Chapter Four

Carson lost count of the hours and even days that passed as he continued to test and retest the new formula. He couldn't remember the last time he slept in his own bed, as he had a cot moved into the lab. White lab coats flowed in and out of the lab around him, and he barely seemed to notice. Almost all duties of the infirmary had been passed to his administrative staff. Once again food had become something he remembered only when his body left him weak with hunger.

Day after day the results of his tests on the tissue samples improved. But the hair samples seemed entirely unaffected. It was promising, but not enough. The tissue samples would change, but the remains also left a horrific vision in his head of what the formula would do to Alex. He no longer thought of her as a Wraith at this point. She was just a patient, and it was his duty to find the means to save her. Everything else faded to background noise.

Finally, once again nearly as exhausted as he had been when she demanded he rest, Carson found his radio crackling to life in his ear. It had been so long since anyone had called for him on it, that it startled him slightly. Realizing the call was not only for him, but that it was close to three in the morning jolted him from his observation of the latest round of tissue tests. He already knew he was close to needing more samples, but didn't have the heart to face her with little more than a maybe. Shaking off these thoughts, he keyed his mic.

"Doctor Beckett here. Go ahead, Captain Radford."

"Doc, the Wraith—"

"Alex," he cut in with more energy than he felt.

"—has collapsed. It-She's lying on the cell floor. We think s-she's unconscious."

Before the overnight shift guard had even had a chance to finish his sentence, Beckett had doffed his lab coat and grabbed a nearby kit and was out the door.

"What happened?" he asked, jogging toward the nearest transporter.

"She was…growling…hissing, and talking to herself. Something we couldn't make out. Then she started screaming and thrashing. Before we had a chance to call Colonel Sheppard or you, she just collapsed."

His heart twisting, Beckett asked, "Is she breathing?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Think so?" Beckett asked dangerously, now almost at a flat run as the transporter came into sight.

"Yeah, she's breathing. Just really…irregular, I guess."

"Have you entered her cell?"

"No."

"Don't. We can't risk stunning her just—"

Beckett cut off with an uncharacteristically coarse invective as he nearly collided with Sheppard headed for the same transporter.

"Alex?" Sheppard asked.

Beckett just nodded and jumped into the transporter. "Don't stun her. Unless something else happens, just watch her. Let me know if anything changes."

"Roger that. Captain Radford, out."

Turning to Sheppard, he found the Colonel checking his pistol to ensure he had a full clip. "There'll be no need for that," he snapped.

"We'll see," was all Sheppard said in a tone so neutral it almost made Beckett wince.

Not taking the time to respond, Beckett ducked out of the transporter ahead of Sheppard. He stopped only long enough for the door to the prison room to open. Any thought for anyone else present fled his mind as he saw Alex lying in a heap on the floor of her cell, her white cascade of hair splayed out around her. Without a thought for his own safety, he reached for the force field and door controls.

"Wait, Doc," Sheppard called, taking the stunner from the guard. "I'll go first."

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Beckett knew the Colonel was right. Stepping back, he let John enter first with the stunner aimed at her head. Her feeding hand was laid out with the palm up. Gently, Sheppard pressed his boot down on her feeding arm to keep it in place while the stunner stayed trained on her head. After a few seconds with no reaction he nodded to Beckett, never taking his eyes off her prone form.

Wasting no time, Beckett knelt beside the Wraith gently brushing the hair from her face. Pale as Wraith were naturally, her skin now bordered on translucent. Her cheeks were even hollower than he remembered and her clothes appeared nearly ready to fall off. Carefully he checked her vitals, not liking what he found one bit.

Turning to the guards he asked, "She had been talking to herself? Pacing? Agitated?"

"Yes, sir," one answered as the other nodded.

"Do you recall seeing such behavior when you were imprisoned together?" he asked Sheppard.

"No, but we weren't there very long. And I don't know when the last time was she fed before I arrived."

"I need her in the infirmary."

