DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters of 'Stargate: Atlantis'. They're not my property.
The address that George gave her led Elizabeth to a police station. Knitting her eyebrows in confusion, Elizabeth stepped inside. "A cop?" she wondered.
She was soon met by loud yelling between a couple and one of the police officers. Gingerly she approached the desk and waited, feeling that any interruption on her part could throw some of that yelling and anger her way. Elizabeth scanned the small police station, hoping to find another officer that could help her but those that she saw were busy with suspects or other work. The building itself had dark green walls, the corners were decorated with crossed knifes and a spear that resembled some of the ones she saw in the museum. Turning back to the three, she could almost see the officer's face turning bright red; the brown eyes threatening to pop out of his eye sockets. She pressed her lips and hoped this man wasn't the one she was looking for. Then he finally noticed her, his gaze slightly cooler. Eyeing her up, he noticed that she wasn't a local.
"American?" he said with his broken English.
"Recently Canadian," Elizabeth replied.
The man turned his face back to the couple and continued arguing with them.
Elizabeth exhaled and wished she had at least brought a portable fan with her or some other device to keep her cool. Air-conditioners were scarce here it seemed. She had seen worse.
She decided to wait out the argument as last time she was bold enough to interrupt such a scene in a south-eastern European country, she had been this close to an actual physical assault by one of the parties. She looked at her watch where ten minutes had passed. Elizabeth pushed herself away from the desk and began pacing around the hall. She looked at the map of the country that was on the wall and decided to study it to kill some time. Delonia was not a large country and not a well known one.
"Canadian!" she heard the man call to her. Turning around, she was approached by the officer. "What you need?" he asked with a rough voice.
"I was told I could find a John Sheppard here."
"Sheppard?" the man snorted like he was familiar with that name. "Come," he said and turned around.
She followed him through another small corridor that ended with a red door. He pointed to the door and then left.
"Okay," Elizabeth approached the door and heard muffed voices from the other side. Instead of knocking she pushed the door slowly aside. There was a wooden table and a chair; a faint light emerging from the lamp close to the ceiling. Standing on one side of the table was another police officer while on the other side was a man dressed in a colorful shirt and white pants… sandals included. His ruffled black hair and slight beard should've made him appear like a local but he seemed different, especially when he started talking in English. Fluent English.
"Look, I probably did take a few, but they were for my own, private collection. I wasn't going to smuggle them out of the country!" he said.
It had to be him, Elizabeth thought.
The officer leaned forward with his hands on the table.
"You are lying," the officer said in Delonian.
"Oh please. I've been here enough times, Jojo for you to know that."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Jojo?" she whispered and chuckled quietly. She leaned on the doorway and crossed her arms, listening to the interrogation for some minutes. John Sheppard, if that was him, seemed relaxed, almost as if he really had been here so many times that this had been routine for him.
"John Sheppard?" she called.
Both men turned to the woman leaning in the doorway.
"Visitor? What you need?" the officer asked bleakly.
"Well, I am looking for a John Sheppard. I was told I could find him here."
The accused sitting on the chair smirked and looked back at the officer. "See?" he said.
"American?"
Elizabeth was tempted to roll her eyes. "Canadian," she responded.
"Someone always comes to get me out," John said with a smug.
The officer turned to him. "Another girlfriend of yours?" he asked suspiciously.
John simply shrugged.
The officer grumbled. "Don't let me warn you again!" he pointed with his finger at John.
"I'll try to stay out of trouble, Jojo," John replied and stood up. He then approached Elizabeth with a charming smile. Surprising the stranger by putting his arm around her waist, he whispered closely to her. "Go along with it," he said with what sounded like a plea. He then hugged Elizabeth. "Thanks for coming, sugar!" he spoke loudly and then embraced her.
"Oh, ah…. Yeah, someone had to get you out of here," Elizabeth reluctantly agreed.
