Disclaimer: Not mine as usual, i oh so wish it was but its not

A/N: I'm sorry for taking so long to update I got busy with school and work and yeah i had no inspiration for a while. But now that I'm on my winter break from college I am going to try and update more often. No promises though.

Chapter fifty-three

Sometimes life just plain sucks. You have hopes and dreams for your life, and where you hope to be in so many years and then life decides to throw an obstacle of sorts at you and laughs at you as you try and get over it. Sometimes you can get over the obstacle that's in your way, and sometimes, sometimes its such a bad obstacle that there is no getting over it.

Natalie's obstacle is a lot more trying and life threatening then she ever imagined, sure she knew that taking a job with Stargate Command and going to work in a completely different Galaxy was going to be a tad dangerous. Natalie fully expected to be put in life and death situations while living on Atlantis; she was warned that there were wraith, there were people trying to take over other people, that exploring new galaxies meant a bit of danger. And she definitely knew there was going to be fighting, bloodshed and some flying bullets going on but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine to die from an incurable disease that she contracted from a bug of all things.

"You know," Emilia stated from the chair she was sitting in besides Natalie's sleeping form. "I remember when I first arrived here almost two years ago. God I was so terrified. I mean I was excited too but terrified, I mean I was going to a completely different galaxy where I didn't know anyone and didn't know what to expect." she said to her with a smile. "I'm young for my profession of being a scientist like person, and young for working here when I'm not even twenty-five yet."

Emilia smiled to herself, "I can't even remember how many times I got lost around Atlantis that first month. I swear I was headed to the science lab some days and somehow I ended up either in the infirmary, one of the library's that we have here or on one of the living quarters sections." she said with a shake of her head. "I was quiet and shy when I first got here, new people made me nervous and scared but you, you walked right up to me gave me the creepiest/funniest grin I had ever seen and demanded that I join you on girls night. You said that I had to be initiated and the only way to be initiated into girls night was to join the girls on a night of drinking. Though at the time girls night only consisted of you, me and one other girl that isn't even working on Atlantis anymore."

From the time Emilia met Natalie she has always felt accepted no matter how hyper, crazy and weird she could get. Natalie didn't care, and sometimes she even joined in on the weirdness with Emilia. "I'm hoping this doesn't make you feel old, but you remind me so much of my very Italian mother Natalie. "You're fierce, you are very protective of your friends and family, you are a fighter and stronger than anyone I've ever met. And most of all, you don't back down from anything, no matter how scary and life threatening it is. You are the bravest person I know and I look up to you." she told her. "You're like the older sister I always wanted."

For a few moments Emilia didn't say anything, she just thought about all of the things she and Natalie have gone through, what they have done and basically their whole friendship in general. "You were my first true friend here Natalie, you showed me around here, showed me short cuts to places I wanted to get to, you ate with me and once I joined your team you started to teach me how to protect myself and how to use weapons. I am more than appreciative towards you for that Natalie." she said and ran her hands through her longish dark hair. "I need you around Nat, you can't die on my. Not to mention Ronon will have a completely break down and go all caveman and destroy everything in his path if you end up dying. So please stay strong and get through this, live."

The moment that Emilia finished saying that the machine's that Natalie was hooked up to that were keeping track of her organs, blood pressure, heart rate and things like that suddenly starting beeping and going haywire, not to mention Natalie started to have issues breathing. It was obvious to see that something was definitely very, very wrong.

"Keller! Carson!" Emilia yelled into her ear comm. "Anyone get down to Natalie's room something's happening and she's having trouble breathing. I don't know what to do!" she all but screamed.

Only minutes later Keller and Carson burst into Natalie's solitary room and completely ignored Emilia and went straight to Natalie's troubled body and started to work on her and try and figure out what exactly was going on with her.

"Come on Emilia," Lorne said as he gently grabbed her arm and led her away from the chaos which was Natalie's medical room. "There's nothing we can do right now, we just gotta wait for the doctors to finish on her.

Numbly Emilia nodded, "We need to tell Ronon and Natalie's sister Michie. They need to know what is going on." she said as she and Lorne made their way up to the hallway that was above Natalie's room that had a glass window that looked in on her.

