(no subject)
Small Figures in a Vast Expanse
John/Teyla/Elizabeth, PG-13
for ladyjax, who wanted John and Teyla convincing Elizabeth that being with them both is the right thing to do, and Elizabeth (on Earth) on the possibility of not being allowed to return to Atlantis.
Thanks to: trinity1986, havocthecat and prairiedaun for all their comments and suggestions.
There's blood on the tax report,
fire in the hole... - Common Rotation
Elizabeth was nearly to the door of the guest quarters she’d been assigned when Woolsey called her name. She turned. “What is it, Mr. Woolsey?”
He hesitated briefly. “I feel I should warn you, Dr. Weir, that the committee is talking about replacing you.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, her stomach twisting.
“In closed session, of course. I could be fired for even mentioning it.”
Of course he could. “Didn't we just go through this a month ago? I thought you gave a recommendation that was in my favor, not against.”
“I did,” Woolsey insisted. “But the other members of the committee - although they would never admit it to your face - feels that the Atlantis expedition, aside from not being… international enough for their tastes, is not producing enough return for Earth to justify its continuation.”
“Return for Earth? We were cut off from Earth for the better part of a year!”
“I understand that.”
“But they don’t.”
Woolsey nodded.
“And let me guess, they don’t understand how significant a portion of our resources goes towards fighting the Wraith.” Woolsey nodded again, and Elizabeth frowned. “I’d like to see either of them last a week in Atlantis,” she said.
“I really am sorry, Dr. Weir.”
“Well, I’m not out of a job yet, Mr. Woolsey,” she said crisply. “And I’m not going to go without a fight. I hope you’re on my side.”
He looked a little paler than usual. “I am.”
Elizabeth wasn’t a hundred percent sure about that, but since the majority of her allies were back on Atlantis, Woolsey would have to do. She wished there were a way to get in touch with John without the SGC knowing, but the Daedalus was out of range and that left opening the Stargate as her only means of talking to Atlantis.
Woolsey was still standing in the hall. Elizabeth thanked him, went into her quarters, and shut the door. Alone inside, she picked up the few things she had brought with her and exited again, aiming for the control room, her mind made up. Landry was there, deep in conversation with Harriman. “General,” she interrupted, barely caring. “I’d like your permission to return to Atlantis as soon as possible.”
Landry looked up, confusion on his face. “Dr. Weir. The IOA talks are complete?”
“I have some things that need taking care of in the city,” she replied, the lie coming easily, and sidestepped his question.
“Right. Dial the gate, Sergeant.” As the chevrons started to lock, Landry leaned toward her. “Is there something I should know?” he whispered.
“You’re better off not,” Elizabeth replied. Landry nodded and let her go.
*
“There’s something you’re not telling us,” John said, striding into the office and sliding into the chair across from her. Teyla sat down next to him. “Come on, Elizabeth, you know you can’t keep secrets from us. You came back and shut yourself in here without talking."
He was right. Elizabeth had been in her office since returning. It was the middle of the night, but she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep. “I have no secrets, John,” she said, but it was a lie and he saw right through it.
“Did something happen? What’s the IOA want now?”
She straightened some folders that didn’t need straightening. “Apparently our expedition is not providing the ends to justify the means.”
John’s eyes widened. “You’re saying they want us to bring shit back?” Elizabeth knew he understood the implications of that. They had both read SG-1’s mission reports as well as the available NID files.
“You have to understand that Woolsey told me all of this outside of session,” she said urgently. “Very much at his own risk.”
“Screw Woolsey,” he shot back. “Do they know how much of a risk we’d be taking by trying to achieve that goal? Granted, I don’t mind a little risk now and then, but we both know that even trying to take something small from the wrong people is suicide.”
“Wait a moment, the IOA is advocating we steal technology?” Teyla asked. “That does not make sense.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Their decisions don’t make much sense at all lately They wouldn’t call it stealing, of course, but neither do they understand that trade negotiations for the kinds of technology they’d like us to acquire often take months, if not years.”
“Ignoring the fact that we don’t have much to trade out anyway, besides some confiscated Goa’uld stuff that’s back on Earth,” John growled. “And whatever Rodney scavenged off the Wraith ship before it was destroyed. I guess they’d want us to trade Ancient technology?”
“Most likely.”
Teyla sat up straighter. “But it is not yours to trade.”
“I know that,” Elizabeth murmured. “We all know that.”
“Then I don’t see how they can ask that of you…”
John put a hand on her arm. “Most politicians on Earth aren’t as honorable, or as honest, as Elizabeth,” he said quietly.
Elizabeth sighed and slid her hands through her hair, resting her forehead on her palms. It wasn’t something she would do in front of anyone but them. “I don’t suppose there’s a mission I can tag along on so that I’m out of the IOA’s reach for awhile?”
John and Teyla exchanged glances. “We’ve got just the thing,” he said.
*
Somewhere between the rain, the mud, and the tiny biting bugs, Elizabeth made up her mind that she didn’t like P2J-845. She wanted a hot bath, and if she couldn’t have that, a hot shower. Failing that, she’d take an umbrella.
“It wouldn’t do you any good,” John shouted over the wind, and she realized she’d just been talking out loud. “The rain’s coming down sideways.”
