CHAPTER ELEVEN – LAST SUNSET IN KAUA'I

The climb up the steep steps had been far more enjoyable this time, taken in their own time. He hadn't held back from enjoying the view of her this time, and she had reached back to hold his hand at times when it wasn't too steep.

It was their last evening here, and though he had always thought of Atlantis as his real home now, he felt the lingering fingers of disappointment to be going back.

They had had the most amazing week. It had been life changing, literally.

He couldn't remember feeling this relaxed, this happy and satisfied, and he was feeling reluctant to let anything disturb it. For the first time in a very long time, he didn't want to go back to work, though he knew he would love being back in the city once there. For now though, leaving this tropical paradise, and this time entirely alone with Teyla niggled at him.

The top of the steps was bathed in a gentle cooling breeze this evening as she stopped and looked back down at the bay. John's fingers were relaxed and loosely holding hers as he followed her up to the last step, and, as before, looked out at the view along with her.

"I am going to miss this place," she admitted.

"Me too," John replied, his free hand settling around her back.

"We should take a new photo of the view," she decided as she pulled her fingers from his and reached into her small bag. They had taken a photo of the view on the first evening, but this would be different, not only for the light seemed even more beautiful since they had headed up here earlier tonight, but also because she would remember this as their last night here.

She snapped two photos as he held her bag for her. He had been so attentive these past days, seeming so naturally thoughtful about how comfortable she was, frequently asking if she wanted something to eat or drink. If the villa and the landscape had not been luxurious enough, having him offering to bring her anything she wanted, or to fulfil her desires, was almost too much. She had oddly recalled Annette's advice about praising a partner, and though she had initially jokingly told him how wonderfully well he did everything, she had seen something sparkle in his eyes despite the play. He really did like to know she enjoyed him so much. It was not hard for her to be sure that he enjoyed her as well, for his hands were nearly always on her, his touch gentle and lingering even when simply brushing past her in the kitchen as they prepared a meal together. He pressed small kisses to her shoulder and throat as the occasion took him, making her feel loved and desired all the time.

She lowered the camera, studying the displayed results on the small screen, and John leant closer, looking over her shoulder. She was just the most perfect height for that.

"For prosperity," she said smiling as she turned off the camera. He liked that she wanted photos to remember this vacation. They had taken several of the villa at the start of the week, at the time done to fill the camera with typical holiday maker's photos, but he was glad now that he would have those pictures of the villa.

They had decided to return to the bench around the headland for their last evening here, and as John handed her back her bag, he looked off to the darkening sky, judging how much time they had. He decided to wait to kiss her until they were at the bench, otherwise they might be late to watch the sun setting.

They hadn't been out much over the weekend since the Salisburys had packed up and left. Annette had walked over to their villa just before she left to say goodbye to 'Freya'. Teyla had invited her in briefly, and John had slipped away into the kitchen area to give Teyla the time to talk with her. At which point he had seen the opened packets of condoms he had left on the side earlier. He quickly tided them away into the garbage, and glanced around the worktops quickly in case there had been anything else incriminating. Though, actually the only incriminating things they had were the photos on the camera – there was nothing wrong with there being condoms in a honeymoon villa, even if it might be a moment of embarrassment.

He would have to remember to keep that kind of thing concealed back in his quarters though. He wouldn't want Torren find one and hold it up for everyone to see as the kid asked what it was.

The subject of telling the others about their new relationship had only been ghosted over, usually in some joke about being seen together on a balcony in the city. They had made love last night just inside the open doors of the balcony, the sea air stimulating over their heated bodies, and she had suggested they needed to find a secluded balcony in the city in which to repeat it. They had laughed about it, stretched out cuddled up on the long comfortable rug on the floor just inside the balcony doors afterwards, but he had been thinking about it since, and already had some suggestions of possible likely balconies. He would do some scouting around the city and report back to her.

