While AG-1 was gone, Jadin used the time to practice for his afternoon lesson with Teyla. He was having trouble concentrating, though, and finally left to instead just sit in the control room.

"It is rare to see you sitting still," Zelenka commented as he came up the stairs. "Have you explored the whole city already?" he teased.

"My expedition was called off today," Jadin replied in kind. "My negotiator is busy." Zelenka looked to see that Elizabeth was talking with an officer in her office.

"Ah. And you didn't think you could manage on your own?"

"I probably could…but I decided to just be an observer today instead." Zelenka laughed.

All of a sudden, the chevrons on the gate began lighting up. "Unscheduled off-world activation!" one of the officers called. Elizabeth emerged from her office. "I'm reading Colonel Sheppard's IDC."

"Lower the shield," she ordered.

A burst of weapons fire came through before anyone from John's team did, and everyone who was down on the first floor of the gate room ducked. Sheppard, Teyla, Rodney, and finally Ronon all came into the city, and the gate was shut back down. "Do I even need to ask?" Elizabeth called to John.

"Hey, not my fault!" he protested. "Blame Dr. McGrumpy over here."

"It was a planet of quacks!" Rodney exclaimed. "How is their stupidity my fault, simply because I pointed it out?" John just rolled his eyes.

"All right, all of you get yourselves checked out in the infirmary and then we'll debrief. Are you hungry?" Elizabeth asked Jadin, turning to where he'd been standing by the DHD. However, he wasn't there.

"Sure," Jadin replied, and she almost jumped as she realized that he was now right beside her.

"How did you…"

"How did I what?" No one else seemed to have noticed anything. Elizabeth shook her head, dismissing the thought. She simply hadn't seen him walk over; that was the only explanation.

"Nothing. Let's go get some dinner while we wait for everyone else to finish."

As they got food in the mess, Elizabeth just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "What have you been up to all day?" she asked Jadin.

"I walked around the labs and then did my homework. And I practiced a bit for my lesson."

"Sounds like a lot for one morning. You look like you wore yourself out."

"I still have to practice more."

"I think Teyla will understand if you get some rest instead." Elizabeth noticed as Jadin rubbed his head, wincing. "Are you all right?"

He nodded. "I-I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," she replied, getting up and kneeling beside his chair. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts."

"How long has that been going on?"

Jadin shrugged. "I'll be okay, Mom."

"I'm sure, but I wouldn't mind hearing that from Dr. Beckett as well. Come on."

The boy only seemed to get worse as he laid on one of the beds in the infirmary, waiting for Carson to return with the results of his tests. Elizabeth stayed at his side, holding his hand.

"Dr. Weir?" Beckett said as he finally came over. He indicated with a tilt of his head that he wanted to talk to her in private.

"I'll be right back," she promised Jadin. "What's going on?" Elizabeth asked the doctor once they were out of earshot. Carson sighed.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. He's suffering from cellular breakdown in almost every system of his body. It's unlike anything I've ever seen, but that's not the only thing." He handed her a printout. "I did an analysis of his bloodwork. That marker right there," he pointed on the page, "Is the indicator for the ATA gene."

Elizabeth frowned. "How is that possible?"

"For a child to have the gene when neither parent does? I don't know. It shouldn't be; it is a dominant trait."

"I know how." They both spun to see that Jadin had gotten up and was standing behind them.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," Beckett told him, but the little boy shook his head.

"It's all right. I'll be fine soon."

"How do you know what's happening?" Elizabeth asked.

"Because it's my fault. The past few days…most of the things you've seen and done were things that I created. It was an illusion. I'm sorry that I took control over your minds, but…" He waved a hand, and suddenly everything was back to the way it should have been. Everyone in the city remembered past events as they had actually happened, not the version that Jadin had made.

"You're an Ancient," Elizabeth deduced.

"Yes. I lived here, in Atlantis, before I ascended. But I left my parents behind, and they were killed in the Great Siege."

"Why were you playing with our lives?" Beckett asked him.

"I'm sorry…When the others were going to abandon Atlantis, I saw when the time ship arrived. The woman on it…she reminded me of my mother, and I missed her so much. None of the others knew at the time, but I did what I could to make sure she lived through the crash. And when she chose to stay in the city, to ensure that it survived…I watched over her for ten thousand years. Waiting for you to arrive."

"Your highest law is to never interfere," Elizabeth pointed out.

"I know. But the more I watched you, the harder it was to do nothing but watch. I knew I was risking being banished, but I didn't care. I just had to know what it was like, once more, to live in Atlantis and have a family."

"But you can't sustain corporeal form for very long," Beckett realized.

"No. Not if I want to retain the knowledge and abilities of the ascended. It took a lot of energy to maintain the illusion, and now my strength is fading. But it's okay; I did what I wanted to do. Now I'm ready to return and face my punishment."

"Wait," Elizabeth told him. Jadin smiled, taking her hand.

"Thank you," he said. A moment later, his body dissolved to light, and then vanished altogether. Elizabeth and Carson just stared at each other.

"Sheppard to Weir," she heard over her headset a moment later. "I am very confused at the moment; do you have any idea what's been going on around here?"

"Some," she replied.

TBC...