A/N: Thanks Astrochick for Beta'ing. Again thanks for all the reviews. Here's the last chapter. Hopefully they answered all your questions. Enjoy.
Chapter 4
The first thing John did when the reached the cave was shine the flash light from his P90 in between the plants and confirm that this was definitely a cave.
"Think we should check it out?" he asked. Elizabeth nodded, but she decided she would stay close to John, just in case.
John let go of his gun and started pulling at the vines blocking their entrance. Elizabeth stuck the gun she had back into the holster on John's leg, and was about to help him out.
"Ouch!" John cried. Elizabeth looked at John afraid she had done something wrong.
"What did I do?" she said.
"The vine bit me!"
"What?"
John held out his hand for Elizabeth to examine. There was a scratch and a small line of blood visibly forming.
"There are thorns, be careful they may look small, but they are vicious." John pulled out his dagger and started to cut through the vines, while Elizabeth carefully pulled the vines aside.
After they cleared enough of the prickly foliage, they proceeded with caution. Elizabeth reached into John's backpack and found an extra flashlight.
The passage was narrow. John and Elizabeth could barely stand next to each other without touching the sides of the wall.
"How deep do you think this cave is?" John thought out loud. He shined the light down the dark that seemed endless.
"I guess we'll find out," Elizabeth said shining her flashlight around the side of the walls hoping to find some clues as they continued walking down.
The continued walking through the cave and noticed that the walls surrounding them had reliefs depicting a story or an event along the two sides.
"I think this was some kind of temple," Elizabeth said. "Look at this," she pointed at a relief expertly carved into the wall. Even after the wear of time, the relief was very well preserved.
The relief Elizabeth pointed at showed three spheres of varying sizes, and below each of the three spheres were human figures.
Under the center sphere were the figures of a man and a woman standing back to back with each other. The sphere on the right had two men standing also standing back to back beneath it. The figures under the sphere on the left where standing in the same position, but the only difference was that, they were two women.
Below the relief were inscriptions, which Elizabeth used her hand to wipe off the dust.
"It looks like a strange form of Greek," Elizabeth observed.
"Can you read it? Aren't you like a protocol droid?"
"I think the protocol droid you're referring to is Dr. Daniel Jackson. Remember? I'm the resident diplomat."
"Oh right, which means you're Princess Leia, and that makes me…"
"Chewbacca?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of Han Solo." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and continued giving her attention to the inscriptions. "Since I am the dashing scruffy looking hero that always seems to save the day."
"You've got the scruffy looking part down," Elizabeth muttered to herself. "I don't know what it says. I do know several languages, but unfortunately Greek isn't one of them. If it were Ancient then I'd be able to figure it out. Maybe Rodney or one of the other scientist back in Atlantis can translate this."
"This picture reminds me of that creation myth where the people were stuck together and they looked like a giant ball with four arms, four legs, and two faces. One day they pissed off some god and he chopped them in half. Then some other god fixed them up into the present human form." John mused.
"Plato's Symposium, you've read that?"
"In translation, of course."
"Of course, you read War and Peace. I shouldn't be surprised, but yet I am." John gave her a little smirk in return.
"If you're right and this coincides with that myth, then these three spheres are the sun, moon, and earth, and these human figures on the bottom are the Children of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, but instead of being giant rolling –"
"Kegs," John supplied.
"Excuse me?"
"Kegs, I always imagined them as big rolling kegs."
Elizabeth looked at John oddly and continued to walk down the narrow passageway until they reached the end. They found themselves in a circular domed room with an opening at the pinnacle of the dome. As the whole structure had been long neglected plants were growing about the opening and some vines were hanging down the hole like a rope. The vines continued crawling through the hole and adorned the walls like new decorations.
In the center of the room was a fountain that contained a sculpture of a man and a woman facing each other with their right hands clasped together. Water dripped between their palms into the fountain bowl.
"Did you ever see this when you were flying over to the village?" Elizabeth asked.
"No, we always assumed it was a hill or something."
They started to walk along the right side of the wall and found that under the vines and plants were more reliefs.
"Do you suppose these are instructions?" Elizabeth asked after they made a round around the room.
