Disclaimers: I own no part of the Stargate world, I make no money from this and I wish that I could make money from having such fun.
Note: Inspired by The Lost Tribe, that gave me the idea of Larrin visiting the city.
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Atlantis was a glorious city, as cities went. Larrin was not inclined to enjoy settlements usually, preferring to be on a ship. She missed the enveloping sensation of the ship around her, protecting and at any moment able to alter direction and speed. A city was set, locked in place and therefore exposed and vulnerable.
Of course, it had been that mentality that had led to so many of her people starved of food, space and family. So, settlements had finally been the only option to them. The first settlement had been destroyed by its Gate, but those that followed had so far been very successful, but it had changed so much about all their lives that Larrin still found herself feeling ambiguous towards the change. She herself had been spared the 'opportunity' to live on a planet, since she had her ship to run, and those runs now invariably involved finding supplies for the new settlements and running patrols to guard over the settlements from orbit. With so many living on a planet it had also meant that trading agreements had become essential, including their new stronger bond with those who lived in this city.
She had visited Atlantis twice before, but this was the first time that she had been shown the areas outside the main tower's floors. The trust had grown between their people it seemed, and she smiled at the thought as she glanced to her left where Sheppard walked beside her. He was her 'tour guide' and he seemed as disinclined to describe the details of the city around them as she was in hearing it.
"There seem to be more of your people here than I've seen before," Larrin mused, interrupting his bored explanation about the lay out of the city.
He glanced at her in turn, those lovely green eyes focused solely on her. She enjoyed their attention, and the memories they brought up for her. She remembered intensely their first meeting, the defiance and strength in those eyes that had been in stark contrast to his presented casual bitterness. She had liked him from the first time she had listened in on his 'interrogation'. It had been clear that beating was not going to be the way to gain information from him, though it had made clear her people's power over him. She had taken matters into her own hands, as she had always intended, but particularly as it had become apparent that Sheppard was from a people as defiant and intelligent as her own.
That first meeting had turned into a fight against the Wraith as much as it had been against each other. It had formed a sense of respect between her and Sheppard, and no shortage of attraction, despite the nature of that first encounter. As the years had passed, their people had worked together more and had established trading, of food, medicines and technology. Sheppard's people were benefitting from her people's technology as much as hers were his people's long experience in maintaining an established settlement. It had so far been a very beneficial relationship. However, her 'relationship' with Sheppard had remained as one of suspicious amusement sat on a bed of flirtatious attraction.
She looked at him now, allowing him to fully see her attraction, for she was not one to hide such interest. It amused her to see him blink as he registered her appreciation and he glanced away, but he was smiling faintly, as they always did around one another. She suspected he would never entirely trust her, as she would never entirely trust him or anyone outside of her own people.
"We've started bringing in more personnel, now the Wraith are less of a problem and our Gate back on Earth has enough power to dial in as much as we want," he replied, glancing back at her.
She knew of this new development on his home planet, though not the details, for it had meant that Atlantis had been trading even more with her people and other worlds. Items of Earth design could now be found on other worlds, from medicines, pre-packaged foods, clothing, and even artwork. The exchange between the two galaxies had altered greatly and it had benefitted her people.
"Are some of them to work at the space station?" She asked glancing into an open doorway that they passed.
His people had recently established a space station in orbit of another planet with a space gate. There they had begun constructing spacecraft of their own, mixing her peoples' technology in with their own, which she knew to be a conglomeration itself of other technologies as well as their own. The first Pegasus built Earth ship was impressive in its design, for she had been invited to the station's inaugural 'party', as Sheppard had referred to it, where the construction of the spacecraft had just begun.
"Some of them," Sheppard replied, giving no further information. She glanced to him, smiling at his still present suspicion and she respected him, despite having worked together so frequently over the years, to be wary of her still.
They turned the corner of the high ceiling hallway and to their right a wall of glass looked out at a wide balcony. She looked from the impressive view of the city beyond it back to Sheppard beside her.
"Do you think a day will ever arrive when you and I will trust one another?" She asked him amused.
He gave her that suspicious smile again. "Maybe," he replied.
She shook her head at him, amused still at how careful he was with his words around her.
"I would have thought now that we are allies, that you would have forgiven me," she flirted lightly.
He indicated the open section of the glass wall and they stepped out onto the balcony. The air was fresh around them, tasting heavily of saltwater which was not a sensation that she greatly enjoyed. However, she could appreciate the even more spectacular vision of the city below as they approached the balcony railing.
"I've forgiven you," he replied.
She leant over the railing, looking straight down at the far distant ground below the towers. The rush of the brief nauseous instinctual reaction to the view amused her and she controlled it easily, drinking in the flush of adrenaline as she stood back again, to look at Sheppard beside her.
