Title: Castles and knights

Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort, Drama, action/adventure

Warning: Violence.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: A trade negotiation doesn't quite go to plan, leaving Sheppard and Weir in a tricky situation.

Disclaimer: They're not mine. I just borrow them from time to time and hopefully get them back in one piece

Authors notes: Thanks to my sister mariam100 for being my beta on my story and giving me useful tips.

Prologue.

"It's your move," Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard said with a small smile, as he observed the scene before him, "but believe me, there's no way you can win this one. I have the strategic advantage."

Doctor Elizabeth Weir looked over the chess board and frowned. She surveyed her pieces and, with a sigh, moved her king away from Sheppard's castle.

"Ha ha. See?" Sheppard moved his knight toward her. "Checkmate."

Weir smiled and started to pack her pieces back into the box. Sheppard shot her a false look of surprise.

"Oh, giving up already are we?" Sheppard's smug grin got an exasperated look from Weir.

"Yes, well unlike you, I have duties that need attending." Weir got her look returned. She turned away from Sheppard to hide the devilish grin that had spread across her face.

"I have duties too you know." Sheppard replied, sounding slightly affronted but his wide grin gave him away. "But as Teyla's on the mainland and Mckay's broken his arm, there's no mission to go on for a while and so I can sit here and beat you at chess over and over again." Sheppard leant back and crossed his arms in victory. Weir's response was to flick a pawn at him, which he caught and tossed in the box.

"Right, if you have nothing else to do, you can go see Beckett and let him have another look at the burns on your hand. I don't want it getting infected." Weir eyed the bandage suspiciously and shook her head. "I say you got off lucky compared to Mckay though. Maybe this will make you think twice before you start messing around with the puddlejumpers again."

Sheppard placed the chess box on a shelf and gave Weir a stupid, lopsided grin, "Don't blame me; Mckay was the one fiddling with the controls. It's all his fault that the console exploded." Sheppard's face became sad as he remembered his broken puddle jumper in the Jumper bay.

"Yes, I heard part of your hour long yelling session in the infirmary." Weir sighed, shaking her head slightly, "Mckay hasn't left his lab much in the past two days. I think your speech, if you can call it that, actually worked."

Sheppard looked at Weir, a guilty look now spreading across his face. "I know I was a little harsh to Mckay, but I still don't think he understands that we don't have an unlimited number of puddlejumpers and, that at the rate he's going, we won't have any left by next year." Sheppard gave Weir a dark look and turned away from her.

"Look, I know the puddlejumpers are like, I don't know, your pride and joy…" Sheppard snorted, "Or something like that but you have to remember that accidents happen. Anyway, look on the bright side, Zelenka is already working on it and he says it's fixable." Weir smiled encouragingly and, with a loud sigh, Sheppard gave in.

"Fine. Ok. I'll go talk to Mckay and forgive him for breaking it." He turned and strode out of Weir's office.

She had barely enough time to congratulate herself though, as Sheppard came walking back in. "Not right now," he said, looking rather sheepish, "I'll let him mull it over a bit more before I go talk to him." He looked at her imploringly and she gave in.

"Alright, coward, you can wait until tomorrow but no later. I need you two to make up before our next big crisis." Weir smiled smugly and walked out of her office, noticing that Sheppard followed quickly on her tail. She smiled to herself, quickly hiding it as she entered the control tower. She picked up a data pad and began to scroll through the schedule before noticing that Sheppard was still behind her. She could feel his eyes fixing her with an intense look and she couldn't help but shiver. She hated the way she reacted when he did that.

"Don't you have somewhere you could be Colonel?" She asked, the brisk authority in her voice surprising Sheppard. He looked at her, hurt. "I'm not saying that your presence isn't appreciated, but seeing as you are off-duty, shouldn't you be now enjoying some R and R." She paused her work momentarily, to shoot him look which told him that she wanted to do some work and didn't want to be disturbed.

Sheppard smiled politely. "Of course, Doctor Weir. Ronon is probably just finishing up his close combat lesson with the security force in the gym. I'll go there now and get out of your hair." He gave her a curt nod, but his eyes were dark and distant. She instantly regretted being so blunt as he turned and stalked away.

"John…" She called after him, but he ignored her and walked out of the gateroom.

"Dammit." She sighed softly. She shouldn't have been so harsh; he was only playing with her. But it was in those moments that he became more than Colonel Sheppard, ranking military officer and flyboy, and she didn't have time to deal with that at the moment.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the alarm sounding and the gate beginning to turn.

"Unscheduled off-world activation." Shouted the technician in charge of gate control.

Weir was relieved to see Sheppard come hurtling back into the gateroom. But her relief was short-lived as he blanked her, his cold professional attitude making her heart sink. Pushing these emotions to the back of her brain, she cleared her throat and took control of the situation.

"Is there an I.D.C yet?" She asked pointedly to the gate technician.

"Yes ma'am, there's one coming in right now. It's Major Lorne's identification code."

"But they shouldn't be back until tomorrow." Sheppard cut in, looking at the technician doubtfully.

"Well, Colonel, let's hope it's good news they're bringing back." Said Weir, reciprocating Sheppard's professional tone. She turned to the gate technician, "lower the shield."

To be continued

This is the first part in my story, please review and tell me what you thought and give me correction tips to make it better! If you liked it, don't worry, I'll post the next part up really soon!