Disclaimer: Not me, not mine.
Warning: Little bit of naughtyness but nothing explicit.
The next morning Kara left Jen and Alex to sleep in and went to find Colonel Carter. She found her in her office with her morning cup of coffee, freshly brewed from the replenished stocks, and a report from her teams mission the day before.
"Colonel, I don't know if you know yet, but-"
"Some kind of package arrived on the Dedalus for you?" the Colonel asked.
"I can explain," Kara began, and she did. She even brought General O'Neill letter with her and let the Colonel read it while she told her story.
"I'm really sorry Colonel, if I'd of known that it would have gone this far up the chain of command-"
"It's not your fault, Captain,"
"But Ma'am,"
"Kara, you couldn't have known that General O'Neill would do this," Carter told her kindly. "The only thing I want to know is why Doctor Keller and Miss Owen were with you and why you were all in pyjama's?" Kara must have looked confused because Carter added, "I saw Colonel Sheppard this morning in the mess and he told me what happened,"
"We all have most of the day off so we thought we'd have a sleep over," Carter's eyebrows rose. "It can be stressful living here and we don't get much time to be girls, especially not me. I have to go off world and get shot at and beaten up everyday by marines. We thought it would be nice to spend our down time together telling stories and painting each others toe nails,"
"Sounds like fun," Carter said, handing back the letter.
"Has anyone asked you to join us for girls night?" Kara asked before she had a chance to think.
"Excuse me?" Carter asked.
In for a penny and all that, Kara thought. "Every Tuesday night we have a girls night. That is me and Jen, Alex, Katie Brown, Laura Cadman, Sarah Houseman and Helena Montigues. We alternate between poker and a movie and then we tend to drink and gossip and tell embarrassing stories. It's kind of a bonding thing,"
"Uh, no. No one mentioned it," Carter said.
"Well, maybe you should join us," Kara went on. "I mean, we tend to leave rank at the door. Everyone's equal in that room, so you can shout and call each other names and when you get back on duty, you forget that it happened,"
Carter smiled. "That sounds really nice. Count me in next week,"
"It would be good to see you there Colonel. Now if you don't mind, I have four hours before the Marines get me and I want a pedicure,"
"You're dismissed Captain," Carter said, going back to her reports as Kara left and made her way back to her room. It would be good to see Carter unwind a little. Kara had sort of known her back at the SGC (as much as anyone could know a member of SG-1) and she'd seemed nice. It was the one thing that she didn't like about Atlantis, the social structure was rigid and there was little room for movement. Carter was the leader of the expedition, and as such she couldn't interact much with those below her in rank, not socially anyway. Back on earth she could have socialised with friends outside of work, but in Pegasus, it was all work all the time.
She just hoped that Carter got the chance to relax, before she imploded under the weight of responsibility.
"You should just ask her out. She'd say yes,"
Evan Lorne sighed. Once Kara got the bit between her teeth it was almost impossible to make her let go, and tonight she was fixated on him and Alex Owens.
"I'm not going to ask her out," he said as he took a swig of the beer he held in his hand and gazed out across the ocean.
"Why not? You like her she likes you, I really don't see the problem here,"
"Well, you wouldn't," he replied.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Kara asked, sitting up to look at her CO.
Evan sighed. "Look, just because two people may happen to like each other is not a good reason to date. I mean, we live on a base in the middle of nowhere with a limited population. What happens if it doesn't work out between us and we have a messy break-up? I can't avoid the gateroom for the rest of my life. The only answer would be for one of us to transfer and I don't want that,"
"But you wouldn't have a messy break-up," Kara persisted. "I know both of you and I think you'd be perfect together,"
Evan was struggling to put his feelings into words that Kara would understand and except. "Fine, so we go out a few times and we find that we like each other. What then?"
"Please don't tell me I'm going to have to give you the sex talk," Kara mono-toned.
"I meant after the sex," Evan said patiently. "What happens if we get serious?"
"Then you get serious," Kara replied.
"And if one of us gets transferred?" he asked. "Or if something should happen to one of us? I mean it's not like we live everyday lives with normal harm-free jobs,"
"Even if you where both on earth and even if you didn't both work for the SGC, you could drop dead any time. Hundreds of people are killed everyday crossing the street. Yeah, so your job puts you in more danger than most, but isn't that a reason to live your life to the full? Maybe Alex is the girl for you and maybe she's not, but if you're going to refuse to even consider dating anyone on Atlantis then you're going to be waiting a long time to find Ms. Wright,"
Evan leant back into the deck chair that he was sitting in. Kara had a pretty good point, unfortunately.
"And hey, if one of you gets transferred you could just get married and then protest the move," Kara said.
