Note: Takes place after 'Epiphany', minor spoilers for that episode.

Elizabeth is usually the one who waits at home while the action takes place elsewhere but then events take an unexpected turn putting her in a difficult situation and she needs to accept the support of her friends to help her come to terms with her experiences.

Part one

'I thought we'd already had this discussion,' Elizabeth told John as he stayed behind after the senior staff meeting.

'We did,' John replied, no trace of his customary boyish smile on his face. 'But the subject wasn't closed. You need to be able to do this – every other member of the Atlantis staff has had firearms training and it's even more important that the person in charge sets a good example.'

'John, I'm a diplomat not a soldier,' Elizabeth said, a note of steel in her voice, repeating what she'd already told him several times already. 'I can't go into negotiations carrying a gun.'

'And you won't have to,' John was equally insistent. 'But back there you had two scientists trying to defend you – admittedly they're both pretty handy with a gun - but they're by no means qualified to act as your bodyguard. All three of you are too important to this expedition to risk something like that happening again. I'm not asking you to carry a gun, I just need to know that you know how to use one to defend yourself should the need arise.'

'You're not going to drop this are you?' Elizabeth asked, eyes narrowed.

'No.'

'In that case I suppose I have very little choice,' Elizabeth agreed reluctantly. 'When do we do this?'

'Now would be a good time.'

'But…'

'I don't want to hear it,' John silenced her, getting to his feet. 'If we don't start now, you'll find some way to wriggle out of it.'

So Elizabeth found herself being shown the basics of handling a gun in the room set aside for target practice. Thankfully the area was deserted apart from the two of them and Elizabeth found it surprisingly easy to get the hang of loading the weapon. Actually firing the gun, however, proved to be far more problematic.

John watched as Elizabeth emptied the clip of her 9mil, grimacing as every single shot she fired missed its target, although some of them did hit the target next to hers. The rest slammed into the partition wall that had been specifically designed to stop errant weapons fire.

'Ok,' John tried to keep the amusement out of his voice. 'How about we try that again, but this time keep your eyes open.'

Watching carefully as she loaded a fresh clip into the gun, John waited for her to line up the target and fire her first shot, managing to hit the target this time before the subsequent shots missed completely again.

'Stop,' John called loudly, waiting for Elizabeth to turn to him, a look of frustration on her face. 'The first shot was good, you just need to pause after each shot and make sure you're looking at the target before you fire. Ready?'

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth fired the next shot and was relieved to see it hit the target. Instinctively she squeezed the trigger immediately, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, but found her eyes closing as she fired the next shot which went wide of its mark.

'Remember what I said, pause after each shot and keep your eyes on the target,' John reminded her gently.

This time, she succeeded in hitting the target at each attempt and turned to John as she laid down the empty weapon.

'See, that wasn't so hard was it?' John told her.

'I guess not,' Elizabeth was still looking a little doubtful, but also a little pleased that she hadn't failed completely.

'Why don't you try a couple more clips then we'll finish for today,' John smiled, feeling some of the weight off his shoulders with the hope that Elizabeth would be able to defend herself if push came to shove.

'You wanted me to see something?' Elizabeth appeared in the lab where Rodney and Dr Zelenka were working on a newly discovered console. It had been found by one of the teams searching the unexplored parts of the city and had brought it to Rodney's attention when it had started to glow in response to their presence. Zelenka had been sent to take a look and had returned in a state of excitement, insisting that McKay needed to see it for himself, this was soon followed by a request for Dr Weir's presence.

'Just a moment,' McKay told her distractedly, waving a hand at her as he continued to make a few minor adjustments. 'That should do it, now…Look out,' he yelled to her suddenly, but not in time as he watched in horror as an energy surge arced from the console enveloping one of her hands in a bright light for a few moments before fading away completely.

'What was that?' Elizabeth asked, her face pale as she held her hand protectively against her chest.

'Some of the panels are connected incorrectly and we haven't had chance to fix it yet,' Rodney told her, a look of panic on his face as he realised he might have just injured the leader of the Atlantis expedition. 'Are you alright?'

'It's just a small burn,' Elizabeth told him even as she realised her hand was beginning to hurt, the pain getting steadily worse.

'Let me see,' the hovering Zelenka said as he lifted her hand gently to take a look, noting the reddened, burnt area. 'This is not good – it hurts yes? Come, you must go to infirmary now.'

Elizabeth, a little bemused by the Czech scientist taking charge of the situation, found herself appreciating his presence when she began to feel unsteady as he escorted her to the transporter and was relieved when they reached the infirmary, feeling stupid for having to rely on Zelenka's help to get her there without keeling over.

'Thank you,' Elizabeth smiled at him as he left her with Dr Beckett and returned to his own work.

'What happened?' Beckett asked, leading her to sit down on one of the beds.

'Rodney wanted to show me his latest discovery, unfortunately this one decided to bite back. It didn't really hurt too much to begin with but it's been getting worse since.'

