All seemed quiet on Atlantis for the past couple of days. After their last battle with the Wraith, in which they successfully destroyed three hive ships and seriously incapacitated another one, everything and everyone seemed to just…calm down. Maybe they were preparing for another attack; Elizabeth thought then sighed, rubbing her temples. She could go mad if she started thinking about such things now. They were nowhere near ready for another battle. Their last ZPM was seriously depleted and there was no way they could power up the shield with only one. A small smile tugged at the corners of Elizabeth's mouth as she remembered reading over Rodney's emails that morning. She could swear that man never slept. When she turned on her laptop in the morning, she was surprised to see that Rodney had already sent her five emails of great importance. Or so he thought. After the first two emails, each at least ten pages long, Elizabeth shut off her laptop, groaning softly. Yes, she understood that getting another ZPM was something that needed to be done, and fast. However, harassing her about the issue wasn't going to make the whole process go by any faster. They first had to make sure that the city got repaired and was good to go. And then, they'd start looking for another Zero Point Module. She didn't see any point in telling Rodney all this. She was more than certain he was aware of that fact but was just being his usual self. His usual annoying self. A soft knock on her office door brought Elizabeth out of her thoughts. She looked up at the man standing in the doorway and smiled, taking a sip of her now cold coffee.
"John. What can I do for you?"
John flashed a tight smile as he walked into her office, carefully. On any other given day he would have just waltzed in, making himself comfortable but right now he looked like he really, really did not wish to be there, she noticed, a small frown appearing on her face.
"Hey…" he replied, sitting down on the chair opposite of her desk, looking anywhere around the room but at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, her full attention focused on John. She never saw him this uncomfortable before.
"Uhm, nothing really. Just came by to…chat." He finished the sentence awkwardly, giving her an uncomfortable smile.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him, clearly letting him know she didn't believe him. "Then why do you look like you'd rather be fighting Wraith than sitting here right now?"
John scratched the back of his head then sighed, sitting straight up in his seat. "Okay, look. I know you want everyone focused on repairing the city and stuff but Rodney talked to me this morning and apparently he found—"
"John." Elizabeth held up her hand, shaking her head. "We've talked about this before. Until all areas of the city are back online and functioning fully, all gate activity is banned. "
"Yes but my team can handle this Liz and it's not even in search of a ZPM. It's just a weird energy reading on PFX-519. The poor guy's been researching that planet all night to make sure it's safe and worth it. We've been stuck on Atlantis for days now. My team and I need to go off world or we'll seriously start injuring each other. Well, Rodney mostly."
Elizabeth stared at John dumbfounded at first. She never heard or noticed John call her "Liz" before. Gosh, she hasn't been called that for years now. Ever since her father died…She shook her head, not letting herself think of that dreadful day. Sighing heavily, Elizabeth leaned back in her chair. "John, I need you and your team working on this city right now. I can't spend my time worrying about whether you are safe or have fallen in another trap. Because God knows a lot of the Genii people want you dead and they'll do anything to reach their goal. So I'm sorry but you and your team are staying here for the time being. I'm sure that weird energy reading will be there this time next week. We should be functioning fully by then and I'll be able to send a rescue team after you if that's the case."
John rolled his eyes, while listening to Elizabeth's speech. He suddenly froze as he noticed a weird looking object on Elizabeth's desk which wasn't there before. Not that he kept track or anything. Forgetting their current topic of conversation, John leaned closer to her desk and picked up the weird looking statue, staring up at Elizabeth. "This is new." He stated simply.
Elizabeth stopped, surprise evident on her face at the sudden change of topic. 'Y-Yes, it's from a friend."
John nodded, leaning back in his seat, holding the statue in his hands, analysing it. "Oh, I wasn't aware you had any friends on Atlantis."
Elizabeth frowned, looking down at her hands, trying to stop the hurt from showing on her features.
Realizing how his words must have sounded, John quickly corrected himself. "I mean, besides me and Teyla, Ronnon, Carson, Rodney. You know the whole gang…."
Elizabeth's features instantly relaxed as she looked up at John, flashing him a small smile. "Yes, I know. But this isn't from anyone on Atlantis. It's from a friend of Teyla's, uhm, Nathan I believe, is his name." she nodded a little.
