DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from 'Stargate: Atlantis'. They're not my property.


To her dismay, she was met with darkness when Elizabeth opened her eyes. It took her a second to realize that a bag, which had the unwanted smell of onions, had been put over her head. The coldness of the hard wall behind her and that of the hard wooden surface on which she was sitting couldn't be missed.

"Damn…." She heard John's voice near by. The hoarse voice and the tiny swearing whispers that followed told her that he was coming to. "J-j-ohn?" She went by his first name.

"Yeah. Ah."

"You wouldn't happen to know where we are?"

"I have an idea," he replied and groaned.

The sacks were then removed from their heads. Elizabeth saw a large man with a shaved head and beard that begged to be trimmed; the thick gold chain on his chest and B.O. that could bring down an elephant. He stepped away from them, took a few steps back and then shut the prison door. Elizabeth saw the reason for the uncomfortable seats – they had been in a prison cell with a light bulb at the ceiling that struggled to stay alive. "Haven't you heard of soap and water?" she spoke to the man who by the look on his face couldn't understand her.

"I second that, although he didn't stink as bad the first time."

"First time?" Elizabeth turned to him. "You've been here before?"

Before John could answer, the door of the room in which the cage or prison was, opened. With heavy boots, worn out jeans, a black shirt and ridiculously thick chest hair, a middle-aged man entered. The blonde eyes on the square face examined the visitors. "Sheppard," he spoke in a rough voice, the hospitability absent in it.

"Ah. Romeo. The only person in Kroleva who could pronounce my name right. Sadly," John said.

"You two know each other." Elizabeth was surprised but less than amused.

"Oh yeah. We're old buddies. Aren't we Romeo, old pal!"

"I should rip your guts out and hang them from highest building in Delonia," Romeo replied with heavy accented English.

"See?" John turned to smile at Elizabeth.

"Don't tell me, you slept with his cousin, too?" Elizabeth said, while carefully keeping her eyes on the man at the other side of the cage.

"No. He just missed me too much."

"I've missed the jeweled gloves and masks you stole from me!"

"Well, I couldn't let you smuggle them out of here. I did you a favor actually."

"You cost me money."

"No. I saved your life. You would have been playing cards with little naked devils in hell by now if it hadn't been for me."

Romeo smirked. "I don't like pigs that steal from me."

"Not like you're not doing the same thing." John nodded.

Romeo gave not the impression of a patient man and Elizabeth wondered if John was doing the right thing in provoking him. His pale blue eyes quickly caught her.

"Girlfriend?" he asked.

"Business," John replied and sensed Elizabeth's look.

"American like you?"

Elizabeth hung her head instead of rolling her eyes. No one in Kroleva assumed her to be a non-U.S. citizen.

"No. She's…" John turned to her. "What are you?"

Elizabeth's head snapped back before she turned to him. "Canadian!"

"Right." John looked back at Romeo. "She's Canadian."

Romeo's face lit up. "Rich woman."

"I wouldn't say that," Elizabeth replied.

"Equipment in your bag looked expensive."

"Not all of it is mine." Elizabeth coughed.

"Not surprising," John said.

"You archeologist?" Romeo asked her.

"That's right."

"Hm. Perhaps you could be useful," Romeo said. The two men soon left the room, slamming the door behind them.

Elizabeth quickly stood up. She approached the metal bars of the cage. "What now? They're going to hold us for ransom?"

John laughed. "Nah. They don't bother with that."

"Then what did he mean by me being useful?"

John shrugged. "I don't know."

Elizabeth sighed. She began looking around the small cell made of black stones with only the small bench where John had been sitting. "Charming place," she said and crossed her arms.

"Quite the honeymoon suite."

Elizabeth threw him a look. She then noticed a small window with bars on the other side. The metal bars seemed loose. "Hey, check those out," she said, pointing to them.

John glanced up. Instead of reacting with the same amount of interest as Elizabeth, he leaned back with disinterest.

Elizabeth jumped up to reach them but they were too high. She quickly scanned the cell and then reached for the bench. "Get up," she told him.

"Hm?"

She could've sworn he was close to slumber with his attitude. "Get up and help me with the bench!" Elizabeth told him.

John stood up. He picked up the other side of the bench and helped her carry it beneath the window. "You're wasting your time."

"And why's that?" Elizabeth climbed up on the bench. She reached for the bars; to her delight they were easy to remove. "Ha! They came off!"

John leaned back on the wall, crossing his arms and watching the eagerness with which Elizabeth was attempting her daring escape.

