Polar Opposites
Elizabeth walks into the infirmary, seeing Sheppard hovering over an unconscious Ashri. It's been a few hours since his return, but Elizabeth feels as if he's not fully back. Yes, he's alive and well…but he's so distracted. So quiet. She longs to hear a sly wise-crack or see that jovial boyish smile with dimples. Something to prove to her he's still the same John Sheppard.
But it's this extreme protectiveness for the alien woman that concerns her most, right now. She knows how dangerous Sheppard can be when someone he cares about is threatened. She's seen it first hand with the Genii; especially when he shot Kolya while the man used her as a shield. His intensity scared her, but at the same time, she knew he wouldn't let her get hurt. When she sees him watching over Ashri, that intensity seems a thousand times more potent. He'd not only kill for this woman. He'd die for her in a heartbeat.
And yet, they've only just met.
Sheppard stirs, turning as he senses Elizabeth behind him. She nods, offering a smile of comfort. He nods back then instantly returns his attention to the other woman.
Two months…alone. And she brought him back from the dead. Elizabeth can't even guess at the connection these two created, the shared memories, emotions. It's incomprehensible for an outsider. Something that doesn't exist on Earth. Possibly even a spiritual bond, on a level with…the Ancients.
The Luminance Temple, Sheppard surmised in the earlier debriefing, was some sort of observation out-post. Elizabeth wonders if the Luminaté were direct descendants of the Ancients. It would make sense. Teyla said they were powerful healers, very advanced. She wonders what they could learn from Ashri.
But fears that as well. The woman's part Wraith! Even if only a small part, she has power in that hand. What if she decides, suddenly, to turn that power against someone instead of using it to heal? It can't be beyond the realm of possibility. And this connection she shares with Sheppard. What kind of influence does she have over him? What secrets has she uncovered?
Elizabeth sets a hand on his shoulder and he looks up at her. "Dr. Beckett has asked for a meeting regarding this…issue. In an hour. You should get cleaned up."
"I'm good."
"John," she says softly. "You need a break. Take a shower, change your clothes." She catches the flicker of refusal in his eyes and adds. "Don't make me order you." Sheppard relents with a nod and a sigh, gently releasing his hold on Ashri's hand, laying it on her stomach. Without another word, he walks out and disappears from view.
Elizabeth tilts her head, considering Ashri. She's quite beautiful. Elizabeth can see why he would fall for her so easily. "There has to be more to it than that," she says out loud.
There's a flicker of movement under her lids. Elizabeth moves closer. Ashri slowly opens her eyes and looks directly at Elizabeth. Her gaze is warm, full of trust and compassion…like that of a child. Elizabeth's drawn to her. She takes up John's spot, gently touching Ashri's shoulder. "It's all right. You're safe." Elizabeth smiles kindly. "I wanted to thank you…for what you did. That was very brave of you."
Ashri brings her finger up to her lips. "Are you thirsty?" Ashri shakes her head a tiny bit. She looks like she wants to say something. Elizabeth leans in closer, so she can hear the whisper. There's a slight tingle against her temple, not unpleasant.
Sheppard disappeared from view. Elizabeth tilts her head, considering Ashri. She's quite beautiful. She can see why he would fall for her so easily. "There has to be more to it than that," she says out loud. She hopes the woman will wake soon. She has many questions, but would also like to say 'thank you'.
Only one door in the conference room remains open, and without the normal air-circulation due to another city shutdown, temperatures and tempers are rising in the confined space. Since their miraculous recovery, Ford and Teyla had been subsequently discharged from the infirmary and they, too, are in on the meeting with Dr. Beckett.
McKay had taken some down time to sulk about the return of the virus, so John tapped him to watch over Ashri in the infirmary. Surprisingly, the guy didn't balk at the idea or even make the tiniest fuss. He simply said, "Glad to have you back, Major," and headed into the infirmary. For a moment John wondered if he'd dropped off into another of those crazy dreams he'd had in the beginning. Or if McKay had been taken over by a pod person while he was away. Either way, it didn't matter. The real battle followed.
He's nearly shaking he's so pissed. He can't sit still, or even stand still for that matter. He can't believe Elizabeth, in fact, can't even think of her as his friend right now. "I didn't bring her here to become a lab rat!"
Dr. Weir spreads her hands on the table. "I understand that, Major. And I'm sympathetic. What Dr. Beckett is proposing is a few simple procedures. We need to find out what she is." John glares at her for that last part.
"There's no denying her extraordinary abilities," Beckett says, trying to keep the peace.
"And we are all extremely grateful," Weir adds.
