Elizabeth sighed, another busy day to add to her already hectic day, she rubbed her temples wearily, once again Rodney was temporarily off duty for a week until the egg sized welt went down on his forehead and he could see straight again. It was a miracle he was even still with them, Elizabeth thanked her lucky stars for that, and Rodney's inept genius.

"Doctor Weir?" spoke the young Lieutenant Jones, a recent bring in from the SGC, she had arrived just a few days ago, the Daedalus was due to leave tomorrow, she could tell this young woman, Nancy she believed her name was, would be a fine addition to their small "family".

"Yes Lieutenant?" Elizabeth said waving the young redheaded woman into her office.

"Colonel Caldwell just brought the mail from the Daedalus ma'am, and there was this for you," the young woman said handing her the envelope.

"Thank you Lieutenant…" Elizabeth quickly opened it, her eyes skimming the page. She suddenly covered her mouth, "Lieutenant…could you please…have Doctor Beckett, Colonel Sheppard, Teyla and Doctor McKay report to my office…" she whispered.

"Certainly ma'am, is everything all right?"

"Uh…no," Elizabeth replied gently.

The young Lieutenant quickly exited the room, no doubt contacting the five people requested by Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's eyes ran over the words yet again.

My Dearest Sister,

Perhaps I should not be telling you this, for you have little to no memory of our mother, and what you do have is ill willed. I am no fool, I know you spoke of our step-mother as your true mother. However, you deserve the right to at least no what's happened. Our true mother has died, her funeral will be in two days, on the 21st, I hope you will come, and at least give her the respect she deserves…I would also like you to go through her stuff, I am currently unable, and will already have to leave right after the funeral. Everything is in order, you should not feel obligated to keep any of the stuff left in the house, however should you do so, it is all yours to keep. I am sorry again Eliza, but I felt you had some right to know. Her last thoughts were of you…

With all my Love,

William

"Elizabeth?" Rodney's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, she looked up at him, trying desperately to hold back the tears threatening to slid down her unusually pale cheeks.

"What's wrong lass?" Carson asked as he joined Rodney in the room.

Teyla and John arrived only seconds later, Elizabeth sighed, pointing to the various chairs in her room. She paused a moment, preparing herself to explain what she had just received.

"I just received this letter," without anther word, she handed it off to Rodney who was sitting closest to her.

He quickly took the letter and skimmed it, before reading it allowed, he looked up at her with a little confusion written on his face, "you…said you mother died from breast cancer?"

"She did…my mother, Karen Acavone-Weir died on April 22nd of breast cancer. That was shortly after she married my father…probably four or five years."

"Then Karen wasn't your real mother?" John asked.

"No…my real mother's name was Alicia Anderson Weir…I was six when my father divorced, one year later he married my mother Karen. I know it sounds confusing, but my real mother, birth mother was dead to me long before now…she's been dead from the time I was four or five."

"Are you going?" Rodney asked.

"What about Atlantis?" Elizabeth asked.

"We can take care of it for you, you can even take Rod," John offered.

"Really?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sure, I'm not allowed to go off world for a few more days, a little vacation away from all that's happened couldn't hurt, I'll even bring Lauryn."

"I…I don't know," Elizabeth whispered.

"The Daedalus goes home tomorrow, you'll have to be gone for at least two weeks, so decide, since the funeral is the day after tomorrow you have all of today and tomorrow to consider it," John explained.

"Carson?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ye want my medical opinion or my opinion as your friend?"

"Both…" Elizabeth whispered.

"Go, take Rodney and Lauryn, get lost in some old memories, good or bad, let it all go. Come back here with a new sense of calm and collectedness. It'll be better than you think."

"All right…"

"Good," John said smiling, "Teyla and I can protect Atlantis for you, we'll even get Ronan to stand guard and snap at anyone who tries to do something they're not supposed to," he grinned.

"Behave," Elizabeth replied.

"I should get back to work, but if you need anyone to talk to lass, we're here," Carson said getting to his feet.

"Thank you Carson," she sighed as he, John and Teyla left, only Rodney remained. "You don't really have to come…"

"Sure I do, you'd do the same thing for me," he explained.

"That's true, I would…but…"

"Elizabeth, let me do this for you, Lauryn and I can help you get through this."

"Thanks…I may need it…" He reached out across the desk and squeezed her hand before heading out the door.

Elizabeth took a deep cleansing breath, in one arm she held Lauryn who clung tightly to her side, Rodney was holding both their bags as well as Lauryn's. She looked back up at the balcony, where John stood, he waved lightly to her. He had approached her earlier that afternoon in her quarters, telling her how sorry everyone was that she had lost her mother, and how he wanted her to return soon.

