Sheppard feels a hand grab his uninjured shoulder. Startled, he turns semi-glazed over eyes to meet Harper's and Teyla's worried gazes. "What?" He asks when he sees the expressions on theirs and the rest of the team's faces. The thrumming noise cuts in before anybody can answer him. "Okay, that's just getting annoying." He says, standing up to walk out the rear hatch. Hitting the button that lets the rear hatch down, Sheppard is halfway out of the jumper and staring at Elizabeth when realization dawns on him. "That's weird."

Elizabeth's face becomes really concerned as the jumper hatch opens once again to reveal a somewhat confused John Sheppard. She glances at him, "John?" She steps forward, studying his face. She sees him looking around again, and repeats what she had told him several minutes ago. "You don't need to worry about that noise....it will not have an effect on the jumper. You are perfectly safe.....nothing's wrong."

She looks at Carson - who has come up behind John. Something is not right with him, Carson. Have Dr Keller take a look at him, and get him down to Atlantis ASAP....don't let him fly the jumper - do it yourself. The Scottish doctor nods and gestures for Keller, who then comes over and takes John to one of the seats. He seems to fight her a little, but something she says makes him sit down.

Elizabeth steps back yet again - returning to her place by the entrance - and yet again watches as the hatch closes on the jumper. Carson, I want you to contact me as soon as you know what is going on with him. She senses his reply, then the jumper lifts gracefully into the air and exits her ship. She remains standing in that spot even after the bay doors have closed and all she can see is her crew preparing for what was ahead.

She allows the tears to fall freely - not caring if any of her crew sees her. Some moments pass, then she sighs - once again wiping her face and squaring her shoulders. She turns and leaves the bay. Arlon, take us into hyper space.

Sheppard doesn't seem to register Elizabeth's voice as he listens intently to the thrumming noise that has been steadily increasing in pitch. "What IS that?" He mutters to himself, glancing around the bay of the Asuran vessel. Who are you? Echoes in his head. "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard." Sheppard answers in confusion and a bit louder than he had intended. Feeling a gentle tugging on his arm, Sheppard struggles against Keller's grip for a moment until he recognizes her voice. Suddenly snapping out of it, Sheppard lifts his eyes to meet hers. "What's wrong?"

Keller finally settles John down enough to give him a quick exam. She stood going over to Carson knowing that the others could get more out of him than she could. Keller leaned over to Carson, "I want test run on him. It could be stress or lack of sleep but we won't know more 'til those test. Would you like to help?" He gave her a blank look. "Never mind shouldn't have asked."

Lorne sits down in the passenger seat of the jumper looking back At Sheppard as he goes to talk to Elizabeth once again. He sighs as he notices Rodney playing with his thumbs. "It's ok McKay."

Rodney looks up and sees Lorne's warm smile. His eyes gleaming with compassion for his friend who was in a state of paranoia. Rodney nods. "I know."

Harper had just walked passed Elizabeth as she met her eyes and as if they spoke the words that were needed to be said Harper was now okay well for the most part of leaving Elizabeth behind. Harper sits down then looks at Keller and her uncle. Something isn't right. She looks to Ronon who had just sat down next to her as her eyes draw back on to the jumper's door. Goodbye Elizabeth.

As Harper walks past her, Elizabeth smiles sadly and reaches out giving her arm a gentle squeeze. She taps her her ear with her free hand and winks - smiling wider when she sees that Harper understands. She releases her then, and steps back - allowing the others to continue past her as well.

Ronon touches her shoulder as she looks at him and he motions to John who is now sitting across from them as Keller keeps a close eye on her uncle. She sighs and notices Keller glance as if she wants Harper to pry information out of John. "Um Uncle John are you ok?"

Hearing his name called, Sheppard looks up at Harper with a dazed expression on his face. He slowly bobs his head up and down. "Just day-dreaming I guess." Sheppard forces a small grin. "Don't worry about me."

Ronon eyes Sheppard warily knowing full well that he's not telling the whole truth. "You don't act fine." He says with a grunt.

Sheppard rubs the back of his neck as he glances over at Ronon. "I'm just tired."

Harper shakes her head at her uncle. "I know when you are fine and well this isn't fine. Is this like the time when you and....." Harper stops as she sees John glares at her knowing where she was going. She lets out a sigh of annoyance as she turns to Ronon and perks up rolling her eyes. "He's fine."

Ronon doesn't take his eyes off of Sheppard as he leans back and folds his arms across his chest. "If he were fine he'd be the one flying us out of here."

Sheppard involuntarily bristles at Ronon's comment. He is about to fire back a sharp retort when he stops himself, realizing that Ronon...and Harper are just concerned about him. I really must be tired if I'm this on edge. Why do you exist?Crosses his mind, surprising him. Because Is all the answer that he gives as he tilts his head back to rest it against the wall of the puddle jumper. "Both Beckett and Rodney need more practice flying anyway. One of them can fly today." He states out loud with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

Harper eyes John as she looks at Carson who is already flying the jumper. "Uncle John Carson is already flying us. Did you hit your head in that fight?" She rubs her arm as she waits for her uncle to respond with the truth. He is way out of it. She looks at Ronon who only gives her a shrug.

Sheppard quickly looks over to the pilot's seat. Sure enough, Carson is concentrating hard on flying the jumper to Atlantis. Why didn't I know that? He thinks to himself, worry starting to well up in his mind. Turning back to Harper, Sheppard gives her a disconcerting frown as he answers her question. "As far as I remember I didn't."

Ronon shifts in his seat slightly. Something happened during that fight with Michael. Giving Harper a side-long glance, Ronon asks Sheppard..."What happened with you and Michael?"

Sheppard raises an eyebrow at Ronon. "Haven't we already discussed that?"

"What else did he do besides stab you?" Ronon fires back in response.

Harper shrugs when John asked Ronon if he had already told them. He must be tired or on drugs. He probably took some drugs. Yeah that sounds convincing. "I think he took some drugs. That makes the most sense."

Sheppard rolls his eyes at Harper. "I'm just tired, Harper. Once we get to Atlantis I'll be back at 100 percent."

Ronon narrows his eyes at Sheppard for a moment, sizing him up. Finally, he decides to let it drop for now since Sheppard is being his usual stubborn self.

Rodney turns his head to the back of the jumper looking at Sheppard. "Hey buddy did you happen to get any of Michael's plans? We might need them to oh I don't know stop the destruction of the galaxy."

Harper looks to Ronon and shakes her head. "He is not fine."

Teyla looks at Harper in concern, "I agree. Something is wrong. Michael must have done something to him.

Harper smiles at Teyla. "Don't worry we have a plan." She winks at Ronon.

Ronon exchanges a look with both Teyla and Harper before giving Sheppard another sideways glance. "Leave it to me."

At first, it doesn't register with Sheppard that Rodney asked him a question. After a moment of silence, Sheppard finally answers Rodney with a shake of his head. "No, I was a bit busy. We were in a lab anyway...no computers."

Ronon shrugs, leaning closer to whisper in Harper's ear. "Then we'll just have to get him to the infirmary when we get back."

Rodney turns around all the way now facing Sheppard. "He has computers in his lab. I know I've been captured by him before remember?"

Harper nods and whisper. "Take him out then I'll get Keller to check him over."

"Maybe in the lab he kept you in..." Sheppard begins, pointing a finger at Rodney. "But the lab we were in contained some fun looking chemicals and that's it."

Ronon smiles at Harper. "I think I'm rubbing off on you. Most people would suggest escorting him down there."

Lorne chuckles at Rodney and John. "Now don't make me turn this jumper around you two."

Rodney shakes his head as he looks at Sheppard. "Well did anything look useful?"

Harper smirks at Ronon. "I guess so."

Sheppard gives Lorne a sarcastic smile. "That'd be hard to do considering you're not driving." Turning back to Rodney, Sheppard shakes his head. "Nope. Nothing."

Lorne turns back to Sheppard. "Well considering you are the one who is hurt I'm now in charge of the team so what I say goes." He chuckles to himself as Rodney just stares at him then looks back to Sheppard.

Rodney rolls his eyes and grunts. "Come on there had to be something good there."

Harper shakes her head at Rodney mumbling. "Yeah not you."

Sheppard shoots Lorne a mock-serious look. "Careful, Major, I'm not down for the count yet which means I'm still CO here." He waves a hand toward the cockpit and the general direction of Atlantis. "If you play your cards right though, you might get to be in charge for a bit when we get back to Atlantis."

Sheppard turns annoyed eyes back to Rodney. "I'm telling you McKay, there was nothing useful."

Lorne smiles as he starts to think what it would be like to run Atlantis then gets deeper into his thoughts now thinking about running the SGC. "Aw thanks Sir."

Rodney mumbles, "Yeah right!" I bet he saw something and didn't want me to figure it out. "It's not like you would know what would be useful anyways."

Sheppard grins at Lorne as the Major goes deep in thought. "Don't get too comfy with that idea yet Lorne." He remarks with a small chuckle. His laughing stops when he hears Rodney's comment. Rolling his eyes, Sheppard nods in head in a sarcastic manner. "You keep telling yourself that, Rodney."

Rodney looks at him wondering what he means and then gets it. "Oh come on you are not in mensa!"

Lorne sighs a bit knowing his dream would never happen if it did that would mean Sheppard would be dead and well that wasn't even on his list of dreams.

Teyla frowns a little curious at Ronon's and Harper's "plan" but only nods her head, "Very well."

Harper looks at Teyla as she touches Tagan's little hands. "You want in?" She questions her as Ronon smirks as he eyes Harper. Harper then waits for Teyla's answer as she stares to make fish faces at Tagan.

Tagan giggles at Harper's funny faces. Teyla smirks hiding a laugh at how silly Harper looks. She replies, "Certainly."

Harper smiles at the baby then looks up at Teyla. "Well muscles over here will hit Sheppard over the head and I'll get Keller to check him over again even though she will freak that he is knocked out." She then wrinkles up her face. "You think that would work?"

"Your point?" Sheppard shoots back at Rodney with a raised eyebrow. "I think I've been around the block enough to know what would be handy...and none of that stuff qualified."

Rodney shakes his head. "Well I hope that is the case if not we can blame you for the destruction of the galaxy and not me this time."

Sheppard waves a dismissive hand at Rodney. "It doesn't matter either way. Everything in that lab is busted now."

Rodney smiles. "That means you can't blame me next time something or someone screws up." He states looking at Lorne then Harper knowing that someone on this jumper would screw up.

Sheppard looks at Rodney for a moment with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Okay, I'll only blame you half of the time then."

Rodney scoffs, "Sure that will help me out. So don't you need rest or something?"

"It wouldn't hurt." Sheppard says as he shifts in his seat to find a slightly more comfortable position. Once he gets comfortable, he lets out a contented sigh. "Wake me up when we get there."

Ronon smiles conspiratorially at Harper and Teyla while letting his eyes wander over to Sheppard. He jerks his head in Sheppard's direction. "Looks like he's taking your advice."

Teyla lets out a breath of relief, "Good, I was hoping he would finally sleep. I guess you won't need to shoot him, Ronon."

Ronon shifts his gaze from Sheppard to Teyla. "Not right now but he still might need some persuasion when we get back."

Teyla watches as Sheppard closes his eyes relaxing in the seat and replies, "Let me know if you need any assistance."

There is nothing but darkness around him. The only light comes from the flashlight of his P-90 assault rifle. An eerie glow is cast as the yellowish light plays across the interior of the hive ship. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard moves silently down the corridor, straining his ears for the slightest noise, his muscles tensed for action and his gun at the ready should he need it. Wonder where all the guards are? Crosses his mind as he cautiously peers around a corner. Slowly, purposefully he steps out from the safety of the corner and into the middle of the hallway. Which way to go... He takes a left, never letting his guard down. Finally, he reaches the nerve center of the ship. Sheppard tries to force his way in but the door holds fast. Blowing out a breath, he taps the radio piece tucked in his ear. "McKay, it's Sheppard. I can't get in." Silence. "McKay, this is Sheppard. Do you copy?" Only static answers his call. "Darn it!" Colonel Sheppard looks at the sealed door in disgust. "Time to try a different approach."

Brilliant light flashes before a muffled kaboom resounds throughout the control center. The sealed doors that once blocked his way now lie burnt on the floor. Quickly, Sheppard levels his gun and readies himself for the oncoming assault. "What the-- Sheppard's assault is greeted by nothing but stillness. "Okay this is just weird." He mumbles under his breath. After the brief moment of shock passes, Sheppard once again attempts to raise Dr. Rodney McKay. "Rodney, if you can hear me, there's nobody in here. Do you copy?" There is a slight burst of static that is immediately followed by a mumbled response. "Say again." Nothing. Something must be causing interference. Taking one last glance around, Sheppard reenters the hallway to try a different route.

The organic material of the hive ship appears to be alive as the soft yellow light bathes over it. I hate these ships. He moves further down the corridor being sure to silence every step, knowing that a guard could come out at any moment. Then again, haven't seen any yet. Movement catches his eye. "Now they come out to play." Sheppard swings his gun in the direction of the movement. Suddenly, a brawny figure lunges out from the adjoining passageway. A burst of gunfire issues from the P-90 and the figure drops lifelessly to the ground. Sheppard moves toward the body, his gun still primed just in case. There is a sharp cry from behind him. With barely enough time to think, John whirls around on his heels, pulling the trigger of his gun just as a smaller figure rams into him. The two fall to the floor, one lying lifelessly on top of the other. John pushes the body off of himself and takes a deep breath. Something seems vaguely familiar about the body though. Getting up into a kneeling position, Sheppard rolls the lifeless corpse over. Inhaling sharply, he stumbles backwards away from the dead form of Teyla Emmagan. In his haste, he trips over his first kill. He doesn't want to look, his mind screams for him not to look, but he can't stop himself...he has to know. There, staring coldly at him, is the blood drenched body of his teammate and friend Ronon Dex. No--I didn't--How could I... Each question races through his mind searching for an answer...any answer.

A small, rhythmic noise reaches his ears. Turning in the direction of the noise, John sees a man step out of the shadows. The man is none other than himself, an icy grin on his face as he claps. "Way to go John. Destroy everything you know and love." Taunts the other Sheppard. "I didn't know it was them!" John replies defensively. Bending down, the second Sheppard smiles maniacally at him. "Sure you did John. That's why you fired. To get them out of the way so that you can be free of responsibility, free of guilt." "Just like with me." Sheppard raises his eyes to meet the angry glare of Lieutenant Aiden Ford. "You're the reason why I'm like this. If you had been there, you could've stopped it." Ford begins with fury in his eyes. "Now you've forgotten all about me...all about what you did." "Ford--I haven't--" "You see, John?" Interrupts the other Sheppard. "Everyone who cares for you suffers and dies." "Don't listen to him, John." Sheppard shifts his gaze to where Dr. Elizabeth Weir now stands, the other man narrowing his eyes at her. "It's not your fault." She continues undaunted by the glare she is receiving. "What happened, happened and we can't change that." Haunting laughter erupts from across the room. "Not his fault?! Of course it's his fault. If you had been there, John, Ford would still be on Atlantis, Elizabeth would be fully human, and the real Carson would still be alive along with Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT."

A violent shaking arouses John from his vivid nightmare. Opening his eyes, Sheppard stares blankly at the worried-filled face of his niece. He sits bolt upright, his eyes searching for his three friends. Only after he locates Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney sitting in their same places as before does he relax. "Are we back on Atlantis?" John asks, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Teyla hears John asking a question and turns to answer, "Not yet." She notices the beads of sweat on his brow and walks over to him. "Are you feeling ok, John?" she asks with concern in her voice.

Ronon frowns over at Sheppard. "First one we'll call if we need help."

Sheppard smiles wanely at Teyla, trying to shake the horrible feeling that has overcome him. Nodding, Sheppard closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "It was just a bad dream." A horrible, vivid, unsettling dream, but still a dream. He looks down at his watch to check the time. "How far out are we from Atlantis?"

Teyla watches Sheppard truly not believing his statement. She hands him a canteen of water and towel to wipe his sweaty face. She replies, "I believe we should arrive in a few minutes."

Sheppard gratefully takes the canteen of water and towel from Teyla. "Thanks." He says before taking a drink of water.

Teyla nods her head watching as Sheppard gulps the water down letting the excess run down his chin. "John, maybe you should slow down."

Harper nods as she looks at Sheppard also. She then looks to Ronon as her uncle wakes up, "Only if it was that easy."

Ronon shrugs his shoulders. "He doesn't want people worrying about him." He leans closer to Harper when he sees the expression on Sheppard's sweat soaked face. "Doesn't mean that people don't."

Harper looks at her uncle then eyes Ronon. She was deep in thought thinking over what Sheppard might do instead of getting the rest he needed. She smiles and speaks quietly to Ronon. "True but he won't listen to anyone."

Ronon smiles mischievously at Harper. "Sounds like somebody else I know."

Harper eyes Ronon as she sticks out her tongue at him. After he gives her a look she shakes her head. "Well it isn't me."

"Uh huh, sure." Ronon says with an amused expression on his face.

Sheppard takes one last gulp of water before lowering the canteen from his mouth. Giving Teyla a sheepish smile, Sheppard replies..."Throat was dry."

Teyla raises an eyebrow and asks, "Are you sure you are feeling ok, John?"

Sheppard doesn't answer Teyla immediately, instead thinking of the answer. At this point, I'm not too sure, Looking up at Teyla, he answers..."I'll be fine once I get some rest."

Tyler still uneasy about John's confidence in being "ok" just nods her head. "Let me know if you need anything."

Sheppard nods and smiles reassuringly. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure that it's nothing a good night's rest can't fix."

Teyla smiles back and replies, "Very well. Rest now, John, until we get back home."

Sheppard nods and settles back into his seat, watching Teyla move away from him to reclaim her own. What is going on with me? He thinks to himself. I haven't been this jumpy since... John lets the sentence trail off in his mind. Closing his eyes, Sheppard tries to push the unsettled feeling out of his mind and get some rest. I'll be better once I get back to Atlantis.

Harper shakes her head as she walks to the front of the jumper to where Rodney and Lorne are fighting.

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Now boys." Harper leans in between there seats. "Are we almost there yet?"

Lorne looks at her and nods. "I'll say about 15 minutes or so since Doc is very cautious."

Harper smiles at them as she then heads back to Ronon. "Sorry I had to listen to someone else." She smirks giving him a wink.

Ronon grins at Harper, shrugging. "I just call them as I see them."

Harper rolls her eyes. "Well I mean I guess I could be like that...." Harper trails off knowing that Ronon was right.

Teyla rolls her eyes as she hears Lorne and McKay arguing. She glares at McKay, "Rodney, please stop."

Rodney looks at Teyla then to Lorne who starts laughing.

"She told you McKay."

"Be quite......Evan." Rodney states as he starts to look back to the screen in front of him.

Teyla shakes her head rolling her eyes again. "Don't make me have to shoot you, Rodney."

Ronon's eyes light up with amusement as Harper cuts herself off. Nudging her playfully, he smiles as he says..."Don't worry about it. We're a good team anyways."

Harper smiles as she nudges him back. "I guess we do."

Still smiling, Ronon points in Lorne and Rodney's direction. "Those two still arguing?" Harper rolls her eyes and nods. Ronon shakes his head. "Figures. How long did he say we have?"

"Less than 15 minutes depends on fast Carson is willing to fly this thing." Harper shakes her head. "What do you expect they are lovers." She chuckles as she looks at Rodney and Lorne.

Ronon laughs at Harper's statement. "You better be careful with stuff like that. Might come back to bite you in the end."

Harper smirks. "It's McKay and Lorne how much damage can they do?" She states as she sees Lorne cocks his gun. She gulps. "I guess that answers that."

Ronon tilts his head slightly, laughter lighting up his eyes. "See what I mean?"

Harper places her hands together smirking at Ronon. "That's why I have you. You're my protector."

Teyla rubs her temples as she keeps hearing Rodney and Lorne still argue which was irritating her. She glares at both of them, "Please can you stop? Col. Sheppard is trying to rest."

Lorne and Rodney stop talking and go back to work.

Lorne chuckles as he watches Carson drive. "We will pick this up later McKay."

Teyla sighs a breath of relief and sits down in one of the unoccupied seats close to Sheppard. She looks at her son still in her arms and smiles as he is still sleeping. She would be glad to finally get some rest back home in Atlantis.

Netia flipped opened her knife as she leaned against the hatch door. She was beginning to become very claustrophobic which had her very nervous and unable to stay in one place. Teyla, sitting by Sheppard, saw Netia and gave her a look of "Don't try anything". "You're such a mother and I'm older than you", Netia sat down next to Harper as Teyla kept a watchful eye on her.

Harper kept making faces at Tagan to make him laugh. "She's silly like Jola". Netia held her legs to her chest. "He's very strong for his age", Netia looked over at Tagan. "He's our little warrior!" Tagan laughed at Netia's baby voice. "He really likes you".

Ronon leans back against the bulkhead of the jumper, folding his arms. "And what if I'm not around at the time?"

Harper shakes her head and smiles knowing that Ronon was still protecting even when he wanted to know what she would do without him. "Well I will have to find someone else to protect me."

Ronon lets his eyes wander over the team members assembled in the small jumper before turning his gaze back to Harper, a small grin on his face. "Good luck with that."

Harper rolls her eyes at Ronon as Carson dials the gate heading back to Atlantis. Chuck eyes Sam as she nods to him to open the gate when she sees Carson's idc. The gate opens and the jumper flys into the the gate room going up to the jumper bay.

It had only been minutes since Rodney had put in feet back on Atlantis and already he felt hungry. Sam eyes him and gives him a smile. Does she like me? Yeah right McKay. He starts to head for the mess hall as he bumped into Major Kale Emerson. He sighs knowing he couldn't give Kale grief since he did not have anything against the man. He then shrugs going to the mess hall but gets stop by Sam.

"McKay. Are you forgetting about something? Debriefing?"

Rodney looks at her in a disgusted way. "Ah. Do I have to?"

Sam gives him a stern look and then smiles. "Next time I'll ask Zelenka to go off world then."

"Good luck with that." Rodney states as he walks away only to get tugged backwards when Sam pulls his jackets collar.

The taller man smiled at Rodney as he walked over to Lorne. "Buddy." He greeted Lorne as he hugged him.

Lorne return the hug as he pulled away looking at Kale. Ever since his accident he was less friendly to others but as his best friend he tried to understand what he had been through.

"So I see that you're all back in one piece."

Lorne smiles and nods as he looks to Sheppard who just walked into the room. "Some better then others. Did you hear the news?"

Kale grins as he waves at Sheppard. "Michael's dead yup I been with Sam since you all left. So how about later we…………ugh." Kale grabs his head in pain this sometimes would happened if he tried to remember the past as if something was stopping him from doing that. Lorne takes his shoulder making sure he wouldn't fall. Kale looks up as the pain goes away. "I'm ok. So we on for beer pong tonight?"

Lorne looks worried but smiles and nods knowing his friend was alright. "Sure I'll come get ya after the debriefing."

Harper walked and sat down on the steps in the gate room. Telling Sam what had happened was harder and boring-er then she had suspected but it was a part of her job. She had to do it to be aloud to stay on the Atlantis expedition. She then pulled out the ear piece Elizabeth had gave her remembering that Elizabeth had a something of each of them.

Keller stepped off the jumper going straight for her quarters. She let the warm hard water beat away the knots that had formed her shoulders. She rested her hands on the shower as the water ran down her dusty blonde hair. After several long and relaxing minutes she stepped out of the shower hooking on a towel. She sat on her bed rubbing a second towel over her hair as she went through the day's events.

Something was up with John. It could be stress, lack of sleep, or a combination of both. He had been taxed lately more than the others. She'd give a call to Temp have her speak with John along with the others. Even though she would hate it Keller would make Harper see her too. No matter what the others would say this mission was not normal. She would be going too. That she had agreed to see Rodney told her she needed her head shrunk. Although she was looking forward to some normalcy.
Kale. Mentally she slapped herself as she pulled on some clothes. She needed to check on his file make sure he was doing ok. She could only imagine the work load that would be on her desk. So much for sleep.

Teyla holding a sleeping Tagan followed the Atlantis team out of the jumper. She tapped Sheppard's arm and spoke with concern in her voice, "John, please get some rest now."

Sheppard glances over at Teyla. He runs a hand through his hair, nodding. "As soon as we debrief."

Teyla nods her head and follows Sheppard to debrief Carter about the mission.

Sheppard's movements are slower than usual as the group makes their way to the debriefing. The stress of recent events is finally starting to catch up with him. He notices Teyla's watchful gaze and gives her a boyish smile. "Looks like Tagan's happy to be home."

Teyla holds Tagan facing away so he can look around the room. Teyla glances over at John grinning. "Yes," she says, "I believe he is. I am relieved he is safe thanks to you." Tagan smiles at John and giggles loudly.

Sheppard laughs at Tagan's loud giggle. "Don't mention it. We couldn't just sit around and let Michael have his way."

Teyla chuckles and then her face becomes very serious. "I know," she replies, "but I don't think I could ever say thank you enough." Tagan continues to look at Sheppard laughing. Teyla snickers as she realizes why Tagan is laughing so much. She points over John's shoulder to Rodney who is standing in the conference room snapping his fingers as he tries to explain to Carter a new idea to better protect Atlantis and its inhabitants.

Sheppard turns to see what Teyla and Tagan are looking at. He rolls his eyes when he sees Rodney snapping his fingers in that I've-got-an-idea fashion. "Back to the ol' grindstone."

Teyla shakes her head beaming, "Rodney never stops." Tagan looks up at Sheppard and giggles some more.

Sheppard nods with amusement in his eyes. "He could do his own Duracell commercial." Looking down at Tagan, Sheppard pokes him in the stomach. "And what's so funny to you?"

Tagan giggles even louder than before beginning to squeal almost jumping out of Teyla's arms toward Sheppard. Teyla struggles containing him back in her arms and says, "I think he wants you." She smiles at him waiting to see his reaction.

Sheppard pauses and looks from Tagan to Teyla. "You think?" He glances back down at Tagan, sighing. "I've never really been good with reading kids."

Teyla beams, "And I never knew I wanted a child until Tagan." She holds Tagan out closer to Sheppard, "Hold him."

Sheppard looks at Tagan uncomfortably for a moment, glancing at his hurt shoulder. "You're going to have to help me situate him."

Teyla gently rests Tagan in Sheppard's good arm trying to stifle a laugh at his uneasiness. "Don't worry. He won't break." Tagan looks up at Sheppard and gives him a big toothless smile. Teyla's face radiates as John and Tagan begin to bond.

Sheppard grins awkwardly at Tagan as he settles into his arm. Oh boy. It's been awhile since I've done this. "Hi there." He says, glancing at Teyla briefly.

Teyla's eyes glimmer as she watches John try to talk to her son. Tagan still happy just smiles at John and squeals letting out a loud burp. Teyla chuckles quietly and says, "He does that a lot."

Sheppard chuckles. "Yeah, they tend to do that." A thoughtful light enters Sheppard's eyes. "What is it that Elizabeth called him? Little Warrior?"

Teyla smiles, "Yes she does. She made her way into his little heart quickly." Her smile fades as she begins to think about her friend leaving and little hope of returning soon.

Sheppard peers at Tagan intently for a second before nodding his head. "Suites him perfectly."

Teyla nods, "Yes it does." Sheppard starts to smell something strangely peculiar. "Is something wrong?" Teyla asks.

Laughing, Sheppard motions for Teyla to take Tagan back. "I think you just got called to duty by Tagan. He had a little accident." He finishes with a gleam in his eyes as Teyla holds Tagan. "I'll see you at the debriefing."

Teyla smiles and opens her arms to receive Tagan. "Come on little man. Let's change that diaper." She heads off to her quarters to clean him up.

Kale walked the hall to Dr. Keller's quarters. He had made friends with the women ever since he first came to Atlantis. He stopped and waved his wave over the door panel letting her know she had a visitor. As he did that Keller opened the door. The 6'3 man looked down to the blond smiling as she looked up at him. "Hey Doc. How's it going?"

"Kale, good. How are you? I was just about to request your file." Keller moved from the door motioning to the lone seat she had at her desk.

Kale walked in and sat down on the chair. He started to play with his hands as he then slid them through his hair. "I had another head ache today. I was trying to remember what Lorne and I did on Thursday nights." He looks back up to Keller after looking to the ground. Pain was in eyes as he faked a smile. "It's probably nothing."

Worry spread over her stomach like hot grease. Pain etched itself into his features not even that radiant smile could hide it. She ran her hand through her still wet hair whipping it on her pants as she went to get the same bag she kept next to her bed. "Have you been taking the pills I prescribed?"

Kale nodded as he smiled as he could hear her heart beating faster and faster.

"You know you have to take them at the hours prescribed or the pain will get a head of you." She took her pen light bent down shined it into his eyes. "Although you shouldn't..." Lips hungry and needy locked with hers. Kale's strong hand gripped her arms bruising soft pale skin. They struggled for power. She tried to push him away but it would only result in his body slamming against hers. "Kale stop!" she said against his forceful lips.

Her lungs burned for air. He pushed her shoved her against the wall pinning her with his body. "No! Kale!" Wanting hands groped her body pulled at her shirt. Her door it was close a few more inches and she could open it. She stopped struggling felt he ease off then slammed her foot down on top of his toe. The grunts he had been making turned to screams of pain. He stumbled back eyes still wide and crazed. Bone met bone as she shoved her elbow into his face. He went down hard clutching his face. She grabbed the pen on her desk and opened the door. "Don't move Kale or so help me I'll shove this threw your eye. Guards!"

Kale looked at her as he touched the place she had elbowed him at. Confusion were in his eyes as he looked at her. She was angry more like ticked off but he sensed something inside him wanted more than contact to her body he wanted her soul. He sat down on the chair and closed his eyes as he held his head. "What's wrong with me?" He opened his eyes looking into hers as blood flowed from both of his eyes. He didn't even know what had just happened he couldn't remember why he was even here to see Keller.

"I'm going to find out. Take him to the infirmary and restrain him." she told the two airmen who ran to her room. "Keep a guard on him." She watched him as they took away and saw none of the look that had been in his eyes. She tasted blood ran her tongue along her lip to feel the bite. Touching the back of her head she came back with blood on her hands. She didn't even want to know what bruises she had gotten. She grabbed her jacket and slowly but in on trying not to cause more pain to herself. If she could get from her quarters to the infirmary without anyone asking questions she would be good.

Ronon is walking down the hall when he spots Harper sitting on one of the many stairwells of Atlantis. A smile on his face, he saunters over and sits down beside her. "You still bored with the debriefings?"

Harper was still in her head thinking as Ronon walked up to her. She jumped as he started to talk. He looked at her concerned that he had scared her but she gave him a reassuring smile. "Yes." She then gave Ronon a smirk as she rolled her eyes. "I saw you in there rolling your eyes when Rodney went on and on about."

Ronon shrugs casually. "It's better than what I used to do." Seeing the questioning look on Harper's face, he smiles wryly. "You don't want to know."

Harper rolls her eyes at him as she sticks her tongue out at him. "I wanna know!"

With a coy smile, Ronon leans back against the stairs. "Let's just say that it took me awhile to get used to the debriefings myself." He looks over at her and winks.

Harper tries to hold in her laugh. "You fell asleep didn't you?"

"Only the first couple of times," Ronon says defensively. Looking thoughtful for a second, he shrugs. "Then I just started glaring at him."

Harper starts to laugh. "You have that effect on people don't you?" She states already knowing the answer. "You don't have that effect on me."

"That's a good thing." Ronon says, giving Harper a warm smile. "Must run in the family too." He adds a bit more flippantly.

She smiles shaking her head. "Oh I guess so better hope that thinking you are hot doesn't run in the family." She states winking at Ronon then starts to laugh.

Ronon chuckles, rolling his eyes at her. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

Harper playfully taps his shoulder. "Hey it's a joke. I could have always said something worst."

Ronon leans closer to Harper, amusement in his eyes. "I know. It's called sarcasm...learned it from Sheppard."

Harper rolls her eyes. "Luckily I have dealt with that for years."

Ronon smiles over at Harper, laughter in his eyes. "Good thing. But it takes most of the fun out of it."

Harper smiles at Ronon. She looks at her Wraith scar which was somewhat hidden by her jacket. She then looked back up to him. "A lot of things take the fun out of stuff."

Ronon's smile fades as he looks down at visible part of Harper's scar. He leans forward, suddenly serious. "I was hoping that you'd never have to deal with that."

Harper leans into him locking eyes with his. "I'm fine. I understand what this....." Pointing to her scar. "does to you but I'll be ok. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." She snickers. "Please you can't get rid of me that easily."

Ronon looks deep into Harper's eyes. "Good." He states with a definitive tone. "I've lost too much to the Wraith already..." His sentence trails off as a face flashes across his memory.

Harper rubs his back knowing very well Ronon didn't like to talk about the past. She hated talking about her mother, father, grandfather or any kind of crush she had on any SCG member. "I know." She then smiles at him looking away after she does that. "So any news on my uncle yet?"

Ronon shakes his head. "Nothing. I saw him heading toward the residential wing after the debriefing." He shrugs. "But that doesn't mean anything when it comes to him."

Harper shakes her head. "Yes I know." She then notices that Ronon had a scar on his arm. "Did you get that when the wraith well you know?" She looked down she never did not noticed a new scar on him. He got so many she always had to keep up but this time it was different. She should have noticed it.

Ronon glances down at the scar on his arm. "Must have." He says casually. Seeing the look on Harper's face, Ronon nudges her with his leg. "You can't keep up with every little thing, Harper. I learned that a long time ago."

Harper nudges him back with her own leg but the small blonde didn't even move his leg one bit. "Well I try to. I like to be on top of things."

Ronon smiles down at Harper. "I know you do. I'm just saying that it's impossible to keep on top of everything with this place."

"Well I hear a lot of gossip going around the city. I have even heard rumours on you." She states matter of fact.

Ronon scoffs. "Was it the one about me ripping off the head of a Wraith with my bare hands?" Laughter enters his eyes. "Or the one about breaking the conference room table?"

Harper eyes widen on the last rumor Ronon had just stated. "The first one is probably true knowing you and....." She trails off looking around the gate room which she shouldn't even be sitting in. "Um I know who started the last one."

Lifting an eyebrow, Ronon gives Harper his most serious expression. "So do I."

Harper places her hand to her mouth while snickering a bit. "It wasn't me." She eyes Ronon who just gave her a look. "I swear it wasn't."

A playful light enters Ronon's eyes. "Uh huh. That's not what I heard."

Harper starts to count on her fingers. As she gets to her third finger she looks to Ronon. "Jen told you didn't she? Or maybe it was Kat or oh Rodney he is out to get me.I bet it was him I'm so getting him back."

Shaking his head, Ronon eyes Harper. "It wasn't any of them. You'll never guess and I'm not about to tell you either."

Harper folds her arms over her chest and sighs. "Fine I just won't tell you what else they are saying about you. Oh it's something good real good but nope I won't say."

Ronon pokes Harper in the side playfully. "You're trying to bait me...I won't fall for it. I'm a highly trained soldier." He chuckles slightly. "Besides, I've heard pretty much every rumor on this base, including the ones about me."

"That's because everyone loves me." She states while placing her hands on her chest then replacing her smile with a frown. "Really nothing about me?"

