Fic: Black Coffee
My gift to the community as a newbie. I've been trying to think of something to write to match the quality that I have found here, and while I'm not sure about this one, its my only offering so far.
I just wanted to play around with Elizabeth's character at Langford U and explain why she's the Dean of Law as opposed to a Professor of Political Science, and teaching and doing administrative work as opposed to being a diplomat and a professor. (Oh... I just looked up the actual character and found out that she has TWO PhDs. Maybe this works better than I thought.) I also tried to bring in parts of Atlantis!Weir into the writing of this character. Thus Simon makes a fleeting appearence (really more a mention) and so does Liz's bad knee.
Anyway, while I tried to keep the piece light, the subject matter (concering how she got her bad knee) and her diplomatic experience kind of turned it a bit dark. Sitll, please tell me if you like it. Anyway, on with the story.
Elizabeth Weir limped across the field trying to get out of the rain as quickly as she could. Stupid, stupid knee, she thought to herself. Of all times to quite on her, it picked the middle of a downpour. It was just like her luck.
Spotting the familiar brown building in the distance, Elizabeth tried to pick up the pace only to stumble and loose her balance.
"Wow, there, careful."
Elizabeth heard the welcome voice of John Sheppard a few moments before she felt his hand wrap around her arm, carefully steadying her back on her feet. Then to her utmost relief, the rain stopped pounding down on her back as an umbrella placed over her head. Looking up, she smiled gratefully at the math professor and took a deep breath.
"Thanks, I didn’t think it was going to starting raining like this. Otherwise, I would have brought an umbrella."
John smiled again, a for a second Weir felt her knee give once again. Blaming the sudden give on its already weakened state, Elizabeth tried not to think about the feelings his smile invoked too much.
"Figured as much. I didn’t see you as the type that liked walks in this kind of weather."
I could. Elizabeth quickly banished the thought from her mind. “Well, for saving me from my own misery, the least I could do is offer you some coffee to warm you up.”
The smile once again spread across John’s face. "Coffee would be great."
Together, Elizabeth and John made there way the last couple of meters into the safety of the law building. However, despite her prowess in the court rooms, the Dean of Law was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t register John’s deliberately slower pace, or the fact that he carefully helped support her to take pressure of the bad knee.
Grateful to be inside in the climate-controlled environment, Elizabeth quickly ushered them both passed the concerned face of her assistant, Peter Grodin, and into her office. Closing the door quietly, Elizabeth turned and tried to take her coat off. However, the rain had made the heavier fabric stick to her body, causing Elizabeth to struggle with the knee-length jacket.
Seeing her dilemma, John Sheppard quickly stepped in to help. "Easy, let me get this for you."
Not wanting to need his rescue for the second time in one day made Elizabeth pause; the need to get out of the damned coat made her acquiesce. "Thank you."
Grabbing both coats once they were off, Elizabeth limped slightly to the rack to let them dry. Taking a moment to collect herself, she paused over the job of properly hanging them and took another deep breath.
"Why don’t you let me make the coffee?"
Weir spun around. "I may seem like a bit of an invalid today, but I assure you I can at least make coffee!"
Sheppard held his hands up in acceptance. "I just saw that you were limping a bit…" He let the sentence hang in the air, obviously sensing that it was a touchy subject.
Elizabeth blew air out from between slightly pursed lips. "Sorry, you were only trying to help. I didn’t need to get upset."
"Hey, everyone is entitled to a bad day, now and then. Personally, I always have at least one a week. However, since the girls started hanging around my office, it’s been more like one every single day."
Elizabeth slightly chuckled at that. She knew how much he wished the sorority girls that frequented his office for anything but math tutoring annoyed him.
"Well, as I said before, my office is always open for a safe haven."
There goes that smile again. Sometimes, Elizabeth thought that her job would have been so much easier if the man hadn’t been so damn handsome. Even Simon simply didn’t stop all her thoughts when he smiled. She really had to get a hold of her emotions.
"I hope instant is fine. It’s all I have in the office."
"Instants good, instants fine."
Elizabeth quickly poked her head out the door and asked for Peter to go get two mugs she kept in the faculty’s kitchen, as well as a cup of water for the coffee. Once he nodded his okay, Elizabeth slowly moved back to the window and reached down to turn on the coffee-maker that was situated beside it.
