Date : 22.04.2008

Title : Worlds Apart

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 9 of 9

Rating : M

Pairings : Major Evan Lorne/Dr. Ellie Harrison

Warnings : Some Sexual Content, Romance, Adventure, Strong Language.

Spoilers : This story is part of a challenge set by puppypower01 - The Challenge of the Gate worlds - which you can find on her profile page - and part of an idea I had for another AU story…it has nothing to do with either of my other two series' which I will be continuing with shortly.

Feedback : Yes please, always welcome whatever it may be.

Disclaimer : Dr. Ellie Harrison is mine. Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1 and all their characters, unfortunately, have nothing to do with me.

Summary : AU : Major Lorne is left all alone with his newborn daughter and swears that he will never fall in love againthen he meets Dr Ellie Harrisonthen still swears that he will never fall in love again!

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

It had only taken Lorne one day on Atlantis without Ellie being there to realise that he didn't want to let her go.

It had taken a hell of a lot longer though for him to pluck up the courage to get himself and Emma places on the Daedalus' next return flight to earth.

He had organised leave time and had e-mailed his sister and asked her to book the flights and hire cars that he would need to get him and his daughter to the U.K. and then on to Wales just in time for Christmas Eve.

He still didn't have a definite address to reach Ellie at but he was sure that once he got to the SGC he could find it out somehow…he had to.

He had toyed with the idea of leaving Emma on Atlantis with Cadman as the trip was going to be long and tiring but he was going to be gone for quite a long time and he couldn't bear to be parted from his baby for so long and he was certain that it wouldn't do Emma any good either.

Finally, the day he was leaving came around and he stood in the gate room, Cadman hugging Emma to her as though she were never going to see her again.

"You promise to e-mail the minute you're able and tell me how its going?", Cadman said over Emma's head and Lorne nodded.

"Yes, I promise".

"And take lots of photos of this little one because they grow so quickly and she'll be so much bigger by the time you get back here", Cadman continued and Lorne nodded again as Sheppard ambled toward them.

"Good luck Major", he said and Lorne smiled,

"Thanks Sir".

Quite a few people on Atlantis knew the purpose of his journey and they had all wished him well.

"Do me a favour and bring me back some stuff", Sheppard said and Lorne frowned.

"Stuff…Sir?", he asked and Sheppard shrugged.

"Yeah..y'know…new release DVD's, candy…anything you can get your hands on…", he replied and Lorne smiled.

"No problem", he said.

"Merry Christmas…for in six or so weeks time", Sheppard said as he moved away and Cadman and Lorne smiled at one another.

"He is so funny", she commented and Lorne nodded as he took Emma from her.

"You have packed her some warm things haven't you? I hear it's cold in the U.K this time of year", Cadman said and Lorne touched her arm.

"Everything is under control Laura", he said and she nodded.

"I know…I'm just gonna miss you guys", she said, her eyes filling with tears and Lorne pulled her to him with his free hand.

"We'll be back before you know it", he said and she smiled, not so certain.

If Ellie didn't want to or couldn't get a position on Atlantis what would Lorne do? Would he ask for a transfer back to the SGC? And if he did that she would hardly ever see them.

Swallowing her tears she kissed Lorne's cheek then Emma's and stepped back.

"I hope it goes well and that you have a brilliant time", she said and Lorne sighed deeply.

"Me too", he replied as the announcement for beam up was made.

OoOoO

Ellie watched the snow falling from her parents' cottage lounge window and sighed deeply.

When she had returned from Atlantis she had gone back to working solidly for three and half months with Daniel Jackson. Helping him with the various projects that he was working on had helped to take her mind off of Lorne and his daughter but finally the time had come for her to take her leave and Lorne had moved to the front of her mind once again.

She had travelled to her parents home and had only been there for around a day and a half but already her parents and her deaf, mad as a badger Grandmother, knew everything there was to know about Lorne and Emma, having cajoled everything out of her after seeing how thoroughly miserable she had been on her arrival.

