Dr Rosemary Weir – After having so many insane things going on over the year I think normal problems will feel like a blessing to them lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Steph – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too.
Belanna30 – You'll learn a lot more about Elizabeth in this chapter. I love writing the little cute moments like Teyla with her hair, sometimes they're more fun to write than the big moments. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Jammeke – You'll get to find out about Elizabeth and dad in this chapter. Team moments are always great to write and I'm glad you liked the Sam and Jack part. Thanks for the review.
Kuro – Jack is completely clueless when it comes to Sam lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter, you'll get to find out more about Elizabeth.
Chapter 29
"You can not wear that top with those jeans Elizabeth," Teyla stated as though a crime had been committed and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"Why not?" she questioned, she was kind of getting used to this conversation now, it was apparent that Teyla did not think Elizabeth had very good fashion co-ordination.
"Because they clash," Teyla said going to Elizabeth's wardrobe and routing through it. "Here, wear this one instead."
"It's practically the same," Elizabeth pointed out even as she took the top from Teyla and changed into it.
"But it's different enough that it doesn't clash," Teyla said. There was a knock at the door and it was clear that Teyla was too busy still routing through Elizabeth's wardrobe to answer it so Elizabeth went over instead. It was probably just John and Jack; they said they'd probably drop in this morning. "How is it possible that after a year of living with me you still have so few clothes?"
"I have more clothes than any one person needs," Elizabeth replied as she opened the door laughing at her friend's expression.
"We're going shopping this week and we're hitting every store in town," Teyla stated and Elizabeth laughed and rolled her eyes as she turned to greet their visitors. She had been about to point out that they'd only just been shopping at the weekend but was stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was standing at the door. She'd almost been able to forget.
"Hello Elizabeth," the man greeted. He looked the same as always, neatly pressed suit, blonde hair that had only retained it's colour with magic and was currently slicked back and a frown on his face.
"Hello father," she greeted and then turned her gaze to the girl standing by his side. She was the opposite of Elizabeth in every way and that included appearance. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, short skirt and revealing top. She'd gotten most of her looks from her father while Elizabeth had turned out more like their mother. "Carlie."
"Is that all the greeting your little sister gets after a whole year?" Carlie questioned smugly.
"Are you going to invite us in?" her father asked and Elizabeth stepped back to let them pass.
"This is my room mate Teyla, Teyla this is my father, Nicolas Weir and my sister Carlie," she introduced.
"It's nice to meet you," Teyla extended her hand to Nicolas who just ignored it; instead he merely gave her a nod to acknowledge she was there. He was never impolite, just above everyone around him.
"I've got to say Elizabeth, the accommodations here are a little lower class but I suppose I'll be touring the tower later since my room will be there next year," Carlie stated doing the best she could to subtly rub the fact in her face.
"The accommodations here are fine," Teyla said obviously having taken an instant dislike to Carlie. "As long as you don't need people tending to your every whim, which you don't even get in the towers, a little self reliance is a good thing."
"You will speak to Carlie with respect, she is a governors daughter," Nicolas said in annoyance and Elizabeth wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole right that second.
Teyla merely smiled. "As am I," she told them and seemed to enjoy the surprise that crossed her family's faces. "Teyla Emmagan, governor's child of Athos."
"Then why are you down here and not in the towers?" Carlie questioned unable to fathom why someone with the privileges that came with being the child of a governor would choose not to take full advantage of it.
"Because I choose to be down here," Teyla stated and Nicolas coughed.
"I hope you have behaved yourself Elizabeth, I hope you haven't embarrassed me. I'm sure I'll speak with you later, come on Carlie," her father said and then left with Carlie following along behind him. Elizabeth didn't want to spend another second in that room, she suddenly felt very suffocated by it. She grabbed her jacket from the bed and headed for the door.
"I don't really feel like having breakfast this morning, I think I'll just go and study in the library, see you in lesson," she said and then left before Teyla could say anything. There was no sign of her father or Carlie in the corridor when she left so she hurried along glad she didn't run into them along the way. She couldn't believe her father had acted like that, Carlie too. If they'd known from the beginning that Teyla had been a governor's child they would have been a little more respectful but that had just been humiliating.
