When the girls arrived back on Atlantis, Evan, Rodney, John and Mia were waiting for them. Laura noticed that Evan looked pale. She smiled at them and hid her dress behind her back so that none of them could see.

You ok? Evan looked at her sadly and didn't say anything. She frowned and turned to Cadman, "Would you be able to keep my dress in your quarters?"

"Yeah no problem." Cadman took the dress from Laura and left the gateroom and headed for her quarters. Laura noticed that Rodney was staring where Cadman had just been standing and then he had followed her out with his eyes. Laura made a mental note and turned her attention back to Evan. She tilted her head and looked at him worriedly. Mia walked up to her and said, "Dads been like that since they came back off the mission. I've tried asking uncle Mer what's the matter with him but he wouldn't tell me." Laura frowned and said, "Don't worry. He'll be fine. I promise." She smiled at the girl who was now almost 10. Laura turned to John and Teyla and said, "Teyla could I borrow John for a sec?"

"Certainly." Teyla smiled and walked towards their quarters. Evan still hadn't said a word and left with Teyla. Where he was going was anyone's idea. Laura watched him leave worriedly. She turned to John, "What the hell is wrong with him?" John sighed and told her the whole story. Laura looked worried and said thank you to John before leaving to find Evan. She soon found him in the mess hall staring at his dinner plate. She walked up to him and sat opposite him.

"Evan? I heard about what happened on the planet." He looked up at her and didn't say anything. She took her opportunity to reveal something to him.

"You know…when we met on the Daedalus it wasn't the first time I'd heard about you." He looked at her in shock. "Yeah I know. I didn't realise it was you of course. But I heard about what happened on the planet with the mining operation."

"H…how?" he asked.

"Daniel. He was complaining about some colonel who didn't understand the way he worked or something. Then he started griping about O'Neill. Then he happened to mention a young major who he could tell was a good person and was only following orders." She tilted her head to the side waiting for him to say something. Evan took a deep breath and said, "It was horrible. I mean I'd seen some horrible things in my career but that…was just inhuman. I had nightmares for weeks. Even had to go and see a shrink…I requested a transfer so that I could still go offworld but I was just a normal soldier instead in a specific area. I wouldn't have been able to cope…" he trailed off and looked at her with tears in his eyes. Laura moved around to him and hugged him.

"Come on. You need to get some sleep."

"I can't…"

"Yes you can. I'll be with you. I promise." She smiled warmly at him and led him to their quarters. Once in their quarters she led him to the bed and pushed him onto the bed. She went to the bookcase and picked up a book and settled herself on the bed so that she was comfy. Evan picked up his pillow and placed it on her lap and went to sleep. She ran her fingers through his hair; it was only a little gesture that allowed him to know that she was there.

"Evan?" she called to him but didn't get a response. Where the hell am I? She thought to herself. She looked around and saw that she was on a different planet. Oh well may as well investigate. She walked away from the gate and headed down a well-beaten path. She followed it for around a mile when she saw a tent. Puzzled she walked up to it and noticed there was a table with some artefacts sitting on it. She ambled over to it and looked at the objects. These look familiar. Why? She thought to herself. Then she remembered where she had seen them. Daniel showed me pictures from the mining planet. Crap. I'm in Evan's dream apparently. Really gotta find him. She walked away from the table and decided to try and find him. She picked a path and walked down it shouting of him. She soon found him next to what appeared to be some sort of shrine with spikes all over it. She approached him carefully.

"Evan?" she said gently and touched his shoulder just as carefully. Evan was staring at it in absolute horror.

"Can't you see him?" he mumbled. She looked at it, yet she couldn't see who he was referring to.

"There's nothing there. Evan come on. You're just dreaming. This isn't real. You're on Atlantis with me." She said softly.

"You can't see him can you? Stuck up there. I have to get him down." He moved to the shrine and started trying to remove the man from the spikes. However what Laura saw was Evan hurting his hands on the spikes. She grabbed him and tried to stop him from doing himself some serious damage to his hands.

"Evan! Stop it. You're scaring me. There's no-one there. This wasn't your fault." She again tried to stop him but he wouldn't. He stopped suddenly and said, "It should have been me that was dragged away. It should have been me."

