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Everything We Call Life - Stargate: Atlantis - Evan Lorne/David Parrish - Words: 5,777
Written for Stargateland's Mini-Bang
Summary: They've encountered dozens of strange Ancient Devices in the Pegasus Galaxy, but somehow Evan Lorne and David Parrish manage to stumble into just the right one at the right time.
Content Notes: None. PG-13
On AO3: Everything We Call Life
It started the way this kind of thing always seemed to start, in an off-world Ancient laboratory with Evan flat on his back and opening his eyes to see Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Beckett's faces looming over him.
"How many times do I have to tell you, don't touch the Ancient devices you find because you don't know what they're going to do to you?" McKay asked from somewhere to Evan's left.
"I didn't touch anything," Evan said automatically, his tongue tripping over the words.
"How are you feeling, Major?" Dr. Beckett asked, one of his hands tipping Evan's head back to check his eyes.
Evan blinked a few times as the rest of the room came into focus. "Fine," he said and started to push himself up on his elbows. "I'm fine. How's Parrish?"
"I'm good," Parrish said from where he was sitting on the floor a few feet away. He gave a sheepish wave with a hand that was wrapped in a thick white bandage. "Sorry about that."
"Well, looks like we got lucky this time, but I'd like to run a few tests back on Atlantis to make sure," Dr. Beckett said, checking Evan's pulse before he stepped back.
"They're all yours," Sheppard said with a smile as he patted Evan's shoulder. "Good to have you back, Major."
Evan started to get to his feet, only to find the room spinning around him and Sheppard and Beckett's hands supporting him.
"I think you better stay put for a few minutes," Sheppard was saying when Evan's vision and hearing returned from the blackness that had briefly enveloped him. "You were down for at least forty-five minutes."
From his place on the floor Evan watched as Sheppard joined McKay at the console and another engineer worked from another station. He could see the other two military members on his team, Coughlin and Reed, in the distant doorway, along with what looked like the rest of Sheppard's team and a small military retrieval team. It figured that they would bring the entire base on a rescue mission that was really unnecessary; though, to be fair, Evan usually brought two retrieval teams when he had to go looking for Sheppard. Payback was a bitch.
"Sorry," Parrish said again, looking just about as embarrassed as Evan had ever seen him, including the time a corrosive plant had eaten away most of their clothes. "I didn't even realize I was touching anything until you grabbed me."
Evan shrugged because he hadn't realized it either until he'd seen the panel Parrish had stumbled against starting to glow. "Well, I probably shouldn't have grabbed you, so I think we're about even on that count." He hadn't even thought before he'd grabbed his botanist's wrist to pull him away from the console. His team had only been together for two months, and in that time they'd nearly died seven times and had been captured twice. His team back at the SGC had been together for more than a year and for the most part he hadn't had near the amount of trouble. Of course, then he was supervising archeologists on most missions, not brokering treaties and meeting new cultures and stumbling across the Wraith or Ancient devices of doom on every other world. Evan kind of loved the Pegasus Galaxy.
"Well, mission successful, right? Discover new technology that will help with the Wraith problem. Now we just have to lure them into the lab and let them knock themselves out. Literally!" Parrish smiled, seeming to decide that all's well that ends well.
"I'll make sure to put that suggestion in my report," Evan said dryly. Parrish was the only person he knew who called it 'the Wraith problem', which made it sound like they were galactic exterminators or something instead of fighting a war against life-sucking aliens. "I don't know about you, but I think I've had my share of off-world adventures for today," Evan said as he pushed himself to his feet. The room didn't spin around him this time and his hearing and vision stayed clear.
He held out his hand to Parrish, who took it with a smirk, and Evan pulled the taller, lankier man up to his feet.
"Oh, that's good. I was starting to worry that I would never be able to stand again. Every time someone tried to help me up I felt like my head was being split open from the inside," Parrish said, dusting his hands on his even dustier pants. "Dr. Beckett looks like he's ready to head back, shall we round up the others?"
Evan agreed, accepting the relieved welcome of his other teammates. They went back to the 'gate, leaving Sheppard's team behind because McKay was up to his elbows inside the machine and refused to leave until he was finished, and an hour later he and Parrish were both cleared to leave the infirmary.
"See you around, Doctor. Thanks for the rescue," Evan said as he slid off the edge of the bed.
"I'm just glad it wasn't anything more serious," Beckett said, turning back to where Parrish was getting his hand cleaned and bandaged by one of the nurses.
"Me too," Evan said, giving Parrish a knowing look and then walking out of the infirmary. He made it five steps down the hall before his vision went black and he fell to the floor.
*****
Evan opened his eyes and found Sheppard, Beckett, and Weir all standing over him. "What?" he asked, taking in their concerned gazes.
"I think we may have a wee bit of a problem," Beckett said.
Evan closed his eyes and put his head back down on the bed, because when a normal doctor said that there was a 'wee bit of a problem', that usually meant your cholesterol was high or you needed to stop eating so many hamburgers. When a doctor from the Stargate Program said there was a 'wee bit of a problem', that usually meant you had mutated or now had telepathy or were about to ascend, or any number of problems that they still couldn't predict. "Do I even want to know?" he asked.
"You'll know as soon as I do," Beckett said, patting Evan's arm and then moving away.
When Evan opened his eyes he found that Sheppard had made himself scarce as well and only Weir remained by his bedside.
"We'll find a solution, Major. We've come back from worse situations than this and we have the best people looking into it," Weir said, her optimism carefully concealing the hint of worry he saw in the tight corners of her eyes.
"Yes ma'am," Evan said, because what she said was entirely true. Sheppard had turned into a bug and now he only had a few left over scars to show for it. McKay and Teyla had briefly developed the ability to fly, and they were fine now. Randomly collapsing was pretty much nothing, unless Evan had turned purple or something. He quickly checked his skin and was relieved to find that he still looked the same as ever.
Weir smiled. "Desk duty until you're cleared by Beckett. I'll make sure you're kept updated."
Evan sighed and sat up, he already felt fine again. "How are you?" he asked when he noticed that Parrish was still sitting a few beds over.
