Chapter 12: Travellers II
Back in their new reality, Elizabeth was walking John through the corridors of Atlantis. They seemed much fuller then he remembered and he wondered just how many refugees the Elizabeth before him had taken in.
"We thought, well hoped really, that you two might be alive still. Despite the fact that Kolya's base was attacked by the Wraith" Elizabeth began slowly, not meeting his eyes.
"Well, Rodney was telling me that when Dr. Carter came through to the SGC from an alternate reality she felt the effects of having two Carter's in a single reality right away." John answered, still trying to grasp the fact that he wasn't in his home- even though it looked like his home.
"Yes," Elizabeth answered with a nod. "Something like that happened in our SGC as well."
"So there might be a chance that your John is still alive." He pointed out optimistically, knowing that the woman before him wasn't the same Elizabeth that he knew. The woman before him was not a leader- but a fiancée mourning the loss of her beloved.
"Maybe..."
"This must be really hard for you." John stated after a moment of silence
"Oh John you have no idea..." Elizabeth began her voice trailing off. He could see that there were tears in her eyes and he wished that she could be as strong as his Elizabeth.
"...Sorry." Rodney interrupted as they rounded a corner. "But John, we need to get back down to that lab."
"Why?" Elizabeth asked looking up- the tears suddenly gone.
"Well Ronan just experienced a flash of 'entropic cascade failure." Rodney answered, his voice bordering on panic. "That means that his double in this reality is still here."
"And what about ours?" Elizabeth asked hopefully. "Are our John and our Rodney here in our reality somewhere?"
"Well I think that it must have something to do with proximity, but I don't really want to find out-" Rodney answered sarcastically as he looked towards John. "-do you?"
"No." John answered honestly shaking his head. "I'm sorry Dr. Weir---- Elizabeth---- but the sooner we're out of here the better."
"I understand." Elizabeth answered with a small nod. "This isn't your home."
"No." Rodney agreed. "It's not."
"I'll give you all the help you can want."
"Thank you Elizabeth." John thanked as he followed Rodney to the lab in the bowls of the city.
'And I can only hope-' Elizabeth wished silently as the two of them wandered out of sight. '-I can only hope that our Rodney and my beloved John is still out there somewhere. And while I'm sure it will cause you pain, I hope that I find out.'
oOo
"Relax." Zelenka ordered as he watched Elizabeth wring her hands in frustration.
"How can I relax when my people are out there in an alternate reality!?" She snapped angrily. "How can I possibly relax when every bone in my body wishes that I was out there with Major Lorne and his team looking for them...?" Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I don't do well with waiting."
oOo
"Major Lorne?" John asked as Lorne and his team stepped through into another reality.
"Colonel?" Lorne asked tentatively as he took a step forward.
"No Major." John answered and Lorne simply sighed.
"Okay, this isn't our reality either."
"What?" John asked but Lorne had already turned the dial again.
"We're searching for our people." He answered as a white light began to fill the room. "Their missing..."
'And hopefully we will find them.' He added to himself silently.
oOo
"Well this is getting tiring." Laura stated with a sigh as they appeared in yet another lab. It looked the same as all the others- and it was hard to tell if they were in their own reality or not. Though Lorne did know the difference.
"I wish that we could find them." He stated with a sigh when suddenly water began to rush in. "Oh no-"
oOo
Elizabeth paced around her office, knowing full well that Carson was looking on with worry and concern in his eyes.
"Lass you're just going to have to face facts," He began but Elizabeth cut him off.
"I don't want to face facts Carson." She snapped still pacing. "I can't face facts..."
"They may be dead in this reality." Carson stated bluntly causing Elizabeth to wince.
"Maybe not-" She argued, holding on to all her hope. "Rodney said-"
"Rodney has been wrong before." Carson pointed out and Elizabeth had to agree with that statement at least. " Elizabeth-" Carson began again but Elizabeth merely shook her head.
"No!" She exclaimed as she whirled to face Carson dead on. "I refuse to believe that my fiancée is dead. I refuse to believe it!"
oOo
Meanwhile, a flash of white light let Lorne and his team into another reality.
"I guess the expedition never arrived in that reality." He murmured to himself not noticing the people around him
"Major Lorne?"
"Dr. Weir?" Lorne asked, noticing that Elizabeth was standing on her own two legs and her hair was cropped short to her head.
"I don't think that this is our reality sir." Laura whispered and Lorne was inclined to agree.
"Ma'am, have you seen Ronan, Rodney or Colonel Sheppard recently?" He asked, hoping that maybe their people were in this reality.
"Colonel Sheppard is dead." Elizabeth answered with remorse in her voice. "He along with the rest of his team died at Michael's hands."
"Oh well, that didn't happen to our men." Lorne stated with a sigh of his own.
"Then they are not here." Elizabeth answered coldly with a shake of her head.
"Then we'll just leave." Lorne suggested as he turned the dial one more notch to the right- horrified to see that they hadn't even come close to the one o'clock position yet.
"Major," Elizabeth began her voice softer. "I'm sorry."
"So am I ma'am."
And with that, they were gone.
oOo
Elizabeth couldn't stand it. Not only couldn't she go out into the vast alternate realities to find her people- she couldn't even pace. Instead she made do with rolling her wheelchair from one end to the lab to another and Zelenka felt as though he had to say something, anything to keep her calm.
"For what it's worth..." He began shakily, pausing as Elizabeth turned towards him with a stone face. "I'm sure that they're alright."
oOo
"I thought I might find you out here." John whispered as he stepped onto the balcony of Atlantis. It was night, and he was surprised to see that the stars were the same as he remembered. Clearly this Atlantis was still on 'Old Lantia' and that thought comforted him slightly.
"How are the repairs going?" Elizabeth asked softly, not tearing her gaze away from the ocean. "I heard that Rodney just got the lab cleaned up so can I assume that things aren't going well?"
"You can assume that." John agreed as he leaned onto the railing of the balcony. "Poor Rodney, he's trying to fix the damaged circuits but he doesn't really know what he's doing."
"When does he ever...?" Elizabeth asked with a small sigh, letting silence descend upon them.
John broke the silence first. "...listen, I'm sorry."
Elizabeth turned to look at him and was shocked by what she saw- for a moment she saw a flicker of her John inside this stranger before her. And she struggled to hold on to her emotions.
'How can this be so hard?' She thought painfully to herself. 'When I know that he isn't mine...'
A/N- Hello beloved readers. Here's a present for you all. Thank you to Gingercake and dear Anuna for reviewing the last chapter. I hope that the two of you (and more) will review this chapter and if I get over 45 reviews I'll post the next chapter ASAP (maybe even as soon as tomorrow) grins