Authors Note: Kind of a short chapter but I just wanted to get something posted. Exams and RL have kinda taken over everything but I should have more time for updates now. I know I keep saying it but I'm very sorry for the all the delays.

Chapter 21

They'd been out for a while, neither Elizabeth nor Teyla had woken up yet and it had been a week since they'd destroyed the shadow. They were stuck on Abavon for the time being; at least until the two women woke up but John wasn't complaining, as long as they were stuck here Elizabeth and Teyla were both out of the reach of any Shadows and the council. He'd informed the council that they were still here, that they were going to be here until the both of them were awake and in a condition to leave the local hospital. They hadn't been happy but John hadn't cared, there was nothing him, them nor anyone else could do about it.

He arrived at the hospital to find Elizabeth already awake, Teyla was still out but at least this was progress. He moved to her side, returning the smile she gave him when she spotted him at the door and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Kinda like crap but I'll live," Elizabeth replied with a shrug. "I have to say though, that one hurt more than usual."

"What happened?" John questioned and he saw Ronon sit up straighter beside Teyla's bed, listening in.

"It was too quick, it was on us before we had chance to react, I wasn't touching her so we had no connection," Elizabeth explained. "We had no defence against it. I think Teyla must have reached for me, I felt her hand on my arm and I grabbed it, another few seconds and I don't think either of us would have had it in us."

John nodded reaching for her hand himself and holding it tightly. He hated this whole damn mission, the prophesy, everything and he hated having to keep putting Elizabeth through this; she didn't deserve all the pain it caused her, at this point neither did Teyla.

"That's three down now though, five more to go and then this is over with," Elizabeth stated though she didn't seem as enthusiastic about that as she tried to sound. Five shadows was still a lot, they weren't even half way through yet and this was already starting to take its toll. He glanced at Ronon, the former Vernai commander was pointedly focusing his attention elsewhere now and John smiled to himself before turning back to Elizabeth. He kissed her briefly, resting his forehead against hers and allowing himself to soak up the fact that she was still with him.

"When this is done with, you and me are going on vacation," he told her and she smiled.

"Vacation?" she questioned. "What's that?"

He chuckled at her words, they hadn't really had a vacation since they'd met, they'd had days off, occasionally, but for the most part it had been one mission after another, no time to stop and breathe, no time for just them.

"It's me and you, relaxing on a beach somewhere, no radios, no council, no guns, no explosions, no prophesy, just us, some little beach house, the sand and the ocean," he told her and she smiled again, leaning forward to press her lips softly to his.

"Sounds perfect," she replied. "Just let me finish mopping up these Shadows and I'm all yours."

She was getting really tired of waking up either in a hospital bed or in the infirmary aboard the venture. She opened her eyes, realising this time it was the former and sighing, wincing at the pain that shot through her body as she tried to move. Ronon obviously noticed because he was up and at her side in an instant.

"Hey," he said as he looked over her.

"Hey," she managed to reply, forcing her aching body to sit up with a little help from Ronon. She glanced to her side, Elizabeth was awake and after a nod to Teyla she turned back to her conversation with Sheppard. She didn't know how Elizabeth put up with it, she woke up in hospitals and infirmaries far more often than Teyla did. She looked back to Ronon who looked unusually concerned for her.

"How bad was it?" Teyla questioned, she knew how bad it felt.

"Bad, you've been out for over a week," he told her and her eyes widened.

"That's pretty bad," Teyla replied and Ronon nodded his agreement. "Just to check, we did destroy the shadow right?" she questioned, she'd hate to think that after all that the Shadow had gotten away.

"Yeah, you did," Ronon stated and she sighed in relief. "I don't like being worried," he added, his way of telling her he cared.

"I know you don't, and I'll try to stop making you do it so much," she replied, her way of saying she cared too. It was a dance with them two, codes and careful moves, neither one of them were ready to admit to their being so much to this thing between them.

"Good," he said with a nod. "At least that's three of them down."

"Great, five more times," Teyla replied sarcastically.

"Yeah but that's almost halfway through," Ronon pointed out; somehow it didn't make her feel any better. The doctors say you're both going to be in here for another couple of days and Beckett already did your blood work. Your chemical levels are still too high for either of you to go anywhere near a shadow. They were through the roof when you were first brought on here; you were both restrained for days even though you were out cold."

"I'm really not surprised," Teyla stated. This one had taken it out of her and she made a mental note to make sure she had some form of contact with Elizabeth before getting anywhere near the rest of the Shadows.

John could hear the radio beeping for attention from the kitchen. Abandoning his half made sandwich he headed up there and dropped into the pilot's chair, recognising the signal as alliance council. He quickly pressed the button knowing whatever they wanted couldn't be good, other than the reports they sent which was only a data stream, the council had decided that keeping communication to a minimum was best. One of the councillors appeared the on the screen, her face the same unreadable mask he had long since gotten used to seeing on the council.

"Agent Sheppard," she acknowledged him.

"Councillor," he replied. "To what do I owe the call?"