She waved a goodbye, then stepped through the gate, followed closely by Rodney. When they stepped through on the other side, Lauryn was beginning to whimper. Daniel stood at the end of the platform with a soft smile on his face. "Hi Liz," he said gently. She made her way down the ramp, greeting her friend with a strong hug. "This must be Lauryn," Daniel grinned as he gently tickled the girl's tummy.

"It is," smiled Elizabeth in reply.

"Hello Doctor Jackson," Rodney greeted.

Daniel smiled and held out his hand, "Hi Rodney, Sam apologizes for not being here…but she's been busy lately."

"It's fine."

"Daniel…transportation?"

"Right, there's a small, simplistic jet waiting outside for you in back, it'll fly you to the Connecticut airport."

"Thank you," Elizabeth replied.

The Air Force had made sure to rent Elizabeth a car for their drive, and to make sure their was a car seat for Lauryn. The flight itself was just short of five hours. Rodney had stretched out near the isle, with Lauryn in his lap and had fallen asleep within moments of take off, Elizabeth; on the other hand couldn't settle her mind.

She was stunned by how easy Rodney could sleep during the day, and yet couldn't slow down enough to sleep at night. His mind always ran more than it should, then again he had suffered a concussion less than a week. The plane landed in the airport, Rodney had been told to pack warmly, Connecticut in February was not a warm time of year.

With Lauryn wrapped up, they made their way over to the navy blue SUV, "I'll strap Lauryn in," Elizabeth spoke, knowing Rodney wasn't quite awake yet, and probably hadn't had much experience strapping children into anything but a chair to keep them silent.

The drive up to the old house was beautiful, it was a thirty minute drive from the airport to where she used to live, she could remember it as though she had lived there only days ago. "You doing okay?" Rodney asked.

"Yeah…just thinking, you're going to see the house I grew up in, you realize that?"

"Plenty of memories then," he said grinning, "your dad didn't sell it, or have you guys sell it?"

"No…I guess he wanted to preserve some part of it, Will rented it out for a few years, but I lived in it for awhile, then finally I paid it off, and kept it as a get away…" she smiled fondly.

"A get away?"

"Well, I traveled, so when I actually came home, if I wasn't with Simon, I stayed here."

"Oh, okay," he grinned nodding.

"She wasn't a bad person…my mother," Elizabeth began.

"I sense a "but" there."

"But, she had a way of twisting people's words, she was the bane of my step-mother's existence when she was alive…and my dad's. She was diagnosed as Schizophrenic when I was eighteen, but before that…I don't know…like I said she was head to me long before that point. She used to push people to their break limit until they were about ready to snap and lose all control. Don't get me wrong, I didn't really hate her when I was six or seven…I didn't like her, but I was too young to understand why mommy didn't love Will and little Eliza."

"Eliza huh?"

"My father gave me that nickname, I never knew why, I think part of it had to do with my grandmother's name. Anyway, mom and dad split, and I wasn't one of those kids who was firmly attached to my mother, I never cried when she left…a Psychologist would said I had an Avoidant relationship with my mother…which was true. I would avoid her whenever I could. I always cried for dad. I never wanted my mother's love, or her holding me. Most people just said it was a phase and that I was really just a daddy's girl, and that in time I would grow close to my mother."

"And obviously you did, just not to Alicia," Rodney replied.

"Exactly, although I wasn't very fond of Karen when I first met her either, at the time she was just another woman I had to share my "daddy" with. Will and I worked at making her life a living hell…"

"Then what changed?"

"She was honest with me, I was eight… kids had been picking on me all day, and my father was busy, I thought no one in the world could love me. I spent hours crying in my room, hoping someone would notice me. Karen came home, she heard the cries. She was there for me when no one else was. She held me while I cried, talked to me, kept me company. She told me that she loved me like her own, and that she would never hurt me like my mom did. From that moment on, Karen became my mother, in all rights but birth right."

"She sounds great."

"She was, she would have loved you…she would have seen what I see."

"An ass?" joked Rodney.

"No," returned Elizabeth, "an honest and good man who tries to hard at times."

"And your other mother?" Rodney said focusing the attention back on her.

"Alicia was in and out of the hospital for a couple years…When I got older, I was a bit of a rebellion, I'm sure for awhile dad feared I would turn into mom…"

"What changed his mind…and yours?"

"A mental break down at fourteen…I spent a weekend with mom, and she chose to tell me something's I didn't like to hear. She called Karen a slut, and that she slept around while she was with my father…I don't remember every crying so hard in my entire life…I came running into the house, sobbing to my father telling him how I hated her and never wanted to see her again."

