Epilogue

"You do realize that once we get to Talonopolis, I'm not going to have a lot of time to be alone with you…?"

Carson nodded, and sighed.

"I know."

He did know, too. It was what made the time that he did have with her all that much more special.

"It won't mean that I don't love you…"

His arm went around her waist, resting comfortably on her hip, and he pulled her closer to his side. The two of them were standing on the highest balcony of Atlantis, looking out over the water and enjoying the last sunrise that Melony would see on Atlantis for a while. She'd told him – and Weir and the others – that once the lavabase was finished, she was going to go directly from that planet to start hunting Wraith. The plan was to keep the Atlanteans out of the equations completely, in case the Wraith caught wind of what was happening. As far as they'd be concerned, she was a Goa'uld, looking for new technology to steal and another species to rape. Which would work exceptionally well if the Wraith had heard of the Goa'uld, and would work nominally well even if they hadn't.

All that mattered was to distance herself from the humans who were fairly vulnerable from an outright attack from the Wraith from above. At least until they found a way to power up the shields.

"I know, Melony." He pressed a kiss against her temple, holding his lips there for a long moment. "I love you, too. And I always will."

That was his promise to her. That no matter how long she was gone, or how far she distanced herself from him and the others, he'd be there when she returned. He didn't like what she was doing – he hated it, in fact, and it scared the hell out of him to think of her off on some planet looking for the Wraith without anyone with her but Talon – but he couldn't stop her, and he knew better than to give her any kind of ultimatum. She'd never lied to him about her intentions, and he'd known what he was getting into when he'd fallen for her.

She smiled, and her arm went around his waist as well, her hand coming to rest in a splayed position on one buttock, which made him grin, despite his concern for her. As she'd probably intended.

"But I still get to go with you, right?"

"To the lavabase?"

"Yes."

She nodded.

"We need you to find any more holes there might be in the floor for us."

He laughed, and flexed his ankle, experimentally. It was still tender, but he could put his weight on it, now – as the walk they had just taken proved – and it wasn't going to stop him from going with her to watch the base get built.

"I'll do my best."

"Actually, we do want to see what's down that tunnel," she said, seriously, although she did grace him with a loving grin. "It might lead to a dead end or something, but it also might lead to another bolt hole, and that's worth looking for."

"And maybe more coffee beans?"

"Maybe." She conceded.

He was going to be helping with the harvesting of the coffee plants. Not the ones closest to the lavabase, but the ones that Melony had found on her initial trip out with Kale. There was a huge amount of them, and there were plenty of others who were just as eager to see their dwindling coffee supply get restocked and were more than willing to offer their services as harvesters and separators and roasters – although the roasting would actually be done on Atlantis where it was much safer to light a fire – or use an oven.

"And maybe you'll find giant lava lizards?"

She smiled again. Sheppard had admitted to her that he'd been tempted to tell Carson all about the lava lizards when he'd been forced to leave him in the crack he'd fallen in, and Mitchell had passed that particular bit of information onto Carson the night before when they'd been sprawled in her bed together. She'd thought it was hilarious – although he'd been a little surly about the whole thing – and it'd taken her a while to help him see the humor in the situation. Of course, it didn't help that she'd been giggling the entire time.

Yeah, but I bet it did help that you had your hand on his-

Yeah, I bet that helped, she agreed, quickly, smiling.

Talon had been very good about her relationship with Carson – he'd even managed to actually refer to him as Carson again and not Doctor Whatshisname. Of course, she was fairly certain he was just waiting for a reason to push him off a balcony, but so far Carson hadn't given him one – and even Talon had to admit he couldn't find any fault with his actions the last few days.

You've certainly been enjoying yourself the past few days

She smiled again, and quickly resisted the urge to nod.

You're the one who told me to.

There was a surge of gentle humor at her instant defensiveness.

And I meant it… I'm just glad to see you're following my advice so…

Eagerly?

The image of bunny rabbits comes to mind

She snickered, unable to stop herself, and Carson looked over at her, his hand tightening its grip on her side.

"Do I want to know?"

He was getting used to her laughing for no reason, and when she blushed like that at the same time, it usually meant Talon had said something off-color.

"No."

He smiled.

"I'll take your word for it…"

Melony grinned, and took his hand in hers. The sun was down, now, and it was going to get chilly on the balcony soon. Besides, she had other things she wanted to spend her last night on Atlantis doing – and looking at a dark sky wasn't on the list.

"I might be convinced to tell you, anyways," she told him as they headed for his quarters.

The End!

So! remember, this story was just for the sole purpose of Melony and Carson time... getting them reconciled before we head off into the next part of the storyline, so it's not supposed to be exciting or all that interesting (unless the subject of Melony and Carson interests you and you wanted them together as much as I did) let me know what you thought, please!