Rodney McKay let out a soft snort and burrowed deeper into his sleeping bag as John Sheppard stepped over him in his attempt to get closer to the fire.

John moved past Teyla, before coming to settle on the ground next to Elizabeth, kneeling down beside her. He assessed the area. She was close enough to the fire to be warm, but not so close that she'd be in danger from any flying embers.

Ronon was on watch now, and while he should have been resting, John couldn't bring himself to close his eyes. He was always hyper-vigilent when Elizabeth was off-world, feeling the responsibility for her was entirely his.

He glanced towards Ronon, making sure he was still surveying the treeline, before turning and hesitantly pushing a curl of hair behind Elizabeth's ear.

"John.." she murmured.

He stopped, hand raised just over Elizabeth's head. One hundred thoughts were rushing through his head; that she dreamed of him, that she felt the same connection to him that he felt to her, that she..

"John," the whisper was a little louder this time, startling him out of his thoughts.

He dragged himself back to reality, looking down and locking eyes with her by the firelight.

"You should be sleeping," he whispered back with a smile.

"So should you," she countered.

He nodded, smiling.

Elizabeth moved a little, making room for him. "I put your gear here."

"Thanks," John removed his boots, before slipping into his sleeping bag beside her.

"No problem," she yawned, turning to face him.

"Sleep," John urged, zipping her sleeping bag up just a little bit higher, to keep the chill out.

"Okay.."

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth opened her eyes again, to see John sitting up, surveying the area. "Hey," she whispered.

John looked down at her immediately.

"Sleep," she insisted.

"I will."

"Now," Elizabeth whispered determinedly.

John sighed, lying down beside her.

"I'm flattered.." she started. "but you don't have to worry so much when I'm here."

"It's not that.. I don't..."

Elizabeth let out a soft laugh. "You don't know what they say, do you? Your team."

John rolled his eyes. "What?"

"That you're a nightmare when I'm offworld" she laughed. "they think you don't trust them with me."

"Maybe I don't... "

"Trust them," Elizabeth insisted. "for me, for them, for yourself."

"Okay.."

"Promise?"

"I'll try."

Elizabeth smiled, and shuffled a little closer to him, until they were side by side, drifting off to sleep.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John woke before the sun rose that morning. He was programmed like that. He woke every few hours, almost as though it was a self preservation technique.

He smiled at the feeling of light pressure against his right shoulder, and looked down to see Elizabeth, her head resting against him.

As much as he wanted to do as she asked and trust Ronon, Teyla, and even Rodney with her safety, he didn't think it was something he could do yet.

From day one he'd felt a connection to her. He'd felt protective of her.

That wasn't something that would go away after one conversation.

As he watched her sleep by the light of the fire in the early morning, he wasn't sure he ever wanted it to go away.

John shuffled nervously. Elizabeth was staring at him with a look that seemed a mix of confusion, anger and frustration.

He looked on apprehensively as she turned back towards the leader of the Zimara people, switching her expression immediately to a business-like, professional response.

"If you'll excuse me," she said, smiling, "I need to speak to Colonel Sheppard alone for a moment."

The leader nodded, his bright blue eyes darting from Elizabeth to John, and back again, "Of course," he replied, "you may speak here. I shall return to my office."

Elizabeth turned to glare at John as soon as the man had left the room.

"What?" He asked, once again, shuffling around, wringing his hands nervously.

"What the hell are you doing?"

John cringed. She was angry. Definitely angry.

"Well?"

John closed his eyes, took a breath and started to formulate his answer. "He was... you saw what he was doing... he was blatantly hitting on you, Elizabeth. He needed to be put in his place..."

"And you think I can't do that myself?"

"When he's doing it right in front of me when he thinks I'm your husband? Come on, Elizabeth..."

"He only thinks you're my husband because that's what's necessary to negotiate with these people. It's the ultimate in patriarchal societies, John, we have to adapt if we're going to trade with them.."

He shot her a bitter look, "Why you want to trade with people who don't accept you for who you are... who see you as nothing without a husband.. it's beyond me."

Elizabeth sighed, and took a step towards him, running a hand gently up and down his right arm. She could feel the tension in him. She could feel how frustrating this situation was for him. "Sometimes," she said softly, "we have to compromise. I don't like the way he's treating me any more than you do. But we need what they have. If this is the way to get it, so be it."

"I don't like these people," John told her firmly. "I don't like the way he looks at you."

Elizabeth gave his arm a squeeze, "He's not going to do anything."

"You bet he's not, because if he does, I'll have to make sure he doesn't have the anatomy to try anything with anyone else."

Elizabeth laughed.

"What?" John asked indignantly. "You think I'd let him get away with it? The sexist, chauvinist bastard."

"You're such a feminist, John Sheppard," Elizabeth smirked.

"Only since I met you," he confessed.

She smiled at that, "Then I'm flattered... let's go and meet the sexist pig in his office, shall we?" she asked, walking towards the door.

John turned and followed her, resting a hand on her back.

If he survived this trip without getting thrown in a prison cell for insulting the community and its leaders for having such archaic customs, he was going to get Elizabeth in to the gym.

He had plans to show her exactly how to hit a man where it hurt the most.

"I don't think this is a good idea."

John gritted his teeth, frustratedly. "Come on Elizabeth, it's taken me two months to get you in here, I'm not going to argue with you for the next half hour."

She gave him an embarrassed look. "Can't I do it with Teyla instead?"

John rolled his eyes, "We've gone over this. She's too small."

"But you want me to be able to hold my own against men, right?" she asked trying not to sound too desperate, "Teyla does that.."

"Because she trains against men," John answered firmly. "You need to train against me, Lorne or Ronon."

"So why can't I..."

"Because Lorne's busy, and I while he might be a great guy, Ronon acts on impulse and reflex, and I don't trust him not to hurt you if you accidentally hurt him," John told her with a sigh. "I don't get what the problem is here."

"No problem..." Elizabeth muttered.

"Okay," John smiled, "Let's get started then."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Half an hour into this training session and she'd worked up a sweat. John had had her going over basic combat training, blocking his advances, manoeuvring out of the way of him. Her arms were aching and her legs felt heavy.

"Okay, now I want you to focus on the main goal of this whole exercise." John insisted.

"Oh... no. No, I'm not going to kick you there." Elizabeth gave him a horrified look.

John rolled his eyes, "Elizabeth, this is the whole aim of the exercise. For you to be able to defend yourself against a man in the most effective way possible. Short of eye gouging him, this is the best way to do it."

She stared at the ground, embarrassed and uncertain.

"Elizabeth," John said firmly, gripping her arm. "I'm going to block you. You won't even make contact. It's more about the leg action than anything else."

Elizabeth looked at him uncertainly, before taking a deep breath. "Okay." she murmured.

"OKay?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's go."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth clamped a hand over her mouth as she watched John fall to the floor in obvious pain.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" she blurted out, "I thought you were going to be faster than that... like the other times..."

"It's okay," he muttered breathlessly.

"No, no it's not," she dropped to the floor beside him, rubbing his back in what she hoped was a soothing, apologetic way.

"It's fine," John insisted, "at least we know your aim is good..." he tried to joke.

"Should I get Doctor Beckett?" she asked, sounding flustered, "I think I should get Carson down here."

"NO!"

"But John.."

"NO!"

"Okay..."

"Promise me something," John sighed.

"Anything."

"You won't tell anyone about this... I'd never live it down."

Elizabeth smiled, linking an arm through his and trying to haul him to his feet, "Promise," she answered. "the last thing we need is to give Rodney something else to tease you about.."

"Thanks.." John said, and Elizabeth wasn't sure if it was for her promise of secrecy, or her help getting to his feet.

John took a deep breath, and followed her to the door.

Pain or no pain, right now he was glad he'd insisted she not train against Ronon.

He didn't like to think of how the big man would have reacted to that move.

Elizabeth scanned the Gateroom, trying desperately to quell the rising panic she felt. At least 100 refugees had poured through the gate, and aside from two of Major Lorne's men, who looked safe and well, she was yet to see any of her expedition members.

The new arrivals looked terrified. Shellshocked. At least half had injuries, most of them superficial, but significant enough that they'd need to turn the immediate area into a makeshift infirmary. Carson Beckett's actual rooms were not big enough to handle a crowd of this size.

An injured Evan Lorne finally stepped up beside here, appearing as if from nowhere from the throng of people.

"Sorry about this, Dr Weir," he offered, "we had no choice. It was a sudden attack, they were out in the open, there was no way they'd have survived.."

"The Wraith?" she asked.

"No. Civil war. The other guys were heavily armed... these people.."

"It's okay," Elizabeth replied. "I've called Dr Beckett and his team here."

She motioned to the Major's heavily bleeding arm.

"Nothing," he insisted.

Elizabeth nodded, knowing that was not truly the case. "Make sure the medical team looks at it as soon as possible."

As soon as Major Lorne disappeared into the mass of refugees, Elizabeth returned to her previous activity of scanning the crowd. She caught sight of Ronon, head and shoulders above everyone else, helping an injured Rodney McKay. He was limping badly, blood streaming down left leg and his side.

The panic was back as she spotted Teyla, leaning heavily on one of Major Lorne's team. Both of them injured, helping each other along.

There was still no sign of John Sheppard. She knew he'd be somewhere near the back of the group. One of the last through. Making sure everyone else was okay before getting himself to safety. The 'gate had shut down several minutes ago, and the fact that she hadn't seen him...

"Elizabeth," she heard a familiar voice call from about ten metres away. She'd barely heard it over the noise of the frightened refugees.

She turned, dreading what she'd see when she locked eyes with him.

Suddenly, there he was, a few feet away. Elizabeth released a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

He was smiling at her. There was a cut on his face, some blood visible seeping through his shirt on his left shoulder, but other than that...

"Are you okay?"

She looked up, looking into his eyes and seeing his concern. She nodded, trying to return his smile, hating to think how terrified she must have looked to him.

"Sit down," she told him, finally finding the courage to speak. "I'll get a medic.."

"No," John grabbed her arm as she turned to leave in search of help, "I'm fine," he insisted. "There are others who need help a lot more than I do."

Elizabeth sighed, knowing full well this was the end of the conversation. He was nothing if not stubborn.

She tapped the shoulder of a passing medic, murmuring instructions to him. He nodded, motioned to his head and shoulder, and passed her a few items.

"Sit," Elizabeth repeated, as she turned back to John.

He looked at her curiously.

"If you won't let a medic see you, I'll clean your cuts."

John smirked at her, "You just want a chance to see me with my shirt off."

She rolled her eyes, "That's right, Colonel, I can't wait to see you all bruised and bloodied."

