A/N: I'd just like to take a moment and thank all those who reviewed thus far, thank you guys so much, I'm glad you're all liking this story. I took this chapter as a little pause in the action, discussing briefly about what Weir might be going through, some of her doubts and I think it tied in nicely with the story as a whole, also left a little room for a possible romance, mayhaps….And on we go!
Day One
Chapter Two
Dr. Elizabeth Weir had spent most of that morning in the area created by her as a makeshift debriefing room. Already she had seen two teams return from being off-world and now currently waited on the third. This particular team consisted of Major Sheppard, Teyla, and Lieutenant Ford.
Weir glossed over the reports laid out in front of her on the table, having read them already so many times she could probably now recite them verbatim.
The first team she had sent out had a very unsuccessful mission visiting a world that consisted of nothing save for an enormous barren desert. They returned reporting no signs of life, nor anything that would indicate that life had been there in the first place.
The second team had discovered what looked like a long since abandoned village on the edge of a large forest. Its buildings looked burned a raging fire sometime ago and damaged further from the weather, personal belongings scattered about as if the village's residents left in a hurry. But from searching the village high and low, the team also returned reporting no life signs.
Elizabeth's only optimism now was with an address that Teyla had supplied them, one she was familiar with though had never visited belonging to that of Nahallah, a place she commented on being 'peaceful'.
She hoped for their sake, as the hours passed etching closer to the appointed return time of Sheppard and his team, that the Athosian was right. Weir thought then, worriedly, that all they needed now was another alien race bent on destroying them. The Wraith were bad enough as is. They certainly didn't need anymore enemies at the moment.
Sighing, Weir placed one hand on an open folder filled with field documents while she raised the other resting her forehead in her palm. Allowed herself a moment of reprieve, Elizabeth shut her eyes and let her mind drift off on something other then the most pressing current situations. These times of relaxation were few and far between, what with the city still needing to be explored, the Athosians still living on base causing a slow and steady food shortage., and not to mention the impending threat presented by the Wraith.
"What I need is a vacation." Weir spoke into her hand, glancing up and out the large row of windows on the far wall of the debriefing room, over looking the vast ocean. However, then again all the windows in Atlantis overlooked the ocean. She remembered how she use to love the water, visiting the beach whenever she had the time, she had once found it so, satisfying. Now all she could think of when looking at the churning waters as far as the eye could see was whether or not a Wraith mother ship would come bursting through the clouds and attack the city. It wasn't a question of if, but of when.
And here she was in the middle of it all, leading a group of the most talented physicists, doctors, and military soldiers that Earth had to offer, and still unable to shake the fear. That at any moment they could be attacked, that, sending a team through the Stargate meant they might never come back. She wondered then how General Hammond did this day in and day out, at least they were at home. God she missed Earth, home, any sort of normalcy that got thrown out of the window the moment she found out that there was a Stargate in the first place.
Packing the folders up and piling them one on top of each other, Weir decided that her time of reflection was over, that if she was going to be anything like the type of leader Hammond was, she needed to toughen up, not let these things, like homesickness, get to her. But she also believed strongly in being a just and caring person, how else was she to gain the respect of everyone on the base if they didn't trust her?
Chuckling softly she picked up the folders, glancing back out the window as she thought about her commanding officer. How in the world was she suppose to lead them all when John second guessed her commands most of the time, favoring his own. She did feel strongly about others contributing to the work they were doing here and she would never shoot down a suggestion before she heard it fully, but Sheppard often times took matters into his own hands, leaving Weir wondering who was really leading this mission.
Though Sheppard's methods seemed unorthodox, even dangerous at times, she could see no better man for the job. Inwardly she was thankful he was there, acting as another pillar to hold the city up in a way, though often she found herself letting him hold her up as well. Something about his character she supposed, Elizabeth felt it far too easy to simply let him make all the decisions, unbelievably easy because his strength and unsurpassed humanity. She would often, in a dire situation, think, if I were John, what would I do?
But Weir realized then, as she watched the sun light set the waters below in a shimmering moving wash of color, that she couldn't let herself feel like that. What she needed now was in fact crisis, problems to make her a better leader. The reason John was so good at it, was because he had been in the dire situations, death staring him in the face only to come out of it a stronger and better person. It bothered her to pull rank, she felt that everyone in the city, including the Athosians should be equal in respect, that no one mattered any more or less then anyone else, equality. Wasn't that what this mission to the Pegasus Galaxy was all about? Then why did she feel she had to do it so much with her team, finding certain members still unable to accept her as the one in charge.
