"You might be one of the unluckiest people around, Keller!" Major Lorne said, raising his gun and firing blindly over the rocks that they had slid behind to take cover.
"How was I supposed to know that the scion of this tribe would think that trading for medical supplies would also mean that I came with the package?" Jennifer Keller asked, while she tried to make herself as small as possible.
Lorne's team had accompanied the doctor several times to make the new deal with the people of Telathe, but they had run into trouble on this last visit, when Lorne's team had to fight their way out with Keller.
"I had a bad feeling about the scion from the beginning. He was always way to happy to see you." Lorne said, and then began gesturing to his men. Keller had learned a tiny bit of the military signs, but she got lost after the first few. "Luther is going to cover, we're going to make it to the next batch of rocks there." Lorne said.
"Isn't that a little far to run with no cover?" Keller asked, looking to where Lorne was pointing.
"Do you see any other cover? Keep your head down and run. Don't stop no matter what happens. Just run!" Lorne said, while the other men continued to fire at the Telathies. "You'll need to dump that."
Jennifer clutched her bulging medical bag to her body. "There are a lot of supplies in here."
Lorne yanked the supplies away from her and heaved them over the rocks. "Yeah, and they can be replaced, you can't. We go on three." Counting down, Lorne and the rest of his team, jumped up. They all ran, with a few laying down rear cover. Grasping a strap on her utility vest, Lorne began hauling Keller with him.
"All of this for her?" Lieutenant Skraff asked when they had again taken cover. "No offense, Keller."
"Did you see their women, Skraff?" Lorne asked, reloading his pistol. "None of them could hold a candle to Keller."
Lorne began to again gesture to his men, missing the look on Keller's face.
"This is not going to hurt. It is a scan to make sure you've not brought back anything from your last mission."
"I know, Doc. I've had them before." Major Lorne said, giving Keller a smile.
"Oh, right." Jennifer said, feeling her face heat up. "I've been with mostly the new guys today. I forgot for a minute that I am with a true veteran." Pushing a few more buttons, she watched as the scan completed itself.
"So what's the prognosis? Will I live?" Lorne asked, sitting up after everything was completed.
"It looks like you will, Major Lorne, for now." Keller said turning to note something in Lorne's file.
"You know, you call almost everyone else by their given name. Why not me?" Lorne asked.
Jennifer's face really heated up at that. Writing some more notes, mostly to get her bearings back, she didn't meet the major's eyes. "I guess it is a form of respect. I mean, you always call me doc or doctor." Finally she looked up. Lorne was leaning against the bed giving her one of his megawatt smiles.
"True. So tonight at dinner we'll have to try really hard to call each other by our first names."
"Are you asking me to dinner?" Keller asked, meeting his smile with one of her own.
"Are you accepting, Jennifer?"
"Well, I guess a girl has to eat, Evan."
"Are your eyes closed?"
"Yes! Yes a millions times." Jennifer laughed as she felt the breeze from Evan waving his hand in front of her face.
"Alright, we're almost there."
Jennifer was excited to see what the big surprise was, but it seemed that Evan was even more so. For days now, he had been hinting at what it was, almost annoyed that she wasn't trying to wheedle information out of him. She felt the car come to a stop.
"Turn to your right," Evan said, "And then open your eyes."
Doing so, Jennifer was met with big open green land. Lots of land. "Oh, Evan..."
"It's ours, baby." Evan said, leaning to wrap his arms around her. "It's all ours."
Tears came, as she leaned into Evan. "It has everything! Everything I've always wanted."
"It doesn't have a stream, with a tiny bridge going over it, but I can build that for you."
Turning she gave him a sweet kiss. "Have I told you that you're the most wonderful man in the world, Mr. Lorne?"
"That's only because I have the most wonderful woman with me, Mrs. Lorne."
"Grandpa, did you really steal Grandma away from someone?" Tiny Nick climbed onto Evan's lap and made himself comfortable for a story he thought was coming.
"Not someone, something. I have to tear her away from her medical bag long enough to even get a hello."
"Your grandpa turned up in my infirmary more times than anyone else. I just thought he was a klutz." Jennifer said, smiling at her husband's mock glare.
"What she really means, Nick, is that she was waiting with bated breath to see if I would come and let her tend my manly wounds."
"Oh yes, my heart was sent a flutter whenever Major Lorne was near. Although, that was only after I realized that Colonel Sheppard wouldn't ever look my way." Jennifer winked at her grandson. The boy had heard this too many times to take it seriously.
"Sheppard's being an idiot worked out well for me."
"Pop-pop John is not an idiot!" Nick said, climbing down and giving Evan a look before running off to find his "pop-pop".
"Looks like you sent Nicky to find his hero." Jennifer smiled as she watched her grandson jump of the deck and make his way to the picnic table where John and Elizabeth were sitting. She always loved when her friends and family came for Sunday barbeques.
Evan moved to sit next to her. Taking her hand, he tugged Jennifer so her head rested on his shoulder. "As long as I'm still your hero, all is good in the world."
"Evan and John, come here!" Nick Lorne yelled at the two boys who were scampering about, trying to count all the American flags.
"We counted thirty-three so far." John said, as he ran back to where his father was standing. "But none of them will have two flags like ours will."
"Why does great-grandma get a flag when she wasn't in the military?" Evan asked, looking down at the grave sites.
"She served our country and the world just like great-grandpa did. She was the one who made sure the men and woman of Atlantis were safe and whole, so they could go out and defend us."
"So she was a hero?"
"They both were, son, they both were."
