Title: glimpse redux
Author: Rorie
Distribution: My site—anyone else, please ask.
Spoilers: Minor mentions for "Before I Sleep," "Michael," "Allies," "No Man's Land," "Misbegotten," "The Real World."
Rating: Whatever the equivalent of 'G' to 'PG' is
Classification: John/Lizzie, sequel
Summary: Another run in with the Ancient device.
Date began: August 5, 2006
Date finished: August 24, 2006
Disclaimer: The characters that you'd recognize and the concept of "Stargate: Atlantis" are not mine. They belong to SciFi, MGM, whoever else holds the rights, and their portrayers. I'm not making any money off of this story, and no copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue... I'll return them when I'm done... probably in better condition than I found them in (my momma taught me well). Don't complain to me if they get lost in the mail... blame the United States Postal Service.
Author's notes: "glimpse" was supposed to be a one-shot deal, but so many people wanted more that my muses started to agree. You'll have to read "glimpse" first to get this.
Point-of-view changes are denoted by Å
More notes at the end…
Enthusiastic, over-abundant, gushing thanks to my betas: Jess, Kelsey, Debby, Jacqueline and Elvin, who should get co-author status. You helped me more than you could ever know! Y'all are amazing.
glimpse (noun): To look briefly.
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It had been two weeks since Elizabeth's "incident" with the Ancient device and no one else had yet been able to make it do anything: neither the expedition members with the ATA gene nor those without it.
John stared at the object sitting on Rodney's worktable. It looked harmless. "So no one was able to turn that thing on until Elizabeth?"
"Yes… well, actually, I don't know if Elizabeth actually turned it on."
"But…"
Rodney interrupted, "Nothing happened with the device. The only reaction was with Elizabeth."
"How do you know that's not how it's supposed to work?"
"I don't. All I know is that nothing showed on that screen and Elizabeth was suddenly unconscious." He paused, "Besides, she doesn't have the gene."
John tuned Rodney out and moved closer to the table. It was almost as if the object was drawing him in. He was curious. Why could Elizabeth get a reaction from the thing when no one else could?
Rodney turned just in time to see John pick up the box. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."
"Why?"
Rodney sighed in exasperation. John was never going to learn. "Never mind," he snapped as John turned the object over in his hands.
Nothing happened… yet again.
"Just where exactly did you find this thing?" John asked as he set the device back on the table.
"It was tucked in the bottom of the stasis pod in which we found Elizabeth's older counterpart," McKay answered distractedly.
"Just a thought," John began. "But what if Elizabeth is the only one who can operate it?" He paused when he saw McKay stop what he was doing and actually pay attention. "Like maybe it's coded to her DNA or something."
Rodney frowned and stared at the object in question. "Why would Janus, who was obviously trying to help her, give Elizabeth something that causes her to pass out?"
Elizabeth stood at the railing on one of Atlantis' many balconies. She'd found one that was quite remote from the rest of the expedition's living quarters. She wanted to think and knew that no one would look for her here.
Staring out over the ocean, Elizabeth didn't see the sparkling water or the brilliant sunshine. She was seeing, as she had many times in the last two weeks, her small family in the infirmary. She remembered the little girl with the features that were a perfect mixture of her and John, and the tiny baby who was the most beautiful in the galaxy.
Elizabeth smiled as she remembered how much John was in love with that baby. And with her. Many times in these last few weeks, she'd wanted to tell him about her vision, but she was scared. They'd been growing steadily closer since Michael and the ill-fated alliance with the Wraith. She didn't want to jinx things. She didn't want John to think she was pushing him into something that he might not be ready for, or worse, that she was just plain nuts.
She took a deep breath and started to head for the door to return to work. She closed her eyes when her arms began to tingle…
ÅÅÅ
…and her stomach filled with butterflies, she took a breath to steady her nerves. Opening her eyes, Elizabeth was relieved that she didn't find herself in the infirmary this time. Instead, she was standing in her quarters. Another second passed before she realized she wasn't alone. She slowly turned to see Teyla, Laura Cadman, and Sam Carter smiling at her. The women were dressed in matching red satin gowns.
"You look lovely, Elizabeth," Teyla said. The other two women nodded in agreement.
Elizabeth finally gathered the courage to look in the mirror. She gasped as she saw her reflection. She was wearing her dream wedding dress: simple and elegant, it reminded her of the gowns worn in Hollywood's heyday of the '40s and '50s. The ivory satin skimmed her curves and the intricate beadwork at the top of the bodice drew attention to her grandmother's sapphire and diamond filigree necklace. Her hair had been pulled up into an elegant twist with a few tendrils of curls framing her face. The mainland equivalent of a white rose was nestled in her hair, and a bouquet of the same flower was lying on her dresser.
As she realized what was happening, the butterflies in Elizabeth's stomach leapt into flight. No longer only from the uncertainty of where she'd find herself during her vision, they were now also in anticipation of the upcoming wedding.
A knock at the door startled Elizabeth out of her reverie. Sam moved to answer the door. "Elizabeth, it's for you," she said with a smile.
Elizabeth turned to see who was there. She smiled when she saw Jack O'Neill in his dress blues. He walked into the room and smiled in appreciation at the bride's appearance.
"Elizabeth, you look stunning," he said, dropping a kiss on her cheek. "If Colonel Sheppard doesn't watch it, I may steal you away from him."
Elizabeth blushed then laughed as Sam playfully punched Jack in the arm.
"Ow! Okay, okay." He put up a hand and backed away in mock surrender. "Sorry, Doctor. It's seems that my wife has some objections." Elizabeth smiled in amusement.