"What did your dad say?"

"He restricted mom to see me every Christmas and we had a birthday dinner the week after my birthday…I never saw her other than that."

"How did your mom take that?"

"About as well as she probably took having a baby," Elizabeth chuckled.

"Not well obviously."

"No…the last time I saw her was my graduation…she argued with me about a stupid ticket for her boyfriend, who I refused to allow him to come. She was furious, she came…but after that I never saw her."

"I'm sorry Liz, that almost makes my life sound pleasant…"

"How do you figure?" Elizabeth spoke with surprise, she knew Rodney had been born into a trouble family, he had told her some stories.

"Well…at least my dad went away, granted it was hard for me and I think of how sad I was for that length of time, he did go away, I never had to deal with him after that…yours…yours was still there, you always had that worry in the back of your mind."

"I suppose looking at it like that, yes, but once I hit twenty-one she never really bothered us. I used to hear dad yelling about her for awhile, how she wouldn't take her medicine, dad was tortured by her for years…sometimes I think she killed him. Slowly."

Rodney reached out and gently clasped her hand. She looked down at the hand in hers, with a grateful smile she squeezed it in return.

The house was beautiful and seemed full of life, it was a two story old fashioned brick house, with wood paneling on the side, the paneling was an off brown, making it look rustic and old, and lived in. The drive way was short, there was a wrap around porch with a swing in front of the bay window.

"Well?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's beautiful," he grinned.

Nodding Elizabeth pulled the keys out of her pocket, unlocking the door she pushed it open, Rodney stepped inside behind her, Lauryn in his arms. It was just as stunning on the inside as the outside. There were a set of stairs with an over looking balcony to the right, that no doubt went to at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on the other side of the stairs was a large living room, Rodney chose to explore that first. The floor was wood, making it look traditional, there was carpet under the couches, which were a denim blue, a light wooden coffee table sat between the couch and love seat. A TV against the wall. The walls were an off golden yellow, making the room emanate with warmth. Behind the love seat sat the fire place with a mantel, Rodney easily guess they probably rarely if ever used the fire place. Above it sat various picture frames. Rodney grinned, "you?" he asked pointing to the long haired girl waving to the camera. Freckles colored her nose and cheeks, the same beautiful green eyes looked back at him through the young girl's eyes.

The picture next to Elizabeth's childhood one, was no doubt her Senior picture, she was resting on a white wicket bench, her head lying on her arms looking into the picture, her eyes seemed to sparkle with life.

"You were beautiful," he whispered.

"Thank you, so, would you like the rest of the tour?"

"Sure," Rodney grinned.

The kitchen wasn't large, just big enough to fit three bodies and have little space left, but it seemed well equipped, the dinning room sat a beautiful ancient oak table.

"There are three bedrooms upstairs, the master, and two kid's rooms. I'm fairly sure Will's crib is probably in my old room, we can lay Lauryn in there tonight…"

"Sounds good, it's a very nice house Lizzy," he whispered smiling at her.

"Thank you…We should get ready, the funeral is in two hours…and it takes half an hour to get there…"

Rodney nodded, "I'll get Lauryn ready.

"Great, towels are up in the closet first door on your left, the bathroom is the second door on your left, you can't miss it."

"Thanks."

Elizabeth was eerily silent throughout most of the funeral, Lauryn was also quiet, sitting between the two of them, though she seemed quite content playing with Elizabeth's bracelet that Rodney had bought her. Rodney sat on the other side of Lauryn, watching Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. She hadn't shed a tear yet, and he knew it was in there somewhere.

No matter how much children wanted to deny it, the hardest thing was to lose a parent, it was even harder sometimes to lose a parent you weren't close to. It brought out thoughts of what you had done wrong. What ifs and if onlys. Rodney could remember spending weeks wondering what if he had tried harder to love his father, what if he had just been a better son. In the end the pain was still there and he felt worse than he ever had.

They went to the cemetery, Rodney was actually surprised by how few people were there. It reminded him of something his father had once said about famous well known people "son, when the president dies, hundreds of people will go, and stand around and watch, show their respect, but when I die, only thirty or forty people will come, they will all be heartbroken, now you tell me, who is the more worthy."

It didn't make much sense, in either way they were respecting the dead, but Rodney always assumed Luke was trying to tell him it wasn't about who knew him and how big a name he could be, it was about how he treated people and if he had friends.

Elizabeth seemed to cling to Rodney, gripping his hand tightly in his, he didn't relent. He had gripped her hand from the second they had stepped out of the car. When it was over and people started to break off, Rodney lingered a moment with Elizabeth, figuring maybe she'd want to pay a final respect alone.

