Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Ghosting a Party

“Hey,” Sheppard said, standing in the doorway of McKay’s lab. “Aren’t you coming?”

McKay looked up from his work, blinking for a moment as he tried to comprehend that people were talking to him – breaking him out of the deep focus that comes from research. There was always someone who would barge right in, as if the door didn’t even matter. He had closed it, hadn’t he? That meant he didn’t want to be disturbed. He might have locked it, but didn’t because anyone with the gene could just bypass it.

A certain someone always bypassed it.

He frowned at the interlopers. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“You’re always busy,” Ronon said as he roamed into the room. “What is that, anyway?” He pointed to the pinkish pinecone-shaped thing on the counter beside Rodney’s laptop.

“I don’t know,” McKay said irritably. “That’s why I’m researching it.”

“Where did it come from?” Teyla asked, leaning closer to it to get a good look.

Rodney sighed. “It was found on one of the recent explorations. I think it was Lorne’s team.”

“They’re always finding weird things,” Ronon stated.

“What does it do?” Teyla asked innocently

“I don’t know!” McKay snapped back. “What did I just say? I’m researching it before I try activating it because...” he made a move to stop Sheppard from touching it. “… we know what sort of trouble comes from that.”

“Yeah, we do,” Sheppard responded, giving McKay a look. “Okay, we know it’s pink. That should help.” He stared at it for a moment. “And semi-transparent, and there’s blue bits in it. At least I think they’re blue. It’s hard to tell with all the pink.”

“Yes, I know,” McKay muttered, his attention going back to his screen.

“Is it important?” Sheppard asked.

“I said, ‘I don’t know.’ I’m trying to discover that, but I keep getting interrupted.”

“So, not immediately important,” Sheppard concluded.

Rodney sighed. “Not immediately,” he conceded.

Teyla smiled. “Then you can come to the party.”

Irritated, McKay gave them all the skunk eye.

Ronon moved back toward the door. “We got to go before they run out of the good appetizers.”

“Oh!” McKay answered, suddenly interested. “What kind are they serving? Do they have shrimp? Pigs in a blanket? Those bite-sized pizzas?”

Sheppard grimaced, “Probably not. It’s been a while since the Daedalus resupplied us. All the frozen shrimp is gone by now and the mess ran out of little smokies a while ago.”

“So, no idea what they’ll be serving?” Rodney continued.

“Not as such,” Sheppard responded.

“They are botanists,” Teyla said helpfully, getting sharp glances from both Sheppard and Ronon.

“Oh,” McKay groused. “Then we know it will be no good -- just weird vegetables and meat-free experiments.”

“That’s why we have to go early,” Ronon said. “Good stuff is going to go fast.”

“Yes, we should leave now,” Teyla added. “They will be expecting you.”

“Me?” Rodney returned incredulously. “Nobody expects me at a party.”

“Well,” Sheppard drawled, “When two of your people get married, you’re kind of expected to show up and…”

“Give my blessing?” McKay completed, looking as if John had lost his mind.

“God, no,” Sheppard returned quickly. “Definitely not that. But you should at least show your face and say ‘congratulations’.”

Rodney scowled. “I don’t have a gift. I don’t think I received an invitation.”

“There’s not going to be any gifts,” Ronon said.

Teyla nodded, saying, “At least not many.”

“It’s not as if we can go shopping off their gift registry,” John added. “And everyone received the invitation. It went out on the mailing list.”

Rodney snorted. “That’s not very personal. If I’m expected to come, I prefer my invitations to be personally addressed.”

“Everyone is going,” Teyla added. “You should come with us.”

“Hey,” Sheppard said, “Even I’m going. It’s not really my scene.”

Rodney returned his attention to his computer screen. “I hate parties,” he muttered. “I always end up standing by the food table, talking to no one. I can’t make small talk.”

“We know that,” Sheppard said. “But you need to come. They are your people.”

“Besides,” Teyla stated, “we will be there.”

“Yeah, don’t you want to hang out with your friends?” Sheppard said, giving him a grin.

McKay sighed and pushed away from the table. “Fine, I’m going. Happy?”

“You should change your clothes,” Teyla said in a low voice.

“What’s wrong with this?” McKay gestured to his rumpled work clothing.

“Well, you have food stains on it,” Sheppard said, pointing to something on McKay’s shirt and then brought the finger up quickly when Rodney looked down.

Annoyed, Rodney stepped back and put a hand over his offended nose. “Fine, I’ll change.”

“Will we see you there?” Teyla asked.

“We will see him there,” Sheppard revised, giving him a look that brooked no argument.

“Fine, I’ll come. You guys better be there still.”

-------------------

After a quick shower – because it has been a while -- McKay put on one of his best shirts and left the lab to join the others. He arrived in the mess hall, following the beat of the bass. The tables had been pushed back to open the floor for dancing. Music was blaring.

He felt his chest tighten, as it always did at a party. He was always awkward. So many times, he’d been invited to places by ‘friends’ who immediately left him on his own. He hated that feeling – of being out of place. Alone, in his lab, he was always exactly where he should be – but at a party…

Of course, he knew almost everyone, but he had the worst time putting names to faces. He really wasn’t on ‘friend’ terms with most of the people. There was a time, before the Daedalus, when he did know most of the names. But, since Atlantis had reconnected with Earth, people came and went. As soon as he figured one out who one person was – they left – or died. Too many had died since the mission started and he didn’t need to commit that much time to remembering.

Rodney moved through the mob, getting jostled and blocked as people moved drunkenly. He had to say ‘excuse me’ several times before he realized that no one could hear him in the noise, so he just pressed people out of the way – he was glared at in return.

He found a table of nearly depleted appetizers. There were only some soggy looking pinwheel sandwiches (meat-free, no doubt), plates of unfamiliar vegetables and off-color fruits – untouched -- and a couple bowls of sketchy looking macaroni salads.

“Those shouldn’t be left out like that,” McKay muttered. “People can die of botulism.” He wanted to flag down someone to take care of the problem, but nobody seemed to be overseeing the tables.

The ‘Chicken Dance’ started playing, and the few people who were dancing, groaned and left the floor.

Next was a table of presents. He grumbled as he saw the wrapped gifts – not many, but enough to make him look bad for bringing nothing. A stack of envelopes made him feel worse – all the same size -- obviously part of that box of blank notecards that had arrived with their last re-supply. Proof that personalized invitations could have gone out to the most important guests.

Well, he could have brought a card at least. If he’d written a quick congratulations, he’d be in the clear. He’d be able to drop the card and leave. He recognized Teyla’s beautiful script on the tag for one of the gifts, and there was Sheppard’s scrawl on a card. “Thanks, guys,” he muttered.

He moved past the disappointing food table and the irritating gifts, to find the happy couple surrounded by a cluster of friends, all talking in loud animated voices – all too terribly cheerful.

Dr. Brian Makepeace – the groom, looked up at him as he approached. His jubilant grin fell, replaced with a plastered-on grin. He nudged the bride, Dr. Gwendolen Akles-Bryerson (or was it Makepeace now? Or Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace? That’d never fit on her name tag), who smiled that same unfriendly smile. He didn’t deal much with these two – they were in the botany department and often worked with the kitchen crew to integrate the latest found fruits and foliage into their diet. He had questioned them often about the fare.

“Hey,” he said, bringing his hands together in what might have been a clap. “Ah, yeah, nice party, huh?”

Brian drew Gwen closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. “Thanks,” he said.

“Really, really, nice reception,” Rodney said, “Ah, good attempt at appetizers. I hope you had something else earlier because it’s looking pretty meager now. Someone really needs to do something about the macaroni salad. That’s just not smart to leave it out like that. You might kill people. You’re going to give everyone on Atlantis food poisoning. But not me. I’m not eating that.”

He looked around, taking in the decorations for the first time. Someone had hung bits of cloth like streamers from the ceiling. Fairy lights draped down with them. “How did they get up there?” he asked aloud. “I mean, I hope nobody tied anything to important infrastructure. This could cause serious trouble in an emergency, because everything in Atlantis serves a purpose. Did you check with anyone before doing that?”

The merry little crowd around the couple drew back and made unhappy sounds. Two of the group lowered their gaze and suspiciously became interested in the floor. One person said, “I’m sure it’s been checked out, Dr. McKay.”

“It didn’t go through me,” Rodney muttered looking upward in alarm. “Seriously, you can’t tie off your streamers to just anything. And where did you plug in those lights?”

“They’re on batteries,” someone else said.

“A waste of batteries. And who used up our limited supply space to bring those on the Daedalus? Seems wasteful.” McKay sniffed, then added, “Where did the tablecloths come from. It’s paper. We don’t have a lot of paper to spare.”

“Carson had it,” Brian said. “He’s had it since we arrived.”

“Seriously?” McKay exclaimed. “What would he need all that paper for?”

“It was supposed to be used to line exam tables,” one of the other party-goers explained. Her name might have been Sandoval or Stanford or Sampson - something with an S. Her first name was definitely Bonnie.

Incredulous, McKay responded, “But it’s not supposed to be used like that. Seriously, people sit on that paper – naked.”

“Dr. Beckett hasn’t ever used it,” Gwen said sharply. “He didn’t need it. He didn’t know that when we first came. Since he doesn’t use it, people have been taking it for … crafts.”

“Another waste of space,” Rodney mumbled. “I could have used that storage space for something important - something for my experiments. How do I get denied, but someone finds space for ridiculous lights and rolls of paper. Really -- crafts?” he said and muttered, “I’ll have to talk to Beckett about that.” He started to turn to find Carson before he remembered why he came.

“Congratulations. Yeah, I don’t work with you guys very often, so I don’t know if you’ll be great together, but maybe things will work out. It’s kind of tough here though. People are breaking up all the time. It’s like this place is cursed for couples, haunted with broken relationships. But, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I mean, you botanists are a different breed and maybe you’ll be fine. I mean, Dr. Makepeace was with Dr. Winslow earlier this year, which makes me wonder whether botanists’ mate for life.” He chuckled at his little joke before he frowned. “But, yeah, but that doesn’t work for plants. I mean you don’t study gibbons or prairie voles, right?”

Nobody else laughed.

Brian tightened his hold on Gwen, and she looked annoyed – both at his grip on her, but mostly on her boss. “We are fine,” she said, and she turned to give Brian a quick kiss, he returned it ardently.

“Okay,” McKay said, stepping back. “I’ll just let you…”

Makepeace continued to mash on Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace, so Rodney made his escape from them, and the annoyed glances of the group that stood around them. ‘The Chicken Dance’ started playing again.

Gwen shoved Brian off her. “Stacy,” she said to that woman who should have been named Bonnie. “Get someone to stop playing that!”

“Great, fine,” McKay muttered as he made his way through the gathered throng. Everyone had a drink in their hand, but Rodney hadn’t found the bar yet. Not that he really wanted anything. He needed a clear mind because he was going back to the lab as soon as he could. Everyone seemed to be a little drunk, which made them all too loud as they called to each other and wavered on their feet.

He hadn’t found Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon yet. He wondered if they were still together – but figured they had probably melded into the crowd. He spotted Radek on the other side of the room, laughing and talking to a couple of scientists – Wallingford and Winslow. He caught Dr. Cheryl Winslow taking a surreptitious glance at Makepeace. That didn’t bode well.

Carson was chatting with Elizabeth in another corner. It would take some work to get across the floor to them.

The soldiers tended to keep with their own kind, as did the scientists, in pairs and small groups. Only a few people were dancing – awkwardly. There was no way that he would be out there – dancing. Even if someone were to ask him. It’s not as if anyone ever did. Three female scientists came onto the dancefloor and danced together in a little group – laughing. Another small group followed, forming their own circle. No wonder they were never available to ask him.

He maneuvered over to the food table and stood beside it for a while. He caught sight of Sheppard as he moved through the crowd, talking to everyone. He never stayed with anyone for long before moving on. Rodney considered waving to him, but he seemed intent on his path. He saw Ronon, joining one of the circles of women on the dance floor. Teyla was with the bride and groom, and they all laughed.

Bored with just standing by a table that no one visited, Rodney took one more glance around. He thought about intercepting Sheppard on his wending way but figured that would just be weird. Sheppard wasn’t pausing long for anyone, so it would be pointless to join in, and he’d look like a lost puppy if he tagged along. He’d probably just be left behind. It wasn’t as if he could join Ronon and the ladies – yeah, that would not be welcome. The two small groups had joined into one mob of laughing women with Ronon in the middle. He seriously didn’t want to head back to the bride and groom to join Teyla.

He had shown his face. He had congratulated the couple (without bringing a gift). It wasn’t as if the food would keep him here. His friends were too busy to notice that he’d arrived. So, he turned and made his way back through the crowd, nodding to a few people in hopes they would later say, “Oh, yeah, Dr. McKay was here,” in case anyone asked. Not that they would, but if Sheppard started accusing him – he’d have some backup.

He felt better the moment he exited the Mess Hall when the Chicken Dance started again. The tightness in his chest left him. He could breathe, he could think, he could hear clearly. He moved easily through the empty halls, knowing that just about everyone in Atlantis was at the party. It felt good to be alone and away from the madding crowd.

Easily, he made his way back to his lab where he could work in peace – with no one to disturb him, or jostle him, or make him feel out of place.

With a sigh of relief, he returned to his research, delving into the details of the most recent discovery -- the pink pinecone Ancient Device. He’d been working on it all day. His computer started lagging to the point of frustration. He gave up on that route and tried another with better success. Still, it was running slowly as it often did when he was researching something like this. Annoying.

