FIC: An Ancient Dilemma 2/3 (BtVS/SGA)

[mhalachai]

An Ancient Dilemma part 2/3
A Stargate Atlantis/Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover fanfic

Summary: It's genetics that lets John Sheppard control the Ancient technology, but magic is what made Faith a Slayer. Right?
Rating: PG13 for Faith's swearing.
Disclaimer: Sony and MGM own all things Stargate Atlantis. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all things BtVS. I'm only borrowing and will return them at the end of the fic.
Setting: Takes place one month after Something Worthwhile. After Chosen for BtVS, before Michael in Stargate Atlantis. No episodic spoilers for SGA.
Word count:: 2,546.

Part One ~~ Part Two ~~ Part Three

~*~

Beep. Beep.

Faith cracked open one eyelid, wondering who left their damned cell phone on. The source of the noise seemed to be a heart monitor, hooked up to the sleeping man in the bed next to hers. Faith cracked a smile.

Shepp's going to love it when I tell him we ended up sleeping together. But he deserved it, with his wisecracking and flirting with every alien they'd met over the last few weeks. Honestly, Faith didn't know how Teyla put up with him. Oh, right. There was "nothing going on" between them, McKay had said, complete with eye-rolls and air quotes.

Speaking of which, rolling her head to the side, Faith spotted McKay on the other side of the room, sitting up in his hospital bed, playing on his computer. He looked like hell, with some scarring from the explosion still visible on his face, but at least he could sit up under his own power. Bastard.

The ache in Faith's back felt as if someone had staked her. For a fraction of a second, she felt a little sorry for all the vampires she'd staked over the years. Then she realized what she'd just thought, and shook her head. What kind of drugs was she on?

"Are you in pain?"

Faith turned her head as Teyla sat in a chair beside the bed. She hadn't seen the Athosian at first. "No. Yes. Beats me."

"Dr. Beckett was worried about how fast your body is metabolizing the painkillers," Teyla said, her tongue tripping lightly over the words.

"It's no big. I'll live." Faith took a shallow breath. "What got me?"

"A piece of rock," Teyla said, picking up a small dish that contained a gumball-sized pebble and holding it out to Faith. "It tore through the side of your vest."

"Shit," Faith breathed. She picked up the rock and looked it over. "Can I keep this?"

Teyla stared, rather incredulous. "I am sure Dr. Beckett will have no problem with that."

"Cool." Faith pointed at the Colonel. "How's Shepp?"

"He will be fine. He went into surgery after you, so he will be unconscious longer."

"Huh." Faith stretched experimentally. The pain was persistently dull. She could live with it. She'd had worse.

Teyla looked down at her hands for a moment. "I owe you an apology."

"What for?"

"For leaving you in the ship, when the medical team left," Teyla said. "I should have known you were injured."

"How? And really, it's nothing. Forget it." Faith shifted around, wishing like hell that Teyla would stop looking at her like that.

"It is my responsibility to keep this team together when Colonel Sheppard is incapacitated. I cannot 'forget' it."

"Yes, you can." Faith gritted her teeth and made herself sit up. "Look, really, it's okay. This kind of shit happens to me all the time."

Teyla's eyes grew wide. "What did you do before you came to Atlantis?"

They must have had her on some spectacular drugs, because Faith wanted to tell Teyla everything. "I'll make you a deal. You spring me from this place, and I'll explain."

Teyla shook her head. "Dr. Beckett has not given you clearance to leave."

Faith waved her hand. "What Dr. Scotch don't know won't hurt him." She swung her legs off the edge of the bed. "Think the cafeteria has any Jell-O?"

"You should wait for Dr. Beckett."

"Not happening." Faith put her feet on the floor.

Teyla touched Faith's shoulder. "Wait."

Faith gave her a look. "Don't tell me you like it here."

Teyla crossed the room and returned with a wheelchair. "We will take this."

"Now you're talking." Faith pulled a blanket off the bed, and had to let Teyla drape it over her shoulders. The transfer to the chair left her shaking, but Teyla pretended not to notice. "Who's driving?"

Teyla hooked Faith's IV bag onto the wheelchair pole before she began pushing. "I will."

McKay looked up from his computer as they passed. "Hey, how come she gets to leave?" he demanded.

"I look cuter in a wheelchair than you do," Faith said.

"Rodney, will you tell Dr. Beckett that we are in the commissary?" Teyla asked.

"Fine, whatever, just leave me here," McKay grumbled, going back to his screen.

"Sweet guy," Faith said as they rolled out the doors.

"He is not pleased with his convalescence," Teyla told her. "He never is."

