Authors Note: Spoilers for echoes in this chapter, it would really help if you've seen the episode, not hugely essential though.

Saphiretwin369 – Thanks for the review, the Ancients are really kinda annoying, except Taros but I wanted people to like him and I felt bad enough for everything I'd put Liz through without having her completely alone. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

Sparklyshimmer2010 – I want to strangle Malar too, if I didn't have the majority of this story written now I would have a random scene of some girl who looks an awful lot like me strangling him lol. I haven't quite finished the story yet but it'll be somewhere around 25 chapters. Thanks for the review.

Kuroima – I kinda made myself sad with the last chapter, I'm glad you liked it though, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Jammeke – I'm glad Sam was in character and yeah, the last chapter was a little on the pessimistic side but things aren't really going so well for them at the moment. Nobody seems to like the Ancients (except Taros) in my story, can't imagine why lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 13

Teyla spun around, blocking Ronon's blow with her right arm before swinging for him with her left. He avoided it and made another attempt to hit her which she backed away from. They circled each other, watching the other's body for any sign of what they were going to do. After several tense moments it was Teyla who moved, stepping towards Ronon so fast he barely had time to register her move before she swung for him. Her bantos rod connected with his left side and he flinched away from it, grabbing her arm with his free one.

She had left herself open and Ronon took full advantage of the rare opportunity, taking her legs out from under her. She hit the floor with a small thud and he pinned her in place with his own body. The air between had been charged throughout the whole fight but now the tension felt thicker, much thicker.

He looked down at her and she watched him a moment, something indefinable in his eyes but it made his body react with a speed and intensity he hadn't been prepared for. Breathing hard, it took every bit of his strength he had to push himself away and stand up. He turned around to help Teyla up but she had already pulled herself up from the floor and was picking up the bantos rods she had dropped.

"You're in good form tonight," she commented, not looking at him as she gathered her things.

"You're not," he replied, still slightly breathless but there was no accusation or cruelty to his tone, only concern. It was unlike her to be so unfocused on the fight that she left him an opening like that.

"I have a lot on my mind," she stated and he nodded his head, she wasn't the only one.

"Do you think we'll find her?" he asked and she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before she answered.

"At the beginning, yes, I was completely sure that we would find her, there was never a doubt in my mind. Now... I am not so sure, Elizabeth has been missing a long time and the chances that we will find her feel as though they are lessening," she explained sadly. He knew she had been fairly close to Elizabeth; this whole thing had been hard on her.

He couldn't believe how long it had been, it felt like forever had passed since they had returned to Atlantis and discovered their leader was missing. Weeks of searching and they were really no closer to finding her, they knew a lot of places that she wasn't and a few places she had been but none of that helped them to find her.

They walked out of the gym together "She's a strong woman, if anyone can survive out there it's her," he stated knowing all too well how cruel this galaxy could be and he was glad she didn't have the Wraith hunting her down as well.

"I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that she is not alone, she at least has the Ancients with her," Teyla replied and Ronon was momentarily taken aback, he'd never really heard her refer to them as Ancients before, she usually could them the Ancestors, like he did, like everyone else in this galaxy did.

Teyla stopped very suddenly and stared ahead of them, he followed her eyes seeing only the empty corridor before looking back at her. "Teyla?" he questioned but she didn't respond, instead she continued to stare ahead of her, taking several steps forward. "Teyla?" he tried again and though her eyes never left whatever she was looking at she tilted her head slightly, acknowledging that she could hear him.

"Do you not see her?" she asked and Ronon once again looked at the empty corridor.

"See who?" he asked her, concerning clouding his tone now.

"The woman," Teyla replied and then looked as though she was trying to concentrate on something. "I don't understand you," she said to the air in front of her and Ronon's concern grew. He watched as she took a step back and then suddenly looked both shocked and slightly scared as she turned around.

- - -

Rodney stood on the balcony, binoculars in hand as he watched the huge form of the whale in the distance. He knew it was Bruce, his friend who had saved him when he'd been trapped in a submerged and rapidly flooding Jumper. He'd considered naming him Sam, after Samantha Carter, but it would have been weird when the woman herself was now in Atlantis.

