Title: Inadmissible Admission
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Category/Rating: Romance, Angst, PG-13
Summary: Just because they shouldn't doesn't mean they won't. (John/Elizabeth)

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The lines on her face are both laugh lines and signs of sorrow, and the fact that any of them fall into the latter category makes him want to kiss them away, to hold her and protect her so that nothing, nothing will ever make her hurt again.

Unable to promise the latter of his wishes, he trails his lips lightly over her forehead; kisses the corners of her eyes so delicately he can feel her shiver in the possessive circle of his arms, tracing the dimple above the left side of her jaw with the very tip of his tongue, aching to make love to her, and she gasps softly when he tries the same thing on the right-hand side. She's had trouble staying still for a while now, and turning her head ever so slightly she captures his tongue with her lips, just as he'd known she would. Her eyelashes flutter and her hands come up underneath him, pulling his head down to crush his mouth against hers. Her lips are warm, soft and endlessly inviting; he can't help but hold her tighter, pull her nearer to press her sweet, slim form so close to him that it feels like they might be one person.

Perhaps they are on some level, united in spirit to protect their city.

He cares more about protecting her now, and that worries him. It's not in his orders, protecting the life of the expedition leader over the protection of Earth, and he's not-- at least he doesn't think so-- but if it came to it he's not sure what he could do.

She feels him tense up in the kiss, and one delicate hand slides along his jaw to push him back a little as she breaks the lock of their lips.

"What's wrong?" He doesn't answer, but she sees it there, immediately in his eyes, and her own gaze darkens as she briefly closes her eyes against the realisation. He knows now why the powers that be forbade this to them, knows the reason for the rule, and she thinks he might finally have figured out why she fought him so long over it.

She whispers his name and tilts her head back to look him directly in the eye. He looks guilty, afraid; she wants to protect him from the consequences but she knows that she can't.

"You knew this might happen," she murmurs, blowing out a sigh on the end of her sentence. "This is why." Her look is deadly serious, but underlying it he can see the mirror of the emotion he's not supposed to feel and she's not allowed to return.

"It's too late," he replies in an equally low voice, fixing her with an intent stare. She licks her lower lip in that nervous habit she has and he closes his eyes again, just for a second, suppressing the groan of desire in the back of his throat at the sight. He doesn't just want her-- he loves her-- and she knows it. She feels it too-- she knows that they can't. They shouldn't. It's in the damn rulebook, and when she thinks about that, it makes her want to cry. She doesn't cry.

Green meets green, and she can see the exact moment he snaps.

John Sheppard lowers his mouth to ravage his commander's neck and shoulders with feverish kisses, eyes bright, body wanting and unrepentant of that fact; she gasps softly. Arching in his embrace, she can't suppress a shudder of pleasure as he nibbles lightly on the sensitive hollows of her throat, and once more, she tightens her arms around his neck.

To hell with the rules.

fin