Title: The First Year
By Atri/ Chiara Crawford


RATING: PG

WARNINGS: None

CATEGORY: Introspective

PAIRING: hints of Sparky

ARCHIVES: ff.net, Command Dynamics

SPOILERS: Season One: Rising

SUMMARY: The First Year

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis.
I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
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Long after the party ends, he is standing on the balcony, overlooking the city that would be theirs from now on. It is softly whispering in his mind, luring him with long lost secrets, welcoming him with soothing energy.

You’re home, it says. This is where your people were born, where the knowledge of the universe was gathered, where life was seeded.

And, he thinks, perhaps it is right. He has never before felt such belonging, such a bond to a place, not even in his childhood home. But what has that feeling cost me, his mind whispers. What, indeed.

The tall spires of Atlantis glisten softly in the moonlight. It is like a silver veil has fallen over everything, transporting it into a beautiful dream. He has never seen stars so clear or the night sky so full of them. The sea is calm in this hour and he can feel its fresh, salty scent reach him even here, elevated over the ocean like he is. A fairytale born on a distant planet, brought to him by a winged horse and an event horizon of shimmering blue.

But despite this beauty, his mood does not reflect the light of his surroundings. For his thoughts have taken on a much darker turn, walking behind doubts and by the side of fears. Oh, yes! He knows what it has cost him, to see such wonders in his life.

This position on the expedition, he has not accepted it lightly. And, now, he is the military commander, taking the place of someone he killed. It does not matter that it was an act of mercy. It does not matter that he did not have another choice or that his CO’s eyes had pleaded for the relief that death would bring him. If everyone knew what he had done, they would look at him both with hesitation and caution, fearing what he was capable of. But nobody knows of the circumstances that surround the death of his predecessor. Nobody except…

“Good evening, Major.”

…her.

Her smile is friendly but subdued, as if she knows the place his mind has spirited him away to. She is the one whom he told all the gritty, gruesome details to and she is also the one who deemed it necessary to keep the exact way Colonel Marshall Sumner died under wraps. Why has she done it? To help him with his subordinates? They are military and know that such things happen. But they are also very young, innocent in many ways and may not understand.

Regardless, he is thankful and gives her an acknowledging nod, his lips twitching up in a bad attempt of a smile. She does not demand more and he will not offer it. Words, he believes, are useless in such a situation. There is now a secret between them – the first of many, if things continue to go like this – and it has bonded them in a different way. Standing beside each other, here, on a balcony in the lost city of Atlantis, she has already accepted him as her counterpart, the military one to her civilian. They are the same side of a coin. And though he is well aware that in the future, they will have different opinions on certain things, will perhaps argue and scream and rage, he is content now.

His actions will plague him for a while, until he stows them away with his other dark memories, reserved to come out in his nightmares only.

He relaxes slightly in her presence, allowing his emotions to lighten, his mind to clear. He’s only known her for some weeks, but he feels comfortable around her, almost positive in his thinking. In her green eyes, he sees a budding friendship slowly rupturing the professional demeanors they have taken to wearing on the outside. It is not yet in full bloom, but he has no doubt whatsoever that it will be. The result, he imagines, will be magnificent.

He smiles openly and she grins back.

Together, they turn to admire their new planet – new home, the city whispers – once more. It is a new world, a new galaxy full of dangers and enemies, but also of wonders and friends. It won’t be easy. Of course, it won’t. But he doesn’t fear or doubt, not when he has her to support him and the city to fill his mind with soothing whispers.

Tonight, their people are asleep, dreaming of silver spires and alien worlds, watched over by them both. For tonight and from this day on, the two of them are guardians of them all.