Sachita – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and that everyone's in character. I hope you enjoy this update.

Sparklyshimmer2010 – I debated for ages whether or not I was gonna have Elizabeth go hunting but I figure she'd do what she had to in this situation. I also wasn't sure about brining Sam in but it just made sense. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

Saphiretwin369 – I wasn't sure about bringing Sam in but I'm glad you like it, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Steph7085 – I'm glad you liked the hunting scene, thanks for the review.

Jammeke – John is very hard to get out of you head lol, as for Sam; I think you'll like her in this story. I don't agree with tptb decisions about season 4 but that's what fanfiction is for. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review. I'm glad you like my AU's too.

Kuroima – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the hunting scene and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

- - -

Chapter 12

The gate was already active and waiting for his team to step through. John watched as Rodney and Teyla disappeared into the event horizon followed a moment later by Ronon. He turned around to see Sam standing in the control room, where Elizabeth would usually be, watching his team leave. Jack had been right, Sam's presence had allowed him more time to do what he needed to. She was taking care of the day to day running of the city and John was able to take his team off world to help search for Elizabeth.

Still, he couldn't help but feel that she was taking Elizabeth's place, he knew she wasn't, that her presence here was temporary and only to help bring the city's rightful leader back. She met John's eyes and nodded her head almost as though she had sensed his thoughts. He turned around and followed the rest of his team through the gate.

It had been almost a month since they had retaken Atlantis from the Replicators, a month since Elizabeth had disappeared and they were no closer to finding her than they had been when Sam had first arrived in Atlantis. Knowing what the Ancients Elizabeth was travelling with wanted they had been able to rule several planets out of the search. Almost all the others within the search grid had been searched and if John was honest he knew that if they did find Elizabeth now, it would be on pure luck.

This time next week they would have finished searching all the planets on the list, they would have to come up with a new approach and they would have to come up with it quickly. John and Sam were already getting pressured by the IOA to find Elizabeth and John knew it was only a matter of time before the pressure moved from finding their missing leader to resuming their normal operations.

John stepped through the gate onto yet another unexplored planet. The area surrounding the stargate was the same as on most other planets they'd visited over the last three years, surrounded by trees and probably a decent walk from the nearest village or town. To his credit, Rodney hadn't complained once about the phenomenal amount of walking they'd had to do in the last month. It was for Elizabeth and John knew that, like him, Rodney would do whatever he had to do to get Elizabeth back, everyone in Atlantis would.

John walked along the path through the forest slightly ahead of his team mates who were all remaining several paces behind him. John was grateful to them, he needed time to think; he seemed to need a lot of it lately. Maybe it was just the situation, or maybe it was the fact that if something bothered him, it was usually Elizabeth he would go to because they were probably both bothered by the same thing. They were the leaders of Atlantis, a team in their own right and it was hard doing this job without her not least because he didn't want to. Losing Elizabeth felt more like losing a limb, some part of himself that he couldn't function properly without; he didn't want to read too much into that.

It didn't take them long to find the Athosian style settlement and the locals looked at them curiously as they passed through the small village. "Good day to you," a young woman said as she approached them. "I am Lidia, and you are?" she asked cheerfully, too cheerfully for John's current mood but since his current mood had lasted for a month now he didn't comment. He introduced himself and his team in as few words as possible and tried not to sigh at the blondes continued enthusiasm.

"We are about to have our midday meal, please join us, my father is our leader and he would be most excited to meet you," she told them all but didn't actually wait for a response before walking away.

"Great," John muttered "More excitement."

They were lead through to a tent where a small group of people were gathering around a low table. It reminded John of their first meeting with the Athosians and he would have continued that line of thought had it not been interrupted by the enthusiastic welcome of the groups leader. "Welcome, I am Torlin. My daughter tells me you are joining us for dinner, please sit down," he said gesturing to the table by their feet. "Visitors are always most welcome here."

That was pretty much the end of the mission as far as John was concerned. These people were the exact opposite of what they were fairly sure the Ancients were looking for; there was no way they were here. Still, there was no point in being rude so he gestured for his team to sit down before doing so himself. An odd looking array of food was placed in front of him and he hesitated before eating it.

"We're actually looking for someone, have you had any other visitors to this planet recently?" John asked as he decided he definitely didn't like whatever that yellow stuff was.

"We've had many visitors; we trade with a number of other planets," Torlin informed them.

John put down the green leafy thing he decided was safe to eat and reached into the pocket of his vest. He pulled out the picture of Elizabeth that seemed to have become a permanent fixture of the Atlantis off world uniform and showed it to Torlin. "Have you seen her?" he asked.

Torlin looked at the photo for several moments, a thoughtful expression on his aging features. "No, I do not believe I have."

