Author Notes: I did not plan a second chapter for this fic, but due to the many requests for a second chapter and another plot bunny, I succumbed and wrote another chapter.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I hope you guys like the second chapter as much as the first. Thanks again!

Spoiler: Before I sleep and 38 Minutes.

Chapter 2

Elizabeth stretched her arms over her head as she stood up from her office desk. She gently pushed her laptop close, stepped way from her desk, and walked onto the bridged that connected her office to the control room. She stood on the bridge for a moment leaning on one of the railings as she watched the inactive Stargate. She remembered the first day she stepped through that Stargate and how far they had come since that fateful day.

They had been in the Pegasus galaxy for some time now, and it felt like they had always been here, like they belonged here. Her life back on earth seemed a distant memory, another lifetime ago.

She looked across the room towards the stain glass windows that looked out into the balcony, and made out the shape of a man standing outside. Elizabeth smiled to herself. She knew who stood outside. She could recognize his shape anywhere. The outline of his terminal case of bed head was a dead give away. Elizabeth wondered if John had ever tried to comb his hair down, but that mystery would be left for another time.

Elizabeth thought about calling it a night and head to her room, but her legs instead started to walk towards the near empty control room. Elizabeth nodded to the scientists who were stuck with the late shift and before she knew it, she stepped through the balcony doors that slid open for her.

Elizabeth found John standing with his back to her and his hands on his hips looking up at the stars.

"Elizabeth?" John said without turning to look at her.

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. "How did you know it was me?" she asked, completely surprised by his correct guess.

"Lucky guess," he said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Really? For a minute I thought you had eyes in the back of your head," she teased.

John finally turned to face her. "I do," he smirked.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and moved to stand beside him and lean on the balcony railing. "So why are you still out here? Shouldn't you be reading your book or watching the same football game for the millionth time?" she asked.

"I didn't feel like reading tonight, and I've only watched that game fifty-two times since we got here. Besides, I was waiting for you," he said as he placed a foot on the bottom rung of the railing.

"Me? What for?" she asked looking at him puzzledly.

"For our next constellation naming session," he said with a big grin.

Elizabeth looked at John with wide-eyes of surprised then quickly rolled her eyes. "I thought that was a one time thing."

"Well…we'll just make it into another 'one time' thing."

"Which no longer makes it a 'one time' thing," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Are you trying to spoil my fun?" John glared at Elizabeth as she chuckled. "You're as bad as Rodney," John added.

"I can't let you have all the fun. Besides the last time we had a constellation naming session, my neck hurt the next day."

"Really? My massage didn't help?"

"A little, but not much," Elizabeth said rubbing the back of her neck from the memory of the other night.

"That is why I'm prepared this time."

"Prepared?" She looked at John quizzically. She saw him bend to pick up his backpack that rested on the ground next to him. He unzipped it and pulled out a blanket. He put his backpack down and proceeded to open the blanket with both hands and laid it on the ground. He sat down on the blanket, smoothed out the wrinkles, and patted the empty spot next to him for Elizabeth to join him.

"It's easier to stargaze when you're lying down," John said matter-of-factly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Elizabeth asked as she slowly knelt down on the blanket next to John.

"Of course, this way your neck won't hurt."

John had a point. Stargazing lying down was definitely easier on her neck, but what worried Elizabeth was if someone came out to the balcony and found the two leaders of Atlantis lying on the balcony floor looking at stars. They would think they had both snapped or something else…

John was already lying down with his hands behind his head looking at the sky.

"What are you waiting for Elizabeth? Are you afraid that this is unprofessional or you paranoid about something else?"

Elizabeth looked down at John, wondering if the man could secretly read her mind. She was about to argue with John, but he interrupted her first. "Elizabeth this is your time off. Relax. Didn't your old self tell you something about relaxing and enjoying the moment?"

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed at John's comment. "I thought you were asleep when I was talking to her."

"I was."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and looked at him. She wondered what else he might have heard from the intimate conversation she had with her elder self.

"Now will you stop glaring and lie down next to me already?" John said impatiently, patting the empty spot next to him.