"Liz?" came a voice.

Rodney looked up to see a tall man, probably a little taller than John, with the dark raven hair and green eyes, "William," came Elizabeth's voice.

He watched as the two stepped forward and grabbed each other in an earth shattering hug, "I'm so sorry Lizzy, I just thought you might want to be here," he cried as he held her.

"I did Will, I did, thank you," Elizabeth said.

"Thanks for coming."

"Any time little brother…"

Rodney opened the door to the house, setting the keys down in the basket by the door. Elizabeth slipped in behind him, holding very precious sleeping cargo. Rodney grinned as Elizabeth touched her finger to her lips, "I'll go put her upstairs," she whispered.

Rodney nodded and watched her head up to the extra room. He sighed as he headed into the kitchen to make some coffee, maybe he'd watch a movie before he headed off to bed.

When Rodney returned from the kitchen, he saw Elizabeth standing in front of the mantle, her arms wrapped around her chest, as she faced the wall. He could tell she was either crying or starting to cry. "Liz?" he whispered.

She turned around, her eyes were already blood shot, tears streaming from her eyes, "I…I'm so weak," she cried as she covered her face with her hands.

"Hey," Rodney admonished, "you are anything but weak."

"I didn't cry when the wraith attack, but I cry when someone I barely knew died," she whimpered. "I just…god Rodney, she's gone," sobbed Elizabeth.

He had been expecting this, and he would have gotten worried if the tears had never come. Reaching out, he pulled her into a hug, her hands covered her tear stained face as she sobbed into his shoulder. He gently rubbed her back in slow calming circles. She had to get this out of her system if she intended to heal.

"You're not weak Liz," he whispered into her ear.

"She was my mom…we may never have gotten along…but I loved her," whimpered Elizabeth.

"I understand, believe me," he pulled away for a moment and gazed into her beautiful green eyes.

"I wasted so much time, holding a grudge, now she's gone."

Rodney gently thumbed away her tears, "hey, you weren't in the wrong here Liz. You tried to care, she was the one who hurt you."

Elizabeth nodded, " I know, but it doesn't stop if from hurting," she whispered.

Rodney sighed, "I know."

Suddenly looked at him, growing quite, her head still caught between his loving hands, their eyes were frozen on each other. She found herself suddenly craning up to him, as his head dipped down and their lips met. If sparks really shot off, then they would have for Elizabeth and Rodney. His hands were still on her face, as she felt her own hands drift up to the back of his neck and head. The kiss deepened and for the first time since she had received the letter, Elizabeth felt contentment, as the exhaustion left her.

Seconds after it had started Rodney suddenly split and backed away, a look of fear on his face as he tried to rapidly draw breath into his lungs through his kiss swollen lips, "shit!" he hissed as he suddenly took another step away from her, "god Liz! Shit! I'm sorry…this wasn't how I planned it…I didn't mean…I'm such an idiot! I never wanted to take advantage of you!"

"No, no," she shook her head, raising her hand to her own lips she smiled softly, "no, we both…it takes to…to tango," she said smiling softly.

"Ah…now what?"

"You're my best friend Rodney, my closest friend, the person I can confide in, I don't want this to ruin what I have so naturally with you."

"I don't either…do we pretend that didn't just happen?"

"No, we kissed, we're adults Rodney, not teenagers. We both know how we feel about each other…We're not going to pretend we didn't kiss and hope it goes away, we'll deal with it like the adults we are."

"Right…uh, I made some coffee…did you want some?" he asked trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

"Sure."

Rodney returned, and sat down beside her on the couch, handing her the cup of coffee, "I stuck Star Wars in…"

"Insomnia strikes again?" she said smiling as she curled against his side, her legs tucked under her.

"Yeah," he whispered.

She smiled as he reached out to grasp her free hand that was resting on her knee. Smiling she gently leaned her head against his shoulder. They wouldn't ever get far, she knew that, she was supposed to be his boss, and her biggest fear was he would stop respecting her if they ever became truly involved, but she enjoyed the time she spent with him. And she certainly couldn't deny that she had enjoyed that kiss.

Neither lasted through the hour, Rodney had his legs propped up on the table, his head leaning against the couch, sound asleep, with Elizabeth still at his side, curled against him sleeping on his chest.

Morning hit the beautiful house, sighing Elizabeth stretched her long cramped legs and opened her eyes. She chuckled softly as she realized they had fallen asleep through the movie.

"Good morning," Rodney murmured as he looked around tiredly.

"We fell asleep," she said chuckling.

"You want breakfast?"

"Uh…there isn't much in the fridge."

"That's okay, I can run out and grab us something, what do you want?"