"Alright. They kept me here after you collapsed, since I was the one that actually touched the machine," Parrish said as he got off the bed and walked over to Evan. "I feel fine. Not dizzy at all."
"What about your hand?" Evan asked, pointing to the bandages.
Parrish held it up and flexed the mass of bandages a little bit. "Doesn't hurt so much now. I thought it would be worse. Whatever else the machine did, it took off pretty much all the skin on the palm of my hand."
Evan grimaced and nodded. "Great. Well. Let me know if you start getting dizzy."
"Yep," Parrish said and dropped down in the chair near Evan's bed. "They've been scanning us pretty much constantly, but I bet Beckett will be back to scan you again now that you're awake."
"Major Lorne, if you could step this way please," Beckett said, pointing to the multi-purpose scanner that was built into one of the infirmary walls.
Parrish wiggled his eyebrows as if to say 'see, told you'.
Evan eyed the machine doubtfully, despite having been inside it twice before. McKay had said that he thought it hadn't originally been a medical scanner at all and ever since he'd declined to comment on what he thought it might have originally been, Evan had been a little bit nervous about stepping inside. He marched over to the machine, not dizzy at all, and decided that he didn't come to another galaxy to walk away from an MRI machine cranked up to eleven.
*****
Evan and Parrish stayed overnight in the infirmary, despite Beckett's scans showing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and when they were allowed to leave Evan made it all the way to the mess hall before he collapsed.
"This is getting old," Evan said when he opened his eyes inside the infirmary again to look up at Beckett, Parrish, and one of the nurses.
"Well, on the bright side, I have a theory," Beckett said.
Evan sat up and checked his watch. He'd lost almost two hours. "Does testing it mean I'm going to black out again?" he asked. At this rate he wasn't going to get anything done that day, let alone actually get breakfast.
"At some point, yes. But for now I want you to try and stick with Dr. Parrish. Stay within about three meters of each other, we can test the specifics later," Beckett said, looked at both of them expectantly.
Evan looked at Parrish. "Did you black out too?"
Parrish shook his head.
Evan turned back to Beckett and waited.
"It's just a theory based on what we've seen so far. You didn't collapse until the mess hall, which is a wee bit further than a few steps out of the infirmary. However, you and Doctor Parrish parted company at the transporter near the mess hall," Beckett explained. "And, to be quite honest, I have no other ideas at this point. If it's not some kind of bond created by the device you touched-"
"Parrish touched," Evan interjected, deciding he was allowed to be petty for a minute or two.
"Regardless, if that's not the case, we'll find out soon enough. Now, unless you have any other suggestions, I recommend you start with a good breakfast, and that is my professional medical opinion," Beckett said with the small smile that meant his patience was being sorely tested.
Evan got to his feet and motioned to Parrish.
"At least it's a simple enough theory to test," Parrish pointed out as they walked out of the infirmary. "And, if it's true, maybe it will wear off after a few days. Or, maybe we'll become telepaths or ninjas. That would be exciting! Didn't you ever read comic books?"
"I did," Evan said with the beginnings of a smile. There were worse people he could get linked to, if that's what this was, though he suspected that Parrish's relentless optimism would become wearing after a while. "No offense, but I think I'll let Sheppard and McKay keep the superpowers. They seem to have fun with that. Besides, superheroes tend to get attacked a lot."
Parrish shrugged and smiled. "I suppose. What superpower would you pick?" he asked as they entered the mess hall.
"Human toaster," Evan said. "Perfectly toasted bread, every single time. Even bagels would have the perfect amount of toastedness all the way through."
"Huh, I wouldn't have thought of that," Parrish said as he thoughtfully touched a finger to his lips. "Mine would be photosynthesis, if I got to choose. Or maybe super strength!"
Evan laughed when Parrish used his free arm to make a display of flexing his muscles. "I could just see you Hulking out. The unassuming Doctor Parrish is actually the lurking green menace of greenhouse number three," he teased.
"You won't like me when I'm angry," Parrish agreed, finishing up loading his tray and pointing out the table where Reed and Coughlin were already sitting.
By the time they'd finished the meal and were taking a walk out on one of the piers, with no signs of a black out, Evan realized that Beckett's theory was probably correct. "So, how do we want to do this until they find a solution?" he asked when they reached the end with the ocean crashing against the city twenty feet below them.
Parrish gave a half smile. "My place or yours?"
*****
They stayed within the proscribed ten feet of each other for the entire day and Evan moved a cot into Parrish's room that evening because Parrish had a little more space. Very little, which meant they were sleeping within touching distance of each other and Evan found it difficult to fall asleep as he thought about what this would mean for his life if they didn't find a way to reverse the problem. He couldn't very well go on rescue missions, or any other combat likely mission, when he would pass out if he somehow got too far away from Parrish. He wouldn't be able to fly on Earth any more, not in military craft at least, and both his and Parrish's work on Atlantis would be hampered if they couldn't be out of the same room.
Evan swung his feet out of bed and got up. If he was on his own he would be going down to the gym, or going on a run, or even going up to his office to get some work done. Since he couldn't do any of those things he decided that he could at least test exactly how much leeway he had. Parrish hadn't seemed to suffer any adverse effects when they were apart, or Evan wouldn't even be thinking about trying this without informing Parrish first. First, Evan walked the perimeter of the bedroom, just barely out of the ten feet range, and then all the way to the edge of the bathroom. Emboldened by his success, Evan went to the doorway and stepped outside, and then a little further. He was three floors away when he let out the breath he'd been holding. Beckett wasn't right after all.
Relieved, because as much as he thought Parrish was a good guy he didn't want to spend his life attached at the hip, Evan decided that he might as well go on that run after all. He returned to his own quarters, changed into a pair of sweats, and was halfway to the upper deck when the darkness overwhelmed him all at once. He didn't even feel his body hitting the floor.
*****
"What happened to staying within three meters?" Beckett asked as soon as Evan's eyes opened.
Evan winced as he sat up and rolled his shoulders gingerly. He must have landed wrong because his head and left shoulder ached and he was certain he would have bruises. "Your theory doesn't hold. I was away from Parrish for at least twenty minutes," he said, looking at where Parrish was leaning against one of the walls with his gaze averted. "What about you, did you feel anything?"
