Moments like This
Chapter 6 – Recuperation
As John glanced over at his paint-splattered companion, he couldn't help but wonder if she had heard any of the latest rumours that had started circulating the past week or so. It had taken mere hours for word to spread that Dr. Weir was moving from one end of the city to the other, coincidently to a room directly across from her 2IC.
But that had been several weeks ago. Since then there'd been the retrovirus incident to deal with, also prompting an all-out overhaul of the base personnel's requirements on self-defence, amending the rosters to allow time for classes. Elizabeth had been volunteered to sweet talk the scientists on base who were not happy to give up their time for the new sessions, keeping her away from 'hovering' as John had so kindly put it, while he recovered. Between the extra teaching of so many new classes and the recovery itself, John had found himself rather busy, although not too busy to stop thinking back to the occurrence with Elizabeth weeks ago. Neither had mentioned their interrupted kiss in the time since, although there hadn't been much opportunity or privacy for either of them to bring it up in discussion.
He hadn't been sleeping much either. Without the aid of Carson's sedatives John's unconscious was filled with violent images that his mind was slowly remembering. Lightening-quick images of Elizabeth standing beside his bed in his darkened room, her eyes filled with trust and worry as she forced a smile to her face. Then instantly it would flash to her pinned against the wall, his own hand threatening to choke the life from her body. What scared him the most was the trust still there in her beautiful green eyes; as if she didn't believe he would hurt her despite his fingers wrapped around her throat. She'd told him the first time he'd apologized to her that it wasn't really him, that he wasn't responsible for his actions at the time, and she knew that he would never hurt her. And again, he'd found that unerring trust in her eyes. A trust he didn't feel worthy of, not when he felt so guilty.
Three days after they had managed to cure the retrovirus, John had been allowed to leave the infirmary briefly to get some air, under strict instructions that he return within fifteen minutes. He had headed straight for the kitchens, craving actual coffee and a large turkey sandwich. Passing Ronon, who was sat at a table alone in the empty mess hall, John headed straight for the large refrigerators before calling out to his team-mate.
"Sheppard." He greeted John with a raise of his hand.
"Up to much?" John asked as he prepared his snack, all the while wondering how they could come to another galaxy, and still have foul tasting hospital food.
"Scientist self-defence classes."
John smirked at his friend's bored tone, taking his snack over to the table and taking the chair opposite Ronon. "Sounds like fun."
"I didn't realize Dr Weir was trained already."
John looked up from his sandwich, trying to assess what had made Ronon say that. "In self defence? She's not. Not to the standard she requested of the base personnel at least."
The larger man was silent, raising John's suspicions. "You going to tell me what you're getting at or should I guess?"
"Just that neither Teyla nor I have seen her in the classes she scheduled."
"And you're telling me this because…"
Ronon rose with a sardonic smile on his face. "Seemed like something you would want to know."
John scowled at his taller team-mate, having wondered when he would hear a reference to the incident he and Rodney had walked in on weeks ago. Disappearing from sight, Ronon's words made John think of Elizabeth, tempting him to defy Carson's allotted fifteen minutes of freedom and go to see her. Making up his mind, he took his empty dish to the sink in the large kitchen and plucked two of the metals cups lined up neatly on the countertop. He made a black coffee with lots of sugar for Elizabeth, grinning slightly as he remembered the times he'd caught her making full pots of coffee to take back to her office with plans of working all night.
Rubbing absently at his still aching chest, John picked up the steaming drinks, briefly contemplating the best way to the control room which ran the least risk of running into medical staff. For once he was glad not to be wearing an earpiece, at least this way he could plead innocence by way of forgetting the time. He reached Elizabeth's office in record time – without incident – and the first thing he noticed was the replacement glass now making up the wall of her office. Having seen Elizabeth few times during his infirmary stay, one of her jokes had been how quickly the staff had managed to fix it – probably so she couldn't overhear conversations she wasn't supposed to, she'd confided with a gentle smile. Sleepy from a sedative at the time, he'd only managed a weak twitch of his lips in return, his mind already blanking to fleeting images from his infected days.
