Date : 18 June 2007
Title: Love's Dark Journey
Author: ElaineDex
Chapter: 4 of 4
Rating: M
Pairing: John Sheppard/Lyssa Hunter
Lyssa Hunter/Lieutenant Marcus Tyler, Lyssa Hunter/Lieutenant Franks
Ronon Dex / Ellie Harrison-Dex
Ellie Harrison-Dex/Major Lorne, Ellie Harrison-Dex/Major James Reece
Archiving: None
Warnings: Sexual Content
Spoilers: This story is set six months on from Love Prevails
Feedback: Yes
Disclaimer: Ellie Harrison-Dex, Major James Reece, Lieutenant Franks are mine. Lyssa Hunter and Lieutenant Marcus Tyler belong to Kazavid, the rest of Atlantis, unfortunately have nothing to do with me.
Summary: When Sheppard's team return to Atlantis to find it under the control of a new, powerful dark enemy can they bring it and their friends back from the brink of their worst nightmare ever...
Sheppard turned to Teyla.
"Could you not sense this?", he asked and Teyla shook her head.
"I do not think that they are the Wraith as we know them", she said and Rodney suddenly clicked his fingers.
"They're ancients……..", he said and Sheppard glanced at him.
"Ancient Wraiths?", he asked and Rodney nodded.
"Why not? Humans have ancients…..why can't the Wraith?".
"Great…..just great", Ronon muttered.
"So what do we do? How do we get our people out of this?", Sheppard asked and Rodney sighed.
"Give me a minute", he said turning back to his lap top and Sheppard cursed.
"We don't have a minute".
"Buy me some time then", Rodney said and Sheppard groaned at the prospect of being thrown around the room by Lyssa again so soon.
"You must join us or die", the Head Wraith suddenly spoke and Ronon laughed, drawing his attention.
"I'd rather die", Ronon said and the Wraith regarded him for a moment before indicating to Ellie that she step forward.
"As you wish", the Wraith said.
Ronon watched as Ellie produced a long silver sword from beneath the folds of her cloak and he glanced at Sheppard.
"You've gotta be kidding me", he said and Sheppard threw him a look of sympathy.
Ronon moved forward, unsheathing the sword from his back and he swung it from one hand to the other as he sized Ellie up.
"This should be good", Sheppard said to Teyla who watched on worriedly.
Sheppard glanced over his shoulder to see how Rodney was doing only to see that he had vanished into the darkness of the room.
"McKay?!", he whispered harshly but there was no response.
The sound of swords clashing drew his attention back and he turned to see Ronon and Ellie wielding their swords at one another in a deadly game that Ronon had no hope of winning if he wanted to keep Ellie alive.
"We have to get the others out of here….give McKay a chance", Sheppard said to Teyla who nodded.
He indicated to her that they make a run for the door but before they even had a chance to they found themselves surrounded by the others.
"Why do you fight us?", Lyssa asked, her hands going to his face but Sheppard batted them away.
"Why did you give in so easily?", he returned expecting some kind of reaction but there was none.
Lyssa merely looked at him as though she didn't understand.
"Talking to them seems useless", Teyla said and he nodded, desperately trying to think of a way out of this.
Across the room they heard Ronon let out a growl as Ellie caught his side with her sword and blood began to seep through his tunic.
"I swear Ellie, when I get you back you are never lifting another weapon again….", he told her as he parried with her again.
She didn't respond.
Suddenly the lights began to flicker and the lead Wraith glared at Sheppard.
"What have you done?", he said and Sheppard shrugged.
"Wasn't me…..I've been here the whole time".
The Wraith glided away from them and floated high above the central console.
Just then they heard Rodney's voice from somewhere in the room.
"Sheppard…I just need a few seconds longer…..do something".
Sheppard looked at Teyla. "That no shooting rule….forget it, but just aim at him", and he lead the way by firing upon the lead Wraith.
The others began to attack them and chaos seemed to reign as they fought, refusing to back down until finally the power came back on.
The Wraith let out a high pitched cry before being sucked back down into the central console and the others all collapsed onto the floor, their skin and eyes returning to normal immediately.
Sheppard raced to Lyssa's side and gathered her against him. She was unconscious and he seemed unable to rouse her.
Ellie was the same as was Lorne, Tyler, Reece and Franks.
Just then Weir's voice echoed in their ears.
"Colonel Sheppard what's happening? We can see the city lights are back on".
"I'll explain later, you need to get Beckett over here ASAP", Sheppard replied.
ooOoo
A while later with everyone in the infirmary, Weir held a briefing with Sheppard's team.
"And so", Rodney was concluding, "The ancient wraiths must have been trapped here by our ancients and when the city had a power failure, why this happened I am still trying to figure out by the way, there must have been a glitch in the security and they escaped".
