Fic: Think of it as Camping - John/Elizabeth

[krisrussel]

Title: Think of it as Camping
Author: Kris Russel
Rating: PG
Spoilers: none
Summary: Elizabeth and John are stranded on an uninhabited planet and need to make do.
Author’s Note: written for the otl_fest on LJ. The prompt was 'Elizabeth/John - camping'. Also a big thx and *hug* to my beta Scary Kitty!


"You're kidding me, right?" Elizabeth said as she eyed the structure John proudly called 'their hiding place against the elements'.
John's face went from proud to pout. "You don't like it?"
You're lucky it's not raining."
"It'll keep us safe!" He assured her, but she gave him a sarcastic look.
From the sun maybe." She gave the branches, leaves and twigs another look. "Although I think that there's still too many holes in it to even keep us safe from the sun."
His pout grew. "You don't like it."
She rolled her eyes. "Your sad puppy look isn't going to help you out on this one."
Suddenly grinning, his eyes sparkled. "You can't blame a guy for trying."
"Good thing I know you better than that."
"I don't think that's always a good thing."
She laughed at that. "I bet you don't."
"Look, this is just for the one night. With a bit of luck, we'll make it to the gate tomorrow evening. Just... think of it as camping."
"Camping?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
He grinned again. "Yup, camping."
Sighing, she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I hate camping."

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing.
"Don't you dare laugh!" John chastised.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. He was sitting with his back to her, so how did he know she was on the verge of bursting out laughing?
"I wouldn't dare." She said and he scoffed.
"Sure..."
"Isn't there a lighter in the survival kit?"
John mumbled something incoherent.
"Excuse me?"
He turned to her and gave her a glare. "I forgot the survival kit in the jumper."
Elizabeth bit her lip again. "Well, then, seeing you can't manage to get a fire started, we can only hope the nights on this planet aren't too cold."
He glared again. "You can always give it a try."
She grinned and that worried him as she moved from her spot to the pile of branches he had collected. If she would get that fire going, he'd never hear the end of it.
In one easy move she picked a lighter out of her pocket and lit the branches.
"You had a lighter all along?" He asked, sounding baffled. "Why didn't you tell me?"
She gave him an innocent smile. "You never asked."

Her face scrunched up as she took a bite of the so called 'macaroni and cheese'.
"How can Rodney possibly like this?"
John shrugged. "Don't ask me. I dislike'm just as much as you do."
She slightly grinned at him and he grinned back, realizing the double meaning of his statement.
"Would Rodney believe me if I told him you were talking about the MREs?"
"Probably not." John admitted honestly and they shared a laugh.

"So, how come you never asked for leave on Earth in the year-and-a-half we've been back in contact?"
John stared in the fire. He could easily avoid the question with some humor, but for once he didn't want to. For once he wanted to share his problems with someone else.For once he wanted to be totally honest with her. She brought out that openness in him. It was one of the reason why he both feared and loved their close friendship.
He licked his lips and looked up at her. "I have no reason to return."
The finality of that statement made her heart ache. "But your family..."
He scoffed at that. "My mom is dead, my brother doesn't like me and my dad really doesn't like me. I'm fine in this galaxy."
She gave him a soft smile. "I'm glad you found your home here."
For a second it astounded him how easily she could read him and his gaze softened. "So am I."

