Dark Hopes

'Atlantis Base, this is Caldwell, we're ready to depart. We'll be in comm.'s range for 18 hours more should you require any assistance. Caldwell out.'

'Colonel Caldwell, Atlantis base wishes you a safe Journey home, you are free to depart when ready.' The technician sat at the control panel of the Atlantis gate room replied to Caldwell as the Deadalus powered up and moved away from the east pier of the City.

In her office behind the control room, Elizabeth Weir was watching the ship raise slowly from the sea top into the atmosphere, out into space and out of site. She turned and got a shock from seeing John Sheppard standing in the doorway watching the ship depart.

'Can I help you?' She asked bringing his attention back to her, she watched carefully as John moved his eye from the window to her face and gave her a sly but friendly smile.

'Not really, I just thought you might have the best view.' He said causing her to laugh for a second before sitting down at her desk. 'McKay wants permission to do some diagnostic on the ZPM now that there are less rooms being used. Something about putting strain on them or something like that.'

'And he couldn't ask me this himself?' Elizabeth asked giving him a run for his money on the sly smiles. She loved to make him think fast, she could see him thinking quickly for an excuse to come and ask instead of letting Rodney do it himself.

'He was getting ready for the diagnostic.' He made up moving into the room and sitting opposite her with a winners smile firmly placed on his face. He loved these games just as much as she did. One day he would be ready for one of those questions and would manage to answer in a believable way instead of the standard silly 'I wanted to come instead' answer he just gave.

'Your getting worse at lying to me, John, one of these days I'll get the truth out of you.' She called him on it giving him a wide smile that pushed his winning one away to be replaced with the playful grin she liked the most. 'Is there anything else you wanted?'

'Well an answer wouldn't go amiss... I think Rodney might get annoyed at me if I go back without one.'

'Well...'

'Doctor Weir, we're detecting several Wraith hive ships on a course for Atlantis.' A technician had stepped into her office to give her the information.

Elizabeth didn't get the chance to answer the question, the lights in her office switched themselves off along with her laptop and several of the ancient's devices that sat on her desk. She pushed herself up and made her way into the control room. 'What's going on?' she demanded feeling John move up close behind her.

'I'm not sure, nothings working, our own equipment, the Ancient equipment, its all.... Dead.' Someone replied into the darkness, the sun had set only half an hour before and the City was now plunged into darkness.

'Do we have gate protection?' John asked. Elizabeth could practically feel his breath on her neck and it sent a warm tingle down her spine.

'No sir, we don't have the shield and we can't dial out.'

'We're completely vulnerable.' Elizabeth breathed. 'Where's Rodney?' she barked swinging around to face what she hopped was John.

'Station 3, he was waiting for authorization to start the diagnostic.' John replied and turned to walk out of the control room, Elizabeth followed his form out and all the way to the ZPM Station.

---

It was darker in the ZPM Station than it was anywhere else in the City, the lack of windows in the area played the biggest part in this. Elizabeth and John approached the room and could hear Rodney cursing and banging at something.

'Rodney?' Elizabeth questioned making sure it was him, she stood in the doorway outlined by the only light entering the room. 'Nothing in the city is working Rodney, don't suppose you know why?'

'Well...' Rodney started then sucked in a breath. 'I started to do the diagnostic, while I was waiting for approval, I figured you would let me anyway as you...'

'Rodney.' Elizabeth warned.

'Ok, well I started the diagnostic and suddenly the ZPM overloaded and everything... stopped... working.'

'Oh well that makes it all clear.' John said sarcastically over Elizabeth's shoulder.

'How long till you fix it?' Elizabeth asked turning to give John a look he probably wouldn't see.

'Erm, well, that's a bit of a problem.' Elizabeth raised her eyebrow, no one noticed but her silence was taken as a sign of displeasure. 'You see, nothing is working for me to do a smaller diagnostic on the ZPM to find out why it failed.'

'Shouldn't the other ZPMs take over when one fails?' John offered suddenly remembering they still had two almost dead ZPMs and a Naquada generator that they had previously been using.

'Well yes, except...' Rodney started but suddenly wished he was somewhere else in the city, like outside, deep under the sea. 'I overloaded those as well.'

'Rodney!' Elizabeth's voice was now short and full of air, possible the breath she had been holding while she waited for the rest of his answer. 'There are WRAITH SHIPS on their way here.' She added raising her voice just enough at the worst part of her sentence to make Rodney panic as she knew he would.

