one hundred forty-three days after Earth
the twenty-first of Scotland
Sam lifted her head from the control panel and searched the atrium surrounding the 'gate for Jack. Unable to locate his grey head, or a hat that might be hiding it, she turned back to her work. Exhaustion had etched dark circles beneath her eyes; she noticed for the first time when she caught her reflection in the glass around Elizabeth's office. Jack would worry that she was so tired and working too hard. Normally that would have bothered her. Now she couldn't wait for his hands to be on her shoulders and his voice in her ears telling her it was all going to be okay.
"Will the repairs hold?" Sam asked the Elizabeth hologram.
The hologram, the only kind of Elizabeth she could handle, indicated the representation of the city. "I am currently operating at thirty-eight percent capacity with the current representation of LK-476. With all the humans on the planet on board, capacity will be forty-two percent."
Sam sighed and rubbed her forehead to dissuade the headache forming above her eyes. "How many copies of the gene need to be present for one hundred percent capacity?"
The hologram's eyes went blank for a moment as she calculated. "One hundred percent capacity will require two thousand occurrences of LK-476 at average strength, or at least one hundred instances of a very strong gene."
"But the city will still run?" Sam asked rhetorically as her fingers danced across the keyboard. "The ZPMs will be enough to run most of the systems?"
"Genetic resonance is the best power source," the Elizabeth hologram reminded her. "But the ZPMs as you call them will be adequate for normal operation."
Sam had worked with some odd partners in her life, but after two days she was starting to like the hologram. Unlike McKay, it rarely argued and it easily answered all of her questions. It even made the idea of seeing Elizabeth again half bearable. She ran her hand through her hair and wondered where Jack was. He'd promised to see her as soon as he'd finished dealing with the Wraith darts. It had been almost three weeks since she'd seen him and she'd never realized how hard that was before.
"See my husband down there?" Sam asked the hologram as she reached for her cup of the bitter tea they used as a poor substitute for coffee.
The hologram turned her head and looked but only tilted her head in confusion. "I could conduct a scan for General O'Neil."
Sipping her lukewarm tea, Sam shook her head. "Are you usually on while the city is in operation?"
"I am available to my inhabitants," the hologram reiterated.
"Having fun?' Rodney teased as he poured hot tea in her cup.
"We need one hundred strong copies of the gene or over a thousand weak ones," Sam sighed as she watched the next group of refugees appear in the 'gate room. "You said Carson was started to conduct testing for the gene?"
"Yeah," Rodney's face fell as she mentioned Carson. "Elizabeth had him testing everyone who came from Earth but it wasn't going that well."
"What is--" Sam sighed and shook her head.
"Oh, you remember what we were talking about yesterday?" Rodney started as he sank contentedly into a chair. "About renaming the months?"
Sam smiled a little and stopped typing to look at him. "And?"
"Well, I lined them up by where they used to be according to the international dateline. It's the twenty-first of Scotland," Rodney explained as he swirled his cup. "Carson would have liked that."
Watching his shoulders slump, she left her chair to touch his shoulder. "Are you sure he's dead?"
"I saw him," Rodney murmured as if she hadn't touched him. Sam remembered when that kind of contact would have had him chasing her around the lab. Now he just managed a tired smile. "He came to say goodbye, Carter..."
"...You can say Sam," she interrupted as she wondered how they really intended to feed and clothe everyone. On the planet they'd had some resources, but Rodney had just eaten the last chocolate banana power bar and made the realization that food was limited. With the queen gone, Jack thought she was dead, they had even more refugees looking to them for help. "How do you think Teyla managed to kill him? He was ascended, wasn't he?"
"We don't know anything about the Wraith," Rodney complained as he set his cup down too hard and splashed tea over his hand. "We know they regenerate, but we don't know how. We know they have significant mental abilities, but we don't know why. We don't even understand how that would be accomplished, or how they could have turned Teyla into their queen--" He lifted his hand and wiped it in disgust on his pants.
Sam stopped trying to hand him a handkerchief and smiled behind her hand instead. "We've all lost so much," she offered gently. "Carson might have just saved us the only chance we had of not losing everything."
Rodney sighed and looked through her. It was entirely disconcerting when most people did that, but he usually only did it when he was about to come up with something incredibly amazing. "Do you think she come back? Teyla? She's not just going to give up, is she?"
"The bad guys never do," Sam sighed searching the next group of arrivals for her husband. Instead of Jack, her eyes fixed on the last person she wanted to see.
Elizabeth closed her eyes as the light from the transport left her body. She didn't want to open them; instead she let her feet feel Atlantis through her worn out boots. She could smell the hint of the ocean and new metal from the repairs. All around her the city thrummed and breathed because it was alive again.
John slipped his hand into hers and she felt his rifle fall to his side. His other hand snuck around her back and she reached for it and held on until he was wrapped around her. His chin fell to her shoulder and she sighed in relief. It was over. Their long exile was at an end and they were finally home.
"How's it feel?" he whispered as he squeezed her hand.
Elizabeth felt her laugh turn into something resembling a sob in her throat, so she leaned against his chest. Her back complained when she moved and the baby reminded her of its presence with a sharp jab in the direction of John's hands. Her feet ached and she wondered if she'd ever have new boots again. John smelled of gunpowder, blood and sweat but he felt like heaven against her. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the 'gate looking down at her and felt a rush of warmth through her body.
