Author's Note: I hope everyone had a good christmas. This is a bit of a longer chapter to make up for the wait again, I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think. A very special thanks to jasminesmommy, Guest 64, sheppardlover928 and csiaddictfan87 for their reviews.

Chapter 7

She could hear voices, beeping, footsteps, everything sounded far away and for a moment the sounds faded as though they were getting further. Then she registered pain, just a dull ache in her chest, she tried to reach her hand up to find the source but her hand didn't move. She swallowed back a moment of panic, her mind began to clear, her thoughts taking shape as the sounds became louder. She focussed on the voices, she knew them, she just needed to think.

John.

He was talking to someone, it took her a moment to recognise the other voice, Rodney. She couldn't tell what they were saying but all of a sudden they both stopped and she worried for a moment they were gone.

"Elizabeth," John's voice said after a moment. She took a deep breath, feeling the pain in her chest again and she tried to look at John, tried to will her eyes to open. A blurry light filled her vision, figures began to take shape and slowly they turned into the familiar faces of John and Rodney.

"Excuse me," Carson said as he appeared as well, moving past Rodney towards a monitor that Elizabeth realised was the source of the beeping. She was in the infirmary, she realised, she tried to move her hand toward the pain in her chest, unsuccessfully, although at least it moved at all this time.

"Take it easy," John said.

She attempted to talk but her throat was scratchy and no sound came out. She forced her voice to work and tried again, "What... happened?" Carson paused in his fussing to lift the back of the bed slightly, then helped her to drink some water. "What happened?" she asked again.

The three men exchanged a look that she didn't like and she looked down at her chest, there were bandages peeking out from underneath the hospital gown she was wearing. She managed to lift her hand to her chest this time, feeling confused.

"You were shot," John told her finally, his tone was gentle but she recognised the underlying current of anger and knew from the look on his face that at least some of that anger was directed at himself. "I found you in your room, whoever did it had already fled."

"We were hoping you might remember who it was," Rodney prodded gently.

"I…" Elizabeth began, trying to think, trying to remember but finding nothing. She shook her head, "I don't."

"Alright, that's enough," Carson said, "Dr Weir needs to rest, this can wait."

Elizabeth would have argued but she couldn't find the strength, she felt exhausted, the dull pain in her chest was growing sharper and she couldn't quite think straight. John protested when Carson suggested he and Rodney leave but the doctor insisted and John was forced to relent.

"I'll update Agent Gavorn, then I'll be back," John stated very firmly before he left. Carson returned to her side, a relieved smile on his face.

"Now then, how are you feeling?"

"Who is Agent Gavorn?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the door John and Rodney had left through.

"The investigator Earth sent after John informed them you'd been shot, he arrived yesterday. He's been conducting interviews, trying to determine who's responsible for all of the trouble we've been having lately," Carson told her and continued to explain everything she'd missed as he checked her wound.

"Does he have any suspects?" Elizabeth questioned, considering her own thoughts on who could be behind it.

"It would seem so, he's been speaking with a lot of people, going through various incidents that have taken place over the last few months, looking for a motive I would guess," Carson told her, making notes on his tablet as he checked her vitals. "As you can imagine there's a few people that stand out. He asked me a lot about Dr Harper, I believe he's looking into Winters, Shaw and Larkin as well. I'm just going to take these off," Carson said as he began removing a few of the lines and wires attached to her.

"So we're no closer to figuring it out," Elizabeth said, remembering she and John going through all of the incidents on Atlantis to look for a motive, listing the same people as potential suspects, though they had nothing that linked any of them with the attacks that had taken place.

"We have some fresh eyes on it, you never know what he might see," Carson said.

The doors opened and Teyla walked in, smiling when she saw Elizabeth awake. "Colonel Sheppard said you were awake, he suggested I come and see you while he speaks with Agent Gavorn."

"Did he now?" Carson asked with a shake of his head.

Teyla gave him a polite smile, then moved to stand beside Elizabeth. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," Elizabeth conceded.

"Of course," Teyla said and pulled up a chair, giving Carson a look that told him he wasn't getting rid of her.

"Carson's been filling me in on everything," Elizabeth told her, hoping to get more information about what was happening. "You've spoken with Agent Gavorn?"

"Yes, he asked about why I would leave my people to be here, whether I got along with everyone in Atlantis, what I thought of you," Teyla began, "He also asked me about Dr Shaw specifically and what my first impressions of her were when she arrived on Atlantis, I was honest," Teyla explained. "I thought he would ask more about her but he said he would speak to me another time. He had other people he wished to conduct initial interviews with."

