Title: Lost Among The Stars
Summary: When Major Evan Lorne is attacked on a mission off-world, a series of events is put into motion that reveals the very secret John Sheppard had worked so hard to keep hidden. Eventual Sheppard/Lorne. Spoilers for "Coup d'etat" and "Doppleganger".
A/N: Wow, a lot of readers commented that Doppleganger was also one of their favorite episodes. I have to say I'm glad I chose that episode of SGA to focus my energy on. Therefore, you will notice that much of the dialogue in this chapter is directly transcribed from the original episode. Anyway, that being said, I will remind you all that I have changed several aspects of canon in Doppleganger for the sake of my story. As such, please don't be too surprised or upset when the plot begins to deviate.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed the story so far. Your thoughts and suggestions are inspiring (I do try to address them whenever I write a new chapter) and your praise is very motivational!
Characters: Evan Lorne, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Ronon, Teyla, Elizabeth Weir, Sam Carter, Radek Zelenka, Jennifer Keller, and other minor characters and OCs.
Disclaimer: all rights belong to MGM.
Warning: mentions of non-consensual rape.
~o~o~
John nervously crossed and uncrossed his arms. His veins still hummed with adrenaline, which refused to leave his system even though he was no longer in danger. It had been a whole hour since Lorne had held him at gunpoint in the crew quarters' atrium.
The unconscious Major had immediately been moved to the infirmary's isolation room. Kate had insisted that he didn't need to be restrained, claiming he posed no threat to them disarmed. Reluctantly, the remaining senior staff agreed. However, at the first sign of violence, John had ordered the pair of Marines guarding the door not to hesitate shooting Lorne. Each man was armed with a Wraith stunner.
It was a long wait. Too long. Lorne was slumped in an uncomfortable steel chair, his head resting on his chest. He did not move. He did not shift. And if John did not see the subtle rise and fall of his chest, he would have assumed Lorne to be dead.
Nearing the end of the alloted the normal hour-long stun time, Kate entered the isolation room and sat down across from the slumped soldier. Soon after she seated herself, Lorne began to wake up. He lifted his head and blinked slowly. Shaking his head from side to side, his brow furrowed. He slowly reached up and groggily rubbed at his eyes. John could tell he didn't immediately recognize his surroundings. The Major's neck was stiff from the position in which he had been originally placed in the steel chair. As such, Lorne winced at any sudden movement.
The Major eventually focused his gaze at the Doctor. He blinked again. His eyes were sluggish. Confusion masked his face when he hesitatingly spoke her name.
The Colonel, along with some of the senior staff, watched from the observation window as Kate and Lorne talked. Kate had requested the room's speakers be turned off. She wished her initial conversation with the Major to fall under doctor-patient confidentiality.
Even without knowing what was being said, John could see it disturbed Lorne. It disturbed him greatly. A litany of emotions flashed across the Major's face. Confusion. Fear. Was that shame?
At one point in the conversation Lorne almost completely jumped out of his seat in shock. The occupants of the observation room tensed. John instinctively reached for his gun. Lorne settled after a few moments and ran his hands through his hair anxiously. Kate calmed him down right away, taking one his hands in hers.
A short time later the Doctor left the isolation room. Lorne was alone. John watched as tension slowly began to built up in his shoulders. The Colonel desperately wished to go down there and comfort him. But he knew he wouldn't be allowed. And, even if he was, he wouldn't know what to say.
After a minute, Kate joined the senior staff in the observation room.
Jennifer was the first to speak. "What did Major Lorne say?"
Kate sighed, shaking her head slightly. "He has no memory about what happened in the atrium, though that's not surprising."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"He was sleepwalking," she replied simply.
Jennifer's eyebrows shot up. "Sleepwalking?"
"Yes, it's quite common for someone suffering from somnambulism to perform complex activities in their sleep and remember nothing upon waking."
Sam frowned. "Has this happened before?"
