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"Okay, so you're all ready for tomorrow?" asked Elizabeth scanning over her latest pile of paperwork, which had been ever so kindly presented to her by Rodney.

"All set," said Rodney through a mouthful of his sandwich and spraying crumbs over the table top.

"You have to do that here?" asked John, flicking one of the crumbs onto the floor.

Rodney stopped chewing momentarily and then after an exaggerated roll of the eyes continued to eat and talk at the same time, "I've been working all night. This is breakfast…or is that lunch? I forget."

John shook his head and reached for Rodney's plate. His hand was slapped away and he gave Elizabeth a stressed look.

"We've had a.." Rodney bit into his sandwich again, "Preliminary look at the site. All indications are good. The ruins are a ten minute walk to the east," he paused to swallow, "Really interesting," he said finally popping the last piece of bread into his mouth.

"Finally," said Aiden from the end of the table.

"What?" asked Rodney wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand, "You never seen anyone eat before?"

"Not so fast," said Aiden with a shake of his head.

"And with not so much…mess," said Teyla smiling.

"It was a rhetorical question. Rhetorical. It means I didn't want your thoughts on the matter," Stated Rodney brushing crumbs off his hands and the debriefing table.

Elizabeth looked over to John who was giving Rodney a light shove on the shoulder, "Crumbs," he said pointing down at his lap.

Rodney waved a hand at him dismissively, "The downfall of many a man," he said snarkily.

"They'll be the downfall of you if you don't stop spraying them in my direction,"

"Oh please," said Rodney crossing his arms across his chest.

John sighed, "I want to take a puddle jumper over the area. It has all the markings of a possible alpha site, should we need it. Just want to do a little recon."

"I thought you already did that?" asked Rodney suddenly, "Are you saying it's not safe there?"

John shook his head and closed his eyes, "The first sweep of the perimeter indicated that the area was secure. It's well covered, it's on a main track not far from the gate." He gave Elizabeth a look, "It's safe."

"Okay," said Elizabeth finally clasping her hands, "You should all get some rest. You leave early tomorrow morning."

Each member got up slowly and ambled out of the room, but John lingered back for a moment after the others had left. He sensed that Elizabeth had more to say to him. Perhaps it was intuition, or perhaps it was the way she had fixed him with those green eyes just as he was evacuating his seat.

"Major. I was wondering…..Is there room for one more on this mission?" She kept her eyes down, focused on the mass of papers in front of her.

John shuffled from one foot to the other and seemed to be grimacing, "I really don't want Bates coming with us. Him and Teyla don't get on. Oh not that botanist guy, he's just..well……Rodney has a problem with botanists. I think he holds them responsible for lemons or something." He was just about to reel off more names when Elizabeth interjected.

"Rodney has a problem with most people," said Elizabeth glancing up at her 2IC, "No, I was actually talking about me."

John raised his eyebrows and licked his lips, "You?"

"It's been a while since I've stepped through the gate," she said standing up and pulling a pile of papers into her arms, "You also forget I can translate ancient," she said dropping one of the papers.

"Are you sure?", John bent to pick it up but on getting back up he saw the excited gleam in her eyes. "We'd love to have you," he said putting it back on top of the pile. On seeing Elizabeth struggle he grabbed the whole pile, "Where to?"

"My office," she said walking behind him, "And I promise I wont interfere. This is your area. Strictly military," She said bouncing with nervous energy. "Of course if we were to meet some of the inhabitants, I would hope you would defer the diplomatic matters to me."

John now rolled his eyes, "Sure," he said to appease her, and if he was truly honest he never really enjoyed the whole meet and greet experience anyway. "On one condition." stated John, with a glint in his eye.

"What?" asked Elizabeth apprehensively.

--------

"Is this really necessary?" asked Elizabeth as John handed her the Beretta. "I thought you said this planet was safe."

John handed her a pair of ear protectors and some goggles, "It is." He said pushing her to the line at his makeshift shooting range.

