A/N: A quick thanks to all those who took them timeto review. They are always loved and appreciate.And another thanks to my beta SallyLizzie. Sorry, this chapter is kind of short. Next chapter should be much longer. Now onto the next chapter!

Chapter 2

"Nothing like more broken spare parts," Rodney mumbled as he looked at the new Dart wreckage lying in the Atlantis hangar.

"Okay, Mr. McNegative, can we extract these people?" John asked, resting his hands on his hips.

"I'm surprised that every time you guys manage to shoot down these Darts they don't just spontaneously combust on landing," Rodney said.

"Can you extract them or not?" John crossed his arms over his chest to show his impatience.

"Of course we can." Rodney rolled his eyes.

"See, why couldn't you have just said that ten minutes ago?"

"Gentlemen," Elizabeth interrupted as she walked into the room. "Please, extract whoever is stuck in there and call me as soon as you guys get them into the infirmary."

"Yes, ma'am," Radek said pushing up his glasses up with a finger and cradling a tablet in his arm.

She looked over at Radek, slightly confused by his sudden appearance. She gave each scientist a quick nod. "Thank you," she said and headed out of the hangar with John close behind.

John followed silently behind her as she made her way through the mazelike corridors back to her office, her attention focused on her palm pilot. He was about to say something several times, but changed his mind each time. Finally, she looked up from her palm pilot and turned to look at him.

"Say it," she said.

"What?" John asked, caught off guard.

"You've wanted to say something since we left the hangar." She shut her palm pilot and replaced the stylus in its slot. "Say it."

"How did you— I was standing behind— Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" he asked suspiciously.

Elizabeth smiled. "What is it?"

"You know you should take advantage of this," he said shaking his finger as he thought out loud.

"Advantage of what?" she furrowed her eyebrow in confusion at the sudden subject change.

"Of Dolan's little crush on you, especially now that he's in charge." Elizabeth looked at John as if he was insane. "You should use this opportunity to get him to let us study that outpost. We might even find a ZPM," he added.

"Dolan is only governing Feldara temporarily."

"The more reason to ask him now. Use those 'diplomacy' skills of yours."

"I don't know," she shook her head and continued walking to her office. "I don't like the idea of using a man's affection to get what I want."

"What are you talking about? You do it all the time."

"Excuse me?" she looked at John, indignant by his accusation.

"Well… one day you hug a man. Then the next day you send him on a suicide mission to fly into a corona sphere. The day after that,you let him get taken prisoner on some planet. Not to mention you leave him in Meditation land for six months—"

"The suicide missions and the Olesian incident are all your own doing. As for Meditation land, like Ronon said, it was only a couple hours for us." John narrowed his eyes at her comment. "Besides, most of the situations you get into are all your own doing," she said matter-of-factly.

"I warned you from the very beginning that I could get us into all sorts of trouble," he grinned.

"Yes, you did," she rolled her eyes. "Little did I know, you were being literal."

John smirked. "So are you going to use your feminine charm and seduce Dolan into getting us a good deal?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you have seduced enough people for the both of us, Captain Kirk."

"I never seduced anyone. They all seduced me first!" John retorted. Then his expression changed to a smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Don't you have something else to do?" she asked. "I could always ask Ronon to spar with you if have nothing to do."

John held up his hands in surrender. "No need to get violent. I'll leave, but you know I'll be back," he winked.

Elizabeth shook her head as she reopened her palm pilot and walked down the opposite corridor that John went down.

Elizabeth felt rather useless as she waited in the bustling infirmary for Carson Beckett to finish helping a patient.

"Busy day?" Elizabeth asked, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Yes, quite," the Scottish man agreed.

"How are all our Feldarian patients doing?"

"Most are still a bit confused, but they'll be fine. By tomorrow most of them can return home."

"That's good news," she smiled. "How is the Governor?" She walked towards the bed where a thin elderly gentleman lay.

"He is fine as well, but he did have quite a fright when the Darts attacked. I'm surprised he didn't have a heart attack, especially at his age."

"Appearances can be deceiving," she said and thanked Carson before he went to attend to another patient. "Governor," she stopped by the Governor's bed and smiled. "I'm glad to see you safe and well."

"Doctor Weir," the elderly man said weakly. "I did not think I would see you or anyone else again. Thank you."

"There is no need for thanks, Governor. We are only doing what allies would do for each other," she assured.

"You consider us allies even though we've refused to give you access to our ancestral temple?" the old man asked.

"When it comes to the Wraith, we are all allies. The Wraith are a problem that plagues us all," she said.

"What is it that you hope to find in our ancestral temple?"

"We hope to find more information to better understand the Ancients, who are also our ancestors, and we hope that maybe we can find a stronger weapon to use against the Wraith."

"Have you found any such weapons in your explorations?" he asked skeptically.

"We have found many things in our explorations that have helped us better understand our ancestors and the people of this galaxy."

"Of course you would not reveal such things to us, at least not yet," the old man chuckled. "Doctor Weir, you are an intelligent woman. I wonder why a woman like you hasn't found a mate yet."

"Thank you, sir" she blushed. "I guess I've become too much of an adventurer for any man at the moment."

"I believe my son has a taken a liking to you," he said frankly. "After you and the Colonel left, Dolan was very insistent that I reconsider and allow you and your people to conduct your research. I'm surprised at his fondness for you, especially after such a short meeting."

"Well..." Elizabeth was not sure how to respond to this revelation. "I don't know what to say, Governor."

"Dolan my not be very adventurous, but he has compassion and is a good man."

"I'm sure he is," she said calmly and smiled to hide her discomfort at the turn of the conversation.

"I will let your team conduct your research at the temple only if you are present to supervise your team," the Governor said.

"Governor, I can assure you my people will be cautious and take every care not to destroy anything while they conduct their research."

"Only if you are present, Doctor Weir. Those are my terms," the old man stubbornly said.

This request was definitely something she had not foreseen. She had thought that maybe the Feldarians would have wanted some sort of weapons or minerals or supplies like every other civilized world they'd encountered, but the mere request of having her present was odd. Were they distrustful of her research team or was there another motive for this request?

"I'll have to think about it, Governor. I will let you know my decision before you depart tomorrow," she said, and left before the Governor got the idea of declaring her his future daughter-in-law.

"I'm back!" John announced when he stepped out onto the balcony outside of the control room.

"Yes, you are," Elizabeth said.

"So what's up?" he asked taking his place standing next to her.

"The Feldarian Governor made me an offer."

"Is it an offer you can't refuse?" John said with a smirk.

"I can refuse it. We just won't get what we want." John gave her a puzzled look.

"Did he offer you Queen?" he teased.

"Well…"

His eyes widened. "Did he?"

"No," she finally said and smiled at the relief that crossed over his face. "He said that he would only let our research team into the temple if I was there to supervise."

"Really? That's it?" He raised his eyebrows skeptically. "There has to be something more. Are you sure he didn't offer you Queen?"

Elizabeth turned around, leaned back, propping her hands against the balcony rail, and looked at John.

"You would turn that down, right?" he asked.

"Turn down being Queen? I don't know. It's pretty tempting, and I might even get the guy too," she smiled mischievously.

John glared at Elizabeth and rolled his eyes. He had a feeling this would not be the last time she teased him about the "tower" incident. He was still kicking himself for bringing up the comment about "getting the girl." He remembered her being amused, but he never expected it to give her this much amusement.

"I'm going with you," he finally announced.

"I haven't even agreed to the deal yet," she said.

"You will, because you can't pass up a bargain like this even if it means putting up with a fan boy for a week in Winter Wonderland."

"Fan boy?" Elizabeth wondered now many other nicknames John had for Dolan. "Do I sense the green-eyed monster again?"

"Hey, I may have green eyes, but I'm no monster… unless you inject me with a retro-virus… besides, it's so obvious, Elizabeth. Dolan Senior wants you there so Junior can make his moves on you. It's kind of hard to hit on a woman when she's on another planet."

"So this is how the male mind works," she mumbled to herself slightly amused.

"Besides, the Wraith might drop in for a visit again, and I need to be there to protect you."

"Oh, is that what you were doing when you threw a snowball in my face yesterday?"

"You started it," he said immaturely.

"You could have been mature and not try to peg me."

"I'm a man. I don't have to be mature, and I'm going with you," he said stubbornly.

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at John's comment and laughed. "Yes, you and Rodney and his research team are coming along with me. So dress warmly."