Author: RowenaR

Rating: T

Category: crossover, romance

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: No one ever thought MSgt Simon DeLisle would just disappear on his team... and now he did. What are Maj Thomas Moore, Capt Laura Greenspan and 1stLt Maureen Reece saying to that? SG10 is back! \o/

A/N: Yay, new Minor Characters fic! However, not betaed by mackenziesmomma because she decided her schedule allows her to beta one series (that would be Protect and Survive) and that makes a lot of sense (and she said she'll keep pitching ideas and killing plot bunnies with me \o/). So, in essence, I'm looking for a new beta for Minor Characters. If anyone is interested, just drop me a line :)

Also, if you stumble across a just vaguely familiar name... maybe go back to reading Take Charge again ;)

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.

Minor Characters: Lies, Lies, Lies

"You're moving too fast for me
And I can't keep up with you
Maybe if you slowed down for me
I could see you're only telling
Lies, lies, lies
Breaking us down with your
Lies, lies, lies."

Glen Hansard, "Lies"

One

DeLisle

God, sometimes I really hate my life. Like… now, for example. The funny thing is: I should be celebrating – in my head, at least. Feeling smug would also be an appropriate response. But all I feel is… horrible. And angry. Mostly at myself, by the way, even though there are a lot of other targets I could direct my anger at. But it always comes down to this: it was solely my choice to do this, so no use in blaming others for my misfortune.

Also… I know a lot of people who'd call my current predicament anything but unfortunate. Once upon a time… I used to be one of them.

"Hey, Sy, would you mind paying some attention here?" Yep, once upon a time… the only thing I'd have done now would have been grin at her – Catalina Mercedes Noruega – and oblige her happily. Now… I also grin and oblige her. But I'm anything but happy.

"Sorry, Tali… got a lot of things on my mind right now." At least I didn't have to lie outright. Doesn't quite make up for the circa million other lies that got me here but yeah… makes me feel just a little better. And makes it easier to bear kissing her now.

Don't get me wrong, Catalina Noruega is a good kisser… and still a looker. If it were just about her physical appearance and her qualities as a lover, I absolutely wouldn't mind having to do this. However… I was kind of ordered – let's not say "blackmailed" because that's such an ugly word – to do this and also… our last thing didn't quite end well. "Sy! Do I really have to bring out the big guns to make you pay me the attention I deserve?"

Uh-oh. That might have sounded silky-smooth – and damn, my stupid body still reacts with a flutter deep in my stomach to that special kind of tone – but it usually means she's starting to get annoyed enough that it's becoming dangerous. Okay, time to dig out the guy I hardly get to be anymore.

I give her a smirk I know to be cocky… one of the things I could always count on securing me the attention of every woman in the room. Which I only realized after someone – Noruega, to be precise – pointed it out to me. "Far as I know, my gun always used to be the biggest one." Dammit, this really isn't me. Used to be me, maybe ten years ago, but years with CIA and Black Ops made that guy disappear and I really don't feel comfortable with him anymore.

"Yeah, well, used to be being the operative word. I'd really like to see if you have something to show for those big words." Okay, fine, that's it. I might be here on quasi orders, I might have some bad memories of our thing… but I won't let anyone accuse me of being a show-off. Growling, I bend down to kiss her again, with some real vigor now, while starting to undress her. And all the while I'm trying to tell myself that I don't feel ashamed or like… I'm betraying my team. Betraying Laura.

Greenspan

Alright, I've had it. Two weeks since Dee went away and Tom's still sulking, unlike Maureen and I. And dammit, we have as much reason to sulk as he has but apparently, we have a brain and he doesn't. Because to us it's pretty clear that there's something fishy with Dee's disappearance and we were both able to get beyond the initial feelings of confusion and hurt and also anger but Tom… I don't think I've ever seen him crankier than the last two weeks.

He's trying to pretend that Dee's disappearance didn't faze him but I know him better. And I feel insulted because… did he really think he could get anything past me? Did he really think I'm stupid enough not to realize what the whole thing did to him? Dammit, I know Dee and he are friends – yes, are, because I'm sure Dee's somewhere out there, probably in trouble and definitely not because he just had a funny notion he wanted to follow – and I also know that there are things binding them together not even Tom and I share.

Maybe they never talked about it but as long as I know Dee, I always had a feeling that Tom wouldn't be who he is and what he is if it hadn't be for his ever faithful Sergeant. Actually… I think Tom wouldn't even be alive without. And Tom really thinks I don't notice how much Dee's disappearance got to him?

I snort and that makes Maureen look up from the book she'd been reading. She just raises her eyebrows, as if to ask what's the matter and I sigh. We came home from a mission two hours ago and it had been rather trying, seeing as we never really managed to get along with the Sergeant they gave us to replace Dee for this mission. Granted, we didn't even give him the chance to become a part of the team, even if it was just for the mission but… I guess we all just miss Dee too much.

And since we came home, we've both been trying to relax and unwind with a book in front of the fireplace but I for my part… was anything but successful. I take a deep breath but Maureen's faster. "In case you've just been fretting over the Major and Dee's disappearance: yes, I also think it's about time we do something about it."

Sometimes… she can be really scary. I can try and tell myself that it's natural for people living together to develop a notion about how the other thinks all I want but all I come back to is: she must be psychic. She has to be. There's no other way of how to explain how she does that thing. "Do you, by any chance, also happen to have an idea what we can do about it?"

Did I just sound a little too bitchy? Judging from her face… yeah, I did. But it's really getting at me. I miss Dee, as a team member and as a… person, and I can't stand seeing Tom being miserable – really miserable, I mean, not just in a huff – and I want my team to be whole again. Maureen now shuts her book and puts it away. "As a matter of fact… yes, I do." Uh… really? "Well, kind of."

"Care to elaborate?" Okay, maybe I should cut back a little on the snarling. She does look a little irritated… and if I irritate her further, she might decide not to tell me whatever her idea was after all.

"Yeah, well, see… we're both certain Dee disappeared for a reason, right?" I nod. "And we both think that Major Moore is wrong in his assumption that he betrayed the team, right?" I nod again. So far, I know all of that already. "So… maybe… he'll start listening to us when we can prove it to him Dee didn't commit a crime?"

Right. As if. Seriously, if Tom has set his mind on something, he won't step back from it. He's been like this for his entire life now, so I don't think I or Maureen or anyone else can change it. "Maureen… that's not how Tom's mind works." She raises her eyebrow again. "If he's convinced that Dee betrayed the team, Dee betrayed the team. No amount of 'proof' will be able to convince him of the opposite."

She bites her lip and then says matter-of-factly, "He was convinced that he wanted me gone, too."

Damn. Good point. Really, really good point. He really was and it was hard to make him change that decision. But change it, he did. Damn, damn, damn. "Alright, fine. That was one time when he did change his mind. That doesn't mean he'll do it again."

She just shrugs, trying to look like my obstinacy doesn't bother her. "We'll never see if we don't try it."

Goddam… she's right. Of course she's right. I'm starting to see what Tom means when he grumbles about "her fucking logic"… and I sigh. "Alright, fine. How do we go about it?"

Biting her lip again, she says, "Well… I was hoping that… you might have an idea." Is she… is that… a sheepish little grin?

Oh well. Good to know that apparently I'm still needed. Because, let's face it, they'd all be lost without me. Making a show of rolling my eyes, I put my book aside as well – it was a bit boring, anyway – and say, "I… might have an idea," and that's not even a lie. I might indeed have an idea…