Author's Note: This is the last chapter! At something over 16000 words, this is the longest story I've yet written. :) At present, I have no plans for a sequel, because I have to deal with these other plot bunnies that are threatening to overrun my house (and no, that doesn't necessarily mean more fic soon).
Thank you all for reading this and sticking with it, especially given the length of time between chapters one and two! I loved getting all the reviews - there's such a thrill in opening your email and finding a notification from :) Hope you've all enjoyed the ride.
Without the wonderful help of Sally, this story would all be a bunch of crap. Go heap cookies on her.
Disclaimer etc. in first chatper.
"I can't believe you got us thrown out."
"Me?" John's voice was incredulous. "You were the one who wouldn't keep her voice down."
Elizabeth shot him a dirty look as they walked up the driveway to the front door of Kathy and Eric's house. "In my entire life, I'd never been thrown out of a theater before. Can you say the same?"
"No." He didn't sound the least bit embarrassed. "But that still doesn't make it my fault."
The movie they'd wound up seeing – well, going to, since they didn't really see any of it – had turned out to be nearly three hours long. The theater had been relatively empty, and when they sat down in the back row they were several rows away from the next nearest person. It had taken some time for John to coax her out of her embarrassment, because really, she was a grown woman and much too old to be acting like this and hadn't even as a teenager. Once he did, however, Elizabeth had found out that necking at the movies was actually kind of fun.
They made it through all but the last twenty minutes of the movie before an usher asked them to leave because they were "disturbing the other patrons." From the irritated expression on his face, Elizabeth got the feeling that he'd had to try for their attention several times.
"Now we'll never know if what's-her-name and whosy got together at the end," she protested, although her heart wasn't in it.
"It was an action movie, not a romance, 'Lizabeth," John replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Was it?" She grinned at him. "I don't remember."
They'd followed the movie with a long lunch, during which they actually spent a good deal more time arguing politics than playing footsy. John didn't have the breadth of knowledge she did when it came to the world of international politics, but she did appreciate hearing his perspective and he'd even given her some reasons to rethink a few of her positions.
Elizabeth had insisted on finding a wine shop before they headed back to the house, wanting to give Kathy and Eric some kind of host gift.
John was reaching for the front door of the house, key in hand, when it was flung open from the inside. Hanna stood on the threshold, eyeing Elizabeth.
"Do you know how to braid hair?" she demanded. "I want a princess braid to go with my dress." Said dress was pink and frilly and combined with dirty, untied sneakers.
Startled, Elizabeth glanced at John, who shrugged. "Um, no. Sorry."
Hanna sighed and whirled to march back into the house, leaving an amused John and Elizabeth on the doorstep.
They walked inside just in time to hear Kathy telling David, "You will sit at this table until you've finished the assignment. And I don't want to hear any more about it. You're in enough trouble as it is, mister, for not doing this last night before it was due."
"Uh oh," John said.
Kathy heard him and came out to greet them. "Hi, you two. How was the movie? What did you see?"
Elizabeth and John looked at each other blankly for a moment, and Kathy laughed.
"This is stupid!" David yelled angrily from the other room. "Who cares about the stupid Constitution! Stupid Social Studies is the stupidest class ever."
Elizabeth winced in sympathy as Kathy raised a hand to her eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "Here," she said, holding out the bottle of wine. "This is a thank you for letting me" – John elbowed her none too gently – "us stay here. Why don't you take it and I'll see if I can help David some?"
"You don't mind?" The relief in Kathy's voice was palpable. "This has always been his least favorite subject, and for some reason with this section it's even worse. He's even stopped doing his homework."
"Not at all," Elizabeth said, smiling. Kathy turned to John, clearly wondering if he was going to go help as well.
"Don't look at me." He raised his hands defensively. "She's the smart one, especially when it comes to political type stuff."
Elizabeth scoffed as she turned to the dining room. "Yes, and you're so stupid, Mr. I-Could-Have-Been-Mensa."
As she left the room, she heard Kathy ask, "Mensa?"
"Is there anything I can help you with?" John asked Kathy as he followed her into the living room.
"I'm just doing some long overdue cleaning, so unless you want to dust..."
John grimaced, and she laughed. "If you want, I do have some bags of yard stuff outside Eric was supposed to load in the van to take to the county compost. You can move those if it's manlier than dusting."
He resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at her teasing, and went outside to get the bags. Loading the van didn't take him very long. When he came inside, Kathy was had moved on to vacuuming. Elizabeth and David were still working on homework and he had no idea where Hanna was, so without anyone to talk to he headed up to his room.
It was almost a relief to be sitting by himself in his room, even if he could hear noises from everyone else through his open door. He'd enjoyed the last few days, he really had, but he wasn't used to spending this much time doing nothing. On top of that, he felt like he was under constant scrutiny by everyone. Kathy and Eric were trying to get to know him, sure, but it sometimes felt like Kathy was trying to cram all twenty years of missed time into just a few days. John wasn't comfortable with that amount of sharing. He would rather take it slow; as much as he'd enjoyed seeing his sister, he almost wished they'd had time to exchange more letters before spending all this time with her.
David and Hanna wanted to get to know him too, although they didn't care about making sure he was handling the past well. His niece and nephew were a lot of fun and John liked playing with them – he made a mental note to visit the mainland and play with the Athosian kids more often once they got back – but he sometimes felt a little bit like they were putting him on trial, making sure he would be a good uncle.
Oddly, John found Elizabeth both the hardest and the easiest to deal with. He found it strange that he could see her every day in the city, spent countless hours with her both in meetings and out of the office, and yet he was having a hard time when she was staying just down the hall from him and they had no life-threatening crisis to deal with.
It was because she watched him, he realized. She didn't ask him many questions about how he was doing or what he was feeling, because she didn't have to. He got the idea that whenever she looked at him she knew everything – his thoughts, his feelings – and that she could know him so well scared him a little.
On the other hand, he loved spending some time with her doing normal, couple-y things. She didn't try to talk to him about his mother or his family, the way Kathy did, because she knew he needed her more as a distraction than a compassionate ear right now. He'd talk to her in his own time. He always did.
Against his will he found himself wondering if, now that he was involved with Elizabeth, he'd be so willing to go on another suicide mission to save the city. As he thought about it, he realized he would still go, because he believed it was the right thing to do. But it wouldn't be easy now, not like it had been back then, back when he had lived life on crisis to another, with no real dreams or hopes for the future.
John shook his head to clear his thoughts, not wanting to dwell. Instead he looked around the room for some sort of distraction, but he didn't even have any clothes to fold and put away. His room on Atlantis was never this neat, but years of military life had ingrained in him the habit of keeping everything ready when he was away from home in case he had to leave at a moment's notice.
One corner of the bedspread had flipped up and he busied himself with fixing it before looking for another distraction.
"Wanna play princess with me?"
Looking up, John saw his niece in the doorway, still in her princess dress and sneakers, but now sporting a plastic wiffle ball bat and funky knots of hair all over her head. She looked more like an extra from a post-apocalyptic movie than a princess.
"Nice hair," he said.
She tugged on one knot. "I couldn't make a princess braid but princesses always wear their hair up," she said with gravity.
"I see." He nodded. "What about the bat?"
The look Hanna gave him clearly indicated that he wasn't very smart. "It's so I can beat up any dragons who might try to kidnap me."
Well, at least he wasn't going to have to worry that she couldn't take care of herself. "How do I play princess?" he asked, mentally cringing.
"You hafta let me make you pretty first," she declared, producing a case of what looked like clown make-up from somewhere. "And then we make decisions about how to run the kingdom, and then we'll have a dinner party, and then we'll ride my pony to go beat up some bad guys. If David's done with his homework, he can be the bad guy." She said the last words with an evil little gleam in her eye.
"You have a pony?" Even as he said it John knew he didn't want the answer.
"I use the broom, but we only have one of them so you'll have to use the mop."
Yeah, he didn't like the answer. He tried to imagine what his fellow officers would say if they saw him riding a mop-pony, and winced.
She was staring at him expectantly, make-up case held out. Crap. John really didn't want to disappoint her, but there was no way in hell he was letting her put that stuff on his face, or riding a mop.
Hanna's gaze turned challenging, but John had stared down hungry Wraith, and no eight-year-old pixie was going to outstare him. Not even when she looked so adorably waifish. Not even when she stuck out that bottom lip and opened her eyes wide and her look changed from challenging to pleading...
"Hanna!" Kathy's voice drifted up the stairs.
Saved, John thought as his niece turned and stuck her head out the doorway, calling, "What?" He gave a little sigh of relief, knowing how close he'd come to giving in. If he ever had kids (and the thought was becoming more comfortable and tangible all the time) he was going to have to learn to build up some resistance.
