Title: Adventure of a lifetime.

Summary: A member of the Atlantis Expedition has a closer relationship to Elizabeth than most.

Spoilers: Anything from Atlantis season one and two is fair game. Some from 'The Lost City' as well as a small one from 'Chain Reaction' (Blink and you'll miss that last one, though).

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine. Only the story line and any made up characters that may appear in the story belong to me.

A/N: I know the whole relative in Atlantis story has been done a million times, but after reading as many of these types of stories as I could find I've noticed that for the most part two things are usually the same; the relative is almost always related to John and is either a cousin or sibling. I'm hoping to steer clear of those things and put a new spin on this story line.

--

Stepping through the gate Major Skyler Cain looked up at the control room, holding his arms out in a questioning manner. His team had spent the last two weeks working undercover trying to infiltrate a minor system lord's ranks and just when they'd started to make some serious headway they'd been recalled back to the SGC, almost blowing their cover in the process.

"Report to the briefing room." The tech on duty called over the intercom.

Glancing at Captain Axel Cooper, his best friend since childhood, Skyler raised an eyebrow Teal'c style, before shrugging his shoulders and shuffling out of the gate room.

Looking up from the file in front of him Hammond watched as SG-16 entered the briefing room.

First through the door was the dark brown almost black haired Major Cain, who easily slid his lean, muscular frame into one of the chairs around the table. Even with the dirt and grime covering the man Hammond could see that two weeks off world had added nicely to the majors' already tan skin. Next came the blond haired Captain Cooper, the man had a similar build to Cain although he was nowhere near as tan as his CO.

After the captain came Dr. Trent Jamsen, the man's shaggy brown hair was mussed as if he'd just rolled out of bed – which probably wasn't far off, it may have been the middle of the afternoon on earth but it was early morning on the planet they'd been on. Instead of sitting down right away the man made a beeline for the coffee machine in the corner of the room, getting coffee for himself and the members of his team. Last to enter the room was the team's field medic Sgt. Travis Connor, scrubbing a hand through his black hair and trying to muffle a yawn.

"Please take a seat gentlemen," Hammond spoke. "I know your all wondering why you've been recalled so suddenly. There have been some changes around here while you've been off world and the president has effectively shut down the SGC for a three-month review process. During which time, a newly formed Government department will take the place of Stargate Command."

"Sir?" Skyler managed to inflect a myriad of questions into that one word.

"I know you must have tons of questions, but I'm afraid I don't know much more than that. I leave for Washington to discuss reassignment tomorrow."

"Don't tell me we're going to end up with another Bauer." Trent pleaded – he really hadn't liked Major General Bauer.

"A civilian actually. Dr. Elizabeth Weir."

At hearing the name the general had said Skyler nearly choked on the sip of coffee he'd been taking. "Excuse me sir did you say Dr. Elizabeth Weir?" He managed to choke out after a brief coughing fit. "Red-ish brown hair, not afraid to let her opinion be known, doesn't take crap from anybody, diplomat well known for mediating for the United Nations, and who started her career as a political activist lobbying against government spending on the military. That Dr. Elizabeth Weir?"

"I take it you've met before."

"Damn it." Skyler leaned forward softly banging his forehead on the table. At seeing the look on his friend's face Axel couldn't help the grin that formed.

"Well you certainly know how to make a girl feel loved." A female voice came from the doorway causing everyone to look that way. An amused look on her face Elizabeth entered the room.

Letting out a sigh, Skyler stood up moving to give Elizabeth a hug, "Lizzie."

"Skyler," she didn't bother to hide her scowl at the nickname as she returned the hug. "Axle," She nodded a greeting to Axle.

"Elizabeth," Axle took care to pronounce her full name, as he shot a raised eyebrow at his friend.

"Sorry I'm late General, my phone conference with the president went longer than I'd planed." Elizabeth moved to take a seat. Skyler being the gentlemen he was pulled the chair out for her, only just barely suppressing the erg to pull the seat out from under her as she went to sit down. They were adults not kids anymore he had to keep telling himself that.

"I understand Doctor." Hammond stated, trying to keep the curiosity off his face.

Skyler could see the curiosity on his CO's face anyway. "You're wondering how we know each other, aren't you sir?" Hammond looked at the major in surprise; he hadn't been that obvious had he? "After working here for six years I'd like to think I'm pretty adept at reading your facial expressions sir. And to answer your question the good doctor here is my aunt."

"Your aunt?" Trent spoke this time. That explained how Axle knew her as well, since he and Skyler had been friends since they were little kids, but there couldn't have been more than four or five years between Elizabeth and Skyler.

"Let's just say there's a big age gap between Elizabeth and my mom." Skyler knew what Trent was thinking, it was the same thing most people thought when they found out the he and Elizabeth were aunt and nephew. Although to be honest he thought of Elizabeth as more of a sister or cousin than an aunt. "But that's neither here nor there."

"Of course, now if you'll excuse me I have some things to take care of before I leave for Washington." Hammond rose from his seat. "I'll leave you to your debriefing." The military personnel in the room rose as well as Hammond left, before sitting back down.

"Well since these grunts aren't looking to do any introductions allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dr. Trent Jamsen, but most people call me Brain, since I'm a certifiable genius."

"Oh he's certifiable alright." Travis muttered under his breath, ignoring the 'I can kill you with my brain' look Trent sent him. "I'm Sgt. Travis Connor or as everyone calls me 'Blue' like code blue cause I'm a field medic." Once all the introductions were done the group got down to business.