"No way, Doc."

"I can't help her, here! I need more equipment," Carson snapped. "She's no threat to anyone in this condition."

"And it might be a ploy to get her out of here," Sheppard countered.

"I'll have her restrained on a bed," Beckett agreed, packing up his equipment.

"No," came the faint whisper startling both of them.

"Alex, I—" Beckett started.

"Sheppard," she said, her voice gaining some strength, but not much. Struggling, she tried to lift her head to look up at the Colonel. "Now," was all she managed before she gave up trying to move.

"No," Beckett cut in. "Alex, listen to me."

"Doc, you might want to stand back," Sheppard said, moving the stunner to his offhand so he could reach for his pistol.

"No!" Beckett shouted. "Alex, listen to me," he said, turning his back to Sheppard and blocking his ability to take aim.

Alex's yellow eyes slid open a fraction, but she made no attempt to turn her head.

"I have a formula that might work. I…I didn't want to use it until I've run more tests. We can get another one of those alpaca things from the Athosians. I just need a little more time," he practically begged.

"Sheppard," she growled.

"Carson, you tried. Don't do this to yourself," Sheppard said gently, still not moving the stunner away from her head.

"Damn it, Alex. I know I can—"

His next words were cut off as she used her left hand to reach up and grip him by the throat. The sudden movement startled Beckett, but he knew there was no strength behind her grip. She was obviously trying to force Sheppard's hand. Before Sheppard had a chance to react, he moved his body once again to block the Colonel's aim. Now beyond frustrated, Beckett pulled her hand away and glared into her now open eyes.

"Now you listen to me, damn it. I have a serum we can use now. But it will just as likely kill you as make you human. I'm that close. I wanted more time to test it. But if you're so determined to die, at least let it mean something. Let me use the new formula and study its effects."

This seemed to get through to her, finally. She sat for a moment considering this, her glazed eyes trying to focus. Eventually her eyes slid shut as her whole body relaxed.

"It burns. Make it stop," she begged in a whisper so softly Beckett was surprised even he could hear.

"I'm sorry," he whispered back, too softly for Sheppard to hear, as he lowered her arm. Turning to Sheppard he nodded to the pistol. The sadness evident in his expression. "You'll not be needing that, Colonel."

Sheppard eyed the doctor and the Wraith dubiously, but turned on the safety and slid it back into its holster at his side. Meanwhile, Beckett keyed his mic calling for a gurney with a restraining harness. John continued to keep a wary eye on the Wraith and a boot pinning down her feeding hand as they waited. Their wait wasn't very long. In minutes they had her strapped down to the gurney and on their way to an isolation room far from where most of the city's population lived and worked. He had had this place set up for weeks in the hopes that when it was put to use, it would be under much more hopeful circumstances.

Knowing he had more supplies to retrieve from his lab, he tried to put the thought of his next task out of his mind. As he returned to the room to check on Alex before heading to his lab to retrieve his stuff, he was shocked to find her screaming and thrashing. The two guards that Sheppard had posted in the isolation room stood across the room with their stunners trained on her. Stepping into the room fully, he attempted to approach. It didn't take him long to realize that there was nothing of Alex in her now. She was a starving, terrified, tortured Wraith queen screaming and thrashing and cursing.

With a heavy heart, he gave orders not to stun her unless it appeared she was escaping the bonds and then headed for his lab. It didn't take him long to get what he needed and return. The eerie silence that emanated from the isolation room concerned him enough to poke his head in. Now she appeared unconscious, but still restrained. Glancing to the guards with a questioning expression, he was only slightly relieved as they shook their heads in response. This episode must have been short lived due to her weakness.

Now approaching sunrise, Carson entered the isolation room with all the equipment he needed in tow. As he approached her, she seemed unconscious and her breathing irregular as he had seen before. Knowing that delay was not going to make his next task any easier, he quickly set about setting up all the monitoring equipment and getting her connected. All the while she remained motionless. As he tested the equipment finally breaking the oppressive silence, he beat himself up mentally for his failures.

