Sparkly – I'm glad you liked the sparky in the last chapter, I'm glad I could finally write some serious sparky, I'm writing too much not established at the moment lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Lemons – I'm a firm believer that good things come to those who wait lol and I'm glad you enjoyed the huge amount of sparky in the last chapter. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Sotherngt – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Bite Beccy – I'm glad you liked the sparky and I'm sorry for almost making you cry twice, unfortunately this chapter is not going to be much better. Thanks for the review; I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Kuroima – People seemed to like the last part of that chapter lol, can't imagine why lol. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter; I hope you enjoy this one too, thanks for the review.
Steph – How can you be leaving me a review if you're not talking to me lol, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Saphire – I'm glad you liked the conversation between Taros and John as well as the little Ronon and Teyla scene. It's good to know the sparky scene turned out well, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Lia-finn – Sam has been a tough character to write which is weird since I used to be good at her lol. I'm glad she's coming across well and that you liked the final scene, thanks for the review.
Chapter 23
Three days had passed since he'd collapsed in his room and been brought to the infirmary, three days he'd clung to life even as he could feel it leaving his body a little bit at a time. He had to be sure that the people he was leaving behind, Elizabeth and Malar, were going to be okay. Malar was struggling to accept his new place in life but Taros felt certain that he would eventually learn to adjust. It was Elizabeth he was most worried about, she was a strong woman but everyone had their breaking point and she had endured so much already. Now she stood beside him, clutching his hand, her eyes betraying the fact that she was fighting a battle to hold back tears. Colonel Sheppard was stood besides her, lending her his support, his strength and he knew that she would be okay, that these people would make sure of it.
He had nothing left to give now, no strength left to hold him here and he finally felt that he was ready to let go. This was his time, he'd lived a long and full life, had been privileged enough to see this future, to meet these people. Somehow he pulled together enough of his energy to speak, knowing these would be his final words.
"Dr Beckett, thank you for everything you have done," he said quietly, feeling that the doctor wished he could have done more for him than stand by and watch him slip away.
"Aye," the doctor replied solemnly.
"Malar," he began, breathing as deeply as his failing lungs would allow him to. "You are a good man; do not let your arrogance cloud over that."
Malar didn't say anything only nodded his head but Taros knew the words would sink in later; it was up to him whether he chose to act on them.
"And Elizabeth," he continued "You are such a bright star in this galaxy," he told her affectionately, he'd grown very fond of the young woman, she seemed to embody all of humanity's best traits. "I know you have been through much recently but you are stronger than I think even you realise and you are surrounded by these wonderful people, believe in that, believe in them, and don't ever change."
He pushed back the wave of pain that overcame him, fighting to stay in this world just a little longer, just until he'd said what he had to say. He looked around the room, at Malar, at Elizabeth and Colonel Sheppard, at Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex, at Dr McKay, Dr Becket and even Colonel Carter who was stood in the background.
"All of you are such wonderful people, I feel privileged to have known you. You are all strong, caring people and as a group... you are unstoppable. You will all be so important to shaping the future of this galaxy and I can think of no better people than those standing in this room to do that," he told them all, pleased that the words had come out uninterrupted by the cold he could feel trying to take him.
Elizabeth tightened her hold on his hand and Malar put a hand on his shoulder. He struggled to draw his next few breaths, his body momentarily tried to protest and his mind took a moment to rebel against the knowledge that he was about die. His last breath was filled with pain and it was a relief when the pain faded, taking the world with it.
John found her on the balcony staring out at the ocean, exactly where he'd expected her to be. He walked up behind her, putting his arms around her waist and she tensed up for a moment before relaxing against him. Neither of them were used to this yet, this change to their relationship.
"I miss him already," she whispered as she leaned her head back on his shoulder.
"Yeah, it's funny, so do I and I didn't really even know the man," he told her and she smiled slightly. He knew how much Taros' death was hurting her and to make matters worse the IOA representative was about to arrive. Taros had only died that morning and she already had to deal with the IOA, though both Jack and Sam had told her she didn't need to be there for his arrival. She'd have to show her face, be polite and meet the guy but fortunately she wouldn't have to sit through his questioning until tomorrow, at least she'd have some time to grieve.
"How long until the IOA get here?" she asked as though she'd been reading his mind and John rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Should be any minute now," he told her and she sighed, she knew as well as he did that this was not going to be a friendly visit, she was going to have to fight for this city.
"You know that once they get here..." she began but trailed off.
He kissed her neck, tightening his arms around her waist. "I know, the last thing we need is the IOA finding out about 'us' right now."
