Rating: well, this chapter in PG13, but it's useless alone and the rest of the chapters are NC17, so...

Chapter 4: Another day

Beta: thanks omanche rider
AN: I am so sorry! don't know where my head went. my humblest apologies to Lieuteant Cadman. bad bad bad writer tsk tsk tsk. many thanks to the anoymous person who let me know! :)
May 31: expanded chapter. next one.. hopefully not far
May 8: just a little present. I know its not the hot stuff.. but this was ready now.

Standing in front of Elizabeth's full-length mirror and trying to wipe the worst creases out of his uniform, settling with a wince for just making sure it was sitting neatly on his frame, John looked at the woman tying her shoes while sitting on the bed. "If you're stopping by the infirmary, I'll grab some breakfast and bring it to your office."

"John..."

"We have time to eat before they show up, Elizabeth." He gave her a firm look.

She had to smile in return at her stubborn colonel, not the least willing to argue over something he'd done more than once before.

She got up, walking behind him to wipe at some of the wrinkles on his wide back. "You could bring some spare clothe..." She caught his eye in the mirror and hesitated at her own back-handed forwardness, before straightening herself out of the uncertainty; no second guessing yourself, not about this.

Before she could say anything else, he took her hand over his shoulder with a teasing grin, pulling her body gently up against him, kissing the back of her hand with silent caring, "Was that a proposition doctor?" he teased, "Or a comment on my uniform?"

She rolled her eyes with a grin. "Maybe I'm protecting my stash of razors. Take it any way you want colonel, but we really need to get going. Especially if you're starving."

As she opened the door for them, she touched his shoulder in passing, "Make yourself at home, John." When he looked at her, looking for confirmation, she nodded, "Really."

Walking into the practically-deserted infirmary, Elizabeth frowned, expecting Carson. She addressed the lone male nurse entering reports at a console instead, "Excuse me, is Dr. Beckett around?"

"Err," he blushed, "Dr. Beckett... was called away."

She frowned, started to ask what had happened when his blush registered and she blinked quickly to avoid smiling. "I see. What's the status of the patients?"

"Everyone was discharged yesterday, Ma'am, Drs. Beckett and Heightmeyer seemed confident they all... would..." The poor boy cleared his throat and dropped what he'd been trying to say, "And no new complaints have come in since. Dr. Beckett ordered everyone to check in after 24 hours, or earlier if the symptoms reappeared." He shrugged, still not looking at her, "No one has come requesting medication or reporting further problems yet."

She kept her expression carefully blank for his sake, "Do we know how long the..." Even she stumbled here. Finally giving up, shaking her head with a grin, "How long the effects of the treatment last?"

He returned a short, hesitant grin of his own, "Teyla has reported the... effects seemed to last roughly 8 hours...?" He left the question hanging, obviously not wanting to overstep his bounds, but nonetheless the ranking medical officer in the midst of a medical crisis.

She smiled ruefully, making herself nod in confirmation, her turn not to look at him. "Thank you for the update."

"Yes ma'am." They nodded to each other as she left, quickly tapping her earpiece as she walked.

"Carson?"

It took several seconds to get a sleepy response, "Aye? Elizabeth?"

She smiled, swallowing the urge to make indelicate comments that she would never want aimed toward herself; she was far too cheerful this morning! "Sorry Carson, Rodney called earlier and I told him we'd see him in my office at 0800. I'm afraid I assumed..." She dropped the phrase with a shrug, not wanting to make it sound like an accusation.

She heard mumbling in the background, then, "A'll be there, Elizabeth."

"Thanks Carson, Weir out."

She tapped her earpiece again, "Teyla?"

"Yes, Dr. Weir?"

She smiled at the immediate, bouncy response. "I'm having Rodney and Carson meet me in my office at 8. Would you and Ronon join us?"

"Of course. We will be there. Teyla out."