As he pondered and searched for hours, he finally tracked down the information he sought – it was … an air freshener. “Seriously?” he asked as he stared at the thing. He activated it and was able to get it to send out a floral scent, a musky scent and something like salt air. With a sigh, he shut it down. “Not very helpful,” he muttered, but brightened. “Hey, I could give it to the happy couple! I’ll just say I forgot to bring it earlier. Disaster averted.”

He stood, stiff from sitting for so long. He paused a moment, thinking about what he could wrap the air freshener in. It wasn’t as if they had a lot of paper here. And he remembered the use of the paper from medical on the tables. The party should be winding down – maybe it was over? He could nip over there and pick up a piece of paper (unstained by food, alcohol or other things) and use that to wrap the air freshener. He knew that Akles-Bryerson had the gene, so she could make her quarters – no, THEIR quarters -- smell like a floral musky sea if she wanted to. Perfect.

He stepped quickly to head to the Mess Hall and was overwhelmed for a moment with the smell of fresh cooked bacon. He turned back to the air freshener, excitedly thinking that if it could smell like that, maybe he would keep it – but the device was off.

That’s odd, he thought, and double checked its status.

Very strange. He sat down and continued to research for a while longer, trying to figure out if there was a bacon setting, and if there was any other purpose for the device other than scenting the air. It didn’t even seem able to deodorize a room – just add a layer of extra odor. Ridiculous.

Finally, realizing it was late, he stood again to go. He doubted that anyone had cleaned up at the party and he worried about the macaroni salads again. Surely someone removed them at some point and obviously no one would be stupid enough to eat it now. Well, he had to get to the mess before anyone tried to clean up the paper.

He took a step and -- something disconnected. He felt as if he was passing out – or rather as if part of him was sluffing off. He tried to grab for the counter but couldn’t. Startled, he jumped back. What the hell was that? And stared in disbelief as a body hit the floor – his own.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Ghost Powers

Rodney stood in silence, looking down at his inert body. “No, no, no, no,” he muttered as he stared at himself on the floor. He was just lying there – not moving. Dead?

“What? No!” He wanted to step away, to run, but instead he leaned down next to his body and stared. “Not dead?” he muttered. “I can’t be dead. Not like this. I mean, there’s so many ways to die here and I’m just… falling down dead in my lab for no good reason? I should have died saving people – saving kids! So unfair! Okay, maybe I can fall down dead like this when I’m old. That would make sense, but this…”

The body breathed. “Thank God, oh thank God.” But when Rodney reached out to touch his arm, his hand went right through. It stung! He jerked back. “Oh, this is bad,” he mumbled. “This is very bad.” He looked at his hand in surprise. The body on the floor looked like it always did (except considerably stiller than normal) – but when he looked at his own arm, it was pale, colorless and transparent.

“I’m not a ghost!” he muttered. Not a ghost. I’m alive! I can see myself breathing! I don’t believe in ghosts!

He tried to activate his radio, but it remained silent. “Unfair!”

He stood and moved quickly to the door – he attempted to open it, but it remained frustratingly shut. “Come on!” he grumbled and reached to touch the door and his hand went through. “So not good.” Closing his eyes, he stepped forward – pretending it was one of those illusions that the Ancients used so regularly. Suddenly, he was standing in the hallway.

“Okay, okay, at least I’m out.” Seeking help, he tried a door chime on the nearest door, but his hand went through the button. “Of course,” he sighed. He had to find someone.

It was late. Everyone was asleep, especially after the party. No one would be at work in the labs. He could try walking through this door, but he didn’t fancy trying to wake up a drunk. Who lived here? Jenkins? Yeah, he’d be drunk.

Of course, someone would be in the control center. He’d just have to head there.

The hallways remained silent and empty.

He turned and continued toward the gate. He moved quickly, calling out from time to time without any response.

A soldier suddenly appeared in the hallway, Sgt. Babcock? The soldier yawned as he moved slowly toward him.

“Oh thank God. Babcock, right? Babcock, I need help. I need serious help. Something is wrong with me. My body is on the floor of my lab and…”

Babcock kept walking. Annoyed, McKay tried to block him, but Babcock didn’t stop.

Rodney prepared to be slammed into. Instead, he gasped in pain. For a moment, it felt like he’d been ripped apart as Babcock moved through him. “Son of a bitch,” he cried, hugging his arms around himself. “Why did you do that? Babcock? What did I ever do to you?” but the sergeant kept walking, not even noticing him.

What the hell? Truly spooked, Rodney increased his speed, running toward the control room.

He moved through the mess hall, pausing to see the tables still covered with the stained paper, platters of wilting, withered vegetables and bowls of botulism. The sad pinwheel sandwiches were gone. He reached out to touch one of the veggie-trays, but his hand went through it as if it wasn’t there. Strangely though, he could touch the table.

He kept moving and emerged into the gate room. He paused a moment, taking in the space. Marymere, the gate tech who usually worked the night shift, was on duty, dully scrolling through something on his laptop.

“Dr. Marymere… ah, Falcon, right? I remember that. Super cool name, by the way. But, hey, ah, Falcon, I need help.”

Dr. Falcon Marymere didn’t lift his creepy pale eyes from the screen.

“Seriously?” McKay cried and started toward the stairs. It was then that he noticed the people standing near the gate. There were two soldiers, who looked bored as hell as they paced the area, but two other people stood nearby – and they were looking at him in shock.

“Oh, you can see me?” McKay asked. “Tell me you can see me!”

They moved toward him: One was scientist, a woman with dark hair and a ponytail, wearing an old uniform. The other was a soldier, short with close-cropped dark hair.

“Dr. McKay?” the scientist asked, looking him up and down.

“But,” the soldier said, “We just saw you in the lab.”

They both looked alarmed and perplexed.

Dr. Nadine Dumais! McKay’s jaw dropped in surprise. The lovely and talented Dr. Dumais. She looked exactly as he remembered her on that horrible day. He’d led that team into a ruined part of Atlantis, where Johnson and Wagner discovered Ancient lab with the nanovirus. And they died – horrifically.

And then, Dumais died in front of him, because he hadn’t figured it out quickly enough. He’d led them into danger. He let her and Hayes die. They knew it was coming by then – they knew what would happen. It was worse the second time. He remembered Dumais crying out, afraid of the visions, looking to him for help. God, he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even step forward to comfort her – he left that job to others. A good man would have stepped forward, but the visions were already starting to come after him. He’d cringed away from her.

He was fearing for himself by then.

He’d brought that team into danger. He would watch them all die unless he came up with a solution. He had – in time. But it took too long to save Dumais, Hayes and Peterson.

He’d seen Nadine’s body. He’d seen the terrifying blood. In the autopsy, Biro had sawed off the top of her head. She wasn’t just merely dead, she was really most sincerely dead.

His gaze shifted to the soldier. Sgt.  Carrigan -- Jason  Carrigan. But… Kolyla had shot him -- along with Corporal Mike Collins -- when the Genii entered the city before the storm. Rodney shuddered that that memory of Koyla – the storm, the fear, the knife.

They’d had a ceremony for  Carrigan and Collins, for Johnson, Wagner, Hayes, Dumais and even Peterson. Rodney remembered – he had tried to remember the names of all those who had died. His memory was awful for putting names to faces, but he could make the effort to remember these. But then, as the numbers kept growing, it became harder to remember them all.

Dead. Dumais and  Carrigan were both dead. Yet, here they were, standing by the gate, looking as solid as the soldiers that stood near them. Looking more alive than Marymere who continued to scroll listlessly on his laptop, glancing around the gateroom from time to time, his gaze flitting past him.

Rodney felt lightheaded and reached out a hand to touch a wall for support but fell through it.

Flustered, McKay found his head in the next room. He sat up and flopped back into the control room.  Carrigan and Dumais ran to him, trying to help him stand, but their hands couldn’t touch him.

“Okay,”  Carrigan said. “That’s weird.” He looked to Dumais and said, “We went right through him. I mean, he saw us, right? He’s one of us.”

“Why’s that weird?” McKay spat out as he sat up. “I can’t touch anything, but the floor and the table. Why can I touch the floor, but not the walls?”

“Yeah,”  Carrigan said, “That’s always been a mystery. You walk on the floor, sit on furniture, touch it and everything, but that’s about it.”

“But, this is strange,” Dumais said, glancing at  Carrigan. “We can touch others like us.” She demonstrated by reaching out and grasping the soldier’s arm. Then she reached for McKay and her hand never connected.

McKay retracted his arm in alarm.

“Did it hurt?” she asked.

“No, should it?” McKay returned.

“It hurts to move through the living,” Dumais explained.

“Yeah,” McKay confirmed. “I kind of ran into Babcock earlier. Not a pleasant sensation. So,” he paused to look down at himself, seeing his transparent and colorless body. “I’m a ghost!?” He scrabbled to his feet, touching his chest in alarm, to see if he felt real. He did.

Dumais stood quickly, brushing unnecessarily at her clothing. “I don’t think so. I mean, you look like a classic ‘ghost’, but that’s not what real ghosts look like. You’re see-though.” She gestured to  Carrigan and herself. “We look like livings to each other but living beings can’t see or hear us.”

 Carrigan helpfully pointed out, “You’re not normal.”

“I’m not dead,” McKay cried. “I’m… I mean, my body is in the lab, on the floor, but alive.” He looked at the other two, “But you…”

“Ghosts,”  Carrigan said. “Dead.”

“You’re alive?” Dumais said hopefully. “Let’s go see what you look like.”

Rodney gave her a curious glance for a moment, but she inclined her head toward his lab. “Oh,” he responded. “Oh yeah, come on.”

They started toward the lab, stopping for a moment at a row of unoccupied crew quarters that lined the central hallway – too small and loud to be in demand. “Elaina, are you there? You have to see this,” she called, as she pushed her head through the door, reminding Rodney of how BIro had decapitated the poor woman in his research.

 Carrigan moved to the next door and did the same. “Hey, Hallon, get up! We have big business here.”

Dumais moved further down the hall, calling at the next door for “Marni.”

A moment later, a familiar looking woman came through the first door, and an Athosian woman stepped out of the last room. A Genii soldier exited the middle room.

Rodney struggled, feeling for his sidearm, but remembered that he was dressed to go to the party. Dumais tried to give him a reassuring pat, but the hand went right through him. She made a disappointed sound, and then said, “It’s okay, it’s only Hallon.”

The three newcomers looked at him in shock. “He’s… dead? Dr. McKay is dead?” the Athosian, Marni, asked as she pointed toward McKay. She had long dark hair, plaited down her back with a ribbon, and a red wound on her chest.

“This is bad,” the familiar woman said. And Rodney remembered her name, Dr. Elaina Johnson – another of the scientists that he’d led into that damaged part of Atlantis, another of the victims of the nanovirus. She was the first he’d seen die. Wagner was already gone by the time they got there. There was blood on their faces and their minds destroyed. He’d allowed them all to die, while he shrank in fear from the visions. He should have researched the area further before the expedition. He’d let it happen.

“He can’t be dead,” Johnson said, surprised.

“I’m not dead!” Rodney insisted.

“He’s transparent,” the Genii said. “That’s not normal.” He had several red wounds across his chest – seriously disturbing. They didn’t seem to bother him.

Rodney glanced at  Carrigan and finally noticed the single neat bullet wound at his chest. At least Dumais and Johnson still had their heads – they must all remain as they had died. At least the blood was gone from their faces – but still, disturbing to think about. Nobody really seemed to have blood stains on their clothing, despite the violence of their deaths.

“He’s not entirely dead,” Dumais said. “His body – living body -- is apparently in his lab.”

“Not ‘apparently’,” McKay corrected. “That’s where I left it. I checked – alive.”

Jason  Carrigan turned and started moving quickly down the hallway, “Let’s go check it out.”

Rodney looked uncomfortably at the Genii. He was tall and broad. Not really built like a soldier, rather a laborer, bullet-ridden, moving with the others as if he’d known them for years, as if he hadn’t tried to kill them at one point.

Rodney paused when he reached the door to his lab, but the others moved right through, obviously used to the situation. He followed and they all stepped into his lab.

“Where?”  Carrigan asked, as the others fanned out. Rodney pointed to a spot on the other side of a counter. Hallon and Marni moved around the barrier and knelt next to the still body of Dr. Rodney McKay. Ghostly-Rodney watched in horrified amazement, still astonished to see his body on the floor – seemingly lifeless.

“He isn’t dead,” Marni confirmed. “Look. Breathing still.” She held a hand near his mouth and nodded.

The Genii commented, “His color looks good.”

“Thank goodness,” Dr. Johnson said.

“Exactly!” Rodney said, pointing at Elaina. “I am essential to the city. Without me saving the day, well, everyone would probably be in great peril, nearly all the time. Imagine how people will panic when they find out that something has happened to me. We need to get help, but no one can hear us, right?”

“Well,” Dr. Johnson said, tossing her hair. “They can hear me sometimes. I can lead them with my ghost power.”

“Ghost power?” McKay repeated.

“We all have ghost powers,” Dumais explained. “Elaina can make a beeping noise that sounds like an alarm going off in another room, but you can never find exactly where it’s coming from.”

Rodney looked at her accusingly. “That’s you?” he said. “I hear it all the time. It makes me crazy. Why do you do that?”

Johnson grinned and shrugged. “I do it when you’re being way a jerk to your team. It distracts you long enough to lay off. You can really be unbearable sometimes, but you’re easily distracted.”

