AN: I would like to take this opportunity to tell readers that this story is an AU. While it is based on the BBCs' series Atlantis, and is loosely based around the episodes', it will not necessarily follow them in a linear order. Please overlook any errors in grammar and punctuation as I am writing this on a laptop that only has a half working keyboard-I've attempted to correct them all, but any that remain are here to stay. This is my first attempt at FanFic so of course reviews are appreciated—both positive and [polite] constructive criticism, but no flames please. Atlantis & all primary characters belongs to the BBC, I own nothing other than my original OC's and story line. Any similarities with persons, events, themes, lyrics, or places either real or otherwise is unintended and should be considered as such, unless specifically cited in the footnotes.
Furies Promise
Those who are touched by the gods are drawn to one another by forces they cannot control—High Priest Melas
(BBC Atlantis—The Dying of the Light)
Prologue
Bournemouth, Dorset County England
A chill breeze blew across the university campus, rustling the few bright orange and red leaves still on the trees despite it being the end of November, and momentarily lifting the thick sable colored curls that fell in waves to Alekto's waist. Thick perfectly arched brows and long thick dark lashes framed startlingly pale grey-blue eyes. Snug faded jeans, wool lined leather boots, and a baggy cream colored men's jumper beneath an equally baggy black leather men's jacket covered a supple willowy body while still hinting at the feminine curves underneath.
Alek was heading across the parking lot from the administration building having had to sign off on her final paperwork to receive her degree certificate by post. She'd still had a semester of graduate work to finish on her dissertation; having had to withdraw when Jason's submarine had been lost at the beginning of last spring, and her Nona had been adamant that Alek finish her education before leaving for Greece. Since she wasn't going to be in town—or the country for the commencement ceremony in a couple of weeks, she'd had to arrange to have everything mailed to her mum's house in Shoreditch. Continuing across campus, Alek scowled when her call went straight to voicemail; Mac must either be at the docks or he was deliberately avoiding her; though after the way her temper had been these past few months, she didn't really blame him if he was. Ever since Jason's submarine had been lost at the beginning of spring, Mac had tip-toed around Alek as if she were a bomb that might go off any moment. With a frustrated sigh she shoved the cell phone back into her jeans pocket. 'It wasn't as if I was the one asking him to believe some cockin-bull story, I'd dreamed up as a coping mechanism for my grief', she grouched to herself for the thousandth time. No fantasy or denial hadn't been how the dark haired beauty had coped at all; although that was exactly what she had initially accused Mac of when he had first come to her with his wild tale of lost civilizations', treachery, and time travel months after Jason had been lost at sea.
As always when Alek' thoughts turned to her beloved fiancé, her heart clenched painfully and not for the first time in her life she cursed the eidetic memory that made it impossible to forget anything, as she absent mindedly twisted the engagement ring on her left hand. The ring was solid gold, featuring a carved crest resembling a set of bull horns or possibly an inverted crescent moon, inset with a sparkling sapphire of a clear deep blue. It was obviously extremely valuable as well as old, and Alekto had worried that she would lose or damage it; especially after Jason told her it had once belonged to his mum.
Jason's mother had died giving birth to him, or so he had been told; first by his father then later on by his godfather Mac. He had no memories of his mum and there were no pictures or tokens of her, other than the ring, nor had there ever been, if Mac were to be believed. At first Alek had been reluctant to take on the responsibility of safe-guarding Jason's sole link to the woman who gave birth to him. But when he had gently cupped her face and kissed her, telling her that she was his life, his future, the woman who owned his heart she had thrown her arms around him with a resounding YES, followed up with a kiss of her own, pouring all her love into it.
That had been on New Year's Eve, nearly two years ago. Alek and Jason were at a party with a few friends at the neighborhood pub close to campus and the house Jason and she shared. She had been surprised when Jason had suggested attending the party; having been a loner most of his life except for his best mate (Joey), Jason normally didn't like the attention (trouble) he inevitably seemed to attract in any situation involving large crowds and alcohol. It wasn't that he intentionally went looking for trouble, but a combination of gorgeous good looks coupled with the 'little boy lost' aura he possessed often attracted the attentions of drunken females intent on 'rescuing' him, and who invariably seemed to forget the jealous hulking boyfriends they were getting drunk with. When Jason had taken her aside moments before the ringing in of the New Year; dropping down to one knee to propose, Alek had thought maybe he was teasing or drunk himself, only becoming aware of just how serious he was when he pulled his mums ring out of his pocket. Once she'd tearfully accepted, they had gone to Mac's boat where Alek's family and Mac were waiting to celebrate.