Kate nodded reluctantly. "He used to sleepwalk when he was a child. But recently, he had a similar incident..."
"Recently? Like, here on Atlantis? When?" Jennifer questioned, pressing Kate for information. But John knew. The memories of the Major in the hallway that night all those weeks ago flashed in his head. Lorne wet and shivering. Eyes bloodshot and red. The Doctor continued, "What caused the relapse?"
"I'm afraid I can't talk about it without Major Lorne's permission."
Pushing aside the memories of his crying and frightened second in command, John asked, "So you think this has something to do with the crystal I touched on M3X-387?"
"That's when it seemed to start," Jennifer spoke up, turning to face John. "Major Lorne's not the only one. In each case the person being effected reports you being a significant negative presence in the nightmare."
"Well, I can't control that," John said defensively, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No, but maybe something is," Sam stated.
The Colonel scoffed. "What? You think someone is responsible for impersonating me in their dreams?" John rolled his eyes, trying to laugh the whole thing off.
"Look, I've seem more than my share of alien entities that are capable of this." Sam straightened from her perch. "Colonel O'Neil was once knocked unconscious by an energy being that lived in a crystal. It took on his appearance for a while."
Kate jumped back into the conversation, "I read at one point you were taken over by an alien entity."
"Yeah," Sam sighed, looking down dejectedly, "not a personal highlight."
John shook his head. "The question is, what's the point?"
"Maybe it feeding on our fear?" Jennifer suggested. Silence fell over the room while everyone turned to look at her strangely. Realizing how crazy she sounded, Jennifer grimaced and said, "I'll shut up."
"No, no," Sam nodded thoughtfully, "it's not that big a leap. It's just... we don't have any proof."
"First it was Teyla," Jennifer listed, ticking off each person on her fingertips, "I was next, and then Ronon after I treated him…"
"Well, I'm the one who touched the crystal," John stated, "and I never had a bad dream."
Kate interjected, "Maybe that's why you're appearing in everyone's dream. Whatever's doing this imprinted your image onto itself."
"Now that I think about it, it's possible that whatever it is, it's spread may be limited by touch," Jennifer surmised.
Sam crossed her arms. "Okay, anyone who's had contact with Major Lorne since the incident needs to be isolated. If this is some sort of alien influence we have to find a way to detect it."
"Well, if Keller is correct that it's only spread by touch, and Ronon was the last one to experience it," John assumed, "then how did Lorne become infected?"
"That's a good question," Jennifer said, tapping her chin in contemplation. "To the best of my knowledge, Ronon spent the rest of the night in the infirmary after you guys came to see me. And if Major Lorne was in his room sleeping until he started sleepwalking then Ronon couldn't have infected the Major."
"Is it possible that Ronon infected someone else who then infected Lorne?" Kate supplied.
Jennifer's eyes widened in horror. "Or maybe the entity has become more powerful and doesn't need touch to move from victim to victim anymore."
"In any case, let's also isolate anyone who has experienced these nightmares or been in contact with an infected person," Sam ordered. "Maybe we can track this alien being's movements and located it that way."
With that the senior staff disbanded, ready to scour the city. John snuck one last glance at the dejected Lorne in the isolation room below before continuing on his way. He had a creature to hunt.
~o~o~
Sam quickly shut down all gate travel and restricted non-essential personnel to their quarters. Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney were advised of the situation.
Kate spoke to everyone who had been in contact with the entity. Her psychological profile suggested that the alien being was sociopathic. Its intent, though unclear, seemed to contain a certain amount of malice. She explained that the nightmares would likely escalate. The Doctor was afraid that the entity could cause serious harm, even though it only appeared to be limited to manipulating someone's subconscious.
John compared the creature to Freddy Kruger. Rodney scoffed at the very idea. Claiming the whole thing to be coincidence. They were chasing after the Boogeyman.
