"Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me. Breathe into me and make me real. Bring me to life. Wake me up. Wake me up inside. I can't wake up. Wake me up inside. Save me. Call my name and save me from the dark. Wake me up. Bid my blood to run before I come undone. Save me. Save me from the nothing I've become." - Evanescence, "Bring Me to Life"

As hard as it was for him, Sheppard had taken Summer's advice and not slept at Evie's bedside - they couldn't risk anyone getting ideas - so it was in his own bed that he had tossed and turned all night long. He had checked on her first thing in the morning and, finding her to still be unconscious, was shooed off to breakfast by Summer, who had kept vigil over her friend through the night.

Around 0817, Summer heard a groan from the bed and looked up to see Evie slowly opening her eyes. "Good morning, Sunshine," she greeted cheerily. "How do you feel?"

"Ugh…it's not a good morning," Evie mumbled. "Ow! Freaking cow!"

"What's wrong?" Summer asked, taking Evie's hand.

Evie reached down to lightly touch her injured side. "What happened?"

"When we went to P8B-449 we were ambushed," Summer explained. "One of those things stabbed you and you lost consciousness."

"Pain. Lots of pain," Evie lamented.

Summer laughed lightly, recognizing the movie line. "I'll go get Carson." She quickly went to find the doctor.

The Captain returned a few minutes later with Carson and Elizabeth in tow. "Good morning, Evie," Carson said with a smile.

Evie shook her head. "No. No, it's not," she groaned.

"Well, as soon as I give you some painkillers, I'm sure you'll think otherwise," the kind doctor replied, administering the appropriate drugs.

"Glad to have you back with us, Lieutenant," Elizabeth said with a relieved smile.

"How long have I been out, Dr. Weir?" Evie asked, fiddling with the IV in her hand and earning a hand slap from Carson.

"Since yesterday around 1030," she replied. Evie nodded slowly. "I hate to run, but I have a debriefing in five minutes."

"Of course, Doctor," Evie assured. "Thanks for dropping by."

With a nod, Elizabeth left the infirmary. While trying to sit up, Evie aggravated her wound. She winced. "How long until these painkillers start working, Carson?" she asked.

"About three minutes," Carson answered, patting her hand. "Then you won't feel a thing."

"Good." She suddenly had a thought. "Carson…these drugs aren't going to make me…loopy, are they?"

Pulling an innocent face, the Scotsman replied, "Why, my dear, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Evie rolled her eyes and groaned. "Great. Thank you, Carson," she said with a wry smile.

"Anytime." Giving the monitors one last glance, he said, "Well, if you ladies will excuse me, I have a few other patients to attend to."

"Don't worry about me, Carson," Evie said. "I'm not going anywhere." When he was gone, Summer grinned. "What?" Evie asked, eyeing her friend suspiciously.

"When you were out of it, a certain someone came to visit you," she said, poking her friend's shoulder.

Evie blushed. "Oh, really… What did he do?"

Summer giggled. "It was adorable, really. He looked like a little lost puppy and he just sat there, watching you."

"Aww…" Evie smiled. "Hey, when you go to breakfast, let anyone who cares know I'm up and that I'd love visitors."

"Of course, dear," Summer replied with a smile.

XXXXXX

"You don't seriously think she'd flirt with Carson?" Rodney said as he and Michael walked to the infirmary.

"Oh, I know she will," Michael said with a grin. "I mean, he's got her on some serious painkillers."

"You wanna put a little money on that?" Rodney asked with a mischievous grin.

"Five bucks says she flirts," Michael wagered.

"Deal," Rodney said, shaking the other man's hand as they walked into the infirmary. They quickly found Evie lying in her bed. "Morning, Lieutenant," Rodney greeted.

"Hey, Evie. Glad to see you're doing better," Michael smiled.

Evie gasped. "My favorite Michael and my favorite Rodney! Well…actually…you're my only Rodney…" She giggled. "You're so special."

The two men exchanged smirks. "So how are you feeling?" Michael asked.

"Well, at first it hurt like heck, but Carson gave me lotsa medicine and now I feel fine. But he won't let me leave." She crossed her arms and stuck out a pouting lip. "He won't let me eat anything, either. The mean old man…"

Michael covered his laugh by coughing into his hand. "Where is Carson, anyway?"

"Somewhere…" Evie said, waving her hand absently. "Somewhere…over the rainbow…"

"Wow," was all Rodney had to say.

"I think I'm about to be five dollars richer," Michael said when he saw Carson approaching.

"…bluebirds fly…"

"The painkillers should have kicked in by now. How do you feel, Evie?" Carson asked, checking her vitals on the monitor.

