Chapter 7

It was a strange thing…seeing the Stargate again. Instead of running up the steps and kissing the stone as one might expect, John and Elizabeth eyed it cautiously as if it were foreign. It had been over a month now, and Elizabeth's hair blew in the wind, while John's cuts were starting to disappear; he'd mastered the skill of knife shaving. They sat on the steps in silence for a long time.

"I'll leave in 2 days." John spoke up.

"I'm coming with you." John rolled his eyes; he knew this would happen.

"No you're not. We don't even know if Atlantis is still there. I'll go to an ally and try to get to the mainland; find Teyla and the others. You wait here for Rodney and Ronan." Elizabeth looked at him disbelieving.

"So what, you're leaving me here to play mum? You'll need help John. What if you run into trouble? God knows you attract it like flies." The last bit was a mumble under her breath and John ignored it.

"Exactly. I'm used to these situations and how to get out of them. I know you've received some training, but I'm more experienced at this. Besides, I'd get sick of Rodney within a day and without you here I'd probably shoot him." John regretted the words the minute they left his mouth. Elizabeth looked at him coldly as she sat back down.

"If he's not already dead. I haven't stopped worrying about them you know? Hoping they're reasonably close, hoping they're ok. I wouldn't shoot him." John cursed himself.

"Elizabeth…" She cut him off.

"You go in two days time and I'll do what I always do; wait for my team to come home."

Plan A went ahead, John left and Elizabeth stayed behind, staring at the gate for a long time. It was tempting to just dial home, but she knew not too. Earth was out of the question; the gate at Atlantis was barely able to do it. For 2 weeks she followed the routine she'd had with John; she woke, found food, collected water, collected food, secured the excuse of a campsite and waited on the steps till sunset. It was during this time, that she thought she heard distant voices. More than a month in the wilderness had made her first instinct that of running, and she dived undercover as the voices got louder.

"See, a Stargate! I told you we'd find one. I am a totally genius." Rodney! At first Elizabeth was unable to move for the shock and disbelief of seeing her two friends. Rodney was already at the gate and Ronan was fighting his way out of the under bush on the edge of the clearing.

"RODNEY!" She yelled it loud and clear and came running from her hiding spot. Rodney stood and gaped before being engulfed by his boss and promptly grabbing her tightly in return. Elizabeth was crying and so relieved that she didn't notice how Ronan too, had joined the hug and that the three of them had sunk to the ground. Later on though, she would notice the compete change in Ronan. He was open in his affection and until John returned, took it upon his shoulders to protect and watch over the group.

Slowly but surely, the stories tumbled out. Rodney and Ronan had travelled almost perpendicular to the path of Elizabeth and John, and as a result been much closer to the stargate when they had spotted it, while climbing trees for fruit. Rodney was still much the same, but had definitely grown to be more action than his usual hide-when-wraith-come. Unlike John however, he now had a long beard that Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at, and she knew John would never let him live it down. Gazing across at her friends, Elizabeth reflected on the journey she had finally finished. Wondered how she'd survived, how they'd all managed to survive. She would wonder about it for the rest of her life. When she'd signed up for Atlantis, she hadn't expected this, to be running for her life on an unknown planet, living how she'd seen many primitive cultures live. Now, going home was what scared her. She wasn't sure if she could go back. How would she act? She'd changed so much, experienced so much, she felt like she'd been in war. Separated as she was from people, how could she reassimilate? She could barely explain what she felt to herself.