Ronon gazes at the ceiling faining thoughtfulness. "I do recall one rumor--" A small smile plays at his lips as he lowers his gaze to Harper. "But I can't tell you."

Harper moved so now she was behind Ronon placing her arms around his upper chest lowering her head to his left shoulder. "You sure you can't tell little ole me?" She states as she flashes her eye lashes at him knowing that wouldn't help much.

Ronon shifts his gaze to look at Harper. "Nope...especially not little ole you."

Harper then gets up starting to walk away from Ronon then turns back around looking confused. "You sure?"

Ronon nods his head, a smile on his face. "I'm sure. You'd probably start something if I told you."

Harper smiles and shakes her head. "No I won't well if it was Rodney then I might. Come on tell me!"

"Nope." Ronon shakes his head defiantly. "I'm not telling."

After the debriefings, Sheppard sits down heavily on his bed, his mind swimming with the events of the past five days. Two rescues, one dead bad guy, and a reunion. John Sheppard lets out a breath. "Not bad but I definitely need some shut eye." After pulling off his shoes and uniform jacket, Sheppard lays back on his bed and rests his head on his pillow. A yawn escapes as he glances at his watch. It's only been an hour?! Feels like the debriefing took longer than that Another yawn. "Oh well." John mumbles, turning on his side to get some well needed rest.

"Who are you? Why do you exist?" Whispers in his mind. An uneasy feeling creeps into his psyche...the feeling that he isn't alone making him jumpy and on edge. Slowly, John opens his eyes and peers around the room. "Who's there?" Silence. He frowns darkly. "Look, I'm not in the mood for pranks. If somebody's in here--" There is a flash of movement in his peripheral vision. "Darn it! Quit playing games!" Laughter issues from a dark corner of the room. "This is no game, Sheppard." That voice. Getting up from his bed, Sheppard walks to the middle of his room. "I thought I killed you." More cold laughter. "So it would seem." replies Commander Acustus Kolya of the Genii army as he steps into the lamplight.

Kolya tucks his hands behind his back, a fiendish smile lighting his features. "Then again, it would be hard to kill someone who is a part of you. Would it not?" Sheppard scoffs. "I don't know what you've been drinking Kolya but you don't need to drink anymore." Narrowing his eyes at Sheppard, Kolya takes a step forward. "We are one in the same, Colonel Sheppard. You and I are cut from the same cloth." John tightly clenches his fists. "I'm nothing like you Kolya." He replies through gritted teeth. Kolya shakes his head, the heartless smile still plastered on his face. "Deny it all you want, Colonel. It will do no good. You are like me in more ways than you care to admit." Having heard enough, John takes a swing at Kolya's jaw. However, his fist passes through nothing but air...Kolya having disappeared into nothing. "What the--?!" Sheppard yells in surprise. Quickly, he looks around the room, disbelief and shock registering on his face. How could he—

Kale awoke to the noise of a mumbling Lorne. Where am I? Oh that's right I did…. Can't think about now Kale just focus on acting fine with your buddy. Lorne notices Kale is now awoke and smiles at his friend.

"Hey buddy I heard what happened. Are you ok?"

Kale faked a smiled at his friend but Lorne only shook his head. "Kale……."

"I'm fine ok. I don't know what happened ok." Kale snapped as he looked at Lorne who wasn't satisfied. "All I remember is telling Keller about my head aches then snapping back after I did that to her."

Lorne sighed knowing his friend wouldn't have harmed a fly let alone Keller. He just wished he knew what was going on. "Kale man……."

"Can we just talk about something else?"" Kale questioned as his brown eyes locked his with friends as Lorne nodded.

"So have you talked to Cadman?"

Lorne eyes widen as his friend mention Laura Cadman. Lorne, Kale and Laura all met at basic training where Lorne developed a crush on Cadman. Kale knew this and persuaded Lorne to tell her. Lorne did as Kale told him to turns out that Laura actually liked him back. The two had dated early on when he first joined Stargate Command. They only dated for a little over a month but became friends instead. In fact Laura had told him that she liked Carson when she first came to Atlantis.

Lorne glared at his friend. "Um no."

Kale smiled and chuckled. "Oh I thought she would want to conform me."

The two laugh as Kale looks pass Lorne to Keller. Watching her brush her hair out of her eyes then touching her lip. He could smell the blood that was dried on her lip. He smelt the aroma of her all over him. He then turned away quickly from her not sure what he was thinking.

Keller locked herself into the bathroom opening up the First Aid kit she'd taken. Using another mirror she examined the cut on the back of her head. Well it didn't look that bad heck doesn't even need stitches just some alcohol and pat it dry. Yeah that should work. She didn't have a concussion her pupils reacted well and the bite on her lip wasn't bad she would just probably have a scar. With some reluctance she took off her jacket and shirt to assess the bruises she knew were there.
Two hand size bruises formed on her upper arm. Long, red scratches were on her stomach, side, and back and were beginning to hurt. One large bruise that would eventually form to look like her wall pattern. At least she didn't have to worry about anyone seeing it. She finished doctoring her wounds and slipped her shirt back on. She opened the door to see Rodney standing right outside. Her hand to her chest she laughed a little, "Rodney you scared me."

Rodney smiled slightly as he waved at Keller. "Um...I didn't know if you were ready for our date. That is if you still want to go on one." He noticed her lip. "I heard about that, Kale is a weird guy I have a reason to hate him now...." He looks at her smile and let out a hey. "Stop me anytime please."

Keller smiled winching from the pain, "No keep going. Sorry I haven't had time to get ready for something to do, but you know what I need a break. Give me a minute and I'll meet you at your place. Ok?"

Rodney nods and then walks to his room pacing back and forth. Will she come? She better. Stop talking to yourself! Whats wrong with thinking out problems? Rodney sits down then snaps his fingers. She really likes me! Shut up Mere... Thoughts of this sister flood onto his head as he shakes them off.

Keller talked to her head nurse filling her in on what was going on. She opened her closet rummaging through it with the speed only a woman could manage. Finally deciding she dawn the red dress she had gotten her last trip to Earth. She never thought she would have a chance to wear it. Using a black jacket to cover the bruises she made her way out of the room. She had curled her hair, put on makeup, and dressed in under twenty minutes. That had to be some record. She knocked on Rodney's door taking a steadying breath.

Rodney had been waiting forever well in his mind it was forever. He opened the door and looked up and down at her. "You look beautiful Jennifer." he stated as he took her hand. "I figured my room wasn't the best place for a first date." He looks to the floor. "In less you want to go into my room." He looks up at her and does his fake half smile.

"Thank you Rodney you look very handsome." She was sure that black jacket was the only 'formal' wear he had. "So where would this date be taking place."

Rodney started walking with Keller as he made his way to his lab. He let her step in first. "I hope this will do." He stated as he walked into this lab which had a table with lit candles on it and some food and two bottles of beer. He walked over to the table as she eyed him as he pulled out a chair. "Oh what I can't be nice?"

Keller was taken aback by the sight of the lab. She knew how much he treasured the lab and here he had dressed it up just for her. She laughed and sat down, "No being nice is good I'm just not use to it. Rodney this amazing."

He smiled pushing her chair in. "Thanks you owe me one remember?" He questioned as he opened her bottle of beer handing it to her as he sat down.

She took the beer taking a good swig, "You won't let me forget." The smell of the food was getting to her. She couldn't remember the last time she ate. "What are we eating?"

Rodney opened his and took a sip. "Salisbury steak and mash potatoes." He opened the lid on their plates. "I took this from the mess hall." He smirked knowing very well she would have known that.

"They're for me?" She helped herself trying not to just eat the whole thing.

Rodney almost blushed as he tried to stay calm. "Well if you don't like them." He looked somewhat disappointed till he saw her take a bite as he did the same. "These aren't as good as the ones at the hospital by my house."

Keller just looked at him, "You are the only person I know who would rate a hospital as having good food."

Rodney smiled and chuckled. "Ya I guess. Just don't try airplane food. They suck."

She patted his hand. "You are a unique man Rodney."

Rodney looked at her hand touching his, pulling it away. What are you doing. Grab her hand and hold it. He smiled. "Thanks Jen." he stated going to grab her hand but chickened out pulling his back.

Keller stopped smiling You idiot you shouldn't have done that. Way to go Jen. "You're welcome. Food is good."

Rodney nods as he went to grab his drink. The drink fell over pouring on Keller's lap. Rodney saw what he had done, Idiot! He then grabbed his napkin and went over to Keller handing her the napkin as he then tried to get the bottle up fumbling his arm he then knocked over hers making more pour into her lap. Crap. "I'm so sorry Jen." He states as he grabs another napkin and starts to wipe up her thigh. He looks up not wanting to make it seem as if he enjoyed this. He then caught Keller's cough. He looked at her as she eyed to her lap. He then saw his hand was higher than the beer spill was at. Sweat from his face pour down. It wasn't enough to spill beer on his date; he had to not look to where his hand was going to her upper thigh. I'm dead.

Jennifer you really are rusty. Keller sipped at her beer trying to regain some ground. That and the fact her lip was reopening every time she took a bite. She saw the drink fall but couldn't stop it from pouring all over herself. Rodney's attempt at help only had more beer spilling on her. Before she could stop him his hands were in her lap it would have been one thing if they had stayed on where they were suppose to but somehow they migrated up her thigh. "Rodney I admit that I haven't been on a date in some time but I think that move is reserved for at least the third date."

Rodney tried to smile as he stepped back handing her some more napkins. "Maybe you should do this." He then sat down and put his head into his hands. This date is doing downhill fast. Real fast. He wiped the sweat from his forehead before he looked back to her.

Keller took the napkins, "Yeah I think that would be for the better." Of all the ideas that went through her head about how this date was going to go Rodney spilling his beer and touching her never crossed her mind. She cleaned up best she could. "This isn't going so well is it?"

"Hey. Well wouldn't even be the word I would have used." He stated as he started to fumble with his hands glancing up at Keller then back to his hands every so often.

Keller picked up her beer draining what was left. She pinched the bridge of her nose trying to rid herself of the headache that was growing. "You know it's been about three years since I went on a date. Guess I've forgotten more than I realized."

Rodney snickered at her glancing at her glare. "Sorry just thought you would be on a date every night. Especially looking like that."

Keller snorted out a laugh, "Yeah because I have that much time on my hands. Between your splinters and Ronon's sparing accidents I don't even have time for sleep." her sleepy mind caught something, "Wait looking like what?"

Rodney smiles at her comment. He sure did come to her to help him out a lot. He then smiled at her. "Beautiful. You always look beautiful."

A small smile crept across her face. "You think I'm beautiful. Even when I haven't slept in...what is today? And am I covered in some kind of human fluid?"

Rodney sees how much Jen takes the complement he had made. He tries to hide his now red cheeks but can't help but smile at her. "When you are up at midnight patching up Ronon you pull your hair back. It's a mess but you find a way to pull it off." He looks at her as a worried look on his face appears. "It is not like I watch you or anything."

Keller didn't know what to think. No one had ever paid any attention to her. It was kind of flattering. She leaned on the lab table, "When you think no one is watching you go out on the tarries and watch the moon as it hits the water and don't say that you're doing some physics because you get look on your face. It's not like I watch you or anything."

"What really hmmm." Rodney states as he goes to grab Jen's hand lifting his arm over the candle placing it on top of hers. A burnt smelling overcame the room. Rodney looks down to see his leather jacket's right arm up in flames. He starts screaming and jumps off knocking over the food that was on the table rushing to the small sink that was in the room. "I'm on fire!!!!" He then turns the water on putting his arm into the sink as he whimpers a bit. "This is so not good."

A moment. They were having a moment and like his sleeve it went up in flames. Keller ran over carefully stripping the now ruined shirt off Rodney. Thankfully the leather hadn't burned on to his skin but it was red and hot. She reached over grabbing a knife to cut away what fabric was in the way. "Actually it's better than I thought. I should be able to fix this right here with a First Aid Kit."

Rodney smiled at Jen as he felt the warmth on his arm. "Well good thing I'm with a doctor then." Rodney sat down as he watched her get the first aid kit. "I always get hurt when I try to do anything that might not be the best thing to do."

She smiled until she heard the last of his statement, "Why was that not the best thing to do?"

Rodney smiled at her. "I didn't mean it about you. I just...well I'm not good at this if you can't tell I suck at these things."

"Well I'm not exactly a professional on this whole thing. I've been working out this entire thing in my head since you asked me out." She wrapped a gaze on his wound. "Maybe that's the problem we're over thinking everything."

Rodney looked at her. "Well what do you want us to turn our brains off?"

Keller looked to the sky, "Oh I don't think that's humanly possible but I'll look into it."

Rodney rolled his eyes at her. That was only a comment. "Well I didn't really mean it." He sighs as his arm hurts. "Fire is never good. One time as a kid I caught the kitchen on fire I ended up walking around in my underwear outside while Jeannie ran around screaming like a freak." He then looked at her knowing he had said too much about his childhood just from one story.

Keller snorted out a laugh, "I did. I wish I could shut my brain down enough to sleep more than four hours. Let me guess Einstein underwear?"

Rodney looked down. "No Superman." He looked up and smiled at Jen. "What about you? What kind did you wear?"

Keller blushed but still gave her best cheeky smile, "Betty Boop."

Rodney smiled as he went in to kiss Keller his head smashed into hers. He stopped and looked down as he rubbed his head. "This is not my day."

Keller couldn't believe Rodney was about to kiss...ow! Her head couldn't possible take more damage today. "Well I don't think that worked."

Rodney got up and started to pace around. "Maybe...well no. I could....wouldn't work." He snapped his fingers together. "Oh I could come back to this date in say about 4 months or so that's how long it took me to get used to talking to Katie."

Keller placed her hands on her hips, "Are you joking with this? You just expect me to wait around while you pull your head out of your ass?"

Kat sat staring at her computer screen, like she had been for the past, well she didn't know how long she had been staring at her computer. Normally she didn't notice the time flying by. But now that she had hit a road block, it just crept by. Ever since Sam and Teyla had been kidnapped she had been trying to upgrade the gate security system. Hopefully to stop anymore uninvited visitors. The main problem was trying to see something that was invisible. The PCD would make that a pain, especially if they fell into enemy hands. She sighed, this was going nowhere fast. Her stomach growled. She looked at her watch. It was now the middle of the afternoon, the last time she had eaten was early this morning. It might do me some good walking around, she though. Kat grabbed her laptop and heading to the mess hall. She hoped they would still be serving lunch or anything for that matter at this time. Her peace and quiet would probably be gone shortly anyways now that the time was back, there always seemed to be some exciting happening when they were around.

She entered the mess hall. Thankfully there was some food left, she grabbed a meat sandwich of some sort, an apple and some water and went towards at table. She had taken the long way here, walking around had helped. She opened her laptop and took a bit of her sandwich. She stared at it, then closed it again and looked around. She was here for a break not to work. She took a breath and leaned back in her chair taking in the sight that was so different from her lab.

Lorne walked into the mess hall after talking to Kale. He looked around seeing Kat sitting alone like usual. He smirked walking over to her. "Hey Kat." Lorne didn't really know her well but he had worked with her before so he sat down knowing that he didn't like to eat alone. "What are you up to?"

"Hey Major," Kat said," I'm taking a break from staring hopelessly at the computer screen, at a problem that seems to have no answer. Why don't you sit down?"

Lorne sat down and smiled as he took his apple from his hand and took a bite. "When is there not a problem?" He saw her reaction to his statement. "So what's the problem?"

"Never," she muttered, louder she said," I need to find a way to detect something, like a person through a PCD, so we don't have people sneaking away on unpleasant vacations. You wouldn't know how to see something invisible would you?"

Lorne nodded. "Nope but I did use a PCD before but I'm only a Major after all." He chuckled as he looked around. "But I'm sure you will figure something out."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence," Kat said dryly. A frown creased her face as she asked,"What was it like to use one? How did you see each other?"

Lorne shrugs. "There are some kind of glasses or effects..." He sighs wishing he listening to Rodney when he had told him. "I don't know for sure when McKay talks I really don't listen."

Kat laughed, Lorne was an easy person to talk to," I don't blame you for not listening to Rodney. Do you think I could get a pair of those glasses?"

Lorne looked around leaning in closer to Kat as if it were a secret. "Well I believe some are in the weapons room I can get a pair for you after I eat."

Kat took a quick glance around then leaned in as well, "Sweet! That will save me the time of trying to figure out how to recreate the effect on my own." She grinned, finally some progress.

Lorne nodded as he looked around. "Just don't let Sheppard know. I'll have to ask Col. Carter but she should be fine with it."

Kat nodded in agreement, "I'm sure Col. Carter will be fine with it." She paused and looked at her tray, she hadn't realized she had finished her sandwich.

Lorne smiled looking at his apple and looked to the food table. "I could go for a sandwich. Do you want me to get you anything else?"

She shook her head, "No, I think I'll be fine, as long as I don't skip supper," she paused," again." She took a bit of her apple; it had been so long since she had had a decent apple.

Lorne smiled as he got up turning back to Kat. "Well want to eat dinner together? I'll make sure you eat?"

Kat raises her eyebrows," I don't see why not, unless I get a break through."

Lorne smiled. "Ok well I'll see you here if you don't get a break through. I'll also stop by your lab in a bit after I finish my sandwich." He walked over to get his food.

"I'll try to remember, you'll drop the glasses off then?" Kat polished of the last of her apple and her water and walked with him to return the tray.

Lorne nods. "I'll go ask Col Carter after I'm finished," he states as he goes to sit back down.

"Thanks," Kat gives him a half wave, and leaves the mess hall to return to her lab. The glasses would be a big help, she just hoped that she could find out how they worked, which is what she need to know at the moment. She could save the Why for later.

Lorne had finished his turkey sandwich making him full. He now walked to Sam's office slowly since his stomach was full. He noticed her working on her table and thought back to how Dr. Weir had did the same. He knocked on the door watching till she looked at him. "Can I come in Ma'am?"

Sam smiles, "Of course, Major.....please, have a seat." She taps a few times on her laptop, then gives her complete attention to Lorne as he sits. "What can I do for you?"

Lorne places his hands on his lap as he looks at Sam and smiles. "Um Ms. Taylor wanted to know if I could drop off a pair of glass for the PCD's to her lab." He looks at Sam as he tries to explain. "She wants to figure out the device I believe."

Sam grins, "She'll have to get in line...." Lorne looks confused, so Sam explains. "Rodney has already requested a pair of the glasses for study. I approved his request, and a pair was sent to his lab."

She leans back in her chair, folding her hands together. "I will only allow one pair to be taken apart, so if she wishes to study them, she will have to work with Rodney.....or at the very least, she'll have to get permission from him."

She looks thoughtful for a moment, then continues. "Although, if we really want to know how the PCDs and glasses work, I'm sure that we could just ask Elizabeth." She looks at Lorne, then smiles. "I'm sure she'd be more than willing to share that information......but you know McKay - he'll still want to take them apart."

Lorne tries to hide his laugh from Sam but it doesn't really work. "Yes Ma'am. I'll let her know. Working with Rodney is not an easy task. As I recall you worked with him back at the Stargate Command right?"

A look a annoyance flits across the Colonel's face, but is quickly gone. "Yes.......although with him is a bit of an exaggeration....." She smirks, "You may not have noticed, but Rodney doesn't really play well with other scientists......."

She really grins then, as a memory comes to mind. "You should ask him how he liked Russia sometime....."

Lorne gets up heading to leave. "He doesn't play well with anyone." He smirks at Sam as she mentions Russia. "Thanks I'll have to remember that. I'll let you get back to work. See ya later Colonel." Lorne states as he salutes her walking out heading to either go find Kat or to annoy Rodney."

Sam grins again, and then returns his salute. She chuckles as she turns back to her laptop. I'm sure you will, Major.

Lorne walks the halls of the city noticing that Netia's door was opened he popped his head into the room and smiled. "Well if it isn't the woman who should be resting. What are you doing up?"

Netia looked up from her bed to see Lorne and returned his smile. "Well you know I can't stay in one place for long. Come on in." Lorne stepped inside and took a chair. "I was just thinking how wonderful this place is. Four years you've all been here and there are still many places to discover. Everyday must never cease to amaze you," Netia walked over the window watched the waters.

Lorne watched Netia looking out the window. "Yes it is always something to discover in the city. Netia." Lorne states seriously as she looks back at him. "Sam and I had talked earlier and we all think you and Teyla should talk to Dr. Temperance. She can help you through the kidnapping and whatever Michael did to you."

Doctor Temperance Westen sat at her desk finishing the last of her paperwork. Being Atlantis's head psychologist had its perks sure but the paperwork. The paperwork could push someone into a psychotic episode. She stood up walking around her desk stretching her legs. Her long dark red hair fell across sun kissed features as she released it from its band. She heard a knock at her door.
"Coming!" She opened the door revealing the new comer to the city. Oh what was her name...."Netia, right?"

"Yes. I was sent to talk to you about the kidnapping," Dr. Western nodded and gestured for Netia to sit in the opposite of her own. "I'm really not sure how to start off with this," Netia told her as Temp listened carefully while stretching her hair band. "Restless habit?" Netia pointed at the out stretched band. "I've been told I have many."

Temp rested a hip on her desk flipping on the recorder she had on her desk hiding it from Netia. Patients always got nervous around recorders. "Well start where ever you want to start with. I'm going to polish off this apple if that's ok?" She took a bit chewing contently.

Temp swallowed, "So you were locked up in a cell by a mean vindictive wraith who just stared at you? Oh and your friend was taken away. So that's why you're here?"

"Well I don't know. Michael just took over my body and the next thing I knew I was in a holding cell. He's not one for conversation, just cold stares," Netia drifted off for a minute. "But he takes to Teyla and Tagan which concerns me of their safety."

Teyla holds Tagan close while she walks around the city. She sighs in relief for finally being home away from Michael...still she had never seen Michael so interested in her before. The last time she was taken while pregnant with her son Michael only mentioned his plan for Tagan but Teyla was never included. She couldn't get his face off her mind....she began to wonder where Netia was so she could talk to her.

Kat reached her lab, again taking the long way back, and sighed. The break had been nice but now she had to get back to work. She began with reviewing the current security system around the gate, again.

The system consisted of the shield, and armed air men. Then of course there was the more techy stuff like the IDCs, but at the moment that didn't concern her. What she needed was a physical why to see/detect when something invisible comes through the event horizon. The glasses could do that. There was also a system of cameras…

She had an idea, but wouldn't know for certain if it would work until she got a look at the glasses. If she put the glasses in front of a camera and had the feed relayed to a screen in the control room then they could see the unseen. Hopefully the glasses had the same affect on electronics as they had on humans.

Lorne walked into Rodney's lab seeing that Keller was cleaning him up so he didn't bother to go ask him about the glasses. He spotted them on his desk and grabbed them walking out of the room. McKay on a date I would pay people to see this. Lorne then passed Kale's room not noticing if his friend was in there or not. He then stopped at Kat's lab door which he opened without knocking. Poking his head into the room he smiled at her as he wore the glasses. "You ask I'll supply." He stated as he sat down on a chair handing the glasses over.

Kat laughed aloud at his antics. "Thanks. this should help a lot, I didn't expect you do get them this quick." she picked up the glasses," now all we need it a PCD and the gate room." she paused," you wouldn't mind playing guinea pig would you?"

Lorne smiled. "Sure I have the time."

"Great," she grabbed her laptop and the glasses and headed towards the gate room," Could you get a PCD and meeting me in the gateroom?"

Lorne pulled out a PCD. "I already got one. I took it from Rodney's lab." he smiled walking to the gate room with her.

"Don't let him find out, we have to live with him," she said, "anyway does it work? I wouldn't put it past him to have broken it already," Kat grinned at the thought of it been broken and giving Rodney grief because of it.

Lorne shook his head. "No he is on a date with Keller right now. Lucky him." He chuckled as he saw Teyla walking over to them.

"Thats a joke right? I feel sorry for Keller, i doubt it will end well." Kat said with raised eyebrows, she didn't believe keller would date Rodney, although there had been rumors, she hadn't believed any.

Teyla walks closer to Lorne and Kat, "Major, have you seen Netia? I must speak with her."

Kat shook her head at Teyla's question.

Lorne stops for a moment. "Sam had mentioned to me about maybe having Netia go to Dr. Temp she might be there."

Teyla nods, "Thank you, Major." She hurriedly leaves the pair in search of Dr. Temp.

Harper shakes her head then smiles at him. "You won't tell me even for a present?" She questions walking back over to him and giving him a look.

A mischievous gleam enters Ronon's eyes. "Depends on the present." He says with a shrug.

"Well then." She states moving her hand to his face. "I could say for you to meet me in my room and...." She trails off then mumbles. "Lock you in there till you tell me."

Ronon appears thoughtful for a moment as he takes Harper's hand in his own. "Okay, I'll tell you." He leans in to whisper the answer in her ear, a grin on his face. "It's nobody you need to worry about."

Harper playfully hits Ronon on the shoulder. "That's not funny!" She teases him as she pulls her hand away from his. "You were fun before. What happened?" She recalled to the time she had came to Atlantis right after Ronon joined the team.

Laughing, Ronon rubs his shoulder in mock-pain. "I think it's funny." He looks into her thought-filled eyes. "I'm still fun...at least, I think so."

"Sure you do." She laughed as she spotted Lorne and Kat walk in.

They entered the gate room," I need you to stand somewhere and active the PCD." Kat walked over to a camera and synced her laptop to it, then put the glasses in front of it.

Lorne smiled. "Yes Ma'am." He stated walking past Harper and Ronon on the stairs. He then stood by the gate putting on the PCD and turned it on. "Do you see me?"

"I've been ma'amed," she muttered aiming the camera at his last visible position." Haha, i see you," she said grinning from ear to ear," we now have a way to see the unseen."

When Teyla reaches Dr. Temp's quarters, she chimes the bell on the door waiting for an answer.

Temp smiled as she held up a finger even though she wanted to scream. She was never to be interrupted during a session messed with her flow. She opened the door intending on given whoever it was a look so cold it would freeze them. She heated up her look once she saw it was Teyla. "Teyla come on in we just got started."

Teyla peeked inside Temp's quarters seeing Netia resting on a loveseat. She spoke, "Thank you. I wanted to speak with Netia about Michael."

Temp pulled Teyla in shutting her door, "Yes we were just discussing what happened."

Teyla follows Temp inside still holding Tagan who was finally asleep. "Very well, " she responds and sits down next to Netia on the loveseat.

"Your just in time, we were getting to the best bit, the worse bit," Netia held her legs to her chest and rested her head on them. "You had to talk to me?"

Teyla lets out a breath of air, "I can't get Michael's face out of my mind. I just wanted to talk about what happened with you, Netia."

Netia stared at Teyla for a few moments. She wanted to be very cautious of what she said because anymore pain upon Teyla could stress her. "I'm fine, really. He just wanted to do some experiments," Netia didn't want look up at Teyla and just watched Tagan sleep. "You and Tagan are in one piece and that's what I care about most."

A worried look crosses Teyla's face as she replies, "Did he do anything to you? He never had his chance to harm myself or Tagan."

Netia could feel both sets of eyes watching her. Netia sighed, "When he took me back with him, he strapped me up, injected me with needles, and threw me back in the cell," Teyla's worried look didn't dissappear. Netia tried to quickly comfort her, "Doctor Keller said I'm fine. It's ok," Netia said "Don't worry."

Temp had moved from her desk to the vast bookshelf behind her looking for one of her books. "Wait." She turned to face the two women. "I have a question. Netia, if Teyla hadn't told you would you have left her alone 'til she did?"

"Well no," Netia stood and paced the floor. "You see, Teyla and I grew up as family. My parents and sister were killed by the Wraith and her family raised me. The Athosians look up to her," Netia stopped pacing and looked at Dr. Temp. "We all would probably be dead if she didn't join the Atlantis team."

Teyla sighs and replies, "Doctor, Netia would have hidden what happened from me until I didn't leave her alone." She smiles laughing a little, "Some would say that is a characteristic trait of many Athosian women…keep everything concealed until eventually someone reveals it."

Temp flips the pages in her book, "Ok so we've now uncovered that Teyla is not the source of your nightmares so what is?"

Netia felt a cold sensation run through her. Nightmares, Living Nightmares. "Well I keep reliving the experience. He's standing over me laughing. I could feel something pinching me all over and something was injected..." Netia stopped and hanged her head. "Michael," She whispered.

Teyla kisses Tagan's forehead and says, "You're not the only one." She pauses before continuing, "I still have dreams that John never rescues me and Tagan is used for experiments by Michael."

Temp put her book down, "How many times have you had this nightmare?"

Netia shook her head, "I don't really know. Each one seems like the last. It's never different."

Teyla looks at Temp, "Mine occur almost every night since my return from the capture before Tagan's birth."

"It's usual to have repetitive dreams," Temp responds.

Teyla sighs rubbing her temples, "I think I am going to try to get some rest. I have a terrible headache."

"We'll talk later then," Temp stood making small notes. Hiding issues.

Tagan opens his eyes looking up at his mother starts to cry. Teyla smiles at Temp and Netia, "Very well, Doctor. I think this little guy is hungry first." She heads out the door toward the mess hall.

"Why do you exist?" Echoes in his mind again. "Who keeps asking that?" John asks the air in the annoyance. "You mean you don't recognize your own voice?" comes a deep rasping voice from behind him. Before he can react, a clawed hand grasps his hurt shoulder. The air rushes out of his lungs as pain courses through his body. It takes all of Sheppard's will power to keep from yelling out. Sheppard feels the man lean closer to his ear. "Do you not know the answer?" "The answer to what?!" John fires back. "Why do you exist? Who are you? Was it worth it? Do you belong here?" All of these questions plus a few more crowd into John's mind, the odd voice screaming them in his head. "Answer them!" Yells the unknown man.

Sheppard shoots up in his bed, sweat pouring off his body. The voices from his dream still screaming in his head. He stumbles out of bed, collapsing to his knees a few feet away. "Stop it!" John cries out as he hunches over, his head to the floor.

After feeding Tagan in the mess hall, Teyla sighs as she returns to her quarters. She looks at Tagan and beams as she realizes he is fast asleep. She gently puts him down in the crib rocking it carefully so he doesn't wake up. She removes her shoes, jacket, and earpiece and lies down on her bed looking up at the ceiling. She begins to think about the death of Michael feeling her body relax relieving the tension she has felt since first being captured by Michael several years ago. I hope John is getting some much needed rest, she thinks. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep but tosses and turns on her bed. She sits up feeling the worry creep back...she can't help but think something is wrong. She looks over at Tagan seeing he is still sleeping, so she lies back down closing her eyes again. After a few minutes, she gives up sleep and sits up. She grabs her earpiece clicking the radio, "Col. Sheppard, this is Teyla. Please respond."

He is unable to lift his head, unable to make the slightest movement. His body fills numb while his mind feels exhausted and heavy. The screaming in his head never gives him a moments rest. Suddenly, through his muddled thoughts, Sheppard can hear a faint voice...a familiar voice. However, he cannot answer as both his body and mind are too exhausted. "Who are you? Why do you exist?" Screams in his ears once more. "I can't answer you." John mumbles pathetically under his breath. "I can't answer any of you." Anger wells up inside him. "Just leave me alone!" He yells, slamming his fist down hard on the floor.

Hearing no response from Sheppard concerns Teyla greatly. She clicks the radio again, "John what's going on? Please respond!"

The earpiece on Sheppard's nightstand buzzes with Teyla's concerned voice. The rest of the room remains silent, John lying prone on the floor from exhaustion. His eyes are closed and his breathing labored. Suddenly, his eyes fly open and he screams into space. "What do you want from me?!" "Death and destruction." Whispers in his mind. "No." Sheppard replies through clenched teeth, grabbing a chair and tossing it across the room. "You know you want to, John." "Don't!" "Do it!" Grabbing his head with his good hand, John tries to drown out all of the screaming voices.

Teyla carefully picks of Tagan out of his crib making sure she doesn't wake him and heads out her door quickly. She reaches Halling's door and rings the bell. He opens the door and immediately sees the distress in her face. "Please watch Tagan for a while," she asks, "Something is wrong with Col. Sheppard. I will contact you soon." Halling nods and Teyla hurries to Sheppard's quarters. When she arrives, she rings the bell on the door. "John, are you in there?"

He is writhing on the floor when yet another screaming voice is added to the mix. "Leave me alone!" Sheppard yells out in response to the crescendo of voices. "Do it!" Shaking his head, John stands up and stumbles clumsily around the room, the screaming continuing to grow louder. The new voice is familiar to him somehow but he can't seem to place it. "Go away." He mumbles. "Go away...go away...go away!" John bellows as he smashes his hurt shoulder into a decorative column.

Hearing the screaming causes Teyla's heart to beat faster. She waves her hand in front of the control for the door and the door opens. She gasps when she sees Sheppard curled in a ball on the floor with his hands grasping his head. She rushes to his side and asks, "John what's wrong?"

"Do it!" "Kill!" "Don't! It's Teyla, you can't!" Races through his mind furiously. The questions, the screaming, all of it is taking its toll on his mind and body. Unable to bear it anymore, Sheppard lashes out blindly and grabs Teyla's arm. His mind is clouded from the agony and exhaustion; so much so, he doesn't even recognize that it's Teyla who he grabbed. John calls upon all of his remaining strength and flings Teyla across the room like a rag-doll. "Quit messing with me!" He yells as he stands up.

Teyla hits the floor luckily missing any of the furniture. She shakes her head and pushes herself back to her feet. "John, listen to me. It's Teyla, your friend. There is nobody else here but us."

Sheppard can't hear Teyla's pleas. He can't hear anything other than the crescendo of screaming voices in his head. Shaking his head as he holds it in his hands, John can feel his mind slipping away minute by minute, second by second. The incredible sensation of his psyche being pressed down upon and slowly taken over makes him sick to his stomach. "Why do you exist, John?!" "TO KILL!" John yells out wildly at the top of his lungs as he rushes from the room.

Teyla quickly clicks her radio running to the control room, "Ronon, this is Teyla. Something is wrong with Sheppard. I will meet you in the control room." As Teyla gets nearer to the control room, she clicks the radio once again, "Rodney, Col. Carter, and Major Lorne, please meet me in the control room. It's about Col. Sheppard."

Where was he? What had happened to him? Where was Teyla? All of these are questions that play across John Sheppard's mind. Was he even John Sheppard anymore? He remembers shouting at Teyla, reaching for her throat as the voices screamed at him...remembers seeing her fly across the room and leaving her there. It had been like a horrible nightmare. A nightmare that he had no control over, one in which he was powerless to defend his friends from himself.

After he had escaped from his room, Sheppard in his disheveled state had continued to flee down the hall. Military personnel were nearly mowed down by their CO as he bolted past with the screaming voices still chasing him. Finally, when his body could take no more, he ended up stumbling into a storage area near Rodney's lab. The voices. Oh the voices in his head!...still yelling their profanities, still mocking him.

John curls into a ball, placing his head in his hands to try and block them out. You're losing it. You exist to kill! comes the screaming. Do what you were born for! His body numb, it's as if somebody else is controlling it but he knows that he is in full control. "I can't." Sheppard mutters to himself, desperation in his voice. Do it!

At that moment, two familiar voices reach his ears. Rodney and Jennifer Kill! The crescendo of voices come rushing back. A haze washes over Sheppard's mind as he leaves the storage room. It is at that point that John Sheppard loses all control of himself. He does not recognize friend from foe. His only thought-- Kill.

