Ari (creature of dust, child of God) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wisdomeagle) wrote2005-11-30 12:05 am
wisdomeagle) wrote2005-11-30 12:05 am
Entry tags:
commentary track: "Five Very Good Reasons..."
Ah, it's Christmas come early. :p ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mari4212 requested commentary on Five Very Good Reasons Why Elizabeth Weir Instituted Policy VI.
[commentary track clearly should be read after the fic in question, and contains spoilers through "Runner" more or less -- just basic premise of S2 stuff.]
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Pairing: All of the above? Mostly het, some slash, and heck, even some blink-and-you-miss-it femslash
Rating: PG-13?
Spoilers: Vaguely for "Home"
Summary: Five things that never happened, and the one that happened instead.
I love the five things format far too much, because it gives me the excuse to write five short fics instead of one long one. This is really an exploration of all the reasons why sex on 'Lantis is a bad idea, and it was written at a time when I still thought it was (before I thought, you know, it would be a good idea for McKay to have lots of sex with Weir... But anyhow!)
Five Very Good Reasons Why Elizabeth Weir Instituted Policy VI
I.
McKay hops from one foot to the other. He cannot believe what he's just discovered. These crystals... the energy storage potential! He literally holds in his hands the way home. But more than that. If he can find more of these crystals--no, not him, if he can get Elizabeth to send one of the other teams to find more of these, then there will be enough energy to power Earth for, essentially, ever. He clutches the crystal a little bit tighter, trying not to think about the consequences if he were to crush it. Instead, he thinks about the look Elizabeth will get on her face when he tells her. She will of course immediately grasp just how essential this is, but he'll have to explain it to her anyhow, so that she understands exactly why it works.
See the tiny wee bits of plot that snuck in! Here I'm still trying to work my head around what McKay sees in Weir, since she's not actually a scientist like Carter. I like the idea of Weir as McKay's ideal woman, both instantly grasping what he's trying to tell her (and that intuitive understanding is one of the reasons I love them so much together) but also listening to what he has to say. I'm going for crazy puppyish love for a reason here. (Because I want to BREAK HIS HEART omg.)
He peeks into her office without knocking, but she's not there, which would strike him as strange if he weren't trying not to run. Which he shouldn't do, because then he might break the precious crystal. As he peers down another corridor, he imagines the way Elizabeth's face lights up when he tells her about exciting scientific discoveries. He'd rather have one of Elizabeth's smiles than a Nobel Prize.
And that, my friends, is when I knew I'd gone over the edge.
Well, no. That's not true. He'd rather have the Nobel Prize, but only because then Elizabeth would congratulate him, and that would be even more priceless.
Awwwwww. McKay so has my issues, and I don't even need to comment on how out of character that probably is, but I still perceive McKay as having low self-esteem and seeking approval from Weir like WHOA. Okay, yes, I know, I know, I gave him all my issues! I'm sorry! Er.
This? Has absolutely got to stop. Rodney McKay doesn't fall in love. Not even Major Carter--Colonel Carter now, he thinks with a shiver--made him feel like this. She made him feel small and insignificant, which was not a feeling he was used to. Elizabeth -- never Dr. Weir, not since the day they met -- makes him feel even smarter and sexier than he actually is. It takes a lot to make McKay feel even better about himself than usual, but Elizabeth can manage it. Usually, he wants to prove that he's as good as he says he is (which he is, of course, but people don't always realize it). With Elizabeth, well, he feels like he has to prove he's as good as she thinks he is.
Awww. That line makes me go guh. And here we're tight in McKay's point of view and I'm struggling to make sure that he's coming off as cocky and arrogant as he ought to be, because even inside his own head, this is how he thinks. Also, note the first name kink.
Maybe if he's figured out how to get home, really figured it out this time, she'll more than smile. Maybe she'll be so excited that she'll drop her formal smile and actually... well, he doesn't think about that. Which is funny, because he's never felt qualms about fantasizing about, well, anyone. About the wonderful, nasty things Sam would say in bed, or about how good Major Sheppard would feel inside him. But Elizabeth is off-limits, and for more reasons than one. It just makes him feel queasy to think of.
Again with McKay having my issues! And with my belief that his love for Elizabeth is the Purest Truest Love in the whole damn 'verse. Oooh, also note how early on, I was a believer in the McShep love! I know it's hard to believe now, but then I did buy it, in an extremely one-sided, hero-worshippy way.
He almost walks into a wall, which is embarrassing and unusual. He knows his way around Atlantis almost as well as he used to know his way around his own house. But he was absorbed in thought. The crystal is still okay, though, and that makes him smile.