"But, you still want to poke and prod her like a guinea pig!" John thinks he might lose his lunch right in front of them. It'd serve them right.
"Neither Lt. Ford nor Teyla have any lasting signs of the virus or even antibodies to it," Beckett explains. "We need to understand how she healed them. What exactly happened."
"So ask her when she wakes up."
"She doesn't speak," Weir says plaintively.
John narrows his gaze. "Oh, yes, she does."
Weir takes a deep breath. She's wearing her 'leader of the expedition' hat combined with the diplomacy badge. "Major, I realize you've spent a lot of time isolated with this woman. But who's to say she doesn't have some sort of control over you? You said yourself, she's telepathic. That you hear her voice in your head. Perhaps you're not thinking-"
John slams both hands onto the table, rattling it and everyone sitting at it. "She. Saved. My. Life." He points a harsh finger at Weir. "And for your information, she's not in my head. She's lying in the infirmary unconscious because she's willing to put herself in danger to save people I care about. That's who she is! Do you get that? She almost gave her life for me…and now for my friends. And you want to punish her?"
"No," Weir says. "Not in the least."
"No, you just want to dissect her hand!"
Beckett leans in. "That's not the case…exploratory surgery-"
"It's barbaric!"
"Major Sheppard is right," Teyla says softly. "You cannot assume this woman is yours to do with as you please simply because she is different from us. That would make you no better than the wraith who left its mark on her."
"Of course not," Weir says. "And we're not talking about strapping her to a table and conduct experiments on her."
"Damn right your not," Ford says firmly. All eyes turn to the young man who's spent most of the meeting watching in silence. "Look, she didn't have to do whatever it was that she did to save us. Wraith hand or not. We shouldn't even be having this conversation."
John leans heavily on the table, facing off with Weir and Beckett. "You took your blood samples and when the power's up, you'll do that scan thing. But that's as far as it goes. You touch her hand in any way other than to hold it, and I'm taking her back through the gate to Luminance." He pauses long enough for Weir to catch his gaze. "The end."
She seems to get his full meaning, knocking her off the scientific high horse and she drops her eyes from his in defeat. Dr. Beckett glances at Dr. Weir, obviously seeing their done and nods his head in agreement. "Very well. But I would like to speak with her, if that's all right," Beckett adds.
John stands up and opens his hands in acceptance. "I'm sure she'll be eager to talk with you as well."
Ford, Teyla and Beckett start to file out and John's about to follow them. "Major, can I have a moment?" The others look back, offering sympathetic glances to both of them before disappearing from view.
John crosses his arms and waits. She rises from her chair and approaches him slowly, her body language open and friendly. She's taken off her hat and badge and is back to being Elizabeth. But John's still on guard. He got her to back down…but can't ignore how far she tried to push him.
Elizabeth sits on the edge of the table and tilts her head, considering him. "You meant that, didn't you," she says, her soft voice filled with a mixture of concern and understanding. "You'd really take her back to that lonely planet…and stay."
John raises his chin. "Yes."
Elizabeth looks at her dangling feet and crosses her ankles. "I see."
He raises his brows. "Do you?" He knows Elizabeth. Knows exactly how hard some decisions are for her to make. Take the whole Steve thing. She wasn't thrilled about that and he was a killer. She must have known that Dr. Beckett's request would only piss him off, so for her to even back it meant she truly believed it would not cause Ashri harm. The fact that she finally relented without pulling out the 'science over military' card means a lot. John can feel his hostility slowly ebbing and loosens his stance a bit.
Though she keeps her eyes downcast, he glimpses a warm smile that tells him she's sorry. "Actually, I knew we were in trouble the moment you arrived," she sighs with a slight chuckle. "No one can hide those kinds of feelings. I guess I was in a bit of shock, what with having held your wake and all." After a moment, she shrugs a shoulder. "I didn't believe it, you know."
"Believe what?" Elizabeth pulls her attention away from her swinging boots and looks him in the eyes. "Aaah. That." John shoves his hands into his pockets. "I hope you didn't make any bets, 'cause technically…you'd lose."
"Technically," she nods. "Seeing you standing here…" she shakes her head. "You're not the same, are you." John shakes his head slowly, checking out his own boots for a second before looking up at her from under his brows. Elizabeth nods. "She must be some woman…to grab hold of your heart like that."
John bobs his head a bit, feeling the last of his anger subside. "She is." He slides onto the table next to Elizabeth. "And when you get to know her…you'll feel the same way."
Elizabeth chuckles. "I don't know what you've heard about me, Major…but I don't swing that way."