"Your guess is as good as mine," John returned, and they continued to explore the room until Rodney's voice came crackling through the radio.
"Major, we are at the ruins. Where are you guys?"
"It's about time." John replied with a click on his radio. "There's a cave around the back of the ruins. We are inside."
"A cave? I don't see a cave. I see a lot of buildings that have caved in."
"Rodney, why don't you walk around and take a look," John rolled his eyes and looked Elizabeth, who just shrugged her shoulders.
A few moments later, Rodney and Aiden arrived in the room that John and Elizabeth were in.
"What is this place?"
"Don't know. We were hoping you could tell us," said John.
"From what I can tell from the totally demolished ruins, they look like a derivative of ancient Greek architecture, but you guys knew that already. This may explain why the Greeks have their own account of Atlantis." Rodney was getting more excited, and the more excited he was the faster he started talking. "Which means that it is possible that this was the previous location of the ancestors of the Ancient Greeks."
"So, these were the ancient ancient Greeks?" John asked, trying to grasp Rodney's conclusion.
"Quite possibly," Rodney replied, and walked towards the fountain in the center of the room observing that there were inscriptions along the rim of the bowl underneath the sculpture. "Interesting, there's also inscriptions also here too."
"We noticed that too. I'm guessing the inscriptions describe the reliefs. Can you read it?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well, it's all Greek to me," Rodney replied in his attempt at a bad joke.
"We know its Greek. Do you know how to read it?" John asked impatiently.
"Well let see…there's kappa, theta, lambda…," Rodney said as he pointed to the figures he recognized on the wall.
"Enough with the frat house names, can you translate the inscription?"
"What do I look like to you? A linguist?"
"Well you claim to be a genius, I figured have a problem, ask McKay. Need a translation, ask McKay. Need to be annoyed, ask McKay."
"Very funny, Major. Anyway if we gather all the data of these inscriptions and take it back to Atlantis I can get some help deciphering this warped version of Greek."
"All right boys, let's gather all the data we need and figure out what we have got ourselves into," Elizabeth said with a sigh. This was going to be another long day.
Two hours later after being in a musty old temple cave with two men who wouldn't stop talking and one who's only two words were either "yes, sir" or "no, sir", Elizabeth was glad to be back in Atlantis, but she was not glad that she was no closer to being separated from John.
"Doctor Weir?" Elizabeth felt a tug on her left hand. Apparently her other half had stopped moving, and she realized that for a moment she had forgotten that her other half was still there. "The commissary is that way," John pointed down another corridor.
"Right."
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"About what? Me?" He asked sheepishly.
"Actually, I was."
"Really?" This was getting interesting John thought to himself.
"I was thinking. What are we going to do if all this research of this temple is a dead end? First of all, we don't even know if this temple is even related to this blob."
"I guess we'd become the dynamic duo," he teased.
"Yes, we'd make a great team unfolding blankets and wringing out towels. First of all you can't go off world any more, because I'm needed here. This means that you would be going to every meeting and briefing with me."
John raised his hand to stop her. "Let's not think about that just yet. This might just work. If not, we'll figure out another way, and I'm sure McKay would be more then willing to help us after I coerce him in the utmost civilized way." Elizabeth smiled, as they continued walking towards the right direction.
After a quick lunch and a not so quick meeting, John and Elizabeth arrived at Rodney's lab.
On their approach, Rodney glanced up and resumed his concentration on the laptop in front of him.
"There you guys are. I was wondering where you two dallied off to," he said without looking up.
"Dallied? I wouldn't call sitting in an unexpected meeting dallying." John gave Elizabeth a death glare.
"So how are the translations coming along?" Elizabeth asked.
"With the help of Dr. Melnitz, we were able to concluded that the language is relatively similar to Ancient Greek, which would be expected with ten thousand years of evolution between this and present day Greek, but there also seems to be Ancient mixed in as well."
"Ancient?" Elizabeth said.
"Yes, at first we didn't recognize it because it was written in a very strange script. Almost like a calligraphic version of the Ancient words. As soon as we figured out that much, the translations came along pretty easily. Here." He turned the laptop to face Elizabeth so she would observe their findings herself.
"You're right, it is a very odd script of Ancient. That's why I didn't recognize it. So how much have you translated?"
