He ignores the shout of alarm from the airmen on duty and sprints up the steps. He dives through the gate just before it shuts down. On the other side, a bunch of blue-clad nanite warriors level their weapons at him. "Governor! You've been followed!"
Elizabeth whirls around, and for a second her eyes are filled with such wild mistrust that he thinks she might let them shoot him. He throws his hands in the air, in the clearest surrender possible. "Nope! Nope! I come in peace! Don't shoot!"
She breathes out slowly. "Fall back, everyone," she says. "Give us a minute."
They do, reluctantly, and she stalks toward him with a familiar glint of John's-a-screwup fury in her eye that he shouldn't love as much as he does. "Colonel Sheppard! We agreed our next meeting wouldn't be for a week! Do you know how hard it was for them to get onboard with this alliance in the first place? What are you doing here?"
He casts about for a reasonable excuse. "I, uh." His mind is a blank. "I." He digs in his pocket. "Here. It's, um, a diplomatic gift." He shoves his iPhone into her hand.
She blinks. "I can't take this."
"Sure you can. Beat my high score. We'll play one-on-one next time we see each other."
Her eyes are wide. "It'll run out of charge."
"Aren't you like, made of batteries now?" he runs his thumb down the side of her finger. "Give it a zap."
One second she's staring at it, her breaths fluttering rapidly, and the next she's thrown herself at him, her arms locked around his neck. He wraps his arms around her and buries his face in her hair, and takes what feels like his first deep breath in eight years.
"Not everything has changed, Elizabeth," he whispers in her ear, and he feels her nod.
I HAVE TOO MANY FEELS RIGHT NOW TO MAKE WORDS. This is beautiful and tragic and sweet and I love that she's alive and a foreign power and that yeah, tons of time has passed, and things have changed but John hasn't and there's no happy ever after but there's a happy few minutes every now again and that's better than nothing. Guh, this is way better than my prompt deserves! FEELINGS!
Thanks! Yeah, it occurred to me that I haven't seen many fics where Elizabeth returned to Atlantis as anything but a supplicant. I wish I had time to write a longer version of Elizabeth and her Orphan Robot Pirate Army, but alas.
I’ve just found this many years late. It’s lovely and different to other Elizabeth returns fics that I’ve read. Very emotional. Thank you. I’m enjoying a nostalgia binge of Atlantis right now.
He ignores the shout of alarm from the airmen on duty and sprints up the steps. He dives through the gate just before it shuts down. On the other side, a bunch of blue-clad nanite warriors level their weapons at him. "Governor! You've been followed!"
Elizabeth whirls around, and for a second her eyes are filled with such wild mistrust that he thinks she might let them shoot him. He throws his hands in the air, in the clearest surrender possible. "Nope! Nope! I come in peace! Don't shoot!"
She breathes out slowly. "Fall back, everyone," she says. "Give us a minute."
They do, reluctantly, and she stalks toward him with a familiar glint of John's-a-screwup fury in her eye that he shouldn't love as much as he does. "Colonel Sheppard! We agreed our next meeting wouldn't be for a week! Do you know how hard it was for them to get onboard with this alliance in the first place? What are you doing here?"
He casts about for a reasonable excuse. "I, uh." His mind is a blank. "I." He digs in his pocket. "Here. It's, um, a diplomatic gift." He shoves his iPhone into her hand.
She blinks. "I can't take this."
"Sure you can. Beat my high score. We'll play one-on-one next time we see each other."
Her eyes are wide. "It'll run out of charge."
"Aren't you like, made of batteries now?" he runs his thumb down the side of her finger. "Give it a zap."
One second she's staring at it, her breaths fluttering rapidly, and the next she's thrown herself at him, her arms locked around his neck. He wraps his arms around her and buries his face in her hair, and takes what feels like his first deep breath in eight years.
"Not everything has changed, Elizabeth," he whispers in her ear, and he feels her nod.
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I just...
I HAVE TOO MANY FEELS RIGHT NOW TO MAKE WORDS. This is beautiful and tragic and sweet and I love that she's alive and a foreign power and that yeah, tons of time has passed, and things have changed but John hasn't and there's no happy ever after but there's a happy few minutes every now again and that's better than nothing. Guh, this is way better than my prompt deserves! FEELINGS!
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