“I don’t care!” she shouted back, and John laughed. “Why the hell are you laughing?”
“It could be so much worse,” he replied and reached out to wipe a streak of mud off her face.
“Remind me again why I came with.”
“You asked to go,” Teyla said simply, looking as though she were having as good a time as John was. “We should be glad there are no Wraith here.”
“See?” John prodded. “I told you it could be worse.” He shoved some low-hanging branches out of their way.
Elizabeth had to agree with that. “Doesn’t mean I still don’t want to take a shower.”
“I don’t think you’re going to get that until tomorrow. We’ve still got a couple hours back to the gate, and it’s going to be dark pretty soon.” He looked at Teyla. “What do you think, make camp here?”
“It appears to be as good a place as any.”
Elizabeth looked at the muddy ground, made even squishier by a layer of wet leaves. “As a child, I thought I liked camping,” she groaned, and Teyla put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed in a half-hug. It was a rare gesture for her, but one she’d been sharing with Elizabeth more and more often. “Am I really this pathetic?” she asked and Teyla laughed, close to Elizabeth’s ear.
John and Teyla rigged a waterproof and mostly bug-proof tent while Elizabeth stood there dripping and feeling useless, her boots sinking into the mud. John paused next to her. “What is it?”
She shivered. “I’m still stuck on the thought that me coming along was a bad idea.”
“Come on, get in the tent. You’ll feel better once you warm up and dry off a little.”
They crowded inside and Teyla zipped up the flap, sealing the rain outside. “We really did not know it was going to rain like this,” she said apologetically. “Honestly.”
There was enough room in the tent for the three of them to be fairly comfortable. Elizabeth could tell that John and Teyla had no issues with sharing close quarters, to the point that she started to wonder if they were actually sharing quarters. John held a Powerbar out to her. “Not exactly gourmet, but…”
“Can’t have a fire in a rainstorm,” Elizabeth finished, and saw the color rise in Teyla’s cheeks as John coughed. This was interesting. “All right. What is going on with you two?”
“How do you mean?”
Elizabeth gestured, the Powerbar wrapper fluttering. “You two.”
“Yes,” John said firmly. “And before you ask if we had some ulterior motive in dragging you into a monsoon, we did.”
Elizabeth blinked, then fixed him with the ‘tell me why, and tell me now’ look she’d given dozens of senators, ambassadors, and heads of state. He gave her a crooked grin.
“Elizabeth,” Teyla murmured, and when Elizabeth turned her head, Teyla kissed her.
She was shocked into stillness for a moment, then she thought well, this is an interesting first move, and then the heat of Teyla’s lips woke up her senses, which all demanded she kiss back. So she did. Through the haze, she heard John groan, sending a spike of desire through her. She reached for Teyla but Teyla beat her to it, hauling Elizabeth close against her in the little tent.
She understood then why neither of them had offered any resistance to her request to go off-world, and why it was just the three of them on this planet. “You planned this,” she breathed when the kiss broke.
“We had this discussion one night, see,” John said, moving closer, “about who else in the city we were attracted to. You made both lists, and only you.”
“You had lists?”
“Very short lists,” Teyla interjected with a smile.
“Besides, what guy is going to turn down the company of two gorgeous women?” John asked, and leaned in, his palm cupping her cheek. “We agreed Teyla got first kiss, but now it’s my turn.”
Elizabeth’s head was swimming and the way John’s mouth claimed hers didn’t help in the slightest. She slid her hands into his hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue flicking over her teeth, dragging along the roof of her mouth. Then he sat back, looking like a cat who’d gotten the lion’s share of the cream. She watched as Teyla reached up and ran her thumb over John’s bottom lip before pulling him into a kiss. She couldn’t look away.
Teyla pushed John down onto his back, and Elizabeth forgot they were in a tent in the middle of a wet forest. She’d seen Teyla move with willingness before, but not John. And never like this. Teyla looked at her. “Help me take his jacket and vest off so we can sleep,” she said.
Elizabeth’s hands were shaking, but Teyla guided them and Elizabeth could feel the warmth of John’s skin through his black t-shirt. Teyla took off her jacket and vest as well, and Elizabeth reached to help without even thinking about it.
“And now I think you’re a little overdressed,” John murmured lazily, and Elizabeth let them remove the rain-damp clothes. Lightning flashed, illuminating John and Teyla from behind through the fabric of the tent. There was mud in Teyla’s hair and mud streaked over John’s face, and Elizabeth realized as they pulled her down into a warm tangle of limbs to sleep that there was no place she would rather be.
*
“So there’s this rumor going around,” John said to Elizabeth, eyeing his jello choices in the mess hall.
“A rumor’s a rumor, John,” she replied calmly, her game face on. She’d been attempting to avoid him since they’d gotten back three days ago, but it was hard to avoid someone that had to consult with you on a daily basis.
“This isn’t just any rumor.” He picked green. “Why is it always jello?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Guess not.”
Elizabeth took red and they found a table. “So what’s the rumor that’s not just a rumor?”
John set his jello to the side and leaned forward conspiratorially. “It involves me, you, and Teyla,” he said.
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth sighed, covering her face with her hands.
“Yup.”
“People think we’re sleeping together?” she whispered sharply.
