Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money off of doing this. This is simply for fun.
Spoiler Alert!
Note: Although I haven't seen Lost Tribe yet, I knew from the photos from gateworld what was about to happen. The Photo where in she was talking to him in the hallway of the Daedalus was revealing (at least to me), she wasn't wearing the leather jacket she wore during the 'fight scenes', her face just said something. And I was disappointed. I was gone for 16 days... so I missed three episodes. Although they're in my DVR, I haven't touched a single one. But as I was reading some of the Gateworld spoilers I realized something. I am still hopeful: You know in The Last Man? When Sheppard was told by Rodney the Hologram that Ronon left Atlantis coz he felt that there was nothing left for him, and Rodney and Jennifer ended up together. I am still hoping, with Sheppard changing the future, Jennifer still might realize the mistake she's made. I've seen the photos of Enemy at the Gate. It's upsetting, yes... but we still have the movies to look forward to. But if not... if our shippy hearts are actually broken, let's just be thankful that we have fanfiction and that we have wild imaginations to keep us going.:) I'm still contemplating whether or not to continue watching Stargate Atlantis... that's how disappointed I am.
Present Day (Wednesday, December 24th, 2008, Emmagan Residence):
"Here we are baby!" Teyla says to her son, Torren, as she pulls up into her Parents' driveway. Stepping out of her car, she opens the door to the back seat to take Torren out of his car seat. Lifting him up in her arms, she looks at the huge Santa Barbara style house. Walking up to the front door, she rings the doorbell. Anita, the housekeeper opens the door.
"Teyla, you're home!" Anita exclaims as she cups Teyla's face with her hands. "Oh and Torren. How much you have grown!" Taking Torren from his mother's arms. Fussing over him and pulling Teyla inside the house, she calls over her shoulders towards the kitchen "Ernest! Teyla is here! Would you go get their things in her car." Sounding more of a command than a request, which is not unusual of the bossy housekeeper who has been working for the Emmagan household since Teyla was born.
Teyla hands her keys to their long time gardener/driver, and then gives him a hug. "How have you been Ernest?' Teyla asks him as she pulls away.
"Very good miss Teyla." He's always called her miss out of respect for her, not unlike Anita. But he held the same affection for her as anyone else. She had always been a very kind and caring child. Her parents raised her to be that way. To love and respect people, no matter who they are or what they do. And people had loved and respected the Emmagans for that.
"That's good to hear. Let's catch up later okay?" She says to the older man. He nods only as he turns to leave to get her things.
Teyla catches up with Anita who is already carrying Torren through the great room and towards the big sliding doors leading out to the backyard and pool. At the far corner of the property she eyes the Casita. That pool house held so many memories. One in particular was the day before graduation. Shaking her head, she turns to see her parents having tea by the pool. They're beaming as they get up from their seats. Her mother's arms outstretched towards her grandson. Her father right behind her. As Anita releases Torren into her mother's arms she spreads tiny kisses on both his cheeks, making torrent scrunch his nose. Her father bends down a bit to look at his grandson. "Hey there squirt!" He says as he pinches his nose.
"Papa!" Torren screams as he pinches his grandfather's nose in turn with both his tiny hands.
"Sweetie, you have teeth!" Teyla's mother exclaims when Torren opens his mouth to laugh.
"Yes, he just got them a few months ago." Teyla tells her mother.
Her father straightens up and walks to her, enveloping her in his arms. "Welcome home honey."
"Father." Teyla says as she hugs him back. Her father is a big man, while she is like her mother who is petite. Her mother turns towards her and hugs her, Torren in between. Kissing her cheeks, she looks at her daughter, her eyes reflecteng her own. Sad eyes.
"My baby..." She says wistfully, tilting her head to the side. "We need to talk later, okay?"
"Yes mother." Teyla agrees.
Settling back down, Anita comes out with some scones and strawberries and sets them on the table. Teyla's mother thanks her then turns back to Teyla. "Elizabeth arrived yesterday, with her husband. Such a handsome man."
"Oh she did?"
"Yes, that's why we need to have a talk my dear." Her mother says as Torren breaks from her grip stretching his arms out towards his grandfather, he obliges and takes him from his wife and settling him on his lap.
"I'm assuming you know about the wedding then." Teyla guesses.
"Yes Lily and Simon Ko told me about it."
Teyla nods then says. "Well it was going to happen sooner or later anyway."
X
Later that evening, The Weirs walked to their next door neighbor's, The Emmagans, house. The Weirs and Emmagans have been neighbors for several years. And it had become tradition for the Emmagans to hold the Christmas Eve dinners, especially since, Teyla's relatives from all over come to visit. Ringing the doorbell, they are greeted by Anita. She ushers them inside and into the great room. Teyla's relatives have already arrived. Elizabeth stifles a laugh when she sees Teyla's young cousin, Jinto, trying to steal a sip form an abandoned wine glass. Looking around the room she sees Teyla by the fireplace talking to one of her aunts. Elizabeth turns to her husband, Mike. "I'm gonna go over to Teyla, okay hun." Mike just nods then heads to the bar.
