Fic: Transition
Title: Transition
Author: Melyanna
Summary: Two years after the accident that should have killed her, Elizabeth faces important questions on both the personal and professional levels.
Pairings: Weir/Mitchell
Main characters: Elizabeth, Cameron
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Er, "First Strike" and whatever the name of the S4 premiere was.
Beta: miera_c
Disclaimer: You can tell that the show doesn't belong to me by the fact that I stopped watching halfway through the third season. ;)
Notes: Written for the lostcityfound "We'll Always Have Pegasus" challenge for the prompt "Elizabeth Weir/Cameron Mitchell - back on Earth and starting a political career."
This was originally intended to be a much, much longer fic, starting with Elizabeth waking up back on Earth after John stops Rodney from turning the nanites on in her brain, and the Atlantis staff keeps her alive long enough to get her to a specialist in the kind of injuries she sustained. (We will not talk about how little sense the medical stuff in that episode made.) But I was running up against the deadline and was nowhere near done, so I skipped to the part that filled the letter of the prompt. Someday I'll finish the rest of it. :)
Elizabeth came into the restaurant wearing a suit.
When Cam had first met her, she'd been in the utterly utilitarian uniforms of the Atlantis expedition. Then, after her accident, he'd spent months visiting her and seeing her either in scrubs or casual clothing. But it had been more than a year since she had gone to work with a law firm in Colorado Springs, along with joining the board of a an organization designed to help people, especially soldiers, who had suffered the same kind of brain injury that she had. It had been six months since the disclosure of the Stargate program had finally become inevitable and Elizabeth had been thrust onto the national stage. By now he'd seen her enough in a suit that he knew how incredible she could look in a suit, but sometimes it still caught him off-guard.
Her black skirt, the one with the swishy see-through layer on top, was conservative enough, but the jacket she was wearing with it was that dark red that seemed to be made for her. Elizabeth looked like a consummate professional in any suit, but that jacket was just sexy.
As he stood up, he straightened his tie almost reflexively. Elizabeth smiled at the gesture, and when he held her chair out for her she kissed his cheek. "Masquerading as a civilian tonight, I see," she remarked as she sat down.
Cameron went back to the other side of the table. "I figure if I don't wear this suit at least once a year, I ought to get rid of it."
"Well, I like the suit, so that'd be a shame."
He smirked at her. "I like yours too."
Her smile broadened.
They talked about the food and the wine at the restaurant, about Elizabeth's drive to and from Denver that day, about Cam's day at work and Vala's latest attempt to drive Daniel crazy. Their table was small enough that Cam could reach across and take her hand, the kind of thing she seemed to have gotten used to from him over time. He'd learned when she needed space; she'd learned when he needed contact.
Her fingers were cold, though, and her pulse was beating a little faster than normal, like she was nervous about something.
Dinner was over and Elizabeth was contemplating dessert when she sighed. "I wish I'd gotten back in town soon enough to change clothes," she told him. "I didn't want to come in a suit. I do that too much when we go out after work."
"It's fine, Elizabeth," he replied, but she frowned.
"I got the impression you had something special planned tonight."
"Well," he said, letting go of her hand, "I did."
Taking a deep breath, he reached into his pocket and set a ring box on the table, next to her hand. He almost didn't want to look at her. He'd felt more comfortable while being shot at, because then he at least felt like himself. Now he felt like some imitation of himself, like he was playing a part in a movie. A movie that would determine what the rest of his life was going to look like.
Elizabeth was staring at the box in wide-eyed surprise for a moment, not even touching it, and then she turned her gaze to him. "Elizabeth, I know we haven't talked about this, but-"
"Cameron," she interrupted, reaching out to touch his arm, "let me tell you something before you go any further."
His nervousness crystallized in his stomach and Cam bit down on his tongue to keep from blurting anything out.
"The governor's office told me I was meeting with him about taking over the Colorado VA," she said, "but that's not what it was. Senator Darnell is retiring early because of some health issues, and the governor wants to appoint me to fill the vacancy."
Cam wasn't biting his tongue anymore, but he still didn't say anything. Elizabeth had talked before about getting into politics - as it was, her work at the firm and with the Langley Foundation put her into political situations quite often, so it wasn't much of a stretch. Their Congressman had announced that he would be retiring at the end of his term, and Elizabeth was seriously considering a run for his seat. Her experience with the military and with soldiers returning from war, along with the celebrity she'd attained during the disclosure, might just be enough to give even a woman as liberal as her a chance at the open seat.
