Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis
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"Where are we going?" she asked, with a slight skip in her step as she tried to keep pace with his longer strides.
John smiled. Elizabeth was always so much nicer, spunkier when they were alone together. "You'll see," he answered.
She sighed, exasperated. "John Sheppard! Tell me!"
"No. This is a military situation."
She laughed. "It is not!"
John shrugged. "You never know."
They walked along, up a hill dotted with wild flowers. Teyla had helped him pick out the perfect planet for the occasion. The sky was a bright, clear blue, and the sun shone warmly. Just how he had wanted.
As they ascended to the top of the hill, Elizabeth could see a picnic set up. Little sandwiches, flowers in the middle, it was adorable. "John..." she said smiling.
"Go over there," he commanded.
She frowned. "What about you?"
"I'll come in a minute."
Elizabeth nodded, feeling a little confused. She walked over to the picnic, then she saw it. It wasn't made of diamonds, but that didn't matter. Diamonds weren't easy to come by in the Pegasus galaxy. In fact, it didn't gave a gem at all, but that didn't matter either. It was a simple ring, made of schist, greenish-amber in color with an intricately scratched design.
"Teyla says it's the symbol for hearts being linked forever...or something," John said, coming towards her.
Elizabeth couldn't find the words. "John..." was all she managed to get out.
"Well, what's your answer? Yes or no?"
Elizabeth closed her eyes. "Yes, John."
"Good," he said. He came over and took both her hands in his. He leaned in to kiss her. Their lips meant, soft and gentle, then becoming more passionate. They both knew they would never regret that day when they had told each other...
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Everyone was congratulating John on surviving the seemingly impossible mission. He had come out, not unscathed, but alive nonetheless. Elizabeth stood upart from the others, on the balcony.
John walked over. "Hey," he said.
She smiled a bit nervously. "Hi," she said, biting her lip.
John looked at her. "Did you miss me?" he asked jokingly.
"John...don't try to make it into a joke, you almost died!" she turned away from him.
"Hey, I'm ok," he said, grabbing her hand and turning her back towards him.
Her eyes were full of unshed tears. "I—I don't know what I would have done..."
John pulled her into a tight embrace. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.
After a moment, Elizabeth pulled away. "I—I—"
"Elizabeth...I think we both know...I...I like you, as more than a friend."
"Yeah," Elizabeth said after a moment.
John whistled. "So I guess this means we're..."
"Dating?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yeah. Dating," he smiled and held her hand.
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Suddenly something loud broke into the silence. John and Elizabeth pulled away from each other and looked up at the sky. There was a wraith dart coming at them, fast. There was nowhere to run, it was open ground for miles. There was no time to get out of the way.
Elizabeth woke up. It was cold, and she was on some hard surface. She opened her eyes and looked at the unfamiliar place. Then all the events of yesterday came flooding back. John...then the wraith dart. She was relieved to see John lying close to her, still asleep.
"John," she whispered.
He groaned, then sat up, immediately alert. "Are you ok?" he asked.
"I'm fine. You?"
"The same. But we need to get out of here."
Elizabeth nodded and looked around. She found that being in a wraith ship was rather disturbing. Then they heard the footsteps. They glanced at each other.
When the wraith appeared, John jumped up. "Take me," he said bravely.
The wraith ignored him and grabbed Elizabeth.
"John!" she shouted.
He tried to fight then, but one wraith grabbed his neck and held him against the wall until the others were out of sight. Then he was left alone.
John was frustrated. He needed to save Elizabeth, but there was no way out of the cell! He tried everything, it was no use. He couldn't bear to think what they could be doing to her.
A wraith wordlessly appeared, opened the door, and grabbed John, leading him down the hall.
Before he even noticed the queen, he saw her. Elizabeth was lying on the ground, aged years beyond her time. "No!" he shouted, crouching next to her. He felt for her pulse, there was none. He felt like dying, crying, and smacking something all at once. What would he do without Elizabeth, he loved her?!
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They walked along up a hill, dotted with wild flowers.
John blinked and stopped walking. "Weren't we—what are we doing?"
Elizabeth looked confused. "You're taking me somewhere, but you won't tell me where."
"Oh," John said, feeling very confused.
"Are you feeling ok?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yeah," he said. Then he smiled at her. Frankly, he was just glad to see her alive. "Let's go."
Everything happened just like before, only this time, when they heard the wraith dart, John immediately pushed Elizabeth out of the way and pulled out his gun. He started firing at the dart. The problem was, it fired back. It was too late when he realized what would happen. Elizabeth was shot. He ignored the dart and held her in his arms.
"Elizabeth, you've got to make it, hold on!" he shouted.
She choked. Tears streamed down her face. She pursed her lips tightly. "John, I...I love you." Her eyes closed.
John desperately felt for her pulse. She was still alive, just unconscious. He knew she wouldn't last long. He called for help on the radio; no answer. He had no idea how long he sat there with her, cradling her in his arms, praying that she would somehow pull through. Sometime in the night she took a deep breath, then stopped. She was gone.
"No!" John shouted again. What was going on, what kind of torture was this?!
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They walked along, up a hill dotted with wild flowers.
"Stop!" John shouted.
Elizabeth jumped. "John...?" she said slowly.
He held out his hand, thinking. He'd read a mission report once like this, it was Jack O'Neill's. The reason for the repeating day had something to do with...magnets. It had no reason to be happening here, or to him.
"Elizabeth, we're going back to Atlantis," John said. They'd go back, make Rodney figure things out.
"Why?!" Elizabeth asked.
"We just are. Trust me on this," he said.
"Ok..."
They walked briskly, to make sure the wraith dart couldn't get them before they got back. Soon they were in the gate room.