Sam wasn't convinced. She ordered the team back to the jungle planet, M3X-387. They were to investigate and retrieve the creature's crystalline form. They needed to find out exactly what the beings were and how they worked. Also, if possible, how to detect if there really was something inside Lorne and how to get rid of it.
Rodney complained the whole way.
Radek traveled with them too. Rodney claimed that the Czech scientist lost the original bet and was obligated to go. They had found something on the planet. Radek objected, stating that whatever they found needed to be of value. And he definitely did not consider Rodney's discovery to be classified as 'valuable'.
While collecting the original drained crystal, they found another crystalline structure attached to a tree just yards away. They took it with them. The scientists claimed it would be useful to compare the two, one alive and one dead.
Radek and Rodney studied the unique energy signatures, trying to determine the frequency that the entities were emitting. Radek suggested that they could calibrate the city-wide lifesigns detector to pick up such a frequency. Rodney, already ten steps ahead of his colleague, shut him right down. They needed to start smaller.
It took several hours but they eventually found the right frequency. Adapting one of the hand-held LSD, Radek was sent to the infirmary's isolation room to scan Lorne. Scans came back negative. The entity had already left the Major.
Based on their experiments, the alien being needed some kind conductive material to travel. Such as skin to skin contact. Using the natural electrical current of the human heart. But, now that it had grown stronger, the creature had gained the ability to move about the power conduits in Atlantis. It could be anywhere. It could be in anyone.
After being cleared by Radek, Lorne made his way back to his private rooms. He avoided the transporters and the more populated hallways. It was obvious the tales of his possession had already become fairly well-known throughout the city. Living in is such a closed community, gossip spread like wildfire. The juicier it was, the faster it spread. As such, Lorne didn't want to be confronted or questioned about his nightmare experience. Once was more than sufficient. Plus the knowledge that he held both of his superiors at gunpoint was embarrassing enough he didn't need anyone else reminding him of the fact he could have killed John and Sam.
The Major was tired, exhausted. His body begged him to take a nap. While Lorne knew he never would have been allowed to leave the isolation room unless Radek was confident he was no longer infected, Lorne was afraid. In fact, he wasn't sure he wanted to fall asleep anytime soon.
Lorne decided to wait to take shower. He didn't need one, at least not right now. Changing out of the baggy sweat pants and t-shirt that he had worn to bed the night before, Lorne pulled on his BDUs. But the uniform felt strange. Shoes, he needed shoes, he reminded himself. But after pulling on his black combat boots he still didn't feel right. Like he was unworthy to wear it. His leg also missed the weight of his gun. Lorne's usual sidearm had been confiscated after Ronon stunned him. As such, his leg holster felt empty.
To the armory it was then.
After signing the appropriate paperwork, the Major had a new weapon. He then made his way to the firing range. It was there he ran into Lieutenant Abrams.
"Sir," Abrams nodded in greeting.
Lorne offered him a tight smile.
"Are you feeling better, sir?"
"Yes, thank you."
Abrams could tell that he didn't want to talk. So, leaving the Major to his own devices, he packed up his own gear and made a hasty exit.
Lorne spent only three rounds at the range, an unusually low number for him. His heart wasn't really into shooting at a silhouette target. Deep down he was scared that it would transform into John. His nightmare come to life. He threw out his targets, not even bothering to check his accuracy, and left a half hour later.
The sun was just beginning to set. The normal dinner crowd had already come and gone. Grabbing the leftovers, Lorne sequestered himself into the far corner of the cafeteria. He stayed there longer than he intended and departed shortly after his fifth cup of coffee.
He went back to his room but he was too wired to fall asleep. So Lorne took a bath. The hot water soothed his tense muscles, releasing all the aches and pains that he had accumulated over the past day. He sank lower and lower into the water. His whole head was eventually submerged.
Weightless. Free. He felt like he was flying. Without a care in the world.
He stayed under the warm bath water until he could no longer hold his breath. And even then he considered staying under longer. But he didn't. Gasping for air he emerged, flinging himself from the water. He gripped at the side of his tub, floundering to support his heaving body.