"I don't know whether to be disturbed or amused at how that question might have sounded," she said.

John sat up and looked at Elizabeth oddly. "You think too much you know that?" he finally said. Elizabeth smiled. "Come on, listen to your own advice and relax," John insisted and lay back down on the blanket. Elizabeth let out a sigh and followed John's example and lay on the blanket next to him.

The night was another clear night. There were no clouds in the sky and the stars seemed to twinkle brighter this evening.

"So…" Elizabeth began.

"So," John repeated.

"So…what are we looking at?" Elizabeth finally asked.

"Elizabeth, what kind of question is that?" John turned his head to look at her.

Elizabeth let a giggle slip. "Well you said I think too much, so…"

"You stopped thinking period?"

"Sure, why not?" Annoyed by her smart mouth comment John poked Elizabeth on her side, causing her to giggle.

"Hey, no poking!" she objected. "This is a constellation naming session, not a poking session."

"We have poking sessions?" John asked innocently.

"That's it." Elizabeth poked John on his side, but nothing happened. He just lay there laughing. "This is not fair you're not ticklish," she said, and slapped him in the arm instead.

"I know," John grinned, "but I know you are ticklish." He sat up and threatened to tickle Elizabeth.

"John," Elizabeth looked at him warningly. "Don't do it."

"Give me a reason not to."

"I'm your boss."

"You use that reason every time," he frowned.

"Because it always works." Elizabeth held her hands up as to defend herself from John.

"Not this time," he said and started to tickle her.

"Fine, if you stop tickling me, I'll stay a bit longer and name some constellations with you," Elizabeth managed to say in between her induced giggles.

John stopped tickling her and thought for a moment. "Okay, it's a deal."

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, and they both lay back down on the blanket. Elizabeth tried to sneak another poke at John's side, and there was still no reaction from him. She tried again, but this time John caught her fingers in his hand and wouldn't let go.

Ignoring the fact that Elizabeth was trying to pull her fingers from his grip. He brought up his free hand and pointed to a spot in the sky.

"You see that cluster of stars next to Puddlejumper?"

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side to look at the spot John pointed out. "You mean the ones that look like a shoe?"

"A shoe?" He turned and looked at Elizabeth in confusion. "Where did you get shoe from?"

Elizabeth shrugged and managed to pull her finger free from John's grip. "Well it looks like an L with a couple stars that make an X over the top. Like shoelaces," she explained, pointing to the shape she was seeing.

"Are you sure you didn't drink some of that Athosian wine before coming out here?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Yes, I'm sure. So if it isn't a shoe, what is it?"

"I don't know how you found an L, but from my point of view. There are three stars that make a line. If you look around that line of stars, you see those stars are in the center of four other stars."

"I see. Kind of like an hour glass," Elizabeth supplied.

"Yeah, an hour glass, but this isn't an hour glass."

"If it isn't an hour glass then what is it?"

"Don't you think it looks kind of like Orion? And the three stars in the center is like Orion's belt?" he said.

"So the Orion of the Pegasus galaxy is a headless quadriplegic?" Elizabeth said trying not to laugh at the absurdity of her comment.

John furrowed his eyebrows at Elizabeth and started to laugh. "I didn't see that coming at all."

Elizabeth smiled proudly. "I try to surprise you every now and then."

"I'm thoroughly surprised at your morbid humor, Doctor Weird."

"Hey, where's your flock of sheep Major Shepherd?" she said and poked him again. Only this time her poke was more of jab then a poke.

"Ow! Sorry," John exclaimed rubbing the side Elizabeth just jabbed.

"You better be," she chided. "Anyway if Orion isn't a headless quadriplegic what is it?" she asked.

"First of all it isn't Orion. I just said it was similar to Orion, so you could get a better picture of which stars I were talking about; and he's not a quadriplegic or headless. Here is his head, arms, and legs." John pointed out to Elizabeth and paused. "I think," he added.

"Okay, if it isn't Orion what are you going to name it?"

