Chapter Five: Preparing for the Journey
As the sun was beginning to set over Atlantis most of the people had retired their work for the day and set out for some relaxation time, Elizabeth was no different. She had grabbed a few files and was walking towards John's quarters. When she got there she knocked on the door and waited for him to answer it.
"Elizabeth, I was just looking for you." John said walking up from behind her.
Elizabeth smiled. "I wasn't sure what you were doing so I figured I'd come to you." She said.
"Would you like to work on those files in here?" He asked as he opened his door.
Elizabeth hesitated to answer, not sure if that was the appropriate thing to do. "I don…" She started before John interrupted.
"Only to talk about the files, of course." He said.
Elizabeth nodded, and followed him in. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to imply anything." She said feeling foolish.
John shrugged it off. "No harm, no foul." He said. He took a seat on the edge of his bed while Elizabeth sat in a chair at his desk.
"I want to apologize about earlier as well, I just don't feel like we should broadcast our, well, whatever it is we have, to the whole city yet." Elizabeth explained.
"Remember what I said yesterday about laughing? You have got to do that, you're far too serious." John said. Elizabeth nodded, knowing all too well that it was true. "Besides, you have a beautiful smile." John added.
Elizabeth's cheeks when bright red. "Thank you." She said with a smile.
"See, there's that amazing smile of yours. You should share that with everyone, not just me." John said.
Elizabeth walked over and gave John a kiss.
"Mmm, but that, that you should save just for me." He said pulling her in for another kiss.
When they parted Elizabeth smiled. "When did you become so suave?" She asked.
"I was born that way." John said giving her his classic flyboy grin.
Elizabeth's mind couldn't help, but wander to thoughts of what they were doing. She was the kind of person who liked to put labels on things, and this wasn't labeled yet, and that was beginning to get to her. "What are we calling this?" She asked with a sigh, knowing she had probably broken the mood.
"Well, I know that I love you and I'm pretty sure you care about me as well, so in my opinion I'd love nothing more than to say you're my girlfriend." John said simply.
"I'd like that too." Elizabeth said with a smile.
"Well, then it's settled we're officially a couple." John said.
"When you say it like that we sound like we're teenagers." Elizabeth said with a small laugh.
"Sometimes you have to forget everything and act like a teenager, Lizzy." John said.
"Did you just call me Lizzy?" Elizabeth asked as the dream she had the day before quickly passed through her mind.
"I was just making a point, don't worry, it won't catch on." John said with a smile.
"If it does I'm putting all the blame on you." Elizabeth said.
"I think I can handle that." John said.
For the next few hours the two sat together on the floor of John's quarters talking about everything that passed through their minds. In the few hours of talking to John Elizabeth had become closer with him than she'd ever been with anyone in her whole life. The two were so compatible that Elizabeth found it hard to believe that they hadn't gotten together sooner. When he was with John she felt like a new part of her came to the surface. She had happy and laughing and the only thing on her mind was whatever they were talking about at that moment, and she loved that. Most of all she loved that it was John who brought all of this out of her.
"So then he couldn't think of anything to do but play along so he was in the middle of Kabul dressed as a woman getting hit on and he just played along." John said. He was telling her stories of situations he and his friends had gotten themselves into through his years in the service.
Elizabeth busted out laughing. "You're kidding? He played along?" She asked through her laughter.
"For ten minutes! The guy left and never even realized what was going on." John added.
This made Elizabeth laugh even more as she wiped away tears. "That's great." She said as her laughter began to die down.
John sat back for a second, and just watched her.
"What? Do I have something on me?" Elizabeth asked looking down at her shirt nervously.
John shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that. I'm just thinking how wonderful it is for me to see this side of you, and I'm still shocked that someone like you would love someone like me." He said.
"Well, believe it." Elizabeth said with a smile.
John leaned in, and was about to kiss her when Rodney's voice butted in.
"John, are you in there?" Rodney asked from the other side of the door.
