When word had first circulated that Major Lorne's team had died in a fire, Parrish hadn't believed it. This was Atlantis; weird shit happened regularly. If working at the SGC before moving out here had taught him anything, it was that they're not dead until there's a body. Then the body bags were brought back, and it became horrifyingly real. Nick Lorne - military commander, team leader, and all around nice guy - was dead. Everyone was in a state of quiet grief over the deaths, even the city herself grew hushed in reaction to her residents, but no one seemed to feel it as strongly as he did. To Parrish, Lorne hadn't just been one of the random 'military escorts,' he'd been a close friend.

Parrish dealt with the loss the way he'd dealt with every other significant incident in his adult life; he buried himself in work. Within the first two days after Lorne was reported dead, Parrish logged over forty hours in hydroponics; he worked on the new hybridization projects, taught himself the basics of the irrigation systems, even backflushed the primary water pipes for the greenhouse. His official reasoning was that it would be one less thing on the maintenance crew's 'To Do' list; his unofficial reasoning was the fear that if he stopped working, even for just a few hours, Nick would actually be dead. As long as he was so tired he couldn't see straight, denial didn't sound as hollow and he could keep functioning. He'd run over the logic of it several times in his mind while he did busywork in the lab, each time he came up with the same result; it was better for everyone if he continued working. They couldn't afford the loss of even one person's contribution for something as minor as grief.

The strength of his reaction was silly, really; they were casual friends at best. Parrish called him 'Nick' in his mind, but he'd never felt comfortable enough to do it to his face. He wasn't even on Lorne's official team; he'd only been out with him twice off-world. Yes, they'd been spending a few nights a week together doing hand-to-hand and weapons training since they'd encountered that Wraith corpse, but he was realistic enough to know that Nick would have done that for anyone who'd asked. Nick was just that kind of guy. Had been. Everyone knew that the scientists were liabilities in the field; there were even courses offered during the off-hours shifts that were designed to give them a fighting chance in the all-too-common off-world skirmishes. Unfortunately, there were only so many hours in a day, and priority admission in the courses went to those with permanent postings to off-world teams; someone like him was second or third string on the rosters, at best. Yes, the SGC had given them all crash courses in which end of a gun to hold before sending them to the Pegasus Galaxy, but they had been conceptual training, with very little emphasis on the practical. Botanists at the SGC didn't go into the kind of situations that were all too common for those in Atlantis; they went to nice, safe, pre-screened worlds to do their research and specimen collection. It was, quite literally, a different world.

The unfortunate truth was that time waited for no one in the Pegasus Galaxy, and Parrish really hadn't wanted to end up a hostage before he'd been able to receive training. After a great deal of personal debate, he'd asked Nick for advice; the result had been an hour of one-on-one training, followed by instructions to be back in two nights. That had been over three months ago, and the sessions had slowly changed from simple instruction to a chance to vent behind closed doors. Neither of them socialized very much outside of their work shifts; he was a botanist and an introvert, and had discovered while working on his masters that the fastest way to get out of awkward social situations was to babble enthusiastically about something obscure enough that the listener's eyes glazed over. Nick was the 2IC; while he was highly social by nature, the number of people he could talk to freely was severely limited. He had to retain some distance from his men to be able to do his job. For both of them, what happened in that gym stayed there, even if the image of Nick sweaty and shirtless lingered long afterwards. Parrish was a realist; even if Nick were interested in him, nothing could come of it. It was better not to think about the might-have-beens. Instead, he had basked in the warmth of what quickly became the closest friendship he could recall.

Now that Nick was dead, none of it mattered anymore.

When he found himself re-potting the same seedling for the third time, Parrish realized that he'd passed the twenty-four hour mark in the lab. Far too long for a normal work-day. But this isn't a normal day. He's dead. A small portion of his mind, the part he couldn't control, screamed futily in the background of his thoughts; it refused to be lulled by busywork, or even exhaustion. He's dead; he's never coming back. He blinked, realizing that his vision was blurry from more than just a lack of sleep, and blindly made his way to the corner by the fern specimens. Once he reached the wall, he used its smooth surface to ease himself to the floor, resting his head on his bent knees and allowing himself a moment to acknowledge that things weren't all right. Just five minutes, and then he'd get back to the seedlings.

He was awakened from a fitful sleep by the sound of voices chattering nearby. Opening his eyes and peering around he located their source; Katie Brown and the new girl (Sharon maybe? Susan?) were discussing something at a pitch so high it should have been illegal. After a moment of debate he scrubbed a hand across his face and stood up stiffly, wincing as his right knee protested the movement. Glancing at his watch as he approached the two he realized that he'd slept almost six hours; it was well past mid-day. Some part of him enjoyed the fact that Katie jumped when he came into view, but most of him was too tired to care. He made his way to the work-bench he'd abandoned the night before and started re-organizing his equipment. He was about ready to get back to work on the transplants when he heard Nick's name come up in conversation, something about his team that sounded far too casual for a discussion about dead men. He glanced over at the two chattering botanists before he spoke up.

"What did you say?"

Katie paused and seemed to replay her last few sentences before responding. "Um, I said that Jimenez is staying in the infirmary overnight; apparently he got an infection or something."

Parrish frowned; apparently she'd spent too long with that new flowering almost-jasmine. "Jimenez is dead, Katie."

Katie shook her head. "You didn't hear? They brought back Lorne's team this morning, all of them made it home." He blinked at her, uncomprehending. She cocked her head, peering at him more closely. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze; he knew he didn't look his best. Her voice was quiet when she spoke again. "David, when's the last time you slept? I don't mean twenty minutes at the lab bench, really slept?"

He crossed his arms defensively and avoided her eyes; he was doing fine. He didn't need some flower-girl picking apart his mental health when he was barely hanging on as it was. "You said they're alive? All of them?" He hated the way his voice cracked asking such a simple question; the last thing he needed was the botany gossip-chain believing he was falling apart. Word would get to Beckett or McKay and he'd be in at Heightmeyer's; he wasn't having problems acclimating, he was just having a perfectly normal reaction to losing a friend.

She nodded slowly. "Colonel Sheppard's team brought them back about six hours ago, at least according to the mess hall gossip. I haven't actually run into any of them. Are you sure you're all right?"

He barely heard her last words as the doors to the lab closed behind him. He's alive. He ducked into the nearest transporter and tapped the residence wing, the mantra stuck on repeat in his mind. He's alive! He's alive! He headed straight for Nick's door, only realizing after he had knocked that it had been well over a day since he had showered, and he could feel the telltale itchiness that meant he'd managed to get soil streaked on his face.

When there wasn't an immediate response, he realized that Nick could still be in the infirmary or off at meetings with Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir or any one of a hundred things all of which equaled not home. He was two steps down the corridor when he heard Nick's voice, scratchy and raw, with a soft edge to it that meant he'd probably just woken up. He turned and found his suspicions confirmed; Nick was standing in his doorway, blinking in the light of the hall and dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. "Parrish?" He squinted. "You all right?"

He opened his mouth to say something and found that he couldn't think of a thing that wouldn't sound false; he'd just needed to see that Nick was really alive, that it wasn't some sick joke. He settled for a shrug. Nick sighed and turned back into his room. Taking it for a dismissal, Parrish was about to go to his own quarters for a shower when Nick's voice interrupted his mental planning. "Well, are you coming in or not?"

"Oh. Um, right." He followed obediently, trying to ignore the amused look in Nick's eyes. When the door slid shut behind him he fidgeted nervously as Nick leaned against the desk.

"So, what's up? I miss something important?" Nick thought for a moment. "Oh, shit! Was tonight one of our hand-to-hand nights? I completely lose track of what day it is when I'm off-world."

Parrish stared at him incredulously, feeling an irrational surge of anger bubble up at the casual reference to the events of the past few days. Nick had vanished, been listed as dead, and torn his world apart at seams that he hadn't known existed; there was nothing to joke about. He laughed, but there was nothing amused in the sound.

"Yes, that's it. That's exactly it. Unless, of course, one takes into account the fact that I don't know what day it is anymore; so possibly not." He saw Nick wince at the tone, but couldn't bring himself to apologize.

"Parrish, seriously, what's wrong? This isn't like you." Nick straightened up and came closer, and Parrish hated himself for putting that look of concern on Nick's features. Nick had been through enough, he could tell that without knowing the details; this wasn't helping anyone. He shook his head.

"Nothing. Really. Just..." He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and staring at the floor. Funny, he'd never realized that their floors had mosaics. He was pulled out of his contemplation by Nick's hand on his chin, forcing him to look up. There was something soft in Nick's expression; it caused his breath to catch, his words coming out in a whisper. "I just needed to know you were all right."

Nick nodded and showed no signs of releasing him. Parrish found his attention drawn to Nick's lips; he wondered abstractly if they were as dry as they looked. Not allowing himself to think about what he was doing, he leaned across the space separating them and found out for himself.

