A/N: First attempt at a Lorne/Keller story. The scene here in the first chapter popped into my head and the subsequent chapters are just the fallout.
Thank you to Vana1970, you've become such a good friend. Your beta work on this is exactly what I was looking for.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis or it's wonderful characters.
Spoilers: None that I can think of, set early Season 2. For this story Lt. Laura Cadman is stationed on Atlantis.
1 – Absentmindedly
It'd been an accident… a complete slip of the mind, an auto-pilot thing really. The problem was he wasn't sure where it'd come from. More importantly, here he was pacing his room unsure what to do about it. Should he apologize to her? Maybe pretend as if it hadn't happened?
Was she upset about it or laughing at him right now, knowing he hadn't meant it? Because he hadn't meant it, he was sure he hadn't meant it.
Major Evan Lorne sat down on his bed and immediately flopped onto his back. The fact that this was stressing him out was probably a pretty good hint it really did mean something, but he didn't want to deal with the what just yet. Lorne knew he was procrastinating and he should get to the mess hall for dinner before they ran out of anything edible.
Evan's mind wandered back to breakfast that morning. He'd been eating breakfast with the usual gang, his team plus Lt. Cadman and Dr. Keller. It was odd how it was always the six of them eating and teasing each other about anything and everything, nothing seemed to be off limits.
Lorne had first started eating with his team before missions, just after they'd become a team. Within a few weeks Lt. Cadman could be seen at their table pretty regularly. She and his team member Capt. Jacobs had been good friends from their days working at the SGC. Dr. Keller and Lt. Cadman had become the best of friends in a very short time and the rest was history as they say.
Most of the banter was related to his guys trying to convince Keller to set them up with nurses and other staff in the infirmary. The other major topic was bragging about having to rescue Colonel Sheppard's team from their latest mission. Keller and Cadman made it a point of regularly knocking them down a peg, reminding them of their own missions gone awry.
Evan let his eyes drift shut for a moment, reliving the moment this morning at breakfast and trying to figure out what in the hell had happened.
"You boys have a mission this morning?" Keller asked the group at the table. Although Evan was sitting next to her and his team across from her, he knew she was asking all of them. Keller and Cadman had gotten into such a habit of referring to them as 'the boys', that in retaliation they'd started calling the duo, 'the girls'.
"Yes ma'am," Lt. Sanchez agreed grinning at her, "get to take a Jumper for this one."
Evan shook his head in amusement, Sanchez loved taking the Jumper out and always called 'shot-gun' the minute he crossed the threshold of the Jumper bay.
"Hopefully that means it'll be harder for you all to get into trouble," she grinned back at them. "Laura should be back today from their overnighter and once she's cleared her post mission physical we planned to eat dinner then veg out till the movie tonight."
Atlantis held a movie night once a week. They were limited to what the personnel had on hand and thus the movies were a very wide variety and some nights drew only a small crowd because of the obscurity of the movie. It was still something to look forward to once a week. They just had to show up and supply their own snacks.
"Wonder what movie?" Lt. Jeffries piped up.
Jennifer squinted at the ceiling, thinking, "It's that one with the cars that turn into robots."
"Transformers… yes," Jeffries exclaimed.
"Guys," Jenn murmured with a small shake of the head as she finished up the last of her breakfast.
"Well," Sanchez began as he stood up, "we gotta go gear up for our mission. See you at the Jumper, boss," Sanchez threw over his shoulder as the team gathered their trays and departed with him.
"I should go too," Lorne said with a hurried laugh. "If I wasn't the boss, I wouldn't get a good seat in that Jumper."
Lorne stood and pushed in his chair next to Jennifer, "You're bringing the popcorn, right?"
"With lots of butter," she agreed smiling up at him from her chair. "You're bringing some of the chocolate you've been hording?"
"Sounds like a fair trade," he chuckled as he picked up his tray, "got to go." Lorne leaned down and gave Jenn a quick kiss as he turned and headed out of the mess hall.
Lorne groaned, it hadn't even really been a kiss, more of a quick peck… what you saw seasoned couples do in parting all the time. Thank god the team had left and Cadman was gone, he couldn't imagine how long it'd take for the ribbing to cease if they'd witnessed his absent minded gesture.
Evan slowly rose from his bed and straightened his clothes. Hopefully he'd killed enough time that his team and the girls had decided he was going to be a no show. He frequently showed up late due to meetings and such so it shouldn't be too conspicuous.
"So where's your fearless leader?" Cadman sarcastically asked the boys. They'd all been eating for a bit now and Lorne hadn't made his usual appearance yet.
"Maybe he heard it was beef stroganoff night and decided to skip it," Jacobs guessed aloud finding his own helping lacking in the flavor department.
"He was kinda quiet today during the mission," Jeffries added, "maybe a little under the weather or something."