"Don't be stupid. This wasn't your fault. Evan…" before she could finish her sentence she was being shaken awake.

Mia walked into their quarters and saw that Laura and Evan were sleeping. She smiled at them and went into her own little room. She was happily reading her mothers Harry Potter books when Laura started speaking in her sleep. Curious Mia walked into the main bedroom and listened to what her mother was saying. Confused as to what was going on she waited a little while longer and realised that Evan was also speaking. They were having a conversation with each other. Mia started to panic when Evan started to thrash about and grab at something or someone, from what she had heard. She ran out of the room and headed to the infirmary.

"Uncle Carson…uncle Carson. Something's wrong with mom and dad. Dad's thrashing about. I'm scared." She cried when she had finally found him.

"Come on lass. Lets go and see what I can do." They hurried back towards their quarters when they arrived Laura was shouting at Evan to stop. Seeing that it was Lorne having the actual nightmare Carson decided to wake Laura up to see what was going on. She woke up after a couple of minutes.

"What…?" she asked groggily. She looked at Lorne and stared wide eyed at Carson. "He's having nightmares about that unas planet. The one with the mining operation." Carson sighed. He had read the report after they had come back from the mission and Lorne had been unusually quiet. Carson had asked Sheppard what had happened and he had, had the mission report sent to Atlantis. He had obviously seen Lorne's medical records and had noticed that he had seen a therapist but he had never mentioned it to the colonel. Laura looked at Carson and said, "Can't you do something?"

"No. But I do want to transfer him to the infirmary just to be on the safe side." He tapped his earpiece and asked for a gurney to be brought to Laura's quarters. Carson turned to Mia and said, "Mia why don't you go and get your uncle John. Ask him to come to the infirmary and then go and see your uncle Rodney." Mia looked at Carson for a second before leaving the room. Carson turned to Laura and explained, "I don't think she should be around this and John has a right to know what's going on with him." Laura just nodded from her place on the bed idly stroking Lorne's hair. A couple of minutes the gurney and Ronan arrived. Carson looked at him in surprise.

"I ran into Mia. She seemed worried. Told me what was happening. Thought I could help."

"Aye you can lad. Do you think you will be able to pick him up and place him on the gurney? Even though he's thrashing about like that?" asked the doctor. In answer Ronan walked over to the bed and picked up the thrashing Lorne and placed him on the gurney. While holding his arms at his side as the pushed him towards the infirmary. Once there Beckett sedated the colonel. The thrashing stopped but he was still moving his head about wildly.

Sheppard came running into the infirmary half an hour later. Mia had finally found him and explained what she knew and then she had gone off to see Rodney.

"What's going on?" he asked breathlessly.

"The colonel appears to be having nightmares about the mining operation." Carson replied. Sheppard frowned slightly.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"Well…I don't know if you're going to like this but we need to get him out of it as soon as possible and convince him that it isn't real."

"I've tried. He won't listen to reason. He feels guilty and seems to think that its all his fault and that it should have been him who was dragged off." Laura said.

"What do you mean you've tried?" asked John.

"Well I was in the nightmare with him for a little while. I couldn't see who he was trying to get down. He won't listen to me."

"Well that psychic thing seems to be getting stronger." John muttered. He knew all about trying to live with guilt. He still had nightmares about Sumner. He took a deep breath and let it out, "So what do we do?" he asked.

"Well we could send Laura back in guess. But if he won't listen to her I have no idea how to get him out of this." Beckett said.

"Send me in. I'll see what I can do." Laura said. She climbed onto the bed next to Lorne's and lay back. Carson walked over and administered a sedative. Laura grimaced at the needle and looked away when he injected the sedative. Before she fell asleep she mumbled, "The things I do for this man…its…getting…ridiculous…"

"Now what?" asked John.

"Now we wait. You can sit with them if you want?" Carson replied. John nodded and sat down in between the two beds.

Here goes. Round two. Laura walked quickly to the place where she had left Evan. He was now sitting on the ground just staring. He moved his head and looked at her.

