"So people, this is pretty much like capture the flag combined with laser tag
"So people, this is pretty much like capture the flag combined with laser tag." John Sheppard said as he was giving his last minute speech to the group. He had just gotten through explaining that their tack vests were programmed to show a kill or wound depending on where they were hit on their body with the "gun". Each team was given a mission to perform, and would be graded on their ability to get it done and making it through all the surprises Sheppard had planned for them. "Okay, I want to talk to the team commanders now."
"Did you really assign guys to be the tangos?" Lorne asked as they all drew near.
"Assign?" John smiled at his question. "I had guys begging to be the ambush squad; this is like R&R for them."
Several hours later, the teams were again gathered to start heading back to Atlantis. All in all, the "missions" were successes. Ronon's group suffered the most casualties, but mostly because Tyler kept taking his team mates out with friendly fire. The team had still completed their task, but came in dead last. Teyla's team was the first to complete their mission, and the scientists in her team were trying hard not to lord it over the rest. Lorne's team came in second, but he maintained that the whole thing was rigged for the simple fact that every single tango that they encountered had been men from his own team and they knew what the Major was going to do before he even did it. Marcus and Colonel Sheppard had had a friendly debate about the fairness of that one. Now the gear was all packed up, and they were starting the trek back to the gate.
"Can I talk to you?"
Lindsey had known that Marcus was close behind her, but was a little surprised that he was approaching her in front of everyone. Sighing, Lindsey turned to face him. "We've had our fun, there is nothing else to say."
"I didn't mean it like that." Lorne said, grasping her arm when Lindsey tried to turn away from him. "It was a bad choice of words."
"So how did you mean it?" Lindsey asked, and stepped to the side to let the others move past them. She waited for a beat, but then rolled her eyes and turned away when Marcus said nothing. "That's what I thought."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I knew you didn't really want to fix this between us."
"Hey! I'm not the one who avoided a conversation for days." Marcus said throwing up his hands. "It seems you're the one who didn't want to fix things between us."
"Just because I didn't want to stand there and hear you say lets be friends doesn't mean that I didn't want to fix it."
"What? Lindsey you aren't making a damn bit of sense!"
"Yeah…well…screw you!"
"Oh, real mature!" Marcus yelled after the retreating figure.
Lindsey heard his comment, and the muttered curse words that came after. She knew she was being a dork, but she didn't have much of a plan, so figured the "screw you and running" one was as good as any. If she was truly brave she would stand her ground, tell him she loved him, and then take whatever happened, but she wasn't brave. Lindsey heard Marcus's footsteps getting closer, and doubled her pace. Coming to the crest of what some of the marines called heart-attack hill, she began to make her way down.
"Will you stop!" Marcus started down the hill after her.
"Leave me alone!" Lindsey turned, and then felt the rocks shift and her foot slip. Her body swayed from side to side as she tried to regain balance. The last thing Lindsey saw was the horrified look on Lorne's face as she tumbled down the hill.
Fighting her way through the fog, Lindsey slowly began hearing faint beeps, and snatches of murmured words. Forcing her eyelids open, she blinked at the bright light that met her eyes.
"Lindsey? Can you hear me?"
"Marcus?" Lindsey mumbled when a shadow leaned over her, blocking out some of the harsh light.
"Doctor Beckett, Lindsey is awake!" Marcus squeezed Lindsey's hand, and felt happiness flood him when, unlike the last half hour, she squeezed his.
Before Lindsey could say anything else, Lorne let go of her hand and another shadow took his place.
"Do you know where you are, Doctor Novak?" Carson asked, as he began checking the back of her eyes with an ophthalmoscope.
"In the medical bay on Atlantis." Lindsey answered, and than winced as Carson changed to a pen-light to check her pupils.
"Do you know why you are here?"
"I fell down a hill." Lindsey's throat was so dry it hurt to speak, and she was starting to get annoyed by the pen-light. Her head was throbbing, and all she wanted was for Marcus to take her hand again.
"How many fingers do you see?" Carson clicked off the pen-light and then held up one finger.
"One." Lindsey was beginning to feel sleepy again and wanted the twenty questions to stop.
"Okay, luv, follow my finger with your eyes."
Fatigue was starting to set in and Lindsey had to work hard to follow what looked like a floating finger. Fighting an insane urge to giggle, Lindsey tried to focus in on what Beckett was asking her.
"Lindsey, how old are you?"
Jerking back awake, it took Lindsey awhile for Carson's question to make sense. "None of your business." She mumbled, as her eyes slid shut again.
