Orpheus - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The faint morning that crept through the entrance woke John. He found Elizabeth still asleep on his lap. He brushed a curl aside and watched her sleep. During most of the night, Elizabeth had stirred restlessly in her sleep. He wondered what had happened to her when she was trapped down in the tomb, but he doubted she would ever tell him.
Since she had not fallen into a deep slumber until dawn, he did not want to wake her, but he did want to get her back to Atlantis.
He slowly eased her head off his lap and gently laid it onto the ground. He grabbed his shirt, which still lay next to the burnt out fire, and slipped it on. He walked over to the entrance and peeked out from under the dewy foliage to find clear blue skies overhead.
“Nice weather for a long walk,” he thought out loud.
After stuffing all their supplies into his backpack, John finished getting geared up and gently scooped Elizabeth back up into his arms.
She was still asleep when he reached the Stargate. John was not sure how he managed it, but he somehow dialed the gate address on the DHD without putting Elizabeth down on the wet ground.
The familiar sound of the Stargate chevrons locking quickly finished and a wormhole to Atlantis was established.
He keyed in his IDC and waited for his interrogation to begin.
“Unscheduled off-world activation,” the technician on duty said over the intercom.
Caldwell stepped away from his office and headed to the control room.
“What is it?” he asked the technician.
“We’re reading Colonel Sheppard’s IDC.”
Caldwell knew that Sheppard was well aware of the consequences if he ever stepped foot back on Atlantis. The only reason Caldwell could think of that would make Sheppard return to Atlantis was that he had found the woman, Elizabeth Weir.
He clicked on his head set. “Colonel Sheppard, I gave you a chance to come back with Major Lorne. That chance is gone.”
“Colonel,” John’s voice came through the radio. “I told Major Lorne that I would come back after I found Doctor Weir. And I have found her. Right now she is in dire need of medical attention.”
“What’s going on?” McKay asked entering the control room. “Is that Colonel Sheppard?”
“How do I know you are telling me the truth, Colonel?” Caldwell asked, ignoring Rodney.
“If you lower the shield and let me through, I’ll show you,” John replied.
Rodney scoffed. “What? You think that Sheppard just pulled some woman off the street and is calling her Elizabeth so he can get back into Atlantis?”
Caldwell continued ignoring Rodney even though he made a valid point.
“Sir, she needs immediate medical attention. Let us through and you can interrogate me as much as you want after she’s been checked out by Doctor Beckett.” John's voice echoed on the radio.
“Fine,” Caldwell finally agreed. “Lower the shield and get a medical team to the gateroom." He turned to Major Lorne, "I want Sheppard apprehended once he comes through.”
Moments later John stepped through the gate with Elizabeth in his arms to the warm welcome of his men pointing their weapons at him.
“Thanks for the warm welcome, guys.” He glared up at Caldwell standing above in the control room balcony.
John stood in place and waited for Carson and his medical team to enter with a gurney. He carefully laid Elizabeth on the gurney and brushed her hair away from her sleeping face.
“Careful, her arm is broken. She's very weak and she has not eaten any real food for days,” he informed Carson.
“Don’t worry, Colonel. I’ll take good care of her.”
“I’m sure you will, doc. I’ll come and check on her when... if I can,” he amended, when he saw Caldwell coming down the stairs towards him.
“I see you have found this Doctor Weir of yours,” Caldwell said not bothering with salutations.
“Yes, I have." John matched Caldwell's frown. "Apparently, I'm still the only one who remembers Elizabeth.”
“Apparently so,” Caldwell said wryly.
“You don’t believe that she is Elizabeth.”
“I don’t know what to believe, Sheppard. I don’t recall ever meeting this woman before.”
“With all due respect, sir, she is Elizabeth Weir whether you believe it or not. You can ask her anything about the Atlantis expedition and you’ll be hard pressed to find that the things she knows could be the fabrication of a delusional dream.”
