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Still, despite the fact that they hadn�t covered any material that she hadn�t already gone over with the SGC, and ignoring the fact that instead of meeting in the Oval with the President she had been shunted down to the basement of the White House with the American attach� to the Pegasus Project�an uninventive codename that Elizabeth was hardly impressed with, though, again, she kept that to herself�the meeting went well, certainly better than the original meeting with representatives of the major world powers had gone back when General Hammond and Major Davis had disclosed the secrets of the Stargate while fighting with then-Senator Kinsey. Of course, Earth had come a long way since then, and the shock of the secret and the truth of the power of the Stargate had, for the most part, worn off. There was still some grumpiness from the Chinese ambassador, a touch of disbelief from both the British and the French ambassadors, and gentle amusement with the whole situation from Colonel Chekov from Russia, but, for the most part, the meeting had been very cordial, even when the death toll of the siege was brought up.
Which, really, was information that Elizabeth had been incredibly worried about relaying. It was, after all, the only new information that was being given, the only new information, really, and, despite the fact that they had snuck by with a tentative and fragile win against the Wraith, the numbers were hardly something to brag about.
Still, even though her report was hardly sharing the boon to intergalactic progress that the Atlantis mission had started out as, Elizabeth felt that, on the whole, the meeting had gone well. No arguments had broken out, no one had threatened to pull out of the alliance, and, for a room full of politicians, there was very little posturing going on. Which was amazing.
Even so, Elizabeth knew that they hadn�t gotten to the hard part yet.
�That went well,� Jack said as they got into the car.
�It didn�t go well, it just didn�t go badly,� Elizabeth corrected as the car lurched forward, working it way out of the White House compound.
Jack frowned at Elizabeth. �You get pessimistic when you�re tired.�
�I passed �tired� about a year ago, Jack,� Elizabeth said dryly.
�I�ve got about a decade on you, Elizabeth, but I know how you feel,� Jack said. �Look, while you�re in DC just pretend that you�re not the leader of this expedition or the commander of the city. While you�re here just imagine that you�re just taking these meetings as a representative of the Stargate Program trying to get the support we need.�
Shaking her head, Elizabeth shifted in her seat. �If I think like that I�ll start panicking that I�m being replaced or something. No, I think I�ll stick with my realistic viewpoint on the matter at hand, thank you very much,� Elizabeth replied.
�You have no imagination, Doc,� Jack said, shaking his head in disapproval.
�I haven�t been accused of that since grade school, Jack, and that was a very unpleasant unpublished writer who I had the misfortune of having as a teacher for my creative writing class.�
�Didn�t think you had creative talent?� John asked.
�Didn�t think anyone who hadn�t published eighteen novels that landed on the best-seller list had talent,� Elizabeth said. �Of course, the crotchety old coot had to go and die before I had my books hit the best-seller list.�
�Yeah, but A Modern Treaty on the Struggle Against Arms Proliferation isn�t exactly on many people�s Christmas list, though,� Jack pointed out.