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John let out a heavy sigh at that thought. They may not have left Ford behind, but he was still out there, not in his right mind, without his team to back him up. Sam was right. Addictions all worked the same. The first dose works for a while and then you plateau and then you start needing more to get the same jolt as before. No one knew how the Wraith enzyme worked, how fast Ford would find himself hitting one of those plateaus.
The uncertainty of it all was driving John crazy. He wasn�t the type to like everything just so. He couldn�t be that guy, not doing the job he did. But the not knowing� it was worse than knowing, he was sure. If Ford was in Atlantis, or even on Earth, and they were actively doing something, anything, to make him better, to bring back the young Lieutenant who had jumped through the wormhole backwards with a cheer that day that they left Earth� actually doing something would be easier, John knew. No matter how hard it was to watch, to witness, at least he would know certain facts.
Like whether or not Ford was alive.
Though all she wanted was to find her hotel room and collapse into bed, to sleep for a solid twelve hours without waking every time one of the expedition members made a universal call over the headsets instead of contacting only the person they wanted to speak to�it happened more often than anyone was comfortable with, but it was difficult to control the actions of sleep-deprived, caffeine-overdosing, overworked people�Elizabeth barely had time for a quick shower before she headed for the White House for the first of many Oval Office meetings. If it was just a random politician she would have at least contemplated making some excuse, but Elizabeth wasn�t going to entertain thoughts of skipping out on the President of the United States. Not to mention the IOA delegates (though much lower echelon, so as not to attract unwanted attention) from Britain, China, Russia, Germany, and France; the major powers involved in the Atlantis expedition. Meetings involving all of the other countries in the alliance would come later, of course, but the continued support of the nuclear powers was Elizabeth�s main concern.
Normally Stargate-related meetings were held in ultimate secrecy, but, since Elizabeth had had meetings in the Oval Office with three different presidents over varying matters, no one would think twice about seeing her name in the minute-by-minute log of the President�s day. And, considering the other parties that would be attending the meeting, it could easily be explained away by the fact that she had brokered hundreds of treaties between the world powers over the course of her career and she was simply continuing after a year�s sabbatical.
After taking a quick shower and changing into a suit left over from her diplomat days�her suits from her days as a professor at Georgetown were slightly less strict, less professional, and, as she often had when she was a diplomat, she wanted the armour that was provided by her diplomat suits�Elizabeth went down to the caf� in the lobby of the hotel, her sight set on coffee, strong and sweet, hoping that it would keep her awake long enough to not offend anyone important. She just hoped that she had enough time to get at least two cups of coffee into her system before Jack arrived to take her to the White House.
The coffee at the caf� was pretty terrible, but Elizabeth sucked down two cups and was adding sugar to her third when Jack showed up, casually taking the seat across the table from her. �You look uncomfortable,� Elizabeth commented idly while stirring the sweetener into her coffee, hoping to make it taste better.
�It�s the uniform,� Jack replied, frowning down at his Class A uniform. �Worst part of the job.