Five

"Hey, mind if we sit down?" She looks up and finds Maureen Reece and Major Moore standing in front of their table and throws a look to Jessica Meyers, up to this point the only one sharing the table with her. For a moment, she looks like shaking her head no – she knows Maureen, but up to now she didn't have much to do with Moore, who can be quite intimidating when you don't know him well enough – but then she just nods.

That's enough for the couple and they sit down. As they start to eat, Moore says: "Any of you read the last Sheppard-memo? About damn time, I'd say."

"Tom!" She has to grin a little at Maureen's slightly reproachful face at Moore's rather blunt comment. He grins back at her and shrugs his shoulders.

"What? It's true." With that, he picks one of her tomatoes with his fork and eats it, still grinning while Maureen just rolls her eyes as if to say "Men. They grow up until they're seven and then they only grow." It's amazing, she thinks, how much both of them have changed. Or rather how the way they treat each other has changed. Evan had told her that they were already teammates back at the SGC, in the year before the Atlantis Expedition took off, but that their working relationship used to be a little… strained, at least for the first few months.

"It was still an unusual request. And it's through now. Stop fretting." Huh. Maureen Reece telling Moore to shut up in public… how things can change.

"Anyway… you read it, Cadman? Probably not, seeing as you're closer to the source than I am." At that, Maureen gives him a light shove to the shoulder. "Hey, would you please stop doing that in public? I have a reputation to lose." Oh yeah, the reputation of being a demanding son of a bitch and insensitive prick. The look on Maureen's face says exactly that, but she's sure that her fellow Marine knows a totally different side of Thomas Moore, like she knows a totally different side of Evan Lorne. Maureen simply wouldn't put up with him if that wasn't the case.

But he's asked her something. "As a matter of fact, I have. Not reading a Sheppard memo would be a sacrilege." At that, both of her fellow officers nod with a knowing glint in their eyes, but Jessica looks a little puzzled.

"Excuse me… but what's so special about Colonel Sheppard's memos? I mean, I know what this is all about… but I didn't get to read it yet." She wants to answer her, but Maureen beats her to it.

"Colonel Sheppard has… a certain way with words. Hey, uh, anyone here got the memo?" Yep, she does. It's a little embarrassing to admit it, but this is just too wonderful not to be printed out and discreetly hung up in her corner of the lab. Without a comment, she puts the slip of paper on the table. A grin spreads over both Maureen's and Moore's faces.

"Not a word from either of you." Then she turns to Jessica, who thankfully hasn't known her as long as the other two and only knows the bits and pieces Meyers and she have told her about the story between Evan and her. "This is a really nice example of how not to write a military memo. But at least the people read them."

Moore snorts. "As opposed to whose memos? Major Lorne's?"

She's just this short of sticking out her tongue. "Just wait until he's back. He'll be really happy to hear what his subordinates think about the quality of his memos." She just conveniently forgets that only yesterday she had to euphemize as not to hurt Evan's fragile ego too much with telling him that his memos lack a certain amount of… esprit. It's not that he's a bad writer – in fact, she loved his letters – it's just that he takes his job very seriously.

"What, you're going to tell on me? My, my, Cadman, never knew you were that kind of soldier." She rolls her eyes. But at least with Moore she knows all his taunting isn't meant in a mean way, contrary to certain other soldiers. They had a few rocky encounters, mostly when things between him and Maureen hadn't been exactly great and she always automatically took Maureen's side, but she knows Evan values him as a friend, and for a reason.

"If you want me to." But anyway, Jessica still deserves an answer to her question, so she takes the slip of paper again. "Anyway, here's my favorite part: And after the rather uninteresting and dull introduction – Mr. Woolsey insists on telling you that it is there for a reason and should be met with the respect and attention it deserves – I give you now the really interesting news. From now on, all the secret star-crossed lovers – Mr. Woolsey wants to add that he does not approve of this rather casual term – among the population of this city have permission to come out of their hiding places. Please contact your immediate superiors and inform them of your current relationship status. As of now, they are not allowed to fire you on the spot for this anymore. That is, if you can keep your hands off each other long enough not to make out right under their noses. Please keep this to your quarters. For further information, please read the attached I.O.A. document that tells you in detail what has been changed into what. If you have any questions regarding this memo, please feel free to contact either Mr. Woolsey, Major Lorne or myself. We are, however, not responsible for marriage and couple counseling. This is still Dr. Obanashi's job."

