So, I still feel bad after not posting anything for so long. Like, really, really bad. Therefore, I (drumroll please) have posted YET ANOTHER chapter.

Yes, please pick your jaws up off the floor, people. That is two in one week. You're just lucky ducks, aren't you?

Compromising Positions: Chapter 15

Shut Up

Ching.

Ching.

Ching.

When Elizabeth awoke, it was to the insistent whine of her door chimes. Whoever was at her door really wanted in, because at consistent ten second intervals, the chimes would sound again. And again. And again.

"All right, I'm up. I'm up," Elizabeth groaned, stumbling to her feet and staggering to the door, scrubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It was five thirty; an hour before her alarm was set to go off. Whoever was waking her up had better have a damn good reason to be doing so, or she might just have John throw them in the detention cells in the belly of the city for a few hours. Or days.

John. The events of the night before flooded back to Elizabeth in a flash, and she nearly stumbled.

Holy mother of God. She'd done it. She'd actually done it. She had kissed John Sheppard. Her mother, back on Earth, had been right about them. Elizabeth didn't know whether to break down into a quivering heap of nerves or to traipse around the city grinning like an idiot. However, she hadn't the time to decide before her ten seconds were up.

Ching.

Renewing her grumbling, Elizabeth tugged her camisole, which was skewed across her chest, back into place before swiping her hand over the door's control crystals, sending it sliding open. She blinked in surprise at her visitor. "Anna?" she asked hesitantly.

The mousy archeologist jumped a little, clearly not expecting the door to have opened, before nodding quickly and readjusting her glasses on the ridge of her nose. "Yes, Dr. Weir," she confirmed, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet before blurting, "I'm sorry to have to wake you, but I found something that I think you really need to see."

Elizabeth sighed. So much for a peaceful, uneventful day. "Your lab. Twenty minutes," she instructed brusquely before closing the door in the archeologist's freckled face.

Yeah, it was rude. But it was the morning. Elizabeth didn't have the patience for diplomacy.

Twenty minutes later, a freshly-showered Elizabeth found herself stepping into the cluttered archeology labs, coffee clutched in her hands like a lifeline and yawning wide enough to crack her jaw. Anna was waiting for her, looking wired with nervous energy.

"Thank you for coming, Dr. Weir. I promise it's important," she insisted, ducking and weaving her way through stacks of papers and trinkets while Elizabeth followed at a more sedate pace, curiosity piqued. "I was just… filing some of the photographs we collected at M51-237 when I came across this." With a flourish, the little woman produced a photograph from the top of a nearby stack and placed it into Elizabeth's waiting hand.

Confused, Elizabeth studied it. It was a photo that had been taken of the side wall of the fateful temple room. It didn't show anything exceptional, aside from the fact that it was a negative.

Confused, Elizabeth looked back up at Anna, whose eyes were sparkling in her excitement. "Do you see it?" she asked eagerly.

Elizabeth shook her head.

"Look at the whole thing. The big picture. What the empty spaces make if they're combined."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped as she obeyed. Since the photo was a negative, all of the blank spaces on the wall between the sections of writings were dark, making them stand out sharply against everything else. It was a perspective no one had considered before, because they had considered empty space inconsequential. But it wasn't, because the empty space made a shape that Elizabeth was intimately familiar with. The point of origin for Atlantis.

What in Pegasus was that doing there?

"You see it now, yeah?" Anna prodded.

Mutely, Elizabeth nodded, still staring at the symbol webbed, spiderlike, in the midst of the temple's writings.

Anna did a little hop of victory. "What does it mean, do you think?" she asked.

"I… have no idea," Elizabeth ceded, frowning. What did it mean? How was Atlantis connected to M51-237? They had found no trace whatsoever of Ancient technology on the planet, or of Lantean culture. But that symbol… it was far too complex to be mere coincidence. Ergo, the presence of the symbol on the wall had to mean something.

But Elizabeth, for the life of her, didn't know what that something was. It was infuriating. She couldn't escape the feeling that she was missing something: some important piece of the puzzle that was vital to her understanding.

Deciding that she needed a second opinion, or perhaps a third or fourth, Elizabeth tucked the photo into the pocket of her uniform pants. "I need you to make negatives of all of the photos we took on M51-237, and search them for similar phenomena," she told Anna seriously. "We can't miss anything. I expect a full report by this time tomorrow morning."