It seemed to take forever to get to the library. She picked up a book from a shelf as she passed it not caring which one as she sat down at an empty table. She dropped her head into her hands and resisted the sudden urge to scream or cry. She'd been dreading parent's week all year and now she just wanted it to be over.
Teyla dropped into a chair at the table, most of the group had yet to arrive, they were probably just dragging themselves out of bed. She sighed; her encounter with Elizabeth's family had left her annoyed. She thought that maybe now she understood why Elizabeth was the way she was and that was just from being stuck in the room with her father and sister for sixty seconds. Jack, John and Sam gave her an odd look; it was unusual for her to be this wound up this early on a morning even when Elizabeth had dragged her out of bed. She couldn't help it though; she had a feeling this week was going to be very unpleasant for Elizabeth.
"Are you going to tell us what's wrong or are we going to have to beat it out of you?" Jack questioned. It wasn't her place to tell them but at the same time if they knew what to expect they could probably make this week just a little bit easier on Elizabeth.
"I just met Elizabeth's father and sister," she stated and received three pairs of expectant eyes in response.
"What about them?" Ronon asked as he dropped into the chair next to her.
"They're horrible," she told them bluntly putting as much emphasis into it as she could manage. "You should have seen the way they spoke to her, like she was beneath them," she explained getting herself more annoyed as she spoke.
"They can't be that bad," Sam stated. "I mean they're her family."
"You would never have guessed it looking at them, it really didn't seem to a big concern to them," Teyla replied. "I only met them for a minute and fair enough that's not usually enough time to judge someone but in this case it is. Even if it wasn't, Elizabeth's reaction was all I needed to see. She was laughing with me one minute and then they arrived and the change was so fast I could have missed it."
"Where is she?" John asked in concern.
"She ran off to the library after they left before I could say anything," she told him.
"Maybe it's not as bad as you think, like you said they were only there a minute," Jack suggested hopefully but he sounded more like he was convincing himself.
"Think about it, it makes sense. The way she was when she first came here; the way she still is now. She never talks about her family; I think I've seen her write about five letter home in the entire time she's been here and received about the same. Why didn't she go home for Christmas?" Teyla said and both Sam and John were nodding their heads.
"Look, whether Elizabeth's family is horrible or not is none of our business. If Elizabeth wants to talk about is she will otherwise all we can do is show her it doesn't matter to us," Jack said and after getting agreement from everyone but Teyla the group dropped the conversation.
Parent's week had been interesting so far. Most of the parent's had arrived yesterday, Laura's mother had been among the first, she was the exact opposite of her daughter, quiet and reserved but the two seemed to be pretty close. Rodney's and Radek's parents got along about as well as their kids did. The competitive parents had been at it ever since they discovered that their children were two of the most intelligent in the whole school. Jack's mother and father had gotten here on the second day, the O'Neill's had kept a low profile though and poor Jack was just waiting for them to find out about the drugging incident. Janet's mother was here but her father had been unable to make it, Janet just seemed happy to see either of her parents. The rest of the parents were due to arrive today, in fact Carson, Kate and Daniel had just gone to meet the bus that was coming in from town since all their parent's were supposed to be on it.
Elizabeth had been distant and if he was honest John had been half expecting it. After what Teyla had told them yesterday morning he'd had a feeling that she would revert back to being the person he'd first met. She'd spent the day with her nose in a book, keeping herself separate from the rest of the group and not getting involved. Everyone had noticed but not all of them understood why she'd suddenly reverted back into the isolated, quiet person she used to be. He hadn't realised just how much she'd changed until she went back to her old ways.
She was currently sitting at the cafeteria table with everyone else but she'd sat herself on the end and pulled out her book. Teyla had made numerous attempts to drag her into the conversation but so far it was without success. Elizabeth would give brief replies, hum her acknowledgement or nod her head before going back to her book.
