The Long Way Home

Chapter Forty Nine: Through Time & Space

Staring straight up into the sky
Oh my my a solar system that fits

Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Parallel Universe

It was late, not that you could really tell when you looked out of the window of the Daedalus. The only thing John had seen out of the windows over the past fortnight was the sight of space whizzing by in a blue blur. It made him antsy being trapped on a ship in the middle of space for so long. He liked the convenience of stepping through the Stargate and finding himself some place else. The fact the Earth gate didn't have a ZPM powering it meant that three weeks on this space ship was the only way back home to Atlantis.

Home, he thought longingly.

It was his home now, the danger of being transferred had passed after the IOA had promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and renewed his position in Atlantis. He had no idea what strings Elizabeth had pulled or the magic she had worked upon the IOA but he sincerely appreciated it. The two of them worked well in tandem and removing him would have ruined the precarious balance the two of them had managed to construct.

There was only a week left until their arrival in Atlantis and John was relishing the moment he was able to put boots on the ground and get back into some form of routine. He missed that little place he could call his own. There wasn't much for him to do on the Daedalus, Colonel Steven Caldwell was managing things up top form his command chair and John had unfortunately filled his hand luggage with a few surprises he'd managed to pick up in Memphis and Colorado. He had exhausted the games on his Nintendo D.S and his laptop sadly didn't get the internet in between the Milky Way and the Pegasus Galaxy.

On top of that when he had tried to get to some of his personal effects located in the storage area of the ship he had discovered them trapped behind some huge boxes of flat pack furniture that some idiot must have ordered. Someone on board this ship must be decking out their quarters from the amount of stuff he had struggled to rummage through before giving up.

So now he was heading towards the small designated mess area in order to get himself a drink of tea so he could try and interest himself in reading War and Peace again. After almost a year in Atlantis he was only seventeen pages in, he thought that was more to do with him developing some new, more fun hobbies in his free time.

Elizabeth was seated alone when John arrived in the mess area, she was the only one in the dimly lit room, her chin was perched on her hand as she watched hyperspace whip past the window. John made himself a cup of tea before approaching her table and pulling the chair out quietly as not to jolt her out of her thoughts.

"I'm guessing you can't sleep either." he said as he sagged down into the chair, wrapping his hands around the mug to warm them.

Elizabeth shook her head as she lowered her gaze. There was something different about her at the moment, he sensed a sadness residing underneath her cool, blank surface and he gathered that something had changed on their time on Earth. John sympathised, whatever it was she held her cards close to her chest. He knew that she wasn't going to oblige him an explanation if he asked. They had all made sacrifices for the city, John recognised the signs of losing someone close to you. She had been gone along time with no contact, they all had. Could they really expect anyone else to wait around for them?

John had always thought the answer was no, there had never been enough love in the world to make you want someone who wasn't there for you but he knew that wasn't true. Love wasn't about what you could give a person or what they could give you. It was about accepting each other and laying down everything you had to make it work. Clearly whoever this man was who had broken Elizabeth's heart was unworthy of her affections and John could see that she was blaming herself.