But a Senate appointment now was a different matter. It wasn't the vague possibility of maybe running for a House seat in two years. It was a decision she had to make now, not talk about for a few months and consider thoroughly before going one way or the other. It was leaving for Washington and being Senator Elizabeth Weir next week.
It meant a lot of time apart. It meant not being able to come home from a rough mission and curl up in bed with her. It meant having to settle for phone calls when what he really wanted was to bury his hands in her hair and kiss her.
He'd been sitting there dumbstruck for a while while Elizabeth stared at him, he realized, but he couldn't think of anything to say to her. He'd been on the verge of asking her to marry him; what kind of reaction was he supposed to have to this news?
Her hand found his, soft fingertips caressing the back of his hand. "What did you tell him?" he finally asked.
"I told him I need to think about it," she replied. "That I needed to talk to you about it."
Cam shook his head. "I'm not going to tell you what to do."
"But I'd like to know what you think."
Elizabeth was looking at him earnestly, and he knew she meant it. He didn't really understand why she wanted his opinion, but she did. And he'd tell her the truth, even if it might mean losing her.
"I think you'd be a good senator," he said, slowly. "But I don't think this should really be about what I want."
"Cam, unless I've grossly misunderstood what's in that box, I think it should be," she replied, gesturing to the jewelry box she still hadn't touched. "I don't want to do this without consulting you."
"Elizabeth, I can't tell you what to do. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't be right." Elizabeth was one of the most independent people he knew, so why was she looking for so much input from him?
Elizabeth pulled away and let out her breath. "I've not really talked about this with anyone before, but..."
She bit her lip, and suddenly Cam knew she was talking about something other than the possibility of filling a Senate vacancy. "What is it?"
"I was seeing someone before I went to Atlantis," she replied. "A cardiologist back in the D. C. area. He wasn't the love of my life or anything but we were together for a while. When... when I was asked to take the Atlantis job, I didn't talk to him about it." She looked down at her fingernails, her expression guilty. "I sent him a video explaining where I was going."
Cameron reached for her hand. "Elizabeth."
She shook her head. "I should have talked to him about it. At the very least I should have told him in person. I know this is different. We didn't know if we were ever coming back. But you deserve to know. You deserve a chance to tell me what you think."
He squeezed her fingers gently and thought hard about how to say what he wanted to say. Part of him wanted her to stay in Colorado where she'd be nearby, but the rest of him was pointing out that she deserved something bigger than what she was doing now. "I think you'd be a good senator," he repeated. "And I think if you want to do it, you should."
Elizabeth nodded, looking apprehensive. "Do you want to rethink this?" she asked, nudging the ring box toward him slightly.
"No," he said. "I'll wait until you've made up your mind about this other thing before I ask." He took a deep breath and added, "But you should know that I'm asking you either way."
There was a subtle change in her expression as she looked straight at him. Cam wasn't sure what it was, exactly, surprise or something else, but he decided to move on.
Displaying far more calmness than he actually felt, he took the box and put it back in his pocket. "Let's skip dessert here and just get the check," he continued. "We can get ice cream at that place around the corner."
Elizabeth smiled, that look that said she found him more endearing than she really wanted to let on. "I'd like that."
Cam wasn't going to say it, but he was glad she'd said yes to at least one thing tonight.
After ice cream, they headed back to the apartment building, where Elizabeth went to Cam's place and they sat up talking half the night. Elizabeth had spent so much time focusing on the here and now, working toward her recovery, toward just achieving the next step, that they had never talked much about the future. It turned out that they had a lot to talk about, but they were both careful to avoid the subject of what Cam had almost asked.
Afterward, she went back to her own apartment, where she spent a couple hours further thinking about it until she finally fell asleep on her couch. She woke up the next morning to the sound of cartoons on the television she'd neglected to turn off. She took a shower, and after that she found a note that had been slid under her front door. Cam wanted her to call him in the evening, whenever she was ready to talk to him again.
The governor had asked for her decision by the end of the day. It was Saturday, and usually she spent at least half the weekend working, but this time there were extenuating circumstances. She went shopping; she went for a walk in the park; she went to a library to catalogue all the policy areas where she was completely unprepared for this job. None of it really seemed to help.
