Title: Of Three
Author: azure_horizon / gater101
Rating: K+ - T (PG-PG-13)
Warnings/Spoilers: None at all.
Written For: Tielan
Prompt: Teyla/Lorne "an offhand comment taken seriously by the others, action/drama, season four or later."
Author's Notes: Well... There are many notes for this.
- I think the only thing that fits the prompt here is that it is Teyla/Lorne.
-For this, I couldn't make it season four because the subject of Kanaan and baby just would have done terrible things to this.
-There is no action/drama in this. Hopefully, your action drama quotient will be filled in the other one I've (hopefully) written (hopefully on time).
-There may be a teeny tiny hint of other pairings. Sorry.
-And the offhand comment I chose was "Teyla has a thing for one of the Marines."
-Lastly, I made the assumption that Lorne was a Marine. For the purposes of this story, he is.
-Thanks be to Jess (YappiChick), Cazz (CazzBlade) – my alphas and betas. And thanks be to Paulie for being the non-Stargate muse and telling me when the story sucked.
Standing just inside the doorway of the gym, John Sheppard watches the scene unfold before him. Sweaty bodies glisten in the warm afternoon sunlight; skirts and tees stick to sweaty curves; hair, matted to heads and necks and temples; the loud clacking of bantos rod and bantos rod. It's a scene that is not wholly unfamiliar – he's stumbled upon her sparring with a number of differing opponents -; it's the teasing smirks, the light banter that surprises him.
"Teyla has a thing for one of the Marines."
He watches as she winds down, as the parries turn to katas, gently lowering the no-doubt raging heart beats. The clacks are softer, gentler and John knows it will be only a few short minutes until they are done.
He contemplates leaving but knows he can't – that he doesn't really want to.
The laughs are quiet and low and it reminds John of the first few times they'd sparred together; the teasing flicks, the gentle raps across his knuckles, the playful strikes at his backside and as he watches her now, he knows that she is flirting. He's seen it before; has experienced it but he's never seen her quite this open.
Her face is raw with exertion, beautiful in the afternoon's gold sunlight and he watches her as she watches her partner, as she watches him swipe a towel across his face and neck, as she watches him drink languorously from a bottle of chilled water from the fridge. John Sheppard knows, from one simple glance at her face, that Teyla Emmagan has a thing for Evan Lorne.
He's about to step into the room now that their session is over but he pauses, startled as Lorne reaches out and brushes his fingers across the exposed skin of Teyla's naked waist. The gesture is so gentle and familiar that John involuntarily steps back. He watches in silent wonder as Teyla watches Lorne, her face softening as Lorne takes a step towards her, his chest brushing against hers, his hands lingering around her waist.
John is surprised, to say the least, and as he watches Lorne's lips descend on Teyla's in a kiss designed to tease, he can't stop the almost comical drop of his jaw.
How had he not known about this?
He laughs, a light bubble bursting forth from his lips, almost incredulous and Teyla springs back from Lorne, turning surprised features towards him. He meets her eye and sees the flush rise from her chest to cover her cheeks and he can't help but quirk a small, teasing smirk in her direction.
Lorne looks almost terrified and it almost draws another burst of laughter from John but he battles to keep his face impassive, his eyes emotionless.
He's going to enjoy this for as long as he can.
Around him, he can sense the tension in the room rise as Teyla watches him watching Lorne. Lorne's blue eyes widen as John takes a step into the room and John finds he can't hold back the small smile that pulls at the corner of his lips.
"If I'd known I'd be interrupting something I'd have made sure I was late."
"We had just finished," Teyla replies almost too quickly and John sweeps his eyes over her body, noting the way her hands are fisted at her sides, her bantos rods lying forgotten on the floor. He sweeps his gaze back up to her eyes and sees her quietly questioning eyes peering back at him.
He smiles slightly, nodding his head.
He has no place to say anything more.
"I'll just..." Lorne says as he shuffles around Teyla, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he does.
John nods and Lorne tries to squeeze past him out the door but John yields only an inch of ground. Lorne pauses, his eyes rising to meet John's. He holds them for a moment, challenging Lorne to say anything, to do something and when he sees the quiet resolve take residence in the other man's eyes he yields. He nods almost imperceptibly, waiting for Lorne's response before he steps back. Lorne turns back into the room and nods to Teyla, smiling before he leaves.
John only manages to half turn back into the room before Teyla's bantos rods connect none-too-lightly with his arm. He winces and rubs at his bicep, walking further into the room.
"That was not fair," she says, though her tone is light.
