Sparktober 'Day 20' Fic: The House on the Cliff (1/1) PG-13
Title: The House on the Cliff
Author: world_of_blade
Pairing: Sheppard/Weir
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Season 3- The Return
Summary: Elizabeth and John go to a bed and breakfast, and get far more than what they were expecting.
A/N: This is set after "The Return", but then goes into a different time-line where they do not return to Atlantis after the Ancients tell them to leave. Huge thanks to ubiquitous_girl for her beta job. This was written for my day that I signed up to post something for sparktober.
The house on the cliff overlooking the ocean had always been a favorite place for Elizabeth to go as a child. She would stand at the high fence and just look at it for hours when she would come to visit her grandparents. Everyone called it the “Jasper place” although the Jasper family had not resided in it for close to a hundred years. Many owners had come and gone, but the name never changed. Now, for the first time, she was finally able to enter.
“You know, when I was a kid I was climbing trees and playing cowboy not looking at old houses.” John said as he lifted their suitcases out of the trunk.
“I always thought there was some hidden mystery about the place,” Elizabeth said as they both began walking up the side walk. “And don’t think I didn’t have adventures either, John Sheppard, because I got run off this property by the caretaker more times than I can count. In fact, several times the breaking in part involved a tree.”
The image of Elizabeth using a tree to get over the high fence brought a smile to his face. “Well, this time you can enter as a paying customer who has every right to be here. Although, it might be fun to climb a tree and hop the fence for old time sake, huh?”
Laughing, Elizabeth pulled him down for a quick kiss. “Why don’t we check in first, then we can decide if we are going to go climb trees or not.”
A cousin of Elizabeth’s had sent a message to her about how the “Jasper Place” had recently opened as a bed and breakfast. One look at the excitement in her eyes, and John was making arrangements to have a reservation for their one year anniversary. When the ancients asked them so politely to get the hell out of their city, Elizabeth had not fared well. It had taken months for her to even let John see her, and a year still before she would agree to marry him. Now they had settled into a routine, but every so often he would see a look come into her eyes. He knew what she was feeling, because he felt it too. So when word came that her favorite childhood haunt was open to the public, he couldn’t resist.
“Welcome, welcome! You must be the Sheppards, come in!” Said a portly fellow whose name badge proclaimed him to be Bill. “We are so happy that you’ve decided to celebrate at The Jasper Place.”
We turned out to be Bill and his wife Maisy. They were the owners and pretty much anything else that a person needed who came to stay with them.
“It was surprising that you kept the name.” Elizabeth said as she followed Bill up the stairs.
“Maisy was all for calling it something like “The House on the Cliff”, but I knew that everyone around here called it “The Jasper Place”. Why fight it? Might as well call it what everyone else is going to. Here we are, your ocean view room.”
John gave him a tip, and then shut the door after the owner. “I think we are the only people here. Maybe that means that your Jasper house is not as wonderful as you think it is.”
Elizabeth threw a smile over her shoulder and then went back to looking out the window. “The view is amazing! I can’t wait to be able to look through the house, as well as the grounds.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he rested his head on her shoulder. “Maybe we should check out the bed first. You know, make sure we are going to like it.”
Turning she slid her arms round his neck and raised her eyebrow. “Well, we wouldn’t want to have a bad bed that’s for sure.”
Swooping Elizabeth up in his arms, they made their way toward the bed and found that it suited them just fine.
*
Elizabeth came awake suddenly. Glancing over, she saw that John still slept soundly. About ready to turn on her side and go back to sleep, she heard a faint rattle. The light from the moon caught what looked like their door knob turning. Wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her, she slid a little off the bed and concentrated on the door. This time she definitely saw it turn, and heard it click when it caught on the lock.
“John!” Elizabeth lightly touched his shoulder. “Someone is trying to come into our room.” He didn’t move, which surprised her. Usually he came awake at the slightest noise, something that she was sure came in handy while he was off world with his SGC team. “John!”
The door knob moved again.
Getting more spooked than she had been in a while, Elizabeth slowly moved toward the door. Wishing the owners had made the decision to put in a peephole, she bent to place her ear on the door.
The door knob moved again.
Elizabeth felt her pulse kick up a notch. “Who’s there?” Only silence greeted her. Chills went down her spine.
“What’s wrong, Elizabeth?”