As Rodney is about to speak he hears a noise coming from the storage room that was next to his lab. "Did you hear that?" A louder bang was now heard from the hallway. "Oh you had to hear that one!" Rodney states in a now panic not caring Jen was now ticked at him.

He watched Sheppard as if he was studying his every move. There had to be a way to stop him. In less he didn't want to stop him. He felt his heart beating faster and faster as if he felt every action John Sheppard did as his own. He glanced over the wall that was blocking Sheppard from seeing him. Sheppard glanced back as he did he hid once again. Why didn't he not want John to see him? What was happening to him? He leaned against the wall now breathing very heavily. His body rose and fell as fast as he could think of this next thought. The plan is now in action.

Keller's instincts, instincts she didn't know she had, kicked in and had her tackling Rodney to the ground. "Shhh, what was that?"

Rodney looked at Keller who was now on top of him. He heard a noise outside and placed his hand over Keller's mouth as she was still speaking. Rodney shrugged at her knowing if they both talked they would be found out.

Keller nodded against Rodney's hand. She didn't dare move from her position. Her heart pounded against her chest like a hammer. Why hadn't she asked for those lessons on the ship? She looked around for something shape, blunt, anything that would stop whoever was there.

Look behind you Sheppard glances back to see that nobody is there. Kill Slowly, he moves toward the open door of Rodney's lab. At the back of his mind there is a dread. Dread that if he goes in he'll hurt somebody. He can't stop himself, has no power to stop himself. The haze over his mind keeps him going with that one thought...to kill. Movement flickers in the corner of his eye. Without thinking, John lashes out. There is a resounding crash as the pile of heavy boxes, full of expensive lab equipment, crashes to the floor. Letting out what sounds to be a yell of pain, he enters the lab with one purpose.

Rodney hears all his lab equipment smash and he moves Keller off of him and peeks out behind the desk and looks to Keller. "It's Sheppard." He states in a whisper tone.

Keller doesn't dare look but she can hear, "He sounds in pain. He needs my help." Keller moved to get up.

The sound of instruments and equipment being thrown about stops Keller in her tracks. Sheppard races around the room attacking anything and everything in his path. It doesn't matter whether it moves or not. He sees enemies everywhere. They're surrounding him, shouting at him. Lunging, John tackles one of the Replicators and beats him to within an inch of his life. Another enemy approaches. Without a second thought and with fresh blood on his hands, Sheppard flings the Genii soldier across the room. Must kill runs through the haze that is his mind. Stop! shouts out at the back of his brain. John keeps going though. There is no stopping him from destroying his enemies, no stopping him from destroying himself.

Rodney panic and drives under s table as he watches Sheppard. He looks around for Keller. She can't help him. He is a lost cause. He then screams at the top of his lungs. "Keller over here!"

Keller heard Rodney shout for her she turn. Was meet with the sight of John. His eyes were wild almost bloodshot. She saw pain in them and was instantly thrown back into her experience with Kale. Would she make it out this one?

Sheppard hears Rodney's frantic yell to Keller. He whirls around, his eyes finding Keller. Unable to stop himself, John charges forward and grasps Keller's neck. He begins squeezing with all of his might, cutting off her air supply. NO! screams at the back of his mind as a slight hint of recognition dawns through the haze. Suddenly, he tosses her...right into Rodney. John stands there, staring at the two of them, his eyes full of pain, confusion, and desperation. There is a massive tug-of-war going on inside his mind. The alien voices inside his head scream for him to kill while his own solitary consciousness screams for him to stop.

She racked at her own neck trying to loosen John's grip on her throat. Fresh blood poured from her neck but her brain didn't register anything but the light slowly darkening. Her lungs screamed for air but none would reach them. She would die right here by the hand of a man she had called friend all because she had written off his symptoms as stress and no sleep.

As Keller is push on to Rodney he stands up and fumbles for the gun that's in his drawer in this desk. He grabs it and points it at Sheppard as sweat drips down his face. "Back away Sheppard. Leave now." He sees John's glare. "Please!"

Back away Sheppard. Leave now. Please!" Keller laid crumpled on the floor her mind still blank. She blinked seeing Rodney holding a gun to Sheppard who looked like he would kill Rodney and her without a thought. "Rodney, don't hurt him." She couldn't even hear her own voice.

Rodney looks at Jen who is still lying on the ground. "Jen!"

Sheppard takes a step toward Rodney and Keller. Rodney still holding the gun on him. His eyes plead to Rodney to shoot him, end this nightmare for them all. The struggle still rages within him...the taunting, screaming voices consuming his mind. Do it Rodney! What's left of his consciousness yells in a vain attempt to break through the haze. John takes another step forward, eyeing Rodney and Keller with a deadly glare. Kill! Without any further hesitation, Sheppard charges Rodney and Keller, his bloody hands outstretched and ready to strike.

Rodney turns his head closing his eyes and shoots Sheppard in the shoulder, his bad one in fact. "I'm sorry." He states as he looks back to his friend.

Sheppard isn't fazed by the bullet ripping through his hurt arm. In fact, it only serves to further cloud his mind with rage. What is left of his consciousness is unable to stop himself as he strikes angrily at Rodney. John strikes Rodney across the face and sends him flying into the wall. He stalks over to where Rodney is struggling to get up, picking him up and slamming him into the wall again. His eyes are still pleading with Rodney to stop him...to end this nightmare while his mind is overwhelmed with rage and confusion.

Keller moved crawling to the gun that had dropped from Rodney's hands. She gripped the foreign metal in her hand. "John please don't make me do this."

Rodney falls to the floor and touches the back on his head feeling the blood. "Oh man." He then looks groggy at Keller and Sheppard knowing he had to get up and help Keller. Must move. Gotta help Jen.

He had been watching Sheppard destroy Rodney's lab for some time now. It's all coming into action. My plan will be complete. He then took the tablet he stole from the infirmary when he had been before Keller let him out to head back to his quarters. Kale smirked, 'What a stupid girl'. He then got out a paper clip looking device and attached it to the tablet. It started working its magic. Yes now soon I'll be able to get the power I will need.

After dropping Rodney to the floor, Sheppard turns his attention to Keller. Her pleas fall on deaf ears. John is no longer in control of himself, what's left of his consciousness just struggling to remain in existence. His eyes are hazy as he slowly, almost purposefully moves toward Keller. He stops a few feet from her and stands there menacingly. Do it. That is what his eyes seem to say to Keller as the two just stare at each other.

Keller stood staring at John trying to keep her mind clear. His eyes they weren't same as Kale's. He had stopped. Why had he stopped? This was her friend…why was he doing any of this. Soon he started to move and she couldn't stop herself. The gun fired.

Sheppard charges Keller as the lights flicker on and off. Just as she fires the gun, the lights shut down completely. He can feel the bullet graze his arm in the darkness. John stops momentarily to let his eyes adjust. Why was he doing this? The question plays at the edges of his clouded mind briefly before being swallowed up again. His consciousness is trying so hard to stave off complete and total madness, trying so hard to keep John Sheppard in existence. His eyes become accustomed to the dark after a few minutes. Looking around, he spots Keller kneeling beside Rodney. An evil sneer on his face, he stalks over to where his two friends are. Kill!

The look in Rodney's eyes went still as he saw Keller shoot John. "No!" He screams out knowing that that was the only way to stop him but John was his close friend and to see him like this made Rodney worried they were never going to get out of here. He glances at Jen as Sheppard approaches them. "Nice knowing you Keller."

Keller looked the best she could at Rodney, "No we will not die like this." She kissed Rodney on the forehead. John came at them grabbing the handiest non-lethal thing, a large metal tray. As John came down she came up slamming it into his gut she came up cutting straight up to his chin.

John stumbles back from Keller's blows. He looks up at her with eyes that seem to cry out. As blood drips from Sheppard's mouth, the voices in his head scream for him to kill. His mind is too weak from the strain, his consciousness having weakened from its long battle. It is as if two sides have been waging war within him for his very soul. Now, the darker force is slowly overtaking what is left of John Sheppard. No Is all that John can think before he is once again taken over by the screaming voices and their rage. Lunging at Keller, Sheppard grabs her wrists as she goes to hit him with the tray again and yanks her off her feet, sending her flying into a table. Turning his attention to Rodney, John suddenly feels something sharp stick into his side.

Rodney lets go of the metal rod he had just shoved into Sheppard's side. His hands started to shake as he began to sweat more than ever. What did I do? That's Sheppard! He is so going to kill me. He tries to speak but no words come out of his mouth. He notices that Sheppard is eyeing him up and down. "Ahh!" Rodney screams seeing in the corner of his eye that Sheppard is about to go after him. He is going to kill me! Rodney then lunges well belly flops over his one lab table. Stumbling to his knees he pushes himself into the small space between the table and the wall. He then pushes a plant in front of him. He sighs wiping the sweat off his face. Maybe he can't see me. He thinks to himself as he peers out behind a leaf.

Sheppard eyes Rodney angrily as he reaches down and pulls out the rod in his side. Still gripping the metal object, Sheppard stalks toward Rodney, his face pale and filled with rage. Rodney hides behind his plant in hopes that it'll hide him but Sheppard can see him clearly. He continues forward with the vengeful voices yelling at him to kill. Keller tries to get up to help Rodney but Sheppard is already too close. Raising the pipe over his head, Sheppard jabs it toward Rodney's heart. NO! Screams through the haze. The metal rod is only an inch away from plunging into Rodney when John's hand stays itself. You can't! Breaks through the cloudiness. Do it! Kill! Rodney can see the conflict in John's eyes, the metal rod quivering in his hand. John stumbles back away from Rodney. He drops the rod and places his hands to his head as the war within his mind renews itself.

Keller struggled to get up blood pouring in her eyes. On her second attempted hot pain shot through her left arm. Rodney, John Her fuzzy mind made out John as he stood over Rodney. Fresh blood dripped from the metal rod that was above his head. "John, don't!" Her voice was still raw and rough from the strangulation. She saw him plunge the rod towards Rodney's heart. "No!" Keller got to her feet the tray in hand. As she began to bring it down intent on knocking him unconscious John stopped, stumbled, and dropped his weapon. She planned not to stop afraid he would only come after them again but he collapsed. Keller dropped the tray trying to slow his fall with her one arm. They both fell to the ground she laid his head down moving quickly to Rodney. He looked shocked terrified.
"Rodney! Snap out of it I need your help to tie up John. We need extremely strong rope or some kind of wire that won't cut him."

Rodney quickly sees what Sheappard has done. "Thank God!"He then goes over to Keller as he somewhat trips over nothing he hurries up and stands next to her. "Are you ok?"

The war rages on in his mind. All he can hear are the two sides battling one another. The vengeful, screaming voices shouting at his consciousness, trying to overpower it once and for all. I won't let it happen. Plays at the fringes of the haze. Kill! NO! His mind is growing more fatigued by the second, his body on the edge of collapse due to loss of blood. It takes all of the energy and will power left of John Sheppard to fend off the voices in his head. "Leave me alone!" John suddenly shouts out, swinging his arms about as if fighting an invisible enemy. For a brief moment, the voices take control again. He sees Rodney and Keller and starts toward them only to drop to his knees feet away. Sheppard lets out a pain-filled yell, hands still gripping his head, as he falls to the floor...his body and mind shutting down, unable to bear anymore.

Keller moved from Rodney still clutching the tray. She planned not to stop afraid he would only come after them again but he collapsed. Keller dropped the tray trying to slow his fall with her one arm. They both fell to the ground she laid his head down moving quickly to Rodney. He looked shocked terrified.

"Rodney! Snap out of it I need your help to tie up John. We need extremely strong rope or some kind of wire that won't cut him." Keller reached over grabbing a forgotten lab coat pressing it against John's wound.

Rodney stood still for a moment as he watched Sheppard there on the floor. Rodney then ran to his desk opening the drawer finding the rope he kept in there after Zelenka threatened to trash his lab. Like he ever would. Rodney went over to Keller and Sheppard and started to tie him up looking at Jen as he did. "I'm guessing another date won't be possible?" He question sighing knowing that his love life would never work out even if he spent weeks with a women on a ship there would have been something horrible to happen.

Keller grunted not liking the way the blood had already soaked through the coat. "Do you have a fire source?"

Rodney sighed knowing that Keller didn't answer his question about another date. He got up and walked around finding a burner that actually still worked. "I found this burner for my test tubes. What do you need?"

She kicks the metal rod that John had welded to Rodney still not able to us her left arm, "Heat this up I need to cauterize this wound or he'll bleed to death."

Rodney nodded and picked up the metal rod placing it on the burner. "You never did answer my question." He stated while going over and handing her the rod.

Keller took the rod, "Hold him he might buck." Removing the lab coat Keller pressed the hot metal rod to the open wound. The smell of burning skin filled her senses. John bucked from the pain but didn't wake. She removed the rod tossing it to the side. "Ok the bleeding's stopped." Keller sat back wiping her forehead with her blood stained hand unable to to lift her other. "Rodney don't take this the wrong way, but never again."

Harper started to walk away from Ronon as the lights in the gate room started to flicker. She stood there as everyone did then within seconds the lights shut off. Harper ran up to the control room standing next to Chuck looking at the screen.

"What's happening?"

"Miss all the power is getting drained from the whole city." Chuck replied just as the computers shut down.

Harper looked at Chuck just as the lockdown alarm sounded. "Shoot." Harper looks over at Ronon.

Teyla barely makes it inside the control room before the doors close. She turns to Harper, "What's happening?"

My plan is now ready for phrase two. Kale then walks off to the ZMP room. Kale walked to the ZPM room and went into it as the doors locked.

"Oh this can't be good," Kat said as she hurried to the control room smile drained off her face. She reached it just as Harper said something about jamming systems.

Lorne takes off the PCD and walks up with Kat. "This can't be good."

Ronon just smiles at Harper with amusement in his eyes, noticing Kat and Lorne's entrance as well. His smile fades and the amusement in his eyes dissipates when the lights suddenly flicker off. "What's happening? Why did the lights go off?" He asks Harper when he sees the look on her face, his own expression serious now.

Harper just got done nodding to Chuck who is now trying to override the command. She looks at Ronon as she sits at another computer and starts typing in commands. "The lock down code was just entered." She looks at Ronon briefly before she continued to type. "We can't shut it off." With that the doors come down and they are now stuck in the gate room.

"Why not?" Ronon shouts over the alarm of the lockdown. He involuntarily reaches for his gun. "Who set it off?"

"Sorry doctor, but I think I need to get some fresh air for a while," Netia started to walk towards the door, but stopped and turned towards Dr. Temp. "Thank you. I probably wouldn't have admitted that to myself, let alone anyone else." Netia waved her hand in front of the control door panel, but the doors didn't open. She tried several more times. Netia gave Dr. Temp a confused look before she tapped her earpiece. "Teyla, Netia here. What's wrong with the door?"

Temp went to the door waving her hand. "Ahhh...." Temp tapped her ear piece. "This is Dr. Temperance Westen my door won't open."

Teyla responds, "We are not sure what has happened. The city is in a lockdown. We will let you know more when we figure out what's going on."

"Clear, keep me posted."

"Well," Netia lays down couch looking at the ceiling. "What do you suppose we do until the doors are open?"

Temp moved from the door, "Just hang out."

Teyla answers, "Stay calm and be patient. Harper is working on a solution." She turns back toward Harper to find the source of the problem.

Netia lets out a sigh as she looks around the room. "I was just wondering, where is it like where you are from. John and the others are making references about Earth, how is it?" Netia looks up at Dr. Temp, curious of the planet.

Temp sat on her couch pulling her feet under herself, "Beautiful, unique. There are hundreds of countries each with their own language and way of doing things. That sometimes gets us into trouble but once every four years we get together to remember we all live on this one planet. Actually that event is coming up soon. Damn I'm going to miss Phelps…hope someone's taping it."

Netia gives Dr. Temp a questioning look. "This 'Phelps' gathering, what do you do there?"

Temp let out a throaty laugh, "No Michael Phelps is a swimmer for the US one of the best in the world and that's just not my opinion. He's an Olympian. The Olympics are a time were countries on our world come together on natural soil and compete to see who's the best. It's an athletic thing."

"It sounds peaceful," Netia smiles. "Does your family enjoy watching the Olympics also?"

"Yeah they should be taping it for me. Hope they are. I don't see them much given my job."

"Your job helps make people see themselves from the inside out. Your family must be proud." Netia sits up on the couch and crosses her legs. "I wonder what's taking them so long to open these doors?"

Temp snorted out a laugh, "Living with someone who makes their living getting inside others head isn't what it's all cracked up to be." She stared at the door willing it to open, "Wonder how Torres is doing?"

Netia stood up and placed her hands on the floor and lifted her legs in a handstand. "I hope you don't mind," Netia grunted while finding her balance. "I've found that when I'm upside down, it helps calms me."

Temp just looked at her. Wasn't the weirdest thing someone's done in her office. "No blood rushes to the brain; it's fine. If I thought I could make it I'd be driving into the water. Probably why I got the office farthest away from the water and above nothing but the city," She pouted a little.

Netia walks on her hands and looks up at Dr. Temp. "You want to drive into the water on purpose? Isn't that dangerous?"

Temp just laughed, "No well yes at his height. It's actually a sport wasn't really my sport I preferred just to swim. Except Butterfly even though IM was event along with Breaststroke." She smiled pointing to herself. "My stroke."

"Ok," Netia forces a confused smile. "Are all swimmers as daring as you?"

Temp shrugged, "Depends on how much they love the water. Me…just running my hands under the water calms me. I'll have to take you down to the pool sometime."

"I would love that. And I would love to try that "Butterfly" stroke as well," Netia paced the floor. "I like the floors. Very even."

Harper glares at Ronon thinking he would know why they couldn't. "A jamming system!" She screams as she starts to type but then all the computer shuts down. "Chuck check for the backup system." She then looks at Ronon and takes his gun. "It wasn't any one here it came from the science tower......." She looks at him. "Where the ZPM room is!"

A nasty sneer comes onto Ronon's face, taking back his gun from Harper. "They're trying to get the ZPM." He yells back as he glances at Teyla.

Harper glances at Ronon as he takes his gun back. Sure she knew that his gun was this most precious thing but then again she didn't want him to be shooting her team who were the ones trying to help them get out of this. She gives him a look as if she was ready to tackle him down.

Teyla answers, "Col. Sheppard must be the one. Something is wrong with him. He isn't himself." She pauses and then continues, "He tried to hurt me before he ran off and would not respond when I talked to him."

Ronon frowns darkly when he hears about Sheppard. "Did he hurt you?" He asks with concern in his eyes. To himself he thinks... This isn't going to be good.

Teyla replies, "Just a little sore." She rubs her backside where she landed on the floor and shutters as she thinks back, "He kept screaming in a voice that did not sound like himself and had amazing strength for someone who seemed very tired earlier today."

Ronon's frown deepens. "He's not turning into a bug again is he?" He asks in all seriousness, hand now firmly wrapped around the handle of his gun.

Teyla eyes widen at the thought of the bug creature Sheppard almost became. Luckily, Carson had saved him in time. She replies, "I don't think so. His behavior was quite different," she thinks about the kiss he gave her when he was infected with the retrovirus that almost turned him into a bug creature. "His physical appearance was not different, Ronon."

Ronon is oddly disturbed at the fact that Sheppard isn't turning into a bug. Sheppard, what is going on with you? He meets Teyla's gaze. "Did he say anything? Did he know it was you?"

Teyla lowers her eyebrows her body tensing up. "I don't think he knew who I was..." she trails off, "at least part of him didn't recognize me. He just kept yelling out to leave him alone, but I don't think he was speaking to me."

Ronon glances over at Harper who has been listening to what Teyla has to say. Looking back at Teyla, he asks "You mean like somebody else was in the room with you?"

Teyla frowns, "I don't think so. He kept grabbing at his head roughly and his eyes were glazed over. I believe he was in a lot of pain...maybe someone was talking to him but I was not able to hear."

"You mean like Wraith telepathy?" Ronon asks in confusion, his brows furrowed. "How can that happen? Do you sense anything?"

Teyla shakes her head. "No. I do not sense any Wraith on Atlantis. Something very different...do you think...." her voice trails off.

Harper looks concerned as Teyla tells them what happened with her uncle. She then slams on the keyboard she had been working on. Tears in her eyes knowing that she could not stop this. "There's nothing I can do. All the systems are down we are trapped."

Ronon turns to gaze at Harper, an understanding look in his eyes. He didn't like this anymore than she did but they needed to get out of the control room if they were going to help Sheppard. Walking over to her, Ronon says "Think Harper. We have to get out if we're going to help him."

Harper nods to Ronon as she snaps her fingers together as Rodney did when he got an idea. She then moves over to where Chuck is. Looking at him she gives him an evil smirk. "Try the main power frame tapped into with this." She then pulls out a device that had been in the Ancients storage device.

Chuck looks at her. "That could blow the whole main frame. Are you crazy?"

Harper shakes her head. "Nope just helping." She then starts to hook up the device and starts typing in commands to her table which is the only working device in the room. "This will work. If not it will just blow a blast to the wall or door or the tower." She states under her breath.

Chuck looks scared as he turns to Teyla and Ronon. "We're doomed."

Teyla pats Chuck's shoulder, "Don't worry. I've seen Rodney try crazier plans than this."

Ronon hides a grin as he looks at Chuck. "Don't worry about it. If it doesn't work, she'll never hear the end of it from McKay." He glances at Harper before continuing. "And if it does work she can rub it in his face."

Kale walked into the ZPM room and went up to the device that help the ZPM. He smirking knowing that his plan was working out great. Just in time. He then went to go open the device to get the ZPM out as a sharp pain in his head grew. He fell backwards and slammed to the floor as he held his head in pain as he started to shake and sweat.

You can't do that to them!

"Stop it!" He screamed out loud as he tried to get the table to open the device. Flashes of his life pasted his eyes. Mom teaching him how to cook, his dad's funeral to Lorne and Cadman's first date where he spied on them. Kale pushed himself to sit up moving to lean on the wall as he closed his eyes as sweat poured from his face. Kale still couldn't stop from shaking but he knew what he would have to do.

The plan will have to wait...for a bit.

Harper glances at Ronon and Chuck as she looks at her tablet. "Well here goes nothing." She states as she pushes the button on the screen telling the main power frame to hook up to it and hopefully get some power back. A jolt of lighting sparks hit the main power frame but it didn't look that damaged. Harper sighs going over to it to fix it. "Too much of a jolt, Chuck. I'll rewire it and make it stable so when I........" Harper is cut off from her sentence as she touches the crystals which still have a small spark in them. She falls backwards her body in shock shakes on the ground. The pain. It hurts. Help me. She tries to speak but her body has millions of electric charges going through it which makes it difficult for her motor skills to work.

Teyla rushes to Harper's side to make sure she is ok. "Harper, can you hear me?" Receiving no response, she turns to Ronon, "Look and see if there are some medical supplies in here."

Ronon glances worriedly at Harper before running off to look for first aid supplies. This just keeps getting better. He thinks as he heads to Colonel Carter's office, hoping to find something in there. After rummaging around for a few minutes, he finds what looks to be a first aid kit. Scooping it up, Ronon quickly takes it to Teyla.

Harper opens her eyes slowing seeing Teyla there looking at her. "Teyla??" She questions not sure what is going on. She takes her right hand to her face seeing that her hand is a bit burned. She tries to get up but she can't move that well. She takes her hand to her hand and closes her eyes then opens them again. "Did anyone get hurt?" She eyes the room or what she can see of it. "Where's Ronon?"

Teyla replies, "Don't move, Harper. Let me see that hand." She pulls out some ointment out of the first aid kit along with some bandages.

Relief floods over Ronon when he sees Harper's eyes flutter open. "Right here." He calls as he steps up beside Teyla. "You okay?"

Harper tries to chuckle. "Okay meaning alive. Yeah. Other than that well I'll get there."

Harper smiles at her. "Thanks Teyla. Let me guess my plan didn't work?"

"It never would have worked." Chucked stated as he went over to the device pulling away the tablet.

Harper looks back at Teyla after rolling her eyes at Chuck. "How bad is it?"

Teyla rubs the ointment on her hand and gently wraps it up with the bandages. Teyla checks her other hand and arm to make sure it did not suffer a burn. Seeing no other burns, she replies, "Do you have any feeling in your legs?"

Harper nods to her as she sits up slowly. "Yeah but I'll need a minute or an hour."

Teyla says, "We don't have an hour, Harper." She turns to Ronon and motions for him to help her up into a nearby chair. When she is seated, Teyla continues, "We need to unlock the city so we can find Col. Sheppard. When Phoebius controlled Dr. Weir, she locked the city, but Rodney was able to override it. Can you do this?"

"I think I agree with you," replied Kat, and starts pacing and muttering, oblivious to her surroundings until Harper gets electrocuted. Kat makes a move to go over and help but then realizes that she would just be crowding her so she just stands hovering near by looking concerned. She listened throughout the whole exchange.

Harper snickered a bit. "Please I'm so better then McKay. The fact that the power is down in every tower so someone must be in the ZPM room controlling this whole thing. There's nothing i can do from in here."

Teyla nods, "I have seen John break a window and climb the wall to get to the control room. Is there any way to get to the ZPM from here?"

Harper nods to Teyla then looks at Ronon. "What do you say? Can you be Batman?"

Ronon smiles when he hears himself being called Batman. From the way Rodney spoke of this Batman, he was Ronon's type of guy. "I can do that." He says with a nod. Then Kat interjects with a different idea. As he sits back and listens to her, Ronon begins to fidget. The more time they spend discussing this the less time they have to stop Sheppard from getting the ZPM.

Kat snaps her fingers, or rather makes the motions without the sound, and quickly walks closer to the party "I don't think we will need Batman," said Kat slowly," I might be able to get the door open."

Harper looks at her. "And the plan is?"

"The lock down needs power to keep the doors closed, If the power is cut off the doors can be forced open which is when Batman comes in" she looks pointedly at Ronon 'Batman' Dex, "I just hope my laptop won't blow up in the process," she added as an afterthought mostly under her breath.

Lorne looks around the room spotting Ronon when Kat said Batman. He chuckled at bit before he became serious. "Well we don''t have any power in here."

"I still have this." Stated Harper as she lifts up the ancient storage device. "It might have some juice in it still. You think this will work Kat?"

"We don't need power, rather the lack of it. Thanks though, Harper," she walks over to the gateroom door and opens the 'handle' and takes out the middle crystal and connects wires from it to her laptop.

Teyla listens intently as Kat explains her plan, "What if this doesn't work? Do we have a backup plan?"

"The backup plan is the Batman thing, I think…um in other words no," Kat replies.

Harper smiles and nods at Kat as she still sits in the chair watching them work on it. She had lost of energy out of getting shocked.

Lorne walks down to Kat. "Do you need any help?"

"I appreciate the offer Major but the best thing you could do is to get as far away for the door as possible in case something goes wrong." she said to him, "which is more than likely."

Lorne nods and walks over to Teyla. "I hope she knows what she is doing if not we will have another person down."

Teyla shakes her head, "For Col. Sheppard's sake, I hope so too. We can't sit back and do nothing..." Her voice trails off as she stares off thinking about their situation.

Lorne smiles then places his hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about what happened?" He gives her a reassuring smile letting her know he is there for her if she needs him.

Teyla's eyes begin to water, "I'm fine, Major." She continues to look off not realizing a tear escapes running down her cheek.

"So do I Major, so do I," she mutters beginning to think that is was a really bad idea. to herself she found it helpful to say what she was doing," ok the idea is to stop the power from getting to the door, to do that i need to create a temporary feedback loop through the power conducts and not blow half the city in the process...although that will get the door open, but we will be dead. The laptop is the looping point." She began typing commands in to it several tense minutes later she had what she wanted. She took a finale look at the program." ok," Kat took a deep breath and hit the execute button. For several seconds nothing happened, then the crystals went dark, she let out the breath. Then a whirring sound was made, and sparks started flying. "Oh no," she dropped the laptop and ran.

Finally, Kat puts her plan into action, Ronon watching her carefully in case the same thing should happen to her that happened to Harper. This needs to work. At first, it seems that Kat's idea is a success but then Ronon hears the humming. Luckily, Kat gets away from her laptop and the conduits before the sparks begin to fly. "This is getting us nowhere." The man remarks with a disgusted look in his eye.

Lorne looks at Teyla as he watches Kat run away. "We have time let's talk about it." He states placing his hand on her back helping her walk and sit down by him.

Teyla still stares off oblivious to what Kat has been working on, "Very well. Where should we start?" Another tear escapes rolling down her cheek.

Harper looks at Kat then mumbles to no one. "I wonder if that's what I looked like." She then smiles at Kat. "You gave it a try. It could have helped us. Don't worry I won't tell Rodney anything."

"Thanks, Harper," Kat said," you might want t-" then there was a noise that sounded like a firecracker going off in a confined space. "And there goes the laptop," said Kat disappointed," I was afraid that was going to happen," wincing she looked back to where she had dropped the laptop; it was still there, barely. The screen was hanging on by a few wires and sparks were flying.

Harper watches Kat knowing her disappointment. "I know but we can get you a new one. Luckily Atlantis updates all the information stored on the laptops a lot so hey you didn't lose anything."

"It's not the stuff I'm missing; it's the laptop. I've had it for 5 years, and I've ungraded it with a lot of stuff, like memory, RAM, different systems of buses, my own personal operation system and the like," said Kat sadness filtering into her voice, she walked, slowly, towards it wincing every time there was a particularly big spark, "This probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't fully charged."

Lorne smiles as he gives her a tissue. "What happened when you saw Sheppard?"

Teyla accepts the tissue carefully wiping her eyes. "He didn't recognize me. I keep thinking back when we almost lost him before…when he almost became like Ellie."

Lorne nods and rubs her back. "Teyla it will be ok. He will be fine."

Teyla pushes Lorne away walking off, "You don't know that..." her voice falters, "He may be hurt somewhere and nobody can help him."

Lorne walks over to her. "There might be others in the same hall way as him. He might be getting taken care of."

Teyla turns to look at Lorne, "I hope you are right, Major." She turns back staring at the wall, "I hate waiting...I need to do something."

Harper smiled at her friend. "Well they will have to buy you a better one now. I'm sure General O'Neill will buy you something."

Kat cracked a smile, "It could have been worse. I could've been holding it." She reached it and kicked it away from the wall so it was no longer connected to the power feed. "A new free laptop, eh, maybe I should blow them up more often."

Harper shook her head. "It doesn't work like that." She then noticed that Lorne looked over there way looking at Kat. "So has Lorne been helping you out today?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to find away to detect people cloaked by PCD coming through the gate. Lorne got me the stuff I needed," Kat said clearly over the loss of the laptop, after all she hadn't named it.

Harper smiles at Kat. "Well you can still do that whenever we get out of here."

"Actually that was why we're here. We had just got it to work when the lock down started." said Kat returning her smile.

Harper smiles at her. "That must suck. Oh Hey you, Jen and I need to do something when we are all off. If we ever get off that is."

"No actually, I put the glasses in front of a camera and sent the feed to my laptop, so any laptop could be used. Oh we'll think of some way to get off work. A girl's night out sounds like fun," she was grinning at the idea, although Harper was probably right about them not getting off work.

Harper nods. "Thats a cool idea." Harper then hears Ronon's statement. "Well do you want to go out of the window?"

"Thanks," she turns to look at Ronon, "You have a better idea? Besides the ZPM room doesn't have windows."

Ronon looks at Harper and Kat with an unhappy stare. "We can always shoot our way out." He answers in all seriousness.

Harper rolls her eyes at Ronon not listening to him much. "Whatever."

Kat looked skeptical. "Go ahead," she gestured to the still smoking door area. "I don't think you'll get very far."

Lorne smiles. "Well there isn't much really to do."

Teyla rolls her eyes, "I know…but I can't stop worrying." She continues to stare off another tear escaping.

Lorne looks at her not sure what to do about Teyla. He sighed walking over to Kat and smiled. "Um Hey um Teyla is freaking out and I'm not sure what i can do. Can you comfort her for a bit?"

"Um sure..I can try, but I don't know her very well though," said Kat unsure what else to say.

Ronon lifts an eyebrow at Harper for an instant before Kat interjects. With a smirk, Ronon pulls out his gun and heads over to the door. Everybody in the room watches as he starts blasting it. After a few minutes of shooting, Ronon lowers his weapon. There are scorch marks from the energy blasts but the door remains sealed. He frowns darkly as he puts his gun away. "There's got to be another way out of here."

Lorne smiled at her. "Well women cry with each other all the time. You can cry over your laptop." He then winked at her.

Kat looked aghast at his remark,"I'm not crying over my laptop; it is an inanimate object for cryin' out loud, and I don't think my crying would help Teyla right now," she hissed at him.

Even with Ronon's attempts at blasting the door, Teyla still stares off completely ignoring what's going on around her.

Harper then rolls her eyes shaking her head as Ronon starts blasting the door. He always goes with violence. "Sorry but there isn't…trust me. I know someone is out there fixing the problem. If not I will think of something that doesn't involve guns…just give me time."

"Glad he got that out of his system," she said smirking, and then Lorne walked over to her.

Lorne smiled. "Fine fine." he states as he walks away from her going over to Chuck.

"We don't have time." Ronon states a bit testily. "Sheppard is in the ZPM room right now, doing who knows what to the thing."

Harper rolls her eyes. "You need a code to get it out of the device." She sees Ronon's angry look. "What? I didn't say that before?"

Ronon stares angrily at Harper. "No, you didn't."

Harper then smiles at bit. "Sorry but when you try to stop a lock-down we can fight about this." She knew either way they would even up fighting give it a minute or two. She smirked knowing that after they had their fight they would make up and she always did like making up with Ronon especially if that meant he would forget about her grabbing his gun.

Ronon sneers as he lowers his gaze to the floor. I hate waiting. He had never been good at just sitting around and doing nothing and now he was pretty much forced to do both. "We have a room full of technicians. And you're telling me that none of you can figure this out?"

Harper rolled her eyes at Ronon. "Why do I like you again?" She states knowing what she had said was only from frustration of not finding a way to get out. She then walked over to a main power system for the room pointing at it then looking at Ronon. "Shoot it." She rolled her eyes seeing his resistance. "Shoot it!"

Ronon doesn't pay attention to Harper's question, instead focusing on her last statement. "You want me to shoot it?" He asks flatly as he stares at Harper. At seeing her expression, he crosses his arms over his chest. "What happened to violence doesn't solve everything?"

Harper rolled her eyes at him. "Well this might solve everything!" She states as she then grabs Ronon's gun knowing that he might strike her down there she moves fast for her plan to work. She then shots the side panel of the device then hands the gun back to Ronon smirking. "Thanks baby." She then strolls off and takes off the side panel and lays on her stomach looking at the wires.

Ronon reaches for his gun as Harper grabs it from him. She shoots the panel and returns his gun with a smile before walking over to the panel again. He watches her leave with an angry expression, none too happy with her at the moment. Silently stepping up beside her, Ronon squats down so that only she can hear what he has to say. "Never grab my gun."

Harper tries to hide her sly smile from him. "And never doubt me." She then holds her hand out by Ronon. "Knife please."

Ronon frowns down at Harper. Reluctantly, he reaches behind him and produces one of his many hidden knives. "Who said I doubted you?" He asks while handing the knife to her.

