Summary: The nineteen questions that built up their relationship, and the single question that sealed the deal. Lorne/Cadman fluff.
Warnings: 'Duet' is mentioned briefly, but otherwise theres nothing.
Author's Note: Well, this is my first foray into the world of Stargate Atlantis fan fiction, so feedback is much appreciated! Un beta'd, so all mistakes are my own.
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis doesn't belong to me, had never belonged to me and I'm positive it will never belong to me. Sad, really.
Twenty Questions.
One..
"Mind if I sit here?" Lieutenant Laura Cadman asked, nodding to the free seat next to the man.
"Not at all," He smiled, gesturing for her to sit down.
"I'm Laura Cadman by the way, Lieutenant Laura Cadman." She introduced herself before digging into her dinner.
"Major Evan Lorne." He replied with a slightly lopsided smile.
Laura put down her fork, and moved to salute. She had been trained to respect senior officers, and here she was, savaging her food right in front of one without bothering to salute, or anything.
"Don't bother," Evan smiled. "I'm off duty."
Laura nodded. "Alright then sir. What do you think of Atlantis so far?"
"It's a hell of a lot better than Afghanistan." Evan replied.
"That's until you come across the evil space vampires." Laura grinned. She was enjoying telling every newbie about the Wraith, or 'evil space vampires', and yes, she was exaggerating the stories beyond all recognition.
"Evil space vampires?" Evan raised an eyebrow.
Laura nodded. "Yeah, they like, suck the life outta you with their hands sir. Its creepy."
To annunciate her point, she was a claw like shape with her free right hand, and moved it in what was hopefully a menacing way.
Evan couldn't help but laugh. "I have to see one of these things, just to see if they do that."
"Do what?" Laura looked at her hand. "That is actually a very passable impression of a Wraith."
"I'll take your word for it." Evan smiled, and looked like he was about to continue before his ear-piece buzzed to life.
"Major, its Dr Berkeley. Could you come up to the Jumper bay please?"
"Yes ma'am." Evan said, nodding, although the scientist couldn't hear him.
"Duty calls?"
"'Fraid so." Evan nodded. "Nice talking to you Lieutenant."
"You too sir."
Two…
"Will you join my team?" Evan asked.
"Sorry?" Laura paused with a bottle of water halfway to her lips. "What did you say?"
"I'm getting my own team, and I wanna know if you'll be on it." Evan repeated his question. "So, will you?"
"Sure you can handle having a marine on your team?" Laura grinned, the momentary shook of Evan request passing.
Evan rolled his eyes. "I'm going to regret asking you, aren't I?"
"Just 'cause I'll kick more Wraith ass than you, sir." Laura replied with a teasing smirk.
"Yeah, that's it. I'm taking it back, I don't want you on my team."
"No take back's, sir."
"How does that even apply here?"
"No take back's applies to every situation Major, everyone knows that."
Evan laughed. He loved the easy banter that had developed between him and Laura in the past few weeks. Ever since she had sat with him in the mess hall, they had spent a lot more time together, and become.. Well, friends.
"How could I forget that?" Evan said, pretending to be disappointed with himself.
"Shameful, really sir." Laura agreed. "So, when's the first mission?"
"Briefing at 1700." Evan answered. "Don't be late."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Laura said, swinging her gear bag over her shoulder. "Flyboy."
"Jarhead!" Evan retorted. The inter-service rivalry had started..
Three..
"Autobot's or Decepticon's?" Laura inquired as they walked over the marshy grass of MX3-something or other.
"I never really watched Transformers." Evan replied.
"What? You totally missed out there sir." Laura couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't watch transformers. Okay, maybe she was a little obsessed..
"I loved Marvel comics." Evan said after a pause.
"Oh, lemme guess. Ironman?" Laura guessed.
"Who else? I mean, it's one of the only superhero's that could actually exist."
"What about batman?!" Laura asked, annoyed Evan had forgotten that hero.
"C'mon Cadman. I thought you had better taste." Evan said.
