Part 16 Home Sweet Home

Elizabeth stood with her arms wrapped around her chest in nervous anticipation as first Teyla and Ronon emerged followed by Carson, Rodney, and finally John came through into the gateroom. Regardless of the room being full of technicians and the like, she rushed forward and soaked-up the sight of the man she'd thought gone forever. She wanted to hug him as tears welled in her eyes but hesitated seeing his wounded arm. Instead, she reached out, took his hand, and held it possessively as she attempted to find her voice. "Welcome home, John," she managed to choke out, not letting go of his hand.

John did not attempt to pull away as he smiled at her warmly. She noted that there was a slight unaccustomed dampness to his expressive eyes as he spoke. "Believe me it's good to be home. I'm so sorry the Tyrell woman put you through so much."

Elizabeth knew what he meant but typical John, always putting others before himself. "You're the one to go through hell," she whispered. "I'm just glad it turned out alright in the end. At least, I think it's alright, what happened to your arm?" she asked as she moved her hand up to inspect his wound arm.

"The usual story," Carson piped up as he joined them. "Come on, Colonel," he requested, pointing towards the waiting gurney. "It's time to go to my domain. Oh and Elizabeth, ya'll be hearing all about it when we make our reports but they'll have to wait while I patch up -Mister can't- stay-out-of-trouble-for-five-minutes - here."

Elizabeth chuckled as Sheppard allowed the doctor to guide him over to the gurney. "Okay, Carson, I'll go with you for now," she heard him mutter, "but I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to sleep in my own bed tonight."

Carson's reply was quite clear. "Aye, I'm sure ya weren't but we'll 'ave to see about that." Saying no more, Carson ushered John and his team out of the gateroom.

-SGA-

Later, when darkness fell over the beautiful city and nighttime approached, Elizabeth quietly made her way to John's quarters. His latest wound had thankfully proven to be superficial, so Beckett had released John on the understanding that he would spend the next week or so recuperating from his ordeal on Capella. Whether John would abide by Beckett's orders or not was another matter. Although, Elizabeth promised herself that she would do her utmost to make sure that he did.

Arriving at his quarters, she requested entry and waited until John called her in. She hadn't been here since the dreadful bug episode, but things were still as she remembered them, skateboard, surfboard, and guitar propped in various places, the Johnny Cash poster over on the far wall and on the night stand the curious picture of John when he was a child with an older man.

As for the man himself, he sat quietly dressed in black T-shirt and BDU pants on the edge of his bed much the way he had all those months ago but this time, John faced her without shame and smiled. "So what's up?"

Elizabeth came out of her scrutiny and she sat herself down opposite him. Looking into his eyes, she cleared her throat. "It was so hard, John, seeing your duplicate die like that was just…" but she couldn't say anymore as her voice broke.

John gently reached out for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Yeah, I can imagine. Rodney and the others told me a little about what went down. I'm just glad you realized it wasn't me or I could have been stuck on Capella for good."

Or dead, Elizabeth thought, as she'd already read Carson's initial report about John taking three bullets. She came out of her retrospect and looked directly into his eyes. "I should have known it wasn't you, straight-away."

"How's that?"

For a second Elizabeth looked off into the distance before returning her gaze to his. "When I looked at him, his eyes were soulless, so empty, and so unlike yours. It was…"

John squeezed her hand again. "Yeah, I know, Dr. Ricaud said a similar thing. He reckoned the soul couldn't be duplicated no matter how hard they tried and that's why things went the way they did with Tyrell and especially Aldrich."

For an awkward minute, they looked at each other before Elizabeth broke the tension to glance towards the picture on John's side table. A cold shiver passed through her again, at the memory of John's duplicate lying so still, so dead. She never wanted to tell his next of kid that he had truly died and prayed that the day would never come. On his file was no mention of a family, so naturally she was curious about the man in the picture. "Is that a picture of you and your dad?" she asked.

John's throaty laugh echoed around the room. "Heck no," he mumbled. He looked down at his hands, but failed to say any more. There was no way he could explain to Elizabeth that the man in the picture did more to encourage and guide John into the person he was today than his own, military minded and totally unloving authoritarian father. His mentor was a man that John had greatly admired and loved but lost to him far too early. He vaguely wondered if that man would be proud of him today if he were still alive. A small smile spread across John's handsome face, as he believed that he would have been.

Elizabeth sat quietly and sighed as it looked like she wouldn't be getting anything more out of him tonight. One day, she thought. One day, John and I'll find out the truth.

He brought her out of her brooding when he suddenly asked. "So what's next on the agenda?"

She looked at him slightly puzzled. "Nothing for you until Beckett signs you back to full duty."

"Yeah, I know that. I did kind of promise him didn't I, but that doesn't mean I can't stay in the loop about things."

Elizabeth looked at him deciding what to say next. "I know you like to be on the ball, John, but things are fairly quiet at the moment. So, I want you to fully heal and enjoy some down time. Maybe a trip to the mainland for a few days would be a good idea?"

John looked thoughtful for a moment as his eyes drifted towards his surfboard. "Yeah, I think you're right. I haven't had much of a chance to use that board since having it brought out here, so maybe a day or two by the sea would be nice."

Pleased with her victory, Elizabeth said. "That's good. Maybe you could get Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon to take a break with you?"

Once again, John looked thoughtful. "Okay, but what about you?"

"What about me?"

