2 Weeks later
Elizabeth's eyes opened gradually as she realised two things. The first thing was the lights in the infirmary were very bright, the second thing was that she had one hell of an headache.
She sat there for about a minute before Carson walked over to her, a menacing scowl on his face. Out of all the people on the expedition she had to admit that Carson scared her the most.
Carson arrived at Elizabeth's bedside, still wearing the look.
"You, young lady, are in serious trouble, and you're quickly making your way out of my good books."
Elizabeth cleared her throat slightly, she knew she was in trouble when she got called 'young lady', before answering quite cheekily.
"What did I do Doc?"
Carson's eyes opened wide in disbelief.
"Don't get smart with me Elizabeth. And it's more a case of what you haven't been doing three times a day for the last two and a half weeks."
Elizabeth cringed inwardly but Carson knew she'd done it. He knew she'd cringed
"Aye, now you remember"
Carson softened slightly on sat on the bed facing her.
"We talked about this Elizabeth. Do you remember me lecturing you?"
Elizabeth nodded slowly and Carson continued.
"I know you've had a tough couple of weeks...scrap that...you've had a tough couple of years but you've got to take care of yourself Elizabeth. I'm worried about you and I promise you that if you have anymore fainting spells because you're not eating right, I will take command away from you, don't think I won't"
Elizabeth nodded again
"I'm sorry. And please be assured I'm not doing it intentionally"
Carson sighed
"Then why are you doing it? You're a smart capable woman...you know the dangers of not looking after yourself properly."
Elizabeth nodded
"I know Carson. I've just been..."
Elizabeth sighed, there were some things which hadn't made it's way into her medical file. Some things which nobody else but her knew about but it looked like these were things which she would have to tell Carson about.
"Carson. I'm going to tell you something but I swear to God if this gets out..."
"Anything you tell me while I'm acting as your doctor is strictly confidential"
Elizabeth nodded and looked around the infirmary, it was quiet and the other people who were in the room where on the other side of the room.
"After...after my rape..." Carson nodded slowly, he knew how difficult it was for Elizabeth to talk about that "...I felt physically sick all the time when I did eat, I was sick. My father started to get worried, he started to accuse me of doing it on purpose, he wasn't to know. I just wanted to be in control of something...I stopped eating, it made me feel in control of my life again and it stopped me from feeling sick. Because of my dancing, I was a pretty slim kid to begin with...so it didn't take long for me to get carted off to hospital. My Dad knew the doctor well so he managed to keep it out of my medical records. I have to feel in control Carson. If I'm not in control of my life, how can I be in control of this expedition. I don't mean to do it, I just do"
Elizabeth looked away from Carson and wiped her eyes slightly before turning back to him. She hadn't realised but halfway through, Carson had grabbed her hand and started to rub it lightly.
"Elizabeth I had no idea lass. But...I stand by what I said. I want you to start eating properly again. Three meals a day, at least. You've lost far too much weight and it's not healthy"
Elizabeth nodded
"I will. I promise"
Carson sighed and stood up, gently letting go of Elizabeth's hand.
"I'm going to keep you in for observation for today. I've already informed Major Lorne and he has taken command while Colonel Sheppard is off world."
Elizabeth sighed but nodded none the less.
Rio
There may be problems between SGA1 but they had a job to do and they were mature enough to put their problems aside, or so John thought. For him it had been the worst mission he'd ever been on during his entire Atlantis career. He felt like strangling every single one of them.
Ronon and Rodney had started bickering halfway through the mission. Teyla then had become very annoyed and shouted at the two of them, which resulted in Rodney having an pointless argument with her and that had meant that John had ordered all of them to, in his own words, 'shut the hell up before I shoot you all and don't think I won't', okay so he knew he wouldn't shoot any of them and they knew it as well but it did shut them up. It didn't take long for John to end the mission, two hours before it was scheduled to end. He decided he had to do some serious thinking about whether or not his team could stay together. If they couldn't get through one short mission to an ally planet how in the hell could they get through longer missions. John decided that the first thing he would do upon getting back to Atlantis was have a talk with Elizabeth about splitting up his team.