There was the brief moment of sensation, the roughness of Nick's lips against his own, and then reality reasserted itself and Parrish realized exactly what he was doing. Nick wasn't kissing him back; he seemed frozen. Parrish broke away, horrified at his own actions. "I'm... I'm sorry, I just-" He turned and ran, for once the doors obeying him without question. He ignored Nick's startled shout and headed for hydroponics; at this point all he wanted was a few minutes to wallow in his own stupidity before he had to think about the realities of what he'd just done. He had almost reached his sanctuary when he heard Nick behind him.

"Parrish, wait."

He shook his head and increased his pace, changing his mind about hydroponics as he approached it; the main botany labs were sure to still have someone around, and Nick wouldn't do this in public. His plans were derailed when he felt a hand grip his jacket, stopping him cold. "Damn it, David! Stop for a minute!" He stopped struggling, as much a result of shock at the use of his first name as anything else. When Nick guided him through the next door they found, he went without complaint, glad of the privacy. If this was going to go how it always went, with vague promises of a continued friendship and not so subtle implications of what could happen if things ever hit the rumor mill, he wanted to retain some dignity.

The minute the door shut behind him there was a weird clicking sound, and he found himself pressed up against the wall. It was dim in the room, light streaming in weakly from a single window near the ceiling. Parrish wasn't sure exactly which storage room they were in, but before he could identify more than the glimmer of metallic shelving, his ability to reason shut down at the insistent press of Nick's lips. In the dark, Parrish allowed himself to become lost in the contrast of dry, rough lips with smooth, hot tongue. His hands clutched desperately at Nick's shoulders, because this was real; Nick was alive.

Between Katie's comments and the kiss in Nick's quarters, nothing had seemed real; Parrish kept expecting to wake up in the corner of the lab with a crick in his neck, and for Nick to still be dead. As he felt Nick's hands sliding under his shirt, the surreal quality was replaced by physical need. Their harsh breathing was all he could hear in the enclosed space as Nick fumbled with the fly on the BDUs. Parrish finally pushed his hands away and did it himself before pulling Nick's sweats down just enough to gain access and wrap his hand around the erection there. This, more than anything, was proof that he was alive.

They moved against each other desperately, seeking heat and friction and reassurance. It didn't last long; they were both far too keyed up. He clutched at Nick, concentrating on the feel of the solid muscles beneath his fingers as he felt Nick's hand wrap around them both and begin fast strokes, just this side of painful. He reached down, adding his own hand to the rhythm, and after only a few movements they were both coming hard, shaking silently with release. Once he calmed, Nick leaned in and settled against his shoulder. He shifted, getting more comfortable against the wall, and allowed himself to savor the quiet moment.

After they had both calmed down enough to think, Parrish groped around on the shelving for something to clean them up with. He found a piece of cloth after a moment, wiping his hand carefully before reaching down to do the same for Nick. He set the cloth back on the shelf for a moment while he re-zipped his BDUs, feeling Nick's gaze but refusing to blush. He was startled when Nick's hand cupped the back of his neck and pulled him in for another kiss, this one far gentler than what had come before.

"I'm sorry, David."

The words were quietly spoken and carried a multitude of meanings. Parrish shook his head, suppressing the desire to ask for more - this was more than he'd expected. "Don't. Just... don't. I can face reality as well as the next guy; I'll be fine."

He saw Nick open his mouth to argue and cut him off with a gentle touch of fingers to lips. After a moment, Nick nodded and moved to grasp the rag, holding onto the edge of the shelving for stability. It made the difference in their heights more apparent, and he couldn't help but smile at Nick feeling around blindly on the shelf just above his eye-level like a three year old hunting for the cookie jar. He was about intercede when the entire unit shifted, bottles and boxes shuddering precariously. One bottle didn't bother to wobble, it just fell straight to the floor. They watched in a kind of stunned horror as the bottle labeled Chlorine Bleach - Read warnings before handling hit the floor and began to create a small puddle of clear liquid, cap nowhere in sight; Parrish breathed in a smell that was entirely too reminiscent of his days working as a lifeguard and realized the danger immediately. "Fuck!"

Nick's eyebrows shot up at the curse.

"Nick, this stuff is toxic when inhaled." Not bothering to argue anymore, he grabbed Nick's arm and attempted to haul him out the door, except it didn't budge. There was a clicking sound, and it finally opened. Nick had the good grace to look mildly apologetic, but Parrish wasn't paying much attention. "Seriously, that stuff is nasty. Beckett's going to pitch a fit, and he's still pissed about the incident with the fertilizer burns."

Nick nodded, and put up no resistance as he was dragged to the nearest transporter and then toward the infirmary. Halfway there, Parrish stopped suddenly. "We need to have a reason for this." He gestured to the white specks on his pants and Nick's navy blue t-shirt.

Nick blinked at him, obviously confused, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by coughing, deep and hacking. After a moment, he managed to regain control. "Wow. OK, you definitely win on the infirmary thing. God." He shook his head to clear it. "That hurt."

Parrish nodded, breathing shallowly to avoid setting off a similar fit. "One of the kids at a pool I worked at during high school caught a lungful while he was mixing chemicals; it wasn't pretty."

"Makes sense. You know what? I'm not up for doing the creative explanations thing." Nick gestured vaguely between them. "There was an accident in the storage closet; some idiot didn't cap the bleach. The end. All right?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to get our stories straight, in case it came up." He started walking again, more slowly this time. He glanced back when he didn't hear Nick's footsteps. "Coming?"

Nick looked distracted, but focused when spoken to. "Yeah, right. Infirmary."

* * *

Parrish breathed a (metaphorical) sigh of relief when they reached the infirmary and discovered not Dr. Beckett but Dr. Simons. She treated them quickly, muttering about janitorial idiots, then released him with an inhaler and instructions to check for any signs of chemical burns in the morning. She kept Nick, something about possible after-effects of his captivity off-world. He didn't stick around for details, not wanting to risk giving the wrong impression; instead, he returned to his quarters for a much needed shower, followed by falling into bed. He tried not to think about the fact that Nick didn't stop by when he got out of the infirmary; when he woke up the next morning, he decided that if Nick was going to ignore this then he could too. It only took three days of repeating that to himself before he started to believe it.

There were advantages and disadvantages to having the ATA Gene and living in Atlantis. The advantages were obvious, and too numerous to count. The disadvantages included shifts in the science labs turning things on and being in the pilot pool for mainland runs. Since Nick Lorne had shown a high proficiency with the Jumpers, he found himself slotted into the role of glorified taxi-driver at least once a month. He didn't mind too much; he prided himself on his dedication to duty, accepting assignments without complaint.

He also prided himself on being good at making the best of a bad situation, and an afternoon on The Mainland occasionally hauling equipment or helping with construction wasn't exactly a bad situation. It became a much better situation once he talked Parrish into coming along, citing rumors of interesting lichen growing on a rocky beach near the settlement (and the fact that hydroponic growth lamps didn't prevent Vitamin D deficiency). It was also a peace offering; ever since the incident in the storage closet that they were both pretending hadn't happened, things had been too formal between them. He missed the relaxed atmosphere of their nights together in the gym, and he hoped this would let them put things back into perspective. Parrish had given in after surprisingly little enticement. He had a sneaking suspicion that the botany department as a whole was bordering on stir-crazy waiting for their seedlings to grow large enough to transplant; there was only so much time you could spend reading 10,000 year old crop-yield information.

Of course, if Parrish was going to go wandering around several kilometers away from the settlement an escort was required. This might be Lantea, but that didn't mean there weren't things that thought botanist, armed or not, made a good snack. It wasn't that he didn't like working with his hands, but it was a commonly acknowledged fact that chasing after scientists on planets that might or might not have giant carnivorous beasts earned you a break every once in a while. That it was Parrish he was escorting just had the advantage of good conversation and companionable silences. He was looking forward to relaxing by the water, possibly taking a page from Colonel Sheppard's book and checking out the body-surfing options if there was sand close to the rock beaches; he had a feeling Parrish would oblige and stay in one area if asked nicely.

The day started out well enough, clear skies and balmy temperatures. It was summer on The Mainland, or at least they were calling it summer (that close to the equator the seasons blurred), and the Athosians were on their third harvest since he had arrived with the Daedalus during the bombardments. They were trying a more diverse range of plants this time around, in the hopes that it would provide useful data for the hybridization projects. Things were stable enough that he didn't feel bad pulling Halling aside when the jumper had been unloaded. "Dr. Parrish wants to do some exploring along the coast; he's looking for some kind of lichen growth. I'll have my radio if you need me, otherwise we should be back before dark to take people back to the city."