Rodney gasped. “No, I’m not that easily distracted!” The ghosts nodded. With a frown, Rodney added, “It just makes me angrier sometimes.”

Johnson nodded. “Yes, I noticed.”

“Sometimes you’re a little jack-assy,”  Carrigan added. “But we’ve just grown used to you.”

Rodney looked at them askance, “Thank you?” he tried.

“Hallon can make his eyes glow red,” Dumais went on.

The Genii looked ashamed. “I don’t like doing it. It makes me look like a demon.”

“It happens when he gets angry or upset,” Marni said, touching his arm. “Or he can make it happen if he wants.”

“You have demons in your mythology?” McKay asked.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Marni returned.

Hallon nodded. “I was a farmer,” he said. “I had a family and sweet home, until Kolya came calling. He found out I was a sharpshooter and I had to go with him. One of my neighbors said that I had fallen in with a demon. I never forgot that.”

“Jason gives off the smell of bacon when someone walks through him,” Dumais explained.

“Ah ha!” Rodney said, turning toward  Carrigan. “That’s why I smell bacon sometimes, even before the Daedalus started bringing it. Seriously, the best reason to get resupplied from Earth.”

“Bacon is the food that makes all foods better,” Jason said, knowingly. He sighed. “It hurts like hell when someone walks through me, but it’s hard to avoid sometimes. Some people make a lot of erratic movements.” And he looked toward Rodney.

“I have… many things on my mind,” Rodney tried to explain. “And that explains why I always start thinking of bacon at odd hours.”

Dumais continued, “Marni can turn off things.”

The Athosian smiled. “I had this irrational fear of fire when I was young, so I was always turning off lamps, snuffing out fires. It made me unpopular, to say the least.”

“I can search computer databases,” Dumais said. When Rodney brightened, she frowned and added. “Sounds great but not very helpful if I can’t do anything with what I find. I can parse through the Ancient database, looking for something. It takes ages, seriously – a long time, but I can nail down just about anything. But then what?”

“You were messing with my computer earlier,” McKay said.

Dumais shrugged. “I slow down a computer when I’m in there.”

“Not helpful,” McKay groused.

“Sometimes helpful,” Dumais added.

Rodney continued to stare at himself -- so still on the floor. “So, Dr. Johnson can lead someone with the beeping sound.”

“Not accurately,” she put in. “The sound doesn’t seem to come from any distinct place, but I can probably get someone going in the right direction.” Elaina grinned proudly. “It’s exhausting, but, I can do it for a while.” She nodded to Hallon. “Maybe you can lead them for the rest of the way?”

The Genii looked unsure. “People become fearful when they see glowing red eyes. I don’t think it would be helpful.”

“We’ll make it work,” Dumais surmised. “Let’s go find our target.”

-------------------

The group moved through the hallways, looking for someone who was awake, and finally spotted Sgt. Babcock, moving down the hallway on his rounds.

“Here we go,” Dumais said and pointed at Dr. Johnson.

Elaina moved down the hallway, toward McKay’s lab – and an intense look came over her face. The quiet alarm went off – a beeping that was both insistent and indistinct, low enough to almost be ignored.

Babcock stopped and rubbed his head. “No,” he muttered, “I don’t want to have to deal with this.” He tried to take another step. Elaina’s eyes squinted and the alarm grew louder.

With a groan, Babcock turned toward the sound. He sighed and started clomping toward it. Johnson backstepped, leading him. She started to look exhausted as Babock slowly followed, stopping often to locate where the sound was coming from.

“I can’t do this much longer,” Elaina said through gritted teeth.

“But you’re almost there,” Rodney encouraged.

Dumais came to her side, as Johnson said, “This takes a lot out of me.”

“Okay, Hallon, you’re next,” Dumais told him.

With a sigh, Hallon jogged toward Johnson and Dumais, as Elaina continued to make the sound, but the alarm was growing softer, starting to sound strangled. Babcock shrugged and started to turn.

She made one last squeal as Hallon came alongside her and turned toward Babcock. His eyes started to glow red, demonically.

Babcock gasped and stepped back. “What the hell is that? I didn’t sign up for this shit.”

“Wait, wait,” Jason said. “Hallon, cover one of your eyes and blink the other – like a red light blinking.”

Dumais added, “Marni, can you dim the lights?”

“Sure,” the Athosian said, reaching her arms toward the lights above as Hallon turned his demon eyes into a single blinking red light – shining in the dim hallway.

Babcock looked uncertain. He touched his radio. “Ah, Marymere?” he called.

“What is it?” was the dull return.

“There’s something going on here outside of Dr. McKay’s lab. I heard an alarm and now the lights went out in the hall and a red light is blinking.”

“Huh,” Falcon returned. “I’m not seeing anything here. You’d better check that out.”

“Right,” Babcock said uncomfortably. “Check it out.”

Babcock edged forward, with Hallon backing away until he was standing outside of the door to the lab. “Getting tired,” he ground out, his uncovered eye blazing red as he blinked.

“Try the other eye, Hallon,” Jason suggested, following Babcock as he edged closer. Marni was straining now, and the hall lights became brighter.

“Something seriously weird is going on,” Babcock said as he approached the door.

Elaina passed him, slipping through the door, and starting the beeping again. Hallon backed after her.

Reluctantly, Babcock keyed the door, hoping it was locked. It wasn’t. The door slid open. The lights were still on and the weak beeping continued. Elaina and Hallon had moved toward McKay’s body. Dr. Johnson was obviously straining, her face contorted in the effort. Hallon had switched to the other eye, but the demon glow was fading. He grimaced with the effort.

“Come on!” McKay shouted at Babcock. “Just go in further! You’ll see me. You need to get help.”

Babcock continued to edge his way in, glaring at the red light that was getting weaker. The alarm had finally faded to a quiet squeak and stopped. Jason moved in between the two ghosts, offering his arms to hold up his friends as they weakened. “You got this, guys,” he said. “Come on, Babcock! Don’t be afraid of a demon eye.”

“I’m not a demon,” Hallon muttered unhappily.

And Babcock, curious, stepped further into the lab, finally moving around the counter, attempting to see what was causing the red light, and maybe finding what was making that insistent undefinable beeping.

His hand flew to his radio as he finally came clear of the obstruction. “We need medical, right now! Dr. McKay is down. Repeat, send medical assistance now to McKay’s lab!” He crouched down next to the physicist as the ghosts rejoiced at their victory.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Ghost Rules

It took several agonizing minutes before anyone arrived. Babcock had taken McKay’s pulse, but since then he sat back, looking out of his depth. “Don’t die,” he muttered. “Don’t die while I’m here at least. I don’t want to be responsible for ending the super genius.”

“See,” McKay said, looking to the others. “They know how important I am. The city would sink without me.”

Babcock stood suddenly, to open the door and wait for help. They heard the clattering of the gurney as the night medical staff arrived. Dr. Greene performed a few quick checks before Rodney was loaded onto the gurney and whisked away.

The ghost group followed, as Greene called out orders and alerted the infirmary.

Beckett, still emerging from sleep and pulling on his lab coat, arrived and started asking questions. Greene mostly said that he had no idea what was going on, but that Rodney wasn’t able to respond to anything.

“Good, Carson is here,” Rodney said. “He’ll figure it out.” He turned to the ghosts and said, “It’s been great getting to know all of you, but I’m hoping this is goodbye.”

The ghosts didn’t look convinced.

Within a few minutes, the staff had moved him to one of the examination beds (with no paper to line it) and performed several obtrusive procedures. They cut off his shirt – one of his best ones – a waste. Rodney checked quickly to see if his ‘ghostly’ shirt remained intact. Thankfully, it did.

Rodney winced and cringed as he watched them work on his unresponsive body, doing some things that looked painful – with the other ghosts watching with interest.

And nothing really happened.

Carson sighed, clapping a hand on the top of unmoving-McKay’s head. “Ach, Rodney, what have you done to yourself this time?”

“Nothing!” Rodney countered. “Absolutely nothing. I was just standing there.”

Wires and tubes and devices were attached, and Beckett made sad little sounds as he examined the displays.

“Very low brain activity,” Greene pointed out unnecessarily.

“That’s because my brain his here!” Rodney shouted, pointing to his ghostly head.

Carson asked softly, “What’s going on with you?”

“I’m outside of my body!” McKay said, snapping his fingers in front of Becketts face and frustratingly getting no response. “Figure out how to get me back in! Wait a minute, I haven’t tried to do it myself.” And he made a move to climb onto the table.

“Not a good idea,” Johnson said. “Really, stop.” She reached out a hand to grab him and grumbled when she couldn’t connect.

“It’s been tried before,” Hallon said unhappily.

“Rodney, don’t,” Dumais said. “It hurts to move through living things.”

“But that’s MY living thing,” McKay gestured as he leaned over his own body. “I should be able to just slip in…” And he attempted to flop into his body.

With a cry, he was repulsed and almost shoved off. He fell to the floor, clutching himself. It felt as if a bolt of electricity had been fired off. “Dammit! Dammit!” he blurted out.

Hallon and Jason were squatting next to him. “You okay, man?”  Carrigan asked.

Rodney clutched at his insubstantial but pain-filled self. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We did,” Elaina said soberly.

“We really did,” Nadine added.

Rodney sat up slowly, looking at Hallon’s outstretched hand that retracted after Rodney failed at his attempt to grab it for support. “So unfair!” Rodney muttered. He looked up at Marni who was watching the display. “Did anything happen?” he asked hopefully.

The Athosian shook her head. “Nothing,” she answered. Beckett and Greene kept fussing with the equipment and shooting each other troubled glances.

As Rodney slowly made his way to his feet, disappointed that he couldn’t grab hold of the bed to help leverage himself up. “I thought we could touch furniture,” he groused.

“Only if you’re using it as furniture – to sit on it,” Dumais told him.

“Or lean,” Jason added.

“Or rest,” Marni said.

“You can’t pull on it though,” another voice added. “If you’re not using it as furniture, it won’t work.”

“Ghost rules,” someone else said.

Rodney finally noticed two other incongruent figures in the room. A soldier stood in the corner – a big African-American dressed in black and white camouflage with a red beret – one of the soldiers that had joined them from the Daedalus in their fight against the Wraith.

A man with glasses, wearing hospital garb, sat on an unoccupied bed. He was another familiar face, but Rodney couldn’t quite place him.

Before he could ask any questions about them, the infirmary came alive with noise as Sheppard and Ronon charged in, followed by Teyla.

“What the hell?” a rumpled Sheppard shouted. Ronon, also freshly awakened, but looking in better shape than Sheppard.

“What happened?” Sheppard demanded as he reached the bed where unresponsive-Rodney lay, looking unresponsive. John’s angry, pained expression was replaced with a different kind of pain – possibly a hangover.

“We have no idea,” Carson said, exasperated. “He was found on the floor of his lab like this.”

“What did this?” Sheppard asked, obviously looking for someone to blame.

“Sorry, Colonel,” McKay muttered. “It’s not my fault. At least I don’t think so.”

“He’s made no response and…” Becket said as he raised a hand to the monitor and said mournfully, “I am detecting very little brain activity.”

The ghosts moved out of the way as the living closed in around the bed. “Low brain activity?” Teyla asked, her voice trembling a little.

“Basic activity only,” Carson said. “He’s breathing. His body is functioning, but he’s not… thinking.”

“Of course, I’m thinking,” Rodney spouted. “I’m thinking plenty of things.”

The others said nothing for a moment. Ronon put a hand on unmoving-Rodney’s shoulder and looked somber – probably realizing the impact this would have on Atlantis. Teyla moved back a step, raising a hand to her head as if she didn’t want to think about this.

Sheppard paced toward the bed and back toward Carson, his hands clenched. “What did this? Nobody knows? Are you saying that the only person who could probably answer this can’t say anything?” he asked sharply, obviously thinking McKay must be at the bottom of it and at fault for not being able to respond to this crisis.

Rodney tried to backtrack in his mind. Did he cause this? “I don’t know,” he said softly.

“We have just started the examination and will know more with a little time,” Carson placated. He went on for a while, detailing everything that they’d tried, the ideas that he’d already nixed, the ideas he’d yet to pursue. He had plenty of possibilities and started naming the physical malfunctions that might have happened.

“It’s not an aneurism,” Carson went on, ticking off thing things that hadn’t happened.

Both Johnson and Dumais repeated, “Not an aneurism.”

“Another nanovirus?” Sheppard pressed.

Dumais and Johnson shook their heads.

“Not like the last, at least. We don’t know,” Carson repeated. “We’re still looking for a cause.”

“He was in his lab?” Sheppard recalled. “Then we look in his lab.”

“It’s not in my lab!” McKay insisted. “There’s nothing there that would have done this…” he pointed to inert-Rodney, “…To me.”

“I was going to call a team to investigate the lab,” Carson tried.

Sheppard gestured to Teyla, “Call them in. Come on,” he said. “Let’s go check it out. Ronon, stay here with him. We’ll meet the others at the lab.”

Ronon grunted his assurance. Teyla stepped forward, first touching unmoving-Rodney’s hand, and then pressing her forehead against his. “We will solve this,” she said quietly. “I promise.”

Carson looked aggrieved, “I fear he cannot hear you, lass.”

“But I can,” Rodney insisted.

Teyla patted his hand again, “I hope he knows that we were here.”

“I know,” Rodney said quietly.

And she left, following Sheppard who was already hurrying down the hallway.

Ronon found a seat on the bed next to McKay. “He can’t hear us at all?”

“No, lad. His mind is just not… working.” Becket replied.

