Stolen Moments
John stopped at the door of Elizabeth's office. Usually he'd enter and make himself comfortable, but at that current moment in time she was moving around the room quickly, gathering things.
"Going somewhere?" he asked, curious.
She jumped and then closed her eyes before looking up at him. "Sorry, you scared me."
"I noticed…" he replied, entering the room.
She returned to gathering things and threw them all into a bag, before grabbing her laptop and shoving that in its bag too.
"I have to go back to Earth," she said, answering his earlier question.
"Some kind of emergency?"
Elizabeth stopped and looked at him, as if she'd suddenly realised he was actually there, then she frowned. "My uncle died, the funeral's on Thursday and I'd like to be there."
"Oh…you OK?"
"I'm fine," Elizabeth replied, grabbing her bags. "But I have a flight to catch back on Earth…I've left Caldwell in charge, I thought that would make him happy, sorry but you're going to have to deal with him for a few days…"
He watched her for a few moments. She wasn't fine, he could see through that comment straight away.
"I'll come," he said, not entirely sure where the offer came from.
"What?" she thought about it for a few moments. "John you don't have to do that…"
"Sure I do," he replied, smiling softly. "I don't want you to be alone."
"Once I'm in Utrecht I'll be with my cousin and aunt," she said.
"Where?"
"The Netherlands…my Uncle had to move there for business when I was about twelve…"
"Well that's a long flight so if you want company the offer is there…" he folded his arms and lent against the doorway.
She paused, watching him for a few moments. He could see her mind working, trying to picture the situation back on Earth, then she smiled slightly. "I'd appreciate that."
"I'll meet you at the 'gate in ten minutes."
As he walked quickly towards his quarters to grab a bag he wondered what exactly had possessed him to volunteer to return to Earth with her. He didn't miss the place – although occasionally he thought he wouldn't mind going to a football match – and he had no friends or relatives back home.
Maybe that was why he wanted to go. It was less than a week before Christmas and a lot of the Atlantis personnel had returned to Earth to spend time with their families…even Rodney had gone home to spend time with his sister. Carson had taken Laura Cadman home to introduce her to his mother and the city was running on a lot less people than it usually did.
Yet he had resigned himself to spending another Christmas away from the world, his only contentment being that he was able to spend that time with Elizabeth. When he'd heard her say she had to go back to Earth he'd found that one good thing about this time of year being taken away from him.
So now he was going back to Earth with her. He felt bad, knowing she was upset and all he could think about was not wanting to spend another Christmas by himself.
He wanted to come with her. John Sheppard never ceased to surprise her. She couldn't say she wasn't grateful, but she was confused why he would want to come to her Uncle's funeral. It didn't even cross her mind that he could be homesick, because she knew better of him, but whatever the reason he wanted to come was it escaped her.
She looked up as he wandered towards her.
"Ready?" he asked.
"I was ready ten minutes ago…" she raised an eyebrow at him and smiled slightly.
"Then shall we head out?" he asked, and she didn't miss the look of concern in his eyes that his smile couldn't mask.
She turned to the technician, someone unfamiliar to her who had been sent to help out while everyone was back on Earth. He dialled Earth and pressed the button, sending through the Atlantis IDC to the SGC.
John grabbed his backpack, swinging it onto his back, and watched as Elizabeth did the same. She walked ahead of him and through the gate.
Arriving at the SGC was always strange to her, it was somewhere she'd spent a couple of months of her life, yet now it seemed so foreign. Standing at the bottom of the gate was an even stranger site.
"General O'Neill," she greeted, hearing John come through the gate behind her.
"Dr Weir," he looked past her, raising one eyebrow. "I see you brought a friend…"
John was suddenly standing next to her. "Greetings General."
"Maj…Lt Colonel," Jack corrected himself, then turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "We should get going…I take it he's going with you?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said before John could interrupt with anything else.
"Good you're booked on an empty flight then," Jack said.
Elizabeth sensed he didn't like John being there and wondered why. Maybe he disapproved of the military commander joining her on a personal trip, or maybe he thought it was stupid for them both to leave Atlantis. Maybe he just didn't like John…although she'd never had that impression before.
John stared out the window at the lights below him. He'd forgotten how boring, slow and uncomfortable normal flying was – especially when it was in the dark. Puddlejumper's were by far the superior mode of transport in his mind, but he could hardly bring one of those back and start flying around the planet in it.
He sat back in his chair and stared at the screen in front of him, which was informing him that they were currently six hours from their destination. Elizabeth's screen was dark and she was asleep next to him. He was glad she'd managed sleeping, because since they'd left the SGC she'd been incredibly quiet and he was worried.
He knew death hit her harder than she let on. He'd watched her put on a brave face, and then tear herself up over the loss of men back in her office. She would never talk about it. But this was different, because it was her own relative, one who'd obviously been close to her.
Without thinking about it he reached down and picked up the supplied blanket, ripping open the plastic and placing it over the sleeping woman. She grabbed it with one hand and pulled it around her, attempting to turn over. When that didn't work she somehow found John's shoulder, resting her head on that.
He smiled slightly. Just at that moment the air hostess pushed the trolley past. "Food or drink?"
"Just water thanks," John replied.
"And your wife?" she asked, handing him a cup of water.
John paused for a second, not sure how to respond to that. His wife? Well, he supposed, it did sort of look that way. "She'll be fine," he smiled at the air hostess.
"I'll come back later then," she said, smiling and moving onto the next row.
Wife. When he was younger he'd always imagined that by the time he was forty he'd be married with children, that forty was old and if he didn't have a family by then it was never going to happen. Of course, now he was nearing that age, he knew better – but he also knew that there was an age he'd reach when it wouldn't be possible anymore.
Looking down at Elizabeth he wondered for a moment if it was even a possibility that some day, just maybe, she could be his wife. He certainly wouldn't mind, but he was sure that there was some rules, somewhere, that forbid them from seeing each other.
He shook his mind clear and looked back out the window at the flashing lights of the wingtip in front of him. She was his boss and the leader of Atlantis – what would she want dating him anyway?
He tried to push the thoughts away, flicking on the TV and finding a movie to watch, but the whole time there was still the thought in the back of his mind. If he didn't care about her in that way, why was he here?
When Elizabeth woke she found herself sleeping on the shoulder of John Sheppard, his head resting against hers as he slept. For a moment she panicked, hoping no one had seen them, before realising that it didn't matter. They were on Earth and far away from anything relating to the Stargate or the military. No one was there to judge their relationship.