"Okay, so you got the coffee-maker here, but not the cups?"
"I’m a bit lazy when it comes to doing dishes. I just washed the mugs after they had been sitting around for a while. Hadn’t had the chance to bring them back into the office yet."
Sheppard smiled his understanding and moved to the sit on the small leather couch in her office.
Pouring the instant coffee into the coffee-maker, Elizabeth heard the knock at her door signalling that Peter was back with her requested items. However, before she could go answer the door, Sheppard was up and picking up the items Elizabeth’s assistant had brought over.
Taking the cup of water out of his hands, Elizabeth quickly poured it into the coffee-maker and set the machine to percolate. Seeing that there wasn’t much else to do, Elizabeth made her way over to the couch and sat down with a sigh.
"So what were you doing that hurt your leg?"
"“Hum?" Elizabeth looked up slowly. "Oh, no, the knee is an old injury. It just acts up now and then. Unfortunately, it chose the middle of a rain-storm to act up today." She smiled half-amused, half-annoyed.
When John continued to remain quiet, Elizabeth realized that he expected her to continue. For a second, she startled realizing how intimate this could possibly get. While they had been friends for a couple months now, neither of them had found the time to truly sit down and just talk. It was always lunch on the go, or a casual hi when he stopped in to avoid whoever was lurking outside his office.
"You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too."
Elizabeth quickly shook her head denying that statement. "I just never thought there was much too tell.
John looked doubtful. "Try me."
Feeling suddenly exposed, Elizabeth got up and started to fix the coffee that was almost ready. With the mugs in her hand, she walked back to the couch and tried to gather her thoughts.
"Do you know that I have a PhD in Political Science? I went to Graduate school thinking that I wanted to do international negotiations for the United Nations, or some other international body." Elizabeth paused for a second and then looked at John. "That was before I met my ex-husband who was busy studying law. He convinced me it would be a better career choice. I never really looked back."
Elizabeth had never mentioned that she was married before, and really it didn’t hold much consequence any more, but she still couldn’t help but look for some negative reaction in Sheppard’s face.
"But…" His prompt for more and the genuinely interested look in his face made her continue.
"However, when an old colleague contacted me wanting help on a foreign relations mess in the Baltic I just couldn’t refuse. I was young and had a background in both Law and Political Science - I figured I could solve the world’s problems."
Elizabeth suddenly thought back to the time when tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were starting to cool, but the smaller states of the Soviet Union were being to heat up there demands for independence. I had been a complete mess.
"I was so sure of myself, so ready to believe that I had the right answer and no one else could possibly see what I saw."
John cocked an eyebrow causing Elizabeth to playfully whack him on the shoulder. "I have calmed down since then.” The eyebrow just went higher, causing to Elizabeth to quietly laugh.
"Anyway, what I didn’t foresee was how desperate some of the factions were. These people had been under foreign rule for centuries from one party or another, and they were absolutely adamant about getting the terms to be perfect. So, they did the only thing they thought they could do and took the consulate and everyone in it hostage."
Elizabeth watched as John sucked in a lung-full of air and his face dropped.
"I was outside, when it occurred, but I came running back. My friend, the colleague that had called me there was stuck inside. I don’t think I ever remember feeling more useless then I did there."
For a second, Elizabeth was startled when John laced his fingers with hers and squeezed. Then she squeezed back.
"I called Simon in a panic. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong, and all I knew was that people could die because I wasn’t thinking about long term consequences but only how much I enjoyed doing was I was doing at that very moment. I still remember what he said. He told me to breath, told me that the actions of the rebels weren’t my fault, and to work with the negotiators to figure out a way to get everything straightened out.
I did exactly as he said and walked back to the consulate from my hotel and offered by services as a negotiator. I knew these people, I knew what they wanted, and I knew how they thought. Unfortunately, the military thought that a straight invasion was the best way to go.
I remember them climbing the steps of the building and the fear just built in the bottom of my stomach. I knew that this wasn’t the way to go and I tried to run up to stop them. A man grabbed me from behind, and the next thing I know everything is white and I’m being throw backwards. I woke up in a Soviet hospital with Simon sitting next to me. The doctors said that I was lucky to be alive and that my leg that been broken in several places; my kneecap was shattered. It took me weeks to recover.
