A/N: Thanks to JodyMarie and Dude for reviewing the last chapter. This chapter follows on from the last so it takes place during 'Coup D'etat'. It starts out from Olivia's POV then switches to Lorne after the second line break. Please take a moment to review! If public reviews aren't your thing, I'm happy to get PMs. Thanks!

"Any news yet?"

"Huh?"

"Any news about Major Lorne and his team?"

"I'm trying to eat here, Doc."

Olivia pulled Stackhouse's tray away from him. "Any news about Lorne's team?" she repeated.

Stackhouse let out an annoyed huff. "You mean since you asked me fifteen minutes ago?"

"Yes, Sergeant."

"Still no word."

Olivia pushed the tray back over and cupped her face in her hands. She was so tired. Evan had been missing for almost twenty-four hours now and she hadn't managed a wink of sleep in that time. Last she'd heard, the Genii were suspected of kidnapping the team, Sheppard was leading some sort of mission to steal a ZPM and the Ancient gene was involved somehow.

It was all very confusing. She just wanted Evan back.

Stackhouse resumed eating and regarded her thoughtfully. "Looks like I was wrong to ignore all those rumours about you and Lorne. I guess the rumour mill around here gets it right every so often."

Olivia didn't even bother to correct his assumption. "I'll leave you alone if you promise to radio if you hear anything."

"Whatever it'll take to get you to leave me in peace."

"Thank you. Was that so hard?" Olivia slapped her hands on the table and stood up.

"You know, that doctor Coughlin's dating hasn't been hanging around bugging me every five minutes," he said lightly. "Maybe you should take a leaf out of her book and try to relax and get some sleep."

"Thanks for your concern, but I'm fine. I'll be even better when Lorne and his team are safely back on Atlantis."

"Sheppard won't stop till he finds them. Neither will I."

Olivia smiled gratefully before turning and exiting the mess hall. That was exactly what she needed to hear. Things were still too uncertain for her liking. No one could say for sure that Evan and the others were actually alive. It was just a hunch given the elaborate nature of the fire and the body switch. It didn't seem likely that the Genii would go to all that trouble then kill the three men as soon as they got their hands on them.

At least that's what everyone was hoping. Olivia was clinging to that glimmer of hope. Aside from being tired, she was in a good headspace finally. Sheppard was well known for never leaving anyone behind and that comforted her immensely. As far as she was concerned, there was still a good chance Evan, Reed and Coughlin would return to Atlantis safe and sound.

Trusting Stackhouse to keep her updated, Olivia returned to her lab and got back to work. For the most part, she was able to concentrate. The temptation to keep radioing the sergeant was strong, but she resisted. Aside from Evan and Reed, he was the only member of the military she felt comfortable around. If she pissed him off too much he would stop helping her and she'd be forced to hang around the Control Room and try to get information that way.

Much easier to make nice with Stackhouse.

Olivia worked steadily for the afternoon, moving swiftly from one project to another to keep her mind occupied. She was beginning to get good at losing herself in the work and forgetting what was going on around her. But Evan was always on her mind. A constant calming presence over her shoulder.

One thing was for sure, when he got back to the city, Olivia wasn't going to waste anymore time dancing around him. Life was too short to play hard to get. She was going to be open and honest about her feelings. Finally. He just had to come back to her.

Emma leant over and peered at the tray. "I think it's supposed to be chicken."

Sophie shook her head. "It's too grey. It's definitely veal."

Whatever it was, Olivia wasn't going to eat it. She picked at some fruit instead. Evan still wasn't back. Stupid Sheppard had screwed things up and got himself captured by the Genii…again. Stackhouse's last update hadn't been positive. The leader of the Genii had given Dr Weir fifteen minutes to hand over a Jumper or he'd kill Sheppard.

Olivia glanced at her watch and grimaced. "Well, time's up for the colonel."

Emma and Sophie both lowered their eyes. The mood in the mess hall was definitely a little subdued. Olivia found it weird how Sheppard's absence always seemed to bring everyone down a notch. It was as if everyone always expected him not to return and that the expedition would subsequently fall apart without him.

Olivia wasn't sure if this was the case, but it seemed as if the theory was about to be tested.

"There's no way the Genii would actually kill Sheppard. They know we'd kick their ass for it," Emma said.

"I don't think they're all that scared of us," Olivia contested. "They wouldn't have taken Lorne's team in the first place if they were worried about repercussions."

"I agree," Sophie said. "They seem ready to do anything in order to further their own cause. I do not think they're above killing any of our people to get what they want."

