Chapter 4

"Was it a good training session then?" Elizabeth asked.

John turned to her from where he was straightening up the crash mats on the other side of the training room.

"Pretty good," he nodded, "they're still a bit clumsy with some of Ronon's drills, but they'll get the hang of it before too long. So are we heading to the mess hall?" he asked hopefully, straightening up and walking towards her. He felt hungry after so much physical exercise and he really just wanted to sit down for a bit.

"Is it alright if we go and see Rodney first?" Elizabeth asked, looking at him expectantly, "I want to see if he's come up with anything." John considered arguing with her, but she had just sat through four hours of training, the least he could do was go with her to see if Rodney had found anything out.

"Okay," he agreed, "let me grab a quick shower and then we'll head down to see McKay, but if he starts jabbering on about something you have to cut him off straightaway. I'd do it, but he gets annoyed with me."

They headed back to his quarters and Elizabeth waited in his room while he took a shower, letting the warm water soothe him. If he'd been on his own he would have stayed in there for at least half an hour, but he didn't want to keep Elizabeth waiting. He pulled on the fresh clothes he'd taken into the ensuite and came out into his room, towelling his hair.

Elizabeth was studying the items that he had out in the room. She turned and smiled at him.

"You don't have many personal things," she told him softly. He shrugged.

"I've got my posters, my guitar, a few CDs."

"I mean sentimental things," she said gently, "photos, keepsakes, things that say who you are."

John studied the CD that she had in her hand, trying to think of how to reply. He gave another shrug.

"I don't really need any of those things, no-one here pays much attention anyway. Plus, I'm a guy." He stopped there, realising that he sounded like he was making excuses. He felt his cheeks growing warm, but if Elizabeth noticed she didn't show it.

"Perhaps I'm just too sentimental," she said with a smile. "Shall we head down to the lab?" she asked a second later, slipping the CD back onto the shelf. He nodded and followed her out of the room.

When they got to the lab Rodney and Zelenka were eerily silent, each of them studying a computer screen intently. John wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"McKay," he said, when neither Rodney nor Radek noticed that he and Elizabeth had entered the room.

"Sheppard," Rodney said in surprise. John frowned at him. "Oh right, yes, well it's not going too well. We thought we had a break through this morning, but the frequency that we thought might dissolve the link was-"

"Rodney, have you made any progress?" Elizabeth asked sternly.

"Yes, well, we might have done…"

"Rodney," John said in a warning tone.

"We analysed the results from last night and the link did seem to lessen in strength during your sleep cycle, Elizabeth, but the moment you began to wake up it returned to full strength."

"We believe that if one of you was unconscious we might be able to find a more permanent way to weaken the link," Radek said, coming forward.

"You want to knock one of us out?" John asked incredulously, he glanced at Elizabeth who looked slightly anxious at the thought.

"Ideally we wouldn't have to but nothing seems to be working," Rodney sighed.

"Fine," John said with a sigh, "but you're knocking me out, not Elizabeth."

"Actually-" Radek began, but Rodney cut him off.

"It would probably be better if Elizabeth was unconscious-"

"Rodney, I said no."

"Elizabeth has the prisoner's link; to this device she's the dangerous party," he argued, "and that means that it's only likely to loosen if it thinks she's not a danger."

John was about to argue again; there was no way that he was going to let Elizabeth be knocked unconscious, not when he'd got her into this mess in the first place, but she cleared her throat and subtly shook her head at him.

"Do you want to do it now?" she asked. John resisted the urge to protest once again, and reluctantly nodded to Rodney when the scientist looked at him nervously.

"The sooner the better really," he nodded, "You might want to lie down on the bed."

Elizabeth glanced at John again before going and lying down.

"How are you going to knock her out?" John asked.

"I've sent for Carson to come and administer an injection," Rodney said, as he turned back to his laptop, and set up some new sensors.

"What about stunners?" Elizabeth asked.

"You'd pick to be stunned rather than injected?" Rodney asked turning to her in shock.

"It's quick and it doesn't drain any of our resources unnecessarily."

"We're not stunning you," John told her.

"It makes more sense."

"'Lizabeth, no-one picks to be stunned, it's painful, it's weird and most of the time it's down right annoying."

"And as you're doctor I don't advise it," Carson added as he came into the lab.

"Thank you," John nodded smugly, "Doctor's orders Elizabeth; you don't have a choice." She raised an eyebrow at him, but he met her stare defiantly and she was forced to back down when Carson moved around towards her.

"Inducing an unconscious state isn't something I would normally do to person in perfect health," Carson continued, with a grim smile, "but Rodney informs me that it might be the only way of sorting this problem out."

"Thank you Carson," Elizabeth said with a smile. John watched as Carson quickly injected something into Elizabeth's arm.

"You should feel sleepy," Carson told her gently. She nodded, her eyes drifting towards John before they finally closed. John sighed resignedly and watched Elizabeth as Rodney and Zelenka began tapping the keys of their computers, and attaching various sensors to Elizabeth's forehead.

