Fic Update: Best Freinds Forever, Epilogue, by kuonji (G)
Title: Best Freinds Forever (Epilogue)
Author: kuonji
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Elizabeth Weir, Kate Heightmeyer, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka
Pairings: none
Category: preschool kid!fic, fluff
Rating: G
Spoilers: none
Words: ~870
Summary: It's been a rough few weeks...
A/N: Yay, and here it is! Thanks again to everyone for all the support. :D I hope to write another 'cycle' of these, but I'm a slow writer... Wish me luck! (I won't post to any boards until I'm done with the cycle, but if you're curious, the first one's here: Sick!)
Best Freinds Forever: Epilogue
by kuonji
Dr. Elizabeth Weir slumped forward in her deskchair, massaging her temples. There was a knock, and the door hissed open. She waved a 'hi' without even looking up. "How much longer?" was all she asked.
"Until they revert to normal, or until our heads explode?" came the wry answer.
Elizabeth sat up. "Sorry, I was expecting Dr. Beckett."
Kate Heightmeyer collapsed into a chair herself, rolling her neck back to look at the ceiling and stretch out her back. "He'll be along shortly. He thought I should be here, too."
"Who's watching the... children, then?"
"Dr. Zelenka has it covered."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "And by 'have it covered', you mean...?"
Kate giggled somewhat drunkenly at the ceiling. "The usual. Barely controlled chaos."
"Heaven forbid!" Both women turned at the new voice. Carson wiped his hand across his eyes as he dropped into a chair as well. "How are things downstairs?"
Kate had just come back from her shift. "Dr. Brown and Dr. Parrish had a bit of a tussle over Dr. Biro's stethoscope, but otherwise nothing serious. Of course, 'John' and the rest are just as always."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. It didn't take much to imagine what sort of shenanigans Kate had just come from breaking up. On reflection, only SGA-1 could have possibly managed to contract a temporary age-reversal virus and pass it to a quarter of the base. It was a good thing most of the medical staff remained uninfected.
"Carson," Elizabeth said, getting down to business. "What can you tell us?"
He offered a weary but radiant smile as he opened his laptop. He turned it to show them what looked like a lego kit. She blinked, and it resolved itself into a bar graph. She'd obviously been with the 'kids' for too long.
"As we hoped, it's definitely temporary. Cells are showing accelerated growth, and the children seem to be experiencing varying states of tiredness as they essentially 'grow' back into themselves. At the current rate, they'll be back in a matter of days. Dr. Heightmeyer?"
"Right, my results coincide. We've noticed exponentially increasing cognitive ability. What's more telling, perhaps, is that they are all without exception regaining their memories from before." She paused to quirk a smile. "Regarding their emotional states, I'm afraid to say that a select few aren't reverting quite as the others are. But those subjects' baseline levels were skewed to begin with."
Elizabeth should probably admonish Kate for the lack of professionalism. Indeed, she most certainly would have if she weren't trying so hard to keep from laughing outright.
"Well, good to know they're all healthy and on the road to return. Any ideas as to why the rest of us are immune?" Elizabeth asked Carson.
"That, I haven't figured out yet. I suspect the virus had a very specific radius to work. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been useful as an experimentation tool."
"True." The information in the database had had only vague notes on the 'virus', but Elizabeth had been able to make out enough to theorize that it had been developed to use not as a weapon, as she had feared, but for studying child physiology and psychology. It had been abandoned because of the difficulty of containing it -- as they had learned first-hand.
"It's really too bad we can't keep it," mused Kate. "It's a remarkably humane way to run experiments on children. They could get full cognitive adult consent beforehand, and return the subjects perfectly intact."
"It won't... ah, overshoot, will it?" Elizabeth asked, the horrible thought occurring to her.
"Oh, no," Carson assured her. "It's very interesting. There seems to be marker cells within each of the organs and tissue of--"
Elizabeth waved her arms, too exhausted for finesse. "It's okay Carson. I'm sorry, but... that's all I needed to know."
Carson chuckled. "It has been a rough few weeks, hasn't it?"
"Tell me about it," Kate groaned.
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "I'd have thought you would have been more interested."
"I took one Child Psychology course as an elective." She made a face. "It really wasn't my thing."
"That's why I'm a geneticist." Carson agreed.
"That's why I have dogs!"
"Doctors!"
They all winced and tapped the volume of their radios, as Zelenka's fluid diatribe about 'abandoning' him streamed through them in Ancient hi-def.
"I think it's time to return to support?" she said. They groaned and rose from their respective sprawls to make their way to the set of rooms they had designated as the nursery area.
When they got there, they were greeted by a most unexpected sight.
Rodney was curled up in his lap. Ronon was sprawled across one knee. Teyla leaned in sleepy bliss against his side, and John's head was pillowed on his ankle. SGA-1 formed one big puppy pile -- with Zelenka seething in the middle of it.
"Get me out of this. Now," he said through grit teeth. Despite his vicious irritation, he kept his voice low in front of the sleeping (temporary) children.
Elizabeth couldn't resist. After all, it would only be a few more days before the chance to see something like this would disappear forever.
"Anyone have a camera?"
SNAP!
ETA: Fanart by
nightfreyja !!
