Title: Family (only because I can't think of anything better at the moment)
Pairings: Shep/Weir (of course) and Weir/Simon (not for long grins evilly)
Summary: AU- definitely I'm not sure if I want this to be a universe where the Stargate doesn't exist or if it just wasn't discovered yet. Pretty much, Elizabeth got married to Simon then met John, the rest of SGA will make an appearance eventually.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and the characters that aren't on the show.
A/N: I had to get this idea down on paper before I could write another chapter to my other fic. For some reason my crazy brain wouldn't let this one get away.
Chapter 1
Bright lights passed across the dark window in intervals, cars that were driven by people going to work or starting their vacation. It was probably around four in the morning, she had to be leaving soon. Elizabeth Weir turned from the window trying not to wake the person sleeping next to her.
A muscular man lay on his stomach next to her; he would be tall if he was standing up. A shadow of stubble shone around his chin and cheeks, which she found incredibly sexy. His hair was messy, but that had nothing to do with their recent activities, it was always messy, like he had a permanent case of bed head.
Giving into the urge, she reached out and ran a hand through the soft messy black hair on the man's head. He shifted; opening one green eye to look at her, a sleepy smile appeared on his face.
"Hey," his voice was deep and sexy with sleep, and she had to smile back.
"Hey."
He shifted closer to her and ran his hand down her thigh, caressing the skin.
"I have to leave soon," it was a pure statement of fact; she couldn't be here longer than normal, because she had to get to back.
He sighed, unconsciously gripping her leg possessively.
"John, you know I have to go," Elizabeth could feel them both mentally pulling away from each other, she knew it would happen.
"Yes Elizabeth, I know you have to go, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," John looked at her again, pain and anger in his gaze, "I know you have to leave, but I don't want you to."
The venom in his words shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. It hurt her that she couldn't stay, but she wasn't about to let John Sheppard in on that particular secret.
"Hey," Elizabeth slid closer to him and cupped his cheek, "if it was possible for me to stay you know I would. I wouldn't be here if I didn't care about you and you know that."
"Yeah, I do," John ran his hand through her hair, gazing into her eyes. He moved closer and kissed her innocently. It gradually became more passionate as he lent into her, sliding his hand in between them.
"Wait, I really have to go," John sighed into her neck as Elizabeth attempted to disentangle herself from his body.
"Yeah I know, I know," John rolled over onto his back as he watched her walk to the bathroom, admiring the view.
Fifteen minutes later she exited the bathroom, freshly showered and wearing a pair of jeans with a fitted long sleeve shirt. Glancing at John standing by the window in only his jeans, she briefly reconsidered staying.
Elizabeth walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his warm body, and resting her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I want to stay," John took a deep breath and remained unresponsive, "I've got to go, I'll call you later."
She moved away from him, shrugging into her leather jacket and heading out the door.
"I have to run some errands tonight I don't know when I'll be back."
His voice stopped her in the doorway, he was a good man, but he couldn't be for her. Elizabeth closed the door to his apartment, making her way down to her car and sliding in behind the wheel.
John Sheppard was an arrogant flyboy when she'd first met him, and he'd done anything he could to get in her bed. It had been a really bad idea, but after resisting for a few months she had eventually given in, inviting the air force pilot into a bed with her. For a few months that had been the arrangement, they would meet and have sex then one of them would leave. Then it had changed, they'd started meeting for coffee and telling childhood stories, he knew more about her then anyone else.
John was someone that she trusted infinitely, no matter what happened he was always there for her; she couldn't imagine her life without him.
"Oh my God," Elizabeth dropped her head to the steering wheel, "it was never supposed to be anything more than a fling."
Sighing to herself she started the car and pulled out of the parking garage, quickly getting on the highway.
By the time she pulled into the driveway of the white suburban house, it was around eight o'clock and everyone in there should be awake. She opened the car door and moved down the path lined with flowers, growing was something that she'd never had the talent to do, and toward the front door.
