Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis or the awesome characters but I enjoy keeping the series alive.

I appreciate your reviews and look forward to your feedback.

A/N: This is just a light-hearted piece of fun and I thank bailey1ak for you help and encouragement! I may follow it up with a longer sequel.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Jennifer sat in her office thinking about her last mission as she finished writing her field report. As usual, her last trip through the gate didn't go exactly as planned, just like the one before that and the one before that. She was starting to develop a serious complex! Recently she'd had back-to-back missions that'd ended with infections, cuts and a tumble down a hillside. She'd just finished up all her physical therapy but if she raised her arm just right she could still feel the lingering effects of her badly injured shoulder. Even so, she'd rather be here than any other place in the world. Or maybe that should be worlds.

Picking up the latest memo from Dr. Weir she began to read it for a third time. The Stargate would be off-line as the science department conducted their yearly maintenance and diagnostic routines. She couldn't believe it'd already been a year since the last time the gate was tinkered with. All missions would be put on hold for at least two weeks so this would be the perfect time to schedule as many vacations as possible leaving a skeleton crew to run the city.

Jennifer had no desire to return to Earth. She had no immediate relatives still living except for an uncle and his family which she hadn't seen since her father's funeral, she didn't even know where to find them if she wanted a reunion. She could watch movies right here on base and malls tended to be crowded to the point of setting off panic attacks. Short of visiting a few of her favorite restaurants she couldn't think of any reason to vacation back on Earth.

She'd volunteered to work the infirmary so more of the staff could take the time off but Weir absolutely forbid her to step foot over the threshold unless there was a dire emergency and they needed extra hands. Something about her looking perpetually exhausted and being chained to her job… thus, she was ordered to take the vacation time or be thrown in the brig.

Staying in a deserted Atlantis actually sounded nice. She'd be able to catch up on sleep and maybe even read a book or two. If the weather cooperated maybe she could sunbathe and get a bit of color back in her arms and legs. All in all, she was starting to warm to the idea of relaxing in the Pegasus.

Sheppard finished signing off on the last of the submitted leave requests getting ready to present them to Elizabeth. Seems like most of the military opted to take vacation on Earth leaving the bare minimum on base to fill the security and support staff needs. He'd volunteered to stay behind and work giving his second in command, Major Lorne, the opportunity to spend time with his family in California. As with Dr. Keller, Weir allowed his presence in the City as long as he took the time off unless absolutely necessary. He readily agreed not willing to leave Atlantis without a qualified military leader in command. He was happy to relax in the background once he'd assigned duties to the remaining military contingent and consider himself on vacation. How hard could it be to chill out and enjoy down time for a couple of weeks.

Jennifer spent the first day of vacation saying good-bye to her friends. It seemed that everyone she knew had opted to take the offered leave time except the friendly face of Colonel Sheppard. There were still quite a few personnel who stayed behind to keep things running but Jennifer knew very few of them. Ronon joined Teyla on the mainland with her people, Rodney was spending his time with Jeannie and her family in Vancouver, most of the medical staff would be scattered across the states from New York to San Diego. Dr. Weir had obtained permission to send everyone through the gate in shifts directly to the SGC who would run each one through a routine physical before turning them loose to catch transportation to different parts of the country. There were even a few who would require transports to foreign destinations.

To start things off on the right foot, Elizabeth had arranged to have a current movie sent up on the Daedalus' last trip, which she scheduled to air in the recreation room later that night. Seeing as most of the personnel left on base were men she had decided to go with the Transformers movie.

Jennifer arrived late to Movie night and stood in the doorway scanning the room for a place to sit. Since it was a much smaller audience they'd moved the furniture closer to the large screen TV instead of setting up chairs. She'd decided to find a place on the floor when she spotted a hand in the air waving to her. Colonel Sheppard had plenty of room on the sofa he was occupying and motioned her over.

"Hey Doc, have a seat," he invited. "What'd you bring us to eat?" he added grinning.

"And here I thought you were the last gentleman on Atlantis," she teased pulling out her gummy worms and Hershey kisses.

"Remember, I'm a soldier and strategist," he laughed helping himself to the offered gummy worms.

The movie was a nice escape from reality filled with someone else's fight to save planet Earth! Everyone seemed to enjoy it commenting on it being good and left room for a sequel. The Colonel invited Jennifer to join him for a late night snack in the mess hall, which she gladly accepted. Somewhere along the course of the day she'd missed dinner and hated to go to bed with all this sugar on her stomach.

"So Doc, any plans for your first week off?" Sheppard asked hoping for some ideas he could steal for himself.

"Maybe lounge around in my sweats and read one of the many books on my bookshelf," she answered. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I was hoping to steal some ideas from you," he admitted sheepishly.

"Well, I know you have sweatpants so would you like to borrow a book? There's nothing quite so relaxing as a good romance novel," she suggested grinning.

"I'll have you know that I actually brought a book with me," he replied pretending to be offended.

"Does it have a super hero on the cover?" she asked knowing his enjoyment of comic books.

"Hey … don't be so quick to judge… it's a classic, War and Peace all 1296 pages," he declared proudly.

