sga_flashfic | Things Never Really Change by mhalachaiswords (Earthside Challenge)

mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com posting in

Things Never Really Change
The Earthside Challenge

Rating: PG
Characters: Elizabeth Weir, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett
Genre: Gen, friendship
Setting: Between Season two's "Siege III" and "Intruder"
Word count:: 2,436

~*~

Elizabeth found them slouched around a table in the SGC commissary. Carson had his nose buried in a medical magazine, and while Rodney tapped on his datapad all the enthusiasm of a squirrel in a peanut factory, Sheppard ate and ate and ate.

She had seen this scene played out on a hundred mornings at Atlantis. All it was missing was Teyla's quiet presence, and Lt. Ford...

Elizabeth shook her head. That was one thing she'd never see again.

Sheppard looked up to raise an eyebrow at her. "You going to stand around all day?" he asked in his lazy drawl. He kicked at the empty chair next to Rodney. "Sit. Eat."

"We do have food back in Atlantis, you know," she pointed out as she slid into the offered chair. "With the Daedalus bringing supplies, we'll be back to normal rations."

"Including coffee, I hope," Rodney interjected without looking up. "If I have to deal with another Wraith attack without any coffee--" His head popped up, interrupting himself. "You don't think the Wraith attacked again?"

"No, Rodney, I don't," Elizabeth assured him. He still wasn't back to normal, from the desperate week-long binge of no sleep and too many of Carson's stimulants. In her mind, Rodney deserved a little slack. He had spearheaded the drive to do the impossible; saving Atlantis from the Wraith. "If the Wraith do attack, the command team at Atlantis will dial the SGC and let us know."

"Besides," Sheppard said. "We're leaving on the Daedalus tomorrow, and we'll be home in eighteen days. Zelenka and Teyla can hold out that long."

"Huh." Rodney stared into space for a moment, then went back to his datapad.

Sheppard rolled his eyes, making Elizabeth stifle a smile She wondered if he realized what he'd just said, about Atlantis being home. He was lucky. He could go home again.

For over a year, Elizabeth had wanted to come home, to see Simon, to have things be the way they used to be. Never did she dream that he would have moved on with his life, finding someone new to replace her.

She buried that betrayal deep, never let any of Atlantis expedition team or anyone in the SGC see that she was hurting. She needed to act like the leader in front of the Generals and the Air Force and her people, and leaders of intergalactic missions weren't dumped for blonde twenty-five-year-old surgical interns.

But there was no time for this. "Carson?" she said, drawing the doctor's eyes away from his journal. "Are you all ready to leave?"

"I am," he said. "Everything's ready, all the new team members have had their physicals."

"Do you have any plans?"

"No, just reading these here journals," he said. "Why?"

She smiled. "You're going to have to delay that reading until we're on the way back to Atlantis," she told him. His face fell, and she reveled in what she was about to say. "Is there anyone who can put you up in Scotland overnight?"

He blinked at her, rather owlishly.

She leaned forward. "The Daedalus is already in orbit. It can beam you up to the ship, then down to your mother's house for a day. We can pick you up just before we leave."

"I-- Really?"

Oh, that amazed look on his face was worth the painful days of arguing with General Landry and Colonel Caldwell. "Yes, really." She felt her smile growing wider. "Go visit your mother."

Carson jumped out of his chair. "When? My things are packed, but--"

"We'll get your stuff on the Daedalus, Doc," Sheppard said.

"The Daedalus will be transporting you up in fifteen minutes from the Gateroom," Elizabeth added. "It's the least we could do."

"Oh, thank you lass," Carson exclaimed, forgetting that they were the same age. He pushed his hair back, making it even messier. "How do I look?"

"You look fine," Elizabeth assured him. "Enjoy yourself."

For a moment, Elizabeth thought Carson was going to try to hug her, but then he stepped back and headed for the door.

"See you tomorrow!" Sheppard called after the doctor. "And say hi to your mom for us!" The door banged shut behind Carson as Sheppard turned to Elizabeth and Rodney. He gave her a look. "So is that what you were talking with Landry about last night?"

The picture of innocence, Elizabeth said, "I don't know what you mean."

"Uh huh." Sheppard smirked at her. "That was a really nice thing to do."

"Everyone should have a chance to see family," she said, resisting the urge to duck her head. "Excuse me."

