prowler_pilot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prowler_pilot) wrote2006-03-15 12:08 am
prowler_pilot) wrote2006-03-15 12:08 am
Entry tags:
Here be Sparky fanfic
Title: Look a little further
Rating: PG13
Pairing: John/Elizabeth
Classification: I guess it can be fluff, with a little humor thrown in for good measure.
Spoilers: Set in S2, but no major spoilers
Summary: Birthday traditions should never be broken.
Disclaimers: I don’t own these characters, yadda yadda…
Status: in progress
A/N: Many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
m_diva_z and xfairy1013 for their wonderful beta job. You rock!
Dedicated tomerscilla, who influenced me with her post-it icons. *hugs*
As always, I was at a loss for titles. Listening obsessively to 'don't look any further' helped.
It was all his fault. He was the one who had started it all.
The enormous stack of Happy Birthday cards sat colorful and proud on her desk, next to the even taller pile of reports waiting to be read and signed within the day.
Rumors had started flowing freely after Rodney had spilled everything about the omnipresent pot that decorated her office. One that, people recalled, hadn’t been there when they had first arrived in Atlantis.
It wasn’t long before the buzz on her supposed torrid affair with the handsome military commander ceased – not altogether, but she wasn’t going to complain – and her birth date became public knowledge among the expedition personnel.
Her birth date, her zodiacal sign and all the hypothetical personality traits that came with it had fed the speculation about the woman behind the leader. The Chinese scientists had even come up with some curious interpretations and a detailed horoscope based on their own astrology.
Elizabeth couldn’t deny that she was rather pleased, if not flattered, that so many people had taken the time to wish her a good day and to thank her for her devotion to her job, but from a certain perspective, it was also very embarrassing.
As opposed to what her job usually made people think, she didn’t like being the center of attention. Even though she always had the right face to display and the right words to say, it made her feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. And what she had seen of herself in the last few months of her command was making her seriously doubtful of deserving that praise.
She had already opened a few gifts that had been sitting outside her quarters’ door that morning, mostly sweets and a heavy winter blanket from the Athosians, and more lay scattered around her office. Chocolate and junk food in general seemed to be the big hit this year in Atlantis.
Maybe she should stop feeling so flattered and realize her people were actually plotting to get rid of her. by luring her into eating her way into a diabetic coma.
She smiled inwardly at her mock paranoia and unwrapped a stray snickers bar she had found propped against John’s pot.
It wasn’t exactly Carson’s idea of a healthy breakfast but that would have had to do. At least until someone took pity on her and provided her with a tray from the mess hall on their way back to work.
Reports and thank you cards weren’t going to sign themselves and she couldn’t afford to take the time for a proper meal, even if that meant not spending as much time with her people as she’d like to.
The candy bar had probably been put there on purpose as a bait, because she spotted a yellow post-it stuck to the pot’s round belly. It read ‘open me’ in thick capital letters.
She would have had no doubts about the author even if he had omitted the small ‘J’ on the bottom-right corner.
Elizabeth peeled the piece of paper off the vase and repositioned it on the top envelope of her pile of cards. She applied a gentle pressure with her thumb, running it from corner to corner until the adhesive patch adhered to the surface below, then lifted the pot’s lid and peeked inside.
Hail to creativeness and imagination. More chocolates and miniature candy bars winked at her in their sparkly wrappings, and for a moment, Elizabeth thought longingly of the bonsai plants Simon used to give her on small occasions.
“Here’s our birthday girl. Not a girl anymore, I’m afraid.”
“I can see you are always the gentleman, Colonel.” Elizabeth lifted her eyes to the entrance to her office. John was leaning casually against the doorframe, arms crossed and a teasing smile on his face.
She wondered whether he spent his free time practicing and creating new poses. Distracting poses, she thought as her gaze fell on his flexed biceps.
“Anyway, I seem to recall you’re the next one on the list, aren’t you?” An eyebrow twitched on its own accord as she failed to maintain a serious face.
The good-natured retort was promptly ignored, and Elizabeth knew she had hit a spot. He wasn’t that far behind her after all, and you can play Peter Pan only for so long.
John pushed himself off the doorframe and walked fully into the room.