Faith snorted. "Looks like Science Boy and me finally have something in common." The chair stopped suddenly, as Teyla paused to scan the corridor before she hurried on. "Are we hiding?"

"Dr. Beckett does not like it when his patients vanish," Teyla said.

"You guys do this often? Escape and all that."

"Occasionally. Colonel Sheppard in particular is known for leaving before he is fully healed."

"And you give him a hand," Faith finished. "Cool." They rolled down a couple more corridors, until the transporter was in sight. "How's everyone else?"

"Ronon is fine," Teyla said. She bumped the wheelchair into the transporter closet and hit the screen. "He wants to know how you can run so fast, however."

Faith shrugged, then wished she hadn't. "I eat a lot of Wheaties."

"And Dr. Weir is furious that no one told her you possess the genes of the Ancestors."

"Hey, that ain't my fault!" Faith protested.

Teyla pulled the wheelchair out of the transporter into the cafeteria. "You can tell me about it in a minute," she said. "Can you stand?"

In response, Faith put her hands on the chair arms and pushed herself into a standing position. Thankfully, she didn't pass out or squeal like a girl or anything embarrassing.

Under her own power, she managed to walk up the few steps to the tables. Teyla made sure she was sitting down and that her IV bag was on the table, before going to the food.

While Faith waited, concentrating on not shaking, a whole bunch of people came over to say hi. It was very different than her first day on Atlantis, over a month ago. Now, she knew almost everyone's name, and everyone wanted to talk, even the scientists.

The story of the screwed-up mission must have gotten around, because everyone congratulated her for saving the day. It was uncomfortable and nerve-wracking, and Faith was a little too happy when Teyla reappeared and shooed everyone away.

'They were out of Jell-O, but they had pudding and fruit," Teyla said, putting the tray down on the table.

"Chocolate?"

"Butterscotch."

"Score." Faith reached for the dessert. "How long do you think we have before the Doc finds us?"

Before Teyla could open her mouth to respond, Ronon slumped down into a chair at the table. He crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at Faith. "What are you?"

Faith narrowed her eyes. "Annoyed."

"Are you one of the Ancestors?"

"Am I a what?" Faith was honestly confused, both as to Ronon's question and at Teyla's shocked expression. "I'm not that old."

"He means, are you an Ancient, as are those who built this city," Teyla explained, glaring daggers at Ronon. "But that is not possible."

"I'm not an alien," Faith said nervously. "I'm just me."

Ronon snorted, grabbing fruit off the tray. "You can fly the ship. You beat off a Wraith in hand-to-hand combat. Even Teyla couldn't have run that far with Sheppard on her back."

"That doesn't mean I'm an Ancient," Faith said. She stirred at her pudding, wishing she had an aspirin the size of the Sunnydale crater. "I'm human. That's it."

"Weir doesn't think that's it." Ronon took a huge bite of apple. "She's bugging Beckett about why you never got tested for the gene."

"Okay, let's back this up," Faith said. "What's this gene you all keep talking about?"

Ronon shrugged his massive shoulders. "There's some gene the Ancestors had, and only a few humans here have it. It lets them power the city."

"I am told that everyone on the expedition was tested before they came to Atlantis," Teyla added. "You were not tested?"

This was starting to sound vaguely familiar. "There were those Army doctors who wanted my blood and all that, but I told them to go to hell, to find another lab rat." She hadn't said it quite like that; there had been more swearing and breaking of expensive things. "They could experiment on someone else."

Teyla and Ronon exchanged looks. "Dr. Weir would be interested in that story."

"So let's go tell her," Faith said.

"Hold on," Ronon said. He plunked the apple core down on the tray. "If it's not a what, it's a why. Did they do something to you back on your planet? Make you faster? Did they send you out here to test you?"

"What?" Faith's exclamation drew the attention of everyone still in the cafeteria. "No!"

Ronon reached for the other fruit on the tray. "Some of the guys on the earth ship said you killed a guy. Does it have to do with that?"

Faith gripped the table so hard that something cracked under her fingers. She had known it was too good to last. Her team sure as hell weren't going to trust her now.

It never occurred to Faith to lie to them.

"Yeah," she finally said. "I did that. But that's not... They weren't experimenting on me or nothing. I'm just like this."

Ronon continued eating, impassive, but Teyla looked as if she had been pole-axed. "You..."

The Athosian stared at Faith just like Buffy had back then, with shock and dismay, and it hurt as much this time as it had years before. "It's a long story," Faith said, pushing her tray away, hoping the pudding in her stomach wasn't going to make a reappearance.

Teyla took in a long breath, but Faith interrupted before she tried to salvage the situation.

