Author's Note: I normally don't write fic this way, but this one is kind of being written because people have suggested that they might like to read more. So far, it seems to be a series of little pieces that are all loosely linked and follow it each other in order. I'm not entirely sure how it's all going to work, but ... here's the third little bit. Rated: PG-13, but all else from the other two applies in terms of timeline, etc... Previously posted in the johnelizabeth community on LJ.


It was several weeks later that John walked through the early morning corridors of Atlantis absorbing the familiar, peaceful hum of the Ancient city. It was almost like a heartbeat, and the military commander felt his own pulse fall into synch with it. His breathing was an easy counterpoint to both, and John found himself wondering if every member of the expedition felt the life of Atlantis, or if it had something to do with the Ancient gene.

A last turn of the corridor then, and John had reached his destination. To his surprise though, someone was using the small gym. He leaned, loose limbed and casual, against the doorframe and took a moment to consider the room's sole occupant.

Elizabeth stood peacefully on one slightly bent leg in the center of the room, haloed in the warm light streaming in from the large windows behind her. Her left leg was wrapped around her right, and she kept her left foot pointed gracefully downward. Her arms were also entwined and raised upward so that her graceful hands could be held in a elegant position before her face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was calm and quiet.

After several moments of John debating whether or not to announce his presence, Elizabeth spoke, her voice tinged with a mild amusement. "Good morning, Colonel." Eyes still closed, she seemed to read his thoughts as she answered his unspoken question, "You have a certain way of walking and resting. And I can hear you breathing."

"That doesn't exactly speak well of my training," he replied wryly.

Elizabeth opened her eyes finally and relaxed her pose so that she could look over to her military commander. "We're not exactly in combat, Colonel."

"Not exactly," he replied with a touch of humor.

Elizabeth raised a brow in response, prompting John to give her one of his boyish grins. She simply sighed softly and proceeded into her next asana, bringing her left leg up so that she could rest the flat of her foot high on the right inner thigh. Now standing peacefully on one leg, Elizabeth brought her hands up slowing in a praying gesture before her chest, closing her eyes as well. Then, continuing to move slowly and gracefully, she raised her arms above her head, palms still together.

John watched in admiring silence from where he stood in the doorway.

"Are you going to just stand there watching, John?" Elizabeth asked finally, her voice light and faintly amused. She opened her eyes and looked over to him with a bright green gaze.

Slowly, she released her pose. "Come here," she invited.

"What?" He asked when he finally released that she was serious.

"Come here, John," she repeated, a small smile playing across her lips in response to her military commander's bemused expression.

Apprehensively, John reached for the duffel next to his feet and set it just inside the doorway as the door slid shut behind him. Then he walked slowly over to where Elizabeth stood waiting for him.

"Just think of this as another training exercise, John," she said, still with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Combat training doesn't exactly include yoga, Elizabeth. And the Air Force doesn't necessarily think that 'downward facing dog' is a vital skill for a pilot to have."

Elizabeth laughed lightly. "Well, maybe they should, Colonel. Yoga teaches discipline, measured thought, and clear insight, as well as flexibility and peaceful endurance."

"I'll be sure to let General O'Neil know that the next time I see him," John replied wryly.

Elizabeth smiled.

"Take off your shoes," she directed him, waiting for him to do so before motioned him over to the mats.

"Now," she said, "hold your arms next to your sides, palms in. Keep your shoulders square and your back straight."

Easily, John fell into the pose. "That's it?" He asked, surprised when she didn't ask him to take a complicated position like the ones that she had been just doing.

She smiled. "Now, close your eyes."

John did so, still not understanding why she wasn't asking him to do anything more elaborate. After several minutes, John opened his eyes. "I don't get it, Elizabeth."

"Eyes closed, John," she replied brightly.

Obediently, he closed his eyes once more. After several minutes, John found himself wanting to move.

"Okay, what's next?" He asked.

"The pose is called, samasthiti-asana, John; the mountain," she replied.

After several moments more, John began to sway ever so slightly as his thoughts drifted. Then he felt her hands light against his back for a moment.

"The mountain doesn't move, John," she said quietly, before removing her hands once he was aware of the slight sway.

"Okay, this can't really be a yoga position," he said finally. "Ha ha ha…I get it," he continued dryly. "It's lets fool the gullible, Colonel."

Elizabeth touched his back again as he ever so slightly swayed once more. "The goal is to achieve a sense of center, John. To stand firmly, without moving."

She stepped close, standing just behind him, so close that he could feel her warmth against his back.

"To be peaceful and patiently enduring like the mountain, Colonel; to be still," she said quietly behind him. "You can be still, can't you, John?" She asked, her voice clearly amused.

John swayed slightly again and felt his back lean lightly against Elizabeth a moment as she stood firmly behind him. He recovered quickly, but now he found himself even more aware of just how close she was. He could feel the shape of her as a warmth against his back and the sound of her soft breath seemed to surround him.

