DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, or these characters; I just borrow them.
Weathering the Storm Part 15
The meeting broke up, and everyone started going their own way; all except for Dr. Weir. She gathered up all the department briefings around her and sat back in the chair for a long night of 'entertaining' reading material. She lost tract of the number of reports she read, or the amount of time that she spent reading reports on various topics such as the city's structural stability to food shortage.
Dr. Weir tried to start the second paragraph in from of her for the fourth time. She knew that she had read the words numerous times before, but she could not remember what they said. She watched as the black letters started to move around the page and blur into a black blot. She rubbed her eyes and tried again, but her mind was too exhausted to cooperate. She stood up and started walking toward her quarters as her brain had told her that it was time for sleep whether she wanted it or not.
By the time Elizabeth was near her room she was walking like a zombie. Her feet moved, but her brain barely had the energy to send the commands. She opened her door and as she walked toward the bed she kicked off her shoes. Not bothering to change for bed or to pull back the covers on the bed, Elizabeth grabbed the blanket from the back of the nearby chair and wrapped it around her shoulder in a makeshift hug before curling up on top of her comforter. She was so ready for sleep that her head barely touched the pillow before she was out like a light. But while physically and mentally Elizabeth was exhausted, her subconscious was ready to come out and play.
Elizabeth unbuttoned her slacks, and placed her hands back at her side. He might want me to cooperate, but I'm not going to make this easier on him, she thought as she squared her shoulders for the confrontation she knew awaited her. She feared what he might do to her, but she was also mentally cheering at this slight victory that she had achieved.
Kolya chuckled. He liked that Dr. Weir had spirit, "nicely played." However like all spirited horses, they must be broken before they could be ridden, "but do not EVER DO IT AGAIN." He backed her up to the nearest wall and placed a thumb on the center of her neck and pushed down. As Elizabeth struggled to take another breath, she heard Kolya bark into his radio, "Sora, bring the sniveling doctor."
Kolya released Dr. Weir and she collapsed to the floor. She noticed Sora and Rodney start to come around the corner, and a part of her realized that this situation was all wrong. It didn't happen like this, she yelled in the back on her mind. She noticed Rodney stop on the walkway with a shocked look on his face as he started to take in the situation at hand. Elizabeth saw the gun prod Rodney forward until he was standing in the doorway. She saw a look of contempt on Sora's face as she tried to find a sympathetic face in the other female. Elizabeth shifted her eyes to glance at Rodney knowing that he would be livid at Kolya and the harm that he was causing; however all she saw in his eyes was loathing for the weak female crumpled on the floor.
"What am I doing here?" Rodney asked as he glanced from his inept leader to the man standing behind her. "The grounding stations need to be fixed if we want to have any chance at survival…"
Rodney tried to go on but Commander Kolya interrupted him and he walked over to Rodney and placed an arm around his shoulder in a gesture of friendship, "I thought I'd let you watch the fun, and see how weak your leader really is."
"You can continue your fun at a later time, but right now there are more important things to do." Dr. McKay verbally shot back.
Elizabeth's breath started to come closer together as she realized what Rodney thought of her. Regardless of the little voice telling her to wake up, all she could hear was the spite in the words being uttered by both men. She heard Kolya mention something about how it wouldn't take long as she mentally tried to pull away from her situation. Her thoughts were not able to escape as she saw Kolya start toward her.
Other than the physical pain, the only other thing Elizabeth could remember about her ordeal was the look of shame on Rodney's face when he would note her looking at him, and the scientific gaze that took in the scene with regret at his leader's weakness.
Elizabeth bolted up from her prone position gasping for breath. The shame and anger she felt from the dream hit her full force and she jumped from the bed. She quickly tried to hurry towards her bathroom in an attempt to race her stomach contents and in her rush to get to her destination she did not see the shoes that she kicked off only hours before. Elizabeth stumbled over her shoe and started to fall. Unconsciously she tried to cushion her forward momentum with her arms, however too late she realized that the plan was ill-thought out with regards to her shoulder injury. She felt the pain in her shoulder before she finished the full descent to the floor. The pain added to her earlier negative emotions warred inside of her, and she knew that she had lost the fight for the flight to the bathroom. She leaned to her side before she could get sick all over her uniform. The lack of food in her system was the only thing that really helped keep a major mess from her floor as bile and dry heaves were all that her body could produce.
Elizabeth's body finally stopped protesting by raking dry heaves, and now showed its anger in the form of pain and the reawakened emotions. She lacked the drive to pull herself fully off the floor, but the slightly damp spot on the floor helped to motivate Elizabeth to drag herself to the corner made from the bed's position against the wall. She snaked her good arm up onto the bed and pulled down the few coverings that she could reach. She draped the blanket around her shoulders the best she could. Next she grabbed her pillow and maneuvered so that her back was resting against the bed, her left arm was leaning against the wall, and she cushioned her head with the pillow. As she gazed at the gray wall in front of her, she drew her knees toward her chest. In a semblance of a hug, Elizabeth tried to imbue a sense of warmth and compassion into her mind. But just as the blanket was failing to provide adequate heat to her body after the chilling nightmare, the fetal position was doing nothing to bring her thoughts away from the cold and calculating stares of both Kolya and Rodney. The wall started to blur as both tears and sleep fought for control of her vision. And as she did not want to deal with the emotions and thoughts currently in her head, Elizabeth let sleep claim her tired body once more.
