Note: This has a lot of experimental stuff in so I hope it works out okay.
Elizabeth laid on her side as she brushed her daughters hair from her forehead. Carson had allowed to Elizabeth to take Bree out of the infirmary so she had taken her daughter to her quarters where she had fallen back to sleep. Elizabeth placed a gentle kiss to Bree's temple before laying her head next to Bree's and closing her eyes. She didn't want to leave Bree, not while Kolya was on the city.
Quietly she heard the door open, quickly she looked round, fearing that it might be Kolya, instead it was John. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief has he walked over to them and lied next to Elizabeth on the bed, his hand resting on her upper thigh.
"Hey, how's she doing?"
Elizabeth sighed
"She's tired, she's had a long day"
John nodded and kissed Elizabeth's cheek
"So have you. You should try to get some sleep"
Elizabeth shook her head
"I don't think I can"
Elizabeth ran her fingers through Bree's hair
"I keep thinking that I'll wake up and she'll be gone, that Kolya will have her"
John wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's waist and held her tight, he stretched his free hand over to Bree and held her small hand which unconsciously grabbed John's tightly in a grip which was difficult for him to break out of.
"I won't let anything happen to either of you. I'll never let him hurt either of you."
Elizabeth turned round and kissed him.
"You promise?"
John nodded
"I promise"
Elizabeth woke up the next morning with one hand resting on her waist and one stroking through her hair while in her arms were wrapped around their beautiful daughter.
Elizabeth slowly took the hand which was sitting on her waist and brought it up to her lips, kissing it delicately.
Elizabeth couldn't believe how incredibly safe she felt. Slowly she looked around the room taking a second to recognize her surroundings. Something wasn't right.
They weren't in Atlantis. Everything about the room told her that they weren't on Earth either. The room was so familiar but she couldn't place where she'd seen it before.
Slowly she felt the person next to her leave the bed and slip into the next room. She turned round quickly but only saw the door closing. Listening she heard the shower switch on.
Elizabeth slipped out of the bed trying not to disturb her daughter. Quickly she walked over to the window and opened the curtains. On opening the curtains, what she saw shocked her. Outside was lots of small wooden houses and people walking around in clothes which reminding Elizabeth of her 16th century English history class.
Elizabeth stayed at the window in shock until she felt someone grab onto her leg.
"Momma"
Elizabeth looked down and saw a head of disheveled hair clinging to her.
The child looked up at her.
"Momma, are you okay?"
Elizabeth stepped back from the child.
"Bree?"
The girl nodded, dropping her grip from Elizabeth. Elizabeth jumped back in shock.
That girl was not the child she knew. Her hair and eyes were both darker. Her whole face was a different shape and her ears had something familiar about them. She was still a pretty little girl, there was no denying that, but she was not Elizabeth's little girl.
The door to the bathroom opened and the last person Elizabeth wanted to see came out dripping wet with a towel around his waist. Elizabeth backed into the wall as she saw the face of Kolya.
Kolya saw the fear in her eyes and was immediately concerned.
"Elizabeth what's wrong?"
He stepped forward to her but she stopped.
"No, don't you dare come another step closer to me"
Kolya picked up Bree.
"Darling go to your room"
"But Papa..."
"Honey Now"
He set Bree on the floor and she ran out of the room. Kolya took a few steps closer to Elizabeth and tried to encircle her in his arms but she fought back.
"No, stay away"
Kolya didn't listen though and wrapped her in his arms, at which point Elizabeth started hitting him.
"Elizabeth calm down, you are safe. You were dreaming"
Elizabeth looked up at him and shook her head
"No, this is the dream"
Kolya brushed back the hair on her forehead and kissed her.
"Elizabeth I promise you. Sheppard can't get you. You're safe. You're both safe."
Elizabeth was sat on the sofa in Kolya's living room. She was perched on the edge ready to jump up if something didn't feel right. Kolya had managed to calm her down, but it didn't mean she trusted him. Something was very wrong.