"Ellie honey, are you going to help us to decorate the tree?", her mother whose name was Bronwyn called over and Ellie unwrapped her arms from around herself and turned to face her mother and father.

"Sure", she said, stepping over the boxes of decorations to get closer to them.

She had only hung a few baubles when her Grandmother bellowed from her arm chair,

"I can't remember what it is you do for a living Eloise, but you certainly do not have any kind of degree in tree decoration!".

Ellie rolled her eyes at her mother. Her Grandmother always called her by her full name and Ellie hated it.

"I think I may take Mousse out for a walk", she whispered, referring to her parents' chocolate coloured Labrador and her mother nodded and smiled in understanding as Ellie's father Owen, glared at his mother.

Ellie got Mousse's lead and moved out to the hallway to put on her hat, scarf, gloves, coat and boots.

As she opened the door and Mousse shot out into the snow, she heard her father call out,

"Don't go too far in this weather Ellie".

"Okay", she replied and after closing the door behind her headed off down the snow covered track that headed from the cottage and toward the woods.

oooo

Lorne drove his hire car through the snow and arrived at what he prayed was Ellie's parents' cottage mid-afternoon. He had begged Daniel Jackson to give him the address and then had had to cajole him into not calling Ellie to warn her that he was on his way. He had wanted to surprise her but now he wasn't so sure that it had been one of his better ideas.

'What if Ellie had met someone else?', he thought. 'What if she didn't want him and Emma here, showing up out of the blue like this?'

He blocked out the unpleasant thoughts and killed the engine. He glanced at Emma who was sleeping in her car seat beside him and then he looked back through the windscreen at the beautiful house before him.

Christmas lights adorned the front porch and as he opened the car door he caught the wonderful scent of a turkey cooking.

He got out of the car and moved around to the passenger side to get Emma out and she grumbled her displeasure at him for being awakened yet again.

"This should be it now sweetheart…no more travelling for a while", he murmured, hoping against hope that he was right, for her sake as much as his own.

The six week journey from Atlantis to the SGC had been bad enough with a toddler but if he'd thought that was bad enough he had soon come to realise that various flights and check-ins with their luggage and with a by then over-tired toddler was a nightmare that he didn't want to repeat any time soon.

Taking a steadying breath as Emma settled into his shoulder, he headed for the front door of the cottage and knocked.

He had no idea how Ellie would react to seeing them and they had nowhere to stay if it all went wrong as all the hotels and B&B's in the area were surely fully booked because of the time of year and it suddenly hit him just how much of a gamble this trip had been and he hoped it paid off.

Just then the heavy wooden door opened and Lorne could tell immediately that the woman before him was Ellie's mom.

Bronwyn looked at Lorne and Emma, frowning until comprehension dawned upon her kind features and she smiled warmly at him.

"You must be Major Lorne", she said and Lorne blinked at her, surprised but pleased to learn that Ellie must have mentioned him to her parents.

"Yeah, that's right", he replied, then added, "Is Ellie here?".

"Oh forgive me, please come in with that gorgeous little girl of yours, you must both be freezing", Bronwyn said stepping back and ushering him inside.

Lorne moved into the hallway gratefully and as heat engulfed them, Emma began to wake up a little more.

She pointed through the doorway into the lounge and clapped happily as she spotted the Christmas tree and Lorne laughed.

"Let me take your coats", Bronwyn said and Lorne put Emma down so that he could remove her coat, hat and mittens.

"Ellie is out walking our dog Mousse at the moment, but she shouldn't be too much longer", Bronwyn said as she took Emma's and then his coat and hung them up.

Lorne nodded as she indicated that they move into the lounge and then she introduced Lorne to Ellie's father and the two men shook hands.

Finally Bronwyn turned to Ellie's Grandmother and said,

"This is Glenda, Ellie's Grandma".

"Who is he again?", Glenda yelled and Emma covered her ears as Lorne's eyes widened at the way the old woman bellowed.

Bronwyn rolled her eyes at Lorne before replying,

"It's Major Lorne…you know, Ellie's young man".

"Oh…so you're the one that she's pining about for", Glenda yelled and Lorne coloured up even though the old woman's words increased his hopes even more.

