Title: What will it take?
Author: MsRaven
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up to Sanctuary
Note: Sheppard-Weir. Post-ep for Sanctuary. Un-betaed. Spawned from a conversation with Little Red. Total and complete fluff.

Elizabeth walks into her quarters and finally allows her shoulders to droop. Today has been harder than most days. Between Rodney's uncharacteristic venom and John's little dating service, it had been an unusual day. And that's saying a lot for this place.

It was almost as if someone had re-written their personalities and botched it completely.

Even she hadn't been feeling quite herself today. Why had she spent all day apologizing to a woman she didn't know? She lets out a sigh and pulls off her shirt, throwing it onto a nearby chair. Elizabeth shakes her head tiredly as her pants and bra follow her shirt onto the chair. She doesn't bother to hunt down a clean set of pajamas. She hasn't done laundry in weeks.

She experiences a small pang of guilt as she bends to turn back the covers. She should be in the Control Room waiting for John to return from Proculus, but she just doesn't have the energy to worry anymore. She's confident that Chaya won't let the Wraith harm him. Elizabeth had gone to bed after asking herself for the umpteenth time whether she was more worried that John was hurt or that he wasn't and chose not to return.

She has one knee on the bed when the doors to her quarters swish open. She turns in alarm, instictively grabbing the pillow to cover herself. A very irate looking John Sheppard is now pacing just inside the doors. He is thankfully far enough into the room that the doors close behind him.

It takes her a long moment to regain her senses.

"John! What do you think you're -"

"What's it going to take to get through to you!" yells John.

Elizabeth's indignation is cut short by the unexpected question.

"I mean, come on," continues John. "It's been almost eight months. First I flaunt Teyla right under your nose, then I bring home an Ancient! Still nothing."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I thought we'd at least be sleeping together by now!"

Elizabeth almost drops the pillow in shock. She's rendered mute as John continues to pace and talk to the room in general.

"I figured that we'd get to know another better - a month tops. The lack of strong alcohol on base did delay my schedule a bit, but I didn't think it would take that long for us to get to the friends-with-benefits stage. I was sure we'd be way into the 'something more' by now."

That last part catches Elizabeth's attention.

"Something more?" she asks quietly.

The tone of her voice causes John to stop pacing and look at her for the first time since entering her quarters. The fact that she's standing there in only her underwear and a pillow is hard to miss. But to his credit, John looks straight into her eyes and smiles.

"We're not really the type of people to be satisfied with being just friends-with-benefits."

"No, we're not," Elizabeth responds with her own smile.

She watches with wide eyes as John walks towards her slowly. He places his hand against the side of her neck, his thumb lightly caressing her jaw. She can't keep herself from closing her eyes and leaning into his touch. She knows she should stop this and tell him to go, but...

"It will only postpone the inevitable."

Elizabeth's eyes fly open at John's words. She expects to see his standard smirk, but he's only wearing a soft smile and his eyes reflect a patience she didn't think he had inside him.

"There are so many reason why we shouldn't do this," Elizabeth forces herself to say.

"But I think we'll find some pretty great reasons why we should."

Strangely enough, it's the return of the smirk that breaks the last of Elizabeth's defenses. It's the smirk that has drawn her to him from the beginning. The smirk that embodies the carefree flyboy that is John Sheppard.

It's Elizabeth that closes the small distance between them, but John is quick to recover from his surprise. This kiss has none of the expected awkwardness, only heat and passion and a touch of something more. John's hand buries itself in her hair as the other comes to land on the small of her back. She feels his sharp intake of air as his hand comes in contact with her bare skin.

Elizabeth drops the pillow...