Managing to shimmy half through the window, Elizabeth suddenly stopped when she noticed what had been below: a drop; a Niagara Falls-high drop with the dark water at the bottom.

"Oh, shit." Elizabeth quickly shimmied back. Breathing heavily she turned to look at John.

"Told you," he said.

Elizabeth huffed, squinting her eyes at him. Sitting down on the bench, she gathered her hands and hung her head.


Staring at the black dot on the black surface of the black stone for the past two hours, Elizabeth was beginning to dislike the day she came across John Sheppard. She wondered if it had been his cockiness that made her think this way or being stuck in this stupid cell…or just the tiredness combined with the lack of food. Of course this was nothing compared to the tiny closet-spaced room she and another colleague were held blindfolded in a small town in Western Europe. When she signed up to study archeology, Elizabeth hadn't anticipated leading a life that resembled those of spy novels. She somehow always had the misfortune of running into smugglers.

"Move over." His voice suddenly broke her musings.

"What?" She looked up at his slightly tired face.

"I need to sit down, move over."

Elizabeth glanced at the rest of the bench on which her legs were. "Floor not good enough for you?" she spoke coldly.

"No."

"Looks clean."

"Yeah? Then you sit on it. They tend to spit a lot on it. Move over," he repeated.

Elizabeth sighed and removed her feet. John slowly sat down next to her. He saw the slight agitation on her face. "Cheer up, doc. They'll hold us for a few more hours and then we'll be on our way," he told her.

"I certainly didn't get that impression from your friend," she spat back.

"You almost sound like you're angry with me," he said to this.

"I'm more tired than angry, Mr. Sheppard," she responded.

"Explains the strange fascination with the wall for the past few hours. And by the way, I think it's safe to try using first names."

"Fine with me, John."

"Good…. Elizabeth."

The door of the room opened again.

"Oh look, the Stinky man is back," Elizabeth nodded.

John snickered to this.

The bearded man held to plates of food. He opened the door of the cell and was about to place the plates on the floor.

"Aah!" John quickly got up. "Not on the floor," he told him in Delonian. "I'll take those."

The man shrugged and handed the plates to him. Shutting the doors of the cell and the room, he left without a word.

"Oh, fried chicken. Sure an improvement from the boiled rat they gave me the first time," he said and handed one of the plates to Elizabeth.

"You're quite the comedian, John," Elizabeth told him. She was surprised to find rice next to the meat and even more surprised at how good it smelled. To her hungry stomach this was too much.

"I'm not kidding, it really wa-" John slowed down when he saw how quickly Elizabeth began putting food in her mouth. "Wow, you're really hungry."

"Mm!" Elizabeth replied.

"I guess it's a little late to tell you that the last time they gave such a rich meal to a prisoner it had rat poison in it," he said, observing her.

Elizabeth stopped and looked at him with shock in his eyes. He was serious. She wasn't sure whether to swallow the meal in her mouth or spit it out so she spoke with it still in there. "What?"

John suddenly broke into boyish laughter. "I was just pulling your leg, doc."

Elizabeth grimaced at him. She dipped her fingers in the rice and picked up a chunk. "Last time," she swallowed the remains of the chewed food, "they just gave us water."

Now it was John who was surprised. "Last time?"

"Oh, yes. Radek, great colleague of mine, and I, we were in this small village in Western Europe to check a site that was rumored to hold the remains of a king famous in that region in the fourteenth century."

Listening to her own previous experience, John noticed her mood had slightly picked up. It must have been the food, he thought and took a bite himself. He chuckled a few times as he listened to her colorful descriptions of the people and particularly of the tiny room in which they were held.

The conversation was scarce this time; maybe because both felt tired and in the need of some sleep. The floor had been out of the question and so the chosen location ended up being the bench. It seemed wide enough for two human bodies to lay on it, although the length could have been bigger. Elizabeth lay down next to the wall at John's insistence; he followed shortly after when he laid down next to her. The width of the bench had been underestimated and both ended up lying closer to each other than planned; so close that both were forced to turn and sleep on the side. Facing the wall, Elizabeth realized the awkwardness of this, mostly because John had been facing toward the same direction. She trusted him not to misuse the situation; but if in case he got so brave and stupid, at least she wouldn't bother Romeo and his gang of what to do with John… She would take care of him herself.

Elizabeth heard a quiet chuckle. She sighed annoyingly. "What?"

"Your hair smells of onions," he whispered.