As a younger woman she'd been terribly ambitious. People had thought that she was going into international law because she wanted to do humanitarian work, but the truth of the matter was, she wanted to be a trailblazer. A good mentor and some time in a war zone had knocked some perspective into her, but the president's decision to make her the head of the SGC and his subsequent request that she head the Atlantis expedition had awakened her long-dormant ambitions and literally set her sights on the stars.
It was one of the many ways that the accident, almost two years ago now, had been so devastating. She'd fully expected to spend the rest of her life in Atlantis, soaking in everything she could of the Ancients, hoping to bring something of importance to the rest of the human race. But at some point in her recovery, she had realized that there would be no going back. Moving ahead was the only way to live now, but it seemed like a huge part of her had been taken away. She'd tried filling that void with the law firm, with the charity foundation, but it just wasn't the same. Elizabeth suspected nothing on Earth could ever take the place of Atlantis.
Being a Senator from Colorado, though... That would fill a lot of the void.
She had her health to consider. There were still days when she got exhausted easily and moments when she couldn't remember random words. Yesterday she'd made the governor aware of these problems, but he didn't seem to mind. As long as she was comfortable, he didn't mind if she had to take time off here and there for her health. He believed she could do a good job no matter how much she had to compensate for her recovery.
And then there was Cam. She had gone to dinner the previous night fully prepared to walk away from him. It wasn't that she wanted to, but she didn't want to tie him down to a life he didn't want to lead. But at the same time, she was determined that this wouldn't be like Simon. She loved Cameron too much to make this decision without him, even as he resisted the notion of telling her what he thought, as though he feared telling her what to do.
As the morning progressed into afternoon, her mind turned to what Cameron had tried to ask. Truthfully, she was glad to have bought some time on that front. The offer of a Senate seat had been big enough. A marriage proposal on top of that would have been too much for her to handle in one day.
But it was what Cam had said last that kept coming back to mind. He was going to ask her no matter what she decided about the appointment. In the end, that gave her the answer to both questions.
She made two phone calls, the first to the governor and the second to Cam. She went up to his apartment and they made pizza together, with the black olives just on his half and extra sauce on hers. They sat around kissing instead of talking while the pizza was in the oven, and after they'd eaten and cleaned up their mess she went back to her place to brush her teeth and put on warmer clothes, as Cam strongly suggested.
He came down to her apartment a few minutes later, and together they went down to his truck. He handed her a blindfold, and she looked at him like he was nuts. "Please," he said, giving her that wounded puppy look that she always seemed to fall for. "I want this to be a surprise."
Reluctantly, she let him tie the blindfold on her.
It seemed like they'd been driving forever when he finally pulled over and stopped the car. "All right, you can take it off," he said, and then he laughed at how eagerly she pulled the blindfold from her face. From the looks of it, they were somewhere east of town, in the middle of nowhere, so far away from civilization that the most visible things around were the stars.
He'd brought her out here once before, she remembered as they got out of the cab and he helped her climb into the bed of his truck. She'd had a bad day, trying to do too much too quickly after getting out of the SGC infirmary and overwhelming herself, and she'd needed wide open spaces. Cam had brought her out here where she could breathe, and he'd told her he loved her and they kissed for the first time.
The memory made her heart race, even as they settled down against the back of the cab and Cam pulled a blanket over them both.
The full moon made the night very bright. Elizabeth stared up at the stars in silence for a while, before turning to kiss him gently. "I called the governor back, like he asked." She met Cam's eyes and found a good deal of curiosity in his expression. "I told him I'd do it."
Cam smiled and kissed her forehead. "Well, congratulations, Senator Weir," he said, smiling, and Elizabeth felt a bit of a thrill go down her spine. He was the first one to call her that, and it made this whole crazy venture seem more real to her now.
She leaned against him comfortably and closed her eyes, and that was when he said, low in her ear, "Elizabeth."
She opened her eyes to find him holding the ring box in front of her. Opening it, she found a diamond solitaire in a rose gold. She was sure that Vala, if no one else, would find it very plain and tease Cam for picking it, but Elizabeth found it elegant and she loved it immediately. "It's beautiful," she told him softly.
Taking the ring out, he set the box aside and held her left hand. "Marry me, Elizabeth?" His voice was calm but she could feel the quick beating of his heart.