He rested there awhile, unwilling to move himself.
He eventually emerged and dried his body. He stood at the foot of his bed for a few minutes, contemplating sleep. No, he couldn't bring himself to do it. So Lorne dressed in a fresh pair of BDUs and made his way to his office. There was always paperwork to do. And his reports weren't going to write themselves.
He stayed in his cramped office all night. He was close to drifting off the next morning when the crackle of the city-wide PA system activated.
"This is Colonel Carter," Sam announced, her voice reverberating throughout all of Atlantis.
Rubbing his eyes, Lorne pulled himself up from his slumped position. His computer had long since gone to sleep, daring to do what he could not.
"If I could have your attention, please," Sam's voice echoed. "I'm very sorry to have to tell you that we have lost a valuable member of the expedition today."
Lorne's gaze snapped up from his dead computer screen.
"Dr. Kate Heightmeyer meant a great deal to all of us. Her death is nothing short of tragic."
"Shit," Lorne breathed, horrified. How did this happen?
"I'm also sorry to have to report that the threat we face is still in our midst and until further notice, the full lockdown protocol will remain in effect. Try to remain calm," Sam stated, her voice unwavering and resolute. "We are doing everything we can to ensure everyone's safety and to resolve this situation quickly. Thank you." And, after a final moment of silence, the PA system clicked off.
Lorne remained seated, completely frozen behind his desk. Kate was dead. The alien entity that was invading their dreams was even stronger than he imagined. Lorne felt horrible. He had been in contact with Kate, possibly while he was still infected. Lorne feared he had been the cause of her untimely demise. Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. The guilt was crushing him. He wanted to rush back to his room and draw himself back under the warm bath water. This time never to reemerge.
But he couldn't leave his office. Not even Lorne had the clearance to move about the city during a full lockdown protocol. Only Sam, John and Rodney had that ability. So unless he was summoned or given permission, he could do nothing.
So he waited, and waited, and waited. Paperwork no longer offered a decent distraction. And while his couch seemed inviting, he couldn't bring himself to rest upon it. So he waited, and waited, and waited some more.
After a while, he became hungry. He found some powerbars that he had stashed away in his desk. He munched on one; slowly chewing, savoring each bite. He wondered what everyone else was doing. He knew Sam would be in her office coordinating the search over her headset. John was probably running around Atlantis with Teyla and Ronon, trying to track the creature. He supposed that Radek and Rodney were also working on a way to find the alien entity and contain it. While it would be too late for Kate, if they acted fast enough they could still save many more lives.
Into the third hour under lockdown, Lorne's earpiece beeped.
"Major Lorne?"
He immediately recognized the voice. "Yes, Colonel Carter."
"You are needed in the infirmary," she commanded. "Please report there as soon as possible."
"Yes, ma'am."
Nervous though curious, Lorne rushed off to the nearest transporter. Finally he would be able to help. Hopefully they had discovered a way to get rid of the creature and send it back to the planet from whence it came. When he arrived in the infirmary Lorne spied John. The Colonel was casually lounging against one of the empty beds.
Lorne walked up to his commanding officer and asked, "What do you need me for, sir?"
John's face was pinched with stress. "Ah, Lorne, could you go to the isolation room and help Dr. Keller."
Eager to help, the Major nodded. "Yes, sir."
The doors to to the quarantine quarters automatically swished open as Lorne approached. He was greeted by Radek, not Jennifer, when he entered. "Where's the doc?" Lorne asked the Czech. He glanced about the room. "What's with the rubber walls?"
"I'm sorry, my friend," Radek responded. "I have to go." Smiling sadly at Lorne, the scientist made a hasty retreat back into the hallway beyond.
Lorne spun around in time to see a fully armed Marine close the door, locking it. "What the-" Then realization dawned on him. "Oh, no. Please tell me you're kidding!"