“Well, we did kind of sleep together.” He lowered his voice even further. “And you can’t deny you were okay with it.”
“John!”
He waved a hand. “Stop looking horrified, it’s not like they think we’re sleeping with - with Rodney.” Elizabeth stared at him. “And now you’re speechless. That’s probably not good.” He turned his attention to his jello.
“How can you eat at a time like this?”
“It’s just a rumor.”
“One that happens to be sort of true!” she whispered furiously.
John raised his eyebrows at her. “Don’t you know anything about how people behave in groups?”
She glared back. “Obviously you don’t think people knowing is a problem.”
“Number one: They don’t know. Number two: I don’t think it’s a problem, because like I just said, they don’t know. And you’re the one who told me just a few minutes ago that a rumor’s just a rumor.”
Elizabeth frowned and stabbed her fork into the reconstituted mashed potatoes. “It certainly wasn’t the rumor I expected to hear.”
“What, you got dirt that I don’t?” Elizabeth shook her head. John did his best to look disappointed. “So you think we should tell Teyla?”
“What’s there to tell?” she asked, just as Teyla laid her hand on John’s shoulder and said, “Tell me what?”
Elizabeth groaned. “The rumor,” John supplied.
“Yes, I have already heard,” Teyla said calmly.
“You didn’t confirm anything, did you?”
“Why would I do such a thing without talking to the two of you first? Our relationship is no one’s business except our own.”
“And see, Teyla’s calm about it,” John said pointedly. “Elizabeth isn’t very calm,” he whispered.
“You… are really making me mad,” Elizabeth growled, just as she was paged to the control room. She looked relieved as she grabbed her tray and left the mess hall.
John looked at Teyla and shrugged. She laughed and stole the rest of his jello. “Among the Athosians, it is encouraged to bond with the ones whom your heart and mind choose. Obviously, relationships that will produce children are encouraged, but families without children of their own often care for children orphaned by the Wraith.”
He knew this all already. “Well, that’s good.”
“So what shall we do about Elizabeth?”
“I might have a plan. Another plan.”
Teyla raised an eyebrow. “It is certainly not frowned upon to have more than one beloved,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips.
John grinned back. “Exactly.”
“Colonel Sheppard and Teyla to the control room, please, Colonel Sheppard and Teyla to the control room,” came Elizabeth’s voice over the intercom.
“And this probably isn’t good,” John muttered as they gathered their trays.
Elizabeth was standing in front of the open Stargate. “I’ve been recalled to Earth for a mandatory IOA meeting. I’m leaving you both in charge.”
“What, now?”
She nodded. “I have, at most, fifteen minutes.”
“Stall them,” John told Teyla, and grasped Elizabeth just above the elbow and walked her into her office. “Tell me now,” he said sternly, the moment the door closed behind them, and she found she couldn’t argue.
“The IOA wants to replace me,” she replied weakly. “They’d been hinting at it for months, but now even Woolsey warned me when I was there last week.”
“Wait, back up, they’ve been stringing you along for months and you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry everyone unnecessarily.” He gave her a look, and Elizabeth glared right back. “I’m serious.”
“I know you better than that.”
“Then you should know that I don’t put personal feelings ahead of my job.”
He leaned forward, his gaze holding hers. “I know, Elizabeth.”
“You’re making this about that?”
“No. Well, I’m trying very hard not to make this about that.”
“John -”
“We could make you happy,” he said quietly.
“Please don’t,” she whispered, stunned. “I can’t. Even considering it… that would make leaving so much harder.”
“You’re not leaving. I don’t care if they fire you, there’s no way they can force you to go back through the Stargate to Earth.”
“I’m sure Colonel Caldwell would enjoy arresting me and dragging me back on the Daedalus.”
“Arrest you for what? You’re a civilian. And I think the Athosians would hide you on the mainland and not complain. They like you, you know.”
“You can’t be serious.”
John moved around the desk and close to her. “You think I’m going back when they shut us down for good?” he asked quietly.
“But your career…”
He shrugged. “We both know I’ll never be promoted beyond where I am now, and I’m not as good at leaving things behind as I used to be. And you’ve got to admit, you’re just as attached to this place as I am.”
He was still standing close, and Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to lean into him. But she straightened up and held herself back. “I have to go,” she whispered.
“Think about what I said,” he called after her as she left the room.
*
She sat across the table from the three IOA representatives. The tension in the air was almost palpable, and Elizabeth was afraid things were going downhill much quicker than she’d been able to anticipate. She cleared her throat. “I understand the Atlantis expedition is an expensive one,” she said, allowing some displeasure to be heard in her voice, “but the Pegasus galaxy is quite different from ours. Nearly all of the planets my advance team has scouted are significantly less developed than Earth. What they can offer, while valuable to my crew, would hardly be things this committee would find… profitable.”
It made her cringe inside, to have to try and put a price on the livelihood of so many Pegasus natives. “Agriculture, rudimentary forestry and mining - I honestly don’t see this committee as being willing to negotiate for things such as that. And most of the cultures we have encountered, to be blunt, don’t really want our help in areas that don’t involve fighting the Wraith.” She was digging herself into a hole with this, she knew, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of being anything less than honest, of making false promises to bring back things she would never be able to acquire.
