Title: The Last Chance

Date: 22nd November 2007
Author: Kazavid
Chapter: 3/9
Rating: M
Pairing: John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)
Archiving: None
Warnings: Sexual Content ( not sure of others yet )
Spoilers: Anything up to The Seer
Feedback: Yes
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Summary: Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 3

3 Days Before Atlantis is Destroyed

He was running through the corridors of Atlantis, someone was chasing him, he didn't know who was chasing him, and he didn't want to turn around to find out.

Something didn't feel right, he didn't feel like he was in control of his actions. Suddenly he stopped as he came face to face with Ronon.

"Hey buddy, you wouldn't shoot me, would you?" John raised his hands up in defeat, but he kept moving to the side, taking slow even paced steps, edging around Ronon. Inside his mind he was screaming at Ronon to run, not to trust him, but he couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth.

"Don't give me a reason to shoot you." Ronon told him.

"Look Ronon, you saw what happened when McKay dialled that address, all I'm trying to do is stop it from happening again." he said in his defence.

"Fine, let Doctor Keller take a look at you and run some tests. Then you can tell us what's going on."

John smiled sardonically, "Sorry, can't let you do that." he reached behind his back.

Ronon tightened his finger on the trigger and fired...

John pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants and aimed at Ronon, he watched as the bullets ripped in to Ronon's chest, saw the blood staining the front of his chest.

As he watched Ronon drop to the floor, he knew he was dead.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John snapped his eyes open as he came out of the nightmare, his heart was racing, and he was covered in sweat. It had seemed so real, and he could still feel the horror of what he'd done screaming in his mind. All the time he was confronting Ronon, he'd been shouting at him, not to believe what he was saying, telling him to get the hell away while he still could.

He shook himself out of the feeling of the nightmare as he became aware of where he really was.

Alex had her head on his chest, and she was still asleep, he reached over to the table and looked at his watch, 5.30am. He'd only had a few hours sleep, but he didn't feel tired, his mind had been too active with what he had to do. He carefully moved Alex to the side and tucked the covers around her as he got out of bed.

As he passed the cot, he checked on the baby, like Alex, Aaron was still asleep. He quickly showered and dressed, he kissed Alex and the baby and then left for the mess hall, maybe a cup of coffee would help him to think more clearly about what had to be done.

Today, in the previous time line, he'd taken Teyla to meet her friend Rylan. He'd dropped her off and then he'd come back to Atlantis, where he'd done some paperwork, and had a few words with McKay about the artefact. Then he and Alex had gone to lunch. He wasn't sure if he should do the same things he'd done previously or change them. But if he changed them too much, the voice had told him he wouldn't be able to predict what would happen.

Well, the first thing he had to do something about, was Teyla.

So how was he going to tell Teyla that he wouldn't be taking her to visit with her friend, what excuse could he possible come up with that she'd believe. He noticed Major Lorne and his team entering the mess hall, they grabbed some food and sat down to eat. He knew Lorne was meeting with one of the local colonies. He was taking a load of equipment to them, maybe this could be his way to get Teyla away from her friend, he could get Lorne to take Teyla with him.

He got up and walked over to Lorne, "Major Lorne, still going to M5T 492?" he asked.

"Yes sir, we're scheduled to leave at 0.800 hours."

"I was thinking that you should take Teyla with you."

Lorne frowned and wondered why Colonel Sheppard thought that, it wasn't like they were making any kind of negotiations. This was just a simple case of delivering some equipment, setting it up and showing them how to work it.

"You think Teyla should go?" Lorne asked.

"Yes I do. You know what some of these people are like, they have rituals and certain ways of doing things, and they don't like it when you don't follow them. So if you took Teyla with you, at least she could do all the talking, and interacting with the locals, keep them off your back while you set things up."

"Okay, if you really think we should take her." Lorne wasn't convinced he should take Teyla, but he couldn't come out and tell his C/O that.

"I do." John said, he was feeling pleased with himself.

Lorne was just about to leave when John spoke up.

"And Major,... under no circumstances are you to take Teyla to visit with her friend." he told him.

"Sir?" Lorne was puzzled by Sheppard's request.

"If she asks you to drop her off so that she can visit her friend, don't do it. And that's an order." John told him, more sternly.

"Of course, sir." Lorne walked away feeling very confused by the whole thing. Something didn't feel right, but it wasn't up to him to question orders, all he had to do was follow them, however strange they may seem.

