Road Trip:
Author's notes: Thanks to all who have stuck with this even with nearly a month between postings. I don't have a lot of time to write, tend to need a while to think things out before I start writing. I plan two more chapters plus an epilogue and will try to get them up with shorter gaps.
And in case anyone is wondering, switching between civilian and military time is intentional depending on whether they're in uniform or off duty.
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A light kiss, murmuring "Morning, sleepyhead."
"'Lizabeth?" John's eyes popped open. "Thought I was dreaming."
She leaned over and kissed him again. "Did that feel like a dream?"
His only answer was to pull her down for another, longer kiss, holding her close after they broke for air. "This is nice. Let's just stay here all day."
"Tempting as that sounds we do have other plans for today." But she didn't move to get up. "Maybe another 10 minutes."
They lay cuddled together, neither fully awake, enjoying the quiet closeness, until John finally spoke. "This should feel awkward, but it doesn't."
"You're right. Simon and I, the first couple of times we woke up together, it was .. uncomfortable."
"Maybe because we're older?"
"I don't think so. Might explain why we remembered to drape our clothes over chairs instead of dropping everything on the floor though." Elizabeth paused, thinking. "This, us being together, it just feels right. Not to sound too clichéd but I think it was inevitable. And I truly feel human again." She hesitated, then admitted "I was worried this new body would react differently, that I'd feel different."
"I didn't hurt you? I never thought…"
"Don't worry, Sam and Jennifer though of that. And of deleting my wisdom teeth, appendix and tonsils. They even managed to duplicate the scar on my index finger." She held up her left index finger.
John took her hand, looking for the scar then kissing her finger. "Never noticed that before. How'd you get it?"
"I cut myself with my father's Exacto knife doing a school project in sixth grade. Took forever to heal and it's apparent on my finger prints so it has to be there."
Their movements and voices had woken Sedge who crept from the foot of the bed to wriggle between her two people, wanting attention now that they were awake. John wondered how the dog had gotten into the room, since he remembered kicking the door shut behind them. Elizabeth admitted that the latch hadn't caught properly for years so Sedge had learned she could just nudge the door open. He made a mental note to stop at the first home center they passed and pick up a new door knob set.
A glance at the clock finally got Elizabeth moving. They had less than an hour before Rodney, Jennifer, and the Millers were expected. John gathered his clothes and left Elizabeth's bedroom. Neither took much time to shower and dress, but John was faster. By the time Elizabeth entered the kitchen, her hair still damp, he'd already fed Sedge and had the coffee ready.
They didn't linger over breakfast as they'd done the day before. Elizabeth headed back upstairs with her half finished coffee to do something with her hair while John loaded the dishwasher and put out food and fresh water for Sedge. The second pot of coffee was almost ready, two travel mugs and a sleeve of paper hot drink cups with lids sitting next to the machine for everyone to take in the car, when the doorbell rang.
Once everyone had their coffee, and Rodney had satisfied his curiosity about Elizabeth's house by poking his head into every room on the ground floor, they piled into John's rental car for the 2½ hour drive to Charlottesville. He'd grumbled when the rental people had given him a mini-van, but it had come in handy for carrying the new TV and home theater equipment. And it certainly made today's trip easier, everyone in one car.
Less than an hour later, shortly after exiting I-66 onto US 29, John was wishing they had taken two cars. "Remind me why I though this was a good idea" he asked Elizabeth quietly enough that the others in back couldn't hear.
"We wanted to get away from DC and the tourists this weekend, Caleb mentioned he'd always wanted to visit Monticello, none of you have ever been there,…"
"OK, OK." Then louder "Rodney, enough with the backseat driving already. Elizabeth's been to Charlottesville before, she knows what roads to take."
Jennifer precluded Rodney from saying anything by asking Caleb how he was coping with finding out he had the ancient gene and being basically drafted because of it. Describing his reactions got the others to open up about how they'd become involved in "the Program", their feelings on first learning about the Stargate. How they'd all been presented with offers they couldn't refuse – Elizabeth handed command of the SGC just hours after she learned of it's existence; John being "asked" to join the Atlantis Expedition after sitting in the Antarctic Control Chair; Jennifer's discovery that her medical service scholarship was funded by the SGC; even Rodney's assignment to Russia, exile as he put it.
Rodney went on to tell some amusing in hindsight stories about his time in Russia, which prompted the others to share similar anecdotes. They were all laughing at the description of Radek covered in paint after returning from the children's planet when they pulled into the Monticello parking lot just after 11.
After touring Jefferson's estate and short stops at several other historical sites in the area they ended up on the UVA campus. Elizabeth had spent some weekends there as an undergraduate so she wound up playing tour guide. The campus was fairly deserted, late on a Saturday afternoon in the summer, so she was quite surprised when her narrative was interrupted by someone calling her name.
"Ann?" She put the voice to the name. The two old friends hugged, then Ann looked Elizabeth up and down as if to reassure herself that her friend was really there. "Your mother called, when they found you, and I saw your name in the Post the other day. But seeing you here, now I'm convinced. Speaking of which why didn't you call and let me know you were heading out here?"
