Disclaimers: I own no part of the Stargate world and I make no money from this.
Summary - JT relationship seen through the eyes of others. Part 2 – Major Lorne's POV.
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Lorne waited patiently outside Teyla's quarters till the doors slid open and she appeared. Upon seeing him she lapsed into a large open smile. Lorne smiled back, always happy to be in her company.
"Major, how may I help you?" She asked in her soft intelligent voice.
"I was wondering if I could borrow those fighting sticks you offered last week?"
"Of course, Major. Please come in." She turned and moved into her room. Lorne felt momentarily unsure if he should enter her private space. But she had invited him and it would be considered rude to decline, so he walked into the exotically decorated room. A deep earthy smell met his nostrils and he noticed a large number of candles burning across the room. Her place was nicely decorated with Athosian rugs and various items he could not easily identify. He felt welcomed into her space instantly and he relaxed.
She was busy across the room, digging through one of her training bags and finally turned to him with two rather worn sticks.
"Are you sure you would not prefer some newer staves, Major. I could arrange for a friend on the mainland to make you some."
"No, no, these will be fine. I'm not sure if it will be my thing yet, so it's best to stick with the sticks that it won't matter if I damage. Thank you, Teyla." He turned to the door with the old sticks in his hand. Behind him she was busy returning sticks to her bag.
"If you require any further instruction feel free to ask." She offered over her shoulder.
He reached the door and turned back to her. "These will be fine and I will practice those moves you taught me. Thank you again." With that he activated the door and stepped through, only to come up short.
Colonel John Sheppard was standing just down the corridor and had been looking in Lorne's direction as he had emerged from Teyla's room.
Lorne had always been pleased with his relationship with the Colonel. They seemed to share a respect for each other and were both pretty laid back in their characters. Though the Colonel could be a little too laid back at times, but he always came through when you needed him and Lorne was happy with that.
However, this moment hit Lorne squarely between the eyes. His eyes met the Colonel's and he instantly felt panicked. He could not precisely identify why, but he felt like he had been caught by an authority figure whilst up to no good. Thing was he wasn't sure what he had done wrong.
The Colonel's expression was almost unreadable, except that it was clearly a dark, penetrating stare. The moment stretched on and Lorne found he could not look away from the Colonel's now vaguely angry looking expression. Lorne felt like he was most definitely in trouble big time. Realising how bizarre it was to feel this way, he broke the moment with a half smile at the Colonel. The Colonel's expression changed as if he too had realised what a strange moment it had been. He gave Lorne a small very insincere smile.
"Colonel." Lorne offered as he stepped further into the corridor and heard the doors close behind him.
"Major. What you up to?" The question seemed innocent enough, but the tone in which it had been asked betrayed its apparent innocence.
Lorne looked back towards Teyla's door and suddenly he understood. In a moment of epiphany he realised two things; one, that perhaps the Colonel's intentions it regard to Teyla were not quite so innocent and second, that he had just come out of Teyla's door with a big smile on his face. The feeling of panic returned briefly, but got into a wrestling match with both professional concern and amusement.
"Teyla has leant me some fighting sticks for me to practice with." He responded and waved the worn out staves that had been hidden behind his back.
All hints at the Colonel's disapproval or anger disappeared from his face, and Lorne guessed he had realised that he may have been seen through. "Oh, you're training with her too now?" The question again was innocent enough, but Lorne could not help but see the potential to dig himself deeper into trouble.
"Yes, and some of the other guys. We were thinking of asking her to set up a regular class." The Colonel nodded, seemingly just interested. "Perhaps you could accompany us, you probably know more than the rest of us, help us with some drills?"
"Sure, maybe, if there's some free time."
Both stood rather awkwardly in the centre of the corridor. Lorne knew he wanted to bolt, but he needed to do it in as casual way as possible. "So, I'll see you at the next change over, Colonel."
"Right, yes, Major. I'll see you then." He nodded and gave him an honest smile now.
Lorne turned and headed off down the corridor, feeling the Colonel's eyes on his back. Well, what do you know? The Colonel and Teyla. Of course they had obviously always been good friends, and there had been rumours when she had first joined the team, but they had all died down now. The Colonel hid it well, Lorne thought. It was probably that he had been shocked to see him coming out of Teyla's room that had betrayed the Colonel's emotions to Lorne.
Lorne felt it was best to keep this new information to himself and to perhaps stay clear of Teyla outside of work and training. But one thing was clear if there was a training group set up; John Sheppard was going to make a show.
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