![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Five Ways They Tell Someone - Parrish/Lorne
By:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kellifer_fic
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Notes: Companion to Five Ways They Tell Someone - John/Rodney
Summary: Only a few moments later he felt long fingers tangle through his hair and realised it was the first time either of them had been unguarded in their affection outside their own rooms.
“…with another couple.”
Lorne felt a prickle on the back of his neck and realised he was being stared at. He turned his head around slowly and looked at Laura Cadman sitting behind him, perched on a rock and looking expectant. Crap, she’d just asked him something and he hadn’t been paying attention at all.
“Hmm?”
Laura rolled her eyes. “I was saying that Carson’s been all weird the last couple of weeks and it might relax him to have another couple there.” When Lorne flushed beet red, she rolled her eyes again. “For dinner,” she clarified, snorting in derision.
“Oh, right. Sure. Sounds good,” Lorne agreed, not really knowing what Cadman wanted him to say. They had been waiting for the other members of his team for two hours and it seemed out of pure desperation she was asking his advice on something… or not.
“Great. Who will you bring?”
Crap, Lorne thought for the second time in as many minutes. I really should learn to listen to people to avoid entrapment.
“Oh, I’m not seeing anyone… at the moment,” Lorne stammered, knowing that he had flushed again and cursing the genetic quirk which meant he could never truly lie convincingly.
This earned him the mother of all eye rolls. “Oh, please,” Laura sighed. “You’ve been wandering around Atlantis with a goofy grin for the past three weeks. You’re seeing someone.”
Parrish picked that exact moment to come bursting out of the forest, Espenez trailing behind picking leaves out of his hair and scowling. “You’ll never guess what I found!” Parrish called as he came rushing over.
Lorne’s flush deepened and actually travelled the length of his neck.
Laura was grinning when she stood and nudged Lorne in the back with her knee. “So, I’ll see you guys at eight?”
***
“Bloody scientists,” the Colonel sighed as he dropped into the chair next to Lorne.
Lorne, in response, stiffened automatically and would’ve stood if not for a gentle tap on his shoulder, indicating he should stay seated. Colonel Sheppard said something else that Lorne didn’t quite catch because of the rushing in his ears at being cornered while so vulnerable. He hated showing his belly but at times like these, he was an open wound.
“There were landmines,” Sheppard continued with a note of awed disgust. “I’m surprised he was the only one hurt.”
“He ran ahead,” Lorne sighed, clenching his fists and completely at a loss. “He was so damn excited and I had just finished yelling at him to get back behind us when…” There was a burning at the back of his throat that Lorne was horrified to realise meant he was dangerously close to tears…in front of his CO. He clenched his fists harder, nails digging into the flesh of his palm.
“It could have been worse. They were some kind of proximity mine instead of pressure and Carson says he’ll be fine. He was just winged.”
Lorne was still stuck on that field on P3M-484, seeing the way Parrish had zigged in front of him when he’d spotted whatever the hell it was that had made him all excited. He’d basically crossed right in front of where Lorne would have walked, almost like he knew.“You didn’t see…he just flew… Jesus, when he hit the ground he wasn’t moving.”
“And you ran right over to him,” John said carefully. “Over a field full of mines.”
Lorne had been so preoccupied with the horror of what had happened that he hadn’t yet met his CO’s steady gaze, or just what that was telling him. He finally met Sheppard’s eyes and in the narrowed and intent green he read what he had feared for a while.
Knowledge.
Everything tense in his body seemed to relax all at once and Lorne realised that he had been waiting for this very moment, probably since the first time he had seen David Parrish flush with excitement over a single flower.
“Do I at least get an honourable discharge?”
Sheppard sighed heavily, the kind of sound you heard as the precursor to bad news and because of it Lorne took a second to take in what he had said.
“I’m moving Parrish off your team. I’m just letting you know as a courtesy. You’ll be getting Cortez instead.”
“Wait, what?”
“Major, I have a scientist too.”
McKay floated into Lorne’s mind’s eye. Bumbling, fast-talking, incredible at ass-saving Doctor Rodney McKay.
“Sir?”
“We’re in another Galaxy and both you and Doctor Parrish are extremely valuable members of this expedition. I, of course, expect there to never be another incident like this again.”