The three walked behind John in silence, each of them fuming slightly. Each going through things in their heads and trying to avoid eye contact with the others. Each knew that they should have been able to get through such a short mission without arguing but not understanding why they couldn't. They should be able separate their personal and professional lives. After all they are adults.
John activated the Stargate and stepped through followed by his team. They knew he was pissed and they could tell that he was thinking of splitting them up.
Atlantis
John walked into the Atlantis 'Gate room, a scowl still on his face. When the team joined him he ordered them to dump their things and go to the infirmary to get checked out. When the team were sulking off Major Lorne came up to John.
"Sir, you're back early"
John turned to Lorne and shook his head
"I'm going to bang their heads together. We only got halfway through the mission when they started bickering..." John allowed himself a moment away from his anger and looked up into the control room and back down to Lorne "...Where's Weir?"
Lorne took a moment before answering
"She's in the infirmary Sir. She fainted while briefing St Bates team. Dr Beckett has requested that she stay there for at least a day for observation"
John sighed deeply and nodded
"Okay, when I come back from the infirmary I want a briefing on what's been going on in the city"
Lorne nodded
"Yes Sir"
When Elizabeth saw Rodney, Ronon and Teyla she groaned inwardly, especially when it looked like Ronon was about to head over to her, luckily he was stopped by Carson and some nurses who came over to check on the team, but it didn't stop Rodney. Quickly he walked over to her and sat down in the chair which was next to her bed.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
Elizabeth held up her index finger and Rodney stopped speaking.
"I'm fine Rodney, I just fainted. Carson said it's not surprising given the pressure I've been under"
Rodney nodded and smiled
"Good, as long as there's nothing wrong with you"
Elizabeth smiled at Rodney's concern.
"It's nothing that a long sleep won't solve"
Rodney nodded before being dragged away by one of the nurses, obviously sent over by Carson.
Elizabeth relaxed back into her pillow but not for long, after only a few moments John came into the room, he'd obviously heard from Lorne that she had fainted.
"Elizabeth are you okay?"
Elizabeth nodded firmly
"I am fine. I promise"
John nodded and sat in the chair which Rodney had just vacated.
"Good that's good. What happened? People just don't faint..." A thought then filled John's head and he looked at her worried "...You're not pregnant are you?"
Elizabeth laughed a little and shook her head
"No. Thank God, that would be a little too weird"
John breathed a sigh of relief and nodded
"He would certainly have an hold on you if you were"
Elizabeth nodded in agreement
"Doesn't mean I'd go back to him"
John smiled slightly and cleared his throat. As much as he hated the fact that Elizabeth was in pain and that he had been one of the causes of it, he was happy that she was free again as it gave him a glimmer of hope although he did suspect that, for at least the next couple of months, she would be completely off the opposite sex, after all they were doing themselves any justice.
"So, why did you faint?"
"Low blood sugar"
John shook his head and then glared at her
"Elizabeth..."
Elizabeth promptly cut him off
"I've had the lecture from Carson. I don't want the lecture off you as well"
John nodded in acceptance and sighed
"I'm going to get checked out and then I'll bring you down a turkey sandwich from the mess hall. And a coffee because I need to...make a request"
Elizabeth sat up very curious
"Please continue"
John looked round at his team sadly, Elizabeth's gaze following his, before looking back at her and sighing
"Best I ask you when they're not here"
Elizabeth nodded and got the feeling that she knew what the request was. It saddened her too.
One week later
It didn't take long for the rumour mills to get hold of the information that SGA1 would be split up into three different groups. Rodney, being the chief scientist, would be staying with John on SGA1. With them would be St Bates and Lieutenant Cadman, which Rodney had fought a loosing battle about. Ronon would be joining Bates' old team which was to be commanded by Lieutenant Richards and Teyla would be replacing Cadman on Lornes' team.