"Yes ma'am," the archeologist responded immediately. "I'll have it to you by tonight."

Elizabeth let loose a tiny smile. "Thanks, Anna."

"It's the least I can do."

Wearily, Elizabeth collapsed into her chair in the conference room, waiting for the remainder of her senior staff to arrive. It was only six thirty, but she'd had the tech manning the 'gate call them up regardless. While she didn't have Anna's full report on all of the photos yet, she felt that the discovery was something that she needed to share. Rodney was still tied up at Spes Nova, but Zelenka would have to do in his absence.

Jennifer was the first to arrive, appearing unnaturally fresh and chipper for the hour, and sat primly in her seat. "You didn't sleep!" she accused, her hawk-eyes immediately zeroing in on Elizabeth's worn features.

Carson, slipping in through the doors, tutted at her. "Didn't I warn ye lass?"

"And didn't I tell you I'd sleep when I'm dead?" she retorted brightly, winking at Jennifer, who giggled.

"Em, did I… miss something?" Zelenka stuttered, fumbling with his data pad as he too arrived with a coffee.

A rather bleary-eyed John, coffee in hand, entered the room and took a seat in his usual place at Elizabeth's right. He was followed by Ronon, who looked as alert as always and grunted his affirmation to Radek's query. "She's a woman, Zelenka. You'll always miss something," he said bluntly, flopping across two chairs in a heap of muscles and dreadlocks.

Beside her, John snorted. "You can't give Zelenka dating advice until you get yourself a girl, Chewie."

"Says who?"

"The bro code."

"… Sheppard?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Delicately, Elizabeth cleared her throat to gain the attention of the group. "Is Teyla coming?" she asked politely.

"I'm here," Teyla answered, strutting into the room and flowing into an empty seat.

Elizabeth smiled. "Excellent," she proclaimed, before removing the photo Anna had given her and handing it off to John on her right. "I want everyone to take a look at this and tell me what you see," she instructed.

John have her a confused look, but at her gentle smile, did as he was asked. For her part, Elizabeth retrieved a bit of scrap paper from the edge of the table, along with a pen, and proceeded to draw a crude representation of Atlantis' point of origin. This she placed in the center of the table so everyone could see, and one by one, understanding dawned in each pair of eyes.

"Remarkable," Zelenka breathed off to one side, before beginning to mutter to himself in Czech. (Elizabeth spoke Czech. It still sounded like muttering.)

"And this… means what, exactly?" John asked, blinking.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Elizabeth informed them. "Anna only just showed this to me forty minutes ago. Practically hammered my door down. We couldn't find a meaning either, so I assigned her to search for similar occurrences while I informed the rest of you."

"We'll have to go through everything we know. Piece by piece," Teyla sighed. "Ancestors, this planet has caused us trouble!"

"I agree," Carson threw in. "We need to link the medical data to this."

"And the replicators," Elizabeth added. The rest of the table, aside from John, stared at her. "The weapon. Dreamwave amplification theory. It originated from the medallion in the temple."

"We should also look into the energy being research that the Lanteans were completing," John suggested. "The glowy ball of doom and makeovers wasn't an ascended Ancient, but it was definitely an energy… thing."

This comment launched quite a few others, and for a solid forty minutes discussion ran hot, though in the end, further speculation was deemed fruitless, and postponed until Elizabeth received Anna's report. After all, they did all have jobs they needed to be doing.

To that end, everyone began to depart in no particular order until only John and Elizabeth remained. "Walk with me," he offered, getting to his feet. "We can get more coffee."

Suddenly nervous, Elizabeth followed and stood, the events of the night before playing in the forefront of her mind as she caught sight of her 2IC's mischievous grin. No amount of nervousness could deter her from teasing him, however. "So, how was your evening, John?" she asked coyly as they stepped from the room and towards the transporter.

The man wrinkled his nose at her. "Oh, you know. All right, I guess," he shot back coolly, waving a nonchalant hand in the air.

"I'm sure," Elizabeth laughed, bumping playfully into his side as the doors the transporter hissed closed. But before the white lights could consume them and deposit them in another section of the city, John hit the stop and turned to look at her with fathomless eyes.