Evan had been taking a sip of beer and started to choke on it. Kara smiled and pounded her CO on the back.
After he managed to get the coughing under control he glared at her. "You're cruel," he told her.
"You mean you don't want to marry Alex?" she asked innocently.
"How about I date her first, then decide if I want to marry her," Evan retorted.
"So you mean you're going to ask her out?" Kara wanted to know.
"After your little speech about dying when I cross the street I figured I might as well give it a try,"
"So where are you going to take her?"
"I've just decided that I'm actually going to ask the girl out, give me some time before you start to pester me for specifics. Besides, she hasn't said yes yet,"
"Oh, she will," Kara told him as she laid back down onto her towel and watched the sun set off the west pier. "You could bring her here?" she suggested.
"Oh, but honey this is our place," Evan said with sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
She waved her hand at him. "I'll let you share it, after all it is for a good cause,"
"You should be glad that we're having this conversation after training and not before," Evan said, the threat clear in his voice.
"Or what? You'll set Garwin on me again?"
An hour later when the light had fully vanished from the horizon, the pair packed up their things and made their way back into the city at a leisurely pace.
As they approached Kara's quarters Evan asked, "So, have you enjoyed your day off?"
"Loved it!" Kara exclaimed. "Shame I only get one,"
"Hey, we're under staffed to the point of stupidity. You're lucky you got a whole day off,"
"Do we know when the new troops might arrive?" Kara asked.
"The replacements should be here in a week or so, but as for more than that," he shrugged. "Colonel Carter has asked for two new teams to be sent out and ten more soldiers for city security, but she thinks we'll be lucky if we get half of that,"
"I suppose that's one perk of having Atlantis under the control of a military leader, she's not afraid of asking for extra personnel,"
"Dr Weir wasn't exactly afraid of asking for extra people, but I think with Carter in charge we stand a better chance of getting them,"
"Maybe I should send a requisition off for extra guys," Kara suggested. When Evan scowled at her she added, "Hey, it worked last time. I can't hurt to try can it?"
"Kara?"
They'd just rounded the corner by Kara's room and the mention of her name pulled Kara's attention away from Lorne and to the person sat by her door.
"Alex? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I forgot my toothbrush," Alex admitted as she stood up. "I figured you had to come back eventually,"
"You should have commed me," Kara said.
"I tried," Alex told her. "I think you'll find that it's sat somewhere in there," her friend indicated to the closed door.
Kara smacked herself on the forehead as she activated the doors to open and turned on the lights in her room. "I'm so sorry," she apologised to her friend.
Alex and Evan followed her into her room, Alex walking over to the bathroom to pick up her toothbrush that she'd left behind earlier in the day. Kara dropped her bag with her things in on her bed and then turned to her CO.
"Shipping out at 0900 tomorrow?" she asked.
"Bright and early," he replied. "The kids on M7G-677 are pretty friendly as far as Pegasus inhabitants go. I'll warn you now that Zelenka doesn't like them,"
"I heard him in the mess hall complaining that it's always him that has to go and check the EM field generator," Kara smiled. "Something about his nephew always breaking things as well,"
Evan glanced over Kara's shoulder and saw Alex emerging from the bathroom and hastily said, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," before trying to escape the room. Problem was that Kara saw the glance and decided that it was time Evan stopped running.
"Wait," she called and ran over to the door as he was about to exit. "I think you two have some things to discuss," she said as she pushed Evan back into the room before activating the doors to close and lock.
Kara swung by the mess hall to grab two cups of coffee and a few slices of chocolate brownie before heading to the control room. Chuck had the night shift and she often visited him when she couldn't sleep, generally with much needed caffeine and sugar in the form of coffee and cakes.
Chuck greeted her with enthusiasm as he took one of the cups of coffee from her hand and grabbed a piece of brownie from the plate. "I thought you'd be avoiding us at all costs," Chuck told her as she flopped into one of the spare seats.
"Because it's my day off?" she asked.
Chuck simply nodded as he tucked into the brownie and tried not to spill coffee on the console.
"Normally I would, but I'm staging an intervention at the moment so my room is in use,"
Chuck stopped eating and looked at her suspiciously. "What did you do?" he asked.
"Nothing I won't be thanked for later," she told him.
"Kara," he said warningly.
"It's nothing," she said. "I promise," she continued when he continued to look suspicious.
"That's what you said when you tied Gerrity up in the jumper in his underwear," Chuck told her calmly.
