Chapter 7

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John struggled to open his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. When he finally convinced them to open, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Not infirmary then. He blinked a couple times, then it all came rushing back and he gasped out Teyla's name, scared out of his mind that he was too late to do anything. He forced himself up, falling to the floor when his legs wouldn't support him. He reached out to the bed and worked his way back up to standing. When he felt like he could take some steps, he tottered towards the door, sweeping his hand over the box that should have opened the door. Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised when it didn't cooperate. Angry, he beat his hands on the door. "Let me out of here!" He tried to shout, the words coming out more of a whisper. "Teyla…"

He leaned his head against the door, feeling the familiar hum of the city in his head. Reaching out, he sought the comfort and calm she could normally give him. Today, it wasn't working. He thought 'open' and could feel the city trying to comply, but something was wrong. He smashed his hand against the door in frustration. He was afraid for Teyla and had to get out of here before Hanson did anything to her. He began to make his way around the room, looking for anything that could help him, stumbling when the dizziness became too much. He was all the way across the room from the door when it swished open and Ruth Hanson came in. She stopped and her jaw dropped open, having fully expected to find him still out cold.

"John, darling, what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting." She started towards him and he moved back, trying to figure out what was going on. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

He stood still for a moment, working it out in his head, feeling like it was full of cotton wool, finally remembering the words she'd said just after she'd injected him with something that had knocked him out for who knew how long. He wanted to rail at her, tell her she was delusional but something held him back. He thought about what she'd said about getting rid of Teyla and gritted his teeth, not knowing if she'd already carried out her threat or if Teyla were safe for the moment. Finally coming to a conclusion, he knew he would have to play along so that she wouldn't drug him again. He needed to be clearheaded and get out of here. "What…what happened? Why am I here?" He asked quietly.

"Oh darling, I had to drug you in order to break that alien witch's hold over you. I'm sorry, but it was necessary."

He held himself back, forcing himself not to stiffen, not to attack her. "Who are you talking about?"

"Why, Teyla, my darling."

He snorted a laugh he was as far from feeling as possible, sending off a wave of dizziness and nausea that he fought down desperately. "Teyla? What are you talking about? She's merely a means to an end. Without her, the rest of the backwards worlds we visit, wouldn't accept us."

"It certainly didn't seem like that." She was frowning, not convinced.

He laughed again, prepared this time for his body's reaction and swallowed the bile trying to force itself up his throat. "Well, I can be nice when I have to be. Truthfully I find her a bit too…earthy…for my tastes. I prefer someone more educated." He smiled at her flirtatiously, but the words just about stuck in his throat, knowing that Teyla was one of the smartest people he knew. Maybe not book smarts, but people smarts. He forced his thoughts away from that, afraid he wouldn't be able to continue this farce if he didn't.

Ruth smiled, happy to hear that her fears were unfounded. "You're very good then, it seemed like the two of you had recently…connected."

He fisted his hands, keeping the truth from his voice. "Hell no. You have no idea how hard it is to pretend to be interested in her when it's someone else who's caught my eye." He walked a little closer to her, only staggering once and then looked down, pretending to be abashed at what he'd revealed. She was overwhelmed with what she was hearing.

She melted into him and he put his arms around her, holding her close. He whispered into her ear the words that he was so far from feeling. "Can I hope that you feel the same way?"

"Oh darling, of course I do." She smiled up at him and he forced himself to smile back. She looked at him coquettishly and closed her eyes, her head lifted to his. He swallowed hard against his revulsion and lowered his lips to hers, trying to imagine it was Teyla he was kissing. When she tried to push him back towards the bed, he resisted. "What's wrong darling?" She asked.

"This isn't how I pictured it. I wanted to wine and dine you. I wanted our first time to be special. It's what you deserve."

She smiled brilliantly up at him and he saw the madness in her eyes. Suddenly, he found himself feeling sorry for her. That was until the thought of her hurting Teyla intruded on the moment. "I know you don't like Teyla my love…" just barely able to get the words past his lips. "…but Atlantis needs her, at least for the moment." She pulled back and stood with her hands on her hips and he worried he'd overdone it. He smiled. "After all, it takes a savage to know a savage."

