A/N: Another one I haven't updated in a while and so I present you the latest chapter. It's been hard to write a story this dark. Thanks to all those who have continued to read this. Don't hesitate to leave a review. Thanks to Crye4Me for the brainstorming. This is unbetaed as this is sort of a belated b-day gift for Shadows-of-Realm and it so happens my b-day is tomorrow.
Chapter 6- Closer to the Truth
John watched as Carson examined Elizabeth in the iso room below deep in thought. There was only one reason why there were doubles of his team as well as the unexplained reappearance of Michael and Elizabeth. He was waiting for the tests to confirm his suspicions. It was obvious the murdered doubles and Elizabeth had to be clones since Michael was involved. Could a Wraith or whatever Michael was be cloned? Did Rodney savagely murder the bodies they found? It certainly did not sound like the friend who, but he did not know what the four months of torture and abuse did to the man and what Rodney was capable of.
So many emotions bubbled to the surface the moment John heard Elizabeth's voice calling out to be rescued on the planet. When her arms went around him the moment they opened the door, many sealed wounds burst open. Sheppard could only watch through the glass as Carson finished the exam. "What's the verdict?" he almost pounced on the man the minute he entered the room.
Carson had a blank look on his face as he tried to absorb all the information he obtained about Elizabeth and the bodies found on the planet. "It seems like Michael never gave up his research on cloning. He was one himself. I can only assume that Michael had some safeguards in place and when he did not return his clone was activated, born or whatever you want to call it."
"So...Elizabeth too?" John knew there could be no other explanation, but the question still needed to be asked.
"Yes. Her too Colonel, but she is different from the others. There were certain chemicals missing from the other's brain. With them being dead, I cannot say for certain what effect the lack of the chemicals had on the,. But, Elizabeth is not missing any of those chemicals."Carson went onto explain.
"But, Doc...if you had to give your best guess." There were so many questions that needed answers and the answers would be hard to come by.
"I really don't want to speculate, but generally people who are deficient in those chemicals generally are more susceptible to power of suggestion. The lack of it could make a person do anything they are told without any emotions. With me Michael showed that he had limited control over influencing my behavior. Those clones were probably like organic robots, following every command given."
"You mean like torturing Rodney to think his friend's had turned against him? The only person he is letting anywhere near him is Jennifer. He tried to strangle me earlier and I think he would have if it weren't for her. That was before we knew about the clones. Rodney killed them didn't he?" John knew his friend rarely used violence, but there was a brutality to the death of the clones that could only come from complete carnal rage.
"It makes sense, but I cannot be a hundred percent sure. The only way we will know is if and when Rodney is ready to talk. Is Jennifer safe with him? Do you think he could have a violent outburst directed at her?" Carson was very concerned for everyone involved and began to wonder if Rodney belonged in isolation as well.
"No. Jennifer was able to talk him into letting me go. There was something about the look he had on his face after he let me go and the way Rodney held his arms out to her. With as jumbled as everything is in his head he knows Jennifer is trying to help. He's not going to hurt his wife," John could not stop staring through the window at Elizabeth. "What is the last thing she remembers?"
"She said the last think she remembers before waking up in that cell was getting ready to leave for Earth to go to the inquest," the cloned physician began to explain. "But she left before the rescue mission. Michael must have gotten a sample of Elizabeth's DNA off of someone."
John had a good idea of where the hair came from, "What are you implying, Doc?" He did not mean to get defensive, but that part of his life he had put behind him a long time ago. It was reopening long healed wounds to see Elizabeth sitting in the room unaware of what she was and what happened to her. Most everyone in the city had accepted the cloned Carson as one of their own again. Would the same thing happen to Elizabeth? Would she want to pick up her life where she thought it left off?
"That maybe there was a strand of Elizabeth's hair on someone," Carson did not expect someone to jump down his throat. "She was asking to speak to you. You can go in if you want. I have to check on Rodney and Jennifer."
"Be careful. Rodney doesn't react well to visitors."
