(no subject)
Title: Flirtatious Intent
Recipient: agent_almeida
Prompt: Jealous/Possessive (not angsty so or anything) John. Liz is good lookin' and well sometimes those off world diplomats think so too. Action, adventure and all that I like too. Oh yeah and smut of course. =D I'm also a sucker for Bug!John.
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 5,113
Betas: allie_sheppard, ladyniko, angelsdee
Spoiler: None
Notes: Written for agent_almeida @ sparky_santa. I hope I managed to meet your request!
He hated these things, the fact that Elizabeth was off world was bad enough, but when you had a world where all the men were leering at her as if they hadn't looked at a woman in years it made things twice as bad. At least it did for him. Rodney hated it, voicing his disgust whenever some man daringly offered something glittery or pretty to Elizabeth, but for Rodney and probably Ronon the reasons for the hate were completely different. They just found the attention annoying, stupid and pathetic, and in Rodney's case there's a touch of jealousy that he wasn't getting any attention at all.
For John though, the gifts, the comments about her beauty and the offers she received were driving a stake deeper into his heart. 'Let that be a lesson to you,' he thought. 'Never carry a secret picture of the woman you're in love with.' The result had been someone finding it, he hadn't dropped it or left it somewhere, it had been tucked neatly in one of the pockets of his duffle and some nosy woman behind him had stuck her hand in and pulled it out. He didn't mind people being curious about them and asking questions, but that was downright rude.
"Is she your wife?" It had been the first thing she asked, the thing that got his attention and he turned to see her holding up Elizabeth's picture for, not only the men of the village to see, but for Rodney and Ronon to see too. Without even looking he'd known Ronon's brow had shot up and that had irked him just a little bit more. It had taken a lot of effort not to snatch the picture out of her hand and tell her to mind where she stuck her nose.
In retrospect, he wished he'd said yes and left it at that. Having been in the middle of explaining that he wasn't the final decision maker of their society, he had told them the truth. "She’s our leader, Doctor Elizabeth Weir." The second the words were out he wanted to suck them back in. The shock and awe that a woman was in command had been completely fascinating to them and it had quickly degraded into literally begging to meet her in person to agree to the trade.
So far though, he wasn't convinced they'd done anything except shower Elizabeth with praise about her beauty and success as the leader. Trust him to find a world where women in command were revered and not despised, most men were intimidated by a woman with more power than themselves, but this was obviously a backwards world.
They'd only been back here, Elizabeth in their company and a team of scientists tagging along for a day and a half and already he missed Rodney's whining to distract him. The first half day, he'd have given anything to shut him up, the comments about the picture from him and Radek had been enough for him to start thinking of ways to kill them and get away with it. Since they'd been given access to the Ancient tech, John had watched the leader of these people give Elizabeth everything from flowers and chocolates to the dress she currently wore, which was just a little too showy, though secretly he wished he could get a private up close viewing.
He turned back to the window of the town hall to check if Elizabeth was still where he'd left her, take in her long silky blue dress with slits up to here and no back to speak of and found the room, aside from her, completely empty. Elizabeth herself was still sitting primly in the chair, but had turned to look though the window at him. She gave him a smile for a split second before the man returned. Paranoia set in quickly - she'd been afraid, the smile had been nervous and there was a pleading look in her eyes. Or had that just been what he wanted to see?
"What?" Ronon asked. He was leaning against the wall a short way from the window.
"Something doesn't feel right."
Ronon turned, taking in the scene inside the hall, Elizabeth laughed at something, her face completely relaxed. When his friend turned back, he could see instantly that the man disagreed.
"Jealous?" Ronon asked. John just glared at him.
"This whole thing is wrong."
"Why?"
"They want something."
"Yeah," Ronon said sarcastically. "Info on the Ancients."
"No," John said, shaking his head to illustrate his point. "They want something from Elizabeth."
"Sir," Lorne’s voice cutting in on their conversation made his stomach tighten.
"Yes, Major?" He replied sharply.
"Is something going over there?"
"No," he said, elongating the word. "Why?"
"There’s a rumour here that..." he paused, as if he didn’t really want to say it, "that Doctor Weir has agreed to marry Senator Takal."
John turned back to the window to see the man step up with a small bag in his hand; he tipped its content into Elizabeth's hand and saw her eyes bulge at the item that fell out. Instinct cut in and John turned away as Ronon replied to Lorne. He didn't hesitate to open the door and step into the hall with Ronon right behind him, the echo of the doors didn't detract from Elizabeth's comment.
"I mean no disrespect, senator. My heart belongs to someone in our village."
"Elizabeth?" John’s voice sounded odd to his own ears, but Elizabeth didn’t turn.
"You disrespect me by refusing." The senator exclaimed. "You've come here to broker a deal for food and other needed supplies, you've accepted everything I have offered and you wear that dress."
"By your request," Elizabeth said. John's sense of dread had him crossing the hall and he was thankful that Ronon was close behind him. A motion from the senator had the guards in their way quicker than they could reach Elizabeth.
"By our laws, you have already accepted." John's heart sank quickly. "Take them and their colleagues to the gate. Take Doctor Weir to the hold."
"No, wait," Elizabeth turned towards him and he could see the pleading in her eyes. "This is a mistake, I've done everything you asked in the interest of negotiation," she explained to the senator. "You can’t do this."
"You have broken our traditions."
"You never gave me the chance to understand them," she refuted sharply. "Not everyone lives as you do."
"Take her." John reacted instantly, his sidearm in hand and to the senator's head before he could consider the implications.
"Let her go, or I put one through your temple," he instructed.