Hearing a noise Elizabeth spun round and saw Kolya come nto the room fully dressed and wearing a wry look on his face. Elizabeth was wearing a corset dress which was floaty at the bottom. Kolya came and sat next to her. When he did Elizabeth shifted along to the other side to be as far away from him as possible.
Kolya sighed and stood up. He began pacing around the room, Elizabeth could tell he was pissed.
"Elizabeth. You do this every time and every time I tell you that he will never hurt you again."
Elizabeth looked up at him briefly.
"What happened?"
Kolya shook his head and turned to her.
"I will go though this for you again, but Elizabeth you need to stop doing this. We met with some people; Sora knew them well. They betrayed us. Then a few months later they came and abducted you. They brainwashed you and when I eventually found you, Sheppard had made you different. He'd made you into a killer. We found out a few months later that you were pregnant, with his child. I begged you to get rid of it, but you wouldn't. You kept saying that the child hadn't done anything wrong..."
Kolya stopped when Elizabeth shook her head.
"No that's not right; that's not what happened"
Kolya sighed and sat down next to her.
"Elizabeth that's part of the programming you know that. It was a fail safe that Sheppard installed, he tried to make you doubt me, to doubt us"
Elizabeth stood up and walked to the far end of the room. She stared out of the window and sighed.
"That's not true. John would never hurt me"
Elizabeth jumped as she heard something smash next to her. Turning round in shock she saw Kolya, his eyes full of anger.
"Damn it Elizabeth."
Kolya looked at her, he could see the fear in her eyes and he immediately regretted what he had done.
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth I'm sorry."
Kolya sat down on the sofa and buried his head in his hands.
"Please stop defending him. I know that when he brainwashed you he made you believe you were his wife but you're not. You told me that a part of you, the part that he created, loved Sheppard but you don't."
Elizabeth felt almost entranced when she walked over to the sofa and sat next to him. She almost believed him, she could feel herself wanting to believe him.
She felt his hand touch her cheek and turn her head to face him.
"Please believe me my Elizabeth. I would never do anything to hurt you."
Elizabeth could feel herself drawn to him. She could feel herself moving closer to him. He slipped his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her head closer to him.
"Just forget about him Elizabeth"
As their lips touched, Elizabeth heard a loud smash and felt a sharp pain in her hand. She looked down and saw blood pouring down from it, shards of glass buried into her palm
Elizabeth looked up into the mirror of her Atlantis bathroom. The mirror that used to hang on the wall was no longer there, the glass sat in the sink with some shards buried in her hand.
Time seemed to move slowly as she tried to pick the biggest shards out of her hand. She only stopped when she felt someone stand behind her and switch on the bathroom light.
John was broke out of his peaceful sleep when he heard a noise from the bathroom. Looking next to him, he could see Bree lying peaceful where she had fallen asleep but the space where Elizabeth had fallen asleep was vacated. Slowly rising from the bed, careful not to wake Bree he walked to the bathroom and switch on the light. As soon as the light flooded the bathroom he could see the broken mirror.
He looked over Elizabeth's shoulder and saw the blood pouring from her hand.
"Elizabeth?"
She turned round to him, tears falling from her eyes.
"It happened again"
John carefully wrapped Elizabeth in his arms being careful not to knock her hand.
Five minutes after Elizabeth had stopped crying John had called for the night doctor, which just happened to be Carson. When he arrived in the room Bree was still sleeping peacefully and Elizabeth was sitting on a chair which John sat next to her smoothing down her hair. Carson walked over to her and saw the hand which was all cut up and bloody. Slowly he bent down in front of her and took her hand.
"How did this happened Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth brushed a piece of her hair from her eyes.
"I was...sleepwalking"
Carson was about to press but he received a look from John which told him to leave it alone.
It took Carson just a little over ten minutes to treat Elizabeth's hand and give her something for the pain and with an instruction to come and see him in the morning for stitches. She had than crawled back into bed next to Bree and fallen straight back to sleep.
After checking on Elizabeth and placing a kiss to her temple, he led Carson outside. Once in the corridor Carson turned to him.