“Don’t worry. I will speak to her when she’s conscious.”
“No, this isn’t right."
"What isn't right?" Caldwell scowled.
"I found her. Everything should return to normal,” John said more to himself than Caldwell. “I need go to back,” he finally said to Caldwell.
“You’re not going anywhere, Colonel. I’m putting you under house arrest.” Caldwell turned to Major Lorne. “Major, please escort the colonel to his quarters.”
“Yes, sir.” Lorne looked at John and shrugged. “Sir?” He gestured for John to take the lead.
“Hello, love.” A familiar Scottish voice greeted Elizabeth when she woke up in the infirmary.
“Carson,” she smiled. “What happened?”
“Colonel Sheppard brought you back earlier today. You fractured your humerus, but we fixed that by giving you a more secure and steady sling to keep your arm from moving.”
Elizabeth looked down at her arn to see her new, less crude, sling. “Where is John?”
“Colonel Sheppard is under house arrest,” Carson sighed.
“Why?” She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
“To be honest, Colonel Sheppard says you are Doctor Weir, but we have no proof that you are her.”
“What do you mean, Carson? It's me, Elizabeth. We’ve been working together for over two years.” She said exasperated; everything was not back to normal. Finding her was not enough to reverse the effects of Lethe. Something else had to be done and she didn’t know what.
“Can I speak with Colonel Sheppard?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ll see what I can do. I think Colonel Caldwell would like to speak to you first though. But right now I want you rest more. I’ll send someone with a tray of food for you shortly.”
“Thank you, Carson.”
John paced back and forth in his room, tossing his football back and forth. He wanted to be in the infirmary sitting by Elizabeth’s side when she woke up. Instead, he was stuck in his room.
He was tired of waiting. He tossed the football onto the bed and waved his hand over the door sensors. As the door slid open, Major Lorne stood in front facing him.
“Major, lieutenant.” John greeted the two soldiers at his door. "Having fun keeping my door company?"
“Lots," Lorne said dryly. "I think the door and I have some chemistry. I was just asking Lieutenant Connors here if I should ask it out."
"Well, you two would make an... interesting couple. You might even become the talk of the town."
"No kidding," Lorne muttered. "So going somewhere, sir?”
“Actually, I'm going and see Doctor Weir."
“Okay,” Lorne said simply.
“Okay?” John narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“Colonel Caldwell just gave us the green light to let you go to the infirmary to see Doctor Weir,” the Air Force Major explained.
“All right, what are we waiting for?”
“We were waiting for you, sir.”
“That was a rhetorical question, Lorne.”
“I know, sir,” Lorne smirked.
“And they say I have issues with chain of command,” John muttered then turned to Lieutenant Connors. "That is an example of how not to behave towards your superior officers."
"Yes, sir." The lieutenant nodded.
"Like you're a prime example of good behavior, sir?" Lorne asked.
"You see what I deal with?"
Connors only shrugged and continued following the two men towards the infirmary.
Elizabeth was in the middle of eating dinner when John and his escorts entered the infirmary.
“Look, I have two new best friends this time,” John said approaching her side and glanced over to Lorne and Connors, who stayed back a short distance to give them privacy. “Good to see you up. You were out cold when I brought you back.”
“What can I say? You make a very comfortable pillow,” she smiled teasingly.
“All part of the job description,” he smirked. “So how are you feeling?”
“I could be better,” she sighed and put her fork down on the tray. “I just finished talking with Colonel Caldwell.”
“And?”
She leaned closer to him. “We have to go back,” she whispered to him.
“No, I need to go back," he corrected. "You’re staying here. You’re not fully recovered yet.”
“John, how are you going to convince them to let you go, short of sneaking off in the middle of the night again?”
John grimaced. “He told you.”
"Yes, he did," she said. "He told me what happened when you were first brought back from M5G-382."
“Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re here. You're my evidence that I’m not crazy.”
