NotAllWhoWanderAreAimless - LMAO!! I actually started laughing at that. Actually, it's a spin off of a line from the book, Twilight, when Bella is thinking about the man she loves (who happens to be a vampire), and it worked perfectly. LOL, Admittedly, though, you could say it's both Elizabeth and me. I doubt there are a lot of people out there who'd disagree. :P Don't worry about it, that was actually a very good question, and I'm surprised it wasn't asked sooner. LOL!

Rinoax - Oh, I have the story finished. If people like it, I'll post it all. :) I'm glad you enjoy it.

Sparklyshimmer2010 - Oh, she'll be doing a lot of flustering, so… Not much of a beginning, I'm betting, so hopefully this second chapter will liven things up a little.

Jasminesmommy - It's John. Isn't that reason enough? Alien women love John, which is why he's known as Atlantis' 'Kirk'. LOL

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(Control Room, the Next Day)

Standing behind Radek, Elizabeth watched as he recalibrated the sensors to see if he could locate that missing sarcophagus. Rodney had been on her ass about it, since the report of the three deaths came in, and though she didn't want to admit it to herself, she knew she was hiding out here.

Not from Rodney, though.

"Hm, I don't seem to be picking anything up." Radek frowned at the screen before tapping a finger against a schematic of Atlantis. "There are too many places to hide it, and it doesn't seem to be giving off any energy readings we can trace." He snapped his fingers for a moment as some text scrolled up the side of the screen.

Elizabeth kept her eyes on the schematic. Even after a couple of years here, it still served to surprise her, just how big this city was. It seemed a lot smaller, sometimes. "There's no way to find it? If we have to send out marines searching, I'm afraid it'll take weeks to find it that way." Not to mention, we risk loosing more people. She frowned as Radek's eyes seemed glued to the text. "Radek?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah..." He typed something and the schematic disappeared, only to be replaced by several CCTV cameras in different areas of the city. "I was running scans for anomalies in the system, and it came back that several of the CCTV cameras went offline for a brief period of time." He began typing quickly. "I'm running a scan now to find out if they were tampered with, but I believe they may be like the one in the jumper bay."

"How does that help us?"

"It might not." He reluctantly admitted before turning to face me. "But if I'm right, the scan should show that the same thing happened to these CCTVs that happened to the one in the jumper bay, and we might be able to track the malfunctions to the location of the sarcophagus."

Elizabeth hesitated, not really sure what to say. Part of her hoped never to see that sarcophagus again, if it was the reason those three marines died. Maybe now that it was gone, there was no more threat? But no, no one knew who or what killed them, or if the threat was still here. "Get on it and let me know as soon as you have something." Her stomach rumbled quietly and she sighed. I need to get something to eat. Turning, she nodded to Radek before leaving the room and heading down the hall to the transporter.

She hadn't even gone to breakfast this morning, because she knew he'd be there. It wasn't like her to avoid him like this, but then again, it wasn't like her to feel so attracted to him, either. That's not to say she never noticed him, but she never really dwelled on it, what with Simon, and regulations and everything. But do the regulations even apply to me? I'm not military or scientist. I'm a civilian. Forcing the thought out of her head, she got into the transporter and hit the destination on the board in front of her. Not helping...

(Lunch Room, Elizabeth's POV)

As I approached the door -which was forever open- to the lunch room, I saw Teyla and Ronon inside and frowned to myself momentarily. If they were there, chances were good John would be there, too. I honestly didn't know if I could handle seeing him, and I was almost afraid that I'd react much the same way as I had the day before.

What was with the whole lovesick puppy bit? That's not like me at all. Frowning, I stepped closer to the door, but I still couldn't bring myself to go in just yet. If he's there, will I embarrass myself? Why am I letting this bother me?? I managed to take another step forward. Maybe he won't be there. I need to eat; I can't starve myself because I'm feeling uncertain.

I saw John run up to Ronon and Teyla and grin at them briefly before reaching past them to grab a sandwich and a fruit bowl and fork.

Maybe I can get a marine to bring me my food? My insides did a funny flip flop at his smile. I watched as Teyla said something to him and both she and Ronon eyed him closely. I'm already here, though.

In truth, part of me didn't want to leave.

