How To Save A Life: Chapter Two
Summary: Elizabeth returns from a mission, but it isn’t her…
To save lots of ‘Flashback to two days previous’ etc., I’m using a ‘Day One…’ system.
Oh and I have a small request. We all know that Sam’s replicator on SG-1 was christened Replicarter by the fandom, but can you give me suggestions for a fan name for ‘Elizabeth’?
How To Save A Life: Chapter Two
“Step one, you say we need to talk,
He walks. You say, sit down, it's just a talk.
He smiles politely back at you,
You stare politely right on through.”
Day Three
John paused for a moment, hand poised over the door panel. The panel flashed, as if Atlantis knew he was there and was impatient for him to initialise the door. The marine guard to the left of the door kept his eyes forward as John took a deep breath.
“Ready, sir?” The marine asked quietly.
“No,” John replied honestly. “Do it anyway.”
Without a further prompt, Atlantis opened the door and John stepped through.
X
She stood in the middle of the cell, hands behind her back and eyes distant. John fought to remember it wasn’t Elizabeth all over again, trying to see past the fact that it had her hair, her features and even shades of her demeanour. Summoning a shadow of his flippant self, he allowed only the tiniest tremble to enter his voice.
“You could really do better than channelling Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs for normal Earth behaviour, you know.”
She met his eyes with a soft smile that told John she knew exactly how unnerved he was.
“Oh, come on,” He continued. “Elizabeth would at least have laughed a little.”
“And I am such a very poor substitute, am I not?”
John froze, unprepared for her voice. The tone was the tone he had heard a thousand times: a little sad, a little regretful and a little self-deprecating. He’d promised to keep his temper in check, but still slammed his fist against the Ancient force field. The illusion crumbled. She didn’t even blink.
Voice quietly furious, he met those eyes again. “You aren’t her. You will never be her. So you may as well stop trying to be.”
There was a moment of silence as she tilted her head with that unnerving smile again in place. Her voice was slightly wistful this time as she softly asked, “Why not?”
John turned and walked away. He paused after opening the door, back still to the cell. “Because you suck at it.”
X
Day One, Evening.
Off World.
Elizabeth sat at a wooden table with Major Lorne and the three marines of his security detail. They were enjoying a sample of the local food they’d just sealed a trade negotiation to obtain.
“Well?” Elizabeth asked Lorne. “What do you think?”
Lorne looked at her and nodded. “Tastes like chicken.”
“More like chicken than the stuff the Daedalus brings, anyway,” One of the others muttered.
Elizabeth ducked her head to conceal a smile, thinking that every time they concluded one of these negotiations the supply requisitions to Earth decreased a little. And the cooks in the commissary complained less about being constantly complained about. As Elizabeth had explained to who knew how many members of the expedition, the cooks were chosen with the same criteria as everyone else - the best and only the best. They weren’t gourmet chefs, granted, but they were the best the joint military forces of they and their allies had to offer.
She had begun trade negotiations for fresh food supplies with vigour when she realised that the processed junk shipped in from Earth was making no one happy, least of all the cooks. Enough treaty negotiations in hidden backwaters and situations with the military when she was working her way up through the ranks of negotiators had taught her one simple rule: don’t make your cooks unhappy. When she’d told John, he’d laughed and said that every Air Force recruit learnt that just as quickly on ops.
“What did we agree to in the end, Doctor?” Lorne asked, able to address her with a little less formality after so many off world missions.
“Water purifying pills and possible relocation if the Wraith are headed this way and circumstances permit,” She answered with a smile. “I think they lose more people to a disease similar to cholera than to the Wraith, as far off the beaten track as this planet is.”
He nodded with a smile. “That’s good. We don’t have to eat water purifying pills.”
Pulling herself back to the conversation going on around her, she suddenly felt a little unsure and uncomfortable. The marine sitting opposite her, a young man fresh off the Daedalus not a month before, was watching her intently. Elizabeth realised he had been doing so for quite some time, even while eating.
Meeting his eyes and slowly taking a mouthful of broth, she couldn’t help but laugh. Unfortunately her timing could have been better, and she began to choke. The young marine leapt from his seat and slammed her back quickly as Lorne and the others watched, exchanging glances and unsure of what to do.
Holding up a closed fist in the military sign for ‘stop!’ she struggled to catch her breath and pointed weakly to the jug of water at the end of the table. Stammering his apologies, he poured her a glass and held it out to her.
“Small sips now, ma’am,” Lorne broke the silence, not even trying to hide a wide grin and knowing she couldn’t reply. Glaring and sipping the water, Elizabeth tossed a roll in his direction and surprised a laugh out of the team.
A few minutes later, when she could speak again, she looked at the young marine, curious. “You’re the one who came to my office this morning,” she said with a small smile.