He's still smiling when he reaches observation area zeta, so he is still smiling when he sees Elizabeth grab Major Sheppard's hand, still smiling when she laughs at something he says about radiation suits, still smiling when he takes both her hands in his and kisses her smiling lips.
Ahahahaha! And we see my real reason for McKay's bounciness. I wanted to CRUSH HIS SOUL omg. I think the Shep/Weir here is cute, actually. And I still hold that it's permitted for Weir to have a thing for Sheppard so long as it serves to break McKay.
The crystal, the only crystal they found, the crystal that was their only sure ticket home, is in shards on the floor.
Can I please point out here how much I miss the trying to find a way home arc of S1? *woe*
II.
"Explain this to me again?" says Weir.
"We were ambushed," says Ford, breathless, close to tears.
"I got that from the severe lack of Major Sheppard and Teyla returning from the planet. Why were you ambushed? Were you on guard?"
Who does she think she is, Cordelia Chase? The voice here is wacky and more my own than Weir's.
"Yes, Doctor. I was keeping guard while Dr. McKay looked at the ruined building. He said he thought there might be useful technology."
"There wasn't," mumbles Rodney.
"Wait your turn," she says trying to be kind. She is very angry. "Lieutenant, explain to me how you managed to be ambushed with Major Sheppard and yourself watching the perimeter."
Lookit how Elizabeth always has to be nice to Rodney, even when she's angry about something entirely unrelated!
"With respect, Dr. Weir, I..."
"You will explain this to me!" she says, raising her eyebrows and praying that she is conveying with every breath how absolutely livid she is.
"Major Sheppard wasn't keeping careful watch," says Ford, with such utter resignation that Weir knows he's not trying to shift the blame off himself. If Ford could take the fall for something John Sheppard did wrong, he would, no questions asked, regardless of what it would mean for his career or, for that matter, his life.
I think I still quite like that. I'm a die-hard believer in Ford's love for Sheppard. And so of course, Weir would be too.
"Why not?"
"He couldn't keep his goddamn hands to himself," says Rodney, finally unable to hold it in any longer. "He and Teyla were practically on third base when the bastards got them."
Rodney is angry at them for getting captured and because Sheppard loves someone other than him. (What!? I told you I used to sort of ship McShep waywayway back in the day.)
Ford nods mutely.
Weir takes a deep breath, trying not to think about how difficult it will be to put together another front line team, or how much they'll suffer from not having Major Sheppard around.
A small nod to the fact that by getting Teyla and Shep kidnapped I just introduced major complications to life on 'Lantis. Oh well. The point is the ANGST.
She tries not to notice the look on Rodney's face, and they both avoid looking at Ford. He wears the face of a condemned man. Weir considers continuing the briefing, but there is really very little point. A rescue mission has already been launched; if the Major and his little friend -- she tries not to be too harsh, but the look on Ford's face is making it difficult -- are alive, they will be brought home.
Early in S1, I think Teyla really might be just "the Major's little friend" to the rest of the team. Obviously Ford is heartbroken, and it's not just that Sheppard was making out with someone-not-him, but that he was being so frelling *stupid* about it.
She just wishes she knew what she could possibly say to them that would adequately convey her anger. Although when she dismisses Ford and Rodney, their determined stoicism gives her some pretty sturdy motivation. She prays that Major Sheppard will come home safely so that he can offer an extremely contrite apology to his entire team in person. She considers requiring him to get down on his knees, imagines him pleading for mercy.
But none of that, of course, could heal their broken hearts.
Aww. Okay, a couple of notes about this vignette: First, I thought that Teyla/Sheppard was obviously going to be canon (still think so) and so didn't feel too badly about inserting it without any backstory. I kind of felt like the offworld making-out had been happening for awhile and Weir either didn't know about it or wasn't able to make it stop.
I still totally buy that Sheppard would be being stupid and making out when he should have been guarding the perimeter.
McKay's and Ford's broken hearts really are more complex than Boy-They-Like-Making-Out-With-Someone-Else. Really. I think they were okay with it up to a point but now that it's caused serious disruption they step back and go, "Dude, Sheppard, you are an IDIOT."
If I rewrote this, Sheppard would be less of an idiot. Which brings us to...
III.
"Yes, but were they using tongue?"
"Way too much," said the other scientist. "It was really... obvious."
"Who?" asked Sheppard, idly curious. Not a day went by without someone using tongue, but sometimes the couples weren't entirely unexpected, and he felt all the vindication of the most blatant mensch.