“The majority of technology in the Pegasus galaxy,” she continued, “is of Ancient design, and most of what exists you already have access to through Atlantis. Perhaps if you would explain just what it is the IOA hopes the expedition will return.”
“Anything that will aid Earth in her fight against the Ori,” Ambassador Shen replied..
That was what Elizabeth had feared the answer would be. “You do understand that there is another enemy just as deadly out there, one that is bent on reaching this planet and making it their new feeding ground. And Atlantis is what stands between them and Earth.”
“We are more concerned with the immediate Ori threat, but we will of course take your information about the Wraith under advisement.” Shen closed her briefcase. “We’ll end here for today.”
Elizabeth sat motionless in the conference room for several minutes after they all left, even Woolsey. The fact that Atlantis was the front line in any Earth defense against the Wraith had been her trump card, and the committee had barely blinked. The chances that she would be replaced had just increased exponentially, and it weighed heavily on her mind, created an almost physical ache in her chest.
She gathered her papers and a small note caught her eye. We miss you. Come home, it read in John’s sturdy block letters and Elizabeth smiled sadly, tracing the writing with her fingertips.
She barely slept that night, the note tucked in the pocket of her pajamas. In the morning, she told the IOA that she couldn’t commit to any change in the Atlantis mission without consulting her senior staff. It was the only way she could think of to get them to let her go back.
*
Her entire command staff was in the control room when she returned, almost as if they’d known she would be coming back with bad news. Elizabeth didn’t break her stride, just headed straight for the conference room, and they all followed. As John, Teyla, Rodney, and Carson settled into their chairs around the table, she remained standing.
“We do what the IOA wants or they shut us down,” she said once they’d taken their seats.
She heard John swear, felt the thump of Rodney’s fist on the table, saw the shock on Teyla and Carson’s faces. “I’m sorry,” she said, softer.
Rodney demanded she explain.
“They're insisting we agree to their new mission objective to bring back technology to fight the Ori.”
There were noises of outrage from everyone. “Don’t those people understand that trying to find advanced technology in this galaxy - that’s not Ancient - is like trying to find a needle in a haystack the size of Mars?” John asked angrily.
“Not to mention the length of time necessary for negotiations,” Teyla added.
“I explained that. More than once.”
“Can’t Landry call the President?” Rodney asked. “Isn’t that how the Stargate program was saved from certain disaster more than once?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “The most the President could do would be to make a recommendation to the committee.”
“That’s why the whole expedition isn’t staffed only by Americans,” Carson muttered, and Rodney slumped forward on the table, groaning.
“Will this committee really end your entire expedition if you do not agree to their demands?” Teyla asked.
“They’ve said as much.”
“Then screw them,” John said sharply. “We cut ourselves off.”
Rodney banged on the table again. “What do you think this is, Star Trek Voyager? You’re insane. Not to mention, doing that would be mutiny!”
“Only for the military personnel.”
“Of which you are one, Captain Janeway.”
“At this point, Rodney, I’ve got no problem going AWOL.”
“Gentlemen,” Elizabeth cut in. “Let’s try for a slightly more realistic solution.”
“This is as realistic as we’re going to get,” John insisted.
“We can’t make that decision for everyone in Atlantis!”
“Wait, wait,” Carson interrupted. “There’s no feasible way to do what the IOA wants?”
“It could take years to find another planet with a technology level even that of Earth’s,” Elizabeth explained.
“Then we let it take years,” Teyla said, and they all looked at her. “If you say you are looking -”
“Then they’ll think we actually are looking,” John finished for her. He met Elizabeth’s gaze. “It might work.”
Rodney huffed. “Two minutes ago you wanted to cut Atlantis off from Earth for good.”
“Hey, I still like that idea.”
“Just because you’re not planning on going back to Earth -”
Elizabeth cut him off again. “All right. So we tell the IOA we’ll start doing reconnaissance missions with the intent of finding a weapon to use against the Ori. Then what?”
John shrugged. “Then we keep an eye out. You know, in between saving the city from the Wraith and the Genii once a month.”
“And when they really start to put pressure on us?”
“You’re thinking quite a ways down the road, Elizabeth,” Carson replied. “I say we take this one day at a time.”
Rodney, John and Teyla all nodded. Elizabeth pressed her palms to the table. “All right. That’s what we’ll do. But next week we start discussing contingency plans, all right? Rodney, if you would do me the favor of contacting the SGC. I need to talk to John and Teyla for a minute.”
“Sure.” He left with Carson. Elizabeth waited until the door had closed all the way.
“I found your note,” she began, and they both smiled.
“It was Teyla’s idea,” John said.
“It helped. I was in a pretty dark place, worrying they wouldn’t let me come back. Worrying about who they’d send to replace me - Richard Woolsey, more than likely. Worrying that I’d never see either of you again, not to mention thinking that I’d missed my chance to stay in Pegasus.”
Both of them looked at her expectantly. “Does that mean-” John started, just as Teyla asked, “Is that a yes?”
“It means you’re both crazy, but… yes,” she said, quickly and before she lost her nerve. Teyla grinned, and John looked relieved. “And this would be even more awkward if I’d said no, right?”
“You have no idea,” John said, laughing, and he and Teyla reached out to pull Elizabeth into the space between them.
