new fic! (and *almost* on time too!!!)

[georgierae.livejournal.com]

Title: Of Accidents & Friendships.
Author: Georgia (gidgit_the_flid)
Rating: What’s the new equivalent of a ‘g’?
Summary: ‘Her eyes slipped closed as she felt him draw nearer. She breathed in his scent and opened her mouth, ready to say the words that had been on her mind all day.’
Spoilers: Absolutely nothing.
Note: Had a teeny-tiny bit of trouble with the writing of this fic, as Muse decided she’d rather be away on holiday somewhere other than here, helping me! But...got there in the end!
Thanks to: ssmith_12, cyberchezza & jacksrubberduck for helping me out & sharing the beta work! (and also thanks to anyone who helped point me in the right direction in regards to the rules of American Football!)

~*~*~

Written for: Sue Corkill (sjhw_tolerance)
Who wanted: football, a kiss, Dr. Beckett
But didn’t want: Bates, Teyla bashing, the Genii

Hope you like it hon!

~*~*~


Her eyes slipped closed as she felt him draw nearer. She breathed in his scent and opened her mouth, ready to say the words that had been on her mind all day.

“Can I go now?”

She opened her eyes to see Carson frowning at her and then at the sling on her arm. Her eyes slipped down to look at the white material that was supporting her arm before looking back up at Carson. She could tell he was weakening by the resigned look that was slowly working its way across his face.

“I wish you’d let me put a cast on it.”

“Carson--”

He sighed.

“Fine. But I want you to wait for someone to accompany you to your quarters, where you are to take the rest of the day off.” He held his finger up as she opened her mouth to retort.

“Doctors orders, Elizabeth. I don’t care what reports are waiting for you, you are going to rest.”

Elizabeth’s turn to sigh.

“Carson--” She waved her free hand at her injured arm. “--I’ve dislocated my elbow. I don’t use it to read reports.” She knew as soon as she’d begun her argument that Carson wasn’t going to budge on this one.

“Aye, but you do use it to type your reports.”

“I--” She paused, mildly annoyed at being out-manoeuvred. “Well yes, I do. But that's not the point...”

She trailed off when she saw Teyla appear in the doorway looking rather abashed and more subdued than normal.

“Doctor Weir?” Elizabeth turned to face the Athosian and smiled at her expression. She motioned Teyla over to the bed she was sitting on, and waited for Carson to excuse himself.

“Doctor Weir--” Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at the younger woman. “--Elizabeth. I am sorry for my actions. I--” she was cut off by Elizabeth

“Teyla, it’s ok. I just have a dislocated elbow. It’s not broken and it won’t take long to heal--”

“That is a relief.” The Athosian sighed.

“--and besides, it’s not like you did it on purpose.”

Teyla’s eyes widened –did Doctor Weir think she would do a thing like that on purpose?- and she looked at Elizabeth, wondering if the expedition leader still had her doubts about the Athosians.

“You do not believe I would--”

“I think Doctor Weir was just messing with you, lass.” Carson was back. He handed Elizabeth the painkillers he had prescribed for her and helped her down off of the bed.

“Although, you’re very lucky it wasn’t a break, Elizabeth. If--”

Elizabeth sighed. “It was just some harmless fun, Carson. Things have been so tense around here, people need to let off a bit of steam, that’s all.”

“Aye,” Carson agreed, gesturing her arm. “Really ‘armless.”

She had the grace to look a little sheepish and blushed. “It was a simple accident. It could’ve happened to anyone…”

“Precisely my point.”

“I feel fine.” Elizabeth offered in lame response.

“Aye, *now* you do. You won’t when the painkillers wear off.”

“Carson…” Her protest was half-hearted at best, she knew when she was beat, she just didn’t like to go down without fighting.

“Atlantis isn’t going to fall apart if you take a rest, Elizabeth. Just for a wee while.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the Scot but conceded nonetheless- before he could order her confined to the Infirmary instead.

“Very well. And...Thank you, Carson.” Carson was certain she meant for not making her stay in the Infirmary, but let it slide.

“Rest, Elizabeth. That’s an order.” He called out as he watched the two women walk out of the door before returning to the microscope he had been studying before they had entered earlier that day.