"Breath in, out, in, out," she prompted. "Feel your center."

Suddenly, he stepped forward and turned to face her, breaking the asana. "Mohamed calls," he said as lightly as he could.

For a moment, he was afraid that she would see through him, but finally she said, "All right, Colonel, let's try something else."

Elizabeth sat first on her knees, tucking her feet underneath herself. Slowly, she rose up so that she was kneeling. Then, keeping her right knee to the mat, she brought her other knee up, placing her left foot flat to the ground. Fluidly then, she moved, stretching her right leg straight back and keeping her other leg in a low sort of lunge. At the same time, she closed her eyes and brought her hands up in a praying gesture in front of herself before raising them slowly straight above her head, palms still facing each other. And finally, she arched her back and created a 'C' shape between her arms and her right leg.

"Elizabeth, I'll break my back," John said wryly. "There's absolutely no way I can make my body do that, and I'm surprised you can."

Her laughter was bright. "I suppose you're right," she conceded before gracefully pulling her right leg forward and making her back arch, feet to the floor, hands bracing herself on the other side, and her stomach top most.

"Show-off," John accused.

Elizabeth slide herself flat onto her back. "A little," she laughed, her eyes bright as she looked up and over to John, her expression a teasing mixture of amusement, apology, and a certain measure of smugness. She sat up with a playful smile. "Maybe more than a little," she conceded when she saw John's expression.

"Well, so far, it looks like to do yoga, I have to either be some kind of contortionist…" he offered Elizabeth a hand up, "…or a pillar," he said with a teasing grin.

She responded with wry grin of her own. "Point taken, Colonel."

"So between standing, and being a pretzel, what is there?" He asked gamely.

Elizabeth smiled quietly a moment.

"Stand like this," she said, showing him a position like that of the Mountain pose.

"Elizabeth…"

"Now do this," she said with a smile, holding one arm out at an upward angle and bending her left leg back so that she could grab her foot with her hand.

John mimicked her, easily following her actions.

Still holding her foot, Elizabeth stretched her leg back, balancing herself with her other arm.

Again, John mimicked her actions as Elizabeth slipped out of the pose. Suddenly, he lost his balance and Elizabeth made an instinctive grab for John's outstretched hand. For a moment, it seemed as if they would both stay upright, then of course, gravity took over and John fell, pulling Elizabeth down with him.

With muffled 'oofs' they ended in a tangled heap on the mats covering the gym floor.

"Are you okay?" John asked the top of Elizabeth's head as he shifted beneath her.

"I think so; you?" She responded as she sat up, straddling him and catching his green eyes with her own intent gaze.

"Yeah," he answered. "Guess that position needs a little work," he added, only catching the unintended innuendo as Elizabeth shifted slightly and John became intensely aware of their unintentionally intimate situation.

Elizabeth seemed to catch it at the same time, and blushed in response, her eyes still locked with his as the sparks danced between them.

"John… we…" she murmured.

"We?" John asked, his own voice low.

"We shouldn't… you know we shouldn't…" Elizabeth whispered.

"Lizabeth…" he murmured, his voice whispering with desire.

"I… I'm afraid," she finally admitted hesitantly.

"Afraid?"

John had never thought to hear that from the Atlantean leader.

"I'm afraid of how easily I could fall," she confessed. "How easily you could become my gravity."

"We could fall together," John replied, his eyes dark as he looked into hers. "Though," he smiled charmingly, "I always did much prefer flying."

"Flying," she whispered.

"Flying," he answered as he reached up to release Elizabeth's long dark hair from the hair slide that was keeping it pinned up.

Finally, Elizabeth bent to brush her lips warmly against John's in a light kiss. He rose, shifting so that Elizabeth sat on his lap and he could slide his hands around her waist. He brought them to the small of her back and his fingers traced light circles over the red fabric as he kissed her again.

She sighed and deepened the kiss, nibbling lightly and tracing her tongue over his lips. John mimicked her actions before deepening the kiss still further, tasting her, catching her breath with his own.

He slid his hands back around her waist then and rested each one lightly on either side. As he continued to kiss her, John brushed his thumbs up under the hem of her shirt, tracing warm circles on the flesh there. And after a few moments, the rest of his hand followed, the hem of the shirt resting on top of either wrist so that when John started tracing his way upward, the red fabric rose as well.

Elizabeth sighed as John kissed his way down from her mouth and to the pulse point at the hollow of her throat.

"John," she gasped.

John stopped nuzzling her neck so that he could look into Elizabeth's summer green eyes. He slipped his hands out from underneath her shirt and slipped them gently into her hair. "We'll catch each other," he assured her gently.

He brushed his lips against hers lightly, breathing her in.

"And 'Lizabeth?"

"Yes," she whispered, her breath warm against his mouth.

"I like yoga so far," he said playfully, his lips smiling against hers.

"Is that so, Colonel?" She replied, unable to keep the smile from her own lips. "Then perhaps I should share a few more asanas with you…"

TBC?