Stargate Atlantis Fanfic - Change
Title: Change
Characters / Shippings: John, Elizabeth [JohnxElizabeth]
Rating: PG
Words: 492
Notes: Set right after episode 3.07 "Common Ground". Prompt #03: sky from 64damn_prompts
"I was worried about you, you know."
John could recognize Elizabeth's voice in any tone. He only smiled a little, replying, "Nice to know I'm cared for," before taking another swig of beer.
He heard her smile in return as she sat down next to him, her feet dangling over the dark, rippling waves. "I'm serious," she said quietly.
He turned to look at her, catch her gaze. Such solemn eyes, such a thoughtful face..."So am I," he murmured.
He thought he caught a quirk at the edge of her lips, but perhaps he imagined it as she turned away. "Kolya escaped," she said, in a conversational tone. "Rodney couldn't track him."
"I know."
"We haven't heard anything about your friend the Wraith..."
John grimaced. "I know," he said again, putting the bottle to his lips.
There was a small silence. He looked at the sky as he tilted his head back to drink, watching the stars. They seemed so bright on this planet...much brighter than they ever had on Earth. He liked sitting here at night, best--it felt a little less lonely.
"Why did you do it?" he heard Elizabeth ask beside him. "Let the Wraith go, I mean. He had fed off of you--"
"Because he didn't want to die," John replied simply. "And honestly, neither did I. I couldn't blame him for wanting the same thing I did." He caught her eye again, quirking a grin. "That'd just be selfish, dontcha think?"
Elizabeth watched him, kept his gaze until he turned back to the dark ocean. "You've changed," she whispered. "You're not the Major Sheppard I picked for the team in Antarctica."
He paused, then said, "Oh yeah, that's right, now it's Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard. Kinda forgot about that."
She chuckled. "Maybe not as much as I thought."
He smiled to hear her laugh, glancing at her sideways. "Don't you have duties to go to? People to order around?"
"I always do," she said, her finger tracing a pattern on the metal pier. "I don't get to escape as often as I'd like."
He regarded her silently for a moment: the way her hair always seemed to be falling out even when it wasn't; how a piece was hanging down the side of her cheek, casting a shadow in the light from the city; how he had an unexplicable urge to tuck it behind her ear...
"Stay," he said quietly. She looked up suddenly in surprise. "Have a beer. Enjoy the night. Watch the stars. Things can wait until morning." So saying, he lay back on the ground, reaching over his head for a beer from the pack he had brought, and offering one to her. She held it in her hand for a moment, staring as if she wasn't quite sure what she was seeing. Then a small smile came over her face, and she lay down on the pier next to him.
"Sure," she replied.