Lorne for a crazy second thought that Sheppard meant the way he was sitting outside of the infirmary, but then realised that Sheppard was actually talking about his potentially suicidal run across a muddy and mine-seeded field because the terror of seeing that precious body thrown in the air like a rag doll had been too much. Lorne smiled, relief dumping through his body. “No, Sir!”
“Now, I know you’re sitting out here when you want to be sitting in there and I also happen to know that the infirmary will be empty for the next ten minutes.”
“Thankyou, Sir,” he said, the horrible little burn at the back of his throat there again. When he had first come to Atlantis, he had been amazed at the almost single-focused devotion both scientists and military seemed to show the Colonel. Lorne was finally starting to get it.
Lorne entered the infirmary and lowered himself onto the chair by Parrish’s bed. Lorne dropped his head onto the bed by Parrish’s hip, a little overwhelmed by the silence in the room. Parrish usually filled a room with gesture and voice and it was too empty without them. Only a few moments later he felt long fingers tangle through his hair and realised it was the first time either of them had been unguarded in their affection outside their own rooms.
Lorne turned his head slightly and saw long legs jutting across the doorway, crossed at the ankle and sighed, bringing his hand up to knot fingers with Parrish’s, knowing he was safe.
***
It took them a second to realise that it was Ronon leaning in the greenhouse doorway, big grin on his face.
Lorne carefully removed his arms from around Parrish’s waist, not knowing exactly what the expression on the Satedan’s face meant.
Ronon turned, still grinning, saying, “Another pudding. Excellent.”
***
“You’d think they would have figured it out.”
Lorne lowered himself until he was sitting on the curb next to David, at a loss. Anyone who knew them would have laid odds that the conversation about their orientation would have been received pretty badly in the Lorne household and been a non-issue in the Parrish one.
As it turned out, the reverse was true. Lorne’s mother, a fierce woman who had raised him on her own since he was ten, had been ecstatic and had demanded they both stay with her when next ‘on shore’. She’d taken to calling their respective voicemails to leave endearing messages that always started with, “Hello my precious darlings,” and had surreptitiously been inserting gifts for David in her care packages.
They were sitting on the curbside outside David Parrish’s house because his father and mother had wanted to discuss it in private. Neither had looked pleased and there had been a horrible blankness on David’s Father’s face when he had held the door open for both men with a silent gesture for them to leave.
“They’ll get used to it. It’s just a shock,” Lorne offered, knowing it was little comfort, hand on the small of David’s back.
***
Elizabeth watched Nicholas Lorne leave her office and weave his way between scurrying scientists and hustling marines, tipping a smile here and there. She couldn’t believe the man hadn’t been at Atlantis the entire time with them because it certainly felt like it. She saw him take the steps down to the gate two at a time lightly and slide to a halt beside John halfway down, who clapped him on the shoulder. If nothing else, for John to have someone he trusted by his side when he had for so long shouldered command alone, was to be cherished.
Caldwell eased into her office and dropped onto the chair opposite, eyes already on Elizabeth’s datapad and the half finished game of chess she had brought up in anticipation of his arrival.
“Anything I should be worried about?” he asked, canting his head in the direction Lorne had just retreated. His gaze was on the chess pieces on screen but it was the careful way he wasn’t looking at her that was most telling. He didn’t have to ask and she didn’t have to tell but he knew all the same. What he was looking for from her, she assumed, was some kind of assurance.
Despite everything, Elizabeth had learned that he trusted her judgement.
“Only that your Queen is going down,” Elizabeth quipped, smiling. Caldwell looked up at her for a beat, something unreadable on his face, before he seemed to give a mental shrug.
“The game’s not over until someone says check mate,” he reminded her mildly.
By:
kellifer_ficRating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Notes: Companion to Five Ways They Tell Someone - John/Rodney
Summary: Only a few moments later he felt long fingers tangle through his hair and realised it was the first time either of them had been unguarded in their affection outside their own rooms.
“…with another couple.”
Lorne felt a prickle on the back of his neck and realised he was being stared at. He turned his head around slowly and looked at Laura Cadman sitting behind him, perched on a rock and looking expectant. Crap, she’d just asked him something and he hadn’t been paying attention at all.
