Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Alantis or its characters. MGM does.
A/N: This ficlet occurs after "38 Minutes", and I blame my Beta Astrochick for this plot bunny.
An Honor to Serve
John tried to make himself comfortable as he lay on the small bed in the infirmary, listening to the beeping of the machines next to him. He was so bored that he was tempted to calculate how many times the machine beeped in a minute, but he decided not to since he was stuck here the whole night. His hand came up and felt the bandage on his neck. The width of the bandage was the span of his hand. McKay was right, that wraith bug had given him one hell of a hickey.
He couldn't quite remember what happened. Everything seemed clouded by the pain. He remembered lying on the hard cold surface in the back of puddlejumper, and seeing the watery event horizon rippling in front of him. He definitely remembered the pain, and he remembered…dying. Somehow he had managed to survive. He was going to live another day to continue battling the Wraith, but right now he was hungry. Actually he was starving.
After Carson's team had successfully revived John, he had only been conscious for a couple minutes before he had fallen into a deep sleep. The doctors had apparently decided it was best to let him rest. When he awoke, he had found McKay, Ford, and Teyla sitting at his bedside smiling with relief. He had figured Doctor Weir wasn't present because she was probably busy running the City, but he didn't have to wait long for Elizabeth's visit. She came in to the infirmary also smiling with relief to see that her ranking military officer was alive and well. His visitors didn't stay long, since they insisted that he get some more rest, but he remembered, specifically, stating that they should get him food.
He wondered where the food he asked for was. He hoped they hadn't forgotten about him. Knowing McKay he probably had gone to the mess hall got hungry and forgotten about him. At least Teyla or Ford wouldn't forget about him. He hoped. He was, after all, their commanding officer.
John closed his eyes hoping that if he imagined that he was somewhere else other then this room, time would pass by faster, but instead he heard footsteps.
"It's about time. I'm starving," he said, and then he saw who carried the tray of food. "Doctor Weir, I didn't know you did room service."
"Major," Elizabeth smiled and set the tray of food down on the table next to the bed. "I'm only doing this because I'm expecting a tip."
"Do you take credit?" John said as he looked over the food on the tray.
"There wasn't really much left in the commissary at this time of day, but I was able to find some chicken noodle soup," Elizabeth said.
"Right now I'm so hungry. I'll eat anything," John said as he sat up in the bed.
Elizabeth carefully handed him the bowl of soup and a spoon. "Be careful it's hot."
"You're not going to feed me?" John asked playfully as he took the bowl from her.
"Your hands are not injured, so you can feed yourself just fine."
"You'd think that when you die and come back to life there would be some perks." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "But thanks, Doctor."
"You're welcome. It was the least I could do for someone who did die and came back to life," Elizabeth smiled and clasped her hands in front of her.
"Actually you could do much more…" John began, but when Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in curiosity, he decided to eat more of his soup. "You're just too kind Doctor," he added quickly.
"Major, I want to ask you something, since we are alone now," Elizabeth began.
"You're not going to ask me if I saw 'the light', are you? Because McKay asked me that already," John said.
"No, I'm not going to ask you that, but now that you bring it up." John glared at Elizabeth and she chuckled. "Before we left earlier you said you didn't know what I was talking about when I asked you about what you were about to say before I stopped you. But when I was getting food for you, my curiosity only got worse."
"You know that curiosity killed the cat," John said.
"You also know that a little curiosity never really hurt anyone. Now don't make me regret stopping you from saying what you were going to say."
"All right, we'll play a game. You guess what I was going to say and I'll tell you if you're right or not," John said taking another spoonful of hot soup.
"I don't know. I was never really good at these guessing games," Elizabeth said as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"Don't lie Doctor, you're a diplomat. You're supposed to be good at these things."
"Are you talking about Poker or politics?"
"What's the difference?" John smirked. "So start guessing."
Elizabeth sighed and thought for a bit. She opened her mouth to speak a couple of times, but stopped herself each time.
"Doctor are you guessing? Or trying to imitate a fish by opening and closing your mouth like that?" John teased. Elizabeth opened her mouth to argue, but closed it again. "There you did it again."
"I'm thinking," she finally said. "Okay, you were going to say 'take care of each other'."
John rolled his eyes. "I told you that when everyone else was in the room, and you obviously weren't satisfied with that answer. Try again."
Elizabeth wondered if she kept guessing wildly, would John get frustrated and just tell her? By the looks of John's expression, he would probably be more amused at her wild guessing, so she decided to put more thought into her next guess.
She looked into the Major's green eyes. They had only been at Atlantis for a several months, and everyone on the crew had become like family over the several months. John might have just wanted to tell her it was an honor to serve under her and be part of the crew. Or he could have wanted to leave a message with her for a loved one on earth in case they ever established a connection with earth.
That seemed to make sense to her, if she was on the verge of death, she would probably want to leave a message to Simon to tell him that she was sorry and she missed him.
"So…" John said after he finished his meal.
"So," Elizabeth sighed, as she took the empty bowl from John and handed him a cup of water. She had come up with two logical possibilities and she was going to pick one and give it a try. "You wanted to leave a message for a loved one back on earth," she finally said.
John sat there for a moment. "Not a bad guess, Doctor, but no."
"All right, I guess I'll have to try again."
"Remember three strikes and you're out."
"I don't remember that rule being set before the game," Elizabeth retorted.
"I figure if you don't get it the third time you probably never will," John explained.
"Okay, you were going to say 'it was an honor to serve'," Elizabeth said slowly since she wasn't sure if that made sense.
John raised his eyebrows. "That's a very military thing to say."
"Yes it is, and I figure since you are military. You would say something to that extent," Elizabeth explained.
"But it could also mean other things," John insinuated.
"Other things?" Elizabeth asked. "Like respecting your leaders and team members?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Something like that? I'm never going to get a straight answer out of you, am I?" she said. John only smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."
Elizabeth took the empty cup of water from John and replaced it on the tray. "Is there anything else you want?" she asked as she picked up the tray.
"Maybe a more comfortable bed…other then that I think I'm good," John said, "Thanks."
"I think I should let you rest," Elizabeth said. She decided it was better to let him rest, since she wasn't going to get anywhere regarding what this 'important thing' he was going to say to her. She mentally kicked herself for her curiosity. She would probably lose sleep because of it.
"You're giving up already?" John asked.
"You said yourself three strikes and I'm out," Elizabeth shrugged. "So, I give up. Besides you should get some rest. Good night John," she said and started to walk out.
"Doctor Weir," John called out. Elizabeth turned to face him. "It is an honor to serve you," he said.
"Thank you John," Elizabeth smiled. "I can live with that answer. Good night," she said and left the infirmary.
John adjusted the pillows he was propped on a lay back down. Despite the fact that today would be considered a bad day, it had ended well. He closed his eyes, followed Doctor Weir's order, and went to sleep.
-Finis-