To those who guess Rodney... nope! And no, no more Ronon stories from me. I'm growing fonder pairing her with a few other guys now. Read on for the pairing ;)


"Seriously?" Sheppard said. "Wow." Shaking his head, looking back to Keller to see if she was kidding, he saw she was not. "OK. Well, that's unexpected."

Although Woolsey did genuinely care for his team, he didn't have the close relationships that both of Atlantis' previous leaders had with those they were in command of. He had no interest in who the doctor was attracted to and cared more about getting that ZPM.

"Doctor, you can go. Let us talk over some possible plans and then call you back in later," Woolsey said, dismissing the young woman.

Nodding, she got up and walked out.

Woolsey saw that Sheppard was still mulling around the name that Keller had identified. "Sheppard, last time I checked, this city does not appear on a soap opera on CBS back home. Therefore, let's not treat it as such. Jennifer gave you a name, and in my opinion, he qualifies for this mission."

Shaking his head, Sheppard tried to not grin. "Sorry, sir. I just thought I knew my team better. If that didn't just come out of left field..." Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Ronon. "OK, I agree with Woolsey, he's solid."

Ronon nodded in agreement.

"I mean," John leaned forward, weighing the situation, "he's actually perfect for the situation. He'll handle it with maturity, guard her with his life, take this in all seriousness... the man has been one of the most loyal officers I've ever worked with. His record is pretty much blemish free, which is a little boring if you ask me..." he chuckled. "I just never paired him up with the doc, that's all."

Woolsey rubbed his forehead. "What I need to know, John, is if he can play the part?"

"If he's given an order," Sheppard said. "He'll do it."

"OK, then let's call him in."

Minutes later, Major Evan Lorne entered the conference room. He nodded at Ronon and Woolsey, greeted Sheppard with a "sir," and stood until Sheppard instructed him to sit down.

Trying to figure out how to word this all without embarrassing Keller, he looked at Woolsey for help. Woolsey, understanding, looked at the major.

"Major Lorne, thank you for meeting with us," Woolsey smiled. "It seems like we're going to need your help in a unusual matter."

Evan's expression didn't change. "What can I do, sir?"

Woolsey, now unsure how to go about this himself, looked back at Sheppard. John sighed.

"OK, looks like I'm it," Sheppard leaned back in his chair. "It's like this, Lorne. Ronon and I just got back from a mission, and-"

Ronon finally rocked back in his chair, grunting in frustration. "This is taking too long. I'm starving," he growled. "Look, we may be able to get a ZPM. Bad news is that the leader's son has a thing for Dr. Keller. He proposed a trade. Her for the ZPM. As in, her hand in marriage. Obviously that's not going to happen. So now, we have to put other offers on the table and not offend them, which is pretty easy to do. The bad part is that we said that Keller's already taken. So Teyla's going to smooth things over and if we go back, doc's going to need a man to pretend to be with. You win." He raised an eyebrow at Sheppard. "Can I go eat now?"

Both Woolsey and Sheppard looked at him in surprise. It was the most words the Satedan had ever spoke at one time. Sheppard nodded, earning a grateful grin from Ronon. He picked up his gun, slapped both Sheppard and Lorne on the back, and waved at Woolsey as he shut the door.

"So now we know how to get him to talk," Woolsey muttered. "Just threaten to starve him to death. Anyways, Ronon summed that up quite nicely. We would like to have you, major, escort Jennifer back to this village posing as her..." he looked up at Sheppard.

"Uhh... man? Boyfriend? Betrothed? Lover?" Sheppard listed, growing more and more creative with the titles. "Take your pick."

Major Lorne continued to just keep the same expression on his face. Finally, he broke his silence. "Anyone talk to the doc about this? I mean, is she going to go for this plan?"

Sheppard coughed. "Ah, yeah. She just left. And yes, she knows it's our best shot at a fully charged ZPM that we may ever have."

"And she knows," Lorne said, "she would be paired up with me?"

Treading carefully out of consideration for Keller, he confirmed the question with a nod.

"Sirs, if I may just ask one more question," Lorne said, sitting forward. "Why me? Why not Sheppard or Ronon? She's been on more missions with them than myself."

Evan certainly wasn't making it easy to keeping this to basic facts. Sheppard quickly went over what had happened on the planet when they were confronted by Tereck and explained how it would be impossible for either of them to pose themselves.

Woolsey, looking at his watch, sighed. "Sorry, gentlemen, but I have another meeting in about three minutes. We'll firm up these plans when Teyla returns back."

Both men waved at the commander but neither made any moves to depart. The door shut behind him.

