Elizabeth couldn't help but smile when she spotted John leaning against his car, waiting for her. After he'd spent days pestering her, she had eventually given in and agreed to go to one of Langford's football games with him. It wasn't that she didn't support the team, she just wasn't particularly keen on football and was happy to just read the results in the school paper. John, of course, was an ardent fan. When she had asked him if this weekend's game was important he had told her in a slightly shocked tone, that they were all important.

So, in retrospect, it should not have come as a big surprise to see him dressed nearly entirely in burgundy and gold, including a Langford sweatshirt and Langford scarf. She was tempted to find out what color his socks were or ask him if he had the Langford boxers on.

Elizabeth, by contrast, had just dug out her Langford t-shirt from the back of her closet. She'd bought it on a whim one day, not long after she started working there, and never really had occasion to wear it since. However, it wasn't warm enough to wear on its own, so the effect was somewhat lost when she put a jacket over it.

"Hey," he greeted her, standing up as she approached. "Don't you at least have something in school colors?"

She sighed. "Just this t-shirt." Since she hadn't yet zipped her jacket up, she opened it to show him.

There was an expression on his face for a minute that she couldn't quite decipher, but then he pulled off his scarf and wrapped it around her. She shivered when his cold hands brushed her neck. He stepped back and smiled at the effect. "That's better. And it will keep you warm too."

"Thank you," she said, resisting the temptation to ask John what laundry detergent he used, because his scarf smelled wonderful.

"Come on." He turned in the direction of the football field. "I'll buy you a hot chocolate."

She followed him. "You're just trying to get me to take my coat off, aren't you?"

He turned to smirk at her. "It's not as if you're not wearing anything under it."

"Why do all men have one-track minds?" She asked rhetorically, but smiled back anyway.

"Two," he said, calling out to her as she trailed behind him, "don't forget football!"

She rolled her eyes. He was saved from her reply, though, because he was busy buying them a hot chocolate each and stopping to have a conversation about the game with the guy selling it. Elizabeth stood off to one side, cradling her hot chocolate and looked around. There weren't that many people about and none of them wanted hot drinks yet. When John had told her what time to meet him she thought it was early, but given that he knew more about the subject than she did, she assumed she'd got the kick-off time wrong. But perhaps not.

"Why are we so early?" she asked him, when other people came looking for drinks and he was forced to tear himself away.

"So we can get the best seats." His tone of voice suggested this was obvious.

She couldn't complain about that because she'd done the same thing herself in the past, just not for football. As she sipped her drink, she let him lead them up into the stands to where he assured her was the best place to sit, although she couldn't tell why it was an improvement over most of the other seats. Once there they found Jack and Teal'c had beat them to it. They were both in Langford colors, although Jack's consisted of the baseball team's cap and jersey, which Elizabeth had to stifle a laugh at.

They exchanged greetings and Elizabeth slid in next to Jack, with John on the other side of her.

"I didn't think you were that keen on football," she said to Jack.

"Hockey is better," he confirmed, "but Teal'c's a fan and I support the team."

"I hear the new quarterback is worth watching," Teal'c put in and before she knew it he and John had launched into a discussion over her and Jack about the merits of the members of the team.

"I didn't know you liked football," Jack said to her, also tuning out the other's football conversation.

"I don't. But I was persuaded to come. And I support the team too," she added.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "So the rumors are true."

She sighed. "Not you, too."

Jack just grinned at her and Elizabeth shook her head, refusing to answer.

Luckily for her, the smell of hot dogs intruded and she started to feel hungry, even though she had eaten before she left the house. The owner of the hot dog was a good few paces behind the scent and revealed himself to be Jonas, with Daniel in tow.

"Hey, guys," Daniel said, and another round of greetings were exchanged, except for Jonas who had his mouth full. His food disappeared quickly enough, though, and he sat down next to John, who had moved on to debate the merits of the opposing team. Today they were up against the Wraith. Daniel sat behind Jack, and he and Elizabeth turned round to talk to him.

Not that they had a chance to say much before Sam and Janet arrived. If Elizabeth didn't have a good sense of self-preservation she might have accused Janet of stalking Daniel - Elizabeth was sure her appearance so soon after Daniel's arrival was unlikely to be a coincidence. So she was unsurprised to watch Janet make a beeline for Daniel and sit next to him, although Sam was happy enough to join in the football talk. Despite being at the other end of the group, Teal'c had no problem making himself heard.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jonas's pants leg had moved up and exposed a strip of what looked suspiciously like a dark yellow sock. Not quite able to believe what she was seeing, and the possibility of what she was not, despite what she had thought about John's clothes earlier, she interrupted their conversation. "Jonas, please tell me your other sock isn't dark red."

Jonas flashed her a grin and a leg, and revealed that it was exactly as bad as she suspected.

Elizabeth groaned.

John leaned over to whisper in her ear, "I've got the school boxer shorts on."

She ignored the way his breath tickled her skin. "Why does that not surprise me?" she said in a low voice. "But how can they show how big a fan you are if no one can see them?"

"All you had to do was ask." He caught hold of the waistband of his pants on the side nearest to her.

"John!" she said, shocked, and grabbed his hand before he could do anything, not quite believing that he was willing to reveal his underwear in the football stadium.

There was the sound of giggling behind them, which stopped immediately when Elizabeth turned round. "I know exactly why you're here, Janet Fraiser," she said, to divert Janet's suspicions about what she thought she'd seen.

"And why would that be?" Janet asked, in an innocent tone.

Elizabeth noticed that not only were Sam and Janet staring at her - Sam looking interested, Janet her usual combination of innocent and murderous - but Daniel had also stopped his conversation with Jack to hear her answer. Despite her law background she found herself unable to mount her own defense and had to settle for, "You know."

Janet merely grinned and Elizabeth decided to turn her attention to the field, where the cheerleaders were gathering as the bleachers filled up. A shouting war was just starting up between the two teams' fans, led by the cheerleaders, and Elizabeth winced as John joined in. Oblivious to her discomfort he picked up one end of his scarf - that she was wearing - and waved it a bit.

"Would you like your scarf back?" she asked him.

"Huh?" he replied, before he focused on her and dropped the scarf in response. "Are you warm yet?"

"No." Although it had become something of a matter of pride that she was not going to take her jacket off regardless.

He grinned as he slid closer to her so they were almost touching at the leg and shoulder. She didn't move away. "When you are, let me know."

Fortunately for them both, the players started making their way onto the field and Elizabeth's ears were assaulted once more. It didn't stop once they started playing either, for John was quick to shout encouragement at the players and jeer at the opposition. Every time the Explorers scored he jumped up and Elizabeth thought she might as well have been invisible. Everyone else around them was getting into the spirit too.

Elizabeth couldn't help but be caught up in the excitement, but it might have been easier if she knew what was going on. It was difficult to concentrate on the game when people stood up in front of her every five minutes and all that told her was that she should have been watching beforehand, not trying to work out what she had just missed.

"Did you see that?" John asked, excitement in his eyes as he sat back down and noticed she was watching him.

"No, what just happened?"

"The Wraith fumbled and we scored from nowhere."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Never mind," he sighed. "It's half-time anyway."

He was right, she discovered, and she turned back to the field to watching the cheerleaders perform. She was sure she had seen at least one of them outside John's office door, which didn't surprise her. However, cheerleading routines were better appreciated by young men and Elizabeth looked for someone to to converse with. Preferably about a topic that wasn't football. But Janet and Daniel were having an earnest discussion about something Elizabeth couldn't quite hear and she didn't want to intrude. Everyone was talking about the Explorers' amazing playing in the first half of the game.

Fortunately Jack leaned over and asked, "Help me with this crossword?"

Elizabeth looked over to see he had a folded up newspaper in his lap, containing a half-completed crossword. It said something about her concentration on the game that she hadn't even noticed Jack wasn't paying attention. Or perhaps it was just that he wasn't paying attention to the cheerleaders. "Don't you have a bet with Sam about that?"

He shrugged. "She's not listening."

Elizabeth looked over and saw that he was right, so she took pity on him. "All right, what are you stuck on?"

"Up, down, charmed, something."

It wasn't her field of expertise but she had heard of that sequence. "Strange."

"Hmm, yes, it is." Jack's tone suggested that he hadn't understood the answer. "Never mind."

She didn't get a chance to explain it to him before the second half began and everyone turned their attention back to the game.

They weren't far into the second half when it became clear, even to Elizabeth, that both teams were playing completely differently than their earlier performances. The Explorers had been scoring, although not often, but when they had it had been spectacular, and the Wraith had consistently missed easy shots. Now, however, the Wraith seemed to have woken up and the Explorers were struggling to catch up. The Wraith beat their impressive score during the third quarter.

After berating the Explorers for a while, John had lapsed into silence along with most of the rest of the crowd. Elizabeth stifled a yawn and pretended not to notice John's fingers playing with his scarf.

The next thing she knew she was comfortably warm, even if her pillow was a little hard. The background noise of the football game grew and she pushed herself up from her position on John's shoulder.

"Hello, Sleeping Beauty," he said, smiling at her, but not moving his arm from around her waist.

"I'm not," she replied, rubbing her eyes. She had been comfortable, even though she was sitting on a hard seat with John's shoulder for a pillow.

His smile turned to a grin. "What, not sleeping or not beautiful?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth but couldn't find a good way to answer that without incriminating herself.

"If you were trying to stop any rumors," Janet said, leaning down to mutter in her ear, with a grin Elizabeth didn't like the look of, "falling asleep on his shoulder wasn't the way to do it."

"It was only because he was sitting next to me," she said, turning round to face Janet. "It could just as easily have been Jack."

"Except you're sitting a lot closer to John."

Elizabeth glared at her even though she and John had been shoulder to shoulder the whole time - or at least whenever John was sitting down. When she turned back round to face the field John removed his arm and she could see that the game was over. The score up on the board explained why the Explorers cheerleaders were leaning despondently against each other. The crowd and the cheerleaders on the opposite side of the field were much more animated.

"I guess we lost," she said.

"Yeah," John answered, without enthusiasm.

"I need a drink," Jack said, with feeling.

"Good idea," she heard from Daniel, behind her, followed by, "I concur," from Teal'c. Jonas was the only one who didn't appear to be affected by the result, but that was just because he was more excitable to begin with and sometimes it was hard to tell the difference.

The walk to Maybourne's bar was not a long one. They were soon seated around a table with drinks and still no one spoke.

"That was..." John trailed off, obviously unable to find a good word to describe the game.

"Pathetic," Sam finished.

"Yeah, pathetic, that's it," John agreed, and heaved a big sigh.

Elizabeth smiled. He was actually quite sweet like this - like he needed a hug to make it all better. Not that she was about to offer, and certainly not in front of other people, even if they were their friends. Especially if they were their friends.

The atmosphere was quickly dispelling the comfortable warmth she had felt upon waking. She also couldn't stop thinking of all the work she needed to get done. Normally she would have tried to get through it all during the week but John was a disruptive influence. Which, admittedly, was not always a bad thing, but she did get far less work done now she had him to interrupt her every day. And yet she rarely threw him out of her office.

"I have to go," she said, breaking the morose silence and finishing her drink as she stood. "I have work to do," she added, smiling at John who looked puzzled at her wanting to leave.

There was a chorus of farewells and promises from her to Sam and Janet to meet for lunch next week. Outside, the air felt refreshing after the atmosphere in the bar, but she had no time to enjoy it because John had followed her out and cornered her outside the bar.

"I'm sorry." He stuck his hands in his pants pockets and looked contrite.

"What for?"

"I should have listened when you said you didn't like football. I thought once you gave it a chance--"

"Don't worry about it, John. I enjoyed myself." She wasn't going to think about how much of that was due to his presence. Or his shoulder.

He frowned. "Really? But we lost and you fell asleep."

She smiled. John was so focused on the game and the outcome that he failed to see what she had: she'd spent an enjoyable morning with her friends. That they lost was probably the only reason it hadn't turned into a whole day - although given the work she needed to get through before Monday morning, that was probably just as well. "See you Monday," she said, not feeling the need to explain it to him. Not least because he might then ask her to future games and she suspected the novelty would soon wear off.

"Wait!" he called, jogging the few steps to catch her up. She turned round to find him standing very close behind her. She resisted the immediate impulse to step backwards.

He put out one hand to finger her scarf. She ignored the way her heart beat faster as the back of his hand brushed her shoulder. "Can I have my scarf back?"

Elizabeth bit her lip to keep from smiling and shook her head. "I'm warm now," she said. "I think I'll keep it."

She stepped backwards, out of his reach and headed towards her car, leaving him too stunned to do anything about it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 2

"It's just a football game, how long can it take to get ready?" John called up to Elizabeth.

She didn't bother answering, just carried on going through her wardrobe. "Aha," she said, finding what she had been looking for hidden away at the back behind some uncomfortable shoes. Watching the Langford Explorers pick their new team was not her ideal way of spending Saturday morning, but John went religiously every year and now that they were living together she was trying to take more of an interest in his interests. Even if that included football. For one reason or another they hadn't seen each other much this week, so they would at least get to spend some time together, which was how Elizabeth had rationalized it when John asked her to go with him.

By the time she made it to the bottom of the stairs, John was already out of the door and on the way to the car. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Any other time she had trouble getting him out of the door late, never mind on time. And even though she had held them up, they would still be early.

He was so focused on getting there in time that he had driven to Langford, parked the car and bought her a coffee (so she wouldn't fall asleep this time, he told her) and handed it to her before he noticed what she was wearing. Elizabeth had never gotten around to building up the selection of Langford clothing that others had. She'd had a t-shirt once but that had long since been turned into a rag. What she did have now was a scarf, even if she hadn't worn it since the last football game she'd been to.

"That's my scarf," John pointed out.

"Good eyes." Elizabeth sipped her coffee to remind him she was holding it, therefore would be a bad idea for him to tackle her to get his scarf back. Not that it was his scarf any more. He had given it to her to keep her warm the last time he had dragged her to the football field. Refusing to give it back when he asked had started off as a game but ended up as a point of principle. Elizabeth wasn't sure why she was doing it, but she was certainly not going to stop and let him win.

John settled for glaring at her but Elizabeth knew he was plotting for later. It didn't matter, she would be ready.

Neither of them said anything as they made their way to the front row of the bleachers. Various students were already warming up and Elizabeth was unsurprised that several of them waved at John, or greeted him with a "Hey, Shep". John returned all of their greetings and asked a few of them for the names of the new players - presumably these were freshmen or older students only just trying out this year.

Elizabeth was seriously wondering if she should just give up now and lie down for a nap until it was all over when she was rescued by the surprise appearance of Sam Carter.

"Sam!" Elizabeth greeted her friend. "I didn't think anyone else would be crazy enough to be here."

As the potential players lined up there were a few cheers from the stand nearby, filled with students both male and female.

"Except for the players' fans, of course," she added.

"I could say the same for you," Sam replied. "Especially given what happened at the last game you went to."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Was anyone ever going to let her forget that? She kept the subject on Sam's reasons for being here and not the last game when she'd fallen asleep on John's shoulder. "John might occasionally get accused of cradle-snatching with his groupies--"

"Hey!" he said, without taking his eyes off the field.

Elizabeth ignored him. "--but I didn't think you were into the same thing."

"Well, in a choice between one of these guys and Rodney McKay..."

"I see your point." Elizabeth couldn't imagine anyone willingly dating Rodney.

"No, you're right. I'm trying to get more students interested in physics and I thought a course on the physics of football might help."

Elizabeth nodded, acknowledging the brilliance of the idea. "Sounds good."

"Yeah. You can imagine what McKay thought of it, though."

Elizabeth grinned; she could. "So what is he offering in competition?"

"I don't know yet. Either he's keeping it very secret, even from Radek, or he hasn't thought of anything better yet. I'm hoping for the second, although I don't think for one minute I'm going to lose this one." She sounded fierce about it.

"Ouch," John interrupted from beside them.

Elizabeth turned to the field, intending to ask what happened, but since she could see two of the players lying on the floor, she could guess, even with her meager knowledge of football.

"So, how's it going?" she asked him instead. Out the corner of her eye she saw Sam pull out a notebook and pen and start taking notes.

"I don't know why some of them are here at all," he gestured at the field, at a guy who'd just let the ball slip through his fingers. "They obviously don't know how to play."

"Perhaps they're hoping everyone else is going to be worse than them and they're going to get all the girls attention simply by being on the squad," she said, genuinely trying to take an interest this time.

"Probably. Although I think some of them do it for a dare."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"There's a bunch of freshmen who look really good, but some of the old players are going to be hard to replace."

Throughout the training session John continued to point out those players he thought were good and would make the squad for sure, and those he thought were useless and had no chance. Elizabeth was surprised that she found his commentary interesting. But it was probably because he didn't just tell her the names of the players, he also talked about the backgrounds of the ones he knew, so she felt as if she knew them too, and was routing for them just as much as John was.

By the time they'd finished Elizabeth could see Sam had taken plenty of notes. Elizabeth wished her luck with the course as they departed, but Sam was already deep in thought.

"I think they picked the right players in the end," John said, as they made their way home.

"Hmm," Elizabeth said, non-committally.

"So, did you enjoy yourself?"

She could tell that was a leading question from the smile on his face. "The company was all right, I guess." She was certainly not going to give himself the satisfaction of saying yes.

"Only all right? And you didn't answer my question."

"I didn't?" She grinned. "I think I need a nap after that early morning."

John's smile only grew as she evaded his questions and tried to think of reasons not to go to any more games, let alone practice sessions, which he would certainly drag her along to if he could.

In the end, she let him have this victory. "I had a not entirely pleasant morning spent with my boyfriend and my friend."

"So," John began, "the next game is--"

"Oh, no, you don't," she cut in, pointing a finger at him. "That was my one game for the year. You can get up early if you like, but my weekends are sacred and I intend to spend them sleeping."

He shrugged. "It was worth a try."

And not just one either. John would be sure to leave it a while until she thought he had forgotten, then spring it on her when she least expected it. Probably at such a time when she was powerless to say no. There was definitely some tactical thinking she needed to employ on this problem.

John never quite stopped grinning all the way home and Elizabeth could tell he was making plans already. It would be annoying if she didn't find it so cute. She was almost relieved when they arrived home and could turn their attention to different topics. John certainly had another one in mind because they were barely inside the door when all of a sudden Elizabeth found herself against the wall being thoroughly kissed. Not that she was going to complain, it was just a little unexpected.

It was only when she realized his hands had made their way to her neck while he distracted her with his mouth that she worked out what he was doing.

"Oh no you don't," she said, managing to pull away and extricate her scarf from his grip.

"You can't say you weren't enjoying it." He pouted a little, but didn't look surprised that she'd rumbled him.

"Let me just hide my scarf and I'll be happy to pick up where we left off." She took a step towards the stairs, but he grabbed her arm.

"Forget about the scarf and we can get on with this sooner."

She raised her eyebrows. "So, you'd quite like to do this with the scarf on?"

John opened his mouth to retort but closed it again as he looked her up and down with a lascivious look on his face. Elizabeth couldn't help but blush under his gaze. "Kinky," he said.

Elizabeth laughed, although not for long because she soon found herself back against the wall, but this time John's hands were trying to remove other pieces of her clothing. Elizabeth suspected she might have won the scarf argument for good.

Elizabeth smiled in thanks as she accepted the mug. Her mother hesitated, and then sat beside her on the couch.

"You can't just sit around all day, sweetheart." She sounded worried.

"I don't know what to do." Elizabeth rested her head on her mother's shoulder, wishing she was a child again and her mother could make everything better. "I can't do the only thing I want to do."

"You'll find something else." Her mother sounded so sure, but Elizabeth knew she was only saying that to cheer her up, so she didn't reply. "You won't get anywhere moping around the house all day. Why don't you call some of your friends?"

Elizabeth sighed and sat back up to take a sip of her coffee. Her mother didn't understand - and couldn't while she didn't have clearance - but Elizabeth irrationally felt that her mother should still have all the answers. "I don't have any friends here, Mom." Once she'd been in Atlantis a year there hadn't seemed any point in renewing old friendships on Earth. Now it had been even longer for them than it had for her. None of them would understand either.

"What about Simon?"

Elizabeth gave her an incredulous look. Did her mother really think she would want to speak to him? A more disturbing thought occurred to her: what if her mother and Simon had kept in touch? Elizabeth shook her head. She didn't want to know the answer to that.

"I know you miss Sedgewick," her mother continued, in a tone was supposed to be soothing, but didn't feel like it any more.

Elizabeth studied her coffee. She did miss him, but not enough to contact Simon. Besides, it had been long enough that Sedge was Simon's dog by now. He probably wouldn't even remember her.

Her mother sighed. "How about General O'Neill? You have to speak to him sometime."

Jack was the one person who would understand, but also the one person she couldn't talk to. After what he did in the SGC, he'd want an answer and she didn't have one for him yet. When she'd been in Atlantis, the promise of something more than friendship sounded like it could be something for her to embrace, but it wouldn't be fair on him to start something and then leave him. She still couldn't face the thought of never going back to Atlantis.

"You know I hate seeing you like this," her mother said, putting her hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

Elizabeth nodded, but didn't look up. Eventually her mother gave up and left her to her coffee and her thoughts.

She remembered back to that last morning in Atlantis. She'd only had a few hours sleep, but that was normal. Saying goodbye to everyone wasn't. Teyla had been the easiest, after their talk the night before. She'd assured Elizabeth there were good things ahead and said it so confidently Elizabeth had believed her. However, there were good things ahead for Atlantis, too, and she hated to be leaving. She'd promised herself there would be no tears, but her eyes were already wet.

Ronon had helped. He'd lifted her up and spun her around, and Elizabeth had laughed at the sudden feeling of the floor no longer being under her feet. He'd been unrepentant when he put her down, despite her stern look.

Rodney talked a lot, promised things he couldn't deliver and a lot that he probably could. She'd believed him, when he said he'd look after the city because Rodney always did. He'd called it his city, so John had argued about whose city it was and Woolsey had rolled his eyes. Elizabeth had just stood back and watched them, smiling, her eyes glittering with tears.

She'd looked back at the people and place she was leaving, determined not to forget any of them. She'd managed a speech that she now couldn't remember a word of, but she knew her voice had been steady. She'd kept it short though, so she'd be done before she choked on her words. Stepping through the Stargate, she'd refused to look back; not giving herself the chance to change her mind.

And now she was here, in her mother's house, with only her memories and a cold cup of coffee to keep her company. In the background the phone was ringing. It did that every evening, when Jack got home from work. Elizabeth had learned how big a crisis was going on at Homeworld Security based on the lateness of the call. When her mother came back into the living room, carrying the phone, she didn't need to tell Elizabeth who it was. Elizabeth shook her head, but her mother held the phone out anyway.

"He says it's important," she said.

Elizabeth still hesitated, but her mother was unmoving, so Elizabeth was forced to take the phone from her. However, she didn't put it up to her ear immediately. First she took a deep breath, straightened her blouse, and then stood up. She didn't know what she was going to say, but she wanted to sound confident when she did.

"How's Earth?" Jack asked, his tone light.

"Still here." Beyond that she couldn't say, having not ventured out of the house since she got back to Washington.

"I'm glad to hear that, with all the effort we're putting into it. Dangerous place out there, you know."

"No, I don't," she said in a warning tone, tightening her grip on the phone. She wasn't in the mood for his joking when she only knew what she read in the paper and saw on the news, which never told her the whole story. She knew that often it didn't tell her anything at all.

Jack must have picked up on her tone because his turned serious as he said, "There's something we could really use your help on."

Glad he'd dropped the small talk, she was tempted to tell him there was nothing she could help with any more, not even Atlantis, but she was curious. Besides, it would get her mother off her back. "What is it?"

"Classified. I can't talk about it over an unsecure phone line. I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven am." His tone told her he was sure she wouldn't say no.

She wasn't ready to give in to him just yet though. "Where are we going?" she asked suspiciously. She understood that he couldn't give her all the details, but it didn't mean he needed to keep everything to himself.

"The Pentagon. Smart dress," he advised, sternly.

Elizabeth smiled. As if she'd wear anything else to the Pentagon. "I'll be there," she promised. When she ended the call, she realized Jack hadn't brought up anything about their relationship. Whatever else he was, he was a professional. At least she could count on it not getting in the way.

She sat back down and picked up her book. She re-read the same paragraph twice, but now it was because she was wondering what work Jack needed her to do.

