Slide Into the Night
By Dragon's Daughter 1980
Disclaimer: Other than being a fan, I have absolutely nothing to do with Stargate: Atlantis in any way, shape or form.
Warnings: Strong Language, Implied Violence
Spoiler Warnings: Be All My Sins Remembered, and then events take an AU turn...
Author's Note: This story was written as part of the Season 4/5 Fix-It Ficathon on livejournal's john_elizabeth community. Special thanks must go to irony_rocks for organizing the ficathon and to my beta willowr who was invaluable with all her advice and generous with her time. To my readers, I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Chapter One
In dreams and in love, there are no impossibilities. ~ Janos Arany
Rising high and full over the clear waters of the endless sea, the twin harvest moons glow brightly in the midnight sky over New Lantia. On the pier, the flickering light of a massive bonfire illuminates the darkness, a defiant beacon of warmth against the approaching winter. Under the natural light of both flame and empyrean, the entire expedition is relaxing in the aftermath of a long month of daily harvesting on the mainland and on New Athos.
The only people who still have enough energy to dart around like hyperactive butterflies on stimulants are the children, who laugh and shriek as they run all over the pier. Over the past decade, the Athosian youth have learned variations of Earth games and have taken to playing tag whenever possible. Their exhausted parents look on indulgently while other adults either ignore the hullabaloo or encourage the chaos. There still isn't enough carefree laughter in their lives, and it is good to hear it whenever possible. Besides, if the kids wear themselves out now, they'll sleep all the sounder and later, giving their parents and caretakers a bit of a reprieve tomorrow.
Rising above the chatter and gossip of an entire city at rest, he hears her laughter drifting over the crowded festivities. His eyes are immediately drawn to her, standing close to one of the makeshift bonfires on the pier.
Head thrown back with carefree joy, the firelight shimmers off her brown curls, gracing them with a flickering glow. Her hands fly in graceful gestures, fingers sketching out a picture that only she and the sociologist she is talking to can see. There is a vitality to her movements—in the curve of her lips, the tilt of her head, the sparkle in her eyes—that testifies to the undeniable fact that she is alive and well; in their existence lies the reflection of the inner faith that has sustained her through all that Pegasus has thrown at her. Standing so close to the bonfire, the illumination frames her still-slim silhouette with a stunning beauty. Perhaps only visible to his eyes, she glows with the secret joy of impending motherhood. Even though he can't see the minute details of her face from this distance, he knows that her sleeveless crimson blouse has never failed to bring out the color of her green eyes. She smiles easily before she raises her champagne flute of fruit juice to her lips.
As the sociologist turns away at the end of their conversation, she unerringly seeks him out in the crowd, the hemline of her black skirt brushing against her knees as she spins slowly to face him. When their eyes meet, she smiles, the amusement clear in her expression, as she raises her half-empty glass just a little bit in a 'come here' gesture. When she does so, the gold band around her left ring finger catches the warm glow of the fire and reflects it into the night. He smiles and nods in acknowledgement of her request, not at all sheepish that he's been caught ogling the woman he loves.
Jinto passes by with a pitcher of watered-down wine, but he places his left hand over the rim of his cup, a gesture that the Athosian young men have learned means "no more, thank you." As he does so, the flickering flames of the bonfire are reflected on the simple gold band he wears, the mate to hers. He moves towards her, intent on stealing her away from the party. It's late enough in the night that no one will protest (or even bat an eye) at the disappearance of Atlantis' military CO and his diplomat wife from the festivities.
A radio chirp sounds in his ear before Chuck's voice comes through, "Colonel?"
"Colonel Sheppard, do you read me?"
He rolled over in his bed, his hand snagging his chirping earpiece and fitting it into his ear, "Sheppard here."
"Sorry to wake you up, Sir," said Chuck apologetically and he could practically see the expression on the Canadian's face. "The Daedalus and the Apollo have just made contact with us. Colonel Carter would like you and Dr. McKay to be in the Control Room when they get here."
"What's the ETA?" he asked, sitting up in bed and glancing at his alarm clock. It took a moment for him to convert to Lantean time, and then redo his calculations when he remembered that the days weren't so long any more. It was 0500.
"It will be around 0700 AST, Sir, two hours, give or take." At that answer, he pondered whether that would be enough time to join the Marines for PT, shower, rouse Rodney, grab breakfast and get to the Control Room early. It didn't take more than a second for him to ditch the idea of joining the Marines for PT before he showered. Rodney would be pissed at being woken up so early (and no matter how politely Chuck did it, his friend would bitch about being rudely woken up) and it would take forever to cajole the grumpy scientist into a human being with some sense of social norms. There was no way he was going to put up with a pair of pissed-off Colonels because he couldn't rein in Rodney's foul mood.
"Thank you for the message, Chuck." He decided that he would take a longer than usual shower to wake himself up. After the disaster of the past month…he closed his eyes briefly and firmly shut his thoughts away in a dark corner of his mind. It didn't matter.
He had to hold the city together, and whatever anger or grief he felt, there was also relief, because it was over for her. She was safe from pain and torture. She was gone.
She was dead, and that was that. He had to get over whatever he felt and move on, because he had to. There was no point in dwelling because she wouldn't want him to dwell or screw up. She did what she did, entrusting him to know what to do. She had always had more faith in him than he had in himself.
Now there was a chance for calculated revenge and at the same time, the possibility to fix the mistake that had cost her life. Finally, they had a chance to make things right, and he would seize it with both hands.
For her.
When the radio channel didn't close, he waited for Chuck to continue, expecting the younger man to pass on more orders. What he didn't expect the technician to do was to ask quietly, "Are you all right, Sir?"
He lied and cut the connection before Chuck could say anything more. With a heavy sigh, he took off his earpiece and placed it back on the bedside table.
0502