Brendan was kissing her.
It was the absolute last thing she thought she'd be doing while standing several feet away from a group of men who were anxious to turn her over for money.
And while she should be scared- even more so than when she was held captive with Teyla since it didn't look like she'd have anyone to rely on once she was alone with them, something inside her fought every thought out of her head and she instantly responded to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she clung to his strong form and returned the kiss. Brendan dragged her closer, now with one hand around her waist and the other palmed against her hair. Gasping for air, she continued to melt against his body.
As quickly as the kiss began, or so it seemed to her, he yanked back.
"Hold on," he yelled, holding on to her tight and leaped into the mist of the falls. At the last moment, she saw the shocked look on the men's faces as they watched the pair jump into the falls.
Shrieking, Jennifer struggled to keep hold of him as the agonizing seconds slowly passed by while they free fell in the air.
Somehow, she managed to keep hold of Brendan's waist before hitting the water. Something in her brain reminded her to tighten her muscles and bring the inside of her elbow over her mouth. But the instant they submerged into the frigid water, the strong momentum and water turbulence pulled them apart. Panicking, Jennifer tried to remember everything Lorne and Sheppard and a handful of Marines had trained them on during survival training through her years on Atlantis.
She'd missed the first threat- rocks. Or else she'd be dead. Bubbles filled with air, preventing any ability to swim, was her next problem. She'd read about that somewhere in her medical schooling. Worse yet, the billions of bubbles also blocked most of the rays of sun pouring in to the water.
Luckily, it didn't block them all.
The panic began to subside as she saw the direction of most of the bubbles around her head. Allowing herself to relax and float, she felt her body begin to rise to the surface.
When her head broke water, she gasped in air and immediately began to swim away from the falls.
"Jen!" she heard Brendan scream out. "Jennifer!"
Momentarily stopping once she knew she was far enough away, Jennifer turned and spotted Brendan frantically swimming around the falls. Cupping her hands, she screamed his name.
Once he saw her, she caught a glimpse of relief wash over his face before he began quickly cutting through the water to reach her. And when Brendan reached her, he immediately grabbed hold of her waist, looking her over.
"Are you okay?" he asked, running his hands over her ribcage and arms.
"I'm fine," she assured him, using her hands to wipe off the constant mist of water covering her face. "Especially since I'm alive. What about you?"
Letting out a breath, he continued to hold her up in the water. "I'm good - other than losing a few years off my life expectancy."
It shouldn't have been funny, but she couldn't help breaking a smile as her teeth chattered.
"First time jumping off a waterfall?" she guessed.
"No," he said. "I've done it quite a few times. It was just the first time I've ever had to do it to rescue someone I'm responsible for."
Jennifer smiled shakily, but inwardly, she felt a tinge of disappointment from the reminder that everything he did, it was for the purpose of fulfilling his job responsibility on Atlantis.
Including what had happened a few hundred feet above them.
Glancing in that direction, he saw her gaze and reached over to shield her as he looked as well. The small group of angry men were in mid-conversation, obviously trying to figure out the quickest route to them without taking a plunge themselves over the falls.
"Come on," he kept his eye on the group while leading her to the shore bank. "We need to get moving."
When they got there, they took a personal inventory of supplies they had. Jennifer still had her vest on and produced four power bars. Since Brendan had taken his off while he tested the water, he had nothing.
"Well," he began, stripping off his soaking shirt. "The good news is that we have some food. And from the readings I got before we were interrupted up there, the water is safe."
"Do you still have your water jug?"
"Yeah," he answered, surprised it had stayed attached to his leg during the fall. "So here's the plan. We continue to the gate as quickly as possible. Hopefully Lorne gets there before us."
Nodding, Jennifer took off her vest and her uniform top, leaving only a black tank top. Despite the fact that it was wet, she knew it would dry fairly fast. Her pants were another story.
"Let's get moving," he urged her to grab her wet vest. "We'll rest once it gets too dark to move."
They made good time, especially now that Jennifer was getting used to the terrain. Stopping once to remove a power bar for each of them, they continued while they ate, knowing full well they could be discovered at any time.
He felt like his heart hadn't stopped racing from the time he'd seen her held captive in the man's arms, to jumping down from the waterfall, then to the moments of panic he felt when he couldn't find her in the water.
Multiple times today, Brendan began to fully realize the depth of his growing feelings toward his charge. His head knew it was unprofessional. He'd probably owe Sheppard a conversation... a very awkward one, in the near future. But for now, he knew he was more than capable of handling her protective duties.
If he didn't, of course, end up kissing her again. Even in duress, the moment he'd felt her lips respond to his caused his heart to completely stop. Regardless of who was watching them at the time.
With the gate in sight, Brendan began to feel the urge to slow down and cautiously approach the area. Hiding in the trees, they circled the area.
