Another 15 minutes pass before the door opens, revealing Kolya and some of his men. My heart starts racing when I see two of them supporting Evan, who can barely walk himself. They enter and put him down against the wall. Kolya's weapon is still drawn and pointed to him when yet another Genii enters, carrying a tray of food and a can of water. Thank God, food and water.
As if he read my mind, Kolya says, "you must be hungry. Eat and take care of your Major. And no, the food is not poisonous. I'm not intending to kill you just yet."
Oh great. And again, my Major. They leave without another word and the second the lock falls into place, I run over to Evan and sit down next to him. It's the first time I get a closer look at him and instantly want to cry. There's still blood all over his face, his lips are split open and bleeding as well. There's a cut above his right eyebrow and a bruise is developing under the left one. His eyes are closed, exhausted from the pain he must feel and the hours of staying awake, so Kolya wouldn't take his tiredness to his advantage.
A sob escapes my throat before I can hold it back. It makes Evan open his eyes and look at me. He tries to smile, but whinces instantly from the pain it causes.
"Doc", he drawls out and puts his hand on my knee, "I'm fine, don't you worry about me."
I try not to look at him after what he just said, otherwise I might start crying again. I wet the piece of cloth I found on the tray and ever so gently start cleaning his face. Maybe then I'd be able to look at him without having the urge to bawl my eyes out. I know I don't have to be strong through all of this, no one'd blame me for my tears or make fun of me, but somehow I want to be strong - need to be - in order to think clearly and get the device to work. For everyone's sake.
While I clean the blood off Evan's face, his eyes never leave me and I can feel him studying me, taking in every movement my eyes make, tracing down the wet streaks left by my tears, having cleaned off the dust slightly in their path.

After a couple more minutes, I'm pleased with the way the blood came off his face.
"There, all pretty boy again."
I turn around to get the tray of food, because I'm starving and I can only imagine how Evan feels. My eyes scan the food of what they brought us and I'm surprised to see a bowl of soup. At least he'll be able to eat that, after being punched in the face repeatedly I don't imagine he'll be able to bite or swallow that well. Along with the soup I take one of the cups they left us.
Sitting back on my original position, our eyes meet and this time, I'm holding his gaze.
"Why..." His voice is raspy and he clears his throat once or twice before he starts again. "Why'd you tell Kolya that you'd stay here alone?"
"Stackhouse just asked me the same thing." I fill the cup with water, intending on having him drink at least half of it, but when I raise it, he shakes his head and takes it from me. Good God, is there a thing such as military ego? Now is not the time to think about humiliation. I want to say exactly that, when his face is a grimace of pain and he almost drops the cup. Being tied to a chair for hours does a number to the body and if you're tied up very tight, then, well, it's even worse. At least, that's what I think and by judging the way Evan is holding himself, I'm right. So, I decide to help him, even though he doesn't want me to. I shift closer to him, hold his head, so he's able to lean foward a bit and let him take small sips of water. Now, that wasn't so bad. Or humiliating.
"And what did you tell Stackhouse?", he asks after a couple of seconds.
I look at the bowl of soup that is now in my hands and try to ignore the images flooding my mind. But it's no use and since the Major is still waiting for my answer, I look at him with all the strength I have left. "Do you think I'd let him beat you to death because I'm scared for my life? He beat you in front of me just because of what I said to him. What do you think he'd have done to you if I refused to work for him?"
"I can handle myself."
"Can you?" My voice breaks.
"Can you?" He's right, can I?
The Major doesn't seem too pleased with my silence that follows, but he doesn't push me. He gives up with wanting to eat by himself pretty quickly and lets me feed him, although it is strange for us both. After a few minutes, the soup is almost gone and Lorne is half asleep. Although my stomach doesn't agree with it, I quickly eat the bread and the cheese-like things left on the tray. I'm not really hungry, but God knows I need the strength to deal with what might come tomorrow.
"You should get some rest", Evan says almost commandingly.
"What if they come back?" ...and take you away again, I think, but don't say it. God knows what they could do to him or have already done. Now matter how much I want to go home, I did not want to risk his life to be able to go. I want him to go with me.
"They won't."
"But what if?"
"Naina, we can either stay awake and wait for them to come back or we can get some much needed rest until they come back. I, for my part, would like to get some rest. I just got a pretty good beating, I think I have every right to."
"Of course you do, but..." Aren't there rules not to let someone fall asleep who just got beaten up? Or was that just in cases of concussions?
"Not up for discussion, doc. Now get over here."
Uh, okay?! I don't move because I sure as hell am not sure what exactly he means by "get over here".
When he holds open his uniform jacket on one side, it occurs to me that he wants me in his arms.
"For warmth."
Oh shoot, right. Warmth. That didn't cross my mind. Sure.
I - for the lack of a better word - snuggle up against him, gently resting my hand on his chest and my head on his shoulder. I get the idea that, if I take off my own jacket and drape it over us, it should help us even more. So that's what I do and I swear there's a chuckle coming from the other man as I lay back down.
"Not quite the scenario I had in mind when I think of you taking off your clothes in front of me, but sure. It's a start."
How the hell can he be in a joking mood right now? And what's with the taking off your clothes in front of me?
"It's as far as I'll go." The answer came out of my mouth before I could stop it.
"Now or ever?"
A strange warm feeling builds in my stomach and I feel myself flush. Good thing he can't see me.
"Shut up and sleep, Major. We'll talk tomorrow."
"I'll hold you to it."