"Oh Nathan. You mean the weird little dude with the creepy looking hair?" John smirked, throwing the statue in the air then catching it just before it crashed against the edge of the table.
Elizabeth stood up and snatched the statue from John's hands, glaring at him a little. "Give me that. And he's not that weird. He's just…different…"
"You know I heard he's looking for a wife. Which is why he probably gave you that little thing over there?" John pointed his index finger at the statue, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. "And by accepting that you might have just said yes."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes once again, looking down at the statue. She was surprised when Nathan showed up at her door with the statue in his hands. And her surprise grew even more when he had asked her out. She felt flattered but she kindly turned him down, using her work on Atlantis as an excuse. She didn't think John should know that particular detail, however. She was intrigued to see the ways he would come up with just to tease her about her "new friend."
"…and you would probably have little Weir kids running around Atlantis in a couple of years…" Elizabeth realized that John continued talking while she got caught up in her thoughts once more. Shaking her head, she straightened up in her hair and looked at John. "I can assure you that none of that will happen. Ever." She stared at him, making sure that he had nothing else to say on the matter, and then her expression turned once more serious. "Now that we got that covered how about we go back to the more professional issue that I tried discussing with you before you so kindly interrupted me. I can't let your team go off world just yet. You'll just have to wait until I give you a green light. And tell Rodney to stop trying to convince me otherwise."
John groaned softly, rolling his eyes, annoyed. He sighed heavily then tried his luck once more. "Fine. Then my team can stay here and help repair the city and I'll just go and take a look alone. By what Rodney can tell from the Ancient database, the planet is inhabited by a…nice race of people. They're not technologically developed at all. Well, except for that weird energy thingy…" He sat up abruptly, nodding a little. "So…I'm good to go then?"
Elizabeth sat up as well, glaring at John. "Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying? The major part of this galaxy wants nothing more but your head on a plate. The Genii have people everywhere John. I can't let you walk into a trap. Like you said before, Rodney couldn't find evidence that the people of PFX-519 are technologically advanced but that doesn't mean that they aren't. I can't afford to take that chance John. Not now. "
"I can take care of myself Elizabeth." John replied, his voice tight, trying hard to supress his anger.
"You are not to travel off world until further notice Colonel. That's an order." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to defy her. She had used his rank, wanting to remind him that he was second in command and that what she said was final. Knowing he had received the message, she then sat back down at her desk, opened her laptop and pretended to be working, completely ignoring John. There was nothing more to discuss on the matter. She only hoped, he wouldn't go behind her back and do something stupid.
John stood there, staring at her for a few more seconds, without saying anything then he simply turned around and walked away, his whole body tense, clearly pissed off at the situation or at Elizabeth, he couldn't really tell anymore. She rarely forbade him to travel off world. And she only did so when they were in real danger, which wasn't the case right now. John growled softly, causing the people he passed on the hallway to give him weird looks. But John didn't care. Wanting to rid himself of all this frustration and energy he possessed, he took a right turn, climbing up the stairs to the gym. Ten floors up, John finally reached the gym, panting, a little too heavily for his liking. Not giving himself any time to recover he entered the gym and wasn't surprised to find Ronon and Teyla sparring, like they did almost every day, whenever they could find some free time. The pair completely stopped and watched John's face closely as he entered the gym.
"Ronon, Teyla." He mumbled, nodding his head a little towards them.
"Colonel Sheppard. I did not know we were scheduled for a sparring match today." Teyla replied softly, trying hard to get a read on John, who hand his back turned at them.
"We don't. Just came here to blow off a little steam. Or is that not allowed?" he snapped at her, taking out an air mattress, throwing it angrily down on the ground.
Teyla took a step back, not expecting that kind of response. "No, of course you are allowed, Colonel." She looked up at Ronon who simply shrugged, walking back to the bench. He sat down, picked up a bottle of water and fixed his eyes on John, watching him closely.
Teyla rolled her eyes then sighed, wondering how to talk to John. He was obviously angry at something or someone. "Would you like to talk about it?" she asked, although she already suspected what the response would be.
"Nope, I'm good." John replied as he started doing sit ups and push ups until his body was sore and he couldn't move no more.