Going through the familiar motions of getting a cup of coffee calmed Elizabeth's nerves. She returned to the table composed.

Sheppard had pushed aside his cereal bowl and was halfway through a slice of pumpkin pie. When Elizabeth sat down again, he made a circle in the air with his fork.

"Incoming wormhole?" she guessed.

He swallowed. "No, we should go out and do something today, the three of us. One last hurrah, or as close as we can get in Colorado Springs."

Elizabeth could think of a million things she had to do before they left for Atlantis, including reviewing the personnel files again, sorting out the supply forms, composing letters... "Such as?"

"Oh, I don't know," Sheppard said with deliberate ease. "We could get lunch in town, as a bit of a celebration."

His choir-boy expression wasn't fooling her. "Celebrate what?" she asked, putting a frown on her face. "Surviving the Wraith attack?"

"Oh, god, please don't encourage him," Rodney grumbled, dropping the datapad on the table. "Ever since he got that promotion, he brings it up every single time I talk to him."

"Maybe because you keep calling me Major."

"Well, you certainly are a major pain in my--"

"Gentlemen," Elizabeth said serenely. "I'll meet you at the doors on level 20 in twenty minutes." She stood up. "Don't be late."

Rodney went back to his grumbling, and Sheppard threw her a cocky half-salute as she left.

No matter how far she got from Atlantis, some things never changed.

~~~

Sheppard took the ice cream bar from the vendor. While frowning down at his money, he called over his shoulder to Elizabeth and Rodney, "You guys want any?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "We've been eating for two hours," she said as John finally pulled out the right bill.

"There's always room for ice cream," John said. He took the handful of change the ice cream vendor gave him and shoved it into a pocket in his jeans.

"Did they serve you ice cream at McMurdo?" Rodney asked. It was such an odd question that Elizabeth looked at him. He had his right hand at his side, surveying the park full of children and families. He'd never done that before, in all the time Elizabeth had known him.

Comprehension came to her in a blinding flash. Rodney had his hand ready to pull his absent gun, from the holster he'd left at the SGC. He was scanning the crowd for threats. It was so unlike the old Rodney. It was a soldier's action, one of Sheppard's actions. He couldn't have realized he was doing it.

In the space of time it took for her view of Rodney McKay to be rewritten, Sheppard unwrapped his ice cream bar. "Let's go sit down," he said quietly.

Without waiting for a response, Sheppard led the way to a clear bench by the path. Rodney followed, asking Elizabeth about laser equipment for the labs, but never looking at her.

They're not treating this as a trip home, Elizabeth thought. This is another off-world mission to them.

She wanted to ask them if they missed the way things used to be, before they left Earth. Before the Wraith. But she couldn't find those words, wasn't even sure she wanted to acknowledge it to herself.

Instead, she hugged her arms around her waist and wanted to be back in Atlantis, where all of this would be normal.

"Elizabeth?"

She pulled herself back. "Yes, Rodney?"

"She means no, Rodney," Sheppard cut in. "We're not going to run past the video store."

"But Battlestar Galactica--"

"Suck it up, McKay." Between Elizabeth and Rodney, Sheppard slumped down on the bench in his worn jeans and a borrowed t-shirt, looking the utter opposite of an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and military commanding officer of an alien city in another galaxy. "The geeks back on-- back at the city, can requisition the DVDs the normal way."

Elizabeth shifted around on the bench and raised an eyebrow at Sheppard. "Did you just tell Rodney to go through the proper military requisition supply chain?"

Sheppard's face went blank as Rodney rolled his eyes. "Elizabeth," Rodney said, literally going over Sheppard's head, "Think of the good this could do for morale for the science teams, to have a touch of the familiar in a distant setting."

"I have to admit, Rodney, I'm surprised at the sudden emergence of your altruistic side," Elizabeth said dryly.

Rodney tried his best to look modest. "You said it yourself, we need to consider the needs of all members of the expedition."

"If I recall, I said that after you reduced Dr. Small to tears," Elizabeth said. From the depths of his ice cream bar, Sheppard snorted. "But you do have a point."

"I do?"

"He does?"

"He does." Elizabeth stood up. "Some new entertainment might do a world of good for morale."

Sheppard licked a last dribble of melting ice cream off his finger. "Now who's encouraging who?"

"Shut up," Rodney ordered, bouncing to his feet. "Let's go."

Sheppard unfolded himself. "Fine."

Rodney wandered ahead, leaving Elizabeth and Sheppard to walk down the path, skirting mothers with baby carriages, joggers, dog-walkers, all the people that a warm summer day brought out in Colorado Springs. No one seemed to have a purpose. It was so different from Atlantis that a wave of homesickness washed over Elizabeth.

She missed her people and her city.

After a minute, Sheppard sighed. "What?" Elizabeth asked.

"They don't know," Sheppard murmured. "What's out there, what could happen if the..." He trailed off, unwilling to name the Wraith. "This must have been how General O'Neill felt all these years."

"How everyone at the Mountain feels," Elizabeth corrected. "No one is in this for the glory, we're doing it because it's the right thing to do."

She felt the weight of his gaze on her. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked, watching Rodney as he stopped to buy a newspaper.

"Be so damned idealistic all the time?"

She didn't feel idealistic. She felt weary and worried and tired of not being the one in charge. "Things aren't always so simple."

"Oh, I know." Sheppard stepped ahead of her, hands in his pockets. "There's nothing simple about it."

With that cryptic remark, he sped up to join Rodney, leaving Elizabeth to wonder what the hell he meant.