“My mind is working,” McKay grumbled. “Right here, right now!” and he pointed to his head. “You just have to figure out how to get me back in there!” and he made a gesture, like scooping himself back into himself.

Ronon grumbled and leaned back in his seat, looking unhappy – probably from being awakened after partying all night.

With a sigh, Rodney looked toward the new figures, obviously ghosts.

The soldier, feeling the scrutiny, pointed to himself and said, “Sgt. Gordon Andrews. You can call me Gordon.”

Gordon Andrews? Rodney didn’t know the name. Sadly, he didn’t know much about the soldiers that had joined them from the Daedalus during their siege against the Wraith. So many men had put their lives at risk to help them drive off the Wraith. He’d been working non-stop to save the city and never had a chance to meet any of them.

The soldiers came, so brave, so full of gusto, and died so quickly. Forty casualties. They were protecting Earth, of course, but to Rodney, it felt like they were there to save Atlantis – and himself. It felt personal when so many died so quickly, protecting him. They were there -- and suddenly, they were gone.

It was an odd feeling. The expedition that originally arrived at Atlantis had been there for nearly a year. He’d come to know everyone, almost against his will. They were a private club, forged in fire.

Seeing so many new faces suddenly flood in – to see so many of them die – had left him feeling disconnected from them.

He glanced at Marni, knowing that the Athosians had fought as well, trying to save their home. He didn’t know them at all. He could do nothing to save them. He couldn’t work fast enough. He couldn’t figure out the ZPM in time to save them.

Gordon gave him a little nod, and then touched the shoulder of the man in the bed. The man looked up distractedly. “Gonna introduce yourself?” Gordon asked the other man.

He had short hair, glasses and a small stature. “Pasqual,” he said. “Dr. Pasqual Reyes.”

Rodney turned his head to one side and snapped his fingers as he remembered. “You were the first to find the jumpers!”

“Me and Sanderson.” Pasqual smiled brightly at that. “Spaceships! Probably the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. Well, that and Atlantis rising from the deep. I remember running to tell you about the ships. You were annoyed to be distracted at first, but then…”

“Excited,” Rodney completing, remembering the moment he’d learned they had spaceships on Atlantis, remembering Pasqual’s bright expression.

McKay puzzled a moment, trying to remember how Reyes had ended up here. Dr. Reyes discovered he had a heart condition that didn’t make itself known until the stress of Atlantis overtook him. He spent a week in the infirmary before he became the first casualty within the city.

“Poor Dr. Reyes,” everyone had said. “He never had a chance to see the wonders of the universe.” It seemed like a cruel prank for him to earn his position on the expedition, to travel to another universe, only to be quietly snuffed out a few days later – so quietly.

Beckett suffered that loss deeply. Back on Earth, they might have found Reyes a replacement heart. Given time, Beckett would have been able to jury-rig something. But Pasqual didn’t last long enough to put any of his thoughts into motion.

Rodney watched as Carson stood near his own body – staring discontentedly at the monitors.

“So,” McKay said distractedly. “There must be a lot of ghosts here. Are you guys are all over Atlantis?”

“There’s not a lot. We’re about it.” Gordon went on. “I spend most of my time on the lower levels. There’s two more of us soldiers there. There’s a Genii that hangs out on the pier.” He looked at Hallon.

With a nod, Hallon said, “That’s Lutto, Lutta Baas. His territory doesn’t come this far. We can see him if we head out toward that pier.”

“Sgt. Wells and Crpl. Emmerson can’t come up this far, but they can move through all the lower levels.” Gordon touched his chest and said, “Me and these guys,” he gestured to the others, “Can travel throughout the central area of Alantis.” Then he added, “Pasqual stays here.”

Reyes shrugged. “I didn’t really know the city. Then, I spent too much time here before I went.”

“You have territories?” Rodney asked.

“We can only go so far, and then we hit a barrier and bounce back,” Johnson explained. “Ghost rules.”

McKay shook his head, trying to take this all in. He took a deep breath before asking his next question. “So, if you guys are all the ghosts, not everyone becomes a ghost when they die? Because, a lot of people have died here.”

Dumais told him, “Only a small percentage stay.”

“The rest get sucked off -- and some go down on us,” Jason said with a laugh.

“What?” McKay responded abruptly. “What did you just say?”

Dumais shook her head, looking like a disappointed den mother. “Don’t…” she said to  Carrigan. “Don’t try to make that work.” But Gordon chuckled. Elaine shook her head. Marni and Hallon looked a little irritated at hearing this again. Pasqual said nothing.

Nadine sighed and explained, “Many people, when they die, go up right away. They get sucked…” and she glanced at  Carrigan with annoyance, “… away. It looks a little like a Wraith beam, but it goes straight up and brighter, nicer, but you get the idea. They’re going somewhere good. Others, well, it’s like the floor opens beneath them, weird sounds, red light,” she glanced at Hallon apologetically, “and they… drop down.”

“What?” McKay returned. “Like heaven or hell?”

The people of Earth shrugged or nodded.

Hallon supplied, “We call it the Overland, the Midland or the Lowerland.”

Marnie added, “The Garden or the Den.”

“People can go up… or down when they die, but sometimes it takes a while,” Dumais added. “Some, stay for a time.”

“Corporal Collins… he’s the guy who was shot along with me…” Jason started. “He hung around for a week or so, but he got sucked off.”

Dumais grimaced at the term.

“It happened to some of my people as well,” Marni said. “Most were taken to the Garden immediately, but Opann stayed with me for almost a year before he was taken up as well.”

Hallon looked unhappy as he said, “Most of my people were drawn into the Lowerland. I saw some of it happen.” He blinked and stated, “I think they knew what they were getting into and knew their fate. I am hoping that my delay is a good sign that I won’t be joining them down there. I’m hoping maybe for the Midland.”

Rodney asked, “So there aren’t any Ancient ghosts?”

“No, thank goodness,” Jason responded. “I think they’re all long gone. They’d be insufferable.”

Rodney paused before asking, “Wraith?”

Gordon shook his head. “They just poof away. Nothing happens.”

Greene said goodnight to Carson. Beckett continued to watch the quiet monitors as if he expected something to happen.

Nobody said anything for a moment, just silently watching the same quiet display.

Finally, Dumais said, “Anyone want to go check out what’s happening in McKay’s lab?” The soldiers didn’t seem excited – so Dumais led the way, with McKay, Johnson and Marni following.

“Can we use transporters?” McKay asked as they walked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Dumais said. “We don’t have bodies to disincorporate, so we can’t use the transporters, but we can use the elevators if someone pushes the buttons.”

Atlantis was just starting to wake up –many were still sleeping off the party. It was quiet. They had most of the city to themselves.

As they walked through the mess hall, Rodney noticed that the tables had been moved, prepared for the breakfast crowd, but the streamers and dead fairy lights still dangled irritatingly from the rafters.

Rodney recognized the people who were doing the cleaning -- friends of the bride and groom. They were bitching about having to do the job. Ha! Good for them, they deserved it. Thankfully, the macaroni salads were gone – hopefully not kept for later.

As they moved through the mess hall, Rodney heard part of their conversation.

“Did you hear what happened to Dr. McKay?”

“Yeah, fell down dead in his lab. Or mostly dead.”

How did they already know that?

“Sucks. I mean, Atlantis needs his brain power. It’s a pity that it comes in that package.”

“I can barely stand to hear him when he’s talking down to me.”

“Well, we can handle things without him. Might be nice to have some quiet for a change.”

They laughed.

Dumais looked irritated and increased their pace as they returned to the lab.

Rodney hadn’t become used to walking through doors, so he paused for a moment as the rest went through. He drew in what he thought was a breath, and then followed them.

His lab was filled with people, annoyingly going through every cupboard and surface. Zelenka was at Rodney’s laptop. A few of the other scientists were examining the bits and bobs that he’d secured in the room. Two of his people were leaning over the Ancient Air Freshener.

“So, what is that,” Sheppard asked. “He was working on it when we came in earlier.”

“We haven’t been able to figure it out yet,” one of the scientists said. She nodded to Zelenka. “It’s probably what affected Dr. McKay.” It wasn’t. “Radek is looking.”

Zelenka nodded. “I’m trying to retrace his steps in the computer, but…” He lifted a hand and let it drop. “I’m not finding much of use. He is very erratic when he’s researching.”

“I am not erratic. I’m very thorough, checking all the possibilities.”

“Erratic,” Dumais confirmed. “Dr. Zelenka is usually right about things like this.”

“Radek knows a lot about that,” Elaina added.

Rodney would have been red faced if he had any color. “I am not erratic and Zelenka isn’t usually right about…” he paused. “Are you saying he’s usually right about me?”

Johnson and Dumais nodded, but both were smiling.

“Oh, they’re jesting with you,” Marni said. “We haven’t had anyone new to bother for a while.”

McKay harumphed. “Totally unfair.” He folded his arms over his chest as he watched Zelenka look in the wrong places. “You think you can nudge him, like you did for me?” he asked Nadine.

Dumais nodded and started to move forward when Jason leaned through the door. “Hey, we had an idea. Come on.”

“I’ll stick with Dr. Zelenka,” Dumais promised. “This will take a while. You guys go check out what’s going on.”

Jason and Hallon were waiting outside the door.

“So, what is this stroke of genius?” McKay asked as the others came out with him.

“So,” Jason started. “If you didn’t activate anything in your lab, then someone else must have, right? I mean this smacks of Ancient troublemaking.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious.” Rodney returned.

“But nothing else was going on,” Jason went on. “I mean, people were at the party until late, and then everyone went to bed, right? Apart from yours, nothing was going on in the labs, no new technology to activate, nothing to tempt fate, right?’’

“Go on,” McKay said, rolling one hand, gesturing to speed it up.

“Only one thing was happening, after the party,” Jason said and glanced at Hallon. “Tell him.”

The Genii sighed. “Presents. The couple was opening their presents in their quarters. Marni and I watched.”

“Oh, yes!” Marni added. “They wanted to do so privately. They said it was so that they didn’t have to thank anyone for an… unappreciated gift.”

“Okay fine, so they received their china pattern and some linens. So what?”

Hallon made a face, not understanding, but went on. “Some people gave chocolate, someone gave a painting of a river, I think…”

“That’s probably Lorne,” Jason said with a smirk. “He tried to give that to Parrish earlier.”

“Someone gave a knotted wall hanging,” Hallon continued.

“That was Teyla,” Marni said. “It was a traditional gift of my people for a newly married couple. Handmade. It was quite well done, but I would have created a better piece. She probably doesn’t have time to do an intricate pattern. I am a very skilled weaver,” she said proudly.

Hallon went on, “And a couple people gave things from marketplaces, and…” Hallon paused and added, “One of which as obviously an Ancient device.”

“What?” McKay responded.

“When Dr. Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace held the device, it glowed,” Hallon added.

“Where? Show me!” McKay demanded.

Hallon led the way as the group moved through the city, and then up two flights of stairs to reach the quarters of Makepeace and Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace.

-----------

Marni and Elaina poked their heads through the door first. “Coast is clear,” Elaina pronounced and stepped through.

The room was dark. It was one of the windowless interior rooms – yet Rodney was surprised that he could see perfectly well. “Why is that?” he asked.

The ghosts shrugged. “It’s another mystery,” Dr. Johnson said. “We can see in the dark. Nobody really understands the ghost rules.”

They moved through the quarters, finding the pile of discarded wrappings and the gifts scattered on the bed. But the couple was gone.

“The bed is made,” McKay said, gesturing. “And they’re not here. Does anyone think that’s strange for a wedding night?”

“You gave them a week off for their honeymoon,” Elaina reminded. “They went off-world as soon as they could.”

“PX9-778” Jason supplied, proud that he always remembered gate information.

“That’s the Hawaii paradise planet, isn’t it?” McKay asked.

Jason nodded. “Beautiful place.”

“I hated it there,” McKay muttered. “Too hot, too much sand. Didn’t like the wildlife.”

“Someone set up some huts there.” Jason said.

“I have heard that it is very pleasant,” Marni said. “It would have been good to visit there.” She added, “They opened the presents before they left, hoping that they’d receive something that they could use right away. They didn’t.”

“So, you can’t go through the gate?” Rodney asked.

The ghosts all shook their heads. “Outside of our territories,” Jason explained.

McKay snapped his fingers as he tried to remember, “Halcion…”

“Hallon,” the Genii corrected.

“Right, Hallon. So, what device did they unwrap? You saw it activate?” He paused again and asked, “And what were you guys doing in their quarters on their wedding night?”

Hallon looked embarrassed, so Marnie said, “I must remind you that we have nothing to do. Mostly, we follow the living around, looking for something interesting.”

McKay looked appalled, “So you’re all spying on us when we’re at our most… intimate?”

Jason laughed. “Like we said, there’s nothing else to do. Anyway, why not watch a little sexy-time when you can get it.”

“This is seriously messed up,” McKay muttered, running a hand over his face.

“Don’t worry, Dr. McKay,” Johnson said. “We haven’t see you in the act. So, no worries, right?”

Rodney grimaced. “So, you all know about who’s… doing it?”

“Like I said,” Jason said. “We have nothing to do.”

Rodney let out a breath and uttered a quiet “Right,” as he tried to rationalize if it was worse to be watched by ghosts ‘during the act’, or the fact that the ghosts all knew that he hadn’t had much action… hardly any… mostly none. Not really.