"As that happened before John?"
John lent against the wall
"The first time it happened was about 2 months after I got back to Earth. She told me she'd had a dream about Kolya. It happens, maybe twice a year. After she dreams about Kolya. She never tells me what happens in the dreams though. It's almost like she's scared."
Carson nodded
"It's a form of self harm. She's doing it unconsciously but it's easing the pain"
John nodded
"I got rid of every mirror in our bedroom, but she'd just sleepwalk to the nearest mirror, sometimes it was the nearest knife. You have no idea how often I often it happened and every time it did her doctor thought it was domestic abuse. She tried getting Elizabeth to leave me at one point. The thing is that it stopped. About two years ago she stopped doing it. She was so happy and now all this has happened she's doing it again"
Carson nodded
"Did she ever see a psychologist about it?"
John shook his head
"She wouldn't go. I made appointments for her with the SGC shrink but she always found something to do at that exact time. There was one time when she did talk to the shrink but she stormed out and then hit me. She wouldn't tell me what had been said but it upset her enough to kick me into the spare room for a few nights."
Carson smiled at the thought of Elizabeth hitting John who was taller and physically stronger and patted John on the shoulder.
"Get some sleep lad. I'll talk to Kate and see if she'll have a little talk with Elizabeth"
John shook his head
"Don't bother she won't talk to her"
Carson smirked
"She doesn't have to know that Kate is planning to talk to her does she?"
John smiled and nodded
"I guess not"
Carson motioned his head to the door to John's quarters.
"Go get some rest"
John nodded
"You too"
John thanked Carson and than walked back into his quarters and over to the bed. He laid down next to Elizabeth and wrapped his arm around her waist and buried his head in the curls of her hair sighing deeply wishing he knew what had caused this.
Kolya's Temporary Quarters
Kolya sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes closed tightly and his body relaxed. Suddenly he fell to the side and opened his eyes in shock. It hadn't worked. She'd brought herself out of it again, but this time the connection had been the strongest it had ever been before. The link was now direct and it was more likely to work. She was certainly being more responsive to his actions. It was working. Kolya smiled and climbed into the bed. A smirk plastered across his face.
Elizabeth woke up the next day to feel two tiny arms wrapping themselves around her. Elizabeth looked down and saw Bree yawning.
"Good Morning Mummy"
Elizabeth kissed her forehead and held her tightly. As she did she felt a sharp pain in her hand. She looked down at it and saw the bandage wrapped around it, she could see the bloody seeping through and she remembered what had happened the night before.
Without Elizabeth realizing Bree had moved behind her and jumped onto John.
"Hi Daddy"
John kissed her forehead and pulled her onto his chest like he used to do when she was a baby. John stood up with Bree and carried her into the conjoining room which held Bree's things and left her to get changed. He than walked back over to Elizabeth and kissed her cheek.
"How are you this morning?"
Elizabeth sat up and turned to him.
"I don't know"
John grabbed her hand.
"I'm going to take Bree to get some breakfast. Do you want to come?"
Elizabeth shook her head
"No, No I'm going to get this bandage changed and get my stitches but I'll come afterwards.
John nodded, kissed her once more and than headed into the bathroom.
Elizabeth headed into the infirmary and walked over to Carson's office. She knocked on the door and Carson waved her in.
"What can I do for you love?"
Elizabeth held up her bandaged hand.
"I came for the stitches"
Carson nodded
"Of course"
Carson stood up, led her into the main part of the infirmary, sat her down on one of the beds, and started working on her hand.
"How are you feeling this morning?"
Elizabeth smiled.
"I'm fine, thank you"
Carson nodded and smiled at her.
"Good"
Carson finished stitching up her hand and smiled at her
"All done. Where you heading now?"
"Mess Hall."
Carson smiled while Elizabeth thanked him and stood up. When she was out of the infirmary, Carson contacted Kate and told her where Elizabeth was heading.
Elizabeth was walking through the corridors, half lost in her thoughts when she bumped into someone.