"Like home," she whispered back before squeezing his hand again and staring at the 'gate. It was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. It glowed like hope and hung over her like it had been waiting for her to come home.
"If you have a moment," Rodney interrupted them as he hurried down the stairs from control. "There's something, someone, you should meet." He came to a halt in front of Elizabeth and his lips parted in shock. "When did you..."
He was even more surprised when she wrapped her arms around his back and hugged him tightly. John patted his shoulder as Elizabeth released him. His shock made John grin ever so slightly in a way that almost made her believe everything was going to be okay.
"You look good, Rodney," John insisted as he punched his friend in the shoulder.
"I was used to the..." Rodney stopped and mimed a slight roundness to his belly before he brought his hands wider and started to blush "...but you--"
"It's okay," Elizabeth reassured him as she caught his hands. "it surprises me to most of the time."
"But you're okay?" Rodney asked as he looked from one face to the other. "Everything's okay?"
"Oh yeah," John answered as his hand landed on her back. "The kid kicks night and day and she won't give back my pants, but yeah, we're all right."
"I didn't realize the 'kid' kicking you was uncomfortable," Elizabeth teased as she raised an eyebrow at him and let him lead her towards the stairs. "it has to be dreadful."
"Rodney, you have no idea," John continued with a deadpan expression. "It's like being jabbed in the ribs with one of those damn sticks."
Thinking of Teyla made them all stop and Elizabeth noticed the sorrow lingering around the corners of Rodney's eyes. "Rodney--"
"Carson's dead," Rodney admitted without preamble. The word hung for a moment before it shattered on the steps up to the control room. "We rushed through repairs as quickly as we could, hurried back, he was already gone."
"Are you sure?" John asked as his fingers twitched against her back.
"He said goodbye," Rodney uttered miserably as he bit his lip and keep his eyes from giving him away. The shaking of his hands, however slight, told the story of a man trying desperately not to fall apart. "He came and said goodbye."
"We're still here," Elizabeth reminded him and wished she had time to hug him again. "We're all still here and we're going to make it."
"Make it to where?" Rodney asked rhetorically but full of doubt regardless. His forehead tightened and he headed up the stairs towards the control room.
"Just where are we going?" John whispered into her ear, teasing her with the feel of his breath.
"Somewhere safe," Elizabeth answered as her fingers crumpled his sleeve. She shouldn't have let her fear escape, but he patted her hand.
"Business as usual then," John agreed as he helped her negotiate the stairs. "Okay?"
"When we do this again, no Wraith," Elizabeth admitted with a soft smile that made him laugh. "I'm just sore."
"Here?" he asked as his fingers ran along her spine and settled just over her left hip. Pain shot across her back when he pressed into the knot and Elizabeth bit her lip.
"There," she agreed as she tried to keep the wince out of her voice. "Stop--"
John held on, moving his hands to put greater pressure on the knotted muscle. Elizabeth could feel that pain radiate like ice through her whole back. She tried not to make a sound, but she yelped in pain and he held tight when she shivered through it. "There," he offered as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"You couldn't have just--"
"Feels better doesn't it?" John coaxed through a smug grin.
Elizabeth forced her back to straighten as much as she could and let herself smile back. "If I say yes you'll just do it again, won't you?"
John shrugged and turned to face his home. "Anything is possible." Even he had to stop and look over the city with awe.
Elizabeth let him look as she went around the corner. Rodney was waiting impatiently next to Sam, and to her surprise, herself.
"Governor Weir," the shocking likeness of her, who to her jealousy still had her former figure, bowed her head. "Welcome home."
"Elizabeth, this is the holographic representation of Atlantis," Rodney announced cheerfully. "She just happens to look and sound like you. Well, mostly like you."
"I think I miss looking like that," Elizabeth mused as she stared at herself with shorter hair and a perfectly flat stomach. The hologram didn't even have the paleness of her early pregnancy. "Why didn't she appear before?"
"You did not have enough power to access the holographic interface, nor did you request it," Atlantis replied calmly, using the same tone Elizabeth used for her lectures. "I apologize that I was not designed to activate immediately. However, we were able to complete repairs while bringing your people aboard. I am functioning better than I have in ten thousand years."
Sam felt her throat shut down. She should have kept her eyes on John, looked away from Elizabeth, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Elizabeth's swollen belly. The doctor's face had changed, and everything about her had grown softer. There was a light to her, and it wasn't just spending time on a planet. Elizabeth was glowing from within. Her pregnancy had changed her, made her greater than she had been.
Sam's stomach was an empty hole as she forced herself to smile. Looking at the hologram as easier than looking at Elizabeth and she tried not to make it obvious that she was avoiding the woman. Her stomach twisted and she tried to shake off the feeling that she was going to throw up. There had to be something she could do away from control.
"I'm sorry," her mouth started without her mind's permission. "I'm going to have to take the hologram and double check the structural integrity fields in the reconstructed pier."
"It's good to see you Sam," Elizabeth, the real Elizabeth, said softly. Her voice full of hope but still gentle with regret. For a deeply painful instant ,Sam met her eyes and realized Elizabeth knew. She knew what was lost and Elizabeth had to stand there and smile at her because it was what a leader did.