~*~*~


Holding the sling slightly, Elizabeth made her way out of the Infirmary with Teyla close behind her.

“I am sorry. I should not have been so aggressive in my attempt to block your goal.”

Elizabeth laughed quietly and retorted gently, “Then you would not have been playing the game correctly. Although, thinking back, I should have started off teaching you Flag football instead. It is very similar to regular football, but instead of tackling the person, you take the flag out of the runner’s pocket to end the play.”

“I see. Perhaps I should have asked Major Shepherd--” Teyla began, but was cut off by the look of irritation that crossed Elizabeth’s face.

“Just because he’s a man, doesn’t mean he knows more about the sport.” Wincing at the harshness of her tone, she abated, “I’m sorry, it is a common misconception on Earth that men know more about sports than women.”

Teyla nodded, “I understand completely, my own people still tend to underestimate women, simply because they believe we are physically weaker and need to be protected. I have strived to prove that concept to be in error, but many still do not realize that we are as capable as anyone else.”

Arriving at her quarters, Elizabeth replied with a smile, “Well, I guess it is an intergalactic issue then.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.” Teyla ducked her head and said, “I do hope your arm heals quickly, I would enjoy learning more about your ‘sports’, and would be honoured if you were the one to teach me.”

“I’d like that.” Elizabeth stated kindly, hoping to assure the Athosian of her sincerity. “I’ll let you know as soon as Dr. Beckett says I’m allowed to use it again.”

“I look forward to it.” Teyla replied. “I will visit you again in a few hours, if you would like?”

“Yes, I would like that.” Elizabeth said with a smile. “Thank you, Teyla.”

“Good day.” She replied with a small bow of her head and set off down the corridor.

“Good day Teyla.” She made to wave her hand in front of the door’s sensor, momentarily forgetting it was hindered by the slight problem of the accompanying dislocated elbow, Although the painkillers Carson had her on were rather strong and would keep the pain at bay for a while, she knew she’d have to be careful if she didn’t want a cast on her arm.

She decided to do as Carson suggested and rest a while. She sat down on her bed and powered up the silver laptop, and set about playing Solitaire.


~*~*~


There was a knock on her door an hour later.

“It’s open.” She called, not looking up from her book.

“Hey. I wasn’t sure if what Teyla told me about you actually resting was true, so I had to come see for myself.” The sound of John’s voice had her folding down the corner of the page she was reading and setting the book to the side of her. As she looked up at him, she noted he was holding a bowl of something that smelt rather potent.

“So... How’s our wannabe linebacker?” he prompted, his smirk already fixed in place. She narrowed her eyes and mock-glared him.

“I bumped into Teyla and news travels fast.” He shrugged before moving to place the bowl down on the small table next to her bed. He pulled a couple of items out of his pockets before setting them down next to the bowl and sat next to her, looking her over.

A few minutes later he was still looking at her, as though he expected her to do something.

“What?” His constant staring was getting to her.

“Can I see it?” He asked with a boyish glint in his eyes and a larger smirk on his lips than before.

“What? No.” She subconsciously brought her uninjured arm over her injured one, trying to shelter it from his gaze.

“Come on, Elizabeth!”

“John, my elbow is the size of a grapefruit. Now what’s in the bowl?” She said, trying to shift some of the attention back onto him.

“Ah, now that--” He got up briefly to grab the bowl and the items next to it before returning to the bed. “--is an Athosian poultice. Like I said, I bumped into Teyla on the way here. Don’t worry, she assures me it’s completely safe- one of the elders makes it out of the local plant life and herbs. Works like a charm apparently.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t ever see Teyla describing something as working ‘like a charm’.

“Ok, so I paraphrased a little. Anyway, it’s best to apply this while it’s still hot...ish... *warm*...so...” He shrugged.

Elizabeth nodded and then paused, looking at her watch

“Ok, but I’m going to get changed first, I’m feeling a little tired from the painkillers as it is, and Carson did want me to rest.” She rolled her eyes.

“Alright. I’ll uhm...want me to wait outside?” He self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck. “Or get someone female to help you?”

