Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it.

Author's Note: This is my first Stargate Atlantis story... so nice doggy! lol. But please, do be kind. And don't forget to review.

Of Flyboys, Figments and Fears

Chapter One: The Persistence of One Particular Flyboy

'Okay,' she said to herself as she walked down the abandoned corridor shaking her hands nervously, 'Time to snap out of it!'

Elizabeth had woken up feeling disoriented and slightly claustrophobic; everything had felt like it was closing in on her, like there was a hot hand squeezing the air out of her lungs. She had felt so disconcerted that she had barely managed to open the door before walking though it, and hadn't even bothered to turn off her alarm clock which had been going off for half and hour before she had decided to wake up.

Not that there had been and "deciding" about it, her ears had protested at the noise, magnifying everything threefold.

Feeling the need to walk off the common Rodney-like-complaint and compose herself, she moved quickly out of her quarters leaving behind a pile of papers and left on computers screens on her bed where she had been working before she had fallen asleep.

Checking her watch she noted that she had been asleep for quite a while, it was 0630. Her brain was still so foggy from the sleep that she desperately tried to wipe away; she could barely string two coherent words together to form a sentence.

'Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wakie upie Lizzie…' She tried to coax herself into the land of the living… or at least the clear headed.

There was so much to do to get ready for the day. Elizabeth had been trying to finish her report to the SGC that was going to be sent before the day was up, but she had fallen asleep before she could even begin. Now she had to try and finish it before the briefing at 0800. She had so much to do, so little time…

'And apparently no brain to do it with either.' Her inner self laughed.

'Oh shut up', she told the little voice in her head, frowning as she walked right by the transporter bay, turned around and went to it. 'Was the transporter always in this place?'

'List of things to do: 1. Go to office and check on the early morning shift, 2. Get coffee, 3. Finish writing SGC report, 4. Get more coffee, 5. Go to quarters and take a quick shower and get changed, 6. Finish preparing notes for briefing and city wide announcements, 7. Get just a little more coffee.'

With the growing list inside her head she tried to quicken her pace but her legs protested, refusing to go any faster but instead decided they wanted to be sluggish, completely of there own accord of course.

'What is wrong with me? Stupid legs! It's not like this is a strenuous walk or anything. I work out!' Just because she didn't go off world all the time didn't mean she was out of shape. This was just ridiculous!

Exiting the hallway she started for the stairs leading to the gate control room, passing by the Stargate.

'Wow, was the Stargate always that big?'

Note: To self, get measurements of the gate.

'Crap!' Elizabeth stumbled over the bottom step and hit the wall with a 'THUD'. Righting herself she looked around quickly hoping no one had noticed. Luckily no one had, going more slowly this time she reached the top of the stairs and was about to turn into the control room when she heard several irritated voices coming from inside.

'Great, just what I need.' The voice in her head commented sarcastically.

'Oh be quiet.' She shot back. 'I'm the expedition's leader. That's what I'm here for.'

'You're a babysitter?' The voice replied scornfully.

'NO!' Elizabeth couldn't believe this. She was arguing with herself. 'I am a leader who organizes and maintains… Oh forget this. I refuse to argue with myself any longer.' Elizabeth tried to regain her composure.

"Morning Dr. Weir." A new officer brushed by her on his way out.

"Morning…" she mumbled trying to remember his name, but he was already gone.

'This is not like you Liz. You NEVER forget names. What gives?' Slowly she was starting to question herself. First, she rarely fell asleep working, let alone have a nightmare free night AND not wake up to her alarm clock. Second she never forgot names, in fact when she was six some teacher had diagnosed her with a photographic memory. Although she really didn't know how qualified the teacher had been to diagnose that. Either way she had a really good memory. So why was she so groggy today?

An annoyed voice roused her from her tangled mess of thoughts, "Elizabeth how nice of you to join us." Rodney said cheekily, "seems we," Rodney glared at Kavanaugh hatefully, "have a bit of a disagreement."

At this point Kavanaugh decided to butt in, "Well, of course, she's going to take your side. The all high and mighty McKay can never do wrong!" Kavanaugh's mouth twisted into a malicious grin.

"You know Dr. Weir," Kavanaugh leered, "I have reported your performance as leader of this expedition to the people who are really in charge. Your careless thought to the lives of the people of this expedition is appalling, your disorderly chaotic leadership which on a routine basis bring unnecessary danger to the very doorstep of Atlantis, and your misguided foolish decisions which jeopardize not only your life and the lives of the off world teams, but the lives of the innocent scientists like myself who have no means of protecting ourselves from your ignorant behavior…"

"That's only because you thought it would be to 'messy' if you went to the firearms and defense training John set up for all the civilians." Rodney shot back. Who did this guy think he was?

