The Atlantis Corporation Charity Ball

A/N: The next chapter is up. To all of you who want to hear John's explanation: he'll get the chance to explain everything eventually, but not yet. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!

"Why did they name their company after a supposedly sunken city?"

"I still have no answer to that, Rodney. You ask me the same question every year" Elizabeth said unnerved.

"No, I don't" he protested and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok, maybe I do"

"You should go and ask Mr. Roberts himself why he named his company 'Atlantis'"

"You tell me that every time" Rodney complained and Elizabeth sighed.

"Maybe it's about time to actually listen to me"

"I don't know...you think they have still meatballs on the buffet?" he changed the subject abruptly. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Go and check it out, Rodney" she said and he hurried off towards the buffet. Elizabeth watched him leave and shook her head. Rodney McKay was one of her closest friends. They had met in College and Elizabeth approximately saw him twice a year. He was an astrophysicist and she had given up trying to understand what his work was about a few years ago.

He was a pain in the ass, but she loved him nevertheless. She couldn't imagine being around him all the time though, she would probably strangle him after a day, but it was great to see him again after such a long time.

She took a sip from her red wine and looked around the room. There were people she hadn't seen in months and Elizabeth silently wished that she wouldn't have to talk to either of them that evening. She was back on the other side again. The side where she had to endure the boring small talk and couldn't rescue herself into the kitchen.

Elizabeth stopped midway in her thoughts when her eyes caught something. She stared a while longer to the other end of the big room and then shook her head. She really had to stop thinking about John. It had been the fourth time that evening that she thought she had seen him in the crowd. That was ridiculous.

She looked back over to the buffet and watched Rodney loading his plate with everything he could find on the long tables. He picked up a spit, sniffed at the food and put it back down. Elizabeth shook her head slightly and wanted to take another sip from her glass when her eyes locked with a pair of green ones.

He was standing at the end of the buffet, leaning against the wall behind him. He was wearing his Air Force dress uniform and he was looking directly at her. Elizabeth lowered the glass from her mouth and looked at him for a few more seconds before she took a step back and turned around, away from him.

When he was out of sight she took a shuddering breath and tried to remember who she still had to talk to this evening, but there were no names in her head but one. He was really there, she hadn't just seen things. John was in New York.

She wasn't prepared for this and it caught her totally off guard. There were still dozens of people Michael wanted her to talk to, but she decided to put her glass onto the next waiter's tray and hurry towards the exit. It wasn't the best thing to do, but running away again suddenly seemed the best course of action.

She was able to make it to the checkroom to get her coat when he caught up with her. Elizabeth froze in the action of pulling on her coat when he jogged around the corner and their eyes locked once again.

"Stop following me" she said slightly out of breath. Her heart was racing. She wanted to be angry at him, but all she felt was the hurt and the disappointment. It took her some effort to hold back her tears. Julie had been right. The sparkle in his eyes was gone.

"Ok" he said and Elizabeth shivered. She hadn't heard his voice in over 5 weeks. The shivering wouldn't stop and Elizabeth finally slipped into her coat and hugged herself tightly. He looked tired and hurt and it pained her to see him like that. She retreated further backwards until she reached the exit. She looked at him only a moment longer before she turned around and left the building.

Elizabeth took a deep breath of the cool night air and looked down the street, first left then right. She started walking down the street to her left, desperately trying to clear her mind. She had seen John again. He couldn't just do that. He couldn't just appear out of nowhere. She had left Washington because of him. He couldn't just come to New York. Seeing him again wasn't helping her to forget him. To forget the fact that he was married and that he'd lied to her. Yes, it was much easier to be angry at him when she didn't have to face him.

She walked down the street a while longer until the freezing wind got too cold and she had to call herself a cab. She told the driver to drive her to her office. She wouldn't be able to sleep, not with her mind racing and her emotions whirling. Working had always been her method of shutting things she didn't want to think about out. Burying herself in work always worked. Sometimes old habits were quite useful.