They were explorers, seeking out new cultures, friends, technology. But all that Elizabeth could see currently was the Wraith. She'd faced alarming times in the national frenzy she had faced every day back on Earth, but at least a diplomat would rather blow you up then eat you. And with this threat on not only themselves but the Athosians and who knew how many countless more in the galaxy, Weir needed to keep a level head for everyone's sake.
Every day her team brought her such pride, watching them trying to work together for the better good of them all. Granted there were bumps along the way, some seeming more impassible then the others, but setbacks came with all great strives in human progress.
"Besides." Elizabeth sighed, clutching the reports close to her chest, hugging them absentmindedly. "If we don't try to survive out here, we'll never even have the chance to get back home." A power source, one to charge the gate enough so that dialing back to the Earth's Stargate could be possible was just one of the numerous problems filling Weir's plate.
She thought of Simon then, what if they couldn't find a power source strong enough to dial home, what if she was to never see him again. Could she possibly confine herself to living this life only, could she really do this for the rest of her days? At least she wasn't alone, Elizabeth kept repeating that to herself---'you're not alone in this, you might be carrying it solely, but there are others to help carry you.' Shaking her head with a smile she knew if Sheppard had heard that he would have had some sort of teasing comment on her thinking like that, being all emotional, she laughed then. "He'd probably say I was being girly."
Weir then thought about how she would reprimand him for that, smiling smugly for only a moment before she composed herself. Besides, what was she to do without him? She'd almost lost John a few weeks ago, watched him on the brink of death. She wanted to crumble then, seeing one of the strongest most resilient people she knew lying dead on the floor of the Puddle Jumper. If he couldn't survive, how could they? If John couldn't handle it, how could she? And when she thought, that possibly for a moment that Sheppard was gone too long, she grew weak, had to sit down. All the power she thought she had meant nothing at that moment, all the control she had over the base could do nothing to bring the man back. All she had then were her prayers and in moments, he was revived, brought from the clutches of death.
And all she could do was thank, whoever up there had let John come back, back to the city where he belonged, back to her….
"Oh that's quite enough of that Elizabeth." Weir scolded herself for letting her mind drift into places they shouldn't have. But she paused before starting her walk out of the debriefing room. If they were to stay here forever, never returning home, and she had to rearrange her life, could she look along those lines….If all that was, was lost, and all that remained was the city and her team, becoming almost a family to her, what else could that mean? Maybe, when all else was forgotten, she could consider an alternate life, one that included----
Suddenly there was a blearing alarm and over the control center intercom she heard the gate technician Grodin calling her name and the announcement of an incoming gate address. Dr. Weir, took the reports, clutching them tightly to her as she jogged from the debriefing room, through a short hall and up a small set up steps into the control room that over looked the Stargate.
"Do we have an IDC?" Weir asked as she entered the room and up to the main control consol, thankful for her time to herself and moving back into full blast 'leader' mode in a matter of moments, something she was finding herself doing more and more, it becoming frighteningly easier.
"Yes, Major Sheppard's IDC has been confirmed." Replied Grodin, who handled most of the gate functions and the main system the city ran on, as he nodded to his boss.
Weir smiled thankful to hear the news and patted the tech on the back as a go ahead to drop the shield. With a push of a button the icy hard surface of the Stargate seemed to melt away, leaving rippling water as Elizabith crossed the room towards the door that lead to the main stairway. She made a quick pace to the moving liquid, which wasn't really technically a liquid at all, and waited for her last team to return.
Lt. Aiden Ford was the first to step out of what Sheppard had affectionately named the 'puddle' and was soon followed by the Major himself with Teyla by his side, both were laughing at some joke John must have made before they had crossed the event-horizon.
Dr. Weir greeted them warmly as the three members gathered in front of her. Sheppard gave her a nod as to say all was well with them and Ford took off his cap to scratch his head
"Glad to have you all back safe and sound. So, can we count on the Nahallans for support, perhaps even some trade?" Elizabeth asked, watching John's face change from satisfied to a winced up look he often gave when there was something he didn't exactly want to admit to.
"Well for one thing---" Sheppard began, smirk quickly returning. "The people of Nahallah have a strange way of showing their welcome for neighbors."
Weir didn't look pleased, more or less confused. Aiden cleared his throat, speaking up quickly.