"I will." Carson nodded and grabbed some supplies. The worried physician wondered if Rodney outburst was because of in Rodney's mind that John was one of his torturers. Perhaps he would fare a little better.
John watched the Elizabeth clone for several minutes before entering the room. It moved just as graceful as the real Elizabeth did. How was he to explain that she was a clone? Did she know how much time passed since she last stepped foot inside the city? The confused man made his way to the room and as soon as the door was opened, Elizabeth's eyes were upon him.
"John!" Elizabeth jumped to her feet, fighting the urge to throw her arms around him. She had wanted to do that for the months Michael had her. "What's going on? Why am I in an isolation room?"
He was visibly torn on how to respond. John had already mourned for his Elizabeth and this was bringing up many unpleasant memories. He lifted a trembling hand to touch the face he had missed so much, but stopped just short of touching it. "It's complicated."
Confusion creased ever inch of Elizabeth's weary face, "How did Michael get onto Atlantis to kidnap me? The last thing I remember is saying goodbye to you before I was supposed to leave for Earth?"
"Michael never made it to Atlantis…at least at that time." John could not meet her gaze. This was all too much. Between Rodney and now Elizabeth this was the start of the worst week ever. "How long did Michael have you?" his fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly.
Elizabeth found that an odd question to ask. He should have known how long she was missing. "A little over four months." Another realization hit her, "There was someone else there. Michael had someone else." She would never forget the horrid screams that she heard on a daily basis. Screams that begged for death and with the last day being silent she wondered if her fellow captive got their wish. "The screams I heard," Elizabeth visibly shuttered at the memory of the sounds.
"I know," John tried to keep a straight face and failed. He still blamed himself for what happened to his friend.
"Did you rescue them too? Are they okay?" The concern was classic Elizabeth. The distress on John face made Elizabeth think something else was going on. She knew the man too well to know he was doing his best to hide his emotions of something horrible. "Who was it?"
"Rodney."
"Is he?"
"No. He's alive."
"How can you let that happen?"
John stared blankly, stunned that the question had been asked. It made him feel a thousand times worse than he already did, "I've asked myself that countless times the last four months. This could have all prevented if I had told them no." His voice cracked as his buried emotions bubbled over.
"Them?" Elizabeth was clearly puzzled.
"Rodney wasn't taken on M8G-352. That happened a while ago... A long while ago." The truth would was too hard to talk about.
"How long? How did Michael get him?" During the silent paused she could still hear the horrid screams of a man being tortured. "He's going to need someone to help him through what Michael did him."
"Rodney has someone helping him. He's only letting one person within ten feet of him," John was still avoiding answering all the questions.
"It's good that Katie is there to help. I had no idea that the screams I heard were from Rodney." Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. "What was done to him?"
"Some pretty horrible things."
"What are you leaving out?" Elizabeth was tired of the feeling that there was much more to the story than John was letting out. "Just tell me."
"Elizabeth, it wasn't been months. M8G-352 happened almost five years ago. Rodney was taken from the Athosian settlement four months ago. I blame myself for it because I should just have said no when..."
"Five years!" Elizabeth exclaimed, in shock. There was no way she had been missing for that long. "It couldn't have been. Months not years passed. This is not possible." She refused to listen to anymore of this nonsense talk. "Then why does it seem like only months have passed."
"That is when Michael activated you." It was the not the most tactful way to explain the situation but he really did not have a choice.
"Activated me?" Elizabeth snapped, her eyes narrowing. What was she some kind of robot?
John lowered his head and blew out a long breath. "Carson should be the one to explain this."
"Carson just left so why don't you explain it me." The fear could not be missed in her voice. The former base commander knew John was never good at expressing his emotions, but she thought they had reached a turning point before she was taken. If what John said was true and five years had passed there was no telling what changes his life had gone through without her. Had he moved on and gotten married?
"A clone. You're a clone. Michael has...had a knack for making clones. He did the same to Carson."
"Carson is a clone" The news was hard to digest and the somber look on John's face left no room or joking. "That explains why you are distant." The clone figured he had an Elizabeth to go home too and he was here to gather information. "You should leave and go back to your wife." After five years she had hoped they would have taken that step.
