AN: Remember I promised we'd be getting to the good part soon? Well, we are getting there. Have I thanked you for your patience yet?

Down to Earth

"Doctor Weir."

Elizabeth reluctantly turned around. She'd been about to enter the Mess, having spotted Daniel Jackson sitting alone at a table, and she really wanted to have a talk with the archaeologist. He should be ready with his translation of the Ancient tablet, and Elizabeth was curious to know what the tablet said.

She came face to face with Richard Woolsey, the face of the IOA in the SGC. She'd only met the man a few times in the past, and she liked him well enough, but having conversations with him that were non-work related wasn't high on her list of things to do.

"Mister Woolsey," she said, giving him a small nod. In all likeliness, hoping he was merely greeting her was wistful thinking.

Indeed, it was. "There are some things I'd like to discuss with you regarding Lt. Colonel Sheppard," Woolsey informed her, putting emphasis on John's new rank. She didn't like the way his eyebrows rose as he spoke the words. Clearly, the IOA had some reservations against John's being in command of Atlantis, too.

She suppressed the urge to sigh or, better yet, grab Woolseyby his tie and pull. The man was merely a representative of the IOA; she couldn't fault him for informing her about the organisation's onion. Besides, she knew very well that she wasn't annoyed by the negative reactions to John's promotion right now – though she definitely found the lack of trust in her head of military disturbing. No, what was really bothering her at the moment was that she and John hadn't had a proper talk since arriving at the SGA last night.

They'd sat in the car for about ten minutes more before John decided to start the engine again. No words had been spoken during the drive back to the base. Elizabeth had wanted to say and especially ask many things, but the timing hadn't felt right. Upon saying goodbye to her CO, she'd promised herself she'd track him down today and have a talk with him. Leaving last night's events for what they were was not an option. And she suspected that even though John didn't like talking about his feelings, he agreed.

"Right now?" she heard herself ask. She wasn't hungry, and so skipping on lunch would not be a big deal, but she had been hoping to catch John in the Mess. He certainly wouldn't bother showing his face here for the food, but he knew many of the marines and soldiers on the base, and the Mess and the Gym were the two places where you were most likely to run into your comrades.

Woolseyhastily shook his head. "No, I'd like you to come to General Landry's office in two hours. I'll be waiting for you there." Obviously, the man had gone to the General to obtain information about John's promotion. Elizabeth wasn't surprised by the Hank Landry's suggestion to have a meeting with her, but it would have been nice of the General to tell Woolsey to buck off.

Buck off... John. She'd come here to find John and have a talk with him.

Maybe she could get him to stop teaching her idiotic sayings while she was at it. Buck off. She sincerely hoped she would not be so foolish as to use those words in a negotiation.

Elizabeth watched Woolsey's retreating back. The man hadn't even said goodbye, merely nodded in her direction again and walked away. She briefly wondered how many times more she would have to defend John against TPTB before they understood just how important the man was to the welfare of the expedition.

While she had been talking to Woolsey, Doctor Jackson had been joined by the alien Vala.

Suddenly not feeling like sitting down at Dr. Jackson's table anymore, Elizabeth sat down at the table nearest to her and gave the startled scientist at the other side of the table a friendly nod before she opened her bag and pulled out a bottle of water. It had been in there for three days, but she suspected it would still be fresher than the water you could get at the counter.

oOo

For the first time today, Elizabeth felt satisfied.

Granted, she still hadn't spoken to John, but she'd given the IOA a run for their money – and she'd been pleasantly surprised when the General stood up for John during the meeting in his office. Apparently, Landry liked the Lt. Colonel well enough not to put him through a meeting with Woolseyhimself, and he'd told the man the matter was closed ten minutes into the conversation.

It was an achievement. Also, it was starting to look like John would definitely be going back Atlantis within a few weeks. Things would have to take a very strange turn should someone manage to get him to remain behind.

For the fifth time today, she checked her phone. There were no new messages, and she hadn't missed any calls. Sighing, Elizabeth put the cell phone back in her pocket, wondering where her CO could be. The Gym seemed like the most logical place for him to go, especially if he felt like hitting someone, which she knew she did.

The Gym was two levels down, and the nearest stairwell was a few corridors down from her position, so Elizabeth decided to use the elevator. It was becoming harder every day to convince herself that she hadn't grown used to the transporters on Atlantis. Strangely enough, she felt lazier taking the elevator than she did using the transporter. It had to have something to do with the fact that bridging an entire city every day would be a crazy thing to do – whereas going down a few levels by foot seemed quite manageable.

The elevator was empty, bar one marine, who gave her a stiff nod.

"Good afternoon," Elizabeth said, hating all the nods people sent each other around here. Sure, the gesture was friendly enough, but she was starting to get the impression the marines didn't know how to use their mouths.

