SGA Ficlet: Lazy Day
Title: Lazy Day
Author: veracity
Rating: PG
Beta: kate98
Word Count: 962
Characters: Weir, McKay, Sheppard, Zelenka
Disclaimer: Don’t own. Just abuse the characters occasionally.
Summary: All she needs is Sedge curled at her feet to be absolutely content.
Notes: In honor of deejay435. May you feel better, and may the holidays bring you everything desire. Now for the fic notes, this is set as if The Return hadn’t occurred, so put all those important plot points aside.
A cup of coffee - or given the galaxy in question, non-coffee - is left cooling on a small balcony at the west side of the city. A chair and table (borrowed from the soft science department months ago) sit next to the balcony. Beside the chair, a small bag is full of native fruits, a single water bottle, and a chocolate bar that one of the kitchen workers had swiped on the last Daedalus run. Sometimes there were perks to the job.
A woman sits curled on the chair, holding a battered, dog-eared book while looking towards the sky and sea. She lifts her head up as a breeze teases slightly too long hair out of place. The sun reflects off the metal, creating a sunlight kaleidoscope on the floor. As a bird cries, she smiles. This was as close to a Sunday morning at home as she will get for awhile. All she needs is Sedge curled at her feet to be absolutely content.
No one drifts to this end of the city; people are more concerned with staying near each other - a small radius that is never far from the gate room - in an attempt to not be alone. Being alone brings fear of Wraith - except for her, where fears are a pressing weight on too-thin shoulders for any number of reasons. This balcony is her space without crowds and demands, a place to relax and forget, to enjoy life and celebrate it and to speak aloud, letting those fears go. Simply put, it is a safe haven for dreams and hopes without cynicism.
Opening the book, she loses herself in the story, one she’s read at least ten times since freshman year of college. There are plenty of other books circulating in the city, but on occasion, a book from happier, blissful times is needed. This one is a ridiculous romance novel - which means the men could never know about it; the teasing would be pretty unbearable, especially from a certain astrophysicist - but being in the middle of nowhere without options, a girl had to take what was available when feeling lonely. Simon would have been a nicer choice, but well, he wasn’t the man she thought anyway. Or that’s what she tells herself when the thought crops up in the middle of the night and her toes are cold.
The Duke had just discovered his “page” was really the Comte’s daughter when the radio headset she’s never without crackles to life. Before she can answer the call, a male’s voice loudly booms through. It seems that the “do not disturb” conversation made an impact, considering Rodney’s complaining about “the stupidity running rampant through the city” in response to the intercepted question. The senior staff is more than capable of taking care of any minor problems that occur and - unless the Wraith, Genii, or anyone else on the rather large enemy list attempts to destroy their home - she is more than willing to hand over control for several hours. Usually the staff is the cause of making enemies in the first place, particularly Colonel Sheppard’s team, so it won’t hurt them to deal with their own messes.
Her stomach growls and a quick reach into the bag solves that particular problem. A quick glance at the watch shows there should be another hour or so before catastrophe occurs, probably in the physics lab and involving John and Rodney with Ancient technology.
“Dr. Weir, could you come to the infirmary? There’s a problem with the IV bags from the last run. Most are leaking, and we really can’t afford to lose these with the amount of accidents we encounter and the older supply was already alarming depleted. We need someone to tell the SGC via the Daedalus.” The nurse sounds apologetic.
“Elizabeth, I tried to stop them from interrupting your break -“
“Rodney, it’s all right.” The people at Stargate Command would never understand why she had requested the abrasive underdogs as her military and science leaders. Family came in all shapes and sizes, especially the ones that could personally be chosen.
A couple hours for a break had been nice. “Dr. McKay, where is Colonel Sheppard?”
“Standing next to me.” His voice lets her know he’s confused. “Don’t touch that, you idiotic slug-brained flyboy!” And now it’s annoyed.
Instead of being irritated, John sounds more indulgent and amused. “I wasn’t. Maybe you do need those glasses you’ve been complaining about. Though, this one is starting to light up.”
“Give me that! It’s like having a toddler running around here, Colonel.”
“Rodney, it’s just behind your back. Like it would be difficult to get back. Besides, you have the artificial gene, so it could activate anyway.”
“I will take that. Thank you.” There's a colorful word in Czech as he takes it. After a couple more select words, she’s pretty sure that if the other two knew what he said, they would have convinced the city to refuse him hot water for quite awhile.
“Please refrain from playing hide and seek with the artifacts, Dr. McKay. It took you three days to lose that green glow, though Ronon did find you quite easily in the night version of the game - or the childhood sort in any case. I’m sure he’d be willing to play again.” Teasing wasn’t strictly protocol, but until she was in the room and officially back on duty, a little more fun wouldn’t hurt.
After packing up the loose items in the bag, she looks out over the blue scene before her. An extra couple more hours of relaxation would have been welcome, but the interruption hadn’t killed off the content feeling. How could it when people are trying to give you a vacation, even during a small crisis?
Notes, part 2: The book referenced is These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer. Not that I've read it, but there was some research done. *grins* Thank you, snowflake_star.
Author: veracity
Rating: PG
Beta: kate98
Word Count: 962
Characters: Weir, McKay, Sheppard, Zelenka
Disclaimer: Don’t own. Just abuse the characters occasionally.
Summary: All she needs is Sedge curled at her feet to be absolutely content.
Notes: In honor of deejay435. May you feel better, and may the holidays bring you everything desire. Now for the fic notes, this is set as if The Return hadn’t occurred, so put all those important plot points aside.
A cup of coffee - or given the galaxy in question, non-coffee - is left cooling on a small balcony at the west side of the city. A chair and table (borrowed from the soft science department months ago) sit next to the balcony. Beside the chair, a small bag is full of native fruits, a single water bottle, and a chocolate bar that one of the kitchen workers had swiped on the last Daedalus run. Sometimes there were perks to the job.
A woman sits curled on the chair, holding a battered, dog-eared book while looking towards the sky and sea. She lifts her head up as a breeze teases slightly too long hair out of place. The sun reflects off the metal, creating a sunlight kaleidoscope on the floor. As a bird cries, she smiles. This was as close to a Sunday morning at home as she will get for awhile. All she needs is Sedge curled at her feet to be absolutely content.
No one drifts to this end of the city; people are more concerned with staying near each other - a small radius that is never far from the gate room - in an attempt to not be alone. Being alone brings fear of Wraith - except for her, where fears are a pressing weight on too-thin shoulders for any number of reasons. This balcony is her space without crowds and demands, a place to relax and forget, to enjoy life and celebrate it and to speak aloud, letting those fears go. Simply put, it is a safe haven for dreams and hopes without cynicism.
Opening the book, she loses herself in the story, one she’s read at least ten times since freshman year of college. There are plenty of other books circulating in the city, but on occasion, a book from happier, blissful times is needed. This one is a ridiculous romance novel - which means the men could never know about it; the teasing would be pretty unbearable, especially from a certain astrophysicist - but being in the middle of nowhere without options, a girl had to take what was available when feeling lonely. Simon would have been a nicer choice, but well, he wasn’t the man she thought anyway. Or that’s what she tells herself when the thought crops up in the middle of the night and her toes are cold.
The Duke had just discovered his “page” was really the Comte’s daughter when the radio headset she’s never without crackles to life. Before she can answer the call, a male’s voice loudly booms through. It seems that the “do not disturb” conversation made an impact, considering Rodney’s complaining about “the stupidity running rampant through the city” in response to the intercepted question. The senior staff is more than capable of taking care of any minor problems that occur and - unless the Wraith, Genii, or anyone else on the rather large enemy list attempts to destroy their home - she is more than willing to hand over control for several hours. Usually the staff is the cause of making enemies in the first place, particularly Colonel Sheppard’s team, so it won’t hurt them to deal with their own messes.
Her stomach growls and a quick reach into the bag solves that particular problem. A quick glance at the watch shows there should be another hour or so before catastrophe occurs, probably in the physics lab and involving John and Rodney with Ancient technology.
“Dr. Weir, could you come to the infirmary? There’s a problem with the IV bags from the last run. Most are leaking, and we really can’t afford to lose these with the amount of accidents we encounter and the older supply was already alarming depleted. We need someone to tell the SGC via the Daedalus.” The nurse sounds apologetic.
“Elizabeth, I tried to stop them from interrupting your break -“
“Rodney, it’s all right.” The people at Stargate Command would never understand why she had requested the abrasive underdogs as her military and science leaders. Family came in all shapes and sizes, especially the ones that could personally be chosen.
A couple hours for a break had been nice. “Dr. McKay, where is Colonel Sheppard?”
“Standing next to me.” His voice lets her know he’s confused. “Don’t touch that, you idiotic slug-brained flyboy!” And now it’s annoyed.
Instead of being irritated, John sounds more indulgent and amused. “I wasn’t. Maybe you do need those glasses you’ve been complaining about. Though, this one is starting to light up.”
“Give me that! It’s like having a toddler running around here, Colonel.”
“Rodney, it’s just behind your back. Like it would be difficult to get back. Besides, you have the artificial gene, so it could activate anyway.”
“I will take that. Thank you.” There's a colorful word in Czech as he takes it. After a couple more select words, she’s pretty sure that if the other two knew what he said, they would have convinced the city to refuse him hot water for quite awhile.
“Please refrain from playing hide and seek with the artifacts, Dr. McKay. It took you three days to lose that green glow, though Ronon did find you quite easily in the night version of the game - or the childhood sort in any case. I’m sure he’d be willing to play again.” Teasing wasn’t strictly protocol, but until she was in the room and officially back on duty, a little more fun wouldn’t hurt.
After packing up the loose items in the bag, she looks out over the blue scene before her. An extra couple more hours of relaxation would have been welcome, but the interruption hadn’t killed off the content feeling. How could it when people are trying to give you a vacation, even during a small crisis?
Notes, part 2: The book referenced is These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer. Not that I've read it, but there was some research done. *grins* Thank you, snowflake_star.