Returning from a supply run to the Mainland Skyler entered the control room planning to bully Elizabeth out of her office for a movie night – with the way things had been so busy lately the two hadn't had much of a chance to hang out like they'd used to. Seeing that Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen he made his way over to Chuck to see if the man knew where she was.

"Where's…?" He pointed in the direction of Elizabeth's office.

"Lab 3." Chuck answered before Skyler could finish his question.

"What's up?" Skyler was curious, normally nothing of real interest happened in lab 3 it was mostly used as a spill over lab for any projects going on in the main lab.

"Sheppard's team found a couple of what seem to be life boats. His team brought back one and Lorne's team just got back with the second. I don't really know much more than that, sorry."

"Security to Lab Three!"

The sound of Caldwell's voice over the radio quickly followed by the sound of a Wraith stunner being fired cut off anything Skyler was about to say. Quickly moving out of the control room heading for lab 3 Skyler met up with Major Lorne and two Marines.

"Lorne," Skyler nodded a greeting.

"Cain," Lorne greeted as well.

Half way to the lab they paused when McKay's voice came over the radio, "Security, this is Doctor Rodney McKay. Everything is fine, never been better. Uh, Colonel Caldwell was kidding when he said what he said..."

McKay was cut off abruptly soon followed by Elizabeth's voice over the radio, "this is Doctor Weir. Attention all personnel. Colonel Sheppard is not -- I repeat, not -- who he pretends to be. If you find him, secure the area and contact me immediately. I'll deal with him myself."

Skyler paused something was off, Elizabeth hadn't sounded right, but he couldn't pint point just why exactly that was. With out all of the facts he had no way of putting the puzzle together and Skyler hated not having all the pieces to the puzzle.

Glancing at each other Skyler and Lorne shared a look saying 'what the hell is going on?' before the group continued in their direction. A few moments later they met up with Elizabeth in one of the corridors.

"Heard there was trouble." Lorne fell in step with Elizabeth on one side while Skyler – who raised a questioning eyebrow at seeing the Wraith stunner in his aunt's hand but kept his mouth shut – fell in step on the other side, the two Marines behind them. They all matched her determined stride.

"Yes, Major -- it's Colonel Sheppard. He's not himself." Elizabeth continued her determined stride not giving any of the four men a second glance.

"What exactly does that mean?" Again Elizabeth sounded off to Skyler but he couldn't place why.

"It means he's a threat to the city. We have to find him. Your teams with me."

"Yes, ma'am." Lorne nodded. "You know, it would help a lot if we knew more about what was going on." He spoke up again several moments later as Elizabeth led them through the city's corridors.

"This is Caldwell. Both Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard are under the influence of alien entities. If at all possible, subdue and contain them with non-lethal force."

Instantly all four soldiers paused at hearing Caldwell's radio transmission. Skyler felt a shiver of fear and worry run up his spine as he finally realized why Elizabeth seemed off.

"Ma'am!" Lorne called out to Elizabeth. Training was the only thing that kept Skyler from hesitating to aim his weapon at his aunt even though he knew it wasn't really her at the moment. The four soldiers quickly circled around Elizabeth, "I'm gonna need you to hand over that weapon."

"Did it occur to you that Colonel Caldwell might be under the same influence as Colonel Sheppard? You weren't there." Elizabeth maintained her hold on the weapon in her hand.

Lorne moved in closer, "Hand over the weapon, now." He held his hand out.

Elizabeth gave a slight smile, "I guess you leave me no choice."

While Elizabeth handed the stunner to Lorne, Skyler took the pistol, he'd just noticed she'd been carrying, out of her waistband with one hand and put his other hand on her shoulder. She looked at his hand, then grabbed it pulling Skyler forward and off balance while simultaneously punching Lorne in the throat with her other hand. As Lorne reeled back and fell, Elizabeth spun around kicking one of the marines in the knees before grabbing Skyler again and throwing him aside. She grabbed the last marine by the throat and slammed him to the floor, grabbing his pistol at the same time.

Stunned by the fact that Elizabeth had just taken down four military trained soldiers in a matter of seconds all Skyler could do was lay on the ground and watch as his aunt took off. His shoulder aching from when Elizabeth had wrenched it pulling him off balance and his head throbbing from it smacking into the ground when she'd tossed him aside like a rag doll Skyler passed out moments later.

