Author:
Fandom: SGA
Pairing: Katie Brown/Laura Cadman
Rating: G
Setting: Post-"Duet"
Words: 1,000
Summary: For sg_femslash #3 autumn, there are no trees to turn brown in Atlantis.
There are no trees to turn brown in Atlantis. As the weather starts to chill, Laura misses the shades of yellow, red, and orange the most. The crisp air tickling her nose just doesn't feel right without the crunch of leaves under her sneakers. And she's saving her vacation for actual holidays so there's no hope for a trip to the mainland unless Zelenka runs of a newbies to be test pilots.
After Rodney's underwater experience, it's hard to con anyone to test fly a puddle jumper. Even if they know that Zelenka is one of the most accomplished engineers in the Pegasus Galaxy.
Laura slows down her run as she comes indoors and approaches the living and active areas of the city. She wonders if seasonal depression happens when she can barely notice the seasons changing in the climate controlled environment. Everyone seems complacent in short-sleeved shirts and thin pants.
After a quick shower, Laura meets Katie for breakfast. They started eating together soon after Katie had dumped Rodney and when they realized that there really weren't any people awake this early, except a few gate technicians and night-duty soldiers. Everyone always stayed up too late fixing problems or gambling for candy, energy drinks, and porn. No one ever seemed to really adjust to Atlantean time.
"Morning," Laura says as she places her tray on the table.
Katie looks up from her muffin and smiles. "How was your run?"
"Almost perfect. How are the plants?"
"Still alive."
This is their routine. These were the things that they asked each other. Sometimes it made Laura question whether or not they were friends. Or maybe Katie was just the woman she'd kissed in Rodney's body. And maybe she found herself staring at Katie's lips for just a moment too long.
"I heard that a few of the Marines are turning an empty room into a track for when the weather gets colder," Katie says.
"Wimps," Laura mutters as she takes a bite of something that was supposed to be Bran Flakes, but Laura doubts its authenticity. She shakes her head and swallows. "Dr. Danes says that we're too close to the equator to even get snow."
"I overheard Rodney complaining that it was already too cold and Radek assuring him that the temperature inside the City was the same as yesterday."
Laura rolls her eyes. "Didn't Rodney live in Siberia and then Antarctica? You'd think he'd developed a thicker skin by now."
"And he grew up in Canada." Katie rarely talks about Rodney since the disastrous date and when she found out that it was Laura, not Rodney, who had leaned her back and kissed her like that. "Radek should've told him to invest in a sweater."
Laura imagines Rodney in an oversized sweater with a giant Maple leaf on it and starts to giggle. She shares and Katie suggests that Sheppard would wear an even bigger one with an American flag on it just to one up Rodney. They did, after all, witness the fight over who got the biggest piece of steak, real steak from Earth, last month. In the end, Ronon ended up enjoying the meat. Laura had thought about stealing his beloved gun and bartering for it.
They quickly stop giggling when the mess doors open to reveal Major Lorne. He's heading straight to the coffee which means he has the early shift and Laura's doesn't want to share her time with her mildly grumpy superior. She always had the kind of laugh that drew people toward her, both a blessing and a curse.
Katie just grinned back at her.
"I miss the leaves," Laura says. "Running this morning, it made me miss the leaves. There aren't any trees in Atlantis."
Katie nods, but keeps smiling at her. "I have a surprise for you." She stands up and motions Laura to follow her. Together, they escape the mess and head toward the labs. "There are trees in Atlantis, you just have to know where to look."
Laura follows Katie up some stairs and into a higher level laboratory. One that is on a "roof" of Atlantis. Katie pushes open the doors. "When we discovered the mainland, Parrish and I dragged a bunch of plants back with us and eventually, we filled the lab. I'm pretty sure the Ancients used this place for the same thing."
The open-aired botanical garden is cluttered with trees and other plants. Trees with leaves of yellow, orange, and red. Ones that were identical to the ones Laura remembers raking with her father when they lived in Vermont when she was seven-years-old. She can almost smell her mother's hot cocoa and wise words about wearing thicker gloves.
Laura and Katie stand next to what looks like a small oak tree. The wind's pushing against her face and Laura rocks on her feet just to hear the leaves crunch under her boots.
"When I was a kid," Katie says, "my parents always took me and my brothers to New York to see the leaves change. We'd run through Central Park and jump on the biggest pile. I found leaves far more interesting than carousels." Katie looks at home here, as if she could just blend into the trees like some woodland fairy.
Laura decides that it's time to catch her before she disappears. She leans in and kisses Katie. This time, Laura isn't dramatic about it. The kiss is softer, but perhaps more passionate when Katie kisses her back. Katie, who tastes like orange juice and smells crisp like her woodland, isn't taken by surprise like she was the first time.
"Told you that you just had to know where to look," Katie whispers before she starts kissing Laura again.