Chapter II: In Lover's Meeting.
A/N: Hello my readers. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. A huge thank-you to IzzieStar for the help she gave me this chapter.
She-Demon
0530. Very few people would be awake at this hour of the morning. Except those that had business to deal with like getting on the 0630 Southwest flight to go and see someone you'd thought was dead for the past seven years. And it wasn't just some nameless face for John Sheppard. The face was that of Elizabeth Weir, his former boss and lover.
"If only my buddies in my Academy class could see me now. John Sheppard, Red Flag extraordinaire, acknowledged ladies man, up at an ungodly hour of the morning to fly halfway across the country to go see the woman that has haunted my dreams"
While waiting for O'Neill to arrive, he got out an old favorite of his, Footfall. He'd finished War and Peace ages ago and he'd just wanted to read something familiar. Even though it looked like he was reading, his mind wasn't remembering, because his thoughts kept on returning to Elizabeth. Even when he abandoned the book in favor of his I-Pod, the songs were shuffling in order to make him remember Elizabeth even more. Cursing under his breath, he put everything away and waited for the plane to start boarding.
About half an hour before the plane left, O'Neill arrived. John barely acknowledged his presence, as he was still particularly upset with the General. He just said,
"Good morning, sir"
O'Neill looked surprised that John was even speaking with him. He acknowledged the greeting with a nod. He also noticed that the eyes of the younger man were bloodshot.
"Did you drink last night, Colonel?"
All he did was roll his eyes at him. O'Neill took that as a big yes.
Before the retired general could say anything, the boarding call went out. As he got onto the airplane, he noticed that while there were plenty of people in line to board; chances were pretty good that he was going to be sitting by himself. Once he got to his seat and put his carryon in the overhead bin, he noticed that fate had kindly seated him as far away from O'Neill as was possible. The last thing he needed right now was to be sat, making small talk with him. As the plane taxied for takeoff, he remembered why he didn't like flying on commercial airlines. He was always uncomfortable because he wasn't the one at the controls. John figured that he would try and get some sleep once they were up in the air. Of course, when that happened, he couldn't get Elizabeth's face and voice out of his mind's eye. He was remembering the ride back to Atlantis from Earth on the Daedelus. They had kept each other company during the journey. It had been just after he'd made Lieutenant Colonel.
"People were surprised when I made it past captain."
"I guess the people that mattered thought you should be promoted."
Back in the present, he thought,
"Damn. Won't my mind let me get any kind of rest?"
Once they set down in Phoenix, he was getting nervous again. He followed O'Neill to the car rental place. He was told,
"Get as nondescript a car as possible. But you might want a four wheel drive."
John got blue Ford Explorer. Once they were out, O'Neill said to him,
"Sedona's about a two and half hour drive to the north. I'll meet you at the Red Roof Inn. It's the first exit right off I-17 to Sedona."
After arriving in Sedona, John noticed that the air seemed slightly sharper. Once they got to the hotel and O'Neill got the keys to their rooms and tossed him one, he said,
"Why don't you go put your suitcase in your room. After that, I'll give you the address, and then you can leave."
John got to his room and tossed his stuff on the bed. In record time, he was back downstairs in the lobby of the hotel.
"Here is her address John. Go and see her. You two have a lot of catching up to do." After that, he ran to the rental car in haste.
As he watched the younger man leave, O'Neill thought,
"You're about to get another shock this week, John. Not only is Elizabeth alive, she's the mother of your children."
John had to fight the urge to break several speed and traffic laws to get to Liz's place. When a train crossing slowed him, he swore under his breath. Thankfully, it was a relatively short train, so he was on his way again in a short period of time. Shortly before turning off onto the road to her place, he pulled off onto the side of the road and turned off the car.
"How do you talk to someone you thought was dead for the past seven years? Especially when you were sleeping with that same person for about a year before she "died"?"
"Ah hell, I'll just play it by year."He started up the car again.
He got to the driveway and had to psych himself slightly to get out of the car. Just as he was about to knock on the door he thought,
"Here it goes"
When she heard the knock, Elizabeth had been reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan. He was pretty close to the mark for someone who hadn't known about the Stargates. She'd also been scanning a book that Olivia had been reading. It was something about the fighter planes of WW2. She was well on the way to becoming airplane crazy.
"Olivia got more than the ATA gene from John. She's every bit as flying crazy as he is"
Whoever was at the door knocked again. She then said impatiently,
"Yes, I'm coming."
Once she got to the door and unlocked it, she was unprepared for who was standing on the other side of the door.