John had been moping around Atlantis for a few days now. He tried avoiding work as much as possible, only working on the puddle jumpers and training the rest of that time. He had also successfully avoided Elizabeth at all costs, always leaving the room right before she got there. He knew this wasn't how he usually behaved but since they weren't doing anything important, he thought he could play a few games with his boss. He saw it as payback for his misery. John flashed a flirty smile to a cute nurse as he entered the infirmary. "Hello…" he spoke softly as people passed him by. He looked around the infirmary for a friendly face, smiling widely when he saw Dr. Beckett treating a patient at the back of the room.
"Hey Doc!" John smiled widely, hopping onto the empty bed next to the patient the doctor was treating.
"Ah Colonel Sheppard, I was wondering when you were going to stop by." Doctor Beckett said in response, not looking up from the patient he was patching up. His Scottish accent made it rather difficult for John to understand him at first. His accent seemed to become more pronounced whenever he was concentrating on something.
"What you doing doc?" John asked, swinging his legs back and forth, looking quite comfortable.
"Oh you know…just trying to do my job around here unlike other people…" he mumbled softly under his breath as he dismissed the female engineer with a broken arm. "You're all good to go, love. I wouldn't try lifting anything just yet though." He patted her back gently, smiling then he turned to John, watching him closely.
"Hey I work around here…" John replied defensively, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Do you now?" An amused voice called from behind John. It was Elizabeth's. John's body immediately straightened up, tensing just a little. "Doctor Weir." He cleared his throat awkwardly, glaring a little at Carson, who simply smiled sweetly at him. He nodded once in Elizabeth's direction then he quickly left the two alone, going to attend to his next patient. Sheppard rolled his eyes then reluctantly turned towards his boss, giving her a small smile. "So what brings you by?"
Elizabeth smiled, walking around the infirmary bed to face John. "I've heard you've been a no show this week for any of the duties assigned to you."
"Well, you've heard wrong then. I've been…working." He replied sounding unsure of what he was saying.
"Yes, I heard about that too. I've been receiving several complaints from the engineering department and from Rodney these past few days."
"Oh really?" he asked, looking down at his hands, only now realizing the trouble be must be in because of his behaviour.
"Yes, so imagine my surprise when Rodney, who would never complain about you because he idolizes you in his own weird way, started sending me daily complaints to have you locked up due to being a nuisance."
John rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. "He's just exaggerating. I was merely trying to help. They were moving extremely slow with those puddle jumpers. An extra hand couldn't have done much wrong."
Elizabeth sighed, not bothering to comment on John's last comment. She looked down at the ground for a few moments, then taking in a deep breath, she spoke softly. "So, I'm coming with you."
John blinked, having no idea what Elizabeth was talking about. "Okay…where are we going?"
"We're going off world to PFX-519." She replied reluctantly.
She could see John's entire face lit up as he jumped down from the bed. "Seriously? We're going out? What made you change your mind?"
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms against her chest, scoffing a little. "Do you seriously need an answer to that John?"
"Oh…yeah, no, not really…I think I already know…" he gave her an awkward small smile, before looking away, embarrassed.
"I've never seen you act like this before and I don't want it happening again. Do we understand each other, John?"
"Yes, ma'am, we do." He replied politely, not taking any chances to anger her again.
"Good. Now go gear up. We're leaving in an hour."
"Okay, first, I'll let Teyla and Ronon know that we're going off world then we'll meet you back at the gate in an hour." John replied, already making his way out of the infirmary.
"That won't be necessary, John." Elizabeth called out after him.
"And why's that?" John asked, turning around abruptly, confusion written all over his face.
"If you and I are going off world, Teyla needs to stay here to be in charge and Ronon has already gone down to the mainland to help Teyla's people with some repairs."
John groaned. "Oh that's just great."
Elizabeth smiled. "It's just you and me John. And well, Rodney. He insisted that he come as well."
"Super." He flashed a small fake smile then he turned around as walked out of the infirmary before Elizabeth had more chances to tell him something else he probably wouldn't have liked.
Elizabeth sighed; shaking her head as Dr. Beckett approached her slowly, stopping just behind her. "Hard man to please, that lad."
Elizabeth looked up startled, and then she chuckled softly, nodding a little before replying. "You have no idea Carson."