Harper sighs. "Let's not get into it." She rips out the wiring and cuts some wires and then hands Ronon back his knife. "Thanks."

Ronon grunts as he takes his knife back from Harper. He looks down at her, still holding the knife in his hand. "Fine. Don't do that again and we won't."

Harper slides back on the floor looking up at Ronon. "Ok then. Do you think you can look for some chewing gum or paper clips for me?"

"Sure thing, MacGuyver." Ronon answers with a smirk as he stares at Harper.

Kat rolls her eyes at Lorne's retreating figure, then takes a deep breath and walks over to Teyla. "Hey, are you ok?"

Teyla is silent for a few moments before replying, "I am fine." She turns back toward where Lorne stands and speaks loud enough for him to hear, "I have every right to be emotional now and could use a little compassion from you." She glares at him and then looks back off.

"Yes you do, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it," said Kat softly, ignoring her 'I am fine' statement when she clearly wasn't.

Lorne looks up from the screen him and Chuck are trying to get up. He smiles and waves at Teyla knowing if he spoke anything only bad could come from it.

Teyla rolls her eyes glaring at Lorne again. She turns back to Kat, "I'm sorry. Men can be so insensitive. I wasn't referring to you." She gives Kat an encouraging smile, "I really will be fine. I just hope everyone else on Atlantis is ok."

"I know, everyone else hopes that as well." she paused," it's just that you seem troubled." Kat hated playing shrink; she was never any good at it.

Teyla replies, "Yes, I'm concerned about John. He's not himself..." Her voice fades before continuing, "I just don't want to lose any more close friends again."

"Not himself, how?" Kat questioned, one of the disadvantages of staying in a lab was the loss of news, particularly the social kind.

Teyla sighs, "I'm not sure, but he didn't recognize me and tried to hurt me." She looks up and lets out a long breath of air, "I hope Tagan is safe."

Kat frowned, "Did he look any different? Where is Tagan, anyways?"

Teyla's very quiet as she thinks back about Sheppard's appearance. "His eyes...I remember they were different...," she pauses before continuing, "And he had incredible strength..." She rubs her back where she landed earlier...still sore. "Tagan is with Halling, thankfully. Safe in his quarters."

"That's good. Halling is quite able to protect him," said Kat trying to find something comforting to say. "How were his eyes different? Were they like a Wraith or they were his but not."

Teyla sighs,"Nothing like a Wraith…just distant." She rubs her temples feeling her headache coming back…she never was able to get any rest. "It's like something or someone else was controlling him and he couldn't stop it."

"Like for example a Wraith?" Kat was furiously think of way to get to a different topic; this didn't seem to be helping her any.

Teyla rubs her temples more, "No, I have not sensed anything Wraith. Can we talk about something else, Kat?" Never before had she had such a bad headache…she didn't know what was going on.

"Sure," she replied relived, "what was it like on Athos? I've never been there."

Teyla's face becomes angry. "It was once a beautiful planet until the Wraith wiped it out. My people now stay on Atlantis until a suitable home has been found."

Kat raised her hands to say she didn't mean to offend her, "I meant before the Wraith. Sorry I didn't mean to upset you."

Teyla replies, "I'm the one who is sorry. I have not been feeling like myself today." She stares off thinking about her former home, "Athos was beautiful. It was very damp and foggy, but we could see the outlines of one of the great cities of the Ancients."

"It's ok. We all have days like that," Kat was relieved she hadn't ticked her off, especially since she was interested in sparring lessons. "Was it forested? It sounds very beautiful."

Teyla smiles, "Yes, I used to play in the forests as a child. When the Wraith came, we used the forests to move our camps around. What part of Earth are you from?"

"I'm from Alaska. We only get something like 6 days of sun each year. I had a forest in my back yard. I would spend hours walking around in it. We lived near the ocean, so there was a lot of fog, I loved it there," Kat replied, glad the topic moved away from current matters.

Teyla frowns and rubs her temples again, "It sounds beautiful. Were you happy there?"

"Yes it is," she said she was surprised Teyla pick up on the note of regret in her voice," I was happy with where I was, but not who I was with, for the most part." Kat didn't like to talk about her family much, but her needs weren't important right now.

Teyla nods her head in understanding, "What were your parents like?"

"They're fine people. I just didn't get along with them," said Kat tightly,"We just, shall we say, had conflicting views, on many things."

Teyla nods, "My father and I had many disagreements when I was growing up…" Her voice fades as she stares off again, "I wish I could just hear his voice once more again…I would love to have an argument with him about anything." She smiles at Kat, "I heard you and Harper were planning a ladies' night out…I hope you include me."

"I had...debates, with my parents but they weren't fun. It got to a point when I just couldn't stand it, so I moved out," Kat sighed. "The last time I spoke to them was nearly 7 years ago."
"I would love to include you, the more the merrier," she was glad to be away from the depressing topic. "I have no idea what we will be doing though."

Teyla replies, "I'm sorry about your family…thank you for including me." She smiles and continues, "We can do some of those neat Earth things that John and Rodney have told me about."

"Don't be. I made a choice and I can live with it. I'm just glad that it was me making the choice. " Kat returned her smile,"Hey, no problem. 'Neat Earth things' huh? Just no American football."

Teyla laughs, her tears completely gone now, "Even after John's made me watch those football games, I still haven't figured out what is going on. I was thinking more about…having girl bonding time…maybe eat some popcorn and watch a movie."

Kat joins in her laughter, "You're not the only one. I used to live on earth and I still haven't figured it out. Now movies, that's a different story. I love movies, and popcorn. Which movies have you seen? I know we don't have a very large selection on here."

Teyla smiles, "I have only seen a few…The Princess Bride, Remembering the Titans, and Friday Night Lights, and Braveheart. My favorite was The Princess Bride…I didn't understand the football movies. What about you?"

"To be honest I didn't like The Princess Bride. I don't get the football movies either," Kat grinned at the memories of her favorite movies. "Let's see…my favorites are Lord of The Rings, Phantom of the Opera, and Star Wars."

Teyla replies, "Ronon didn't like The Princess Bride either, but it's Col. Sheppard's favorite so we did watch it a lot. I would like to see Phantom of the Opera…I've heard it's a moving musical…Sheppard always complained it was boring."

"I don't blame him, although I can't imagine Sheppard watching The Princess Bride. I love Phantom; it is very moving, and the music is very good," Kat said, "The perfect movie for a girl's night."

Teyla chuckles, "Not many people know that about him…" Her smile falls as she starts thinking about their situation again, "I hope Tagan is safe."

Kat grinned,"Sometimes the more I know about John Sheppard the less I think I know about him." oh no here we go again, "I'm sure he's fine. Halling knows what he's doing."

Teyla sighs, "I know, but I can't stop the motherly worry." She shakes her head, "John is a very complicated man."

"As a mother I think you're entitled," said Kat nodding, "yes he is."

Teyla smiles taking a seat in a nearby chair at a console. "Thank you," she answers, "Many people don't understand what a big change this has been for me."

"You're welcome," she said taking a seat next to her, "I can't pretend to understand what it's been like for you, but if you need to talk, or just say something I'll listen."

Teyla smiles, "Thank you, and if you ever need to talk, I'm a good listener too."

"Thank you, Teyla. You have no idea what that means to me," she said, there weren't a lot of people on Atlantis that she trusted, although that number just got one higher.

Teyla smiles, "No problem, Kat. I know what it is like to be new to Atlantis and not have many friends. Would you be interested in learning how to fight with bantos sticks?"

Kat returned her smile, "Are you kidding? I'd love to!"

Teyla smiles, "Well, when this is all over we can set up a day."

"That's great," said Kat beaming.

Harper smiles at him as he then throws her some things. "What has my uncle been letting you watch?" She then puts some gum in her mouth and fixing the paper clips onto the cut wires. "I'm trying to hot wire this well if I can get a bit of power into it."

Ronon watches while Harper works on hot wiring the panel. "Just don't get shocked again." He says in all seriousness, his anger from before fading a bit.

Harper pulls the gum out of her mouth and then wraps it around the wires. She stands up winking at Ronon. "Thanks for caring. Okay now I need to figure out a way to blast some power into this."

Ronon sees the look that Harper is giving him. With eyebrow raised, he reluctantly pulls his gun back out and hands it to her. "One shot...that's it." He says pointedly as she takes it.

Harper jumps up and down in excitement like a child in a candy store. Harper then grabs Ronon's gun and jumps onto him giving him a huge hug. She jumps off walking farther away from the device then turns back to Ronon. "Now I know how much you love me." Stating as she fires off a shot.

Ronon holds in a smile at Harper's excitement, reminding himself that he was still mad at her. "Uh huh." Is all that he says before she fires the gun. There is a bright flash of light as the energy blast strikes the panel. A few sparks fly from the panel and there is an odd humming. He eyes the panel warily, wondering if Harper had overloaded it or something.

Kale sat there holding his head in pain. What was happening? Was he being punished? Kale started to rock back and forth as he whimpered in pain. Images flashed into his head. An old abandoned building, water dripping, pain on his wrist, then in a quick flash there was him…Michael. Kale opened his eyes now crying out in pain. He been having that dream ever since Sheppard and his team found him on M5J-557 where Michael ambushed his team and captured him. He couldn't get over the fact of what Michael had done to him.

Stick with the plan!

"No!" Kale screamed out loud as he then rammed his head into the wall not wanting to do this anymore. He felt like it had only been a few months since he first came to Atlantis.

Kale walked the halls of Atlantis with his commander Steven Cadwell. Kale was amazed by the city's structure and flawless look for a city being underwater for years. "Emerson! Keep up." Cadwell called out as Kale made his way into the conference room. As he walked into the room he saw the wonders of Atlantis. Cadwell glances over to him. "You'll get used to it."

Kale had been living on Atlantis for awhile now and this was the first time he was going to go off world without Lorne or Sheppard. He was traveling with McKay and Harper to M7G-677, the children home world.

"Yes to!"

"No Rodney!"

"Stop it and fix this *d*a*m*n thing already we been here 3 days." Kale stated to the two as they bickered over everything.

That had been the first and only time well expect the latest incident with Keller, that Kale had snapped.

Everything was easier before Michael had knocked him out on M5J-557 which had gotten him a concussion. He tried so hard to remember little things and all he got was headaches for trying to remember his life. The only thing he truly did remember was when he was back on Atlantis after Sheppard had saved him.

"Glad you are back buddy." Sheppard stated patting him on the back. Kale smiled at his friends who had all crowed around him welcoming him back. Kale started to crush on Doctor Keller as she took care of him for the next couple of weeks.

Her hair fell in front of her face as she looked at his chart. She smiled reading on how well Kale was healing up. He loved to watch her around the infirmary. "You have a great smiled."

Jen blushed as Kale smiled at her. Her rose colored cheeks made him blush also knowing that she might know what he was thinking. "Aw thanks Kale. Now you rest up we need another solider to fight the wraith."

Kale snapped out of his memories to feel the heat on his head. His eyes shut once again replaying the images over and over again.

You have to do this Kale! Do it! Now!

"No!""

He then moved his arm over to the tablet ready to push the unlock down code in but all of a sudden his arm jerked back to his head. They are my friends I wont do this to them. He then grabbed the tablet and pushed the button. As he did that he walked out of the ZPM room going to his quarters and lying down on his bed.

What did I just do?

Harper stood there watching it and sighed knowing it didn't work right as the door opened and the alarm shut off. "It worked?"

Rodney was about to say how much he liked Keller just as the doors opened. "Thank God." He stated running out of his lab. Moments later he peeked his head inside the door frame. "You need help don't you?"

Keller gave a snark smile, "Ya just a little give me a second." A piece of wood from where John had hit a table was next to her she put it in her mouth and bites down. Pain erupted through her as she based her shoulder back into place. She coughed out the now broken piece of wood. Tears slipped from her eyes. "Ok we need to get him to the infirmary."

Rodney shrieks in the sight of Keller fixing her arm. "Um attractive." he stated as he helped her pick up Sheppard. They both walked out of his lab. They hear a noise coming.

"I'll teach you." Temp watched Netia. "Yeah they are." She heard her door release. "You're free to leave. The doors just opened."

"Oh finally," Netia turns up right. "I would shake your hand," Netia runs towards Dr. Temp and gives her a hug. "Thank you. You've been a great hostess! And we have to set up that swimming lesson," Netia beamed, happy to be released.

Ronon watches as the doors slide open, signaling the end of the lockdown. Finally. He walks swiftly toward the exit. As he passes by Harper, he briefly stops and leans closer to her. "Who's doubting herself now?" He continues on before she can answer. "Let's go. We need to stop Sheppard."

Teyla jumps out of her seat when the doors open. Hearing Ronon, she replies, "I'm coming with you."

Ronon nods in Teyla's direction. "Let's move."

Harper rolls her eyes as she walks out of the gate room following Ronon and Lorne.

Lorne catches up to Ronon getting out his ear piece and putting it back on. "Caution Col. Sheppard is out there and is well um crazy. Use force if he resist."

Kat looked up from her conversion with Teyla as Harper took Ronon's blaster, again. She doubted that if it was any one but Harper they would've had a few broken bones to deal with. Then the door opened, surprisingly, "Shall we," she gestured to the door thinking that Teyla was just as eager to get out of there as she was.

Teyla turns toward Kat, "You probably should stay here. We'll contact you when it's safe." She follows Ronon, Harper, and Lorne out the door.

"Well what am I supposed to do then? You all hate waiting…what makes you think that I don't?" she called after Teyla, not really expecting an answer.

Teyla turns, "Very well, but stay close to me."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Kat gets up to follow them. "It would probably be safer staying with a group like you guys then on my own here, anyways."

Teyla nods and quickly hurries down the hallway following Ronon with Kat on her heels.

Frowning deeply, Ronon picks up his pace as they head to the ZPM room. We're coming, Sheppard. Don't make me shoot you again.

Lorne stopped in front of Keller, Sheppard and McKay. "What happened here?"

Harper ran over to her uncle. "Is he ok?"

Kat was relived to not be left behind, but when they stopped and met up with Rodney and Jen she nearly ran into Teyla's back. When she saw Sheppard her mouth formed a small o. Now I see why it might have been a good reason to stay behind, but she was glad she came anyway. Seeing now was better than waiting for news.

Teyla kneels down on the opposite side of Sheppard concern filling her face.

"Take him! Take him!" She was only using one arm and it was getting weaker. "Get him to the infirmary. Now he's lost a lot of blood I've cauterized the wound best I could but he might have internal injuries. He has a concussion. We were attacked by Col. Sheppard I personally had a dislocated should and have a broken wrist along with possible concussion so I'm passing this on to Dr. Sheldon but will oversee."

Harper stood there watching Sheppard being carried away. Rodney gave her a look and all she could do was stand there still.

Teyla wraps an arm around Harper's shoulder, "Do you want to go to the infirmary and wait?"

Harper smiles and nods. "Yeah waiting is like a job around here."

Teyla nods, "I know. It's the part I hate the most. I'd rather be doing something."

Kat quickly got out of the way as Ronon carried Sheppard to the infirmary.

Ronon stops beside Lorne, a deep frown on his face when he sees Sheppard. He quickly takes Sheppard from Keller and Rodney. "He attacked you," he questions as he situates Sheppard on his shoulder and begins walking with Keller to the infirmary.

Harper gets pushed from Rodney making her get out of her daze. Lorne and Harper follow Ronon.

Teyla follows Ronon to the infirmary. I hope he is ok. I can't lose another friend.

Rodney sighs at Ronon. "Try wanted to kill us then yes."

Ronon turns slightly to stare at Rodney, his frown deepening. "Why?"

Rodney looks at him. "How would I know he was trying to kill me on my date!"

Ronon rolls his eyes. "Did he say anything? Or did he just attack?"

Rodney then remembered that he was freaking out when Sheppard was talking. "Um I don't know."

Ronon shifts Sheppard's weight a bit so he can better see Rodney. "You weren't paying attention?"

Rodney glared at Ronon. "Um hot women in the room. Would you?"

"If somebody were attacking me, yes." Ronon answers in his serious tone.

Rodney just glares at back before he chimes in. "Well it's not like I didn't see him coming after me. I did shot him!"

Ronon grunts in answer to Rodney's statement. "I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that."

Rodney looks at him. "Oh thanks. Wait till I get you back then."

Ronon doesn't look back at Rodney as a smile flickers across his face. "I'm not the one telling him...you are."

Rodney walked passed Ronon and stood in front of him. "Really? Why can't you?"

Ronon stares at Rodney with lifted eyebrow. "I'm not the one that shot him and he'll want to know what happened."

Rodney sighs. "Fine but I don't remember much. I was focusing on Jen's......"

Harper then smacks Rodney. "Don't finish that McKay."

Rodney looks at her. "I was looking at her arm. She broke it you know."

Ronon glances over at Keller as they enter the infirmary. "Why do you think he attacked you like this?" He asks her with concern in his eyes, laying Sheppard on one of the gurneys.

Harper sits down waiting for everyone else to come in then looks at Teyla. "We can't do much…well I could fix the wires I cut."

Teyla smiles slightly, "I think that is the least of our concern. How are you feeling?"

Harper nodded. "I'm ok. Just worried about Sheppard."

Teyla sits down beside her, "I am too. Do you want to talk about something....to get both our minds off of him?"

Harper looks at her. "About what? I can go for anything."

Teyla looks around the room seeing Ronon across the room still talking to Rodney, "How about Ronon? How long have you two been dating?"

Harper glanced at Ronon then looking back over to Teyla. "Um about wow a year and some."

Teyla asks, "Do you get along well?"

Harper thinks back to earlier in the day. "Define well?" She laughs it off. "Sometimes it's just harder now since everyone knows…before it was easy."

Teyla smiles, "He is a hard man to read. I had a feeling something was going on between you two before it all came out. Of course, Rodney and John were utterly clueless."

Harper smiled. "Some figure it out. I know Lorne and Keller walked in on us....," she looks at her, "talking before."

Teyla replies, "Well, I'm happy for both of you. I have noticed he has been in a better mood lately, but some days he looks a little angry mumbling to himself about difficult women. I don't think he ever realized that I heard him."

Harper smiles and chuckles, "Well that's for you to know and him not to find out. He does that a lot. We have been fighting ever since Uncle John found out."

Teyla says, "Give it some time...John is a difficult man. When I told him I was pregnant, he was angry, but eventually he came around. John is overprotective."

Harper snickers. "Yeah try going to the prom with one of your uncle's Air Force buddy's son. It was really bad."

Curiosity overwhelms Teyla as she asks, "What is prom? What did John do?"

"I dont know." She waved off a nurse who attempted to tend to the bleeding and broken doctor. "Where is Dr. ?"

"Right here. What do we have?" The tall lanky thirty year old doctor emerged with a petite nurse trying desperately to tie his green surgical gown.

"Possible internal bleeding, GSW to the shoulder, graze to same shoulder, large amount of blood loss mainly caused by a large metal rod entering his side. I've cauterized the wound but it was roughly done." Keller raddled off the other bumps, bruises, and scratches she had noticed.

"Thank you doctor and for God's sakes have someone look at you." he took off towards the surgery room.

Keller stood now allowing the nurse to look at her. She pressed her lips together as her shoulder was touched, "You think you can do this from the observation room."

Harper smiled. "Sorry I sometimes forget I'm not on Earth anymore. Prom is a dance for teens to attend. They dance and have fun. Uncle John called every hour on the hour making sure I wasn't doing anything bad."

Teyla laughs, "Dancing is one Earth thing I still cannot understand. Is it fun? Were you doing anything bad at the prom?"

Harper shakes her head. "Nope nothing bad. Dancing is fun; it's like a ritual you and your people do."

Teyla asks, "Would you be willing to teach me?"

Netia bids Dr. Temp goodbye as she walks through the halls. She taps her earpiece, "Teyla, why did the doors close, and where is everyone?"

Before Harper responds to Teyla's question, she answers Netia, "I'll explain everything later. Please go check on Tagan. He is with Halling."

Harper smiles and nods. "Sure anytime but I must say I'm not that great at dancing."

Teyla smiles and gives Harper a hug, "Thanks. I appreciate it." Her eyes wonder over to where Sheppard is being treated and she whispers quietly enough that Harper hears, "I hope he makes it through this."

Harper smiles and places her hand on Teyla's shoulder. "He better be ok he owes me money."

Teyla sighs, "You weren't supposed to hear that...I was thinking out loud."

Ronon's expression doesn't improve with Keller's response. "So he just attacked?" He asks while stepping back to give Dr. Sheldon room as he begins to examine Sheppard. At seeing Keller wince, Ronon's frown softens a bit and he motions to her shoulder. "How bad is it?"

Keller gave what she hoped was a smile, "Not that bad if I pass out..." She smirked moving towards the observation room nodding to ask if he wanted to go with her.

Ronon nods to Keller, following her to the observation room. Maybe I'll get some answers now. He watches as Keller sits down in a chair and the nurse begins to tend to her wounds. "So you don't know why?"

Keller watched the elegant ballet play out below her as doctors and nurses read each other's moves. "No he just busted in on us. Threw both of us around like ragdolls. He seemed off but I thought it was stress and lack of sleep. I was thinking about giving Temp a call first thing tomorrow. I dismissed it and this is what happened."

Ronon looks at Keller, folding his arms across his chest. "Don't blame yourself. Sheppard wouldn't have gone anyway." He is about to say more when he hears Major Lorne cough behind him. Turning, Ronon stares at Lorne expectantly.

Keller shook her head. She was a doctor she should have realized... Keller looked up as Lorne came in.

Lorne looks at Ronon. "Um I'm sure you are aware of this but Col. Carter wants Sheppard in isolation after you fix him." He states as he then sits down in the room.

"Already done Major," Keller replies.

Her pace is quick as she walks to the control room. She enters the control room to find Chuck replacing the panel that Harper had shot open. "What happened, Chuck?" Colonel Samantha Carter asks, stepping up beside the control room technician. "There was a situation in the ZPM room, ma'am. Colonel Sheppard tried to remove it." Sam frowns as she cups her hands in front of her. "Where is he now?" Chuck shakes his head. "I don't know, ma'am. Major Lorne, Ronon, and the others began searching for him as soon as the lockdown was released." Nodding, Carter points to his radio. "May I borrow your radio for a second?" He nods and hands it over. "Major Lorne, has there been any sign of Colonel Sheppard yet?"

Major Lorne walks away from the others going to a quite place in the hallway and taps his ear piece. "Ma'am we found him. He attacked McKay and Keller. He is out of it right now. The doctors are fixing him up. The ZPM seems to be intacted. Where have you been? We tried to contact you when the lock down happened."

Carter lets out a quiet sigh. "I was stuck in the transporter with Dr. Zelenka. Neither of us had our radios with us." There is a brief silence as she processes Lorne's information. "Why did he attack them?" She asks with a frown on her face.

Lorne sighs. "We aren't sure Ma'am. He seems to had been acting crazy. I don't think anyone knows what is wrong with him."

Her frown darkens. "Are they okay?"

Lorne shakes his head not knowing what to tell Sam. "I think so but you never know with McKay right?"

Carter smiles a bit. "True." She is silent for a moment as she ponders the situation. "Tell Dr. Keller to put Colonel Sheppard in isolation until we know what's going on. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

Lorne smiles. "Yes Ma'am. I'll let you know how everything goes." Lorne then taps his ear piece walking to where Ronon and Keller were coughing not wanting to to interrupt them.

Carter lowers her hand from her earpiece, absently shifting her gaze to the Stargate. She stands in thoughtful silence for a moment before turning to look at Chuck. "I'm going down to the infirmary. Keep me informed on the repairs." "Yes, ma'am." Chuck calls after her as Sam walks out of the control room.

"You make me uneasy when you don't say what's happening. I'm on my way," Netia says as she runs over to Halling's room. "Halling, what happened?"

Halling holds a sleeping Tagan when Netia enters. "I am not sure, Netia, but Teyla did tell me that something is wrong with Col. Sheppard before she left. She went to check on Col. Sheppard...I could see the worry written on her face. Then I was locked in my quarters with Tagan until recently."

"Col. Sheppard? I should go see," Netia sees how tired Halling looks. "This guy must've kept you up. Give him here; I'll watch him while you rest. It looks like you need it."

Halling smiles, "Thank you, Netia. I think I will." He gently places Tagan in her arms and goes to lie down and rest.

"Hey little guy," Netia whispered to a sleeping Tagan. "The lockdown must've scared you," She pats Tagan back as she walks around outside Halling's room. "Promise me something," She looks down at him. "When you get older, pass on the legacy of Atlantis. We live in a great city." Netia rocks Tagan. Where is everyone?

Harper smiles, "Did you have anyone who you looked out for you when you were a kid?" She states thinking about what her uncle meant to her.

Relieved to be on a different subject, Teyla replies, "I was a lot of trouble when I was younger. My father had to keep his eyes out on me. Then, Netia and I became very good friends and somehow we seemed to get in more trouble than when I was alone. What about you?"

Harper smiled. "I think I can picture that. Um well I didn't talk much after my dad died plus it didn't help that Sheppard was off to travel for work and David was always working. I learned to raise myself really so the trouble I got into they didn't find out till a week or two later."

Curiousity shown in her face as she asked, "What kind of trouble did you cause? Why did John and David work so much?"

"Oh wreaked cars, trashed someone's house the normal." Harper laughs it off then stops knowing the next question would be harder. "Uncle John was in the Air Force so he couldn't really stop his life for me; that's why David took me in but the Sheppards had a business to run and that wasn't a place for a little girl to be. What about you? Was your dad in your life a lot?"

Teyla smiles, "My father was very involved in my life. Athosians value family over any other duties. That is one aspect about Earth I never have understood...why not spend more time with family? As tradition, as soon as I had seen seven harvest ceremonies, I accompanied my father on my first hunt. I will never forget the excitement; the thrill of the hunt."

Harper shrugs. "I don't know. You have the Wraith and see death in a more scary way then we usually do plus families aren't really normal on Earth anymore."

Teyla nods, "Maybe that is why we have always valued family...most do not live very long. My people rarely see their children grow up..." Her voice fades as she thinks about her own son.

Harper looks at her and nods. "I know the feeling." She had spoke to Teyla about her life before but never actually told her about her own parents. "My mom died right after she gave birth to me so I never met her. As for my dad well he became real sick when I was 6. He struggled with brain cancer for two years before he died."

Teyla wraps one arm around Harper's shoulder, "I'm sorry. Two seasons after my first hunt, a culling took my mother away..." Her expression changes more angrily, "My father was culled about three seasons before I met John and the rest of the Atlantis team. At the time, Charin was the only family I had left. Now besides Tagan, I consider the Atlantis team my family...even you, Harper." She smiles at her, "Sounds like you've had a hard childhood just as I have...know that John loves you even if he doesn't show it."

Harper smiles and nods. "And I know John cares about you too Teyla. He just doesn't show it much."

Teyla laughs, "I would think so since he's saved my life on many occasions. He gets very uncomfortable anytime he attempts to discuss his feelings."

Harper smiles. "Yes men do that a lot."

Teyla replies, "Then Ronon does the same?"

Harper snickers. "He does less surprisingly he actually told me he liked me even. I bet Tagan won't be like that though."

Teyla chuckles, "I hope Tagan is more open with his feelings." Her face becomes very serious, "If you don't mind me asking, do you love Ronon? I will understand if you don't want to answer."

Harper looks to the floor and then back up to Teyla. "I do. I told him just recently."

Teyla smiles, "What did he say if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh you know him just rolled it off with one of his grunts." She then smirked. "He said he loved me too."

Teyla grins, "I am happy for the both of you. Have you ever been in love before Ronon?"

Harper nods thinking about James. "Once but he didn't love me back the same way. We are great friends still."

Teyla nods in understanding, "I was in love with a man who thought of me only as a sister. I was heartbroken when he was taken by the Wraith." She sighs, "What was he like?"

Harper smiles. "What else he was an Air man." She chuckled a bit. "Actually he was the guy Sheppard made me go with to prom."

Teyla laughs, "Did John approve of this young man?"

Harper shakes her head. "He is the one who made me go with him to prom. I don't think he ever knew we really dated."

Teyla snickers, "What do you think he would have done if he would have known that you two dated?"

Harper looks at Ronon. "Probably try to kill him like he did with Ronon."

Teyla giggles, "I'm sure. Did Kat invite you to a girl's night out?"

After a few minutes of pacing with Tagan, Netia taps her earpiece. "Teyla you are scarying me, where are you?"

Before Harper can respond to Teyla's question, Teyla hears Netia's voice in the earpiece. "Netia, I am in the infirmary with Harper. Come and I'll explain everything."

Harper nods. "I mentioned to her about doing something."

Teyla raises one eyebrow curiosity overwhelming her, "What would you like to do for a girls' night?"

Harper shrugs. "Oh I don't know. Have any ideas?"

Teyla shakes her head, "Not really...just watch a movie. I've never really had a girls' night out."

Netia breathes a sigh of relief as she makes her way to the infirmary. "Well there you two are," She carefully hugs Harper and Teyla without trying to wake Tagan. "What happened?"

Teyla smiles when she sees her friend, "Is Tagan still sleeping?" She reaches out as Netia carefully places Tagan in his mother's arms. "Harper, can you explain to Netia?"

Harper smiles at Netia. "Sheppard went crazy on McKay and Keller so they shot him. He is being looked after now."

Netia hands Tagan to Teyla, "What, well did they get hurt? Why would John do that?"

Harper sighs. "They are going to be okay. They got lucky. I don't know he was acting weird before but this is just plain crazy."

Teyla lets out a breath, "They are working on to figure out what's wrong with him."

"I wouldn't think John to just go off like that." Netia looks at Teyla, "Could he be under an influence?"

"Influence of his crazy self." Harper mumbles under her breath.

Teyla frowns, "What do you mean, Netia?"

Netia shyly smiles at Harper's joke. She sighs, "Well I'm not sure but maybe John did not have control over his actions. I highly doubt that he would want to place harm to anyone here unless, something or someone, was making him do so."

Teyla's eyes narrow, "John did not recognize me…," she shudders thinking back to her encounter with him earlier. She whispers, "He threw me and ran away…his eyes…I can never forget those eyes…very different than John's eyes."

"He threw you?" Netia looked shocked. "Are you alright?"

Teyla closes her eyes letting out a quiet breath, "I'm fine…I don't want to discuss it…Like I said before, he wasn't himself. Can we talk about something else?"

Netia gave Teyla a stern look. She knew something was deeply wrong when Teyla needed to change the subject. Netia crosses her arms, "Well, ok."

Teyla relaxes a little thinking about her earlier conversation with Harper. "Kat is planning a girls' night...are you interested?"

Kat walks in, "actually its Harper's and Jen's idea, but I'm sure you could come."

"Well it will be very interesting to say the least!" Netia smiles at Kat. "If you'll have me, I'll be there."

Harper smiles as she waves to Kat then looks at Netia. "Of course you better be coming." She then looks over at Teyla who suddenly went quiet. "Hey I don't want to bring up any bad memories but did his eyes look familiar? I mean you said they weren't his eyes but did they look like anyone else's?"

Teyla cringes remembering her encounter with Sheppard. She closes her eyes before answering, "Cold...very cold...empty...and...," she pauses and shudders, "Full of wickedness..."

Harper places a hand on Teyla's shoulder. "I'm sorry just I thought we could know if he has been like this before but nope Uncle John would never look like that to a woman."

Teyla sighs, "No...John's eyes are very warm." She stares off in the direction of where Sheppard was currently being treated.

Harper lowers her head then smiles pretending like everything is ok while she looks back up. "So any ideas for the girls' night?"

Teyla looks back at Harper with a forced smile, "Movies and popcorn?"

Harper nods. "Sounds good I'll see if Sam can raid the boxes that SGC wants to be shipped back."

Teyla asks, "Any other ideas? I've never had a girls' night out."

Harper looked at Kat, Netia then to Teyla with a sly smile on her face. "Oh I got a few."

"Oh yes. Very interesting, indeed," Netia smiled at Harper. "Would these 'few' happen to involve the 'L' word?"

Harper shakes her head confused. "L--Lorne? Nope he isn't a girl last time I checked?"

Teyla snickers and smiles at Harper.

Netia lets out a chuckle. "No, silly. Love. Do you have any love movies in mind?" She playfully nudges Harper.

Harper shakes her head. "Depends on what they have banned here. It's the only way to see good movies in less you want the IOA to pick the movies. They probably would give us Smurfs."

"Smurfs? What is those?" Netia asks.

"Blue scary creepy cartoon characters." Harper winches as she thinks about them. She then looks back at Netia. "Bad childhood memory."

Teyla replies, "Sounds interesting...like clowns." She starts laughing and smiles at Harper.

"Oh," Netia laughs. "There are stories that were told when Teyla and I grew up to keep us from wandering into the woods. I still have nightmares!" Netia tries to comfort Harper with a hug. "We'll get through this!"

Harper hugs Netia back. "I should hope so. The Wraith are still out there. We need to hunt them and not have nightmares about other things."

Netia smile fades to a solemn frown. "Yes, our greatest nightmare of all." Netia looks off. "It seems we've been living in this nightmare for quite some time," Netia looks at Harper. "And I want to wake up."

Harper nods. "It will be ok one day they will be all gone. I just know it."

Teyla sighs, "Certainly would be nice to be free of them."

"It sounds lovely, however I've been hoping for that day ever since I was a little girl. We've been fighting the Wraith for so long," Netia looks at the floor.

Harper sighs. "Well you never have help from us before."

Rodney had just rushed off another nurse as they tried to help him making sure he was ok. He then spotted the blonde bomb shell walking into his line of vision. Her long hair swayed as if windows were opened in the infirmary. Rodney's mouth dropped to the floor. She had just licked her lips which made his chest ache as he then noticed her glaze at him. He looked to the floor then slowly moving up her body as he stopped right at her....He then slapped back into reality as the back of his head began to hurt where he pulled the stitches when he tried to look at the blonde. He moved his head slowly and gave a small smile. "Hey Carter."

Sam enters the infirmary, unaware of Rodney's gaze upon her. At hearing her name, she turns to look at Rodney. She smiles at him as she moves to his bedside. "Hey McKay." Carter pauses when she sees the bandage on Rodney's head. "How bad is it?"

Rodney shrugs. "Eight stitches but I had more before. Was anyone else hurt when the lock down happened?"

Sam shakes her head. "Thankfully, no. It seems that a few people were stuck in the transporters but they're okay." She stops, folding her hands in front of her. "Why would Colonel Sheppard try to steal the ZPM?" Carter asks Rodney with a serious look in her eye.

Rodney shakes his head. "Well maybe he decided to get it so he can kill us all!" He states in a mocking tone.

Carter gives Rodney a look. "Be serious Rodney. Why would Sheppard do this?"

Rodney shakes his head. "That's the point. Sheppard wouldn't do this. Could you think of any reason Sheppard would want to leave Atlantis?"

Sam stares at Rodney thoughtfully. "You mean that somebody could be controlling him? Using him to get the ZPM?" She lifts an eyebrow and tilts her head slightly. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Or the last. Rodney then looks at her. "It has to be someone powerful if they got to John. Hey!" He snaps his fingers together. "Maybe it's Ford."