"Yeah, they ah---didn't exactly get Major Sheppard's innate sense humor." Ford mused, shaking his head as he looked to his commanding officer with a smile. "I think you offended them."
"Hey, not my fault they didn't get the chicken joke, granted, they've probably never seen a chicken before, but still---it's a classic." Sheppard replied in defense, seeing that Dr. Weir went from confused to displeased in a matter of moments.
"I still don't understand Sheppard, why this Earth bird of yours would choose to cross a road." Teyla spoke up, a smile on her face as well. She knew the Major meant well by it, but even her people where a bit at odds about the visitors from Earth with their strange customs and beliefs. But then again the ways of her people the Athosians must have seemed just as strange to Dr. Weir's people.
"Hello? To get to the other side, come on. It's common sense, and, very comical I might add." Sheppard said in a matter-of-fact tone, finding himself all too clever when Elizabeth lashed out quick in a disciplinary tone the Major knew all too well, backing off and taking on a more serious expression.
"Major Sheppard I'm not sending you on these explorations to rile up the local people. Where here to make contact, not enemies."
"Then you don't know me at all." Sheppard replied honestly, about to lay out some more of his dry humor when Teyla, seeing Weir growing more and more aggravated, cut in, trying to show the woman some reason to John's actions, and hopefully save him from a reprimanding. Though, Sheppard would never stand for such, she saw now that the man's pride in his work was great and anytime Dr Weir was to question his methods of it almost certainly lead to a fight.
"Dr. Weir, the people of Nahallah have sworn peace with us, and would greatly consider trading with us in the future, I think Major Sheppard did his part to break the binds between strangers, and no harm was in truth done."
"You hear that? I did good." Sheppard nodded, pointing to Teyla. Ford, watching things go from the edge of dangerous ground with Weir and back again, was glad the Athosian was there to smooth things out. In truth they had, had a very successful mission, and the young lieutenant would have liked very much to visit the planet again, which actually reminded him of his hometown back on Earth.
Dr. Weir relaxed, remembering that to be a good leader took patients, and with John she had to be, extra patient. And, she didn't like seeing them bicker anymore then anyone else did. "Very well, it's good to hear. And what did the people of Nahallah want in means of trade, do you think they might have a power source we could use?"
"I'm not too sure about a power source, more information on the other surrounding planets, one's we don't even have addresses to. Some that not even the Athosians know about. The Nahallans have been having their own problems with the Wraith lately." Spoke up the Major with a small wince. " But it's better then nothing, that and they have some mighty big fish there, I personally think there's something in the water---might want McKay to look into it----" Sheppard then looked about the gate room, seeming as if something was very wrong, which caught the eye of Ford.
"Sir?" Aiden asked with a shrug, wondering then what the Major was looking for.
"Speaking of which---it's too quiet, where is McKay anyway?" John asked after a moment, sounding as if he really didn't want to know the answer in all honesty.
"Oh." Dr. Weir laughed softly realizing that the Major was quite correct. When Rodney was away, the base tended to be more quiet, relaxing, and in Sheppard's opinion, a much better place for that matter. " I sent Rodney and Dr. Beckett on a short mission to one of the outer sectors, check out the extended damages made when the shields protecting us from the ocean went down. Actually---" Weir looked about, glancing at the empty doorways and then up to the control room. "They should be back by now."
"Send a call into Dr. Beckett and Dr. McKay over the radio please, I want to know what their progress is." Weir called up to the control room, where she got a wave back from Grodin.
"Oh no, don't go and do that, we're, fine without him. Really." Pleaded Sheppard as he gave a look to Ford, who laughed, humbly agreeing.
"Why do you have such an aversion to Dr. McKay John?" Teyla asked sounding puzzled. She knew that most around the base seemed to have a short respect for the doctor, though she didn't really see the reason.
"Have you ever talked to the guy?" Replied Sheppard objectionably, turning to her. "It's like---" He then looked to Ford, not finding the right description.
Ford snickered lightly and spoke up, directing it to Teyla. "Like a caged dog."
"Bingo!" Sheppard pointed to Ford, smiling back at the young Athosian, who returned him with another puzzled look.
"I still don't understand the meaning."
"Remind me to explain to you the old saying 'to bite the hand of one that feeds you' sometime." Replied John thoughtfully.
"Major." Reproached Dr. Weir gently, listening to the whole conversation with a heavy sigh. " I know Dr. McKay can be at times, objective, but he's not all that bad."
Sheppard was about to say something else, something that would demean Rodney's character in a way only he could when suddenly over the intercom Grodin called down.
