Previously: When we picked up an alien escape pod (in chapter 108), Carson decided to help the dying lady inside (last chapter) despite carefully reasoned arguments not to. And Anna needs to get in shape.

Chapter 110. So Upset.

If he could put into words how uncomfortable he was with this, they probably wouldn't be wheeling Elizabeth into the lab. Carson stood in front of the door across the room. Colonel Sheppard stood next to him, staring at the pod seriously.

Colonel Caldwell was apparently having second thoughts, too. Or maybe it had more to do with the wheelchair. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"I'm perfectly fine, Colonel," Elizabeth said, getting up out of the wheelchair. She waved away Radek's attempt to help her, but she smiled at him gratefully.

Radek thought it must have been Elizabeth in there, the way his pulse picked up. Only she could smile like that…

"Radek insisted."

"You wouldn't take no for an answer," Radek grumbled.

He'd tried. Of course, he'd tried to get her to see reason, see things from the whole rest of Atlantis' point of view. Regardless of any assurances that Phebus was sincere and the other being floating in a pod out there could have been her husband… there was the possibility Phebus was lying to them. Elizabeth, included. At least, she had to understand why he was not one-hundred percent okay with this arrangement.

But, then, he wasn't about to volunteer himself, either. It was a hypocritical objection to even bring up.

"Ah, love is a powerful thing, Radek."

Radek stared at her, then glanced at Carson. "Is it?" he found himself asking. No one seemed to understand the point of the question, and it was well enough they didn't.

Even Radek wasn't sure whether or not he really loved Elizabeth, and much less whether she loved him; but she just wouldn't do this. Elizabeth wouldn't. Or maybe she would? She wanted to help Phebus and her husband, let them be at peace when they went. That was a noble goal. Radek tried to tell himself that it was, or else admit that love wasn't powerful enough. Not where he was concerned.

Or, at least, that love wasn't where he was right now.

"Aren't you the hopeless romantic?" Carson chuckled nervously.

"You're just as hopeless, or else you wouldn't have volunteered," Elizabeth said. She nodded her thanks. "Phebus is extremely grateful."

"Yes, well… this imprinting will only last a day at most, so what did I have to lose?" Carson shrugged.

"Well, I'm sold." Rodney carefully backed away from the pod, like the pod's occupant might accidentally jump into his brain. Radek joined him behind the console to see what he was doing on the tablet. Looking at the pod's systems apparently. "Looks like this pod is in better shape than the other one. I'm not sure, but it should probably make the imprinting less traumatic."

"But I'll be sure to catch you if you faint," Colonel Sheppard offered.

Carson gave him a look of sarcastic appreciation. "Thank you, Colonel."

Sheppard smirked. "Anytime."

The black top of the pod slid away, revealing an old, wrinkled man in a brown uniform.

Radek checked the scanner. "He's alive."

When Radek held the readings up for Rodney's inspection, he shook his head. "Uh-uh, no." Rodney tapped the screen, pointing out that the life signs were extremely faint. Faint if they'd not been on ice for a hundred years. How was Radek supposed to know the difference? "These are even fainter than hers. If we're gonna do this, we should do it now."

Carson just stood, looking at the pod for a few seconds.

"You kinda have to, you know, get closer."

"I know," Carson snapped. He looked up, his face pale and clammy. "You know, they were husband and wife." His distress at that thought was clear.

Radek rolled his eyes. Carson was not just thinking of that, was he? It was a little late.

Colonel Sheppard smirked. "Well, you are two consenting adults."

"Four consenting adults?" Rodney wondered.

Sheppard looked at Rodney with a raise of his eyebrows.

This moment could not have dragged on any more terribly than it was right now. Then Elizabeth bowed her head in the manner of a Tok'ra switching control.

"I promise to be discreet, Doctor," Phebus said.

"Well…" Carson took a slow step toward the pod. "See you later?"

"Have fun," Rodney said.

Radek couldn't decide if he was being sarcastic or not, and didn't have time to think about it.

Radek's heart jumped into his throat when a white light zapped to Carson's head, enveloping his whole body a moment later. Carson lost his balance, nearly falling. Colonel Sheppard moved to catch him, but Elizabeth—or, rather, Phebus stopped him.

"Give him a moment," she murmured, watching Carson carefully.

Carson seemed to regain his balance, standing still beside Colonel Sheppard with his head bowed. Suddenly, he raised his head… and stared.

He had to be confused. Radek would be confused. Get into an escape pod in one body, wake up standing in another one. In a totally different place. Especially knowing that if he woke up that way, then that probably meant he was dead.

"Thalen?" Phebus asked. "It's me."

Carson narrowed his eyes at her. "Phebus?"

"It's all right," Phebus said, and motioned to the rest of them in the room. "These people recovered our pods." She took a slow step toward Carson. Well, a step toward Thalen—this was confusing. "We may well be the last of our kind. These generous people have allowed us to be together one last time…"

Radek reacted more violently than he thought he would. He inhaled sharply when Elizabeth's hand rested on Carson's chest. Why would Elizabeth choose this?

"One last chance…" she whispered. "To say goodbye to my husband."

With that, Phebus stepped in, sliding her hands up Carson's neck and pulling him to her. Radek looked away almost immediately when their lips met. He started counting, but he didn't recognize what number he stopped on when Phebus finally broke the kiss. However long it was, it was long enough for Colonel Sheppard to make his way from beside Carson to stand between Rodney and Radek.

The next time Radek looked up, Elizabeth's hand caressed Carson's face before finally falling away.

It's Phebus, he told himself. Not Elizabeth.

Didn't make it any less weird. Any less jarring. Any less… painful?

