When she realised she finally had control of her body again, Elizabeth was very aware of her racing heart and of the fact that she was gasping for breath. Neither of these could be ignored, nor could the presence of John, who covered her possessively. She shared Amarante’s consciousness as her own and if she was honest, she really didn’t know how long she might have had control. She suspected it had only been for the past few moments, but had been so caught up in Amarante’s…her own…she wasn’t sure…she was Amarante…their emotions to notice. She didn’t move for several seconds, trying to slow her breathing and wondering what exactly she should do. Did it matter? If they were to remain as a tangle of confused souls for the rest of their lives, or even if they weren’t, could they forget? Even if she was certain she wanted to, and she couldn’t even decide that. Elizabeth rested her head against John’s to whisper in his ear, "…John…?"

He twitched, "…Elizabeth?" he lifted his head from where it had been buried against her neck, "…Elizabeth?"

She nodded, mutely, not able to produce an adequate response, cursing herself at the same moment. Looking up at him, she wasn’t sure whether he looked more confused or as lost as she felt.

"Oh god…I’m sorry," he said softly.

Elizabeth closed her eyes, his words not those she had wanted to hear. For a split second at least. But that was the way things had to be and…well…she knew that they shouldn’t be behaving in such a manner. Even if she was very quietly, in the depths of her mind, glad of the excuse, "…Don’t be…" she answered, keeping her eyes closed, having very much preferred the desire she had previously seen in his eyes to the shame she was sure she would see.

"No…" John continued, "…I’m sorry for this…" as she opened her eyes, startled, he kissed her, hesitantly, assured when she didn’t push him away, and deepened their embrace, wanting very much for her to be his without someone else’s, no matter if they were supposedly his too, emotions involved.

She immediately decided to surrender and stop fighting the various reasoning and arguments going on her in mind, just to live for the moment. As he kissed her again, a whimper escaped her, and whilst she knew it would be taken as desire, she fought for control once again as she felt her past self’s consciousness returning. So she kissed him hungrily, hoping to lose herself in their passion again, just so she wouldn’t know exactly when she was denied the experience of loving him herself.

-

"Well."

"Well what?"

"Well, get on with it."

"I am not opening that door!" McKay backed away.

"Just knock on it!" Carson insisted.

"You’re the doctor round here, you must be used to seeing-"

"Rodney, if you want to live, do not finish that sentence…!"

"I’m not doing it," Ford shook his head.

"No, they are," Rodney quipped.

Teyla sighed and curled her hands into fists, glaring at the so called ‘men’ present, and stalked across to the door. She shut her eyes and knocked quietly on the glass, "Major? Doctor Weir?" she waited several seconds before she couldn’t take it any more and scuttled back over to her male companions.

"…Hit the door release…" Aiden proposed.

"You do it," Rodney replied.

"No way."

"So we’re all gonna stand here and wait…I’m telling you, if we start to get audio, I am outta here…!"

"Perhaps we should simply leave…" Teyla suggested.

"And leave them to do what? Do we even know they’re in there?" McKay shot at her.

"If the Major can send us to the command centre, how do we know he hasn’t moved them somewhere else?" Ford asked.

Carson shook his head and sighed, wandering across the corridor and knocking on the door again, "Major! Doctor!" he jumped back as the door opened on its own, to reveal those in question in the doorway, looking perfectly innocent. He stared for a few moments before he found his voice, "I, er, Doctor, are you feeling better?"

Amarante smiled gently, "I am not Elizabeth."

"No, no, of course, you’re not…"

Nikomedes strode out into the corridor, leading Amarante by the hand, "I want to go the chair room now. Maybe I can wake up more of the city if I know what I’m doing…"

"Wait, wait," she shook her head, "I want to ask them something…" she directed her question at Carson, "…I saw myself…I mean…I saw Elizabeth…here, all those years ago. And…I have these memories…they’re hers, of an older woman who was somehow also her…she understood…I don’t…"

"We found in her stasis," it was McKay who answered, "She’d aged, slowly, and yes, it was Elizabeth, even though you- she was here with us. She’d try to change our fate; apparently the first time we got here…most of us died. She survived, ended up in the past, your Atlantis. Well, what was your Atlantis. She stayed behind to rotate the ZPM’s when all the Ancients left."

Amarante blinked and looked up at Nik in shock, "You left…her…me…behind?"