Laura looked at him, her green eyes practically boring a hole in his head. "What's that supposed to mean, sir?"
"Well, Iron Man actually invented his suit and everything. Batman got someone else to do it." Evan explained.
Laura sighed, blowing a piece of strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes. "That's only in the movies. In the comics, he does it himself."
"Yeah, but Iron Man still has a better suit." Evan argued.
"I don't know you." Laura said bluntly.
"What is an Iron man?"
A child's voice stopped their argument in its tracks, and they both looked around for the source. A little boy was standing in the shelter of a cluster of tree's, staring at Laura, Evan and the rest of the team intently.
"Sorry kid, what was that?"
"What is an iron man?" The child repeated his question solemnly.
Laura was the first to break, her giggles erupting with a snort, Evan following, along with the rest of A-2.
They really had to stop talking about superhero's off-world..
Four..
"You were stuck in McKay's head?" Evan said, barely holding back a snort.
Laura nodded, pulling a face. "Not an experience I want to repeat.""You were stuck in McKay's head?!" Evan didn't bother holding back his laughter this time, and the sound filled the quiet infirmary.
"Yes, we established that flyboy." Laura snapped.
"Oh, that is too funny." Evan said, slightly breathless.
"Not for me! I was stuck in Rodney McKay's body. I might be scarred for life after this!"
"I'm sure you learnt some valuable things." Evan teased.
"Yeah, I learnt that you are the most un-sympathetic person, ever." Laura retorted.
"It's not my fault. I've never shared McKay's body with him." Evan said, trying to put on a serious face. He lasted about three seconds before dissolving into laughter again.
"I hate you." Laura said, folding her arms across her chest.
"I love you too Laur." Evan grinned, heading for the door.
Five..
"Do you really want to put that to the test?" Laura asked, grinning.
David Parrish looked at his CO, and his 21C who were staring at each other intently.
"You know," He began shakily. "I don't think this is a good idea."
They both ignored him.
"Yeah, I do actually." Evan said, cocking his head sideways.
"You're taking on the wrong girl here, sir." Laura warned.
"I don't think so."
"Over-confidence is never a good thing, you know." Laura pointed out.
"But, I'm the qualified pilot here." Evan returned.
"What if you break them? Dr McKay isn't going to be happy if-" David tried, giving up when Laura and Evan grabbed the controls.
Someone had gotten two remote control planes sent over on the Daedalus, and Rodney had commandeered them, and tinkered around with to make them go faster, and higher.
He was planning to try them out later, but Laura and Evan found them first.
Evan then bet Laura he could fly his around the main tower, and back faster than her. Laura had said she could do it faster.
Captain Coughlin and Sergeant Reed had gotten into it, and were waiting on a balcony in the main tower to make sure that they both actually flew them around the tower.
"Oh, this is a bad idea." David said nervously.
"Its fine Doc. We'll put them back where we found them after I kick Cadman's ass." Evan reassured.
Laura snorted. "Like that's gonna happen."
Six..
"Can I have your dessert?" Laura inquired, pointing to the un-touched chocolate pudding sitting on Evan's tray.
"Knock yourself out." Evan said, not looking up from his tablet.
"You're being really un-sociable y'know sir." Laura commented between bites.
"Just busy.." Evan muttered, his eyes glued to the screen.
"What are you actually doing?"
Evan looked up for the first time. "Huh?"
"Are you even listening to me?"
"Not really. Hey! Isn't that my dessert-?" Evan said, staring at the bowl in Laura's hands.
"You said I could have it." Laura shrugged.
"No I didn't."
"Yeah, you did. You said, and I quote, "knock yourself out". That's telling me I can have it." Laura said, polishing off the chocolate mousse.
"I didn't-" Evan began, sighing. "Never mind. What did you ask me?"
"I wanted to know what you were doing."
"Oh." Evan nodded. "My sister just sent me an email, and pictures of my new nephew."