Parrish shook his head. "I woke up and you were gone. Then I came looking for you and you were on the floor in one of the corridors."
"What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Beckett asked, looking between Evan and Parrish like one of them might actually have the answer to that question. "I of course mean, did Doctor Parrish wake first, and then the Major collapsed, or did the Major collapse and Doctor Parrish woke because he somehow sensed that it happened?"
Evan stared at Beckett and then turned to Parrish. "Come on, let's go see if we can figure this out."
"You realize it's four in the bloody morning," Beckett said.
Parrish's lips quirked in what was almost a smile. "Come on, doc. Didn't anyone ever tell you that the best time to conduct experiments was four in the morning? You do have a doctorate, right?"
Beckett nodded. "Aye. What did you have in mind, Major?"
Evan stood, still gently rolling his aching shoulder. He was getting better at bouncing back after waking up in the infirmary. "Science. Let's go."
"Can't argue with that," Parrish said as he followed Evan out of the infirmary.
*****
It only took them one distance test and one location test for them to reach some interesting conclusions. Evan and Parrish could be as far apart as they wanted, as long as they were within sight of each other. As soon as Evan went around a corner he started getting dizzy, but if he scrambled back to where Parrish could see him, he felt better. It didn't matter if they were within two feet of each other, but out of sight, Evan still slumped down to the floor. If Parrish got to him quickly, he regained consciousness fairly rapidly. From what they could tell from Evan's previous times in the infirmary, if Parrish stayed away, it took Evan longer to wake up.
"Huh," Beckett said as he looked over the data on his tablet computer. He'd been taking different scans at regular intervals during their tests.
"Okay. We go back to that machine, this time I touch it, and Parrish can drag me away," Evan suggested.
Parrish shook his head. "Somehow I don't think that doing something opposite or in reverse works as a solution to Ancient technology mishaps. You'd probably just wind up with your skin peeled off too," he said, waving his bandaged hand as a reminder.
"Well, if we know what the purpose of the device was, maybe we could undo it. I can't imagine they'd make a device in order to tether people together like this," Evan said, wondering if it was too early to wake McKay. Possibly not if he brought coffee and something sugary.
"There are plenty of things here on Atlantis we still don't know their intended purpose. It's not always so simple to understand what they were thinking with some of their projects," Beckett said, reaching out to pat his hand against the side of his all-purpose pseudo-medical scanner.
Evan just sighed and put his hands in his hair. In some ways the limitations they'd discovered were better, and in some they were worse than he'd imagined. Being within each other's sight all the time meant they had no privacy whatsoever. He had nothing against Parrish, he really didn't, but he'd known the man all of eight weeks. Evan couldn't just accept that there was nothing they could do about the situation without trying anything and everything they could think of first. It was one of the reasons he had been chosen to come to Atlantis to begin with; he never gave up without exhausting every imagined possibility.
"Why don't you lads go back to bed. I'm certain Rodney will have some ideas later on, he always does," Beckett said, looking about as tired as Evan felt.
"Thanks, doc," Parrish said as they left the infirmary again, Evan hurrying to make sure he didn't get caught on the wrong side of the door.
*****
Evan spent the next three weeks wavering between a depressed silence and trying to appear upbeat for the sake of Parrish and everyone else. McKay and Sheppard hadn't made any progress with the device, and even though Weir had eventually authorized a return mission for Evan and Parrish, nothing they did seemed to reactivate whatever had caused their condition. By that time both Evan and Parrish had adjusted to their invisible tether and it had nearly become second nature for either of them to pause next to a doorway to make sure they were both in agreement on what direction they were going. Some mistakes they only had to make once. Others they made time and again.
When Evan opened his eyes to find himself on the floor in his office, with Parrish sitting on the ground next to him, he pressed his lips together as he tried to contain his frustration. He had developed a strange kind of insomnia, where he couldn't fall asleep until after he'd gotten up and wandered through the city for a little while. Sometimes he made it back to their quarters before Parrish woke up, but most of the time he wound up sprawled on the floor and waking up to find Parrish next to him. They'd stopped bothering the infirmary weeks ago and now only went when Evan managed to hurt himself when he fell.
"Is it really that bad?" Parrish asked as he messed with the edges of the bandage still wrapped around his slowly healing hand. "I get that your life has changed, a lot, and it's not something either of us would have chosen. But is it so bad that you have to run away as soon as I fall asleep? To be honest, you're kind of giving me a complex here."
Though Parrish's words were aiming for light and gentle, Evan could see that Parrish was actually hurt by what he was doing. For one thing, there was no trace of Parrish's ever-present smile and enthusiasm. Feeling a little bit like he'd kicked a puppy, Evan sat up and turned so that he was sitting right in Parrish's space. They'd done their best to keep a certain amount of physical distance between them, coveting the last privacy they had, and this was the first time in weeks Evan had actually touched Parrish.
"It's not bad," Evan said, bracing himself to be completely honest. "As long as we're here on Atlantis, the things I can do isn't limited so much. I can still fly the puddle jumpers and go on support missions. Our team will start doing limited off-world missions again. I actually have time do work on some of my paintings now, which is a change for the better. But if we go back to Earth, when we go back, unless we stay at the SGC my military career is basically over."
Parrish nodded, still completely and eerily serious. "That's a big change. Have you given any thought to what it means about relationships? I mean, did you want kids one day or something?"
Evan shook his head, because he hadn't given it much thought. "I like kids, but I never really saw myself settling down long enough to have a family like that. I see my sister's kids every time I go back to Earth, and that's always been enough for me. What about you? Please don't tell me you had a girlfriend and you're just bringing it up now?"
"No, oh no. No girlfriend. Not me. I thought kids one day might be nice, but I always thought I'd adopt," Parrish said, suddenly looking up and meeting Evan's eyes. "Because I'm gay."
"Oh," Evan said, a little surprised by the sudden confession. "Uh, boyfriend, then? You have a boyfriend?"
"Nope," Parrish said. "Thought about it, but never made the move. Kinda wish that I had, now."
Evan nodded, not really sure what he was supposed to make of that.
Parrish leaned back so that he wasn't quite so close to Evan. "Okay, in the interest of full disclosure and working under the assumption that you don't actually hate me-"
"I don't hate you," Evan said quickly.
