"Until the day I die, I'll spill my heart for you. Until the day I die, I'll spill my heart for you. As years go by, I race the clock with you. But if you die right now, you know that I'd die, too. I'd die, too." - Story of the Year, "Until the Day I Die"

"Good morning, Radek," Elizabeth greeted the scientist as she walked into the Control Room.

"Dr. Weir." He acknowledged her with a nod and then returned to typing on his laptop.

Seeing the empty coffee cup next to his computer, Elizabeth smiled and handed him the extra cup she had brought. "Thought you might be ready for another," she said.

"Thank you," he said, taking the offered drink and giving her one of his shy little smiles that always made her grin in response. He continued to gaze at her for a few seconds more, jolted from whatever reverie he was having by the sound of her voice.

"What are you working on?" she asked, suppressing her amused laugh at catching him staring.

"Oh!" He sheepishly turned back around to his laptop. "Well," he said, entering a few keystrokes and popping up a diagram, "Major Lorne's team found an interesting energy anomaly on MJ6-483."

When he pointed to the screen, Elizabeth rested her hands on the desk and leaned her head down next to his, with the pretense of seeing the readout better. The corners of her mouth twitched despite her best efforts not to smile when Zelenka shifted nervously and began breathing faster. Amusingly enough, his tenseness due to her proximity wasn't obvious to anyone else in the Control Room but her. "Go on, Doctor," she said innocently.

Zelenka muttered a Czech curse under his breath and attempted to explain his project. "They were able to trace the energy to a temple on the north side of the island…" The light scent of her perfume was driving him batty. "However…when they tried to, ehh…search the…temple…"

"Problems, Radek?" Elizabeth teased.

He sighed in frustration and attempted to concentrate. "When they tried to search the temple…the nativ--"

"Off-world activation," the Gate technician interrupted as the gate began activating.

Elizabeth looked up from where she was hovering over Zelenka's shoulder. "From?"

"P8B-449," the tech replied. "Captain Akerly's IDC."

"Already?" Elizabeth walked over to stand beside him and checked the computer herself. "Didn't they only leave a few minutes ago?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, hitting the button to lower the shield.

Summer came barreling through the event horizon with Michael on her heels. "We have a medical emergency!" she called, looking back at the Gate frantically, waiting for her comrades to rematerialize. "We need Beckett in here, ASAP!"

Elizabeth quickly radioed for a medical team as she ran down the stairs. She reached the bottom just as Johnson stepped back though the Gate carrying Evie's limp body in his arms. The unconscious Lieutenant was bleeding from a wound in her side and her scarlet life-fluid had soaked clear through her shirt and jacket. "Dear Lord…" Elizabeth whispered, bringing a hand up to her mouth. Johnson began quickly making his way to the infirmary, meeting the medical team halfway and placing Evie gently on the stretcher.

Michael placed a comforting arm around Summer as they watched the EMTs whisk their injured comrade off to perform emergency surgery. Johnson ran beside the medical team, explaining to Carson how Evie had obtained her injury.

"Captain, what happened!" Elizabeth asked Summer anxiously as the three of them walked to the infirmary; Summer and Michael were a little banged up, but had no serious injuries.

"Th-the place looked deserted. Just trees for miles," Summer answered, trying to recall exactly what had happened in the blur of action. "But then we saw a settlement to the east of the Gate. We had only walked about a quarter of a mile before we were ambushed."

"By?" Elizabeth prodded when Summer stopped, distracted.

"I don't know!" Summer cried, her voice trembling.

"Whatever they were, they weren't human," Michael commented, gently rubbing Summer's shoulder. "But they weren't Wraith either. We'd never seen anything like them. But they all came out of nowhere--"

"Dozens of them," Summer interjected.

"We tried to fight them off, but they were fast."

"And they were everywhere."

"So we tried to make a break for the Gate," Michael continued.

"Johnson and Evie had our sixes as we ran."

"We had almost reached the Gate--"

"Evie cried out." Summer's voice was breaking.

"One of those…those things had stabbed her with his dagger."

"I covered Johnson while he ran to her--"

"While I dialed home--"

"The cut was big…sh-she lost consciousness pretty quickly."

They had reached the infirmary by this time. "I'll let you know as soon as we have any updates on Evie's condition," Elizabeth said solemnly. "But right now, I want you two to have those injuries taken care of." She found a few of the medical staff and sent them to bandage up Michael and Summer. Then she went to check on Evie's status.