"I feel good, da na na na na na na. Oh, so good, da na na na…"

Carson smiled and placed his hand on her forehead. "Well, your fever's gone. That means you're definitely getting better."

"You know, you have really pretty eyes, Carson," Evie said with a goofy smile.

Carson chuckled. "Thank you, my dear."

"Ha! I told you she would," Michael said, poking Rodney and holding out his hand. "Now, pony up the cash." Rodney sighed, protesting feebly that one comment about someone's eyes was hardly flirting, but digging reluctantly in his pocket anyway.

"Pony…" Evie said thoughtfully, looking up as if recalling a memory. "I had a pony once… He was pink. His name was…Rainbow…"

"Who's name was Rainbow?" Sheppard asked, entering the infirmary.

"My pony!" Evie giggled.

Sheppard raised an eyebrow and then looked over at Carson with a questioning glance. "Codeine," the doctor mouthed. Sheppard nodded knowingly.

Evie seemed to notice Sheppard for the first time. "Oh! Hi, Colonel." She smiled at him.

"Good morning, Lieutenant," he greeted. Had the room been empty and Evie not been high as a kite, he would have greeted her much differently. "Glad to see you're awake."

Evie nodded. "But you know, when I was asleep I had the weirdest dream about you…" Rodney began snickering. "We were in a puddle jumper an--"

"Perhaps another time, Lieutenant," Sheppard said, cutting off what he assumed was quickly going to become an embarrassing situation. "I'm afraid that I have to steal Rodney."

"Aww…" Evie frowned. "Will you come back?" she asked, her eyes hopeful.

"After lunch," Sheppard agreed. "And we can talk about your pony." He grinned.

"What pony?"

As much as Evie hated it, she obeyed the doctor's orders and remained in the infirmary for the next week. After promising to adhere to a medication regime and to take it easy for the next few weeks, she had been released by Carson. Her team had been working without her while she was under the weather, and she was anxious to rejoin them. Unfortunately, Carson had ordered her not to go off-world for at least another week, and so she was stuck exploring planets by sifting through data on her laptop.

Sheppard and his team got back to Atlantis around 2230 from a mission halfway across the Pegasus galaxy. When he heard that Evie had been released, he quickly returned his weapons to the armory, intent on visiting her. He walked down the long hall to her quarters. Quickly glancing up and down the corridor to be certain he wasn't being watched(it was nearly 2300), Sheppard quietly knocked on the Lantean door and called softly, "Evie?"

After a moment, the door whooshed open. Evie was wearing her usual red moose boxers with a tank top, but didn't appear to have been in bed. "Can I help you, Colonel?" She might have called him "John", but didn't want anyone working the night shift to overhear her being so informal with a superior officer.

"Yeah, I, uhh…" He paused and his brow furrowed. Why had he come down here? Just to see her? Convince himself that she was alright? Or would he tell her what he had finally realized? He looked down. "Ever since you went to P8B-449, I've been…having nightmares," he admitted after a pause.

"You're not the only one," Evie offered.

"You too?" he asked, meeting her gaze.

Evie nodded, then gestured for him to come inside. Sheppard accepted the invitation gratefully. After shutting the door, she asked, "What kind?"

"About you," he said quietly and volunteered nothing further.

Evie sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to her. When Sheppard joined her, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Care to elaborate?" she asked, looking up at him.

"That you were hurt worse," he said, staring at the floor in front of him. "Sometimes you made it. Sometimes you didn't."

Evie reached out her hand and gently placed it on his arm. "Hey," she said softly, "it's okay. I'm fine, I'm healing, and everything's alright."

"I know that. I mean, I just…" He paused, trying to transfer his feelings into words. "I guess…the reality that I could lose you finally hit me, you know?" Evie nodded slowly. When she didn't say anything, Sheppard was afraid that maybe Evie didn't care for him as much as he did for her. As he attempted to come up with a clever exiting line, Evie scooted over next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Smiling slightly, Sheppard lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulders. Evie shifted again and slipped her arms around his neck, gently laying her head on his chest. Sheppard wrapped his arms around her and placed several light kisses in her hair.

"Evie?" he whispered.

"Hmm?"

Sheppard brought a hand under her chin and gently turned her face to look at him. One glance at her adoring hazel eyes prompted him to go ahead and say it. "Evie, I…I think I love you."

She smiled, obviously amused. "You think?" she asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Her smile put him at ease. "No, I know I do. I love you, Evie."

Evie grinned, beaming. "I love you, too, John."