"Aw, really?" Laura might be a marine, but she was human. She loved cute baby pictures as much as anyone.
Evan nodded. "Wanna see?"
Laura nodded eagerly, and Evan whirled the computer around to show her. The baby in the picture couldn't be more than a few months old, and was tiny against the blanket he was lying on.
He had the bluest eyes Laura had ever seen, and was looking at the camera with the most shocked look on his face.
"He's cute. What's his name?" She asked, looking at her friend again.
"Matthew Evan." Evan said proudly, beaming.
"Your sister named him after you?" Laura asked, unable to keep a smile from appearing on her face.
Evan nodded.
"Poor kid." Laura couldn't resist throwing the jibe in, accompanied by a teasing grin.
Seven…
"You up for a jog?" Laura inquired, entering her CO's office, searching for him beneath the stacks of paper work.
"I'm never going on leave again." Evan groaned.
Laura laughed. "The paperwork does seem to stack up, doesn't it?"
Evan nodded. He was a bit of a mess, his hair sticking up all over the place, his forehead creased in concentration.
"You need a break," Laura annouced. "So go get ready, and come for a run with me."
Evan looked like he was going to refuse for a second, but then nodded, and made his way to the door, trying not to knock over all the stacks of paper.
"I could do with a break." He said, running his hands through his hair.
"Good. Meet me by the transporter on level six?"
"Sure. See you in a minute."
"Just hope you'll be able to keep up with me, flyboy." Laura grinned before heading for her quarters.
Eight…
"You're really going to blow that up?" Evan raised an eyebrow.
Laura pulled her strawberry blonde hair up into an elastic, and held her hands out for Evan's C4.
"I'll take that as a yes. You sure it's safe?" Evan said, handing the block over.
"Who's the explosives expert here?" Laura asked, hands on her hips.
"You, Boom." Evan said, inspiration hitting him suddenly.
"For now, flyboy's gonna do for you." Laura said, holding back a smile at the name.
"Not very creative, Boom."
"You do realise I'm holding four blocks of C4, right?"
"I'll just wait over here," Evan said, stepping back to where the rest of the team stood. "Boom."
Nine..
"You listen to Kelly Clarkson?" Evan said, looking up from the screen of Laura's ipod.
"Um. Yeah? What's wrong with that?" Laura shrugged, her cheeks reddening slightly.
"It's just not very.. Marine-ish."
Laura rolled her eyes. Of course, it was because she was a marine.
"Just because I'm in the Marine's, doesn't mean I'm not entitled to my girly-ness." She said crossly, taking the popcorn bowl from where it was sitting next to Evan on the couch.
"Girly-ness?" Evan raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! It's a word, isn't it?"
"I think you'll find it's not."
"So? Wraith isn't in the dictionary, so is that not a word?"
"The dictionary doesn't have high enough security clearance to put Wraith in the dictionary."
"Exactly!"
"So," Evan said, smirking. "Oxford's English dictionary needs security clearance to put girly-ness in the dictionary?"
"Oh, go jump off a pier." Laura sighed, taking her ipod back. "Just be glad I don't like Sex and the City like Dr Keller."
Ten…
"Are going to be able to do this, if I give the order?" Evan asked his 21C quietly.
Laura looked at him carefully. Aside from the fact he was her CO, and her trusted colleague, Evan Lorne was also her best friend, and what he was ordering her to do..
"Yeah." She lied. "I'll be able to."
"It's a direct order too, Lieutenant." He reminded her, not totally believing answer.
"Yessir." Laura said, with every ounce of obedience, willing-ness, and courage she possessed.
"Good." Evan said. "It's been a honour Boom."
Laura set her jaw, and just nodded.
They watched as the Wraith made their way down the hallway, approaching the cell doors.
As they slid open, and the Wraith commander walked in, Evan nodded to Laura.
"Ready?"
Ignoring him completely, Laura looked at the Wraith commander, and his two drones, calculating their chances.
If she could get the commander down without being stunned she'd have a stunner, and she and Evan would be able to get out.
