Author's Note: So sorry that this took so long to post, but was being a butt and I couldn't get it to work. And in answer to a few comments I've received about Evie's(and Summer's) commitment to abstinence, it is one of my own strong beliefs, and I wouldn't feel right writing one of my OC's behaving contrarily. Just in case anyone else was wondering...
Chapter Ten - In Which Sense is Knocked Into our Protagonists
"And I'm sorry that I'm gettin' on your case, but true friends, they stab you in the face. You were meant to live large. Come on, take charge. Let's go light the world up. Let's not wait until the end to be the things we wish we'd been. You were meant to live life. Come on, let's fly. You're a super trouper spotlight. We're gonna jump on the count of three. Here it comes now. One, two, three, jump!" - Superchick, "Super Trouper"
It was a slow Saturday in Atlantis; only two teams were still off-world. This rare phenomenon wasn't intentional, the schedules had just worked out that way. The members of Major Johnson's team had slowly dispersed to "do their own thing" after lunch. Johnson was sparring with Ronon in the gym. Michael was…being Michael and going over his hundreds of culture notes for fun. Evie and Summer were sitting in the mess hall, being bored. They were currently doing their "Jungle Book" routine.
"'What do you wanna do?'" Summer asked.
"'I dunno. What do you wanna do?'" Evie responded.
"'I dunno. What do you wanna do?'"
"'I dun-- Now don't start that again.'" Summer laughed and Evie smiled half-heartedly; she wasn't in much of a mood for doing anything, truth be told.
"Ooh! I think Colonel Sheppard's free this afternoon if we wanted to play paintball," Summer suggested.
Evie snorted. "How about not?" she said, glaring at her friend.
"Oh. Oops." She thought for a minute. "We could always just play cards or something."
"Look, maybe I don't want to do anything. Maybe I just want to be left alone. Ooh, what a novel concept," Evie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"What happened with you two?" Summer asked, frowning at her friend.
"Nothing," Evie lied.
"Socking a superior officer isn't 'nothing,'" Summer said with a knowing look. "You've been as gloomy as Eeyore and as polite as Oscar the Grouch for nearly two weeks, and he only, uhh…" She tried to think of a nice way to phrase this. "Harassed you five days ago. Now what happened?" Evie looked away, crossing her arms and refusing to answer. "Evie…" Summer said in a warning tone.
"I was just PMS-ing." Evie hoped this excuse would pass.
"Not for two weeks. Don't lie to me, girl."
"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Evie snapped.
"What did he do?" Suddenly, Summer's eyes widened. "Oh, gosh. He didn't try to seduce you, did he?"
"No!" Evie said, shaking her head. "He respects me more than that. Or at least he did…"
"Then what?" Summer cried, exasperated. Evie stubbornly looked away again. "Evangeline Marie!"
"We had a fight, okay?" Evie confessed at last. "That's why we were so mad at each other to begin with on M8A-379."
"Well, that's not so bad. I mean, now you get to kiss and make up," Summer said with a grin. Evie looked at her friend and frowned. "…what?"
"Nothing. I mean, he had a reason to be mad at me earlier…" Evie trailed off and looked down.
"What do you mean?" Summer asked. "What did you do?"
"Well…" Evie bit her lip, she wasn't sure how her friend would take the news.
"Evie! Tell me!" Summer was way beyond intrigued now.
"Fine. But not here. My quarters," Evie said, grabbing her friend's hand and whisking her off down the hall.
Once both women were inside Evie's room and the door was shut, Evie spilled. "John asked me to marry him."
Summer squealed. "Well, it's about time! Way to go!" she congratulated, bouncing up and down.
"Summer, I said 'no,'" Evie quickly corrected, wringing her hands nervously.
"You what?" Summer frowned.
"Well, what was I supposed to say!" Evie cried, kicking a pair of pajama pants across the floor.
"'Yes!' is what you should have said!"
"But, Summer, we can't!" Evie countered, flopping down onto her bed.
"But you love him, you dork!" Summer shot back, joining her friend on the bed.
"Don't you think I know that?" Evie replied, starting to cry.
Summer sighed and quieted her voice. "I'm sorry, Evie, I just…" She rubbed her friend's back as Evie sobbed into her pillow. "I just don't want you to miss your prince. And it's very clear to me that John Sheppard is obviously him."