"Well so far we've translated the corridor leading up to the room and most of the room. Most of the walls were filled with pictures instead of inscriptions. It also made it easier, when we figured out it was basically the same creation myth that could be found in –"
"Plato's Symposium," John supplied. Rodney stopped talking and looked at John. "What? I read it in my spare time when I was based in Antarctica."
"First I found out you're Mensa, now I find out you read Symposium for fun. What's next? Your IQ score is almost as high as mine?"
Before John could blurt out his IQ score, Elizabeth spoke first. "Yes, we are familiar with that myth. What does it have to do with the reliefs?"
"It's basically a retelling of the creation myth with obvious differences." Rodney clicked a button on the laptop and a picture of the relief of the three spheres and the three figures beneath them appeared. "The three spheres are the sun, earth, and moon, and the man-man, man-woman, and the woman-woman are the children of the sun, earth, and moon, respectively. Unlike Plato's myth these people are obviously not a big ball with arms and legs."
"Kegs," John said.
Rodney stopped and stared at John again and then continued. "As I was saying, instead of being literally a big rolling ball with arms and legs, an object called the "sphere of destiny" bonded these people."
"Isn't that a Celtic or Irish myth?" John wondered.
"I said 'sphere' not 'spear'," Rodney corrected.
"So these "sphere of destiny" is it what I think it is?" John asked and held up their joined hands.
"Yes, Major, it is, as you so eloquently call it, 'the blob'," Rodney said and continued. "Basically, from the writings in the domed room. It is basically a wedding ritual of some sorts. Like the symbolic binding of souls back on Earth."
"That makes sense," Elizabeth said. "On Earth, a number of cultures have a symbolic binding as part of their wedding ceremonies. Hindus tie the bride and groom's hands with red thread. In Cambodia, a string is tied between the couple's wrist. In the Ukraine, they have a ritual cloth that wraps around the couples wrists, and the Greeks and Thais have string or ribbon crowns that link the couple."
"But these are symbolic. This takes it one step further," John said.
"Yes, this sphere of destiny is actually a highly technological evolved type of natural selection," Rodney began to explain.
"Unnatural you mean," John muttered.
"This device—"
"Now we are calling this a device?" John interrupted.
"This device," Rodney continued, "is able to check the compatibility between two people by their DNA. At least that's the only conclusion I can come up with so far."
"Is that even possible?"
"Apparently if you believe in soulmates or not, this thing would help reinforce the belief or disbelief."
"So you are saying this is like a high tech form of matchmaking?" Elizabeth said.
"Something like that. From the translations, if the bond lasts longer then a cycle of the sun, the two lost souls have found their other half."
"That means you and Beckett just weren't meant to be," John teased.
"Yes, fortunately, but you two are," Rodney shot back. John looked away pretending he did not hear Rodney's last comment, while Elizabeth started to become more interested in the image on laptop before her.
"The whole wedding ritual is described on the reliefs in the circular room." He clicked on the laptop again and another picture appeared. "The ritual begins with the couple standing face to face and bonding their right hands together with the sphere. Then they basically have to spend the day stuck to each other like that. It's symbolic of the two souls keeping an eye on each other's back. Kind of like a 'I watch your back. You watch my back' type of thing."
"If this is only a ritual, then that means this bond is temporary. Cause I think it would be a bit odd for every married couple in the village to be stuck together like that especially when it comes to consummating the marriage. I'm guessing having your hands in that position would be a bit awkward. Wouldn't it be in the way or something?"
Elizabeth elbowed John to shut up.
"Awkward, but not impossible," Rodney simply said. "But by the way your hands are bonded together nothing is in the way there. So if you two were to consummate a marriage, you two are bonded in the perfect position."
Elizabeth glared a John and was ready to change the subject, but instead she choked. At least this would give her an excuse for her flushed face, she hoped.
"That's not funny, McKay," John said, when he saw Elizabeth cough.
"Really? I thought it was quite funny."
"You just made Doctor Weir, choke," John said turning his attention to Elizabeth, "Are you okay?"
"Then maybe you can gave her CPR," Rodney suggested, still teasing John.
