Two Steps Back…

"- anything."

John finds himself looking at an empty cave.

"Damn."

"John?"

He spins at the familiar voice and comes face to face with Elizabeth. At least, he assumes, the alternate timeline version of Elizabeth. Her hair is longer – falling past her shoulders in soft waves. And, maybe not surprisingly, his mind decides to focus on the fact that she's wearing a dress. A dress that flows over her in a way that makes him recall the ancient Greek statues he once saw while stationed in Europe.

Then all rational though leaves him as Elizabeth rushes forward and throws her arms around him. His senses are bombarded with the smell of flowers in her hair and the feeling of silk beneath his fingers.

"John," she says with a sigh that has him wondering their relationship was in her timeline. "I knew you'd find a way."

He flinches at her misplaced trust. She steps back with a question in her eyes.

"I'm not John."

Her questioning look turns suspicious and Elizabeth takes two steps away from him.

"No. I'm John, but I'm not your John. I mean…"

"I know what you mean."

"You do?" He wasn't sure he knew himself.

"You're from a different timeline, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

She walks over and sits on a stool he hadn't noticed before, her shoulders slumping with disappointment.

"I was afraid of that."

"You were?"

Elizabeth makes a wide-sweeping gesture at the cave and John finally takes a good look around. There's a large stone structure in the middle of the room which, to him, looks like a giant keyboard. Every square inch of wall is covered in writing and it takes him a moment to recognize it as Ancient.

"Looks strange to see Ancient scribbling, doesn't it?"

He turns to face Elizabeth, who is now staring at the ceiling. He follows her line of sight and is surprised to see the same scribbling on part of the ceiling.

"I still have no idea how he reached that."

"He?"

"The Ancient who used to live here. The locals called him Dalmacus. I'm fairly sure he started where he could reach, then started standing on the stool to continue his scribbling."

John lets his eyes roam over the walls again. It literally looks like chicken scratch to him.

"Can you read this?" he finally asks.

"Some of it. Dalmacus had pretty messy handwriting."

He watches as she concentrates on a spot of wall across the room, a wrinkle of concentration forming on her forehead.

"You're taking this very well."

"Which part?" she asks with a small smile.

"All of it. You being sent here. My showing up and not knowing how to get back."

"Like I said, I had been worried that someone else would show up accidentally. Although I didn't expect you to be from a different timeline. Plus I've had a lot of time to adjust."

Elizabeth shrugs and he focuses, again, on the changes in her appearance.

"How long have you been here?"

"Almost a year now."

"I like your hair long, it looks nice with the dress and everything."

She blushes, then gives him a look that he's not sure how to read. Once again, he's forced to wonder what their relationship was in the other timeline. Is it possible that the other version of him had actually gotten his act together and moved them past all the flirting?

"So have you buried the 'gate?" he asks instead.

"You know about that?" She stands, shock and confusion overcoming her features. "How…"

"The Prime Minister who met us at the Stargate told us a bit of your history."

"The Wraith?"

"About a year and a half after you bury the 'gate."

"So little time…" she trails off and sits back down, muttering quietly to herself.

John waits, knowing that she'll start verbalizing her thoughts, using him as a sounding board for her ideas.

"There are mountains…"

"Elizabeth?" a voice asks from the cave opening. "Who are you – oh!"

Elizabeth stands and walks over to a pretty young woman standing just inside the cave. She is clearly shocked to see him, but for a split second, he thinks she looked almost disappointed.

"Melisande, it's okay. This is John Sheppard. John, this is Lady Melisande. She's the one who found me when I first arrived."

"This is your John?" Melisande asks with a surprised, but happy expression.

Elizabeth blushes again and John can't help but smirk.

"Not exactly," he corrects. "But it is nice to meet you, Melisande."

"I do not understand," she says to Elizabeth. "Is this not what you were hoping for?"

"Yes and no. You see, my friends did not find a way to use the machine. John, like myself, is here due to an accident. He's actually from a different timeline."

Melisande's brows knit together in confusion. John can almost see the headache forming.

"It may take us some time to explain…"

"Now is probably not the best time…"

"Of course," Melisande replies with some relief. "It is late in the day and I'm sure you've both received a bit of a shock. I had come to ask Elizabeth if she would like to dine with me tonight, but I think you two have much to talk about."

"Thank you," Elizabeth says with a smile. It's clear to John that the two women have become friends. "I think you're correct. John and I should discuss the information he's brought back."