Her bag back on her shoulder, her hand slid into his and she leant her body against his as they began to follow the path around the headland that would lead them back to the bench. Hopefully no one else had decided to sit there tonight.

As the path was narrowing, he went first, putting himself closer to the dangerous edge that dropped away, not that there wasn't a rope to stop anyone falling, but he preferred to be that side. It hadn't missed his notice that Teyla had come up against far more dangerous situations than walking along a dark path, but he still indulged his chance to be a little protective. She probably wouldn't stand for it in other situations.

He kept hold of her hand as they walked single file, while her free hand lingered on his back, making him feel absurdly pleased. She had developed the habit of sliding her hand into the back pockets of his shorts or pants, and subtly cupping his backside. He liked it when she did that, because it was highlighting that fascinating line between when she was so composed and in control in public, but when alone with him, her body aroused, she had no shyness in touching him. She had asked him to show her how he liked to be stroked, squeezed. He hadn't been able to find the words in the heated moment, so he had shown her, holding her hand under his. His brain had all but exploded inside his skull as she had brought him near to release with just her hand, and then she had lowered kisses down his body, heading inevitably towards the moment when she had first used her mouth on him.

He cleared his throat as he dragged his thoughts away from those for now. He was going to have to get used to keeping a lid on these excited arousing thoughts back in Atlantis. Maybe it would be a good thing to have less available time alone with her, because he suspected he was already addicted to it and might end up never going outside again.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked with warm suspicion. His body seemed faintly tense in front of her, and his hand had tightened around her fingers, holding her hand against his back. With the length of his arm, it meant that actually her hand was brushing against his backside, which she had been distractedly enjoying, before she had realised he was not as relaxed as before.

He was more often quiet around her now, likely because he was so much more relaxed, but in those silent times she had sometimes looked round to find him watching her with predatory sensuality. She suspected that perhaps his thoughts might have turned to their frequent lingering on lovemaking this week, but there was the chance that he was beginning to grow concerned about how things would be back in the city.

He looked partly over his shoulder and she saw the gleaming smile. "Nothin'," he replied confirming her first instinct – he was thinking about sex.

Therefore, she gave into her temptation to walk a little closer behind him and she slipped her free hand into the left back pocket of his jeans. It was cooler tonight so he had pulled them on instead of shorts, and she enjoyed the tightness of the material around his backside. He was also wearing her favourite white shirt of his again.

"You're not helping," he told her over his shoulder as she flattened her hand against the moving full muscle of his backside. She was going to miss being able to so freely touch him. Once back in the city he would be the military commander once more and she would feel the need to present her more controlled dignified self as well. She smiled at the term of dignified. She and John had explored each other so thoroughly that the term no longer seemed to apply to them, but they would have to keep their closeness well under control and expressed only in private.

"Perhaps we could go on another trip some time," she suggested as they followed the path around the far end of the headland, the ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was wonderfully reminiscence of the oceans that had always surrounded Atlantis.

"There's another great golf course-" he began looking right over his shoulder at her with a cheeky smile.

"No," she interrupted immediately with a smile.

The sunset was sliding into view now, casting his face in golden oranges. "Now might be the time to tell you I've been taking Torren with me to the driving range."

"I have seen the small plastic golfing clubs you gave him," she replied to his back. "Do not think I did not see you and Ronon both playing with them the other week."

He chuckled. "We were just checking they worked right."

"Ronon doesn't even like golf," she pointed out, grinning at her memory of watching the two grown warriors holding the tiny bright plastic clubs and hitting the small golf balls into the overturned cups on the floor. Torren had been grinning and laughing with such glee.

"Ronon likes anything where you get to hit something," John reasoned.

"That is true," she agreed. She wondered if Torren would actually take to playing golf, because if he did, then the two males would gang up on her to go play the game. "I hope that Torren does not take to the game," she muttered, though admittedly the golf course here had been beautiful place to spend time.

