Home to Me


The sky was aflame with bright oranges and fiery reds and golden yellows and frosty pinks. The smell of the water far below her feet washed over her and the breeze that blew across the forest tickled her sun-kissed arms. Behind her, she could see the white tips of the outermost towers of the city; the silvery metal used for protection a distant beacon through a thin layer of green escape.

She didn't know how long she'd been on the planet, or why she was here in the first place, only that it had been long enough that anything could have happened. Long enough for Atlantis to be long gone from the planet she knew and loved after the replicator attack, long enough for the SGC to have sent a replacement for her. Long enough for her city to have moved on without her.

Footsteps on the grassy path behind her made her turn. "You mustn't dwell on such things, Elizabeth; they make you sad and that makes the rest of us sad."

Elizabeth tried to smile as she turned back to the setting sun. It was bigger than any of the others she'd seen. Out of the corner of her eye, the large moon began shimmering on the horizon, a silvery haze creeping up behind the purple edges of the sunset.

"I'm sorry, Edith, I was thinking of home,"

Edith moved closer and wrapped an arm around the younger woman's shoulders. "My girl, your home will find you when it finds you; you will return there soon enough. Come now, Tometh's waiting for you,"

Elizabeth smiled, the first real smile all day, at the old woman's teasing. She took the woman's dark, papery hands and let her pull her away from the cliff and back toward the city.

"Edith, you shouldn't encourage him like you do; you know as well as I-,"

"Yes, yes, I know; but he's so young; it's endearing, and his innocence can't possibly last through the Ritual,"

Elizabeth laughed quietly and the old woman's hand squeezed happily in response. "Edith, the boy is only 12 revolutions old; surely he can't be under the impression…"

Edith smiled over her shoulder. Elizabeth blushed.

"He's quite taken with you, young lady. Now, lets get you cleaned up; it's your party tonight after all, can't have you looking like you've been tramping through the trees with the hunters, can we?"

Elizabeth smiled again as they entered the city through the tall metal gates. They closed tightly behind them, but Elizabeth didn't feel as trapped as she once did.

They passed the massive Stargate on the way to Elizabeth's tower, but she didn't look at it. Not anymore; she used to sit for hours by it, hoping by some miracle they would find her.

The city was called Terradyn; it resembled Atlantis, but was not created by the Ancients and didn't have the same technology. The people seemed human, as advanced as she and the rest of Earth were, and they were kind. So she stayed.

"What did I tell you, Elizabeth? No more of these sad thoughts,"

"Are you reading my mind again, Edith?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in teasing. The old woman dropped Elizabeth's hand to pull open a door to the tower.

"Never, my sweet; although, even I wanted to I wouldn't have to. You're so sad the flowers are wilting."

Out of habit, Elizabeth looked over to the side of the steps; there were flowers, but they weren't wilting.

Edith laughed a deep, cheerful laugh that made Elizabeth smile, "You should see your face everytime I use that expression, oh child, you're good for me,"

Elizabeth shook her head, still smiling and followed the woman into the large tower, "Glad to amuse you Edith,"

The walls were a mossy green with silvery edges and patterns swirling across surface. The ceiling was mostly stone, though it was rarely cold in the tower.

They walked along until they came to a flight of stairs. Edith ascended first, pulling herself up the steps one at a time until she reached the top, with Elizabeth following, afraid the old woman would topple backward.

"I haven't fallen yet and I never will," Edith would say after every successful trip up the stairs.

Elizabeth smiled when the woman repeated the line at the top. "Yes, Edith," she recited dutifully.

They reached her sparsely decorated room and Elizabeth pulled on the faded blue pants and top the people had given her when she woke here and sat in front of the little mirror.

Her hair was longer than the last time she noticed, almost reaching the middle of her back in waves. Her eyes didn't shine with excitement and curiosity as they once did, but they showed signs of wisdom and discovery, which she guess was a fair trade off.

Edith shuffled over and pulled at her hair and clothes until she was satisfied.

"Alright Elizabeth, bite your lip," Edith busied herself with pinching Elizabeth's cheeks to bring some colour to her skin. All this technology and they hadn't bothered with modernized make up.

