A/N: I don't own (but, oh, how I wish I did.)
All right, so here's TJ. I think I've had the most fun writing her; more fun than I've had writing anyone lately (my own characters included.) This piece has been done since the last post, as I said, but I had wanted to see 'Faith' before I did. God was that an interesting episode -- a very nice change of pace, good character development. I must say, Alaina Huffman was wonderful in every scene she was in, and I loved the scenes with TJ and Matt. It was really great to see their friendship, without Young or Chloe or Rush or Eli or Lt. James around. Reminds me sort of Sam and Daniel. But I could just be crazy.
All (minor) edits now complete, here ya go!
Tamara Johansen
1. Fresh air. God, what she wouldn't give to just be able to get up and go jogging in the fresh morning air -- when the word was still asleep and the sun was just coming up; if she were lucky her parents chocolate lab, Hugo, would be there with her. What she wouldn't give to go hiking with her father, just one more time before he got too old, just the peace and quiet around her. Instead, she was stuck on this ship -- too important to be able to use the communication stones, too many injuries to let her go off world too often. She really thought that that planet had been where they belonged, that they would be okay. And then goddamn Everett had come and taken her back.
2. Her apartment. Even though she'd had to get rid of it when she'd gotten the transfer to Icarus, she'd loved the lofty, brick walls and large windows. It had been a place for her to relax, to curl up on the window sill with a book, cup of coffee , a warm sweater and just spend an entire afternoon feeling warm and content. During the day it's not so bad, but at night, when the ship is colder than usual and she only has her base jacket and the thin Ancient blanket, when Eli or Everett or Chloe or Lisa pull her from her sleep to check on someone...that's when she misses her sweater and windows the most.
3. Real hospitals with real doctors. She's smart, learns quickly and for as long as she could remember she's wanted to be a doctor -- but she isn't a miracle worker. She isn't Colonel Carter, can't make solutions appear where there are none; she isn't like the Doctor Fraiser that she'd heard some much about, she wouldn't be able to stare down General O'Neill and laugh about it; she isn't as brilliant as Doctor Keller, could never be. But when Eli comes in because he'd been too close to an electrical surge, or Vanessa may have sprained her ankle, or Dale needs some help with breathing exercises, she realizes that even if she doesn't trust herself, they do. And that's the important part.
4. Girls poker night. She'd been told that the tradition had been started in the early days of the Atlantis expedition and had been brought back by a Lieutenant Cadman and furthered by Colonel Carter. She, Lisa and Vanessa had played a few times with the Colonel (when they'd been Earth-side, and then the few times that the Colonel had been able to visit the base) but mostly, on Icarus, it had been them and a few of the civilians, even Camille had joined once. But now, watching Vanessa glance Chloe and Matt, she wonders if they could ever have that again -- if the time will come when she has to choose between them. Not between military and civilian, because that choice she knows she can make...but between friends.
5. Her sister. Natasha and her hadn't always gotten along -- three years apart, Tamara had always felt that she was living in her sisters' shadow. Natasha was shorter than her, had never had anything less than perfect grades, and Tamara thought, a whole hell of a lot prettier than she was; she'd sent her whole life being jealous, but it wasn't until her Natasha had asked her to be her maid of honor at eighteen that they'd become close. Now she was sharing laugh with Chloe over some stupid little thing that had happened two days earlier, thinking that this is what it should have been all along, and she regrets it.
All right, what TJ's missing is done, though I've got a feeling I will be writing a drabble or two or her coming up. Also, #5 is in the works, officially. You asked for him, you got him. Rush's will be updated after the next episode.