~*~

Elizabeth had lain awake half the night wondering what Homeworld Security needed her for. Her first thought had been for Atlantis, but she wasn't the expert on the city any more, not with two years of memories missing. It couldn't be anything to do with the Ancients either, because Daniel Jackson knew more about them than she did. She hadn't been able to think of a single thing she could do that no one else on the planet could. When she ran out of ideas she finally fell asleep; it wasn't much later before she was standing outside her mother's house, caffeinated and curious.

Jack pulled up right on time and Elizabeth got in the car. She was surprised to find that Jack drove himself. She was sure three star generals could have a driver if they wanted, but she could imagine that Jack would want to do something for himself. He had complained more than once about the inactive life of a desk job, although the word he used most often was 'boring'.

"What is this all about?" she asked, as he pulled away from the curb.

He shook his head. "You'll see."

"I really don't like surprises." She glared, but he was concentrating on the traffic and it was lost on him.

"It's a good surprise. You'll like it." He glanced over at her while they were waiting at a red light.

She shook her head. "How do you know?"

"Don't you trust me?"

He sounded hurt, as if she was accusing him of being untrustworthy. It was hardly a question she could say no to, but the truth was that she did trust him. Jack could always be relied on to do the right thing, even at great personal risk. So she said, "Of course I do."

He smiled. "Then trust me when I say you'll like it."

The light turned green and they shot off toward the next intersection. Elizabeth admitted defeat. If Jack was determined not to tell her anything, she wouldn't get it out of him before they reached their destination. She tried her to hardest to think of a safer topic of conversation, but the only ones she could think of involved the state of Atlantis, which she could find out for herself once they were in the Pentagon, and his kiss in the SGC. She didn't have an answer for that yet and there was nothing else going on in either of their lives to discuss.

They were silent for a couple of blocks until Jack spoke. "So what'cha been doing this week?" he asked conversationally.

Elizabeth looked over at him, wondering if he really didn't know she'd been doing nothing. She'd heard her mother talking to him on the phone, although not clearly enough to know what she had told him. He looked innocent enough though, and he was focusing on the road, so she took his question at face value. "Just adjusting to being back on Earth. And thinking."

He glanced over at her, eyebrows raised. "About anything in particular?"

You, she wanted to say, but then he'd ask her what she'd decided. Instead she said, "Atlantis. And what I'm going to do now," which was also true.

He nodded. She thought it was odd he didn't probe further, but was glad, given that she didn't have any answers to that question either.

After that, he lapsed into silence. Presumably he didn't have anything safe to talk about either. Fortunately they were nearly at the Pentagon by this time. Neither of them said anything as he parked and led her through the building. Elizabeth hadn't been to Homeworld Security's offices since the department had been set up; all her meetings had been at the SGC. She had been to the Pentagon before, but not for years and not in this part of the building. All the corridors looked the same - colorless and unappealing - and she didn't think she could remember their route.

The further they went the more people greeted Jack, but none of them gave Elizabeth a second look. She didn't recognize any of them, so they probably didn't know her, or hadn't known she was dead. Eventually, they reached a small office devoid of people. It was just big enough to contain a desk with a laptop on it, and a chair on either side. There was only enough space to close the door if you didn't move the chair in front of the desk too far over.

"This is your office," Jack said, smiling and stretching an arm out to encompass the space.

Elizabeth stood in the doorway and frowned. An office suggested something longer term than what she'd been imagining. With the lack of decoration, she couldn't tell what the occupant of this office was supposed to do. She wondered if it used to be a closet, albeit a large one.

"I've been speaking to a few people," Jack explained, sitting in the uncomfortable chair on the visitor's side of the desk. "We need someone more qualified than I am to liaise between the Air Force and the IOA."

She smiled. However good Jack was at other things, diplomacy wasn't one of them. He didn't have the patience.

"And someone in charge of diplomacy with other races, whether friend or foe," he continued, ignoring her smile at his expense. "I wanted the best qualified person to do it."

Elizabeth hovered in the vicinity of the desk, not wanting to sit down yet, but she was beginning to understand what he was saying. "You're offering me a job?" It wasn't the usual way of doing things, but then neither was being picked up by the Vice President to be taken to the President's office and handed a story (and a lot of boxes of reports) about Earth's dealing with alien races. Look how that one turned out.

Jack nodded. "I am."

She went around the desk and leaned on the back of the chair behind it. "What if I say no?"

"Try it for a day before you decide." He grinned. He knew he had her.

Well, it wasn't as if she had anything better to do. Daytime TV didn't get any less monotonous and Jack had put her in a position where she didn't feel like she had a choice. He'd presented her with a fait accompli and she couldn't just walk out of the Pentagon now. Especially when she was in the best place, the SGC excepted, to find out what was going on in Atlantis.

So she said, "All right", sat down and opened the laptop.

~*~

It didn't feel like a whole day had gone by. This past week the days had dragged on interminably until Elizabeth was glad to go to bed, but then she hadn't had a job or a purpose since she'd gotten back from Atlantis. This day had been busy, though. She'd spent the morning in meetings with various IOA personnel who hadn't been willing to listen to her at first, because of what she'd done while she was ascended. It didn't help that Jack had done a good job of getting their backs up. Although from what she could tell, their main complaint was that he didn't do everything they asked and spend all his days in meetings with them.

Once the IOA had gotten all their complaints out of their system, they'd been able to busy themselves with the problems between the military and civilian personnel on board Destiny. Elizabeth suspected it would be something they'd need to sort out among themselves, but she could at least offer advice based on her experience. In the end they'd decided to set up a meeting between Elizabeth and Camille Wray the next time she used the stones.

Lunch had been a hurried sandwich while she caught up on all the emails that had accumulated during the morning. She'd only just finished eating when General Landry called asking for advice about the trade agreement with the people on P3X-455. Since Elizabeth knew nothing about it, she'd spent an hour going through the paperwork and looking at precedents. She hadn't been able to solve the problem, but she had come up with a proposal that both parties ought to be able to compromise on, as long as they went about it the right way.

By the end of the day, there was still plenty for her to do and she had been used to working long hours, so she would have happily carried on had Jack not poked his head round her office door.

"Ready to go home?" he asked.

She frowned and looked at her watch. "I don't know where the day's gone. I'm sure I only just had lunch."

He grinned, came inside and sat down. "Good day then?"

She nodded. "A lot of the people you already have can handle this stuff, just as they have been, but I think you do need someone to coordinate it all." Although she wouldn't say no to getting stuck into some of the off-world negotiations.

"You want the job?"

"I do," she said, smiling as she shut down her computer. Closing the lid of the laptop and leaning on it, she said in a more serious tone, "Jack, why did you get me this job?"

He shrugged and picked up a snow globe of the Washington Monument she'd somehow acquired over the course of the day. "Because you're the best person for it."

"That's it?" She knew she sounded skeptical. Jack might want to give people jobs without a second thought, but he still couldn't do exactly what he liked, even though he was head of Homeworld Security.

"That's it." He tipped the snow globe over and back again, watching the snow fall slowly on the Monument. He met her eyes briefly and he must have seen her curiosity in them, because he placed the snow globe carefully back on her desk. "And I remember what happened the last time you left Atlantis," he said quietly. "I didn't think it would do you any good to wallow. Neither did your mother," he added, still studying the settling snow in the snow globe.

As much as she knew her mother was only looking out for her, Elizabeth still wished she wouldn't interfere. She wasn't a child. She wasn't ready to admit that he was right yet, though.

When Jack stood up, she followed suit, deciding that there was more than enough work to do tomorrow and none of it was urgent. While she was putting on her coat he asked, "How about dinner?" Despite the casualness of his question, he looked tense.

During a quiet coffee break earlier in the day Elizabeth had wondered whether she'd correctly interpreted Jack's actions just before she left the SGC. So far he'd acted exactly the same as he had before she'd ascended. Now she studied him and the way he looked at her confirmed she had understood his meaning. If they were going to keep working in the same department she would have to make a decision for both their sakes. She had told Teyla that Jack could be a reason to stay on Earth, so perhaps dinner would be a good place to start.

"I'd like that," she said with a smile.

He instantly relaxed. "I'll cook," he said. "The barbecue's been suffering from a bad case of disuse."

She wasn't surprised, since it was early spring. "Is there any time you don't barbecue?" she wondered aloud, as she followed him out of her office.

He turned back to say, "Tastes better when it snows."

She laughed, glad it was at least too warm for that.

~*~

Elizabeth stepped closer to the barbecue, seeking out the small amount of warmth it gave off. When she'd dressed that morning she'd been expecting to spend the day inside the Pentagon and not part of the evening standing outside at dusk. Jack was intently focused on the barbecue as one of the sausages he'd turned rolled back over, so it still had the blackened side on the bottom. Elizabeth hoped that meant they were cooking on the inside too. She wondered if he even knew how to cook in a kitchen. Although she knew everything that was written in his file, that didn't include anything domestic, or anything else that personal.

At last the sausage behaved itself and stayed where he wanted it, so Elizabeth broke the silence that had emerged while he fought with it. "You could just put those on the grill inside." It would also mean they wouldn't end up eating completely blackened sausages.

"Then what would be the point of a barbecue?" he asked, looking up at her. She had her arms folded across her body and was trying not to shiver. But she didn't want to go inside and leave him to it because then what would be the point of her being here? "You cold?" Jack asked.

She nodded. "It's not really barbecue weather yet." Whatever he thought, most of the population would disagree with him.

He divided his attention between her and the barbecue, and then said. "Keep an eye on the sausages." He passed her the tongs, then dashed inside.

Elizabeth thought about poking the sausages, but all they needed was some time to cook.

Jack was only gone a couple of minutes. When he returned he had a white jacket with him that looked warm. He draped it over her shoulders, then came around her to take the tongs back. "Looks good on you."

She smiled and pulled the jacket around her. "Thanks." It was wonderfully warm, but given that he hadn't got anything for himself she wondered if he wasn't feeling the cold or wasn't prepared to admit it. Since he seemed determined to have this barbecue, she suspected the latter was the more likely answer.

He stared at the barbecue, before putting the tongs down beside it and looking over at her. "So what happened in Atlantis?"

She shook her head, not wanting to go over it again. "It's all in the report."

"You know me and reports." He grinned.

She did, but she also knew that at least some of it was a ruse and she was sure he knew what had happened, even if he'd just gotten a verbal report from someone. She leaned back against the short wall next to the barbecue and waited for him to ask something more specific.

"I thought you might decide to stay in Atlantis," he said slowly.

"I thought about it." She put her hands in the pockets of the borrowed jacket. "But it turns out Richard Woolsey's a better commander than I am."

"I'm sure that's not true." He gave her a sympathetic look.

She knew he was lying; he was a better judge of strategy than that. "I got us into a mess and he got us out of it. If it wasn't for him I would probably be dead and the Pegasus Galaxy would be in danger." She shrugged, trying to look as if it was no big deal.

He picked up the tongs again and twirled them in his hands. "You still could have stayed."

She had already spent a week second guessing herself and thinking about what she could have done differently. At the very least, she could have avoided putting Woolsey into a situation that ended with John blowing up an Asgard ship. The last thing she wanted was Jack going over the possibilities with her. "And if I can't be in command, what would I have done instead?" she asked, a little more harshly than he deserved.

He shrugged. "What would you have liked to have done?"

"The one thing I can't do." She blinked away the tears that were collecting in her eyes and turned to face the house so he wouldn't see. This was why she didn't want to talk about it. Before he could labor the point, she decided not to let him continue with this conversation and said, "I'm going inside." She stood up straight and opened the back door, expecting him to say something. But he didn't, not even when she paused and glanced back at him before closing the door behind her.

He was the one person she thought would understand and now it sounded like he didn't at all. It took a few deep breaths before she was sure she wasn't going to cry, although she wasn't sure what she was going to do.

She heard the door open behind her. She only wanted to hear what he was going to say if it was the right thing, though, so she didn't move.

"I know what it's like not being able to do the job you want to," he said softly.

That wasn't what she'd been expecting, but it did pique her interest. She turned to face him and discovered he was standing closer than she'd expected, but she didn't step back. "What would you rather be doing?" He'd had many varied jobs throughout his career and she didn't know which was his favorite. Assuming it was even one of those.

"Going through the Stargate." He looked a little nostalgic - perhaps he was remembering the good times.

"You could still do that." Even if it wasn't the same as getting to do it every day, at least he could do it sometimes. Being the leader of the Atlantis Expedition wasn't an occasional thing: you either were or you weren't.

He shook his head. "I'm needed where I am." He put a hand on her shoulder. "And you're needed where you are."

She nodded. Maybe it was true, but it didn't make it any easier to accept.

"And I want you to stay on Earth," he added. He looked a little lost and she didn't think he was asking just for the benefit of Homeworld Security. "I forgive you for spying on me - I know you had good intentions."

She was tempted to point out that the road to hell was paved with good intentions but she knew he hated clichés. And if, as it seemed, she had helped him by visiting him that meant she couldn't regret it. So she said nothing and gave him her answer by reaching up and kissing him. They'd done it before, but it had always the prelude to something more. Now she could just enjoy the feel of his lips against hers, even if he did smell of smoke.

"I wasn't sure if I made my feelings clear," he said when they parted. He was smiling, just as she was.

"You did." She put her hand on his arm, almost as if they were dancing. "I just needed to give up Atlantis first." She still wasn't ready to abandon all hope of going back just yet, especially now she had a job that meant she might be needed there for negotiations sometime. But she was beginning to think he might be worth the sacrifice.

"Then I'm very glad I got you the job. Which you're perfect for, by the way."

She ducked her head for a moment. Sometimes Jack could be so sweet. He didn't let her hide her smile, though, because he put a hand on her cheek and leaned down to kiss her again. She moved her hands to the back of his neck and kissed him back hard enough to make him forget all about the sausages on the barbecue. She didn't want to stop: he tasted like home.

"Dr. Weir, it is good to see you."

Elizabeth returned Teyla's smile as she came down the stairs to greet herself and Woolsey. "It's good to be back, Teyla."

Teyla then turned to Woolsey, who was looking amused at Elizabeth's reverie, and said, "The Replicators have not contacted us in your absence."

Elizabeth took a step back, remembering that it was Woolsey who was in charge now, not her, and Teyla must have been filling in during his absence. She guessed that John Sheppard might not be trusted to be in command after what he'd done. At her command. She tried not to think about it and to just focus on the positive aspects of being back in Atlantis in Pegasus. Fortunately, a distraction arrived in the guise of John Sheppard himself.

"Elizabeth," he said, a big grin on his face. "You taking over again?"

She shook her head. "The IOA wants Woolsey to stay in charge."

John opened his mouth, then closed it again. Woolsey had been in Atlantis for a year and nothing awful had happened during that time, so he couldn't have been doing that badly, and John didn't look like he hated the idea of Woolsey staying either. Still, she wondered what he would have said if Woolsey hadn't been in earshot, discussing the current state of Atlantis with Teyla. But now was not the time to ask and she wasn't sure she would like either answer.

"They demoted you," she said, spotting the Major's emblem on his uniform.

"Tends to happen when you disobey orders." He said it lightly, but she could see the hurt in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. It was her fault and it would be the second black mark on his record.

He shook his head. "I'm not. I'm just glad Atlantis is back where it belongs."

So was she, but she wished there had been another way. She wished she could remember why she'd felt the need to take such drastic action.

"Dr. Weir." Having finished catching up with Teyla, Woolsey called her name and she turned back to him.

"We should meet in my office," he continued.

She nodded and they all trooped up to Woolsey's office. Elizabeth hesitated at the door. It had been her office once. The walls still looked the same and the desk hadn't changed, but there were other knick-knacks on it and the laptop was new. She could only see the back of the silver photo frame from here, but she knew Sedge wouldn't be on the photo inside it. Woolsey sat in what had been her chair. John and Teyla took seats along the wall as if nothing was different, which to them was true. Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, not sure where she belonged, before she sat beside John.

"We can call the Replicators whenever you're ready," Woolsey said, once they were all seated.

Elizabeth nodded. She wasn't sure she would ever feel ready, but since they were in Woolsey's office there must be details he wanted to clear up first. "I've read the reports," she assured him. "I know they must hate me for tricking them, but I also know how much they want to ascend and they can't do that unless they make peace."

Woolsey leaned forward. "They don't sound a great deal like they intend to."

"I will make sure they do," Elizabeth promised, sounding more confident than she felt.

"Mr. Woolsey?"

Elizabeth looked round to see an unfamiliar young man in his twenties standing at the office doorway. Where was Chuck?

"The Replicators are calling," the technician continued.

Woolsey nodded. "We can put them off if you'd like," he said to Elizabeth.

She shook her head. "They already know I'm here." She didn't know how, but it couldn't be coincidence that they would choose now to contact Atlantis again. She took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Elizabeth waited for Woolsey to come out from behind his desk before she followed him back to the control room, with John and Teyla close behind. Woolsey nodded at the technician who'd called them in and then pressed a button on the console in front of him. Elizabeth took a deep breath and stood up straight in front of the monitor. John, Teyla and Woolsey all stayed nearby, but out of the range of the camera.

A woman appeared on screen against an unremarkable gray background. Elizabeth studied her. She knew from the reports that this was Lia and that they had once been friends, although Elizabeth didn't know her now. Since she didn't want the Replicators to know this, she smiled and said, "It's good to see you're well."

Lia scowled. "I'm surprised, after what you did."

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on not letting her disappointment show. "I know and I'm sorry. But you have to put your anger behind you if you want to ascend."

Lia nodded. "Will you help us?"

Lia accepted Elizabeth's apology faster than she would have expected, based on the hatred in Lia's earlier statement. She didn't know what Lia had thought of her in the past, so she decided to take her question at face value and keep her doubts in mind. But still she hesitated. When she'd been a Replicator and understood what they were going through maybe she would have happily helped them. But since she didn't remember ascending there was nothing she could say that she wouldn't already have told them.

"You believe that we are lesser beings. That we can't ascend," Lia said accusingly, her eyes flashing, apparently taking Elizabeth's hesitation for a refusal.

"No," Elizabeth said quickly, shaking her head. She stepped closer to the monitor, as if there weren't a dozen people in the room listening to the conversation. "I was punished for the actions I took when I was ascended. I'm human again now." She hoped that telling Lia the truth would gain her trust.

Lia frowned at her. "Can you prove it?"

Elizabeth reached out and touched the camera lens above the monitor, hoping that would be enough.

It must have been because, despite her unchanging expression, Lia said, "You can still help us." She sounded reasonable again now.

Elizabeth wasn't sure if that would be a good idea. She didn't know what ascended Replicators would be like, but she still felt responsible for leading them down this path in the first place. "What will you do if I don't?" she asked, wanting to know how much of a threat they were likely to be.

Lia stood perfectly still, but there was a warning sound from one of the other monitors and then the city shook. When Elizabeth looked over she could see a flashing light on the screen.

"Warning shot," John said, quietly enough that the microphone wouldn't pick it up.

Elizabeth looked back up at Lia, understanding the position the Replicators were putting her in. "Then I will," she said. "But I'll have to come to you." It would be easier to negotiate with them face to face and they couldn't risk the Replicators in Atlantis again. It would be far better to only put herself at risk.

"No," John said quickly, looking worried. "You can't go up there alone."

"You may bring one other," Lia said graciously.

Elizabeth looked over to Woolsey, since it was his decision, ultimately. "I'll take Ronon," she said, hoping he was still in Atlantis. Woolsey nodded. "But we'll need someone to fly the Puddlejumper."

"There's no need," Lia said. "We have transporter technology."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, wondering just what ship the Replicators had gotten hold of.

"We'll need a little time to prepare," Woolsey objected, coming up behind Elizabeth.

Lia nodded. "You have ten minutes." The picture went blank.

"I don't like this." John joined them. "That ship they're on has a hell of a lot more firepower than the last one."

That did make it sound as if going there would be a bad idea, but Elizabeth looked each of the men in the eye. "They don't have anything to gain from hurting me. I've read the reports. None of the remaining Replicators ever acted against us." She had to believe that they were peaceful, otherwise they might well carry out their threat and she would be doing this for nothing.

"That doesn't mean they won't." Woolsey folded his arms.

"I'll have Ronon with me if anything goes wrong," she pointed out. "And they'll be transporting us anyway, whether we like it or not. They could have done it before now, if they'd really wanted to." So far, they had shown themselves to be trustworthy, so Elizabeth was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Woolsey sighed, while John scowled.

Teyla asked quietly, "Are you sure about this?"

Elizabeth nodded, which seemed to satisfy her.

Ronon arrived, wearing more weaponry than she'd ever seen on him before. Which meant there was a lot more than that concealed on him.

"They make one false move, I'll kill them," Ronon promised.

Elizabeth didn't have anything to do to prepare, except for ignoring John and Woolsey's worried looks and thinking about what to say and after exactly ten minutes, they were transported to the Replicator ship. Elizabeth had been expected to be greeted, but all they were faced with was an empty room. It was just a few feet across, the walls a dull gray, with only a door in one wall to relieve the monotony.

"Something's not right," Ronon said, gun primed, echoing her own thoughts.

Elizabeth looked around. "Can you smell that?" The aroma of recycled air was common to all spaceships, but this one smelled sweet.

"Gas!" Ronon ran to the door and tried to dig his fingers into the non-existent gap around it in an attempt to force it open.

Elizabeth tried not to panic as she looked around for a vent or a way to open the door without using force. There was nothing she could see and she couldn't hold her breath for very long. A moment later she started coughing and sank to the floor defeated.

Neither of them made it out of the room in the two minutes it took before they were both unconscious.

~*~

Elizabeth woke in a large, unfamiliar room. It felt like something she was doing a lot lately, but the déjà vu was dispelled by the sight of Ronon leaning over her and the quick realization that this room was clearly on a ship. She could feel the slight vibration caused by the engines. At least the air in here was cool and clear.

"You all right?" Ronon looked and sounded worried.

She nodded. Her head felt like she'd drunk too much last night, but she expected that would pass. She put her hands on the cold floor and pushed herself into a sitting position. Ronon stuck out his hand and pulled her up when she took it. "Where are we?" she asked, once she was on her feet again.

He shrugged. "Cell of some sort."

She'd guessed that much, despite it being a much bigger room than she'd expected for a cell. The walls held long, angular shapes she didn't recognize as belonging to any race in Pegasus. She ran her fingers down one of the shapes, but it didn't bring back any Replicator memories.

"No way out," Ronon added.

The door was the same as in the last room, and there was no control pad beside it. She turned away from the wall and gave him an ironic smile. "No use having a cell you can escape from." But presumably their captors would want to talk to them some time, otherwise why hold them here?

Just as she was thinking about it, the door opened. Ronon pulled out a knife she hadn't known he still had, but he froze when he saw the two people who came in.

It was themselves. Exact copies of herself and Ronon.

"Who are you?" she asked calmly, not trusting Ronon to do the talking.

"I'm Lia," the other Elizabeth replied.

Elizabeth glanced over at Ronon, whose expression was as astonished as hers. "No, you're not." She'd only just spoken to Lia and that wasn't what she looked like.

"We're Replicators in cloned bodies," Lia explained, smiling.

Elizabeth suddenly felt cold. She wondered when the Replicators' plan had changed. Had she been wrong to tell them she'd descended? Or would they have done this anyway, if she hadn't come to Atlantis? "You think that will help you ascend?" It was the only reason she could think of at that point as to why they'd done this.

"Of course." Lia sounded smooth and confident. It was the same voice Elizabeth used to reassure parties in a negotiation.

Elizabeth shook her head. It didn't sound reassuring to her now.

"I'll kill them now." Ronon took a step forward.

Elizabeth put a hand on his arm. "We need to talk to them first." They needed more information.

He didn't look happy about it, but he stayed by her side. However, he didn't put the knife away.

"Where did you get the technology to do that?" she asked.

"The race that took us from the space gate and unfroze us. Saved us from the fate you condemned us all to." Lia sounded as if Elizabeth should know this already. They must have unfrozen Elizabeth too, she supposed. She wished she'd been able to remember. Then maybe they could have avoided this mess.

Now it was Elizabeth who took a step toward the two Replicators. "Who?"

"The Asgard."

Elizabeth had just enough time to be astonished at the news of there being Asgard alive in Pegasus when the transporter activated again and they found themselves back in Atlantis.

~*~

"What are the Asgard doing in Pegasus?" Elizabeth asked, looking around at the other members of the expedition in the briefing room. There hadn't been time to read all the reports before she came here, so she'd stuck to those involving the Replicators. Given that no one else looked surprised, she guessed there were some important events she'd missed.

"They came here to do research on clones without the other Asgard stopping them," Rodney replied in a tone that suggested she should know that.