John's expression softened, "It's nothing, I promise. I won't even need one stitch."

"That's for me to decide. Shirt off. Now."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief as John shrugged his shirt back on.

He'd been right. There was a lot of blood, but the underlying cuts were shallow. No need for stitches. She'd cleaned them, dressed them, and turned her attention to his head, and the gash just below his hairline, above his left eye.

"I don't think that'll scar," she noted.

"Damn."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we all know women like scars," he teased, "they make a man look rugged... dangerous."

Elizabeth gave in to the urge to run a thumb along his hairline, under the guise of making sure the dressing was in place.

"I kind of like you the way you are," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

John smiled at her. "You know what? I think that bedside manner of yours is really coming along well..."

"You want to explain to me why the two of you were fighting in the jumper bay?"

John Sheppard glanced across at the poor excuse for an airman beside him. "No reason." he replied.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "From what I've heard, half the expedition was there to watch your little... display. I'm told there was even money bet."

Captain Dennis Mathers thrust his hands into his pockets and stared at his feet. "Minor disagreement," he mumbled.

"Minor?" John Sheppard turned and glared at him. Smug little bastard.

"What was the minor disagreement about. Captain Mathers?" Elizabeth asked calmly.

Dennis Mathers turned apprehensively to face John Sheppard. His commanding officer. The guy who never should have overheard the comments he was making to his workmates and hour before.

"It was... it was nothing..." he insisted nervously.

"Colonel?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nothing."

"Hmmm," Elizabeth started pacing a little in front of the two men, who looked decidedly like naughty schoolboys. "There was an awfully large crowd watching you fighting over nothing. Perhaps I should interview the spectators one by one. See what they know..."

"No," John sounded almost panicked and Elizabeth had to hide a smile, "you don't need to do that."

"I don't?" She smiled at him. The thought of catching more flies with honey crossed her mind, and she also granted Mathers a smile.

"It was about sport!" Mathers blurted out, looking to John for some sort of backup.

"Yeah, sport," John insisted.

"What kind of sport?"

Elizabeth tried not to laugh as the two men looked at each other, trying to figure out who was going to speak first.

"Football." John replied.

"Ah, and what is it about football that caused you to try to rip each other's heads off?"

"Well," John started, "Captain Mathers here thinks that soccer's the purest form of football, and I happen to disagree."

Elizabeth glanced towards Mathers, who looked disgusted at the thougth that he'd even watch soccer, let alone argue about it.

"Is that right, Captain Mathers?" Elizabeth asked.

He nodded, slowly.

"A man after my own heart. You follow the English Premier League?"

Mathers nodded again.

"I must say I'm a devout Chelsea fan. Nothing like watching the Red Devils play."

"Right," Mathers agreed. "Great team."

Elizabeth smiled, and looked from one man to the other. "You can go now, Captain Mathers," she said finally.

Mathers and John both moved to leave the room.

"John."

He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. One step away from freedom. One foot almost out the door. "Yes?" he gave her a pained smile.

"You do know that the Captain knows nothing about the English Premier League, don't you?"

John shrugged.

"And you do know that his mixing up Manchester United and Chelsea just gave your little lie away."

John rolled his eyes, "Okay, so you know we were fighting about something else. It's over. Forget it, you don't want to know"

"Actually, Rodney has quite a mouth on him. I already know."

John shot her a stunned look, "Then why..."

"Oh, I just wanted to see the two of you squirm." Elizabeth teased.

"If you know then you understand why I had to put him in his place!"

"John," she reached out to touch his arm. "You can't go physically attacking every man who makes... those sort of comments about me."

"Elizabeth," John was beginning to get frustrated, "you lead this expedition and he showed no respect for you. He was too busy telling his friends what he'd like to do to you..."

"I know, and it makes me sick to think about it. But you have to let it go. Or at least talk to him privately instead of making a spectacle out of yourselves."

John nodded, looking defeated. "Can I go now?" he asked meekly.

"Yes, you can go," Elizabeth told him with a smile.

John turned back to the door without even glancing at her.

"Oh, John?"

He shot a look over his shoulder.

"Thank you.."

He smiled back at his leader, "Think nothing of it."

John Sheppard looked up, on reflex, as he stepped back through the gate to Atlantis.

Elizabeth wasn't in her usual spot, the place she always stood to meet his team. He scanned the area in front of him, seeing no sign of her.

He went through the motions, getting his team to the infirmary to be checked, wondering where Elizabeth could be. She was always there when a team came through, no matter what time of the day or night.

John had visions of her being bored to tears in a meeting with Zelenka yet again.

He sat quietly, waiting for his turn with Carson. A quick check and he'd be out of here, tracking her down.

"You look fine," Carson Beckett told him, "though you may want to avoid letting Rodney eat anything but meat, rice or bread when he's off-world. Looks like he's breaking out in hives from having too much of some sort of fruit."

John nodded.

"You're awfully quiet," Carson told him, "is there something wrong?"

John rolled his eyes, "No, nothing's wrong.... I was just wondering, do you know where Dr Weir is?"

"Elizabeth? Oh, I thought you knew."

Concern was immediately etched on John's face. "Knew what?" he asked, "she wasn't there when we came through the gate..."

"Bed rest."

"What?"

"I've sent her to bed," Carson repeated. "she's come down with a cold. She was already getting sick when your team left two days ago."

"Is she..."

"Nothing serious," Carson interupted. "She'll be fine, with a bit of rest. But you know how she is. She doesn't know how to switch off. I've confiscated her computer.. even went back to her room to make sure she didn't have any files stashed away in there."

John nodded. The doctor was nothing if not determined. "I was wondering where she was... it's not like her to miss a team coming home."

Carson smiled, "I had to threaten her with two days bed rest to get her to stay away."

"Sounds like Elizabeth... Can I go now?"

"You can go," Carson told him.

"Great," John was on his feet and heading to the door in seconds flat.

"See if you can get her to have some soup," Carson called after the retreating John Sheppard, knowing full well where he'd be going.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John juggled two cups of soup and a plate loaded with bread as he entered Elizabeth's room.

"Room service?" she asked, stepping aside to let him pass.

"Well, if you can't go to the food.... Carson said he'd pretty much put you under house arrest. I thought maybe you could use something to eat."

She nodded, offering him a smile before breaking into a coughing fit.

John quickly placed the items on her desk, before moving over to her and placing a hand on her back. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded, trying to regulate her breathing again. "It's not as bad as it was yesterday," she informed him.

He cringed, "Must have been bad."

"It wasn't all that pleasant."

John led her towards the bed, "Get in," he insisted. "get comfortable."

He smiled as he watched her shuffle towards the bed, dressed in oversized pink pyjama pants and a black tank top, her curls messier than he'd ever seen them after a day in bed. She reached down beside the bed, grabbing a tissue and swiping at her slightly-red nose.

John grabbed their food, managing to only just hold onto it without any spills. He waited until she was settled, sitting up against the wall, resting against pillows, and handed her the cup of soup.

He motioned towards the bed and she nodded, giving her approval for him to sit beside her. He smiled, making himself comfortable, and placing the plate full of bread between them.

They ate in a comfortable silence, John keeping a close eye on Elizabeth to make sure she was having her share.

"It was weird not having you there when we got home," he mumbled around a mouthful of bread.

"It was weird not being allowed to be there," Elizabeth confessed.

"I was thinking the worst until Carson filled me in," John told her.

Elizabeth smirked. "You saying you'd miss me if I wasn't here?"

John gave her an evil grin, "Well, I have you well trained, I wouldn't want to have to break in a new leader."

Elizabeth burst into a laugh, which turned into another coughing fit.

John took the cup from Elizabeth's hand, moved the plate from the bed and shuffled closer to her, patting her back and hoping the coughing would stop.

"Thanks," she spluttered, when she finally caught her breath again.

John frowned, concerned. "Remind me not to make you laugh again."

Elizabeth closed her eyes, resting her head against the wall and letting out a quiet sigh.

"You need to sleep," John insisted.

"Been sleeping all day..." she muttered.

"Still... Carson will get his biggest needles out for me if I keep you awake."

Elizabeth nodded, slowly sinking back down into her bed. She reached down, awkwardly, grabbing the box of tissues and hugging it to her like a teddybear.

John smiled at the sight and pulled the covers up around her shoulders. "Wouldn't want you to get cold in the night," he said, by way of explanation, before starting to move to the door.

"Do you have to go?" Elizabeth whined.

John turned to look at her, startled. Elizabeth Weir didn't whine.

"I'm bored. I need something to think about or I won't be able to sleep... I hate being sick."

John rolled his eyes, "And they say men are bad patients."

He moved to her desk, grabbed her chair and placed it at her bedside.

"Thanks."

"So what do you want to talk about?" John asked.

"Hmm. Tell me about your mission."

"Elizabeth," John warned, "Carson doesn't want you thinking about work."

She sighed. "Since when have you been a rules man?"

"Since now. Suck it up."

Elizabeth opened one eye. "Suck it up?"

"Yeah." he smiled at her.

"There must be something you can tell me."

"Okay," John gave in. "But you have to promise not to laugh, because I don't want to be responsible for you having a coughing fit."

Elizabeth nodded, locking eyes with him eagerly.

"Well," John started, feeling as though he was telling a fairy story to a small child, "Rodney's appetite got the better of him... you know that allergy of his?" he waited for her response before continuing, "well let's just say he'll be even more careful about what he eats off-world. He bit into this piece of pie and...."

Elizabeth turned from her conversation with John Sheppard just long enough to make sure Rodney and Major Lorne's team were safely through the gate. Under their own steam. With no visible signs of blood.

She relaxed when a brief look in their direction showed all to be walking through unharmed, and turned back to John. The stunned look on his face, though, had her puzzled.

Her thoughts were immediately broken by a plaintive wail from Rodney, calling her name from below.

That was followed by a bellow that could only belong to a baby. Or a small animal that was being slowly tortured.

Elizabeth turned abruptly away from John, to look down to the gateroom below, and the panicking figure of Rodney McKay. He was still calling her down to him, while Major Lorne tried to silence both him and the baby --- she could see now it was definitely a baby.

By the time John and Elizabeth had reached the gateroom, Rodney was red in the face and Lorne had given up his role of peacemaker, standing back looking amused with the rest of his men.

"It's a baby." Elizabeth stated.

Rodney let out a loud groan. "I know it's a baby. Do something with it."

"Me?" Elizabeth stepped back nervously. "Oh, no... no, I'm not dealing with a baby."

"What?" Rodney gave her a pained and confused look. "What's the problem? Take it." He thrust the child in her direction.