"You would think with as long as we have been here that we would have had more than one birth and one wedding." Humor was always a good way to deflect the truth. "And I'm not a party to either. Unless you count my roles of godfather and best man."
It scared Elizabeth that she knew John better than she knew herself, knowing he was never good with the emotional stuff this had to be almost impossible to deal with this as well as whatever happened to Rodney. "You think this is hard on you? Imagine what it is like for me to know I'm not real. Why am I not here talking to myself? Is she up there, watching us?"
John chewed his lip, "No. She's dead." The blunt truth was the best course of action.
"That's not something to joke about," she reached out to touch John's face, but he flinched just as her fingertips brushed his cheek.
"It's not a joke. I wish it was." John had made his peace with losing Elizabeth and having her in front of him ripped open healed wounds. "The replicators attacked the city with an energy weapon and Rodney and I came up with the idea to fly the city to escape the attack. During lift off the beam from the weapon grazed the control tower just as the shield was raised. She was hurt real bad and we were going to lose her when Jennifer and Rodney came up with the plan to reactivating the nanites."
"Jennifer?" Elizabeth was overwhelmed by what happened and the only thing she could question was an unfamiliar name.
"She took over for Carson after he died. She has been in charge ever since. A lot has changed." There was part of John that wanted to take Elizabeth into his arms, but the woman he loved was dead. She was only a copy.
"Then why was Carson the one treating me?" She knew protocol was for the CMO to be in charge of cases like this.
"She is on personal leave inside the city. You see...Jennifer is married to Rodney and she's the one taking care of him. They were on New Athos for their wedding night when Rodney was taken."
Elizabeth nodded and sat in the nearest chair. She had a hard time grasping that she was supposed to be dead and life had moved on without her. The arrogant scientist was one of the last people she had imagined getting married. "What are they going to do to me?"
"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "We haven't had a chance to discuss it yet." It was cold to talk about the situation this way especially if she was like Carson's clone and most in the city have accepted him as Carson or something close to that. Maybe with time everyone would do the same with Elizabeth. "I've got a meeting with Woolsey and Radek. I'll be back later." He slowly headed toward the door.
"Wait don't leave!" Elizabeth reached out and pulled the retreating man back to her. "Stay." She needed to know if somewhere deep inside of him with the feelings were still there. In her mind they were still a couple, a secret known only to Rodney and Carson. Throwing propriety and rules out the window Elizabeth attacked John with a hungry kiss.
Jennifer watched her sleeping husband, wondering what he meant by his words before falling asleep. She was about to doze off when Rodney sat up and quickly got out of bed as if he were very frightened. "What's wrong?"
"Bathroom," Rodney struggled to keep the pants that were now several sizes too big up.
"Okay," she made a mental note to have some smaller clothes delivered so Rodney would not struggle to keep them on.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that." The level of paranoia grew tenfold and the tension broke by a rumbling of Rodney's stomach.
"Do you want me to get you something to eat? Are you hungry?" Jennifer was relieved it was not something more. She was staring and figured he could use some nourishment too.
"Hungry; yes. Don't leave. Have food bought here. Please don't leave me." Rodney looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown if left alone.
"I'll radio someone in the mess hall to see what they can send over," Jennifer gently reassured him, knowing the staff would make the exception to help them out considering Rodney's fragile state.
"Okay," Rodney lowered his head and shuffled toward the bathroom. The overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread seeped into every pore and again invaded the defeated man.
Jennifer took in a deep breath to prevent herself from crying. It was taking every ounce of self-control to hold it together as she had no idea if she was doing enough to help her husband. He had only been home two days and he seemed to be teetering between falling over the edge and never coming back.
She had just tapped her headset to see about getting some food when the loud shattering of glass was heard from the bathroom and Jennifer was on her feet racing to the bathroom before her brain had time to process anything.
To be continued…
a/n: Yes, the idea for taking a John/Elizabeth sidetrack is just for S-o-R who has put up with my ideas for a while now and this is a little thank you to him.