John tilted his head to the side as he looked at the obelisk, in the middle of the hall. "So, what does this say, Rodney?"

"I'm not sure," Rodney speaks up from the desk. Quickly he makes his way over to John's side and scans the obelisk. "I think it mentions something about an experiment that the Ancients where conducting with one of their allies."

"What kind of experiment and with whom?"

"I don't know! I'm not the best at reading Ancient!"

"Why aren't you?" John questioned back.

"Why would I when we have a perfectly good Ancient reader back on Atlantis."

"Jeez, Rodney," Dara says as she stares intently at the obelisk herself. "Kimberley can't always come with us and things like this, stone, can't go to Kimberley."

"Yeah, so. I can take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures."

"You know, you would figure that you would want to learn more Ancient, so you could get more stuff done and faster, without having Kimberley translate it," Dara says with a smirk on her face.

Snorting, Rodney tried to ignored Dara as he continue to scan the obelisk. "Okay, I think I have something. Follow me."

Soon Teyla, Ronon, John, and Dara were following Rodney around the inside of the building until they arrived in one big room. As they made their way towards the middle of the room, everything slowly came on behind them. Dara scooted a little closer to Ronon, which caused John to give her a small look. "What?" Dara whispered towards him.

"Nothing."

"Look, last time stuff came on, I was made a little kid. I don't plan on reliving my childhood, again."

Rodney goes over towards the machine and begins to hook his tablet to the it. Quickly pressing a few keys on his tablet, he looks up. "I think I got something."

"Is it dangerous?" John asked as he kind of glances at what Rodney was doing.

"No, I don't think so."

"You do not think so?" Teyla asks.

"Yeah, possiablely."

About that time, a large arc turns on, causing it to glow and create a different type of event horizon. Dara steps a little closer to it, tilts her head to the side, and stares at it. "Do you feel that?"

"Dara, what are you doing?" John asked as he grabs her arm.

Stopping, she looks at John like he was just there. "Don't you feel that?"

"What?"

Turning back towards the arc, she stares at it. "The vibration in the air."

"Okay, that's it!" John grabs her shoulders and leads her over to a chair and sits her down. "You stay there."

Blinking, she looks up at him. "Why?"

"We don't need another crystal nightmare creature incident, all over again."

"Nightmare creature?" Teyla questions.

"When you were captured by Michael."

"Uh, oh," Rodney says as he looks up from his tablet.

"What?"

"There's a power spike," Dara calmly replies.

"How do you know that?" John ask.

"How does she know that?" Rodney asks at the same time.

"Why?" John asks as he turns towards Rodney.

"Because that's exactly true!" Rodney exclaims.

Without warning the Ark begins to spark and have bolts of energy move about it. John watched in slow motion as one shot out like a bolt of lightning, towards Dara. Without even thinking, he turned, using his body to protect her.

Groaning, John rolled over on to his back and stared up at the ceiling. "That was painful." Sitting up, he asks, "How long was I out?" Looking around, he noticed no one was there with him. "Great, just great. Did they all just leave without me?" Shaking his head, he removes those thoughts quickly. "No, they wouldn't do something like that, especially Dara."

Slowly, John makes his way of the building and heads towards the Stargate. He wished he could full out run, but his body ached way to much. It was killing him just to walk to the Stargate. When he reached the DHD, he put in Atlantis's address, then put in his IDC. Slowly he was getting tired waiting for the confirmation code for him to go through, when it finally did. "About time," he commented, just before he stepped through the Stargate.

Stepping through, on the other side, he stops and raises his hands in the air. He was surprised by the fact that he had a bunch of Marines pointing their weapons at him. "What's going on here? Someone get Col. Carter here, so I can talk to her!"

No sooner where those words out of his mouth, Col. Carter comes down and stands in front of him. She continued to stare at him as if she was seeing a ghost. Finally after a second or two of tense atmosphere, she finally asked, "Who are you?"

"Look, I'm Lt. Col. John Sheppard. What is going on?"

"Lt. Col. Sheppard?" Col. Carter seemed to ask more than state anything.