Finally he returned with a handful of syringes filled with a murky pinkish fluid. As he set the tray beside the bed, he was surprised to see Alex's alien yellow eyes wide open and watching his movements. Picking up a syringe, he showed it to her. Putting aside the healer part of himself, he forced himself to become wholly the scientist for this next part.

"I'm going to need to inject several of these to ensure the correct concentrations. Then, the same dose will be administered at regular intervals until the process is complete."

"Or I'm dead," she added, her voice almost a whisper.

The façade of pure scientist crumbled as the weight of his failure came crushing down once more. Not trusting his voice, he nodded. Pulling up a stool so he could position himself nearby to watch the initial effects as his equipment recorded the rest, he let the hand with the syringe fall into his lap.

"I'll not lie to you. The effects I've seen on tissue samples are hopeful, but horrific, also," he said, unable to face her. "The DNA is ripped apart and re-sequenced into almost pure human DNA with the iratus DNA and excess materials forming into a waste substance. Even if this works, it will likely do the same to you."

"I understand."

"I could show you the results. I have time lapse video. I can just—"

"No."

For a moment the two sat in silence. "I'm sorry."

"Doctor," she called softly.

Finally meeting her eyes he surprised himself by saying, "Call me Carson, love."

"Carson," she said as if tasting the name. "I like that. Whatever happens, I thank you. I know you tried. Take what you learn. Use it to defeat the Wraith. Know that I do this willingly."

Feeling the lump in his throat, Carson very nearly fled the room. Instead, he nodded sadly, forcing his mind and heart to stillness. He glanced at her briefly before putting the syringe to the IV and emptying it into the line when she nodded weakly one last time. This he repeated four more times. For a few minutes they sat as if waiting for something to happen. But as the minutes dragged on and nothing appeared to happen, he began to relax thinking that perhaps this was a failure.

His exhaustion pulling at him, Carson began to feel himself nodding off when the screaming began. At first she just seemed to twitch as her arms and legs seemed to spasm. Almost immediately she cried out about the burning. Disappointed, he chalked it up to another one of her fits. Nonetheless, he injected her IV with the next dose on time. But the thrashing continued, seeming more like some kind of seizure than thrashing, now. It wasn't long before her mumbled words about burning turned into screams. As minutes became hours and the spasms and screaming continued, he realized it wasn't just another one of her hunger-fueled episodes. He very nearly knocked over his stool as the full effects of what he was seeing struck him.

"It's working," he murmured in shock.

Running to the nearest of the numerous computers recording all of the data from many sources he began to check them all. She wasn't thrashing. These were seizures. He could only surmise that the burning was the formula working as it ripped apart and remade her DNA. The elation was crushed almost instantly, though as he took in the horror of what he had done. Alex's screams reverberated through the isolation room. As soon as she ran out of breath, she took in more air to scream again.

"My God," he whispered in horror. "What have I done?"

It was just as he had feared. She was being ripped apart on a microscopic level from the inside out and there was nothing he could do to ease her suffering. He had no idea what kind of pain killers he could give a Wraith, and anything for humans might not work. Worse, even if something did work, there was no telling what kind of interaction it would have with his serum. Despite the fact that the formula worked as he'd hoped, she was going to die screaming in agony. When was all that remained for them to find out.

Pale and shaking, Carson somehow made his way to the door. Despite not having eaten in longer than he could remember, he found himself on his knees beside a waste bin in the lab just inside the door to the isolation room heaving until he was too dizzy to move. He was surprised to feel hands gently tugging at his shoulders as the heaving stopped. The blackness around the edges of his vision forced him to close his eyes as someone leaned him back into a sitting position against the nearby wall.

After several deep breaths, certain he wasn't about to pass out, he forced his eyes open to find a pale-faced John squatting in front of him with an equally pale-faced Rodney standing just behind the Colonel.