They both stood there silently for several minutes, enjoying these last few moments where they didn't have to worry about the IOA seeing them. They heard the doors behind them open and John dropped his arms from around her waist as Elizabeth stood up straight.
"The IOA representative is here," they heard Rodney say and John turned around just in time to see the scientist retreating back through the door.
"Guess we should head inside," John said reluctantly, wishing he could stretch this moment on longer, hold them both here where nothing could touch them. Elizabeth nodded her head, moving to walk passed him but John grabbed her hand as she did so. She stopped, turning to look at him and he poured all the reassurance he could find into his gaze. She nodded her head again and took a deep breath as the two of them headed back into the city.
They went immediately to Sam's office where they could see Sam and Jack deep in conversation with a man whose back was to them. When they entered the room three sets of eyes turned to them.
"Dr Weir, Colonel Sheppard, this is Dr Mathews from the IOA," Sam introduced. The man was probably in his late forties, maybe early fifties; he had hard brown eyes that gave away nothing, no feelings, no thoughts, nothing. His gaze swept over Elizabeth, judging her before he extended his hand to her. Elizabeth took it without hesitation and John could clearly see the diplomat in place now, the woman who dealt with men like him everyday.
This was going to be a long few days.
"And that was where Colonel Sheppard and his team found you?" Dr Mathews questioned and Elizabeth nodded. She'd had to explain in ridiculous detail everything that had happened between rescuing the Ancients and that minute she'd walked into the briefing room today.
"Yes, they found me as Taros and I were leaving our negotiations," she replied.
"Taros being the Ancient that died yesterday?" Mathews said questioningly. Elizabeth felt an unwanted wave of emotions hit her; Taros' death was still a raw nerve for her. She glanced at Jack and Sam who were both sitting at the briefing table along with her and 'the rapidly becoming annoying' Dr Mathews. Neither of them looked particularly pleased by the last question and the cavalier, off hand way it had been said but they both kept quiet.
"Yes," was all the reply she could manage to give to the question. Mathews wrote something down on the paper, judging expression firmly in place as it had been for the last few hours.
"You've been around a lot of death recently," Mathews stated and Elizabeth stared at him, keeping everything she was feeling hidden behind a mask of calm. "It was you and your people that originally re-programmed the replicators, opening the doors for them to do it themselves. So, would that not make you indirectly responsible for the Asurans re-writing their programming and killing the Ancients?"
In all honesty she'd expected that question or something like it to come up at some point. "At the time it seemed like the only way to stop them but we have no way of knowing whether it was us that opened the door for them or not, it's entirely possible they would have found a way to change their base codes on their own."
"You're very close to some of the people here in Atlantis, Colonel Sheppard and his team among others?" Mathews asked.
"That's true," Elizabeth replied, there was no shame in that.
"So you must be glad that they weren't the ones here when the replicators attacked, that it was the Ancients in control of Atlantis instead?" he questioned and a flash of anger went through Elizabeth, both because of the question and because it was true.
"I'm glad they're not dead but I'm not glad the Ancients died in their place," Elizabeth replied, choosing her words carefully and forcing herself to remain calm. After everything that had happened over the last five months and Taros' death only yesterday, Elizabeth felt like a bomb waiting to go off, all she needed was something to trigger her off and she was fast approaching the limits of what she could handle.
"Come on Dr Weir, if the Ancients hadn't kicked your people out of the city then it would have been your friends that had been slaughtered instead of the Ancients, surely some part of you is glad that things happened the way they did," Mathews continued and Elizabeth felt something snap inside her. She opened her mouth to say something she knew she was going to regret later but fortunately Sam cut her off.
"Why don't we take a break, we've been here for almost three hours," Sam suggested "Unless of course that concludes your questioning Dr Mathews and we won't need to meet later," she added turning to Mathews.
The doctor stared at Sam for a moment "Actually, I have..." he began.
"Good, so if we're all done here we can finally go for lunch," Jack stated cheerfully but there was an undertone of seriousness to his voice and a slight warning.
"Very well then," Mathews said after a moment as he gathered up his papers and finally left the room.
John had spent most of the afternoon loitering outside the briefing room wishing he could be inside with Elizabeth and the others. He'd only gone to get something to eat, he'd barely been gone twenty
minutes and he'd missed the end of the meeting. Dr Mathews and Elizabeth had already left when he'd got back, Jack and Sam had still been in the briefing room talking.
