Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or anything related to it.

'How long has this been going on?' Beckett asked, directing the question at no one in particular since he was just as dumbfounded as everyone else.

'Nearly an hour,' Zelenka answered distractedly.

'Shouldn't someone do something?' Weir asked.

'You're in charge, lass. What do you think we should do?'

'You're the doctor, Carson. What do you think?' Weir and Beckett looked at each other for a moment. Together, they turned to Zelenka.

'Don't look at me. I already tried to help McKay.'

Weir turned to the tangled mess that was Rodney McKay and Major Greene. She sighed. 'I guess that leaves me to try then.' Gathering her nerve, she approached the pair and sternly said, 'Dr. McKay, what's going on here?'

'Elizabeth,' he responded. A very disoriented but ashamed McKay tried to untangle himself from the major. 'It's not what it looks like, I swear.'

'It's not?'

'No.'

'Are you sure?'

'No.'

'Tell me, Rodney,' Weir said, 'what exactly is it then?'

Greene was watching closely and looked seductively at him. He turned away causing her to attempt to wrap herself around him again, but, under Weir's watchful eye, McKay pried himself free. Greene pouted briefly, but found the next closest target which just happened to be Weir.

'Major Greene,' she warned the other woman.

'Dr. Weir, you're ruining all the fun,' she said, but then moved to a flustered Beckett.

'This is a new symptom,' he said trying to sound as if he were in control. 'Rodney, a little help . . .' He tried to listen as the astrophysicist shrugged and then began to explain his theory, but with Major Greene trailing light kisses along his chin, Beckett was having little luck. It suddenly occurred to him that things would have gotten particularly more interesting quite fast if they were not fully clothed. Shoving that thought aside, Beckett managed to focus on the end of McKay's spiel.

' . . . so, I think the larger device was more of a decoy for the smaller one which contained the Soul of Sha-ell.'

Zelenka, who considered himself fortunate to have been avoided, asked, 'What do we do about it, Rodney?'

McKay examined the inscription on the smaller box for a few moments. 'Well, if we put this one in the larger one, the effects should reverse themselves and Major Greene should return to normal.'

'How certain are you?' Weir asked.

Rodney gathered what was left of his dignity and replied, 'As certain as I can be with something I'm completely unfamiliar with. If you have any other suggestions though, please feel free to voice them.' There was a slight edge in his voice.

Weir looked around. Zelenka seemed to be in agreement with McKay and Beckett was out of commission for the moment. 'All right. McKay, Zelenka, find Colonel Sheppard and tell him what's going on. Carson, you and Major Greene better get to the infirmary,' she said with a slight hint of a smile in the Scotsman's direction.

Within the hour, Sheppard had his team assembled to go back and fetch the larger box. As the gate activated, he turned to Ronan and said, 'You didn't plan on having to go and get it yourself did you?' Ronan just gave him a look and said nothing. 'You all know the drill, so let's get going people.' Sheppard was followed through the gate by Major Lorne, Teyla, Ronan, McKay, and Zelenka. Once through, he checked to be sure everything was clear. 'Keep an eye out for Wraith. If they were here once, they could come back again, especially since they didn't return the first time.'

Sheppard led them without trouble to the place where they had buried the large device. Ronan and Lorne began digging immediately while the scientists kept watch. Sheppard and Teyla pitched in toward the end and the box was quickly uncovered. Sheppard took hold followed by Lorne, Ronan, and McKay. They managed to pry the box from the hole. Setting it down, McKay looked at it for a moment.

'Something wrong, McKay?'

'Huh? Oh, everything's fine, Colonel. There's just something I missed earlier.'

'Well, you can look at it when we get it back to Atlantis,' Sheppard said handing him a shovel.

McKay looked at the shovel in his hand for a moment as if it were some foreign object before he started grumbling about having to fill in the hole. Ten minutes later they were lugging the device back to the gate while keeping an eye out for anything hostile.

'Okay, set it down!' Sheppard said, being sure to be the last to touch the box. Teyla dialed the gate. They picked it up again and hurried through where Weir was waiting for them back in Atlantis. Not bothering to stop, the team transported the device straight to the lab. McKay and Zelenka ran a few quick diagnostics before McKay removed the round orb from the box. Beckett came in with Greene in tow. How he managed to subdue her, no one asked, nor did they care to know. Presumably it was with some kind of sedative as she was keeping to herself and avoiding everyone else.

