Hello, Stargate fans!

First, thank you for your reviews! Especially, Adela! Thank you!

Second, I took some liberties with some parts of this episode. Hope you forgive me.

Chapter 19: Episode 4x10

The bickering had been going for the last ten minutes.

"Nothing really changes, does it?" Elizabeth Weir mentioned as she turned to the scientist reading some of the data she had brought to the Atlantis team.

"Not really." Alexandra chuckled, looking up to see the replicator with the same smile as the first leader of the Atlantis expedition. "I think McKay finally found someone that understands his own language."

Elizabeth started to exit the tent. And Alexandra followed her.

"I remember reading a file about a SG-1 mission…"

"About their clones?" The scientist turned to the former diplomat as her eyes scanned the area, knowing full well which file it was.

"Yes. It was strange at the time. Never thought I would read something like that. Especially since Earth's own science in the matter was still very new."

Alexandra nodded, silently. At a distance they saw both Sheppards, talking and laughing. It was still weird seeing two of them. Not far from them, both pairs of Teyla and Ronon were doing the same, spite the distrustful, yet curious looks the human ones were giving to their copies.

"They are still coping, you know? Your disappearance left a mark in them. On Atlantis." She eventually said, looking at Elizabeth that had been staring at her former team with a sad look.

At those words, Elizabeth looked at the younger scientist.

"That's why you stayed in the city? To help them find me?" She pointed at the team.

"In a way, yes. When I asked to come to Atlantis, it was to get away from Earth. From the loss. In every sense of the word." Alexandra didn't know why she was being so open towards a replicator. She stopped at the edge of the encampement, her hands stood still on top of her P90. " When I asked to stay..." She sighed. "I wanted to heal. And a purpose."

"There's still so much to do there, Dr. O'Neill. The Goa'uld. The Priors..."

"I know. And the rest of the team can handle it. But after the Asgards... And what happened with Adria..."

Elizabeth could see the sadness in her young friend's face, the tiredness seeping through a careful put on façade as she heard Alexandra talking about events that had happened months before and that still stung. Knowing there wasn't much she could say, the former Atlantis leader nodded quietly.

Silence filled their surroundings.

"I couldn't saved them." Alexandra ended up saying, as an afterthought. "Maybe if I still had my powers... If I had finished my trials... If I hadn't listened to her..." She finished with a frustrated tone.

Elizabeth placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"There's a lot of ifs, Alex. You will go insane if you don't make peace to what happened. And you should, in order to move forward and change what it can still be changed. To do better."

"That's what Ganos Lal said the last time I talked with the Ancients. And I'm trying to put it behind me. To forgive them for what they did. But..." There was a tired sigh. "Elizabeth, I feel something is coming. I feel..." A laugh interrupted the two friends and their eyes followed the sound to the two Sheppards approaching them. "Something that will make me choose between being human or follow the rules."

Elizabeth was about to say something but stopped before anyone else could hear, since she could see Alexandra was confiding her thoughts to her.

"Ladies."

The former Atlantis leader merely gave her friend a smile and turned to the two men.

"Gentlemen."

"I'm gonna do a perimeter sweep." Alexandra said quickly and stepped away. Even though she should already be used to weird things happening, she felt too weirded out by the sight of two John Sheppards.

"Anything we said?" Curiously, it was replicator Sheppard who asked. However, both were watching her disappear between the trees.

"I'm glad she stayed. In Atlantis, I mean." Elizabeth said. Her eyes following the reaction of human Sheppard as he was the last one to look away from the spot Alexandra had disappeared to. The replicator one entered the tent as he heard the bickering from the two McKays.

"Me too. She brought a new life to Atlantis." John answered with a smile looking at his old friend.

"Ronon and Teyla seem to like her. And listen to her."

"And McKay too, even though he wouldn't admit it. Can you believe he thought she came to Atlantis to steal his job?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "Well, that's McKay. Anyone that can understand what he says and beat him to it, is a threat."

Nodding, John agreed. It felt strange talking like that with her, his first commander made replicator, the one he had looked up to, even though she wasn't military.

"We stopped." Turning her eyes to him, Elizabeth frowned. "Rumors, whispers, they died out after a few weeks."

"It's okay, John." She placed a hand on her former second in command arm. "I wouldn't want you to look for me if that would halt your lives." Elizabeth gave him one of those smiles she had everytime they had a deep conversation. "And you all deserve to move forward." Her words resonated in John that merely nodded as his radio went off.

There was something calming about being on the pier. She could feel the energy of the ocean, of the wind, of the sun.

Alexandra inhaled the scents surrounding her. Her movements were innate, as if they were born with her instead of being taught by Teal'C.

The events of the previous day, the loss she felt from her friends once more, made her feel unease and not being able to sleep. Especially after putting into words to Elizabeth what she had been feeling since the vision Davos had given her weeks ago.

Months had gone by since the last time she had done one of her sessions. Perhaps because it reminded her of what she had left behind. But right now, she really could use a good night of sleep.

The scientist was so absorbed by her thoughts that she didn't see John enter the pier.

When hazel eyes found her, the pilot just wanted a quiet place to be alone. Especially after going through Elizabeth's room and things to ship them back to Earth and finally give her family some rest.

At some point, his eyes caught a soft glow surrounding Alexandra, shimmering as the sunlight went over her. And he could feel something change around them. As if an electrical current had shifted the air on the pier.

"You shouldn't do that." Alexandra said when she turned and found him there, watching her, a book in one hand, while the other was perched on his belt bubkle.

"Do what?" He stepped closer to her.

"Sneak up on me. I'm training."

"Was that... your shield?" The pilot finally understood what he saw moments before.

"Yes. I'm... You can call it strengthening it."

When he stopped close enough, John saw the dark circles under her eyes. He had noticed them before. Some days were better than others. But that day, given the events from yesterday and whatever talk he and his clone had interrupted between Elizabeth and Alexandra, they seemed darker.

"Not sleeping well?"

"No. Hence the training. It helps me relax."

"It has nothing to do with what happened yesterday?"

"Part of it." Alexandra sighed and sat down at the edge, hearing the water lap against the pier wall. John did the same. "Elizabeth was a good friend to me, John." She turned her brown eyes to him. "And you got to say goodbye."

"In a way I got closure. Finally packed her things."

For a moment, she was surprised. She knew how difficult it must have been for him to do that.

"You could have told me. I would have been there, with you."

"It was something I needed to do alone".

The scientist nodded, silently.

Not standing much of the silence anymore, she got up and took her position again.

"C'mon. I sense that you need to relax as much as me. Join me."

With a smile at the sudden perkiness from his friend, John looked up.

"The view is actually pretty good from here." He saw her roll her eyes as he sat a bit further away, against one of the sides of the pier, opening his book. However, his eyes had a life of their own as they kept drifting towards her and her movements. And, finally, John Sheppard relaxed and became at ease with the events from the previous day.

Ps: Thoughts?