"Better?" Sheppard asked, as if not knowing what else to say.

It was then that Beckett realized that despite the incredibly advanced sound proofing the Ancients had used, he could still faintly hear her screaming. Squeezing his eyes shut he let his head fall back against the wall with a thud. They must have been watching from the observation room above.

"Dear God," he whispered. "I've done this."

"Is it working?" Sheppard asked gruffly, staring off toward the door.

To this Carson only nodded, his head still tilted back with his eyes closed.

"It's your call, Doc," Sheppard said, his green eyes boring into the doctor as he finally met the Colonel's gaze.

There was no need to elaborate. John was offering to end the Wraith's agony with a bullet. Rodney, unusually silent, watched the entire exchange. It didn't take an astrophysicist to know that his friend was suffering, and that Wraith was the obvious source. He knew, too, that Carson wouldn't appreciate his interference or opinion, so kept his peace.

Carson's ghastly pale face contorted in blatant agony as he wrestled with a decision that he had never found easy, even when a directive was in hand. With uncharacteristic tenderness, Sheppard gripped the doctor's shoulder and shook him gently.

"Carson, don't do this. You tried. That's all anyone can expect. You didn't know it would do this to her."

His expression suddenly twisting from agony to anger startled Sheppard enough to take back his hand.

"The hell I didn't!"

Suddenly he struggled to his feet startling Sheppard and McKay into stepping back. He turned to pace across the lab and back, his steps quick and agitated.

"I bloody well knew! I've seen the results. But I-I had to try. I couldn't just let her give up. But, my God, do you hear her? It's tearing her apart. Literally!"

"Let me take care of her now, Doc. You—"

"No! I'll bloody well not let you just go in and kill her," he snapped. "I warned her, again. But she insisted we try, so I have to honor that. But I'm a damned, bloody fool. I should have—"

"Should have what, Carson?" Rodney finally cut in. "To you it's not a Wraith, it's your patient. You weren't going to let it be executed. John was the best chance at an easy death it had, and the Wraith rejected it. So it's got no one to blame but itself. Besides, it deserves what it gets. Who knows how many its fed on that died in agony them—"

Sheppard found himself then doing something he never thought in all his days he would ever have to do. The shock left him slow to react in pulling Carson off their mutual friend. The usually non-violent medical doctor had not only punched the astrophysicist right in the face, but had him pinned up against the wall after body slamming him into it. Neither of them were scrawny men by any stretch of the imagination, but at that moment, the enraged doctor made McKay look like a kid being picked on by a school bully.

"Get out," Beckett finally managed to growl as he got himself under control. "I'll update you when I know something."

"Sure thing, Doc," Sheppard said.

Still gripping Rodney by the collar he dragged the whining scientist out the door. Once the door closed behind them and they were in the silence of the corridor, Sheppard turned his blazing green eyes on the scientist.

"Just what the hell was that about?"

Rodney pulled his hand away from his cheek. "Damn! I wish I'd known he could hit that hard. What did he do in university, boxing?"

"Rodney," Sheppard growled threateningly.

"Oh come on, Sheppard. Isn't it obvious? He was ready to fold."

"What?"

Turning to walk down the hall knowing the Colonel would follow. "Forget it. They better have some ice packs in the infirmary this time, or he's going to get a piece of my mind."

"You baited him?" Sheppard asked incredulously.

"No, I was asking him out on a date," McKay shot back. "Of course, I baited him! Why else would I let him hit me?"

"Wait a second. Hold on," John said, trying to come to grips with exactly what had just happened.

"What? Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Yeah, that might be a good idea, because from where I'm looking, the other cheek might need a matching shiner."

