011. Red; Old Red Wine
Title: Old Red Wine
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Amelia Banks, Richard Woolsey, Chuck, Teyla Emmagen, Jennifer Keller, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Atlantis, Ronon Dex
Prompt: 011 Red
Word Count: 800
Rating: G
Summary: She’s leaving and only one person can stop her. But she’s not sure who that one person is.
Notes: Inspired by The Who song Old Red Wine, hence the title, especially by the second verse. And surprise, surprise another angstyish fic. I don’t know why I insist on writing it since I’m never really good at it. LDT
*
The red wine in her hands smells old, expensive and past it’s prime. But she dare not say that to the man across the desk.
“So there is nothing I can say to stop you?” Richard Woolsey asks her and she shakes her head with a small, sad smile. “Well, all I can say is that we’ll miss you.”
She looks up at him and nods. “Thank you, sir.”
“Please, I’m not technically your boss anymore. Call me Richard.”
“Thank you, Richard.” She takes a sip from the glass in hand and endures it as it slips down her throat.
*
“To the greatest technician that ever worked here!” Chuck shouted from the table he was currently standing on, a bottle with no label held high in the air. Several people shouted in agreement and she had to shadow her face with her hair to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks.
A woman she hardly knew came up to her and hugged her. This is what a party on Atlantis was like. Smuggled alcohol and too many people crammed into too small a room for them all to fit.
But she liked it this way. She would miss this way.
*
Teyla and the others who joined them on the girl’s poker night sat around the table. She had somehow ended up at the head and everyone’s faces were turned towards her.
“I’m going to miss these...” She muttered to no one in particular.
“Miss them enough not to go?” Jennifer asked from her left. Her reply was the small, sad smile that she was giving everyone in the past days.
There was silence from the rest until Teyla spoke up.
“We understand your desire to return to your home,” She said. “It has been an honour to work with you.”
*
She felt the wind pull against her side and closed her eyes to relish in the sensation. As she opened them, the sight of the great expanse of beautiful blue ocean assaulted her eyes. The smell reached her nose and the taste of the salt touched her lips.
Out in the distance she could see the subtly raised land where she had often visited. She could almost feel the soft sand of the beach under her toes but as she flexed them, all she felt was the air. A deep sigh escaped her lips.
These sensations were second to none.
*
“So what’s wrong with it?” Rodney asked hesitantly. If there was anyone but her and Colonel Sheppard there at this time, it would be a different story.
“I think this crystal might have a defect. These doors haven’t been opened in a few thousand years...” She offered and sure enough, replacing the crystal the doors slid open.
“So what’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get back, Sergeant?” John asked as he walked past.
“To be honest, sir, I haven’t thought about it.”
“Sergeant, everyone on this base has an answer to that question.” He was right.
*
The light from the stairs she was sitting on illuminated the whole room, yet it was still so dark, so silent.
The gate room at night was the only time when she seemed like the one person in the galaxy. She would sit and study the gate for what felt like millennia. Yet each time she looked there was something new.
But there was also memories of flag covered caskets being carried through to the other side. So many of her friends had been sent through that rippling arc.
She would leave before she had the chance to join them.
*
There was only one person who could stop her. She wasn’t sure who that person was until she entered that gym on her last morning in the galaxy.
He wasn’t sparring as she would have expected at this time of the day. He was just sitting silently by the one window. He was staring at the floor and only looked up when she sat next to him.
“Aren’t you going to convince me not to go?” She asks him after he avoids her gaze.
“I can’t stop you. You were always stronger than me.”
She felt like both screaming and laughing. He didn’t understand how wrong his words were. How he was the only one who had her and he didn’t even know it.
“It’s a good time,” She says, looking up to the ceiling to stop the tears from falling.
“The sun is shining,” He says, finally looking at her. “That’s always a good time.”
She nods and despite her efforts, the tear escapes.
“When you’re next on earth...” She starts. It takes her a while to finish. “Look me up, kay?”
He nods. But as she leaves, they both know that that time will most likely never come.
*