“I thought you said we had arrived,” Sheppard remarked and McKay rolled his eyes.

“Well, yes, at least according to the scanner we have.” The Canadian scientist checked the scanner in his hand and nodded, “yep, we’re here.”

“Then there’s something wrong with your scanner because there is obviously nothing and nobody here.” Sheppard complained as the team followed McKay around in a circle.

“We didn’t expect anybody to be here,” McKay corrected.

“We did expect that there’d be something here!”

Elizabeth smirked at the two men’s bickering and noticed similar looks of amusement on Ronon and Teyla’s faces. “Does this happen often?” she asked, even though she was certain that she already knew the answer.

“All the time,” Ronon answered.

Teyla nodded in agreement and added “they argue the same as children.”

Elizabeth found herself smiling at the thought of Sheppard and McKay as little boys, still arguing, and suggested “maybe they need a timeout.”

“Wait, I got it!” McKay headed off into a nearby stand of trees. Sheppard shrugged and headed after Rodney. Teyla followed him into the dense forest. Ronon rushed after Teyla and Elizabeth ran after Ronon. She couldn’t see them through the trees and cursed herself for not going off world more often. A branch whipped through the air and she jumped. Elizabeth belatedly wished that she’d read more about the planet, mostly to know if there were any carnivorous critters here that were fond of people as appetizers. Her heart beat wildly as she stared nervously at the trees around her. Another branch snapped behind her. She turned around quickly and banged into Ronon. He fell to the ground and she followed, landing on him. Elizabeth could feel her cheeks grow bright red in embarrassment as she hopped to her feet, vigorously brushing herself off and trying not to look in his direction. She sneaked a look at him and was surprised to see that he looked just as embarrassed as her, his face enflamed also.

“I – You were lost,” he explained and she nodded speechlessly. Ronon shifted uncomfortably then headed off into the trees. She followed him to a small domed building, maybe fifteen feet tall and light grey with curved lines decorating the outside. The door was open and she could see inside to where Rodney, John and Teyla were standing. Rodney was hunched over a control panel, working with a laptop as his fingers flew over the Ancient controls.

Elizabeth and Ronon had just reached the doorstep when the ground started to shake and a blinding flash of purple light sped outwards from where the rest of the team stood. She ducked and covered her eyes to block the bright light. The ground shook once more then froze as the light faded. Elizabeth opened her eyes and stood up, wondering what Rodney had done to have caused that outburst. Ronon ran into the building and she followed, banging into him when he stopped suddenly.

“What is it?” she asked and stepped out from behind him. Elizabeth’s jaw dropped when she saw the sight before her. Three little children stood in front of them, dressed in much too large Atlantis uniforms. The youngest, a little girl with light brown hair and familiar brown eyes, started to cry and ran to her. The little girl threw her arms around Elizabeth. “Mommy!”