Elizabeth distinctly remembered Shaw's arrival on Atlantis, and the three hours she had subsequently spent in her office discussing some of the city's current trade agreements and where there was room for improvement. Shaw had wasted no time in getting to work, though she had certainly ruffled feathers right from the start, and had continued to do so ever since.

xXx

"So let me get this straight," Elizabeth said as she sat at her desk opposite Dr Shaw. John was sat to one side, he'd been quiet so far as Shaw relayed the events of her recent trip through the gate. "You told our allies, people who have been trading with us since our first few months in this galaxy, that we no longer wish to trade with them?"

"I did," Shaw replied, lifting her chin a little as though challenging Elizabeth to find fault with her.

"Did it occur to you to check with me before making that kind of decision?"

"No, I went there to improve our trade agreement, I assumed that gave me the authority to make changes to it," Shaw stated, her eyes never wavering from Elizabeth's, her posture straight and stiff.

"To change it, not end it," Elizabeth clarified, somehow keeping the disbelief from her tone. "You should have discussed such an extreme move before making it."

"Do I need to discuss every decision I make with you? I'm fairly certain that defies the point of me being here. I was asked to come here to take over some of the diplomatic responsibilities that have so far fallen largely on you. If I have to discuss and debate every move I make with you then there is no point to my presence. I believe this particular trade agreement was made when you were desperate for allies and resources and, though minor alterations have taken place since then, the agreement that you had in place still reflected the position you were in when you first came to this galaxy, it needed to change."

"I don't require you to discuss every decision you make with me Dr Shaw, just the drastic ones that might negatively affect our relationships with our allies," Elizabeth stated. She was becoming more annoyed with the situation the longer they sat here.

"I had every intention when I went there of altering the agreement to make it more balanced but they refused, they didn't leave me with any choice but to inform them that if we couldn't come to a more reasonable agreement then it would be in Atlantis's interest to pull out of the deal completely. When they continued to refuse I had to follow through on that, otherwise they'd never take anything we have to say seriously again," Shaw responded, her tone a little more defensive now.

"You shouldn't have made that threat in the first place, not without clearing it with me."

She sighed, shaking her head slightly, "Look, I get that they've been your allies for a while but it was a bad deal and Atlantis is better without it. We don't need the food from them, we have other sources now, including Earth, not to mention the food grown here. I understand why you might have made such a deal at the time but it was one that favoured them."

"It wasn't your call to make," Elizabeth stated, ignoring the condescension that had now crept into Shaw's voice. She had already noticed John sit up a little straighter, this meeting wasn't going to head anywhere productive from here. "Dr Shaw, from this point forward, if you plan to end any of our trade agreements, you will discuss it with me first."

"Of course," Shaw replied politely, Elizabeth was good enough to notice a diplomatic mask when she saw one. "Is there anything else?"

"No, thank you," Elizabeth said, ending the meeting and waiting for Shaw to leave before turning to John. "You were remarkably well behaved."

John gave her a small smile as he stood and moved to the chair Shaw had occupied. "Politics isn't exactly my area of expertise."

"You've been doing this job long enough to have an opinion," Elizabeth said, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

John sighed, "She should have talked to you first. It's not just about the trade agreement, our relationship is going to suffer. If they decide to tell all their friends that we treated them unfairly then it's going to make future talks more difficult, some of our other allies might even decide to renegotiate their own deals."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrow again and smiled, "John Sheppard, that was a very informed political opinion."

"I do occasionally listen when you talk," he shrugged and returned the smile for a moment before his face became more serious. "If she's the great diplomat you said she is, then shouldn't she already know all of this?"

"I think she wants to make her presence known," Elizabeth replied thoughtfully. "And she wasn't entirely wrong, the agreement did need to be changed."

"Maybe, but there was no urgency, she should have asked," John said as he stood up to leave.

xXx

"I take it you do not remember who it was that shot you?" Teyla questioned, bringing Elizabeth's mind back to the present.

"I don't even remember being shot, the last thing I remember is being in my room getting ready," she told her, shaking her head as she tried to search for more memories, but there was nothing there.

"It is not unusual, I believe, to block out a traumatic event until the mind is ready to deal with it," Teyla said reassuringly. "It may come back to you with a little time, and patience."