I still felt that funny sensation, and scolded myself for standing there stupidly in the door to the lunch room. Taking another step in, I took a deep breath and steeled myself before walking purposely forward. I kept my attention on breathing and making sure I didn't trip over anything -since my legs felt like rubber- so I wasn't paying too much attention to my surroundings.

"Hey, look who finally decided to show herself."

Jumping at the somewhat irritated sounding voice, I felt hurt for a moment before confusion set in and I looked up. Big mistake. As soon as my eyes locked on to the green ones of John Sheppard, I felt the huge breath I'd just taken whoosh out of me. It couldn't be possible, but he was even more gorgeous today. His hair was slightly more rumpled, along with his uniform, and he'd decided to forego his over shirt, showing off his muscles in his plain black t-shirt. "John." I was almost embarrassed when my voice came out startlingly quiet. "Hello?" Again with the accidental question.

He raised an eyebrow, his look completely blank. "Morning." He gave the slightest... Was it a sneer? A grimace? His lip curled up in the corner, only for the briefest second, before he looked to his watch pointedly and looked back up, another blank look on his face. "Or should I say, afternoon?" It could have been my imagination, but I'd swear he sounded almost...hurt.

"I was..." Crap! If I told him where I was, he'd know where to look for me! Shaking my head a little, I turned to the trays and grabbed one, before reaching for a water bottle. Elizabeth, if John's not worried, and there's no danger... Why would he come looking for me? "I was in the control room, overseeing the search for the sarcophagus." Atlantis is a big city; I could always find other...things to do -I'd almost said places to hide, but refused to admit I'd been hiding- if I needed time to myself. Hearing a slight growl, I turned to find his eyes flashing with anger. "John...?"

I'd only ever seen him actually angry once or twice, and still it wasn't as...dangerous as this. Seeing him like this, however, even as my heart beat faster with fear, I also felt a strange excitement. He seemed suddenly so terrifying and dangerous, but I also felt a reassuring voice insist he wouldn't hurt me.

He stared at me before looking down at my hand. "You missed breakfast, is water the only thing you were planning on having?" He raised an eyebrow, his own hands full with a sandwich and fruit cup with a juice bottle under one arm. Had he never heard of using a tray?

I felt my face heat up and looked down to my tray. He was right. I'd grabbed a bottle of water, and just stood there with nothing else. Luckily it was a little after lunch, so there were barely any people left in the room. I looked around, to see if Teyla and Ronon had noticed my strange behaviour, or if I was holding up a line of people, and blinked blankly at the practically empty room. No one was behind us, and Teyla and Ronon had gone over to a table to eat.

"Elizabeth?"

Turning back to the food, I reached out and grabbed a turkey sandwich and a fruit cup, along with a fork. I was starving, but at the same time, it felt like my stomach was already full...of butterflies. Taking my tray, I walked deliberately over to Teyla and Ronon, feeling a little safer with them around. Not that I didn't feel safe around just John, but maybe they could distract me. "May I join you?" I watched as John didn't even ask, but pulled out a seat next to Ronon, leaving me the one next to Teyla.

"Please." Teyla nodded to me with a smile.

"You missed breakfast." Ronon stated in his gruff voice, his eyebrow raised. "Sheppard threw a fit."

"And a chair." John chuckled a little. "It wasn't because of her; I was having a bad morning." He sounded sincere, and his eyes had warmed up, even as he glanced at me. "I missed my run 'cause my alarm didn't go off, rolled off my bed and hit my head." He shrugged. "And that's only the tip of the iceberg."

"What iceberg?"

I broke away from John's amused and enchanting gaze to look at Teyla. It took my brain a split second to get off his gaze, and I offered the confused Athosian a small smile, hoping it came out more amused than shaky. I tried to explain, blatantly ignoring the snort john let out. "He just meant it as a saying."

She smiled and nodded.

Opening my turkey sandwich, I pursed my lips and glanced out of the corner of my eye to John. He wasn't looking at me thankfully. He'd picked up his...ham sandwich? I frowned a moment. I thought he loved turkey. Feeling my face heat up again, I turned back to my own sandwich and sighed quietly as I picked it up and took a bite. And why shouldn't I know his favourite sandwich? I'm his friend, I'm allowed to know. My thoughts spun in my head as I tried to make sense of everything that was going on.

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Tenshi