Title: Those Times

Pairing: None; Sheppard/Weir friendship, Elizabeth/various friendship.

Author's notes: More fluff and silliness. More to come.

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Those Times

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The campfire was dancing merrily as Elizabeth listened with amusement to Teyla's tale of a hunting trip of her ancestors that had gone wrong. With an animated expression, she was turning back and forth to the delighted Athosian children and the Atlantis personnel whom she was regaling.

Glancing around, arms tightly wrapped around her legs, Elizabeth realised two people weren't present. Knowing their tendency to find themselves in trouble even in the friendliest of situations and perhaps a little curious as to why they were missing, she resolved to look for them. Nodding once to Teyla, who smiled back, she rose, picked her way around the swaying field of tents and promptly found Rodney arguing with an Athosian woman.

'Elizabeth!' he said, spotting her. 'Does this look like a cat?'

He carefully picked up a grey mass of fur from which she could just discern two wide eyes. The woman crossed her arms and glared at him.

'It is not a cat,' she told him. 'It is a Kisha. They are different to those creatures you have described to me as cats.'

'It is a cat,' Rodney snapped, which Elizabeth felt was unnecessary. 'Do you know, Elizabeth, that she thinks this thing can fly?' He laughed rudely and absently stroked the squirming animal's back.

'Indeed it can, Dr. Weir,' the woman said, her tone pleasant as she addressed her.

'Where are the wings, then?' Rodney asked scathingly. 'I can't see any.'

Too entertained by the scene to do much more than watch --and catching the glint in the woman's eyes-- Elizabeth stood quietly and waited. The Athosian gently took the furball from Rodney and tickled what Elizabeth presumed to be its belly. With a great rustling, it unfolded a pair of light wings and took off over the tents, skimming the bewildered scientist's head.

'That was not a cat,' Rodney choked out.

'Did I not tell you?' the woman said triumphantly. She clapped three times and the Kisha returned, settling itself into her arms. 'Would you like to hold it, Dr. McKay?'

'Er, no,' Rodney said. He stumbled back a few paces, warily eyeing the animal.

Elizabeth laughed and continued on her quest to find the remaining missing person. Her path took her to the beach and as she hiked across the soft sand, she caught sight of a figure standing close to the water.

'Now how can that be more interesting than Teyla's stories?' she called out teasingly as she discovered him to be tossing rocks into the ocean.

'It is when you've heard them four times over already,' John returned with the same playfulness. She joined him as he snatched up another stone from a pile at his side. 'The kids don't seem to get tired of them; I do.'

'I see.' His stone skipped seven times before slipping beneath the surface. 'Impressive.'

'That's me,' he said. 'Great at useless activities.'

'I think I can do better, though,' she told him thoughtfully. Picking up one of the grey objects, she skilfully flicked it, sending it arcing nine times.

'You are good,' he acknowledged. Turning to her with a warm smile, he asked her whom she had learnt from.

'An old high school classmate,' Elizabeth responded without thinking. A faint blush crept over her cheeks as she remembered who it had been exactly and the situation in which she had been taught. John caught it instantly.

'An old boyfriend?' he asked, grinning casually. He peered closer as she attempted to will the pink away. 'First boyfriend? Oh, don't tell me-- it led to your first kiss too.'

'How do you know that?' she demanded, utterly surprised. She ignored the fact that she was confirming his conjectures, which they must be. 'And if you tell me you can read my mind…'

'I won't. But you can't expect me to reveal my tricks.' Leaving it firmly at that, he continued tossing the smooth rocks, managing at one stage to complete ten skips.

'Well, since you've brought up something I'd rather not have had brought up, it's your turn. Who was your first kiss with?'

As though contemplating the question, he folded his arms briefly and stared at the hypnotic swirls of the water.

'You know, I'm not sure,' he said with mock confusion. 'I've had so many kisses that I can't really remember my first.'

'Oh, very funny,' she remarked dryly, though thinking it might partly be true.

'It was with a girl a year older than me when I was twelve,' he said suddenly. 'She was blonde, sweet, the girl next door type.'

'Really.'

'Yeah, more so than others. That would be because she was the girl next door.'

Elizabeth grinned and thought it best to leave those personal subjects at that. Deciding skipping rocks was losing its novelty, she challenged him to a contest.

'First person to reach a total of twenty- five skips wins,' came her simple answer on his asking her for the rules. She had the fleeting idea that her not setting up more guidelines was going to be looked back at with regret.

With that settled, Elizabeth took her turn, receiving a score of eight. John's granted him only one more point than her.

Readying herself for her next skip, Elizabeth stepped forward and, at the moment of throwing it in, found herself being pushed from behind.

'Oof!' she exclaimed, her right foot splashing into the shallow water as she steadied herself. Her stone dropped pathetically into the ocean. 'That's cheating!'

'No it isn't. You didn't say anything about not pushing anyone.'

He was right. Cue regret.

'Fine,' she said calmly. 'Go.'

Obviously concerned that she would do the same to him, he endeavoured to skip his rock as quickly as he could, so that she had less time to intervene. The rock flew out of his hand right before he fell into the water.

'I'm so sorry,' Elizabeth gasped immediately, half-amused and half-horrified. 'I didn't mean to push you that hard.'

'Well, you did.' John leaned back on his hands, letting the coldness wash over his legs. 'This is great.'

'I'm sorry,' she repeated, a small giggle escaping her. She tread cautiously into the ocean, rolling up the legs of her pants as she did.

'No need for that,' he said. He grabbed her hand and tugged at it, sending her down beside him with a shriek.

'That was unnecessary,' she scolded him.

'No it wasn't.'

They sat in silence.

'It's cold,' he said matter-of-factly.

'Well, I propose we get out and return to the fire.'

'That's an idea.' He helped her to her feet and wet from the stomach down, they began trudging towards the camp area.

'How do we explain this?' she asked, motioning to the clothes plastered to her skin.

'We went fishing.'

Elizabeth nodded seriously.

'I'm sure they'll believe that.'