"H-he says that w-we could…keep it a s-s-secret," Evie sobbed.
"See? There ya go," Summer soothed. "I know I won't tell anybody."
"Not even Michael?" Evie sniffled.
"Well… maybe Michael," Summer answered. "But only if the subject comes up." She paused, gently stroking Evie's hair. "Evie?"
"Hmm?" Evie's sobs had subsided, but her face remained buried in her pillow.
"Look at me, Roo." Evie smiled slightly at the fond nickname and turned her head toward her friend. "Do you really love him?" Summer asked softly. Evie slowly nodded her head. "Then what are you waiting for?"
Evie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "You really think I should?" Summer nodded emphatically. "But I don't even know if he still wants me," Evie lamented, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. "I mean, surely you can see the way we've been treating each other lately."
Summer nodded. "You two need anger management classes with just a smidgen of couples' therapy," she advised jokingly. Evie just rolled her eyes. "Don't you worry. I'll take care of him. You just come up with some clever 'I still love you, please take me back' line, alright?" Summer hopped off the bed and began heading for the door.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, get back here!" Evie called after her friend.
"I'm going to knock some sense into the man," Summer said with an air of determination.
"Summer, don't," Evie said, grabbing the other woman's arm.
"Lieutenant," Summer said with a faux stern tone. "I'm ordering you to stay here while I talk to the Colonel."
Evie glared at her friend as she fought to keep from smiling. "You can't pull rank on me!" she protested.
"Watch me!" Summer shot back, commanding Evie's door open with her mind. "With any luck," she said, glancing back," you'll be engaged before the day's over." With a grin, she left.
XXXXXX
"You, Colonel, are a hard man to track down," Summer said, approaching Sheppard in Rodney's lab.
"Sorry," he apologized. "People have been yanking me all over the place, some of them for no good reason," he said, glaring at Rodney.
"Well, excuse me for thinking you might find this interesting," Rodney said, crossing his arms.
Sheppard rolled his eyes and sighed. "What can I do for you, Captain?" he asked with a smile.
Looking at the other occupants of the room, Summer asked, "Do you think we could talk somewhere private?"
'Oh, crap,' Sheppard thought to himself. 'Busted.' "Sure. How about the balcony?" he said, gesturing for her to lead the way. Summer nodded and they walked the short distance from the lab to the balcony. "So…" he began, resting his elbow on the railing. "I take it I'm in trouble?"
"If you don't attempt to fix the problem, then yes," Summer said, nodding, then added a quick "Sir."
"What did she tell you?" he asked, stiffening. "That I acted like an absolute son of a bitch while she was the innocent little princess?"
"Not at all," Summer said, noting that he was growing defensive. "Just that neither one of you takes rejection very well."
"That's the understatement of the year," Sheppard muttered. "So are you just the intervening third party who doesn't want to see us break up, or did Evie actually send you?"
"Well, it was my idea to come knock some sense into you, sir." Sheppard snorted. "But she does still love you."
"And what does she want me to do with this information?" he asked, looking out over the ocean.
"She doesn't want things to be like this between you two. But what you do…that's up to you," Summer answered.
A soft "hmph" was his only reply.
After a pause, Summer requested, "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Oh, now I'm gonna get it." He sighed and turned to face her. "Go ahead."
"Don't be stupid," she advised bluntly. "You two are made for each other." Sheppard rolled his eyes and turned to watch the ocean once more. Ignoring Summer, he let his thoughts wander and found himself remembering the first time he realized that Evie wasn't just another woman to him…
"Happy Valentine's Day, Rodney," Sheppard teased as they walked to the jumper bay.
"You mean 'Happy Single Awareness Day'?" Rodney asked with a wry smile.
"Speak for yourself, stud," Sheppard answered, grinning.
Rodney opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by Teyla calling as she approached them, "Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay, I think there is something you should see."
Entering the jumper bay, they followed her over to Jumper One, which they were to take off-world in twenty minutes. "When Ronon and I arrived here, we noticed the writing. Do either of you have any idea for whom the message is intended?"
Sheppard slowly grinned as he read the note written in white shoe polish on the windshield of the jumper. "Roses are red, violets are blue, some poems rhyme, but this one doesn't. Hehe! Happy Valentine's Day, Todd! Love, Vixie."