Elizabeth usually had an abundance of patience, she wouldn't have made it this far in her career without it. She couldn't find it now, she was irritated with herself for not remembering, a killer was loose in the city and she could put an end to it if she could only find the memories. The look of understanding from Teyla did nothing to comfort her.

Teyla gracefully shifted the subject to Atlantis itself, updating her on the everyday running of Atlantis. She and John had made the decision to suspend all off world activity and the off world teams had been steadily trickling in before she'd been shot. They had all returned now and no new missions were being set until they had the person responsible for the recent attacks in custody.

Elizabeth found herself getting more and more tired, she forced herself to stay awake until Teyla smiled softly, "You should rest Elizabeth, we can talk more after you have slept."

"I'm fine," Elizabeth said as she spotted Carson walking over.

"You'll be even better after some rest then," he told her, a gentle admonition in his tone that only he could manage. She wanted to protest, to argue, to stay awake but her body was betraying her and she felt her eyelids growing heavy.

She woke again when she heard voices close by and opened her eyes. She saw Teyla standing beside her bed, the Athosian gave her a small smile of reassurance then turned her attention back to the argument occurring at the end of her bed.

"She is my patient, I will say when she's well enough to be questioned," Carson was saying to a man she didn't recognise. It took her a moment to push away the sleepy fog in her mind and remember everything that had happened.

"And there is a killer on the loose," the man returned, "his next victim might not be lucky enough to be able to be questioned.

"It's fine," Elizabeth said, pushing herself up in bed, wincing as she felt a pain shoot through her chest. Another figure moved to her side in an instant, John was looking at her with concern and she knew his expressions well enough to know when he was about to jump into a situation. "I'm fine," she said quickly, before he could wade into the argument. "You must be Agent Gavorn."

"Yes ma'am," he replied respectfully, standing a little straighter as he turned his attention fully on her. "I'm aware you've been through quite an ordeal but I was hoping you could answer some questions."

Carson was about to protest, Elizabeth cut him off before he could, "Ask away."

"Colonel Sheppard tells me you don't remember being shot?"

"I don't," she confirmed, "I remember waking up, getting dressed, after that it's just blank."

"Do you remember seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary?" he asked.

"No," she told him simply, she tried to remember again but came up against the same black wall as before, it was no less infuriating.

"Perhaps, the night before?" he continued. "DId you see anyone near your room that you wouldn't have expected, hear anything that seemed out of place?"

She thought back but there was nothing that stood out to her. She had passed by people in the corridor as she had returned to her room, smiled and greeted each one but they were all people who had their own personal quarters in roughly the same area. There had been nothing unusual, nothing out of place, it had been a normal night, followed by what had started as a normal morning.

"Nothing," she told Gavorn who seemed disappointed by her answer.

"Did you have any unusual encounters or confrontations with anyone on the day before, or even in the few days leading up to it?" he continued to push.

She'd had a few unhappy team leaders who who had missions cancelled, some who had been recalled in the middle of missions but all of them had understood the reason for her decision. She'd had to speak to several people about the incident that had left Rodney injured, John had also spoken to many people. They had all been ready and willing to help, all of them concerned for their injured colleague and again, they had all understood the reason they were being questioned. She relayed all of this to Gavorn who nodded his head as though he'd already had all of that information. Elizabeth glanced at John and realised he would have been able to tell the Agents all of that himself.

Gavorn continued to look disappointed, he had obviously rested his hopes on her being able to point out her attacker, or at least to remember something useful.

After a few more questions that seemed to gain the Agent no new information he thanked her and left her to rest. He asked that John accompany him and with a reluctant nod he followed Gavorn out of the room, looking back and meeting Elizabeth's eyes for just a moment.

xXx

Elizabeth didn't always enjoy attending the celebrations of their allies and was grateful that she was only required to attend a few of them. She always enjoyed visiting the Athosians however, she felt her people had a special connection with them. They were not only Atlantis's first allies in this galaxy but were responsible for introducing them to many of their subsequent allies as well.

Teyla was always happy to see her people, as they were to see her. John had also made a number of friends among the Athosians, particularly the children who seemed to look up to him and delighted in the stories he would tell them, even if they were somewhat embellished. She watched him talk about visiting a planet full of wise warriors that sounded suspiciously like Jedi. She shook her head with a smile as good triumphed over evil and the children cheered.

"He has always been good at entertaining the children," a quiet voice said and she turned to see Halling step up beside her. "Though his stories become somewhat farfetched."

