Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis

Note: I was listening to 'I'm OK' by Christina Aguilera, and I came up with this idea. Please note that this contains references to Domestic Violence. If you're not comfortable reading that type of story please don't continue.

Elizabeth entered her quarters, as soon as the door closed her collapsed onto her bed, crying. The last two days had been too much for her. SGA-1 had visited a world were women were treated in an appalling manor, Major Sheppard had given her the cliff-note version, but she didn't need to hear the whole story, especially when she saw what the local men had done to Teyla and several of the local women they had managed to save, beaten, bruised and currently in the infirmary.. Seeing Teyla and the other women had brought back old, painful memories. Elizabeth continued to cry, curled up, like a ball, on her bed. Like so many times on Earth when she was growing up. Elizabeth closed her eyes; she could hear her mother's crying. Elizabeth shut her eyes tighter trying to forget. Trying to forget all the nights she would cry hearing her father shouting at her mother. Elizabeth would pray that it would stop, but she knew the only time it would stop was when her father had hit her mother.

Elizabeth had always been afraid of her father, she still was. She remembered everything her father had done to her mother, every bruise, every threatened word. Her mother never stopped loving Elizabeth, never failing to tell her everyday how much she loved her. Elizabeth cried harder at the memory of her mother trying to hide the pain in heart. Just so, Elizabeth would feel loved, and so Elizabeth wouldn't be afraid to love. Elizabeth thought about her mother everyday, even if just for a few moments. She owed her mother everything she had, everything she was.

Elizabeth always wishes she'd done something to help her mother. She feels that she should have done something to help her. At seven years old, what could she have done? Elizabeth did her best to wipe away her tears, but more only replaced them. Seeing Teyla's bruises, her determination to stay strong only reminded more of her mother. Her mother had been the same way.

Elizabeth sat up. She was sick of crying, of showing the brave face everyday. Acting like her mother. Her mother, the always-seeming devoted wife. Who could never want for anything. Married to the best man in the world. Until she got home. Elizabeth being forced to play into it.

Although she was afraid of him. He never hurt her. Except that one time. She came home, her mother wasn't there. He took out his anger on her. She still had a little scar just above her thigh. It reminded everyday, of how close she'd come to dying that day. Her father had pulled some strings, made sure it never got out to the press. They'd love it, a supreme court judge beating his child and wife.

Elizabeth's mother finally left her father. It took Elizabeth going to University to convince her mother she could leave. And she did, without ever looking book.
Elizabeth was gently humming to herself, rocking herself; she didn't hear the knock on the door or Major Sheppard walk in.

"Dr Weir I…"

He saw her quiet tears fall down her cheeks. He walked slowly over to her, sat next to her and wrapped her in his arms. Not asking, not needing too. He'd seen how she'd been for the last two days, and pretty good idea of why she was upset. He just held her. She let him.

Fin