XXXXXX

Several agonizing hours later, Carson emerged from the OR. Aside from several scratches, a few minor lacerations, and a large bruise on Michael's shoulder, the rest of Johnson's team was fine. The three of them, along with Elizabeth, immediately pounced upon Carson. "Is she going to make it?"

"Is Evie okay?"

"She's gonna be alright, isn't she?"

"How is she?"

"Yes, yes, yes, and still unconscious," Carson answered, rubbing a hand over his tired face. "She lost a lot of blood, but thankfully there wasn't any damage to her internal organs. The wound was more of a slash than a stab. We gave her some blood and patched her up as best as we could. We were afraid that she might regain consciousness while we were working on her, so we gave her a heavy dose of sedatives. She's now resting comfortably in a medically induced coma. She should regain consciousness within a day or two."

Summer heaved a sigh of relief. After a pause, she asked, "Can I see her?"

"Of course," he answered with a kind smile. Understanding the strong bond between Summer and Evie, he had made a small provision. "There's an extra pillow on the chair."

Summer smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Carson." She quickly walked behind the curtains that separated Evie from the rest of the room. Michael and Johnson followed suit.

"She lost all that blood and she's really going to be just fine?" Elizabeth asked as she watched Evie's teammates leave.

"Like I said, it's really just a flesh wound. So, I don't want you to stay up all night worrying. I expect her to make a full recovery."

Elizabeth sighed and smiled lightly. "Good job, Carson."

He smiled. "All in a day's work."

XXXXXX

After returning his weapons to the armory, Sheppard began searching for any of the members of Major Johnson's team. As he walked through the mess hall, he spotted one of the men for whom he was looking. "Hey, Mikey," he called, approaching the younger man. "Are we all still on for paintball?"

Michael frowned at Sheppard. "Dude, it's 'Michael.'"

"My bad," Sheppard apologized. "Michael, are we going to the mainland today for paintball?"

Michael looked down. "No… Paintball's going to have to wait."

"Why? What happened?" Sheppard asked, starting to grow concerned.

Michael met Sheppard's gaze hesitantly; he knew that Sheppard cared for Evie and didn't want the other man to completely freak out. "Evie's in the infirmary. But--" he cut off Sheppard's cry of protest "--she's going to be okay."

Sheppard grabbed Michael's arm and practically dragged the anthropologist out of the mess hall. "What happened?" he asked as they walked quickly to the infirmary, the concern evident in Sheppard's voice.

Prying off Sheppard's grip on his shoulder, Michael asked, "You want the long version or the short version?" Sheppard shot him a glare. "We were ambushed. Evie got stabbed," Michael answered quickly.

"Stabbed! With what? By who?" Sheppard fired off his questions as they neared the infirmary.

"Just your normal dagger, and by…I don't know what. But P8B-449 is definitely off-limits from here on out."

They had reached the infirmary by this time, and Sheppard quickly scanned the room, spotting the curtained bed and making a beeline for it. He saw Summer sitting in the chair next to the bed, reading a book. And there, on the bed, lay his beloved. She had an IV in her hand and was hooked up to several monitors, with various wires attached to her. She had a few scrapes on her face and arms, and he could see the thick bandage around her torso through the pajama-like hospital garb in which she had been dressed.

Summer looked up when she heard him sigh dejectedly. "Good afternoon, Colonel," she greeted, placing a bookmark in her book. When Sheppard continued to stare at Evie and didn't return her greeting, Summer added, "She's not as bad as she looks. Carson says she'll wake up as soon as the sedative wears off."

"God, I hope so," Sheppard prayed, gently stroking Evie's cheek with the back of his hand.

After a pause, Summer asked quietly, "You really care for her a lot, don't you?"

Sheppard nodded and slipped his hand into Evie's, squeezing it gently. "She's really something special."

"Well, when she wakes up," Summer said optimistically, "I'm sure she'd love to hear you say that."

"Carson really expects her to be just fine?" he asked, looking over at Summer.

She nodded. "He says that she'll make a full recovery." After a minute, she laughed softly.

"And just what is so funny, Captain?" Sheppard asked, failing to see anything remotely amusing about the current situation.

"If you'll permit me to say so, sir, you look like a lovesick puppy," Summer confessed.

"Yeah, well…" Sheppard trailed off, gazing sadly at Evie.

"You know what? I think I'll go stretch my legs for a bit," Summer said, grabbing her book and standing up. "I'll be back in about an hour."

Sitting down in the chair and taking Evie's other hand, Sheppard replied quietly, "I'll be here."