Elizabeth made sure nobody could see her leaving John's quarters at 7am in the same clothes she left the party; black skirt and red low-cut shirt. She still had some spare time until the briefing at 8.30 so she decided to take a shower and change into a fresh uniform. When she was stripping out of her clothes in her quarters, she could smell *him* all over her clothing and herself. Closing her eyes momentarily, she shook her head to clear her thoughts and stepped into the shower.
When the warm water hit her face, relaxing her aching muscles, she moaned and closed her eyes.
...gasps and moans filling the room...
Her eyes snapped open at that particular memory. She resumed washing her hair and body. Few minutes later she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She took the body lotion standing on one of the shelves in the bathroom and rubbed it into her arms first...
....eager hands travelling up and down her arms...
....then her chest and stomach....
....strong hands around her waist lifting her up against the wall...
...and then her thighs and legs.
....strong thighs wrapping around lean hips...
She gasped at the sensations that ran through her body at those images...or were those memories? Elizabeth wasn't sure but the bigger part of her really didn't want to remember what happened yesterday night. There was also the tiny part that was curious; curious to know what he had evoked in her and how it felt making love with him. She paused her train of thought. Making love? She shook her head. No. Nothing but drunken hot-monkey sex. She still couldn't remember anything in particular.
But there was one thing she knew for sure. She'd never drink Athosian liquor again.
Elizabeth put on her clothes and checked her watch. 8:00. She still had half an hour to get ready. She went back to the bathroom and dried her hair and then she set off for the briefing.
Briefing room, 8:20am
When Elizabeth stepped into the room, John swallowed hard. She looked around the empty room but then her eyes settled on him and he saw her stiffen slightly. Despite her uneasiness around him, she smiled and greeted him.
"Good morning, Colonel." she said formally. He suddenly remembered how she had looked when she awoke; sleepy expression, clouded eyes, dishevelled hair and moist lips he had so wanted to kiss that morning...whoa! Back down, Sheppard! He mentally slapped himself and replied:
"Morning." he felt his headache starting to get worse as she sat down opposite him, her hands piling up the folders with reports busily.
...impatient hands roaming all over his naked back, fingernails scratching his skin....
He sat up straighter, squirmed in his seat as his eyes widened slightly. He heard the door open and close behind him and then three people slumped in their seats around the table: Teyla, Ronon and Rodney, all of them looking worse for wear.
"Can we start?" Elizabeth asked looking around the briefing room, her eyes quickly passing over John to Rodney.
"Rodney?" she raised her eyebrow as she spotted him with his head on the desk, clearly sporting a hangover. He jumped from his seat in an instant.
"Yes, yes. The briefing. Right....Where are my notes?" he panicked for a while before he found his data computer and then started talking about the possibility of finding a ZPM on the planet where they were supposed to go to next week. John's eyes caught hers for a brief moment before he leaned back in his chair, pretending to listen to Rodney. After a while he was bored to tears and his eyes roamed around the room. Ronon and Teyla were dozing off with their eyes open, or so it seemed, and Elizabeth...his gaze settled on her face. She was listening to Rodney, or at least pretending to listen. John suddenly wished to see her big green eyes, twinkling in the light.
...green eyes connecting with equally green ones, dilated with lust and desire...
He squirmed a bit again, hoping no one would notice, and turned his head back to Rodney. His lips suddenly felt very dry so he flicked his tongue over them several times.
...lips and tongue leaving a hot trail across her body...
On the other end of the table, Elizabeth was trying hard to focus and calm down her breathing. John's head rested on one of his hands and a shiver ran down her spine.
...hands playing her body like strings of a guitar, reaching places that made her scream with pleasure...
Elizabeth could barely hold herself in check. She started sweating and she was sure she was panting, although no one seemed to notice or call her upon it. Then John turned his head and his eyes locked with hers and suddenly the memories of last night floooded through them both at the same time.
...mouths clashing, pushing her against the wall....