Groaning in disgust and rolling his eyes, Rodney turned the corner toward the transporter at the far end of the corridor. "He's exhausted, again, and not thinking clearly. It just now hit him that he is, essentially, torturing to death a Wraith in the name of science. His ethics is clashing with the scientist and who he is is being ripped apart in the middle. I just sparked the doctor part of him that won't give up on a patient until they're dead three times over. Hopefully he'll get over the ethical problem and move on with the results. Besides, you heard him, it's not going to survive this, anyway. The least we can do is learn something useful from it instead of him letting you just execute it."

At this John stopped dead in his tracks. For a moment he was equally stunned by Rodney's rather profoundly deep understanding of their friend and doctor, and the coldness with which he analyzed the Wraith's current situation. For one moment, the whiny, hypochondriac astrophysicist transformed in his mind into the heartless mad scientist many already thought him to be.

Realizing Sheppard had stopped, McKay turned around. "What? Do I need to use smaller words? Come on, I'll explain on the way to the infirmary. I want an ice pack before this swells up."

Shaking his head in something akin to shock, Sheppard followed.

~o~o~o~

As hours rolled into a day, and a day turned into two, Carson paced the lab and injected Alex's IV with the formula every four hours. Sleep wasn't even an option at this point, as every time he moved beyond the lab to quieter areas he could still hear her tortured screams in his head. From time to time he glanced up to the observation windows in the isolation room to see who was watching now. A parade of scientists, doctors, and even his friends had all made appearances; but none bothered to speak with him. Whatever they may have thought of his work before, the results of this experiment horrified them enough to keep them away. Her screams reverberated throughout the room to a point even the guards seemed ready to crack. Knowing she was no threat to anyone, and likely never would be again, he dismissed them with word sent to Colonel Sheppard via Major Lorne at some ungodly hour of the night.

Too tired to make any sense of the exabytes of data that was being collected on dozens of computers and monitors surrounding her thrashing, screaming form, Carson simply watched in mute horror. While the horror had all but overwhelmed his senses, at first, he refused to give up. Some tiny part of him still believed he could somehow save her. He wasn't going to give up on Alex until there was nothing left to save. Though, at this point, he worried that she might be broken mentally from the ceaseless agony of the experience.

Then, on the second day, it finally happened. He was surprised Alex's weakened body hadn't given out long before. He was in awe of her endurance as the screams had gone on and on and on. The resounding silence rang in his ears as her screams stopped. Before he had a chance to fully register this, the cardiac monitors began screaming as both her hearts finally stopped. Slowly he shuffled to the end of the bed and glanced at the still-active EEG. With a defeated sigh, he dropped his head to his chest for a moment.

An instant later, behind his closed eyelids, an image of her expression filled with wonder as she gazed upon some pictures of the nighttime sky he had given her flashed into his mind. Feeling some part of him surge in denial, he reached for the crash cart. Somewhere far away, he thought he heard someone call his name. Taking off his radio he threw it across the room as he started in on her.

In a fury of desperation, he worked alone alternating between chest compressions, the ambu bag, injections, and defibrillator. Time seemed to crawl as he worked furiously, never realizing he was speaking in a nearly pleading tone.

"Come on, love. You can do this. Don't give up on me now," and a host of other phrases he didn't even realize he was speaking came flowing out as if he could reach inside her mind and pull her back with his words alone.

Suddenly the screaming of the cardiac monitors changed, just slightly. One continued its ceaseless whine of a flat line while the other blipped. For a moment he froze, listening. One. Two. Three. Yes! One of the cardiac monitors was definitely beeping in an irregular rhythm. Stepping back and staring at Alex's prone form as if waiting for her to crash again, he watched in breathless anticipation for a moment. Finally he came around the bed and switched off the sound on the right monitor before coming back around to focus on the left one. He gasped in realization as he finally understood why her heart sounded wrong.

He wasn't seeing the beating of a three-chambered heart. The heartbeat he could see on the monitor was that of a four-chambered heart. A human heart! Not entirely believing this, he scrambled for a stethoscope. The smile that followed this rather low-tech confirmation nearly split his face.

"Carson, what's happening?"

