Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or its characters…

Warning: I upped the rating overall for this fic due to the occasional appearance of inappropriate language and violence, although it's not graphic…yet. Actually, I probably won't include too much graphic violence. It doesn't quite jive with the story…

Author's note: Very near the end now…I can practically taste it! Basically that means, as long as this writing high endures, the final chapters should be posted rather quickly in comparison to my usual deathly slow pace. I was going to make this chapter even longer than it already is, but I found a good stopping point. The following chapter should be finished rather swiftly, but will probably be significantly shorter, unless I ramble on, which is obviously very likely for if you cannot tell, I'm long-winded. Um…try and enjoy despite my lengthy narrative tendencies…

"Are you sure about this?" Elizabeth asked anxiously. What she was planning to do was so entirely out of character that she was beginning to have doubts about her sanity as well. It gave her comfort that she once again had John Sheppard to blame for getting into bizarre and difficult situations.

"Are you sure about this?" he returned inquisitively. He gave her a look as if he was attempting to ascertain how committed or convinced she was in her next course of action. He had described in detail what she would have to do, what she should anticipate having to do if the situation arose. "You're the one putting themselves on the line."

She couldn't help but smile at his serious tone, the concern he showed her. "It's not like I'm breaking into a Wraith lab."

"Just because they're our people, doesn't mean they can't be dangerous Elizabeth," he said, not the least bit amused as she had been by the comparison of Atlantis to a Wraith hive-ship. John was having significant doubts about asking Elizabeth to do this for him.

"I know," she responded, the smile gone from her lips. He was right. The things she had seen some of their people do at times, the choices they had made, frightened her beyond reason. They were good people, but the Pegasus Galaxy was not a good place to be. She shook the thought off, knowing that she would very soon be going into a situation that pitted them against her.

"What should I use?" she asked John for his advice as she paced around her room, searching for an object that could be turned into a weapon against those guarding her door. She needed something heavy enough to take them out with a single blow, but light enough that she could wield it with little difficulty.

"How 'bout this?" John suggested from across the room. She turned and walked over to see what he was pointing at. Again, Elizabeth found herself smiling at him. He had a knack for unwitting irony.

"The statue of the peace goddess the Athosians made for me?" She began to laugh quietly as she pictured its delicate serene face imprinted on the foreheads of whoever the unfortunate souls guarding her door were. Then she scolded herself. It's not that funny! Maybe her nerves had started getting to her. God knew she was extremely apprehensive about staging an escape attempt, and possibly doing harm to her own people.

"Are you alright?" John managed to ask, also beginning to chuckle as he realized the humor in his suggested choice of weapon. They both took a moment to calm down and Elizabeth's face one again took a more somber and determined set. John took it as a cue. "Ready to do this?"

She nodded her head, picked up the sizeable Athosian woodcarving, and stood before the door that would lead to John's salvation…his salvation or even more trouble for me. Elizabeth took several deep breaths and with a reassuring look from John, activated the door panel.

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The look of shock in the young man's face was matched only by her own at realizing how effective a blow she had delivered to the side of his head. He instantly fell to the floor unconscious. Elizabeth had no time to entertain her surprise over her action, for she wouldn't have long before the unconscious man's companion got over his own shock and surprise. John had been explicit on that point; don't hesitate.

And she didn't. With another powerful swing she took the other man guarding her door out with a blow to the head that mirrored the previous. She stepped back out of the way as he came crashing down to the floor, wondering at the facility in doing such harm to another person. She had always known that human beings weren't the strongest of creatures, but she never knew they were that fragile either. It seemed too easy. Elizabeth wasn't deluded about her self; she knew she was on the frail side. How did she manage to take the guards out with such a minimal amount of effort? It must have been the statue…leverage…that was it. She just couldn't see herself hurting others so easily.

"Elizabeth?"

John's voice tore her away from her thoughts. She had ended up violating the rule he had stressed as the most vital anyway; don't hesitate!

"Okay, let's go!" she whispered, letting the peace goddess statue fall to the floor with an audible clatter that echoed down the hall. Then she was gone, moving through the halls swiftly and it was all that John could do to keep up with her.

