FF: Learning to Fly - All These Things 1/5 PG-13 (SGA) (Sheppard/Weir)
Title: All These Things
Author: Manda
Pairing: Sheppard/Weir. Also in this chapter, Laura/Katie. (Previous chapters include Carson/Rodney and Kate/Lorne)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Generally, this is BDSM and Femdom, if that squicks or offends, please don't read. Specific to this chapter there is some violence (general fist fight), and some f/f kissing. If either of those squick or offend, please don't read.
Feedback: Adored, either here, or should the mood strike, at muppetmanda@livejournal.com
Spoilers: Major ones for "Critical Mass" so if you haven't seen that ep, be prepared.
A/N: Okay, so after I watched this ep, I kept asking myself, 'what were the encrypted messages Kavanagh sent to Atlantis?' That musing spawned into this chapter. I've taken some liberties with the plot holes and back stories for the characters so this is definitely starting to ease away from cannon and more into AU than previous chapters (as if a Dom!Elizabeth/Sub!John wasn't AU already?).
A/N2: Thanks to Havoc for assuring me I wasn't taking on too much with this chapter. J
A/N3: This is the next installment of my Learning to Fly Series. Reading the previous chapters would probably help. They can be found here: Story Index
Enjoy! ~ Manda
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
While everyone's lost, the battle is won
With all these things that I've done
~ The Killers
Laura's fists pounded mercilessly into the heavy bag. Covered in sweat, eyes narrowed on the swinging bag, she didn't hear Sheppard walk into the empty gym behind her. He stood and watched for a while, the lateness of the hour giving him a moment of rest from the duties of his day. Cadman continued to beat her fists into the bag, delivering a vicious series of jabs.
He let out a low whistle. "Remind me to never make you angry, Lieutenant." She stopped, turning to face him, her face too flushed from exertion to show the mild blush at being watched. "How about I hold that for you?" She nodded and waited for him to get a firm grip on the bag before unloading on it again. Thrown off balance, John took a steadying step then nodded for her to start again. "So? Something on your mind?"
"No, sir," Laura answered, punctuating her words with a vicious right-left combination.
"So this is how you always train?" Laura hit the bag again, but didn't answer. "You want to talk about it?" John tried again.
Laura punched the bag twice more before letting her arms drop. When your C.O. asked if you wanted to talk about something, there really was no good way of saying 'no,' or better yet, 'mind your own damn business.' "Colonel Caldwell brought me new orders. I'm going back on the Daedalus, and then from there I'll probably get transferred to the Middle East."
"I saw," John drawled, keeping his tone as unaffected as possible. "I take it that isn't your station of choice?"
"I'm a Marine, sir. No one knows better than I do that it's not my place to question why…" she let the rest of the refrain hang on her lips, "but I," Laura stopped, grasping for the words, finally settling on, "I don't want to leave."
"Why do I get the feeling this has nothing to do with your new posting?" Laura didn't speak, but John could see the answer well enough in her eyes. "You're involved with someone."
It wasn't a question.
As if a switch had been thrown, John's entire demeanor changed. Suddenly, he wasn't her concerned commanding officer anymore, but a man; a man who was very, very bad at dealing with emotions under the best of circumstances. And this was just going to be awkward no matter how hard he tried. "Lieutenant… there's been talk…"
Laura cringed. So this was how her career was going to end. Not with a blaze of glory fighting the Wraith, or thirty years in the future with a nice retirement party. Nope. It was going to end here, in a gym, with her covered in sweat and John Sheppard doing his best not to look her in the eye. "I'm not much for scuttlebutt, but it hasn't slipped past my notice that your name has been linked with Dr. McKay… and Dr. Beckett… and Dr. Brown." Laura looked up, resolutely meeting his gaze. "One of those names could get you in an awful lot of trouble."
"Yes, sir. I know."
John sucked in a breath between his teeth. "Okay… here's what we're going to do. For the next thirty seconds I'm not an Air Force Colonel and you're not a Marine Lieutenant. We're just two people having a friendly chat. Okay? Nothing either one of us says is going to leave this room, no matter what." Laura nodded, trusting him implicitly. "I need you to give me one good reason why I should try to get your orders changed."