An hour later the meeting broke up. While the others went off to do their post mission thing, Skyler caught up with Elizabeth. "Hey you doing anything important right now?"

"Not at the moment." Elizabeth gathered her things off the briefing table.

"Good, its chow time let's go. It's supposed to be taco day in the commissary."

"Don't you need to do your post mission check up?"

"It can wait a few, my team's been to that planet before so we know there's nothing dangerous. Besides I'm starving, we had to leave it a hurry didn't have time to eat." He didn't give his aunt much choice, but to join him as he slung an arm over her shoulder and led the way out.

--

"So what've you been up to since we last talked?" Skyler asked as he and Elizabeth grabbed their food and sat down.

"Nothing new really. I've been teaching a poli-sci class at Georgetown, but other than that pretty much the same old some old." Elizabeth replied.

"Teaching…" Skyler gave a soft huff, shaking his head as he dug into his lunch.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing…that's great. It's just…teaching?"

"What's wrong with teaching?" She gave him a warning glare.

"Nothing, you just never struck me as the type of person to be happy with a teaching job, especially with the successful political career you've had."

"For your information it was only for the one semester and I only agreed to do it in order to help out a friend."

"Right so how exactly did all of that lead to you getting a job here, let alone actually taking the job?" That question had been bugging Skyler since he'd found out that his aunt was basically his new boss. The woman was the biggest anti-military person he knew, next to his grandpa. As was evidenced by the huge fight he'd had with his aunt when she'd found out he'd joined Air Force – Elizabeth hadn't spoken to him for almost a year afterwards.

"Honestly I have no idea why the president gave me this job. But the fact is he did and I figured that the best way to see the changes I'd like to see made within the military was to help make them myself. And what better way to do that than by working from inside one of this nation's most top secret projects in history." Elizabeth gave Skyler a look that just dared him to challenge her. While she understood why her nephew had joined the Air Force – he'd wanted to be a pilot just like his dad – it was still one of those things they would most likely never see eye to eye on.

"Anyway on to other topics," Skyler wasn't an idiot he knew when to drop a subject. "You still dating that Simon guy or whatever the hell his name was?"

"Yes Simon and I are still seeing each other." Elizabeth sat back in her seat a sly grin on her face that instantly had Skyler squirming in his seat. "What about you, any girlfriends running around the area? I bet the women around here are just throwing themselves at you."

"I wish," He let out a longing sigh. "A job like mine doesn't leave much room for a social life."

"Yeah I can imagine that saving the world from alien invaders on a weekly basis can be killer on the social life." Elizabeth shook her head slightly; she still couldn't believe it all. "So tell me some more about the rest of your team."

"Well obviously you know Coop already. He's still the troublemaker he always was, but there's no one I trust more to be out there watching my back. Brain, like he said, is a genius, he graduated high school and started college when he was fourteen. He has a PhD in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, a masters degree in archeology – though he's been debating on whether or not to go for a PhD in that one – and a bachelors in astronomy and math."

"Blue is a medic through and through. He wanted to be a doctor but couldn't afford to pay for med school so he joined the army with one of those two-year contracts hoping to save up. They trained him to be a field medic and all that stuff and he had no intention of reenlisting but when he only had about six moths left to go he got assigned here and fell in love with the job. So instead of leaving to go to med school Blue reenlisted and has been working here ever since."

The two spent an hour chatting and catching up on old times, before they were both called back to work. Watching as her nephew went off to do what ever it was he did while on base Elizabeth felt herself breathing just a little bit easier. She knew she wasn't going to get the warmest of welcomes especially from the military personnel, but knowing that she had at least one person on base that would stand by her no matter what, made her new job not feel so overwhelming.

--

(Several months later)

"Major what can I do for you?" General O'Neill questioned, looking up from the pile of paper work in front of him at Skyler as the man knocked on the open door.

"I was hoping to speak with you about the Atlantis expedition, sir." Skyler stepped further into the room. "As I'm sure you know I'm one of the few people so far that possess the Ancient gene and I'd like to join the expedition."

"Good they'll need all the gene carriers they can get, but that's Weir's department not mine. You'll have to speak with her."

"That's the thing sir, I have. And while she has no problem with the rest of my team, who have also volunteered for the expedition…"

"You on the other hand she has a problem with." Jack wasn't surprised, if his and Weir's positions were reversed and a member of his family wanted to go on a possibly one-way trip he'd have issues with it too.

"Yes sir, and while I understand her reasoning, Elizabeth has no idea what's really out there, what this expedition could be walking into. I feel like I need to be there to watch her back and keep her safe…" He paused to scrub a hand through his hair. "It's not that I don't trust the other's that will be going sir, it's just that…"

"She's family." Jack had a pretty good idea where Skyler was going with this.

"Yeah, and out of everyone here I suspect that you understand that better than anyone, sir. Even though you trust everyone here with your life, when Colonel Carter or Dr. Jackson, hell even Teal'c go off world with another team and you're not there to watch their backs, can you honestly say that you completely trust the members of that team to bring you teammate back alive and in one piece?"

If Jack was honest the answer was no, one of the hardest things he found he was having trouble adjusting to with his new job was the fact that he couldn't always be there to watch his team's backs any more. He had to admit the kid knew how to make his case – probably had something to do with having both an aunt and a grandfather who were negotiators. "I'll talk to Weir, see what I can do."

"Thank you sir." Skyler left the office as Jack waved him out.