Holly-Batali – Yeah being the hospital sucked but things could have been worse I suppose, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Sparkly – There was kind of a lot going on in the last chapter but a lot of friendship scenes and I'm glad you liked them. Thanks for the cookies, I feel better already lol and even more thanks for the review, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Saphire – I'm glad you liked the line about Elizabeth's and Laura's strength, it just came into my head and rang very true so I thought I'd use it. I felt bad for what I did o the girls but it's all an important part of the story but yeah, they definitely get to cut any lines. Thanks for the review.
Bunnylass – Thanks, I'm feeling a lot better now, well enough to get a little writing done at least and really what else am I gonna do when stuck in bed all day. I really put Elizabeth and Lara through hell in the last chapter but I had never intended for it to be pleasant and it is horrible how easily these things happen. Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you like this one too.
Belanna30 – The story will start to progress a little faster now and there's plenty of shippyness to come, I have it all planned out and I've had to force myself to stick to the plan, I'm going for a slow burn with John and Elizabeth, it's killing me to not just write them lol. Thank you for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Steph – Thanks for the review.
Crazy – An award, I like the sound of that lol (I would like to thank my friends for the support they have given me, the fans for their patience and my dad for running backwards and forwards to the hospital for me lol). I feel bad for putting the girls through that but it does contribute to the story, I'm not just mean for the sake of it... most of the time. Thanks for the review.
Kuroima – Thanks for the review, yeah it'll be a while before you find out who did, do I ever give away the answers early lol? I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 11
"I'll meet you there, I just have to go get this damn book," John told Elizabeth as they left the main building. Elizabeth smiled and nodded her head, watching as John ran off toward the library. He'd been putting off going to get the book he needed for Sociology since before the weekend saying that he'd go get it today. The morning was gone though and there was the promise of a very busy afternoon ahead so he probably wouldn't get another chance. Elizabeth carried on toward the cafeteria spotting Sam and Daniel almost immediately and walking over to join them.
"Hey," Sam greeted as Elizabeth sat down dropping her bag next to her and pushing it underneath her chair.
"Hey, know if they're serving anything good today?" Elizabeth questioned, she probably wouldn't eat anything until more of the group arrived but it didn't hurt to start weighing up her options.
"No idea but I'm off to get a soda so I'll have a look while up there," Daniel stated as he stood up. "Either of you want anything?"
"Whatever you're having," Sam replied absently as she searched for something in her bag.
"Elizabeth?" Daniel questioned.
She smiled and stood up "That's okay, I can get my own."
She saw Sam and Daniel exchange a glance but she ignored it, she was sure they understood why she didn't want anyone else near her food or drinks, even people she knew she could trust. Once the Allinyas drug had been out of her system which hadn't really been until last night she had decided she needed to be more vigilant with stuff. Someone had gotten to her drinks, someone had been able to put something in it and she had no idea who it had been. She wasn't going to let it happen again though, from now on no one touched her food but her and the people who made it and she would be watching those few people too.
She followed Daniel up to the short cafeteria queue, grabbing a soda and paying for it herself. She waited for Daniel to get his and Sam's before the two of them headed back to the table together. Sam had obviously found what she was looking for in her bag, the same Sociology book that John had just gone to the library to get and Elizabeth figured there'd be a few of them about. All of the first years would be doing the same essay at the same time and that was the most helpful book of the lot, John would be lucky if the library even had any left at this point.
Jack and Teyla arrived with Ronon following along at a far more leisurely pace, tossing his bag on the floor more than putting it there as he dropped into a seat beside Teyla. Jack was uncharacteristically quiet, had been for the last couple of days other than the ridiculous number of apologies that had been coming out of his mouth. Everyone had assured him a million times that he didn't need to apologise more than once, they knew he was sorry and they were all certain he hadn't done anything on purpose. Under normal circumstances they would all have laughed about it but with everything else that had happened it had just become something to forget about.
Someone dropped down into the chair beside her and Elizabeth jumped slightly having not noticed anyone else approaching. She turned and saw John who gave her an amused, half apologetic smile as he used his foot to push his bag under the chair next to hers.
"Did you get your book?" she asked him and he nodded.
"Last one too, lucky eh?"
It was nice to spend some time with just the two of them again; it felt like forever since they'd had the chance to do that. Teyla walked closer to Ronon as they made their way through the woods, nudging his arm with the side of her head so that he wrapped it around her shoulders. It was cold enough during the day but the temperature was dropping rapidly now that it was the evening and Ronon was always a great source of warmth, she was lucky she was the only person that got to share it.
"At least everyone's okay, no one seems to have come out of it worse for wear," Ronon said and Teyla hummed her half agreement with him.
"Elizabeth won't let anyone near her food or drinks, not that I really blame her but she won't even let us near them," Teyla replied, it didn't matter who it was that offered to go up to the cafeteria, who else they were getting something for Elizabeth always went up herself now.
"I'm sure she'll relax again eventually, it's bound to have thrown her off a bit, she has pretty good self preservation instincts as it is," Ronon told her and Teyla could at least agree with the last part completely. Elizabeth was very protective of herself, not in a selfish way, in a subconscious desire to stop herself from being hurt.
