Title: Ancient Treasure
Author:![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
heimedall and angelsdee
Pairing: Elizabeth/John
Season/Spoiler: None, but set in season 3
Rating: NC-17
Beta:angelsdee
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them.
Summary: John finds out something unexpected about Elizabeth and somehow, its all Rodney's fault!
Notes: This story is seriosuly old, I think I started writting it last summer but never got around to finish it. There is no real connection to season 3, I guess you could call it an alternate story, so be nice :)
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Chapter 9
She watched as they set out their things, files and miscellaneous paperwork being pulled from their briefcases and set on the conference table in front of them. It made her more nervous seeing all the material they had gathered on her, but she kept her cool as she watched them.
The Ambassadors were sat opposite her, John was sat to her right and Jack had taken a seat between the two parties and off to one side.
Elizabeth took a deep breath and adjusted her position while she waited, she could have made small talk, could even have started talking to John about his shift rotation idea. But her nerves had the better of her and she was slowly becoming more and more antsy having to wait.
'Right then,' Ambassador Hurst started pulling a pile of folders towards him. 'This should be short and easy and hopefully we won't be in the way for more than a day. Although I would like that tour, but I guess we can take that while you pack your things.'
'What?' John spat his head snapping up to give him a shocked look.
'You're here to determine if Elizabeth should stay or not,' Jack said, 'not automatically assume she isn't.'
'Let me see,' Hurst said, 'other than the fact that she got pregnant with her second in command...'
'Not her fault,' John said, 'or mine for that matter.'
'Her senior staff routinely disobeys her orders. It's clear to me, that no one here respects her choices or orders,' he held up his hand as John opened his mouth to protest. 'You, Colonel Sheppard, on several occasions have done what you want, instead of what Doctor Weir has ordered you. For example, in your first year here, you broke quarantine procedure to stop someone from spreading a virus.'
'He was heading for one of the most populated areas of the city.'
'You obviously felt she couldn't handle the situation,' Hurst countered, 'you supported Doctor McKay with the Trinity project despite it going horribly wrong. It is clear to us that you have more faith in Doctor McKay than you do in Doctor Weir.'
Elizabeth shrunk back against the chair; they had made up their minds, and by the sounds of it, had the details to back it up. She wanted to cry, there was no way to bring them around and she knew it.
'Doctor Benjamin Kavanaugh submitted several incompetence reports on how you let your emotional attachment interfere with your command choices, in particular when choices were made that would directly affect Colonel Sheppard. Colonel Caldwell has also made reference to some of these situations in his reports.'
Maybe she should have let them go on the tour first. Or maybe she should just get up and go pack her things; she'd be fighting a losing battle with this even if she could think of something to say that would explain every action and choice she'd made over the last two years.
'Doctor McKay, as another of your command staff also takes to doing his own thing. He put on a personal shield without knowing what it did or how to deactivate it and he didn't bother to ask your permission to test it. He took a ZPM from a planet populated by children and put their lives in danger, again he didn't ask for authorisation to remove the device and then managed to break it.'
Elizabeth picked up her glass of water in attempt to stave off the growing embarrassment at her team and fear that it was all over.
'With your permission, he endangered a gaseous population by harnessing them in order to attempt communication with Earth. During the Trinity project, he lost a member of his team as well as destroying any hope of using the technology along with half a solar system.'
She felt John's spirits drop at her side, he was seeing this as a losing battle as well and it didn't make things any easier for her, this could go on forever if he was going to list every member who had taken it upon themselves to do something.
'He endangered his team and the Daedalus onboard the Aurora. He put Colonel Sheppard in a time displacement field without knowing what was on the other side. Not to mention his part in the current situation you have found yourself in.'
'Most of the things you've listed are Doctor McKay's mistakes, not Elizabeth's and if he has done so much wrong, why aren't we talking to him about his job instead?'
She could have leaned over and kissed Jack for the comment.
'Doctor McKay's contribution to this team far outweighs Doctor Weir's.'
'I disagree,' Jack said his voice rising, 'Elizabeth has managed to keep both military and civilian teams in an enclosed space without having war between them. Her off world teams work together as a mix of these parts. AND,' he said raising his voice over the Ambassadors who was now listing her personal faults at the top of his voice, 'she has managed to broker deals with some of the hardest allies in this galaxy.'
'Yes, her allies, including a Wraith group that managed to not only find the way to Earth but managed to get all our research on the retrovirus.'
'You can pull Elizabeth up on all HER mistakes, but you can't hold her for every mistake every team member has made,' Jack continued, 'they are here to learn and you can't do that if you take every mistake and throw it in her face.'
'Quite frankly, I have my reservations about a pregnant woman performing in the capacity of expedition leader,' Hurst spat at him.
'I take offence to that,' Miles spoke out for the first time, 'women, pregnant or not, can do anything just as well as men; that is also not the issue of this meeting.'
'Excuse me,' Elizabeth interrupted and activated her radio; 'go ahead,' she said and listened as Chuck told her Lorne's team was ready to leave. 'I'll be right there.'
She stood up and looked around the table before taking a deep breath and starting her explanation.
'If you'll excuse me for a minute, I have team leaving for a new world.'
'I don't think you should be leaving, do you?'
She couldn't believe him, for the time that she was still here, even if that was becoming shorter and shorter, she would still run this city.
