Sorry it's been so long between updates…most of this is already written, it just needs editing before it's ready for posting. Enjoy.

Part seven

Rodney was grumbling to the nurse who had brought him his lunch, grumbling to Beckett whenever he walked by and grumbling to anyone who got close enough to be grumbled at. John, stopping by to see how Rodney was doing, stood just inside the infirmary doors watching with amusement as McKay drove everyone to distraction before striding forward to relieve the tension he could sense beginning to build. From experience, John knew that Rodney would be released from the infirmary very soon now. Although he always seemed to appreciate the attention from the medical staff, when he'd been prevented from getting on with his work for too long he became extremely difficult to manage, particularly as his health improved.

"So you decided to honour with me your presence then," Rodney greeted John with a glare.

"Well, if you feel like that about it…" John began, turning to walk away, a grin on his face as he heard a distinct change in tone.

"Ok, ok, you win," Rodney sighed, becoming a little more reasonable. Sheppard had carried out his threat to leave in the past and it did get very boring when all you could do was lie around all day, resting and recovering.'

"So, anything interesting going on?"

"No, just the same old, same old," John told him as he perched on one of the infirmary chairs. "Stackhouse's team returned from an unsuccessful trade mission this morning," he finally relented seeing the petulant look on Rodney's face. "Very unsuccessful – I can't wait to read his mission report. They were all covered from head to toe in some kind of animal waste. We had to clear the halls between the 'gate room and their quarters to prevent anyone else throwing up – three of the technicians had to be replaced as it was."

"I thought they seemed a little subdued when they came in for their post-mission check-ups – and they did look very clean, come to think of it," Rodney grinned, boredom having taken a back seat for the time being.

"So when do you get out of here?"

"That should be in a couple of days," Carson told him as he appeared at that moment, picking up Rodney's chart and studying it for a few moments.

"And not before time" Rodney snapped irritably, responding to his prospective release from the infirmary. "I mean Zelenka's ok but leaving him in charge for too long…I'm dreading to think what a mess everything will be in by the time I do get back to work."

"I don't think you've got anything to worry about, Rodney," Carson tried to reassure him. "Radek is doing a very good job of keeping things running smoothly."

"What would you know?" Rodney huffed.

"It's good to see you're feeling better," John grinned as he stood to leave. "I'll see you later."

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"So, how are you doing today?"

Elizabeth looked up from the book she was failing to read as Dr Beckett appeared beside her.

"Not too bad," she responded automatically. "I'll be glad to get out of here tomorrow."

"Aye, I get that a lot," Carson sighed, looking a little put out before grinning at her. "Don't forget you have to take things easy still, and you're not to do any work for a few days until I give you the all clear. How are the nightmares?"

"They're not so bad now," Elizabeth admitted. "Dr Heightmeyer thinks they're connected with my loss of memory, that it's all buried in my head somewhere and sooner or later I'll remember everything."

"You don't seem very happy about that."

"I'm not." Elizabeth frowned. "Judging by the dreams I've been having I don't think I want to remember, but I guess it's the only way I'm ever going to be able to put all this behind me. Having almost a whole day wiped out of your memory is a really unpleasant feeling."

"I can imagine but you need to keep going with your sessions with Dr Heightmeyer," Carson counselled. "Now, you're looking tired again, I'll leave you to get some rest."

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Four days after being released from the infirmary Elizabeth was making her way to the mess hall for lunch. Dr Beckett had said she could return to work for a few hours each morning providing she didn't overdo it, took things easy during her non-working hours and went to the infirmary for regular check-ups.

John and Teyla were helping out with much of the administration of the city and so far she was pleased with what they had done, although like herself, John was under doctor's orders not to overdo things until he too was fully healed.

"You know, I half expected to come back and find you'd changed everything," Elizabeth admitted as she walked with John and Teyla to the mess hall.

"I'm hurt," John grinned at her. "You've had regular updates and you didn't really think we'd make any major changes did you?"

"I did wonder what might have gone on in my absence."

"It is alright, Elizabeth," Teyla spoke up. "I made sure Colonel Sheppard's more – unusual -suggestions were not acted upon."

"What suggestions?" Elizabeth's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Well, he suggested that as it was coming up to Christmas on your world, all personnel should wear festive costumes and seemed insistent that we find something called mistletoe to hang everywhere," Teyla told her innocently, ignoring John's glares.

"I see," Elizabeth said coldly, staring at John whose face was rapidly turning a bright shade of red. "Anything else I need to know about?"

"There were one or two other minor suggestions, but for the most part I made sure we acted as you would have done," Teyla assured her.

"And you've done a wonderful job, Teyla," Elizabeth thanked the Athosian leader. "I have to admit I was worrying about what I'd need to catch up on, but I see I needn't have been concerned after all."

"Hey, what about me? Didn't I do a good job too?" John protested, a wicked gleam in his eye.

"I'll let you know when I've managed to catch up with all my e-mails," Elizabeth told him, her face serious before she grinned impishly at him. "Besides, you've only been helping out for a couple of days – I suspect Major Lorne and Sergeant Read have had more to do with helping Teyla than you have."

"That is true," John admitted, being more than grateful to those named for doing a good job.

They each grabbed what they wanted from the food selection on offer before heading for one of the tables by the window where they were joined a few minutes later by Rodney and Ronon. Ronon dropped a tray on the table in front of Rodney before returning for his own lunch.

"Sit down already," John said, sounding exasperated as Rodney managed to make a lot of fuss about getting settled down at the table, still struggling to manage with his crutches.