When a rustling in the trees began to grow near to their position, Brendan moved in front of Jennifer and drew his weapon. Even though it was probably useless from their plunge into the water, he hoped it would help deter whoever was approaching them.
"It's me," a disheveled and bleeding Lorne emerged.
Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief, while Brendan went over to the major and grabbed his water out of its holder.
"Here," Brendan said, urging him to sit. "You don't look so good, man."
Moving to him as well, Jennifer sat next to him and inspected the cuts that littered his face.
"Jeez, Evan," Jennifer complained. "You sure know how to keep a girl employed. Was this all from what happened in the laboratory?"
Evan watched as Jennifer removed a somewhat clean handkerchief from her vest. She also pulled out two prepackaged pain relievers and handed them over to her.
"That," Evan said, disgusted, "and from a few branches slapping me in the face."
She cleaned his cuts as best as possible as Lorne and Brendan began briefing each other. For the most part, she tuned out most of the conversation and focused on helping prevent any infections and making Lorne more comfortable.
"You hear all that?" Brendan interrupted her thoughts.
"What?" Jennifer asked. "Sorry, no. I mentally checked out for a minute."
Brendan looked concerned.
"We've got to get back through the gate," Lorne summarized. "But it's guarded by at least a dozen men. It doesn't look as if everyone has weapons- just two of the leaders down there. I'm low on amo and can't go in alone. I'm going to need Kennedy, which means you get to tag along."
"But you stick to the trees and wait for us," Brendan looked pointedly at Lorne, as if he was daring the major to contradict him. "Lorne and I will handle the men. You keep out of the way."
Feeling somewhat of a liability, she butted up her chin.
"I'm not going to sit around and watch you two fight while I twiddle my thumbs in the shadows," Jennifer said. "Give me your gun, Evan. I'll do what I can to watch your backs and create a diversion."
"No," Brendan shook his head. He rarely held her back, but this would put her life in jeopardy. Again. "It's too risky. And not necessary. Besides, you may give away your position."
Evan internally debated the suggestion. Looking at Brendan, he shook his head.
"It's a good idea," Lorne concluded. "Between the three of us, we stand a better chance of disposing of them and getting through the gate. Time is of the essence. I don't know what situation our people are in and we need to return Jen safely back."
Brendan tried finding another way, but Lorne cut off any protests.
"I'm pulling rank," Lorne forcibly said. Both men had grown comfortable with each other in the past months, developing an easy bond if not friendship. Brendan felt that Lorne knew, or at least was guessing, that Brendan felt a little more for Jennifer than he cared to let on. "Ultimately, getting her out of here should be your top priority."
"It is," Brendan bit out. "But handing her a gun and telling her to shoot off a round wasn't what I planned."
"You've been telling us for weeks we don't give her enough credit in the field," Lorne argued. "Let her prove herself."
"I don't like the fact that we're leaving her, unprotected and alone," Brendan continued to state his case.
"Guys," Jennifer broke in, indicating more men had gathered by the gate. "I think we should get down there before we're dealing with more than a dozen and a half."
Both men swore, noticing the group.
Lorne handed her the gun.
"Need a refresher?" He asked.
"No," Jennifer said, feeling strange holding the object. She regularly carried and kept up on weapons training, but it still felt foreign to her.
Brendan looked at the group, then frowned while he looked back at her.
"Stick to the trees," he ordered her. "Don't let them see you."
"And aim for them," Lorne joked. "And not for us."
"Hilarious," Jennifer responded.
Lorne led him down the brush, quietly moving toward the group.
"She'll be okay," he reasoned with him. "Brendan, I've known her longer. She can handle this."
"Her being able to handle it doesn't make me feel any better," Brendan said, taking another look back at the woman he'd grown to care about hiding in the trees.
They zig-zagged downward and made their way closer to the gate. She watched Brendan and Lorne silently communicated through signals. Understanding their orders, she waited while they quietly approached the men.
Lorne signaled to her. Nodding, she took a deep breath and steadily held the gun up. Aiming for a boulder, she created the diversion and fired off the shot.
The punch knocked her back slightly, which was a vast improvement from how she used to react when she first began firearm training. Recovering in seconds, she leaned forward and watched anxiously as Brendan and Lorne emerged from the heavy grass and threw themselves into battle.
Within a minute, they'd taken the group by surprise and effectively disarmed one leader and took down several other men. Visually looking from Lorne to Brendan, she watched for any threats to them. For the most part, both men were well-trained in hand to hand combat and were handling their own. For the second time on the mission, she watched Brendan snap a man's neck. It still shocked her how gentle he could be with a baby contrasted to the fierce warrior engaged in battle.
When only four men were left, Jennifer watched one train a weapon on Lorne. Both men from Atlantis raised their hands up, as if surrendering, but she watched as Lorne held up one finger in a single to her. Without taking the time to think, Jennifer raised her weapon, aimed for the man's leg and squeezed the trigger.