Elizabeth took a further step back. "No," she told him firmly. "what makes you think I want to take it off your hands?"

"Well...." Rodney blustered, "You're a woman."

Elizabeth shot a shocked look over her shoulder at John, willing him to say something. When she saw nothing but a smirk on his face, she turned back to Rodney. "What," she asked, "is that supposed to mean, Dr McKay."

Rodney rolled his eyes, "You know," he told her, as though he was talking to a child, "You're a woman. You're supposed to know these things. It's... in your makeup."

Elizabeth threw him a disgusted look. "Negotiating is in my makeup," she told him, "knowing how to deal with egotistical scientists is in my makeup, this" she motioned towards the baby, "is most definitely not in my makeup."

It was then John finally decided to step in, still smiling, amused by the whole scene. "Here, give it to me," he told Rodney.

The scientist gave him a look of pure relief, and handed over the still wailing infant.

All were amazed when the baby suddenly fell silent.

"What did you do?" Rodney asked.

John shook his head, "Nothing..."

"Don't give me that, you have to have done something.."

"Nope."

"Huh..." Rodney muttered, "well you could have worked your magic before the thing perforated my left eardrum with its screaming."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth paced around the infirmary. "So what are we going to do with it?"

She and Carson stood looking at the baby, still cradled in John's arms, and still quite content.

"I suppose the first thing to do is give the lass or lad a checkup..."

John quickly peered into the pile of blankets the baby was wrapped in. "Lass," he confirmed with a smile. "Perfect."

"Perfect how?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, since I'm the only one who can get the kid to shut up, I figure I'll be here around changing time," he explained, "and I don't want some boy using me as target practice."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and turned to Carson. "Okay, let's get this check done and we can figure out what to do with her."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth wandered along the line of people, piling some pasta and a small cake onto her tray before moving to sit at the same table as John, Rodney and Radek.

And the baby.

It had been three days, and John had found himself on baby duties. Teyla and Ronon had gone with Major Lorne's team to try to find out who owned the child, and John seemed quite content to play babysitter.

"You've done this before, haven't you" Elizabeth asked, taking a sip of water.

"Nope."

She frowned. "How can you not have done this before? You and Carson are the only reason this baby's not screaming the city down."

"What can I say," John replied. "Maggie likes me."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Maggie?"

"Yeah, you know, like Maggie Simpson... she doesn't talk, so..."

"Maggie," Rodney finished.

Elizabeth gave them a look that told them in no uncertain terms she thought they were crazy. She then excused herself, and told them she'd eat while she worked, picking up her tray and leaving the room.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was late when John stopped by her office, Maggie still in tow, curled up in his arms, comfortably.

"Do you ever put her down?" Elizabeth asked, looking up from her reports.

"Sure.. usually when Carson or one of the nurses has time to hold her."

Elizabeth nodded. "You don't think you're getting too attached?" she asked, trying to look as though she was deeply committed to finishing the report she was working on.

"No," he answered. "I think there's something wrong if you can't get attached to baby... whether it's a human or a cat or a dog or ..."

"How about a Wraith?"

"Okay," he agreed, "I'll draw the line at Wraith."

She nodded, offering him a smile.

"Why don't you hold her?" he asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, no I couldn't do that."

"Sure you can," John insisted, stepping closer to her.

"No, John, don't..."

He sighed and she couldn't help but think he looked defeated. "What's the problem. You hate kids?"

"No," Elizabeth assured him. "I'm fine with kids... it's just... when they're that small, I always think I'm going to break them."

He laughed at that, and she shot him a disapproving look. "You won't break her," he promised, stepping a little closer.

"John...."

"Just hold her for a few minutes," he asked, "it's amazing.. she's kind of calming."

"She's just going to start screaming if you give her to me." Elizabeth told him, starting to look panicked.

"She won't," he countered, "and if she does, you can give her back to me."

Elizabeth gave him a look that told himm she wasn't convinced.

"Come on," he told her, "It's easy."

Reluctantly, she moved over to the couch as indicated, and sat down.

"Okay," John reached out, positioning the baby in Elizabeth's arms, "make sure you support her head."

She rolled her eyes at that "John, I'm not stupid, I do know something about babies."

Maggie shifted a little, making herself comfortable.

"Hey, she likes you!" John whispered, running a hand over the baby's head.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth watched nervously, three days later, when John handed Maggie over to her parents.

Lorne's team had found them. The baby had been snatched at just two days old by human traffickers, and had been left for dead in the forest when the Atlantis team had inadvertantly stumbled upon the criminals.

John's attachment to the child was obvious. He, Carson and some of the nurses from the infirmary fussed around the baby as her mother held her, and Elizbeth couldn't help but feel pain for them.

When the family left, John was the last one standing in the gateroom.

Elizabeth approached him slowly, quietly, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Hi," he said with a sad smile as he turned to face her.

"You're going to miss her, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked.

He merely nodded.

"Me too," she confessed.

Elizabeth Weir frowned as she watched John Sheppard wander out onto the balcony, away from the party.

Another year had gone by in their city, and they were marking time with what vaguely corresponded to New Year's Eve on Earth.

The city was running on a skeleton crew, while the majority of staff partied. Within reason. The last thing Elizabeth needed was a drunken population playing around in the city of the Ancients.

She liked to think she was allowing them to have fun. Responsible fun, but fun nonetheless.

John, however, had seemed rather subdued the entire night. She'd catch his eye, only to have him look away. His whole response left her confused.

Elizabeth smiled at Radek and Carson, whispering a soft explanation as she excused herself from their conversation.

She hesitated for a moment, turning as though to approach Ronon and Teyla before telling herself to grow a backbone and go and talk to him. Something was very obviously bothering John, and she'd be a pretty bad friend not to try to help him.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John didn't even move when she walked onto the balcony.

"Leaving the party already?" he asked, back to her. "It's not even midnight."

She glanced at her watch, seeing it was only a couple of minutes before the beginning of the near Earth year. Going by Colorado time, anyway. "Near enough," she insisted, coming to stand beside him.

"Everyone seems to be having a good time," John murmured softly.

"Everyone except you," Elizabeth countered, nudging his arm.

John turned to her, shrugging. "I'm just not much of a party guy."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, causing him to let out a soft laugh.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm just ... kind of solitary," he explained. "I'd rather sit at home with a beer and a football game than stand in a room full of people."

Elizabeth laughed softly.

"What?"

She considered him for a moment. "I never saw you that way. I always imagined you being the ladies man who made a big night of New Year's Eve."

John shook his head firmly. "Definitely not," he insisted. "after my marriage went to hell, I worked every year."

Elizabeth nodded. She's known of his marriage, read about it in his file, but he'd never spoken of it. She wanted to know everything. What the mysterious Mrs Sheppard had been like, how they'd met, why they'd split.

Instead, she settled for linking an arm through his. "Well," she turned to face him "you have a whole city that sees you as family now. A whole population that you've helped to keep alive. I think you have something to celebrate this year."

John allowed himself a smile. "You're probably right."

"Oh, I'm definitely right," Elizabeth told him with a smirk.

They settled into a silence. A silence Elizabeth felt was much more comfortable than the one she'd walked into just minutes before.

Shouting from the room behind them made both turn suddenly, slightly startled.

"Ah, I think we would be getting to the counting down time of the evening," Elizabeth surmised, letting out a laugh as she heard Rodney start up the tradition.

John nodded, studying her expression.

When the shouts of Happy New Year rang out loudly around them, John offered Elizabeth a smile, tugging her arm to bring her closer.

He grinned when she gave him a quizzical look. "Can't break with tradition," he insisted.

Elizabeth could feel the blush, creeping up her cheeks as she tried to look anywhere but at him.

When she finally lifted her face, and locked her eyes with him, John was giving her the sincerest smile she'd ever seen from him.

He leaned forward, brushing a kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you," he whispered, "for everything."

Elizabeth linked her arm back through his, turning them to lean once again on the balcony and look into the darkness of the night.

She had a smile on her face, but there was something wrong, and he could sense it immediately, as he sat across from her at the huge banquet table.

John tried to catch Elizabeth's eye, managing to do so for just a fraction of a second before she turned away, self conscious. He knew her well enough to see right through her facade, and she knew it.

He sighed softly to himself, and turned his attention back to the bride and groom. To Kasumi and Jarron.

Kasumi had changed from her traditional white wedding Kimono into a much more colourful version in reds and golds, reflecting the tone of the entire ceremony.

Jarron, was in traditional Athosian wedding clothing, and the mix of the two made for a unique experience.

The Japanese munitions expert, and the Athosian botanist. A match made in Atlantis, and a match nobody saw coming.

Their wedding was the first, and to say Elizabeth had been surprised when they'd told her nervously of their plans would have been an understatement. She'd granted her permission for the service, of course, but her unease with the situation was so obvious that John had spoken to her at the time.

She'd raised concerns that more people would want to marry, and babies would be next, and their situation was so dangerous that she didn't know if she could allow people to get themselves into a position where they had so much to lose. So much to mourn should things go wrong.

John had assured her that everything would work out. That just because two people had paired up, didn't mean everyone would. It was then she had brought up couples he hadn't even known about.

Watching her now, he could see there were two levels to her fear. The fear for her people, and the fear for herself.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth shivered in the cool night air of the Athosian settlement. She'd arrived with a shawl, which she'd oh so conveniently left in the jumper. To retrieve it now, she'd have to find John or Ronon to walk her there. Regardless of the fact they were in safe territory, she knew the military commander of Atlantis would have her head if she wandered off on her own.

She settled for closing her eyes, inhaling the fragrant night air, and willing herself not to feel cold. She felt at peace, or relatively so, at the edge of the settlement, away from prying eyes. Away from the celebrations that continued loudly nearby.

Elizabeth was startled by a sudden brush of fabric on her shoulders, opening her eyes immedately.

It was John of course. She knew he'd been watching her for much of the night. Knew he was concerned from the few times she allowed him eye contact. Now here he was, playing the knight in shining armour, and laying his warm, soft jacket over her shoulders.

She mumbled her thanks as he rubbed her shoulders in a bid to warm her up.

"You know, I'll never understand why women go for fashion over comfort," he whispered in her ear. "not that I'm complaining, because that's a great dress..."

He urged her to sit, placing himself beside her on the soft ground.

"It's not very practical," she admitted, smoothing down the skirt of the silky sage coloured dress as it was lifted by a particularly pesky breeze.

"Still, much prettier than uniform red and work boots."

She allowed herself a laugh at that. "Maybe I should wear this around the office then," she teased.

"Maybe," he replied softly, allowing them a few moments of silence before adding "are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Elizabeth turned, startled that he would be so direct. "Nothing," she insisted. "Nothing's wrong."