"Elizabeth…" he began, but the woman cut him off with a single word and touch to his cheek.

"Sheppard?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." She kissed him then, grasping the collar of his uniform with her free hand and yanking him to her.

He complied without the barest hint of protest.

This kiss was different than that of the night before, though it still sent tingles racing down her spine. It was more raw and exploratory, as well as desperate and hungry. Their hands roamed more freely, and somehow, Elizabeth found herself pressed snugly against the wall of the transporter: a good thing, considering that what with whatever John was doing to her neck with his mouth, Elizabeth considered the reliability of her legs to be dubious at best. "John?" she asked breathily.

"Yeah?" he answered between the kisses he was trailing up the curve of her neck.

It took focus for her to answer, but Elizabeth managed it, impressing herself. "If… if we're going to do this, we need rules."

John gave her a lingering kiss on the lips before pulling his face away so that they could speak properly. He still held her close, and Elizabeth could feel both of their bodies trembling with desire. "We take turns making rules, this being the first," he offered with his trademarked flippant flyboy grin.

Elizabeth grinned back, glad that he was catching on. "Professional behavior during all working hours, no exceptions or excuses. Even…" She hesitated. "Even if it means either of our deaths."

John nodded seriously, before once again trying to lighten the mood. "None of those stupid pet names. I'm not John-John or Sheppy or Pookie or whatever else your devious female mind can concoct," John whined.

"Ditto."

"Aw, and here I was hoping to call you Freckles!" he complained. One punch in the arm later, and he was yowling even louder, although Elizabeth knew she couldn't actually hurt him. (No matter how much she might wish to.)

"Just for that, you forfeit your turn," she sniffed, settling more comfortably into his embrace. "No PDA, unless it's among friends. I don't want all the jarheads staring."

"Even better, let's just agree not be too… overt," John threw in. "Not that I don't want to shout it over the citywide intercom for all to hear, but I'm hoping for less fallout from the powers that be this way. We won't deny it: we just don't necessarily have to flaunt it. Our personal lives are no one's business but our own."

"God, can you imagine Caldwell's face if he found out?" Elizabeth giggled, composing a vivid mental image of the uptight Colonel frowning so hard that flowers drooped. He was a by-the-books military man, and what with the newly relaxed fraternization rules and colonial status of Atlantis, he had spent his last visit shooting icily disapproving glares towards any off-duty officers he had spotted in the company of a person of the opposite sex. It was actually rather comical. His attitude reminded Elizabeth of that of a disapproving parent: even more so that she now appeared young enough to actually be his daughter.

"Oh God, being fed on by a Wraith is preferable to that man's cold shoulder!" John lamented.

Elizabeth just sniggered at the horrified face John was making. "You're a baby," she informed him.

"Hey, it's different for you! You're the only one Caldwell actually likes!" he insisted with mock injury.

A predatory expression lit Elizabeth's features. "Then, after he's hit you with that grumpy stare of his, I suppose I'll just have to kiss it better, won't I?" she threw in innocently before planting a chaste kiss on his lips. It was tempting—oh so tempting—to deepen it, but Elizabeth knew that they couldn't stay locked in a transporter indefinitely, and pulled away. "Not now. Working hours, remember?" she prompted.

"I knew that would come back and bite me in the ass," John sighed, before punching the transporter back into action.

Whiteness enveloped them before the world dimmed once again, and the transporter doors slid open.

"I'll tell you what though. Dinner tonight, at eight. I'll pick you up, ok?" John proposed as they stepped out, both looking rather more disheveled than they had when they had first entered.

Conscious of this, Elizabeth made an attempt to smooth out her auburn curls, glad that the hallway they had stepped into was empty. "You'll pick me up?" she asked amusedly. "John, we live in the same place."

The man just smirked. "Trust me."

For a moment, she considered him, allowing a measure of contentment to flow through her. "I do," she hummed in response. Together, walking a centimeter closer than they might have the day before, they then continued on their way to the mess hall and towards the seductive promise of coffee.

Ching.

The door chimes. A lance of panic lit through Elizabeth as she glanced at her watch. 7:50. John was never this early. In a mad rush, she quickly finished applying the last of her mascara (she hadn't been able to resist cleaning up, just a little) and flew to the door.

Except, it wasn't John. It was Carson.