"It wasn’t you," he began, "And it wasn’t me. I was born on Earth. Thousands of years after my ancestors left."

"But you are one of what they are calling Ancients…"

"Technically yes. Descended from."

"And they left her behind…" she took several steps back, trying to twist her hand from his, "…I’ve died twice…in this city…twice…for this city…because of your people…"

"Mara, listen to me-"

"How many times could we have done this? Thousands upon thousands…time and space…by the gods, we really are insignificant…" she suddenly halted, "Maybe it is best that your people left both here and my home after all…"

"Not to be rude…" Carson began, "…But we would rather like to get the Major and Doctor Weir back at some point…"

"If its possible…" Nikomedes answered.

"But…we’re right here…" Amarante looked confused.

"Yes," he nodded, "You are…and you aren’t. We’ve triggered something here and I’d quite like to know what’s going on."

"To the chair room then?" Nik started to walk away.

"Looks like it…"

"Like we have a choice…" Ford muttered. He waited for Teyla to catch up to them, lagging behind. She looked more lost than anything.

"This is most confusing… Are we to learn from this that we were all someone else before we were ourselves?" she said softly.

"I don’t know…I always thought it depended on what you believed…we’ve seen stranger…"

"But what repercussions does this have? Will every citizen of Atlantis with the Ancient gene one day wake up as somebody else? What if we cannot get them back?" Teyla sighed.

Aiden reached for her hand, twining his fingers briefly with hers, "Then we get on with what we have to do. And we try and sort something out along the way. We wont lose people forever."

"I certainly hope not…"

-

Amarante glanced warily around at the room in which the chair was situated. She remained at the door, hesitant, until Nikomedes noticed she had halted. He glanced back and held out his hand again, concerned when she paused before joining her hand with his and followed him into the room.

"You do know I don’t know what I’m doing?" Nik questioned, when the others seemed to just be staring at him, expectantly, "I wasn’t born here. I know what this city can do but not necessarily how to do it…"

"With the enemies we’ve got wandering about this galaxy right now, any progress is progress. Unless you destroy the city of course, when in fact that would not…be progress…" McKay trailed off.

He frowned, "…Why do I get the feeling I should’ve told you to shut up then?"
Carson hid a grin by staring quickly at the floor, "That’d be the Major."

"I see…"

Amarante jumped when Teyla gently touched her arm, stepping closer to her lover, "Yes?"

"Perhaps it would be safer for you away from the Ancient device," the Athosian proposed.

She shook her head, eyes still darting here and there, as if she expected something dreadful to leap out at them, "No, no…" she turned back to Nik, gripping his hand tighter, "This is wrong," she stated, "This is wrong, something isn’t right. We have to go."

"Mara, its nothing," he tried to reassure her, "Just deja-vu."

"I do not know what that means, but we have to go," she repeated, "Now. I don’t like this. Please, Nik."

Nikomedes frowned, "Its okay, nobody can harm us."

"Please."

"If this is having an adverse affect, we should leave," Carson nodded.

"Then just how do you propose we get the Major or Elizabeth back with us?" Rodney demanded.

"You can’t keep-" Ford began.

Seeing no quick decision being made, Amarante suddenly bolted for the door.

"Amarante!" Nik shouted after her, running a few paces to catch her before she left.

She halted, all too still, and he swiftly became aware that she hadn’t stopped because of him. She slowly turned around, eyes wide with fear, an expression that they had rarely, if ever, seen on Elizabeth’s face, and one that unnerved all those present.

Nikomedes turned to follow her gaze, already aware of what he would see when he did. He could sense it. Them. Her. He stepped in front of Amarante, glaring at the glowing figure that stood beside the chair.

The very same Ancient woman who had destroyed them stood at the centre of the room, smiling all too serenely, pleased that all eyes were on her, "Hello, Nikomedes," the smile vanished, "I knew you would find a way to dispute their claim on their birthright."

"I did nothing," he replied, voice low, able to feel Amarante shaking as he linked his hand with hers again, "They did nothing. You can’t control the universe, Serenity. Nobody counted on this. I’m not Nikomedes anymore. He didn’t plan anything. He wasn’t even destined to be here."

"It matters not," Serenity shot back, "You are here and so is she. Filthy little human wretch. I let her be. I left you alone, knew there was no chance of you remembering. But you always have to take it one step further…" she stepped forward, "This little fairytale ends now. You really should have known better…"