All around the table laughter and snorts can be heard, and even Jessica shows a smile that's a little brighter then the usual faint, shy smile she displays in public places. Yep, she really loves that part. "Well…" Moore says after the amusement has subsided a little, "that should put a damper on that new kid on Lorne's team." Ah yes, Lieutenant Simmons. All of them – even Jessica – have had a few unpleasant encounters with him, but she still harbors the hope that her little tongue-lashing this morning brought him to his senses.

"You know… as much as I hate his attitude… from his point of view, he's right." All of them turn to Maureen. Huh. "Hey, don't look at me like that. Think like this: He's straight out of the Academy, and the first permanent posting he gets is so totally different from what he expected and was told military life was like… in his mind, none of this here makes any sense." Yes, that's what's been on her mind as well, but only now it occurs to her that in a way Maureen is the one who can probably sympathize best with him, because from what she told her, her first months at the SGC were exactly like this to her, at least partly because of Major Moore.

"I… agree with the Captain." Oh. That's… a little surprising. All their eyes are on Jessica now, and the nurse turns a slight shade of pink. Maureen wants to say something, probably to tell her to drop the "Captain", but Jessica isn't done yet. "Coming here is so… confusing. I mean, you get lost all the time and there are so many new people… well, and all the strange technology. It's quite… overwhelming. Maybe the Lieutenant just needs a way to cope with all of that."

She's just waiting for Moore to scare Jessica away with one of his gruff remarks, but to her surprise all he says is: "Maybe. Oh, hey… speaking of that kid… I think I noticed something you might really like to hear." Curious gazes all around the table, and he leans back, obviously enjoying being in the center of their attention. Bastard. "I've been giving some IT lessons for the new personnel, and I could just bet that one of the new techies has got the hots for our Lieutenant. Should have seen the way she looked at him over the rim of her monitor."

She shrugs. Yeah, well, it was only a question of time until the female – and maybe a part of the male – population of this city started to notice the Lieutenant. "Poor thing. She's set her eyes on the wrong guy. He'll never notice her with that blockhead of his." She throws Maureen a look and the other Marine seems to think the same thing. So… case closed.

But obviously Moore has other ideas. He leans forward again, gesturing with his raised index finger. "Ah, but that's the thing: He does notice her. You know, I was telling them about some of the computer security measures here and all he did was stare at her when he thought she wasn't looking. I even had to practically hit him over the head to get his attention back. Figuratively speaking, I mean." Argh. She wishes she had known that when she chewed him out on the balcony. That would have been one hell of blackmail material.

"Aw, come on, Tom that really sounds like you're…"

"Captain Cadman, come in." A little unnerved, she taps her earpiece. And what's even more unnerving is the slight lurch of her stomach, because that's Amelia Banks' voice and the Control Room calling is nearly never a good thing when one of them is on a mission.

"What is it, Banks?" Please don't let it be Evan, she thinks, like every time and wishes she could stop that train of thought at least for once.

"Well… we have a situation with Major Lorne's team. Please come to the Control Room immediately." Oh crap. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap. Not Evan. It's not Evan. Nothing happened. Everything okay. It's something else. It's not Evan. Trying to keep up her façade, she gets up and excuses herself, but at least Maureen must have seen the slight slipping of her mask, because she gives her short encouraging look.

As she throws Jessica a look, she realizes that she should probably offer her to tag along to see if this is about Meyers, and so she just raises her eyebrows. Jessica gets what this is about pretty fast and after a moment of hesitation – sometimes ignorance can be a very blissful thing… and there are some things you simply can't bear to see as a wife, not even when you're a nurse – she nods and excuses herself as well.

As they make their way to the Control Room, she finds herself saying to Jessica, "Don't worry. The Sergeant has a really uncanny way of keeping himself out of trouble. It'll be okay." She hopes Meyers has told his wife not even half of all the things that have happened in the last few months. For example the fact that if he had listened to her back in that compound, he wouldn't even be alive anymore.