So not wanting to wake him she remained in the position, closing her eyes again. Sleep always made things pass faster anyway. But instead of sleeping she found herself distracted by the physical contact with John. The familiar smell rose into her nostrils from much closer that usual and she could feel his shoulder rise and fall with each breath.
Opening her eyes, hoping that it would distract her other senses, she wondered again why he had offered to come with her. She was tired, not worn out from the flight, but from the overwhelming feeling of sadness at the loss of her uncle. She had spent most summer's after he'd moved in Europe with her Uncle and cousin, her parents not liking the idea of summer camps and choosing to send her to other relatives instead.
She hadn't seen her Uncle for a few years now, but he had been by far her favourite relative. On the way to the airport Jack had informed her that he'd died of a heart attack at the early hours of Sunday morning, her cousin, Luke, had contacted Simon who had then called the SGC. She had an open invitation to stay with Luke and his wife, she hoped that held up for John as well because she had a feeling he wouldn't be going anywhere without her for a while.
She felt her heart swell at the knowledge he was there for her, that he'd literally followed her across the galaxy to make sure she'd be OK – at least that's why she assumed he was there, she couldn't think of anything else.
She looked down at his hand laying on the armrest, so close to hers. She wanted to reach across and place hers above it, but she couldn't make her hand move. Instead she realised she was subconsciously fighting the urge to go to the bathroom. Seeing it was free she slowly moved John over and removed her head from his shoulder.
When she got back he was still asleep, now leaning against the wall. She smiled, thinking how cute he was as he slept, and sat back down in her chair, flicking on the screen to see where they were.
"Excuse me miss, did you want breakfast before we begin our descent?"
She looked up at the air hostess. "No thanks, I wouldn't mind some water though?"
"Ah, just like your husband I see," she said, handing her a plastic cup of water.
Elizabeth looked at the air hostess in surprise. "Excuse me?"
She nodded towards John. "He only wanted a glass of water as well."
"Oh he's not my husband," Elizabeth denied instantly.
"Oh…I'm sorry – it's just earlier I referred to you as his wife and he didn't correct me."
"Did he now?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and glanced at John, amused by this.
The air hostess left and she returned to watching the screen. After a few moments there was a ding and the captain's voice came over the PA announcing they were beginning their descent. John jerked awake next to her and sat up.
"Your wife?" Elizabeth asked.
He looked at her in confusion. "What?"
"The air hostess seemed to be under the impression that we were married," she narrowed her eyes at him, but smiled.
"Oh…that…well it could be amusing couldn't it? We could tell your relatives I'm your husband and see if they believe us," John wasn't smiling but the mischievous spark in his eye betrayed him.
She hit him on the arm and flicked the TV screen off. "They're not stupid, John."
John watched as Elizabeth hugged her cousin. He had to admit that he was a nice looking guy, curly brown hair and blue eyes – and he could clearly see the family resemblance between the two of them. They talked for a few moments seriously, probably about Elizabeth's Uncle, and then Elizabeth smiled and turned towards John, signalling for him to join them.
John walked over, pushing the trolley with their bags on it.
"Luke Weir this is John Sheppard," Elizabeth smiled as she said it.
Now he felt like her husband. Luke held out a hand and John shook it.
"Nice to meet you," Luke said in a clear American accent – one he'd obviously kept when his parents migrated.
"Likewise," John said, meaning it, he liked this guy.
"So are you two…"
"No," they both said, too fast.
"We work together," Elizabeth explained.
"I see…well John you're welcome to stay with us as long as you want – but we only have one spare bed so I guess you're going to have to sleep on the sofa," Luke said.
"I've slept in worse places," John smiled at Elizabeth, wondering if she would tell her family he was Air Force.
He knew about her past, how she'd argued against the military and against weapons, and he was sure her family would need a large amount of explaining as to why she'd brought a military man with her to her uncle's funeral.
She smiled back and then turned to Luke. "John's in the Air Force."
"Oh?" Luke looked shocked, that was the only way to explain it, then he said something in what John assumed was Dutch.
"Later," Elizabeth replied.
The three of them headed towards the car, Elizabeth and Luke walking ahead and catching up and John trailing behind them pushing the luggage. He didn't mind, he was sure there would be a lot of questions from relatives later about who he was and why Elizabeth was associating with him, at least if she explain that to Luke now he'd have to face less questions.
But then again he'd also have to check with Elizabeth what their cover story was. They had planned to make one up on the flight but it had slipped their minds entirely.
The car trip took them just over an hour in the traffic, but finally they pulled up at a nice-looking townhouse. There were Christmas lights wrapped around a tree out the front, and more in the shapes of stars in the front window. Something about the whole situation made John feel very at home.
The door opened and a two year old came running out and grabbed Luke's leg as he pulled John's bag out of the back of the car. A woman appeared after him, a baby in her arms, she said something in Dutch and Elizabeth turned around.
"Isabelle!" Elizabeth said, walking over and hugging her, avoiding squashing the baby.
Isabelle then asked her something and Elizabeth replied with a smile and held her arms out. Isabelle handed her the baby which Elizabeth held for a total of five seconds before it began crying. Her eyes widening slightly she handed the baby back to it's mother and it seemed happy again.
More conversation he didn't understand and they were all disappearing inside. John grabbed his bag and Luke took Elizabeth's and they headed into the house.
"How old?" John asked, nodding at the small boy running in front of them.
"Pieter's second birthday was three weeks ago and Jessica is five months," Luke looked proud. "You got any kids?"
"No, never been married," he replied.
"Social life's not so great in Antarctica?" Luke asked.
So that's where Elizabeth had told him they lived. "Not really."
"Wouldn't imagine so…just leave your bag here we'll move everything upstairs later, come and meet Isabelle," Luke lead him through a door into the living room. "Coffee?"
"Sounds good," John replied.
"Elizabeth, coffee?" Luke asked.
"Yes please!" Elizabeth sounded far too enthusiastic about the prospect of coffee.
He stood and watched her again. She was happy, he realised. He'd come along expecting her to be upset but here she was looking the happiest he'd seen her in months. Suddenly he felt stupid for having offered to come with her, but he didn't regret it, the alternative was much worse.
Jessica burst into tears and Isabelle jumped up to attend to her. John sat down next to Elizabeth.
"Antarctica huh?" he said.
"Well I didn't think the Pegasus Galaxy would go down too well…" Elizabeth responded. "At least it explains how we know each other."
"What else did you tell them?"
"You're a pilot and you live on the base where I was stationed to lead a scientific expedition to do with ancient cultures," she smiled.
"So not so far from the truth," John responded.
"I'm going to help Luke with the coffee," Elizabeth said, jumping up and heading to the kitchen.