Halling smiled. "Of course. We have explored several of your kilometers in both directions without incident. The rock beaches you seek are an hour's brisk walk to the North; would you like one of the boys to accompany you?"

He shook his head. "No thanks; we'll be sticking to the waterfront, so there shouldn't be much risk of getting lost."

Halling nodded. "As you wish. You are welcome to stay for evening meal before returning to the city."

"I'll keep that in mind." He turned to find Parrish chatting with one of the Athosian women over what appeared to be basket weaving. "Hey, Doc. Time to go." Parrish looked up and nodded, then returned to his conversation. Just as he was about to go over and drag him away physically, Parrish turned and walked over with a smile.

"You were saying?"

"Halling said the best shot for finding lichen is going to be to head North along the coast; it's a couple klicks up."

Parrish nodded and shouldered his pack. "Right, shall we?" He set off out of the settlement without waiting for a reply. Lorne shook his head in amusement and followed, breaking into a jog when he realized that Parrish's longer legs had allowed the botanist a marked head start.

They hiked the first klick in companionable silence, and he was content with that; this was what had been missing the last couple of weeks - a friend. Their evening sessions had resumed, but there had been a forced civility behind them. He alternated his gaze between the vegetation to their left and the ocean to their right, taking in the natural beauty and letting it soothe his anxiety. He glanced back and caught Parrish smiling at him. "What?"

Parrish shook his head. "Nothing, nothing. So, you brought me out here to look at lichen?"

"Yeah, saw the rock beach on my last trip out here, figured there would probably be something interesting. You mentioned you were into primary succession growth; that's what lichen is, right? I mean it's been a while since I took bio, but I think I'm remembering it right."

"Yes, that's right. I'm surprised; every TA knows that freshmen don't pay attention in basic bio."

He grinned. "The Academy was a small school; I didn't run into TA's until I went for my masters. I wasn't your typical freshman, you know."

Parrish nodded thoughtfully and turned his attention back to the water's edge. "Yes, I'm beginning to realize that." Lorne allowed the silence to resume; the rocks had just come into view when Parrish broke the silence again. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble, you know."

He shifted his pack and unclipped his P-90, confused at the sudden change in topic. "I'm sorry?"

"I mean you could have just said something; it's not like I'm known for my random acts of violence."

His confusion increased; Parrish was about the least threatening guy he'd ever known, even if he was getting better at the hand-to-hand. Parrish wasn't meeting his eyes, instead focusing on the piles of gray rock that seemed to emerge from the sand with no explanation. Lorne gave him a moment in the hopes that clarification was forthcoming. After several moments of silence, it became apparent that Parrish wasn't going to say anymore without encouragement. Once they reached the rocks, Lorne shrugged his pack and vest off and set them on the edge of the nearest rock formation before turning to face him. "What are you talking about?"

Parrish removed his own pack, setting it down and avoiding his gaze. He crossed his arms defensively; when he spoke, his voice was quiet. "I'm not as oblivious as everyone thinks I am."

He frowned at Parrish's back. "I never said you were. Can we please go back to the point where my mentioning I found some interesting lichen led to you presuming that I doubt your intelligence? Because I thought this was win-win here."

Parrish frowned. "Win-win... Is that because you're that good in bed, or because I get to look at the lichen?"

He coughed. "Good in be- Where did that come from? I'm pretty sure that we'd settled for not talking about that. Ever. I was ok with that; I thought you were, too. Have you guys been working with any strange spores lately?" He ignored the flush he could feel staining his cheeks; it was warm enough in full BDUs that he hoped it just looked like a reaction to the heat.

Parrish turned to him, looking offended. "No! Why does everyone assume that botany requires exposure to hallucinogenic plants? I am thinking perfectly rationally here."

He was skeptical. "Rationally. Of course, because you just accused me of bringing you out here for sex. Obviously between the running for our lives and killing Wraith, and running for our lives and paperwork, and did I mention running for our lives? Sex is at the top of my to-do list. That makes perfect sense." He put as much sarcasm as he could into the statement, because if he repeated it enough times, he'd stop noticing how Parrish's hair looked in the sunlight. Really.

He found himself wishing that Parrish had the sense to look embarrassed about the whole mess and let it go. The more they talked about this, the more memories this was bringing up. His subconscious kept trying to point out that actual sex with Parrish, as opposed to the quick and dirty one-off in the storage closet, wouldn't be the worst thing ever. It wasn't a helpful observation if he wanted to get out of this argument with his pride intact. Parrish didn't seem inclined to oblige; he climbed up onto the first of the rocks, then jumped to the next large stone. He paused and cocked his head, squinting against the glare, before speaking. "You say I'm not rational."

He nodded. "I think you're seeing things that aren't there."

Parrish took his time in responding. "Tell me something: how many scientists out here have you accompanied off world?"

"Eight."

"Eight, hmm. How many of them in the life sciences?"

Lorne frowned. "Um, four, I think? What are you getting at?"

"And how many of them have you dragged out of their labs to go for a walk on an Athosian beach on your one day out of the city?"

"Now wait a minute; that's unfair. I may have had self-serving motives, but you're a little off the mark. I haven't had honest-to-god downtime since I got here, unless you count those days in a Genii prison cell. When I saw the lichen I remembered how interested you'd been in the mosses back on Ronon's little hideaway, so I thought it was a perfect solution. You'd need an escort since it's out of sight of the settlement, and there is a very low likelihood that the lichen, or whatever it turned out to be, would try to eat you. You get new samples, I get a few hours on a beach with an iPod. Does that make things a little clearer?"

Parrish had the decency to blush. "Oh."

"Yeah. Sorry you got the wrong impression, doc."

"No, no, I apologize. It's been a while since I did this kind of thing; when you invited me along I jumped to conclusions a bit."

"Don't sweat it, no harm done." Unless you counted the fact that his mind wouldn't stop thinking about what if he had invited him out here for sex. What that would be like on the beach, with Parrish. That time in the closet had been too brief to really count as sex, and there had been far too little naked skin. Once he realized where that was headed, he wrenched his thoughts back to the conversation.

"Listen, I know you're military. And I know that misunderstandings like this, they can cause problems. I... I don't want that to be the case. I appreciate your thoughtfulness with the lichen; I supposed I'm just not used to that kind of thing." Parrish turned and began pulling things out of his pack, for all intents and purposes ending the conversation. "Now, this looks almost closer to barnacles than lichen; they're very different types of organisms, but there's bound to be something else that's more basic here-"

He quieted Parrish with a hand on his shoulder. "Let me clarify something before you start acting like nothing happened, because that doesn't seem to have been working well for us so far. I said that you read me wrong; I didn't say I was against it."

Parrish blinked up at him. "Oh. Oh."

He shrugged. "Yeah. Just wasn't the first thing that came to mind; not much free time working at SGC, and friends can be hard to come by."

Parrish nodded absently. "I remember; not much at Area 51, either."

"So, we're good with this? This meaning your interpretation of my plans for the afternoon?"

He watched Parrish think it over, different expressions chasing each other across his features before settling on thoughtful. "Well, I would like to take a look at that lichen, but I think it can wait a while. But I'm not spending the next two weeks not talking to you, I don't feel like finding myself a new hand-to-hand instructor everytime we do this."

He paused, thinking about the implications in Parrish's words; there would be another time. There was an offer buried in the acceptance; one that was far too good to ignore. In response, he slid his hand into Parrish's hair and pulled him in for a kiss. Unlike their last encounter, this was slow and sweet; it was all the things he had forgotten a kiss could be. He pulled away and reached up to unzip Parrish's jacket, helping him to ease it off and allowing it to fall to the ground. His own soon followed, and they separated enough to remove their sidearms. Their boots followed, and soon they were settled comfortably on a warm, flat rock with a much more satisfactory quantity of naked skin. As he shifted against him, the tension in Parrish's body became more evident. He pulled away in concern. "Are you all right with this? I kind of assumed..."

Parrish shook his head emphatically. "No. I mean, yes. I'm fine with this. More than fine. I guess I just wasn't expecting this." He gestured between them vaguely. "Not that I'm complaining; I like slow." Parrish leaned up and pressed a slow, lazy kiss against his lips in demonstration. "We just don't have a lot of 'slow' out here."

He responded by leaning in for another kiss, giving himself time to think it over. "All the more reason to take it where we can get it, I guess."

Parrish had moved down to suck on his shoulder, so his response was muffled.

"What?"

Parrish pulled away for a minute, but didn't look up. "I said, 'if we're going to do this slow, then call me David.'"

"David. Right." He paused, considering his options. When he responded his voice was quieter. "Nick."

He felt more than saw Parrish nod in response, and then the need to speak became superfluous.