John looked at her drawn and tired face knowing that he had caused some of her problems. "Don't you need a break too, Elizabeth? When was the last time you took a day off?"

She hesitated for a moment before surprising him by saying. "You're right. I do need some R & R. I'll tell you what; I'll arrange the whole trip for us as long as you promise to do as Beckett orders."

John gave her one of his gorgeous smiles. "It's a deal."

Taking his hand, she looked earnestly into his eyes once more for a second or two before whispering. "It's just so good to have you back safe and sound, John," Then getting up quickly before she could lose herself and do something they both might regret, she wished him goodnight and left the room.

John watched her go with a warm feeling before settling onto his bed and soaking up the sounds and sights that filled his room. Yes, indeed, it sure was good to be back, he mused.

-SGA-

Carson Beckett still had a very unpleasant task to perform, one that he'd been putting off for days now. However, he could no longer ignore the need to dispose of John's duplicate. He could have assigned to task to others but he felt that the responsibility fell to him. So, as he carefully removed the duplicate with the help of an assistant, he let his mind drift to happier thoughts like the short holiday Elizabeth had arranged for them in a couple of days time.

At first, Carson had refused stating that he had far too much to do after his long absence. However, Elizabeth had insisted, telling him that he was in need of a break as much as they were. Then Carson had found out that John was planning to teach Rodney how to surf and all of a sudden, he changed his mind thinking that Rodney and surfboards probably wouldn't mix and that his services were maybe required.

Carson let his mind drift back to the present as he lowered the duplicate into the incinerator. Saying a quiet pray for the soulless being, he muttered. "I hope I never have to do this to the real John Sheppard." The assistant nodded as he closed the incinerator hatch, finally putting a closure to the whole dreadful episode.

Epilogue

The surf broke again sending Rodney McKay headlong into the churning water. He surfaced with an indignant splutter, spitting salt water out of his mouth. "Burr…..that's it, I'm not doing that again!"

"Ah come on, Rodney, you've only been at it forty minutes or so!" shouted John from the shoreline.

"No, no, I mean it. I'm just not cut out to be a surfer dude."

Elizabeth heard his remark and nearly sputtered on her drink trying to picture Rodney as your average sun kissed beach boy. The image just wouldn't come to mind.

Now John was another matter. The few days that they'd been here had left her military commander nicely tanned and glowing with renewed health. He seemed more relaxed than at any time that she could remember. He had shown them just how good he was at surfing as he rode the waves with an ease that made it look like child's play, even though he claimed to be out of practice.

Yesterday, he had instructed Ronon in the art of surfing and surprisingly the Satedan had taken to it remarkably well. Carson had flatly refused and was currently sitting under the shade of a nearby tree drinking ice tea and thoroughly enjoying his rest.

Elizabeth looked up from her thoughts just as Rodney waded out of the sea and handed John his surfboard. "That's it, I'll finally concede that you can do something better than me," he announced.

"Ah, come on, Rodney, there are a few other things I'm better at."

"Maybe shooting, but that's about it."

John looked towards the blue sky. "What about flying?"

"I'm getting there."

John gave him a pained expression. "Math."

"No way!"

A smile spread across John's face. He was going to say seducing ascended women but seeing Elizabeth and Teyla close by he thought he'd better not go there, so he suggested. "Getting into trouble."

Rodney nodded. "Yep, you've got that down to a fine art. The only thing is, most times you're in trouble so am I, but I think you've got me on that one lately."

John suddenly looked serious, "Yeah, sorry about that. I'll try to be more careful in the future but trouble is my middle name, it always has been."

Elizabeth intervened when she stood up and went over to them. "I wish it wasn't, John."

"Yeah, I know but it sure makes life kind of interesting and if I'm not willing to take up the challenge then I might as well crawl into a box and have them ship me back to Earth."

Elizabeth nodded and looked at Rodney as he slowly acknowledged John's point of view. They were all in this together and as a team, they would overcome whatever obstacles were thrown at them. Elizabeth reached out and squeezed his hand. "As long as you keep coming back to us, John, and that goes for everyone else too."

Wanting to lighten the mood, John suddenly suggested. "We haven't got many hours left before we're due to go back, so what about a game of volley ball?" Ronon overheard him and nodded his head, enthused at the idea of playing the game that Sheppard had taught him on the first day. Seeing his willingness, John called. "Okay, why don't you set it up, Ronon and we'll be with you in a minute."

As the former runner moved off with Teyla to secure the net, John turned back to Elizabeth noting that Rodney had mysteriouslyvanished at the mention of such a strenuous game. "Are you okay for a game?" he asked her.

Elizabeth smiled. "Sure, Teyla and I will beat the pants off you and Ronon."

John laughed. "Not literally I hope." Elizabeth giggled, looking years younger and making John thoughtful. "Glad you came now?"

"Yes, it's done me the world of good. Thank you for suggesting it."

John's face broke out with a wonderful beam as he smiled warmly at her. "You're welcome and it's been fantastic. What do you say if we try to do this more often?"

"I would say that's another of your brilliant ideas, Colonel Sheppard." Then quickly moving away from him, she turned and called out. "Come on, let's not waste what time we have left, I've still got to beat the pants off you."

John laughed again and shouted as he ran off to catch her up, "Let's see you try!"

The End

Well that's it folks. I hope you enjoyed this and thanks again for all your wonderful reviews.