"I think he enjoys it almost as much as they do," she smiled.

"I hope you enjoyed the evening meal," Halling said as a woman came by and informed most of the children it was time for bed. She shuffled them along as they complained, John promised them all another story next time.

"It was lovely," Elizabeth replied, "Though you do always make more food that I can eat."

"We would be poor hosts to send our guests away hungry," Halling replied in amusement.

"You're in no danger of that," Elizabeth laughed. John walked over to join them, nodding respectfully to Halling.

"That was quite the story Colonel," Halling commented, "To whom do we owe our thanks for such a tale?"

"Me and George Lucas," John replied with a grin, "It was a team effort."

Halling knew that many of John's stories borrowed, or outright stole, from stories back on Earth. Elizabeth suspected he enjoyed listening to them, he was always somewhere on the periphery when they were being told.

"I must speak with Teyla before your people begin to depart, I bid you both goodnight," Halling said, bowing his head before walking away.

"We probably should start heading for the rendezvous," John said, sounding somewhat reluctant to end the evening. They began their walk toward the edge of the settlement which had been lively and loud only an hour before, now it was quite as the Athosians began to settle down into their evening routines.

"We should have plenty of time, Teyla is always a little late leaving and Ronon volunteered himself to keep an eye one Rodney after we realised he may have had one ale too many," Elizabeth smiled as she remembered Ronon chasing after the scientist who had slurred something about ancient ruins and wandered off. "You tell stories well."

"It's easy when you have so many to tell, I'm thinking Lord of the Rings next time, or will that be too scary?" he questioned.

"I think they'll love it just because you're telling it," she told him, "they look up to you," she added, voicing her earlier thoughts. "And you're good with them."

She could tell John had grown uncomfortable with all the compliments, which only made her want to continue more. "Maybe you missed your calling, you would have made a good teacher."

John scoffed, "I don't have that much patience."

They came to a stop on the edge of town, they were first to arrive and she looked back toward the settlement for any sign of their friends, there was none. She looked up at the stars, they were so clear here, clearer than they were on Atlantis. "At least the view is good."

"It is," John agreed and she glanced toward him to see him looking up at the sky. He must have felt her gaze on him because his eyes lowered suddenly to hers. They held there, and for a moment, surrounded by the night she allowed herself to consider what would happen if she stepped closer.

She was about to shake herself loose from the moment when John stepped toward her. She felt herself rooted to the spot, despite the quiet voice telling her she should step back, that she should return to the distance John had taken away. He moved his hand up, he would have reached out to her if a thud hadn't broken the spell and drawn both their attention to the heap on the floor nearby.

"Who put a stone there?" Rodney's voice complained. "Why would you put a stone right there?"

Ronon appeared a second later and dragged Rodney to his feet, "I don't think anyone put it there McKay, try not to keep falling down."

Elizabeth had already taken a step back from John and smiled as the two men approached. Rodney seemed only slightly more inebriated than the last time she'd seen him and she gave Ronon a grateful smile.

Rodney looked between her and John, obviously sensing something and not having the sense to keep it to himself. "Did we interrupt something?" he slurred.

"Yeah, the peace and quiet," John replied, earning a glare from Rodney that he ignored.

"Remind me not to volunteer for McKay duty next time," Ronon said, Rodney redirected his glare only to be ignored again. Elizabeth was grateful when she spotted Teyla making her way out of the settlement toward them.

"I hope you all enjoyed this evening," she said with a content smile and the group made their way toward the gate. Ronon, despite his earlier words, fell to the back with Rodney as Teyla led the way, leaving Elizabeth walking in the middle with John. They didn't talk, the silence between them wasn't exactly uncomfortable but there was tension in it, she could only hope it eased away as it usually did.

xXx

Elizabeth watched as John left, then quickly turned her attention towards Teyla and Carson. The doctor was looking a little annoyed but he masked it well as he spoke to her. "You need to be resting," he told her, "not being questioned."

"The person who did this is still out there Carson, we have to stop him before he tries anything else," she told him, mustering as much strength as she could into her voice. The truth was, she'd already been tired when Gavorn had started asking his questions, now she was utterly exhausted. She could feel a dull pounding in her head, and chest ached where her wound was hidden beneath bandages.

"You have done all you can for today, rest, and more memories may return." Teyla said gently, once again Elizabeth's body gave her no choice but to comply.

TBC