They were in a large abandoned room with a target displayed on a wire at the other end of the room. Somebody had painted a rather haphazard white line as a marker of where to stand. "I just like to know that all of my team members are prepared if they need to be," he gave her a comforting pat on the arm.

Elizabeth raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "Team member?"

John sighed, "Just in case."

"I've held a gun before," she said pushing a stray hair from her eyes.

"Ah, but have you ever fired one?" asked John brandishing a serious expression that his eyes betrayed.

"I won't need a gun tomorrow," she said trying to keep her fingers away from the trigger.

"Doesn't mean that you won't ever need to use one."

He pulled out his own handgun and showed her how to disengage the safety and how to reload it after all of the bullets had been expelled.

"Now you want to keep your stance loose to begin, feet shoulder width apart," he said demonstrating, "Move your arms out, keep your shoulders loose, but lock at the elbows, one hand on the trigger the other clasped underneath." He fired off a few shots and hit the target dead centre.

He fired a few more off, his face a mask of concentration.

Elizabeth watched the hard lines of his handsome face and knew not to be fooled by his outward exterior. He had the ability to switch to a killer at the given opportunity, and she was suddenly reminded of him shooting Kolya when she had been in his grasp. For a moment she had thought she had been shot herself, but John had aimed with keen accuracy at Kolya and he had fallen through the gate with an audible gasp.

Not only had he done that, but he had killed a whole contingent of Geni spies in cold blood that day. Not forgetting the initial shot to Sumner's heart which seemed to begin this whole fiasco.

He turned to her and breathed out hard, "See, easy."

Elizabeth walked to the line and placed the cumbersome earphones on. She tried to replicate John's pose and bought the gun up in front of her to aim.

Closing her eyes she pulled the trigger. She was surprised when she felt the stillness in her hands. She guessed she had always expected a gun to make more of an impact.

John stepped forward and pulled her earphones down, "You didn't take off the safety." He said disengaging it, "And it helps if you open your eyes when you fire." He smiled and replaced the head gear, indicating for her to have another go.

She fired off a few shots but none of the bullets hit home.

She pulled the headgear off and set it down to the side, "Well I think he got the idea." She said smiling feebly.

Elizabeth went to hand the gun back to John but he wouldn't take it, instead, he made her stand in position again.

Elizabeth was about to protest when she felt him press himself against her back. His strong arms came up around her and for a moment she thought he might hug her. Instead, his hands clasped around hers and corrected her stance, "You feel that?" he said.

She could feel his hot breath on her neck and it made the hairs stand on end.

She nodded. She could smell a mixture of musk and soap, which made her slowly realise how much she missed being close to the opposite sex. Of course, not John Sheppard opposite sex.

He was strictly off limits.

Purely a professional relationship.

"Try now," he said correcting her right elbows position. "That should be more comfortable."

She licked her lips and concentrated on being calm. She could feel John's heartbeat against her own and she honed in on it. It was good to know that John Sheppard was human like the rest of them, even if it times he defied the odds and limitations.

She fired off a shot and it struck the target. Not the centre, but close.

"See now you're causing damage," said John taking a step back, but not completely letting go, "Try again, keep the target in sight, stare straight down the line"

Elizabeth pulled the trigger and felt the slight kick as the gun hitched back in her hands. An 'oh' escaped her lips as she watched the bullet strike the top of the targets head.

John put his hands on her shoulders and gave them a slight squeeze, "Good job. He's dead."

---------------------

Rodney ducked as the puddle jumper above whipped up dirt and debris and promptly deposited it in his face.

"He's doing that on purpose!" shouted Rodney, getting into a standing position and shielding his eyes from the sun.

"You're imagining things Doctor Mckay, now move," said Stackhouse pushing him on.

