Despite the risk of medicines interacting, Beckett decided to keep Sheppard and Weir sedated for the rest of the day. They were both watched carefully by the medical staff, and finally their vitals started going back to normal.

"I think we're out of the woods," Beckett told Ronon and Teyla when they stopped by. "Although it's a miracle the Colonel didn't have a stroke."

"When are they going to wake up?" Ronon asked.

"In a few hours. I'd like to keep them here for the next day or so for observation."

"I doubt that decision will be taken well," Teyla pointed out with a smile.

"Believe me, I know. And don't either one of you start sneaking work down to them; they're going to need some rest before resuming their duties."

Ronon smiled. "Good luck with that plan, Doc."

About 90 minutes after they left, Elizabeth started to wake up, with John just a little bit behind her. Everything seemed to be back to normal, and there weren't any traces of the poison in their bloodstreams any longer. They were both starving after a long two days, and after they polished off the plates that were brought from the mess hall, John decided he was going back to sleep. Or rather, his body decided for him. One minute they'd been talking about plans for an escape from the infirmary the next day, and a minute later, John had been snoring. If Elizabeth hadn't also been exhausted, she would have been insulted.

But as tired as she was, sleep wouldn't come. She wasn't sure what drove her to get up out of bed, but the same force got her to slip by the graveyard shift of med techs in the infirmary and out into Atlantis' hallways. It didn't even register in her brain where she was going until she was halfway there.

The pair of guards at Kavanagh's cell looked pretty surprised to see her, not that she could blame them. Their prisoner was asleep on his loosely-named bunk in the cell. Elizabeth just watched him for a moment. As a person who had spent her life resolving conflicts, it was somewhat frightening that she had no idea how to solve the problem in front of her. He'd stepped so far over the line that it wasn't even visible anymore – and it felt like he'd taken her with him in the process.

You don't have the strength to be leading the fight against the Wraith…

Kavanagh's words from his interrogation echoed through her head. He had been cruel, yes, but he'd been right about one thing – she didn't value his opinion.

If the Daedalus hadn't arrived at the eleventh hour, this city and everyone in it would have been wiped out because of your recklessness. There's no need for the Trust to blow us up when Dr.Weir's at the helm!

Or, rather, she hadn't taken enough stock in his judgment of her to be concerned at the time. But now…he'd gone to amazingly desperate lengths to hurt her. And she'd never seen it coming. Was that her fault? Proof of the recklessness that Kavanagh had spoken of? Or a naïve belief that people – at least not the ones she knew and worked with – weren't capable of doing such horrible things to each other? Kavanagh had now shattered that belief.

"Sergeant," she said to the guard that was closest to her, "Let me have your sidearm."

The two guards looked at each other, surprised and concerned. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Give me your gun." The man pulled his handgun from its holster, but hesitated before giving it to her. No one in Atlantis had ever seen Dr. Weir with a weapon, not even on the extremely rare occurrences when she went off-world. He wasn't even sure if she knew how to fire one. "That was an order, Sergeant." He handed over the gun.

Their voices had woken Kavanagh up, and he stared, a bit confused, at the sight of Weir outside his cell. "Feeling better?" he asked her with a little grin.

"Open the door," Elizabeth told the guards. The bars slid back and the shield disappeared. It was then that Kavanagh got a look at what she was holding, and his smile melted away.

"What are you doing? You going to kill me? SGC would have a field day with that one." Elizabeth didn't move or say a word. "Can you still not talk?" he asked, the smirk starting to creep back. Kavanagh froze, however, at the sound of the safety being taken off. "Okay, come on. Seriously now, you can't shoot me."

The door to the room opened, and Sheppard and Beckett came inside. " Elizabeth?" John asked, stepping up beside her. "What are you…Give me the gun, Elizabeth." He carefully put his hand over hers, and when she didn't react, he took the weapon away. "Get her back to the infirmary," he told Beckett.

The doctor nodded, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, love. You shouldn't be up and about, and you're definitely not ready to have to deal with him." John watched them leave.

"Don't think I'm not going to mention this when I get back to SGC," Kavanagh commented. Sheppard turned to face him, raising the gun so that the barrel was pressed into the side of the scientist's neck, a straight shot to his brain. He absolutely froze.

"You might want to rethink that. I know that may be difficult for you, though, since I sincerely doubt you've got much up there to think with. You know, it absolutely blows my mind that someone could actually be so incredibly self-appreciating that they would be able to so easily play God over something as trivial and insignificant as your image. I'm going to share a tip with you, Kavanagh: what people think of you hasn't improved with this little stunt. And you've got no one to blame for that but #1." Without waiting for a reply, John returned the gun to the guard and stormed out of the room.

TBC...

As always, feedback is much appreciated