He wouldn't have agreed to host the alien in his body—not under any circumstance he could imagine—but, expendable or not… she could have asked? But she didn't. She asked for Sheppard. And, Radek had to admit, he didn't know that it wasn't Elizabeth in there talking to them… Carson was better, marginally. If Carson found Elizabeth attractive, no one would know.

But Sheppard? Everyone knew that—why Sheppard?

Carson backed away a bit, still staring. "It's not what I expected," he admitted.

"I know this body is different, but I assure you, Thalen, it's me." Phebus turned her head ever so slightly, apparently, to address the rest of them. "Is it possible for us to be alone? Just for a few minutes?"

"Um…" Radek found himself speaking. Or, maybe he was trying to.

Caldwell apparently had the same goal in mind. "No," he snapped before Sheppard could step in with a final verdict. "Absolutely not."

"They are… well, consenting adults," Rodney offered. "I'm still not sure how many, but…"

"That's not what I'm concerned about, Doctor," Colonel Caldwell said. He finished by looking at Rodney with what could almost be described as sympathetic disdain. Rodney was such a child.

Radek couldn't have agreed more.

"He's right, McKay." Colonel Sheppard interrupted by pointing toward each door. "But what do you expect to happen, Caldwell? We already have an armed guard on each door."

"Of course, you do." Elizabeth smiled a little bit. Not at all the way Elizabeth would smile. Radek was momentarily satisfied that it wasn't Elizabeth.

Then he noticed Carson smile ever so slightly in response.

A moment later, they each turned, bolting for the nearest doors. Elizabeth almost bowled over Rodney on her way to knock the guard to the floor. She picked up the stunner. Radek glanced from his hunched hiding spot behind the console toward Carson to see that he'd achieved the same ends on the opposite end of the lab.

"Security to lab three!" Colonel Caldwell shouted into his radio.

A beam from Carson's stunner zapped into Colonel Caldwell and he fell to the ground. At almost the same time, Elizabeth incapacitated Colonel Sheppard the same way. Carson escaped while Rodney went for Colonel Sheppard's gun. He wrested it free of Sheppard's holster, leveling it on Elizabeth as she entered the room.

"Rodney, no, don't shoot!" Radek popped up from the ground, slapping the gun to one side. "That's Elizabeth!" He noticed too late that the safety was still on.

"I'm sorry! I—" Rodney snapped sarcastically, keeping a firm hold on the gun even as he raised his hands in surrender.

Elizabeth leveled her stunner on him.

"You two need some very serious marriage counseling," he groaned.

"He's not my husband; he's the enemy!" Elizabeth jabbed her stunner at Rodney. "Drop your weapon. Now."

The gun clattered onto the floor next to Rodney's feet. For some reason, Radek breathed easier.

"Now radio security and tell them everything's fine," Elizabeth said.

Rodney looked between Radek and Elizabeth, wordlessly asking Radek for another option. Radek didn't have one. Apparently, Rodney couldn't think of one, either. "Uh, security, this is Doctor Rodney McKay. Everything is fine. Never been better. Uh…" He hesitated, flinching as he kept talking, like he couldn't stop himself even though he knew what was coming. "Colonel Caldwell was just kidding when he…"

"Forget it," Elizabeth growled, shooting him with the stunner.

Almost like instinct, Radek dropped to the floor next to him to make sure he was okay. Rodney was fine, of course. Unconscious, but perfectly fine. He'd wake up with a terrible headache and a tingling sensation in his ears, but… Well, knowing Rodney, he'd probably invent a few more stunner side-effects.

"And what about you?" Elizabeth turned to him.

Radek recoiled from her voice. "Elizabeth, if you can hear me…"

"She can hear you." Phebus stooped over the Beretta, picking it up and putting the stunner in her belt. She stepped closer to him, so close that Radek could have grabbed her hand. She slid Rodney's radio from his ear and hooked it over hers. "She'd like to tell you to… hm." She smiled like she'd just heard something funny. "Run."

Radek didn't know what his plan was.

Grabbing for Elizabeth's arm, he stood, aiming to pin her to the wall. He was stronger than she was… Not as strong as Colonel Sheppard or Caldwell or… well, almost any other man on Atlantis, but Elizabeth was slim for a woman.

A slim woman with a gun.

Somehow, she anticipated Radek's intentions, turning her body and ramming her shoulder into his. The next thing Radek knew, he was on the ground. Elizabeth's knee dug into his chest, the Beretta sitting muzzle-down just to the left. The safety was off.

He let go and gasped for breath. Tried to, anyway.

"Radek…" She said it like a question, like she said almost everything else, and for a second Radek thought it might be her. But it wasn't. "You'll understand better than anyone. Thalen, people like him." She paused for a moment and tilted her head.

He flinched away from Elizabeth's fingertips running over his forehead. He couldn't fight her, or do much of anything, actually. He could barely breathe with her knee on his chest like this. Not to mention the gun, not to mention…

"Taking what I deserve. The things I worked so hard for. The things no one wanted to give me." She leaned down and pressed her lips against his for more seconds than he cared to count.

"And asking for John wasn't my idea, by the way," she added after she broke away.

He might have said something if he hadn't been gasping for breath, finally. If he could figure out anything to say. "What are you telling me this for?" he asked, thinking it was best to buy time. Maybe Rodney or Caldwell or one of the other guards outside would regain consciousness and—

"I'm trying to tell you that love is… an unpredictable thing. One day you're all they talk about, the next you're fighting to be remembered," she answered. She patted his chest twice and sighed. "All the same, don't make me shoot you. Isn't love grand?"

He was sure he would have objected somehow, said something, if he had any air in his lungs to do it with. Elizabeth swapped out her Beretta for the stunner and—at least he could breathe now.

Next time: Attempting to take the situation in hand.