John/Teyla/Elizabeth, PG-13
for ladyjax, who wanted John and Teyla convincing Elizabeth that being with them both is the right thing to do, and Elizabeth (on Earth) on the possibility of not being allowed to return to Atlantis.
Thanks to: trinity1986, havocthecat and prairiedaun for all their comments and suggestions.
There's blood on the tax report,
fire in the hole... - Common Rotation
Elizabeth was nearly to the door of the guest quarters she’d been assigned when Woolsey called her name. She turned. “What is it, Mr. Woolsey?”
He hesitated briefly. “I feel I should warn you, Dr. Weir, that the committee is talking about replacing you.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, her stomach twisting.
“In closed session, of course. I could be fired for even mentioning it.”
Of course he could. “Didn't we just go through this a month ago? I thought you gave a recommendation that was in my favor, not against.”
“I did,” Woolsey insisted. “But the other members of the committee - although they would never admit it to your face - feels that the Atlantis expedition, aside from not being… international enough for their tastes, is not producing enough return for Earth to justify its continuation.”
“Return for Earth? We were cut off from Earth for the better part of a year!”
“I understand that.”
“But they don’t.”
Woolsey nodded.
“And let me guess, they don’t understand how significant a portion of our resources goes towards fighting the Wraith.” Woolsey nodded again, and Elizabeth frowned. “I’d like to see either of them last a week in Atlantis,” she said.
“I really am sorry, Dr. Weir.”
“Well, I’m not out of a job yet, Mr. Woolsey,” she said crisply. “And I’m not going to go without a fight. I hope you’re on my side.”
He looked a little paler than usual. “I am.”
Elizabeth wasn’t a hundred percent sure about that, but since the majority of her allies were back on Atlantis, Woolsey would have to do. She wished there were a way to get in touch with John without the SGC knowing, but the Daedalus was out of range and that left opening the Stargate as her only means of talking to Atlantis.
Woolsey was still standing in the hall. Elizabeth thanked him, went into her quarters, and shut the door. Alone inside, she picked up the few things she had brought with her and exited again, aiming for the control room, her mind made up. Landry was there, deep in conversation with Harriman. “General,” she interrupted, barely caring. “I’d like your permission to return to Atlantis as soon as possible.”
Landry looked up, confusion on his face. “Dr. Weir. The IOA talks are complete?”
“I have some things that need taking care of in the city,” she replied, the lie coming easily, and sidestepped his question.
“Right. Dial the gate, Sergeant.” As the chevrons started to lock, Landry leaned toward her. “Is there something I should know?” he whispered.
“You’re better off not,” Elizabeth replied. Landry nodded and let her go.
*
“There’s something you’re not telling us,” John said, striding into the office and sliding into the chair across from her. Teyla sat down next to him. “Come on, Elizabeth, you know you can’t keep secrets from us. You came back and shut yourself in here without talking."
He was right. Elizabeth had been in her office since returning. It was the middle of the night, but she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep. “I have no secrets, John,” she said, but it was a lie and he saw right through it.
“Did something happen? What’s the IOA want now?”
She straightened some folders that didn’t need straightening. “Apparently our expedition is not providing the ends to justify the means.”
John’s eyes widened. “You’re saying they want us to bring shit back?” Elizabeth knew he understood the implications of that. They had both read SG-1’s mission reports as well as the available NID files.
“You have to understand that Woolsey told me all of this outside of session,” she said urgently. “Very much at his own risk.”
“Screw Woolsey,” he shot back. “Do they know how much of a risk we’d be taking by trying to achieve that goal? Granted, I don’t mind a little risk now and then, but we both know that even trying to take something small from the wrong people is suicide.”
“Wait a moment, the IOA is advocating we steal technology?” Teyla asked. “That does not make sense.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Their decisions don’t make much sense at all lately They wouldn’t call it stealing, of course, but neither do they understand that trade negotiations for the kinds of technology they’d like us to acquire often take months, if not years.”
“Ignoring the fact that we don’t have much to trade out anyway, besides some confiscated Goa’uld stuff that’s back on Earth,” John growled. “And whatever Rodney scavenged off the Wraith ship before it was destroyed. I guess they’d want us to trade Ancient technology?”
“Most likely.”
Teyla sat up straighter. “But it is not yours to trade.”
“I know that,” Elizabeth murmured. “We all know that.”
“Then I don’t see how they can ask that of you…”
John put a hand on her arm. “Most politicians on Earth aren’t as honorable, or as honest, as Elizabeth,” he said quietly.
Elizabeth sighed and slid her hands through her hair, resting her forehead on her palms. It wasn’t something she would do in front of anyone but them. “I don’t suppose there’s a mission I can tag along on so that I’m out of the IOA’s reach for awhile?”
John and Teyla exchanged glances. “We’ve got just the thing,” he said.
*
Somewhere between the rain, the mud, and the tiny biting bugs, Elizabeth made up her mind that she didn’t like P2J-845. She wanted a hot bath, and if she couldn’t have that, a hot shower. Failing that, she’d take an umbrella.
“It wouldn’t do you any good,” John shouted over the wind, and she realized she’d just been talking out loud. “The rain’s coming down sideways.”
