She heard the door behind her slide open and knew who it was immediately without having to look at him.
"Hey" she said.
He stepped up to stand beside her.
"Hey" he replied placing his hands on the railing of the balcony. "So." he said "What do you think of all this?"
She didn't answer, instead, she turned to look at him, an amused expression on her face.
He also turned to face her, frowned and gave her a slightly puzzled look. "What..."
She raised an eyebrow. "Grandkids?"
A sheepish grin spread across his face "Oh. Right. That."
She grinned back at him. "I didn't know you were planning to have kids one day. Might not be that easy in times like this, in a place like this..."
"Well, you know, where there's a will..."
She smiled impishly "Oh, so you really do plan to have children?"
He shrugged "Yeah, I suppose... Well, depends on how long I stay alive, on whether I find someone who would want kids with me..."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Probably almost the entire female population of this galaxy has already picked you as the future father of their kids." she laughed "What about you, already someone in mind as the grandmother of your grandkids?"
To her surprise he just blushed slightly and avoided to look at her. Instead he suddenly seemed to be rather interested in something on the floor near his feet.
"Haven't really thought about that yet." he mumbled. And after a short silence "Did you ever think about having kids one day?"
Now it was her term to shrug. "Not really. I mean, not seriously. I've thought about it sometimes, but I guess everyone does."
"Yeah, probably." he turned back to the railing and stared out across the ocean.
There was a short silence, before she said "I think you would be a good father."
He seemed to blush again. She wondered why he kept doing that. She had never seen John Sheppard blush before.
"I think you would be a good mother." he said and threw her a lopsided grin
"Thank you." she smiled.
For a moment they were silent. They just stood there, side by side, looking at the ocean, just enjoying the light heartedness of the moment.
Then she sighed and said "It is a bit weird to be standing here, talking about having children, when we don't even know whether we will still be alive in a couple of weeks..."
"Yeah, I know." he answered "You worried about this alliance?"
She didn't say anything, but he already knew the answer and he could see everything else in her eyes. Everything he needed to know.
He just wanted to reach out, wrap his arms around her and hold her close. He wanted to make all her worries and fears disappear.
Instead he turned to fully face her and looked her deep in the eyes.
"Okay, listen! We will all survive this, we will make sure Atlantis is safe, we will make sure this galaxy is safe, and then we will all have families and kids and live happily ever after until we die of old age. Deal?"
She smiled "Are you trying to cheer me up?"
"Is it working?" he asked, a boyish grin on his face.
"Yes." she looked at him, her eyes full of gratitude and affection. "Thanks, John. For everything!"
He placed his hands on her shoulders, his expression suddenly very serious.
"Anytime!"