No Boyz Allowed!
Rated: G
Season: 1
Spoilers: none
Summary: Kate comes up with a solution for her stressed out female friends! Friendship, humour, and a little bit of everything. Enjoy! Oh, and, despite the title, boyz are allowed to read and enjoy too :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis. Or the small part of an Andromeda episode I got this idea from. Hopefully I didn't steal too much as I don't remember anything about the episode aside from the couple minutes that inspired this story.
Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy!
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Elizabeth fiddled with her pen under the conference table. For the bajillionth time she fervently wished she could lean down to repetitively pound her head on the polished table's surface. Her grip tightened on her pen as her last ounce of will kept her from doing just that.
Snap!
Great. Now she needed a new pen.
"Sorry. Please continue," she smiled at the two scientists before her. And they did. For another twenty minutes.
When they finally left she took a moment to stay in her seat and enjoy the silence, methodically rubbing her forehead where a pounding ache was beginning to develop.
Finally, she got up and headed to the mess hall. Maybe there would still be some chocolate pudding cups left. Chocolate always helped.
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Kate Heightmeyer was heading in the opposite direction of Elizabeth as she made her way to the control room. Neither was watching where they were going.
Oomph!
"Ow!" both exclaimed as they fell backwards, landing on their backsides and holding their foreheads.
"Oh, that really hurt."
"Kate, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."
"No, it's okay. Neither was I."
She took her hand away from her head and eased herself off the floor. Elizabeth did the same.
"Um. Elizabeth, you do know you have ink all over you, right?"
"What?" Elizabeth glanced down and saw that Kate was right. "Good grief. I'm a walking inkblot."
"Your forehead too."
"Oh no. Your's too," she pointed to Kate's forehead where the two had impacted.
"Really?" Kate touched her hand to the spot again.
"Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Kate smiled. "I'm going to go clean this off though. Hope the rest of your day goes better."
"Thanks."
Elizabeth changed directions and headed to her quarters for a change of clothes. So much for her pudding.
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Teyla pulled herself off the mat. Again. Two rounds out of three he had beaten her. She felt her temper flare as she struggled to keep her pride in check.
"Continue," she instructed as she twirled the sticks above her head.
"Come on," John whined. "Can't you just admit that I win?" He twirled his own sticks, matching her. "I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Major Shepherd, I do not care about winning or losing. If you win," their sticks impacted with shattering force, "then it is only because I have trained you well."
"Yeah, I guess."
They clashed again, sweat glistened on both from exertion. Both refused to release their hold. Only when she began shaking with strain did Teyla finally break off.
"Very well, Major. You win."
"Yes!"
Teyla shook her head as John rushed out of the gym.
So much for not telling anyone.
She crossed the room to put her sticks away and pick up her bag. Just as she was about to leave, Kate walked in, clothed in a tracksuit, a gym bag slung over her shoulder.
"Hey Teyla."
"Dr. Heightmeyer," Teyla acknowledged Kate with a nod.
"I just ran into Major Shepherd outside," Kate motioned over her shoulder.
"Then you have heard."
Kate smiled at her friend's obvious annoyance. "Yeah. Sorry. I would say I won't tell anyone, but…"
"At the speed Major Shepherd is going, the base will find out by lunch," Teyla grimaced.
"Yeah."
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Kate was on her third lap around the track when it finally hit her. She jerked to a halt. Then she ran to grab her bag and continued running as she left the gym. Four hours later, her work was complete.
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Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as the last of her paperwork for the day was completed. Her head was now pounding in full force, and she was in desperate need of a cup of coffee.
But there was no time for that. She had a briefing with a team waiting to go off world.
She pushed back her chair and stood up gingerly, her back still aching from her run in with Kate. She was just to her door when her earpiece signaled.
"Elizabeth, this is Kate. Are you busy?"
"Hey Kate. I'm just on my way to a briefing. Is this important?"
"Not life threatening. Just come to section eight, room twelve tonight at nine, okay?"
"Okay… What's this about?"
"It's a surprise. Just promise to be there."
"I promise."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye," Elizabeth broke the connection confused.
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"So then Teyla tried to smack the back of my knees, which usually gets me, but this time…" John spoke excitedly as Rodney and Aiden listened with rapt fascination. Teyla had been leaning over her soup, head in hand, for the past ten minutes, but they didn't seem to notice. The tap in her earpiece was a welcome distraction. Hopefully an excuse to leave.
"Teyla, this is Kate. How are you?"