I am in love with the idea of 'Lantis as one big high school dance. I know I'm not alone.
"Dr. McKay," said the first scientist, her blonde bob swirling as she shook her head in dismay.
"And his boyfriend," said the other, hands stuffed into the pocket of his labcoat.
"McKay has a boyfriend?" said Sheppard, managing not to sound too surprised.
"Either that, or he's been sticking his tongue down random guys' throats. And trust me, this is not the kind of tongue you use on just a casual acquaintance." The woman again, looking vaguely repulsed.
Repulsed because of the PDAs, not because of the gay. One of the things I was playing with here was the consequences of sexual behavior as opposed to the sexual behavior itself, which was why McKay's boyfriend never gets a name here. This is also the only vignette with textual gay, I suppose... I really liked the idea of bi!McKay because ofsage_theory's characterization, though later I fell more in love with the idea of Weirsexual!McKay....
"He's been making out with --"
"It's just one of the techs," explained the male scientist, clearly bored of the whole thing. "Now, if it were Dr. Beckett, like we thought at first, then I'd have five Canadian dollars from Dr. Sloane."
Nod to the McBeck -- and yes, I really love cheesy highschool crap like betting on who's hooking up with whom. YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT TOO. :p
"Which would be useless unless we ever get home," said Sheppard, absently.
I REALLY miss this arc, okay?
"It's the principle of the thing."
...
"It's the principle of the thing."
Wow, Ari. Most original segue EVER.
"Which is?"
"I don't feel comfortable serving with a homosexual man on my team. That's why Don't Ask, Don't Tell was instituted in the first place, and that's why I'm respectfully asking that Dr. McKay be removed from my team."
Ah, and there we have it. The crux of the matter. I tried to phrase this absolutely as respectfully as possible because, well, Sheppard as right homophobic bastard was obviously already going to be an unpopular interpretation of his character. I feel slightly uncomfortable with it, more now than I did when I wrote this, but I'm standing by it as one possibility. Especially since, well, he's talking about *his* comfort level.
"And who would take his place?" asked Weir crisply.
"I don't know. Someone. Preferably someone straight. Or maybe a lesbian." His eyes glazed over for a second. "Are there any lesbians on Atlantis?"
Cuz guys like lesbians. And it's funny. Someone tell me it's still funny, right?
"I haven't the faintest idea," said Weir, "about anyone's sexuality except my own. And, apparently, McKay's. I'd advise you to adopt the same policy."
Oh, I so love Weir here. Also, you so blinked, didn't you? Weir is gay! She doesn't actually answer Sheppard's question. She knows there's one dyke on 'Lantis and it is SHEEEE! And if she were still on Earth, she'd totally do me. But I really do love the no-nonsense slightly snarky response to Sheppard's request.
"I haven't been told to mind my own business since I was in first grade."
"Maybe your teachers just gave up."
Sheppard turned to go, but when he got to the door, he called over his shoulder, "I'm still not serving with him, doctor!"
"Understood," said Weir with a sigh.
Okay. So obviously what I was trying to convey here was not so much Sheppard's homophobia as just... one more complication when things get sexual. And I do still feel Sheppard was the right person for the role. And he didn't, like, beat McKay up or anything.
IV.
Ford ran a finger along Teyla's skin, enjoying the depression his thumb made on her forearm, the subtly different shades of brown and white that he could evoke. "I like this," she said, her voice soft, surprised. It wasn't the first time he'd touched her, but maybe it was the first time she'd noticed. This was a woman he could bring home to his mother and to his grandmother, a woman they'd approve of.
I confess I wrote Ford/Teyla only because I found it incredibly pretty. Still do.
"Hey," he'd say. "She's even black." Because even though they pretended not to care about that, they really did. Then they'd have a church wedding, since that would make his grandmother happy, and....
Teyla's heart was beating faster. He could feel her pulse through the thin shirt she wore, and he smiled as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. They were silent; they usually were. He wanted to say something romantic, or something funny, but talking with Teyla seemed superfluous. Like everything that needed to be said was already right there between them, spicy like Thanksgiving dinners back home.
If I thought Teyla/Ford would be a quiet and stoic pairing, I should have waited for Ronan to show up! I was trying to evoke a different kind of romance here than the McWeir in the first section, and since this is the only actual love scene in the piece, I was going for broke. I still like it.
He didn't even worry that Major Sheppard would yell at him for taking his girl, not anymore, not since... well, not since.