"I will not be intimidated," the senator replied and a swift motion of the man's hand created movement to his left. A second later John found himself on the floor, a pounding in his head that rivalled any hang over and Elizabeth's shouts in his ears. He pried his eyes open long enough to see the edge of her dress vanish through a door, and then he passed out.
~*~
"Colonel." John pried his eyes open to see Carson standing over him, a frown in place and computer in hand.
"Ouch." The doctor smiled briefly then looked down at the computer.
"You took a blow to the base of your skull, seems they knew the best place to hit."
It took John a moment to recall what he was on about, and then it sank in, the senator and Elizabeth. They had Elizabeth. He pushed up, regretting it as the room dipped dangerously to the left and swung his legs cautiously over the side.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To get Elizabeth back." As if he'd just sit here and let her rot on another world.
"Major Lorne," Carson started, blocking his escape. "And Ronon are already gathering anyone available to go back, you've only been on Atlantis for five minutes."
"That's five minutes too long," he said pushing his way past the doctor and grabbing the clothes dropped on the nearby chair. He didn't wait for a reply before vanishing into a side room.
It didn't take him long to change and make his way to the gate room, pausing now and again to let the corridor straighten out as he went. Stopping just inside the room he listened as Lorne prepared the men for what they'd find on the other side of the gate. He moved over to the airman on duty and took his vest and gun before moving into the room and joining the team.
"You look like hell, sir," Lorne greeted.
"Thanks, love you too, Major."
"I just lost a bet," Lorne added. "I was sure Carson would get the better of you this time. If Teyla appears I'm down 30 bucks."
"Not gonna happen, she's been on the main land since yesterday. The flu's really thrown her off balance." The look the major gave him didn't make him all too confident of his own feet, but there was no way he could just sit around Atlantis and hope the others could bring Elizabeth back, the thought that it could all go wrong made him feel sick.
He turned and motioned for Chuck to dial the gate before he turned and looked around at the people who were going. Lorne's team and Ronon and himself were the obvious ones, but it was a little bit of a shock to find the only other off-world team in amongst the crowd and a few of the security officers.
"Any ideas on how to do this?"
"Well," Lorne started, and then stopped to think. "Chances are they're not gonna just give her up. Look what they did to you, sir. I thought about going through in cloaked Jumpers, but Zelenka reminded me that there was dense forestry between the gate and the city walls so that idea went right out the window."
"Then that leaves us with showing them whose boss. Kill whoever's at the gate, make our way to the city and get in with as much force as possible and with as few casualties."
"There were two at the gate when we first went," Ronon added.
"There won't be two now. Chances are they'll have a dozen at best, they've taken our leader and they know we won't give her up so easily."
"Easy," Ronon said with a grin.
"No," John retorted. "Send a flash bang through first, then we'll follow and take them out."
The gate opened at that moment and John nodded to the nearest marine and watched as the man produced a small device, approached the gate and threw it into the event horizon. Mentally counting to ten, John walked up to the gate, took a deep breath and stepped through.
~*~
The first few minutes she was in here, she tried desperately to find a way out, feeling a lot like a caged animal, she examined every nook and cranny trying to find a weakness that would let her escape. A small gap ran along three walls of the room, thin bars of wall holding the ceiling up, but they were too high, and a good five feet above her head to be of any use. The door she had come through was shut tight, not a single crack or hinge to help her. After about ten minutes she gave up and dropped heavily onto the bed, it was the only thing in the room and completely made of wood. There was nothing to cover her with, no pillow for comfort, not even a mattress to lie on, not that she expected one; it was a prison after all.
It felt as though an hour had gone by when she knew it had only been about half of one, she missed Atlantis. She missed John and wondered if he was okay, she didn't get to find out what happened after she was dragged from the room - kicking and screaming. The last thing she'd seen was him laying on the floor and men with guns pointed at Ronon. She'd felt really alone at that moment, Ronon had just watched them take her, stood there with his hands up in defeat. She'd never blame him, what good would fighting alone have done? Gotten them both killed, and probably John too.
She dropped back against the wall and listened, there was nothing, not even a bird chirping. It was as if the world around the building was dead and just waiting for her to join it, it was depressing and she wouldn't let it beat her. They'd come for her. John would come for her and if he couldn't then she could bet bottom dollar that Ronon and Lorne wouldn't just leave her there. She just had to be patient and wait for them to show up.
~*~
"That was too easy," Ronon said standing a few feet from the gate and looking down the path towards the city. He was right, there had only been three men at the gate which was far too easy for a people who'd just kidnapped someone else's leader. They'd have had the shield on permanently had the whole situation been turned around. He turned slowly, checking out the area, well aware that Lorne's brow was up as he watched - they'd already checked the area.
"Okay," John said stretching the 'o'. They didn't really have time to figure this out; they had yet to work out where Elizabeth was and how to get her out. "Let's split up. Ronon, take Coffie, Johnsson, Peters and Mackersfield and see if you can't intimidate a few guards or villagers into telling us where the 'hold' is. Lorne, take your men around the outside in that direction," he pointed to his right. "We're going left. Look in every window, use your scanner to see if people are in rooms alone and see if you can't work out what a prison on this world looks like, anyone alone in a building could be Elizabeth."
John nodded, more to himself than to the team he was with and started off in the direction of the city. It wasn't really a city, though the people here seemed to think themselves important enough to call it one, a town hall, prison and about a dozen houses surrounded by a wall that had more holes than fishnet stockings. Security was obviously low with a grand population of around 60 people. They had farmers and town workers as well as guards who, in John's honest opinion could do with some training.