"I see", Weir replied then added, "Well, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again and that there are no more trapped wraith within the city".
"I'll get on it", Rodney said.
"The rest of you had better try and get some rest", Weir said knowing that Teyla would but that Sheppard and Ronon would now be going straight to the infirmary to check on Lyssa and Ellie.
ooOoo
In the infirmary, Ellie and Lyssa were in beds side by side. Reece, Tyler, Lorne and Franks were in beds on the other side, facing them.
All of them had raging headaches that no amount of pills seemed able to shift.
"Oh, I haven't had a bad head like this since I tried to seduce Ronon and it all went badly wrong", Ellie said rubbing her temples and then she froze, as did all of them.
The word 'seduce' seemed to trigger something in their memories and they all looked at one another.
"Was that real?", Ellie whispered, her heart turning cold as her eyes clashed with Major Lorne's.
Lyssa had sat up in her bed as she recalled what she had done with Tyler and Franks, her face turning scarlet as she glanced across to find them both looking at her.
"It was real", Reece confirmed..
"Oh my god", Lyssa murmured.
Just then Beckett bustled through with some more pills for them all.
"What's going on?", he asked seeing the looks on all of their faces.
"Nothing", Tyler said, trying to forget how good it had felt being with Lyssa.
Ellie clamped a hand over her mouth as the thought of what she had done raced through her mind and she resisted the urge to vomit in front of everyone.
As Dr Beckett paused by her bed to hand her some more headache pills, he took in her pallor and frowned.
"Ellie love, are you alright?", he asked and she shook her head.
"I, well…..I need to see you in private…", she began but stopped as she saw Ronon and Sheppard enter the infirmary.
Beckett saw her worried expression and patted her shoulder.
"I'll come back and see you when Ronon has left, if it can wait till then?", he said and Ellie nodded gratefully.
She forced a smile to her lips as Ronon approached her bed.
"You and I have some serious issues", he said and Ellie blinked at him, her heart freezing until he said,
"You were beating me….I can't let you get away with that".
Ellie sighed, relieved and let him pull her into his arms as he sat on her bed.
Sheppard sat on the edge of Lyssa's bed and took her hands into his, surprised at how cold she still felt. In fact she still looked pale, as though she was in shock.
"You scared me Lyss…..are you ok?", he asked.
She nodded, feeling numb. How could she tell him what she had done with Tyler and Franks? She couldn't. It would ruin everything between them.
Sheppard pulled her close to him and she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes to the sight of Tyler and Franks looking over at them.
Both Lyssa and Ellie tried to act as normal as possible throughout Sheppard and Ronon's visit but were both visibly relieved when they left to go and get some sleep.
As soon as they were gone, Ellie hopped off her bed and moved to Lyssa's side, pulling the curtain around them so they could have some privacy from the men opposite.
"We need to see Dr Beckett", she said and Lyssa frowned at her.
"We already have done", she said but Ellie shook her head.
"We need the morning after pill", she said and Lyssa continued to stare at her.
"The morning what pill?", she asked and Ellie sighed, forgetting Lyssa wouldn't know of such things.
"The morning after pill", she repeated. "It's what women on earth can take after they've slept with someone and didn't mean to…..or whatever…..it stops you getting pregnant".
"Oh…", Lyssa replied, then said numbly, "That's one thing I don't need to worry about".
"What do you mean?", Ellie asked.
"I can't have children Ellie", Lyssa said and Ellie moved forward as Lyssa looked like she might break down. She put her arms around her and hugged her tightly.
"Does John know?", Ellie murmured and felt Lyssa shake her head.
"There's never been a right time to tell him", she said and Ellie sighed deeply.
Suddenly Beckett pulled the curtain to one side and they jumped apart.
"Right, Ellie….you wanted to see me?", he said and Ellie nodded, leaving Lyssa to head back to her own bed.
A while later, Ellie and Lyssa were sat quietly when Tyler, Franks, Reece and Lorne approached them. The infirmary was quiet with only Beckett at his desk at the other end.
Lorne spoke first.
"We um, we've been talking about what's happened", he said, colouring as he avoided Ellie's gaze.
"We just want you to know that what happened will stay between us", Franks said, glancing at Lyssa who was fidgeting with the bed sheets.
"Yeah….we won't tell anyone….Ronon and Sheppard included", Reece said and Ellie cleared her throat.
"Right….thank you", she managed, glancing at Lyssa who refused to look up.
"If you two want to tell Ronon or Sheppard though that's ok too", Tyler said and his voice drew Lyssa's eyes up and they clashed with his.
For some reason there was something about him that Lyssa couldn't quite put her finger on. He sounded like he wanted Ronon and Sheppard to know or at least Sheppard.
Their pact was sealed and they all went back to their beds knowing that things were probably never going to be the same…….
The End
Their story will continue in Love After That Night.