Title Meme Responses

[cinaed]

House

"Dr. Wilson, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Repressed Gayness" (for no_eden)

Chase stared at Wilson.

Wilson stared back and after a long moment said slowly, "House put you up to this. How much did he pay you? Or did he just promise not to call you British anymore?"

Chase has never been into Shakespeare, but he finds himself wondering if "A Comedy of Errors" is anything like the comedy his life has become over the past few weeks. After a conversation with Cameron and Foreman leads them to the conclusion that House and Wilson are together, he finds himself stuck on the idea, his religious background warring with his natural curiosity as to how House and Wilson could actually, well, do that, along with a revival of thoughts he'd thought he repressed to the point of oblivion before he entered seminary. It all comes to a head (and how) when Chase decides to have a chat with Wilson to get his advice, only to find out that he, Cameron, and Foreman might've, er, jumped the gun on House and Wilson actually being together.

*

"God Lives In Kentucky" (for kat_lair)

"You know," Wilson said after a moment, expression so carefully blank that he was obviously withholding laughter, "I never figured God would have an accent. No idea why, but--" He trailed off and shrugged, eyes gleaming with amusement.

"I don't think any of us assumed that God would have an accent like he lives in Kentucky," Foreman agreed, and sighed. "House is going to adore this guy, isn't he?"

"Oh, yes, he's going to have *fun*."

When a millionaire horse-owner from Kentucky collapses during the Preakness and wakes believing himself to be God (along with having a few other odd physical problems), House and his team are cajoled by Cuddy into trying to figure out why a sane, successful millionaire would suddenly snap. Their diagnosis is complicated by the fact that the millionaire fixates on Foreman and persists in trying to bring Foreman back to the faith and Foreman finds himself hard-pressed not to punch the man in the face.

SGA

"The Day Pizza Saved the World" (for lilyayl)

Sometimes John swore that Rodney's family had cross-bred with a bloodhound somewhere down the line, especially at moments like this one, where Rodney suddenly stopped in his tracks, nostrils flaring.

"It couldn't be..." Rodney's eyes narrowed, and then he suddenly turned and half-ran, half-stalked into the nearest bakery, ignoring John's calls of, "Uh, McKay? Where are you-- Forget it."

It is a standard first-contact mission. The Asippians are a friendly people, if technologically-stunted from numerous Wraith attacks over the years. Unfortunately, they had a particular bad harvest this year, and so have nothing to offer the Lanteans. Rodney and the rest of the team are about to leave, when Rodney suddenly smells a familiar scent. Pizza. The Asippians don't call it that, of course, but Rodney refuses to leave until he can sample some of their pizza. That distraction is the reason they're still there when warriors from another world come through the Stargate and attempt to seize many of the Asippian people to use as slaves, the only reason the Lanteans are there to help the Asippians fight back against the warriors and repel the attack.

*

"The Terror of Being" (for lilyayl)

'For twenty years he persisted in that controlled hallucination, but one morning he was suddenly gripped by the tedium and terror of being so many kings who die by the sword and so many suffering lovers who converge, diverge and melodiously expire.' (Borges)

"This isn't right," Rodney all but snarls, and Sylonon blinks at him. "This isn't-- I'm not supposed to just sit here, doing nothing. Atlantis--"

Sylonon's expression softens. "Rodney." His voice is soft, kind, understanding. "You know as well as I do that the Home of the Ancestors has been destroyed for twenty years now. There is no way you can possibly take revenge against the Wraith. The best you can do is live and remember your friends."

Rodney wants to shout at the man, rail about how this isn't living, how just remembering his friends, remembering Elizabeth, Ronon, John, Teyla, Carson, Radek, isn't good enough, but his eyes are suddenly burning and his throat is so tight with misery and grief that he can't speak.

Rodney wakes up, twenty years in the future, a future where Atlantis was destroyed and he was the only survivor. He had a breakdown, went crazy, and has been living in a small village on a planet called Rethra, surviving on the villagers' kindness. Now though, his mind is clear, and he knows what he has to do: take the Wraith down once and for all. Even as he sets to work on figuring out a plan on how to eradicate the Wraith from existence, however, he finds himself plagued by nightmares-- nightmares that aren't his own, nightmares within nightmares where he watches people he's never seen before go through torture, find out their world has been destroyed by Wraith, are murdered and reborn again and again and again, nightmares that he cannot make sense of but which confirm Rodney's growing suspicion that something isn't quite right.

*

"The Ring You Never Had" (for duckduck)

"Hey," a quiet voice whispered into her ear, and Elizabeth automatically smiled as familiar arms wrapped around her waist.

"Hey," she said back, and nodded towards the ocean sparkling before them. "Didn't I tell you it would be beautiful?"

"Yes," Simon said after a moment, and his tone was a jumbled mixture of awe and amusement. "Yes, you did."

In another universe, Simon took up Elizabeth on her offer to go to Atlantis, but only if she agreed to get married. Now Elizabeth and Simon must juggle the dynamics of working together on Atlantis, adjust to married life, and survive together in the Pegasus Galaxy. While the rumor-mill of Atlantis attempts to learn every detail they can of Elizabeth and Simon's relationship, of course.

*

"Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together" (for duckduck)

"So, what, you're my guardian angel now?" Rodney said, thinking to himself how this was definitely one of his odder dreams but feeling weirdly calm.