He really was a very handsome man.
She turned, leaning back against the railing, her elbows supporting her, and she shook her hair out into the breeze. She smiled at him beside her, knowing that her position accentuated her body. She watched him notice, but he glanced away again with a slight knowing edge to his eyes. She smiled with amusement at his reaction, which had changed over their last few meetings.
"We are allies now, are we not?" She asked him.
He looked back at her. "Sure," he replied, his tone making it clear that he was suspicious as to where she was directing their conversation.
She smiled, looking up to the rest of the tower above them over the balcony. "It is a most impressive city," she reflected.
"But…" He added, having understood the lengthy pause at the end of her sentence.
"I will always prefer living on a ship," she told him looking back to him. "The life of adventure," she told him with smile.
He frowned at her as he looked out over the railing at his city. "We have plenty of adventure here, I can tell you," he told her, slightly defensively.
"I am sure that you do, but I prefer the constant movement of a ship. To fly wherever we wish, to not be tied down in any way," she added, watching his face as he glanced to her out of the corner of his eyes. His expression told her that he suspected the undertone to their conversation.
"Don't you spend most of your time ferrying supplies for your settlements now?" He asked, turning the conversation on her.
"There are enough ships to fulfil those needs, and we take our turns in that duty," she replied, a little inaccurately. "I would imagine that such a life would appeal to you," she pressed on.
"Running supply runs?" He asked dubiously, and purposefully misunderstanding her comment.
"Being free to roam wherever you wish," she corrected him plainly, keeping her gaze direct to make sure he understood of what she was referring.
His eyebrows rose and he looked back out to the city and then back to her. "I like it here," he replied.
She turned to lean one side against the railing to look at him more directly.
The defensiveness against her flirting had appeared in the last few times they had interacted. The rumour from another ship captain, who ran most of the Atlantis trade routes, was that Sheppard had a woman now. It had not surprised Larrin, for such a man as he would attract many women, but it appeared now that this woman was a permanent addition. From how he had changed in his flirting with her, she estimated that he and this woman had been together for at least half a year, perhaps longer, which meant that, for a man such as him, it was a very serious affair. That had surprised and perhaps slightly disappointed her. She had judged him to be more like herself - needing freedom, to be unrestrained in anyway. To have occasional liaisons as desired, but nothing to alter how she wished to live her life. She had thought him the same; a defiant free spirit who would not be tamed or softened.
She studied him now and wondered if he was simply making good with what he had, as those who lived in settlements were inclined to do. She tilted her head to catch his eye again and he looked round at her.
"And who will be the captain of your new spacecraft when it is completed?" She asked, knowing full well that any true pilot, and leader of people as they both were, would leap at the chance to head a new ship.
"Someone will be assigned from Earth," he replied, again slightly defensively.
She made a show of being surprised. "I would have thought you held all the necessary skills," she noted.
"I already have a job," he replied.
"Yes, you do," she replied, putting emphasis in her words and her gaze to make it clear as to what she thought he was choosing.
He shook his head, his half smile making it clear that he understood her point, and gave the impression that he was amused at her. He turned against the railing to face her.
"I have more than enough here to keep me busy," he replied.
"Really?" She asked. She was under the impression that people from his planet had only one lover at a time, but she wasn't sure, besides, perhaps he was not as 'busy' with his woman as he wished to be.
"Well, should the time arrive," she told him moving slightly closer to him, leaning forward enough to give him a good view of her chest. "When you grow tired of sitting in one place, perhaps a life of freedom may be more to your liking."
He looked surprised by the offer. "Are you offering me a place with the Travellers?" He asked.
"We would welcome a man of your skills to work with us, and perhaps even a ship of your own," she tempted him.
"I thought you guys had run out of ships," he asked.
"Things change," she told him plainly. She smiled softly up at him, making sure the true nature of her offer was received.
Again he looked surprised, his eyes narrowed, and for a moment he held her gaze, but she saw immediately that he would refuse. He smiled at her, breaking the moment and shifted slightly back from her, covered by looking out at the view.
"I'm happy enough in Atlantis, thanks. Besides," he added as he moved slightly further away from her as he shifted his elbow against the railing. "I don't trust you as far as I could throw you," he told her with a grin.
She smiled at the comment, taking it as a compliment, though admittedly disappointed in being turned down, but time would tell. Her offer had been made and should the day arrive when he was looking for more adventure he would think of her, she was sure.
"Are you implying that I am heavy?" She asked to tease him.
He chuckled and shook his head.
