Chapter 6: The End of The Tour

After watching the sunset they began to make their way back to the city. Soon they came to the gym and found Ronan watching as Teyla kicked Colonel Sheppard's butt. They stood in the doorway for a moment and watched as well, while Teyla thwacked the Colonel until she hit him behind the knee and he fell to the ground. "Ok, so maybe I haven't been practicing as much as I said I have," he said as he climbed to his feet. "Hope you have more luck than me," he gestured to Ronan.

"We have company," the brute man said as he looked to the door.

Lorne spoke up, "Oh yeah, you've met Colonel Sheppard, so uh, Ronan, Teyla, this is Alex Madison." He introduced her remembering what she had said earlier.

She nodded to them both. "It's nice to meet you Alex. You are military are you not," Teyla inquired while Ronan just gave a shrug "Hi."

Lexa glanced down at her outfit, tight jeans and a baby tee. "Oh right, the clothes. Not on duty yet, so I figured I'd stay comfy, and yes I'm a Captain in the Air Force."

Lorne quickly interrupted, "And a good hand-to-hand combat fighter as well. Go on, show 'em what you got." He gave her a friendly push into the middle of the gym. She looked back and rolled her eyes.

"Combat fighter huh? Well we wouldn't want to bruise you on your first day here. Teyla, why don't you handle this one," Ronan stepped back with Sheppard and Lorne.

Teyla moved to put down her sticks but Alexa told her to use them, in fact Alexa went over to Colonel Sheppard and stole his set. They began to circle and stared at each other like tigers waiting to pounce. Finally Alexa made her move, and they fought confidently for a few minutes until Teyla got in a shot to her wrist. "Are you alright?" Alexa composed herself, threw her hair back, and continued on. After a few more minutes they had disarmed each other and were preparing to grapple. Teyla threw a punch which Alexa avoided by doing an aerial off to the side. When she landed she turned and kicked a roundhouse Teyla's direction. Teyla twirled and the shot missed.

Colonel Sheppard interrupted, "Ok, I'd say that's enough. Don't want anyone getting hurt, I'd say you've proven your point."

Lexa smiled, and leered in Lorne's direction, "Happy now," she said sarcastically recalling the statement he had made earlier.

Sheppard shrugged, wondering what she meant. "So what do you think of Atlantis?"

Lexa turned to face him. "Well, haven't seen too much yet, but we're only in the middle of Major Lorne's Grand Tour of The Lost City," she giggled. "But uh, so far, it's great, very impressive. I believe we're headed to the Jumper bay next."

Lorne poised his best Tour Guide impression, "That we are, and sadly that will be the last stop on our tour, but certainly not the least. We will then conclude our tour at dawn's light with an informative guide through Stargate Operations." They turned to leave.

Colonel Sheppard yelled after them, "Well you two have fun! But, not too much fun!" He had a funny suspicion that there was something more between them than an old friendship.

As they continued on Lexa joked about the tour guide thing. "You know, you really are a great tour guide. Maybe you should take it up as a hobby. And souvenirs, you've gotta have those. How bout a Marcus Lorne Tour Guide Doll?" Lorne threw her a your nuts look and she laughed. "Oh, sorry, action figure. Yeah, I guess you're too robust to be a doll." They both chuckled as they entered the Jumper Bay.

The closer they got to the Jumpers the wider Lexa's eyes became. Sure she had been aboard the Daedalus, and flown an X-303, but the Jumper was Ancient technology and everything about them fascinated her. As she stepped up into the Jumper the lights came on sequentially as she walked up to the control panel. Yes, she had the ATA gene, and it was just as strong, if not stronger than Colonel Sheppard's. Lorne followed behind her and then sat shot gun and smiled. "Cool huh?" She nodded, unable to speak. "It's relaxing to fly," Lorne explained. "It uh, sorta reads your mind. It's armed with drones and it has stealth capabilities." Lexa sat in the pilot's seat and eyed all of the controls. She then closed her eyes and ran her hand along the control console a habit she picked up from her father. Growing up in the military was hard sometimes, but it also meant she grew up in the cockpit and in flight simulators, which meant she was one of the best pilots the SGC has ever seen. Lorne smiled, for he knew exactly what she was doing, he'd done it too, getting a feel for the new craft. Once your in the air, your plane becomes apart of you. You take care of it, it takes care of you. But for Lexa, it was an art.

After a long silence, she spoke. "Yep, great tour guide. This is the perfect place to end."

Lorne blushed. "It's really easy to fly, I'm sure you'll be pulling tricks with it in no time. Well, like I said, this is the end of the tour for tonight, besides its getting late, and we both have to be in Stargate Ops at 0700 tomorrow morning."

"Oh, lucky us." Lexa smirked as they exited the Jumper.

They made their way back to her room joking and laughing about old times. But Lexa kept here feelings hidden well. She was terrified of her past, and didn't know what was in store for their future. There were topics she was trying to avoid, but she didn't want to cut off the conversation completely. She was just so delighted to be friends with Marcus again that she didn't want to risk putting a strain on things again. They reached her door and both said goodnight followed by a smile. They hugged to top off the day, and Marcus took off for his own quarters. As Lexa entered the room her eyes headed straight for the package Jack had hidden in her bag. She sighed, sat down, and picked it up. You've gotta face your past sometime, and you've been doing alright so far today. Why not go for it…