Walking the last steps to her office with a jaunt in her step, she was clear-headed enough now to start thinking about just what the demographics of the situation were likely to work out to. She looked around the control room as she walked by and realized that the faces were subtly different. More of a concentration of the new staff. Fewer of the original expedition members. She needed to congratulate John and everyone else in charge of departments for adjusting shifts.

Ummm, original members... She booted up her computer, thinking curiously that she was surprised Rodney had been up.

"Breakfast is served!"

She looked up with a smile as John dropped coffee, a breakfast sandwich and apples on her desk, taking his own sandwich to his chair and digging in as though he hadn't eaten in a week. When she stared at him a little too long instead of eating, he waggled his brows teasingly at her but nodded at her food firmly.

Realizing that she was starving, she reached for her food with a grin.

Avidly watching him lick the last of the apple juice from his fingers, Elizabeth took another sip of heavenly coffee, admitting to herself that it was very pleasant to do something so commonplace as have breakfast with her man, watching her man. No matter how they finally got together.

Although come to think of it... Her eyebrows furrowed lightly in sudden thought.

"You never hesitated..." Her voice was soft, only half-way talking to him.

He stopped pretending not to be aware and pleased at her perusal and tilted his head at her in confusion.

"In the infirmary. When I..." She blushed, remembering with faint shame that she'd never asked!

A wide grin slowly grew on his face. "When you chose me over every man in the city?" She laughed in relief, shaking her head fondly at his, in the end, deserved cockiness. "You didn't really think I would, did you?"

She shrugged, saying apologetically, "I wasn't really thinking."

He quirked a curious brow, grin fading as he quieted, "You're thinking now...?"

He stared at her silently, a soft affection in his eyes and expression that she realized had been there for a long time now. Breaking the contact for just a moment, the silent knowledge that she had to have been returning the same non-verbal admission slipped into her mind. She smiled, looking back into his eyes, "No. I wouldn't really have doubted you would. But you deserved to be asked."

He grinned, "You did ask." When she raised her brow in question he elaborated with a shrug, "In effect. When we got to your quarters."

She watched him, ignoring the faint voice hinting that they should start work now - they had a meeting in minutes-. Everyone was always saying she worked too hard, well, now she had a reason not to and she was taking it!

"Did you really think there was a chance I would choose someone else?"

His grin faded, "I..." He looked thoughtful, "I wasn't thinking too clearly myself. I was kinda freaked at the idea of..." He looked away, wincing as colour rose to his cheeks, "Of saying things wrong." He looked her in the eye, "Of somehow making you think that I... was only offering, only wanted to offer... medical services." He shrugged with a quick, embarrassed grin, unaware of his voice speeding up again, "I told you, screwing up is my speciality. Nothing I said would have been right..."

She shook her head with an affectionate smile, "You did fine. As usual." She added the last with a firm look when he opened his mouth to argue.

They both settled back in their seats, sipping the last of their coffees. After the briefest of locked gazes, they silently sent their eyes away from each other, knowing from experience that keeping the contact too long made it that much harder to separate and left them distracted.

Elizabeth happened to look out into the corridor as a male scientist walked by. With a far-too-recognizable and obvious spring in his step. Unfortunately bringing the day's problem front-and-centre in her mind.

"I wonder how much backlash there's going to be over this?"

He looked up with a frown from staring in his cup, "From the IOA?"

"Oh, I'm not even thinking about them until this is over and dealt with! No. I mean from the men here on Atlantis. Fights breaking out as the ones.." She rolled her eyes, "'Getting some' grin a little too widely and everyone else gets jealous that they get to get lucky and be excused from the rules. Even the women!..." By the end of the thought, Elizabeth had put her cup down and was holding her head in her hands, letting something between a growl and a moan escape.

John winced, ever so glad he'd followed his head and held every hint of swagger out of his behaviour this morning. He hadn't been sure if ignoring or glaring away the teasing grins would be better, but had settled for pretending there was nothing out of the ordinary about the day, hoping people would settle down.