'I don't think it's too bad,' Beckett said as he examined her hand carefully. 'I'll put something on it to ease the stinging and wrap it up. You won't be able to use it for a few days but after that, as long as you're careful, you should be able to carry on as normal.' He worked as he spoke and a few minutes later her hand was bandaged, the pain beginning to fade to a dull throb.

'Thank you.' Elizabeth smiled at Beckett and stood up.

'Just a minute,' Beckett said, stopping her in her tracks, taking her wrist and checking her pulse again. 'Hmm, it's a little too fast and you're still looking a bit peaky. How are you feeling?'

'I'm fine,' Elizabeth tried to convince the doctor. 'It doesn't really hurt any more.'

'And you don't feel dizzy or faint at all?'

This question caught her off balance and before she could think of something to say, she knew her face had given her away.

'I thought so,' Carson raised his eyebrows as he continued to look at her for a few more moments. 'You don't have anything urgent to deal with for the rest of the day do you?

'No,' Elizabeth sighed as she suspected she knew where this was going. 'I was just going to finish reading the staff evaluations before the review meeting tomorrow.'

'Good, in that case, give it a miss, have an early dinner and take things easy for the rest of the evening – it's about time you had an evening off. No arguments,' he held up a hand to stop her from talking. 'Doctor's orders, and come back in the morning so I can check your hand.'

Knowing when she was beaten, and knowing full well the doctor had his own network of spies that would report back to him if she didn't do as he said, Elizabeth reluctantly headed for the mess hall where she half-heartedly ate most of the casserole that was the main dish on offer before returning to her quarters. By the time she arrived she was surprised at how drained she was feeling and lay down on her bed, propping herself up against the pillows with a book in her hand. She'd barely had chance to open the book when she heard someone banging on the door.

Sighing, she stood up and opened the door to find a frantic Rodney standing there, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he observed her bandaged hand.

'Are you alright? What are you doing here? Oh my god, you're going to lose your hand aren't you? Shouldn't you be in the infirmary? What about a second opinion – the Daedalus should be back in a few days, their doctor may be able to do something? Although Beckett is one of the best doctors so I doubt anyone else can fix this. Does this mean you'll have to return to Earth? What about…'

'Rodney,' Elizabeth tried to catch his attention, but in the middle of his ranting he seemed incapable of hearing her. 'Rodney.' She said again, much firmer this time and he stopped his twittering at last. 'I'm going to be fine, it's just a burn, nothing too serious but Dr Beckett insisted I get some rest, so here I am.'

'Oh, well that's good to hear – what do you mean he told you to rest? Is there something else wrong?'

'No, I was just a bit shaken up that's all. Now if you don't mind?'

'Oh, right, of course, well I'll just…'

'By the way, what was that console?'

'It's some kind of library. It works independently from the main database so it's possible there could be vital information there that could help us against the wraith, or the Ori, I suppose.' Rodney was waving his hands around as he talked, completely engrossed in the subject. 'We're still trying to get it up and running properly without…you know - hurting anyone else – but we should definitely get some people to work on figuring out what information is in there as soon as it's fixed.'

'I agree,' Elizabeth agreed, relieved that it hadn't been a completely wasted afternoon. 'Let me know when it's ready and I'll assign a team to get to work on it. Good night.' Rodney had opened his mouth to say something else, but Elizabeth was ahead of him and by the time he tried to get the words out, the door had closed. Sighing to herself, Elizabeth gave up on reading her book, instead she got herself ready for bed, finding herself surprisingly tired and within moments of settling down she was fast asleep.

Feeling much better after her early night, Elizabeth stopped off in the infirmary after breakfast to have the dressing on her hand changed. As soon as she was free to go, she headed for her office to hastily catch up on the last few evaluations before heading for the conference room where she arrived just before the rest of the senior staff turned up.

It was a short meeting, although Rodney was able to report that the library console was in full working order and requesting that the team Elizabeth had promised be made available as soon as possible, which was her first task as soon as the meeting had ended.

'I hear Rodney tried to kill you with his new toy yesterday,' John stopped to say, the last one to leave the meeting. 'How's the hand?'

'It stings a little still, but it's going to be fine, thanks,' Elizabeth smiled at John's comment before heading off to speak to the people she had in mind to work on this potentially vital piece of technology.

The rest of the morning passed quickly and just before she grabbed a quick lunch, she decided to check on the progress being made in what was now being called the library. There were a number of other consoles in there along with the one that was already working and Rodney was guessing that they had a similar function.

Her footsteps slowed as she turned the corner immediately before she reached the last door in this corridor, the one she was heading for, her eyes falling on two SOs lying on the ground in front of the door.

She moved cautiously forward, looking around nervously as she tried to figure out what had happened. As she drew closer to the guards, one of them waved his hand at her weakly, gesturing to her. Kneeling down beside him, she listened in horror to what he had to say, glancing at the second guard who she could clearly see was dead. Taking the 9mil from the dead guard with shaking hands, she stood and made to return to the other end of the corridor as instructed by the guard to call for help on the radio. Before she could move away, voices inside the library caught her attention and instead she stood to one side of the door listening to what was going on, ignoring the guard's frantic signals to get herself out of there and wait for help to arrive.