Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate: Atlantis do not belong to me. They belong to MGM. No Copyright infringment intended.
Author Notes: The idea for the planet being named Lantia, came from a post I read a while backon Gateworld thatMartin Gero said about the Ancients calling the planet Lantia. To be honest I can't remember where exactly I found comment, but I thought it would work for this ficlet.
Constellation
John entered the balcony to find Elizabeth standing outside with her head leaning back as she looked up at the night sky.
"Looking for UFOs?" John asked.
"No," Elizabeth replied continuing to looking up at the twinkling stars over head.
John furrowed his eyebrows and stood next to her. He let out a breath and copied Elizabeth's stance leaning his head back to look up at the sky.
The night was clear and the stars twinkled brightly in the deep blue background of the sky. The night was humid andwarm with cool wisps of air blowing against their skins.
"I haven't seen this many stars in the sky, since the last time I was stationed away from civilization," John commented breaking the silence between them.
"John," Elizabeth said, lowering her head to look at him. "We are stationed away from civilization." Her neck was beginning to ache a little from looking up for so long.
"Your point?" he asked.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as she looked at him and smiled shaking her head. She leaned forward on the balcony railing looking down at the dark swirls of the ocean surrounding the City.
"So why are we out on the balcony star gazing?" He asked leaning his back against the balcony rail.
"I was out here grabbing a breath of fresh air before calling it a day," she said, "and I realized I haven't really looked at night sky here. The night sky here is so different from Earth, but it is still beautiful."
"Sure if you thinking looking at dots in the sky as beautiful. I guess it's beautiful," John crossed his arms over his chest and watched Elizabeth as her gaze returned to look at the sky.
"I kind of miss Earth's night sky," she confessed.
"Really? So far all I think all the skies look about the same," John said. Elizabeth turned to look at John and tilted her head slightly as she waited for his explanation. "You've got the same velvet blue skies speckled with twinkling stars over head and the occasional crescent moon."
"You're quite the novelist."
"I try my best," he smirked. "You knowthat starsare only light that has traveled millions of lights years before reaching our eyes, right? And some of those stars are actually planets we've visited."
"Yes, I do know that, but thanks for informing me anyway," Elizabeth saidrolling her eyes."What I meant by missing the Earth's sky is that back on earth we have our constellations," she explained. "I miss being able to look at the sky and being able to identify Orion, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and all that fun stuff."
"Constellations were basically made by old men with over active imaginations," John said. Elizabeth playfully slapped him on the arm for his remark. "I wonder what my star chart is like in this galaxy," he thought out loud.
"I think it would be difficult to have a star chart when there aren't any constellations made up by old men to chart the stars by," Elizabeth teased.
"Well then I guess we'll just have to make up our own constellations," John said.
Elizabeth looked at him surprised at his proposal. "I thought you said constellations were made my old men with over active imaginations?"
"Well…those were for the constellations back on earth. Here in the Pegasus Galaxy it would just be...us."
"Us," Elizabeth repeated. "So…what do you have in mind? Take Earth's constellations and apply it here?" She asked with genuine curiosity.
"Come on, Elizabeth, use your imagination." Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "I know you have one," he grinned.
"Oh and how do you know that?"
"Because I just know," he smirked. "And if I told you. You might kill me," he added.
Elizabeth paused for a moment. "What is that suppose to mean? What did you do?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
John started to laugh. "Nothing," he assured her.
Elizabeth contniued eyeing him suspiciously, but decided not to pursue it any further. "You know that is not a good enough answer, Major, but I'm going to let you slide this time." John smiled and started to search the sky.
"Do you think we should have a story behind each of our constellations? Since all the constellations on Earthwere based on myths?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well Doctor Weir, you're the Ancient texts expert. Did you come across any Ancients myths while you were deciphering those letter blocks?" he said turning to face the same direction as Elizabeth.
"Not really," Elizabethshrugged, "most of the stuff we've gotten our hands on are either technical or instructional. We haven't found the library yet."
"Well, then we'll have to make up our own myths," John said.
"Our own?" Elizabeth looked at John oddly. "You know the definition of myth is a traditional story that serves to explain ostensibly historical events or natural phenomenon." John gave Elizabeth a blank look. "All right," she conceded, "you start then."
"Okay." John rubbed his hands together hand and rested them on his hips as he stared intently at the dark sky. Elizabeth crossed her arms at her chest and stood there observing him. "All right I got it!" he suddenly said.
Elizabeth only looked at him and resisted rolling her eyes.
"Right over here," he pointed to a patch in the sky. "Those nine stars make a circle."