"Yes!"

"That's impossible."

"Obviously it's not, because I'm standing right here."

"I know that's possible, because of the fact that Lt. Col Sheppard is currently no longer among us."

John paced back and forth in the isolation room. This was like when he thrown into the future and came back, all over again. After a while, the door opens and Teyla steps into the room. He watched as she moved closer to him. When she was close enough, he knew what she was aiming for. When she was close enough, they slightly bowed their heads and touched foreheads.

After that moment, Teyla steps back and smiles at him. "John, it's good to see you."

"I would say the same thing, but..." John says as he trails off, indicating to the room.

"You have to understand from our position. You are not here anymore and you are so very far from us."

"So, what's going to happen to me?"

"We do not know yet. We are running a lot of tests on your blood and currently going over the scans." Teyla goes over to one of the chairs and sits down.

John wanders over to the other chair and flops down into it. "So, then what is going on with me?"

"As far as we can surmise, we believe whatever is going on with you, has something to do with the planet you came off of. Am I correct in this conclusion?"

John runs his hand through his hair and sighs. "I'm thinking you're right. That's about when everything went fubar."

"So, what was the last thing you remember?"

"Well, the machine on the planet started up and was acting up, then there was this bolt that went for Dara. Next thing I remember, I woke up on the floor and no one was around."

Nodding, Teyla stands up. "Kimberley suspected as much. At least we know where to start then."

John watched as Teyla turned to walk out, when he calls out, "Wait!" When she stopped and turned back around, he continued on. "What are you guys going to do with me."

"Isn't obvious, John? We are going to go to the planet and hopefully send you back to where you belong."

Hours later, John was getting the feeling of climbing up the walls of the isolation room, when Col. Carter walked in. Feeling the pressure of being cooped up in the room, he couldn't help it when he snapped at her a little. "What is going on?"

"Calm down. We've run into a slight snag, in hopes of getting you back to where you belong."

"That would be?"

Col. Carter sighs and looks at him. "The machine there, only about half of it activates. We know it has something to do with you, so if you want, we can send you back to the planet. Hopefully while there you can help Lorne's team figure it out."

"Lorne's?"

Making a face towards him, she continues on, "You'll find out when you get there."

John walked towards the building that housed the machine, with a group of marines in tow behind him. When he entered the building, he watched as Ronon pushed himself off the obelisk and headed towards him. Stopping in front of John, Ronon looked at the marines and growled out, "I can take it from here."

John watched as the marines seemed to shrug, then turn around and headed back to the Stargate. Turning back around, he stares at Ronon, as he seemed to be sizing him up. Then out of nowhere, Ronon grabs him in a bear hug and says, "It's nice to see you again. Even though, it's not really you."

"Yeah, I get were you're coming from."

Ronon pats him roughly on the shoulder, almost causing John to buckle under the impact. "Come on. Let's get you home."

"Yeah, that would be very good."

John followed Ronon through the building to the room he had just came out of many hours ago. As he walked through the doorway, Teyla nods towards him. Nodding back, he finally gets a good look at who all was in the room. He was expecting more scientists, than what he seen before him. The only people that were there were Maj. Lorne, Ronon, Teyla, Dr. Zelenka, and Kimberley. Scratching his head in confusion, he watched as Dr. Zelenka and Kimberley argued over something as Maj. Lorne stood there watching them, rolling his eyes. "What is going on?" he asked. He was surprised when all three of them turned and stared at him.

Maj. Lorne walks a little closer towards him and dips his head a little. "It's good to see you, sir."

John just looks at him. "Cut the sir, crap. I'm not your commanding officer."

"Yes, sir."

Sighing, John turns and sees Dr. Zelenka and Kimberley fighting again. "What are you two fighting about? Where is Rodney? Why isn't he working on this? Where is Dara?"

With those questions, Kimberley stops arguing with Dr. Zelenka and stares at John. "No one told you, did they?"

"That I'm-"

"No, not that!" Kimberley exclaimed, interrupting him. "I meant about Rodney and Dara."