After that I decided to concentrate solely on law and forget that I ever wanted to help with foreign negotiations. I guess I was disillusioned with how little control negotiators had over the situation, and how much control the military could wield if it wanted too.
I never looked back."
Elizabeth and John sat in silence for a moment, each thinking about the story that Elizabeth had just shared. For a second, it seems like the silence was going to stretch on forever, and Elizabeth desperately groped for something to say to lighten the mood.
"I lost a puppy once. Dad ran over it with the truck by accident."
Elizabeth couldn’t help it, the ridiculousness of his statement had her doubled over laughing as tears came streaming out of her eyes. As she laughed and cried at the same time, she felt John place his freed hand on her back and gently rub it in circles.
I could really get used to this. She thought as she pulled herself back into a sitting position.
"Seriously though, what happened to your colleague?"
Elizabeth took a sip of the now cold coffee and grimaced. "She died in the explosion. So did the military unit that was climbing up the stairs of the building, and a couple of the relief personnel that were standing around outside. There was so much death."
Elizabeth watched as John looked across the room and out the window to wear the rain had stopped and the sun was slowly shinning through the clouds. "Its hard to imagine that things like that happen in the world.” He said slowly. “We’re so sheltered, that sometimes it takes true tragedy to make us realize what we have."
Elizabeth smiled at how John’s words echoed what Simon had told her when she woke up. However, at the time she had just been told of the fate of most of the negotiating team and hadn’t been receptive to the solemn message. Now, she understood a bit better.
John picked up his coffee cup and took a small sip then grimaced just like Elizabeth had earlier. Stretching, he slowly got up and then extended a hand for her to follow. "You know, since it’s stopped raining, maybe we can make a trip to the Starbucks around the corner and get some coffee that still hot. I can avoid the girls outside my office, and you can tell me more about your adventures."
A little dazed Elizabeth only nodded and took the offered hand. Slowly getting up she looked at there still soaking wet coats and shrugged. Opening the door, they both stepped out and started walking down the hall.
"Oh, Peter?" Elizabeth stopped and turned around. "I’ll be out for a while. Tell anyone who calls I’ll get back to them as soon as possible. I’m going to coffee."
The End
I just wanted to play around with Elizabeth's character at Langford U and explain why she's the Dean of Law as opposed to a Professor of Political Science, and teaching and doing administrative work as opposed to being a diplomat and a professor. (Oh... I just looked up the actual character and found out that she has TWO PhDs. Maybe this works better than I thought.) I also tried to bring in parts of Atlantis!Weir into the writing of this character. Thus Simon makes a fleeting appearence (really more a mention) and so does Liz's bad knee.
Anyway, while I tried to keep the piece light, the subject matter (concering how she got her bad knee) and her diplomatic experience kind of turned it a bit dark. Sitll, please tell me if you like it. Anyway, on with the story.
Elizabeth Weir limped across the field trying to get out of the rain as quickly as she could. Stupid, stupid knee, she thought to herself. Of all times to quite on her, it picked the middle of a downpour. It was just like her luck.
Spotting the familiar brown building in the distance, Elizabeth tried to pick up the pace only to stumble and loose her balance.
"Wow, there, careful."
Elizabeth heard the welcome voice of John Sheppard a few moments before she felt his hand wrap around her arm, carefully steadying her back on her feet. Then to her utmost relief, the rain stopped pounding down on her back as an umbrella placed over her head. Looking up, she smiled gratefully at the math professor and took a deep breath.
"Thanks, I didn’t think it was going to starting raining like this. Otherwise, I would have brought an umbrella."
John smiled again, a for a second Weir felt her knee give once again. Blaming the sudden give on its already weakened state, Elizabeth tried not to think about the feelings his smile invoked too much.
"Figured as much. I didn’t see you as the type that liked walks in this kind of weather."
I could. Elizabeth quickly banished the thought from her mind. “Well, for saving me from my own misery, the least I could do is offer you some coffee to warm you up.”
The smile once again spread across John’s face. "Coffee would be great."
Together, Elizabeth and John made there way the last couple of meters into the safety of the law building. However, despite her prowess in the court rooms, the Dean of Law was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t register John’s deliberately slower pace, or the fact that he carefully helped support her to take pressure of the bad knee.
