A/N: OK so we lied we did have one more chapter written out on paper. Imagine our surprise when we got to school today and found this chapter written out mostly on napkins (we wrote it during one of our lunch hours) and that we had left it in a locker all by its lonesome at school over Thanksgiving break.
An hour later Elizabeth stood leaning in the doorway, Rodney standing behind her, as they watched John, Kate, and Lucas get in the car. Watching as the car pulled out of the driveway Elizabeth let out a soft sigh before turning back to face Rodney.
"Another cup of coffee?" Rodney smiled gently.
"And risk bring Carson's wrath down on me, I think not." Elizabeth glanced down at herself, still clad in John's sweater and the pair of sweats she'd pulled on earlier. "No, I think I'll go get ready for the day."
"Yeah I didn't think that sweater was your usual style." Rodney chuckled. "Take your time, I'll be in the den if you need me."
"Reports?" Elizabeth arched an eyebrow.
"What else? Even when I'm on vacation, I can't get away from work." Rodney complained.
"And whose fault is that?" Elizabeth grinned.
"Hey somebody has to make sure the underlings don't screw up my plans for world domination." Rodney replied in all seriousness, causing Elizabeth to laugh at the thought of Rodney as an evil genius trying to take over the world.
"Why does that make me think of that old cartoon 'Pinky and the Brain'?"
"Ha, ha, laugh it up. You mock me now but just wait someday, someday I will rule the world." Rodney gave up trying to be serious and grinned, watching Elizabeth cross the room and dissappear up the stairs.
Returning an hour later Elizabeth found Rodney - who had abandoned the den, instead choosing to stretch himself out on the couch - typing away on his laptop. Sitting down on one of the Lazy-boy chairs Elizabeth grinned when she spotted John's old tattered beaten up copy of 'War and Peace' sitting on the coffee table. She found it amusing that after more then ten years he had yet to finish reading the book; he insisted that he was still right on schedule though. Picking the book up Elizabeth opened to John's bookmark looking at the page number - Page 817 - he'd made some progress at least.
"Sam called," Rodney glanced up from his laptop. "Said she'd drop by this afternoon. Jack might be coming to, if his plane arrives when it's supposed to."
"That's good." Elizabeth settled into her chair opening the book in her hands to page one, deciding that a little reading would be nice. Rodney returned his attention to his laptop. A few hours later the comfortable silence between them was interrupted by the phone ringing.
Being closer to the phone Elizabeth answered, "Hello."
"Hey." Kate responded.
"Kate what's wrong?" Elizabeth shot out of her seat at the sound of Kate's voice and started pacing. "Is Lucas OK?"
"Nothings wrong and Lucas is fine" Kate assured Elizabeth. "Calm down, would you? We're just taking a break and I thought you'd might like to talk with him."
"Oh," Elizabeth blinked and relaxed, a light blush coloring her cheeks. "Sorry. Where is he?" There was muffled sound for a second before Lucas came on the phone.
"Mom?" Lucas' voice came over the phone.
"Lucas, you doing OK?"
"I'm fine, Dad and Kate let me ask them questions if I want to. And the Generals are nice, they actually give me time to answer. They're not pushy like the guards were when they wanted answers."
"That's good." Elizabeth came to stand behind the couch, resting her arm on the back of it. "And where's your dad?"
"He's talking with one of the Generals. They had a question about when he came to get us." Lucas hesitated. "They didn't seem to be happy about something."
"I'm sure it's nothing."
"I hope so." Lucas paused when Kate tapped his shoulder. "Kate wants to talk with you again."
"Alright put her back on."
"He's doing fine Elizabeth." Kate came back on the phone. "He thinks his answers through before speaking, isn't afraid to ask us questions, or to ask them to clarify for him."
"He's used to having to think about what he's going to say, we both had to be." Elizabeth briefly glanced down and met Rodney's eyes. "I'm glad you called, I was starting to wonder how things were going."
"I figured you would be by now." A sound in the background caught Kate's attention. "They're ready to get started again."
"Tell Lucas he's doing fine, and tell John…well, just tell him to behave." Elizabeth paused, "And Kate, thanks."
"You're welcome." Elizabeth could her the smile in Kate's voice. "Talk to you later."
"See," Rodney glanced up at Elizabeth as she hung up the phone. "He's doing fine."
"I know."Elizabeth sighed moving to stare out the window at the lake. "It's just I hate being away from Lucas for too long. It was necessary sometimes, I wouldn't let him come with me when I had to interact with Koyla...I didn't want him to realize how Lucas was doing."
