Authors Note: For those of you who haven't seen my other updates, I'm sorry about the long wait but I lost my internet. Back online though and thanks for sticking with the story!

Kurioma – I feel bad for stranding Elizabeth all alone, as for her moving on, maybe, maybe not, you'll have to wait and see lol. Thanks for the review!

Steph7085 – I'm afraid this is another one of my fics where you're gonna have to be patient on the Sparky front. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Lantia4eva – That sounds right to me... I think... (Looks confused) lol, yeah that's right. I'm glad you like the crazy story line and thanks for the review.

Saphiretwin369 – I figured the Ancients would view themselves as very much above humanity and that it would show in their treatment of Elizabeth but I didn't want her too isolated so i through Taros in there. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sparklyshimmer2010 – I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 10

The Stargate shimmered in front of him as John walked down the stairs to greet the incoming traveller. He emerged from the wormhole without his usual grin, this wasn't a social call or even one that he wanted to make.

"General O'Neill," John greeted as the gate shut down.

"Report," the general requested immediately and John was more than ready to oblige.

"The city is up and running again, the replicators did a great job of cleaning up the mess we made of Stargate operations. There are still a few repairs to do but nothing that affects running the city," John informed him getting that part out of the way so they could get to the part the General was really interested in. "We've searched most of the nearby planets that have a Stargate and Colonel Caldwell used the Deadalus to search some that haven't."

"Still nothing?" he asked and John shook his head.

"All we know is that Elizabeth escaped Atlantis in a Jumper with a small group of Ancients. We know that the Jumper made it away from the planet and to one with a gate, the locals remember seeing her so we know that she's alive and out there somewhere," John explained and General O'Neill nodded his head several times.

"And if they used the stargate they could be anywhere in the galaxy by now," the general finished for him.

"Yes sir," John replied as the gate started dialling.

"We've checked all the obvious places Elizabeth might go, any allies, the Athosians, so far nothing," John stated as they walked up the stairs to the control room.

"Atlantis, this is Major Lorne," the Major's voice informed them over the radio and John tapped his ear piece to respond.

"Go ahead Major," he instructed knowing that his teams check in was not for several hours.

"Sir, the locals here said they saw Dr Weir about a week ago along with the Ancients. Apparently they didn't stay long, just asked a few questions about the settlement and the stargate and then left again. They don't know where they went but they did go through the gate in a Jumper," Major Lorne told him and John sighed. This was the third planet they'd found that Elizabeth had visited, all three of them had been a week ago and all of three of them led to another dead end.

He saw Teyla walk into the room out of the corner of his eye as Major Lorne told him they were going to try and find out if anyone saw the gate address. Once he'd finished with the Major and the gate had shut down he tuned to Teyla. "News on Elizabeth?" she questioned.

"Just another planet they spotted her on," he told and watched as she sighed sadly. The obvious lack of Elizabeth's presence was weighing heavily on everyone.

"Teyla, why don't you show General O'Neill to his quarters?" John suggested knowing his friend needed something to do and beating up Ronon in the gym could only entertain her for so long.

"Of course," Teyla replied and gestured for O'Neill to follow her.

"We'll find her," the general said to John before he followed Teyla out of the room.

- - -

It was strange that a week ago she had been ready to go nuts being stuck on this planet. She hadn't realised how spoilt she was until she struggled to adapt to the more... simple way of life here. Elizabeth sat in the living area of their house, staring at the wall and thinking about the rollercoaster her life had become in the last couple of months. Now she was actually starting to get used to being here, she was actually getting used to the weird smelling shampoo and the shared bathroom and the house full of stuck up Ancients.

The downside to this was the more she got used to it the more she missed Atlantis, which was also really weird since logically she should miss Atlantis less as she adjusted to being here. It was the people she missed more than anything though, Rodney, Teyla, Carson and even Ronon among others. She missed John the most though, she'd come to depend on his annoying visits to her obvious and their talks on their balcony to keep her sane. Even during the really bad days that had moulded together into bad weeks, he'd always had some line or another to make her smile, she missed that.

"Dr Weir," she heard Malar's voice from the doorway and turned to see him carrying several boxes through the doorway. She immediately jumped up to help him, taking the box from the top and taking a step back to allow Malar to continue to wherever he was intending to go. He didn't even look at her as he walked through to the store room and placed the boxes on the nearest shelf. Elizabeth placed hers next to them and with a nudge from Malar moved out of the way.

He seemed to completely ignore her which even for him was unusual "Is there a problem?" she asked him.

"Why would there be a problem?" he asked, the irritation in his voice telling there was indeed something wrong.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" she questioned raising her eyebrow and he stopped shifting the supplies of food that had been in the boxes and turned to look at her.

"You're not pulling your weight," he told her "We are all stuck here; we must all put in some effort if we are to make the conditions here bearable."

"I'm sorry if you feel I'm not pulling my weight but I have done more today than you have," she told him angrily, her diplomatic skills needed some brushing up on but after the last few months she was entitled to get a little annoyed. Malar scoffed and Elizabeth once again raised her eyebrow. "I was out in the fields gathering crops at first light this morning, where were you?" she asked him and Malar could only straighten his back. "Asleep," she answered for him. "And I have yet to see you cook a meal. Now if you've finished keeping score," she finished and left the room having made her point.

