Okay so this is... well it's a fuller version of a snippet I did in 'Five Phases' another H2O Charlottecentric fic I did a while back.

This was mostly for fun and because it wouldn't stop naggling at me, so feel free to be brutal of to rip it of if you like, most of my work is rip-off-able.
And if I got stuff wrong I'm sorry, if you point it out I can try to fix it.

anyway... enjoy... or don't...

H2O: Atlantis

Mermaid Rising

Dr. Elizabeth Weir sat at her desk staring at a personnel file. The doctor had already spent months picking members for the formerly theoretical expedition to Atlantis, finding the best scientists in all the relevant fields. She had already looked at a handful of marine biologists and marine botanists but the Doctor whose personnel file she held was both. Only twenty-six Doctor Watsford was the leading expert on marine sciences, she would be perfect for the expedition but still… she was so young.

Charlotte wasn't sure what to think, the paper work she had been shown looked legitimate, but the story – aliens, stargates, Atlantis – the story was a little hard to swallow… even for a mermaid. She watched the air force officer who had 'brought her into the fold,' his face was perfectly blank. Mentally she ranted against humans and their stupid jokes, out loud she said just two words.

"Prove it," the man nodded and tapped a small device in his ear.

"Prometheus, go ahead." There was a sudden light and Charlotte found herself in an entirely different place. Instead of the white deck of her research yacht and the panorama of clear ocean she was in a mid-sized grey room with several people all looking at her. She didn't have to look at the viewing screen behind her to know she was no longer on earth, her magical senses were screaming with disorientation and her sudden proximity to the moon. She turned around anyway and the sight of Earth took her breath away.

"When do I leave?"

Major john Shepherd was a pilot, a good pilot, heck he was a damn good pilot, and apparently he was also part alien. Well, maybe not part alien but he did have a freaky alien gene that let him mind meld with alien technology. He'd already said yes to taking part in expedition, he'd had no other choice, if he'd said no General O'Neill would have removed him from the Antarctica assignment and that was his last chance to fly. He glanced out over the river as he flipped his coin again trying to decide which item he would take with him as his 'one personal item,' not that he had much stuff anyway. He hadn't really needed that much since it was just him, he hadn't even had a dog, and even if he wanted one it was to late now; by the end of the week he'd be in another galaxy.

She was cheating, sort of, but Charlotte had discovered early on that she could bend the rules that applied to normal humans; she had to be careful of course, contrary to what the other girls believed Charlotte was not an idiot, she did understand the need for secrecy.

Still this meant Charlotte could get away with a lot, like smuggling. Not that she would use the magic bag for anything so crass; it was after all a mystical artefact that the others had created for her. The irony of mermaid wish magic: they couldn't grant their own wishes.

She had jars of wish goo wrapped in shirts to avoid breakage; she had a large book she had filled with things she had discovered to be true about Mer-folk, admittedly some of it she had learned from the Sirens in Greece and the Selkies near Cornwall, the tome also included ancient spells that she had not dared to try and archaic songs she had picked up during her vacations, and samples of various sea plants with good healing properties she could grow in fish tanks, which were also in the bag.

Charlotte was also sneaking her jewellery box, filled with trinkets and baubles she had recovered from shipwrecks, and moonstones, a semiprecious stone that acted like a magical battery for mystically inclined sea creatures. She'd even shoved her magical, and somewhat psychotic, 'looking-glass' into the bag. Almost everything she had that meant something to her over her ten years as a mermaid had found its way into the bag.

Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to take her boat with her, so she had called the only four people in the world she could trust to take care of it, ironically they were the same four mermaids she was currently at 'war' with.

Although she had mellowed out since her teenage years, since her early days as a mermaid, she was still at odds with the only other Mer-folk on Earth. Despite the uneasy truce, they were still wary of her, just as she was still wary of them; had the 'moon of mortality' happened back when they were younger she didn't doubt they would have used it against her, that moon was the most dangerous of all, stripping a mermaid of her powers forever. Charlotte suspected the quartet would still strip her powers when the moon rose in a few years time, of course they might find it a little difficult with her in another galaxy.

She had finished packing and was waiting as a human when they appeared, entering from the water access pool beneath her bed; she'd gotten the idea for it from a movie called 'mermaids.'

"Alright Charlotte," Emma said once the steam had cleared, skipping over the greeting part of the conversation, "We're here, what do you want?"

"This Ocean, this world," Charlotte said, "is not big enough for the five of us…"

"So what," Rikki cut in, "You decide to call us here for a final show down?" Charlotte snorted at Rikki's predictable demeanour and fished her keys from her pocket.

