CHAPTER 38 – SMOOTHING THE WAY

He fell into his bed and sleep came hard and full of dreams and demons. Always demons. Sometimes he saw her, saw Gina and she was a long way away – in the distance and he had no way of getting to her. She had lifted her hand to him, palm out as though in a gesture of need, but as he looked at the words that she mouthed, he could not understand her. No sound. And with the silence came understanding. He was the only one that could help her return, help her memories come back to the correct point. Another ripple – the rift had squeezed and choked her current memories from her and taken her back to the point of her last coherent thought. And he needed to find out what that was. He had no idea what had led her to the rift, what had occurred during the journey through the rift to cause the damage that it had done.

Restlessly he tossed the blankets aside, his legs moving subconsciously, fighting with something that took no form. Her forcefully pushed these demons aside, to focus on her. But he saw that she was fading, and knew that the memories of him, of their time together would be gone forever unless he brought them back. Now.

Urgent in his actions now, he sat up in bed, pushing aside disheveled hair that refused to co operate. Throwing on the same clothes that had arrived at an untidy heap on his floor just a short time ago. Boots. Then he went to his dresser where he picked up a book. War and Peace. Brought from earth when he first arrived in Atlantis with the intention of reading it. And while that hadn't exactly happened, it had served as the perfect hiding place for a photo that he kept there. A photo that he had found in his pocket when he came through the time portal from 1962. A photo that he himself had not put there, a photo that he did not ever remember being taken.

Him and Gina sitting on the beach side by side, thighs touching intimately, her head resting on his shoulder, dark hair blowing softly out behind her. And the look in his eyes as he looked down at her, head slightly bent, and her gaze turned slightly so that she looked up at him. No doubt to anyone looking at that photo. This was a couple in love. A love that was meant to be. He wondered if Callandra had somehow managed to put the picture in his pocket. They had not had a camera during the time he had spent with her, and this appeared to be from a Polaroid camera which was not in use until after 1965. Another conundrum. But he did not argue or question. This photo gave him something that he could show her, something tangible. Evidence that they knew each other.

Scrubbing his hand restlessly through his hair again he placed the photo in the pocket of his BDU shirt and left his quarters to head back to the infirmary, knowing that time was suddenly shrinking in ever increasing circles and that he only had one shot at this before the window of opportunity was shut forever.

"Colonel, a word please..." Carson had seen him enter the infirmary and wanted to speak to him before he went to see Gina. John paused at the doorway, waiting for Carson to join him.

"How is she doc? Any sign of her memory returning. Anything at all?" John peered around Carson's shoulder, trying to see the still form of the woman who lay in the bed.

"Her last memory is of walking her dog on the beach one morning. Then there is only a blank page. It sounds as though that was the morning she found you on the beach. She's blanked out everything from that point forward – I haven't told her anything about Atlantis, what year we are in – anything. Too much too soon and I think she will shut down. She thinks something happened to her on the beach, she fainted and her father found her and brought her here to hospital. She senses something though, she's not asking enough questions.. I suspect something flutters at the edge of her memory, so it's not totally gone."

John was pensive. "Protection?"

"Likely son. She took a battering when she came through that rift and her mind simply returned itself to the last point where things were comfortable. Before you."

"Thanks Carson – you know how to make a man feel mighty fine. I need to start bringing her back. I can't leave it too long, the window of memory is small and if she stays in the past too long, she'll not have the strength to come forth into the future. Not fully anyway."

Carson huffed out an impatient breath. "I think you're playing with fire Colonel. You don't have the skill to play around with her mind and memories. Leave it to the experts. We can have Kate Heitmeyer come down and talk to her, try and bring the memories out the right way."

"Only if my way doesn't work Doc – She needs to be around me, please let me do it my way first."

Carson was not convinced but something in him responded to the pain he saw in the Colonel's eyes. "On one condition Colonel. Any sign of undue stress and I'll have to insist that you stand down. I'm in charge of her medical decisions and you'll need to respect that."

John pushed gently past Carson now, needing to be near her and see her. He nodded at him as he passed and stopped at the end of the bed to give her little furry companion a belly rub. "Hey Angel... how's our girl going...hmmm? Good to see you're looking after her."

He seated himself beside the bed and watched as her eyes slowly opened, responding to his presence.