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It wasn't only the speed with which Elizabeth covered the distance to the science lab that impressed John. It was how stealthily she navigated the corridors, which were anything but vacant. She was good at going undetected, and she moved without a sound. He smiled to himself realizing that was why she had refused to adorn her shoes, simply stating that she was more comfortable in bare feet. And with the grace that she inconspicuously traversed the halls, John was liable to believe her if she were to tell him she was once a dancer. He made a note to himself that he needn't be so protective of Elizabeth in the future. She was apparently quite capable of taking care of herself.

She finally slowed as they neared the science lab, coming to a stop before she turned down the corridor where it was located. She cautiously and quickly peered around the corner.

"Looks like the coast is clea-" Elizabeth began to whisper but found herself horrible unnerved by the look John was giving her. "What are you smiling at?

"Sorry, Elizabeth," he apologized in a whisper to match hers, although he wasn't sure why it mattered how loud he spoke, since no one else could hear him. "It's just that I never pictured you as the clandestine type. You always used to lecture me on how we should be open and honest with others as much as possible. And here you are sneaking around inside the city, hiding from our own people."

Elizabeth was not amused. She was far too stressed to share in his enjoyment of the situation. "I'm glad you find this amusing, John. But I could use your help finding out whether anyone is currently in that lab."

"Right," John conceded, still quite bemused by witnessing this particular side of his former (hopefully soon to be again) leader. He just couldn't get over it. "Reconnaissance?"

"Yes, John. 'Reconnaissance'," Elizabeth whispered exasperatedly. If this was what the man was like during tense missions, it was a wonder that Ford, Teyla or Rodney hadn't shot him or left him behind yet. Next time he failed to come back through the 'gate, she would know the real reason…He continued to smile at her like he lived in his own little world, in which she existed only to provide him entertainment. She gave him the worst schoolmarm I-am-not-pleased look she had ever been able to conjure. It failed to do its job.

"Like we're spies?" he asked her, still looking happy despite her obvious anger.

Knowing him, he wouldn't give up until she gave him something, even just a little. She sighed inwardly. For a man, John Sheppard was pretty high-maintenance. She would live to regret this, but they needed to move on…and quickly. "Yes. Reconnaissance. Like Spies. You can be 'James Bond.' Just don't call me 'Ms. Galore'."

She let her lips twitch slightly on the last bit, enough to convince him she had consented to lighten up. His smile widened then broke as a focused look crossed his face. He nodded his head in acknowledgement of her then started to jog off around the corner. Elizabeth leaned back against the wall and allowed herself to breath. That man is way too calm in such situati-

"Don't worry, 'Pussy'. Nothing can stop 007." John popped his head back around the corner and said in a horrible rendition of a Sean Connery style British accent. Elizabeth nearly jumped out of her skin, startled. When he disappeared once more, she could only think of the things she would do to him when she could finally wrap her hands around his neck again.

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After John had returned (Elizabeth wasn't sure whether it took too long or not long enough) and informed her that the coast was clear, they made their way quietly into the momentarily serene science lab. It was lucky that no scientists were working on anything in that particular lab when they had chosen to make their-well, her escape. John couldn't exactly 'escape' from anywhere considering that he didn't really have a problem with barriers at the moment, besides a severe communication gap, as it were.

"What now?" Elizabeth asked. They had made plans, but those plans had been tremendously shortsighted, focusing primarily on getting to the lab, a feat neither of them thought she'd actually accomplish. John began to survey the room, his military mind beginning to kick in.

"I assume that you're going to need some time to figure that thing out?" he asked, giving her a glance before continuing his perusal of the facilities at hand. She nodded her head, slightly distracted by the opportunity to see him truly behave like she remembered, act like the John Sheppard she knew. "We'll need to barricade the door then…I mean, you'll need to barricade the door."

She smiled at the correction. He was having a hard time not being able to help her, or himself for that matter. Maybe he'd learn a lesson in patience and cooperation from all of this, and not run off foolhardily on his own in order to 'save them all' so much in the future. But that was a thought to consider later. Right at that moment, it was Elizabeth's turn to get a lesson in enemy evasion and fortification of a seemingly untenable position.

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Elizabeth sighed heavily. It had been about an hour since she had first sat down with a laptop and began searching for any clues to the operation of the device from MXG-241. She could only estimate that it had taken them about half an hour to reach the lab and secure the door as best as she could; which had entailed smashing the control panel into little shards and moving as much free standing furniture as she could find to form a barricade in front of it.