....her skirt high around her waist, his fingers teasing her...
...her nails raking across his bare back....
...red shirt and blue jeans pooling at their feet....
....mouth and tongue caressing her breastbone....
...quick and frantic pace...
....colliding with his desk....
....pulling her bra and skirt off....
....tongues duelling, bodies moving as one....
....blindly seeking his bed, still intimately joined....
....finally the exquisite explosion of sounds and colors....
It was like watching a fast-forwarded movie. Their memories returned with full force along with all those emotions shared that night. John saw her eyes widening as her hand clasped over her mouth to muffle the gasp that was rising in her throat. She mumbled a short 'Excuse me' before she fled out of the door.
Rodney looked at her retreating back with confusion clearly evident on his face. Ronon or Teyla didn't even notice.
"Wha-?"
"She had too much drink yesterday. Sorry Rodney, the briefing is postponed. I'm going to check up on her." The scientist just nodded, grabbed his things and headed to his lab. Ronon and Teyla were still sitting in their chairs when John got up and went after Elizabeth.
Balcony
Elizabeth was trying hard to calm down the emotions that sprung to life with the memories, gripping the rail tightly. The door shwooshed open behind her and she didn't need to turn around to see who it was. He stepped right next to her, propping his hands on the railing and looking over the ocean, and he didn't say anything for a long while.
"You okay?" he finally asked as he gave her a sideways glance.
"I'm fine."
"So why won't you look at me?"
"I-I can't. Not yet."
"I thought we agreed it was just-"
"Drunken sex. Yes."
"Then why-?" She suddenly started blushing furiously.
"I've never been so out of control like that. I-I'm...it's embarrassing."
"No it isn't. It was quite hot in fact." her head turned sharply at his words.
"Really?"
"Yup." he grinned at her and she blushed again and averted his gaze. "You don't think so?" he sounded hurt.
"No!" she said much too quickly. "I-I do...I just don't know what to think of it."
"I understand." he nodded. "What about we put it behind us? As our little secret?"
"Dirty little secret." she mumbled and he grinned. "Okay."
"So friends?" he turned to her fully and she faced him too.
"Ya betcha." she grinned at him and he grinned right back.
Yeah, life was good.
Sometime later, mess hall
Elizabeth just sat down at one of the tables with tray of food when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"You gonna eat all of that?" The person who the voice belonged to sat opposite her and eyed her tray again.
"Why not? I'm really hungry." she retorted and raised her eyebrow.
"You? Miss Work-a-holic has time to eat?" he smirked and she wanted to slap him to wipe it off or stick out her tongue at him. But she realized she had to keep her leader facade. Instead she just scowled at him mockingly. They friendship had evolved into a more comfortable one with lots of bickering, joking and flirting.
"Yes. I do eat, you know. You just don't see it when I do." she took her fork and dug into her plate full of spaghetti.
"I know you do, but always just so little." he eyed her again as she swallowed another mouthful of spaghetti. He shrugged and took a bite of his turkey sandwich.
They were quiet for some time until Elizabeth finished the spaghetti. Then she took a swig of her water and put it back on the tray. She picked up a rather big green apple, or what was supposed to be an Athosian version of apple, and took a bite. John watched her in fascination.
"Elizabeth?"
"Hm?" she hummed, munching on the apple.
"You're scaring me." He confessed, watching as the apple disappeared almost immediately, leaving only the core and the stalk.
"Why?" she looked at him with confusion and amusement.
"I've never seen you eat so much."
"I'm starving John!" she exclaimed.
"I think we should get you to see Beckett."
"John! No! There's nothing wrong with me. So stop acting like a mother hen!"
"Okay." he backed down because he didn't want to argue with her. But then she asked in a sweet little voice, pointing to the muffin on his tray:
"You gonna eat that?"
"Okay, that's enough!" he stood up abruptly, leaving Elizabeth and the rest of the mess hall staring at him in shock and confusion.