"Elizabeth, what could possibly be so interesting about that book?" Rodney questioned obliviously. "I mean it's not even factual, it's just some over dramatic story about some made up person."
"And how would you know that Rodney?" Laura questioned. "You read it?"
"No," Rodney replied in outrage. Elizabeth watched the exchange, bit her lip and turned back to her book without a word. Teyla caught John's gaze and met his worried eyes with her own concerned ones. At least lessons were over for the day and they wouldn't have to deal with her trying to pretend she was invisible whilst trying to concentrate on what the teacher was telling them. That being said, they were becoming experts at concentrating in lessons when they had something big to worry about.
Teal'cs adopted father had just arrived and after having met him Ronon, Teyla , Jack, John and Elizabeth had decided to give them some space and go have dinner down by the river. Elizabeth had tried to make an excuse about wanting to go to the library to study but Teyla hadn't even allowed her to finish the sentence before she had told her no. They waved to Teal'c as he headed toward the cafeteria with Bra' tac, the older man seemed nice and Teal'c had explained that he'd been a friend of his father's before he'd been killed serving the Protectorate's guild.
"Ronon and I will go and get some food from the cafeteria, we'll meet you down there," Teyla said as she turned to head that way.
"Quit volunteering me for stuff," Ronon replied with a huff and Teyla just smiled.
"Are you going to say no?" she questioned and Ronon sighed and turned to go with her. "Didn't think so."
"Are you sure you don't want us to come?" Jack asked. "We can get our own dinner."
"No, its fine, Ronon and I can manage," she replied. "You can just get my dinner next time. See you by the river."
Teyla and Ronon left then and the others continued down to the river, Elizabeth was carrying a new book in her hand and Jack figured she was going to have her nose in that the entire time again. He heard someone call her name and turned to see a young woman coming toward them with a man by her side. They were exactly as Teyla had described them and he already didn't like them.
"Father, Carly," Elizabeth greeted them and Teyla had been right about her reaction to them, she looked like she was resisting the urge to make a run for it.
"Your teachers have been nice about you so far," Carly stated as though she'd been expecting different and was just waiting for someone to say something bad about her. "Aren't you going to introduce your... friends here?"
"This is Jack O'Neill and John Sheppard," Elizabeth introduced as though she'd rather be doing something else, anything else.
"Governor's children" Nicolas Weir said. "You've collected quite a few of them Elizabeth."
"We're all in the Atala guild together," Jack told him hoping that the dislike he felt stayed mostly out of his voice and he at least sounded a little bit respectful. If there was one thing you learned as a Governor's child it was how to lie convincingly, all those Governor's event where the family had to look like they were infallible were bound to rub off on a person.
"I see, I believe you mentioned that in one your letters Elizabeth," Nicolas said turning to his daughter who nodded her head. Carly was looking over both men as though she was trying to figure something out and Jack didn't like it. Another thing you learned as a Governor's child was how to tell when you were standing in front of someone who could and would manipulate anything they had to. He understood what Teyla meant about a minute being long enough to judge these two.
"Yeah, Atala came first overall in the guild competition. We came first in both of Elizabeth's events too," John added in and it seemed like he was only just managing to keep his dislike to himself but that was probably more for Elizabeth's sake than theirs.
"I hear they're having a party here tomorrow" Carly said and Jack got the distinct impression she was trying to divert the attention to herself.
"End of year party, pretty much all the students go, we've been looking forward to it," Jack told them and Carly nodded her head.
"Sounds like fun," she stated and Jack spotted Ronon and Teyla leaving the cafeteria building with way more stuff than he'd been expecting.
"Looks like Ronon and Teyla bit off more than they can chew," Jack told John and Elizabeth who looked over to see their two friends. Teyla dropped something on the floor and Jack decided whatever it was wasn't his. "Let's go make sure we get a good spot down by the river."
"Sure," John replied and he turned back to Nicolas and Carly. "I hope you don't mind, if we don't get down to the river soon all the good places will be taken."
