Elizabeth walked into her office, followed closely by John. She sat down behind her desk and stared at him intensely, scrutinizing him. "Care to tell me why you just shut down the 'gate?" she questioned, gesturing in the vague area of the gate room.
"Listen, Elizabeth," John placed his palms on the desk, "Hardly anyone wants to leave here."
"Neither do I, but it's not our choice," Elizabeth told him. She sighed, leaning back in the chair. Her entire body felt weary. Still, she noticed the sudden change in John's eyes and vaguely wondered what had caused it. "We still have an obligation to go back."
"An obligation to go back and get court marshaled?" John asked, his eyes flaring. "We've all broken the rules of conduct. It would be bad for any military personnel to go back."
"You break the rules, you pay for doing it," Elizabeth replied, tossing the pencil she'd been fiddling with onto the desk.
"You don't believe that," John replied, leaning in so they were face to face.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, no emotion showing through her face. "What makes you think that?" she questioned him. "Even in a new galaxy, a new place, you are supposed to uphold the rules that you agreed to uphold."
"That's a load of bullshit," John burst out. "You've broken as many rules as we have."
"Yes, I have," Elizabeth muttered, massaging her temples with her fingers. "And I'd love to stay John, I really would, but I don't see how we can."
"We won't go through the 'gate," John answered simply.
"And then what?" Elizabeth prompted, "When they dial the 'gate again what do we do?"
"We tell them that we want to stay here."
"They'll send people through the 'gate to recover Atlantis."
"We'll put up the shield!" John exclaimed wildly. Elizabeth stood up abruptly, a look of horror on her face.
"I am not going to kill innocent people of Earth!"
"And that's exactly why they know we're going to come back! This is home, Elizabeth, home! People have died for this! Are you going to just let their deaths be in vain?"
"We've collected valuable technology—"
"Oh, don't feed me that crap," John hissed. "You know it and I know it. Why we're here…we haven't achieved our goal yet. You can feel it; I can feel it; everyone can feel it! Hell, even Rodney feels it! There's something out there we're meant to find, something everything we've sacrificed for leads up to." He looked her in the eye. She looked away, biting her lower lip.
"I can't kill innocent people," she said, "I can't allow you to raise the shield."
"We don't have to! We can just bluff," John insisted.
"They know we won't, John," she told him, and he shook his head, seeing the decision she was reaching in her eyes.
"Don't do it…" he warned, his voice low.
"I'm sorry John, but at this point I have no other choice!" Elizabeth told him. There was a long, strained silence between the two as they glared at each other. Elizabeth turned around, running a hand through her hair, staring at the wall. A million thoughts ran through her head; a million scenarios, and in none of them could they escape their predetermined fate. She let her eyelids fall shut for a moment before she opened them again, her decision made. "You have until 2000 tonight," she told him.
John smiled as she turned. As soon as she nodded to him he turned, jogging out of her office. As he suspected, Rodney, Teyla and Aiden were there, not to mention, surprisingly, Peter, Zelenka and Carson. "We have twelve hours," he announced to their unspoken question, his eyes moving to Rodney.
Rodney took the hint. "Saving Atlantis again; I'm on it," he announced.
"We need to get a plan," Aiden said seriously. "We can't just randomly see what we can do on a computer; that could take ages."
"What about those who wish to go to Earth?" Teyla questioned, and they paused. Aiden thought briefly of his grandparents. He missed them deeply. 'They would understand,' he thought to himself, a faint smile on his face.
"We'll dial Earth once and send them with technologies that we've found," Carson answered, "can't we?"
"They won't think we're a total failure," Peter commented.
"We have to stop them from connecting a wormhole with us," John said.
"There is a system of the Ancients that will block ze address," Zelenka started.
"But that will permanently block it," Rodney said, shaking his head vehemently as he pointed toward Zelenka and addressed the group. "I don't know how to override the system. We wouldn't have contact with Earth for a long time…maybe even permanently."
"We'll find a way to override it. Everyone will have a choice whether or not to stay," John said. He glanced at Teyla and then back to the others. "They'll know that they might not ever see their loved ones again." He threaded his fingers with Teyla's, squeezing her hand lightly.
"I can send a data burst through the wormhole again," Rodney said. "We can compile the mission reports and another round of personal messages for anyone wishing to stay," he spoke quickly. They could do this… A grin engulfed his face.
"All right," John smiled. From what it sounded like…it wasn't impossible. It was, in fact, very possible. "Rodney, you go tell Elizabeth about the plan."
"Why me?" Rodney asked, throwing his hands up.
John sighed heavily as he faced Rodney. "I will be typing up the remaining mission reports," he said, taking the job upon himself, "with Teyla," he added, glancing at her. "Zelenka will be working out how to put Earth's address onto the block list as soon as we send the data burst and people through. Carson will be getting any medical technologies to send through; Ford will be taping with Grodin and Bates will be sorting out the military technologies. You can't do anything until all of us are done," he reminded Rodney.
"Fine," he muttered.
John turned to the others. "Radio me once something-anything-is done. Don't get distracted. We have twelve hours." The others nodded and departed their separate ways. Teyla turned to John, a quizzical look on her face.
"Nearly all of the mission reports have been filed onto the computer," she reminded him, positive that there were very few, if any, reports to get onto the computer, unlike what John had told Rodney and the others. She remembered clearly Elizabeth's amused congratulatory comment about getting the mission reports typed up on time a few weeks ago. "Why did you send Rodney to talk to Elizabeth?" Teyla questioned.
John snorted and then smiled, looking down at her. "Sometimes people just need a little nudge in some aspects of their life; by fate or…" there was a mischievous glint in his eyes, "…other means."
Author's Note: Sorry this story hasn't been updated lately, I've been trying to upload it for the past few days but wouldn't let me onto the login page. What's up with that? Anyhow, thank you all for reviewing!