"I can teach him skateboarding if you'd prefer," John offered helpfully with a smile in his voice. They were around the end of the headland now, and the larger bay stretched out to the right. The path was widening, but she remained close behind him, enjoying the view of him along with the sinking sun.

"You have already purchased him a board, I saw it in you room," she replied.

"Just for fun," he replied. She narrowed her eyes at his back, foreseeing the playful fun John and Torren clearly were going to have in his teaching of Earth games. Torren already adored John, and if things with John remained as she prayed and felt they would, she knew that for her son, she could not have found a more wonderful father figure to grow up with, along with Kanaan. It was likely that Kanaan would find a woman to share his life with and so Torren would have more then enough love provided for him, and with their extended friends and her people, Torren had all he could ever need.

She was so looking forward to seeing Torren again tomorrow. She had missed him greatly, but she also felt a lingering wish to remain in Kaua'i just a little longer. It was so wonderful here and her time with John had been so magical.

"Our bench is free," John reported over his shoulder, and she looked round him to see that the wooden aged bench was waiting for them. She smiled at his statement of their ownership – they had only sat on it once before.

She slipped her hand from his pocket as they reached it and as they settled down on the sun-warmed bench, she inhaled the evening air, and smiled out at the wondrous view. As last time, there were many tiny dots of people spread out along the long bench stretched out below, all of them turned towards where the sun was slowly sinking, casting the sky in a myriad of colours. She tightened her hand around John's, his hand a warm weight in her lap, his thigh and knee pressed alongside hers. He shifted in his seat, settling himself more comfortably and his shoulder dumped against hers. She glanced at him beside her, glorying in the golden bright colours highlighting the attractive angles of his face. He grinned at her as he inhaled deeply and stilled next to her.

"Perfect timing," he declared, and he was right, the sun was still above the horizon, but not too close as to rush this time by too quickly.

She nodded her agreement as she trailed her gaze over the bay's landscape, from its flat populated land to the rising mountains and the beach stretching out along the deep blue darkening water. "I will capture some more photos," she decided as she let go of John's hand and pulled the camera out of her bag once more.

She held it up and smiled at the glorious view displayed on the screen. She captured one of the sunset, then the mountains, then the beach and settlement, and finally, she turned and leaned back so that John appeared in the left of the shot. She snapped him in profile, looking out towards the sunset.

He looked round at her, aware that she had caught him, and frowned playfully. For such a handsome man he was quite shy of having his photo taken. She leaned back smiling though, the camera still up and snapped another of him frowning his protest, which turned out to be a great picture of him.

"You took several of me on the beach yesterday," she pointed out as she held the camera away from his weak attempt to take it from her.

"And a few others," he replied, surprising her.

"When?" She asked, honestly unaware of when he had taken other photos of her.

"Just some potential blackmail material," he replied playfully, his hand sliding across her lap to settle on her thigh furthest from him, his arm a warm presence across her body. She leant into his arm as she scrolled through the camera's memory to find these photos he had taken. She found one of her stood on the beach, her hair and skirt dancing around her as she laughed. It had been particularly windy yesterday when they had walked out along the road together to buy some snack food for their trip back to San Francisco tomorrow morning.

"I've transferred the others to the laptop already," he informed her.

She glared at him pressed up beside her, their shared body warmth growing in contrast to the cooling evening air. The sky was turning from orange to reds and golden yellows. "They had better not be ones that will I will not approve of you sharing," she pointed out, in case he had captured her in a compromising position.

He grinned at her, his hand sliding back over her lap. "No promises," he replied as he looked away to the sunset. She frowned at him, unsure if he was just teasing her or if he truly had taken some other photos.

"Perhaps I shall have to take some tonight while you are snoring with your mouth open to use in retaliation," she suggested as she held up the camera to capture one last photo of the changing sunset.

"I don't snore," he protested, but there was some doubt in his voice she thought.

"So you say," she teased back. He did not snore, though he often rumbled a deep grumbling sleepy sound that she enjoyed. It was as if he was purring in his sleep, but she had decided not to share that secret knowledge with him.

