A/N: Thanks for the awesome response to my fiction. It's been more than I expected. This chapter is partially beta'd so mistakes are mine. (Thanks Scr1 and Betherdy Babe for your review.)

Victoria pulled off her earmuffs and safety glasses as she peered over the table to see where the gun lay. Knowing there were other people on the range, she only had one choice: return to the Marine in the cage and prove his point about her worth. The tears in her eyes screamed to fall and preventing them seemed unavoidable.

"Are you okay, Doctor Parker?" a deep voice asked from behind her.

A startled squeak made it out as she jumped back from the table. Her tears vanished because she was now terrified. Try to think of something witty to say. Hey, how'd he know my name?

"We didn't know anyone else was in here," a louder, more jovial voice said.

Realizing they'd probably think she shot herself if she didn't face them, Victoria turned and saw the four large Marines surrounding her. Their combined height and breadth nearly drown out the Ancient lighting from the wall behind.

Sergeant Raven looked at her with raised brows. Sergeant Warrington's infectious smile that he always flashed her when she saw him in the corridors was absent and replaced by a look of genuine concern. Carter, who towered over her five-foot-two frame, stood closest to her with a cocky grin.

"I…" She really couldn't come up with anything useful to say as she stood face-to-face with seasoned warriors.

"What are you doing here, Doctor Parker?" Richards asked, glancing past her to the clips on the bench.

Because Richards stood directly in front of her, she had to tilt her head back to look into his eyes. His eyes, dark grey in color like the sky above a stormy sea, focused intently on her face. She'd never felt so exposed before. Even a lowly archaeologist heard of his exploits. And here I am standing like a complete idiot in front of one of the bravest, smartest soldiers to ever live unable to put two words together. "Uh…"

"You're scaring her, Master Gunny," Carter said, laughter filling his voice.

"Did you get hit by the weapon?" Raven asked as he looked past her to see where her gun had fallen.

"No," she managed. "I… It… I wasn't ready to fire. Then I got startled…"

"Way to go, Carter, scaring people because you're an idiot," Warrington said in an equally deep voice.

"I only wanted to show I could shoot left-handed as well as right," Carter said, smiling at her. He had brown eyes and tightly cropped blond hair that made him one of Juanita's favorite men to drool over. The tight black t-shirt showed off his muscular arms and hid the top of a USMC tattoo that covered his left bicep.

"I'd forgotten how to handle the gun," she admitted, finally looking away from the soul-searching gaze of Master Gunny Richards.

"They sent you out here without knowing how to shoot?" Raven asked. His green eyes reminded her of the cornfields on her grandfather's farm in upstate New York.

"No, I learned," she said, shaking her head and causing her ponytail to swish back and forth. I must look like I'm twelve, not thirty. "I just haven't had to so I… I forgot."

"And now you have to?" Carter asked.

"Yes, I'm going off world tomorrow," she glanced between the four men and swallowed.

"With us?" Carter's eyebrows rose up his forehead.

"I'll try not to get you killed. I promise." Her panic was kicking into full gear.

Laughter erupted around her and even Richards' lips curved upwards.

Absolute horror shot through Victoria as she felt uncontrollable tears well up in her eyes again. No, please don't cry. "I'm sorry I forgot how to shoot," she began to babble as she often did when fighting back tears. "Doctor S-Simpson said the Marine down here would help me. But when I got here the Corporal told me I was an idiot for not remembering and basically said I should sacrifice myself to the Wraith to save all of you the effort of trying to rescue me. And then the gun was huge so I dropped it."

Silence greeted her outburst. The grey eyes in front of her darkened into a steely grey that made her cold. His entire body tensed as his hand rose to his earwig. "Major Lorne. Master Gunny Richards, sir. I'm sorry to bother you so late, but could you come to the firing range?"

Victoria glanced at the other Marines, noting that Raven had gone out on the range to retrieve her weapon. Warrington nodded at her and Carter smiled.

"What…" she started only to be silenced by Raven's interruption.

"Is this the gun the Corporal gave you, ma'am?" he asked, holding the large gun that seemed to fit his hand easily.

"Yes," she replied.

Raven looked at Gunny, whose eyes zeroed in on the gun.

"He can join us, sir," Richards responded over the COM. His eyes moved from the gun in Raven's hand to his face. "Raven, get me Corporal Sullivan."

"Sure thing, Master Gunny," Raven said as he handed Richards her weapon.

What's going on? She was still shocked from the gun incident so her brain was playing catch up, something she didn't like.

"Doctor Parker," Richards said. "I'm sorry you were subjected to such disrespectful behavior." His even bigger hands easily removed the clip and round from the chamber as he addressed her.

"Oh," Victoria was stunned by the words the big Marine was speaking. "You don't need to apologize for him." A smile came over her lips as she realized he was trying to make amends for one rotten apple.

"I'm a fellow Marine. When one of us discredits the uniform, it impacts all of us," Richards continued, his voice softened, as did his eyes.

Victoria felt a grin fix onto her face. His rich voice seemed to calm her. If the rumor mill is correct, he's the only one to take down Ronon and Teal'C in hand to hand combat. Not to mention how many men, Goa'uld, Jaffa and Wraith he's killed. Now he's trying to apologize to me for some jerk's behavior.

Raven, with Corporal Sullivan in tow, came back onto the range. All three Marines turned to face the new arrival. The offending creep shot a look of pure hatred at Victoria and it caused her to tremble.

Richards immediately stepped between her and Sullivan as Lorne followed by Colonel Sheppard entered the room. Both men were in civilian clothing and Victoria groaned as she realized what was going to happen. Sullivan's getting in trouble for being rude to me. Oh, no, no, no.