"Well, I'm impressed, sorry for the sarcasm Colonel," she said apologetically holding back a grin. "So, how many pages have you read?"

"It's not about the quantity, Doc, but more about the desire to enhance one's cultural experiences."

"So … you've been here close to three years now, I'm guessing 600 or 700 pages," she speculated.

"Okay … 72 pages but in my defense it's been a pretty busy three years what with Wraith attacks, dealing with Michael and having to rescue your butt a few times too many."

"At this rate you'll retire from the Air Force long before you finish that book and … just for the record, according to Major Lorne, I'm not the only one who needs rescuing on a regular basis," she said rolling her eyes and laughing. "I have a new jigsaw puzzle that just came on the Daedalus if you're interested."

"Okay, now you're scaring me," Sheppard teased laughing.

"What, you don't like working puzzles?" she asked surprised.

"Maybe if I was sixty," he smirked. "I think the last jigsaw I worked was with my grandparents some 20 years ago. They use to have a card table in the corner of their living room that always had a puzzle going."

"Me too," she giggled. "That's were I got my love of puzzles, watching my grandparents work them after dinner every night."

"I'll give the puzzle some serious thought and let you know," he chuckled.

They spent another thirty to forty minutes chatting before Sheppard walked Jennifer to her quarters and thanked her for sharing her candy.

Jennifer thought about what a lovely evening it'd been as she prepared for bed. She especially enjoyed her time in the mess hall visiting with Colonel Sheppard. The man had a way of putting her at ease and filling her with butterflies all at the same time. She envied the woman who caught his attention knowing it wouldn't be her.

Jen spent the morning hours relishing the fact she wasn't late for anything. Not ready to leave the peace and solitude of her room she filled her hot pot and started it heating for a cup of tea while she grabbed a couple of power bars. After spending an hour cleaning her room and dusting everything for the first time all year, she selected a book from her bookshelf and settled on her bed with a second cup of tea. I think I could get use to this, she thought to herself.

Waking from a nap sometime later she put her shoes on, grabbed her new puzzle off the bookshelf and wandered down to the mess hall. She'd decided yesterday not to wear her watch, keep track of time or worry about her appearance for the next two weeks … just live in the moment.

Entering the dining hall she noticed the cook and his helper were still getting dinner ready so she went to the far side of the room by the lounge area and confiscated a table to use for her puzzle. Since there were so few people left on base she wanted to keep the puzzle out where anyone could work on it. Opening the box she starting sorting the pieces as she waited for dinner to be put out.

"Hey Doc, I see you were serious about the puzzle," John chuckled sitting down across the table from her.

"Hey yourself Colonel … of course I was serious, why don't you help me with the edge pieces while we wait for dinner to be served," she asked shoving some of the pieces across the table. "I thought I'd leave it here in the mess hall and see if anyone is interested in helping out."

"So, how was your nap?" he teased.

"Huh … how did you know I took a nap?" she asked curiously.

"You have this … odd, blotchy … fan looking … thing going on with your cheek," he said pointing to the right side of her face.

"So much for living in the moment," she growled at her self. "I was reading and the next thing I know its dinner time. I must have fallen asleep for a while on my book," she explained rubbing her cheek. "I probably look like a clown," she added sarcastically.

"Don't get me started on clowns," he hissed frowning.

"Don't you like clowns?" Jen asked curiously.

"They've been know to haunt my dreams at times and nobody should be that happy," he explained smirking.

"I'm guessing you didn't go to the circus much as a kid," she softly laughed, absent-mindedly rubbing her face.

"Stop fretting, it's fading already," he assured her. John knew she was flustered but he secretly enjoyed her bouts of blushing and embarrassment. Not many of the women in Atlantis were as genuine and sincere as Jennifer was … what you see is what you get, and he liked that in a woman. He found her innocence with all things predatory refreshing. He'd had his fill over the last three years of bold, conniving huntresses hoping to bag him as a trophy. Yet he'd seen her pick up a scalpel with unwavering skill and authority without any uncertainty, commanding all in her presence to listen and obey her instruction. Princess and warrior all rolled into one. If she were a bit older he might consider pursuing her himself.

"I feel like a toddler who fell asleep on her toys," she grumbled self-consciously.

"Come on," John said standing up and moving around to her side of the table. "Let's go see what they made us for dinner," he said taking her hand and helping her up.

They filled their trays and moved out to the balcony hoping to watch the sun set while they ate. It'd been a good start to their forced vacation and very enjoyable so far. The two talked about past missions and favorite childhood memories until long into the night. After watching security make their rounds for the fourth time they decided to call it a night with Sheppard walking Jennifer back to her room.

"Say Doc, would you like to go for a run in the morning?"

"What exactly do you mean by morning, Colonel?" she asked grinning.

"I usually run early with Ronon around 0600 but seeing as we're on vacation I'll pick you up at 0800," he suggested.

"Sounds great, I'll be ready," she smiled saying good night.

Jennifer crawled into bed and began reflecting on the great day she'd had knowing most of it was due to the amount of time she'd spent with John Sheppard. Turning off the light she continued to think about how much she enjoyed his company and wondered why she couldn't find someone with even a fraction of the qualities he possessed.