She had to think back to the other reports she'd read about the Asgard in the past to be able to fill in the gaps in Rodney's story. Though it had been a few years since she'd read SG-1's reports, she'd always had a good memory and she could recall enough to figure it out. "So they cloned me and Ronon the same way Loki did on Earth."

Ronon huffed and shifted in his seat. She couldn't imagine he was any more pleased about this than she was, especially as they'd knocked him out; something he tended to take personally at the best of times.

There were still holes in Rodney's story. Elizabeth leaned forward. "But when they clone people, they usually clone their brains as well."

"We already know the Replicators can put their minds into human bodies. Maybe they just took the cloned version of yours out and put theirs in." He swept his arm out over the table, as if to indicate how they did it. "I'm simplifying massively, of course."

Elizabeth tried to swallow the lump in her throat and not think about what had happened to the other version of her and whether she'd been conscious.

"They have to be stopped," John said, forcefully.

"And how do you propose to do that?" Woolsey asked evenly. "We couldn't manage it the first time and now they have an alliance with the Replicators..." He trailed off, his inference obvious to everyone in the room.

"And the Replicators have the technology to make humans," Rodney said. "Who knows what the Asgard can do with that."

"Perhaps they can just make Asgard," John suggested. "It would solve their cloning problem," he added with a shrug.

"I don't know if Replicators can ascend," Elizabeth said. "Even in human bodies, they're still Replicators." She knew from the reports that they'd already tried that, but perhaps Lia didn't. Or maybe she thought Elizabeth was the catalyst they needed to be able to ascend.

"More importantly," Woolsey pointed out, "two of the Replicators can now pretend to be Ronon and Dr. Weir.
Is there anything to stop them making more copies of those clones?"

Rodney shook his head. "All they need is the DNA they collected from Elizabeth and Ronon and they can make as many copies as they like. They could have already started."

Elizabeth put a hand to her mouth. She felt sick for having let this happen. Perhaps Jack had been right and she shouldn't have come back here.

"Then we need to destroy them now." John sounded angry. Elizabeth couldn't blame him.

"They can't have gotten far," Elizabeth said. The Asgard ship had left as soon as Elizabeth and Ronon were back in Atlantis, but they'd come straight here to discuss the situation. "I'll go. I can pretend to be Lia."

"I'll go too," Ronon said.

"I'll fly the Jumper," John offered.

Elizabeth smiled at them both, grateful for their support. However, she'd forgotten she no longer had the final say over this, until Woolsey spoke.

"Are you sure you know Lia well enough to convince the other Replicators you're one of them?" He sounded skeptical.

She wasn't sure, but she knew this would be their best chance. "Yes." She raised her chin. "I can do it."

"But can you convince her to delete your DNA?"

Elizabeth hesitated. Her negotiating skills usually involved convincing people to accept a compromise and not to completely change their position.

Fortunately, Rodney spoke before she did. "I think I can help there. I can download a virus that will delete it."

John frowned. "You can do that?"

"I've worked with the Asgard systems plenty of times. I know how they work."

There was silence as Woolsey looked round the table, appraising each of them. Then he nodded. "Be ready as soon as you can," he said.

~*~

The journey to the Asgard ship was quiet and tense. John flew the Jumper; Ronon stared out of the window, occasionally turning his head from side to side, spying for enemies; Rodney double checked his program; and Elizabeth concentrated on memorizing the layout of the ship. As long as the Asgard hadn't changed it significantly, the plans they'd gotten from the SGC should get her to the room with the cloning technology easily enough.

"You sure you want to do this?" John's question broke into Elizabeth's thoughts and she looked up to find it was directed at her.

"I don't have a choice," she said quietly. "It's the only way."

"That wasn't an answer." He stared at her, as if he could see her thoughts that way. She dropped her eyes back to the plans and eventually he turned back to the controls. As soon as he did he said, "Found it," and swung the Jumper over to the right. The Asgard ship came into view, growing larger as they approached.

Elizabeth got up and stood behind John and Ronon; Rodney turned round in his chair to see the view. The Asgard ship looked to be nearly as big as the Daedalus but, where the Daedalus was black, this ship was silver and smooth. To Elizabeth's eyes it seemed far more deadly.

"Don't worry, we're cloaked," John reassured her.

Given what she'd read about the Replicators, she hoped that would be enough to keep them hidden.

"Now it's your turn." John glanced over his shoulder at Rodney.

Rodney went back to his laptop and tapped at the keys. "The shuttle bay should be right in front of you."

As usual, Rodney had worked miracles: directly ahead Elizabeth could see a door opening on the side of the Asgard ship.

"That should put you two levels away from the cloning room," Rodney said. "You sure you don't want me to come with you?" he asked, passing Elizabeth a tablet.

"I would," she admitted. "But the Asgard already know you're not a Replicator."

"Let's go." Ronon was up and ready as soon as they touched down. His hands twitched as John lowered the ramp. Since Replicators never needed to carry guns, Elizabeth hoped they'd both be more inconspicuous if they weren't seen to be carrying any themselves. The tablet she tucked into an inside pocket, where it dug into her ribs.

"Good luck," John called after them.

Elizabeth turned back to smile at John and Rodney. "Hopefully, we won't need it."

Ronon was first out of the Jumper, scouting the area for Replicators or Asgard. Elizabeth followed slowly and just as cautiously. There was no need for speech as they left the landing bay and headed down the corridor. Elizabeth strode as if she was supposed to be here, hoping no one would question her. If they did, Ronon had a concealed gun as well as an anti-Replicator weapon - but as soon as they started shooting the alarm would be raised. Elizabeth wanted to destroy the cloning data before that could happen.

It didn't stop Elizabeth from being nervous as they waited for the elevator. There was no telling who might step off it, but they'd look more suspicious if they avoided the elevator. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief when it arrived empty.

It took no time at all to travel up two levels. When the elevator opened they found an Asgard waiting for for it. Elizabeth reminded herself to stay calm and she merely nodded at him as they exited. He stared at her, but said nothing. Elizabeth's heart pounded and it was all she could do not to run the rest of the way. All they could do was hope the Asgard wasn't suspicious of them.

As they made their way along the corridor Elizabeth counted off doors and Ronon kept a look-out around them. He was just as twitchy as she was, but she knew he was professional enough not to shot while they were under cover.

"Here we are," she said, when they reached the fifth on the left. She and Ronon positioned themselves on either side and at his nod she reached out to open the door. Ronon burst in, gun first.

"Clear," he said, and she followed him in.

All the room held was a bed and a console, so that meant the data was stored on the computer. As Elizabeth plugged the tablet in, Ronon positioned himself by the door, ready to deal with any intruders.

Rodney's instructions were simple enough. All she had to do was upload the program and the virus would do the rest. Except when she tried, nothing happened. She tapped her radio. "Rodney, it doesn't work."

"What? That's not possible." Rodney sounded amazed at the idea.

"Maybe they have a firewall or something," she suggested, wanting to be helpful.

"No, I accounted for that."

"What if these Asgard have a different firewall?"

Rodney's pause at the other end suggested she could be right, or she had at least given him an idea. "Never mind," he said eventually. "We'll go to Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" She studied the tablet, but she couldn't see anything else extra that Rodney had put on it.

Rodney didn't get a chance to answer because Ronon said, "Someone's coming!"

Elizabeth kept the tablet plugged in, in case Rodney could do something remotely, but tucked it behind the console. She stayed where she was, hoping their ruse would still work, but she knew it had failed as soon as Lia walked through the door. Ronon grabbed her arm, but she didn't struggle.

"Don't shoot," Elizabeth said to Ronon. Lia was was powerless in Ronon's grip and they had a captive audience.

"I know what you're doing," Lia said. "We've cut off access from this console."

"Can you blame us?" Elizabeth kept her arms at her sides, palms out. She was practised enough at this not to let her disappointment show. "You've allied yourselves with a dangerous race."

"To you, not to us." Lia stood up a little straighter and Elizabeth recognised that stance in her body as defiance. "They have what we need. What you would not give us."

Elizabeth shook her head. "You've done nothing to prove you can be trusted," she pointed out.

"And you have only proved yourselves untrustworthy." Lia jerked suddenly and she fell to the ground, limp. Looking up, Elizabeth realized Ronon had his gun in his hand and had shot her.

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "What did you do that for?" She was annoyed with him - with more time she could have talked Lia round. There was no need for him to kill her.

"She wasn't going to listen," he said, "and there are more coming."

Now he'd mentioned it, she could hear the approaching footsteps. She couldn't tell how many there were, but even Ronon wasn't good enough to take down that many. She silently forgave Ronon for his actions.

"Here." Ronon tossed her a gun, before taking up position at the doorway.

Elizabeth's hands shook as she caught the weapon and turned it the right way round. She didn't ask what sort of gun it was, just crouched down behind the console to give herself some cover.

And then they were coming. An Asgard in body armor ripped the door off, and there were more behind him. Ronon shot them as they tried to enter. The narrow doorway forced them to attack one at a time and though their shields held for dozens of shots, they couldn't move while they were shielding themselves, so it at least held them back and prevented any more from entering around them.

Elizabeth stayed crouched down, wondering how long Ronon could keep doing this before his gun ran out of power or the Asgard found another way in. She looked around and couldn't see another door, but that didn't mean there wasn't a hidden one. She didn't know Asgard ships well enough to tell.

Ronon had taken out three Asgard and was working on a fourth when an explosion rocked the ship. Elizabeth fell to the floor, landing with an "Omph".

"What was that?" she asked, pushing herself back up.

"Elizabeth, Ronon, get back to the Jumper," John yelled over the radio.

Elizabeth was wondering just how they were going to manage that when they were under attack from the only exit when the Asgard backed off, turned and ran. Elizabeth and Ronon took advantage of the retreat and hurried back to the Jumper as fast as they could. The Asgard had gone in the other direction, so their path back to the elevator was safe. They were nearly there when another explosion threw Elizabeth against the wall. Without knowing where these explosions were or what was causing them, she knew they couldn't risk using the elevator.

"Which way?" Ronon asked, looking around and trying to cover all the exits. He must have realized the same thing she did.

Elizabeth stopped to think about where they were on the map. She was about to answer when she heard gunfire. She turned back to see Ronon firing at an Asgard who had come down the corridor after them. Since the corridor was wide enough to fit two Asgard in body armor side-by-side, Elizabeth flattened herself against the wall behind Ronon, heart pounding. From this position she couldn't see what was happening, which at least meant she couldn't be shot. She could at least tell Ronon hadn't been shot either. It wasn't long before Ronon stopped firing.

"Let's go." He matched his actions to his words and then Elizabeth could see the Asgard had fallen and there were none behind him. Yet.

"There's an emergency escape route in the next corridor over," Elizabeth called out, and Ronon picked up the pace.

As they turned the corner she spotted the hatch in the wall just as the door beside it opened and a dozen Asgard piled out of it. Elizabeth jumped back around the corner, out of the line of fire. Fortunately the Asgard hadn't had time to put their suits on yet. She didn't know how Ronon could have taken down that many if they had.

She steadied the gun in her hand, pointing it at the corridor she'd just fallen back from. Her hand shook and she hoped she wouldn't need to use it. If something happened to Ronon she wasn't sure if she could fight her way off this ship.

When her ears rang in the sudden silence, she risked a glance around the corner. Ronon was picking his way over the fallen Asgard. Elizabeth followed him, hoping the footsteps she could hear were just her imagination.

Ronon wrenched the hatch open easily and motioned for Elizabeth to go first. She tucked the gun into her waistband, then swung herself out onto the ladder. She went as fast as she dared down the ladder, not looking down at the long drop below them. Ronon closed the hatch behind them, but she didn't think that would keep the Asgard away for long.

"What if they follow us?" she asked.

"They won't. They'll send someone to meet us when we exit."

That wasn't very reassuring. Elizabeth wiped her sweaty palms on her pants, one at a time, then picked up her pace. They passed one hatch and then the next, which Ronon eased open slowly when he reached it. Elizabeth listened to the blood thundering in her ears and the sounds from the corridor above her.

"Clear," Ronon said.

Elizabeth sighed in relief. She started back up the ladder, and was only a couple of rungs from the hatch when there was another explosion. She cried out as she was thrown away from the ladder. Her feet struggled to find purchase and her shoulder strained as she held on with one hand.

Ronon grabbed her arm and steadied her enough to get her feet back under her and cling to the ladder gratefully. Not that Ronon allowed her to stay there. "Come on," he said, and half-pulled her the rest of the way.

Elizabeth wanted to flex her shoulder to stop it from hurting any more, but Ronon didn't let her go and he set a fast pace for the Jumper. By the time they reached it Elizabeth was panting hard.

"Sit down, strap in," John said, once they were inside the Puddlejumper.

"But they still have our DNA," she said, trying to steady her breathing.

"We gotta go back out there," Ronon added.

"That's why we've got a plan B. Or should I say C?" John grinned.

That explained the explosions. He must have left the Jumper right after she and Ronon had, in order to place some C-4 somewhere on the ship. She wondered who had been so sure her scheme would fail that they'd come up with a backup plan they hadn't told her about, but that question could wait for later, once they were all safe.

With no other options, Elizabeth sat down, and massaged her shoulder. Ronon stayed standing for a moment longer before he sat too, looking no worse for wear. Elizabeth watched John maneuver the Puddlejumper out of shuttle bay thinking of what she could have done differently. There must have been a way of preventing this.

They were only just clear of the Asgard ship when it exploded. She shook her head. "It didn't have to come to this," she objected.

"It was Woolsey's back-up plan," John explained coolly. "Hit their critical systems. We just have to hope they don't have internet."

Elizabeth nodded and stared out of the window, feeling sick at the loss of life that had just occurred. The Replicators and the Asgard hadn't exactly been their friends in either galaxy, based on what she'd heard, but it wasn't as if they were all bad either. With a little encouragement perhaps they could even have been allies. She was sure they all had something to share. But now that was never going to happen. Even if there were other Replicators and Asgard out there, she didn't think they'd take kindly to having a ship blown up. There hadn't been much time for many of them to get out before it exploded.

She had been so sure this could be settled peacefully that she hadn't thought about what would happen if she was wrong. Had the Ancients done something to her to make her forget how to be Atlantis's leader? Or had she just been so preoccupied with what she'd done to the Replicators that she hadn't considered it. She wasn't sure which option she preferred, but it seemed like the IOA were right. She could never be in command of the Atlantis expedition again.

~*~

Elizabeth stood by the window in the empty mess hall, a cup of Athosian tea in her hand. The lights were dimmed enough that she could see her reflection superimposed over the view of Altantis. The lights along the pier made it look like a runway, while squares of brightness dotted around the towers showed which rooms people were working in. It could almost have been any city, but it wasn't. It was her city, once. Not any more.

She heard movement behind her and stayed where she was, hoping the other person had just come in for a drink or a snack and wouldn't engage her in conversation. As the quiet footsteps came closer Elizabeth saw Teyla's reflection in the glass.

"It is beautiful, is it not?" Teyla halted beside Elizabeth.

Elizabeth nodded, not trusting her voice to be steady.

They each sipped at their tea and admired the view. Gradually Elizabeth began to relax, knowing Teyla wouldn't intrude into her thoughts if she knew it would be unwanted. And Elizabeth did want to be able to unburden herself on someone - and Teyla of all people would understand. At last into the silence, she said, "I'm going back to Earth in the morning. There's no place for me here any more." She just wanted to stay one more night while she could.

"If you wish to stay and live with the Athosians, you would be most welcome."

Elizabeth turned to Teyla, surprised. She hadn't even considered that option.

Teyla smiled. "You have done much for my people."

Elizabeth returned the smile, accepting the compliment. It was an attractive prospect to see Teyla's son and live a peaceful life near to Atlantis. She was sure the Athosians would welcome an extra pair of hands, even if her skills were not the ones the Athosians needed most.

However, she couldn't picture herself being an Athosian farmer, living a nomadic life. Despite how tempting it sounded, if only for a moment, she knew she couldn't accept. "It's very good of you to offer, Teyla, but I don't think I can live here and not be in command of Atlantis." She supposed that at least her mother would be happy Elizabeth wasn't living in another galaxy, but she wasn't living her life for her mother's benefit.

Teyla nodded. "I understand." She sounded like she had expected Elizabeth to turn the offer down.

It still left the question of what she was going to do. Even though it had been a few years, Elizabeth was sure she could go back to international negotiating or her Poli Sci class at Georgetown if she wanted, but it would be so mundane in comparison to what she'd become used to. She half-wished she could go back to an existence where she'd never known sentient life existed on other planets. It would at least make her decisions easier.

She shook her head. No, she wouldn't give up her experiences with the Stargate Program and the Atlantis Expedition for anything. Besides, it was always possible there were greater things out there yet to be discovered, although she couldn't imagine what. Also, there was something else she'd pushed to the back of her mind, but it was something that might be worth her going back to Earth for.

"Before I came," she began hesitantly, "someone I've known for a while made me think he has feelings for me that are more than just friendship."

Teyla looked interested. "Do you return these feelings?"

She sighed. "I don't know." Jack was a friend, certainly, and the nights they'd spent together had been fun and left her wanting more, but living in different galaxies made it far too much of a long distance relationship. She still wasn't sure that she wanted a relationship with anyone, though. "I haven't really had time to think about it."

"Then perhaps now is the time to do so."

Teyla's words invited her to tell more and Elizabeth found the quiet of the mess hall made it easier to think. "He's a good friend. He's had every right to hate me on more than one occasion, but he's never been anything but polite." Except when he'd been sarcastic, but for Jack that was practically the same thing. "I don't think he realizes how brave he is."

"But is he good looking?" Teyla's eyes sparkled with humor and Elizabeth laughed at the question. It felt good to laugh after the day she'd had.

"He is," she confessed from behind her tea cup. "And he does make me laugh." Her tone was a little wistful as she remembered those times.

Teyla nodded. "Sometimes that is enough."

Had Teyla always been this wise, Elizabeth wondered, or had she not noticed until now? Either way she was invaluable to the expedition and Elizabeth was glad Teyla had chosen to stay in Atlantis, even after Torren's birth. "I will miss you, Teyla." Tears pricked at her eyes, but she refused to cry when she had company.

Teyla smiled. "You will keep in contact."

It wasn't a question because Teyla knew her well enough to know that she would. So all Elizabeth had to do was nod and the matter was settled.

She pushed herself up to sit against the headboard, then discovered she was naked. She couldn't understand why. She always slept wearing pajamas and if someone else had put her to bed, they wouldn't have taken all her clothes off. Unless she'd taken them off herself and didn't remember. The dimness of the room suggested it would be dawn, if it was morning - but the clock on the nightstand told her it was evening.

Beside the clock was a photo. She picked it up to study it and though she didn't recognize the woman or the boy in it, the man looked familiar. It took her a moment to recognize him as Jack O'Neill. The photo had been taken some years ago, when he still had brown hair and looked much younger than when she'd last seen him.

So now she knew she was in Jack's bedroom, but not how she'd gotten here. Or where he was. Or even if this was really his bedroom and not some sort of simulation or trick. As she got out of the bed, she wrapped the duvet around herself. It was hard to walk with it dragging on the floor, but she made it to the doorway without tripping over it and stood there listening. She couldn't hear anyone else in the house.

"Jack?"

There was no reply and no movement to tell her anyone had heard her call out, so she was going to have to investigate on her own. Her clothes weren't visible anywhere in the room, so she assumed she hadn't come here by choice. She couldn't think of anyone who was likely to kidnap her, bring her back to Earth, take her clothes and leave her in Jack's bed. That would be far too elaborate.

Since she couldn't continue to walk around wrapped in a duvet, she opened a few of Jack's drawers and was rewarded by finding a clean pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt. They were far too big on her, but they were better than nothing. When she found Jack, she could explain why she was wearing them, if not why she needed to borrow his clothes in the first place.

There were still no signs that anyone else was in the house as she cautiously headed down the stairs. Even though she was sure she'd never been in this house, it still felt familiar, but she couldn't say why. In the hall, she found the phone and picked it up, before she realized she couldn't remember any phone numbers. She hadn't needed to in Atlantis, and when she was here they were programmed into her cell.

It occurred to her that Jack might have an address book she could use. Just as she put the phone back down, so she'd have both hands free to look, she heard a key in the front door. Her eyes widened and she fled to the living room. There was an empty beer bottle on the coffee table and she picked it up before flattening herself against the wall by the door, heart racing.

The front door opened and closed, and then she heard whoever it was put their keys down. The heavy footsteps told her it was probably a man - assuming they were human at all. As he reached the living room door, she gripped the bottle more firmly, ready to strike and ask questions later. Then a very familiar voice called her name.

"Elizabeth?"

She froze in place, looking at Jack, who was now standing in the doorway.

"How about you put the bottle down and I'll apologize?" he suggested, holding his hands away from his body.

She knew Jack probably had enough training to be able to take the bottle from her before she could move, but she wasn't ready to give her weapon up before she knew what his intentions were. Especially when she looked a lot like she'd broken in and stolen his underwear. "I'm sorry. I couldn't find my clothes."

He frowned, and then looked down at her. By the time he met her eyes his face was a little flushed. "I meant I should apologize for accusing you of not helping. If I'd thought you were going to do what you did..." He put his arms out. "I'm sorry."

She did lower the bottle, albeit unconsciously. "What's going on?"

"Only Sheppard and McKay doing what you told them to and flying the city back to Pegasus." He didn't sound happy about it.

"Back?" She frowned.

He reached out and took the bottle from her unresisting fingers, before his eyes widened. "Elizabeth, what's the last thing you remember?" He sounded worried now.

"The Replicators were attacking and we were about to fly the city away to escape. I think they hit us." She couldn't remember the impact, but she was sure there must have been one. "I'm not sure. I woke up here."

"Elizabeth," he said softly. "That was two years ago."

"I've lost two years?" She must have been injured; that was why she couldn't remember. "How did I get here?"

He shook his head. "You were ascended. You must have descended."

She put a hand to her mouth. She remembered reading reports of that happening to Daniel Jackson, but had never thought she would have the same experience. Her legs felt unsteady and she made her way over to the couch and sat down. "I don't even remember dying."

"I'm not sure if you did." He followed her and crouched down in front of her.

Elizabeth's hands shook. It all sounded plausible, if unlikely. Jack wasn't denying Atlantis existed this time, but this was so similar to the nanite attack on her not that long ago. What if the Replicators had done something to reactivate the nanites inside her? As helpful as the nanite Jack had been before, he had turned out to be the enemy trying to trap her inside her own mind. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice; she wouldn't reveal what she knew. "Can you prove any of it?"

He nodded. "Let me make a couple phone calls. Don't go anywhere, I'll be back in a minute." He smiled, before going back out into the hall.

Elizabeth waited until he started talking, then silently tip toed over to his back door and turned the key slowly. She held her breath, hoping the door wouldn't creak, and was relieved when it didn't. She didn't worry too much about shutting the door behind her - it would be too loud. Once she was outside, she started running, ignoring the cold of the concrete under her bare feet and the gravel that dug into her soles.

After a few steps she found herself face to face with Helia. Elizabeth stopped, startled.

Helia smiled. "I am sorry. We didn't mean to make you think something was wrong."

Helia was dead, she had to be. She couldn't possibly be here, which meant she was another nanite. So Elizabeth turned away from her, but as soon as she'd taken another step, Helia was in front of her again. Elizabeth decided to stand her ground and held her head up. "I'm not scared of you." She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.

"You have nothing to be scared of," Helia said. "I can show you why you're here." Helia reached out her hand and touched Elizabeth's forehead. Before Elizabeth could shout or run, she passed out.

~*~

Elizabeth woke to see Jack kneeling over her, looking concerned.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

After a moment, she remembered what had happened and nodded. "I'm fine." She sat up. "I've just been given some of my memories back by an Ancient."

He raised his eyebrows as he offered his hand to help her up.

Accepting the help, she took his hand and smiled in thanks once she was standing. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier. I thought it was the nanites again."

He nodded. "I remember. I read the report."

"You read reports?" she asked with a grin.

"Only the interesting ones." He smiled and dropped her hand. "Why don't you come back inside?"

She nodded and followed him. When she'd been trying to run away, she hadn't cared about the cold, but after being outside for a minute she'd started shivering in the wind. Jack's underwear wasn't enough to keep it out.

Once inside Elizabeth curled up in the corner of the couch and Jack went into the kitchen. He returned with a beer for him and a cup of coffee for her. She nodded in thanks and had a sip. It was gloriously hot and warmed her up.

"What do you remember?" he asked, as he sat at the other end of the couch. He put his feet on the coffee table and popped the lid off his beer.

