Author’s note: the last chapter of TFY. I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you for reading.
_________________________________________
She looks on as more and more children come through the stargate and frowns. She feels guilty, she realizes. Is this the right choice to make, taking these children from their home, for a plan that might or might not succeed? All just so a city might exist?
Atlantis is worth it, she knows. That doesn’t make this any easier, though. Some of these children look unwilling, crying for a home lost. To them it doesn’t matter that sooner or later their protection from the Wraith would have failed. They have just lost the only place they have ever known, all for a promise of a better future.
Her thoughts are interrupted when she feels a presence behind her. She turns her head slightly and sees Teyla standing there, hands clasped behind her back, looking as serene as always. The Athosian gives her a small, kind smile.
“Elizabeth,” Teyla nods, “all of my people are in their new quarters. We have harvested as much as possible in this short time, though much will be lost when we arrive on our new planet.”
For a moment, Elizabeth is surprised and a little envious of the simple, pure conviction in Teyla’s voice. It is as if she does not believe that they could fail in that crazy, suicidal plan of Zelenka and McKay.
“You seem so certain.” Elizabeth allows her voice to carry a bit of the doubt she feels and Teyla, forever observant, notices.
“I am certain, my friend,” Teyla tells her, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it in comfort. “We have survived many situations that would have seemed hopeless for me before I met your people. Now? Now, I believe.”
Elizabeth smiles at her friend, feeling better.
“Perhaps you are right.”
“I know I am.”
It is with renewed determination that Elizabeth goes on working. There is much to do; making sure that all people are settled and accounted for; that their supplies and equipment are stowed away safely; that the naquada bomb Rodney and Radek are building will be ready in time.
In the afternoon hours, John returns in the puddlejumper, grinning.
“We’ve found it.”
They go into her office and he tells her about their new home: a garden world rich in resources, with no stargate and far from the usual Wraith feeding grounds. As she listens to him, she dares to hope that everything will be all right after all.
After that, everything happens quickly. Everyone prepares as best as they can, knowing the huge risk they are taking. Some pray, some love and others fight. Elizabeth finds herself clinging to John in a bout of passion in her rooms; first against the wall, then on her balcony and finally in bed. Later, she thinks it strangely appropriate that the best sex of her life would happen just before doing something so suicidally crazy as ripping a hole into space-time and detonating a naquada bomb afterwards.
When the time finally comes, it is a beautiful, sunny day on Lantea. John is in the chair room, she in the control center. Rodney counts down and everything around her vanishes in a blinding white color. Her stomach is turning and she feels ill and disoriented for a moment, before the world makes sense again. They arrive above their new home and John makes planetfall as quickly and as carefully as possible. It isn’t easy. Air and water are displaced, shields fall and everyone breathes out in relief. They have made it.
Hours later, there are parties all over Atlantis, but she stands on her favorite balcony, gazing at new stars and a new ocean. Two moons and the brilliant colors of an aurora dominate the sky. It is beautiful.
The door behind her swishes open and she does not have to turn to know that it is he. She takes a sip from the offered wine, simply enjoying. They are alive, hidden from their enemies. They did it.
She laughs, twists her head so that she can see him, and gives him a glowing smile.
He grins in return, leans forward and kisses her. It is reckless and bold and entirely too familiar. She doesn’t care and simply feels.
“We’re alive!” she chirps, sounding more like a little girl than a seasoned diplomat.
“We are,” he agrees and kisses her again.
She knows that there will be problems. There always are. But they are here, alive, having survived their first year in Pegasus and John is kissing her.
There is no place she’d rather be.
_________________________________________
She looks on as more and more children come through the stargate and frowns. She feels guilty, she realizes. Is this the right choice to make, taking these children from their home, for a plan that might or might not succeed? All just so a city might exist?
Atlantis is worth it, she knows. That doesn’t make this any easier, though. Some of these children look unwilling, crying for a home lost. To them it doesn’t matter that sooner or later their protection from the Wraith would have failed. They have just lost the only place they have ever known, all for a promise of a better future.
Her thoughts are interrupted when she feels a presence behind her. She turns her head slightly and sees Teyla standing there, hands clasped behind her back, looking as serene as always. The Athosian gives her a small, kind smile.
“Elizabeth,” Teyla nods, “all of my people are in their new quarters. We have harvested as much as possible in this short time, though much will be lost when we arrive on our new planet.”
For a moment, Elizabeth is surprised and a little envious of the simple, pure conviction in Teyla’s voice. It is as if she does not believe that they could fail in that crazy, suicidal plan of Zelenka and McKay.
“You seem so certain.” Elizabeth allows her voice to carry a bit of the doubt she feels and Teyla, forever observant, notices.
“I am certain, my friend,” Teyla tells her, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it in comfort. “We have survived many situations that would have seemed hopeless for me before I met your people. Now? Now, I believe.”
Elizabeth smiles at her friend, feeling better.
“Perhaps you are right.”
“I know I am.”
It is with renewed determination that Elizabeth goes on working. There is much to do; making sure that all people are settled and accounted for; that their supplies and equipment are stowed away safely; that the naquada bomb Rodney and Radek are building will be ready in time.
In the afternoon hours, John returns in the puddlejumper, grinning.
“We’ve found it.”
They go into her office and he tells her about their new home: a garden world rich in resources, with no stargate and far from the usual Wraith feeding grounds. As she listens to him, she dares to hope that everything will be all right after all.
After that, everything happens quickly. Everyone prepares as best as they can, knowing the huge risk they are taking. Some pray, some love and others fight. Elizabeth finds herself clinging to John in a bout of passion in her rooms; first against the wall, then on her balcony and finally in bed. Later, she thinks it strangely appropriate that the best sex of her life would happen just before doing something so suicidally crazy as ripping a hole into space-time and detonating a naquada bomb afterwards.
When the time finally comes, it is a beautiful, sunny day on Lantea. John is in the chair room, she in the control center. Rodney counts down and everything around her vanishes in a blinding white color. Her stomach is turning and she feels ill and disoriented for a moment, before the world makes sense again. They arrive above their new home and John makes planetfall as quickly and as carefully as possible. It isn’t easy. Air and water are displaced, shields fall and everyone breathes out in relief. They have made it.
Hours later, there are parties all over Atlantis, but she stands on her favorite balcony, gazing at new stars and a new ocean. Two moons and the brilliant colors of an aurora dominate the sky. It is beautiful.
The door behind her swishes open and she does not have to turn to know that it is he. She takes a sip from the offered wine, simply enjoying. They are alive, hidden from their enemies. They did it.
She laughs, twists her head so that she can see him, and gives him a glowing smile.
He grins in return, leans forward and kisses her. It is reckless and bold and entirely too familiar. She doesn’t care and simply feels.
“We’re alive!” she chirps, sounding more like a little girl than a seasoned diplomat.
“We are,” he agrees and kisses her again.
She knows that there will be problems. There always are. But they are here, alive, having survived their first year in Pegasus and John is kissing her.
There is no place she’d rather be.