John glances back at her over his shoulder, smiling as his eyes connect with hers. He inhales her scent as she walks closer to him and he wonders – not for the first time – how she manages to smell relatively fresh after such a rigorous work out. His mind flashes to an image of another rigorous workout where she would work up a sweat and smell completely different but he shakes the thoughts from his head as he pulls his bantos rods from his bag.
"Just making sure he's up to the job."
When he turns to her, her eyebrow is raised and a smile plays around the edge of her lips. She twirls a rod once, twice and John quirks a smile in her direction as she shows off.
"And what job would that be?"
He doesn't answer as he takes position across from her attempting to mirror her twirls, smirking. When he fails and she laughs, he narrows his eyes and attacks her defenceless form.
When he's on his butt moments later and she leans down to help him up, he grips her hand but doesn't rise. She frowns down to him and he narrows his eyes, questioning yet playful.
"I can't believe you're dating a Marine."
Teyla rolls her eyes and drops his hand, her laugh echoing lightly around the room.
"I have found that Marines have much more stamina than fly-boys."
John raises a quizzical eyebrow but decides he doesn't want to know. Instead, he quirks a playful smirk in her direction as he hauls himself back up.
"I'll show you how much stamina us fly boys have got."
When she lifts her eyebrows, it's not as teasing as it used to be. When they parry, it's not as playful as it once was. When she mocks him for his stamina, it's not as laden with meaning as it could have been.
And John finds he's glad that Marines – and Lorne in particular – have more stamina than him.
--
The Marines are Ronon's favourite people to train. Hardy and brutal, they are the only ones from Earth who can give him a run for his money – the strange Earth term slipped across his mind with practised ease.
Lorne in particular is one of Ronon's favourite people to spar. He's wily and quick and Ronon can tell from his stances that Teyla has been training him well.
And not just in fighting.
The thought causes a laugh to slip from his lips and in response a Marine slips past his defence and nudges him in the side. Ronon flips him away, onto his back and he turns to face Lorne. Sweaty, panting, red-faced Lorne and Ronon smirks.
Dancing around one another, Ronon parries the few punches Lorne sends his way. They're weak and sloppy and Ronon knows that the Marines' stamina is finally running out; his own had begun to slip away some minutes before.
When his fist connects with Lorne's eye socket, they both wince and Lorne doubles over as he grips his face.
"Damn it, Ronon!" He shouts but the words are muffled in his hands and Ronon can't help the small smirk that creeps across his lips. "I thought this was supposed to be limited force?"
Ronon shrugs and turns away on his heel, sharing an amused glance with the other Marines.
"I thought that was limited."
Lorne groans and shoves Ronon with his shoulder as he stalks past him to the fridge in the corner and pulls a chilled bottle of water which he promptly holds to his already swollen eye. For a moment, Ronon thinks he feels a fleeting glimmer of remorse.
"What's the problem, Major?" One of the Marines piped up as Ronon walked to the wall to retrieve his own energy drink. "Got a hot date?"
As Ronon stills, he can feel the tension in the room rise behind him. He can feel a set of eyes staring at his back and he narrows his own but doesn't turn. He quickly stuffs his towel into his bag and pulls it up his arm, slinging it across his back.
"I figured out who Teyla's Marine is," Sheppard says quickly across the dining table before Rodney joins them. When Rodney begins babbling and Teyla joins the table, he doesn't get to ask who it is.
He turns back to the others, noting the uneasy stance of some of the Marines; the way Lorne's eyes avoid his as Ronon stares at him knowingly. The smirk isn't entirely unpleasant as it passes his lips and he sees Lorne shift under his own weight.
Oh how he'd have loved to have seen the look on Sheppard's face when he'd found this out.
He wonders how he'd found it out.
He huffs a laugh and the others in the room scatter, picking up packs and slipping their training shoes back on before scurrying from the room. When Lorne pauses and turns his back to Ronon as the bigger man drops his pack to the floor, Ronon smirks.
"So it's you." Lorne nods once and Ronon moves to the centre of the room. "Huh," he grunts noncommittally and Lorne turns to him slowly.
Ronon regards him, taking in the shorter form of Major Evan Lorne; the dark hair, the sallow skin, the quiet strength hidden under his pullover, to the powerful legs of a soldier and he purses his lips.
"If I didn't know any better," Lorne says and Ronon notes with no small amount of pride, the waver in his voice, "I'd say you were checking me out."
Ronon huffs again and lifts an inquisitive eyebrow.
"I am." When Lorne frowns and shakes his head, glancing away amused, Ronon mirrors him but turns quickly back when Lorne moves to leave. "I'm just making sure you're up to the challenge."