"Not much." She sighed. Most of the past two years were still a blank. "I remember being ascended, but not how I came to ascend or descend. The only thing I remember since the Replicators' attack is visiting you." Although why that memory in particular had been returned to her she didn't know. Surely there would be more useful things to remember. Maybe if she did it would have explained what was going on and why she'd woken up here.

Jack sipped his beer. "The whole memory loss thing is how the Ancients punish people for interfering."

She nodded, remembering reading about it. "What did I do?" If she'd interfered with something, then it must have been something big. Jack was bound to have heard about it.

"You sent Atlantis back to Pegasus." He smiled grimly. "While I was on vacation."

She blinked and searched her memories. The last time she had seen Atlantis it was in Pegasus, just as it had always been. But she also remembered knowing Atlantis had been on Earth while she'd been with Jack. At the time she'd known why, but she didn't any more. She shook her head. It was confusing having incomplete memories.

"You said there was something else out there." He put his feet on the floor and leaned toward her. "A reason why Atlantis should be in Pegasus."

"That's where it belongs." From his hopeful expression she could tell he was expecting something else. "That's all I remember, I'm sorry."

He sighed. "Ascension means never having to say what you know. Descension means not knowing what you knew."

She ducked her head as she smiled. It sounded right, but she couldn't remember enough to offer an opinion on the subject. And there was something else worrying her. "I don't know what ascending and descending will have done to the nanites inside me."

Jack paused with his beer bottle at his lips. "We should get you to the SGC." He put the bottle back on the table and stood up.

She shook her head. "No. I want to see my mother first." It was important to know the status of the nanites, but she was scared what her mother might have done if she'd thought her daughter was dead. She doubted Jack would have gotten the clearance to tell her mother about ascension and what it meant. Elizabeth didn't know if not remembering visiting her mother meant she didn't, or if she had but the Ancients had taken that memory too. Besides, she felt fine for the moment.

He made a face. "You probably shouldn't go straight over. She knows you were missing; you don't want to give her too much of a shock."

She nodded. He was right, but she still wanted to go. She stood up to face him. "I'm not going to the SGC before I've seen her."

He must have known she wasn't prepared to back down over this, so he gave her a searching look. "Give me the number and I'll call her. You can go tomorrow. With an escort," he emphasized.

She smiled and nodded. She could agree to that if it meant seeing her mother.

He found her a pad and a pen from beside a half-finished chess game that she now remembered starting. But the memories from that time weren't quite right: there were still bits missing and, because of that, parts she didn't entirely understand. She shook her head, telling herself she had enough things to worry about already and concentrated on writing her mother's phone number down.

"You can stay here tonight, if you want," he said, as he took the pad from her.

She hesitated, wondering what he meant by that.

"I have a spare room," he added. "And we have a chess game to finish."

She smiled and told herself she should have known his intentions were honorable. "Thank you." If she couldn't go home, then she would prefer to be somewhere familiar rather than on an Air Force base, which usually weren't the most homey of places at the best of times.

~*~

The next morning, Jack left early to go to the Pentagon. Unaccustomed to the sound of someone moving about nearby, Elizabeth had woken up and gone to investigate. She'd smiled at the sight of Jack half-dressed, his hair still wet. He'd buttoned up his shirt as he'd told her things were a bit crazy since Atlantis had flown back to Pegasus. Elizabeth couldn't find it in herself to feel guilty about that. Even if she couldn't remember what she'd done or why, she was glad she'd done it. As much as Atlantis would have been quite a sight on Earth - and Earth quite a sight from Atlantis - it wasn't where the city belonged.

Elizabeth took her time over her shower and, having nothing else to wear, put Jack's boxers and t-shirt back on. Back downstairs she flicked through the newspaper he'd left on the coffee table. It was yesterday's, but that hardly mattered when she'd missed two years. However, none of the stories caught her attention. Once she'd eagerly read all she could about what was going on in the world. Now it just didn't seem important.

She left the paper and as she searched his kitchen for something edible, Corporal Thompson arrived. He told her Jack had sent him to drive her to her mother's house in his absence. The lack of food in Jack's kitchen made her think her mother's would be a better place to get breakfast, so she followed him out to the car.

Thompson wasn't the talkative type, so there was nothing to stop Elizabeth from feeling nervous the closer they got. She remembered, in that nanite nightmare, her mother saying she didn't know what she'd do if something happened to Elizabeth. Well, now it had, and those words were haunting her. She didn't know how her mother had coped. Jack had said that she'd sounded fine when he'd called her last night, but he couldn't tell her more than that, so she was still worried.

As they pulled up outside, Elizabeth examined the house. Her mother had moved there when Elizabeth's father died; although Elizabeth didn't spend much time in Washington she'd been glad to have family nearby. Then, after she and Simon had split up, Elizabeth hadn't had anywhere else to store her stuff, so she'd moved her possessions to her mother's house. Not that she had much; she'd rarely been in one place long enough to accumulate a lot of things.

The house looked much the same as the last time Elizabeth had seen it. The daffodils outside were blooming and the flower beds looked well tended. Elizabeth's nerves let up a little. Her mother couldn't have been wallowing too much if she'd managed that. Still, Elizabeth hesitated in the walk up to the front door. When she looked back at the car, Thompson looked like he was set to stay there all day, which he'd probably been ordered to.

The sound of the door opening turned Elizabeth's attention back to the house. Her doubts vanished upon seeing her mother in the doorway, smiling and she ran into her mother's arms, hugging her tight. Elizabeth thought she looked a little tired but, apart from that, she looked better than Elizabeth had feared.

~*~

"I'm so glad you're here," her mother said, as they both sat in the living room with a cup of coffee each. Her mother picked up a tissue and blew her nose, but her unshed tears hadn't gone unnoticed by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had to hold her own tears back as she smiled. "I didn't think I'd see you again." She'd had a nightmare about it last night, even though she knew nothing that bad could have happened.

Her mother put her cup down with a shaky hand and turned towards Elizabeth. "What happened to you, sweetheart?" she asked softly.

Elizabeth finished the last mouthful of her coffee as she considered what to say. Although she couldn't have told the truth, even if she had known all of it, she hated having to lie to her mother, especially now. She wished she'd gotten her mother clearance, but it was too late for that. "I was captured," she said. When she'd though about it last night it had been the only reason she could come up with for not being able to call. "The people who captured me manufactured proof that I was dead, so everyone would stop looking for me. The Air Force only came upon me by chance."

She told the story staring at her empty cup and without emotion showing in her voice. Elizabeth was glad she had, because when she looked up she saw only sympathy on her mother's face. She hated the idea that her mother would be upset by what she imagined Elizabeth might have gone through. She felt sick about having to lie about an ordeal she hadn't experienced. "I don't remember any of it," she continued. "For me it's as if the last two years never happened." She smiled to reassure her mother. "And I haven't been hurt. Look at me, I'm fine."

"Oh, you are." Her mother hugged her again. "I'm just glad you're here now."

She didn't seem inclined to let her go, so Elizabeth stayed within the comfort of her arms until her mother pulled away. She was glad too, but there was another reason she was here. "Do you still have my things? I don't even have any clothes." Jack's t-shirt and boxer shorts were rumpled from Elizabeth having slept in them.

"Of course." Her mother smiled and stood. "It's all in the spare room."

Elizabeth followed her there, noticing as she did so the details that told her she really had been away for two years. When her mother opened the door to the spare room Elizabeth found she'd added a painting of Yosemite to it, along with a few photographs of landscapes from places she couldn't identify. She wondered if her mother had been to these places or just liked the look of the pictures.

"They said you were missing and I hoped you'd come back," her mother said, and Elizabeth focused on her, rather than the décor. "And when they said you were dead, I hoped they were wrong. I couldn't give you up just like that." She shook her head.

Elizabeth ignored the spare room and hugged her mother again. She wished she could have done something to spare her mother that pain. She wondered why she hadn't tried to do something while she was ascended, but there was no way to know. "You were right," she said, relieved. She hated to think of her mother living in hope for years, and Elizabeth never returning.

Her mother released her after a few moments and Elizabeth looked around the room again. Aside from the pictures on the walls the room only held an unmade bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. It didn't look lived in and she wondered whether there was anything in it until her mother opened the wardrobe. Inside were the clothes Elizabeth had left here and a few she'd left in Atlantis too. Apart from a couple of dresses it was all pants and blouses. Elizabeth chose a pair of light blue jeans and a black blouse with blue stitching. Then she turned to the chest of drawers for some underwear, but her attention was drawn to the box on top of it. She unfolded the flaps and looked inside to find it contained everything else she'd left in Atlantis.

"The Air Force sent that back when they told me you were dead," her mother said, with a wobble in her voice.

Elizabeth reached in and pulled out her father's watch. It hit her that everything she owned was here on Earth. The way her mother was now Elizabeth could probably stay here for a while and not have to worry about anything. She could catch up on all the sleep she'd missed in Atlantis. With the way her mother was acting Elizabeth could probably ask for anything and get it. But her possessions were just things, her mother was used to her being away for long periods of time and there was only one thing she wanted.

She hadn't even been back on Earth for twenty four hours, but she knew she couldn't stay here.

~*~

At first Elizabeth had been reluctant to leave her mother. Her mother had been so pleased to see her that Elizabeth felt inclined to linger, and Elizabeth wasn't sure when she might see her again. However, after a few of hours she'd started to feel suffocated in the house with nothing to do, especially as her mother was barely letting Elizabeth leave her sight. Elizabeth could understand why, but it was making her feel like a child again.

Fortunately for them both, Corporal Thompson had knocked on the door and told them he had orders to take her to the base. Elizabeth had taken the opportunity to slip out before she could explain where that was or why she was going.

There was another reason she didn't mind going to the SGC - the best way of getting to Atlantis was through the Stargate. She wasn't sure what Jack would say about her going, but she was sure she could talk General Landry round.

Once she got there, though, she first had to spend an interminable half an hour in the sickbay while Dr. Lam checked her over and eventually established that when she'd descended, the nanites had gone. She was relieved to hear the news and was still smiling as she climbed the stairs to the conference room and General Landry's office.

As she neared the top of the stairs, she heard familiar voices, three of whom she hadn't expected to hear here. She ran up the last few steps and emerged into the briefing room to see Richard Woolsey and John Sheppard, with Atlantis's control room behind them, on the screen at the far end of the room. Jack and General Landry stood in front of it.

"Keep us informed," Jack said, and turned the screen off before Elizabeth could say anything. When the two men turned around, Elizabeth was still standing at the top of the stairs.

"What's going on?" she asked. Something must be happening in Atlantis and she was determined to know what it was.

The two men looked at each other for a moment, before Jack answered. "Replicators."

Her eyes widened. That might explain why Jack was here, but she hoped Atlantis hadn't arrived back in Pegasus just to be attacked again. "Are they coming after Atlantis?"

"Yeah." Jack sighed.

"How did they get back to Pegasus so quickly?" It should have taken weeks.

Before either man could answer, the sirens blared and a voice warned, "Unscheduled off-world activation."

"I'll let you explain," General Landry said to Jack, before pushing past Elizabeth and down the stairs.

Jack, looking worried, crossed to the window to peer into the gate room.

Elizabeth could relate to that feeling. She followed him and saw that downstairs airmen were rushing into the gate room and taking up positions with their weapons trained on the gate. "What's going on?" she asked as the iris slid closed.

"Hopefully, it's an ally." Jack sounded preoccupied.

It took her a moment of puzzling over why he would describe the Replicators as allies before she realized he had misunderstood her question. "No, I mean with Atlantis."

"Oh." He tore himself away from the view of the gate room. "Turns out it has a wormhole drive. Gets them places real quick."

She blinked. "Really?" How had they spent three years in the city and not known that? "So they can escape the Replicators," she mused. It wouldn't work for long, but in a fight, that was a useful weapon to have.

He shook his head. "Uses too much power," he said. He might have elaborated but for the sound of gunfire from an SG team returning early. A few shots came through with them, but then the iris closed again, followed by three dull thuds. There seemed to be a couple of injuries, but everyone was still standing.

"Let's sit down," Jack said, when it was all over.

Elizabeth watched him take his place at the head of the briefing room table. She didn't like his expression or his tone, which made her feel she was going to need to be sitting down. So she hesitated, putting off the bad news, and instead leaned on back of the chair on his right.

"The Replicators are after you," he announced, clasping his hands on the table in front of him.

She did pull the chair out and slide onto it then. "Me?" Why her in particular? What had she done to provoke them? She'd been dead, as far as anyone was concerned. If she'd done something to the Replicators while she was ascended, the Ancients would surely have punished her for that before she could ever have helped Atlantis get back to Pegasus.

"I've only read the report," he began, and then stopped.

She frowned and leaned forward. "What is it?"

He took a long look at her, which just worried her even more. "You were seriously injured when the Replicators' beam hit Atlantis. McKay activated your nanites to heal you."

She raised her eyebrows. "I thought I'd died."

He shook his head. "That came later. First you were captured by the Replicators and led a splinter group trying to ascend."

She sat back in her chair, trying to imagine it. She had no memories of it, but she didn't think Jack would lie to her about something as important as this.

"You led them to Atlantis," he continued, sounding like he was reading it from the report, "where one of the members of the group tricked you all. You told the Replicators you'd lead them to another planet with the resources to build yourselves human bodies."

She shook her head. It was starting to sound complicated, but she was sure Jack was simplifying what really happened. "To help them ascend?"

He nodded. "But you tricked them and sent them to a space gate, where they all got frozen. I imagine they're a bit pissed."

"I guess they would be." His lack of emotion as he told her the tale bothered her. "What are you leaving out?"

He put his hands up. "I wasn't there, I only know what was in the report."

She wasn't sure if she believed that was all there was to it, but he was a hard man to get information out of when he didn't want to give it, so she let it drop for now. Perhaps it was just his hatred of Replicators that meant he couldn't deal with her being one of them. "Let me help."

He shook his head. "No. You don't remember anything."

Maybe not, but she was sure there was something she could do. "Just let me go back to Atlantis."

"No," he said, more forcefully, and stood up.

"Then let me stay here." She stood too, hoping a compromise would give her a chance to ask again later. He did at least look like he was considering it, so she added, "Since I'm already here."

"All right," he agreed, grudgingly. "But only for as long as I'm here."

She didn't know how long he intended to stay, but if he tried to leave she would make sure he didn't take her with him. "Thank you." She smiled at him; he didn't smile back.

~*~

After a sleepless night spent catching up on the two years she'd missed, Elizabeth was called back to the briefing room. She'd already concluded it was just as well she didn't remember anything about being a Replicator, given what was in old reports from that time. Reading between the lines, it sounded like it had been a hard life, both for herself and Atlantis's inhabitants. Now she had to put her feelings aside and concentrate only on the facts - for the sake of Atlantis.

She arrived in the briefing room on time and found Woolsey there, standing by a chair and looking a little lost. She wondered why he would be on Earth when there was an impending crisis. John and Teyla were capable of handing it on their own, of course, but he was the commander of the expedition now.

"Dr. Weir!" Woolsey stood, looking surprised. She guessed that if he'd still thought she was dead or ascended, then he wouldn't have expected to see her at all.

"I hear you've been doing a good job in Atlantis," she said, smiling and approaching the table.

"Thank you." He stood up a little straighter at that.

"Shall we begin?" Jack asked, as he came out of General Landry's office, preventing Elizabeth from saying any more to Woolsey.

Jack took the seat at the head of the table and Howard Copley was right behind him, although he sat at the other end of the table. Elizabeth hadn't met him before. When she was last on Earth, he'd been a junior member of the IOA, but if he was at this meeting he must have risen through the ranks. He'd aged too: Elizabeth knew he must be in his forties, but his hair was nearly all gray, which gave him an air of gravitas. The way he held himself as he walked told her he knew that and used it to his advantage.

Now Elizabeth knew why Woolsey was here. He hadn't had anything to do with flying Atlantis back to Pegasus as far as she knew, but the IOA were likely to ignore that. Woolsey looked nervous now that at Copley had made an appearance and was slow to sit down. Elizabeth sat opposite him, not sure yet if she would make things better or worse by saying anything, or even why she was here.

"Tell me what's going on," Jack said, setting aside the files he'd been carrying. Copley opened his notebook and started writing.

Woolsey leaned forward toward Jack and away from Copley. "We had a message from Lia to say the Replicators want to speak to Dr. Weir. They must have been waiting for us to arrive back in Pegasus."

All eyes had turned to Elizabeth after his pronouncement and now she understood why she was included in this meeting. She smiled to try and diffuse the situation a little. She didn't know if she'd known about the Replicators' ambush when she'd been ascended.

Woolsey continued, "So far they've only issued threats, saying that if we don't produce her, they'll destroy Atlantis."

"Oh, for crying out loud." Jack slammed a hand down on the table. "They won't do that; they want the technology."

Elizabeth was inclined to agree with him. "They don't have the fire power to destroy the city, do they?"

Woolsey shook his head. "Not as far as we can tell. But why make those threats if they know we can tell it's a bluff?"

"They're Replicators." Jack made it sound as if the answer was obvious, but Elizabeth wasn't so sure.

"There must be something else," she said. "I wouldn't have told John and Rodney to take the city back to Pegasus just to talk to the Replicators." Although if she'd thought the IOA would make sure it stayed on Earth forever, she had a feeling she might have done just that, but she wasn't going to say it in front of Copley. Jack's expression told her that he didn't believe her, but Woolsey accepted her answer at face value.

"You think they have something up their sleeve?" Woolsey leaned towards her.

She shrugged. It was only a guess. "It's the only thing that would mean the situation would make sense."

"So what do we do about it?" Woolsey looked earnest.

She couldn't tell if he was out of his depth or intimidated by having better strategic minds around him. Before she or Jack could offer any suggestions, Copley spoke up. "Perhaps it would be best to do as they say and send Dr. Weir to Atlantis."

"Absolutely not," Jack said firmly, sounding as if it was the end of the discussion.

Elizabeth looked over at him. "Why not? I can speak to them; try and get them to see that revenge is wrong. It's not going to help them ascend, if that's what they want."

He leaned towards her. "And what if they decide to do that after they've destroyed Atlantis?"

She shook her head and put her hands on the table. "You said yourself; it's just a bluff. They won't do that."

Copley broke into their argument. "Mr. Woolsey, what do you think?"

Woolsey was taken aback for a moment. If Copley was here to evaluate him, he would have to come up with an answer that would satisfy everyone around the table. Given that she and Jack had opposing opinions, that wouldn't be easy. Woolsey looked between the three of them, and then said carefully, "Dr. Weir is a skilled negotiator. Perhaps she would be a good person to send to talk to them."

Elizabeth smiled and whispered "thank you" across the table.

Jack's expression showed that he wasn't happy about the idea. "Dr. Weir is the last person who should go. As long as we don't give them what they want, we call their bluff."

Elizabeth could see his point, but the situation couldn't go on forever. Sooner or later, someone would crack and she had a feeling it wouldn't be the Replicators. They were used to being patient in time scales humans could only dream of.

"I disagree." Copley shut his notebook and sat up straight. "We're better off resolving this now. Dr. Weir will go to Atlantis to negotiate with the Replicators. Mr. Woolsey will stay in command of Atlantis."

She didn't want to take Woolsey away from a position he was doing well in, but it was her city. "Mr. Copley--."

He cut her off before she could even ask. "The IOA have spoken about you. What with your missing memories and the lengths the people in that city go to to protect you, we've decided your position as expedition leader is untenable."

"But--."

"This meeting is concluded." Copley stood up and walked off while Elizabeth still had her mouth open to speak.

Jack also stood and made a murderous face at Copley's back as he walked out. She could imagine how he felt, having someone go over his head and against his recommendation like that, but she also couldn't feel upset at the outcome.

"I don't think you should go," Jack said, turning to her.

"I can help." She stood up to face him. Woolsey wisely made himself scarce.

He shook his head. "You don't remember any of these Replicators, but they remember you." He pointed at her as he said it.

"I've read the reports. It'll do. They'll never know I don't remember." She was sure she could bluff it out with them.

"And you don't think they'll just kill you anyway? They won't care if everyone else in Atlantis is collateral damage." He drew himself up to look intimidating, but it wasn't going to work on her.

She folded her arms. "I can't promise that. But I will do my best."

He sighed, perhaps recognizing that this argument was already lost. "Don't come crying to me when they kill you. Again." He stalked out.

Despite his words, somehow, she couldn't imagine him turning her away if she did ascend again.

~*~

With the weight of her backpack digging into her shoulders, Elizabeth felt like she had more gear than she had the first time she went to Atlantis. As far as the IOA were concerned, she was going to be there for as long as it took to 'neutralize the Replicator threat'. In reality, she didn't intend to come back. She was sure she could get Woolsey on her side, and he in turn could get Copley on her side. Jack was a problem, but even he had to fall in line with the IOA when it came to civilian Atlantis personnel. Besides, once she was there, it would be a lot harder for him to drag her back. She had briefly felt guilty for leaving her mother so soon, but she would write - and she was an adult, after all. She didn't have to stay by her mother's side all the time.

The black uniform was new, but she was getting used to it. Along with a couple of spare uniforms, she'd also packed all the reports she could get hold of, hoping to have some time to read them. There was just enough space in her backpack for her toiletries and the the few days' worth of clothes she'd brought to the SGC with her. It was everything she would need for now. Anything else she could get in Atlantis or have sent later.

The only problem she had now was Jack, who was standing in the corridor on the way to the gate room. Since the meeting four hours ago he'd tried to talk her out of going every hour and she didn't feel like going another round. There was another way to the Gate, but he'd already seen her and he would just run after her, or ambush her again.

She sighed and stopped in front of him. She was determined to get the first word in. "Jack--."

But he spoke over her. "I just came to say good luck. And goodbye."

She blinked. She wondered how much he'd guessed about her intentions given that she hadn't mentioned them to anyone. But she didn't ask. That way she had some deniability. "Thank you." She smiled, relieved he hadn't come here to argue.

He stepped closer, looking at the most recent Atlantis reports she held, which she'd found only after she packed. She assumed he was going to take them off her, so she held on tighter to them. But he didn't. Instead he looked back up at her face, then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

It wasn't something he'd ever done before, so she wondered why he'd done it this time. "Jack?" she asked.

He pressed a hand to her cheek and said, "I'll be here if you come back."

Now she was even more surprised. It was a side of Jack she'd only seen once before, when she was living on Earth. Back then, she'd wondered if he'd wanted more from their relationship, but she'd been too upset about leaving Atlantis to pursue it. Then they'd ended up back in different galaxies again and everything had gone back to the way it was.

Her surprise must have shown on her face because he smiled, and then dropped his hand before turning around and walking away as if nothing happened. She was about to call out after him when she heard footsteps behind her. She didn't want anyone to overhear that conversation, so she let him go.

"Now I know I'm going crazy. I'm imagining there's a dead woman in my bedroom." He ran a hand over his face and tried not to yawn. He hadn't been sleeping well; that would explain the vision.

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. "I'm not dead. I've ascended."

"You're a hallucination. You would say that." He reached out for the t-shirt he'd casually thrown on a chair and pulled it over his head. After all, he was half-naked with a woman in his bedroom, even if there was no way she was really here.

"I am real, Jack." Her gaze followed his movements and he began to have serious doubts about his ability to fantasize women in his bedroom. Not that he wasn't so tired he couldn't imagine a naked woman, especially one he'd seen a couple times.

She had a pleading look in her eye that he'd never been very good at resisting. He wondered if she knew that. He sighed and leaned back against the headboard. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Although he was still withholding judgement on that point and it showed in his voice.

She gave a small smile, before folding her hands in her lap. Her expression turned serious. "I'm worried about you. You've been stressed lately."

"Because being head of Homeworld Security is not a stressful job." He laced his words with sarcasm, remembering back to this morning's argument with the IOA and the afternoon meetings about Destiny that he'd been trying to forget.

She leaned forward. "I'm serious, Jack."

"So am I." Okay, so he wasn't always a serious kind of guy, but he meant what he said.

"I don't want to see you end up like General Hammond."

Despite her concerned expression he sat up straight. That was a low blow. General Hammond's heart attack hadn't necessarily been caused by stress. Not when he'd been retired for four years before. "Maybe I don't appreciate you coming in here, watching me sleep."

Elizabeth looked contrite at that. "I'm sorry." Her fingers traced along the duvet by his leg. As Jack watched he could see that sometimes they hovered above it and sometimes dipped below it without him feeling a thing. "There's just so much I can't do now and I thought this would be the one thing I could do to help."