Elizabeth turned to look at him and nodded. "Yes."
Cam let out a relieved sigh and grinned. Then he slipped the ring on her finger and squeezed her hand. "How'd you find out my ring size?" she asked.
"Are you kidding? I work with a kleptomaniac," he teased. "She'll get that other ring back to you eventually."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but then Cameron's expression softened, and she shifted around to face him. "I love you so much, Cam," she said, a little surprised at how her throat tightened up.
He touched her cheek, then slid his hand back through her hair to pull her closer. "I love you too, babe."
Then Elizabeth's lips met his, and despite the discomfort of kneeling in the bed of the truck, they kissed long and slow and deep, over and over and over. Every time their mouths were apart, Cam told her that he loved her, over and over and over.
Eventually, though, Elizabeth started to giggle, and even with his hands up the front of her shirt Cameron gave her an annoyed look. "I was just thinking," she said. "What if some poor highway patrolman came by and found his senator-designate making out with a man in the back of a truck?"
"It'd probably make the news," he replied, nuzzling her neck almost casually. "And since I'd like to progress past making out at some point tonight and you'd probably like to not make the news for that, maybe we should head back."
Elizabeth laughed again, but she shifted back and let him help her up from her knees. "You may need to ice my knee before we go much further," she warned him.
Cam hopped down from the tailgate and reached up to help Elizabeth down. But she paused, just looking down at him. Somehow, he understood.
"I know there's a lot we haven't talked about, sweetheart," he said gently. "And I know this won't be simple. But we will work it out." He took hold of her hand and his thumb brushed against the engagement ring. "No backing out now," he said with a smile.
Elizabeth thought back to all the times in her recovery that she had relied on this man and his quiet assurance that they would get through it together, and she knew he was right this time too. They would work it out, and probably be stronger for the effort.
"I'm still wondering," she said, as he helped her to the ground, holding her much longer than necessary before her feet touched the earth, "what I did to deserve you."
Cam laughed, his arms still wrapped around her. "Believe me. The feeling's completely mutual."
Elizabeth laughed too, and she kissed him one last time in the starlight. For the first time in two years, she was starting a new adventure, and she was looking forward to tomorrow.
Author: Melyanna
Summary: Two years after the accident that should have killed her, Elizabeth faces important questions on both the personal and professional levels.
Pairings: Weir/Mitchell
Main characters: Elizabeth, Cameron
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Er, "First Strike" and whatever the name of the S4 premiere was.
Beta: miera_c
Disclaimer: You can tell that the show doesn't belong to me by the fact that I stopped watching halfway through the third season. ;)
Notes: Written for the lostcityfound "We'll Always Have Pegasus" challenge for the prompt "Elizabeth Weir/Cameron Mitchell - back on Earth and starting a political career."
This was originally intended to be a much, much longer fic, starting with Elizabeth waking up back on Earth after John stops Rodney from turning the nanites on in her brain, and the Atlantis staff keeps her alive long enough to get her to a specialist in the kind of injuries she sustained. (We will not talk about how little sense the medical stuff in that episode made.) But I was running up against the deadline and was nowhere near done, so I skipped to the part that filled the letter of the prompt. Someday I'll finish the rest of it. :)
Elizabeth came into the restaurant wearing a suit.
When Cam had first met her, she'd been in the utterly utilitarian uniforms of the Atlantis expedition. Then, after her accident, he'd spent months visiting her and seeing her either in scrubs or casual clothing. But it had been more than a year since she had gone to work with a law firm in Colorado Springs, along with joining the board of a an organization designed to help people, especially soldiers, who had suffered the same kind of brain injury that she had. It had been six months since the disclosure of the Stargate program had finally become inevitable and Elizabeth had been thrust onto the national stage. By now he'd seen her enough in a suit that he knew how incredible she could look in a suit, but sometimes it still caught him off-guard.
Her black skirt, the one with the swishy see-through layer on top, was conservative enough, but the jacket she was wearing with it was that dark red that seemed to be made for her. Elizabeth looked like a consummate professional in any suit, but that jacket was just sexy.
As he stood up, he straightened his tie almost reflexively. Elizabeth smiled at the gesture, and when he held her chair out for her she kissed his cheek. "Masquerading as a civilian tonight, I see," she remarked as she sat down.