'Oh no' Rodney said frozen.

---

'Novak, do you mind telling me what's going on?' Caldwell demanded over the communications system, the Deadalus had come to a complete stop 17 hours out from Atlantis, but no one on the command deck had caused the ship to stop, instead it had come from Novak's department.

'Sorry Colonel, Hermiod has picked up something on the sensors he thinks we should investigate.' She replied.

'What is it?'

'There is a life sign of an Ancient on the nearby planet.' Hermiod answered.

'Contact Atlantis.' Caldwell ordered the comm.'s officer.

---

Elizabeth stood on the balcony from her room in the city and gazed out across the sea that stretched never ending in every direction. She didn't know why she had come here, there were plenty of balconies she could stand on in the city, most of them accessible by other people who could ask her questions or give her reports at any time.

Somehow, she felt here was the best place, piece and quiet, there was nothing she could do at the moment, nothing was working all she would be doing was wondering around like a lost kitten and annoying anyone who was attempting to get the power back.

Lost in thought, Elizabeth didn't hear the chimes of her door, they rang several times before opening to admit the person on the other side, she didn't hear them say her name or see them step up beside her. She was so lost in though that in order to get her attention, John had to wave his hand in front of her face.

'John, you scared me.' She said having started by the sudden hand in front of her face.

'You were away with the faeries. I knocked and called out to you before I did that.' He said giving her a playful smile.

'Its nice and quiet here. I know the Wraith are coming but standing here, while nothing works...' She looked out across the sea and sighed. 'Its just beautiful.' John had watched her as she spoke and lost himself in her voice.

'Not as beautiful as you.' He responded to her comment without meaning to. Lost in her voice he had been studying her face and found himself struggling to hold back on any sort of action, but he hadn't expected that.

Elizabeth turned to him. He opened and closed his mouth thinking hard for a reason for having said what he did, but nothing came to him. She was still watching him when he gave in and dropped his gaze.

'John.' Elizabeth breathed his name, and had to pause to catch her breath. 'Please look at me.' She waited as he hesitated, then raised his head to meet her eyes. She reached out with her hands wanted to touch him but withdrew after she took a single, small step forward. 'Did you mean that?'

'Yes.' John answered without hesitating. He had meant it, he had wanted to say it so many times. He had lost count of the times he had bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying how much he wished there could be something between them, how he wanted to just kiss her whenever she smiled.

Elizabeth reached out again and took hold of his top, pulled him close and down to her as she moved up on her toes and kissed him. It wasn't until he started to return the kiss that her knees felt week and her heart started pounding in her chest, a deep and secure feeling, she registered for a second that the current feeling was stronger than what she had felt earlier that year when she had believe John dead, committing suicide in a brave attempt to destroy a hive ship in order to protect the City.

She broke the kiss. Still close together they both breathed in a deep breath replenishing their lungs. She brushed her lips against his gently.

'Did you come in for something important?' she asked kissing him for a second before allowing him to answer.

'No. Its just that no one's seen you for a while. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.' He replied before kissing her again, he didn't want to stop, every kiss was a touch of heaven. He pulled her closer and kept hold of the kiss until they both gasped for air when they separated. Taking her waist John began to lead her back into the room and towards the bed. She hesitated.

'John, we can't do this. I...' Elizabeth lowered her head as she spoke, her hands resting on his chest, every fibre in her body screamed for her to carry on, but her mind told her it was wrong, that if anyone back on Earth were to find out, she would be replaced in the blink of an eye.

'Is that what you really want?' John asked stepping back from her body where he had been pressed up close. He looked at her waiting for her reply. Elizabeth raised her head to meet his eyes, in the darkness neither could see the others eyes or tell what the other was thinking.

Elizabeth didn't answer his question with words, instead she moved forwards, replaced her hands back on his chest, and reached up to kiss him. She slid her hands up his chest to meet the top of his zip-up jacket, and slowly pulled the zipper down until his top was opened, still holding the kiss she placed her hands on his t-shirt covered stomach and moved them up his chest across the back of his neck and into his hair.

Taking the hint John increased the intensity of the kiss and mimicked her movements unzipping her jacket only instead of moving his hands up into her hair, he lingered on her stomach before reaching up and pushing the jacket off her shoulders.