Jason went on, “We used to hang out with our old friends, but…” he paused, looking gloomy. “… it’s really kinda surprising how quickly they stop talking about us. You know, for a day or two, they’re avoiding it, then they reminisce and then…”

“Nothing,” Elaina added. “And after a while, it’s like we never existed. It’s hard to be with your old friends when they don’t think about you anymore, when they do the things we used to do together – but it’s different - like a three-wheeled bike – that used to be a quad. You have to learn how to ride it, but it doesn’t take long and soon you forget about the quad.” She paused to see if the others agreed.

“That’s a weird explanation,” Jason said. “Really, there isn’t much difference.”

“Exactly,” Elaina added. “It’s a little bit different, but then, not really. They go on, and that’s the new reality. Anyway, that’s why we find people to follow,” she continued. “We do try to step out of the room when appropriate. We do have some decorum still. And if someone needs privacy, most of us give it.”

“It’s not all about that,” Jason explained. “I mean, we watch people work, or remain when a group is eating in the mess, or just hanging out. Sheppard and Ronon are entertaining. Heck, I think we all follow you sometimes when you’re researching. A lot of it is pretty dull, but when you figure things out, you’re the best show in town. Something big is always happening around you.”

Rodney put a hand to his face as he muttered, “This is a lot… a lot to comprehend.”

Marni, seeing Rodney’s disquiet, went back to the earlier track. “Gwen and Brian were unwrapping presents. Hallon and I went there to watch that – not the sexy-time,” she said, throwing Jason a glance, who shrugged. She went on, “I enjoy the surprise of gifts and the reactions of the recipients. When that was finished, we headed back to our quarters.”

Elaina added, “I would have been there, but I was sleeping, so I missed it. Hallon didn’t let me know me until now.” She gave him a little punch in the arm. “Pisses me off for not letting me know.”

Hallon said, “Ow,” and rubbed his arm.

“Wait, wait… did Johnson say that you sleep?”

The ghosts all nodded.

“Why?” McKay asked.

“Why not?” Jason answered. “We just to find safe places where nobody is going to sit on us. We’ve claimed some of the unused quarters.”

“But, there should be no reason for you sleeping. I mean, your body doesn’t need to recharge and…”

“We don’t ask questions about it,” Johnson said. “We get tired and then we sleep.”

“And it hurts when another ghost punches you?” McKay tried, looking at Hallon.

“It didn’t really hurt,” Hallon tried to say.

“Ghost rule?” McKay asked, and they all nodded. Rodney shook his head. “This is all too much,” he muttered. “But, okay, let’s get back on track,” he glared at the collection of ghosts around him. “You guys like to sidetrack me.”

“It’s fun,” Elaina said.

Rodney groaned. “Please, let’s find this … device. My life is in the balance.” He looked at Hallon and Marnie. “You saw it, right?”

“It’s about so big,” Marni says gesturing, and added. “It’s green and blue and sort of … vegetable shaped.”

“Vegetable shaped?” Rodney repeated, realizing that he was speaking to two people who had no ability to describe it like an object from Earth.

“Sort of like this,” Marnie pantomimed a shape that might have been obscene.

They all started to peek around, looking through the room for the device.

“Is this it?” Jason asked, pointing to something on the table.

“I think that’s a saltshaker,” Johnson told him.

“What about this?” he tried again.

“Pepper?” Elaina tried.

“Then what are these?”  Carrigan tried.

“Will someone please shut him up?” McKay grumbled. “Please, let’s try to find something… Ancient.”

“This,” Hallon said finally, pointing to an object on the floor, half covered with paper. It was greenish and blueish, and it looked a little like a knobby pickle.

The little group squatted down next to the thing. “What did it do?” McKay asked.

“It glowed,” Hallon told him. “For just a moment.”

McKay frowned. “What were they doing with it…” he started and then stopped quickly, not wanting to know what newlyweds were doing with ANYTHING in their quarters – especially with something that looked like that. “Were they doing anything before they touched it?”

Hallon frowned.

“Well,” Marni said. “Gwen was being rather… talkative. She was very agitated.”

“She was being a little B?” Jason tried. Elaina made a face at him. “You know she is.”

Hallon went on, uncomfortably, “She was talking about the wedding reception and becoming upset with Brian and… ah… you.”

“Me?” McKay returned. “What did I do? He’s the one cheating on her, because obviously…” and he looked to the ghosts who nodded their confirmation.

“Brian was blaming you for ruining their wedding,” Marni paused while Rodney looked at her in disbelief.

“That reception was a trainwreck before I got there,” McKay said. “The food? The decorations? The music? I know nothing about the ceremony.”

“Gwen was saying how you are trying to ruin their lives…” Hallon grimaced.

“No, wait, I gave them a week off!”

“Only after they gave up their weekends for the month,” Johnson added.

“But I can’t just give away days,” McKay mumbled. “How is that fair to everyone else? They’d already used their vacation days.”

“Well,” Hallon said, keeping his head down, “They were saying things about you.”

“What did they say? Tell me exactly. It might be important.”

Hallon looked at Marni as if he hoped she would answer, but she kept her mouth shut. The Genii sighed. “They said that the only reason people keep you around is because you think you’re so smart. You tell everyone you’re a genius and treat everyone else like they’re…” He paused, trying to figure out the next thing to say.

Marni took up the conversation. “She said that you treat everyone else like idiots to make you feel better about yourself.”

McKay said nothing, standing stock still.

Johnson went on, “Hey, they’re both botanists and they’re in a world to themselves there. I mean, we see everything so we know it’s not really true, but you kind of set yourself up for comments like that.”

“I… I don’t…” McKay said, his eyes darting. “I don’t feel that way. They’re not necessarily idiots, but they say idiotic things. They’re skilled people, obviously -- otherwise, they wouldn’t be here. And I am smarter than them, but…I’m just smarter. I’m not…”

Marni stated, “She said that if it wasn’t for your amazing intelligence that saved us many times, nobody would want you here.”

McKay said nothing, his eyes focusing on a spot on the table.

“They just don’t know you very well,” Jason said. “You do make it hard.”

McKay formed fists at his side. “What else did they say?”

Hallon went on, his voice quiet, “And then she said that she wanted you…”

“What?” McKay asked. “Dead?”

Hallon raised his head and said quietly. “No, just … to leave.” The Genii looked away. “That’s when the thing activated.”

Suddenly, an alarm went off, all over Atlantis. They all jumped and Elaina said, “That’s not me.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Ghost Notes

Lockdown. Quarantine. A virus was loose in the city and Atlantis reacted. Doors shut and sealed, residents were trapped where they were, restrained, confined, unable to move freely. It brought back cruel memories, the hallucinations, the horror of impending doom. He had watched the others die horribly, cruelly and knew that it was only a matter of time before the same frightening death came for him.

Johnson moved quickly through the apartment’s door, followed by the others. Doors had shut all over the city, compartmentalizing everything.

Elaina’s hand went to her ear. “Pasqual,” she called. “Where’s Nadine?”

“She’s still at Dr. McKay’s lab,” McKay could hear Reyes response, his voice coming from somewhere near Johnson. “She’s coming toward you.’

Elaina nodded and glanced at Rodney. “I have to find her,” she said worriedly and started jogging toward the stairs.

“They both died in the last quarantine, as you know,” Jason stated as she left. “This is going to be hard on them.”

Rodney watched her go, remembering that horror. How could he forget?

To clear his mind, McKay asked, “You can use your radios?”

Jason explained, “Pasqual controls it all. He’s a linguistic and communication expert. He can connect to any of us and he can listen into your communications.”

“But…” McKay paused, gesturing at Marni and Hallon. “You don’t have our radios.”

Marni explained, “They are not necessary. We touch our ears to call him. He can contact us any time. It’s his ghost power.”

Rodney digested this latest tidbit, wishing he could take notes on everything he was learning. He started moving through the hallway. “I have to find out what’s going on.”

The security doors were down everywhere, trapping the livings where they were – but the ghosts moved through the barriers with ease. They headed down the stairs and passed through more doors – past more trapped and anxious people – until they reached the control room.

There was tension in the air as Chuck and a few others stood at the controls. “It’s all locked down again,” Chuck said to someone on the radio. “I can’t access anything in the Ancient database.”

“Seriously,” McKay muttered. “This is not helpful. Why did the Ancients think it was a good idea to lock us out of the database in a crisis? What the hell is going on?”

Everyone in the control room was actively buzzing around, not accomplishing anything. Elizabeth’s voice came over the comm. “Attention everyone. We are in a quarantine lockdown. A team returning to Atlantis has brought a virus into the city. It was most likely contained in their sealed samples. We are asking that you remain in place, remain patient and stay calm. We are working to resolve this situation as soon as possible. I will let you know when we have more information.”

McKay paced as she spoke, furious. “Okay,” he said. “Where are they now? What planet? Why were they collecting these samples? Who are they? What happened? I need to be in the loop.” He glanced up at Chuck and the others at the control center, realizing that they knew mostly nothing and couldn’t help him.

Jason touched his ear, asking, “What do you have, Pasqual?”

Reyes explained, “Drs Stanley and Powell, and Corporal Fairholm and Sgt Alava had just returned from off-world….”

“M7B-87R,” Jason added.

“Dr. Powell was in his lab when he suddenly became ill, followed by Stanley and the rest of the staff present at the time. Alava and Fairholm are unaffected, so the virus was most likely contained in the samples. It wasn’t loose in the air on the planet. Atlantis took over and locked us down.”

“What are the symptoms!” McKay shouted.

When Reyes didn’t answer, Marni repeated the question.

“They became lightheaded and then collapsed. They’re unconscious and breathing with difficulty. Beckett and his team are headed there in hazmat suits,” Pasqual explained.

“Great, great,” McKay grumbled. “And I can’t do anything! Where’s Dumais? We must get her into those computer systems and have her find what’s causing this. I will tell her where to go and what to check and…”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Marni said. “It takes quite some time for her to get into a system.”

“Then let’s get cracking!” McKay said. “We need to find her and get working.”

Jason shook his head. “She slows computers. She must be on an active one and there may not be any open computers for her to jump on.”

More things that he had to remember. “We can certainly find one. I’ll be directing her!” McKay said sharply. “I can tell her where to look.”

Marni raised a hand, trying to place it on Rodney’s chest, but sighed when she remembered she couldn’t touch his transparent self. “We must give them some time. This quarantine will be hard on them.”

“A minute then!” McKay shouted. “Then we get working. We must solve this. I must solve this. It’s what I do!”

Hallon finally said, “She’s tried this before… in crisis.”

Jason nodded. “Dumais used to jump in every time, but she couldn’t do anything.” He changed his position slightly and said, “Your team always manages to solve the issue anyway so…”

“My team… and ME! Mostly me!” McKay said. “I’m the one who saves the city.”

“Your team is very good,” Marni said. “You must trust them.”

McKay grimaced and turned away from them. “Ask Pasqual where they are. They’re probably in Lab 23, that’s where Powell usually goes.”

When Pasqual confirmed the location, the group hurried to the lab, finding a group of medsuit covered physicians looking after a group of scientists, all unconscious, all receiving oxygen – and thankfully, all alive.

McKay flitted from place to place, trying to gather more information, trying to see the samples that had been cracked open, but they’d already been locked down within the lab table. He stayed near Beckett, listening to him call information to the infirmary and to the teams that were researching. Rodney shouted out his theories and suggestions, finding many of them repeated as if someone had heard them – or rather that someone had already thought of it.

He remained as the triage continued, until things became quiet, until it was just Beckett’s core team monitoring, and the beeping of the machines hooked up to the patients. Everything seemed to have paused.

Rodney glanced around, seeing that the other ghosts had wandered off. He remembered Jason and Hallon telling him something, how they were going to check out another location, but he’d been so focused on trying to figure out some answers, he hadn’t really paid attention.

Marni remained for the longest, but she finally said that she wanted to check on Teyla, and she departed as well.

With a sigh, Rodney figured that the best place for him to go was the infirmary. He could see if any of the answers were reaching the staff there and Pasqual could keep him informed on what was going on in the city.

When he arrived, he curiously found Sheppard in the hallway outside. He was speaking on the radio to someone. “Are you going to let me in?”

A woman responded, “I’m sorry Colonel, I can’t release the doors, not until the quarantine lifts.”

“You’re not going to keep me out of there,” he insisted.

“I’m not locking you out,” the woman said. “It’s Atlantis.”

McKay watched Sheppard, as he paced and slammed his hand against a wall in frustration. He was trapped in the hallway, but at least he could at least walk around before he ran into the next sealed doorway. Really, there was no reason to be upset. It wasn’t like the last time when he needed to chase down a rogue scientist to stop him from spreading a deadly virus – poor Peterson. There was really no reason for him to be in the infirmary. There was nothing happening there.

“Colonel,” McKay said, holding out his hands to placate the furious man. He had to step quickly to keep John from running through him. “Sheppard?” he tried again, but the colonel wasn’t hearing anything. “This is pointless.”

“I’m not leaving,” John insisted.

“I know,” was the response on the radio. “I think you can find a chair down by the next door. You might want to drag it over. It’s going to be a while.”

Sheppard paused, and Rodney tried again, “John?” but Sheppard turned sharply and stomped down the hallway in search of the chair.

Why was he so angry anyway? The quarantine wasn’t really affecting him.

Once John had moved off, McKay easily walked through the barrier into the infirmary.

Nurse Practitioner Claire Mosley was looking toward the door, almost looking right at him, but she stared through him as he moved further into the room.

