Jason woke up a day later. Grace was there, waiting for Lorne to come in for a check-up. Keller paged her to the isolation room, where Jason eyed her sleepily. "Grace?"
"I'm here." She moved to her bedside.
"Major Lorne?"
"He's fine." She smiled. "Better than you are right now."
Jason smiled as well. "Good." His eyes drifted closed and then popped open. "Will you tell him . . . .?" He fell asleep.
Grace left then, allowing Jennifer to work. In the infirmary, Lorne stood next to a bed and nodded when he saw her. "Hey, Doc."
"Major." She donned a pair of latex gloves. "Good news."
"Oh?" He winced as he removed his shirt so she could examine his wound.
"Lt. Miller's awake." She stared at his back, not quite able to ignore the rippling muscles. "Well, he was." She removed the bandage, embarrassed both by her distraction and the feelings seeing him bare-chested stirred.
Lorne glanced over his shoulder. "I take it that's a good sign?"
"Yes." Grace bandaged his shoulder with fresh dressings and moved around him to take a look at the wound in his chest. She hoped her face wasn't as red as it felt. "He had all of his memory, and he asked about you. But he's back asleep again, and he'll be out of it for a while."
Lorne nodded. "Thanks, Doc."
"You're welcome." She replaced the second bandage and managed to meet his eyes. "You're healing nicely, as well. I still want you wearing that sling three to four more days. After that, you can take it off as long as you can handle it. Once again, take it easy. Rushing this could delay your return to active duty."
He nodded again, this time with a slightly frustrated expression. She turned to walk away, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Grace." He studied her when she turned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She wasn't really fine, but she didn't want to tell him that.
"Jason's going to pull out of this."
"I know." She looked around, wishing he had chosen to bring up this subject in a more private setting. "I just know Jason, and I don't want anything more than friendship. What we once had is over, but I don't know how to make that clear."
"I believe you have." Lorne dropped her arm and started to struggle back into his shirt. "Women think men can just turn off their emotions, but we respond to a breakup we didn't want just as badly as you do. Give Miller time. He'll cope."
Grace left him alone then. Somehow, she'd found a guy with the ability to understand her complex emotions where Jason Miller was concerned. Now, if she could make sense of her emotions where Evan Lorne was concerned, she'd be a happy woman.
SGA SGA SGA SGA
Miller recovered with seemingly amazing speed while Lorne's wound seemed to take forever. Of course, Lorne wasn't in the hospital bed, climbing the walls with boredom. He just dealt with the boredom by pushing himself. The day that Grace removed his stitches, he went to the gym and started rebuilding the strength his arm once had. A very short workout tired him out, and he returned the next day to push himself a little harder. And the next. It wasn't without pain, but he soon felt the results.
Sheppard and his team returned from their meeting with Laden Radeem, and Lorne anxiously waited for news. Woolsey allowed him to sit in on the mission debrief, and he listened with a practiced patience. In truth, he wanted to know if the guy who shot him was dead. Sheppard never mentioned him, merely focusing on the very unsurprising fact that Radeem had a faction of Genii working against him. Lorne frowned. Why would the Genii want the Ancient tech that was on the planet where he'd been shot? Unfortunately, he wouldn't be going back to figure it out. The Genii were entrenched now, and breaching their lines would be next to impossible.
Grace remained an interesting diversion. Lorne saw her often, and they shared lunch on more than one occasion. Once, she found him on the southeast pier, painting the sunset. They talked for an hour while she watched him paint. His ego enjoyed the attention, and he enjoyed the red highlights the setting sun cast on her hair. Not for the first time, he realized just how beautiful she really was. The guy who snagged her would be a very lucky man.
Lorne returned to active duty before Jason was ready. Miller understood and accepted his fate. The new man, Williams, was good, but Lorne preferred Miller. Jason just understood the unspoken ways that developed in a good team. Williams didn't know any of them, and it caused a few awkward moments.
One evening, as he was finishing the painting of Grace that he'd begun the day he started teaching her to paint, she found him on the same pier, staring intently at the sunset behind him. She leaned to see around the canvas he'd set up. "Am I interrupting?"
Lorne turned, surprised that he hadn't heard her approach. "No." He left his spot on the railing and put his palette down on the stone bench. "I just wasn't expecting you here."
"I just came from the infirmary." She walked over to him, placing the stone bench between them. "Jason and I had a long talk about when he's going to return to the field. Or if he's going to return to the field."
"We've discussed that as well." He dropped a brush in paint thinner and straightened. "I want him back on my team, but I want him to fully recover first."
"I agree." She stared at him. "Something wrong?"
"No." He wondered if he should cover the painting.
She accepted that with a nod. "What are you working on?"
"Just a fun project." He hoped she'd leave it at that.
"Aren't they all?" She motioned. "May I?"
Lorne had seconds to debate the dilemma. If he showed her the painting and she didn't like it, they probably wouldn't share the same friendship. On the other hand, if she did like it, the friendship would still change. Either way, she'd know what he'd been keeping hidden. "Sure."
Grace moved around the canvas and stared at the painting. Her eyes widened slightly, and he moved to her side. She looked at him. "I'm not that pretty."
"You don't look in the mirror much, do you?" He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Look, I don't know if this is the time or place to talk about this, but I can't keep pretending. Not anymore."
"Pretending?" She drew in a deep breath. "I know that sounds clueless, but I want to make sure we're on the same page and not misreading each others signals."
Lorne thought for a moment. He was a soldier, not a man of words. Rather than try to explain, he turned her face with one hand and kissed her.
SGA SGA SGA SGA
Grace was not a weak-in-the-knees kind of woman, but Evan's kiss made her head spin. She stepped closer to him, grateful that she wasn't the only one wishing the charade could end. He slipped his arms around her waist, but he also ended the kiss far too soon for her tastes. She tried to catch her breath and keep her wits about her at the same time. He leaned back far enough to look her in the eyes. "That's what I'm talking about."
She put both hands on his chest. "Do we really have to keep pretending?"
He stepped away from her and returned to the railing. "Grace, I'm sure you've heard it before. A distracted soldier is a dead soldier."
"I know that." She frowned. "Have I done something?"
"I'm not talking about you and me." He faced her again. "I know how hard it is for you, being a doctor, to let anyone go through the gate. But that's our job, and you accept it. I'm referring to Miller. If we start up a relationship, he's going to be distracted every time he goes on a mission with me."
"You underestimate him." Grace found it hard to breathe again, but not because of Evan's nearness. Why did this subject keep getting in the way? "Jason's a good man, and he'll accept my decision."
"He might, but he'll still feel the rejection." He straightened. "You're a good friend, Grace. But, for all our sakes, that's all this can be." He pressed his lips together briefly. "I'm sorry."
For an instant, anger flashed through her, and she almost rushed to the infirmary to give Jason Miller a piece of her mind. They'd been out of each other's lives for so long, and, now that she'd finally found someone with whom she had more than just a passing interest, he stood in her way. The anger faded, however, leaving a crushing weight in its place. Evan returned her feelings, but he had just done the honorable thing. He had crushed her heart in order to keep his team together. She should have expected nothing less.
Evan gathered his supplies and faced her, the easel between them. "I hope you find a place for that." He motioned toward the painting. Then, he left her alone, crying and wanting to throw the beautiful painting into the depths of the Lantean ocean.
~TBC~
Author's Note: Okay. Fluff, fluff, and more fluff. But every good love story needs scenes like this. The next few chapters should change a lot of this, though. Let me know what you think by reviewing!