~~~

Colonel Caldwell's voice sounded over the ship's intercom. "All hands, prepare to leave orbit."

Elizabeth straightened her jacket one last time, glad beyond measure to be back in her Atlantis uniform, the comfortable red shirt and broken-in grey pants. She hurried to the port windows, to get one last look at Earth.

The calm planet drifted silently in space, blue and green beneath white clouds. It looked so small and so large at the same time.

"They all look a bit like that," Sheppard said. She hadn't even heard him come over. "From orbit. Just sitting there, all big and... round." He leaned against the wall. "Have you ever seen the planet from orbit?"

"You mean Atlantis?" Elizabeth turned away as the Daedalus made the leap to hyperspace. "No, I haven't."

Sheppard grinned. "Well, if Zelenka and Major Lorne haven't blown up the city by the time we get back, we'll go for a spin, what do you say?"

"I can't help but think we have a lot to do when we get back," Elizabeth said. "Don't you have a few dozen Marines to settle in?"

Sheppard waved that away. "They're tough. They'll last." He looked over Elizabeth’s shoulder. "Or maybe the good doctor can take you up."

Becket walked into the room, steadying a carry-on bag on his shoulder. "Take who up where?"

"Take Dr. Weir up in a Puddlejumper to see Atlantis from orbit."

Carson's eyes went wide. "What? Into space? Are you out of your bloody mind? There's no frosty way in hell I'm piloting one of those things into space."

"But it's fun," Sheppard goaded.

"Ha bloody ha," Carson snapped. "Just for that, you're not getting any tea." He set his bag on a table and flipped open the top.

"Your visit worked out fine?" Elizabeth asked. The smell of fresh baking wafted out of the bag, making her mouth water.

"Aye, it did." He smiled so widely that the corner of his eyes crinkled. "It was good to see my mother again." He lifted a napkin-wrapped bundle out of the bag. "When I told her about you all, she set about to baking so we'd all have a wee nip for the road, even though she thinks it's a plane we're to travel on."

"That's very sweet of her." Elizabeth smiled when Carson unwrapped the scones, then set some small jars on the table.

"All the makings of a proper Scottish tea," he said, beckoning Sheppard over. "Come on, Major, she wanted us to eat before it gets cold."

"That I can do," Sheppard said, pulling up a chair. "And it's not Major--"

"I know, I know," Carson said. "And I've got eighteen bloody days to get it right before we get back to Atlantis, so stop correcting me."

"Anything you say, Doc."

Elizabeth smiled as she buttered a scone. With Daedalus heading back to Atlantis, she felt better already. Simon may have put her out of his life, but that didn't mean her life was over, far from it. She'd made the choice to go to Atlantis the first time, and faced with the same decision at the SGC, she hadn't hesitated.

She wasn't running from anything: she was running towards the greatest adventure any human could ever have. The two men at the table with her, and Rodney deep in Engineering, and each and every one of the new expedition members, they were all the same.

She couldn't wait to get home.

end ficlette

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

tidal_race

The first italics were a little awkward and out of place, but the second fit well. I really liked the fic; your imagery made things stand out and everybody was in character.

From:

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags