Fic update: Look a little further [2/3]
Apr. 4th, 2006 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prowler_pilotTitle: 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 for her wonderful beta job. You rock!
Dedicated tomercscilla, who influenced me with her post-it icons. *hugs*
Part 1
He passed by her office the first time at 10.00 pm, when the guards in the control room were switching places at the beginning of the first night shift. At this time of the evening most of the staff had already left their positions to reach either the recreation areas, or if they were planning to call it an early night, their quarters.
It was by far Elizabeth’s favorite time of the day, when she could clear her mind of the frenetic rhythm of the control room and work serenely for another hour or two before the need to sleep became too compelling.
Almost devoid of human life in its corridors, the city hummed discreetly around her, and without the usual daily commotion she could hear the soothing, steady rolling of waves in the distance. And there were always familiar faces downstairs, keeping an eye on received data or typing away at their computer devices, so she had company.
There was a certain degree of complicity, camaraderie, that developed among the small group of late workers, not only with each other but with the city itself. It was the closest moment she had to actual time to herself, and she highly valued it.
Among the light banter of a peaceful night a pair of boots left the small group, and her trained ears isolated the steady thumping from the dull background noises.
After almost two years she could quite accurately predict when someone was walking in the direction of her office.
Elizabeth always made a point to lift her eyes from her work to check whether this someone wanted to talk to her or just to greet the passers-by. This time, when she did, she met the amused gleam in John Sheppard’s green eyes that never failed to set off alarm bells in her head.
She frowned in confusion as he absently waved at her and walked on without even slowing his pace.
He was back less than twenty minutes later, going in the opposite direction, and repeated the gesture before disappearing down the stairs.
She forced herself to keep her head down the next time she felt his familiar steps approach the door to her office. He deliberately stomped harder with his boots on the floor to draw her attention and started whistling a tune she vaguely associated with the football tapes he treated like relics.
No week passed without him boring her to death with endless reiterations of the same victorious touchdown or with names and numbers that her brain couldn’t hold for more than a few seconds.
The relaxed shared meals or the domestic touching that usually accompanied such trivial themes were well worth the tedium. If there weren’t more urgent topics of discussion, it meant Atlantis and her people were safe.
But speaking of tedium. Elizabeth schooled her expression into one of indifference and tried uselessly to maintain the focus on the words she was reading. She was getting as frustrated by the unwanted distraction as he was by the lack of attention.
She managed more or less successfully in ignoring him the following two times he walked by, bouncing a hard rubber ball off the floor, until the sphere escaped him and bounced happily down the stairs and across the control room, earning him a bi-lingual scolding from Zelenka about the destructive potential of the aforementioned ball.
Elizabeth’s patience snapped at the aggravated tone in the Czech’s voice and she hurried out of her office with a sigh. She was willing to let him have his way if it made him feel better and helped him kill time while she wrapped up her load of work for the day, but any interference and disturbance in the others’ work was intolerable.
Especially when Ancient technology was concerned.
“Colonel, could I have a word please?”
John grimaced mentally. There went his plans for the evening.
Both he and Zelenka lifted her heads to look at her form several feet above them. Leaning against the railing with one hand and with the other at her waist, she looked just about to start tapping her foot on the floor.
She watched him climb the two staircases, his bouncy stance forgotten in favor of a more submissive attitude, and preceded him into her office, regaining her position behind her desk before she spoke.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She was keeping her voice low not to draw any further attention, and the words sounded more hissed than actually spoken.
The tip of his tongue made an appearance and he moistened his lips, buying a few more seconds to think up an answer that would get him out of her office unharmed and with his ego as intact as possible.
“I was just taking a stroll and passed by to check whether you were done with the reports.” He felt his brow wrinkle as he delivered the poor excuse.
“I thought it would have been obvious at your first visit that I wasn’t.” She spread both hands on her desk, finding the support she needed to lean forward and close part of the space that separated them.
“Are you now?”
Elizabeth sent a chastising glare his way.
“It’s late Elizabeth, and it’s your birthday. Can’t you just cheat once in a while? You need to relax.”
Although his head was characteristically cocked to the side and accompanying one of his best arrogant expressions, she didn’t miss the drop of the pitch in his voice which meant there was seriousness behind the usual laid-back attitude.
It hadn’t take her much time to figure out that a good part of her senior staff chose to protect their hearts by hiding the rawest side of them behind a shell that was as thick as the one she wore.
Part of it was required by her leading position, and ready to be shed on Earth, but his…His had calcified over the years, layer after layer, and enveloped a burden whose contents were still largely a mystery to her.
John had made it her task to pick and combine the pieces of the puzzle he’d started throwing at her on random occasions when they had decided to let their relationship grow. He probably wasn’t doing it unconsciously, either.
It was more convenient to him to have her figure it all out by herself than take up the courage to show himself exposed and vulnerable to her eyes.
She had come to learn that ‘you need to relax’, when not associated to explicit threats of calling Carson, was his designated euphemism for ‘I really want to spend some time with you’, and it never failed to make her smile as if he had really voiced the latter phrase.
John saw her look down, her lips slightly parted to take in a breath she then released as a sigh as she sat back into her chair.
She nodded towards the row of armchairs against the wall facing her desk. “Sit there and be quiet. I won’t be long.” She picked up an espresso chocolate from her seemingly endless reserve and promptly popped it into her mouth. “You can eat and use your PDA if you want.”
He allowed a triumphant grin to materialize on his face as he sank into one of the armchairs with a handful of peanuts M&M’s. “Yes ma’am.”