Elizabeth had thought to begin with that splitting them up would be a bit too harsh but, after talking with Bates, who had no problem with joining the flagship team, and Lorne, who had no problem which such a highly skilled fighter like Teyla joining his team, who both agreed that it would probably be best if the team were split up and would most likely make them more effective. Of course, quickly after Bates left the room, the conversation between Lorne and Elizabeth had turned onto something much more personal to both of them.
"The sad truth is that if they are split up they will be more effective, they won't be getting at each others throats. It's best Ma'am"
Elizabeth nodded sadly in agreement
"I know. St Bates, are you sure you have no problem with loosing command of your team and joining Sheppard's team as second in command"
Bates nodded firmly
"I don't mind. Lieutenant Richards, well let's just say he'll make one hell of a commander"
Elizabeth smirked slightly
"Well let's just hope he can command Ronon"
Bates nodded in agreement and Elizabeth turned to Lorne
"What about you? Are you sure you're fine with loosing Cadman and having Teyla on your team instead."
Lorne nodded
"Laura has been practically jumping about since finding out she's short-listed for Sheppard's team, and I'll be happy to get someone of Teyla's skill on my team"
Elizabeth nodded and dismissed the two men. As Lorne was about to leave she called him back. Lorne walked back to her desk and smiled
"What can I do for you Ma'am?"
Elizabeth gave him a look which he knew well, it was the look which she meant that she knew something was wrong with him.
"What's going on with you and Marcus? You haven't been near each other, unless it's official, for the last three weeks. Level with me Jamie, what's happened?"
Lorne sighed and sat down opposite her
"We had a fight. Our first major fight. Fraternization regulations are there for a reason, I guess I've realised the reason"
Elizabeth sighed and shook her head
"What did you fight about?"
Lorne shifted in his seat, he didn't want Elizabeth to know she'd been the cause of the fight but...he wanted...needed to talk someone about it and she was the only person who he could talk to about it.
"I told Marcus about that Atlantis Military idea you had. He wasn't too happy about it...I started defending your actions and then he brought up the thing between..." Lorne used his index finger to motion between the two of them. Elizabeth cringed but nodded all the same.
"You knew the minute you told him what happened that he'd get mad and use it against you later"
Lorne nodded and sighed
"I guess I didn't realise he was still jealous about it. It happened so long ago."
Elizabeth nodded, it had. It had been over two years since it had happened, they had never really talked about what happened that night except when Elizabeth had found out about Lorne and Bates and he had asked her if he could tell Bates what happened, just so there were no secrets. Elizabeth had been apprehensive at the thought of sharing their secret, especially with Bates, but she knew that Lorne just wanted to be loyal and honest so she had agreed. The minute she agreed she knew it would come back to bite them in the ass.
"Talk to him Jamie, sort it out. I don't want the two of you having problems because of me. I've already screwed up my life enough, I don't want to screw up yours"
Lorne chuckled slightly
"You could never do that"
Lorne stood up and was about to leave her office but talking with her about that night had made him remember something, something he needed to know before he could do anything else.
"The rumours were...they were that you were five months pregnant when you lost the baby..." He turned round to see her staring at him, her eyes big "...I just wanted to know that they didn't get the dates mixed up..."
Elizabeth cut him off
"I was five months pregnant...not four"
Lorne nodded and left her office.
Elizabeth hadn't realised until that day what Lorne had been carrying around for over two years. Truth was she had wondered if the baby could have been his, until she did her calculations and found that she was far too pregnant for it to be his.
Elizabeth looked at her watch and then quickly left her office. Waiting at the bottom of the stairs was Lorne and his team. Elizabeth could tell from the look on Teyla's face that she felt out of place but there was nothing she could do about it now. The decision had been made and Caldwell had backed she and John on it. Elizabeth walked towards Lorne and smiled.