He paused at a gap in the wall, one of their lovely holes and watched as two of the men disappeared inside. The head of sergeant Holland poked back out a second later and he nodded to let them know it was clear. John followed him back through and along the inside of the wall for a few feet before Perkins' fist flew up, they stopped and crouched on instinct just as John's radio buzzed in his ear.
"Yeah," he said in a whisper, letting Holland pass him so he was at the rear of the group.
"Prison's the long building behind the town hall," Ronon said. "We'll distract the senator."
The radio clicked off and John turned to see the men watching intently around a corner. He moved closer, straining his neck to get a better look and found two guards standing nearby chatting. A few words caught his ear, comments about a woman in the prison he'd managed to molest and John's brain clicked into overdrive. He pulled his stunner, stood up and shot the two men in quick succession. He stood for a moment looking at them, wishing silently that he'd used bullets and could stand over them and watch one of them die slowly. If they'd set one hand on Elizabeth he'd be back for just that pleasure.
"Let's go," he said moving on without hesitating and not particularly caring if someone saw them.
Thankfully, there were no more people and John had to marvel at how stupid it was to have an unguarded prison, they crossed between the town hall and hold without issue, pausing to listen to the shouts of annoyance from the senator. Chances were Ronon had the man cornered and unguarded and he was either annoyed or begging for his life.
He pulled out the scanner as they moved along the back of the building and stopped at the first cell that had someone inside; the room right next door had a single occupant too and two men stood close together in the corridor just beyond them. Holland and Perkins vanished off along the wall and around the corner and John exchanged a look with Myers.
"Keep wishing the Ancients would label dots," he said. "Would make this a lot easier."
"This isn't easy enough already, sir?"
"Good point," John said looking up as Holland reappeared and motioned them over. Rounding the corner, John found Perkins standing with a door propped open. He gave a little chuckle at how ridiculously easy this whole thing was, readied his gun and vanished inside.
The corridors were poorly lit, making it stupidly simple to stick to the shadows; he kept a finger on the trigger even though he didn't really want to kill the guards. Just to his left, Perkins had a stunner in hand and he knew both the other men had theirs ready. The wall curved around and just before he passed into the next part of the corridor, John heard the men talking, low tones of discussion that seemed to be about their wives or a woman in their life. John nodded to Perkins and waited as the three men moved around, demanded surrender and then shot the guards.
"Tie them up," John ordered moving around the last of the bend. Scanner in hand, he located the cells again, indicated one to Myers and stopped in front of the other. There was no handle or lock on the door and for a moment he was confused, wondering how to get in. Then he caught sight of it, a dip in the wall. He slipped a finger inside and found a latch, crocked his finger against it and felt the lock release.
He pushed the door open, expecting to find Elizabeth sitting on the bed on the far wall waiting, but instead, he found a young woman curled up in the corner of the room, her dress ragged and torn, covered in blood and god knows what else. She looked at him expectantly and he wondered if she'd been raped enough times to just expect it every time the door opened. He might just have to go back and kill that man anyway.
"Can I leave?" she asked, obviously realising he wasn't one of their usual idiots. "Please," she said. "Don't leave me here, I didn't do anything, I was just exploring the area and they threw me in here, told me I had stolen from them."
John didn't reply, he didn't know if it was true or not, but he wasn't about to leave these men a play thing, criminal or not. He turned, purposely leaving the door open for her and moved over to Myers, he hadn't worked out the door latch yet, so John slipped his finger easily into the gap and released it. He pushed the door open without hesitating and crossed the room to the bed.
"You alright?" he asked Elizabeth as she sat up.
"Yeah," she said with a nervous smile.
"Next time, less flirting," he said and turned back to the door. He didn't miss the exasperated sigh she let out. The trip back couldn't be any harder than getting in.
~*~
Carson had quickly given her a clean bill of health; nothing had happened on the planet other than being trapped in a cell for about an hour. It could have been much worse. Thankfully, John had been detained, having skipped out on his earlier medical with a concussion, he was now trapped there pending full health check, something Elizabeth was thankful for, at least for the time being. His comment in the prison had stung a little more than it should, she hadn't flirted, she'd been polite to the limits of friendly negotiation and she didn't really want to have a conversation with him about how much flirting and gift accepting she should be doing.
She'd been lying on her bed, book in hand for about an hour now, and she expected him to knock any second to start that very conversation. Of course, she did mean argument. The door chimed as she turned the page, and bracing herself for what was coming, she placed her bookmark, set the book on the side and got up.
"Hey," John said, sweet as pie when she opened the door. "How are you?"
"Fine," she said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
"Can I come in?"
"Depends," she said, giving what she hoped was a friendly smile.
"I just wanna talk."
She stepped aside, letting him pass her before she shut the door. Silence filtered through the room as he moved in and looked around, he knew the place well enough, the rooms in Atlantis weren't all that different from each other and the only differences between his and hers was the layout of furniture and the lack of wall between sitting area and bedroom. Not that he used his sitting area.
"They didn't do anything to you, did they?"
"No," she said innocently. "Just stuck me in the cell and left me." He nodded and the silence fell again.
"You know that wouldn't have happened if you didn't flirt with everyone." Her back stiffened the moment the words were out of his mouth.
"Excuse me?" she said. "I don’t flirt with everyone."
"So what were you doing with him all that time?"
"Discussing an alliance, John. You were right outside and I know for a fact you were watching me."
"All the gifts," he started.
"Were from him, yes, but that doesn’t..."
"And that dress."
"I didn't know what they meant," she shouted, he was infuriating sometimes and this was one of those moments. "I'm not a mind reader, John. I don't know all their customs the second I step through the gate."
He scoffed and she felt her blood begin to boil.