"Take no notice of my mother", Owen said, indicating that Lorne sit on the couch as he continued, "Can we get you something to drink? Tea, coffee, something stronger?".

"Coffee would be great thanks…and some milk for Emmy please", Lorne replied and Bronwyn smiled at the toddler who grinned back at her from her position in-between her daddy's legs.

As Bronwyn moved to the kitchen, Owen said,

"So…do you two have any place to stay…the snow is still coming down?".

Lorne cleared his throat and replied,

"I'm ashamed to say that this final part of our trip was kinda neglected due to the fact that I really thought no further ahead than actually seeing Ellie once we arrived here…so no, we have nowhere to stay".

"You do now", Bronwyn said as she re-entered the room with a tea-tray. "You can stay right here with us…Christmas day will be so wonderful with a toddler in the cottage".

"Maybe we should wait to see if it's okay with Ellie first?", Lorne said and as Owen shrugged Bronwyn gushed,

"She will be so happy to see you two that I really don't think that it will be an issue".

"I hope you're right", Lorne said, taking the coffee cup that she offered him.

As both Emma and Glenda fell asleep, Lorne chatted to Ellie's parents happily but once his cup was empty he found himself glancing toward the doorway, wondering where Ellie was.

"Why don't you take a walk to the end of the track to the right of the front door? I'm sure you'll see her in the distance", Bronwyn said as though reading his thoughts and Lorne glanced at her before looking at Emma who was sleeping soundly on the couch at his side.

"We'll keep an eye on her for you", Bronwyn cajoled and Lorne looked back at her and nodded.

"Okay, thanks", he said.

Bronwyn followed him out into the hall and he put his coat and gloves back on and then once on the porch she pointed him in the right direction.

oo

Ellie sighed deeply as she paused on the bridge that crossed the small ice covered river on her way back to the cottage.

Everywhere looked magical and she imagined showing Emma the beauty of the woods at this time of year.

Fighting back the urge to cry she wondered how Lorne and his daughter had managed to make such a huge impression upon her in such a short space of time. She thought about the application that she had submitted to General Landry just before she had left the SGC, for a position on Atlantis as McKay's assistant and wondered if Lorne would appreciate her turning back up there if she were to be successful.

Sighing again she called out for Mousse to come to her and it was only then, as she turned to leave the bridge, that she saw Lorne stood at the end.

Their eyes met and Ellie didn't dare to breath in case she was only imagining that he was stood there.

Lorne drank in the sight of her, his heart banging painfully in his chest as he realised that he had forgotten just how beautiful she was.

"Evan…", Ellie eventually whispered, a smile breaking out across her face and she ran at him at the same time as he began to close the distance between them.

They collided and Lorne lifted Ellie against him as her arms went around his shoulders.

"Oh my God…I cant believe that you are really here", Ellie said and Lorne laughed as he put her feet back onto the bridge, his hands not leaving her waist though.

They stared at one another, their breath mingling until Lorne could wait no longer and he covered her soft mouth with his, stealing her breath in a searing kiss that left them both wanting more…much more.

When their lips finally parted, Lorne nuzzled against her ear and whispered,

"I came to see you…to tell you that if you still want me…then, then I'm ready…I knew the moment you left Atlantis that I shouldn't have let you go".

Ellie tightened her hold on him as tears filled her eyes.

"Yes I still want you…you have no idea just how much", she whispered back and Lorne crushed her against him.

They held one another until suddenly Ellie said,

"Where is Emma? Did you bring her with you? How did you find me?", she asked excitedly and Lorne knew that he didn't even have to ask how she felt about his daughter.

"Daniel gave me the address and Emma's with your mom and dad", he told her and Ellie blinked in surprise, not about the Daniel part though, he knew all about her thing for Lorne.

"She is?".

"Uh-huh….", Lorne smiled at her.

"You met my parents already…and my Grandma?", Ellie said and Lorne nodded.

"Oh my God", Ellie muttered.