“I know. That is why I have to go with you. I saw her, Mneme. She would know how to fix this. Even though she said the effects of Lethe were never reversed before, I’m sure there is a way to undo it. We just have to go back and find out how. I’m sure it might have something to do with the twin pedestal in the tomb I was trapped in. Why have two identical orbs? Unless...”
“...One was the ‘on’ and the other was the ‘off’ button,” he finished.
“Exactly. We just need to speak to Colonel Caldwell about letting us go back,” Elizabeth said picking up her fork again to eat.
“Not us; me,” he corrected again.
“We’ll see about that.” Elizabeth arched an eyebrow and took a bite of her mash potatoes.
“Well, doctor, that's all up to Doctor Beckett. Not me.” He picked up the unused spoon on her tray. “May I join you?”
“Yes, you may, but hands off the jello.” She pointed to the cup of red jello cubes.
“Who knew Doctor Weir had a sweet tooth and is a Peep-” Elizabeth shot John a deadly glare. “P-Perfect lady,” he quickly amended and looked over at his two 'best friends', who wisely pretended to ignore the exchange between the two leaders.
“Doctor, did you want to see me?” Caldwell asked when he entered the infirmary to see Elizabeth reading a book that Carson lent her to pass the time after John returned to his quarters.
“Yes, colonel.” She closed the book. “I have question: Who is commanding the Daedalus?”
“What are you trying to get at, doctor?”
“From what I remember, commanding the Daedalus is a full time job on its own. Especially when it takes nearly eighteen days for just one trip to Earth and over a month for a round trip. Isn't it crucial for the leader of the Atlantis expedition to be present and not gone every other month? So I ask you, who is commanding the Daedalus at this moment?”
“No one is. A new commander is being selected at the moment and on the next trip back he will be the new commander.”
“And who was commanding the Daedalus before?”
“I was.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Don’t you think it is odd that you were sent here to command both the Daedalus and Atlantis simultaneously, especially when we know both positions are full-time jobs?”
“What is this, doctor? A psychoanalysis? From what Sheppard told me, you are a diplomat, not a psychologist.”
“I’m not psychoanalyzing anyone. I’m just trying to point out the discrepancies in this... reality. Don’t you feel how things are slightly off? Do you really think that our foreign allies would have allowed the United States military to have full control over this expedition?” Caldwell looked at her skeptically. “Something happened on M5G-382 and we need to fix what happened.”
“We?”
“Yes, Colonel Sheppard and I.”
“What if you are just trying to escape?”
“Escape to where?" she scoffed. "Colonel, you can send a team along with us to make sure we don’t escape if that will make you happy.”
“I’ll think about it,” he finally said.
Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh as she watched Caldwell leave the infirmary.
Caldwell waved his hand over the sensor to enter Sheppard’s quarters and found John sitting in his bed reading a book, presumably, to pass the time during his house arrest.
“Sir.” John closed his book and sat up straight.
“I’ve decided to let you return to M5G-382 with Major Lorne’s team.”
“And Doctor Weir?”
“She’s going to stay here.”
“Good call.”
“So you will come back at the end of the day.” It was a statement.
“Sir, I'm not going to run away,” John said. “Why would I have come back here in the first place?”
“You said so yourself, Doctor Weir needed medical attention.”
“And she did. But-” John gave up. He knew there was no point in arguing anymore. The sooner things were set right, the better. “When do I leave?” he asked instead.
John gently squeezed Elizabeth’s hand when she slowly opened her eyes again.
“Good morning,” Elizabeth smiled sleepily.
“Sorry to wake you so early, but look what I brought.” He held up a thick book in his hands.
“War and Peace? You finished reading it?”
“Pretty much,” he shrugged.
"You haven't finished it."
"Okay, about halfway."
"You're not even close to halfway." She flipped open the book to where he bookmarked it. "Almost a quarter way through..."