Jumping, she almost swore as she turned toward the bed where John sat rubbing his eyes. “Someone was trying to get into our room!”
Coming fully awake, John was across the room placing himself between Elizabeth and the door. He too called out without getting a response. Slowly he cracked the door open and peeked out. Bringing the door fully open, still keeping Elizabeth behind him, John moved out into the hallway. It was empty.
“I didn’t see anyone. I checked the main door, it is locked.” John said after thoroughly checking the hallway and stairway.
Picking up the phone, John punched in the extension that Bill had said they could call any time. “Did you or Maisy try and drop something off in our room? Are there any other guests that could have mistaken our room for theirs?” A short conversation later he hung up the phone. “Bill says that we are the only guests currently here and that he and Maisy were sound asleep until my call. He is going to check the other doors in the house and then call the police. ”
With the lights on and John with her, Elizabeth was starting to feel foolish. “He doesn’t need to call the police. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.”
John just gave her a disbelieving look. “I’ve never known you to imagine things.”
There was a knock on the door, and John pretended like he didn’t see Elizabeth jump as he opened it. Bill was standing there in his night cloths.
“There were no doors open. I just wanted to tell you that before I called the police.”
Feeling more foolish by the second Elizabeth waited with everyone else for the local officers to come. She gave her statement as quickly as possible, wanting to put the whole thing behind her. She was a woman who had commanded a whole city where they were being attacked by life sucking aliens, but a jiggling door knob- which probably hadn’t really happened had scared her.
“We might as well get ready for the day.” Elizabeth said with forced calm when they got back to their room.
“It’s 7:00 in the morning.”
“Perfect time to take a walk around the grounds before breakfast.” Elizabeth ignored the worried look John was giving her and headed for the shower.
*
“That was a wonderful day!” Elizabeth dumped some bags on one of the chairs as they came into their room.
“Yeah, I especially loved that almost every old person in the town remembered who you were and could tell some really funny stories about you.” John sent a non-repentant smile her way when Elizabeth gave a pretend glare.
Their bright and sunny day was filled with the enjoyment of being together. They took pictures, ate treats, and admired the locally made crafts. What had happened during the night wasn’t spoken of.
“I don’t think I will ever get use to this amazing view.” Elizabeth curled up on the window seat, with her head resting on her knees. “I’ve missed coming here. After my grandparents died their place was sold and there wasn’t much reason to come again.” Moving over so John could sit she curled into him feeling safe and loved in his warmth. Threading her fingers with his own, she leaned her head onto his shoulder.
“Well maybe we should buy a little place here and start a family.” John nuzzled her cheek.
Turning to face him, Elizabeth raised her eyebrow. “I would have never thought I would hear of John Sheppard wanting to settle down and become a family man. What about going mach 3 with your hair on fire? I was surprised you even wanted to get married again.”
Pulling her close, John kissed her shoulder. “The only thing I want is to live a happy life with you. Plus some cute little girls that have your eyes would be nice.”
“What about boys with your roguish personality?” Elizabeth sighed as his kiss traveled up her throat to her ear where he nipped it softly.
“Yeah, them too.”
The door knob turned, and they both froze when they heard a faint click. They waited a beat, the knob slowly turned again.
John stalked to the door and threw it open, Elizabeth not far behind him. What greeted them made them come to a complete halt. A boy, no more than ten, looked up at them with terrified eyes. They all stared dumbly at each other, until the boy took off at a run.
“Wait!” Elizabeth said, as both she and John went after him. They rounded a corner just in time to see the boy disappear into the wall.
“What the hell?” John moved slowly toward the wall and pressed. It was solid.
Running her hands up and down the surface, Elizabeth felt a very small hidden knob in the wall. Pushing it, a part of the wall opened. There stood the boy, crouched looking as if he was ready to fight until his very last breath.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” Elizabeth stepped back; showing her hands and that there was nothing in them. The boy’s eyes slid away from her and rested on John. “He won’t hurt you either.” Elizabeth continued when she saw where he was looking. “I’m Elizabeth and this is John. We didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I don’t trust humans.” The boy finally said, but his voice had a mechanical sound to it. Glancing at each other, John stepped closer to Elizabeth.
“I give you a promise that we mean you no harm. We just want to talk with you.” Elizabeth went right into “leader of Atlantis” mode, not even showing that she was fazed by his apparent non-human status.
