Date : 05.02.2008
Title : The A.U. Series : Lost City Of The ZPM's
Author : ElaineDex
Chapter : 6 of ?
Rating : M
Pairings : None at this point in the story.
Warnings : Some Sexual Content, Romance, Adventure, Maybe Some Strong Language.
Spoilers : This story has character's in it from my Loves series and follows on from my last story - New Beginnings.
Feedback : Yes please, always welcome whatever it may be.
Disclaimer : Dr. Ellie Harrison, Lt. Matthew Franks, and any O/C's are mine. Lyssa Hunter belongs to Kazavid and is from her Atlantis stories Behind The Mask and Reunions. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.
Summary : Can the teams survive an adventure fit for Indiana Jones as they search for a whole city supposedly full of ZPM's?
Lorne knew the impact was coming and he braced himself and clung tightly to the rope ladder with one hand, leaving an arm free to catch Ellie.
She hit him with a thud, her scream dying her throat as her hands grabbed at his T-shirt to stop herself falling right past him and down onto the stone floor below and she could feel the material stretching and knew it would probably tear soon.
Lorne grabbed her wrist and pulled her hard up against his chest and Ellie pushed her body upwards and released her grip on his T-shirt so that she could launch her arms around his shoulders and wrap her legs around his hips.
They waited for the rope ladder to stop swinging, neither speaking and Lorne frowned into Ellie's hair as he felt her breasts heaving against his chest.
"You okay?", he asked, his arm tight around her waist but she didn't reply or move, merely continued to squeeze him to death.
"Ellie?", he prompted again and this time she managed to nod and say,
"Just give me a sec".
Lorne waited and tried to ignore just how intimately their bodies were pressed together and the image of her lace panties flashed before his eyes and he suppressed a groan at the thought.
He shouldn't be thinking about her like that…he didn't like her for one thing and for another, this was hardly the time or the place.
"We should try to get moving", he said, his voice sounding strained to his own ears and Ellie nodded and lifted her head to look at him.
"Thanks…for pulling me up…if you hadn't……", she trailed off and Lorne shook his head.
"Don't even go there", he said and Ellie nodded and took a deep breath before looking up at the distance she had fallen.
Lorne held her steady as she un-clamped her legs from around him and her feet tried to find a rung on the ladder.
That done, she twisted and let go of his shoulders so that she could grab the ladder with her hands.
She didn't object when Lorne moved up right behind her and he realised that she must be terrified of falling again.
They moved together this time, taking their time and they both released a rush of air when they were both safely through the hole and stood on the floor of the room above.
"Right…we need to move upwards according to this map", Rodney said and Ronon looked up at the ceiling above him.
Rodney shook his head.
"No…not in here…probably through there", he said, pointing to the archway at the end of the room they were in.
Ronon nodded and headed for the exit. He went through it and grimaced at the rope ladder that went up to a hole in the ceiling just as Ellie and Lorne had found in the room next door.
Rodney groaned as he joined Ronon and he tapped his ear-piece.
"Sheppard? You need to move into the next room and go up the rope ladder to the next level".
"Thanks Rodney", Sheppard's voice came back and he and Lyssa headed for the archway at the back of the room they were in.
As Ronon and Rodney began to climb their ladder, Sheppard's voice said in their ears.
"Ah, McKay…you did say up and not down didn't you?", he asked and Rodney frowned.
"Yes".
"That's what I thought", Sheppard said as he and Lyssa looked through the hole in the floor and peered at the rope ladder that hung down to the floor of the level below them.
Sighing, Sheppard sat on the edge of the hole and moved onto the ladder. He looked up at Lyssa as he muttered,
"Whose bright idea was this mission again?".
"Ellie's…and I have every faith in her, don't you?", Lyssa replied, getting onto the ladder above him and Sheppard cleared his throat as his mouth dried up at the sight of her firm butt wiggling above his head.
"Oh yeah…sure…", he replied distractedly and Lyssa frowned and checked below her so that she didn't stand on Sheppard's fingers.
They got to the bottom and looked around at the walls of the room that was exactly the same as the one they had just come from.
"Now what?", Lyssa asked.
Teyla and Franks had made it back across the rickety bridge with no sign of the 'Nimrods' returning but both were grateful for the cover of the trees once more.
The sun beat down upon them as it rose higher in the sky with each passing moment and when they had walked for a while Franks watched as Teyla wiped her brow with the back of her hand.
"So…..", he said, trailing off suddenly lost for words as Teyla looked at him expectantly.
"So…what?", Teyla asked when the Lieutenant didn't elaborate.
She smiled to herself at the obvious fact that he wanted to talk to her but that he had no idea what to say.
"Are you enjoy being on Atlantis?", she asked him and Franks smiled.
"Oh yeah…I love it", he replied.
Teyla nodded. "You don't miss earth at all?".