"Using these things isn't as easy as it looks," Rodney growled, glaring at John as he paused in his attempt to sit down.

"It's not that hard," John told him, "at least it's not if you pay attention to what the nurses tell you about how to use them."

"That's easy for you to say," Rodney said as he managed to sit down at last and began to shovel his food down as though it would get away from him if he left it a moment longer.

"Don't wait for me," Ronon rumbled good-naturedly as he sat himself down and started on his own food, glancing around at his companions to see what they were eating. As his eyes fell on Elizabeth he stopped eating for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he realised something was wrong, something that the others hadn't picked up on yet.

The leader of Atlantis had turned pale, her eyes darting from McKay and Sheppard to the military personnel on the next table. Looking over at them himself, he recognised Lorne and Cadman along with several others whose names he didn't know, but remembered them as being with Dr Weir when he and Sheppard had found them after the incident with the intruders in the City. He returned his gaze to Dr Weir's face, unsurprised when she got to her feet abruptly and turned to leave.

"Elizabeth?" John looked up at her, his eyes narrowing in concern as he realised she wasn't looking too well.

"Excuse me," she spoke quickly and nervously, not at all her usually confident self. "I'm feeling kind of tired, I think I'll lie down for a while."

Before anyone could get up to follow she was gone, leaving the others looking around at each for some kind of explanation.

"What's going on?" John asked, staring at Ronon who was sitting there, nodding to himself. "You know something don't you?"

"I don't know anything," Ronon emphasised the word know. "But I think she may have remembered what happened to her."

"How can you know that?"

"Like I said, I don't know for definite," Ronon reminded him. "But her eyes showed she had remembered something when she saw you and McKay, and Lorne and the others on the next table."

"Yes, that would probably do it," John agreed, realising the connection at last. "I guess she hasn't seen us all together since then. I'm going to check she's alright."

"Let us know if we can help," Teyla added before he left. By the time she'd finished her lunch and returned to Elizabeth's office, she found John already there. "How was she?"

"I'm not sure," John frowned as he flicked through the files on his lap. "She was in her quarters and didn't really want to talk, said she wanted time to think."

"I can understand that," Teyla tried to reassure him. "She lost nearly a day and her memories returning suddenly must be overwhelming."

"I guess," John said. "I'll drop by later with something for her to eat, maybe – she didn't exactly have much for lunch."

"That sounds like a good idea."

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The next day Elizabeth returned to work for the morning as usual, refusing to discuss what had happened and burying herself in her work. During the afternoons and evenings, when Dr Beckett said she wasn't to work and had to relax, she took refuge in her room catching up on some reading or walking in some of the more remote parts of the city where she didn't run the risk of bumping into anyone.

What she was unaware of was that after he'd been unable to locate her to drag her to dinner one evening, John had set Ronon to keeping an eye on her when she left her quarters, alerted to this by Rodney who was keeping an eye on the sensors, watching for when she left her room.

"I don't think you need to follow Dr Weir any more," John told Ronon at dinner several days after Elizabeth regained her memory. "It appears she's got some kind of routine on where she goes, mostly to grounding station 3."

"Really?" Rodney looked up in surprise at this news. Once Elizabeth had left her room and Ronon had picked up her trail, he didn't look at the sensors and had no idea where she had ended up. "Why on earth would she want to go there of all places?" Memories of the attempted takeover of Atlantis by Kolya and his strike force came flooding back at the thought of the grounding station.

"I have no idea," John admitted. "But I am kind of worried about her – she won't talk to anyone and the longer it goes on…"

"I thought I'd find you here," Carson interrupted before John could continue, no hint of his normally friendly smile on his face. "I was looking for Dr Weir."

"Why?" John was immediately on full alert.

"She was supposed to see me today for a check up but she didn't turn up. She also missed her appointment with Dr Heightmeyer."

"When did you last see her?"

"A couple of days ago, why?"

"She had her memory jogged the other day at lunch and she's been pretty quiet ever since," John said.

"Why is the first I've heard about this?"

"I thought she'd tell you," John admitted, realising he should have mentioned it himself, should have known the way Elizabeth was behaving wasn't entirely rational. "She isn't in her quarters?"

"She was right before we came here," Rodney said.

"And how would you know that?" Carson looked puzzled.

"Sheppard thought it would be a good idea if we kept tabs on her," Rodney shrugged as though this were the most normal thing in the world. "He's been getting Ronon to keep an eye on her when she left her room."

"So you're not entirely stupid then," Carson told them scathingly.

"If I thought she needed to see you I would have said something," John snapped at him. "In fact, if this had gone on much longer I was going to come and see you. She said she wanted some time to think things through and I respected that, but not to the extent that I would risk her health."

"I'm sorry," Carson apologised, his voice quiet. "I'm just worried about her."

"I know, we all are," John calmed down again, knowing the doctor's irritation was due to genuine concern for their leader. "I've got a pretty good idea where she'll be, but just in case, why don't we all check one of her favourite haunts." Rapidly they agreed the area each would search and they separated, Rodney returning to the control room to try to pick her out on the sensors.

John was half way to the grounding station, the furthest location Elizabeth had gone to in her wanderings, when he began to get reports in from the others that she wasn't at the other locations checked. By the time he'd received the last report, he knew she must be at the grounding station.

"It'll be pretty cold outside by now so you may want to bring some blankets with you," John said. There was no point suggesting they wait for him to bring her back, he knew without asking that they would be making their way to the grounding station as quickly as they could. Instead, he hurried his own pace, jogging to reach his destination as rapidly as possible.

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To be continued…