Fanfiction - Crashing Down
Authors Note - This was a challenge given to me by Steph 7085, part of our plan to get her out of her writers block was for me to give her challenges and to be fair I let her give me them too. So this is kind of random and maybe not my best work but I hope you enjoy it anyway.
The challenge;
Fandom -Stargate Atlantis
Characters - Elizabeth, John, Caldwell
Words - evening, admiration, overwhelmed, taste and faze.
Title - Crashing Down
Rating - G
Pairing - Hints of John/Elizabeth
Crashing Down
The pain almost overwhelmed him but years of military training and service kept him calm, as calm as you can be with half a tonne of rubble balanced precariously above your head and more injuries than he ever remembered having at any one time. He could taste the blood in his mouth and he didn’t dare move for fear that rather large light fixture that was dangling above his head would fall down. He had no idea what had caused the explosion but whoever was responsible had better be running far and fast.
“Sheppard,” a voice called and John almost groaned, of all the people that could come to his rescue it had to be him.
“Caldwell,” he called back and a moment later the face of the Colonel appeared above him.
“You’ve gotten yourself into a fine mess here,” the colonel stated as he pulled away the rubble from on top of John.
“What happened?” John questioned.
“McKay said something about a short circuit in the city’s systems,” Caldwell told him and John raised an eyebrow.
“That caused an explosion?”
“That’s what he tells me,” the colonel replied struggling to shift the rather large beam that had laid itself across John’s leg. That beam was the only reason John hadn’t gotten up and walked out of here himself.
“Was anyone else hurt?” he questioned.
“Two people are dead, a few injured and some are still missing,” Caldwell told him. He was still struggling to shift the beam and John could hear part of the rubble above him creaking as though it was preparing to collapse and just giving everyone below a fair warning. John did what he could to help but from his position it was hard to put much effort into the movement.
“Forget it, it’s not gonna budge,” John stated and through the darkness he couldn’t be certain but he was fairly sure Caldwell had just rolled his eyes.
“You just don’t want me to be the one that saves your ass,” the colonel replied.
“There may be some truth in that but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re not going to be able to move that thing by yourself,” John told him. “Besides, if I die in here then you get my job, right?”
“Despite your opinion Sheppard,” Caldwell began as he once again tried to shift the beam. “I’m not out to get your job, I just do mine. Besides, I don’t think Dr Weir will be too inclined to support my taking your job if I left you to die.”
“You could just lie and say you never found me,” John suggested as there was more creaking above them. “You need to get out of here.”
“Normally I’d be impressed by your stubbornness but since this whole place is about come crashing down and kill you, this isn’t one of those times,” Caldwell told him and John resisted the urge to point out that he wasn’t the only one being stubborn. Caldwell was right that this place as about to come crashing down and he was refusing to get the hell out.
“Well in that case you need to lift more with your legs, wouldn’t want you to hurt that back of yours,” John said and Caldwell sent him a glare.
“I know how to lift things but thanks for the advice Sheppard.”
The beam finally moved and Caldwell dropped it at the side of him with a crash that made John wonder how the thing hadn’t split him in half. It also made the rubble around them more unsteady and John had to fight against the pain it caused him to stand up.
“I expect there to be a great amount of admiration for me in your report Sheppard,” Caldwell stated as he helped Sheppard up and the two of them made their way out of the rubble. They’d barely moved when some of the rubble collapsed behind them, right where they’d both been a few seconds ago. They looked back and John raised an eyebrow at it before he and Caldwell wordlessly left.
- - -
It had taken some convincing but Carson had let John out of the infirmary under the condition he didn’t over do it. John had promised not to but both he and the doctor had known it was a lie; there was too much that needed doing. People were still missing and the rescue teams had been working for hours, the infirmary was almost as busy as when the whales had tried to warn them that there was about to be a solar flare. He stopped to consider that last thought; there was a time when that would have sounded completely ridiculous.
