Date : 11.01.2008
Title : The A.U. Series : New Beginnings
Author : ElaineDex
Chapter : 3 of ?
Rating : M
Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard / Dr. Ellie Harrison
Major Evan Lorne / Nurse Jessica Reilly
Ronon Dex / Lyssa Hunter
Warnings : Some Sexual Content, Romance, Adventure, Maybe Some Strong Language.
Spoilers : This story has character's in it from my Loves series and follows on from the last story - Loves Double Trouble.
Feedback : Yes please, always welcome whatever it may be.
Disclaimer : Dr. Ellie Harrison, Lt. Matthew Franks, and any O/C's are mine. Lyssa Hunter belongs to Kazavid and is from her Atlantis stories Behind The Mask and Reunions. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.
Summary : When Ellie does the decent thing and swaps teams with McKay will she be able to cope with the stubborn and demanding Major Lorne or will her new beginning end in disaster?
ONE WEEK LATER
Sheppard watched as Ellie put books and pens into her back-pack and smiled at her as he lounged back on her bed.
"You think you'll be able to write out there? Isn't PR9-990 full of ice and snow?", he asked and Ellie's hands paused.
"Well yeah…but when we get back to the jumper I'll need to be able to record stuff straight away", she said and Sheppard nodded.
"Right".
As she went to walk by him he snagged her around the waist and pulled her down onto his lap.
"John….", she said, her tone holding an objection which Sheppard ignored as he kissed her neck.
"I need to get my stuff together", Ellie tried again but Sheppard continued to nibble at the soft skin below her ear.
"You don't leave until the morning…you have plenty of time", he muttered, then added, "And besides, Lorne has kept you so busy all week that I've hardly seen you".
Ellie closed her eyes as she felt one of Sheppard's hands cup the underside of one breast, his thumb flicking across her nipple and it hardened traitorously.
She realised she had missed him this past week…or was it just the sex she'd missed?
Either way she didn't object when he moved with her further into the middle of the bed and began to remove her clothes…..
Lyssa waved half-heartedly at Ronon as she boarded the jumper with Ellie, Franks and Lorne.
The more time she spent with him alone, the more she realised that as much as she loved him, it just wasn't the right kind of love.
But what should she do?
She sat back, relieved when his image disappeared as Lorne closed the back doors and she and Ellie got ready for the take off.
"Are you okay?", Ellie asked, surprising Lyssa out of her reverie and she forced a smile.
"Fine. You?", she replied.
"I just hope my week of intense training pays off", she whispered, her eyes darting to Major Lorne and back again and Lyssa nodded.
"I'm sure it will. Lorne wouldn't have put us back on the off-world schedule if he didn't think you were ready".
"No…I don't suppose he would", Ellie said.
They went through the gate and Franks made a whooping noise as they got their first glimpse of the ice and snow.
"Wow…that is a fair amount of the white stuff", he said and Lorne nodded.
"Sure is", he agreed as he circled the jumper looking for an appropriate place to land.
Ellie was secretly excited. She loved the snow, always had and she couldn't wait to get out into it. As soon as Lorne landed she began to pull on her thick over-coat, hat, scarf and gloves.
"You sure you're gonna be able to move around Ellie?", Franks asked, laughing as Ellie blushed and she glanced at Lorne who was also pulling a thicker jacket on over his SGA uniform.
"It is going to be cold out there y'know", she said defensively and Lyssa agreed as she too pulled on a long, thick coat and some gloves.
"She's right Franks….you did bring another coat didn't you?", she said and Franks glanced at Lorne.
"Er…..", he began as Lorne sighed.
"There should be some spare jackets in the overhead lockers Lieutenant, you'd better put another one on", he said and Franks moved to the lockers and pulled a jacket out.
Once he had it on, Ellie handed him her scarf.
"You'd better put this on too…I don't really need it", she said and Franks regarded her dubiously, not taking the scarf from her.
"Ellie its pink!", he stated flatly and Lorne actually had to bite back a smirk as the Doctor retorted,
"If you don't keep warm your whole body will be pink…and besides, who's going to see you except us?".
"But it's pink", Franks repeated but Ellie merely tutted and stood on her tiptoes to wrap the scarf around his neck.
"Why are we here again?", Franks muttered as Lorne moved past him to get to the jumper's back doors.
"So that we can collect the artefact that SGA-3 didn't get a chance to on their last trip here", Lorne replied and Franks sighed deeply as the doors opened and they were all nearly blinded by the brightness of the snow.
Ellie was the first to leave the jumper and the others watched as she strode out across the white expanse for a way before she realised that she was alone.