'Whilst I'm still here, sir,' she said attempting to keep the bitterness from her voice, 'I will continue to do my job and I see all my teams off when they go to a new planet.'
She turned and pushed open one of the panels and moved out of sight from the room. She took a breath of relief for the short intermission.
~~**~~
'Major,' Evan turned and watched as she came down the stairs to see him off.
'I told them not to interrupt you,' he offered, 'it didn't sound like it was going too well.'
Elizabeth laughed; she couldn't do anything else, other than cry and he could see that on her face.
'It's not but I've never failed to see a team off, I don't intend to start now.'
He watched her motion for them to start dialling. He wished he could stay for this; he'd love to give these people a piece of his mind, or a shot in the head if it would help them leave her alone. He'd been here for about two years and from what he'd seen, she'd done more than an adequate job considering the circumstances.
'Good luck Major,' she started, 'try and come back in one piece, each,' he chuckled at the idea of all four of his team in one body. She leaned in close before adding 'and don't bring back any surprises.'
'Yes, ma'am,' he said with a grin and she turned to walk back up the stairs. 'Doctor Weir,' he waited for her to turn back to him, 'we hope you're still here to welcome us back, it would be a mistake for them to replace you.'
'Thank you,' she said quietly and he could see the pride in her face. He turned and moved to the gate where his team had been standing watching him, they had agreed earlier if they got the chance to say something he'd speak for all of them.
~~**~~
She followed them through the city listening as Teyla and John made friendly conversation with their guests. She could tell by John's body language that he didn't want to do the tour or talk to them at all, but he would do anything she asked him to do simply to prove them wrong.
Jack walked with her, following the group through the city. Neither of them wanted to sit and wait for them to get back and both of them could use this time to catch up on things, work in her case and friends in his.
She couldn't think of anything to say, her life was pretty much over. They had been arguing in the conference room for hours. It was now past dinner time and she had to guess that most people had gone into their personal routines or were milling around in the mess hall after dinner.
Knowing that after this tour they'd stop for dinner and then retire for the night didn't help Elizabeth feel any better. Despite the fact that Hurst had given up on the pretence of her packing her bags while they looked around, she couldn't think of a single way out of this mess.
She didn't care how it would look; she was going to spend the night with John, probably for the very last time. It was a depressing thought.
They rounded the corner and took the last stretch towards the mess hall. It wasn't until a hush fell from inside the room that Elizabeth knew something was going on.
The room was filled with people, all standing together waiting for them; she couldn't believe the sheer volume of people in the room. She caught a shift from Ambassador Hurst as he looked around before rounding on her.
'Do you think this will convince us you belong here?'
She opened her mouth to tell him she didn't know anything about it when Ronon stepped up and tapped him on the shoulder.
'She had nothing to do with this,' he said, 'we set this up.'
'Further proof that no one listens to you,' Hurst snapped.
'Hey,' Ronon shot.
'It's okay Ronon,' Elizabeth tried.
'No, it's not,' he said and a murmur of agreement spread around the room. 'I'm not even from your planet and I treat you with more respect. I'm not a member of this expedition,' he said turning on the Ambassador, 'but I trust these people with my life, especially Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard.'
'As do I,' Teyla added stepping up beside him. Elizabeth dropped her head, the sentiment was beautiful, but it wasn't going to help at all.
'Most of this team has been here for over two years, all following Doctor Weir's orders. How many complaints have you had that didn't come from someone no longer here?'
'None,' Jack put in.
'Every person in this city believes that it would be the biggest mistake to replace her just because she's pregnant,' Ronon continued. 'It's easier for a new person to join the expedition and fit in, but if you replace the leader, not only do you have eighty people who hate it and have to get to know one person, but you have one person who has to get to know and learn the habits of them.'
'Elizabeth knows how to get the best from us,' Radek added moving to the front of crowd, 'she knows who to turn to for certain jobs and she knows she can trust us to get it done in any time frame she sets.'
Elizabeth watched the nods from the group and turned in time to see Ambassador Hurst shake his head and walk away from the group and towards the food table. Ambassador Miles took a look around the group and smiled at Elizabeth before she followed him.
'Thank you,' Elizabeth said quietly to those closest to her and motioned for them to leave. She was thankful for the supporting hand on her back as she and John moved to follow them.
~~**~~
Elizabeth was sat in the dark when John stepped in, he couldn't see her face, just the outline of her body sitting in the corner where he'd seen her sit weeks ago when this whole thing started.
'Don't know any miracle workers do you?'
The tone in her voice could have broken his heart in an instant. He could hear the pain and fear in her voice and he hated it. He moved over and sat down beside her before realising she was sitting with her knees drawn up and her feet on the bench.
'I do,' he said quietly, 'but none of my miracle workers work on idiots.'
Elizabeth broke into a sniggered laugh, but it wasn't long before it turned into a sob. He didn't know what to do, there was no way out of this; Hurst had his mind set on taking Elizabeth back tomorrow. He was going to lose her and his baby all because McKay couldn't follow an order.
He moved to her side as he had done weeks ago and slipped his arms around her so he could lift her from the bench before moving over to the bed. He laid her carefully on the bed and watched as she turned her back to him.
He pulled off his boots and clothes and climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up over them before carefully wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her back against his front.
'We'll figure something out, Elizabeth,' he promised as he reached up and wiped the tears from her cheek. 'I won't lose you now, not to them.'