"Anything?" John asked after a few seconds. Rodney frowned at his computer and shook his head.

"It's hard to say, but-" he stopped.

"But what?" John prompted. Rodney looked over at Zelenka.

"Do your readings say the same?" he asked the Czech.

"I think so, let me just run a secondary sweep."

"Rodney!" John said in frustration. Rodney turned to him with a smile.

"According to this the strength of the link has all but disappeared."

"That's great," John nodded.

"Try stepping closer to her." John did so and took a few tentative steps towards Elizabeth, not wanting to throw her off the bed if Rodney's readings were wrong, but nothing happened as he passed the 1.371 limit and moved closer.

"It's working," John breathed at Rodney, revelling in the sensation of being close to Elizabeth once again. He reached up a hand to gently place it on her arm, but when he was less than a few millimetres away the action forced Elizabeth's arm further into her side. He tried again and this time her whole body shifted over. He sighed. "Rodney?" he asked.

"I don't think it'll let you initiate any physical contact," he said with a frown. "Try testing the link on distance; can you move any further apart then 11.135 metres?" Obediently John headed out of the lab, surprised by his discomfort at leaving Elizabeth where she was.

"Tell me if she gets pulled by the link," he shouted back down the corridor. Zelenka appeared at the lab entrance and called back that so far it was fine. He continued down the corridor and realised, with a small amount of hope, that he had most definitely surpassed the link's limit; perhaps they would be able to break it before long.

"Sheppard." John turned to see that Rodney had joined Zelenka at the doorway. "According to our readings the link has nearly disappeared. We're going to wake Elizabeth up while you're outside of the link's parameters to see if that will sever it completely."

"Okay, I'll just wait here," John said, waving a hand at the two of them. They disappeared from the doorway and John felt strangely separate from the entire situation, and not a little unnerved by the fact that he wouldn't be there when Elizabeth woke up. What if something went wrong? He shook his head at the thought; they had a doctor and two scientists in there with her; if anything went wrong they'd be able to help. He leant on the wall and put his head back against it. If this didn't work he was sure that Elizabeth would kill him. He was inclined to laugh at the thought, but strained voices from the lab caught his attention. He pushed himself off the wall, his instincts calling him back to the lab, but he didn't want to ruin Rodney's research if he'd nearly found a solution. But the next words that he heard threw all of those thoughts out of the window.

"She hasn't got a pulse," came Carson's soft tones, tinged with anxiety. John felt fear spike through him and for a moment his mind went completely blank, but an instant later he was running back to the lab, desperate thoughts flooding through his mind.

"What the hell's going on?" he asked as he entered the room. Rodney was standing by the bed, a look of sheer horror on his face, while Carson hurriedly tried to restart Elizabeth's heart. "What happened?" John asked desperately; he should never have let her go through with it.

"I…I don't know, Carson tried to revive her and-" Rodney began, but he stopped as Elizabeth inhaled sharply, gasping for breath.

"'Lizabeth?" John asked urgently. She looked up at him in confusion while Carson checked her pulse and her breathing, without thinking John moved forwards, but Carson stopped him as Elizabeth was pushed backwards by the link. "Is she okay?" John asked instead, turning to Carson.

"What happened?" Elizabeth said quietly, her face creased into a frown. Rodney moved towards her, skirting around John as he did so.

"We tried to revive you when Sheppard was outside the limits of the link and-"

"And it nearly killed her," John said, rounding on Rodney with a glare.

"What? You think I did that on purpose? How was I supposed to know that the link would kill her if it thought it had been compromised?"

"You should have thought about it before hand," he said through gritted teeth.

"Well excuse me for not having a complete understanding of the alien prison restraint that you activated!" he argued back, his voice raised.

"John, Rodney, that's enough!" Elizabeth told them sternly. John gave Rodney a parting glare before turning back to Elizabeth, only to be faced with her stern expression. "That isn't helping. Rodney, did you manage to find anything out?" she asked. He turned back to his computers.

"A bit, maybe something we can work on."

"Well that's a start," she said gently. She bowed her head slightly and John felt his concern increase.

"Doc, is she okay?"

"Aye, she'll be fine."

"Good, then in that case…" Elizabeth began.

"No you don't," Carson told her gently but firmly.

"Carson, I appreciate your concern, but I feel fine."

"Elizabeth, your heart just stopped, it would be irresponsible of me as your doctor to allow you to do anything else today. You need to rest."

She looked up at John obviously hoping that he would back her up, but he shook his head; there was no way he was going to let her go and sit in her office for the rest of the evening and if it meant that he managed to avoid an evening of training reports then all the better. Elizabeth sighed and nodded her head.

"Very well, but I'd like to go and get some work from my office first."

John stifled a sigh as Carson gave her permission and twenty minutes later they were both in Elizabeth's quarters, files and stacks of paper everywhere.