John broke the kiss and started kissing down her neck, he moved away from her skin only long enough to pull her t-shirt off over her head and deposit it on the nearby chair. Then he returned to her neck moving down over her shoulder and down her chest until he came in contact with her bra resting just across the top of her breasts.

He grazed the perimeter of her bra as he slid his hands up her back and unclasped her bra. John pulled the cover from her body and automatically wrapped his mouth over one of her freed nipples. Elizabeth let out a moan that only spurred him on. He raised his hand to cover the nipple on the other breast, pinching and pulling on it while his tongue gave admiral attention to the other side. After a few moments, he switch over giving them equal attention.

Elizabeth moaned again and let her head fall back as John released her nipples and moved between her breasts and started down across her stomach, before he reached her trousers Elizabeth stopped him pulling his face back up to her own and kissed him.

As the kissing intensified again, Elizabeth roughly grabbed at his jacket and pushed it down off his shoulders, while he dropped it to the floor she grabbed his t-shirt and yanked it out of his trousers and over his head, breaking the kiss only for a second.

Hurriedly they both tugged at the button and zipper of their matching trousers and pushed them down to the ground. Their hands roamed each others bodies. Elizabeth moved her hands across his chest, she loved the feel of his muscles twitching as she touched him, she knew she was the reason they did this. John moved his hands down to her underwear covering her buttocks and slipped his hands inside.

Pushing her underwear down John grabbed her waist and turned her around pull her back to him he started his hands at her breasts tweaking her nipples and massaging her before moving down across her stomach massaging as he went until he could slide his fingers between her legs and into her slick tunnel.

A tingling sensation had grown in Elizabeth's body as he had moved down. As soon as he had slipped his finger inside her she started a continuous moan and let her head rest back on his shoulder. She reached behind her and pushed his boxers down over his hips before wrapping her slender fingers around his manhood and began to slid up and down over him.

It only lasted a few minutes, moaning into each others touch a need overtook and John made the first move. He pushed Elizabeth forward until her hands left him and took up refuge on the wall ahead. From where she stood she could see out over her balcony and across the water.

John kissed the back of her shoulders as he pushed himself into her. Elizabeth pushed back wanting to take the whole of his cock into her in one go. The feeling rippled through her body as they moved. He froze when he couldn't go any further into her and slid his hands up her back and back down gripping her hips before they started to move, slowly at first, increasing the speed with each thrust.

Elizabeth straightened her body up as they moved, she reached behind him using him as leverage as she went. John moved his hands from her hips and massaged his way around her sides onto her stomach and then down until he could rub at her clit. As John increased the speed of his trusts into her he rubbed harder and faster at her clit. He could feel her pulsing around him and before he knew what was happening he could feel her climax build and wash over her, her body pulsing and twitching with the intensity of the feeling. He couldn't hold back as she pulsed around him, he let go and came inside her. Wrapping his arms around her they sank to the floor together breathing deeply as they came down from the climax.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and relaxed against him just as the door chimed. Frozen for a moment they waited. The door chimed again.

'Shit.' John spat quietly and helped her to her feet, before grabbing clothes from where ever he could find them and sorting his from hers.

'Just a second.' She shouted as she pulled her trousers on forgetting her underwear in the moment. She grabber her bra and put it on quickly before slipping her jacket on over the top and doing it up to the top. She checked to see if John was ready before she opened the door.

'Elizabeth, I think I know how I can...' Rodney had stepped into the room and taking in his darkened surroundings, Elizabeth's slightly dishevelled appearance and John. 'Am I interrupting something?' he asked before having second thought about wanting to know the answer. 'You know what never mind. Follow me.' He said before leading the way out of the room. John and Elizabeth exchanged looks before following.

---

'How long has it been?' Caldwell asked crossing the command deck of the Deadalus.

'25 minutes sir.' Someone from behind him said. They had spent this time attempting to contact Atlantis, without success.

'Novak, this is Caldwell, how's it going over there?' he asked over the comm.'s wanting all the information before he acted.

'Hermiod is positive that the life sign on the planet is at least half ancient.' Novak replied.

'Half? What about the other half?'

'Hermiod believes it is Ferling sir, but says the only way to be sure of that, is to meet them.'

'Well that wont be happening anytime soon, we're heading back to Atlantis, we still have a no go on communications with them. We're checking it out.' He paused after the comm.'s shut down. 'Take us back to Atlantis.'

