glimpse
Author: Rorie
Email address: rorie.brianne(at)nospamcomcast.net
© March, 2006.
Spoilers:
None that I can think of.
Rating: whatever the
equivalent of 'G' to 'PG' is
Classification: John/Lizzie fic
Summary: Ancient
technology—it's a beautiful thing!
Disclaimer: The
characters that you'd recognize and the concept of "Stargate:
Atlantis" are not mine. They
belong to SciFi, MGM, and whoever else holds the rights, and their portrayers.
I'm not making any money off of this story, and no copyright infringement
is intended. Please don't sue...
I'll return them when I'm done... probably in better condition than I found them
in (my momma taught me well). Don't
complain to me if they get lost in the mail... blame the United States Postal
Service.
Author's notes:
This is my very first Atlantis fic (finished, at least).
I hope it works.
Point-of-view changes denoted by a
single horizontal line.
Huge
thanks to my wonderful betas—Kelly, Jacqueline, Nat, Erin, and Jessica.
glimpse (verb): to
perceive, especially barely or fleetingly
~~Å~~
Elizabeth couldn't even remember what she'd originally
come down here for. When she'd
arrived in the lab all of those hours… "No,"
she corrected herself, glancing at
her watch. "Ten minutes ago."
Rodney had started babbling about some new piece of
Ancient technology that they'd found in one of the newly discovered labs in
another section of the city. He was
going on and on about all of the tests they'd run, spouting statistics and facts
she barely understood and it was just giving her a headache.
Finally, he paused to get a breath and Elizabeth asked,
"So, Rodney, what does it do?"
"Actually, we… I don't know," he answered;
obviously uncomfortable that he hadn't been able to tell her what the thing was.
"You see, the sides are covered in text…"
He picked up the object in question.
It was about the size and shape of a medium pizza box—if said box were
missing its corners. Rodney showed
it to Elizabeth. She could see that,
yes, all eight of its sides were covered in Ancient writing while the top had
some sort of display on it. "We…
I was hoping that you could read it and tell us what the purpose is."
"It hasn't responded to your ATA gene?"
"No. Nor
has it to anyone else's here on Atlantis. All
of the ATA positive scientists and Carson have tried to turn the thing on.
We think it might be broken, but we have no idea where to start to try
and fix it when we don't even know what it is supposed to do when it
works."
"Okay. I'll
take a look," Elizabeth answered, reaching for the thing so she could take
it back to her office.
It was surprisingly heavy for its size.
She began to turn the box so she could figure out where the beginning of
the passage was when she felt a tingle in her arms…
...and, suddenly, she felt as if she were being ripped
apart by an excruciating pain.
She figured out what was happening as her body began to
act on instinct. "You're doing
fine, Lass. Just one more
push." Carson's voice encouraged from the foot of the bed.
"You can do it, Lizzie.
One more, Sweetheart," another voice quietly encouraged from next to
her head.
She began to turn her head to see him when another
contraction ripped through her body causing her to instinctively bear down.
A few moments later a baby's cry echoed through the
infirmary. "A beautiful little
girl!" Carson announced, placing the child on Elizabeth's stomach.
"You did it, Liz," John's voice said from next
to her. "She's beautiful!"
"Daddy, do you want to cut the cord?" a nurse
asked, handing John a pair of scissors.
John gently cut the lifeline between his daughter and her
mother. The nurse then took the baby
to be examined. Elizabeth followed
their progress with her eyes until she could no longer see them.
Then she turned to look at John who had tears running down his face.
"John?" she finally questioned after a few
minutes, her first words since ending up in this situation.
"I'm here, Sweetheart," he answered dropping a
soft kiss on her forehead.
Elizabeth wanted to ask him everything but found she was
too exhausted to say more.
The nurse returned with the freshly washed, diapered and
dressed baby. She gently placed her
in Elizabeth's arms. Elizabeth got
her first real look at the child she'd just given birth to and her eyes teared
up. The little girl was beautiful.
She could see a perfect mix of John and herself in the baby's face.
It was a little unnerving to think that even though she had no idea how
she found herself in this room, somehow, it all felt right.
"May I?" John finally asked, gently lifting the
little one from Elizabeth's arm. Elizabeth
watched him with a sense of wonder. She'd
known that John was good with kids right from the beginning after seeing him
with the Athosian children. But
this, this was different. He cradled
the tiny baby as if she were the most important thing in the galaxy.
"Welcome to Atlantis, Lenore." he whispered before placing a
gentle kiss on the baby's tiny forehead.
Elizabeth's tears started falling faster.
He'd given their daughter her grandmother's name.
She wished her mother was there to see her tiny namesake, but knew that
could never happen.
Suddenly, the small family's solitude was broken by an
opening door and a streak racing to the bed.
"Mommy!" the streak cried, resolving itself into another
perfect mix of John and herself wrapped up in the body of a four-year-old girl.
"I am sorry. I
could not stop her." Teyla said from the doorway.
John smiled and nodded indicating that it was all right.
Teyla turned and left the family in peace.
"Careful, Evie," John admonished as the child
pulled herself up onto the bed next to her mother.
"Mommy is a little sore right now."
"Sore—that was putting it
mildly," Elizabeth thought.
She put an arm around the girl to keep her from falling.
"It's okay, Evie," she said, "I'm glad to see you."
Evie beamed and snuggled into Elizabeth's embrace.
"Is that my baby sister?" she asked peering at the baby in
John's arms.
John smiled and put the baby back into Elizabeth's waiting
embrace. "Yep, isn't she
gorgeous?"
Evie looked closely at the tiny bundle and scrunched up
her face. "I don't know, Daddy.
She looks kinda smooshie to me… and red."
Elizabeth just laughed and looked back and forth between
her two girls and, noticing the gold band on her left hand, her gaze traveled to
her husband's face. "I love
you," she mouthed, and she meant it.
…. "Elizabeth, wake up," an urgent whisper
came from next to her head.
Her eyes opened slowly to see the same ceiling that she'd
been staring at while in labor. She
turned her head to see John's worried face resolve into relief.
"Thank God," he whispered before calling out,
"Hey Doc, she's awake."
Carson rushed over and motioned to John to get out of the
way as he checked the patient over. "She
seems to be just fine," he finally announced.
"What do you remember last, Elizabeth?"
She looked around in confusion.
Where were the kids? Her eyes
widened as she noticed her naked left hand.
Had it all been a dream? What
did she remember last?
Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath and
then opened them again. "Rodney
asked me to translate some writing on a piece of Ancient technology that no one
could make work. I was holding it
and my arms started to tingle..."
She leaned back into her pillow and smiled.
"I think I know what the object does."
The end?
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