Elizabeth pushed open the door and stepped across the threshold, looking up the stairs wondering if she had time to change before…
"Oomph," the air was temporarily knocked out of her, as something had come running down the hall and thrown its small arms around her legs, before she even had the chance to close the door.
Looking down, Elizabeth could see a mass of very messy black hair somewhere around her navel. That hair was attached to a small boy about four years old, wearing dinosaur pajamas and currently squeezing the life out of her knees as if he hadn't seen her in three years. The boy turned his head upward, revealing bright green eyes, her eyes.
"Mommy!" the boy squealed, causing Elizabeth to grin, "morning mommy!"
"Morning Nicky," Elizabeth shrugged out of her jacket and closed the door before reaching down and lifting her son into her arms, "why aren't you watching Saturday morning cartoons, like you always do?"
"Because daddy doesn't like it when I watch cartoons, he says that I have to watch something educational like CNN," he grimaced at the thought, "why weren't you here last night? Did you have to work?"
"Yep, there are these two countries that are fighting with each other and if I don't help them figure it out somebody could get hurt," she had explained what a diplomat did to Nicholas before, and the understanding he showed still amazed her. She walked through the house, with the boy still on her hip, pausing a second to pet her dog, before continuing toward the kitchen.
When she walked into the kitchen a man not much taller then herself was seated at the counter sipping a cup of coffee, he looked up when she entered.
"Well, who is this mysterious woman that just walked into my house and picked up my son?"
The man stood up to come over to her; he was slightly on the heavy side and wore slacks and a sweater even though it was the weekend. His eyes were a dull brown and the hair on his head was flecked with grey, he was the perfect picture of a conservative business man.
"Ha ha ha, very funny Simon, you knew that I was working late last night," seeing the stubborn glint appear in Simon's eyes she put Nick back on his feet, "why don't you go watch some cartoons."
As the boy ran off, Elizabeth took a moment to study her husband. It was a running argument between them that she was still working as a diplomat for the government and trying to be a wife and mother. Simon thought that she should be a stay at home mom, but Elizabeth wouldn't settle for that. She had always thought that she was meant to do something more, and that wasn't sitting around eating bonbons.
"Elizabeth, I know that you were working last night, but you could've left early to be here on my last night," Simon was angry and it was understandable, she had completely forgotten that he was leaving today. Simon was a lawyer that was employed by the government, so he was required to travel to wherever the client was. Today he had to go to China and defend a US citizen that was placed in one of their jails; he would be gone for three weeks at the least. He had also specifically requested that they have a family dinner together before he left, she'd had a bad day at work and when John had called she had just agreed.
"I'm sorry, I got busy and completely forgot, when you get back we'll go out," it was the best that she could do, Simon was the cook; Elizabeth had no domestic skills whatsoever, beyond doing the laundry.
The man smiled slightly and moved to give her a hug; she returned the action on instinct, feeling rather awkward in his arms after being in John's all night. He moved away and picked up his bags that were in the corner.
"Alright, but I'm holding you to that. I have to go my cab will be here any minute," Simon walked into the living room, followed by Elizabeth.
Nick was there, sitting straight backed on the couch watching cartoons, and as soon as Simon came in he turned them off and stood up. Simon smiled and put his bags down getting ready for a goodbye hug.
"Now remember to take care of your mom okay? And don't forget, no feet on the couch, no junk food, no getting your clothes dirty and no rough housing with the dog," Nicholas nodded swiftly and gave Simon a stiff hug.
Elizabeth frowned slightly; her son had never really accepted Simon's rules, even though he followed them. She thought that he was too strict, when she was young her and her brothers would wrestle around and fight on the couches over what they would watch; the only time they didn't was when their father, a navy admiral, would order them to stop.
A horn sounded from outside, and Simon pulled away while picking up his bags again.
"Well I'll see you guys in a few weeks," with that said he walked to the front door and left, a few seconds later a car could be heard pulling away from the house. Nick blinked up at her as if wondering what to do. The pitter patter of Shadow's feet could be heard before the golden retriever was standing at her side. Both the dog and boy looked at her; she cocked an eyebrow at her son and jumped up onto the, shoes and all.