"I'm moving," he said scrambling up a steep hill, "It just strikes me as somewhat strange how he would choose to take such a low flight path over my head," he said readjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

"Shut up Mckay," he heard Aiden call out from behind him.

"I'm sure Major Sheppard would not deliberately intend to do as you believe," said Teyla the voice of reason.

----------

"Did you see that?" exclaimed John grinning from ear to ear and turning to Elizabeth.

She was sat in the co-pilot seat, fingers resting loosely in her lap. She seemed distant, contemplating the view ahead of her.

"I saw," she said not looking at him.

"I was just messing around." He said defensively taking a firmer hold of the controls. "I wouldn't have hit him."

Elizabeth was yet again staring out the front, quietly drumming her fingers now, completely lost in her own thoughts

"Penny for your thoughts," he said readjusting some of the controls.

She turned and gave him a weary smile, but her eyes betrayed something deeper, "I was just thinking about the wraith," she said swallowing hard, "Not a day goes by where they don't seem to pop into my head."

"I know what you mean," said John giving her a sideways glance.

Elizabeth gave herself a mental shake and urged herself to snap out of the mood she had woken up with. "So, how's this place looking?" she asked peering out through the view screen.

He shrugged, "Seems okay, no sign of inhabitants so far," and then a little bit quieter he said, "It's not Atlantis."

Major Sheppard

John activated his comms and sighed, "Yes Stackhouse,"

We've arrived at the ruins Sir.

"Glad to hear it," said John stretching, "Keep alert and check in with me every half hour," he went to sign off but then thought better of it, "Oh and Stackhouse,"

Yes Sir

"Don't let Rodney out of your sight."

Yes Sir

------------

An hour later something hit the side of the ship and Elizabeth felt herself slide from her seat and onto the floor. She gripped at the console in front of her and tried to force calm.

"What's happening?" she cried as she managed to push herself back into her seat.

"We've been hit." said John gripping the controls so tight that his knuckles were turning white.

"Who's firing at us?"

"Cant tell. Dense woods," he said gritting his teeth.

"Cant we go invisible?" she asked holding the arm rests to keep herself upright.

"Already thought of that," he said pushing something on the console, "We must have taken some damage, it's not working."

An image was displayed on the view screen in front of them and John spent a moment looking at the image grimly.

"Anything?" she asked hopefully.

"No," he said as the image disappeared, "The only open area is all water. I'd kill for a runway right now."

Another hit to the rear and John felt his hands jerk free of the controls as he was knocked forward. Relinquishing his grip on the ship he managed to pull it up into the atmosphere, but another shot sent shockwaves through the internal hull and he could feel the stability of his puddle jumper failing.

"Rodney, we have a problem here." He shouted activating his ear piece.

Major

The voice on the other end sounded panicked already and John hadn't even told him what the problem was yet.

"Somebody's firing on us," he shouted as the ship was shaken violently as it began to descend, "We're loosing altitude a few miles from your position," he relayed quickly, "South."

Who's firing at you?

"Rodney I don't know." said John exasperated. "I'm kind of preoccupied at the moment."

Well are they going to come to us?

"Rodney!"

If we come to you, surely they'll find us

"Rodney"

Oh my god, I knew this place wasn't safe

"Rodney!" John and Elizabeth shouted simultaneously.

What?

"We're going to crash. I'm loosing altitude," he said adrenaline pumping through his veins.

The jumper began to descend with frightening expediency and Elizabeth gripped the armrest even tighter as she felt the under carriage scraping over trees, clawing at their under belly, threatening to pull them down even farther.

John was attempting to pull the front of the puddle jumper up so they wouldn't hit the ground head on.

"Hold on!" he shouted bringing his arm up in front of his face.

The whining of overstressed bulkheads and screaming metal was punctuated by beeping from the consoles as they alerted them to what they already knew.

Elizabeth barely had time to react as the Jumper neared what seemed to be a body of water and as the jumper hit the waves with a sickening crunch, her world faded to black.

TBC