Cameron went back to the other side of the table. "I figure if I don't wear this suit at least once a year, I ought to get rid of it."
"Well, I like the suit, so that'd be a shame."
He smirked at her. "I like yours too."
Her smile broadened.
They talked about the food and the wine at the restaurant, about Elizabeth's drive to and from Denver that day, about Cam's day at work and Vala's latest attempt to drive Daniel crazy. Their table was small enough that Cam could reach across and take her hand, the kind of thing she seemed to have gotten used to from him over time. He'd learned when she needed space; she'd learned when he needed contact.
Her fingers were cold, though, and her pulse was beating a little faster than normal, like she was nervous about something.
Dinner was over and Elizabeth was contemplating dessert when she sighed. "I wish I'd gotten back in town soon enough to change clothes," she told him. "I didn't want to come in a suit. I do that too much when we go out after work."
"It's fine, Elizabeth," he replied, but she frowned.
"I got the impression you had something special planned tonight."
"Well," he said, letting go of her hand, "I did."
Taking a deep breath, he reached into his pocket and set a ring box on the table, next to her hand. He almost didn't want to look at her. He'd felt more comfortable while being shot at, because then he at least felt like himself. Now he felt like some imitation of himself, like he was playing a part in a movie. A movie that would determine what the rest of his life was going to look like.
Elizabeth was staring at the box in wide-eyed surprise for a moment, not even touching it, and then she turned her gaze to him. "Elizabeth, I know we haven't talked about this, but-"
"Cameron," she interrupted, reaching out to touch his arm, "let me tell you something before you go any further."
His nervousness crystallized in his stomach and Cam bit down on his tongue to keep from blurting anything out.
"The governor's office told me I was meeting with him about taking over the Colorado VA," she said, "but that's not what it was. Senator Darnell is retiring early because of some health issues, and the governor wants to appoint me to fill the vacancy."
Cam wasn't biting his tongue anymore, but he still didn't say anything. Elizabeth had talked before about getting into politics - as it was, her work at the firm and with the Langley Foundation put her into political situations quite often, so it wasn't much of a stretch. Their Congressman had announced that he would be retiring at the end of his term, and Elizabeth was seriously considering a run for his seat. Her experience with the military and with soldiers returning from war, along with the celebrity she'd attained during the disclosure, might just be enough to give even a woman as liberal as her a chance at the open seat.
But a Senate appointment now was a different matter. It wasn't the vague possibility of maybe running for a House seat in two years. It was a decision she had to make now, not talk about for a few months and consider thoroughly before going one way or the other. It was leaving for Washington and being Senator Elizabeth Weir next week.
It meant a lot of time apart. It meant not being able to come home from a rough mission and curl up in bed with her. It meant having to settle for phone calls when what he really wanted was to bury his hands in her hair and kiss her.
He'd been sitting there dumbstruck for a while while Elizabeth stared at him, he realized, but he couldn't think of anything to say to her. He'd been on the verge of asking her to marry him; what kind of reaction was he supposed to have to this news?
Her hand found his, soft fingertips caressing the back of his hand. "What did you tell him?" he finally asked.
"I told him I need to think about it," she replied. "That I needed to talk to you about it."
Cam shook his head. "I'm not going to tell you what to do."
"But I'd like to know what you think."
Elizabeth was looking at him earnestly, and he knew she meant it. He didn't really understand why she wanted his opinion, but she did. And he'd tell her the truth, even if it might mean losing her.
"I think you'd be a good senator," he said, slowly. "But I don't think this should really be about what I want."
"Cam, unless I've grossly misunderstood what's in that box, I think it should be," she replied, gesturing to the jewelry box she still hadn't touched. "I don't want to do this without consulting you."
"Elizabeth, I can't tell you what to do. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't be right." Elizabeth was one of the most independent people he knew, so why was she looking for so much input from him?
Elizabeth pulled away and let out her breath. "I've not really talked about this with anyone before, but..."
She bit her lip, and suddenly Cam knew she was talking about something other than the possibility of filling a Senate vacancy. "What is it?"
"I was seeing someone before I went to Atlantis," she replied. "A cardiologist back in the D. C. area. He wasn't the love of my life or anything but we were together for a while. When... when I was asked to take the Atlantis job, I didn't talk to him about it." She looked down at her fingernails, her expression guilty. "I sent him a video explaining where I was going."