Carter frowns down at the floor, taking in a breath. "I don't think it's Ford. I read John's report on your last run-in with him and he seems pretty sure that Ford was on that hive ship when it exploded." She shakes her head. "Besides, from what I understand, he didn't have the power to pull something like this off."

Rodney sighs. "That's what we thought then he kidnapped us. Who would it be Kale?" He laughed. "Yeah the nicest guy here evil. I would choose Sheppard being evil over him any day. Oh maybe it is a Asgard."

Sam smiles at Rodney's comment with lifted eyebrow. "I don't believe it's an Asgard, Rodney." She states with a slight hint of amusement in her voice. Suddenly, Carter's smile fades and she becomes serious again as a thought strikes her. "You don't think it could be Michael do you?"

"Please." Rodney scoffs. "He barely had any alone time with Sheppard let alone have time to turn him on us. I would think Netia or Teyla would act evil before he did."

"He might not have been alone with him long enough to brainwash him, but he did have enough time to infect him with something." Carter states as realization dawns, her fists tightening in slight frustration.

Rodney snaps his fingers together. "If that's the case Keller can test for any weird things in Sheppard's blood."

Carter nods to Rodney before glancing around the infirmary. "Where is Jennifer? Was she hurt?"

Thoughts went through Rodney's head about the date. "Define hurt?" He then looks at Sam. "Fine…get Carson to do it or someone that has half a brain."

As if on cue, Dr. Carson Beckett comes rushing into the room. Beckett peers around briefly before his eyes settle on Colonel Carter and Rodney. "There you are! I need you to come to the lab. It's about Colonel Sheppard's blood samples." Carson states somberly in his Scottish brogue. Carter nods to him, briefly exchanging a look with Rodney. "We'll be right there." With that, Carson heads to track down Keller. He searches for a few minutes before discovering her in the observation room with Ronon and Lorne. Poking his head into the room, Carson glances at each of them, his eyes finally meeting Keller's gaze. "You need to see this." He says quickly as he turns toward the infirmary's lab.

Keller took one last look at John before exiting the nurse still trying to do something. "I'm fine. Go help someone else."

Rodney followed Carson and Carter to the lab. "This better be something we can use Carson."

Lorne gets up from the chair and follows the others to where Carson was now standing.

As Harper watched the others follow them. She looks at the girls. "Hey they are leaving us." She gets up and walks into the lab.

Teyla still holding Tagan stands up and follows Harper into the lab.

As they leave the infirmary, Kat elbowed Harper in the ribs, "I have several, ok more than that, DVDs saved on flash drives that the IOA would probably object to, but are perfect for a girls night," she said in a conspiratorial whisper. When Kat had learned that she was going to Atlantis she had gone out and bought all the DVDs that she had been eying over the years, and several that she hadn't, and burned then to flash drives. That way they wouldn't take up space in her suit case, or on her laptop.

Ronon follows Keller out of the observation room. This had better be good. As he enters the lab, he nods to Colonel Carter and Rodney, situating himself against the wall by the door. The others enter the room shortly thereafter and find places to sit. Once everybody is situated, Sam nods to Carson. "What did you find?"

Carson nods to Sam as the room grows silent. "While we were on Elizabeth's ship, Caylon ran some tests on Colonel Sheppard's blood and he noticed this..." He turns to a computer and hits one of the keys. A picture of Sheppard's blood appears on the large projector screen above the computer. The picture shows small mucus-like nodules attached to the red blood cells. "What is that?" Ronon asks, staring at the screen. Sighing, Carson explains. "It's a virus of some kind. At first I thought it might have been Michael's hybrid virus..." Beckett hits another button and a second picture appears on the screen.

"But then I ran some more tests just to be certain." He states as he magnifies the picture so that the red blood cells in the second picture are clearly seen. Some of the cells have black spots on them while others are completely black. "The virus is causing Colonel Sheppard's blood cells to deteriorate."

Netia took a seat as the group formed into the infirmary. She listens silently with everyone else as Carson goes over his findings. Netia studies the photographs on the screen. "The virus is causing Colonel Sheppard's blood cells to deteriorate." That could kill him. Netia looks around the room at sadden faces that made her heart sank lower. Oh John.

Teyla gasps when she hears Carson mention a virus, "Can you help him, Carson?"

Keller looked at the computer sure she was wrong. "Shouldn't that kill him? Red blood cells carry oxygen."

Carson sighs, looking directly at Teyla. "I can't say for certain. It might be too late." He nods somberly when he hears Keller's question. "Aye. The virus is destroying his red blood cells as we speak." There is a slight pause before he continues. "And I'm fairly certain that there's a hallucinogenic property to the virus as well."

Rodney looks at Sam. "I didn't see that coming."

Harper stands there then looks at Carson. "He is dying right?" She was worried that if her uncle died Atlantis would fall apart and the Wraith would win.

Lorne shakes his head and lowers it for a moment for his commanding officer.

Keller turned Harper towards her. "No John will not die. Do you hear me? I will not let him." She faced Carson. "We should call in Temp she can help with the hallucinogenic property given that it is her field. Temp can you come down to the infirmary."

"On my way." Temp pushed up from her desk and made her way to the infirmary.

Harper nods and smiles to Keller then after she calls Temp she turns to Jen. "I know you think that but do you really have time to save him?"

"Yes. Everything will be fine. Don't worry." She turned as Temp entered the room. "We have a virus that causes hallucinogens."

Temp walked over to the screen, "Nasty. There are several mental disease that cause hallucinogens. We still don't know the cause for it. I can look up some studies."

Netia saw as Dr. Temp walked into the room and went to the screen. "A mental disease? Is it so far along that it is deep within John's mind?"

Harper nods at Keller then looks at Temp. "Well when he wakes up you will have your hands full with him. He doesn't do feelings."

Teyla slightly smiles thinking about Sheppard's attempts to discuss his feelings about others.

Temp doesn't look up from the computer, "Neither do I."

Harper scoffs as she looks at temp. "Then why are you a doctor?"

Carson looks at Harper with compassionate but determined blue eyes. "Jennifer's right. We'll not give up on the Colonel so easily." He nods in agreement with Keller before addressing the group again. "The virus hasn't infected his entire blood stream yet. If we can manufacture an antivirus then he just might have a shot." Beckett pauses briefly, motioning to Temp. "Hopefully, with Dr. Temperance's help and some luck, we can save Colonel Sheppard."

Carter listens to Carson's diagnosis. Her heart constricts slightly at the thought of losing a valued and trusted team member. Looking around, she can see the impact of the news on everybody, especially Harper. She turns to Carson with determined eyes. "Do whatever you can, Carson."

Harper nods and smiles at Carson. He would always make her feel better. "I hope you are right."

Tears begin to form in Teyla's eyes thinking about Sheppard's current situation. Teyla replies, "He's cheated death before, Carson. Between you, Jennifer, and Dr. Temp I have all the confidence that you will save him in time." She shifts Tagan to one arm and then turns to Harper. She puts her free arm around her and says, "He is strong...he will make it."

Carson smiles and nods. "Aye. Colonel Sheppard's a fighter. He'll not give up so easily and neither should we."

Harper looks around the room as if everyone was looking back at her. She was now sure that her uncle wasn't going to be alright. She sighed and walked away from the group going over the window in the infirmary and watched the waves.

Teyla gently places her son into Netia's arms and follows Harper giving her some space. Teyla sighs staring at the blue waves of ocean and rolling puffy white clouds.

Ronon frowns down at the floor as he thinks back over everything that has happened to Sheppard. His frustration mounts the more he thinks. He had never been one to just sit around helplessly but that's exactly what he is being forced to do in this situation. The strong urge to shoot something wells up inside him. However, he holds it back knowing that doing so wouldn't help Sheppard. At that moment, Ronon notices Harper leave the room. He wants to follow after her, to comfort her and let her know that everything will be okay, but he stops himself when he sees Teyla follow. Teyla is better at that sort of thing anyway. Once again, his thoughts turn to Sheppard. You better make it through this, Sheppard...for Harper.

"You know most of the time when someone moves away from the group it means they want to be left alone," she states in a semi sarcastic way.

Teyla still stares off not glancing at Harper. "I thought you might need a friend," she replies, "It's not always good to be alone when we hurt."

Harper puts her hand to her mouth then takes it off putting it through her hair. "Yeah I know. Sorry." She goes silent for a minute. "He will be ok right?"

Teyla looks at Harper into her eyes, "Yes. He's one of the strongest men I've ever known. He's been through worse." She sighs thinking about when Sheppard was infected with the iratus bug retrovirus, "He's got a gift for making it out of difficult situations."

Harper shrugs. "Well my track rate with family isn't good so..." She cuts off her sentence and looks out the window.

Teyla moves a step closer to Harper watching her. "Me neither. I've lost many close to me and I'm not about to give up on John," she states forcefully. "Harper, as long as he's alive there is always hope."

Harper nods. "I guess you are right. I worry too much."

Teyla gives Harper a hug and then steps back to look at her, "I do too, but with Jennifer and Carson working together he will be his old self in no time."

Harper hugs Teyla back as she wipes the tear from her eye. "He better be or I think Atlantis would start going crazy."

Teyla smiles, "Yes…he's the only one who can handle Rodney."

Harper smiles. "Yes and who would stop Rodney and Lorne's fights?"

Teyla lets out a quiet snicker, "I think Ronon would end up shooting them both."

Harper smiles, "Defiantly."

Kat felt her jaw clenching and unclenching. She hated feeling helpless. This was like when... she silenced the thought. She didn't want to think about that. Not now, not any time. If she had a working nanite healing program it might be different. Well at least she would have something to do, but the most recent copy was on her dead laptop. She had one saved, but it wasn't the same. At least her program was better than Rodney's. Her mind was jumping all over the place trying to find something that would help, but she needed to get out of the room, it seemed to be closing in on her. Kat went in to the hallway, she noticed Harper and Teyla talking but ignored them. They probably were feeling like she was, helpless. She started pacing, there was nothing she could do, and it sucked. She punched the wall hard. It hurt. She bit back a curse needing to vent all of her frustration about the laptop, being locked in the tower, the helplessness. If only she had something to do…something, anything to take her mind away from the present. The danger had seemed more distant when they were in the infirmary. Nothing extremely unusual had been happening. Sure they were surrounded by the injured, but the atmosphere was much lighter. They had been planning a girls night for crying out loud! Now one of their own was at risk, someone how she didn't know well but had learned to trust. For her that was a rare thing. She hated to think about how Harper would feel if she lost someone else. Kat knew how she, herself would feel if they lost Sheppard. He was the moral glue of Atlantis and he was dying and there was nothing she could do about it. She punched the wall again.

Lorne noticed Kat punching the wall. He walked over to her and eyed her. "Are you ok?"

Kat bit back another curse, punching the wall only provided momentary relief, before the pain hit. It only severed to make her angrier. This is so not helping. She turned and started to walk when a voice brought her back the agony of reality. She blinked. It took Kat a few seconds to process what he had said to her. "What do you think? I have nothing to do, Sheppard is dying, Harper may lose the one family member she has left, and the one way I could have helped got blown to smithereens a short while ago! Not to mention that both Rodney and Keller are injured! And you ask me if I'm ok!" she snapped at him sarcasm dripping from her voice as she said the last sentence. All of her angry and frustration was coming out and he just happened to be on the receiving end. The long she talking the more animated she became. Her arms where flying any which way. "It's like wh-" her jaw snapped shut with an audible click. No, not again, she couldn't think about this now. She turned way and continued her pacing.

Lorne stood there in shock not sure what he could do. Rodney then walked over to him whispering to him. "Go for the crazies don't ya?" Lorne glares at Rodney as he walks over to Kat and sighs. "First of all no one has anything to do. Harper has another uncle besides Sheppard but Sheppard isn't going to die. Rodney and Keller will be fine." He lowers his head. "As for your idea I thought it was a great plan." He states looking back up to her with a friendly smile.

The anger faded from Kat's face at Lorne's words. "Sorry," she mumbles, "I didn't mean to take it out on you." She returns his smile, slightly. She opens her mouth, about to say something, but stops. She leans against the wall, drained; now that the anger was gone she had nothing left.

Lorne leans on the wall next to Kat. "Better now?"

Kat sighs, "a little, I tend to forget I'm not alone anymore" she admitted." punching a wall was not the best idea I've had all day," she joked trying to make light of the situation.

Lorne nods. "I have had those days. Singing while going to get weapons to then realize your team is with you. It gets better."

"That's good to know," she said, "The getting better thing not the singing. Anyways what did your team do?"

He leaned over to her. "I bet they laughed behind my back but I'm there leader they couldn't say anything to me without getting punished."

Kat chuckled, "I don't blame them. What were you singing?"

Lorne chuckled. "Back in Black by ACDC."

Kat raises her eyebrows, "Were you any good?"

Lorne nods. "I know a few things about singing."

"I can't sing to save my life," Kat replies. "I didn't hear about it so your team must've not minded...to badly."

Lorne smiles. "Well that is nice to know."

"What? That I can't sing or that I haven't heard that you can't sing?" Kat replies with a hint of sarcasm.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Lorne winks at her as he chuckles.

Kat rolls her eyes. "If I didn't would I have asked?' she said pointedly. I think I'm beginning to feel sorry for his team.

Lorne smiles. "I was talking about my team." He then looks over to the area Sheppard was in. "He'll be fine."

Kat quickly glances at the room. "I hope so," she whispers. "I wonder if....." she trails off, but her eyes light up.

Lorne looks at Kat. "Wonder what?"

She grins from ear to ear, "Wouldn't you like to know?" ha-ha revenge! She thought. His team might not be able to give him trouble but she could.

"I guess I set that up. Didn't I?" He laughs.

"Yes, you did," she laughs with him. "Do you think Rodney would let me borrow is laptop, being he injured at the moment?"

Lorne nods. "Sure you might go ask him but first what's your plan?"

"I need a laptop to work on my nanite program. I have the now most current version saved on a flash drive in my lab. Any laptop will do, but his would be the best, its already got simulator programs on it," said Kat.

Lorne nods. "Oh cool."

"Yeah, it will probably take longer to get the program working than it would be worth at the moment," she said ," but it's something to do."

Lorne nods. "Well go ahead get to work."

"Glad you approve." Kat walks over to Rodney," Do you mind if I borrow your laptop for a bit? I promise I won't blow it up."

Rodney nods to Carson and turns back to Kat slightly annoyed. "One why would I let you touch my laptop?" He snaps his fingers together as he holds two fingers up. " Two you just blew up yours or so I heard and three why must you always ask me and not um Zelenka?" He questions putting his arms across his chest.

Kat just stares at him and blinks. "What if you lending me your laptop can save Sheppard?" she asks in a soft calm voice with the hint of a threat. She was not in a mood to deal kindly with him.

Rodney scoffs. "Well Carson and Keller are working on something already so why don't you go be a good girl and talk up Lorne. He likes your kind of crazy."

Kat was appalled by his answer. Sure his date had been interrupted but this, this was over kill. he wasn't even trying to find away to help. she thought she knew him as the busy-body that was always flying around trying to do everything at once by himself. maybe she had got it wrong. Maybe this was the real Rodney. She felt her temper flaring and it showed in her eyes. They blazed light by an inner fire. Her voice went ice cold, "my type of crazy?" she snorted," you're one to talk. At least I'm trying to help," with that she stormed out of the room.

Rodney just looks at her. "Crazy."

Carson looks at all of the crest-fallen faces in the infirmary. Taking in a breath, he turns to Keller. "We should get started on that cure." Glancing back, he says "You all should talk to him. It'll strengthen his will to fight." With that, Carson and Keller begin their arduous task of creating an antivirus.

Teyla turns from Harper when she hears Carson speak. I should go first. She walks slowly down the hallway to where Sheppard rests in the infirmary. She gasps when she sees his frail body tied down to one of the infirmary beds. Teyla grabs the nearest rolling chair and sits down her eyes never moving from him. With nobody else around, she lets the tears flow steadily down her cheeks. She carefully takes his hand in hers surprised by the coldness in his hand. She closes her eyes to regain her composure still holding his hand in hers. She takes several deep breaths before reopening her eyes to look at Sheppard. She releases his hand placing it gently back on the bed and wipes away her tears on her face. Where to begin? "John, you focus on getting better. Jennifer and Carson are working hard to help you so don't give up on us," Teyla speaks softly. She closes her eyes again as more tears escape covering her right hand over her face. She takes several deep breaths opening her eyes and removing her hand. "I'm not mad about earlier either. I know that it wasn't really you and you couldn't control yourself," she pauses, "I'm sure Rodney and Jennifer aren't mad too." She sighs before continuing, "I want to thank you for letting me be a part of your team. I have enjoyed working with you and learning more about your Earth ways." The tears flow freely from Teyla's hazel eyes; she does nothing to stop them. "Thank you for coming after me when Michael captured me and Tagan. You better get through this so you can teach Tagan how to play golf and football," she smiles thinking about watching her first football game with him. The tears finally stop as she speaks, "We all love you and are here waiting for you to get well." Teyla pats his hand letting her hand remain on his while she closes her eyes whispering an Athosian prayer.

He is standing alone in the middle of a dark room. There is nothing...there is nobody, only empty darkness. What have you done? Whispers in his ear. He opens his mouth to answer but nothing comes out. Why do you exist? Rings out from the darkness. His head throbs and his body aches from the ongoing war within. Can you not answer? Comes the familiar taunting voice. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard stands firm, fists clenched as he calls out. "Who are you? What's going on?" Silence. "What have you done with my team?" A menacing laugh echoes throughout the darkness. You mean what have YOU done with your team. John frowns darkly. "What's that supposed to mean?" Another, more sinister laugh. YOU are the one that attacked them. YOU are the one that attempted to kill them. An eerie silence settles as a figure steps forward from the shadows. YOU are the one who hurt them.

Lorne noticed Teyla walking out of the room they had made for Sheppard. He then walked in and sat down on a chair. He looked around then moved his eyes to Sheppard's wrist. He was tied up. Poor Sheppard. "You have to get better sir." He places head into his hands. "If…if you don't make it. I promise I will do everything in my power to destroy all the wraith out there." He looks up smiling knowing that Sheppard would love to see that happen. Lorne then sits up ready to get up and go but then he stays put. "I'm going to run the SGC one day…I know I know you would make a stupid comment now but.." He looks at Sheppard and shakes his head. "I'll tell you the rest when you are better so I can get that stupid comment from you." Lorne stands up and walks to the doorframe and turns back to Sheppard. "Get better sir."

Teyla returns back to the lab and meets up with Netia who still holds Tagan. She stretches her arms out to take him; Netia willingly obliges. "Netia, you can talk to Sheppard if you would like." She smiles and goes to stand by Harper who still looks out the window.

Netia hands over Tagan. "Um, alright." What would I say? Lorne finishes his time with John as Netia walks in. They both smile weakly as Lorne leaves. She looks at John's body strapped to the bed. This was not the John Sheppard she knew, an imposter seemed to lay there. "Hello John. It's Netia," she holds her arm, unsure of what to say. "John, I know we don't know each other well but I've come to greatly respect you. As a person, a leader, and now, as a friend. She sits in the chair and brings it closer to John. She sits there for a few moments looking over his face. Her voice is soft, yet stern. "I will fight this, John. You have to. Not only for us, but especially Harper. She needs you." Netia squeezes his hand as tears begin to flow. "You are stronger than this. I know because I see it in you." Netia stands up to leave. "Just get well John." Netia releases his hand as she walks back towards everyone.

Harper sighs. "He can't even hear you." Harper states speaking to Teyla but not looking away from the window.

"How do you know that?" Teyla asks.

Harper looks at her for a moment then returns her eyes to the waves outside. "Let's just say I been around hospitals before."

Teyla sighs realizing how much Harper reminds her of John Sheppard and his stubbornness, "Eventually you need to go talk to him. Even if he can't hear you, it might bring some comfort to you."

Harper turns and faces Teyla. "Death is death. They can't hear you when you say goodbye. It doesn't make a different if you say something or not."

Teyla cringes at the harshness in Harper's tone. "Harper…," she begins, "at least go see him even if you don't want to say anything." Tears start to rise in her eyes; she continues ignoring them, "This could be the last time you ever see him."

Harper lowers her head. "That's the point I don't want it to be the last time."

Tagan squirms in Teyla's arms forcing her to hold him out where he could look around. Teyla sighs, "I know…me neither." To lighten the mood, Tagan starts giggling as he looks at Harper.

Harper puts a smile on her face and walks over and takes Tagan's little hand. "You are lucky you are cute." She looks up to Teyla. "I'll think about it."

Teyla smiles, "Good, Harper." Tagan giggles louder as Harper takes his hand. "I think he's ready for you to play with him," she laughs, "You seem to be his favorite but don't tell Rodney I said that."

Harper smiles and then takes Tagan into her arms. "Oh I won't trust me Rodney is easier to fool then anyone." She smiles at Teyla as she begins talking baby talk to Tagan.

Teyla smiles letting out a breath of relief seeing Harper in a lighter mood. Thank you, Tagan. You always brighten up my day.

Keller followed Carson to the lab. "We need to do another run on his blood looking for the same chemicals that occur in schizophrenics."

Carson nods in agreement. "Aye. We'll need to draw some more samples for that." He types something on the computer. "I'd also like to run a wider range of tests on his blood. It might give us a starting place for creating the antivirus."

"We should get a sample of his brain cells but I'm afraid he's too fragile at this moment," Keller replied.

Carson looks thoughtful for a moment, shaking his head slightly. "You're right." He states in his Scottish brogue. "In his condition, doing anything of the sort might cost us what little lee-way we have for now."

Keller just nodded her head, "I need to review everything we have on Michael maybe it will give us something."

Carson nods briefly as he gathers a few items. "I'll begin running those tests." Grabbing one last item, he leaves that part of the infirmary and heads to another lab that is better suited for his goal.

Rodney paced around the door that was Sheppard's. He then saw Netia walk out and mumbles to himself. Go in there McKay. Rodney took a deep breath as he walked into the room. He looked at Sheppard's body and a frown came on his face but then anger in his eyes overcame the feeling that was in the pit of his stomach. "You ruin everything!" He states leaning on the end of the hospital bed. "I was on a date!" His nostrils began to flare. "A date with Keller! But no you had to go and come in being the John Sheppard great charmer! No that was last time when I had a date this time you go and try to kill us." Rodney slams his hand on the end of the bed. "The one girl who actually liked me now doesn't cause of you." Rodney lowers his head his eyes were distant as if he knew he was doing the wrong thing. He then walks over to the side of the bed and leans down now talking right in Sheppard's ear. "I wish you never came to Atlantis." Rodney stands straight and walks to the door only to look back at his friend. For once in his life Rodney McKay was going to stand up for what he wanted.

Ronon watches as Mckay leaves Sheppard's room. He could hear the harshness in Rodney's tone from where he stood by the door. That didn't help. Plays across his mind as his eyes briefly follow after Rodney. Unfolding his arms, Ronon pushes off from the door-frame and enters the room, glancing back momentarily to see if anyone noticed. Slowly, he moves toward Sheppard's bed, eyeing his form warily. An image flickers across his mind. The last time that he had seen Sheppard like this was during the Iratus retrovirus incident. They had almost lost him that time too. Ronon grabs the seat that Teyla had been sitting in and sits down. The room remains quiet as the silent bond between comrades in arms is expressed and Ronon inwardly offers encouragement to his ailing friend. This isn't part of the deal we made.

Sam watched as Teyla, Lorne, Netia, Kat, Rodney, and Ronon all took their turns going to see John. She looked around the room as Ronon returned, waiting to see if anyone else wanted to go in before her. Her eyes linger on Harper, but the young woman makes no move to go see her uncle.

The leader sighs, wishing for the umpteenth time that Elizabeth hadn't had to leave right away. She knew that Harper had to be really hurting, and though she felt some affection for the girl, Elizabeth was so much closer to her…and John, too, for that matter.

She squares her shoulders. You're the leader now, Sam….you need to step up and take care of your team!

She glances at Harper one more time, then turns and heads into John's room. She slowly approaches his bed and stops beside it - awkwardly trying to find appropriate words to say. "Colonel Sheppard…..John…..you need keep fighting this. I know it's hard – I've had my share of experiences with alien viruses, myself – but you can't give up!"

She blushes as the memory of her virus-induced self "attacking" Jack rises to the service. "Um…..you're not going to be very happy when you find out what the virus made you do - trust me - but don't worry about that. NONE OF IT WAS YOUR FAULT! I mean it, Colonel……if you only hear one thing I say to you now, hear that!"

She unclasps her hands and places one of them on his arm. "This is Michael's fault - no one else's! Don't give in….you've already beaten him! Don't let him take that from you now, John!"

"I read in a report that it was you that helped Elizabeth fight the nanites when they tried to take over her mind. Your strength got her through that, and I know your strength can get you through this too."

She grins a little, "Come on, Colonel….you don't want me to have to tell her that you have gotten yourself into yet another scrape, when she's only been gone for a few hours, do you?" Sam squeezes his arm gently, "Please don't make me do that……she trusted me to take care of her family."

Her smile fades, and she sighs once again. "You can beat this, John…..just don't give up." She squeezes his arm one more time, then turns and leaves the room.

Harper stares at the door of Sheppard's room. She had given Tagan back to Teyla awhile ago now she was debating on whether or not to go see her uncle. She sighed then walked into his room standing there doing nothing. The voice inside her head filled with anger as her body dare not move. "How could you do this to me? You are the only one left and you are leaving me! I hate you for this." Anger in her eyes became clear as she looked at her uncle. "You work best when you stay away from your family. You make everyone die! My mom, grandpa and dad! You hurt everyone you love!" Her eyes went dead as if she was a ghost looking in on the living. The blackness in her eyes stayed there as she looked at her uncle lying there. It is just like before.

Eight year old Harper walked into the hospital room not looking up from the floor. She stood at the bedside holding the man's hand. "Daddy." Her little voice whimpered out as she held on to her father's hand. He laid there with his eyes half opened and pulled Harper to his mouth. "Stay strong bunny." His hands twitched as the iv machine went to a beep sound. Frighten Harper pulled away from her father and stood there shocked and scared. Her eyes went black as someone grabbed her arm. "Harper!" Uncle John.

She jumped back trying to shake off the horrible memory she just recalled. As she did she saw John's eyes twitched. Not again. Please not again. Tears form in her eyes as she sits on the bed now holding John hugging him for dear life. Everyone leaves me. Her crying becomes louder if she was a little child crying for her father but that was what she was doing in her mind.

"You can't die John." She begins to speak in a low tone. "You're my family. You are the closest thing to a father." She can't see out of her eyes because the water keeps pouring out but she feels her way to John's face taking her hand and touching his cheek. "You're a hero. Heroes don't die."

She sits up wiping the tears away glancing at him and all of a sudden she starts beating John's chest. Why? This can't be happening. After the fifth blow to his chest her body goes numb and she falls on top on him hiding her face in his chest. "Uncle John." Her voice is low as she cries out again.

After crying for some minutes Harper gets up and kisses John's fore head. The black in her eyes has now faded away but a hint is still there. "Heroes don't die." She walks over to the door and turns back in as a tear falls from her eye. "You're a hero."

She walks to the group that is still there and looks around as everyone looks at her as she wipes her eyes once again. She tries to speak but can only mumble two words out. "Save him."

There is silence in the room as John stares in shock at the figure before him. It is him, only not. The facial features are the same but more drawn. His hair is wild, as usual, but his eyes...they are completely alien, dark and intense. What's the matter, John? Don't recognize yourself anymore?Comes the taunting voice from somewhere behind him. Sheppard's features become taut. "That's not me." He whispers quietly, the man smiling coldly at him. A chorus of icy laughter rings in his ear. But it is you, John...the true you. "No it's not!" Sheppard says a bit more forcefully. Yes it is. You can't deny it any longer. The team hates you, hates what you've done, hates what you've become. You tried to kill them. They can't trust you anymore. Taunts the invisible voice. "You aren't safe to be around." The man finishes, his voice dripping with pointed maliciousness. John casts his eyes to the floor as the honesty of that last statement hits him. He wasn't safe to be around. You're a menace to your team and a liability to the expedition. Continues the figure. They'd be better off without you. Why not just disappear and do something GOOD for your so-called friends? Mocks the voice. "What? And quit? Not an option." John Sheppard states firmly, raising his gaze to glare at the man. A devilish smile flickers across the figure's face. So be it. Colonel Sheppard frowns. "Wha--" As if summoned all at once, the screaming voices from before come rushing in. His head feels like it is about to explode the pain is so great. His vision becomes blurred as he falls to his knees. Why do you exist?! Kill! Destroy! What do you live for?! Shout the yelling voices. "Ahhhh!" John screams out in pain. "Leave me alone!" Without warning, the voices halt. The room fills with a deafening silence. With his hands still holding his head, John takes in a ragged breath. Suddenly a small, distant voice whispers. "It wasn't really you." The voice sounds familiar but Sheppard can't place it. As that voice fades out, another one filters through the silence. "Get better sir." Then another. "Fight this." "Who is that?" John asks himself, trying to place the different voices. Yet another voice calls out. "You ruin everything!" A name comes to Sheppard's mind but it is gone before he can grasp it. "Don't give up." "Phoenix...never leaving the ones it loves..." Two different voices echo softly. "Where are--" "Uncle John...heroes don't die."

After walking out the door Kat felt like hurting something. or someone. She hadn't been this angry since she left. How could Rodney be so arrogant and uncaring? How? Sheppard had save his life so many times and now he just turned his back on him. just turning his back not even caring that one of his few friends in all of 3 galaxies was dying not a few feet away from him and he just sits there like he has a splinter. For such a smart man he could be so dense. Didn't he see how many people cared about Sheppard or how many peoples' lives he had effected? So many times he had been a beacon in the darkness for the people of Atlantis. The anger that had left her while she talked to Lorne had returned by tenfold. She hadn't realized that she was pacing in the hallway again she couldn't stand still. She kicked the wall; the anger was burning bright inside her. Kat couldn't tell if it was from her anger at Rodney for being so stupid or from not being able to do anything. Pacing wasn't helping so she started to run, like she used to when she had to burn it off. She fell quickly in to a rhythm, just running. She didn't care where she ended it. The part of the city that she was in had very few inhabitants, so she encountered no one. it felt good to run again. The wind pulling at her hair…the mindlessness of it.

When she finally stopped, Kat felt like she was as far as she could get away from the room, she started to walk back slowly, taking her time. Sheppard's time might have been limited but it wasn't that limited. Not yet anyway. She stopped by her lab. She looked around the room that had become her home for the past several years. Kat made a slow circuit of the room wondering what she would say to Sheppard. She didn't know him well just as the head military officer of the base. She even knew Lorne better than him. From the time she had arrived, Kat had been on Atlantis he had spoken all of maybe ten words to her. she finished the circuit and stopped at the desk. she sat down and pick up the notebook and pen that she always had laying on it. She stared at the wall in front of her. It was as blank as her mind. Her gaze shifted to the blank paper and slowly the words began to form.

Kat walked more quickly to the room. She saw Ronon enter the room. She guessed it was to offer some sort of encouragement or to say goodbye. She should do the same. She looked down at the notebook and hoped it was enough. Harper was crying near the door. she knew how it felt to lose a close family member. It was hard to watch them withering away, know that you would do anything to save them in a heartbeat. Kat entered the room and shuffled over to the bed that was surrounded by medical equipment. there was a beeping coming from some of it. there was an iv in his arm. just the stuff surrounding the bed made the room have the same atmosphere as the other. the impending doom. In a corner she saw Jen and Beckett working on the cure. she took a breath and stepped up to the bed. Kat put her hand on the mattress. She still had the notebook in her hand. The paper was no longer blank. Slowly she began to whisper the words.

"Phoenix, the bird of life, the eternal.
reborn from the ashes
never dieing
never leaving the ones its loves behind
behind to the darkness
and the wraiths that live in that darkness

the beacon
the light of hope
the rock among the waves
the steadying hand
there for you when you fall
fall to the darkness of the mind

but it lives
always lives
always
always burning bright in the darkness

living, loving, brightly, emulate the bird colonel. Fight the darkness. Don't give in," she finished. Kat hadn't realized that she had started crying, but now here cheeks were wet, and tears were streaming unchecked down them. She walked out the door to join the others in the hall.

Kale crept into the room. Looking at Keller her smell her beauty taunted him. He watched her work as he went up behind her and smelt her hair. He could feel the blood pumping through her veins. He smirked at her. "Hey Jen. I wanted to say I'm sorry about before. I don't know what came over me. It's like…" He grunts. "Ever since my accident with Michael my mind is messed up."

Keller's back straightened as Kale spoke. She kept her cool turning to Kale, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Kale walked over to the other side of her. "Yeah but I wanted to apologize." He looked down to the floor. "Can you ever forgive me?" He could feel her heart racing as he looked at her and he liked that feeling.

Her arm was in a sling. He was stronger faster than she was, but she had beat him before. She smiled, "Of course Kale. It wasn't your fault."

Kale smiled. "Thank you Jen." He then felt the urge of hunger but it was more then that it was blood lust.

"No problem," she wasn't fast enough she rolled over the table as his hand hit her chest. Somehow she was able to not land on her bad arm. "Kale stop! This isn't you!"

Kale saw the fear in her eyes as he smirked and slammed his hand on her chest by her heart. He then pulled back a little as he questioned his own motive. He then tried to feed on her like a wraith but nothing happened. "What the...."

Keller kicked out knocking him off his feet, "This is NOT my day."

Kale lay on the floor pulling her down with him as he tried to feed on her once more. "Why isn't this working?" He looked at Keller. "The queen I fed on was nothing like you." he smirked evilly as he went in once again to try to feed.

Feed!!!! Everything fell into place as Keller felt Kale's hand on her chest again. "Michael! No!" She brought her leg up only to have Kale capture it with his hand. If he couldn't feed what would he do to her? "NO!"

Carson peers at his portable tablet as he checks the readings from Sheppard's blood. He is halfway through the infirmary when he hears the commotion coming from the research lab. Lowering his tablet, Carson rushes into the lab to see Keller struggling with Kale. "What the bloody hell's going on here?!" He yells, reaching to pull Kale off of Keller.

Keller stayed on the ground not trusted herself to stand. "He's Michael. This isn't Kale; it's Michael. He tried to feed on me. That's what this has all been about."

Carson stares in shocked disbelief at Kale, Michael when he hears Jennifer's revelation. Quickly, he taps his radio. "Security to the infirmary!"

"I didn't catch it earlier when he tried to..." Her breath caught as she truly realized what he would have done.

Kale now known as Michael rushes over to Carson going to knock him down. "You foolish people. I been in Kale all along and finally now you know." He states as he then tries to lam his hand on to Carson.

Keller picked up a tray knocking Kale out, "You son of a bitch you were going to rape me!" Scared and angry Keller leaned on the table let out the tears she had suppressed.

Carson struggles against Michael's grip. He closes his eyes and waits expectantly. However, instead of feeling Michael's hand on his chest, Carson hears a loud crack followed closely by an equally loud thud. Hesitantly, he opens one of his eyes to see what has happened. His eyes widen when he sees Michael in Kale's body collapsed on the floor and Keller holding a tray in her hand. "Nice hit."

Teyla paces in the hallway waiting impatiently outside the infirmary while Keller and Carson work on a cure for Sheppard. She was thankful that Tagan was resting in her quarters with Netia safeguarding him. Hearing Carson's call for security alarms Teyla so she rushes inside the infirmary. "What's going on, Carson?" she asks.

