Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis.

"She needs to come with us this time." Teyla had been arguing with Rodney for the past thirty minutes, trying to convince him that Dr. Weir needed a change of scenery. This would be the perfect opportunity for that. They were going to the local village to acquire food and other supplies. "We can't just let her stay here, and continue to give up hope. You of all people should want to see her happy again. She is like family."

Rodney knew she was right, he just hoped that Elizabeth would agree. The only reason he had been skeptical about inviting Elizabeth was because he didn't think she could handle an excursion. She hadn't been eating and he wasn't sure if she could physically manage the trip. After all the village was at least a half days walk from where they had set up a base camp.

"All right, but you ask her. Last time I tried to talk to her she ignored me." He could still remember the expression on Elizabeth's face after he asked her how she was feeling. She had been upset; he knew that, but the look she gave him. He had only been trying to help. Maybe this little outing would be beneficial to her after all. A little fresh air couldn't hurt. Heck, maybe she would even open up a little more.

"That is fine."

Teyla walked off to where she knew that Dr. Weir would be. She felt it was sort of nice that Dr. Weir had found one place that she could go to, to get away from it all. Teyla knew exactly why Elizabeth had chosen that spot to reside at. It was the closest thing that she had to being somewhere that reminded her of home – that reminded her of the Colonel.

As Teyla stepped out of the heavily forested area, she was immediately greeting with the most beautiful sight that she had seen since being away from home. It never surprised her that her breath was literally taken away, when she came to this place to talk to Dr. Weir. They were lucky that they had even found it. It was by mere chance that Teyla and Elizabeth had stumbled upon it.

Flash back

Elizabeth and Kavanagh had gotten into a huge fight, when they first arrived after the evacuation. Kavanagh, as usual, felt it necessary to tell Dr. Weir that she had yet again been the one to unglue the expedition. If it hadn't been for her emotions the team would still be together. (Why he kept bringing up her emotions, no one knew. Her emotions didn't even have anything to do with what happened.) They might even be at Atlantis still. He decided it was best to even suggest … no, not suggest … tell her that he would be a more suitable leader than she was. In fact, if he had been in command the Wraith's presence would have been detected before they had even been considered a threat.

Of course everyone who knew Kavanagh laughed at this statement. He was too caught up in himself; leading an expedition was out of the question. It also caused people to wonder if he had been the cause for the deep space radars malfunction.

Could he have possible sabotaged them in the hopes of blaming Dr. Weir for Atlantis's down fall? Was he that selfish that he would do something to jeopardize the expedition?

They all agreed on one thing: Elizabeth was the best leader that anyone of them had ever had the chance to serve under. However, even after they had stepped in and told Kavanagh that he was out of his mind, Dr. Weir had still felt that he was somehow right.

After the others had broken up the fight, Elizabeth took off running.

It didn't matter where she was headed; she just wanted to get away. What if Kavanagh was right and it was her fault that they were in this predicament? What if it was her fault that John could be hurt out there somewhere, or worse dead? She would never be able to forgive herself for that. She pushed through the trees; running as fast as she could to get away.

She didn't care if everyone thought that she was weak, or had lost it. All she wanted was to get away. How could Kavanagh say those things? She knew had always held a grudge against her, but this. She was so caught up in what happened that she nearly ran into a low hanging branch. Her quick veer tithe left caused her to stumble, when the ground inclined slightly. When she stood up, she noticed she was no longer surrounded by tall trees. Before her lay a crystal clear lake, that was teaming with fish. The water was so clear that she could see the bottom. The slight breeze brushed her curls into her face, as the sound of the water rolling against the shore could be heard.

It immediately reminded her of Atlantis, the calming effect the hum of the water had on her. It was her new balcony - her and John's balcony -at least until she returned to Atlantis. Just as she was about to park herself down on the ground, she heard footsteps behind her.

Teyla had come to check on her.

The first thing that Teyla noticed as she walked into the clearing was that Elizabeth was ankle deep in the lake. Her arms wrapped around her as if she were comforting herself. Her shoes and socks had been discarded onto the log that lay by the shoreline.

Teyla slowly walked up to her as not to startle her.

"Dr. Weir?"

No answer. Elizabeth either didn't hear her, or was most certainly ignoring her, just as she did Rodney.

"Dr. Weir, Dr. McKay and I are taking a trip to the village. We are in need of supplies."

Still nothing.

"We would greatly appreciate your presence."

Silence.

"Elizabeth, please," Teyla reached out and placed her hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "We are worried about you."

Elizabeth turned around; her eyes were red and puffy. Her tear stained cheeks were a rosy red.

"Please come with us."

"I miss them … I miss him." Elizabeth couldn't take it anymore. She knew that everyone meant well by trying to comfort her. But, she had lost hope a long time ago. She wanted it back, but it hurt so much to know that she may never see John again.

Every time he would go off world she knew that something could happen, but she always had hope. Hope that he would come back every time. Hope that he would be safe when he did. This was different. He wasn't just off on some mission. He was lost just like her. Separated by a freak accident.

This time there was no going home. Not yet anyway, they had to wait. A ZPM was their only hope of ever returning.

"We all miss them. You are not alone. Rodney misses Kate. I miss Colonel Sheppard as well as Ronon. Colonel Sheppard is like a brother to me. And Ronon, well he is more than just a good friend. As much as we want to we can't give up hope. We are here for you; we are here for each Sheppard and the others are probably thinking we are lost as well. There is a very good chance that they are still alive just like us."

At this comment Elizabeth looked up. She had forgotten that not only had she lost someone, but they had all lost someone. She may be hurting, but she was still the leader of this expedition. Teyla was right. She was going to get her team back if it killed her. She couldn't do that sitting here. She had to get up and look for them.

Maybe this trip to the village would help her get her strength back. If food and supplies is what they needed, then they would get food and supplies. After that they would start searching the list of planets that they had for ZPMs. After all a fully powered ZPM was their only hope of ever returning to Atlantis. Only now they didn't have all of the galaxies best technology at their disposal, they only had each other.

"When are we leaving?"

This chapter was a little longer than the last. Hope that you all enjoyed. I know that I am enjoying writing this story. Again, reviews are greatly appreciated. Oh, and I would like to thank "emergencyfan" for your helpful tip about the spelling of the word "separate." No matter how many times I use that word, I always spell it wrong. Thank you "panddora" and "Kyrah-Lee" for your encouragement. I hope that you all continue to enjoy this story as much as I do.