She worked in Elizabeth's office, gave the orders that should have been Elizabeth's to give, she was here because Elizabeth wasn't and despite himself, he felt a little bit of resentment toward her. He didn't feel the same infatuation for her that he had before she came to Atlantis. Living in the city with her, working with her everyday had broken into his fantasy idea of her and brought him back to reality. It hadn't completed shattered his fantasy but it had left some pretty large cracks in it.

The truth was his change in heart about Sam had more to do with himself than her. Atlantis had changed him, he could feel the difference in himself from the person he had been when he'd first come here. He was glad of the change, it had made him a better person, it had made him stronger and allowed him to find parts of himself he hadn't known were there. He knew it was the same for many members of the expedition, it was for John and Carson, it had given the same to Ronon and Teyla... it had been for Elizabeth too.

She'd been somewhat naive, when they'd stepped through that gate for the first time, maybe even somewhat innocent, not completely but enough. Like everyone else that had come here though, she had changed, you couldn't be here and go through the things they had and still be the same. She lost that naivety, her belief that words could solve every problem. Her innocence had gone when she gave the first order that had resulted in someone dying.

He admired her for retaining her strength, her dignity and her belief in words – even if she knew their limits now – and everything else that made her who she was. Had he been able to do that? Had he been able to stay the same person even though so many parts of him had been changed by this place?

Still looking through his binoculars he could see his friend was actually getting closer to the city. He sighed and stood up straight, jumping slightly when he realised John was standing right behind him. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked.

"Hour or two," he replied.

"What, why didn't you..." Rodney began but then realised John was joking, something he did rarely at the moment "Very funny."

"I thought so, Teyla's fine by the way, Carson says there's nothing medically wrong with her, she's just tired," John replied staring out at what Rodney had been looking at.

"I think we're all a little tired at the moment," Rodney replied and then gestured toward the whale John was now squinting at "That's Bruce," he told him. John looked at him both confused and expectant and it took Rodney a moment to realise John had no idea who Bruce was. "The whale that saved me."

"You named it Bruce?" John questioned and Rodney was slightly surprised that John had not argued that it had been him and Zelenka who saved him, he usually did.

"Yeah, I had another name in mind but it was... not the right name so I decided to name him after my favourite hero," Rodney explained and once again received an expectant look in response. "Batman."

"You named a whale after Batman?" John asked him incredulously.

"Well it's not really a whale, just whale like," he told him "I've been doing some research on it, the Ancients called it flagesalas – they were terrible at naming things, I know – I'm just calling it whale for now."

"So we're back to the question, you named a whale after Batman?" John replied and Rodney had no response, of course it was going to sound stupid if you said it like that. "Whatever, want to take a closer look?"

- - -

She almost had to laugh at the type of tasks that had become a normal part of her life now, fishing being one of them. She'd spent the last few hours trying to catch the slimy creatures from the river and had been as successful as she always was at this, which wasn't very much. She did however enjoy being able to relax by the river afterwards.

Sitting in the shade of a tree at the edge of the forest she watched the shimmering water flow by. The Ancients had all joined her on this fishing trip, it had been that or another hunting party and they'd all been quick to volunteer for the fishing. They were all currently sitting down by the water, deep in conversation and Elizabeth couldn't help but continue to feel like an outsider. She would never be one of the villagers and she would never be one of the Ancients, she felt more alone here than she had done being on Atlantis without her people.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tree. Unbidden, an image of John came to mind and she smiled slightly, whether she was smiling at the image or herself she didn't know. John would never have allowed her to end up feeling this way, he always reached out to her, was always there as a constant friend as well as colleague. She realised not for the first time how much she missed him, how much she missed all her friends but John she seemed to miss more. In truth, she had been closer to him than anyone else, closer than she had ever intended to be.

She wondered if maybe she had made a mistake by agreeing to stay in Atlantis; it had seemed like a blessing at the time. Atlantis was her home and the thought of leaving it had been unbearable but she'd been forced to leave it anyway, only now she was cut off from her friends as well.