Elizabeth checked her watch as she sat up from her desk. Ten more minutes until they were due to leave. She sighed, swallowing hard, suddenly feeling nervous. She rarely got to travel off world and when she did get the chance she always felt bad for leaving Atlantis behind. She looked down at herself and smiled a little. She was all geared up and good to go. Making her way out of her office, she looked down at the gate, smiling as she saw McKay and John arguing, probably about McKay's earlier complaints. Shaking her head, she made her way to Chuck, their gate tech. "Dial up the gate. We're ready to go. And have a rescue team standing by and medical aid as well. We don't know what we might encounter on that planet. If we are not back in five hours send the rescue team after us."
Chuck looked up, smiling politely at Dr. Weir. "Yes ma'am." He quickly turned around to the Ancient symbols in front of him, dialing the correct sequence for the planet PFX-519.
Elizabeth made her way down the stairs, slowly towards the stargate, stopping right between McKay and John. They were still bickering, she noticed, like an old married couple, rolling her eyes she spoke loudly, making her presence known since the two men didn't seem to notice her. "Gentlemen, are we ready to go?" she asked, looking to her right at McKay then glancing over at John, giving him a warning look.
John shrugged then growled softly towards McKay, causing the poor scientist to move farther away from John to Elizabeth's right. John chuckled softly, shaking his head then he turned towards Elizabeth, his eyes roaming up and down her body, unconsciously licking his lips. "I always liked a woman in a uniform."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at that comment, and then pushed past the two men, moving towards the stargate in order to hide her smile and the faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "Focus, John." Looking back at Chuck in the control room, she gave him a final nod then continued moving in closer towards the stargate. "Now let's move out, looks like we're all ready to go." She said then a second later went through the stargate, not waiting to see if McKay and John were behind her.
McKay and John glanced at each other, neither of them moving. John rolled his eyes, holding one hand out towards the gate. "Ladies first." He said, smirking slightly as he saw the anger return to his friend's face. McKay sighed, then mumbled a small "Bite me," before rushing quickly through the gate, not giving John any chance to react to what he said.
John's eyes widened in surprise not really having expected to hear that from McKay. He chuckled softly, shaking his head then he stepped through the gate which closed up behind him just a few seconds later.
Elizabeth turned towards the gate, seeing John finally come through. "What took you so long Colonel? I was afraid you changed your mind."
John smiled, his gaze flicking quickly to McKay before turning his attention back to Elizabeth. "Oh, no chance of that happening, doctor Weir. I was just…chatting with McKay, isn't that right Rodney?"
Rodney McKay rolled his eyes at his so called friend then turned away and looked around, inspecting the area around them. "Well…there's certainly lots of vegetation around us…" John remarked before Rodney could say anything.
"How insightful of you." Rodney replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Thank you." John said simply, smiling sweetly at McKay, knowing it would only infuriate him more.
Elizabeth's attention was caught by the sound of rustling leaves. She held up her hand, causing the two men to stop bickering, and then took a few careful steps in the direction she thought she heard the noise come from.
"What is it?" John asked, looking around, all the amusement and foolishness leaving his features, his body language showing he was ready for attack.
"I thought I heard something…" she mumbled then was brought to an abrupt stop when a small girl ran out of the bushes towards them, giggling loudly. She couldn't have been more than three years old. Not taking any chances, John immediately brought out his gun, aiming it at the small, innocent and defenseless girl.
McKay groaned. "Oh that's just great. Kids, just what I needed." He noticed John aiming the gun at the little girl and rolled his eyes. "She's a child Colonel. What are you going to do? Shoot her?"
"Hey, she could be a trap. I saw it happen before." John replied defensively. "And I'm not falling for that a second time." He mumbled softly under his breath, not meaning for anyone else to hear him, but Elizabeth being the closest to him, did. She turned around and smiled at him reassuringly, stepping in front of his gun, pushing it gently to the side, making sure it wasn't pointing at anyone. "I'm sure that's not the case here, John." She replied softly.
John stared at Elizabeth for a few more seconds then he nodded, letting out a deep breath, he hadn't realized he was holding, and then he took a step back, putting some more space between him and Elizabeth. "Yeah…" he sighed, not knowing what else to say.
Elizabeth smiled, and then she turned back towards the little girl who was now occupied with picking flowers. Taking a deep breath, she made her way towards the little girl, crouching beside her.