Isabelle came and sat down on the chair next to the sofa. "Hello John…I am glad to meet you, if you will excuse my English it's my second language."
"Well you speak it well," John replied.
"Thank you," Isabelle smiled at him. "So why did you come?"
"Well it's Christmas, and Antarctica is cold and miserable and all my friends had already left for a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd accompany Elizabeth on her long trip…always better to have company right?"
"Of course," she smiled knowingly before continuing. "And you also care for her and were worried about her?"
John paused. "Well she's my friend…"
"And also more?"
Any response John might have conjured up was interrupted by the arrival of the coffee, but he wondered himself what his response would have been. As Elizabeth sat back down next to him he wondered if the world was trying to tell him something – because it was the second time that day that someone had mistaken them for a couple…
Because she'd gone to sleep far too early the night before Elizabeth found herself waking up at five in the morning. Unable to get back to sleep she made her way downstairs to the kitchen to find herself some coffee.
She'd forgotten how much she liked Luke, they hadn't seen each other for five years now – since his wedding. They'd always got on well as kids, one of the reason's her parents had seen it fit to send her to visit once a year, and they were the same age.
That made her realise exactly what she was missing in her life – although it was some consolation that her cousin knew nothing of alien races and other galaxies. But she'd always wanted a family, a husband and children – maybe a dog – and now she was beginning to wonder if her leading of the Atlantis expedition had taken that opportunity away from her.
Her mind landed on Simon. Luke had contacted him – she wondered what he'd said. Maybe he'd pretended that they were still together, it would explain Luke's surprise at seeing John – or maybe he had been rude and only agreed to contact the SGC because it was for a funeral.
For so long she had believe that when they finally found a way to get back to Earth she would go home and find Simon waiting for her, missing her. In her mind he would run over and hug her and tell her he wanted her to stay, he would have bought her a present and he would cook her a nice meal. Instead he'd been unpleasantly shocked to see her and no matter what she'd tried he refused to come with her to Atlantis.
Because he was seeing someone else. She'd only sent the tape what…a month before? Two at the most. She had expected him to wait maybe just a bit longer – but to her it seemed he had met this person not too long after she had left.
"You're up early."
She spun around to find John standing behind her, dressed in pyjama pants and a white t-shirt, yawning. "Your hair's messier than normal."
He frowned and ran his hand through his hair. "Well it hasn't had time to wake up yet."
Elizabeth grinned innocently and sat down with her coffee. John walked over to the counter and made himself one before joining her at the table.
"Did I wake you?" Elizabeth asked.
"Sort of. I was lying awake pretending to myself that there was still a chance of sleeping," John replied. "But then I heard someone in here and figured it must be you. Trust me, the kids crying was much more distracting."
"I didn't even know they had children until yesterday, I feel like a horrible cousin," Elizabeth replied.
"Well in all seriousness you were in another galaxy," John responded. "It's a tad hard to contact people."
They both fell silent for a moment. Elizabeth watched her friend as he sat, one knee bent and leaning against the table and the other foot placed firmly on the ground, and wondered if he ever thought about families, about children.
"It makes me realise what we're missing out on," she said finally.
"I know what you mean…but I keep telling myself we're doing something more important, and there's no way we can have children on Atlantis, the risk is too high with the Wraith," John replied.
"I do the same…but there's always the 'what if'…what if we beat the Wraith? Will we stay on Atlantis or come back here? Will we populate the city or abandon it – there's so much we don't know…I mean what if we're ninety by the time the Wraith are defeated…then we'll never have the chance to…" she stopped, suddenly realising exactly how much of her fears and hopes she was revealing to John. "Nevermind."
He stared at her for a few moments. "Hey…you'll have that chance Elizabeth."
"I thought I did," she said after a few moments silence. "I did have that chance. But I thought he'd always be there so I went to Atlantis, thinking stupidly he'd still be here when I got home. But he wasn't. He was already seeing someone else…"
John frowned, obviously unaware of her past life. "Who?"
"His name's Simon…we were going out for years, it was only a matter of time before he proposed. I just assumed it would be him, I never thought about it any further – I never considered that it wouldn't be, I just…assumed…and now he's gone and so is that chance."
"That chance isn't gone."
She looked up at his eyes, seeing something there for a moment that scared her. Did he mean that in the way she thought he did? Was that why he was here? Or was she just imagining things? John was her friend, her good friend, her very attractive, good looking friend, but that was it. Right?
She knew if she believed that she would be lying to herself, but she had to believe it. For the sake of the city, for the sake of the war and for her own sake. Because if she didn't believe it that would mean something she didn't want to face.
He watched her holding her coffee mug, knees drawn up and feet resting on her chair. She was dressed already in jeans and a black woollen sweater, but she wore no make up and her hair was yet to be brushed. He liked her like that, it meant he could look past her as a leader and see the woman underneath.
"So what did you want to do today?" she asked, changing the subject.
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "What day is it?"
"Wednesday," she replied.
"And the funeral's tomorrow?"
She paused for a moment, looking as though she'd forgotten for a moment why they were there. "Yes."
"Then don't you just want to take a day off and rest?" he asked, then before she had time to respond he stood up. "Come on, the sofa's more comfortable and we can watch TV in there."
The two of them left their empty coffee mugs behind and walked back into the living room. John gathered his blankets up and threw them behind the sofa, making room for Elizabeth to sit down. He turned on the TV at the power and then joined her, flicking through the channels.
He flicked straight past one and then it clicked what he'd just seen. Turning the channel back a big grin spread onto his face.
"Football!" he said.
"I wouldn't call it that around here…" Elizabeth smiled at him.
"Can I watch?" he asked, not even stopping to wonder why American sport was playing on a TV in Europe.
"Sure, go ahead," she settled back into the couch, curling her legs up next to her.
John was happy – they didn't have to do anything today, he could watch his sport. But somehow he found himself watching Elizabeth again; she was staring at the TV in confusion.
"I don't understand," she said after a few minutes.
"Elizabeth, how many times do I have to explain it?"
"They run with the ball?"
"There's a sta…Elizabeth…you know perfectly well how this works I saw you explain it to Ronon!"
She grinned at him. "Maybe."
He grabbed his pillow and hit her over the head with it. Obviously prepared for the attack she grabbed the other end and pulled hard, he lost his grip on it and suddenly he was being beaten up by a pillow.
"Elizabeth that's not fair I'm defenceless!"
"You started it," she replied as he tried to grab for the pillow.
He found himself lying down, completely weaponless, so reaching to the ground he found his hand land on something soft. Pulling it back up he found himself holding a cushion.
"Aha!" he said, getting Elizabeth on the side.