Lorne nodded at her, "We'll do that once we get up to the hallway. Okay?" he asked her and in response Emilia just nodded but said nothing else.

Emilia was part in shock over what just happened while she was talking to Natalie;s sleeping form, one moment Natalie was breathing normally or as normally as she can for having a deadly disease. The next thing Emilia knew was that Natalie was having trouble breathing and all of the medical machines were going crazy unable to process what was going on with Natalie's body.

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Once all of the important people who needed to know what happened to Natalie were notified they all came up to the hallway that looked into her room and were just waiting for Carson and Keller to be done doing whatever it was that they were doing to Natalie and to come up and tell them what the verdict was.

Finally after more tan an hour at work both Carson and Keller came up to tell everyone the news on Natalie's deteriorating health.

"What the hell happened?" Ronon asked gruffly, he was the one who was most affected by what happened to Natalie.

Carson looked at Ronon sympathetically and ran his hands through his hair, "The dear Lass's organs and systems are starting to shut down. The disease is starting to really take a more a hold of her than it had first shown. Natalie is so exhausted and drained all of the time now from fighting that she never has time to build her strength back up so she can try and fight against the disease. It's a never ending cycle that will not end well for her." he said to them sadly, Carson liked Natalie she was friendly, nice and just a nice lass to talk with.

"You can fix it though. Right?" Becky asked seriously.

At that Keller shook her head, "We've been doing all we can to try and fix her and find a way to cure her but we have been coming up blank. We've been using every drug and anti-biotic combination that we could possibly think of but still nothing is working. Time has run out." she said.

"NO!" Ronon said slamming his fists against the wall that was closest to him and looking at Natalie. "I refuse to believe that. Try harder." he said to them fiercely and looking as intimidating as he possibly could.

"Ronon, lad." Carson said. "We have been trying our hardest, we have been doing all we can to save Natalie. All we can do now is just make her comfortable."

Michie suddenly spoke up, "How can you say that?" she asked accusingly. "Is there nothing else you can do?" she begged looking between the two doctors.

"I'm not giving up." Keller said to her. "I'm being realistic. There is nothing more we can do, I wont stop and I will try as many more drug combinations as I can but it doesn't mean that it will make her better. So far the disease has been creating an immunity to all of the drugs tat we have tried to use to fight against it." she said to them with a heavy heart, she just as much as anyone wants Natalie to live, Natalie has been one of her closest friends for a good long while.

Ronon growled and once again slammed his fists against the wall, "Then find away to save her, don't let her die." he yelled at them. "She doesn't deserve this damnit."

At that Teyla looked at her friend sympathetically, "Ronon if they say that they are doing all they can to save Natalie then we must trust that they are. We must have hope Ronon," Teyla said as she gently laid her hand on Ronon's arm.

"Don't touch me," Ronon said as he immediately shrugged Teyla's hand off of him and stepped away from her.

Ronon needed to be angry and pissed off right now,it was the only thing that was keeping him from completely falling apart. Comfort is the last thing he wants right now.

Emilia turned from looking at Ronon to Carson and Keller, "How did this happen? One second I was talking to her and then the next all of the things you guys have her hooked up to started to go off like crazy." she said looking at them imploringly. "I mean I know she isn't the picture of health right now but she wasn't this bad." she said as she gestured at the window.

"The disease took a hold of the lass a lot faster then we were expecting," Carson said as he ran his hands through his hair. "we have a theory, that because Natalie is not from here and did not grow up here in the Pegasus galaxy that her body didn't have the right antibodies or immunity to fight off the disease as long as some of the other people who are from here." he explained to them.

"Because of that possibility," Keller started. "Her body just started to shut down, and give up fighting. Her systems and organs are slowly starting to shut down, and now she even needs help breathing." she told them.

"So you are basically saying that Natalie is a lost cause?" Becky asked with a narrowed look, she and Natalie have been friends since they were six or seven years old, she would be damned if she let anyone just give up on her.

Carson shook his head, "That's not it, we-"

Emilia huffed, "Then what the hell is the problem, find something that will work, fix her." she said to them stubbornly as she crossed her arms. "There has got to be something that you haven't tried yet."