Elizabeth raised her hand to signal she was fine. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She cleared her throat one last time. "So after the twenty-four hours, what's next?"
"After the twenty-four hours and the bond is still strong. The couple reaches the next stage of the blending of the 'fluids of life'."
"What?" John and Elizabeth exclaimed at the same time.
Rodney had to hold back a laugh. "You have to blend the fluid of life or stay stuck together forever."
"What exactly is this 'fluid of life'?" Elizabeth finally asked.
"It's blood," Rodney had to hold back another laugh at the relief on Elizabeth's face and the blank look on John's face. "Basically, after sticking themselves together, they then mutilate each other."
"Hey love hurts," John said.
"I take it that this is the representation of the couple sacrificing a bit of themselves for the other," Elizabeth said.
"Yes, literally."
"So, the blending of the blood would break the bond?" John asked.
"No, this is where the fountain and the hole in the roof comes in. It says, 'under the gaze of the sun and the moon, the children of the earth shall blend and return to the earth'. Now I'm guessing, it means very early in the morning, when the moon can still be seen, and the sun is just beginning to rise."
"You're saying that we have to be at the temple at the butt crack of dawn?" exclaimed John.
"Pretty much. So after you cut yourselves, and the blood blends over the blob. It will detect the presence of the two blood types and should wash away under the fountain water."
"Is there something special in the fountain water that requires us to go there to break this bond?"
"Oh, I don't know, it might make no difference at all and just be the nice gothic atmosphere," smirked Rodney.
"And the timing. Is there a difference to when we do this?"
"John, has a good point, Rodney. If we can separate now without having to wait, we should try it."
"We could try it, but if it doesn't work you'd have to cut each other twice."
"John already cut me twice. What's two more times?"
"Hey, I got cut too," whined John.
"Yes, but not by me."
"It was an accident!"
"I know." Elizabeth returned her attention to Rodney. "Can we try it with the blob samples we have here already? You said it already had read our DNA. You can just take some blood from us and see if it works." Rodney nodded. "All right, lets pay the good Doctor another visit."
In the infirmary, Rodney held up a test tub that contained John and Elizabeth's blood and a small sample of the blob. "Okay, I'm going to pour in the water," Rodney announced.
He poured several drops of water into the tube. The blood started to swirl within the water until Rodney shook the tube and the liquid turned slightly clearer and less vicious, but the sample blob was still in one piece.
"I guess there is something in the water." Rodney said, "and it's probably a safe assumption that timing is important too."
John sighed. "All right, tomorrow morning we'll fly to the mainland. What time does the sun rise here?"
"Between five or six," Rodney said.
"Okay then, we'll meet in the jumper bay at 03:00 then."
"Wait a minute. We?" Carson asked.
"Yes, the four of us."
"Why do I have to go?" bleated Carson.
"Don't worry, Carson you're not driving. I am," Rodney said proudly.
"That's what I was afraid of," Carson muttered under this breath.
"I think it would be better if you're there, Carson, in case one of us gets shaky hands when we are blending the 'fluid of life'." Elizabeth said.
"Fair enough, we'll see you tonight."
"Ditto."
When they were out of the infirmary, Elizabeth asked, "Isn't 03:00 a bit too early?"
"Yeah, it is, but you know scientists. They are always at least half an hour late to everything. They are always doing some science project and lose track of time," he explained.
"It's a safe bet, that at three in the morning Rodney and Carson would be sleeping and not working on some science project."
"That is even more reason to meet up at 03:00."
It was 03:35 when Rodney and Carson finally stumbled into the bay. "Sorry we're late had to get a few things before we headed out," Rodney explained. "And Carson wanted to bring his doctor's kit along too. Just in case."
Elizabeth was already falling asleep in the passenger seat, and didn't hear a word that Rodney said. She had not been up this early, in a very long time. It didn't help that she felt exhausted. Spending an entire day with John was tiring enough, but spending an entire day with both John and Rodney, was like spending a day with the most difficult dignitaries in the galaxy. The only problem with these two dignitaries was that there was no negotiations taking place meaning there was no end to their bickering and bantering. They just kept going and going.