The action spurred the other two, and Nicholas and Shadow leaped up with her, all of them laughing.
In that instant she could see Nicholas's father in his features; the carefree laugh combine with the mischievous glint in his eyes and the playful smile on his lips. These things were something that she had never associated with her husband, but were the spitting image of her lover.
Nick's birthday was close enough to a night that she and Simon had spent together for him to believe that he was the boy's father. And Elizabeth had even thought that Nick might have been until she saw the child, he was the spitting image of John except for a few features that were her own.
That had complicated things; she had deep feelings for John, but hadn't wanted to hurt Simon. Then her son was born and she could never find the right time to tell either man the truth; Simon still thought that Nick was his son and John thought the same.
Elizabeth still couldn't figure out a way that she could be with John and not hurt Nick or Simon. All of her professors would be laughing their asses off right now, the great Elizabeth Weir that thought she knew everything was backed into a corner.
Later that night she was really starting to enjoy being free of Simon. They'd gone out, rented movies and ordered a pizza; Nick was in the living room right now watching TV and eating dinner on the couch, something that Simon would never allow.
She was standing in the kitchen having her first cigarette in over two months. It was a bad habit, but she had started after her brother had died and had never managed to quit. But Simon didn't approve so she didn't smoke in the house. John knew of her habit and had encouraged her to quit, but he didn't get into an argument with her every time she lit up.
The phone rang, expecting it to be Simon she took her time getting to it.
"Hello?"
"Elizabeth?" the shaky voice on the other end registered immediately, even though it was entirely different from its normal tone.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Elizabeth fought hard to keep the panic out of her voice. Her mother hadn't sounded this shaken since her oldest brother, Brian, had been killed.
"Your…your father had a heart attack," she almost dropped the receiver, Robert Weir was the strongest man she knew, the thought of something happening to him was earth shattering.
"What? Do Troy and Kyle know?" she doubted that either did, her older brothers were harder to get a hold of then she was. This all had to do with their jobs of course, Kyle was an adventure hunter and Troy was with the CIA's under cover operations division.
"No, I haven't been able to get a hold of them; do you have any idea where they are?"
Elizabeth didn't, she hadn't talked with either of her brothers since before Nick was born, because they didn't approve of Simon. It was ironic that after meeting John, Simon hadn't been enough for her either.
"I don't know where either of them is, but I think I can find them," Elizabeth did a quick run through of the favors she'd have to call in, and they added up to a lot more then she wanted to admit, but it was for a good reason, "I'll give you a call as soon as I have a way to contact them."
"Elizabeth, hurry please it was pretty severe."
"I will, talk to you soon," with that she hung up, her family was notorious for ending a call without saying goodbye.
She quickly put out the cigarette and was half way to the door before the sound of the TV reached her. Turning around she realized that she couldn't just leave Nick here alone and she couldn't get the information she needed from home. Making a snap decision and rushing back to the phone before she could change her mind she started dialing the only number that came to mind.
John Sheppard was sitting in his apartment reading War and Peace when the phone on his kitchen counter rang. He looked up at it for a moment before glancing at the clock on the wall that read 2200; only one person he knew would call him this late.
Sighing he set the book down and walked to the phone, he stared at it for a moment trying to decide if he wanted to talk to her, before picking up the receiver.
"Sheppard?"
"John, I need a favor," Elizabeth's voice was rushed and panicky, something that he'd never heard before, it put all thoughts of avoidance out of his mind.
"Elizabeth, are you alright?"
"No, I need you to come over here and watch Nick for a little while," that was the last thing that he had ever expected; he had never even met the boy. Plus he wasn't the father, no matter how much he wanted to be, John had no idea why she'd be asking him.
"What are you talking about, I…"
"John, please I'll explain everything when you get here."
She sounded so flustered that he couldn't say no to her, not that he could anyway. After taking down the address, he grabbed a coat and drove quickly to where the woman he loved was in obvious distress.
