6 months later.

Since Doctor Ben Hill's arrival Elizabeth had began to feel more like herself again. Losing John had been devastating, truly shaken her to the core, and, subsequently, she had pushed away her friends in a poor attempt to move on and forget him. It turned out that paperwork wasn't a very good replacement for human interaction though, and she was rather grateful for this little friendship she had struck up.

It was almost two years since Elizabeth had requested a historian to plough through the data regarding the Ancients and the Pegasus Galaxy, and two months ago Elizabeth had been one of the most surprised when he request was finally approved and Ben had been sent over.

Initially, she hasn't really had much time to interact with him, but from hearsay and the odd passing on the corridor, she had surmised that he was a nice, if rather quiet guy who kept himself to himself, but had struck up a good friendship with Zelenka. Then he'd asked for her personally to help him with some translations and her opinion of him began to evolve as they became more comfortable in each other's company and the conversation began to flow with ease.

Over the next two months they came to work together again a few more times and over that time she could honestly say that Ben had become her friend, and her respect for him grew greatly. Just before he had been offered the job his fiancée had left him for another man and he had decided to really make something of his life and that's when the offer from the SGC had come in. There was no way he was going to say no. In that respect, Elizabeth envied him and was very conscious of the fact that, in contrast, she had become a shell of her former self and life meant getting through paperwork and moving from one decision to the next.

Ben helped her move on from that. She became aware of that when she joined him and Zelenka for dinner in the mess hall. It was the first time she had eaten a meal in the public eye since she had been with John. Naturally people had assumed that she was romantically involved with Ben (who could blame them after news of her and John had spread through the city like wildfire), but she didn't have time to persuade people that they weren't, and if she did they wouldn't believe her anyway.

Because she really wasn't. Elizabeth was very aware of that as she sat down across from him in the mess hall with her tray and gave her a half smile before returning his attention to the tablet he was looking at. He had assumed the role of a big brother mingled with an old friend, she thought to herself. It wasn't that he was physically unattractive; it was simply that the chemistry wasn't there and it was clear from the outset, that after their past experiences, neither of them wanted a potentially messy relationship.

It bothered John. She knew it did. She saw it on his face every time she sat down with this other man to share dinner with him. She saw that look of confusion and pain, quickly followed by nonchalance and pretence that he was partaking in a conversation. Elizabeth sighed. They never spoke now. Apart from briefings which had become excruciating for her; unable to look and John and his whole team studying their body language for the duration of the meeting. At first they had managed to pass niceties, and then Elizabeth heard that John had slept with a villager on one of his team's missions. The fact that he could barely look at her in the following days seemed to confirm it. If she had been in a rational mindset, she would have accepted that, given that they weren't together anymore, he was allowed to sleep with whoever he wanted. Irrationally though, it felt like a great big betrayal and a slap in the face. It still did.

'You're looking perturbed.' Ben commentated.

Elizabeth came back to her senses, 'Me? Just tired.'

'It's your own fault.' Ben said with a smile.

'I know. I'm your resident workaholic.' Elizabeth said putting her hands up.

'You could take a night off. Radek and I were going to watch a film; you'd be more than welcome to join us.'

'That's kind, but I have memories of Radek's taste in films.' Elizabeth said.

'You choose then.'

'Seriously, I have work.' Elizabeth said.

'Work which will still be there in the morning. Go on...' Ben said.

'You're being very cruel Doctor Hill.' Elizabeth said with a smile.

'And if you don't come, I could always go and tell Carson how tired you are.' Ben said.

'Fine! I'll come.' Elizabeth said.

The last thing Elizabeth needed was Carson on her back about her lack of energy – she had so much work to do, and although she appreciated the concern she couldn't risk taking the day off that she was pretty sure he would demand. And she was pretty sure she could probably sneak back to her office after they'd finished the shortest film she could find.

'Doctor Weir and a medical team to the control room.' A voice in her ear demanded.

Elizabeth stood up feeling confused, with a quick apology to Ben and hastily walked to the control room. The sight she was faced with was distressing to say the least. John's unconscious body lay in Ronon's arms with a constant drip of blood falling to the ground from his head.

'John.' Elizabeth said through a broken voice.