Sam smiled and kissed Jack on the cheek before glancing at the clock. "It's time." She grabbed the bouquet off of the dresser and handed it to Elizabeth.
Jack walked back over to Elizabeth and offered his arm, "Shall we?"
They were headed towards the gate room. So far, it was the only room that they'd found that was big enough to hold all of the expedition members at one time. It feels strange, Elizabeth thought, walking through deserted hallways. Usually, even at night, there were team members going to labs, quarters, and other places in the city. Today it was almost eerily quiet.
The five members of the bridal party stopped at the door to the gate room. Major Lorne was waiting for them and clicked his radio to signal their arrival. From inside the room, the strains of Bach's Air filtered out into the hallway as first Laura, then Sam, and, finally, Teyla began the walk down the aisle to the makeshift altar in front of the Atlantis Stargate.
The music changed to Bach's Adagio and Elizabeth took a deep breath. It was her turn to go inside.
"Ready?" Jack asked as Elizabeth took his arm.
"Yes," she answered, her first word since this vision began.
Lorne opened the door. Jack and Elizabeth began their walk. Her breath caught in her throat as she first saw John in his dress blues. John's eyes locked with hers and he smiled reassuringly. The butterflies in her stomach calmed as everything she'd ever said against the military popped into her head and she chuckled at the irony.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked quietly.
"Better than okay," she replied as she stared into John's eyes…
ÅÅÅ
John walked into the briefing room to find everyone gathered except Elizabeth. "Where's Dr. Weir?" he asked.
McKay shrugged. "We thought she was with you."
John reached for his ear piece. "Sheppard to Weir. Elizabeth, where are you? You're late."
No response.
"Weir, this is Sheppard. Elizabeth, are you all right?"
Still no response. John glared at his team in frustration before he left the room and headed for Elizabeth's office. It was empty. Looking around quickly for any clue to Elizabeth's whereabouts, he sighed and went to the control room. "Anyone seen Dr. Weir lately?"
No one had. Finally, John sought out security, barely hiding his panic.
After some time and searching both by personnel and by computer, someone found her.
"Colonel, she's on a balcony on the south side of the city," a tech said, pointing at a diagram of the city. "Here."
She'd barely finished her statement before John was gone.
Elizabeth was lying crumpled and unconscious in front of the door when John found her. He dropped down next to her, checking to see if she was still breathing. "Sheppard to Beckett. Medical emergency at my location. Elizabeth's unconscious."
"C'mon, Elizabeth," he whispered. "Wake up." John stared at her still form and brushed her hair away from her face. He ran a finger along her cheek in a way he wished he could when she was awake. "C'mon," he whispered again, this time with a catch in his voice.
After what seemed like an eternity, Beckett and his team arrived.
Beckett quickly assessed Elizabeth's condition and then the team loaded her onto a gurney for the trip back to the infirmary.
After determining that there was nothing life-threatening causing her condition, Beckett left John sitting at Elizabeth's bedside while he went to make some notes in Elizabeth's ever-increasing medical file. He chuckled at the thought that hers might soon rival John's in size.
John just stared at Elizabeth's face. Beckett couldn't find anything wrong with her, but he didn't want to risk bringing her out of her unconsciousness without more tests. They were just going to have to wait for her to come out of it on her own. John inhaled sharply. Elizabeth was pale--frighteningly so. However, there also was just a hint of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth. He wondered what was going on in her mind that caused that. On one hand, he wanted her to wake up. On the other hand, he didn't want to destroy whatever dream was making her smile. God knew, she… they didn't have as many opportunities to smile in real life as they'd all like.
John took Elizabeth's hand and gently began running his thumb over it, avoiding the IV that stuck out incongruously. He wanted to talk to her, to say something profound. Nothing came.
Beckett and various nurses came in to check on Elizabeth over the next few hours. Everything checked out as normal, she just didn't seem to want to wake up.
"John?" a soft, but steady, voice asked.
"Huh?" John jerked his head up from where he had been lying on the bed next to Elizabeth. He breathed a sigh of relief then smiled his trademark grin. "Elizabeth!"
Carson heard John's exclamation and came to check on his patient. "Welcome back, Elizabeth," he said, checking her vitals.
"What happened?" Elizabeth asked as she slowly opened her eyes to find herself once more under the bright lights of the infirmary. If she didn't watch herself she'd soon find herself in this room as often as John did. She groaned at the thought and lifted her head off of the pillow.
"You were unconscious when we found you," John replied. "We were kind of hoping you could tell us what happened."
Elizabeth blushed under his concerned scrutiny, then sighed and dropped back against the pillow. "I don't kn… wait a minute. I went to the balcony to get some air and to be by myself. I was just getting ready to go back to my office when my arms began to tingle." She paused to take a deep breath and frowned. "It felt just like a few weeks ago when Rodney asked me to translate that artifact." She tried to sit up. John stood up and steadied her with a hand on her back until she was able to sit on the side of the bed. "But I wasn't anywhere near it…"
"No, but I was," John said. "Rodney was studying it again, and I picked it up. We thought nothing happened."
Elizabeth smiled and reached for John's hand, knowing he was going to start feeling guilty for what happened to her. "John, it wasn't your fault." She paused and looked down at their hands, twining their fingers together. Taking a deep breath, she looked up to meet his gaze. "But we do need to talk…."
To be continued in the third part in the "glimpse" series…
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Author's notes, part deux: This story was originally going to have John experiencing the effects of the object. Blame Lizzie! She is the one who said that only she could make the thing work (or, at least, be affected by it).
Since this site won't let me give you the links to Lizzie's dress, the bridesmaid's dresses, or the necklace, you'll have to use your imaginations or write me for the link or photos.