Now he felt guilty. Maybe she did care - he was pretty sure she had once - but she wasn't going the right way about it. "You can help."

Her hand stopped moving and her interested gaze met his eyes.

"You can convince the IOA to let Atlantis go back to Pegasus and find a way for Destiny to dial home." He counted his two biggest problems right now off on his fingers.

She sighed. "I wish I could."

He believed her - she looked sincere and he did have some experience of trying to convince ascended beings to do something they didn't want to. Or wouldn't: he was never sure which of those was true. He let it go for now: he was too tired to come up with any good arguments. "Ascension's not all it's cracked up to be, huh?"

"No." She smiled. "But it's better than being dead."

"I don't know about that." He didn't think he'd last five minutes if he was ascended and couldn't do anything.

She frowned. "You'd rather die?"

He winced. "Can we talk about something a little less morbid?"

"I'm sorry." Her shoulders slumped, but she didn't come up with another topic.

Jack wasn't sure what there was to talk about when they didn't have the Stargate program in common any more. He stared at her while she self-consciously straightened her shirt. "I'm going to watch hockey," he decided. It wasn't as if he was going to get to sleep any time soon and he was sure there was a re-run of a game on ESPN at this time of night.

Elizabeth just nodded and stayed where she was while he got up and put his pants on. He wasn't sure what her plans were, but when he reached the living room she was already sitting on the couch. He sat beside her and switched the TV on. He already knew the result of the game, but he didn't think he'd be able to concentrate on it anyway.

"If you want someone to talk to, I'm not going to tell anyone."

He glanced over at her. Tempting as her offer was, it wasn't talking that would solve his problems. Or rather it would, but it wasn't Elizabeth he needed to be talking to. "Let's just watch the game," he said.

She nodded and kept quiet after that.

He only half concentrated on the game, thinking while he watched it of methods he could use to persuade Elizabeth to do what he wanted her to. He still hadn't thought of anything guaranteed to work by the time he fell asleep. When he woke up, his back protesting, the game had finished and Elizabeth had gone.

~*~

Jack was beginning to wonder if it was déjà vu when, for the second night in a row, he had a feeling of being watched while he was unsuccessfully trying to sleep. He lay on his back, breathed deeply and listened to the distant sounds of traffic and sirens that told him not everyone in the city was asleep. Although it wasn't comforting to know that. Clearing his mind only reminded him of yet another IOA meeting he'd had today in which Copley had again refused to bend at all about Atlantis. Thinking of him made Jack wonder if last night's visit from Elizabeth had been a hallucination or a dream and if tonight it would be Copley at the end of his bed.

He couldn't stand the prickling feeling on the back of his neck for another minute, so he reached out and switched on the bedside lamp. As he shaded his eyes from the light, he could see Elizabeth sitting at the end of his bed, looking unaffected by the sudden brightness and more awake than she had last night. Ascension clearly agreed with her.

"Hello, Jack," she said, smiling. She showed no signs of being uncomfortable at being in his bedroom again. Perhaps she had no reason to be, but he did.

This was officially creepy now. "What're you doing?" His tiredness made his question sound more long-suffering than the slightly pissed he was going for.

"Nothing." Although he thought she looked a little guilty and her refusing to meet his gaze confirmed that she was lying.

He rolled his eyes. "Is watching me sleep really that interesting?" He might not have minded if there had been sex first, but he hadn't slept with Elizabeth in years and theirs hadn't been that sort of relationship in the first place.

"But you weren't sleeping, Jack." Now she sounded concerned.

He sighed. It wasn't that he was unhappy to see her, but she could pick her moments better. Like the daytime, for example. "Can I expect you to appear in my bedroom every night?"

She shrugged. "That depends on whether you sleep. I think it's the stress that's keeping you awake."

As if he didn't know that. "You know what would relieve some of that stress?" He left the question open, because they'd already had this discussion last night.

She shook her head. "I can't help you with Atlantis or Destiny."

He sighed. "Can't or won't?"

"I wish I could."

Her expression and tone were pleading, so he dropped it. For now. But if she continued to refuse do anything to help Atlantis or Destiny, he probably wasn't going to be catching up on his sleep any time soon. He certainly had no intentions of discussing his feelings with her, even if that would help. He tried to skirt around the subject instead. Besides, he was curious. "How'd you come to ascend? Last I heard, you were a Replicator."

"I was," she whispered, and turned her head away to look at the patterns on the drapes caused by the headlamps of passing cars.

When he sat up, lack of clothing be damned, he could see she had a haunted look on her face and he felt guilty for bringing up painful memories. He reached out a hand to touch her on the arm before he remembered he couldn't. "It can't have been easy," he said softly.

She turned back to smile at him. "Given the choice I wouldn't have chosen that life. For a while I hoped for rescue, but I couldn't sit by and do nothing, so in the end I found my own path."

He gave her a small smile. In her position he didn't know what he would have done. But from what he'd heard, Elizabeth had been fairly well adjusted, considering. More than he'd expected, but that was one of Elizabeth's strengths, to be able to live anywhere. "So you ascended?"

She nodded.

"How did you come to be unfrozen?" That was the part he still didn't understand. He was pretty sure you had to have some part of your brain working to be able to ascend.

"I can't tell you that," she said quickly and in a tone that suggested she wouldn't welcome any further discussion on the subject. She stood up and he found he was looking at her back, which was a far less welcome sight.

"Right." He lay back down. "What can you do?"

She said nothing for a minute, but the distant expression on what he could see of her face told him she was thinking about the question. He was starting to wonder if she was going to answer at all when she turned round to face him again. "I can tell you that you need to convince the IOA to let Atlantis go back to Pegasus."

As if he didn't have most of the personnel in Atlantis telling him that on a daily basis. Woolsey at least was quiet on that front, but he was sure Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay had some sort of tag team annoying going on. "And how you do propose I do that?" She was the negotiator, not he. So far he'd been unable to get the IOA to do anything they didn't want to do. They were a law unto themselves, with Copley the most unbending of all of them.

"We woke the Wraith up." She clenched her fists and took a step toward him. "We made the Pegasus Galaxy more unsafe than it was before. It's our duty to look after the people in it." Her face was more animated by this speech than it had been about anything she'd said so far tonight.

Despite everything, he couldn't help but smile. It was the most passionate thing he'd heard her say in the past two days. He'd forgotten how well she could sway him on the strength of her convictions if he let her. If only she could say it to the IOA - they were the ones who couldn't understand the expedition's position. But he didn't think the IOA would be so accepting of an ascended person, even if Elizabeth agreed to talk to them, which he was fairly sure she wouldn't. "But what about this galaxy?" It wasn't that he disagreed with her; he just needed to hear her answer to the IOA's arguments, which were also pretty convincing. The Milky Way was important too.

She took a step forward, arms out. "You have ships. The only technologically advanced societies we've met in Pegasus are all out for their own gain."

He shook his head. If only they still had the chair, this argument would have been solved long ago. "That's nothing I haven't said to the IOA already. I need a better reason."

She lifted her chin. "You can't keep a city the size of Atlantis hidden on Earth forever."

He frowned at her, wondering if she knew that was his biggest source of stress at the moment. She looked innocent enough, but that didn't tell him anything. "Just because something's hard work doesn't mean it's wrong. We can always go public about the Stargate." It had been discussed before.

"Many people will be hurt if Atlantis stays here." She sounded as if she really believed that.

He raised his eyebrows to invite her to continue, but she just bit her lip and looked away from him again. There was more there - a lot more - but getting her to reveal it would be hard. He wondered if he could catch her off guard, but to do that he'd have to give her a chance to forget this conversation first, so he got up. This time when he reached the living room she wasn't there and he was disappointed she'd walked out on him. However, after a minute of a mind-numbing hockey re-run, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

He glanced over at her. She appeared to be watching the TV with more enthusiasm than he was. "I thought you didn't like hockey."

"I'm willing to learn." She didn't look away from the screen.

He raised his eyebrows, surprised.

She turned to him and smiled. "I know the aim is to hit the ball in the goal, but that's about it."

"Puck," he corrected her. "It's called a puck."

She nodded. Then after a minute of watching the game she asked, "Are they fighting?"

He laughed. She really didn't know anything about hockey. But he ended up having a pleasant night explaining the rules to her, completely forgetting his hidden agenda, before he fell asleep on the sofa again.

~*~

Despite his tiredness, Jack hadn't rushed to go to bed tonight. After the past two nights he'd been hoping Elizabeth would make an appearance before he went. He'd enjoyed her company and he wanted more answers, but he wished she wouldn't wait until he was trying to sleep. So tonight he stayed up watching late night TV. Having flicked through all the channels and found nothing interesting on any of them he'd ended up watching hockey again, but after last night it didn't feel the same without Elizabeth beside him to share the excitement with. It wasn't helping to keep him awake either and he was nearly falling asleep on the couch by the time he gave up and went to bed. Where he suddenly felt awake because the universe hated him. So he lay in the dark staring up at the ceiling, wondering if she was going to turn up.

Even if she didn't tell him anything useful again, he still wanted to see her. They'd been friends once, even if they'd spent most of that time in different galaxies. He'd thought she understood him. He'd understood her once, although he was less sure now.

Since he was getting nowhere, he turned on the light, just to see if it would make her appear. She wasn't at the end of his bed, but when he slumped back against the pillows, more disappointed than he'd expected, he found she was lying next to him, in red cotton pajamas. They suited her, he thought, then had to remind himself she was ascended. "What's all that about?" he waved a hand in her general direction.

She looked down at herself. "It's night time."

"You could come in the day, you know," he said, in a tone that suggested that was an obvious solution.

She shook her head. "I have other people to see."

He raised himself up on one elbow. For someone who refused to take any action, she was sure doing a lot. "Anyone I know?" he asked casually.

She hesitated before she answered. "I shouldn't say."

He raised his eyebrows. "Forbidden, is it?" he asked, his tone making it clear he knew it was. When Daniel had visited him in Ba'al's prison, he'd told Jack he wasn't allowed to be there.

She looked over to the door. "I'm not doing anything. Just talking."

He stared over at the door, frowning. There wasn't anyone there. The shadows didn't move and he wondered if she was answering him or someone he couldn't see.

"So how's work?" she asked, turning back to him before he could ask what was going on.

"It's been better." He decided to go along with her and let her comment go. "I could use some help."

"I'm sorry, Jack."

She looked guilty and then he felt guilty for making her feel guilty. And talking about work wasn't going to help him get to sleep, unless she came up with some information he could use, which was unlikely. "Let's watch hockey," he suggested, getting up. Tonight, in anticipation, he'd worn sweats and a t-shirt to bed.

She nodded and this time she followed him silently to the living room. He put the TV on and was flicking through the channels, looking for ESPN, when she said, "Oh, can we watch curling?" It had flashed up on the screen for a moment as he'd worked through the channels.

Surely she could go and watch any curling game she wanted any time she liked. But she looked so excited at the prospect that he left the curling on and put the remote control on the coffee table. "You like curling?" He was surprised she'd be interested in a sport like that.

"I rarely get to see it, but it's exciting." She turned from him to the TV, sitting forward in her seat.

He tried to work out what she saw in it, but the TV was showing four men in checked trousers standing in a huddle, talking. Jack had seen some curling, but he'd rarely paid much attention to it. He knew roughly what the goal of the game was, but not how the players went about it. Which he supposed was a lot like Elizabeth's knowledge of hockey before last night. "Really exciting," he said sarcastically.

"But it is." She got up and went over to the TV, which was now showing an overhead image of red and yellow stones clustered around concentric circles. "It's red's last stone and in order to win this end they're either going to have to get their stone in here" -she pointed to the middle of the circles- "and hope yellow misses with their last stone. Or they can try and block yellow's route in, but it means going around this stone here and not hitting this one on the way round." She indicated the route and the problem stone, her finger nearly touching the screen. "And even then that would only get them two points."

"Huh." He sat forward and listened intently to her analysis, which was pretty good for only a couple minutes of looking at the screen. "Hoping your opponent will screw up isn't a good idea." He never bet on that outcome.

She nodded. "It depends on how well their skip has been throwing so far, and we haven't seen enough of the game to know that." She came back to sit beside him as they watched the red skip throw his stone. Once it was halfway down the ice Jack could tell he'd gone for the second shot Elizabeth had suggested. He was a tiny bit off, but it made all the difference to where the stones ended up. "Now they have to hope yellow miss too," she said, "and perhaps they'll scrape two points from this end."

"I think I get why you like it," he said, as the yellow skip played his shot perfectly and his team went up by four points.

She smiled. "I'm surprised you haven't watched more of it before. It's about strategy as much as skill."

He shrugged. "I don't usually have time to watch much TV." This wasn't getting him any more sleep either, but it was more interesting than any other channel he'd tried tonight. Besides, if he slept, Elizabeth would probably leave and he much preferred the idea of discussing curling tactics with her.

~*~

Jack rubbed his forehead and drained the last drop of his beer before putting the empty bottle on the coffee table beside its twin. The beer hadn't helped with the headache he'd gotten after spending most of the day talking to members of Destiny's crew, meeting with people about Destiny and the daily argument with the IOA over Atlantis. Then just when he thought the day couldn't get any worse, the SGC had nearly been taken over when a negotiation went wrong and he'd had to deal with the fall out from that. It had all turned out to be a misunderstanding about grapes, which was just peachy.

He resisted the urge to have another beer. Partly because it would mean getting off the couch and going into the kitchen, but mostly because he'd already had a few worried comments today about looking tired. Being hungover tomorrow wouldn't help. The Simpsons episode he was watching to try and take his mind off things in Elizabeth's absence was a re-run, but didn't matter because he wasn't concentrating on it anyway.

It was uncanny how thinking about Elizabeth gave him that sensation of being watched. Then he saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye and when he looked away from the TV she was sitting next to him - fully dressed this time. "Are you reading my mind?" he asked, disturbed by the idea that she might be able to.

She shook her head. "Even ascended beings can't do that."

"Good," he said, in a tone that suggested it should stay that way.

She frowned at the empty beer bottles and he prepared himself for that line of questioning. He was surprised when she asked instead, "What are you watching?"

She looked genuinely interested in the answer, so although he couldn't work out how she didn't know, he said, "The Simpsons."

"Oh."

She sounded like it was a revelation, so he looked over at her. Surely everyone had seen enough of The Simpsons to recognize it when they saw it. "Not a fan?"

She shook her head. "I've never really had time to watch much TV."

He shrugged. "Neither do I." Despite the amount of late night TV he'd been watching recently. His life wasn't usually like this. Including the visits from an ascended Elizabeth Weir.

But she clearly wasn't a fan, because after a few minutes, she got up and wandered around his living room. He kept one eye on her, but it wasn't as if she could touch anything and he didn't have any secrets on display.

"Do you play?" she asked, when she stopped by the chess board he'd set up a while ago and left to gather dust in a corner of the table not filled with the bills he'd been meaning to do something with for months.

"Not for a while." The last time had been with General Landry when he'd first taken over at the SGC. It was hard to find good partners to play with.

"I haven't either." The wistful tone in her voice told him that she found chess more interesting than The Simpsons.

He didn't feel up to thinking too hard at this time of night after a couple of beers, but he didn't want to refuse a simple request from Elizabeth. So he said, "All right." He left the TV on in the background as he went over and pushed the pieces back to their correct positions. "But I'm not going easy on you," he warned her.

She smiled and sat down at the table. "In that case, I promise not to go easy on you either."

He gave her a suspicious look, wondering just how good she was. Or how good she thought he was. He offered her white anyway, then moved the pawn she pointed to. "You been to Destiny at all?" He countered with one of his pawns.

She waved her hand through the pieces to show where she wanted her king's knight to move to. The lack of thought beforehand told him that she at least knew a few opening moves. "I have."

He looked up at her, still holding the knight. When she didn't elaborate he raised his eyebrows. "And?"

"It's an interesting ship," she said casually.

He rolled his eyes and wondered just what she meant by 'interesting'. "With some interesting people on it, who may be in danger."

"Oh, come on Jack. I know you've talked to them using the Ancient communication stones. It's not like the first year we went to Atlantis when we had no way of communicating with Earth."

He placed the knight down with more force than necessary. "Talking is all very well. A way of getting them supplies would be better."

"I can't help with that." She didn't sound nearly sorry enough about it to appease him. All she'd told him so far was what she couldn't do and he was tired of hearing it.

"But you can." He stood up. "You can dial the ninth chevron. You could even wipe out the Wraith if you wanted."

She shook her head. "I don't want to. The Wraith aren't all bad. Look how they've helped us in the past."

He folded his arms. "And they eat humans."

She sighed and said in a conciliatory tone, "Why don't you sit down and play?"

He wasn't going to stand for that. "You don't want to, that's your problem." He pointed his finger at her. "You have all this power and all you do is sit by and watch people die."

"Now that's not fair." She stood up too, anger in her eyes. "I can't do anything and you know it."

"Oh, really?" He leaned forward to intimidate her, but she just folded her arms and stood her ground. "It didn't stop Daniel."

She took a deep breath and stepped away from the table. When she spoke she sounded calmer. "I came to help you, Jack."

"No, you came to spy on me and refuse to do anything to help."

She looked away, but not before he could see the hurt in her eyes. He refused to feel guilty about it. "If that's what you think, I should go."

"Good. Leave me in peace."

She vanished, leaving the chess game half-played. He was angry at the empty space she'd left for a minute, before he sat down hard on the seat she'd vacated and ran his hands over his face. After a minute he gave up waiting for her to return and went back to the couch. By the time The Simpsons marathon had finished she still hadn't come back. He didn't regret what he'd said, but he did regret the way he'd said it. He really wanted to speak to her again and clear the air.

When he eventually went to bed their argument ran through his head and he thought of all the things he should have done differently. Not that it made any difference without her to tell them to, He tried turning the light off and on, since that had worked the past few nights, but nothing happened tonight. He ended up having even more of a sleepless night than usual.

Once he woke up, he found himself hoping she would turn up during the day instead. Maybe she would have, but the IOA scientists had come up with a plan he didn't understand to get the crew of Destiny home, and the day had involved one meeting after another and he didn't get five minutes alone. Copley had even followed him into the bathroom on one occasion, but Jack was damned if he was holding a meeting in there. In the end it turned out the scientists' plans weren't going to work. They looked scared when Jack snapped at them for wasting his time, but he was tired and unrepentant.

By the time he reached home it was late and he desperately wanted to see Elizabeth, not just to apologise, but also because he'd liked her company. Neither the hockey nor the curling proved enough to distract him. He wandered over to the chess board and figured out his next half dozen moves, but that was useless without someone to play with.

It occurred to him that she could be there, but not visible. He looked around and, feeling self-conscious, said, "Elizabeth, I'm sorry. Please come back." Nothing happened. There wasn't even any sign to suggest she might be there. He sighed, went to bed alone again and had another sleepless night without her.

~*~

Jack yawned. He'd already had one cup of coffee this morning, but it wasn't helping. He'd need to get another one before he tackled the reports on his desk, otherwise he might end up sleeping on them. It was a big enough stack to use as a pillow and he wondered if anyone would notice. With his luck, he'd be discovered by Copley, which he was sure would just make the arguments worse. Jack knew he was going to have to do something about his tiredness before he made a mistake, but at the moment the only thing that had worked was Elizabeth's presence - and she was not someone he could conjure up at will, as he'd demonstrated.

When the phone rang he welcomed it as a distraction. Even if it was someone announcing the end of the world; it would keep him awake and get him out of today's National Security Briefing, which he struggled to stay alert in at the best of times. The idea that it might be the President calling him never crossed his mind until the person on the other end announced who it was. Jack stood to attention out of habit.

"General, you're taking a few days vacation. That's an order."

Even if it was the President, it didn't mean Jack was going to blindly follow orders he didn't like. "I am?"

"That or a heart attack. It's your choice." The President sounded entirely too cheerful about the rock and hard place choices he was offering.

Jack's heartbeat sped up as he worried about what the President might have been told. This might not be Jack's favorite job in the world, but he still wanted it. He wasn't ready to retire yet. "Mr. President, I swear I'm not going to have a heart attack."

The President laughed. "I've been speaking to a very insistent young lady who told me that was precisely what was going to happen unless you took a vacation."

Jack quickly did a mental inventory of everyone he knew who might go to the President and came up with two. Since one of them was on the Hammond, and he doubted she would go that far over his head for something so insignificant, that only left one. "You spoke to Elizabeth Weir?" Even if his tally meant it had to be her, he still couldn't believe she would go that far, especially since she couldn't have made an appointment to do it.

"Yes, I did. She was very concerned about you."

That was good. It probably meant she didn't hate him, but it did make him worried over how much she knew about his future. "There's nothing for her to be concerned about."

"I said that too, but I thought I ought to check her story. I spoke to some people who said said you've been looking tired lately."

Jack slumped. He had a feeling he wasn't going to win this one. It was hard to get away with ignoring the President.

"No one's indispensable, Jack," he said kindly. "A few days away with no one bothering you about work might be just the thing you need. And you know, if it isn't, you can come and complain to me personally. How about that?"

There was no way he could disagree with that. "Yes, Mr. President."

~*~

Although Jack was on vacation, it didn't stop him from worrying about what was going on at work in his absence. He had plenty of time to imagine scenarios while sitting by a lake for half a day with nothing but fish and beer to keep him company. Elizabeth hadn't put in an appearance, but he'd given up expecting her to.

A run, on the other hand, meant that all he could afford to think about was putting one foot in front of the other and keeping an eye on where he was going. By the time he returned to his cabin, he was too tired to think about anything except a hot shower. The desk job had allowed him to get more unfit than he would have liked. If nothing else, this vacation would remind him why he couldn't allow that to continue.

As he rounded the last corner and his cabin came into view he discovered a shower wasn't going to be his top priority after all because there was a Honda Civic parked outside that he didn't recognize. He slowed as he reached it, not sure he wanted the bad news. Once he could see no one was inside he peered into it. There was nothing on display to indicate who had driven it, so it was either a very tidy person or a hire car, which didn't narrow it down.

Although he'd locked the cabin door, anyone could get in around back. Jack followed that path, steeling himself for the worst. Just because the President had said no one was allowed to disturb him didn't mean they wouldn't if something terrible happened. He relaxed as he recognized the figure standing on the edge of the deck, looking out over the lake.

"Daniel," Jack called out, jogging up to him.

Daniel turned and smiled. "Hello, Jack. You were out so I thought I'd wait for you out here."

Jack waved a hand. He didn't mind, if it was Daniel. Even if something awful had happened, Daniel wouldn't be the person the Air Force would send. "I went for a run."

Daniel gave him a knowing look. "I can see that."

Jack glanced down at himself and noticed the sweat marks on his t-shirt. "I'll go shower. Make yourself at home." Daniel looked calm enough that he couldn't be here for anything urgent, but Jack didn't linger over his shower because he really wanted to know what Daniel was doing here.

By the time he returned he found Daniel had taken his suggestion literally and had covered his living room with papers and books. "Daniel," he said in a warning tone. "What are you doing?"

Daniel had heard that tone too often to be intimidated by it. "Tricky translation," he said, making a note in his notepad. "I've been working on it all week and I still can't work it out."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "And you're doing this here because...?"

Daniel hesitated before he put his pen down and looked up. "I had a visit from Elizabeth Weir last night." He made it sound like it was something Jack wouldn't want to hear.

"Seems like she's doing the rounds," Jack said casually, although it bugged him to find out she had recently visited both the President and Daniel, but not him. Especially as it sounded like he'd been the main topic of conversation with both of them.

Daniel had known him too long to take Jack's statement at face value and he frowned, before standing up and clearing the couch. "You knew she was ascended," he said, realization dawning as he set some of his papers carefully down on the floor, then sat on the now-clear couch.

Jack should have known he couldn't get anything past Daniel. "Yeah." He sat too, because hovering in the doorway was getting him nowhere and his legs still ached. "She wanted me to convince the IOA to let Atlantis go back to Pegasus."

"It should," Daniel said, apparently without considering the reasons why it shouldn't. Even Daniel had taken the opportunity to spend time in Atlantis while it was on Earth.

Jack sighed. "You try telling the IOA something they don't want to hear."

Daniel made a face and shook his head. "Anyway, she thought you might like some company and I thought a change of scenery might help with the translation."

"She did?" Jack asked suspiciously, although he wouldn't put it past her at this point. If she had the nerve to go to the President, speaking to Daniel would be easy in comparison.

"Yes." Daniel shifted in his seat and gave him a piercing look. "What's going on between the two of you?"