Through the newly installed panes, there was only an empty office. Refusing to go back to the infirmary without seeing Elizabeth, he moved across the catwalk to check the balcony, the sliding door immediately clearing his path. Hazel eyes swept through the darkness, but nearly missed the slight form at the far side, mostly hidden in the shadows cast by the descending support beam. He let himself watch her for a few minutes, surprised at a sudden feeling of paucity at not seeing her so much over the last few days.
Her face was upturned to the dark sky, studying the stars appearing in the early twilight. It was only as John stepped towards her that he could make out the shining on her face picked out by the city's lights, causing her to frown. Her arms were folded over her chest against the cold, but there was a look of sadness on her face that broke his heart as he watched her.
"Elizabeth?"
His heart leapt for her as she jumped, hands flying to her face in a vain effort to hide her tears. She let out a nervous laugh, not meeting his eyes for more than a second at a time. "You scared me."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'll leave you alone." He smiled reassuringly at her, desperately wishing he could ask her what had upset her.
"No, John." She grasped his arm gently as he was turning away. "You just caught me by surprise. It's good to see you."
His smile turned into a full grin at her warm tone, irrationally thankful for it. He held her gaze for a few seconds before offering her the second cup in his hands. "I come bearing coffee."
Her emerald eyes brightened immediately, the normalcy of John bringing her hot beverages not lost on either of them. After the events of the last week it felt like an extremely welcome feeling. As she turned back to look out to sea, sipping her coffee, John moved closer to her taking his usual spot beside her, enjoying the faint scent of her flowery perfume as the breeze swept their faces.
"Should you be out of the infirmary?" Elizabeth's soft voice reached him, bringing him out of his thoughts as he stared out at the dark ocean.
He leant forward, resting his forearms on the balcony wall as he cradled the warm metal cup in his fingers. "I'm okay until Beckett tracks me down." He replied with a smirk, subtly studying her pretty face for clues to what she had been upset about. "How are you doing?"
"Me? I'm fine." She smiled, her eyebrows furrowing as if confused that he should need to ask such a question.
John let his eyes fall briefly over her as she turned her gaze away, realizing for the first time that she was wearing a thick cowel-necked navy top, completely covering her neck. And, he realized, the marks his own fingers had left behind. Watching her for a few minutes in silence, he shifted around so he was leaning back against the wall of the balcony, abandoning his drink to fold his arms over his broad chest.
"Don't look at me like that." She told him with a half-smile, mild irritation colouring her tone.
"Tell me the truth and I'll not have to." He shot back, only half-joking, his gaze falling to her high necked jumper again before moving back to her eyes. This time he held her stare, refusing to back down until she opened up to him. To his surprise he moved forward, into his personal space and wrapped her arms around his shoulders gently as her head rested against his chest wearily.
"The last few days have just caught up with me, I guess." She said into his blue shirt, content to stay where she was. John lifted his arms to encircle her waist, still taken aback at the way she could throw him with her actions sometimes. "I've missed you not being around."
Unconsciously his hand moved to the back of her head, tucking locks of hair behind her ear as the breeze fought to ruffle her curls. "At least I couldn't cause trouble from the infirmary."
He felt her arms drop down to loop around his waist, making the flowery scent of her perfume stronger as she moved. "You smell nice."
Elizabeth smiled against his broad chest. "So do you." Her voice was a whisper and he could feel her pressed against him in a comfortable embrace, prompting an overwhelming urge to kiss her. Their first kiss he wasn't sure really counted, and given their non-discussion of it since, he'd assumed she had wanted to pretend it hadn't happened. His left hand moved gently to her neck, his thumb stroking the skin beneath her hair as she tilted her head back to meet his eyes. Bending slightly to close the small distance between them, he slowly descended his lips over hers.