"John, what are you doing?"
"You..." he pointed at her. "...are coming with me." With that he hauled her up from her seat and dragged her towards the infirmary.
"John, let go of me! What is with you today?" He growled in response and Elizabeth stared at him, unable to believe this was happening. Finally they were standing in the infirmary, Carson rushing towards them.
"What's wrong, lass?" he turned to John.
"She's been eating too much." he announced.
"And that is wrong how?" Elizabeth asked, clearly annoyed.
"One second you eat so little and the next you're stuffing yourself with spaghetti, apple and my chocolate muffin!"
"I was starving, John! There's nothing wrong with that!" Carson sighed, exasperated.
"Kids, please." he tried to calm them down. Finally both of them shut up. "Elizabeth, I'd like to examine you properly. It's time for your monthly check-up anyway. I might be wrong but it can be caused by unstable hormone levels."
"Bad case of PMS?" John murmured but Elizabeth heard him and smacked him across his arm, scowling. "Ouch."
"Lad, I'm going to examine her, you can go back to work. Elizabeth, come with me." Elizabeth sighed and frowned at John one last time before disappearing behind the curtain with Carson. John decided to kick some butt in the gym.
A few hours later
"Aye, so I was right." Carson said, strolling across the infirmary towards the bed where Elizabeth was sitting, holding a chart of the examination results.
"What?" she fidgeted.
"Unstable hormone levels." he announced looking into his chart.
"What caused this? Is it serious?" she panicked.
"No, it's not serious. I'm going to prescribe you some pills and they should stabilize it." he assured her and touched her arm. But she knew there was more.
"Carson?" she asked incredulously.
"Lassie, you're 6 weeks pregnant."
Later that evening
Elizabeth was sitting in her office, reading Rodney's recent scientific report. She wasn't really concentrating on them because she couldn't forget that one fateful sentence Carson pronounced not so long ago.
"You're 6 weeks pregnant."
She sighed and closed her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Having a baby in this corner of galaxy full of life-sucking creatures just wasn't safe. But another part of her mind told her that it was what she had always wanted and that many people, including Athosians, were happily living their lives with kids in the present and didn't think about the future. She contemplated what to do next. She needed to tell the father. As soon as possible.
Speaking of the devil, the father of her baby just stepped into her office.
"Hey." he greeted her with a smile on his face and plopped himself on her sofa.
"Hi."
"So...no more food cravings? Did Carson found out what was wrong?"
"Yes. Unstable hormone levels as he predicted. He prescribed me some pills."
"So you're okay now?"
"I guess so."
"You guess so? Elizabeth? Is there something else you aren't telling me?" she took a deep breath in and then slowly exhaled as she stood up and went over to the sofa. "Are you ill?" he watched her with a concerned expression as she sat down next to him, her hands folded in her lap. "Elizabeth? C'mon, you're scaring the crap out of me. You know you can tell me everything."
"I know." there was a long pause before she continued. "I just don't know how." He didn't say anything, just kept his gaze locked on her as she struggled with words.
"Um, we might want to reconsider our decision concerning our dirty little secret." she blurted out.
"What? Why?" He was getting a little bit impatient and worried as he squirmed in his seat. "Elizabeth?"
"I'm pregnant." There. It was out in the open. The ball was on his side. What followed was long silence as he gaped at her. She looked down at her hands but he lifted her chin with his fingers.
"That's fantastic." he breathed out.
"It is?"
"Yup." he grinned. "Because I think I've already reconsidered it."
"Really?" he laughed at her lack of vocabulary.
"Yes." he took her face between his hands and teased her lips softly with his until their mouths met in a soul-searing kiss. They parted, breathless.
"So I was just here thinking how it'd ruin our lives and you're now telling me that you changed your mind about our relationship?"
"Basically." She slapped him across his shoulder. "What?"
"Don't piss off a pregnant woman."