Rodney set his laptop aside and moved to stand next to Elizabeth, "Lucas is a good kid. A survivor just like his parents."
"Yeah he is." Elizabeth nodded slowly. "And as much as I'd like to think Koyla was keeping him alive for the sole purpose of controlling me, I'm certain his identity would have been revealed sooner or later. More likely than not as a way for Koyla to hurt John in some way."
"That's what we thought. With John being made aware of Lucas by Koyla, in Koyla's own way and time…" Rodney shook his head. "Lucas would have been a complete surprise. Not to mention the shock John would have felt at seeing you still alive... that is if you'd been allowed to live."
"Yes." Elizabeth whispered, wrapping her arms around herself as she stared out the window. "I had already begun to watch and try to figure a way out. I just didn't know how…"
"You would've figured something out." Reaching out, Rodney caught Elizabeth's hand and squeezed it, drawing her attention back to him. "You would've survived and you would've made sure Lucas survived, you taught him well enough."
"Thank you." Elizabeth squeezed Rodney's hand back. "Like I told John, it was a hell of thing to have to teach our child."
"Lucas has two parents who love him." Rodney pulled Elizabeth into his arms. "Very much."
"And very protective godparents and friends." Elizabeth rested her head against Rodney's chest. "Thank you for accepting him…the situation…"
"What's not to accept." Rodney rubbed Elizabeth's back for a long moment until she sniffed and drew back. "Better?"
"Much." Elizabeth managed a small smile. "Thanks. Those spells seem to come on occasionally and unexpectedly."
"Anytime." With a grin, Rodney released Elizabeth, "Just don't go spreading it around. Being the evil genius that I am I have a reputation to up hold.
With a short laugh, Elizabeth stepped back and moved back to her seat, "Not to mention it would be very counterproductive if all of your underlings came looking for a hug every five minutes."
"Exactly." Rodney watched Elizabeth settle back down before returning to the couch and his laptop.
Over an hour later, Elizabeth stood up and stretched. "I'm going out to the deck for some fresh air, then I'll start lunch, if you'd like."
"Sounds good," Rodney glanced up, "I'm almost at a stopping place myself."
"Good. And you can tell me your side of how you finally proposed to Kate, since I've already heard hers." Elizabeth smiled at him then strode across the room and out the glass doors to the deck area overlooking the lake.
Chuckling, Rodney finished up on his laptop then looked up to watch Elizabeth, one of the rare opportunities he'd had to do so without her realizing. She was leaning against the deck railing, eyes closed and face lifted toward the sun as the breeze gently tossed her hair. She definitely looked older, the last ten years had definitely changed her - aside from the obvious physical and psychological - in several ways he hadn't been able to define yet. However, she did finally appear to be relaxing somewhat, despite her trepidation over the questioning Lucas was going through.
Something had changed since he'd seen her the night before, he wasn't sure what, but she seemed more settled this morning. He smiled slightly as she caught her hair and pushed it back behind her ears in a futile attempt to keep it out of her face. Lost in his thoughts Rodney startled slightly when the phone rang again.
"Hello." Rodney answered the phone.
"Rodney," John's voice sounded on the other side. "You have to get Elizabeth inside out of the house now. The press has figured out she's staying there."
"What?" Rodney blinked, then glanced in Elizabeth's direction.
"Yeah apparently Sam's got a friend at one of the news stations - Julia Donovan, I think - anyway she called and gave Sam a heads up, the media is headed your way."
Rodney dropped the phone on the couch as he quickly moved to the glass doors. "Elizabeth, come on we gotta go."
"What's wrong?" Alarmed, Elizabeth moved toward Rodney just as he grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the house.
"The media has figured out that you're here."
"Already?" Elizabeth paled slightly.
"Rodney!" John's voice could be heard shouting from the phone.
"We're getting ready to leave right now." Rodney picked the phone back up. "How much time do we have?"
"Crap!" John swore. "Too late, the first news vans already there. They're broadcasting live shots of the front of the house."
Moving to peak out the front window Rodney swore too as he spotted the news van John was talking about - a few more arriving behind it.
"Look just sit tight for a second, Landry's gonna contact the Prometheus and have them use the Asgard transporters."
"Are you going to have them transport us to the SGC?" Rodney questioned as he gathered up his laptop.
"No, I've arranged for you to be transported elsewhere, you'll see when you get there."