"Constellation Sheppard," John said proudly. Elizabeth held back a laugh with a cough. "Why you're laughing? I'm completely serious about this."

The serious expression on John's face only made Elizabeth laugh. Eventually Elizabeth took in a deep breath to contain her laughter.

"If Constellation Sheppard is so similar to Orion, is he also holding a club and about to be attacked by a scorpion?" she asked, as she turned onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow.

"No, he is aiming a P-90 at a wraith bug," he said pointing to another cluster of stars."

"Wraith bug? I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that again?" Elizabeth asked she looked to the direction he pointed to.

"You aren't, only I can bring it up and no one else."

"I see a Sheppard sensitive spot."

"Exactly. Now it's your turn," he announced.

Elizabeth groaned. "Not again."

"Yes, again, and this time we are lying down so there is no excuse for you say your neck hurts from looking up."

"Can I say my back hurts from lying on the concrete floor?"

"No."

"Fine," Elizabeth frowned. Finally she asked, "Why is it that you get a whole constellation to yourself, and I ended up with a letter?"

"Maybe you should make up a constellation and dedicated it to yourself. Like me," he smiled.

"Yes, my ego can sure use an extra boost," she said sarcastically.

"Of course it can. You are always worrying about others. You never take any time out for yourself," John said echoing the Old Elizabeth's words.

Elizabeth looked at John suspiciously. "Did you over hear everything I said to the other Elizabeth?"

"No, I didn't over hear anything. She told me."

"She told you?"

"Yeah, I had a nice chat with her, when Beckett went to get you that one time," he explained.

"That's right I remember her telling me you told her it was our birthday. I'm curious to what she said to you?"

"You know…" he shrugged.

"No, I don't. Despite the fact that she and I were the same person. We aren't…in a way."

John smiled. "She told me to keep an eye on you. Since you tend to worry about others and forget about taking care of yourself. That's why you are so thin. You never eat. At least you usually forget to eat, especially during times when you had some really tough negotiations."

"What did you tell to her?" she asked.

"I told her everything she said about you was right on the money, and she didn't look a day over nine thousand, even though that day was her ten thousand and first birthday."

"So that's how she knew about our birthday."

"Yeah," John smiled sheepishly. "So are you going to take your own advice and relax now?"

"I guess. If I don't I would be a hypocrite," Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Yeah and we don't want that," John agreed with a chuckle.

"Over there," she pointed to a spot on in the sky. "Next to constellation E –"

"You mean constellation Elizabeth," John corrected.

"I'm sorry constellation Elizabeth," she rolled her eyes and continued. "Don't you think those stars make a semi-circle?" Elizabeth drew an invisible semi-circle with her finger. "And the stars inside the semi-circle are—"

"Cereal!" John interrupted.

"What?" Elizabeth asked annoyed at John absurd interruption.

"The semi-circle looks like an overturned bowl, and the stars inside the bowl are cereal spilling out because whoever was carrying to bowl, probably McKay, tripped and dropped the bowl on the floor…sky. You know what I mean," he said.

"No, I don't know what you mean," Elizabeth shook her head and continued. "Anyway, I was thinking about that time that Rodney showed us a simulation of how the city would look if the shields were activated. I remember the City looking like a dome with the shield on, and you could see the lights of the City twinkling through the shield."

"I still like Spilt Tragedy better," John said.

"Spilt Tragedy?"

"I think it's tragic when you spill your bowl of cereal, especially when it's in limited supply," John said. Elizabeth rolled her eyes again and muttered something under breath. "So what are you going to name this constellation then?"

"Atlantis?" she said unsure.

"Atlantis? Don't we already have an Atlantis? That dinky triangle by Lantia, isn't that Atlantis?"

"No, the 'dinky' triangle is part of Lantia."

"Why would it be part of Lantia? When it isn't connected to her?"

"It could be, if I drew a line connecting the triangle to that star, which would represent her line of sight," Elizabeth argued, but she wasn't sure if her argument was strong enough to convince John.

"Okay," John conceded and stretched his arms back over his head then rested them behind his head.

