Title: Every Time She Falls
Chapter 1: Nee Weir
Author: CptnSuz
Series' Song of Inspiration: She Will Be Loved –Maroon 5
Chapter Rating: T –for language (nothing worse than in the show!) and brief innuendo
Chapter Summary: Rodney & Elizabeth head off-world, talk with a botanist, visit a very old monument and get stuck in the rain. Also contains: snark, McWeir friendship, AU starting sometime after 'Sunday'
Spoilerage in this Chapter: (major) none, (minor) Duet, The Game, Sunday
Disclaimer: I make no claims of ownership on Stargate Atlantis or its characters. Title inspired by Maroon 5 lyrics. No infringements intended.
"Honestly, John. I'll be fine." Elizabeth Sheppard nee Weir disengaged from her husband's arms with a smile. John Sheppard still looked uneasy as he reluctantly released her.
"Of course she'll be fine," resounded from a few feet away. Dr. Rodney McKay stood tapping his foot impatiently waiting for the PDA to end. "The planet's safe -- the beta site's safe. We have people living there!"
"You promise you'll look after her?" John pestered Rodney with all the anxiety of the newly-wed that he was.
"Yeah, I promise. Let's go!" Rodney waved his hand in a circle. "Wasting daylight! Let's go!"
Elizabeth gave John one last peck on the cheek and stepped through the stargate, closely followed by Rodney.
Later
"Wow. I always forget how spectacular it is here!" Elizabeth stood awe-struck, gazing at the nearby waterfalls. The water splashed down just meters away, and there the river formed a significant pool before coursing around the side of the ruins surrounding the stargate. Just beyond the fallen sandstone columns she could see water-lily-like flowers floating, and everywhere she looked there were miniature rainbows from the water droplets that pervaded the air.
"Yes. Well, it is." Rodney stood just at her side, tapping at the screen of his trusty little lifesigns-detector/energy-source-finder/map/anything-he-needed-it-for device.
"Do people come here to swim?" she asked spontaneously.
"We live in the middle of an ocean."
"I meant in fresh water."
"Hmm. Oh, probably... except for Zelenka."
Rodney looked up at her quizzically. Elizabeth rewarded him with one of her trademark eyebrow-raises, and was going to offer him some poignant remark when Dr. Parrish came trotting up, waving and nodding to the marines stationed by the gate.
"I thought Katie was going to meet us too?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Yeah, but we were kind of hoping to get out of the hike... We are in the middle of... well; it is completely the most amazing instance of inter-species pollination via..." Parrish responded breathily.
Rodney raised a dismissive hand. "Please spare us if you can't talk any faster."
Parrish had a hurt look on his face. And Elizabeth responded with a sharp, "Rodney!" and her angry furrowed eyebrows. "Please continue," she turned back to Parrish.
The botanist shrugged. "Anyway, neither of us particularly wanted to leave so we drew straws to see who would come ask if we could stay and continue the study." At this Rodney rolled his eyes in his usual elaborate manner that didn't even need words to be thoroughly insulting. "I mean, there's not any reason she wouldn't want to see you," Parrish finished, speaking pointedly to Rodney.
Rodney flinched slightly. That was a low blow, especially to an ego already bruised from his falling out with Katie Brown and her quick rebound into the arms of her fellow botanist, Dr. Parrish. He recovered with a snarky retort, "Well then we shouldn't keep you from studying the birds and the bees as it were."
Parrish was man enough not to respond to that comment. He merely looked to Elizabeth, who nodded in dismissal, and he was jogging back out to the field. She turned back to Rodney. "So where are we headed?"
"Ah, yes. The Ancient monument. It's about two point four kilometers this way." He started off at a brisk walk and Elizabeth followed.
Later
"You weren't kidding when you said it was a strenuous hike," Elizabeth spoke between breaths as they paused on a small level spot.
"Ha," Rodney swatted at some flying insects. He was obviously relishing being the most physically fit member of their two-person expedition. Since he was not breathing nearly as hard, he had no trouble rattling on about all and sundry during their hike, nay, ascent thus far along the goat-trail of a path.
"Are you sure there are no other ways up? Even if a 'jumper couldn't land?" she asked.
"Not unless you enjoy rock-climbing." Rodney smirked a little. "Anyway, I'm surprised Sheppard actually let you come. I didn't think he bought your line about 'needing to see the Ancient writing in context'."
"He didn't. He wanted to come too. I had to pull rank on him... so to speak, convince him to stay on Atlantis since both you and I were going off-world. Since we got married, John's been even more protective..."