In that moment, staring into Sheppard's eyes, Laura took the biggest leap of faith in her life. Even bigger than walking through the Stargate for the first time. "I'm in love with Katie Brown."
It wasn't surprising, but even if John hadn't been expecting the answer, he still wouldn't have changed his mind. God knew he was the last person who should ever stand in judgment about unorthodox relationships. "That's a very good reason."
"If I were just being assigned to the Daedalus, or even the SGC it would be one thing… but the Middle East? I'll be lucky if we get to exchange one e-mail a month. And with the way things go here on Atlantis?" Laura stopped, looking away for the first time. "I just want to be where she's at."
Any other commanding officer would have sent her packing, but John knew a thing or two about needing to be with the person you loved. It took him only a moment to decide. "You know Lieutenant Simms?"
"Yes, sir."
"He's been asking for a transfer for a few months now. His wife is pregnant. I've been reluctant to approve the transfer because it would leave Major Lorne short one on his team." Laura still didn't look up. She couldn't dare to hope… "I'll talk with Caldwell and let the SGC know that your skills are required here, on Atlantis. At least for the foreseeable future."
"You would do that?"
"The Marines aren't the only ones who take care of their own."
She resisted the urge to hug him. For about a second. Startled, John took a step back as Laura threw her arms around him, squeezing tightly before pulling away, embarrassed. "Sorry about that, sir."
"Perfectly understandable, Lieutenant." John made a point of checking his watch. "I think our thirty seconds are up."
"Yes, sir."
"I'd prefer we never have a conversation like this again."
Laura grinned. "No, sir."
"Okay then… You up for the shooting range?" John asked, eager to shake off the unease of dealing with overt emotions.
She seemed relieved at the offer. "Always."
*
John knocked once, looked around the hallway to make sure he was alone, and then let himself into Elizabeth's room. For once she was asleep before him, although he doubted she had intended it that way. Smiling, he removed her tablet PC from her lap and set it on her desk. One of the ear buds from her iPod had fallen out and from it he could hear the faint strains of the soft music, guitars and strings, she preferred. He sat on the edge of the bed, the shift of the mattress instantly awakening her.
"You're back. I didn't think you'd be so long."
"Cadman and I spent some time at the shooting range."
She smiled indulgently. "Of course you did."
"Please don't ever make me have a conversation like that again?"
"Awkward?" Elizabeth asked, stretching her neck.
"Worse than the time my Mom found my Playboy's."
"Ouch. Still, it went okay?"
"Lieutenant Cadman is going to be staying on Atlantis."
She smiled sleepily. "I'm glad. Does Katie know yet?"
"I think that's where Cadman was headed when we got done. Is it possible for you to declare Atlantis outside the jurisdiction of Don't Ask, Don't tell?"
"I wish," she sighed. "You've let your people know they have nothing to worry about, right?"
"Second week here when I saw Sergeant Markham check out Sergeant Stackhouse's ass. I managed to casually bring up my displeasure with the policy in front of most of the Marines. I'm hoping the message has gotten filtered down by now. What about you?"
"I hired Peter Grodin. That pretty much set the standard."
His eyebrows shot up. "Really? I never knew."
"Mmhmm. He had the biggest crush on Carson. Used to make up any excuse to go to the infirmary." Elizabeth paused, picturing Peter's face. During the Siege she had had so little time to mourn the loss of her friend - her right hand in most instances. Thinking of him now brought a wave of fresh grief. "I miss him."
John took her hand, squeezing reassuringly. "He was a good man."
"Yes, he was."
He leaned forward, kissing her lightly on the lips. "I should get out of here before Caldwell comes creeping around."
"He has been awfully present this trip, hasn't he?"
"You think he's still vying for a position on Atlantis?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it's best to be on our best behavior as long as he's here."
