Credit: To my beta (Sterenyk Strey) who made this document half-decent for the public eye. :) And, as per usual, she's responsible for the ending of this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis. You know that.

She shifted uneasily, cramped as she was in her position against the wall. She knew Sheppard wasn't glaring at her – at least, she didn't think he was, but it still disturbed her. She greatly feared another attack from him, but tried to put in prospective that it was definitely more frightening for him than it could ever be for her.

"Colonel, it's me," she cried, trying to break through the hallucinations, "Kolya is dead. He's not here."

He didn't say a word. He stared at her long and hard, and clenched then unclenched his fists but kept his angry stare on her. Victoria figured he hadn't heard her. He mumbled a word, over and over again. Kolya.

From the first time she saw the mortification and pain on his face after the assault, she wanted nothing more than to comfort him and convince him that she did not blame him and that none of this was his fault. But he had insisted she stay away from him and she believed it to be a sound piece of advice.

The drug had been out of her system for a while now and she was able to sit up and move around more freely. Her mind was no longer clouded. She felt the need to get up and stretch her legs but she knew that was out of the equation. She made a mental note to thank the Colonel for dissuading Jagrin from administering that awful drug once they got back to Atlantis – even if he did pay for it by getting that damn piece of metal screwed onto the back of his poor head.

She couldn't understand why Beckett wasn't able to just take the damn thing off. – Unless it was attached to some vital organ like, for instance, his brain. In that case, they would have to wait to get home before he could get any help. However, by her estimate, they'd been there almost an entire day and no help had come. Surely Dr. Weir wasn't so stupid as to not send a rescue team. Maybe they had but had been unable to locate them.

Then it dawned on her.

Once they had been stunned on the planet, the next thing they had seen was the jail cell. Who knew how many stargates the Genii had dragged them through? For all they knew, they were light years away! If that were so, they would never be rescued - at least, not in their lifetime.

For now, she decided to stick with Sheppard's angry gaze. There was nothing else for her to focus on.

xXx

The familiar clang at the door awoke Victoria from her sleep but she decided against turning her head to look. It didn't matter anymore who it was - she had nearly given up all hope of rescue since her latest theory on being on a whole other planet.

"Hello there, love." A gentle, familiar voice permeated her thoughts, and she looked up to see Dr. Carson Beckett standing over her with a half-baked yet dimpled smile on his face. She faintly smiled back. She had been hoping that her commanding officer was somehow wrong about Beckett actually being captured along with them. He was there their only hope for a quick rescue. However, she was somewhat relieved to see him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly, still well aware of Sheppard's eyes still furiously burning through her.

"I insisted on checking up on you two," the doctor informed as he knelt down and opened up the med kit he had carried in. Looking over his shoulder to the two guards who had entered in with him, he added in a hushed whisper. "I regret that I had to bring along some friends."

As he started removing objects from his kit, she halted him by placing her hand over his. "You should really look at the colonel first. I'm fine. He's not."

"Like hell you are," Dr. Beckett frowned and continued withdrawing the items he needed, "Colonel Sheppard told me that Jagrin had you drugged."

"That was awhile ago," she assured. "I'm all right now. In fact, I feel much better. He needs your help. Really. I insist."

Carson sighed, and lowered his voice. "To tell you the truth, lass, I'm afraid there's not much else I can do for him except hand him a couple Tylenol every few hours. His only chance for survival is if we can get him back to Atlantis…quickly."

At the mention of his condition, Victoria subconsciously reached up to rub her neck where the bruises were starting to hurt.

"What the hell happened to you?" Beckett demanded.. She quickly removed her hand but it was too late – the doctor was already inspecting the contusions himself. "Did Jagrin or one of the guards do this to you?"

Thompson bit her lip. "No," she whispered.

Dr. Beckett nodded in understanding. "Sheppard. I should probably give him a sedative," he began muttering, "It would be safer to –

"It wasn't his fault," she insisted, "he didn't mean to do it and he hasn't hurt me since. He…he thought I was Kolya."

"Kolya?" Carson repeated, a perplexed expression clouding his face.

Thompson nodded. "He called me Kolya and then started choking me. It may have something to do with the device on his head but it also may be the fact that it's fairly easy to go mad in this place." She looked around their prison with a disgusted look. The stone walls were beginning to look more and more ominous as the hours passed, and the similarly textured floor didn't exactly make for comfortable bedding.

