[Stargate: Fiction] "Made a Difference" [SG-22, PG]
Title: Made a Difference
Prompt: writerverse challenge #8 it’s a wonderful life (just like the movie)
Word Count: 1,664
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Stargate SG-1 ( SG-22, original characters)
Summary: Some Ancient meddling lets Gryff see how her life has made a difference.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Made a Difference
“You should get yourself cleaned up, Captain Gryffydd,” said a nurse, kindly.
Gryff frowned at her, then followed the other woman’s gaze to the blood, splashed from fingers to elbows, that wasn’t her own. She felt suddenly breathless, lightheaded and dizzy.
“Captain?” the nurse asked again.
Gryff ran.
Up twenty-eight floors, leaning heavily against the elevator wall, past the guard stations, ignoring the sergeants’ worried faced, and finally out into the cold Colorado night.
She ran, feeling the pounding of her heart and the thump of her boots on the pavement, until her muscles began to protest and she came to a stop. Somehow, she’d ended up on one of the hiking trails that ran through the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, and she’d stopped at a look-out point which gave her a sweeping view of the plain below.
Breathing hard, Gryff leaned against the wooden railing. In the cool night air, she could feel the blood drying on her bare arms, stiffening the knees of her BDUs.
“It should have been me,” she muttered. “I’m their leader, I’m supposed to protect them. It should have been me! Why wasn’t it me?”
“Because it was not your time,” said a voice.
Gryff whirled to see a woman standing suddenly beside her. At first, she thought that the woman’s white gown was simply standing out against the dark woods, but a second later, she realized she was actually glowing faintly.
“Who are you?” Gryff demanded.
“A friend,” the woman replied. “Although, technically, I’m also family.”
“You’re an Ancient.”
The woman nodded. “I am of the race you call Ancients, yes. My name is Ygraine.”
“Funny, so’s mine,” said Gryff, dryly.
The Ancient- Ygraine- scowled. “I have come to help you, child. My kind, those who have Ascended, are forbidden from interfering in mortal lives. But in this instance, I might… bend the rules a little.”
“Yeah?” asked Gryff. “How’s that?”
She scowled again, looking just like Gryff’s mother did when she was starting to lose her patience- maybe they were related, after all.
“By showing you how this reality would be different had you not been born,” Ygraine said, shortly.
Gryff arched an eyebrow. “You know, that wasn’t exactly my question.”
“Do you want my help or not?” snapped Ygraine.
“Fine,” said Gryff, and took her hand.
There was a blinding flash of light, and Gryff blacked out before she hit the ground. She woke in the SGC infirmary, with the same nurse leaning over her.
“How are you feeling, ma’am?”
Gryff blinked. “What happened?”
“They said you collapsed,” said the nurse. “But you don’t seem injured. If Dr. Fraiser says it’s all right, you can head back to Groom Lake tonight.”
“Groom Lake?” Gryff repeated. “Area 51? Why would I go there?”
“Your records say you’re stationed there, ma’am. But I’ll double-check…”
When she turned away, Ygraine appeared beside Gryff’s bed. “She can’t see me,” said the Ancient. Only you can, and you don’t exist here. Well, not you you. Here, you’re Captain Smith, visiting from Nevada.”
Gryff ignored her. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, but when her fingers closed around the side, she stared- her arms were pale, without a trace of blood.
“You don’t exist here,” Ygraine repeated. “You didn’t go on that mission this morning, and you didn’t carry any bleeding Marines back through the ‘gate.”
“Jason,” said Gryff, as the nurse came back. “Lieutenant, where is Gunnery Sergeant Jason Vicks?”
The woman frowned. “Ma’am, maybe you should lie down…”
Gryff pushed to her feet. “Jason Vicks, where is he?”
Jason was something of a flirt, especially with the infirmary staff, but the nurse shook her head. “I don’t know him, ma’am.”
“What about Walter Tobias?” Gryff asked.
“Who?”
Gryff straightened. “Is there any reason to keep me here, lieutenant?”
“Well, no, ma’am. As soon as Dr. Fraiser-”
“She’ll know where to find me,” Gryff interrupted. “I need to speak to the general.”
Before the nurse could protest, Gryff headed out of the infirmary, Ygraine still beside her. “Why the general?” the Ancient woman asked.
“Because if anyone knows what’s going on in this dimension, or reality, or whatever, it’ll be General Hammond,” said Gryff. “And he’ll know exactly what to do.”
Rounding the next corner, she froze. The entire corridor was lined with service photographs, the most prominent belonging to George Hammond. A plaque above it read He gave his life for his country and his world.
“Do not tell me my nonexistence got the general killed,” she snapped.
“No, of course not,” said Ygraine. “But you and your team did make a difference here. You didn’t save the world, like SG-1 did on a regular basis, but every time you were captured by a minor Goa’uld and escaped, you disrupted their resources. Every freed mine worker you returned to their homeworld spread the word that the Goa’uld were false gods. Without you, their influence went unbroken.”
“Right,” Gryff snorted. She turned back to the photographs. “But these people are all dead.”
She knew the names that belonged to every one of these faces, these friends. Including- “Toby!”
She raised a shaking hand to touch the frame of a picture just like all the others. “How?” she demanded.
“Without you,” said Ygraine, “Lieutenant Tobias was never assigned to SG-22. He never went off-world, never learned to look after himself. When he was called to join SG-4 to rebuild an irrigation system on a friendly world, they were attacked by enemy Jaffa. No one survived.”
Gryff closed her eyes briefly, then frantically searched the wall again. “Jason’s picture isn’t here.”
Ygraine nodded, somberly. “Jason Vicks never joined the SGC. He died in Afghanistan, attempting to evacuate the staff of General Rodriguez’s office.”
“But I-” Gryff stopped herself. “I didn’t here, did I? I wasn’t there, to send the rest of the staff out after Rodriguez ordered us to stay. And when the Marines came in, everyone was still there. Jason died in Afghanistan, didn’t he?”
The Ancient nodded.
“But what about- Levi!”
The sociologist wasn’t pictured on the memorial wall, but real and alive, standing on the other side of the corridor with a pile of papers. He stopped, looking around in confusion.
“Levi,” Gryff said again, grinning as she stopped beside him.
She reached out to touch his arm, and Levi flinched, looking so small and fragile that it made Gryff’s heart ache.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
Gryff swallowed. “No. No, you don’t. But I know you. Dr. Levi Flannigan. You drink your tea with honey. You love to read mysteries and watch documentaries on PBS. You won’t eat purple jelly beans, for no particular reason, and you never remember to check your answering machine. You’re one of the bravest man I’ve ever met.”
His eyes had widened, but then he frowned. “You don’t know me, then. I’m not brave at all.”
“Of course you are,” she said, sadly. “You’re the bravest of us.”
Gryff had faced Jaffa warriors twice her size, insurmountable odds and certain death without so much as flinching, but the sight of a man she loved so fiercely it sometimes scared her, looking at her with a stranger’s eyes, made her want to cry.
Levi shifted awkwardly. “Are you…? I mean… I’m sorry, maybe you ought to go to the infirmary?”
She shook her head. “No. Thank you, Levi- Dr. Flannigan. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
He opened his mouth, looked around awkwardly again, then closed it and left.
Gryff whirled on her ‘guide’. “What the hell is the point of this?” she demanded.
“You were feeling sorry for yourself,” Ygraine told her, flatly. “Yes, perhaps your life didn’t change the world. But you did change the lives of three good men, who willingly put themselves in danger for you. Because they love you.”
“I know,” Gryff breathed. “I know they do. That doesn’t make it any easier.”
“No,” the Ancient agreed. “But does that mean you can disregard their sacrifices by running away?”
“You know, it’s really annoying that you’re right.”
Ygraine smiled. “Are you ready to go back, then?”
“Hell, yes,” said Gryff. “Let’s go, Grandma.”
There was another blinding flash, and Gryff found herself lying on the side of the hiking trail. As she sat up, the knees of her BDUs creaked- they were stiff with dried blood, and more flaked down her bare arms.
Gryff shot to her feet- she was back!
Suddenly, headlights appeared on the road, and her own battered Jeep came to a stop beside her. The side door opened, even before it had fully stopped, and a person shot out.
“Gryff!” cried Levi, flinging himself into her arms.
She caught him automatically, her brain still a step behind. “Levi?”
“Gryff, you’re freezing!” he said. “Why don’t you have a coat? No, never mind. Where have you been? One of the nurses said you just ran.”
“I needed some air,” she said.
A large, warm jacket settled over her shoulders. “That doesn’t mean you need to catch pneumonia, Gryff,” said Toby.
“Yeah, sir,” added Jason.
Gryff reached for them both, without letting go of Levi, pulling them all into a big tangle.
“Hey,” said Toby. “Hey, Gryff, we’re okay.”
“I thought…” she began.
“It was just a graze,” said Jason, softly. “Doc says head wounds bleed a lot, but I’m okay.”
“She also said you’d gotten us back just in time,” Levi added. He must have found a spare pair of glasses, because the frames were digging into her shoulder, but Gryff didn’t move. “And you did such a good job bandaging Toby’s arm that he didn’t even need stitches.”
“I did?” she breathed.
Toby pulled back to look at her. “Gryff, did something happen?”
“Yeah,” she admitted, with a shaky laugh. “Yeah, it did. I’ll tell you later, okay?”
He nodded. “Okay. But let’s get you home.”
“Home,” she repeated, with a genuine smile. “Let’s go.”