Only a few hours after falling asleep for the first time, Elizabeth woke up again with the realization of two things: that she was not going to attempt to get back to sleep, and that going to sleep to escape unwanted memories was like locking yourself in a jail cell with your worse enemy. Luckily her body did not try to send her hurrying to spend her morning learning over the toilet again, but that could be as her stomach was too busy trying to get her attention that it was lacking food to desire losing what it already did not have.
Elizabeth stretched out her legs to the feeling of pins and needle being brushed past her skin and a dull throb in her knee. She glanced at her watch that she neglected to take off the previous night in a way to delay the stabbing pins that would soon be attacking her lower limbs. The clock read 5:23am, not even 3 hours since she dragged herself away from the conference room. Now that that excuse was over with, Elizabeth reached behind herself in order to help support her upwards momentum as she tried to stand up. For the majority of the support, her hands had to actually stop her downward motion as her feet where too numb to hold her up right away. However too quickly the numbness went away and she bit her lip as the blood started to flow back into her legs, and therefore the needles had advanced in their attack.
Elizabeth looked down at herself and noted that she was still wearing her uniform from the previous day. Knowing that the team was leaving in a little over two hours to see the mainland and that it was going to be a dirty job, she decided to wait until she got back to change. Once she could walk on her slightly felt feet, Elizabeth started to walk to the bathroom in order to get herself ready to walk out of her room and possibly be seen by others. After getting herself and the floor cleaned up, Elizabeth faced the door. She tugged on her jacket, squared her shoulders, and opened the door. Dr. Weir stepped out and with purpose in her stride walked toward the conference room in order to get some more paper work completed.
It was nearing 7:30 in the morning, and the sun was already brightening up the sky. Major John Sheppard wandered around the puddle jumpers itching to get the bucket of bolts in the air. Actually I wonder if a jumper is made with bolts. But as the puddle jumpers flew, John couldn't have cared less about what term to call it. He looked at his watch to see that the time had only changed a few minutes since the last time he looked. John dropped his hands to his sides and looked around to see if all the personnel going to the mainland were nearby getting their equipment loaded. He noticed Teyla helping out a few Athosians whose names he could not remember. Next he noticed Dr. McKay loading up a lot of scientific gadgets. John heard Rodney mumbling something under his breath that included the words 'farmer', 'what was she thinking', and 'deadly viruses'.
John wondered where the 'she' was that Rodney referred to. He looked around the room and even within the nearby jumpers to see if he had missed Dr. Weir's entrance. Major Sheppard glanced at his watch again to determine how quickly the mission departure was to take place. While a few moments before John would have loathed the long time until they were to depart; now he wondered at the little time until departure and why the mission leader was not around. Major Sheppard mused that Elizabeth must have dropped by her office to do some last minute preparations and coordinating with the workers staying within that city before she was going to join the departing team in the jumper bay.
As John walked towards Dr. Weir's office he did not see anyone in the office; however he stepped in just to make sure that she might not be picking up an escaped pen from under the desk or something. John pushed the door open and stepped within the office walls. John had often been in this room staring across the desk at Dr. Weir and the wall behind her head as she would delivery a lecture about any number of actions that the Major should not have done. Consequentially John noticed right away that the room was not as he remembered it.
John's normal chair was tipped sideways on the floor. As he bent over to place the chair upright he noticed that the chair being askew was the least of the changes in the room. The trash can by the desk was knocked over, and the disposed papers were scattered around the upturned disposal. John saw a dark stain near were his chair should be placed. The stain looked like an ink blot; however once he got closed he was able to see that the stain was a brownish color as that of dried blood. This vantage point near the floor helped him to see a tiny glint of sliver near the desk. Upon closer inspection, the glint of silver became a silver blade covered with blood.
John was livid and in his angered state he saw red that had nothing to do with the blood either on the floor or on the blade. He knew that Kolya had stabbed Elizabeth, but he did not realize that this attack occurred in her office… her sanctuary. The previous day John had wondered about Dr. Weir's inhabitance of the conference room. At the time he assumed that it was easier for her to stay there as there was little time between meetings; however now he doubted that his assumptions were the only reason for her decision.
Knowing that the room needed cleaned and that Dr. Weir did not want the infiltration of the city to become public knowledge, John radioed in for help. As Lieutenant Ford was going to remain in the city while the rest of his team went to the mainland and as Aiden could be ordered to silence even thought he would not need to be, he became the ideal candidate for this job.
A few minutes later, Aiden walked into Dr. Weir's office. His first thought was that it seemed odd being in the room without Dr. Weir; the second was contemplation on who threw a party in his leader's office and didn't invite him. His brief moment of levity was shattered when John handed the knife over to him.