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 for her wonderful beta job. You rock!Dedicated to
mercscilla, who influenced me with her post-it icons. *hugs*Part 1
He passed by her office the first time at 10.00 pm, when the guards in the control room were switching places at the beginning of the first night shift. At this time of the evening most of the staff had already left their positions to reach either the recreation areas, or if they were planning to call it an early night, their quarters.
It was by far Elizabeth’s favorite time of the day, when she could clear her mind of the frenetic rhythm of the control room and work serenely for another hour or two before the need to sleep became too compelling.
Almost devoid of human life in its corridors, the city hummed discreetly around her, and without the usual daily commotion she could hear the soothing, steady rolling of waves in the distance. And there were always familiar faces downstairs, keeping an eye on received data or typing away at their computer devices, so she had company.
There was a certain degree of complicity, camaraderie, that developed among the small group of late workers, not only with each other but with the city itself. It was the closest moment she had to actual time to herself, and she highly valued it.
Among the light banter of a peaceful night a pair of boots left the small group, and her trained ears isolated the steady thumping from the dull background noises.
After almost two years she could quite accurately predict when someone was walking in the direction of her office.
Elizabeth always made a point to lift her eyes from her work to check whether this someone wanted to talk to her or just to greet the passers-by. This time, when she did, she met the amused gleam in John Sheppard’s green eyes that never failed to set off alarm bells in her head.
She frowned in confusion as he absently waved at her and walked on without even slowing his pace.
He was back less than twenty minutes later, going in the opposite direction, and repeated the gesture before disappearing down the stairs.
She forced herself to keep her head down the next time she felt his familiar steps approach the door to her office. He deliberately stomped harder with his boots on the floor to draw her attention and started whistling a tune she vaguely associated with the football tapes he treated like relics.
No week passed without him boring her to death with endless reiterations of the same victorious touchdown or with names and numbers that her brain couldn’t hold for more than a few seconds.
The relaxed shared meals or the domestic touching that usually accompanied such trivial themes were well worth the tedium. If there weren’t more urgent topics of discussion, it meant Atlantis and her people were safe.
But speaking of tedium. Elizabeth schooled her expression into one of indifference and tried uselessly to maintain the focus on the words she was reading. She was getting as frustrated by the unwanted distraction as he was by the lack of attention.
She managed more or less successfully in ignoring him the following two times he walked by, bouncing a hard rubber ball off the floor, until the sphere escaped him and bounced happily down the stairs and across the control room, earning him a bi-lingual scolding from Zelenka about the destructive potential of the aforementioned ball.
Elizabeth’s patience snapped at the aggravated tone in the Czech’s voice and she hurried out of her office with a sigh. She was willing to let him have his way if it made him feel better and helped him kill time while she wrapped up her load of work for the day, but any interference and disturbance in the others’ work was intolerable.
Especially when Ancient technology was concerned.
“Colonel, could I have a word please?”
John grimaced mentally. There went his plans for the evening.
Both he and Zelenka lifted her heads to look at her form several feet above them. Leaning against the railing with one hand and with the other at her waist, she looked just about to start tapping her foot on the floor.
She watched him climb the two staircases, his bouncy stance forgotten in favor of a more submissive attitude, and preceded him into her office, regaining her position behind her desk before she spoke.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She was keeping her voice low not to draw any further attention, and the words sounded more hissed than actually spoken.
The tip of his tongue made an appearance and he moistened his lips, buying a few more seconds to think up an answer that would get him out of her office unharmed and with his ego as intact as possible.
“I was just taking a stroll and passed by to check whether you were done with the reports.” He felt his brow wrinkle as he delivered the poor excuse.
“I thought it would have been obvious at your first visit that I wasn’t.” She spread both hands on her desk, finding the support she needed to lean forward and close part of the space that separated them.
“Are you now?”
Elizabeth sent a chastising glare his way.
“It’s late Elizabeth, and it’s your birthday. Can’t you just cheat once in a while? You need to relax.”
Although his head was characteristically cocked to the side and accompanying one of his best arrogant expressions, she didn’t miss the drop of the pitch in his voice which meant there was seriousness behind the usual laid-back attitude.
It hadn’t take her much time to figure out that a good part of her senior staff chose to protect their hearts by hiding the rawest side of them behind a shell that was as thick as the one she wore.
Part of it was required by her leading position, and ready to be shed on Earth, but his…His had calcified over the years, layer after layer, and enveloped a burden whose contents were still largely a mystery to her.
John had made it her task to pick and combine the pieces of the puzzle he’d started throwing at her on random occasions when they had decided to let their relationship grow. He probably wasn’t doing it unconsciously, either.
It was more convenient to him to have her figure it all out by herself than take up the courage to show himself exposed and vulnerable to her eyes.
She had come to learn that ‘you need to relax’, when not associated to explicit threats of calling Carson, was his designated euphemism for ‘I really want to spend some time with you’, and it never failed to make her smile as if he had really voiced the latter phrase.
John saw her look down, her lips slightly parted to take in a breath she then released as a sigh as she sat back into her chair.
She nodded towards the row of armchairs against the wall facing her desk. “Sit there and be quiet. I won’t be long.” She picked up an espresso chocolate from her seemingly endless reserve and promptly popped it into her mouth. “You can eat and use your PDA if you want.”
He allowed a triumphant grin to materialize on his face as he sank into one of the armchairs with a handful of peanuts M&M’s. “Yes ma’am.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-05 11:34 am (UTC)