She blinked at him, confused, but the doctor was leafing through a file in his arms, and didn't notice. "Ah, Elizabeth! I have your medical data here, for the larger file we're making," he explained, tucking it all neatly together again before hesitating and pulling out a specific sheet of paper. "Actually, I'd like to go over some of it now, if you've the time."

7:50. "Ten minutes," Elizabeth sighed. "You have ten minutes, max."

Startled by this response, Carson looked up at her fully and gazed at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. After a long pause, he again spoke. "You're going on a date!" he accused.

Elizabeth knew better than to confirm this, but despite her best efforts, a delicate shade of pink tinged her cheekbones. "Carson, just because I can't talk to you for very long doesn't mean I have a date," she hissed.

Immediately, Carson's expression grew more smug. "Don't think you can fool me, lass. You haven't done it yet," he told her, winking. "You have a date!"

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth snatched the files away from the Scottish doctor. "Thank you for bringing these to me, Carson, but I think you should go now."

"You smell nice! You always smell delightful when you're dressing for something special, love. And… is that eye shadow I see there? Who's the lucky lad?"

"Good night, Carson!" Elizabeth called sweetly, before shutting the door in his face.

Poor Carson. But he was a mother hen. Elizabeth just wished that shutting people out of her quarters wouldn't become a habit for her.

It was eight o'clock exactly when her door chimes rang again, and this time, it was John at her door, dressed in his uniform black tee and a pair of jeans, with his hair, as usual, spiked every which way. "Glad to see that your hair's not flaming red this time," she joked as soon as she laid eyes upon him.

John's face scrunched. "Oh, ha-ha," he muttered. "Very funny, 'Lizabeth."

"I try," Elizabeth said smugly, exiting her quarters and pecking him on the cheek in apology. "So where are we going?"

"It's a surprise!" John exclaimed petulantly. "I've had years to fantasize about our first date: I won't ruin it by telling you where it is!"

Elizabeth just shook her head and smiled softly. The pair of them continued on in companionable silence: John taking the lead, seeing as Elizabeth hadn't the faintest clue as to their destination. To the casual observer, many of which they passed in the halls, the sight of the two commanders of Atlantis walking side-by-side through the city wasn't all that unusual, aside from the fact that neither was in uniform. But to them, even the simple act of knowing that they were together was special. Heck, John could be leading her on a marathon circuit around the city: Elizabeth probably wouldn't care.

Fortunately, it seemed like John had other plans, as a gleeful expression soon erupted over his features as they entered a very familiar place. "The jumper bay?" Elizabeth asked incredulously. "This is where we're going?"

"Ah, 'Lizabeth, you lack imagination!" John scoffed, before leading her into the back hatch of a jumper. "Your chariot, miladay."
"You do have permission to take this out, right?" Elizabeth asked, arching an eyebrow at him as she settled into the copilot's seat.

John snorted. "Of course. You approved it. Test flight after some minor repairs that may or may not have existed."

"Then by all means, noble knight, let us venture forth!"

John had blacked out the HUD, so that Elizabeth couldn't see where they were going, as the puddlejumper shot away from Atlantis. But he did make a point of engaging her in lively conversation until they touched down. At that point, he bounded from his seat like an overexcited puppy, flashing her a brilliant smile and offering her his hand. "We're here," he announced unnecessarily.

John's enthusiasm was downright infectious, and Elizabeth couldn't help but feel excited herself. Eagerly, she accepted his hand, and leaned against his warm, firm side as the back hatch of the jumper lowered. At the sight that greeted her, Elizabeth couldn't help bit smile widely, her heart swelling a little. They had landed on the tip of the far east pier of Atlantis, right where the city dropped off into churning ocean. John had spread the cliché candlelit picnic, situated in such a way that they would be looking up at the city's lights while they ate. Elizabeth hadn't any idea how John had managed to even find candles, as they were clearly Earth-made, nor how he had managed to set it all up without anyone questioning him, but she was glad he did. Glad even for the candlelit picnic, cliché as it was. It was charming, because it was for her.

It was moments like these that made her glad that she hadn't thrown away her red underwear, even after the previous humiliation regarding its use.

"I think you've been lying to yourself your whole life, John," she stated wonderingly, gripping his hand in her own and taking in the setting with wide green eyes. "You are most definitely a closet romantic."