Taking a breath Kavanaugh went on before Elizabeth could get a word in edgewise. To tired to argue she just stood there waiting for his spiel to be over.

"…Sooner or later you indecent conduct will catch up with you and there will be consequences, Dr. Weir, I assure you there will be!" Kavanaugh sighed dramatically, "But now all I can do is report your horrendous actions and honestly and objectively report to the SGC as is my duty as a faithful citizen of the United Stated of America!"

Rodney snorted loudly, eliciting a dirty look from Kavanaugh.

"Not to mention the continuously condescending attitude from the heads of departments which I am also reporting to Stargate Command headquarters back on earth where immediate action is bound to happen any day… and you Dr. Weir," He pointed a manicured finger and Elizabeth, " will most be likely be replaced by a more capable, unbiased and qualified expedition leader."

"Are you finished?" Elizabeth replied more warily than she had meant too. "If you are, I would really like to get some aspirin before my headache gets any worse."

Turning to Rodney she pointedly ignored Kavanaugh as he immediately started to scrawl something on a notepad that had been tucked in his shirt pocket, "Do what ever you need to do to solve the problem," Rodney's eyes went wide, "I leave this matter in your capable hands."

'What the hell am I talking about he'll probably shoot, blow up, stun, electrocute or…'

Rodney rubbed his hands together an evil grin growing on his face.

'…What monster have I created?' Elizabeth rubbed her face seeing Rodney become suddenly all too happy.

As Elizabeth entered her office, she vaguely heard Kavanaugh call after her, "This is all being documented…"

His words faded out and her vision began to blur slightly. Reaching out for the door frame, she felt its coolness, 'No, no, no, no, no! You are fine, you have to be fine …just need that coffee.'

Taking a deep breath, trying to steady herself she realized that Rodney was standing beside her, his hand on her arm, "Elizabeth? Elizabeth, uh, Elizabeth, are you alright? You don't look so good. Maybe I should get Carson." He started to turn away.

"No!" Elizabeth all but shouted, panicked. All she need was Carson on her back telling her to get more rest, or heaven forbid ordering her some downtime! No, that could not happen. "I'm fine." Rodney looked at her skeptically, "I just need something for this headache and… and some coffee and I be right as rain."

'Right as rain? Where the hell did that come from?'

Rodney still looked unsure. "Well if you're sure…" He looked around anxiously, as if he would find the answer written on the wall or on a bright neon sign telling him what he should do. "Uh… Ah! I'll get someone to send up some coffee." He suddenly brightened as if the drink which, no doubt, was a food group in itself to Rodney, would make everything all better.

Rodney left and her hand shook as she closed the glass door. Finally sitting down she realized how much the short walk and the ass Kavanaugh had taken out of her. She was sweaty and her legs were shaking as she sat down. Once more she cursed herself. She was probably getting sick.

'Just a little illness, Atlantis-style. I'll be fine.'

After a few minutes of sitting in her chair staring blankly at the wall she remembered why she was here in the first place. Turning on her computer, she opened her 'report to the SGC' which currently contained less than one sentence…

'I, doctor Elizabeth Weir,' she read.

…her thoughts dried up like water in the middle of the desert. 'Let's try that again, more this time, shall we.' She poised her hands on top of the keyboard trying to summon some fake enthusiasm.

…Not that it worked.

Okay! This was ridiculous. WHERE was the coffee, Rodney promised, promised there would be coffee? She whined to herself.

But getting annoyed at Rodney was just a distraction from her real problems. This couldn't be happening. 'You are the one who nags other people to finish there reports. Not be the one who needs to be nagged.' The voice in her head rose to an unnaturally high pitch before it died in a defeated wail.

Elizabeth's eyes closed against her will and she rested her head in her hands, feeling the cool skin against her forehead. 'That feels good.' She sighed.

'I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes…'

SGA SGA SGA SGA

"Hey, 'Lizbeth… Liz… Liiiiiiiz..." Elizabeth heard a persistent voice interrupt her deep sleep. 'How annoying.'

"Liz, time to wake up." John grinned, he was having fun. Quite suddenly his grin became wider and he looked disturbingly like a school boy who had just come up with some evil plan to skip class and not get caught. "Liz, it's time to go to school." John had to hold back his snigger.