John sighed and put the photo back into his pocket, he had expected that answer but it didn't make it sting any less. Another dead end and another planet gone from their search list which had very quickly dwindled down to a handful. Every planet that they eliminated took with it a strand of hope and he wasn't sure how much the people of Atlantis had left to give, how much more he could give. People could only hold onto hope for so long, they only had so much hope in them and it couldn't last forever, not when it was being ripped away one bit at a time.

He made it through the rest of the meal with barely another word; thankfully Teyla did enough talking for him. Ronon had never been much for small talk and Rodney was relatively quiet, he was really beginning to feel the effects of their lack of success in finding Elizabeth. John knew he should say something to reassure the scientist but he couldn't find it in himself.

When they left the village the ever growing dark cloud that had been hanging over them for the last month seemed bigger still.

- - -

Jack walked into Elizabeth's office and despite the fact that it had been a month; it still felt weird to see Sam sitting in it. He'd known that Sam was probably one of the only people he could bring into take over running the city without it causing a huge riot on Atlantis. She was probably one of the few people that would respect that this was Elizabeth's command, this was Elizabeth's office and that was Elizabeth's chair, she was just keeping it warm for her.

To her credit, Sam had done everything right so far, she hadn't put a single personal item in the office. Nothing that would in anyway link her to the room, at some point during the last few weeks a few of Elizabeth's things had found their way from her room to this office and Sam had made no attempt to have them removed, hadn't even mentioned their presence. A pocket watch was sitting on the desk; one Jack knew had been Elizabeth's fathers. Some kind of vase Jack had seen in here a few times was sitting next to it along with a framed picture of a dog.

He had no idea who'd put these things here but they'd emerged slowly over the weeks Atlantis's leader had been missing. It was as though people wanted to make sure that no one forgot who was in charge here, who the office belonged to, who the city belonged to.

"How's it going?" he asked her and she looked up from the report she'd been reading.

"Hey... er... not good," was her response. "We're down to the last few planets on the list and we've still got nothing," she explained. "I'm not exactly optimistic that we're gonna find her on any of the remaining planets and... I don't know what to do after that."

She leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh, she sounded tired, as though she'd been trying to pry an answer out of her head since she got here. He knew she was going to do everything she could to find Elizabeth but he felt the need to say it anyway, for his own peace of mind if nothing else.

"Carter, I have to leave tomorrow," he started and she sighed again.

"Yeah, I know," she replied.

"I really wish I could stay to help. This city needs Elizabeth and that's what you're here for, you're here to make sure the city gets her back. You're here to find her... and you will find her, failing isn't an option on this one," he told her and hoped she'd understand what he was saying and why he was saying it.

He loved Elizabeth like a little sister and whilst he in no way doubted Sam, he needed to know that he'd done what he could, said what he needed to say to help make sure she was brought home. Fortunately Sam understood, it was impossible to work as closely as his team had for as long as they had without learning to read and understand each other with ease. It was one of the things that had made them so good, one of the things that had kept them alive despite the ridiculous number of life and death situations and close calls they'd managed to thrust upon themselves.

"I know why I'm here," she told him, there was no bitterness or annoyance to her tone, just understanding and he knew he'd done the right thing in bringing her here.

- - -

One thing she had come to love about this planet was the stars, every night she would leave the house and wonder through the night time quiet of the village. She would rarely see anyone else out and about during the night and it gave her the chance to think and be alone that she desperately needed at the moment. The stars here were beautiful and she would look out at them wondering if any of them were Atlantis.

She still didn't feel at home here, a month of living and working with these people had left her feeling as much of an outsider as she ever had. The Ancients were their own little group, only socialising with the villagers when they had to and merely tolerating her. Taros was doing his best to involve her, to make her feel as at home here as any of them could but the truth was, Elizabeth didn't think she'd ever feel truly at home on this planet.

She missed Atlantis, she missed her friends, she missed everything that her life had been before her team had rescued the Ancients. It was a horrible, selfish thought which she hated herself for having but she couldn't shake it. It wasn't like things would have been any better if they hadn't saved the Ancients, in fact they would most probably have been worse. It would have been her people on Atlantis when the Replicators attacked and regardless of their different tactics and their remarkable ability to survive even some of the worst odds; her people wouldn't have been able to hold off the attack forever.

The majority of her expedition would have been killed; it would have been her close friends that had been slaughtered by the replicators. Instead they were all safe on earth, living their lives and while part of her wished she was with them, the bigger part of her just wanted things to be the way they were.

She returned to the house and was surprised to hear voices inside; the others were usually asleep by now. Walking inside she soon recognised the voices of her Ancient house mates as well as those of a couple of the locals, they were arguing about something but she couldn't tell what. She walked into the main room to find them all standing around, raised voices shouting at one another.

"We will not reduce ourselves to such a low task," Malar stated.