Cameron reached for her hand. "Elizabeth."
She shook her head. "I should have talked to him about it. At the very least I should have told him in person. I know this is different. We didn't know if we were ever coming back. But you deserve to know. You deserve a chance to tell me what you think."
He squeezed her fingers gently and thought hard about how to say what he wanted to say. Part of him wanted her to stay in Colorado where she'd be nearby, but the rest of him was pointing out that she deserved something bigger than what she was doing now. "I think you'd be a good senator," he repeated. "And I think if you want to do it, you should."
Elizabeth nodded, looking apprehensive. "Do you want to rethink this?" she asked, nudging the ring box toward him slightly.
"No," he said. "I'll wait until you've made up your mind about this other thing before I ask." He took a deep breath and added, "But you should know that I'm asking you either way."
There was a subtle change in her expression as she looked straight at him. Cam wasn't sure what it was, exactly, surprise or something else, but he decided to move on.
Displaying far more calmness than he actually felt, he took the box and put it back in his pocket. "Let's skip dessert here and just get the check," he continued. "We can get ice cream at that place around the corner."
Elizabeth smiled, that look that said she found him more endearing than she really wanted to let on. "I'd like that."
Cam wasn't going to say it, but he was glad she'd said yes to at least one thing tonight.
After ice cream, they headed back to the apartment building, where Elizabeth went to Cam's place and they sat up talking half the night. Elizabeth had spent so much time focusing on the here and now, working toward her recovery, toward just achieving the next step, that they had never talked much about the future. It turned out that they had a lot to talk about, but they were both careful to avoid the subject of what Cam had almost asked.
Afterward, she went back to her own apartment, where she spent a couple hours further thinking about it until she finally fell asleep on her couch. She woke up the next morning to the sound of cartoons on the television she'd neglected to turn off. She took a shower, and after that she found a note that had been slid under her front door. Cam wanted her to call him in the evening, whenever she was ready to talk to him again.
The governor had asked for her decision by the end of the day. It was Saturday, and usually she spent at least half the weekend working, but this time there were extenuating circumstances. She went shopping; she went for a walk in the park; she went to a library to catalogue all the policy areas where she was completely unprepared for this job. None of it really seemed to help.
As a younger woman she'd been terribly ambitious. People had thought that she was going into international law because she wanted to do humanitarian work, but the truth of the matter was, she wanted to be a trailblazer. A good mentor and some time in a war zone had knocked some perspective into her, but the president's decision to make her the head of the SGC and his subsequent request that she head the Atlantis expedition had awakened her long-dormant ambitions and literally set her sights on the stars.
It was one of the many ways that the accident, almost two years ago now, had been so devastating. She'd fully expected to spend the rest of her life in Atlantis, soaking in everything she could of the Ancients, hoping to bring something of importance to the rest of the human race. But at some point in her recovery, she had realized that there would be no going back. Moving ahead was the only way to live now, but it seemed like a huge part of her had been taken away. She'd tried filling that void with the law firm, with the charity foundation, but it just wasn't the same. Elizabeth suspected nothing on Earth could ever take the place of Atlantis.
Being a Senator from Colorado, though... That would fill a lot of the void.
She had her health to consider. There were still days when she got exhausted easily and moments when she couldn't remember random words. Yesterday she'd made the governor aware of these problems, but he didn't seem to mind. As long as she was comfortable, he didn't mind if she had to take time off here and there for her health. He believed she could do a good job no matter how much she had to compensate for her recovery.
And then there was Cam. She had gone to dinner the previous night fully prepared to walk away from him. It wasn't that she wanted to, but she didn't want to tie him down to a life he didn't want to lead. But at the same time, she was determined that this wouldn't be like Simon. She loved Cameron too much to make this decision without him, even as he resisted the notion of telling her what he thought, as though he feared telling her what to do.
As the morning progressed into afternoon, her mind turned to what Cameron had tried to ask. Truthfully, she was glad to have bought some time on that front. The offer of a Senate seat had been big enough. A marriage proposal on top of that would have been too much for her to handle in one day.
But it was what Cam had said last that kept coming back to mind. He was going to ask her no matter what she decided about the appointment. In the end, that gave her the answer to both questions.