"What happened to them?"

"Nothing."

Sighing internally, John then just stares her down. "Then what about them?"

"Well, they're both on earth now, so getting any help from Rodney is zero to slim. Besides you have Radek and me! We can solve this, easily." With that, Kimberley turns towards Dr. Zeleka and calmly says, "That is, unless someone agrees with me."

Dr. Zeleka begins to mutter and walk away from Kimberley. John watched as Kimberley moved off towards a different part of the machine, to study. It was then Dr. Zeleka moved towards John and says, "You know she became almost insufferable after Dara left. There are days where I would wish I was getting berated by Rodney, then listen to her!" With that little statement he moved back towards Kimberley, muttering angrily in Czech.

Maj. Lorne smiled and walked up to John. "Don't worry about those two. They're actually quit friendly with each other. I think the only time it usually gets like this is when it comes to dealing with Ancient."

"Fine then! I'll solve it right now!" Kimberley practically yelled. Turning towards John, she gives him the sweetest smile. "John, can you come here and do me a favor? I just need to see if you can turn on this equipment."

Being a little leery about that smile, he slowly replies, "Sure." Making his way towards the machine, he stops and points towards the one he thinks Kimberley indicated too. When she nods towards him in a response, he turns back to the machine and carefully touches it. Hoping to get it to turn on like more Ancient tech.

"See! I told you Radek! He can't do it. If Maj. Lorne can't, than he shouldn't be able to either."

"I know that! I was hoping there was some latent radiation on him from the first trip, that would activate with that."

Sighing, Kimberley rolls her eyes towards Dr. Zelenka. Finally she turns towards John and says, "Was there anything different, this time around compared to the last?"

"Rodney. He hooked his tablet to that machine," John said as he pointed to one of the consoles more towards the center of the room.

Dr. Zelenka quickly moved over towards the Console and slowly started to hook up his tablet to the machine.

"There is one thing different now," John says, as he thought back. "When we came in the first time, everything came on. Like the first time we came to Atlantis."

"Then that means someone else has another ability that a normal ATA gene carrier doesn't have."

Kimberley looked John right in the eyes and asked, "Who was there then?"

John looks around at the group that stood before him. "We had Rodney and Dara, then."

Kimberley slaps her her forehead with her hand. "This is going to be a problem."

"What is?"

Maj. Lorne sighs and looks at John. "Getting the both of them back here."

"Why?"

"Long story," Kimberley comments. Then out of no where, she gets this look on her face.

"Oh, great!" Dr. Zelenka exclaims.

"I have an idea!"

John sat in the car, looking out at the house with the perfectly cut lawn. There was something about this scene that bothered him really far deep down. When he had questioned Kimberley on why Dara was on their earth and not her's and Kimberley's home earth, all she did was shake her head and said it wasn't her place to tell. Getting out of the car, he slowly heads up the cement walk way towards the door, trying not to think to much on Kimberley's idea. Her idea was simple and he really didn't want to over work it. It was mostly, John talks to Dara, to get her to come back. She figured that only he had the ability to do it.

Carefully, he raises his fist to the door, to knock, when the door suddenly opened up. "John?" Rodney says a little surprised. Shaking his head a little, he indicates into the house. "Come in, come in. Sorry. I knew you were coming, but still, it's still a shocker to actually see you."

John walks into the house and looks around. Sure, it was furnished nicely, but other than that, it gave no indication of who lived there. "I think it's more a shocker on the fact that you are even here and not on Atlantis."

"Yeah, what can I say? I'm a sucker for trying to help out a friend."

Raising an eyebrow towards Rodney, he just gives him a look. "A friend?"

"Yes, I'll have you know. Just a friend."

"You know, I was always worried about Ronon taking her from me, but never you."

"John! Just listen, okay?" John was so surprised by the tone of his voice, that all he does is nodded. "Good. Please, follow me."

John followed Rodney all the way into the kitchen, than sat down in a chair, at the table. He watched as Rodney moved around the kitchen, then deposited a can of soda and a sandwich in front of him. "You didn't even offer and I didn't even say I was hungry."