"John, there's nothing here." Elizabeth pointed out.
"Safety first."
"This is an uninhabited world and we haven't come across any fierce or dangerous animals. Come to bed."
He gave her a look and she rolled her eyes.
"We have a long walk ahead of us tomorrow and I just want you to be rested."
"I will get some rest. But first I just want to make sure the fire will keep going and that there really are no fierce night creatures."
She knew his need to keep them and especially her safe was very big, so she gave him a nod. 
"Ok. Just promise me you'll get some sleep."
He nodded. "I will."
Giving him another look, she let out a small sigh and laid down, making herself comfortable in the pile of leaves under the shelter. Luckily the night was warm and there was no need for a blanket or a sleeping bag to keep her warm. She was surprised by how comfortable the bed of leaves was and was asleep within moments, the happenings of the day catching up with her.
John couldn't stop himself from looking at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful and at ease and if something were to happen to her, he would never forgive himself. Swallowing tightly, he tried to keep his emotions at bay.
He knew he was falling for her. No, scratch that. He had already fallen for her, madly and head over heels and as he looked at her now, laying there so peacefully, he just wanted to lay next to her and gather her in his arms.
Shaking off the thought, he stood up and checked the perimeter again. All seemed fine and he should be happy with that, but that meant that he had ran out of excuses to stay awake and if she found out he had stayed awake for no apparent reason, she'd kick his behind. Even though it would just be a verbal kicking, he still winced at the thought.
Looking at her again, he sighed. The bed of leaves seemed comfortable and there was ample room next to her for him to lay down and not touch her.
Right... he could do this.
Taking a deep breath, he sat down next to her and put his P90 within his immediate reach. Next he shrugged off his tactical vest and put it beside him.
Refusing to look at her again, he laid down on his back and slightly grimaced at the stars he could see through the ceiling. Elizabeth had been right; his little structure absolutely sucked.
Closing his eyes, he tried not to focus on her even breathing or on her arm that moved and was barely half an inch away from him.
~Sleep, John... just sleep.~

Elizabeth didn't know how long she had slept, but when she woke, up, her first thought was that she was very comfortable.
Her second thought was that her head wasn't laying on the leaves anymore and neither was her arm.
Her third thought was that she could hear a steady but fast heartbeat and she frowned at that, still half-asleep and unsure about what was happening.
As she opened her eyes, she saw her hand in front of her, fisting black fabric. ~crap~
Looking up, she looked straight into the soft hazel eyes of her military commander. ~double crap~
There was something in his eyes that made her swallow and made her very aware of the fact that she was laying half on top of him and that their legs were entwined and she was still holding tight onto his shirt and oh God... His eyes... 
"Lizbeth." John softly whispered, barely believing he had woken up with her entwined around him. And her eyes, oh god... if he read them correctly she wanted him as much as he wanted her but that was impossible, wasn't it? How could someone like Doctor Elizabeth Weir want him?
"John." She whispered, her voice slightly jumping.
For a moment they just stared at each other, letting their eyes do all the talking.
Then he gently cupped the side of her face in his hand, his thumb tracing her temple and she leaned into the touch without hesitation.
Their faces lingered closer and she felt his breath on her lips.
*Sheppard, come in? Sheppard you there?*
Elizabeth jumped off of him and stared at the radio.
John mentally cursed and grabbed the radio from his tacvest.
"What the hell do you want, Rodney?"
*Well, I'm sorry for trying to rescue you. We could just return to Atlantis and leave you to fend for yourselves, but I don't want to leave Elizabeth in your incapable hands. And besides...*
During Rodney's rant, John looked at Elizabeth who was pacing the clearing on front of their little structure and wringing her hands. He could tell by the way her body moved that she was thinking about what had just happened and that she didn't seem to happy with it... she looked confused and unsure and it unsettled him. This wasn't like her. She was usually the cool one of them both.
Sighing he turned back to the radio, interrupting Rodney's rant.
"Rodney, shut up and just come and get us. We're in a clearing in the woods. It'll be easy enough to find."
Before Rodney could reply, John shut his radio off and threw it in the general direction of his tacvest, never taking his eyes off Elizabeth who was still pacing.
"Elizabeth?"
She didn't answer and kept pacing, clearly deep in thought.
He sighed and got up, slowly walking over to her as he didn't want to startle her.
"Elizabeth?" He said softly and she turned to him.
"John..." She almost sounded surprised and he winched at that. 
As she started wringing her hands again, he took them in his and she looked up at him with large eyes.
"Rodney will be here soon with a jumper."
She nodded and he stepped closer to her. When she took a step back, he let go of her hands. It was clear to him that she wasn't ready for this yet. Not yet.
"Yes." She suddenly said, composing herself. "Let's get ready before Rodney gets here."
He recognized her mood. She had turned into diplomatic mode.
Raking a hand through his hair, he picked up his gear, put it on and turned his radio back on.