Macs' boat was how Alek and Jason had met. At the time, they had both been enrolled in the Forensic Archaeology program at Bournemouth University. Jason had been a term ahead of Alek, and was specializing in materials recovery and conservation; while Alek specialized in skeletal analysis and anthropology. At the time Mac had been offering intern slots on his boat for a reasonable fee so Alek had jumped at the chance to get hands on experience from one of the best known research and recovery captains in the field before she was regulated to a sterile lab for the remainder of her university career. While she had been vaguely familiar with Jason's face from a few shared classes and the university library, (seriously with Jason's looks and adorable lop-sided grin she'd have to have been blind or made of stone not to be), he had been slightly taken aback by the frankly gorgeous young woman who stumbled aboard his godfathers boat packing a small mountain of charts, research equipment, and specimen containers.
"Are you helping deliver equipment for someone?" he'd blurted awkwardly, not believing for a moment this clumsy albeit gorgeous young woman would willingly choose to spend several weeks crammed up with a half dozen rough and tumble research/sailors. Besides, Mac had a reputation for not being the most patient man, especially where the safety and well-being of his beloved boat, (not to mention godson) were concerned. Jason couldn't bring himself to believe Mac would knowingly allow a young woman who couldn't seem to cross the deck with her own gear spend the entire summer with them on his beloved boat.
'Please don't let this be one of those sexist guys who think women are shite at science' Alek had groaned internally, sending a silent plea to whichever deity might be listening. Dumping the majority of the equipment and containers into the weather proof storage bins on deck bearing the number she'd been assigned in the information packet sent by her department, Alek hefted her seamans bag a bit higher on her shoulder with a sigh before sticking her hand out to the flustered young man. "Hello," she flashed him her brightest smile. "I'm one of the new interns. Are you a crewman, or student?"
At the sound of her husky voice, Jason's breath momentarily hitched as his lungs temporarily forgot to keep up with his brain. 'Bloody hell, she's beautiful', he thought, taking in the long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, the luscious full lips, and a golden hued complexion that reminded him of the people he saw in the villages along the Aegean that Mac always visited during their summer dive work. Realizing she was scrutinizing him as frankly as he was her, Jason ducked his head embarrassed, "Yeah, my name's Jason. I'm Macs' senior intern", he stammered, trying to catch up on the thread of conversation, "I was told to be on the lookout for Alex?" "It's actually 'Alek' with a 'k' short for Alekto," she corrected, handing him the personal info packet that had been included with her intern application. "Its Greek f—" "For 'unceasing' right?" Jason interrupted, taking the finished packet and giving her an adorable lop-sided grin. Alekto blinked then shook herself internally, 'that smile should come with a warning label' she thought to herself warily, "Yeah, I was named for my grand-mother. Mum says Nona is as stubborn as a bulldog when she sets her mind to something; she almost never gives up." "Are you as tenacious as your grandmother then?" Jason asked, unable to curb the strange curiosity the brunette beauty had aroused. Alek smiled in spite of herself, "More so than I like to admit." She chuckled, eyes twinkling with amusement. Trying to ignore the slightly weird tingle she was causing in his stomach, Jason held open the door to the lower decks of the boat, stooping to pick up the Seaman's' bag that Alekto had let slide off her shoulder.
"Let me get that for you" he insisted when Alekto started to automatically reach for the bag, "It's a bit of an obstacle course down here at the moment. Mac leaves it up to me and the other interns to sort out all the equipment and gear at the start of every dive season. He says it's easier doing things that way than having to take the time to explain where everything is before every dive." "Are the others already here, or am I the first to arrive?" Alek asked relinquishing the bag and following Jason down the passageway. "It's just us two this trip" Jason replied over his shoulder as he lead the way down the steps and into the cramped hallway below deck, "Mac is helping out a friend from the Maritime Archaeology Trust with the Bouldnor Cliff site off the Isle of Wight. Since it's a favor and there's not going to be any recovery for profit, he couldn't afford to take on more than one student." Alek arched a delicate brow at him, "Then why am I here, if he can only afford one student this trip?"
