Disclaimer: Still don't own anything about Stargate Atlantis.
Pairing: John/Liz
Spoilers: Intruder as for John's rank
This is a sequel to After the Siege. Thank you for kind reviews!
The briefing was short and sweet and John couldn't help thinking Elizabeth seemed a little different this morning.
He stayed behind as the team members filed out of the room and she gathered her belongings from the table. "Liz?"
Her head shot up. "You're still here?"
"Yes, I…"
"Don't you have a mission to prepare for?"
Oh yes, she was definitely different this morning.
"Is something wrong?"
Elizabeth snorted and headed for the door. "I'm busy, John, so unless you actually have something important to talk about…"
"This is important", he cut in, softly. "Are you all right?"
She stopped for a moment, her face softening. "Yes. Thank you for caring, but I'm OK."
He frowned, studying her face. "You look pale."
She shifted, before confessing. "I haven't been sleeping well. And I have a bit of a sore throat."
"Are you coming down with something?" He stepped closer and laid his hand on her forehead. "The flu?"
Elizabeth shook her head, smiling slightly. "I never get the flu. It's probably just stress."
"So the flu bugs are so scared of you they turn and run on their heels?"
She blinked at the mental image of bugs running with high heels. "What?"
"Well, there must be an explanation as to why you never get the flu and other people do."
"Yes, John, it's called a strong immune system. Now, if you don't mind, I really have to go."
He walked with her to her office. "Take it easy today, OK? Or I'll ask Carson to keep an eye on you."
"I believe he already has me under special observation, ever since you told him last week I work too much."
John shrugged. "You do work too much."
"And right now you don't work at all so get going. Hush, out." She dumped her laptop and a stack of papers on her desk and he smiled.
"I'll see you when we get back."
"Yes, yes", she said, absent-mindedly, shifting through the papers. John rolled his eyes and headed towards the jumper bay.
Elizabeth rubbed her temples and tried very hard to concentrate on the report she was reading, but the letters seemed to dance in front of her eyes. The annoying little pain she had felt in her throat that morning was still there; at first she had put it down to her room being extremely dusty as she really hadn't had time for cleaning up lately, but by now she had to admit this could be something else.
She sighed, throwing the paper from her hand and getting up, grabbing onto the desk as the room suddenly got all blurry and she saw it best to sit back down.
"Elizabeth?" Carson's strong Scottish accent from the door made her look up. "Are you all right, lassie?"
She took a deep breath, willing the dizziness away. "Yes, Carson, I'm fine. What do you need?"
The doctor took a look at her, worried. "Maybe you should come down to the infirmary. You look ill."
"I'm not ill, Carson." She sighed and rubbed her face. "I can't be ill. The city will sink if I start taking sick leave."
"I'm perfectly sure Doctor McKay…"
Elizabeth lifted a finger. "That is exactly why the city will sink."
Carson rolled his eyes. "As I was saying, I'm perfectly sure Doctor McKay is capable of running the city for the short time it takes for me to give you a medical check-up. Come on."
She got to her feet, muttering something.
"What was that?" Carson took her arm and started to lead her out of the room.
"John sent you, didn't he?"
"Aye, Colonel Sheppard did visit me this morning and mentioned you had looked a bit worse for wear. Seriously, Elizabeth, you must start taking better care of yourself so that I don't have to rely on other people to get updates on your wellbeing."
"I'm sorry, Carson. "She sat on a bed at the infirmary. "I'll be better from now on, I promise."
The doctor pushed a thermometer into her mouth. "I hope you will. For your sake and for everyone in Atlantis."
Thirty minutes later she was back at work, having promised Carson to finish early today, right after her briefing with John's team. He hadn't found anything specifically wrong with her, so she had insisted on getting back to work, despite his best objections that she should get some rest.
The team arrived back as scheduled, full of news from the planet they had travelled to. She listened patiently, nodding at the right places and making appropriate comments even though her head was starting to feel like it was filled with cotton wool.
"Very good, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Dismissed." She closed the file and stood up from the desk, realizing what a big mistake that had been as the world turned upside down and the floor rose to meet her.
John, who had been sitting closest to her, managed to catch her just before she hit the floor.
"Elizabeth?"
Teyla and Rodney rushed over from the door. "What happened?"
"She fainted." He placed a hand on her forehead; she was burning up. "She was complaining a sore throat this morning; she must be having the flu or something."
"I will get Doctor Beckett", Teyla offered but John shook his head, lifting Elizabeth up into his arms. The paleness of her face scared him.
"That will take too long; I'll take her down there myself."
"Well", Carson said, withdrawing a stethoscope from Elizabeth's chest and fixing the covers back over her. "As far as I can tell, it's just the flu but I don't like the fact that she fainted. She's overworked and overtired and probably hasn't been eating properly either. When she was here earlier, she had no fever; it's gone up now."
The worried faces of the expedition team met his words with concern. "But she will be all right?" Teyla asked, looking at Elizabeth's pale face.
"When she wakes up, we'll know more."
"And when will that be?" John asked from the window.
