I know! I know! This is so horribly overdue that apologies do not suffice. But I'm sorry...so sorry…xxxxx Kit

Chapter 5:

Elizabeth woke up the next morning from a blissful night's sleep and frowned. Had she been dreaming last night? It felt like it was a nice dream, a pleasant. Ah yes…candlelight dinner with John…

Elizabeth rolled her eyes in exasperation, got out of bed and stood in front of her bathroom mirror. She took in her appearance. Not too shabby for a woman in her late 30s if I do say so myself, in fact you're positively glowing…She nodded at herself appreciatively before she started to brush her teeth. Huh, God, when was the last time I glowed like this? …Oh I remember, it was when Simon proposed…I'd never felt so in…shit. She nearly choked on her toothpaste and quickly washed her mouth out. Elizabeth looked at her reflection again and mentally kicked herself very, very hard. Congratulations, you're in love.

xoxoxox

In another room, in another corridor, her second-in-command was confronted with a very similar emotion, but was panicked by the fact that, well, he wasn't panicking. Sex dreams about Elizabeth was one thing, but fantasies about the joys of domestic bliss should be worrying, very worrying. John Sheppard wasn't the 'domestic' guy; on those rare occasions he had glimpsed into the future, he imagined dying some heroic death blowing the Wraith all to hell or spending his weekend watching the Superbowl and old cowboy movies with a lot of popcorn and even more beer, but 8 years of marriage? With Elizabeth? With children? This caused him to wake up with a satisfied grin on his face?

John clipped on his watch and stepped outside into the corridor for his typical morning run and sighed with resignation. He'd had a dream which should have caused alarm bells to go off but instead he was content. He was content because he had the perfect dream. A dream which didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of ever becoming reality.

Xoxoxox

Elizabeth sighed with frustration and ran her hands through her hair. She'd spent the last hour trying to read Major Lorne and his team's latest reports with little success. The pot, John's birthday gift to her during their first year on Atlantis, was staring at her expectantly and, despite her constant endeavour to ignore it, it kept catching the corner of her eye. Damn pot, doesn't go with anything in this office. She looked out at the gate-room for the fifth time as she fiddled with her watch. She had pathetically hoped that a cup of coffee would submerge her feelings for John under caffeine, but she had no such luck. If anything, she felt worse. She sighed again. "You know what they say; coffee makes the heart grow fonder." She mumbled under her breath.

"I think you'll find that it's 'absence'." Elizabeth's head snapped round to find the object of her thoughts leaning against her doorway, almost nonchalantly. Yeah, you keep leaning whilst I have to ignore my apparent love for you…bastard…

"Absence?" Elizabeth turned back to her laptop and started typing something, anything.

"Mmm.." He stepped away from the doorway and placed a file on her desk before standing up straight, almost expectantly. He paused, waited a couple of minutes; she didn't look up. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Elizabeth started and looked up. Are you trying to torment me? Go away already. "What?" She snapped.

John raised his eyebrows slightly at her tone. "You know, it's a saying, like 'too many cooks spoil the broth' or 'life's like a box of chocolates' or-"

Elizabeth held a hand up. "Don't quote Forrest Gump, okay? It wasn't a 'what do you mean?' what, I'm not stupid. It was a 'what are you doing here?' kind of what, but…doesn't matter, I have reports to read right now so if you could just…" She trailed off and looked pointedly at the door and then back at her reports, fully aware that if she looked up again she would be confronted by irritated John Sheppard.

He shook his head in annoyance. "I don't think you're stupid and I didn't come into this office to pick a fight with you, I brought you my report…I guess I didn't realise that I couldn't talk without you getting pissed off!" She groaned and tried to interrupt, but he spoke over her. "And anyway! I thought you liked Forrest Gump!"

"Look!" She stood up and leaned over her desk defensively. "I have a lot of work to do and deadlines to meet! I do not have time to…" She waved her hand between the two of them, struggling to find a word to describe what this even was. Chat? Argue? Flirt? What even is this? Mentally exhausted, she placed her hands on her hips in frustration and just looked at him.

He waited a few more seconds to see if she would carry on her rant, but, to his surprise, the great Dr. Weir was at a loss at what to say. All the anger dissipated from his body as he filled in the gaps. "Don't have time to do what? Do something other than work yourself into the ground? Elizabeth, you need to relax; do yoga, take a cooking class, get Rodney to give you a spa treatment…" she snorted at that, but unwilling gave him the small smile he was hoping for, "…just stop and breathe. Okay? Now, close down your laptop and go take a nap or something. You look exhausted."

She widened her eyes in horror. Nap? What, so I can dream about you again? You have got to be kidding me… She quickly shook her head. "No, no, a nap is not what I need right now, I need to concentrate on work and focus on…" She trailed off as John came around the desk and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently but firmly.

"Elizabeth…" He whispered, scolding. "You need to rest…" But rest was the last thing on either of their minds at that moment. The sexual tension in the room was palpable. Was it John's imagination or did the room suddenly feel significantly smaller and warmer. He felt like he couldn't quite catch a breath; he resisted but his eyes flickered to her lips back to her eyes again. He nearly gasped when he saw that her eyes had failed at resisting the exact same compulsion. Were they getting closer? It felt like they were getting closer? If he just bent his head down a little more, he could-

"Elizabeth, I have more translating work for you to do!!" Rodney strolled in, oblivious, as Elizabeth and John jumped apart.

Elizabeth Weir, you are screwed. She cleared her throat. "Oh…oh really, that's great Rodney, but I, er…would you excuse me?" And with that, she grabbed her laptop, smiled sheepishly at Rodney and marched out of her office, purposely avoiding the Colonel's gaze.

Rodney frowned, startled by Elizabeth's lack of enthusiasm and hasty departure. He turned questioningly to Sheppard. "Colonel, what is up with-" McKay stopped himself as he took in John's appearance; he was scratching the back of his neck nervously and he looked almost flustered. Rodney recoiled in horror. "OH MY GOD! You told her about those sex dreams, didn't you?!!"

There was a pause…Elizabeth stopped mid-step in the middle of the control room…everyone's eyes flitting from her glass office to her. Yep, definitely screwed...