---

'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Rodney cursed loudly as Elizabeth stepped into the room, she raised an eyebrow at him before speaking.

'Good timing on my part then. I take it that it didn't work then.'

'Does it look like anything is working?' Rodney snapped. 'Sorry. I was sure it would work, I did everything right, replacing the components in the Naquada Generator should have worked, but it wont even turn a single light on.'

'Keep working on it.'

'Work on what exactly, I've tried this several time and it doesn't work.'

'Well, do you have any other plans?' Elizabeth asked and then watched as Rodney shook his head. 'Then I suggest you try again.' She snapped back at him and left the room.

In the corridor, she turned to her left and walked the distance to the nearest transporter, the door opened as she approached and john stepped out, then backed back in.

'I was just looking for you.' He said smiling at her.

'Back for seconds already?' she joked, smiling. 'Tell me something good.' She said turning serious.

'Your excessively beautiful and I don't know how I've managed to hold back all this time.' He said giving her a cheeky grin. Elizabeth returned the cheeky look but said nothing. 'Radek has estimated a time for the Wraith to arrive. He says its only a rough estimate based on the speed and distance when they were picked up on sensors.'

'What's the damage?' She asked tapping her destination on the consol behind her.

'Four hours.' He told her cringing slightly. Elizabeth rubbed at the back of her neck considering this information.

'That's rough estimate thought, right, could be more.' She said.

'Could be less.' John pointed out. 'I could give you something rough and much more fun if you like.' Elizabeth glared at him for a moment.

'Later.' She said smiling at him before stepping off the transporter.

'Is that a promise?' he called after her before the doors shut.

Elizabeth crossed the corridor and stepped into the gate room and made her way up the stairs to the Control room, as she was about to step into her office she was stopped, by a passing airman who informed her of the arrival of the Deadalus. With this information, Elizabeth turned on her heals and left the room heading for the north side of the city.

'Colonel Caldwell, what brings you back to our dark city?' she asked as she approached the commander of the Deadalus.

'We got stopped on the way home, attempted contact, got no replay and came to check it out. What's going on?'

'Rodney fried the ZPMs and Naquada Generators while doing a diagnostic. That was about two minutes after we spotted a few Wraith ships heading our way.'

'Well I'm glad you know about those. Now here's something you didn't know. There's a half ancient in this system.'

'Half ancient?' Elizabeth asked, questions flying through her brain, 'Where? And what's the other half?'

'Well, not human, that's for sure. Hermiod suspects Furling, but there is no way to be sure unless we meet them. As for where… P8H-484. Don't suppose you can dial the gate?'

'Colonel, we don't even have enough power to fry an egg.'

'I'll see what I can get you.' Caldwell offered before turning and heading back to the ship.

---

'Well this is nice' Ronan said as they stepped down from the Stargate on P8H-484. The immediate area was a garden with a path leading away from the gate and towards a town in the distance. He turned to watch the others walk through the Stargate, he had followed John through himself, but everyone else was behind them. Teyla and Rodney stepped through together and Rodney sat down to re-tie his shoe which had come undone before he had stepped through the gate and then Elizabeth, Hermiod and Lindsey Novak appeared.

'Wow' Novak exclaimed. 'A garden. Not the first thing you expect when you step through, really is it?'

'Not really.' Elizabeth agreed. 'I take it we go that way?' She asked pointing towards the town ahead.

It only took them 30 minutes to reach the town, and on stepping in they were greeted with many friendly hand shakes, smiles and flowers for Elizabeth, Teyla and Lindsey. They smiled politely in return and accepted what they were given. As the crowd departed Elizabeth spotted someone across the square that stood out.

'Is she the one we're looking for?' Elizabeth asked the group in general.

'Looks that way.' John replied and looked down at Hermiod. 'After you.' He said and they followed the Asgard across the squared towards a teenaged girl who stood watching them from the other side.

As they moved close a few unusual features became clearer. Here eyes where not the first thing they noticed, but their pigment stood out, bright and a very unusual green, that looked as though it had been mixed with a light red or orange. There were marking on her face, down the sides of her eyes, Elizabeth suspected they were birth marks. Hermiod confirmed this as they moved closer pointing out that they were meant to be much clearer than they actually were.

As they reached her, Hermiod spoke, but no one in the group understood what he said, he spoke in Asgard to her then spoke in and unknown language before saying 'Ancient beauty with Ferling markings' in Ancient. They waited.