* * *
The sound of his radio brought Lorne fully awake. He was up and rifling through his gear before he had finished processing where he was or the fact that he was only half dressed. After a quick glance to confirm that yes, the lichen had proven just as harmless as he had suspected and Parrish - David - was doing just fine gathering samples on his own, he turned his attention to the radio. "Say again, Halling?"

"Major Lorne. We merely wished to confirm whether you would be returning in time for the evening meal."

Lorne looked down at his watch; he'd lost four hours sleeping on the rocks. Well, not all of the time had been spent sleeping. "We'll be heading back in a few minutes, save us some stew. Lorne out." He set the radio back down and turned to David. "David! Time to head back."

He couldn't help grinning as he watched David pick his way across the scattered rocks like a five year old. The botanist was chattering about something odd in the samples he'd been gathering when he trailed off. Lorne had been packing their gear, but turned at the pause in the descriptions of algal discoloration. David was staring at him, a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"You're burned."

He shrugged; he'd gotten sunburned as a kid, everybody did. You spent a week with that weird tight feeling and a little sandpaper sensitivity and that was all. He looked down, trying to see what David saw, but his chest didn't look too badly burnt. "It's really not that big a deal, Dave."

David was shaking his head, obviously not agreeing. "I think it is, Nick." The name sounded strange in normal conversation; he'd grown used to only being known by his last name. He watched David cross the remaining distance between them and press a finger against his chest before speaking again. "I've never seen sunburn that bad before. You're going to be hurting in a few hours; I should have made you put a shirt on before we fell asleep, but I didn't think it would be a big deal."

He shook his head, amused yet a bit exasperated. "I'll be fine. We'd better get moving or Halling's going to send a search team for us, though." He pulled on his shirt, biting back a curse as the synthetic rubbed against the newly tender skin.

Parrish looked unimpressed, but also unwilling to push the issue. "If you say so."

They made good time back to the settlement, but by the time they arrived he was beginning to wonder if David might have been right about the burn. He hadn't been able to shoulder his pack the entire walk; he didn't even bother trying to argue when David took it away from him. By the time they had returned to the city, he was perfectly happy to let David drag him down to the infirmary and commandeer a nurse. He'd never realized David could be quite so efficient. There were gasps and mutters all around when he peeled off his shirt, blistering evident across most of his chest and arms. Dr. Simons was not amused.

"These are second degree burns, Major. Do you know how many cases of sunburn we've treated since arriving here? None. That's right, twelve months and you're the first. We get something like a third the UV exposure one would receive on Earth; how did you manage this? It was, at best, seventy three degrees at the settlement, hardly a tropical heat wave. Do you know what that means?"

Lorne poked at a blister and winced, avoiding her eyes. "That I shouldn't do it again?"

Dr. Simons glared at him; for someone all of 5' 2" she was pretty intimidating. "It means that you're going to spend the next week without a shirt on, which will be a far better deterrent than anything else I can say about doing this again. I'm going to notify Colonel Sheppard that you're on restricted duty until these blisters clear. If you pop them, they'll get infected, so I advise you not attempt to speed things along. Are we clear?"

He nodded meekly.

"I'll need to see you tomorrow to assess the blisters and make sure everything's progressing normally. I'd give you a topical, but I want to wait until we know how bad the blistering is. For now a cool compress is about all I want you putting on there. If we had some aloe, I'd recommend that, but since you're our first sunburn case on record it wasn't considered a necessary provision. I want you to stay inside the city until these have healed; your skin has been exposed to enough for one week." She handed him a small bag of pills. "These are analgesics, you're going to want them. Start now, and take two every four hours whether it hurts or not. It'll keep inflammation down and prevent the pain from getting any worse than it already is."

He accepted the bag and eyed it warily. "So I can go?"

"Yes, major, you can leave."

He was off the exam bed and out the door before she could change her mind, and he skirted the main inhabited areas as much as possible on his way back to his quarters. He wasn't nearly as surprised as he knew he should have been to find David sitting quietly at the desk in the corner, and he was too tired to get upset over the invasion of privacy.

"How did you get in here?"

David shrugged. "I know a guy in hard sciences; he owed me a favor."

He didn't even get a chance to be righteously indignant for the sake of things like his career before David was waving off his protest. "He doesn't know who I needed the over-ride for; he thinks I'm breaking into Katie's room for some paper-related espionage or something. The department reputation turned out to be good for something after all." David smiled, although it was more subdued than normal. Lorne wondered when he had learned how to tell.

He dropped his jacket next to the door and carefully eased himself into a sitting position on the bed. "That wasn't what I was going to say, but I'm glad you thought of it." So that wasn't quite true, but the startled look on David's face had made it totally worth it. He cocked his head to the side contemplatively. "You have any aloe down in hydroponics?"

David cocked his head and spoke softly to himself, obviously running through an inventory. When he finished he looked disappointed. "No, no aloe. Hmm. Wait, I know! There were these new samples that we brought back from MB7-332, the locals use the sap from the leaves to treat burns."

He nodded. "That sounds fine. Wait-" David was out the door before Lorne could think to mention Dr. Simons' restrictions. Giving it up as a lost cause, he settled more comfortably onto the bed and awaited David's return. He concluded that while the day might not have gone according to plan (He would be paying the price in bad topless jokes for the rest of his life if he wasn't careful), it was still a day worth remembering for reasons that had nothing to do with sunburn.

When he woke up in the infirmary, David wasn't certain how he'd ended up there. Five minutes later he had not only concluded why he was there, but decided that Dr. Simons was a saint; it being mere coincidence that this revelation happened at the same time she administered a cortisone shot and gave him an oral pain killer. His hands, arms, and a good portion of his chest were covered by raised welts of various degrees of redness. He had vague memories of going out to The Mainland with Nick for a day of exploration; he remembered the flight out, chatting with Lokina about possibly cultivating a modified type of reed, and then the next thing he could remember was Nick half-carrying him down the halls of Atlantis to the infirmary. Everything in between was a blur.

He squinted at Dr. Simons. "What..." His voice emerged as a whisper, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "What happened?"

"You encountered a native moss that didn't agree with you while on the mainland. You had a reaction not unlike what we typically see with Poison Ivy or Poison Oak. The difference in this case is that your welts were larger; there was some concern that it had gone systemic. You were barely lucid when Major Lorne brought you in."

He tried to sit up. "Where is he? Is he all right?"

She pushed him right back down, managing to find the one spot on his shoulder that wasn't covered in welts. "The major is fine. Apparently, he had far less exposure to the moss; he's already been released. You, however, will not be leaving until these welts go down."

He would have fought the decision, he wanted to, but he found himself yawning instead. He frowned. "Did you give me a sedative?"

She patted his shoulder. "Don't you worry about it; you need the sleep. We'll see how you're doing in the morning."

He debated arguing further, but another yawn decided the matter; he figured he could do it in the morning.

* * *
When David woke again, there was natural light coming from the window on the far side of the room and he felt hung-over. He sat up slowly, and was relieved to find that the injection the night before had done its job; he still itched, but the pain barely registered and the swelling was down. One of the nurses brought him some water, and by the time Dr. Nakatsuji came by and examined the welts he felt almost human. Dr. N muttered under his breath at the severity and location of the welts, but released David anyway with a tube of topical cortisone and instructions to return for a follow up.

On his way out of the infirmary (In scrubs, because there had been concern that his field uniform still contained residue from the moss), he was stopped by a nurse. She informed him that Colonel Sheppard had requested that David join him in his office once released from the infirmary. David thanked her and turned in the direction of his quarters, chewing on his bottom lip as he tried to decide how bad of a sign this was. The colonel had never asked to see him specifically before; Sheppard hung out in the hard sciences when he deigned to mix with the 'geeks' at all. He had just reached his quarters when he realized the obvious reason that Sheppard would want to talk to him - Sheppard knew. Someone had seen him coming out of Nick's quarters after that sunburn; someone had connected the dots on the medical reports; it didn't matter what had happened, all that mattered was that Nick's career was as good as gone. The worst part was, Nick wouldn't blame him; Nick would say that they'd both known the risks going in. It didn't matter that the risks were wildly skewed against Nick. David knew that he should have put his foot down, should never have let this happen that second time, no matter how right it had felt at the time.

As he pulled on fresh clothing, he tried to convince himself that it was just something routine. Maybe Sheppard was meeting with all of the scientists individually. Maybe he'd decided to give David a regular position on an off-world team. David continued his attempts at rationalization all the way to the door of Sheppard's office; they still didn't sound any better as he pressed to Ancient equivalent of a doorbell. His hopes were dashed when he found Nick already there. Nick startled when he entered; obviously unaware that David had been summoned as well. He studied Nick, wondering if anything had already been said and attempting to keep the building anxiety off his face. He knew the minute Nick realized what was going on, watched Nick swallow hard before turning back to face Sheppard. David forced his attention back to Sheppard, hoping the slip hadn't been noted. Sheppard seemed oblivious to the whole exchange, pulling up a file on his laptop. A moment later Sheppard finished whatever he was doing and folded his screen down.

