lawful_lizzie (lawful_lizzie) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-07-15 23:54:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, elizabeth weir, samantha carter |
Who: Samantha Carter and Elizabeth Weir
What: Sam helps Lizzie deal post-Dragons
Where: Their house
When: Beginning of July
Rating: G - mentions of dragon attacks and PTSD-y things
Status: Complete!
Elizabeth was already working and on her third coffee by the time Sam woke up. She was focussed on her work, twiddling her pen between her fingers as she worked through the information she had been sent by the UN regarding North Korea's newest leader. She had been up for about three hours after tossing and turning in bed all night. Leonard's scent had faded from her sheets after she found it so comforting and her mind had started working overtime again, thinking about Dragons and Reapers and Husks and god only knows what else the OC could throw at them.
Sam shuffled out of her bedroom and into the kitchen switching on the coffee pot, “Hey” she said to her friend who looked twitchy and nervous - signs Sam had seen before. “You okay? Did you sleep at all?”
“A little,” Elizabeth replied distractedly. Keeping her mind focused on the work stopped her over-analysing other sounds around her. The tv being on in the living room helped a bit, but not all the time and at night she found it so hard to shut her mind down. If she kept busy and stayed indoor, nothing bad would happen. The surfaces of the kitchen were all but covered in take-away containers, cutlery and crockery she hadn’t cleaned up over the last week. “You?” she asked, turning a page over then taking a sip of her coffee.
"I'm fine" Sam replied, before stepping closer to her friend. "Elizabeth, I need you to stop what you are doing and focus on me" Sam felt guilty for not having noticed it before but there had been a lot going on.
“I’m busy Sam,” Elizabeth told her off-handedly, flipping another page of the report, probably a little more roughly than was needed. “Can’t it wait til later?”
Sam placed her hand over the report, “Elizabeth” she said calmly, “Please stop.”
“I can’t...” Elizabeth told her firmly, trying to keep her voice from shaking as she stopped working for a minute. “I have work to do...” she trailed off quietly, trying to bury herself back in her papers.
“No Lizzie, you don’t” Sam told her taking her friends hands in hers, “You need to stop and you need to talk, to me or a professional or to someone because you’re going to work yourself ill again if you don’t” her voice was soothing and non-threatening, as she’d been taught.
Elizabeth gave a heavy sigh after Sam took her hands. “I can’t...I...” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “When did this place get so screwed up? Dragons? Alien zombie things...Alien viruses?”
“It’s a bit of a special place apparently” Sam told her, “But it’s not all bad. There have been some fun and interesting things too. And look at the people, we have gifted students, wonderful friends and you’ve met McCoy” she pointed out, “Focus on the good Lizzie, because it’s there too”
"How does any of that help when I hear a knock at the door and think a dragon coming?" Elizabeth asked sadly. "I just...I don't want to think, I don't want to worry, but I just worry more when I do," she raised her eyes to the ceiling to try and stop the tears from falling.
Logically a dragon wouldn’t knock but that wasn’t going to help right now so Sam refrained from saying it. “I think you need to talk to somebody in a professional capacity” Sam told her friend, “Are you still in contact with your counsellor?”
Elizabeth huffed a laugh, wiping her face with her one good hand. “I haven’t needed to see her for years, Sam,” Elizabeth told her. “I don’t even know if her number’s the same,” she shook her head.
“Then we’ll find you a new one” Sam told her, thinking that might be the case. “You can’t go on like this Lizzie. You’ll make yourself ill with work and worry”
“I can’t Sam,” Elizabeth shook her head sadly, sitting back in her seat. “Who’s going to believe we were attacked by dragons for heaven’s sake!”
“Somebody from around here?” Sam suggested, “There must be a good psychiatrist around, god knows this place has plenty of people who need one”
Elizabeth laughed at that, it was true. The amount of weird shit that happened around here it was hard to believe that nearly everyone wasn’t seeing a counsellor every week. “Ok, ok, we can try it,” she relented. What she was doing at the moment wasn’t really helping her, so why not try it. “Was I as bad as this last time?” she asked shyly.
“A bit worse actually” Sam told her gently, “I noticed much sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t realise how much you were struggling until now” Sam knew logically it wasn’t her fault, there was a lot going on but Lizzie was her best friend.
"Can we call that progress?" Elizabeth asked hopefully. "Sorry," she told her. "And thank you," she smiled.
“We can” Sam replied kindly, “Don’t apologise, you have nothing to say sorry for” she added, pulling Lizzie into a gentle one armed hug.
Elizabeth sighed into Sam’s shoulder as her friend hugged her. She’d survived this with her friend’s help before, she would do it again and be stronger for it.