| All in All "Come in." John set aside his novel, glad of the distraction when someone knocked on his door; he hadn't really been able to focus long enough to read more than half a sentence at a time before he found his mind wandering. He'd considered giving up reading altogether, but John couldn't think of anything else to do. He wasn't entirely surprised to see Elizabeth standing in his doorway, hands clasped neatly in front of her. It had become something of a habit of hers in the past month or so to stop by when she had trouble working out a problem -- apparently she worked best by bouncing ideas off of people, and somehow he'd become her primary target. "Hey," she said in greeting. "Do you have a few minutes?" "Sure." He tossed his book on the bed and shifted closer to the edge of the mattress, one foot landing on the floor. "What's up?" Elizabeth starting prowling around his room, picking up objects and putting them back down again almost immediately. "How goes War and Peace?" she asked, ignoring his question. "It goes," he answered. "Still more or less on schedule." He watched her pace a bit more. "What's going on, Elizabeth?" She finally stopped moving, settling onto the edge of his bed instead of taking the chair as she normally did. "Caldwell convinced Carson to order me out of the command centre," she told him, sounding annoyed, "and I'm still too wired to sleep. And I thought I'd never see you again." That non-sequitor came out matter-of-factly, and she shrugged her shoulders as if she weren't quite sure what to make of that statement. He figured that was why she'd come to his quarters -- she felt guilty about letting him take the puddle jumper out on the suicide mission. "You know I had to do it." He decided he may as well get it over with. Elizabeth nodded. "I know," she said quietly. "Didn't make it any easier, though." "But it was the right thing to do. And I would have gone anyway." He caught a glimpse of a smile, as he'd intended. "It all turned out okay, Elizabeth. I'm still here." "This time," she said, almost under her breath, and then she shook her head sharply. "Never mind," she told him, giving an obviously forced smile and rising to her feet. "I'll leave, let you get back to your book." He followed her towards the door. "You don't have to go." She turned to face him, head tilted to the side as she gave him a contemplative look. Then, to his surprise, Elizabeth leaned up and kissed his cheek. It was several seconds before she pulled away, looking only a little embarrassed. "I thought I'd never see you again," she repeated, as if that explained everything, and John suspected that maybe it did. She turned to leave but John drew her back around and kissed her. Elizabeth made a startled sound but didn't pull away. She was, in fact, pulling him closer, her lips parting beneath his and her tongue stroking into his mouth, and John was only mildly surprised to learn that Elizabeth Weir tasted like coffee and chocolate. When he finally pulled back, they were both breathing hard and Elizabeth was giving him a questioning look. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again either," he said by way of explanation, and she seemed to understand. "I'm going to the mess hall..." she half-invited, and John took a moment to feel smug about the fact that her voice was still kind of breathless. "Sounds good." He reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling when she flushed at the gesture. He motioned towards the door. "After you." Elizabeth gave him another look, one John couldn't quite decipher but one he thought he could get used to seeing, then turned and left his quarters without a backward glance. He grinned and followed, easily matching her pace. It was going to be an interesting night. --end-- back to Atlantis fanfic |