“I don’t care!” she shouted back, and John laughed. “Why the hell are you laughing?”
“It could be so much worse,” he replied and reached out to wipe a streak of mud off her face.
“Remind me again why I came with.”
“You asked to go,” Teyla said simply, looking as though she were having as good a time as John was. “We should be glad there are no Wraith here.”
“See?” John prodded. “I told you it could be worse.” He shoved some low-hanging branches out of their way.
Elizabeth had to agree with that. “Doesn’t mean I still don’t want to take a shower.”
“I don’t think you’re going to get that until tomorrow. We’ve still got a couple hours back to the gate, and it’s going to be dark pretty soon.” He looked at Teyla. “What do you think, make camp here?”
“It appears to be as good a place as any.”
Elizabeth looked at the muddy ground, made even squishier by a layer of wet leaves. “As a child, I thought I liked camping,” she groaned, and Teyla put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed in a half-hug. It was a rare gesture for her, but one she’d been sharing with Elizabeth more and more often. “Am I really this pathetic?” she asked and Teyla laughed, close to Elizabeth’s ear.
John and Teyla rigged a waterproof and mostly bug-proof tent while Elizabeth stood there dripping and feeling useless, her boots sinking into the mud. John paused next to her. “What is it?”
She shivered. “I’m still stuck on the thought that me coming along was a bad idea.”
“Come on, get in the tent. You’ll feel better once you warm up and dry off a little.”
They crowded inside and Teyla zipped up the flap, sealing the rain outside. “We really did not know it was going to rain like this,” she said apologetically. “Honestly.”
There was enough room in the tent for the three of them to be fairly comfortable. Elizabeth could tell that John and Teyla had no issues with sharing close quarters, to the point that she started to wonder if they were actually sharing quarters. John held a Powerbar out to her. “Not exactly gourmet, but…”
“Can’t have a fire in a rainstorm,” Elizabeth finished, and saw the color rise in Teyla’s cheeks as John coughed. This was interesting. “All right. What is going on with you two?”
“How do you mean?”
Elizabeth gestured, the Powerbar wrapper fluttering. “You two.”
“Yes,” John said firmly. “And before you ask if we had some ulterior motive in dragging you into a monsoon, we did.”
Elizabeth blinked, then fixed him with the ‘tell me why, and tell me now’ look she’d given dozens of senators, ambassadors, and heads of state. He gave her a crooked grin.
“Elizabeth,” Teyla murmured, and when Elizabeth turned her head, Teyla kissed her.
She was shocked into stillness for a moment, then she thought well, this is an interesting first move, and then the heat of Teyla’s lips woke up her senses, which all demanded she kiss back. So she did. Through the haze, she heard John groan, sending a spike of desire through her. She reached for Teyla but Teyla beat her to it, hauling Elizabeth close against her in the little tent.
She understood then why neither of them had offered any resistance to her request to go off-world, and why it was just the three of them on this planet. “You planned this,” she breathed when the kiss broke.
“We had this discussion one night, see,” John said, moving closer, “about who else in the city we were attracted to. You made both lists, and only you.”
“You had lists?”
“Very short lists,” Teyla interjected with a smile.
“Besides, what guy is going to turn down the company of two gorgeous women?” John asked, and leaned in, his palm cupping her cheek. “We agreed Teyla got first kiss, but now it’s my turn.”
Elizabeth’s head was swimming and the way John’s mouth claimed hers didn’t help in the slightest. She slid her hands into his hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue flicking over her teeth, dragging along the roof of her mouth. Then he sat back, looking like a cat who’d gotten the lion’s share of the cream. She watched as Teyla reached up and ran her thumb over John’s bottom lip before pulling him into a kiss. She couldn’t look away.
Teyla pushed John down onto his back, and Elizabeth forgot they were in a tent in the middle of a wet forest. She’d seen Teyla move with willingness before, but not John. And never like this. Teyla looked at her. “Help me take his jacket and vest off so we can sleep,” she said.
Elizabeth’s hands were shaking, but Teyla guided them and Elizabeth could feel the warmth of John’s skin through his black t-shirt. Teyla took off her jacket and vest as well, and Elizabeth reached to help without even thinking about it.
“And now I think you’re a little overdressed,” John murmured lazily, and Elizabeth let them remove the rain-damp clothes. Lightning flashed, illuminating John and Teyla from behind through the fabric of the tent. There was mud in Teyla’s hair and mud streaked over John’s face, and Elizabeth realized as they pulled her down into a warm tangle of limbs to sleep that there was no place she would rather be.
*
“So there’s this rumor going around,” John said to Elizabeth, eyeing his jello choices in the mess hall.
“A rumor’s a rumor, John,” she replied calmly, her game face on. She’d been attempting to avoid him since they’d gotten back three days ago, but it was hard to avoid someone that had to consult with you on a daily basis.
“This isn’t just any rumor.” He picked green. “Why is it always jello?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Guess not.”
Elizabeth took red and they found a table. “So what’s the rumor that’s not just a rumor?”
John set his jello to the side and leaned forward conspiratorially. “It involves me, you, and Teyla,” he said.
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth sighed, covering her face with her hands.
“Yup.”
“People think we’re sleeping together?” she whispered sharply.