"Dr. Weir, I've tried several times to get into contact with doctors Beckett and McKay. There's been no reply." The gate technician gave her a perplexed shrug, waiting for her next order.
Dr. Weir turned to her team, a look of both shock and worry crossing her face in an instant. Sheppard tried to smile but it looked more or less guilty then reassuring as Ford glanced to him, speaking up over the troubling silence. "Well Sir, looks like you got your wish."
Being stuck in a bathroom for an hour causes strange things to happen. Dr. Beckett now knew this first hand. He and McKay had spent the first half hour not speaking to one another, trying to conserve the air which moment by moment felt more and more thick to breathe.
Which wasn't surprising considering the size of the room itself. Eight feet high, in a rectangular shape running five and a half feet wide by six and a half feet in length. The room consisted of, other then the two doctors, only the toilet system, for it seemed the Ancients didn't believe in running water in their bathroom as apposed to their bathing rooms. There was barely enough space for one man to sit between the right wall and the toilet without getting stuck but not enough so one's legs weren't partially bent all the time. And a little bit more room to sit in an crossed legged-Indian style position which McKay had taken up at the moment, forcing him up against the toilet itself, just in front of it. There were a set of long panel lights that ran down the back wall, which, consequently kept flickering on and off every so often as if the power running to the sector was having difficulties working.
The heat growing in the room from the two men's bodies was getting exceedingly uncomfortable to Carson's total lack of surprise and seemed to cause McKay to go slowly insane.
At first, Rodney started flushing the toilet over and over, its particle dissolvers making what he thought a small refreshing breeze to cut the heat in the cramped room. It was really a most amazing device in his humblest opinion. It seemed that after one, relieved themselves, instead of water washing the waste away like it would have on Earth, the Ancients had devised a way using special crystals to dispose of the waste with highly eroding laser beams.
Rodney discovered, upon getting to know the toilet more intimately, (for what else did he have to do, might as well do something scientific) that seven small emerald colored crystals were arranged in a circle underneath what he considered the 'seat'. They would in turn, when activated, issue forth a beam of green hazy light particles that dissolved any matter in their way. Making a big fizzy, misty, cloud before the crystals shut down and the particles would dissipate.
So, McKay took it upon himself to find out just how many things he could dissolve in one sitting. Which consisted of: hair, his own of course, a few energy bar sections he found in his pocket, a pen, and finally the sock from off his shoeless foot.
"Everything but the pen---" Rodney mumbled in thought, scratching his head, the sweat making it terribly itchy, as he stared into the toilet, wondering what went wrong with his little experiment.
Dr. Beckett had been sitting quietly, his eyes closed, taking in shallow breaths to conserve air and listening to the damn toilet crackle over and over again, followed sometimes by McKay's girlish giggle he'd do when he got overly excited about something. Now he picked his head up and looked to the physicist with a worn-out frown. "What?" He asked exhaustedly.
McKay glanced up for a moment, noticing that he'd been heard. "Oh, my pen---it didn't dissolve my pen." He pointed shortly to the metal basin, sucking at his teeth as he tried to make a theory why.
"It's because it's not organic." Carson replied shortly, letting his head tip back this time to rest against the wall.
Rodney shot his head up, brows furrowed, feeling the doctor was on to something which annoyed him greatly that he hadn't stumbled on it first. "Huh?" He played coy, testing the doctor.
"The pen's components are all man-made, ink and everything." Beckett said with a sigh, trying to stretch out his tight shoulders from sitting in one position too long, Carson tried moving about.
" But it dissolved my sock---"
"Wool." Beckett winced, cracking his neck, something he knew in the end he shouldn't do, but what was the use in worrying about his bones now.
McKay thought about it a moment but before he could comment Carson added in a weary frustrated voice. "Your sock was made of wool, which, by all means is organic, as was your hair and the food that we could have used for rations before you decided to flush it."
"Oh." Rodney snorted, looking down into the toilet. The doctor was right, the theory was a solid one. "So, the crystals, dissolve only physical organic material."
"So it would seem." Grumbled Dr. Beckett before he snatched the walkie-talkie that was still laying beside him and click on it. "For Heavens sake, is there anyone there?! HELLO! If this is some stupid joke you lads are playing on me----really----really not funny!"
McKay sat back, resting his arms on his now raised knees. "Uh, we've got a problem."
Beckett dropped the radio in his lap and stared at Rodney with contempt. "And what, dear sir, could possibly, be worse then our current predicament? Hum?"