"Vixie…" Rodney said, musing the message over in his head. "Surely that's not from E--"
Sheppard kicked his friend's ankle. "No idea, Teyla," he lied, slowly shaking his head. "No idea."
XXXXXX
Rather than hiring a few staff members to run around doing "singing telegrams", Elizabeth had allowed for love songs to be played over the Atlantis speakers and dedicated to the appropriate persons. But she had made it clear that it was only for this one special day. When Zelenka, who was serving as DJ during the lunch hour, stepped out for a cup of coffee, Sheppard left a sticky note for the scientist, detailing his request.
Returning with a fresh cup of joe, Zelenka noticed the note. He smiled as he read it, then searched for the desired song. An upbeat tune began playing as he announced, "Alright, this song is requested for Vixie from Todd. Vixie, Todd says you are the girl of his dreams. Enjoy."
Evie tried to suppress her grin as she sat in the mess hall eating her sandwich. She listened, pleased, as the familiar tune played. "Well, she's all you'd ever want. She's the kind I'd like to flaunt and take to dinner." She smiled lightly; judging by the Vixie/Todd comment, Sheppard had obviously gotten her message. Whether he got the "The Fox and the Hound" connotation was another story. Not wanting to give their relationship away, she had selected the names based on the fact that Sheppard had called her "Vixen" on several occasions. "She's a lady. Whoa-oh-oh. She's a lady. Talking about that little lady. And the lady is mine."
"And just what do you look so happy about?" Michael asked Evie, swiping a French fry from Summer's plate.
"Oh, nothing," Evie said, smiling innocently and taking another bite of her sandwich…
Realizing that she had lost Sheppard's attention, Summer said, "I guess I'll be going now, sir." She turned to leave and had begun walking down the hall when she heard Sheppard call, "Captain, wait." She turned back around. "Sir?"
"Just a minute." Walking up to the young biologist who was traversing down the hall, he grabbed the clipboard out of Mary Heightmeyer's hands and quickly jotted a note on a blank piece of paper. He tore the sheet off the clipboard and handed it to Summer. "Give this to her for me," he said.
"Yes, sir," Summer promised with a smile. She began walking quickly down to Evie's quarters, but found them empty. "I told you to wait, dodo-head," she muttered as she began searching the city for her friend. She checked Rodney's lab. Not there. She searched the mess hall. No Evie. She even poked her head into Elizabeth's office. Just Elizabeth and Zelenka, the former smirking and the latter blushing. Deciding to check one last place, Summer headed for the Control Room. "There you are!" she cried, finally spotting Evie talking to Lorne. She ran up to her friend. "Evie, I've been loo--"
Evie held up a hand. "Hello? Having a conversation here!" She shook her head. "Some people…" Lorne smirked. "Please continue, Major."
Summer waited impatiently for a few minutes while Lorne and Evie finished talking. As soon as the Major left, Summer grabbed her friend and drug her into the empty hallway.
"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Evie asked teasingly.
"I thought about it," Summer truthfully confessed. "So, I basically just told him that you do love him, and you don't want things to be like this. I'll leave the 'yes, I'll marry you' up to you."
"Well," Evie prodded, "What'd he say!"
"He told me to give this to you," Summer said, handing her friend the folded piece of paper.
"What's it say?" Evie said, snatching it from her friend and unfolding it.
"What, you think I read other people's messages?" Summer asked. Evie raised her eyebrows faintly. Summer sighed. "Okay, I didn't read this one. I promise," she answered as Evie's eyes quickly scanned the paper.
"Evie, I'm sorry for acting like such a jerk. I know that it's not an excuse for what I did, but I was really hurt. If you can forgive my inexcusable behavior, I'd love you keep you as a friend. Love, John."
Summer saw Evie's face fall as she finished reading the scrawled words. "What?" Evie didn't answer. "Does he still want you?"
"I don't know," Evie whispered, handing her friend the note, which Summer quickly read.
Summer's brow furrowed. "Well, girl, I don't know what to tell you. I don't even know what I'd do if I were you…" she trailed off.
"You think I should go talk to him?" Evie asked, biting her lip.
Summer nodded vigorously. "Aboluby. You should at least make amends."
Evie hugged Summer tightly. "Thanks, Summer. You're the best."
"You're welcome. Love you, too," Summer replied, releasing her friend. "Now go and fix your mistake."
Evie saluted Summer. "Yes, ma'am."
Song: "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones