[ooc: D_M prompt 006; 05]
John, much to Elizabeth's constant irritation, likes to call his possession of the ATA gene his "mutation". Her understanding of what a mutation actually is suggests that this is an entirely incorrect label, and so she always corrects him. It's what makes him different, though, what made him -- initially -- so important to her expedition. This difference in his genetic make up was his ticket to the Pegasus Galaxy.
She doesn't have the gene. The gene therapy didn't take -- she was disappointed, of course, but she covered it well enough and moved on. She has so much here...it's just one little thing. Still, she thinks about it, sometimes, when she's sitting alone in her garden in the evenings.
Radek calls her Queen of Atlantis. Janus, who has the most claim to this city, seemed to agree. Yet...
Watching John in this city of theirs has taught her more than she thinks John's realised. He seems to have an innate connection, to this, the home of 'the Ancestors'. His ancestors, literally...no wonder, she hums to herself, that it's so much like coming home for him. No wonder he found it so easy to build a home here.
She lacks that. She's not different, like he is, and although Atlantis is in her heart and has become her home, she can't touch it in the way that others can.
Elizabeth has never wanted to be different this badly before in her life.