Elizabeth was surprised that John wasn't going to continue arguing with her over the twinkling dots in the sky. Elizabeth let out a long sigh. "So how much longer do I have to stay out here with you?" she asked.

"Were you always this impatient in your classes?"

"No, I was attentive and eager to learn. I actually liked going to my classes." Elizabeth smiled at the memories of her youth.

"Freak."

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said pretending to be offended and sat up since her back was getting stiff from lying on the hard ground. "I'm not to one who randomly spouts out numbers. Mr. I-took-the-Mensa-test."

"Rodney told you about the Mensa thing?"

"More or less. He was mostly complaining, but I wasn't really listening," Elizabeth said.

"You weren't listening to your foremost science expert?" John asked with feigned shock.

"Not unless it's important."

"What if you were talking to me? Are you listening to me then?"

Elizabeth pretended to not hear John. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Haha, very funny, Doctor. Don't quit your day job," he sulked.

Elizabeth chuckled as she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on her knees.

"You know it's still your turn," John reminded.

"What?" Elizabeth paused to think. "That's right you made two constellations, Sheppard and Wraith Bug," Elizabeth sighed. "I hope Sheppard misses the shot and the wraith bug gets attached to his neck. Oh wait, that did happen." Elizabeth have John an impish grin.

"What did I say about only I can mention that incident?" John sat up and rested his arms on his knees.

"What did I say about me being the boss?" she shot back.

"That is not cool. That's harassment."

"Harassment? You're such a party pooper,"

"Hey, I maybe a lot of things, but I'm not a party pooper," he retorted. "You should have seen the party that I dreamed up when we were on that mist planet. You missed out."

"I thought you saw dead people."

"I did, but it was still a happening party."

"I'm sorry I missed it," she said sarcastically.

"You bet. Now how about that constellation?" he asked.

Elizabeth shrugged, "It's up there somewhere."

"I know it's up there somewhere. I just want you to point out where that somewhere is and name it. Don't you know any more Ancient myths or poems you can turn into a constellation?"

"No," Elizabeth frowned. "Okay I got another one," she said as her eyes lit up. "Right below Stargate those stars look like Canis Major."

John nodded. "Okay, I've got a wraith bug you got a dog. What are you going to name it?"

"Sedge."

"Sedge? I'm hoping that isn't your ex-boyfriend's name."

"No," Elizabeth smiled. "Sedge is my dog back on Earth."

"Do you miss him?" Elizabeth nodded. "I bet you miss him. You miss enough to name a constellation in another galaxy after him."

John's comment brought a smile to Elizabeth's lips. "Her actually," she corrected. "At least I know she is in good hands, so I'm not worried."

A cool breeze blew by and Elizabeth's arms moved from hugging her knees to hug herself. John noticed Elizabeth's attempt to keep herself warm in the cooling night and quickly slipped out of his jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

Elizabeth was startled by the sudden weight of the jacket over her shoulders, but quickly smiled when she saw it was only John.

"Thank you, John," Elizabeth said. Pulling the warm jacket around herself tighter.

"It's nothing. It's just my jacket, and I expect it back," he said.

"No, I mean thank you for getting me to relax and enjoying these moments in life."

John shrugged. "I was only doing what you ordered me to do."

Elizabeth frowned. "When did I give you this order?"

"I mean the order was from the older and wiser you. She was technically still my boss right? Even though I was already dead in her reality, but…" John trailed off as he pondered the thought.

"John," Elizabeth lightly placed her hands on John's arm. "Don't think to hard your head might explode, and I still need you to go do some recon for M2J-823 tomorrow," she smiled and stood up. She slipped the jacket off and handed it back to John. "Good night, John. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

John rolled his eyes, "Yeah, too bright and early if you're asking me." John stood up gathering the blanket and his backpack.

"Well, I'm not asking you. I'm telling. Good night, John" Elizabeth said and left the balcony.

As she entered the control room, Elizabeth heard John ask, "Can't we moved the briefing a little later? Just a suggestion."

Elizabeth smiled to herself and continued walking with John close behind her.