"If you want me to help you with that art project, come on downstairs now. We've got a little time before dinner."
"Okay!" Hanna replied, giving John a look that said she knew exactly how relieved he was, before skipping out of the room and downstairs.
Oh yeah. Definitely needed more resistance.
Elizabeth had enjoyed helping David out with his Social Studies homework – it had been challenging in a new way. She was used to dealing with colleagues and students who had an intimate grasp of the nuances of law and politics; to try to explain things on a ten-year-old's level was actually somewhat exciting. She'd never want to try to teach it to a group of them, but in a one-on-one basis it was kind of fun.
The atmosphere at diner was much freer than it had been the night before, with both Hanna and David in good moods. Elizabeth had to stifle a laugh when Hanna came into the room in her princess dress, dragging a plastic bat, and cheerfully unaware of the bits of construction paper stuck in her hair from whatever project she'd been working on with Kathy. Eric made her leave the bat against the wall, simply rolling his eyes when she pouted at him.
Elizabeth noticed John watching the exchange with interest, and wondered what he was thinking. He saw her curiosity, and said, "I almost gave in to being a princess earlier," which left Elizabeth as confused as ever.
Since both kids had finished their homework before dinner, Eric allowed them to play a game on the computer in the office before bed. Kathy settled down in front of the TV to watch an episode of her favorite show, and she invited Elizabeth and John to join her.
"You won't like it. It's girly," Eric warned him as John settled into the recliner, and Kathy sent her husband a quelling look.
"Shut up. It's a good show."
It was a good show, Elizabeth conceded. She'd heard of it before leaving for Atlantis, but having never watched it she had a bit of a hard time keeping track of how all the characters related to each other. Still, the numerous pop culture, literary, and political allusions amused her and she was entranced by the rapid fire dialogue.
Unfortunately, Kathy was one of those people who insisted on talking in the middle of the show, so Elizabeth missed portions of dialogue when she got distracted by the other woman's voice.
They were about halfway through the show when Kathy turned to John. He had quickly become bored by the show and was idly fiddling with the few items on the end table.
"John?" Kathy's voice was quiet, but the concern in it pulled Elizabeth's attention away from the screen.
"Yeah?" He rotated the tissue box 90 degrees.
"About last night. I just wanted to make sure that everything's okay."
"It's fine." Elizabeth knew it wasn't, but she could tell from his tone of voice that he considered the topic closed. Kathy apparently thought otherwise.
"I mean, what you said about things running in the family..."
"It's fine," John said, cutting his sister off. Then he added. "Really, Kath. It's fine. I appreciate the concern, but I'm okay."
He looked over at Elizabeth then and when he caught her eye he smiled. She felt her own lips curve upward slightly in response.
Kathy shifted in her seat, drawing Elizabeth's attention. John's sister examined Elizabeth's face for a moment, then looked over at her brother. Whatever she saw there must have satisfied her, because she smiled at them both. "All right."
They all settled into a comfortable silence for a bit. The sudden ringing of a phone startled Elizabeth, and it took her a moment to realize that it was the cell phone she'd been given at the SGC.
John gave her a concerned look as she checked the caller ID, but she saw only the generic SGC outgoing number, so she shrugged and headed out of the room to answer the call.
Without Elizabeth's presence to distract him, John quickly became bored again. He fidgeted slightly, not wanting to be rude but not entirely sure he wanted to be alone with his sister right now.
He was half afraid she'd try to start talking to him about Mom again, but she didn't. He was glad for that; he hadn't meant to say everything he did the other night and all he really wanted was some time to think things over on his own.
Elizabeth, at least, understood that. She'd looked curious when Kathy started trying to talk about it tonight, but she'd kept quiet, knowing he needed to work things through on his own. And he was. Coming here, stressful as it was, had been a good idea.
"John?" Elizabeth walked back into the room.
"Problem?"
"That was General Landry. Some of the VIPs have decided they need to have one last meeting with us, so we're being asked to come back a little earlier than we thought. We'll have to leave tomorrow morning."
Hearing this, Kathy switched off the TV. "So soon? You can't ask for more leave?"
"I'm afraid not," Elizabeth said, and Kathy looked so disappointed that John got up and dropped onto the couch next to her, slinging an arm around her shoulder.
"We can still write to each other," he said. "And at least we got to get together for now." Truth be told, he was of two minds about leaving. It had been nice to see her and her family, but he missed life on Atlantis and the friends who had to stay behind when they went to Earth. Hell, he almost even missed the Wraith, if only because they were an enemy he was familiar with, not like these stupid fears he kept dragging up from the past.
