Early the next morning Elizabeth rolled over in bed and gazed out the window at the pale early morning light. She'd slept sporadically through out the night, dozing lightly before giving up sleep as hopeless and deciding to get up. On the positive side she hadn't had any nightmares, but then again she hadn't been asleep deep enough to fall into them. Lucas had woken up once at about midnight and it had taken Elizabeth and John at least an hour to get him calmed down and back to sleep.
With a soft sigh Elizabeth eased out of bed careful not to wake John. Reaching for her robe Elizabeth caught sight of the thick sweater John had been wearing the previous night. Diverting her hand she picked up the sweater pulling it on. Big enough to fit John loosely the sweater fell to about mid-thigh on Elizabeth almost completely covering her night gown.
Silently moving away from the bed, Elizabeth walked out onto the balcony. Leaning against the railing she watched as the faint glow of dawn grew brighter. Not expecting John's arms sliding around her waist, Elizabeth jump slightly.
"I didn't wake you did I?" Elizabeth leaned back against John's chest.
"Nah, I wasn't really sleeping." John nuzzled Elizabeth's neck. "I see you've gotten yourself a new wardrobe."
"Mmm," Elizabeth sighed in contentment. "It's comforting."
"It's yours any time you want." John chuckled. Falling silent Elizabeth enjoyed the comfort and safety John provided her. Taking a deep breath Elizabeth turned around in John's embrace to lean against the railing.
"We need to talk." The serious look on Elizabeth's face caused John to start tensing up. "I've been meaning to talk to you, tell you...I just wasn't sure how...and then Carson asked about it...and I guess I've just been thinking about it..."
"You're OK, right?" Concerned John moved closer to Elizabeth. "I mean you're not sick or hurt or anything...?"
"No, no, nothing like that, not really." Elizabeth bit at her lower lip, letting one of her hands come up to rest on John's chest. She tried a few times to continue, but wasn't sure what to say.
"Hey whatever it is you can tell me. We'll get through it together." John moved a hand to cover Elizabeth's.
Sighing softly Elizabeth moved to rest her head on John's shoulder. "After Lucas was born there was an incident, I was hurt and Koyla wasn't about to let me die after everything he'd invested in capturing me. His doctors did only what was required to keep me alive not bothering to be careful with what they deemed to be non-essential organs..." Elizabeth paused a moment. "I suppose it doesn't really matter...there's not really any need...I mean at my age having children isn't really..."
"They..." John shut his eyes, resting his cheek against Elizabeth's head.
"Like I said, it doesn't really matter..." Elizabeth tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall, not sure who she was trying to convince more.
"Hey," John pulled slightly, cupping Elizabeth's face forcing her to look at him. "It does matter. That bastard destroyed something that was a part of you, but I want you to know that, that doesn't make you any less of a woman to me. What those doctors did was terrible, but if it meant the difference between you living or dying I consider it a fair trade."
"I'm still me, I know that, but..." Elizabeth shrugged a shoulder.
"Yes, you are." John gazed into Elizabeth's eyes levelly for a long moment before pulling her close to him again. Moving backwards John sank into one of the lounger chairs on the balcony, pulling Elizabeth onto his lap, her head nestled against his shoulder as he embraced her protectively.Feeling Elizabeth shudder a little John reached out and grabbed the blanket he had dropped on the other chair when he'd come out there, draping it over Elizabeth's legs. "Knowing Carson, I'm sure he had other questions."
"He wanted to know if we'd made love since I'd returned." Elizabeth admitted softly. "I think he was relieved that it was just bad timing and not something else...one less problem to deal with."
"It's not from lack of trying, that's for sure." John pressed a kiss to Elizabeth's cheek.
"That's basically what I told him."
After a moment of silence John shifted his weight causing Elizabeth to lift her head to look at him. "What do you say that after Lucas is done at the SGC you and me take a few days and go to DC? We can go shopping at all those little places you used to like going to, maybe go to one of those ballets you like so much. We'll stay in one of the grand hotels over looking the river. And well we're there I'll settle you into a nice warm bath, with scented candles of your choice spread around the room. Then I'm going to..." As John continued to explicitly describe to her what he was going to do, Elizabeth started to get restless letting out some low moans.
"Keep that up and we won't make it to DC." Elizabeth pulled John's head down to hers, kissing him passionately. She shifted from where she'd been sitting across John's lap to angling against him, one knee resting against the chair next to his thigh so she could press her body against John's. When the two finally broke a part they were both breathing heavily, staring at each other with desire.
"We don't have to wait." John moaned, running a hand underneath the hem of Elizabeth's nightgown.
Elizabeth reveled in the feel of John's hand, warm against her skin. Glancing up Elizabeth let out a soft groan, "Yes we do." Moving John's hand Elizabeth shifted around, before raising her voice, "Out here Lucas."
"Have I mentioned how much it sucks having a kid sometimes?" John whispered into Elizabeth's ear as Lucas moved through the bed room to the balcony door. "Not that I would trade him for anything in the world."
"I couldn't sleep any more." Lucas stated as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Come here." John eased Elizabeth over to one side so that Lucas could perch on his other side. "Comfy?"
"Very," Lucas curled up on his side of John's lap.
"Another nightmare?" Elizabeth questioned pushing some hair out of Lucas' face.
"No, I just couldn't sleep." Lucas reached out taking hold of Elizabeth's left hand, absently playing with her ring.
Elizabeth had a pretty good idea what was on Lucas' mind, "There's nothing to worry about. Your dad and Kate will both be with you the whole time."
"I know." Lucas looked up at his mom. "And I know that I don't have to answer anything I don't want to...I guess I'm just nervous."
"There's nothing wrong with being nervous." Closing her eyes Elizabeth rested her head on John's shoulder as he told Lucas about the few stars still faintly visible in the early morning sky in an attempt to distract Lucas. A few minutes later John stopped talking and gave Elizabeth's waist a gently squeeze, she blinked sleepily and raised her head, "Hmm?"
"I said maybe we should get up and get some breakfast." John repeated with a chuckle.
"Sounds good." Elizabeth leaned forward to kiss Lucas' forehead, "Lets get you ready while dad goes and starts breakfast."
"Can I wear my new shoes?" Lucas slid off John's lap. "And my 'Love your geeks' shirt that Rodney got me yesterday?"
"If you want." Elizabeth nearly burst out laughing at the mental picture she had in her head of the looks the brass at the SGC would have on their faces when they saw Lucas' shirt. "Run along and start getting your clothes set out, I'll be right there." As Lucas ran back into the house Elizabeth turned her attention back to John. "What?" She questioned seeing the grimace on John's face.
"Remind me to ban Rodney from ever buying our child clothing again."
Elizabeth laughed as she got up, "As long as you're the one to tell him."
"Chicken." John got up as well, wrapping his arms around Elizabeth's waist, Kissing her deeply.
"Watch it buddy," Elizabeth pulled back a bit. "Don't go starting something you can't finish. And considering Lucas could come running back here any second wondering what's taking so long, I'd advise against starting what you're trying to."
"Point made." John gave her one last kiss before letting her go.
A/N: Alright folks some not so good news, everything that we had written on paper for this story is now typed and posted and since we have to go back to school tomorrow updates will probably be slowing down. But we promise to try and not take to long between updates - at least one update a week maybe more depending on how demanding our new classes are this trimester.
Also we pretty much have this whole story planned out, but nothing is completely set in stone so if any of you have any ideas feel free to let us know. Who knows maybe they'll gives us a better direction then what we have.