Don't you wish you knew? I do. I literally cannot remember what I was thinking had happened, except I knew that Ford/Teyla would only happen after one or both of them had been jilted by Sheppard. Because some of my favorite pairings have an invisible third party in them, and this is totally one of them. Note also how I assumed Sheppard/Teyla would be canon...
So he was surprised the morning that Teyla wasn't in his bed. He tried to find Dr. Weir, but he ran into Sheppard first.
"She's gone over to the mainland," he said. "Said something about Holling wanting her back there."
"But she said..."
"Yes, she did, didn't she?" Sheppard didn't sound angry, but sometimes it was hard to tell.
Ford doesn't understand Sheppard because I don't either. And note the incredibly lame way I got Teyla out of the scene here. And yeah, I think what must've happened was that Sheppard and Teyla had been together but then had a falling-out. This is unconnected to the Sheppard/Teyla earlier in this fic.
"She didn't say anything to me."
Sheppard didn't say a word. Ford wondered what he did wrong, whether he was supposed to say something, make it official, or if Teyla thought she was being used or if she'd even gone of her own volition or not.
He just knew that she was gone.
Shit happens.
V.
Beckett stares at the genetic scans. They run these scans monthly, or what amounts to monthly, so he knows them pretty well. He knows when there's something abnormal.
There's definitely something abnormal. He's even going to go out on a limb and say it's something bad. That's usually a safe guess.
Ari: Who hasn't made an appearance in this fic yet?
Ari's brain: BECKETT.
Ari: Okay then!
I do love the pattern recognition here. Beckett is my WOOBIE. I like the voice, too. He's worried about everything, which makes him fun to write.
"What's that, Carson?" Rodney.
"Latest scans. Looks like some sort of abnormal mutation. Looks like it's the same in everyone, too. And it's spreading. Look. Last month, just one or two. This month...."
He shows Rodney the data. Rodney stares at it, rearranges a chart or two, then lets out an excited gasp. "Look! It's sexually transmitted."
"How can you see that just from these charts?"
"Well, look... here's Mary's, and then she slept with Dirk, and Dirk must've done Ai, see, that's how it got over to this section of Atlantis. Do you read me?"
"How do you know all that about everyone?"
Rodney shrugs. "Common knowledge? Excessive interest in gossip? Unnaturally profound insight into the human animal?"
SO FUN TO WRITE. I was aiming for various ethnic sounding names, and um, wow, I love McKay's brain.
"And more importantly, what on Earth are we going to do about it?"
"Maybe it's harmless," says Rodney, his hands twisting nervously.
Ha!
It's at that very moment that the first victim, Britt Gordon, formerly of Tallahassee, Florida, keels over dead.
I knew it wasn't harmless! *beams* I guess that's the theme of the whole fic. You make decisions (you kiss Shep on the balcony, you make out when you should be guarding the perimeter, you enter into relationships, you have sex) and you think these actions are harmless, but they're not.
Making the last consequence an external one (an STD) as opposed to internal (unrequited love, requited love, homophobia, the dissolution of a relationship) was because I was running out of things that could go wrong. I wanted a broad range of consequences, though...
VI.
Urgent
To: All Atlantis residents
RE: Policy VI
Effective immediately, all fraternization between Atlantis residents, both Tau'ri and Athosians, is prohibited. For the purposes of this policy, fraternization shall be defined as any romantic, intimate, or sexual contact between two or more people, regardless of military status, gender, or any other factors. All residents of this city are to abide by this decision. This policy is absolutely not open to debate. Questions or concerns may be addressed to me and to me alone.
-Dr. E. Weir
This last paragraph you don't really need to read, and I feel sort of odd about having it in there. There's nothing you can't guess from the fic's title and summary, but I still like having it explicitly stated. It also raises a huge question in my mind about point of view in the rest of the fic, which I don't think I really thought about seriously when writing it.
The idea was that Weir, being paranoid and insomniac, one night sat up late thinking of all the horrible things that could happen if there was sex on 'Lantis and then issued this policy. But then she's imagining several entanglements -- including her own with Sheppard! -- which implies that she is feeling feelings and knows that other people on 'Lantis are too. And about McKay's bisexuality, and... and the fact that I dip into several other non-Weir points of view really makes this far more complicated than it really is. I think a more accurate interpretation would be that Weir thought the very broad outlines of the scenarios, and I thought the rest of them.
To end at the beginning, I started writing this fic because I wanted the first section, with McKay walking in on Weir and Sheppard kissing, and the rest just... happened. When, according to the original post, I should have been writing a paper about Faust.
