AN: OI! I'm terribly sorry about taking so long to update, but Real Life decided to SUCK this past week. (Fan Fiction decided to suck too, and not show me my hits or let me upload this! Grr!) This chapter was originally intended to be the last, but it's gotten REALLY long; an since it's been so long since I updated that I decided to split it up and post this to let y'all know that I'm still typing. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Dr. Weir was standing by anxiously in the gateroom, McKay by her side, waiting for her people to come back home. A medical team was standing by, ready to assist Dr. Zelenka and any other casualties there might be. Elizabeth drew a breath to steady herself, hoping that in such a short amount of time, there would be no new injuries to report. The gate began to spin, and a call of "off-world activation" rang through the control area. So far, their journey to this particular planet had been nothing but one disaster after another. 'Much like many of our other ventures in this galaxy,' she thought, crossing her arms tightly against herself as the Stargate burst to life in front of her.

Within a minute, almost everyone was back on Atlantis. Smith and Spinnicchia had stayed behind to guard the device, but everyone else had come back through. Weir breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Radek really was alive and relatively well. She then quickly sized up the condition of the rest of her team.

Elizabeth did find herself a bit surprised at the appearance of the woman who had come through with her people. She decided that she had been working with Sheppard too long if she was finding herself expecting all the female visitors to Atlantis to be cover-girl contenders. She put on her best smile and hoped that this calculated risk paid off.

"Welcome home," she said to her people as they filed through. "And welcome to Atlantis, Breeda, is it?" The woman was looking around idly, not with the wonder that most people did. Though her expression was relaxed, her spine was stiff.

"Thank you," Breeda replied, her eyes coming to rest on the leader of the Atlantis expedition. "You must be Dr. Weir. Radek has told me much about you," she added with a smile. Weir raised an eyebrow and glanced at the Czech scientist, who flushed red as he was being helped onto a gurney.

"Oh really? What else has dear Radek been telling you about, hm?" Rodney broke in, glaring back and forth between Zelenka and the woman. She chuckled.

"And you must be Dr. McKay," she said with a slight shake of her head. Rodney was about to say something, but Breeda continued. "It is lovely to meet you all, but I would like to keep my time here short, as I'm sure you all would as well. So if I may be introduced to Dr. Beckett and Colonel Sheppard?" Weir nodded, and the group followed Zelenka on his gurney down the hall to the infirmary.

"So would someone care to fill us in on everything?" Weir asked. Teyla, Lorne, and Zelenka reported what they knew as they walked. When they reached the infirmary, however, the informal debriefing was put on hold as Carson swept down on them.

"Ach, and what have ye done to yerself now?" Dr. Beckett said making his way over to Radek. "And when did my infirmary become a meeting room?" he asked, glaring around at the six people surrounding the scientist.

"I'm sorry, Carson," Weir said with a smile. "This is the woman I was telling you about." Breeda was looking at the Scotsman curiously, her head tipped to the side slightly, as if trying to remember something.

"Oh, ok then," Carson said, taken somewhat aback. He had no idea how this woman planned on helping the colonel, but at this point, he was willing to take any help he could get. Sheppard's condition had become more problematic over the past few hours. The level of sedative that Beckett had to keep in his system was rapidly becoming dangerous. If they let the level drop too much, though, then the colonel would still try and strike out at anyone and everyone in the vicinity. If no one was around, he would just flail against the restraints, tearing at his wrists and threatening to pull muscles.

"Breeda, was it?" Beckett said, extending his hand, which the woman grasped briefly as she nodded in response to his query.

When Carson said the woman's name, it somehow sounded much more melodic, less awkward, Weir mused. Then again, most things Carson said with that brogue sounded nicer. All part of his marvelous bedside manner.

"If you would be so kind as to introduce me to Colonel Sheppard, I will make my stay here as quick as possible," Breeda said, locking eyes with Beckett. After a moment, he tore his gaze away to look at Zelenka.

"I will be fine a while longer," Radek said to Carson. "It is nothing that the nurses cannot attend to in the meantime."

"I'll be the judge of that, lad," Beckett told him. "And I should check you out as well," he said to Breeda.

"Dr. Zelenka lost consciousness for several hours after hitting his head," Breeda informed the Scotsman, who became flustered at the news.

"Well then you can wait five minutes while I give this git a once-over," Carson snapped, glaring without malice between Radek and Breeda.

After a quick exam, Carson was satisfied that Radek was in no immediate danger. His patients were triaged to his satisfaction, and there was no question that Sheppard's need was more immediate. "Right then, let's go," he said, turning to Breeda. 'At least Radek isn't prone to wandering out of the infirmary behind my back,' he thought as he turned to lead Breeda, Weir, and a grave looking Ronon into the cordoned off section where Sheppard was currently resting.