"Not really…I miss my mom I guess…but dad died when I was a kid so….", he let his sentence trail off as though he didn't want to talk about his father and Teyla watched him closely.
"I am sorry that you missed out on a relationship with your father", she offered and Franks shrugged.
Teyla was just about to say something else but Franks held up a hand to silence her and she strained her ears and also heard the tell tale rustlings of the undergrowth around them.
They took off as arrows began to rain down upon them and Franks grunted as one got him in the shoulder.
Neither slowed their pace though and finally they burst out of the trees and into the clearing where they had rested a few hours ago by the waterfall. They hid behind a boulder and waited, weapons poised but no-one followed them out of the trees.
As they collapsed with their backs against the boulder, Teyla turned to Franks.
"Matthew…you are hurt!", she exclaimed reaching for him and Franks was glad for the first time in his military career that he had been injured!
Lorne watched Ellie as she studied the map she held.
She glanced up a few times as if she was getting her bearings before burying her nose back into the paper and he sighed.
"You have no idea where we're going do you?", Lorne stated and Ellie lifted her head again to glare at him.
"You know…it might be nice if you could show a little faith in me…I am a member of your team after all", she said and Lorne folded his arms and leaned back against a ledge that was jutting out of the wall behind him.
Suddenly the room began to rumble and Lorne jumped forward as the ledge suddenly began to disappear into the wall.
"What did you do?", Ellie asked and he shook his head.
"Nothing".
"You must have triggered something", Ellie said looking around as Lorne said,
"Like what?".
"I don't know but we need to get out of this room", Ellie replied urgently and Lorne agreed.
They headed for the exit and Ellie gasped and stopped in the archway causing Lorne to crash into the back of her.
"I think we found what it was you triggered", she said as they looked down the length of the stone corridor before them to see huge axe-like implements swinging to and fro in such a way that you would have to jump between them extremely carefully to get to the other end of the corridor without being sliced in two.
"I didn't trigger anything", Lorne argued but Ellie merely threw him a disbelieving look over her shoulder.
"So how do we do this?", she asked and Lorne glanced at her before looking back at the swinging axes.
"You are the military planner", she added.
"Alright, just give me a minute…I'm trying to time the swings", Lorne replied tetchily and Ellie huffed and folded her arms.
"So when you need a minute its fine but when I want a minute you think its an inconvenience…".
Lorne ignored her and tried to concentrate but it was as though now she had a bee in her bonnet she couldn't let it go and she turned to face him.
"In fact, I think it's about time you cut me some slack Major because we just can't carry on like we have been doing…", she paused for breath as Lorne muttered,
"This isn't the time Ellie", and then she continued,
"You have to have some trust in me and what I do and why are you always so damn mean to me.…?", but she was stopped as Lorne yelled,
"Will you just shut the hell up for a minute!".
Ellie blinked up at him, anger flaring within her and she opened her mouth, her intention to tell him just what she thought of him but Lorne gripped her face in his hands and covered her lips with his, effectively rendering her speechless.
Something ignited between them but as quickly as Lorne had begun the kiss he ended it, wrenching his mouth from hers and stepping back, his hands dropping to his sides and he glared at her as though it was all her fault.
"That did NOT just happen", he told her and Ellie's eyes widened but she still couldn't find her voice and continued to merely stare at him.
Lorne cursed and turned back to the swinging axes.
He needed to concentrate but found he couldn't.
"Damn it. Is there no way to just stop these things swinging?", he asked and Ellie smirked at him as he turned back to face her.
"Oh…I see…you want me to get us out of this…what a surprise", she said and if looks could kill she knew she was dead and buried.
Sighing she regarded the axes.
"Give me your back pack", she said, holding her hand out to Lorne.
"What?", he asked frowning at her.
"Your back pack…take anything you need out of it", she replied and Lorne shrugged the pack off.
"There's only my bed roll and jacket in there", he said and she nodded.
She stepped out of the archway and close to the first axe.
"Careful", Lorne warned having no idea what she was up to.
He watched as she waited until just the right moment and then she placed his back pack in the way of the first axe and it dug in and got stuck in the hole in the wall that the axe swung into.
It ground to a halt as did all the others.
Lorne shook his head as Ellie turned to face him triumphantly.
Suddenly thought the axes began to shudder as though the mechanism that worked them was trying to work free.
"Come on, its not going to hold for much longer", Lorne said and grabbing her arm they raced along the corridor ducking under and jumping over the remaining axes.
They just cleared the last one when the first one broke free and began to swing once more…the others following suit.
Lorne and Ellie looked at one another and she said,
"It's your turn to get us out of the next sticky situation".
"I hope there are no more sticky situations to get out of", Lorne muttered and Ellie smiled as he barged past her and she touched her fingers to her lips as she remembered the kiss they had just shared.
Sighing she followed him through the next archway, her mind suddenly filled with thoughts that had nothing to do with finding ZPM's.
End of chapter 6