A/N: see ch1 for disclaimers, review please.

Evan heard a distant rumble and felt the ground beneath him vibrate slightly. His paintbrush stopping halfway to the canvas, he wondered what was going on. Then he heard alarms sounding and knew that something bad had happened. Dropping his palette and brush he ran to the nearest transporter only to find that it wasn't working. Inwardly cursing, Evan turned around and sprinted towards the nearest set of stairs.

Hours later Evan trudged through the hallway dirty, tired, and sad. Needless to say the day hadn't turned out the way he'd expected. Instead of being on the beach with Max watching the sun set he was covered in grime, sticky with blood, and Carson was gone.

"So much for relaxing." He thought ruefully entering their quarters. "Max?" Evan called out as he turned on the lights half-way; not wanting to disturb her if she was sleeping even though he knew it was unlikely given what had happened. Walking into their bedroom he saw that the bed was still made and the shower quiet.

Finding that odd, he retraced his steps back outside wondering where she could be. Tapping his headset he said, "Max you there?"

There was no response.

Evan tried again but still didn't get any answer. After a moment of thinking he tried someone else who might know where Max was. " Lydia you still up?"

There was a pause and Evan opened his mouth to ask again when he heard, "Yeah I'm still up." He could tell that she'd been crying; hell, there most likely wasn't anyone in the city who had dry eyes at the moment.

"You know where Max is?"

"No, I haven't seen her in a while."

"You have any idea where she might be?" Evan knew that Max liked to be alone for a bit whenever something was bothering her and now he thought that she was on a balcony somewhere in the city.

"Why?"

"She's not in our room and I haven't seen her in a while."

"You check her office? Maybe she's holed up in there trying to bury herself with paperwork."

"Maybe." Evan replied even though he knew it was long-shot. But that was better than nothing. "I'll check there, thanks."

"No problem."

As Evan walked down the hallway he couldn't help but think that if Max was there that she would've contacted him by now. Reaching her office, he opened the door using his security override code and stepped inside activating the lights. As they turned on he saw that it was empty save for the chair and desk filled with papers, folders, and a computer.

Staring at the empty room, Evan started to get the feeling that something was wrong. Walking back into the hallway, a sudden realization stopped him in the middle of his tracks.

She could be in the infirmary.

It made sense; he had last talked to her about a half-hour before the first explosion and it had sounded like she was in a hallway, but at the same time the background noise hadn't sounded that loud. Then again there was always a chance...

Evan shook his head to stop himself from completing the thought. He could be over thinking things; she could be too busy with something (what that was he had no idea) to get back to him or she was on a balcony and just wanted to be alone, turning off her headset.

A voice on his headset broke him out of his thoughts, "Major Lorne?"

It was Doctor Pierce.

"Yes?" Evan responded, a cold feeling settling in his gut. There could be two reasons Kevin was calling him and both of them weren't good. Three actually, but with the third option Kevin didn't even enter the equation.

"I need you to come to the infirmary right away."

His brain was yelling at him not to ask why, that he already knew the reason, but he did it anyways. "Can I ask why?"

There was a pause and that only increased Evan's worries. "I'd rather tell you in person."

"I'm on my way." Evan said, sprinting down the hallway. With each step the worry increased and he couldn't help but damn the Ancients and their technology; so far it'd brought nothing but pain, suffering, and heartbreak to everyone on the Expedition.