She relaxed and the smile was back. "I guess I can see that. Now that I know it was all an act, maybe I can leave her alone. If she survives what I've already given her, I won't do anything further." He struggled not to strangle her, trying hard to pretend not to care.

"Whatever. I don't want to talk about her anymore. I want to talk about us." He leaned down and kissed her again, putting everything into it he was able to and she responded as he'd hoped. When he lifted his head, she was staring up at him dazedly. "What do you say we get out of here and go somewhere more…congenial?"

She frowned and stepped back. "No, I think we need to wait a little while longer. There are people looking for you." John felt a wave of relief as she walked backwards, heading towards the door. He forced himself not to follow her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to reach her before she was out the door, not in his condition. She reached the door and swiped it open. "I'll be back soon, my love." The door closed behind her and he staggered to it, swiping his hand over the box, hoping she either hadn't had time to sabotage the door or hadn't felt the need to this time. However, this time he got no response, same as before. He hit the door in frustration once again, but at least she hadn't drugged him this time and he had most of his wits about him. He went back to his interrupted inspection of the room, looking for any way out, landing on his knees once or twice with the residual effects of whatever drug she'd given him, effects that didn't seem to be wearing off, at least not as soon as he needed. He investigated some more, having no intention of still being here when her crazy ass showed up again.

He stopped in front of the windows and remembered the quarantine when he'd broken out of the room he and Teyla were locked in and climbed the side of the tower. He craned his head and looked up, it was further than the last time and he was dizzy as a result of her drugs, he doubted he'd make it ten feet before he fell. He looked down and hesitated. They were close to the water and he wondered how cold it was right now and how long he could survive in it. The East Pier was visible and, under normal circumstances, he was sure he could swim that distance easily. This wasn't normal circumstances, however, and it was starting to get dark. He wondered if he should just wait to see if someone found him or until he was feeling better. The only problem was what if she drugged him again and he wouldn't put it past her to do just that. Memories of Mandy floated through his head, morphing into her screaming in pain while a faceless man hurt her. He shook it to make the images stop and put a hand out to the wall as the dizziness flared up. Now was not the time. He finally decided the chance of escape was worth it, Teyla was worth it, worried that Hanson would change her mind and go after her. He looked around for something to break the window with. Finding a small stool, he picked it up and hefted it his hand. It wasn't overly heavy, but it was sturdy and just might work.

He tilted his neck one way and then the other, trying to work the kinks out, judging his recovery from the drugs to be enough for a short swim. He lifted the stool and swung it at the window. It bounced off but left a small crack as he fell to his knees, not as recovered as he'd thought. A stinging in his upper right arm made him reach up his left to rub it, noticing the bandage wrapped around his bicep for the first time. He frowned, knowing its location meant something but he couldn't think straight. Finally it came to him, his sub-q transmitter. She must have removed it, making it less likely that Ronon and a squad of marines were about to break him out, meaning it was up to him to get himself out of this. He grimaced and looked up, trying to determine the damage he'd inflicted on the window. The crack was smaller than he'd hoped. Still, it had cracked. Heartened, he stood up and swung again and again, falling every few hits and forcing himself up, until finally, it broke. Throwing the stool down, he tottered carefully to the window, cleared as much of the remaining pieces of glass from the bottom as he could and threw a leg out, finding no ledge to stand on. He'd have to jump into the water and he paused, wondering if he were just about to commit suicide, hearing Rodney's voice in his ear calling him an idiot and every other derogatory word that would communicate his derision for the step he was about to take. Then he heard Hanson calmly talking about getting Teyla out of the way and he couldn't just sit here, waiting to see what happened. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his other leg through the window until he was sitting on the sill and then threw himself out and away from the walls of the city, gasping when he hit the freezing water hard. He struck out for the East Pier, his limbs starting to lose feeling the longer he was in. The more he swam, the further away the pier looked.