"I think you're right." John leaned in, kissing her again, this time a little longer and harder than before. "Good night, Elizabeth." He was almost to the door when she called him back. "Yeah?"
"Thank you… for Laura. She's a friend and I'm glad you could do this for her."
"I would have done it for anybody."
"I know you would have." John gave her one last smile then left to spend one more lonely night in his own bed. He couldn't wait for Caldwell and the Daedalus to make their long trip back to Earth.
*
One week later…
"John, you can stop asking."
"But you haven't said yes."
"And I'm not going to."
"But-"
Elizabeth let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing wearily at her forehead as they walked. "Don't we have enough going on without you and Rodney getting into trouble trying to use the jumpers as submersibles?"
John actually looked offended. "We won't get in trouble."
The look she gave him was the epitome of dubious. "You always get into trouble," she replied, shaking her head. "But that not withstanding, I have a better reason for saying no."
"Which is?"
"We had a limited number of jumpers last time I checked."
"Nothing's going to go wrong," John protested again.
"Which is exactly when something does go wrong for you."
John started to argue then shut his mouth. It was hard to argue with Elizabeth when she used logic and his own less than stellar history against him. "You may have a point."
"Hmm… how about that?" She smiled, the amused half-smile that always made him flush just a little.
A knock on the door stopped their discussion. John couldn't help but notice the way Elizabeth frowned slightly as Dr. Biro walked into the office.
"Do you have a moment Dr. Weir?"
"Actually we were just in the middle of something-"
"It can wait," John offered with a shrug. "I need some time to come up with a better argument anyway."
"There is no better argument-" Elizabeth argued to no avail. John was already out of the door. She turned and gave Biro a displeased look. "Don't."
"You've been avoiding me for two weeks."
"I've been busy."
"Look, Dr. Weir, we can do this two ways. Your way or my way. Of course, my way includes calling two Marines in here to hold you down." Elizabeth gave her another look. Biro blinked, unfazed. "Or calling in Colonel Sheppard." Biro watched as Elizabeth's eyes flash. That did it. "Elizabeth, it's just a few tests."
"I feel fine."
"Your blood count was low, and while I doubt it's anything exotic or alien, I'd still like to run a full blood panel again. Just to make sure it was an anomaly."
"I'm just tired."
"When was the last time, before you went off world, that you had a complete physical?" When it took Elizabeth longer than ten seconds to remember, Biro knew she had made her point. "See? Now just humor me, please?"
"Fine," Elizabeth gave in. "But you won't find anything."
"I hope not, but why don't we leave that diagnosis for the people with M.D.'s behind their name, all right?"
Elizabeth gave her another dirty look but followed nonetheless. Forty-five minutes later, after Biro had poked and prodded and drawn more blood than a vampire would need, Elizabeth slipped back into her uniform.
"What are you testing for anyway?" she asked, lacing up one of her boots.
"CBC, pregnancy test, chem. panel, the works-"
"-pregnancy test?" Elizabeth winced as she realized how high her voice had just shot. Adjusting, she repeated, "Pregnancy test?"
"It's standard with the form of birth control you're on. Have you been keeping regular track of your periods?" Elizabeth remained guiltily quiet. It wasn't as if she had intended to lose track, not really. This time it was Biro's turn to give her a look. "I see."
"The birth control is just a precaution," Elizabeth deflected. "You're presuming-"
Biro gave her another look. She was getting good at them. "Do I look stupid to you?" Elizabeth sighed. "You're an attractive, unattached, woman on a base with a male-to-female ratio of about three-to-one. More when the Daedalus is in port. It is illogical to think that you are celibate." Besides, Louise had a feeling that there was more to the rumors about Elizabeth and Colonel Sheppard than just the typical gossip fodder. But being as it was only a feeling, she didn't mention it. "Now... I'm going to run a pregnancy test because it is standard procedure. Any intuitive leaps you want to make from that, be my guest."
Elizabeth schooled her features into a neutral expression. "Go ahead. But like I said, you won't find anything."
"And then you can tell me 'I told you so' all you want."
Part Two