“So, have you already found my little something?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.” She nodded towards the post-it and the still untouched snickers bar.
“But I’m afraid you aren’t going to win any prize for the most original gift this year. Although the chocolate coated oranges are a nice touch. Thanks.” The smile she gave him was small but genuine.
“Are you sure? I’d look again if I were you.” John’s eyes twinkled as he eased himself into a chair.
He leaned over, feigning curiousness, as Elizabeth opened the pot again and placed the lid on her desk.
Half-drowned in sweets, the corner of some piece of paper stuck out at the exact center of the vase.
She lifted her eyebrows at the man sitting across her and she fished it out. It was a plain white card the size and the consistence of a calling card, and the hand-writing on the glossy surface was a little smudged. This time there were no initials.
“Bottom drawer.” She read aloud. “You are not planning on making me run around the city on a treasure hunt, are you?”
The right corner of her mouth quirked upwards in that ‘I-am-intrigued’ smile he had come to know so well and loved to see directed at him.
John shrugged vaguely and urged her on with a nod of his head. The ensemble was mitigated by his trademark puppy face in one of its countless nuances.
Intrigued indeed she was. He could see it from the way her eyes darted back and forth between the card and the drawers. And from the brief moment of hesitation she always had when she was trying to wrap her mind around something.
In this case, what he had up his sleeve this time around was the reason for both.
John knew she was working out a series of possible reactions in her mind. A very valuable asset in negotiations, which had a very bad habit of seeping all too often into her personal relationships.
Elizabeth pressed her lips together and exhaled through her nose, eyeing him suspiciously. He tilted his chin upwards and watched as she followed the instruction and struggled to haul the heavy package onto her desk.
She squinted at it, confusion etched into her features, and John was satisfied he had managed to get the desired effect out of her.
“Come on.” He pushed again.
She cut the tape that held the wrapping paper together with the sharp blade of her scissors – always the perfectionist – and moved it aside to reveal the dark brown, ancient-looking cover of two large tomes.
She lifted the hard leather cover of the first book and opened it to the first page. She ran her fingers down the thin yellowed paper and over the small indentures of the letters where the pen-nib, or whatever instrument they had used to write on these pages, had been pressed harder into the sheet.
“It’s ancient.” Her eyes danced with scholarly excitement as she turned page after page. “Where did you find them?”
“You like them?”
“Sure I do!” The smile she awarded him with was the inconfutable proof she was telling the truth.
“Teyla pointed me to the Kessian market; they still have a few books around there.”
“Make sure to thank her on my behalf when you see her, and tell her I’ll do it myself as soon as I resurface from all the paperwork.”
He nodded his assent, and leant further forward to place a hand on the book Elizabeth was currently studying.
“From what the seller has told me, the books are about 400 years old. They’re both collections of popular tales; the first book is pre-Wraith, the second one covers the short time span between the Wraith’s arrival and the destruction of the civilization, about 10,000 years ago.”
“God, these people had probably been obliterated before the ancients left for Earth. Did he tell you how the tales survived for so long?” She barely looked at him while speaking, and it told him he had given her the right present.
Elizabeth never failed to look at her interlocutor in the eye, unless she was tending to a matter of vital importance. Or to some local texts, preferably history or literature, as she was doing now.
“He didn’t know exactly, he suggested foreign scholars had taken it upon themselves to hand down what was left of fallen civilizations. You know, like that guy you speak tongues with that has sent you the tablets.” John nodded towards the stone tablets lying on the shelf behind her back.
“His name’s Doctor Daniel Jackson, and the tablets hold important information on the Ancients’ presence in the Milky Way.”
He raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged lightly, falsely dismissing the subject to provoke some sort of reaction from her.
John had repeatedly teased her about the insane –at least to him- passion for foreign cultures she shared with Doctor Jackson.
She found it amusing that a man like John could feel somewhat threatened by a man he would otherwise call a geek. Or that he was thoroughly convinced they were laughing at him in the SGC commissary, the last time they were on Earth.
She had told him to learn Russian so he could take part to their conversations next time. And read “War and Peace” in its original version while he was at it.
He turned her attention back to him by half covering her hand with his own on the rough surface of the paper, not before he glanced behind himself to check for unwanted audience.