"Good, though that doesn't actually make this easier. I liked you. Still like you, actually," Parrish said, his eyes fixed on Evan.
"Good?" Evan asked, feeling like he was missing something that was blatantly obvious. In his defense it was two in the morning and he's spent part of the evening on the floor of his office.
"Wow, my sister always said guys were kind of bad at this, but I never believed her until now," Parrish said, rolling his eyes. "You are the guy I wanted to put the moves on. I like you. Do you need me to write a note that says 'Want to go out with me? Circle yes or no.'?"
Evan chucked at the idea, wondering what he would have responded with if he'd found such a note on his desk or in his off-world pack. "Where would we go?"
"Go?" Parrish asked, his eyes a little bit wary and confused.
"You said you wanted to go out with me, where would we go? We've got an entire galaxy at our disposal, but we'd have to convince Weir and Sheppard to let us go first," Evan said, a gentle flicker of butterflies in his stomach asking if this was such a good idea.
"Really?" Parrish asked, a nervous smile brightening his face.
Evan nodded. "Why not? I think we've already got the commitment and living together part down. Might as well see if we can complete the equation. Who knows, maybe that device was a relentless matchmaking machine and once we've kissed it will let us go."
A moment later Evan found himself on his back with Parrish's lips on his. It took them a few tries before they fell into a comfortable kiss. "Whoa, Parrish. I had no idea you wanted out of this so badly," Evan joked.
"I don't, I just wanted to kiss you that badly. Call me David. If you're going to kiss me, you should call me David," Parrish said, flopping on the floor next to Evan.
"You were the one who kissed me, as I recall," Evan pointed out.
"Fine. If I'm going to be kissing you, you should still call me David. So, did you want to go out of the room and see if your matchmaking theory was correct?" David asked.
Evan yawned and rolled onto his side. "I'm sure we'll have other opportunities to test the theory. It's late."
David sat up and grabbed Evan's hand with his uninjured hand. "Oh no. If I'm sleeping on the floor it's because we just had crazy passionate sex that we couldn't wait to get to a bed in order to have. Up, let's go."
"Oh, alright," Evan moaned and then laughed, letting David help him to his feet. They walked back to their shared quarters and Evan found that he didn't feel quite as miserable about the situation as he had only an hour ago. Maybe it was because he didn't feel alone anymore, or maybe it was because he'd just been kissed for the first time in four years. Probably a combination of both, though he had a pretty good idea of what David's answer would be if Evan asked.
*****
Their first 'date' was on a team mission to an off-world market. It wasn't exactly romantic, not when compared to making out in the back of a movie theater, but it was their first off-world mission since they'd been tethered together. At least now Evan didn't have to worry about David wandering off because he'd seen a fascinating plant, or about him getting kidnapped in a brief few seconds when they happened to be separated by chance. Before long their team was back in the swing of things and Evan found himself relaxing into what had at first seemed like a life sentence.
Evan had moved his office down into the front station of greenhouse three. They'd discovered that as long as the door between the work station and the greenhouse proper was open they could be in their separate areas without having to worry about Evan collapsing. Similarly, they'd discovered that they could be in different rooms if there was only glass panels between them. David wound up spending some of his time in a side room while Evan attended upper level staff meetings, and Evan got to know all of the botanists on Atlantis quite well. It wasn't the perfect arrangement but they both managed to get their work down with a minimum of inconvenience to the other person.
It was a little over two months after they'd been connected that Evan sat down with his laptop and a cup of coffee and found an email from Rodney McKay with the title Regarding the Ancient Device. With McKay that could really mean any number of Ancient Devices, but Evan guessed that he knew which one McKay was talking about. He opened the email, figuring that was just the way of it; as soon as you became content living with a problem a solution was found.
Evan read the email three times, his coffee growing cold as it sat abandoned next to him. It wasn't a solution at all, not exactly at least, but it was enlightening. When Evan looked up at the clock again he found that nearly an hour had gone by without him noticing. He closed the lid to his laptop and placed it on the counter he'd arranged as his work space.
"David?" Evan called as he wandered through the greenhouse, finally finding him crouched in a garden bed with a ruler, a camera and a pair of pruners.
"Lunch time already?" David asked as he started to collect the clippings he'd taken.
"When I black out, how do you always know where to find me?" Evan asked, wanting to make sure that McKay was right about the basic facts before he started asking the real questions.
David looked up from his work. "I don't know, it's like a compass or something. I just follow the feeling to you."
Evan sat down on the edge of the garden wall, wondering if he should really be pressing the issue. They were happy, they were doing okay, wasn't that what mattered?
"I know that face, what's going on?" David asked as he abandoned his pruners to come sit next to Evan.
"McKay found some stuff about the purpose of the device," Evan said. "Basically, it's job was to assign a protector, kind of like a body guard/mentor."
"Great, how do we turn it off?" David asked, pausing when Evan still didn't seem enthused. "Not that I don't like spending time with you, because I do. But it would be nice to have our own work spaces back."
Evan shook his head. "There isn't an off switch. The link is as strong as the protected needs it to be and lasts for as long as it's needed."
"Meaning we can make this thing give us some more leeway," David suggested, his goodnatured smile a little more forced than it was just a moment earlier.
"That's not really the point," Evan said, turning to look at David. "I never would have guessed. You always seem so upbeat, even when we were running for our lives, or stuck in that pit the locals on P3X-242 used as their jail. But you can't even let me out of your sight."
David's eyebrows rose. "Why are you automatically assuming that you're the protector? You're the one who is blacking out."
"You're the one who touched the device. I can be away from you if you're not aware of the absence, but as soon as you wake up, I collapse," Evan pointed out. "It's okay, it's totally not your fault. I just wish you would have told me."
"Told you? When?" David asked, standing up and walking a few paces away. "Okay, when we first met, how about this? Hi, my name is Doctor David Parrish, I've been in this galaxy for six weeks, I've seen three people die in front of me, I wake up from nightmares that the Wraith are here in my quarters sucking the life from my chest, and every time I go off-world I'm sure I'm about to die. Don't you want me on you team? Because, you know, most teams don't want a xeno-bontantist for their scientist, they want an engineer or someone who can actually keep them from dying when disaster strikes."