John wasn't looking forward to telling Teyla that she couldn't see her friend. Nor to the fact that she would be accompanying Major Lorne to M5T 492. He took a deep breath and headed over to her room.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"But I was supposed to be meeting Rylan today." Teyla told John, she had been looking forward to seeing her old friend. She hadn't seen him for almost two years, and the only opportunity she had to see him was today. Tomorrow he would be gone, and she didn't know how long it would be before she would get the opportunity to see him again.

"I know that, but we really need you to go with Major Lorne."

"Why? Are they not just delivering equipment to the village?"

"Yes, but you know how these guys are, they can be a bit impatient with things. And I'd hate for them to cause any problems with our allies, so I really need you to go with them."

Teyla sighed, she couldn't see the need for her presence, but if Colonel Sheppard thought that she should go, then she'd go. "Alright, I will get ready." she told him.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." he told her.

John headed to the Gate room, where he deliberately waited, making sure Teyla and Lorne went through the Stargate. He told Lorne to take his time setting things up, he wanted Teyla out of the way till at least late tonight. As soon as Lorne and Teyla had left he went to his office, he needed to come up with a better plan of action.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

He sat in his office scribbling on a piece of paper, putting down the details of what he remembered of the previous time line. Today Teyla had met her friend, well he'd taken care of that, so he could cross that off, for now. Tomorrow Alex touched the artefact and Lorne activated the console, he could probably keep Alex from touching the artefact, just by keeping her with him, she might not like it, but it would only be for the day. The console, he already had an idea for getting rid of that.

If he could stop any of these three things from occurring then he wouldn't need to stop McKay from integrating the artefact in to the dialling system. He tried to remember the last day, but he couldn't, the only thing he could recall was McKay saying the artefact was complete. After that the next image was of Atlantis exploding. There was a lot of time missing in between the artefact becoming complete and Atlantis being destroyed, but he couldn't remember what it was.

He stared at the piece of paper, he didn't know what else to do, he couldn't tell anyone what he was doing or why he was doing it. He grabbed the piece of paper and tore it to bits, dropping it in to the waste paper bin as he left his office. First thing he needed to do was grab some C4, and destroy the console that Lorne activated, it was crude, but it was effective.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

As he was passing McKay's lab he glanced in and froze at what he saw. Alex was holding her hand out towards McKay, and he was reaching across towards her, the piece of artefact in his hand. What the hell was going on, she wasn't supposed to touch the artefact until tomorrow.

He raced in to the lab and yanked Alex back by the collar, causing her to stumble against him. McKay let go of the artefact and watched the piece of metal, drop, unhindered, to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" John shouted at her.

Alex was a little shocked by being jerked back so forcefully, and even more shocked when John proceeded to shout at her for no apparent reason.

"What's wrong?" she asked, turning to face him.

"Did you touch that thing?" he asked her harshly.

Alex frowned at him, he was staring at her, waiting for her to answer him.

"Touch what?" she asked.

"That thing?" he said pointing at the piece of artefact that McKay was picking up from the floor. "Did you touch it?" he asked again, a little louder and a lot more angrier.

"Why?" she wanted to know, she took a step back from him when he scowled at her, she'd never seen him looking so angry. She went to take another step back but he grabbed her arm, tightly.

"Just tell me...did you touch it?" he shouted, glaring at her.

She tried to tug her arm free, "John, let go... you're hurting." she told him.

Ronon had been walking passed when he'd heard Sheppard shouting, so he entered the lab to see what was going on. He heard Alex asking Sheppard to let her go, and he noticed that Sheppard ignored her request.

"Sheppard?" Ronon said, his tone of voice questioning as he moved closer to Sheppard and Alex.

"Stay out of this." John said, he didn't even look at Ronon as he spoke, he kept his eyes on Alex, waiting for her to answer him.

"Tell me, did you touch that artefact?" he asked her, again.

Alex was too shocked by his behaviour to answer him, and she couldn't understand why he wanted to know if she'd touched it or not.

He bit out a curse when she didn't answer him, his fingers tightened on her arm causing her to wince.

Ronon decided he'd seen enough. "I think you should take a walk." he told him, as he removed Sheppard's hand from Alex's arm.

"You don't understand." he shouted in frustration.

"Right now I don't think anyone understands, so maybe you should take a walk and calm down. Then later you can come back and explain to us what it is we don't understand." Ronon told him.

McKay was staring at him, wide eyed, and nervous. Alex was looking at him a little anxiously, and Ronon was frowning, trying to fathom what was going on with him.

