'What happened to you? Did you all take acid before you came back through the Stargate? What the hell is that?' With her sleeve Evy wiped part of the dirt covering Lorne's face. She'd been delivering some notes to Dr. Weir when the gate was activated and the expedition team returned, covered in dirt and in the worst mood she could imagine.

Radek seemed to have caught the brunt of whatever they ran into and with one look at Evy, who could barely keep from laughing, he stormed into Dr. Weir's office, McKay and Kavanagh hot on his heels.

'Another one of McKay's excellent ideas to have Radek and Kavanagh both help out with some of the field research.' He replied, shaking his head. 'Let's just say that there was a little bit of a discussion over whether going down a certain tunnel would be safe, which ended up with an old school dirt bomb being set off.' The major ran his hand over his face in an attempt to get the muck off, with little success and he soon gave up. 'They haven't stopped shouting ever since to decide who's to blame.'

Evy looked up at the brightly lit office where all three men were clearly shouting over each other with wild arm movements. 'All three of them went together? That's like fifty thousand square feet of ego in a ten square foot puddle jumper.'

'Tell me about it.' Lorne laughed and started down the stairs, following Evy down the hall. 'Taking McKay along is a challenge as is. Having to deal with all three is like going through a twelve step program that we all keep failing. I don't know which of the three is worse.'

Evy stared at him amused. 'Oh now, come on. Between Zelenka and Kavanagh, you do realise that one of them is, on occasion, a well-versed, calm and genius scientist who does his work with little complaint. While the other is a raging, certifiable psychopath with very little but a lab full of technology and all that missing in his life is a box of hair underneath his bed?'

Lorne shook his head and stopped, the arsenal was on his left. 'Next time we need a pre-selection before Rodney gets to pick his team.'

'Let's just set up a mud wrestling ring in the library and may the best scientist win.' Evy elbowed Lorne in the side before giving him a wave and turning down the hall that led to the hologram room.

'Training before breakfast tomorrow?' He called after her and Evy waved in reply.

She felt completely energized when she stepped into the room the next morning, making a beeline for the fighting sticks but was abruptly stopped when she saw Lorne pull out the most mundane thing she'd seen in ages. Lorne pulled a simple white folding chair into the middle of the room and Evy nearly asked where on earth he got it as it didn't seem like something of an essential item to be taken to Atlantis in the first place. But she kept quiet and gave him an inquisitive look.

'Let's do some footwork training. I promise we will continue the kicks as well. I'll even let you kick me.' He quickly added when Evy pulled a face.

'What's the chair for?' She asked, walking around the room, adjusting the drawstring of her sweats. The shirt she'd been wearing was already discarded in a corner of the room after being drenched from their warmup. The cropped top she'd been wearing underneath had short sleeves but still left quite a lot of her abdomen exposed and she felt slightly uncomfortable, though she'd never admit it to Lorne.

'It will give you a focal point as well as distance and height guide for your kick.' He explained as he practiced a few paces. 'First we work with the chair, then around each other. Just follow my moves.'

He walked her through a simple set of patterns, a combination of jumps, steps and slides that saw them dancing around the chair. It was one of the easier exercises he'd shown her but in her haste she started messing up even the first steps.

'Slow down.' Lorne corrected her, stepping around the chair and stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders. 'It's not about speed but balance. I'm going to leave my hands on your shoulders and press down until you're allowed to go. Just follow my lead.'

'Never been good in following. I was a terrible ballroom dancer, no matter how hard my mom tried.'

'Thank god I'm not your dance partner then but your instructor. Now pay attention.'

The pressure on her shoulders grounded Evy and she could feel how certain and calm the hands were as they walked through the patterns over and over, Lorne concentrating on slowing her down the moment she was ready to continue and little by little she fell into a steady rhythm until he was happy.

After what seemed like an eternity Lorne approved and after watching her repeat the same moves by herself he agreed it was time for some kicking. 'Let the chair be your guide. Stand too close, you'll hurt yourself, kick too low… same thing.'

With a few effortless movements he made a swift upwards kick with his leg and balanced there briefly before stepping down and back into formation. 'When you move forward, try not to lean towards the chair but lean slightly back. If you go that way', he leaned into his movement and stumbled over the chair, 'you are more likely to lose your balance. Lean back when you lift your leg, it's easier to retract your kick and come back into your position.' He repeated the movement but this time landing back perfectly.

Evy tried copying his movement and while Lorne made it look easy, she found herself out of balance often enough for Lorne to move up and hold her waist. 'Let your core do the work. Find your balance.'

She tried again and as she stepped back Evy felt herself falling backwards. In an attempt to save herself she stepped back and crashed into Lorne, sending them both tumbling onto the floor. For a brief moment she thought she'd seriously hurt him but then she realised he wasn't shaking in pain but with laughter. 'Stop that!' She laughed and punched him in the arm as he sat back up but he didn't stop. 'Quit it!' This time he blocked her fist and grabbed her wrist, pulling it towards him and preventing her from delivering another blow.

'Care to join in?' Lorne looked at Evy but by the way he spoke she instantly knew he wasn't talking to her.

She turned around and saw Kavanagh standing in the doorway, looking at them angrily.

Lorne released her wrist and rolled onto his knees before getting up, leaving Evy to scramble to her feet, ready for a verbal sparring match with Kavanagh but by the time she got up, he had already left. An uncomfortable feeling started to creep up, somewhere deep from within.

'What was that all about?' Lorne looked at her in question.

'No idea but I bet we'll find out soon enough.' She replied, brushing a bit of dust from her sweats. 'Let's call it a day? Breakfast is about to start and I think I could do with a shower.'

