Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, enjoy!

Chapter 14

It had been a tough week but the worst of it was hopefully over now. John and Elizabeth had faked a break up, nothing over dramatic or even public, they'd just told people they'd mutually decided they were better off as friends. The only people they'd told the truth to were Jack and Teyla, mostly because it was hard to keep a secret like that from your room mate or your best friend who seemed to have developed a knack for knowing when you were lying. They'd given both permission to tell their significant others because they didn't want to be the reason that Jack and Teyla had to lie to the person they were seeing, they were confident it wouldn't go any further than that.

Everyone else had been determined to do something about it. They'd been ambushed and talked to about it repeatedly, apparently they were good together and no one wanted to see them split up. It had been hard to sit there and lie to their friends but it was their only choice. Neither of them wanted to end the relationship, so pretending they had was the only other course available to them.

John arrived in the cafeteria and instead of taking his usual seat next to Elizabeth, something he'd done since before they'd been dating, he sat next to Cameron. They wanted the break up to look legitimate so they had decided that things needed to look a little bit awkward between them, at least for a little while.

"Did you guys hear anything about that girl from the library?" Laura asked.

Jack shook his head, "No, they spoke to us about it the next day but they didn't tell us what happened to her."

"That's because they don't know," Marcus replied, all eyes turning to him. "I was in the infirmary after I got injured during guild football training yesterday."

"Yeah, that was a nasty tackle," John grimaced.

"No kidding," Marcus replied and then shook himself. "Anyway, the girl you saw, she's still there. I overheard, or may have purposely listened to, the healers talking. They said they're not sure what caused her hallucinations but she's been pretty traumatised over it."

"Marcus, you can't just listen in to people's private medical conversations," Janet chastised and Marcus shrugged.

"I was bored."

"Hey, you know when I was in there with my injured leg," Rodney said, rubbing his leg as though it was hurting him again. "There was a girl, a red head, she was in there for hallucinations to."

"Does no one respect medical privacy?" Janet questioned.

"Well, if they're just going to talk about it all in the open like that then they should expect that people are going to hear private information," Jack pointed out. He strained his neck to look over the sea of heads between themselves and where the food was being served. "The queue is smaller, I'm gonna go and get something to eat before it's all gone."

"You know they make more than enough for everyone right?" John asked following after him. He glanced back at the table, Elizabeth was having a separate conversation with Teyla and Carson.

"You guys doing alright?" Jack questioned when they reached the back of the queue.

"It's only been a week," John said. "It's weird though, I have to think about what I'm doing, like not sitting next to her, not touching her, not being caught looking at her, which apparently I fail at."

"I think anyone else would just figure you were uneasy about breaking up, not that you were secretly still together but had to pretend otherwise so Elizabeth's evil father doesn't yank her out of the school and crush her spirit," Jack summed up and John raised an eyebrow at him. "Sounds pretty crazy when you put it all together like that doesn't it?"

"Of course it does when you exaggerate everything," John replied and then thought about it for a moment. "Though not by much."

"You'll figure it out," Jack said with a nod. "I'm not sure how, but you'll figure it out."

Carly sat at the desk in her room to begin writing a letter to her father. She updated him on how her classes were going, he liked to know that kind of stuff even though it didn't really interest her. Then she told him about the stuff that did interest her, her social life, though she left out any parts he might have frowned upon. Next came the update on Elizabeth.

She seemed to have done the right thing and broken up with John, she was still hanging out with him which was unfortunate but they were no longer dating. She had no doubt that Elizabeth was mad about it but it was for her own good, sometimes her sister just didn't know what was best for herself. Elizabeth was stubborn, outspoken and contrary and it had always gotten her in trouble, she just didn't do as she was told.

These so called 'friends' of hers were a perfect example. Elizabeth didn't have friends, she never really had, people just didn't like her that much thanks to her stubborn, outspoken, contrary personality. Whatever these people wanted from her, it wasn't friendship, there were benefits to befriending the daughter of a governor, especially when it was the governor of a place like Tralos, one of the more powerful counties. Elizabeth just couldn't see it so it fell to Carly to ensure that her sister's behaviour didn't adversely affect their family.

It was a duty she took seriously and one she knew, if Elizabeth didn't mend her ways, was going to be harder later in life. If Elizabeth became governess, as was expected, then she was going to have to seriously rethink the choices that she made. What Elizabeth didn't know, what no one had mentioned but Carly could clearly see, was that their father was considering naming Carly the next governess and bypassing Elizabeth.

Carly was the daughter he could trust, she did as she was told, behaved appropriately, most of the time and never got caught when she didn't. She knew how to make the right kinds of friends, how to manipulate people when needed. She knew how to play the game, something Elizabeth didn't or wouldn't do.

This school seemed to have changed Elizabeth, it was noticeable last year when she accompanied their father for the parents week. She had gained new confidence but not in a good way, it was making her rebel, making her think she knew best when she clearly didn't. They'd both be going home for Christmas in a few weeks, that was going to be interesting.

There was a knock on her door, she recognised the knock and called for the person to come in. Sasha opened the door, walking into the room in the new dress she'd bought in town the other day. They'd both complained that the stores in town just didn't measure up to those in Alteran city or the custom made dresses that Carly got back home. They had to make do though and so they'd searched out the best, most expensive clothes they could find.