John had quickly checked the balcony but Elizabeth hadn't been there so he headed to the next obvious place, her room. It had taken her a minute to answer and he'd taken a moment to study her, she seemed fine. She seemed too fine actually, considering a close friend had died yesterday and she's spent the last few hours being questioned by a man who was probably just looking for a reason to replace her.
"So, how'd it go?" he asked as she stepped back to let him into the room.
"It could have gone better," she replied and John got the distinct impression that she was just being nice. He looked at her expectantly and she stared at him for a moment before relenting and explaining further. "He was trying to push my buttons... and he did."
"What do you mean?" he questioned and she sighed as she sat down on the edge of her bed.
"He was asking things with the sole purpose of getting a reaction from me and I would have given him one if Colonel Carter hadn't stepped in," she told him, sounding annoyed with herself for rising to the bait Mathews had obviously been dangling in front of her. John found himself wanting to hurt the man, maybe dial the nearest Wraith occupied world and let the man loose there for a few hours, see how well he dealt with types of situations the people here faced on a daily basis. He was fairly sure Mathews, who had probably never faced anything truly dangerous and terrifying in his life would come out with emotional scars that made those gathered up by the expedition look like nothing.
"I shouldn't have let him get to me like that, I've made a career out of dealing with people like him, he shouldn't have been able to push my buttons that easily," Elizabeth continued getting more and more frustrated with herself.
"With everything that's going on it's understandable that you're a little off your game," he tried to tell her.
"No, it's not," she argued.
"Elizabeth," John began sitting next to her on the bed. "Your entire expedition team was kicked out of the city leaving you alone with the Ancients who were all killed when the Replicators attacked the city. You escaped the city and spent over three months living in a little farming village on an alien world where you lost three of the five ancients that escaped the city with you. Two of them were killed in a Wraith culling shortly before you discovered your people were back in the city. Yesterday the person you've been closest to through all of that died and now you're having to deal with the IOA," John summed up everything that had happened to her in the last five months, it sounded a lot worse when you strung it all together like that. "You're allowed to be a little stressed."
"The problem is the IOA won't see it that way," she said quietly, sighing again and leaning her head on his shoulder. John dropped a kiss on her head, taking her hand in his and they both stayed that way for several minutes until John's radio called for his attention. He tapped the ear piece and let Rodney ramble on about an experiment and his need of John's Ancient gene. He was tempted to tell
the scientist to find Lorne or Carson but figured he'd go help the scientist and drag Elizabeth with him, something to do would hopefully help get her mind off the IOA.
Malar walked down the corridor sending mild glares at the humans that passed him. They were walking around the city as though they owned the place, they didn't, this place belonged to his people and since he was all that was left of them it belonged to him.
"Mr Malar," a voice shouted and Malar stopped turning to see the annoying man that had come through the gate from earth heading toward him.
"Dr Mathews," he acknowledged putting just enough irritation into his voice to ensure the man knew he didn't like him.
"I'd just like to ask you a few questions," Mathews told him; Malar had spent the last couple of days refusing to sit down and be questioned by him. "It will only take a moment of your time."
"A moment too many," Malar replied and turned to walk away. Mathews stopped him, putting a hand on his arm which Malar moved away from and looked at Mathews. "What are these questions?"
"How are you settling back into Atlantis?" he asked.
"Fine."
"How are you getting along with the expedition members?"
"I don't socialise with them," Malar told him, keeping his answers as short and uninformative as possible.
"But when you do speak to them?"
"I've had no problems."
"You've spent the last few months with Dr Weir, what is your opinion of her?" Mathews asked, finally getting to the point. Malar actually thought about this answer, he didn't like Elizabeth but he had to admit, to himself at least, that the woman was probably one of the more competent humans he'd encountered. If Atlantis had to be controlled by these primitive beings he would rather it was her than someone like Dr Mathews in charge.
"Dr Weir is a very competent woman," he answered, it was as close to complimenting a human as he was ever going to get. "If you'll excuse me."
Malar walked away before Mathews could offer further protest of ask any more questions. He really didn't like humans.
The ocean was calm which seemed to be in such sharp contrast to her life, everything felt like it was spinning out of control. Elizabeth took a deep breath of ocean air, remembering once again how
much she'd missed it, how much she'd missed this balcony. The doors opened behind her and she knew immediately it wasn't John. She wasn't sure how she knew that but she knew.
She turned around seeing Jack walking to where she was stood by the railing. He stood there silently, staring at the ocean she so often tried to lose herself in. "I can see why you and Sheppard like it out here," he stated without looking at her.
"My favourite part of the city," she replied and Jack nodded.