"They like me…I think. They offered to put Emma and I up actually…it's a good job too seeing as I forgot to actually book us in anywhere", Lorne told her and Ellie looked at him.

"Oh Evan…you came all this way just to see me? Emma must be so tired…you both must be".

"You're worth it", Lorne told her just before his mouth covered hers again.

When they broke apart again, Mousse began to sniff around them and Ellie said,

"We should get back, this snow just isn't letting up and we should get you and Emma settled in".

Lorne nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist as they headed for the cottage.

When they arrived, Ellie helped Lorne to get his and Emma's bags from the hire car and then they went inside to be greeted warmly by Ellie's parents and a happy toddler whose face was covered in mince pie.

OoOoO

Later that evening after a hot meal and an even hotter shower, Lorne settled Emma into her allocated bed and kissed her forehead. She was out for the count before he managed to straighten up and he smiled down at her as he stretched his tired muscles.

He went to the room he had been given by Bronwyn and dug in his hold-all for the small square box that housed the diamond earrings that he had picked up in one of the airports jewellery stores and pushed it into his jeans pocket.

He was making his way back down the stairs to join Ellie when he heard her Grandma bellowing,

"What did you say he did again?".

"He's a Marine in the U.S. Air Force, Gran", he heard Ellie reply.

"Ooh, a Marine…randy bunch those lot…hope you'll be able to keep up with him", Glenda replied and Lorne almost fell down the last few steps and he heard a smash as Ellie obviously dropped a piece of crockery onto the kitchen tiles.

"Gran! Please!", she cried.

Lorne bit back a smile and then headed into the lounge to find Bronwyn and Owen getting ready to go out.

They smiled at him just as Ellie and her Gran entered the lounge too.

"Get me my coat Eloise", Glenda ordered and Ellie looked at her Gran and her parents.

"Where are you going?", she asked, wondering what plans they could have for Christmas Eve. They hadn't mentioned any before Lorne had showed up.

"We're just going to nip round to Bob and Jenny's next cottage along, give you two a little time alone", Bronwyn said and Lorne shook his head.

"No please, don't feel you have to go out just because…", he trailed off as Bronwyn shook her head at him.

"It's not a problem…Glenda likes the sherry that Bob has anyhow and we need to wish them a merry Christmas at any rate".

"Thanks mum", Ellie said as she handed her Gran her coat.

"Now we'll be gone for a couple of hours…that'll be enough time for you won't it sonny?", Glenda asked of Lorne who coloured up as Ellie covered her face with her hands and Owen grasped his mother's arm and raced her to the door.

"What? What is wrong with you young 'uns?", they heard the old woman ask as the front door closed behind them.

"I'm sorry…", Ellie said as she uncovered her face to look at Lorne who was grinning at her.

"That's okay…I am a randy Marine after all", he said and Ellie blushed.

"Did Emma get off to sleep okay?", she asked, suddenly nervous and she moved toward the Christmas tree, fiddling needlessly with a few of the baubles.

"Yeah, she's totally whacked", Lorne replied, watching her…wanting her…

"Do you want some wine?", she asked, closing her eyes as she thought of the last time that they had shared wine.

Lorne moved up close behind her and moved her hair to one side.

"I want you", he whispered and heat pooled low in Ellie's belly at his words.

She arched her back against him as he kissed the back of her neck and as she did so, his hands slid around her front and he cupped the undersides of her breasts, pulling her back against him.

Ellie moaned and twisted in his arms so that she faced him, her arms going around his neck as she pressed herself against him.

Lorne took her mouth with his and moved them toward the couch. Slowly they lay down upon it and Lorne moved his body over hers, thrusting his lower half against her, his action telling her just how frustrated he was but suddenly she tore her mouth from his and gasped softly,

"Ouch!"

Lorne immediately pulled away.

"What is it?", he asked, alarmed at the thought that he may have hurt her.

"I don't know", Ellie replied, "There's something hard in your jeans".

As soon as she had said the words she knew that they had been the wrong choice and she blushed furiously as Lorne raised an eyebrow at her.

"I mean apart from that", she mumbled, rubbing at the part of her thigh that the offending 'hard' object had dug into.