And Zelenka doesn't show up because he hadn't been introduced yet. HEY! Do you think the random tech McKay's dating in section III is actually Zelenka? Wouldn't that be awesome?
mari4212 requested commentary on Five Very Good Reasons Why Elizabeth Weir Instituted Policy VI. [commentary track clearly should be read after the fic in question, and contains spoilers through "Runner" more or less -- just basic premise of S2 stuff.]
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Pairing: All of the above? Mostly het, some slash, and heck, even some blink-and-you-miss-it femslash
Rating: PG-13?
Spoilers: Vaguely for "Home"
Summary: Five things that never happened, and the one that happened instead.
I love the five things format far too much, because it gives me the excuse to write five short fics instead of one long one. This is really an exploration of all the reasons why sex on 'Lantis is a bad idea, and it was written at a time when I still thought it was (before I thought, you know, it would be a good idea for McKay to have lots of sex with Weir... But anyhow!)
Five Very Good Reasons Why Elizabeth Weir Instituted Policy VI
I.
McKay hops from one foot to the other. He cannot believe what he's just discovered. These crystals... the energy storage potential! He literally holds in his hands the way home. But more than that. If he can find more of these crystals--no, not him, if he can get Elizabeth to send one of the other teams to find more of these, then there will be enough energy to power Earth for, essentially, ever. He clutches the crystal a little bit tighter, trying not to think about the consequences if he were to crush it. Instead, he thinks about the look Elizabeth will get on her face when he tells her. She will of course immediately grasp just how essential this is, but he'll have to explain it to her anyhow, so that she understands exactly why it works.
See the tiny wee bits of plot that snuck in! Here I'm still trying to work my head around what McKay sees in Weir, since she's not actually a scientist like Carter. I like the idea of Weir as McKay's ideal woman, both instantly grasping what he's trying to tell her (and that intuitive understanding is one of the reasons I love them so much together) but also listening to what he has to say. I'm going for crazy puppyish love for a reason here. (Because I want to BREAK HIS HEART omg.)
He peeks into her office without knocking, but she's not there, which would strike him as strange if he weren't trying not to run. Which he shouldn't do, because then he might break the precious crystal. As he peers down another corridor, he imagines the way Elizabeth's face lights up when he tells her about exciting scientific discoveries. He'd rather have one of Elizabeth's smiles than a Nobel Prize.
And that, my friends, is when I knew I'd gone over the edge.
Well, no. That's not true. He'd rather have the Nobel Prize, but only because then Elizabeth would congratulate him, and that would be even more priceless.
Awwwwww. McKay so has my issues, and I don't even need to comment on how out of character that probably is, but I still perceive McKay as having low self-esteem and seeking approval from Weir like WHOA. Okay, yes, I know, I know, I gave him all my issues! I'm sorry! Er.
This? Has absolutely got to stop. Rodney McKay doesn't fall in love. Not even Major Carter--Colonel Carter now, he thinks with a shiver--made him feel like this. She made him feel small and insignificant, which was not a feeling he was used to. Elizabeth -- never Dr. Weir, not since the day they met -- makes him feel even smarter and sexier than he actually is. It takes a lot to make McKay feel even better about himself than usual, but Elizabeth can manage it. Usually, he wants to prove that he's as good as he says he is (which he is, of course, but people don't always realize it). With Elizabeth, well, he feels like he has to prove he's as good as she thinks he is.
Awww. That line makes me go guh. And here we're tight in McKay's point of view and I'm struggling to make sure that he's coming off as cocky and arrogant as he ought to be, because even inside his own head, this is how he thinks. Also, note the first name kink.
Maybe if he's figured out how to get home, really figured it out this time, she'll more than smile. Maybe she'll be so excited that she'll drop her formal smile and actually... well, he doesn't think about that. Which is funny, because he's never felt qualms about fantasizing about, well, anyone. About the wonderful, nasty things Sam would say in bed, or about how good Major Sheppard would feel inside him. But Elizabeth is off-limits, and for more reasons than one. It just makes him feel queasy to think of.
Again with McKay having my issues! And with my belief that his love for Elizabeth is the Purest Truest Love in the whole damn 'verse. Oooh, also note how early on, I was a believer in the McShep love! I know it's hard to believe now, but then I did buy it, in an extremely one-sided, hero-worshippy way.
He almost walks into a wall, which is embarrassing and unusual. He knows his way around Atlantis almost as well as he used to know his way around his own house. But he was absorbed in thought. The crystal is still okay, though, and that makes him smile.
