Breathless
Disclaimer: Sadly, the rights to Stargate Atlantis weren't in my Christmas stocking this year, so I still don't own anything associated with the show.
Summary: So I decided to jump on the "Five ways, times, things..." bandwagon and add my story to the collection. Please review and let me know how I did!
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that leave us breathless"
-Anonymous
1.
"John Sheppard! You get back here right now!"
All eyes in the control room turned toward a highly irritated Elizabeth Weir as she left the sanctuary of her office to yell at her military commander, who had exited a few moments prior, traveling at a rather high rate of speed.
Elizabeth pointedly ignored the stares and took off after her errant Lieutenant Colonel, who was currently holding her handheld hostage.
It didn't take long for her to realize that although she was fit, she was no track star. Her breath started coming in harsh gasps and a stitch began to form in her side.
"John, this isn't funny! Give it back!" Elizabeth saw his lanky form disappear around a corner, and then suddenly reappear after hearing her plea.
Cocky flyboy smile firmly in place, John waited for her to catch up to him. When Elizabeth reached for her computer, he held it behind his back, "Ah ah ah, Dr. Weir, what did I tell you? I'm not giving this back until you agree to take some time off and come to movie night."
Still wheezing from the effects of her impromptu run, she gave him the best intimidating glare she could manage and crossed her arms, "You're really pushing your luck Sheppard."
"So you'll come?" John's voice was hopeful.
Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "Fine."
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2.
The room was deathly silent, the only sound coming from the machinery needed to keep the city up and running. Everyone's attention was riveted on the rippling puddle of blue that heralded an incoming wormhole, and had been since Sheppard's terse voice had radioed in and said his team was coming in hot two minutes earlier. Elizabeth's hands were gripping the back of one of the chairs so tightly that her knuckles were white, a hue which complimented the shade her face had turned in the long seconds that had followed John's harried announcement. Her heart was in her throat as she waited for a sign, any sign, that her team was okay and on their way home. Bolts of energy shot through the wormhole and slammed into various structures in the gate room, leaving charred craters in whatever object they hit. Elizabeth tried not to think about John or a member of his team being on the receiving end of one of those blasts.
Suddenly Rodney appeared, clutching his right arm to his chest. The astrophysicist immediately jumped out of the line of fire and whipped his head around, wide eyes fixed on the stargate. Teyla quickly followed, gracefully rolling out of the way of the oncoming blasts. When the Athosian rose shakily from the ground, Elizabeth could see a deep gash marring her forehead. Following Teyla so closely he was almost stepping on the warrior's feet, Ronon flew through the 'gate and skidded across the floor. The Satedan appeared to be unharmed, though his singed clothes bore the evidence of several close calls.
A second passed, then two, then five; but still there was no sign of the team's leader. The nine-second mark had just passed when John vaulted through the shimmering portal and landed with a thud next to Ronon.
Elizabeth's knees went weak in relief as she released the breath she hadn't even known she was holding. A wave of dizziness passed over her and she realized that she must have stopped breathing for quite an extended period of time to be affected in such a way. Leave it to John Sheppard to steal a girl's breath away, she thought wryly, willing her racing heart to slow its frenzied beating.
"Ma'am, are you all right?" The gate technician was watching her with thinly veiled concern.
"I'm fine," Elizabeth smiled reassuringly, releasing her death grip on the chair in front of her. For once the statement was completely true; they're fine…He's fine, so I am too.
She sucked in some much needed air and started her long trek to the infirmary, wondering what sort of trouble her flagship team had gotten itself into this time.
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3.
"Where's Beckett?!" John's frantic shouting was answered with stunned expressions and wide-eyed stares.
Ignoring the lack of response to what had been a rhetorical question anyway, he turned his attention back to the woman whose life was slowly seeping out of her body despite his desperate attempts to keep it inside of her.
"Hang on Elizabeth," John felt her squeeze his hand weakly in response right before she lost consciousness.