"I hope so. But… I… you know, I thought coming here would make everything easier, because I knew what he was doing, but…" But knowing what he's facing out there is actually worse than not knowing. She forces herself to keep up the cheerful and optimistic façade.

"Hey, look at it like this: Now you know that he's got one of the best COs he could have – someone who really takes care of his subordinates. He's in good hands." Jessica tries to give her a brave smile, but she knows what's going through her head. Only two days after she'd arrived here and reported for duty the first time, one of the science teams had had an unpleasant encounter with another one of Michael's experiments which had led to lots of serious work for the infirmary. All of them had survived, but… it hadn't been a pretty sight to see, even for experienced medical personnel.

She wants to add another encouragement, just for good measure, but they're in the Control Room now. Banks just gestures for her to go down to the ramp. There Colonel Sheppard and Sergeant McPherson are waiting. Immediately she searches their faces for any hint as to how bad it really is, but all she gets… is a nearly impenetrable wall of professional seriousness with just the bare hint of a smirk on McPherson's face and barely concealed glee on the Colonel's face. What the hell… is going on here?

"Care for a little off-world trip, Cadman?" She turns around to Jessica who came to stand at the foot of the stairs, but the nurse just makes a totally clueless face and stays where she is. She turns back.

"Well… depends on what I'm expected to do, sir." At that, Sheppard can't contain his amusement anymore. But at least that tells her that nothing really bad happened to him. Still… she feels a little stupid now for all the worry and the anxiety.

"Bail your boyfriend out of jail." What the…? She folds her arm in front of her chest.

"Alright… what did he get himself into now?" She's sure that by now at least half the Control Room is secretly or openly watching them and trying to get what they're talking about.

So she isn't really surprised that Sheppard simply replies: "I'll tell you while you gear up." Okay… she obviously doesn't have much choice in this. But at least he explains to her how Evan came to be imprisoned in an alien village. When they arrive at the locker room, Sheppard is done with explaining to her the whole incident with the obelisk, and already she's just waiting for Rodney to fall into her hands. Honestly, couldn't he have shown at least a bit of patience, just for once?

She sighs. "And what am I supposed to do?"

Obviously that's the question Sheppard wanted her to ask the whole time because he's just so eager for answering it. "Marry him."

Huh. She's sure he just made a joke, but he's actually quite straight-faced right now. "Uh… come again, sir?"

Now Sheppard rolls his eyes, and she has this inkling that Evan's reaction must have been about the same as hers. "You have to marry your boyfriend in order to get him out of jail. And I promised him I'd order you to if you can't bring yourself to agree."

"Oh, I'm sure he just loved that." Honestly, telling a guy you intend to order his girlfriend to marry him, because you already anticipate that she'll say no? That really serves to boost his self-confidence.

But Sheppard just smirks. "I'm sure he'll love everything that gets him out of that cell."

She really hopes Sheppard knows that he's not doing himself a favor, because he just managed to tease her as well. "Thanks, sir. That's certainly the right way to convince someone to get married."

Sheppard answers her a little more seriously, "If it helps you: Mr. Woolsey has already assured me that this ceremony will not be legally binding in any way." Ah, well, that's good. Isn't it?

She frowns and grumbles, "Still feels a lot like a shot-gun wedding, sir." Okay… maybe that wasn't a very clever thing to say, because Sheppard does have a P90 clipped to his vest.

The Colonel obviously didn't miss this either and simply replies: "I never said it wasn't." Bastard. He's enjoying this. "Now, get packed and meet the Sergeant and me in the Control Room. You have 10 minutes."

That was clearly an order, but she can't refrain from displaying a pout and saying: "What, I don't get time to find a dress and make-up?"

Sheppard sighs a little. "I just have this feeling that the bridegroom would take you even if you were wearing a potato sack."

Oh, yeah, great, just what she wanted to hear. "Because he's that desperate?"

"Because it's you who's wearing the potato sack." Oh. That… manages to catch her off-guard. Not necessarily because of whom it came from, but more because of how it was said. Underneath the seemingly casual tone, there was something… more serious. Like Sheppard knows very well how much Evan and she mean to each other, and like he… is amazed about that.