She turned to face them and held her arms out.
"What're you guys waiting for?", she asked and Lorne realised that she had a point.
He nudged Franks with his elbow and the Lieutenant reluctantly moved out and was followed by Lyssa. Lorne left last and paused to close up the jumper.
Ellie waited until the three of them caught her up and then they all carried on together.
Lyssa and Ellie followed Zelenka's directions as best they could and it wasn't long before they found the entrance to the huge ice cave where the artefact was housed.
"That can't be safe", Franks said looking up at the huge icicles that were hanging from the mouth of the cave and Lorne regarded him.
"What is wrong with you today Lieutenant?", he asked and Franks shrugged.
"Sorry Sir".
Lorne moved forward and said to Ellie,
"So you know the whereabouts of this thing then?" and she nodded.
"Okay then, you and I will go first, Franks and Lyssa you follow…keep your eyes peeled", he instructed.
They began to move deeper into the cave, having to go slowly at times to avoid slipping on the icy floor.
Eventually they came to the artefact encased in a display box made of ice.
Lorne went to crack the ice with the butt of his P-90 but Ellie grabbed his arm.
"Wait…it could be rigged", she said and he looked at her.
"I find it doubtful that any kind of device would work in these temperatures Doctor", he said and Ellie bit her lip.
"The Ancients were very clever people 'Major' so I think they would have found a way around the cold", Ellie replied and Franks and Lyssa exchanged another glance wondering if this was going to turn into another argument.
Lorne pondered for a moment then said,
"Okay so let's say it is rigged…it's not that far from the entrance…we could grab the artefact and run like hell".
"Yeah that's a great plan", Ellie muttered sarcastically.
"Sounds okay to me", Franks said and Ellie threw him a dirty look.
"Lyssa?", Lorne asked knowing he didn't need a majority vote being the leader of this team but he still liked to ask. If his team seriously objected then he would reconsider any plan that he had made, whatever mission they were on.
Lyssa glanced at Ellie and knew that she was probably right about the artefact being rigged…but maybe if Lorne could be proved wrong…just once…he would think in the future about listening to the Doctor. But was it worth the risk?
Eventually she said,
"It's your call…I'll go with whatever you decide", and she avoided Ellie's gaze.
"Right, here goes then", Lorne said, raising the butt of his P-90 again before looking to Ellie.
"As soon as you can, grab it and then we run".
She nodded and rolled her eyes, knowing how crazy this was but what could she do?
She shielded her face as Lorne smashed the P-90 into the ice casing and shards went everywhere, then as he stepped back she reached in and grabbed it.
No sooner had she done this than the ground began to shake and they glanced at one another.
"Run!", Lorne shouted and they all took off, Ellie clutching the artefact to her tightly.
The sharp icicles that Franks had been so concerned about before began to rock as the whole cave began to rumble and Franks muttered,
"Oh crap", under his breath as they went.
"I wont say I told you so", Ellie couldn't resist as she glared at Lorne but he ignored her as he had seen the icy floor up ahead beginning to break up.
"Stop!", he shouted, holding an arm out that brought Ellie skidding to a halt, Franks and Lyssa a couple of metres behind them.
Unfortunately for Lorne he skidded on the ice and couldn't stop himself from flying straight into the icy pool in front of them.
"Major!", Ellie cried out, instinctively turning to Franks who went to move forward but just as he did a wall of ice shot out of the ground and began to separate him and Lyssa from Ellie and before they knew it, it was already at head height.
"The artefact Ellie, throw it over to me", Lyssa said thinking that putting it back may stop all of this.
Ellie immediately did as Lyssa said and the artefact just cleared the wall before it joined the ceiling of the cave.
Now completely cut off from them Ellie turned back to Lorne who was struggling to get out of the icy water.
There was a thin rim around the pool and Ellie carefully scooted around it so that she was on the other side of it, nearest the cave's exit and she knelt down and reached her hand out to Lorne.
"Give me your hand", she called out, alarmed at how pale he seemed already.
Lorne's teeth chattered and he felt strangely warm in the icy pool but he knew he had to get out of there otherwise he would die.
He tried to get his arm to move but it was as though his brain had gone to sleep and he just couldn't bring himself to reach out to Ellie.
"Major!", she shouted, jolting his thoughts a little and he made more of an effort to stretch.
Eventually Ellie had to reach into the water to grab his arm and she pulled him closer to the edge.
"I'm not going to be able to pull you out of there by myself, you're going to have to make an effort too", she said, seeing that he was struggling to keep his eyes focused.