He wanted to reassure her that she was wrong... but he could all too easily see her scenarios unfolding. He doubted their people had been following the rules to the letter all these months; well, they now knew they hadn't. Another thing that was going to give them headaches. Nonetheless, the fact that some were being dispensed from the rules... Ummm...

He sighed, anticipated annoyance making him grumpy, touching her hand casually as he set his cup down on the desk, staying sitting up so he could be closer to her for a bit. "Speaking of those rules. Technically all the women with that chemical footprint should get a dispensation."

She looked up with a frown, "And what happens after this is over? The Stargate program has dealt with rule-breaking due to 'alien influence' almost since its inception. But we're not talking about being taken over... We can say these people were forced to take preventive measures, but if what you all suspect is the case, then we are talking about couples who care about each other, some even having already managed to establish relationships, under the radar. I don't imagine an y of them are going to be willing to just return to the status quo, or worse, once we do deal with the disease." Her direct look was an unvoiced reinforcement that she counted herself in that statement.

He grinned quickly with a faint nod, giving a quick tap to the back of one of her hands. Little things that could go unnoticed but told her they were on the same page. Then he sat back in his chair, losing the humour as he tried to come up with either solution or reason to cheer up.

Neither had found anything to add when they heard Carson and Rodney, chatting as they approached her office.

Seeing the others also on their way, John got up and everyone found a spot to stand. Not really surprisingly, rather than his usual quiet corner, Ronon stationed himself right behind Teyla. And the small smile on Carson's face was almost as clear as the huge grin on Rodney's. If even Carson was that obvious...

Elizabeth gave John an exasperated 'I told you so' look, both of them tensing with the burdens of being in charge.

"So. Rodney?" Her voice a little sharp, considering his silence now and the pain his wake-up call had led to.

He winced, "Well, actually, I couldn't find Zelenka, and I ..." He blushed, carefully not looking at anyone, "Was... distracted. After I called you."

Elizabeth stood up slowly, straightening to aim her medium-level glare right at the scientist. "You got 'distracted'. After waking me up?" She kept her voice rock-steady and even, feeling how exceedingly furious she was and making sure that none of it came through.

Not only had she, for once, had no desire to get up early, but there was a small, very human, very unreasonable voice that blamed Rodney for the pain in John's eyes this morning. However, none of that was actually the man's fault and she could not allow herself the luxury of yelling at her subordinate for it.

She tightened her jaw, forcibly switching topics away from making him squirm. "Zelenka didn't answer his headset?"

"Well. Actually I went looking for him just before... I... didn't try his headset..." The usually brilliant scientist withered under the roomful of disbelieving eyes. "It's just. I mean, what's the rush. No one is actually in danger anymore. And I mean, it's not like the medicine is unpleasant, like an inje.." He blushed, stumbling, "A needle of something every hour. Or something equally uncomfortable." He physically shrank away from the glaring Teyla.

John smirked at his friend, enjoying the way he was avoiding the women's glares after his verbal fumble. "Maybe not, Rodney, but it severely limits who can do what jobs."

"We also do not dare travel to other planets while being carriers of this disease. And we will run out of supplies sooner rather than later."

"Yeah Rodney, feel like eating military rations for the indefinite future? 'Cause the Deadalus won't be bringing anything else."

"I'm sure the SGC will be back online soon enough."

"Rodney! Enough." Elizabeth glared at him for playing the recalcitrant child. "It's a disease, one that is dangerous to health. It needs to be cured. Point final."

She waited for his embarrassed, oddly grudging agreement, then changed tack, "Oh yes, and speaking of children. Carson, did you have a specific reason to want to boost the contraceptives? Are you concerned about their reliability?"

She didn't look at John while she spoke, didn't really stop to think at all about what she was implying. This was all a lot easier when it was others who were in trouble rather than herself!

"No. Not especially. But... what with... errr. The fact that they're guaranteed ta be needed... it seems foolish ta take chances."

Into the stilted silence, Rodney finally chimed in, "Anyway. My idea was that since we assume this is spreading through air or contact, Atlantis might be able to detect it. Like it did that nanovirus." He ran down, shrugging as he threw in the flaw to his idea, "Assuming the ancients encountered this."

