Author:
Fandom: SGA
Pairing: Lorne/Weir
Rating: PG13
Setting: Post-"Common Ground"
Words: 700
Summary: There are explosions, and all Elizabeth remembers doing is running for the Alpha Site.
There are explosions, and all Elizabeth remembers doing is running for the Alpha Site. She's smarter than Lot's wife and doesn't look back as the City's destroyed.
*****
Lorne's become her bodyguard. He won't let her out of sight. It's not safe, he keeps telling her. Someday, she thinks that she'll outrun him.
*****
Sometimes Elizabeth dreams of John flying through the Gateroom in a puddle jumper or of Rodney and Zelenka, twin smiles of genius on their faces, presenting her with their latest achievements. She buys Teyla ice cream and they all ride a ferris wheel together.
Most of this did not happen.
*****
Carson tries to get Elizabeth to eat. But she's found that she doesn't feel hunger anymore. Besides, her sacrifices mean that others can eat, especially those outside building shelters and hunting.
Finally, it's Lorne and Cadman who convince her to eat a candy bar they wrestled from the one of the scientists. Elizabeth cries when she realizes that it might've been Rodney's.
*****
When Atlantis doesn't check in, it means that the Dedalus will be on its way. Elizabeth dreads looking into Cadwell's eyes.
*****
When Ronon volunteers to go back to the City, to see if anything's left, she doesn't say no. The scientists tell him he's a fool. But Ronon believes in Ancient technology. He believes in John, Teyla, and Rodney. He has to.
Elizabeth bids him farewell before he steps through the Gate.
*****
Lorne tells her to call him Evan that night. The night when she takes him into her tent and into her bed.
The others sleep together and she's so alone with only her sentry watching her.
If only for now she touches him and lives.
*****
Heightmeyer wants to talk about it. Elizabeth doesn't.
*****
Carson delivers a healthy baby girl to one of the Athosian women. There is music, song, and dance. Elizabeth holds the child and smiles.
*****
Elizabeth watches the stars, trying to pinpoint Earth. But every time one moves, she worries that it's the Wraith or the Asurans. They're practically sitting ducks out here.
She looks behind her to see Lorne with his P-90. Almost sitting ducks.
*****
It's been five days since Ronon left.
*****
After arguing about the Genii, Elizabeth bathes in the river. The water's icy cold and goosebumps have appeared on her arms already. She misses her steamy shower in Atlantis more than anything and feels the black bile of guilt rising in her throat.
*****
When the Dedalus makes radio contact, Elizabeth barely hears Cadwell over with the whoops and cheers of her people. Her words are awkward and simple. She feels like she's fighting for the air she's breathing.
*****
Elizabeth closes her eyes as Evan wraps a blanket around both of them. The Dedalus will be here by the early afternoon. She only has so much of this left. Whatever this is.
She wishes for Teyla's wisdom, Rodney's babble, and Sheppard's shrugs and easy smiles. But all she has is Evan's silences and bulky figure next to her. She will not cry.
She will not cry.
*****
Caldwell's voice echoes in the back of her skull. Elizabeth wants to tell him that she's had enough, that she doesn't report to him.
Instead, she sips black coffee and leaves without a word. She can already hear Heightmeyer talking about the fragile mental state of all the refugees.
Elizabeth has never thought of herself as a refugee, until now.
*****
Elizabeth's eyes are blank as she recounts what happened to General O'Neill. She wants to be drunk or stoned on the pot that Katie Brown was rumored to grow in the botany labs. Elizabeth never says anything about the botany labs. At least the scientists there died among the green. Elizabeth thinks that when she finally dies, she wants to be scattered among the rain forest floor.
*****
Earth is unsure under Elizabeth's feet. She still has her house. Simon said he would bring her the dog and the U.S. Military is letting her go.
The car's steering wheel feels large and unnatural in her hands, but Elizabeth maneuvers quickly among the curves of the road.
And somehow, she's not surprised to find her sentry waiting for her on the porch and that the moving stars don't frighten her as much.