He moved his hand back down to her stomach and felt her hand resting there; he interlocked his fingers with hers and kissed at her neck. He loved the feeling of laying here with her. He could forget everything, the IOA freaks, the problems of the city and the possibility of losing the woman he loved and their baby.
He could feel her body shuddering against him, could feel her wet tears against his the arm he had tucked under her head as if it were her pillow. He had a feeling she was going to cry herself to sleep, but he wouldn't sleep at all, come tomorrow he was going to have a way out of this mess. Or he was going back home with her.
~~**~~
Here they were again, sitting in the same places as yesterday in the same conference room that Elizabeth was slowly starting to hate. She would hate to think it would be the last time she saw it, despite how she felt about some things in this city it would be hard to leave any of it.
But that was quickly becoming the last thing from her mind, especially since "Hearse" had started talking again and was once again focused on killing her career. With every French accented syllable out of his mouth she wanted to strangle him just a little more.
She fixed her eyes on the wall behind him and started wondering if she could seriously get away with murdering him if she had to leave the city. Her city!
Recapping yesterday's horror was the last thing she wanted right now and instead of listening to his ranting about her abilities she started thinking of ways to kill him. The most fun of which was tying him to the shielded side of the brig bars and watching him suffer painfully.
She wanted this over, if they were going to end her career and potentially her life, she wished they'd just get to it instead of constantly stating all the times she'd messed up or been ignored by her staff.
'Right, we'll have Doctor McKay in now,'
She had to raise an eyebrow; she must have missed the part of this speech that mentioned Rodney being invited in. Not to mention she wanted to know if he had actually said he'd got him to wait outside.
Rodney looked nervous for the first time in his life and it occurred to her that he was worrying that he would be the deciding force between her staying or going. If only she could just tell him that no matter what he did or said, nothing would save her now.
Despite the fact that she was angry at Hurst, she couldn't help slipping back into the depressing feelings that today was the end of everything.
'Doctor McKay,' Hurst started and Elizabeth slipped her eyes from the wall to his face for a second to imagine him as a Wraith.
He started talking again, once again listing off all the times Rodney had messed up or ignored Elizabeth. She vanished into her thoughts, this time not about how to kill him, but instead how she would survive on Earth without John.
She didn't want to rely on her mother, but she had no idea how to cope with a baby on her own. Even here before they found out it was his, she had always counted on there being someone to help her. Maybe Teyla or even Kate and with that, she'd had the image of Chuck in the control room looking after a newborn while she wrote her reports.
She caught the end of his list stopping, as predicted, on the resent experiment that he'd ran three times, the first time of which she had ended up pregnant from.
'Doctor McKay, do you have anything to add that might explain your apparent disregard for Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard's orders?' Jack put in before Hurst could say anything else.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rodney fidgeting; his stance had shifted as he listened to the list of mistakes. He was no longer nervous, he looked ready to scream. His face was red and puffy and she wondered if he'd be able to keep a civil tongue for this.
She turned to John catching his eye before giving Jack a pleading look mentally begging him to save at least one of them from something humiliating. He shook his head in return though and gave her a look that told her he knew what he was doing. She seriously hoped he did.
'Doctor McKay,' Hurst nudged oblivious to their exchange.
'You know, I don't honestly think I'm in here to answer to you for my mistakes, you're looking for me to give you a reason why I disobeyed them. Well I did, yes on several situations I've gone over the top with my own ego and I've ignored them. But that's who I am and it's not just Elizabeth that has to deal with it. I could quote off the top of my head the number of times I've ignored superiors.'
Elizabeth had been watching him, the throbbing in her temple picking up as Rodney's voice climbed. She closed her eyes briefly and turned back to Jack who once again shook his head.
'I respect Elizabeth beyond belief, she's amazing, she could deal with any situation you put her in and she'd do it without hesitating. With all the choices she's had to make over the last few years, I wouldn't like to be in her shoes. The only reason you can actually sit here and bitch at her for choices gone wrong is because you've never been here when it gets bad.'
She dropped her head down, wishing to be anywhere else but right where she was now. She'd even be happy back on Earth.
'You judge only by what you see on paper and on paper I look brilliant, actually I look good in person too.'
'Rodney,' Elizabeth said stopping him from saying something egotistical.
'I crumble in bad situations, I panic and the only way for either of them to get work out of me in those cases is to let me go over the top. It works and yes admittedly I let it go too far, and I start doing my own thing. But I always and I mean always make it up later.'
'We've had the... pleasure of working together in the past, Doctor McKay,' Jack interjected, slowly raising his eyebrow. A look Elizabeth knew only too well was given when leading someone down a path of usefulness, 'and I must admit that I was surprised when I read the reports of your injury and the circumstances behind it when the Genii infiltrated this base. Care to elaborate?'
'I'm not a fighter, the complete opposite actually, if there's fighting to be done, I'd rather hide,' Rodney started, his crazed tone dropping slightly and Elizabeth couldn't help but raise a brow of her own as she realised Rodney had picked up on Jack's thinking. 'But when Kolya pulled a gun on her, there was nothing else to do. I couldn't just stand to the side and watch him kill the best person to set foot in this city in over ten thousand years.'
'You were willing to let this Kolya kill you instead of her?' Hurst asked.