Lorne hesitates a moment before turning back to him but this time, Ronon doesn't smirk. He doesn't smile and he doesn't make Lorne feel at ease.
This time, he's being serious.
"What challenge is that?"
Ronon levels him with a stare and he watches as Lorne's eyes travel over his body, assessing before his resolute eyes meet his. He nods at the Major, only once and takes a step towards him. When Lorne meets his fierce gaze, he knows the other man's not intimidated.
He's glad of that.
"Teyla's the only one who can come close to taking me out."
As Lorne stares at him hard before nodding, comprehension shining in his blue eyes, Ronon knows the threat doesn't need voiced.
--
Lorne watches the members of his team fan out into the surrounding field as he waits for McKay to ready his gear.
"Any time today, McKay!" He calls after three minutes and he hears McKay mumble something under his breath before brushing past him, pressing buttons on his hand held tablet. Lorne rolls his eyes and falls into step behind him, cloaking the Jumper as he goes. "Which way is it?"
McKay simply points and Lorne decides to let him lead the way.
Half way across the field, McKay halts and Lorne almost runs into the back of him.
"McKay?"
"Sorry," he mumbles but makes no move to continue.
Lorne brushes past him and looks around the rough landscape. Scraggy mountains line the horizon, the grass underfoot burned from long years of exposure to the planet's four suns. The sky is a deep cerulean blue with thin wisps of yellow clouds stretching across it. Over his radio he can hear the chatter of his team mates, of Ronon and Sheppard and he lets himself relax slightly, easing his weapon to his side. The planet was a friendly but Sheppard had insisted on Lorne's team returning with Rodney and his supplies, citing that they couldn't be too careful.
Lorne couldn't say he disagreed.
Her light voice breaks his quiet reverie as she scolds Sheppard and Ronon and he looks up to the crest of the hill where he knows she is on the other side. Sheppard's parodying reply sends familiar chills down his spine but he pushes them away.
"What are you smiling at?"
He turns back to McKay and frowns at the scientist.
"What?"
McKay stares at him for a long, unsettling moment and he finds that he's almost intimidated by the weight of the stare. The tablet beeps and McKay finally looks down, shaking his head as he mutters ceaselessly at the computer.
As they move again, walking silently through long stems of dried grass, Lorne turns to regard McKay as he chatters to his team mates over the radio. Lorne had known that Sheppard's team were close; a group of friends, rather than a team – but he hadn't understood just quite how close until he'd started seeing Teyla.
He remembered the night he'd gone to her room for their bi-weekly watching of Prison Break to find Sheppard stretched out across her bed, listening quietly to music while Teyla read her book on the floor. He'd expected her to look guiltily up at him, for Sheppard to spring from the bed but instead they'd simply turned to him and smiled, greeting him as though Sheppard's presence in her room was the most natural thing in the world.
It had unnerved.
It still did.
Especially when he found Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla engaged in a three way sparring match in the gym while Rodney sat off to the side working away at his laptop. He'd been surprised by the way Ronon used Teyla as a shield as he parried Sheppard's blow and he'd been even more surprised when both men grabbed one of Teyla's hands to pull her to her feet when she'd fallen off balance.
But what had surprised him the most was the easy familiarity of the motions; the way Rodney tossed the three of them bottles of water without looking up, the way they settled into katas, teasing each other, dancing, light on their feet, the chatter flowing and easy.
He knew he didn't need their acceptance or their blessing but there was a part of him that was glad they'd given it to him.
Well, most of them.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" He asks eventually as they near the settlement.
McKay falters slightly but Lorne doesn't turn to him.
"About what?"
This time, he does stop and turn to him, frowning. He doesn't entertain the thought that McKay doesn't know.
"About Teyla and I."
"Oh," Rodney says and Lorne can hear his disinterestedness. He rolls his eyes and turns away. "Is there anything to say?" Lorne shrugs and looks back to McKay over his shoulder, letting the question linger between them. "Lead the way, Major," McKay says, dismissing him and Lorne moves away. He makes it two steps before McKay's voice calls him back. "Don't forget, Major, that I know how the city works better than anyone."
Lorne pauses and feels a small smile tug at his lips at McKay's words.
Subtle, veiled but oh so transparent, the vague threats from the members of her team mates fills Lorne not with fear but with a strange sense of quietude.
As they reach the settlement, her eyes drift to him, quietly questioning but he shakes his head and makes his way to her side. Under the watchful gazes of three he resides there; watching, listening, talking, content.
She has good people looking out for her and for that, he is glad.