The commander slinked over to her, and Laura saw her chance.
Her hand snuck out, and she grabbed the stunner from the Wraith, stunning him quickly, before using him as a shield against the blast's coming from the stunner's belonging to the drones.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Evan roared angrily.
"I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself for me." Laura said, hitting one drone in the chest, and hitting the second one a few seconds later.
"That was incredibly stupid Lieutenant!" Evan said in a hiss as Laura tossed him a stunner. "Not to mention disobeying a direct order!"
He was really angry if he was reverting back to rank.
"I don't leave men behind." Laura said. "Especially not you."
Eleven..
"Do you miss home?" Laura inquired as they sat on the west pier, looking out at the slowly setting sun.
"I.. I miss the people." Evan said after a pause. "I miss my family, and not getting to see my nephews grow up. Do you?"
Laura shrugged. "I miss my family, and friends yeah, but.."
"This is home now?" Evan finished for her.
"Yeah, it is. I mean, when we aren't being attacked by Wraith, or Replicators, or fighting for our lives, Pegasus is a pretty amazing place, and Atlantis is an amazing city."
"I know what you mean." Evan agreed, flicking a coin between his fingers. "I wouldn't give any of this up for anything."
"Well, if you paid me a million bucks.. I mean, I'm on pretty crap pay." Laura joked, the wind gently tossing her newly cut hair around. Dusty had a mad notion earlier on that she could cut hair.
Most people's had turned out nice, but poor Julia Benson's long hair was now a shoulder length bob, which was nice and everything, but she had only wanted a trim.
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Sometimes, I have to think is it worth it though?"
Laura looked at Evan, concerned. "What do you mean?"
"Everyone who dies out here, or off-world back in the milky way don't get recognition for everything they did. Their families don't know they died saving the entire planet, an entire galaxy."
Evan was right.
"Someday they'll know though." Laura said. "Someday, the whole world will know that those people didn't die in 'deep space telemetry' accidents."
"That has to be the worst cover story, ever." Evan said, lighting their mood a bit.
"Yeah, I know! I mean, could they have gotten a little more creative?" Laura laughed.
She loved being in Atlantis, hanging out with Evan. She couldn't imagine him not being in her life, not after everything they'd been through.
She didn't realize it until later, but that was the first time she knew she was falling for Evan Lorne.
Twelve…
"Am I going to regret letting you pick the movie?" Evan asked as he set a bowl of popcorn down on the table, and flopped down on Laura's couch.
Laura looked up from her position on the floor where she was hooking up her laptop to the Ancient screen.
"Now, why would you think that?"
"Knowing you Boom, you've picked down god-awful chick flick just to bug me."
Laura clutched her chest, and pretended to be offended. "You wound me."
Evan rolled his eyes, and laughed at his best friends antics. She was the best laugh to be around, seriously.
Laura pressed play, and joined Evan on the couch, resting her feet on his lap.
"Use me as a human pillow if you like, I don't mind." Evan said as her feet landed on his lap.
"You're taking up the entire couch." Laura shrugged. "I need somewhere to put my feet."
Evan was about to retort when the movie started playing.
"Sex in the city?!"
Thirteen..
"Do you blame yourself?" Laura asked gently, sitting down next to Evan on his bed.
Evan's head was in his hands, and he didn't bother looking up when he answered.
"Yes."
"Well, don't."
"Why? It is my fault Laura, it's my fault he's dead." Evan said, his head still buried in his hands. "If I hadn't given the order to-"
"Stop, stop right there." Laura interrupted. "You gave an order, and order that got four of us home. How is that bad?"
"It didn't get Coughlin home."
"I'm sure Coughlin would agree with me, if he was still here Evan. That order was the only option. If we had waited, we would have all died."
"Maybe if we had waited a little longer, Atlantis-" Evan began.
"No. They had already tortured Parrish, and they were going to do it again if we didn't get out. He couldn't have taken another beating like the one they gave him the first time. You looked for a way out, and you found it."
