Lt. Colonel John Sheppard could feel he was being carried when he woke up. Sharp pains spreading across his leg, he peeled open his eyelids to see that his carrier was Ronon.

What the hell happened?

"Wha...happn'd...aghh"

"Easy there buddy, we're almost at the gate. Just hang on."

__________________________________

"Well I've stitched it back up, but he won't be on it for at least a couple of weeks with that many stitches." Said Dr. Keller.

"He's gonna absolutely hate it" came the voice of Rodney, who was sitting at a chair beside John's bed.

"Too right I am. Ughhh what the hell happened?" Came the muffled voice of Sheppard, making the others turn around and look at him.

"Finally you're awake. You look like crap." McKay smirked.

"Wow...ugh...thanks for the...compliment." He tried to roll his eyes but ended grimacing.

"Er...are you okay Sheppard?"

"M'fine...anyone gonna...ouch..tell me what happened?"

"The ground opened up underneath us and well...we heard this horrible crunch which...I'm guessing was your leg...and er..." McKay trailed off.

"And what?"

"And...and er... Colonel Carter came and found us to say erm...well..."

"I'm being kicked off the team? dismissed? Sent back to earth? Replaced?" Dread was evident on his face.

"What? No. Course not. Its just that..."

"Oh my god spit it out Rodney!"

"Yourfatherdiedofaheartattacklastnight."

"I...what? English please?"

"Your...ah...father died last night of a...heart attack." Rodney winced when he caught the look on his best friend's face.

John froze, his eyes going wide for a second before returning to normal, an unemotional face replacing his shocked.

"Okay."

"Okay? What do you mean okay?"McKay said, confused.

"I mean, okay. I understand."

"But he's your father! Are you not upset or anything? He's just died! Heck, I didn't even know you had any family!" Rodney exclaimed.

"We haven't spoken for years."

"Oh..."

"We were never close, he made the fact clear that he hated me, confirming it when he disowned me." John looked down.

Rodney realised that there really was loads about his best friend that he didn't know about. He knew Sheppard was a private man but the thought that he didn't even tell Rodney this hurt him.

Dr. Keller gave Rodney a dirty look before saying, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just...can I get out of here?"

Jennifer sighed. "Fine, but make sure to come back every 12 hours for a checkup. No strenuous activity, and yes that does mean no sparing or anything like that. Also stay off the leg. You must have over 100 stitches in that leg alone. And can you please make sure he uses the wheel chair?" She added for the rest of his team.

Ronon nodded. "C'mon Sheppard," he said, grabbing a wheel chair, and helping his friend sit down.

Sheppard grimaced when he moved his leg, and winced as he sat down.

__________________________________

Sheppard was thankful that Ronon was the one who took him to his quarters. He wasn't one to ask questions and ask if he was okay or anything.

Ronon however wanted to say something. Just he didn't know how. He wanted to make sure John was okay. John and Ronon were both very quiet, very secretive men, but Ronon wanted to make sure that Sheppard wasn't bottling this up inside of him, like he knew his leader and friend had done with previous things he had heard of, like Sumner, Ford, Holland, and many more. Ronon knew that John still blamed himself for their deaths, but would never tell anyone.

A voice cut into his thoughts.

"Ronon?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you... Never mind..."

"Don't do this to yourself Sheppard,"

"I...what?"

"Store all of this inside of you."

"Look. I'm fine Ronon."

"No you're not. And we both know it." Ronon wheeled the chair into John's quarters and stood in the doorway awkwardly, debating whether to stay or leave.