Leaping to his feet, he saluted sharply and replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
Giving Lorne a disparaging look that she hoped conveyed the word ‘coward’ for sending a green lieutenant rather than walking into the argument he had in part caused, she sighed and turned to the standing marine. “As you were,” she replied, quietly amused by his strict self-discipline and astonished Lorne and Sheppard hadn’t managed to knock it out of him yet. It was refreshing in a rapidly tiresome way.
“What’s your name, Lieutenant?” She asked as he sat on the bench again.
“Grant,” he answered, almost afraid to meet her eyes. “Lieutenant Kale Grant.”
“Well, Kale,” Elizabeth deliberately used his first name and raised an eyebrow. He seemed to deflate a little in relief. “You’re here to guard me?”
Seeing this as some sort of order, he leapt to his feet again and would have knocked over a glass of water if Lorne hadn’t caught it first. At least he didn’t salute me this time, she thought ruefully, sharing a dry look with an amused Lorne.
Standing, Elizabeth walked to the opposite side of the table and got the urge to laugh under control, thinking that she would head to bed. But not before she made one last attempt to loosen up Grant. Standing on the bench, she looked the taller marine in the eye. “Just try not to make me die of laughter tomorrow, agreed?”
Grant choked out a puzzled ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and offered her an arm to get back down rather than saluting, lips twitching with amusement. Seeing that Elizabeth was leaving, the others at the table stood and nodded with a quietly amused and almost simultaneous, “Dr. Weir.”
Grant sat down next to Lorne, blinking rapidly and seemingly a little shocked. Lorne put a hand on his shoulder with a grin. “Our COs in this galaxy aren’t exactly … conventional.”
Grant looked at him almost shyly. "I expected that, with Dr. Weir being a civilian," He said with a slight smile.
Lorne looked at the other two men around the table, now openly grinning. "Have you met Colonel Sheppard yet?"
"Only briefly," the younger man replied, clearly confused.
Lorne smiled impishly and nodded to the others. "Well, I'm tired," he said, covering a rather fake yawn.
The others got up and began to walk back to their rooms. By the time they reached the door, the young lieutenant had caught up with them, almost tripping over a bench to get there. "Sir, wait, you can't just..."
Lorne walked on, fighting the urge to whistle. As he passed Dr. Weir's open door, he smiled and nodded, to which she only shook her head and smiled in return.
Honestly, she thought, the way they talk about us to the new recruits, you'd think we ran Atlantis like a summer camp. She thought of what John would think of that. Like a summer camp ... only with better jello and more practical jokes, she could practically hear him say.
X
Day Three - Atlantis
"'You suck at it'?" Rodney said incredulously. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, several others in the room covered small smiles. "Master interrogator at work, I'm sure."
"I felt the need," John replied slowly, emphasising each word with a glare. He'd been downright irritable since Lorne's team had radioed in alive, well and perplexed the previous evening not long after they had put the fake Elizabeth in the Ancient brig. "Besides, she ... it ..." He was confused for a moment. "Whatever it was, it was pretty clear it wasn't Elizabeth."
"Exactly how was that?" Carson interjected. "I wasn't sure until the marines had ARGs pointed at her."
Looking around the room he held up his hand, still marked by what looked like Elizabeth's blood. "She was disoriented. I held out a hand to steady her and got blood from a cut on her left hand on mine." He looked at Carson. "When we had to jolt her out of that ... whatever in the infirmary, and her hand was fine." He shrugged. "And she just wasn't Elizabeth. Little things, but it just wasn't her."
Carson nodded and sighed. "And since when has Dr. Weir accepted bed rest and sleeping pills?"
A silence fell again in the room. Rodney looked around and his eyes found Ronon's, who shrugged and shook his head. "The man has a point. She can push it a bit if she thinks it's worth it."
"A bit?" Carson said, voice high and expression telling the world he felt unappreciated.
"You believe it was a ruse to gain free access to the city?" Teyla asked, determined to get to the point. Carson and John looked at each other and nodded.
"She did everything I asked and agreed with everything I said," Carson continued quietly. "That's not the Dr. Weir I had to force into painkillers for a sprain two weeks ago The blood was hers, though," Carson added after a beat. "And the clothes. The imitation doesn't have blood, but the blood smeared on her 'cuts' was Elizabeth's."
"Another ruse," Teyla posited, face paling slightly. "To convince us it was really her?"
John didn't even want to think about where it had come from or how. He distracted himself by asking Rodney, “We’re sure she isn’t connected to their subspace network?”
He nodded. “We’d know if she were … transmitting. A device we found in the last sector we opened-”
John nodded and Rodney broke off his explanation, probably seeing that he really didn’t care. "It wasn't just that. It sounds small, but when she came through the gate ... she called me John, then Colonel a second later."