"Unfortunately I have bad news," the councillor stated as though John wouldn't have been expecting it anyway. "We have received reports from our spies among the Vernai. The admiral has learned of your mission and knows that both Electus are now travelling together in order to defeat the Shadow Warriors. He has assigned one of his commanders the task of tracking them down and capturing them."

"Which one?" John questioned, feeling as though yet another weight had been dropped on him and the rest of the crew, as if they didn't have enough to contend with.

"We're not sure at this point but we felt it was important to warn you that the Vernai are on the lookout for you," the councillor continued. "Have the electus recovered from their recent Shadow encounter?"

"Not yet," John told her, keeping his tone respectful even though hers suggested she wanted them back underway already. "They're still being kept in the hospital; we're expecting their release soon. Their chemical levels have not yet returned to the safety zone so they won't be able to battle anymore shadows for at least a few more days."

"A lot of lives will be lost in that time," the councillor began to protest and though John understood her point he couldn't help but get a little annoyed at their lack of concern for both Elizabeth's and Teyla's safety.

"Dr Beckett is still looking into the affects of these chemicals on Agent Weir and Teyla Emmagan. We do not yet know what the long term consequences will be; we don't even know what all the short term consequences are. If they aren't given the time to recover between Shadow encounters then we put their lives at risk, they can't save anyone if they're killed," John pointed out hoping the logical argument would get through to the council. He'd been getting pressure from them to speed things up from the very beginning of the mission, but as he'd said, speed put the electus at risk.

"Very well Agent Sheppard," the councillor said looking less than pleased. "Get underway again as soon as possible and please be aware of the threat from the Vernai."

"Them and everyone else," John muttered as the councillor disappeared from the screen and John leant back in the chair. The crew already had so much to worry about; he didn't like the idea of having to tell them the Vernai were now after them, more than they had been before anyway. Elizabeth and Teyla were both still recovering; the stress of yet another problem wouldn't help them. He also knew if he didn't tell them, when they found out – and they would find out- they'd kick his ass.

Everyone except Elizabeth and Teyla would be back on the ship tonight, he'd tell them all then. Then he'd have to go to the hospital to tell Elizabeth and Teyla in the morning, there was a good chance they'd be released into Dr Beckett's care tomorrow anyway. Truth be told he could have had them released to the Venture's infirmary a couple of days ago but the rest was probably doing them both some good, as long as they were stuck in there they were getting nowhere near fighting any shadows.

"Hey, what up?" Marcus questioned as he walked onto the bridge. "You look like someone ran over your cat."

John rubbed his hands over his face. "Just one thing after another Marcus."

Elizabeth was glad to be beck onboard the Venture though she could admit the walk from the car to the ship had been tiring. The shadow had seriously done a number on her, she was leaning heavily on John, ignoring the massive amount of pain she was in despite the high doses of painkillers she had running through her system. Carson was fussing, alternating between trying to drive Elizabeth up the wall and annoying Teyla who herself was relying on Ronon to keep her upright.

John clicked his radio with the arm that wasn't holding her up. "Alright Marcus, we're on board, get us underway."

"And let's get me to a bed," Elizabeth stated. She'd spent the last few days wanting nothing more than to get out of the hospital bed and now that she was out she kinda wanted to be back in one.

"That sounds good to me," Teyla said and Ronon nodded taking her toward her room. Teyla in one arm and her hospital bag in the other. Laura followed John and Elizabeth to their room, putting Elizabeth's bag in the corner before leaving again. Elizabeth laid down on the bed, settling down comfortably beneath the duvet and relaxing into the pillows.

"Glad to be out of the hospital?" John questioned as he laid down next to her and Elizabeth moved so her head was resting on his chest.

"Yes," she replied. "You know I hate hospitals, it's just typical of my luck that I keep ending up in them."

"Yeah well, do you think you could try to stop doing that?" he questioned as she smiled.

"I can definitely try," she replied knowing she'd told him that before and still ended up there. "Well, I'm out now, back to fighting Shadows."

"Not anytime soon," John stated and she looked up at him ready with a protest but he cut her off before she could even get a word out.

"You can't even walk from the port entrance to the ship Elizabeth. You fight the Shadows like this they'll probably win and kill you, then who's going to stop the rest of them?" he pointed out. "It's a four day trip to Nalta; we'll see how you're doing when you get there. At the moment your chemical levels aren't even in the safety zone so this is a pointless argument."

"You didn't even give me chance to turn it into an argument," Elizabeth pouted and John smiled, leaning down to kiss her and successfully removing the pout. "So, five more shadows to go, a galaxy full of people that are mad at us because we're not fast enough, the council on our backs for the same reason and now a Vernai commander hunting us down," she listed off their problems. John had told her and Teyla shortly before they'd been released.

"Yep, just one thing after another," John said quietly.

"We'll deal with it, we've done fine so far," she replied making herself comfortable on his chest. They were all problems for tomorrow, right now she needed sleep.

TBC