"Come on, 'Lizabeth," he tried, gently, "you going to tell me you're the kind of girl who always cries at weddings, because I don't believe that."

Her frustration with this line of questioning was obvious. "I wasn't crying," she insisted.

"No, but you weren't exactly jumping for joy, either."

From the light of two nearby lanterns, John could see she'd gone into lockdown mode. He was going to get nothing more from her, unless she chose to volunteer the information.

He closed his eyes, wished he'd taken a different approach, and then allowed himself to get caught up in the silence that settled between them.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Do you miss it?"

John opened his eyes, startled. He'd been resting his eyes, settled on the ground beside Elizabeth for about twenty minutes now. "Miss what?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Marriage... being married. Do you miss it?"

He struggled for words. Struggled to decide whether he did miss it or not. "I don't know... sometimes, I guess."

She nodded. "What's it like? Being married."

John laughed at that, "You lived with Simon for how long, a year?" he waited for her nod, before continuing "that's about as long as my marriage lasted. It's the same thing."

"I don't think so," she muttered. "did I tell you that when we went back to Earth, he fooled me into thinking we still had something only to tell me later that he couldn't come with me because he'd found someone else?"

John was shocked. He'd long wondered what exactly went on on Earth, what it was that led to Elizabeth making an unscheduled return to the SGC to stay in quarters next to his.

"He's an idiot."

"But I told him to move on when I left, I only have myself to blame."

John rested a hand on her back, "You did the honourable thing, Elizabeth, what he did.. if you'd told me that night, I would have gone around there and given him a black eye he'd still be feeling months later."

"Then it's lucky I didn't tell you," Elizabeth answered, "otherwise you'd be locked up somewhere in Colorado instead of being here now."

John was about to move them back to the banquet when Elizabeth interupted his thoughts.

"Would you ever get married again?"

"Uh.. sure. If she was the right person."

"But you thought your wife was the right person, otherwise you'd never have married her" Elizabeth countered.

John shrugged, "Yeah, but I was a lot younger. I used different criteria... "

"Such as?"

"Well, you know how it is when you're younger... these days friendship and respect are pretty high on my list, instead of how long her legs are.."

Elizabeth laughed.

"How about you?" he asked.

Elizabeth shook her head, "Not possible."

"Not possible? Elizabeth, you're smart, you're strong, you're beautiful.."

"I'm the leader. It would be poor form for me to get involved with anyone here."

"You're a civilian. There's no regulation against it."

"No," she agreed, "there's not. But it's ethically wrong."

"It's not," John insisted. "you're entitled to love as much as anyone else here. And I know for a fact there's not a man on the base who'd say no to you... well, except maybe Johnson and Braxton, but they're..."

"A couple," she finished.

"Yeah. You know.. don't ask, don't tell..." he laughed softly. "I know nothing. But the point is, people love you, people care about you... don't close yourself off just because you sit in the big office."

Elizabeth let out a sign, nodding. "Maybe.."

"No man in his right mind would say no to you, Elizabeth, trust me on that. The man of your dreams could be right in front of you."

She allowed herself a glance at him before a commotion started up as Rodney and Radek tripped over themselves in front of them.

"Or not..." John whispered in her ear before both burst out laughing.

Rodney shot them a disgusted glare. "What's so funny? You two want to deal with the drunken Czech? No? I didn't think so..."

He nudged the fallen scientist in the side with one boot, forcing Zelenka to groan and stagger to his feet.

John rested an arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, pulling her closer as they laughed and watched the scientists stumble off in the direction of the jumper.

"I think we can take those two off the list. You have way too much class for them."

Elizabeth smiled at that, allowing herself to relax against her military commander.

Elizabeth wiped a spot of mud from her face.

"Are we there yet?"

John laughed and turned to face her, his motion flicking more mud in her general direction. "You know, you've really been hanging out with McKay too much."

She scowled at him, and tried to lift one heavy boot, only to find it stuck fast in the thick sludge. Pausing for one second was not a good move on this particular path. She took a deep breath, braced herself, and tried again to lift her foot.

No luck.

And John had already started moving ahead.

Not wanting to ask for his help, she let out a frustrated sigh that she knew he was bound to hear. It had the desired effect, and John Sheppard stopped, turned around to face her and gave her a questioning look.

"We want to get there before dark, you know. Any time you feel like moving would be good," he threw the comment at her sarcastically.

"Stuck," she muttered.

"What?"

"I'm stuck!" she called back, frustratedly.

John laughed. "So I could just walk off, leave you here... have a nice peaceful stroll to the village, no hen-pecking, no complaining about the rain..."

"John!"

He grinned at her, "Okay, okay..."

He moved closer to assess her situation.

"One foot or two?"

"One," she said, trying to move the foot that had been free just moments before. She sighed "at least it was. Since you decided to laugh at my misfortune and make me wait, both are stuck now."

"Be nice," John smirked "or I'll leave you here, leader or no leader."

Elizabeth closed her eyes, annoyed with the situation and herself. How she'd managed to agree to a five mile trek to the village was beyond her. How she'd agreed to let the rest of John's team sit it out was beyond her.

Right now, all she wanted was to be back in Atlantis. Or in the village they were trying to find.

She looked down at her clothing and wondered how the Sholarans would feel about negotiating with mud people. She and John were not going to look even remotely their best when...

Elizabeth let out a gasp. "What are you doing?"

John Sheppard had wrapped his arms unexpectedly around her waist.

"Getting you out of the mud. Unless you'd like to stay here," he said sarcastically.

She frowned trying to figure out where to put her hands, and settling for resting them against his arms.

"It's not going to work like that," John insisted, "put your arms around my neck and hang on."

Elizabeth looked down as a splash of cold mud made its way up her leg, and noticed John was lifting first one foot and then the next,, making sure he wasn't going to be similarly trapped.

She cringed, feeling nervous about the familiarity of it, and placed her arms loosely around John's neck.

Elizabeth could almost hear him rolling his eyes when he inisisted "You need to hold on tighter than that, or you might fall."

She bit her lip and silently obeyed him, hanging on tight and hoping nobody would stumble into their path right now. The leader of Atlantis, clutching her military commander like her life depended on it.

"You okay there?" John whispered in her ear.

Elizabeth nodded against his neck, closing her eyes and willing this to be over. She could feel herself blushing, purely from being at such close proximity to him.

"I'm going to try to pull you out now."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The good thing, she decided, was that John had broken her fall. The bad thing was that her weight, added to his, had probably knocked the wind out of him.

"You okay?" she asked, lifting her head from its place on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he replied, "but I think we should get moving, or I'll end up stuck."

Elizabeth let out a soft laugh, mumbled something about it serving him right, and lifted herself into a standing position, reaching out a hand to help him up.

Once he was standing beside her, John looked down at their muddied clothing. "This isn't the best way to look when meeting with new allies, is it?"

Elizabeth shook her head, forlornly.

"I hope they have a shower," he muttered, "or some... shower-like contraption."

"No, a bath."

"I could go a bath," John agreed.

"With bubbles," Elizabeth said dreamily.

"Military issue soap would be good enough for me, but if you want to smell nice..."

Elizabeth laughed, nudging his shoulder as they walked, and noticing for the first time that he still held onto her hand.

"Elizabeth, you need to relax. You need to have fun."

She eyed him suspiciously. "I have .. fun.. John. I just like to get my work out of the way first."

"Really," he asked, quirking an eyebrow. "so tell me when you last watched a movie, or played a card game..."

"Does Solitaire count?"

John gave her a look that told her in no uncertain terms that it didn't.

Elizabeth sighed, closing her eyes. "John, I don't have time."

"Sure you do. I'll even help you with your paperwork later. It's a day, Elizabeth. Not even a day. Half a day."

Elizabeth weighed up her options. She could stay in her office and work all day, or she could travel to the mainland with John to collect some essentials.

"I can't just leave the city any time I choose to..." she protested.

John groaned. "Elizabeth, Rodney will be here, Caldwell will be here, nothing is going to happen."

She chewed at her bottom lip, deep in consideration.

"I'll take you shopping," John offered finally.

"Shopping?"

John shrugged. "You said you wanted cushions, right? We'll find you some cushions."

She hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Okay. We have a deal."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John stepped aside as one of the Athosians stacked the last crate of goods into the jumper. He and Elizabeth would be transporting items of every description back to the city. Including clothing, since the Athosian fabrics and styles were often more comfortable for downtime.

He turned to see Elizabeth smiling up at him. "We've done well," she told him.

John nodded, "Not too bad. But we still have a few things to pick up."

Elizabeth frowned, wondering what they could have possibly forgotten, what could possibly be missing from the eight crates in the jumper.

"Your cushions?"

She smiled, "We don't need to do that, I don't really need any..."

"It was important enough for you to mention it, and since it was such a trial getting you to leave the city..."

"Okay," Elizabeth gave in, "lead the way."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John stood beside her as Elizabeth looked through the cushions on offer from one of the Athosians. They were all the colours of the rainbow, and in so many shades she found it impossible to choose. They'd so far spent 20 minutes looking at the items, and she'd been expecting John to become impatient.

He didn't.

He instead stood beside her, offering suggestions. It all felt very domestic.

"Why don't we pick a colour and go from there?" he asked.

Elizabeth smiled at his use of the word 'we', and nodded. "How about green?" she asked.

"Green." He gave her a thoughtful look, weighing it up in his mind, before nodding his approval and placing his hands on her shoulders, turning her towards the cushions that fitted the description.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"These will help greatly with relaxation," the trader told Elizabeth as she tied the three cushions together with twine.

"Good," John smirked, "she needs to do more of that."

Elizabeth nudged him in the ribs with an elbow, before reaching to take the items.

"I've got it," John insisted, taking the bundle before she could.

Elizabeth eyed the cushions as they turned to leave. The sea green would be a nice, calming addition to her room. She could imagine herself lying on her bed, surrounded by the large pillows, reading a good book.

She was startled slightly when John rested a hand on her back, urging her on towards the jumper. She was even more startled when his hand moved up to the base of her neck and stayed there.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth slumped, tired, into her seat in the jumper. She'd been up before dawn working, and despite its relaxing nature, the trip to the mainland had left her ready for sleep.

"You okay?"

She smiled and nodded, opening her eyes slowly to take in the sight of John Sheppard, ready to take them home. "Thank you."

"No problem."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth stirred, distracted by the feeling of something on her face. She twitched her nose, surpised to hear a soft laugh.

Opening her eyes, she saw John right in front of her, pushing a curl of hair behind her ear.

"We're home," he said softly, "time to get you to bed."

She nodded, stretching, yawning, and willing herself to wake up.

When she finally stood, she saw John, instructing a couple of marines on where to take the crates, while he held the string tying her bundle of pillows in his right hand.

He motioned for her to join him, and they left the jumper for the trip to her quarters.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth stopped outside the door to her room, "Well, this is me," she joked.

"So it is."

"I guess I should...." she reached for the stack of cushions, taking it from John as she opened the door, placing the bundle inside.

She turned back to him, awkwardly, not quite sure how to end their day together, and noting immediately that he seemed to feel the same way.

Elizabeth made a split second decision, reaching out and giving him a quick hug, "Thank you," she said as she stepped back. "I had a good day."

"Well, that was the idea," John joked.

She nodded, offering him an almost-shy smile, "I should..." she motioned back to her room.

"Yeah, you need to sleep," John insisted. "and I don't want to see you up and about before eight in the morning, okay?"

Elizabeth laughed at that, but agreed to his request, before they parted company and she slipped into her room.

She picked up the cushions once the door had closed, holding them close and placing them carefully on the bed to untie them.

Elizabeth placed one on her desk chair, and the second on the floor with two others she'd acquired a year before.

The third one, she looked at, uncertainly, before deciding it would be nice to hold onto it during the night.

She shrugged out of her uniform, replacing it with a long, soft t-shirt, and slipped into bed, hugging the cushion John had chosen tightly to her body.

"I'm going to ask you one more time before I shoot you," John Sheppard said slowly. "Where is she?"

The large man standing in front of him merely smirked, showing no sign of giving away any information. He was huge, as were all the people on this planet. They made Ronon look average sized, something John hadn't thought was possible.

The advantage they had through strength was obvious, and John realised there was no way out of this situation except through the use of weapons, something that this community didn't seem to have beyond bows and arrows.

With the combined force of his team and Lorne's, they'd managed to make their way through to the prison area, where he presumed Elizabeth was being held after she'd been abducted from their camp three nights before.

Despite Ronon and one of Lorne's men being on watch, the kidnappers had managed to make their way in undetected, and just take her right from under the noses of the two teams. The first indication had been her scream for help as she managed to fight one of them off for a second about 50 metres from the camp.

They still had no clue as to why she'd been taken, except that it seemed women were in short supply in this area, and if they'd been watching for long enough, they'd have realised that Teyla was well prepared and extremely competent when it came to protecting herself.

Frustrated, John shot a quick look in Lorne's direction, keeping his weapon trained on the guard. "You and your team deal with him," he told the Major, "McKay, stay here, Ronon, Teyla, you're with me."

Rodney seemed about to protest, but then thought better of it, turning towards Lorne as John, Teyla and Ronon ran from the foyer into the maze of prison cells.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"She has to be here somewhere," Teyla insisted, as they searched a third corridor of cells, "there is nowhere else they could have taken her."

She was right. The team had scoured the settlement, before making its way to the primitive prison complex, and there'd been no sign of the leader of Atlantis.

The prisoners were getting louder and louder, screaming to be let out of their cells, as the three made their way through. At one point Ronon had suggested letting as many out as possible, to create a diversion and help them disappear in the crowd on the way out.

It had seemed a good idea at the time, but the chaos had grown since the team had started freeing the prisoners, and John was sure his quick radio message to Rodney was the only thing that stopped him and Lorne's team from being trampled.

John sighed. They'd come to a fork in the road, so to speak. This particular corridor diverged, heading in two separate directions. He hesitated for a moment, before motioning to Ronon "You take the left side. Teyla, you're with me, we search one side each, it should speed things up."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John and Teyla went through the motions, breaking into the prison cells, watching the inmates leave, and then scanning the empty rooms for any signs of Elizabeth. The majority of prisoners were women, as he'd suspected from the male dominant society. Time would only tell what sort of effect their release into the general population would have.

John opened a cell door for what seemed like the hundredth time, watching the sea of women -- about 15 in all -- make their way loudly past him. He scanned the room, spotting nothing in the dim light until a short, sharp movement caught his attention.

Straining his eyes to see, he realised a small bare foot had moved back a fraction, as though its owner was trying to hide it in the shadows.

He stepped forward, softly, quietly,not wanting to startle the owner of the foot. He was about to tell her she was safe to leave, when he realised it was Elizabeth. She sat there, head resting on her knees, eyes hidden, arms tight around her legs, as though trying to make herself small enough to be undetected.

John ran a hand through his hair and released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, quietly kneeling down in front of her, trying not to startle her.

He reached out to touch her, but then pulled his hand back. She was obviously afraid. An unsolicited touch could be a very bad move in this situation.

He settled instead for whispering her name. Barely a whisper, more a sigh of relief, just loud enough for her to hear.

In a fraction of a second, Elizabeth had looked up sharply, and thrown her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He'd barely had time to take in her appearance, but had managed to spot dried blood on the left side of her face.

John wrapped his arms around her, running a hand up and down her back. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

He felt her shake her head against him, "No.. but I will be." she promised, echoing their words after the Kolya incident.

John planted a kiss on the top of her head, "I know you will."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It felt like an eternity before Elizabeth released her tight grip on him, sitting back slightly, but keeping her arms loosely around him.

"What happened?" John asked gently. He reached up to touch the cut on her face softly, apologising when she winced.

"It's okay," she promised, "it just stings a bit."

John nodded. "How did it happen?"

She rolled her eyes, shook her head at the idiocy of it "Would you believe I walked into a wall?"

"So they didn't hurt you?"

"Just my foot," she told him, "but they were going to sell me into slavery in the next two hours. You got here just in time."

"What happened to your foot?" He backed away far enough to get a look at her feet in the dim light of the cell, noticing the left one was bruised badly and a deep purple in colour. It was also swollen to twice its normal size.

"Let's just say I need more training when we get home," she replied.

John raised a questioning eyebrow.

"One of the guards," she elaborated. "I tried to kick him the way you taught me to. He was too fast. Grabbed my foot and twisted until I thought my ankle was going to snap."

"Can you walk on it?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "Just about."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After contacting Teyla to tell her they could leave, John motioned to Elizabeth to stand, reaching out a hand to help her up.

She allowed him to pull her to her feet, leaning heavily against him to keep the pressure of her bruised ankle.

"This won't be easy," John stated the obvious, "but Teyla and I will help you and we'll take it slowly."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"This isn't working." John stopped dead in his tracks, causing Teyla and Elizabeth to also pause.

Teyla gave him an inquiring look.

"We're not going to get out of here like this," he insisted as another group of inmates pushed past them. "We're going to have to go single file if we're going to get through these people."

Teyla nodded, knowing he was right, "I did not think we had released so many people," she acknowledged.

"I think they let some go themselves."

"So single file it is," Teyla announced.

"But..."

"I know, you can't walk properly," John completed Elizabeth's sentence before she'd had the chance to form it. "And you're going to hate this, but it has to be done."

Before Elizabeth had been able to consider what he could possibly mean, John grabbed her in a fireman's lift, leaving her mortified. This was about the least dignified way she could imagine leaving the prison.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John tore his eyes from the crackling fire as he heard a twig snap behind him. He immediately locked eyes with Elizabeth, as she shuffled towards him, unsteady on the makeshift crutches Ronan had come up with to help her get around.

He rose to meet her, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "The last time I went to sleep in this forest, I was abducted and almost sold into slavery."

"Point taken," John replied, taking the crutches from her and helping her to sit down beside him. "now you see why I worry so much when you come with us."

"You need to stop worrying.." Elizabeth mused, looking around to make sure the others were still sleeping.

"Tried that," he replied, "can't do it. You bring out the worrier in me."

She laughed softly, "My brother would be thrilled to know that someone's looking out for me in the wilds of the Pegasus Galaxy.. if he knew there was a Pegasus Galaxy."

"You think he'd like me?"

"Honestly? No."

John put an arm around her shoulder, "That's okay, they never do."

"Maybe they can't see the real John Sheppard for the cocky flyboy," Elizabeth suggested.

"Cocky flyboy? Okay, now I'm insulted," John joked.

"Don't be... I like it.. and I like it even more that I'm one of the few people in the city who knows the real you."

John smiled, shrugged out of his jacket and folded it, laying it on the ground beside them. "Pillow," he explained, "you need to get some sleep... I'll be right here. Anyone who wants to abduct you and sell you off to the highest bidder has to get through me first."

Elizabeth yawned as she stretched herself out beside him, laying her head on his jacket, "Those guys are bigger than you," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but I can be pretty powerful when someone pisses me off," he promised. "so sleep."

Elizabeth closed her eyes, with a relaxed sigh, and fell asleep to the sound of the fire crackling beside her, and the feel of John Sheppard's fingers playing gently with her hair.

"What's the story with those two?"

Evan Lorne looked up from his lunch "Who two?"

Rodney McKay rolled his eyes and motioned with his fork, sending crumbs of pie all over the table, "Those two!"

Lorne turned to look in the direction McKay indicated, spotting his CO and the expedition leader sharing lunch and a laugh.

He shrugged. "Talking work? None of our business really."

"Well, what do you think?" Rodney turned his attention to Ronon,.

The big man mumbled around a mouthful of cake. "Why you asking me?"

"Well.. you're the strong silent type, right? I presume that means you... observe."

Ronon shrugged. "Don't look at me, man, I have more important things to think about."

"Maybe he likes her."

Rodney gave Zelenka a look of disgust "Maybe he likes her," he immitated. "What are we, twelve?"

His fellow scientist merely shrugged.

"When was the last time he ate with us?"

Lorne started laughing, "Now I get it," he said "you're jealous. Your friend found a pretty girl to eat lunch with and you're jealous!"

"Or maybe Rodney has the hots for Dr Weir," Radek added with a grin, feeling braver now.

Rodney shot him a disdainful look "Oh, like you can talk."

He turned his attention back to Sheppard and Weir. John was standing now, hand on her shoulder, whispering something in her ear.

Elizabeth in turn laughed, shook her head, and grabbed his arm as he tried to walk away.

John turned back, an innocent look on his face, and held up a single finger. Indicating what, Rodney wondered. One? One what?

The question was answered when a minute later, John Sheppard returned to the table with one piece of chocolate cake and two forks.

Rodney rolled his eyes. What next? One milkshake with two straws?

"That's just wrong," he insisted, horrified look on his face as he watched first Elizabeth, and then John take a forkful of the cake.

"What's wrong?" Lorne turned to look.

"That," Rodney indicated with a small movement of his head. "Do they have any idea how many germs you can get sharing food like that?"

The clattering of a fork on his own plate caught his attention, and he was just in time to see Ronon taking a mouthful of his pie. "Oh, that's just... you're just..."