"Elizabeth doesn't always call you 'Colonel'," Rodney replied sharply. "Your ego's big enough. And don't get any ideas about trying to-"
John smiled slightly and cut Rodney off. "It wasn't what she said. It was how." He stood up and looked out of the window of the briefing room. "Elizabeth either uses my rank or my name. And she doesn't hesitate with either."
X
Day Two
Off World. Five pm, Atlantis Standard Time.
Lorne had a man by the throat against the wall, silence in the inn absolute. Another man approached slowly, carefully.
"This is, uh, officer, this is most," he stammered as Lorne's eyes stayed fixed on that of the official he had pinned to the tavern wall, "undiplomatic," he finished weakly.
"Well, I'd say that's a rather appropriate course then," Kale replied fiercely. "Since our commander and diplomat went missing without a trace under your protection an hour ago."
"We promise you we know nothing!" The townsman protested. "Your own officer was the last to see Dr. Weir!"
"If you are lying, this treaty will be forfeit." Lorne let the man down slowly, eyes never leaving his. "We will not relocate your people in the event of another culling. We won’t help you with water sanitation and you can keep losing hundreds of your own to water-borne diseases. Would you risk that?"
He shook his head. "Never. That's why we did not do this." Lorne nodded and sharply signalled his men, who followed him. Standing outside, he looked at them.
"We're not going home yet, sir," one of them said, eyes dark. "Are we?"
Lorne swallowed and nodded, with a small smile. "Not yet. This isn't news I want to take back to Atlantis without a road to follow."
The others nodded, Kale looking slightly confused. "Excuse me, sir... I'm not sure I understand." He was learning he could speak his mind more in this command, and ask more questions. "Surely we are obliged to tell Colonel Sheppard as soon as possible."
"We are already late to check in, sir," Another soldier put in. "Atlantis will radio at three hours past check in."
"Two," Lorne replied irritably. They looked at him. "Dr. Weir was with us. Colonel Sheppard will radio after two hours."
The other men looked at each other. "You can tell him now if you want," Lorne said to Grant. "But let's just say the good doctor's safety is a rather personal point with our commander and the rest of us would rather not be in the blast radius unless we have something concrete to offer."
Kale considered it. "We could dial in and radio just before he dials here. That gives us almost two hours to find her or a clue as to where she was taken."
Lorne looked at him and smiled. "We like this one," he said to the others. "He learns fast."
X
Day Three
Atlantis
“Some sort of window to your right,
As he goes left and you stay right,
Between the lines of fear and blame,
And you begin to wonder why you came.”
"Where is she?"
John had resumed questioning ‘Elizabeth’ but so far she wasn't talking. About anything.
"Fine," John relented finally, playing his last - and least mature - card. "If you won't talk, neither will I." He sat down in front of her and crossed his legs, then closed his eyes and began to count his breaths. She mimicked his actions and he could hear the smirk in her voice.
"Fine."
The silence didn't last.
"You know," he said in a mock-serene tone, "Teyla's been teaching me meditation. I could sit here for hours on end. Easily."
"That's strange," her reply was eerily similar to what he imagined Elizabeth's would have been. The same indulgent and amused patience, the same wry smile conveyed in her voice. "You only seemed to manage a minute just now. But if you think you can pull it off..."
Taking a deep breath, he tried to settle his mind but it was difficult. It just might have something to do with the replicator in front of me. Or the fact that Elizabeth could be anywhere and going through anything
"You know something?" His eyes snapped open and he stood, pacing in front of her. "Elizabeth wouldn't have said that. She's much more mature than just to say 'fine'."
"Is that just what you want to think?" She asked softly. She looked away from him. "There's a lot you don't know about her."
"I know that," John snapped at her. ‘Elizabeth’ only raised her eyebrows in a reproachful look all too familiar. "And it's more than a little unsettling that the replicators know more than I do."
"Not the replicators," she said. "I do."
"Same thing," John shot back.
She came to her feet in one fluid motion, eyes intent on his. "It's not the same damn thing." Their faces were centimetres apart, separated only by the Ancient shield on her cage.
"Strange," John said very quietly. "Damn's a word I don't recall hearing Elizabeth use often."
"Because," she said, seemingly using every ounce of will to keep her voice even. "I am not her."
"Ha!" John turned triumphantly. "You admit it!"
"Hard not to," she said caustically. "When you have memories of scraping your knee and bleeding as a child but don't even have skin now."
"No," John said, turning to face her with an icy look. "I don't want to hear your sob story. So don't."
"No," She agreed, raising her eyebrow again and making John's blood run cold. It was her Elizabeth... but really not, and that sensation of looking but not feeling finally sunk to his gut and he could meet her eyes without flinching. "What you want is Elizabeth."
X
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Thanks to Briar for the beta.
Kay x