"Okay. I'm shutting up now." he kissed her forehead and she smiled. "So what now?"
"Well, I think it can work."
"Yes?"
"Yeah. Because I might have reconsidered this too." she giggled as he pulled her down for another kiss.
THE END
When the warm water hit her face, relaxing her aching muscles, she moaned and closed her eyes.
...gasps and moans filling the room...
Her eyes snapped open at that particular memory. She resumed washing her hair and body. Few minutes later she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She took the body lotion standing on one of the shelves in the bathroom and rubbed it into her arms first...
....eager hands travelling up and down her arms...
....then her chest and stomach....
....strong hands around her waist lifting her up against the wall...
...and then her thighs and legs.
....strong thighs wrapping around lean hips...
She gasped at the sensations that ran through her body at those images...or were those memories? Elizabeth wasn't sure but the bigger part of her really didn't want to remember what happened yesterday night. There was also the tiny part that was curious; curious to know what he had evoked in her and how it felt making love with him. She paused her train of thought. Making love? She shook her head. No. Nothing but drunken hot-monkey sex. She still couldn't remember anything in particular.
But there was one thing she knew for sure. She'd never drink Athosian liquor again.
Elizabeth put on her clothes and checked her watch. 8:00. She still had half an hour to get ready. She went back to the bathroom and dried her hair and then she set off for the briefing.
Briefing room, 8:20am
When Elizabeth stepped into the room, John swallowed hard. She looked around the empty room but then her eyes settled on him and he saw her stiffen slightly. Despite her uneasiness around him, she smiled and greeted him.
"Good morning, Colonel." she said formally. He suddenly remembered how she had looked when she awoke; sleepy expression, clouded eyes, dishevelled hair and moist lips he had so wanted to kiss that morning...whoa! Back down, Sheppard! He mentally slapped himself and replied:
"Morning." he felt his headache starting to get worse as she sat down opposite him, her hands piling up the folders with reports busily.
...impatient hands roaming all over his naked back, fingernails scratching his skin....
He sat up straighter, squirmed in his seat as his eyes widened slightly. He heard the door open and close behind him and then three people slumped in their seats around the table: Teyla, Ronon and Rodney, all of them looking worse for wear.
"Can we start?" Elizabeth asked looking around the briefing room, her eyes quickly passing over John to Rodney.
"Rodney?" she raised her eyebrow as she spotted him with his head on the desk, clearly sporting a hangover. He jumped from his seat in an instant.
"Yes, yes. The briefing. Right....Where are my notes?" he panicked for a while before he found his data computer and then started talking about the possibility of finding a ZPM on the planet where they were supposed to go to next week. John's eyes caught hers for a brief moment before he leaned back in his chair, pretending to listen to Rodney. After a while he was bored to tears and his eyes roamed around the room. Ronon and Teyla were dozing off with their eyes open, or so it seemed, and Elizabeth...his gaze settled on her face. She was listening to Rodney, or at least pretending to listen. John suddenly wished to see her big green eyes, twinkling in the light.
...green eyes connecting with equally green ones, dilated with lust and desire...
He squirmed a bit again, hoping no one would notice, and turned his head back to Rodney. His lips suddenly felt very dry so he flicked his tongue over them several times.
...lips and tongue leaving a hot trail across her body...
On the other end of the table, Elizabeth was trying hard to focus and calm down her breathing. John's head rested on one of his hands and a shiver ran down her spine.
...hands playing her body like strings of a guitar, reaching places that made her scream with pleasure...
Elizabeth could barely hold herself in check. She started sweating and she was sure she was panting, although no one seemed to notice or call her upon it. Then John turned his head and his eyes locked with hers and suddenly the memories of last night floooded through them both at the same time.
...mouths clashing, pushing her against the wall....
....her skirt high around her waist, his fingers teasing her...
...her nails raking across his bare back....
...red shirt and blue jeans pooling at their feet....
....mouth and tongue caressing her breastbone....