When she finally walked into the mess hall Carson was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't been in his quarters, nor in hers and she'd half expected him to be waiting for her with an extra tray of food. When she couldn't spot him in the crowd she picked up a few bits and pieces and wandered towards the infirmary.

'Morning Evy', one of the nurses greeted her with a big smile. 'If you're looking for Dr. Beckett, he just stepped out.'

'Any idea where he went?'

The nurse shook her head and Evy left her to her business, munching on her breakfast, looking left and right down the hallways to see if she could spot the man she wanted to see, to no avail. By the time she reached the library her breakfast was gone and her mood had turned sour. 'Where the hell are you?' She mumbled while walking through the library and opening the door to her office.

To her surprise, sitting at her desk with a thunderous look on his face, was the object of her failed search only moments earlier. 'Carson!' She called out, pleased to see him but the feeling quickly evaporated when he looked at her. 'I've been looking for you all over the place.'

'I thought I'd come and meet ye here but ye took yer time. Training run late hmm?'

'Training? Oh…' Realisation dawned on her. 'No not at all. We did some exercises but no sparring today.' She sat down on the desk and looked down on Carson who was still frowning at her. 'Something on your mind?'

'I dinnae know ye were sparring with the major today. Is that why ye left early this morning?' He finally asked, tapping his fingers on the surface of her desk.

'Yeah, we agreed on it yesterday. I guess I forgot to tell you.' She paused and tried to meet his eyes that were now looking past her. 'And this is a problem because…?' She slowed her sentence to see if he would finish it but instead he suddenly got up and closed the door a little louder than she figured he had intended because she saw him flinch at the sound.

'How long have ye been seeing major Lorne without telling me?' He asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Evy knitted her brows. 'For training? Aside from the group training maybe once a month for some extra one on one lessons.'

Carson scoffed. 'I'm nae talking about training. How long have ye been seeing him, in private?'

'What are you talking about?' Evy countered, getting up from the desk and taking a step towards him.

'Ye were pretty cozy today. On top of each other, if stories are te be believed.' He could barely get the words out or look at her when he said them.

'Stories? When did you start believing stories over facts? What was it you said to me the other day? If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you'd always be a little bit weary. How is this different?'

'People talk. Training rooms are open spaces. People can see things and today ye weren't so careful, from what I hear.'

'People?' Anger started to rise in Evy's throat. She swallowed hard. 'By people I presume you mean Kavanagh?'

The silence that was left angered Evy. There had been nothing that had been secretive to her training session but somehow it had all been turned into something salacious in a matter of minutes and it infuriated her. Having to deal with the likes of Storm and Kavanagh on a daily basis was one thing, them trying to drive a wedge between her and Carson was another.

'Answer me. Did you hear this from Kavanagh?' But Carson didn't reply. Angrily she pushed him aside and opened the door. 'Never mind, you said enough. I'll be right back.' And she stormed through the library into the hall.

She could hear Carson following her as she stomped down the hall. 'Evy', he breathed as he tried to catch up.

'No no,' she said in a feigned calm and patronising tone as she whirled around to face him, stopping so abruptly he nearly crashed into her. 'I'm going to take care of this right now. And then, when I am done, I am going back to work until you are ready to apologize.'

She shoved him backwards and then continued on to the labs.

With his gaze fixated on the screen before him, Kavanagh did not hear Evy coming and the look on his face was worth everything she owned when she grabbed the tin mug, containing forgotten, stale coffee and threw it in his face. Spluttering and coughing the man backed away from the computer with a yell and started wiping his face.

'Good', Evy smiled triumphantly as she slammed the cup back on the desk, leaned one hand on the desk and the other on her hip. 'I think I've got your attention. Peter Kavanagh, you stupid son of a bitch. Why don't you tell Dr. Beckett over here what it was exactly that you saw this morning? I saw you lurking around the training room, now be honest.'

All around them hands had stopped moving and here and there a mouth was agape, stunned by the little scene she knew she was causing. Coffee was still dripping off Kavanagh's face and she could see redness creeping up through his neck, past the collar of his tight shirt up to his jaw. A muscle twitched as his eyes darted between Evy and Dr. Beckett, who was by now standing right beside her, shock written all over his face. 'I… I…' Kavanagh started.

'You saw…. what?' She mocked him. 'Major Lorne and I kicking around a chair? What else? Did you see me falling over and him laughing at me? Or did you perhaps miss that part and all you saw was me punching him because he kept laughing?' Next to her Carson shifted from one foot to the other. 'You couldn't have seen more than that because you hauled ass the moment major Lorne asked you to join in.'

'Evy', Carson placed his hand on her arm to stop her but she shook it off.

'No tell me, tell us', she interrupted him while she pointed at Carson and herself before making a sweeping movement in the direction of the uncomfortable looking group of people nearby. 'Tell all of us what else you saw but that. Or would you like me to run the surveillance tapes to jog your memory?'

'No.' Kavanagh stared at her, his face and shirt wet and dirty.

'No. Exactly!' Evy bit at him. 'You saw nothing. So keep your goddamn mouth shut.'

And you can forget about your truce, she wanted to add but she swallowed the words just in time. Without another look at him or Carson, she left the lab. She had intended to go straight back to the library but the thought of the confining space made her head spin and she turned the corner, heading towards the less crowded areas leading to the hologram room. The walk calmed her down and she took several deep breaths. She knew exactly what and who to expect when the thud of boots behind her alerted her to someone joining her.

'I'm sorry love.' Carson said softly. His fingers softly grazed her sleeve.

'I know you are. But that doesn't make it okay… not yet.'