She stood up and walked away from the river, heading through the trees in the direction of the town. She knew she didn't have to be this cut off from her old life, John and the others were all back on earth but Ronon and Teyla were still in this galaxy. She knew the gate co-ordinates to the new Athosian home world where Ronon and Teyla were, that was if Ronon had been able to sit still this long.

Maybe she should leave; maybe she should go and stay with Teyla and the Athosians. She knew she would be more than welcome and she would feel far less of an outsider though she knew the feeling wouldn't disappear completely. It would be better than this, than constantly feeling alone; at least there she would have a few of her friends around her.

"Elizabeth," she heard Taros call from behind her. She stopped and turned around, waiting for the aging Ancient to catch up with her. "You're not suppose to go through the forest alone," he told her sounding slightly concern.

"Sorry," she replied, there was no use in arguing with him, he could be very fatherly when he wanted to.

"Are you alright?" he asked her and she nodded.

"I just needed to think," she told him and he nodded his head slowly, a look of complete understanding on his face.

"I know you feel like you are alone here but you are not. We're all in this together and despite how the others seem they would be unhappy if you left. Except maybe Malar but he doesn't count," Taros told her bringing her smile to her face "We escaped Atlantis together and it would be difficult to lose a member of the group."

"I guess so," she said thoughtfully as they finally emerged from the trees into the small town that had become their home. She supposed it would be hard to start again somewhere else, her life had changed so many times recently that she wasn't sure another change would be entirely welcome right now. She was settled here, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, and the last thing she needed was to uproot herself again.

So for now she would stay put, hopefully she'd get more used to this than she was because if she didn't she would slowly drive herself insane stuck here. Maybe with more time the Ancients would accept her more, maybe she'd even make proper friends among the locals... or maybe she'd just be stuck like this for the rest of her life.

- - -

John and Rodney had been released from the infirmary a few hours ago and were now hard at work trying to figure out what the whales were doing outside Atlantis. Their lack of hearing didn't seem to be hindering them much, though it was stopping them from being able to have a decent conversation at a normal volume.

Teyla was not doing so well, Ronon had taken her to the infirmary after she had collapsed in the corridor. Almost everyone in the city had begun seeing the apparitions of Ancients that had begun with Teyla. More and more people were falling sick as the masses of whales outside the city continued to increase in number. The Deadalus was preparing to transport the most severe cases to their infirmary which would hopefully put them out of danger.

Sam walked into the infirmary, she could see Ronon sitting by Teyla's bed, the young Athosian was either sleeping or unconscious, she hoped it was the former. She saw Carson; he looked exhausted as he moved from bed to bed, trying to keep his patients both alive and comfortable.

"How's it going here doctor?" she asked Carson as she approached him and the young doctor stopped to look at her.

"Not good, some of these people are running out of time," he told her and her eyes immediately went to Teyla.

"How is she doing?" she asked. John's team, along with Carson and a few others had been hit the hardest by Elizabeth's disappearance, she wasn't sure they could handle another loss right now; it could very easily break them.

"Her condition is getting worse; she'll be one of the first transported to the Deadalus. How are Rodney and Colonel Sheppard doing?" he questioned and she sighed.

"They're getting close to some answers; we know that the Ancients were trying to find ways to communicate with the whales around the same time as the last solar flare. The whales think we can protect them like the Ancients did the last time this happened but they had three ZPMs when they shielded most of the planet, we only have one. Rodney still can't communicate without shouting but Colonel Sheppard's hearing seems to be better," Sam replied.

"Rodney seemed to be more affected by the whales than Colonel Sheppard was when they were in that Jumper. They were lucky they were able to get away from the whales, the close proximity should have knocked them both out not just Rodney," Carson stated and Sam nodded and put her hand on Carson's arm for a moment as she walked away.

