Sheppard was tying his boot laces when Elizabeth entered the infirmary. She quickly crossed the distance to question why he was out of bed.

"I'm feeling fine," he stated as he straightened up without meeting her gaze.

Elizabeth studied his face. His cheeks were still flushed with fever and his eyes looked glassy and unfocused. The way that he was clenching his jaw, the way his eyes were narrowed, told her that he still had a headache, but he was waving it off with his usual practiced indifference.

"We still don't know what the serum might do to you," Elizabeth argued.

It was a losing battle. It always was.

"I know," he said as he wiped a hand across his forehead.

"John," Elizabeth fleshed the word out with as much warning as she could muster.

"I'm okay. I'm just going to get some food in the commissary with Rodney and then I'll be coming right back here," he shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled out a piece of paper.

Elizabeth was sceptical, not to mention ridiculously worried, but allowed him to walk off anyway. Sheppard was as stubborn as a mule and he would find some way to escape, with or without permission.

She noticed him stop at the exit, unfold the piece of paper and study it closely.

One of the nurses glanced his way and then to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth shrugged, walked over to him and peered over his shoulder, just in time for him to crumple the paper in his hands and hide the written content.

Sheppard turned to her, dropped his gaze, and mumbled embarrassedly, "It's a map."

Elizabeth quirked an eyebrow in response; confusion apparent.

He sighed and smiled, "Rodney drew it for me so I could find my way to the commissary."

"John, you should be in bed."

"I'm fine," Sheppard added, "I've got my map after all."

He stepped out into the corridor, looked left and then walked uncertainly to the right.

Sheppard had managed to negotiate the corridors and find the commissary. Walking the corridors had been unnerving. People passed him and smiled but he couldn't discern names from their features.

New people were arriving on the Daedalus all the time and he couldn't decide if he actually knew any of these people or they were just faces he had yet to be formally introduced to.

He went with the latter. It made him feel better.

Unfortunately for him, when he arrived at the commissary, it was swarming with people, busy with the dinner rush, but he spied Mckay sitting alone on one of the tables, already eating and simultaneously reading a data pad.

Sheppard loaded up his tray, forgot he didn't have to pay, and then dropped his tray down opposite Mckay.

"Well, I made it," Sheppard said as he pulled his chair up to the table and started picking through his food.

Mckay gave him a puzzled look and continued to munch at his food.

Sheppard bit into his sandwich and forced it down through the lump in his throat, "The map you drew was perfect."

Again, the lack of response was irritating. Sheppard tried again.

"What are you working on?" he asked as he downed some of his cola.

Mckay smiled politely, which immediately didn't sit right with Sheppard. Mckay wasn't polite. In fact, he was one of the most difficult and abrasive people he knew.

Mckay cleared his throat, "It's schematics for the sewage system," he said without looking up.

"Right," Sheppard said, narrowing his eyes.

Sewage schematics? In Rodney's own words, wasn't that the work of a lower echelon scientist?

Sheppard dropped his sandwich onto the tray and picked up another container housing salad. He picked up a stick of celery and started to chew it; with each mouthful he pulled a face and eventually spat it out onto the plate.

"Ew!" he muttered as he wiped his mouth.

Sheppard nearly jumped when he felt a hand plant down onto his shoulder and a familiar voice say, "Why are you eating that? I thought you hated celery."

Sheppard glanced up and recognised the face immediately. He turned to the person he was sitting opposite and then back up at Mckay.

"And why are you sitting here? So much for waiting for me."

Sheppard picked up his tray, offered the person sitting opposite an apologetic smile, and followed Mckay over to another table.

Mckay placed his tray down, scraped his chair back and dropped into it with a weary expression, "So what were you talking about with Andrews?"

Sheppard glanced back at Andrews and sat down, mind racing.

Mckay obviously noticed his distress, "What's wrong?"

It was beginning. Facial recognition was beginning to slip away. He'd been convinced that that had been Mckay.

"Well?" Mckay asked as he sprayed crumbs across the table.

Sheppard rubbed his temples and swallowed nauseously, "Nothing."

"Are you feeling okay?"

Sheppard nodded quietly, all the while his eyes trained on Mckay's face, trying to drink in every detail so as not to forget it again.

"You not going to eat?"

Sheppard pushed his tray across the table and went to stand, his head spinning, his stomach knotting and clenching, "I'm going to go back to the infirmary."

"But you only just got here."

"I'm not feeling too great," Sheppard mumbled distractedly, "I'll uh…see you later."

Mckay entered the infirmary expecting to find Sheppard sitting in his bed, but was surprised to find only rumpled sheets. He was just about to interrogate one of the nurses when his earpiece crackled to life.

"Hey Mckay, you free?"

Mckay rolled his eyes, "Where are you? I'm in the infirmary."

"Are you okay?"

"I was looking for you. Where are you?"

"Well, that's why I'm calling you. You have got to see this."

"See what?"

"It's a surprise. I'm…" there was a pause and the distant sound of paper unfolding, "-in…the corridor leading from the infirmary….to…your right…"

Mckay headed for the door, "I'm coming."

Mckay found Sheppard leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed and his head back.

"Well?" Mckay asked,

Sheppard's eyes snapped open and he stood bolt upright, a grin lighting up his face, "You are not going to believe this!"

Mckay folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head.

"Okay," Sheppard walked over to one of the doors and it swished open.

He turned to Mckay, smiled again, and then stepped into the room. It lit up like a Christmas tree and Sheppard said in an excitable voice, "Well?"

Mckay pushed passed him and walked into the room, circling it, with a look of pointed confusion, "What? What have you found?" He reached into his pocket and retrieved his scanner.

"That's it!" Sheppard said placing his hands on his hips.

"I don't see it," Mckay said as he studied the scans.

"This!" Sheppard said looking up and indicating to the space around him.

"What?" Mckay asked, frustrated that he didn't get whatever amazing thing that Sheppard had discovered.

"The lights," Sheppard drawled.

"The…lights," Mckay repeated as realisation dawned.

"They came on when I entered the room and this isn't the only room it happens in and…" Sheppard walked over to a console and touched it. It lit up too.

"I don't know what's happening to me but its like I have…" Sheppard searched for the word. When he found it he clicked his fingers together, "-Superpowers or something."

Mckay nodded and pocketed his scanner.

"This is cool. I wonder what else I can do," Sheppard said as he circled the room.

"Sheppard."

"I mean this is freaky right?"

"Sheppard?"

"I'm like superman or something."

Sheppard!"

Sheppard turned to him, "What?"

"You should get back to the infirmary."

"Why?..." his eyes widened, "-because of this right? Yeah, good thinking.."

Mckay didn't have the heart to tell him that it was just his ATA gene at work.

TBA

It's short…but it shows you I haven't forgotten about it! Please review! I'll try and get the next chapter up soonish.