THE END
Current Mood:
rainy
Prompt: writerverse challenge #8 it’s a wonderful life (just like the movie)
Word Count: 1,664
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Stargate SG-1 ( SG-22, original characters)
Summary: Some Ancient meddling lets Gryff see how her life has made a difference.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Made a Difference
“You should get yourself cleaned up, Captain Gryffydd,” said a nurse, kindly.
Gryff frowned at her, then followed the other woman’s gaze to the blood, splashed from fingers to elbows, that wasn’t her own. She felt suddenly breathless, lightheaded and dizzy.
“Captain?” the nurse asked again.
Gryff ran.
Up twenty-eight floors, leaning heavily against the elevator wall, past the guard stations, ignoring the sergeants’ worried faced, and finally out into the cold Colorado night.
She ran, feeling the pounding of her heart and the thump of her boots on the pavement, until her muscles began to protest and she came to a stop. Somehow, she’d ended up on one of the hiking trails that ran through the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, and she’d stopped at a look-out point which gave her a sweeping view of the plain below.
Breathing hard, Gryff leaned against the wooden railing. In the cool night air, she could feel the blood drying on her bare arms, stiffening the knees of her BDUs.
“It should have been me,” she muttered. “I’m their leader, I’m supposed to protect them. It should have been me! Why wasn’t it me?”
“Because it was not your time,” said a voice.
Gryff whirled to see a woman standing suddenly beside her. At first, she thought that the woman’s white gown was simply standing out against the dark woods, but a second later, she realized she was actually glowing faintly.
“Who are you?” Gryff demanded.
“A friend,” the woman replied. “Although, technically, I’m also family.”
“You’re an Ancient.”
The woman nodded. “I am of the race you call Ancients, yes. My name is Ygraine.”
“Funny, so’s mine,” said Gryff, dryly.
The Ancient- Ygraine- scowled. “I have come to help you, child. My kind, those who have Ascended, are forbidden from interfering in mortal lives. But in this instance, I might… bend the rules a little.”
“Yeah?” asked Gryff. “How’s that?”
She scowled again, looking just like Gryff’s mother did when she was starting to lose her patience- maybe they were related, after all.
“By showing you how this reality would be different had you not been born,” Ygraine said, shortly.
Gryff arched an eyebrow. “You know, that wasn’t exactly my question.”
“Do you want my help or not?” snapped Ygraine.
“Fine,” said Gryff, and took her hand.
There was a blinding flash of light, and Gryff blacked out before she hit the ground. She woke in the SGC infirmary, with the same nurse leaning over her.
“How are you feeling, ma’am?”
Gryff blinked. “What happened?”
“They said you collapsed,” said the nurse. “But you don’t seem injured. If Dr. Fraiser says it’s all right, you can head back to Groom Lake tonight.”
“Groom Lake?” Gryff repeated. “Area 51? Why would I go there?”
“Your records say you’re stationed there, ma’am. But I’ll double-check…”
When she turned away, Ygraine appeared beside Gryff’s bed. “She can’t see me,” said the Ancient. Only you can, and you don’t exist here. Well, not you you. Here, you’re Captain Smith, visiting from Nevada.”
Gryff ignored her. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, but when her fingers closed around the side, she stared- her arms were pale, without a trace of blood.
“You don’t exist here,” Ygraine repeated. “You didn’t go on that mission this morning, and you didn’t carry any bleeding Marines back through the ‘gate.”
“Jason,” said Gryff, as the nurse came back. “Lieutenant, where is Gunnery Sergeant Jason Vicks?”
The woman frowned. “Ma’am, maybe you should lie down…”
Gryff pushed to her feet. “Jason Vicks, where is he?”
Jason was something of a flirt, especially with the infirmary staff, but the nurse shook her head. “I don’t know him, ma’am.”
“What about Walter Tobias?” Gryff asked.
“Who?”
Gryff straightened. “Is there any reason to keep me here, lieutenant?”
“Well, no, ma’am. As soon as Dr. Fraiser-”
“She’ll know where to find me,” Gryff interrupted. “I need to speak to the general.”
Before the nurse could protest, Gryff headed out of the infirmary, Ygraine still beside her. “Why the general?” the Ancient woman asked.
“Because if anyone knows what’s going on in this dimension, or reality, or whatever, it’ll be General Hammond,” said Gryff. “And he’ll know exactly what to do.”
Rounding the next corner, she froze. The entire corridor was lined with service photographs, the most prominent belonging to George Hammond. A plaque above it read He gave his life for his country and his world.
“Do not tell me my nonexistence got the general killed,” she snapped.
“No, of course not,” said Ygraine. “But you and your team did make a difference here. You didn’t save the world, like SG-1 did on a regular basis, but every time you were captured by a minor Goa’uld and escaped, you disrupted their resources. Every freed mine worker you returned to their homeworld spread the word that the Goa’uld were false gods. Without you, their influence went unbroken.”
