Dr. Moyers, Neuroscientist
Author's Note:
This is the first story I have ever written in this particular fandom. Be nice and gentle with me. This is an AU, where Ford is being looked after on Atlantis, Carson is very much active, and the Stargate Program is about to go public. This is, of course, the story of one Dr. Merideth Moyers, a Neuroscientist sent to study the Wraith and, more importantly, to help Aiden. If the characters seem a little off, sorry. I'm trying to give an outsider's perspective, so it might take a while for Merideth to warm up to her boss. I'm trying to get a feel for the characters, so don't take this story too seriously.
Chapter One: Atlantis, City of the Ancients
"That went... rather well, I think."
The good doctor looks a bit green around the gills, and the woman standing next to him doesn't have it in her heart to blame him. She shrugs, handing him his stethoscope - not knowing exactly how she ended up in possession of it - and tries to take a deep breath. She winces and massages her left wrist, which hurts. "When I wake up tomorrow, it will be to a mass of bruises on my ribcage and around my throat." She says, to herself. "I look as if I got into a fight with a python, and lost."
Carson Beckett drapes the stethoscope around his neck and doesn't quite meet her gaze. "I don't know what to do, lass." he says to her, quietly enough that the nurses and orderlies in the infirmary can't hear him. "If you can't help him..."
He doesn't finish the sentence. He doesn't have to.
Doctor Merideth Moyers shivers. The moment you step foot off of the Daedalus, your entire life will change. She shakes her head, pulling the tight elastic out of her hair and letting it fall down, halfway to her waist in a mostly-smooth black wave. Liutenant Colonel Samantha Carter LIED when she said that to me.
First of all, one doesn't 'step foot off of' the Daedalus. Not unless there is something monstrously wrong which will inevitable lead to your imminent doom, or demise, or destruction. Instead, she was beamed down. Demolecularized and disintigrated into nothing, transported at the speed of light, and then reintegrated a few nanoseconds later, intact, perfectly dressed and rumpled, clutching her laptop and purse as if they were her childhood comforts, teddy bear and security blanket.
Merideth closes her eyes and lets Carson check her over for damage.
He looked so alone. Frightened, tense, still half-high and half-crazy, tiny, insignificant, pathetic. Psychotic and broken. Lieutenant Aiden Ford.
For the first time, Merideth wished she'd stayed at home. Wished she hadn't jumped at the chance to join the top-secret government agency which could let her run her experiments and finish her research without ethical concerns. The Asgard were wonderful scientists.
"You poor thing." Carson's voice is suddenly gentle. "You must be exhausted. Haven't even had a chance to unpack your things, have you?"
She shook her head and winced as he brushed one of the newly-forming bruises around her throat. "I'd like to go get some sleep now." She says quietly, her voice hoarse. "I don't... I don't know where everything is, yet... could you have someone just show me to my quarters? I can figure everything else out in the morning."
Carson nods and sends a nurse.
Merideth is so tired, she doesn't remember any of the conversation they had on the way to her room, which is bare and cold when she gets there. She tells the room to warm up, and climbs onto the bed. It hasn't any blankets or pillows and her things are all piled haphazardly in the corner, but she doesn't really give a damn when she finally drifts into unconcsciousness.
The next day, she is introduced to the rest of the Science Staff.
"IMBECILES! The lot of you! Where, exactly, does one go to get a Ph.D in Idiocy? Do I need to hold your hands while we walk down the hallways? Surely, even CHILDREN with their snotty noses and their high-pitched, irritating, whiny voices could manage to be just a little bit more efficient than you morons. After all, it isn't as if they could be worse."
Dr. Weir clears her throat.
The man in the blue, rather wrinkled-looking t-shirt spins around and stares at her, a hard, uncompromising stare. He is a little bit flushed, a little bit sweaty, and more than a little bit irritated if the slight narrowing of his eyes or the rather obvious expression on his face is any indication. "Yes, Elizabeth?" His voice is miraculously calm.
"This is Dr. Merideth Moyers." Elizabeth says, gesturing to the small woman at her side. "She's... well, the only new scientist from Earth. Daedalus dropped her off yesterday."
Merideth is nervous. She's a teeny, tiny bit afraid of him, although she'd die before she'd let him know it. "Pleased to meet you." She says, arching an eyebrow imperiously as she says the words slowly, devoid of any inflection.
"Rodney McKay. I'm in charge of all the science departments, not just this one, and I will definitely be checking your work to make sure you're not a moron." He says to her.
Considering how he had just berated his coworkers, Merideth beleives him.
"Are you a physicist?"
"Neuroscientist."
He gives her an approving nod. "There's no lab space available, so you're going to have to beg if you need to run any experiments. I'll let you know if anything becomes available."
Elizabeth leaves, and Rodney McKay goes back to yelling at his staff.
What have I gotten myself in to? Merideth wonders. She doesn't bother staying to hear the rest of the lecture - she's not a physicist, and most of what he's saying makes no sense to her.
She decides to follow a few marines to the cafeteria, where the food is unrecognizable and smells extremely appetizing.
ROAST BEAST the day's menu proclaims loudly. She hopes they're at least partly joking.
"Hey there."
He sits across from her, smiling and tilting his head back so that he can peer at her through half-closed lids, slouching in his seat and giving her a friendly look. "John Sheppard." He says, by way of introduction, and John Sheppard doesn't suit him, not quite. He's a bit too smooth, too calming and his hair is a bit too perfectly touseled for her to think of him as something so mundane as "John". He looks like a David, Brady, a Travis, or even a Garret.
"Nice to meet you, John." Merideth says politely, as she maneuvers a potato-like object onto her fork and takes a dainty little bite.
"So..." He leans forward, his voice dropping a bit lower and a lot softer, as if the topic of their conversation is too intimate for the mess hall. "It isn't what you thought it would be, is it?"
"Hmm?" She mumbles around of mouthful of something that tastes too buttery and delicious to bother being hesitant at its mauve colour.
"Atlantis. City of the Ancients. I bet they told you all about the technological wonders, about all the knowledge in store for you... and then you get dumped on this rather picturesque rock with a bunch of jumpy, irritable, caffeine-deprived scientists and some seriously fucked millitary personell, and you want to go home and back in time to a point where you'd never heard of the Stargate Program." John smiles at her, understanding.
Merideth stares at her hands, and then shakes her head. "Not true."
"No?"
"They told me that this was Atlantis, City of the Ancients." She said, quietly, wondering why she was confessing this to a man she'd just met. "They told me about the technological wonders, and all the knowledge to be had, and I turned them down. They told me about the Wraith and said that they could really use me in the fight for humanity, and I turned them down." She giggles, a little giddy, and then quickly attacks the rest of her meal.
John leans back and studies her. "Why are you here, then?"
"They offered me something I couldn't refuse." Merideth doesn't tell him what, because he'll think she's insane.
The man across the table likes her answer, though. He nods at her. "I flipped a coin." He says, grinning, and then he stands up, a barely-discernable shrug of the shoulders has his shirt settling over his chest in a very flattering way, and he saunters away, not looking back to see her watching him leave.
Merideth wonders if there are any normal people in Atlantis.