"Yeah, well… just don't tell McKay," he ceded before turning and scrutinizing her face. "So do you like it?"

"I love it," Elizabeth affirmed, glad that her saying so made him so happy. "No one's ever done anything like this for me before."

Displaying frankly impressive self-control and refraining from making the comment about her past boyfriends, which Elizabeth could see practically dancing on his tongue, John simply led her to the blanket and sat at her side. He unpacked their dinner—turkey sandwiches—and soon the pair moved on to other subjects of conversation, laughter occasionally ringing out into the crisp night air. Afterwards, John and Elizabeth flopped onto their backs and considered the stars of their new home planet, tracing different constellations with sweeping hand gestures and giving them names. It was as if their worries and fears had been stolen away by the rush of the breeze and the pulse of the ocean. The sensation was wonderful, and Elizabeth fully enjoyed it.

She didn't know what time they finally returned back to the jumper bay, but to Elizabeth, it didn't really matter. She had had a wonderful time, and she was happy. The kisses they stole from each other outside of her door as they parted only served to make it that much better.

"Good morning, Laura," Elizabeth greeted cheerfully as the woman peeked into her office, her hair falling loose about her shoulders. Myka was asleep on her couch, but Elizabeth by now knew from experience that it took quite a bit of commotion to wake the girl. Cadman was loud, but not quite that loud.

"Good morning, Dr. Weir," the explosives expert returned, dropping a manila folder on her desk. "I ran into Anna, and she asked me to bring you these."

Flipping through the file, Elizabeth was pleased to see negative copies of the photographs from M51-327, as well as a neatly typed report, and she smiled happily. "Thank you, Lt. Cadman. If you run into Anna again, be sure to thank her as well," Elizabeth responded, settling the file into a desk drawer that she had cleaned out specifically to hold the information about M51-327, right alongside the files that Carson had given her the night before.

Humming slightly to herself, Elizabeth returned her attention to her work. She was drafting a trading agreement with the presidents on M36-995, and of all things, the natives wanted red and blue plastic beads in exchange for food rations. Acquiring the supplies from Earth was proving to be interesting, but Elizabeth didn't mind so much. It gave her something to occupy her mind with, and Myka had laughed so hard when she'd told her about it that the child had fallen out of her chair.

The sound of someone clearing their throat had her head snapping back up, and Elizabeth was mildly surprised to find that Laura not only hadn't left, but was staring at her oddly. "What?" Elizabeth asked. Did she have a smudge on her face or something? She didn't think she did, but hey, it happens.

"You're awfully… happy," she accused.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Is that a problem?"

"In this galaxy? Yes," Laura shot back. "Are you being possessed by an alien, or under the influence of some strange new mutant disease?"

Elizabeth scowled, not appreciating the insinuation that she needed some sort of alien drug to put her in a good mood. "Don't you have work to do, Laura?" she snapped.

The other woman grinned flippantly. "Yeah, but I'd rather not do it," she confessed. "Glad to see you're not an alien though. It's always good to check."

Elizabeth could sense a massive headache coming on.

"Laura, please leave," she sighed.

The woman pouted, but before she could open her mouth, the clunk of the chevrons sounded from the 'gate room, immediately followed by Chuck's cry of "Incoming wormhole!"

Elizabeth looked at Cadman incredulously. "What is it about you that sets the 'gate off?"

Cadman shrugged, and the pair bolted into the control room.

"Receiving radio transmission and an IDC, ma'am," Chuck said, swiveling around to face them. "It's Dr. McKay."

Elizabeth nodded. "Put it on speaker."

"Dr. Weir!" McKay's voice greeted.

Elizabeth smiled. Not that she would ever admit it, but she had actually rather missed her crabby head scientist. "We hear you loud and clear, Rodney. Your scheduled check-in isn't for another twenty six hours though."

"That doesn't matter. This is important," the man's disembodied voice assured her. "I have news. I solved the problem I was having! The Calliope, Polyhymnia, Clio, Euterpe, and the Thalia are in orbit over Spes Nova and are fully operational."

The whoops and cheers of the control room staff could be heard from the science labs.

Only a few chapters left in our story! Like, very few. As in, three-ish. I am SO excited. If any of you have any suggestions for happenings, now would be the time to leave a review. Thanks!

~SimplySupreme