“Right,” Gryff snorted. She turned back to the photographs. “But these people are all dead.”
She knew the names that belonged to every one of these faces, these friends. Including- “Toby!”
She raised a shaking hand to touch the frame of a picture just like all the others. “How?” she demanded.
“Without you,” said Ygraine, “Lieutenant Tobias was never assigned to SG-22. He never went off-world, never learned to look after himself. When he was called to join SG-4 to rebuild an irrigation system on a friendly world, they were attacked by enemy Jaffa. No one survived.”
Gryff closed her eyes briefly, then frantically searched the wall again. “Jason’s picture isn’t here.”
Ygraine nodded, somberly. “Jason Vicks never joined the SGC. He died in Afghanistan, attempting to evacuate the staff of General Rodriguez’s office.”
“But I-” Gryff stopped herself. “I didn’t here, did I? I wasn’t there, to send the rest of the staff out after Rodriguez ordered us to stay. And when the Marines came in, everyone was still there. Jason died in Afghanistan, didn’t he?”
The Ancient nodded.
“But what about- Levi!”
The sociologist wasn’t pictured on the memorial wall, but real and alive, standing on the other side of the corridor with a pile of papers. He stopped, looking around in confusion.
“Levi,” Gryff said again, grinning as she stopped beside him.
She reached out to touch his arm, and Levi flinched, looking so small and fragile that it made Gryff’s heart ache.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
Gryff swallowed. “No. No, you don’t. But I know you. Dr. Levi Flannigan. You drink your tea with honey. You love to read mysteries and watch documentaries on PBS. You won’t eat purple jelly beans, for no particular reason, and you never remember to check your answering machine. You’re one of the bravest man I’ve ever met.”
His eyes had widened, but then he frowned. “You don’t know me, then. I’m not brave at all.”
“Of course you are,” she said, sadly. “You’re the bravest of us.”
Gryff had faced Jaffa warriors twice her size, insurmountable odds and certain death without so much as flinching, but the sight of a man she loved so fiercely it sometimes scared her, looking at her with a stranger’s eyes, made her want to cry.
Levi shifted awkwardly. “Are you…? I mean… I’m sorry, maybe you ought to go to the infirmary?”
She shook her head. “No. Thank you, Levi- Dr. Flannigan. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
He opened his mouth, looked around awkwardly again, then closed it and left.
Gryff whirled on her ‘guide’. “What the hell is the point of this?” she demanded.
“You were feeling sorry for yourself,” Ygraine told her, flatly. “Yes, perhaps your life didn’t change the world. But you did change the lives of three good men, who willingly put themselves in danger for you. Because they love you.”
“I know,” Gryff breathed. “I know they do. That doesn’t make it any easier.”
“No,” the Ancient agreed. “But does that mean you can disregard their sacrifices by running away?”
“You know, it’s really annoying that you’re right.”
Ygraine smiled. “Are you ready to go back, then?”
“Hell, yes,” said Gryff. “Let’s go, Grandma.”
There was another blinding flash, and Gryff found herself lying on the side of the hiking trail. As she sat up, the knees of her BDUs creaked- they were stiff with dried blood, and more flaked down her bare arms.
Gryff shot to her feet- she was back!
Suddenly, headlights appeared on the road, and her own battered Jeep came to a stop beside her. The side door opened, even before it had fully stopped, and a person shot out.
“Gryff!” cried Levi, flinging himself into her arms.
She caught him automatically, her brain still a step behind. “Levi?”
“Gryff, you’re freezing!” he said. “Why don’t you have a coat? No, never mind. Where have you been? One of the nurses said you just ran.”
“I needed some air,” she said.
A large, warm jacket settled over her shoulders. “That doesn’t mean you need to catch pneumonia, Gryff,” said Toby.
“Yeah, sir,” added Jason.
Gryff reached for them both, without letting go of Levi, pulling them all into a big tangle.
“Hey,” said Toby. “Hey, Gryff, we’re okay.”
“I thought…” she began.
“It was just a graze,” said Jason, softly. “Doc says head wounds bleed a lot, but I’m okay.”
“She also said you’d gotten us back just in time,” Levi added. He must have found a spare pair of glasses, because the frames were digging into her shoulder, but Gryff didn’t move. “And you did such a good job bandaging Toby’s arm that he didn’t even need stitches.”
“I did?” she breathed.
Toby pulled back to look at her. “Gryff, did something happen?”
“Yeah,” she admitted, with a shaky laugh. “Yeah, it did. I’ll tell you later, okay?”
He nodded. “Okay. But let’s get you home.”
“Home,” she repeated, with a genuine smile. “Let’s go.”
THE END
Current Mood:
rainy