"How was I supposed to know you'd be around? You usually take off for your place down the ocean right after graduation. I was going to call you there once everyone else leaves." Elizabeth gestured to her companions. "I've been showing some colleagues around, they came in for the dinner and announcement." She introduced the others to Ann, first names, no titles or ranks, then Ann as her closest friend since high school.
"So what are you doing here during summer break?"
"A retirement opened up a full professorship and a better office, which I'm moving into this weekend while Peter's at the beach house waiting for new appliances to be delivered." Indicating the man standing off to the side she continued "You remember Alan. He's helping me move."
"Repayment for Ann and Peter moving my office last year. Good to see you again Elizabeth. Your visits were a highlight of my undergraduate days. I particularly remember our debates about whether Uncle Tom's Cabin or The Jungle would be considered classics without the influence they had on public opinion when they were written."
Elizabeth grimaced, remembering how she'd seen everything from a political angle in college. But the debates had been fun. Alan didn't notice, having continued to talk. "I was actually thinking of you recently. One of my students made basically the same arguments in her American Novel term paper, though not as well as you."
Ann decided catching up with her friend was more important than finishing her office move. Telling Alan to play tour guide for a couple of hours she whisked Elizabeth away for coffee and conversation.
Once seated in a nearby café with coffee and biscotti they took a few minutes to catch up, Ann pulling out pictures of her children and bragging a bit. Elizabeth's comment about how they'd grown since she'd last seen them gave Ann the opportunity to ask what she was really interested in.
"Care to let your oldest friend, the one you may not see very often but still tell about everything important, know why there's a big chunk of your life she never knew about, Colonel? And don't give me the "it's classified" line, not everything is classified."
Elizabeth hid her grimace behind her coffee cup, swallowed, then told Ann her cover story, the same details she'd given her mother. It wasn't any easier giving Ann the "official" back story about her commission, the excuses for not telling her, than it had been with her mother.
Luckily Ann didn't press the issue, though Elizabeth knew it would come up again, just turned the conversation to the group Elizabeth had been with when they ran into one another. And noticed whose name kept coming up.
"So tell me more about John. You two seem awfully close, holding hands and all." Elizabeth blushed. "I knew it, spill. How long have you been together?"
"We started working together six years ago, he was my second in command, ran the security side of things. We became close working together, but nothing more than friends. I guess it might have become something more but I was his CO."
"You were, past tense?"
Elizabeth nodded. "I was held prisoner for three years. Now John's been promoted so we're the same rank and we'll both be reporting directly to an SES in Homeworld Security. And he's been staying at my house since he got to town and we've been doing things together all week and …"
Ann interrupted. When the normally highly articulate Elizabeth Weir started rambling it was serious. She didn't need all the details, at least not in a public place. She simply told Elizabeth she was happy for her and happy she was home.
They returned to the UVA campus a bit later than promised but they weren't the last ones. "Caleb's off with Alan, they got into a debate about some Shakespeare quotation and went to look up who's right" John explained.
"My husband's been surrounded by scientists and military types all week. I wouldn't be surprised if he was disagreeing with Alan just for the chance to discuss literature."
The two men returned then. Ann and Alan left to finish moving her office, declining an invitation to join the others for dinner at a local restaurant Alan had recommended.
With dinner, the drive back to DC and dropping everyone at their hotel it was after 11 when Elizabeth and John walked through her front door. Elizabeth spent some time playing with Sedge, feeling guilty for leaving her alone all day, giving her an extra treat before filling her water bowl and heading upstairs. John was already waiting, propped up in her bed watching the end of the news. She didn't take long to join him, clicking off the TV as she slid in next to him.
Sunday morning was a lot less rushed than Saturday had been. They lingered in bed until after 9. While John went for a run and bagels Elizabeth took a long bubble bath then curled up with the Sunday papers and Meet the Press, Homeworld Security their main topic that morning.
She finally got moving around 11:30, just finishing setting the dining room table when Rodney, Jennifer, Caleb and Jeannie arrived. They all sat down to brunch, Elizabeth brushing aside Jeannie's protest that she shouldn't have gone to so much trouble by pointing out that six people wouldn't fit at the kitchen table. Over bagels and lox they discussed their plans for the following week, Rodney and Jennifer visiting her father for a few days then heading to Vancouver in time for Madison's school play.
They sat around the table long after they'd finished eating, until Caleb glanced at his watch and reminded the others they needed to leave soon.
"What's your hurry? It's not like you have a plane to catch" John reminded them.
"True. But we have to get home around the same time we would have if we flew then pick Madison up from Caleb's parents. And we need to stop at the SGC first, Caleb needs to deal with some paperwork and get a transponder." Caleb frowned at the reminder.