He's still smiling when he reaches observation area zeta, so he is still smiling when he sees Elizabeth grab Major Sheppard's hand, still smiling when she laughs at something he says about radiation suits, still smiling when he takes both her hands in his and kisses her smiling lips.
Ahahahaha! And we see my real reason for McKay's bounciness. I wanted to CRUSH HIS SOUL omg. I think the Shep/Weir here is cute, actually. And I still hold that it's permitted for Weir to have a thing for Sheppard so long as it serves to break McKay.
The crystal, the only crystal they found, the crystal that was their only sure ticket home, is in shards on the floor.
Can I please point out here how much I miss the trying to find a way home arc of S1? *woe*
II.
"Explain this to me again?" says Weir.
"We were ambushed," says Ford, breathless, close to tears.
"I got that from the severe lack of Major Sheppard and Teyla returning from the planet. Why were you ambushed? Were you on guard?"
Who does she think she is, Cordelia Chase? The voice here is wacky and more my own than Weir's.
"Yes, Doctor. I was keeping guard while Dr. McKay looked at the ruined building. He said he thought there might be useful technology."
"There wasn't," mumbles Rodney.
"Wait your turn," she says trying to be kind. She is very angry. "Lieutenant, explain to me how you managed to be ambushed with Major Sheppard and yourself watching the perimeter."
Lookit how Elizabeth always has to be nice to Rodney, even when she's angry about something entirely unrelated!
"With respect, Dr. Weir, I..."
"You will explain this to me!" she says, raising her eyebrows and praying that she is conveying with every breath how absolutely livid she is.
"Major Sheppard wasn't keeping careful watch," says Ford, with such utter resignation that Weir knows he's not trying to shift the blame off himself. If Ford could take the fall for something John Sheppard did wrong, he would, no questions asked, regardless of what it would mean for his career or, for that matter, his life.
I think I still quite like that. I'm a die-hard believer in Ford's love for Sheppard. And so of course, Weir would be too.
"Why not?"
"He couldn't keep his goddamn hands to himself," says Rodney, finally unable to hold it in any longer. "He and Teyla were practically on third base when the bastards got them."
Rodney is angry at them for getting captured and because Sheppard loves someone other than him. (What!? I told you I used to sort of ship McShep waywayway back in the day.)
Ford nods mutely.
Weir takes a deep breath, trying not to think about how difficult it will be to put together another front line team, or how much they'll suffer from not having Major Sheppard around.
A small nod to the fact that by getting Teyla and Shep kidnapped I just introduced major complications to life on 'Lantis. Oh well. The point is the ANGST.
She tries not to notice the look on Rodney's face, and they both avoid looking at Ford. He wears the face of a condemned man. Weir considers continuing the briefing, but there is really very little point. A rescue mission has already been launched; if the Major and his little friend -- she tries not to be too harsh, but the look on Ford's face is making it difficult -- are alive, they will be brought home.
Early in S1, I think Teyla really might be just "the Major's little friend" to the rest of the team. Obviously Ford is heartbroken, and it's not just that Sheppard was making out with someone-not-him, but that he was being so frelling *stupid* about it.
She just wishes she knew what she could possibly say to them that would adequately convey her anger. Although when she dismisses Ford and Rodney, their determined stoicism gives her some pretty sturdy motivation. She prays that Major Sheppard will come home safely so that he can offer an extremely contrite apology to his entire team in person. She considers requiring him to get down on his knees, imagines him pleading for mercy.
But none of that, of course, could heal their broken hearts.
Aww. Okay, a couple of notes about this vignette: First, I thought that Teyla/Sheppard was obviously going to be canon (still think so) and so didn't feel too badly about inserting it without any backstory. I kind of felt like the offworld making-out had been happening for awhile and Weir either didn't know about it or wasn't able to make it stop.
I still totally buy that Sheppard would be being stupid and making out when he should have been guarding the perimeter.
McKay's and Ford's broken hearts really are more complex than Boy-They-Like-Making-Out-With-Someone-Else. Really. I think they were okay with it up to a point but now that it's caused serious disruption they step back and go, "Dude, Sheppard, you are an IDIOT."
If I rewrote this, Sheppard would be less of an idiot. Which brings us to...
III.
"Yes, but were they using tongue?"
"Way too much," said the other scientist. "It was really... obvious."
"Who?" asked Sheppard, idly curious. Not a day went by without someone using tongue, but sometimes the couples weren't entirely unexpected, and he felt all the vindication of the most blatant mensch.
I am in love with the idea of 'Lantis as one big high school dance. I know I'm not alone.