If you enjoyed this story, you might try these:
Phone Call Home (Stargate Atlantis), by kuonji
Kindergarten (Stargate Atlantis), by nakedwesley
What Happens in the Clubhouse (Stargate Atlantis), by skoosiepants
Kids (Stargate Atlantis), by Soraya
Author: kuonji
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Elizabeth Weir, Kate Heightmeyer, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka
Pairings: none
Category: preschool kid!fic, fluff
Rating: G
Spoilers: none
Words: ~870
Summary: It's been a rough few weeks...
A/N: Yay, and here it is! Thanks again to everyone for all the support. :D I hope to write another 'cycle' of these, but I'm a slow writer... Wish me luck! (I won't post to any boards until I'm done with the cycle, but if you're curious, the first one's here: Sick!)
Best Freinds Forever: Epilogue
by kuonji
Dr. Elizabeth Weir slumped forward in her deskchair, massaging her temples. There was a knock, and the door hissed open. She waved a 'hi' without even looking up. "How much longer?" was all she asked.
"Until they revert to normal, or until our heads explode?" came the wry answer.
Elizabeth sat up. "Sorry, I was expecting Dr. Beckett."
Kate Heightmeyer collapsed into a chair herself, rolling her neck back to look at the ceiling and stretch out her back. "He'll be along shortly. He thought I should be here, too."
"Who's watching the... children, then?"
"Dr. Zelenka has it covered."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "And by 'have it covered', you mean...?"
Kate giggled somewhat drunkenly at the ceiling. "The usual. Barely controlled chaos."
"Heaven forbid!" Both women turned at the new voice. Carson wiped his hand across his eyes as he dropped into a chair as well. "How are things downstairs?"
Kate had just come back from her shift. "Dr. Brown and Dr. Parrish had a bit of a tussle over Dr. Biro's stethoscope, but otherwise nothing serious. Of course, 'John' and the rest are just as always."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. It didn't take much to imagine what sort of shenanigans Kate had just come from breaking up. On reflection, only SGA-1 could have possibly managed to contract a temporary age-reversal virus and pass it to a quarter of the base. It was a good thing most of the medical staff remained uninfected.
"Carson," Elizabeth said, getting down to business. "What can you tell us?"
He offered a weary but radiant smile as he opened his laptop. He turned it to show them what looked like a lego kit. She blinked, and it resolved itself into a bar graph. She'd obviously been with the 'kids' for too long.
"As we hoped, it's definitely temporary. Cells are showing accelerated growth, and the children seem to be experiencing varying states of tiredness as they essentially 'grow' back into themselves. At the current rate, they'll be back in a matter of days. Dr. Heightmeyer?"
"Right, my results coincide. We've noticed exponentially increasing cognitive ability. What's more telling, perhaps, is that they are all without exception regaining their memories from before." She paused to quirk a smile. "Regarding their emotional states, I'm afraid to say that a select few aren't reverting quite as the others are. But those subjects' baseline levels were skewed to begin with."
Elizabeth should probably admonish Kate for the lack of professionalism. Indeed, she most certainly would have if she weren't trying so hard to keep from laughing outright.
"Well, good to know they're all healthy and on the road to return. Any ideas as to why the rest of us are immune?" Elizabeth asked Carson.
"That, I haven't figured out yet. I suspect the virus had a very specific radius to work. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been useful as an experimentation tool."
"True." The information in the database had had only vague notes on the 'virus', but Elizabeth had been able to make out enough to theorize that it had been developed to use not as a weapon, as she had feared, but for studying child physiology and psychology. It had been abandoned because of the difficulty of containing it -- as they had learned first-hand.
"It's really too bad we can't keep it," mused Kate. "It's a remarkably humane way to run experiments on children. They could get full cognitive adult consent beforehand, and return the subjects perfectly intact."
"It won't... ah, overshoot, will it?" Elizabeth asked, the horrible thought occurring to her.
"Oh, no," Carson assured her. "It's very interesting. There seems to be marker cells within each of the organs and tissue of--"
Elizabeth waved her arms, too exhausted for finesse. "It's okay Carson. I'm sorry, but... that's all I needed to know."
Carson chuckled. "It has been a rough few weeks, hasn't it?"
"Tell me about it," Kate groaned.
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "I'd have thought you would have been more interested."
"I took one Child Psychology course as an elective." She made a face. "It really wasn't my thing."
"That's why I'm a geneticist." Carson agreed.
"That's why I have dogs!"
"Doctors!"
They all winced and tapped the volume of their radios, as Zelenka's fluid diatribe about 'abandoning' him streamed through them in Ancient hi-def.
"I think it's time to return to support?" she said. They groaned and rose from their respective sprawls to make their way to the set of rooms they had designated as the nursery area.
When they got there, they were greeted by a most unexpected sight.
Rodney was curled up in his lap. Ronon was sprawled across one knee. Teyla leaned in sleepy bliss against his side, and John's head was pillowed on his ankle. SGA-1 formed one big puppy pile -- with Zelenka seething in the middle of it.
"Get me out of this. Now," he said through grit teeth. Despite his vicious irritation, he kept his voice low in front of the sleeping (temporary) children.
Elizabeth couldn't resist. After all, it would only be a few more days before the chance to see something like this would disappear forever.
"Anyone have a camera?"
SNAP!
ETA: Fanart by
nightfreyja !!
If you enjoyed this story, you might try these:
Phone Call Home (Stargate Atlantis), by kuonji
Kindergarten (Stargate Atlantis), by nakedwesley
What Happens in the Clubhouse (Stargate Atlantis), by skoosiepants
Kids (Stargate Atlantis), by Soraya