“Can I see you tonight?” Despite the apparent lack of people, he decided to keep his tone low all the same. Probably to sound tempting to her ears more than for sake of prudence.
Elizabeth sighed.
“I don’t know. I have so many reports to go through. And, thanks to you and Rodney, a number I’m trying not to think about of ‘thank you’ cards to write.”
There was no reason why she couldn’t postpone some of the work to the following day, if the thought of leaving something behind didn’t make her stomach clench unpleasantly.
“We haven’t been together in over a week.”
No need to remind her. She kept count of every night they spent apart due to their diverging schedules, and they were far too many, especially now that the waters were uncharacteristically still.
She felt their relationship was made of stolen looks and touches, and eternal planning for encounters that would most likely have to be cancelled for external causes.
His thumb drew lazy circles on the back of her hand. And as if that, - and the pout that was rapidly reappearing on his features – wasn’t enough, he leaned fully against the back of the chair and made sure she could see just how well the black shirt fit on his torso.
“Come on. It’s your birthday, you deserve to take a break.”
He was doing it deliberately, but she had soon learned how to play by his rules.
“Actually…” She began, mimicking his action. “I do feel a little tired.”
She stretched lightly, arching her back as she did so, exposing the soft column of her throat to him. Her breasts were pushing out and straining against the snug fabric of her shirt.
John knew that just outside his line of sight, the shirt was doubtlessly riding up, revealing a tantalizing half-inch of pale stomach. She heard him hiss, and smiled triumphantly as she retook her business position.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Their hands touched again briefly as John rose from his chair, his eyes still lingering on her chest.
“Now go take care of your men. I’ll see you and your team in the briefing room in an hour. And please, tell Zelenka I want to see him, too.”
“Why do we need two scientists?” He was already frowning.
“It’s nothing you should worry about. Be patient and you’ll find out soon.”
John flashed her a lopsided grin and after a small bow of his head he strolled out of her office, hands in pockets and hair sticking out proudly at the back of his head.
Once again alone, Elizabeth reluctantly closed the book and set it on the shelf with its companion for later, and deeper, inspection. She shook her head at the man that cared more than he ever let on, and picked up the first report from her pile. Time for work.
TBC
Rating: PG13
Pairing: John/Elizabeth
Classification: I guess it can be fluff, with a little humor thrown in for good measure.
Spoilers: Set in S2, but no major spoilers
Summary: Birthday traditions should never be broken.
Disclaimers: I don’t own these characters, yadda yadda…
Status: in progress
A/N: Many thanks to
m_diva_z and xfairy1013 for their wonderful beta job. You rock!Dedicated to
merscilla, who influenced me with her post-it icons. *hugs* As always, I was at a loss for titles. Listening obsessively to 'don't look any further' helped.
It was all his fault. He was the one who had started it all.
The enormous stack of Happy Birthday cards sat colorful and proud on her desk, next to the even taller pile of reports waiting to be read and signed within the day.
Rumors had started flowing freely after Rodney had spilled everything about the omnipresent pot that decorated her office. One that, people recalled, hadn’t been there when they had first arrived in Atlantis.
It wasn’t long before the buzz on her supposed torrid affair with the handsome military commander ceased – not altogether, but she wasn’t going to complain – and her birth date became public knowledge among the expedition personnel.
Her birth date, her zodiacal sign and all the hypothetical personality traits that came with it had fed the speculation about the woman behind the leader. The Chinese scientists had even come up with some curious interpretations and a detailed horoscope based on their own astrology.
Elizabeth couldn’t deny that she was rather pleased, if not flattered, that so many people had taken the time to wish her a good day and to thank her for her devotion to her job, but from a certain perspective, it was also very embarrassing.
As opposed to what her job usually made people think, she didn’t like being the center of attention. Even though she always had the right face to display and the right words to say, it made her feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. And what she had seen of herself in the last few months of her command was making her seriously doubtful of deserving that praise.
She had already opened a few gifts that had been sitting outside her quarters’ door that morning, mostly sweets and a heavy winter blanket from the Athosians, and more lay scattered around her office. Chocolate and junk food in general seemed to be the big hit this year in Atlantis.