"Okay, I see it," Elizabeth nodded. "What are you going to call it? Constellation Circle?"
John frowned at Elizabeth. "You're not even trying."
Elizabeth chuckled. "No, I'm not," she admitted with a chuckle. "Actually I'm rather enjoying your determination to make up your own constellations."
"You don't expect me to do all the work do you? We are a team here. There is no slacking off," he playfully scolded.
"Yes, sir. Just remember. I'm still your boss," Elizabeth said as her finger poked John in the chest.
"Yes, ma'am," he saluted. "Now back to thenine stars…"
"That make a circle," Elizabeth finished for him. "What were you planning on calling it?"
"Constellation Stargate," he said with boyish pride.
"Okay…"
"You see thenine stars represent the nine chevrons," he explained.
"You have quite the imagination, Major"
"My mom use to say that about me too," he smiled boyishly.
"So we have Constellation Stargate. Where's Constellation Puddlejumper?" she asked.
"I knew you were going to ask me that. It's right here." John held up his finger and pointed at a star next to the circle of stars and started to connect several stars into the shape of a parallelogram.
Elizabeth was amused. "So…the Puddlejumper is going through the Stargate."
"Exactly. I've named two already. Now it's your turn."
"My turn?" Elizabeth was hoping he wouldn't make her join his silly game, but apparently there was no way out of it unless an emergency happened upon them right then. She stood and waited for the emergency. It never came.
"I said we were a team," John said tapping his toes impatiently.
"I don't remember ever saying I wanted any part of this constellation naming."
"You don't have to remember saying it. I volunteered you. Now make up some constellations," he ordered.
"You know you have to stop volunteering people without their consent," Elizabeth scolded.
"You know me. Always eager to have people join my cause, whether they want to or not," he smirked. "Now stop stalling and make up…stuff."
"Fine. Just give me a couple minutes to think."
"You don't need to think. It's like looking at clouds. You say what you see," John said trying to distract Elizabeth and clearly succeeding.
"I would hardly call stars clouds," she replied. "Clouds are constantly changing. You never see the same clouds twice. While stars, on the other hand, don't appear to move that much. When we come back tomorrow, there is a safe bet they will be at relatively the same positions that they are now," Elizabeth pointed out.
"I'm not talking about technicalities," John said rolling his eyes.
"I know," Elizabeth smiled slyly.
John frowned at Elizabeth then his frown turned into a smile. He pointed a finger at Elizabeth. "I know your plan. You're trying to irritate me into giving away another constellation aren't you? You are a sly one, Doctor," John said raising an eyebrow.
"Why thank you, Major." Elizabeth pressed her lips together to hold back a chuckle and returned to concentrate on the sky, but John was still doing his best to distract her. He paced back and forth behind her and continuously tapped his fingers on the balcony railing.
Elizabeth let out a sigh. "Elizabeth, this isn't that hard," John said amused at her difficulty.
"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate," she said without taking her eyes from the sky. "I remember coming across some inscriptions on a wall in one of the rooms we explored," she finally said. "It talked about a woman named Lantia. She was left on earth when the Ancients first left for the Pegasus Galaxy all those years ago."
"They just left her there?" John asked.
"It said that, at the time, there was a plague spreading among the Ancients and she was infected. She chose to stay behind."
"Must've been lonely," John said. Elizabeth nodded in agreement.
"Who ever wrote about her, must have loved her deeply. You could feel it in that room. Who ever it was. He regretted leaving her behind. There was even a drawing of a woman standing with her hands clasped to her heart as she watched the City of Atlantis fly off into space," Elizabeth explained and started to recite something in Ancient.
"That sounded beautiful. You didn't just call me a moldy sack of potatoes, did you?" John asked.
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "It translates to 'I think of you often, though we parted in swiftness. I have named this new home Lantia, for you are my home.'"
"That is actually quite nice."
"Yes, it is," Elizabeth agreed. "Now where were we?"
"Making Constellations."
"Right," Elizabeth sighed.
"You thought I forgot. Didn't you?"
"No, I was just checking to see if you were paying attention."
"No more stalling with Ancient Mythology 101, name a constellation or else…"
"Or else what?"
"You know…or else," John replied nonchalantly.
"Of course…You see those four bright stars over there?" Elizabeth pointed to a cluster of stars that seemed to make a vertical line in the sky. "And a little up to the right of the line of stars those stars make a triangle."
John groaned.
"What?" Elizabeth looked at John puzzled by his reaction.
"You're not going to name them Constellation Line and Triangle are you?"