Evan stood and went to David, placing his hands gently on the pink skin of David's still healing hand. "The Wraith scare the hell out of me. I've never seen anything like them, never been afraid quite like that, even when I was running around firing ineffective weapons at the Goa'uld just to cause a distraction so we could get our people out. I don't think anyone in this city isn't terrified of what is out there, that's normal."
"Most people don't seem to need a nanny," David shot back, but he didn't pull his hand away from Evan's touch.
"Maybe not, but most people out here are either military trained or they worked at the SGC before they were shipped out to another galaxy," Evan shrugged. "Still doesn't mean they aren't scared. Does being with me help? Knowing I'm right there?"
David nodded, still not meeting Evan's eyes. "The nights you stay in our quarters, I don't have nightmares about the Wraith. Ever since you saved me from that Wraith on our first mission, I've associated you with safety. It's ridiculous, but I see you and I know that we will stand together against whatever happens."
"That's right, we will," Evan said.
"I suppose we should start trying to expand our range or something," David said after a long silence, his forehead down on Evan's shoulder and Evan's arms around David's back.
Evan shrugged. "Whenever you want. No rush. McKay isn't going to tell anyone about what he found, he's too busy messing around with the mini-ZPM stuff. I think the only reason he emailed me at all was because Weir made him go through his backlog of projects and clear out the stuff he'd actually finished."
"You don't mind?" David asked.
"Not at all. The other thing that translation said was that it wouldn't have worked if we weren't compatible. You being around helps me too, you know?" Evan asked, hoping that David would understand.
David lifted his head and looked into Evan's eyes. "Yeah, okay. Coffee time?"
Evan nodded. "Yeah, coffee. Maybe something stronger later tonight."
"Definitely," David agreed. "You know, there's one thing I don't understand.""
"What?" Evan asked as they walked down the rambling path through the greenhouse.
"If you're supposed to be my protector, why does it make you black out? How is that going to protect me?" David asked.
Evan blinked as he thought about it. "You know, I have no idea. No one ever said that the Ancients were practical.
"True," David agreed. "So very true."
Written for Stargateland's Mini-Bang
Summary: They've encountered dozens of strange Ancient Devices in the Pegasus Galaxy, but somehow Evan Lorne and David Parrish manage to stumble into just the right one at the right time.
Content Notes: None. PG-13
On AO3: Everything We Call Life
It started the way this kind of thing always seemed to start, in an off-world Ancient laboratory with Evan flat on his back and opening his eyes to see Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Beckett's faces looming over him.
"How many times do I have to tell you, don't touch the Ancient devices you find because you don't know what they're going to do to you?" McKay asked from somewhere to Evan's left.
"I didn't touch anything," Evan said automatically, his tongue tripping over the words.
"How are you feeling, Major?" Dr. Beckett asked, one of his hands tipping Evan's head back to check his eyes.
Evan blinked a few times as the rest of the room came into focus. "Fine," he said and started to push himself up on his elbows. "I'm fine. How's Parrish?"
"I'm good," Parrish said from where he was sitting on the floor a few feet away. He gave a sheepish wave with a hand that was wrapped in a thick white bandage. "Sorry about that."
"Well, looks like we got lucky this time, but I'd like to run a few tests back on Atlantis to make sure," Dr. Beckett said, checking Evan's pulse before he stepped back.
"They're all yours," Sheppard said with a smile as he patted Evan's shoulder. "Good to have you back, Major."
Evan started to get to his feet, only to find the room spinning around him and Sheppard and Beckett's hands supporting him.
"I think you better stay put for a few minutes," Sheppard was saying when Evan's vision and hearing returned from the blackness that had briefly enveloped him. "You were down for at least forty-five minutes."
From his place on the floor Evan watched as Sheppard joined McKay at the console and another engineer worked from another station. He could see the other two military members on his team, Coughlin and Reed, in the distant doorway, along with what looked like the rest of Sheppard's team and a small military retrieval team. It figured that they would bring the entire base on a rescue mission that was really unnecessary; though, to be fair, Evan usually brought two retrieval teams when he had to go looking for Sheppard. Payback was a bitch.
"Sorry," Parrish said again, looking just about as embarrassed as Evan had ever seen him, including the time a corrosive plant had eaten away most of their clothes. "I didn't even realize I was touching anything until you grabbed me."
Evan shrugged because he hadn't realized it either until he'd seen the panel Parrish had stumbled against starting to glow. "Well, I probably shouldn't have grabbed you, so I think we're about even on that count." He hadn't even thought before he'd grabbed his botanist's wrist to pull him away from the console. His team had only been together for two months, and in that time they'd nearly died seven times and had been captured twice. His team back at the SGC had been together for more than a year and for the most part he hadn't had near the amount of trouble. Of course, then he was supervising archeologists on most missions, not brokering treaties and meeting new cultures and stumbling across the Wraith or Ancient devices of doom on every other world. Evan kind of loved the Pegasus Galaxy.
"Well, mission successful, right? Discover new technology that will help with the Wraith problem. Now we just have to lure them into the lab and let them knock themselves out. Literally!" Parrish smiled, seeming to decide that all's well that ends well.
"I'll make sure to put that suggestion in my report," Evan said dryly. Parrish was the only person he knew who called it 'the Wraith problem', which made it sound like they were galactic exterminators or something instead of fighting a war against life-sucking aliens. "I don't know about you, but I think I've had my share of off-world adventures for today," Evan said as he pushed himself to his feet. The room didn't spin around him this time and his hearing and vision stayed clear.
He held out his hand to Parrish, who took it with a smirk, and Evan pulled the taller, lankier man up to his feet.
"Oh, that's good. I was starting to worry that I would never be able to stand again. Every time someone tried to help me up I felt like my head was being split open from the inside," Parrish said, dusting his hands on his even dustier pants. "Dr. Beckett looks like he's ready to head back, shall we round up the others?"
Evan agreed, accepting the relieved welcome of his other teammates. They went back to the 'gate, leaving Sheppard's team behind because McKay was up to his elbows inside the machine and refused to leave until he was finished, and an hour later he and Parrish were both cleared to leave the infirmary.