"Hello there."
The little girl simply looked up; staring at Elizabeth with her big blue eyes, her blond hair shining in the sunlight then she resumed her earlier action.
"What's your name? I'm Elizabeth." She said, pointing at her chest. When the girl didn't reply, Elizabeth sighed, standing up, looking back at the two men. "She doesn't appear to understand me and if she does she simply chooses not to answer me, but I doubt that's the case here."
"Well she is only three years old. Maybe she doesn't know how to speak or something." John offered.
"Oh please, by this age she should at least know how to say her own name unless she's mentally challenged or has some disease or something." Rodney sighed, looking around, his brain going over dozens of airborne diseases they could catch just by standing there.
Elizabeth sighed. "Gentlemen, can we please not be so pessimistic all the time? She might just not—"she stopped when she felt someone tugging at her vest. She turned around and smiled widely, crouching down before the little girl once more. "Hey…" she said again.
The little girl held out her little hands full of flowers towards Elizabeth, waiting for Elizabeth to take them. When Elizabeth didn't make a move to do so, John bend down and whispered against Elizabeth's ear. "I think she wants you to take them Liz."
"Of course." Elizabeth replied, startled, taking the flowers from the girl's hands. "Thank you." She smiled widely, smelling the flowers.
The girl tilted her head to the side then she slowly brought her small index finger to her cheek, poking it then mumbling in a small, shy voice. "Helen."
"Helen. That's your name isn't it?" Elizabeth smiled, looking up at John and McKay, an excited glint in her eyes then she turned back to Helen. "Nice to meet you Helen. Can you show us the way to the village?"
Without another word, Helen turned around and took off, running into the woods, following a very well concealed pathway. Not wanting to lose track of her, Elizabeth took off running after her, John and McKay quickly catching up to her as they followed Helen to her village.
After at least ten minutes of running, Elizabeth and John came to a stop as they reached the outskirts of town with McKay remaining behind a little, obviously not in the best of shapes. Panting heavily he leaned against a tree just behind John and Elizabeth, catching his breath before saying. "God, please tell me this is the village. I think my heart will give out soon."
John looked back and rolled his eyes at Rodney. "You wouldn't be in such a bad shape if you'd train with me, Ronon and Teyla a couple of times a week, you know."
"Yeah, yeah…" Rodney waved his hand around dismissively.
"Okay, let's move in guys and remember, only take out your weapons if provoked. Understood?"
John sighed. "With all due respect Elizabeth, this isn't my first mission."
"That's true but you're known for acting before you think and that somehow always gets us into trouble."
John scoffed. "Oh yeah and thinking about the situation and sharing your feelings with the enemy is a much better tactic." He replied sarcastically then mumbled a small "Sorry," after receiving a glare from Elizabeth.
"Alright, let's get to work." Rodney said as he took out his scanner, trying to locate where the electromagnetic energy was coming from. "Okay so from what I can tell, the energy readings I'm getting are from inside the village. More like, right in the middle to be more exact." He informed Elizabeth and John, already having started to make his way into the village, completely focused on the scanner, his scientist side coming out to play.
Elizabeth and John glanced at each other amused, and then they followed Rodney into the village, both of them visually scanning the area for any danger. When they couldn't sense any immediate danger, they both relaxed and looked around, taking in the people, paying attention to their customs and beliefs, wanting to have a somewhat good understanding of their culture before meeting with their leader, if they had one.
The little blond girl, Helen, came running towards Elizabeth, giggling as usual, then she came to a stop right before her and took her hand, attempting to drag her off into the direction she came from, but badly failing with her small figure. Elizabeth looked at John and shrugged, deciding to go where ever Helen was leading her.
John watched Elizabeth and the little girl for a few moments, walking hand in hand, causing a small smile to appear on his lips. Elizabeth had always been good with children, from what John could tell. After they had brought the Athosians, Teyla's people, on Atlantis, they were relieved that they had escaped another Wraith attack; however, they were still distrustful of the humans, not knowing what would happen to them. And the children were even worse, they were crying and if someone from Atlantis tried to calm them down they'd just continue crying and go into hiding. That was until they met Elizabeth. She, with Teyla's help, convinced the Athosian parents to bring all the children in their reading lab where she planned on sitting down with them and telling them great stories of Earth and the adventures they encountered since arriving on Atlantis. And it had worked like a charm. Two hours later when John had opened the door to the reading lab, the children were all sitting quietly, mesmerized at Elizabeth's stories. It was really the first step to gain the Athosian's trust and Elizabeth did one hell of a job.