John laughs too, patting her knee. "You know what I mean."
She drops her hand on top of his and looks up at him, smiling. "I'm sure you're right."
Sitting there, chatting with their familiar ease, John's suddenly aware he's been back several hours and hasn't truly said hello to his best friend. He grabs her up in his arms, hugging her tight. "It's good to be home."
Elizabeth hugs him back. "Thanks for not staying dead." John laughs and Elizabeth joins him.
It's nighttime when Ashri finally stirs and opens her eyes. John's sitting by her side, holding her hand in his. When she wakes, he lowers the safety bar on the bed and sits on the edge, tracing his hand down the side of her face. "You had me worried." Ashri smiles weakly and blinks heavily as she leans into his caress. "Can you talk to me?" Blinking again, she shakes her head slowly. Picking up her hand, John brings it to his mouth and kisses the back. "That's okay. You rest."
John's heart sinks. He hasn't felt her presence since she pulled away from him to heal Teyla. It still amazes him that not once has he considered their connection invasive. He feels more awake…more alive when they're sharing. Without being able to sense her, it's like he's lost some of his sight and hearing. Colors are muted and sounds have an almost harsh quality to them.
Her eyes drift closed, though he can tell she's struggling to stay awake, not wanting to take her gaze from his. Again, he gets the impression she's afraid he'll disappear and leave her all alone. John leans down and whispers into her ear. "I'm not going anywhere," he says, then kisses her warm cheek.
Elizabeth sits up abruptly when she hears the power come back on. She'd been resting her head on her desk, not realizing she'd actually fallen asleep. She can feel a migraine brewing behind her left eye and presses her knuckles into her temple. She should be relaxed but there's a knot in her gut that refuses to unwind. Ever since she sent Major Sheppard to clean up before the meeting with Dr. Beckett.
More than likely her body was rebelling against what her mind had permitted as acceptable risk. Never in her wildest dreams…hell, nightmares…did Elizabeth see herself or Dr. Carson Beckett akin to Dr. Mengele. And yet both had sided on the unimaginable conclusion that unnecessary exploratory surgery on an alien being was a good thing. She's surprised John didn't hall off and deck both of them. He probably should have.
Sleep hadn't dissolved the tension, only added to it by giving her a kink in the neck. So now she's wide awake, grumpy, in pain and looking up at McKay standing in her doorway, grinning like a fool. "The ZedPM's in place and the virus is gone…so, all is well."
"So it would seem," she says, stretching her neck from side to side.
"What? We got rid of the virus…for the second and last time. We've got a zero point module that's far from depleted and can easily run the shield for a few days."
"Only a few days!"
McKay makes a face at that. "Unfortunately, yes. As soon as the generators are fully charged, Zelenka and I are gonna run some tests on it. Seems it may be similar to the one we found on M7G-677, only able to use its full potential on the originating planet. And from what Sheppard says, it works fine on Luminance."
"Why?"
McKay shrugs. "Possibly the change in the atmosphere or a relation to the weapon that was discharged…could be anything really. The point is…it does have enough juice to either run the shield or…" he bounces on his feet.
"Don't keep me in suspense, Rodney."
"A one-way trip back to Earth."
"Really."
"Pretty sure. Like I said, we want to run some tests. Anyway, it won't necessarily matter once we go back to Luminance-"
"We won't be going back," she says quickly but firmly. The knot in her gut tightens.
"We'll…what? Elizabeth are you serious?"
"Deadly." Tighter.
As usual, McKay starts talking at the speed of light. "Look, we have control over the virus, know that anyone with the gene cannot catch it and it can only attach itself to an incoming wormhole and though I realize the lightning might be a big turn off-" he slows suddenly, going off on one of his tangents. "Though it does generate an enormous amount of negative ions which, by the way, is why people like waterfalls so much. Negative ions create this kind of euphoric, all's-right-with-the-world feeling, while too many positive ions make you cranky-"
She knuckles her temple again. "Rodney."
"See?" His smirk quickly fades at her scowl, but his speed picks up. "My point is. Major Sheppard said the storms are dying down, which means less lightning. Besides which, the temple he talked about is right next to the Stargate, I mean…right next to it. And there are at least three other ZPM's just lying in wait…doing nothing. Possibly even some in the buried ruins of the city that we never got a chance to get close to last time…because of said lightning…but that's…you know. Anyway, those things still have juice even after thousands of years, so a hundred or so should be nothing-"
"A hundred years," she says, breaking his ramble. "Or longer." Elizabeth can't imagine that kind of solitude. A normal person would go insane living like that.
"What?"
