By the time the plane touched down in Michigan John would have given just about anything for a Wraith invasion or even the Genii. John couldn't remember the last time he'd been so bored, at one point he'd even been tempted to headed up to the cockpit to see if the pilot would let him fly for a bit. Of course Elizabeth had vetoed that idea.
"Lizzie!" A deep male voice carried over the noise of the airport. Heading in the direction of the voice Elizabeth was soon engulfed in the arms of a man about 6' tall with red-ish brown hair and green eyes; definitely had to be related to Elizabeth.
"Jared." Elizabeth's voice held a warning tone in it.
"Hey we're family I'm gonna call what ever the hell I damn well feel like." Jared grinned as he put Elizabeth down.
"If that's the way you want it…Smurf." Elizabeth smirked as she watched her brother's expression go from amused to annoyance.
"We agreed never to speak of that incident again."
"Oh, Lizzie…" John came up behind Elizabeth, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.
"You're really wanting to sleep on the couch, aren't you John?" Elizabeth's attempt at sternness was ruined by the mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she turned around to face John, capturing his lips. The sound of Jared clearing his throat caused the couple to pull reluctantly pull apart.
"So you must be the guy who thinks he's good enough for my sister." Jared looked John up and down, sizing him up.
"I don't think, I know." John returned the scrutiny, not backing down.
"Cocky one ain't he?" Jared grinned at Elizabeth before turning back to John, holding his hand out. "Jared Weir."
"John Sheppard." John shook the offered hand.
"Pleasure. Now I suggest we get going before mom sends out a search party." With that the group made their way out of the airport.
After a 20 minute car ride, spent with Jared firing all kinds of questions at Elizabeth and especially John the group arrived at a beautiful two story cottage style house, surrounded by forest, all of which over looked a small lakeside beach.
While John and Jared dealt with the luggage Elizabeth made her way up the walk way headed for the front door. Elizabeth didn't even make it half way before the door flew open and three blurs came bolting out.
"Aunt Lizzie!" The three blurs quickly attached themselves to Elizabeth all trying to out talk the others in order to get their aunt's attention.
John watched amused as Elizabeth engulfed the three children in a bear hug. He assumed the kids were Elizabeth's niece and nephews. One boy – John assumed it was TK; the kid was a spitting image of Jared – latched onto Elizabeth's right leg while the other boy – had to be Rico – with sandish blonde hair and brown eyes latched onto the other leg. The little girl – Karen – with long sandish blonde hair and brown eyes as well, wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's neck as she was picked up off the ground.
"Kids leave your aunt alone, she just got here. Give her a chance to settle in." A female voice coming from the open door caused John to look away from Elizabeth. John could've sworn he was staring at Elizabeth 20 years down the line and he couldn't wait to see if Elizabeth really did age that well. Not that he'd stop loving her if she didn't.
"Kids you'd better listen to your grandmother." An elderly gentlemen with grayish white hair appeared next to the women standing in the doorway. "You know why?"
"Because if grandma ain't happy nobodies happy!" All three children chorused together as they let go of Elizabeth and dashed back into the house.
"Marcis!" The women – John figured it was Elizabeth's mother – playfully swatted the old man. "Don't encourage them like that."
"Well it's true and you know it Hillary." Marcis cut off his wife's protest with a quick kiss before moving to hug Elizabeth.
While Elizabeth greeted her parents Jared finished unloading the luggage, before resting a sympathetic hand on John's shoulder.
"A word of advice." Jared leaned in closer to John, whispering. "Forget about the old man, as long as you make Lizzie happy, he's happy. But mom on the other hand is the one you gotta watch out for. She even so much as thinks you're wrong for Lizzie, she'll rip into you like a pit bull with a new bone."
If John hadn't been nervous before he sure as hell was now. Before John could respond Elizabeth was grabbing his hand, pulling him over to where her parents were standing.
"Mom, dad, this is John." Elizabeth smiled nervously, gripping one of John's hands.
"Pleasure to meet you sir," John shook Marcis' hand. "And you ma'am." He shook Hillary's hand.