"I can't tell. I'm sorry, Colonel, it could be anything from one hour to several days. She's not in a coma or anything and basically the longer she sleeps the better. It will give her body time to recover."
"Right."
"Look, there's nothing any of you can do here right now, OK? I suggest you all go and get some rest, come back later or in the morning. I will let you know if she wakes up before that."
Rodney and Teyla got up from Elizabeth's bedside and started towards the door. John lingered behind, a little voice nagging in his head. Or maybe it was his heart.
"I think I should stay…"
"Colonel Sheppard." Beckett gave him his business face. "Get some rest. Now."
John frowned but reluctantly started towards the door. Carson shook his head a little and softened his tone of voice.
"I know you're worried, lad, but she'll be fine. It's just the flu."
"Are you sure?" The Colonel could no longer hide the worry in his voice. "Are you sure it's just the flu?"
"I can't be sure until she wakes up", Carson admitted. "But so far I see no reason to suspect anything else."
John took one last, long look at sleeping Elizabeth, nodded to the doctor and left the room.
Elizabeth drifted in an out of sleep that afternoon and evening, trashing around in the hospital bed, muttering random things in her feverish state. Carson sat by her bedside, repeatedly wiping sweat from her forehead and pulling up the covers she kicked off every ten seconds. The thermometer still displayed numbers that made him worried; it was apparent that the high stress, fear and lack of time Elizabeth had had for herself since the beginning of this expedition had finally caught up with her. Even if it was nothing more serious than a bad case of flu, it would take her time to recover and he was not going to allow her back to work in a long while.
Carson got up from the chair just as John walked into the room. "Colonel."
"How is she?"
"Fever's still high but she has no other symptoms. Did you get any rest?"
"Not really."
He sat down to the chair Carson had vacated and placed his hand on Elizabeth's forehead. "She's really burning up."
Elizabeth muttered something and kicked off the covers one more time. John automatically reached to pull them back over her. "Don't do that, Liz."
Carson glanced at him sharply. "What did you say?"
"I told her not to…"
"No. You called her Liz." The doctor shook his head. "What's going on, John? You know it's not allowed for the leaders of this expedition to get together, don't you?"
"I know."
He glanced at Carson. "But right now I don't care. Nothing has happened between us."
"Yet?"
John was silent, not knowing what to say. Did he want something to happen? Was there a part of him that considered Elizabeth as more than his boss and his friend? Considered her as more than the very beautiful, strong and supporting woman she was? She had impressed her ever since their first meeting at Antarctica, all through the difficult decisions she had had to make during their time on Atlantis. He hadn't always agreed with her leadership but knew she did what she saw best and for that, he respected her.
To be honest, he wasn't sure if he had told Carson the truth just now, saying nothing had happened between him and Elizabeth. A couple of months earlier she had spent some nights in his bed, in need of a friend and a supporter after Ford's disappearance, and even though they had remained purely on a friendship level, his bed had felt strangely empty ever since.
"John?" Carson's voice penetrated his thoughts. "She's waking up."
Pushing less-than-professional thoughts to the back of his mind, John turned his attention back to Elizabeth, whose eyes were fluttering open. "Liz?"
If Carson had any more objections to the nickname, he stopped himself from expressing them.
"Elizabeth? How are you feeling?"
She frowned. "Where am I?"
"You're at the infirmary. You fainted after the briefing and John brought you down here. Your fever is quite high but you'll be fine."
She swallowed and made a face as pain shot through her throat and head simultaneously. "I have the flu?"
"Yes."
"I haven't had that since…well, not in years." She turned her head. "John?"
"I'm here." He squeezed her hand.
"I'm afraid I can't remember much of the briefing…how was the mission?"
He smiled. "We'll talk about that when you feel better, OK? Right now you need to rest."
"I can't, I have to…" She tried to sit up but two pairs of hands promptly pushed her back down.
"You're going nowhere, Elizabeth." Carson wrote something to her chart. "I'm afraid I have to pull medical rank here. You're not leading the city until you're fully recovered."
Elizabeth groaned. "And how long is that going to take?"
"A couple of weeks, at least."
"What? Carson, I couldn't possibly just lie here for two weeks."
"Well, once the fever is gone I might allow you to your quarters. But as for work, you're not doing any and that's an order. John, I'm sure you and Caldwell can take care of things in the meantime."
He nodded. "Absolutely."
"Good. Now, Elizabeth, you need to get some sleep. Can I trust you to stay here so I can go to bed myself or do I have to keep an eye on you for the whole night?"
Elizabeth glared at him. "I'll stay. But I'm not happy about this, just for the record."
"Of course not. The nurse will check on you every few hours. John, you can stay for a couple of minutes if you want. Good night."
"Night, Carson."
The doctor left and John turned his eyes back to Elizabeth. "I'd better go."
"John?" She didn't let go of her hand.
"Yeah?"
"Please don't let them sink the city."
He chuckled. "I'll try my best to prevent that."
Squeezing her hand, he pressed a kiss on her damp forehead. "Sleep well."