"We have tried!" Keller said to them in frustration. "We've been doing all we can, we've tried everything that we could possibly try and nothing is working. There isn't anything else to try." she said with pain laced in her voice from how much it hurt her to say that.

Keller may be Natalie's doctor, but she is also her friend and realizing that there was absolutely nothing else she could do to save Natalie killed her. Natalie has always been there for Keller, especially with the whole Rodney liking her and then not saying or doing anything to act on it. No matter what she was doing Natalie was willing to listen to Keller and give her advice and act like an older cousin or sister even though Keller is technically the older one. Natalie drew people to her like a moth to a flame.

"So you've just decided to give up on her then?" Natalie's sister Michie asked accusingly.

"Of course not," Keller said. "But we have to be realistic about what is happening."

Carter sighed to herself, she hated that this was happening to Natalie and not just because it was happening to her but because of all of the people who were so affected by it. There were so many people who cared deeply for Natalie and loved her, and if Natalie didn't pull through she knew that things were definitely never going to be the same again.

"We aren't about to give up," Carter said to them with determination. "We will find a way to cure this Krataken disease. We'll find something to help Natalie." she said.

In response to that Ronon laughed dryly, "And by the time you do find a way to cure it, it will be too late. Natalie will be dead by that time." he said with a disgusted shake of his head. "What will the use of a cure be then?" he asked gruffly.

"Ronon I promise you we-" Carter started to say to Ronon but Ronon shook his head at her, making Carter stop, she knew nothing she said would reason with him.

Ronon turned away from Carter and looked at Keller and Carson, "I want to see her." he said in a way that left no room for argument.

Carson gave a nod, "Go right ahead lad, there's no harm." he said and watched as Ronon left the hallway for the room Natalie was being kept in.

Once Ronon had left the immediate vicinity Carter looked at everyone seriously, "Have any of you found anything out on your off world trips?" she asked. "Anything at all that could be of use to help Natalie? Anyone who has information on the disease before, a similar branch even, some kind of witch doctor or Voo Doo medicine doctor?" she asked desperately. "At this point anything would be good news." she said.

Nothing my friend," Teyla said regretfully. "We have been traveling and searching everywhere that we can, but even still there has been no one who has any new information on this disease." she told her. "I have spoken with my people and asked if they know anyone else, but they are not very advance and only trade with basic cultures. None who are very medically advanced."

Lorne and and Sacha nodded their agreement, "Yeah we've been getting the same responses," Sacha said. "No one knows much of anything that can really be of much help, and the people who do know something tell us that anyone who is infected will die within a short period of time of being infected." he said.

"They told us that we should kill Natalie and put her out of her misery," Lorne said with a disgusted tone of voice.

McKay looked at Carter, "So basically it's a no win situation. No one knows anything, non of our drugs are working on Natalie and she's still dying. Our hands are tied." he said.

When McKay said that Carter glared at him, "Just don't give up, keep on looking. And track every lead down even if it sounds completely useless. Something has got to pop up. There cant be a disease out there without a cure, everything needs to have a cure. We just need to find it." she said to them. "We need to find one and save Natalie for both her's and Ronon's sake."

Looking down into the room that Ronon and Natalie were in, anyone could see the agony that Ronon felt for the situation Natalie was in. Even though the two haven't been together for years, it was obvious that they loved each other more than anything in the universe, a blind man could see that those two were it for each other. All everyone wanted to see was Natalie and Ronon back to their old selves; Natalie back to joking around, going on off world missions and being the fierce and strong woman that she was. And Ronon back to being the tall, strong, fierce, imposing, intimidating and somewhat anti-social Satedan that he was.

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It's been nearly a week since Natalie's body decided to start shutting down from the disease, Natalie was still alive but she was unconscious and showing no signs of waking up anytime soon. Even so, Carson and Keller have been trying to think of every drug combination that they could possibly come up with hoping that something will at least work to an extent and give Natalie a fighting chance at surviving. So far though, nothing has worked and there has been no change in Natalie's condition – Natalie is still getting slightly worse as the days go by.