"I am well, Dr. Heightmeyer. Is there anything I can do for you? Please?"
"Actually, yes. Come to section eight, room twelve tonight at nine."
"Was not that section of the city determined to be of no use?"
"Exactly. Just come, okay?"
"Of course."
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Elizabeth made her way through the darkened hallway. They hadn't bothered with this small section of the city. It was only living quarters, no science labs or anything worth studying. And the living quarters weren't used because they were rather isolated from the more populated areas of the city.
Elizabeth tensed as she heard someone coming her way but relaxed when she saw who it was.
"Teyla."
"Dr. Weir."
"I'm assuming you're here because of Kate too?"
"Indeed. I am unfamiliar with this section of the city, only that it was found to be of little use."
"Not anymore."
Teyla and Elizabeth spun around at the voice behind them.
"Kate! You scared us."
"Sorry guys. Come on," she motioned into the room beside her. "This is what I wanted to show you."
"Did you find something?" Elizabeth questioned.
"No… I made something."
"What?… Oh!" Elizabeth and Teyla stared into the room.
Candles glowed from various locations around the small room. Pillows were thrown sporadically on the floor. A coffee pot sat in one corner, the scent of hazelnut fighting with the vanilla candles for dominance. A large pile of Hershey's kisses sat on a pillow in the middle of the room.
"Kate, it's beautiful."
"It is indeed lovely, Dr. Heightmeyer. But I do not understand. Do you wish to reside here?"
"Call me Kate, and no. I don't plan on moving here… I made this spot for the three of us. I ran into both of you today, and I saw that you were both tired and stressed out. I wanted to help. So I came up with this."
Elizabeth smiled as realization dawned.
"You made a hideaway!"
"A hideaway?" Teyla still did not understand.
"A place where we can come when we're really stressed out or tired or just need to get away for a while. A place that no one outside of the three of us will know about. Since we're not using any power, it won't show up on the sensors. Well, except if anyone's specifically looking for lifesigns in this area. Which I don't think anyone would do since it's so isolated."
"It will only be for the three of us?" Teyla asked. She was liking the sound of this already.
"Exactly. And whatever is said in this room stays in this room. We can talk about anything we want. Gossip as much as we want. Even complain."
"We come in here, blow off some steam, then go back to work refreshed," Elizabeth added.
"The perfect stress release."
Teyla was impressed.
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Two hours and much laughter later, they still sat in the room, caffeinated and chocolated.
Elizabeth dunked another Hershey's kiss into her coffee, letting the heat melt the chocolate, then she popped it in her mouth.
Teyla was now sharing about her bad day. The third cup of coffee had loosened her tongue.
"He did not beat me fairly," she defended. "It is my time of month."
Her companions nodded sympathetically.
"You'll put him in his place again next week."
"I believe so," she nodded.
"You're so lucky," Kate smiled. "Training John Shepherd."
Teyla had to smile herself.
"Indeed," she muttered into her cup.
They started giggling again.
"What about you, Elizabeth. Anyone you've got your eye on?"
Elizabeth just blushed and took another gulp of coffee.
"Then there is someone," Teyla noted. "Remember, Elizabeth, what you say will not leave the confines of this room."
"Come on," Kate prodded.
"Okay, okay. It's…" she mumbled as she ducked her head.
"Who?"
"We could not hear you, Elizabeth," Teyla grinned.
Elizabeth sighed. "It's Rodney, okay? Oh shut up," she threw a pillow at her friends as they bent over laughing. "I can't help it," she defended. "He calls me 'Lizabeth'. And the way he says ZedPM. And he stood in front of a gun to protect me… Oh never mind."
Teyla and Kate wiped tears from their eyes.
"Sorry Elizabeth," Kate got herself under control first. "You're right. Rodney is a good guy. I just didn't expect that."
"Truly. Rodney is very strong and intelligent. Though we must never tell him so."
Elizabeth smiled. "What about you, Kate? Who's your crush?"
"Zelenka. I just love it when he speaks in Czech."
"Yeah," Elizabeth and Teyla both agreed.
"I never want to leave this place," Elizabeth sighed. "It's so peaceful here."
"We must come here often. I have not felt so at ease in some time."
"Me either," Kate agreed.
"We need to make a pact, agree to all meet here at least once a week," Elizabeth suggested.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
Later that night, after they left their room and went to their respective quarters, Teyla, Elizabeth, and Kate, despite all the coffee and the chocolate, slept peacefully for the first time in months.
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The End
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