Ronon grinned at him, causing a laugh from both Lorne and Zelenka.

"You're so easy to mess with, McKay," he mumbled, mouth full of pie.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rodney shot a look in the direction of the expedition leaders, as Elizabeth let out an uncharacteristic laugh.

He glanced to Zelenka, who seemed equally surprised by the outburst of giggling.

He was stunned to see Elizabeth turn and smirk at him, before looking quickly back to John, shocked that she'd been caught out.

They were talking about him. He was sure of that.

"They're up to something," he insisted.

Ronon rolled his eyes "Who cares?"

"If I'm going to be the butt of their joke, I care!"

Zelenka tried to smother a laugh.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rodney watched as Elizabeth stood, reaching for her tray just seconds before John Sheppard pulled it towards him, stacking it neatly with his.

She smiled. He shrugged, grinned, and gave her a half-wave, as she moved towards the door. Towards the table where Rodney sat.

"Gentlemen," she greeted, as she reached them.

"Elizabeth," Rodney replied, "do you have a few minutes?"

She shook her head, quickly, "Sorry, I need to get back to work. My desk is burried under a sea of paperwork. Maybe later?"

Rodney nodded and watched her walk away.

"She didn't seem so busy five minutes ago," Ronon muttered, shooting a smirk in Rodney's direction.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rodney plonked himself down in the seat opposite John Sheppard, letting out a huff.

"What's with you?" he asked.

Sheppard gave him a confused look, which prompted a rolling of eyes from the scientist.

"What, we're not cool enough for you to eat lunch with?"

John laughed, "Elizabeth's table manners are a bit better than yours and Ronon's," he teased.

"Huh," Rodney huffed again.

"What is your problem, McKay?" John demanded "Do you actually want something, or are you just going to sit there and stare at me?"

"You're pathetic."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," the scientist muttered, "You're one step away from giving her your dog tags and asking her to 'go steady'. Pathetic."

John watched, confused as McKay flounced off in a huff.

He turned to Ronon, who'd watched the exchange with a smirk on his face.

"What was that about?"

The big man broke into a big grin. "He's jealous that you dumped him for a girl."

John gave his friend an incredulous look and decided it was official. Rodney had lost the plot.

Elizabeth jumped slightly, startled by the sudden pressure.

"John?"

"What?"

She cleared her throat. "What are you doing?"

He held in a laugh, registering Elizabeth's discomfort. "Im tired," he shifted against her shoulder, "we've been in here for five hours now. And your shoulder's comfortable... if a little bony."

She frowned. Even without looking, he could imagine her expression.

"Thanks... I think."

John lifted his head and leaned against the wall, letting out a sigh.

"Shouldn't we be working on a way out?" Elizabeth asked, stiffling a yawn.

John shook his head. "McKay's working on it. He'll get us out eventually. Meanwhile, we should treat it as a break from work."

Elizabeth shot him an unimpressed look. "That's fine for you. I have five reports to look over, including two of yours."

He smirked. "Then I guess you only have to worry about three of them."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, throwing him off-guard for a moment.

"What?"

She smiled, "You really would make my life easier if you'd use the spell check, John."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth let out a gasp and shot back, hitting her head on the wall. It was dark and she had no idea of her surroundings.

"'Lizabeth," a voice came from the dark, right by her ear. "you okay?" a hand rested on the back of her neck.

It was John, she realised, as the day's events came back to her. She was stuck in a vacant office with her commanding military officer.

"I'm fine," she murmured, still catching her breath, her heart beating wildly.

"You dozed off," John explained. "seems my shoulder's more comfortable than yours is."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Favourite dessert."

John contemplated the question for all of about half a second, "Pie."

"So..."

"So what?" he asked, nudging Elizabeth's arm in the darkness.

"So, elaborate," Elizabeth demanded frustratedly. "you can't just say pie."

"Sure I can."

"No," she insisted firmly, "you need to be more specific. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, cherry pie..."

"Pumpkin pie?" he questioned, disgust obvious in his voice, "does anyone really like that stuff?"

"I do."

John smirked. "Of course you do."

"So?"

The question wasn't going away.

He through the possibilities around in his mind.

"Apple."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"First pet."

"A sheep dog."

"You had a sheep dog?" he lauged.

"What's so funny about that?"

John chuckled a bit more. "Nothing. I know you have a dog now, but I always saw you as a cat person. You know, methodical, organised, always sitting there, watching the world go by and assessing the situation..."

"Well," she started pointedly, "I've had several cats in my life, but my first pet was a sheep dog."

"So what was his name?"

"Why is that important?" she asked.

John was intrigued. "You can't just say you had a sheepdog," he insisted, "you need to elaborate."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as her own words came back to haunt her.

John nudged her again, "I know you're giving me the look, now answer the question."

She sighed. "Shep."

"What?"

"You heard me," she muttered, clearly not amused with the situation.

John burst into laughter.

Elizabeth threw a well placed slap on his arm, "It's not funny."

"You're kidding, right?" he laughed. "wait 'til the guys hear about this!"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Most embarrassing moment."

John struggled for a moment. "I don't think I have one."

"Come on, John, you can't have gone through your life without something truly embarrassing happening."

"Well, there was the time I shot myself in the foot with an arrow when I was ten..."

"What, that's it?"

"Elizabeth, I gave you embarrassment and pain, what more do you want?"

She smiled, "I suppose that'll do. For now."

"How about you? What was your most embarrassing moment."

His question was greeted with a long silence.

"'Lizabeth?"

"Well, there was the incident with Phoebus and Thalan a few weeks back."

"What part of it?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath, "You don't seriously have to ask, do you?"

"The kiss," he stated, "that's what embarrassed you."

"It didn't embarrass you?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.

"Well, there's always the possibility that I'm not as embarrassed by you as you are by..."

"Oh!" Elizabeth interupted, "I didn't mean it like that... I just..."

He laughed. "I know. I'm messing with you. You were worried about the rumours.... about what people would say about us."

"And you weren't?"

"I've had people spread worse rumours about me."

She nodded her head in the darkness. He'd been the subject of much gossip around the city, usually related to random women he'd never as much as spoken to. She knew that much for a fact.

"They're still talking about it, aren't they."

"We've been locked in a room together all day. They'll be having a field day with this."

Elizabeth groaned.

"Is it that bad," he asked, "to have people thinking we might be together?"

"We need to set an example, John. We can't have people questioning our judgement, and if they think something's going on, they'll think I'm..."

"... favouring me," he finished. "Well I guess it's a good thing it's just talk."

"Yeah, good thing..."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John woke to the sound of a loud hiss as the door finally opened, a bright light assaulting his eyes.

"Oh. There you are."

John rolled his eyes, "Where else did you think I'd be, McKay?"

The scientist shrugged, "Is Elizabeth okay? Why is she wearing your jacket?"

"She's sleeping," John said softly, looking down at the head resting once again on his shoulder. "you wake her up and you're a dead man."

Rodney gave him a flustered look, "Well what are you going to do, leave her there?"

"No, Rodney, I'm not going to leave her here," he gave the scientist an annoyed look "I just don't want you to wake her up being your usual loud, obnoxious self."

"Maybe I should just lock you back in here."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth yawned softly, as she and John walked towards her quarters.

"Sleepy?"

She nodded. "I can't believe I didn't wake up when Rodney came in."

"Well, he was quiet for once in his life."

"Nice change..." she admitted softly. "well, here we are."

John watched as she turned to face him, standing just outside her door. "I don't want to see you up before seven tomorrow morning," he joked.

"You know, I may actually follow your advice," Elizabeth answered, moving to remove his jacket.

"Hang onto it..." John knew she'd probably make a trip to her small balcony before deciding to sleep, "give it to me in the morning. If you can handle the talk.."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, "Want to give them more for the rumour mill?"

John shrugged, "I'm sure they've been talking about us all day. Might as well mess with their heads a bit."

"In that case..."

John was stunned when Elizabeth leaned up, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for your jacket and for letting me use you as a pillow."

"No problem."

Elizabeth laughed at his obviously startled expression. "I'll see you at the briefing at nine."

John just nodded, watching her turn and walk through her door.

Elizabeth rushed into the infirmary, looking around, scanning for either John or Carson, only to be guided quickly towards the doctor's office by one of the senior nursing staff.

"He'll be with you in a minute," she offered, with a sympathetic smile.

Elizbeth had moved as soon as Carson had woken her, not bothering to get any details. Any time John or a member of his team was in the infirmary, her sleep was light and easily interrupted.

The five minutes before he entered the room seemed like an hour, and she rose from her seat to greet him, nervously.

"Carson, what's happened?"

He shot her an apologetic look "Oh, I'm sorry I worried you. He's fine," he assured her.

"Then..."

"It's just he's been asking for you," Carson continued. "he's a little groggy and out of it. It's probably just the pain medication, but he's been pretty insistent."

She nodded. This was not the first time this had happened. John seemed to have developed this need to have her near when he was in this sort of condition. The medication just heightened that need.

"Can I..." she motioned to the door.

"Oh, of course, follow me."

She did, allowing Carson to lead her towards John's bed, cut off from the main infirmary by a white curtain. She braced herself. Not that he was badly injured. He wasn't. He'd suffered a deep gash on one leg which had become infected during a weeklong mission, and had left him with a very high temperature and a lot of pain.

He looked peaceful, she realised as she and Carson stepped into the curtained area. The lines of his face were smoothed in sleep. If she hadn't known about the injury to his left leg, she'd have thought he was just resting.

"Seems he's dropped off to sleep," Carson told her. "he was quite agitated a moment ago, and he's been asking for you for the last half hour."

She smiled, "It's okay, Carson. I'll just sit with him for a while."

He nodded, "I'll be in my office if you need anything. Do you want tea? Coffee?"

"I'm fine," Elizabeth insisted, taking her place in the seat beside John's bed.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Once she was sure Carson had left them alone, she reached out to brush John's unruly hair back from his forehead.

She suppressed a laugh at how stupid that seemed. That she was so worried about appearances in front of Dr Beckett, who'd seen both she and John at their worst. He'd even been there one night when, after a serious injury, John had been plagued by nightmares of her being killed by Kolya, and had woken screaming her name.

Elizabeth sighed, settling into her seat, and closing her eyes.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A slight bump on her chair woke Elizabeth from her light sleep. She opened her eyes, trying to focus in the half light of the infirmary.

"Oh, Dr Weir, I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to wake you."

It was one of the junior doctors, checking John's condition.

Elizabeth glanced at her watch. She'd been sleeping for three hours. John was still out cold, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.

"How is he?"