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Lorne entered the open door to the botany lab and carefully looked around. Katie was working with her back to him and hadn't noticed his entry. He cleared his throat and she jumped. Turning around, she smiled, although she held her hand to her heart. "Major Lorne, you startled me. What can I do for you?"

"Is Dr. Hanson here?"

She frowned. "No, she left about a half hour ago and didn't say where she was going."

"Good. Look, Dr. Brown…"

"Katie, please Major."

"Evan." He stopped, not sure how to proceed but Katie beat him to it.

"Did Ruth do something?"

"Why do you ask?"

"There's just something about her that…isn't right." She blushed a little, not used to voicing her opinions, something her engineer was helping her with.

"Yeah, about that." He paused and then blurted it out. "We think she poisoned Teyla and did something to John. We can't find him anywhere and, when we tracked his sub-q, found it in the ocean in a specimen container this department uses."

Katie was shocked. She knew there was something wrong with Ruth but never thought she'd go that far. "While most of us look at the plants we gather as a possible source of cures for various illnesses, Ruth always seemed more interested in the negative aspects, like poison or debilitating drugs. What can I do to help?" She remembered giving John flowers for Teyla and how grateful he'd been. She hated to think it might all be over so quickly. "Is…is Teyla okay?"

"She's holding her own and Doc Beckett is hopeful she'll recover. Look, we're planning on following Dr. Hanson to see if she can lead us to John. Maybe you can say something to her that would make her want to go see him? The longer we wait, the more worried we are that she'll lose it and do something to him."

"Or course, anything I can do, I will."

Lorne reached out his hand and took hers. "Thanks Katie." They both went silent when Ruth stepped through the door and stopped in shock. Playing along, Katie quickly removed her hand from Lorne's and pretended to be embarrassed at getting caught with the Major.

"Ruth, um, I didn't expect you back so soon. Evan…Major Lorne…was just telling me that Teyla has fallen ill and Colonel Sheppard is missing."

"Really?"

"Yes, very mysterious."

Lorne took the opportunity to take his leave. "Katie, I mean, Dr. Brown. I'll see you later?"

Katie nodded and pretended to watch Lorne leave with much more interest than she felt, although she might not be an uninterested as she hoped. She knew Ruth was watching her and turned to her. She leaned forward and whispered to the woman. "Evan was telling me that there is some suspicion that Colonel Sheppard is responsible for Teyla's falling ill. Can you believe it?" She made it sound like she was passing on gossip. "I hear there's an all-out search for him right now. I hope he didn't do it but if he did, I wonder why? Do you think he made a move on her and she turned him down? Maybe threatened to go to Mr. Woolsey?"

Ruth was worried. She'd never thought further than getting John away from Teyla. Never thought that maybe they'd think he'd done something bad. She felt an overwhelming urge to go to him. "I have no idea what to think Katie. If you'll excuse me? I just remembered I left some things in my quarters that I need." She turned and hurried from the room. Outside, Lorne watched her go and carefully followed her, quietly letting the rest of the team in on the development. He'd have to give Katie kudos on her acting ability when he saw her next.

"Rodney?" Lorne whispered into his ear piece.

"Yeah."

"We're on the move."

"Ok, I have your transmitter on the sensors. How far in front of you is Hanson?" While most of the military had had the transmitters surgically implanted, not many of the scientists had. Certainly not to those who weren't assigned to an away team, such as Hanson.

"About fifty feet."

"Good, good." Lorne could hear tapping through the radio. "Ah ha! Gotcha. Ok Lorne, we have both of you on sensors now. Keep following her but if she gives you the slip, we'll still have her."

Lorne wanted to protest that the botanist wouldn't get away from him but bit his lip as the direction they were heading in raised a red flag, and he asked instead. "What if she gets into a transporter? I won't be able to get in with her without giving it away that she's being followed and the transporters don't tell you where it dropped off its last passenger." He continued to follow her, wondering where she was going, hoping it would lead them to Sheppard.