'Of course I was,' he spat, 'no one in their right mind would let harm come to her, she set this team up and without it this place would have been destroyed several times over by now. Colonel Sheppard was the only person who could save us, and there was no way I was letting Kolya kill her before he had the chance to shoot the guy.'
Across from her, Hurst was looking just as annoyed as he had in the beginning, but at his side, Ambassador Miles was watching Rodney intently.
'I'll admit,' Rodney continued, 'it was stupid to want to test a device we knew nothing about, and I'll be the first to say it was the absolute biggest mistake of anyone's career to switch it on in the middle of the night when everyone was in bed. But as every person in this city knows I have a head bigger than the room.'
'Planet,' John whispered to her.
Hurst opened his mouth and Elizabeth was sure nothing good could come out of it. But before he had the chance to say anything the city alarms started and Chuck's voice floated over the intercom.
'Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard to the control room.'
Elizabeth was up first, she didn't bother to excuse herself as she pushed the door open and left the room to take the stairs over to the control room. She made note of the open wormhole as she passed the top of the stairs.
'Report,' she demanded feeling John step beside her and catching Rodney out the corner of her eye as took his place at one of the computers.
'Major Lorne's team are under attack, the Wraith are culling Bitha. They want to know if they can bring back refugees.'
'Give them permission,' she ordered before turning to John. 'I want extra soldiers in that room, I don't want to assume the Wraith won't try to stop them,' she turned back to Chuck.' Lower the shield.'
'Are you insane?' Hurst spat coming up close to her.
'I will not leave my men out there to be captured by the Wraith,' she said side stepping him to move over to Rodney. Before she could reach him, the gate shut down and she turned sharply to look out over the gate room. 'What's going on?'
'I think it was disconnected from their end,' Rodney told her tapping frantically at the keyboard.
She moved to the gap in the protective glass that surrounded the control area and stepped through, the men below who had gathered quickly at the sound of the alarms were relaxing.
'Keep your posts,' she called out and caught sight of Ambassador Miles watching from behind the glass as they stepped back into place and readied their weapons.
She watched for a minute more, hoping Lorne wouldn't lose the chance to dial in again. As she watched John, Teyla and Ronon moved into the room, both Teyla and Ronon moving to take up places at the bottom of the stairs while John took the steps two at a time.
Before he reached the top, the gate dialled in. She turned back quickly, moving back into the safety of the room and keeping an eye on the gate. As soon as it was open she turned to look between Rodney and Chuck.
'We have Lorne's IDC,' Rodney said clearly.
'They're coming in hot,' Chuck said listening to the communication that came in.
'Heads up,' Elizabeth called down and turned to see John standing at the top of the stairs almost as if he was guarding their guests. 'Let them in,' she said and moved over towards them as Hurst once again voiced his displeasure with the idea.
'Teyla,' she called stepping around the glass covering, 'incoming refugees.'
Teyla nodded, they had agreed last time they brought refugees back like this that there would be someone in charge of getting them out of the room. Elizabeth turned back to the room to find Ambassador Hurst in her face.
'You're opening the gate to let the Wraith in?'
'I'm opening the gate to let Major Lorne's team back in, all those people down there,' she indicated the group of armed soldiers in the room below, 'are there to make sure that any Wraith stepping through the gate, don't live long enough to hurt anymore. Now if you don't mind getting out of my way.'
'You are irresponsible and...'
A short cry carried over the room, Elizabeth vaguely heard Teyla calling to a group of people before the sound of a stunner blast hitting the metal wall rang out.
'If I keep that gate shielded, I lose a team, and I refuse to let anyone die unnecessarily.'
'And letting the Wraith in will stop that?'
'As I've just said, they won't live long enough. Move!'
She reached out and shoved him back into the control room taking the steps back with him. She was barely past where he'd been standing when another stunner blast shot past her head and shattered the glass behind her.
'And to think, a pregnant woman just saved your uppity butt,' she said glaring at him before moving off to get a report. She'd barely reached Chuck's side before people below began to shout, one of Lorne's team had come back through the gate shouting a warning of a wave of Wraith heading towards the gate.
One step forward and she got a front seat view as another member of the team flew through the gate propelled by a Wraith. Fire rang out from the SO's and Elizabeth instinctively reached up for the radio.
'Medical team to the gate room,' she ordered and moved to the glass to try and get a view of the team member who was now lying on the ground. Teyla and one of the SO's were standing nearby protecting him as several more villagers stepped through. 'Major, how many more,' she said switching frequency.
Silence followed as a few more villagers stepped through and were ushered to the side before the final two members of the Lorne's team stepped through.
'Shield,' Lorne shouted and turned nodding to Chuck before catching sight of several Wraith moving into the gate room.
The shield went up leaving the room in chaos with the Wraith attempting to get close to anyone. Elizabeth waited, watching as anyone with a gun below opened fire on the creatures. Once it was clear, she moved off and made her way down the stairs behind John.
The medical team were making their way into the room and tending to those who'd been stunned and the team member who had been fed on.
'Report,' she said approaching Lorne.
'It started this morning, took us six hours to dial out quickly enough before they blocked us. We got as many people as we could somewhere safe while we waited.'
She couldn't help but notice that he carefully tried to stretch his arm as he spoke. He had been injured in the attack and she raised an eyebrow for an explanation.
'I think I pulled it out of its socket trying to pull one of the kids out of a Wraith's clutches.'
'Get checked out Major. Good job,' she said moved off.