"See you around, Doctor. Thanks for the rescue," Evan said as he slid off the edge of the bed.
"I'm just glad it wasn't anything more serious," Beckett said, turning back to where Parrish was getting his hand cleaned and bandaged by one of the nurses.
"Me too," Evan said, giving Parrish a knowing look and then walking out of the infirmary. He made it five steps down the hall before his vision went black and he fell to the floor.
Evan opened his eyes and found Sheppard, Beckett, and Weir all standing over him. "What?" he asked, taking in their concerned gazes.
"I think we may have a wee bit of a problem," Beckett said.
Evan closed his eyes and put his head back down on the bed, because when a normal doctor said that there was a 'wee bit of a problem', that usually meant your cholesterol was high or you needed to stop eating so many hamburgers. When a doctor from the Stargate Program said there was a 'wee bit of a problem', that usually meant you had mutated or now had telepathy or were about to ascend, or any number of problems that they still couldn't predict. "Do I even want to know?" he asked.
"You'll know as soon as I do," Beckett said, patting Evan's arm and then moving away.
When Evan opened his eyes he found that Sheppard had made himself scarce as well and only Weir remained by his bedside.
"We'll find a solution, Major. We've come back from worse situations than this and we have the best people looking into it," Weir said, her optimism carefully concealing the hint of worry he saw in the tight corners of her eyes.
"Yes ma'am," Evan said, because what she said was entirely true. Sheppard had turned into a bug and now he only had a few left over scars to show for it. McKay and Teyla had briefly developed the ability to fly, and they were fine now. Randomly collapsing was pretty much nothing, unless Evan had turned purple or something. He quickly checked his skin and was relieved to find that he still looked the same as ever.
Weir smiled. "Desk duty until you're cleared by Beckett. I'll make sure you're kept updated."
Evan sighed and sat up, he already felt fine again. "How are you?" he asked when he noticed that Parrish was still sitting a few beds over.
"Alright. They kept me here after you collapsed, since I was the one that actually touched the machine," Parrish said as he got off the bed and walked over to Evan. "I feel fine. Not dizzy at all."
"What about your hand?" Evan asked, pointing to the bandages.
Parrish held it up and flexed the mass of bandages a little bit. "Doesn't hurt so much now. I thought it would be worse. Whatever else the machine did, it took off pretty much all the skin on the palm of my hand."
Evan grimaced and nodded. "Great. Well. Let me know if you start getting dizzy."
"Yep," Parrish said and dropped down in the chair near Evan's bed. "They've been scanning us pretty much constantly, but I bet Beckett will be back to scan you again now that you're awake."
"Major Lorne, if you could step this way please," Beckett said, pointing to the multi-purpose scanner that was built into one of the infirmary walls.
Parrish wiggled his eyebrows as if to say 'see, told you'.
Evan eyed the machine doubtfully, despite having been inside it twice before. McKay had said that he thought it hadn't originally been a medical scanner at all and ever since he'd declined to comment on what he thought it might have originally been, Evan had been a little bit nervous about stepping inside. He marched over to the machine, not dizzy at all, and decided that he didn't come to another galaxy to walk away from an MRI machine cranked up to eleven.
Evan and Parrish stayed overnight in the infirmary, despite Beckett's scans showing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and when they were allowed to leave Evan made it all the way to the mess hall before he collapsed.
"This is getting old," Evan said when he opened his eyes inside the infirmary again to look up at Beckett, Parrish, and one of the nurses.
"Well, on the bright side, I have a theory," Beckett said.
Evan sat up and checked his watch. He'd lost almost two hours. "Does testing it mean I'm going to black out again?" he asked. At this rate he wasn't going to get anything done that day, let alone actually get breakfast.
"At some point, yes. But for now I want you to try and stick with Dr. Parrish. Stay within about three meters of each other, we can test the specifics later," Beckett said, looked at both of them expectantly.
Evan looked at Parrish. "Did you black out too?"
Parrish shook his head.
Evan turned back to Beckett and waited.
"It's just a theory based on what we've seen so far. You didn't collapse until the mess hall, which is a wee bit further than a few steps out of the infirmary. However, you and Doctor Parrish parted company at the transporter near the mess hall," Beckett explained. "And, to be quite honest, I have no other ideas at this point. If it's not some kind of bond created by the device you touched-"
"Parrish touched," Evan interjected, deciding he was allowed to be petty for a minute or two.
"Regardless, if that's not the case, we'll find out soon enough. Now, unless you have any other suggestions, I recommend you start with a good breakfast, and that is my professional medical opinion," Beckett said with the small smile that meant his patience was being sorely tested.
Evan got to his feet and motioned to Parrish.
"At least it's a simple enough theory to test," Parrish pointed out as they walked out of the infirmary. "And, if it's true, maybe it will wear off after a few days. Or, maybe we'll become telepaths or ninjas. That would be exciting! Didn't you ever read comic books?"
"I did," Evan said with the beginnings of a smile. There were worse people he could get linked to, if that's what this was, though he suspected that Parrish's relentless optimism would become wearing after a while. "No offense, but I think I'll let Sheppard and McKay keep the superpowers. They seem to have fun with that. Besides, superheroes tend to get attacked a lot."
Parrish shrugged and smiled. "I suppose. What superpower would you pick?" he asked as they entered the mess hall.
"Human toaster," Evan said. "Perfectly toasted bread, every single time. Even bagels would have the perfect amount of toastedness all the way through."
"Huh, I wouldn't have thought of that," Parrish said as he thoughtfully touched a finger to his lips. "Mine would be photosynthesis, if I got to choose. Or maybe super strength!"
Evan laughed when Parrish used his free arm to make a display of flexing his muscles. "I could just see you Hulking out. The unassuming Doctor Parrish is actually the lurking green menace of greenhouse number three," he teased.
"You won't like me when I'm angry," Parrish agreed, finishing up loading his tray and pointing out the table where Reed and Coughlin were already sitting.
By the time they'd finished the meal and were taking a walk out on one of the piers, with no signs of a black out, Evan realized that Beckett's theory was probably correct. "So, how do we want to do this until they find a solution?" he asked when they reached the end with the ocean crashing against the city twenty feet below them.