Grateful to be inside in the climate-controlled environment, Elizabeth quickly ushered them both passed the concerned face of her assistant, Peter Grodin, and into her office. Closing the door quietly, Elizabeth turned and tried to take her coat off. However, the rain had made the heavier fabric stick to her body, causing Elizabeth to struggle with the knee-length jacket.
Seeing her dilemma, John Sheppard quickly stepped in to help. "Easy, let me get this for you."
Not wanting to need his rescue for the second time in one day made Elizabeth pause; the need to get out of the damned coat made her acquiesce. "Thank you."
Grabbing both coats once they were off, Elizabeth limped slightly to the rack to let them dry. Taking a moment to collect herself, she paused over the job of properly hanging them and took another deep breath.
"Why don’t you let me make the coffee?"
Weir spun around. "I may seem like a bit of an invalid today, but I assure you I can at least make coffee!"
Sheppard held his hands up in acceptance. "I just saw that you were limping a bit…" He let the sentence hang in the air, obviously sensing that it was a touchy subject.
Elizabeth blew air out from between slightly pursed lips. "Sorry, you were only trying to help. I didn’t need to get upset."
"Hey, everyone is entitled to a bad day, now and then. Personally, I always have at least one a week. However, since the girls started hanging around my office, it’s been more like one every single day."
Elizabeth slightly chuckled at that. She knew how much he wished the sorority girls that frequented his office for anything but math tutoring annoyed him.
"Well, as I said before, my office is always open for a safe haven."
There goes that smile again. Sometimes, Elizabeth thought that her job would have been so much easier if the man hadn’t been so damn handsome. Even Simon simply didn’t stop all her thoughts when he smiled. She really had to get a hold of her emotions.
"I hope instant is fine. It’s all I have in the office."
"Instants good, instants fine."
Elizabeth quickly poked her head out the door and asked for Peter to go get two mugs she kept in the faculty’s kitchen, as well as a cup of water for the coffee. Once he nodded his okay, Elizabeth slowly moved back to the window and reached down to turn on the coffee-maker that was situated beside it.
"Okay, so you got the coffee-maker here, but not the cups?"
"I’m a bit lazy when it comes to doing dishes. I just washed the mugs after they had been sitting around for a while. Hadn’t had the chance to bring them back into the office yet."
Sheppard smiled his understanding and moved to the sit on the small leather couch in her office.
Pouring the instant coffee into the coffee-maker, Elizabeth heard the knock at her door signalling that Peter was back with her requested items. However, before she could go answer the door, Sheppard was up and picking up the items Elizabeth’s assistant had brought over.
Taking the cup of water out of his hands, Elizabeth quickly poured it into the coffee-maker and set the machine to percolate. Seeing that there wasn’t much else to do, Elizabeth made her way over to the couch and sat down with a sigh.
"So what were you doing that hurt your leg?"
"“Hum?" Elizabeth looked up slowly. "Oh, no, the knee is an old injury. It just acts up now and then. Unfortunately, it chose the middle of a rain-storm to act up today." She smiled half-amused, half-annoyed.
When John continued to remain quiet, Elizabeth realized that he expected her to continue. For a second, she startled realizing how intimate this could possibly get. While they had been friends for a couple months now, neither of them had found the time to truly sit down and just talk. It was always lunch on the go, or a casual hi when he stopped in to avoid whoever was lurking outside his office.
"You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too."
Elizabeth quickly shook her head denying that statement. "I just never thought there was much too tell.
John looked doubtful. "Try me."
Feeling suddenly exposed, Elizabeth got up and started to fix the coffee that was almost ready. With the mugs in her hand, she walked back to the couch and tried to gather her thoughts.
"Do you know that I have a PhD in Political Science? I went to Graduate school thinking that I wanted to do international negotiations for the United Nations, or some other international body." Elizabeth paused for a second and then looked at John. "That was before I met my ex-husband who was busy studying law. He convinced me it would be a better career choice. I never really looked back."
Elizabeth had never mentioned that she was married before, and really it didn’t hold much consequence any more, but she still couldn’t help but look for some negative reaction in Sheppard’s face.
"But…" His prompt for more and the genuinely interested look in his face made her continue.