'Dr. Weir, we're ready,' Zelenka said. She nodded her consent. Rodney took the small box and put it toward the round slot. Immediately both the slot and the box began to change shape, morphing to fit together. Everyone was so enthralled by it that they did not notice anything else until the thump from Major Greene falling to the floor caught their attention.

Rodney said, 'Well, I think we can all agree that did something.' Several glares came his direction. 'What? It's the truth.'

'Help me get Major Greene back to the infirmary,' Beckett said a bit forcefully.

'Fine,' came the exasperated reply.

: P

With Major Greene unconscious Beckett was able to take advantage of her state and run more tests without being interrupted. Several hours passed and finally she began to stir. She was greeted with the question 'How do you feel' in a rich Scottish accent.

'Like I was hit by a Wraith cruiser,' she replied groggily. 'What happened?' It was an innocent question but Beckett blushed nonetheless. 'That bad, huh?'

'What do you remember, Major?'

She groaned, thinking on it briefly. 'More than I'd like to. Me and McKay, me and Weir,' she made a face at the thought of trying to come onto Doctor Weir, 'and then you.' She looked down. 'Sorry about that.'

Beckett cleared his throat purposely avoiding looking at her. 'It's not your fault,' he said quietly.

'Yeah, it kind of is actually, but I felt so displaced, like I wasn't in control of my own body.'

Beckett was still turned away, but looked at her after she finished speaking. He was not sure how to respond, so he stuck with what he deemed safe. 'I've run some tests and it looks like you're back to yourself. Doctor Weir has ordered the device to be buried again. McKay's been doing some research to try and explain what happened, but there's not much we really know. And that probably doesn't help you any.' He knew he was babbling, but could not stop himself.

Greene smiled a little. 'Well, thanks anyway, Doc. Now can I just sleep until everyone's forgotten this ever happened?'

He shook his head. 'I'm afraid not. You could always ask for reassignment back to the Daedalus,' he added.

'And have to explain why I'm asking for reassignment.' She shook her head. 'I don't know anymore. I think I need to rest on it.'

Beckett handed her a small bottle. 'Take two of these when you get to your quarters. I canna find anything wrong with ya, and it seems wrong to keep you here after everything.'

'Thanks,' she said, taking the bottle. She ran into McKay as she left. He turned red with embarrassment and began to apologize profusely. 'McKay, I don't know what you're talking about,' she said, feigning ignorance.

'You don't,' he stated. 'You don't?'

Shaking her head, Greene replied, 'Not a clue. Now, if you don't mind, I have a very strong desire to take a nap.'

'Um, yes, right,' McKay gave in way of a salutation as Greene left him in the middle of the hall. 'Wait!' he called after her.

She stopped abruptly, impatience obvious in her stance. 'What do you need McKay?'

He quickly caught up to her. 'Major, I found out why you, uh, why you behaved the way you did, and the cause for your headaches and such.'

'And?' She crossed her arms.

McKay took in her posture, but pressed on. 'The first box actually wasn't a decoy as such. Instead, it gave you some weird Wraith gene markers that were needed to set off the second device. Um, if we hadn't put the round key in, none of it would have happened. Anyway, when you came in contact with the second box, the smaller one, it recognized the Wraith markers and well, you were infected with whatever it was they armed the box with. It didn't work on the Wraith when Sheppard encountered them because they didn't have whatever you had. It seems it was some sort of mutated Wraith/Ancient gene type. Very unique, I might add. I . . .'

'McKay!'

'Right, sorry. I just thought you should know. And, um . . .' He looked away.

Greene sighed. 'What is it McKay? What happened?' She asked more to see how much he would actually tell her of what happened.

'You, uh, you came onto me,' he answered quietly, still avoiding her gaze.

'I came onto you? As in, I tried to seduce you?'

'Well, I would say the term tackled is more accurate . . .'

'And did we, did I . . .' she did not get the chance to finish.

'No!' he said quickly. 'No, we didn't. We most certainly did not!'

Greene gave a sigh in relief, keeping up appearances that she did not know anything. 'That's, um, that's good. Thank you, Doctor McKay, for everything.'

'Yeah, let's not do it again,' he said. 'I should, uh, I should be going. He pointed the direction opposite the way Greene was heading and they went their separate ways.

End Chapter 4

A/N: Well, one more chapter folks, and that's all she wrote on this one. It's a doosy, let me tell you. Thanks to those who've reviewed. I should have the next chapter posted tomorrow.