Jason dropped his head down toward his chest, his unruly curls falling forward to cover the faint blush that stained his cheeks, "Well, you see I don't really count. Mac's my godfather so I'm with him on the boat every summer anyway." By this time, Jason had stopped at a door about halfway down the passage. Opening the door, he motioned Alek in ahead of him before setting the bag he carried on one of the two stacks of double bunks. Other than the beds, the only other furniture was four metal lockers like the ones usually found in a gym or secondary school. Looking around the room and then at Alek with a slight frown on his face, Jason ducked his head and sighed, "I don't want to sound like a prat, honestly," he said considering Alek cautiously, "but you see, nobody realized you were a girl—Mac's never had a girl apply for one of his spots before, and well…see…we're not really set up for a division of the sexes, so…" He trailed off watching Alek carefully like he half expected her to explode at him. "I suppose the only solution is for you to take the interns cabin and I'll kip with Mac." he finished in a rush.
"Nonsense," Alek replied blandly, one brow arched as she regarded him curiously, "are you some sort of closet pervert? No? Then I see no reason why two grown professional adults should have a problem sharing a room" she told him firmly. "I mean it's not like we're going to be sharing a bed, and I'm sure showering schedules can be arranged so that no one need be embarrassed. Besides, Captain Mac must have known I was female when he accepted my application for this term; at least I was told the final decision rested with him, so what's the problem? I can trust you can't I?" Alek smiled good naturedly to take any sting out of her words. "Of course you can trust me!" Jason exclaimed, his eyes widening like a lost puppies and looking slightly affronted that he might be considered untrustworthy around anyone much less a woman. After a moment's reflection, Jason decided she had a point. Mac had chosen her application from the two dozen or more he'd received from the department head last term, so there must obviously be more to her than had first appeared to the brunette young man. Shrugging, he decided to just roll with the situation; after all how bad could it possibly be? "Ok, if you're sure," he replied, "now would you like a tour of the rest of the boat? We still have a couple of hours before we disembark so now would be the best time to get it out of the way." Alek nodded, following him back out into the passageway.
They wandered about the boat, Jason showing Alek the mini sub with its reticulated arms used for recovering sunken artifacts, the small lab used to do any initial analysis required, the tiny infirmary, the bathroom facilities, and finally winding up in the galley. When they reached the minuscule kitchen off the dining area, Jason gave Alek a small rather nervous smile, "I should warn you now; we're each expected to take a turn at making dinner. A few of the guys are pretty decent cooks; I'm not too bad at things like bangers and mash, or shepherd's pie and Mac can make the best burgers around, but anything more complicated than that I wouldn't recommend trying, at least not if Mac or I are doing the cooking."
Alek brightened, she might not be a sailor, but here at least she was on firm ground. Her Nona had insisted Alekto learn how to properly cook before going off to university, reasoning that at least then she needn't worry about her granddaughter starving or living on takeaway all the time. "Tell you what," Alek offered the brunette young man, "I'll take my turn tonight making dinner while there's nothing relatively exciting going on, then after dinner you can tell me more about the dig we'll be exploring and what types of artifacts will likely be recovered." Jason tried to protest "That'd be great but you really don't have to; most people need some time to settle in their first time out—from the seasickness I mean. I know I did" he admitted honestly. "I've been on a ship before," Alek assured him, "I went on a cruise liner last summer as a bride's maid for one of my friends. Besides it'll give me a chance to get familiar with your kitchen and I might even be persuaded to make dessert." she coaxed. Jason's eyes lit up at the mention of dessert even as he tried to assure her that cooking her first night aboard wasn't necessary. "Really its fine," she assured him, "the sooner I get acquainted with your stove the better for all our pallets." "Alright you've got a deal," Jason agreed readily, "I'll show you where everything is and if you need help, I'll be just out in the dining area finishing up some charts for Mac." Jason showed Alek the big walk-in freezer and pantry, pointing out how all the various drawers, cabinets, and cupboards were labeled with its particular contents. Leaning a hip against the galley door, Jason watched the young woman bustle around the small kitchen space accustoming herself to where everything was located before he slipped out to work on the charts and topography maps Mac would need later.