"I suppose," Teyla said quietly snuggling closer to Ronon in an effort to escape from the cold wind that was blowing, her coat seemed to offer only a small amount of protection and she wished not for the first time since they'd left the school that she hadn't forgot her scarf and gloves. They finally arrived in town and headed straight for the club they'd all been in on Saturday night when everything had kicked off. It was closed as they'd expected but they knocked on the door several times anyway, waiting a while for someone to respond. It was a woman, probably in her mid thirties, short brown hair and clothes that were probably a little more revealing than necessary especially in the winter.
"We're closed," the woman told them after she studied them for a second.
"We know," Teyla replied "We were here on Saturday night with a group of our friends, we left some things behind we were hoping they might still be here."
"Come in," the woman said stepping back to allow them into the building, she locked the door behind them and led them through to the bar. There were a few other people running around, probably preparing for when they opened again in a few hours. "Joey, bring the lost property box."
"Thank you," Teyla said gratefully as a young man arrived with a large cardboard box. Teyla spotted Elizabeth's jacket straight away, Jack's was further down in the box as was Janet's. Sam's bracelet was in there but there was no sign of the ring that Vala had lost nor of Laura's jacket. Teyla searched the box again, handing what she had already found to Ronon but she still couldn't find the two missing items. "This is everything?"
"Yeah," the woman replied "Still missing something?"
"Another jacket and a ring," Teyla told her and the woman eyed both her and Ronon suspiciously.
"You all left a lot of stuff behind didn't you?" she questioned sarcastically and Teyla caught the hidden meaning in her words.
"The stuff is ours, we were forced to leave in a hurry, quite a few things were forgotten," she explained and decided it was probably best to explain further. The drinks had been spiked here after all which meant that it was possible whoever had done it would come back here to do it again. At least if the club was aware of what happened they could be more vigilant, keep their eyes open for anything suspicious. "Actually, the reason we were forced to leave so quickly was that two of our friends had their drinks spiked with Allinyas, I'm sure you've heard of it."
"Unfortunately yes," the woman stated "All clubs have been on the look out for it but it's been showing up everywhere. Your friends aren't the first people to be spiked in this club, I wish there was more we could do to stop it but really we can only keep our eyes open."
Teyla nodded "Thank you for our things, if you find the jacket or the ring could you have a message sent to Pegasus for Teyla Emmagan?"
"Will do," the woman said as she gestured to the exit. "And I hope your friends are alright, please do come back again."
The doors to the club were closed behind them and Teyla was forced to pull her coat tighter around her. Ronon put his arm around her again, walking down the street away from the forest and Teyla looked up at him slightly puzzled, they'd only been planning to make this a quick trip to get their things back, she didn't want to be in the cold longer than necessary.
"Let's get dinner," Ronon stated "Give you chance to warm up before we head back."
Laura stepped into Colbrun's office with Elizabeth right behind her, the professor had requested to see them both and there was no prize for guessing what it was about. She would have preferred to just skip this little meeting but she wasn't about to push her luck, Colbrun had kept quiet about what had happened and not involved the school; she wasn't going to push it. Colbrun smiled warmly, gesturing to the two empty chairs on the other side of his desk. Elizabeth sat down immediately and Laura followed suit a moment later.
"How are you both?" he questioned, it had been a few days since they'd been drugged now and Laura was still massively pissed off about it.
"Annoyed," Laura told him, curbing her language for the benefit of the teacher though that really didn't seem to cover it.
"I can imagine," Colbrun replied and Laura resisted the urge to tell him that she doubted that very much. He hadn't been through what they had, didn't have to live with half memories and blank spaces, she didn't know which was worse. Her friends had seen her in a state she would never have gotten into her self, they'd had to spend an entire night looking after her and she was far too independent and proud of a person to be happy about that.
"It was a rough weekend," Elizabeth admitted "But we're fine now."
"I'm sure you are, you have some good friends," Colbrun told them. "I just wanted to ensure that you were both okay."
"We are," Laura told him, eager to get out of their as soon as she could.
"And are you sure you don't want to take the matter further, someone out there drugged you, they will have the means to do it again to someone else?" Colbrun questioned and Laura didn't like that it made her feel bad about not getting the school and the police involved.
"What could really be done if you were to involve the police?" Elizabeth questioned with a raised eyebrow. "We were in a crowded club, had been all night, our drinks could have been spiked by anyone at any time. The club has already been made aware of what happened, it's not the first time it's happened, brining the school and the police in would only cause more problems than it solved."
Laura was slightly impressed "What she said."
"Very well, the decision is ultimately yours, you can trust that I will not involve the school in the matter," Colbrun informed them. Elizabeth thanked him and Colbrun allowed them to leave again, it had gone a lot better than Laura had been expecting it to. She'd expected to get questioned about what had happened that night, asked for answers she couldn't give even if she wanted to. She hadn't expected to be asked if she was okay and then allowed to leave again but then Elizabeth had told her not to worry about it.