Elizabeth was relieved when they had gone their separate ways so they could squeeze in some sleep before their early trip. But as soon as John woke her up a few hours later, she realized she wanted to slap him and go back to sleep. She was able to resist the urge when she saw he was pathetically tired as she was and reluctantly got up. Now here she was falling asleep before the flight even started.
John saw that Elizabeth was no where near a coherent state at the moment and got up from his seat to allow Rodney and Carson to get through to the pilot seats without having to climb over their hands.
"Is everyone ready?" Rodney asked sounding rather awake.
"Yes, Rodney, let's go." John sat back down on his seat. "Why are you so perky at this hour?"
"I had a power nap. And don't get all cranky on me. You're the one who said 03:00."
"Yes, and I'm beginning to regret it," John muttered to himself.
Twenty minutes later, they flew over the mainland's shore.
"Rodney, try to land the jumper close to the ruins," John said.
"Major, there are rocks and trees everywhere, and I usually won't admit things, but I'll admit that when comes to piloting a jumper, I'm not as well practiced as you."
John was too sleepy to think of something to retort. "Just land as close as you can, I don't think it would be safe for Elizabeth to be walking through ruins when she's half conscious, and I don't think I can carry her either."
"If you can't carry her, how will you carry your bride over the threshold of your new house?" Rodney teased.
"Rodney you are so lucky that it's my right hand that is stuck to Elizabeth."
"Rodney, I think you should cut it out. It's not fair to Doctor Weir," Carson said.
"Elizabeth doesn't care, besides look at her, she's gone."
"I'm not gone. I'm just resting my eyes, and heard everything you've said. Don't worry. I'll keep everything that you said in mind when I am doing your evaluations." Elizabeth muttered.
John leaned forward to whisper to Rodney, "She doesn't forget anything."
"Okay we're here," Rodney quickly changed the subject. "The two of you still have plenty of time to get to the temple and wait for sunrise."
"Aren't you two coming with us?"
"I'm going to do some more exploring around here, maybe we can find another 'sphere of destiny' lying around. And Carson can stay here and make sure the two of you mutilate each other on time."
"How will Carson know?
"While you were sleeping – "
"Isn't that the name of a movie?" John interrupted.
"Yes it is, and no I haven't seen it. Now while you were resting, I figured out a program that would tell you exactly when the time the sun and moon are visible in the sky. I'm sure you two and figure it out when you are in the room, but just in case you two pass out or something, Carson can keep watch."
"So you are going to find more blobs in the dark?" John asked.
"No, I'm going to wait until there is more light."
"Of course you are." John stood up and gently tugged on Elizabeth's hand. "Come on, Doctor, time for your morning stroll with nature."
John felt like he was a leading a blind person through the unfamiliar ruins with his small flashlight. Elizabeth was slowly waking up, but the dark morning and the cool air were not helping. She wrapped her arm around her body for some warmth.
"Are you cold?" John asked.
"Just a little, it's nothing to worry about."
"You know it's going to be colder in the temple."
"I'm fine, John, really," Elizabeth insisted.
"So what do you plan on doing as soon as we are separated?"
"I plan on taking a nice long shower, then go to my office and continue reading through reports alone. What about you?"
"You sure know how to party. I'm going to Disneyland!" he said with feigned excitement. Elizabeth laughed tiredly. "Okay, it's too early for that joke."
"Yes. Much too early," she agreed.
"I'm pretty much going to do the same thing minus the briefings and report reading of course."
"Of course."
They reached the opening of the cave, and quickly proceeded into their final destination of the domed room.
"We still have," John looked at his watch, "a lot of time before sunrise. Now I'm really regretting the 03:00 meeting time."
"Well, you were right. They didn't arrive until 03:30."
"03:35," he corrected.
"If only Rodney had told us he knew exactly want time the sun and moon would be visible overhead, we wouldn't be sitting around waiting."
"He did make the program while we were sleeping," Elizabeth reminded. "By the time he knew the time, we were already up, so doesn't really matter now does it?"
"I guess not."
They found a spot in the room that looked dry and semi-comfortable and settled themselves down, and looked out the hole on the top of the dome. They both sat together in silence as they waited for the sun to rise.
What felt like moments later. Elizabeth felt John gently shaking her shoulder to wake her. She had fallen asleep again, and had been using John's shoulder as a headrest.