John looked back at her again with that same smile. "Let's go home," he said, putting his arm around her.
"Whatever you say…sugar." Elizabeth responded with her arm around his waist.
When they finally walked out, and then distanced themselves from the police station, John looked behind him and then removed his arm from her. "I owe you a thanks," he said and looked at Elizabeth.
"You also owe yourself a shower," she said.
He pulled his shoulders back. "Yeah I'm overdo for one."
"So, you are John Sheppard?"
John nodded to this.
"George Krevon recommended you to me," she said.
"Ah, good old George. Haven't seen him in the last few weeks. How is he?"
"Busy, I'd say." Elizabeth pulled out her hand. "I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir by the way."
"Okay." He took her hand and shook it gently, his green eyes smiling at her, amused by her formal greeting. "How can I help you?"
"Guide," she replied.
"Oh, right. Bronze City?"
Elizabeth titled her head. "Yes, I was told you knew your way around the area."
"Well, I've been there a few times," he replied matter-of-factly.
"Good, as I need to be taken to the Northern Wing."
He smirked. "There's nothing there," John said.
"Apparently that's the only place I have permission to go to."
"Apparently. How does tomorrow sound?"
"Suitable," she replied. The way he studied her face, he probably noticed the tiredness on hers.
"You still need to shake off that jetlag," he noted.
He noticed.
"Yeah, the trip was tiring."
"Nothing compared to what you'll go through here," he said.
That sounded less than promising. "Well as far as traveling inside the countries is concerned – I've seen my hellish times."
"You've done this before?"
"I'm an archeologist, Mr. Sheppard…. And a negotiator at times."
"Oh that kind of doctor," he teased.
"Yes, that kind. So what do I need to bring for tomorrow?"
"Just a good pair of pants and boots," he told her.
"That's pretty optimistic."
"You don't need much. Where are you staying?"
"The Cherry Blossom."
"Fancy," he said.
Elizabeth chuckled. "You'll stop at the hotel then?"
"I'll be sitting in the lobby drinking my glass of martini," he joked.
Oh he'll be an interesting character to accompany her on this journey. "Fine. What time?"
"Five."
"Morning?"
"Yes."
"You got it."
Walking away from John, she heard him shout out. "Thanks for getting me out of there." Elizabeth turned to this and smiled. "Oh, it wasn't me. Thank your friend George," she replied and raised her eyebrows at him.
John crossed his arms, watching her walk away. First time he had to drag along a tourist like her. He'd give her five hours into the trip before she quit. Archeologist or not.
Although Elizabeth had gone to bed early to get enough sleep, she nearly overslept the following morning. John Sheppard was found in the lobby as he promised but instead of a martini he had an apple with him. "Healthier," he later explained.
They walked for around an hour toward the entrance of the jungle where John's choice of transportation was supposed to be waiting for them. With his hands in his pockets and quick steps, he hadn't said much nor had Elizabeth. For one, he knew she must've been still groggy and the warm air at that hour hadn't helped much to awaken her properly without some side effects such as the grogginess. The way he was dressed, he reminded her of Indiana Jones without the leather jacket and whip.
On their way, they passed some small shops and modest houses, and in many of them, Elizabeth noticed a few young women greeting John… friendlier than she expected. She received the impression that he had his fair share of female skin in this town, and if he had pulled that charm like he had with her in the police station, as Elizabeth was pretty certain he had, then she should not be surprised by the attention.
"Quite the Casanova, are you…." Elizabeth said with a smirk.
"They're very hospitable people," John replied.
"I'm sure they are." Elizabeth glanced at him before noticing his return with a faint smile.
Elizabeth had listened to John's advice and put on a good pair of boots and pants, not to mention appropriate clothing for the upper part of the body. She originally appeared with a much larger backpack but was greeted with a strange look by John and a comment that they would need to hire a mule to carry whatever she had in that giant backpack of hers. Reconsidering, Elizabeth emptied most of the contents and left in only the most basic and necessary things. Now, walking in this heat she was grateful to herself for reconsidering.