Lorne suddenly remembered the earring box and he sat up and pulled it from his pocket.

Ellie sat up too and looked at him.

"What is it?", she asked and he twisted to face her and handed her the box.

"I know it's not Christmas Day just yet but…well, here you go", he said handing the box to her and Ellie took it from him, her eyes searching his.

"Well open it", he said and Ellie looked back at the box and then carefully prized the lid open.

She gasped as she saw the diamond earrings glinting at her in the tree lights.

"Evan…they're beautiful", she whispered, leaning into him to kiss him.

"I didn't get you anything though…I wasn't expecting….", she trailed off as Lorne shook his head.

"Don't worry about that…put them in, let me see how they look", he said and Ellie did as he asked, smiling as he cupped her face.

"Perfect", he said and Ellie kissed him again.

"Just like you", she told him.

They looked at one another for a few moments before Lorne said in a hoarse voice,

"Take me to bed Ellie".

Ellie's breath caught as she realised what he was saying and she continued to merely stare at him for an endless moment before eventually standing, taking his hand in hers and leading him up the stairs to her bedroom.

OoO

Ellie was nervous.

They had been here before…but Lorne was somehow different this time. She got the feeling that nothing would stop him from making love to her this time around and she wanted to be sure that when it was over he didn't regret what they had done.

As Lorne rained kisses down her throat she whispered,

"Evan…we don't have to do this right now…we can wait".

"I don't want to wait…do you?", he asked, his voice sounding constricted with passion and Ellie shook her head, biting her bottom lip as his thumb brushed a nipple.

"You're sure that this is what you want though?", she pressed and Lorne lifted his head to look at her and he realised what she was trying to ask him.

"Ellie, I want this…I want you. Last time on Atlantis…I just wasn't prepared for how strongly I felt about you…I couldn't understand how I could feel like that about you when I had loved Brianna as much as I had".

Ellie reached up and touched his face.

"I know I can never replace Brianna…", she trailed off as Lorne turned his face into her palm and kissed it before looking back at her.

"Brianna has her own space in my heart. You and Emma fill the rest of it…", he told her and Ellie melted into him, deciding that he had said enough to convince her that he was okay with this and now she wanted him…badly.

They pulled at one another's clothes and fell onto the bed, Ellie straddling Lorne and they both groaned as she pressed her soft folds against his rigid length.

She moved up and down along his shaft and Lorne gritted his teeth and gripped her hips to stop her.

"It's been a long time for me Ellie…I don't know how much teasing I can take".

She gasped as he took a nipple into his mouth.

"My randy Marine", she said breathlessly and Lorne groaned and suddenly tipped her off of him, trapping her beneath him and pinning her hands either side of her head.

Ellie wrapped her legs around his waist, her eyes locking with his as she felt the tip of him pushing at her entrance.

"I'm all yours", he told her as he made her his with one full thrust and Ellie's breath caught as he filled her to the hilt, stretching her and making her want to sob with the pleasure he was giving her.

Lorne thrust against her and it wasn't long before she felt the tug of a building orgasm and Lorne must have felt her tightening around him and he whispered in her ear,

"Ellie…I cant wait…".

But he didn't need to because just at that moment she shattered into a million tiny stars and Lorne groaned long and loudly against her neck as he joined her in ecstasy.

They lay panting, both knowing that they had needed to get rid of the urgency they had felt so that the next time they made love it would be at a slower, more exploratory pace.

"Are you okay?", Lorne whispered eventually, his lips against her neck and Ellie nodded.

"More than okay. How about you?", she replied, her arms moving around his back and Lorne felt himself begin to grow hard again inside of her.

"I think your Gran was wrong about one thing", he said and Ellie regarded him.

"And what's that?", she asked, gasping as Lorne thrust against her and she felt his re-hardened body moving inside of her again.

"I don't think a couple of hours will be long enough", he replied and Ellie giggled as he kissed her.

The End

If you'd like to find out what happens next in this Lorne and Ellie's lives please review and let me know! Thanks for reading.