"Sorry, I must have fallen asleep again."
"You're forgiven it's early," John smiled. "Beckett just radioed in. He said it's almost time, and from the looks of things he's right." John pointed to the hole in the dome, and they could see a full moon peering through it, and the sky was no longer dark but slowly brightening with the rising sun.
They stood before the fountain that belonged to the Children of the Earth and waited.
"So how are we supposed to cut each other?" Elizabeth asked.
"Rodney said just a small cut would suffice." He brought out his dagger. "Here it's clean, I made sure to have it sterilized when were back at Atlantis."
"When?"
"When we went back earlier."
"Why don't I remember this? Was there a moment I was detached from you and didn't know it?"
"Major?" Interrupted a crackling voice on the radio.
"Beckett, I'm listening, and we are in position."
"All right, according to the device it should be time in about two minutes. Good luck."
"Thanks."
Just then from a previously unseen slit that was between one of the walls, sunlight streamed through the room, and despite the overgrowth of foliage covering the hole above them, moonlight was still able to stream in overhead.
Both sunlight and moonlight were shining upon the fountain signaling that the time for the ritual had begun.
"Funny that we never noticed that slit before," John said trying to ease Elizabeth's anxiety. "Here," he handed her the dagger, "it would be easier if you just cut yourself. You don't have to cut me."
She held the dagger in her hands, but she couldn't bring her self to cut her own skin. She slowly brought the tip of the dagger onto her skin. Before she made the cut, she suddenly remembered the dream she had the day before. Though she wasn't aware what she had said out loud that night, but she remembered clearly what she had said in the dream, and now she couldn't bring herself to cut herself. "John, I can't do it. Cutting myself on accident is one thing, but cutting myself on purpose. I can't do it. And before you suggest me to cut you instead, I can't do that either. You're going to have to do it for the both of us."
John looked into Elizabeth's eyes to make sure she was serious, and she looked dead serious. "All right, you promise you won't hold it against me," he joked in an attempt to lighten atmosphere.
"Let just say it was an order."
"Yes, Ma'am."
John held on tight to Elizabeth's hand in case she instinctively flinched when he made the cut, but she didn't flinch. Her crimson blood flowed freely from where he cut her on her palm. Her blood was already flowing between their palms when he prepared to cut his own palm. He was hesitant about cutting himself, as he was hesitant in cutting Elizabeth's hand. He was only able to cut her a bit more easily, since she had ordered him to. Elizabeth was right. Cutting oneself accidentally was one thing, but cutting oneself on purpose was another.
"John?" Elizabeth looked into his eyes.
"I'm fine, I can do it."
"Here," she took the dagger from him, and made a small cut on his palm. Now his blood flowed with hers between their palms and over the sphere of destiny.
John let out a breath, "Thanks."
"We're even now," Elizabeth smiled. "Let's hope with the 'gaze of the sun and moon our souls can return to the earth' and let us go."
They placed their hands under the streaming water from hands of the hand-clasped couple on the fountain. The water was cool and soothed on their newly formed cuts. The water washed away their blood stained hands and along with the blood, they could feel the bond of the sphere was weakening. Gradually the bond dissolved freeing their hands. The blood also stopped flowing from their hands.
John brought up his hands for close observation. "The cut is healed."
Elizabeth looked at her own hand, "Your right. All the cuts are healed. Even the one you gave me the other day. There is something in the water."
Elizabeth took the radio out of John's vest. "Carson, it worked, and we are fine. We are heading back right now," she said excitedly. "Is Rodney back yet?"
"Rodney? Yes, he's back, and he found some more of those silly putty things."
"Tell him to be careful, we don't need anymore high tech matchmaking. We still need to worry about more important things like the wraith. We'll see you soon."
As they made their way through the ruins back to the jumper, it felt odd to Elizabeth that she was no longer holding John's hand. She didn't think she would get used to being around John in such a short time. But she was glad to finally have her left hand back to herself.
John, on the other hand, also felt a odd feeling when he no longer had to hold Elizabeth's hand, but a couple of times when they were cross over the stream or a log, it felt normal for him to hold on to Elizabeth's hand as he helped her over. It was a strange feeling, but he knew that in time everything would be back to normal.
