Title: No Safe Place: As the sun rises
Authors: Jo. R and Fairygnomes
Rating: PG-13
Category: Post-ep/Missing Scene: The Eye, Angst, Sheppard/Weir, Thoughts,
Fluff.
Spoilers: 'The Storm'/'The Eye' two-parter, 'Underground'
Prequel/Sequel: There is a prequel - 'No Safe Place: Darkness Falls' - #cutid1
Warnings: None.
Summary: It doesn't feel safe anymore
Archive: Random Ramblings, GateWorld, Helio SGA,
Disclaimer: John, Elizabeth, Teyla, McKay, Ford and Beckett don't
belong to me. Neither does Atlantis or I'd make a fortune renting out
various rooms in the city or selling secret footage to various
shippers and slashers from the CCTV system I'd have had installed. Ah,
dreams. Can't live without 'em.
Author's Notes: Squee! That is all.
Dedication: Thanks lots to Ruthie for the beta, and for writing the
squee-worthy prequel! hugs lots Love ya! And can't wait to see you
in a week!
Orange, pink, purple and blue. Those were the colours streaking the
sky, the colours reflected on her face, in her eyes. Elizabeth Weir
sat on the balcony with her arms locked around herself, staring at the
sky as the sun began to rise.
The storm had passed, Major Sheppard had saved the day once again but
she didn't feel much better than she had a few hours before.
Her city had been attacked. Her safe haven in a galaxy so unfamiliar
and dangerous and for the most part unfriendly had come under fire and
there wasn't one damn thing she could've done to change it.
Nothing she could do to make it feel safe again.
The city had once been the only place in the Pegasus galaxy she'd felt
safe, the one place she'd let herself believe her people would be able
to live without fear for their lives.
She was wrong, and two of her men had paid the price.
Almost more.
The look in Kolya eyes as he pointed his gun at her. The triumph on
his face when McKay had revealed his injury. The threats that had
fallen from his lips as easily as words to a child's lullaby.
Beckett was suffering from a concussion - their doctor in need of a
doctor of his own. Teyla was battered and bruised, her spirit more so
than her body after her confrontation with Sora, the Genii woman still
a prisoner in the city's holding cells.
Major Sheppard was exhausted; she was sure he'd collapsed in his room
the moment he'd been officially relieved of duty and she couldn't
blame him.
She was supposed to be sleeping too but she couldn't. Not even with
the lights at full power, as embarrassing as it was for a woman of her
age to admit she'd tried sleeping with them on.
Elizabeth was afraid.
Her confidence shaken and her peace shattered, she was scared for the
lives of her people, of her friends, of herself.
What if the Genii came back to avenge those Major Sheppard had killed
when he'd believed her dead?
What if the Wraith decided it was their turn next?
Sure, the shields were working thanks to McKay but for how long? How
long until the power ran out, until the city was defenceless again?
How long till another enemy came along and threatened to kill them all?
She had tried to get some sleep but her mind was assaulted by too many
images, some real, others not, every time she closed her eyes. In her
mind's eye, she watched each of them die, each of them be injured by
the Genii, murdered either by weapons fire or by the storm itself it
raged around the city. Sometimes she felt herself die, either by
Kolya's hand or by the city falling apart around her but she always
saw the others die first.
She always saw them bleed to death or be buried alive depending on
which ending her mind had decided to inflict on her, and neither
ending was one she was particularly eager to see again.
Elizabeth stifled a yawn and let her head drop to rest in her hands,
staring sightlessly through the gap between them at the floor she was
sitting on.
"You should be sleeping, Doctor."
The sound of his voice startled her so she took her time in looking
up, responding after a few moments had passed. "So should you, Major."
John shrugged and moved away from the wall he'd been leaning against
to walk over to her. He said nothing as he sat down beside her,
glancing at her out of the corner of his eye before shifting his gaze
to the sky. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
A shrug was his only answer.
"Major Sheppard?" Elizabeth sighed softly and nudged him with her
elbow. "You've got nothing to apologise for, John. You saved the day.
Again. The Genii would've taken over Atlantis if you hadn't stopped
them."
"I shouldn't have let it get so out of hand." His gaze remained on the
expanse of multi-coloured sky. "I shouldn't have pissed them off.