John groaned quietly as Elizabeth stood up and sat at John's desk opening a file. John got up and opened the door. "What is it Rodney?" He asked.
"Elizabeth? I'm sorry, I didn't realize you two were working this late." Rodney said.
"Well, you do now. What do you need?" John asked again.
"I was going to ask you if you've seen Elizabeth, but you obviously have." Rodney said.
"Can I help you with something, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes, actually, Carson had previously been helping my team do something researched, but now he refuses to help and he keeps referring my team to you. Do you know anything about that?" Rodney asked.
"Rodney you cannot volunteer Carson's genes for experiments without asking him first and there's really no need to ask him because you know full well how he feels about using the gene, and you need to respect that." Elizabeth said. "There are more people than Carson with the gene. Try asking one of them to help out." She added.
"Alright." Rodney said giving a little pout as he walked away.
Elizabeth looked at her watch. "I'd better get going, it's late." She said.
"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow." John said.
"Thank you for this, it was wonderful." Elizabeth said before giving him a quick kiss. "Goodnight." She said as she left.
The next morning Elizabeth was in her office before sunrise as usual.
"Good morning, Lieutenant Polk, does Lieutenant Thorton have the day off?" Elizabeth asked as she walked into the control room.
"Yes Ma'am." Polk said.
"And the overnight report?" Elizabeth asked.
"Already on your desk Ma'am." Polk said.
"Oh, thank you." Elizabeth said before going into her office.
Elizabeth opened her desk drawer to grab a pen out when she saw a note card sitting on top of her supplies. She picked it up curiously and couldn't help but laugh when she read,
Good morning Liz,
I just thought I should tell you,
JOHN LOVES LIZ!
Thought you'd laugh,
John
Liz put the card back in her drawer with a smile, John had way too much time on his hands, she thought. She'd have to give his team a mission to go on today, anything to occupy him.
She turned her computer on and began going through her files. After she had been working on them for about an hour she heard Lieutenant Polk calling for her. She stood up, and walked into the control room.
"What is it?" She asked.
"A message from the Daedelus." Polk explained simply.
"This is Doctor Weir." She said over the radio.
"Doctor Weir, this is Commander Caldwell. We are approximately two hours outside of Atlantis. The president and a few of his top advisors request a meeting with you and Colonel Sheppard." Caldwell explained.
"Regarding what?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't like the idea of leaving the city for that long, and she knew that they wouldn't call her if it wasn't of some sort of importance.
"No clue, I'm just the messenger. Do we have permission to beam you up when we get there?" Caldwell asked.
"Yes." Elizabeth said. She turned to Polk. "I'm going to alert both Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay." She said.
"Alert me to what?" Rodney asked as he walked into the control room.
"Caldwell just informed me that the president is requesting that John and I see him. You're next in the chain of command while we're gone." Elizabeth explained.
"Of course." Rodney said. He was attempting to keep his excitement under wraps, and doing a horrible job at it.
"And Rodney, if I find you've turned into Frank Burns while I'm gone there will be severe consequences." Elizabeth added.
"Did you just make a reference to MASH?" John asked as he walked up the stairs and towards the control room.
"It happens to be one of my favorite TV shows." Elizabeth said matter-of-factly.
"I would have never guessed it." John said.
"Well, now you know." Elizabeth started. She was just about to say something more when John interrupted.
"Now, why is Rodney going to turn into Frank Burns?" John asked.
"You and I have to take a trip on the Daedelus." Elizabeth said.
"You're kidding? Why?" John asked. He hated being on that ship for days.
"The president wants to speak with us." Elizabeth explained.
"Great." John said.
"Don't pout, it's no good for your image." Elizabeth said with a smile. "We have two hours before they get here and beam us up. Be ready by then." She said.
"Alright." John said as he walked off to his quarters to get packed.
Elizabeth just shook her head as she too headed towards her quarters to pack for the trip.
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Author's Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I've been very busy with school lately. Hopefully I'll have another chapter foryou by tomorrow! Thanks for the patience
