Three
He wishes he didn't have to do this. He wishes he could go upstairs again, sit on the floor and lean his back against the door so he is as close to Laura as she lets him. Of course sitting there and listening to her could also be considered self-punishment but he refuses to acknowledge that there is something he had to punish himself for.
However, as it is, he apparently found something else that could count as self-punishment. Or that something found him. Or… whatever. This is not the point, anyway. The point is that he needs to concentrate now because Laura's mother just led him into the living room and is obviously about to give him hell for what just happened. Or maybe also for having the audacity of falling in love with Laura. Mh. Judging from the look on her face… definitely going to give him hell for falling in love with Laura. Oh well, here we go.
"So… what did you do to my daughter?" Yeah, right, of course it was him who made Laura cry.
But then again… the real reason why she went at him and is crying like mad in her room right now has something to do with their recent encounter with the Trust and he just has the feeling he shouldn't tell her mother about that. Trying to keep it civil, he takes a deep breath and resists the impulse to cross his arms in front of his chest. "I know how it looks to you, Mrs. Cadman," the look on her face tells him that she has a very definite idea about what that looked like, "but… trust me… it's not."
She doesn't look amused. Apparently, his credibility – and popularity – is below that of Nixon after the Watergate scandal. "You think you know what that looked like to me? I'll tell you what it looked like." Oh great, he's really looking forward to that. "It looked like you turned my daughter into a clingy dependent sorry excuse for the woman she was before she got to know you."
What the hell? He's not quite sure if he should feel offended for himself or for Laura… or probably for both of them. It pushes him so off-course that he's at a loss for words for a moment or two. Then, "What the hell makes you…" As he sees the thunderclouds above her head grow darker than the ones outsides, he forces himself to take a deep breath and try again, "Look, I know that the way Laura reacted must have looked… a bit out of character for her."
"You bet it did." Hey, he wasn't finished yet!
"Mrs. Cadman, could you please just let me finish?" Because if she doesn't, he might feel forced to hurt someone… preferably the woman who just managed to insult her own daughter. "Because, believe me, there's a reason why Laura did this." She wants to interrupt him again but he's had it now. "However, that reason is not me. Laura has been under a tremendous amount of stress lately." So far, he didn't lie. "In fact, we had to interrupt our stay at my parents' for urgent… work matters and she'd been under strain there as well." Which is absolutely understating it.
"So you're saying you can't take care of her?" What… Hey!
He wonders if she did that on purpose or if she really has no idea how contradictory her accusations are. "With all due respect, ma'am, a moment ago you accused me of making Laura into a dependent simpering female and now you accuse me of being incapable of taking care of her?"
That gets him a kind of triumphant smirk and for some reason… it starts to agitate him. "Actually, I'm saying both. First you turn her into that sorry excuse of a self-dependent woman and then you can't even take care of that woman."
That's just… he doesn't even have words for it. One more try… one more try at making her see reason and then he's out of here, for an indefinite amount of time. He knows it's not Laura's fault that this is happening but that doesn't make it any better. "Laura is very capable of standing her ground, in every given situation, professional and non-professional and I am very capable of taking care of her whenever the need arises." Right now… he's not so sure about that, seeing as he couldn't protect her from being traumatized by the Goa'uld and seeing as he couldn't get through to her just a few minutes ago. But that's nothing her mother needs to know. "We support each other when we need to and we also give each other space when it's necessary. It's not always easy but it's always worth it. All we're asking of you is that you accept what we have and what we want. Is that really too much to ask?"
For a moment… it looks like she might give in but then… her eyes narrow a little and she looks so much like Laura that it's scary. "All I see is that my daughter is sitting in her room crying like she cried only once in her life and that the man responsible for it is trying to badmouth me."
Alright then… that's it. "Fine. If you want to see it like that… feel free to do so. I just don't think it'll improve the relationship between you and Laura. And if you'd please excuse me now… I think I need a bit of fresh air."
He doesn't even dignify her with another look, just turns around and walks straight through the door over the back porch on the lawn, somehow hoping that the rain that's coming down in torrents will make the mess that are his thoughts go away and only leave behind the clear-headedness he needs to get through this… or at least the blissful early morning serenity when he wakes up beside Laura on an Atlantis day off with the sun shining in and a slight breeze wafting through the room… anything but what's been going on since they got the snake out of his head.
A/N: And here Evan thought that his brother-in-law could pose a problem... poor guy, I actually pity him. Oh well, as we Germans say: Da musser durch als Lurch, wenner 'n Frosch werden will... and I just realized that I have no idea how to translate that. It's something about... no, you don't want to know it. No, mac, you don't want to know it, either ;)