"Already have that covered, Major. The Ancient's sensors were designed to track people within Atlantis. With so many transporters available, they made sure they could track anyone, anywhere, regardless of how they moved around the city. We used it to track Sheppard when he was mutating into a bug."

"Sounds paranoid but it's good news because she just got into one." The doors closed and Lorne sprinted up to it, the need for stealth gone.

"Still got her. Okay, she just got off on level 3, section D."

"Are you sure? There's nothing down there. It's only recently been cleared for you guys to come down and find out if there's anything worthwhile lying around."

"What better place to hide someone then? No one around yet has the military stamp of approval? Somewhere unpopulated that would be relatively safe?"

Lorne nodded his head, then realized McKay couldn't see him. "Yeah, makes sense."

"By the way? Ronon is pissed that you decided to track Hanson without him. He's just got here and is pacing behind me and Radek right now." Lorne heard a low growl come through the radio. McKay's voice was distant as he was obviously talking to someone in the room with him. "Don't look at me, Conan. It's not our fault you were playing nursemaid to Teyla when Lorne decided to play Sherlock Holmes." Lorne heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. "Ow! That hurt you Neanderthal!"

"Uh, guys?"

"What?"

"Focus?"

"What? Oh, yes, yes, focus."

"Let me know when she gets far enough ahead that I can use the transporter to that level."

"That would be right about…now! She just turned a corner and won't be able to see you even if she looks back."

"Great, I'm on my way." Lorne stepped into the transporter and selected the proper location. Seconds later, the door opened on a different corridor. He stepped out warily, his hand hovering over his sidearm. "I'm here, is she still moving?"

"Yup, head down the corridor and take your first left, she's already around another bend so won't see you. Then take your third right. Wait! She appears to have stopped moving, so be careful. "

"On my way." Lorne soundlessly and slowly walked down the corridor, hugging the wall just in case. He took the turn and found no one in front of him as he'd been promised. He was just about to ask McKay for further directions when he heard a scream.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Giving up all pretense of following quietly, he loped down the corridor and shot around the corner at the third right. The second door on the left was open and he could hear Dr. Hanson yelling. He skidded into the room, his weapon up and aimed, only to find her trashing it. The room that was empty of anyone except the woman who hadn't even noticed his arrival. Taking advantage of her distraction, he did his own perusal of it. It appeared to have been set up as a bedroom but Hanson was flinging things around with wild abandon while yelling at the top of her lungs.

"No! He's mine! He's mine! Where is he? What have you done with him? You can't have him!" She screamed out the words, finally settling on…"He's mine, he's mine, he's mine…." over and over.

Lorne wondered who she was talking to. He was about to ask when she was hit with a red bolt of energy and crumpled to the ground. Turning, he found an angry Satedan staring at him. Ronon must have set out as soon as McKay found out where she'd stopped, taking the transporter closest to the Control Room.

"Uh, don't you think you should have waited until she told us what she did with Sheppard?" Lorne was angry. Hanson was their only link to wherever she had John and now she was out cold, probably for hours.

Ronon lifted an eyebrow and pointed to the wall of windows with his gun. Lorne turned and noticed for the first time that one of them was broken. He ran to it and looked up, wondering if the Colonel would try his Spiderman stunt again. There was no sign of anyone on the side of the tower and his stomach cramped a little. He looked down at the water sloshing against the side of the city. It was dark and the only light on the water was that reflected from Atlantis, there wasn't even a moon tonight as it was hidden behind clouds. His heart sank as he thought of his commander and friend being so desperate that he would take a chance with the freezing water and darkness. He lifted a hand to his radio to finally respond to the frantic calls of Dr. McKay asking if they'd found him yet. "Doc? We found Hanson. It looks like she had the Colonel here but he's gone."

"Gone? Gone where?"

"Out the window."

"He's trying to climb the tower again?" McKay's voice rose to truly squeaky volume by the end.

"No, it looks like he took his chances in the water."

