Setting: Following Stargate Atlantis episode 3.11, "The Return, Part II"

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the Stargate franchise.

A/N: This is written especially for my very dedicated reviewer, Ladygris, who asked to see a meeting between Lorne and Davis after Evan joined the Pegasus Expedition. Thank you so much for your support and kind words.

Evan waited patiently as Coughlin clipped his pack securely to his vest. It felt good to be returning to Atlantis. The circumstances of their departure had been rather abrupt and unexpected. But the return felt all the more satisfying, especially considering the grief Colonel Sheppard and the others went through to save the city from the Replicators.

Now, the entire Expedition, which had only just finished unpacking and, perhaps, just getting used to the idea of being in the Milky Way again, had descended once more on Stargate Command, to make the long step back to Atlantis all over again.

Much of the equipment would be transported back by puddlejumper, via the Carter-McKay Intergalactic Bridge. Unfortunately, given that the jumpers had a rather limited cargo capacity, it would take more than a few trips to carry all the gear, let alone the people, especially given loading and unloading time. So the Daedalus would be hauling a great deal of it herself, particularly the bulkier items.

As Evan and his team left the locker room, he spotted a familiar face. "Hey, Davis!" he called.

The Pentagon liaison officer grinned as he saw Evan. "I hear you're going back to Pegasus, Lorne. Good luck with that!"

Evan turned to his men. "You boys go on ahead. I'll meet you at the jumper."

"Yes, sir," said Coughlin, speaking for the both of them. They saluted the majors and disappeared down the corridor.

"So, how go things at the Pentagon these days, Davis?" Evan inquired. "Still burying the joint chiefs and the Senate Appropriations Committee in a galaxy's worth of paperwork?"

"If I didn't, then they'd have too much time to come around and poke their noses in here, Lorne," Davis replied with a sly smile. "And you know how much General O'Neill loves that sort of thing."

"Roughly about as much as he enjoys face-time with Ba'al," remarked Evan blandly.

"That's a fairly accurate comparison."

In the years since he joined the Stargate Program, Evan had gotten to know Paul Davis a lot better, through the occasional visits Davis paid to the SGC as well as the e-mail here and there. The Pentagon liaison officer was far more than just the stiff, serious cadet Evan remembered from the Academy – he had a keen, sometimes wicked sense of humor that peeked out from time to time.

And Davis knew full well that his nickname at the SGC was "Major Disaster."

"It seems that every time I show up here, there's a big emergency, something goes terribly, horribly wrong, that sort of thing," he had once told Evan. "The first time I came to the SGC, the planet was nearly sucked into a black hole. Things got progressively darker from there."

"What brings you to the SGC today, Davis? Should I make a run for the nearest elevator while I still can?" Evan teased him mercilessly.

Davis held up a stack of files he was carrying. "I'm just here to ferry a few things between here and the Pentagon. Mostly related to you guys, actually. Restarting the Pegasus Expedition requires a mess of paperwork beyond the actual physical movement of personnel and equipment, you know."

"Ah, yes, the glamorous life in the Stargate Program. When you're not being shot at, you're filing reports and filling out paperwork," joked Evan.

"Just remember to thank Chief Harriman the next time you see him. This place would probably have fallen to pieces years ago if he weren't running things administratively. I can't even begin to tell you how much money he's saved with his creative paperworking, not to mention the man hours." Davis shook his head appreciatively for the rather small, bespectacled NCO.

"Oh, yeah. I don't know how he does it. Honestly, I'd go completely insane doing what he does all day," Evan remarked cheerfully. "You should have seen how annoyed he was the one time I forgot to hand in my mission report for a day and a half."

Davis chuckled. "I can imagine. Anyway, we both have schedules to keep, and I have a plane back to Washington that I need to catch. Good luck out there, Lorne."

They shook hands and parted company. As the cliché goes, destiny was calling.