The doctor smiled at her, "He's fine. Or he will be with enough rest."

Elizabeth nodded, "He's not in any pain?"

The doctor let out a soft laugh, "With the stuff Doc Beckett has him on, trust me, he's feeling nothing."

"Do you need me to go?"

"No," the doctor insisted, "you can stay there." she smirked at the city's leader, "he'll only ask for you as soon as he wakes up."

Elizabeth felt herself blush a little, feeling glad for the semi darkness.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"'Lizabeth..."

She sat up immediately, pushing the sleepiness away and focusing on John's face.

He was still sleeping, murmuring her name.

Elizabeth moved her seat closer to the bed, reaching out and taking his hand, running her thumb gently over his palm. "I'm here, John."

She had no idea if he could hear her. At times during these long nights, she was sure he did, he'd even hold a conversation with her in his sleep, but he never remembered anything the next day.

She let out a frustrated sigh. This friendship they had was more complicated than she could ever imagine it would be. She'd admitted to herself several months before that she loved him. Whether that was as a very close friend, as someone who felt like family, or whether it was something more, she wouldn't allow herself to consider.

But she loved him.

"'Lizabeth," John muttered again.

She smiled, "Sleep, John," she insisted quietly.

"Don't go..."

"I'm not going anywhere," she promised, lifting his hand and placing a light kiss on his palm, "I'll be right here when you wake up."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elizabeth burrowed her head into the softness of the bed, willing her sleep to continue.

A soft movement in her hair roused her though, and she opened her eyes, assessing her surroundings.

She was in the infirmary. It was daylight. Fingers were moving gently in her hair.

Elizabeth sat up slowly.

"Hey sleeping beauty," John offered her a smile.

She smiled back "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a truck."

Elizabeth laughed, "I can assure you, that didn't happen. The infection knocked you about a bit, though."

John nodded. "How long have you been here?"

Elizabeth could see concern etched on his face. He had no idea what he had said or done under the influence of the pain medication.

Each time this happened, he asked the question. Each time, she answered the same way. "Not long."

John smiled at her, knowing that wasn't quite the truth. "Thanks for hanging around."

"Well, someone has to keep you out of trouble," she explained, "and you know I have to work on that bedside manner.."

"So I behaved?" Another familiar question.

"Like a perfect gentleman," she gave her standard answer.

"Damn, I'll have to do something about that."

Elizabeth grinned at him, "Planning to give the nursing staff some trouble?"

He shook his head, "Actually, I had something else in mind... you know, maybe revisiting a certain kiss with a beautiful brunette.."

Elizabeth shot him a startled look, but John had closed his eyes, taken a deep breath and seemed to be on the way to sleeping again.

She frowned. Either he was still under the influence, or...

"Elizabeth."

She turned quickly to face Carson.

"Are you alright, love?" he asked, noting the perplexed look on her face.

Elizabeth nodded, trying to give him a smile, "Fine. I'm just..."

"You're... just..."

She glanced over at John again, "Is he..."

"He's fine," Carson insisted, "he's sleeping."

"Right."

"Elizabeth? Are you sure everything's okay?"

She paused for a moment, wondering how best to answer the question, and chose instead to take a different approach.

"Is that medication out of his system?"

Carson regarded her curiously, "Well, we gave him enough to knock out an elephant," he chuckled, "but if he's woken up and he's been coherent.. has he woken up?"

She nodded.

"And he was coherent?"

Elizabeth considered the question, "In a manner of speaking."

Carson decided to give up on his line of questioning, wondering if Elizabeth herself was feeling remotely coherent this morning. He lifted the sheet covering John's left leg.

"I'm just going to re-dress his wound. You might not want to look at it.."

"Okay," she turned away, then turned back, seeming unsure of exactly where she wanted to go.

"Or you could help me," Carson offered, noting her confusion.

Elizabeth nodded, "What do you want me to do?"

Carson gave her a suspicious look. There was definitely something he'd missed. "Just stay close to him, in case he wakes up."

"That I can do," she smiled, as John kicked out suddenly with his injured leg.

Carson jumped back quickly. "Might have to get a nurse in here," he mused. "talk to him, see if you can keep him calm. I'll be right back."

Elizabeth turned to face John again, reaching out once Carson had left the room, and brushing his hair from his face.

"Lizzy?"

She smiled. He only called her that when he was completely out of it. It seemed the medication hadn't worn off yet.

"I'm here..."

"Hurts.." he muttered.

She pulled her chair closer to the bed, once again sitting beside him, and taking his hand in her own. "I know it hurts.. Carson's going to clean your leg up and give you something to make you feel better."

"Stay?" he asked, letting out a deep breath.

"You know I will."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"How's he doing?"

Elizabeth turned to face Rodney McKay, not even bothering to remove her hand from John's as he lay sleeping in his infirmary bed.

"Getting there," she told him. "Carson had to dose him up with more painkillers, but his temperature's down. "

Rodney nodded, "I brought you some tea. Thought maybe you could use it."

She smiled gratefully, finally releasing John's hand to take the cup Rodney offered. "That's very thoughtful of you."

"Well, you know," he muttered, "can't be much fun to spend your day off sitting in the infirmary..."

"I'll head back to my room soon," she promised.

Rodney rolled his eyes at her, "Sure you will."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Rodney let out a flustered sigh, "Come on, Elizabeth, you and I both know you've been here all night, and you'll be here until you're absolutely positive he's okay. And that's fine, but you need to be aware that people have noticed."

She glared at him, "Like they notice when I sit with you when you're injured? Or with Teyla, or Major Lorne?"

"That's different, and you know it," Rodney whispered, noting a slight movement from John. "I'm not criticising, Elizabeth... I'm just worried about you."

"There's nothing to worry about," Elizabeth insisted, taking a sip of her tea, "I'm perfectly fine. I'm just helping a friend through an injury. Just like I've done for you before. It's my day off, I'm not neglecting my work..."

"I never said you were," Rodney interupted frustratedly. "Elizabeth..."

"Rodney!"

"Okay.." he looked around the room, eyes scanning John in the bed and Elizabeth sitting beside him. "You know what? I'm just going to go..."

"Okay"

"Will I see you at lunch?" he asked, knowing full well he wouldn't.

She nodded. "Of course."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Hey, 'Lizabeth," John yawned and stretched, almost knocking over the remnants of Elizabeth's tea beside his bed.

She looked up immediately, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm not quite up for taking on Ronon or Teyla, but I could go a verbal sparring round with Rodney."

"Hmm, well you missed him. I had some verbal sparring of my own with him about five minutes ago."

John frowned. "What did he say?"

"Nothing," she insisted, "it wasn't important."

"It was important enough for you to mention it."

She let out a soft laugh at that. "You know, just the usual Rodney stuff."

"Like?"

She paused, unsure how much to tell him, before deciding to keep it light "Like what's for lunch and am I coming."

"Oh... food. Of course. It had to be about food." John rolled his eyes. "So... are you going? To lunch with him?"

"Well, I hadn't really... I can stay here if you want..."

John weighed up the offer, "You know he'll only come looking for you."

"True," she gave a weak smile, and John could have sworn she was disappointed.

"Maybe we can have dinner together... you know, if you don't have anything else to do.. If Beckett lets me out, I mean."

"If he doesn't, I'll sneak you in a turkey sandwich and a piece of cake," she promised.

John grinned at her, "Deal," he reached out his hand to shake hers, only to lift it to his lips for a quick, gentlemanly kiss. "I'll see you later."

"Later," she agreed, turning to leave and apologising profusely as she ran headlong into Carson on the way out.

The doctor looked between the departing Elizabeth and the grinning John Sheppard.

"What was that about?"

John shrugged, "What was what about?"

Carson shook his head. He really wasn't in the mood for the highschool style gossip and inuendo that went on around the city. "Forget it," he insisted, "I really don't want to know"

"Sheppard!!!!!!!!!!!!"

John looked up from his card game slowly at the sound of McKay's shriek. He promptly looked back down, frowning. Where was he?

He'd been doing well in this new game. Learning quickly as he played along with Ronon, Teyla and one of their new Marovian allies. If nothing else, at least this society knew some pretty cool card games.

"So, I'm going to..." he began with a smirk.

"Sheppard! Get here NOW!"

Rodney was sounding desperate.

Teyla grinned. "Perhaps, John, you should go and see what he wants."

"Why me?" he muttered frustratedly.

Ronon shot Teyla an amused look "Maybe because it's your name he's yelling out like a scared little girl."

"Whatever... just don't look at my cards!" John ordered. He surveyed the group suspiciously, "On second thoughts, I'm taking them with me."

Teyla shook her head. Men. The Pegasus version was bad enough. These Earthlings seemed about ten times worse.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John stalked around the corner of the tent, following the sound of Rodney's yells until he found him.

"McKay, what the hell's the racket about?"

"Oh, finally. It's about time!" Rodney was backed into a corner, as far away from Elizabeth Weir as he could get.

John looked from one to the other, "What's the problem?"

"Her," Rodney pointed decisively at their leader, who gave John an innocent smile.

"Yeah, right, what's the real problem."

"Oh, fine, that's right, don't believe me. If you were here ten minutes ago when I started calling you.."

John turned to face the woman who was now standing beside him, "Elizabeth?"

She shrugged, smiled and gave Rodney an amused look.

He looked back at Rodney, "What, is she threatening you with a lemon or something? Grow up."

"Grow up? Oh, that's fine for you. She hasn't been trying to pinch your cheeks for the last ten minutes... she hasn't been calling you a chipmonk..."

John laughed.

"I'm serious." McKay said frustratedly, moving abruptly as Elizabeth took a step towards him, "she's drunk. And she's a pinchy drunk, too."

"Elizabeth?" John turned to look at her only to find her in some bizarre yoga pose on the floor. Huh. Elizabeth, on an alien planet, drunk and doing yoga. This was new. "McKay, what the hell did you give her?"

"Me?" he blustered "Don't look at me, I've been minding my own business. Those women, those so called negotiators she was hanging with all night. If anyone gave her anything, it was them. And it's not normal alcohol. I've seen her after a couple of drinks. She can handle her alcohol. She's never been this crazy before."

John looked back down at Elizabeth, who was now lying on her back on a pile of pillows, staring at McKay. "You have chubby cheeks just like a baby. They're just asking to be squeezed..." she told him.

"You see what I mean?" McKay yelled. "do something about it." He stormed out of the tent, leaving John alone with the now giggling Elizabeth.

He sighed and shook his head. Protection detail he could do. That was part of the job description. Babysitting a drunk diplomat was a different matter altogether.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John reached a hand out to Elizabeth, who was still lying in the pile of pillows.