"Resting up for popcorn and Transformers," Sanchez speculated aloud with a grin, he really liked tonight's movie.
"He is getting rather old," Cadman teased, "if he hopes to make it a late night, he may need that nap."
"Feeling kind of brave without the boss-man here," Jacobs teased back.
"Maybe he and the Doc have the same bug," Jefferies noted as he pointed toward Jennifer using his fork.
"Hey girlie," Cadman began, "what's with you tonight?" Laura watched Jenn continue to pick at her food absently, obviously not hearing Cadman's words.
"Jennifer," the red head called loudly, leaning in toward her deaf friend.
"Hey," Jenn responded, looking at Cadman and tingeing a little pink in embarrassment when she realized the boys were looking at her too. "Sorry guys, kind of zoned out there. Long day," she said by way of excuse.
"Was Ryder working today," Jeffries asked wagging his eyebrows at Jennifer.
"As a matter of fact, yes, Nurse Ryder was working today," Jenn replied sarcastically, "and before you ask the next part… no, she didn't ask about you."
Jennifer watched his crest fallen face for a moment and had to relent, "But she did mention she was looking forward to the movie tonight."
"Ah Doc," Jenn heard drawled from behind her and she tried not to stiffen, "you know you shouldn't encourage him."
Jennifer busied herself with her tray; leaning a little bit forward hoping her hair hid any blushing she was sure was evident. She wasn't ready to face Evan yet, at least not in front of a crowd.
Jenn faintly heard the guys giving Lorne a bad time about his limited dinner of an apple and the fact that popcorn wasn't a food group, but what had her attention right now was Cadman's firm grip on her arm.
"We need to talk," Laura warned with a growl, close to Jennifer's ear.
Jennifer tried to shrug her shoulder's absently, but nothing got by the explosives expert.
"We're going to go make popcorn and get ready for the movie," Cadman said airily as she stood and gathered her tray. "Maybe we'll see you boys there."
Jennifer was glad for the excuse to leave, but was dreading the moment her best friend got her alone.
Jennifer had to give Laura credit, she didn't ask one question all the way back to Jenn's room. However, the moment the swishing sound of her door closing ceased she turned to Jenn.
"What is going on with you?" the red head demanded, hand on hip.
Jennifer just laughed lightly, although a little nervously as she moved to her closet to find clothes to change into. Keller was sure the conversation would be easier in comfy clothes.
"Don't you dare try to say nothing, either," Laura insisted when Jennifer still hadn't said anything after a full minute.
Jennifer continued to go about picking out clothes and then proceeded to change while her friend maintained her huff, across the room.
"Or claim to be tired or wore out, your 'long day' won't work with me."
When Jennifer was finished dressing she went to a cupboard in the room and grabbed out several bags of popcorn and moved to the microwave.
"Hey," Cadman cried in frustration, "stop ignoring me."
"I'm not ignoring you, I was hoping you'd wear yourself out and maybe I'd get my best friend back."
"I'm still your best friend," Laura said in a huff. "I rant because I care."
"I know you care," Jennifer placated, "I just don't think I'm ready to talk about it yet."
Cadman looked at Jennifer's pleading eyes and took pity, nodding her head. She let out a sigh, "Is it about Evan?"
"Laura," Jenn admonished.
"What? You gotta give me something."
"Okay," Keller sighed, "yes, it has to do with Lorne." Jennifer switched out the bags of popcorn before turning around. She looked at Laura who had a goofy grin on her face and after a minute it started to unnerve Jennifer.
"You finally figured out you like him?" Laura blurted out. When Jennifer just stared at her in annoyance she continued, "He finally figured out he likes you?"
"Laura," Jennifer called out in frustration, "stop. Evan and I don't like each other, at least no more than you and he like each other."
"So not true," the Marine exclaimed. "You two spark around each other something fierce. Part of me is envious even."
"Laura, that's not it. Without getting into it, we just kind of had a conversation that ended oddly and we need to clear the air." Jennifer stated vaguely as she put the last bag of popcorn into the microwave.
"I expect details and soon," Laura whined.
Jenn nodded her head in agreement.
"I'm serious. If I don't get details I'll just trick Evan into giving them to me," Laura warned.
The doctor sighed knowing her friend wasn't issuing idol threats. "You know, best friend isn't a 'til death do us part' type of relationship. I could put an add in the personals if needed."
"I'm the stalker type of best friend, I have skills and training, you aren't getting rid of me," Laura bragged.
"I know," Jennifer teased back with a sigh, as she grabbed the popcorn and headed for the door. "You coming, stalker, or do you want to give me a head start so you can practice your skills?"
"You're laughing now…" Laura warned her with a grin, glad to see Jennifer's whit returned at least. She'd been serious though. Someone was going to tell her what was up and soon.