At this Elizabeth responded. "Go 'way…" She mumbled sleepily, "Five more minutes…"

"Elizabeth?" She heard laughter. 'Was that… John? DAMN!' And he was laughing. Suddenly her brain started functioning. Prying an eye open, blinding light assaulted her and she clamped them shut and turned away.

"Hey, Sleepyhead," She could practically hear the smirk on his face. Opening her eyes once more, she confirmed the grin she knew John would have on his face. "Have a good rest?" John looked around skeptically at the keyboard pillow and the computer screen with one sentence written on it. "Looks like you were working really hard." He sat on the edge of her desk, his eyes twinkling.

Sitting up she glared at him. "Ha, ha, so funny," She brushed her hair out of her face, "What time is it?

"Doesn't really matter," He replied lazily, "now."

Suddenly Elizabeth's eyes narrowed and something seemed to click. "What time is it, John?" She all but demanded of him but it probably didn't sound so convincing since her voice was doing a high-pitched-frantic-sound.

"Hmmm…" John truly resembled the Cheshire cat.

"John!"

"Fine, fine, don't go having a heart attack on me though." His look clearly told her to stay-calm. 'Oh this is bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD! Nothing good ever came when John gave her that look.

"Don't say I didn't warn you…" Elizabeth gave him another look, and he finally relented his teasing, "O930." John finally answered, trying to keep his voice nonchalant.

"WHAT?" Elizabeth nearly leaped out of her chair smashing her hip painfully on the corner of her desk, but she didn't even seem to notice. 'Oh this is great, just great. Caldwell is going to have my HEAD for this. How late am I? Oh, uhh, umm… right about… MATH! Yuck I never liked math. Errr, failed math actually. Right woke up at 0630… got to office at about 0640… promptly fell asleep… stupid!... it's now 0930. So that makes it…'

"You've been asleep for nearly 3 hours Elizabeth." John answered calmly.

'Crap, I was thinking out loud.' Elizabeth cursed herself.

"Actually, you still are…" John was starting to look at her funny. "Are you-"

Unexpectedly, Elizabeth dashed out of her office, through the control room and into the hall leaving a very confused John trailing in her wake.

Vaguely she heard John calling her name, but kept on going at top speed. How could she have let this happen? This was terrible! And if Carson heard of it he was bound to be hounding he like a dog after a bone. She couldn't let that happen. She had to get things back to normal.

"Elizabeth!" Finally John had caught up with her. "What are you doing?" He looked truly confused.

When she didn't respond he grabbed her arm forcing her to slow down. "John," She tugged at her arm, annoyed, "I have to take a shower and get changed and prepare my notes, get the meeting rescheduled and…"

"Elizabeth!" John interrupted loudly, "Caldwell already rescheduled the briefing, it's at 1300."

Elizabeth's eyes turned to slits, and she hissed, "He did what?" 'How dare he do that, that…that egotistical, overbearing, conceited, pompous… JERK!'

"Hey, hey, don't get mad at him. I was the one who convinced him not to wake you." Her expression slowly turned to that of confusion, and John attempted to explain himself. "You looked so peaceful, and we all know you don't get enough sleep." His voice softened a little, "Elizabeth the briefing can wait. Your health is more important."

Abruptly, Elizabeth turned, folding her arms tightly against her chest. "My health is fine." 'Uh-huh, Liz you keep telling him that, maybe one day he'll believe you.'

In fact she knew it was not all fine and dandy. Her head was starting to spin again and she desperately needed to sit down, her headache was back with vengeance and there was a pain radiating through her abdomen that made her clench her teeth together. It was all she could do to smile and not to let John see her pain.

'Yep he's not buying it.' Actually he seemed to be watching her even closer.

While they had been arguing, they had been nearing her quarters. Now standing outside her door she thought it wise to leave before John asked her any more questions.

"John, I'll see you in the briefing later today." She said with as much authority as she could muster. Turning she entered her quarters and activated the doors to closed behind her, the image of John's skeptical expression still on the surface of her mind.

She hadn't fooled him for a second she was suddenly sure.

And she didn't like it. She didn't like one bit!

SGA SGA SGA SGA

NOTE: If anyone has ideas for upcoming chapters, i would be delighted to hear them. So please reaview and leave a plot bunny for me or just say something silly to let me know you read the story. Thanks!