"And got Coughlin killed in the process."
"It was a tragedy, and freak accident that got Coughlin killed. How were you supposed to know that ramming the door open set off a booby trap?"
Evan didn't say a word.
Laura pulled him upright. "Don't beat yourself up about it Evan, Coughlin wouldn't want it."
Evan looked at her, his eyes wet with tears for his other best friend, the friend who hadn't made it through the 'gate.
"It's just that, we survived being captured by the Wraith, we got off Wraith infested planets, we even went up against Replicators, and we lose someone on some stupid diplomatic mission gone wrong? Its not fair." He said in a rush.
Laura pulled him into an embrace, and felt Evan's arms wrap around her as she pressed her face into his damp hair.
"I know." She said, her voice cracking as she let out a sob she had been holding in all day. "I know."
Fourteen..
"What's that?" Laura asked, sitting down beside Evan, who hurriedly closed his drawing pad.
His cheeks flushed red, and he looked at the worn cover intently.
"Evan? C'mon, show me!" Laura said, reached for the pad.
"N-no, I-" Evan began.
"Why wouldn't you show me? Is it something bad?" Laura asked. Evan was behaving strangely. Usually he showed her his drawing's no problem.
She reached for the pad once again, and this time Evan relaxed his grip and let her take it.
Laura flipped through until she got to the most recent sketch.
It was of her. She remembered the background as MX4-972, a planet they visited a few weeks ago.
In the drawing, Laura was standing on a flat, almost table like rock, her hands thrown skywards, and a beaming smile plastered across her face.
She had done that on the mission actually, messing about as David rushed around, looking at plants.
Evan was a deep shade of red by now, and wanted to run, and hide.
"Its brilliant Ev," Laura said reluctant to give the pad back. "Why'd you draw that mission though?"
It hadn't been a practically exciting one, or anything.
"No reason, really." Evan lied.
In reality, he drew that particular mission because it was the first time he realized just how much he was in love with Laura.
Fifteen…
"Are you sure about this?" Evan asked, looking at Laura, studying every feature of her face, right down to the freckle on the tip of her nose.
"Yes." Laura nodded. "Are you?"
"Never been more sure in my life." Evan replied.
Laura nodded, and slowly pressed her lips to Evans.
The marine part of her was screaming "NO! FRAT REGS!", but the other part of Laura won, and she melted into Evan's arms.
Yeah, they could both lose their jobs for this, and yeah, they could get court-martialled, but Laura knew it was worth it.
He was worth it.
They broke apart, reluctant to move apart.
Laura leaned in, and whispered, her breath tickling Evan's face. "Your place or mine?"
Sixteen..
"What's this for?" Evan asked, confused.
"Its my transfer." Laura explained.
"Transfer?!" Evan yelped, shocked. "Your transfer?" He repeated, in a lower tone.
"Yeah, I'm transferring to Major Teldy's team." Laura explained.
"Why?"
"You know why." Laura said, tucking a chunk of hair behind her ear. "I can't be your second in command anymore, and I certainly can't be on your team."
"We'll still be in the same chain of command." Evan pointed out.
"But, less so. Maybe this way, we wont have to sneak around anymore." Laura said, hopefully.
"I guess. I'll miss having you off-world with me though."
"I'll miss being off world with you," Laura began. "But you and I both know that I have to transfer."
Evan nodded. "I'll pass it on Colonel Sheppard then."
"Thanks Ev." Laura said, and turned to leave.
"'Love you Boom." Evan said, just before she opened the door.
"'Love you too, flyboy."
Seventeen…
"Are you drawing me again?" Laura asked from her position curled up on an armchair in Evan's room.
"No." Evan replied with a grin, not looking up from his sketch pad.
Laura rolled her eyes, tugged the baggy jumper belong to Evan she was wearing down, and stood up.
Setting her cup down on the table, she headed for Evan, who was sitting on his rumpled bed.
