A/N: Written for the S4/S5 Fix-It Challenge over at LJ for the john_elizabeth comm. Prompt: "Ghost in the Machine" where they go get Elizabeth back. More of John and Elizabeth interaction.
Tomorrow Is Waiting
She headed for the Gate and stopped just shortly in front of its bluish, shimmering surface. She turned around letting her eyes scan the Gate Room until they settle onto him. His face, his eyes don't hide the storm inside him and she sees the regret clearly. It's too late for anything she made her decision and it's solid. She smiled, saying goodbye but he can't take it and lowers his eyes.
She turned around to the Gate again and stepped through it. A split second later when she materialized and emerged from the event horizon she lost her foothold and started to drift into the vastness of space. The coldness claiming her artificial body, nanite cell by nanite cell.
She concentrated on her task and grasped out to the last Replicators of the Pegasus Galaxy waiting in Atlantis and created a link to them. She quickly sets up a mental image of what looks like an Off-World camp, the one they had promised them but lied about, and sent it.
A few moments later she sees Lia emerging from the Gate and her shocked face as she realizes the betrayal. The others appear shortly after her with matching expression as soon as the realization sinks in. She hates to have lied to them but she couldn't risk the possibility of another incident as the one with Koracen.
She sees them struggling against the coldness that they can't fight and one after the other they give up accepting their fate. With the satisfaction that the Pegasus Galaxy, that Atlantis had no more to fear the Replicators she closed her eyes and gives up her last defence against the cold. She felt her body shutting down and the blackness arising and taking over. She embraced it.
The coldness is gone and she felt the blackness retreating. Confusion and panic are arising in her; this is not how it was meant to be she shouldn't be fading back into life. She tried to calm down to concentrate on her surroundings and then realized that she's still stuck. She isn't completely functional. Not yet.
She reached out with her cells trying to figure something out but she only felt a faint presence of the other Replicators and…humans.
Someone is about to reactivate them. But who? Could it be that it's…them?
How much time had passed? She couldn't tell.
In her state she was unable to do anything than to wait for something to happen. She was even unable to hold track of time. Until she felt the presence of a human again and she waits knowing that whoever it was would be soon gone again, like the others did before.
To her surprise he touched her and she almost doesn't recognizes it. When had it been the last time that someone had touched her? She contemplated for a moment and decided to take action; she has to know what is going on. So she reached out to the human sneaking into his body, aiming for his mind only to almost drop the link as she recognized him. When she recovered she hesitated for a moment but then starts to set up an illusion in his head.
She materializes in the fake Atlantis and studies herself in one of the large windows next to her. She tugs back a strand of dark brown, curly hair and flattens her red dress. Seeing herself in her old body was something she missed, if it just wasn't only an illusion.
She felt his presence and immediately hurried towards him. She stopped abruptly when she saw him standing on their balcony. "Shit," he cursed running his hands over his face and she stepped through the door getting closer.
A faint smile played around her lips and she watched him for a moment taking in his sight: His black buttoned-up Atlantis uniform, his half-tied boots and his hair defying gravity just as always. "John," she softly addressed him and he spun around to her completely oblivious to her presence before.
His eyes are widened and he tried to form some words but he's to stunned not knowing what to say. The awkward silence between them stretched. She stepped closer passing him and put her hands on the railing. Leaning slightly back she closed her green eyes, breathing in the salty ocean air and letting the wind play with her hair. It felt so real.
When she opened her eyes again and turned around he leaned against the mosaicked, coloured window behind him watching her warily. She mirrors his position and locks her eyes with him. "So what's this all about?" he asked and she raised one of her eyebrows.
"I was just about to ask the same," she paused and continues to hold her eyes on his and he stared back. "You brought me and the others back to Atlantis," she stated and he nodded slowly. It hadn't been necessary to read his mind she could tell it right away. She sighed and shook her head. "Why, John? You can image that the others were not pleased when they realized that we've tricked them. It's too much of a security risk," she stepped closer and when his eyes twitched she lowers her head and leans back against the railing.
"The risk of some Replicators floating around the galaxy that could be picked up by who knows whom and reactivated was bigger. We've made quite a lot of safety precautions and McKay put you into some kind of coma or so," he simply told her and paused. "Don't worry, we've learned from our past mistakes," he said bitterly and she gripped her hands tighter.
"And then you'll just let them ascend?" she asked and he nodded shortly.