Emma threw up her hands. "Well excuse me for trying to stay positive here!"

Olivia's optimism from earlier in the day had gradually dissipated as the hours ticked by. Dr Weir was between a rock and a hard place now. She couldn't very well arm the Genii with a Jumper. If she met their terms, then every psychopath in the galaxy would start holding Atlantis personnel for ransom.

So Sheppard was dead. And probably Evan too if he was being held in the same place.

"Come on, Liv. Eat your chicken-veal-thing and let's go watch a movie. I've got a few comedies that will cheer you up."

"I'm not in the mood for a movie, Em."

"What are you going to do then? Drive yourself crazy imagining what's going on off-world?"

"Probably," Olivia said with a diffident little shrug.

"You need a distraction. No arguments."

So after dinner, Olivia eventually found herself huddled up on her bed between Emma and Sophie watching the opening credits of The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Normally she liked nothing more than a good comedy, but laughing right now seemed callous. If Evan was still alive out there then he sure as hell wouldn't have a reason to laugh. Why should she be enjoying herself?

The movie had only just started when Stackhouse's voice came through her earpiece. She scrambled off her bed, elbowing and kicking her friends numerous times in her haste to get up.

"Sergeant! Please tell me you have good news."

"The Gate just activated. It's over, Doc, everyone's fine. Even Sheppard."

Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. "Thank God." She looked over to the girls and gave them a thumbs up. They both started bouncing around excitedly.

"They've all gone to the infirmary to get checked out. But they looked fine to me so it shouldn't take too long."

"Thank you, Sergeant."

"No problem, Doc."

Olivia ran and threw herself back on the bed. "They're alive! Every single one of them!"

"Told you so," Emma said poking her in the ribs.

After almost two days in agony, Olivia felt giddy with anticipation. It felt like forever since she'd seen Evan.

"What are you going to do?" Sophie asked.

"I should go and see him, right?"

"Definitely!" Emma looked her over critically. "After you freshen up. You look like you've gone ten rounds with a Wraith Queen."

Olivia nodded and got back to her feet. "It'll only take me a few minutes. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Thanks for staying with me after dinner. I really did need the company."

Sophie patted her on the cheek. "That's what friends are for, no?"

Olivia said her goodbyes then slipped into her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and winced. Actually, she was going to need at least an hour.

Evan stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He surveyed himself in the mirror and noted that he didn't look too bad considering what he'd just been through. For all anyone knew, he could have just had a bad hangover. He had bags under his eyes from not sleeping and he needed to shave. His only real injury was a bruise that was starting to blossom on his left side due to a kick in the ribs he'd suffered during the ambush on 177.

Carson had done a scan and cleared him of any broken bones. Evan also knew a few more bruises were going to appear on the inside of his elbow. The Genii had taken blood samples from him several times. Some of them had been better at it than others. He had started to feel like a human pin-cushion.

His dog tags hung from his neck again. Carson had handed them back just before he left the infirmary. It was a little creepy that they had been attached to a dead body for a while, but there wasn't any way around it. It'd take too long to have a replacement set sent from Earth. After so many years, Evan barely noticed he was wearing them most of the time. It was only when they hadn't been there for the past few days that he thought about them and felt like he was missing an important piece of himself.

After quickly drying himself, Evan padded back into his room and pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a faded old USAF t-shirt. The clothes the Genii had made him wear had been horribly itchy. It was nice to be back in his own comfortable clothes. It was going to be even nicer to sleep in his own bed. It was definitely preferable to sharing a concrete floor with Coughlin and Reed.

Truth be told, he could have dropped into bed then and there and been asleep in minutes. But he wanted to see Olivia first. He figured he owed her that much. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about her while he was stuck in that cell. He hoped the past two days hadn't been too hard on her.

Evan pulled on a pair of sneakers then secured his radio in his ear. Sheppard had given him the next three days off to recover. Of course, he had protested that he didn't need three whole days, but then Carson had interrupted and helpfully offered to declare him medically unfit for an entire week. Evan had graciously accepted the three days off and kept his mouth shut for the rest of his check-up.

He let himself out of his quarters and headed for the reading room he and Olivia had made their own. Without even radioing her, he knew she would be there waiting for him. And he wasn't disappointed. He could see the lights were on as he approached the room. He paused in the corridor to rearrange his features into what he could only hope was a calm, reassuring look.

Evan entered the room and stopped just inside the door. His eyes found Olivia immediately. She was curled up in her usual armchair wearing a pair of jeans and a Yale sweatshirt that was at least two sizes too big for her. Her hair was down, falling past her shoulders in loose curls. Their eyes met and Evan's stomach clenched.

"Hi," he said awkwardly, wishing that he had come up with something a little more original than that.

"Hi," she replied softly.

"I was going to radio you to let you know I was back but Stackhouse came over and told me you already knew. I figured it was best if I just came to see you. I'm really sorry," he finished lamely.

For a moment, she smiled. He smiled back then her face suddenly crumbled and she dropped her head into her hands. He watched in horror as her shoulders began to shake.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath and crossed the room in a few strides. He had never been able to handle crying. "Olivia, it's okay. I'm fine."

Evan dropped to his knees beside her chair and put his arms around her. He tried to gently pry her hands from her face but she held on tight and cried a little louder. "Please, Liv, stop crying. You're making me feel bad. I don't know what to do here."

Olivia let out a strangled sob and wriggled away from him. She retreated to the other side of the room and turned to him with fat teardrops still rolling down her face. She hiccuped miserably.

Evan closed his eyes briefly. Jesus Christ. She might as well rip his heart right out of his chest and be done with it. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"I hate crying!" she said, swiping at her cheek with her sleeve.

"Well, that makes two of us. So why don't you take a few deep breaths and sit back down. I'll stay over here till you're a little calmer."

Evan saw her brow furrow, which usually meant she was about to argue with him. "I'm all right, really. See, no harm done," he said quickly, spreading his arms to show he was in one piece.

She shook her head, sending her curls whipping around her face. "I thought you were dead, Evan!"

"Well obviously I'm not dead so there's no need to cry anymore."

She lowered her gaze and said something that he couldn't make out. He got to his feet and took a cautious step towards her as if she was a skittish animal he was trying to corner. "Sorry, Liv, I didn't catch that."

"I saw your body bag," she repeated, looking studiously at her feet as tears kept falling.

Evan groaned and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. This was much worse than he could have imagined. He wasn't prepared to deal with anything like this. He was at a complete loss. She wouldn't stop crying and she didn't seem to want to be held or comforted. "I'm so sorry you had to see that. Tell me what I can do to make this better," he said, realising that talking was his only option right now.

"You can stop apologising for a start," she said, her voice thick and croaky. She rubbed at her face with her sleeves. When their eyes met again she looked a little more like her old self. "You're not helping things by apologising for events you had no control over."

"All right, I'll stop apologising if you promise to stop crying."

Olivia took a shaky breath and rolled her neck from side to side. "Just give me another minute. I was really worried about you, you know."

"Yeah, I'm getting that feeling," Evan said with a tentative smile.

Once again, Olivia's face crumbled and once again Evan was horrified. Every time he smiled at her she burst into tears! Before he could say anything, she launched herself at him. At the last second he turned to the side to stop her colliding with his sore ribs. The impact still jarred them painfully.

He gritted his teeth and said, "What did I just say, 'Livia? You're not keeping your promise very well."

She buried her face in his neck and he could feel her tears sliding beneath his collar. "It's happy tears," she mumbled. "I didn't think I'd get to see your smile again."

Evan sighed and wrapped his arms around her. He wanted to argue that any sort of tears made him feel uncomfortable, but he didn't want her running away again. So instead he stayed silent and slipped a hand under her hair to cup her neck while his other arm wrapped around her waist. Her hair smelt like strawberries again. He buried his face in her curls and just breathed deeply for a moment.

They stayed entwined like that for almost two minutes. Evan felt Olivia relax against him and her breathing gradually evened out. He was all but holding her up now and his bruised muscles were aching at the exertion. Slowly, he began to edge them towards the three seater couch. She moaned in protest but he shushed her and pulled her down onto the couch with him.

After initially pushing him away, Olivia now refused to let go of him. When she settled herself on his lap he quickly realised that was a bad idea. Instead he moved backwards to lie down and pulled her along with him so she was wedged between the back of the couch and his body. Her head pillowed naturally on his shoulder and she curled an arm around his middle, thankfully just below his ribcage.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked softly, not sure if she was even totally awake.

"Yes," she replied just as softly. "Keep talking to me. I missed your voice."

"All right. What should I talk about?"

"Tell me what happened to you so I can get it straight in my head. Did the Genii hurt you?"

"Not really," he said, glad she couldn't see him lie to her blatantly like that. "My arm hurts a little where they kept taking blood from me."

"Here?" Olivia asked, running her finger up down the inside of his elbow. "What did they want with your blood?"