"Come back in one piece please Major"
Lorne nodded and smiled
"Yes Ma'am"
Why had she said that? What had she said, 'come back in one piece please Major'?. She should have guessed that something would have happened. Teyla and Lieutenant Anderson had fallen through the 'Gate only two hours after the team had left, both were injured badly. Elizabeth didn't know fully what had happened but from what Teyla had mummed to her, Lorne and Michaels had been taken hostage. Teyla had then promptly passed out in Elizabeth's arms.
Both Teyla and Anderson were now in the infirmary and John's team was suited up, ready to disembark. But there was one person who wasn't ready yet.
Rodney had slipped off to the infirmary, he had to see Teyla, make sure she was okay. He didn't know why he cared but he did. Up until a three weeks ago this had been the woman he loved, the woman a part of him still loved. He watched her for a few moments, her chest rising and falling slowly as she breathed gently. Crimson red blood still weeping from the wounds which were yet to be bandaged.
Rodney kept watching her until Carson came up behind him, placing his hand on Rodney's left shoulder.
"She'll be okay lad."
Rodney slowly nodded and left the infirmary without a word to his friend. Carson watched him go and sighed. He knew that Rodney had been struggling but he knew Teyla had been struggling more, he knew that through what he had discovered when running a blood test. Carson walked over to Teyla's sighed and touched her arm.
"He's gone love"
Teyla's eyes opened slowly and she sighed
"Thank you Carson. I could not face seeing him"
Carson nodded and started to clean one of Teyla's head wounds.
"What were you going to do about it?"
Teyla shook her head and sighed
"It no longer matters and he will never need to know"
Carson closed his eyes and moved away from the wound
"Teyla, it was his..."
"...And now it is gone. There is no need to upset him more then I already have"
Carson opened his eyes and looked at Teyla, tears were filling her eyes.
"Would you have told him?"
Teyla shrugged
"I do not know. I was planning...planning to go to the mainland. I was going to make the request to Dr Weir next week, tell her that I couldn't stay on Atlantis. Once on the mainland...I do not know...I may have given it up or I may have raised it myself. But as I said before...it does not matter now."
Carson held Teyla's hand lightly and sighed.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't save your baby"
Tears fell down Teyla's cheeks
"I know you tried"
John and his team stood around waiting for Rodney to join them. When Rodney walked into the room John was near ready to kill him, until he saw the state he was in. He'd obviously been to see Teyla.
John walked over to the scientist and lowered his voice.
"Is she okay?"
Rodney nodded slowly.
"Carson said she'll be fine"
John nodded slowly, he placed his hand on Rodney's shoulder and led him over to where the team were waiting, ready to go through. Just as the Stargate activated Ronon walked into the room, in his combat gear and carry a selection of his favourite weapons, John turned to him puzzled but Ronon just shrugged.
"Not letting you go in there with only Cadman and Bates for backup"
John nodded slowly, he wouldn't let it show but he was touched that Ronon cared. Ronon glanced over at Rodney and nodded. Rodney slowly nodded back. It was obvious to John that Ronon and Rodney shared some pissed off feelings about what had happened to Teyla. Both men had seen her bruised and bleeding and it was obvious that they were out to seek some revenge.
Elizabeth walked down the stairs to her team and sighed.
"Bring them and yourselves home"
Elizabeth's gaze met Bates. To anyone else, he was calm but Elizabeth could read him and she knew he was terrified for Lorne.
John, Ronon, Rodney and Cadman stepped through the Stargate. Bates waited a minute as Elizabeth walked to him.
"Bring him home and then sort it out Marcus."
Bates nodded before turning round and stepping through the Stargate himself.
Kik
When they arrived on Kik, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. After all they'd visited this planet a number of times and it always seemed like such a peaceful place and the people were lovely, or so they thought. John secured his P-90, ready to use it if he needed to. He was getting back his people and he'd shoot whoever tried to stop him. John was feeling so guilty. He knew this would have happened anyway but before the shake-up it had been his team who had been scheduled to go to Kik but John had lost the mission to Lorne after he had lost a bet. It was stupid to be betting missions with each other but it had been a bit of fun, of course if Elizabeth asked they had been no bet. Instead John had given Lorne the mission because one of the women on the planet was really into him and it was starting to freak him out.
