Title: Our Mrs. Sheppard
Pairing: Sparky
Spoilers: This takes place sometime after The Tower, so I guess anything before that is fair game.
Disclaimer: I still don't own them or Firefly.
Summary: Sometimes John's off-world shenanigans catch up with him. And sometimes Elizabeth gets involved. Sparky.
Author's note: Okay, it's been a while what with vacation and people visiting, so I hope people are still reading. I also got stuck in a few places, but hopefully the end result is good! Please review!
Chapter 14- The vows
Much later that same day, John headed to the control room, intent on finding Elizabeth. Since the meeting he hadn't seen much of her, having spent the rest of the afternoon and evening dealing with a couple of new recruits and rearranging a few off-world teams. It all had taken quite a bit longer than he thought it would, but he hadn't minded, needing the time to think. He had realized this morning that Sandra and Chuck were right, well at least for his part of it. Sometime in the past two years he had fallen for Elizabeth. John now knew that he had felt this way for a while, but the problem was that he didn't exactly know what to do about any of it. Elizabeth was sort of his boss, and he valued her too much as a friend to screw things up. Looking over certain events of the past year, and some of things she had said last night led him to believe that Chuck might be right about Elizabeth too, but he also realized that it all might just be wishful thinking.
As if matters weren't already complicated enough, during the meeting he had a nagging feeling that something was off about Elizabeth. He couldn't pinpoint the issue exactly, but her version of events just didn't sit right with him. He had tried to shrug it off for the rest of the day, but the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he was right. He didn't know any reason she would be less than perfectly honest with them, with him in particular. Recognizing that sleep was going to be rather impossible until he figured out what had happened, John decided to find Elizabeth, starting with the first place that came to mind, their balcony.
Once he had stepped through the balcony doors, John immediately noticed that Elizabeth was disappointingly absent from her characteristic place. The stillness of the night was rather comforting given the excitement of the past two days, so he momentarily suspended his search to wander out to the balcony's edge, resting his hands lightly on the rail. Only then did he spot a slight form in a darkened corner also staring out at the ocean, an area that had been out of sight from the doorway. It seemed Elizabeth was so lost in thought that she hadn't yet registered his presence. Despite his resolve to talk to her, John couldn't help but wait for a moment to observe her, her figure mostly in shadow yet visible against the stars. When Elizabeth let out a sigh he decided to make his presence known.
He cleared his throat, "It's a nice night, isn't it?"
Elizabeth jumped a little at the sound of his voice, turning from the railing to look at him. One hand came to rest on her chest, "Good God John, you scared me." She answered in a breathless tone.
"Sorry." Now he felt bad. After all she had been through, popping out of the shadows at her probably wasn't the best way to start this conversation, not that he really had any clue how to start this conversation. "It's kind of late, shouldn't you be getting to bed." He added, walking over to join her.
"Oh, don't you start too." Elizabeth said. "Carson has been not so subtly reminding me to take it easy all day."
"And you're out here hiding from him." John smirked, having figured out why she wasn't in her usual spot on the balcony.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're still up too. And I think you got less sleep than I did yesterday."
"Elizabeth, being unconscious doesn't count as sleep."
"Oh…….whatever," she said with a wave of one hand, apparently deciding it wasn't worth arguing about, before turning back to look out at the ocean with a slight smile on her face.
John just shook his head, choosing not to comment. The next time time he was stuck in the infirmary he was going to remind Elizabeth that she was just as unwilling a patient as himself. After a few moments of watching the waves and enjoying her company, John turned to face her, leaning one hip against the rail. "So what are you not telling me?" He asked evenly, deciding to go with the most direct approach.
"What do you mean?"
Her voice was too level in his opinion, a tone she used when negotiating or dealing with expedition members, but rarely one she used with him. It only confirmed his suspicions that she had omitted something from her account of the previous day's events.
"Elizabeth." He said seriously and waited until she turned toward him. "I know you left something out of your statement."
If John hadn't been watching her so carefully he wouldn't have seen the startled look pass briefly across her face. "Why do you say that?"
"I can't explain it. I guess I just feel like you're holding something back."
Elizabeth sighed and broke away from his gaze. "John, it's-"
"And it worries me that you won't tell me." He admitted in a softer voice, cutting off what he assumed was going to be another denial.
Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair and gave him a strained smile. "I guess you know me too well."
Sudden uneasiness coiled in his stomach at the sight of that smile, his mind going to the possible things that could have happened to her or been done to her while she was captured. "Elizabeth, what happened?"
