Something to Prove
by Dream Painter
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DISCLAIMER: In case anyone might wonder--Stargate Atlantis is not mine, nor (coincidentally) are the characters. The storyline is mine, however, and any similarity to any other fic is purely unintentional.
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Chapter One
Major Evan Lorne was standing idly near the gate room, leaning against a door frame.
"Major," a familiar voice asked, "what are you doing here? I thought you were heading to your quarters."
"Cadman," he said without having to look at the woman to verify her identity. "Haven't you had enough of me? We were stuck on that planet for a week."
"Yeah, well I was on my way to talk to Dr. Weir," Laura told him. "You still didn't answer my question, sir."
"Ah—what am I doing here? There's a new shipment of recruits coming through from Earth any minute and one of them's gonna end up on our team, so I was just waiting for them. The poor bastards," he gave his 2IC a wry smile, "no amount of training could possibly prepare them for what they'll face here. If the wraith don't get to 'em, something in the city probably will, and if not that, they're sure to piss off one of the scientists eventually."
"I know what you mean," the lieutenant grinned. Their last team member had lasted all of four months. He'd been contracted for a year. "I think it was Kavanaugh who finally did Bryant in... or was it the food on M7G-669?" Evan laughed.
"Maybe it was both." The gate activated and Chuck confirmed Earth's IDC a few moments later. Then the recruits started pouring through.
"Sure beats having to come on the Daedalus," Cadman noted. Evan liked watching the looks on peoples' faces when they first came to Atlantis. Always, there was a mixture of awe, surprise, and respect. Some reactions were better than others—like the one time a young scientist came through and fainted at "the wonder of it all." Everyone finally got through and Weir and some others were greeting them. Evan turned to leave.
That's when he saw him.
His short brown hair looked as though he'd just combed it once and left it, his stride was confident—almost too confident—and the corner of his mouth had a tendancy to quirk a little before he smiled. He was smiling now, the little punk. In that moment, as the younger man walked towards him, Evan wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling, but it was intense. One thing he knew, he didn't want that guy to be here.
"Marcus," Evan said when he stood face to face with him. Laura looked from one to the other in surprise. Marcus' grin got bigger.
"Hi, brother."
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