...quick and frantic pace...
....colliding with his desk....
....pulling her bra and skirt off....
....tongues duelling, bodies moving as one....
....blindly seeking his bed, still intimately joined....
....finally the exquisite explosion of sounds and colors....
It was like watching a fast-forwarded movie. Their memories returned with full force along with all those emotions shared that night. John saw her eyes widening as her hand clasped over her mouth to muffle the gasp that was rising in her throat. She mumbled a short 'Excuse me' before she fled out of the door.
Rodney looked at her retreating back with confusion clearly evident on his face. Ronon or Teyla didn't even notice.
"Wha-?"
"She had too much drink yesterday. Sorry Rodney, the briefing is postponed. I'm going to check up on her." The scientist just nodded, grabbed his things and headed to his lab. Ronon and Teyla were still sitting in their chairs when John got up and went after Elizabeth.
Balcony
Elizabeth was trying hard to calm down the emotions that sprung to life with the memories, gripping the rail tightly. The door shwooshed open behind her and she didn't need to turn around to see who it was. He stepped right next to her, propping his hands on the railing and looking over the ocean, and he didn't say anything for a long while.
"You okay?" he finally asked as he gave her a sideways glance.
"I'm fine."
"So why won't you look at me?"
"I-I can't. Not yet."
"I thought we agreed it was just-"
"Drunken sex. Yes."
"Then why-?" She suddenly started blushing furiously.
"I've never been so out of control like that. I-I'm...it's embarrassing."
"No it isn't. It was quite hot in fact." her head turned sharply at his words.
"Really?"
"Yup." he grinned at her and she blushed again and averted his gaze. "You don't think so?" he sounded hurt.
"No!" she said much too quickly. "I-I do...I just don't know what to think of it."
"I understand." he nodded. "What about we put it behind us? As our little secret?"
"Dirty little secret." she mumbled and he grinned. "Okay."
"So friends?" he turned to her fully and she faced him too.
"Ya betcha." she grinned at him and he grinned right back.
Yeah, life was good.
Sometime later, mess hall
Elizabeth just sat down at one of the tables with tray of food when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"You gonna eat all of that?" The person who the voice belonged to sat opposite her and eyed her tray again.
"Why not? I'm really hungry." she retorted and raised her eyebrow.
"You? Miss Work-a-holic has time to eat?" he smirked and she wanted to slap him to wipe it off or stick out her tongue at him. But she realized she had to keep her leader facade. Instead she just scowled at him mockingly. They friendship had evolved into a more comfortable one with lots of bickering, joking and flirting.
"Yes. I do eat, you know. You just don't see it when I do." she took her fork and dug into her plate full of spaghetti.
"I know you do, but always just so little." he eyed her again as she swallowed another mouthful of spaghetti. He shrugged and took a bite of his turkey sandwich.
They were quiet for some time until Elizabeth finished the spaghetti. Then she took a swig of her water and put it back on the tray. She picked up a rather big green apple, or what was supposed to be an Athosian version of apple, and took a bite. John watched her in fascination.
"Elizabeth?"
"Hm?" she hummed, munching on the apple.
"You're scaring me." He confessed, watching as the apple disappeared almost immediately, leaving only the core and the stalk.
"Why?" she looked at him with confusion and amusement.
"I've never seen you eat so much."
"I'm starving John!" she exclaimed.
"I think we should get you to see Beckett."
"John! No! There's nothing wrong with me. So stop acting like a mother hen!"
"Okay." he backed down because he didn't want to argue with her. But then she asked in a sweet little voice, pointing to the muffin on his tray:
"You gonna eat that?"
"Okay, that's enough!" he stood up abruptly, leaving Elizabeth and the rest of the mess hall staring at him in shock and confusion.
"John, what are you doing?"
"You..." he pointed at her. "...are coming with me." With that he hauled her up from her seat and dragged her towards the infirmary.
