Title: glimpse
Spoilers: None that I can think of.
Rating: whatever the equivalent of 'G' to 'PG' is
Classification: John/Lizzie fic
Summary: Ancient technology—it's a beautiful thing!
Disclaimer: The characters that you'd recognize and the concept of "Stargate: Atlantis" are not mine. They belong to SciFi, MGM, and whoever else holds the rights, and their portrayers. I'm not making any money off of this story, and no copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue... I'll return them when I'm done... probably in better condition than I found them in (my momma taught me well). Don't complain to me if they get lost in the mail... blame the United States Postal Service.
Author's notes: This is my very first Atlantis fic (finished, at least). I hope it works.
Huge thanks to my wonderful betas—Kelly and Jessica.
glimpse (verb): to perceive, especially barely or fleetingly
Elizabeth couldn't even remember what she'd originally come down here for. When she'd arrived in the lab all of those hours… No, she corrected herself, glancing at her watch--ten minutes ago.
Rodney had started babbling about some new piece of Ancient technology that they'd found in one of the newly discovered labs in another section of the city. He was going on and on about all of the tests they'd run, spouting statistics and facts she barely understood and it was just giving her a headache.
Finally, he paused to get a breath and Elizabeth asked, "So, Rodney, what does it do?"
"Actually, we… I don't know," he answered; obviously uncomfortable that he hadn't been able to tell her what the thing was. "You see, the sides are covered in text…"
He picked up the object in question. It was about the size and shape of a medium pizza box—if said box were missing its corners. Rodney showed it to Elizabeth. She could see that, yes, all eight of its sides were covered in Ancient writing while the top had some sort of display on it. "We… I was hoping that you could read it and tell us what the purpose is."
"It hasn't responded to your ATA gene?"
"No. Nor has it to anyone else's here on Atlantis. All of the ATA positive scientists and Carson have tried to turn the thing on. We think it might be broken, but we have no idea where to start to try and fix it when we don't even know what it is supposed to do when it works."
"Okay. I'll take a look," Elizabeth answered, reaching for the thing so she could take it back to her office.
It was surprisingly heavy for its size. She began to turn the box so she could figure out where the beginning of the passage was when she felt a tingle in her arms…
...and, suddenly, she felt as if she were being ripped apart by an excruciating pain.
She figured out what was happening as her body began to act on instinct. "You're doing fine, Lass. Just one more push." Carson's voice encouraged from the foot of the bed.
"You can do it, Lizzie. One more, Sweetheart," another voice quietly encouraged from next to her head.
She began to turn her head to see him when another contraction ripped through her body causing her to instinctively bear down.
A few moments later a baby's cry echoed through the infirmary. "A beautiful little girl!" Carson announced, placing the child on Elizabeth's stomach.
"You did it, Liz," John's voice said from next to her. "She's beautiful!"
"Daddy, do you want to cut the cord?" a nurse asked, handing John a pair of scissors.
John gently cut the lifeline between his daughter and her mother. The nurse then took the baby to be examined. Elizabeth followed their progress with her eyes until she could no longer see them. Then she turned to look at John who had tears running down his face.
"John?" she finally questioned after a few minutes, her first words since ending up in this situation.
"I'm here, Sweetheart," he answered dropping a soft kiss on her forehead.
Elizabeth wanted to ask him everything but found she was too exhausted to say more.
The nurse returned with the freshly washed, diapered and dressed baby. She gently placed her in Elizabeth's arms. Elizabeth got her first real look at the child she'd just given birth to and her eyes teared up. The little girl was beautiful. She could see a perfect mix of John and herself in the baby's face. It was a little unnerving to think that even though she had no idea how she found herself in this room, somehow, it all felt right.
"May I?" John finally asked, gently lifting the little one from Elizabeth's arm. Elizabeth watched him with a sense of wonder. She'd known that John was good with kids right from the beginning after seeing him with the Athosian children. But this, this was different. He cradled the tiny baby as if she were the most important thing in the galaxy. "Welcome to Atlantis, Lenore." he whispered before placing a gentle kiss on the baby's tiny forehead.
Elizabeth's tears started falling faster. He'd given their daughter her grandmother's name. She wished her mother was there to see her tiny namesake, but knew that could never happen.
Suddenly, the small family's solitude was broken by an opening door and a streak racing to the bed. "Mommy!" the streak cried, resolving itself into another perfect mix of John and herself wrapped up in the body of a four-year-old girl.
"I am sorry. I could not stop her." Teyla said from the doorway. John smiled and nodded indicating that it was all right. Teyla turned and left the family in peace.
"Careful, Evie," John admonished as the child pulled herself up onto the bed next to her mother. "Mommy is a little sore right now."
Sore—that was putting it mildly, Elizabeth thought. She put an arm around the girl to keep her from falling. "It's okay, Evie," she said, "I'm glad to see you."
Evie beamed and snuggled into Elizabeth's embrace. "Is that my baby sister?" she asked peering at the baby in John's arms.
John smiled and put the baby back into Elizabeth's waiting embrace. "Yep, isn't she gorgeous?"
Evie looked closely at the tiny bundle and scrunched up her face. "I don't know, Daddy. She looks kinda smooshie to me… and red."
Elizabeth just laughed and looked back and forth between her two girls and, noticing the gold band on her left hand, her gaze traveled to her husband's face. "I love you," she mouthed, and she meant it.
…. "Elizabeth, wake up," an urgent whisper came from next to her head.
Her eyes opened slowly to see the same ceiling that she'd been staring at while in labor. She turned her head to see John's worried face resolve into relief.
"Thank God," he whispered before calling out, "Hey Doc, she's awake."
Carson rushed over and motioned to John to get out of the way as he checked the patient over. "She seems to be just fine," he finally announced. "What do you remember last, Elizabeth?"
She looked around in confusion. Where were the kids? Her eyes widened as she noticed her naked left hand. Had it all been a dream? What did she remember last?
Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath and then opened them again. "Rodney asked me to translate some writing on a piece of Ancient technology that no one could make work. I was holding it and my arms started to tingle..."
She leaned back into her pillow and smiled. "I think I know what the object does."
The end?