"However, when an old colleague contacted me wanting help on a foreign relations mess in the Baltic I just couldn’t refuse. I was young and had a background in both Law and Political Science - I figured I could solve the world’s problems."
Elizabeth suddenly thought back to the time when tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were starting to cool, but the smaller states of the Soviet Union were being to heat up there demands for independence. I had been a complete mess.
"I was so sure of myself, so ready to believe that I had the right answer and no one else could possibly see what I saw."
John cocked an eyebrow causing Elizabeth to playfully whack him on the shoulder. "I have calmed down since then.” The eyebrow just went higher, causing to Elizabeth to quietly laugh.
"Anyway, what I didn’t foresee was how desperate some of the factions were. These people had been under foreign rule for centuries from one party or another, and they were absolutely adamant about getting the terms to be perfect. So, they did the only thing they thought they could do and took the consulate and everyone in it hostage."
Elizabeth watched as John sucked in a lung-full of air and his face dropped.
"I was outside, when it occurred, but I came running back. My friend, the colleague that had called me there was stuck inside. I don’t think I ever remember feeling more useless then I did there."
For a second, Elizabeth was startled when John laced his fingers with hers and squeezed. Then she squeezed back.
"I called Simon in a panic. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong, and all I knew was that people could die because I wasn’t thinking about long term consequences but only how much I enjoyed doing was I was doing at that very moment. I still remember what he said. He told me to breath, told me that the actions of the rebels weren’t my fault, and to work with the negotiators to figure out a way to get everything straightened out.
I did exactly as he said and walked back to the consulate from my hotel and offered by services as a negotiator. I knew these people, I knew what they wanted, and I knew how they thought. Unfortunately, the military thought that a straight invasion was the best way to go.
I remember them climbing the steps of the building and the fear just built in the bottom of my stomach. I knew that this wasn’t the way to go and I tried to run up to stop them. A man grabbed me from behind, and the next thing I know everything is white and I’m being throw backwards. I woke up in a Soviet hospital with Simon sitting next to me. The doctors said that I was lucky to be alive and that my leg that been broken in several places; my kneecap was shattered. It took me weeks to recover.
After that I decided to concentrate solely on law and forget that I ever wanted to help with foreign negotiations. I guess I was disillusioned with how little control negotiators had over the situation, and how much control the military could wield if it wanted too.
I never looked back."
Elizabeth and John sat in silence for a moment, each thinking about the story that Elizabeth had just shared. For a second, it seems like the silence was going to stretch on forever, and Elizabeth desperately groped for something to say to lighten the mood.
"I lost a puppy once. Dad ran over it with the truck by accident."
Elizabeth couldn’t help it, the ridiculousness of his statement had her doubled over laughing as tears came streaming out of her eyes. As she laughed and cried at the same time, she felt John place his freed hand on her back and gently rub it in circles.
I could really get used to this. She thought as she pulled herself back into a sitting position.
"Seriously though, what happened to your colleague?"
Elizabeth took a sip of the now cold coffee and grimaced. "She died in the explosion. So did the military unit that was climbing up the stairs of the building, and a couple of the relief personnel that were standing around outside. There was so much death."
Elizabeth watched as John looked across the room and out the window to wear the rain had stopped and the sun was slowly shinning through the clouds. "Its hard to imagine that things like that happen in the world.” He said slowly. “We’re so sheltered, that sometimes it takes true tragedy to make us realize what we have."
Elizabeth smiled at how John’s words echoed what Simon had told her when she woke up. However, at the time she had just been told of the fate of most of the negotiating team and hadn’t been receptive to the solemn message. Now, she understood a bit better.
John picked up his coffee cup and took a small sip then grimaced just like Elizabeth had earlier. Stretching, he slowly got up and then extended a hand for her to follow. "You know, since it’s stopped raining, maybe we can make a trip to the Starbucks around the corner and get some coffee that still hot. I can avoid the girls outside my office, and you can tell me more about your adventures."
A little dazed Elizabeth only nodded and took the offered hand. Slowly getting up she looked at there still soaking wet coats and shrugged. Opening the door, they both stepped out and started walking down the hall.
"Oh, Peter?" Elizabeth stopped and turned around. "I’ll be out for a while. Tell anyone who calls I’ll get back to them as soon as possible. I’m going to coffee."
The End