"Aye," Beckett concurred, "perhaps this device is worse than I thought if it's producing hallucinations."

"Is there anything you can do for him?" she asked hopefully.

The doctor shook his head in sorrow. "No. But I can help with the pain…that may put a damper on the delusions."

She nodded to him and he left her, carrying his kit slowly over to the quietly seething colonel.

"Son, it's me, Carson," Dr. Beckett spoke soothingly as he crept closer, "I'm your friend, alright? I'm going to give you something to help with the pain."

Victoria watched as Sheppard didn't move an inch or reply to the comforting words of his friend.

Cautiously, Carson reached out for John's hand. The colonel didn't resist as Beckett quickly pried open the clenched fist and slipped two Tylenol in his hand. The fist tightened almost immediately after it had been released.

Thompson picked up the water canister that Sheppard had left leaning up against the wall and rolled it over to the other side of the room to the doctor. He caught it quickly before it rolled too far and he set it next to the colonel.

It wasn't long after Dr. Beckett had patted John on the shoulder and began to make his way back over to Victoria before another loud clang came from the door and Jagrin stepped through, wearing his usual sly grin.

"Time's up, Doctor," the Genii announced casually. "The guards will escort you back to your room."

"I'm not even close to being done," Beckett argued. "I may not be able to help Colonel Sheppard but I need to stay – just in case."

Jagrin shook his head. "No. Let's go."

The doctor sighed in frustration but headed towards the door looking morose. He quickly disappeared around the corridor with the two Genii soldiers he had brought in earlier.

All that remained now were the two guards standing outside of the cell and the brimming idiot, Jagrin.

"Have you hurt her yet, Sheppard?" he asked in an interested tone, his gaze flickering from the colonel to her. She kept a steady glare at him but John kept his eyes fixed on her and did not answer.

The Genii simply chuckled and sauntered over to her. He squatted down next to her and looked over her silently until he caught sight of the discolorations on her neck and reached out towards them. "Ha!" he shouted in delight, moving his fingers about on her neck to feel every single injury Sheppard had unwillingly inflicted upon her. "So even the great Colonel Sheppard isn't strong enough to resist my clever little device, is he?"

Thompson moved her head away but he had already retracted his fingers. Standing up, he faced Sheppard again. "Do you like it? We just finished it about a week ago. There were no willing volunteers to test it out on so we took the liberty of using you as our subject. And it seems to be in perfect working order. Congratulations."

Sheppard remained in his position and still stayed silent but Victoria was beginning to question how long that would last. Already, she could see his fists clenching together more tightly than she had seen them before and his face was turning a darker crimson.

"Leave him alone," she warned quietly, fixing her gaze on John now, trying to will him to not make a move.

Jagrin ignored her completely. "I suppose we should give you the credit in the development of a torture device that will be used on every single one of our prisoners in the soon coming future. It's only fair."

"Stop!" Thompson shouted fearfully as the colonel's gaze shifted now to Jagrin. He was going to try and kill him soon if she didn't do something.

"Not only will you be responsible for their deaths, but your friends as well. We're going to implant both of them with their own devices. How long will you be able to keep control before you all kill each other?"

In an instant, she had to make a decision. As soon as she saw Sheppard rise to his feet, she knew it was over. She stood up as well and lunged towards Jagrin. Only once she had knocked him to the ground did she question her sanity.

Tussling on the ground, she struggled to gain the upper hand but she knew she had no advantage.

Even though her concentration was fully fixed on killing the bastard, she could still sense the guards behind her, unsure of what to do. She took comfort in the fact that they wouldn't shoot at her while their commanding officer was in such close proximity.

However, it didn't seem to matter anyway. The moment she saw Jagrin struggle to slip a knife out of his belt, she knew it was over. With one last burst of adrenaline, she attempted to reach for the weapon that was now firmly grasped in his hand. In one sweeping motion, she felt the shearing pain overwhelm her and Jagrin shoved her off of him.

Once she was on the ground, she looked up to see the dagger sticking out of her abdomen. As her vision and mind began to blur everything together, she heard an angry shout that consisted of Kolya's name and a string of curse words. Thompson feared, with what little brain power she had left, that her commanding officer had once again lapsed into a hallucination and was going to throttle her again. But before she could find out, her mind gave up and she slipped into darkness.

No, she's not dead.

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