Author's note: Completed Aug 22.

A Walk in the Park

John Sheppard sat perched on the edge of Elizabeth Weir's desk and idly nudged the objects she kept as decoration into straighter lines, then into random zigzags. She was sure he did it to annoy her. There was a perfectly comfortable chair mere inches from his swinging legs, yet invariably he chose the desk. With a sigh and an amused quirk of her lips, she gave up on reading that one last memo before the rest of Sheppard's team arrived and sat back into her own chair. "John, get off my desk."

Seemingly pleased that he had at last acquired her attention, he hopped off to flop comfortably into the chair. With the briefest of looks and a hint of a mischievously raised eyebrow, he swung his feet up, legs crossed onto the desk instead. Elizabeth forced back annoyance and instead leaned forward herself to rest her chin lightly against her hands, smiling slightly. There were moments when running Atlantis with John was like working with a kid brother. And yet, she wouldn't have it any other way. All she had to do was imagine any of his counterparts in the military in his place, any other stick-up-the-ass-have-all-the-answers Colonel, to quickly overcome any irritation his irreverent playfulness produced.

Besides, she could handle John Sheppard. They had been through a lot together. She knew through their shared experiences that at his core, John was intensely competent, loyal and intelligent. He would probably deny it to his last breath, preferring those around him to believe him laid-back and indifferent, but she had been willing to see through the act from the start. These days, although it had come gradually, she even trusted him. And he responded with subtle gratitude, a slow-growing trust of his own…and annoying charm.

Before she could develop a strategy to focus her 2nd in command for the meeting ahead, he folded his hands into his outstretched lap and asked innocently, "Whatcha reading?"

Deciding the best way to beat 'em was to join 'em, she shrugged in playful reply and said, "Post-mission reports and personnel files. Stargate Command is expecting my end-of-year personnel report in the next scheduled data-burst, so I'm just refreshing my memory on everyone's performance over the past year…making suggestions for areas to improve…" She kept her face otherwise straight as she fixed John in a long steady gaze. Frowning as he picked up the implication, he chewed his lip a bit in mock concern.

She looked pointedly at his feet on her desk, raised an eyebrow. And with a "Ha, ha, you got me" expression he swung them off to sit a bit more at attention. She grinned winningly and was surprised when his next words were soft with reflection and little wistful. "I can't believe we've been here nearly two years." Their eyes met with shared memory and unspoken appreciation.

She was spared the task of trying to figure out what to say next without completely embarrassing herself or revealing the schoolgirl crush on John she usually kept buried deep under layers of protocol and self-denial by the timely arrival of Teyla, Ronon and Dr. Rodney McKay who came clattering and chatting into the room. Blowing out a breath of relief as John became distracted by the noise and bustle she turned her thoughts to the group and the agenda for the day.

Once everyone was settled, she began with "So. John, tell me about…P1C-270." She made it a point to be briefed on every away team's mission, even though 80 were chosen and planned by the science team or Sheppard, and approved by Sheppard before ever making it to her desk. The pre-mission briefing was her way to stay on top of where her people were at any given moment. It was only on the rare occasion that she would state an objection, or scrub a mission. Sheppard usually brought anything he thought might be controversial to her long before it got to this point.

This was not one of those controversial missions. And in fact from the sheet of paper in front of her, it didn't even look like something John would usually assign to his own team. Confirming her suspicions that something else must be up, Sheppard just rolled his head towards Rodney and bellowed lazily, "McKay, this one's all yours…"

Startled, Rodney McKay, lead scientist and 2nd in the civilian chain of command seemed unusually flustered as he fidgeted and shuffled the mission proposal report before answering. "Right, right. P1C—270." Rodney seemed to be buying himself time to think. "An unpopulated planet seething with lifeforms but no interesting mineral or geological features. The 'gate is located in the middle of the northern hemisphere of a single, massive continent and it's spring there at the moment. Temperatures in the mid to high 70s. Orbital jumper survey reported no indication of previous populations at all and found no anomalous energy readings either." Rodney read off the boring information in a tone equal to its interest. But finishing with "Hey! Should be a walk in the park." He ended with a flourish like a salesman closing a million-dollar deal.

Puzzled, Elizabeth shot a look at John who only shrugged and looked at the ceiling. He seemed to be supressing vast amusement. Ronon and Teyla looked unimpressed yet resigned. Amused herself, she fixed Rodney with a look and asked pointedly, "Why this particular park, Rodney?"

"Oh, uh… well, the Stargate is situated in a very pretty meadow of very interesting… flowers. They give off life signs readings despite being very clearly plants and Dr. Brown wants to take a botany team to study the pollen swirls they create. So I said I would… well, that is we would survey the field to clear it for a civilian research expedition." Rodney cleared his throat in a nervous cough and resumed shuffling the paper in his hand.

"Oh," said Elizabeth desperately trying to keep a straight face. There it was. Dr. Katie Brown was a rumored romantic interest of Rodney's. According to the rumor, he had survived one disastrous date and they hadn't gone out since. But she had noticed him dropping things and bumping into consoles on those rare occasions he got near her in the casual situations of Atlantis life. Knowing it was a very bad idea, she looked at John again under the pretense of checking with him for approval. He was watching her closely and the second he caught her glance, he cocked his head just a tad and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Poorly concealing the laugh that burst out with a coughing fit, she finally managed to say, "Well then, you have a go. Enjoy!"

"Dawn on the lovely P1C-270 is in one hour people. We ship out in two." Sheppard swept his gaze over his team, making sure each of them had understood and accepted the command. Standing slowly and stretching as he watched the rest shuffle out of Elizabeth's office, he perched himself on the edge of her desk for one last moment, frowning and tapping the screen on her computer. "Make sure you read the file about how I single-handedly destroyed two wraith Hive ships before you write that report," he told her with mock concern.

Ignoring the bait, she just grinned up at John and asked, "You let him talk you into this?"

With a "yeah, so what" shrug he just said, "You heard him. It'll be a walk in the park! Especially compared to the time I rescued a whole planet's population from a Volcano and got us an Ancient warship."

"Goodbye, John!" She dismissed him with a wave and turned to her memos, hoping he'd get the hint. But she was still smiling.

He chuckled softly and she heard him slide off the desk and stride towards the control room. She looked up to watch him leave just as he glanced back with one last roguish grin.

"Be safe!" she called after him softly.

His smile was genuine as he nodded in response. Then he turned on his heel and was gone.