"Hey! No fair," she said.
"It's perfectly fair," he tried to respond, but it was muffled by a pillow.
Suddenly he found himself slipping off the couch, not wanting to go down alone he grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her with him, her landing on the ground first. Managing to avoid squashing her he wasn't quite able to avoid landing on top of her. One more hit from the pillow came from behind his head and then she seemed to lose control of her grip because the pillow fell to the ground.
Suddenly her reason for losing her concentration became very apparent to him as he lost his own. She was lying beneath him, their faces incredibly close to each other thanks to her last hit on the back of his head. He could feel her breath against his mouth and he knew exactly what he wanted to do – but he also knew he shouldn't.
He could see fear in her eyes, but it was accompanied by something else – anticipation. She wanted him to kiss her as much as he wanted to do so. For some reason he hadn't expected that, hadn't believed that she would ever want this.
He leant down further, closing the gap between them till it was barely a centimetre. Again he paused, should he or shouldn't he? Maybe he should let her move the final distance, but then again maybe she was waiting for him to…
From upstairs a loud screaming cry started. He pulled away, suddenly drawn back to reality as he heard footsteps crossing the floor upstairs above him. He watched as Elizabeth sat up and moved back onto the couch, he followed, sitting as far away from her as possible and gluing his eyes to the TV.
Isabelle came down the stairs with Jessica in her arms. Noticing the two coffee mugs on the table she walked into the living room.
"Morning," she said, smiling.
"Morning," Elizabeth replied, and John smiled.
Her first impression was they were sitting incredibly far apart. And seemed to wish they could get even further away from each other. Not to mention the tension in the room was as obvious as broad daylight.
Jessica started crying again and she put her down in her pram. After a few moments she fell silent – ready to sleep again.
"So you are up early," Isabelle said, trying to make conversation.
John seemed very involved in whatever sport it was playing on the television.
"We went to bed early," Elizabeth replied.
"True," Isabelle responded.
OK she wasn't going to get conversation out of either of them, so instead she stood up.
"Anyone for coffee?" she asked.
"No thanks," they both replied.
"OK then," Isabelle made her way into the kitchen, wondering exactly what was going on between them.
He could see how uncomfortable she was about this. Not that he blamed her – funeral's were never fun. But this time she looked particularly unsettled, and continued glancing at the front row.
He followed her line of sight which landed on an older man sitting there.
"Who's that?" he asked quietly.
"No one," Elizabeth replied shortly.
He knew continuing that line of questioning would be a really bad idea – but still she continued glancing in that man's direction. The man didn't glance back once but John got the impression he knew perfectly well that Elizabeth kept looking at him.
About halfway through the funeral the man stood up and took his place behind the microphone, began making a speech. Of course this was all in another language so John had absolutely no idea what any of them were talking about.
He glanced down at the program. The man's name was David Weir. It shouldn't mean anything special to him, everyone here had the last name 'Weir', but for some reason the name stuck out at him. It couldn't possibly be…?
The man sat back down and the funeral came to an end. As they all followed the casket out to the cemetery at the back of the church John could tell Elizabeth was trying to keep up a strong front, even though everyone around them was crying. He reached across and took her hand as they entered the cold.
She squeezed it, thanking him silently.
They watched as the body was lowered into the crowded cemetery. Instead of watching the man he watched Elizabeth. She was biting her lip and he could see her eyes watering, so letting go of her hand he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards him. She leant into him willingly, slipping her arm around his waist.
If it hadn't been that particular situation John was sure he would be enjoying the moment far too much, but he couldn't allow himself the pleasure at that time. Maybe later.
After he was buried and a few more words were spoken they walked back slowly to Luke's car. Elizabeth's arm was still around his waist, so he kept his arm around her shoulder – not entirely sure they should feel so comfortable in the situation. But they did.
In fact it felt more than comfortable, for the first time since they'd left Atlantis, John was glad he'd come. He felt like this was the reason, and as he watched Elizabeth let go of him and get into the car he felt a sense of protectiveness wash over him. He knew she would be OK, even as he watched her staring blankly out the window of the car.
Isabelle drove them to the relative's house that everyone was gathering at because Luke wasn't quite in the right state to drive. They'd left the children with a babysitter for the day.
When they reached the house John recognised the man standing out the front as David Weir, the man who'd made the speech. As Elizabeth's eyes fell on him she seemed to stiffen and her expression went very blank.
They got out of the car and the man greeted Luke and Isabelle before turning to them.
"Elizabeth," he said, in a clear American accent.
Remaining silent for a moment she stared at the man. "Hi Dad."
So he was right.
"Do I get a hug?"
He watched her facial expression soften and she hugged her father. When she pulled back he was smiling.
"How have you been?" he asked.
"Good actually," she replied. "And you?"
"Busy," he replied, then his attention shifted to John. "Who's this? Where's Simon?"
"That's a long story…" then she turned to John. "This is Lt Colonel John Sheppard."
"Army?" the look on his face was one of shock.
"Air Force," John replied, walking forward and shaking his hand. "I fly helicopters around Antarctica…nothing special."
"Antarctica?" David looked back at his daughter, raising an eyebrow in the same manor she did.
"I'll explain later," she replied, quickly.
"So are you two…"
"No," she cut him off. "Maybe we should go inside it's cold."
"How can you be cold? You live in Antarctica," he reminded her.
John could see the irritation forming on her face. He wondered why things were so awkward between them, but figured he'd just ask Elizabeth later. The three of them made their way inside where a large group of people speaking in two different languages were sitting around laughing and talking about anything and everything.
He sat down next to some random woman who offered him coffee and before he knew it David was sitting next to him.
"So why are you here? Really?" David asked.
"I don't follow, sir," he said, not entirely sure why he let 'sir' slip out.
If her father was anything like she used to be he was sure he wouldn't appreciate any form of military habits. He didn't even seem to notice, but he got that expression he'd seen Elizabeth wear so many times – the one that said 'you know exactly what I'm talking about and don't pretend otherwise'.
They really were related.
"What made you come all the way up here from Antarctica for the funeral of a man you've never met?"
"I had to fly Elizabeth to New Zealand to catch her plane so I figured why not take a holiday at the same time," he lied.
"And you two work together?" David looked really suspicious.
Damn father's why did they have to be so inquisitive all the time.
"Yes. She's the commander of a research base down there and I fly the helicopters," he replied.
It was a half truth.
"I see."
He really wasn't falling for it. John was thankful when a small girl handed him a plate with an extremely large piece of cake on it, interrupting the conversation. Elizabeth finally sat down next to him on the opposite side of the father.