Elizabeth pulled her lower lip between her teeth and applied pressure, knowing it would be the same colour as the subtle pink and red lip gloss she'd favored before waking on the planet.

Edith stepped back and smiled widely in satisfaction. "You, my girl, are going to break the boy's heart,"

Elizabeth smiled lightly and turned for the door, "Yes, well, you've got no one to blame but yourself Edith; I told you not to encourage him."

Edith's laugh rang down the magnificent hall as they made their way back down the halls.


"Ronon, I'm fine I swear," Rodney tried unsuccessfully to pull his arm from Ronon's strong grip.

John trailed behind the two curiously, "When Rodney denies being hurt after a training session, I think he's fine; he usually milks any injury like nothing I've seen. Ronon?"

Ronon just pulled Rodney along, not speaking until they were approaching the infirmary. "Just to be safe; wouldn't want the smartest man on Atlantis dying in the middle of a fight, would we?"

John stopped for a moment and the two made it a few paces ahead. A light flicked on in his head.

"Wait a minute! Dr. Keller's on duty today, isn't she?"

Ronon turned to look over his shoulder at the shorter man, "I don't know, is she?"

Rodney looked up at Ronon, digging his heels in and managing to stop the Satedan. "This is about a girl? Oh, come on, you don't care about me at all, do you?"

Ronon looked at the two men, one extremely amused and the other on the verge of throwing some kind of fit.

"Of course, I could always just up the level of your training?" He spoke to Rodney. He paled.

"No, no; I think you're right. My chest does hurt a little, maybe we should get Dr. Keller to look at it," he hurried ahead on his own.

John rolled his eyes, "Pushover," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Ronon asked, moving forward again. "Cause I could always start teaching you knives."

John felt a smile tugging at his lips, "Yeah, yeah; not so much a threat."

"Can we just go?"

John took pity and the two finished the journey to the infirmary.

"Um, Ronon cracked me in the ribs during training," Rodney sounded remarkably and unsurprisingly like a little boy telling on the school bully.

"Ronon!" Jennifer looked over at Ronon as he entered and he smirked.

"Not my fault he didn't move like I taught him to,"

John raised an eyebrow, leaning idly against a rolling cart, to see how this was going to play out.

"And if I had been training with you? You crack everyone in the ribs like this?" she asked, smirking.

Ronon felt a tinge of blush rising in his face. He forced it down. "Nope, just the ones that don't learn to move."

Rodney whined as Jennifer probed his ribs, poking at them all. "Ow,"

Jennifer looked up at him, skeptical, "Oh, relax Dr. McKay; they're fine. There isn't even any bruising. Take some pain meds and you'll be fine."

Rodney jumped up, rouse gone and grabbed the pain pills, no doubt to add to the stash in his room and pack for when he managed to get hurt on his own.

John remained curious as he watched Ronon and Jennifer looking at each other.

"You knew he wasn't hurt."

"No I didn't, that's why I brought him here,"

Jennifer offered a small smile and Ronon smiled back. "So, was he your only patient?"

Jennifer looked around the empty infirmary, not noticing John leaning against the cart. "Uh, yeah,"

Ronon felt nervous as Jennifer looked around, avoiding his eyes. "Well, you eaten yet?"

Jennifer still didn't meet his eyes, but she shook her head.

Ronon smiled, confidence growing. "You want to come eat with me? I mean, the brave doctor of Atlantis can't fail her people by fainting of hunger, can she?"

Jennifer smiled and looked up at Ronon. Ronon felt warmth spark somewhere in his stomach.

"That might not be the best thing,"

Ronon grinned, "Well then?"

Jennifer looked around again, "I shouldn't leave, if someone comes…I'm the only one on duty."

Ronon faltered a little and John felt his jaw drop.

"But, if you brought it here?" Ronon was amused at the nervous question in her voice.

"I'll be back." He turned to leave. John watched in fascination as Jennifer grinned and turned to some papers and Ronon stopped in the doorway.

"Hey Dr. Keller?"

Jennifer looked up, "Yes, Mr. Dex?"

Ronon smiled and John's jaw dropped lower. "Jennifer,"

"Yeah, Ronon?"