"You've had an interesting few months," Jack said turning his gaze to her. "And they seem to be getting more interesting still."
There was a knowing tone to his voice that made Elizabeth slightly nervous. "The IOA do like to keep things interesting," she commented hoping he'd let whatever it was he knew drop, this was Jack however so no such luck.
"I think we both know what I'm talking about," Jack told her pointedly and Elizabeth looked down at the floor before looking back out at the ocean. "Sheppard's a good guy; he never gave up looking for you."
"He doesn't like to leave anyone out there, he's never stopped looking for Ford either, not really," she stated and Jack shook his head.
"Will you stop trying to talk around me," he said and Elizabeth finally met his gaze again. "Your secret's safe with me and you're right to keep it quiet, at least until the IOA are off your back."
"Thank you," Elizabeth replied not bothering to deny it anymore, she hadn't exactly admitted it either.
"As for Mathews, I don't think he'll be here much longer, another few days at the most," he assured her and there was a moment's silence before he spoke again. "I'm glad you're back."
Elizabeth nodded her head and they both stood there, staring into the distance. A few more days and Dr Mathews would have decided her fate, she'd know whether she was staying here in Atlantis or if he was sending her back to earth, she prayed for the former.
"She's unfit for command," Mathews repeated for the tenth time as the argument continued. He'd requested to see John, Jack and Sam to reveal his decision regarding Elizabeth which hadn't gone down well with anyone in the room.
"In what way is she unfit to command this city?" John questioned, his annoyance rising.
"She's still recovering from the emotional trauma of the last few months, she's short tempered and in all honesty her mental state is not looking good, it's entirely possible that she'll further deteriorate and we can't afford to have that happen in a crisis," Mathews explained.
"You're not a psychiatrist," Jack protested "Dr Heightmeyer has seen Elizabeth several times since she returned last week and if you bothered to read her report you'd know that she said Elizabeth was fine."
"Dr Heightmeyer is also a friend of Elizabeth's," Mathews continued.
"Are you saying she'd lie?" Sam asked her own annoyance becoming more obvious the longer this discussion went on.
"No, only that her opinion is biased," Mathews told them. "But even she said that Elizabeth will require a few more sessions with her."
"After everything she's been through, I'd be more worried if she didn't require a few sessions with a shrink," Jack stated.
"Still, it calls into question her mental state and as I've already said, we can't afford for her to mess up during a crisis," Mathews argument was getting kind of repetitive now.
"Dr Mathews," Sam began. "I've been in charge of Atlantis since Dr Weir's disappearance and I can tell you the city functions much better with her here. If you want the city functioning to its full capability you'll put Dr Weir back in charge. It doesn't have to be right away, it can wait until she's fully recovered but no one knows this city or its people better than she does."
John was rather impressed by Sam's argument and any doubt left in his mind about the Colonel and Jack's decision to bring her here was banished in an instant. From the look on Mathew's face he had been impressed as well and for several tense, awkward moments there was silence throughout the room.
"Very well, I am willing to give it six weeks, if she is capable of resuming command then she will be allowed to do so however if she isn't we will transfer her back to earth and have someone take command of the city on a permanent basis," Mathews compromised and once again there was silence around the room as everyone figured out whether they liked the idea or not. It was the best they were going to get though and if they continued to fight they might end up going backwards.
"That sounds reasonable," Jack agreed.
"I shall be returning to earth within the hour," Mathews told them and then left the room.
"Sheppard," Jack said "Perhaps you would like to go and inform Elizabeth since the good Dr decided not to invite her to this little meeting."
John nodded and left, tapping his ear piece to contact Elizabeth and find out where she was. Her voice told him she was in her quarters and he made his way there. She looked slightly nervous when she opened the door and he figured she must have found out about the meeting.
"What did Mathews want?" she asked him as she stepped back to let him into the room, nothing like getting straight to the point.
"He reached a decision... about you," John told her and she looked at him expectantly, nervously. "You're staying in Atlantis, you have six weeks to recover from everything that's happened and if they feel you're up to it then, you'll be given the city back."
"The four of you were in the office for ages, what took so long?" she questioned, nervousness still not gone.
John hesitated a moment before replying "Mathews had actually ruled you unfit for command, you were supposed to go back to earth in the next few days, we changed his mind, actually it was mostly Carter."
Elizabeth nodded her head slowly "But I'm staying for now?" she questioned.
"If we have anything to say about it," he began, and by 'we' he really meant the majority of people in Atlantis. "You'll be staying for good."
TBC