"Oh I'm sorry"
She looked down at the person, which she had just bumped into. It was a teenage boy about 15 maybe 16 years old, obviously Athosian, he was good looking and just a little smaller than Elizabeth. He looked up at Elizabeth and broke into a smile
"Dr Weir, it's good to see you again"
Elizabeth tried furiously to remember who this boy was and than it came to her.
"Jinto?"
He nodded
"You've grown so much. It's good to see you again"
Jinto nodded
"It's good to see you."
Jinto stood for a moment contemplating what to say
"I heard about what's been happening. I heard why you're back. How's Bree?"
Elizabeth nodded
"She's okay. She hasn't met him yet...but she will...probably today."
Jinto nodded and Elizabeth smiled at him
"Anyway what are you up to?"
Jinto shrugged
"There's a group of us that are being trained by Ford and Stackhouse, it's fun but I like being taught science more. Rodney teaches me, he says I'm insufferable sometimes."
Elizabeth smiled
"He doesn't mean it. He's probably just scared that you're smarter than him"
Jinto smiled at the compliment.
"Thanks for saying so but I doubt that's true."
Elizabeth smiled
"Don't sell yourself short"
Jinto smiled and the two continued to speak for a little longer until Kate came round the corridor interrupting them.
"Dr Weir"
Elizabeth turned to hear and smiled
"Kate"
The two women hugged and Jinto excused himself to give them a chance to talk.
"How are you settling back in?"
Elizabeth smiled
"It's amazing how right being here feels"
Kate smiled
"You've been missed, all of you have."
Elizabeth nodded
"We've missed Atlantis"
Kate took Elizabeth by the arm.
"Come with me"
Kate led Elizabeth to a nearby balcony and Elizabeth looked over the edge into the ocean which she missed dearly. She than turned to Kate and lent against the railings.
"What can I do for you Kate?"
Kate crossed her arms.
"I just wanted to speak with you. I heard about what happened last night. I just wandering if you wanted to talk about it"
Elizabeth shook her head
"Well I don't"
Elizabeth went to leave when Kate called to her
"It's not the first time it has happened, is it?"
Elizabeth turned back to her.
"John told you?"
Kate shook her head
"No and it doesn't matter how I heard, all I want to do us talk with you about this. Try and help you though it"
Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair.
"Kate, I appreciate that you want to help me, but I can not talk about this. I don't want to think about it"
Elizabeth left Kate standing on the balcony while she went to the mess hall.
Elizabeth spotted John sitting in the far corner next to the balcony, Bree was sat on his lap with Aiden and Rodney sitting opposite them.
Elizabeth walked over to them smiling at Aiden and Rodney before turning to John.
"Can I have a word with you? In private"
John nodded and stood up, placing Bree in the chair he had just vacated before following Elizabeth to a nearby balcony.
"What's wrong?"
Elizabeth looked up at him
"I would prefer it if you didn't discuss my emotional state with a shrink"
John took a step forward.
"Look, I told Carson last night that it has happened before, he said he'd ask Kate to talk to you"
Elizabeth threw her arms up in disbelief
"Carson knows? Dear God John why not just sky write it so the entire city knows that I spent nearly two weeks in a psychiatric unit because my doctor thought I was trying to kill myself"
Elizabeth breathed deeply and lent against the railing. John walked over to her.
"I didn't tell him that Elizabeth. I told him what we agreed. I told him that you never talked to a shrink. I told him that the doctor thought that I was abusing you and to be honest you she think that to begin with. I never told him about what you went though"
Elizabeth buried her head in her hands.
"That was the worst two weeks of my life. People kept thinking I was crazy. If it wasn't for Carolyn pulling some strings I would have been there longer."
John moved forward and wrapped her in his arms.
"It doesn't matter now Elizabeth."
Elizabeth nodded and looked up at him
"But John why is it happening again. I thought I was over it"
John caressed her cheek.
"Hey, it won't happen again I promise you"
Elizabeth nodded and buried her head in his chest
"I hope to God you're right"
TBC...