Less than an hour later they were back in Atlantis and if Rodney didn't stop whining about him needing to fix another jumper Sheppard had crashed, John would punch him in the face.
Luckily for both him and Elizabeth's sanity, Carson ushered them into the infirmary and told Rodney to leave them alone.
Elizabeth was cleared first and she briskly walked out of the infirmary, not looking back at John.
The action made Carson frown and he turned to the Colonel.
"Did anything happen to her?"
John shrugged. "In between crashing in the jumper and being rudely awoken by Rodney's irritating voice?"
Carson gave the other man a nod. He knew something had happened between them. It was very noticable by the way they both were acting.
"Look, lad, it's none of my business, but it's clear neither of you are really happy with what happened. Try to at least talking to her."
John mentally laughed. If there was one thing he wasn't good at, it was talking... talking about feelings was even worse.
"Don't worry, Carson." He said as he jumped of the bed and grabbed his jacket. "We'll work it out. Am I allowed to go now?"
"Aye, but just as I said to Elizabeth: take the rest of the day off."
John stalked out of the infirmary and went straight to his quarters. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. He knew he should go look for Elizabeth, but he was sure he couldn't handle her rejection. By now she would have realized that what happened a couple of hours ago was a mistake and he was certain she would wave him away if he tried to talk to her about it.

When his chime rang, John startled awake. He was surprised he had fallen asleep so easily and as he glanced at the clock, he was even more surprised it was just before midnight. He barely ever fell asleep before midnight.
Crawling out of bed, he walked over to the door and rubbed a hand over his face.
As he opened the door, he took a surprised step back. "Elizabeth?"
She gave him a nervous smile. "Hi."
Raking a hand through his already messy bed hair, he took a step back. "Euhm... come on in."
She nodded and tentatively followed him inside his room. Noticing the messy sheets, she gave him an apologetic look.
"Did I wake you up?"
"Don't worry about it." He said with a wave of his hand and raked that hand through his hair again while licking his lips.
Elizabeth recognized the signs of his nervousness right away and knew she wasn't doing any better as she started wringing her hands again.
"God, John. This is ridiculous. We should be able to talk about what happened without being nervous, shouldn't we?"
He nodded and feared what she was about to say next. This was it. This was the point where she was going to break his heart and tell him it had all been one big mistake. He wanted to close his eyes and stick his fingers in his ears and hum, but he knew that would be really childish, so he took a deep breath and looked at her.
"There is only one thing about it that I regret." She said.
Yup, this is it. The one thing I regret is almost kissing you.
"I regret we didn't finish what we started."
"Ok, I get it. Thank you for..." John fell silent and stared at her. "What?"
She blushed a bit and he thought it was insanely adorable, especially when a tiny smile appeared on her face.
"I regret we didn't finish what we started." She repeated, the blush spreading.
A relieved grin appeared on his face. "Me too."
For a moment she seemed relieved and that made him feel relieved too and then they were staring at each other again.
She took a step closer to him and he reached out for her and cupped her cheek in his hand, drawing her closer to him
When their lips softly touched, he could barely believe this was actually happening. The kiss stayed gentle and didn't deepen, and when their lips parted, their foreheads rested against each other.
"I want it all." She whispered and he knew she wasn't just talking about sex.
"Me too." He assured her and they kissed again. This time their kiss did deepen and hands started exploring and they couldn't seem to get enough of each other.

When Elizabeth opened her eyes, she lay sprawled over John again... a very naked John this time and she was equally as naked.
She smiled and held him just a bit tighter.
"Mornin'." He whispered and she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Hmmmm." She sighed and buried her head deeper into his chest.
"When are we going to plan our next camping trip?" He whispered and she snorted.
"Never. I prefer a comfortable bed over a tent."
He dramatically sighed. "Too bad. You can have a lot of fun in the outdoors."
She snorted again, then yawned and both those actions made him smile.
"It's still early." He said quietly. "Try to sleep some more."
"I want to do other things." She whispered and moved her hand down his body.
He groaned and it made her grin. Last night the decision to come over and talk to him had been a very difficult one. She knew it would change everything between them and she had feared it in a way. But right now, being in bed with him like this and knowing he wanted more than just this... right now it all felt right and she didn't regret overcoming her fears for one second. Right now she just wanted to enjoy this quiet morning together with him.

The End