"Nothing," Jack replied quickly. He stood up and peered out at the weather. It was perfect for fishing, he decided.

"Really." Daniel's tone told Jack that he didn't believe that for a minute.

He turned back to face Daniel. "Oh, for crying out loud. She's ascended. She doesn't have a body."

Daniel put his hands up. "All right I was only asking."

Jack regretted his over-reaction and softened his tone, trying not to sound needy. "I haven't spoken to her for a couple days. You know better than I do what she's been up to."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "If you say so."

If there was one thing Jack didn't want, it was to antagonize an old friend. "Let's have a beer and do some fishing. You can tell me about your translation and I'll pretend to listen."

Daniel smiled and stood up. "It'll be just like old times."

Jack smiled too. He did miss some of those old times.

Except that whoever was out there knocked again. Since they apparently weren't going to go away - they could probably hear that she had the TV on - she sighed and got up. A peep through the spyhole told her it was Jack O'Neill. Who was both the last person she'd expected to see and the last person she wanted to see right now.

She ran her fingers through her hair, which hopefully made it look like she had bothered to brush it that morning. Then she opened the door.

"General O'Neill. What a surprise." She put on a smile and did her best to sound happy. It came out better than she hoped.

He grinned back. "Nice pajamas."

She blushed at being caught in them in the afternoon. But she was sure he hadn't come to comment on her choice of dress, or undress, so she took a step back and said, "Come in."

He took his cap off and looked around as he stepped over the threshold. Elizabeth wished he'd called ahead; she'd have tidied and made an effort on her appearance. Not to mention turned the TV off before answering the door.

"Judge Judy?" He raised his eyebrows as she lunged for the remote control and punched the off button more savagely than it deserved.

"It was just..." she began. She trailed off because she didn't have a good excuse, except that it was on and it had felt like too much effort to change the channel at the time. "I wasn't really watching it."

He nodded, seeming to take her explanation at face value. "Nice place."

"Thank you." She smiled at the compliment, although she knew he was lying. It was a nice enough apartment in itself, apart from being in the wrong galaxy, but it would look a heck of a lot better if she'd cleared away a few nights worth of take-out boxes. Too late for that now; he'd seen how much she didn't care already.

"Please sit." She sat on one end of the couch. He chose the other end. "So, is this just a social call or did you have something important to tell me?" She guessed the latter given the uniform, but you never could tell, especially with Jack.

"The Ancients called. They're finding Woolsey 'trying'." He mimed the quotes. "They want someone to mediate."

Finally! She smiled properly this time. She was going back to Atlantis, to talk to the Ancients. She'd be able to tell them all that had happened while they'd been away and learn from them. Except - her smile faltered - Jack didn't say any more than that and his expression was sympathetic. "It's not going to be me, is it?"

"Sorry." He sounded it too, but that didn't make her feel any better.

"Why not?" She leaned towards him. "You know there's no one more qualified."

"And if it was up to me...." He didn't bother to finish the sentence because they'd already had this conversation before they left Atlantis.

She sighed. "What do the IOA have against me?"

"Would you like the list?" His tone had the note of sarcasm that she'd heard from him often.

She shook her head. "I think I can guess." It wasn't even as if she'd annoyed them deliberately. There hadn't been anything she could have done differently to make sure they didn't punish her now by sending other people to Atlantis in her place. "So who do they want?"

"Me."

She nodded slowly. "I suppose... if it can't be me, I'm glad it's you."

"I wish it was you. Sitting around being talked at by Ancients isn't my idea of a good time."

She smiled at that. He was probably just saying it to make her feel better about him going, but she believed him anyway. He was a man of action. He'd likely be bored there and start making a fuss after a few days.

"I'll be checking in with the SGC regularly," he added. "If I have any questions I'll get them to call you."

"Thank you." He didn't have to do that; she was grateful there might be something for her to do after all.

He leaned back, looking more at home on her couch than she would have expected. "So, what have you been up to since you got back to Earth?"

"Oh, you know." She shrugged. "Just getting used to being on Earth again."

"Earth has better things that Judge Judy, you know."

She shook her head. "It doesn't have Ancients."

"Can't have everything," he conceded.

She heaved another sigh. Why couldn't the Ancients see that they could learn from each other? As much as she was glad Atlantis was still around and there were still people to protect the inhabitants of the Pegasus Galaxy from the Wraith, it was torture to be on Earth when there was somewhere better she could be.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing with your time?" Jack asked softly. "Other than watching daytime TV?"

"Oh, I watch it in the evenings too." She tried the smile again, but it didn't reach her eyes. "There's a lot to catch up on."

"But I bet you didn't miss it at all on Atlantis."

She shook her head "No. There was too much else to do." She often hadn't had enough time to sleep, never mind think about watching TV.

"So, anything I should know?" He leaned forward, watching her closely. "I mean, since I'm going to be living there it'd be nice to know the quirks."

She thought about it, but most of the things she could think of were only relevant when there were significant numbers of humans living there. And most of that was do with getting hold of decent coffee, how to get short explanations out of Rodney and how to get Ronon to file mission reports. She smiled - a proper one this time - remembering, but then her breath caught in her throat.

She swallowed and managed to hold back the tears. "You should go," she said. Somehow she kept her voice from breaking, mostly by not looking at Jack. "They'll be waiting for you."

He shifted into her line of vision, shaking his head. His expression was worried and that didn't help at all.

"Why would you want to spend time here on Earth when you can be on Atlantis? Some people would give their right arm to be in your position." It came out a little more forcefully than she'd intended.

"Even if it means spending time with Woolsey?" he joked.

She wasn't in the mood. "What do you know about Atlantis? What can you tell them about the Pegasus galaxy and what's happened since they've been away? You've barely set foot in the place."

"Elizabeth...." He reached a hand out towards her shoulder and she jerked back from it, standing up.

"That's my home, my life you're taking from me."

He stood to face her. "I'm sorry."

He looked so apologetic. She reminded herself that this was Jack O'Neill, here. He knew how much Atlantis meant to her; she knew he wouldn't do this on purpose.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry." But she couldn't say any more because a sob escaped her. She put a hand to her mouth.

A second later, Jack's arms were around her. She rested her head on his shoulder, allowing a few tears to escape.

"You know I'll do what I can," he murmured.

She nodded.

"You should do something," he said when he let her go. "Get dressed, stop watching TV and maybe write all this stuff down. One day someone might need your perspective on Atlantis."

That wasn't a bad idea, actually. He was right that she needed something to do. Doing nothing was making her more tired than the constant pressure of running Atlantis. "Perhaps I will." She hesitated a moment and then added, "Thank you."

"My pleasure." He picked up his hat, nodded at her and left.

Elizabeth turned back to her couch, hoping that Jack going to Atlantis was just the first step. Hoping that the next time she saw him they'd be asking for her too.

Now it was Daniel's bet and he'd zoned out again. Jack and Carter exchanged a glance over their cards.

"That's what, the second time he's done that?" Jack commented.

"Third," Teal'c put in.

Carter looked more worried and called Daniel's name softly, but there was no response.

"Daniel," Jack said, louder, and waved a hand in front of Daniel's face.

Daniel jumped and the creases in his face smoothed out as he focused on Jack for a moment, before looking round at the identical concerned expressions on Carter and Teal'c's faces. "Jack?"

"You zoned out again," he explained, a mixture of worry and fear in his voice. "For five minutes this time."

"Sorry." Daniel frowned, but didn't volunteer any more details of what he'd been remembering.

Jack hesitated to ask again. The last time this had happened they'd been on P2X 445 two days ago and despite Daniel looking like he'd been in pain when he'd come out of it, he'd refused to tell Jack what it had all been about, beyond it being a memory from when he was Ascended. Jack had been sure Daniel knew more than that, but he hadn't said anything, giving Daniel the chance to volunteer more information himself. When nothing had been forthcoming he'd hoped their weekly team night would help, what with being off the base and at Jack's house. Daniel had felt comfortable here once.

Teal'c broke the lengthening silence. "It is your bet, Daniel Jackson."

"Ah, right." Daniel straightened up and considered his cards. "I'll call." He added some more cash to the pile in the center of the table.

Jack was unsurprised to find that merely added to Teal'c's win and he was glad to hear the doorbell announcing the arrival of the pizza.

"I'll help you," Carter said, following him to the door. That last round had cleaned her out too and Jack wondered just how long Daniel could hold out against the might of Teal'c. Especially since Daniel had drunk over half of his beer.

Carter took the pizzas while Jack paid for them out of the money he'd been keeping back for the purpose. "What are we going to do about Daniel, sir?" she asked quietly, as the door closed.

Jack sighed. "Let him finish that bottle of beer?" he suggested, half-seriously, putting his change back in his pocket.

"I think you should talk to him."

He frowned and tried to take the pizzas from Carter, but she held on tightly to them. "Why me?" Jack had been very careful to keep his real feelings for Daniel hidden from Carter and Teal'c. If she had known what had gone on between them before Daniel Ascended, she'd never so much as hinted at it before.

"Have you seen the way he keeps looking at you?"

Even if he was sure she didn't mean in that way, his heart skipped a beat anyway. He was careful not to change his expression and Carter carried on without waiting for an answer.

"It's that same protective look you get about him sometimes. Whatever he's remembering from when he was Ascended, I'm sure it has something to do with you."

There was one thing it could be, but since it was something Jack didn't like to think about at all, he wasn't keen to discuss it with Daniel. "Then I'm the last person he should talk to." To forestall her argument, he snatched the pizzas off her and took them into the living room, where Teal'c had just won the last of Daniel's money.

Daniel smiled at the sight of the pizzas and they all dug in, while Teal'c explained just what he'd done to his Wii Fit to necessitate buying a new one with all the money he'd won tonight. Jack ignored Carter's pointed looks at him and told Teal'c he was banned from future poker games. At the rate he was going Teal'c would end up having to pay Jack's mortgage within a year.

Fortunately, Daniel suggested a game called senet, which he and Teal'c then waxed enthusiastically about for a good ten minutes. Jack established from their conversation that it was a game Teal'c had played as a child and Sha're taught to Daniel on Abydos. Apparently Daniel was sure he knew where he could get hold of a set and Jack ended up agreeing to play it at their next team night.

Jack allowed Daniel to finish his beer without comment, even though he had pointedly taken it away from him earlier in the evening. Daniel didn't even notice how warm it had gotten, which wasn't a good sign, even though he hadn't zoned out at all since they started eating.

Afterwards Teal'c suggested a game of Rock Band on the Wii he'd brought with him. Jack didn't remember who had first shown Teal'c the Wii, but he would bet anything it was now Teal'c's favorite thing about Earth. It had been a slippery slope from beating everyone at boxing and bowling, to Teal'c and Carter's arguments over who was better at Rock Band. Jack hadn't even known Carter was that musical, but that was typical Carter, being good at everything. Jack and Daniel were usually happy to just watch and not make fools of themselves. Jack knew this would be the perfect time to talk to Daniel even without the pointed looks Carter gave him as Teal'c set the game up.

Daniel sat in the corner of the couch, right where he used to sit before he Ascended. It was the first time Jack had seen him sit there since he came back and he couldn't help smiling at the sight before he settled back beside him, another beer in his hand.

Under cover of the song Teal'c and Carter were playing to, Jack turned to Daniel and, keeping his voice quiet enough not to be heard by the other two, said, "So, what is it?"

"Mm?" Daniel frowned and sounded like he was concentrating more on the game than on Jack.

"What you've been remembering," he clarified.

Daniel didn't say anything, just blinked, but Jack knew Daniel knew what he was talking about. When he still said nothing, Jack decided to up the ante a little. "You keep zoning out. I can't take someone off world who might not be concentrating when there are people are trying to kill us."

"I remembered Ba'al torturing you," Daniel said all of a sudden.

As much as Jack knew that it would help Daniel to talk about what he had been remembering, he just couldn't do it. "I've been trying not to," he said and turn his attention back to the television screen. The song came to an end with a new high score and Jack jumped up before Teal'c could click on 'Play again'. "How about a game of baseball," he suggested, and picked Wii Sports out of the pile of Teal'c's games.

"I will beat you, O'Neill."

Jack smiled at the challenge. "Don't count on it."

Carter sighed. "I'll sit this one out." She took Jack's place on the couch next to Daniel, who hadn't said anything. Jack didn't expect him to either.

Since it was Teal'c's game, Jack let him bat first. It was easier to eavesdrop on Carter and Daniel's conversation while he pitched. It wasn't that he didn't care what Daniel had gone through, it was more that he didn't want to dream about it tonight.

"Ba'al tortured Jack," Daniel said. Carter hadn't even had to ask anything.

"I know," Carter replied, almost too quietly for Jack to hear. "He spent a day in the infirmary when he got back."

Jack had spent half that day asleep and the other half trying to get Dr. Fraiser to let him out.

Teal'c scored a run and the Wii crowd went wild. Carter and Daniel said nothing and Jack wasn't sure if that was because they were used to Teal'c being good at all the Wii games or because they weren't really watching. He wasn't going to turn round to find out.

"I couldn't do anything to stop him." Daniel sounded frustrated. "The only thing I could do was to take away some of Jack's pain."

"And that's what you were remembering?"

Daniel must have nodded, because they were both quiet while Teal'c finished his turn at bat and Jack was up.

"There's something else important I'm forgetting. From before I was Ascended."

Jack completely failed to swing his bat, he was so busy listening to what Daniel might say next.

"Are you ready O'Neill?"

Jack nodded and this time he hit the ball far enough to get a double.

"I'm going to get some water," Carter said. "Playing guitar is thirsty work."

"I'll come with you," Daniel said, and Jack heard them both go off to the kitchen. Which at least meant he'd equalled Teal'c's score by the time the inning ended.

He could hear their low voices carrying over the sound of the game. He wasn't sure if he was glad or annoyed not to be able to hear the words. If they were talking about what Daniel had been remembering when he was zoning out, then Jack thought it was probably just as well they were in another room. It was in the past and he'd prefer not to know any more details now.

In the end, Teal'c did beat him. It was only because he was distracted, but he wasn't going to tell Teal'c the reason why, so he didn't offer it as an excuse.

As Teal'c packed up, Carter came back into the living room and gave him a sympathetic look. She'd been worried about him at the time, he got that, but he didn't want any of them to be reliving it now. She turned it into a smile when she noticed he was watching her.

Daniel followed her, looking happier, so that was something. Except that he frowned at the couch and stood there, unmoving, looking at the spot he'd been sitting in earlier.

"Something wrong with my couch?" Jack kept his tone jokey, wanting Daniel to relax enough to tell him what he was thinking.

"No," Daniel replied, slowly. "Just something I've forgotten."

Jack wondered if it was the same thing Daniel had mentioned to Carter earlier. He wanted to ask Daniel if he remembered anything about his feelings for Jack before he'd Ascended, but Carter and Teal'c were only in the hall and it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with them listening. So instead he said, "If it's important, it'll come back to you."

Daniel nodded and smiled.

Jack was tempted to touch him, to help him remember, but he could wait. The moment would be so much sweeter when Daniel had all of his memories back of the time when he and Jack had been together. For now, Jack had to let him go and hope that the next time Daniel zoned out it was because of a memory from before he Ascended, rather than during.

"A bit different from Atlantis."

She nodded but didn't face him, so he wouldn't be able to see the tears in her eyes. She had to be strong and save the crying for when she was alone.

"Elizabeth," Jack said softly, and put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at his worried expression.

Jack put his arms around her. "I'll find a way to get Atlantis back," he promised.

All Elizabeth could do was cry on his shoulder.

When John first starting sparring with Teyla he told himself envy had nothing to do with it. He was wrong but then that was never the only reason. He thought it would be an excellent opportunity to watch her - she was good to look at after all. He soon found out that he did indeed need to watch her carefully - just not in the way he first thought.

At the moment he was trying to give all of his attention to her right arm, since it was holding the stick that was coming towards his head. To bring her arm up there from her previous position she'd had to spin round and in doing so her skirt whirled around her legs, exposing her thigh. John had tried really hard not to look down but he had spent too much time with the idea that movement in your peripheral vision could be important. He wondered if she did it on purpose, if she knew the reason he did not improve much was not lack of practice. It was hard to concentrate on two sticks when there was the whole of Teyla there too.

It did not help that Atlantis itself was full of distractions. It was easy to catch your eye on the orange glow around the window or the muted blue of the lights that never seemed to be too dim or too bright. He had wondered what the Ancients could possibly have used the patterns on the floor for. As there was no way of really knowing what they had even used each room for it had only ever been a passing thought.

He wrenched his mind back to the job and quickly brought his left arm up, meeting her stick with slightly more force than was strictly required. It threw her arm back and he was rewarded by a sharp pain to the ribs: he had been paying too much attention to the stick in one hand and not enough to the other. She did not admonish him for his lapse - the pain did that.

"Ow," he said. He saw Teyla's frown and decided to ask for a break and some time to collect his thoughts.

It was not all that painful really - Teyla never hit that hard - but it was probably still enough to leave a bruise. When he showered he often took the opportunity to take stock. He wondered if anyone who saw him naked would think he was regularly being beaten up - even though in some respects that was true. Perhaps if that someone was Teyla she would go easier on him. The chance, however, seemed slight. She would be far more likely to remind him to practice, so that he would end up with fewer bruises and she with more, or indeed any.

He had definitely had a crush on her the first time they met. He thought she probably felt the same way about him, which was lucky because Colonel Sumner had not exactly endeared himself to the Athosians. Once they had got acquainted they discovered they liked more than just looks and had become friends. John coveted that friendship very much. The trouble was that the crush had never quite gone away, at least not for him.

"Is there something on your mind, Major?" Teyla asked, as she took a seat in the window, laying her sticks carefully in her lap. She sounded so sympathetic that John felt guilty there was not. Not really, anyway.

He sat down next to her, making sure to look at her face and not the way her skirt lay. Not that it was any less off-putting, he was just more used to the sight. "No," he said, yet there was hardly a time Teyla was not in his thoughts.

"Major."

Now he felt like a little boy caught out in a lie. "It's just a little frustrating that you beat me every time we spar." Which was the truth, if not all of it.

"If you practice, one day that will change." She patted him on the arm.

He could not help smiling at her confidence in him although he suspected that day was a long way off yet. He could feel exactly where every one of her fingers lay and had to fight the urge to grab her hand and hold it where it was. Unfortunately, Teyla was a suspicious person.

"There is something bothering you."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and decided to do something insanely stupid. "I can't concentrate with you looking like that."

He opened his eyes again to see her looking down and frowning. "I am not wearing anything special."

"No, and that's the problem."

All he got in return was a quizzical look. He saw it on her often, usually in response to some reference he had made to Earth. Part of the reason he said some of the things he did was to get that look.

"It's that skirt and that top. It's like...your worst enemy's Ferrari."

The expression did not really change.

"Look, you're beautiful, okay? I mean, how can anyone not...?" He did not quite want to finish that sentence. He tightened his fingers on his sticks before they fell to the floor. "But I know you don't feel the same way, so just pretend I never said anything and I'll leave before I embarrass myself any further or risk our friendship any more than I already have." He got up and walked out of the open door, half hoping she would call him back.

She never did.

2. Jack/Daniel

There was something about talking to Daniel that made Jack smile. He was so different from the rest of Jack's friends. Which was not really surprising given they were Air Force through and through. He did not want to use the cliché 'breath of fresh air', but sometimes he felt Daniel was almost better, and more essential, than oxygen. Which made Jack think about feelings he had not had for a long time.

At the moment, though, he was not doing the talking, as Daniel was briefing SG-1 in his office, although it was more like a lesson, really. Daniel stood next to a computer that occasionally showed them pretty pictures and Jack, Carter and Teal'c sat around the table, taking in everything he said. Carter at least looked as if she was concentrating, like the school swot she probably had been. Teal'c just looked his ordinary inscrutable self, which made it somewhat hard to tell. Jack had once asked him how he did it. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow in answer and never changed his expression. Jack did not know why he had been surprised at this.

Jack idly picked up what looked like an ordinary piece of stone and out of the corner of his eye saw Daniel glance over. He suppressed a smirk (Air Force Colonels did not 'smirk'), looked directly at Daniel once again and waited for him to complain. Daniel surprised him by carrying straight on with whatever he was saying about a Goa'uld called 'Tough Nut'. She was only a minor Goa'uld and did not seem to pose any immediate threat so Jack was not too worried about her. Daniel certainly seemed more excited than worried, so Jack took his cue from him.

The trouble was Jack was not very good at listening to Daniel. At least, he was not very good at hearing the words. He probably would have been content to listen to Daniel read the Book of the Dead if he had the chance. It did not really matter what he said, the voice alone was enough to make him tingly (not that he would admit that to anyone, Air Force Colonels did not get 'tingly'). This was a problem during the times he needed to know what Daniel was saying and it was hard to concentrate. At least if Daniel kept it short he would be more likely to actually hear what he was telling him. Protesting not only got a short speech but Daniel's full attention and that was something he both coveted and reproached himself for.

"...Tefnut was close to Ra..."

Jack suddenly sat up and dropped the stone when he heard a name he recognized. It clanged on the table and all eyes were on him. He put a hand over it to quieten the noise.

"Ra. We killed him. He is dead, right?" he said, mostly to cover himself but also because he was afraid Daniel was about to tell them this Tefnut had resurrected Ra or something. You just never know what these crazy snakes were going to get up to next.

"Yes, Jack."

Daniel was talking to him like he was a child but it didn't matter. Jack was more worried he had accidentally set something off, so he let go of the stone and put his hands up. When nothing happened he frowned and picked it back up.

"It's just a stone."

Daniel met his eyes and there was a small smile on his face. Jack tried hard to look as innocent as possible and not return the expression, without much success. That was the trouble with having briefings in Daniel's office, there were too many things in it that Jack just could not help himself. He didn't do it consciously, at least, not always, but he couldn't concentrate without having something for his hands to do. After a while it seemed Daniel started getting wise to him and put the important, breakable stuff on a shelf too high for Jack to idly pick up.

At least in the briefing room the only thing he could play with was his pen but he'd had to stop doodling when he realised Daniel's name was far too obvious. But that meant he had nothing to do with his hands, so instead regularly lost pens under the table or behind his chair somewhere. Which was not a place possible to casually pick anything up from in the middle of one of Daniel's speeches. Besides, pinching Daniel's pen was much more fun, not only to see the expression on his face.

He constantly had to remind himself it was all just friendship on Daniel's part. He longed to tell him how he felt but was too scared of his reaction. Besides, men just did not talk about their feelings, especially Air Force Colonels. Jack told himself he never had and was not going to start now, not caring that Daniel had got a fair few feelings out of him already.

He watched the way Daniel smiled at him, listened to his voice, coveted every touch and even bought the same soap so washing seemed more like smelling Daniel. The only sense was left was taste and he didn't think there was a big enough alien influence excuse to get out of that one. Sometimes he thought it would be worth it. Mostly, though, he thought he should save that for his death day, just in case.

He would far rather have Daniel as a friend than nothing at all. He already had most of Daniel and what he did not was in his fantasies. Anyway, not much would change if they were lovers.

Would it?

3. Sheppard/Weir

John took a deep breath of warm Earth air and tried to make out patterns in the stars. In the year they had been in Atlantis he had got used to spotting different shapes and these somehow seemed strange now. Much more so was the feeling of homesickness he felt. Coming here felt more like a vacation than home, a break from looking for ZPMs and killing Wraith.

He had given up on the constellations he had never known very well anyway and found one that he thought looked like a Puddlejumper when he heard footsteps. He thought about leaving but unlike Atlantis, places such as this where you could breathe fresh air and look at the sky were hard to come by. At least, they were when you were living under a mountain, however temporary that arrangement was. He could share.

He had found this spot nearly by accident. He had gone running round the parking lot, which had been enough of a novelty that he ignored the looks the guards gave him. After a few circuits he had started looking for better scenery and found a path in one corner leading to a relatively secluded spot with more interesting views than gray corridors or cars that had not really changed much in a year.

He went to call out but only got as far as opening his mouth when he heard a sob. He was torn between leaving and probably being heard or asking what was wrong when the figure came close enough that he could work out who it was in the dim light.

"Elizabeth?" He knew he should not be quite so taken aback as he was. Elizabeth had the best poker face on Atlantis, which he had discovered while losing large amounts of chocolate to her, but even she must get upset from time to time.

There was a pause before a slightly shaky, "John?" in response.

His first thought was that something had gone horribly wrong with their return plans to Atlantis but he immediately dismissed it. If that was the case Elizabeth would be doing everything she could to fix it and not be outside the SGC crying. So it must be something else. But even though they were friends she played things very close to her chest and he knew almost nothing about her personal life.

