Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. Wishful thinking aside.

Warnings: This story is a Parrish/Lorne. Thus this fiction will contain allusions to a pre-slash relationship. With full on slash in later chapters, which will be appropriately marked as this fiction continues. This fiction also contains adult language and adult situations.

Author's note#1: This is a horrendously late response to a prompt at the Thing-a-Thon on the LJ community: Parrish_Lorne. The prompt goes as follows: "Lorne/Parrish - Parrish is a vampire."

Before the Blood Dries

Chapter Seven

When they finally made it back through the gate, he walked through Atlantis in a daze. - Making quick, impossible excuses for his lack of jacket and shirt as he escaped towards the relative comfort of his rooms. Ignoring both the stares and the inevitable whispering as he strode through the halls bare-chested.. – A strange mixture of lean, freckling muscle, and a miss matched mess of contrasting tans, that reflected oddly underneath Atlantis's glowing overhead lights.

The rumor mill was undoubtedly going to have field day with this one. In fact he could hardly blame them. Nakedness, blood spatter, and an uneasy, forced calm after a giant cluster fuck of a mission was enough to send even the most docile of tongues wagging. – Hell, he wasn't even paying much attention and he saw at least ten furtive hands pressing against the call buttons of their radios before the worm hole had fully disengaged. This was going to be all over Atlantis by dinner.

His stomach roiled at the mere thought. Stress, fear, and uncertainty rising up his throat like bile as he aimed his feet towards the residential wing, forcing what he hoped was an apologetic smile when he tripped over his own feet, and nearly bull dozed both Mieko and Zelenka into the wall when they rounded the corner unexpectedly. – Muttering a quick apology as the smaller woman all but 'meeped!' in surprise as he strode quickly past.

But he hardly even noticed, too stuck on the forced slam of Lorne's boot heels as the man marched, straight limbed and unbelievably tense somewhere behind him. Touching base with the rest of the team when they moved up to flank him, discussing the time for the after mission briefing before he dismissed them to the showers. - Stoically ignoring their pointed looks and low questions as he turned to face Colonel Shepard and Doctor Weir as they started down the steps towards him.

- He forced himself not to slow, not to turn around, or even so much as look when the man coasted to a stop somewhere behind him. Blue eyes burning a hole into the back of his head as he heard Shepard and Elizabeth approach. Curiosity and worry coming off the both of them in waves as all three watched his quick retreat.

And all else considered he certainly didn't envy the man that conversation. ...After all it wasn't every day you came back through the gate after a wraith attack, blood flecked and muddy. Your scientist half naked and distant, and yourself minus both a shirt and a jacket and an suspiciously empty looking tac vest.

- There just weren't enough regulations in the Military Hand Book to cover something like that… Or there were too many… It was hard to tell with the USA military sometimes..

He locked himself in his rooms and waited for the guards. …The firing squad. - Hell, at the very least he expected to be visited by Doctor Weir, McKay, and Sheppard en masse. But no one came. - To be honest he wasn't sure what to make of it.

Unsettled and confused he'd packed and unpacked more times then he could count, nervous and on the verge of breaking down completely with the sheer tension of it all. Control shot through and tenuous as his canines shivered tellingly in his gums, points aching as they struggled to unsheathe. – His baser nature taking advantage of his weakness like an animal scenting blood on the wind.

Too keyed up to sleep, he spent the majority of the night quietly freaking out in the privacy of his rooms. - Stiffening at every foot fall, every insignificant pause, and half muffled snatch of conversation that drifted down the corridor past his quarters. –On edge for something, anything to happen, as the minutes and hours slowly oozed past. - Because while there were no armed guards and accusing shouts, it didn't escape his notice that there was no sign of Lorne either.

And at the end of the day he wasn't entirely sure which scenario was worse...

But when nothing happened and no one came, he threw on his uniform and headed off for his scheduled shift in Botany Lab Four. Figuring that if he was going to be booted off the expedition or possibly even worse, he should at least spend the last few moments of what little time he had left doing what he loved.

But apparently that wasn't meant to be either, because, rather unsurprisingly, frustration and partially muted terror don't exactly make for the best of bed fellows. Especially when said tasks involve the rather delicate care of some of the most needy and utterly complicated plants this side of Pegasus. -..Because within the first fifteen minutes he mistook a hybrid Eichornia Crassipes for a giant form of the Trillium Recurvatum and over watered the damn thing. Cursing inventively as he lunged forward, realizing his mistake a second too late. – Fumbling around with extra pots and fresh dirt as he worked to salvage the half drowned plant. - Trembling fingers working both spade and fresh sod even as the delicate blossoms started drooping on their stems.

…Son of a-…

Katie just stared at him, all doe eyed and worried as the whole room abruptly stilled. With everyone looking at him like he'd grown another head as he cursed and growled under his breath, more mad at himself then anything as he tossed the tools to the side and stalked off. - Flicking through the com channels as he exited the lab and headed towards the nearest transporter, intent on getting a hold of McKay.