Teyla looks up to see Elizabeth approaching. Smiling wide she excuses herself then walks to Elizabeth. Hugging the taller woman, she says "Elizabeth, I missed you! How have you been?"
"Very good. And you?" She asks in turn. "You look amazing. I have to really start doing yoga."
"Well thank you. But you look great too." Teyla says with a knowing smile. "Something you want to tell me?"
Grabbing her hand, Elizabeth leads Teyla out onto the patio. Turning to face her, she takes one look inside to look for her husbands face. He's watching her. She smiles big and he smiles back. "We just found out a week ago. We've been tr..."
"Oh my god!" Teyla squeals and then hugs Elizabeth. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Elizabeth replies happily. "We've been trying for three years now. We've done everything we could. We've even done In vitro. But when that didn't work... well, we decided a couple of months ago that maybe we could just adopt. But then all of a sudden..." She falters "It just happened." Teyla covers her mouth with both hands, her eyes smiling, then hugs her again. "I'm a little bit nervous though. Mike and I never had younger brothers or sisters, so this is all new to us."
"Oh! Don't say that." Teyla says as she gently backhands Elizabeth on the shoulder. "You'll be a great mom."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Teyla tells her confidently. "And Mike we'll be a wonderful dad. God I'm so happy for you!" Elizabeth looks through the glass sliding doors again, gazing lovingly at Mike. "Wow." Teyla begins to say as she turns around to look at him too. "Did you ever even think that you would be having a baby with him back then?"
"No not at all. I always thought that Simon and I would actually end up together."
"Yeah, who would've thought that you would end up with your number one rival?"
Flashback to Prom Night (May 2000):
Elizabeth is standing by the buffet table that's being cleared away by the catering crew, quietly having an argument with Simon, her boyfriend. "What do you mean 'you've decided not to go to Harvard'?" Elizabeth asks him incredulously. "This was our plan. What changed your mind."
"I just think that Harvard really isn't for me. I've decided that I want to go to Cornell." Simon tells her.
"Okay. fine then. It's okay, Boston and New York, that's two hours. So I guess we can still see each other in the weekends." Elizabeth says, mostly to herself. Simon is just silently looking at her. "Anyway, we can always talk about that later." Then looking up at him, smiling, she says "I just had my fitting for my dress that I'm wearing to your prom next week."
Simon pulls at his collar, obviously uncomfortable. "Uh, about that..."
"What?" Elizabeth prods, getting nurvous by the second.
"I'm really sorry Elizabeth, but... I - I don't know how to say this without..."
"Just say it." Elizabeth hisses, already knowing what he was about to say.
"I'm not taking you to my prom anymore." He says quickly.
Elizabeth pales. Looking down at her pretty blue dress, she clenches her fists at her sides. "Who is it?" She asks without looking up. Other students are already leaving the ballroom. People are passing them by, curious looks thrown their way. "Do I know her? Is she from Asura?"
"No." He answers. "I met her during spring break."
"You've been cheating on me for three months?!" Her voice louder a bit, attracting quite a few people. From the corner of her eye, she can actually see someone standing to her left watching them intently. She doesn't care who can hear them now. She's determined to get to the bottom of this.
"No, no. It's not like that. I met her in Spring break but nothing happened. We hung out a lot, but I promise you, nothing happened." Simon explains frantically.
"So, what, you were like just buddy-buddies?" Not waiting for an answer she asks her next question. "So what the hell happened? What changed?"
"We've been chatting online a lot. And well... it's just that we connected. And we're so alike and..."
"Oh save me the bullshit!" Elizabeth cuts him off. "Just go! Go! Go home!"
"I'll take you home, Lizzie." He tells her as he grabs her arm. Elizabeth sees that the person watching them is actually Mike Branton, who is already getting ready to charge towards the pair, most likely to pull her away from Simon.
Not wanting to cause a bigger scene she turns around and pulls her arm back. "No I can ride with someone else. And don't you ever call me Lizzie again!" With that she runs outside the ballroom, looking for her friends. They're nowhere to be found. She assumes they're already on their way to the post-prom party. Unfortunately, the party is at her house. One of Atlantis old traditions is that post-prom parties are held at the student body president's house. As she walks to the parking lot to ask anybody for a ride, Mike Branton comes up behind her.
"Need a ride, Weir?" He asks her. Elizabeth turns around to look at him. Her eyes are red. His eyes full of concern.
"What about your date?" She asks him, blinking back tears that are threatening to fall.
