Okay, taking time off from Deadly Passion to continue this. Sorry to keep you waiting but I needed a break from it to collect my thoughts and…okay so I got a bit bored of it but now I'm back on it! All righty then?

Chapter 9

John's mind went into overdrive hearing Elizabeth's statement. "A civil war?" She nodded. "On Atlantis?" She nodded again the shock slowly fading from her expression.

Elizabeth's eyes left visible John and focused back on Future John. After a minute of several, "uh huh"'s and "no!"'s he finally got to hear the story.

"Um, it seems the scientists took a stand against Caldwell and Murray causing them to retaliate. At first there were simply arguments until a scientist, John isn't sure who, planted a bomb in one of the marine's quarters, he was obviously an extremist. After that there was nothing but violence." Elizabeth explained worry clouding her face.

John shook his head. "Okay, now I know there's been tension but I never would have thought-"

"I know." Elizabeth agreed looking slightly pale. Turning back to the invisible Sheppard she asked, "Do you have any idea who this scientist is?"

Future John saw the desperation in Elizabeth's eyes and wished he knew. "No. All I can say for sure is that he arrived with the last shipment from the Daedalus. Which was last week, for you I mean."

As she took a minute to think future John glanced at his past self, lost in his own thoughts, taking in his appearance. Despite Elizabeth not noticing, future John could see the difference between them. The other him look younger, fresher and not so worried although that was soon changing. He really wanted to talk to him, to tell him to stop being a scared, flirtatious moron and just come clean with Elizabeth. If only he had, he might have had more time with her. A voice called him back.

"Who's side did you take?" Elizabeth asked quietly not wanting it to sound threatening. Of all of the expedition team, John and Rodney would be the most divided in a situation putting military up against civilian. Although they constantly fought, they were essentially best friends here on Atlantis and had learned a lot from the each other.

Future John looked away as if trying to hide shame. Sighing he grumbled, "I stayed with Caldwell." But then his head whipped back to face her. "But I had to make a choice Elizabeth! If I hadn't have chosen…if Rodney hadn't done the same both of us would have been killed."

Elizabeth held up her hands apologetically. "I was only asking out of curiosity, John. I didn't mean to imply-"

"I know. Sorry, it's just…there was no choice." He stated remorsefully.

"What about the gateroom?" The present John asked from the other side of the room. "Why didn't they contact Earth for help?" He didn't ask what answer the future John had just given knowing it would have been a difficult one.

Elizabeth looked at him expectantly. "We…the military… managed to keep a hold of the gateroom and contact Earth. Apparently they were sending more military and negotiators to help but a day after that transmission the scientists managed to jerry rig the power systems preventing us from using the main systems. Even McKay had trouble breaking through their barriers." Future John's face twisted with rage.

"Then some bright spark, aka Kavanaugh, apparently devised a plan to detonate a chemical weapon in the gateroom. I think it was supposed to scare us off for a week or two but what ever they used laced the control tower with deadly toxins. Killed more than a dozen of our men. The place is still contaminated!"

Elizabeth relayed this part of the story to present John receiving a bitter, "Knew he'd be involved at some point! So, what's going on now? Are they still at war?"

Future John glanced at Elizabeth and nodded. "Yeah. The fighting hasn't been so bad recently hence the reason we've been able to do this. We managed to sneak into McKay's lab and retrieve a few devices left untouched by the others and as it happened one was a time machine. McKay spends a few hours with it and bam! Here I am." A proud smile graced his features but only for a second as it disappeared and was replaced by a grim one. Waiting until present John was caught up he then concluded with, "So you see Elizabeth, your death basically ended our expedition."

A sad moment hung between them, the negotiator feeling upset and angry at the thought of all their hard work wasted. "Guess it's a good thing you came back to save me huh?" She almost whispered regretting the words as soon as she said them.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw present John clench his fist and scowl before abruptly standing up. As she had predicted, the officer had taken offence and for what reason she wasn't sure. Ignoring future John she stood up looking at the present one.

"John? Are you okay?" She asked worriedly hoping he would catch the confusion she felt in her voice and eyes.

He didn't. "I'm fine. I just…I think I should inform McKay about all of this…you know figuring out who this scientist/fanatic is. I'll leave you two alone." He muttered walking out the room leaving a hurt and puzzled Weir behind.

Turning to face the other Sheppard she shrugged. "What was that about?"

Future John stood up with a knowing smile. "I think it's best to talk to…my past self." He advised trying to hide his confusion over the correct term by scratching the back of his head and sheepishly grinning. "He has issues."

Elizabeth smiled affectionately at him. "No kidding." They gazed at each other unsure of what to say until she spoke. "All right, we'll try and track down this guy before-" She trailed off as future John's appearance faded away but before it did he gave her a sad smile and a small wave.

Standing in the empty room Elizabeth took several minutes trying to fathom what had just happened. He hadn't flickered like the last time and there were no rushed promises that he would come back.

Then it hit her like a massive wave and she smiled feeling a burst of hope inside. They had already altered the future.

A/N: Okay, there will be an explanation about present John's attitude so don't complain about it please! Beginning to regret the title coz it's not really that scary anymore. But I have a last line for the story that may make it okay. I think you'd like it. Just putting that out there coz it's been bugging me!