“Hmm?”
Laura rolled her eyes. “I was saying that Carson’s been all weird the last couple of weeks and it might relax him to have another couple there.” When Lorne flushed beet red, she rolled her eyes again. “For dinner,” she clarified, snorting in derision.
“Oh, right. Sure. Sounds good,” Lorne agreed, not really knowing what Cadman wanted him to say. They had been waiting for the other members of his team for two hours and it seemed out of pure desperation she was asking his advice on something… or not.
“Great. Who will you bring?”
Crap, Lorne thought for the second time in as many minutes. I really should learn to listen to people to avoid entrapment.
“Oh, I’m not seeing anyone… at the moment,” Lorne stammered, knowing that he had flushed again and cursing the genetic quirk which meant he could never truly lie convincingly.
This earned him the mother of all eye rolls. “Oh, please,” Laura sighed. “You’ve been wandering around Atlantis with a goofy grin for the past three weeks. You’re seeing someone.”
Parrish picked that exact moment to come bursting out of the forest, Espenez trailing behind picking leaves out of his hair and scowling. “You’ll never guess what I found!” Parrish called as he came rushing over.
Lorne’s flush deepened and actually travelled the length of his neck.
Laura was grinning when she stood and nudged Lorne in the back with her knee. “So, I’ll see you guys at eight?”
“Bloody scientists,” the Colonel sighed as he dropped into the chair next to Lorne.
Lorne, in response, stiffened automatically and would’ve stood if not for a gentle tap on his shoulder, indicating he should stay seated. Colonel Sheppard said something else that Lorne didn’t quite catch because of the rushing in his ears at being cornered while so vulnerable. He hated showing his belly but at times like these, he was an open wound.
“There were landmines,” Sheppard continued with a note of awed disgust. “I’m surprised he was the only one hurt.”
“He ran ahead,” Lorne sighed, clenching his fists and completely at a loss. “He was so damn excited and I had just finished yelling at him to get back behind us when…” There was a burning at the back of his throat that Lorne was horrified to realise meant he was dangerously close to tears…in front of his CO. He clenched his fists harder, nails digging into the flesh of his palm.
“It could have been worse. They were some kind of proximity mine instead of pressure and Carson says he’ll be fine. He was just winged.”
Lorne was still stuck on that field on P3M-484, seeing the way Parrish had zigged in front of him when he’d spotted whatever the hell it was that had made him all excited. He’d basically crossed right in front of where Lorne would have walked, almost like he knew.“You didn’t see…he just flew… Jesus, when he hit the ground he wasn’t moving.”
“And you ran right over to him,” John said carefully. “Over a field full of mines.”
Lorne had been so preoccupied with the horror of what had happened that he hadn’t yet met his CO’s steady gaze, or just what that was telling him. He finally met Sheppard’s eyes and in the narrowed and intent green he read what he had feared for a while.
Knowledge.
Everything tense in his body seemed to relax all at once and Lorne realised that he had been waiting for this very moment, probably since the first time he had seen David Parrish flush with excitement over a single flower.
“Do I at least get an honourable discharge?”
Sheppard sighed heavily, the kind of sound you heard as the precursor to bad news and because of it Lorne took a second to take in what he had said.
“I’m moving Parrish off your team. I’m just letting you know as a courtesy. You’ll be getting Cortez instead.”
“Wait, what?”
“Major, I have a scientist too.”
McKay floated into Lorne’s mind’s eye. Bumbling, fast-talking, incredible at ass-saving Doctor Rodney McKay.
“Sir?”
“We’re in another Galaxy and both you and Doctor Parrish are extremely valuable members of this expedition. I, of course, expect there to never be another incident like this again.”
Lorne for a crazy second thought that Sheppard meant the way he was sitting outside of the infirmary, but then realised that Sheppard was actually talking about his potentially suicidal run across a muddy and mine-seeded field because the terror of seeing that precious body thrown in the air like a rag doll had been too much. Lorne smiled, relief dumping through his body. “No, Sir!”
“Now, I know you’re sitting out here when you want to be sitting in there and I also happen to know that the infirmary will be empty for the next ten minutes.”