Now he felt like he was in the middle of something. He had no idea what that something was, but he could feel it. The tension was almost visible.
"Commander of a research base, huh?" David asked, over John.
Elizabeth looked at John and then at her father. "Yes. For two years now."
"Why the change in careers?" he asked, now seeming genuinely curious – not so suspicious.
"The President asked me personally. So I accepted," Elizabeth replied. "Figured I could use a change."
"And that's why you and Simon broke up?" he asked.
John cringed. Why did people keep bringing Simon up? They must have been together for a hell of a long time if everyone kept talking about it. He wondered why they weren't just married if he was all everyone kept making him out to be.
"I offered him a position on the base, he didn't want it," Elizabeth replied. "So we went our separate ways."
She had? So far she'd stuck pretty close to the truth – the only lie being that they lived in Antarctica – although he was sure the Pegasus Galaxy would take a hell of a lot more explaining. Not to mention security clearance…
She hadn't expected him to be here – although it made perfect sense, it was his brother. But she hadn't been prepared. Maybe if she'd known she wouldn't have let John come with her – she knew her father knew her better than anyone else. He'd know perfectly well that John wasn't just some pilot who came along for a holiday.
"Excuse me," John said, standing up. "Where's the bathroom?"
Luke pointed him in the right direction and he disappeared.
"So truthfully, why's he here?" Dad asked.
Elizabeth turned to him. "Because he's my friend and I asked him to come."
"He wants a lot more than friendship if he's willing to fly across the planet for you."
"And since when did you care?"
A few people stopped to look at them and she suddenly became very aware of how loud she was talking. Lowering her voice she turned her attention back to her slice of cake.
"Sorry," she muttered.
"I deserved that," he replied. "But Elizabeth, listen to me when I tell you, the look I saw on that man's face at the funeral when you were upset. He cares about you as a lot more than a friend."
With that he stood up and walked off, leaving Elizabeth to stare at her plate in surprise. She hadn't seen her father for what…four years? Five years? And here he was telling her John cared about her when he'd only seen them together for a total of half an hour.
He had no right.
Before she could get properly mad John sat back down next to her. "Where's he going?"
"Who cares," she responded, then regretted it. "Sorry – he just has a talent for irritating me."
"I noticed," John replied.
She looked up at him and then instantly looked away again. There was that look. The one her father had noticed instantly. His eyes seemed to bore into her and read her like a book. She could see into him when he looked at her like that, could see how he felt. And her father was right – he hadn't followed her across the universe because he was her friend.
"Your own composition?" Elizabeth asked in surprised delight.
Luke nodded happily. "The music conservatorium is performing it on Friday – tomorrow – night…Would you like to come?"
"Of course I'd like to come!" she replied, really happy for her cousin.
He'd been trying to get his own concert going for years now – and here was his big chance. Luke and Isabelle had met while studying at the music conservatorium themselves, she was a singing teacher now and he conducted the orchestra.
But this was his big chance to move onto higher things.
"Great," Luke grinned. "Oh, by the way, when are you needed back in Antarctica?"
"Not until after Christmas – unless I get a call stating otherwise."
"Great, well you and John are both welcome to stay as long as you like. As long as you don't mind crying babies."
"They're no problem," Elizabeth replied.
It was almost midnight, and the two of them were still up watching 'Love Actually' on TV. It was one of the DVD's that was constantly circling Atlantis, and somehow watching it reminded Elizabeth of her home. It felt like forever since she'd seen the ocean.
Somehow she'd never thought she'd miss a large mass of water, but she did. Especially at night when she was used to hearing it. Earth wasn't home anymore, and that was strange to her.
Luke paused for a moment. "I missed having you around Elizabeth, you should visit more often."
"I wish I could…" she replied. "But it's difficult – what with the location of my work and everything."
"I can imagine. What's it like living in such isolation?"
"It's…different…but you get used to it. We're all really close – even people who'd normally hate each other…"
"Like you and John?" Luke asked.
Well actually she'd been thinking of Rodney and John…
"I suppose," she replied.
"You know how weird it is to us right? That you turned up here with an Air Force officer? After all those years of protesting against the military, it's like you turning up with Hitler or something."
"I've come to realise not everything the military does is bad – I still don't agree with the majority of their operations on Earth, but their officers are human…most of them anyway," she admitted.
"On Earth?"
She managed not to flinch at her own mistake, instead turning to her cousin and smiling. "Sometimes living so far away from the rest of the world it feels like we live on another planet. So we refer to the rest of the planet as 'Earth'."
"Interesting," Luke fell for it.
Phew.
"He's a good guy," Luke said.
"Who?"
"John…I like him."
"I'm glad," Elizabeth replied, confused.
Was everyone on the planet trying to set them up?
He left it at that, but Elizabeth knew exactly what he was thinking. The same thing her father thought – the same thing everyone thought. She wondered if it was the same on Atlantis. Did people watch them walking around together and suspect something else was going on? She knew they'd never say anything back there because they knew how utterly and completely inappropriate of them that would be.
But that never stopped people from thinking it.
"Sheppard," he mumbled, picking up the phone and glancing at the clock.
10AM? That was strange – normally he was woken up by screaming children by 7.
"Well don't you sound like a bouncing ball of happiness. It is 10AM over there right?"
"Cadman?" he muttered, sitting up properly.
"No it's your conscience," she replied sarcastically.
"Aren't you in Scotland?"
"Yes…"
"Why are you calling me?"
"Oh my God – Carson you deal with the grumpy old man," she muttered, and he heard the shuffling of a phone being passed along.
Grumpy old man? He resented that.
"Good morning, Colonel."
"Morning," John yawned. "So what have I done to be honoured with this phone call?"
"I was talking to Colonel O'Neill about transport back to the…base…and he said the Daedalus leaves 28th of December – and then he told me to contact you and tell you, they'll fax through the details of your flight. We're apparently meeting at Heathrow and flying together. Speaking of which…why are you in Europe?"
"Elizabeth's uncle died," John replied, all the information going over his head.
"Is she OK?" Carson sounded worried.
"She's fine…"
"And you're there why…?"
"Because I felt like getting away from Atlantis."
The slight pause betrayed Carson's disbelief in his excuse. "Aye."
They ended their brief conversation and John sat up, still confused as to why no one had woken him up by running down the stairs or crying. He grabbed his clothes off the chair and quickly got dressed in the bathroom before making his way upstairs.
Elizabeth was sitting in Luke and Isabelle's bedroom, Pieter was sitting on the edge of the bed, glued to whatever it was on the TV and Elizabeth was playing with Jessica. John stood in the doorway for a moment, observing her.