"I wouldn't have hurt her?" he told Ronon, realising what they must be thinking.

"I think you've already hurt her." Ronon told him, as he glanced at Alex who was rubbing her hand over her arm.

John looked at her, she looked more confused than anything else, but he hadn't meant to hurt her, he'd just been shocked at seeing her reaching out for the artefact. She wasn't supposed to touch that thing until tomorrow, so why had things changed. The voice had told him, once he started to interfere in things, that he wouldn't be able to predict how things happened. Then what was the use of having this knowledge of future events if it changed so quickly.

"Sheppard." Ronon said.

"Maybe you're right, maybe I should take a walk." He said, he really needed to think things through. He turned to walk out of the lab, but he stopped by the doorway and looked back at Alex.

"Promise me you won't touch that artefact." he asked, looking at her with a pleading expression on his face. She was still a little shocked by everything, so she just nodded her head at him, it seemed to satisfy him because he left.

"What was all that about?" Ronon asked her.

"I have absolutely no idea. He just came in here and started asking me if I'd touched that thing." she told him, pointing at the artefact that Rodney was holding.

She wanted to go after him and ask him what was wrong, but the way he was acting she wasn't sure about what kind of reception she'd get. Ever since Haltia she'd sensed that something was bothering him. But when she'd asked him, he'd just told her he was tired and overworked, she didn't believe that.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John grabbed the C4 and headed towards the room where the console was, at least this was something he could get right. The voice had told him to use the knowledge of the future wisely, so far he didn't seem to have done anything wisely.

He knew, why Alex had been in McKay's lab, or at least had an idea what had gone wrong. In the previous time line, she'd been with Teyla, but because he'd sent Teyla with Lorne, he'd put Alex at a loose end. He would have to be very careful of how he changed things.

This really wasn't going to be that easy.

He stood in the doorway and looked around at all the consoles that filled the room. He didn't specifically remember which console it was that Lorne activated, but he knew it was in this room.

He placed the charges around the room, making sure that every console in the room would be destroyed. He set the timer and left, giving himself just enough time to get back to the Gate room before the C4 blew. He'd been in the Gate room for a few minutes, before the explosion reverberated around the city.

"What the hell was that?" Carter asked, rushing from her office as the explosion rocked the city. Alarms began to sound and people started to panic.

"I'll find out." John told her, he asked the technician to locate where the explosion had originated from.

"It's in the South sector of the city, sir." he was told.

"Lieutenant Andrews, meet me in the South section, ASAP, with a security detail." John told one of the security teams.

"Yes sir."

"Colonel take a medical team with you, just in case anyone was injured." Carter told him.

"Will do." he shouted, rushing out of the Gate room and heading to the South section.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John stood in the room and surveyed the damage, all he could see was the debris from the destroyed consoles. Well at least Major Lorne wouldn't be able to activate the console, he thought, smiling. He'd finally done something right.

Would the voice come and tell him that he'd succeeded, or would he have to wait the remaining days out.

"Sir, it looks like sabotage." Lt. Andrews stood in front of him, several bits of mechanisms from the timer in his hand.

"Sabotage," John repeated, he glanced around the room, "But why would someone want to blow up this room, there wasn't anything in it." he pointed out, he had to play out the scenes as normal, keep up the pretence.

"I don't know sir."

"Get Zelenka up here, lets see if he can come up with anything."

"Yes sir."

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John reported back to Colonel Carter.

"It looks like someone deliberately set a bomb off." he told her as he leaned on the balcony just outside her office.

"It doesn't make any sense," Carter frowned, "I mean the only thing in there was a few consoles. What purpose would anyone have for wanting to blow it up?" she asked.

"I've got Zelenka looking in to it, see if he can come up with anything that could give us a clue as to who did it, or why they did it."

"Keep me posted on any findings." she told him.

"Will do."

"Has Major Lorne returned yet?" Carter asked him.

John looked at his watch, it was 4.45pm, well passed the time that Teyla had met her friend. "No he hasn't returned yet, you want me to send him to you when he gets back?"

"No, tomorrow will do." Colonel Carter said as she went back in her office.

"Fine, I'll see how Zelenka's doing."

As John walked along the corridor he saw Alex carrying Aaron and going in to the mess hall with Rodney, he grimaced, trust him to get it wrong with her. He just hoped she was in a forgiving mood later, he really didn't want to be at odds with her, not now.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>