Author: RowenaR

Rating: K+

Category: Romance/Humor

Disclaimer: Stargate belongs to Gekko and… all those other people making money with it. Anyway, I don't. Honestly. So – I don't own, you don't sue. Deal?

Summary: And I give you now... an Atlantis wedding! Yes, Evan Lorne makes an honest woman out of Laura Cadman. No, really. Not exactly sane, but honorable.

A/N: A wedding! I love weddings! Drinks for all! Or maybe not for everyone - the boys at least had a pretty wild bachelor bash (without the strippers, though)... okay, and the girls don't have to hide anything. Um, yeah, anyway, on with the story... for some reason, mac didn't even warn me to slap a language warning on this one. Huh.

Anyway, as always: Not a native speaker, so please excuse any weird grammatical constructions, run-ons and typos. Feedback will earn you a cookie, flames will roast my marshmellows.

Protect and Survive: Calm in the Heat of War

"Pretty amazing grace is how You saved me
and with amazing grace reclaimed my heart
love in the midst of chaos
calm in the heat of war
showed with amazing grace what love was for."

Neil Diamond, "Pretty Amazing Grace"

One

"You're gonna be fine, Laura." She throws Maureen a dirty look but the other woman isn't intimidated the least.

"I'm not nervous, Maureen." Now there's a grin on Maureen's face.

"No, of course not. Not a bit." The grin says differently. Maureen doesn't believe her ruse for a min… no wait, it's not a ruse. She's really not nervous. No, no.

And she will tell Maureen so. "Like I said, I'm not. Okay… how do I look?" She turns towards Maureen and her friend critically looks at her appearance. Since Evan and her had decided on a very small wedding – basically, the audience will consist of the bride and bridegroom, Maureen as her Maid of Honor, Major Moore as Evan's Best Man, Colonel Sheppard who's to lead her down the very short aisle, Teyla, Evan's team, Jessi Meyers, Kassandra Wilson and Mr. Woolsey who'll have the honor of performing the ceremony – she'd also gotten her wish of not having to marry in a dress. Instead she's wearing her Class A's, as is Maureen.

After another critical look and a little fussing with one of her lapels Maureen steps back and nods approvingly. "Very dashing, Captain."

She raises her eyebrows. "Dashing, Captain?"

Amused, Maureen grins again. "Positively dashing. Now, do you want to get married or not?" She rolls her eyes. What a question. She really didn't make it past crazy villagers, alpha male stand-offs, evil geniuses, hostage takers, the I.O.A., fake weddings, her mother, the Trust and now and then the odd Wraith to chicken out right before the wedding.

"Of course I do. Let's get going… lest Evan decides he's done enough waiting and takes the boys for a drinking round or something." Maureen just looks at her as to say 'What, you mean, another one?' since according to the state in which Tom got back to Maureen early this morning Evan's bachelor bash must have been pretty big for an Atlantis spree.

As for themselves… well, let's just say seeing Jennifer tipsy and hearing Teyla tell dirty Athosian joke had been… a memorable event indeed. "Yeah, or Tom trying to convince him that he's too young to throw his freedom away." She looks questioningly at Maureen but the other Marine just shrugs. "What? We both know how evil Tom can be."

She snorts and walks towards the quarters' door. "Right. And you still want to marry him."

"Yeah, I still do." Surprised about the rather thoughtful tone in Maureen's voice, she turns around to her friend to see her smiling to herself and biting her lip a little sheepishly. "I really do."

For just a moment, they share a look of complete understanding and she's tempted to get just a little bit sentimental and tell Maureen how happy she is that she and Tom have come so far after all they had to go through but then she remembers that "getting sentimental" is absolutely forbidden today – after all, one of the reasons they had decided for this small wedding had been to avoid any and all unnecessary sentimentalities – and simply jerks her head towards the door.

Hoping not to encounter too many base members, they make their way to the balcony Evan and her chose for the ceremony. On the way she continues bantering and chattering with Maureen, all the time convincing herself that she has nothing to be nervous about. All they have to do is say the few words they chose for each other and then say "I do," and that will be it. There's really nothing to it.

But still… when they round the last bend and Colonel Sheppard grins at her and lends her his arm after Maureen has walked through that last door… she can feel her heart suddenly racing in her chest and she does need to take a steadying breath. And of course Sheppard can't just lead her through that door but has to say, "What, nervous, Captain?"

The only thing she does is glaring at him and replying a tad coldly, "If just one more person asks me if I'm nervous I'm gonna…" his grin brightens and she's sure he thinks he knows what she'll say now which is why she says, "blast that person's ass into next year next chance I get."

That… does sober him up a little and he just clears his throat and answers, "Right. So… let's just… you know…" and finally, the door opens.