Turning toward Lorne, Carson gave him a reassuring smile. "It's good that Doctor Novak woke up so soon. There is no evidence of swelling and she was able to answer all my questions. We will continue to wake her every hour until we are sure her head has sustained no damage." Glancing over his shoulder, Carson could see Weir and Caldwell entering the med-bay. "Why don't you go get cleaned up, Major. There is nothing you can do for a little while."
Sighing, Marcus turned back toward Lindsey as Carson walked away. Nasty cuts and scrapes were all down her arms, and Lorne knew that she would have some monster bruises. "See you in an hour, Lindsey." Marcus whispered, placing a light kiss on her forehead.
Walking toward his room, Marcus finally let his mind replay the horrible image on Lindsey's body at the bottom of heat-attack hill. Running down the hill (he still wasn't sure how he had made it down without killing himself) he had checked to see that Novak was still breathing and then called for help on his radio. It had taken all his willpower not to grab Lindsey himself and make a run for the gate, but his first aide training had kicked in telling him not to move her. It had seemed like a million years before Carson and his team had finally shown up.
"Carson just called to say Novak had finally woken up."
Marcus turned away from his thoughts at the sound of John Sheppard's voice. "Yeah, I was there when she woke up."
"Ahh." Sheppard crossed his arms over his chest, and gave Lorne a knowing look. "How are you holding up Major?"
"I'm fine, Sir," Marcus said, not quite meeting his commanding officer's eyes.
"Okay." Sheppard said, using his "you're not fooling me, but I'll let it pass" voice. "Go get cleaned up, Lorne. Carson says that you have a hour until they wake Doctor Novak up again."
Not sure that he liked the fact that the whole of Atlantis seemed to know about him and Lindsey, Marcus gave Sheppard a nod and then continued toward his room.
Lindsey could hear someone calling her name. Forcing her eyes open, the blurry image of Carson was again above her.
"Do you know where you are?"
Blinking a few times to get rid of the haziness, Lindsey frowned. "We already did these questions Doctor Beckett."
"That we did, Doctor Novak, it's good that you remember." Carson said and than turned toward someone behind him. "I'll go let Weir and Caldwell know she is more awake this time."
Lindsey felt her heart flutter as Marcus took Beckett's place. "Marcus, you're here." Marcus looked fabulous. He was in civilian clothing, and had a sexy five o'clock shadow. Lindsey could tell that he looked tired, but that seemed to only add to his whole adorableness. Suddenly feeling awkward and shy, Lindsey searched for something to say. "Well, you didn't need to-"
"I love you." Marcus smiled at her dumbfounded look. Moving closer he took her hand into his. "I love you more than life itself, Lindsey Novak." Brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, Marcus bent down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "And I also want to say that I am a total jackass and never meant to hurt your feelings."
"You love me?" Lindsey asked still looking bewildered. Random, crazy thoughts began coming full blast into her brain. Thoughts of this is a dream, or that she is really dying and Marcus was only saying this to her because she didn't have long to live, but before she could voice any of these things, Marcus brushed his knuckle down her cheek.
"Whatever thoughts are rolling around in that beautiful head of yours, tell them to stop. When I say that I love you, I mean just that. I love you."
Feeling tears well up in her eyes, Lindsey placed her own hand over his on her cheek. "I love you too, Marcus Lorne."
"Do you have somewhere else to be, Major?"
"What?" Lorne asked looking across the table where John Sheppard sat. They had been going over the training schedule for some of the newer members of Atlantis, and now Sheppard was rolling his eyes at him.
"You've checked the clock non-stop for the last half hour."
Marcus could feel his face start to heat up. Embarrassment was not usually at the top of his feelings, but the amusement on John's face made him squirm. "Sorry, I am just due to take leave in about another half-hour. I guess I am just getting antsy."
"Ah, leave." John said crossing his arms over her chest and leaning back in his chair. "Have anything exciting planned?"
"Not really." Lorne said, missing the full fledged smile that his commander was sending him as he glanced at the clock again.
"Well, I'll be leaving so you can get everything finished up before your leave begins." John said as he started for the door. Turning right before he hit the hallway, Sheppard looked back at Lorne. "Oh, by the way, the Daedalus sent a subspace message before I came to our meeting. They are ahead of schedule; in fact they are probably already docking." Stepping out of the way, John watched as Marcus Lorne took to the hallway at a dead run, not even bothering to be dismissed.
"It's sickening the way those two act around each other." Cadman said as she sat with Katie Brown and Miko in the mess hall. The other two women gave half-hearted nods, as they all looked at the corner table where Novak and Lorne were sitting. The couples first year together had been an interesting one. Most of Atlantis thought they would never be able to survive a "galaxies away" relationship, but they were now into their second year and seemed to be going strong.
