Stay with me.

Chapter three.

Cold…

So cold…

John could feel himself floating along, he had no idea of time or place. He was floating. It was a familiar feeling he knew well from being unconscious. Whatever had happened, he didn't like the sound of it.

Suddenly darkness, so much darkness filled his vision. It was the kind of darkness that you can't see, but you know it's there. It hurt your eyes to stare at such a darkness, and it was surrounding John…Drowning him.

And in his minds eye, suddenly John was thrown back into time, and into his memories.

Elizabeth held tightly, holding onto John's limp hand. Wires protruded from bandages, the slow steady 'Beep…Beep' of the heart monitor soothed her slightly, but her heart was still beating erratically.

"John…" She whispered, lowering her head so she was half lying on the bed beside his hand. She kissed it, and gripped it tighter. "Where are you?"

Usually she would have been professional. Hell, every other time she had been cold, hiding her emotions until everyone had gone, crying herself to sleep every other time John came back injured, alone in her quarters. When had her feelings changed? When had she started to feel something more then respect for her second? John Sheppard was a great man. He always appeared to people who just met him, shallow. That's what Elizabeth thought when she had first met him in Antarctica. He had swagger and confidence. He had been back chatting and cocky, appearing to be just a stupid flyboy.

But Elizabeth had learned much since then. She had managed to dig beneath his carefree exterior. She had seen him at his lowest points. She had comforted him when he cried, she had soothed his anger, and laughed at his jokes. McKay still thought sometimes he was just another jarhead. But Elizabeth had long known that not to be true.

And she had to admit, more often then not, the minute John Sheppard went off world, she felt this small tug. Anxiousness most people called it. Maybe it was. But anxiousness didn't usually feel like a thousand knives piercing your heart. It didn't make your body numb , and anxiousness didn't usually make the edges around your vision blacken suddenly as your mind suddenly spun with possible outcomes for John Sheppard's life, each more horrible then the last. It was fear. It was fear that one day, he would go out there and not come back.

And it was then, sitting beside a comatose John Sheppard, she realized when that day came, when John's life ended, so would her own. John had become her rock in a wild sea. Her lifeboat. Her savior from the big bad universe.

And more importantly, John Sheppard had become the man she loved.

And with that, Elizabeth Weir, gently fell into the land of nod.

Carson sighed, looking at the slumping leader of Atlantis, as she whispered a few words to his only patient, her eyes drooping as she slowly leaned down, her head resting on the mattress, kissing John Sheppard's hand before her eyes fluttered shut. He shook his head, walking into the room, gently tucking a spare blanket around her shoulders, her grip on John's hand like vice.

"Poor lass." He whispered, patting her hand, before checking John's vitals. Carson had put the lad in a medical coma, not that he had told Elizabeth this yet. By leaving John in a coma until his injuries healed, he could then be woken and convinced of his real identity without causing more injuries to his already badly hurt body.

When Elizabeth opened her eyes, she was surprised to be found in a white room. For a minute she thought she had been injured and ended up in the infirmary, when she remembered quite suddenly what had transpired and opened her eyes with a start, looking at the pale hand still clenched in hers.

"John…" She groaned aloud, looking at his face, remembering in vivid detail what had happened as she noticed he was still unconscious.

A blanket had been wrapped around her shoulders, and Elizabeth pulled it off, clambering to her feet. She kissed John on the forehead before turning to leave, ready to head to the control room and take charge. But before that, she wanted an update from Beckett.

Hearing raised voices as she approached his office, she stopped at the sound of her own name mentioned, the not so quite dulcet tones of McKay causing her to shrink into the shadows.

"She's been here all night Carson! You can't tell me the Major thinking he's a kid is normal! If he dies, I don't even want to know what Elizabeth will do! It will be hard enough without him here to help run Atlantis! But with her so worried about John, the bastards like Kavanagh and Bates will try to use it against her. Hell, Bates has already started a small cult trying to get enough people to join. They called it the 'rebellion'. He almost punched in my face when I refused to join."

"Lad, we can't just tell her to get on with her job! We need her, but the man you and I knows she has feelings for is lying in a coma in the infirmary. Wouldn't you be a little distressed?"

McKay moved towards the door, as Elizabeth sunk further in the shadows.

"I know Carson. But if she doesn't get her act together, and soon, Atlantis is going to be as good as gone."

And with that he walked from the room. And as Elizabeth heard Carson sigh, she straightened her shoulders, pushing back her emotions.

First, she was going to have Kavanagh and Bates thrown in the brig.

Then, she was going to get Atlantis, once more, under control.

Then, she was going to help John get his memory back.

And with an air of a woman on a mission, Elizabeth Weir walked from the infirmary, announcing a silent war, on all those gods who decided to make their life as hard as possible.

Ttfn!