Still crouched, the “boy” sneered at them. “If you mean no harm, why do you keep my nest mate captive?”
“We have no one captive-“
“Lies!” The boy interrupted Elizabeth. “The door is locked! My nest mate cannot get out.”
“We have no desire to lock your nest mate up.” Elizabeth continued with a calm voice. “Please, come out and show us how we can help. “ Maybe it was Elizabeth’s calmness. Maybe the boy could sense that they told the truth, or maybe he knew that he had nowhere to go. Either way, he slowly stood up straight and took a step out of the hole in the wall.
“You let my nest mate go now?” Warily he looked at the two of them.
“Come and show us where your nest mate is, and we will gladly help you free her.” Elizabeth said, turning to the side to let the boy take the lead. After a pause, he moved passed them and started walking toward their door.
“Where are you from?” John finally asked when they came to the room that he and Elizabeth had been staying in.
“Here.” Was his reply before he hurried into their room and went to where the TV cabinet was against the wall.
“What do you mean here?” John asked.
The boy did not reply and instead started pushing at the cabinet. The boy nodded yes when John offered to help, and soon they had the cabinet pushed away from the wall. This time when the wall slid open, the room was deeper and bigger than the hidey hole that the boy had run to. Saying some words in a language probably never heard on Earth, the boy stood back to let a small girl exit.
“Hello. I’m Elizabeth and this is John. We never meant to trap you in here.”
“These humans did not do it.” The girl ignored Elizabeth and John and spoke to her nest mate. “It was the ones who think they own this house. When I opened the door, I did not have the strength to push the object away.”
“Come, we will go underground now.” The boy held out his hand.
“Wait, please.” Elizabeth took a step toward the boy and girl. “We would really like to know more about you and your people.”
“Only know this, Elizabeth.” The boy said before the two of them walked out of the room. “We were here before these current humans took over this house, and we will be here long after.” Following them into the hallway, Elizabeth and John watched as they hit another hidden knob on the wall which opened into what looked to be a long passageway.
“Can we send more humans, like us, to talk with you?” Elizabeth asked.
The girl turned back and gave them an almost sad smile. “There are not many humans like you Elizabeth and John. Through our many years we have watched as your kind hurt each other. Many horrible things have your kind done. We will go underground now.”
“But…”
The door slid shut.
*
“You were supposed to be on vacation, Sheppard.”
“Yes, sir.” John tried not to smile at Jack O’Neill’s dead pan humor. After calling the SGC, several teams came to investigate the old house. The current owners were still a bit confused about who exactly everyone was, but that wasn’t Sheppard’s department thank goodness. They had searched every inch of the house, coming up with many more passageways. They had even gone down the tunnel that the boy and girl had, but only came to the grounds with no aliens in site.
“I think that they have no intention to let us see them ever again.” Elizabeth said.
“I think you’re right. Especially since we haven’t found any way for them to go- how did they say it? Underground.” Jack said. “So the current owners had no idea what was living with them?”
“No,” Elizabeth answered. “They probably moved that TV cabinet just to rearrange the room, never knowing that they were trapping another life form in the wall.”
“Why was she in there in the first place?” John asked.
“My guess is that she used it to hide when the owners started coming up the stairs never knowing that she would be trapped. But I guess we will never really know what is going on here.” Elizabeth answered her voice holding a note of sadness.
“For now, we are going to keep this place under surveillance.” Jack said, as he walked out of the room to meet up with the rest of the SGC staff.
“Now you know why you were so drawn to this place when you were a kid.” John said to Elizabeth and they were packing up their suitcases.
“What?”
“Remember, the alien boy said that they had been here through many owners? They’ve probably been here for a long time- maybe even since the house was built for all we know.”
Elizabeth came out of the bathroom where she was double checking that they hadn’t missed anything. “So you think I was drawn to this house because it was full of aliens?”
“Yeah, sort of like your destiny showing itself.” John bit his lip, glancing out the corner of his eye at Elizabeth. “You do know that the little alien girl was in that hole the whole time we were here, um… checking the bed.”
John loved when the usually unflappable Elizabeth blushed.
The Sheppards checked out of the bed and breakfast. Through the next several years, Bill and Maisy had a steady stream of people coming to stay at their inn with John and Elizabeth coming every so often. If the owners ever saw two children running about the place, they never said.