"You know, I heard that Major Lorne sent an order to Earth recently. It was said that it was for some type of jewelry," Katie Brown said, causing the other two women to gasp. "I also saw Lorne having a quiet little conference with one of the military guys from the Daedalus. It looked like he was passed a small box shaped item."
"No way!" Cadman leaned even closer to Katie. "How do you scientists get this type of intel? Do you think he has proposed to her already?"
The three women again turned to the couple in the corner with small sighs. "Nah, but I bet it will be soon." Katie answered a small smile on her face. "Lindsey already came by earlier today for another dress." The three all looked at each other for a moment before they burst out into peals of laughter.
"So, you asked Novak to accept the position yet?"
Elizabeth shook her head, and took a sip of tea before she answered John's question. "I thought that I would wait to see what her answer was to the Major's questions first, before I asked mine."
"I still can't believe the military is going to let a married couple serve together."
"You forget, John, that Doctor Novak isn't military. Plus the person running this show isn't military."
"True," John said as he took a sip from his own cup. The two leaders had been having nightcaps with each other for some time now. It was a good way to wind down from a hard day's work. "I guess it is good that the scientist and the Major have you as their boss."
Walking hand in hand down the long strip of beach on the mainland, Lindsey leaned her head against Marcus's shoulder. She knew that Marcus had been tense all night, but wasn't sure how to bring up the subject. Lindsey was just about to ask straight out what on earth was wrong, when Marcus came to a dead stop and turned towards her. She was shocked to see him sweating. "What's wrong?"
"What? No, nothings wrong, I just have something I want to talk to you about." Marcus said and then took a deep breath.
"Oh no, you're breaking up with me aren't you." It wasn't a question, more of a statement as Lindsey wrapped her arms around herself as if to shield herself. "It's okay I understand. We had a good two years…well not even truly two years, more like a year and seven months, but they were good. I just want you to know that I wish you the best-"
"Why are you always giving me this "have a good life" speech?" Marcus huffed, running his hands through his hair. "I'm not breaking up with you, just like I wasn't breaking up with you two days ago." Lifting Lindsey's chin, Marcus kissed her lips softly. "If I have any say on the future, we will never be breaking up."
"I'm sorry," Lindsey moved into Marcus's warmth wrapping her arms around him. "I know I'm neurotic." Feeling him shake from laughter, Lindsey glanced up. "What?"
"You are the only woman I know who would mess up a proposal."
"I know, I always say things before thinking…a proposal?" Lindsey pulled back, looking directly into Marcus's smiling face. She could feel her heart speed up, and a completely giddy feeling came over her. Not quite daring to believe what was happening, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes as Marcus got down on one knee and opened a black velvet box.
"Lindsey Novak, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
The tears were now freely flowing down Lindsey's face. Taking the sparkling diamond, she clutched it to her heart. "Of course I'll marry you."
Coming to his feet, Marcus pulled her in for a soft kiss and then rested his forehead against hers. "You've made me the happiest man in the world."
They held each other for a short moment, until Lindsey's brain kicked into high gear. "We need to make so many plans. Where will we live? What will we do? I mean I know what we will do, you'll be in the Air Force and I'll be a scientist…but how will we do that together? Can we even get married? I mean maybe I have to clear this with Colonel Caldwell. Oh my gosh, Caldwell? How do I tell him that I am going to leave the ship and marry you? Can I even stay here on Atlantis-?"
With a chuckle, Marcus kissed the top of Lindsey's head, cutting off her frantic rambling. "Lindsey, calm down. We have plenty of time to get this all worked out. Besides I think Weir might be calling you in soon for a little chat."
"So you have this all worked out, huh?" Lindsey said as she pressed herself further into his warmth.
"Yep, I even have leave so we can go and let our families know about it."
"Oh, your mother will be so happy! The last time I visited with her, she kept dropping hints about having her little Marky settled down with a good woman."
"My mother is nothing compared to yours. Remember Christmas? She almost cried when I got you a sweater instead of a ring. I was served the tiniest piece of cake after that. Plus your mother's most recent letter to me has marriage, married, or ring in almost every paragraph."
"She just wants you to make an honest woman out of me." Lindsey teased and then pulled back taking his hand in hers. Giving him her best "come hither" look, she started pulling him toward the jumper. "Would you care to escort me back to your room, Major?"
Katie Brown got a knock on her door early the next morning. Opening it, she was almost blinded by the huge rock that was thrust into her line of sight.
"It looks like I will need another dress soon," Lindsey smiled at her dear friend. "Only this time I don't think any of you girls on Atlantis will have the one I am searching for stuffed in the back of your closet."