She shook her head. "No, too happy here to get up. I'm gonna stay right where I am."

He raised an eyebrow. He didn't think he'd ever heard her speak like that. In that lazy, comfortable way.

"What have you been drinking?" he asked, not sure he'd get anything reasonable out of her.

"Don't know," she answered contemplatively. "it tasted like water...." She frowned, "I don't think it was water though...."

John sighed, "Come on Elizabeth, you need to get up."

"Why?" she countered. "Why don't you come down here? It's nice..."

He closed his eyes, shook his head, and lamented the loss of his card game. The card game he'd been winning.

"Come on," she insisted. "I'll move over. There's lots of room."

He looked around, considering his options. Either way, someone had to keep an eye on her tonight, and since Rodney had left the ball in his court, so to speak, there was no way out of it.

"Okay," he flopped unceremoniously down beside her.

"Here," she patted the pillow next to her head, and he got comfortable. As comfortable as he could get with his drunk boss lying next to him.

She was quiet for about five minutes, so that he thought she'd fallen asleep, but the silence was interupted with a completely random comment.

"Did you know the most common name in the world, our world I mean, is Mohammed?"

John smiled, "No, I didn't know that."

"Hmm..." she mused. "Well, did you know that Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street are named after characters from 'It's a Wonderful Life'?"

"Nope," he admitted, "didn't know that one, either." It seemed even under the influence of some alien alcohol, Elizabeth was still full of information.

"Did you know," she started slowly, "that there's an urban legend that a pregnant goldfish is called a twit?"

John laughed out loud at that one. "Well, I guess that makes Rodney a pregnant goldfish," he told her.

She turned to face him, grinning, "I thought you'd like that one."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John gazed at the wall of the tent, watching the flickering candlelight making patterns on the fabric and wishing he could be anywhere else.

The game of "did you know" was getting annoying. The first ten questions had been fine, but Elizabeth had been spouting useless facts for the past hour.

He wondered how long this alien booze was going to take to wear off.

"Did you know... "she started.

He let out a frustrated sigh and closed his eyes, only to open them again, when he felt her breath on his face.

"Did you know," she repeated, "that our eyes are the same size from the time we're born but our nose," she tapped his nose, "and our ears," she pulled at his right ear, "keep growing our whole lives?"

"So there's every chance they could get pointier. Well, that's something to look forward to," he muttered sarcastically.

Elizabeth smiled, "I think they're cute."

"Nice to know someone other than my mother does," he told her.

"Hmmm," she mused. "John, can I ask you something?"

He sighed. "Well you've been asking me a bunch of somethings all night, so I don't see why not."

"Okay..." for the first time she seemed hesitant, and wondered what could possibly have her so nervous. "Kiss me?" she asked.

"I ... what?"

"Kiss me." she stated. No longer a question, more like an order.

"'Lizabeth, you're drunk," he started.

"No," she insisted, "I'm tipsy."

"Sweetheart," he laughed "you're as drunk as a bar-room full of sailors at happy hour."

"Tipsy." she repeated. "I'm more honest when I'm tipsy..." she frowned. " but I guess now is one of those times when it's not a good thing."

He watched as she sat up, clearly embarrassed and upset.

"'Lizabeth," he started apologetically.

"Forget it," she told him abruptly, "I thought you'd wondered too... after Phoebus and Thalen.. I thought maybe you'd want to know if that was really us or them.. I guess I thought wrong."

John frowned, wondering how the hell he'd got himself into this situation, and wishing he'd left Rodney to have his cheeks pinched all night.

"I've thought about it a lot," he admitted. Honesty was the best policy, right?

"You thought it was bad."

"'Lizabeth, come on. As far as under alien influence kisses go, that was pretty high on my list."

"Then why won't you?" her response was soft, filled with emotion, and he realised how upset she was with the whole line of conversation.

"Elizabeth," he turned to face her, brushing a tear off her cheek, "I'd never take advantage of you. And you're drunk."

"Tipsy," she insisted, frustratedly.

"It's the same thing."

"No it's not," she fumed, lying on her back and closing her eyes. "You think I'm an idiot."

"You're one of the smartest people I know," he told her, "I'd never think you're an idiot. But if one day I was to kiss you, really kiss you, I'd want it to be under our own steam. Nothing to do with alien entities, nothing to do with you being drunk..."

"Tipsy!" she repeated angrily. "Forget it. If you really knew me, you'd know I'd never even think of asking you this if I was completely sober."

"Which is why I'd be taking advantage of your current state..."

"You think I'm ugly," she interupted.

He rolled his eyes. This was getting ridiculous. "No," he said slowly and deliberately, "I think you're hot."

"But not hot enough to kiss me."

He could feel his willpower giving way, because A. he hated to see her so upset, and B. he really did want to kiss her. He had for a long time.

But God, she was drunk. She was right. There's no way the in-control Elizabeth Weir he knew would ever ask him to do such a thing.

He took a deep breath and turned to face her. "One kiss."

She nodded. "Just one. I just want to know what it's like without Phoebus in my head."

John smiled, wrapped a curl of her hair around his finger, and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"That had better not be it," she warned.

He laughed, "No, I was thinking more along the lines of something like this..."

John closed the small distance between them, touching his lips gently to hers, not at all surprised when she reached up to play with his left ear. He kept it soft, almost chaste, but the butterflies in his stomach told him he'd been right in thinking the feelings when Thalan and Phoebus had kissed was more about himself and Elizabeth.

He pulled back slowly, noting the sad smile on Elizabeth's face when he ended the kiss.

"You okay?" he asked.

She chewed on her bottom lip, contemplating her answer before nodding and running her thumb over his lips.

"So?"

"So, it was nice."

"Just nice?"

"Very nice," she clarified.

"But still, just nice."

"It could have been nicer. If you weren't so worried about taking advantage of me," she said sarcastically. "It's not like I have a lot to compare it to. You're the only person I've kissed in the last few years, and both times it's been..."

"Nice," he repeated.

"Yeah,"she mused, "I was kind of hoping for hot, I think we should try again."

"You said one kiss," he told her.

"I'm drunk," she finally admitted, leaning towards him, "I lied."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John breathed heavily as he and Elizabeth parted. Despite his best intentions, she'd pounced on him, and he'd melted into her, emotions he hadn't felt for anyone since his ex-wife filling him.

"How did that one measure up?" he asked her.

"Hot," she told him breathlessly. "definitely hot."

"Good to know I broke through the threshold of 'nice'"

"Nice was blown out of the water," Elizabeth admitted. "Maybe we should try again though, you know.. just to make sure..."

"Elizabeth..." he warned.

"You're no fun.."

He laughed at that, "Lizabeth, come to me when you're sober. I'll show you just how much fun I can be."

She let out a groan. "My head hurts.."

"Well you will go drinking copius amounts of alien moonshine," he teased.

"I thought it was water... I think I'm going to sleep..."

"Sounds like a good plan," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and running a hand over her head.

She sighed, "Did you know," she started, "that your eyes stay the same size as when you're born, but your ears and nose keep growing?"

John laughed, gently kissing the top of her head, "You know, I think I did hear that somewhere..."

John cringed as he heard a muffled curse coming from the bushes, just five metres from where he stood.

This was not looking good.

Rodney and Ronon were the same distance in the other direction. In an out of character bonding session, they were giggling. Giggling like schoolgirls as they sat under a tree. Giggling. Interspersed with pointing, staring and whispering. All of it at his expense.

John shot them what he thought was a look of authority, which only served to make them laugh more.

He turned to Teyla, giving her a plaintive look. "She's going to be mad for a while, isn't she?" he whispered.

Teyla merely raised an eyebrow.

Clearly he was understating the seriousness of the situation.

John let out a breath, watching the condensation, which only made him feel worse. It was cold. Elizabeth was going to be very cold. And very unhappy, if the latest muttering from the patch of trees was anything to go by.

"So how mad?" he asked softly.

"I believe," Teyla told him with a smirk, "you will have a lot of work to do to .. get back in her good books, I believe is the term you use."

John groaned. "It wasn't my fault," he said a little louder than he intended.

The giggling from Rodney and Ronon only got louder, McKay virtually rolling on the forest floor, and murmuring "Not his fault?" between bursts of laughter.

Teyla gifted him another raised eyebrow, daring him to continue.

"Well, it wasn't!"

"John," she said sweetly but firmly, "you do not honestly believe that."

He rolled his eyes. "I was trying to make her laugh. She had a rough negotiation."

"True," Teyla conceded "however tickling her as she stood on the banks of a frozen river was not a good idea."

"I wasn't tickling her!" he protested, as a thud was heard from the bushes, "I was..."

"You were poking her in the ribs!" Rodney laughed.

"And flirting," Rononn added, "Dude, that's not a good idea on an icy riverbank."

John closed his eyes, screwing up his face in frustration. "I was not flirting. And it's not like I knew she was going to fall through the ice!"

He looked from Ronon to Rodney, and Rodney to Teyla, all of them suddenly giving him looks that told him in no uncertain terms that they thought he was fooling himself.

"And people think I'm clueless," Rodney muttered.

"McKay, shut the hell up," John said angrily, "it's not funny."

Ronon thumped McKay on the arm, "Ignore him," he told the scientist, "he's just pissed that he's going to..."

Whatever he was going to stay fell to the silence of the forest as Elizabeth Weir stepped out from behind the trees.

All eyes fell on the leader of the city, so dwarfed by an assortment of John and Rodney's spare clothing.

McKay stood up quickly, "About time," he told her, "how long does it take to change your clothes? We're all freezing here."

"Rodney!" Teyla reprimanded.

"Well, she took forever!"

Elizabeth stepped towards Rodney, looking him in the eye. "Ever tried to change out of your clothes while soaking wet and then put on someone else's clothing while still soaking wet?" she asked.

McKay shook his head, not daring to answer when she looked so furious.

"I didn't think so," she snapped, walking off in the direction of the Stargate, leaving no question that she wanted to get that 10 kilometre trip over with as soon as possible.

Ronon shot Sheppard a sympathetic look, before rushing off into the darkness after Weir, making sure she didn't get into any more trouble.

John looked to the heavens, sighing in frustration. "I'm in the doghouse, aren't I?"

Teyla gave him a curious look, while Rodney nodded enthusiatically.

"So... chocolate?" John asked.

"At the very least," Teyla told him with a smile.

"Flowers?"

"I'd be making friends with the botanists if I was you," Rodney advised, before moving off to follow Elizabeth and Ronon.

Teyla offered him a smile, before following Rodney into the darkness.

John sighed, and made to follow his friends. He had ten kilometres of walking during which to plan a suitable apology...