"And the worst thing that came of that was two weeks KP duty," she replied. Deciding to change the topic she asked him, "I've decided what my next requisition form for General O'Neill is going to be for. Want to help me fill it out,"
Chuck rolled his eyes and moved on. Generally the things Kara did worked out, and if they didn't she always took the punishment she was handed without complaint. It was one of her major sticking points when it came to her life; she handled the consequences of her actions.
"I'll find the form,"
Alex couldn't believe what Kara had just done. She knew how she felt about Lorne and still she smiled as she locked them in her room together. She could already feel the blood rushing to her face as Lorne yelled through the doors for Kara to let them out.
She sighed and said, "She's already left you know,"
Lorne's shoulder dropped and he turned to lean on the doors. "I know," he told her.
Now that he was looking at her, Alex's insecurities kicked in and she found herself looking at her shoes, the floor, Kara's desk… anything that wasn't Lorne basically. She soon realised that neither of them were talking and was wandering what to say to break the silence when her eyes, which were moving from looking at a picture of Kara and some of her friends from back on earth and Kara's dirty laundry basket, locked onto Lorne's.
She held his gaze for a few seconds before she dropped her eyes back to the floor and she felt she cheeks flush again. Had he been looking at her? Or had they just managed to look at each other at the same. And good lord in heaven, what had possessed Kara to lock them in a small room together?
Evan found himself fascinated with Alex. When he'd stopped yelling at Kara through the door and turned he found that his eyes were inexplicably drawn to the small women who was looking everywhere but at him. Then their eyes locked, just for a few seconds, and he knew that Kara had been right about her.
This girl was something special. He thought back to all the times that he'd seen her, either with Chuck or Kara, with other members of the expedition or just by herself. She was always smiling, like she was constantly happy. And she laughed a lot too. He liked her laugh, he remembered.
Then she looked away from him and blushed, like she'd been caught doing something wrong. She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and he wondered if she knew that it was a nervous habit she had. He'd seen her do it before when she was under pressure in the control room and time was running out.
But that blush! It was the sweetest thing he'd even seen.
"So, you're going on a mission tomorrow?" she asked him, not quite meeting his eye.
"Yeah, the kids of M7G-677 need their generator checking over again,"
"It's been twitchy ever since McKay played with the power settings to get some more energy out of it," she told him, still looking everywhere but at him.
"He probably did something to it just so that he'd had a reason to send Zelenka to check it every few months," Lorne suggested.
Alex laughed. "You know I wouldn't put it past him. You should have heard Zelenka in the mess hall today. 'Children always break things'," she said, doing her best to mimic Zelenka's Czech accent.
"They're good kids. Well most of them anyway," he amended, remembering the last time he'd been to see the kids. One of them had ransacked the jumper looking for anything resembling chocolate. Ford had a lot to answer for when it came to those kids and candy. "Have you even been off world?" he asked.
"Not yet," she said, moving to sit on the bed. "My talents haven't been needed in the field here in Pegasus. I did go to a planet back home once though,"
"Yeah,"
"Yeah. There were some ruins that had some ancient writing in them and I was called to decipher them. Nearly got killed while I was there," she told him.
What happened?" he asked.
"Jaffa patrol caught us. We had to be hauled out by three SG teams and I got shot in the shoulder for my pains,"
"You where hit by a staff blast?"
"No. Friendly fire," she admitted. "I ran into the line of fire of one of our marines,"
"I bet he was happy with you," Lorne said smiling.
"He spend the next two months apologising and carrying things for me," she replied, returning his smile and looking straight at him for the first time in five minutes. It only lasted a few moments until she realised what she was doing and her gaze dropped to her feet again.
Evan was surprised by how shy she was. He'd seen her interact with Kara and Chuck and she seemed confident with both of them, but now she looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Slowly, so as not to push her away, he came and sat down on the bed next to her.
He found that when she was talking she tended to forget where she was, so he continued to ask her questions. "You've been here since the beginning right?" she looked up and nodded before returning her gaze to her lap. "What made you decide to come here?"
"There are about ten people on earth who can understand Ancient to such a degree that they can cope with most translations," she explained. "Two work for the University of London in conjunction with the British Museum. Another two work at universities in the US and co-ordinate with museums and archaeological dig world wide. Three work at Area 51 to help the scientists there with any spot translations that may be needed on ancient artefacts and before the Atlantis expedition three of us worked at the SGC. General O'Neill wouldn't let Dr Jackson volunteer and Dr Rigby has a husband and daughter. I was the obvious choice for the assignment,"
"So you where assigned here?" Lorne asked.
"Well when you say it like that it sounds like I was forced," she said teasingly and Lorne found now it was his turn to look flustered. "I volunteered just like everyone else that came to Pegasus. If I hadn't wanted to come they would have found someone else to take my place,"
Alex looked at Lorne and their eyes locked again, but this time Alex found that she didn't want to look away. Eventually she broke the contact and said, "I'm really sorry about Kara,"
Evan was shocked. "Why?" he blurted out before he could stop himself.