There's a long, shaky breath, before his grip around my shoulder pulls me closer to him. Before I can think anything of it, I drift off to sleep. He was right, we both needed it.

The next time I'm awake, my first instinct is to check if Lorne's still alive. Holding my own breath, I watch his chest rise and fall slowly. Oh, thank God. I tilt my head back to see if he's awake or not and look straight into his blue eyes, which seem more alert than last night.
"Mornin' doc", he says and smiles.
Morning? I sit straight up and look out the window, but it's still dark out. "How long was I asleep?"
"Give or take four hours."
Four? "How long did you sleep?"
He shrugs as if it's not worth mentioning. "An hour or two."
"What? You need to rest, Major. And by that I mean sleep and not watch me sleep, you creep."
"It's the soldier in me. I jerk awake at the smallest sounds. I don't really sleep off-world. I nap. I...uh...doze. And thanks for the nickname."
I haven't noticed it before but the air around us has cooled off considerably and I shiver. I should've stayed in that warm cocoon.
"Did you hear anything?"
"Other than the very active wild life, no. Nothing."
I shiver again and goose bumps start to appear all over my arms.
"Get back here, Naina. You're cold."
Again, I hesitate. Why, I have no idea, but the prospect of warmth draws me back into his arms. I pull my legs up against my body and lean into him and somehow, it seems like the most natural thing. Like we fit, his body and mine next to each other. When his free hand runs up and down my arm, my hearts racing. Damnit, Naina, this is a really bad timing to fall head over heels with someone. With Major Lorne. With Evan. The worst timing ever!
"You ok?", he asks eventually.
I feel much too comfortable to think about the situation we're in, but I get thrown back into reality by his question. No, I am not okay. And I don't think it'll get better. I don't see a way out.
"I'm fine." Liar, I think to myself.
"That wasn't very convincing."
Now what can I reply to that? I could spend hours and hours debating with him if I'm okay or not and maybe at some point, I'd believe it myself. I don't want to admit it to myself because I fear that once I do, I will go back to this dark place I've been in after my sister's death. And much like the timing to admit your feelings for the person you're leaning against in a dark Genii cell, this would be an equally bad timing to have the depressions return. Who knows if I'd ever make it out again. And then what? Getting sent back to Earth, never seeing anyone from Atlantis again? No.
"We're gonna get out of this."
I just nod at this and realize, that he can't actually see me nod. If at all, he can feel my head moving. "Yeah", is the only thing I say, before I snuggle closer to him and let a few tears roll down my face.
"You need to work on that."
"On what?"
"Sounding convinced."
"I'm not good at lying."
He chuckles briefly. "Yeah, not gonna argue with that. You really are a bad liar. But I like that about you. You say what's on your mind, you don't lie just to make other people feel better."
"It's not always the best way." And it really isn't. I'd like to be able to lie to someone in order to make the situation better. I can't even lie to myself and tell myself that everything will be alright.
"If anything, it's courageous."
"I'm not brave."
"What are you talking about? Of course you are! You being here in Pegasus takes a lot of courage." I'm not gonna tell him that all I wanted was to get away from Earth as far as possible. Pretty selfish. "You just stood up against Kolya and told him your condition and made him think about it."
"Yes and what did I get in return? A bloody lip." Absent-mindedly, I touch it and whince at the pain. "Ow..."
"Still, that was brave." There's a faint laugh. "And maybe a little stupid."
"I couldn't just give him a reason to beat you again." He doesn't reply, I just hear him breathing in and out slowly and deeply. "When I saw you there..." My voice breaks and I fight the tears that threaten to build in my eyes. I guess I'll have nightmares about this for sure.
"Look at me", he says eventually and it takes a few seconds for me to realize that he actually wants me to turn my head so he could look at me, "I need you to clear your mind of that, okay? I know it'll be hard, but I need you as clear headed as possible so we can find a way to get out of here. We'll deal with the fallout later. Together. Alright?" The blue in his eyes is intense as I have never seen it and I think of getting lost in them. I want to look into them forever. But no, first, we need to get out of this cell. But then what? How will this thing between Evan and me continue? No..just...focus.
"Doc?" He's getting impatient waiting for my answer and I notice only now that one of his hands is caressing my cheek.
I nod slowly. "Yeah."
"Promise me, you won't freak out on me."
"I won't, I promise."
"Okay, good." Evan seems satisfied with my answer and I expect him to lower his arm, since it's the one he can't hold up for very long, but his hand stays there, not moving an inch and this, THIS, is actually freaking me out. The kind of feeling and thoughts it gives me to be this close to him, to be mesmerized by his eyes and the constant beating of his heart, to be enveloped by the warmth of his body and the blue of his eyes. It is freaking the hell out of me because frankly, I never thought about Lorne that way. I have never thought that way about anyone ever in my life.
His eyes are still locked with mine and I can hear the wheels turning in his head. I'm actually holding my breath, afraid to move just a little bit and ruin that moment.
But this is really not the place or the time to act on any feelings. It could just be the adrenaline, the prospect of dying or just simply the closeness we share at the moment. I made a promise not to freak out on him and the only way not to is to lock away any kind of feeling.
"Evan...", I whisper eventually, still afraid of breaking up the intensity.
He lowers his eyes, along with his hand, and clears his throat once. "We should get some rest while we still can."
I nod and lean myself back against him. Maybe not the best decision right now, but the only way not to die of hypothermia.
"I'd go nuts if you weren't here", I say and yawn. I feel the adrenaline slowly wearing off.
In response to that, I can literally hear him smiling. "There's no place I'd rather be."