The Major sighed heavily and looked up at the observation room above. Sam and Jennifer stood there, watching him mournfully. Sam made a small wave, an apologetic frown marring her usually cheerful face.
He was infected again. But how? Why?
Lorne wanted to scream. Frustrated he began to pace back and forth.
He glanced back up at the window above him and saw John join his peers. The Colonel looked depressed. His eyes were half lidded and the corners of his mouth drooped. Even his usually spiky hair had lost some of its height.
Pain and panic gripped at Lorne's heart. He had already been awake for almost a day. Fatigue was beginning to gnaw at his brain. He couldn't fall asleep. If he did he was afraid he would never wake up again. Like Kate.
"Could I have some coffee, please?" he requested, craining his neck to see his superiors' reactions. "Sir?" He saw Jennifer nod, talking to the other two. They all seemed to agree about something. Desperate to stay awake, he hoped that they allowed him some form of caffeine.
"We'll have someone bring you some coffee soon." Sam relayed, her voice booming through the speaker system. "Hang in there, Lorne!" she encouraged him, noting his tense form.
The Major smiled feintly at her enthusiasm. "Yes, ma'am."
He began to pace again when John and Sam moved away from the window. Only Jennifer remained in the observation room, nervously looking down at him.
And so, he was back to waiting.
~o~o~
"Do you think it knows it's trapped?" John pondered, looking back at Sam as the two Colonels entered her office.
Sam moved to perch on her desk, her arms crossed, while John moved further into the room. "I don't know. Why?" she responded.
"Maybe there's a way to…" John floundered, waving his hand. "I don't know, reason with it."
"Being in Dr. Weir's old office made you think of that, did it?"
"Normally I just shoot the bad guys," John grumbled.
Before he could continue, Ronon, Teyla and Rodney joined them.
"We just heard," Ronon announced in his deep baritone.
"There must be something we can do," Teyla pleaded. Her tone was even but John knew she was fearful to lose another friend.
Sam slid off the edge of her desk. "That's what we were talking about." She turned back to John. "Okay, let's say for a second you could somehow communicate with it. What are you planning on saying?"
"I don't know," John ground out, frustrated at the whole situation. "I haven't gotten that far."
"It strikes me that if it feeds on fear, or worse, it likes the thrill of killing its host, then…" Sam trailed off when John's eyes met hers. His eyes were ablaze. The fire that burned in him flared, silently threatening her to continue that train of thought. "...well, then it would take the last chance that it had."
"To kill Lorne," John stated.
Sam sighed and looked down at her clasped hands.
Then a thought suddenly sprang to John's mind. "What about survival?" he asserted. Snapping his fingers he looked over at Rodney. "It's trapped. Will it die without a living host to transfer to?"
"I wasn't hoping to find out," Rodney admitted, fidgeting under the Colonel's intense gaze.
Teyla spoke up, "We could give it the chance to leave, go home."
"Back into the crystal."
John shrugged. "Yeah, why not? Send it through the 'gate back to its planet."
"I've heard of people being talked through waking dreams before," Sam said. "Maybe… maybe Lorne can be hypnotized into a state where he could somehow communicate with it."
"I'm sorry, what?" Ronon interrupted. "You want Lorne to ask this thing to leave?"
"We are talking about Lorne," John admitted. "If anyone can do it, he can."
"Yeah, I guess we're lucky in that regard," Rodney commented, smiling morosely. "Imagine if it was me with that thing in my head. I wouldn't last the first round, forget about a second possession!"
"Please don't even joke about that," John deadpanned, folding his arms self-consciously against his stomach. A whole new level of panic set in. He didn't want to think about losing his best friend to that alien being, let alone Lorne.
"I have faith in Major Lorne, I do," Sam started, noticing the uneasy feeling that began to permeate every corner of her office. "But he's up against a creature that is apparently capable of manipulating his subconscious… We saw what happened to him the last time he was under it's influence."