'Damn it where the hell are the Wraith when you need them.' John thought as the group fell into a moment of awkward silence.
"Come on John you can help haul the luggage up to your room. Then you can meet the rest of the family." Jared came to John's rescue. Giving a quick nod John grabbed some bags and followed Jared.
Half an hour later Elizabeth dragged a reluctant John into the living room to meet the rest of the family. The way everyone was looking at him, John was beginning to wonder if they weren't all actually Wraith and he was their next meal.
"So John tell us about your self." Andrea spoke.
John figured Andrea's looks came from her dad. She had dark brown hair and blue eyes. The same went for Elizabeth's youngest sibling Ryan who had blues eyes as well and even though his hair was dyed red and black at the moment John could see suddle hints of brown here and there.
"Well I'm a major in the Air Force. I love flying I enjoy ferris wheels, college football and anything that goes faster than 200 miles per hour." John fidgeted slightly when he saw Elizabeth trying to stifle an amused grin out of the corner of his eye.
"Just where did you two meet?" Hillary questioned.
"Antarctica." Both John and Elizabeth replied at the same time.
"Antarctica?"
"Yes a couple of years ago there was a delicate situation involving a research site and due to all the various international claims that were being made on the site I was sent there to help supervise." Elizabeth wasn't exactly lying; she just wasn't volunteering all the information. "And John was one of the pilots stationed at a near by Air Force base assigned to fly people in and out along with supplies."
"The Air Force has a base in Antarctica?" Brian cut in.
"Sure do. I kind of miss it there sometimes, I liked it there it was peaceful. It was the one continent I'd never stepped foot on before being assigned there." John didn't mention it was also the only place the Air Force would let him fly after Afghanistan; he didn't think that would go over to well with the others.
The rest of the afternoon went much the same way, with Elizabeth's family giving John the third degree while she sat back and enjoyed watching the good-ol' fly boy sweat. Once most of the questions had been answered to satisfaction and Elizabeth's family started laying off on the interrogation, John found that for the most part they weren't too bad and started to let him self relax.
It wasn't long before Marcis, Jared, Brian, and John were engaged in a heated debate about college football and which team they thought had the best chance of winning certain games. John may have been out of the loop a bit due to not being able to watch the games the last few years, but he was definitely holding his own with what little he had been able to catch up on since getting back to earth.
At some point Ryan and Seth had disappeared, not wanting to spend any longer with their family than they had to – they were teenagers after all. Elizabeth was busy fawning over her new nephew Cale who had been born while she was still on Atlantis. To Elizabeth, after all this time, it was almost strange being home again, seeing how some things hadn't changed a bit while other things had changed greatly.
Looking over at John, Elizabeth smiled as she watched Rico, Karen, and TK try to bully their way onto their 'Uncle' John's lap. Ever since the three had found out that John and Elizabeth were getting married they'd insisted on calling him Uncle John. It had momentarily shocked John the first time they'd called him that all on their own with out being told or asked to, but he'd soon slid into the role with no problems. Soon John had the three in a laughing fit with all the tickling. By the way her niece and nephews were swarming all over John, Elizabeth knew she had some serious competition for John's attention the next few days.
"Uncle John come watch a movie with us." Karen ordered, sounding almost exactly like Elizabeth when she was trying to be diplomatic using her 'This is an order, but I don't want it to sound that way' tone of voice.
"Who am I to say no to a beautiful lady?" John allowed himself to be pulled over to the shelf of movies.
"Let's watch this one Uncle John." Rico held up a cartoon movie that John had never heard of before, not surprising really considering where he'd been living the last few years.
"Why not?" Yeah John knew the kids had him wrapped around their fingers already just like a certain other member of this family he knew.
"I see you've made some new friends." Elizabeth whispered in John's ear as she leaned over the back of the couch, not wanting to disturb the kids who were fully engrossed in the movie.
"What can I say kids just love me?" John craned his head back capturing Elizabeth's lips. "Why do you think me and Rodney get along so well?"
"Because Rodney's just a big kid at heart right?"
"Exactly."
"More like you're the big kid at heart." Elizabeth murmured as she went to go see what everyone else was up to.
