Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis or anything affiliated with it. It is owned by Sci Fi, MGM, et al. No infringement is intended and no profit is being made.

Spoilers: Progeny, Weir's storyline
Time Line: Season two, season three, early season four, then AU.
Character(s): John Sheppard
Pairing(s): John/Elizabeth
Author's Note: I've fallen head-over-heels back in love with this pairing. It's rather ridiculous, but I love them dearly, so have some fic. One day I'll break 1,000 words again. There's a longer story buried in this one, but I just have to get around to writing it.

Summary: After they return from Earth (the real Earth) that first time, he finds himself showing up in her office more and more.

The Winter Will Take Another Tree
by: chopsticks
pg

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After they return from Earth (the real Earth) that first time, he finds himself showing up in her office more and more. He's not really sure why he does it, and it takes a snarky comment from Rodney over a year later for him to even notice that he is doing it.

He's (mostly) convinced himself it's because he knows she needs the distraction.

So he walks through her door, two cups of coffee in hand and a funny story about the scientists on his lips.

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After she's gone, he doesn't really know how to adjust. He likes the small routines, likes when things run the way they're supposed to in between the near-death experiences, and right now? Things aren't running the way they're supposed to.

He keeps ending up outside of her office, having gotten there thanks to some autopilot setting in his brain that refuses to cede control. Suddenly he'll find himself in the Control Room, and he'll blink and realize that it isn't Elizabeth sitting in the chair in the fishbowl office. Most of the time Colonel Carter won't even look up, and he'll be able to slide by to the back staircase. Just passing through, though he knows that the staff in the Control Room know better.

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It's one unfortunately-memorable moment that forces him to break the routine once and for all.

He shows up in her office, coffee made exactly to Elizabeth's specifications. It isn't until he's set it down just to her left, exactly where Elizabeth always placed her mug, and the words: You look like you could use a break, leave his mouth that he realizes it isn't Elizabeth sitting in front of him.

Carter smiles politely and takes a sip from the cup and manages to mask her dislike of the taste, but not the pity in her eyes.

"Colonel." She pauses and her eyes soften, lips turned down. "John..." She seems at a loss for words.

"I'm late for a meeting with Zelenka." And he walks out.

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Almost two years pass. The routine's been long-broken, but he still misses it. He misses her quiet, reassuring presence; he misses her faith.

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Another year passes, and they (accidentally) rescue her from a formerly-unknown Asuran complex. A rebel faction that managed to escape Oberoth's wrath has been running it, and she has lived among them. The rebels tell them they have had Elizabeth there for several months before the first strike, and explain that she was removed from their team and replaced by a duplicate when they had first encountered the Asurans. The rebels broke her out and brought her with them when they ran away, and, yes, she is still fully human.

Nobody seems to know what to say to that; even Rodney is quiet, shell-shocked.

Later, he asks her why she didn't try to come home sooner:

"I did, once. I gated to an uninhabited planet and tried to dial Atlantis. I didn't have the right address anymore, and I didn't want to put any of our allies at risk."

Oh. He's extremely proud of her in that moment, but he doesn't know how to tell her. Not in words, at least.

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She doesn't take command of Atlantis again, and she makes him swear not to reveal that it was more her decision than anything else. Instead, she floats between teams, handling the situations that require an eloquent tongue rather than the flare of a gun. She helps out the scientists by translating the decayed Ancient writing on millennia-old artifacts, working out of an office with a breathtaking view of the city.

He starts a simple routine, again.

He does it for a lot of reasons, but he isn't shying away from them. Not this time.

So he walks through her door, two cups of coffee in hand and a request for a date on his lips.

It's just a formality now, but he enjoys the routine, and he knows she does, too.

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the end.