"I saw your sister in the cafeteria, still with those people," Sasha told them. There was nothing Sasha loved more than a good gossip and she seemed to think Elizabeth was a good topic for it. Carly wasn't about to gossip about her sister though, not when it could hurt her family name.

"Yes well, she'll learn eventually," Carly waved the conversation off. "You look fabulous in that dress, I told you that you would."

Sasha gave a twirl and posed, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I know, you were so right, you usually are."

Carly sealed her letter into an envelope and wrote her home address on it. "Of course, come on, I have to send this letter."

Doing nothing wasn't something Sam had ever been very good at. She was always thinking, always doing something even if it was just reading a book. Jack on the other hand liked doing nothing sometimes and so, being the good girlfriend that she was, Sam occasionally agreed to do absolutely nothing. She was lying next to Jack on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to keep her mind from going into overdrive.

"You're thinking again," Jack said and she turned to look at him. His eyes were closed and he looked entirely too comfortable.

"How am I supposed to not think?" Sam questioned and Jack smiled slightly.

"Like this." If it was possible his body seemed to relax even further. After a moment Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you seriously telling me there are no thoughts running through your mind right now?"

"Just the occasional one, I chased them off," he told her and she shook her head and looked back at the ceiling again. She closed her eyes, cleared her mind, tried to relax but within seconds she was thinking again. She tried to visualise an empty space, absolutely nothing it and focus on that but her mind wondered again.

"I can't do it," Sam said with a frustrated sigh.

"You just need more practice," Jack told her, his voice completely relaxed.

Sam turned onto her side, rested her head on her hand and stared at him until he opened one eye to look at her. She raised an eyebrow at him again and he chuckled as he turned on his side to face her.

"You really are bad at this," he said and leaned over to kiss her. "Don't worry, I'll teach you."

"I would clearly be learning from a master," she replied. "Are you looking forward to Christmas?"

Jack sighed. "Not really, Alex was the one who made Christmas something worth going home for. It was him and me you know, whenever there was a family thing, family dinner, Christmas, governors events. We stuck together, got each other through, I hate the thought of Christmas without him."

Sam could hear the pain in his voice, he still struggled over his brother's death and rarely talked about it. "I'm sorry," she said, she hadn't meant to bring his brother up. "From what you've told me about him, he'd want you to enjoy the holidays, make the most of it."

"He would," Jack nodded.

"And your parents can't be all bad, they're still your parents, you must at least be looking forward to seeing them a little," Sam continued.

"Tell that to Elizabeth, poor girl must be dreading the holidays," Jack replied but then shrugged. "I guess when I think about it they're not so bad, and I do miss them when I'm away this long."

"There you go then," Sam said with a smile. "And don't forget... presents."

Jack laughed. "There is that."

"I've already got yours," Sam told him and watched his eyes light up. "It's hidden, somewhere in this room." His eyes darted about, trying to figure out where it might be and she could tell he was about to get up and start looking for it. "You won't find it, and if you do, you're not having it."

He actually pouted at that, "No fair."

She laughed and kissed him, "I guess I'll just have to keep you distracted."

Jack grinned against her lips, "What did you have in mind?"

She kissed him again, slow and deep, running a hand through his hair and feeling his hand move over her waist, pulling her against him.

Missy was running late, she was always running late, born that way, or so her mother had told her. She was supposed to meet up with her friends so they could go for a night on the town, they tried to go out every weekend, whether they hit the clubs, went for a nice dinner or shopping, they tried to make the most of their weekends. It was their final year and they only had so many of them left now.

She pulled on her coat, the weather had turned cold over the last few weeks, it wouldn't be long before the snow started. She loved the snow, she and her two brothers spent every Christmas playing in it until they started turning blue and their parents had to force them inside. They'd get hot baths and then sit together by the fire with a hot drink. Even now that she was older she still enjoyed going outside with her brothers and trying to build a bigger, better snowman than they ever had before.

She took one last look in the mirror, fixed her hair and headed for the door. She stopped when she saw the wolf standing in front of it. It stood there staring at her with cold, watchful eyes. She wanted to scream, but the sound died in her throat. She took a slow step backwards and the wolf followed her. How did it even get in here, how had she not seen it before? It was huge, bigger than any she'd ever seen, not that she'd seen many, just the one, when she was younger, the one that had given her the faint scar on her arm.

There was no way out, her room was on the fourth floor so the window was out of the question and the wolf was blocking the door. She couldn't get out, couldn't get away, her roommate had already gone to meet their friends, no one was coming.

Why couldn't she just have been ready on time?

She took another step backwards and another but the wolf followed her every move. She could feel her whole body shaking, her breathing coming fast and short. Her legs wanted to turn to jelly and tears were running down her cheeks.

She needed to think, but she was too scared to form coherent thoughts,

Her back finally hit the wall and the wolf was close now. It had moved away from the door to follow her but she knew if she tried to run for it the wolf would be on her in seconds. It didn't matter she had to try, it was her only chance. She pushed herself off the wall and ran to the door, for a second she thought she might make it but two paws hit her back and she fell to the floor.

TBC