Author: world_of_blade
Pairing: Sheppard/Weir
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Season 3- The Return
Summary: Elizabeth and John go to a bed and breakfast, and get far more than what they were expecting.
A/N: This is set after "The Return", but then goes into a different time-line where they do not return to Atlantis after the Ancients tell them to leave. Huge thanks to ubiquitous_girl for her beta job. This was written for my day that I signed up to post something for sparktober.
The house on the cliff overlooking the ocean had always been a favorite place for Elizabeth to go as a child. She would stand at the high fence and just look at it for hours when she would come to visit her grandparents. Everyone called it the “Jasper place” although the Jasper family had not resided in it for close to a hundred years. Many owners had come and gone, but the name never changed. Now, for the first time, she was finally able to enter.
“You know, when I was a kid I was climbing trees and playing cowboy not looking at old houses.” John said as he lifted their suitcases out of the trunk.
“I always thought there was some hidden mystery about the place,” Elizabeth said as they both began walking up the side walk. “And don’t think I didn’t have adventures either, John Sheppard, because I got run off this property by the caretaker more times than I can count. In fact, several times the breaking in part involved a tree.”
The image of Elizabeth using a tree to get over the high fence brought a smile to his face. “Well, this time you can enter as a paying customer who has every right to be here. Although, it might be fun to climb a tree and hop the fence for old time sake, huh?”
Laughing, Elizabeth pulled him down for a quick kiss. “Why don’t we check in first, then we can decide if we are going to go climb trees or not.”
A cousin of Elizabeth’s had sent a message to her about how the “Jasper Place” had recently opened as a bed and breakfast. One look at the excitement in her eyes, and John was making arrangements to have a reservation for their one year anniversary. When the ancients asked them so politely to get the hell out of their city, Elizabeth had not fared well. It had taken months for her to even let John see her, and a year still before she would agree to marry him. Now they had settled into a routine, but every so often he would see a look come into her eyes. He knew what she was feeling, because he felt it too. So when word came that her favorite childhood haunt was open to the public, he couldn’t resist.
“Welcome, welcome! You must be the Sheppards, come in!” Said a portly fellow whose name badge proclaimed him to be Bill. “We are so happy that you’ve decided to celebrate at The Jasper Place.”
We turned out to be Bill and his wife Maisy. They were the owners and pretty much anything else that a person needed who came to stay with them.
“It was surprising that you kept the name.” Elizabeth said as she followed Bill up the stairs.
“Maisy was all for calling it something like “The House on the Cliff”, but I knew that everyone around here called it “The Jasper Place”. Why fight it? Might as well call it what everyone else is going to. Here we are, your ocean view room.”
John gave him a tip, and then shut the door after the owner. “I think we are the only people here. Maybe that means that your Jasper house is not as wonderful as you think it is.”
Elizabeth threw a smile over her shoulder and then went back to looking out the window. “The view is amazing! I can’t wait to be able to look through the house, as well as the grounds.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he rested his head on her shoulder. “Maybe we should check out the bed first. You know, make sure we are going to like it.”
Turning she slid her arms round his neck and raised her eyebrow. “Well, we wouldn’t want to have a bad bed that’s for sure.”
Swooping Elizabeth up in his arms, they made their way toward the bed and found that it suited them just fine.
*
Elizabeth came awake suddenly. Glancing over, she saw that John still slept soundly. About ready to turn on her side and go back to sleep, she heard a faint rattle. The light from the moon caught what looked like their door knob turning. Wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her, she slid a little off the bed and concentrated on the door. This time she definitely saw it turn, and heard it click when it caught on the lock.
“John!” Elizabeth lightly touched his shoulder. “Someone is trying to come into our room.” He didn’t move, which surprised her. Usually he came awake at the slightest noise, something that she was sure came in handy while he was off world with his SGC team. “John!”
The door knob moved again.
Getting more spooked than she had been in a while, Elizabeth slowly moved toward the door. Wishing the owners had made the decision to put in a peephole, she bent to place her ear on the door.
The door knob moved again.
Elizabeth felt her pulse kick up a notch. “Who’s there?” Only silence greeted her. Chills went down her spine.
“What’s wrong, Elizabeth?”
Jumping, she almost swore as she turned toward the bed where John sat rubbing his eyes. “Someone was trying to get into our room!”