They'll come back. Kolya will come back."
Elizabeth shrugged and let her gaze follow the route his had taken.
"We'll be ready for him when he does."
There was a note of uncertainty in her voice, one she tried to
disguise but he picked up on it anyway. "You don't sound so
convinced."
Another sigh quickly turned into an attempt at stifling another yawn.
"It's just too soon to start thinking about it. Too soon to start
worrying."
But she was, and he knew it.
He'd known it the moment he'd stepped onto the balcony and caught
sight of her curled up looking up at the sky, and his hunch had only
been confirmed the longer he stood there and watched her silently.
Moments passed. Then minutes. John sighed and moved his gaze from the
white clouds taking shape above them and gave her a sidelong glance. A
critical sidelong glance, taking in the bags under her eyes, the
pallor of her skin, the worry lines present even now in her brow.
She still looked beautiful.
"I thought you were dead."
His words, a mere whisper, hung heavily in the air between them.
Slowly, agonisingly so, he watched as she lowered her gaze and turned
her head to face him. Hazel eyes locked with green and held.
A ghost of a smile flickered on her lips and her cheeks flushed
slightly, adopting a rose-coloured tinge he definitely preferred to
the whitish-grey colour from just moments ago.
"I know." Her gaze wandered again, focusing this time on the ground
between them rather than the sky above. "And thank you, for avenging
me. It was very dramatic."
"Anytime." The lopsided grin that had appeared on his face faded,
replaced by an almost stricken expression as he remembered just how
he'd extracted his revenge on Kolya. Of how many lives he'd taken in
an attempt at getting his own back. Fifty-five in one swoop and
several others individually and still it hadn't felt like enough. He
could have destroyed the city, killed them all and even then he
wouldn't have felt as though justice had been served. "Actually maybe
not. At least not so dramatic."
"You had no choice, John. If you hadn't stopped them from coming to
Atlantis, we'd all be dead. The city would be in the Genii's hands and
the Athosians would probably have been slaughtered." Her voice was as
solemn as her expression. "You did what you had to do to save
Atlantis."
"I wasn't thinking about Atlantis." The words left his mouth too
quickly. Too quickly to think about and too quickly to change. It was
his turn to flush as he looked away, lowering his gaze to the place
hers had been not so long ago.
Elizabeth smiled softly and nudged him with her elbow again. "I know that,
too."
John nodded but didn't look up.
For several long, drawn-out minutes, the two leaders of Atlantis sat
side-by-side in silence. Elizabeth felt her eyelids grow heavy but
fought against closing them, jerking awake with a start when they
almost closed and an image of the city, lying broken in pieces on the
sea bed below came to the front of her mind. She saw the members of
her team trapped beneath chunks of the once magnificent building,
those that weren't already dead drowning as cold water replaced much
needed air in their lungs.
"You, too, huh?" She looked at him to find a sympathetic smile
arranging his lips and gave a short nod, a heavy sigh escaping her as
she ran a weary hand through her hair. He was still staring at her
when her hand dropped back to her lap, the look in his eyes intense.
Slightly alarmed and feeling punchy from lack of sleep, she reached up
to smooth down her hair. "What?"
"Come here."
Before she could react, he shuffled closer and put his arm around her
shoulders, drawing her near. She started to protest, opened her mouth
to say something but forgot what as the warmth of his half-embrace
seeped into her still cold skin. Instead, and much to her surprise,
she found herself leaning her head on his shoulder, her eyelids
renewing the fight to close.
"Just get some rest." His voice was a gentle murmur, as gentle as it
had been when he'd asked her if she was okay so many hours ago.
"You're safe now, Elizabeth. I promise."
For some reason, she believed him.
She fought at first, doing her best to stay awake, but the exhaustion
weighing down her body was too much for her to keep pushing away. Her
eyes closed and she waited for the bad images to come.
And waited, and waited, and gradually relaxed against him, as slumber
closed in all around her.
It didn't take much for him to join her, the warmth of her body next
to his comforting him on a level he wasn't ready to acknowledge,
reassuring him that she was alive.
That his nightmares were just that, nightmares, with no place to exist
in the warmth of the rising sun.
Fini.