Teyla and McKay had remained with Zelenka after a sharp glare from Beckett had kept them from following the others. Lorne moved to stand outside the doors, in case he was needed. With Ronon beside both Sheppard and the strange woman, he hoped the situation would be well in hand. However strong Breeda might be, Lorne was sure Ronon was stronger.

Elizabeth looked at John, and indeed, if anything, he only looked worse than he did earlier. There were dark circles under his glassy eyes, and his wrists were red and raw. She couldn't see his ankles, but she wagered they were in the same condition. She wondered again why anyone would ever want to do this to someone.

Through the sedated haze that swam around his head, John was aware of the people coming in to his quiet corner of hell. He didn't feel much like talking to any of them at the moment, but he hardly had the energy to tell them to go away. When the silver-haired woman came in, his mind perked up slightly, wondering who she was and what the hell she was doing here. He really didn't need to become a sideshow attraction for the locals. He was vaguely aware of Carson's voice prattling on about Sheppard's condition, how he hasn't been getting any better. John snorted slightly in a half-assed attempt at a laugh at that statement of the rather obvious. He tried to drift away from them. Better to be out cold than trying to kill anyone.

A voice cut through the haze around his brain and drew him away from unconsciousness. His eyes focused, and he saw that it was the strange woman speaking; but it was though he was hearing her both with his ears and in his brain.

"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard," she said with a sad smile. "My name is Breeda, and it is I who am responsible for your current situation." She moved to stand by the side of his bed next to his head. Carson had fallen silent, and the others were simply watching, wondering how this woman was going to help John. Ronon had his hand on the grip of his weapon.

"I am sorry that you have suffered." As she spoke, Breeda placed her hand on John's forehead. It felt cold; there was something metallic palmed there. Sheppard felt his heart flutter in his chest. Who was this woman, what the hell was she doing? How was she responsible for what had happened, and if it was her doing, why was she allowed to come in here to see him? To apologize? Why the hell had she been allowed on Atlantis, and why the hell had he not been informed of anything? "I will do what is in my power to correct my mistake." He felt an odd itching in his brain. He never knew his brain could itch. It was gone in a moment, but the woman kept talking. He found himself hearing her more with his ears and less in his brain now. The rest of his friends around him were coming back into focus as well.

"You triggered the defense system, so I assumed you were all Ancients; though I must admit, your behavior did not seem to fit with theirs," she said, now addressing the whole group instead of just Sheppard. She began to unfasten the restraint at John's wrist. "Dr. Beckett, you may want to hold off on any further sedation for John."

"Yea, I'd appreciate that," John added groggily from the bed. He looked up at Breeda. "Who are you, what the hell did you just do?"

"My name is Breeda, and I ended the cycle of hatred you were trapped in."

"Oh," he said, still not quite sure what was going on, and the befuddled expression on his face told his friends as much. "Thanks," he added. Because he could feel it. He was free. Quick as that. Damn, that was a switch from the norm. Of course, he was still drowsy as hell, but he was free. His body wasn't battling him any more. There was no struggle, no having to use every bit of will power to just not try and hurt the people he cared for most. He turned and looked at his friends. "Hey, would you guys mind taking down those screens. Rodney's gonna break his good leg if he keeps trying to sneak a peek." A muffled squawk from the other side of the curtain confirmed the presence of the nosy Canadian. A ripple of relieved laughter washed over them.

Carson was quiet, still trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. Sheppard was already looking better. Though still tired and drugged, his body was now relaxed -- truly relaxed, not some drug-induced paralytic reaction -- for the fist time since he had come back from the planet. He grabbed the nearest blood pressure cuff and started checking John's vitals. Everything was within normal range. He stared, unbelieving at the woman.

"What did ye do?" he asked. She walked around the bed to free Sheppard's other wrist, then held open her hand and showed Beckett the small scanner-type device that she had used on Radek earlier.

"It was my sister's. It can show me what is wrong with someone, and it allows me to fix it, to an extent," she explained. "Though in this case, I already knew what the problem was, so it was a bit quicker." By this time, Ronon had managed to move the privacy screens aside, and it was revealed that not only Rodney was being nosy. Radek had moved to the nearest bed and was sitting up attentively. Teyla was hovering near Rodney, more likely to make sure he didn't break his good leg than out of any desire to eavesdrop.

"Are you done playing peeping-tom?" Sheppard asked Rodney. McKay only harumphed, his smart-ass comment cut off by a sharp glance from Weir.

Elizabeth watched the change come over John, and she found herself breathing another sigh of relief. It was good to hear him and McKay bicker again. It made things feel normal. Things were not normal, however, and now she found herself wanting answers. She turned to Breeda and narrowed her eyes just slightly.

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End Notes: Next chapter SHOULD be the last one (then again, this story has taken on a life of it's own a few times already, so who knows...). I have no idea how long it'll take me to finish it up, cuz I want to make sure I get answers in for all the open questions. So, if you HAVE any questions, ASK them! Please? Ok, thanks!