Work Text:
Meet me at 18:00 for something hot.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at the incoming text. A few choice thoughts ran through her mind and she shook her head to clear it, hoping she wasn’t blushing like an idiot.
Her PDA vibrated again.
Lasagna. While it’s hot.
If this is what she now considers flirting, three weeks in the Pegasus galaxy has obviously been too long. A microwaved MRE is the new five star Michelin in her books. And apparently a simple text is the new equivalent promise of a good, good night.
Sounds good, Major.
She typed her reply quickly before entering the briefing room. The science team was already seated at the conference table, several military personnel hovered near the back, and Dr. McKay was balancing a laptop on his forearm at the whiteboard, seemingly ready to start the meeting he’d called. She took her seat at the head of the table, barely having time to organize her tablet and get ready to take notes before Major Sheppard rushed in and took the seat to her right, nodding apologetically to McKay.
“Right,” McKay started. “Now that we’re all here, I am proud to present to you—”
“We are proud to present,” Dr. Zelenka cut in as he stood up and moved next to Rodney.
McKay rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, we are proud to present to you…” He turned to draw a line between two stick figures on the whiteboard, ending it with a flourish and turned back to the room. “The Atlantis Citywide Mobile Network!”
His excited smile was met with blank stares from everyone as ten pairs of eyeballs alternated between looking at the whiteboard drawing and the doctor who drew it.
“You can now send written communications from your personal devices to other expedition members while within city limits!” Zelenka was obviously just as excited as McKay, both of them radiating it as they tried to convey the scope of what they’ve managed to do.
“So we can text each other?” A Lieutenant asked from the table.
Rodney sighed. “Well, besides the point that this is humanity’s first outer galactic wireless communication network and it involved a lot, and I mean a lot, of never-before-even-dreamed-of programming and bending theoretical telecommunications protocols—”
Ten pairs of eyes still stared impassively. Rodney sighed again.
“Yes, you can text each other now.”
A few Marines nodded and smiled to each other and a quiet chatter broke out.
“Thank you, Drs. McKay and Zelenka. I imagine it was complicated to set this up on such short notice,” Elizabeth addressed them. “But can you please explain how we should be using this new technology?”
“Oh, well, any way really. Think of Atlantis as your no-holds-barred data plan. The big guns. No locked-in contracts out here in the Wild West,” Rodney boasted. “Move over, T-Mobile, this is Tau’ri Mobile! The system I’ve—”
Zelenka glared at him.
“We’ve designed is quite efficient. Texting is unlimited, really.”
More Marines nodded approvingly and exchanged glances.
“Perhaps you could cover how we shouldn’t be using this technology?” Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.
McKay finally picked up on her meaning. “Oh. Right. Well, yes, I mean it goes without saying texts should be for official city business, of course. Important stuff. And while the network is secure, it’s not meant for confidential information, yes?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth agreed cooly with pointed looks to the military members present.
“Unlimited texting, no confidential stuff, city limits only. Thanks, Rodney, I think we got it,” John piped up. He glanced around the table at his senior military staff in attendance who nod more solemnly at his words than they did at Rodney’s.
***
“I thought you said this would be lasagna?” She twirled her fork around the oily, ruddy mess on her plate and cringed.
“In my defence, I said it would be something hot.”
“It’s warm… at best.”
“Well, it’s something then.”
“Yes. Something.”
“Until we find a civilization out there who eats more than soup or people,” he smirked at the glare she threw him, “Then this is the best there is, unfortunately.”
***
So what were you really going to tell me?
Elizabeth left the infirmary with the others, intent on letting the Major rest after nearly dying in two completely different ways today, but she can’t let this rest. She’s never liked not knowing something.
She checked her PDA several times on the walk back to her quarters, saying goodnight to Rodney, Teyla, and Ford as they each branched off along the way. By the time she reaches her door, she’s cursing her stupidity.
She finished getting ready for bed and put on her pajamas. Sitting on the bed, she checked her PDA one last time. For any urgent emails, she tells herself. After a few moments scrolling two empty inboxes, she placed the device back on her nightstand, turned off the lamp, and sunk under the covers.
***
Would you want to go back if you knew you’d have to stay?
Her PDA buzzed on the glass top of her desk as she was eating a quick working lunch. She read his text and smiled around a mouthful of tava bean quesadilla, even though the weight of being trapped in a hallucination by sentient mist beings yesterday hadn’t quite left her yet.
Depends.
Depends on what?
His almost immediate reply made her smile again.
***
Pier 15, 19:00.
She read and reread the words, sighing each time. On one hand, she wanted to hole up in her quarters and not talk to anyone for three days. On the other… well.
Had enough outside time for today, thanks.
She shuddered involuntarily as she tapped out the words. Two hot showers hadn’t made a dent in the chill she felt. Whether it was from hours of pouring rain or Kolya’s grip on her, she still didn’t know.