"We have welcomed you into our community and have asked only that you contribute to our way of life. You do only half the work our other villagers are expected to do and we provide you with everything that you need," one of the villagers stated, if Elizabeth's memory served her he was Arnas, one of the leaders here.

"You want us to help you cut up animals," Malar protested.

"It is just one of many tasks here that can sometimes seem distasteful but is necessary to survive," another of the villagers informed them.

"You have to understand," Malaine cut in, being unusually diplomatic but then it was late and the Ancient probably just wanted the villagers to leave. "It is not the type of work we are used to doing, we are well aware of how meat is obtained but it is different to be involved in the process."

"Maybe not, but you will have to try," Arnas continued and Malar opened his mouth to continue his protests when Taros cut it.

"Elizabeth, when did you get back?" he asked and she gave him a small smile as she stepped fully into the room.

"Just now," she replied and then looked at the others. "What's going on?"

Malar merely scoffed and looked away from her leaving Taros to explain "Arnas here would like to involve us in more tasks."

"He wants us to butcher animals," Malar cut in angrily.

"You already helped to kill several of them Malar, on the hunting parties," Elizabeth stated which only seemed to make Malar more annoyed.

"Not that I was given a huge amount of choice," he muttered bitterly and Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes.

"I'll help," she told Arnas who nodded gratefully and turned to the others expectantly.

"Of course you'd help," Malar stated and Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at him.

"And exactly what is that supposed to mean?" she asked him. She had accepted weeks ago that she and Malar would never share the mutual tolerance that she had with the other Ancients let alone be friends. For the most part they stayed out of each others way, avoiding being in the same room if it was possible but sometimes they had no choice but to put up with each other.

"You are as primitive as the rest of these humans," he told her surprising everyone in the room. Arnas and the other villager had probably had no clue that the Ancients had such negative thoughts on them but the rest of them were just surprised he'd said it out loud, to their faces. "You think you have come a long way but you are no different now to how you were thousands of years ago."

Once she was over her surprise that Malar had been so open with his opinion, Elizabeth was once again surprised that he'd actually stopped there. She knew his opinion of humanity went far lower than that. "Malar, I don't think now is the time," Bren said but it was too late, the truth was out.

"If you have such a low opinion of us then perhaps you should find another planet to live on," Arnas suggested sounding somewhat angry now.

"His opinion is not shared by all of us," Taros quickly supplied, it wasn't a complete lie, Taros himself had a decent view of humanity. "Elizabeth and I will both help with the animals tomorrow."

Arnas nodded his head though it was obvious he was reluctant to do so. He left the house along with the other villager and the group turned to look at Malar. "These people have been very good to us Malar and whilst we may not have much here, we at least have our lives and you just put that in jeopardy," Taros stated with an unusual anger in his voice.

The old Ancient left the room heading in the direction of his bedroom and Elizabeth allowed herself a moment to glare at Malar before she did the same. She walked into her room and closed the door behind her, leaning it on it a moment before she pushed herself away and over to her bed.

She didn't relish the thought of cutting up animals, she'd killed more than she cared to think about in the last month but it was what her life had become. As she dropped onto her bed with a heavy sigh she wondered if she would ever get used to this, if she would ever be able to accept that this was her life now, if she would ever be able to let go off all the things she missed so much.

- - -

John could only watch as Major Lorne's team returned from the last planet on the search list, they were no closer to finding Elizabeth than they had been when all this had started. He watched as the young air force officer spoke to Sam who then turned and headed up the stairs. Lorne locked eyes with John for a brief moment, conveying his apologies to John that they hadn't found her. John nodded his head; it wasn't the Major's fault.

Sam moved to stand by his side as Major Lorne left the gate room below them. "Now what?" he asked quietly.

"That was the last planet on the search list but it doesn't mean we stop looking," Sam replied as the two of them stared down at the inactive stargate.

"This is a big galaxy, Colonel, she could be anywhere," John told her and Sam nodded her head slowly.

"We'll find her," she stated with more confidence than John felt and he wished he could share it.

"I hope so," was all he could manage to say and he pretended he couldn't feel her eyes studying him. He finally turned to look at her and gave her a quick nod before walking away. He stopped just short of the doorway and turned back to her. She was looking down at the gate again, thoughtful expression firmly in place. "And colonel," he said, drawing her attention back to him. "Congratulations on the promotion."

He didn't wait for a response; instead he just left the room and made his way to his room. He wasn't sure exactly what he thought about Sam's promotion yet. She had admitted herself that it had been a lot to do with her being here, he was sure that wasn't completely true. He knew just how much the woman had done over the years she had been working for the stargate programme. In fact if it hadn't been for her and the rest of the original SG1 team, he probably wouldn't be standing here now. They had saved earth from more alien threats than anyone had bothered to count before John had even known the stargate existed. He was sure that she deserved the promotion more than most people but the timing was just wrong.

TBC