--

Feeling like he had the hang over from hell Skyler groaned and curled up slightly as he began to regain consciousness some time later. Cracking his eyes open he spotted Lorne, in a similar state as himself, gingerly rubbing his throat. "We just got our asses kicked by a pacifist."

"I won't tell anyone if you won't" Lorne rasped out in reply as he forced himself up into a sitting position.

Forcing himself up as well in order to take a look around Skyler finally registered the fact that save for a few emergency lights all of the lights in the corridor were out. Getting to his feet Skyler went to try opening the doors while Lorne checked on the two marines. They were all okay for the most part, although Dr. Weir had taken one of their P90s and a vest. Finding that the doors wouldn't open they figured that the entire power system was down.

"So now what?" One of the marines asked as he leaned back against the wall rubbing at one of his knees.

Rummaging through their remaining vests the group came up with a deck of cards, a mp3 player, a handful of power bars, and a set of dice. The four soldiers set about entertaining themselves with anything from playing Craps to building a house of cards. After what seemed like forever the power came back on.

Quickly moving from their seats the four men moved through the door ready to continue the search after the missing field vest and P-90 were replaced. They'd barely made it into another corridor when suddenly all of the doors started slamming shut indicating a lock down. Trapped once again the group settled back into wait for whatever was happening to pass. Soon they lost interest in what they'd been doing intent on listening to the chatter over the radio.

"All security teams -- this is Caldwell. Resume your search for Doctor Weir."

As soon as the lock down was overridden and the order came over the radio the soldiers where up and on their way again.

"Sorry we took so long. We got stuck in that damned corridor for two hours." Lorne apologized to Teyla when the group finally reached her position.

"Call a medical team and have them both taken to the Infirmary." Teyla barely took her eyes off of Sheppard.

"You got it." Lorne turned, activated his radio. "This is Lorne. I need a medical team to my location."

--

The second time Elizabeth woke up after being freed of Phoebus she felt something soft brushing against her arm. Looking down she spotted Skyler sleeping with his head resting on the bed next to her arm, his hair brushing her arm. Glancing around she noted that the lights were dimmed meaning that it was sometime in the middle of the night.

"You know Carson is gonna kick my ass if he comes in here and finds you awake." Thinking that Skyler had been asleep Elizabeth startled when he spoke up.

"How are you doing?" An imagine of her beating up Lorne's team flashed through Elizabeth's mind.

"Aside from getting my ass kicked by a pacifist, which is so not helping my ego by the way," he gave her a mock glare. "I'm good. How're you doing?"

She sighed softly "I'm not really sure how to explain it," she trailed off not sure how exactly to explain how she was feeling.

"Look, I know what happened was tough, and I know you're probably blaming yourself for it but you have nothing to feel guilty about."

"I could have killed a lot of people, destroyed this city. I can't just forget that."

Skyler let out a soft chuckle, "you and Sheppard really are like peas in a pod you know that. Like I told him not so long ago, yes it might've been your body, your hand, but it wasn't you. It wasn't you that pulled the trigger against Ronon. It wasn't you willing to kill over a hundred people just to kill an enemy in a war that no one even remembers anymore."

Elizabeth lowered her head slightly, biting her lower lip, telling Skyler that she wanted to ask him something but not sure how. Taking a breath she raised her gaze again, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, you know that."

"Killing made Phoebus feel powerful and, and excited, and it made her want more and I could feel it too. I guess I just need to know that if I ever have to do that, that if I ever have to…that it won't be like that, that it won't-"

"It won't."

There was something in Skyler's voice that made her stop and look at him. "But how do you know?"

"Because I know you and it won't." He stared her hard in the eyes. "There's no way that you'd be able to kill anyone and not feel anything but remorse and pain and guilt."

"Is that what you feel?"

"Sometimes." It was one word, but somehow it was enough. She nodded and the two fell into a comfortable silence.

"I hate the thought of having to resort to violence." Elizabeth broke the silence a moment later.

"I know." Skyler stated simply.

"But, I have to admit that when Phoebus was 'kicking ass' it felt kind of good knowing that I could defend myself like that, even if just for that moment."

"Couldn't hurt to learn how to defend yourself," Skyler shrugged his shoulders "Especially since you've been going off world more."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Will you teach me?"

"I could… But I think there's someone else here more qualified to do that." Skyler looked over his shoulder at the bed holding a wide awake Sheppard. "I think I'll leave the two of you to talk." Getting up from his seat Skyler quietly slipped out of the infirmary.