She was smiling at the child, the joy on her face hard to conceal. He hadn't seen her looking like that – ever – not even when him and Rodney were fighting. Something clenched at his chest as he watched her happily bouncing the baby on the bed in front of her. Lifting her up, sitting her back down. Jessica was squealing in delight and waving her arms around in the air.
He tried to locate what the emotion overcoming him was. Was that what he wanted? A child, or two…maybe three…? With who? Elizabeth? They were…so much more than friends – but he was getting way ahead of himself.
"She looks happy," he said finally.
Elizabeth looked up. "Morning sleepy head."
"Hey – I expected to be woken up hours ago," he replied, walking over and picking up Pieter to make space on the bed, before sitting on it and placing Pieter on his lap.
Pieter didn't even seem to notice, glued to the Rugrats – in Dutch.
"Where is everyone anyway?" John asked.
"These people have work, John," she replied, giving him that 'you should know better' look. "And I figured I'd let you sleep in considering how late Luke and I used your sleeping space to watch TV on last night."
"How's Luke doing?"
"He's as good as he can be in the situation…" Elizabeth replied, taking a moment to press Jessica's nose which seemed to make her happy.
John smiled as the baby smiled, why was her smile so god damn infectious? She was only five months old!
"He's doing better than I did," John said after a moment, not really thinking about what he'd just said.
He never talked about his personal life. Ever. He didn't like to – everything about it was always so awful. He suddenly became aware that he had revealed something to her that he hadn't revealed to anyone ever – and he knew she knew it because he suddenly felt her eyes searching his face for some sign of reaction.
"How long ago?" she almost whispered.
"Both of them – when I was sixteen," he replied, staring at the small boy on his lap, not wanting to meet her eyes.
He braced himself for the usual 'I'm sorry' or 'My condolences' but instead he got "Car crash?"
"Helicopter…" he looked up at Elizabeth now. "It's why I became a pilot – I thought I could do better, save a few people."
He didn't see pity in her eyes, and silently he thanked her for it, instead he saw understanding and…admiration?
"So today we're babysitters?" he asked.
"Looks like it," she responded, smiling again and returning her attention to Jessica.
He settled back and let Pieter bounce up and down on his knees at his excitement about whatever was happening on the TV. But he was watching Elizabeth and Jessica again. There was only one way to describe what he was seeing – and that was 'beautiful'. Their interaction fascinated him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen someone interacting with a child under the age of three, but it had been a good long while and he'd forgotten exactly how amazing it could be.
And it was Elizabeth sitting next to him on the bed playing with the five-month-old.
She watched as John chased after Pieter on his hands and knees. Pieter screamed in delight and ran until John tagged him lightly on the arm. Then he turned around and ran back at John, who once he was hit pretty hard on the head decided to play dead.
"Nee!" the little boy said, prodding John happily. "Nee!"
John opened his eyes. "Elizabeth the dead body needs a translation…"
"He said 'no'," she replied, amused.
"Thanks," John replied, and went back to being quiet.
But of course now Pieter knew he wasn't dead he squealed and jumped on him. John mumbled and 'ow' and rolled over, grabbing Pieter and standing up.
"OK kiddo, I think Uncle John's had quite enough 'tag' for one day," John said, sitting on the sofa and placing Pieter on the floor with his toys.
Apparently toys weren't as exciting as his new found friend because he turned around, stood up and grabbed John's leg again before squealing in delight and running off.
"Tag, you're it," Elizabeth refrained from smiling as much as she could.
John dragged himself up again and grabbed Pieter, then proceeding to hold him upside down. Pieter squealed with delight. Just at that moment the front door opened, revealing Luke and Isabelle.
"Making new friends?" Luke asked as he took his jacket off.
John put Pieter back down and he ran squealing to his Dad who picked him up. "Apparently." He flopped back down next to Elizabeth, completely exhausted. "You know these kids make Rodney seem easy."
"Try having them all day every day, John," Isabelle said.
"We'll see what the future holds," John replied.
And he didn't miss the look Isabelle shot Elizabeth at John's comment and he was suddenly very aware of how close they were sitting. In fact their arms were touching – and what struck him as even stranger was how normal that seemed to him. He didn't have any qualms at all about sitting that close to her.
Actually it felt stranger when they weren't that close together…
Maybe he should just give up denying it? He really cared about her. Maybe…just maybe he was even slightly in love with her.
Or a lot.
Elizabeth felt like her jaw was going to hit the ground. She wondered why her cousin had never been discovered as a genius composer before, because that's what he was. She leant on the balcony railing in front of her watching the choir and orchestra as they performed their last piece.
They finished and John was instantly on his feet applauding, Elizabeth was only a milli-second behind him. Luke was sitting to the side of the stage looking modest and rather embarrassed at the wild applause that his concert was receiving.
"You come from a talented family, Elizabeth," John said over the applause.
"You could say that again," Elizabeth replied, not even thinking about the statement, she was in awe.
It took about half an hour for Luke to make his way out of the hall, his expression showed everything perfectly. He was having the best night of his life.
"Time for drinks," Luke said cheerfully, and before anyone could say otherwise he'd practically bounced over to his car. "Come on we gotta get to the bottle shop before it closes."
"So I take it we're drinking at home?" John asked.
"Well there are children to think of," Luke said. "So I figured that's the easiest way to go about it."
"Makes sense," John replied.
"I'm going to walk," Elizabeth said, suddenly. "I need to stretch my legs."
"Me too," John added instantly.
Just as she had expected. She paused and frowned – was she only walking because she knew John would walk with her? Well that would seem suspicious wouldn't it?
"If you want," Luke replied, getting in the car. "You know where the spare key is right, Liz?"
"Sure do," she replied, for a moment taken back by the nickname.
No one ever called her Liz. She wasn't sure why, but they never had – she'd always been Elizabeth. As the car drove off she turned and started walking down the road towards Luke's place.
"You know this is the first time in five years I've spent Christmas in…civilisation," John stated after a few moments.
She turned to him and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "One year in Atlantis, one year in Antarctica…"
"The rest in war zones," he replied, staring straight ahead.
"Oh."
They both fell silent, walking in the night down the street. Elizabeth shoved her hands in her pockets, feeling the cold all of a sudden. Why was he being so quiet? In fact why was she being so quiet?
Possibly because there was too much to tell him. For the first time she damned the fact that they had spent all day babysitting two small children, because it had made her realise two things. One – what she was missing out on and two – what a great father John would be.
And the second one of those was entirely inappropriate.
"Jessica's cute," John said. "Kinda reminds me of you."
