Date : 29.04.2009
Title : The Fate Series : Part 1 - A Touch of Fate
Author : ElaineDex
Chapter : 1 of ?
Rating : M
Pairings : Lt. Colonel John Sheppard/OC
Major Evan Lorne/OC
Warnings : Some Sexual Content, Romance, Angst, Maybe Some Strong Language.
Feedback : Yes please, always welcome whatever it may be.
Disclaimer : Dr. Ellie Harrison, and any O/C's are mine. Lyssa Hunter belongs to Kazavid and is from her Atlantis stories Behind The Mask and Reunions. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.
Summary : AU : Lorne is gone for good this time and Ellie must move on with her life. There'll be no second chances this time, no way around them being parted…or is there…and is that what Ellie really wants?
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A/N : My O/C's are in this story quite predominantly at one point and I do apologise for that, but I felt it necessary for the series to work. Hopefully though, you'll like them enough to continue to read on and enjoy what they're getting up to! There are of course all the old favourites in here and a newbie or two…oh and remember…forget the Ellie and Lorne's of the past, this is another AU :)
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"Are you sure that she's good to come back to Atlantis?" Lt. Colonel John Sheppard asked of Dr Daniel Jackson as they stood in the control room above the SGC's gate room.
Daniel looked down at his friend and colleague, Dr Ellie Lorne, who was stood on the gate ramp with her suitcases, waiting patiently to be beamed aboard the Daedalus.
He sighed deeply and shrugged.
"Its been nine months now since the Major was killed out there and physically she's doing fine. I mean, don't get me wrong, when she came back here a month or so after the funeral she was a complete wreck, but her work is back up to scratch now and I know that on your journey back to Atlantis she's looking forward to fitting and trying out the crystal that she has created," he said and Sheppard rubbed his chin worriedly and glanced down at the petite brunette.
"I still cant believe that Caldwell is letting her do that," Sheppard said and Daniel smiled,
"I think anything that would make the Daedalus quicker than the Odyssey would catch Caldwell's interest."
Sheppard nodded then said, "What about emotionally? How's Ellie doing…really?" he asked and Daniel removed his glasses and pinched at the bridge of his nose before replying,
"She still has her moments, but this is Ellie and Lorne that we're talking about here…they were like Rachel and Ross and now its over, for good."
"Rachel and who?" Sheppard asked, looking back at Daniel inquisitively.
"You don't watch Friends?"
Sheppard shook his head, "No. You do….obviously…"
"Well…on occasion…Vala likes it…," Daniel said, clearing his throat as General Landry bustled into the room, Walter following behind.
"Colonel, Doctor," he greeted them.
"Sir," Sheppard and Daniel replied in unison.
Landry turned to the window and looked down at Ellie and the couple of other people who had now gathered around her to wait for beam-up.
"You people good to go then? Colonel Caldwell is getting twitchy up there," he said and Sheppard bent and picked up his rucksack from off of the floor by his feet.
Daniel looked to Sheppard, thinking that only he could now stop Ellie's return to Atlantis.
Sheppard sighed and said,
"Yeah Sir, I think we're ready."
"Good, well, get yourself down there then I can give the all clear," Landry replied and Sheppard nodded.
He glanced at Daniel and was about to move toward the door when Daniel said,
"Make sure you look after her John."
Sheppard looked over his shoulder and replied,
"I will…we all will," and then he went down to the gate room and took his place next to Ellie on the ramp.
She looked up at him and smiled, but he noted that the smile did not reach her eyes and it saddened him to think that the lively sparkle that she had once had might never come back.
He watched as she waved to Daniel and Landry and then the air around them grew fuzzy and then they were aboard the Daedalus.
OoOoOoO
Lyssa Hunter placed her hands on her slim hips and glanced around her best friends quarters with a keen eye.
She was looking for anything that might upset Ellie when she arrived back there for the first time since Lorne's death.
She had already split the couple's clothing up and put Lorne's things into a wardrobe on their own. Ellie could deal with them when she felt ready to, but for now they needed to stay well out of her sight.
She saw Lorne's easel and a box of paints by the balcony doors and realised that she needed to put them out of the way too and she crossed the room and reached for the easel.
Her breath caught as she turned it and saw that the canvas held a half-finished painting of Ellie.
Tears pooled in her eyes as it hit home and not for the first time, that Lorne was actually gone and the beautiful portrait of his wife would never be finished.
A flash of rage at the Wraith for taking her friend from them had Lyssa swiping at her tears angrily and she gritted her teeth as she put the easel, canvas and paint box into the wardrobe along with Lorne's clothes.
As she straightened, she spotted a framed photograph from Ellie and Lorne's wedding and she crossed to the table it sat on and picked it up, sighing deeply as she did so.
Just then a deep voice said,
"How's it going?," and Lyssa looked up to see Major Frank Statham observing her.
He was leaning casually against the doorway, his arms folded across his chest and his head cocked to one side as he regarded her.
Frank was SGA-2's new leader and had been so now for some eight months. He was from the UK, a Londoner to be precise and Lyssa liked him.
He couldn't replace Lorne in everyone's hearts of course, but their team had needed a new leader and the SGC had deemed him the right man for the job.
He was tall, his dark hair cut so short that you almost couldn't see it and he had a nice, easy smile and his hazel eyes were full of a mischief that Lyssa found quite amusing yet sexy all at the same time.
"I think I'm about done…I'm just not sure what to do with this," she replied, holding up the photo frame and Statham pushed away from the doorway and crossed the room toward her.
He took the frame from her and looked at the photograph inside.
"So this is our teams' Doc," he said, his statement more of an observation than a question and Lyssa nodded.