She should probably feel slightly guilty for talking to him like that but over the week that they had been stuck here the arrogant Ancient had taken every opportunity he could find to make some comment or criticism about her. He was really starting to get under her skin and she wasn't sure how much more of his 'I hate humanity' attitude. Malaine, Bren and Rinar obviously thought they were superior to humans as well but at least in their cases they kept it mostly to themselves. Taros just seemed to be enjoying learning more about how much humans had changed in their long absence.

She left the house hoping to get some air before she had to deal with the rest of the Ancients. She had every intention of just circling around a few of the houses before going back but several of the local women spotted her and approached. It seemed that even after a week the novelty of having Ancients among them had not worn off and Elizabeth was getting rather tired of reminding people she wasn't one of them, Taros had told her to just give it up.

"Dr Weir, how are you and other Ancients settling in?" One of them asked, Maria, if Elizabeth's memory served her, one of the Ancients biggest fans.

"Oh you know, we're settling," she told them though the truth was far more complicated and probably closer to the opposite.

"That is good to hear, I'm sure you are all used to a much better life than we can provide you with here but we find that this way is safer," Maria told her which got Elizabeth's interest.

"Safer?" she questioned and Maria nodded enthusiastically.

"From the Wraith, we believe if we live life as simply as possible and refrain from using the stargate that they are more likely to ignore us. Our people have not been culled in many years," she informed her to which Elizabeth could only nod her head slowly. She doubted it was that simple and it was probably only luck that they hadn't been culled yet.

She found the first escape from the conversation that she could and headed back to the house, her house. She heard the Ancients arguing inside even before she opened the door and when she stepped inside she realised the argument was actually about her. Since none of them seemed to have heard the door open she decided to stand their and listen, making sure the she shut the door silently.

"She is a typical example of humanity; they have not changed as much as they appear to. They are still a selfish, impulsive, ignorant race," Malar told the others in disgust and Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes at him. "Whilst we were working this afternoon she was sat in here staring at the wall."

"Malar, she may not be perfect but she does more work around here than you do," she was surprised to hear Malaine defend her. "She may not be one of us and I agree that she does not belong in this group but as you have said we are all trapped here together. Dr Weir was working in the fields this morning even before I got there and before you were even awoke."

"Your attitude isn't going to help us here," Rinar added and she heard Malar scoff again.

"My attitude?" he questioned "You did not hear the way she spoke to me earlier, such ignorance."

"As much as I hate to say it, it sounds like you may have deserved it," Bren told him.

"This arguing is pointless," she heard Taros say "Whether any of you like it or not Dr Weir is part of this group and will remain that way. We've all been through a difficult time and fighting amongst ourselves will get us nowhere."

Elizabeth decided to make her presence known and walked into the room with a small smile on her face as though she'd heard none of the conversation. "Afternoon," she greeted the all and then turned to Taros. "Shall we make dinner?" she asked and Taros nodded and followed her out of the room.

They walked into the store room where Malar had done a great job of mixing up their carefully organised food stores. "You heard that whole conversation didn't you?" Taros questioned in amusement and Elizabeth smiled.

"I got the gist of it," she told him and Taros shook his head as he searched through the vegetables.

- - -

Jack sat in his room, staring out of his window at the miles and miles of water that surrounded the city. He liked Atlantis; he liked the city and the atmosphere in it, well the atmosphere the city usually had anyway. The one thing he noticed more than anything else was the family feel the city had, the people here were all very close. They were more like a community than anything else; Elizabeth had done an amazing job with the expedition team and everyone who had joined it in the last couple of years.

They were a community and like any community they felt it when part of it wasn't there. He knew that every loss hit the people in Atlantis hard and they all mourned those losses together. The fact that it was the city's leader that was lost, a figure that he knew for a fact everyone here respected and trusted, had made the loss all that more hard. The lack of her presence wasn't something that could go unnoticed.

Officially he'd come here to check on the progress the Atlantis team were making with settling back into the city. His visit had more of a personal agenda though; he wanted to be here for Elizabeth. The woman had almost become like a little sister to him and he'd be damned if he just sat back on earth and read the occasional report on the search to find her.

Deciding he needed something to do before he went stir crazy he left his room and quickly found his way to the nearest transporter. He pressed the transporter near the control room and when the doors opened again he was in a completely different corridor, the expedition didn't know how good they had it, he had to walk all over the SGC.

"Sheppard," he greeted as he saw the lieutenant colonel entering the control room from the gate room. A glance down told him that another team had returned through the gate and still no Elizabeth.

"General O'Neill," John returned and Jack noticed not for the first time how tired the young man looked and he wondered how much sleep he'd actually had since their return to Atlantis a week ago. He knew the man wanted to be out there looking for Elizabeth himself, he'd only been off world a few times to help with the search. He was doing his duty to the city though; with Elizabeth missing he was in charge of the Atlantis.

"When was the last time you slept?" Jack questioned and John looked like he was seriously thinking about the answer.

"I got a few hours yesterday," he replied and Jack nodded before gesturing to the door.

"Go," he ordered and the second John opened his mouth to respond Jack cut him off. "That was an order, the city can survive without you for a few hours and if anything comes up I will send you a very loud call over the radio."

It looked as though John was considering more protest but instead nodded his head "Major Lorne is due back in an hour," he informed Jack before heading out of the room and Jack watched him go before finding himself a chair he could sit in and look important. He had some thinking to do and some decisions that needed to be made.

TBC