“Thankyou, Sir,” he said, the horrible little burn at the back of his throat there again. When he had first come to Atlantis, he had been amazed at the almost single-focused devotion both scientists and military seemed to show the Colonel. Lorne was finally starting to get it.
Lorne entered the infirmary and lowered himself onto the chair by Parrish’s bed. Lorne dropped his head onto the bed by Parrish’s hip, a little overwhelmed by the silence in the room. Parrish usually filled a room with gesture and voice and it was too empty without them. Only a few moments later he felt long fingers tangle through his hair and realised it was the first time either of them had been unguarded in their affection outside their own rooms.
Lorne turned his head slightly and saw long legs jutting across the doorway, crossed at the ankle and sighed, bringing his hand up to knot fingers with Parrish’s, knowing he was safe.
It took them a second to realise that it was Ronon leaning in the greenhouse doorway, big grin on his face.
Lorne carefully removed his arms from around Parrish’s waist, not knowing exactly what the expression on the Satedan’s face meant.
Ronon turned, still grinning, saying, “Another pudding. Excellent.”
“You’d think they would have figured it out.”
Lorne lowered himself until he was sitting on the curb next to David, at a loss. Anyone who knew them would have laid odds that the conversation about their orientation would have been received pretty badly in the Lorne household and been a non-issue in the Parrish one.
As it turned out, the reverse was true. Lorne’s mother, a fierce woman who had raised him on her own since he was ten, had been ecstatic and had demanded they both stay with her when next ‘on shore’. She’d taken to calling their respective voicemails to leave endearing messages that always started with, “Hello my precious darlings,” and had surreptitiously been inserting gifts for David in her care packages.
They were sitting on the curbside outside David Parrish’s house because his father and mother had wanted to discuss it in private. Neither had looked pleased and there had been a horrible blankness on David’s Father’s face when he had held the door open for both men with a silent gesture for them to leave.
“They’ll get used to it. It’s just a shock,” Lorne offered, knowing it was little comfort, hand on the small of David’s back.
Elizabeth watched Nicholas Lorne leave her office and weave his way between scurrying scientists and hustling marines, tipping a smile here and there. She couldn’t believe the man hadn’t been at Atlantis the entire time with them because it certainly felt like it. She saw him take the steps down to the gate two at a time lightly and slide to a halt beside John halfway down, who clapped him on the shoulder. If nothing else, for John to have someone he trusted by his side when he had for so long shouldered command alone, was to be cherished.
Caldwell eased into her office and dropped onto the chair opposite, eyes already on Elizabeth’s datapad and the half finished game of chess she had brought up in anticipation of his arrival.
“Anything I should be worried about?” he asked, canting his head in the direction Lorne had just retreated. His gaze was on the chess pieces on screen but it was the careful way he wasn’t looking at her that was most telling. He didn’t have to ask and she didn’t have to tell but he knew all the same. What he was looking for from her, she assumed, was some kind of assurance.
Despite everything, Elizabeth had learned that he trusted her judgement.
“Only that your Queen is going down,” Elizabeth quipped, smiling. Caldwell looked up at her for a beat, something unreadable on his face, before he seemed to give a mental shrug.
“The game’s not over until someone says check mate,” he reminded her mildly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
pairing!
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Ronon turned, still grinning, saying, “Another pudding. Excellent.”
there should be a "five ways ronon wins a pudding" fic.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Secondly, for days I have been wracking my brain trying to remember a story in which John revealed to one of his men that he had a scientist, too. And then told him he was reassigning the scientist to another team (I remember thinking that was unreasonable of John. I don't see him moving Rodney off of his team.). When I read this today my first thought was, "I'm psychic!" Then I clicked on the link to the earlier John/Rodney fic and saw the parallel story there. Oh, well. There go my plans for making huge amounts of money from my psychic abilities ;) But at least you've saved me a query on sgastoryfinders!
From:
no subject
Ah, I did think about this when writing it, but John's decision was prompted by Lorne doing something reckless rather than the relationship itself... :)
But yay for saving you from query-dom. *grin*
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Ronon you... You FANBOY! *is dead*
Loved it. Perfect companion piece, and just all around awwww inducing.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Bwahahaaa! I am totally reading this as Caldwell squelching his inner twelve year old. Hee!
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject