"Oh...Fuck!" was Elijah's initial reaction when he saw who it was that he had hit.  For a moment, he thought that perhaps it hadn't penetrated, that the poison had failed, but as she cradled her arm and he saw the strength start to drain from her, he knew that he had gotten her.  Maddi called his name as she stepped forward shakily and Elijah...<br/><br/>The picture froze, or perhaps moved so slowly that it was imperceptible to his senses.  Elijah stared at what he had done.  "How had it come to this?" he thought.  "Why am I..." and mid thought, like a movie rewinding and restarting, the events of the past 48 or so hours seemed to flash before his eyes.  The storm that separated the friends...The first realizations that someone else was stuck on this island...The realization that they were all women...Desmond dying...all these images played out in his mind.  And then his first run-in with Kira.  The images changed subtly, and he could see his desires begin to color the scene in front of him.  He watched himself flirt with her, and he watched her crush his advances.  He was forced to watch himself be slowly seduced by lust and finally break the moral code he thought he would never break.  The colors shifted darker.  Here, now, Maddi made her first appearance.  He could see now that the darkness colored his perceptions both before and now.  Her voice of reason - his loss of control.  An interruption and suddenly the scene shifted to Kira at the lagoon with Tony.  How she watched him and despite her protestations, the want was clear in her eyes.  This man had just slept with her friend and she wanted him.  He witnessed now the colors turning black.  The anger inside, bottled for years was being let out.  The colors went nearly black...dinner...the scene lightened...he saw Maddi again and Desmond again.  She spoke, but the darkness was too much and he ran...<br/><br/>...ran forward to catch Maddi.  She was warm in his arms.  And he knew then that he was sorry.  Sorry that he lost control, sorry that he had plotted, sorry that he had panicked and sorry that he had caused this woman to be lying in his arms for all the wrong reasons.  And the worst of it was that he knew that sorry was not enough.<br/><br/>Her eyes bore into him.  He spoke softly and slowly, "I'm sorry.  That was not meant to happen."<br/><br/>Maddi opened her mouth and begin to speak, but Elijah laid a finger on her lips, "Shh.  Let me try to explain.  First, you are not dying.  You have been poisoned with a neurotoxin gathered from the scorpions on the island.  It causes temporary paralysis and will wear off in an hour or so.  I have no excuse as to why I shot you.  I could say that I was startled and reacted badly, but that doesn't begin to explain or excuse it."<br/><br/>The look on her face was excruciating to Elijah.  Part of him wanted nothing more than to drop her and run.  That part of him screamed its frustration and anger and...Elijah slapped it down.  That part of him would not rule anymore.<br/><br/>Elijah scooped Maddi up and began walking towards the huts.  "I don't want to frighten Dez with what happened...and truth be told...I am ashamed.  I am taking you to my hut where I will place you in bed with a blanket to keep you warm."<br/><br/>