Parrish gave a half smile. "My place or yours?"
They stayed within the proscribed ten feet of each other for the entire day and Evan moved a cot into Parrish's room that evening because Parrish had a little more space. Very little, which meant they were sleeping within touching distance of each other and Evan found it difficult to fall asleep as he thought about what this would mean for his life if they didn't find a way to reverse the problem. He couldn't very well go on rescue missions, or any other combat likely mission, when he would pass out if he somehow got too far away from Parrish. He wouldn't be able to fly on Earth any more, not in military craft at least, and both his and Parrish's work on Atlantis would be hampered if they couldn't be out of the same room.
Evan swung his feet out of bed and got up. If he was on his own he would be going down to the gym, or going on a run, or even going up to his office to get some work done. Since he couldn't do any of those things he decided that he could at least test exactly how much leeway he had. Parrish hadn't seemed to suffer any adverse effects when they were apart, or Evan wouldn't even be thinking about trying this without informing Parrish first. First, Evan walked the perimeter of the bedroom, just barely out of the ten feet range, and then all the way to the edge of the bathroom. Emboldened by his success, Evan went to the doorway and stepped outside, and then a little further. He was three floors away when he let out the breath he'd been holding. Beckett wasn't right after all.
Relieved, because as much as he thought Parrish was a good guy he didn't want to spend his life attached at the hip, Evan decided that he might as well go on that run after all. He returned to his own quarters, changed into a pair of sweats, and was halfway to the upper deck when the darkness overwhelmed him all at once. He didn't even feel his body hitting the floor.
"What happened to staying within three meters?" Beckett asked as soon as Evan's eyes opened.
Evan winced as he sat up and rolled his shoulders gingerly. He must have landed wrong because his head and left shoulder ached and he was certain he would have bruises. "Your theory doesn't hold. I was away from Parrish for at least twenty minutes," he said, looking at where Parrish was leaning against one of the walls with his gaze averted. "What about you, did you feel anything?"
Parrish shook his head. "I woke up and you were gone. Then I came looking for you and you were on the floor in one of the corridors."
"What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Beckett asked, looking between Evan and Parrish like one of them might actually have the answer to that question. "I of course mean, did Doctor Parrish wake first, and then the Major collapsed, or did the Major collapse and Doctor Parrish woke because he somehow sensed that it happened?"
Evan stared at Beckett and then turned to Parrish. "Come on, let's go see if we can figure this out."
"You realize it's four in the bloody morning," Beckett said.
Parrish's lips quirked in what was almost a smile. "Come on, doc. Didn't anyone ever tell you that the best time to conduct experiments was four in the morning? You do have a doctorate, right?"
Beckett nodded. "Aye. What did you have in mind, Major?"
Evan stood, still gently rolling his aching shoulder. He was getting better at bouncing back after waking up in the infirmary. "Science. Let's go."
"Can't argue with that," Parrish said as he followed Evan out of the infirmary.
It only took them one distance test and one location test for them to reach some interesting conclusions. Evan and Parrish could be as far apart as they wanted, as long as they were within sight of each other. As soon as Evan went around a corner he started getting dizzy, but if he scrambled back to where Parrish could see him, he felt better. It didn't matter if they were within two feet of each other, but out of sight, Evan still slumped down to the floor. If Parrish got to him quickly, he regained consciousness fairly rapidly. From what they could tell from Evan's previous times in the infirmary, if Parrish stayed away, it took Evan longer to wake up.
"Huh," Beckett said as he looked over the data on his tablet computer. He'd been taking different scans at regular intervals during their tests.
"Okay. We go back to that machine, this time I touch it, and Parrish can drag me away," Evan suggested.
Parrish shook his head. "Somehow I don't think that doing something opposite or in reverse works as a solution to Ancient technology mishaps. You'd probably just wind up with your skin peeled off too," he said, waving his bandaged hand as a reminder.
"Well, if we know what the purpose of the device was, maybe we could undo it. I can't imagine they'd make a device in order to tether people together like this," Evan said, wondering if it was too early to wake McKay. Possibly not if he brought coffee and something sugary.
"There are plenty of things here on Atlantis we still don't know their intended purpose. It's not always so simple to understand what they were thinking with some of their projects," Beckett said, reaching out to pat his hand against the side of his all-purpose pseudo-medical scanner.
Evan just sighed and put his hands in his hair. In some ways the limitations they'd discovered were better, and in some they were worse than he'd imagined. Being within each other's sight all the time meant they had no privacy whatsoever. He had nothing against Parrish, he really didn't, but he'd known the man all of eight weeks. Evan couldn't just accept that there was nothing they could do about the situation without trying anything and everything they could think of first. It was one of the reasons he had been chosen to come to Atlantis to begin with; he never gave up without exhausting every imagined possibility.
"Why don't you lads go back to bed. I'm certain Rodney will have some ideas later on, he always does," Beckett said, looking about as tired as Evan felt.
"Thanks, doc," Parrish said as they left the infirmary again, Evan hurrying to make sure he didn't get caught on the wrong side of the door.
Evan spent the next three weeks wavering between a depressed silence and trying to appear upbeat for the sake of Parrish and everyone else. McKay and Sheppard hadn't made any progress with the device, and even though Weir had eventually authorized a return mission for Evan and Parrish, nothing they did seemed to reactivate whatever had caused their condition. By that time both Evan and Parrish had adjusted to their invisible tether and it had nearly become second nature for either of them to pause next to a doorway to make sure they were both in agreement on what direction they were going. Some mistakes they only had to make once. Others they made time and again.
When Evan opened his eyes to find himself on the floor in his office, with Parrish sitting on the ground next to him, he pressed his lips together as he tried to contain his frustration. He had developed a strange kind of insomnia, where he couldn't fall asleep until after he'd gotten up and wandered through the city for a little while. Sometimes he made it back to their quarters before Parrish woke up, but most of the time he wound up sprawled on the floor and waking up to find Parrish next to him. They'd stopped bothering the infirmary weeks ago and now only went when Evan managed to hurt himself when he fell.