Maybe she should stop feeling so flattered and realize her people were actually plotting to get rid of her. by luring her into eating her way into a diabetic coma.
She smiled inwardly at her mock paranoia and unwrapped a stray snickers bar she had found propped against John’s pot.
It wasn’t exactly Carson’s idea of a healthy breakfast but that would have had to do. At least until someone took pity on her and provided her with a tray from the mess hall on their way back to work.
Reports and thank you cards weren’t going to sign themselves and she couldn’t afford to take the time for a proper meal, even if that meant not spending as much time with her people as she’d like to.
The candy bar had probably been put there on purpose as a bait, because she spotted a yellow post-it stuck to the pot’s round belly. It read ‘open me’ in thick capital letters.
She would have had no doubts about the author even if he had omitted the small ‘J’ on the bottom-right corner.
Elizabeth peeled the piece of paper off the vase and repositioned it on the top envelope of her pile of cards. She applied a gentle pressure with her thumb, running it from corner to corner until the adhesive patch adhered to the surface below, then lifted the pot’s lid and peeked inside.
Hail to creativeness and imagination. More chocolates and miniature candy bars winked at her in their sparkly wrappings, and for a moment, Elizabeth thought longingly of the bonsai plants Simon used to give her on small occasions.
“Here’s our birthday girl. Not a girl anymore, I’m afraid.”
“I can see you are always the gentleman, Colonel.” Elizabeth lifted her eyes to the entrance to her office. John was leaning casually against the doorframe, arms crossed and a teasing smile on his face.
She wondered whether he spent his free time practicing and creating new poses. Distracting poses, she thought as her gaze fell on his flexed biceps.
“Anyway, I seem to recall you’re the next one on the list, aren’t you?” An eyebrow twitched on its own accord as she failed to maintain a serious face.
The good-natured retort was promptly ignored, and Elizabeth knew she had hit a spot. He wasn’t that far behind her after all, and you can play Peter Pan only for so long.
John pushed himself off the doorframe and walked fully into the room.
“So, have you already found my little something?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.” She nodded towards the post-it and the still untouched snickers bar.
“But I’m afraid you aren’t going to win any prize for the most original gift this year. Although the chocolate coated oranges are a nice touch. Thanks.” The smile she gave him was small but genuine.
“Are you sure? I’d look again if I were you.” John’s eyes twinkled as he eased himself into a chair.
He leaned over, feigning curiousness, as Elizabeth opened the pot again and placed the lid on her desk.
Half-drowned in sweets, the corner of some piece of paper stuck out at the exact center of the vase.
She lifted her eyebrows at the man sitting across her and she fished it out. It was a plain white card the size and the consistence of a calling card, and the hand-writing on the glossy surface was a little smudged. This time there were no initials.
“Bottom drawer.” She read aloud. “You are not planning on making me run around the city on a treasure hunt, are you?”
The right corner of her mouth quirked upwards in that ‘I-am-intrigued’ smile he had come to know so well and loved to see directed at him.
John shrugged vaguely and urged her on with a nod of his head. The ensemble was mitigated by his trademark puppy face in one of its countless nuances.
Intrigued indeed she was. He could see it from the way her eyes darted back and forth between the card and the drawers. And from the brief moment of hesitation she always had when she was trying to wrap her mind around something.
In this case, what he had up his sleeve this time around was the reason for both.
John knew she was working out a series of possible reactions in her mind. A very valuable asset in negotiations, which had a very bad habit of seeping all too often into her personal relationships.
Elizabeth pressed her lips together and exhaled through her nose, eyeing him suspiciously. He tilted his chin upwards and watched as she followed the instruction and struggled to haul the heavy package onto her desk.
She squinted at it, confusion etched into her features, and John was satisfied he had managed to get the desired effect out of her.
“Come on.” He pushed again.
She cut the tape that held the wrapping paper together with the sharp blade of her scissors – always the perfectionist – and moved it aside to reveal the dark brown, ancient-looking cover of two large tomes.
She lifted the hard leather cover of the first book and opened it to the first page. She ran her fingers down the thin yellowed paper and over the small indentures of the letters where the pen-nib, or whatever instrument they had used to write on these pages, had been pressed harder into the sheet.