"Sorry. Force of habit," Rodney says as he sits down opposite of John.

"Force of habit?"

"When I said helping out a friend, I really meant it. What happened to you, bothered Dara more than she cared to admit. You know with her, she has these nasty of habit of using everyday life to cover up the pain. She first moved to this earth as an excuse to split her and Kimberley's knowledge up. She claims, that just in case Michael came here and not Atlantis. Kimberley mostly mentioned that she's trying to find ways to work through her sadness and what not."

"She can work through that stuff pretty fast," John says, just before he takes a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, usually, but this time it hit her harder than normal. She won't admit it, but she likes you a lot more than she lets on. Kimberley says it has something to do with not becoming to attached encase something bad happens. The major pessimist view on life."

"Not to interrupt, by why are you taking advice from Kimberley?"

"Because you don't even want to know that Dr. Baxter comes up with. Besides, Kimberley was close enough to Dara to have a better idea on what was going on in that brain of hers. Are you going to continue to interrupt?"

John sits back and polishes of the sandwich. "No, no. Continue on."

"Thank you! Anyways, when she first moved here, she had a small apartment. Being a concerned friend, I would periodically send her e-mails. She would respond once and a while, but you know Dara with e-mails, short and to the point. It got to the point that Kimberley was concerned as well. Usually, Dara would rant about something, but that slowly disappeared."

"Maybe she got tired of you guys bothering her."

"I wish that was the point," Rodney says with a sigh. "With the fact that Kimberley kept bothering me and I was getting worried as well, I e-mailed Jeannie and asked her to check up on her. When Jeannie got back to me on how Dara was really doing, I knew I had to come here and help her."

"How was she doing?"

"Her apartment was a mess, she barely ate anything, hence the habit," Rodney says, indicating to the empty can and plate. "She threw herself into her work. I had to get her to work more outlets. I knew she wouldn't come back to Atlantis, unless she went back home. We take care of own and I figured it would be best I was the one to do it."

"How are you helping her?" John asked. "Feeding her? Anyone could do that. What are these other outlets you mentioned?" John questioned as he starred intently at Rodney.

"This house. When I bought it, it was empty and a major fixer upper. Not to mention, she does take care of me. Well expect for the feeding herself. She keeps the house stocked and clean. She always reminds me of my appointments."

John holds up his hands towards Rodney. "Okay, I get it. So, where is she at now?"

Rodney picks up the can and the plate, takes care of them, and sighs. "She's currently on a mission with Daniel and Vala. We tried to get her off the mission, but she wouldn't have it."

"Did she know I was coming? That might have helped."

Sitting back down, Rodney shakes his head. "I think that's why she insisted to finish up the mission."

"Why wouldn't she want to see me?"

"You've been out of her life for about four years now. Seeing you like this, for just a short period of time, will hurt her. She's deliberately trying to avoid that pain."

"She can't avoid it forever! I have to get home!"

"I know that, you know that, and she knows that. That's why, you're going to wait right here."

"Right here?"

"Right here in this house. She can only avoid this place for so long and she's smart enough to know that the sooner you get it over with, the better."

John sat in chair and flipped through the channels on the TV, looking for something to entertain him. Finally he just decided to put it on a paid program and maybe just nap to it. Just as he was starting to doze off, he heard Rodney come down the stairs, as well as the front door open. John suddenly gets up, hoping to meet up with Dara, when Rodney stopped outside the doorway. "Just wait here, okay. Don't want to push her. You know she fights back. Let her come to you."

Sitting back down, John sighs. Muttering out loud to himself, he says, "Has she really turned into that much of a baby?"

"Actually, no. She's that much of a bitch." Stunned at the voice that spoke, John got back up and looked to see Dara standing in the doorway, glaring at him, with Rodney behind her. Seeming to ignore Rodney with his hand on his forehead and shaking his head, Dara crosses the room and stands in front of John. "Rodney does like to stretch things."

"Look, I don't want to cause any problems," John starts off. "I just want to get back to my home. So, I just need you and Rodney come back to Atlantis."