"Doctor Parrish, you're probably wondering why I asked you here."

David nodded, his mouth too dry to respond.

"I've been reviewing the last few weeks of exploratory missions, and I have some concerns. You two have been paired up the last few times we've authorized exploratory mission on the mainland. Now, I'm all for developing stable working relationships between the military and the scientific personnel. That doesn't concern me. What concerns me is your luck."

David blinked, and his "I'm sorry?" was echoed in Nick's "Sir?"

Sheppard settled back in his chair. "Yesterday was the second time the two of you have landed in the infirmary; I don't want there to be an incident number three. Doctor Parrish, I'm assigning Sgt. Jimenez if you feel the need to go exploring in the mainland forests again."

"Oh."

* * *

They weren't in trouble. They hadn't been discovered. David was almost weak with relief by the time the colonel dismissed them from his office (Well, it was either relief or pharmaceuticals; he wasn't sure what exactly Doctor N had given him before releasing him). The relief didn't last long, however; by the time he'd returned to his quarters, Nick following behind him and unusually quiet, he'd come to a conclusion. He waited until the door closed, then turn to Nick.

"We should stop this."

Nick shrugged, and grinned good-naturedly. "Stop succumbing to alien sex moss while exploring the mainland. I think I can do that."

David crossed his arms and leaned against the desk. "That's not what I'm talking about, Nick, and you know it. This whole thing, you and me, was a bad idea. If nothing else, the meeting with the colonel today should have proved that."

Nick frowned, realizing that his lover was serious, and took a seat on the bed. "I think you're jumping the gun here, just a bit. We have no reason to think that Colonel Sheppard is going to care if we're sleeping together, especially now that we're officially banned from going on missions together. He's the only one who matters; it wouldn't matter if Cadman walked up to General Landry and told him she found us naked in the hydroponics lab - he's not my commanding officer. Only my CO can start a Don't Ask investigation; I just can't see Colonel Sheppard doing that when we've got the Wraith to worry about. People who work for SGC tend to see the bigger picture, you know?"

David blinked. "Huh. I didn't know that." There was a pause. "You still realize this is a bad idea, right?"

Nick stood and shook his head. "No, I really don't think it is." He crossed the few feet between them and pulled David into his arms, placing gentle, teasing kisses down the side of his neck.

David murmured something unintelligible and tilted his head to give Nick better access. He allowed Nick to guide him over to the bed and strip his shirt off, but paused once he was actually lying down.

"Nick?"

"Mm-hmm?" Nick was untying David's shoes, and didn't look up.

"Did you say alien sex moss??"

"Um, yeah?" Nick paused and looked up. "Why?"

David's eyes took on a faintly fanatical gleam. "Tell me we got samples."

Nick shifted to start working on his own boots; his voice was carefully even. "No... The stuff put you in the infirmary; you stopped breathing. I wasn't going to collect samples."

David pouted. "Do you at least remember what it looked like?"

Nick rolled his eyes and pulled off his pants. "Why? So you can pull it apart in your lab for the next three weeks?" David nodded eagerly, having apparently forgotten that he was lying in bed mostly naked. Nick sighed. "I'm not letting you go back there for more, and I'll make damn sure Jimenez knows not to take you either." When he looked up, David was playing with the waistband of his boxers and refused to meet his eyes. "David, this is me you're talking to, not some stranger. You're never this interested in plants when we're in bed; what is this really about?"

The silence stretched for a long moment before he finally spoke. "I just... I can't remember the alien moss. Or much of anything about the trip to the mainland. I remember hiking in the forest, and then the next thing I know I'm waking up in the infirmary and feeling like I was attacked by poison ivy."

Nick shifted and lay down beside him. "Well... There was hiking. And then you found some new kind of moss. And then there was a lot of frantic sex, followed by you deciding that downtime after sex meant to stop breathing. Then there was a lot of running and screaming and threats of intubation." He trailed a hand down David's chest. "Happy now?"

David looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "I still want to talk about..."

Nick groaned. "Later? Please?" David looked ready to argue. "Look, I don't want to discuss regulations in bed. That kind of thing is for when we're both wearing more clothing."

"But I-"

Nick cut him off with a kiss. "I promise, we'll talk. But right now, I'd rather remind you of what happened out in the forest, without the no-breathing part." He grinned impishly.

David gave a put-upon sigh and settled back onto the bed, allowing his eyes to slip closed as Nick started kissing his way down his chest. "Yeah. Later's good."

"Hey, Major, you coming?"

Lorne looked up from double-checking his gear. "Yeah, I'm filling in for Jimenez since he's got the flu. Be ready to go in five."

"Yes, sir. I'll go round up the scientists."

Lorne nodded and turned back to his bag, pulling out the Sudafed and generic Tylenol he'd managed to beg off one of the nurses in the infirmary. After a moment's consideration, he dry-swallowed them and tightened the straps on his pack. He took a deep breath, then shouldered his gear and headed to the 'Gate room; it was just a cold. He was a hell of a lot healthier than half the marines in the city; he could handle a milk run to an uninhabited planet with a few life sciences types.

When he reached the 'Gate room, Lorne was surprised to see David there - they didn't go on missions together, not since Colonel Sheppard had decided they had bad luck (A Wraith, second degree sunburn, and a severe allergic reaction in three sequential missions didn't exactly inspire confidence; Lorne couldn't argue with the reasoning). Still, how many bad missions could they hit in a row, anyway? Figuring that statistics were on their side this time, he shrugged off his lingering doubts, assembled his team, and prepared to visit MCB-119.

* * *
MCB-119 was everything the MALP said it would be. Namely gloomy, drizzling, possessing no life forms more complex than a couple of cells stuck together, and with an air temperature around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Lorne wanted to go home.

Unfortunately, the botanists and microbiologists were having a field day with the volcanic landscape, so going home was out of the picture until 1400 AST (Atlantis Standard Time). Lorne and the other military found themselves dragged all over the visible landscape as the scientists added to their list of 'locations from which to gather specimens'. After two hours, Lorne was convinced that he'd seen every piece of the volcanic rock in the area. David had other ideas.

"Come on, it's only three kilometers away; we can be there and back before the designated return time."

"I said no; I don't want to be that far from the 'Gate in case something happens."

"What's going to happen? Dr. Azuri already confirmed there's nothing here larger than the head of a pin!"

Lorne groaned, and lowered his voice. "David, half the planets that end up trying to kill us look 'harmless' at first glance. I don't feel like stumbling on some hidden Wraith outpost just because you want to go lichen hunting. If we go over there, you need to give me legitimate, scientific reasons - several of them - why we're going that far from the 'Gate."

David crossed his arms defensively. "The mountainsides have the only active geothermal vents within walking distance. The composition of anything found there should be vastly different from what we've found so far."

Lorne raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the headache that had been steadily building since they'd arrived. "All right, fine. We go there, we come back. You get fifteen minutes to gather samples around the vents and then we're out of there." David opened his mouth to protest, but Lorne cut him off. "Final offer. Take it, or leave it."

"Fine." David hefted his pack, grumbling under his breath.

Lorne tapped his headset. "Cadman, I'm taking Parrish over to check on some geothermal vents. We should be back before the scheduled return to base. Call me if anything comes up."

"Have fun, Major." Her reply just made his head hurt more, but as he started after his errant lover he decided that things could be much worse. After all, the rain wasn't that cold, and there wasn't much of it.

* * *
They were three-quarters of the way up the slope when that all changed. The skies opened up; within two minutes the clouds went from gray to black and the light drizzle became a heavy sleet. "Cadman, this is Lorne, do you copy?"

There was a garbled burst of static, but nothing intelligible; Lorne tried not to wince as the winds kicked up.

"I say again, Cadman, this is Lorne, do you copy?"

"...interference...high winds..."

Lorne looked around at the sleet, now coming down in sheets. There was no way they were going to make it back to the 'Gate in this, and it would be chancy with a Jumper. The drop in pressure eliminated whatever good the Sudafed had been doing, and Lorne resisted the urge to rub at the bridge of his nose. "Cadman, if you read me, return to Atlantis. Doctor Parrish and I passed a cave a short while back, we'll shelter from the storm up here until it lets up or someone brings a Jumper out."

"...Atlantis...estimated...four hours...Cadman..."

Lorne sighed and tapped his radio off; there was no point in wasting the battery power. He turned to David and shouted over the wind, pointing at his headset. "No good."

David nodded in response, and said something Lorne couldn't make out; when he realized the problem, David closed the five feet between them until he was standing right in front of Lorne. "We need to get out of the storm." Even obviously shouting, Lorne had trouble hearing him over the wind.

"I know. Cave, 200 meters that way." Lorne pointed down the slope. "Let's move."

