Laughing all the way to Jennifer's room, she pounded on the door. "Open up, Jen."
The door opened and Jennifer looked like she was going to have a panic attack. "Thank GOD!" Jennifer paced the room. "You'll never guess what I just did. I'm such an idiot."
"No, it's actually quite a good idea," Laura said, jumping on the bed. "I hear you need a date tonight?"
Jennifer stopped and looked at her friend. "How in the world did you find out about this?"
Laura had already decided to not reveal the entire truth to her friend. "Oh, we were just talking about movie night. Mitchell mentioned you were not coming and I asked why."
In a panic still, Jennifer plopped next to her friend, face down on the bed. Screaming into a pillowing, she punched into the bed. "What am I doing to do? If no one sees me with a guy tonight, I'm going to look like a moron who had to lie that she had a date...." Jennifer closed her eyes. "Because I am a moron who doesn't have a date."
"So," Laura said, looking amused. "Why did you lie about that?"
In a huff, Jennifer rolled on her back. "He just made me mad. I wanted to show him that some guys do actually find me attractive. I mean, I have had offers come up. A few. But maybe more, since Sheppard and the guys supposedly scared off some of them."
Laura got up and went through Jennifer's closet. Finding the pair of jeans she was looking for, she winked at her friend. "Go put on some makeup, and then do your hair. Lots of curls. Pin some of them up. And change into these jeans. They are super cute. And show off your tush."
"What?" Jennifer asked, confused.
"Just do it. I'll be back in about 20 minutes with a shirt for you to wear. And a date lined up for the night." Leaving Jennifer alone in the room.
Laura went into the training room, knowing full well she would find a bunch of men there. Smiling at them, they were distracted enough to pause what they were doing and look over at her. She boldly made her way around the room, watching each of them as they worked out. Ok. Let's see. I need someone tall. Lots of muscles. Nice, but not too smart. No. No. No. Hmmm... he should do just fine.
"Excuse me, colonel." She walked over to him, smiling sweetly, deliberately mistaking his rank. "Can I talk to you a second?"
The men hooted for their friend, slapping him on the back. All of a sudden, the men's voices died down and they went back to their workouts. Turning, Laura saw Evan enter the room. Groaning that her plan was about to be upended, she ignored him and turned back to the man.
"Actually, I'm a major. Major Todd Evert. And I don't think we've met." The man with killer blue eyes looked down at her, grinning. Noticing Evan staring at them in the corner of her eye, she motioned him to follow her. There was no way he would follow them out the door and be so obvious.
Pulling the man into a room off the main training room, she looked up at him. "My name is Cadman. Laura. And no, we haven't met. But I was wondering if you would be interested in going on a date tonight with my friend? Just a meal in the mess hall and a movie with Mitchell's team and a few of us afterward."
Looking slightly disappointed it wouldn't be with her, he shrugged. "OK, who is your friend?"
"Dr. Jennifer Keller." The eyes widened on the Marine's face.
"Yeah, no. Sorry. I've heard she's off limits." Turning to leave, she caught him.
"Actually, that's all over with," she laughed. "You see, Jen found out about it and read Sheppard's boys the riot act. Now anyone can date her. Wouldn't you like to be the first? Or are you too scared?"
Seeing the challenge set before him, the man narrowed his eyes. "Marines don't back down."
"Amen to that, brother," she slapped his hand. "So, are you still interested?"
He thought for a second. "The doc isn't bad on the eyes. She did my physical when I got here a few months back." He grinned. "Sounds good. Where should I meet her?"
Thrilled that it was that easy, she grinned. "Come by her room in about an hour. It was nice to meet you, Todd."
Exciting the room and rounding the corner of the hallway, she slammed right into Evan's chest. He steadied her but didn't let her go, forcing her to stay in his embrace.
"Cadman," he said. "I didn't realize you knew Major Evert."
"Umm.. yeah. Todd and I met awhile ago." Awhile ago as in a few minutes ago. Squirming to get away from him, she stopped and looked up.
"Major," she asked sweetly. "Was there something you needed? Because I'm pretty sure the guys in there are going to wrap up soon and wonder what we're doing?"
He held on for another minute, not caring who saw them. "You're up to something."
She laughed but it didn't come out just right. After months of developing a serious crush on the man who was currently holding her, she tried to come up with a joke but couldn't. She stopped struggling and finally just looked up at Evan. And she saw. She saw in his eyes that he felt this tug too. Frustrated, she looked him in the eye. "If I am, why do you care?" She challenged.
Evan caught himself. Instantly releasing her, he backed away. "I don't know." Turning, he moved to walk away from her.