"Dr. McKay," said the first scientist, her blonde bob swirling as she shook her head in dismay.
"And his boyfriend," said the other, hands stuffed into the pocket of his labcoat.
"McKay has a boyfriend?" said Sheppard, managing not to sound too surprised.
"Either that, or he's been sticking his tongue down random guys' throats. And trust me, this is not the kind of tongue you use on just a casual acquaintance." The woman again, looking vaguely repulsed.
Repulsed because of the PDAs, not because of the gay. One of the things I was playing with here was the consequences of sexual behavior as opposed to the sexual behavior itself, which was why McKay's boyfriend never gets a name here. This is also the only vignette with textual gay, I suppose... I really liked the idea of bi!McKay because of
sage_theory's characterization, though later I fell more in love with the idea of Weirsexual!McKay...."He's been making out with --"
"It's just one of the techs," explained the male scientist, clearly bored of the whole thing. "Now, if it were Dr. Beckett, like we thought at first, then I'd have five Canadian dollars from Dr. Sloane."
Nod to the McBeck -- and yes, I really love cheesy highschool crap like betting on who's hooking up with whom. YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT TOO. :p
"Which would be useless unless we ever get home," said Sheppard, absently.
I REALLY miss this arc, okay?
"It's the principle of the thing."
...
"It's the principle of the thing."
Wow, Ari. Most original segue EVER.
"Which is?"
"I don't feel comfortable serving with a homosexual man on my team. That's why Don't Ask, Don't Tell was instituted in the first place, and that's why I'm respectfully asking that Dr. McKay be removed from my team."
Ah, and there we have it. The crux of the matter. I tried to phrase this absolutely as respectfully as possible because, well, Sheppard as right homophobic bastard was obviously already going to be an unpopular interpretation of his character. I feel slightly uncomfortable with it, more now than I did when I wrote this, but I'm standing by it as one possibility. Especially since, well, he's talking about *his* comfort level.
"And who would take his place?" asked Weir crisply.
"I don't know. Someone. Preferably someone straight. Or maybe a lesbian." His eyes glazed over for a second. "Are there any lesbians on Atlantis?"
Cuz guys like lesbians. And it's funny. Someone tell me it's still funny, right?
"I haven't the faintest idea," said Weir, "about anyone's sexuality except my own. And, apparently, McKay's. I'd advise you to adopt the same policy."
Oh, I so love Weir here. Also, you so blinked, didn't you? Weir is gay! She doesn't actually answer Sheppard's question. She knows there's one dyke on 'Lantis and it is SHEEEE! And if she were still on Earth, she'd totally do me. But I really do love the no-nonsense slightly snarky response to Sheppard's request.
"I haven't been told to mind my own business since I was in first grade."
"Maybe your teachers just gave up."
Sheppard turned to go, but when he got to the door, he called over his shoulder, "I'm still not serving with him, doctor!"
"Understood," said Weir with a sigh.
Okay. So obviously what I was trying to convey here was not so much Sheppard's homophobia as just... one more complication when things get sexual. And I do still feel Sheppard was the right person for the role. And he didn't, like, beat McKay up or anything.
IV.
Ford ran a finger along Teyla's skin, enjoying the depression his thumb made on her forearm, the subtly different shades of brown and white that he could evoke. "I like this," she said, her voice soft, surprised. It wasn't the first time he'd touched her, but maybe it was the first time she'd noticed. This was a woman he could bring home to his mother and to his grandmother, a woman they'd approve of.
I confess I wrote Ford/Teyla only because I found it incredibly pretty. Still do.
"Hey," he'd say. "She's even black." Because even though they pretended not to care about that, they really did. Then they'd have a church wedding, since that would make his grandmother happy, and....
Teyla's heart was beating faster. He could feel her pulse through the thin shirt she wore, and he smiled as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. They were silent; they usually were. He wanted to say something romantic, or something funny, but talking with Teyla seemed superfluous. Like everything that needed to be said was already right there between them, spicy like Thanksgiving dinners back home.
If I thought Teyla/Ford would be a quiet and stoic pairing, I should have waited for Ronan to show up! I was trying to evoke a different kind of romance here than the McWeir in the first section, and since this is the only actual love scene in the piece, I was going for broke. I still like it.
He didn't even worry that Major Sheppard would yell at him for taking his girl, not anymore, not since... well, not since.
Don't you wish you knew? I do. I literally cannot remember what I was thinking had happened, except I knew that Ford/Teyla would only happen after one or both of them had been jilted by Sheppard. Because some of my favorite pairings have an invisible third party in them, and this is totally one of them. Note also how I assumed Sheppard/Teyla would be canon...