"You murmur in your sleep," he reported.

She smiled as she shut down the camera and returned it safely to her bag. "What time do we have to be up tomorrow?" She asked as she turned back to the sunset and slid her hand back round his. His fingers interlinked with hers on her thigh once more.

"Not too early, 0800 hours," he replied. "Not too long until you see Torren again," he added insightfully.

She grinned to think of the reunion. "I have missed him and it will be good to see everyone else."

He nodded and she felt his eyes on her rather than the horizon. His fingers shifted against hers and his hold tightened a fraction. "Some things might have to change, once we're back," he said softly.

She looked away from the view to him, shocked for a moment to think he might mean their relationship.

"At work," he added quickly and she was greatly relieved. "Not here," he explained further indicating the tiny space between them with his free hand, "well, maybe where we sleep-" He had begun to babble, as if he were a little nervous about the subject.

She smiled at his endearing wince at himself.

"I mean," he started over, "about us working on the same team now."

"We rarely work as a separate team anymore any more," she pointed out. Much had changed in Atlantis since their return to Earth, including the fact that they rarely went off world in their individual teams anymore.

"That's true," John conceded thoughtfully. It was likely then that it would be easier for them to start this relationship in Atlantis now that they weren't regularly working off world in small teams. That said though, he still felt a twinge of sadness that their team, as it had been for years, would not be the same again. As much as he preferred this choice over keeping things as they were, he knew he would miss her being there beside him all the time during work hours. Though, actually, all he was doing was just trading spending his work time with her for his out of hours and night time with her.

Thinking about it that way, he felt a lot better about it all.

She didn't seem concerned about it and going back to Atlantis together. He wasn't sure why he was still nervous about how everyone would react to their relationship, how he and Teyla would mix their social time with time alone together, how Torren would fit into that schedule, where John would spending his nights – in her bed or his own at times… They were issues that hadn't even entered his mind in the villa, but now sat with her, knowing this would be their last night together here, he realised that all those questions were going to have to be addressed.

He wished he could chase away the thoughts again, lose his mind into the bliss of a seemingly unending vacation again, but the end was almost here. It was back to reality, but also back to their future.

He watched her looking off to the sinking sun, the colours fading slowly into dark intimate shadows of night. She was so beautiful and with her body so willingly leant against his, wanting to share this moment with him, his heart ached in his chest. He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. She looked round at the contact, her cheek brushing against his before he pulled back to look at her.

"You'll be alright with all the changes this'll bring?" He asked, almost certain there hadn't been any note of pleading in his voice. He just needed to be sure she was going to be okay with it all, because then he could be too.

"Yes," she replied simply, her blink and soft smile telling him that she liked that he had asked the question. "It seems that it is very much a time of change." Her expression had become more thoughtful, but with an echo of that pained look she got when she was thinking about Pegasus and her people.

"I'm sorry you're stuck here away from your people," he told her honestly. He realised he hadn't said it directly to her before now, just assuming that she would know, but now, he needed her to know for sure that he understood it was difficult for her.

"You were stranded far from your people for five years," she replied, surprising him. He hadn't thought about it like that. Being in Pegasus had never felt like being stranded, not after the first year at least.

"Except, I liked being in Pegasus," he told her. "I didn't have much of a life back here, and the city was more of a home for me than I'd had in a long time," he explained. "Besides, I found some great thing things in Pegasus," he added softly as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand.

She smiled at him, understanding that he meant her.

"I'll get you back there, some day," he promised her.

"I do miss my people, I worry for their safety," she said softly, and he tightened his hold on her hand a little more. "But," she added looked up to meet his eyes, "I can be content living here, with you. If you would be happy with me and Torren on your world." She confessed.