Sam felt her eyes sting and that same sting run agonizingly through to the back of her skull. She wasn't going to cry in the control room. "Yeah, same here," Sam managed pathetically as she wished she could just melt away like a hologram into the computer. "Have you seen Jack?"
"He's making sure all the Wraith on the planet are dead," John interjected as he looked at both women in confusion. Out of the corner of her eye, Sam saw his hand tighten on Elizabeth's. Maybe she should just go down to the damn planet. It she was going to have this weakness, Sam abused herself, she should have it in front of the only man who would appreciate it.
"Shouldn't take too long," Elizabeth added softly as her eyes apologized again. Sam wanted to hate her for her pity, but the gentleness in Elizabeth's eyes was only understanding. If their positions were reversed, Sam wondered if Elizabeth would be brave enough to cry.
"Send him down to the pier, will you?" Sam asked with all the composure she could muster. She could almost hear Janet reminding her that it was all right to be human sometimes.
"We will," Elizabeth promised as Sam turned away. Sam could hear movement behind her and she prayed no one would touch her. Her tears were already starting to flow down over her eyelids, and she couldn't handle the thought that anyone was going to see them.
The transporter was a life saver. Sam held it together long enough for the doors to close. The red walls held her and her arms went around her chest as she crumpled. On the floor of the corridor of the deserted South pier, she sobbed her hatred out to the nanites and new glass. The world was saved and everyone was coming home. The Wraith were even temporarily at a standstill.
Above her, the hologram watched impassively and waited for input.
Daniel woke up with a pounding headache and the familiar smell of much too clean sheets. What was new was the dark head asleep on the shoulder that didn't hurt. He lifted a weak hand to brush Vala's hair and was amused when she continued to sleep.
"Hey!" The little doctor from Atlantis that he couldn't remember smiled down at him cheerfully. "Look who's awake!"
"What I'd do now?" he asked as he tried to remember her name. Daniel thought he'd been introduced. Her uniform was still clean because she'd spent the last two months in space instead of mucking around with the peasants. There was a name badge on her chest but his glasses weren't on his face. He reached over and fumbled with the bedside table until he found them.
"Took a Wraith energy weapon in the shoulder," the doctor explained with the same cheerful smile. "But you're healing really well. I'm releasing you as soon as she wakes up."
Daniel slipped his glasses over his nose and read that she was Doctor Keller. "How was your trip?" he asked as he tried to feel how damaged his arm really was.
"Kinda dull until we got there," Keller explained as she made a few notes in his electronic chart. "Then we seemed to show up just at the wrong time when the Asgard were dying of genetic failure, but they gave us a bunch of stuff that made Rodney and Sam, I mean, Doctor McKay and Colonel Carter really happy, but at the same time..."
"...wait," Daniel lifted a hand and stopped her. "The Asgard are dying?"
Keller's face fell and she looked down at him with deep sorrow. "They died. There wasn't anything they could do. They just died. All their technology and they just died."
"There, the gods will live at peace with themselves and each other. There will be Brimir, a hall never cold, where plenty of good drinks will be served. And there will be Sindri, an excellent hall made wholly of red gold, on the dark mountains. The souls of the good and virtuous will live in these halls," Daniel quoted from an old poem as he fought the urge to wipe his eyes.
"That's beautiful," Keller murmured as Vala stirred slightly at his voice.
"After the destruction of the Asgard during the Ragnarok, the world will be reborn," Daniel explained as he felt a single tear escape. He let his hand dig into Vala's shoulder as he hugged her to him. "At least, that's what they told humanity, back when they pretended to be gods."
Keller straightened her coat as she stood and checked his chart again. "Maybe that's what's going to happen to us all. Our world's definitely over. Maybe it'll be a better place. A hall never cold with good drinks sounds pretty nice doesn't it?" Smiling down at him, she touched the back of his hand. "When she wakes up, come find me and I'll let you out of here."
"Okay," Daniel agreed as he let his other hand find Vala's on his chest. For all that she was, Vala was beautiful when she slept. All the mischief left her eyes and she was as innocent as his first wife had been. Lifting his head enough to smell her hair, Daniel settled back and tried to picture the Asgard at peace.
Looking down at the woman who would be his wife, he finished the story. "Nastrond in the underworld will be vast: no sunlight will reach it; all its doors will face north; its walls and roof will be made of wattled snakes, with their heads facing inward, spewing so much poison that it runs in rivers in the hall. Here, oath breakers, murderers and philanderers will wade through those rivers forever. Hvergelmir, and Níðhöggr will bedevil the bodies of the dead, sucking blood from them.
But in this new world, misery will no longer exist and gods and men will live together in peace and harmony."
He leaned down to kiss her head and sighed through the pain in his shoulder. "If only it was that easy, right?"
Elizabeth sank into the chair behind her desk and realized that she could still reach her desk around her belly if she sat up straight. Sighing heavily as she reached for her computer, she heard Jack's laughter as wriggled in her chair.
He popped his head around the corner and flopped into a chair across from her. "How's it feel to be home?"
"I never thought I'd miss my fake desk in a tent," Elizabeth teased with a curl of her lip. "However, it's not much longer, right?"
"It hurts," Jack warned as he picked up a trinket from her desk. In a place of honor sat a same clay pot. Today the lid was ajar, and when she reached to fix it, he did it instead. "Sara hit me."