"Hey Gina. I know you don't remember me, but I need to work through some things with you, and try and get your memory back. A lot has happened since your last memory, and some of what you are going to learn is going to seem a little scary. But I'm right here, and believe it or not, you kinda trusted me not so long ago..." He smiled at her and something in his eyes caused hers to widen and her breath to hitch slightly, and she felt the tiny tug in her memory, that little pull as if a long thread dangled and someone from a long distance away had given it a small tug as though to remind her that they were there.

John pulled the picture out of his pocket, ran a thumb across it lovingly, then placed in her hand, allowing her to bring it up in front her face to look at it. Her eyes lingered for a long time over the couple in the picture and he watched her eyes soften slightly. Not recognition, but a shifting and then saw her thumb rub over the picture just as his had done.

"You and I? Together? How can I forget a person?" There was pain in her voice but he also recognised that hint of steel that had drawn him to her from the beginning. She wanted to know – it was not a simple case of an overworked mind taking the cowards way out to forcibly bury memories it was too scared to face. Something had happened in that rift, or in the time before she had left to make the memories fade. He just needed to find out what that was.

"Something happened to you Gina, something you will have difficulty understanding. Carson?" The doctor hurried over, his gaze already flickering over his patient to see how she was responding to John. Seeing nothing to alarm him he smiled.

"Yes Colonel – I suspect you are going to ask me if you can do something I'll likely not approve of."

Gina watched the easy comraderie between the two men and shut her eyes briefly, keeping their voices flowing over her, while placing John's face into the screen behind her eyes. There was something trying to surface. She could feel it but it was out of reach and this alone made her want to stamp her feet in frustration. Her head hurt, both from the head wound and from the sheer frustration of knowing that important information had somehow been lost.

When she opened her eyes again, it was to find two worried sets on her. John had leaned in close. "Gina, honey? You ok? I want to take you for a little wheel chair ride, just to get you out of the infirmary for a little while. Carson here has said it's ok for a short time – I thought it you could see... certain things, then what I tell you will not seem so unlikely."

"I mean it Colonel – very short time out of bed. She should be resting, and if it wasn't for the supposed urgency, then I wouldn't be allowing this at all."

"Carson, you have my word – ok? Angel girl... time for a walk..." Carson brought around a wheel chair and while the excited dog leapt down from the bed, it was a more careful process getting Gina out of the bed and into the wheelchair. As soon as she sat up she was dizzy and John waited patiently, holding her carefully around the shoulders until she had her equilibrium and he could transfer her from the edge of the bed to the wheelchair. He saw her take several deep breaths and squatted down so that his face was brought level with hers. Gently his hand came up to stroke down her cheek.

"Do you trust me Gina? Reach down inside yourself and you'll see the answer... do you trust me?"

She didn't need to reach down, knew that trust between the two of them was irrevokable, nodded then thought better of it when a shaft of pain shot through her head. His hand was gentle on her cheek as he saw her wince of pain and she closed her eyes at his touch. It felt right.

She knew immediately when they left the infirmary that her world had shifted and life as she knew it was suddenly and inexplicably different. "John...?" Her voice was small and he resisted the urge to stop the wheelchair and simply gather her into his arms.

"It's ok Gina, don't be afraid. It'll all fall into place soon, I promise."

The décor of Atlantis alerted her immediately that she was no longer home – far far from home likely. The hallways that he rolled her wheelchair through, and the transporter with it's touch screen control panel brought a stunned gasp and he didn't need to look down into her eyes to know the level of the shock that would be registering there.

"Tell me John.. I'm not a baby, you don't need to hide anything. I have no idea what's going on but I know that the crapstorm of all time has just hit the deck and I've managed to get caught up in it..."

Her voice trailed off as he left the city and headed out onto the east pier and she could see the city of Atlantis rise tall and proud out of the ocean. He crouched down beside her now to see the wonder that spread across her face and taking her hand he held it tightly in his own. As though to keep her from slipping away again.

"Are you ready to hear Gina? You already know all this... you found out about it two weeks ago when you found me lying on your beach, a traveller from the year 2012... from another galaxy..." and as he began his story again, he saw the steel that stiffened her spine and knew that somehow she would be ok. Callandra had been right. She may not have the ancient gene, but she was a main player in the big game and had been chosen for her role for a reason.