With a sigh, she went back to her chair and picked up her book. She was the only one in the infirmary aside from his own unthinking body, and the ghost scientist who still sat on the bed in the corner.

“Pascal,” McKay tried.

“Pasqual,” the man corrected.

“Right, right. I need you to tell me what’s going on. You can tap into everyone’s radio stream, right? What’s happening out there?”

Reyes sighed and then filled in what he knew – which wasn’t more than what Rodney already had been able to discern.

McKay nodded, frustrated. “So, they have nothing.”

Pasqual shrugged. “They’re working on it. I think they’re chasing down some good ideas.”

With a grimace, Rodney added, “Nothing viable, most likely. If I was able to research, we’d be almost to a solution by now. What’s happening with my team?” he asked.

Pasqual pointed to a chair. “Colonel Sheppard had been sitting here before the lockdown, but he left for a few minutes. I think he was getting something from his room. When the quarantine lockdown started, he was a few doors down. He was able to get closer when Carson left with his team in their medsuits. He tried to get them to let him into the infirmary, but they were in a rush – as you might expect. He’s been harassing poor Claire ever since about getting back in, but she can’t get the door open for him. Teyla was in her quarters, resting, but she’s now pacing around with Marni keeping an eye on her. Hallon has been checking on Ronon. He’s trapped in one of the gyms, so he’s punching things. Radek is in his lab, researching. Carson’s staff is all working on finding a cure for the disease. Elizabeth is trapped on a balcony and is keeping tabs on everything, ensuring that Carson has whatever he needs. The weather is nice. It’s a fine day to be trapped on a balcony. Carson, he’s---”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” McKay said, irritated. “Where’s Dumais? Has she been able to access anything because I need to get some control here. Nobody has solved anything yet, and it’s all because I’m not able to jump in and fix this.”

Pasqual said nothing for a moment. “You can’t. You’re not going to be the one to fix this.”

“It’s what I do!” McKay said. “I fix things! It’s what… what I’m good for. It’s why they have me here.” He moved quickly between the beds, his hands gesturing pointlessly. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” and his gaze came across his body in the hospital bed – so still and nearly lifeless – so helpless and pointless and useless.

Rodney sighed again, wishing he could rest his head.

“You’re tired,” Pasqual said.

Rodney’s head snapped up. He blinked. “How can I be tired?” He pointed to his body. “Look, I’m just sleeping, doing nothing while Atlantis burns. Wake up! Get up, you moron!” He shouted and kicked the bed, surprised when he couldn’t connect and fell on his butt.

Embarrassed, he shuffled to his feet, glancing toward Pasqual, expecting laughter, but the communications specialist just looked concerned.

Rodney went on, “Absolutely worthless! Why does the colonel bother trying to get in here?” he cried, gesturing toward the door. “There’s nothing worth anything in here.”

The room was still again, since Pasqual didn’t have a response. Rodney glanced at him, “Don’t you get bored here? You can’t leave the infirmary area, right?”

Reyes shrugged. “There’s usually something going on here. The doctors and nurses are all great, and I can move as far as the doctor’s quarters. I watch movies with Carson sometimes on his laptop, or read books over Claire’s shoulder, but she’s a bit too fast. I’ve learned to speed read. And I can talk to any of the other ghosts whenever I want. They come by all the time. They check up on me.” He shrugged. “It’s not as if I would want to roam the halls in these clothes.” He tugged at the hospital gown. “Remember, when you die, you’re wearing your ghost clothes. It’s what you’ll be wearing for as long as you’re here.”

Another thing to note. Never wear a silly costume or something too uncomfortable.

“It’s nice to be able to stay here with patients,” Pasqual continued and indicated insensible-Rodney. “I think it makes it less lonely for them.”

Rodney snorted. “They don’t know you’re here. I’ve never known you’re here.”

“I know,” Reyes said, “But I think it helps nonetheless.” He watched Rodney for a moment. “You’re tired,” he said again. “You were up all day yesterday and all night, and now we’re halfway through another day. It’s been a hard day for you.” Pasqual maneuvered off the bed and gestured to it. “You can lay down here,” he suggested. “You’ll be safe. No one uses it and I’ll make sure no one tries to sit on you. Go on.”

Rodney felt his own weariness. Stupidly, it sounded like an excellent idea to lay down for a little while. It wasn’t as if he could do anything. He expected the sheets to be rumpled from Pasqual, but everything was ship-shape. He climbed onto the bed and tried to relax. After a moment, he settled on his back. Realizing he might look too much like the body in the other bed, he turned on his side.

Pasqual quietly said, “They’re always here.”

“Who?”

“Your friends. They’ve been here all day, taking shifts, sitting next to you, talking and keeping you company.”

Rodney blinked. “Why?” he asked. He made a vague gesture toward the monitors. “I obviously can’t hear anything. My brain is… not there.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “I wasn’t even here. What was the point of staying here?”

“They’re your friends.” Pasqual told him. “Every time you’re sick, every time you’re hurt, every time you’re stuck here, your team, your friends come here to watch over. Sheppard would be here now if he hadn’t gotten trapped in the hallway.” He smiled, “And you do the same. I know. I’m here. I see. You’re always here for them.”

Tired, Rodney yawned. He blinked again and fell asleep.

-------------------

He awoke to a room filled with activity. Beckett was back and Ronon was sitting next to his body. Claire was gone, replaced with Marie. Drs. Greene and Biro were bustling around, gathering materials, packing them up and then leaving. The door to the infirmary opened and closed for them.

“It’s over?” Rodney asked Pasqual.

“Yeah, a little while ago,” he responded. “The cure finally worked. Stanley and the others are sleeping well. They’re keeping them confined in the lab for now, but it’s looking good for them.”

“How long has it been?” Rodney asked, looking around, unable to tell the time of day.

“You slept through the day, and the night and it’s morning again,” Pasqual told him. “You were tired. Radek was able to open most of the compartmented sections of Atlantis, as long as they were not near Lab 23. People were able get to their rooms, so they weren’t stuck all night in their places.”

Rodney swept a hand over his eyes. “He figured out how to open the doors during quarantine?”

Pasqual nodded.

“I can’t believe it. I should have figured that out. I should have been working on this crisis. How could I just sleep through it all?”

Dumais, who was standing next to Marie’s unused computer, her hand on the keyboard, said, “They figured it out -- your team, Beckett’s team. They figured out what to do.”

Rodney sat up, still feeling tired. “Without me,” he added. “They didn’t need me at all. I mean, I couldn’t figure out the doors last time.”

“You were busy,” Dumais reminded. She smirked a little. “You have clever people. Lovely and talented,” she smiled at Rodney when she said that. “You picked good ones.”

With a groan, Rodney swung his legs off the bed. “Well, good for them. It’s for the best really. Considering…” and he pointed to the body in the bed. “There’s a good chance I’m not coming back.”

“Oh, don’t start with that mopey stuff, Rodney,” Nadine said. “It’s not like you.”

“It’s entirely like me,” Rodney countered, standing stiffly. “I’m Mr. Worst Case Scenario.”

“Sometimes,” she returned. “But I prefer the Answer Man.”

“Who can’t answer anything,” he grumbled and moved toward the bed where Ronon was dozing next to him. “Pointless,” he mumbled.

Pasqual gave Dumais a knowing glance before climbing into the space that Rodney had vacated. “I’m ready to get some rest, now. Nadine, you’ll look after things?”

She touched her head in a little salute, and Pasqual rolled onto his side to rest. Ronon, in his chair moved his hand and placed it on unconscious-Rodney’s arm. The Satedan said nothing.

“They’ll figure it out,” Dumais said. “You’re going back. I have no doubts.”

Rodney grunted in disbelief.

“They’ve already decided that the item in your lab is an air freshener.”

“Absolutely useless. An air freshener? Why did the Ancients waste their time?”

“Oh!” Dumais exclaimed. “You have no idea. We have so little. We can’t really affect anything. We just wander around, watching, wishing we were involved but only able to stand to the side. We follow you because you’re exciting. It’s like watching lightning when you’re really cranking along. But you spend too much time alone, just researching without getting much done. We look over other shoulders, wishing we could tell people to hurry up or click on something else. With you, we either want you to slow down or to stop researching the dull stuff.”

Rodney grimaced. “It’s all necessary,” he spat. “But I’ll try to be less boring in the future.”

She smiled at that admission and went on, “We can see and hear, so movie night is amazing to us. We can’t eat – can’t taste anything. I really miss eating. But we can smell things, which is why some of us like hanging around the Mess Hall. Problem is most of the food there smells like …institutional food.”

“But I like it,” McKay said. “It’s reassuring in its sameness. You’re not going to get surprised by anything you get there.”

Nadine cocked her head. “I miss the good food. You know, when you’re visiting a friend and they bring out this amazing dish that they just made – and it smells divine and you say ‘what is that?’ and it’s something they just learned and they’re excited to share it with you, exotic and amazing. Or walking down a street in a foreign town on Earth or one of the planets and smelling all the street foods. Or family dinners during the holidays when the whole house smells like Christmas. Fresh cookies, baked by your mother.”

“I wouldn’t know about anything like that,” McKay said crossing his arms over his chest.

Dumais nodded apologetically. “I know what you mean though, about the foods that are always the same. The foods you can trust -- the smell of the Cinnabon store at the mall when you walk by and get overwhelmed with the cinnamon and sweetness. I mean, it’s too rich to eat regularly – the smell alone is satisfying. Or the breadsticks at Olive Garden. Oh man, you pull back the cloth on the breadbasket and you get smacked in the face by the scent of butter, garlic and warm fresh bread. It’s heavenly and I miss it. I was going to visit the mall as soon as I went home just so I could smell those things again.” She smiled. “I’m a cheap date. I have simple needs.”

McKay nodded, remembering these places, these smells. For a few minutes they said nothing.

Finally, McKay asked, “Have they found out anything about the thing that did this to me?” Rodney pointing to his-self. Ronon was saying something quietly. The monitors remained damnably quiet.

“We’re working on it,” Dumais said. She pointed with her free hand to Marie’s laptop. Her other hand was buried in the keyboard. “I was able to find the specs on the device. It has something to do with the Ancient’s…”

“Ascension again?” Rodney asked.

“No,” Nadine responded. “It’s actually something useful, thoughtful. It’s meant to remove someone’s consciousness temporarily so that a difficult or painful procedure can be performed on a patient in the field or somewhere outside of the infirmary, without the full complement of medical tools.”

“Not the worst thing they invented. Better than the air freshener, at least.”

“So says you,” Dumais responded.

“And how do we get people to find it?”

“I’ve been accessing the file again and again,” Dumais supplied. “It will make it more prominent. They’ll find it quicker if they go looking.”

“But how do we make them look?” Rodney asked. “We have to direct them to the residence of …” Rodney paused, trying to remember the name.

“Makepeace/Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace.”

“Really?” McKay responded. “That’s what they’re going with?” He shook his head. “So, do we lead people there the same way we led them to me?”

“We’d have to wait until night,” Nadine said. “It’s daylight and there are too many people out there. Too loud and too light to do the same thing we did before.”

“Oh, so we wait,” Rodney said unhappily.

Dumais shrugged. “Unless you come up with something better.”

Marie suddenly moved toward the monitors surrounding unconscious-Rodney. Ronon looked up at her approach and withdrew his hand from Rodney’s arm.

Marie tapped at one of the monitors as if that did anything. “Doctor Beckett,” she called. “I think you need to check this. His oxygen levels are starting to fall a bit. Blood pressure too. Nothing too alarming but…”

Beckett strode forward and went over the stats with Marie. He nodded and told her, “He’s still in a good range, but the change is troubling. He’s been so consistent until now.” He sighed, “People are back to working on the solution, so we should have it soon.”

Marie nodded.

“I’m gonna have to get a little sleep while I can,” Beckett said. “You’ll let me know if the changes continue?”

Marie assured him that she would, and Beckett shuffled off to his quarters.

“Well, that’s not good,” Rodney said, approaching himself and looking worriedly at the monitors. Ronon had moved his hand back to where it was before, carefully resting on alive-Rodney’s arm. Rodney watched the movement, feeling a little reassured.

“Rodney,” Nadine said. “Do you feel any different?”

“What? Why?” He turned sharply toward her, wondering if his expression had changed because of Ronon’s gesture.

“You just look… more solid than you did before. More like me and the rest of us ghosts.”

“Oh,” Rodney said, touching his chest. Before he was colorless and transparent, but now, he could see the blue coming through from his shirt, and when he held up his hand to something, he could tell he was becoming more opaque. “This isn’t good.”

Dumais pressed her lips together and left the computer. She turned to Pasqual and nudged him. When he stirred, she said, “Sorry to wake you, Pas, but could you call the others? We need to come up with something fast.”

-------------------

The ghost council converged on the infirmary: Drs. Nadine Dumais, Elaina Johnson and Pasqual Reyes, Sgts. Jason  Carrigan and Gordon Andrews, Athosian Marni Objie and Genii Hallon Barton. That was all the ghosts who could reach the infirmary.

“Alright, boys and girls,” Dumais declared, “We need to come up with a plan. Rodney’s body is failing. From what I could discover about the device, it was not meant to be used for this length of time. The consciousness was only supposed to be removed temporarily for treatment. The body would maintain until then, but the mind was meant to be returned before now. It’s needed to keep everything going.”

Rodney put in, “My body has always been worthless without this genius propelling it along.”

The ghosts put on long suffering expressions as if they’d heard this all before.

