Fic: Gravity (All Ages)

[briarwood]

TITLE: Gravity
RATING: All ages.
FANDOM: Stargate Atlantis
CATEGORY: Episode tag
PAIRING: Elizabeth/Teyla (UST).
SUMMARY: "It's the moment when the rollercoaster slows down at the top, when you see just how far away the ground is, how tiny the people below. The heart-stopping moment when you wonder what on earth possessed you to get on this ride and can I get off now, please?"
WARNINGS: None. Spoilers for Rising.
NOTES: A short piece that just came to me. It wants to turn into a series, but might not.

Gravity

The moment she first learned about the Stargate, she started falling. It was like riding a rollercoaster. All her past had been the slow climb to the top, her stomach fluttering in anticipation of the height. An invitation to the White House, a conversation with the Vice President, a note from President Hayes: "This is not a joke." - that was the summit.

Then came the realisation of what it all meant. It was real. Interstellar travel, life on other worlds - human life - deadly enemies, aliens. It was science fiction and it was real. That was the moment the rollercoaster slows down at the top, when you see just how far away the ground is, how tiny the people below. The  heart-stopping moment when you wonder what on earth possessed you to get on this ride and can I get off now, please?

Ever since then, she had been falling. Life had become a breathless descent toward ground, her insides churning more with every decision, every act and she knew at some point she would reach the bottom and feel grounded but the fall seemed endless and she was never quite there.

The last time Elizabeth was on a rollercoaster - a real one - was that last summer with Jaclyn.

"Oh, my god, Lizzie!" Jaclyn screamed as the rollercoaster began to accelerate.

Liz squeezed her hand, laughing exuberantly. The noise was overwhelming: the roar of the rollercoaster on the track, the shouts and screams all around them, but even this couldn't scare her. She was too happy. She turned her head and saw Jac looking at her, her blonde hair whipping around her face.

Jaclyn squeezed her hand back...

Stepping through the Stargate was stepping into an unknown future. Elizabeth knew, as they all knew, there was a very real possibility they wouldn't return. It was an adventure she couldn't turn down.

She was still falling, still weightless and holding tight to anything solid she could find. Her solidity, her ground, was her conviction. In the front of her mind, always, was the awareness that this adventure, exhilarating as it was, had a serious purpose. They were looking for the Ancients. Their mission was to save Earth.

In a small way, Elizabeth had been trying to do that her whole adult life.

She left everything behind. They all did. Family, friends, lovers. A diplomatic career she spent years building. It was easy to make the choice but not so easy to act on it. Saying goodbye was tough. Saying goodbye to Simon was especially tough because she knew he would feel it as a betrayal. He would feel she was abandoning him, and she was. He would think she wanted to leave him, but that wasn't true...was it?

"Africa?!! That's not fair! Liz, why now?"

Why was she still thinking of Jaclyn?

Atlantis was everything Elizabeth dreamed of. It was more. An entire city filled with more advanced technology, more wonders and history to explore than she ever hoped for. The sight of the Ancients' great shield holding back the ocean was almost worth the trip all by itself. It was the confirmation of their hopes: there was technology here superior to the enemies of Earth. If they could only learn enough...

Yet within an hour of their arrival, it seemed the dream was dying around them. More correctly, the shield was dying. Elizabeth had never expected an easy ride of this mission but everything fell apart so quickly! She had been bouncing from one crisis to another ever since they arrived.

Now, finally, she had a moment to breathe, to relax and to let her mind adjust to this new reality.

She began the day in charge of a small expedition team from Earth in a city miles beneath the ocean. Suddenly Atlantis was on the surface, shieldless and now home to several hundred Athosian refugees. She was used to adjusting quickly to a new situation. International negotiations were like that: an unimportant detail could change the whole picture in an instant. Even so, it was a little overwhelming to be instantly responsible for so many lives. And Colonel Sumner, a man on whom she relied - for all his prejudices, he was a good man - was dead.

The mental rollercoaster she was on plunged ever downward, and there was no one beside her now to hold her hand.

She watched Sheppard talking with Teyla. Sheppard was a competent man, and a brave one, who had earned the respect of the military personnel on her team, but Elizabeth didn't know him. Already he had proven himself unpredictable. He hadn't exactly jumped at the chance to come with them. He started out by challenging her authority - for the best of reasons, perhaps, but it was a bad sign.

He was all she had. Elizabeth dared not show her lack of confidence in him. She could only hope the next few weeks would give her the reassurance she needed.

She turned her attention to Teyla. She was young to be the leader of her people; perhaps leadership was hereditary for the Athosians. She knew what she was doing, though. It was in every word she spoke, every movement of her athlete's body. This was a woman of strength and confidence. They were qualities Elizabeth admired.

"With our help," Teyla was saying, "you will make many more friends." The words were spoken to Sheppard but as she finished Teyla looked at Elizabeth, meeting her eyes with a stunning smile.

Elizabeth raised the cup of champagne to her lips to cover the sudden catch in her breath. A flicker of curiosity in dark eyes showed her Teyla wasn't fooled, but Sheppard talked on, thankfully oblivious.

"Let me show you around, Teyla," Elizabeth suggested, "and we'll try to make your people comfortable here."

Teyla smiled again. "I am grateful." She fell in beside Elizabeth as they walked, skirting the edges of the group.

Elizabeth felt a light touch on her arm and glanced at Teyla. This time she returned the other woman's smile.

The feeling of falling faded. For a moment the rollercoaster levelled out and she realised it was Teyla, somehow, who grounded her. Elizabeth said nothing, but let her gratitude show in her eyes.

"Welcome to Atlantis," she said.