Title: Underwater
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Author: MsRaven
Pairing: Sheppard-Weir
Spoilers: Anything up to "Before I Sleep" but not much
Disclaimers: blah, blah, I don't own anything.
Note: I've been toying with this for a while. Totally un-betaed and written quickly, so be kind.

"I can't believe we're stuck in a jumper."

"At the bottom of the ocean," John feels necessary to point out.

"I am going to kill McKay."

"You'll have to stand in line."

"Why did he need us on the mainland to observe this spatial anomaly?"

John shrugs.

"Doesn't really matter now, does it?"

"Guess not."

They sigh in unison. Silence descends inside the disabled jumper. They sit and watch the water out of the main window. Elizabeth is surprised that there isn't more sea life out there. Every few minutes, John checks the controls to see if the spatial anomaly that disabled all the Ancient systems has passed.

"You're going to drive me crazy if you keep doing that."

"Sorry," John says sheepishly and crosses his arms in front of him.

"McKay seemed to think it would take a few hours for the anomaly to pass. But he wasn't sure."

"Great. So we could be in her for days?"

"Or less than an hour," Elizabeth says with a smile. "You never know."

"You're really way too optimistic."

Elizabeth only shrugs and watches a school of brightly colored fish swim by.

Another moment of silence passes.

"You know, it's funny," John says thoughtfully. "That your last name is one letter away from spelling weird."

"Yes, John. You and every other eight year old finds that amusing."

"Let me guess, you got teased a lot as a kid."

"Only until they realized it was really a dumb joke."

"Okay," John smirks. "Point taken."

John looks over at Elizabeth. She's leaning back in her seat with her eyes closed.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't get many quiet moments in the middle of the day," Elizabeth responds without opening her eyes. "Thought I'd take a nap."

"You can't take a nap!"

Elizabeth opens one eye.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm bored, is why."

"And that affects my nap, how exactly?"

John leans towards her seat with a wicked gleam in his eye, causing Elizabeth's other eye to snap open.

"You don't want to see me bored."

Elizabeth rolls her eyes and mutters something that John can't make out.

"What was that?"

"I said that your mother must have had the patience of a saint."

John grins. He has very fond memories of snow days that he's sure his mom didn't see in the same light.

"Don't you want to take a nap?"

"Nope. Got a good night's sleep, actually."

Elizabeth can only sigh and pray for patience.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Don't know yet."

Elizabeth closes her eyes again.

"Wake me when you do."

Suddenly, John snaps his fingers and jumps out of his seat.

"I know! Stand up."

Elizabeth looks up at him skeptically but doesn't move out of her chair.

"Come on."

John moves to stand behind the Jumper's seat and waves at Elizabeth to join him. She reluctantly gets up and stands in front of him. He smiles and steps closer.

"Okay. I'm going to kiss you."

"What!"

Elizabeth takes a quick step back. John grabs her hand to keep her from getting too far away.

"It's the perfect plan."

"Plan for what?"

"For getting us out of here."

Elizabeth can only stare at John.

"Does insanity run in your family?" she asks after a half minute of silence.

"Come on! Think about it. In every television show you've ever seen, what happens when the two main characters kiss or come close to kissing?"

"They usually get interrupted. But what does that have to do with us?"

"Don't you see? We're the main characters."

"We are not on a tv show," Elizabeth says succinctly.

"But it's worth a try."

"No it's not. I can't kiss you."

"Why not? Don't tell me you've never thought about it."

Elizabeth's blush is the only answer he needs.

"I'll admit I've thought about kissing you," John confesses.

"We can't."

"It's just one kiss. A test of my hypothesis. Come on, we're adults."

John gives her the puppy-dog look and Elizabeth knows she's in trouble.

"One kiss?"

"Just one."

"As an experiment?"

"Scientific exploration."

Elizabeth gives him a small nod. John pulls her closer and puts one hand around her waist, the other reaching up to cup her neck. Elizabeth's arms wrap automatically around him.

Their lips meet and it becomes instantly clear to both of them that they're not going to be "adult" about this little experiment. Their arms tighten around each other as the kiss lengthens. When the kiss comes to its natural end, they pull apart only slightly, putting no distance between their bodies.

"Maybe it takes two..."

Elizabeth nods again.

Their lips are a centimeter apart when there's a crackle over the radio. The sound startles them, but they're really not that surprised.

"McKay to Sheppard. The anomaly passed over faster than I thought. Systems are coming back online in Atlantis. You should be able to fly the jumper now."

John reaches for his radio without breaking eye contact with Elizabeth.

"Copy that. We're going to take a look at something we saw in the water. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Elizabeth's brow wrinkles in confusion.

"Do you need us to send another jumper?" asks McKay.

"No. It's probably nothing, but looked interesting enough to take a gander. Scientific exploration, you know."

Sheppard grins.

"Sheppard out."

"Scientific exploration?" Elizabeth asks with her own grin.

"The best kind."

Sheppard's smirk disappears as Elizabeth's lips touch his own.

-The End-