She turns away from him to hide her blush and starts getting her off-world gear together. To hide her sudden discomfort, she replies maybe a tad too gruffly, "Thanks, sir. I'll start packing right away."

Thankfully, Sheppard seems to have seen that his last remark threw her a little off-course and simply says: "We'll be in the Control Room."

She turns around to Sheppard and McPherson again expecting them to leave, but when Sheppard is out the room, the Sergeant suddenly speaks up: "Don't worry, ma'am. I'm sure you'll enjoy married life. I did. Well, at least until my divorce two years ago."

Wha… That's something she would have expected from Meyers – or maybe not exactly, considering that he's happily married to his little nurse – but not from the tightlipped McPherson who barely spoke more than two words with her up to now. But, okay, he doesn't have the usual playful and casual undertone Meyers likes to adopt, but something a little darker… more cynical. She looks at him with a disgruntled face. "Gee, thanks, Sergeant, for that one. I feel so very much encouraged now."

"You're welcome, ma'am.", he answers her matter-of-factly, but then surprises her again with saying in a tone much more earnest than before, "Anyway… you and the Major will do just fine."

At that, she has to return an unwilling half-smile. "Let's all hope so. See you in the Control Room, Sergeant." He nods, tips his forehead in a casual salute and leaves the locker room to follow Colonel Sheppard. A little confused, she starts gearing up her vest. First off, McPherson's behavior just really baffled her. But maybe he really just needed some time to warm up to her… and well; it would make sense if you remembered the little scene in the mess hall this morning.

But then of course there's the much bigger issue of marrying Evan. Marrying Evan…okay, not for real, but this whole issue suddenly makes her think about the future of their relationship. Yes, maybe she has had the fleeting thought of asking him, some unspecific day in the future, and even had this one moment where she actually had tried out how her and his name combined would sound to her… but all of this had been nothing more than abstract mind games, nothing serious.

"Laura?" A little startled, she turns around to see Jessica Meyers stand in the locker room's doorway, leaning against the doorframe hugging herself. "What's going on here?" Dammit, she nearly forgot about her. The poor woman must be over her head with worry by now.

"God, I'm sorry, Jessi. But he's okay. The Sergeant, I mean. And I daresay he's probably having a field day right now." At this, only incomprehension meets her gaze. "Evan just got himself arrested, and it's my job to get him out. With – and this seems to be what everyone is finding extremely funny – marrying him." With that she loads her Beretta rather forcefully and the sudden motion startles Jessica enough to jump a little. "Sorry. But it's just… it's…"

She tries to find an explanation, but Jessica manages to make her pause her rather agitated packing and loading with a very simple question: "What's so bad about getting married to Major Lorne?" Yeah, she thinks, what is so bad about marrying Major Lorne? And after a short moment she knows it.

She sighs. "It's not… it's not about getting married to him in itself. It's about how… how people are treating it. And it's… it's being forced to do it… okay, I can't really explain it. That's stupid, isn't it?"

Jessica gives her a small smile. "No. But not everything we're forced to do is bad."

This makes her roll her eyes. "You've been hanging around way too much with Teyla."

"Who?"

Oops. Jessica has only been here a week, and she's met Teyla on only one occasion, where she was probably much too awed by that extraordinary woman that she simply forgot about it. "Uh… never mind." And finally she's done with gearing up. "Okay, uh… gotta go now. If anything happens… Maureen has an office day today and will help you. And some of the other girls should be here today as well. Don't be afraid to ask, okay?"

Jessica just nods. "Of course. And, Laura?" She raises her eyebrows. "Don't forget to bring back some pictures. I'm sure I'm not the only one wanting to see them." A little mischievous glint appears in Jessica's eyes, and she finally gets an inkling as to how she could end with someone like Will Meyers. In fact, that girl is probably not that different from him, only in degrees, but not in kind. Against her will, she has to smile herself.

"I'll see what I can do." With that, they say their goodbyes and she gets on her way back to the Control Room. And while she's running, it occurs to her that "Laura Cadman-Lorne" doesn't sound all that bad after all.

A/N: Well... mac still wants to be the one rescuing our Major, but it seems like Laura Cadman has other plans ;)

BTW: Fox is the enemy. Did I already mention that? No? Good. Fox is the enemy. Can't say that often enough.