“Well, we did kind of sleep together.” He lowered his voice even further. “And you can’t deny you were okay with it.”
“John!”
He waved a hand. “Stop looking horrified, it’s not like they think we’re sleeping with - with Rodney.” Elizabeth stared at him. “And now you’re speechless. That’s probably not good.” He turned his attention to his jello.
“How can you eat at a time like this?”
“It’s just a rumor.”
“One that happens to be sort of true!” she whispered furiously.
John raised his eyebrows at her. “Don’t you know anything about how people behave in groups?”
She glared back. “Obviously you don’t think people knowing is a problem.”
“Number one: They don’t know. Number two: I don’t think it’s a problem, because like I just said, they don’t know. And you’re the one who told me just a few minutes ago that a rumor’s just a rumor.”
Elizabeth frowned and stabbed her fork into the reconstituted mashed potatoes. “It certainly wasn’t the rumor I expected to hear.”
“What, you got dirt that I don’t?” Elizabeth shook her head. John did his best to look disappointed. “So you think we should tell Teyla?”
“What’s there to tell?” she asked, just as Teyla laid her hand on John’s shoulder and said, “Tell me what?”
Elizabeth groaned. “The rumor,” John supplied.
“Yes, I have already heard,” Teyla said calmly.
“You didn’t confirm anything, did you?”
“Why would I do such a thing without talking to the two of you first? Our relationship is no one’s business except our own.”
“And see, Teyla’s calm about it,” John said pointedly. “Elizabeth isn’t very calm,” he whispered.
“You… are really making me mad,” Elizabeth growled, just as she was paged to the control room. She looked relieved as she grabbed her tray and left the mess hall.
John looked at Teyla and shrugged. She laughed and stole the rest of his jello. “Among the Athosians, it is encouraged to bond with the ones whom your heart and mind choose. Obviously, relationships that will produce children are encouraged, but families without children of their own often care for children orphaned by the Wraith.”
He knew this all already. “Well, that’s good.”
“So what shall we do about Elizabeth?”
“I might have a plan. Another plan.”
Teyla raised an eyebrow. “It is certainly not frowned upon to have more than one beloved,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips.
John grinned back. “Exactly.”
“Colonel Sheppard and Teyla to the control room, please, Colonel Sheppard and Teyla to the control room,” came Elizabeth’s voice over the intercom.
“And this probably isn’t good,” John muttered as they gathered their trays.
Elizabeth was standing in front of the open Stargate. “I’ve been recalled to Earth for a mandatory IOA meeting. I’m leaving you both in charge.”
“What, now?”
She nodded. “I have, at most, fifteen minutes.”
“Stall them,” John told Teyla, and grasped Elizabeth just above the elbow and walked her into her office. “Tell me now,” he said sternly, the moment the door closed behind them, and she found she couldn’t argue.
“The IOA wants to replace me,” she replied weakly. “They’d been hinting at it for months, but now even Woolsey warned me when I was there last week.”
“Wait, back up, they’ve been stringing you along for months and you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry everyone unnecessarily.” He gave her a look, and Elizabeth glared right back. “I’m serious.”
“I know you better than that.”
“Then you should know that I don’t put personal feelings ahead of my job.”
He leaned forward, his gaze holding hers. “I know, Elizabeth.”
“You’re making this about that?”
“No. Well, I’m trying very hard not to make this about that.”
“John -”
“We could make you happy,” he said quietly.
“Please don’t,” she whispered, stunned. “I can’t. Even considering it… that would make leaving so much harder.”
“You’re not leaving. I don’t care if they fire you, there’s no way they can force you to go back through the Stargate to Earth.”
“I’m sure Colonel Caldwell would enjoy arresting me and dragging me back on the Daedalus.”
“Arrest you for what? You’re a civilian. And I think the Athosians would hide you on the mainland and not complain. They like you, you know.”
“You can’t be serious.”
John moved around the desk and close to her. “You think I’m going back when they shut us down for good?” he asked quietly.
“But your career…”
He shrugged. “We both know I’ll never be promoted beyond where I am now, and I’m not as good at leaving things behind as I used to be. And you’ve got to admit, you’re just as attached to this place as I am.”
He was still standing close, and Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to lean into him. But she straightened up and held herself back. “I have to go,” she whispered.
“Think about what I said,” he called after her as she left the room.
*
She sat across the table from the three IOA representatives. The tension in the air was almost palpable, and Elizabeth was afraid things were going downhill much quicker than she’d been able to anticipate. She cleared her throat. “I understand the Atlantis expedition is an expensive one,” she said, allowing some displeasure to be heard in her voice, “but the Pegasus galaxy is quite different from ours. Nearly all of the planets my advance team has scouted are significantly less developed than Earth. What they can offer, while valuable to my crew, would hardly be things this committee would find… profitable.”
It made her cringe inside, to have to try and put a price on the livelihood of so many Pegasus natives. “Agriculture, rudimentary forestry and mining - I honestly don’t see this committee as being willing to negotiate for things such as that. And most of the cultures we have encountered, to be blunt, don’t really want our help in areas that don’t involve fighting the Wraith.” She was digging herself into a hole with this, she knew, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of being anything less than honest, of making false promises to bring back things she would never be able to acquire.
