Title: No place like home
Summary: It was his mission to bring Atlantis to it's knees, to save it for the Wraith. And he was going to do this by going for one person. The one person who's death would make Atlantis crumble. Elizabeth Weir.
Spoilers: None that I know of.
John stared in numb shock at the figure lying across the floor, mere inches from his feet. Her brown hair had splayed across her face, but John could easily see the small pool of blood spread underneath her. He wasn't sure if she was unconscious or dead, either way, all John could do was stare, frozen in complete shock. How had this begun? How had he ended this story, staring at Elizabeth Weir's motionless body, unable to react? It was simple. He had put her in this position with his carelessness. It was all his fault.
The halls we're dark and quiet, mysterious but still with that trembling sense of lurking evil as a single figure walked quietly along the halls, flanked by two larger, more vicious soldiers. Screams of the tormented filled his ears and he shuddered, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart.
He was injured, not life threateningly, but still enough to make him weak, his feet collapsing as the soldiers took up his weight, his feet dragging behind them leaving a trail on the blood covered floor. He was pulled roughly into a large hall, a figure shrouded by darkness standing just out of his sight, intimidating and cold.
He was let go roughly, falling to his knees with a loud thud that echoed through the room as the soldiers retreated the Wraith stepped from the shadows.
"Well, Well, if it isn't my little failure of a human." Came the hiss of it's voice, sounding more reptilian then you would expect from it's almost human appearance. The collapsed figure bowed his head in servitude, shivering from fear.
"P-P-Please…forgive me….please…" Was all he managed to stutter, his fingers clenching as a clawed hand raised his chin, his eyes locking with that of the monster above him.
"You failed us." It's cold voice announced. The figure trembled. "But it what we get for using pitiful humans. Perhaps you will be of better use to us as food." The man cowered under the wrath of the female Wraith, before his silence broke and he cried out various begs for forgiveness.
"Please…" He begged, "Please, I'll do anything. I will not fail you again. You have my word."
The captor looked down at it's prey, cocking it's head slightly to the side.
"Yes, I do. This mission to control Atlantis must be taken care of. It is important beyond all we do here. You on the other hand, are not."
With a scream, the Wraith lowered it's hand into the man's chest, and the man himself sunk into darkness.
Elizabeth Weir sighed, rubbing her temples slightly, trying to eradicate the headache that had grown in the past few hours. The sun had lowered beyond the mainland several hours ago, throwing Atlantis into the darkness of night, most of the staff vanishing for a well earned rest and sound sleep. Elizabeth on the other had hadn't been brave enough to face the cold desolation of her quarters, preferring to indulge in her work for the night rather then spend it tossing an turning, trying to sleep when her mind refused to shut down.
The silence was deafening, the tap of her laptop keys only infuriating her the point where she dug around her office for a biro and note-pad. But the problem continued, her hand absently tapping the end of the pen against the desk, the necessitate taps making her realize only how annoying silence could be.
Reports lay begging to be finished, but Elizabeth was far from the mind frame needed to complete them, that would require actual thought, something she seemed to be devoid of at this very moment as she feverishly tried to find something to do. Her mind seemed oddly detached before she finally realised she was most likely better off doing something useful such as going for a walk on the east pier. She left her work behind her, realizing quickly the absence of any emergencies had most likely accounted for her feeling of restlessness and jogged past the control room out into the halls. She was just stepping into the transporter when a figure jumped through the closing doors, clearly relieved to have made it before having to wait for another one to return.
"Well, fancy seeing you here." Sheppard said smartly. Elizabeth sighed, pressing her desired location on the map.
"Colonel. What are you doing up?"
John stretched.
"Felt like a walk. I see you feel like one too, east pier is it?"
Elizabeth nodded, her eye brow raising.
"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"
Sheppard raised his hands in mock surrender.
"No, No problem. You shouldn't go walking around Atlantis on your own you know. I heard stories."
Elizabeth stepped out as the doors slid open, turning slightly as John fell into step beside her.
"Stories?" She asked in a mock awed voice. John grinned.
