A/N - This story is the first of Project Generation 2 that focuses on a minor character from the series and an original character, these being Kate Heightmeyer and Nathan Baxter. I wrote this at around the same time as I wrote 'The Bonding', but I couldn't post it until I'd introduced Nathan.
According to what little timeline I have been able to work out for my stories, this happens sometime in 2008.
Kate Heightmeyer belongs to TPTB of SGA and Nathan Baxter still belongs to my best friend.
Please read and review!
Oh and if anyone has been confused by the jumping around and the lack of some events that have been referred to, I am very sorry. I am not very good at writing things in order and also at finishing the longer stories before I write other, smaller ones. Just bear with me, please. Also if anyone wants to suggest a name for the poor nameless helmsman of the Phoenix, go ahead. I referred to him in this story and in New Orders, but I haven't given him a name. I just can't think of one for him...
Anyway... on with the story!
Nathan Baxter could count the times he'd spoken to Atlantis's psychiatrist on one hand. But when he had, he'd been intrigued. So intrigued in fact, that the next time he was in Atlantis he asked her if she wanted to have a drink with him. Kate had declined, explaining that she had too much work to do.
Not to be discouraged, though, he asked again the next time the Phoenix stopped off at Atlantis and got virtually the same response.
The next time he was in the city he was too busy to ask her and was surprised when she sought him out instead. Unfortunately for the both of them he didn't have the time and had to use her excuse.
Neither of them saw each other for months but inexplicably their thoughts often strayed to one another.
Kate's thoughts especially strayed to the fate of the Phoenix's captain when word reached Atlantis that a medical emergency had been declared aboard ship. The fact that word came that there were casualties and that the message came from the helmsman had worried many, including Kate.
When the Phoenix arrived, only days later, landing down on one of the piers, Kate was one of the first to make her way there, waiting as Doctors Beckett, Keller, Cameron and Biro made sure that the crew was sufficiently decontaminated.
Anxiously she watched as various crew members disembarked, growing ever more anxious when Nathan wasn't among them.
Finally, exiting his ship, Nathan made his way down the ramp, looking tired but no worse for wear.
Kate didn't hesitate before running to him, engulfing him in a hug. Nathan was taken aback, but not wholly unhappy with the situation. As abruptly as she hugged him, she pulled away, a blush colouring her cheeks.
"I was worried," she offered in explanation. Nathan nodded and they began to walk back towards the city. A thought came to his mind and he looked at Kate mischievously.
"Fancy having that drink now?" he asked. Kate looked surprised for a moment before bursting out in laughter, which inevitably set Nathan off and they laughed their way back to the city.
-fin-