When the elevator doors opened, she made a point of saying goodbye to the Marine and ignored the surprised look he sent her as she walked away.

She hadn't gone to the Gym once, but she knew John sought sanctuary there every day. Therefore, the place couldn't be any worse than the dark corridors outside the training room. The Gym on Atlantis was beautiful, of course, but then again, she couldn't think of any part of Atlantis that wasn't.

She entered the room where the people of the SGC exercised, eyebrows slightly raised. There were a lot of people here – and they weren't just military. The scientist she'd sat with during lunch was busy facing down a petite female soldier. The woman didn't seem to be afraid of the man, and Elizabeth allowed herself a small smile.

Her attention shifted to the two people behind the pair. One of them was Cameron Mitchell; a man she knew had gone down during the fight against Apophis' fleet. She was pleasantly surprised to see him back in action. From what she'd heard, a lot of good people had been badly injured that day.

The man Cameron Mitchell was fighting against was the man she'd been looking for. Both men held fighting sticks in their hands, and as she watched, Cam struck out at her military commander. John leaped to the side in time, and used his forward momentum to strike out and hit his fighting partner in the leg. Elizabeth hadn't gone to many training exercises, but she could swear that was a move he'd picked up from Teyla. Obviously, the Athosian's complaints about John's lazy attitude had not entirely been just.

She watched the two Lt. Colonels for a while, getting the impression they were head to head when it came to handling the sticks. She wondered if Teal'c had felt the need to teach the new leader of SG-1 a few things as well. From the looks of it, both men could handle themselves quite well with the bantos-sticks.

After having received a good knock in the head, John stumbled backward and raised his arms. "All right, all right – I'm calling it."

A wide grin appeared on Mitchell's sweaty face. "Are you sure? Sure felt like you'd go on forever." He took a deep breath and threw his sticks to the side, so that he could rest his now free hands on his knees.

John wasn't sweating nearly as much as his fighting partner, but his face had a red tint to it and she could see that his right arm was trembling with the effort of twirling one of his bantos-sticks around. "Yeah, pretty sure. I'm going to grab a shower." He gently poked Mitchell with a stick before making his way over to the exit.

Elizabeth quickly moved to block his path. "John."

John didn't seem surprised to see her. "Elizabeth," he stated.

She forced her eyes away from where his T-shirt clung to his chest and looked him directly in the eye. "I was thinking of going for a little walk," she said airily, well aware of the looks people were giving them. "Will you join me?"

John shrugged. "Sure." He threw his sticks to the side, and grinned at her raised eyebrows. "They're not mine."

That didn't explain why he'd just thrown them around like they were made of plastic, but Elizabeth had other things on her mind right now. She turned around and walked out of the Gym, glad to be rid of the attention. She didn't know many people on the base, but she was well aware of the reputation she had in the SGC. She had worked here for a brief period, after all, and leading an expedition to another galaxy was an act that caught attention, even in a place like this.

The corridor was empty, but Elizabeth chose to continue walking because she wanted to make certain no one would bump into them and overhear their conversation. Her quarters seemed like the most logical place to go, but they were a long way from reaching them – and she didn't think she could wait much longer. Patient as she could be, her heart felt like it was about to pop out of her chest anytime now. She had to put an end to her hopes; she couldn't afford to let this awkward way of interacting with her CO progress any further.

There was a storage room to her right, and Elizabeth acted on instinct. She pushed the handle down and stuck her head around the door, watching to see if the room was empty. It was, and she walked in, trusting on John to follow her. He did.

There were several peculiar artefactsand even more unimaginative black boxes stored in the little room. Elizabeth found a damaged chair to sit on and waited for John to settle on one of the boxes. She could only hope it didn't contain anything alien that turned people green.

"I think we have some things to discuss," she started, sounding a lot braver than she actually felt. She'd been looking forward to talking to John all day, but now that they were about to have a conversation, she felt more afraid than she cared to admit. She didn't want to push him away, not after the discovery she'd made last night.

John merely looked at her.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "I think," she halted, searching for the right words. "I think you deserve to know that I have feelings for you, John." There, she'd said it. It was strange that, now that the words were out of her mouth, she felt the same way she did when she told Simon she wanted to break up with him. The situations were nothing alike, and yet – it felt like she was going through the same thing again: she was breaking up with someone. Only this time, she hadn't even had the chance to be with him. Once again, she was reminded of how much she loathed this situation. "Feelings I am not supposed to have,"

John´s intense glare sent shivers down her spine. He didn't look disappointed, mad or angry – but not untouched, either. She couldn't place the look in his eyes.

"Elizabeth," he began, also pausing for a while, but speaking up again before she got the chance to interrupt. "I don't want to lose you."

She was surprised. What was he on about?