Coming back to the reality of his surroundings, he only then realized that the voice he'd heard on the radio earlier was Doctor Weir. Now it was coming from the intercom that linked to the observation room above. His hopeful smile still in place, he walked across the room to retrieve his radio hoping he hadn't broken it.

"Sorry, Elizabeth, I didn't see you up there."

"You seem rather pleased."

"Oh aye. She now has one human heart instead of two Wraith hearts," he said, looking up to her through the glass.

"I take it that it looks promising?"

While this had been a huge breakthrough and confirmation that the formula was working as hoped, he still wasn't sure Alex would survive the ordeal. If her internal organs were being redesigned back into something more human, it was quite possible all of them would shut down at one point or another, if they hadn't already. It still seemed very unlikely anything could survive that kind of transformation. The only thing that came to mind when he considered how the transition was affecting her was a butterfly; and she was definitely no butterfly, despite the insect DNA.

His expression turning grim, Beckett turned his gaze back to the still form of the former Wraith queen. She was so still now, he had to look closely to see that she was still breathing. At least the screaming had stopped; though, he was certain the sound of her screams reverberating off the isolation room walls would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"I'll update you when I have more. Beckett out." he finally said abruptly, turning off his radio.

With that, he returned to his stool and continued his vigil.

~o~o~o~

From then on, Alex remained silent. Her EEG had decreased to virtually nothing. There was no doubt she was deep into a coma. Considering the changes taking place in her body, Carson could only be thankful for this. He'd already come to terms with what he'd done to her and that there was no going back. He was certain the extended hours of agony had destroyed her mind, anyway. And the prolonged time in cardiac arrest had finally finished it. Nonetheless, he continued the treatments.

Alex had been comatose for nearly three days when the first visible signs of her change became apparent on the outside of her body as well as the inside. As he periodically checked on her, he found her pale almost amphibious skin sloughing off to reveal nearly translucent pink skin that was clearly human. After nearly a week of practically living in the isolation room alone, he finally found himself calling in a team of assistants to help him with cleaning off the dead flesh as it peeled away and what remained of her previous organs were excreted little by little.

Not a single part of her body remained unaffected. From the internal scans of her organs to the nails of her toes; everything changed rapidly from Wraith to human, leaving behind an even thinner shell of the former woman. Even the skin of her head sloughed off taking the long tresses of unnaturally white hair with it. Not entirely certain her digestive system was ready for it, he went ahead with adding a feeding tube and sustaining her on a steady diet of liquid nutrients in the hopes of giving her changing body some form of fuel to assist in the change. It was several days before the nearly skeletal figure began to show any improvement. But once she did, it was just as rapid as the alterations from Wraith to human had been. He was quite amazed at the amount of recovery she showed in such a short time.

But her brain activity remained almost completely flat.

Within two weeks of her cardiac episode, Beckett was convinced she would never wake. But, the changes were nearly complete, and her now mostly human body was steadily improving in strength. Finally he allowed himself short periods away from the isolation room and lab for food and rest. By this point he had seen pretty much everyone at one point or another watching him and Alex through the glass of the observation room; Sheppard most frequently. None had spoken with him throughout the ordeal, and he didn't blame them. He would not have been very good company in the present circumstances.

Nearly three weeks since the first injection, Carson returned to check on the silent, still figure of the former Wraith queen when he found himself entranced with her EEG. There was obvious activity where he expected none. Turning to her bedside, he found her eyes open. He had long before found them to have changed from the vivid yellow common to Wraith to a bright blue that was almost unnatural. The puzzling part was that despite losing layers of her eyes as she had most of her body, the iris remained the same cat-like shape of the Wraith. These eerie cat eyes seemed to roam around before settling on him.

Carson felt his heart jump as he forced the rising hope back down. Though he didn't often deal with comatose patients, he was well aware of how frequently they would show signs of cognition that were little more than infrequent blips. Leaning closer, he found himself smiling as he looked down into her eyes now definitely tracking him.