" I—uh--- have to go." McKay replied sheepishly, glancing back and forth from Carson to the floor.
"You're, kidding me?" Carson shook his head, laughing at how absurd this was all getting. "And you didn't think of going before we set out?"
" No, MOM. I didn't." Rodney snapped back harshly, standing up as he placed his hands on his hips, waiting for the doctor to respond. "And all this dissolving is making me have to go. Like, now. I mean it, now!"
" Fine, then go." Carson threw up his hand, motioning the toilet and scowling at the man as he made himself look at the floor instead of him.
McKay stood there, glaring down at him expecting the doctor to understand, and seeing as he wasn't, added with irritation. "I, ah, I can't go with you here."
Beckett shot a mystified glance at him, knitting his eyebrows and throwing up his hands. "Well, what would you like me to do Rodney? I'll just pop outside while your have your little time so we can parish properly. God forbid you die with a full bladder in front of another person, oh no couldn't have that!"
"Hey, I'm just as uncomfortable with this as you are! At least, turn around or something, ok?"
"Fine." Beckett stood up, his bones cracking as he felt the stiffness of his limbs really coming to his attention. He turned his back to the toilet as he heard McKay exhale deeply trying to relax, shortly followed by the creak of pant zipper and then an awkwardly hesitated rustling.
Clearing his throat, McKay spoke up. "Uh, cover your ears."
"What?!" Carson exclaimed, beginning to turn round.
"DON'T LOOK!, damn it, Just, I---can't go if you're listening so, cover your ears." Rodney shouted, finding the situation already extremely uncomfortable and was currently chalking it up there with all his other hideously embarrassing moments.
"How in the world did you ever survive on Earth McKay? I'd really like to know." Beckett shook his head in disbelief, sighing with defeat, there was just no proper way around this, nothing he could say to ease the physicist's mind, so he might as well humor him.
"I didn't use public bathrooms for one, just, please----" The physicist said honestly, his voice in a sincerity that Carson took as something McKay really needed.
"Well, since you were man enough to say please." Beckett grumbled before putting his pointer fingers in his ears, rolling his eyes at the fact that he was doing this in the first place. "GO, and quickly." He yelled over the muffling of his hearing.
"Hum something." McKay requested softly. "Just so I know."
"CHRIST!" Roared Beckett ready to spin about and shove Rodney's head in the toilet and dissolve it, repeatedly.
Calming himself, Carson began to sing a raring rendition, at the top of his lungs to repress his anger, of The Hills Are Alive from the Sound of Music. The only song that came to his mind at that time, while McKay began to do his thing, finishing up before Dr. Beckett had time to get to the second chorus.
"Ok." McKay called aloud after he got himself tucked away and back together. Beckett turned to him, his left eye twitching spastically, trying to control his burning disdain. "We must never speak of this, understand?!" He said finally, dropping back down onto the floor, where he ran a hand up his face and into his hair, smoothing it back, letting out a shaken breath.
"Don't worry." McKay grinned thoughtfully, feeling immensely relieved as he sat himself down on the basin gingerly, trying not to accidentally hit the button to activate the crystals. "I'd do the same for you, ya know. Besides, your singing wasn't half ba---" McKay stopped speaking suddenly, his attention turned upward, toward the ceiling.
"Did you hear that?"
"I didn't hear anything McKay, remember."
"NO, not that---" Rodney snapped, standing back up as he inched closer to the ceiling, listening intently. "That." He pointed upward.
Beckett was about to state something explicit and nasty at the physicist when his ears picked up something strange. His mind cleared and he concentrated on the noise he now too heard blatantly clear coming from above them.
Carson stood up, his eyes following to the same spot that McKay's was at, both standing a few inches apart, listening as something moved across the ceiling, scampering and clawing about.
Both men looked down at the same time, meeting confused glances.
Suddenly there was a loud thump, and what sounded like a low growl. McKay took hold of Beckett's arm before the doctor could swat him away.
"What is it?" Hissed Beckett. Rodney shrugged, still staring up at the ceiling. "Rats?"
A large bang came from above followed by a muffled howl, making both men jump, and then without warning, the lights on the back wall flickered and went out, plunging them into darkness. "That's no rat." Whispered the doctor before Beckett heard McKay begin to hyperventilate and then felt something fall against him crumpling to the ground in a great heap. "Oh, Rodney." Carson sighed sadly, knowing fully well that the physicist had fainted dead away.