After a nice long shower and a couple hours alone, Elizabeth's day had continued like any other day, and she was back in her office reading reports and preparing for the first briefing of the day. She thought that as soon as she got rid of John she would be able to return to work, but she was wrong. The dream she remembered bothered her.
She heard her office door slide open. "John, I thought you had gone back to sleep."
He was leaning on the side of the door when she greeted him. "I thought about it, but I think the shower woke me up. Talk to me in a couple hours. I think I'll be ready for a nap then," he said and sat down in the chair in front of her desk.
"So what can I do for you?"
"I had nothing better to do. I thought I would pay you a visit."
"Rodney is never going to pay the hundred dollars is he?"
"Nope, he kept babbling on about the new blobs he found this morning, and I gave up and came here."
"I remember the dream I had the other day."
"Excuse me?"
"The first night we spent together. You said that I said something in my sleep."
"Oh, so you know what you said?" John crossed his arms over his chest as he mused over Elizabeth attempt to clear her name.
"Yes, and I know I didn't say what you said I said."
"Alright, what did you say?"
"I believe I said…" Elizabeth hesitated as she remembered the dream again. John raised his eyebrows waiting for her answer. "I said, 'John, don't'."
John sat there in silence. He knew that was what she said that night, but he didn't know what her was haunting her dreams that night. He remembered Elizabeth sleeping very uneasily and breathing heavily as if something was chasing her. He was about to wake and tell her it was a dream, but when his hand caressed her face to comfort her, she said "John, don't". At first he wasn't sure if she was awake or not, but he later realized she was talking in her sleep and let her continue to sleep. Now that she remembered her dream, John was curious at what was happening in her dream.
"So, is there a story behind why you said that?" He finally asked.
"It was just a dream."
"Are you sure it wasn't a nightmare?"
"Look, we are all afraid; nightmares are a common occurrence around Atlantis, especially with the constant threat of the wraith in the back of our minds."
"Elizabeth," John leaned forward placing his elbows on her desk and looked her straight in the eye. "Tell me what your dream was about?"
Elizabeth took in a deep breath. She was afraid he was going to ask her that. She wasn't sure how he would respond to a dream like this one.
"I dreamt that the hive ships had arrived earlier then we predicted. We were completely unprepared. We had nowhere to go, but through the gate to another wraith infested planet. We finally picked the best planet and sent all of the crew and the Athosians through, hoping they would have a better chance in surviving on their own. Only a hand full of us stayed behind. While Ford, Bates, Rodney, and others who volunteered to stay behind were trying to hold off the wraiths for as long as possible, you and I were in the control room preparing to destroy the city and the stargate. When we got the signal to activate the self-destruct, you looked at me and said 'I have no problem with sacrificing my own life for earth, but I feel that in activating this, it is as bad as stabbing you with my dagger myself.' That was when I said 'John, don't.' and I continued to explain to you that I was also authorizing this self-destruct, and I made a bad joke about us both being suicidal. But you just wouldn't let it go. We were about to die in less then two minutes and you were feeling guilty for my death. That was when I took your dagger and…stabbed myself."
"So you stabbed yourself to save my guilty conscience?"
"Like I said it was only a dream, John. It doesn't mean anything," she reassured. "I'm sure you've had dreams that don't make any sense either."
"Yes, but one question."
"What is it?"
"Is that why you made it an order for me to cut you earlier today?" he asked.
"Actually, no, I didn't know why made that an order. I guess…"
"To ease my guilty conscience?"
"That is the reason why I didn't want to tell you."
"What? I'm just teasing. I know that dreams are just a glimpse into to our subconscious to show us how messed up we really are in our heads. Besides I'm still sticking to my version."
"You're version?"
"You know the version where you said "John, I want you," John smirked.
"Of course that is your version and not the truth."
"But it's your word against mine."
Elizabeth sat up straight and folded her hands on her desk in front of her. "Major, like you told Rodney earlier, I don't forget anything." she said.
"Of course you don't, Doctor, and I wouldn't have it any other way," John said with another smirk as he got up to leave.
"Ditto," she said to herself, after John had already left and the door slid close.
Finis