"Yeah. Granshaw, you know the guy with the bad acne? Well, he told Captain Roche who told Lt. Markham, who mentioned it to the scientist McKay never forgave for eating the last strawberry donut, Brody, who in turn told the botanist…George is it? Who wrote it on the notice board, which was read by…Sergeant Bates, who reprimanded George, who laughed about it with Brody, who stole Bates' pants when he was in the shower, who was seen pant-less by McKay, who told Zelenka, who over-heard Bates telling off George, who came to me to tell me he had been unfairly reprimanded." He sucked in a deep breath. Elizabeth shook her head slightly, trying to clear it out.
"What?" Was all she managed to ask. "What does this have to do with the story? And how did you find out the story? And wait a minute – What is the story?"
John grinned again.
"Well, who do you think told Granshaw in the first place?"
Elizabeth shook her head, her hands gripping her ears.
"And the point of that long confusing list of people was…?"
John shrugged.
"I felt like being different." He walked slightly faster, as Elizabeth fell behind. He was several meters ahead before she realised she had been duped.
"Wait a minute, Colonel!" She called out as he turned and smiled, "You never told me the story!" He shrugged.
"Oh well, I've forgotten it now. You know how these things work. Race you to the pier?"
She let out a series of curses in a language quite unknown to John Sheppard as he walked backwards, attempting to look cocky and cool at the same particular moment, instead only succeeding to fall backwards and land with a heavy thump on his back, legs slightly in the air.
Elizabeth held back a giggle, watching him flip over onto his feet and shaking himself off slightly.
"Ouch." He murmured, rubbing his back, "I'm too old for this…"
Elizabeth walked past him, a smile on her face, trying unsuccessfully to hold back laughter.
"Well, Colonel, I must say, don't quit your day job."
He looked up, amusement in his own eyes, falling back into step with her as they approached the pier, the waters warm and calm.
"So," He asked, sitting down at the very end, his shoes and socks ripped off in haste so his feet could dangle in the water. "Why are you really up this late?" He had suddenly switched to serious, as Elizabeth followed suit in pulling off her shoes and socks, taking more care as she lowered her feet off the edge.
"The lack of emergencies has thrown my sleeping patterns off." She said slightly tiredly.
John rubbed her shoulder slightly.
"Yeah. It does make it hard."
Elizabeth turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised.
"What about you?"
He sighed.
"Turkey Sandwich withdrawal. I haven't had any all week. The cook said the numbers of people eating them went down so they we're forced to stop ordering them." He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side.
"Well," She said quickly, realizing it wasn't the real reason but not wanting to press him, "I'm sure I can have a few words with the cook and make sure a few are sent over every week…enough for the people that want them. It's the least I could do after their contributions to Atlantis." John visibly perked up.
"Really? That's cool! I would have been forced to leave if I faced a future without them…"
He grinned at her, and for a moment, Elizabeth felt her world brighten. But just for a moment.
The crackling of a speaker broke their moment like a mirror into a million pieces as John sighed, turning to look at the ocean as he clicked on his speaker.
"Major." Came McKay's voice, "Have you seen Elizabeth? We can't seem to find her and she doesn't have her radio with her."
Sheppard side glanced her.
"Colonel." He said slightly cockily. Elizabeth smiled, looking away.
"What?"
"Colonel."
"Oh. Yes, whatever. Have you seen Elizabeth or not?"
John grinned mischievously and Elizabeth suddenly wished the moment wouldn't end.
"What's the magic word, Rodney?" He asked, obviously enjoying the other man's discomfort.
"Fine. FINE. Please. Can I PLEASE speak to Elizabeth now?"
John looked down at his nails.
"I haven't seen her." There was something sounding remarkably like a splutter on the other end of the line.
"You put me through all that and you don't even know where she is? Of all the self centered, egotis-" John grinned, handing the microphone to Elizabeth, who placed it in her ear, cutting off Rodney's ramblings before they became to rude.
"Rodney." She said, quickly in her professional voice as John gently moved his feet in the water.
"Elizabeth? How did- Oh never mind. We have a slight situation here. Carson says we need you in the control room. ASAP." Elizabeth smiled as John made motions with his hands of casting out a fishing line.
"I'm on my way Rodney."
She handed back the microphone, a smile still gracing her features as John scrambled up and offered her his hand.
"Thanks," She said quickly, slipping on her socks and shoes as John followed suit. They walked back to Atlantis together, arriving back in the control room to find McKay, Carson and Cadman all looking very somber.
"What's going on?" She asked, looking at each face. Carson looked at her and sighed.
"There's been a murder on Atlantis."
To be continued…