Evan swallowed hard and tried to ignore the shiver running through his body as her finger trailed a languid path up and down. "Uh, well, they were trying to come up with their own ATA gene therapy so they could pilot the Jumpers and stuff. Apparently my blood was the best to work with."

"Because you have the gene naturally?"

"That's what Beckett thinks. Either way, I co-operated and let them take as much as they wanted. If Reed and I resisted they threatened to kill Coughlin. He doesn't have the gene so they had no use for him."

Olivia stopped her slow torture and wrapped her arm back around his torso. "Are they both okay?"

"Coughlin was about ready to kill Reed by the end of it. Truthfully, I was on the verge of killing him too. All he did was talk about all the pity sex he was going to get once we got back to Atlantis."

Olivia giggled. "I don't think he'll have a shortage of volunteers."

Evan knew for a fact that there were many volunteers where Reed was concerned. They'd been on Atlantis for almost a year and he was already up to double digits. Not that Evan could really blame the kid. Being on a remote base with so many available civilian women was a rare situation. In fact, if Evan was still in his twenties he'd probably be tempted to do the exact same thing. But he was too old to be sowing his wild oats around the city now.

"Evan?"

"Mmm."

"Did you miss me?"

"Of course I did." He placed a light kiss on the top of her head. "We should get back to our quarters before it gets too late."

"No no," she said quickly, desperately. "Keep talking please. Tell me how you escaped."

"Five more minutes then," Evan said firmly. "I think we could both use a good night's sleep."

"Five minutes," she agreed, nuzzling her face into his neck.

Evan launched into the story of how Sheppard and the strike team had shown up and been thrown into the cell alongside them. He was three minutes into it when he realised she had fallen asleep. It seemed pointless to wake her now. He might as well try and get some sleep too. The lamps all turned off before he could even finish forming the thought. His link to the city had been particularly strong ever since he got back. It was like Atlantis had missed him too.

This thought was foremost in Evan's mind as he drifted off to sleep.

Some time later, he was woken by a sharp pain in his side. A lamp flared back to life and Evan glanced down to where Olivia was squeezing him in her sleep. He noted that at some point she had also thrown her leg over his hips. Alarmingly, his own hand was grasping her thigh tightly. He let go quickly then adjusted her arm so it was across the top of his chest and not around the bottom of his ribcage.

Evan glanced at his watch and guessed they had been asleep like that for three hours or so. The painkillers he'd been given had definitely worn off now. He ached all over. Olivia twitched in her sleep, obviously in the middle of some sort of dream or nightmare. He glanced at her face. Probably a nightmare. Her face was contorted into a frown. Her eyelashes looked impossibly long and dark, curved delicately against her too-pale skin.

"Olivia?" he whispered, brushing her hair back from her face. "Wake up."

She didn't stir. The sound of his voice at least seemed to settle her a little. The frown vanished and she appeared to fall into a serene slumber. Evan was losing feeling in the arm she was lying on. He clenched and unclenched his fist to get some blood flow back. The movement made her press even tighter against his side.

The soft swell of her breasts against him felt way too good. It'd been over a year since he'd had sex and his body was letting him know it. It certainly wasn't helping that she looked good in jeans. Even the baggy sweater wasn't hiding anything because he'd already memorised the soft curves beneath it. He'd never been one for skin and bones or hard muscle.

Evan resisted the temptation to let his hand slide down to her backside. Groping a sleeping woman was all kinds of perverted. He just stroked her hair instead. Unsurprisingly, his traitorous body was reacting to having her wrapped around him. Uncontrollable erections at fifteen were embarrassing enough. At thirty-five they were downright mortifying. They'd become a regular occurrence since Olivia had arrived. It'd definitely been too long since he'd had sex.

Somehow he didn't think Olivia would mind very much if he were to wake her up right now and roll her onto her back and do everything to her that he'd been imagining for the last few months. But something wasn't feeling right anymore. Evan was now realising what it was. Her reaction to this whole situation had been too confronting for him.

The whole thing had reminded him why he'd made the decision not to date anyone on Atlantis. He couldn't bear to leave anyone behind. It was bad enough that his mother, sister and nephews would have to deal with the loss if he was killed in the line of duty. There was no way he wanted to knowingly drag anyone else through that.

But Evan had thought Olivia was a little stronger than she obviously was. Now that he'd seen her have a mini-breakdown he wasn't sure he could keep going off-world knowing she was worrying herself sick about him the whole time. He wasn't ready to give up his job yet either. Not while he was still sharp, fit and capable of taking out Wraith.

