Chapter Fourteen

"No change, Dr Beckett," the nurse handed him the clipboard with Elizabeth's vital sign charts.

"Thanks, lass," Carson sighed.

Before she turned to leave, the nurse added, "She'll be OK, won't she?"

Carson let his mouth curl up in a half smile at one side, "Aye, I think so. She just needs..." he closed his eyes, trying to find the right word, "...she needs the right person to bring her out of it."

The nurse raised her eyebrows a little, pursing her lips into a smile, "Oh, is that right? You wouldn't happen to know who that person might be, do you?"

Carson's smile broadened, "Maybes I do, lass, maybes I do."

The Gate started to dial in. Chuck looked up and breathed out in relief.

"Dr Beckett, Major Lorne is on his way back," he said.

"Bring him straight up here," Carson replied. The gate whooshed open and Lorne and Radek came running through.

"Dr Beckett says go straight to the infirmary," yelled Chuck.

"What's happening?" demanded Zelenka.

"She's losing the will to live," said Carson. "That connection you had has not been severed correctly, I need you to connect to her again."

"I don't know if I can," Radek replied.

"What happened? How did you break free from the alien controlling you?" asked Carson.

Radek hung his head. "I was in a memory from my days as a border guard. I shot someone crossing trying to escape, in my dream it was Elizabeth."

"Someone is torturing her with that memory," said Carson. "It's the only explanation…"

Elizabeth was lying on the muddy ground, clutching her side, as blood oozed from the wound that felt like it was burning. The searchlights flashed through the rain, lighting the sky and leaving shadows where it trailed.

"Help me," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain. When she opened them again, someone was lying near her, a man she didn't recognise. He too had been shot; his leg was bloody and smashed.

"It was him. He shot us," the man spat. "Your precious Radek. He's a traitor, a puppet. You weak fool, how did you let him seduce you?"

Elizabeth shivered in the rain, "No! He would never shoot me! He wouldn't do that."

"Look," the man pointed.

She looked at Radek in the watchtower. She could see tears in his eyes. She groaned in pain and looked up at him again, this time his rifle was pointed directly at her.

"Stop it!" she screamed, "Leave me alone!"

"Why should I? He is one of them. A traitor. He was using you. You don't really think he cares for you, do you? You are nothing to him," said the man.

"I don't believe you," she said. "He wouldn't do that to me." She could feel the old insecurities flooding to the surface, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't suppress them. "No, he loves me."

"Oh, he's told you everything, has he? While I was in his mind I saw some things that would make you hate him with every breath," said the man.

"NO!! He is a good man, I know about the things he was forced to do when he was younger but that was then!" she said. She could feel the warmth seeping into her, she was dimly aware of Radek and it gave her strength. "I love him, no matter what he's done. I love the man he is NOW!!"

"No, you will not defeat me," said the man as he started to change.

A single shot rang out...