"Of course, go right ahead, I'm sure you have plans," Nicolas said.
"Come on, Elizabeth, before we have to fight someone for a spot," John joked and Elizabeth seemed all too eager to go. She nodded and said goodbye to her family before walking along between her two friends. Jack saw John subconsciously place a hand on Elizabeth's back which was probably becoming a habit now. He turned back and saw Carly narrow her eyes at the gesture and he got another bad feeling from her.
Teyla stood at the school gates, her father's coach was due to arrive any minute and she couldn't wait to see him. It had been almost a year since she'd left Athos, having missed out on the Christmas holidays she'd also missed out on seeing him. After everything that had happened this year seeing her father felt like a relief, she might be nineteen but she still felt safer in her father's presence than anywhere else. She'd dragged Elizabeth along with her, to keep her out of the library if nothing else, but she wanted her father to meet her room mate, her friend.
She heard the sound of horses, the hoofs hitting the ground and a moment later the coach came into view. She smiled and turned to Elizabeth who barely returned the gesture and Teyla made a mental note to hit Jack for putting a stop to her intervention plans, they were clearly necessary. The coach pulled up outside the school, a moment later her father stepped down and she ran over to hug him. He returned the gesture warmly and Teyla had never imagined she'd be so glad to see her father.
"Hi sweetheart," he greeted and Teyla hugged him tighter before she released him and stepped back. She turned to Elizabeth and motioned her over, her room mate following the gesture somewhat hesitantly.
"Dad, this is Elizabeth, my room mate," Teyla introduced.
"It's nice to meet you Governor," she greeted him respectfully and her father laughed.
"Please call me Tughan," he replied which seemed to surprise Elizabeth but given the way her father acted, demanding more respect than he deserved, she understood why Elizabeth would be surprised by a Governor who was far less formal than most. "Teyla has told me a lot about you in her letters; it's wonderful to put a face to a name."
"She talks about you all the time sir," Elizabeth stated still not dropping the overly respectful tone before turning to Teyla. "I'll let you and your father have some time," she said and nodded her head to Tughan before making the escape she was clearly desperate to make.
"She seems very nice," Tughan said after Elizabeth had left. "Very respectful."
"Yeah she is," Teyla replied. "So how have you been?"
"I've been fine, very busy and I apologise again for not being able to come here before Christmas, or even have you home," he stated and Teyla tried and failed not to roll her eyes at him. "I told you in my letters, the first dozen apologies were more than enough."
"I should have been here though, after what happened with your teacher," Tughan pressed and Teyla inwardly shuddered at the unwanted memory but she didn't want her father feeling guilty so she pushed it aside.
"I have very good friends, they took great care of me and I'm alright. Mathos is in prison awaiting trial and I'm safe and sound in school," she told him and her father nodded, clearly still not happy with himself for not having been here for her.
"Speaking of your good friends, where is this boyfriend of yours, I have judgements and lectures to make," her father stated and Teyla's eyes widened.
"Not a chance dad, Ronon is fantastic, he takes very good care of me and I'll not have you embarrassing me or him... or chasing him off," she said and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Jeremiah was not good for you, I did you a favour," he defended.
"That was my call to make, not yours," she replied.
"Fine, I'm sure I'll meet him at some point," he said and she opened her mouth to comment further when he cut her off. "I'll keep my lectures to a minimum but if he's not good for you I reserve the right to make a fatherly intervention."
"John," a voice called from behind him and John knew it had been too much to hope that she'd been transferred to another school. He'd gone through the last few months with just the occasional glace of her and in the last few weeks he hadn't seen her at all. There she was though, sauntering over to him in her mini skirt, leather boots and tank top, summer had always been Chaya's favourite time of year, it was a good excuse to wear less clothes.
"Chaya, long time no see," he said as she reached him somehow managing to force his voice into a pleasant tone.
