Disclaimer etc. in first chapter.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews all! I hope I don't lose you with the next chapter though...

When John came to the next morning, it was apparent Jack was already back. A pile of clean clothes and a key to his chains were set at his feet, although Jack himself was nowhere insight. Grateful for the privacy, John tried to fully reclaim his humanity as he dressed. He would be on edge until the weekend had passed, but at least he felt as if he wouldn't be a danger in public.

Jack looked up from his seat at the table when John entered the kitchen. "Okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," John replied. "Did I disturb anybody?"

Jack looked faintly amused. "My deaf neighbor came by to ask when I got a dog."

John winced. "What did you tell her?"

Jack shrugged. "The truth." At John's panicked expression he laughed. "I'm looking after him for a friend, and he'd be gone after the weekend."

John laughed at that. Jack gestured to the microwave. "Made you an omelette," he said.

"Secret recipe?" John asked, pulling the plate out and joining Jack at the table.

"Of course."

Later that day, John entertained himself wandering the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. At first, he had fun seeing the old planes, but soon it became a little depressing. All these aircraft, and he wasn't allowed to fly any of them.

Giving up the museum as too tame, he went outside to wander the Mall. His natural restless energy combined with the animalistic energy of the werewolf made him antsy. He bounced as he walked along, wandering in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial.

He'd just reached the edge of the reflecting pool when a distraction presented itself in the form of the woman from the White House lobby.

Elizabeth always craved fresh air after a night in the den, and she often came to walk along the reflecting pool the next morning. Today, she hoped the water would help sooth away the sting of yesterday's meeting as well.

She'd been sitting there maybe half an hour when she felt it. The scent, or whatever it was, was exactly the same as it had been the day before, only stronger. She looked up, glancing both ways, until she saw him, standing to her right, watching her.

As she looked, he seemed to make a decision. He moved toward her, not stopping until he towered over her. She said nothing, waiting to see what he would do, and somewhat afraid of the intensity of whatever it was between them.

He seemed to be aware of it as well, his eyes burning into hers. Then he blinked, and the intensity lessened somehow. He grinned boyishly and dropped down to sit next to her. "Hi," he said.

"Hello," she replied cautiously. Connection or not, he was a strange man, and one could never be too careful.

"So... I saw you at the White House yesterday," he remarked conversationally. "You looked pretty pissed."

"I'd had a bad meeting," she said.

"Oh." Then, perhaps because he had been thinking about his own problem, perhaps just because she seemed so collected now and he wanted to get a rise out of her, he added, "I thought it might be a monthly issue."

Startled, it took Elizabeth a minute to realize he referred not to her being a werewolf, but to her being a woman. After the disastrous meeting yesterday, this was too much. She stood, tightening her lips and rolling her eyes in exasperation, and started to make her way further along the pool.

"Wait!" he called out. She couldn't leave! He needed to know what this thing between them meant. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that!"

She turned back to him, and wished she hadn't. He was grinning again, sheepishly this time, and looking up at her with puppy-dog eyes. On a grown man it should have looked ridiculous, but instead it seemed entirely too appealing.

Seeing that she wasn't going to leave right away, he continued with his apology. "See, I know you don't say that to a woman. God, I've had enough ex-girlfriends to know that. But sometimes I don't think before I act, which is probably why I'm in trouble so often, and..."

Elizabeth decided to put him out of his misery. "Enough!" she said, laughing. "I get it. You didn't mean it and won't say it again." Leveling a stern glance at him, she added, "Ever."

As she dropped back down beside him, she thought that it wasn't such a wrong statement, anyway. Yes, she had been distracted and upset by a monthly problem, just not the one he was thinking of.

The man beside her stretched out a hand. "I'm John, by the way. Colonel John Sheppard."

Elizabeth guessed by the way he stressed his rank that it was fairly new. Still, if they were going to haul out the credentials – "Dr. Elizabeth Weir." They shook.

Pleasantries out of the way, John said, "So, Liz, do you live in Washington?"

At the nickname Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. "Liz?" No one had called her that since elementary school, when she decided that she'd be taken more seriously using her full name.

"Not Liz?"

She shook her head. "Never Liz."

"Lizzie? Beth? Betsy? Betty? Liza?" With each nickname, Elizabeth felt a smile growing on her face.

"It's Elizabeth, or if you can't handle that, Dr. Weir."

John quirked the side of his mouth up, then asked again, "So, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, do you live in Washington?"

She told him she did, and they talked for several minutes about her impressions of the city, before John suggested they get some coffee. Elizabeth thought about it for a few seconds. He was military, and that should have bothered her. But she couldn't deny this strange connection between them, and his charm attracted her, so she surprised herself by saying yes.

As they wandered off towards the Washington Monument, neither of them noticed the man standing across the reflecting pool, watching them.

There they were. His prey. And by some twist of luck, together. That surprised him momentarily – from what he knew of the female she wasn't the type to latch on to a stranger. But it had been a while since he'd last observed her; so perhaps she'd changed.

He hadn't been able to hear any of their conversation, but based on looks alone he wouldn't have any problems with this capture. The female was essentially non-violent, and while the male looked physically fit he had a carefree and careless nature about him. The man believed that this would make it relatively easy to surprise him.

Yes, to capture them tonight, shortly before moonrise, would be best. Then he could secure them in time to see how magnificent they would become. If he was lucky, they would stay together until that time; if not, he would follow the male. He could always break into the female's house later.

Tonight, his collection would be complete.