Please.
Damn him. She grit her teeth to stop the chatter, put on three sweaters, and was out the door before she could second-guess anymore.
She waved a hand to open the thick glass door separating the relative warmth of the city from the crisp night air. Thankfully, the rain and thunder had stopped hours ago, promising a quiet night for Atlantis’ residents as everyone settled back into the city they’d fled mere hours ago.
She spotted him standing near the edge, facing the rippling ocean below with his arms crossed in front. He turned when he heard the swoosh of the door sliding shut.
He offered a small smile as she walked to meet him, crossing her own arms in front of her as she did, burying her hands in thick woollen sleeves. She smiled at him as a greeting, though his has turned to a scowl by then.
“Elizabeth, you’re frozen.” John moved to take his jacket off but she held up a hand.
“No, it’s okay. I’m already wearing my entire suitcase. One more jacket isn’t going to make a difference.”
He studied her for a few moments, looking unsure and just as scowly.
“Did you get checked out by Beck—”
“Yes, yes. I’m fine, really. Just cold,” she cut in. “Which is why I didn’t want to come all the way out here. Why are you here?”
He shrugged. “The ocean is calming.”
She raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled.
“Okay, maybe not so calming after today,” he conceded. “But it looked like you could use some… calming.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“I like watching the ocean from my balcony. It’s high up. This pier? One wrong step and I’ll be swimming instead of watching.”
“Fair enough,” he replied softly.
She smiled at him again but couldn’t hide the chattering of her teeth any longer.
“For Christ’s sake, Elizabeth, will you just take the jacket?”
She shook her head.
“Fine.”
Just when she was going to ask what “fine” meant, he closed the small distance between them and large, warm arms wrapped all around her. Her face smushed into his chest—smells good, she couldn’t help but notice—and he pulled her even closer. She breathed out slowly for the first time since this morning and allowed herself the luxury of closing her eyes and simply existing in this moment, which she already knew would be forever unmentionable.
Just for a few minutes.
***
Coffee?
She hadn’t expected to hear from him tonight or even over the next few days. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear from him for another week at least. It’s not every day a micro-machine plague is unleashed, endangering the future of the entire expedition. She had expected a dangerous day like this to happen but she hadn’t expected him to so blatantly undermine her authority when it did.
Even if his plan with the generator had ultimately saved them all, that didn’t mean his betrayal hadn’t made her prickly. Though she always had other, more important things to focus on, she felt the stinging rage crawling under her skin like a million microneedles. The sting of betrayal was familiar, the rage came from the fact that it was him. For as much as she tried to care less, it only made her angrier that she couldn’t.
They had sort of dealt with his insubordination earlier before Rodney and Carson interrupted them. It was probably leading to another argument anyway and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to continue it tonight. She wanted to forget it and his text and just go to sleep, but childish silent treatment wasn’t in her nature.
Not tonight, Major. She bit her lip before adding: But breakfast tomorrow?
He sent back a thumbs up and she wished the little yellow hand to be a harbinger of better days ahead, for the city and everyone in it. She stared down at the PDA screen as if the icon were a tea leaf at the bottom of her cup, able to predict when the next crisis would arrive. Whenever it did, she hoped they would all unite to face it together.
***
Didn’t anyone have a spare Tupperware?
She laughs out loud, to her surprise, which feels amazing after the week she’s had. By most accounts it was a good one in the city—no Wraith attacks, offworld crises, uncontained plagues—but for her, still one of the toughest hearing her time-travelling past self’s story of ten thousand years in isolation before witnessing her death. It was poignant and intense and heartrending all at once. Nevertheless, she smiled as she tapped out her reply and set the PDA back on her nightstand.
For some reason, I expected my legacy to carry on in something more meaningful than a urine specimen container.
A familiar buzz made her pick up the device again.
I’ve never bought a woman an urn before.
Despite the late hour and feeling more drained than usual, she smiled again at his reply. She had dumped the—her?—ashes into the ocean earlier, saying a silent goodbye that was as jumbled in her head as the situation was in reality. The clay had felt cool and smooth in her hands as she gently put the top of the small pot back on. She had stayed on the balcony for awhile after, until the sun disappeared and the air became too chilly. The pot was a comforting weight to anchor her spinning mind back to this Atlantis, the real one right now, and not the one from ten thousand years ago.
She’d walked back into her office, seeing the dim lights in the control room beyond and knowing most everyone was done for the day. Normally she found this time of day the most productive. No one came to interrupt her and there was something about the waves outside and the soft glowing lights inside that soothed her. Tonight there was nothing that could’ve focused her mind on work or calmed her racing thoughts. She had placed the small pot on her desk—everyone else’s sacrifice on that day ten thousand years ago would be a kick of motivation if she ever needed one—and snuck out of her office, feeling bone weary.