“It’s ancient.” Her eyes danced with scholarly excitement as she turned page after page. “Where did you find them?”
“You like them?”
“Sure I do!” The smile she awarded him with was the inconfutable proof she was telling the truth.
“Teyla pointed me to the Kessian market; they still have a few books around there.”
“Make sure to thank her on my behalf when you see her, and tell her I’ll do it myself as soon as I resurface from all the paperwork.”
He nodded his assent, and leant further forward to place a hand on the book Elizabeth was currently studying.
“From what the seller has told me, the books are about 400 years old. They’re both collections of popular tales; the first book is pre-Wraith, the second one covers the short time span between the Wraith’s arrival and the destruction of the civilization, about 10,000 years ago.”
“God, these people had probably been obliterated before the ancients left for Earth. Did he tell you how the tales survived for so long?” She barely looked at him while speaking, and it told him he had given her the right present.
Elizabeth never failed to look at her interlocutor in the eye, unless she was tending to a matter of vital importance. Or to some local texts, preferably history or literature, as she was doing now.
“He didn’t know exactly, he suggested foreign scholars had taken it upon themselves to hand down what was left of fallen civilizations. You know, like that guy you speak tongues with that has sent you the tablets.” John nodded towards the stone tablets lying on the shelf behind her back.
“His name’s Doctor Daniel Jackson, and the tablets hold important information on the Ancients’ presence in the Milky Way.”
He raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged lightly, falsely dismissing the subject to provoke some sort of reaction from her.
John had repeatedly teased her about the insane –at least to him- passion for foreign cultures she shared with Doctor Jackson.
She found it amusing that a man like John could feel somewhat threatened by a man he would otherwise call a geek. Or that he was thoroughly convinced they were laughing at him in the SGC commissary, the last time they were on Earth.
She had told him to learn Russian so he could take part to their conversations next time. And read “War and Peace” in its original version while he was at it.
He turned her attention back to him by half covering her hand with his own on the rough surface of the paper, not before he glanced behind himself to check for unwanted audience.
“Can I see you tonight?” Despite the apparent lack of people, he decided to keep his tone low all the same. Probably to sound tempting to her ears more than for sake of prudence.
Elizabeth sighed.
“I don’t know. I have so many reports to go through. And, thanks to you and Rodney, a number I’m trying not to think about of ‘thank you’ cards to write.”
There was no reason why she couldn’t postpone some of the work to the following day, if the thought of leaving something behind didn’t make her stomach clench unpleasantly.
“We haven’t been together in over a week.”
No need to remind her. She kept count of every night they spent apart due to their diverging schedules, and they were far too many, especially now that the waters were uncharacteristically still.
She felt their relationship was made of stolen looks and touches, and eternal planning for encounters that would most likely have to be cancelled for external causes.
His thumb drew lazy circles on the back of her hand. And as if that, - and the pout that was rapidly reappearing on his features – wasn’t enough, he leaned fully against the back of the chair and made sure she could see just how well the black shirt fit on his torso.
“Come on. It’s your birthday, you deserve to take a break.”
He was doing it deliberately, but she had soon learned how to play by his rules.
“Actually…” She began, mimicking his action. “I do feel a little tired.”
She stretched lightly, arching her back as she did so, exposing the soft column of her throat to him. Her breasts were pushing out and straining against the snug fabric of her shirt.
John knew that just outside his line of sight, the shirt was doubtlessly riding up, revealing a tantalizing half-inch of pale stomach. She heard him hiss, and smiled triumphantly as she retook her business position.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Their hands touched again briefly as John rose from his chair, his eyes still lingering on her chest.
“Now go take care of your men. I’ll see you and your team in the briefing room in an hour. And please, tell Zelenka I want to see him, too.”
“Why do we need two scientists?” He was already frowning.
“It’s nothing you should worry about. Be patient and you’ll find out soon.”
John flashed her a lopsided grin and after a small bow of his head he strolled out of her office, hands in pockets and hair sticking out proudly at the back of his head.
Once again alone, Elizabeth reluctantly closed the book and set it on the shelf with its companion for later, and deeper, inspection. She shook her head at the man that cared more than he ever let on, and picked up the first report from her pile. Time for work.
TBC
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