"Come on, the others are waiting," Elizabeth said when Laura didn't move from the doorway, too lost in her own thoughts. She smiled and ran the few steps to catch up with her; she just wanted to put all of this behind her now. Unless she ran across the person who had done this to them – in which case she'd do a lot more to them than drug them – she just wanted to forget this whole thing. The rest of the group were sat in the cafeteria talking amongst themselves, three different conversations going off all at once. They all stopped when they saw the two girls returning, looking at them expectantly.
"How'd it go?" Carson asked.
"Piece of cake," Laura replied as she and Elizabeth sat down, it was unsurprising that Elizabeth sat next to John, just as unsurprising that the chair next to him had been left free.
"Cake," Jack said as though someone had just put him into a trance, his eyes wondering up the cafeteria queue, the rest of his body following them fairly quickly.
"Now add the Tylus root," Penrose instructed as he paced the front of the classroom delivering step by step instructions for how to make the potion. It was one of the more complicated ones; it was supposed to create a purple cloud when it was combined with a potion they had made the previous week. The cloud had magical properties, it would morph into various shapes and images, it was a party trick but one that required two very complicated potions. This year was all about learning the art of potion making, the ingredients, next year was when the interesting stuff started, where they started making potions they might actually find a use for one day.
Daniel added the root to the glass beaker while Carson mixed it in, the cloudy liquid smelt terrible put Penrose had already assured them that the smell was normal at this stage. The entire class was making the same potion though and the smell was strong enough to make people's eyes tear up, making this thing was like chopping onions.
"It's Vala's birthday next week," Carson stated conversationally, keeping his voice down so as not to attract Penrose's attention.
"I know she wanted to hit the clubs again to celebrate it but after what happened this weekend I think she's trying to come up with a different plan," Kate whispered leaning across from where she and her partner were working on their own potion.
"Yeah, I think giving the clubs a miss for a while might be a good idea," Daniel replied earning two murmurs of agreement.
"It started out as such a good night too," Kate commented "I still can't believe someone spiked their drinks, you just never expect it to happen to you or someone you know."
"At least they're both alright, Elizabeth's being a little more cautious and Laura's a little angrier but other than that they don't seem to be any worse for wear," Carson said thoughtfully as Penrose told them to add two other ingredients to the potion at the same time. The conversation ceased for a moment while everyone concentrated on what they were doing.
"And Jack finally stopped apologising to everyone, that's a plus," Kate said after she and her partner had added the Grey powder and unpronounceable named liquid to their potion. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone that sorry in my entire life."
"I think he was just mad at himself for not being there, if it had happened at any other time it wouldn't have been so bad but two of his friends had been spiked with a dangerous drug and he was passed out in an alley somewhere from drinking too much, he wanted to be there to help," Daniel explained and Kate raised an eyebrow at him.
"Ever considered being a spiritual or mental healer?" she questioned and Daniel shook his head.
"No thanks, I think I'll leave the psychology stuff up to you," he told her and she smiled and shrugged. "My interest is people in the past not people in the present."
"That sounds like a really sad way to go through life," Kate commented with a thoughtful, amused smile on her face. "Wanting to hang out with the long dead instead of the living, I'm sure there are a million psychological issues that come along with that."
"Stop trying to shrink me," Daniel instructed narrowing his eyes at her "Again."
Kate raised her hands defensively "I was just saying; besides a few sessions with a spiritual or metal healer might do you some good."
"I do not need therapy," Daniel argued.
"Alright you two, quit now before you get in trouble," Carson said stepping into the argument just in time to be caught by Penrose.
"Mr Jackson, Mr Beckett, Miss Heightmeyer, perhaps you could save this quarrel for outside of the lesson," Penrose suggested, warning and chastising in his tone. It was the only time that you heard much more than a flat lifelessness from him, when people were in trouble.
"Sorry sir," they all muttered at once. Penrose continued with the lesson telling them to add the final ingredient to the potion. If they'd done it right the cloudy liquid should turn purple and the smell should start to dissipate, something the entire class was grateful for though Daniel was pretty sure it had made a home in his clothes now. The colour of his potion changed to purple and Daniel noticed a change in the smell almost immediately, looking around it seemed that everyone had been successful.
"Well done everyone," Penrose said without enthusiasm. "Please pour your potions into the potion tubes that have been provided and cap them. Write your names on the labels and place them in the basket on my desk. We'll be testing them next week; you may pack up and leave when you're ready."
There was a flurry of activity throughout the classroom; Carson started packing away the equipment while Daniel poured the potion into the potion tube. He put the red lid on and grabbed his pen, writing their names on the tiny white label as he walked to the front of the class. Half the class had already put their potions in the basket, all of them eager to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible both out of boredom and a desire to get away from the smell.
When he got back Carson had already sorted out most of the equipment, Daniel helped him with the last few things before they left the classroom, standing outside to wait for Kate. She was less than a minute behind them saying a quick 'bye' to her partner as she joined them. They were halfway to Sociology when Daniel realised the smell was still following them, he lifted up his arm to smell the sleeve of his jacket.
"Great, the smell's in my clothes."
TBC