Alek went about opening drawers and cabinets noting with pleasure that even though it wasn't a large vessel, the ships galley was well stocked with everything a nutritious albeit simple diet needed to provide for hungry sailors. Deciding nothing curbed hunger like her mum's carb and protein laden spaghetti and meatballs; she quickly set about combining ground beef, turkey, eggs and assorted spices in a mixing bowl. After rolling out about four dozen meatballs, she washed her hands and then put on a stockpot of water to boil along with a dash of salt before starting the first couple dozen meatballs in a large iron skillet. That done, she quickly mixed a container of garlic butter then sliced thick slices of crusty French bread slathering each one with the garlic spread and placing it on a cookie sheet to toast later. Turning the sizzling meatballs, she moved next to chop up mixed fresh greens, feta and tomatoes for a salad tossing it with a simple vinaigrette dressing. Finished with the salad, she carefully removed the first skillet full of meatballs placing them in a colander set over paper towels to drain away the excess grease before popping the remaining meatballs into the hot skillet. Noticing the water boiling, she dropped the noodles into the pot before covering it with a lid and lowering the temperature slightly.
Now it was time to start thinking about dessert. Reasoning that everyone loved chocolate, Alek set about whipping up a batch of brownies, then just to be on the safe side she put together a mixed berry fruit tart from frozen berries she found in the freezer. Sliding the brownies and tart into the oven, she gave the spaghetti a quick stir and then scooped the last of the meatballs into the strainer to drain before sliding the skillet off the burner. Unfortunately there wasn't time for homemade sauce but hopefully no one would mind too much. Transferring the meatballs into a pot she poured canned sauce over them and turned the burner on low just to keep them warm. Her nose told her it was time to check the dessert, peaking into the oven she checked the brownies and found them firm to the touch as well as the tart being golden brown and bubbly; quickly sliding them both out to cool on a counter, she popped in the garlic bread to toast.
She was just tossing the noodles with some olive oil when Jason poked his head in the galley door with an appreciative sniff, "That smells absolutely amazing!" Alek laughed, like any good cook she was pleased when her efforts were appreciated. "Good because it's nearly done. Can you call everyone while I finish this up?" Jason hit the boats intercom near the door. "Hey Mac," [Yeah Jas…What's up?] "Dinner's ready". There was a pause, [Shepherd's pie again?] "Nah, the new intern cooked." Jason grinned mischievously at Alek. [On my way] They heard a ship wide announcement that dinner was in the galley dining area for anyone who wanted it.
"Come on we better get all this out there, the crew will be in here in shifts as they finish up loading equipment." Jason told Alek, grabbing the pot of pasta and meatballs. Between the two of them they got everything on the long dining table before Mac or any of the crew arrived. Alek was setting the last plate down when Mac came into the room. She quickly introduced herself and shook Mac's hand before taking the chair Jason held out for her. He and Jason both complimented her on the meal, though Jason seemed particularly pleased with the tart and brownies. Mac grinned fondly at his godson "Even when he was a lad, Jason always loved dessert more than anything." "Mac!" Jason hissed going a bit red in the face. "What?" the older man replied innocently, "It's true, dessert bribery was the only way I could get you to eat a vegetable, and even that didn't get you to eat your string beans."
Jason blushed deeper as he rose from the table and began clearing the dirty dishes in preparation for the next shift of hungry crewmen. "Nothing is worth string beans," He mumbled to himself though Alek still heard him. "I feel your pain" she whispered quietly as she started to help clear the table, "Nona was forever trying to get me to eat lima beans!" Jason grinned when he noticed the grimace on her face, "So how'd she get you to eat them?" "She gave me a choice between them or boiled spinach!" Alek replied with disgust. Mac, who'd been sitting and watching the two young people, snorted into his glass at the twin looks of horror on their faces "Wish I'd have thought of that" he muttered. "Nah, Mac, you're not that devious" Jason said, flashing Alek another one of his adorable lop-sided grins. Alek ducked her head and returned the smile. This was gonna be a great summer, she could just feel it.
