A Time to Gather Stones Together
By Sequoia Hope

Many thanks to Southern Red for beta-reading.

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

- "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds (1965)

Chapter 1

John Sheppard stepped out of the Gate with Rodney McKay and Carson Beckett beside him and nodded his head at the general waiting for them at the end of the ramp.

"General O'Neill." John shook his hand.

"Colonel Sheppard, Doctor McKay, Doctor Beckett." General Jack O'Neill acknowledged each of the men in turn. "Welcome back to Earth."

"You'll understand, sir, when I say that Earth is the last place in the universe that we want to be in now," John replied dryly. "I would say last place on Earth, but..."

General O'Neill gave him a wry smile. "Ah, is Doctor Weir still on the other side?" he asked.

John turned his head and looked around him, only noticing just then that Elizabeth wasn't with them. "Um... yeah, she should be coming through any minute now..." John said hesitantly, puzzled. He frowned. "Funny, she should have been with us."

Seconds later, the event horizon rippled as one more figure emerged from the Gate. Elizabeth Weir made her way down the ramp, a silver Atlantis briefcase in one hand.

"General O'Neill." Elizabeth smiled and shook his hand. "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too, Doctor," General O'Neill replied. "Is that everyone?"

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment before responding. "Yeah. Everyone's through."

General O'Neill nodded before glancing up to the control room, signaling to the technician there to shut down the Gate. As the wormhole disengaged, he turned back to the foursome.

"Uh, there's breakfast in the commissary, if you all didn't eat already before leaving," he quickly mentioned.

Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you, General. We'd best head over to the infirmary first, though, and get ourselves checked over."

General O'Neill nodded, and with a final glance at the team, he walked away.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," Rodney piped up, "but dinner seems like ages ago, so let's get this check-up out and over with, shall we?" With that, he headed off to the infirmary with Carson close behind. John was about to follow them, but he stopped and turned around when he realized that Elizabeth was still standing at the end of the ramp, gazing at the closed Stargate.

"Elizabeth? You coming?" John studied her, wondering if she heard him at all, and he was about call her again when she turned around.

"Yeah. I'm coming." She forced a smile. "Let's go."

She brushed past John, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he followed her to the infirmary.

Later, the four of them filled their plates from the buffet and found a table near the corner of the commissary. John tried to keep the discussion alive, and with Rodney and Carson joining in, the meal wasn't eaten in awkward silence. However, John noticed that Elizabeth was unusually quiet during the entire meal. Back on Atlantis, she only ate with them occasionally, but when she did, she was usually very active in the conversation. That morning, though, her attention seemed completely focused on her plate as she half-heartedly picked at her scrambled eggs and hash browns, not seeming to have much of an appetite. John caught her more than once staring off into the distance, though he didn't know what she was staring at. It then occurred to him that there were no windows or balconies here at the SGC that led to the outside world. And even if there were, there was no ocean.

There were no briefings or meetings to attend that morning, as General O'Neill and Mr. Woolsey had already debriefed the SGC and IOA on the situation in Atlantis days before. Within the hour, the team had finished their breakfast, and Elizabeth and Rodney had arranged for taxis to come pick them up: Elizabeth's to her apartment block, and Rodney's to the airport, where he would be catching a flight to Nevada. John and Carson accompanied them up to the surface to see them off, and Rodney's ride arrived all too soon.

"Well, I guess this is it, then." Rodney shifted on his feet uncomfortably as the driver loaded what bags he had into the trunk.

"Yeah," John replied. Silence fell over the four.

"Just so we're clear, this isn't goodbye forever, right?" Rodney quickly asked. "Because I'd hate to think that after all we've been through together in the past two years –"

"We'll keep in touch," John interrupted.

Rodney stopped. "Right," he said.

"Rodney." Elizabeth paused for a moment before continuing. "It's – it's been wonderful, having you our team," she finally managed to say.

Rodney gave a small nod, then looked at Carson, who just sorrowfully smiled at him.

The taxi was waiting. Seeing that there was no more that he could say, Rodney settled himself into the taxi and shut the door. His friends watched as the taxi left and drove off into the distance.

They waited in a heavy silence for Elizabeth's ride to arrive. When another taxi pulled over to the curb a few minutes later, Elizabeth sighed deeply.

"Hey, at least you're still staying in town," John said, trying to be optimistic. "And you can always come by just to visit, seeing as how your apartment is only twenty minutes away from here. It doesn't have to be work-related."

Elizabeth gave him a small smile but didn't respond.

"You know, this feels so weird," John suddenly said. Elizabeth arched an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. "Being back on Earth, I mean," John explained, "and going our separate ways. Soon, it's just going to feel like the last two years never happened."

Elizabeth flinched at those last words, and John cursed himself. Good one, John! Remind her of the time she was infected with nanites just as you say goodbye.

"Sorry," he quietly apologized, and Carson reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

Without another word, Elizabeth climbed into the taxi. She didn't look back as it left in the opposite direction Rodney's had gone.

John let out a heavy sigh. "You think she'll be ok?" he asked Carson.

Carson, too, gave a sigh of resignation. "I don't know," he admitted, a hint of worry in his reply. "I'm sure that given some time, she'll be all right. But this has certainly hit her the hardest."

John just nodded, not responding, and the two men stood together in a heavy silence.

"Come on," Carson finally said after a long moment. "We'd best get back." Reluctantly, John trudged after Carson back to the SGC, not looking back at the point down the road where the taxi had already vanished from their view.