In the immediate aftermath of being abandoned in a cell, Rodney had completely fallen apart ranting about the death penalty and all other sorts of bizarre outcomes which Elizabeth had stopped paying attention to after a while. His ranting had soon calmed down though when they had been delivered some stale sandwiches, and he was now sleeping under his jacket on the floor with morning approaching. Beside him, Carson and Radek had also managed to nod off in the early hours of the morning.
Although she had tried to get some information from the guards and requested a meeting with Meredith, she was met with a frosty silence in return and had soon retreated to far corner of the cell and sat down, with her knees pulled into her chest. At some point during the night, John came over and sat beside her, taking her hand and not letting it go. They didn't say a word to each other the entire time they were sat together, but it helped. It helped more than he realised.
Somehow, she blamed herself. Although Meredith hadn't seen the scene she had created in the mess, word must have got around. And now their Carson was dead and she could never forgive herself. This is why she had never allowed her heart to rule her head – all diplomacy went out of the window.
At eight o'clock, Meredith made a dramatic entrance, flanked by several marines, as if they could even escape and demanded that Elizabeth be taken for interrogation. At this, she had to roll her eyes. His ridiculously over the top style was making what should be a desperate situation somewhat farcical.
She was escorted by a marine to Meredith's office and was shoved into the seat across from the desk. Meredith sat across from her, nonchalantly chewing on a pastry.
'I have a proposition for you.' He said, with a smile.
'Really?' She said, dubiously.
'Yes, a rather fair proposition given the havoc you have caused.'
'I'm all ears.'
'I am willing to let you go, return to your city. On one condition,' Meredith said, pausing for effect, 'you will leave your Doctor Beckett behind.'
'No. Absolutely not, Doctor McKay.' She said.
'Then you will remain in that cell until you come to your senses. And if you haven't reached a decision – the correct decision – by the end of today then I will throw Colonel Sheppard into the deal as well.'
'What right do you - ?' She began, angrily.
'I am fully within my rights Doctor Weir. It must be lovely for you, the Daedalus dropping by every couple of weeks. We don't have that. You, Doctor Weir have killed my Chief Medical Officer and have half the military refusing to serve under Major Sheppard. I am reclaiming what you owe us.'
'I am sorry for the death of Doctor Beckett, I really am, and for the way things have turned out with Jonathan, but if you think you can take my men then you are mistaken.' She said.
'Then I think I have said all I need to say. I want your decision by six o'clock.' He said, nodding to a marine.
As she was dragged through the city, she came across Jonathan who looked appalled to see the way she was being treated and tried to reason with the marine, but Meredith had clearly been right and they no longer bowed to his command. As if Meredith could just expect her John to step into the breach and for everything to be okay though...it was just preposterous.
When she was returned to the cell, her team looked on her with hopeful smiles which faded as the cell was slammed closed behind her. This was going to be even harder than facing Meredith.
'Well that was fruitless.' She said sadly.
'What did he say?' Rodney said, sitting up from his slumped position.
Elizabeth looked hesitantly at Carson, unsure of how he was going to take Meredith's proposition. A small part of her suspected he may accept it, in an attempt to save his friends, but there was absolutely no way she was going to allow him to sacrifice himself like that. They were a team, and they were going to remain that way, even if it meant being locked in a cell in a parallel universe.
'Meredith said we can go, on the condition that we leave Carson behind. So we're staying.'
'He said what?' John asked angrily.
'And if I don't bow to his demands by six, he wants you too.' She said.
John looked slightly confused by this, 'What use would I be?'
'The military are refusing to serve under Jonathan.'
'That makes a change from everybody wanting to be under him.' John muttered.
Given the worrying situation, she let this deliberate dig at her pass. With everything that had happened, she had completely forgotten that they still hadn't resolved 'them' yet. Clearly, he was still mad about what had happened between her and Jonathan and it wasn't as though they could they could get together and talk things out at the moment. And they still hadn't discussed their own moment of unprofessionalism the other night.
'I'll stay.' Carson said.
'That's very valiant of you Carson, but I won't allow that to happen.'
'We don't leave people behind.' Rodney said.
Carson looked genuinely touched by this and nodded, accepting that there was no way that they would allow him to do such a thing. As he awkwardly hugged Rodney for being so supportive, the marines who had been guarding them since last night were replaced by Cadman and Ford, which sparked an angered response from Carson.
'Do you know what you've done lassie?' He said to Laura.
Seeing him clearly affected Laura more than she had expected and she immediately burst into tears when she met his eyes. With an angry look in Carson's direction, Ford went to hug the grieving woman.
'You might want to lay off her Carson. We're here to save your butts.' Ford said cuttingly.
A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. All of the support and reviews are really appreciated and I am going to try and get this story finished as soon as possible.
