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: I'm back!! Sorry for the delay in getting this one out, but I was out of town for a couple days, and this chapter was rather challenging to write in places. But it is a slightly longer chapter, so hopefully that will make up for the wait. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 7- The in-laws

Elizabeth stared at the stargate as the wormhole whooshed closed and then set off with the rest of Lorne's team for the settlement. The stargate overlooked a small meadow that transitioned into tall grass and finally a forest. From her one previous trip to the planet, shortly after their initial contact, she knew that they had about a 45 minute walk ahead of them to the village. Given that her day was going to be filled with smoothing over Sheppard's engagement, preliminary negotiations of an alliance, and watching out for anything suspicious, she was looking forward to the downtime that the journey to the village would provide. Not to mention, it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm with just the slightest breeze.

Lorne was leading the way, with the members of his team both in front of and trailing her, and she caught snippets of conversation as they made their way across the meadow. Ronon, her Sheppard-mandated shadow for the day, walked next to her, unsurprisingly silent. Elizabeth realized that this would be the perfect time to find out more about Ronon. Despite the fact that he had been on Atlantis for a while now, she really didn't know him all that well. She thought through the most obvious topics of conversation and discarded them for various reasons. This really wasn't the place to discuss about his past on Sateda or as a runner. Asking what he thought about Atlantis or his team seemed trite. And knowing that a significant part of her day was going to be spent on small talk meant that she really didn't want to have to make any right now. Reflecting on what she did know about Ronon lead her believe that he was the type of person who wouldn't appreciate small talk either, so Elizabeth strolled along in silence, letting her mind wander and her footsteps lull her into a comfortable peace.

However, eventually her thoughts turned back to John Sheppard, as they often did. She had never met anyone who could get under her skin so easily. Last night had been the perfect example. Everything was going fine and then somehow blew up into another argument. Like anyone else, Elizabeth didn't like to have her reasoning or authority challenged, but there was really no excuse for getting so defensive and yelling at her second in command, even if he had yelled at her first. Well, maybe yelling was an exaggeration; it was more like loud talking. Anyway, as a diplomat she had more than enough experience to not be goaded into losing focus in the course of a discussion, and especially to not let the situation escalate to yelling...um...loud talking. She had known it was going to be a fight with Sheppard, that he wasn't going to like having to stay in Atlantis, but realizing this hadn't even helped her present her case. She had even gone over all the points in her mind in preparation for speaking with him before the briefing today. Then last night he had gotten all stubborn and overprotective and her best laid plans flew out the window. She hadn't even brought up the biggest reason for John to not accompany her, that it would almost be an insult to the people of Gandria. Like earlier in the day, rational thought had fled and she just reacted. Elizabeth sighed. Atleast they had managed to come to a cease fire of sorts before she left. It seemed wrong somehow to leave Atlantis with things still strained between them. John could just be so frustrating!

And hot. That part of herself that she tried not to listen to decided to speak up. Sometimes when they argued, like last night, his eyes would flash a certain way and there would be this palpable tension pulsing between them, almost drawing them together. As if he was responding to that force, John would invade her personal space, bringing them that much closer, and she would get all caught up in the way-

"Dr. Weir."

The sound of Ronon's voice tore Elizabeth away from what were sure to become rather inappropriate thoughts. Feeling her face flush a little she glanced around, taking notice of her surroundings. To her surprise they had made their way through much of the forest and were rapidly approaching a canyon. Over the years the Gandrians had dug out an extensive network of rooms in the large canyon, at places four or five stories high, to protect themselves from the Wraith. However, rather than just hiding in the caverns during cullings, the Gandrians lived in them.

She looked up at Ronon gratefully, "Thanks." The stairs down to the canyon floor were narrow and winding, giving the advantage to the villagers should the Wraith ever try to take the village by foot, but it required some measure of concentration to navigate. And her attention had obviously been somewhere else...well really on someone else, but she doubted that anyone knew that.

Ronon just nodded back at her. A few minutes later they reached the edge of the canyon and started the climb down to the village.

"Greetings Dr. Weir." Elder Alix said warmly with a slight nod of his head. He was a man of average height and although well into his fifties still had a head of raven black hair. After meeting him on her previous visit, Elizabeth had instantly seen why he had been elected as village leader. He had a manner about him that seemed to both naturally command and put people at ease.

"Elder Alix," Elizabeth replied, returning the nod of respect. "I'm glad we could meet today, despite the short notice."

"Well, after the events of yesterday, I think it is best." He responded genuinely and they started to walk to his home. "I still am not sure what happened, but I would not want it to come between your people and mine."

"My thoughts exactly. Perhaps it is best if we put the matter behind us." She suggested.

He gave her a pleased smile. "Consider it done."

Their meeting continued in the same genial manner. Gandria boasted a wide variety of plant life that could be used for medicinal purposes, which meant she had some very excited botanists and doctors on her hands. In turn Atlantis was offering medical supplies and agriculture advice. Although some of the population lived on farms outside the central cities, the Gandrians still had to trade for a portion of their food. Increasing crop yield was therefore an important issue.