"Does she now?" Elizabeth asked, narrowing her eyes at John.
"She does. Always observing everything and seems to enjoy people arguing playfully a lot more than she should," John avoided looking at her but he was grinning.
"Not to mention her ability to put up with people who are far more immature than her."
John turned to her and glared evilly. "That's not fair."
"I think it's completely fair," Elizabeth replied, then she stopped outside a candy store decorated with Christmas lights all over the front and inside. "We have to go in there."
"Oh now who's mental age is closer to Jessica's," he responded.
She hit him playfully on the arm and walked into the store.
Elizabeth didn't seem to notice the mistletoe hanging from the top of the doorway, but he sure did. Could he make use of it? No that wasn't entirely fair was it? It was like cheating…he could kiss her and pretend there was nothing more to it than his usual cheekiness.
And somehow he didn't want that.
Shaking the mistletoe from his mind he followed Elizabeth around the store as she picked a few candies off the shelf and put them in a paper bag. He'd never in his life seen any of these things.
She bought the bag of sugar and came back over to him. "Stop picking things up."
"Sorry Mom," he replied, putting back down the strange stick of sugar he'd just picked up.
As they were heading out Elizabeth's jacket caught on the doorhandle. John's mind ran through a hundred things at once. Point out the mistletoe, don't point out the mistletoe and just kiss her, was fate trying to tell him something? Maybe he shouldn't say anything. Maybe he should. Maybe he should just help her get free of the door…
"Did you notice the mistletoe?" he ended up with as he helped pull her jacket free of the doorhandle.
Yeah nice and subtle John.
"Yes, actually," she replied.
"We're standing under it."
"I noticed."
"There's rules about this sort of thing…"
"There's rules about lots of things. Some of them are more important than others."
OK he didn't need an explanation on that one. He could feel her nervousness and confusion. Suddenly she turned and walked out of the doorway. Chance gone.
He followed her out into the cold again. She was walking faster now, seemingly determined to get back to Luke's as fast as she possible could. He easily kept up with her.
He'd missed his chance. She had been standing there under mistletoe and he could've kissed her and she might not have even thought anything of it. He wanted to kiss her.
He really wanted to kiss her…
What on Earth had just overcome him?
He stopped and grabbed her arm.
"John what are you doing?" she asked.
"Fixing my mistake," he replied, turning around and starting to walk back to the store.
"What?"
He didn't respond, instead her pulled her back into the doorway of the store and kissed her before she could think of leaving. It only took him a few moments to realise what he was actually doing.
He was kissing Elizabeth.
Not that it fel bad or wrong or anything – in fact it felt quite the opposite – but he knew she would entirely not approve of the situation, even if it involved mistletoe. He pulled away suddenly and walked back onto the street.
Shit.
She followed him in silence. They walked the entire way back to Luke's place in silence, but there was none of the drawn out tension that he'd felt earlier. Elizabeth took the spare key from its hiding place and opened the door, paid the babysitter before she left and then sat down in front of the TV.
She didn't turn it on.
John stood awkwardly in the doorway of the room – he spent far too much time in doorways – wondering if he should sit down next to her or pretend he had other things to do. Just at that moment Luke and Isabelle came in, three bottles of champagne accompanying them.
He was just sitting there, pretending like nothing had happened. How could he just sit there and act so casually? If he'd just kissed her lightly underneath the mistletoe it would be much easier to deal with, but he'd grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the store.
And he hadn't just kissed her lightly on the lips. No he'd actually kissed her, softly and caringly, leaving her wanting more. Damn him.
Isabelle had gone to bed an hour ago and Luke and John were in some in depth discussion about planes, giving her mind plenty of time to mill over things. What scared her most was how much she wanted it to happen again.
But that was a definite no. No more kissing. Ever.
Well maybe…
No. She closed her eyes and seemed to breath in too sharply because Luke glanced at her.
"You OK?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she replied. "Just tired."
At this Luke yawned. "Well I'm heading to bed. Good night."
"Night," the both replied.
John flicked on the TV and turned to Elizabeth. "You mind? There's a game I'd like to see…"
"Go ahead," she replied, smiling slightly.
How were things not entirely awkward between them? She should have got up when Luke did and gone to bed, but she wanted to stay with him. She froze as he lay down on the sofa leaning his head on her shoulder.
Now what?
She didn't say anything, instead she took a rather large sip from her glass of champagne. It didn't take John long to fall asleep, and she found herself watching NFL, not her favourite form of sport. She looked down to John who's head had ended up in her lap.
She smiled slightly to herself, running her hand through his hair – something she knew he'd never let her do if he was awake and she would never do if she were sober. She glanced at the clock. It was two in the morning, which made it Christmas Eve.
She was starting her Christmas Eve alone with John Sheppard asleep on her lap only a few hours after he'd kissed her in the doorway of a candy store. She suddenly found her smile disappearing, she had the urge to cry. Why would she cry? This was perfect…why would she want to ruin it by crying?
She knew why. It was a stolen moment, one that she would have to forget about when they returned to Atlantis.
Slowly lifting up John's head she stood up before placing it back on the sofa. She stared at him for a few moments, half expecting him to wake, but he didn't. Grabbing his sleeping bag from the floor she unzipped it and put it over him to keep him warm.
She stood over him for what seemed like forever. She didn't want to leave, but not only would it look incredibly strange if she woke up next to him – it was pretty much impossible to do so on the tiny sofa. So instead she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.
"Goodnight John," she whispered.
He didn't remember falling asleep. In fact last thing he remembered was leaning over onto Elizabeth's shoulder trying to make himself comfortable watching football.
Oh crap he'd leaned on her shoulder.
Not to mention kissed her.
He sat up really fast, making himself dizzy in the process. Damn alcohol. But wait, he'd kissed her before he drunk anything.
He rolled up his sleeping bag, trying to figure out if the headache came from the alcohol or from trying to figure out all the stupid things he'd done the night before. He walked into the kitchen to get himself a coffee to find Luke sitting in there.
"Morning," John yawned.
"Morning," Luke replied.
John could feel his eyes following him as he made his coffee. What on Earth could be so interesting about his back? Unless somehow he knew…
"So what happened last night between you two?"
…well that answered his question.
"Sorry?" John played innocent, turning around and leaning against the kitchen bench.
"You think I didn't notice the awkwardness when we got home? Not to mention how quiet Elizabeth was the entire night…she's never quiet, especially not after that much champagne."
OK so this cousin knew her better than he thought. What was he supposed to say to that? 'I kissed her even though she's my boss and once we go back to the lost city of Atlantis – by the way its in the Pegasus Galaxy – we're not allowed to have any kind of relationship so really I've just screwed with her head'.