"Whatever, pancakes or something."

"Can do," he smiled as he grabbed her car keys and headed out the door.

"DADDY!" came the cry from upstairs, of someone who wanted to make herself known to the world, that she was awake and aware of being alone.

"Coming Lauryn," Elizabeth moved up the stairs and smiled at Lauryn.

The baby was standing up in her crib, holding onto the railing jumping up and down, "hey, careful now, that things older than your daddy," Elizabeth grinned as she reached under Lauryn's arms and lifted the baby into her arms.

"Mama," she giggled clapping.

"We're going to have to see what daddy has to say about that one, now won't we."

Rodney returned with bags from McDonalds ten or fifteen minutes later, he set them down on the table and greeted his daughter with a kiss to the forehead. "MAMA!" the girl giggled as she pointed to Elizabeth who had started removing the food from the bag.

"Huh, you think that's a hint?" Rodney asked looking up at her with his boyish grin. "Can you believe that? Subliminal messages already and she's only fourteen months."

"Oh hardly, besides it actually has to be subtle to be subliminal Rodney," Elizabeth grinned as she headed into the kitchen to get plates, and cutlery.

"Oh I don't know, don't underestimate the power of her Elizabeth, she's a crafty on she is," he said as he tickled the little girl's belly, causing her to giggle.

"Don't listen to him Lauryn," Elizabeth said as she pressed a kiss to the girl's cheek, "you're a sweet angel."

"Daddy! MAMA!" she cried again clapping her hands.

"I'm fine with it if you are," Rodney said as he sat down and began to cut up one of the pancakes he had gotten for Lauryn in tiny bite size pieces. He then handed her a cup with a straw of orange juice, "slowly," he ordered as he handed over both the items.

Elizabeth smiled as the tiny hands gripped the side of the cup and moved it close enough so she could use the straw. Then she picked up a piece of the pancake and stuffed it in her mouth.

"What will people say about us?"

"Us? There's an us?" grinned Rodney.

"Cad," muttered Elizabeth.

"Screw what people say, it's our lives Elizabeth, besides it's not like I'm going to jump into bed with you…I'm not that kind of guy."

"Did you drink your special coffee this morning?" Elizabeth shot back, surprised by his overly pleasant mood, although she found it cute.

"How did you know?" He raised his eyebrows, then grew serious, "seriously Liz, we're not doing anything, it's not like I'm going to come whisk you off your feet and kiss you in front of everyone…maybe John or something, but not everyone."

"We can't afford to be open with a relationship right now…"

"And I respect you for that. We'll be subtle, besides slow is good."

"Good."

"So does this mean no sex on the briefing table?" he grinned, laughing as Elizabeth threw a biscuit at him.

"Bad!" giggled Lauryn.

"See even she knows better!" Elizabeth said grinning,

"I'm a guy," Rodney said grinning.

"I've noticed."

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Rodney asked.

"Well, I have to head over to my mom's and go through some stuff, it shouldn't take too long, the Daedalus leaves in a day or two, so we've got to make it quick."

"Sounds good."

"Rodney, thank you for coming with me on this…trip."

"I wouldn't miss it."

It was twenty days later when Elizabeth, Rodney and Lauryn stepped off the ramp from the Daedalus, between them walked Lauryn, grasping the index finger of both adults. She was smiling like the cat who had eaten the canary. Carson, John, Teyla and Ronan were there to greet them.

"How did it go?" John asked as he scooped his niece up into his arms.

"It went…okay," Elizabeth said smiling over at Rodney, who simply reached out to squeeze her hand.

To the rest of Atlantis, it would seem like nothing but a little more moral support, but to their closest friends, they would always know something had happened between Elizabeth and Rodney, bringing them that much closer together. It was the subtle things, the hand holding when no one was looking, the reaching out to offer support a little more often, the smiles that lit their faces when they were talking to each other, and the way their eyes follow the other when they entered the room.

"Thank you again," Elizabeth said that evening as Rodney walked her back to her room from dinner.

"I would do it for you as many times as you need Liz, I'm just glad I could," he replied.

"Well…night," she said smiling.

"Hey; come here," he pulled her into a hug.

It felt so natural to hug Rodney, to settle into his arms for even a single moment. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and smiled, "Love ya," he whispered.

For him it was his way of admitting the truth, and Elizabeth knew it as she looked into his eyes, "I love you too," she whispered. She knew that was why she respected that he was willing to wait for her.

"Good night my sweet Eliza," with a final squeeze he turned and headed down the hallway, leaving Elizabeth with a gentle smile playing across her lips. They could wait, she knew for as long as they would have to wait, they would one day have forever together.