Feeling utterly useless and down right ill as the stress and uncertainty of the last forty eight hours finally took its toll; he faked the flu and took the rest of the day off. Snapping right back at McKay when the short tempered man demanded a reason, obvious pissed off about something else and more then willing to take out his temper on a far more convenient scapegoat.

– And the funny thing was that any other day he might have even let him, taking the man's abuse with his usual good humor and stoicism. - But not today. Instead he shocked the entire com line into an uneasy silence as he gave the man a piece of his mind. Refusing to be the proverbial door mat as he gave the man both barrels, telling the snarky Canadian that he'd be back on shift tomorrow before cutting the connection and fleeing to his rooms. Trying very hard to tell himself that he wasn't sulking as he left a fist sized dent in his bathroom wall when it suddenly occurred to him that Lorne had probably heard the whole damn thing.

Well fuck.

He was a nervous wreck by the time Lorne finally pressed the door chime. Having been forced to listen to the man pace up and down the corridor for the last forty-five minutes, clearly working himself up towards actually pressing the bell. - But when he finally had, his sweaty hands had slapped against the controls a split second later, long before the secondary chime could even finish striking. …Revealing Lorne, in all his wide eyed, doubt ridden glory.

– …The man looked like crap.

To be honest Lorne looked like he'd spent the last two days doing exactly what he had. – Barely sleeping, worrying, and reliving every moment, every angle and facial expression over and over again in his mind until he knew it better then he did his own heart beat. - Until all he could see when he closed his eyes was the image of Lorne hovering above him, blood stained and beautiful. The moment before he'd hissed out all his pain and frustration and yanked the stake free.

Hell, he could practically smell at least a dozen, conflicting emotions that were all but seeping from the man's pores. The scent only intensifying as the door slid closed behind him. …Suffocating and strong. – And Lorne was in the center of it, a tangled mess of doubt-confusion-fear-anger-hope. All lilting and inconsistent as they locked eyes from across the close distance.

They both started talking at the same time.

"Look, if you'll just let me go back to Earth on the Daedalus I won't-..." He began, not even pausing to take in what Lorne was saying as he bulldozed through the man's chatter. - Figuring that by offering to leave Atlantis he might be able to salvage this whole debacle with the rest of the world, and indeed the expedition being none the wiser.

"…- Wait, what!" Lorne goggled. Stopping his own garbled rush of words in its tracks, something to do with mission protocols and half truths, as his gaze flickered from him, to the half packed chaos of his rooms before realization slid across his troubled features.

"No. Shit. Just. – Just, shut up and let me talk!" Lorne finally blurted, knuckling his forehead fiercely, as he paced. - Holding up a hand as if to stop him from speaking as the Major visibly collected his thoughts.

"Look, I have to-... I mean...- Have you ever…" Lorne began; short hair sticking up at all angles as he finally turned around to face him. – But even then the man's discomfort was obvious, unable to meet his eye or finish his sentence when he realized what Lorne was actually asking.

"No! Never!" He practically spat. Tone unaccustomedly vehement in both its force and sincerity as the mere thought all but turned his stomach.

"You know I had to ask." Lorne replied with a visible wince, looking apologetic but strangely vindicated at the same time when he nodded at him.

"I don't feed on humans. …Not without consent." He added, almost cursing himself when his eyes strayed down the length of the man's arm, stuttering over the lightly bruised patch of skin that still adorned the man's inner wrist.

Lorne seemed to mirror both their feelings when he blew out a long, unfettered breath. – Canting his head to the side as the Marine fixed him with an unwavering stare, eventually sitting down on the bed so the man could move about more freely. Watching silently as Lorne walked the length of the room once, then twice. Looking more like a caged animal then the composed man he'd known for just over two years now.

"Alright, look. You were honest with me. -…When it came down to it." Lorne amended, pausing visibly to collect himself before he continued. Hands knuckling through his short brown hair almost unconsciously as he shifted in place.

"Hell, you saved my life…And despite the risks, you trusted me with this-this..thing." He paused, clearly struggling for the right definition before he barreled on. Words all but tripping from his lips as Lorne fought to make his point clear. Tone bordering on desperate, as if he didn't get the words out right this second he might lose his nerve completely.

And oddly enough, he knew exactly how the man felt.

"And I have never, before all…this known you to be anything but honest." Lorne continued, ploughing on without quite meeting his eyes as he paced the length of the room and back again.

"So, that's why I need you to tell me. - Everything. Right now." The man affirmed. Pulse racing almost as fast as it had on back on the planet. Eyes darkening with the beginnings of doubt, curiosity, and confusion as the last vestiges of adrenaline slowly began to wane. - Seeping from the man's pores like a clammy sweat even as he caught the man's eye and nodded.

- Because that was exactly what he did…

A/N: Sorry for the slower chapter, it is more of a transition then anything else. Please let me know what you think? Reviews and constructive critiquing are love!

"Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness." - Bryant H. McGill.