Dumais continued, “We need to find a way to direct the researchers toward the device. I’ve already put a lot of clicks on the information, but that won’t help if nobody knows where the thing is. Brian and Gwenn are still off on their honeymoon, and we don’t know who gave them this thing.”

“It was Dr. Gleason,” Hallon supplied. He nodded to Marni.

“Another botanist,” McKay grumbled.

Hallon continued, “When they unwrapped it, I saw the gift tag.”

“Anyone know where he got it?” Nadine asked, looking at Jason.

“M3H-552,” Sgt  Carrigan responded.

“He picked it up from a market,” Marni added. “The planet has an active market with goods from all around the universe.”

“Good. We might need that. For now, we need some ideas on how to drive the researchers toward their quarters so they can find it and then make use of the information I found.”

“Can we do the relay again?” Jason asked. “It worked pretty good with Elaina and Hallon before. I’d let them walk through me if a bewitching scent of fresh crisp bacon would help.” He winced at the thought.

“It’s daylight outside. Too light and too crowded in the hallways,” Nadine said. “And although bacon solves many things, I don’t think it’ll help just now.’

“What else do you have?” McKay asked. “What other ghost powers?”

Sgt. Andrews said, “I can make music play.”

“Wait, what? Make music, like out of the air?” McKay asked.

Gordon laughed slightly. “No, but I can pull music files from computers and make them play.” He shrugged. “I used to be a D.J. on the side.”

Rodney snapped his fingers. “We could use that. Oh, can you find Mendelssohn’s Wedding March?”

Gordon puzzled a moment. “There’s more than one?” he asked.

“Well, that’s the main one.”

Andrews frowned, “So, why did you need to specify Mendelssohn?”

“It’s always best to cite the source,” McKay explained.

Andrews sighed and said, “Yeah, I can get that to play. The laptops here are all connected to a music database.”

“Okay, that might help jog someone’s memory…” McKay stated.

“What about ‘The Chicken Dance’?” Elaina suggested. “Gordon played that a dozen times during the reception.”

“That was you?” McKay responded, looking at Andrews.

“Guilty,” Gordon responded. “They were really unbearable, so I figured I’d mess with them a bit.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I was worried that they really liked it. Okay, good. So, if you play ‘Der Ententanz’ by Werner Thomas…” McKay started.

“You don’t need to keep doing that,” Jason said. “We know you’re smart.”

“It actually means the Duck Dance,” McKay said, offended. “I know a thing or two about music. Well, classic music and… surprisingly, a bit about accordion music from beer halls.”

“Okay,” Dumais said. “Let’s go jog some memories.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Chicken Dance

“Marie,” Beckett grumbled as he stepped into the room. “For the love of all that is holy, please stop playing that awful song.”

“It’s working!” Rodney said cheerfully as Gordon continued to interact with Marie computer. “And you have to admit,” McKay said, “It does sound more like a duck quacking than a chicken.”

Gordon winced. “It’s horrific.”

“It’s annoying,” Dumais grumbled.

“I think it’s cute,” Marni said.

“I like the dance,” Elaina added. “Once, in a beerhall, they started playing it and we all got up onto a table. It ended up with a tipped table, five of us on the floor and a lot of broken beer steins. Yeah, that was an expensive night. But they had great sausage there.”

Teyla sat next to Rodney’s unmoving form. She’d been there for hours, talking quietly and holding his cool hand, ignoring the fact that the monitors showed absolutely no reaction. Seemed a waste of time to the ghostly-Rodney. But it was nice.

Marie reached for the laptop and shut it down. “I’m sorry, Dr. Beckett. I’ve been trying to turn off the music program, but it keeps starting up. First the Wedding March and then it won’t stop playing that awful song.”

“It’s kind of fun,” Jason added. “I have an uncle that played that song a lot. He was from Nebraska and had an accordion he’d play like a demon. He…”  Carrigan glanced to the Genii in the room. “Sorry, Hallon, I didn’t mean to…”

“I’m not a demon,” Halling said. “Just because my eyes glow when I’m anxious… or excited… or annoyed…” and his eyes started to glow just a little. He ducked his head before anyone noticed.

“Ach,” Beckett remembered. “Same thing was happening at the wedding reception. They kept playing that song.”

“Yes, yes!” McKay exclaimed.

“Must be something wrong with the music database,” Marie said glumly. “I hope we don’t have to shut it down completely.”

“Aye, I think you’re right. I’ll talk to Rodney…” Carson stopped and blinked a moment as he glanced to his patient. Teyla looked up at him with a still expression. Beckett revised his statement. “I’ll talk to Radek and see what he knows about it.” He went back to staring at the monitor, “Rodney’s getting worse,” he said with a sigh. “I think he’s giving up on us.”

“Not giving up!” McKay shouted. “We’re trying as hard as we can.”

“Well,” Jason said. “That didn’t work. He thinks it’s a glitch.”

“We just have to move on,” Dumais said. “Who’s next?”

“Let’s go to Colonel Sheppard,” Elaina said. “I bet he gets it.”

“Where is he?” Dumais asked, turning to Pasqual.

“He’s in Gym 8,” the communication specialist said. “I hear he’s beating up things with Ronon.”

“Great,” McKay mumbled.

“He usually brings a music player with him,” Hallon told them.

“Okay,” Dumais said. “Let’s try our next victim.”

Nadine stayed at the back of the group with Rodney as they trouped out of the infirmary and headed toward Gym 8. “Sheppard will figure this out,” she assured.

Rodney nodded. “He will. He’s very clever. I don’t know how much time I have left.” He lifted his arm to check it again—he was growing opaquer, losing his transparency, becoming more like the other ghosts. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I might end up stuck with you. I’m sure that will ruin everyone’s existence here. I mean, you all will be thoroughly annoyed with me joining you.”

Dumais sighed. “Why would you say that?”

“I know what I am. I’m not a good friend. I don’t get along well with others. I’m arrogant and insufferable. I have a horrible temper. I make everyone uncomfortable. I am an asshole and everyone kinda hates me for being so much smarter than everyone else.”

Dumais laughed. “You think an awful lot of yourself.” When Rodney shot her a hurt look, she went on, “You think ‘everyone’ hates you? That everyone is against you? You’re thinking too big. Certainly, some people don’t like you. I mean that’s true of everyone right? You make yourself a big target because you need everyone know how smart you are, the most intelligent man in the room – the planet – the universe. That take a lot of work to constantly try to prove that.”

She went on as they continued walking. “The thing is, you don’t need to prove anything. Everyone knows you’re brilliant. You have more friends than enemies, Rodney. I know people were dealing with the virus, but even then, some were still looking for your solution. And they weren’t trying to save your brain, Rodney. They are trying to save YOU, because they want you back. You…. Not your massive brain.”

Rodney started to speak, but Nadine kept talking. “Your friends won’t leave your side. And, in case you didn’t notice, we’ve been working non-stop to help you. Sure, you’re an arrogant jerk sometimes. We see you when you’re alone, when you’re working ceaselessly to solve a problem. You’re indefatigable, you know. You have a boundless stick-to-itiveness, a dogged perseverance. And it’s not always about saving Atlantis. I’ve seen you working for days to solve little irritations, things that don’t matter in the big scheme of things, but they’re what matters to a few people.”

She paused a moment to look at him, “I mentioned I’d like to smell Cinnabon and Olive Garden breadsticks. You’ve been thinking about how to make that air fresher give off those scents, haven’t you?”

“Well,” McKay said, “It would mean breaking down the exact essence of what makes up those scents and then how to activate the right sectors of the device. I’ll need copies of the recipes so that I know what goes into it.” He gestured as he walked, his hands working on something. “I’ll need to reprogram it, make it learn to replicate these odors from Earth…”

“I knew it,” Dumais said with a smile. “When you don’t need to prove yourself, when you aren’t worrying about being the very smartest smart-brain in the room -- it’s just you -- doing what you do best.”

“What’s that?”

“You fix things. You make things better,” Dumais said. Then she added, “We know who you are. You behave like an asshole because you think that’s what everyone expects. You think you don’t have to be civil, so why bother. Just know, we know who you really are. You’re a good friend if you’d just believe it. We have our eyes on you.”

Rodney paused, not knowing if that was a threat, but Dumais moved onward. They had reached the gym, and after a glance toward him, Nadine went in – after the others.

Ronon and Sheppard were standing still, looking at the music system. They were sweaty and -- from the looks of the gym -- they had been punching everything that could be punched.

The ghosts were standing near Sheppard’s music system. Gordon had his hand over the device. Sheppard and Ronon were both staring at it as the wedding march played.

Ronon looked to Sheppard and asked, “You trying to tell me something?”

Sheppard grimaced and moved to stop the song, but then ‘The Chicken Dance’ started.

“Seriously, Sheppard,” Ronon said. “You have weird tastes.”

“Come on, colonel,” McKay urged. “You have to get this.”

But Sheppard picked up the device and ended the song and tried to choose something else. Instead of something by 50 Cent, Der Ententanz played again.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with it,” Sheppard said, shaking it as if that would help. “I’ll have someone check it.” He turned it off.

Their radios suddenly chirped. “John, Ronon, I need you here,” Beckett said, sounding miserable. “Rodney is getting worse.”

Sheppard responded, “I thought he was holding his own?”

“You’d best come here. I don’ t know if he has much time left,” Beckett said unhappily.

Ronon was already out the door. Sheppard paused long enough to pick up their things before following.

“His body is starting to fail,” Beckett went. “I really had no idea how long he could remain in this state and…”

“Right,” Sheppard responded and heading toward the infirmary. Ronon was already out of sight.

“Divert them!” Rodney exclaimed.

The beeping only slowed Sheppard for a moment. The dimming of the light caused him to pause and look around. He squinted at the weird red eyes that seemed to glow out of a dark corner. He started moving again, and the smell of bacon hit him. “What the hell?” he muttered, stopping in the hallway.

He glanced around, suspiciously. And then the Chicken Dance played again, from someone’s computer nearby.

Sheppard remained still for a moment, blinking, looking around. His hand suddenly went to his radio. “Where’s the Makepeace residence?” he asked.

The ghosts high-fived each other.

-------------------

“We should have thought of this,” Radek said as they combed through the residence of Makepeace/ Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace. Someone had gone out to find the newlyweds after they broached the room, but they were hiking somewhere on the Hawaii planet.

“Yeah,” Sheppard responded. “They were the only people actively doing anything at that hour.” Scattered bits of wrapping showed that they had been opening gifts. “Who knows what sort of presents they received. People are always picking up things on other planets. I’m betting they have some Ancient tech here.”

“And not properly reporting them,” Zelenka said glumly. “If this had just been properly logged and researched, we wouldn’t be dealing with this now.”

The apartment was neat – except for the wrappings that were scattered around and the presents that seemed mostly on the bed.

Sheppard paused as he saw red lights near the floor – that almost looked like eyes. They started blinking. Then, he spotted a pickle-shaped device. “This must be it,” he said triumphantly.

Radek looked curious, wondering why Sheppard was so sure. He checked his laptop. “Yes, this came up while I was researching.” He pulled up the information and started reading it again.

“Seems like a really weird gift,” Sheppard said, moving some wrapping out of the way to expose the somewhat obscene looking device. “Did you get a look at that thing? I mean, consider what it could be used for.”

Ronon shrugged. “It’s pretty common. They have stuff like that at the marketplaces all the time. No shame in it.”

“It really does look a little like a… marital aid,” Sheppard said as he squatted down near it.

“So, good gift for a wedding?” Ronon tried.

“Maybe,” Sheppard said and started reaching toward it until Zelenka stopped him.

“Do not touch it. We don’t want you to accidentally activate it like Dr. Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace,” Zelenka told him. Because, that was the most reasonable explanation to what happened to Rodney.

Nodding in consideration, he let Zelenka stoop down and gingerly retrieve it. “Rodney’s consciousness might be stored inside the device,” Zelenka said, carefully lifting it. There was a buzz somewhere, maybe in the next room, sounding like a game-show ‘failure’ sound.

“Let’s get it back to the infirmary,” Sheppard said. “And see if we can evict him from the… pickle vibrator.” He could almost hear Rodney shouting at him about the name.

The three of them hurried out of the quarters. Sheppard looked over his shoulder as they left the Makepeace/ Akles-Bryerson-Makepeace residence, having a strange feeling that he was being watched.

-------------------

“They’ve forgotten us,”  Carrigan said as they moved through the gate room. “There was a time when people would pause here and say, “Poor  Carrigan and Collins.” And maybe they’d talk about us for a little while, bring up our name, talk about how they missed us.”

“You won’t forget us, will you?” Marni asked. “I had no one here who knew me. Hallon, too. You’ll at least remember us, won’t you?”

“Ah, sure,” McKay said. “It’s kind of hard to forget this.”

“We’ll miss you when you’re returned,” Marni said as they hurried after the livings.

“Well, we’ll have to see if this works,” McKay said glumly. “By the looks of me, I’m going to become one of you at any moment.” He sighed. “Might not be such a bad thing. It doesn’t look like they really need me anymore. It would be easier to just stay with you.”

“Hey,” Elaina said, “Don’t be so down on being alive again.”

“Yeah,” Jason added. “You have the chance of a lifetime. You’re going to live our dream.”

“We all wish we could have this chance,” Dumais added. “To be one of the livings again. To be part of the real world.” Nadine looked toward Johnson as they quickly followed the others. “I had to watch Elaina and Wagner die. It was so horrible to see her suffer and know what was coming. I wanted to live. I had plans for the night! I was going to eat cookies with Hayes while we watched Hogan Heroes on his laptop. Big night.”