"Name one other person you've seen me flirt with," she demanded in a low tone. He didn't answer, she knew he couldn't. She'd never flirted with anyone else in Atlantis except him and for her whole career; she'd never flirted with one man she'd had to deal with. Most of them were idiots and silently she wondered why she flirted with John Sheppard. Moments likes these weren't all that rare. "There's only one man in this city that I flirt with, John - you."
"Yeah, you also told the senator, there was a man in this city you were in love with." He turned away from her and she dropped her head back in frustration.
"Are you really that stupid?" He turned to her, a look of anger on his face. She sobered quickly. "I only flirt with someone when I'm in love with them."
Her eyes dropped to his lips, full and parted in shock, and she fought off the urge to taste them, to feel his tongue in her mouth. Elizabeth took a step forward and John instinctively reached out for her, she caught his arm and moved in close to him, her face only millimetres from his, she held his gaze, softening hers as best she could before she whispered to him.
"I don't want you to fight, John."
He ran his hands down her arms to her hands as she watched for any kind of response, he circled his fingers on her loose palms before running them back up her arms to her shoulder.
"I love you," she said again before leaning carefully in and brushing her lips against his, he pulled back, watching her face as her eyes opened to look at him and she caught the brief longing look he gave her before she moved back in and kissed him passionately.
She felt him moan into her mouth and every lingering thought dissipated instantly, she had been thinking this was very wrong, that if they were caught he'd have to face a court martial, and that she'd be forced to leave Atlantis.
He was captivated as she slowly began to respond to him, her arms reaching up around his neck pulling him closer, the single step it took for her to press the whole of her body against his and just as he was about to wonder if she would miss his obvious enjoyment of the situation he felt her hips press harder against him. He pulled back, gasping for air as he took in her flushed face and beautiful eyes.
"Elizabeth," he started, but she hushed him with a finger to his mouth before she moved her hands to the top of her shirt and started undoing the buttons.
For the first time, John realised she wasn't in uniform, but that thought vanished quickly as John caught sight of her bra between her slowly parting shirt. John watched intently as she reached the bottom and un-tucked her shirt from her pants and without thinking about it, he reached up to her shoulders again and eased the item off, letting it drop to the floor.
They moved towards each other and kissed again, and John felt her moan into him as his rough hands drifted across her lower back; he sucked in a breath of his own as he felt her hands on his stomach, pushing up under his t-shirt, her fingers tracing a path naughtily up to his chest and she tweaked one of his nipples before running back down to take the edge of his top and raise it.
She stretched to lift it over his head and as her fingers brushed over his hands he gripped her wrists, tugging her arms up to show he wanted them to stay there, before he drew back down her arms in small lazy circles, down past her arm pits and down her sides. John reached the hem of her pants and wrapped his hands around her hips and he was grateful as her arms wrapped around his neck.
He glided back up and took her wrists from around his neck and pulled slowly backwards, guiding her across to the bed without looking away from her. As he stopped by the bed, John's lips found her chest while his hands made quick work of her bra and moved down her spine to her pants, he let his fingers float over her skin as he hunted for the zip and dropped the clothes to the floor. She stepped out of them, kicking them to the side.
He paused, taking the sight of her in, little white cotton panties were the only thing left on her, and he groaned in appreciation and turned her sharply and pushed her back onto the bed. John crouched down in front of her and ran his hands up her thighs, his eyes following the path of his fingers until he caught sight of her panting stomach. She was breathing hard at his touch, but he didn't stop, he moved up, taking hold of the elastic on her underwear, he pulled at them. She raised her hips up to let him remove them.
"God, you're beautiful," he said his eyes moving everywhere on her body, taking in every curve, every scar and every blemish.
He stood and removed his pants and boxers before kneeling back on the floor and leaning in to suck one of her nipples into his mouth, she arched and John followed her as she lay back on the bed, his body drifting up hers until his cock pressed against her slick sex.
They both moaned and began their movements against each other; John squeezed his eyes shut at the feel of her, he couldn't believe he was here, consciously aware of what he was doing and very much aware of how turned on she was at his movements.
He pulled back, littering her stomach with small kisses and feeling her breath hitch as he laid his path down to her sex where he slipped his tongue into her pussy lips and ran it through the length of her, stabbing at her flexing tunnel and flicking lightly at her clit before retracing his way back up her body to kiss her.
Their movements against each other began again and John broke the kiss, he couldn't concentrate on anything while he was against her, the head of his cock brushing her clit, he couldn't think at all, he could barely even breathe.
"John," she breathed and shifted her hips and John felt himself brush against her entrance. "God, John," she hissed and repeated the movement. A long moan was released and she shifted again and he took the opportunity.
His hands gripped her hips tightly as she moved to set him against her tunnel and he pushed, easing himself slowly into her warmth. Elizabeth arched against him, and John watched her face as best he could as she pushed back on the bed, her lips parted in a continuous moan of pleasure and her brow furrowed.
He pulled his gaze away from her and wrapped his tongue around her nipple as he began to move, thrusting slowly into her, his feet as leverage on the floor. He was in paradise, he didn't know it was possible to feel this good; she was hot and tight around him, and her hips twitched against him with each slowly increasing thrust.
He felt her muscles tighten and he abandoned her nipple and rested his head between her breasts. He was gonna come any minute now and there was no way he would be able to pull out of her, he didn't want to for a start, ever. He picked up the pace and with all the effort he could muster he looked up at her face.
Tittering on the edge of ecstasy, John breathed her name and pushed in hard, feeling her internal muscles clamp down on him as they came together, groaning, panting and the last sounds of flesh against flesh as John pumped into her a few more times before they both collapsed.
'I love you, Elizabeth,' he breathed before he moved to her side and closed his eyes.