"Alex? If you can understand me, blink three times," he instructed gently.

She blinked, but it was only once. So, these were likely involuntary movements. Nonetheless, Beckett felt the need to offer some comfort. Gently he stroked the fuzzy white hair that had begun to grow back just above her forehead. Surprisingly, she seemed to lean into it, but nothing more. Returning to his scans and insane amounts of data collected over the weeks, he dismissed this as an anomaly.

Hours later he found himself intrigued by those eyes as they seemed to remain open for longer and longer periods of time. Doctor Beckett began to develop the distinct feeling of being watched by an intelligence. Though her EEG fluctuated intermittently, there was nothing to give a clear indication of emergence from her comatose state. Unable to ignore this completely, however, Carson found himself returning to his stool beside her bed to watch and even speak with her. As often as not, the brilliant blue eyes focused on him giving him the impression she was listening.

Following this, various parts of her body began to spasm intermittently. Again he found himself repressing hope he knew he had no right in feeling. After what she had experienced, no one would have come out intact mentally, even if physically. Time and time again he gave her gentle instructions and whispered encouragement. Time and time again, she failed to respond.

At some point Beckett finally lost track of the days. Though he could have looked at one of the numerous computers surrounding him, he felt a lethargy too great to bother. Though he would not admit it to anyone else, a part of him desperately wished Alex had survived; not so much for the research, as for the fact that she had wanted to be human so badly, he cursed this disappointment. Sitting on the stool beside her bed, he eventually dozed off yet again.

Somewhere in the darkness of his seemingly ceaseless nightmares where Alex—now human—screamed in never ending agony, he heard something that startled him awake. Where his dreams had shown him nightmares only a doctor could appreciate, he woke to find himself in a dream he could not comprehend. Colonel Sheppard stood beside Alex's bed on the other side, holding her hand. Realizing the doctor was awake, he fixed his green gaze on him in question. Blinking away the remnants of sleep, Carson realized that this was no phantom, and what he was witnessing was no dream.

Sheppard was holding Alex's left arm and hand in a gentle grip even as her right arm moved across her abdomen.

"I told him not to wake you," she slurred as if speaking through an unfamiliar mouth.

Beckett's shock was complete. He came to his feet so fast the stool crashed behind him.

"Alex!" He took her other hand and smiled down into those bright blue eyes. "Welcome back, lass."

For a moment those eyes alternated between Carson and Sheppard as she seemed to be slow processing. Her eyes settled on Beckett as she said, "Carson, correct?"

"Aye, lass."

To this she just nodded slowly before turning to the Colonel. "Sheppard."

"The one and only," he tossed back with a lop-sided grin before saying to Beckett, "I was just swinging by the observation room when I saw her flailing about. I figured you had things in hand, but I'd just come down for a quick peek."

Having checked most of the monitors to find them relatively unchanged other than her EEG, Carson was satisfied with the preliminary data to return his focus to her. Taking her right hand in his, Beckett watched as her intelligent, yet glazed eyes closed, making him think she was going to fall asleep again. Suddenly they flew open in a panic and she tore her hand away from his. She seemed to struggle to raise her head and focus her eyes as she stared at the now empty, pink palm of what had once been her feeding hand.

"It worked?" Alex whispered, as if not daring to hope.

"Looks like it," Sheppard commented.

"Let me see," she whispered turning her pleading eyes on Beckett.

Not sure where to find a mirror, Carson turned toward the lab and returned a moment later with a surgical instrument tray. Its surface was by no means clear, but it reflected enough, he thought. As he held it in front of her with a beaming smile, she raised trembling hands to touch her face, her new flat white teeth, and even the inch-long hair that had grown more rapidly than he had expected. Sheppard and Carson sat in silence as she absorbed her new human appearance.

Tears poured down her cheeks as her head fell back onto the pillows and her eyes turned back toward the ceiling.

"I'm free."