"I wish there was a way for one of us to get in there," John sighed, speaking more to himself than to his team.
Sam raised her brow. "Into Lorne's dreams?"
"Yeah, you know, help him out, give him a little moral support." John began to pace. "Come on, all the things you've seen you've never come across a way for one person to get into another person's dreams?"
A thoughtful look passed over Sam's face. Shaking her finger at John, as if to say his idea was a great one, she nearly sprinted out of her office.
"Where's she going?" Rodney demanded. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, but I think I'm about the see a side of Lorne that I never wanted to see."
"It does not have to be you," Teyla said.
"Yeah, well, it's my bad idea." John walked out after Sam, following her retreating form.
The next two hours was a blur of activity. Once Sam relayed her idea to Rodney and Radek, they were fairly confident they would be able to complete the task. But they needed time and materials to construct an apparatus for support two living people at once. Sam was able to briefly explain what the scientists were trying to accomplish.
"We first encountered the technology ten years ago on a planet where the survivors of a holocaust were living entirely in a virtual world created in their minds," she told them. "Since then, we've managed to modify the use of the VR training for SG team members. It only took some minor calibrations to tune it into subconscious activity."
"So Sheppard is is actually going to see Lorne's dreams?" Ronon asked.
Sam pursed her lips. "Well, to be honest, the technology is untested for use in this manner. Dreams are much more random than conscious thought. It may be difficult for the system to translate what is going on in Lorne's brain so Colonel Sheppard can understand it. I'm just hoping that the two of them will be able to interact in someway."
It sounded so simple when Sam explained it. But John knew there was more than what she was letting on. Virtual realities were always iffy technology. And Rodney was nervous about the whole thing, which was never a good sign.
John was able to briefly peek at one of the computer calculations before Rodney shooed him away. If he was reading the math correctly, there were a dozen or so complications that could occur, ranging from death to permanent paralysis. While John was willing to suffer the risks to save Lorne from a known fate with an uncertain solution, he was only one half of the equation. The Major also needed to consent, it was his subconsciousness afterall.
While the scientists continued to work, John went to the observation room to talk to Lorne.
The Major had long ago given up pacing about the perimeter of the room. At some point a Marine must have brought him a plush chair from the infirmary's waiting area for him to sit on. Lorne was slouched over, resting his forehead on the cool surface of the table. Several empty coffee cups surrounded his head, creating a disfigured halo. His eyes were wide open, his pupils dilated. His hair was stuck up in all directions from when he run his hands over his head in frustration.
He looked absolutely miserable.
John unmuted the room's speakers. "How are you doing, Lorne?"
The Colonel must have startled the soldier because Lorne almost completely fell out of his chair. "Sir," he addressed him. John noted the dark bags collecting under Lorne's eyes, giving the Major a sickly look. "Any news?"
John gave him a little grin. "Yeah, we think we might have a solution. Essentially we want to convince the entity to go back into the crystal."
"How are you going to do that?"
"We have some virtual reality tech that will allow someone to enter your dreams. We hope that the combined mental ability of two people will break the creature's hold. Maybe we can talk it down, let it release you."
While Lorne seemed relieved there was some semblance of hope for him, but he still was hesitant and uncertain.
"Colonel Sheppard?"
"Yes, Lorne?"
"Who's going to enter my dreams?"
"I am."
Lorne nervously licked his lips. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Of course, Lorne. What is it?"
"I don't think you should be the one to do it."
John furrowed his brow. "What? Why not?"
"It's just that- well, you see, you're my…" He stopped, took a deep breath, and tried again. "My nightmares aren't pretty."
John scoffed. "If they were, I would be concerned."
Lorne gave him a weak smile.
Taking pity, John said, "Look, Lorne, I know this might be awkward for you. I'm your commanding officer, after all. But we think I may have the best chance of helping you inside your dreams. This creature has taken on my appearance. If there were suddenly two of me in your head it might snapped you out of the nightmare faster. Plus, other than Teyla, I'm one of the few people on Atlantis who has successfully entered an altered state of consciousness through meditation," John explained, referencing his time spent among the Ancients stuck in the time dilation field.
