Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or its characters.

So I was looking over this chapter, and noticed a few errors. Hopefully I fixed them all. Please let me know if I didn't. I also added a few details in between the dialogue toward the end. I think it makes it flow much better. Thanks again to everyone who left reviews. Your help was greatly appreciated.

Okay so it had taken them longer than they expected to reach the stargate, and travel to the village. But they were there. At least that's what Rodney kept telling them.

"Hey it isn't my fault we stopped so many times. I can't help it. I told you I have sensitive feet. These babies feel every rock and stick that comes into contact with them."

"We know Rodney." Elizabeth and Teyla both said in unison.

"It doesn't matter now. I just hope we didn't miss John and Ronon." That would have been the cherry on top of the cake for Elizabeth. All they needed was to go back telling everyone that they hadn't made it in time.

"Hey wait," Rodney ran to catch up with them. He started walking backwards once he got in front of them so he could see their faces when he talked to them. "So you don't blame me, right? I mean after all …" That was all he could get out before crashing into something hard and from what Elizabeth and Teyla could tell invisible.

"Ow, what they heck was that?" McKay said as he pulled himself together.

Teyla looked around at, well, nothing.

"I am unsure. Perhaps it is a shield of some kind."

"I don't think so. Look if you touch it, it doesn't flicker or anything. Usually you would see it temporarily if you touched it. Besides it feels sort of rough like metal. Teyla, do me a favor and walk along the edge of it and tell me when it stops." Elizabeth had her hands on the unknown object and did the same thing as well, but in the opposite direction.

"You don't think that it could be …"

"I think so Rodney. Did you bring along any equipment that might help us to identify it."

"Hold on a second," He put up his index finger as he rummaged through his bag. "Yes, I knew that this would come in handy."

Rodney scanned the area that Elizabeth had her hands placed on.

"I'm picking up energy readings."

"This is the size of one, and the front and back slant down." Teyla came back to where Elizabeth and Rodney were standing.

"Are we positive this is what we think it is?" Elizabeth had to make sure before she made her finally decision. With nods from both Rodney and Teyla she decided to wait for the owners to return.

Back in the village John, Ronon, and Carson were negotiating with a man named Aaron for three decorative crystals.

Aaron wanted Ronon's stun gun, but obviously they weren't going to give him that.

"Look you are the ones who came to trade with me, not the other way around. Now either you give me that or we don't have a deal."

"Lads, we need those more than our weapons. We can always get more once we return to Atlantis. Besides he doesn't know how to use them." Carson whispered into their ears. He wanted to go home.

" Carson do you still have those crunch bars left?"

"Yes John, but I don't think that this is the right time to start eating lunch."

"Not for me, for him. He doesn't look over seventeen. You never know with kids, he might want the chocolate."

"Aye, I'll give it a try."

Carson took off his pack and got out the last of his stash of crunch bars. How they survived in this heat for so long without melting was beyond him.

He handed them to John.

"Here what if we trade you these instead." John waved them in front of Aaron's face.

"What is it?"

"It's a rare delicacy." Oh crap he's never going to buy this. I really suck at trying to persuade people into doing what I want.

"The ladies love them." Ahh, the amazing Ronon back with another comment.

"This has been proven?

Ronon walked up to the kid and whispered something in his ear.

The look of shock on Aaron's face was worth a million bucks. He ran up to John grabbed the crunch bars and took off.

"Hey. You didn't give us … What did you say to him?"

"I'll tell you later Colonel. Let's get back to the jumper."

It took them a good thirty minutes to even get back to where they thought they had left the jumper. But to there surprise they weren't the only ones in the area.

"Can you make out who that is?" Ronon asked John. From where he was standing there were two women and one man.

"No, you?" John didn't know who these people were. They were probably from the village. Ronon's shake of his head affirmed John's suspicion. Two of the people had a light skin tone, but the third was darker like Ronon. John could make out two females and one male. The male was sitting on the ground picking at the grass. The darker female was standing facing the stargate like a look out. The other woman had shoulder length brown curly hair. It actually reminded him of Elizabeth's hair. Her beautiful curls that accented her face. But his Elizabeth was off somewhere else in the galaxy. That was his next stop – finding her.

She looked around becoming impatient. They had been waiting for so long. She just wanted to find them and get back home. She turned around facing away from the stargate. Oh, great now she was hallucinating. There standing a few meters away was John, Ronon, and Carson. Right like she was going to fall for that again. Her hope of finding John had finally caused her to lose it.

She was staring right at him – the woman with the curly hair.

"It can't be … she's …"

"Colonel, wait we don't know if these people are armed." Carson was just about the run after him when Ronon held him back.

"What are you doing? He could get …"

"It's them."

He was running at her. She couldn't be hallucinating. This was the real thing. Tears started forming, her heart started beating faster.

"Dr. Weir, I do not …" A startled gasp escaped Teyla's lips. There in the distance was John running toward Elizabeth and Elizabeth in turn running toward him.

As they reached each other, they embraced in more than just an ordinary hug. They were never going to let go ever again. They were never going to lose hope again. Fate had somehow brought them together again – John's jacket, the apples, the cloaked puddle jumper, Carson wanting to stay back and do a last minute check up. It had all worked together to ensure that they would be reunited.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again. Liz, there has been so much that I have waned to tell you. I don't …"

She put her finger over his lips.

"Me first," She took a deep breathe. It had been long enough for her to know what she really wanted. She knew it was a cliché, but it really was funny how life had a way of telling you something. "John … I almost lost hope. In fact I did lose hope. I thought that I was never going to see, or talk to you again. Through this whole mess I've come to realize how important you are to me. How important 'us' is to me. No more rules, no more regulations. I don't care anymore. I just want this," She put her right hand on his chest, and looked up into his eyes. "I want us."

"You were always better with words than I was." John said as he wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "I don't want to lose you either. I love you Elizabeth Weir. The only thing I had left after we were separated was hope. I don't want to ever experience that again. I was so afraid that I had lost you for good, but I couldn't give up. Finding you was what drove me."

"I don't even care if we return to Atlantis any more. As long as I'm with you everything is alright." She leaned into him; placing her head into the nook of his neck. "I love you John Sheppard."

John leaned in and kissed her for the first time in a long time.

"As much as I wouldn't mind staying here with you forever and ever, I have something better in mind."

Elizabeth was confused. What was he talking about?

"We found three ZPMs. We can go home."

Elizabeth's face brightened up immediately at these words. Not only did they have one ZPM, they had three. That was enough energy to last them quite a long time.

"Did I tell you that I love you?"

A smile crept onto his face. He grabbed her hand and headed back to the others who were greeting each other with welcome arms. Ronon and Teyla were holding each other just as John and Elizabeth had been doing a few moments before.

"Let's go home." Elizabeth looked up into John's eyes. She was ready to return to her city.

The End

I think that I am done with this story. Sorry if it feels like I left you hanging.I didn't really have any good ideas pertaining to their return. Sorry.Feel free to continue if you like.