They were smiling now. Ronon crossed the small space again and kissed her quickly on the cheek before leaving again, a blush definitely taking over his face this time.

John's cart sailed out from under him and he crashed to the floor as it crashed into the wall.

"Col. Sheppard!" Jennifer gasped. Had he been in the room the whole time? Heat rushed to her cheeks as she crossed to him.

"Hey, Doc," he replied from the floor.


Elizabeth sat in her chair, watching the bonfire light up the happy faces of her new friends and family.

Edith was sitting with her old friends, talking and laughing and eating.

A tall, thin boy sat down next to Elizabeth.

"This is your celebration Elizabeth, finally, a cycle you made on your own without becoming ill."

Elizabeth smiled at the boy, "I know, Tometh, I'm sorry if I'm ruining your fun."

Tometh grinned, blushing deeply under Elizabeth's green eyed gaze. None of the other women in Terradyn had such eyes. Surprisingly, only the males had colored eyes; the women's remained brown.

"Not at all; allow me to cheer you up. A dance perhaps?" Elizabeth could hear the pleading and hope in his voice and felt guilty for nodding. She sighed internally as the fast drum beats got louder as they neared the dance floor.

Soon, the sea of people swallowed her up and, thankfully, carried her away from Tometh for the time being.

She found herself on the other side of the large mass of bodies, toward the great front gates of the city and the Stargate. Elizabeth took a look at the celebrating people, so happy about her growing strength, and felt like an outsider all over again.

Moving away from the heat of the fire and the people and toward the dark, cold edge of the city, Elizabeth looked up. The large moon filled half the sky, it seemed; bright and silvery-grey and brilliant.

She breathed in the scent of the cooking food and the flowers she passed. She wandered over to the Stargate, the massive stone ring giving her sense of home, a sense of somewhere.

Elizabeth stood leaning her forehead against the cold stone, feeling it strong beneath her. Turning to lean her back on it, she didn't see Edith and Edith's husband, Kennyth, strolling down the same path.

"Elizabeth? Is that you? What are you doing way over there, child, your party is getting better and better, though I fear Tometh has-,"

The woman was cut off as the ground began trembling and rocking beneath their feet. Elizabeth looked up in frozen alarm as the Stargate shook violently against it's supports.

"Elizabeth! Get away from there!" Edith yelled as the gate began lighting up.

Elizabeth knew it was coming, but she couldn't move, paralyzed by fear and hope. The desperate need to see what was coming.

Kennyth's strong body slammed into her as the gate opened, the event horizon exploding outward in it's bubbling glory.

She hit the ground and felt the gash on her arm already bleeding. From her side view, she saw a machine slide through. What was left of Elizabeth's breath from the fall escaped her as the small camera rotated to the left. She felt like crying because she was to the right.

Kennyth was pulling her to her feet and they were running. The old man was still in good shape.

"Wait! No! Edith, wait! Kennyth, stop!" But he pulled her along as Edith hurried along behind her.

"Elizabeth keep running; the ring has never opened as long as I've lived and I don't intend to see what comes through next!"

"No! You don't understand!" Tears were beginning to flow down her cheeks as she ran with Kennyth. Alarms were going off around her and people were running; the bonfire was doused a little, but not put out completely. The table remained standing, but half the table cloth pulled off, spilling food as children yanked it as they ran.

Armed guards ran past Elizabeth, Edith and Kennyth toward the gate. "No! Stop! Listen to me!"

She felt herself getting weaker and weaker; she still wasn't as strong as before. Before whatever happened to her. Why wouldn't they just stop?

Suddenly, Elizabeth was falling and the ground was coming up fast. Strong arms caught her and lifted her. She was carried up steps and her exhaustion claimed her. The last thing she remembered was her heavy bedroom door slamming shut and the external lock sliding into place.

She didn't dream.


mkay. so. this is going to be my first attempt at writing for SGA, i've been a fan a long time, so i thought i'd give it a try.

i dont own them and i certainly am not making money so i'll say it once and only once. i trust u brilliant people to remember :)

reviews keep me going, as long as they're nice or constructive!

thanks!

BTW, im still writing the PP fic, 'Two Weeks of Hell', i just had to get this out before i left it. :)