Max decided to check her gear and see how Methos' day off had gone. He was enjoying his work with the linguists for the most part. There were a few rocky encounters when his lived experience with some languages and texts collided with accepted academic theories but for the most part it was going well.

She went to the armory first to look over her assigned weaponry and tactical gear. She even checked over the spare uniforms and other gear she kept in her locker. Satisfied it was in good order for the next day she was leaving when she heard her name.

"Max?"

She closed her locker and leaned on the bench far enough out to see the doorway to the locker room. Major Lorne was peering into the room, he grinned when he saw her.

"Major?" She asked.

"Missed you at dinner, wanted to check in, any thoughts about Rodney's new theory?" He asked.

She laughed and stood up.

"Not really sir, I'm heading to check in with Methos now, figured I'd fill him in, want to come?"

"Sure, I could use a walk." It would be a ten or fifteen minute walk to the linguists work area, maybe twenty back to the residential area where Methos and Max were billeted as neighbors.

"How is the painting coming?" She asked with a grin.

"Good, actually, I uh think it's …done." He said almost shyly.

She quirked a surprised eyebrow at him and smiled gently. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I think so, but, uh I'd like you to see it first."

"Oh, uhm. Okay, when?" She asked a thrill of anticipatory anxiety churning her guts.

"Are you still on brief missions?" He asked.

She made a face, "Yeah, I should be back at the city by dinner tomorrow. That's the plan."

"Okay, great, then after dinner, I'll find you."

"Cool." She said and grinned.

They heard heated voices as they approached the shared workspace reserve for the linguists. They had their own spaces branching off from it but found the communal work area useful.

"It doesn't make sense." A woman with tight short curls and dark skin snapped at a frazzled looking man, he was shorter than her and pale skinned but his face was red, whether from shouting or sunburn Max wasn't sure.

"It does if you consider -oh. Hello." He said noticing Major Lorne first then Max.

"Hi, we're just looking for –"

"He's in his office." The woman said kindly then turned a hard face back to her colleague. "No, it doesn't and I'll tell you why if you just shut the hell up for five minutes."

The man let out an indignant snort.

Max and Lorne exchanged a glance then skirted the debating linguists and Max lead them into Methos' workspace. Compared to what she had seen of the other work areas his was extremely neat. Images of the carvings from Carthis and the temple planet were neatly pinned to boards around the perimeter a table in the center had a display that was rotating several holo images of the temple planet's temple and a composite of Carthis occasionally overlaying the images and highlighting matching and different areas in opposite colors.

Also on the table were two digital tablets, an actual tablet of what Max guessed was cuneiform, two neat stacks of old-fashioned files, and several spiral notebooks.

Another board was filled with unanswered handwritten questions like 'Proto-Ancient or Furling? Nox?

Max spent nearly a minute looking around in silence. Lorne was fascinated by the temple displays.

"Hoping to make some sense of the differences." Methos said entering the work area. Lorne jumped and Max laughed.

"Sorry." She said to Lorne then hugged Methos.

"How did you get such a detailed map of Carthis?" Lorne asked leaning over to get a closer look at the holo display.

"That was easy, the temple planet was a lot harder, that was mostly memory and GPR. The Scottish government was happy to let us do deep scans and whatever else we wanted to on Carthis, gave them some leverage with the IOA." Methos explained. "Or that's what they tell me anyway."

"Just checking in on you, guess you didn't take the day off?" Max asked.

He gave her a small smile and shook his head. "I skipped Bantos training for the day if that counts."

"Right, well, I'll be offworld tomorrow morning, should be back for dinner though –"

"Good, you should stretch your legs." He mused. She raised an eyebrow in question.

"You're looking a little stir crazy." He said and it was Lorne who laughed this time.