"Look, Lorne," Sheppard said. "I couldn't have picked anyone better for this mission but you. She'll need someone she can trust, someone who can guard her as good as Ronon or I, and who will take this seriously. If she got paired up with one of those idiots that just got beamed down from the Daedalus, we could have a mess on our hands. You're the only one we can trust."

"I understand, sir. I just didn't expect to be called down here and be told I'd be going on a mission like this."

Sheppard chuckled. "You can say that again. It's been surprising to all of us, believe me." He muddled through his brain in order to tactfully bring up the next course of action. "Now, Lorne... " he paused, starting again. "Evan. We've gotten pretty close on missions and during off time. You still haven't completely relaxed around me, even those most of our time here we were the same rank. The fact is, Evan. I need to know something. And it doesn't get repeated, I promise." He waited until Evan nodded. "Can you put on a believing show for this village? Because I'm not sending my CMO into a situation that we don't have a solid plan for."

"What are you asking, Sheppard?"

"I'm asking, Ev," he lowered his voice. "If you are in any way attracted to her? And I'm asking this because it would definitely help in his type of mission."

Silence greeted his question. While they had revealed a few personal details about each other on missions. Heck, what else were you to do on missions where you're walking for miles? But he didn't expect this.

Evan decided to play it safe.

"If you're asking," he replied, "if I think that Dr. Keller is attractive, than yes, I do. Any male would tell you the same thing on base." The last comment he gave grated on his own nerves. He had heard guys in the gym talking about her, trying to get injured just to visit in infirmary. It annoyed him, but he didn't feel it was his place to get involved.

Sheppard cocked his head sideways. "Nice evasive maneuver, major. I'll let that slide, but know this. You may only have a few days to make this work. So spent it getting to know one another and getting comfortable with each other."

Evan closed the door to his room, kicked off his shoes, and fell face forward on the bed. This is not happening, he thought. How in the world am I going to get through this one?

Rolling onto his back, he stared at the ceiling. He still didn't understand why he was picked to do this mission with Jennifer. He couldn't see Sheppard or Woolsey almost instantly narrowing down the wide selection of men on base to him. Sheppard had just gotten back from the mission and they hadn't had that much time to talk this over.

Irregardless, he never failed to carry out an order. He wouldn't let down Sheppard, along with the rest of Atlantis, because he had a thing for the doctor.

It began just after she arrived on base. He had a few trips to the infirmary. Even though she rarely treated him herself, he always felt his eyes trailing her movements. He watched her expertly treat the injured, console the grieving, and often work for hours without remembering the time she punched in or if she ate. Twice, he had sent a sandwich into the infirmary with a nurse, warning her not to tell who sent it, just to make sure she ate.

On missions, they would talk in passing. She generally was flanked by Ronon and Sheppard. He didn't blame them. She tended to be a handful on missions, although none of it was her own doing. She had a knack for attracting problems. He also knew for a fact that Ronon grew interested in her for awhile. Rumors about them being locked up together during the fake quarantine spread around like rapid fire for days. But he had it on good authority that she ended up turning him down, saying she was interested in someone else.

Lorne didn't know what to think about that. In one way, he was glad the doctor turned down the one man on base that had every woman daydreaming about; on the other hand, it made him wonder who she was referring to. To his knowledge, she had not been on any dates since arriving and had not been linked to anyone.

Closing his eyes, he tried to relax for a few more minutes before going forward with the impending meeting he had planned for them after her shift.

She kept herself busy in the infirmary, willing herself not to think about the meeting with Sheppard and Woolsey. Face reddening again, she turned so no one could see. At least she was getting a lot done that had been put off for weeks, due to emergencies and irregular scheduling.

Since her back was turned, she didn't see Evan coming until he was almost next to her. Fumbling with the medical instruments she had just been counting for inventory, she dropped several of them on the floor, causing a few nurses to glance over in her direction. They watched their CMO redden and bend down to pick them up.

Lorne bent down as well, finding one piece that had rolled under a gurney. Neither of them talked, almost as if they both knew things were awkward and didn't know where to begin. Evan began to stand quickly but caught a table on a sharp edge, nailing himself on the back of his shoulder. Wincing, he kept standing, knocking over the table along with the instruments Jennifer just had placed on it.

A few nurses scurried over, picking up the instruments. Evan apologized, bending to help them. One of them noticed Evan's shirt torn.

"You're bleeding," she said, motioning for Jennifer to check it out.

Jen felt guilty but was happy to have a distraction that she could deal with. Transforming herself into doctor mode, she led Evan to the gurney and took a look at the cut through his torn shirt.

"I can't tell how deep it is," she said, leaning closer to him to inspect it. "Can you take your arm out of the sleeve so I can check?"