John jogged up to the door and knocked on the rich oak, waiting impatiently for it to open. When it did, it revealed the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen wearing the same clothes that he'd seen her in this morning.
"Hey"
"Hey, thanks for getting here so quickly," she stepped aside and he quickly followed. They'd spent a lot of time together over the past few years, but he had never set foot in her house before today. He couldn't see much from his position; pretty much all which presented itself was a stairway that leads upstairs and hard wood floors lining the hallway.
He didn't have much time as Elizabeth moved down the hallway and farther into the house, quickly followed by John. The house looked pristine; not at all like a four year old lived there and he knew for a fact that Elizabeth was messy when left to her own devices, which meant that the husband must run a tight ship.
Stepping into the kitchen behind Elizabeth, he watched her walk behind the counter and immediately light a cigarette; from the ashtray he could tell that she had had quite a few.
"Elizabeth, what's wrong and where is he?" he didn't like saying the man's name, it made him feel like everything he had with her was wrong, but she knew who he meant.
"Simon went out of town for a few weeks on business," he saw her sigh heavily then look up at him, into his eyes, "my father had a heart attack and I need to go into my office in order to track down my brothers."
"Okay," it seemed to startle both of them that he had agreed so easily, but that didn't mean he was any less sincere.
"Okay, I should only be gone for a couple hours," she looked at him for a moment as if reconsidering, before shaking her head, "Nicholas is in the living room watching TV, he can go to bed when he gets tired, but don't let him try to stay up and wait for me, because he will. There's some pizza in the refrigerator and we rented some movies, so you shouldn't be bored."
John nodded a couple of times, he had never seen Elizabeth so flustered and he was going to do anything that he could to help out. She shook her head again absentmindedly and headed off down another hallway, John did the only thing he could; follow.
The hallway opened up into a large room with a couple of couches, a large TV and a fireplace, that happened to have a dog lying in front of it. A small boy sat on one of the couches, sitting straight backed as if he was in military camp, he knew that couldn't be Elizabeth's conditioning, because when she relaxed she sunk as far down into a chair as possible. The thought made his jaw clench, the man that she was married to apparently wasn't going to let a kid just be a kid.
"Hey Nicky," Elizabeth knelt down next to the couch to speak to her son. John couldn't help but be struck with the resemblance, they had the same color eyes and hair, there were also some other features that looked familiar, but he couldn't place, "I have to go into the office for a little while and I don't want you trying to wait up for me, is that clear? While I'm gone a good friend of mine is going to watch you, his name's John. Is that okay?"
John stood still with his hands in his pockets as Nick turned to look at him, studying his every move and thought with bright green eyes. The boy frowned at him for a moment before nodding his consent.
"Alright, you be good for him, because I'll get a full report when I get home," Elizabeth stood and ruffled Nick's hair before giving him a smile and heading for the door.
"Thanks for doing this, I know that this is really weird, but I didn't know who else to call."
"Hey, it's okay, anytime you ever need something I'm hear for you, just don't expect me to clean your house for you," that earned a smile from her, which was exactly what he had been going for, "don't worry about anything, we'll be just fine."
With that said he gave her a little push out the door and closed it behind her. After waiting until the car was out of the driveway, John shrugged out of his coat and made his way back to the living room.
Nick was sitting in the same position as the last time John saw him. He shrugged to himself before walking over and flopping ungracefully onto the couch next to the kid.
"What're you watching?" John looked over to see Nick studying him with a frown.
"The State of the Union Address," John made a disgusted face, it was bad enough that the thing took over every station for one night of the year; he didn't need to watch it twice.
"Okay, now that is just wrong to subject a child to that, did your mom make you watch it?"
"No, my dad thinks that if I watch intelligent things I will grow up to be smart like him," John made another face; it figures that 'stick in the mud' would force this torture on the kid.
"Well that's a matter of opinion. Personally I think that if you want to be smart, use your mom as a role model not your dad. And I have it on good authority that your mom would not make you watch this for entertainment," with that said John reached over and grabbed the remote from the other side of the couch.