"That is most definitely a quarter of the book," he retorted. "Anyway I thought you might want something to read while you're stuck here.” He placed the book on the stand next to her bed. “But you’re looking better.”
“Thank you. Carson has been taking good care of me. He's making sure I have plenty of food and rest.”
“Yeah, Beckett is always insisting that I get some rest too.”
“Maybe you should take his advice.”
“Maybe, but not today,” he said.
She shook her head at his playful insolence and noticed he was in full gear, prepared to go out on a mission. “Are you going somewhere?”
“That’s why I asked to come here. I wanted to tell you that Caldwell okayed us,” he nodded over to Major Lorne and his team standing off to one side, “to go back to M5G-382.”
Elizabeth nodded.
“I know you wanted to come along and find Minnie-.”
“Mneme,” she corrected.
“Right, Mneme, with us, but I’m sure I'll find her. Besides, I think she helped me find you.”
Elizabeth furrowed her brows, “You know the Ancients have a law saying they are not to interfere.”
“You know there are always loop holes in every law. You’re a politician. You should be familiar with that.”
“Well, Earth politics doesn’t involve ethereal beings that can take you out with a single thought.”
“The first night I spent on M5G-382, I thought I heard your voice,” he explained, lowering his voice. “I heard, ‘John, please find me.’”
Elizabeth looked down as she remembered whispering those words to herself. At that time she was in so much despair that she doubted that Mneme was real and only a vivid fabrication of her mind.
“Later that night a voice directed me to 'look up'. That was when I found the triangle keystone,” he continued.
Elizabeth looked up again. “Maybe it was her,” she said hopefully.
“That is what I am hoping. I will find her and we’ll fix this. Everything will be normal again.” He gave her hand another comforting squeeze.
Before she let go of his hand, she looked into his eyes. “Be safe,” she said.
She watched Lorne and his men follow John out of the infirmary and sighed.
“They will be just fine,” Carson said approaching to her bedside. “You’re looking very well today, doctor. The color has come back to your cheeks.”
“Does that mean you’ll be releasing me soon?” she asked hopefully.
“If you keep recovering as well as you have been, then it’s a safe bet you’ll be out very soon. It’s kind of disheartening that all my patients can’t wait to get out of here.”
“That is because you are always sticking large needles into their arms when they aren’t ready,” Rodney said, strolling into the room.
“Rodney, I was wondering where you were," Elizabeth smiled. "I thought you would have gone with Colonel Sheppard to M5G-382.”
“I was, but Colonel Caldwell decided to keep us behind this time. He didn’t think that Sheppard needed us there. So we thought we’d come and visit you.”
“We?” Elizabeth asked puzzled.
“Yes, Teyla and Ronon...” Rodney turned around to find no one behind him. “They were just behind me.”
“And there they are,” Elizabeth said as the doors to the infirmary slid open. “Hello, Teyla, Ronon.”
“Doctor Weir?” Teyla greeted Elizabeth with an unsure tone. “Colonel Sheppard spoke much of you. To be honest, we did not believe what he said.”
“We pretty much thought he was crazy,” Ronon said bluntly. Teyla gave Ronon a quick glare.
“Yes, he told me as much,” Elizabeth chuckled. “I know this is awkward. I have memories of everyone and all the things we've been through ever since our arrival here, but none of you can recall my existence.”
During this time, Rodney had his arms crossed over his chest and one hand under his chin as he tried to remember something. “Did you used to have blonde hair?” he suddenly asked.
“Why do you ask? Do you remember something?” she asked.
“Not really, I just have a thing for woman with blonde hair, so I was trying to imagine you blonde.”
“Yes.” Elizabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I had a blonde phase for a short time, but that was when I was still on Earth.”
“Doctor Weir, if the Colonel cannot find a way to reverse this, do you think that eventually this memory lapse would fade away on its own, now that you are present?” Teyla asked.
“I honestly don’t know," Elizabeth said. "Right now, John is my only hope.”
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7