Olivia was supposed to joke around about him not being dead, not burst into tears. Somewhere along the way Evan had misjudged her. She clearly wasn't cut out to have a relationship with anyone in the military. The reality was painful for him, but it reaffirmed his theory that he was better off alone.

Olivia chose that moment to stir in his arms. She moaned and stretched as best she could in the tight space. "Evan?"

"Yeah, I'm awake."

"Was I asleep for long?"

"We both fell asleep for about three hours. It's almost midnight. Time to go back to our quarters before we end up here all night."

"Five more minutes," she pleaded, her mouth too close to his ear.

"You said the same thing three hours ago," he pointed out.

Olivia's hand drifted to the middle of his chest. "You got your tags back," she noted, running her fingers along the line of the chain.

"Yeah. Look, Olivia, let's get going now that we're both awake."

"I've only ever seen you clean shaven," she said, apparently opting to just ignore him now. She tilted her head and ran the tip of her nose along his jaw line.

"I figured I could get away with not shaving just this once. I'll walk you back to your room, okay," Evan said, his voice not sounding half as firm as he'd hoped it would.

When Olivia dragged her wet, parted lips along the underside of his jaw he actually jerked in surprise.

"Olivia…"

"It's okay. I actually like the stubble. It tickles a bit."

Her lips found the jumping pulse point in his throat next and he shuddered a little. She'd stopped fingering his dog tags a while ago and her hand was now beneath his shirt, splayed out across his clenched stomach. When she made to slide her hand beneath the waistband of his pants, he finally came to his senses.

"Olivia, stop," he snapped, catching hold of her wayward hand and drawing back from her lips.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't do this right now. It's a bad idea." Evan slipped out from under her and rolled off the couch and to his feet. His ribs throbbed and he clutched at them automatically.

Olivia jumped to her feet. "I thought you said you weren't hurt!"

"It's just a knock to my ribs. I'll survive."

"It's clearly more than just a knock!"

Evan straightened up with considerable effort. "Don't freak out about it okay. Nothing's broken. I've had much worse happen to me."

She crossed her arms and cocked her head at him. "Oh, that's really comforting, Evan. Thank you."

"I just mean that you can't get upset over every bump and bruise I get. It's not worth worrying about."

Tears sprang to her eyes and she dropped her gaze. "You could have at least told me. I wouldn't have been on top of you like that if I'd known you were injured."

Evan quickly pulled her into a hug. "Don't start crying again. I thought we were done with that. All that matters is I'm back now and there's no permanent damage done."

"When you were missing I told myself that I wouldn't waste anymore time if you got back safely."

Evan's jaw tightened. He'd told himself the same thing while he was being held. There's nothing like the threat of dying to make you re-evaluate your entire life. Back in the safety of Atlantis, things felt different. He no longer wanted to bring Olivia into the emotional roller-coaster that was his life. He wanted to shield her from it. It wasn't going to be pleasant to keep her at arm's length, but he had to do it.

"It's just bad timing right now. We're both tired and emotional. Let's agree to give it a few days and see what happens then. Maybe your feelings will change."

"They won't change," she said, the stubbornness in her voice making him smile into her hair.

"Well I can't know that for sure. I'd hate to lose your friendship over some stupid mistake. So let's wait till things calm down a little."

"But I'm tired of waiting, Evan."

"We've lasted seven months. A few more days won't make much of a difference now. Besides," he said, pulling back so that he could look her in the eye, "if we're going to do this then I'd like to be one hundred percent. My ribs would limit me a bit right now."

Realisation hit her slowly. She smiled sweetly and patted his chest. "Good point. Let's wait a little longer."

Evan finally relaxed. She was looking and sounding more like herself now. Her eyes were still bloodshot and red-rimmed from all the crying, but her smile was genuine. He cupped her face in his hands and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I knew I'd be able to talk you around that way. Besides, there's no reason to rush. We've got all the time in the world."

Olivia's smile fell away and she brought her hands up to cover his. "Evan, I need to talk to you about something."

"It's gonna have to wait," he said. "I'm too tired right now. I've had less than six hours sleep in the last two days."

She bit her lip, looking uncertain for a moment. "All right. It can wait," she finally relented. "I'm tired too. I want to just sleep and forget these last few days ever happened."

Evan brought his face to hers so that they were almost nose to nose. "Don't worry, I'm going to make sure you never have to go through anything like that ever again, Olivia."