"I'm sorry to ask you to do something so menial, but Dr. Weir wants this incident to remain discrete. So would you help get her office back in shape so she doesn't have to deal with the clean-up and having to deal with the memories." John knew from the look on Aiden's face that he needn't have bother finishing his request but he couldn't help the babbling flow of words that issued from his mouth.
Aiden replied with a smirk, "Sure no problem. It's better than having to clean the head with a toothbrush." The smirk died on his face as he thought that he would gladly clean all the restrooms in Atlantis with a lone toothbrush if he could have prevented the harm that befell his leader and teammate. He still mentally berated himself for not leaving the mainland initially, he might have been able to do something rather than sitting impotently in the puddle jumper during the storm. He was brought back to the task at hand when a weight settled on his shoulder and gave a slight squeeze.
John watched as the wry grin left Aiden's face and was replaced by a look of intense contemplation. John understood the 'what-if' game that was being played inside his comrade's head, and he decided to bring an end to it before it tried to consume the young lieutenant. He gave Aiden's shoulder a squeeze, and once the young man look up at him John also gave a small smile of thanks. Knowing that nothing more needed to be said, John left the office to continue his search for Dr. Weir as there was now only ten minutes until departure.
The next logical place to look for the leader of Atlantis was the conference room. As John was about to enter the room he pictured the two possible scenarios behind the closed door: either an empty room, or Dr. Weir poring over papers. The site that greeted him brought a smile to his face, and he had to quickly stop himself from issuing forth a hearty belly laugh. John was able to tone his merriment down to a slight chuckle as he took in the form of his sleeping leader.
Elizabeth had a stack of papers which at one time were in front of her to be read; now the papers were under her bent left arm which was being used as a improvised pillow. Her head was tilted to the right, and her right arm was cradled close to her chest. She was nudged to wakefulness as her mind picked up a faint laugh. She opened her eyes to see the reports, and then she quickly looked up to see who had caught her in a very awkward situation. Elizabeth looked up to see hazel eyes laughing back at her. Waking up fully to view the full person in front of her brought the realization that it was Major Sheppard who caught her napping. She knew that she would never hear the end of it.
Major Sheppard had seen this leader stay up all night in order to make sure that all was well before she would let sleep claim her. Knowing that it was going to take a long time for the city to get back to the way it was before the storm and the Genii incursion John worried about the lack of sleep Dr. Weir might get. Therefore he did not want to joke about her actually getting a little bit of sleep. "We leave for the mainland in 6 minutes," he said while mentally voicing a joke about seeing his leader drooling over important paperwork.
A look of panic shown through Elizabeth's eyes when she heard the time. She glanced at her watch to determine that John was not playing a joke on her and then quickly stood up so that the chair behind her toppled over. She gathered up the papers, pulled the chair upright and started to hurry out of the room. She determined that she would not even take the papers to her office, partially to stay away from her office, to get to the jumper bay as soon as possible, and to have reading material in case she got a chance during the flight to and from the city.
While John did not want to joke too much about the sleeping arrangements of Dr. Weir, he could not stop the parting shot that issued forth from his mouth. "If Carson knew that you didn't get any sleep he would have more than just your shoulder in a sling." John couldn't help but smile as Dr. Weir glared over at him.
Elizabeth glared at the parting comment about her lack of sleep. She knew that she could have mentioned that she did get more sleep; however she realized that she didn't get much sleep and she did not want to go into the issue of how she was still so tired as to fall asleep over reports. Plus she knew that he was right in his assessment of what Dr. Beckett would do. She quickly determined that it was not worth the time and effort that she would have to dedicate to explaining the situation; she glanced at her watch again and realized that she would not have the time to talk if she wanted to. She turned from Major Sheppard and hurried toward the jumper bay with John right behind her.
Mere minutes before departure was scheduled for the mainland, Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard stepped into the jumper bay. They walked toward the jumper in the center of the room. The lone jumper was going to the mainland. While the jumper would be crowded with 8 people and equipment, it was the smartest move to make as the amount of room for landing was unknown. The other passengers stood near the hatch of the jumper talking about the upcoming mission and the possibilities of the damage to their homes. The group looked up as Elizabeth and John approached.
John could see the anxiousness in the eyes of the Athosians at what they might find, and the look of loathing that Rodney had toward this trip. Elizabeth also saw the look on Rodney's face, but after her nightmares she did not see the loathing as being about the trip but more about his lack of faith in her. She lowered her gaze to the ground and croaked out, "Let's get going." She led the way into the jumper.
As the group started to pile into the jumper, John wrinkled his brow in question at the quick change Dr. Weir's attitude. He started to shake off his inquiry when he caught the look of worry that Teyla sent Dr. Weir's way. Not knowing what the females' actions were about, he promised himself to come to an understanding of the issue as soon as possible.
AN: next chapter gets into seeing the mainland—I'm having issues knowing first hand how to write about reactions to seeing the damage. While parents live in FL so have dealt with Charlie and the others a few years ago they were lucky so I haven't had to deal with the emotions of the damage. Would anyone be willing to help me understand this point?
Btw—sorry for the very long delay—life gotta 'love' it