Recipient: agent_almeida
Prompt: Jealous/Possessive (not angsty so or anything) John. Liz is good lookin' and well sometimes those off world diplomats think so too. Action, adventure and all that I like too. Oh yeah and smut of course. =D I'm also a sucker for Bug!John.
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 5,113
Betas: allie_sheppard, ladyniko, angelsdee
Spoiler: None
Notes: Written for agent_almeida @ sparky_santa. I hope I managed to meet your request!
He hated these things, the fact that Elizabeth was off world was bad enough, but when you had a world where all the men were leering at her as if they hadn't looked at a woman in years it made things twice as bad. At least it did for him. Rodney hated it, voicing his disgust whenever some man daringly offered something glittery or pretty to Elizabeth, but for Rodney and probably Ronon the reasons for the hate were completely different. They just found the attention annoying, stupid and pathetic, and in Rodney's case there's a touch of jealousy that he wasn't getting any attention at all.
For John though, the gifts, the comments about her beauty and the offers she received were driving a stake deeper into his heart. 'Let that be a lesson to you,' he thought. 'Never carry a secret picture of the woman you're in love with.' The result had been someone finding it, he hadn't dropped it or left it somewhere, it had been tucked neatly in one of the pockets of his duffle and some nosy woman behind him had stuck her hand in and pulled it out. He didn't mind people being curious about them and asking questions, but that was downright rude.
"Is she your wife?" It had been the first thing she asked, the thing that got his attention and he turned to see her holding up Elizabeth's picture for, not only the men of the village to see, but for Rodney and Ronon to see too. Without even looking he'd known Ronon's brow had shot up and that had irked him just a little bit more. It had taken a lot of effort not to snatch the picture out of her hand and tell her to mind where she stuck her nose.
In retrospect, he wished he'd said yes and left it at that. Having been in the middle of explaining that he wasn't the final decision maker of their society, he had told them the truth. "She’s our leader, Doctor Elizabeth Weir." The second the words were out he wanted to suck them back in. The shock and awe that a woman was in command had been completely fascinating to them and it had quickly degraded into literally begging to meet her in person to agree to the trade.
So far though, he wasn't convinced they'd done anything except shower Elizabeth with praise about her beauty and success as the leader. Trust him to find a world where women in command were revered and not despised, most men were intimidated by a woman with more power than themselves, but this was obviously a backwards world.
They'd only been back here, Elizabeth in their company and a team of scientists tagging along for a day and a half and already he missed Rodney's whining to distract him. The first half day, he'd have given anything to shut him up, the comments about the picture from him and Radek had been enough for him to start thinking of ways to kill them and get away with it. Since they'd been given access to the Ancient tech, John had watched the leader of these people give Elizabeth everything from flowers and chocolates to the dress she currently wore, which was just a little too showy, though secretly he wished he could get a private up close viewing.
He turned back to the window of the town hall to check if Elizabeth was still where he'd left her, take in her long silky blue dress with slits up to here and no back to speak of and found the room, aside from her, completely empty. Elizabeth herself was still sitting primly in the chair, but had turned to look though the window at him. She gave him a smile for a split second before the man returned. Paranoia set in quickly - she'd been afraid, the smile had been nervous and there was a pleading look in her eyes. Or had that just been what he wanted to see?
"What?" Ronon asked. He was leaning against the wall a short way from the window.
"Something doesn't feel right."
Ronon turned, taking in the scene inside the hall, Elizabeth laughed at something, her face completely relaxed. When his friend turned back, he could see instantly that the man disagreed.
"Jealous?" Ronon asked. John just glared at him.
"This whole thing is wrong."
"Why?"
"They want something."
"Yeah," Ronon said sarcastically. "Info on the Ancients."
"No," John said, shaking his head to illustrate his point. "They want something from Elizabeth."
"Sir," Lorne’s voice cutting in on their conversation made his stomach tighten.
"Yes, Major?" He replied sharply.
"Is something going over there?"
"No," he said, elongating the word. "Why?"
"There’s a rumour here that..." he paused, as if he didn’t really want to say it, "that Doctor Weir has agreed to marry Senator Takal."
John turned back to the window to see the man step up with a small bag in his hand; he tipped its content into Elizabeth's hand and saw her eyes bulge at the item that fell out. Instinct cut in and John turned away as Ronon replied to Lorne. He didn't hesitate to open the door and step into the hall with Ronon right behind him, the echo of the doors didn't detract from Elizabeth's comment.
"I mean no disrespect, senator. My heart belongs to someone in our village."
"Elizabeth?" John’s voice sounded odd to his own ears, but Elizabeth didn’t turn.
"You disrespect me by refusing." The senator exclaimed. "You've come here to broker a deal for food and other needed supplies, you've accepted everything I have offered and you wear that dress."
"By your request," Elizabeth said. John's sense of dread had him crossing the hall and he was thankful that Ronon was close behind him. A motion from the senator had the guards in their way quicker than they could reach Elizabeth.
"By our laws, you have already accepted." John's heart sank quickly. "Take them and their colleagues to the gate. Take Doctor Weir to the hold."
"No, wait," Elizabeth turned towards him and he could see the pleading in her eyes. "This is a mistake, I've done everything you asked in the interest of negotiation," she explained to the senator. "You can’t do this."
"You have broken our traditions."
"You never gave me the chance to understand them," she refuted sharply. "Not everyone lives as you do."
"Take her." John reacted instantly, his sidearm in hand and to the senator's head before he could consider the implications.
"Let her go, or I put one through your temple," he instructed.