He nodded, unbuttoning his shirt and just shrugging out of it completely. She noticed a few more nurses glancing in their direction; half looking to see what was going on between the two and the others checking out the major sitting in only a black military issued tank top.

She tried to only focus on the cut. But her eyes wandered to his arms. Because he was resting his weight on his clenched fists on the table, the muscles were more pronounced. Her mouth went dry.

Get it together, Keller, she said to herself.

"It won't need stitches, major," she said. "But let me clean and cover it at least."

Lorne spoke, making her jump. "Good," he said. "That's all I need for my men to hear I had to be stitched up over bumping into a table."

He sat patiently, unlike Ronon, while she worked. Finally, he took a breath.

"I met with Sheppard and Woolsey an hour ago," he began, trying to sound like a competent Air Force major. "They briefed me about the mission we'll probably be taking soon. I'd like to meet with you and go over some things."

Jennifer paused, wondering how he could make the mission and what it involved so business-like.

"Sure," she said, turning to put away the bandages. "I'm done here for the day and was about to grab dinner. Would that be a good time?"

He nodded. "Perfect."

They walked together, grabbed food, and sat at a nearby table.

"I pulled these from Woosey's office," Lorne said, pulling two folders out of his bag she hadn't noticed he had been carrying. "I thought if we're supposed to get together, we should probably know as much as possible about each other."

Surprised he had thought about getting their personal files, she opened his. "Sorry," she said, feeling nosy. "I'm so used reading everyone's medical file that I just automatically jump in. You mind if I take a look at it? You can look at mine and we can ask any questions."

Lorne agreed, not giving away that he had already read hers. Twice. Irregardless, he began to read again.

She began to nibble at the food plate in front of her. It was evident that she was absorbed in what she was reading. He pretended to read while secretly watching her study his file. He ducked his head when she started to murmur.

"Hobbies include painting? Really?" She popped her head up. "I hadn't heard about that. What do you paint?"

He shrugged. "Landscapes, mostly. I've painted the towers of Atlantis a few times, pulled a few digital photos of a few planets we visited and painted those. It's just a hobby, a way to relax. My mom was an art teacher and always encouraged us to do something creative with our time."

Impressed, she smiled. "So do you show any of your work?"

Lorne's face broke out in a grin, surprising her. She rarely saw him relaxed. He was always so disciplined, so serious on missions. But it was what drew her to him. Jennifer liked the strong determination, the protectiveness towards his team, that he possessed.

"A few people here have seen them," he said. "It's embarrassing, especially when one of my team members come across me early in the morning."

She laughed, going back to her reading.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both reading and eating.

That's how Sheppard found them. Curious, he walked over with his tray. Once he saw what they were doing, he rolled his eyes. Sitting down next to Evan, he waited until one of them noticed he was there. Keller was off in her own little studious world, while he could tell Evan was going back and forth between reading the file and sneaking glances at the doctor. He finally noticed Sheppard.

"Sir," he said. "Didn't even see you sit down."

"No, you didn't," Sheppard drawled, wondering what he was going to do with the pair. "Interesting reading, doc?"

Jennifer jumped, startled at the interruption and blushed when she saw Sheppard. "Colonel. Didn't see you there."

"Yeah, the major just said the same thing," he began shoveling food in, hungry from the long meetings he had with the pair sitting in front of him and later on another with Woolsey. "So," he said. "How's the happy couple doing today?"

Not surprisingly, both Lorne and Keller looked a little red in the face.

"Ah, well, we're trying to get some facts down by reading each other's files. I thought it would be a good way to start," Lorne said.

Sheppard shrugged. "Guess that's one way. I mean, they could interrogate you and ask what your GPA's were in high school," he said, laughing. Then he stopped. "On the other hand, you never know. Doc here does have a nasty unlucky streak."

"Hey," she said, relaxing. Picking up a grape from her tray, she flicked it at him in the face. "I have medical records to prove you're not so lucky yourself."

Evan was surprised to see the transformation in her. Around him, she seemed a little wary, hesitant. She was obviously more relaxed around John, almost making him wonder if he was the man she was supposedly interested in.

"Since you guys are both off tomorrow, I have another way of getting to know each other. And it works out perfectly because we need another female," Sheppard said, grinning at Jen.

Evan raised his eyebrows. "The game?"

Sheppard nodded. "Ever play basketball, Keller?"

Laughing, she shook her head. "Absolutely not. And you want me to play in a game?"

He got up to leave, sending a look at Evan. "Gym's free right now. Go bring the doc and teach her the basics. Game is at 0900 tomorrow, sharp."

Keller's eyes trailed after John, her smile fading. "And the day just keeps getting better and better."