Dara just stares at him, then turns and walks away. She stops at the doorway long enough to say, "I'm not going back there. I made a promise and I intend to stick to it."

Finally having enough, John quickly crosses the room, picks Dara up, then dumps her in the chair he was in. Turning towards Rodney, he says, "Give us a few minutes."

Rodney lifts up his hand. "Not a problem," he replies and leaves.

Turning back around, he pushes Dara back into the chair because of the fact she was getting back up. "I'm a little tired of this."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she asks, "What?"

"You acting like a child! I know something happened to your John and it's hurting you. I'm sorry for that, but did you think that with you not helping me get home, you're doing almost the same thing to my Dara?"

Standing back up, she puts her fists on her hips in anger. "Maybe with a person like you, she's better off!"

John wanted to snap back, but then he realised what he was seeing. Her anger was a shield, to hide and cover the pain. Rubbing his hand over his eyes, he pulls it away to get a better look at her. "Have you talked about it at all? Get it off your chest and what not."

"Who would I talk to about it?"

He could still see the anger there, but it was coming down a lot. There was always a part of her that wouldn't let it go. "What about Rodney? He's here taking care of you!" Dara just snorts in response. "Fine! If not him, what about Kimberley, Teyla, Ronon, Col. Carter?" All she kept doing was shaking her head to each of his responses. "Okay, what about me?"

"What about you?"

"Why not talk to me about it?"

"Because you'll make snippy comments."

"What if I promise I won't."

Dara just shakes her head again. "As much as you promise, you still will."

"What about him?"

Giving him a questioning look, she asks, "Who?"

"Your John."

Turning her head away, she mutters, "I can't."

"Look, trust me when I say, even if he's not physically with you, he'll always be with you."

Snorting at him, Dara does give off a small smile. "Leave it to you, to say some sort of mumbo jumbo crap."

Smiling back, John says, "What can I say? I'm a miracle worker."

Out of no where the air started to swirl around wildly and bolts of electricity started to spark through the air. "What is going on?" Dara tried to scream over the noise.

"I don't know!"

Without any warning a glowing blue arc appeared in the middle of the room. They both barely watched as Dara appeared in it. John could see that she was barely hanging on, her arm wrapped around a rope of some kind. Squinting around the room, she notices him. "John!" Holding out her arm towards him, she calls out, "Come on, hurry up! I don't know how long I can hold on or how long Rodney can keep the machine operating like this!"

John turned and looked down at this world's Dara, he gives off a smile. "Do me a favor, okay?"

"What?" she barely answered back.

"Just talk him, just if it helps you somehow."

Nodding to him, she replies, "Okay."

Smiling once more, he gets up and heads towards his Dara. Fighting against the wind, he reaches towards her and barely manages to grab her hand. "Welcome back, John!" Dara hollers with a smile.

"Thanks!" he replies.

As the wind dies down, Dara stands up from behind the chair and looks at the now empty room.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to go with you?" Rodney asked Dara as they sat in the car.

Shaking her head, she replies, "No, I remember the way."

Getting out of the car, she begins to move in the directions that her feet once knew so well. Finally she stops outside the door of the room with the sound of so many machines. Slowly she makes her way across the room and sits down in the only chair there. "Hey, John. Sorry I haven't visited in forever. I couldn't handle it. I guess I got weak. It took another you to fix that." Starring at his comatose form, she gives of small smile. "He told me I should talk about it and maybe to you. He was nice and all, but I don't think he realised what kind of position you were in." Carefully she reaches over and takes his hand into her's. "I really do miss you, John." Standing up, she gives him a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll visit tomorrow, okay? I'll make it a proper one and all. Bring flowers, the whole big deal."

As she slowly walked away, she let her hand slowly slid out of his. Before her finger tips could leave though, she felt a grip wrap around them. Stopping, she slowly turns to see a pair of dull eyes looking at her. "Dara?" he gasped weakly.

Soon a big smile spreads across her face. "John! You're awake!" Quickly she crosses the room and gives him a hug. "I've missed you."