"Oh I know but everything's been so busy," she replied sounding exhausted as though she'd just had to do everything all at once. He managed not to roll his eyes as she put her hand on his arm as though she was too tired to hold herself steady. He did however take a step back from her, the last thing he needed was to give her the wrong impression, more than she already had it anyway.
"What can I do for you Chaya?" he questioned, the faster he got her to the point the faster he could get rid of her.
"Oh nothing you wouldn't want to do anyway," she told him and he had a feeling he knew where this was going. "You and me, the end of year party, I mean of course you'd want to take me anyway but we should just make it official."
"I don't want to take you Chaya," he stated, he could have been nicer and more subtle about it but she wouldn't get the message if he did that.
"What? Don't be ridiculous," she replied. "Of course you do, we missed out on prom, this'll be the perfect chance to make up for it and we can get our relationship back on track."
"We don't have a relationship Chaya and I don't want to take you to the end of year party" he stated as bluntly and simply as he could. She looked a little hurt and he had to admit to feeling bad about that but she was so damn persistent. She never quit once she wanted something and she wasn't used to having to work to get it. The spoilt little Governor's child got everything handed to her on a silver platter, gold if she requested it. She hadn't wanted to go to school in her own country, Porculus didn't have very good schools when she'd first started high school and she'd demanded the best. So her parents had sent her to their neighbouring county, unfortunately that was John's.
He'd been a kid when he'd met her, then she'd come to his school and he'd just been a typical teenager. He'd started seeing Chaya partly because it was expected of him and partly because back then he'd thought she was what he wanted, gorgeous girl, money in her pocket so she wasn't after his and the same status. She hadn't been one of those girls who wanted to be with him because of the position it would get them into, she already had it all. It had been over a year before he'd seen her for what she really was, a spoilt little princess who manipulated everyone around her. He'd outgrown her and it really hadn't taken much growing up to do it.
"I'm sorry Chaya, but we were finished back in high school, we're over," he told her and after a moment to gain her composure she smiled at him.
"First of all I know you don't mean that and secondly, we're far from over, you'll come to your senses sooner or later," she stated before walking away somehow managing to retain her superiority despite having just been turned down.
Jack spotted Sam leaving Entrix tower and ran to catch up with her as she headed for the cafeteria. He was supposed to be meeting John and Teyla there, Elizabeth was hiding in her room and Teyla had been talking about an intervention again. Jack wasn't so sure it was a good idea to get involved, he loved Elizabeth like a sister but he knew nothing about her relationship with her family. He had to admit though he was starting to worry about her as well now.
"Hey, going my way?" he questioned and Sam turned to him with a smile.
"That depends on where you're going," she told him.
"Cafeteria, I think Teyla wants to plan an intervention, get Elizabeth to come back out of her shell," he replied sounding as unenthusiastic with the idea as he felt.
"Well, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her family yet but from the way Elizabeth's reacted I don't think I want to" Sam stated with a sigh.
"No, you really don't," Jack said and then opted to change subject before he could get annoyed. "Did your dad arrive?"
"Yeah, he made a quick stop to see me and Daniel before he headed to the hotel in town. He went to see Mark too but as usual my brother was nowhere to be found when my dad's around," she told him sounding exasperated, they way she usually sounded when she was talking about her brother. "I guess every family has their issues, at least I don't have to dread seeing mine."
"Yeah, poor Elizabeth," Jack stated.
"Maybe she'll cheer up tomorrow, end of year party," Sam suggested.
"I'm not counting on it. You got a date then?" he asked and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he'd just asked that.
"No, but most people don't," she replied. "Why, you offering?"
Jack froze; he supposed he might as well follow through since his big mouth had already started this. "Maybe," he said; such a cop out. "What would you say if I was?"
"I might say yes," Sam told him and Jack almost had to laugh at his own awkwardness.
"Well in that case, will you go to the end of year party with me?" he questioned getting it out of the way before his mouth could say something else stupid.
"Yes," Sam replied and Jack didn't bother to fight off his grin. "Come on, before the others start wondering where you are."
