Epilogue

"And if you love him
Oh be proud of him
'Cause after all he's just a man"

Tammy Wynette, "Stand by your man"

Satisfied that her plan about teaching Simmons a little lesson without the danger of it backfiring on her actually worked and that she could finally repair Rodney's careless damage to the containment field after hours of work, she enters their… Evan's quarters, expecting him to be working on his desk. But instead she finds him sitting on the bed with his laptop, tapping through something and… smiling, obviously totally engrossed in what he's doing. Huh.

She's in a playful mood today, so she doesn't clear her throat or do something else to make him aware of the fact that she entered the room and walks straight up to the bed. But as she sits down beside him to startle him a little, the only thing he does is shutting the laptop's lid absolutely cooly and calmly. Dammit, he had noticed her coming in. And she had had such a great plan… okay, improvise now. "Oh wow, did I finally catch you watching porn?"

Ha, he totally hadn't counted on that, as his slightly WTF-expression tells her. But then he manages to get back his usual bearing and looks kind of down on her, slightly appalled. "Just for that remark you will never get to see what I was just looking at."

At the corners of his mouth, a grin is already waiting to be released and that tells her that he's in pretty good spirits… even though she'd been a little apprehensive that there was still some residual irritation about the whole thing with Simmons. It's all she needs to reply with a bright grin, "I knew it was porn. Come on, show me!"

She reaches for the laptop but he manages to snatch it away and holds it just out of her reach. Now there's a full-fledged grin on his face as well. "Try and get it."

Well, that's an invitation she really can't reject and so she lunges forward over his legs with a squeal but he's fast enough to drop the laptop on the other end of the bed and grab her around the hips. He drags her into his lap and keeps a firm hold around her, but giggling she manages to grab the laptop and while trying to wriggle out of his grasp she can actually open it. Lying on her stomach across his legs, she can see the last picture he was looking at.

It's… her. At the "wedding". Whoever took the picture had caught her in movement, her half-down hair flying, a bright smile on her face, the dress flowing. She taps forward through a couple of other pictures. There is Teyla and Colonel Sheppard in one of the very rare unguarded moments together they allow each other, sharing something that looks very much like a mutual secret smile. There's also McPherson, caught exactly in the moment where one of the local women had managed to crack his stoic façade and made him show a half-smile.

Some of the pictures are a bit blurred or underexposed, as if the photographer had to take care that no one would see the camera. Still a little surprised she turns around to Evan. "Oh… who…"

But then it hits her, because there's exactly one person who's almost never seen on the pictures. "Meyers." They grin at each other, since they said it in unison, both with a certain amount of resignation, but also a chuckle at the Sergeant's cheekiness.

She detangles herself from him, rolling her eyes and saying, "Yeah that explains why Jessi didn't ask me for any pictures."

"Mh, she'll have to have a pretty good memory, because these are the only copies left… and it'll stay that way." A smug grin grazes his face and she's sure he has something to do with that.

However… "Hey, you've been here for what? Three years? Four? And you still believe you can keep something like that for yourself?" She gives him a look that says very clearly what she thinks about the longevity of the pictures' secret.

She can see very well that he's just this close to sticking out his tongue, but in the end he settles with a shrug and a kind of haughty look. "I can still try." Then he sighs a little. "Anyway, you know… it wasn't that bad being married to you." Ah, changing the topic because he knows very well the pictures will resurface sooner or later and he'll definitely hear a "Told you so." from her.

But he's giving it a… strange turn. And did that just sound like an insult in the disguise of a compliment? "Why, thank you."

He grins, obviously enjoying that he could get back at her a little. "No, really, even with all the commotion concerning Simmons and everything. I mean… wouldn't be that bad an idea to try it on a permanent legal basis."

What the…? Did he just say what she thinks he just said? Dammit, she knows she should leave this alone, but a little devil inside of her makes her say it anyway, "Hey… did you just propose?"

He's about to quip something meaningless, but then… he just… shrugs helplessly and rubs his neck. "Erm… yeah."

Oh.

Oh.

She looks at him and he looks at her and… he tries looking casual, like he just told her that there's steak on the menu tomorrow again, but she can see that beneath it all… he's not casual at all. The whole ordeal… feels a lot like one of these situations where she's so clueless as to what to say that she'd rather run away from it than be forced to an actual answer. But she swore to herself she'd not do that anymore… so she does the thing closest to it: Stall. "That's about the strangest proposal I ever heard."

For a moment he looks actually crushed, but then he seems to have decided not to give up so easily this time. Obviously… for some reason… he wants to go through with this. "Does that mean you're saying yes?"

It's just that… it comes out of nowhere for her.

Or well… not that much out of nowhere. After all, they just returned from a mission where the focal point was… well… their wedding. This starts to make her afraid that this is just an aftereffect of the whole thing, that he doesn't really want that. More stalling then. "God… you're just too full of yourself, Major."

"I can't help being the best thing that ever happened to you, Captain." Ah, okay, good. Back in familiar territory. She can handle that. But… there's this look about him. As if beneath the teasing… Ah hell.

"But you could try the proposal thing again." She's surprised to see his eyes light up at her giving him the opportunity to either deny it all or actually try again, and this time less awkwardly.

He takes a little time and she's a delighted to see that there are things that unsettle Major Evan Lorne. Who would have thought it was something as easy as a proposal. In the end, the thing he comes up with is, "Alright… marry me, Buttercup?"

It's… well… short. But it's sincere, she can see that. And honestly, who needs big gestures and all the other stuff anyway? She still can't resist a little more teasing. "Is that all you can come up with?" His first reaction is a near horrified look, but then he realizes she didn't really mean that and… gets off the bed, to… "Hey, hey, okay, I was just joking… quit the kneeling! I'll take you without it, farm boy."

He blinks. Huh. Look who just can't believe his luck. She can even see him swallowing. "Does that mean you're saying yes?"

She chuckles and rolls her eyes a little. "Yes." For a moment… neither of them say anything. Then… he does something she has never seen him doing before: With a startling cry of joy he jumps up and nearly throws himself on her and she has to laugh out loud… and between the kisses both of them just can't stop laughing.


A/N: So here we are with the end... finally. Who of you did see the end coming? Come on, tell me, how easy to see through I am :D Betaed of course by mac who reminded me that I should keep my plot bunnies under control or I might find myself betaless one day... And yes, I'm not quite done with the whole "Protect and Survive" universe. I'm trying to work on a few more stories (if you aren't tired of them, that is) so keep looking out for them :)