Elizabeth looked at John and chuckled. "No, I was going to name them Lantia."
"Okay…so a vertical line and a triangle is…"
"Lantia looking at Atlantis flying off into space," Elizabeth finished.
"You've got quite the imagination," he teased.
"You should talk. You have a circle and a parallelogram for a constellation," she reminded.
"Point taken."
"Now it's your turn." Elizabeth turned towards John.
"I made two. You only made one," John complained. "It is only fair if you make another one."
"Mine was more creative and required some research and much thought," Elizabeth said, "and technically the triangle is Atlantis which isalso aconstellation. SoI technically made two constellations as well."
"That's not creativity," he argued. "You just stumbled onto someone's love letter…room." Elizabeth only stood silently and looked at John. "Fine," he said reluctantly.
They both stood out on the balcony pointing at stars and thinking up names for each pattern for a while longer. By this time Elizabeth's neck was aching, but John was persistent in naming as many constellations as he could.
"John how many more constellations are you planning on making?" Elizabeth asked rubbing the back of her neck. "My neck is starting to hurt."
"Really? Here." Without thinking, John placed his hands on Elizabeth's shoulders and started to massage her shoulders and neck. His gaze still on the stars in the sky.
The movement of John's hands on Elizabeth's shoulders were firm yet gentle at the same time. Elizabeth closed her eyes as she let John's hands knead her aching shoulders. John truly had the magic touch. She had not had a massage that felt this good in a long time. She didn't know how long he was massaging her shoulders, but she didn't want him to stop. This was definitely a perk of being a boss, she thought to herself.
"Does that feel better?" he asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "Much better. So how much longer do we have to stay here?"
John looked at his watch. "Okay one more, then you're free to go," he proposed.
"Promise?"
"Promise is such a strong word…"
"Promise?" Elizabeth repeated again more as a statement than a question.
"Okay I promise. You'll like this one," he said with a boyish gleam in his eyes. He stopped massaging her shoulders and pointed at another cluster of stars in the sky. "You see those that cluster over there? They look like they make three parallel lines and the middle line is a bit shorter."
Elizabeth looked at the direction that John was pointing at, but looking upwards started to make her neck hurt again.
"Okay…I think I see which cluster you are talking about," Elizabeth said not really sure what John was pointing at.
"You don't see it," John said.
Elizabeth turned and looked at John. "No," she confessed.
John gave her a look. He knew she was tired. It had been another long day today, and since he already stood behind her, he took one of her hands into his hand to guide her gaze. He leaned his head just above Elizabeth shoulder to get a better picture of Elizabeth's point of view and guided their hands towards the cluster of stars he was talking about.
He then took Elizabeth's hand and drew three parallel lines in the air to connect the stars he spoke of. He then guided Elizabeth's fingers and drew a vertical line that connected the three parallel lines at their at their left edges.
"Do you see it now?" John asked.
Elizabeth couldn't help giggling, since John talking so close to her ear tickled.
"Why are you giggling?" turned his head to face her as he let go of her hand, which only made Elizabeth giggle more.
Elizabeth forced herself to stop giggling. "Sorry," she said biting her lip to keep another giggle from slipping. After finally regaining her composure, she cleared her throat and said, "I see it."
"Do you know what it is?"
Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know. A comb?"
Elizabeth turned her head to see John make a face. "A comb? How did you figure a comb?" He asked.
"Well, a comb has teeth?" Elizabeth tried to explain her conclusion, but she gave up and shrugged.
"A comb with three teeth?" He asked.
"It could be a comb that lost its teeth," Elizabeth said.
John rolled his eyes. "It's an E. Like an E for Elizabeth," John said with a wide smile.
"An E for Elizabeth?" Elizabeth turned to face John, and she suddenly realized how close John was leaning next to her. "I didn't know we were doing letters," Elizabeth choked out. His face was so close to hers she could feel the warmth of his face next to her cheeks. She could also feel her cheeks start to flush. She lowered her gaze from John and moved slightly away from him.
John straightened himself and cleared his throat. "We weren't. I just thought we should end tonight's constellation session with a constellation named after my favorite boss."
"I'm your only boss…at the moment." Elizabeth said.
"The more reason why you're my favorite," John smirked.
"Good night, John. Get some rest. Tomorrow is another day," Elizabeth said shaking her head and entering into the control room leaving John alone on the balcony.
"Yes, indeed tomorrow is another day," he said to himself and leaned forward on the balcony railing taking in the serenity of the night air just a bit longer before heading back to his room to prepare for tomorrow's adventures.