She made two phone calls, the first to the governor and the second to Cam. She went up to his apartment and they made pizza together, with the black olives just on his half and extra sauce on hers. They sat around kissing instead of talking while the pizza was in the oven, and after they'd eaten and cleaned up their mess she went back to her place to brush her teeth and put on warmer clothes, as Cam strongly suggested.
He came down to her apartment a few minutes later, and together they went down to his truck. He handed her a blindfold, and she looked at him like he was nuts. "Please," he said, giving her that wounded puppy look that she always seemed to fall for. "I want this to be a surprise."
Reluctantly, she let him tie the blindfold on her.
It seemed like they'd been driving forever when he finally pulled over and stopped the car. "All right, you can take it off," he said, and then he laughed at how eagerly she pulled the blindfold from her face. From the looks of it, they were somewhere east of town, in the middle of nowhere, so far away from civilization that the most visible things around were the stars.
He'd brought her out here once before, she remembered as they got out of the cab and he helped her climb into the bed of his truck. She'd had a bad day, trying to do too much too quickly after getting out of the SGC infirmary and overwhelming herself, and she'd needed wide open spaces. Cam had brought her out here where she could breathe, and he'd told her he loved her and they kissed for the first time.
The memory made her heart race, even as they settled down against the back of the cab and Cam pulled a blanket over them both.
The full moon made the night very bright. Elizabeth stared up at the stars in silence for a while, before turning to kiss him gently. "I called the governor back, like he asked." She met Cam's eyes and found a good deal of curiosity in his expression. "I told him I'd do it."
Cam smiled and kissed her forehead. "Well, congratulations, Senator Weir," he said, smiling, and Elizabeth felt a bit of a thrill go down her spine. He was the first one to call her that, and it made this whole crazy venture seem more real to her now.
She leaned against him comfortably and closed her eyes, and that was when he said, low in her ear, "Elizabeth."
She opened her eyes to find him holding the ring box in front of her. Opening it, she found a diamond solitaire in a rose gold. She was sure that Vala, if no one else, would find it very plain and tease Cam for picking it, but Elizabeth found it elegant and she loved it immediately. "It's beautiful," she told him softly.
Taking the ring out, he set the box aside and held her left hand. "Marry me, Elizabeth?" His voice was calm but she could feel the quick beating of his heart.
Elizabeth turned to look at him and nodded. "Yes."
Cam let out a relieved sigh and grinned. Then he slipped the ring on her finger and squeezed her hand. "How'd you find out my ring size?" she asked.
"Are you kidding? I work with a kleptomaniac," he teased. "She'll get that other ring back to you eventually."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but then Cameron's expression softened, and she shifted around to face him. "I love you so much, Cam," she said, a little surprised at how her throat tightened up.
He touched her cheek, then slid his hand back through her hair to pull her closer. "I love you too, babe."
Then Elizabeth's lips met his, and despite the discomfort of kneeling in the bed of the truck, they kissed long and slow and deep, over and over and over. Every time their mouths were apart, Cam told her that he loved her, over and over and over.
Eventually, though, Elizabeth started to giggle, and even with his hands up the front of her shirt Cameron gave her an annoyed look. "I was just thinking," she said. "What if some poor highway patrolman came by and found his senator-designate making out with a man in the back of a truck?"
"It'd probably make the news," he replied, nuzzling her neck almost casually. "And since I'd like to progress past making out at some point tonight and you'd probably like to not make the news for that, maybe we should head back."
Elizabeth laughed again, but she shifted back and let him help her up from her knees. "You may need to ice my knee before we go much further," she warned him.
Cam hopped down from the tailgate and reached up to help Elizabeth down. But she paused, just looking down at him. Somehow, he understood.
"I know there's a lot we haven't talked about, sweetheart," he said gently. "And I know this won't be simple. But we will work it out." He took hold of her hand and his thumb brushed against the engagement ring. "No backing out now," he said with a smile.
Elizabeth thought back to all the times in her recovery that she had relied on this man and his quiet assurance that they would get through it together, and she knew he was right this time too. They would work it out, and probably be stronger for the effort.
"I'm still wondering," she said, as he helped her to the ground, holding her much longer than necessary before her feet touched the earth, "what I did to deserve you."
Cam laughed, his arms still wrapped around her. "Believe me. The feeling's completely mutual."
Elizabeth laughed too, and she kissed him one last time in the starlight. For the first time in two years, she was starting a new adventure, and she was looking forward to tomorrow.