"I will not be intimidated," the senator replied and a swift motion of the man's hand created movement to his left. A second later John found himself on the floor, a pounding in his head that rivalled any hang over and Elizabeth's shouts in his ears. He pried his eyes open long enough to see the edge of her dress vanish through a door, and then he passed out.
~*~
"Colonel." John pried his eyes open to see Carson standing over him, a frown in place and computer in hand.
"Ouch." The doctor smiled briefly then looked down at the computer.
"You took a blow to the base of your skull, seems they knew the best place to hit."
It took John a moment to recall what he was on about, and then it sank in, the senator and Elizabeth. They had Elizabeth. He pushed up, regretting it as the room dipped dangerously to the left and swung his legs cautiously over the side.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To get Elizabeth back." As if he'd just sit here and let her rot on another world.
"Major Lorne," Carson started, blocking his escape. "And Ronon are already gathering anyone available to go back, you've only been on Atlantis for five minutes."
"That's five minutes too long," he said pushing his way past the doctor and grabbing the clothes dropped on the nearby chair. He didn't wait for a reply before vanishing into a side room.
It didn't take him long to change and make his way to the gate room, pausing now and again to let the corridor straighten out as he went. Stopping just inside the room he listened as Lorne prepared the men for what they'd find on the other side of the gate. He moved over to the airman on duty and took his vest and gun before moving into the room and joining the team.
"You look like hell, sir," Lorne greeted.
"Thanks, love you too, Major."
"I just lost a bet," Lorne added. "I was sure Carson would get the better of you this time. If Teyla appears I'm down 30 bucks."
"Not gonna happen, she's been on the main land since yesterday. The flu's really thrown her off balance." The look the major gave him didn't make him all too confident of his own feet, but there was no way he could just sit around Atlantis and hope the others could bring Elizabeth back, the thought that it could all go wrong made him feel sick.
He turned and motioned for Chuck to dial the gate before he turned and looked around at the people who were going. Lorne's team and Ronon and himself were the obvious ones, but it was a little bit of a shock to find the only other off-world team in amongst the crowd and a few of the security officers.
"Any ideas on how to do this?"
"Well," Lorne started, and then stopped to think. "Chances are they're not gonna just give her up. Look what they did to you, sir. I thought about going through in cloaked Jumpers, but Zelenka reminded me that there was dense forestry between the gate and the city walls so that idea went right out the window."
"Then that leaves us with showing them whose boss. Kill whoever's at the gate, make our way to the city and get in with as much force as possible and with as few casualties."
"There were two at the gate when we first went," Ronon added.
"There won't be two now. Chances are they'll have a dozen at best, they've taken our leader and they know we won't give her up so easily."
"Easy," Ronon said with a grin.
"No," John retorted. "Send a flash bang through first, then we'll follow and take them out."
The gate opened at that moment and John nodded to the nearest marine and watched as the man produced a small device, approached the gate and threw it into the event horizon. Mentally counting to ten, John walked up to the gate, took a deep breath and stepped through.
~*~
The first few minutes she was in here, she tried desperately to find a way out, feeling a lot like a caged animal, she examined every nook and cranny trying to find a weakness that would let her escape. A small gap ran along three walls of the room, thin bars of wall holding the ceiling up, but they were too high, and a good five feet above her head to be of any use. The door she had come through was shut tight, not a single crack or hinge to help her. After about ten minutes she gave up and dropped heavily onto the bed, it was the only thing in the room and completely made of wood. There was nothing to cover her with, no pillow for comfort, not even a mattress to lie on, not that she expected one; it was a prison after all.
It felt as though an hour had gone by when she knew it had only been about half of one, she missed Atlantis. She missed John and wondered if he was okay, she didn't get to find out what happened after she was dragged from the room - kicking and screaming. The last thing she'd seen was him laying on the floor and men with guns pointed at Ronon. She'd felt really alone at that moment, Ronon had just watched them take her, stood there with his hands up in defeat. She'd never blame him, what good would fighting alone have done? Gotten them both killed, and probably John too.
She dropped back against the wall and listened, there was nothing, not even a bird chirping. It was as if the world around the building was dead and just waiting for her to join it, it was depressing and she wouldn't let it beat her. They'd come for her. John would come for her and if he couldn't then she could bet bottom dollar that Ronon and Lorne wouldn't just leave her there. She just had to be patient and wait for them to show up.
~*~
"That was too easy," Ronon said standing a few feet from the gate and looking down the path towards the city. He was right, there had only been three men at the gate which was far too easy for a people who'd just kidnapped someone else's leader. They'd have had the shield on permanently had the whole situation been turned around. He turned slowly, checking out the area, well aware that Lorne's brow was up as he watched - they'd already checked the area.
"Okay," John said stretching the 'o'. They didn't really have time to figure this out; they had yet to work out where Elizabeth was and how to get her out. "Let's split up. Ronon, take Coffie, Johnsson, Peters and Mackersfield and see if you can't intimidate a few guards or villagers into telling us where the 'hold' is. Lorne, take your men around the outside in that direction," he pointed to his right. "We're going left. Look in every window, use your scanner to see if people are in rooms alone and see if you can't work out what a prison on this world looks like, anyone alone in a building could be Elizabeth."
John nodded, more to himself than to the team he was with and started off in the direction of the city. It wasn't really a city, though the people here seemed to think themselves important enough to call it one, a town hall, prison and about a dozen houses surrounded by a wall that had more holes than fishnet stockings. Security was obviously low with a grand population of around 60 people. They had farmers and town workers as well as guards who, in John's honest opinion could do with some training.