"Well so does yours, but I was polite not to say anything."

"Thank you."

"You could always turn to the other side if it becomes unbearable to you." The squeaking sound confirmed that he had agreed to her suggestion. "Ow!" she felt his elbow hit her lower back.

"Sorry."

Elizabeth knew her body would pay for this in the morning; not that she had much choice in matter.


A sharp and annoying poke of a stick in his back woke him up in the morning. When he opened his eyes, John found his arm right over Elizabeth's waist. Yes, the bench hadn't been wide enough. He felt another stab. "Hey!" John tried to turn around as much as possible without falling off.

Romeo's 'charming' face came into view, his expression far from that of a happy, sunny morning. "Get up!"

"Uh, give us a few more hours, will ya?" John complained.

"This isn't a hotel, Sheppard! Get up!" Romeo stabbed John's back with the stick again.

"Ah! Shit!" The last stab made his reflexes react and he accidentally kicked Elizabeth's legs with his knee. "Okay. Okay!" John slowly managed to sit up, followed by a groggy Elizabeth.

Both were quickly dragged out of their cells, and brought out into the glaring morning sun; the strong rays were not kind on their eyes.

She noticed some chickens running around, a few sheep, horses and a handful of geese amongst the poorly built houses. It looked like small farm and the smell certainly confirmed it. Romeo and two assistants disappeared into one of the houses, while Elizabeth and John remained here with three gun-holding men. Since neither spoke, Elizabeth moved her neck and heard a few cracks; she could also hear her body whining about sleeping on the uncomfortable bench with barely enough space. At least she hadn't been cold, mostly because she had another warm body next to her. Glancing over at John who was more bored than concerned about the current situation, Elizabeth couldn't remember if he behaved himself last night but she somehow had a feeling he had. Also, she had been too tired to really notice anything.

"How did you manage to steal from these guys?" she asked him.

"They needed a guide, I needed the money. I overheard their plans by accident and I just couldn't let them sell those artifacts to some rich European snob."

"Where are the artifacts now?" she asked.

John looked at her with mischief in his eyes. "Where do you think?"

"Ah." Elizabeth chuckled.

Minutes later, Romeo return with a small bag. "How did you enjoy your stay at the Bronze City?" he asked them.

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "How did you?-…" she shut her eyes briefly, "Right, the camera."

"It seems you have found some very interesting treasures over there," Romeo said.

"We didn't come across any jewels," Elizabeth replied.

Romeo smiled. He pulled out the small digital, video camera. Pressing the button, a video of the tapestries appeared. "How much would you estimate the value of each?" Romeo looked at the two foreigners.

"Given their condition? I'd say not much," she lied. Elizabeth knew that each tapestry would reach a minimum of 600,000 U.S. dollars on the black market.

"But they look to be in great condition," Romeo said.

"That, well, we sort of touched something while we were in there that sort of triggered a chain reaction and… damaged the tapestries," John told him.

"How much damage?"

"The torn-to-pieces-almost-worthless damage?"

Romeo observed them both for a long time, making Elizabeth uncomfortable. He then turned off a camera. "Show me where you found them."

"That won't be easy," John replied.

"And why?"

"Because we have no idea where we were when we got out of the place, not to mention you bringing us here screwed up our orientation even more."

"Really."

"Yes!"

Romeo pulled out his gun and then pointed it at Elizabeth's head. "Does this help your orientation?"

John felt the sudden rush of fear that went through Elizabeth at that moment. "I wasn't kidding, Romeo. It's really difficult to find the entrance."

Romeo began smiling until he grinned. "You will try harder, Sheppard, or," he cocked the gun, "a bullet will go straight into your friend's head."

"Aren't these death threats getting old by now?" John said.

Romeo kept grinning. "Never." The barrel of the gun was almost touching the skin of Elizabeth's forehead.

"And if I do, by some weird chance, find the entrance and take you there?"

"She lives."

"And then?"

"And then, I let you go."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Elizabeth asked, the gun making her less nervous than she realized.

"Besides the gun pointed at you? I am a man of my word, Weir," he told.

John nodded. "He is telling the truth there," he said.

"You agree on our deal?" Romeo asked, his blue eyes getting a dangerously, darker shade.

John pressed his lips. It had always been easier for him to joke when his own life had been threatened, but when another person he knew had been in question, it always made things more difficult. "Yes."

Romeo grinned again. "Wonderful." He removed the gun. "We will make preparations and then we will leave."