"She's busy." He says, nodding towards the direction of a couple kissing by a lamp post.
"Oh." She says, still looking at the kissing couple. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He tells her. She turns to look at him again and sees that he's smiling at her. "Come on." He says. "You can't be late for a party you're throwing." Tugging her hand. She follows him to his Jeep Wrangler. She always sees his Jeep parked by the library with its cover down. Tonight is no different. She's surprised a bit at how gentlemanly he is as he opens the passenger door for her and helping her up. "Oh wait." He says. "Lean forward a bit." Shrugging his coat off he sets it on her shoulders. "Its gonna get a bit chilly." He simply says. As he walks around the front of the car to get to his seat, Elizabeth is a bit confused as to his behavior.
She and Mike have always been rivals. They've known each other since pre-school and always ended up fighting one another. Even in high school they were always competing against each other, this school year especially. The debate for the student body presidential election had to be put to a stop because they were standing toe to toe already. But tonight he was different. He was acting really strange and she didn't know what to make of it.
As they drive to her house they're both silent. Her thoughts running here and there. She's trying to make sense of what just happened to her and Simon but thoughts about Mike's gallantry just keep creeping up on her. Finally, slowly and carefully she steals a glance at him. Only it's not a glance anymore, from the corner of her eye she peruses him. As if reading her mind he turns in time to catch her staring at him. Elizabeth blushes then looks back at the side mirror.
"You okay?" He finally asks her. Without looking at him she nods her head quickly. So he continues driving in silence until they reach her house.
X
Her house is already filled with people. The party taken out in the backyard by the pool. It wasn't crazy, but it was loud. Some girls have already taken their shoes off to dip their feet in the water. Some grouped together. Others dancing by the gazebo. She sees John, Evan and Ronon setting up for poker. She walks over to them with Mike at her heels. "Hey guys."
Evan smiles and says "Hey Lizzie!"
"Where are Teyla and Kate?" She asks.
"Inside, I think." John answers. "They said something about food."
"Okay. Thanks." Then turning back to Mike. "Mike, Thanks for the ride." Then she hands him his coat and walks off to go inside.
As she leaves, John looks up at Mike, his eyebrows raised, he asks "Where'd Simon go?"
Shrugging. "Home probably."
John nods at this "Figures." and then asks him "Care to join us?"
Mike nods his head and pulls a chair to sit at the table.
X
After talking with Teyla and Kate, Elizabeth is walking around randomly talking to people she passes. She was in the middle of a conversation when a fight breaks out. She's trying to push her way through. But the crowd's too thick, almost getting crushed herself. Luckily, Mike pulls her back against him. "What's going on?" She asks him, noticing that he's more than half a foot taller than almost everyone.
Straining his neck to watch he says. "Just a fight. It's okay, John and Ronon broke it up."
"Who were fighting?"
"I dunno, they're all on the ground." Taking her hand, he pulls her away from the dispersing crowd. Somehow he managed to steer her to a secluded spot in the garden by the fountain. They both sit down. Then he asks her. "Feel better?" He asks her as he rubs her back.
She nods slightly. Then looks at him "I think so." Pointing to her swollen eyes she says "Cried my eyes out." He just smiles at her. Looking back down at her lap she tells him "Thanks, Mike. Really. For the ride and... tonight. I know you were there. I saw you watching us." Then turning to face him. "I saw how you reacted when he grabbed my arm. Thanks. I really appreciate what you've done for me tonight."
"Hey, no biggie." He says to her, and then adding "Besides, I'm the only one who has the right to make you hiss and stare me down. To pull your pigtails like I did when we were in kindergarten. To put frogs in your lunchbag. And to make you angry."
"And to make me cry?" She asks with a grin.
"No! Never to make you cry. No one ever has the right to make you cry." He tells her solemnly.
"You never made me cry all those times you played tricks on me." She said.
"And that's why I have the right to make you angry at me." He tells her. Making her laugh. "You're gonna be okay Elizabeth." He tells her as he gets up, offering his hand.
Back to the Present:
"God, Elizabeth. You are so lucky!" Teyla tells her wistfully.
"Hey, you're happy aren't you?"
"Yes, but not like you."
"John and Nancy broke up." She tells her. "You know that he's always loved you, right?"
"I dunno Elizabeth. But I'm hoping at the wedding that we could at least talk." Teyla says. At that very moment, Torren comes rushing out, crashing against Teyla's leg. "Hello baby." She says to him as she picks him up.
"Is that you Torren? Come to Auntie Lizzie." She says as she holds out her arms. "Then turning to Teyla she says "Last time I saw him he was still in a crib and he hardly had a nose." Gently nudging his chubby chin to look up at her. As he finally looks at her, Elizabeth's eyes widen.
TBC.