Elizabeth tried to laugh. His pouting expression was adorable but she couldn't help worrying there was some truth to it. "I'll try to keep from injuring the good Colonel."
"Just don't hit him in the face," Jack advised as he lifted himself from the chair. "Now, where's my wife?"
"South pier," Elizabeth answered slowly, looking down at her hands before she could finish. "I didn't mean to upset her."
"She's a little sensitive," Jack offered as his hand for her shoulder. "It's not an easy thing. I'd be lying if I said I didn't look at you and John sometimes and feel, well," he touched her chin and then her nose when it was too hard for her to smile. "As old as I am," he teased as he started to go. "I guess I'll be on the south pier if you need me."
"Jack?" It took her longer than she wanted to admit to leave her chair and follow him to the walkway between her office and the control room. Catching his arm and the railing to keep her balance, she watched him grin as she smiled at him. "Try and think of a good day for a wedding."
"You and John are finally..."
Shaking her head, Elizabeth felt her muscles cramp along her stomach. Keeping her eyes on Jack, she waited for it to pass. His smug grin softened, and he gave her his hands.
"...Daniel," she finished with a sigh when the sensation finally passed. "He asked me to marry him and Vala as soon as it could be arranged."
He must have seen the pain in her face, even though she tried to hide it. His hands were firm like John's. Jack led her back to her desk and knelt beside her groaning as he bent his knee. "Guess he doesn't believe in letting his best man know, huh?"
Elizabeth hung onto his hand, relieved that he was there. Jack seemed to look through her as he thought about his friend. She let herself close her eyes and worried again that somehow she wouldn't be able to finish it. She'd been lucky so far; the child and John were both safe. They were home in Atlantis, but something still twitched in the back of her mind.
"You okay?" Jack's question cut through her thoughts.
"My mind wanders more than it did," Elizabeth apologized as she released his hands. "I can't always focus on what I'm doing."
"I think we can forgive you that," Jack offered. His knee creaked as he stood back up. "Maybe you should stay put for a bit. Busy couple days."
"Yeah," Elizabeth wasn't sure she sounded convincing but she tried anyway. "If you see John?"
"I'll send him your way," Jack paused in the doorway and then turned around to bow slightly. "Governor."
Elizabeth forced her mind back to her work. She had two thousand people to feed and house in the city. She had their requirements to put before her own worries and the dizzying sensation in the back of her head. Their stores were pitiful. There was enough food, for now, but their medical supplies were extremely limited. It had already been brought to her attention by Simon that they were lucky the Wraith used energy weapons that cauterized the wounds they created. He'd lost two people because he lacked the right medications to treat blood loss and shock.
They might be all right. They had some of the best minds from Earth. They could learn to make medication. She'd seen Simon work miracles in his laboratory at the hospital. They just needed a break, time to catch their breath and get settled into Atlantis. Maybe they could just hide somewhere, let the people repair themselves as the city had.
"Governor?" Chuck interrupted her thoughts as he entered her office. "Rodney and the science team are in the chair room and they'd like your permission to start running some tests."
Elizabeth ran her fingers in a quick circle around her temples and sighed. "What kind of tests?"
the eighteenth of Canada
one hundred seventy-one days after Earth
"So how much did you ask for to do this?" Jack teased as he pointed a hunk of bread in the direction of Cameron and Jeannie. "More or less than Daniel and Vala?"
Elizabeth laughed and dropped her head to John's shoulder. "All weddings are free," she answered through her giggles. "General, it's the cleaning up the next day that's the difficult part."
"But, she's out of that," Daniel explained as he pulled his wife a little tighter into his lap. "Something about putting on the wedding means she doesn't have to do dishes."
"Seems fair enough to me," John shrugged and took another long sip of the precious beer they broke out for special occasions. He smacked his lips and realized that a great deal of occasions had been special lately. Elizabeth was even starting to joke that she was going to have to combine couples to avoid having a wedding each and every night. Her head was heavy on his shoulder, but he loved the soft tickling of her hair on his neck.
"You're just saying that because it gets you out of dishes as well," Vala pointed out as she took Daniel's last part of bread and laughed as he tried to steal it back. in the clear area of the pier, away down past all the tables John could just make out Rodney at the edge of the group of dancers.
"So," Cameron started as he arrived out of breath at the end of the table. "My money's on Major Lorne for the next victim." He bounced Madison on his shoulders and looked down at Jack. "You've been right so far, sir."
Jack wrapped his arm around his wife and shrugged. "The night's still young and we have big days ahead of us."
The smiles faded to more seriously looks at the table around him and John knew they were all thinking about Earth. Elizabeth's lips touched his cheek and he appreciated that she was so quick to reassure him. She'd been missing her mother more keenly as her due date approached. Just thinking about that made him take another long drink of beer.
Elizabeth was tired lately and it seemed like he was always crawling in or out of bed with her whenever he wasn't needed anywhere else. Her hand squeezed his thigh and the smile she beamed his way was full of hope. "Jennifer and Chuck went walking on the east pier last night. Out under the stars together."
John just smiled at her proud look before he turned in to kiss her. Her revelation sent the table into a flurry of betting that he happily ignored as he lost himself deeply in the taste of her mouth.
the nineteenth of Canada
one hundred seventy-two days after Earth
John's head was a little foggy when he stopped by the infirmary as requested. All of Simon's patients from the planet had finally been released and it looked like Simon and Jennifer were starting the tedious task of making sure absolutely everyone had a medical file.