To Be Continued...
Author:
heimedall and angelsdeePairing: Elizabeth/John
Season/Spoiler: None, but set in season 3
Rating: NC-17
Beta:
angelsdeeDisclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them.
Summary: John finds out something unexpected about Elizabeth and somehow, its all Rodney's fault!
Notes: This story is seriosuly old, I think I started writting it last summer but never got around to finish it. There is no real connection to season 3, I guess you could call it an alternate story, so be nice :)
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Chapter 9
She watched as they set out their things, files and miscellaneous paperwork being pulled from their briefcases and set on the conference table in front of them. It made her more nervous seeing all the material they had gathered on her, but she kept her cool as she watched them.
The Ambassadors were sat opposite her, John was sat to her right and Jack had taken a seat between the two parties and off to one side.
Elizabeth took a deep breath and adjusted her position while she waited, she could have made small talk, could even have started talking to John about his shift rotation idea. But her nerves had the better of her and she was slowly becoming more and more antsy having to wait.
'Right then,' Ambassador Hurst started pulling a pile of folders towards him. 'This should be short and easy and hopefully we won't be in the way for more than a day. Although I would like that tour, but I guess we can take that while you pack your things.'
'What?' John spat his head snapping up to give him a shocked look.
'You're here to determine if Elizabeth should stay or not,' Jack said, 'not automatically assume she isn't.'
'Let me see,' Hurst said, 'other than the fact that she got pregnant with her second in command...'
'Not her fault,' John said, 'or mine for that matter.'
'Her senior staff routinely disobeys her orders. It's clear to me, that no one here respects her choices or orders,' he held up his hand as John opened his mouth to protest. 'You, Colonel Sheppard, on several occasions have done what you want, instead of what Doctor Weir has ordered you. For example, in your first year here, you broke quarantine procedure to stop someone from spreading a virus.'
'He was heading for one of the most populated areas of the city.'
'You obviously felt she couldn't handle the situation,' Hurst countered, 'you supported Doctor McKay with the Trinity project despite it going horribly wrong. It is clear to us that you have more faith in Doctor McKay than you do in Doctor Weir.'
Elizabeth shrunk back against the chair; they had made up their minds, and by the sounds of it, had the details to back it up. She wanted to cry, there was no way to bring them around and she knew it.
'Doctor Benjamin Kavanaugh submitted several incompetence reports on how you let your emotional attachment interfere with your command choices, in particular when choices were made that would directly affect Colonel Sheppard. Colonel Caldwell has also made reference to some of these situations in his reports.'
Maybe she should have let them go on the tour first. Or maybe she should just get up and go pack her things; she'd be fighting a losing battle with this even if she could think of something to say that would explain every action and choice she'd made over the last two years.
'Doctor McKay, as another of your command staff also takes to doing his own thing. He put on a personal shield without knowing what it did or how to deactivate it and he didn't bother to ask your permission to test it. He took a ZPM from a planet populated by children and put their lives in danger, again he didn't ask for authorisation to remove the device and then managed to break it.'
Elizabeth picked up her glass of water in attempt to stave off the growing embarrassment at her team and fear that it was all over.
'With your permission, he endangered a gaseous population by harnessing them in order to attempt communication with Earth. During the Trinity project, he lost a member of his team as well as destroying any hope of using the technology along with half a solar system.'
She felt John's spirits drop at her side, he was seeing this as a losing battle as well and it didn't make things any easier for her, this could go on forever if he was going to list every member who had taken it upon themselves to do something.
'He endangered his team and the Daedalus onboard the Aurora. He put Colonel Sheppard in a time displacement field without knowing what was on the other side. Not to mention his part in the current situation you have found yourself in.'
'Most of the things you've listed are Doctor McKay's mistakes, not Elizabeth's and if he has done so much wrong, why aren't we talking to him about his job instead?'
She could have leaned over and kissed Jack for the comment.
'Doctor McKay's contribution to this team far outweighs Doctor Weir's.'
'I disagree,' Jack said his voice rising, 'Elizabeth has managed to keep both military and civilian teams in an enclosed space without having war between them. Her off world teams work together as a mix of these parts. AND,' he said raising his voice over the Ambassadors who was now listing her personal faults at the top of his voice, 'she has managed to broker deals with some of the hardest allies in this galaxy.'
'Yes, her allies, including a Wraith group that managed to not only find the way to Earth but managed to get all our research on the retrovirus.'
'You can pull Elizabeth up on all HER mistakes, but you can't hold her for every mistake every team member has made,' Jack continued, 'they are here to learn and you can't do that if you take every mistake and throw it in her face.'
'Quite frankly, I have my reservations about a pregnant woman performing in the capacity of expedition leader,' Hurst spat at him.
'I take offence to that,' Miles spoke out for the first time, 'women, pregnant or not, can do anything just as well as men; that is also not the issue of this meeting.'
'Excuse me,' Elizabeth interrupted and activated her radio; 'go ahead,' she said and listened as Chuck told her Lorne's team was ready to leave. 'I'll be right there.'
She stood up and looked around the table before taking a deep breath and starting her explanation.
'If you'll excuse me for a minute, I have team leaving for a new world.'
'I don't think you should be leaving, do you?'
She couldn't believe him, for the time that she was still here, even if that was becoming shorter and shorter, she would still run this city.