Everyday Ronon was by Natalie's side; talking to her, telling her that he loved her, that he wanted a life with her, about some of the fond memories he about of her, about some of their intimate moments, him as a child, what Sateda was like before it was culled and things like that. Ronon was hoping that one of the memories would help bring her out of her a coma.

At the moment though Rodney was explaining to everyone (Lorne's team, The rest of his team, Becky, and Natalie's sister) what he had found while he was looking through some of the ancient database. He found a possibility of a plant that could possibly cure Natalie, if not all of the other people who were infected by the Krataken disease. A plant that used right could possibly kill of the Krataken so that no one would have to worry about it ever again.

"What exactly is going on McKay?" John asked as he crossed his arms and looked at McKay expectantly.

"I found something, that if we used it right could cure Natalie." McKay said looking around excited. "This is the part where you congratulate me on finding a cure." he told them arrogantly.

Ronon glared at him, "What is it?" he asked.

"Well," McKay started. "While I was looking through one of the ancient databases I seemed to have stumbled across some sort of directory of diseases that they had come into contact with. One of which was the Krataken, only it was called some other name but who cares about that." he said to them. "It had a scan of the Krataken and the insides are -"

"Just tell us what we need to do Rodney," Carter said to him with an annoyed look on her face.

Rodney gave a sigh, "Well on the planet of T5E-655 there is an certain plant, the Luoniese, that when given to the right person who has been infected by the Krataken, will cure the damage that the disease has done. It will be as if they were never infected." he explained.

For a few moments no one said anything until Ronon walked over to Rodney and looked down at him, "Are you sure that this will cure Natalie?" he asked seriously.

"We..well nothing is ever a hundred percent certain, especially since this was found in the ancient database but I am more than positive that this will cure Natalie." he said a bit nervously. "Though it hasn't been tested since the ancients were still around."

"Good enough." Ronon said with a nod and went back over to lean against the wall.

"It's our only potion, and the only lead we've gotten since this whole mess started." Lorne said.

Michie felt relief for the first time in a long time, "Good you guys can go to P5 whatever it is called and get that plant and cure my sister." she said as simply as if she was talking about the weather.

"As easy as that sounds," Rodney said. "It wont be that simple. We do have a slight problem." he admitted.

"What kind of problem?" Ronon said narrowing his eyes, nothing and he means nothing will get in the way of saving Natalie. "We go there, we get the plant and then we leave. Simple."

At that Rodney sighed, "Except for the fact that the planet we need to go to is overrun by the wraith." he told them.

"Oh well," Emilia said with a shrug. "We still go. It's all worth it." she said.

Rodney looked at Emilia as if she had completely lost her mind, "Do you realize what the wraith can do? Have you even ever encountered one before? This is a wraith infested planet. We could get killed." he said to her.

Michie walked up to Rodney and glared at him, "Are you saying that all of that danger is not worth it to save my sister, to cure her from a seemingly incurable disease?" she asked with hands on her hips.

"Err no I'm not saying that," Rodney said skittishly, he could now see the resemblance between Natalie and Michie, they were both terrifying when angered. "It's just that-"

Before Rodney could dig himself into an even deeper hole John saved him, "Ignore Rodney, he doesn't think."

Ronon stood up and away from the wall, "If it means that Natalie will be cured and will live to see another day I don't care how dangerous and how wraith infested the planet is. If there are hundreds of hives guarding that one planet I will fight my way through to get just that one plant." he said to them passionately.

John looked at Carter, "I think it's safe to say that we're going to that planet, I don't think we're going to take no as an answer." he told her with a half smirk

"I figured," Carter said looking at all of them. "Be ready by tomorrow."

Random Facts: In May 1349, the Black Death plague reached Bergen, Norway, on a ship carrying wool from England. Within days of arriving in Bergen, the crew and passengers of the ship had all died.

The creamy middle of a Twinkie is not cream at all but mostly Crisco, which is vegetable shortening.

In medieval Europe, leeches were commonly used to treat babies' illnesses. For example, leeches were placed on a baby's windpipe for croup. Additionally, teething babies were commonly purged or bled.

A/N: Again I'm sorry for not updating in such a long time but i hope to be able to update more often. PLease review i appreciate it.