Damn it John

Chapter 3: Just Why?

Have you ever had one of those days where everything that could go wrong, does, and you wonder why getting out of bed that morning was a good idea? If you have, then you almost understand how Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay-Sheppard feels. Of course, you probably haven't gone through the shit she has, unless you're part of the SGC. Even then, you'd have to be in this galaxy to experience this bullshit. Because this situation is even worse than that stupid black cloud of doom.

-SGA-

"Okay, I think we're close enough to dial the gate," Ford calls out from the front section of the Puddle Jumper.

"Just hurry up and get us back!" Meredith call back. She's crouching next to John with her right hand on his left shoulder. And John, well, John has a giant ass bug attached to the right side of his neck.

"Get this damn thing off me," John growls. He's leaning on the Jumper's cargo bay door unable to move.

"We can't," Teyla informs him, kneeling to his right.

John looks at Mare, "Cut it off."

Meredith looks back to the front of the Jumper, "As soon as a connection is established, radio in that we've got a medical emergency!"

"There must be something we can do for him," Teyla says over John.

"There's an emergency first aid kit behind the pilot's seat. Get it," Meredith tells her. Teyla nods and rushes to the front compartment. Mare lays her other hand on his arm, "John everything we try to do to remove it make the pain worse. Just try to be still."

John carefully nods. Meredith moves a bit closer to his neck to get a better look at the creature. Up close she can see a bumpiness to its bluish exoskeleton. It has four legs and a yellowish underbelly. It's about the size of an adolescent cat with a meter long tail. And it has a death grip on John's throat with its pinchers.

Teyla comes back and hands Mare the kit, before kneeling back down. Meredith opens it and starts rifling through, "What am I expecting to find in here that can get rid of that thing?"

"Something for the pain," Teyla suggests.

"I don't think Tylenol's going to do it. He needs a doctor!" Meredith looks to the front compartment, "HOW MUCH LONGER!"

"Almost there!" Ford reassures.

Meredith looks back to John as his muscles start to seize under her hand. She grasps his hand in hers and lets him squeeze out the pain. Once his body relaxes again, Meredith stands up and starts to search the overhead baggage area for any other medical equipment as Teyla moves over to the medical kit to continue looking.

"Here we go!" Ford yells out. Meredith doesn't even give the announcement a second thought as she continues to search.

A second later there is a loud screeching sound, the kind you get between two metal joints that shouldn't touch. The next, a sharp pain to Meredith's temple. The third second, blackness.

-SGA-

Meredith's temple throbs as her eyes flutter open. She's on her side against the cargo doors. John is in front of her unconscious and with the bug still attached. She groans in discomfort as she maneuvers herself so that her back is to the bay door. What she sees in front of her has her rising to her knees in disbelief, and her heart dropping to her stomach in horror.

"Oh no," She stares in dismay at the wormhole horizon of the Stargate. The blue water-like substance undulating right behind the bulkhead doorway that separates the back and front compartments.

"What happened?" Teyla sits up, conscious as well.

"The drive pod," Meredith explains, "the wing things that stick out when we're flying must've failed to retract. That's the only thing it can be. It's that, or the Stargate shrunk, which I highly doubt. This is... this is a big problem."