He headed up to the control room, his first priority was to check in with Elizabeth, make sure she was alright and find out exactly what was going on. She was giving out orders, speaking to Caldwell over the radio and looking exhausted, at least to him. To everyone else she had a way of keeping up a front, always trying to appear as though nothing could faze her. She spotted him across the room and gave him a relieved smile, giving out a few more orders before gesturing for him to follow her to her office.
“I’m glad to see you’re alright,” she told him as he walked in to the room behind her.
“You know me, it’ll take more than half a city falling on my head to get rid of me,” he joked and Elizabeth smiled again. “What’s going on?”
“We still have eight people unaccounted for; Caldwell and Lorne are leading the search and rescue teams. Teyla took a pretty nasty knock to the head but she and Ronon are down there helping as well. Rodney is still trying to figure out what the hell happened,” she told him. He was glad to know his team were all fine but eight people still missing was to many, he needed to get down there and help with the search.
“How are you holding up?” he asked and Elizabeth sat down in her chair. She looked like it was the first time she’d been able to sit down and just breathe in hours and he felt irrationally guilty that he hadn’t been here to help her.
“I’ll fine, bit of a headache but nothing a few hours sleep and a painkiller won’t fix,” she stated and John nodded his head. “How about you?”
“Drugged up on pain killers and annoyed that I now owe Caldwell,” John told her. She stood up and walked around the desk putting a hand on his arm as though reassuring herself he really was fine.
“I really am glad you’re alright, you had me worried for a while,” she admitted. It was all she allowed herself before Dr Weir once again took over and it was back to business. “I need to check in with Major Lorne.”
“I’m going to get down there and help out,” John told her before he left.
- - -
It was early evening when they were finally able to stop, everyone was accounted for and thankfully the death toll had stayed at two. John knew the death of both people would eat away at him and even more at Elizabeth but they’d both had to accept long ago that they could lose people even in the relative safety of Atlantis. Clean up was gonna be harsh but that would have to wait until tomorrow. The search and rescue teams had been working all day and not one of them had stopped until the last person had been found.
The city was quiet, unusually quiet for this time of day but everyone had been put through their paces today and most of them had gone to bed early. Only a skeleton crew was left running the city and even they were taking it easy. John found Elizabeth on the balcony; she was staring out at the ocean silently. He wordlessly walked over to the railing, standing next to her.
“It’s been a rough day,” John stated after several moments and Elizabeth nodded her head. “You should go and get some sleep.”
“I could say the same to you,” she replied.
“I’m going to, as soon as I make sure you are,” he told her and she smiled sadly at him.
“I need to get the letters to Jameson’s and Garth’s family done,” she told him and John sighed.
“You can do them tomorrow,” he stated. He knew the two losses were going to be hard on her, she was like him in that way, she held herself personally responsible for every loss the expedition had. He supposed it was just one of the things that came with being a leader but it was a responsibility they could share and they usually did. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your quarters.”
“Making sure I go?” she questioned, a barely there amusement in her voice, unfortunately it was overshadowed by other things.
“Yep,” he admitted and Elizabeth offered him another smile before she relented. It had been unusually easy but he figured she was too tired to argue with him and if he was honest he was too tired to argue with her, not that he wouldn’t have done it if he had to. They left the balcony, saying goodnight to the night shift as they passed through the control room.
Caldwell caught up with them in the corridor. “Thought you two would have called it a day.”
“We’re on our way to do that,” John told him.
“What about you?” Elizabeth questioned and Caldwell nodded.
“Just taking care of a few things and then I’m turning in,” he replied.
“Thank you,” John said. “For getting me out.”
“Just did my job,” Caldwell told him before he left and Elizabeth sighed.
“You two are never going to get along are you?” she questioned and John shook his head. It was unlikely but at least they’d learned to be civil to one another. John could respect the man and the job that he had to do and Caldwell seemed to have come to terms with the fact that had hadn’t been made the military commander of Atlantis.
“Goodnight Elizabeth,” John said as they reached her quarters.
“Night John,” she said giving him one last look before she disappeared into her room and John headed down the corridor to his own. The pain killers were starting to wear off and even though he had more in his room he knew he was going to be hurting tomorrow. He’d deal with that then; right now he just wanted to sleep.