Muttering, she turned herself. Knowing he could probably hear her, she threw caution to the wind. "Just trying to get someone to make a move. You wouldn't know anything about that. Sir." With that, she jogged back to Jennifer's room, leaving Lorne standing there in the hallway, confused.
She was a nervous wreck. Pacing her her jeans and a t-shirt, she had finished her makeup and hair before Laura had returned. Hearing her door open, she turned. "Laura, maybe this wasn't such a good ideas."
Still miffed from the scene with Evan, Laura rolled her eyes. "Come on, Jen. Live a little. Will it hurt to go on this itty bitty date? And I already told the guys you would stop by movie night and catch some of it with us."
Throwing the shirt at Jen, she watched her friend carefully take off her shirt and tug the shirt down. "We're not the same size. Where did you get this?"
"I bought it for you the last time I was back home," she said, eying her friend critically. The top was blue, which brought out her eyes. It had a slightly lowered neckline and was tank style, but the extra material gave it a more softened, dressier appearance. The back, however, was bare except for a loose piece of material that swayed when she walked towards the bottom.
"I can't wear this? How am I going to wear a bra?" Jen looked more panicked than she did before. Looking in a mirror, her light pink bra poked out.
Rolling her eyes, Laura helped her friend. "It's because there's a bra built into the shirt. Take yours off. I forgot about it."
Reaching behind and unfastening it, she pulled it through her sleeve. Starring down at her chest, she was satisfied the built in bra did in fact cover and hold everything in. Not that there was much, she thought.
"Now for the shoes," Laura said. "They match the top."
Jen sat down and for the first time perked up. "Seriously, girl, you have great taste." The shoes matched the shirt, were spiked heals and showed off Jen's freshly painted toes.
"When did you redo your toes?" Laura asked, beginning to pin up Jen's hair. She only had to pin up a few strands to give it a cascading look down her back. It looked perfect on her. Not overly done, looking very soft and natural.
"Just now. You took forever and it calmed me." Jennifer spun in the mirror. "Not bad." Then she started thinking again. For a moment, in her mind she had pretended she was getting ready for a date with someone else. A very good looking colonel, to be exact. Sighing and having second thoughts, she looked at Laura for help.
"How am I going to pull this off? And who did you bribe to go out with me?" Jennifer slumped in a chair, feeling deflated.
"That's it," Laura said, jumping off the bed. "Look into this mirror. Dr. Jennifer Keller. Single. Late 20's. Incredibly hot. Smart. Funny. And to top it off, you have that little innocent look about you. Drives guys nuts. They want to protect you. Or, if you're lucky... corrupt you. Now, the hot guy that jumped at the chance to date you is named Major Todd Evert. Very tall, very built, and very interested. He'll be here in about 10 minutes, so finish up anything else you have to do and have fun."
Not able to hold in the laughter, Jennifer relaxed. "OK, I guess I'm ready." Putting on silver hoop earrings and a walking through a small spray of her favorite perfume, she said goodbye as Laura left. Feeling guilty about only wanting to go out with someone just to prove a point, she jumped when she heard the bell chime to her room.
"OK," she murmured. "Show time."
Dinner with Todd was nice. She had to admit she was having a good time. Embarrassed by the shocked looks she was getting from people in the mess hall that not only was she on a date, but wearing something totally undoctorly, she was only glad not to see Mitchell, Sheppard, and the others.
Todd hung on to every word she said. He was polite, charming, and had Jennifer laughing. But as much fun as she was having, Jennifer realized that she felt nothing towards him. No attraction. None. Cursing herself when her thoughts kept going back to Cameron, she tried to focus on finding anything about Todd that would help her feel something.
Giving up, she sighed. He took that as her wanting to leave and get to Sheppard's room.
"How about we head on over to the movie?" he asked, carrying her tray. Sensing she wasn't very excited about going, he raised his eyebrows. "Or, if you want, we could just take a walk around the city."
Knowing full well that Laura would kill her if she didn't make an appearance, she glanced down at her watch. They would probably be starting in a few minutes, so there was no excuse not to go.
"No, I promised Laura," she smiled at him. "Dinner was nice, though. I haven't ate with anyone except my temporary team in the past few weeks."
Leading her out of the cafeteria, they walked towards Sheppard's room. "Wish I was lucky enough to have had you placed on my team. Sheppard just promoted me to lead the new twelfth team." He smiled down on her. "So how do you like working with them?"
She chose her words carefully. "We work well together. It took a little getting used to the guys from the SGC, but they have been a great help to us."
"Hey, I heard you were matched with Mitchell," he said. Todd didn't notice her shocked look. "And Dr. Jackson. Did you know I used to work at the SGC and was one of their back up teams that went with them occasionally? It's good to know you're paired up with them. They're the best."
"Yeah," she said in a small voice. "OK, here's Sheppard's room. We don't have to stay long if you need to leave soon."
He grinned. "Are you kidding? I'm on a date, with the one and only Dr. Keller who just recently was released from the "no touch" command directly from Colonel Sheppard. Which I don't blame him... you probably would have been bombarded with idiots constantly if they hadn't done that. You're incredibly beautiful," he smiled when she blushed. "And very sweet. And now I'm about to hang out with the coolest people on Atlantis. Sure. Like I would want to end this any time soon."
Shyly smiling at his compliments, she opened the door to find everyone had already arrived. Noticing the new arrivals, Sheppard stood up. "Ah. Keller, we almost gave up on you." He looked at Todd. "Major. Didn't realize you knew the doc."
"Actually, we just-" Todd started to say when Laura jumped up.
"Hey, guys, Daniel and I saved you a seat over here."
Startled at her friend's interruption, Jennifer walked through the door while Todd followed her. Mitchell kept his eyes on the couple and about smashed his pop can when he saw Todd's hand on her bare back, guiding her around the room. They sat down, only having a small amount of room due to the amount of people who showed up, practically sitting on top of each other. Jennifer looked embarrassed while Todd seamed to be enjoying the closeness.
"Hey, Ronon. Scoot over and make room," Mitchell growled out. Ronon began to move over, giving the couple more room. Thinking he solved the problem, he looked over to find Todd's hand covering Jennifer's small one on the floor. He ground his teeth.
"Problem, Mitchell?" Sheppard whispered.
Cameron ignored him. "Start the movie, Sheppard."
Meanwhile, Lorne seemed to be ticked off about something too. Curious, Mitchell followed his gaze to find him starring at Laura and Daniel. They were both whispering on the floor together, shoulder to shoulder, and laughing about something.
Sheppard noticed as well. "You know," he murmured to both of them. "Life on Atlantis seemed to be less... complicated... a few months ago." He rolled his eyes. "I mean, you could cut the tension here with a knife between to the two of you."
Lorne, taking his eyes of Laura, shook his head. "No problem here. Sir."
"Oh, don't get snarky with me, major, and cut that "sir" crap. You're not her CO, Ev, so what's the hold up?"
Ronon looked around at everyone. He was pretty sure he was the only one watching the movie. Daniel and Laura were giggling. Jennifer seemed distracted, Todd looked like he was enjoying the company more than the movie and kept whispering over to her every few minutes. Mitchell and Lorne were PO'd about something. And Sheppard looked half disgusted with everything. Shrugging his shoulders, he figured it would get him more popcorn out of the deal.
Evan, in the mean time, darted a look at Sheppard. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"And you," Sheppard said to Cam. "You let a major cut in and get with the doc. And don't tell me you're not interested. I'm not as dumb as Lorne over here thinks I am."
Lorne and Mitchell, both furious, looked at Sheppard.
"Hey," he shrugged. "I'm just a silent observer."
Lorne snorted. "Silent. Sure."
Cameron didn't watch a bit of the movie. He had the advantage of being in the corner of the room and could see every movement Todd made. He watched the man's hand move from her hand, to touching her bare arm occasionally. When he saw her shiver, he about jumped out of his seat.
"Sheppard, where are your sweatshirts?" He asked. Sheppard motioned they were in the cabinet on the right of Cameron. Pulling one out, he threw it to Lorne. "Give this to Jen. Now."
Confused, he walked over and handed over the shirt to Jennifer. Mitchell noticed that Todd seemed a bit disappointed when she pulled it over her head, but he helped her into it anyways.
"Seriously, she's a big girl. She can dress herself," he muttered, earning a snort from Sheppard, who had overheard.
When the movie was finally over, Laura leaned over to Todd. "Hey, Todd, do you mind if I walk Jennifer back to her room? I need to talk to her," she said. "You know, girl talk. She can see you at breakfast tomorrow."
Sighing a relief that he wouldn't be walking her, and possibly expecting a goodnight kiss, Jennifer wanted to hug her friend. "Yeah, I'll see you in the morning. Thanks, though. I had fun tonight."
Although he looked disappointed, he agreed. Shaking hands with the guys, he left the room. Cameron noticed that Jennifer was avoiding eye contact with him. She pulled off the sweat shirt and gave back to Lorne.
"Thanks, Ev," she said.
"It wasn't mine or my idea, it was-" Lorne said, but Sheppard slapped him on the back.
"It was mine. See, doc, I'm paying you back for the bad time I gave you when I was stuck in the infirmary."
Jennifer and Laura waved goodbye and went in the opposite direction. Daniel left as well behind them.
Mitchell glanced at Sheppard, surprised. "What?" He asked Cameron. "It was mine. And I felt sorry for you." He sat back down on the bed, stretching his leg, which was still incredibly sore at times. "Hey, the bright side is that she didn't walk back with him. Think of all the possible outcomes of that, son."
Lorne muttered, "I would have followed him. Even if he didn't. Laura can kiss my-"
"Did I hear my name?" Laura said, re-entering the room. She looked like she was searching for something. "Ah. Here it is. Daniel left his watch. I'm going to meet him in the mess hall in a second. Jen's going back to her room. Anyone care to join us?" She looked at Cameron, mischievously.
He stood up. "Nope. Turning in early. Lorne, will, though. He just was saying how hungry he was. Night, everyone." He smirked at her crestfallen expression and from Lorne's look. Cameron quickly caught up with Jennifer, memorized by the sight of her bare back and the jeans she was wearing. And the shoes. It made her at least four inches taller.
"Hey," he said. "Can I walk you back?"
She looked surprised to see him. Figuring Laura had something to do it, it made her even more annoyed. "Sure. Fine."
They walked in silence. "So," he began. "Have a nice time tonight?"
Knowing full well that was a loaded question, she smiled sweetly. "Yes, in fact, I did. It was refreshing to eat with someone new for a change."
"Yeah," he muttered. "I'm sure it was. So are you planning on seeing him again?"
Jennifer stopped. "What business is it of yours?" She closed her eyes as she, again, noticed people stopping in the corridor. If this kept up, she was never going to be taken seriously as the CMO.
He followed her into her room, shutting the door behind him. Raising his voice, he stood with his hands on his hips. "It's my business when one of my team member's shows up to movie night HALF DRESSED with a pair of snug jeans on, and another officer is hanging all over her. I'm surprised Sheppard didn't kick the idiot out of the room and reprimanded him."
Enraged, she yanked her earrings off and sat down the pull off her shoes. "I am NOT half naked. And even if I was, you have no right to follow me back into my room and go on and on about stuff you don't know about."
He watched her struggle with one of the straps on her shoe. Trying to twist her long leg onto the bed, he walked over and put the shoe on his thigh. Unclasping the shoe, he tugged it off pulled her off the bed.
"Look," he said calmly. "You know as full well as I do that you're not at all interested in the major."
"Todd," she seethed. "He has a name. And yes. I will be going on more dates with him. Because finally... FINALLY... I have been given permission by the idiotic military ranking officers that I may have a life like everyone else and can occasionally feel like a girl again and go on dates."
They both stopped when her chime rang. Cameron stomped over to the door and yanked it open, expecting to see Laura standing there. Instead, he was face to face with Todd.
"Ah.. I must have the wrong...Ah... and I don't. Wow. Didn't see that one coming," Todd worked up a smile. "But I should have. Sorry to interrupt. I was just here to make sure Jennifer got back and to ask about tomorrow night. But how about I stop talking about that and let you both finish what ever you're.. umm... in the middle of."
Mitchell dropped his hands. He didn't understand how one woman could drive him this crazy. "No, I was just leaving." Walking out the door, he sent Jennifer a look letting her know they were not finished with this conversation.
Wow, she thought. This is awkward. Sighing, she walked into the doorway. "Todd," she started. "I'm sorry. About everything. I know what this looks like. And some of it is probably accurate, but I don't even know what's going on anymore."
He shook his head. "Hey, it's alright. I should have guessed Cadman was up to something when she pulled me into this, but in all honesty, I did have fun with you. But now that I know that's probably where it'll end, how about we just stick to being friends? Lunch, occasionally... you know, when you're sick of eating with your team?"
Working up a genuine smile, she lightly touched his arm. "You," she said, "are incredibly understanding." Standing up on her toes, she softly kissed him on the cheek. "I did have a lot of fun with you tonight. And I am truly sorry."
Leaning on her door frame, he grinned. "So. You and the colonel. Wow. Never thought I would see big bad Cameron Mitchell worked up over a woman. Especially a pretty little doctor."
Her eyes narrowed. "No. He doesn't feel that way. He's just an idiot who thinks he can control me like Sheppard and the guys did. And I'm done with that."
Laughing, he turned to make his way back to his quarters. "Jen," he said. "You need to open your eyes occasionally." Waving, he grinned. "Sweet dreams."