Elizabeth was down in the basement of the West pier preparing the entire level to be expanded into a hydroponics bay. They couldn't count on finding trade partners anymore. Teyla's secondary queens, the daughters she'd had, were scouring the galaxy and leaving more planets entirely bare every day. He'd wanted to be in the conference room, planning tactics with Jack and Ronon but Simon had asked him to come to the infirmary.
He walked in dragging his feet a little. He could ask for something for his headache, but it seemed a little pathetic considering it was self-induced at that party last night. Instead of saying anything, John made his way to the desk and waited. Simon probably just wanted an update on what the military expected from the chief medical officer and he could more than do that.
"Morning John," Simon offered cordially as he appeared around the corner.
John looked up and returned his smile, but he couldn't help disliking the man. It had been months and he still hated under his better judgement. It didn't matter that if Elizabeth had still been with Simon this whole thing would have been a mess none of them could handle. Simon would probably be the one who still occasionally wanted to punch him if Simon was Elizabeth's lover and she carried his, John's baby.
Would Elizabeth have even kept it? Even told him? John's mind raced uncomfortably and he quieted it with the memory of Elizabeth pressed against him in her sleep. She loved him and the rest didn't mean a damn thing.
"Hey Doc," John tried to be friendly. "What can I help you with?"
Simon wiped his hands on his white coat and gestured for John to take a seat in the space that had been Carson's desk. It still felt strange without the Scot pushing everyone genially around and teasing him for the lack of sleep evident in his face.
"I wanted to talk to you about Elizabeth," Simon began with hesitation in his voice. His hands twitched before he forced them over to his computer.
John swallowed around the lump in his throat. "What about her?"
"She's due in less than a month, John. I thought you might have questions." Simon's trepidation faded into genuine concern and John stopped dumbly and stared at him.
"What should I ask?" John babbled weakly. "I haven't thought about it, I mean, I have thought about it, I just haven't had a lot of coherent thoughts about it. More a vague sense of panic."
"It's okay," Simon offered as he turned to the computer system. "I'd be about that far if I were you, I just thought you'd..."
"...Thanks," John finished as he slid his chair a little closer to the screen. "I, really, thanks."
"Elizabeth's stoic," Simon started as he manipulated one of the wireframe images in the Lantian database. "She'll get quiet and just try to deal with it as best she can."
John nodded and watched in fascination as the computer sped through the first nine months of pregnancy and ended with a glowing red form of a child suspended upside down within the green silhouette of the woman.
"She's in good shape, so it'll probably go quickly," Simon continued as he manipulated the image. John tried to remind himself that it wasn't a real woman, certainly not Elizabeth, who was being ripped apart by the red parasite within. "Everything's gone well so far. The baby's lined up."
"Wait," John touched the image and stopped it. "They go backwards?"
Simon smirked slightly and actually chuckled. "Usually, keeps the head from getting stuck on the spine." He tapped his controls and the image changed. "See that? How the back of the skull runs directly along the spine? That would put all her contractions in her back."
"That's when she'll hit me," John murmured and caught Simon smiling at him. "Sorry, I've watched some romantic comedies, and a bunch of horror movies where the baby was born evil and demonic and destroyed the world."
"They aren't really medically accurate," Simon explained gently and for a moment John believed it when Elizabeth said he was a good man. "iI goes a lot slower in real life. Elizabeth might be completely stoic and reserved, or she might slap you around and call you the worse things she can think of."
"In six languages," John pouted as he tried again to picture it. "What's my job?"
"Watch," Simon paused and his eyes softened with empathy. "Hold her hands, keep her walking around as much as possible because you want gravity on your side. I think we'll manage to help you but you have to be prepared for the fact that--"
"Nothing ever goes as planned," John answered without hearing the rest of the question. "So worst case scenario, we're stuck somewhere alone."
"if she can still talk to you, she's okay. If she passes out or there's more blood than there would be after someone broke your nose in the gym, you know there's a problem. If for some reason the cord appears before the baby, you have a problem." Simon paused and looked him dead on. There was none of the posturing that usually fit between them. In that instant, John realized that a man never really got over Elizabeth Weir, but that didn't have to be a bad thing.
"Now, your file says you have some medical training, so I'm going to be completely frank with you," Simon poured both of them a cup of hot tea and pointed John towards the computer. "If you have a problem, this is what you do."
Jack and Sam were late to the meeting. Ronon noticed because Rodney started to get jumpy. He thought John might have been coming, but the Colonel had to get some last minute medical training. So it had been him and McKay in the conference room for the last twenty minutes as Rodney paced.
"Doesn't anyone bother to show up on time anymore?" Rodney complained as he stared at his empty plate again. Having a breakfast meeting seemed like a good way to combine two things they all had to go through, but maybe it wasn't the best idea to put it after a wedding celebration.
They should have all just gotten the day off like Mitchell. Ronon was happy for him. Jeannie seemed like the most beautiful and responsible member of the McKay family and he thought they seemed to fit. That was what he'd felt with Melena. Sometimes he felt like that with Teyla, but she was farther away than she'd ever been. When she was a Wraith, he'd at least had the satisfaction of know that he would kill her someday and she'd be at peace.
