FanFic100: #086 Life
What exactly is she doing here? Of all the ideas members of the Atlantis crew had to kill time and find a distraction from the city’s day-to-day routine, this is probably one of the worst ever. And the question that is even more pressing is: Why did she agree to go along with it and even contribute something to this idiotic scheme?
Okay, right.
Because she wouldn’t have been allowed to take part if she hadn't made a contribution herself and then she would have had to find her own means to kill time. And so she is sitting in the back of the room and watching home videos of all the Atlantis crew members that donated one and trying to spot the crew member that donated the video in the video itself.
At the moment there’s a little girl with black curls who is holding a diploma into the camera, a little shyly but also with considerable pride showing through and people are shouting into the room.
“Dr. Androvskaya!”
“Oberleutnant Sundermeier!”
“Shanti… whatshername… Haidhati!”
She tilts her head a little and narrows her eyes… hey, that’s an easy one. Grinning she mutters in a low voice, “Huh, that’s a no-brainer.”
“Really? What makes you think that, Lieutenant?” She actually jumps a little at the low male voice that suddenly comes from her left and she half turns around. Major Lorne. What the hell is he doing here?
But yeah, retaining her composure is really first priority here. “Easy, sir. The hair, the eyes… and you could see the name on the diploma for a moment.” People keep shouting names into the room but the techie that’s in charge of the videos only grins at them. Major Lorne, though, raises his eyebrow and gestures for her to go on. “Elizabeth Weir. That’s the boss on the screen there.” Now she can’t quite hold back a smug grin.
Lorne gives her a slightly skeptical look and then turns his eyes back to the screen where the video is shown again so that people can get a better look. After a moment, his face becomes surprised. “You’re right. Good work, Lieutenant.” She can’t help another smug grin. He wants to say something else but in that moment someone else has finally guessed who the little girl is. After a little uproar in the room at the result - wait, was that just Elizabeth Weir sneaking out of the back of the room, a little smile on her face? - the techie hits a button on his laptop and… good God.
Her face must have betrayed her since she can hear a slightly amused, “Someone you know, Lieutenant?” from her left. Damn, why did she enter this contest? And why did she give them that video? Determined not to look at her superior, she looks around the room to see the other people’s reactions… and nearly all their faces show smiles and grins and a few of them are openly laughing, obviously enjoying the slightly… different kind of video they get.
Before, you could fairly easy guess if the participant donating the pictures or videos was a techie, a soldier, someone from the diplomatic or administrative staff or a scientist because they had all chosen something that included stuff that could compromise them - a diploma or a clumsy martial arts performance or some award won - but hers is… nothing like that.
In fact, it shows herself running around her parents’ living room in something that has a remote likeness to an astronaut’s suit. Well, to those who were there when it was still recognizable as one, that is. Actually… the only person still able to recognize that thing as an astronaut’s suit is her.
There are snorts now throughout the room and one that sounds particularly amused comes from her left again. Well… there don’t seem to be much left that would get her out of this with her dignity intact so she turns to the Major again and says, “Probably. And also someone you know, sir.
“Do I, huh?” What the hell is that supposed to mean? She chooses not to respond to that but instead concentrates on the names people throw in the ring at the sight of the little girl with the messy red hair in the tattered remains of a handmade astronaut’s suit chasing a lively English shepherd puppy.
Someone from the front shouts “Erin O’Laughlin!” while someone else a little closer to herself throws in “Natalya Erikova!” With a little luck… no one will find out who this actually is and her reputation will be saved. Trying to look totally unfazed, she leans back in her seat and looks at the screen again.
The little movie was filmed at the first Halloween she can remember. She was five and the suit had been the first time her mother hadn't been able to curb that stubborn streak of hers. The plan had been to be dressed as a cute little princess because didn’t all little girls at five want to be princesses? However, her mother had run into a road block because little Laura Cadman had had a very definite idea about what her Halloween costume was supposed to be… and it hadn’t involved either a dress or a crown.
Now a wistful little smile crosses her face. It had taken her two months of work to complete the suit as best as she could and then her father had gotten her Dinah - the little English shepherd - for her birthday the day before Halloween… and Dinah had made quick work of the suit. She had been so… irate that day but when Dinah had died 15 years later… “Lieutenant? Everything okay?”
She clears her throat. Crap… her eyes aren’t moist, right? “Yes, sir. I’m… fine, thank you. I just… I…”
“Our first dog was a Labrador called Chino. I still miss him like hell sometimes.” She looks at him again and the amusement has made way for a sad little smile and a serious undertone to his voice.
God, she can’t believe she’s this close to losing it over a little Halloween video… right in front of her CO, only six months after arriving in Atlantis. So she makes an effort to save what little is left of her decorum. “It’s not about the dog, sir. Just about… well…” He raises his eyebrow, as if to say, ‘Then what is it about?’
But instead he only says, “Of course it’s not about the dog. It’s never just about the dog.” Then he pauses for a moment… only to continue, looking like he just came to a decision, “Listen, Lieutenant, if you want to talk…”
No, not gonna happen. Not here, not now, maybe never. Her CO is about the last person she would think about talking to about being homesick. If she was homesick, that is. But she’s not. She’s just… she needs… “Thanks, sir, but I’m fine. I’ll… I just need to find something other than sandwiches to eat and it also would be nice to find something stronger to drink than ginger ale…” Lorne starts to look a little… confused. Okay, she probably should just get up and stop babbling. “Nice talking to you, sir, really, but I have this thing in the explosives lab waiting for me and… do me a favor, sir?”
Still a little confused nod. “Sure, what is it?”
She smirks. “Don’t use your insider knowledge to expose me. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”
That gets him to smirk as well. “Sure, Lieutenant. Can’t promise that no one will get it on their own, though.” That’s her clue to get up, she thinks, but he doesn’t let her. “Uh, Lieutenant, no offense but… what exactly were you supposed to be?”
She gives him a look, the one that always worked with her brothers when they were asking stupid questions. “I think that’s pretty obvious, sir.”
Giving her back a look - one of those he usually reserves for Colonel Sheppard when he’s being his usual irrational self - he replies, “Not to me.”
Oh goody, that gives her a great way to escape him without losing face… well, too much, that is. She gets up and tells him, “I’d tell you, sir, but… I have a few mission reports to finish. Thanks for the promise, though.” And with that she’s finally out of the room, away from his sudden interest in her and the images on the screen and everything they bring with them.
After that incident, she manages to stay away from Major Lorne for a whole two weeks and even starts to forget the whole thing… until she finds a nice little package in front of her door, with only her name on it and nothing more - no sender’s name or anything. Curious, she takes it up and enters her quarters, starting to open it the moment the door closes. After a little haggling with the paper, she finds something black and plushy inside that… turns out to be a plush bat.
“What the…” she starts but then finds a little note attached to, saying, “It's not exactly a puppy... but it does keep occasional bouts of homesickness away rather nicely.” A reluctant grin is forming on her face… and then she discovers that there’s something written on the backside of the note. “By the way, still waiting for you unravel the mystery of the Halloween costume, Lieutenant. Coffee in the mess some time? PS.: Your secret's still safe with me.” Holy crap… he didn’t just ask her on a… no way he did. So… it would be perfectly safe for her to take up that offer, wouldn’t it, she thinks reassuring herself and… a smile appears on her face. Maybe taking part in that damn contest had been worth something in the end.