SPOILERS for CONVERSION!

Sheppard/Weir goodness ahead

88

His fingers were digging into her neck. His fingers, his hand, but not him, no, he was standing a million miles away pounding furiously against whatever prison he was enslaved in. He felt her sag against his hand, she was weakening and part of him relished that. The other part reared up and managed to withdraw the hand---

Which was all that separated him from the woman pressed against his chest. This time, her weapons were gone, but so were his. His hands grabbed her shoulders, fingers digging in as he pushed against her, causing her to gasp. He ducked his head and pressed his lips against hers—

And sat up gasping for breath. John looked around wildly, his heart hammering against his chest. Running to the bathroom, he heaved whatever he'd eaten that day into the toilet. Trying to breath, he straitened up and dipped his hands in the cold water of the sink, splashing it on his face and using it to clean out the taste in his mouth.

Gripping the edges of the sink, he looked in the mirror, trying to focus. His eyes snapped to reptilian yellow and back to white again. Making a small noise in the back of his throat, his legs buckled and he sunk to the ground, gripping his hair tightly.

He had been to Carson many times and each time he as told it was remnants form the infection, it would pass. But truthfully he didn't know how much more time he could give it. His body had been reacting violently to the 'remnants', plaguing him with nightmares that made him physically sick.

How could he do that to her?

Tightening his grip on his hair, he didn't hear the door slide open.

"John!" someone forced cool fingers under his chin, lifting it up and forcing his eyes to meet theirs.

His hand gripped her throat tightly—

"No!" John threw himself backwards, crashing into the bathroom wall and pressing himself against it firmly. Elizabeth sat back on her heels, watching him with a rapidly calming expression.

This was the twentieth time.

The twentieth nightmare from an event that had happened scarcely a month ago, it was too often. She could see the strain it put on him, how he would fade off occasionally. She had set his earpiece not to turn off and had placed herself, Carson, Teyla, Rodney—hell even Ronon went occasionally—to go and wake him up.

Though more often than not they found her exactly like she did, in the bathroom curled around himself after being violently ill. She'd never admit it, but the others had taken notice how often she was the one who went after him.

He wouldn't remember this in the morning and part of her liked that.

"John it's okay," she said coming closer, ignoring his attempts to go through the wall, "John look at me," she said more forcefully, grabbing his hand with hers and pulling her collar down with the other. Gently she placed his fingertips against her neck, "You're not going to strangle me," she said holding his hand in place, "I know you, you're not."

He made a small noise, like a whimper, and lunged forward wrapping his arms around her. It was a familiar thing to her by now and she hugged him tightly, turning her face to the space between his shoulder and neck and rubbing his back gently, feeling his tight muscles ease.

"Come on, lets get you to bed," she said helping him stand and leading him to bed where she made sure he laid down, "this is just an effect, it'll pass."

"What if it doesn't?"

His voice was so clear that she drew back. He turned his eyes towards hers, looking for answers she knew she couldn't give. Tentatively, she reached out and pushed his bangs back from his clammy forehead.

"Then we'll deal with it," she said, not one to lie.

The answer seemed to satisfy his uneasy mind. His eyes closed and his breathing eased out. Rubbing her eyes, Elizabeth stood up and backed away slowly, slipping out silently. Closing the door, she leaned against it for a minuet. Breathing deeply, she forced the burning in her throat and eyes back,focusing on the fact he'd be his usual sarcastic self by morning and not remember anything.Furiouslywipingher cheek, she opened her eyesbefore pushing herself away from the wall and walking down the hallway.