“The majority of technology in the Pegasus galaxy,” she continued, “is of Ancient design, and most of what exists you already have access to through Atlantis. Perhaps if you would explain just what it is the IOA hopes the expedition will return.”
“Anything that will aid Earth in her fight against the Ori,” Ambassador Shen replied..
That was what Elizabeth had feared the answer would be. “You do understand that there is another enemy just as deadly out there, one that is bent on reaching this planet and making it their new feeding ground. And Atlantis is what stands between them and Earth.”
“We are more concerned with the immediate Ori threat, but we will of course take your information about the Wraith under advisement.” Shen closed her briefcase. “We’ll end here for today.”
Elizabeth sat motionless in the conference room for several minutes after they all left, even Woolsey. The fact that Atlantis was the front line in any Earth defense against the Wraith had been her trump card, and the committee had barely blinked. The chances that she would be replaced had just increased exponentially, and it weighed heavily on her mind, created an almost physical ache in her chest.
She gathered her papers and a small note caught her eye. We miss you. Come home, it read in John’s sturdy block letters and Elizabeth smiled sadly, tracing the writing with her fingertips.
She barely slept that night, the note tucked in the pocket of her pajamas. In the morning, she told the IOA that she couldn’t commit to any change in the Atlantis mission without consulting her senior staff. It was the only way she could think of to get them to let her go back.
*
Her entire command staff was in the control room when she returned, almost as if they’d known she would be coming back with bad news. Elizabeth didn’t break her stride, just headed straight for the conference room, and they all followed. As John, Teyla, Rodney, and Carson settled into their chairs around the table, she remained standing.
“We do what the IOA wants or they shut us down,” she said once they’d taken their seats.
She heard John swear, felt the thump of Rodney’s fist on the table, saw the shock on Teyla and Carson’s faces. “I’m sorry,” she said, softer.
Rodney demanded she explain.
“They're insisting we agree to their new mission objective to bring back technology to fight the Ori.”
There were noises of outrage from everyone. “Don’t those people understand that trying to find advanced technology in this galaxy - that’s not Ancient - is like trying to find a needle in a haystack the size of Mars?” John asked angrily.
“Not to mention the length of time necessary for negotiations,” Teyla added.
“I explained that. More than once.”
“Can’t Landry call the President?” Rodney asked. “Isn’t that how the Stargate program was saved from certain disaster more than once?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “The most the President could do would be to make a recommendation to the committee.”
“That’s why the whole expedition isn’t staffed only by Americans,” Carson muttered, and Rodney slumped forward on the table, groaning.
“Will this committee really end your entire expedition if you do not agree to their demands?” Teyla asked.
“They’ve said as much.”
“Then screw them,” John said sharply. “We cut ourselves off.”
Rodney banged on the table again. “What do you think this is, Star Trek Voyager? You’re insane. Not to mention, doing that would be mutiny!”
“Only for the military personnel.”
“Of which you are one, Captain Janeway.”
“At this point, Rodney, I’ve got no problem going AWOL.”
“Gentlemen,” Elizabeth cut in. “Let’s try for a slightly more realistic solution.”
“This is as realistic as we’re going to get,” John insisted.
“We can’t make that decision for everyone in Atlantis!”
“Wait, wait,” Carson interrupted. “There’s no feasible way to do what the IOA wants?”
“It could take years to find another planet with a technology level even that of Earth’s,” Elizabeth explained.
“Then we let it take years,” Teyla said, and they all looked at her. “If you say you are looking -”
“Then they’ll think we actually are looking,” John finished for her. He met Elizabeth’s gaze. “It might work.”
Rodney huffed. “Two minutes ago you wanted to cut Atlantis off from Earth for good.”
“Hey, I still like that idea.”
“Just because you’re not planning on going back to Earth -”
Elizabeth cut him off again. “All right. So we tell the IOA we’ll start doing reconnaissance missions with the intent of finding a weapon to use against the Ori. Then what?”
John shrugged. “Then we keep an eye out. You know, in between saving the city from the Wraith and the Genii once a month.”
“And when they really start to put pressure on us?”
“You’re thinking quite a ways down the road, Elizabeth,” Carson replied. “I say we take this one day at a time.”
Rodney, John and Teyla all nodded. Elizabeth pressed her palms to the table. “All right. That’s what we’ll do. But next week we start discussing contingency plans, all right? Rodney, if you would do me the favor of contacting the SGC. I need to talk to John and Teyla for a minute.”
“Sure.” He left with Carson. Elizabeth waited until the door had closed all the way.
“I found your note,” she began, and they both smiled.
“It was Teyla’s idea,” John said.
“It helped. I was in a pretty dark place, worrying they wouldn’t let me come back. Worrying about who they’d send to replace me - Richard Woolsey, more than likely. Worrying that I’d never see either of you again, not to mention thinking that I’d missed my chance to stay in Pegasus.”
Both of them looked at her expectantly. “Does that mean-” John started, just as Teyla asked, “Is that a yes?”
“It means you’re both crazy, but… yes,” she said, quickly and before she lost her nerve. Teyla grinned, and John looked relieved. “And this would be even more awkward if I’d said no, right?”
“You have no idea,” John said, laughing, and he and Teyla reached out to pull Elizabeth into the space between them.