John then proceeded to flip through the channels under Nicholas' watchful gaze.
"There, no one can watch this too many times," he had settled on the Disney channel, which was currently playing Toy Story, a personal favorite of his.
"What is it?"
The question had startled John, what kid hadn't watched Toy Story?
"You've never seen this?"
"No, dad doesn't like me watching cartoons, he says it will rot my brain," Nick frowned for a moment in thought, "mom and dad always fight about it, because she says that I should be able to watch cartoons if I want to."
"Well she's right, no one should go through life without watching cartoons, and I still like to watch them."
"You do? But you're an adult."
John looked at the little boy and grinned, he was going to show this kid how to have fun if it was the last thing he did.
"I love to watch cartoons, especially this movie. Now I'm going to go make us some popcorn and then I'm going to introduce you to the finer points of TV watching. The first of which is that you have to be as comfortable as possible."
John stood to go into the kitchen, only leaving the room when Nick was properly slouched and glued to the television.
After watching the movie and having a very large popcorn fight, John had discovered that Nick had never actually made a fort. So he'd stolen all of the pillows and blankets from the living room and proceeded up to the boy's bedroom.
It had taken Elizabeth forever to track down her wayward brothers. Finally after calling in every favor that had ever been owed to her, she'd found them.
Kyle was currently living in Antarctica, digging under the ice at some classified location a few miles from McMurdoch. He had apparently found an open pocket a few miles beneath the surface, leading to his entire team traveling down there in the search of anything unusual.
Troy on the other hand was in the Middle East, tracking down some of the people on the most wanted list.
She'd even managed to find a way to get a message to both of them. And had been informed that both of her brothers were on their way home, before she even left the office.
Now as she unlocked her door, some four hours after leaving, all she wanted to do was go up to bed and go to sleep.
Looking around she noticed that the lights were still on in the living room, expecting to find John; she made her way in there. Much to Elizabeth's confusion, John was no where to be found, so she headed upstairs to see if Nick was in bed.
When she opened her son's bedroom door she couldn't help but smile. Blankets were strung up all around the room being held together by close pins. Pillows were stacked up under the blankets in order to give some lift to the fort.
And lying beneath the structure were the two men that she had been looking for. John Sheppard lay on his side hugging one of her son's teddy bears and he was fast asleep, it wasn't hard to imagine him sucking his thumb. Next to her lover was Nick, situated in a similar position except he had wrapped his small body around a stuffed dog that she had bought him for his birthday.
Much to her amusement Shadow was the only one that noticed her entrance. The dog was lying on Nick's other side acting like a blanket, by keeping his young charge warm.
Elizabeth couldn't believe the obvious change that had taken place in her son over night. He would never have even suggested making a fort before he'd met John, and the popcorn littering the entire living room was a testament to their prior activities.
She smiled again and padded over in her bare feet to grab the only loose blanket in the room off of Nick's bed. Leaning down she brushed the hair back from Nick's face and gently draped the cloth over his body.
Elizabeth made to stand up, but a hand gently wrapped around her wrist, drawing her attention to the air force officer next to her. John watched her for a second with a small smile playing on his lips before giving her arm a tug. Complying with his silent request she slid under the fort and situated herself in his arms, his chest rising and falling against her back.
"Did you find everything that you needed?" his voice was low and sexy with sleep, and if her son wasn't lying less than a foot away she'd turn around and kiss the man.
"Yea, I really should go give my mom a call."
"You can call her in the morning, she's probably asleep anyway," she could tell by his voice that he was starting to fall back to sleep, and by the feeling of warmth around her that was starting to sound like a good idea.
"You're right. I saw that you two had fun," her eyes were closed now and his breathing was starting to even out.
"Yea, I've made it my mission to see that that kid has some fun in his life."
Elizabeth smiled slightly before they both fell asleep. She didn't want to think about Simon or her father, all she wanted to do was pretend that she had the perfect family lying right under this fort.