"Hello 'Lizbeth"
It was John Sheppard.
Seven years hadn't changed him much. There was some silver in his hair. She noticed that he'd made full-bird colonel. Once it registered who was standing on her doorstep, Elizabeth tried to shut the door. Unfortunately, John had other things in mind when he prevented her from doing just that by stopping it with his foot.
"I'm not going away until you talk to me."
After a short staring contest, Elizabeth yanked him inside. Putting a hand over his mouth she dragged him to the door that went down to the basement. She mouthed the word "Bugs" when she saw the questions in his eyes. After that she mouthed,
"I'll talk to you down there, keep quiet."
After he went down the stairs, she went and checked on the kids. They were both appeared to be sleeping soundly, though she suspected John Jr. might be playing possum. She then grabbed some bottles of water.
As she started down the stairs, Elizabeth thought,
"How do I talk to John? I haven't seen or spoken to him in seven years. I never expected to see him again. Moreover, how do I tell him that he's the father of six year old twins?"
Elizabeth had never dealt with such an awkward silence. She'd had some good ones with the man sitting across from her on the other couch. He'd been her second in command, lover, and was the father of her children.
After about five minutes, John was visibly getting nervous. He broke the silence first by asking,
"So… Who do you have to thank for the bugs?"
"The IOA. Pretty much anything I say or do upstairs, they know about it. The only place that I have any kind of privacy is down here."
"At least it's a pretty good sized basement. You seem to have created a whole other living space sown here."
Another uncomfortable silence followed. They didn't seem to know how to ask the questions they both wanted to ask.
"What do you do to occupy your time?"
"Run a book club. That's all that the IOA will let me do."
"That sounds like fun." He said with his awkwardness showing through.
She smiled slightly before saying,
"There are other things to do around Sedona. I've found some other hobbies to do"
Meanwhile, on the main level…
John Jr. was trying to wake up his twin sister.
"Liv. Livie. 'Livia. Hey Olivia, WAKE UP!" then he threw a pillow at her head.
This finally woke her up. She was not a morning person. Olivia then said,
"Go away! I'm gonna tell Mom!"
Ignoring her, he said,
"Mom's downstairs talking with someone. Don't you want to hear what's going on?"
Upon hearing this, Olivia jumped up out of bed. Both kids were wearing Phoenix Coyotes jerseys and soccer shorts as pajamas.
Moving as quietly as possible, the siblings made their way to the door to the basement which was opened slightly. They sat down and started to listen.
Since being quiet was key whenever they listened to their mother downstairs, both of them had quickly learned how to lip read.
"So who do you think mom's talking to Liv?"
"I don't know, she's talking to someone she used to work with, someone with your name."
They were silent for the rest of the conversation. As they listened, the twins noticed that their mom hadn't yet mentioned them. John Jr then asked,
"Why hasn't mom said anything about us?"
"I don't know! Be quiet!"
Unfortunately that area by the stairs was uncommonly dusty. As he made that noise people make before they sneeze, Olivia covered her brother's mouth with her hand. She mouthed,
"You better not sneeze, little brother." He nodded his assent.
Of course, no sooner did Olivia remove her hand from his mouth he sneezed.
She glared daggers at him. He smiled weakly.
Back downstairs…
John heard the sneeze. It didn't sound like a human sneeze. It sounded more like the sneeze of a cat.
"Got animals in the house, Elizabeth?"
Unlike him, Elizabeth knew exactly what, more accurately who, had made that noise.
She got up and was walking towards the stairs.
"It depends on your definition of animals, John."
Once she got to the bottom of the stairs, she said,
"I see you two! Now get down here, on the double!"
She turned back to him and asked,
"How much did O'Neill tell you?"
"Just that you were alive, Elizabeth. What else us there that I need to know?"
He then noticed two small kids at the foot of the stairs. They couldn't have been more than six. The girl had dark brown hair in a style similar to Elizabeth's, but slightly messier. She also had Elizabeth's bright green eyes. The boy had the same dark brown hair, but it was tousled in the back with hazel eyes. His eyes.
He looked at Elizabeth.
"O'Neill obviously planned on letting me tell you this. John you're a father. And these are your children."
He couldn't think of a word to say. He was thunderstruck.
A/N 2: Please don't string me up for the cliffhanger. There is a good reason that I'm making you wait for the reactions. Tell me how you guys think the rest of the introduction should go and if there's one that I like, I'll use it and put you in the next chapter's first author's note.
