The alcohol burned down her throat as she downed another shot and slammed the glass on the top of the bar. Grinning as she cheered out loud, Nicola had beaten the three men lined up next to her in downing all ten of their shots. "Woo! Money's mine, boys!" Happily she collected up the small pile of bills next to all of the mostly empty shot glasses. Two of the guys – sitting on her left hand side – made their excuses and left so Nicola turned to her right. There was still one shot glass full. "Didn't even make it past nine, huh, Green?"

Major Neil Green, still undecided about remaining on an SG team or returning to his position as second in command of the Alpha Site, was shaking his head as if he could not believe his own failure. "What can I say, I prefer to take my time over important things?"

"Then why play the bet?" She was still unsure about the major. At their first meeting his manner towards Mickey Menard had troubled her. Nicola had a hard enough time socialising with those above her in rank, but people like Evan Lorne made it seem like nothing. Evan did not see rank outside of work, Green did. So far she had been enjoying her evening even with Green being a part of it.

"To spend time with you."

She had drunk a lot, far too much some might say, but she was not yet drunk enough to fall for some line from a Major. In all of her time Nicola had never mixed work and pleasure in any way that could damage her career or reputation. It was one thing when she had pushed Evan to sexualise a friendship, she trusted him to not use it against her. Green held none of her trust. "Oh, how romantic? Funny, you don't strike me as a romantic. You gonna drink that?"

He pushed the shot towards her and she downed it, enjoying the burning sensation and then the slight immediate buzzing within her mind. Sometimes she needed to forget everything else about her life. She needed to forget that she was a failure, a traitor, a despicable thing that could barely pass for human. More often than not, she used Evan as a way to forget those things until that was not enough and then she used alcohol. Tonight was one of those nights.

"Nah, I'm not a romantic. Just trying to get you into bed."

"I like your honesty, but it's never gonna happen." Nicola was not even sure where Evan was. She had spoken to him earlier in the evening, but had lost track of him when she had started to drink. That could only ever be a bad sign, and she recognised it as such. It was one thing to drink to have fun, but a completely different thing when she began drinking to forget or not feel. She looked around the room trying to spot Evan; one distraction had to be replaced by another.

"Really? You won't even give me a chance?" His hand reached out for her and stroked her arm slightly. Nicola looked down at her arm and his hand then up at his face. He had been matching her drink for drink, but his eyes were not blurry. Hers were, her entire vision had gone blurry.

"No, I don't think so." She yanked her arm out from under his hand and attempted to stand, but he stood up, blocking her up against her chair slightly. Rolling her eyes in aggravation, because there was no fear of him stepping too far and she knew she was safe, Nicola soon regretted the action when the blood left her head from standing and her stomach flip-flopped with the eye roll.

"You alright?" he asked, putting a hand across her back.

"I said no. Get off me."

"I'm just trying to help you."

The entire room was spinning as she turned away from the bar, her body pressed almost into his and his arm brushing inappropriate places as she moved. "Get off me!" she bit out slightly louder than she had maybe meant. Panic started to flood her senses. She had lost all control of herself.

He had been in a conversation with someone else when Nicola had caught his eye. She was cheering about something at the bar and then two of the men around her had left. Evan did not like seeing her then sitting alone with Neil, primarily because Neil had made his intentions towards her clear. At the end of the day there was nothing that he could actually do to stop Nicola falling for Neil's attempts, instead he could but hope that she saw through him. Both men had an inability to form lasting, meaningful relationships with women, but both for very different reasons. Evan knew that his job and career would always come first and could not put an innocent woman through the pain of being married to the military. Neil, however, just did not want a relationship with anyone and whilst Evan could manage a few weeks in a relationship with a woman, Neil barely made onto a second night.

In fact his friendship with Nicola was the longest relationship of any sort that Evan had ever had with a female, which was why he felt over protective of her. At least that was what he kept telling himself, trying to convince himself of the fact and ignore any other thought.

Still attempting to keep focus on the conversation he was having, Evan kept glancing over at Nicola and Neil when he finally saw Nicola stand up and brush off Neil's touch. Despite the distance, Evan knew that she was drunk and he wondered briefly if he needed to step in. It was not his role to protect her. He was not her boyfriend, or her keeper, but he was her friend. A nagging voice at the back of his mind started to tell him that he wanted to step in to spite Neil, to keep the major from using Nicola, to keep her all to himself. Evan refused to believe that voice.

"Excuse me," he said with a smile and quickly, but quietly walked over to Nicola and Neil. Nicola was now leaning back against the bar, her eyes barely open and she shouted at Neil to get off of her. Evan was there in a second and grabbed Neil by the arm, pulling him back a step. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Neil answered and Evan looked to Nicola. She had suddenly paled and her eyes were still firmly shut.

"I can't breathe in here."

"Okay, don't worry, let's get you outside." Evan said, holding her steady as they slowly left the bar. He sat her down on a low brick wall and turned to see that Neil had followed them. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing, she's just drunk too much."

"I can see that. Why was she yelling at you?"

"I made a pass at her."

"Of course you did. In this state? Neil, she's a junior officer."

"Not my junior officer."

"And that makes it okay to take advantage of her?"

"I wasn't. I tried it on. She said no, I stopped."

"Yeah, of course you did." Evan shook his head in disapproval and looked back down at Nicola who was sitting and staring into space. He had never seen her that drunk. He had never been this angry at one of his best friends. He had never felt as jealous as he did in that moment.

"Why would I want to take her home like that? Please, drunk like that it's no fun. I'm not going to risk any accusations some lieutenant could dream up by the morning. She's not worth that much."