When he walked away from them, leaving two guards to keep an eye on the prisoners, Elizabeth exhaled.

"Explains the good meal they gave us," he said and licked his lips.

"You're sure he'll keep his word?"

"He may be an asshole, but he stands by his word."

"Well, I'm not too keen on taking them to the tapestries."

"Neither am I. Besides, the City is too far from here, my feet would kill me," he complained.

Elizabeth shook her head. "And I thought my life had at least some value to you."

John chuckled. "Well, I'd get paid well if I bring you back alive," he told her.

Elizabeth gave him a look and was almost taken by the thought if he was younger than she first imagined. "So what do we do?"

"First, try to keep a relatively happy face."

"Why?"

"We don't want these two to think we might be thinking of escaping," he said, referring to the guards.

"I see. You have an escape plan?"

"Yes, I do."

"Great! Let's hear it."

"We steal one of their jeeps and get the hell out of here," he said.

"Ah! How do we do that without earning two bullets in our skulls?" she asked.

"Distraction."

"You make it sound too easy, Mr. Sheppard."

He raised an eyebrow. "We slept together and you still go with the formalities?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "What's your distraction?"

"You," he said.

She spun around to look at him. "Excuse me?"

"You'll distract these two."

With her fingers tapping her hips, she asked, "And just how do I do that?"

"I don't know. Use your womanly charms," he waved his hands.

"Oh, seriously, Mr. Sheppard."

"You tell me you can't flirt?"

Elizabeth smirked. "That's a pretty cheap trick, you know."

"But works with the male species," he told her.

"Fine." Unbuttoning the two buttons of her dirty shirt, she turned around and approached the guards. "Alright, boys." With her hands on her hips, Elizabeth pulled a seductive smile. "Who can tell me where the toilet is around here?" John once again helped with translating her words.

The shorter, bald guard pointed behind her. She turned and saw a small shed. "Figures," she whispered. When she began walking towards it, the guard followed her, leaving John with the other one. He waited, not wanting to risk anything while the machine gun in the guard's hands was still pointed at him and he watched John like a guard dog.

The door to the toilet had been on the other side, making the two disappear from their view. They waited as minutes passed. Even John was beginning to wonder what had happened. "Chad?" the guard shouted. There was no reply.

After a while, it was only Elizabeth who appeared behind the shed. She approached them calmly.

"Where is Chad?" the guard asked.

"Ah, he decided to take a nap," she replied innocently.

Knowing something was amiss, the guard wanted to alert the others but John managed to knock him out cold. Taking the smaller gun from the guard's holster, John checked it for bullets. "What happened back there?" he asked as he stood up.

"I've learned a few self-defense tricks on my travels," she replied with a roguish smile.

He smiled back at her. "You keep surprising me, doc." They ran over to the small building where they had noticed Romeo bringing their bags earlier.

The small space with only an office desk and chair, an old-fashioned fan and a poster of a naked woman greeted them. The camera had been placed, conveniently, on the desk. However, as they both checked to see if all the contents had been left inside, shouts from the outside had already alerted them that their disappearance had been noticed. When John scanned the room for a possible window on the other side, he noticed something better – a door.

"Yes!" he ran over to it.

Opening the door carefully, he checked to see if the coast was clear. The door led to a short corridor with another door in the end. Opening the second door revealed a small garden with vegetables and fruit. "How did you escape the first time?" she whispered.

"Through the entrance."

"Lucky."

"Yeah, I know."

"Any idea where this leads?"

"Nope.

"Wonderful."

The sound of footsteps and voices told them they had already been spotted. When they reached the end of the garden where a stone fence had been placed, John cursed what they saw. Another drop. "Oh this is just great!"

Elizabeth on the other hand seemed more optimistic, especially when she saw two parachutes on the leaning against the fence. Inspecting them quickly, she then threw one over to John. The height seems reasonable and the ground at the end looked safe enough to land on, not to mention that the parachutes were strangely the kind she required.

John quickly looked at her. "Doc?"

"Strap the parachute on!"

"You suggest we jump?"

"That's right!" Elizabeth secured the bags and then jumped on top of the fence.

"What are the chances that we'll end up alive after this?"

"I have no idea!" Elizabeth said before she plunged into the air.

"Elizabeth!" John took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder. The welcoming party with guns was not something he had been looking forward to. Heck, if it had been safe enough for her to jump then it could be safe enough for him to follow. Jumping on top of the fence, John saw Elizabeth's parachute open. "At least they work," he said and jumped.