'Whilst I'm still here, sir,' she said attempting to keep the bitterness from her voice, 'I will continue to do my job and I see all my teams off when they go to a new planet.'
She turned and pushed open one of the panels and moved out of sight from the room. She took a breath of relief for the short intermission.
~~**~~
'Major,' Evan turned and watched as she came down the stairs to see him off.
'I told them not to interrupt you,' he offered, 'it didn't sound like it was going too well.'
Elizabeth laughed; she couldn't do anything else, other than cry and he could see that on her face.
'It's not but I've never failed to see a team off, I don't intend to start now.'
He watched her motion for them to start dialling. He wished he could stay for this; he'd love to give these people a piece of his mind, or a shot in the head if it would help them leave her alone. He'd been here for about two years and from what he'd seen, she'd done more than an adequate job considering the circumstances.
'Good luck Major,' she started, 'try and come back in one piece, each,' he chuckled at the idea of all four of his team in one body. She leaned in close before adding 'and don't bring back any surprises.'
'Yes, ma'am,' he said with a grin and she turned to walk back up the stairs. 'Doctor Weir,' he waited for her to turn back to him, 'we hope you're still here to welcome us back, it would be a mistake for them to replace you.'
'Thank you,' she said quietly and he could see the pride in her face. He turned and moved to the gate where his team had been standing watching him, they had agreed earlier if they got the chance to say something he'd speak for all of them.
~~**~~
She followed them through the city listening as Teyla and John made friendly conversation with their guests. She could tell by John's body language that he didn't want to do the tour or talk to them at all, but he would do anything she asked him to do simply to prove them wrong.
Jack walked with her, following the group through the city. Neither of them wanted to sit and wait for them to get back and both of them could use this time to catch up on things, work in her case and friends in his.
She couldn't think of anything to say, her life was pretty much over. They had been arguing in the conference room for hours. It was now past dinner time and she had to guess that most people had gone into their personal routines or were milling around in the mess hall after dinner.
Knowing that after this tour they'd stop for dinner and then retire for the night didn't help Elizabeth feel any better. Despite the fact that Hurst had given up on the pretence of her packing her bags while they looked around, she couldn't think of a single way out of this mess.
She didn't care how it would look; she was going to spend the night with John, probably for the very last time. It was a depressing thought.
They rounded the corner and took the last stretch towards the mess hall. It wasn't until a hush fell from inside the room that Elizabeth knew something was going on.
The room was filled with people, all standing together waiting for them; she couldn't believe the sheer volume of people in the room. She caught a shift from Ambassador Hurst as he looked around before rounding on her.
'Do you think this will convince us you belong here?'
She opened her mouth to tell him she didn't know anything about it when Ronon stepped up and tapped him on the shoulder.
'She had nothing to do with this,' he said, 'we set this up.'
'Further proof that no one listens to you,' Hurst snapped.
'Hey,' Ronon shot.
'It's okay Ronon,' Elizabeth tried.
'No, it's not,' he said and a murmur of agreement spread around the room. 'I'm not even from your planet and I treat you with more respect. I'm not a member of this expedition,' he said turning on the Ambassador, 'but I trust these people with my life, especially Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard.'
'As do I,' Teyla added stepping up beside him. Elizabeth dropped her head, the sentiment was beautiful, but it wasn't going to help at all.
'Most of this team has been here for over two years, all following Doctor Weir's orders. How many complaints have you had that didn't come from someone no longer here?'
'None,' Jack put in.
'Every person in this city believes that it would be the biggest mistake to replace her just because she's pregnant,' Ronon continued. 'It's easier for a new person to join the expedition and fit in, but if you replace the leader, not only do you have eighty people who hate it and have to get to know one person, but you have one person who has to get to know and learn the habits of them.'
'Elizabeth knows how to get the best from us,' Radek added moving to the front of crowd, 'she knows who to turn to for certain jobs and she knows she can trust us to get it done in any time frame she sets.'
Elizabeth watched the nods from the group and turned in time to see Ambassador Hurst shake his head and walk away from the group and towards the food table. Ambassador Miles took a look around the group and smiled at Elizabeth before she followed him.
'Thank you,' Elizabeth said quietly to those closest to her and motioned for them to leave. She was thankful for the supporting hand on her back as she and John moved to follow them.
~~**~~
Elizabeth was sat in the dark when John stepped in, he couldn't see her face, just the outline of her body sitting in the corner where he'd seen her sit weeks ago when this whole thing started.
'Don't know any miracle workers do you?'
The tone in her voice could have broken his heart in an instant. He could hear the pain and fear in her voice and he hated it. He moved over and sat down beside her before realising she was sitting with her knees drawn up and her feet on the bench.
'I do,' he said quietly, 'but none of my miracle workers work on idiots.'
Elizabeth broke into a sniggered laugh, but it wasn't long before it turned into a sob. He didn't know what to do, there was no way out of this; Hurst had his mind set on taking Elizabeth back tomorrow. He was going to lose her and his baby all because McKay couldn't follow an order.
He moved to her side as he had done weeks ago and slipped his arms around her so he could lift her from the bench before moving over to the bed. He laid her carefully on the bed and watched as she turned her back to him.
He pulled off his boots and clothes and climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up over them before carefully wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her back against his front.
'We'll figure something out, Elizabeth,' he promised as he reached up and wiped the tears from her cheek. 'I won't lose you now, not to them.'