Now, despite exhaustion, she still couldn’t sleep. She knew she needed to soon or tomorrow would be an equivalent nightmare no amount of coffee could fix. She tapped out another reply then set her PDA back on the nightstand for good.
It’s okay, John. Next time you can buy me something familiar, like dinner.
***
Who was your message for?
Admittedly, she wondered the same about him. When she had time to wonder in between the preparations they were trying to make for the incoming Wraith fleet and surely the destruction of the city and anyone left in it. She’d asked earlier if he wanted to include a personal message in the data burst and his sheepish, “I’m good,” twisted something deep in her chest, though she’d brushed it off in the moment.
For some reason she hesitated to answer. Typing “my boyfriend Simon” wasn’t as simple as it seemed to or should be.
I wanted to give the families of those we’ve lost some closure.
I see.
His reply felt as listless as she did, not wanting to dwell on how mentioning a simple fact of her life felt dishonest to John, to Simon, and to herself.
***
I don’t know that you’ll ever see this, Major. I hope you do. I hope this turns out to be another catastrophe we all escape from. Especially you.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat and continued.
I know what you must have been thinking during the Iratus bug incident. I think I know what you were really going to say and—
She swallowed again, blinking back tears this time, and finished tapping.
I want to say the same now.
She had to sneak away for a few minutes during the chaos in the control room after the team realized John was the one flying the Genii’s nuke into the Wraith hive ship. She was barely holding it together and Rodney’s “You let Sheppard fly that jumper?” was enough to unravel her.
She did let him. But he’d asked.
He’d asked for her permission.
“That can never happen again,” her words to him after the plague outbreak played in her mind. How she’d said he needed to trust her and his tentative, “I do,” told her everything she needed to know back then. She hadn’t stopped to think about when that changed. When had he started trusting her?
She wished he were here now to ask.
***
19:00.
That was all his message said, a time ten minutes from now, but she only smiled and grabbed her uniform jacket before heading out the door.
He was standing right where she expected him to be near the edge, back to her and watching the ocean. It’s been almost seven months since the last time they met here, after the storm. So much had happened since then and even the two months since the Wraith siege felt like a whirlwind. Though they’d returned to Atlantis two weeks ago, it felt like yesterday.
Despite being here for almost a year, it doesn’t feel any less magical than the first day to be standing on this pier in this city in this galaxy. With him.
“Hi,” he turned to her and dropped his crossed arms, stuffing his hands in his pockets instead.
“Hi,” she replied, stopping next to him on the edge of the pier and wrapping her arms around herself.
“Do you not own an actual jacket or what?”
She smiled back at his sideways smirk. “It’s not that cold tonight, John.”
They both watched the ocean for awhile, either content or lost in their own thoughts. There have been so many times when she didn’t think she’d see this view again, either the water or the man standing beside her. Or both. She was pulled from her thoughts when he cleared his throat.
“I, uh, got my PDA back a few days ago, finally. Rodney found it at the bottom of some case of stuff that came through from the Daedalus,” he said, looking between her and the ocean as he spoke.
She wondered why he seemed nervous until realization dawned on her. He continued before she could speak.
“It took me a few days to get to it, y’know with the whole flying into the sun thing and all.” She nodded and he took a deep breath before continuing, “But I got your messages.”
“Mmhmm,” was all she could manage, overcome by the sudden knowing that he wouldn’t be bringing this up at all unless…
“And you’re right. In that moment, I did want to say something. And I wanted to again a few months and weeks ago too. And I don’t know how many more times I’ll want to say something and not be able to later, so…”
She started to panic, her heart pounding loudly in her ears, making her dizzy. She knew the gentle sway of the pier over the ocean wasn’t enough to make her this off-balance. He took another deep breath, seeming to strengthen his resolve. Then he looked right at her, no trace of doubt in his eyes this time. She braced herself for what he was going to say next.
“Do you like chicken carbonara?”
She shook her head and furrowed her brow.
“What?”
“Do you like chicken carbonara?” he repeated.
“No, I heard you, I just don’t—”
“Because that’s what the mess hall is serving tonight.”
John turned slightly to point back toward the entrance to the pier where there was a small cafe table and two chairs setup next to the wall, tucked under an overhanging balcony from the storey above. She hadn’t even noticed. There were two place settings already on the table and a large box sitting underneath the table.
“I know it’s not buying you dinner, but it’s the best I could do under the circumstances…”
She was still so surprised she didn’t know what to say. Doubt seemed to crawl back into his features now as he watched her reaction. She didn’t want him to feel any doubt, now or ever, so she did all she could do in that moment. Taking one step forward was enough to close the distance and her arms were completely around his waist before he caught up enough to wrap his around her shoulders, resting his cheek against her hair. He let out the breath he’d been holding against the side of her neck.
“So you’ll have dinner with me tonight?” he asked, still caught off guard by her speechlessness.
She nodded against his chest, finally able to respond now.
“Every night.”