For the second consecutive night Elizabeth was woken by a voice emanating from her radio. It was John. He had been going to check on Aylanna when he had heard screaming, he'd gone in to try and calm her but nothing he tried had worked. With that Elizabeth was up, dressed and walking down the corridor to Aylanna's room. Just like before the sight of Elizabeth instantly calmed her. Also like before John was holding her hand, relentless in his efforts to calm her.
"John." She started.
"This isn't going to work… I know." He sounded worried. "But I have an idea." Elizabeth looked at him with a raised brow and inquisitive smile. "Aylanna's going to have to stay with you," he paused to let Elizabeth closer "at least until the dreams stop."
"You're right. Come on then, let's go because I'm not sleeping in a tiny bed again." With a laugh John scooped Aylanna into his arms and they made their way down the corridor to Elizabeth's room.
She opened the door, walked inside and turned the lights to half. John didn't follow straight away; he had never seen the inside of Elizabeth's quarters and wanted to savour the sight and feel of it.
"You can come in you know," she stared at him trying to read his face "It's not like you can put her down from over there." She was right but the situation made walking inside her quarters more awkward than he would have expected, he was wary that someone might see. He felt like a child sneaking into somewhere he shouldn't have been. He didn't try to cover himself just simply walked in and placed Aylanna on the bed. He had turned around and was just about to leave the room when he heard the two say 'Thank you' and John returned to his room knowing Aylanna would sleep well.
Elizabeth had climbed into the other side of the bed and was now holding the sleeping girl for the second time in as many nights. Knowing the girl would not stir with her presence Elizabeth could now fall asleep without the prospect of being woken by a situation. That was if she could fall asleep. Something was nagging at her; the usually upfront Major had been embarrassed about entering her room. She pondered for a moment why this could be before sleep finally caught up with her.
Lying in his bed John was kicking himself, he had been embarrassed about entering Elizabeth's quarters to do a simple task and he had let it show. He knew Elizabeth would have picked up on it even if he hadn't have been obvious about it, she had a knack for reading peoples faces but with him it was different. With him it felt like she was reading his soul not just his face. To her he was an open book. He too pondered the cause of his embarrassment before he was claimed by sleep.
When Aylanna awoke to find Elizabeth gone panic set in but as her senses returned she heard the sound of water running in the bathroom and this comforted her. Now calm she got out from the bed to find a pile of clothing that Elizabeth had found for her. Aylanna knew today would be different; she would have to find something to do. Whilst dressing Aylanna had found a headset with a post-it attached to it. It read: Just press the button and you'll go straight through to me or John. For the first time in years she felt at home, safe and happy.
Elizabeth entered from the bathroom wearing her usual red shirt and grey pants.
"You can do what you want today." She smiled.
"Ok but what is there to do?" Elizabeth hadn't thought of that. It was a scientific expedition, not really the best place for a teenager and there weren't many interesting things to do.
"Well, what can you do besides speaking Ancient and kicking Wraith butt?" At this Aylanna smirked.
"Well, I don't really know. I've never had the chance to do anything else. I have talents but I don't think you can use those around here." She slumped onto the chair in the corner.
"Like?" Elizabeth raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"I can paint, sing, you know that kind of talent." Elizabeth sat in the bed so she was opposite Aylanna.
"Oh, I see. Do you feel up to dealing with Rodney and a team of scientists?"
"I suppose. There's something about him that makes him so easy to pick on." Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh and decided that Aylanna would be fine today.
John returned from his mission around lunch time, he was greeted by Elizabeth but was confused when he saw no sign of Aylanna.
"So what have you done with her?" he said jokingly.
"She's helping the scientists translate some of the more important things on the Ancient database."
"Are you mad?" he blurted out "Rodney's heading that."
"John," she sighed "You know as well as I do that she can handle herself. Especially where Rodney's concerned." She smiled at the thought.
"So," John laughed. "You up for grabbing her and getting some lunch?"
"Yeah, lets go see how Rodney's holding up." And with that they started towards the labs.
From the outside the lab seemed unusually quiet, especially since it contained Rodney. John and Elizabeth walked through the door only to find Rodney sulking in the corner.
"What did you do to him? Elizabeth asked, concerned that the girl had offended Rodney.
"I told him he was wrong but he wouldn't accept it so I proved it to him. He's been like that ever since and that was two hours ago." John laughed so hard that he had to hold his sides to ease the pain.
"So are you ready for lunch?"
"Yes. I've finished the section they wanted me to do. In fact I've done half the of the labs database." She smiled. "Haven't I, McKay?" Rodney muttered something inaudible in his corner then Aylanna, Elizabeth and John left for lunch.
Lunch passed by too quickly for the three of them, the fact that they were having a good time made the end all the worse. Elizabeth returned to her office but John was thinking of training. After hearing the account of how Aylanna managed to throw a Wraith against a wall he was eager for her to teach him. So John dragged Aylanna to the gym expecting to find it easy, but he was to underestimate her skills.