John snapped out of his thoughts, seeing a hand waving in front of his face. McKay's hand. He was still smiling, he realized. Clearing his throat John focused on McKay's face.
"What?" he asked.
"What? What do you mean what? Thanks for letting me walk off, talking to myself while you were standing here, smiling like an idiot! What were you even smiling at?" He suddenly stopped, only now realizing Elizabeth wasn't with them, he frowned, looking around. "Where's Elizabeth?"
John sighed, starting to walk into the direction Elizabeth and Helen had gone off to. "Our little friend Helen dragged Elizabeth in this direction, so I guess we're going there." He replied, squinting his eyes, trying hard to see Elizabeth and Helen far up ahead of them.
McKay looked down at his scanner, walking quickly after John. "But we're going in the wrong direction. The energy reading is coming from that way." The scientist complained, pointing at the opposite direction in which they were going.
John rolled his eyes at Rodney's impatience. "We'll get there McKay. But I have a feeling that first we have to see their leader. That's where we're probably going right now."
"Right, right. Good thinking. Maybe we can ask whoever is in charge about that energy thing. Although by the looks of it, I doubt they even know what it is or what is used for."
"Either way, we'll find soon out enough." John replied getting a nod from Rodney in response, before he was once more focused on his gadget.
After a few minutes of brisk walking, they finally caught up to Elizabeth and Helen, who were waiting for them in front of a hut. Helen ran inside and a second later a young attractive man came out, close to Elizabeth's age, maybe a little older, smiling warmly at them. "Hello. Welcome to our village. My name is Zayden, I am their leader." He spoke softly as he fixed his gaze on Elizabeth.
Elizabeth smiled widely, nodding a little. "It's a pleasure meeting you Zayden. My name is Elizabeth and these are my men, Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay. We come in peace from Atlantis."
Zayden's eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and shock. "The lost city of the Ancients?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's not important right now." Rodney jumped in, looking clearly frustrated that they weren't investigating what they came here for. "We came here because there's a very peculiar energy emanating from the middle of your village. We would like to go and take a look."
A look of confusion passed across Zayden's features as he listened to Rodney's words. "I can only think of one object that you could be talking about, which has been here before this village came into existence. It is what we call the mating device. I was not aware it was giving off energy. Whatever that is."
"Of course you weren't." Rodney rolled his eyes.
"I'm sorry, did you say mating device?" John asked, incredulous.
Zayden nodded, smiling. "Yes, that's right. It helps our people choose their mate in order to live a happy life."
"And how exactly does it do that?" Elizabeth asked, unable to keep the scepticism out of her voice.
Zayden chuckled softly. "By choosing them of course. There comes a time when two people a male and a female feel the pull towards this statue. That means that the statue chose those two people who are fit to be together until death."
"What if the two people hate each other?" John asked, amused.
"That is impossible. The statue only chooses people who are meant to be together. It would not choose enemies."
"But that is ridiculous! You can't let a machine play with people's lives like that!" Rodney exclaimed.
Zayden turned to the scientist, once more looking confused. "I do not understand. Do you not have a statue like that on Atlantis? How do your people choose their mate then?"
"Oh, I don't know. We have something called free will?" Elizabeth put her hand on Rodney's shoulder in order to calm him down. Rodney scoffed and looked away.
"Could you maybe show up where this…statue is Zayden? We only wish to take a look at it." Elizabeth spoke softly, hoping Rodney's outburst didn't cause them any trouble. She was rather intrigued to see this statue herself.
"Of course. It would be my pleasure. However, I can't guarantee that it will work." Zayden replied, starting to walk towards the centre of the village where the statue was.
"Work? No…what gave you the impression that we want it to work?" Elizabeth asked, confused.
"Oh, I'm sorry; I assumed you and Colonel Sheppard are…involved."
"Oh God no." Elizabeth replied nervously, casting a quick glance in John's direction.
