The next morning…
"Mmm." A soft moan breezed past Elizabeth's lips. A wall of hot muscle tightened within her arms. John's fingers began lazily threading through her hair drawing the strands away from her face.
Oh, damn. Elizabeth caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Apparently her subconscious didn't have quite the self-control she'd expected it to. She had turned in her sleep, drawing him within her arms. She took advantage of his last moments of sleepiness to dip her head against his chest allowing her long curls to veil her face.
"Good morning…sleepy head." John's voice was laden with confusion. He began smoothing her hair back with more vigor, clearly anxious to discover who lay beneath.
Elizabeth rolled away. With her back towards John, she sat up as gracefully as possible allowing her feet to fall off the bed and onto the floor. She edged forward shoving her feet into the shoes she'd abandoned near the bed. She heaved herself onto her feet, the silence pricking uncomfortably against her skin. She hated this. If John still didn't remember, perhaps there was another way to nudge his memories along. She steeled herself and glanced back over her shoulder, locking onto John's eyes.
"Elizabeth?" John's eyes stretched wide with shock.
She turned to face him. "Something wrong, John? Expecting someone thinner?" She lightly teased. Her voice was still husky with sleep and she felt certain she'd been unable to mask the hunger within her eyes.
John was on his side, his upper body propped by his elbow. His head rested atop his hand while he studied her intently. His hair was wild, his face stubbly and Elizabeth felt a delicious little shiver run down her spine. She surveyed John's scruffy head that she so adored, absentmindedly licking her lips as her eyes lingered across the vast expanse of skin his boxer clad body treated her to.
"Elizabeth." His eyebrow popped and that cocky grin she remembered from the first days of the expedition spread proudly across his face. His voice was raspy and sexy as hell with the fatigue that clearly still hung over his body.
"I wouldn't look so smug just yet." Elizabeth's voice carried a bit more warning than she'd intended and John's body instantly rippled with tension.
John jumped out of bed and shrugged on his shirt. His eyes darted around the room and anxiously back towards the door.
"Elizabeth, I'm sorry." John snatched his pants and stumbled over his shoes. Still off balance, he started hopping in a circle trying to finish tugging on his pants. "They said I've been sleepwalking and…damn it!"
The back of his legs struck the nearby chair sending John spiraling awkwardly towards the floor before disappearing behind the bed. The thud and grunt that coincided with his disappearance made Elizabeth wince. She peered closer just as his head poked back above the bed.
"I don't know how I ended up here. Ronon is going to be pissed, isn't he?"
Elizabeth moved towards him, feeling guilty as hell that she found John's current confusion just the tiniest bit amusing. Placing her hands on his arms, she nudged him towards his feet.
"Easy. No need to worry about Ronon. Though he's liable to make you spar with him soon and that hasn't always worked so well for you in the past."
She edged closer, the questioning look in his eyes tugged at her heart and she couldn't resist trailing her fingers down his face. Sighing wistfully, she turned away and took a step towards the door, glancing back only when he spoke again.
"Is that my shirt?"
Elizabeth turned slowly, smoothing the button down shirt she'd appropriated from his closet before she'd left Earth. "It's only fair, John. After all, it's all your fault that none of my clothes fit. " Her hands traced the outline of her bulging stomach.
"Elizabeth." His voice drawled, turning a word as simple as her name into something more dangerous.
Warmth seeped through Elizabeth. She'd been wrong. From the very first days of the expedition, when she thought she'd been crazy, he had been flirting with her. She wondered how much further she could safely push him. He was so close to remembering, she could see it in his eyes. Elizabeth tugged the engagement ring from her pants pocket.
"That's was my mother's."
"Yes." Elizabeth pushed the ring firmly back on her finger. She had no intentions of ever taking it off again.
"Why can't I remember?" He turned away from, her cursing softly under his breath. She could almost see the muscles rippling with tension beneath his skin. "I want to remember." His voice was barely more than a ragged whisper.
Easing up behind him she touched his shoulder. She gingerly moved before him and took his hand. "And we need you to remember." She placed his hand on her stomach just as the baby landed a well-timed kick.
The intensity that rose within John's eyes caused her breath to hitch. His eyes seared into hers and time seemed to freeze in that moment. She allowed every defense she had around her heart to fall away, granting him anything he was willing to take, to see, and feel as his eyes locked fiercely onto hers.
Unaware she'd even been moving, her back brushed the wall. John's hands rose to her face, his fingers tunneled through her hair. His head tucked lower and his nose brushed hers.
Noise from the hallway starting grating at her ears, but she didn't care. Something familiar was kindling in John's eyes and the tiny glimmer of hope it granted was like salve to her soul.
"Oh, no! No, no, no!" McKay's voice was followed by a crash and the sound of breaking glass.
John swiveled around, shielding Elizabeth with his body.
"We were worried, we didn't mean to…" Teyla's voice trailed off.
"Elizabeth, I'm sorry, but we couldn't reach either of you on radio and…" McKay's eyes fell to the floor after spotting the single tear that had escaped her eye. "I'm sorry."
Ronon was studying the remains of the glass vase they'd knocked over. Elizabeth's hopes were plummeted. She had no idea just how that moment with John had occurred, but she knew that temporary magic had just been swept away.
John tilted his head towards her. "I know we're consenting adults and everything, so why do I feel like our parents just busted us renting a hotel room after prom?"
Ronon shrugged holding a shattered fragment of the delicate glass. "What's prom?"
"That's odd. Kind of like déjà vu. This feels familiar." John peered out the corner of his eye towards Elizabeth.
Jennifer swept into the room looking exasperated. "John, how am I supposed to treat you when I can't find you? It's time to talk a little walk to the infirmary."
"Don't take too long we have a research meeting and.."Rodney's fingers were snapping as he prattled through the day's agenda.
Elizabeth tuned it all out. There was only one priority in her life right now, only one thing she could possible focus on. Her family, fractured as it may currently be.
"Hey. You okay, Elizabeth?" John's head tilted toward her with concern.
Elizabeth just nodded, not trusting her voice.
"Sounds like a big day." John's voice dropped so only she could hear his words. "I want to talk to you, maybe when we're both done for the day. With any luck we'll only be interrupted a few times instead of a few dozen. "
Her heart rate increased with each second John whispered into her ear.
"I have a late meeting tonight." Her heart dipped.
Jennifer looked contrite when she pulled on John's elbow. "Sorry guys, but this is overdue. Come on, John."
"After the meeting then." John brought his hand up to cup her chin, demanding Elizabeth's gaze for a moment longer. "Just promise you'll meet me in your office at 9 p.m."
Elizabeth felt a crazy smile cross her face and she nodded her consent. John fixed her with a lopsided grin that made her heart roll deliciously in response.
He brushed his thumb across her cheek. "I'll be waiting for you."
A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
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