"I know why she locked us in here," Alex confessed. "It's because of me-"
"No," Evan interrupted her before she could continue. "It's not because of you,"
"Yes, it is. You see-"
Evan put a finger to her lips to cut her off mid-sentence. "It's not you," he told her. "Well actually is sorta is, but it's not just you,"
Alex looked puzzled so he continued. "I told Kara something earlier and she knows I have a tendency to back out of decisions if I think about them too much so she locked us in here to force my hand, so to speak,"
Alex still looked confused. Now or never, he thought as he took one of Alex's hand. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something sometime?" he asked.
"You mean like a date?" Alex asked, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest.
"Just like a date," he replied.
She swallowed and nodded. "I'd like that,"
Evan smiled and squeezed her hand slightly. She blushed and looked away again.
He let go of her hand and asked, "Do you think Kara will be back any time soon?"
Alex looked at her watch and shook her head. "Chuck's got the night shift. She's probably gone to see him. It could be a while,"
"Any idea's of what we could do until she comes back?"
Words from the night before flew across her mind and she remembered Kara asking her who she would sleep with if she had the chance and Laura's clarification of exactly what 'sleep with' meant. She felt her face flush as suddenly many images, mainly fantasies, started to parade themselves around her head.
Evan saw the colour flood Alex's face and suddenly wondered what she was thinking. "Are you okay?" he asked.
She took a deep breath and tried her best to banish all thoughts of nakedness from her mind before replying, "I was just thinking about something that Kara and Laura said last night,"
"What?" he asked, before his brain could tell him that maybe he didn't want to know what the women of this base were saying to each other.
Alex couldn't believe he'd just asked her that. She was doing her best not to think about all the things they could be doing together on the very bed that they were currently sat on and he was asking for clarification?
Fuck it, Alex thought and leaned across the few centimetres that separated them and pressed her lips to his.
Evan was slightly surprised when she leaned in and kissed him. She's spent the last half an hour blushing when she so much as looked at him, and now she was kissing him.
She pulled away slightly, still trying to work out where her common sense had gone. "I- " she started but was cut off when Evan grabbed her and pulled her closer, kissing her more forcefully.
One of her hands found its way to the back of his head to play with the hair at the base of his skull while the other one came to rest on his arm. She could feel his hands, one tangling into her hair to cradle her skull while the other one pulled her even closer.
Alex moaned when Evan started to rub his thumb along the exposed skin at the base of her spine and tilted her head to deepen the kiss further. When they finally broke the kiss Alex continued to kiss her way along his jaw, the stubble scratching at her smooth skin until she found her way to his neck.
"I thought you were supposed to be sweet and quiet," Evan managed to say.
"You know what they say about the quiet ones," Alex replied pulling back from his neck to look at him again.
He smiled and kissed her again, leaning her back until she was laid on the bed, his hands going to her waist underneath her shirt. Her hands moved to his shoulder and behind his back, pulling him down on top of her.
Kara hadn't been sure what to expect when she unlocked and opened the door to her room. Shouting probably, blushing almost definitely, smiling maybe, but kissing… no that was not on the list.
So she was quite shocked to open the door to find her friend and her CO making out like teenagers on her bed. Her jaw dropped open and it took her a few moments before she regained the ability to speak.
"What the hell?" she yelled as she stepped into the room. Lorne and Alex stopped kissing and turned to look at her from their position on the bed. "I wanted you to ask her out, not grope her," she told Lorne.
"That would be my fault," Alex said, pushing lightly on Lorne's chest and sitting upright.
"You?" Kara asked.
"I started the kissing, completely my fault," she reiterated.
Kara couldn't speak. Her mouth was hung open and she was staring at the pair of them like she never seen them before.
"Do you think she'd okay?" Alex asked Lorne quietly.
"I don't know," Lorne replied. "I don't think I've ever seen her speechless before,"
That seemed to snap Kara out of her daze. "Out!" she ordered. "Out, out, out,"
They stood up to leave when Kara continued "No, not you," she said pointing to Alex. "We need to have a chat,"
Lorne hesitated for a moment. "I'll be fine," Alex reassured him.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Go," she said, pushing him slightly towards the door.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he left.
"See you tomorrow," she replied.
Kara waited for the doors to close before she turned to stare at Alex. "What the hell?" she asked.
Alex sighed and patted the bed beside her. It was going to be a long night.
AN: Probably bored of me saying it, but if you like, reviews are very nice…