"Can you blame him?" Rodney offered his hand to help Elizabeth scramble up a patch of loose gravel. "After all the people we've lost? And what happened with Earth? Teyla and Ronon moving back to live with the Athosians... And Beckett..." They both went silent for a while.
"We're almost to the top. Ten more minutes." Rodney announced. They didn't look anywhere near the summit. Elizabeth sighed and urged her tired legs on. The trip back down didn't even hazard thinking about right now.
True to his word, after ten minutes the trees miraculously ceased and they were on flat ground, facing the monument. The large dark edifice loomed up, casting them in its shadow. "My god, it looks like the Lincoln Memorial!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
Rodney snorted. "That's what Sheppard said when he saw it too. I was thinking more mausoleum."
"It doesn't look like Ancient architecture."
"That's what I thought. It's carved right out of the dioritic base rock of the mountain... but the writing here, here," he gestured with his hands, "All along here... looks like Ancient script or at least someone's best stab at it."
Later
Wandering around the structure, running her fingers along the etched symbols, the linguist in Elizabeth was entranced. An hour and a half in and the screen of her tablet PC was covered in scribbled notes. She felt a brief tickle on her scalp but ignored it. Then something wet touched her ear. And then a couple of raindrops lazily splashed down on the screen.
Rain? She glanced skyward and received a fat raindrop between the eyes for her efforts. It looked to be an enormous thundercloud though.
Hugging her tablet to protect it from the rain, Elizabeth ran for the shelter of the building. Thunder clapped and the downpour started just as she reached it. Inside it was dark and smelled slightly chalky. She waited from her eyes to adjust. "Rodney?"
A grunt returned from somewhere in front of her. So she slowly shuffled forward. "Rodney?" Another grunt and Elizabeth bumped against a stone wall and turned to where the noise came from. There she found the missing physicist hunched over his own computer. He was chuckling.
"Something funny?"
"Wha? Oh, no. I was just waiting. Bored. Killing time before I could justifiably pester you into leaving."
"I thought there was a power signature you were looking at?"
"Hardly worth the second hike up here." Rodney rubbed a hand over the surface of the wall and some writing began to faintly appear. "Ancient glowy platitudes."
Elizabeth had to agree on that. She was getting a bit tired of finding these hermit houses.
"So what was funny then?"
"Oh, ah," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I was just working on... something... a pet project."
"And which one..."
"Okay, fine! I was writing new levels for our game!"
"Game?"
"The one I…" Rodney's voice got quieter as he went on, "And Sheppard… and Zelenka… and Lorne made."
"Which is?"
Rodney seemed to grow even more embarrassed.
"A first-person shooter set on a fully-interactive and photorealistic Atlantis."
Something clicked in Elizabeth's mind and she could not help smirking in the dark. "So that's why you guys have been so eager to explore the rest of the city?"
She could barely hear Rodney's weak reply in the affirmative.
"Uhm, what did you come in here for?" the scientist inquired.
"Oh, I just came to say that it is pouring."
"Crap. It was clear when we got up here. Are you sure?" He started scrambling around for his backpack.
"Am I sure? I was the one outside, Rodney."
"Fine, fine. Then we need to start hiking down the mountain right now."
Rodney hefted his pack on.
"Why?" Elizabeth demanded. Her chief scientist could be quite uninformative unless she pushed for more.
Rodney paused at the entrance, dimly backlit through the rain. He took her computer from her hands, powered it down, and put it away in her backpack as he started talking. "Because after about a half hour, these storms have a habit of getting severely electrical. And we are on top of a very tall mountain, taller than anything else around. Weather 101: Lighting likes to hit tall things. Plus lots of rain might wash out the trail." He paused for a moment while she pulled on her pack. "Consequently, unless you want to chance electrocution and possibly being stuck up here, we are leaving NOW." He grabbed her thin, clammy hand in his warm, meatier one and tugged her out of the shelter into the inundation.
AN 1/20/07:
1) A pretty paltry cliff-hanger, I know. They'll get better, I promise :-)
2) All reviews are welcome. I don't usually write for the main characters so any comments good/bad about characterization are particularly welcome.
3) If you see great potential in this story, I'd love to have a beta-reader. Just let me know somehow if you are interested.
4) 'She Will Be Loved' is totally a McWeir song! If someone made a video with it I would give them the biggest e-hug ever!
5) Sparky, Shweir, and Sheppard die-hards, you will not like where I'm taking this story. I'll leave it at that.
6) I know I have a very bad habit of letting stories die after posting the first chapter. I do already more bits and pieces written. Please review if you want to see it live.
7) Okay, I'm done.