He must not have been able to keep the worry out of his voice because Elizabeth's eyes widened and then a look of guilt washed across her features. "Oh, John…its just…. nothing happened to me." She assured him.
"Okay." Relief was thick in his voice. "Then what are you not telling me." He said, returning to his original question.
"John, it's really nothing."
"Well, if it is nothing then you can tell me."
Elizabeth gave him a long look and then muttered something to herself that he couldn't quite catch. "It's a little embarrassing…..but Imely sort of assumed some things about you and I."
"What things?"
"What things?" She stared at him like he was an idiot. "She assumed we were…involved or something. That's why the Genii wanted me, because they thought they would get farther negotiating with you for my safety. Apparently you made quite an impression on them when they invaded the city and you thought I was dead." The words had come out in a rush and now that the onslaught was finished, Elizabeth looked like she had regretted them.
"Oh." He hadn't thought the Genii would interpret his actions that way.
Elizabeth crossed her arms, seeming to have regained some of her composure. "Look, I know I don't need to remind you about this, but we wouldn't negotiate in that kind of situation."
"I know that." He said in a low voice. "But it would be hard not to."
"I know," Elizabeth replied with a soft smile, and for the second time in as many days John realized that she had to experience these types of things a lot more often than he did in Atlantis.
"Well, I think I'll be going to bed now," Elizabeth said, interrupting the silence that had fallen over their conversation and taking a step toward the door.
"I just have one more thing to ask you." John moved into her path causing Elizabeth to stop and wait for him to speak. He suddenly felt nervous and unconsciously took a step closer to her. "Why didn't you say any of this in the meeting?"
She looked up at him, startled by the question. "I didn't……John…" His name trailed off and John was too caught up in the swirl of emotions in her green eyes to notice that Elizabeth was blushing.
Silence hung in the air as they looked at each other. His hand drifted up to gently touch her cheek and before he realized what he was doing, John leaned in to catch her lips in a gentle kiss.
Elizabeth stiffened briefly in surprise and then relaxed against him. One of her hands clutched at his shirt to draw him closer, and then seconds later the other wove up into his hair. The feel of her so warm and responsive in his arms caused John to lose what little restraint he had. He pulled her even closer, his mouth more urgently taking hers, pouring all the worry, fear, and relief of the past couple days into the kiss. Time seemed to halt in that moment as he got lost in Elizabeth.
The sensation of her starting to pull away caused John to snap out of the passionate haze, and he quickly released her, moving a step back to give her some space. After a second, Elizabeth glanced up at him, breathing a little bit heavier than usual. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it and ran a hand through her hair. John couldn't help but feel the smallest amount of satisfaction to have flustered the normally oh-so composed Elizabeth. She looked beautiful standing there in front of him with flushed cheeks and tousled hair.
"So that's what that's like." A smile touched the corners of her mouth and an answering grin spread across John's face.
"Yeah." He couldn't stop smiling at her and reached out to tuck a curl behind one ear.
She caught his hand on its way back to his side and laced her fingers through his. "You don't have to have to look so pleased with yourself." She noted, playfully raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, but I'm quite pleased with myself. And I think you are too." He used their joined hands to pull her toward him, meaning to kiss her again, but Elizabeth put a hand on his chest to stop him.
"John, what is this?"
He smirked, "Do I need to draw you a diagram?"
"No, I'm serious." She bit her lip in thought and her eyes shifted from his to the hand on his chest. "With our situation, if we're going to do this…." She sighed and caught his gaze with a serious look. "I just….I don't do flings."
"That's not what this is, Elizabeth." He said, giving the words a certain weight. "Not with you."
At hearing this, Elizabeth's mouth spread into an inviting grin. Her arms curled around his neck, pulling his lips down to meet hers in a soft kiss that quickly deepened into much more. It was longer this time before they came up for air, both breathing raggedly. They stood there for a while wrapped in each other's arms and staring out at the ocean, simply content to enjoy the moment.
"You know," John started, causing Elizabeth to raise her head from where it was resting against his shoulder to look at him. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but if this is the result of almost getting engaged off-world, I kind of wish it had happened sooner."
Elizabeth's eyes sparkled and before pulling him into another kiss she whispered, "Me too."
The End
AN: I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading and for all the reviews! I really had fun writing this one because it was based around my favorite reason for why Elizabeth and John haven't gotten together, basically she's delusional and he's oblivious. I may do an epilogue of sorts in the future, but am not sure exactly how it will go, so I'll end it here. Hope you enjoyed!!