He brought a hand up to the side of her face, gently stroking her cheek. "So beautiful," he murmured.

Evie blushed and allowed her head to lean into his touch. "You know that we can't actually have a relationship," she whispered. "Right?"

He smiled playfully. "Mmhmm…" With that, he leaned in and gently brushed his lips against hers. However, when she didn't respond, he quickly pulled away. "Evie…I'm sorry, I thou--"

She cut off the rest of his apology by kissing him passionately. Sensing her need, he deepened the kiss, his tongue entering into a teasing duel with hers. When he heard her moan softly, he stepped it up a notch and Evie began tangling her fingers through his thick hair.

After a moment, Sheppard attempted to pull away for oxygen and Evie nipped his lower lip, which she had been sucking on, to show her disapproval. Gasping in air, he murmured, "Vixen." Evie grinned and began trailing light kisses down the side of his neck. Sheppard was reveling in the sensations her gentle touch was giving him when her computer suddenly beeped.

Evie started. "What was that?"

"Relax, beautiful. It's just your laptop powering down ," Sheppard said, placing a light kiss on her lips and then gently pushing her down onto the bed, supporting his weight on his hands on either side of her. He placed a kiss on the end of her nose and then trailed across her face to begin sucking on her earlobe.

Evie wasn't sure about where things would lead from here. "John… I don--"

"Shh," he whispered in her ear. "We won't go any farther than you want to." His hot breath on her ear sent shockwaves of pleasure through her, as was evidenced by the shiver that shot through her. Sheppard grinned. "What? You like that, beautiful?" he whispered, ending his question by nipping the top of her ear.

Evie gasped, startled by the fire his action sent coursing through her veins. "Mmhmm," she breathed. She wound her arms around his neck, gently stoking his head. Grinning wickedly, Sheppard blew a stream of hot air over her ear. A whispered expletive escaped Evie's lips and her hands tightly clenched the fabric of his shirt.

"I love you, Evie," he whispered as he began nibbling on her ear.

"Love you, too," she breathed, letting her head fall back, offering her throat to him. Sheppard released her ear and began trailing sensuous kisses down her neck. Evie moaned softly and threaded her fingers through his hair. She sighed contentedly as his teeth grazed the sensitive skin near the base of her neck. When he began sucking on her collarbone, however, she realized that she had to end this while she still had the willpower. Reluctant as she was, Evie gently pushed him back. "I'm sorry, John, I can't."

Sheppard sat back, leaning on his hand. "Yeah… Probably wouldn't be a good idea with your side still healing."

Evie shook her head as she sat up. "No, it's not that. It's just…" she trailed off quietly.

"Just what?" he pressed after a pause. "Is it regs? Is it me? What?"

"Definitely not you," she grinned. "It's really, umm…different. And kind of blunt."

"Try me," he replied gently.

"Okay," she nodded. "I made a commitment to myself that I wasn't going to have sex with anyone until I got married." She winced. 'Okay, Evie…that sounded a lot better in your head,' she thought to herself.

Sheppard took a moment to let her words sink in. "You mean you've never…?" Evie shook her head with an innocent smile. "Wow. That's really…"

"Stupid?"

"Hot!" he decided.

Evie laughed. "Okay… I've never gotten that response before."

"No, really," Sheppard said. "The fact that you would be that dedicated to your husband is just really…"

"Hot?" Evie grinned.

"Yeah." Sheppard returned the smile. Glancing at the clock that read eleven fifty-four, he commented, "Guess I should get back to my quarters." He slid off the bed, but Evie grabbed his wrist before he could leave.

"Don't I get a goodnight kiss?" she said, sticking out her lower lip and trying her best to look pitiful.

"Yes, ma'am," he grinned. He bent over her and captured her mouth. But it was no simple goodnight kiss. Sheppard smirked against her lips when his talent elicited a soft whimper from Evie. He pulled away a moment later, leaving her breathless. "Goodnight." With his boyish grin, he began walking towards the door.

"Don't let anyone see you leave," Evie called, removing her watch and ring and setting them on her bedside table. "I'd really enjoy not getting in trouble."

"If anyone asks, I'll tell them the truth, that I was having trouble sleeping. But I should probably omit the part where we made out," he said with a grin.

"Gee, ya think?" she replied sarcastically. "Goodnight, you goof."

With an exaggerated bow, he left her quarters, checking the corridors to make sure that no one saw him leave her room. He went to his quarters with a goofy grin on his face, glad no one could see it. Once inside his room, he grabbed some pajamas from his closet and then went into the bathroom, stepping into the shower and turning the water all the way to cold.