Spoilers: The Siege Part 2 - nothing here happens in the episode (fic is complete fanon) but it won't make sense unless you've seen the episode.

A/N: Not betaread etc. Also featuring plenty of character deaths. So not a happy ending but never the less I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Stargate in any incarnations of course and I'm not making any money, this is just some harmless fanfic fun.

Saving Graces: Finally

I saw it fall. Atlantis broken into pieces, a rain of debris from the attack.
And even as it fell Atlantis was graceful, noble, like the people who defended it.
The fragments descended slowly, or so it seemed, everything almost frozen in my panic.
I saw his face looking to me between the shards, stoic expression but those blue eyes fearful.

After that I remembered nothing until I awoke.
It can't have been long but there was a slight dizziness as I was disorientated by my new surroundings, the control room ripped asunder. Sparks flew off some of the damaged consoles and there were screams in the distance, and the fateful drones of the darts overhead.

And I crawled.
Crawled around trying to ignore my feelings when I found Corporal Mattenson; what was left of him. Blank eyes stared up to the open ceiling, as if he was free of his terror and taken far away.

And I crawled further.
Jill Fernandez coughed up her last breaths before I'd reached her; head lolling to the side. Another good person gone, lost to us. I wasn't sure who was left, if there was anyone to save but me.

And I crawled along, trudging through the fragments and attempting to forget that the pieces dug in through my skin.
Then I saw him.
No smirk on his face, no witty quip at how nice, or not, it was to see me.

He lay still. The man who never stopped talking, who was so frantic that he never stayed still longer than a second unless he was asleep, and he lay there in silence. Maybe I could believe for a moment that he was sleeping, he had been exhausted after all, pumped through and through with Carson's stimulants.
And maybe any second he'd wake and ...

I choked back tears and when he heard my cries, his eyes fluttered open groggily.
I wished it made me relieved to see that but I realised he was barely alive.
There was a gash on the other side of his head, he tried to turn it away from me so I wouldn't see. That was Rodney, didn't want to be weak, didn't want to be wrong; no matter what.

"One hell of a bump you got there, McKay." I half-teased.
He grunted, eyes closing briefly and then trying once more to focus on me. I smiled at him, to be supportive and to make it all seem a little better, a little less like we were doomed.

Head injury, tricky to deal with and secretly I wished I knew more first aid. Where was Carson when you needed him, I thought sadly, knowing we were in trouble here.
"Dr. Beckett to the control room!"
There was no response on the radio and Rodney dozed off. I turned his face towards me and he came back. He kept on opening his eyes but each time they gave less focus, harder to pry apart perhaps, a battle for him.

I took his hand, squeezing it gently.
"This is Dr. Weir, I need a medical team to the control room ASAP."
Nothing.
Maybe they were busy.

"I repeat, this is Dr.Weir. We have a medical emergency in the control room."
Maybe they were on their way already.

"This is Elizabeth Weir. I and Dr. McKay are in the control room and in need of medical assistance."
Maybe not, maybe no one heard.

"Does anyone hear me?"
Maybe there wasn't anyone to hear.

Nobody came running at my calls.
And so I knelt by his side.

We'd had hope. A small amount but some still that we could defeat the wraith or at the very least escape, safe guarding Earth at the same time.

Now I had none.
So many dead. First there was John and God only knew how many in the collapsed parts of the city.
How many just like us, practically trapped where we were with injured we couldn't hope to save.

The countdown would be carrying on even though the alarm system was down.

There was time to gate out but no one was here, no sound of people making their way to the gate room. But then there had never been an true evacuation order. Plus the consoles were twisted by girders embedded in them and I severely doubted the comms. system or anything would still be accessible from them. Glancing over the wreckage my heart crashed as I saw the DHD was dead, smashed right through the centre. So at least no intergalactic control crystal to worry about.

We had perhaps a few minutes but Rodney probably had even less. I wondered which was preferable? Dying by internal bleeding or being scattered into a million pieces by thr explosion. What a choice if either of us had had one.

I held his hand, saying nothing.
I was simply there, someone for him to hold onto. Someone there in his worst hour.
We'd all die in the siege one way or another. He wouldn't die alone and neither would I.

There wasn't enough time left, though really there was nothing anyone could do. Our salvation, Earth's salvation, would be the death of us all and the destruction of Atlantis. I prayed Zelenka's extra measures would pay off and that Atlantis would be thoroughly demolished by the charges set in and around the city.

"Elizabeth..."

I looked at Rodney McKay through my blurred visions. Where had those tears come from? I'd never even noticed I'd started to weep. I blinked them back, not wanting to scare him.

"Ssssh. It's ok." I hushed him.

In truth it was as far from fine as it had ever been in my life, but it wouldn't last long.

And in the last minute of my life I lay myself down by his side . I took his fragile body in my arms and embraced him dearly.

"'Liz'beth..."his voice murmured. He wanted to say something more, I had a feeling what. Perhaps the same words he'd wanted to say at the grounding station months ago. I hadn't let him say it then and I wouldn't now. There should be no goodbyes because we were all going out together, in a heroic blaze. We had about thirty seconds more, maybe less..

"Sssh. No need. It will all be over soon." I whispered into his ear, stroking his hair.

I'd never done that before and never would again.
I touched my lips softly to his forehead, minding his wound, and I heard his rasping breath; pained.
I wanted to make that misery go away and in a way it would anyway, so soon.

So, so, soon.
"But one more thing." I said boldly, to which he didn't respond.
And I kissed him, a real kiss, on the lips, with the lips. Nothing chaste about it, nothing held back or denied.
No goodbyes between us, and finally, no lies.