"But it's not." John's voice had its usual sarcastic edge when it came to Rodney and his assumptions.

The man's eyes rolled in automatic response. "It's not responding the same way. But lets face it, if a normal group of people lived here, this would not have been nearly such a dangerous thing. Most people wouldn't even have noticed it."

Teyla and Ronon's brows rose at the 'normal', but everyone else accepted Earth's cultural relationship taboos and their problems. "So what are you saying?" Elizabeth's voice was impatient.

He shrugged, "That there might be a specialized system somewhere that is set up to sense this. It might even be reporting the problem right now, we're just not 'listening' to it."

Elizabeth nodded understanding, "Ok. Call Zelenka and the two of you go through the systems with a fine-toothed comb. Anything else?"

John straightened uncomfortably, reminded of his thought the day before. He looked at Carson, "Is there any chance this is affecting men too somehow?"

Carson's brow rose, "Since we have no idea what's happening, anythin's possible." He frowned, tilting his head, his posture giving out sudden discomfort, "Was there something in particular ye've noticed?"

Elizabeth watched the two, seeing Rodney out the corner of her eye join them in freezing.

John raised his chin, reading the doctor well enough to guess the man knew exactly what they were talking about. "I think you already know, doc." They both looked at Rodney with raised brows for confirmation.

"I... errr. Well." He tightened his lips when they continued to glare, "OK, fine, yes!"

"Alright, that's enough. What the hell is going on??" Elizabeth glared at the men, not remotely sympathetic to their embarrassment considering what the women were going through.

The three verbally passed the buck for a second until Elizabeth fixed her glare on John, since he'd started it. And was hers, she thought with a mental grin.

He winced, "I... we, noticed that we're... more... quick to react." His eyes asked Carson for confirmation, glad to see him nod. "More aware of... you." He nodded specifically to her.

"Lieutenant Cadman, in my case." In this group at least, Carson didn't bother mincing words, "I'd imagine each man is more... sensitive to the person they..." His hand twitched, trying to come up with a term, "Are close to."

Teyla raised a brow, "Might this not simply be a result of the change in your, our, relationships?"

John shook his head, "No. Not..." He rolled his eyes, ignoring Elizabeth's smirk at the fact that it was his turn to have his intimate reactions in the public eye. "Look. It's a lot more powerful than..." He glared at the room, locking his jaw mutinously.

Elizabeth toned down her smile, "Ok, Carson will run tests on the men as well. Anything else?"

As everyone headed out to their own work, she tagged along with Carson, simply saying, "Booster shot," when he looked a question at her.

She hoped John would remember to get changed, now that he had time and she was embarrassed to realize she was wondering if he would bring lunch too... "Well. At least we can work in peace."

"Eh?"

"The effects seem to stay away for at least 8 hours..."

When he was silent she turned to him, meeting his disbelieving look. "Lass, like most medicines, a expect that takin' the next dose before the previous one completely wears off would be a sight more... effective. Safer."

She gave him a playfully suspicious look, wondering briefly if Carson would take advantage of this to push his pet peeves. "So don't work late and get... desperate again?"

He gave her a small smile, "This epidemic is straining all of our euphemisms"

"Zelenka?"

"Yes, Rodney?"

"Where are you?"

Radek raised his head from the console he was examining, frowning in curiosity. "I am in my lab. Where else would I be?"

"Well you weren't there earlier!"

The Czech scientist rolled his eyes, going back to his work as he spoke, "If you mean I didn't stay up all night, then you are correct. I do occasionally require rest."

"Well fine. But I needed you this morning..."

"Then why did you not call?"

"Because!.. I. Didn't think of it. But anyway, I need you in that Ancient medical lab we found the other day." Zelenka's brow had risen with the first part, but by the end he'd given up his own work as lost and was hurrying out to the nearest transporter, mumbling under his breath.

TBC