He moved his hand back down to her stomach and felt her hand resting there; he interlocked his fingers with hers and kissed at her neck. He loved the feeling of laying here with her. He could forget everything, the IOA freaks, the problems of the city and the possibility of losing the woman he loved and their baby.
He could feel her body shuddering against him, could feel her wet tears against his the arm he had tucked under her head as if it were her pillow. He had a feeling she was going to cry herself to sleep, but he wouldn't sleep at all, come tomorrow he was going to have a way out of this mess. Or he was going back home with her.
~~**~~
Here they were again, sitting in the same places as yesterday in the same conference room that Elizabeth was slowly starting to hate. She would hate to think it would be the last time she saw it, despite how she felt about some things in this city it would be hard to leave any of it.
But that was quickly becoming the last thing from her mind, especially since "Hearse" had started talking again and was once again focused on killing her career. With every French accented syllable out of his mouth she wanted to strangle him just a little more.
She fixed her eyes on the wall behind him and started wondering if she could seriously get away with murdering him if she had to leave the city. Her city!
Recapping yesterday's horror was the last thing she wanted right now and instead of listening to his ranting about her abilities she started thinking of ways to kill him. The most fun of which was tying him to the shielded side of the brig bars and watching him suffer painfully.
She wanted this over, if they were going to end her career and potentially her life, she wished they'd just get to it instead of constantly stating all the times she'd messed up or been ignored by her staff.
'Right, we'll have Doctor McKay in now,'
She had to raise an eyebrow; she must have missed the part of this speech that mentioned Rodney being invited in. Not to mention she wanted to know if he had actually said he'd got him to wait outside.
Rodney looked nervous for the first time in his life and it occurred to her that he was worrying that he would be the deciding force between her staying or going. If only she could just tell him that no matter what he did or said, nothing would save her now.
Despite the fact that she was angry at Hurst, she couldn't help slipping back into the depressing feelings that today was the end of everything.
'Doctor McKay,' Hurst started and Elizabeth slipped her eyes from the wall to his face for a second to imagine him as a Wraith.
He started talking again, once again listing off all the times Rodney had messed up or ignored Elizabeth. She vanished into her thoughts, this time not about how to kill him, but instead how she would survive on Earth without John.
She didn't want to rely on her mother, but she had no idea how to cope with a baby on her own. Even here before they found out it was his, she had always counted on there being someone to help her. Maybe Teyla or even Kate and with that, she'd had the image of Chuck in the control room looking after a newborn while she wrote her reports.
She caught the end of his list stopping, as predicted, on the resent experiment that he'd ran three times, the first time of which she had ended up pregnant from.
'Doctor McKay, do you have anything to add that might explain your apparent disregard for Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard's orders?' Jack put in before Hurst could say anything else.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rodney fidgeting; his stance had shifted as he listened to the list of mistakes. He was no longer nervous, he looked ready to scream. His face was red and puffy and she wondered if he'd be able to keep a civil tongue for this.
She turned to John catching his eye before giving Jack a pleading look mentally begging him to save at least one of them from something humiliating. He shook his head in return though and gave her a look that told her he knew what he was doing. She seriously hoped he did.
'Doctor McKay,' Hurst nudged oblivious to their exchange.
'You know, I don't honestly think I'm in here to answer to you for my mistakes, you're looking for me to give you a reason why I disobeyed them. Well I did, yes on several situations I've gone over the top with my own ego and I've ignored them. But that's who I am and it's not just Elizabeth that has to deal with it. I could quote off the top of my head the number of times I've ignored superiors.'
Elizabeth had been watching him, the throbbing in her temple picking up as Rodney's voice climbed. She closed her eyes briefly and turned back to Jack who once again shook his head.
'I respect Elizabeth beyond belief, she's amazing, she could deal with any situation you put her in and she'd do it without hesitating. With all the choices she's had to make over the last few years, I wouldn't like to be in her shoes. The only reason you can actually sit here and bitch at her for choices gone wrong is because you've never been here when it gets bad.'
She dropped her head down, wishing to be anywhere else but right where she was now. She'd even be happy back on Earth.
'You judge only by what you see on paper and on paper I look brilliant, actually I look good in person too.'
'Rodney,' Elizabeth said stopping him from saying something egotistical.
'I crumble in bad situations, I panic and the only way for either of them to get work out of me in those cases is to let me go over the top. It works and yes admittedly I let it go too far, and I start doing my own thing. But I always and I mean always make it up later.'
'We've had the... pleasure of working together in the past, Doctor McKay,' Jack interjected, slowly raising his eyebrow. A look Elizabeth knew only too well was given when leading someone down a path of usefulness, 'and I must admit that I was surprised when I read the reports of your injury and the circumstances behind it when the Genii infiltrated this base. Care to elaborate?'
'I'm not a fighter, the complete opposite actually, if there's fighting to be done, I'd rather hide,' Rodney started, his crazed tone dropping slightly and Elizabeth couldn't help but raise a brow of her own as she realised Rodney had picked up on Jack's thinking. 'But when Kolya pulled a gun on her, there was nothing else to do. I couldn't just stand to the side and watch him kill the best person to set foot in this city in over ten thousand years.'
'You were willing to let this Kolya kill you instead of her?' Hurst asked.