John walked into the library to find Elizabeth reading some book she'd probably grabbed off a nearby shelf. She didn't seem to care what she was reading at the moment as long as she had some way to detach herself from everyone else. Her family had been there for two days now and she seemed to be hiding as much from them as her friends. He walked over and sat down in front of her, the library was probably not the best place to have this conversation especially since it was the mean librarian on duty. He'd just have to find a way to get her to leave.
She looked up and gave him a forced smile of acknowledgement. He understood why she'd want to hide from her family, he'd probably hide from them too, but her friends only wanted to help her she seemed determined not to let them.
"Take a walk with me," he requested and she gave him another forced smile and shook her head.
"I want to get to the end of the chapter" she told him.
"Fine, I'll wait," he replied and she sighed as she looked up at him again.
"What do you want John?" she questioned, she sounded tired, like she'd had enough of everything.
"I want you to take a walk with me," he stated and she looked like she was about to decline again so he cut her off. "I'll stand up and start shouting about it, seriously, I'll cause a huge scene, we'll get kicked out of the library, probably banned for a while, reported to the principle," he told her and she game him a look like she didn't believe him. He stood up and took a breath ready to start causing a scene so she grabbed his arm and tried to make him sit back down.
"Alright, fine," she said quickly and he smiled as he waited for her to stand up. She put her book back on the shelf and followed him out of the library and down toward the trees that separated the main school ground from the river. He waited until they'd crossed into the tree line before he spoke again.
"Everyone's worried about you," he stated, there was no point in dancing around the subject, especially with Elizabeth. She refused to meet his eyes, looking at the ground instead.
"They don't need to be," she replied. "I'm fine."
"Elizabeth, you've spent most of the last two days hiding in the library. You barely talk to us during lessons or in the cafeteria. I think we do have reason to be worried about you," he explained. Elizabeth still refused to look at him so he stopped warming and gently took hold of her arm to stop her as well. They were almost through the trees now, he could hear the sound of other students down by the river and he knew she'd shut herself off again once they were around other people.
"I'm fine," she repeated.
"Elizabeth, I've met your family, fair enough they don't seem like the nicest people I've ever met but that's their problem. It doesn't change what we think about you and it doesn't mean you have to go back to hiding in that shell you seem so fond of," he told her. "We care about you, I care about you and we're not moving from this spot until I get a genuine smile out of you, not that forced crap you keep giving me."
She didn't move, didn't say anything and he worried he'd said the wrong thing in there at some point, words weren't his strong point. She finally looked up at him and there was more emotion in her eyes than he'd ever seen from her, even drugged. He didn't know which of them was more surprised when she reached out and wrapped her arms around him. It was so sudden and unexpected that it took him a moment to return the gesture and then they just stood there like that.
Unsurprisingly, Elizabeth was the one to break the moment, John would happily have stayed there for an hour. She looked completely shocked and unsure of herself. It had been way out of character for her but he figured she'd probably needed a hug for the last few days, possibly the last few years.
"Come on," John said before any awkwardness could develop. "The others are in the cafeteria, they'll all be happy to see you. Hell, you could shock the life out of them and actually speak to them."
Elizabeth smiled the genuine smile he'd been hoping for and he hadn't realised how much he'd missed it until then. He nodded his head with a smile of his own. "See that wasn't so hard was it? You don't even have a book you can hide behind."
"Alright, that's enough, I get it," she replied and lightly smacked his arm as they made their way to the cafeteria. The others were there debating who had won the bet on Jack asking Sam to the end of year party.
"Hey guys, John would you tell Cameron I won the bet," Teyla said and John shrugged.
"Radek was keeping track of the bets, I told you I didn't want to get involved," John told her and since Radek and Rodney were the only two members of the group that weren't there it looked like the argument was going to continue. John and Elizabeth took their seats at the end of the table and Teyla turned to Elizabeth with narrowed eyes.
"Where's your book?" she questioned.
"I don't have it," Elizabeth replied.
"She speaks!" Jack exclaimed and faked a heart attack until Sam smacked over the back of the head.
"That's not funny."
TBC