"At least you can beam right to your house. We'll have to drive from Minneapolis to my father's place. That's usually faster than connecting in Chicago or Detroit and we need it to seem like that's how we got there. Of course with our luck the rental will have Wisconsin plates anyway." Jennifer shook her head; the lengths they went to to keep secrets. "Transporting most of the way's still better than flying, though. Carolyn and I barely got to the hotel in time to change for the dinner Wednesday. A lot of people from the conference were headed back to DC so we had to fly with them to keep up appearances, and as usual flights out of Atlanta were delayed."
"If we're spoiled now what will it be like when the satellite network is on line?" Jeannie asked. "It will be convenient, being able to beam into the SGC anytime I want, not having to schedule things around when one of the ships is in orbit."
"But it also means you'll effectively be on call 24/7." Caleb had listened to his wife's concerns since work had started on the transporter relays on satellites in geosynchronous orbit. They'd become his concerns now too.
"Actually we're using the network today." Rodney noticed their puzzled looks. "What, Sam didn't tell you? The North American grid's up and running. It's due to go global by the end of the month."
"Back up a minute." John was wondering abut something Jennifer had said. "You're transporting to the Minneapolis Airport?"
"Into the rest rooms by the rental cars. Best they could come up with. Some corporal suggested sending us to a deserted corner of the Mall of America parking structure, that we could get a cab to the car rental place from there."
"Harriman heard him. He'll be pulling graveyard shift at the backup ground station all summer for that." Rodney added, grinning.
They all got a laugh out of that, even Caleb who didn't know who Harriman was but could still appreciate the situation. The others enlightened him with some stories about Walter and his sometimes scary resemblance to Radar O'Reilly from M.A.S.H.
The Millers called for beam out around 2:30, Rodney and Jennifer following soon thereafter. Elizabeth headed out to buy the outfit she wanted for Dave's wedding, leaving John sprawled on the couch watching a ball game.
He was in the exact same place when she got home, prompting her to tease him about turning into a couch potato. That got him moving, though only as far as the second floor and what should have been the simple job of installing the new door knobs they'd picked up at a Home Depot they passed on the way home from Charlottesville.
He looked questioningly at Elizabeth when she grabbed some of the new knobs and a couple of screwdrivers. "Only child. I helped both my parents. Dad did a lot of the minor repairs, painting, whatever, he always said it relaxed him. With an old house like this there's always something that needs work so I learned how to do a lot of the basic fix it stuff."
"I don't think I ever even saw my father change a light bulb. He just called our housekeeper or the groundskeeper, who was also our handyman. But my high school required volunteer work and I did mine with Habitat for Humanity. Learned a lot from that."
"Good, since it was your idea to change all the knobs, not just my bedroom." John looked over at her. "You were right, they do all need to be replaced. It's just tedious." Elizabeth set her tools on the floor and headed for the stairs. "The new plates need deeper recesses. I need to find a chisel." She returned from the basement several minutes later with the chisel and a small hammer, as well as two bottles of water. Handing one to John she returned to the door she'd been working on.
With the extra work involved it took longer to finish the job than they'd anticipated. Picking up a bag full of discarded hardware after tightening the last screw on the last plate John headed downstairs to start the grill. "Take the meat out of the refrigerator, please. I want to run the vacuum, don't want one of us, or Mom, stepping on a splinter."
They ate dinner on tray tables in the den, catching the end of the national news, then 60 Minutes. Sitting back next to John after taking their dishes to the kitchen Elizabeth leaned on his shoulder, tucking her legs up on the couch. He pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her. They remained snuggled like that until Andy Rooney's sign off reminded them of the time.
"When's Phyllis getting back?"
"Her flight was due in at 7:00 so if it was on time she'll be here soon." Elizabeth sat up. "Guess we should get moving. I don't know about you but I need to get organized for tomorrow. I still haven't put all the hardware on my jacket since it came back from the cleaners."
John groaned, he hadn't either. Another reason he so disliked Service Dress, all the ribbons and insignia had to be aligned just so. It seemed to take longer each time his jacket came back from the cleaners.
"Cleaners! I need to get my Mess Dress cleaned before Dave's wedding."
"I'll drop it off for you tomorrow, John." They both jumped, neither had heard Phyllis come in.
Elizabeth stood up, giving her mother a welcome home hug. "Your flight was obviously on time. Did you have a good weekend?"
Phyllis told them about the reunion, seeing old friends, toasting those who were gone, the changes to the campus since the last reunion, promising to bore them with pictures later in the week. They told her about their weekend and Dave's upcoming wedding. And Elizabeth passed on Ann's "Say hello to your mother for me".
That reminded Elizabeth of something she'd meant to mention to John. "Did you realize that both of our best friends from High School are college professors married to college professors?"
Not long after Phyllis excused herself to unpack and head to bed. "As much as I enjoyed the reunion I didn't get much sleep and I'm worn out."
"We'll try not to wake you in the morning. We need to be out of here by 7:00 and probably won't be home until around 6:00." Elizabeth kissed her mother goodnight then returned to her previous position snuggled up on the couch next to John.
They watched an old movie before heading upstairs themselves, organizing their uniforms before falling into bed. Tonight they needed sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