With a smile, Elaina asked, “Tom had cookies? I was planning to take a long shower and read a book.”

“I was looking forward to the storm,” Jason said, smiling. “I love a good storm. We don’t get them like that in Seattle. Earthquakes – sure. Tsunamis—why not. Volcanos – yell yes. But the rain is just rain. Watching a freaking huge storm isn’t the same when you’re dead. You have to be able to feel it with your heart.”

Gordon added, “I wanted to see the city. We’d just arrived and didn’t get to do much of anything except to fight and die. I got to travel through space at least. And, I’ve been able to wander around since then.”

Marni said, “I’d been in the middle of weaving this amazing cloth at home. I wonder what happened to it.”

Hallon added, glumly, “I just want to see my wife and children. I was thinking about them, on that day, wanting to get back. They were so beautiful. I wanted to see their faces.”

“And Rodney, if you think they don’t want you back,” Dumais said. “You’re blind.”

They arrived at the infirmary. The livings went in first, followed by the ghosts, crowding the area around Rodney’s bed. Zelenka set the pickle down on a nearby table, forcibly countering Beckett’s attempt to touch it.

“It’s possible that Rodney’s consciousness is contained in this device, but I can’t be sure,” Radek explained. “We must be careful with what we do next.”

Everyone stared at the weird object for a moment, and then, eyes were drawn to the monitors. One of the screens was beeping, and Elaina had to say, “Not me.”

The medical staff was moving quickly. Teyla, who still sat beside Rodney, continued to talk to him – trying to encourage him. She brushed the hair from his forehead, saying, “Please, Rodney, stay. Just a little while longer. We miss you and need you to return to us.”

“You’re just in time,” Beckett said. “His vitals are dropping. We need to reverse whatever this did to him, and it has to happen now.”

Rodney stepped back, not wanting to watch. They were going to get this fixed. He had no doubts. He turned to the ghosts and said, “I want to thank you all for helping me. Because you didn’t have to.”

Nadine smiled. “We did,” she replied. “Because it’s the sort of thing you’d do.”

“We should be the ones thanking you,” Jason said. “Jeez, we’ve been standing around here doing nothing for years. It was great to finally be able to help.”

“We were able to make a difference,” Marni added. “Thank you for that.”

Elaina touched Rodney on the arm and said quietly, “You’re almost one of us. We need you to go back, now.”

It felt strange to be leaving them. He didn’t really want to say goodbye.

“Now what?” Sheppard asked Radek and Beckett, but his eyes were on recumbent-Rodney – who was failing now, who was dying. The monitors wouldn’t stop beeping. “How do we do this?” John asked.

“Movie Popcorn,” Johnson said in Rodney’s ear. “Lots of butter.”

“What?”

Gordon said, “Pizza. The good kind. Made in some mom and pop place.”

“Campfire,” Marnie added.

“Rich soil, newly tilled,” Hallon spoke quietly.

“Hot apple pie a’la mode,” Jason said. “That means with ice cream.”

Pasqual continued with, “I’m for strawberry Pop Tarts – unfrosted.”

“Unfrosted?” Jason said. “Why, Pas?”

Reyes shrugged. “I like what I like.”

“Just make it both ways,” Jason told Rodney.

“You can’t be serious,” Rodney said, looking among the ghosts. “This would take days to figure out all those scents. It’s not like it’s preprogrammed with any of this!”

There was a lot of action around the bed, but the ghosts hadn’t stopped talking.

“It’ll take you a while, I know,” Nadine said. She patted him softly on the chest, looking a little sad that she was able to. “But, you’ll do it. Just don’t work too hard, you know. We can wait. We have nothing but time.”

John said, “Okay, here we go!”

And with a feeling as if he’d been pulled off his feet, ghost Rodney disappeared from the room.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Livings

Rodney breathed, gasping on his first breath, almost choking on it. Carson was there, helping him to sit up, listening to his heart, his lungs and whatever else was in his torso.

He breathed, coughing, forgetting what it was like to draw in air. His vision was watery and he glanced around at the others in the room – Carson, John, Teyla, Ronon and Radek, along with more of the medical staff – everyone looking happy and concerned and encouraging.

“Come on, Rodney,” Sheppard said, “Don’t choke on your own spit.”

“I’m not… I’m not…It’s just that I haven’t… Give me a minute,” he grumbled irritably.

The livings smiled and seem to take this as an excellent way to respond. Beckett was asking questions, taking readings, calling out orders to the rest of the med staff. Rodney’s gaze roamed the room. The livings crowded the bed, but no other figures stood behind them. He glanced at the bed in the corner and found it empty.

His expression dropped with disappointment as John grinned and Ronon gave him a whack on the back, saying how good it was to have him back. Teyla smiled so happily, but Rodney felt strangely bereft.

Carson was concerned by his reaction. “Are you okay, Rodney? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine. I’m okay,” he said and smiled. “I’m happy to be back.”

“Good to finally have you back.” Sheppard gave him a look and asked, “So where were you?”

Rodney wondered just how much he should say. Had any of it really happened? Maybe his mind was just making up a story as his consciousness was trapped in that awful pickle. He paused, wondering how to explain the ghosts. He was a man of science! He did not believe in ghosts. Of course, he believed in vampire Wraiths and replicants and energy creatures and weird fog beings so…yeah, what the hell was that?

“Were you doing those things?” Sheppard asked. “The beeping, the lights dimming, the red lights.”

“Were you leading me to the right solution on the database?” Radek added.

“The smell of bacon and the goddamn chicken dance,” Sheppard added.

Rodney paused, so that was real at least. “No,” he said. “That wasn’t me. It was… the others.”

Everyone looked at him curiously, so he tried to explain, trying to keep the descriptions as clinical and minimal as possible. Ghost? Not ghosts? Figments of his imagination? Was it just Atlantis messing with him? Residual Ancients who hadn’t managed to ascend so they decided to harass and mislead?

Or maybe it was just the guilt for all the deaths he’d caused here. He had so much to atone for.

He explained as best he could, knowing he sounded like a mad man. He kept his gaze down, not wanting to see their disbelief, their condensing pity. He hoped one of the ghosts would show off to help verify his story, but they remained quiet. Damn them.

“Okay, then,” Beckett said. “Let’s let Rodney get some rest. Why don’t you try to relax a little? We’ll talk more about this later.” And the good doctor led the rest of them out of the room. John and Radek gave him concerned glances. Teyla and Ronon didn’t seem bothered about the discourse, accepting it as if he spoke the truth.

“So, Rodney, are you ready for something to eat?” Beckett asked. “How about some nice broth and Jello? It’s been a while since you last had any food. We’ll start with that and then move onto something heartier.”

Rodney groaned, but honestly, broth and Jello sounded good – anything sounded good.

In a few minutes, he was alone in the room. He kept looking for Pasqual, but nothing appeared on that bed. Yes, it was probably all a figment of his overactive mind, right? But that didn’t explain how John had seen their ghost powers. “Guys?” he said softly, but there was no response.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and was asleep almost instantly.

-------------------

He awoke in the infirmary, feeling a little more like himself. Sheppard was sitting next to him.

“You weren’t at the wedding reception,” Sheppard pointed out the moment Rodney glanced his way.

“What?” McKay responded. That was so long ago. “Of course, I was there. That’s how I pissed off those Makepeaces.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Sheppard said. “You tend to do that.”

McKay smirked. “Sometimes,” he said and added, “But you like me anyway.”

Sheppard chuckled at that.

McKay went on, “But you didn’t wait for me like you said you would.”

“Neither did you,” Sheppard replied. “I ended up wandering around, waiting for you to show up. There were too many people there.”

“Everyone was pretty drunk,” McKay added. “Makes them insufferable. And you couldn’t even hang out by the food table and eat the appetizers,” McKay stated.

“Yeah! What the hell was on that veggie tray? I might’ve hung out there, but wandering was my only alternative.”

“I know, I saw you.”

“But you didn’t try to flag me down?” Sheppard remarked. “Ronon got trapped in an endless dance circle and Teyla couldn’t get away from the botanists.”

McKay realized that he hadn’t tried very hard – not at all. He hadn’t thought that his team wanted to get out of there as badly as he needed to escape, and maybe they were just staying because they had promised him. Rodney said nothing in response.

Sheppard filled him in on the quarantine crisis that happened while he was unresponsive. “Your people figured it out,” he said. “Mostly it was Beckett’s staff finding a cure for the disease. And Radek of course with the doors.”

“Wish I was there.”

“Because you wanted to fix the problem?”

“Yeah, but, I wish I’d been there to work with Radek, to see how he figured it out,” Rodney said with a smile. “He would’ve been so excited.”

Sheppard stayed a little longer, not talking about ghosts, until he finally stood and said he was sure there was something he should be doing. Before he left, he made Rodney promise to meet the team for dinner because… “We missed you.”

McKay was released once Beckett determined he was well, so he walked blearily to his quarters, and had to stop himself from trying to walk through the door. Once safe in his quarters, he sat on his bed, trying to convince himself, one way or another, about the events of the previous days. It was impossible, wasn’t it? He wasn’t amongst ghosts.

He was going crazy. Definitely. It was insanity. He buried his head in his hands, trying to come to grips with everything.

“Rodney?” he heard a familiar voice over the radio. “Rodney, can you hear us?”

McKay sat up. “Pasqual?”

“He heard me!” was the response. “It worked this time. Hey, Rodney, I’m patching in Nadine. She’s in the room with you, by the way.”

Rodney scanned the room, thinking he should be able to see her, glad that he hadn’t started changing out of his hospital scrubs yet. She wasn’t visible.

“Rodney!” Nadine called cheerfully. “You made it back!”

Rodney patted his chest saying, “Yes, back in one piece.”

“We’re so glad,” she said warmly.

“I can’t see you,” Rodney told her, sadly.

“Yeah, I figured as much. You’re back with the living, so you shouldn’t see us any longer.”

“I thought a near-death experience might have allowed me to see you. I heard about a woman who tumbled down some stairs or fell out of a window or something. She was dead for a few minutes and she suddenly started seeing ghosts. I mean, I’ve been near-death more than most and never saw ghosts before.”

“You were close though. Because of that, we thought maybe Pasqual could reach you. Good news! It worked! Thought it would be nice to have another chance to chat.”

Rodney sighed and nodded, not knowing what else to say. Finally, he said a soft, “I’m sorry.”

“About what?” Nadine returned.

“About that day, about the whole nanovirus situation. I should have known that was a danger. I shouldn’t have brought any of you into that situation.”

“Not your fault,” Dumais said quickly.

“I should have figured it out quicker. I could have saved you if I hadn’t been so…”

“Not your fault.” Nadine said again, her voice soft. It almost felt as if she was sitting right in front of him, her face near his.

And Rodney kept his eyes down, not really believing it.

“We know what we signed up for here, all of us. There were a lot of documents to sign. I actually read them and it was all spelled out there. I know you think about it a lot, about the people who have been lost. Just know, we don’t blame you. It’s not your fault.”

Rodney didn’t lift his head and tried not to sniffle.

“Don’t worry,” Dumais said, changing the subject with a bright tone, “It’s great that we can contact you, but we won’t be pestering you all the time. It’s nice to have a conduit to the living world. We can ask you for things. Like to play a certain movie, or order something from Earth that we’d like. Maybe we can get you to make some popcorn.”

“Oh great.”

“We see a lot of things in the city, so there will be times when we can help out, you know? And you could talk to us whenever you need,” Nadine added.

Rodney nodded and then frowned and asked, “Why didn’t any of you do your ghost power thing when I was describing them to the others. You left me hanging.”

Nadine answered, “We thought it was for the best at the time – so this could be written off as ‘all a dream’ on the official report. Once this sort of thing gets on the record, it might get unpleasant. We figured we’d leave it up to you, and you never asked.”

Yes, Rodney could see that. He’d hate to imagine the questioning if this reached the higher levels.

“Your friends are so glad you’re back,” Nadine added. “John asked you to meet them in the Mess Hall for dinner. You’ll be there, won’t you?”

“I’m still trying to figure out everything,” Rodney responded. “I still feel decidedly … weird. Maybe I should just stay put for a while and…”

“It helps to talk to someone,” Dumais suggested.

Rodney nodded. “Yes. I know you’re here whenever I…”

“I was thinking about your friends. I think it would help if you told them about what happened, not just the superficial trip-trap you said earlier. It will be off the record. It will help them too, knowing that you with ‘friends’. They were so worried. And it will be nice to be remembered by others, to hear our names spoken again.”

Rodney nodded again.

“Go see them,” Nadine said. “They missed you and want to be with you.”

McKay blinked in the empty room, wishing he could see Nadine, with her no-nonsense ponytail. He wished he could tell if any of the others were near him. It was strange – not knowing.

“Go,” Nadine said.

Rodney nodded again. It would be nice to be with Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon again. He should have met up with them at that wedding reception. They were all there, as promised. He’d make it up to them. “I’ll go,” he promised. “I’d just like to take a shower and get changed.”

“Fine,” Nadine said. “I’ll leave the room and let you take care of things. But one more thing,” she paused.

“What’s that?” Rodney replied.

“Auntie Anne’s pretzels – or Wetzel’s. I’m good with either of them.” Rodney could imagine Dumais smiling.

Rodney nodded again.

“Go back to the living, Rodney,” Nadine told him. “We’ll see you ‘round.”

He didn’t know for sure that Nadine had left the room, but he knew she would keep her word and let him change and shower in peace. He stood slowly and started his journey back.

The END