Fury bubbled over in Evan and without a thought he punched Neil square on the jaw.

Nicola was only distantly aware of what was going on around her. Her bum was cold and she knew that she was sitting down, probably outside. Every time that she looked up the light from the bar blinded her, but she could make out two forms – men – standing a few feet from her. Mentally she recoiled when suddenly one of the men hit the other across the jaw, but on the outside neither her body nor face even flinched at the sudden act of violence.

"What was that for?" one man yelled with a slight wisp.

"She is worth far more than that."

"Just friends are we?" There was silence and then the same man continued. "You preach about the regulations and the unprofessionalism about sleeping with a junior officer and yet you have been. How long's it been going on? And don't try and deny it – I've seen the looks between you two, how you are together, the little touches. If you're not screwing her, well… I don't know you."

"So you think we're in a relationship but you still try it on? Aren't you supposed to be my friend?"

"Like you two are friends? Never said you guys were in a relationship, just having sex. I asked you if she was available, you said yes." There was another silence from the men where all Nicola could hear was a regular pounding in her head. She was pretty sure that it was her pulse beating a rhythm against her ribs. She tried to swallow, but her entire body felt like it was shutting down and unable to do anything not autonomous. "You could have just told me to stay away." His voice was quieter, apologetic, but Nicola was not too concerned with the two men anymore. Something did not feel right in her stomach.

"It isn't a relationship," the second man admitted in a calmer voice. "We are just friends."

"With benefits?"

"It isn't as good as you think it'd be."

"Why not? Sex on tap from a hot woman with no strings, sounds ideal."

The first man turned to look at her, making her stomach churn more under the scrutiny. She was relieved when he turned back to the other man. Should she know who they were? "She's the one using me. Or, apparently, alcohol. She thinks I see it all the same as her."

"Have you fallen for her? Evan Lorne, the eternal bachelor, have you fallen for a woman?"

Yes, one of the men was Evan. He had rescued her from the heat of the bar. She had been unable to breathe in the stifling air. He would keep her safe. He would rescue her from…

"Have you fallen for her? Evan Lorne, the eternal bachelor, have you fallen for a woman?" Evan opened his mouth to attempt an answer, not that he knew what words were going to come out, but he was saved from the unknown by the sound of Nicola vomiting from behind him.

"Hey, Nicola," he soothed, quickly moving to by her side and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"Evan," she whispered weakly. "I don't feel very well."

"I know. It's okay. I'll take you home. Do you still need to be sick?" She shook her head and then vomited to the side again. Evan could hear her crying very slightly. "It's okay," he soothed.

"I'll leave you two to it," Neil said quietly before adding, "For the record, she said no and then I was just trying to help her. I wouldn't have pushed it further. Even if I knew for certain you weren't interested."

Ignoring his friend to keep his attention focused on Nicola, he continued to stroke her back until she sat up a bit and her eyes met his. There was so much pain and sadness in them.

"Evan," she whispered, "I want to go home."

"Come on then." Standing up, he held out a hand to her, but she did not take it so he bent over and scooped her up effortlessly. Automatically her arms reached up and around his neck as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. She was fast asleep as he buckled her into the passenger seat of his car, thanking whatever controlled the universe that not only had he been there to look after her, but also that he had driven that night. His car was going to stink of alcohol come the morning and he hoped that would be all; he did not relish the idea of cleaning up her vomit.

Less than half an hour later, Evan had carried his unconscious friend into his apartment and had just placed her down on his bed when her eyes opened.

"Hey." She giggled and he rolled his eyes, hope that by vomiting she had sobered up slightly gone.

"You brought me home."

"Yes, you got drunk."

"I still am," she giggled again. He pulled back the covers on the opposite side of the bed and moved her onto the open part, followed by tucking her up in the covers. "Are you getting in?" she asked and he feared she was trying, drunkenly, to be seductive.

"No, I am not." It was one thing for the two of them to spend the night together when they had both been drinking, but not when she was in this kind of state.

"Oh." She sounded disappointed.

"Sleep it off," he commanded.

"I just needed distracting…" she mumbled as her eyes closed again and Evan could not resist stroking her hair slightly. Convinced that her drunk state was also her attempting distraction, Evan had no idea what was going on with her. There was certainly no way that he was about to take advantage of her, especially with Neil's question still ringing in his head. Had he fallen for her?

"Go to sleep, Nicola." After a few minutes she seemed to be breathing deeply and he sighed at her. "What's going on with you, Nic?" he whispered into the silence. "It's one to use me just for sex, but drunkenly… You must know I care about you far too much to take advantage of you in this state." Evan had no true idea what had been happening between them ever since Janet Fraiser's death, but he did know that Nicola seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper. She had made it clear that it was just something fun, sometimes something that she needed and that she did not want a relationship with anyone. He had tried not to think about it too much, trying to convince himself that he was, somehow, protecting her. Never before had he had such a friendship with a female, and then he had never had this complicated a relationship with anyone. Believing it highly likely that if he were to ever turn her away, she would simply find someone else, Evan had allowed himself to be caught in this mess. Neil's words echoed through his head again: Have you fallen for her? Had he fallen for her? "But then you don't know, do you?" She had no idea that he cared about her. "You're one of a kind, Nicola Carpenter, I just wish you'd realise that."

He had only ever been interested in the briefest of relationships with women, not wanting the commitment, the bond, the pressures and the time that true relationships took. Evan had been naïve when this had all started, he had believed that he could do the same as she did – use each other for their needs with no strings, no complications. Watching her for a moment longer before forcing himself to leave the room, Evan knew that there were strings and that nothing was simple anymore. He had fallen for her.