When they broke for lunch she went to consult with Major Lorne. Ronon had stayed with her during the morning's discussion, but she had instructed Lorne's team to casually look around the village for anything suspicious. To put it simply Lorne's team hadn't found anything. Her afternoon was spent touring the village with Elder Alix, and Elizabeth hadn't picked up on anything strange over the course of the day either, making her feel a little ridiculous about her suspicions.

"I'm regret to inform you Dr. Weir that some of the village leaders will not be able to attend the meeting," Alix looked up from the note he had just received after their tour of the village. They were sitting in his study, awaiting guests that now appeared not be coming. "There was a fire in one of the villages west of here, so three of the Elders will not be able to make the meeting."

"By all means, we should delay the meeting then," Elizabeth replied. She had wanted to meet the other Elders. Alix was the leader of this village of about 500 people, but there were around 10 other villages like this spread throughout the canyon. She had hoped to meet with five other of the village Elders on this trip to begin preliminary negotiations with the people as a group. "I hope no one is injured."

He frowned at the note, "It appears no one was seriously hurt. However, I'm afraid this will cut short your visit." The initial plan had been for Elizabeth to meet with the Council of Elders and then get to know them better over what would have probably been a lengthy dinner.

He paused and gave her a considering look. "There is someone who wished to speak to you. I was thinking about having her guide you back to the stargate. I also wanted you to visit a local farm on your trip here, which time will allow for now, and she could show you her family's farm on the way."

"That sounds like an excellent way to end our visit." Elizabeth sensed there was a little more to what he was saying and was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "You can contact me later and we can work out when it would be convenient for me to meet the members of the Council."

Elder Alix nodded and then sighed, "Dr. Weir, Imely was the one who wanted to meet with you."

"Really," she raised her eyebrows. That was a little surprising, but maybe the young woman wanted some sort of closure on the issue with Sheppard.

"Personally, I'm not sure it is such a good idea with what happened, but I will let you decide," he confessed, seeming frustrated by the whole situation, a feeling Elizabeth could whole-heartedly understand. "I am a little worried about her, she was rather disappointed yesterday."

"I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea." Elizabeth said after a brief moment's thought. She assumed Imely was feeling foolish over what had happened and probably just needed some reassurance. Considering they would be having a lot more contact with the Gandrians it seemed important to do what she could to help along the healing process. And it wasn't like she couldn't sympathize with her. "As you said, I would like to see a farm as it is an integral part of our peoples' alliance. And maybe it would be good for her to talk about happened, although I'm not exactly sure why she wants to talk to me."

"Well, I will send for her and after a farewell toast you can be on your way." He motioned to a man standing near the door, who exited immediately. "I noticed her in the market when we were walking through town," Alix further explained.

The term 'farewell toast' made Elizabeth curious. Did every Gandrian ceremony involve drinking something? At the beginning of their meeting today her, Ronon, and Lorne's team had participated in a greeting ceremony, which was drinking a cup full of water. She knew part of the marriage process involved drinking wine out of a bowl and now it seemed that leaving required some sort of ceremonial drink as well. She wondered how it had all started. Maybe the Gandrains were just a thirsty people. Sure enough when Imely arrived not five minutes later she was carrying a tray full of cups filled with a dark orange colored juice, enough for the Atlantians and Elder Alix. After some ceremonial words of parting and downing the slightly bitter drink, they started back in the direction of the stargate, planning to stop at Imely's family farm on the way.

On the way Imely was rather silent. Elizabeth had thought that once they reached the forest the woman would make some attempt at the conversation she had wanted to have. However, it wasn't until they came to the beginnings of the grassland and were turning onto a path leading to Imely's farm that she drew Elizabeth off to the side to speak with her. Elizabeth nodded at Ronon and moved further to one side of the road so they could speak more privately.

"Elder Alix said you wanted to speak to me." Elizabeth said in a breathy tone, deciding it might be easier of she started the conversation. She was a little surprised how winded the journey up the canyon and through the forest had made her.

"Yes, Dr. Weir," Imely answered quietly, watching her carefully with dark eyes. "I feel rather stupid about the whole thing."

Elizabeth was unsure of how to respond. How does one girl-talk in the Pegasus Galaxy with a perfect stranger about their second in command? "Well mistakes can happen. No harm was done." She replied in a hopefully reassuring manner.

Imely regarded her with a searching look. "I just wanted to let you know that he didn't do anything wrong. I guess I just mistook his attention for something else."

Elizabeth smiled slightly, "You're not the first one who has done so. Trust me there's nothing to worry about."

Imely's eyebrows rose at that and a look of comprehension spread over her face. However, before Elizabeth could consider what that look meant, a sudden feeling of vertigo hit her, causing her steps to halt. She reached out to grab onto Imely's arm for balance, but found nothing but air. The next instant her vision blurred. She could hear muffled groans coming from around her. Time seemed to stretch until another wave a dizziness hit.

This time everything went black.

TBC