“I--” Elizabeth paused briefly. “--Well...no, no you’ll do. I’ll just need a hand with getting my shirt over my arm. Unless you’d rather--”

“No! uh... no, I’ll do it. Besides I’m here now.” He could feel the red tinge creep up his neck as she shot him an amused glance.

“Fine.” She pulled a t-shirt and pair of shorts out of a drawer, throwing the t-shirt onto the bed. “I’ll be back in a moment.” She said waving the shorts in the direction of her bathroom.

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” He looked around her quarters as he waited for her to change into the shorts and smiled at the fact that his room was tidier.

Elizabeth re-entered the room a few minutes later, looking a bit flustered.

“You wouldn’t think taking off a pair of pants would be so difficult.” She said as she dropped them onto a chair. “Now, I’ve worked out that I can get the buttons undone myself. It’s just going to be a bit difficult getting my arm out of the sleeve, what with my elbow being three feet wider than it was when I dressed earlier.” Her face scrunched up slightly at the thought of the pain that would follow moving her arm so much.

John gave her a small smile.

“Well, the way I see it, you’ve really got two options; one- you can leave the shirt on and I can do the compress now. Or two- we can work out a strategy to do this quickly and then let the gunk do its job. And to be honest, you’ll smell less with the second option.” He dodged the hand that reached out to lightly slap at his arm. “Of course we can always ask Carson to cut the shirt off.” He shrugged.

“I don’t think so.” She sighed. “Can we just do it quick?”

“Sure.”

True to his word, John helped her tug off the shirt quickly. He knew it must have hurt her to have moved her arm so much, but she had popped a couple of the painkillers Carson had given her before she had exited the bathroom and so would stay relatively pain-free for a while.

John winced and sucked in a breath as he removed the tubi-grip bandage that Carson had wrapped around her arm earlier.

“Yeowch.”

“That bad, huh?” Elizabeth was prodding at the concoction of herbs and plants in the bowl.

“Well, you’ll be glad the Doc’s got you on those horse tranquilisers when you look at it.”

“I’m not sure I want--” She looked at her elbow anyway, and then looked back at the bowl.

“That’s a mighty fine bruise you’ve got there.” He was very gently rubbing oil onto the skin around it. She lifted her eyes up from his hands and studied him as he worked, wincing every now and again.

“Sorry, but I have specific instructions. Apparently the oil helps the gunk soak in easier, and makes it easier to get off when you want to reapply it. Which will need to happen in about six hours.” She made a face at him.

“I have to go through this again in six hours?”

“You know, Carson really wants to cast it. I can carry you to the infirmary, now if you’d rather...” He tailed off, knowing full well that Elizabeth was against it.

“Wake me in six hours.” He quickly smothered a smirk.


~*~*~


Once the compress was in place, John dropped a light kiss onto her elbow, making Elizabeth giggle. Although he had a feeling it was helped along by the painkillers.

“My mom always did that.” She said with a sigh.

“Mine too.” He admitted, in a rare revealing moment before averting his eyes and clearing his throat, distancing himself from the conversation as he began clearing up.

“John?” She called out sleepily after a few minutes. He looked over at her as he made his way towards the door.

“Yeah?” He replied softly.

“Would you stay? Just for a while?” She was watching him through half-lidded eyes and he smiled, in spite of himself.

“Sure.” He placed the bowl on the table once more, covering it with a cloth before sitting back down on the edge of the bed and removing his boots. As he straightened, he could feel the mattress dip as she came to sit beside him.

“John?” He turned his head and was surprised to feel her lips on his. It was brief and she pulled back all too soon, ducking her head.

“Sorry, I was actually aiming for your cheek.” She admitted when John gave her an amused look. “But thank you.”

“For the kiss?” She decided he was being deliberately obtuse.

“For everything.” She countered. They looked at each other for a long moment before John broke the spell.

“C’mon, budge over.” He nudged her shoulder, indicating she should move. She shifted further over the bed, minding not to catch her arm on anything and snuggled down under the covers as he scooted himself backwards, bringing his back to rest against the wall. She muttered something that resembled a ‘good night’, yawned and closed her eyes.

“Good night, ‘Lizabeth.” He whispered with a smile and picked up her book, listening to her breathing even out as he began reading the first page.




(x-posted to my lj & also john_elizabeth)