Made a change to chapter 17

Title: Eternal
Author: Cindy Ryan
Notes and Summary: See chapter one.

Dean felt his eyelids start to drift close. He started to fight the sleep but then realized he might as well go back to sleep. Who knew when would be the next time he'd catch some solid zzzs.
Dean moved away from the uncomfortable wall and down to the mattress. In seconds he was asleep.


After dropping Mitchell off at his quarters Daniel returned to Landry's office. He had resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't getting any more sleep today so might as well be useful.
Daniel knocked on the open door and Landry waved him in.

"Any clues to our new friends in the car, Dr. Jackson?"Landry inquired as Daniel entered the room.

Daniel nodded. "Several. Colonel Mitchell will have a full report for you shortly."

"Good. What can I do for you?"

"Mitchell mentioned that SGC was working on an experimental video link to Atlantis?"

Landry nodded. "Yes, the techs are still tweaking it. It's not up to their liking yet. Still has lag time."

"But better than the first run?"Daniel asked remembering how distorted the images were and the sound difficult even for the best computers to make audible.

Landry nodded. "Definitely. Can almost have a conversation now. Why, you need to talk to the Atlantis team?"

Daniel moved to stand in front of the desk. "Yeah. I was hoping to talk to the Winchester brothers. Get their side of the story. Their police files and their bios just aren't meshing. If I can get them to open up and trust me maybe we can work a little faster on figuring out how that Ancient device got where it was. If it even is Ancient."

"I'll have them set it up."Landry replied. "Probably be a half an hour before it's ready."

"That's fine. Thanks."Daniel acknowledged. "Give me time to grab something to eat."

"I'll let you know when it's ready."


"She's holdin' her own."Carson Beckett reported to his worried friends fifteen minutes later.

"Thank God."Sheppard whispered as he joined Weir and McKay.

"How long before she's awake and can tell us what happened?"Weir asked quietly.

Beckett shook his head. "Hard to know. We have her stabilized and well enough to move her to a more private area but her body's been through a severe trauma."

"Do we know what caused this severe trauma?"McKay asked as his guilt returned. If he'd been paying closer attention…..

Beckett ran a weary hand along the back of his neck. "I can only give you preliminary speculation."

"We'll take it."Sheppard replied. "Speculation is better than what we have now which is zilch."

"From what I've seen……..Teyla was hit by a large electrical shock."

"That'd explain how she materialized out of nowhere."McKay muttered.

"Rodney."Elizabeth prompted not having heard the details of how they had found Teyla.

"She dropped at our feet."Sheppard replied before Rodney could respond. "Elizabeth, it was like she fell literally out of thin air."

McKay raised his head. "And I think I know why we couldn't see her when we were in the room."


Dean found himself chained to a rock wall with a river of fire lapping at his feet. As he started to struggle against the chains, Dean knew it couldn't be real. That it had to be another nightmare.

However to his feet the fire sure felt real. To his wrists the shackles cut in painfully Dean's clothes began to cling to his body from the sweat.

"Now I thought we were going to play nice."

Dean jerked his gaze forward at the all too familiar voice of the Crossroad demon.

"This isn't real."Dean stated surprised at how calm his voice sounded.

The dark haired woman chuckled. "Not yet. But this is not a normal dream if that's what you're wondering."

"Then what is it?"

"A way for me to reach you."The demon replied as she floated toward him her high heels just inches above the flames. "Dean,luv, did you really think I wouldn't know about what you and your brother were doing?"

Dean fought the urge to cringe at her closeness. "This wasn't planned."

"Makes no difference. You know the rules."

"Give me some time. I'll get us home."Dean replied.

"I've been more than generous with you."

"That's a matter of opinion."Dean snapped and was instantly rewarded with a slap across the face.

"You're still alive, aren't you?"The demon stated with a smile. "I could've taken your life right then and there."

Dean forced his best smile. "I thought you enjoyed playing with me?"

The woman moved forward placing a seductive hand on Dean's left cheek. "I do,luv, I do. That's why you're still breathing."

"As a demon I know you don't know much about the military, but they're not exactly a cooperative fast moving bunch."Dean stated dryly. "Give me some time and I promise I'll get us home."