Now everything said the Wraith were becoming something else.
He looked up from the knife he was sharpening and wondered if he could take Rodney's stray thread off of the shoulder of his shirt without making him squeal. He didn't get a chance to try when Jack and Sam finally arrived.
Jack was clutching his coffee, but he had a self-deprecating smile. Sam still looked like she was running. Running was something he understood, and it was all over her face. She wasn't sleeping. She ate when she could and she constantly looked over her shoulder for the demons behind her. Ronon stared into her eyes for a moment and decided to be the last one out of the meeting.
It wasn't difficult.
Jack and Rodney were so excited to have a chance to play with the vastly improved hyperspace engines that they didn't notice that Ronon stayed in his seat. When Sam stood and started to lift her computer, he tossed the knife past her head. She dodged it instinctually but when she turned on him angrily there was no fire in her eyes.
"What the hell?" Sam spat as furiously as she could manage.
Ronon shrugged. "Just testing you," he left his chair to retrieve the knife from the wall. "Making sure you still wanted to live."
She swung at him. It was a good blow and she probably could have made it hit him if she was paying more attention. Ronon caught her fist and wrapped his other arm solidly around her back.
"I don't know what happened to you," Ronon offered gruffly as he pulled her tighter to his chest. "But, this is your life and you either run from your demons and miss it, or you stand and fight them."
Sam's blue eyes screamed her hatred but he was stronger than her. He might have even been stronger than Teal'c and he held her in an iron hug. "It's none of your business."
"You are important to my friends," Ronon explained in his softest voice as he felt her start to shake in his arms. "Your heart is my business and if they are too close to help you, your demons are my business as well."
Sam struggled and he couldn't make out what she was saying. She tried to bite him and Ronon knew he had won. Sam's breath lost all control and she slammed her head into his chest hard enough that he skipped one of his. Her legs tried to give her enough leverage to escape, but he pushed them into the wall.
There between Atlantis and the giant who held her, Sam let go of the last demons.
Somewhere above it all, Teyla drifted. It was easier than hyperspace travel. Since she'd fed on Carson, she thought about being somewhere, anywhere, and she appeared. Now her feet hung just above the dead soil of the deserted planet Earth. She'd seen it once in a vision, but this was almost better. If she still breathed, she could have shared the dying air.
The replicators had taken all the life from the planet and wasted it. Unlike her people who brought all life together, the replicators were wasting life; squandering it on their search for petty resources. Teyla let her hand take form and felt the hot soil beneath her fingertips. Reaching out with her mind she found her daughter's listening for her. Sending them on the search for the Replicators, she prepared to find their parents.
The Ancients knew she existed. They knew she had changed the rules of their little universe when she'd started to feed on the Ascended. Carson and Mab were both mistakes to them and Teyla wondered how they'd feel when she fed on beings they considered genuine.
Drawing on the collected strength of her people, Teyla expanded her thoughts beyond what she knew. The Ori pulsed in her mind like a sickness. Ascended beings who demanded the worship of their followers through fear and intimidation. It disgusted her when she thought of all the Wraith who had willingly gone to death so she could evolve.
Gods did not rule through fear and it was about time the Ori learned that lesson. Teyla would teach them what it really meant to be loved by one's people.
the tenth of the United States
one hundred ninety-three days after Earth
"The Ori and these new Replicators were both trying to destroy us," Bra'tac began as he stared around him at the glorious city before him. "We could find off the Replicators, but at the rate the Ori converted Jaffa we were lost."
"Then the Ori ceased to come," Teal'c added. "At first we thought they were regrouping, preparing a final assault. But they have simply ceased to come. The prior's ships left orbit of Jaffa worlds and returned through the super gate, which now lies idle in our space. We thought it might be a trick."
"Yes," Bra'tac retook the telling of their story. "We collected a fleet of the bravest Jaffa and dialed their super gate. With our minds contemplating our glorious deaths we flew into their galaxy." He paused and looked across the entire control room at the faces waiting for him to finish. "The Ori are gone. Their people are gone. Their entire galaxy is gone."
"The planets of it have been turned to dust. Entire systems are now nebulae instead," Teal'c finished as he looked at Jack in surprise. "I have never seen that kind of destruction. No weapons of Baal's, man or Jaffa did this."
"It was one woman," Ronon answered the silent question. "If Teyla fed on the Ori, how powerful would she be?"
Daniel removed his glasses. Vala looked like she'd be slapped across the face. Elizabeth looked to Jack for clarification, and Ronon realized that John and Rodney were both out of their league.
"She couldn't," Daniel whispered through whitening lips. "I mean, one person..."
"Hypothetically," Ronon added when he realized the archeologist was starting to understand. "If she could somehow swallow the power of all the Wraith beneath her, could she?"
"Ascension really isn't a how to book," Daniel complained as he put his glasses back on. "It's the next step in evolution for us. It's entirely possible that feeding on planets is the next step in their evolution."
"Okay, so, we just stay topside for awhile," John broke the tension and Ronon saw his hand grab Elizabeth's. "Stay away from any planets the Wraith would be tempted to eat."
"What about the replicators?" Elizabeth asked seriously. "How are your forces holding up against them?"
"With Atlantis and your ships with us, we will certainly defeat them," Bra'tac promised enthusiastically. "It will be a glorious battle."