"You better promise to write me every week," Kathy replied, and he held up two fingers together in a Boy Scout salute and promised.
Kathy sighed and stood up. "We'd better go tell Eric and the kids."
Elizabeth looked around Hanna's room, taking in all the colors that decorated it. It almost made her wish she could paint her rooms in Atlantis, but even if they could find the right colors, or even paint, she'd never have time to do it.
She'd only known them a few days, but she was going to miss John's family. The kids were fun, but she'd especially enjoyed spending time with Kathy. It was nice to talk to someone, another woman, who didn't view her as a superior or a leader. Talking to Kathy she'd felt like just plain Elizabeth.
Time to see if John was ready to go, she thought, stepping down the hall to his room.
He was already completely packed, looking out the window. "Taking in the view?"
Turning to her, he quirked his lips up in his trademark teasing grin. "Just appreciating standing before I'm stuck in a car for a ton of hours."
She gestured to his bag. "All ready? I think everyone's down in the kitchen, waiting to say goodbye."
"Yeah," he said. As he lifted the bag, the bed bounced a little. He pushed on it a little, a speculative look in his eye. "You know, we never did try out this bed."
If he'd expected to embarrass her, he was going to be disappointed, Elizabeth thought. John needed to know she could give as good as she got.
"Did I ever tell you about my rooms in the city?" He shook his head. "After the initial shuffle, I went in search of some good ones that had been cleared for safety. And I found one with a big bed." She waited for that to register, then added, "A really big bed," and left.
She didn't have to look back to know that John was staring after her in awe.
"You'll come and see us again, right?" It was less a question than an order, and John rolled his eyes at his sister.
"If I can."
"When you can," she said, and he agreed.
"When I can. And Kath, thanks. For everything."
She hugged him hard, then let go so she could hug Elizabeth while Eric shook his hand. "You're welcome anytime."
"Thanks."
David leaned against the doorframe, acting cool, although John could see a frown tugging slightly at his lips. "Are you going to go kill bad guys?"
"I'm going to go defend the good guys," John replied, drawing the boy in for a brief hug before offering him a manly slap on the back.
"Bye, Uncle John," he said before walking over to Elizabeth.
Hanna was presenting Elizabeth with a crayon drawing. "And there's me, and David, and the cat I want Mom to give me for my birthday, and over here are you and Uncle John!"
John could see that Elizabeth's eyes looked a little glassy as she thanked the girl. She tilted the picture so John could see, above a stick figure with curly brown hair, the words "Aunt Lizabeth."
"Subtle, Hanna," he said to his niece.
"Huh?" she said turning to him. Then she burst into tears. "I don't want you to leave!"
John looked around at the other adults, terrified. What was he supposed to do for a bawling little girl?
Elizabeth laughed a little at his expression, then opened her arms wide, parodying a hug. Oh.
"C'mere." He pulled Hanna in for a hug, rubbing her head in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "Tell you what. I'll write you and David letters each week, too."
"Promise? And you promise not to die?"
Although they'd never specifically told the kids much about their jobs, obviously Hanna had realized that what John and Elizabeth did was somehow dangerous. "I promise," he said, hoping it was one he could keep.
Hanna looked up at him. "Good," she said firmly.
He and Elizabeth picked up their bags, heading to the cars they'd gotten at the SGC. Throwing them both in the trunk of one car, John leaned awkwardly against the door.
"Well, I guess this is it."
At his side, Elizabeth clasped her hands together. "Thank you again for having us. It was wonderful to finally meet you after hearing about you from John."
After another round of "byes" and "take cares," they got into their cars. As he left, John stuck his hand out the window to wave at the couple on the porch, at his family.
They were barely half a block from Kathy and Eric's house when John flipped open his cell phone and dialed.
"'Lizabeth," he said when she answered.
"John? Is everything all right?"
"I was just wondering..." He paused, trying to build the suspense.
"Yes?"
"Exactly how big is that bed?"
There was a moment of silence and then her laughter rang out over the line and he glanced in the rearview mirror to see her shoulders shaking as she gripped the steering wheel. And he couldn't help but feel that despite the emotional turmoil of the trip, his doubts about the future, the politics of both the international committee and the SGC, and the constant threats they faced in the Pegasus galaxy, everything really was all right.
