Title: "The Other Side of Dawn" - Stargate: Atlantis
Author: SGAngeL
Summary: Trapped on a world, several members from Atlantis find themselves struggling to survive.
Pairings: John/Elizabeth (maybe Ronon/Teyla later on)
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Ok, this one is loosely based off of a request Jean gave me. Many thanks to BIL, Jedi and Keegan for betaing this for me!

Chapter One: "Lost"

The moonlight shone down through the treetops onto the puddle jumper as she walked alongside it, running her fingers along the cool, metallic tracings of the exterior. Her fingers brushed across a tear in the alien metal, her white hand a stark contrast to the dark ship. With a sigh, Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against the cold, hard surface of the lifeless ship. She splayed her palm out flat across the ripped metal, almost willing her own life to pass through her fingertips to revive the dormant jumper.

A footstep in the gravel behind her froze her movements. Her hand dropped to grip the 9mm attached to her thigh, her breath catching in her throat. She was surprised to find how easily she gripped the weapon, how familiar it felt in the palm of her hand, her index finger poised over the trigger. It wasn't just the familiarity of touch; she knew how to use it. She'd learned the hard way.

With the sound of a second step, Elizabeth swung around, raising the gun in front of her and bringing her other hand up to steady her aim. She let out a relieved breath when she saw John Sheppard standing a few feet away from her. Although, she was irritated that it had taken her this long to notice his presence and she didn't dare think what would have happened if it had been someone else. She lowered the gun to her side, hating the way her hand shook as she did so.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" John hissed. With a quick look around, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm, pulling her back through the trees.

When he stopped a few minutes later, Elizabeth pulled her arm from his grip. "I can take care of myself!"

"You know you're not supposed to go out by yourself," John hissed. "Especially to the jumper!"

Elizabeth glared back at him in defiance.

John sighed, and for a moment they stood in silence, their eyes locked together.

"It'll be light soon," He spoke quietly, shifting his eyes from her. "We should get back."

Without a word, Elizabeth pushed past him, heading back towards the cave.

John stayed in place for a moment, looking through the trees around them, listening for any unnatural sounds. When he was certain they were alone, he turned and followed her.

"Where were you?" Ronon's gruff voice demanded of her as she passed him at the entrance to the cave.

Elizabeth ignored him, heading straight for her sleeping bag.

"The jumper," Sheppard supplied, entering a few moments behind her.

Ronon glared at Elizabeth's retreating back. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

Elizabeth paused and closed her eyes. She could feel everyone looking at her.

"Ronon," Teyla cautioned, appearing by the Satedan's side, and placing a gentle hand on his forearm, forestalling any more comments.

"There was no one out there," John assured them. "Nobody followed us."

Tuning out the voices behind her, Elizabeth continued to her sleeping bag, slipping out of her shoes.

"Are you alright, Love?"

She turned to find Carson standing next to her. She couldn't help but feel warmed by the obvious concern written across the doctor's face.

Elizabeth smiled reassuringly. "I'm sorry; I just need to get away for a while."

"Aye," Carson placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're all a little testy. We were just worried about ye." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to his own sleeping bag.

Around the small cave the rest of the group were settling in for the day's sleep. At the entrance to the cave, Elizabeth watched John and Ronon sharing a quiet conversation before Ronon headed outside to relieve Lorne from sentry duty. No doubt, they'd been talking about her.

Elizabeth climbed into her sleeping bag and rolled over the face the wall. For a while she listened to the light sounds of Major Lorne snoring across the other side of the cave.

She drifted off into a light sleep, only to be woken when Ronon returned to wake John for his shift.

When Ronon's snores began to drift across the cave with Lorne's, Elizabeth climbed out of her bedding and went after John out of the cave.

The spot they'd chosen for sentry was a large rock outcropping not far from the cave entrance. It sat far enough above the ground to provide a full view of the surrounding area, and there was enough tree coverage to ensure the spot was well hidden. Hopefully, it would give them an adequate advantage to warn the others and get away if they spotted anyone coming.

Elizabeth sat down on the rock next to John and stretched her bare feet out in front of her. The warm sun was a luxury to her these days.

John didn't even acknowledge her, his eyes carefully scanning the area below.

"I'm sorry." John finally spoke after several minutes of silence. "I didn't mean to get so mad at you."

"I should'nt have gone out." She conceded. "I just…I needed to be alone, to think without the suffocating walls of the cave around me."

"But at the jumper? Somebody could have seen you, Elizabeth! What if they were still watching the jumper?" He took his eyes off the ground below and looked at her. "You just need to be more careful."

"I made sure there was nobody there. I didn't just go running in, screaming through the trees at the top of my lungs." She sighed, regretting her sarcastic retort as soon as it escaped her mouth. "Sorry…"

"Just promise me you won't go off like that again." He waited for her small nod before returning to his watch.

It was a few more minutes before he spoke again. "Maybe you shouldn't come tonight."

Elizabeth turned to him again. "What?"

"It's not safe."

She wanted to scream in frustration. How many times did they have to have this conversation? The truth was, they had it every single time she went. By now he should know he could persuade her otherwise, and as she studied his profile, she realized that he knew just that. It was just one last, hopeful plea to get her to stay behind.

"I can do this John- I need to do this. I can't just sit here and do nothing. That's not who I am and you know it."

All of her life she'd been the one to take action. There was no such thing as letting people do things for her; she took care of herself. Helplessness was something she feared. Already she had to rely on the others food and, even though she wouldn't admit it to John, for protection. Going into the city was something she could do to help them and herself, and she wouldn't let John take that away from her.

"You should go get some sleep then." His voice was tinged with defeat. "You'll need to be wide awake tonight." Although she knew that even with no sleep, she'd be wide awake.

Elizabeth frowned inwardly at his blank face. She'd used to be so good at reading his emotions and thoughts, just from his facial expressions. But that was back then: back on Atlantis. She missed his smiles, his boyish smirk. Back then, even though he'd been laden with the burden of command, he'd seemed so happy, so carefree.

Now, he rarely smiled, rarely joked. They knew that if they let their guard down for even a second they could all be dead. John had taken that whole responsibility on his shoulders, to look after and protect them all, not of course without the help of Ronon. To Elizabeth, he felt cold and distant. He felt like a stranger and she hated it.

Standing, Elizabeth made her way back to the cave without another word.

The rest of the group was still sleeping when she entered the cave. The cave was a little under 20 metres deep, and 10 wide, with a ceiling which was just high enough for Ronon, the tallest of them, to stand upright without his head hitting.

On her right, Teyla and Ronon lay by each other, Lorne only a few feet from them. Towards the back of the cave Lieutenant Adams lay alongside the technician Chuck.

To the left of them was Elizabeth's empty sleeping bag by Carson.

The only bedding by itself was Sheppard's which sat vacant by the cave entrance. He'd distanced himself from all of them.

Even though she found herself very tired, Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. The night ahead of her loomed in her thoughts. Every possible scenario of what could go wrong ran through her mind.

Sooner or later sleep had claimed her, and all too soon she woke to find John leaning over her, his hand on her shoulder.

"It's time to go."

-TBC-

A/N: Please leave me a review and let me know what you think :)