Good grief! It's an update! And there will be no more for a week, as I'm away at summer school in Bristol. I'm going on an archaeological dig, whoo! Anyway, there's only two chapters left after this. Sniff This thing has taken over my life for months. I'll actually be sad to finish it. My apologies to any French people reading this who want to point out that the French is wrong. I used an online translator.

Chapter 30:A message

John barely left Elizabeth's bedside for the first 24 hours that she was awake. She was exhausted as the loss of blood, and burdens of leadership, hit her. She slipped in and out of consciousness several times, leaving John just enough time to give her an outline of what had happened. All Elizabeth had really taken in was something about an ascended Ancient and that he was the Guardian of Atlantis. John hadn't mentioned the part about self-sacrifice; he didn't want to scare her.

Carson was pleased with her progress. She was talking and managing to stay awake, if only for short periods of time. There was a running joke in the infirmary about how she was more like the 10,000-year-old version of Doctor Weir. She had plenty of visitors though.

Rodney had arrived just after hearing she'd woken up. He stayed for a few hours talking about anything and interrupting Sheppard at any opportunity. John kept joking about how it was no wonder Elizabeth kept falling asleep. Elizabeth had laughed, and instantly regretted it. Teyla and Aiden were the next to arrive. Aiden kept apologising for his lack of attention and letting Meecha get through. Elizabeth had merely smiled and told him it was okay. Eventually, she'd had to tell him to shut up and stop apologising. Teyla had made some speech about the bravery of leaders and friendship. Elizabeth wasn't really sure; she may have been half asleep at the time. Exhaustion was making her brain a little fuzzy.

"Fuzzy?"

John had laughed when she'd told him.

"Thanks John."

"No it's just…fuzzy? It's not something I expected to hear you say."

Elizabeth glared at him. He turned his head for a moment, and she quickly reached out and hit him across the back of the head. It wasn't very hard, but it seemed like a huge effort to her. John looked back at her, but she'd slumped back into her pillow. She smiled softly.

"Got ya."

With a sigh, her eyes closed and she fell back into a deep sleep.

John watched her for a while. She was looking a little better than she had earlier, but she still didn't look like the Doctor Weir he knew. Carson had said it would take a while for her body to recover. What none of them knew was how much damage had been caused to her mind. She's survived the Genii attack, and there had been no signs of any mental damage from that. But this was different. This time, she'd actually been shot. Carson had warned them about the possibility of nightmares, visions of what had happened. There was also the very real chance that Elizabeth would have difficulty trusting other leaders for a very long time. There would definitely be no one allowed into the city in the near future. Now, every hope of gaining new allies appeared to be destroyed. John knew Elizabeth was strong. He knew she'd get over this. Somehow.

"Excuse me, Major."

John jumped out of his seat and turned to face the young nurse.

"Oh, je suis désole. I mean…I am sorry, if I startled you, but you are asked to report to the control room."

He smiled at her. He looked at a patch on her shoulder proclaiming her as French.

"Merci Mademoiselle. Vous parlez l'anglais très bien. Vous la regarderez pendant que je suis allé ?"

She smiled at him, and his perfect French.

"De couler monsieur."

John quickly set off for the control centre.

Getting there, he found McKay and Ford looking sadly at him.

"What?"

"Listen to this."

Pulling on a headset, Grodin turned on the message they'd received.

"Please, help us. We know you can hear this. Invaders are attacking us. A traveller told us you would help and how to contact you. Please, you are our only hope. There are children. I beg of you…"

Then, the message ended.

"The line went dead."

John turned to look at Grodin. He just stared straight ahead.

"We have to go, don't we?"

"Yes we do. The pair of you, gear up. We ship out in an hour."

50 minutes later, John was back in the infirmary. He could see the young French nurse stood near Elizabeth. She smiled, but it faded as she saw that he was preparing to go off world. He turned his head away and walked across to Elizabeth's bed. She was still asleep from last time. Reaching out, he stroked her hair gently. He was glad to see no blood this time.

"I have to go for a while, I'll be back soon."

Leaning down, he kissed her forehead. Elizabeth stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. With a sigh, John left the infirmary and headed for the Gate.

It was time for the final test.

Stepping through the Gate, the first thing that hit the three of them was the silence. There was no screaming or yelling. Just silence.

"Well…let's move out."

They were all nervous. They knew what this trip meant. John wasn't worried about that though. He just kept thinking about Elizabeth. He kept thinking that it was his fault. It was all his fault.

"Sir?"

"Sorry, what?"

"Maybe we should spread out to look for survivors to tell us what's happening."

"Sure. Fine."

The three headed off in different directions.

John was getting worried. This time it was about his team. He was stood at the Gate nearly two hours after they'd arrived. There was no sign of survivors. Ford and McKay hadn't been in radio contact for the whole of the two hours.

"Ford. McKay. Again, are you reading me?"

And again, silence.

With a sigh, Sheppard began dialling up Atlantis to call for back up.

"Hello there."

Jumping around, it took him a few seconds to realise the voice had come over the radio. A female voice.

"Who is this?"

"This is the woman holding your two friends."

"Prove it."

In the background John heard two very distinctive screams.

"What the hell are you doing to them?"

"Getting them to talk. You are at the Stargate?"

"Yes."

"Good. Return to your home world. Bring your leader to me. I will exchange your leader for these two…fools."

"Fine."

The radio went dead. John continued to dial Atlantis, but he already knew what he had to do.