'Of course I was,' he spat, 'no one in their right mind would let harm come to her, she set this team up and without it this place would have been destroyed several times over by now. Colonel Sheppard was the only person who could save us, and there was no way I was letting Kolya kill her before he had the chance to shoot the guy.'
Across from her, Hurst was looking just as annoyed as he had in the beginning, but at his side, Ambassador Miles was watching Rodney intently.
'I'll admit,' Rodney continued, 'it was stupid to want to test a device we knew nothing about, and I'll be the first to say it was the absolute biggest mistake of anyone's career to switch it on in the middle of the night when everyone was in bed. But as every person in this city knows I have a head bigger than the room.'
'Planet,' John whispered to her.
Hurst opened his mouth and Elizabeth was sure nothing good could come out of it. But before he had the chance to say anything the city alarms started and Chuck's voice floated over the intercom.
'Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard to the control room.'
Elizabeth was up first, she didn't bother to excuse herself as she pushed the door open and left the room to take the stairs over to the control room. She made note of the open wormhole as she passed the top of the stairs.
'Report,' she demanded feeling John step beside her and catching Rodney out the corner of her eye as took his place at one of the computers.
'Major Lorne's team are under attack, the Wraith are culling Bitha. They want to know if they can bring back refugees.'
'Give them permission,' she ordered before turning to John. 'I want extra soldiers in that room, I don't want to assume the Wraith won't try to stop them,' she turned back to Chuck.' Lower the shield.'
'Are you insane?' Hurst spat coming up close to her.
'I will not leave my men out there to be captured by the Wraith,' she said side stepping him to move over to Rodney. Before she could reach him, the gate shut down and she turned sharply to look out over the gate room. 'What's going on?'
'I think it was disconnected from their end,' Rodney told her tapping frantically at the keyboard.
She moved to the gap in the protective glass that surrounded the control area and stepped through, the men below who had gathered quickly at the sound of the alarms were relaxing.
'Keep your posts,' she called out and caught sight of Ambassador Miles watching from behind the glass as they stepped back into place and readied their weapons.
She watched for a minute more, hoping Lorne wouldn't lose the chance to dial in again. As she watched John, Teyla and Ronon moved into the room, both Teyla and Ronon moving to take up places at the bottom of the stairs while John took the steps two at a time.
Before he reached the top, the gate dialled in. She turned back quickly, moving back into the safety of the room and keeping an eye on the gate. As soon as it was open she turned to look between Rodney and Chuck.
'We have Lorne's IDC,' Rodney said clearly.
'They're coming in hot,' Chuck said listening to the communication that came in.
'Heads up,' Elizabeth called down and turned to see John standing at the top of the stairs almost as if he was guarding their guests. 'Let them in,' she said and moved over towards them as Hurst once again voiced his displeasure with the idea.
'Teyla,' she called stepping around the glass covering, 'incoming refugees.'
Teyla nodded, they had agreed last time they brought refugees back like this that there would be someone in charge of getting them out of the room. Elizabeth turned back to the room to find Ambassador Hurst in her face.
'You're opening the gate to let the Wraith in?'
'I'm opening the gate to let Major Lorne's team back in, all those people down there,' she indicated the group of armed soldiers in the room below, 'are there to make sure that any Wraith stepping through the gate, don't live long enough to hurt anymore. Now if you don't mind getting out of my way.'
'You are irresponsible and...'
A short cry carried over the room, Elizabeth vaguely heard Teyla calling to a group of people before the sound of a stunner blast hitting the metal wall rang out.
'If I keep that gate shielded, I lose a team, and I refuse to let anyone die unnecessarily.'
'And letting the Wraith in will stop that?'
'As I've just said, they won't live long enough. Move!'
She reached out and shoved him back into the control room taking the steps back with him. She was barely past where he'd been standing when another stunner blast shot past her head and shattered the glass behind her.
'And to think, a pregnant woman just saved your uppity butt,' she said glaring at him before moving off to get a report. She'd barely reached Chuck's side before people below began to shout, one of Lorne's team had come back through the gate shouting a warning of a wave of Wraith heading towards the gate.
One step forward and she got a front seat view as another member of the team flew through the gate propelled by a Wraith. Fire rang out from the SO's and Elizabeth instinctively reached up for the radio.
'Medical team to the gate room,' she ordered and moved to the glass to try and get a view of the team member who was now lying on the ground. Teyla and one of the SO's were standing nearby protecting him as several more villagers stepped through. 'Major, how many more,' she said switching frequency.
Silence followed as a few more villagers stepped through and were ushered to the side before the final two members of the Lorne's team stepped through.
'Shield,' Lorne shouted and turned nodding to Chuck before catching sight of several Wraith moving into the gate room.
The shield went up leaving the room in chaos with the Wraith attempting to get close to anyone. Elizabeth waited, watching as anyone with a gun below opened fire on the creatures. Once it was clear, she moved off and made her way down the stairs behind John.
The medical team were making their way into the room and tending to those who'd been stunned and the team member who had been fed on.
'Report,' she said approaching Lorne.
'It started this morning, took us six hours to dial out quickly enough before they blocked us. We got as many people as we could somewhere safe while we waited.'
She couldn't help but notice that he carefully tried to stretch his arm as he spoke. He had been injured in the attack and she raised an eyebrow for an explanation.
'I think I pulled it out of its socket trying to pull one of the kids out of a Wraith's clutches.'
'Get checked out Major. Good job,' she said moved off.
To Be Continued...
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