She jumped onto the bed, causing Evan's pencil to jerk, and draw a line across a carefully drawn picture of her, curled up in the armchair, her hair sticking out all over the place and a distant expression on her face.
"Whoops." Laura grinned.
"I can just rub that out you know." Evan pointed out.
"I know," Laura said. "But you're being very anti-social. I mean, I'm sitting in your room, just wearing your jumper and you're ignoring me."
"I have a mission in a hour Boom." Evan said apologetically.
"So?" Laura shrugged, taking the art tools from Evan's grasp, and setting them down on his beside locker. "Your point is?"
"Guess I don't have one." Evan said, kissing Laura.
"Good. So, less talking, more action."
Eighteen…
"Are you really willing to risk your career?" Laura asked as they stood outside Colonel Sheppard's office, working up the courage to go in.
They were going to tell John that they were dating. They were sick of sneaking around, afraid to do anything, just in case someone got suspicious.
"For you? I'd risk everything." Evan confirmed.
Laura thought her heart would burst with the amount of love she felt for Evan at that second.
She was really worth risking everything for?
"You okay?" Evan asked, concerned.
"I love you," Laura said. "I love you so much."
Evan smiled. "We ready then?"
"Yeah." Laura nodded.
And she was. As long as she had Evan, she was ready for anything.
Nineteen…
"Why'd we pick my quarters again?" Evan asked as he dumped the last of Laura's gear into the only free space left in his once neat and tidy room.
They had told Colonel Sheppard they were 'romantically involved' and being the great CO, and friend he was, he convinced Woolsey to let them share quarters, so Evan had spent the morning bring Laura's stuff over to his room.
Their room.
"Because they're bigger." Laura shrugged.
"Right." Evan nodded. "How'd you manage to collect so much stuff? You've only been here like three years."
"Four, actually. Just because you go for the minimalist look doesn't mean I have to.." Laura mumbled, hanging a picture of her on her graduation day from Parris island, next to the one Evan had of his own graduation. "Do you have any more of these picture hanging things?"
"Yeah," Evan nodded. "There should be some in the top drawer."
Laura rooted around for a few minutes, before producing the hooks. "Got a hammer by any chance?"
"Yeah, I keep one under my pillow." Evan said sarcastically.
"Your comedic abilities never fail to amaze me." Laura said, grabbing the first book she saw, and using it to pound the hook into the wall.
"I'm sure the Ancients would be really happy with you making holes in their precious city."
"They abandoned it." Laura said simply, even though it wasn't actually the Ancients fault they left the city.
It just fitted her argument.
"I'm kinda glad they did." Evan commented as he watched her hang more pictures up.
"Huh?" Laura whirled around to face him. "You're glad the Wraith beat the most advanced race we've ever met, and wiped out most of this galaxy?"
"No, course not!" Evan shook his head. "The Asgard were pretty advanced by the way. No, I just meant I'm glad I got to come here, because I met you."
Aw! The girly part of Laura's brain screamed.
"You're such a sap." She said, pining a piece of paper at Evans head.
"And you love me for it."
Twenty…
"Marry me."
Laura sat bolt upright, and looked at Evan. "What?"
"Marry me." He repeated, rolling into sitting position.
"Very casual way of asking the single most important question, ever." Laura teased, trying to hide the fact her heart was beating a mile a minute, and could jump out of her chest at any second.
Evan rolled his eyes, but got off the bed, and knelt in from of Laura, reaching into his pocket at the same time.
"I've had this sitting in my pocket for ages, and I just never found the right time to do this." Evan said, snapping open the box. He took a deep breath, and continued.
"I love you, so much, and I can't imagine my life without you. You're my best friend, the one person I know I can always count on. You're the love of my life, and you mean everything to me. Laura, will you make me the happiest man in two galaxies, and marry me?"
Laura nodded, breathless. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes!"
Evan slipped the ring on Laura's finger, and she wrapped her arms around Evan's neck, kissing him fiercely.
Coming to Atlantis? Best idea she'd ever had.
FIN.