Coming fully awake, John was across the room placing himself between Elizabeth and the door. He too called out without getting a response. Slowly he cracked the door open and peeked out. Bringing the door fully open, still keeping Elizabeth behind him, John moved out into the hallway. It was empty.
“I didn’t see anyone. I checked the main door, it is locked.” John said after thoroughly checking the hallway and stairway.
Picking up the phone, John punched in the extension that Bill had said they could call any time. “Did you or Maisy try and drop something off in our room? Are there any other guests that could have mistaken our room for theirs?” A short conversation later he hung up the phone. “Bill says that we are the only guests currently here and that he and Maisy were sound asleep until my call. He is going to check the other doors in the house and then call the police. ”
With the lights on and John with her, Elizabeth was starting to feel foolish. “He doesn’t need to call the police. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.”
John just gave her a disbelieving look. “I’ve never known you to imagine things.”
There was a knock on the door, and John pretended like he didn’t see Elizabeth jump as he opened it. Bill was standing there in his night cloths.
“There were no doors open. I just wanted to tell you that before I called the police.”
Feeling more foolish by the second Elizabeth waited with everyone else for the local officers to come. She gave her statement as quickly as possible, wanting to put the whole thing behind her. She was a woman who had commanded a whole city where they were being attacked by life sucking aliens, but a jiggling door knob- which probably hadn’t really happened had scared her.
“We might as well get ready for the day.” Elizabeth said with forced calm when they got back to their room.
“It’s 7:00 in the morning.”
“Perfect time to take a walk around the grounds before breakfast.” Elizabeth ignored the worried look John was giving her and headed for the shower.
*
“That was a wonderful day!” Elizabeth dumped some bags on one of the chairs as they came into their room.
“Yeah, I especially loved that almost every old person in the town remembered who you were and could tell some really funny stories about you.” John sent a non-repentant smile her way when Elizabeth gave a pretend glare.
Their bright and sunny day was filled with the enjoyment of being together. They took pictures, ate treats, and admired the locally made crafts. What had happened during the night wasn’t spoken of.
“I don’t think I will ever get use to this amazing view.” Elizabeth curled up on the window seat, with her head resting on her knees. “I’ve missed coming here. After my grandparents died their place was sold and there wasn’t much reason to come again.” Moving over so John could sit she curled into him feeling safe and loved in his warmth. Threading her fingers with his own, she leaned her head onto his shoulder.
“Well maybe we should buy a little place here and start a family.” John nuzzled her cheek.
Turning to face him, Elizabeth raised her eyebrow. “I would have never thought I would hear of John Sheppard wanting to settle down and become a family man. What about going mach 3 with your hair on fire? I was surprised you even wanted to get married again.”
Pulling her close, John kissed her shoulder. “The only thing I want is to live a happy life with you. Plus some cute little girls that have your eyes would be nice.”
“What about boys with your roguish personality?” Elizabeth sighed as his kiss traveled up her throat to her ear where he nipped it softly.
“Yeah, them too.”
The door knob turned, and they both froze when they heard a faint click. They waited a beat, the knob slowly turned again.
John stalked to the door and threw it open, Elizabeth not far behind him. What greeted them made them come to a complete halt. A boy, no more than ten, looked up at them with terrified eyes. They all stared dumbly at each other, until the boy took off at a run.
“Wait!” Elizabeth said, as both she and John went after him. They rounded a corner just in time to see the boy disappear into the wall.
“What the hell?” John moved slowly toward the wall and pressed. It was solid.
Running her hands up and down the surface, Elizabeth felt a very small hidden knob in the wall. Pushing it, a part of the wall opened. There stood the boy, crouched looking as if he was ready to fight until his very last breath.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” Elizabeth stepped back; showing her hands and that there was nothing in them. The boy’s eyes slid away from her and rested on John. “He won’t hurt you either.” Elizabeth continued when she saw where he was looking. “I’m Elizabeth and this is John. We didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I don’t trust humans.” The boy finally said, but his voice had a mechanical sound to it. Glancing at each other, John stepped closer to Elizabeth.
“I give you a promise that we mean you no harm. We just want to talk with you.” Elizabeth went right into “leader of Atlantis” mode, not even showing that she was fazed by his apparent non-human status.
