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Closing her file he put it in a pile that he decided would be for those he wanted to interview once he returned to the SGC. Only so much about a person could be learned from their service record, after all.
With a sigh, John reached for the next file, hoping everyone who had applied for positions on the trip back to Atlantis were as qualified as Lieutenant Cadman... and doubting that that was the case.
Simon had gone to make coffee, something he was horrible at�in Elizabeth�s opinion, anyway�and Elizabeth was taking a call from the SGC. Even though Simon had clearance it only extended so far, and what she was hearing at that moment was nowhere near the level Simon�s clearance reached, so she was whispering and praying that the bug jammers that had been installed in the house when she moved in�standard issue precautionary measure, she had been assured, though the thought made her nervous in the beginning�were still active and working.
�I thought they weren�t supposed to di�call until tomorrow afternoon,� Elizabeth hissed barely catching herself before saying something that, while normal enough to pass basic scrutiny, would raise alarms if anyone was really trying to parse what she was saying.
The fact that she was suddenly extremely paranoid was not lost on Elizabeth, but she didn�t know why she was suddenly feeling that way.
�I don�t know what to say to you, Doctor Weir. They� called. I�ll have Colonel Carter explain why when she gets a chance. Bottom line, though, is that they�re going to call back in one hour. I suggest you get back here in the next� forty-two minutes,� General Landry replied, �if you want to talk to anyone in back there before they check in again next week.�
There were, as General Landry well knew, a hundred things that Elizabeth needed to talk to Teyla and Zelenka and a few others about, and she knew that if she waited until the next week things would get forgotten in the midst of everything else she had to deal with.
�I�ll be there,� Elizabeth said firmly, though she was already mentally calculating how far above the speed limit she could control the massive SUV the SGC had given her to drive if she felt the need to leave the base.
Simon reappeared in the den just as Elizabeth was thanking General Landry for his call and promising him that she�d see him soon.
�You have to leave,� Simon said, no hint of a question in his tone. They�d been together for five years before she�d gone to Atlantis; he knew that when she got a phone call and it ended with her forehead scrunching up the way it did when she was calculating times and distances in her head it meant that she had to leave, right away. It was the reason why the front closet used to contain suitcases for every conceivable climate, as well as a few gowns in the event of a formalwear event, all coded and labelled. Oftentimes the only way Simon knew what part of the world Elizabeth was being called away to was by which set of luggage she had taken with her. Red tags for the Middle-East. Green tags for Asia. Yellow tags for Russia. White tags for anything that took her to Geneva. Black tags for anything that took her to the UN building in New York. And, of course, the purple tags that he didn�t remember her ever using until after he had moved all the way to Colorado Springs and gotten settled only to have to say goodbye to Elizabeth once again, this time with her taking the purple tagged bags, the ones that were for icy climate negotiations.
�Just for a few hours. But� I�d really like to talk. Actually talk. Can we do that?� Elizabeth asked hopefully. �Maybe over dinner?�
�Pick something up on your way back here. I don�t feel like cooking tonight,� Simon said. �And I have a feeling that this isn�t going to be a conversation that we can have in a crowded restaurant.�
�No, it�s not,� Elizabeth admitted. �Okay, good. I�ll call you when I�m on my way back, find out what kind of food you want. After eating military rations and alien cuisine for ten months� well, my taste