"She looks….nice…" he offered, his first thoughts being that he did not find the brunette in the photograph attractive and he cleared his throat, aware that under the circumstances his thoughts were not at all appropriate, but that was just the way his mind worked with women.
He wished it wasn't so….he was basically a good guy, but he loved women and they seemed to love him…for the most part.
He was a ladies man. He knew that, everyone knew that and people could choose to like him or hate him for that fact…he didn't really care.
He wasn't the settling down type, never had been, never would be and as long as the women that he got 'involved' with were well aware of this then he didn't have any problems…or at least he hadn't up to now.
He smiled at Lyssa as she took the photograph from him.
It hadn't taken the Calestrian long to figure him out once they had started working together and despite Lyssa's disapproval of his choice of lifestyle and her ignoring his best attempts to come on to her, they had become good friends over the last few months and he knew that she was missing Ellie and Major Lorne.
"Did you ever work with Lorne on earth?" Lyssa asked, crossing to the sofa, the photograph still in her hands and Statham shook his head.
"I knew of him, but no, I never met the guy."
"Ellie adored him and he her. I don't know how she's going to cope when she gets back here," Lyssa said and Statham moved to sit next to her and he put a strong arm around her shoulders.
"Well, she'll have you…," he said, his hand closing over hers so that he could angle the photograph to get another look at it.
Ellie, to him, looked way too much like the girl next door, especially in the ivory wedding dress and veil with her hair all curly and adorned with baby pink roses. She made a beautiful bride, there was no doubt about that, but she just didn't do it for him.
He preferred a woman who knew exactly what to do to a man, a woman who had long legs that could wrap themselves around him and….
He blinked to clear his thoughts as he realised that Lyssa was glaring at him.
"Don't you get any ideas about Ellie. She's off limits you hear!" she told him, mis-reading the far away expression he had been wearing and he shook his head.
"Trust me…she's not…I mean…she's a widow, what do you take me for?" he replied, trying to sound outraged, but Lyssa kept her eyes narrowed at him for a moment or two before saying,
"Hmm, well, just remember that when she arrives."
"No problem," he said.
Just then Lyssa's ear-piece buzzed.
It was Teyla.
"I just thought that you would like to know that Chuck just informed me that the Daedalus is around an hour away from the city," she said and Lyssa shot up from the sofa, leaving Statham looking rather perplexed.
"Ellie's crystal worked!" she exclaimed and Statham looked at her with a frown upon his face.
"What?" he asked and Lyssa scrunched her face up at him as she tapped her ear-piece.
"Thanks Teyla," she said into it and Statham nodded in understanding as he realised that she was talking to someone else.
"Ellie has been developing a crystal…she told me about it in her emails. She said it would hopefully cut the travelling time from earth to here down to three weeks instead of six and that she had persuaded Colonel Caldwell to let her try it out on the Daedalus and it looks like it worked!" Lyssa said sounding excited and Statham stood and folded his arms.
"So our Doc is just as clever as McKay?" he asked, sounding thoughtful and Lyssa nodded, placing the photo frame back onto the table.
"Oh yeah, Ellie is great," Lyssa enthused and Statham smiled.
"Good…"
"Good?" Lyssa asked, regarding him and Statham nodded.
"Yeah…I kind of have this thing that I want my team to be just as famous as SGA-1", he replied and Lyssa placed her hands on her hips indignantly and said,
"We already are…we just haven't gotten ourselves into as much trouble as they have yet!"
"Yet?" Statham asked warily and Lyssa grinned.
"My partner in crime is on her way back and we have catching up to do," she informed him and Statham groaned.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to have my work cut out controlling you two?" he asked and Lyssa shrugged innocently.
"Come on, lets go get some food before the Daedalus arrives," she said, heading for the door and Statham pushed himself up from the sofa and followed her.
OoOoOo
Ellie stared out of one of the Daedalus' mess hall windows, her eyes taking in the magnificence of Atlantis way below them.
She was looking forward to seeing Lyssa and her other friends again, but she knew that being back on Atlantis once again would bring back some very bitter sweet memories of her late husband.
The city would not be the same without Lorne's presence around its hallways.
She sighed deeply, starting when Sheppard said from behind her,
"Hey, how's our star scientist?"
Ellie smiled and shook her head.
"Don't ever let Rodney hear you call me that," she scolded and Sheppard folded his arms and bumped her with his shoulder.
They had spent quite a bit of time together on their three weeks aboard the Daedalus, more due to the fact that there was little else to do on the journey back to Atlantis save from talking and watching DVD's.
"I wont tell him if you don't," he said and Ellie linked arms with him and leant her head against his shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked, frowning as they looked out of the window and she nodded.
"Just a little nervous I guess…it wont be the same down there without Evan."
Sheppard sighed and rested his chin against the top of her head.
"You'll get there Ellie," he said and she closed her eyes against the tears that always threatened whenever anyone said anything remotely comforting to her.
"I know…" she whispered.
They stood in silence until Caldwell's voice came across the ships intercom system.
"Could all personnel beaming down to the city please make their way to the bridge."
"That would be us," Sheppard said and Ellie cleared her throat and raised her head.
"Here goes then," she said and Sheppard smiled.
"To infinity and beyond."
Ellie shook her head.
"You really like those Toy Story movies don't you," she said as they headed for the mess hall doorway.
Sheppard shrugged,
"I have to get Ronon to watch those…I can just see his face when…"
Ellie tuned out as he went into re-living movie mode, her mind focusing instead on how things would be once she settled back into life on Atlantis…
End of Chapter 1