For some reason he didn't think that would go down well…
"And silence answers me well," Luke said, jumping up as the doorbell rang.
Saved by the bell.
Or not.
David Weir walked in. That was just what he needed, the father.
"Good morning, John," he said.
"Morning, sir."
"No 'sir' please we're not in the Air Force here," David sat down.
"Sorry, habit."
Elizabeth and Isabelle entered the room at that moment, Elizabeth carrying Jessica and Isabelle wiping Pieter's mouth and talking to him in Dutch. Suddenly John felt like he'd walked into someone else's family uninvited.
Well…he had.
Then he caught Elizabeth's eye. There was something there he hadn't seen before, a sparkle that seemed to appear only when she looked at him. And there was something else there…something he hadn't seen for a very long time.
Love.
'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' played in the background somewhere as they walked to the park to let Pieter run around for a bit.
"So are you two together yet?"
Elizabeth bit her lip and turned to her father. "No."
"You sure?"
"Yes Dad, I'm sure," Elizabeth snapped at him.
"Look, I'm sorry…" he paused for a moment before adding, "…for everything."
"It's a bit late," but she knew she wasn't angry at him anymore.
In fact she'd gotten over it a long time ago, she just hadn't wanted him to win – hence she hadn't called him. To tell the truth she couldn't even remember what had started it all, just that it had started around the time of her mother's death.
She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. "You're forgiven."
"Friends?" he asked.
"Family," she replied, smiling.
"Now that that's sorted…something changed between you two so what is it?"
A week ago she would've blown up at him for saying it, but just one simple apology could set a lot of things straight. "He kissed me last night," she replied not even sure why she would tell him that.
"I thought he might have," her Dad was smiling, watching John lifting Pieter up onto the playground.
"What made you think that?"
"He was giving off the 'I made a move but I'm waiting for you to make the decision about what happens next' vibes all day."
"Interesting," Elizabeth sat down on the park bench.
"So how long have you known each other?" he asked, sitting down next to him.
"Just under two years," she replied.
"Elizabeth can I give you some advice?"
She turned to him and raised her eyebrow in question.
"Take the chance while it's here, because you never know what's going to happen."
She knew instantly he was talking about her mother. They'd had an argument the night she died, that was why she'd gone out in the car in the first place…he'd blamed himself, making him one of the most unpleasant people to be around she'd ever known. But he'd changed now, gone back to his old self – she'd noticed it instantly – although that hadn't made it any easier for her to forgive him.
"It's not always that easy," she replied.
"Then you have to do it the hard way."
He had a point – more than he knew – about never knowing when something was going to happen. So many times she'd thought John was dead, gone forever, and so many times she'd been lucky enough that he'd come back.
But home many more times could that happen?
It was the same reason she shouldn't have feelings for him…yet it was the reason she knew she had to do something about it.
"Thanks, Dad," she said after a few minutes.
"Don't thank me yet," he replied.
Now this was what he'd always wanted for Christmas, John decided staring around the dinner table at the laughing, not-quite-sober, people. Since they'd gone to the park he'd noticed Elizabeth staying incredibly close to him and wondered if there was anything more to that…
Even her Dad had been smiling at him, which he found odd.
He glanced at the clock. It was 11 PM. Isabelle was yawning already and David was looking just about ready to fall asleep in his chair. Only Luke seemed to be able to manage late nights.
"OK, you, to bed," Luke said, scooping up Isabelle in his arms and wincing as he did so. "Wow…this looks easier on TV."
She laughed and hit him playfully as he put her back down. David stood up as well.
"Well I'm off," he said, grabbing his jacket.
John stood up and walked over to him. "Nice to meet you, David."
"You too John, pity I couldn't get to know you better – but something tells me we'll be seeing each other again in the future," he winked at Elizabeth.
John frowned and looked at her, but she just smiled at him smugly. They had a secret they weren't sharing with him.
"Take care of my daughter, I'm sure I can trust you'll do that," David said.
"Always," John replied. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," David shook his hand and then turned to say goodbye to Elizabeth.
They hugged, which half-surprised John as last time he'd looked they were angry at each other. He guessed they must have had some kind of conversation at some point that day that made things better between them.
Luke and Isabelle walked David to the door where they exchanged goodbyes.
"So you made up?" John asked as they watched her father at the door.
"I guess so," Elizabeth responded.
"The Daedalus leaves in four days," John said randomly.
"Oh?"
"Didn't I mention that? Our flight leaves the 26th from Heathrow, Carson called and told me," John said.
"You neglected to mention that."
"I had other things on my mind," he responded. "When they faxed through the details Daniel added that apparently there's a huge New Year's party planned on the Daedalus."
"Caldwell's going to love that," Elizabeth replied sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, lucky he's on Atlantis, won't even know about it," John grinned.
"Do I get another kiss for New Years?"
Sorry what? He blinked and looked at her again. Had she just actually asked that? Whatever her father had said to her certainly seemed to work…
"And don't pretend you didn't hear me, because I know you did," she continued.
"I…ah…"
"Well we're off to bed, good night," Luke said from the hallway. "Merry Christmas, and we'll see you in the morning."
"Merry Christmas!" Isabelle added.
"Merry Christmas," both John and Elizabeth responded.
Elizabeth suddenly seemed to notice exactly what kind of conversation they'd been having before Luke interrupted. She walked out of the hallway and back into the living room and John followed her. The lights were off, the room illuminated only by the lights from the Christmas tree.
"Yes," John said quietly.
"What?"
"But you don't have to wait till New Year."
She turned to face him. In the light of the tree he could see her smiling, but it was her mischievous smile.
"Who says I don't want to wait till New Year?"
"Well, before you decide, I have a present for you," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small package. "Merry Christmas."
She took the small gift and opened it, revealing a jewellery box. Well that she could've guessed from the size. She opened that to reveal a small bracelet, on the top was inscribed 'Merry Christmas Elizabeth' and when she flipped it over she found 'Love John'.
"Thank you," she barely managed before she practically threw her arms around him and hugged him as close to her as possible.
He placed his arms around her and hugged her back. "Thank you for letting me come, for letting me spend this time with you and not with Kavanagh and Caldwell.
She pulled away, leaving her arms around his neck and looked him in the eyes. "Thank you for coming."
She watched as his eyes searched hers for a few moments and then he leaned down and kissed her. After a few moments he pulled away.
"Merry Christmas," he said.
"Merry Christmas," she said, kissing him again.
And a part of her dreaded returning to Atlantis…but she guessed they would find a way.
Love always found a way.