He paused at a gap in the wall, one of their lovely holes and watched as two of the men disappeared inside. The head of sergeant Holland poked back out a second later and he nodded to let them know it was clear. John followed him back through and along the inside of the wall for a few feet before Perkins' fist flew up, they stopped and crouched on instinct just as John's radio buzzed in his ear.
"Yeah," he said in a whisper, letting Holland pass him so he was at the rear of the group.
"Prison's the long building behind the town hall," Ronon said. "We'll distract the senator."
The radio clicked off and John turned to see the men watching intently around a corner. He moved closer, straining his neck to get a better look and found two guards standing nearby chatting. A few words caught his ear, comments about a woman in the prison he'd managed to molest and John's brain clicked into overdrive. He pulled his stunner, stood up and shot the two men in quick succession. He stood for a moment looking at them, wishing silently that he'd used bullets and could stand over them and watch one of them die slowly. If they'd set one hand on Elizabeth he'd be back for just that pleasure.
"Let's go," he said moving on without hesitating and not particularly caring if someone saw them.
Thankfully, there were no more people and John had to marvel at how stupid it was to have an unguarded prison, they crossed between the town hall and hold without issue, pausing to listen to the shouts of annoyance from the senator. Chances were Ronon had the man cornered and unguarded and he was either annoyed or begging for his life.
He pulled out the scanner as they moved along the back of the building and stopped at the first cell that had someone inside; the room right next door had a single occupant too and two men stood close together in the corridor just beyond them. Holland and Perkins vanished off along the wall and around the corner and John exchanged a look with Myers.
"Keep wishing the Ancients would label dots," he said. "Would make this a lot easier."
"This isn't easy enough already, sir?"
"Good point," John said looking up as Holland reappeared and motioned them over. Rounding the corner, John found Perkins standing with a door propped open. He gave a little chuckle at how ridiculously easy this whole thing was, readied his gun and vanished inside.
The corridors were poorly lit, making it stupidly simple to stick to the shadows; he kept a finger on the trigger even though he didn't really want to kill the guards. Just to his left, Perkins had a stunner in hand and he knew both the other men had theirs ready. The wall curved around and just before he passed into the next part of the corridor, John heard the men talking, low tones of discussion that seemed to be about their wives or a woman in their life. John nodded to Perkins and waited as the three men moved around, demanded surrender and then shot the guards.
"Tie them up," John ordered moving around the last of the bend. Scanner in hand, he located the cells again, indicated one to Myers and stopped in front of the other. There was no handle or lock on the door and for a moment he was confused, wondering how to get in. Then he caught sight of it, a dip in the wall. He slipped a finger inside and found a latch, crocked his finger against it and felt the lock release.
He pushed the door open, expecting to find Elizabeth sitting on the bed on the far wall waiting, but instead, he found a young woman curled up in the corner of the room, her dress ragged and torn, covered in blood and god knows what else. She looked at him expectantly and he wondered if she'd been raped enough times to just expect it every time the door opened. He might just have to go back and kill that man anyway.
"Can I leave?" she asked, obviously realising he wasn't one of their usual idiots. "Please," she said. "Don't leave me here, I didn't do anything, I was just exploring the area and they threw me in here, told me I had stolen from them."
John didn't reply, he didn't know if it was true or not, but he wasn't about to leave these men a play thing, criminal or not. He turned, purposely leaving the door open for her and moved over to Myers, he hadn't worked out the door latch yet, so John slipped his finger easily into the gap and released it. He pushed the door open without hesitating and crossed the room to the bed.
"You alright?" he asked Elizabeth as she sat up.
"Yeah," she said with a nervous smile.
"Next time, less flirting," he said and turned back to the door. He didn't miss the exasperated sigh she let out. The trip back couldn't be any harder than getting in.
~*~
Carson had quickly given her a clean bill of health; nothing had happened on the planet other than being trapped in a cell for about an hour. It could have been much worse. Thankfully, John had been detained, having skipped out on his earlier medical with a concussion, he was now trapped there pending full health check, something Elizabeth was thankful for, at least for the time being. His comment in the prison had stung a little more than it should, she hadn't flirted, she'd been polite to the limits of friendly negotiation and she didn't really want to have a conversation with him about how much flirting and gift accepting she should be doing.
She'd been lying on her bed, book in hand for about an hour now, and she expected him to knock any second to start that very conversation. Of course, she did mean argument. The door chimed as she turned the page, and bracing herself for what was coming, she placed her bookmark, set the book on the side and got up.
"Hey," John said, sweet as pie when she opened the door. "How are you?"
"Fine," she said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
"Can I come in?"
"Depends," she said, giving what she hoped was a friendly smile.
"I just wanna talk."
She stepped aside, letting him pass her before she shut the door. Silence filtered through the room as he moved in and looked around, he knew the place well enough, the rooms in Atlantis weren't all that different from each other and the only differences between his and hers was the layout of furniture and the lack of wall between sitting area and bedroom. Not that he used his sitting area.
"They didn't do anything to you, did they?"
"No," she said innocently. "Just stuck me in the cell and left me." He nodded and the silence fell again.
"You know that wouldn't have happened if you didn't flirt with everyone." Her back stiffened the moment the words were out of his mouth.
"Excuse me?" she said. "I don’t flirt with everyone."
"So what were you doing with him all that time?"
"Discussing an alliance, John. You were right outside and I know for a fact you were watching me."
"All the gifts," he started.
"Were from him, yes, but that doesn’t..."
"And that dress."
"I didn't know what they meant," she shouted, he was infuriating sometimes and this was one of those moments. "I'm not a mind reader, John. I don't know all their customs the second I step through the gate."
He scoffed and she felt her blood begin to boil.
