Chapter 13: Don't Lose Hope

Major Lorne and his team stepped into another reality to find several air force personal staring them down.

"Colonel Caldwell..." Lorne greeted, trying to be as nonchalant as possible

"Major Lorne, what are you doing here?" Caldwell asked glaring Lorne down.

"Just completing my mission sir..." Lorne answered with a small smile. "You see we're from another reality and-"

"An alternate what?"

"An alternate reality and we're searching for our people." Lorne answered simply, hoping that the Colonel before him would leave it at that. Caldwell merely stared at Lorne and he knew that he would have to continue. "We're looking for Dr. Rodney McKay, Colonel Sheppard and Ronan Dex."

"Well I have never heard of this Ronan Dex." Caldwell began with his arms folded across his chest. "Dr. McKay died when the Wraith kidnapped him and Major Sheppard was killed during the first siege of Atlantis."

"Then you haven't seen them?" Lorne asked and Caldwell merely shook his head. "Dr. Weir won't be pleased."

"Dr. Weir was also replaced around the same time that Major Sheppard met his end." Caldwell answered stonily. "Now, I suggest that seeing how this isn't your reality you four be on your way."

"Right away sir." Lorne agreed as he turned the dial.

oOo

Elizabeth just stared at John on their balcony. She was trying to keep her emotions in check but it was so hard.

"I guess some small part of me was hoping that you would still be alive out there somewhere." She answered finally after a long moment of silence. "But I guess after so long... it's natural to begin to give up hope- right?"

"I guess..." John agreed with a shrug. "But the Elizabeth I know would never give up."

"I'm not your Elizabeth though." Elizabeth stated as a gust of wind blew her hair behind her like a curtain. "Am I?"

"No." John agreed looking her in the eye. "You're not."

'My Elizabeth is strong.' He added silently, wondering how his own Elizabeth was holding up.

oOo

"I shouldn't have let Rodney turn this damn thing on." Elizabeth exploded as night descended upon their city.

"There was nothing that you could have done!" Zelenka answered patiently, having gone through this conversation a hundred times with Elizabeth already. "Rodney is a stubborn and arrogant man and he would have turned on the device with or without your permission. You said it yourself Dr. Weir that Teyla said that a 'Traveller' would be coming through the gate. We needed to know what this was..."

"I suppose" Elizabeth agreed with a sigh before she began to wheel herself out of the lab. "I'll be in my office."

oOo

". ...so I proposed to you?" John asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had descended upon Elizabeth and him.

"Yes." She answered, her voice softening. "Right here actually... god this is so hard."

"I'm sorry." John stated sympathetically, placing a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

"The way you look at me-" She began, a sob escaping from her throat. "- it's different, there's no love in your eyes. Are you and your Elizabeth not-"

"Uh no-" John answered quickly- too quickly for his liking. "-we're just friends. We've helped each other out of a lot of tough situations over the years," He paused as grimaced though not from the memories. A pain was building through him and it reverberated in his bones. "-like a couple of weeks ago when she was injured in the Asuran attack but-"

"John?" Elizabeth asked worriedly as John collapsed against the railing. She could see him begin to phase out of her time and she knew what was happening. Instinctually she reached for her ear piece and contacted Carson.

"What is it lass?" Carson asked through the device.

"John's in trouble." Elizabeth answered as she held John tight. "I think that it might be entropic cascade failure."

"I'll be right there." Carson stated urgently before the line went dead.

"Hold on John-" Elizabeth pleaded, holding the unconscious John in her arms. - you have to hold on."

oOo

"How are you feeling?" Elizabeth asked as John regained consciousness in the infirmary with Carson looking over him. He merely grunted in reply and Elizabeth looked up worriedly at her CMO. " Carson, is he going to be alright?"

"Hard to say lass-" Carson answered honestly. "I've never dealt with anything like this."

"It's entropic cascade failure-" Rodney reminded with a groan. "There's nothing that you can do."

"And what about you Rodney?" Elizabeth asked turning towards the scientist. "Can you do anything for him? And Ronan?"

"I can get that damn gate working, that's what I can do."

"Get it working McKay- that's an order." John whispered through gritted teeth as he floated to consciousness for a moment."

"Yes sir." Rodney agreed and then he was gone.

John faded into unconsciousness again and Carson left him alone with Elizabeth who merely took his hand and tried to give him what little of her strength that she could.

"You have to hold on John-" She whispered quietly, trying to keep her voice stead. "-if not for me then for your own Elizabeth because I don't care what you say- the love wasn't there for me in your eyes, but I could see that it was there for her."

oOo

Kate Hieghtmeyer watched as Elizabeth played with her watch. From what little Kate had learned she knew that the watch had belonged to her father and that as a leader- Elizabeth only pulled it out when she was really distressed. "Dr. Weir?"

"Kate?" Elizabeth asked looking up. "What are you doing here?"

"Grapevine. I heard what happened."

"News travels very fast." Elizabeth murmured her eyes travelling back down to her watch.

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

The strong immobile leader of Atlantis merely shook her head and Kate knew that she had to say what Elizabeth needed to hear. "You blame yourself." She began watching as Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock. "You blame yourself but you shouldn't. The people of this expedition are very strong willed."

"That's what Zelenka said. But I'm responsible for them and since-"

"I know that the past few months have been tough Dr. Weir," Kate stated simply. "-but even you must realise that there are simply some things that are out of your control."

'That doesn't make me feel better.' Elizabeth thought to herself, but for the sake of Kate she nodded. "I suppose you're right."

oOo

"Alive-" Elizabeth breathed as she looked to Carson. "We're going to have to start sending out search parties. Radek has been running simulations based on space and time- he thinks he knows roughly where John is."

"Lass I know that this is huge." Carson began warily- watching as Elizabeth's excitement grew and grew. "But that is still a mighty lot of planets- like a needle in a haystack."

"I know Carson- but we have to find him. We just have too." Elizabeth answered firmly. "And it is quite possible that John's people are looking for them- and that's an even bigger haystack and an even smaller needle."

oOo

"We have to get out of here." Elizabeth shouted as Lorne and his team came through into another reality.

" Elizabeth!" John cried out trying to pull his leader out of harms way but an Asuran weapon shot through the air and pierced her thin and fragile body causing it to fall to the ground.

A/N- Hello beloved readers. Thank you to Gingercake, Lemons and HopelesslyEscaflowne for reviewing chapter 12 and thank you to HopelesslyEscaflowne for reviewing chapter 11 as well. I hope you all, and my other beloved readers enjoyed this chapter. And I hope that it's not too much of a cliffhanger for you guys. The next chapter will be up once I get 50 reviews (:D Gotta do something to get some feedback)