He went on, apparently having noticed her confused look. "Look, I'm afraid that – if we pretend last night never happened," she flinched, because that was exactly the suggestion she'd been planning to make, "it's gonna cause a rift between us." He gave her a pleading look. "Acting formal around each other is something we've tried before and – it didn't work out well, at least not for me."

Elizabeth thought back to the time shortly after the nanites-incident, when she'd realized how much she allowed John to get under her skin, resulting in his disobeying her direct orders. She'd told herself to pull herself together at the time, to treat John the way she did the rest of the expedition members – and it had been one of the toughest periods in her life. She'd given up on shutting him out soon after making the decision to distance herself from him.

Her expression must have given her away, because John came to his feet and took a step toward her, his eyes holding a burning emotion she couldn't look away from.

"This is exactly why I apologized last night, Elizabeth," he told her, eyes drawing her in. "I've been here before – hell, more times than I can count. But I always knew what I was doing. And you know what? I didn't care. I've become pretty damn good at emotionally distancing myself from my actions."

She listened to his words, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. Hearing him say this, admit this, made her feel burdened in a way that felt right. It felt like they were linked; two halves that belonged together. Two halves that put up with each other's problems, knowing that they'd get through in the end. She'd always thought building up this kind of trust would take years.

"But not this time." John's voice broke through her thoughts and she focused on his words again. "You're – you're special, Elizabeth. I don't want to lose you."

Elizabeth briefly closed her eyes. She couldn't bear the intensity of his gaze. When she opened them again, she made a point of staring at the point between his eyes. "You won't lose me, John."

John let out a dry laugh. "So you think we're going to be able to interact the way we used to? Because I'm having doubts about that."

He was right. Much as Elizabeth couldn't bear the idea of emotionally distancing herself from the military head of Atlantis, she knew that in order to get over her feelings, she'd have to put on her professional act and avoid seeing him off the clock.

John shook his head. "Ignoring last night, I can handle. Not being your friend, well, I don't think I can cope with that." He blew out a small breath, waiting for her to say something.

"Then what are you suggesting?" she asked, a slight hint of desperation in her voice. She knew he was right, but there was no way they could get around avoiding each other while they were off-duty. Unless they… no. No, she couldn't.

But she wanted to, so very much.

"I suggest we give it a try," John deadpanned, taking a step toward her, and then another one.

"John," she said, shaking her head.

He came closer still, coming close to invading her personal space, but stopping right before she could call him on it.

"Why not?" he whispered.

Elizabeth couldn't think straight, he was standing too close to her, hampering her ability to think straight. "They won't agree," she finally said. With they, she meant the IOA and the SGC, though she was pretty sure there were other organizations on Earth that wouldn't be congratulating them on taking the first step.

"They don't have to know."

The suggestive tone made her shiver. She knew John had never been one to follow regulations - that didn't sound right. She knew he had always been good at interpreting regulations a certain way, and it was starting to look like this situation was no exception.

She wasn't considering it.

"Elizabeth, I never would have suggested this if you hadn't – I don't know, hinted that you wanted us to become more than friends," John told her.

She had just broken up with Simon, how could she possibly forget about that?

In truth, she'd left Simon the moment she first stepped through the Gate. Getting over him was something she'd done some time ago, and the break-up didn't need to hinder her in any way. Still, the regulations were a different matter.

That was what it kept coming back to for her. She couldn't ignore the regulations. If she expected everyone on Atlantis to follow them, how could she not do so herself?

"I want to," she said quietly, eyes searching his again. "Believe me, I do." And she did.

"Then why can't we try… I don't know, something?"

Why, indeed? One of the things she both liked and hated about John, was that he always made things sound so simple ("Do you want something? Go for it"). It was a way of looking at things she'd never dared to put to a use. Still, if she truly wanted to explore her feelings for John, she might have to get over herself and… go for it.

"What something is there to try?" she asked, hoping he'd understand her intentions. "This is ridiculous. We don't even know how we feel about the other, other than knowing we feel something. That is not enough for me to put both our jobs at risk, John. I'm sorry." She closed her mouth, looking at him expectantly.

He took the bait. "You want to know how I feel about you? Okay, I'll tell you. I love you, Elizabeth Weir."

He… loved her? How could she be certain? Was she not another Chaya to add to the list? Then again, the speech he'd given her before had made pretty sure how he felt about her. It suddenly hit her that becoming friends with John was one of the smartest things she'd ever done – or rather, one of the stupidest things she'd ever done; it was a matter of how you looked at it. She'd broken right through his defences. She'd gotten through to John Sheppard. And now she couldn't walk away from him anymore. She was in way over her head.

Her diplomatic side took over, reminding her that she couldn't ignore his confession. "I love you, too."

The question was, what were they going to do about it?

TBC...