At hearing his name called, Carson turns toward the door. "Seems we have an imposter, Teyla." He answers as he motions to Kale/Michael.

Keller tossed the tray on the ground. "Thanks. I want him under medical observation."

Seeing Kale lying on the ground unconscious, Teyla relaxes, "What should we do with him?"

Beckett glances over at the unconscious Kale/Michael. "Colonel Carter'll want him in the brig where he can't do any more harm."

Teyla replies, "Very well, Carson." She turns to a Marine standing by, "Let's take him to the brig." The Marine nods his head at Teyla and both head out of the infirmary toward the holding cells.

Carson watches as Teyla and a soldier take Michael from the infirmary. He turns back to Keller, taking in a breath. "Are you al'right?"

Keller wiped away the tears angrily, "Fine. Just fine! Third time this day I've been attacked maybe I should start getting use to it."

Carson steps over to Keller and gently places his hand on her shoulder. "You did good, Jennifer." His eyes soften as he thinks about how much she has been through recently. "Why don't you rest for a bit? I'll get one of the senior medical techs to help with the antivirus."

Keller looked at Carson her tired eyes barely focusing on his soft face. "Yes. I don't think I will do you or anyone else good if I pass out on my feet." Keller patted Carson's hand heading to her quarters.

Kat looked around, everyone seemed so....for lack of a better term, dead. It seemed like Sheppard had already died. She walked over to Harper and held out a Kleenex that she had taken from a packet in her pocket," you look like you could use this," she said.

Harper smiled and nodded to Kat as she took the tissues from her. "Thanks." She looks down to the ground not wanting to cry again.

"Your welcome," she said. Kat puts a comforting arm around Harper's shoulders," I just hope I won't run out, everyone looks like they could use a few."

Harper smiles and looks around. "It's been a long day."

"Yes it has," Kat agreed, and then paused for a moment. "I think you should have this," she held out the piece of paper that had the poem written on it.

Harper looked at the poem then back to Kat. "Um ok thanks."

"It's supposed to a description your uncle and what he means to us on Atlantis," she said her cheek coloring slightly. Kat wasn't sure what else to do with it, "I just hope I got it right."

Harper smiles at Kat. "Thank you I'm sure when he gets better he will love to read it."

It was good to see Harper smile again, especially now, Kat returned it. "I don't know. We don't want it to go to his head. We already have one egotistical manic running around; I don't know what we would do with another."

Harper chuckled a bit. "That's right. Rodney is enough to handle around here."

"Quite, I asked him if I could barrow his laptop and he told me to go talk to Lorne because 'his like my type of crazy'," Kat in a semi-decent impression of Rodney's voice. She made air quotes as she quoted him, then she folded her arms across her chest and scowled.

Harper looked to the direction of her uncle's room then back to Kat. "Well we told me that I was having too much fun on the base if you get what I mean. That's just Rodney a jerk."

"Yeah I know what you mean," Kat grinned evilly, "when this is over we so have to get him back, that is if it's not too much fun."

Harper nods and grins. "Yeah we need to plan something."

"Ideas, ideas..." she trails off, "we could get his laptop to talk to him."

Harper eyes Kat. "Um no I don't think that would work."

"Not with a voice; we write a program. When activated the screen will go blank the words will pop up. He will answer, and the conversation continues. The responses can be preprogrammed or typed in from anther computer, depending on the type of program," Kat persisted.

Harper clapped her hands together. "We can pretend its Sam." She then looked sad remembering the state her uncle was in.

"Or the computer," Kat starts to say, but when Harper looks sad she stops," he'll be ok, he's been through worse."

"Yeah I guess so," Harper smiles.

"Don't guess so, know so," Kat replies," it's not like he's being turned it to a bug, again."

Harper shakes her head. "Guess not."

"It will all turn out ok, it always does," she said trying to comfort Harper. Kat hoped she was succeeding. "What should the computer/Sam say?" she asked changing the subject.

Harper smiles, "Something about liking him."

"Ooh, that would be good." Kat grins. This was going to be fun.

Harper smiles. "Yes this will be fun. I mean since McKay has been in love with Sam since he met her I know this will be fun."

Kat nods, "Haha, yes he has been. What's even better is that he thinks she likes him back. i just hope Sam doesn't bring this down on ours head if she finds out." Kat paused, "writing the program shouldn't be too hard."

Harper shakes her head. "Sam won't care. She will think it's a great idea."

"Oh good. What should we have to program say?" Kat asked.

Harper shrugs. "Oh I don't know something that makes it seem that she likes him."

"How but she asks him out to dinner. Although if we did that, we might want to warn Sam beforehand." Kat pondered," Are we doing this as a rewritten program, or networked?"

Harper shrugs. "Anything will work McKay won't check that."

"True he probably won't. Networked would be easier, though," Kat started laughing," I would love to see his face!"

Harper smiles. "I can tap into the security cameras."

"That would be so perfect," her smile fades slightly," we'll have to use your laptop, though I don't have one unless I get a replacement before we do this."

Harper smiles. "Sure that should be fun."

"Oh good. When should we do this then?" Kat asked. She figured when Rodney had some odd project they could do this that would ensure that he would be on his laptop.

Harper shrugs. "We should wait for a bit. I know McKay is freaking out right now we don't want him to kill us."

"Yes not being killed is good. How about when he is working on a project? That would ensure that he is on his laptop," Kat said," let's say within a week?"

Harper nods. "Yes that sounds good."

"Ok then," Kat nods," now all we have to do it wait."

Kale opened his eyes and looked around. Why am I in the brig? How did I get here? Why do I feel the need to feed? Michael looked to his hands. That was right he was inside's Kale's body well he looked like him at least. "What are you going to do to me?"

She stares at him as he lays unconscious in the brig. How did he manage it? Suddenly, he begins to stir. Michael looks around disoriented before calling out. "Where's Major Emerson?" Carter asks, stepping out from shadows.

Michael well Kale smiled. "I am Kale Emerson. Look at me how can I not be him?" He laughs as he puts his hands through his hair.

"I know you're not Kale Emerson, Michael." Carter replies as she walks to a spot in front of him.

Teyla stands by with her P-90 ready to fire at Michael in case he attempted to attack Carter.

Michael gets up. "Fine but to let you know my plan is almost done so I won't need this body much longer." He had a twinkle in his eye. "Kale will be dead soon."

"Where is he?" Carter returns in a stern voice, keeping her feelings in check. I'll be darned if I'm going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm.

Michael smirked. "Well in fact he is in here." He states pointing to his head. "His mind races through my own now."

Teyla raises an eyebrow at Michael's confession still ready with her weapon aimed at him.

Carter briefly exchanges a look with Teyla before turning to Michael. She studies him for a moment, unsure of his motives. "What's your goal here, Michael? Why go through all of this? Are you still after Teyla's son?"

Michael smirks. "Teyla's son would be a nice prize but that wasn't in my plan. That was merely my clones."

Teyla shudders thinking about more than one Michael running loose in the galaxy.

Carter gazes steadily at Michael. "I see. So the Michael that Colonel Sheppard fought with..."

"My clone." He smirks now walking around the bridge he was in. "You see while I was trying to clone Dr. Beckett I needed someone to test on so I tested on myself." He looks at Sam who gives him a look. "I know normally I would have used someone else but I had the virus worked perfectly out but I was wrong. My clone was merely to capture Teyla so I can sneak out of Atlantis with a ZPM for my other plan which I would be stupid to tell you." He chuckles a bit. "Something was off in him. He felt the love for Teyla that I did when you turned me human against my will." He glared at Teyla. "If you didn't show affection to me while I was human well I would have been gone by now."

Teyla glares back at him ready to attack him if necessary. She states, "I was only trying to be kind to you when you were human…nothing more. ZPMs only work on Atlantis and we don't plan on letting you go anywhere with one."

Carter nods in agreement with Teyla. "That's right. Your plan is a failure, Michael." She shifts slightly so that she can look him in the eyes. "Your clone is dead, your true identity has been discovered, and you don't have the ZPM." There is a small pause as Sam steps closer to the brig, her eyes determined. "Now tell me where Major Emerson is."

Michael only shakes his head. "You foolish people. Maybe I found a piece of Ancient. Maybe a ship and as for Kale here well I'll never tell."

He leans back from the microscope, gently rubbing his eyes. What are we missing? Carson Beckett stares blankly at the wall in front of him as his mind drifts off in thought. There has to be something...something small and easily missed. An hour had gone by since the Michael incident and Carson still didn't feel any closer to finding a cure for Sheppard. All of the tests had come back either negative or hadn't even registered a result. His eyes wander to the room where John is laying still bound and comatose. Come on Carson. You have to figure this out. John needs a cure and fast. Leaning forward, Beckett takes another look at the latest sample of the Colonel's blood. The doctor picks up one of the recently mixed viles of medicines, this one containing trace amounts of a drug meant to counteract hallucinogens. He places a few drops onto Sheppard's blood and waits. "Can it..." His sentence trails off as he quickly taps his radio. "Jennifer, I need to see you in the infirmary."

Keller surged from her bed only causing herself more pain, but it was better than the dream that had invaded her sleep. Carson's voice rang in her head bringing her back to reality. "I'll be right there Carson." Keller took a breath attempted to settle herself. You're ok Jennifer. Everything's ok.

He is busily reading over the new test results when Jennifer walks into the infirmary. Carson looks up at her, the excitement in his eyes slightly dimming when he sees the tired expression on her face. "I'm sorry to wake you, Jennifer, but I thought you'd like to see this." He hands her the tablet in his hands and waits patiently for her opinion.

Keller worked up what she hoped was a smile and walked over to the microscope, "It's reacting to it." She looked up truly smiling now, "This could work. Carson you're a genius."

Carson gently shakes his head and smiles. "I had quite a bit of help from a certain doctor." He glances down at the tablet in Keller's hand, nodding at it pointedly. "Shall we?"

"Of course. This should help everyone," Keller replies.

"Aye, then let's hurry." Carson says with a grin. "Michael's little virus caused enough trouble." With that, Carson and Keller make the necessary adjustments to the antivirus formula and begin mixing the necessary ingredients. "Just a few minutes now." Beckett remarks as Jennifer places the beaker full of ingredients into a medical mixing machine and presses the start button.

Silence...deafening silence. The voices have all but faded into oblivion. The room that once held so much anger and hatred is now empty save for him. There is no more taunting, no more screaming, just complete and total silence. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard stands with his head bowed slightly and his eyes closed as the soft, encouraging words from before replay in his head. "Don't give up." "It wasn't really you." "Fight this." "Heroes don't die." Who was that? John wonders, his mind trying to grasp the seemingly unattainable names that float at the back of his consciousness. Why can't I remember? He opens his eyes to gaze steadily at the floor. Hours seem to pass without Sheppard even giving them a second thought, all sense of time lost to him.

The sound of footsteps echoing off of the walls breaks the encroaching silence. He lifts his gaze to stare at the new arrival with tired eyes. "Break time over?" Sheppard quips as he musters up what little sarcasm is left. "It's over, Sheppard. You've lost. Your body and mind are too weak to resist any longer. Soon, what little of your consciousness is left will be gone. "That's quitter talk." John states flatly, all of his energy depleted from the long and bitter struggle. "And I'm not giving up yet." The visitor slowly steps up to Sheppard. "Too bad. This would've been a lot easier on you." As he speaks, the man lifts his hand and places it on John's chest. A sudden burst of pain passes through both Sheppard's heart and mind as a pulsing energy emanates from the man's hand. Sheppard clenches the visitor's wrist in an attempt to push him off.

His eyes suddenly fly open as he surges forward in his bed, nearly ripping the restraints in half. Screams of pain well up in his throat but he manages to hold them back. The beeping of the heart rate monitor becomes more erratic as he struggles against the virus and the restraints. "Ah!" John yells before cutting himself off and slamming back down into the bed. Medical assistants rush into the room, followed quickly by Ronon and Lorne. Sheppard's muscles strain against the leather of the restraints while he tosses and flails. He surges forward again, this time snapping one of the arm restraints.

"Keep him down." Keller rushed in antivirus in her hand. "Don't you give up on me John not now not when I can save you." She found the vein quickly injecting him. She surged again before falling back to the bed. Please dear God let this work.

Ronon struggles to hold Sheppard down so that Keller can inject the antivirus. He looks at John after he falls back to the bed, once again in a comatose state. "What'd you inject him with?"

Lorne goes on the other side of Sheppard holding him down. "Doc we better hurry it up here."

Keller wiped her forehead mentally and physically exhausted, "The antivirus. I hope."

Ronon's eyes shift back to Sheppard's prone form. Yeah, me too.

Carson walks into the room shortly after Keller administers the antivirus, a hopeful expression on his face. "Any change?"

"He's calmed down but we'll have to run some blood test to know for sure," Keller replies.

"Aye." Carson begins with a sidelong glance at Sheppard. "Hopefully we weren't too late."

What had happened? The last thing Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard remembered was an intense pain and then nothing. Vague memories of a fight...no, two fights, flit across his mind before disappearing into oblivion. He probes deeper into his memory, trying to recall what had happened. A face flashes in front of his eyes...his face, sunken and sharp with maliciousness. Suddenly, everything comes rushing back to him in a torrent of recollection. The rescue mission, the fight with Michael, the subsequent losing of his mind and trying to kill his friends...he recalls every minute and painful detail. It was like he was a spectator in his own body, unable to stop what was going on but desperately attempting to nonetheless. Helplessness had threatened to overcome him at some point but then...then had come the soft, encouraging words. "Heroes don't die." John didn't really consider himself a hero, it just wasn't in his nature to give up. That had been when he decided to fight back with what little strength remained in him. Memories of one last struggle with a familiar yet unrecognizable man play in his mind's eye. He recalls letting out a scream as a pulsating pain emanated throughout his chest and head, then...nothing.

Now what was going on? John no longer feels the tremendous weight of the encroaching, screaming voices on his mind. The strange, taunting visitors have vanished into nothingness. His mind is his own again, he's sure of it. So where was he now? The infirmary. Sheppard surmises a few seconds later, the beeping of the medical equipment answering his question. He can feel the leather of the restraints on his arms and legs as he gingerly tries to move them. "It might take a bit..." A far-off sounding voice interrupts his train of thought. "We won't know for sure until he wakes up." The voice continues, a bit clearer this time. Carson? John Sheppard's eyes feel heavy as he forces them to open. Blinking against the bright glare of the lights, John turns his head in the direction of the voices. "How long?" Ronon asks in his casual manner. "Not long." John answers in a raspy voice, a small grin on his face.

Lorne smiles slightly. "Well it's about time sir."

Harper closes her eyes waiting for some news about her uncle. What's happening? Why him? She sighs waiting for an answer.

Keller pushed the others aside taking out the pen light that just always seemed to be there. "Can you tell me your name, date of birth, social, and rank?"

Sheppard shoots a sheepish smile to Lorne. "Give me a break." He says tiredly in a joking manner. "I've haven't exactly been on vacation here." The smile on his face fades a bit when he sees Keller pull out the small penlight from her pocket. Inhaling sharply from the sudden flash of light, John attempts to reign in the pounding in his head. "Can you tell me your name, date of birth, social, and rank?" With a sigh, he obliges. "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard; born January 5, 1967; social, 467-12-9578." His boyish grin flickers across his face. "Don't worry, doc, I'm all here."

Carson exchanges a look with Keller before heading toward the makeshift waiting room. Tapping his radio, he relays the good news to Colonel Carter. "Colonel Carter, Colonel Sheppard is awake." He says with a tone of both relief and joy. Reaching the waiting room, Beckett steps in and peers around until his eyes rest on Harper and Kat chatting away in the corner. The group seems oblivious to his presence for a brief moment as he starts in their direction. Harper, who is at a better angle, is the first to notice his arrival. He sees the anxiety and worry in her eyes and answers with a warm smile. "He's awake." Comes his soft Scottish brogue. "And he seems to be his old self again but we'll need to do a full examination to be absolutely certain."

Carter stares angrily at Michael, struggling to keep her diplomatic demeanor. If I could just smack that smile off his face... And where will that get me? Nowhere. Her mental debate is interrupted by Carson's voice squawking over the radio. "Thank you, Carson. We'll be there shortly." She responds neutrally so as not to give anything away. With one last glance in Michael's direction, Sam grins and motions for Teyla to follow her. "We'll have to continue this a bit later."

Harper smiles and runs throwing her body on to Carson's pulling him into a hug like she had done every time he had saved a person. "Thank you. Thank you." She states running off to go see her uncle. She sighs and leans on the door looking at John. As she sees him move her eyes grow wide and she walks over to him standing next to the bed and then hugs him. Her eyes close as she places her head on his shoulder. His scent was the one thing she could remember because it was the same scent as her father's. One tear falls from her face as she holds on for dear life.

Michael nods. "Very well Sam." Michael states in a mocking way using Kale's voice. "It's not like Kale will be alive much longer." He mutters to himself.

Teyla sighs in relief when she hears from Carson that Sheppard is finally awake. She follows behind Carter out of the brig ignoring Michael's comments as they leave. On the way to the infirmary, she clicks her radio, "Netia, bring Tagan to the infirmary. John is awake." She enters the infirmary and beams when she sees Sheppard sitting up in the bed attempting to stop Keller from fussing over him.

Netia hears Teyla's news."This guy must be immortal" "You hear that? The John came through!" Tagan giggles at Netia's baby voice. "Ok Teyla, we're coming."

Sheppard sighs in exhaustion while Keller continues to examine him. A movement in the doorway catches his eye and he turns his head to see Harper standing there. He grins sheepishly at his niece as she makes her way to his bedside. "I'm--" John begins before he is cut off by Harper suddenly hugging him. Slowly, he wraps his good arm around Harper's shoulders and gently squeezes. "I'm still here, Harper." The Colonel whispers softly to his niece, only able to guess at how she must feel. After a few moments, Keller returns to finish up the examination and check on Sheppard's injuries...Harper moving out of the way and closer to Ronon. As Jennifer finishes up, Teyla enters into the room, followed soon after by Carter and Carson. "Don't you guys have something better to do than hang around the infirmary?" John quips, lightly scratching his head.

Ronon smiles in amusement as Keller fusses over Sheppard. Serves you right for worrying everybody like that. He thinks to himself, leaning against the bed opposite Sheppard. The smile on his face fades a bit when he notices Harper standing in the doorway with wide eyes. His eyes follow her as she makes her way to John's bedside, he knowing that it's all she can do to keep from rushing her uncle. Ronon is silent while the two Sheppard's embrace. Only when Harper comes to stand beside him so Jennifer can do her thing does he ask..."You okay?"

Carter ignores Michael's comments, exiting the room with Teyla on her heels. This isn't over...not by a long shot.

Carson stands with an affectionate smile on his face as he watches Harper enter Sheppard's room. He is about to follow when Carter and Teyla walk into the room. "Ah, there you are." "Sorry, Carson." Sam answers, walking up to him. "How is he?" Sighing, Beckett replies..."Jennifer is running a diagnostic on him now. He's got a good bit of recovering to do and he'll have a few scars, physically and mentally, but it looks as if he'll make a full recovery." Carter nods with a small smile now on her face. "Then let's go tell him how lucky he is." "Aye." With that, Teyla, Carter, and Carson head into John's room as well.

Kat felt a balloon well up inside her when she heard the news. the big panic was over. Slowly she entered the infirmary, following Harper. She saw everyone crowding around Sheppard's bed. Kat hung back not sure what to do. She watched the others interact with their formerly lost friend. She felt like she should say something, instead of just hovering. Slowly Kat stepped forward, "it's good to have you back Colonel."

Sheppard glances over at Kat as she approaches. "Good to be back." He remarks with a half-smile on his face.

As Harper lets go of her uncle's embrace she smiles at him and heads over to where Ronon is standing. She smiles at Ronon's statement and turns at him smiling. "Worry much?" She states in way that's not a laughing matter turning her head from him then back to him as her eyes meet his. She knew how much he cared and she was grateful he had given her space when she found out about her uncle.

Ronon looks at Harper, a warm look in his eyes. "You know I do." He states casually with a small smile on his face. The two of them are interrupted when Rodney comes storming into the room. Eyeing Rodney warily, Ronon straightens to his full height in anticipation of what he might do. Not that Rodney could ever do much in the way of physical violence, but still...

Rodney snickers at Sheppard's comment. "Don't you guys have something better to do than hang around the infirmary?" plays in his head over and over as he looks at John somewhat upset till his eyes glaze over to Jennifer. Yeah I had a date. That you ruined. His eyes now have anger in them.

Lorne sees Rodney's glare and bumps McKay in the arm. "Show some class McKay." He whisperers.

Teyla smiles at Sheppard and replies, "I see your injuries haven't hurt your tongue." She steps closer to his bed and pats his hand, "I'm glad that you are feeling more like yourself."

Shifting his gaze back to Teyla momentarily, he adds..."That makes two of us." John lets his eyes wander around the room, taking in all of the faces of his friends and teammates. They must've really been worried.

Netia's gets to the infirmary as Teyla speaks with John and walks over. "Glad to see you're up. The little guy wanted to see you," Netia smiles as she rocks Tagan. "Glad to have you back Colonel, we were worried".

As if to prove his point, Netia walks in holding Tagan. "Glad to have you back Colonel, we were worried." Colonel Sheppard grins sheepishly. "Yeah, I was a little worried myself." His smile fades into a frown as the memories of him attacking people flash across his mind. "What exactly happened while I was out?" Sheppard asks hesitantly, not exactly thrilled with the thought of what he might hear.

Rodney eyes grow in anger. "What happened?.....What Happened?" Rodney shakes his head as he walks over to the bed and looks at John. For a moment his eyes grow sincere as he sees John smile at him. He is your friend you can't do this to him. Rodney smirks. Why can't I? "Let's see you go around and try to kill me! Which I might I add I was on a date then you almost stabbed me and threw Jennifer across to the other wall. Oh..." He snaps his fingers together. "Did I mention the trying to kill me part?"

Teyla glares at Rodney, "That's enough, Rodney." She turns to John with a sweet expression, "Don't worry about it, John. Nobody was seriously injured."

Sheppard's eyes grow concerned when Rodney tells him what happened. Memories once again flit across his mind, the once vague faces now clearly visible. Not safe to be around anymore... Once again plays in his memory. Letting out a breath, John looks up at his teammates, a serious yet apologetic look in his eyes. "I still hurt people though...and that worries me."

Rodney rolls his eyes and looks at him. "Yeah you should be worried."

Harper glares at Rodney then looks at her uncle. "It will be ok Uncle John."

Teyla sighs and responds, "John, you had no control over what happened." She gives Rodney a 'I'll get you later' look and continues, "Everything is fine now. You just get some much needed rest."

As Rodney fiercely walks over to John, Netia shields Tagan and moves out his way. "Lets see you go around and try to kill me! Which I might I add I was on a date then you almost stabbed me and threw Jennifer across to the other wall. Oh, Did I mention the trying to kill me part?" "Rodney calm down. John wasn't in his right state of mind. It could have happened to anyone of us," Netia lightly says trying not to upset Tagan.

Rodney only glares at Netia then puts his anger back on John.

Sheppard ignores Harper's and Netia's statements, concentrating a glare on Rodney. "Look, I'm sorry that I apparently ruined your date Rodney. It's not like I did it on purpose."

Rodney glares at him. "Of course you didn't I mean John Sheppard gets all the women and this one time I get a date with a hot doctor you just go ahead and sit back to watch." He states as he puts his hands at the end of the bed. "You are lucky that I haven't tried to sabotage any of your dates. 'Cause that would have been bad. Bad!" He ends his argument with short breaths in and off trying to get oxygen to his brain.

John stares darkly at Rodney. "Listen, I said I was sorry McKay! I was a bit busy going crazy at the moment but if you want to act like a 5 year-old and hold a grudge for that then go right ahead." Why does he have to do this now? He thinks to himself, his head starting to throb from the effort of arguing and the pain from his injuries.

Rodney looks at him and shrugs. "Don't call me 5! I would so be like 20 but not 5." He looks at him. "Are you sure it wasn't some of yourself ruining my date?" He looks down. "It looked that way."

Sheppard rolls his eyes. Where's a lemon when you need one? "McKay, I didn't ruin your date on purpose. I was barely stay--" He stops himself in midsentence not wanting to reveal how close he came to losing it. "Just drop it, McKay." John finally states with a sigh.

Carson looks on at argument in concern. Rodney... Exchanging a glance with Keller and Carter before stepping forward slightly. "That's enough here now. This is doing neither of you any good, especially Colonel Sheppard."

Rodney sighed and walked over to Sheppard placing his hand on his friends shoulder "I'm sorry. It's been a long day. I want to sorry about before." Hoping Sheppard couldn't hear him when he said that John should have never come to Atlantis.

John silently stares at Rodney for a moment. Taking in a deep breath, Sheppard shakes his head. "Forget about it, Rodney."

McKay smiles. "Good so you done being crazy cause now we have crazy Kale to worried about."

Sheppard gives Rodney a look. "What's up with Emerson?" "He's not the real Major Emerson." Carter states, coming to stand beside Rodney. Noticing the confusion in his and the others' eyes, she continues. "It's Michael in disguise." John's eyes narrow at that intel. "So the Michael I fought was--" "A clone." Sam finishes for him. Colonel Sheppard lowers his gaze in anger. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy.

"At least you killed one Michael sir." Lorne states.

Harper looks around. "Do we know where the real Kale is or he is......" She stops herself looking to the floor fearing the worst.

Sheppard nods his head in acknowledgement but the anger in his eyes doesn't waver. "Still one Michael too many."

Carter glances at Harper as she folds her hands in front of her. "He's still alive according to Michael." Her brows furrow in concern. "But we need to locate him quickly or else..." Sam lets her sentence trail off, not wanting to finish the thought.

Lorne looks at Carter. "Any ideas where he is?"

Teyla takes a deep breath and looks fiercely at Carter, "We should go back to interrogating him and let John rest." She turns to Ronon, "Interested in helping?"

Ronon shrugs casually with a devilish smile on his face. "I'm in."

Sam nods in agreement. Turning to Sheppard, she says "We'll let you know when we make some progress." John bows his head slightly in answer, not particularly happy with the fact that he was stuck in the infirmary while one of his people was being held prisoner by Michael. For that matter, he wasn't thrilled about not knowing where Kale was being kept. "Let me know if you need any help." He says half-seriously with a glance to Ronon. They won't need any help. Carter smiles before heading off with Ronon and Teyla. Carson exchanges a look with Keller as the two of them notice the spark in Sheppard's eye. "The only helping you'll be doing, Colonel will be for yourself. You've sustained quite a bit of trauma, both physical and mental. As it is, you'll be off active duty for quite some time." Colonel Sheppard shoots Carson an annoyed but understanding look. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

Lorne follows out Ronon, Teyla and Carter as he stops in front of Sheppard's door. "I'll stand guard and make sure he doesn't leave Ma'am."

Rodney looks at Jen somewhat and and walks out going to his room for much needed rest.

Harper looks at her uncle. "Do you want me to stay?"

Sheppard frowns at Lorne's back. "Great." He says rather unemphatically. Carter smiles when she sees the look on Sheppard's face and hears his remark. "Just keep him company, Major." She answers before walking out of the infirmary with the others. John gives a half-smile as he turns his head to gaze at Harper. "You don't have to hang around here. I don't even want to hang around here." He nods his head reassuringly. "Go. I'm okay. Besides, I've got Lorne and Carson to keep me company."

There's no way I can just let Michael think he's got his way. Netia taps her earpiece, 'Colonel Carter, do you mind if I join,' She looks down at Tagan. 'After I drop of this little one?'

Carter taps her earpiece to answer Netia. "Of course, meet us in the brig after you drop Tagan off with Halling."

"I'll be there," Netia turned to Sheppard. "John, I hope you feel better and get on your feet very soon," She nodded goodbye and placed Tagan with Halling.

Harper smiles at her uncle walking over to his bed and kissing his cheek. She then stands looking at him for a moment remembering this scene as if it was déjà vu but it was only her memory of one time that her uncle had gotten hurt on the job and she was actually allowed to see him. "Take care of him boys." She states hugging Carson once again and tapping Lorne's shoulder before walking out going to the control room. She was going to find Kale even without Michael's help.

Lorne smiled at Harper as she passed him then looks at Sheppard raising an eye brow. "Poker sir?"

Sheppard watches Harper leave, a warm look in his eyes. Running his hand through his hair, John glances at Carson and Lorne. "I could go for a game. Want to join in, doc?" Carson smiles at the Colonel as he shakes his head. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass, Colonel. Maybe I'll join you later."

"You better doc." Lorne pulls out a deck of cards and sits down by Sheppard. "So feeling better sir?" He questions while dealing out the cards.

Sheppard lets out a breath, scratching the side of his face lightly. "Yeah, but something tells me that I'm gonna be stuck in here for awhile."

Lorne dealt the cards out looking at his own then back to Sheppard. "No offense Sir but you kind of took a heaping of pain while you were crazy."

Sheppard picks up his cards with his good hand, glancing at them briefly. "And apparently I dealt some out." He replies with a serious expression on his face.

Lorne nods. "Yes you did but it wasn't really you."

Sheppard lays down one of his card, picking up another from the deck. "I could've stopped it though," he answers simply.

Lorne smiles placing a card down. "No you couldn't have. No one could but sir do you remember anything when you were out?"

Sheppard leans his head back against his pillow. "There are a few things..."

"You should talk to someone about it Shep." He smiles.

Sheppard blows out a breath. "Nah, I'm not so good with that sort of things. It's all in bits and pieces anyway."

Lorne smiles at him. "Well I will have to talk to you about the talk I had with you while you were out. I know you'll have a comment for it."

A smile crosses Sheppard's face as a brief memory flashes across his mind. "I recall something about you in charge of the SGC."

Lorne lowers his head almost embarrassed that Sheppard remember."So what do you think sir?"

With a wry smile on his face, Sheppard answers Lorne. "Better you than me is all I've got to say."

Lorne smiles at John. "Oh come on you wouldn't want to boss around more people then you do now?"

John shakes his head. "Too much paperwork involved."

Lorne smiles. "Yes but I like leading something important."

Sheppard chuckles a bit, laying his cards down in his lap. "That's why you'll be good for the job. Besides, rather have you dealing with the politicians than me."

Lorne smiles at Sheppard. "And plus you'll love a friend on your side."

"That's a plus." Sheppard replies with a half-smile on his face.

Lorne nods as he places his cards down. "Looks like you won, sir."

Sheppard glances down at his cards. "Guess so. Play again?"

Carson smiles as he leaves the two men to play their card game while he goes check to on Keller.

Keller sits at a terminal looking over some data from the virus that had been in Sheppard. She rubs her temple with her good arm and closes her eyes for a moment. She looks up when she hears feet shuffling nearby.

Carson enters the room to find Keller sitting at one of the few data terminals scattered throughout the infirmary. "Oh, I thought you went back to your room, Jennifer."

Keller sighed, "I was but then decided to look over a few things. I want to make sure we do not encounter this virus again."

Carson nods, a friendly smile lighting his face. "Aye, I was about to archive the test results...just in case." His eyes soften a bit as he looks at Keller. "How is your shoulder feeling?"

Keller shrugs her shoulders and then winces. I probably shouldn't have done that. Ignoring the pain, she replies, "I'm fine, Carson."

Carson gives Keller a half-smile before sighing. "All right, just don't overdo it."

Keller smiles, "Certainly, Doctor. I'll be finished soon and then I'm going to retire to my quarters."

Carson nods his head in acceptance, moving toward one of the other terminals. "Good. Can't have our chief medical advisor out of commission." He adds with a wink.

Keller laughs quietly returning Carson's smile. He sure has way to make people feel better. Her eyes return to the terminal as she completes her work.

Rodney sat in his room which felt like a prison because of what he just done. He then gets up and opens his door to find Harper there.

"What do you want?" Rodney questions.

"Can't I just stop in." Harper smirks as she pushes past McKay and sits down on his bed. She bounces on it. "Aw soft."

"I have back problems." He states sitting down on the bed also. "What do you want Harper?"

A huge grin comes across her face. "You are going to help me find Kale well the real one."

"Why?" McKay questions raising his eye brow.

"Cause Uncle John can't and you owe him."

"You owe him." McKay shakes his head. "Where do we start?"

Harper grabs Rodney's arm and drags him out of the room. He looks at her like she is a crazy person. "Don't worry McKay I have a plan."

Michael was flexing his well Kale's body. His shirt was off and he looked over his new found body to see his muscles. He heard someone walking into the room but did not bother to look to see who it was. "Can I get a mirror in here?"

Teyla followed Carter into the brig with Ronon not far behind. Teyla rolled her eyes as she heard Michael's vain comment. "You're not here for pleasure." Thinking for a moment, she decided to try another approach changing the tone her voice a little softer, "Michael, how are you able to control Kale's body?"

As Netia entered the brig, she could she Kale's body, but the eyes were very much different. She joined the group, but kept her eyes focused on Michael.

Michael smiled. "I'm not." He states walking closer to her without the brig zapping him. "This is my own body Kale has his body it's just not here."

Teyla smiles sweetly at Michael through clenched teeth. She asks, "Why do you look like Kale? How is that possible?"

Carter eyes Michael, studying him quietly. She can feel the intensity coming from Ronon as he stands beside her. Glancing sideways, Sam can see the dark sneer that he is shooting Michael. Can't blame him either. Sam turns her attention back to Michael when Teyla begins to speak. It had been decided that Teyla would start the interrogation off again with a new tack. If that didn't work, then Sam would go and then finally Ronon would have a shot. This seems promising. Colonel Carter thinks after Michael actually answers Teyla. Her attention is drawn to the door when Netia walks in. Nodding a hello, Carter motions for Netia to join her and Ronon by the wall. "We might be getting somewhere." Sam offers in a low whisper, her eyes back on Teyla and Michael.

Michael smiles kindly at Teyla. "It's possible because I made it possible. Just like I my clone tried to do with Sheppard." His eyes gleam in an uncertain way.

Teyla turns her head slightly raising one eyebrow and batting her eyes at him. She continues, "Could you explain it to me? I'm very curious about your work, Michael."

Netia noticed Teyla's strategy. What is his gain from this?

"Why don't you come in here with me then maybe I'll tell you." He smirks knowing what she is trying to do.

Teyla turns toward Carter waiting for her approval. "Col, please," she asks hesitantly.

Don't let me come in there... Netia stood closer towards Ronon trying to calm him. She coughed to get Michael's attention. "Can you explain, please."

Carter glances at Teyla with uncertainty in her eyes. She shifts her gaze to Michael who has a disturbing smile on his face. Folding her arms across her chest, Sam shakes her head and meets Teyla's gaze. "No, I'm not going to risk it." Briefly eyeing Ronon, she continues. "You can explain it with everyone where they are now."

Ronon glares at Michael, his muscles tense and ready for action. If he does ANYTHING wrong... He works to control his anger in hopes that he'll get a chance to interrogate Michael. At hearing Michael's comment though, Ronon nearly loses his temper. Don't let me come in there... The soft touch of Netia's hand on his arm distracts him from his thoughts. "What?" He asks in a low whisper, his eyes still on Michael.

Michael smirks and starts to laugh but this laugh is just like Kale's. He turns to them shaking his head. "You're the good guys yeah right. Here I am looking like a fellow member of your team but still you are willing to beat me up though you have no idea what that would do to Kale." He waves a pointer finger at them. "No no."

