The halls of Atlantis began to dim and the presence of people died down as night took over. Elizabeth was the exception, the only soul walking down the corridor to her quarters. She took in her surroundings and while walking she used the wall as her guide, touching it…feeling how realistic Atlantis is. She hit a fork, the right leading to her quarters…and the left leading to her second-in-command’s. When John approached her earlier, she was still in a state of shock, being back when she never actually left. So much so, that she forgot to thank John.

And for that reason, she took a left. It wasn’t long until she reached his door. She stared at it for a minute, trying to think on how to start the conversation and what exactly she wanted to say. She released a deep breath and then knocked quietly on the door. The door in a matter of seconds opened and revealed a messy haired-shirtless-clad only in boxers John Sheppard.

Elizabeth automatically looked down to the floor after 5 seconds of gawking at him with her mouth semi-open.

“Elizabeth what’s wrong?” he whispered in a husky yet sensitive voice. He took a step towards her, wondering if she needed comforting of some sort. She stood her ground and finally decided to look up at him.

“Do you have a moment?” she replied, her mouth dry, nervous at the fact that his appearance completely made her forget of her strategy of starting the conversation.

He gestured at her to come inside, placing his hand behind her lower back as she passed by him. The door closed behind drowning the room in darkness. John moved to turn the lights on and placed them in a low setting, giving them just enough light to have a small talk.

“John, I won’t keep you up for long so I’ll just come out with it…Thank you,” she started to move towards the door, but John held her back by gently grabbing her wrist.

“So you walked all the way down here, completely out of your way, and proceeded to wake me up at 3 o’clock in the morning just to tell me ‘Thank you’?” John asked, the wheels turning slowly in his head due to lack of sleep.

“Yup,” she said aware that he was still holding on to her wrist, “Well no.”

“Aha,” he said letting go of her wrist and with a smirk on his face he continued, “Go on.”

“I just wanted to say that,” she paused a bit as she looked straight into his eyes, “Without you, I don’t think I could have survived today. I felt trapped……alone. But somewhere, out of nowhere, there was someone trying to show me how to get home. That was you,” her eyes started tearing as she started to remember certain aspects of her nightmare, “I was lost John, and you found me…not just this time, but every time since the very beginning.”

That’s when she broke…all of the emotion and strain she’s been keeping locked up inside for the past two years broke out. In a matter of strides, John held her in his arms and she held on to the one thing that gives her hope. One hand stroked her back and the other smoothed out her hair. His warm breath soothed her mind as he began to speak words of comfort into her ear. As the moments passed by, he would unconsciously rub his cheek gently against hers and leave soft kisses on the crook of her neck. Her breathing began to calm and her hands in turn began to stroke his upper back.

After a couple of moments of deafening silence, John whispered into her ear once again, “I will always be there for you Liz…I’d do anything for you.” He then shifted his head to make eye contact with her, “I’d die for you.” His lips closed the small gap between hers and showed her how much he was willing to risk for her.