"Your back…thought you had left me." Laura shook her head and said, "No. I wouldn't do that to you. Can you move?"

"No. My whole body refuses to move. Can't understand why."

"Beckett gave you a sedative. He was worried you would hurt yourself. With all the thrashing about you were doing." She smiled at him.

"I can still see him up there. Can you get him down?" he asked her. Laura shook her head.

"Evan. There's no-one there. I promise you. Now your really worrying us with this. Especially Mia. She needs her dad. I need you to get over this so that we can get married." She said to him softly. He turned to look at her and managed a weak smile.

"I…I…can't get it out of my head. Its always there." Suddenly another voice said, "Now you know how I feel about Sumner." Laura looked around puzzled, as did Lorne.

"John?" Laura asked. He suddenly stepped out from behind the spiky contraption. He looked at it and then looked at Lorne. He shook his head sadly. There was silence for a few minutes as John made himself comfortable on the other side of Lorne. Laura broke the silence first.

"Not being funny John. But what are you doing here? How did you get here?" she asked puzzled. John shrugged his shoulders.

"No idea. But there must be a reason." Lorne looked at his CO and said, "You're here because I want you here. You're the best CO I've ever had. You wouldn't have made the same mistake the CO made on this mission. You would have listened to Daniel Jackson and taken his advice until they had brokered an agreement with the unas of this planet. If you had been here that scientist would never have been dragged off, killed and then strung up there." Lorne said trying to lift his arm to point at the sacrifice. John sighed and didn't say anything. He had many a run in with colonels who didn't like scientists, he personally liked scientists but this was probably because he understood most of them. Although on occasion he couldn't understand McKay but that was because his brain seemed to work faster than others'. He turned to Lorne and said, "You know this wasn't your fault." Lorne nodded but didn't say anything. "Now I need you to get past this. You have a little girl who is very worried about her daddy." Lorne slumped his shoulders but still didn't say anything. As John was about to try again Lorne turned to him, "You know there was nothing you could have done to save Sumner."

"I have to live with it." John said. He could see that Lorne was trying to draw parallels between the two situations. By doing this he was trying to help his CO as well as himself. John took a deep breath and said, "Lorne I see what you're trying to do. But this is completely different. I killed a commanding officer an unas killed a scientist that you were responsible for."

"Actually the wraith queen killed Sumner. If you hadn't shot him she would have found out about Earth." Lorne muttered. Then Laura said, "OK apparently I now have to try and save both of you. Sheppard…" John looked at her in surprise. She rarely called him Sheppard. "I read the mission report on Sumner. You have to stop carrying this around with you. It wasn't your fault. Lorne you have to stop thinking about this. It wasn't your fault if anyone's at fault it's the colonel who was in charge. Now Sheppard you try and imagine seeing McKay stuck up there. How would you feel? And Lorne you try to imagine having to kill Sheppard over there. How would you feel about that? In the exact same circumstances." Both men sat in silence for a little while. Sheppard was the first to speak.

"It wasn't my fault. I would have accepted it. I think…"

"I would do the exact same thing. I wouldn't carry the guilt though. There was nothing I could have done to save him." Lorne said.

"All this is is survivors guilt. You both know this. Now you need to accept it and forget about it. John you have people around you who care about you and so do you Evan. We're one big happy family. Its time to stop living in the past and start living in the present. Don't forget you learn from the past but you shouldn't be buried by it. Now come on you two. There's plenty to do back home." Laura said standing up and brushing herself down. Lorne and Sheppard looked at each other when Sheppard said, "She's right you know."

"Yeah I know. Come on. Sorry for dragging you into this sir."

"Don't worry about it. Just don't do it again." John replied laughing as they got up.

The three of them woke up together and groaned.

"Well done." Carson said to Laura. Laura smiled and said, "Well it wasn't all me." Laura smiled again at John who didn't say anything. Carson looked at the trio confused and didn't say anything. Laura clapped her hands together and said, "Now I need help to find something borrowed." The three men groaned and she started laughing.

A/N: I know this was a bit of a long-winded chapter. But I thought it was time for Lorne to have a nightmare about that particular mission.