'Asgard.' She said at last. 'How can I help you?' she looked around at the group and it seemed that she had not understood any of the languages that Hermiod had spoken to her in.

'Do you posses any memories and gifts past down through your lineages?' Hermiod asked.

'Many.' She said meeting Elizabeth's eyes. Elizabeth could have sworn her pigment changed but she had blinked and the colour had returned to normality. 'She is leader of a colony. They inhabit my home.' She added proving that she had the gifts.

'Then you already know how you can help us.' Hermiod continued.

'I wont help them to protect a city they do not fully understand.'

'You could help us understand it, its true purpose on the planet, why it was moved from its original home.' Elizabeth pointed out.

'If you can't learn that from the information left behind then you are not yet ready to own it. Prove to me that you should be there as much as I.' She turned and walked away.

'Well, that went well.' Teyla said watching her walk away. Elizabeth excused herself and followed the girl down the street. She caught up with her outside of a tall building that remind her of a monks temple in some countries back home.

'We've learned much from the information, but they are very large databases and we've had a few teething problems that have prevented us from spending time examining them. But we really need your help, your knowledge. There are several Wraith ships heading for Atlantis and we have no power. Granted, this problem was caused by one of our own, but it doesn't have to end like this.' Elizabeth said and received only a raised eye brown from the girl.

'You have tricked the Wraith before, you don't want them to know that your trick was just a trick.' She said. 'But you still have to convince me that you deserve to be there.' She turned again and was about to enter the building before Elizabeth spoke again.

'Atlantis est nostrum domus iam.' The girl froze, her eyes were closed although Elizabeth couldn't see this. She opened them and turned to face Elizabeth. 'You understood everything Hermiod said, you didn't reply so you could test what we understood.' She waited a moment keeping eye contact with this unknown girl before she added 'Ancient beauty with Ferling markings. I only understood the last language, but I understood enough.'

'My name is Alliha. I would be happy to help you Doctor Elizabeth Weir.'

---

'How much time do we have?' Elizabeth asked the question almost as soon as she was on the Atlantis side of the gate.

'Less than an hour.' Someone called back from the control room.

'Rodney.'

'We're gone.' Rodney said before leading Alliha from the room and towards the lab.

As he entered the room, he started giving orders to people nearby, he moved across the room with Alliha following him and stepped up behind Radek.

'Radek, Alliha, Alliha, Radek, can you give her access to the Ancient database please.' He said and moved away to gather components he had learned they needed on way back to the gate. Time was running out and every scientist with technical knowledge was in the room and helping.

---

Their time was almost up and once again Elizabeth was stood on a balcony looking out over the out stretched sea, she had held back from visiting the lab to see how things were going as she knew only too well that she would only be in the way. Only this time, she was not on the balcony from her room.

'You like the view.' John said stepping up behind her and resting his hands on her waist.

'Too much,' she replied. 'Hermiod is working on giving us enough power to gate back to Earth, should we need to evacuate. The Deadalus will remain while we leave and then destroy the city before heading back home.' She added she was ready to carry on talking about her plans but John had started kissing at her neck. 'John.' She breathed. John pulled back as she turned to face him. 'We shouldn't do this, not here.'

'I like to think of all possibilities.' John said. 'So, here's my thinking. They don't manage to build a ZPM, and we have to evacuate, back on Earth, we get new assignments and we don't see each other for a very long time. So this would be our last chance.' He smiled down at her. 'Or, we don't get the ZPM, Hermiod doesn't manage to get enough power to get us all home, and we end up dead. Again, this would be our last chance.'

'John.' He silenced her with his finger.

'And the last possibility. We get the ZPM, we cloak the city, the Wraith leave… again and we don't get a free moment in the dark for a very long time.' He added giving a sly grin that he knew she could see. She didn't reply, so he took it as a sign that she wouldn't interrupt him again and he reached in to kiss her. They broke apart quickly as the lights of the city turned on suddenly and there where bathed in a glow from an outside light above the door.

'Looks like you'll have to live with possibility number three.' Elizabeth smiled before her comm.'s device came to life.

'Elizabeth, we have full power.' Rodney's voice said. 'Cloaking the city.' He added and Elizabeth relaxed into John's arm. 'And Alliha would like to know if she can move in.'

'For as long as she likes.' Elizabeth replied as she wrapped her arms around John's waist and breathed a sigh of relief.