She shifted uncomfortably. Why had she chosen to sit on the floor anyway? It had seemed like a good idea at the time, like it would obscure her from the view of anyone who blew a hole through her protective barrier. And maybe it would…for a few seconds at least, until they looked down.

It wasn't just the discomfort of the hard Atlantian tiled floor that made her uneasy. Nor was it the fact that every minute that passed was one less minute she had to work before the others discovered what she had done and came to retrieve her. It was mainly that she was getting nowhere. She had tried retranslating the symbols that adorned the device, but discovered there hadn't really been any errors made. They spoke of the alteration of a person on the smallest, most fundamental level; something about vibrations and frequencies. Frankly, she really couldn't tell if the symbols had been interpreted properly. She didn't have the scientific knowledge that would allow her to identify inconsistencies in the translation.

Permitting herself an expressive low throaty growl, Elizabeth vocalized her frustration, and in so doing captured John's attention. He had been popping in and out, passing back and forth through the wall to check on the status of the others, whether they had realized her escape attempt, whether they had figured out where she had gone. He had returned just in time to catch Elizabeth's abnormally primal utterance.

"How's it going?" he asked, sounding hopeful but not so much as to place even more pressure on her. She frowned at him and took a moment to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"I'm sorry John," she sincerely apologized. "It's not going as well as I hoped."

"It's okay," he told her, then smiled, although she was quite certain his heart wasn't in it. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You've never failed me before."

His trust made her feel warm inside, provided her some small relief and contentment. But at the same time it worsened the pressure on her. What if she failed him? She swallowed hard.

"How much time have we got?" she asked him, studying his face. His avoidance of her eyes told her that she wouldn't like the answer.

"Not much," he informed her, very much sobered from the warmth he had just shown her a few minutes prior. "They've already found Sergeant Rogers and Corporal Kinsey. It'll only be a matter of time before they figure out where we went. But you did a good job with the door. It'll definitely take them awhile to break through that barricade."

Despite the anxiety the revelation created in her, Elizabeth was able to entertain the small bit of admiration that John knew who the men she had taken out were. She wasn't sure she even recognized them at the time, let alone remembered them. She suddenly found it very important that she recall who they were, like it would prove that she hadn't become completely callous and insensitive from the whole ordeal. Rogers had been the taller one…or was that Kinsey? No, no. Kinsey was definitely the Canadian, the shorter one with dark hair that she had knocked unconscious first.

There, she remembered. But was she any less of a horrible person for it?

Not now, Elizabeth! She scolded herself. She really didn't have the time to debate her current ethical and moral standing. She needed to keep working, trying to figure out how to help John. Returning her attention to the computer screen didn't provide any fresh insight. She sighed again.

After several more stress-filled minutes of getting nowhere, Elizabeth let her attention wander from the computer screen again. Her eyes scanned the dark, cluttered (more like trashed) laboratory. John was gone again, no doubt performing 'reconnaissance' on the others. The man just couldn't stand the fact that he could do nothing to physically aide her. But could she really criticize him for his frantic, nervous tendencies? She knew for a fact that if she were in his place, she would have gone just as insane. He actually had been keeping it together fairly well.

"Dammit, Elizabeth!" she hissed at herself. "Focus!"

Instead of going back to the computer she decided to approach the source of all the trouble directly. She got up and walked over to the device and gave it the severest death-glare she was capable of conjuring. It was all she could do to fight the incredible urge to pick up the glowing bane of her existence and hurl it at the nearest wall, reveling in its destruction into a million tiny luminous fragments. That would teach it to meddle with people's lives!

Oh god, she was going as crazy as John had!

Again, Elizabeth strived to keep her focus on the problem at hand. But no matter how hard she tried to think, her mind kept losing interest. And she knew precisely the reason why. Each time she approached the problem her brain could see no solution and decided to shift its efforts to more feasible analytical tasks. She could see no solution but one…

She exhaled a long, tortuously beleaguered breath as she allowed herself to slump to the floor in despair.

"I need Rodney's help," she said quietly to herself. And the statement held a great deal of finality for she knew it was the truth.

A/N: Wow…I am being quite Elizabeth-centric, but that's how I started this fic and that's probably how I'll end it…so at least I'm consistent? (I can't help it. I love that character!)

Up next…The others track their escaped "loony" down, but how easy will it be to get her back? What will Elizabeth do when they find her? Will John be able to help her?