A small changed detail across the balcony drew Larrin's attention and she looked across the space to the open glass door to see a woman stood there. From her crossed arms and knowing look, Larrin suspected this would be Sheppard's woman. Larrin recognised her, though had not interacted with her very much in the past. If she remembered correctly, this woman had been one of the trading negotiators, and that she had argued a very equal deal between their peoples.
Sheppard shifted round beside her, registering someone else was here. "Teyla," he greeted the woman, but Larrin kept her eyes on the woman. Yes, Teyla, she was definitely the one who had worked on the trade agreements, and she recalled that this woman was Athosian, known for her leadership skills before she had joined with those from Earth.
"I was just giving Larrin the guided tour," Sheppard explained and Larrin heard the touch of nervousness to his tone. "Of the city," he added quickly as he moved away from the railing, and Larrin. "Larrin, you remember Teyla?" He asked.
Larrin nodded, and moved forward as Teyla did, the two of them holding each other's gaze. Teyla nodded in a seemingly polite way, but her eyes said something very different.
Larrin nodded back, politely as well. "Of course," she replied to Sheppard, who she now glanced to and she smiled at him. "And a wonderful tour it has been." She looked back at Teyla to see the woman's raised eyebrow.
Teyla was shorter than she was, but held herself tall and elegantly. She was dressed in a light skirt and a sleeveless top. Her exposed arms, no longer crossed, were elegant, but sculpted with enough muscle tone to make her strength very clear. Her confidence however emanated from her, and with it, a very clear sense of threat and warning directed towards Larrin. Larrin was amused by the warning, but at the same time had to respect it. She suspected that Teyla had seen her flirtation with Sheppard at the railing and that he had turned her down, for Teyla showed no signs of anger, just quiet threat. Teyla said, with her direct eyes, that she knew what Larrin had planned, and that she would be watching Larrin in the future.
Larrin considered the woman, aware of Sheppard shifting worried beside them.
"You were involved in the trading negations," Larrin said to fill the silence.
"Yes, I was," Teyla replied politely and calmly enough. "Did you enjoy your tour?" Teyla asked.
Larrin smiled at her. "Yes, very much. You have a lovely city here," she told Teyla.
Teyla nodded. "Yes, we do." The answer made it clear the subtext of what they were discussing.
Larrin accepted the point and that her sparring words had been matched. She considered this petite woman who clearly was also a fighting woman. She had expected Sheppard, as was the inclination of handsome men that she had known, to choose a far less wilful woman, one who would do whatever he pleased as she basked in his handsome heroic nature. However, this woman was far from that. She held strength and clearly would be a challenge to Sheppard. Larrin grinned.
She glanced up at Sheppard, seeing his eyes shift from Teyla to her and back. She wondered how much Teyla had seen when they had been leant against the railing and how that may have looked to someone watching, and she wondered how much trouble he would be in for it. She grinned again.
She looked back to Teyla. "It was nice to meet you again, Teyla."
"And you, Larrin," Teyla replied simply.
Larrin held her gaze for a moment longer, her natural inclination was not to look away first, but here she did. She held her head high though and smiled as she passed the most definitely nervous Sheppard, though he tried to hide it, and moved towards the open doorway. Sheppard would have to join her, escorting her back up to the Gate room level and she suspected that would worry him more.
She paused at the doorway and glanced back. She saw Sheppard saying something down to Teyla, who nodded, but he looked worried as he moved away from her heading towards Larrin.
Larrin turned and moved into the hallway beyond, and as Sheppard arrived, she headed down the hallway. He glanced back towards the balcony as he scurried to catch up and they fell into step again.
"How long will it take the space station to complete work on the spacecraft?" She asked him, starting their conversation far away from what had just happened.
He frowned at her for a moment before taking up the conversation with what looked like relief.
"Ummm…I'm not sure exactly. The station commander oversees all those details," he replied. She suspected he was once again withholding details but she did not mind.
"Yes, I imagine you will have plenty here to keep you busy," she replied, keeping her eyes forward as she smiled.
She guessed that from now onwards, Sheppard would be more careful about them being alone together, or perhaps Teyla herself would make sure to be around on Larrin's next visit. She felt the disappointment stronger then, for Teyla was clearly not a passing phase of his, as was made clear to her by the lingering worry in his expression. Larrin had hoped to begin an affair with Sheppard on this visit, and now she would have to put the idea aside. But, who knew about the future, for he and Teyla may not last and he may become available again. Until then, Larrin would have to return to her new life of supply runs and orbital patrols.
She looked around her to the tall walls of Atlantis and for a moment, she felt a touch of envy towards Teyla. To live in this ancient city and to enjoy a man like Sheppard. She could imagine those to be two factors that could keep a free spirit in one place.
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The END