"Name one other person you've seen me flirt with," she demanded in a low tone. He didn't answer, she knew he couldn't. She'd never flirted with anyone else in Atlantis except him and for her whole career; she'd never flirted with one man she'd had to deal with. Most of them were idiots and silently she wondered why she flirted with John Sheppard. Moments likes these weren't all that rare. "There's only one man in this city that I flirt with, John - you."
"Yeah, you also told the senator, there was a man in this city you were in love with." He turned away from her and she dropped her head back in frustration.
"Are you really that stupid?" He turned to her, a look of anger on his face. She sobered quickly. "I only flirt with someone when I'm in love with them."
Her eyes dropped to his lips, full and parted in shock, and she fought off the urge to taste them, to feel his tongue in her mouth. Elizabeth took a step forward and John instinctively reached out for her, she caught his arm and moved in close to him, her face only millimetres from his, she held his gaze, softening hers as best she could before she whispered to him.
"I don't want you to fight, John."
He ran his hands down her arms to her hands as she watched for any kind of response, he circled his fingers on her loose palms before running them back up her arms to her shoulder.
"I love you," she said again before leaning carefully in and brushing her lips against his, he pulled back, watching her face as her eyes opened to look at him and she caught the brief longing look he gave her before she moved back in and kissed him passionately.
She felt him moan into her mouth and every lingering thought dissipated instantly, she had been thinking this was very wrong, that if they were caught he'd have to face a court martial, and that she'd be forced to leave Atlantis.
He was captivated as she slowly began to respond to him, her arms reaching up around his neck pulling him closer, the single step it took for her to press the whole of her body against his and just as he was about to wonder if she would miss his obvious enjoyment of the situation he felt her hips press harder against him. He pulled back, gasping for air as he took in her flushed face and beautiful eyes.
"Elizabeth," he started, but she hushed him with a finger to his mouth before she moved her hands to the top of her shirt and started undoing the buttons.
For the first time, John realised she wasn't in uniform, but that thought vanished quickly as John caught sight of her bra between her slowly parting shirt. John watched intently as she reached the bottom and un-tucked her shirt from her pants and without thinking about it, he reached up to her shoulders again and eased the item off, letting it drop to the floor.
They moved towards each other and kissed again, and John felt her moan into him as his rough hands drifted across her lower back; he sucked in a breath of his own as he felt her hands on his stomach, pushing up under his t-shirt, her fingers tracing a path naughtily up to his chest and she tweaked one of his nipples before running back down to take the edge of his top and raise it.
She stretched to lift it over his head and as her fingers brushed over his hands he gripped her wrists, tugging her arms up to show he wanted them to stay there, before he drew back down her arms in small lazy circles, down past her arm pits and down her sides. John reached the hem of her pants and wrapped his hands around her hips and he was grateful as her arms wrapped around his neck.
He glided back up and took her wrists from around his neck and pulled slowly backwards, guiding her across to the bed without looking away from her. As he stopped by the bed, John's lips found her chest while his hands made quick work of her bra and moved down her spine to her pants, he let his fingers float over her skin as he hunted for the zip and dropped the clothes to the floor. She stepped out of them, kicking them to the side.
He paused, taking the sight of her in, little white cotton panties were the only thing left on her, and he groaned in appreciation and turned her sharply and pushed her back onto the bed. John crouched down in front of her and ran his hands up her thighs, his eyes following the path of his fingers until he caught sight of her panting stomach. She was breathing hard at his touch, but he didn't stop, he moved up, taking hold of the elastic on her underwear, he pulled at them. She raised her hips up to let him remove them.
"God, you're beautiful," he said his eyes moving everywhere on her body, taking in every curve, every scar and every blemish.
He stood and removed his pants and boxers before kneeling back on the floor and leaning in to suck one of her nipples into his mouth, she arched and John followed her as she lay back on the bed, his body drifting up hers until his cock pressed against her slick sex.
They both moaned and began their movements against each other; John squeezed his eyes shut at the feel of her, he couldn't believe he was here, consciously aware of what he was doing and very much aware of how turned on she was at his movements.
He pulled back, littering her stomach with small kisses and feeling her breath hitch as he laid his path down to her sex where he slipped his tongue into her pussy lips and ran it through the length of her, stabbing at her flexing tunnel and flicking lightly at her clit before retracing his way back up her body to kiss her.
Their movements against each other began again and John broke the kiss, he couldn't concentrate on anything while he was against her, the head of his cock brushing her clit, he couldn't think at all, he could barely even breathe.
"John," she breathed and shifted her hips and John felt himself brush against her entrance. "God, John," she hissed and repeated the movement. A long moan was released and she shifted again and he took the opportunity.
His hands gripped her hips tightly as she moved to set him against her tunnel and he pushed, easing himself slowly into her warmth. Elizabeth arched against him, and John watched her face as best he could as she pushed back on the bed, her lips parted in a continuous moan of pleasure and her brow furrowed.
He pulled his gaze away from her and wrapped his tongue around her nipple as he began to move, thrusting slowly into her, his feet as leverage on the floor. He was in paradise, he didn't know it was possible to feel this good; she was hot and tight around him, and her hips twitched against him with each slowly increasing thrust.
He felt her muscles tighten and he abandoned her nipple and rested his head between her breasts. He was gonna come any minute now and there was no way he would be able to pull out of her, he didn't want to for a start, ever. He picked up the pace and with all the effort he could muster he looked up at her face.
Tittering on the edge of ecstasy, John breathed her name and pushed in hard, feeling her internal muscles clamp down on him as they came together, groaning, panting and the last sounds of flesh against flesh as John pumped into her a few more times before they both collapsed.
'I love you, Elizabeth,' he breathed before he moved to her side and closed his eyes.