"N-No she's…we're not...she's my boss…" John said, stuttering a little, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Ah, I see. My apologies. I was certain you two—"Before he could continue Elizabeth interrupted him, dying for a change of topic.
"So that little girl, Helen. Is she your daughter?"
Zayden nodded, smiling widely at the name of his daughter. "Yes. She doesn't really look like me does she? My wide was blond. I guess she took after her. I would love to introduce you to my wife but she passed away when she gave birth to Helen." His voice trailed off, his expression suddenly sad.
"I'm sorry; I didn't know it was an uncomfortable topic of discussion. Helen is very beautiful and she is lucky to have you as her father."
Zayden nodded, smiling. "That's very nice of your to say Elizabeth."
While Zayden and Elizabeth were talking, John remained behind with Rodney, looking around uncomfortable. "Man, I've never felt so…weird in my life." He said finally.
Rodney looked up from his gadget, looking at his friend confused. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you hear what Zayden said about Elizabeth and me?" John sighed, wondering why he even bothered talking to Rodney sometimes.
"Oh, that. Yes I did. But I mean, let's face it, it was bound to happen sooner or later." The scientist replied matter-of-factly.
"What? What do you mean by that? Nothing's happening! Or will ever happen…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever you say." Rodney replied more focused on the scanner than on what John was talking to him about.
People were all around them now, a sign that they were nearing the center of the village. Kids were running around, staring at them enthralled at seeing new faces and all the equipment they had with them. A few kids found it funny to run in circles around Rodney, causing the scientist to groan in frustration. "Oh come on! Shoo! Go play and do kiddie things!" he glared down at them, rolling his eyes when it didn't get any reaction out of the kids.
John looked at Rodney amused. "You got a real gift with kids, you know that? You'll make a wonderful father someday."
Rodney looked up and glared at John. "Oh thank you. Even I know that was—"he trailed off, his face lighting up at the same time that his scanner started making a continuous beeping noise. "We're here." He spoke, pushing the kids distractedly out of his way as he made his way to the statue, turning off his scanner and putting it away in his vest. Elizabeth cast an amused glance at John as they followed Rodney to the statue.
"Wow…" Elizabeth whispered softly.
"You can say that again." John replied, looking at the beauty surrounding the statue. Dozens of flowers of all colors were all around the statue, giving it a very romantic look. "This looks like a place where I would bring my date." John mumbled softly, taking a few steps closer towards it. There were a couple of benches around it as well, where couples could be seen talking and laughing together, probably on a date.
"I didn't know you were the romantic type Colonel." Elizabeth replied, smiling softly, following close behind John.
John smirked, walking over to the statue, touching it lightly with his fingers. "Oh well, you know. I only bring out my romantic side on special occasions."
Elizabeth's chuckled softly, walking to the right of the statue, trailing her fingers along the width of it as she made her way slowly to the other side.
Finally looking up from his gadgets, Rodney noticed John and Elizabeth talking and smiling, friendlier towards each other than what he was used to.
"Uhm guys?" he called out, taking a few steps towards them. "I wouldn't stand so close to that thing. You never know what will happen…"
John and Elizabeth stopped right behind the statue, making it impossible for Rodney to see them since the statue was rather thick.
"Hello." John spoke softly, smiling warmly at Elizabeth, holding up his hand to her face, trailing his fingers lightly over her right cheek.
"Hey…" she replied, suddenly feeling the urge to lean in. She licked her lips then, not giving it another thought, she leaned in and kissed him lightly, brushing her lips against his.
The statue started to slowly vibrate, a bright light emanating from within it. Rodney had to shield his eyes and turn away as the light got too bright. Then a second later the vibrating stopped and the bright light disappeared. Cursing softly under his breath, Rodney ran to the statue, walking around it, to see John and Elizabeth unconscious on the ground. "Damnit!" he checked for their pulses which were strong and stable then he quickly activated his headset. "Atlantis, this is Doctor McKay, please respond!"
A second later, Teyla's calm voice responded. "Doctor McKay, this is Teyla. How can we help you?"
"Sheppard and Weir are unconscious. Send a medical team on PFX-519 immediately! And get Doctor Zelenka down here as well. We're going to stay behind and investigate this thing some more. McKay out."