The Heart Won't Lie, a stargate: atlantis fanfic

Military Ball, attendance mandatory December twenty-fourth. The gold cursive lettering looked so innocent. Senior Chief Becky Schlegel set the white card aside, on her desk beside her laptop. A trip to Earth would be nice, what wouldn't be nice was not only dressing up, but she personally had a thing for Major Evan Lorne in full uniform adornment. She looked at the background on her laptop of her and Lorne, a snapshot of them in the heat of an argument, for some reason she had kept it. Maybe as a reminder as to why they could never, never be together.

Air force Major Evan Lorne brushed a light blue across the skyline of his canvas, the small white invitation on the tray. Mandatory. What the hell kinda crap was that? Of course they would make it that way. Of course he would have to see Becky in a gown, not uniform, or civvies, a gown. He dabbed his brush into the paint angrily, of all the times to have one it was their third year of this tension, this thing they had. Words left unspoken, can leave a heart broken. Wick had told him that, though it had ended up being a fortune from a cookie. The words had never held a true meaning until now.

Looking back over the years
Of All the things I've always meant to say
But words didn't come easily
So many times through empty fears
Of all the nights I tried to pick up the phone
So scared of who might be answering

December the twenty-fourth, Christmas Eve. Women in gowns, men in uniform, a Christmas tree in the corner of a large hotel dining room, a live band, and most of all him. Becky had tried to call his cell earlier that day, but a reliable source told her he had to see some old friends. Who? Yes, she had been afraid to call, afraid that it might've been an old girlfriend.

You try to live your life from day to day
But seeing you across the room tonight
Just gives me away

She could see him, brown eyes carefully trained on the floor of the room. Becky smiled slightly only he would spend the night talking to her teammates, of course only she would spend the night across the room as far away as possible. She looked up at the wrong moment, and electric blue eyes caught hers; they held.

'Cause the heart won't lie
Sometimes life gets in the way
But there's one thing that won't change
I know I've tried
The heart won't lie
You can live your alibi
Who can see you're lost inside a foolish disguise
The heart won't lie

What was this lie they were living? What was this burning in her chest? What was the tightening in his stomach? The mask they wore whenever they were near, the stiff-backs whenever they sat next to each-other in meetings.

Long after tonight
Will you still hear my voice through the radio
Old desires make us act carelessly
Long after tonight, after the fire
After the scattered ashes fly
Through the four winds blown and gone
Will you come back to me?

Evan watched her from near the stairs, he, Wick, and Flea were trying to blend in, but the uneasiness of being there was clear. They weren't social at all. He acted as if he were looking at the girls the other men were, but he was staring at her. The Christmas before he had caught her under the mistletoe, and then radioed her that night to say he was sorry, but he wanted more. There was still a fire within him. Burning for her. Only her. Would she find him that night? Or would she let it be?

You try to live your life from day to day
But seeing you across the room tonight
Just gives me away

There she was, all dolled up in a black gown, small diamonds around her neck, and on her ears. He held the champagne flute with tight fingers, afraid he would break it if her brown eyes shifted towards him. The man obscuring his view of her moved slightly, and it was if static had zapped him. Her eyes moved to his, and he could've sworn she smiled.

Rapid racing, sweaty palms, butterflies. No, no disease, no sickness. Hidden looks, secret smiles, avoiding touching. Avoiding being discovered. Nothing could change the way Evan felt when he took her in his arms that night, for one dance, just one dance. Her eyes staring up into his, her hand in his held against his chest. There were no disguises, there were no lies. It was over. The war they had been fighting was drifting away. And neither cared.