"He will stay with you?"

"Yes. There's plenty of room in your guesthouse for both of us," Elizabeth responds before turning to John. "If that's okay with you?"

He doesn't let himself dwell too long on the possibilities of living in the same house as Elizabeth.

"I'm sure it'll be fine."

"You say that before you've tasted my cooking."

"Anything's better than field rations, right?"

Months later, as he's thinking back on the first time he saw this cave, John realizes that he never got an answer to his question.

It has been a busy four months. With the information John brought with him from his timeline, convincing the Archadan elders to start digging shelters under the mountains had been easy. Designing the caves so that the Wraith don't think to look for them was a little more difficult. That, plus overseeing the training of a small volunteer army, had kept John from spending much time in the cave helping Elizabeth with the translations.

In the beginning, she had tried to teach him to read Ancient, hoping that he would have some insight she did not. As he had become more involved with saving the Archadans, he found less time to devote to visiting the cave. And as he spent more time living in the same small house as Elizabeth, the thought of going home became less and less appealing.

It's guilt, he realizes, that has him sitting in the cave very early this morning. He kissed Elizabeth last night. He knows it would have been inevitable, no matter what the timeline, and his feelings for her are not what sit heavy in his gut. As strange as it had been at first, John had never been afraid of his feelings for Elizabeth – the inexplicable attraction, the importance of earning her trust, the overwhelming need to protect her, and the gut-wrenching fear when he couldn't.

John looks up at the scratches on the walls and can't keep from placing himself in the other John's shoes. What would it have felt like, to watch Elizabeth disappear in front of his eyes? Would he have lashed out at Rodney when the scientist couldn't bring her back? How long would he have fought against the fact that she wasn't coming back?

Then clarity hits him like a bolt of lightning between the eyes.

"I know what this place is!"

"Talking to yourself?"

John spins to find Elizabeth standing just inside the cave. He feels his heart skip a beat at seeing her and knows his conclusion is correct.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay." He walks over and takes both her hands in his. "Elizabeth, I know what this place is."

"John…I know you've tried, but you really are not very good at reading Ancient. And we haven't been spending much time here lately."

"But you have read most of it to me. And it's beyond what he wrote. The most important thing is how he wrote it."

"I don't understand."

"I was sitting here, thinking about how the other me must have felt. Knowing that, as each day passed, I may never get you back."

He sees a flash of guilt cross her eyes and knows she's also been thinking of the other version of herself. The other Elizabeth who watched him walk into the cave in an attempt to protect her.

"Elizabeth," he says with certainty, "I'd be scared and, as time went by, I'd be frantic."

"I'd feel the same way, but I still don't understand how…"

"Look at how the writing goes from a precise series of markings to just barely more than scratches. There are more mistakes towards the end. See how words are scratched out and re-written?"

Elizabeth's brow furrows as she tries to catch up to the conclusions he's already made.

"It looks a little like the scribbling Radek and Rodney call brainstorming."

"Exactly!"

"So Dalmacus was trying to solve a problem?"

"Yes," John says with a smile. "And it looks like he was running out of time. He got messy and careless."

"You think he was being called back to Atlantis, but didn't want to leave?"

"No, I think he knew had no choice about leaving, but wanted to make sure he had a way to come back – to this specific place and time. That's why you haven't found any references to moving forward in time, only back."

"What do you think was so important about here and now?"

"Not what, but who." He gives her hands a little squeeze. "It may seems like a big jump, but there's a certain level of desperation I feel in this room. I've only felt that kind of desperation twice in my life and for a very specific reason."

"I've lost count." Elizabeth is smiling, but he can hear the slight accusation. He hasn't been living up to his end of their agreement to avoid near-death situations. "So who do you think he was coming back for?"

"That, I don't know."

"Melisande!" Elizabeth gasps. "It has to be her. That's why she was here when I arrived. Why she's so interested in what we learn about the cave."

"Damalcus must have told her he was coming back."

Elizabeth's eyes close in pain for her friend. "But he never did."

She steps closer and places her cheek against his chest. He wraps his arms around her, laying his own cheek against the top of her head.

"So there's no going back for us?" she asks softly.

"You mean forward."

He can feel her smile before she pulls back to look up at him.

"So this is home, then?"

John runs his knuckles down Elizabeth's cheek and leans forward to place a soft kiss against her lips.

"This has always been home."

TBC