"The world is too small; if one of us, or four of us, doesn't leave this will end with someone on a sushi plater."

"Thank you Charlotte, we are all aware of that fact," Bella said in the snippiest tone she could manage.

"This is not surrender," Charlotte held out her keys, "I have a job offer, I'm going to take it."

"What does that have to do with the price of barramundi in Brisbane?" Cleo asked uncertain as she took Charlotte's key cautiously.

"This job is going to take me very far away, I may not come back – don't celebrate – I don't have anyone else to give this to, so …" Charlotte paused to take a deep breath, preparing for what she was about to say. "We may not be friends, but you four are the only people I can trust with the stuff I can't take with me, so my house, my apartment, my yacht, the car, they're all yours… until I get back… if I get back." The quartet alternated between staring at each other and staring at Charlotte.

"Where are going?" Cleo asked, jiggling the keys nervously.

"I can't tell you," Charlotte replied with an apologetic grimace, "It's so many levels of classified and besides you probably won't believe me." Charlotte averted her gaze momentarily as she remembered the cards she had made. Locating them on the dresser by the door she grabbed them quickly and all but shoved them at Bella, who was the closest.

"I have however prepared this series of postcards for you." A car horned beeped and Charlotte glanced at the door, "That would be my ride, so… bye." With a small wave she bolted through the door and out of sight leaving four very confused mermaids with a small pile of postcards, the one on top showing off a picture of a spiral galaxy and the words 'Pegasus Galaxy: wishing you were here.'

Charlotte took a deep breath as she stared at the vertical ring which would soon take her to a new start, on the ramp leading up to it the team leader, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, was giving a speech and offering everyone one last chance to back down and go home. The 26 year old marine scientist, who moonlighted as a mermaid, gritted her teeth, Charlotte could not back down.

There had been a 'war' between her and the other four mermaids for a long time now, they all knew it would end badly; this was the only solution. Dr Weir didn't know if the gate would connect, didn't know if the expedition to Atlantis would happen, Charlotte did. She knew it would happen because it had to happen, if she stayed… she had considered the thousands of possible scenarios and none of them worked out well if she stayed so she had to leave, this had to work.

The wormhole opening was a sight to behold; it was like a rippling of water and a geyser of bubbles, and finally it was like looking into the surface of the moon pool, Charlotte didn't know if anyone else could detect it, but just beneath the surface lay the slightest hint of magic, the whispering promise of adventure and fresh starts.

It would have been the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen if it weren't for the shadows of despair and fear, a darkness cast by predators of immense power, they carried the fading echoes of screams. Charlotte took another breath, this one shaky; it drew the attention of the air force Major next to her.

"You Okay?" He seemed genuinely concerned so she nodded. "I'm John Shepherd," he held his hand out to her; with a trembling smile she shook it.

"I'm Dr. Watsford; you can call me Charlotte."

"You know you don't have to go Charlotte." She bit back a hysterical giggle.

"Actually John, I do… I'll be fine," mentally adding 'if the shades don't kill me.'

"Course you will, with me watching your back how could you not." His grin was so charming and infectious, she had to grin back. Beside them a young lieutenant who had been half listening to their conversation seconded John's statement and led them up the ramp. Charlotte steeled herself and stepped through the pool of not-water.

The other side was a slightly-bigger-then-medium-sized room; surprisingly there was no dust on anything that she could see, of course her ability to see didn't last for very long as she was over come with dizzy disorientation, she barely made it the ten metres from the gate to the wall before she collapsed. Charlotte slumped against the ancient wall and removed her pack breathing deeply and evenly, in and out listening to the sounds of the expedition members shifting about and then through the noise of people she heard it.

It was different and familiar at the same time, old and new and calling to her. It chanted through the walls begging for her to come, so she stood on shaky legs and followed the song down a hall way round a few bends and finally to a large window. She pressed her hands against the clear layer separating her from the outside, part of her wondering if it was glass, the most of her not caring.

It was so close to her, if only she could reach it, the ocean; her ocean. The hum of currents and the whistle of rips, the steady rhythm of the tides and the perfect notes of the not-whales that swam this sea, her sea, were intoxicating. Charlotte knew she was grinning like a mad woman, giggling like she was moon struck but she didn't care, the ocean was calling for her.

Charlotte tried to step forward into the water only to be stoped by a wall that she had forgotten was there; with a frown she tried to push herself through the wall. Her attempt was less than successful. Colonel Sumner found her a few minutes later staring forlornly through the window.

"What are you doing here, civilians were supposed to stay put in the gate room." His tone was not a happy one but Charlotte paid him no mind, too mesmerised by an ocean she couldn't reach. The colonel stepped closer to her, opening his mouth to berate her when he finally got a look out the window.