"It wasn't... Not like a war thing, or anything like that. I killed a guy, is all," Faith said.

Ronon dropped the fruit peel on the tray. "You had a reason, though."

Things were happening too fast, leaving Faith feel like a trapped animal. She fucking hated this, getting close to people who turned on her when they found out what she'd done. "There wasn't a reason, he hadn't done anything!"

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have killed him if you didn't have a reason," Ronon continued.

"You don't know that."

"What was it? An order?" Ronon set his elbows on the table and leaned closer. How had Faith ever thought this guy was dumb? "We all do things we don't agree with, when we're following orders."

Teyla's head snapped around, totally confused. "Ronon?"

Ronon spared her a glance before turning his gaze on Faith. "I was in the military on my world before I was a Runner. Before I was here." He left it at that, but Faith got what he wasn't saying.

Breathing was a little easier now. Faith propped herself up against the table, because the pain in her back was stabbing hard into her body. She might have a bit of an understanding with Ronon, but Teyla still had that wide-eyed Buffy look on her face. "I turned myself in, you know. Had me a trial and went to prison and all that."

"When'd you get out?" Ronon asked. "Did the military bring you to Atlantis from prison?"

Oh, this just kept getting better. Faith bit her lip to ride out the spasm of pain in her back. "I broke out of jail."

"Why?"

Faith glared at Ronon. "A friend needed me."

"What he need?"

"To save the world!" Faith exclaimed. "You think I'd have busted out if I didn't have a reason?"

"Does Dr. Weir know this?" Teyla asked slowly. The confusion on her face was fading as she processed what Faith and Ronon had said.

"I suppose," Faith said. "I mean, the military wiped my record when they offered me this job. Weir probably knows... she sure glares at me enough."

"She's going to be madder now, with the gene thing," Ronon said with a grin.

"I told you, I didn't know about that!" Faith said. She pressed her hand over her mouth for a moment, as the pain returned. Maybe leaving the infirmary wasn't such a hot idea.

Teyla's hand settled on her shoulder. "We should get you back."

"No, I'm good," Faith said.

Teyla raised an eyebrow. "You are worse than the Colonel."

Ronon snorted. "He's not going to be happy when he hears a girl carried him to the Stargate."

"Is that what Dr. Simpson calls 'the American male ego'?" Teyla asked.

"If ego means whining, then yeah, it does." Faith sat back experimentally. She saw stars the moment her back hit the chair, so she quickly moved forward again. Don't do that again. "So, um, are we good?"

Ronon shrugged again and glanced at Teyla. "I'm fine," he said. Teyla didn't answer.

"Yeah," Faith muttered. "Look, I'm going to go." She stood, mildly surprised when the room began to tilt.

Teyla steadied her before she hit the ground. "Yes, I think we should return to the infirmary," Teyla said.

"Shepp may be awake, can we bug him?" Faith asked hopefully as Teyla gently dumped her into the wheelchair.

"If he is awake." Teyla pushed the wheelchair into the transporter.

"If not, can we bug McKay?"

"If you wish."

Faith didn't think of it until later, but neither Ronon or Teyla had questioned her about her 'saving the world' crack.

~~~

Beckett wasn't exactly happy to see her, but he expressed his anger silently, taking vials of blood from Faith, and injecting a painkiller into her IV.

The rush of the morphine hit her in a rush, and she sank back into the bed with a sigh. "Thanks."

"Thanks," Beckett muttered. "You go gallivanting around in a wheelchair and all she says is thanks." He scribbled something on her chart. "No more running off until I say you can leave!"

Faith closed her eyes and waited until Beckett stormed off to berate Teyla.

"Faith?"

Fuck. Faith opened her eyes. "Dr. Weir?"

The head of the Atlantis expedition was standing at the foot of Faith's bed. She didn't look as pissed off as Ronon implied. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah. Tons."

Weir clasped her hands together. "Dr. Beckett is going to run some tests on your blood--"

"For the gene, yeah," Faith interrupted. "I got that."

"About the gene--"

"I wasn't tested on earth," Faith continued. "I guess they never thought someone like me could be important like that."

She did something she usually avoided: she made eye contact with Weir. The woman stared back, no condemnation in her gaze. "It's a good thing that 'they' were wrong. You saved the lives of your team today."

How many times would Faith have to go through this? "It's nothing."

"You're wrong." Weir's voice was soft, but it still shut Faith up. "You did something amazing today. Don't pretend it was anything less." She nodded. "You rest. We'll talk when you're feeling better."

Faith closed her eyes as Weir turned away. She tried to tell herself the prickling under her eyelids was from the drugs, but she couldn't even lie to herself.

to be continued...