Teyla's eyes narrow, her smile now replaced with a serious expression. "Please, Michael. Tell us about your work," she pleads. She takes a deep breath in and out before continuing, "What do you want from us?"

Michael smiles. "Oh it's what you want from me." He chuckles a bit while walking around. "What if I said I knew where a ZPM storage building was."

Teyla raises an eyebrow looking intensely into Michael's cold eyes. "Please, Michael. We just want Kale back. After that, maybe we can help you with your work," she replies. "Atlantis has a lot of resources that could be useful to you," she continues without waiting for Carter's permission. She had been around Sheppard long enough to know how to bluff when dealing with the enemy.

Michael only gives her a look. "Don't play me to be stupid. I need something better before I can tell you."

Finally we're getting somewhere. Teyla smiles, "What did you have in mind?"

"I want a ZPM." He smirks. "Or Atlantis either way."

Surprising everyone in the room, Teyla glares at Michael and responds, "There is no way in hell you are getting Atlantis." She softens her gaze before continuing, "Where is this ZPM factory you mentioned?"

Michael had a small smiles on his face well Kale's. If anyone didn't know who he was they would all be friendly to Kale's smile. "I was bluffing like you were."

Teyla glares at him, "You know we don't have any spare ZPMs around. Is there anything else we can interest you in, Michael?"

"Well killing you all of course but I doubt you will let me do that." He chuckles as he looks around. "I might be able to think of something that will suit you but I know you will kill me anyways."

Teyla takes a deep breath in and then releases running her hands through her hair. "Please, Michael," she begs, "what do you want that we can give you?"

Michael smiles. "A ZPM."

Carter listens to the exchange between Teyla and Michael. She is slightly shocked when Teyla offers to make a deal without consulting her first but decides to let it go for the moment. I'll have to talk to her about that later. As the conversation continues, Sam begins to get the feeling that Michael is playing them for fools. Finally fed up, she interrupts the interrogation. "Teyla..." Sam calls as she motions her over to the group.

Ronon is still watching Michael when Teyla tries her bluff. He too had been around Sheppard long enough to realize that Teyla was using one of his bluffs. A small smile flits across his face. Never fails... His frown returns though when Michael's tone takes on, what he believes to be, a mocking sort of tone. Unfolding his arms, he flexes his muscles in a warm-up. I'll wipe that smirk off his face. Then he hears Michael's comment about killing him anyway. "Yep."

Teyla steps away from the cell and closer to Carter. Carter heads out the door of the brig, Teyla follows with Netia and Ronon right behind her. "Yes, Colonel?" she asks.

Carter's eyes flit from Netia to Ronon before landing on Teyla. "I don't like where this interrogation is going, Teyla. He's playing a game with us, making us go around in circles."

Teyla nods, "What should we do then, Colonel?"

Carter sighs, frustration beginning to build. "You could always let me in there with me." Ronon offers with a dark smile on his face. Sam shakes her head as she gazes down at the floor. "Beating him is only going to make him silent." She lifts her eyes to glance around at the others. "Any other suggestions?"

Teyla replies, "Maybe I should speak with him alone." She looks at Ronon before continuing, "If it doesn't work, we can try something else."

Harper and Rodney were now in the operations center looking over the last 100 address they had dialed. So far they weren't getting much luck with a clue to where Kale was.

"When was the last time you saw Kale?" Harper questions while typing in a broader search.

Rodney looks at her not amused by the woman's question. "Um when he shut off the power to the city. You?"
Harper slaps the back of Rodney's head as she remembers that he was still recovering. She gives an apologetic look. "I meant the real Kale Doofus."

He glares at her holding the back of his head then scoffs at her. "Thanks for saying sorry. Well I don't know since we only know that Kale has been Michael for what like 3 seconds."

"It's been more then that." She cuts him off. "Um hey when did Kale arg Michael start calling us by our whole names?"

Rodney shakes his head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Harper glares at him sternly. "Oh I don't know Rod."

Rodney's eyes look downward knowing now what Harper meant. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well I don't know."

"Think of the last time you can remember Kale acting like himself."

"He was acting perfectly fine to me till today."

"Rodney!" Harper states almost ready to slap him again but stops herself.

He backs away and grunts. "Fine not sure how much good this will do..It was 7 months ago."

Rodney McKay sat on his hospital bed waiting for Carson or Jen to make their way back over to comfort him.

"Hey there Rod!"

Rodney sighed as he sniffled yet again wiping his nose now staring at Major Kale Emerson who stood there smiling at McKay who just glared back at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Cant a friend just come see his sick friend?" Kale sat down on the chair next to the bed. "Besides I brought soup." He handed it to Rodney.

Rodney looked at Kale then to the soup. Chicken noodle my favorite. As much as he hated to admit, even in his own head, Kale had became a friend to him since they would play pranks on Lorne and Zelenka. "Thanks Kale."

Kale smiled and patted Rodney's shoulder. "No problem Rod."

Rod! "Don't call me that."

"Ok get some rest I'll check back in after I get dinner. I'll join you back here to eat." He stated walking tot the door turning back to him. "Don't even think about asking for blue jello Mere!"

Rodney glared at the back of Kale's head as his friend walked off. If he had to pick Rod was better then Mere.

"Mere awe cute." Harper smiled as Rodney gave her a look.

"What about you Ms. Know it all?"

Harper smiled knowing that her memory would help them more.

5 Months Ago

"Harp wait up!" Kale called as he ran to catch up to her.

Harper stops letting him get to her. "Hey Kale what's up?"

Kale smiled rubbing the back of his head. "Oh just wondering if you can help me with my mission report."

Harper gives him a questioning look as he smiles. "I think I deleted it."

"Ah!" She states as they walk to her lab. She sits down and beings typing away looking back up at him. "Why do you call people by shorter names?"

Kale sits down and smiles now giving her a questionable look. "I do?"

Harper nods. "Harp, Rod, Tey, Kel, Shep, Lor, and Ron. Heck you even call Sam S."

As Kale is about to reply his radio sounds off. "Major we need you in the gate room." Kale gets up. "Duty calls."

Harper nods. "I'll send you your file when it's done."

"Thanks Harp." He states walking out then poking his head back in. "Oh its what I do."

Harper shakes her head. "It's what I do." "He does that a lot well before his accident."

Rodney snaps his fingers then grabs Harper pulling her in for a hug. "That's it!"

"That's what?" She questions uncertain about the hug he pulled her into.

"Ever since he came back from that mission Kale has been well Michael." He states letting go of her.

Patting Rodney's back she states. "That's it Rodney! Thanks to my idea we got it!"

Rodney looks at her. "I helped too."

"Un huh sure you did." She states now typing Kale's name into the computer scrolling down top his last mission report. M5J-557.

Rodney taps his radio to Sam's channel and chuckles. "Sam...ow!" Harper slaps his head. "I mean we found where Kale is."

Carter shakes her head with a stony expression on her face. "You're not going in there alone. Michael's calculating and manipulative and as much as I hate to admit it, he's got us backed into a corner right now." The crackle of static in her ear makes her pause. Lifting her hand to her ear, Sam calls back to Rodney. "Say again, Rodney?"

Rodney smiles. "We found Kale. The real one he has to be on M5J-557. That's where he had his accident so it makes most sense."

Carter's eyes widen in surprise when she hears Rodney's news. "That's great work, Rodney. We're on our way." Lowering her hand, Sam looks at the others with a triumphant grin lighting her face. "Harper and Rodney think they know where Major Emerson is."

Teyla sighs in relief, "Thank goodness." She follows Carter down the hallway to where Rodney and Harper are working.

Harper smiles at Rodney. "Thanks for saying we."

Rodney looks at her. "Thanks for not hitting me." He sighs. "Now we wait."

Carter enters the control room with Ronon, Netia, and Teyla in tow. "What have you got?"

Rodney smiles. "We found Kale. The real one. He has to be on the planet that Michael ambushed his team on where he had that supposed accident." He states using air quotes are supposed accident.

Teyla sighs and turns to Carter, "Should we assemble our team and Major Lorne's?"

Carter's brows crease in thought as she recalls Kale's last assigned mission. "You mean M5J-557?" At Rodney's confirmation, Sam turns to Ronon and Teyla. "Yes. Go get suited up. I'll inform Major Lorne."

Teyla nods heading off to suit up with Ronon on her heels.

Rodney smiles. "I'm going to rest then." Thinking he can go sleep and not go on another mission.

Sam turns to look at Rodney. "You're going too, McKay."

Rodney looks at Sam as Harper pushes his off. "Have fun Rod!" She turns to Sam. "What do we do with Michael now?"

Rodney follows Teyla and Ronon. He sighs getting ready. "I don't see why I have to go."

Carter sighs and shakes her head. "I'm not sure yet."

"Because." Ronon answers simply and brusquely.

Teyla laughs and smiles at Ronon as she hears Rodney complaining about going on the mission. "He never changes does he?"

"Nope," comes Ronon's short reply as he glances back at Rodney for a nano-second.

Netia sighed a breath of relief when Rodney said Kale was ok. "Colonel Carter," Netia asked before she turned away. "Would you mind if I help rescue Kale? I want to make sure he gets back safely."

Carter stares at Netia briefly as she debate on whether or not to let Netia go on the mission. Coming to a decision, Sam nods and motions after Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney. "Just be careful and stick with one of them at all times."

Ronon follows after Teyla with an odd light in his eye. "Guess we don't need Michael after all."

Teyla smiles as they both walk down the hallway. "I'm very grateful. I don't think I could have handled much more with him."

"Nice bluffing." Ronon states as they round a corner. "Sounded like something Sheppard would do."

Teyla chuckles, "Yes, I've picked up a few techniques from him when dealing with the enemy. He has a unique style."

Ronon nods in agreement. "Yep. Easy to spot...that's for sure."

Teyla laughs at Ronon's assessment. "Definitely," she replies.

Harper smiles. "I think wow I don't have anything to do. I like this."

Carter laughs as she lifts her hand to her radio. "Major Lorne, Harper and Rodney have determined Major Emerson's location. Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, and Netia are on their way to the locker room if you'd like to meet them there with your team."

Lorne taps his radio. "I'll meet them in the jumper Ma'am." He taps his radio off then looks at Sheppard. "They found Kale. I gotta go." He stresses as he gets up walking to the door looking back at Sheppard. "Rest up sir."

Sheppard nods to Lorne, a slightly displeased look in his eyes. "I'm not makin' any promises."

Kat was had been leaning on the door frame of the infirmary lost in thought. She blinked, coming back to the present at the mention of Kale. "Good luck major," she said to him as he walked by on his way out the door. Kat grinned," and I'll try to make sure he gets some rest."

Sheppard scrunches his eyebrows in an amused expression. "This'll be interesting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kat said, glaring at him; pretending to taking offense.

Sheppard raises his eyebrows in an innocent look. "Nothing...just that I'm not one for all this lying around."

"Neither am I," she sits down and picks up the cards a starts to shuffle them, not really having a game in mind. "Do you want anything to eat?" Kat asked.

Sheppard rubs the back of his neck thoughtfully. "I could go for a turkey sandwich."

"Do you want blue jello with that?" she asks, putting the cards down. Kat stands up to leave to get them some food.

Sheppard frowns in fake offense. "I'm not McKay. I'll take the green jello." He finishes with a boyish grin.

Kat rolls her eyes, "Very well, I like the red jello personally." Under her breath she mutters, "at least I'll have some company for dinner." With Lorne on an away mission, there wasn't much of a chance that he would carry out his threat to make her eat dinner.

Sheppard watches Kat leave before settling back against his pillow. He stares up at the ceiling, his thoughts going to his team on their mission. Wonder if they'll notice I'm missing...

Kat hurries to the mess hall, hoping Sheppard doesn't try to make a run for it. Although she doubted he would get very far. Reaching the kitchen she picked up two trays of food including turkey sandwiches, jello both red and green, some fruit, and some vegetables sticks. Then she made her way back taking care not to drop anything.

After informing Lorne, Carter lowers her hand and looks over at Harper. "I need to talk with Colonel Sheppard. Would you like to come?"

Harper smiles and nods, "I would like that."

Carter smiles at Harper. "We'll head to the infirmary once Major Lorne and the others leave."

Rodney looks over at Teyla and Ronon. "What are you talking about?"

As they continue down the hallway, Teyla answers Rodney, "Just discussing John's distinctive fighting tactics." She glances at Ronon and both of them chuckle.

Rodney looks at her. "Really?" He raises an eye brow. "Come on! Tell me."

Teyla rolls her eyes, "Honestly, Rodney. Are you always this nosey?" She looks at Ronon out of the corner of her eye and they both continue laughing.

Ronon looks over his shoulder at Rodney. "You haven't noticed it?" He asks Rodney as he shoots Teyla a conspiratorial smile.

Teyla beams, "It's so obvious. How could you not notice, Rodney?" She turns her head away to stifle a laugh coming up in her throat.

Rodney looks at Teyla. "I'm not nosey." He then grunts when they start to make fun of him. "Notice what? You two making fools of me."

Lorne smiles and walks out of the room heading to where the team was. He walks into the room. "Ok you guys ready?"

Teyla smiles at Rodney but her expression becomes serious as soon as Lorne approaches, "Yes, Major. We are ready."

Ronon opens his mouth to make a comment but is interrupted by Lorne's entrance. Without missing a beat, he turns to Lorne and answers..."I was born ready."

Lorne looks at Ronon and smiles. "You watch too many movies."

Rodney walks with the group heading for the jumper. "We better be able to rest after this mission."

Ronon nonchalantly shrugs as they enter the jumper bay. "You'll get over it." He calls over his shoulder gruffly in answer to Rodney's complaining.

Teyla smiles, "I'm sure you will be able to catch up on sleep later, Rodney." As they walk into the jumper, she murmurs under her breath to Ronon, "I hope Rodney keeps quiet on this mission."

"Never happen." Ronon states softly, inclining his head pointedly in Rodney and Lorne's direction.

Rodney gets into the jumper and sits down at the controls as Lorne gives him a glare.

"Move over McKay. I better drive this thing."

Rodney glares at him and whines. "But I have the gene too. Let me fly this thing."

"You had the gene implanted. I didn't."

"Not fair. I can fly this thing it doesn't matter on how I got the gene."

Lorne looks at him. "Like you can fly any better than I can."

"Can so."

"Sheppard flies when you are on missions. I'm the leader of my team."

"Which one of your members has been Michael for months..."

Teyla rolls her eyes at Rodney, her eyes blazing at him. "Rodney, I believe Major Lorne is in command as this is a military situation," she states using a phrase from the handbook of John Sheppard.

Rodney looks at Teyla and then glares at Lorne who drags him by the jacket to the other chair. "Fine fine."

Lorne smiles as he dials the gate up. "Here we go boys and girls."

Rodney looks at him. "Teyla is the only girl here."

"Keep thinking that Rodney." Lorne chuckles as they fly into the gate.

Ronon smiles in amusement at Rodney as he glares at Lorne. "Never gets old." He remarks to Teyla just as they enter the gate.

Teyla covers her mouth hiding her snickers from Lorne's comments. She glances over at Ronon sitting to her left and whispers, "Too bad Sheppard is missing this."

Ronon grins with laughter in his eyes. "We'll have to fill him in later."

Harper nods at Sam. "I just hope they find Kale."

Carter lets out a soft sigh. "Me too, Harper. We weren't having much luck with the interrogation so this is quite possibly our only shot." She looks over at the active gate, seeing the jumper lower from the jumper bay. "Good luck, Major." Sam says as she watches the jumper enter the event horizon before turning back to Harper. "Ready to go to the infirmary?"

Harper touches Sam shoulder. "If not we can always kill Michael for fun."

Carter looks at Harper when she hears her odd comment. Noting the thoughtful stare, Sam walks up to her and taps her on the shoulder. "Ready to go?" She repeats with an amused smile on her face.

Harper looks at her and smiles. "Sure." Putting her head down looking at the floor as they walk.

Carter glances at Harper as the two of them walk. "I'm sure Colonel Sheppard would love your idea...about killing Michael that is."

Harper smiles looking up. "I hope so. We need to do something with him."

Carter nods, a frown replacing her smile. "He certainly has caused a lot of problems for us. I just don't know what to do with him at this point." She lets out a soft sigh. "We'll figure it out."

As the team gets to the planet Lorne cloaks the jumper landing it by a old building. It's a rust brown color and the roof was half way off.

Lorne smiles grabbing his gear heading out of the jumper. "Looks like a crap shack Michael would use."

Teyla replies, "Indeed, Major Lorne." She stands up quickly grabbing her P-90 following Lorne out of the jumper.

"Am I not a girl?" Netia questions Rodney as she checks her vest. She playfully shoots him a mean stare as she crosses her arms. "Then again, I'm pretty sure I could beat you up," Netia smirks.

Rodney looks at Netia. "Sorry heat of the moment forgot you were behind me." He states going to the back of the jumper grabbing a P-90.

Lorne stands with Teyla and Ronon as McKay and Netia join him. He turns to the group. "Ok Ronon you take Netia and I'll take Teyla and McKay. You can go to the basement area and well will hit the surface."

Teyla nods with her P-90 ready to fire and follows Lorne with Rodney following behind her.

Lorne looks at Ronon and Netia walk away as he then starts walking having McKay and Teyla follow behind. The building is abandon and no noise is around.

Ronon nods, turning to gaze at Netia. "You ready?"

Netia checks her gun. "I'm ready when you are big guy."

With a short nod, Ronon motions for her to follow him down the hall. "Stay close and shoot anything not wearing an Atlantis jacket."

Netia follows Ronon, keeping a watchful eye. "Then should I shoot you?" Netia smiles pointing at Ronon vest.

Ronon shoots a look over his shoulders at Netia. "You'd never get a shot off." He remarks in amusement.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to show you?" Netia raises her eyebrow as she nudges Ronon with her gun.

Ronon lifts a challenging eyebrow at Netia, a slight smile on his face. Suddenly, he becomes very serious as a noise catches his attention. He lifts his hand in a motion signaling Netia to stop. The ex-runner readies his weapon, setting it to kill just as...

"What do you hear, Ronon?" Netia searched in the direction Ronon was looking. She suddenly felt the presence also. Rising up her P-90, Netia could make out the shadow of a figure. As she blinked and looked again, the figured disappeared. She relaxed and looked towards Ronon, "Just our minds playing tricks." Just Netia turned around, a hybrid stood there. "Ronon!"

Ronon whips around at Netia's surprised call. Even before he's fully turned, his weapon is aimed and he fires. The hybrid falls lifelessly to the ground as a small contingent of hybrids turn the corner. "Time to get in some practice." He quips over the sound of weapons fire, both he and Netia taking cover behind some crates.

"Yeah. You've been a little off your game lately," Netia gives a quick smile to Ronon as she shoots at the hybrids. A hybrid manages to get close to Netia. She jabs him in the stomach and kicks him away. While she is distracted, another hybrid sneaks up behind her and grabs her, restraining her movement. "Ronon! Now's a good time for practice!"

Ronon jabs his sword into the stomach of a hybrid just as Netia screams out. His sword still in the soldier, he turns his head to assess the situation. In one fluid motion, Ronon holsters his energy pistol, pulls out a knife, and flings it at Netia's captor. The impact causes the hybrid to loosen his grip and allow Netia to escape. As Netia moves, Ronon retrieves his pistol from its holster and fires the finishing shot. He then retrieves his sword from the fallen hybrid soldier closest to him. "You okay?"

Netia gets up from the floor and brushes herself off. "Yes. I'm fine. It took you long enough, but I'm fine." She sweeps the room with her gun to check for any more hybrid soldiers. "So, you want to lead the way or is it ladies first?"

Ronon lifts an eyebrow at Netia. "Sorry." He says simply as he moves to retrieve his knife. The Satedan wipes his blade and puts it away before turning back to Netia. There is a brief silence as Ronon looks around the complex, motioning to the left with his head. "This way."

"It's too quiet. I didn't even see any darts around." Lorne states as they enter the main part of the building.

Teyla scouts around looking for signs of trouble, "I agree but I don't sense any Wraith nearby."

Meanwhile in a room sat Kale Emerson half awake but not having food or water in for 5 days well he thought it had been 5 days he couldn't remember. Don't worry it will be ok. He fell asleep as the dripping noise of water went into his mind.

Rodney looks at Teyla. "So we came here for no reason!"

Lorne looks at him and grabs his jacket. "We came here to get my best friend back so shut up McKay."

Rodney looks at Lorne who walks away. "I shouldn't talk should I?"

Teyla glares at Rodney asking in a gentle tone, "Rodney, please can you keep quiet?"

Rodney looks at her and sighs. "I had 5 cups of coffee. I'm hyped now."

Lorne turns his head back to the two. "Are you coming or not?"

Teyla sighs pushing Rodney along, "Yes, Major." She continues walking scanning the area suddenly stopping pulling Rodney back.

Rodney stops looking around fixing his gun. "What is it?"

Teyla frowns, "I'm not sure. I thought I heard something. Major Lorne?" No longer is he in her sight. I wonder where Lorne went.

Harper nods as they walk into Sheppard's room. "Causing trouble?"

Sheppard is still staring at the ceiling when Kat enters the room, her pace brisk even for her. "In a hurry to get somewhere?" He asks as she places his tray on his lap. He laughs at Harper's smart remarks just as she and Carter walk into the room. "Me? Trouble? I think you've confused me with another colonel."

"I don't know, what do you think?" Kat says. I think dinner with Lorne would have been safer. She nods at Harper and Carter as they enter," Hi Harper. Hello Colonel."

Harper sits down and eyes Sam. "Oh yeah how could I forget." Rolling her eyes at her uncle.

Carter laughs at Sheppard's remark. There's only one colonel on Atlantis...

Sheppard smiles at his niece as he picks up his turkey sandwich. "I'm pretty popular today apparently."

Kat looks at Sam and Harper. "So do either of you want anything to eat, too," she asks dryly.

Harper shakes her head at Kat. "No thanks." She looks to her uncle. "Being crazy makes you popular. You should have tried that years ago."

Sam raises a hand, shaking her head. "No thanks, Kat."

Kat draws up a chair, and sits down, she takes a bite of her sandwich, and almost chokes at Harper's words. Kat laughs,"I thought he was crazy already."

Harper smiles at her friend. "No that's a different kind of crazy."

"I suppose....well, being that we're all in a galaxy far far away, we must have all lost a few marbles to be a sane as we are." Kat said, then added under her breath," if that makes any sense."

Lorne is looking around. Where is he. He has to be here. I came all this way I better find him.

Rodney looks at her just as a wraith hybrid comes up behind Teyla. "Teyla!"

The hybrid grabs Teyla's arm and spins her around.

Teyla quickly kicks the hybrid high in the stomach knocking him down. Another hybrid grabs Rodney from behind around his neck picking him up off the ground.

A shot is fired off at the hybrid that has McKay. Rodney is thrown to the ground as Lorne walks over to him. "Causing trouble again?"

The hybrid pulls out a knife and slashes Teyla's leg but not deep just enough for blood to flow. He tries to pull her down. "What are you doing here?"

Teyla doesn't answer the hybrid distracting him by throwing a punch toward his face. As the hybrid focuses on thwarting her punch, she knocks him to the ground pinning him with a knife he used on her. Just as she is about to slice his throat…

The hybrid grabs Teyla's leg. "I know where he is."

Teyla glares at him still holding him down to the ground in a tight hold with the knife close to his throat. "You know where who is?" she questions.

He chuckles like Michael would have. "The one you call Emerson. Or maybe it's some stranger we picked up to use as him."

Teyla pushes the knife harder against his throat breaking the skin allowing some of his blood to begin to flow out. "Where is Emerson?" she asks angrily.

The hybrid looks at her. "Um around."

Teyla holds the knife on him as she picks up her P-90 a few steps away. She pushes the hybrid up releasing the knife off his throat but still holding his arm with her P-90 aimed at his head. "Show me, now, " she commands.

Lorne walks over to Teyla. "I don't think he knows Teyla. He won't tell us."

Teyla's eyebrows raise in surprise at Lorne's magical return. I wonder where he has been. "Very well, Major. What should we do with him?" she asks not releasing her grip on him.

Lorne looks angrily. "Get rid of him."

Teyla looks at Lorne in surprise. "Are you sure, Major?" she questions.

Lorne nods. "He is pulling our legs. We don't know for every minute we sit and talk to him Kale is out there getting tortured."

Teyla nods, "Very well, Major." She pushes the hybrid to the ground pulling out the knife and slits his throat in one easy move. The hybrid's head flops over blood gushing out…dead. Teyla looks at Lorne, "Let's resume our search."

Rodney stands there and gags on the air he was breathing in. "Oh man oh man. That is so wrong." He then turns away holding on the building to keep up.

Lorne looks at McKay then at Teyla. "Good now we got work to do."

Teyla rolls her eyes at Rodney at pulls the bloody knife up in the air and tells him, "Watch out…you might be next." She laughs and follows behind Lorne on the search for Emerson.

Rodney shakes his head. "Not funny guys."

Lorne chuckles as he points to two doors they can go in. "Door one or door number two?"

Teyla laughs as she throws the hybrid's knife on the ground. "This would be a good time for you to use one of your devices, Rodney to check what's inside each door," she says looking directly at Rodney with both eyebrows raised.

Rodney looks at her. "No busy trying to breathe right now."

Lorne looks at him. "McKay!"

Rodney looks at him. "Fine." He pulls out his life signs detector." He points to door number 1. "Go with number 1. It has people or hybrids over there."

Teyla smiles at Rodney, "Thank you." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head as Rodney waits for both Lorne and herself to go through the door first. "Rodney, maybe you should be in the middle. More protection."

"Good Idea." He states in a chipper tone. "Makes the most sense."

"Sure." Lorne states walking down the hall. He turns to his left and notices another door. "Guess this way." He states walking into the other room.

Teyla nods pushing Rodney along with her P-90 ready for any signs of trouble.

Sheppard shoots Kat and Harper a hurt look. "You've been hanging around McKay and Lorne too long."

"You've been hanging out with them longer than I have," Kat pointed out.

Sheppard lifts an eyebrow at Kat. "That makes me the sane one."

"What? You've lost me. Lorne I can see as sane, but McKay, not really." Kat looked around confused. Yep, dinner with Lorne would have been much safer, after all he is the 'sane' one. She met Harper's eyes and mouths "help me."

Harper shakes her head and mouths. 'Sorry.' She then gets up looking out the door to see Jennifer sleeping on a cot. "You owe Keller a lot, Shep," she states to her uncle.

Sheppard frowns over at the door Harper is looking out of. Blowing out a breath, he rubs his neck thoughtfully. "Yeah, I know. Especially an apology."

Harper smiles. "Yes you do."

Sheppard looks over at his niece, Kat, and Carter. "Which reminds me, I think I owe you three something along the same lines."

Harper looks at her uncle. "It's ok I've seen you worse." She smiles as her uncle gives her a look. "Ok maybe not but still."

Sheppard frowns deeply at Harper. He knows that what he put them all through will not be easily forgotten. "Still..." "Forget about it Colonel." Carter interrupts him before he can finish. "It was out of your control...and ours."

Harper sits on his bed. "And it's not like we could kill you. I mean we can't lose this face." She pinches his cheeks.

Sam laughs at the expression on Sheppard's face as he stares up at his niece. "All right young lady." He says in his best authoritative tone. "Don't make me pull rank."

Harper looks at him. "Geez fine can't you take a joke you make enough of them."

Sheppard's frown suddenly changes to a smile. "Look who's talking..."

"I should be allowed. I'm the cute niece." She smiles as she blinks her eyes.

Keller's vision was starting to blur. She would do John no good if she prescribed him the wrong medication. The cot in her office was lump and uncomfortable. It would have to do since she didn't want to leave the infirmary and wouldn't take a bed for herself.

"You're the only niece." Sheppard quips, rolling his eyes playfully.

Carter watches the banter between niece and uncle with amusement in her eyes.

He leans back against his chair and takes a deep breath. "All done." Carson states as he gathers up all of his papers. That's quite a bit of information. The doctor glances up at the clock to check the time. "Ah, that late already?" He finishes organizing his papers and places them in the file cabinet near the desk. Time for my rounds. Stepping out of the lab, he makes his way throughout the infirmary. Dr. Beckett is just about to Colonel Sheppard's room when he spots Keller lying on a cot in her office. A small smile crosses his face as he knocks softly at the door. "I thought you were going to your room to rest."

Keller's face scrunched up in reluctance to wake up. "Couldn't quite make myself leave." She moved, carefully, to a sitting position. Every inch in her body protested. There was no way she'd admitted she couldn't go to her room or that dreams had plagued her.

Carson nods, a friendly smile lighting his eyes. "Have you been able to get any rest?"

"Can you define that?" Maybe a high powered sleeping aid would help.

Carson sighs as he glances at Keller's injured shoulder. "I take that as a no." He studies Jennifer momentarily, concern on his face. "Have you taken anything to help you sleep?"

"Not really…thinking about some sleep aids but I just hate taking them. Although I'm no good to my patients if I'm half asleep," Keller replies.

Carson nods in agreement, his eyes soft with concern. "You need some rest. I'll prescribe you something if you'd like."

"Thank you." Keller stood up from the cot feeling even more things stretch and crack.

Carson smiles at Keller, moving over to the medicine cabinet. "No problem, Jennifer. Would you like any pain killers for your shoulder?"

Shoulder how about my whole body. "Yes that would be nice," she replies.

Carson grins as he pulls both a sleep aid and pain killer out of the infirmary's medical supplies. "This should take care of the pain and help you rest." He hands the medicines over to Keller, studying her as he does so. "Is there anything else I can do, Jennifer?"

Keller studied the pills biting her lip, "Is it ok if I crash in your room I'm just not ready to go back to mine?"

Carson's eyes soften at Keller's hesitancy and fear. "As long as you need to." He answers gently, closing the cabinet door. "You should talk about it." Beckett adds as he locks the medicine cabinet.

"Thank you." Maybe Temp could have a session with her just a casual one. She popped the pills walking towards the door, "Oh and can you look in on some of my patients?"

Carson Beckett smiles at Keller and lightly nods his head. "I'll be glad to, Jennifer. Just get some rest."

"I will," Keller made her way to Carson's room collapsing on the bed the minute it was in reach.

Carson watches Keller as she makes her way out of the infirmary. With a smile and a light shake of his head, the good doctor begins his, and Jennifer's, rounds for the evening.

Harper smiles at her uncle. "Sure." She then looks at Sam. "So how do you think the team is doing?"

Sheppard shifts his gaze to Carter with expectant eyes. Sam looks down at her watch thoughtfully before answering. "I'm sure they're doing fine. Major Lorne has Ronon and Teyla to back him up and speed things along. How long have they been gone?" John asks as he leans forward slightly. "About an hour or so. They are due to check-in in another 3 hours." Carter answers with a small smile. I should be with them. Sheppard thinks to himself, a slight frown clouding his face.

Harper looks at her uncle. "Whatever you are thinking Uncle John don't. It will just cause you trouble."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sheppard quips innocently resting his head against the pillow. Definitely should be out there.

Harper rolls her eyes at him. "Sure you don't. I wonder if Kale knows what Michael has been doing."

"From the way Michael described his connection to Major Emerson I'd have to assume that he does." Sam replies as she grabs one of the chairs and sits down.

"But how? Michael isn't that smart!" She states waving her hands up. She then looks around at them eye her. "Fine he is an evil genius."

Sheppard lets out a soft breath. "And a pain in the ass."

Carter lets out a sigh of her own. "Unfortunately, yes he is. And from what I understand of Michael's explanation, he can draw from Emerson's memories through some sort of neural connection."

Harper smiles. "Kale should have given him haunting memories."

"I don't think it works that way." Carter says with a shake of her head. "I'm sure Michael wouldn't have gotten this far if it did."

Harper sighs. "Yeah and fooled us all for months!" She looked down knowing that everyone else didn't know but felt like she had let Kale down by not seeing past Michael's charade.

Sheppard lifts his head from the pillow where it rested and looks at Harper. He had always been able to read his niece's expressions, just like she had his. "Don't worry about it, Harper. Lorne and the others will get Emerson back." A determined and devilish light enters his eyes. "Then we can repay Mickey for all the trouble he's caused."

Harper smiles at her uncle shaking her head. "Well you better rest up then cause Mikey is ticked that you killed his clone."

Sheppard scoffs at Harper's statement. "He can join the club."

Lorne turns to the left hall and now stops dead in his tracks. Some Wraith hybrids were dead on the ground. "Ronon?" He questions the two.

Teyla kneels down beside the dead hybrids and feels the remnants of their blood spilled out on the ground. She hears Rodney moan in disgust as she rubs her fingers together feeling for the warmth of the blood. She looks up at Lorne, "They've been dead for several hours. It couldn't have been Ronon or Netia that shot them."

Rodney looks at the two annoyed. "Great now we have people out there shooting hybrids and oh I don't know us!"

Lorne looks at Rodney with an evil glare. "Shut up McKay we are going to find Kale so keep up." He states walking over the bodies and then turning another corner stopping at a dead end. He looks back to the way they came and sees a wall. "Um when did that wall get there?"

Teyla rolls her eyes in annoyance at Rodney. She frowns at the dead end and replies, "I don't know. Maybe we should turn around."

Lorne looks at Teyla then to the wall. "Um we came from that way now there is a wall there."

Teyla frowns and then looks at Rodney. "Maybe you can use one of your devices in your pack to figure out of here, Rodney," Teyla commands.

Rodney looks at her. "What do you think theres a magic device that tracks which way you are going?"

Lorne looks at him. "McKay it's called a compass."

McKay looks at him. "Well sure but that won't help us."

Teyla glares at him, "Surely your genius brain can come up with a solution to get us out of here." Trying to build up Rodney's ego generally worked to motivate him…either that or impending death.

Rodney then pulls out his tablet and starts touching the screen. "Oh no." He looks up wide eyed and mouth wide open. "Well to this machine there was never a wall there."

Teyla frowns at him, "What does that mean?"

McKay looks at her angry. "I don't know Lorne got us lost."

"No I didn't McKay!" Lorne states going over to him grabbing the tablet. "You use don't know how to use this thing."

Rodney is about to punch Lorne as right in front of their eyes another wall appears.

Teyla's eyes widen at the sudden appearance of the wall. "You two are not helping things! Maybe if we move around quickly we can get out of here, "she says forcefully.

McKay looks at her and pouts. "I don't want to."

Lorne straightens up and starts walking. "Move it."

They hit another door and walk through ending up in a whole new level of the building.

Teyla follows behind Lorne surprised at the new opening. "Maybe we should try to find the gate," she comments.

Lorne looks at her somewhat angry at her statement. "And risk not finding Kale. I think not."

Teyla frowns, "It might help us reorganize to figure out where we are, Major. I did not mean to give up the search for Kale." I wonder how Ronon and Netia are doing on their search. Without waiting for Lorne's approval, she clicks her radio, "Ronon, have you found Kale yet?"

Ronon stops when he hears Teyla's voice over his radio. "Not yet. What about you? Any luck?"

Teyla replies, "No, but we seem to be stuck in some type of building with moving walls."

Ronon frowns at Teyla's statement. "Need some help?"

