Pairing: Sheppard/Weir friendship/kinda UST

Season/Spoilers: missing scene from "Before I Sleep"

Summary: "Sheppard couldn't keep it to himself, huh?"

Author's Notes: So clearly at some point Sheppard told old!Weir that it was her birthday—now that's an interesting scene to contemplate! Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't seen dozens of these; so far I've only read one. Thanks to Little Red for making a comment that brought the scene to the attention of my otherwise-kind-of-unobservant muse.

And this is dedicated to Nike, who is always encouraging me to write Atlantis fic. Now it's your turn, babe!

Rodney had crashed out on one of the empty infirmary beds, and John also was being slowly lulled to sleep by the rhythmic hum of the monitors when a movement from the patient caught his attention. His head snapped up, and he pulled his chair closer to the bed. He watched the old woman struggle to wake.

Of all the truly strange things that had happened to him in the past year, he decided that discovering a ten thousand-year-old version of Elizabeth Weir frozen in stasis was definitely the strangest. His mind was having difficulty grasping the idea that this old woman was really Elizabeth. Sometimes he believed it unquestioningly—a certain turn of phrase, a familiar look in her eye, and he knew she could be no one but Elizabeth. Then the next moment he found himself questioning how it was possible.

Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked around her with clear signs of disorientation. Without really thinking about it, he took her hand, running his thumb across the paper-thin skin and pronounced veins, careful to avoid her i.v. "It's okay," he said softly.

She fixed her gaze on him, and recognition and remembrance came an instant later. "Major Sheppard."

"John," he corrected with a grin.

She surveyed the room. "What happened to the rest of the welcoming party?" she asked.

"Well," he began, glancing over his shoulder, "it seems Rodney's sleepless nights have caught up with him for the moment. And Carson and I ganged up on Elizabeth—made her go get something to eat. I promised to hang out here till she gets back."

She chuckled softly. "I'm sure Elizabeth hasn't thought about food all day. We have a tendency to get caught up in work sometimes."

"Oh really?" John replied, his voice laced with sarcasm. "I hadn't noticed that." She smiled, and he shook his head good-naturedly. "You know, I think the term 'workaholic' took on a new meaning for me when I met her—you—whatever. Sometimes I think she'd forget to breathe if someone didn't remind her from time to time."

The older Elizabeth gave him a quizzical, piercing look. He had forgotten he was still holding her hand until she gripped his with a surprising amount of pressure. "I've always thought I can take care of myself—we've always thought this. But it's not really true, not all the time. You remind her of that sometimes, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," John replied seriously.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before John remembered his conversation with Elizabeth—the other Elizabeth—that morning. It felt like weeks had passed, rather than less than twelve hours. "By the way," he said, grinning as the older Elizabeth turned to look at him, "happy birthday!"

She looked confused. "Is it my birthday?"

"More or less. Our calendar may be a little off, according to Zelenka—galaxy-lag and all that."

"How old?"

"Well, according to your personnel file, thirty-seven."

"Give or take a few thousand years," she added with a smile. She paused and looked thoughtful. "My first birthday in the Pegasus galaxy. And yet so much has happened."

"You can say that again," John agreed.

He watched as the expression on her face slowly changed from thoughtful to suspicious. "Since when were you allowed to be snooping around in my personnel file anyway?"

He felt his face flush ever so slightly with guilt. "Well, I kind of tend to interpret the word 'allowed' a bit loosely," he admitted. "I just figured it would be handy information to know." He shrugged.

She studied him with an eerily familiar "Elizabeth" look. "I knew you were special from the first moment you sat down in that chair in Antarctica," she said slowly.

"Well, the chair did light up pretty spectacularly," he quipped.

"Apart from that. I wish I had gotten a chance to get to know you better, John Sheppard." She squeezed his hand again and yawned. "But in a way, I suppose I do have that chance." She paused and looked him in the eye. "It's hard for me to admit that I—she—needs this, but take care of her, John, and make sure she relaxes once in a while. She can only do so much on her own."

He nodded slowly. "I know."

She smiled and sighed as her eyes fluttered closed again. John watched as her breathing slowed a bit as she fell asleep again. He continued to hold her hand as she slept, thinking over her story. She hadn't quite gotten to the ending yet, but he could guess more or less what had happened. She gave up her life to save them. Earlier he had said something to Elizabeth about coming face to face with her own mortality. He supposed that was true, in a way, but now that he thought about it, it was not Elizabeth's mortality that was staring them in the face, but ten thousand years of her strength and determination.

He heard footsteps coming down the corridor and recognized Carson's and Elizabeth's voices. He released the older Elizabeth's hand and stood up, leaning over to place a light kiss on her temple. "Thank you," he whispered, before standing and turning around just before Elizabeth—his Elizabeth—walked in the door.

The End