She could not imagine now that she could be apart from John, to leave him in one galaxy to return to her own if the chance one day arrived. It felt right to be sat beside him, to feel the strength and care of his hand holding hers, his breath warm against her cheek. It felt right to be with him, just as right as it had felt that first day she had stayed in Atlantis. A vibration of future promise, perhaps of destiny reached and a future that she might already have glimpsed last week.

She looked into his eyes and finished her words. "In your life."

John drew in a quick breath at that, seeing in her expression almost as much as she had asked with her words. The ache from before in the centre of his chest seemed to transform into a deep pervading warmth as he licked his lips and answered her.

"I wouldn't want it any other way," he confessed in return, staring into her dark deep eyes.

She smiled up at him.

"We'll get back to Pegasus one day, back to New Athos," he promised again, "All three of us."

She blinked long and slow and her lips pressed together with a quiver that he didn't miss. Her eyes rose up to his again and he saw the hint of moisture in them and he grinned at her. She rolled her eyes at his delight at making her so emotional, but so as not to lose the moment, he reached round with his free hand and slid his hand against her cheek. She lifted her chin as he leant down the tiny distance between them and brushed his lips against hers.

She inhaled the deep masculine scent of him, mixed with the tropical night of Kaua'i, and deepened the kiss. His mouth moved against hers softly, fully, and seemingly with the same emotion that he had admitted to her already. She felt his love in the kiss, in the gentle touch of his hand against her skin, as if she were a precious thing.

Her mouth tasted of rich coffee and passionate woman, and he parted his lips from hers and inhaled a deep breath of her skin. He was going to have to take full advantage of their last night in the villa, because the prospect of not being able to just reach out and kiss her whenever he liked back in Atlantis was almost torturous.

He pulled back from her, smiling that though his view of this vacation had firmly settled on 'Dream Vacation', he now found himself contemplating a new form of torture back in Atlantis. However, it would be the kind of torture that promised reward and fun at the end of the day.

He stroked her soft beautiful cheek as he smiled at her, enjoying her soft feminine returning smile.

The light level lowered noticeably and they both looked off towards the horizon. The sun was almost set, its glowing light sinking fast from view. They sat in silence watching it lower, their hands entwined, until the last of the trailing colourful show slid into sweet dark night. Only they continued to sit in contented silence on their bench, both watching the darkness settle around them, those across the beach moving away from the beach, and the pinpoints of light increasing across the island.

Earth held many beautiful things, she decided. Not only in its rich varied landscapes, and fascinating cultural differences, but also in the opportunities it provided and the changes it's people had brought far out into the stars. Earth had brought her many things, but most notably John. She had suspected that he would be willing to return to Pegasus someday, but to hear him having said the words, a promise not only to join her, but Torren too, moved her deeply. This was right. This was her future, on whichever planet, in whichever galaxy. There were no guarantees that anything could last, but with John, she felt a connection that had grown steadily and powerfully stronger since that first early morning when he had walked into her tent on Old Athos. Now, here she was, sat with him, her lover, on his homeworld sharing a sunset. It felt right in every way.

She lowered her gaze to their interlinked hands, and grazing her thumb over his, and mentally pictured one day returning to see her people again, with John and Torren beside her.

"I suspect that Ronon would wish to return to Pegasus with us," she considered quietly after a while. "Along with the few of my people in the city. Perhaps also Carson."

John glanced at her with a smile, feeling deeply contented and happy. "Maybe," he agreed, "But they're not all sleeping in our tent."

Her laughter lifted up high into the night as she leant further against him, the starlight of his home galaxy glowing down over them both. He grinned at the beautiful sight, at this change in his life that he sensed really was going to be life-changed. For the first time ever, he didn't feel nervous about the prospect of such a commitment. Instead, he felt nothing but excited.

But, all that aside, right now, they had one last night together here on Kaua'i, and he intended to make sure that they enjoyed every single moment of it together.

Smiling brightly, he reached for her, sliding his hands around her as she turned towards him, and they shared another sweet promising kiss.

Definitely, the best vacation ever.

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THE END