"Teyla's people lost contact with Luminance over a hundred years ago. More than likely at the time the Wraith wiped out the population…leaving Ashri alone." Why didn't she leave when she got older? Elizabeth shakes her head, knowing why. She wonders how Sheppard reacted the first time he saw Ashri's palm. Probably not well, given his temper. And if he got passed it, they surely will too.
"Oh…I see what you're…hmmm. That is interesting. She does look extremely good for her age, then. You know, I don't think the Major realizes he's romancing someone old enough to be his grandmother…" He makes a face. "That's a bit disturbing." After a pause he continues. "D'you think it's something in the air? Or the water. Perhaps the ions are good for-"
"Dr. Beckett thinks it has to do with Wraith DNA."
"The…really? 'Cause I'm more along the lines of good food, good nature…I guess we should all be so lucky." Elizabeth looks at him sharply. "Not to have Wraith DNA…except…did you see her hair? What I'd give to keep the rest of-"
"Rodney."
"Yeah?"
"Not now."
"Please, are you telling me you wouldn't want to look that good 100 years from now? Who knows how long it might take her to look…forty."
And here come the side cramps. Elizabeth winces when the intense sting hits her. "That's the thing. We don't know anything about her. For all we know, everything she's told the Major could be a lie." Tighter again. And now her head's throbbing.
"I thought we established that I'm the paranoid one."
"I'm not-"
"What? Jealous?" She's shocked silent by that. "C'mon, Elizabeth. She saved both Ford and Teyla and returned Sheppard to the fold, who I truly believed was a goner. And though she's clearly enamored with the Major—which puts a smudge on her psych evaluation—whoever, or whatever she is…she's on our side. So I say: yay for us."
Elizabeth plants both hands on her desk and slowly rises, suffering silently as the pain in her side erupts. "You think my concern is based on petty jealousy?"
McKay raises his brows. "Isn't it?" Elizabeth blinks repeatedly. He can't possibly be speaking to her this way! And yet, he's still rambling. "Hopefully not in respect to the Major's feelings, but because you got used to him being your beck-n-call boy, your loyal companion who'd risk his life to save yours any day of the week and thrice on Sunday. Your puppy dog, if you will." McKay shrugs. "Now there's someone else holding his leash. Someone who saved his life."
Her mouth is open but all that's coming out is a stuttering noise that defies description. For someone who speaks five languages, she's finding it impossible to say anything at all. McKay's always been obnoxious with his superiority complex, but he's never been intentionally cruel…at least not to her. So he truly must believe what he's saying.
"Elizabeth there's nothing wrong with-"
"Get out!" McKay jumps, his eyes wide, his face full of shock. It's all she can manage but luckily proves effective. Without another word, he ducks out of her office and disappears from sight.
Elizabeth drops heavily into her chair, his words ringing in her ears. The knot in her stomach has moved to her chest, tightening around her heart. And the throbbing in her head sounds a lot like McKay singing: jealous, jealous, jealous!
Elizabeth clutches both sides of her head. "Shut up!"
Once Ashri's fever broke and her breathing and heart rate returned to normal, Beckett permitted John to take her to his quarters. He knew from past experience that she'd probably need a few days of recuperation and she preferred having him by her side to comfort her. John explained that to Beckett and the doctor relented.
They're lying face to face above the covers on the slim bed. Her eyes are closed, but his are open, watching for anything. She awoke a second time in the infirmary which is when he brought her here. She's been asleep since, her eyes moving under heavy lids.
John wonders what she's dreaming. Occasionally she whimpers and that's when he takes her hand, rubs her shoulder or caresses her cheek…any contact from him seems to calm her into a peaceful rest. He also wonders how much of this healing thing she can actually take. There's obviously a price…there has to be a limit as well.
Quite suddenly, her eyes open and look into his, alert for the first time in over a day. John's heart swells. He's missed her eyes as much as her thoughts. They're so amazing. He'd never thought the color brown could be so enchanting. He'd always been a leg man before…and Ashri has some great legs…but her eyes do something to him. He could gaze at her for hours and never know the time has past. In fact, he has done that…though they'd been doing something else at the time too.
She smiles, as if seeing what he's thinking, though he doesn't feel her inside. She's probably just seeing his inner dog come out and play; he'd never been a subtle man when it came to showing his desire. Her hand rests on his cheek, her thumb moving slowly over his skin, turning him to mush as usual. He, in turn, caresses her hair, tucking it behind her ear before leaning in for a soft kiss.
A jolt of electricity shoots from her lips, hitting his and they both fly off the bed in opposite directions like opposing magnets.