The Atlantis expedition had finally gotten time off.
John, Elizabeth and half the scientific contigent had traveled to Earth for a small vacation.
They would return with more military personnel so the others could take a break
John, elizabeth, rodney and beckett had to debrief generals Landry, Hammond, O'Neill and several others before starting their vacations.

Day 6 of Interrogation Debriefing

"one more day" has been Elizabeth's mantra all day long.
"one more day and i'm out of here"

She is exhausted, like she just fought a dozen of wraiths.
But no, she just debriefed about 20 people as to why the Atlantis Expedition is a necessary expense.
She just wants her bed.

But before, she agreed to have dinner with Gen.O'Neill.
When she walks into the mess, she's not surprised to see Colonel Carter there.
She's seen her on a few briefings but mostly, she's seen her with Gen.O'Neill.
Rumor has it, they're an item now.

Before she can get to the table, someone else sits down. It's John.
She's surprised to being surprised at seeing him here.
He should be here, of course, but she hasn't seen him much. He's been bussy with military debriefments.whose idea was it to held separate briefings for civilian and military, she has no idea, but she wants them dead.
"Hi, general, Colonel" she says sitting down.
"hi, john. Didn't know you'd be here." She says, smiling
"General O'Neill invited. So i snuck outside to get us some decent food."
Is just then she thinks of looking at his tray
"that looks delicious" she says, taking some of the food john's offering her
"thanks!"
"you're welcome" says john

"so has the briefings been a great torture?" asks Gen.O'Neill
"more or less" she says.
"whoever invented this whole separate briefings things is absolutely crazy"
"that would be me" says carter "i figured it would be better for civilians to talk to other civilians instead of being questioned by military. There are many issues to discuss and it's more efficient this way."
"wow" says john,humbly "that actually makes sense"
"yeah, but apparently, in the practic it hasn't worked they way i wanted to. You've had the double of briefings thanks to my genious idea"
"that hasn't been very fun, i admit" elizabeth says, smiling
"Colonel, i don't mean to intrude or anything, but aren't you working for area 51 now?"
jack smirks and says "told ya they'd asked"
sam blushes slightly and says "i'm visiting. You know, for the briefings. By the way, just call me sam." As she talks, she takes out $5 of her pocket and hands them to jack.

John and Elizabeth cast a glance at each other during this, but say nothing
"well, you can call me elizabeth"
"just don't call her liz" john adds, smirking
"true, i hate that stupid nickname"

"well, so tell us about Atlantis, i want to hear the uncut version" says jack, who from experience knows how much is left out of the briefings

"before we get to that, i've been meaning to ask, i haven't seen dr.jackson anywhere. Or any member of sg-1 for that matter. Where are they?"

hearing this, sam smirks. "they're on vacation"
this time, is jack who takes a $10 out of his pocket and hands it to sam.
"i hope you get to meet the new members. Colonel Mitchell is a very good commander. And vala.. well, she's fun to be around." Says sam, smiling.
"yeah, ive heard lots of things about Vala and dr.jackson. are they married or something?"
sam and jack choke on their drinks at this moment
"vala and daniel?" says jack, laughing "no, they're not married, it's worse.they're stuck together for like, ever."
"it's a long story" sam says

after the story of and vala got stuck together,they move onto another stories of what had been going on at the SGC. John and Elizabeth also shared some stories from atlantis, some funny, some not so much. They discovered they had been in strangely similar situations.

Later that night...

Jack and sam were on jack's quarters, drinking a cup of coffee. They were discussing their atlantian friends.
"how did you know she'd ask for daniel?"
"you didn't see them while she was here" sam answers, looking at jack. "they were always together. he helped her a lot. If she hadn't left for atlantis, who knows what could've happened"
"well, now that i think about it, they did seem rather cozy when i went to antarctica. I wanted to tease daniel about that, but then sheppard sat on that chair and , you know."
"and it was then she met john sheppard and forgot all about daniel jackson"
"hey, you don't think she was part of the reason daniel wanted to go to atlantis so bad, right?"
"no, im pretty sure daniel wanted to got to atlantis because, well, it's atlantis. But im also sure he would've like to see her again
"oh,well, he has vala now"
"in some way, he does"
"so, you're sure those two are together?"
"well, no, i didn't see anything definitive. Their closeness is obvious but it could be platonic"
"platonic my ass. Didn't you see the way they looked at each other. There's something there. What i don't know is if they've acted on it."
"i'll take Elizabeth shopping tomorrow. We can have some girl talk. I'll get her to confess if there's something up."
"that seems like a good idea"
"you an john could do something too. Go to a game or to a bar, i don't know. "
"yeah, could be.
You know, i wonder what people back in atlantis say about them."

"ever wonder what they say about us?"
"not really. Gossip's not that much fun when it's about you."
Sam smiles. " i know what you mean"
"sam?" jack asks
"what?"
"i love you" jack says before kissing her.

On another room, john and elizabeth are talking too.
"so, what do you think about them?"john asks her
"it's hard to tell. I didn't get to see them together for a long time, but they certainly were close. That hasn't changed. I think i saw something different, but couldn't pinpoint it." Says elizabeth, thoughtful, trying to analyze their interactions at dinner.

"well, in this job you have to be discreet. And they've had 9 years of practice" says john, remembering a few stories he's heard about them.
"good point" she says, smiling
"still, i think we can give them a run for their money" smirking, john moves closer to elizabeth.
"i'll invite sam to go shopping tomorrow. We'll have some girl talk. I'll get her to confess."
"i'll see if i can talk to him. But tomorrow"
"yeah, tomorrow" elizabeth agrees, kissing him.

Hours Later...
"UNSCHEDULED OFF-WORLD ACTIVATION"
minutes later, Generals Landry and Hammond are on the Gate room.
"what's going on?" asks Gen. Laundry
"it's the Asgard,Sir, they bring news from Atlantis.
Should i sent for Major Sheppard and Dr.Weir?"
"No, airman, let them sleep" says Gen.Hammond, stepping in.
"let's hear what they have to say first"
"Good morning, Thor, this is General Laundry."
"Morning, General Laundry, i bring new from the Lost City of the Ancients"
"is there anything urgent? Any troubles?"
"Nothing urgent, although is it important. I know it's late in your time. There is no need to wake up Major Sheppard or Doctor Weir. I trust you will relay this information to them."
"Well, then, thor, why don't we talk in my office?" says Gen.Laundry. for some reason, he doesn't want the entire staff to hear this news inmediately.
"very well, then" as soon as he says that, they see a ball of light in General Landry's office"

as they walk to his office, Gen. Landry asks Gen.Hammond.
"why don't you want to send for them?"
"they've had a tough week. Let them sleep. I'll separate them in the morning."
"i see. No need to fuel up the rumor mill."