"No! Come on 'Lizabeth, open your eyes for me," he moved one of his hands up to lightly slap her face, leaving crimson prints on her cheeks, "Don't you dare die on me!"
John raised his head and glanced wildly about the gate room, "Get that med team down here now!"
Then his worst nightmare came true; Elizabeth stopped breathing.
John felt the blood drain from his face and he just about stopped breathing right along with her. This couldn't be happening, not to her. Shock made him hesitate for a fraction of a second before his brain kicked in and he shouted at McKay to keep pressure on her wound so he could perform CPR.
Rodney looked physically ill but he complied with the Colonel's panicked order. His stomach in knots, John bent down and started to breathe for the expedition leader. One…two…three…four… he kept the chest compressions even despite the fact that his hands were shaking violently. He quickly got into a rhythm, two breaths, thirty compressions, two breaths, thirty compressions; but with each repetition his optimism darkened just a little bit more and the overwhelming terror at the thought of losing her rapidly set in.
"Sheppard…" Rodney's anguished voice cut into his counting but John ignored the scientist; he didn't want to hear it.
When McKay repeated his name, John shot a glare in his direction without missing a beat in his procedure, "Shut up Rodney."
The astrophysicist's mouth snapped shut and it was then that Elizabeth drew in a gasping, ragged breath. At the same time, Carson and his team came rushing into the gate room.
John watched anxiously as they packed Elizabeth onto a stretcher and followed closely behind as she was wheeled to the infirmary. His heart was in his throat during the entire three and a half hours that Beckett worked on saving their leader's life. He couldn't imagine life on Atlantis without her, this treasure of a woman who was his best friend, and who had come to mean more to him than his own life.
When a tired Carson turned and gave him a thumb's up, John's knees went weak with relief.
She was going to be okay.
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4.
It was taking every ounce of her willpower to ignore her military commander's antics and keep her attention on Rodney's rather boring report on the various properties of an unknown metal the team had discovered on M47-348, but Elizabeth was ridiculously proud of the fact that she had managed to resist John's attempts to distract her thus far. Luckily McKay was so absorbed with his findings that he didn't notice his teammate's immature behavior. Teyla noticed though, Elizabeth could tell by the bemused half-smile that was gracing the Athosian's lips. Ronon's eyes were half-closed, but she knew that the former Runner was very observant and was probably watching Sheppard's every move.
Great, this was a briefing involving five people and she was the only one even trying to pay attention. She was going to have to have a word with her military commander; not that she really blamed him. Rodney could be long-winded at the best of times, but when it came to topics he found really interesting, the astrophysicist could prattle on for hours.
Elizabeth had just shifted so she could stretch her aching legs when John slid a piece of paper under her fingers.
A message was scrawled in his neat print, "McKay looks like a baboon when he's concentrating."
Despite having the tight self-control she prided herself on, Elizabeth almost burst out laughing…almost. She sucked in a breath, holding it as she bit the inside of her cheek; and tried to give John a disapproving glare, but the redness of her face as she worked valiantly at keeping her laughter stemmed ruined the effect. Sheppard waggled his eyebrows, making it that much harder for her to keep from erupting into a fit of giggles; and pretty soon Elizabeth knew she would have to take a breath and then all bets were off.
So far Rodney was completely oblivious to the extreme discomfort she was experiencing, but Elizabeth was almost certain he'd notice when the tears started squeezing out of the corners of her eyes and her lips turned blue from the lack of oxygen.
Oh yes, John Sheppard was definitely going to get a talking to.
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5.
With Major Lorne hovering protectively behind her, Elizabeth stared down the ambassador from Bromin who was glaring at her from across her desk.
"I must say Dr. Weir, I have never encountered such impertinent behavior before; your attitude astounds me."
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms tightly over her chest, "Well I'm sorry we don't see fit to equip you with weapons powerful enough to destroy a city, Ambassador Quinell."
The emissary flared his nostrils and huffed out an angry breath, "I don't understand why you're refusing us the opportunity to defend ourselves."
Elizabeth shook her head and gave a little snort, "Defend yourselves against who? The villagers? Your farm animals? Or perhaps you're really planning on using these nuclear weapons to launch an attack through the Stargate."
Quinell leapt to his feet with a snarl and sent several items on her desk crashing to the floor. Lorne instantly brought his P-90 to his shoulder and aimed the barrel at the ambassador's heart, ready to shoot if the other man so much as looked at his leader in a way he didn't like.
Elizabeth put a restraining hand on the Lorne's arm and sent the emissary an icy glare, "We're done negotiating Ambassador; the Major here will escort you back through the stargate."
Quinell lurched to his feet and Lorne motioned for him to get moving. The Brominian's eyes glittered dangerously, "You have made a grave mistake Dr. Weir; if you are not our friend, you are our enemy."
Elizabeth held the ambassador's gaze without flinching as the Major ushered him out of her office. Only when she could no longer see her unwelcome guest did she close her eyes and take a deep breath. When she opened them again to survey the extent of the damage to her belongings she gasped in horror; there, lying in pieces on the ground, was the Athosian jar that John had given her for her first birthday in Atlantis.
With trembling hands she reached down and lightly fingered a shard of the broken vessel, resisting the sudden urge to sit down and cry. It was just a jar, after all. Except it hadn't been just a meaningless decoration…it had been a gift, and a special one at that. Elizabeth slowly gathered the pieces together into a little pile and then set about cleaning up the rest of the mess Quinell had left in his wake.
"Hey…"
His voice was soft and concerned but to Elizabeth, still wound as tight as a spring, John might as well have been screaming in her ear.
Startled, she jumped and turned to face him, almost losing her balance in the process, "John! You scared me!"
He smiled apologetically, "I just got back from mainland and I saw Lorne shoving that guy from Bromin through the 'Gate," he took in her haggard appearance, "I take it negotiations didn't go well?"
Elizabeth sighed deeply, "You could say that; Ambassador Quinell exhibited a bit of aggressive behavior when I wouldn't agree to his demands."
John's eyes flashed dangerously and his hands clenched into fists, "Did he hurt you?"
She shook her head emphatically, "No, Lorne wouldn't have let him get close enough to touch me," her eyes settled mournfully on the remnants of the Athosian jar, "He did make quite a mess of my desk, however."
John followed her gaze and whistled, stooping by the wreckage of one of her clay statues, "I'm sorry Elizabeth; I know how much this stuff meant to you."
She forced a laugh and tried to shrug nonchalantly, "I guess that's what I get for leaving it all out in the open where any passing dictator-in-training can get his hands on it."
His green eyes bored into hers for a few long moments before he turned his attention back to the debris littering the floor, "Hey Elizabeth, why don't we take a quick break and I'll have someone clean up in here? I have it on good authority that turkey sandwiches are on the menu tonight."
Anxious to go somewhere with a lighter atmosphere where she could relax a little, Elizabeth agreed. When she returned to her office a half-an-hour later, it looked pristine. No trace of what had occurred that afternoon remained.
A few days later, Elizabeth walked into her office and her heart nearly stopped. There, sitting on her desk in its rightful place and in one piece, was her birthday jar.
"I know it's not perfect, but super glue only does so much," Elizabeth whirled to meet John Sheppard's dancing eyes.
"You…you fixed it?" Elizabeth's mouth dropped open in surprise.
John pretended to be hurt, "Hey, I can be pretty handy when I want to be."
Elizabeth tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I can't even imagine how much time and effort you put into…"
John cut her off with a wave of his hand, clearly uncomfortable, "Hey, it was nothing."
Before she could even think about what she was doing, Elizabeth had launched herself into her military commander's arms. Though tentative at first, John hugged her back with a fierceness that surprised her. She started to pull back, but he gently captured her face in his hands and held her gaze with his own. When he smiled, the world stopped spinning; she forgot where she was, what she was doing, her own name even. Time was frozen in the viridian depths of his eyes and for a moment, she even forgot to breathe.