Still crouched, the “boy” sneered at them. “If you mean no harm, why do you keep my nest mate captive?”
“We have no one captive-“
“Lies!” The boy interrupted Elizabeth. “The door is locked! My nest mate cannot get out.”
“We have no desire to lock your nest mate up.” Elizabeth continued with a calm voice. “Please, come out and show us how we can help. “ Maybe it was Elizabeth’s calmness. Maybe the boy could sense that they told the truth, or maybe he knew that he had nowhere to go. Either way, he slowly stood up straight and took a step out of the hole in the wall.
“You let my nest mate go now?” Warily he looked at the two of them.
“Come and show us where your nest mate is, and we will gladly help you free her.” Elizabeth said, turning to the side to let the boy take the lead. After a pause, he moved passed them and started walking toward their door.
“Where are you from?” John finally asked when they came to the room that he and Elizabeth had been staying in.
“Here.” Was his reply before he hurried into their room and went to where the TV cabinet was against the wall.
“What do you mean here?” John asked.
The boy did not reply and instead started pushing at the cabinet. The boy nodded yes when John offered to help, and soon they had the cabinet pushed away from the wall. This time when the wall slid open, the room was deeper and bigger than the hidey hole that the boy had run to. Saying some words in a language probably never heard on Earth, the boy stood back to let a small girl exit.
“Hello. I’m Elizabeth and this is John. We never meant to trap you in here.”
“These humans did not do it.” The girl ignored Elizabeth and John and spoke to her nest mate. “It was the ones who think they own this house. When I opened the door, I did not have the strength to push the object away.”
“Come, we will go underground now.” The boy held out his hand.
“Wait, please.” Elizabeth took a step toward the boy and girl. “We would really like to know more about you and your people.”
“Only know this, Elizabeth.” The boy said before the two of them walked out of the room. “We were here before these current humans took over this house, and we will be here long after.” Following them into the hallway, Elizabeth and John watched as they hit another hidden knob on the wall which opened into what looked to be a long passageway.
“Can we send more humans, like us, to talk with you?” Elizabeth asked.
The girl turned back and gave them an almost sad smile. “There are not many humans like you Elizabeth and John. Through our many years we have watched as your kind hurt each other. Many horrible things have your kind done. We will go underground now.”
“But…”
The door slid shut.
*
“You were supposed to be on vacation, Sheppard.”
“Yes, sir.” John tried not to smile at Jack O’Neill’s dead pan humor. After calling the SGC, several teams came to investigate the old house. The current owners were still a bit confused about who exactly everyone was, but that wasn’t Sheppard’s department thank goodness. They had searched every inch of the house, coming up with many more passageways. They had even gone down the tunnel that the boy and girl had, but only came to the grounds with no aliens in site.
“I think that they have no intention to let us see them ever again.” Elizabeth said.
“I think you’re right. Especially since we haven’t found any way for them to go- how did they say it? Underground.” Jack said. “So the current owners had no idea what was living with them?”
“No,” Elizabeth answered. “They probably moved that TV cabinet just to rearrange the room, never knowing that they were trapping another life form in the wall.”
“Why was she in there in the first place?” John asked.
“My guess is that she used it to hide when the owners started coming up the stairs never knowing that she would be trapped. But I guess we will never really know what is going on here.” Elizabeth answered her voice holding a note of sadness.
“For now, we are going to keep this place under surveillance.” Jack said, as he walked out of the room to meet up with the rest of the SGC staff.
“Now you know why you were so drawn to this place when you were a kid.” John said to Elizabeth and they were packing up their suitcases.
“What?”
“Remember, the alien boy said that they had been here through many owners? They’ve probably been here for a long time- maybe even since the house was built for all we know.”
Elizabeth came out of the bathroom where she was double checking that they hadn’t missed anything. “So you think I was drawn to this house because it was full of aliens?”
“Yeah, sort of like your destiny showing itself.” John bit his lip, glancing out the corner of his eye at Elizabeth. “You do know that the little alien girl was in that hole the whole time we were here, um… checking the bed.”
John loved when the usually unflappable Elizabeth blushed.
The Sheppards checked out of the bed and breakfast. Through the next several years, Bill and Maisy had a steady stream of people coming to stay at their inn with John and Elizabeth coming every so often. If the owners ever saw two children running about the place, they never said.