been no body. Only a bloodstained clearing which Carson had confirmed was John's blood.

Sheppard's team had taken his disappearance the hardest. Rodney had shared a video that John had made which brought most of them to tears. No one wanted to hold a memorial service. There was a certain denial in that. If there was no memorial service, there was still hope.

It took a long time for them to accept that Sheppard was indeed gone. They spent over a month searching some of the planets that they found in the memory bank of the DHD but could find no trace of the Genii they had encountered. Eventually, Carter was forced to call it quits, and declared Sheppard MIA, presumed dead.

Teyla, Ronan and McKay struggled with their team duties. Carter took them off duty for a few weeks, scheduling time with Heitmeyer. In a way, it helped. Teyla became more serene. Rodney was quieter. Ronan kept his anger, and sparring sessions with him were a risk for anyone involved - more so than usual. Lorne started taking over Sheppard's duties while they waited on the SGC to send them details for their new commanding military officer. Carter had petitioned for Lorne. He was a good man, and Sheppard would have wanted it that way.

Then, one day, they got a call from the Alpha site.

Carter called Rodney, Teyla and Ronan breathlessly over the radio, trying to stay calm, but was unable to hide her anxiety. The team rushed to the gate room as ordered, finding Carson there with a medical team and the gate shining with light.

And Sheppard stepped through.

Rodney didn't recognize him at first. The spiky hair had grown more wild, his skin was darker, bare arms more sinewy, and his eyes had a feral, almost barbaric look that Rodney had never seen before. A two-day shadow covered his jaw, spoiling the clean shaven look the Colonel normally possessed. He was dressed in leather, long boots to his knees, his arms wrapped in leather armguards, a gun slung on his back and a large knife shoved in his belt. Everything he took in at a glance. What horrified him was the blood. The man was covered in it.

He stood, swaying on the platform, the light from the gate behind him obscuring his features.

"Sheppard," McKay breathed, breaking the spell that seemed to descend over the room.

With that, the pilot collapsed, legs folding as he fell at the foot of the Stargate. The gate shut down and the room broke into chaos as Carson ordered his medical team forward. Teyla, Ronan, McKay and Carter rushed forward as well, trying not to crowd the doctor and his team, but desperate to see the man they had thought was dead.

Sheppard had fallen to his knees, hunched over, his arms pressed to his sides. Carson gently touched Sheppard's shoulder, getting his team to lift the man onto a stretcher. A sharp cry of agony at the movement almost caused the medical team to drop him. The man's muscles were trembling, and blood soaked his clothes. A strange metallic device was attached to his temple, and Carson left it alone, pointing it out to his medical team. Someone immediately ran to prep the scanner in the medical bay.

"Oh God. Oh God, what is that?" McKay pointed at the strange device, feeling the urge to babble.

"Colonel, can you hear me?" Carson said, his hands gentle as he moved down the pilot's body, checking for any other injuries.

Sheppard moaned in reply, his eyes rolling back in his head. Carson couldn't get any response from him and directed his team towards the infirmary.

Doing a quick assessment on their way, Carson shooed Sheppard's team away from the bedside when they reached the infirmary. One of the nurses cut away the pilot's shirt revealing a thinner, more sinewy body than Carson remembered. Beginning at the pilot's head, he gently peeled back one of Sheppard's eyelids to find his eyes rolled back in his head. A scar on his temple revealed an old gunshot wound Carson had never seen before. He ignored the device on the side of his head for the moment, deciding to wait for the scanner before attempting to remove it.