John caused himself. He had been so stupid but he could kick himself later. Right now, he had two Marines to rescue.
According to the sketchy details which Anderson had been able to give them they were attacked just a few miles outside the main village. There was apparently suppose to be a big Ancient statue there with writing on. It didn't take them long to find this statue and yep, it was Ancient. From there Anderson had told them that Lorne and Michaels had ran a northerly direction while ordering him and Teyla to get back to the Stargate. From there the details were non existent. They were working on pure guess work.
Out of the team members Bates was surprisingly the most calm, but then he knew if he screwed up, Jamie could die. That scenario kept running around his head, he couldn't loose him. The past three weeks for him had been hell. They weren't really speaking to each other, they hadn't spent any time together and Bates was back to sleeping on his own. He needed Lorne, he needed Jamie back with him. Safe and well.
The team headed north for what seemed like hours before reaching a building. A big stone building which was different to what any of the buildings in the villages looked like.
John looked at his life signs detector as as suspected, the amount of life signs had increased the closer they had got to the building. There were two guards at the main door and then once inside the building there were two more guards down the hall. John and Bates took out the two guards near the door first, quietly and quickly, no messing around.
Ronon took out his stunner and pointed it at the door. He nodded at Bates and John, both of who had a door and were ready to open it. They opened the doors and before the guards could blink Ronon had taken them out with one stunner blast each. The team moved up the corridor, John keeping one finger on the trigger of his P-90 at all times. He looked the the life signs detector. He wasn't quite sure where to go next there were multiple targets which could have been Lorne and Michaels but he wasn't sure. Bates looked at the life signs detector in John's hand and sighed. He looked at the targets and for some reason was drawn to one of the targets a few corridors away.
"That one"
Bates pointed to the life signs detector and then looked up at John.
"It's them, I know it"
John took a second to assess the situation. He knew Bates wouldn't send them down the wrong corridor on purpose but he needed something more.
"How can you be sure?"
Bates pointed to one of the targets which was moving around a circle.
"That's Lorne, when he's nervous or pissed off he walks around in a little circle, it's calms him down"
John looked at Bates slightly confused why he knew Lorne so well but he accepted it.
"One last time Bates. Are you sure?"
Bates nodded
"It's them"
John took a deep breath and hoped for the best as he and the team made their way down the corridor, taking out any opposition before they even realised that they were there. It didn't take them long to get to the corridor. They'd managed to find a key on one of the guards that they'd taken out and were hoping it was the right one for the cell which Lorne and Michaels were in.
They were ready to move down the corridor to the end room when the appearance of four burly guards stopped them dead in their tracks. They unlocked the cell and two of them walked in while the other two stayed outside guarding the door.
The life signs detector suddenly went mad. One of the signs, which Bates had identified as Lorne earlier, was flown across the room by one of the other signs while the other sign which had obviously been Michaels looked like he was being held back by another sign. When Lorne was thrown across the room Bates was ready to rush down the corridor and into the room but John grabbed him and shook his head.
"We've got to do this right."
John ordered Cadman and Ronon to head back the way they'd came and around the corridors until they reached the other side of the corridor. Cadman nodded and grabbed her own life signs detector and followed Ronon.
It only took Cadman and Ronon a few minutes to reach their destination but it had felt like an eternity to Bates. Especially as the life signs detector kept showing Lorne getting thrown across the room. Plus he could hear the sound of his body hitting the wall, although there were no screams, Bates knew Lorne wouldn't scream, he would show weakness.
John indicated that he would take out the two guards on the door and then Cadman was to go into the room and take out the two guards. Cadman nodded and secured her P-90 and waited. In less the thirty seconds John had taken out the two guards on the door and Cadman was running into the room with Ronon to take out the other two guards. In all the madness they hadn't realised that one of the life signs had disappeared entirely.
TBC...