With a yell, the man went unsteady on his feet. Unfortunately, it only grazed his leg. Standing again, he raised his gun again, this time training it on Brendan. Knowing she only had a few bullets left, she raised Lorne's gun again and fired off another shot. This time, it hit the mark- the man fell down, clutching his stomach as blood pooled onto the ground. Only pausing for a second, she aimed at the third man and wounded him in the leg.
Evan and Brendan launched forward and fought two of the remaining four men while the other two ran for the trees. Within minutes, Lorne was waving her down and dialing the gate.
Brendan met her at the treeline, covering her as a precaution as the threesome ran.
"Hold it open!" Sheppard shouted from the other side of the field, surprising the three of them.
Guns roaring, the battered remaining team took out the remaining men behind Jennifer and the men.
Out of the corner of Jennifer's eye, she heard a shot go off that sent Lorne jerking forward. Reaching immediately for his shoulder, he grimaced but pushed forward to the gate.
Brendan noticed as well.
"Lorne's hit!" he shouted through the radio to Sheppard. "I'm going through with Keller."
Not knowing if more enemies were in the treeline, the Atlantian's didn't take any chances. Brendan firmly grasped Jennifer's arm and pushed her through with him, with the rest closely following.
Hours later in the briefing room, Woolsey shook his head.
"Well, Colonel," he began, nodding to Sheppard and moving on to Lorne. "Major. You both have a need to keep things interesting around here."
In the end, Lorne had been nicked with some sort of primitive bullet. It tore a gash of flesh from the back of his shoulder, sending him to the infirmary for an hour of stitch-work. Now, insisting on being included in the meeting, he sat uncomfortably, only allowing the doctors to give him a half dose of painkillers until he went back for some more work by the medical staff. Since Jennifer was so relieved he'd made it back okay, she okay'd a short leave from the infirmary for him, under the conditions he'd return.
"It needs to be noted that Kennedy and Keller were instrumental on this mission," Lorne said, sending everyone in the room nodding. "Before escaping out of the cave, I saw him surrounded by men and quickly deflected all of them. And then Keller over here... I'm not sure if Kennedy and I would've made it out as well as we did. She held off and took out a few men with my weapon."
Brendan nodded, shaking his head.
"She also went along with my fool-brained escape attempt, jumping from that waterfall," he piped in. "She had the brains to successfully get away from the falls once we went in. I don't think most others, especially those not military trained, would've done as well as she did."
Jennifer reddened at their comments.
Brendan noticed she'd been quiet- unusually quiet- after the mission. For once, he couldn't read what was going on in her head.
"I just followed your leads," she shrugged. "It's not hard to follow orders."
"Dr. Keller," Woolsey said gently. "I have a file full of commendations on your work here in Atlantis. Both in and out of the infirmary. Don't let anyone tell you you're less than what we all know you to be."
Woolsey stood.
"For the record," he finished. "In the unlikely event that I'm forced to be off-world... If anyone ever tells me to jump into a waterfall, don't expect the same outcome as the doctor. Just drown me first and save yourself."
Snickers went around the room as the men and Jennifer stood.
"Hey," Brendan jogged to catch up to Jennifer after the meeting. "We're you off to?"
Jennifer blinked, as if she'd been deep in thought about something.
"Air," she shook her head. "I need some air."
Brendan nodded.
"Okay, I'll come with you."
Jennifer looked irritated.
"Alone," she shook her head. "I want to be alone. It's been a really long day"
He studied her intently.
"Don't," she bit out. "Just for once- don't try to read me. It's annoying."
Thinking back to the mission, he thought of everything. Him shooting someone inches from her face, evading capture, jumping into the falls.
Kissing her.
Shaking his head, he continued to follow her.
Then he stopped.
"Oh, no," he muttered. "At the end. You shot two men. One didn't look like-"
She continued to walk.
"Kennedy," Jennifer closed her eyes, purposely distancing herself in any way. "Just go somewhere. Anywhere. Can you just leave me be?"
Reaching a balcony, she stalked off to the edge, leaning over and taking a deep breath.
Refusing to leave, he stood next to her, waiting for her to speak.
"You're really annoying when you do that," she muttered. "I'm not going to talk."
"You just did," he said, purposely trying to anger her into speaking more.
Staring at him, she sighed.
"All around, it was too eventful of a mission," she vaguely said. "There. Happy? Now go."
"Not close," he said. "So keep it coming."
Suddenly, Jennifer wanted to turn the tide. Specifically, back to him. Enraged, she whirled on him.
"You know what?" she began. "How about you 'start?' Other than your childhood, you've shared nothing about yourself. Like why you're here. You ask me to trust you, but you've barely shown me any trust by keeping quiet about what sent you home with Sheppard and I."
