Left Behind
Chapter 4: Briefing

It was the next morning, his second day in the Ancient City, and Kevin had woken up a little early—well, hardly early because he found it slightly hard to fall asleep, that fact having noting to do with the narrow beds.

He showered and put a fresh pair of black fatigues on from his bag; making sure that he had everything on proper. His black tee tucked in, the jacket buttoned up, and his shiny black boots tied tight—his picture tucked in his breast pocket as always. He didn't bother going to the mess, and instead headed for the briefing room.

Kevin had tried to memorize the layout of the City, and the tour that Bates had given him gave him some insight, so it was fairly easy to find the briefing room that Colonel Carter had been talking about. It wasn't quite 0800 yet, so he was early, standing against the wall of the room instead of taking a seat at the table.

Kevin wasn't there for long before someone else came by, early just like him.

"Michael," he said in surprise. "Sir," he quickly corrected himself.

Michael paused, staring at Kevin. "Don't call me 'sir', Kevin; I'm not in the military."

"Of course, Michael." Kevin winced slightly; it didn't bother him that Michael was a civilian, but it was weird to call him by his first name when he was going to be the person that Kevin reported to. "Why did you come early?" Kevin asked.

Michael glanced at him before looking around the briefing room for a moment. "It's always good to get here early and scout-out the place . . . find a good seat." Michael grinned at him.

Kevin didn't comment on that; quite frankly the statement just made Michael seem even more mysterious and whatnot. So then why did his heart do that fluttery-thing again? He mentally shook himself; he knew that it must be because Michael had been the first person that he had even had a real conversation with in years.

Michael took a seat at the one of the bends at the table, a few feet from Kevin; his back was turned to one of the corners of the room, a vantage point to see everything in the room at once.

Now that Kevin had had time to dabble on it; putting some of the pieces together: the way Michael was 'sort of considered a civilian', and the way that he carried himself, his secretiveness, the fact that he was the leader of a infiltration team . . . even the look in his grey eyes; it all pointed to one thing—he had to have been in the Black Ops at one point or another.

Not long after, the other officers streamed in; Colonel Carter, Dr. Beckett, Dr. McKay, and Lt. Colonel Sheppard among them. Michael flashed Kevin a smile as they took a seat; whereas Kevin stayed where he was.

Kevin had no idea what this briefing was about, but Colonel Carter had told him to come, and so he had. He knew that he probably could have asked Michael before the others had come, and now he kind of wished that he had. But there was no point in being angry with himself on that fact now; everyone was here and the briefing was about to start so he would just find out as it went along.

But what confused Kevin was that—glancing at his watch—the briefing had yet to start, it was a little past 0800.

Sheppard turned in his chair, staring past Kevin and out the door. "Lorne," he said and Kevin unconsciously stood up straighter. "You're late."

Kevin furrowed his brows slightly—Michael watching him carefully—how could he be late when he was already here?

"Sorry, sir." came the answer, as the same dark-haired man from before answered, rushing past him with an arm full of files. "I had trouble finding the files that were needed." he came around to the other side of the table and set his folders down, and with that brought the beginning of the briefing.

Kevin had a hard time concentrating on what the Major was saying, but not a so hard time staring at him. He had thought before that he had just heard the name wrong, but now not so much. So there was just another office on Atlantis with the same name was all, the eyes didn't matter or mean anything—just the same name and nothing else. Kevin forced him brain to think this, but whatever the hell his heart was doing said otherwise—the weight of the photograph in his breast pocket burning a hole in his shirt.

How was this even possible? The percentage of this type of thing had been so low off the charts!

Almost an hour later, the briefing was over and everyone left, expect Kevin, frozen to the spot and Michael who stayed in his seat.

Though through that hour Kevin's mind may have been in mayhem, but he had caught the gist of it. The point of an infiltration team was basically to go undercover, gain access to a company, gather information and slip away unnoticed; teams can consist of many numbers, but this one was just Michael and Kevin. Apparently something new for Kevin to tryout.

"Is there something you need to tell me, Kevin?" Michael asked.

Kevin's eyes darted to him, just now sort of registering the fact that everyone had left the room and Michael had stayed behind.

". . . No." he said faintly after a moment. "No," he said stronger this time, his face set.

The look that Michael was giving him said that he didn't believe Kevin, but would leave it for now—and Kevin could have hugged him because of it; he had no idea what the hell was going on either.

Michael stood from his seat, and walked over to Kevin, a folder in his hand. "This is the mission report and objective, I want you to read this and know your task by heart by the next briefing." he pressed the folder to Kevin's chest and only took his hand always when Kevin's reached up and held it in place. "Kevin, if you have any question or need to speak with me, come to my quarters."

Kevin stared at him, his nostrils flared slightly as he nodded. "Yes, Michael."

Michael gave him a firm nod and pointed look before he gave Kevin's shoulder a quick squeeze before he left the briefing room also.

Kevin was left standing there, clutching the folder to his chest. His heart racing; as he walked at a quick pace back to his own quarters. He kept his head down, and no one bothered him because he had barely even been there for to day.

When he got back to his own quarters, he set the folder on the table next to his bed, sitting down heavily. He pulled the picture from his breast pocket, clutching it so tightly that it strained not to tear. His eyes focused on the little boy in the picture, focused on his eyes. Everyone's face in the world could look the same or similar, same with the hair and even the body—you can never really compare an adult and a child, because it was all in the eyes.

The eyes that Major Lorne had were the same that Kevin had.

The same.

Kevin couldn't believe that this was happing, that his brother was here; in the Pegasus Galaxy, on the Lost City of the Ancients. It didn't seem fair, the numbers were all off; the same name, the same eyes . . . Kevin was in shock again, but this time it was an unfriendly/unsettling shock.

note: I hoped you've like it so far far, even though most of you probably didn't think this fic was what it really was. So I hoped that by now we're getting close to the two Lorne's meeting. Stayed tuned because I'm gonna update soon.

Thank you to those who have reviewed, and if you havent' please do . . . comment on whatever you want, even if you don't like something. :O (You don't even have to be a registered member of the sight)