"Well damn."

Being told that the limited power supply that kept the city safe was draining rapidly had woken Charlotte from her stupor. After watching Major Sheppard and a team of military men depart through the gate in search of safe harbour Charlotte had set out in search of a safe zone were she could use her powers with out getting caught.

Luckily for her a diagram of Atlantis was on a viewing screen in what was being referred to as 'the control room.' From that she was able to ascertain the best place to work her magic from. It was as close to the centre point of the city as she could get with the power down it was, ironically, the power control room, aka the place with the dying ZPMs.

Charlotte sat herself down with her back to the ZPM pedestal and reached out for the surrounding ocean with her magical senses.

Charlotte's body felt the strain of her task, the ability that she shared with Cleo allowed her to move water, and as a side effect move things through water. Although neither of them had every shifted something even a tenth as big as Atlantis without help, never mind alone.

Dr. Weir had prayed for more time and Charlotte wasn't about to let so many people die if she could prevent it. Using wish magic for something this big was too dangerous even if she was willing to reveal her secret, wishes had a habit of being not quiet what people expect without 'down to the molecule' instructions.

Which left saving the city the hard way; the other scientists had already confirmed that the city was supposed to float.

Raising the city was difficult, it was awkward and heavy, the water here was new and while it was welcoming it wasn't as eager to please her as the familiar waters of Earth were. Charlotte felt slightly detached as she worked, which made it easier to ignore the pain tearing through her body, her hold was slipping when she felt it; an awareness swept through the city as the shields began to buckle.

'Power drain,' she thought distractedly, and then she understood. The gate must have reactivated, Major Sheppard had returned, and he was going to die. Crushed beneath the oceans weight because she had failed.

She was aware, vaguely, of her body hyperventilating. Sheppard's promise to watch out for her echoed through her head, no one had ever promised to look out for her since she had become a mermaid, no one until him. She wouldn't fail, she couldn't fail.

A scream ripped itself from her throat as she tightened her grip on the water, it would obey her. Shifting to her will the water began to part above the city, cycling down around it to push up from beneath, and the city rose.

It bobbed madly on the surface for a moment before settling into a slow and steady sway as the waves lapped at its base. In the gate area the rest of the explorers and a group of refugees cheered, but Charlotte didn't know that, Charlotte didn't know anything.

Her body lay slumped against the ZPM pedestal, barely breathing; her mind lay coiled in reams of darkness, sinking slowly to the bottom of unconsciousness.

There was a party in full swing by the time she regained consciousness and made her way back to the control room. Despite her best efforts of staying in the background John noticed her and waved her over. Her mind was still too drugged with exhaustion to even think about refusing so she shuffled towards him with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, which, given her condition, was almost negligible. She was awake enough to notice Dr. Weir and Lt. Ford standing with John along with another woman who Charlotte did not recognise.

"Charlotte, there you are," John said, entirely to perky for the mermaid's liking, "this is Teyla Emmagan, leader of the Athosian people," A quick hand gesture on John's part directed her attention to other people not of the expedition, sluggishly Charlotte put two and two together and gather that they were the 'Athosians.' "Teyla, this is Doctor Charlotte Watsford."

Charlotte smiled at the other woman, taking in the soft glow that seemed to surround her, Teyla was definitely something special.

"Are you well, you look pale?" the Athosian leader looked genuinely concerned.

The first thought through Charlotte's head was 'raising an ancient city from the depths of the ocean does that,' the second thought was 'keep as close to the truth as possible and steer the conversation somewhere else.' So naturally Charlotte's reply was:

"I'm fine, I just woke up from a nap," She looked sideways at John, "Speaking of; I take a nap and suddenly we're on the surface and you're throwing a party with interplanetary guests. Mission was a success then?"

"Are you kidding?" unnoticed by Charlotte, Dr. MacKay and Dr. Beckett had moved over to join the group. "It was a complete disaster," MacKay proclaimed.

"I can't believe I slept through all the good stuff," Charlotte said, subtly prompting the group. MacKay took that bait, launching into what Charlotte assumed was an over dramatization of the events that had transpired during her 'nap.'

Tadum! ish... so yeah, that was that. reveiw or don't, your choice.

um... I'm not going to list this as complete beacause I might do some more... maybe, don't hold your breath though.

Also there were a few references to another H2O crossover I'm working on... okay so its a bit of crack disguised as a XO, so if the mirror and the bag thin confused you sorry, that's my fault.

last thing... How many of you spotted the 'very subtle' reference to Byrnes' career?