Without waiting for a response, he turned back the way they'd come. David might be a scientist, absent-minded stereotype and all, but he knew when to follow orders in the field; that was all Lorne cared about at the moment.

It was a long two hundred meters to the cave, and Lorne starting slowing down before they were even halfway. His head was pounding, and they kept slipping on the small volcanic rocks that the slope was made of. Every time one of them fell, the other would have to haul him back to his feet before they could continue. Lorne found he was the one falling most of the time, and knew it should have concerned him more than it did. By the time they were within what should have been easy sight of the cave entrance, the slope finally levelling off to a more manageable angle of descent, he was shivering hard and he had cuts and scrapes from his many encounters with the porous rock they were navigating. All he could think about was putting one foot in front of the other and getting out of the sleet before the fever he knew he was running could get any worse. It seemed an eternity before they actually reached the opening in the mountain side, and Lorne was so cold he barely registered the lack of precipitation.

Lorne struggled to get his pack and jacket off, the simple tasks made into a maddenly complex ordeal by his numb fingers. By the time he'd finished, David had already stripped off his wet clothing (He'd left his boxers and t-shirt on; say what you will about expedition uniforms, they were remarkably effectively waterproofed) and was pulling thermal blankets out of his pack. Lorne blinked; thermal blankets hadn't been in the standard gear allotment for MCB-119.

"Nick? You all right over there?" David's voice was concerned, and it brought Lorne back to himself.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a headache." He shivered, and bent to untie his boots. It was just a fever, and there was nothing he was going to be able to do until they got back to Atlantis; no point in making David worry pointlessly. When he stood up, David was watching him with a thoughtful expression. "Really, I'm fine. Nothing some dry clothes and a shot of scotch couldn't cure."

David nodded hesitantly. "If you say so."

"I do. Leave it."

The silence percolated for a few moments, and Lorne tried to ignore it by poking through his pack for anything useful. He didn't find anything, aside from a few MREs, but a few minutes leaning against the wall of the cave did wonders to clear up his thinking. "All right, I give. How did you know to bring cold weather gear?"

David shrugged, and spread a thermal blanket on the cave floor. "Seemed like a good idea, given the initial MALP reports."

Lorne frowned. "Did we get the same reports? Because I don't remember 'freak storms' being on the mission brief."

David grinned sheepishly. "You were assigned at the last minute; Mark in meteorology said storms were possible, but unlikely. You know how it is - better safe than sorry, right?" He finished his adjustments to the blanket, and pulled the other out. "Come on, these things work better with two."

Lorne blinked, confused. "What?" An impatient hand gesture was his response, and he realized that David wanted him to join him between the two blankets. "Oh. Right." It was blessedly warm between the blankets, and he curled gratefully around his lover.

* * *
"So, how long do we have in here, anyway?" David's voice was quiet, but still audible over the wind outside.

Almost asleep, it took a moment for the question to process. "Mmm? Oh, Cadman said something about four hours. Might have been length of storm or something; don't know for sure."

He felt, more than saw, David's nod. "So, any suggestions for how to fill all those hours?"

"I thought we weren't going to do that on missions; we agreed - no sex outside the city."

David tensed in his arms. "Not everything's about sex, you know. Despite the fact that we haven't done much else lately. I was going to suggest that we have that talk you've been putting off."

"Oh. That." Lorne's head started pounding again in earnest. "Can we do that another time. Please?"

David sighed. "Nick, it's always 'another time'. Why not now? We're stuck here anyway, there's no one else around..."

"Dave, I've got a headache. Cut me some slack here." He felt David take a breath, and continued before his lover could argue. "Can we compromise? Let me sleep for a couple of hours, and then we can talk about whatever you want?"

David shifted in his arms, and peered at him in the low light of the cave. "You don't look so good..." He raised a hand and rested it against Lorne's forehead. "You're really hot; you sure it's just a headache?"

Lorne shrugged. "Nothing major, don't worry about it. I'll be a new person after a few hours of sleep, promise."

David gave him a doubtful look, but settled back against his chest. "We'll see how you're feeling in a few hours, then."

Lorne just nodded, and was asleep in moments.

* * *
He was awakened by a crash of thunder sometime later, to find the cave dark and the sleet falling more lightly outside the entrance. If anything, he actually felt worse than he had before he'd fallen asleep, but at least he wasn't cold anymore; the heat from David's body was stifling. Great. He shifted, and felt David move in response. "David?"

"Yeah, I'm up. It's been about five hours; my guess is we've got another hour left until it lets up enough to head for the 'Gate. You feeling better?"

Lorne thought for a minute - head still hurt, body felt like it'd been hit like a truck, and his throat was killing him. On the other hand, the heat was abating and rapidly being replaced with chill again; that, at least, he could do something about - David always put out insane amounts of heat. "Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine."

David lifted his head, the action just barely visible in the dim cave. "So... can we talk?"

Lorne sighed. "Might as well." He shivered when David pulled away and settled next to him; he'd gone from over-heating to freezing in minutes, and now he wanted his lover's bodyheat back. He could just make out the shape of David lying next to him, head propped up on one hand. "You want to start?"

David sighed, and his voice grew quieter. "I just... I guess I want to know where this is going - what kind of relationship we should have. Before you start, I'm not trying to be a girl about this, it's just... We live in a really crazy world, and it would be nice to have something stable to fall back on. But...."

Lorne blinked, not sure he'd heard David correctly; the headache was kicking into high gear, and nothing was as clear as it should have been. Still, it seemed strange that David wanted things more stable. Lorne kind of liked the whole slightly unpredictable sex life thing; weren't people always saying that routine was the killer of passion or something? He was sure he'd heard that somewhere. He felt it best to clarify, especially since he hadn't been sure he'd heard right to start with. "So... you want us to be boring?"

"No, Nick. I want to... where we're going, if you want... more than six..."

Lorne was relieved, a question he could answer, although he couldn't figure out why David was changing the subject. "We're back to Atlantis, once the storm clears."

David emitted something akin to a growl; Lorne hadn't known he could do that, although it matched nicely with the crinkling of the thermal blanket which seemed to have grown louder; it was strangely hypnotic. "Nick. I'm... be serious here; I need to know...killing time..., if this is important to you..."

"Of course it's important." Lorne yawned. "Everything we do out here is important. I thought you wanted to talk about us." He could feel David tensing up beside him, but couldn't understand why.

"This ... some kind of a joke, Nick. I thought this was important to you, too. But... not willing to... talk about... future, I guess that tells me what I need to know."

Lorne shifted, trying to get a better look at his lover. David was really upset, but it seemed out of proportion to what they'd been talking out. Lorne decided to take the tried and true approach. "Would a blow job make this better?"

Any response was cut off by the crackling of their radios. David was across the cave and fumbling through the pile of gear before Lorne had even managed to sit up. He could make out the conversation in bits and pieces, but nothing coherent. A moment later a pile of wet clothing hit him in the chest. David's voice was hard. "Get dressed, Sheppard will be here in five minutes."

Lorne obeyed and started pulling on his pants, realizing exactly how weak he was as he struggled to stay standing while he fastened them. He wanted to argue, to find out why David was so upset, but that would have required more energy than he could muster. Once they were back in the city he'd sort it all out; when he could think.

"So, I hear you're not dead yet."

Lorne looked up, and found Sheppard standing at the entrance to the cave. "No, sir. We just feel like it."

Sheppard grinned, and leaned over to pick up the closest pack. "This makes what, three? four? times you've managed to pull this kind of stunt together?"

Lorne didn't even bother to dignify that with a response. Sheppard frowned, but said nothing as he lead the way to the nearby Jumper. He continued to say nothing until they'd landed and David had headed to the infirmary under his own steam. Lorne was still sitting on the back bench. "You ok, Lorne?"

Lorne nodded, and stood slowly. "Fine, sir. Nothing some Nyquil won't kill. You can head to debrief."

Sheppard shook his head, and stepped closer when Lorne swayed on his feet. "Well, that may be, but I think I'll make sure you get to the infirmary to get that Nyquil just the same." He slid an arm around Lorne's shoulders and half-carried him out of the Jumper and to the nearest transporter.

As he was being 'escorted', Lorne wondered why David had gone ahead without him. It reminded him that David hadn't spoken to him since telling him to get dressed, and it worried him. If Sheppard had noticed the fact that David was unusually silent, he hadn't said anything. They were all exhausted from pulling double shifts to cover all the personnel who were down with the flu; Lorne wouldn't be surprised if the colonel honestly hadn't noticed. Sheppard left him in the infirmary, and he dozed off while waiting for the doctor on shift to check him out. He woke briefly when Doctor Simons finally appeared, and was asleep as soon as they assigned him a temporary bed.