Elizabeth managed to smile slightly but Ronon knew she was tired of battles. "Are we ready for that?"
Rodney and Sam shared a nod and to everyone's surprise, Sam smiled with real light in her eyes. "The city is operating beautifully. We've managed to enhance the sheilds of the Artemis and the Daedalus with Asgard technology. We're tapping into as much of the genetic resonance of the population as we can so we shouldn't drain our ZPMs much, if at all."
Rodney nodded and started to speak nearly before she was done. "We've managed to have the hologram talk us through a more complete survey of the the weapons systems. I think we can manage to have a few surprises for the Replicators."
"Colonel Sheppard, Colonel Mitchell and Major Lorne, you'll be our flight crew." Jack decided and the discussion became a real battle plan. "This is your dance Sheppard. Cam and Evan are going to be your wingmen and leading the Jaffa fighters, so you lead and they'll keep you from getting your ass shot up by the robots."
"And the civilians?" Elizabeth asked of Catherine Lorne who had taken a place behind her son.
"Are terrified at the prospect," Catherine replied with a trace of joviality. "But they're getting used to it. Atlantis truly is the safest place in the galaxy, wether or not it's in the middle of a battle."
Jack stared Elizabeth down across the table and the lowering of her eyebrow was a warning. "Imprimis isn't up to another assault, but it could be used to an escape vehicle in the final moments. Captain Herriman is going to wait just outside the system and jump in if we give the signal. That kind of distraction should give Atlantis enough time to jump to safety."
"Atlantis will be joining seventeen Ha'tak vessels currently commanded by the last of the Jaffa council," Teal'c explained in a rumbling tone. "It is possible Baal has realized that it is futile to fight this threat alone and joined them by now."
"What Teal'c is saying is that the coward has most certainly decided to hide behind the Jaffa," Bra'tac finished as he looked around the table and the faces he knew and the ones he was just starting to know.
"What about the Lucians?" Cameron looked up from the star chart on the wall and back at Teal'c. "They coming to the party?"
"They're scattered bullies, looking for smaller children to intimidate since Netan was captured," Bra'tac growled his distaste. "They would be of little use if they came."
Elizabeth looked from Jack to Petrov Zelenka, the civilian steward, and when what she saw in their eyes was agreement, she nodded. "We will make preparations and jump the city in two hours. You are all dismissed."
Vala ran to Teal'c to tell him all about the wedding. Daniel blushed but followed proudly as his old friend hugged him. Cameron and Evan were already discussing battle tactics. Ronon caressed his pistol and headed down the corridor towards the marine ready room. If Atlantis was boarded, he would see to it that every last Replicator died a horrible death. He was going to enjoy it.
John was still up in control, talking to Jack and Cameron as they finalized they're battle plans. Elizabeth relaxed down against the foot of the control chair and waited for him. After he pulled them into hyperspace they'd have a mere ten days of hyperspace travel ahead of them. Almost half the time of the it would have taken the Daedalus. In fact, Atlantis would be able to pull all the ships into their hyperspace wake and the entire fleet would descend as one.
Elizabeth ran her fingers lazily over the edge of the chair and wondered how that would look. Atlantis bursting out of the sky and all the little ships of their fleet surging out behind her. Bra'tac said the Asuran baseship was still leading the attack. How would John fare against the Asurans in the sky? Would the two ships dance around each other or just fire at each other until their weapons had scorched the skies?
"You picked a strange time to entire this world," she whispered down at her stomach. "It's kind of a mess right now, but most of the time it's so beautiful it takes your breath away." The metal of the chair was warm and Elizabeth remembered John's lesson in how to use it. It was going to be easier to share herself when the baby didn't get in the way but he'd been very patient. With the chaos of the last month, they probably would have just fallen into bed anyway, regardless of the baby.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried to picture what the baby was going to look like when John held it. He'd have that smile. The one that made his heart seem entirely transparent. Maybe they'd get lucky and the baby would arrive on the journey back to the Milky Way. They might get a day or so just to be parents before the world came crashing back at them.
She thought she heard something in the hall and got slowly to her feet. Elizabeth looked out across the maze of catwalks and watched the stars spin slowly outside the city. On the monitors inside the chair room, something appeared out of the corner of her eye and she watched in shock as it became a ship.
The Asuran city ship hung like a beautiful jewel in the sky and Elizabeth realized that Atlantis really was as lovely as she thought. The rest of it happened in slow motion. She watched the energy lance doorway. She was inside the chair room when the alarms started to scream. The shockwave of a blast hitting Atlantis threw her forward and nearly off her feet.
The pain from bracing herself on the chair lanced upward through her arms and the shaking of the city continued. Atlantis was still getting fired upon and though she felt the shield go up, Elizabeth didn't feel the city firing back. She reached for her radio, but it had fallen from her ear and was shattered on the floor. The door to the chair room had been sealed by the emergency systems and Elizabeth wondered if there might be empty space on the other side.
She was trapped, sealed in by safety system and unless John got ahold of the transporters on the Daedalus he wasn't going to be joining her anytime soon. The chair stared at her, as if it was waiting for her to take action and save the city. Elizabeth wasn't sure she could do it. The last time she'd been in the chair John had activated it. She didn't have enough of the gene.