Lorne still seemed a little reluctant to the idea so John continued to speak, "You should have nothing to worry about. McKay and Zelenka will be inside the room with us at all times. Dr. Keller will even be on hand in case something happens. You'll be in good hands." He paused. "Now, if you don't want to do this, we won't," John said, sincerely. "But, if you don't do this, I can't guarantee that you'll make it out of that room alive. You will collapse of exhaustion eventually, and then I'm afraid we won't be able to help you. So please, trust me when I say, we won't do anything without your consent."
Lorne took in a deep breath. "Okay."
"So you'll give it a try?"
"What have we got to lose, sir?" the Major replied, solemnly.
"Lose? I never lose, Major. You should know that by now."
A half hour later, Jennifer and Rodney and Radek entered the quarantine in hazmat suits. With them came a slew of equipment. First they brought in a pair of cots. The Doctor also carried in an emergency medical kit, some IVs, and a defibrillator. The scientists' equipment was slightly bulkier. To Lorne, it looked like the contents of their entire lab. Eventually the crystals - one dead and one alive - were brought in. A power conduit was attached to each confinement container. Rodney hoped that the extra energy would further appeal to the creature to return to its original form. Several long cables tangled underneath the legs of the cots and into the complex machines the scientists brought along.
When everything was set up, John joined Lorne in the isolation room. The Colonel did not wear a hazmat suit, just a pair of uniform pants and a black t-shirt. Both soldiers were directed to a different cot. Nodules were attached to their temples before finally hooked up to a sinister looking grey box.
Lorne was terrified. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists. He didn't want to fall asleep. He was fairly certain he knew what he was going to dream about - Baliter and the events of PXK-233. He was pretty sure John knew it too.
Turning his head to the side, he looked over at John. The lanky soldier seemed relaxed. His hands were nicely clasped on his stomach. His face was slack and smiling. His body was completely still. But Lorne knew better. He could see the pinch around the Colonel's eyes and the tension in his shoulders. He was just as scared as Lorne. He just hid it better.
Feeling Lorne's gaze, John turned to look at him.
"You sure about this, sir?" Lorne asked for the third time in the past few minutes.
"Not really," the Colonel coolly replied.
"We're ready if you are," Jennifer stated.
John nodded at her.
"Thanks," Lorne suddenly blurted out.
John frowned slightly. "I haven't done anything yet."
"For trying, sir," the Major clarified.
"You're welcome, Lorne."
Jennifer placed a needle in Lorne's IV. "Administering the sedative," she announced.
In the course of a few seconds, Lorne went limp. Completely asleep.
The Colonel watched him for a few moments. When he realized he was still in the isolation room, he said, "Nothing's happening here."
"He's not dreaming yet," Jennifer replied calmly.
John was about to answer when he suddenly blinked out of existence.
~o~o~
A/N: Oh no, poor Lorne! I want to say I feel bad that I made the alien entity return to Lorne, but then I would be lying. I never really liked Rodney's dream sequence in the original Doppelganger episode: it was too short and too predictable. It did not add to the wonderful characterization he had gained in previous episodes. Furthermore, I really wanted John to go into Lorne's head and see what he's dreaming and what he's feeling. Who knows what he'll learn?
I also tried to include some speculation about how Lorne originally became infected with the creature. I never really could figure out if the alien entity was only traveling by touch in the very beginning. I think it was one of the biggest plot holes in the episode.
I originally planned to have this chapter include Lorne's dream sequence, but I eventually decided to give it its own chapter. This way the exposition wouldn't be too long and we could have a intense chapter for next time. Big things are happening, I'm so excited to share them with you.
Again, thank you for all the love and support. Your reviews are very appreciated. Until next time… XOXO
