New fic (for Kerri)!
Title: Lonely at the Top
Author: Misty
SG: Atlantis; Daniel/Elizabeth friendship
Rating: Nothing bad
A/N: For Kerri, who's in need of a pick-me-up. Hope this helps. *hugs*
And thanks be to Meg, my lovely beta and confidence builder. :D
"What do you miss most, Dr. Weir?"
It was a typical mess hall conversation piece, especially at times like this. A month and a half of Salisbury steak and military rations made everyone homesick. Well, everyone except McKay.
But Elizabeth didn't often allow herself to dwell on the things she left behind. Too much was at stake. She was the expedition leader, and as such she knew she needed to focus on the present, not the past. Out of politeness though, she had pretended to think for a minute before giving her standard answer of "chocolate". The people around her smiled and nodded in agreement. Soon thereafter Elizabeth was called to the Botany Lab, and she hadn't given the conversation another thought.
But hours later she was lying in bed, trying to snatch a couple precious hours of sleep when the question returned to her mind. And after 45 minutes of not-sleep had passed along with 593 sheep, she finally gave in and allowed herself to entertain possible answers.
She missed her own bed, for one. No doubt if she had been lying in it, she'd already be fast asleep. Not that the bed she was in was uncomfortable by any means, but it just wasn't the same as the one back home.
The sound of the ocean from outside her window brought another thing to mind. As nice as it was to fall asleep to the sound of ocean waves, she had lived the majority of her life in woodland areas. Strange as it seemed, she missed the little things such as listening to the distant chirp of crickets, the sound of the wind as it rustled the leaves in the trees, and waking up to birds singing merrily from the tree tops.
What else?
Well, there were things she *didn't* miss, too. Like paying bills. The line at the supermarket. Traffic jams.
But speaking of traffic...she did miss going for long drives. Oh! And ice cream. And mind numbing television. Sometimes, and especially after a long day of getting nowhere with an international treaty, she liked nothing more than to sit down, find an old movie on TV, and immerse herself in someone else's problems for a while.
Too bad Atlantis doesn't have cable.
Elizabeth sighed, still unable to drift off to sleep. Why was this silly question bugging her so much?
It occurred to her that this whole time she'd been thinking of things she missed as opposed to people she missed. At one time she would have immediately thought of Simon, but surprisingly he was not the person that came to mind. She shook her head, surprised at the image that her mind had come up with. But if she was honest with herself, there was only one person back home she truly missed...though how or why this person stuck out to her she really couldn't say.
Or could she?
She had to admit, she and Daniel held a lot in common. Both were civilians bound by military structure, both language enthusiasts, both driven by morals, and both stubborn to a fault. They were so much alike that they would have either made the most fantastic of couples or the worst of enemies. However, the circumstances had prevented either of those scenarios from playing out. But still, working together those months in the Antarctic outpost had really been quite a unique experience. They'd built up a nice rapport as they unearthed new discoveries about the lost city. Given their shared affinity for language, he'd even helped her learn how to read basic Ancient. In return she'd taught him how to use chop sticks. She smiled at the memories.
Here on Atlantis she was the leader, the strong one. And while she shared close ties with her base personnel, she still felt lonely at times. But things had been different with Daniel. He had become her friend, her colleague, her equal. And it occurred to her that, more than anything, that's what she missed. The camaraderie, the laughter, the friendship.
Him. She missed *him*.
There.
And finally her mind succumbed to the call of sleep.
***
Two weeks of Salisbury steak later, someone again asked her what she missed most back home.
She smiled slowly as thoughts of blue eyes and archeology raced through her mind. "Chocolate," she replied.
~The End
~Misty
Author: Misty
SG: Atlantis; Daniel/Elizabeth friendship
Rating: Nothing bad
A/N: For Kerri, who's in need of a pick-me-up. Hope this helps. *hugs*
And thanks be to Meg, my lovely beta and confidence builder. :D
"What do you miss most, Dr. Weir?"
It was a typical mess hall conversation piece, especially at times like this. A month and a half of Salisbury steak and military rations made everyone homesick. Well, everyone except McKay.
But Elizabeth didn't often allow herself to dwell on the things she left behind. Too much was at stake. She was the expedition leader, and as such she knew she needed to focus on the present, not the past. Out of politeness though, she had pretended to think for a minute before giving her standard answer of "chocolate". The people around her smiled and nodded in agreement. Soon thereafter Elizabeth was called to the Botany Lab, and she hadn't given the conversation another thought.
But hours later she was lying in bed, trying to snatch a couple precious hours of sleep when the question returned to her mind. And after 45 minutes of not-sleep had passed along with 593 sheep, she finally gave in and allowed herself to entertain possible answers.
She missed her own bed, for one. No doubt if she had been lying in it, she'd already be fast asleep. Not that the bed she was in was uncomfortable by any means, but it just wasn't the same as the one back home.
The sound of the ocean from outside her window brought another thing to mind. As nice as it was to fall asleep to the sound of ocean waves, she had lived the majority of her life in woodland areas. Strange as it seemed, she missed the little things such as listening to the distant chirp of crickets, the sound of the wind as it rustled the leaves in the trees, and waking up to birds singing merrily from the tree tops.
What else?
Well, there were things she *didn't* miss, too. Like paying bills. The line at the supermarket. Traffic jams.
But speaking of traffic...she did miss going for long drives. Oh! And ice cream. And mind numbing television. Sometimes, and especially after a long day of getting nowhere with an international treaty, she liked nothing more than to sit down, find an old movie on TV, and immerse herself in someone else's problems for a while.
Too bad Atlantis doesn't have cable.
Elizabeth sighed, still unable to drift off to sleep. Why was this silly question bugging her so much?
It occurred to her that this whole time she'd been thinking of things she missed as opposed to people she missed. At one time she would have immediately thought of Simon, but surprisingly he was not the person that came to mind. She shook her head, surprised at the image that her mind had come up with. But if she was honest with herself, there was only one person back home she truly missed...though how or why this person stuck out to her she really couldn't say.
Or could she?
She had to admit, she and Daniel held a lot in common. Both were civilians bound by military structure, both language enthusiasts, both driven by morals, and both stubborn to a fault. They were so much alike that they would have either made the most fantastic of couples or the worst of enemies. However, the circumstances had prevented either of those scenarios from playing out. But still, working together those months in the Antarctic outpost had really been quite a unique experience. They'd built up a nice rapport as they unearthed new discoveries about the lost city. Given their shared affinity for language, he'd even helped her learn how to read basic Ancient. In return she'd taught him how to use chop sticks. She smiled at the memories.
Here on Atlantis she was the leader, the strong one. And while she shared close ties with her base personnel, she still felt lonely at times. But things had been different with Daniel. He had become her friend, her colleague, her equal. And it occurred to her that, more than anything, that's what she missed. The camaraderie, the laughter, the friendship.
Him. She missed *him*.
There.
And finally her mind succumbed to the call of sleep.
***
Two weeks of Salisbury steak later, someone again asked her what she missed most back home.
She smiled slowly as thoughts of blue eyes and archeology raced through her mind. "Chocolate," she replied.
~The End
~Misty