She looked at the patients that had over filled the infirmary and she thought for a moment of Janet, what would her friend have done here? Probably exactly what Carson was doing but she couldn't help but wonder. She looked over to Ronon and Teyla in time to see Carson talking to Ronon, after a moment the doctor stepped back and the familiar light of a transport took Ronon and Teyla from the infirmary. That was one less thing for her to worry about.

"Colonel Carter," John's voice came over ear piece and she tapped it to reply.

"Go ahead."

"We have an idea," John told her.

- - -

"I just wanna state once again that I was opposed to this idea," Rodney stated as he interfaced the ZPM with the Deadalus' systems.

"As you have said Dr McKay," Hermiod replied "Many times."

"Rodney, we're approaching the sun," John's voice told him over the radio.

"What already?" Rodney questioned, picking up his pace. The last thing he wanted was to get fried right now, this was a really bad idea, if it had been a good one he would have come up with it long before John.

"Yes Rodney already, we need the shield now," John told him and Rodney worked faster still. "Rodney," John said urgently and a few seconds later he finished. The ship jerked and then shook, he could hear a rumbling sound which he knew was the solar flare bouncing off the ship's shield. Deflecting it away from Atlantis and sending it harmlessly into space.

The ship started getting hotter and just when Rodney was beginning to think this wasn't going to work and they were all going to die a horrible, fiery death, the shaking stopped. There was silence through out the room and Rodney took a moment to figure out if he had actually died.

"That's it, it's over," John's voice told him and Rodney sighed, falling into the nearest chair and letting himself relax for a minute.

"I knew this would work," he stated and felt several sets of annoyed eyes on him. He ignored them all and relaxed into the chair, this job was stressful. He knew though, mostly thanks to his recent six weeks on earth that he wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

- - -

Teyla woke up in the Atlantis infirmary with a killer headache. It didn't take her long to notice that all of the sounds around her were muffled and she couldn't really distinguish between them. To the side of her Ronon was sitting in a chair, his eyes were partially closed and she could see he was somewhere between awake and asleep.

"Ronon," she said quietly, she barely heard it but her voice sounded weak. It didn't matter however because it had the immediate effect of jolting Ronon back from his limbo to reality. She saw his mouth move and could vaguely hear what she knew was his voice but the words were lost on her. She wondered for a moment if she'd actually heard her own voice or if her head had just filled the sound in for her. If she couldn't hear Ronon properly then there was no ways she'd actually heard herself.

"I can't here you," she breathed, shaking her head slowly and closing her eyes against the pain.

She opened them in time to see Ronon smile at her slightly and then turn around, probably calling for someone. The next thing she knew Carson was there and she could hear his muffled voice trying to tell her something but again, no words actually got through. Carson smiled and pulled out a white board, writing something down before showing it to her.

'Glad you're awake, your hearing should return soon'

She nodded her head and Carson wiped the board clean, handing it to Ronon who wrote something down and then held it up for her.

'A lot of people are using these, it's almost amusing'

"I'll bet," she said or at least she hoped she'd said it, she couldn't really hear it properly.

'How are you feeling?' Ronon wrote on the board.

"Terrible," she told him honestly and he smiled again

'At least you're hoest' he wrote and this time it was Teyla who smiled.

"Hoest?" she questioned in amusement. Ronon turned the board around to see what he had written. He said something she didn't hear which she guessed was somewhere along the lines of cursing as he erased it and wrote something else.

'Don't mock me'

She laughed and then tried to ignore the pain it sent through her head as Ronon wrote something else on the board.

'You in pain?"

She read the words as John and Rodney walked into the infirmary, standing at the opposite side of the bed from Ronon. "I have a headache," she replied to Ronon who then handed the board to John and disappeared from the side of her bed.

'Good to see you awake, how you feeling?' John wrote.

"I've been better," she told him and he nodded.

'Sucks not being able to hear doesn't it.'

She would have responded to that but Ronon came back with Carson in tow along with another white board and some pills. He showed her the board which informed her he had painkillers and she took them from him. She watched as Rodney took the board from John and began to write something, this was already beginning to get annoying, she hoped she got her hearing back really, really soon.

TBC