Surprised at her outburst, Brendan blinked.
He turned back to the gorgeous scenery in front of him.
"You're right," he simply said. "So what do you want to know?"
"Everything," she breathed out. "Show me you trust me as much as I've shown you."
Brendan nodded.
"There was a mission I was sent on," he began. "To rescue two younger soldiers. They were being tortured for information. It was a difficult mission. But people pick me for missions like that."
He sighed.
"I don't have family, really, waiting at home for me," he explained. "Not like others. And I've been successful in the past. I work alone, mostly."
Jennifer stood silently next to him, watching him carefully.
"They didn't expect you back?" she asked.
"Let's just say the success factor of coming back was low. Long story short," he continued. "I rescued them. We were met by a fancy military plane. That should've been my first tip off something was up. We land back in the States. And the President's son is waiting to greet us."
"Is that normal?" she asked.
He chuckled. "No. So I get an invitation to the White House the next day. Turns out the President had a hand in the plans of the rescue attempt. The boys were family friends."
Pausing, he shook his head. "I get there. Start chatting with the entire first family. And then a gunman enters the room. The secret service cover the president and his son, but the man turned his gun on his wife and little girl across the room."
"Your injuries," she breathed. "You took two bullets for the first family."
He nodded.
"And then I wake up to my face splashed on every media outlet on Earth."
Jennifer fully understood now.
Her irritation began to wear off. Suddenly, her nerves began to settle.
"Thank you," she simply said. "For trusting me. No one else knows but Sheppard, right?"
"Yeah," he said. "It sounds stupid, because it's a good thing to know you saved a wife and child from a gunman, but I got sick of the attention. I couldn't leave my house for months. The media camped out in my front yard. And now the military can't do much with me, since most of my work is undercover or rescue missions."
She nodded in understanding.
"But back to you," he said, earning an eye roll from her. "For the record, I'm sorry about everything during the mission. At the time, I thought it was the only way out, but looking back, I took big risks with you."
Jennifer waited, as if she was wondering if he was going to say more. When he didn't, she sighed.
"Yeah," she said. "It all worked out in the end. Now I better get back to the infirmary."
"And I'll make sure you get there," he said unnecessarily.
"I wonder how Lily fared with Lorne," she thought aloud. "The infirmary said they had a heated debate on him taking pain management for his injuries too. He's going to be off missions for a week or two."
Brendan gave off a wry grin. "I'm sure the 'fair Lily' was able to convince him in the end. Are they together yet?"
She shrugged. "I haven't had any time alone with her lately. Who knows? Knowing Lorne, he's dragging his feat about it. He doesn't seem to be very clued in when it comes to women."
"I'm sure she'll eventually find a way to break through to him," he reasoned. "Lorne's a good man."
Walking back, they both stayed silent, each for different reasons.
Lily watched as the doctor finished up with Lorne.
He'd been unusually agitated when he arrived back. Lily had seem him come into the infirmary after a hard mission, but something made this one different.
He refused pain medication at first, saying he didn't want to lose part of the day in a haze. Lily took it upon herself to step in front of the doctor, politely persuading him to listen to the advice of the doctor. In the end, she'd won, but he didn't look happy about it. He finally took a half dose before the post mission briefing. Now that he was back, and hurting, he accepted a full dose.
Hearing him stir, she went back behind the curtain and shut it behind him.
"Lily," he grinned, reaching up wildly for her arm. "You came."
Eyebrows raised, she didn't remember him being this effected by the painkiller. Checking his chart, she saw the doctor had made a note that he was trying another medication this time based on the Major's complaints.
Obviously, this particular drug made Evan loopy.
"Ah, Evan," Lily said, unable to hold her laughter. "You're looking happy. But I'm going to need my hand back."
"Nope," he grinned. "Not letting go. Fought it for weeks. But that's over with. Gonna tell you tonight about it. Once I don't feel like the room is floating away."
Lily sobered, realizing he was being truthful.
"You like me though, right?" Evan asked, looking fretful. "I know you thought I was all about Jen, but you were wrong."
Opening her mouth, she darted a glance around to make sure no one was listening.
"Evan, I think we should hold off on this conversation."
"No," he grinned. "I sound like an idiot, but I get everything right now. And if I wait, I'll just chicken out again."
Lily smothered her laughter.
"This definitely wasn't the way I imagined this talk would go," she said, leaning over. "But yes, I think the feeling is mutual."
"You think?" Evan frowned, but looked hopeful.
Making sure the curtain was closed, Lily bent down and traced his lips with her finger. Then replacing them with a kiss, she heard him intake his breath.
"Sober up, Major," Lily said, flushing a bit from the kiss. "So I don't feel like I'm taking advantage of you."
"Hmmm..." Evan grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me."