Hoping he'd understood she said,
"Okay on three……one, two….three!", and on the last count she tugged with all her might and Lorne forced his body to push itself out of the water and he landed heavily beside Ellie on the ice, sloshing water everywhere.
Ellie glanced back at the wall of ice and saw that Lyssa and Franks had gone, probably to put the artefact back or to try and find another way out.
She looked back at Lorne who lay shivering violently and she knew she had to get him back to the jumper and get him warmed up.
"Major…come on…we need to go back to the jumper….", she said trying to pull on his arm but he had it clamped to his side as his body shuddered with the cold.
Getting angry with him probably wouldn't help but suddenly the icicles on the ceiling above them began to make cracking noises and Ellie lost her rag.
"Major Lorne get up NOW! You may have been dumb enough to nearly get me killed but I will not let you die…so MOVE!!", she yelled at him and something seemed to awaken in Lorne's head and he rolled onto his knees.
This enabled Ellie to move to his side and hook one of his arms over her shoulders and they began to head for the exit as quickly as possible.
As they moved back across the snow, Lorne muttered,
"Lyssa and Franks?", as best he could through chattering teeth.
"They'll find the back way out…Lyssa has the layout of the cave remember?", Ellie replied, trying to sound positive and Lorne nodded, stumbling slightly and Ellie pressed a hand against his chest, grimacing when she felt how saturated his heavy coat was.
They finally reached the jumper and Ellie opened the back up.
Lorne all but fell inside and collapsed on the floor whilst Ellie shut the doors again.
Once that was done she flung off her outer coat, hat and gloves and then knelt by Lorne. She pushed him onto his back and began to unbutton his thick jacket.
"I need you to sit up", she instructed but Lorne merely groaned and shivered and she bit back a curse and pulled with all her might on his collar until she had him in an upright position.
"You have to get these wet clothes off…you need to get dry and warm", she told him, pushing the coat off his shoulders and then unzipping his tac vest and his under jacket and also shoving them off of his shoulders.
She reached behind him and moved them out of the way.
Lorne went to lay back down but she grabbed the neck of his T-shirt to keep him upright.
"This has to come off too", she said and Lorne didn't object as she dragged the shirt over his head.
She then let him lay down again, her hands hesitating as she went for the button on his combats.
She took a deep breath and went for it, undoing the buttons and then tugging them down his thighs.
She ignored his muscular thighs and the sight of him lying there in nothing more than his snugly-fitting shorts and she moved and took off his boots and socks.
Refusing point blank to remove the shorts she removed her own jacket and rubbed it over his wet skin, trying to dry him off as best she could.
She stood and reached into the overhead lockers and pulled out all the coats and blankets she could find, piling them over and around Lorne but she watched in dismay as he continued to shiver violently.
She moved to the front of the jumper and powered it up, hoping to generate some heat but it would be a while before that happened.
She went back to Lorne and knew that if she didn't warm him up soon he would get hyperthermia and die.
"Damn it", she cursed and she bent and pulled off her boots and wriggled out of her combats which were wet from the snow.
She knew that body heat would help and she reluctantly pulled her T-shirt over her head leaving her in just her bra and panties and she shook her head in disbelief as she got under the blankets and snuggled up to Lorne's freezing cold body.
This didn't seem to help and she muttered yet another curse as she moved up and straddled him. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and then lay on him, chest to chest, her head level with his.
"Jeez, you're cold", she said, her body rapidly losing heat as his drew it from her and Lorne made a grunting noise in response.
They lay still for what seemed like forever before Lorne's shivers slowly seemed to dissipate and Ellie relaxed somewhat and she moved down his body slightly so that she could rest her head against his shoulder.
The heat from the jumper gradually began to kick in and she checked Lorne's pulse before settling back against him.
She hoped Lyssa and Franks had made it out of the cave and that they were headed for the jumper.
Her heart began to beat erratically and she told herself to calm down.
Slowly as they both began to get warmer, her eyelids slid shut and she joined Lorne in sleep.
Sometime later Lorne opened his eyes and he stared at the roof of the jumper for a while before he realised what it was.
The next thing he realised was that there was a soft, warm, female body lying on top of him and he frowned as he tried to recall what the hell had gone on here.
He moved his head slightly and saw the brunette curls of the woman and he stiffened as everything gradually came flooding back to him.
"What the hell……", he muttered and Ellie suddenly sat up, blinking down at him, the fact that she only wore panties and a bra escaping her at that moment.
"You're awake!", she said.
"We're nearly naked!", Lorne replied and Ellie swallowed as she realised that he was right.
End of Chapter 3