"It's time that the all so mighty Ancients take care of their children," he stressed the last words with his hands making air quotes and crosses his arms in front of his chest. They fell into silence again and continued to stare at each other.
"You still don't think that it really is me," she said and he looked away.
"You're a Replicator that pretends to be Elizabeth Weir that's all I know," she quickly looked away but she was sure that he must've seen the hurt in her face. She thought when she had left Atlantis that she had convinced him that it really was her. "And this," he waved his hand around, "isn't really adding up to my trust."
"But that's what I am now. A human trapped in a machine or a machine with a human soul. However you want to put it," she turned around and rested her forearms on the railing. Moments pass as they fell into silence yet again.
She felt him coming closer behind her and his thoughts vibrating around her that he protected. "I want to, I really want to believe that it's her…you but…," he trailed off.
"I could tell and show you thousand of things but no matter what it wouldn't prove that it really is me. Your only option is to believe and trust me," she turned around to him and is slightly startled about his proximity. As she looks at him she sees his struggle and the actual reason for his hesitation but he keeps silent. "Say it, John," she urged him her voice barely a whisper.
For a while his gaze wandered aimlessly and crossed hers several times until it settles onto her. "I don't want to loose you…again," she closed her eyes smiling and a relief washes over her. So he did believed that it was her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Elizabeth. I-," she stepped forward and put a hand on his mouth to stop him from speaking further.
"Don't, John. Don't go there it doesn't matter now," she said and shook her head knowing what he wanted to say.
"But-," he started again and she cuts him off.
"I ordered you to go," she said. "And I don't blame you for following my order and not coming back. I knew that you would've come if there had been a chance," her hand cupped his cheek and her other one laid on his chest. She felt a sensation rushing through her body she hadn't felt in a long time.
"We don't leave our men in enemy's hands," he simply said.
"You have to get over it leave the past behind you," she begged him.
He bit his lower lip and eventually nodded hesitantly. "I'll try," she smiled slightly. She had almost forgotten their proximity until he sneaked an arm around her waist and gently pushed her body closer to his. She could feel the heat vibrating from his body and once again she thought how real this illusion felt. "You will ascend with the Replicators," he stated and she nodded.
"That's the only thing I have left to do, the last thing I can do for this galaxy," he frowned and looked away for a moment.
"You can stay in Atlantis. You can come back home," he said desperately not wanting to loose her again. She closed her eyes and lowered her head.
"Atlantis is not my life anymore and there's no place for me."
He put a hand under her chin and raised her head piercing her with his eyes. "There is always a place for you in Atlantis," he said and she really wanted to believe him. When she opened her mouth to respond something he cut her off. "Always," she smiled gratefully at him and leaned forward resting her forehead against his.
She raised her head as she felt the presence of someone else around them and she knows they don't have much time left. Her eyes lock with his and he gave her a questioning look. She leaned forward placing her lips on his, soft and gentle. The sensation rushing through her body becomes stronger and she remembers the last time when she had felt like this: when she had still been a human. She hadn't forgotten what it felt to be human but she had slowly lost the feeling, piece for piece only feeling the nanites working in her body.
He had just a moment to respond and was gone and with him everything else. She is alone again still trapped inside the Replicator body. "See you later," she whispered and smiled.
She fell into another blackness, which faded slowly, and the brightness claimed its place. She feels a change in her body and can't sense a single nanite cell. A smile grows slowly on her face and she tries to open her eyes blinking to get used to her surroundings.
Her smile grows as she sees John sitting in a chair next to her bed and his head resting on his chest still asleep. She looks around taking in the familiar sight of Atlantis' infirmary and then noticed more figures sitting next to her bed on the other side. Rodney lied sprawled out on one of the bed next to hers, Teyla rested her head on her arms next to his head, Ronon had his arms crossed above his chest and used Rodney's arm as a cushion and Carson sat next to him in his lab coat sleeping as well. Her smile broadened at the sight of her friends.
"Elizabeth," a familiar voice said next to her and as she turned her head John stood up. His face is full of joy and relief, and he takes her in his arms holding her tight. She welcomes it his stubble beard against her cheek, his scent filling her nose and his warmth embracing her. It felt better than any illusion could have ever made her feel like. "Welcome home," he whispered into her ear and she pressed her face deeper into the crook of his neck tightening her grip on him. Yes, home, she was home.