Author: Cyclone
Rating: PG13
Summary: There would be consequences.
Disclaimer: If they were mine, they would have christened the puddle jumpers already. Numerous times, in an endless variety of positions.
Notes: Thanks go to Shane for catching my POV slip ups and for her excellent beta work.
XxX
It was quite late when John found himself walking idly into the control room. At first he couldn't figure out why this, of all places, had called him. After all, he would have thought he'd seen enough of it during missions and briefs to last him through those rare times when he had nothing to do except, apparently, wander around aimlessly looking for someone to bug. He was about to turn around and go back to his discarded War and Peace when his eyes flickered up and he suddenly realised why he was here.
Elizabeth was still up. Her head was bent over a thick stack of reports and he could see the scowl that furrowed her brow from where he was. She looked tired and frustrated, and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to be able to wipe that look from her face and shoot the next person who even thought about adding to her never-ending burden.
He stood watching her for a long time, conscious that this new feeling of protectiveness had nothing to do with the personal security and wellbeing of Atlantis' expedition leader, but everything to do with the woman who wore that mantle. Strangely, it didn't bother him that in his head she'd gone from being Doctor Weir, (technically) his boss, a person he'd grown to like and respect, to Elizabeth, a woman who was (technically) still his boss, whom he'd grown to like, respect and imagine naked on a regular basis. He watched some more, his eyes taking in the hunch of her shoulders, the way she pinched the bridge of her nose and the by now probably stone cold mug of coffee that sat just to the left of Papa Smurf.
Papa Smurf. He grinned mischievously. She was up, she was alone and she needed to let off a bit of steam. She was ripe for the picking.
A crackle in his ear brought his attention back to earth. "I can see you down there, Major Sheppard, and whatever you're planning - I'm warning you – don't."
"I don't know what you're talking about," he protested as he made his way up the stairs.
"No? Why am I not comforted by that look on your face?"
"Because you're a very suspicious woman," he replied.
"Maybe." She smiled as he entered her office. "But maybe I know you well enough to know that you're up to no good."
"Me? I'm a regular boy scout."
"Uh huh."
He sat down in his regular spot and folded his arms behind his head. "If I was up to no good . . .and I admit nothing here . . .do you think I'd be sloppy enough to let you catch me at it?"
"I haven't actually caught you at anything yet, John. All I know is that you're thinking about it."
"You can't hang a man for thinking."
"In this galaxy? I could probably find somewhere where thinking no-good thoughts is a capital offence."
He laughed and leaned forward in his char. "Well, I guess it would depend on what constituted 'no-good' thoughts in the first place, wouldn't it?"
She laughed back and he was glad to see that her brow had cleared and she now appeared worry free. "Anything that produced that look on your face is a 'no-good' thought. I shudder to imagine what's going on in that head of yours."
"And what if I told you I was thinking about you?" John offered, and was heartened to see a slight blush colour Elizabeth's cheeks. "What if I was thinking, 'Gee, Elizabeth looks like she needs a break up there. I wonder what I could do to help.'"
"That's what you were thinking?" she asked, looking pleasantly surprised.
"Approximately," he replied, with enough of a smart-ass tone to raise her suspicions.
"Approximately?"
"Well, there may or may not have been some naked thoughts in there as well . . . but since that would constitute inappropriate or 'no-good thoughts'" and he paused as he made air quotations, "towards a fellow mission member, I can't very well admit them now, can I? Especially if there's a chance that I might wind up over a scaffold dangling by my poor neck."
Her smile froze. "Major Sheppard –" she began, reprovingly.
"Yeah, yeah. I know," he apologised. "Inappropriate. I'm sorry. I just thought - "
"I was going to say that you shouldn't play with a person who hasn't experienced any nakedness in. . . how long have we been here now? Without first of all thinking about the consequences."
"Consequences?" he asked stupidly. This wasn't exactly the direction he'd planned on taking the conversation. And in his hastily thought out plan, he'd been the one with the upper hand. Clearly, from the way Elizabeth was smirking at him, his plan needed revising.
"Consequences," she reiterated.
"Which would be?" he asked, and was alternatively relieved and disappointed when the piercing siren that foretold unexpected off world activity stopped her from replying.
tbc