A/N: Standard disclaimers apply. Review.

To say that Evan was ticked would be an understatement. They had only watched the first twenty minutes of the movie before all hell decided to break loose and both of them off in different directions.

That had been three days ago and Evan had yet to see Max. Sure he'd stopped by her quarters, but she was never there and he kept just missing her everywhere else.

That's why he was finally taking this thing into his own hands; he made it so that he was Max's escort to the mainland. There was no way that she could avoid him in the Jumper for a half-hour.

----

Max walked into Jumper Bay and stopped, surprised. After a few seconds of staring, she made her way towards the Jumper. Smiling she asked, "Where's James?"

"Lieutenant Meriden has been re-assigned. I'm filling in for today." Evan replied, hoping that she wouldn't see through the flimsy excuse.

"Uh-huh." Max said, not entirely convinced. But she decided to leave it at that. Walking up the ramp, she stored her bag in one of the overhead bins and sat down.

Evan followed Max into the Jumper and sat down in the pilot's seat and soon they were on their way to the mainland. They were silent most of the way, each lost with their own thoughts. After what seemed like more than a half-hour they arrived near the Athosian settlement and they both walked out into the sunshine.

As they walked towards the settlement, Max said, "I hope you won't be too bored. There's not really much to do here for you soldier boys while school's in session."

Evan looked at Max and saw that she was smiling. Grinning back, he said, "That's all right, I'm sure that I'll find something to keep me entertained."

"I bet you will." Max said, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Once Evan was sure that Max wouldn't need anything from him, he walked back to the Jumper. Entering it, he powered it up and radioed Atlantis. "Doctor McKay, this is Major Lorne. I need some help..."

----

Max put the last of the papers in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Walking out she spotted Evan and walked towards him, saying, "I'm all set if you are."

"Yup." Evan replied in an even tone. The day had turned out to be nice so they took their time walking to the Jumper. Once inside, Evan mentally crossed his fingers hoping that it would work.

Sitting down, Evan started to power up the Jumper. At first everything was normal; lights went on and there was the normal soft humming, but then it just died.

"What's going on?" Max asked, furrowing her brow. She didn't know that much about Jumper technology but knew enough in order to realize whatever had just happened wasn't normal.

"Not sure." Evan replied, even though he knew exactly what was wrong. The way he looked at it if he didn't take matters into his own hands they'd never finish a date. So he had done what any guy in his position would do; he had gotten McKay to help him disable the Jumper and set it up so that everyone would be busy until the next morning. That way they'd have to stay on the mainland overnight and finally have that date.

But he had to make it look so that he had no idea what was going on, that was the tricky part. Getting up and walking back he said, "Let me take a look."

Evan then removed a panel, pretended to fiddle around with the wires, and after a few minutes replaced the panel. Sitting back down, he placed his hands on the controls and said, "Hopefully it'll work now."

But nothing happened.

"What now?" Max asked, slightly suspicious. All this seemed a bit too convenient.

Evan shrugged and said, "Let me try the comm." Pressing a button he said, "Atlantis this is Major Lorne. Jumper Three has gone off-line and we need a ride back."

There was a pause then they heard, "Major this is Doctor Weir. Everyone's a bit tied up at the moment. You'll have to stay at the settlement until tomorrow."

"Understood; Lorne out." Evan said. After he finished speaking, Evan shut down the few systems that remained operational and turned to Max saying, "Hope you didn't have any plans tonight."

Max shook her head, "Just grading papers and reading essays. Not thrilling stuff but it needs to be done. What about you?"

"Poker night with my team, but I think they'll live without me this one time." Evan replied, staring out of the window. The sat in silence for a while until Evan stood saying, "I guess we should head back to the settlement and see if they can find room for us."

"Guess so." Max agreed, standing as well. She picked up her bag, she could at least get some grading out of the way, and followed Evan back outside. They walked towards the village in relative silence and as they neared the village, the conversation stopped all together.

Spotting Halling almost right away, Evan walked up to him and said, "Halling."

Halling looked up when he heard his name being called and was surprised to see that it was Major Lorne and Max. "Forget something Miss Wainwright?" he asked pleasantly enough. He wasn't thrilled that the Athosian children were being taught by someone from the Expedition, but he had to admit that she was doing an acceptable job.

Max smiled faintly and replied, "No, the Jumper stopped working and we were wondering if there was somewhere we could stay for the night."

Halling was silent for a moment then said, "I think so, but let me check." He then walked off to see if there were families willing to take Evan and Max in for the night.

Evan watched Halling go off and smiled to himself. So far everything had gone according to plan; he just had to get Max to realize this was a date.

Halling appeared a few minutes later and said, "Jolie and Deagan are off on a hunting trip so you may use their place. It's the first one as you enter the village."

Evan nodded and said, "Thanks."

Halling nodded and then left Evan and Max.

"So now what?" Evan asked casually.

Max shrugged and said while digging through her bag, "I'm going to head back to the school and get some work done. Feel free to ask me out when I get back." Pulling out her iPod and turning it on, she stuck in the headphones, pressed 'play', turned around, and headed for the school building while smiling; she had figured everything out as they were walking towards the village.

"Uh, sure." Evan said to Max's retreating figure, not quite sure what had just happened. Scratching his head in bemusement, he headed off to the Jumper to get the sleeping bags.