The flickering figure in front of him snorted, a sharp, half-amused, half-exasperated sound. "Yes, Rodney. There is a Heaven and St. Peter asked me specifically to watch out for you, because you are so much more important than anyone else in the universe. Just as you've always suspected."

"Hey, everyone could have a guardian angel. I didn't say *I* was special," Rodney protested. He paused, frowning. "So, uh, if you're not my guardian angel, then what are you doing here?"

The flickering actually stopped at that, the figure solidifying for a minute so that Rodney could see the ironic curve of Radek's mouth as he said, "You tell me, McKay. I've had a rough week. I died, you know."

When an explosion during repairs on a jumper costs Radek his life, Rodney buries himself in work and shuts himself off from the world, refusing to speak to Heightmeyer or any of his friends. Still, he expects to have nightmares about Radek. He's dreamed about Brendan, Peter, and all the others, after all. What Rodney doesn't realize that the Radek in his dreams is actually the real thing, a botched Ascension by Teer, who has been studying Atlantis ever since she Ascended.

*

"In Between Days" (for duckduck)

There was a brooding silence for a moment, and then Radek offered, "I have a chess set, if you want to play."

Rodney snorted. "Nice try, but John already warned me not to play against you if I wanted to keep the last of my chocolate."

Radek grinned, apparently unrepentant that he'd been planning on taking Rodney for all he was worth. "I was hoping he would want you to share his misery." He paused, and then offered, "I have some movies. Czech, but English subtitles."

Rodney thought about it. The last Czech movie Radek had showed him had been very, very weird, but funny at parts, and it was better than the terrible movies Sheppard was always trying to get him to watch. "Fine."

What do the citizens of Atlantis do on those 'in between days' when nothing disastrous is happening? They all struggle for figure out something to escape the boredom, which leads to some interesting moments, like the in-door football tournament (not the American kind, mind you) that led to Peter Grodin and Radek Zelenka getting black eyes from colliding with each other. Or that eating contest that left everyone getting a bit queasy at the sight of lemon pie and staying away from them (well, except for McKay, who stayed away from the pies already and now just griped about the fact that no one was eating the damn lemon pies and therefore he had to endure them every time he walked into the mess hall).

*

"Sometimes You Lose and Sometimes You Just Don't Win" (for kat_lair)

Rodney thinks it's sort of twisted how he hates the Ancients more than the Wraith right now, but staring at the dull gray walls of Area 51 and hearing only his own breathing, he hates the Ancients with every fiber of his being.

He closes his eyes, tries to pretend that he's back in the Pegasus Galaxy with the city humming softly under his feet and that when he opens his eyes he'll see the graceful architecture of Atlantis.

He is still standing there a few minutes later, keeping his breath slow and even, eyes squeezed shut, when one of his assistants, a girl with large, luminous eyes that remind him of Miko, calls his name softly.

In the subsequent weeks after the Ancients kick them out of Atlantis, everyone finds themselves struggling to readjust to Earth, whether it's McKay at Area 51, Sheppard, Lorne, and Beckett at the SGC, Zelenka at Masaryk University, or any one of the others who have been scattered to the wind in the wake of being expelled from the Pegasus Galaxy. Each one must readjust, reunite with old friends and families, find their place on a world that doesn't know they've been gone for almost three years.

Crossover

"Irregular Gloaming and Soft, Soft Night" (for lilyayl)

"You know, I always hated this story," Rodney said matter-of-factly, his eyes tracking the soaring figure as he began to make his descent. He ignored the fact that his voice was almost falsetto now. "Peter Pan always screamed sociopath to me."

"Shut up, McKay," Sheppard said, but his hand twitched towards his gun. Well, towards where his gun would have been, if he hadn't been turned into a seven-year-old boy and was now clothed in blue-striped pajamas. "And by the way? Even if the villagers claim they have a ZPM, you're not allowed to promise them anything they want until we find out what they want."

"Oh, like I was supposed to know they're obsessed with stories and want us to re-enact a childhood story!"

When Rodney agrees to give a village anything they wish in exchange for a ZPM, he doesn't realize that he, John, Ronon, and Teyla are now about to find themselves in a real-life re-enactment of Peter Pan, where Rodney and John play as Michael and John Darling, Teyla plays Wendy Darling, and Ronon plays one of the Lost Boys. They might get through this without too many problems. That is, if Teyla can keep from hurting Peter when he makes remarks about them playing "Mother and Father" to the Lost Boys.

Comments

[duckduck.livejournal.com]

Beautiful, all of them. And my second one? Beautiful and sad. I want to see that one written, but would probably wind up a blubbering mess. :)

Thank you.

[cinaed.livejournal.com]

*grins* Glad you like 'em. And hell, I'd probably end up weepy if I tried writing the second one. Thanks for the title prompts. This meme turned out to be a lot of fun.

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

*loves* Oh wow, mine were awesome! The House one could be an actual episode and I would pay good money to watch it (or read the fic!), and the SGA one makes me feel all fragile. Thank you! I may do the same meme at some point.

[cinaed.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes, the House fic would be fun. If only because I love Foreman and therefore love to torment him. And yeah, the SGA one's a bit wibble-worthy. *pats it*

Ooh. *rubs hands and pulls up my Word document with five pages worth of titles for anyone who does the title meme* ;)