Their mouths were less than a centimetre apart when Elizabeth suddenly jerked away. John's stomach filled dread as he feared he'd pushed her too far, but she sent him a gentle smile as one delicate hand touched her earpiece.
"Carson, what can I do for you?"
She gazed at John with those big green eyes, a flicker of amusement flashing over her face as she listened to her chief surgeon. "Yes, I've just seen him. He's headed back now."
Her smile widened as she listened again to the doctor, her free hand reaching out to retrieve her abandoned coffee cup. "I don't, think that'll be necessary. Yes, I will. Goodnight, Carson."
John looked to her with an expectant face, curious as to what had been said.
"Carson is threatening to restrain you if you don't get back in the next five minutes." She grinned, sipping her coffee as she watched for his reaction over the rim.
"His bedside manner is worse than yours."
She narrowed her eyes dangerously at his teasing, unable to keep the amusement from her face. "Infirmary, Colonel, before Carson comes after you with several sharp needles."
"I'm going, I'm going." He moved towards the doorway leading back to the control room, turning back to her when a thought struck him. "Hey good news is I have plenty of time to fix up your new room. Beckett isn't clearing me for active duty for another week or so."
"John…"
"I know, I have to take it easy." He replied with a roll of his eyes, ever acting the put upon child. "Painting isn't exactly stressful, Liz."
She smiled beautifully at him, never one to be immune to his charm. "Thanks for the coffee, John."
"Anytime." He grinned back, savouring the image of her pretty face in the moonlight as he thought of the next day or so Beckett had wanted to keep him in the infirmary for.
As it turned out, he'd been let out of the infirmary twenty-four hours later to return to his quarters, with regular four-hour check-ins in place to ensure his continued recovery. His suspected the early release may have been because he was beginning to wear down the patience of most of the medical staff, but Carson had been remarkably diplomatic about it.
It took John exactly three hours to get bored. He was so sick of sitting in bed doing nothing. So when Elizabeth came along a little while later, she'd found him in the room opposite his own, taking down some shelves in one corner.
"Hey," she smiled as she stood in the doorway, her slim frame clad in a dark t-shirt and jeans.
"Hey to you." He grinned back at her over his shoulder.
"Would you like some help?"
John stopped what he was doing and turned to face her. "Are you offering?"
She narrowed her green eyes at him, crossing her arms across her chest. "Yes."
"What happened to all that work McKay landed on your desk this morning?" John asked her, passing her the container of nails he'd been using to store them.
"I gave it back to him. The report were all too dense for me to understand, so I asked for a briefing instead."
"You asked McKay to bore you to death for several hours when you could just pretend to have read those reports?"
Elizabeth stared at him, her eyes widening as she listened to her cheeky suggestion. "So that's how you get through so many mission reports."
John rewarded her with his trademark smirk, enjoying the sight of her casually leaning on the wall beside where he was working. "I read mission reports, it's the science reports I skim over."
She was quiet for a few minutes, studying the container in her hand with a far away look in her eyes. "Are you feeling okay?"
He switched his gaze back to her, touched at the concern in her voice. "You going to ask me that every time I see you?"
She smiled softly, bending down to place the container on the floor next to him. "Probably." His eyes followed her movement across the room, gracefully dropping to the large bed and pulling her legs underneath her. "I think this room would look good in red."
John laughed, catching her hurt frown as she looked at him for an explanation. "You and the colour red are inseparable."
"I wasn't going to suggest a red to match my uniform." She replied indignantly. "I meant a rustic red, maybe some cream coloured sheets."
He watched her over his shoulder for a few minutes, bemused at the way she never failed to surprise him. "I never knew you had a flair for interior design."
She levelled him with a distinctly seductive expression, her dark hair falling about her face and she smiled at him. "Well, maybe I have a few surprises of my own, John."