He wished things were otherwise, that he could be someone she could tell things to, but he had not really told her much about himself either. Sure, she could look in his file (and she certainly had) and he could do the same. It did not tell him much about her, though, beyond what amazing things she had done and when her birthday was, a date he had made certain not to forget.

After a few months their relationship had moved on from a working one to friendship. He suspected that Elizabeth kept her distance with all the personnel on Atlantis because of her status of the head of the mission. That didn't mean she had to be lonely, though. John had reached out to her a few times and she had made small gestures towards returning them. He wanted more but had no intention of rushing her.

He moved closer to Elizabeth, so she would be able to see it was really him. He could only see by the distant lights from Cheyenne Mountain, but since he could no longer hear her he was fairly sure his presence had stopped her tears for the moment.

"What's wrong?" he asked, not expecting an answer straight away. He was right.

"Nothing." Her voice sounded much more like normal, which confirmed his guess.

"You can't fool me, Elizabeth, we know each other too well," he cringed as he said it. "I heard you crying," he added.

There was silence as she turned away from him. He looked at the back of her head - or where it would have been, her hair being hard to see with only a little light. He thought he knew how to deal with upset women but none of them had ever been Elizabeth Weir.

"We survived an attack by the Wraith," he said, trying for a bit of humour, "nothing else can possibly be as bad as that."

He was not really expecting a laugh but he also was not anticipating the sigh he heard.

"I'll leave you alone, if that's what you want." He could not resist putting one hand on her shoulder for a moment before turning away.

"John," this time it was clearer and he stopped, looking at the black shape that was Elizabeth in the dark.

"My..." she began, "the man I thought I would marry has...met someone else."

"He was an idiot," he said, meaning it.

"No, it was my fault. I can't blame him for not waiting."

"If he loved you enough, if he thought you were worth it, he would have."

She shook her head. Her eyes lit up briefly as the tears in them caught the light. He really wanted to tell her he would have waited, but didn't because she didn't need to know his feelings for her, not now, not yet. Not knowing what else to say, he put his hand back on her shoulder. It seemed to help because he felt her relax slightly under his hand. He resisted the temptation to move it, so they stayed like that for a few minutes until Elizabeth dried her eyes and they went back inside.

John made a vow to himself to make sure she never had the chance to think about what she had lost, as long as he was around.

4. Sam/Jack

Jack stood in the control room, hovering over Walter Harriman and trying to resist the temptation to take up biting his fingernails. It would not make the wait go any quicker. He was not by nature a very patient person and just standing here waiting for news didn't help, nor did the fact that the most likely news would be both good and bad. Good because Carter would have saved the world again and bad because the result would be her almost certain death. One that he had sent her to.

He trusted Carter to save their asses every time. Partly because she always managed to do it, even if it was sometimes at the last minute, but also because when she gave him that look he had no choice but to believe she could do the impossible. When he first met her he wondered if there was anything she didn't do well. He was still thinking about it but now he could just be biased. He couldn't deny it: Carter was brilliant and the SGC, the Air Force, hell the world, was lucky to have her. It made him distinctly jealous - he wanted her too.

"Five minutes," Walter reminded them, as if the countdown clock someone had decided was a good idea wasn't enough.

Jack watched the time tick down from 5:00 to 4:50, each second seeming to take an hour, before he heard Carter's voice.

"Nearly there."

In those two words Jack could hear a hint of desperation and maybe even panic, but Carter was too good a soldier to let it get to her. It was almost unfair. She was too busy to think of her impending death and he could think of nothing else.

He resisted the temptation to say anything to her because she needed to concentrate and the only thing he wanted to say right now was both unhelpful and not something he wanted the whole SGC to overhear. He tried not to regret that he had never said it because he had not had to.

"Carter, you're the best we have. You're the only one who can do this."

"I know, sir."

He nodded. Of course she did, but there was a difference between trying not to die killing the enemy and going in knowing your likelihood of survival was small.

"Carter..." but he just could not say it. To say the words made it real and, in this case, reality was a bad thing.

"I know," she repeated, but softer this time, and with a long look into his eyes.

Then she left and he was looking at the Stargate waiting for her to be gone forever. It sat there, as big and round and silent as usual. Just once, it would have been nice for something so important to all of them to have some answers. He knew an inanimate object was never going to be any help at all in this situation but meeting the eyes of anyone else in the room just made the tension worse. Daniel had already decided it was too much and disappeared, back to his office Jack assumed.

He had returned only a few minutes later, though. There had been just enough time for him to have got down to his office, wandered about a bit, and then come back up, Jack calculated. The countdown might have been unbearable but it was not as bad as pacing a room waiting - something Jack had had much experience of since his promotion. Sitting in his office while a team was off world and in a potentially perilous situation was much harder than going out there and being in danger himself. He told himself he felt the same whatever team it was but obviously he was closer to SG-1 than any of the others.

He had always reasoned that Carter was a busy person who did not have time for a relationship but the truth was the only reason he had never done anything about what he was fairly sure was their mutual attraction, was the regs. Jack O'Neill was not usually a man prone to obeying orders he disagreed with, and he disagreed with this one just at the moment, although before he had heard of the Stargate it had seemed much more reasonable.

Carter, on the other hand, was a good little soldier who did what she was told. She would never approach him and if he made any advances towards her it would leave her in a quandary, one which he did not want to put her in. He told himself it was not because he did not want her to choose the Air Force over him but in truth he did not know which was worse.

"Two minutes," Walter broke his thoughts.

"Come on, Carter," Jack said, almost under his breath.

Jack could feel Daniel and Teal'c looming over each shoulder. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart, and put his hands in his pockets so no-one could see them shake. He almost prayed to a god he didn't believe in, the Goa'uld having made him take a long rethink about religion. He wanted to ask if, by some miracle, on top of the one he had asked her to perform, Carter came back alive he would not take her for granted again but that was not really what he wanted to ask for. What he really wanted was a promise he couldn't keep.

He settled for the safe return of a friend instead.

5. Sheppard/McKay

John had always thought that the revelation that he was gay would come as more of a surprise. If he had expected it at all, that is. He thought this sort of problem was one only teenagers had. Perhaps he was going through some sort of early mid-life crisis caused by living in a galaxy far away.

He blamed his dilemma entirely on Rodney McKay, who, along with clearly being too sexy for his own good, was generally the cause of most problems. In all fairness, he was often also the solution to them, although even this one might be beyond even Rodney.

It had all begun that morning when the two of them had gone out for some flying practice. He had started the whole thing partly to soothe some of Carson's fears, but also because if there were fewer military people available to fly the jumpers than they needed in a fight, then he wanted the next best thing. He was sure people like Carson and Rodney would be able to get the hang of it eventually, they just needed enough practice to make it second nature.

Today Rodney had seemed more confident than usual and John had suggested he try some moves. It turned out Rodney had seen too many movies but he attempted some rolls anyway. It had taken a few tries but he did eventually manage to finish with the jumper the right way up and heading in the right direction.

"Woo hoo!" Unable to contain his excitement Rodney had felt the need to jump up and high five his instructor.

"Hands on the controls," John admonished but could not keep the smile off his face.

Suitably serious once more, at least in thought, if not in bearing, Rodney sat down and did a victory roll. John saw the world turn out of the corner of his eye and thought how strange it was that Rodney made the planet move for him. He had been staring at Rodney, though, and Rodney was too engrossed to call him on it.

In that moment John had fallen in love. Or at least in lust, he was not certain which just yet. He couldn't help looking at Rodney's hands and thinking about how much of him they would be able to touch. He really wanted to see that smile again but aimed at him. Perhaps it was all just because he hadn't got laid in a while and could see no chance of getting any in the near future. At least not without Rodney bitching at him about it.

According to John's plan, Rodney's success should mean he was ready to go out on his own. He told himself Rodney would just get cocky, try harder tricks, crash the jumper and get himself killed, but really it was just a good excuse to spend more time with a man who was usually only this happy over Ancient technology.

Afterwards they had gone their separate ways and John assumed the feeling was temporary brought on by the excitement of it all, or something. A belief he happily indulged in until he went for dinner in the mess and listened to Rodney brag about his flying. John had felt quite proud that he was the one to teach him, and Rodney in return was happy to give credit to anyone who would listen (a number which, unsurprisingly, fell rapidly after a few repetitions). The feelings he had felt back in the jumper had not gone away.

He ended up spending most of the day staring at pretty much anyone he could, which had involved some slightly odd looks back. Okay, very odd in some cases. But he had to figure this thing out and a comparison to Rodney seemed like the obvious answer.

The trouble was, none of them compared. Some were better looking, some even Rodney would be forced to admit were almost as intelligent but none of them had everything that Rodney did. Rodney was someone he could stay up all night talking to having debates about important things such as exactly how the Ancients built the great city of Atlantis, and unimportant things like the best flavor of ice cream.

Rodney was never going to have a second career as a male model (which given his temperament was probably just as well) but then who wants a pretty boy anyway? He had taken to the non-scientific side of Atlantis life as well and, in addition to his new piloting skills, was becoming a pretty good shot. They had so much in common how could they not be perfect for each other?

If Rodney were a woman this thing, whatever it was, would not be so much of a problem. His mind carelessly conjured up an image of Rodney with long hair, stamping his foot when he disagreed with someone. He couldn't help laughing, briefly imagining trying to keep a straight face next time they talked. It was probably going to be impossible but did have the added bonus of driving Rodney crazy trying to work it out. He had said once before how much he worried about what went on in John's head. If only you could see, he thought.

He recalled the morning once more and filled his mind with an image of a smiling Rodney, remembered his voice, and wrapped himself in it until it was all he could see and hear. Satisfied, he fell asleep almost immediately.

And dreamt of Rodney McKay.

"I thought you'd gone." Even though she'd wanted to do more, she'd hugged him goodbye, which was all she'd felt comfortable doing in the open. Gossip travelled fast in Atlantis and she had no wish to be a part of it.

He shook his head. "I thought I'd stay another night, make sure you're all settled in." He looked over her shoulder to see the rest of her room, which looked much as it had when he was last here. It wasn't that easy to remember where everything went, especially when there were so many other things to do. "Which you are."

She smiled at him, although she hadn't stopped since the city was hers again. Somehow, she was now embracing all the little things that usually drove her crazy. "My shower is particularly good."

"It is?" He raised his eyebrows.

"And big enough for two." She took a step back to give him space to enter her room.

The door was still closing behind him as he held her close and kissed her.

After John left she got lost in thought for a while, before she decided to throw the contents of her office into boxes and bring them down to her room. Which was completely illogical, she knew, and meant that she could not see her floor for work-related boxes. Her bed had already disappeared under all the books she had begun piling there, and her desk was covered in clothes. She no longer cared about how much sense any of it made, since nothing made sense any more anyway.

By the time Jack O'Neill knocked at her door, she was glad of the distraction.

"Hi." He had a shy grin that she would not have expected to see on him. "Can I come in?"

"Um." She looked round at what was normally a neat and tidy place where she did not spend much time. "Sure," she said eventually, hopping back over to the bed to clear a corner. There was a chair somewhere in the room but she could not quite see it. "Sit down." She indicated the small space on the bed.

Jack grinned at her and sat. He had a box with him which he put down behind him, risking losing it in the mess of Elizabeth's possessions. She wondered what was in it but wanted to know even more what he was doing here. Maybe he just did not have anything to do while everyone else was busy packing. Not that she wasn't happy to see him, even if it meant that she would end up finishing her packing in a rush in the morning now. Although, she had to admit, Jack being here probably did not really change that, the rate she had been going.

"Sorry about the mess," she said. She took another pile of books from the bed and balanced them on a box that was mostly flat with files. It turned out not to be flat enough, because they slid off, with most landing between that box and its neighbor and two ending up under the bed.

"You should see my office. And that's just on a daily basis."

She smiled, knowing he was lying - the Air Force tended to create tidy people out of messy ones. Gingerly, she sat on the edge of the bed. She winced as she felt various things slide towards her. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from the esteemed General O'Neill?"

"Just Jack. We're not at work now." He waggled a finger at her. "We've been through this before. And I wanted to apologize. Again."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault. I know you did everything you could."

"I just wish I could have left that ass, Woolsey on Earth. Then maybe you could have stayed."

"We can't change the past; what's done is done." She guessed the platitude probably helped him as little as it did her. The trite words reminded her of something that had happened not so long ago that, suddenly seeing Jack again, now seemed so strange. "Speaking of the past, I wanted to thank you."

He frowned. "You did?"

"Yes." She paused for a moment. "This is going to sound weird."

"I work with the SGC. I deal with the wacky every day. Did I tell you about the time I had the Ancients' knowledge downloaded into my brain?"

Elizabeth smiled. She could hardly forget, given he had done that right before they first met. She had read reports of the previous time that had happened to him and had thought he was brave for willingly doing it a second time. Her limited experience of Air Force Colonels meant she had not expected it of him. Now that she knew Jack better, she wondered how she could ever have thought anything less of him.

"I was attacked by the Replicators recently." She folded her hands on her lap and looked down at them. "Well, it was their nanites really. They made me think I was back on Earth, that the Stargate program didn't exist and I was going mad."

"As attacks go, it could have been worse."

As she looked up she saw him raise his eyebrows at her. She tucked an errant lock of her hair back behind her ear as she thought about what could have happened. "Except that it would have killed me eventually. Carson told me afterwards the nanites were trying to convert my body into a Replicator."

"Those nasty... microscopic beings."

She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. "Actually, they're smaller than can be seen under an ordinary microscope."

He waved his hand. "Details."

Shaking her head, she continued with her story. "Anyway, in that world, in my head, we still met, even though there was no Stargate. You called me in to help with a treaty against the proliferation of nuclear weapons."

"Which sounds exactly like the sort of thing you're qualified for." He nodded his head at his words.

"That's probably why it seemed so real. You were really great, helping get on with my life after I thought I had a nervous breakdown, and being a friend. I just feel like I should thank you for what you did. The you in my head."

"Well, in that case, you're welcome." He frowned. "I think."

"Of course, after that it turned out you were really a nanite, trying to keep me in that world so they could take over my brain more easily, but...." She shrugged. It was generally better not to dwell on that too much.

"Ah, well, easy come, easy go. At least I was mostly the good guy."

She could not help but laugh at that. Now that she had said it out loud and told him what happened, it somehow seemed more unreal. It did feel good to laugh, though. There had not been much opportunity for that lately, but Jack always had a talent for finding the humor in any situation. That was partly why she liked him so much.

"Aren't you going to ask what's in the box?" he asked, when she had sobered.

"I wondered if you were going to keep me in suspense."

"Well, if you hadn't hijacked the conversation.... I planned what I was going to say and everything."

He looked so terribly serious for a minute that she felt compelled to hide her grin behind a hand.

Without giving her a chance to ask, he said, "I brought you cake."

Elizabeth frowned. "Is this an Athosian dish or did someone--?"

"It's one of Sergeant Siler's creations. Apparently he's doing a cake decorating course in the evenings and he sent this over as a celebration of Atlantis, so he said."

She tried for a mental image of Siler and icing but it was just not possible. He was good with a wrench but cakes were a whole different thing. "You're kidding me?"

"No." He fished the box out from behind him and opened the lid dramatically.

She leaned over to see in. "Wow," she breathed. "If he ever gets tired of working at the SGC, he's definitely got an alternative career." It was only a small, round sponge cake, but somehow Siler had managed to ice a Stargate on it. Some of the tiny symbols were even identifiable from the Milky Way Gates.

Jack angled the box towards him so he could get a better view. "I don't believe it."

His words surprised her. "You didn't look?"

"I promised Siler faithfully I wouldn't spoil the surprise."

"And you weren't tempted?" she asked, with a grin.

He sighed and gave her a look. "I'll have you know I can always be trusted to keep my word. Well, mostly. Probably."

She shook her head. "I'm sure I have a knife somewhere." She frowned. "I definitely saw one earlier." She stood and picked her way across the floor to root around the desk. When she moved a stack of clothes, she could not stop some of her underwear from falling. She thought she saw a pair of panties disappear inside a thick file on John Sheppard but could not quite care about that at the moment. Perhaps it would give someone a good laugh later.

The knife turned out to be in a different pile entirely. She did not even remember thinking it would be a good idea to wrap a sharp knife in a towel, but obviously she had done it anyway. It did at least mean it was probably clean enough.

Getting back over to the bed was equally fraught, especially now she was in danger of stabbing something on the way, but she managed to make it without incident.

Standing in front of Jack, who held the cake box on his lap, she said, "It almost seems a shame to cut it."

"It was made to be eaten."

Elizabeth gave him a look.

He shrugged. "That's what Siler told me."

She rolled her eyes, cut two slices and slid them out, passing one over to Jack. He put the box, with the knife now in it, on her nightstand. There was just enough space to perch beside him on a small pile of books, so she did so. She took a bite of her piece, one hand underneath to catch any crumbs, not that it mattered much now. She closed her eyes, savoring the taste. It was very good cake; she wondered if Siler had made as well as decorated it.

When she opened her eyes again to take another bite she saw Jack grinning at her. "What's so funny?"

"I can tell you're really enjoying that."

"I am." Another mouthful finished the slice off. Let Jack think whatever he wanted. It was good cake.

"You have a crumb," he said, reaching out one hand to brush his thumb gently against the corner of her mouth.

She looked at him as he did so, but his eyes were on her lips. Yet his hand lingered even after he was finished. She wondered if he was going to do something more, but his eyes did not meet hers and she could not guess what he was thinking. On impulse she turned her head to press a kiss to his palm.

He took his hand away. "This probably isn't the best time. You're upset about leaving Atlantis."

She stood up and turned away from him, so he would not be able to see the expression on her face. "This wasn't what you came here for. I'm sorry." With living in different galaxies they had not seen much of each other recently. Maybe he really had turned up just to offer her cake, as unlikely as it seemed. But his being there had stirred up all her old feelings.

"I didn't say that exactly."

She heard him stand, and then he was behind her, one hand on her shoulder, warming it with his touch. With his other hand, he gently brushed the hair away from her neck. She could feel every tiny part of her skin his fingers touched. She closed her eyes, wondering what he would do next, trying to decide if she should respond the way she wanted to, or whether she should stop him. After all, he spoke the truth; she was looking for someone to make her world right again and this was not necessarily the best way to do it.

The decision was taken away from her when she felt his lips against her neck. "Jack," she began, a little unsteadily, "I don't want you to do this just to offer comfort."

He spun her round and kissed her, his lips firm on hers. Her arms went round his neck; one of his was around her waist, pulling her to him. "Any version of me," he said, when they parted, "would always help any version of you. Either way, I want to do this. You're beautiful, smart, and you laugh at my jokes."

She smiled in response and touched his cheek with one hand. This time, she pulled him down to her for another kiss, enjoying the taste of the cake that still lingered. They both jumped at a crash outside her door, followed by shouting. She hoped no one had dropped anything fragile. Just because they were going back to Earth did not necessarily mean they did not need some of this stuff.

She bit her lip, wondering whether she should go out and check. Jack, who was still holding onto her, took the decision out of her hands by maneuvering them round so the back of her legs hit the bed. She fell on it, with him on top of her, and the world outside of the two of them was mostly forgotten as he reminded her how good a kisser he was. However, she was distracted by the books with hard corners under her back, and the way some of them fell onto the floor as Jack moved round to apply his mouth to other parts of her body.

"It's no good," she said, as he wrestled with taking her top off. She stilled her hands on his chest, under his shirt. She almost wished he had his jacket on; he looked good in uniform. "This is just too uncomfortable."

"Oh." He sat up and awkwardly pulled his shirt back into place.

She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. "I meant the bed, you idiot." To punctuate the point she threw a book that had been trying to cut her spine in two at him.

He caught it easily, with one hand, and turned it over to look at the cover. "Danielle Steele?"

She blushed. "One of my guilty pleasures." She really wished she had looked more carefully at what she had thrown before she did it. "Why don't you help me pack? Then there'll be more space on the bed." She began piling things up, although she was still not sure where she was going to fit it all.

Jack, though, solved the problem by stripping the blanket and taking everything else with it, raining books onto boxes and leaving her holding a file slightly awkwardly. "I can't wait that long," he said, taking the file off her and sending it with wild abandon to join the others before attacking her top enthusiastically, so that he had it off before she even had time to think. By the time he had her on her back again, with his mouth making its way towards her breasts, she was not going to complain. It was a much better way of spending her last night in Atlantis.

~*~*~*~

Afterwards, while Jack slept, Elizabeth unearthed her robe from under a pile of papers and stood at the window. She had seen this view a thousand times; it was etched on her brain; but that no longer seemed like enough. When they got here she had not missed Earth that much: maybe because she had been so busy. She was already feeling homesick for Atlantis, and they had not even left yet.

She gave a sigh and sat down on the floor: her muscles protested as they begun to ache from the distraction Jack had given her. Now she was alone - or nearly - she allowed a tear to fall down her cheek unchecked. It was just the start, though, because more followed.

She did not even hear Jack get up, and only knew he was there when she felt his arms around her. She leant her head against his chest for a minute and told herself she was being stupid. This was the Ancients' city: they had every right to it, whereas she had none. Lifting her head, she gave him a small smile and a kiss. He did not let go but settled down next to her.

"When you get back, give me a call," he said. "I'll tidy my place for you."

Jack somehow always knew what to say to make her feel better.

"Just so we can make it messy again," he added.

She laughed and she felt him laugh too.

"It will be just like in the nanite world," he went on. "Except without the nanites and with the Stargate program still existing."

It was only now that she trusted her voice to speak. "And what exactly do you think we got up to?"

"I wouldn't have been able to resist you."

"Except you were really a nanite...."

"Oh, well...."

She smiled to herself. She was not going to tell him exactly what had gone on between the two of them. Not yet, anyway.

Fortunately, given her lack of success with stalling tactics around him, he changed the subject. "What are we looking at?"

"Over there," she pointed towards a tower capped with a tall spike, "the moon is setting and the sun will rise. There are colors in the sky never seen on Earth."

"I bet I've seen better."

"Oh, yes?" She turned to face him. "Can you prove it?"

"I'm sure Daniel has photos. I'll get him to find them when we get back to the SGC."

"And what if you're wrong, and an Atlantis dawn is the best sunrise in two galaxies?"

"I'll buy you dinner. But I'll be right, and you'll be buying."

He grinned at her, and she could not but help return the grin; his happiness was infectious. She kissed him again, to show him how much she appreciated him. He pulled her closer and broke off exploring her lips to to kiss along her jaw and nibble at her ear.

They nearly missed the sun rising.

Although the walk had helped she still longed for an open space. The biggest one in the SGC was the Gate Room but as she could not set up in there she had gone to the commissary instead and stayed there since, entranced. She had long passed the point where she worried about the colour of her fingers, as unsurprisingly they were now black from countless page-turning. The remains of what was once lunch was buried under a pile of not-quite folded up papers that she had read and kept on the table. The ones she had discarded entirely were providing a foot rest underneath. A smaller pile to one side were the ones she was saving for last.

She had only been peripherally aware of events around her, except for a brief period a few hours earlier when Rodney had come in to complain about Colonel Carter. As he had obviously come merely to moan and talk her ear off with useless dribble while not listening to anything Elizabeth had to say, she had gone back to her reading and when she next looked up Rodney had gone. Now she noticed the number of people around her growing, suggesting that it was evening. She was determined to finish, however. There were plenty of other tables and she could always eat here if she got too hungry to wait.

A shadow fell over her, blocking the light and although she scowled she otherwise ignored it, hoping whoever it was would get the message and leave her alone. However, the shadow only grew slightly smaller and a coffee cup was set down right on a section she was reading. She looked up, expecting to see Rodney come to harass her again or John to do the same, but it was Jack O'Neill who sat on the other side of the table, arranging his legs around her papers, looking casual and unexpectedly handsome in faded snug-fit jeans and a pale blue short-sleeved shirt. She had spent most of her time in the SGC in suits but only now did she feel overdressed.

"Catching up on a year's worth of news, are we?" he asked.

"Well, I was," she said, picking up the cup to move it and half-hoping he would take that as a signal to go. The smell of the coffee hit her as she did so and, against her will, she took a sip. At her actions Jack leant back in his chair and smirked at her. Elizabeth sighed. Half the time she was convinced she was working with children; the other half she knew they were all geniuses in their fields. They just had funny ways of showing it. Jack was obviously not an exception.

"And there I was thinking you were working hard on some important work-related thing."

"I actually don't have anything on at the moment."