"John, let go of me! What is with you today?" He growled in response and Elizabeth stared at him, unable to believe this was happening. Finally they were standing in the infirmary, Carson rushing towards them.
"What's wrong, lass?" he turned to John.
"She's been eating too much." he announced.
"And that is wrong how?" Elizabeth asked, clearly annoyed.
"One second you eat so little and the next you're stuffing yourself with spaghetti, apple and my chocolate muffin!"
"I was starving, John! There's nothing wrong with that!" Carson sighed, exasperated.
"Kids, please." he tried to calm them down. Finally both of them shut up. "Elizabeth, I'd like to examine you properly. It's time for your monthly check-up anyway. I might be wrong but it can be caused by unstable hormone levels."
"Bad case of PMS?" John murmured but Elizabeth heard him and smacked him across his arm, scowling. "Ouch."
"Lad, I'm going to examine her, you can go back to work. Elizabeth, come with me." Elizabeth sighed and frowned at John one last time before disappearing behind the curtain with Carson. John decided to kick some butt in the gym.
A few hours later
"Aye, so I was right." Carson said, strolling across the infirmary towards the bed where Elizabeth was sitting, holding a chart of the examination results.
"What?" she fidgeted.
"Unstable hormone levels." he announced looking into his chart.
"What caused this? Is it serious?" she panicked.
"No, it's not serious. I'm going to prescribe you some pills and they should stabilize it." he assured her and touched her arm. But she knew there was more.
"Carson?" she asked incredulously.
"Lassie, you're 6 weeks pregnant."
Later that evening
Elizabeth was sitting in her office, reading Rodney's recent scientific report. She wasn't really concentrating on them because she couldn't forget that one fateful sentence Carson pronounced not so long ago.
"You're 6 weeks pregnant."
She sighed and closed her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Having a baby in this corner of galaxy full of life-sucking creatures just wasn't safe. But another part of her mind told her that it was what she had always wanted and that many people, including Athosians, were happily living their lives with kids in the present and didn't think about the future. She contemplated what to do next. She needed to tell the father. As soon as possible.
Speaking of the devil, the father of her baby just stepped into her office.
"Hey." he greeted her with a smile on his face and plopped himself on her sofa.
"Hi."
"So...no more food cravings? Did Carson found out what was wrong?"
"Yes. Unstable hormone levels as he predicted. He prescribed me some pills."
"So you're okay now?"
"I guess so."
"You guess so? Elizabeth? Is there something else you aren't telling me?" she took a deep breath in and then slowly exhaled as she stood up and went over to the sofa. "Are you ill?" he watched her with a concerned expression as she sat down next to him, her hands folded in her lap. "Elizabeth? C'mon, you're scaring the crap out of me. You know you can tell me everything."
"I know." there was a long pause before she continued. "I just don't know how." He didn't say anything, just kept his gaze locked on her as she struggled with words.
"Um, we might want to reconsider our decision concerning our dirty little secret." she blurted out.
"What? Why?" He was getting a little bit impatient and worried as he squirmed in his seat. "Elizabeth?"
"I'm pregnant." There. It was out in the open. The ball was on his side. What followed was long silence as he gaped at her. She looked down at her hands but he lifted her chin with his fingers.
"That's fantastic." he breathed out.
"It is?"
"Yup." he grinned. "Because I think I've already reconsidered it."
"Really?" he laughed at her lack of vocabulary.
"Yes." he took her face between his hands and teased her lips softly with his until their mouths met in a soul-searing kiss. They parted, breathless.
"So I was just here thinking how it'd ruin our lives and you're now telling me that you changed your mind about our relationship?"
"Basically." She slapped him across his shoulder. "What?"
"Don't piss off a pregnant woman."
"Okay. I'm shutting up now." he kissed her forehead and she smiled. "So what now?"
"Well, I think it can work."
"Yes?"
"Yeah. Because I might have reconsidered this too." she giggled as he pulled her down for another kiss.
THE END