"Why would he do that? It's freezing and it's dark and who know what's in there! There could be any number of Colonel eating monstrosities under the surface!"

"I don't know why he chose that out McKay, I'll be sure to ask him when we find him."

Ronon finally spoke. "If she let it slip that she was going after Teyla, Sheppard wouldn't wait for rescue, he'd want an immediate way out, no matter how dangerous."

Lorne sighed. "If John had only waited a bit longer, this would all be over."

"It's not in his nature to wait to be rescued. His nature is to do the rescuing, even if it's himself that he rescues."

"Maybe, but he may also have signed his death warrant. The water's freezing and who knows what condition he was in when he did his Aquaman impression."

"Who's Aquaman?"

"I thought Sheppard and McKay had introduced you to all the DC super heroes?"

"Looks like not all of them."

McKay's voice broke in. "If you two are done discussing comic books, maybe we could make an attempt to, oh, I don't know, find Colonel Sheppard?"

"We're on it McKay. Send two guards down to this room to take possession of Hanson. She's to go to the brig until we have the base psychologist talk to her. I don't want there to be any possibility that she gets anywhere near the Colonel or Teyla again." He heard murmuring on the other side.

"Radek has relayed your command. The guards should be there in just a few minutes."

"Good." He turned to Ronon. "We're going to need a jumper with search lights to see if we can find John. You stay here with Hanson and wait for the guards." He realized he was talking to air and then heard a splash. He sighed and ran back to the window in time to see the man's head pop up from under water. He shouted down. "You crazy bastard!"

Ronon merely waved and struck out in the most likely direction his friend had gone, the East Pier. Lorne swore a few more times and then turned back to the room. He didn't want to wait for the guards, his gut telling him every second counted. His eyes narrowed as he pulled the sheet off the bed. Using his KA-BAR knife, he tore some strips off. He flipped Hanson over and quickly tied her hands and feet and then tied her to the heavy bed. At the last moment, he cut off one more strip and gagged her. He gave her a cursory glance and then hurried from the room, talking into his headset as he went.

"Lorne to Cadman." Cadman was duty officer again tonight.

"Cadman here sir."

"I need a jumper readied. Warm blankets, scuba gear, lights, any water rescue gear we have."

"Yes sir." She paused. "Sir?"

"Yes Cadman?" He huffed as he ran for the transporter at full speed.

"Sir, there's rumors going around the base that the Colonel hurt Teyla and is now in hiding. That can't be true, can it?'

Crap, they hadn't really needed Chuck's rumor mill to flush Hanson out, Katie had done that all by herself. Still, he was impressed with how quickly the rumors had spread. "No, Cadman, it's not true. We've got the person who hurt Teyla in custody. She's also responsible for the Colonel's disappearance. Unfortunately, we were too late to rescue Sheppard from her, he took matters into his own hands."

"Are you saying he's in the water? That's why you want the jumper kitted out like that?" Belatedly she added. "Sir."

Lorne sighed. "Yup, that's why. Now we can add Ronon to that list. Crazy Satedan went into the water after John."

Cadman snorted. "Can't say I'm surprised. Jumper will be ready when you are sir. We'll find them! Cadman out."

Lorne entered the transporter and keyed his radio for McKay again. "McKay? I need…"

"Where have you been? I haven't been able to raise you or Ronon!"

He sighed as he told the story a second time. "Ronon went into the water after the Colonel. I've got Hanson secured for the guards. Cadman is getting a jumper ready for water rescue. I'm heading to the jumper bay now."

"You need to hurry, there's a storm coming in and it's tracking towards us fast."

"What the hell else can happen?" Without pausing he continued. "Please don't answer that."

He punched the light for the exit closest to his destination. "Oh, and tell Chuck he can stop the rumors about the Colonel, that I'm impressed with his network and that we need to talk when this is all over." The doors opened and he sprinted out at a full run. Time was passing too quickly and the more they wasted, the better the chance that the Colonel really would be dead this time.

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