The Colonel's eyes zeroed in on Victoria nearly hidden behind Richards' frame and she felt her cheeks blaze.

"I…" She started only to have Warrington put a hand on her forearm. "No need to say anything, ma'am," he said quietly.

Carter chuckled so her eyes darted from the friendly face of the Bermudan to the smiling face of the tattooed Sergeant.

Carter winked and muttered softly, "Watch and learn."

"Colonel. Major." Richards addressed his superiors. "I'm sorry to pull you out of the poker game…"

"Oh, Zelenka and McKay were counting cards again," Sheppard lamented. "No fun to play with cheaters."

"I think you were all cheating, sir," Lorne added. "Leaving us poor working slobs to pay for your plush quarters."

Sheppard laughed and Victoria could see his appeal. The handsome face, unruly hair and quick wit could make most women swoon. Of course she wasn't most women because she had three brothers just like him back on Earth.

"Corporal Sullivan," Richards said, drawing the shocked soldier's attention from his military commanders' back to his Master Gunnery Sergeant. "Is Doctor Parker a member of the military?"

"What?" Sullivan asked, glancing at Victoria.

She wanted to bury her head behind the Master Gunny but stood her ground. The woman had no clue what Richards was getting at.

"Corporal," Richards barked, his harsh voice startling everyone in the room. "I'm asking the questions, not Doctor Parker." The big man stepped forward and the Corporal appeared to shrink in his shadow.

"Sure, Master Gunny," he replied, locking his eyes onto the cold ones that interrogated him.

"Is she a member of the military?"

"No"

"Is she on a Gate team?" Richards growled.

"No," Sullivan said with more attitude. He looked at the Major and Colonel as if to say this guy's insane.

"Then why is she unsupervised and unescorted on the firing range when we were doing live drills in the other room? And why was she issued a Special Forces' firearm?" He raised the handgun for everyone to see.

Richards' voice dropped and Victoria swore the room temperature did too. A small part of her, the girl who loved stories of knights and princesses, was sad this wasn't because he insulted her. He violated protocol, that's what this is all about.

"Doctor Parker, were you injured?" Sheppard's voice held concern, but the set of his face told her he was pissed.

"What?" She was slightly taken aback by the direct question from the Colonel. "Oh, no. I… I dropped the gun but wasn't injured."

"She's approved for training," Sullivan whined, obviously fearful of punishment. "It said she'd done her certification at the SGC."

"On an HK45?" Richards' voice silenced Sullivan. "You felt it was okay to send someone who hasn't touched a weapon since they stepped foot on Atlantis in here… alone… with a gun nearly twice the size of a standard issue Beretta?"

Victoria saw panic in the young man's eyes. She didn't know about military justice, but imagined a written warning and maybe some lowly duty were in order for the Corporal. Surely nothing to bring about the look on his face.

"I… Sirs," he glanced at the officers.

"Corporal Sullivan," Lorne addressed him in a low voice after a glance at Sheppard. "You're relieved of duty. Report to your quarters and pack. We happen to be dialing Earth in the morning so you'll be heading out first thing."

"What?" he stated.

"Excuse me?" Lorne's voice got colder and deeper.

"Sir, I'm being reassigned because..." his voice broke slightly.

"Raven. Warrington. Get the Corporal out of here before I forget my manners." Richards cold stare stopped all speech from the younger man.

"Move it, Corporal," Raven said.

All friendliness left Warrington's face as his bearing became one of hostility toward the man he was going to escort. It looked like the man was going to jail and not just his quarters.

Victoria was stunned and felt she needed to say something about the man who got fired. "I shouldn't have come here without finding someone to give me a refresher. Don't punish him because I messed up. Please."

"Doctor Parker," Gunny turned and was suddenly looking down at her, "Don't apologize. It's the duty of whoever runs the range to make sure everyone has all they need to practice with. If you needed lessons it was his responsibility to find someone to provide them."

"Yeah, I mean we were next door," Carter said. "Any one of us could help."

"I'm sure I can spend a bit of time with you, Doctor…" Sheppard cocked his eyebrow and smiled.

"Victoria Parker," she answered after realizing he was waiting for her to introduce herself. "From archaeology, Colonel."

"I'm sure I can show you a thing or two about how to fire a handgun, Doctor Parker," the Colonel replied as he reached out to shake her hand. "And you can call me John."

"No," she said as she shook his hand, releasing it quickly. "It wouldn't be right. I'd rather call you Colonel Sheppard. And you don't need to…"

"I'll do it, sir," Richards interrupted. "Enjoy your evening and show those geniuses we're not all dumb grunts."

Victoria was shocked. She looked up at the Marine and saw a determined look on his face. "No, I couldn't..."

"Well, you can't get any better weapons' training than from Master Gunny Richards," the Colonel said, looking amused. "I need to do the transfer paperwork and pass him off to Landry anyways."

"Sir," Richards said. "You might want to check out the security tapes. I think the General won't want him after he watches those."

"What else did he do?" Lorne asked.

Victoria's brows knitted. What is he talking about now?

"He was disrespectful to Doctor Parker."

The officers nodded in unison and the Colonel addressed her, "I'm sorry. He'll be out of the SGC before he knows what hit him. Any disrespectful behavior is not tolerated."

Victoria had no more words. Her honor was defended, she was getting weapons' training from the premier soldier on the base and Captain Kirk himself tried to flirt with her. Yup, definitely sleeping soundly on my lab bench.

TBC