"You don't?" Jack sounded so surprised Elizabeth hid a smile behind her cup.

"I've told everyone who could possibly need to know every detail I can remember about everything that's happened in the last year. The only other thing I need to do is approve new personnel, which is mostly a case of agreeing to my department heads' recommendations and doesn't take long. So..." she shrugged.

"Here you are."

"Here I am." Elizabeth leaned back herself, unconsciously matching Jack's posture. "Don't you have more important things to do than bring me coffee?"

Jack gave her a grin and a look that told her there was nothing more important in his world right now than her. Fortunately she had seen that tactic often from John Sheppard in the past year and was by now immune to it. Mostly.

"The trouble with being the Man is that there's a lot of paperwork and not a great deal of action."

She cocked her head, keeping her expression serious with a little effort. "So you do paperwork now? I heard tales of people having to stand over you and force you to finish it."

"I said there was paperwork, I didn't say I did any of it."

She could not help but smile at that. A year spent running the SGC had obviously not changed Jack O'Neill. It seemed oddly comforting.

"Wanna play hookey?" She was slightly surprised at the abrupt change in tone and subject but he leant forwards over the table and lowered his voice. "You look like you need a break and I definitely need to get out of here."

Elizabeth intended to contradict him before her aching back told her she would like to escape with Jack very much. She gave him a cheeky grin as an answer and he had swept up all the papers on the table before she was even on her feet. They paused only to throw them in his office and before she could think about it too much they were in an elevator headed up to the surface.

Of course, they could not escape entirely unnoticed, the SGC was a military base after all, but the few people they passed said goodnight to Jack without looking suspicious. Elizabeth tried not to laugh and give them away. She had definitely spent too much time in meetings recently. Not that Jack helped either: when they were safely in his car and making their way out of Cheyenne Mountain he made a show of looking in his rearview mirror and asking her, "Do you think we got away with it?" She hid her mouth behind her hand when she found she had not actually forgotten how to laugh.

***

Elizabeth leaned back and held her menu up, deliberating over it. There was so much choice and although the novelty of eating ordinary good Earth food had not quite worn off, she was still trying to memorise tastes she would probably not get to experience for another long time. Jack had not even opened his, which told her all she needed to know about how often he came here.

It was only once both she and Jack had calmed down somewhat and began to act a little more like the grown up leaders they were, that he told her they were going to dinner. She would have complained at not getting a choice in location but her stomach had rumbled to let her know how hungry she really was. Besides Jack reassured her he knew this great place that she would just love. She should have known that would not necessarily refer to a five star restaurant with expensive food.

All of a sudden the menu was yanked away from her and she focused in on Jack, giving him a look.

"I recommend the steak," he said.

Elizabeth smiled, which was something she seemed to be doing a lot around him this evening, which made a nice change. Jack made it hard to be annoyed at for long, even if she was only half-pretending. "I never knew it was possible to get a steak pizza," she said.

"It's something everyone should experience at least once in their life."

"I can't believe, of all the restaurants around here, some of which I know serve very good food, you picked a pizza place."

In all fairness to Jack it was not a typical pizza place - or at least what she remembered a typical pizza place being. There were interesting photos hung on the walls of what looked like the local area perhaps fifty years ago. The lively and catchy background music was not something Elizabeth remembered hearing before, which may or may not have meant it was recent. The waitresses were as brightly dressed as the walls and the furniture yet still managed to blend in and disappear just when you wanted them. Whenever the door to the kitchen opened the smell of pizza wafted over, although it was not so strong as to be unbearable.

"Well, you've never been here, have you?"

"No." Elizabeth did not think she had been anywhere like here.

"So you're getting a new experience." Jack spotted a passing waitress and tried to wave her over but it seemed that their table was not her problem this evening. Either that or she was just not interested, it was difficult to tell.

Elizabeth had to hand it to Jack; he certainly liked an interesting life. "I've had a lot of those recently."

"Getting bored yet?"

She thought for a moment before answering. Sometimes it would be nice to have more than a few hours to relax in but then she had always liked being busy. If she had a day to spend doing nothing she would inevitably be bored before the end of it. In retrospect Jack had probably rescued her just in time. "No," she said. "Although sometimes it would be nice to be able to spend some time enjoying Atlantis without being interrupted for some crisis or another."

"I know what you mean. Somehow I can never find time to get the paperwork done in between crises."

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. It was nice to see some of the real Jack O'Neill, without the Ancients' knowledge in his brain and the imminent threat of his death. Spotting what was probably their waitress she waved her over. The restaurant had obviously gone for uniformity and employed waitresses that looked remarkably similar. Elizabeth was on the verge of getting up and standing in her path before, in a sudden change of fate, the waitress worked out they were still here and the drinks she carried were for them after all. Elizabeth made sure to read her name badge this time, for future reference, and established she was called Mandy.

Elizabeth let Jack order for the both of them and they took bets on how long their pizzas might take to arrive. Elizabeth thought her estimate of five minutes (based on how long it took them to get it out of the packaging and into the microwave) was more likely to win over Jack's three days (based on how long it took for them to kill the cow and ship it over).

"So," he said, serious once more, "what'cha been up to?"

"Saving the world. You?"

"Watching other people save the world, mostly."

Elizabeth took a sip of her beer, watching while Jack drank a third of his in one go. She knew enough about the man to know he used humour to hide anything personal. She hoped that he would confide in her whatever it was he was concerned about. It certainly seemed like he had asked her here for a reason. "Jack, if you don't like your job, get a different one."

"Simple as that."

"Yes," she answered the implied question. "You saved the world, a lot, and if you just asked you could probably get anything you wanted."

Jack appeared to be considering this, while picking at the label of his beer bottle.

"Is there something you'd like?"

"I..." he paused, "I don't know."

Elizabeth wondered what it was he was not telling her. "Look at it this way, what have you got to lose?"

The label came off with a flourish, but before Jack could say anything Mandy returned with their pizzas. Jack slid a dollar bill across the table to Elizabeth without comment but she could have cursed the waitress for actually doing her job for once, as Jack ordered them another beer each and tucked into his pizza without further comment. Elizabeth figured she had all evening, though, especially at the rate Jack was getting through his drinks. Not that she was going to complain - she could think of plenty of reasons herself to get drunk tonight.

***

As they drunk more beer, staying long after they had finished their surprisingly good pizzas, the conversation turned to small talk and the strange things that to occurred regularly, both at the SGC and in Atlantis. Because it was all classified they had spent an entertaining ten minutes renaming races, planets and objects. In all likelihood no-one would be able to tell what they were talking about anyway but this way it somehow felt safer. Elizabeth was probably not going to be able to look a Wraith in the eye again without laughing.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, even as she was not quite sure what exactly it was that had been so funny. She was still giggling as she rose to answer a call of nature - a phrase that, once she had said it, just started them off again. But in the few minutes she was gone reality took the opportunity to kick back in and Jack was as sombre as her when she returned.

"These chairs are really uncomfortable," he said, as Elizabeth put a hand on the back of hers. "My house is just around the corner and I have beer. Or coffee."

"Perhaps coffee is a good idea," she said - standing up without support seemed to take more of an effort than it usually did. She blamed it on the difference in atmospheric composition and the relative speed of the rotation of Earth in comparison to what she was used to.

Jack signalled for the check and this time Mandy appeared almost immediately. She did not look happy as she gave them a bill that included more beers than Elizabeth remembered them drinking. She could not decide whether to complain at the service or apologise for their behaviour until she realised that it did not matter what a waitress in Colorado Springs thought of her when she spent most of her time living in another galaxy.

The bill quickly paid, they were soon out on the street. Elizabeth fell into step beside Jack but stumbled into him and he put an arm round her waist, for which she was grateful. She could not help but be reminded of Simon, who until now she had done what she considered was a fairly good job of not thinking about.

"I just broke up with my boyfriend," she said. She felt more sober in the fresh air but if she was telling Jack this it was probably an indication that she was not. It was funny - she had expected saying the words aloud would make it more real but it just seemed very far away, as if it had happened the previous year, rather than the day before yesterday.

"Hell of a long distance relationship," he said before suddenly falling sideways into a bush and nearly taking her down with him. She held onto one of his hands with both of hers and managed to pull him out with minimal help from Jack himself. When he was upright once more she put her arm around his waist and they lurched along again, close together so there were fewer directions in which to fall.

"That entitles you to get drunk," Jack said, continuing their conversation as if nothing had happened.

"Well, that explains me. What's your excuse?" She had meant it lightheartedly but when he did not answer for a few minutes, Elizabeth considered what she could safely change the subject to.

Eventually, though, he spoke. "From tomorrow General Landry is going to take charge of the SGC."

"I did wonder," she said, "what with him taking some of the meetings."

"What did you think of him?"

Jack's question sounded important, so she considered her answer carefully. She had argued with the General earlier in the week but she did not blame him for it. That had most likely been a decision made by a group of Air Force officers who had not known John Sheppard, only his record. Also, they had probably not considered his use to the city or their good working relationship and friendship, both of which she treasured and wanted to hold onto. He sounded like he knew what he was doing, though, which was not easy in a job that suddenly included the existence of aliens on the first day.

"I think he'll work out all right," she finally said.

Jack turned to smile at her but suddenly stopped walking and Elizabeth found herself being tugged backwards. "That's my house," he said, pointing to the one they had just passed.

To Elizabeth's beer-addled brain that seemed unreasonably funny and she had an uncontrollable fit of the giggles. Jack half-pulled, half-dragged her into the house while he laughed himself, at her she suspected. She managed to stop once he had deposited her on his sofa and gone to the kitchen in search of coffee. She half wished they were back in the restaurant because once she had sobered up a little she would have no excuse not to go back to the SGC.

To take her mind off it while she waited she picked up the remote control that was sitting on the table in front of her, flicking through the channels until she found a news channel. Somehow, though, what had been so important that afternoon now seemed petty and uninteresting. How could these people fight each other when there were larger threats out there?

Feeling the heat from the room she took her jacket off, folding it up and placing it carefully on the back of the seat. As she turned back her vision alighted on a photo frame lying on the table. Picking it up she could see there was a picture of SG-1 inside it. It was obviously taken a few years ago, possibly on another planet. She gave a wry smile because the only way she could tell was from their clothes; the background gave her no clues at all. Putting the picture back she noticed there were boxes around the room and except for that it was looking somewhat spartan.

She did not complain when Jack sat beside her, took the remote control from her hands, and replaced it with a mug of coffee. She sniffed it, inhaling the strong aroma of authentic coffee that she had no idea Jack kept. Jack flicked through a couple of channels before he found one showing the replay of a recent hockey match. Elizabeth had never had an interest in hockey to begin with, so found it easy to ignore.

"You really are leaving," she said.

"I really am leaving," he confirmed

Elizabeth took a sip of her coffee. It was hot and sweet and just right.

Her pleasure in the taste must have shown on her face because Jack asked, "Good coffee?" and when she looked up he was smiling at her.

"Yes." There was a minute of uncomfortable silence while he looked at her and eventually Elizabeth turned her attention to the television. One of the teams looked as if they had scored but Jack gave no indication as to whether he thought that was a good thing or not.

She took a few more sips of the best coffee she had tasted in a long time and wondered where Jack had got it from or why he kept it. He did not come across as someone who was a coffee connoisseur, but then as she had only previously seen him in military bases that might that had given her a false picture.

Having made her way through half of it she put it down on the table and sighed. "I should be getting back to the SGC."

He frowned. "What for?"

"It's getting late."

"You can always stay." Elizabeth turned to look, a question on her lips she was not quite sure she wanted to ask and he quickly amended, "I have a spare room. With a much better view than the inside of a mountain."

Elizabeth picked her coffee back up. "I might take you up on that," she said. She hated sleeping at the SGC, having got used to an ocean view so quickly. She finished the rest of her drink, though, before it got cold and tasteless. When she replaced her mug on the table she saw that Jack had also finished his, even though she could have sworn he had not drunk enough. The two mugs sat next to each other on the table and Elizabeth could not stop staring at them, feeling the beginnings of tears she would not allow to fall here.

"Are you okay?" Jack's quiet voice broke in.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't know."

Jack, it turned out, was full of surprises tonight because he pulled her against him, his arms around her. Elizabeth closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his chest, his shirt surprisingly soft. She could hear his heart beat fast, which she put down to the beer. He stroked her back and rested his cheek, or perhaps his mouth, on her head. She felt herself relax, only now realising how much she needed someone who could understand and could give her this.

After allowing herself a few minutes of comfort she lifted her head and kissed his cheek. Before she could move away Jack had turned his head and returned it, but on the lips. It should have surprised her but she opened her mouth and kissed him back without giving it a second thought. Once she had started she wondered why they had waited until now.

The taste of coffee clashed horribly with the smell of beer but since she probably tasted the same she could not complain. Especially not when one of his hands was playing with her hair and his skin felt wonderfully cool under the hand that had found its way under his shirt at the waist.

When he broke off to kiss down her neck and run light fingers down her spine she could not help letting a moan escape and she tilted her head so his lips could touch more of her skin. He stopped when he reached her collarbone to pull his head back to look at her.

"As good as this is," he said, "it would be even better if we moved to my bedroom."

His thumb stroked her shoulder as she saw something that may have been sadness tempered with passion in his eyes. She felt powerless to say no, although whether that was due to her feelings or his temptation she could not say. She took the opportunity to take in some air, even though her body cried out for more of him.

She managed a "yes" in answer to the question he had not quite asked.

In response he kissed her again and she pulled him in close, making sure he stayed where he was this time. His hand travelled slowly down the length of her arm and she shivered when his fingers reached past the end of her sleeves to touch her skin. When his hand reached hers it closed around it and he stood, giving her a gentle tug. She tightened her grip and allowed him to help her up and lead her away.

***

Elizabeth woke to find herself wrapped round a warm body and felt the sunlight on her face - muted as it was through the curtains. The sun was in the wrong place but that had not been an unusual feeling lately. She had to open her eyes before she remembered the body was that of Jack O'Neill, who, fortunately, was still asleep. She lay there a moment listening to his breathing over the background of the dawn chorus she had missed in Atlantis. She almost felt like last night had been a dream but Jack's naked body next to hers proved it wrong. It was tempting to stay a while but she did not want to examine her reasons for sleeping with Jack in the first place, and she certainly did not want to consider his.

Carefully, she extricated herself from the bed and dressed as quietly as she could, feeling the beginnings of a headache, obviously caused by alcohol. She had to hunt under his shirt to find her own and she paused for a moment with one in each hand. As much as she hated leaving Jack to wake up alone she did not want an awkward morning conversation with him. She left his shirt on a nearby chair and pulled hers on. She was still doing it up when she heard movement and turned to see him watching her, his head still on the pillow, his arms underneath it. She wondered how long he had been awake.

"I have to go," she told him.

"Do you regret it?" he asked. "Last night?"

She wanted to say no but when she opened her mouth, "Yes," came out instead. She sighed. "No. I don't know," and found it hard to look him in the eye.

Jack nodded and sat up against the headboard. "You're right," he said. "You should go, otherwise we'll both be late."

Elizabeth's heart sunk. She had not meant to hurt him but it had been easier than she would have expected. She paused in the doorway, wishing she could go back to the warmth of his bed.

"I enjoyed it," she said, and she thought she saw the ghost of a smile on his face before she turned and left.

***

Epilogue:

The third time the Daedalus arrived at Atlantis had almost been as exciting as the first two, even though this time they carried no ZPM or senior staff, missed after spending time on Earth. On this occasion it was during one of their rare quiet periods that did occur more often now the Wraith believed them gone. The Daedalus crew resembled mailmen more than the military but were well received wherever they went, and Elizabeth was as excited by her post as anyone else.

She could not help but be a little disappointed to find there was nothing from Simon, but she firmly told herself not to be so silly and looked more closely at the rest of the mail.

One of the packages was big and rustled when she picked it up. The handwriting on the outside was familiar but she could not quite place it. Curious, she opened it to reveal a stack of slightly old newspapers. Elizabeth smiled, anticipating a long, lazy afternoon in the sun, reading them. Correctly guessing who had sent them, she smiled as she read the note that had been enclosed.

Earth still the same as you left it: the usual death and destruction, and the occasional heroic rescue.
Have fun,
Jack.

"Um, guys, wasn't the sky blue when we got here?"

The rest of SG-1 also looked up, which was by now a very dark grey due to the low clouds that hung there.

"The gods bring us rain!"

"For crying out loud, we're not gods!" Jack protested but the native they had been heading towards wouldn't listen for it was now raining.

But then he changed. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the Goa'uld, maybe it was his wife's death, maybe it was just spending too long with us. Daniel's become more like us. But on the way, maybe we've become more like Daniel.

At least Thor would speak to him. Frankly he was bored, and although Teal'c's verbosity was great on missions, it wasn't when driving. And there was no way he was going to let Teal'c drive, no matter how many times he offered.

"Say something, Teal'c."

"I believe our exit was the one we just passed."

Beside him, also bound and kneeling, Sergeant Grogan flinched.

The pain must have been intense, O'Neill is a trained warrior and he would never give the enemy the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. I am familiar with these Goa'uld pain-giving devices; I have even used them myself when under command of the false god Apophis. There is no shame in crying out under these circumstances.

"Lower the force field or your friends will be killed," said the Jaffa with the pain stick.

I could have told him that he was wasting his breath. Colonel O'Neill would die before he gave them access to the Sentinel, as would any member of SG-1. Whoever controls the Sentinel has the power to destroy their enemies on this planet. The System Lord, Svarog, would not be allowed to succeed in his conquest of this world.

"Sir?" Major Carter asked. She is a soldier. She would never obey such an order unless it was endorsed by her commanding officer.

"Don't do it, Carter. That's an order!"

He barely completed his words before being struck again. Only one who knew Major Carter well would understand the extreme nature of her distress. As I commented before, she is a professional. It does not do to let the enemy know of a weakness.

In some respects the issue was academic. Neither Major Carter nor Doctor Jackson had been able to determine how to repair the Sentinel. However, the Jaffa were unable to know they were demanding access to a device that would neither function for them nor destroy them.

I observed Major Carter as she examined the alien device. For one so young she has extensive analytical abilities. Her capacity to evaluate non-Goa'uld technology is far in excess of my own. The education of humans is far more broad-ranging than that of Jaffa.

The Sentinel resembled a human child's construction kit in appearance, being composed of rectangular glass blocks of many different colours. The Major removed several blocks in turn, examined them in detail and then replaced them. On Chulak, no woman would be trained in such a field. The very idea that a woman could be either a scientist or a warrior would be laughed to scorn. And yet, do we not entrust our women to educate our sons? Will not a female protect to the death those she loves?

While the Major studied the Sentinel, Doctor Jackson was examining the alien inscription and frantically scribbling notes. He, no less than Major Carter, was aware of what hung on their ability to make the Sentinel operational. It was strange, indeed, for them both to be working in full view of the enemy, and yet for the Jaffa weapons to be unable to hurt them through the force field. As Doctor Jackson worked, his eyes frequently flicked towards O'Neill. Doctor Jackson is a man of deep feelings.

O'Neill screamed again, his voice rough and raw.

We turned as one, only to see the Colonel struck in the back by a staff weapon and fall forward to the ground. Major Carter took an abortive step forward, "Colonel." She hesitated as he struggled awkwardly back to his knees, fighting to regain his balance against the impediment of the iron bar that passed behind his back and in front of his elbows.

"Carter." He spoke no other word but she responded to his unspoken command and returned once more to her work on the Sentinel.

"Bastards," muttered Doctor Jackson under his breath. He was probably not aware that I had heard him, but then I have exceptional hearing. He flicked rapidly through the pages of his notebook, comparing symbols there with those on the inscription.

"Teal'c, do these look similar to you?"

I could see no obvious resemblance, but then I have difficulty reading Doctor Jackson's handwriting at the best of times. His script is only slightly more legible than that of Colonel O'Neill.

"There is a possibility of a resemblance, Daniel Jackson."

He looked mildly reassured at this comment and pushed his glasses back into position on his nose.

"I think there may be a resemblance to the script used on P2A 463."

"You believe the two planets may have been visited by the same ancient civilisation?" I asked.

"Yes," he said excitedly. "The level of technology represented by both is far beyond anything the natives of the planets could produce themselves."

"And the technology certainly isn't Asgard," said Major Carter, looked up from her examination of a set of photographs.

We were all of us intensely aware of the suffering of O'Neill and also of Sergeant Grogan, however, it did not behove us to let our concern interfere with the execution of our duty. Major Carter kept her back towards the prisoners, doubtless this made it easier for her to concentrate. Daniel Jackson was talking to himself in some archaic tongue. I have occasionally speculated as to whether he does this to enable him to swear without anyone else understanding.

Colonel O'Neill's language is always far more direct and to the point.

Out of the corner of my eye, I observed one of the Jaffa raise his pain stick. He had obviously concluded that O'Neill could not easily be forced into giving the order to lower the force shield, because he turned his attentions to Sergeant Grogan.

Grogan's agony was obvious and as I had feared, was clearly having an effect upon Colonel O'Neill. Part of what makes the Colonel such a good commander is that he has a strong loyalty to those under his command. However, there are occasions when this loyalty can be used against him.

The Colonel clenched his fists and arched his back in agony as though the torture was being inflicted on him personally. His eyes closed for a few moments, shutting out the scene, then he relaxed and opened them once more.

"Why don't you try picking your teeth with that thing," he said. "With teeth like yours you need all the help you can get."

That earned him a boot in the ribs, but also distracted their attention from Grogan, which I am sure had been his intention. I will not describe precisely what they did to him, suffice to say that it looked extremely painful. The Colonel bore it as well as he could, but the reaction of my companions to his suffering was as painful to me as the injuries of the Colonel himself. SG-1 are closer to me than my own family. It is the nature of the life of a Jaffa that he is frequently away from home. Because of this, tight family bonds are rare among us; this is another reason why I seek to liberate my people from the oppression of false gods.

"There's nothing wrong with this." Major Carter gesticulated violently. "I've read all of Kershaw's notes. This is exactly how it was when they found it." She flung her hands out in exasperation. "It should work!"

"Perhaps you have overlooked something," I suggested.

"I checked everything against the original description. Nothing is damaged or broken and everything appears to be as it was in Greaves' and Kershaw's photographs."

"I think I've found something," Doctor Jackson interrupted. "Here, come take a look at this." He waved animatedly at one of many symbols written in greens and blues on a pillar.

Major Carter and I looked where he directed.

"This one's related to the symbol for life energy and this one, if I've understood it correctly, represents the concept 'two as one'."

"But," Major Carter said, "that could-"

"Lower the force field," the Jaffa with the pain stick demanded, "or this one dies." He prodded at Grogan to emphasise his meaning.

Grogan arched in agony as the stick electrified the metal collar around his neck.

"Give the order," hissed the Jaffa at O'Neill.

"When the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup."

"Now!"

O'Neill met Grogan's eye. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Grogan nodded. "Sir. Just avenge my team."

The pain stick touched metal again. Light burst forth in bright streams as Grogan screamed his last. He slumped to the ground, his body still bound by the heavy chains. If there are any true gods may they take his soul into their keeping.

"The Caretaker," O'Neill said suddenly. "The Caretaker is missing. He-"

A sharp blow to the head caused him to pitch forward. O'Neill caught one hand to the ground to slow his fall. Head hanging low, he gasped out, "The Caretaker guarded the Sentinel."

"Two as one," Doctor Jackson breathed. "The Caretaker and the Sentinel."

"Lower the force field," demanded the Jaffa, "or he dies too."

Major Carter turned, desperation in her facce. "Wait. I'll do it."

"Carter!" the Colonel shouted. "I'm giving you a direct order. Do not deactivate the force field."

"I'm sorry, sir." She walked over to the Sentinel. "Two as one. Man and machine," she said softly. She stretched out her hands to embrace the machine. "Colonel, it was an honour."

The Sentinel glowed in rainbow hues, the field embracing Major Carter even as she embraced the machine. For a second, she was outlined in a living halo, then the halo collapsed inwards and she was gone.

As brilliant light shot out from the Sentinel destroying the two Jaffa outside the force field and consuming every enemy within its path, the image that was branded upon my mind was that of Colonel O'Neill. Face raised to the heavens he screamed, "No!" to the uncaring gods with greater agony than any inflicted upon him by the Jaffa.

From that day to this, I have wondered about Major Carter. Was her sacrifice a humanitarian act solely to save the people of this planet or was it the action of a loyal officer to save her CO, or was it simply the determination of a woman to save the man she loved?

I have never been able to decide.