Title: Questioning Chocolate
Character: Evan Lorne
Synopsis: Lorne gets an odd request from the infirmary- does he really want to know?
Date Written: 1-8-11

/\_/\_/\

"A pink duck-billed platypus?" Colonel John Sheppard asked incredulously.

"Yes, Sir. That's what it looked like." Major Evan Lorne affirmed. The two of them were walking towards their shared office, hoping to get some much needed paperwork done.

"Whoa. Those things are vicious! I can't believe you got out of there alive." Sheppard replied, opening the door and waving the Major through first.

"You and me both, Sir." Lorne said as he headed to his desk on the left side of the room.

Sheppard headed for the laptop they left plugged up with a playlist of their favorite music on it, turned to a Johnny Cash song and then hit 'Shuffle'.

"So, first one with a clear desk wins?" Sheppard asked as he sat himself in his chair, facing Lorne. They often had contests to help them get done sooner. The prizes varied from the loser's team having to go on the annoying missions, to however much chocolate and/or beer was stashed in the loser's quarters.

"That'll have to start when I get back, I just remembered I have to go ask the Doc about a requisition request I got from the infirmary." Lorne told him, grabbing the request in question and moving back towards the door.

"What kind of request?" Sheppard asked curiously.

"For some reason the infirmary needs three boxes of chocolate."

"That's odd. Usually it's personal requests wanting chocolate, not the infirmary."

"Hence why I need to go ask the Doc about it." Lorne said with a smile.

"Alrighty, don't stay gone long or I'll definitely win." Sheppard smirked, turning to his first file.

"No, Sir." Lorne replied, exiting the room and taking the quickest route to the infirmary.

/\_/\

Lorne entered the infirmary and quickly looked around for Doctor Jennifer Keller, Commanding Medical Officer.

He spotted her in her office, talking to Marie Edwards, one of her head nurses and a good friend of Lorne's.

"Hey, Doc, Marie." Lorne smiled as he knocked on the office doorframe. "Sorry to interrupt, you got a minute?"

"Yes, of course, Major. Come in." Jennifer said. "What do you need?"

Lorne handed her the request. "Do I want to know why the infirmary needs three boxes of chocolate?"

He was even more sure he didn't want to know when both Marie and Jennifer blushed deeply and shared a look.

"Well, um, Major. That's because, um, we, uh-" Jennifer broke off from her stammering, unable to continue.

Marie covered for her. "You may not know this, Evan, but there are some infections that only appear when exposed to theobromine and phenethylamine, which are found in cocoa."

"So why not request cocoa or cocoa beans?" Lorne asked, now thoroughly curious. "And why three boxes?"

"Because chocolate tastes better and because three boxes is enough that we can eat some and still have enough for our research." Marie said, her voice daring him to argue.

"Ah." Lorne's voice was laden with amusement. "Alright then, I'll put it through."

"Thank you, Evan."

"No problem." Lorne gave Marie a quick hug and departed, wanting to get back before Sheppard finished moving all his paperwork over to Lorne's desk.