* * *
Lorne woke ten hours later. After begging, pleading, and an industrial dose of generic DayQuil, he was finally feeling closer to human again. He hadn't realized how sick he'd been until suddenly he wasn't cycling a fever of 103 degrees (He hadn't believed it until Doctor Simons had shown him the thermometer); it was amazing the difference that kind of thing made. However, it also made him realize that it was possible he'd been responsible for David's absence. The botanist hadn't stopped in once while Lorne had been in the infirmary, and he had hazy memories of sharp tones from their time in the cave. He managed to swing a conditional discharge, providing that he spent the next two days sleeping in his quarters. Naturally, he set off immediately to find David.

It took an hour and a half of searching before he managed to track David down in an out of the way hydroponics lab. "Hey."

David startled, obviously not expecting company. "Oh, um, hi."

Lorne crossed the room and leaned against one of the unused lab tables that lined the walls, facing his lover. "You ok?"

"Fine." His voice was tight, and Lorne noticed that his hand was clenched around his stylus.

"David, look - " Lorne took a deep breath, steeling himself. He had some apologies to make, and he knew it. That he hadn't been responsible for his actions didn't make them any easier; he knew he'd hurt David. Even if it was all a blur. "I think we need to talk about what happened in that cave. Doc says I had a high fever, that I wasn't thinking clearly, and she's right."

"No." David finally looked up from his tablet, and Lorne could see the pain in his eyes. "We're not talking about this now."

"But- " Lorne knew he could salvage this, but he needed a chance to make his case. David wasn't giving him anything; it would have been easier if there had been yelling, but this quiet anger and pain was worse. He didn't know how to read David when he was like this, and that worried him.

"Nick, no." David stood, and some of the pain left his expression as he placed a gentle hand on Lorne's shoulder. "Not right now." His thumb stroked the fabric of Lorne's jacket softly. "Give me a week; then we'll see where we are. I don't want to say something I'll regret."

Lorne covered David's hand with his own, squeezing gently. "We'll sort this out. I'll see you in the gym in a week, right?"

David nodded, looking relieved. "Right. Now, though, I think you should go."

Lorne yawned, making an effort to appear casual as he made his way to the door. If this was how David wanted to play it, this was how they'd do it. "I'm going; I'm going. Enjoy your...seeds..."

David waved absently, already buried in whatever he'd been reading before being interrupted. Lorne smiled unconsciously as he watched David push his longer-than-regulation hair behind his ears to keep it out of his eyes. He realized that he'd miss this, the little moments, as much as anything else in their relationship. It was worth fighting for, and he'd do what he had to in order to make David see that too.

David was pulled out of his work by a not-quite-painful jab to his left arm from Shannon, Katie's new flower-friendly partner in crime. He didn't bother to look up. "What?"

She muttered something unintelligible.

He finally set down the moss he'd been poking at (Not that moss; despite what most of the city thought on occasion, botanist did not inherently equal idiot), and looked up. "What??" He found himself face to face with Nick and couldn't help frowning in confusion. "You're not Shannon."

Nick laughed, the sound echoed by Shannon as she returned to her lab station, and David had to smile in return. He'd missed Nick this last week, even if it was his own decision that had led to the time apart. He didn't regret taking some time to put things in perspective, but he was relieved to see that Nick had taken the request for some time to cool off as it was intended, instead of jumping to the worst possible conclusion. That quiet understanding made him hopeful that what they had really could last. "Just stopped by to make sure we were still on for tonight, 2300?"

David nodded. "Sounds good." He gestured to the moss he'd spread out under the new growth lights. "I should be done by then; I'll meet you at the gym."

"I'll leave you to it." With a wave, Nick headed out the door, and David found himself wishing the afternoon would pass more quickly. He was looking forward to the time with Nick again, which was an accomplishment in and of itself. He knew that Nick hadn't meant what he'd said when they were trapped in that cave, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Tonight, with any luck, things could start getting back to the way they were.

* * *

The rest of David's day flew by, much to his surprise. The moss, it turned out, responded only to the upper registers of the UV spectrum; once he'd established that, it was a simple procedure to get it tucked away into one of the little terrariums they'd nicknamed 'growth cells' that lined one of the sub-labs and wait for it to go to spore. With his work for the day done, he bowed out of the labs early for the first time in months. Katie looked up as he headed to the door. "Big plans for the night?"

David resisted the urge to say yes just to see what she would do; Katie had a well earned reputation as one of the gossip queens of Atlantis (She and Chuck, one of the guys who worked the 'Gate room, spent their off-duty nights secreted away in one of the unused lounges. Between the two of them, they had the entire city covered when it came to information sources). David decided to try for nonchalant. "Not really. Just the usual. You?"

She looked skeptical, but allowed herself to be distracted. "Girls' poker night. Since the Daedalus got in last night, Novak should be betting with the good stuff. Anything you want to front me?"

David laughed at the hopeful look in her eyes. "Sorry, Katie. I like to save my chocolate for special occasions. You losing it to Cadman at the poker table is not a special occasion."

She pouted, but couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds before breaking out into giggles and ruining the sorrowful image. "Fine, see if I give you flowers if you ever have a date to impress."

He shrugged. "Somehow, I think I'll survive. I'm going to get going; anything you needed me to do on your projects?"

She shook her head. "Nah, most of them are still germinating. Go on, get out of here."

He was almost to the door when her voice stopped him. It was softer, a tone he'd never heard from her before. "David? I don't know what's been going on with you this last week, but I'm glad it's worked itself out. It's good to see you happy again."

He swallowed hard and nodded, unsure of how exactly to reply. After an awkward silence, he settled with "Thanks", and left.

* * *

He ate dinner alone, which wasn't all that unusual; even amongst a group of scientists, interaction outside of the lab took more effort than he liked to expend without good reason. Nick was one of the only people he was comfortable relaxing with. He picked at the macaroni & cheese and almost-chicken; it was never a good idea to eat much before attempting to get the tar beaten out of you. He'd learned that the second night he'd been training with Nick.

Still in a good mood, he stopped by his quarters to change and arrived at the gym at exactly 2259. When he entered, however, he found that he wasn't the first one there. Three marines were standing by the weights, chatting; they looked up when the door closed behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

David blinked. "Um, I'm meeting a friend. Why?"

"Who?"

David frowned. "None of your business. Is there a problem?"

The marines approached, and he recognized two of them from the roving patrol that passed his lab - Sergeants, he was pretty sure. The third, however, was unfamiliar; he was probably from the new batch who had just transferred in from the Daedalus. The new guy stopped only a few feet from David, and sneered. "Yes, there's a problem. You see, this is a military gym. You scientists have your own gym for practicing your Tai Chi; we don't need you here."

"You're kidding, right?"

The new guy, a lieutenant by the way the sergeants were deferring to him, cracked his knuckles. "Do I look like I'm kidding? What is it with you scientists, always thinking you know how things are supposed to be? Always with the answers."

David shrugged, and set his towel down on the bench beside him. "No, you don't look like you're kidding. But then you also look like you're new here. Here in Atlantis, we have this little thing we like to call cross-training."

One of the sergeants tried to say something, but the new guy cut him off. "Talking back, is that a scientist skill too? Some kind of basic course they teach before sending you out to play with the grunts? Just because you know what end of a Beretta to hold, suddenly you're a big man? Well, if you want to play with the marines? I'll show you what happens when a geek plays with the marines."

In retrospect, David would concede that he would have been better off had he just taken the first punch and played dead. At the time, he hadn't stopped to think that far ahead; he ducked out of the way, receiving only a glancing blow.

He tried to take the reasonable approach; neither of the sergeants looked too happy with the way things were going, so there had to be at least a shot at getting this resolved without bloodshed. "Let's not do this, guys. This is just some kind of misunderstanding, I'm sure. Why don't we just check the gym schedule or something, and we can go our separate ways."

There was a brief moment where he thought he'd managed to calm things down. Then the lieutenant let out a growl and launched at him, and David had a brief moment of supreme clarity where he noted the twin looks of resignation on the sergeants' faces before the first blow landed. The lieutenant managed to get in a solid punch to the left side of David's face, one which hurt enough that he knew he'd be visiting the infirmary after this, before David realized that he was out for blood. At that point, he gave up his pretense of avoidance and landed a solid kick to the man's right knee; the lieutenant landed badly, but by then the two sergeants had decided that they couldn't allow the honor of the marine corps to be impuned by a mere botanist. David had just managed to duck away from one of them when the door opened and Nick wandered in.

"Sorry I'm late, got caught up..."

Things resolved rather quickly after that, although David was a bit hazy on the details; once he was no longer actively involved, his cheek started to throb with a vengeance. The next thing he knew for sure, Nick was guiding him over to one of the benches and calling for a medical team.

* * *

Dr. Beckett was not amused.

Three hours, and a lecture on the appropriate usage of force during 'hand-to-hand combat training' later, David was released from the infirmary along with an ice pack and a batch of analgesics for his broken cheekbone. Lorne managed to escape an hour later after an up-close-and-personal explanation of a boxer's break (Apparently the fact that he hadn't thrown a punch in a real fight in close to six years had come back to bite him in the ass). He'd managed to fracture two bones in his hand while breaking Sergeant Visseau's nose; it meant light duty for a minimum of four weeks.

He stopped by David's quarters after his release, but his lover was already asleep so he headed for his own rooms instead.

* * *

Sheppard wasn't all that amused either, although he was quieter about it. When Lorne woke up the next morning, there was a message in his inbox informing him to report to the colonel's office after breakfast to explain what exactly he'd been thinking.

"So, I hear we're down three marines this morning. Know anything about that?"

Lorne slumped into the chair across from Sheppard's desk. He knew it wasn't proper procedure, but he honestly didn't think Sheppard would care. This was the man who conducted half of their weekly briefings with his feet on the desk. "Yes, sir."

"I have three reports of a training incident, and one refusal to comment." Sheppard closed his laptop and turned to face Lorne more fully, resting his hands on the desk. "I've seen plenty of training accidents, Lorne. Been involved in a few. I've seen plenty of fights, too. Been involved in a few more of those. Any guesses which this reads as?"

Lorne winced. "Yes, sir."

"Since we've established that, I'm more than willing to move the rest of this discussion into the hypothetical. I think that would make things easier for all concerned, don't you agree?"

"Yes, sir."

"So... Let's say that this was a fight, do you have any idea what might have caused it?"

Lorne's jaw clenched, just enough to be noticeable. "Doctor Parrish implied it was a result of miscommunication, but I'm not entirely sure I believe him."

"So you believe that this was a resolution of personal differences? Personally, I would have chosen McKay if I were the lieutenant - you only get one shot at this kind of thing, and apparently the two had a run-in earlier in the afternoon. Rodney wasn't too specific; I didn't think it would come to anything."

Lorne frowned, thinking. "I don't think it was personal, at least not exactly. I know that Lieutenant Harris is new to the city; there hasn't been time for him to build up a problem with any of the botanists, David or anyone else. McKay? Yes. He always does the "Welcome to Atlantis, Run For Your Life" lecture. But Botany's kind of reclusive. It's possible this was simply a scientist bashing, but I hate to think that's the case."

Sheppard nodded. "The thought had occurred to me. It wouldn't be the first time we've had this kind of incident, but I thought we'd gotten all the troublemakers shipped out on the last run. It doesn't exactly make for good inter-departmental cooperation if one side of the command structure starts beating the shit out of the other." He picked up a stress ball from his desk and started tossing it back and forth while he talked. "I want to keep a low profile on this until we know more. I've pulled Harris's record, since he was the ranking officer involved in the initial altercation. I wish they'd given me time to screen this batch myself. Harris would never have made the cut; he's a classic legacy officer with a chip on his shoulder and unrealistic promotion expectations. Visseau and Johnson were probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they didn't stop things so... However, as you know, if Doctor Parrish isn't willing to enter the incident into the record then there's a limit to what I can do officially. But it would help to know that the transfers I'm expediting are the right ones." He caught the ball, squeezing it tightly. "Anything else, while we're off the record?"

Lorne shifted, studying the wall behind Sheppard's head for a moment before reaching a conclusion. "There is one other possibility, sir."

"Yes?" Sheppard's eyebrow crept up, evidencing his curiosity.

"It may not have been scientist bashing, per se."

Sheppard blinked. "Oh. Oh. Haven't seen that one yet, not since transferring to the Stargate Program, but there's a first time for everything, I guess." He started tossing the ball again, back and forth, back and forth, as he speculated. "You can only go so long before something like that's going to surface as well. If you could talk with Parrish again, see if you can find out for sure, I'll think about how to handle the situation." He cleared his throat, the ball stilled in his left hand while he reopened his laptop with his right. "Right. So, this time for the record this time; could you please give me a good explanation for why this happened?"

"It was a training accident that got out of hand, sir."

Sheppard jotted down some notes. "Which technique was being attempted?"

"Um, one of Ronon's many-on-one techniques? I don't think it has a name."

"That should work." He wrote down a few more details. "And you chose to intercede in the manner you did because...?"

"Had I waited for a security team to arrive and assist in breaking up the altercation, more injuries would likely have been sustained. I used my judgment at the time and intervened myself in the most efficient manner."

"And broke two bones in your hand." Sheppard looked like he was trying hard not to say something else; Lorne appreciated the uncharacteristic restraint.

"Well, yes, sir." Lorne resisted the urge to wince. Barely.

Sheppard tapped a few more keys, then closed his laptop. "All right, I think that's all I need from you. According to Carson, you're to be placed on restricted duty for the next four weeks. Since that's the case, I'm reassigning your team to Lieutenant Wong. I'm also temporarily transferring responsibility for inventory, patrol organization, requisitions, and that file-updating project Doctor Weir insisted we start, to you for the next month."

Lorne frowned. "Sir, I already do all of that."

Sheppard grinned. "I know; that's the beauty of it. Don't give me that look! I'll admit, I do have an ulterior motive; I want you to lie low for the next few weeks until this has a chance to blow over. Most of the marines here know you, but I don't want one of the kids from the new platoon to get it into their head to 'protect the honor of the corps' or something equally as idiotic. You might want to give Parrish the same advice, although as you said - the botanists tend to be reclusive anyway." He laughed at Lorne's put-upon expression. "Look on the bright side; at least this time you won't be scrambling to get all of the performance appraisals done on time, right?"

"Wasn't that you, sir?" At Sheppard's disgruntled expression, Lorne back-pedaled at warp speed. After all, as Sheppard was fond of reminding him, you were never too high-ranking for KP. Ever. "Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Is that all?"

Sheppard started tossing the stressball again. "I'll expect a written confirmation of events in my inbox in the morning, preferably one from Parrish as well if you happen to run into him. Other than that, you're off-duty barring city-wide disaster until 0700 tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, sir." Lorne rose stiffly, the bruises he'd been carefully ignoring now reminding him of their presence, and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Lorne?"

"Yes sir?" He turned to find Sheppard smirking at him.

"Try not to start any new rumors in the next few weeks, with or without 'David'."

Lorne was caught between laughing and throwing something at his CO. He went with a mid-ground of relief at having one less thing to worry about. "I'll try, sir."

Sheppard nodded. "See that you do."

* * *

He found David in what he was beginning to realize was his preferred lab for avoiding people. The bruising had matured overnight, and a good portion of his face was a painful-looking combination of blues, blacks, and the occasional purple. Lorne winced in sympathy as he approached; he hadn't realized quite how bad it was when they'd gone their separate ways in the infirmary.

"Are you just going to stand there, or do you want to sit down and stay a while?" David's voice was quiet, and Lorne was relieved to find that it was full of good humor.

"Oh, um, yeah." Lorne slid into the seat across from him. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt anything important.

David snickered, then let out a low moan of pain. "Nick, the day you actually concede that moss is important is the day I grow very, very concerned about your mental state. Give me a minute, and I'll be done here."

"Right, sure."

David tapped the power button on his tablet, and looked up. "What's up?"

"How are you doing?"

David shrugged. "Face hurts like Hell, but that's to be expected." He paused for a moment, studying Lorne. "I'm going to guess that's not why you're here, though."

He'd imagined this moment for the last week, but never quite like this. Not with David's face swollen and bruised, and his own hand in a splint. "No. I mean, yes, it was a reason. Just not the only one. We never managed to have that talk last night." Lorne shifted, leaning his elbows on the table.

David moved the tablet to the side and copied Lorne's pose. "No. No, we didn't."

"I'm off-duty today, and that moss isn't going anywhere; I checked with Katie, you don't even have anything urgent for the next few days." Lorne cracked the knuckles on his left hand absently, but stopped when he saw David's reaction. "Oh, sorry. That's probably not what you want to see right now. Um, listen. I, um. I think we have something that's worth fighting for, you and me. I know I said some things when I was in that cave, and I would give a lot to take them back. But I also think that even now, we're a lot stronger than that. You said something about stability before, and now that I've had a chance to think about it, it rings true. You don't realize it, but you make it so much easier for me to deal with everything else, just by being there. I don't want to give you up; I won't give you up." He looked down at the table, unwilling to watch as David assimilated the information. David had one of those faces where every thought was visible if you weren't careful. When the silence drew on too long, he took a chance and spoke, although his words were directed at the lab table. "So, I was thinking that maybe we could have that talk."

A large hand, complete with long, tapered fingers, entered his field of vision and settled around his own. He looked up to find a gentle smile on David's face. "I think I'd like that."

~ Finis ~
Sequence Completed