So he was surprised the morning that Teyla wasn't in his bed. He tried to find Dr. Weir, but he ran into Sheppard first.
"She's gone over to the mainland," he said. "Said something about Holling wanting her back there."
"But she said..."
"Yes, she did, didn't she?" Sheppard didn't sound angry, but sometimes it was hard to tell.
Ford doesn't understand Sheppard because I don't either. And note the incredibly lame way I got Teyla out of the scene here. And yeah, I think what must've happened was that Sheppard and Teyla had been together but then had a falling-out. This is unconnected to the Sheppard/Teyla earlier in this fic.
"She didn't say anything to me."
Sheppard didn't say a word. Ford wondered what he did wrong, whether he was supposed to say something, make it official, or if Teyla thought she was being used or if she'd even gone of her own volition or not.
He just knew that she was gone.
Shit happens.
V.
Beckett stares at the genetic scans. They run these scans monthly, or what amounts to monthly, so he knows them pretty well. He knows when there's something abnormal.
There's definitely something abnormal. He's even going to go out on a limb and say it's something bad. That's usually a safe guess.
Ari: Who hasn't made an appearance in this fic yet?
Ari's brain: BECKETT.
Ari: Okay then!
I do love the pattern recognition here. Beckett is my WOOBIE. I like the voice, too. He's worried about everything, which makes him fun to write.
"What's that, Carson?" Rodney.
"Latest scans. Looks like some sort of abnormal mutation. Looks like it's the same in everyone, too. And it's spreading. Look. Last month, just one or two. This month...."
He shows Rodney the data. Rodney stares at it, rearranges a chart or two, then lets out an excited gasp. "Look! It's sexually transmitted."
"How can you see that just from these charts?"
"Well, look... here's Mary's, and then she slept with Dirk, and Dirk must've done Ai, see, that's how it got over to this section of Atlantis. Do you read me?"
"How do you know all that about everyone?"
Rodney shrugs. "Common knowledge? Excessive interest in gossip? Unnaturally profound insight into the human animal?"
SO FUN TO WRITE. I was aiming for various ethnic sounding names, and um, wow, I love McKay's brain.
"And more importantly, what on Earth are we going to do about it?"
"Maybe it's harmless," says Rodney, his hands twisting nervously.
Ha!
It's at that very moment that the first victim, Britt Gordon, formerly of Tallahassee, Florida, keels over dead.
I knew it wasn't harmless! *beams* I guess that's the theme of the whole fic. You make decisions (you kiss Shep on the balcony, you make out when you should be guarding the perimeter, you enter into relationships, you have sex) and you think these actions are harmless, but they're not.
Making the last consequence an external one (an STD) as opposed to internal (unrequited love, requited love, homophobia, the dissolution of a relationship) was because I was running out of things that could go wrong. I wanted a broad range of consequences, though...
VI.
Urgent
To: All Atlantis residents
RE: Policy VI
Effective immediately, all fraternization between Atlantis residents, both Tau'ri and Athosians, is prohibited. For the purposes of this policy, fraternization shall be defined as any romantic, intimate, or sexual contact between two or more people, regardless of military status, gender, or any other factors. All residents of this city are to abide by this decision. This policy is absolutely not open to debate. Questions or concerns may be addressed to me and to me alone.
-Dr. E. Weir
This last paragraph you don't really need to read, and I feel sort of odd about having it in there. There's nothing you can't guess from the fic's title and summary, but I still like having it explicitly stated. It also raises a huge question in my mind about point of view in the rest of the fic, which I don't think I really thought about seriously when writing it.
The idea was that Weir, being paranoid and insomniac, one night sat up late thinking of all the horrible things that could happen if there was sex on 'Lantis and then issued this policy. But then she's imagining several entanglements -- including her own with Sheppard! -- which implies that she is feeling feelings and knows that other people on 'Lantis are too. And about McKay's bisexuality, and... and the fact that I dip into several other non-Weir points of view really makes this far more complicated than it really is. I think a more accurate interpretation would be that Weir thought the very broad outlines of the scenarios, and I thought the rest of them.
To end at the beginning, I started writing this fic because I wanted the first section, with McKay walking in on Weir and Sheppard kissing, and the rest just... happened. When, according to the original post, I should have been writing a paper about Faust.
And Zelenka doesn't show up because he hadn't been introduced yet. HEY! Do you think the random tech McKay's dating in section III is actually Zelenka? Wouldn't that be awesome?