As they reached the entrance of the jungle, she saw two horses and an older man with a white beard and straw hat waiting for them. "Our transportation, I take it," Elizabeth guessed.
"That's right," John replied. He thanked the older man and then patted the black horse on the neck. "This is Orlando. And that…" he turned to the other side, where a white one stood. ".. is Lilly."
"My horse?"
"Yup."
"How appropriate," Elizabeth smiled and patted Lilly's head gently. She was then given a boost by John and climbed onto the horse's back.
After John mounted his horse, he said goodbye to the older man and came in front of Elizabeth.
"Lead the way, Sheppard," Elizabeth told him.
John glanced behind him and smiled. "As long as you follow, doc," he told her. Five hours tops.
It hadn't been the first time that Elizabeth Weir had had the chance to visit the jungle, so much of this was already familiar to her. Observing the green vegetation and the occasional sighting of an animal, bird or insect, Elizabeth asked, "So, what was the reason you were in that police station?"
"Oh, they think I steal valuable artifacts," he replied nonchalantly.
Elizabeth looked at him, or the back of his head anyway. "Do you?"
"Stealing, in their terms, would be me trying to smuggle the items out of the country, which is not what I do. Therefore, no, I don't steal."
"What do you do then?"
"I find some trinkets that are pretty and keep them."
"Where?"
"My home."
"And that's not stealing?"
"Nope."
"If this was somewhere else, you wouldn't get away with just a slap on the wrist." She heard him laugh.
"Probably."
A white and blue bird suddenly flew past Elizabeth's eyes, catching her gaze where it landed on a branch. "Beautiful," she said.
John glanced at the bird. "Yeah, there are a lot of them here. You'll find some unique species."
"Mm. It isn't recommendable to go by foot?"
"Not on the trail that we'll be using," he replied when they approached a narrow, mountain path.
Looking down, she could barely tell the end of the fall. Elizabeth never had a fear of heights; she had done her share of BASE jumping and bungee jumping. But the site of this was enough to give anyone a headache. Still, she glanced down more than a few times out of curiosity. "What brought you to this town?" she asked, while looking down.
"I wanted to get away from the crap in the States. Kroleva seemed like a perfect place for me."
"What drove you away from the there?"
"I don't recall us to be good friends, doc for me to share secrets of the past with you," he replied.
Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. "Fair enough."
"What about you? Isn't Egypt enough for you archeologist types?"
"Believe it or not, it isn't."
"Of course. Who can resist being among the first if not the first to uncover the secrets of a lost city."
Elizabeth chuckled. "The challenge is too great. I had hoped to get the chance to explore the Southern Wing with the first team but it didn't happen."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
"How did they allow you to come here in the first place? I know the government is pretty stingy about allowing foreign scientists to even have a peak of the city in person."
"I managed to convince them."
"You must've done one hell of a job."
"I know," Elizabeth said chuckled. "My father told me that if I hadn't chosen archeology, I would've made a damn good diplomat."
"A damn good diplomat who couldn't convince them to see the Southern Wing?"
"I actually didn't try. I didn't want to seem too demanding."
"Smart enough," John replied.
Elizabeth took another glimpse of the steep slope. "You've been up and down this path often?"
"Oh yeah." He turned around to see her. "You're not acrophobic, are you?"
Elizabeth looked back at him. "No. Just admiring the view."
There was a certain sparkle in her eyes that John noticed at the mention of heights. Perhaps he'd give her an extra hour.
"Not many tourists use this path?"
"No tourist has. Not that I know of anyway."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "We are going to the Northern Wing, right?"
John smirked and returned his gaze to the front. "We're going somewhere," he replied.
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," she told him.
"Don't worry, doc. I am taking you to the city!" John said.
Elizabeth hoped he was telling the truth.
