Title: Our Mrs. Sheppard
Pairing: Sparky
Spoilers: Nothing specific, but this takes place sometime after The Tower, so I guess anything before that is fair game.
Disclaimer: I don't own them or Firefly. sigh
Summary: Sometimes John's off-world shenanigans catch up with him. And sometimes Elizabeth gets involved. Sparky.
Author's note: It was bugging me that I hadn't figured out where this story fitted into the SGA timeline, so we'll say it takes place sometime after the season 2 episode The Tower, but before The Long Goodbye. Anyway, here's the next part. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 5- Second thoughts
John drew in a deep breath as he approached the door to Elizabeth's quarters. He had been resolved to talk with her through showering and changing after the gym, but now that he was standing outside her door he briefly considered walking away. However, his hand automatically came up to knock on the door before he could convince himself otherwise.
A muffled voice yelled, "Coming." A few seconds later the door opened to reveal Elizabeth, clearly dressed for relaxing with rather rumpled hair.
"John." She looked surprised.
He rocked back on his heels and gave her a tentative smile, "Mind if I…"
"Oh, yes. Come on in." Elizabeth motioned him inside.
He passed her to enter the room, immediately noticing the underlying tension between them. When the door whooshed closed he turned to look back at Elizabeth. His sudden movement must have startled her because he caught a glimpse of something in her gaze before it was replaced by a more blank expression.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you," He started lamely, wanting to break the heavy silence. "I checked your office and our balcony, but you weren't there, so I decided to try your room next."
Elizabeth crossed the room to stand next to her bed, "And if I wasn't here?"
He thought a moment, "The mess hall for coffee."
"I didn't know I was so predictable." She gave him a small smile and nervously tucked a curl of hair behind one ear. "Care to sit?" She asked, gesturing to her desk chair.
"Ah…sure." John took the chair and was surprised when Elizabeth remained standing.
"I'm glad you found me." She looked briefly at the floor and then locked eyes with him. "I have something I need to say…I need to apologize to you about today."
For the second time that day, John was surprised by a conversation with Elizabeth. She was apologizing to him?
Elizabeth must have seen his confused look because she continued to explain, "I was having a stressful day already. And then I got that call from Gandria, and I just...I reacted without thinking. I was wrong to take my other issues out on you."
"Elizabeth, you don't have to-" He started to protest, but she cut him off.
"No, John. I really do. I'm sorry."
He nodded, "Believe me, its fine. I probably would have done the same thing."
"Somehow I doubt that," Elizabeth said dryly as she sat down on a corner of the bed, causing a stack of papers to fall on the ground. Despite her comment however she seemed relieved. "Now what did you want to talk to me about."
John smirked slightly at her, his natural humor returning now that the tension had lightened considerably. "I wanted to apologize to you." He rushed to continue before she could interrupt. "I don't know exactly why I ended up getting engaged, but I know it caused you a lot of grief with valuable allies. So I'm sorry too."
Elizabeth gave him a genuine smile, "Apology accepted."
"Good." He grinned back at her, glad to see the characteristic sparkle return to her eyes. "Look at us, we're like some corny after school special."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Yes, Elizabeth and John present 'How to Navigate the Trials of the Pegasus Galaxy without Killing Each Other.'"
John chuckled, "The title is a bit long, but I guess that's the general idea."
"With all the crazy things that happen here we could start a whole series," Elizabeth added with a playful look.
John felt his smirk widen and they sat in comfortable silence. He really enjoyed sharing these kinds of moments with her, when they could just relax in each other's company without the threat of impeding death and destruction.
"Well," he said, standing to leave. "I should let you get back to work. Although you should be going to bed, not working in bed." He admonished and reached down to pick up the papers that had fallen.
Elizabeth looked at the clock and frowned, "I didn't realize it was so late. I'm almost done anyway."
When John went to hand the stack of collected papers back to her he noticed that they were mission reports from Gandria. "Uh, Elizabeth?"
"Oh," She took the reports from him. "I was reassessing the situation in Gandria."
He suddenly remembered part of their conversation from earlier. Things were going so well that he thought nothing of bringing it up now. "Do you know why I ended up getting engaged?"
"Ummmm….I have a couple of working theories." Elizabeth moved to place the stack of papers on her desk, not looking at him as she did so.
"Really. I was there and I barely remember her." He admitted, interested to see what Elizabeth had come up with.
"John," She turned to face him and sighed. "You're not going to like this, but you had a lot of contact with Imely."
"I did?"
"According to Teyla's reports, she was your first guide in the village, and your team had dinner at her parent's house on three occasions."
It took a second for the subtext of that statement to sink in. "Wait. Are you saying that I led her on in some way?" He turned defensive.
"No, I'm saying that you were probably your charming self and she took it the wrong way." Elizabeth's expression was carefully neutral.
"Oh." He ran a hand through his hair, feeling a twinge of guilt. "What are the other theories?"
"There's really only one other one." Elizabeth answered reluctantly, now half-sitting on the edge of her desk.
"And that is?" He prodded, holding her gaze.
Elizabeth paused and regarded him with an assessing look. "That you were targeted to lure you back to the planet for some reason."
"Elizabeth, you can't be serious." John said, attempting to shrug off her concerns.
"I am, John. We've seen something like this happen before."
She was serious. He could tell just by the tone of her voice. The light note of their previous conversation had been replaced by a businesslike one. "Elizabeth, I'm military. I'm supposed to be the paranoid one." He reminded her.
"I'm not being paranoid, I'm being cautious." She stated. "We haven't known these people that long, so for the next little while we are going to be more careful."
John could sense that he wasn't going to like where this was going. "And what does that mean?"
"It means that you are not to go back to Gandria for a time." She said, her voice gaining an authoritative edge.
"What?"
"Until we can confirm that it was just a simple misunderstanding."
"And how are we going to do that?" He took a step closer to her, now definitely not liking the direction this was headed.
Elizabeth's expression tightened, "I'm going to visit them tomorrow. I had a visit planned for next week, so this will just move it up."
"So you mean to tell me that us 'being cautious' about this planet involves sending you, our leader, there." He said with blatant sarcasm. "That is ridiculous."
"I thought I was just being paranoid." She shot back.
"Well your safety is something I get to be paranoid about." John insisted, raising his voice slightly to prove the point.
Elizabeth coolly raised an eyebrow at this outburst and then attempted to explain while clearly not backing down, "After what happened today I need to smooth things over with these people. We're being cautious for the sake of you, not me."
"Fine, I'm coming with you." At this point John didn't know if he was arguing out of annoyance that his movements were limited, concern for Elizabeth's safety, his innate stubbornness or a combination of all three.
"John, I've-"
He interrupted her, trying to plead his case. "Elizabeth, if they wanted me there were a million times they could have grabbed me. It doesn't make any sense."
"Something else is going on here John, I can feel it." By this time Elizabeth's voice had risen to match his level. "Hopefully I'm wrong and its nothing, but the only clue we have is your engagement, so you are not going back there."
"Clearly, this is-"
This time Elizabeth cut him off sharply, "I've already talked to Lorne. His team is taking me."
She went to Lorne. Going to an officer under his command just ticked him off even more. John opened his mouth to protest.
Elizabeth's eyes flashed, "End of discussion."
John could see that he wasn't going to get anywhere with her. Frustrated, he half growled, "Fine, but you're taking Ronon." And stalked out of her room.
Damn Teyla and her stupid advice.
AN: The last half of this chapter can be blamed on a re-watching of Hot Zone.