Teyla continues following Lorne through the maze of moving walls, "Not at the moment. Keep looking for Kale. We will contact you if we need assistance." She looks at Rodney who has a puzzled expression on his face, "Is that device telling you anything?"

Rodney looks at her. "Um we are doomed."

Ronon lowers his head slightly as he ends his conversation with Teyla. Checking his weapon, he turns to Netia. "Let's get moving. And keep an eye out."

"Well, keeping an eye out will be easy since there are hybrids all around this place, but I'll try not to sleep on the job." Netia follows Ronon, checking all of the directions.

Ronon smirks as they begin to move down the hall. "Teyla said they ran into some trouble. Walls moving and stuff."

"Moving? Do they need our help?" Netia questions.

Peering down the hall for any signs of ambush, Ronon shakes his head. "No, they'll be fine. Our job is to find Emerson." His eyes catch some movement and he swings his energy pistol in the direction. "We've got company."

"Another hybrid?" Netia whispers as she draws her gun.

Ronon frowns, repositioning for a better look. "Try 5."

Harper smiles at her uncle. "Do you need anything?"

Sheppard shakes his head, settling back against his pillows again. Oh yeah, this is going to get old fast. "I'm fine, Harper." He glances at the clock on the wall. "When was Lorne supposed to check in?"

Harper looks at him then to the clock. "Um it's been two hours." She sighed. They better be ok. "I hope they are ok."

Carter looks down at her watch in shock. I can't believe I didn't notice the time. Blowing out a breath, Sam glances over at Sheppard. "Do you think they've run into trouble?" Sheppard gives her serious eyes. "It's Michael's complex." He states simply but with a foreboding undertone.

Harper shakes her head. "You should have just said they're doomed."

Kat was glad when the conversion switched topics. She had already dug a large enough hole for herself so she didn't say anything. She sat quietly and ate her dinner. When was the last time I ate? Oh yeah lunch with Lorne, that was like... she didn't know how long ago that was. Occasionally Kat chuckled slightly at the banter between uncle and niece. When the conversation came to the more serious subject of Micheal's complex she said ,"They might not be, but probably are."

Harper looks at Kat. "Yeah but the way he said it meant they are doomed."

"I'm not disagreeing. I'm just trying to be positive....for once," Kat replied.

Harper shakes her head. "Yeah I guess you are."

"I'm just saying that they probably did run into some trouble...not doomed." John answers with a sideways glance to Harper and Kat. "Wouldn't hurt to try to reach them though."

Harper nods. "I'll go have Chuck do it." Harper taps her radio. "Chuck can you dial the gate and check on Lorne."

Chuck is monitoring the Stargate for any wormhole activity when Harper's radios him. Looking at his watch, Chuck realizes what time it is and answers "Dialing now, Harper." One by one, the 7 symbols light up as the chevrons lock into place. The event horizon shoots out of the gate and collapses, resolving itself into a sort of puddle. Chuck presses the radio in his ear. "Major Lorne, this is Atlantis. Do you read?"

Lorne hears a faint voice in his ear. "What?? Who?? I'm busy." He then taps his radio off looking at Teyla and McKay. "What? Whoever it was I couldn't hear then. Let's get a move on it." He states walking now the outer most part of the room trying to open that door.

Chuck sighs and rolls his eyes, tapping his radio as the gate shuts down. "Colonel Carter, Harper, I was able to reach Major Lorne. His response pretty faint but he says that he's busy at the moment."

Carter presses her radio to her ear so that she can hear Chuck. "Thank you, Chuck." She shifts her gaze from Harper to Sheppard and back again. "I guess that answers that."

Harper looks at Carter. "Depends on his kind of busy."

Sheppard lifts an eyebrow at Harper. "He's okay then."

Harper shakes her head. "He better be."

"And if he's not?" Kat lifts an eyebrow.

Harper looks at Kat. "We have to go save their butts."

Sam glances over to Sheppard with a questioning expression. "Give him another half hour." Sheppard answers with a shrug.

Teyla looks at Rodney with raised eyebrows wondering what was wrong with Lorne. Why didn't he realize that was Atlantis calling? She shakes her head, continues to follow Lorne, and asks, "Why do you think we are doomed, Rodney?"

Rodney looks at her. "Oh cause we are trapped and who knows who else is out there ready to kill us."

Teyla rolls her eyes at him, "We've been in tighter situations than this, Rodney. We always make it out alive."

Rodney glares at her. "You say that but what if this is the time we die then who's saying what now?"

Teyla replies, "If we die, we go out fighting. Our deaths would then be honorable. Stop your whining, Rodney."

Rodney looks at her. "Fine but I don't like it."

Teyla laughs still following behind Lorne with Rodney at her side. She sees what appears to be an opening ahead. "Major, is that an exit?" she asks. Then turning to Rodney she asks, "Are you reading anything?"

Rodney looks at the opening. "Sure it can be. Why don't you try it first?"

Lorne looks at him and pushes him through and he follows now outside of the building. "Man nice work guys."

Teyla smiles, snickering at the fearful look in Rodney's eyes as Lorne pushes him through the opening. She follows behind Lorne through the small space and replies, "Yes, now we can go help Ronon and Netia find Kale."

Lorne looks at them. "Ronon is inside looking for Kale."

Teyla nods, "He might need some back up. They may have run into some hybrids."

Lorne nods. "We need to find a way back in."

Rodney looks at him. "You got to be kidding me!"

Teyla slaps Rodney on the back, "Buck up, Rodney. This will be fun." She smiles at Lorne both snickering at Rodney's shocked expression.

Rodney looks at Teyla. "Oh thanks I needed that." Rolling his eyes, "How do we get back in?"

Teyla shrugs her shoulders. "Use that brain of yours to figure out a way inside," she replies smiling at him.

Rodney nods. "Fine I say we don't go back in."

Teyla rolls her eyes, "Your vote doesn't count. We're going. You can always wait outside…alone, Rodney." She bites her lip hiding a snicker under her breath.

Rodney sighs going through the door back inside with Lorne and Teyla behind. "See it was easy now we just can't get lost."

Teyla pats him on the back, "We won't get lost, Rodney. Be more optimistic."

Lorne smiles as they make their way to a room with some controls in it.

Rodney pushes past them. "I think I can deactivate the force field and make it a normal building again."

Teyla smiles, "Good, Rodney. I knew we needed your expertise on this mission."

Rodney chuckles. "You always need me." He states as he starts typing up a base command code into the computer.

Teyla shakes her head carefully watching for anyone coming. Her head turns when she hears footsteps. She whispers, "Get down, Rodney."

Rodney leans down and Lorne grabs his gun looking at Teyla. "What did you hear?"

Teyla looks intently the direction of the sound, "Footsteps. We will have company soon."

Lorne nods walking closer to the door. "Here we go."

Netia goes back to back with Ronon and arms her gun. She whispers to Ronon, "So how are we going to do this? All out or all out?"

Ronon cautiously glances around the corner. He pulls back just as a hybrid soldier turns in their direction. "I'd say all out."

Netia sees the hybrid and starts to fire. Two more hybrids come from her left and she starts to fire on those two. They finally both go down and she helps Ronon. As she fires, she feels a hard punch to her head. She turns around and quickly stops a punch from the hybrid she shot, the hybrid tries again and the punch sends her to the floor. The hybrid charges but Netia grabs up her gun and kills it. As she takes in a breath, she sees the last two hybrids heading right for Ronon. "Watch your back!"

Hearing Netia's warning, Ronon reaches around and pulls out his sword. He swings the sword in a downward arc, killing one of the charging hybrids. The other hybrid manages to bypass the sword and grabs Ronon by the neck. Thinking quickly, Ronon head butts the soldier, causing him to stumble backwards in a daze. Ronon then raises his energy pistol to the hybrid's head. With a devilish grin, the Satedan fires, the hybrid's head shattering from the close range. "That all of 'em?"

"Well unless some are late to this party, that should be all over them," Netia stands up and checks to see if the hybrids were really dead. "Let's go before others want to join."

Ronon looks around at the dead bodies, stepping over one to stand beside Netia. "They're numbers are growing the further back we go." He states observantly as he gazes down the hall at where the soldiers came from.

"Soldiers they were. Well we have to retrieve Kale, but there are probably guards all around him." Netia starts down the hall. "It's never stopped you before, so let's go."

Ronon stares at Netia's back, a small smile forming. "It never will." He mumbles as he starts after Netia. The two move further back into the complex's basement, shooting any hybrids that happen across them. "Emerson has to be down here."

"If he's not, I'll shoot him myself," Netia yells over her gunfire. As the two walk farther down, they peek around the corner to see two hybrids standing next to a door. "He must be in there."

Ronon steps around the corner, firing as he does so. The two hybrids fall lifelessly to the ground on either side of the door. Pushing them aside with his boot, Ronon peers through the window of the door. "Emerson?"

His arms above his head hanging him there like a chimp. He hears his name. "Here....here." He states in a low tone. Kale eyes look over to the door not seeing who was there. Dry blood all over his body as he coughs up the dryness in his throat. Better be here to save me.

"Kale, be calm. We're going to get you out. Stay calm." Netia pulls out C-4 and places it on the door. She and Ronon hide behind the corner and Netia sets it off the blast. A few moments after the dust clears, they both run back. "Kale?"

Kale looks up at Netia opening his eyes that are blood shot. "Netia? Ronon? What the hell took you so long!"

Ronon grins at Kale as he moves to release him. He studies the chains hanging Kale from the ceiling before looking at him. "Hold still." Comes the Satedan's calm remark, aiming his pistol at the chains. There is a sizzling sound as the energy pistol melts the chains around the beam. Both Ronon and Netia catch Kale as he collapses. "Sorry about the wait."

Kale smiles at them. "It's ok they fed me maybe it wasn't the best but a great vacation no less." He chuckles now coughing up some blood. "I hope you taped Family Guy for me."

Teyla waits with her weapon ready to fire on the uninvited company. Around the corner, three hybrids approach not seeing their hidden position. Lorne and Teyla fire on the unsuspecting guests instantly killing them. The trio waits for a few minutes just in case any more arrived.

Lorne shots another one who runs their way. "Hurry up McKay."

Rodney then pushed the send button and the force field goes down.

Teyla sighs in relief as she hears no more approaching footsteps. "Where to now, Major?" she asks.

"We go find Kale." Lorne states walking out of the room.

Teyla nods her head pushing Rodney behind Lorne and follows both out of the room.

Lorne walks down a hall. "We better find Ronon and Netia too."

Netia sees the blood Kales coughs up "I think that should be the least of your worries right now," Netia helps Kale support himself.

Kale smiles at her. "Well I guess you're right. So what's new?"

Netia chuckles. "The usual. Crazy hybrids soldiers trying to kill us by all means, but nothing else." Netia gives Kale a comforting smile.

"And Michael?" He questions as he slowly gets up.

"We have him and he's not going anywhere. You're safe," Netia replies.

Kale is in a haze as he balances himself to stand. "Good I want to kill him so bad." He chuckles as he walks to the table and grabs his things. "They thought leaving my stuff here would make me a better prisoner."

Ronon grunts as he stands by the doorway. "Not very smart." He opens the door cautiously and peers down either side of the hall to check for hybrids. "We should move." The Satedan glances at Kale's bruised and battered body. "Do you need help or can you walk?"

Kale smirks. "I can handle myself." He states starting to almost fall over. "I think."

Ronon lifts an eyebrow at Kale while motioning for Netia to help him. "Never hurts." He remarks, seeing the look Kale gives him.

Kale smiles at Ronon. "Aw the big guy cares." He starts laughing but then stops cause of the pain.

Teyla continues down the hall and asks, "Should we try to contact Ronon?"

Lorne who is fuming that he hasn't found Kale yet taps on his radio. "Ronon we've searched the whole building and I haven't seen one thing to tell me Kale is here."

Ronon grunts as he turns back toward the door, a small grin on his face. He steps out into the hallway with his gun drawn and ready for action. "Clear." The ex-runner calls over his shoulder to Kale and Netia. As the group starts backtracks, Ronon is distracted by Lorne's voice in his ear. "...I haven't seen one thing to tell me Kale is here." "He's here. We have him and we're making our way back."

Lorne smiled and shook his head. "Great news we will meet you outside."

Ronon lowers his hand from his radio to his pistol. So far they haven't run into any more resistance but Ronon knows that could change at any second. Looking over his shoulder, Ronon checks to make sure that both Kale and Netia haven't fallen behind. "Lorne and the others are waiting outside." He informs his companions as he peers cautiously around a corner.

"Others? Wow, you guys do care," Kale smiles.

"Well that's good for them," Netia grunts as she tries to hold up Kale. "They don't have to carry a wounded man and look out for hybrids at the same time, but at least they're safe."

Lorne looks to McKay and Teyla. "They found him."

Teyla sighs in relief and comments, "Now, we can all get some rest back home." She continues to follow behind Lorne and McKay as they make their way outside to meet the others.

"Rest for you I still have to check out and make sure Michael didn't screw anything else us on Atlantis." McKay whines as they walk to the gate.

Lorne shakes his head. "At least it's over now Rodney."

Ronon shoots Kale a similar smile before he rounds a corner, shooting a hybrid soldier as he does so. "Don't complain." He states to Netia in a slightly chastising tone as they exit the building.

"It's not complaining, just truthful observations," Netia replies.

Teyla smiles when she sees Netia, Ronon, and Kale approach. "How are you feeling, Kale?" she asks as they all head to the gate.

Kale smiles as Teyla questions him. "Much better now."

Lorne looks at his friend and grabs him into a hug. "Dude wow you're alive."

Kale scrunches his face in pain by Lorne's hug. "Thanks to you know who I thought I was dead."

Teyla smiles at the camaraderie between friends. She turns to Netia and Ronon, "How are you both?" Before either can answer she directly asks Ronon, "How many hybrids did you run into?"

Ronon grunts in response to Netia before turning toward Teyla. He is about to answer her question when she asks yet another one. With a shrug, he looks over at Netia with a thoughtful, questioning gaze. "I'd say about 20. Maybe 25."

Lorne smiles at his friend who stands there taking it all in.

"Well we better go. I don't want to die or anything." Rodney states looking at Kale then to Ronon.

Teyla smiles at Rodney remarking, "Don't worry, Rodney. We'll make it back in time for dinner." She looks at Kale, "Do you need any help getting to the gate?"

Rodney smiles. "Good."

Kale smiles at Teyla. "Yes very much thanks."

Teyla returns Kale's smile and allows him to put his arm around her neck to lean on her. "Rodney, can you help on Kale's other side?" she asks.

Rodney smiles as he goes to help Kale.

Kale looks at Rodney. "Thanks McKay."

Teyla smiles as she glances at Netia, who appears to be glued to Ronon's side, panning the area for signs of trouble. Teyla turns her head toward Rodney, "Thank you for your help." Both Teyla and Rodney slowly help Kale to find the gate close behind Ronon and Netia.

Ronon stands by Netia with his gun at his side, his eyes scanning the area around the rescue team. He, like the others, is glad that Kale is still alive but his senses remain on alert for trouble. "We should get out of this clearing."

"Really? You know, I would like to stay. The atmosphere is so lovely and the people are kind," Netia jokes as she scans the area.

Lorne looks at his friends then starts to walk faster. He didn't want this to be a dream. He wanted his friend back and the quicker they got to Atlantis it wasn't a dream.

Ronon grins slightly at Netia's joke as they move back toward the gate. They move through the forest with no interference from Michael's hybrids. This is too easy. The Satedan thinks to himself, keeping his gun at the ready. "We're almost to the gate." He calls over his shoulder to Major Lorne and the others.

Teyla bears most of Kale's weight while Rodney grumbles under his breath on their way to the gate. "Come on, Rodney. We're almost there," she encourages. I wonder why we've not encountered any resistance.

Rodney mumbles. "Fine fine," he states walking with them to the gate.

Carson moves throughout the infirmary, checking on both his and Keller's patients. After an hour or so, he is finally finished and decides to check on Colonel Sheppard before going to check on Keller. He walks into the colonel's room to find Sheppard asleep and Carter, Kat, and Harper gone for the evening. Good. He's getting some rest.

As they got to the gate Rodney dialed to Atlantis as Lorne punched in his IDC number.

Lorne then taped his radio. "Col Carter, We found him!"

Rodney looks at Lorne. "We didn't find him. Ronon and Netia did."

Carter was just leaving the mess hall, having spent an hour in there after leaving the infirmary. Harper and Kat had gone off to do their own thing while she had decided to get a bite to eat. While eating, Sam had begun to worry about Major Lorne's team as they were now extremely overdue. Now she was making her way to the control room intent on contacting the off-world team. She has just started up the stairs when the gate activates and Major Lorne's voice comes over the radio. "Lower the shield." Carter calls to Chuck before answering Lorne. "We were starting to get worried about you Major."

Lorne smiled as he looked at Kale. "I know the feeling." Lorne looks at the group. "Let's get back." He states now going to the gate and ending up on Atlantis. "We need a med team to take Kale to the infirmary."

Rodney and Teyla help Kale toward the event horizon of the gate. All three step through together with Ronon and Netia behind.

"I'm fine Lorne." Kale whines.

Carter smiles in relief as Kale whines to Lorne, the others exiting the gate behind them. Tapping her radio, she calls for the med team to transport Kale to the infirmary. "Let's go with Major Lorne's suggestion, Major Emerson." She remarks as the medical team arrives.

"You always have them wrapped around your finger Evan." Kale chuckles as he eyes Sam and Lorne on his way out.

Sam raises an eyebrow at Kale's statement. "Watch it, Major." She replies jokingly before he is carried out of the gate room. Turning back to the others, Carter asks..."What took you so long?"

Ronon watches the medical team take Kale away before facing Carter and answering her question. "Target practice."

Lorne rolls his eyes at Ronon then looks at Sam. "We got caught. It's a long story."

Sam nods her head in understanding. "I can't wait to hear it but for now...go get cleaned up and then head to the infirmary."

Lorne nods. "Yes Ma'am." He then walks away.

Teyla looks at Sam, "I'll be back soon. I'm going to go check on Tagan." She smiles and heads off toward Halling's quarters.

Rodney walks into Sheppard's hospital room. "Hey buddy. Feeling any better from your insane experience?"

Carson hears Rodney's voice from the other side of Sheppard's room. "He's asleep, Rodney." He says in a hushed voice.

Rodney turns around and walks over with Carson. "Is he doing any better than before?" he questions worried about his friend.

Carson looks over at Sheppard before shifting his eyes back to Rodney. "Aye, much better." He answers with a smile. "But he's still got quite a ways to go before he's ready to resume active duty."

Rodney nods. "At least he is alive. How is Kale?"

Carson looks down at the floor as he nods his head. "Aye." He then shifts his gaze to look out at Major Kale Emerson who is resting in an adjacent room. "He'll not be going off-world for awhile but he'll make a full recovery."

Rodney nods. "Yeah I don't think he wants to leave for a long time. Just like when I was stranded on that planet with...." Rodney looks to the ground. "You know."

Carson looks at Rodney and chuckles a bit. "I know, Rodney." "You two swapping horror stories?" comes a voice from across the room. Startled slightly, Beckett turns to find Sheppard looking at the two of them with lifted eyebrow.

Rodney smiles. "Yeah but I don't like the detail of my story. Feeling better?"

Sheppard moves a bit to get in a more comfortable position. "Yep." Is all that Sheppard answers before asking, "What about Emerson?"

Rodney smiles. "He is ok better then you even."

"Aye, he'll be back up to 100 percent in no time." Carson adds to Rodney's statement. Sheppard lets out a breath as relief floods over him. He had been mentally kicking himself for not realizing Kale's situation and the fact that Kale's captor was Michael...well, that hadn't helped matters. "Glad to hear it, doc." Beckett gives Sheppard a knowing look. He's got to work on bottling his emotions. The doctor thinks to himself before glancing at the clock on the wall. "Well, if you'll excuse me gentlemen," Dr. Beckett begins, "I need to finish with me rounds. I'll be back to check on you and the major in a few hours, Colonel." He finishes, turning to McKay. "I'll see you later, Rodney."

McKay waves Carson off and then sits down in a chair looking at John. "Will Kale well be himself again? Cause I personally liked....well I didn't hate him."

Sheppard looks down his feet thoughtfully. "I don't know but if what Beckett said is any indication then he'll be just fine."

Rodney nods. "Hope everyone gets back to normal soon."

Sheppard slowly nods his head in agreement. "Same here." There is a brief moment of silence before Sheppard looks at Rodney curiously. "What took you guys so long anyway?" He asks half-jokingly.

Rodney smiles. "Let's just say it was a maze we had to get out of."

Teyla makes her way to Halling's quarters to see her son. She is surprised when Halling meets her outside his door. He smiles at her, "I knew you would want to see him as soon as you returned." Teyla smiles with her arms outstretched ready to take her son. Halling gently places Tagan in her arms. "Yes," she replies, "thank you for everything." Halling nods his head and walks inside his room. She turns around heading toward the mess hall for a bit holding Tagan close. "How's my little man?" she asks him. Tagan giggles and smiles at his mother.

Ronon is stepping out of his room when he hears Teyla's voice coming from a bit further down the hall. A smile crosses the Satedan's face as he makes his way toward her voice. Rounding the corner, he finds Teyla walking toward the mess hall with Tagan giggling in her arms. "Looks like he missed his mother." He states, casually walking up beside her.

Teyla raises her head when she hears Ronon's voice. "Yes, we were just about to get something to eat. Care to join us?"

Ronon shrugs his shoulders casually as he answers. "Why not...I could go for something right about now."

As soon as Netia made sure Major Emerson was well in the infirmary, she unloaded her gear and headed to Halling's room. She ran into Teyla and Ronon as they were leaving. "There he is! I've missed you!" Netia started to play with little Tagan in Teyla's arms. "So where are you two off to?"

Teyla smiles as Netia approaches her and Ronon. "We were just about to go get something eat. Do you want to come?" Teyla asks.

"Oh, yes. I haven't eaten in hours!" Netia follows Teyla and Ronon.

Teyla, Ronon, and Netia head to the mess hall with Tagan giggling the entire way there. Teyla, focused on Tagan, almost runs into someone else not paying attention. Ronon pulls her out of the way. Teyla looks up and replies, "Thank you, Ronon."

Ronon grins at Teyla. "No problem." There is a brief pause before he playfully adds, "Looks like somebody missed her son."

Teyla laughs, "I certainly did. He's growing so fast. I don't want miss anything in his life."

Ronon smiles at Teyla, nodding his head. "I bet he'll grow up to be strong too."

"Yes, pretty soon he'll be able to walk, and even try to sparr with Ronon," Netia smiles at Teyla and Ronon. I never imagined that I'd be here. Netia looks around at what is Atlantis. She watches as the different staff went about their positions. She knew with everything that has happened to her and her people, they all would be safe. They were from two worlds and lives, yet they had so much in common. They have rescued my people from Michael and countless of people across this galaxy from the Wraith. They are warriors nonetheless. Netia watched as Teyla played with Tagan and smiled heartfully. Tagan will be able to grow up, hopefully, in a future with no such creatures of Wraith or Hybrids exists because of what is happening now. Netia could only smile because hope, no matter how vague it may seem at times, just seemed a little brighter in Atlantis.

Sheppard stares at Rodney curiously for a moment. "Okay..." He responds slowly, "Then I take it you had an off day." John finishes with a mischievous grin on his face.

Rodney nods. "More like an off week. Wouldn't you say?"

Sheppard bobs his head from side to side in assent. "Something like that. Things should get back to normal soon...normal for Pegasus that is."

Rodney looks at him and sighs. "As long as we don't get visitors we don't need here everything will be peachy."

Sheppard lets out a sigh of his own as he scratches the back of his head. "You can say that again."

Lorne stepped into Kale's hospital room. He watched his best friend flip through a football magazine knowing Kale he was checking to see if he owed him money for their bets against each other.

"Evan I owe you five hundred bucks." Kale smiled grabbing his wallet Carson was kind enough to find in his room.

Lorne shook his head. "No don't. We can call it even since you were not yourself."

"If you call being captured tortured for fun even then ok." He states putting his money away shaking his head. "Now tell me Michael as me didn't…you know."

Lorne's eyes perk up as Kale winks at him. "Now that you mention it. Michael had you spend a lot of time with Zelenka."

Kale hit Lorne's arm as Lorne leaned in and went to hug his friend. "I missed you buddy."

Kale pulled Lorne closer and tighten up his grip. "Now you wouldn't want people to think we were a couple now would you?" He questions as he fake tries to kiss Lorne.

Lorne pulls away and sits down laughing at his friend. "Back to normal I see."

Kale smirks. "Normal is overrated how about we say I'm back from a nice long hockey game."

"You hate hockey."

"No I don't. I like it. I played when I was a kid."

"You're from Florida." Lorne states mockingly.

"You can still play hockey there."

"It's like always hot there."

"Hot like you and Col Carter."

Lorne glares at him. "Did Michael screw with your head? Honestly you think Sam and I would break the rules?"

Kale smiles. "Oh come on it was a joke!"

Lorne chuckles. "You're lucky she didn't fire you."

"She couldn't fire me I just got back from being kidnapped and no one knew I was gone. She owes me. Maybe I could date her."

"Don't start thinking like Rodney on the topic of Col Carter."

Kale smiles. "I'll dream it then."

Lorne shakes his head. "I don't think you have ever been normal."

Rodney sat down on his bed closing his eyes and picturing a blonde hair woman. He couldn't make out who she was but he knew it had to be Sam or Jennifer. By asking for one date Atlantis nearly got destroyed. Only if my dating life could get easier. After everything he had been through in such a short period of time he wondered if he would ever find someone. He could only hope to one day find a woman of his own but for now he needed to rest.

Later on he awoke from a dream of the past couple days he had lived. He then sat up looking around his room. He couldn't hear any noise outside in the hall. He hadn't been called to stop a major crisis since he came to rest. It was as if Atlantis stood frozen still giving him time to rest before the next major problem happened. For once Rodney McKay didn't want to be left alone.

As Kat walked out of Sheppard's room and turned the corner back to her room she reflected on what had happen in the past few hours. The team getting back, Micheal, Kale, Sheppard. It almost seemed like a life time ago that she had been taking to Lorne about the goggles she decided. Kat sighed; it had been a long day. Living on Atlantis was way different from anything she had done in the past, but Kat wouldn't trade it for the worlds.

After spending some time feeding Tagan, Teyla walks back to her quarters. Maybe I should go see how John is feeling. She turns around and instead heads for the infirmary. She smiles as she looks down at her sleeping son. She walks in the infirmary and asks one of the nurses, "Where is Col. Sheppard?" The nurse points to the right, Teyla's eyes following the direction. She walks to his bed and snickers quietly when she sees a Nintendo DS in his hands. Teyla sits in a chair sitting close to his bed and asks, "How are you feeling?"

He is just about to shoot an enemy soldier when Teyla sits down beside him. Sheppard lowers the hand-held game and gives her a sheepish grin. "Ready to get out of here." John pointedly shows her the game that he had been playing before adding, "If you couldn't tell."

Teyla smiles and shakes her head, "You've always been a terrible patient."

Sheppard scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "I just don't like sitting around."

"I know," Teyla pauses letting out a breath of air, "but how are you really feeling? Don't just tell me you are fine." She stares intently into Sheppard's eyes with a serious expression on her face.

Sheppard meets Teyla's gaze before blowing out a breath. He fiddles with his Nintendo DS awkwardly for a minute as he tries to figure out a way to avoid the question. John had never been good at expressing his true emotions to anyone, especially those closest to him like his team members. They had become his family and he would do anything for them. However, he had been the one to hurt them and he didn't know if he could ever get over that. But that was the problem wasn't it? Every day he would have to face his friends and admit to himself what had almost happened, what HE had almost done. How could he, John Sheppard, ever tell Teyla or any of the others how he truly felt? Sighing, Sheppard says, "The better question is, how are YOU feeling?"

Teyla shuffles Tagan to her left arm and pats John's hand quickly pulling her hand back to her side. She sighs and replies, "I am fine. Nothing broken, nothing bruised." She gives him an encouraging smile, "I'm more worried about you."

"You don't have to worry about me, Teyla. I'll be okay...really." Sheppard says, giving Teyla a reassuring smile.

Teyla nods her head at John and replies, "I know you will be fine, but I still worry…about you, Ronon, Rodney, and this little one." Tagan opens his eyes, looks up at his mother, and starts babbling nonsense. Teyla smiles and says, "Hello, sunshine." Tagan giggles and very prominently says, "Mama." Teyla's eyes widen and she looks at John, "Wow, I can't believe he just said his first word!"

Sheppard smiles at the little boy giggling in his mother's arms. "We'd better watch it then. It won't be too long before he's racing around Atlantis."

Teyla laughs, "I don't want him to grow up too fast or racing around Atlantis…I'll send you to chase after him." She smiles and tickles Tagan on the tummy. The little one cackles and continues to chatter.

Sheppard chuckles slightly as he shifts his gaze from Tagan to his mother. "That should be interesting." Teyla nods and a brief silence settles over the room. "I'm sorry, Teyla." John suddenly says, breaking the silence. "I should've been able to stop myself."

Teyla sighs glancing down at the ground for a moment before her eyes meet John's. "John, there is nothing to apologize for. You were not yourself." She grins at him, "You can always make it up to me by babysitting this little one sometime."

Something close to a laugh escapes from Sheppard as the thought of him babysitting Tagan hits. "You do know realize who you're talking to, right?"

Teyla smiles, "Yes, John. You'll do fine." She bites her lip to hide a snicker, "I think Tagan is in more danger with Rodney holding him than being with you."

Sheppard grins and tilts his head to one side in acquiescence. "True but don't tell McKay that."

Teyla laughs so hard that tears start to form in her eyes. Tagan, still looking at his mother, becomes frightens and starts to whimper. "Don't worry, little one. I won't let Rodney babysit." She turns back to John and says, "I'm glad to see your injuries haven't hurt your tongue."

Sheppard cocks his head to one side with a boyish half-grin on his face. "You know, I believe you said that to me when I first woke up. Funny how time flies."

Teyla's lips turn slightly upward as she rolls her eyes at him. I'm glad things are finally somewhat back to normalcy.

Harper Sheppard sat on the floor of the training room. She put her head on Ronon's shoulder closing her eyes. After everything she had been though the past couple of weeks she realized she wouldn't rather be anywhere else. She had made connections here. Lorne and Rodney became older brother like pest, Jen and Kat became the close friends she needed, Sam couldn't replace Elizabeth but she was the right person to run this place, Teyla and Netia became the older sisters she needed. Carson her friend would tell her why she matter not cause of her job because of her being her to Kale who always smiled even if he was ticked off at anyone those were the people she needed the ones who care about her as much as she cares about them.

Then there was uncle John being away from home from her only other uncle or bloodline she was glad to be here with him. After spending most of her childhood with her father, grandfather and uncle David she was happy to get to know John better. She resented him years ago because he was never around but she now knew why. If he was around then they wouldn't have this adult friendship they have now.

Atlantis was a lot different than Earth with the soul sucking life force draining wraith to the crazy robot like people everything was different. But different didn't always mean something bad. Then there was Ronon. The runner who first shook her hand after he just tore open a chicken wing. He always said even when she first worked a mission with him that he would protect her. Sure she had done some stupid things before like hiding in the jumper to tag along on the mission or fighting with him as a wraith approached them.

With all the stupid things came a price she would have to pay but as long as she had Ronon by her side everything felt better because she has her protector next to her ready to give his input on the next stupid thing she does. Atlantis maybe only home for now but it was the best home she could ever ask for.

Keller stood in the observation room watching her infirmary. She was fully rested and since everything seemed to have worked itself out while she was unconscious she was calm. Everyone was tucked in their beds safe and healing. For all the chaos that Atlantis was she would never wish to be anywhere else.

Ronon sits with his legs crossed on the training room floor, his girlfriend Harper Sheppard right beside him. He feels her place her head on his shoulder and he glances down to look at the top of her head. A fondness fills his eyes...one that he would rarely let her see. Slowly, his gaze becomes distant and thoughtful. How long had it been now? A few years since he'd joined the Atlantis expedition and met Harper? Years since the burden of being a runner had been lifted from him? Never in those years had he thought he'd be as content as he was at this moment. It's as if all the trials and tribulations, all of the battles fought, whether they be won or lost were worth it, just to be here on Atlantis...to be with Harper. Of course, he would not be able to express how he felt in any words. That just wasn't his style. The Satedan's thoughts gradually begin to turn toward the future. Would they ever defeat the Wraith? What would he do when and if their goal was reached? And where would his relationship with Harper take him? With the last question in mind, Ronon once again lowers his eyes to Harper's head. A small smile appears on his face. What did it matter? As long as he had Harper, as long as he had his friends, Ronon the ex-runner from Sateda was ready to take on any enemy and to fight any battle. Yep, to Ronon, life was shaping up to be both interesting and adventurous.

Carter stood at the railing of the balcony, using her forearms to prop her up. Slowly, her eyes wander over the vast ocean surrounding the city, taking it all in. Below, Carter could hear the crashing of the waves against the southwest pier. It was a very melodic sound, one that always seemed to relax her. And Lord knows she needed to relax now. The past month had been especially hard for the expedition with all of the Wraith and Replicator attacks as well as contending with Michael. They had suffered many losses and had nearly come close to losing a few more during the situation with Michael. Now things were starting to get back to some degree of normal. Colonel Sheppard and Major Emerson were both making excellent progress after only a short time, Teyla and her son were both safe in Atlantis, Rodney and Keller were doing much better after a good night's sleep, and Michael was locked up tight in the city's brig. Sam closes her eyes and listens intently to the rolling waves. Already she could feel the tension gradually melting away. I will protect this city, she thinks to herself, if only to protect my friends and comrades....and the moments like these.

Finally, Carson thinks to himself as he steps into his quarters. Time to get some rest while I can. He sits down on his bed, taking the radio out of his ear and gently placing it on his nightstand. The doctor stares down at the floor deep in thought over the recent events in Atlantis. "I can't believe it's finally over." Carson mumbles to himself as a mixture of emotions flood his mind...happy that Michael was no longer free to roam the galaxy, angry at Michael for everything he had put them through, and relieved that everyone was safe and recovering quite nicely on Atlantis. It had been a long couple of days, or was it weeks? Everything seemed to be one big blur that Carson couldn't keep it straight in his head now. With a heart-felt sigh, Beckett lays down on his bed and slowly closes his eyes. It's about time. Is all that runs through his head before he falls into a deep, fitful sleep.

John's pace is relaxed as he walks down one of the many hallways of Atlantis. It had been weeks since he had been able to roam around the large city and he sure wasn't going to be in any rush. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard lets his eyes wander over the beautiful architecture of Atlantis. Leave it to the Ancients to know how to make simple, beautiful. Rounding a corner, Sheppard runs across some of the expedition's scientists busily working on one of the power conduits...one of the glitches left over from Michael's escapade. John offers a casual wave and a grin as he passes them by, not really paying attention to the returned greetings. He soon reaches the less populated area of the city, the area in which the brig, armory, and training rooms were located. All those weeks of going stir crazy in the infirmary had given him plenty of time to think about what had happened and had only served to strengthen his resolve to keep his promise to Teyla. Now he was standing in front of the entrance into the brig, ready to finish what had been started a year ago. One more showdown, Sheppard thinks, a determined set to his jaw as he enters the brig to face Michael. Only this time, he won't be able to escape.

The End