The deck rocked again and Elizabeth decided she was less likely to lose her balance if she just sat down. Closing her eyes in a silent prayer she sat in the control chair and pushed it all the way back. Nothing happened. Well, almost nothing, like the jumper the chair flickered for a moment as if it was trying to obey.
Balling her hand into a fist, she slammed it down on the arm of the chair. The one time in this whole mess she actually needed to depend on the virus in her blood, it was failing her.
John wasn't coming. He could have been on his way when the ship was hit. He could be dead right now. Elizabeth shut her eyes and concentrated on the city. There had to be a way to punch through, make the whole damn thing work. If John was still alive, he wasn't going to survive the beating they were taking from the Asurans. None of them were going to live through that.
"Elizabeth?" The voice in the room was familiar.
She lifted her head and felt her stomach twist painfully in shock. "Teyla," her own voice was a prayer and a curse. It had been months since she'd seen the woman who had been her friend. In those months Teyla had becoming a glowing creature, part Wraith, part human and part goddess herself. Her hair floated above her shoulders, as if it wasn't bound by gravity any longer.
"Are you going to kill me?" she asked when the pain in her stomach let her speak again. Elizabeth could already feel the virus lancing through her system with the familiar sensation of fire. Her skin started to sweat and she could feel the beads on her forehead.
"I love you," Teyla whispered and her words reverberated through the room. "I loved Carson. I loved Michael and I will love you Elizabeth."
Elizabeth put up her hands as Teyla reached for her, but Teyla's mind was like a glorious tempest of power. Teyla leaned down, her hand poised just over Elizabeth's chest for a moment.
Elizabeth's life was summed up sensations. She felt a wet nose touch her hand and beg to be petted. She smelled her parents cooking dinner in the kitchen. She heard John's voice in her head. John's selfless, stubborn declaration of the love that had sank into her soul and refused to let go. Finally, she tasted fear and sickly sweetness of vomit in the moment Carson had told her she was pregnant.
She wasn't ready to die.
Teyla's lips touched her forehead and something exploded in her mind. Searing pain shot through every part of her body, from bones to skin and Elizabeth felt her throat grow raw from screaming she didn't hear.
"But, you must live first," Teyla's command cut through the delirium she was losing herself to.
Elizabeth pushed the chair back and sank into the cool computer systems of the city. Atlantis welcomed her with quiet joy and everything opened before her. She didn't know what Teyla had done and she forgot to care. Strengthening the shields, Elizabeth reached for the weapons systems and lashed out as hard as she could. One of the Asuran cruisers exploded immediately and she felt the Daedalus sneak behind her protection.
She felt like a child being asked to fire a gun, but she did the best she could. John said flying was instinct, feeling rather than thinking. Her whole life, Elizabeth had depended on her mind to save her. Now she had to put it aside.
She wanted to live.
She wanted to see John hold their baby; see the galaxies finally at peace after all these millennia of war.
More energy raged out from Atlantis, scathing the Asuran city ship and weakening their shields. They danced and she let her heart lead the city. She put John in her heart and felt him in her thoughts. She pulled the city into a dive that strained the internal dampeners and surprised the Asuran pilot enough that she managed to take out an entire section of their shields.
She felt the Asuran weapons fire on her shields, but she ignored it. Her shields were stronger. Much stronger than anything the Asurans had. Elizabeth felt invulnerable as a star. She turned the city in space, looking down over the Asuran's towers and balconies as she rained destruction down on them.
They were losing. Even with the element of surprise, the Asurans cruisers were falling to the Jaffa, the Hera, Artemis and Daedalus. Elation flooded her body, and for a moment Elizabeth remembered she was just a woman. Pain stabbed into her back and she remembered something else.
"She doesn't have enough of the gene, she can't be doing this," John nearly screamed at Rodney as they watched the Asurans cruisers blink out one by one.
"Well something's happening and she's the only person down there," Rodney snapped as his fingers flew over his controls. "The city's drawing more power than I've ever seen. Look at this, we're past what we should even be able to theoretically draw from a ZPM."
"What does that mean about Elizabeth?" John demanded as he ignored Rodney's readings. "Can you beam me down there? Can you get the either ship with a transporter to beam me down there?"
The control room was nearly deserted. Everyone was still preparing for a jump to hyperspace, and then the hull breaches had put the city into protective mode. Bulkheads were down everywhere. Jack was still on the Artemis saying goodbye. He hadn't seen Ronon. The whole city was a mess and Elizabeth was kicking the replicators to the other side of the galaxy.
"They're retreating!" Rodney's voice shattered his musing. "John, John look at that! They're actually retreating!"
"Just beam me down there," John nudged him aside and hit the comm controls himself. "Artemis?"
"You're not flying?" Sam's shocked voice replied. "I thought for sure that would be you, hot shot."
"I need you to beam me down there, Atlantis has-" John didn't get to finish when Rodney cut in.
"We're in full medical lockdown," Rodney realized suddenly. "It's not the bulkheads, there's a contaminant. A virus--"
"Sam, please," John begged.
"Beginning transport," Sam offered without waiting for anything else. If the virus was atmospheric, Elizabeth had to be... "Jack, we're going to need to help them out," Sam turned to her husband at the helm and ruffled her hair thoughtfully. "Put Walter in charge. I'm beaming to Atlantis."