"Is it really that bad?" Parrish asked as he messed with the edges of the bandage still wrapped around his slowly healing hand. "I get that your life has changed, a lot, and it's not something either of us would have chosen. But is it so bad that you have to run away as soon as I fall asleep? To be honest, you're kind of giving me a complex here."
Though Parrish's words were aiming for light and gentle, Evan could see that Parrish was actually hurt by what he was doing. For one thing, there was no trace of Parrish's ever-present smile and enthusiasm. Feeling a little bit like he'd kicked a puppy, Evan sat up and turned so that he was sitting right in Parrish's space. They'd done their best to keep a certain amount of physical distance between them, coveting the last privacy they had, and this was the first time in weeks Evan had actually touched Parrish.
"It's not bad," Evan said, bracing himself to be completely honest. "As long as we're here on Atlantis, the things I can do isn't limited so much. I can still fly the puddle jumpers and go on support missions. Our team will start doing limited off-world missions again. I actually have time do work on some of my paintings now, which is a change for the better. But if we go back to Earth, when we go back, unless we stay at the SGC my military career is basically over."
Parrish nodded, still completely and eerily serious. "That's a big change. Have you given any thought to what it means about relationships? I mean, did you want kids one day or something?"
Evan shook his head, because he hadn't given it much thought. "I like kids, but I never really saw myself settling down long enough to have a family like that. I see my sister's kids every time I go back to Earth, and that's always been enough for me. What about you? Please don't tell me you had a girlfriend and you're just bringing it up now?"
"No, oh no. No girlfriend. Not me. I thought kids one day might be nice, but I always thought I'd adopt," Parrish said, suddenly looking up and meeting Evan's eyes. "Because I'm gay."
"Oh," Evan said, a little surprised by the sudden confession. "Uh, boyfriend, then? You have a boyfriend?"
"Nope," Parrish said. "Thought about it, but never made the move. Kinda wish that I had, now."
Evan nodded, not really sure what he was supposed to make of that.
Parrish leaned back so that he wasn't quite so close to Evan. "Okay, in the interest of full disclosure and working under the assumption that you don't actually hate me-"
"I don't hate you," Evan said quickly.
"Good, though that doesn't actually make this easier. I liked you. Still like you, actually," Parrish said, his eyes fixed on Evan.
"Good?" Evan asked, feeling like he was missing something that was blatantly obvious. In his defense it was two in the morning and he's spent part of the evening on the floor of his office.
"Wow, my sister always said guys were kind of bad at this, but I never believed her until now," Parrish said, rolling his eyes. "You are the guy I wanted to put the moves on. I like you. Do you need me to write a note that says 'Want to go out with me? Circle yes or no.'?"
Evan chucked at the idea, wondering what he would have responded with if he'd found such a note on his desk or in his off-world pack. "Where would we go?"
"Go?" Parrish asked, his eyes a little bit wary and confused.
"You said you wanted to go out with me, where would we go? We've got an entire galaxy at our disposal, but we'd have to convince Weir and Sheppard to let us go first," Evan said, a gentle flicker of butterflies in his stomach asking if this was such a good idea.
"Really?" Parrish asked, a nervous smile brightening his face.
Evan nodded. "Why not? I think we've already got the commitment and living together part down. Might as well see if we can complete the equation. Who knows, maybe that device was a relentless matchmaking machine and once we've kissed it will let us go."
A moment later Evan found himself on his back with Parrish's lips on his. It took them a few tries before they fell into a comfortable kiss. "Whoa, Parrish. I had no idea you wanted out of this so badly," Evan joked.
"I don't, I just wanted to kiss you that badly. Call me David. If you're going to kiss me, you should call me David," Parrish said, flopping on the floor next to Evan.
"You were the one who kissed me, as I recall," Evan pointed out.
"Fine. If I'm going to be kissing you, you should still call me David. So, did you want to go out of the room and see if your matchmaking theory was correct?" David asked.
Evan yawned and rolled onto his side. "I'm sure we'll have other opportunities to test the theory. It's late."
David sat up and grabbed Evan's hand with his uninjured hand. "Oh no. If I'm sleeping on the floor it's because we just had crazy passionate sex that we couldn't wait to get to a bed in order to have. Up, let's go."
"Oh, alright," Evan moaned and then laughed, letting David help him to his feet. They walked back to their shared quarters and Evan found that he didn't feel quite as miserable about the situation as he had only an hour ago. Maybe it was because he didn't feel alone anymore, or maybe it was because he'd just been kissed for the first time in four years. Probably a combination of both, though he had a pretty good idea of what David's answer would be if Evan asked.
Their first 'date' was on a team mission to an off-world market. It wasn't exactly romantic, not when compared to making out in the back of a movie theater, but it was their first off-world mission since they'd been tethered together. At least now Evan didn't have to worry about David wandering off because he'd seen a fascinating plant, or about him getting kidnapped in a brief few seconds when they happened to be separated by chance. Before long their team was back in the swing of things and Evan found himself relaxing into what had at first seemed like a life sentence.
Evan had moved his office down into the front station of greenhouse three. They'd discovered that as long as the door between the work station and the greenhouse proper was open they could be in their separate areas without having to worry about Evan collapsing. Similarly, they'd discovered that they could be in different rooms if there was only glass panels between them. David wound up spending some of his time in a side room while Evan attended upper level staff meetings, and Evan got to know all of the botanists on Atlantis quite well. It wasn't the perfect arrangement but they both managed to get their work down with a minimum of inconvenience to the other person.
It was a little over two months after they'd been connected that Evan sat down with his laptop and a cup of coffee and found an email from Rodney McKay with the title Regarding the Ancient Device. With McKay that could really mean any number of Ancient Devices, but Evan guessed that he knew which one McKay was talking about. He opened the email, figuring that was just the way of it; as soon as you became content living with a problem a solution was found.
Evan read the email three times, his coffee growing cold as it sat abandoned next to him. It wasn't a solution at all, not exactly at least, but it was enlightening. When Evan looked up at the clock again he found that nearly an hour had gone by without him noticing. He closed the lid to his laptop and placed it on the counter he'd arranged as his work space.
"David?" Evan called as he wandered through the greenhouse, finally finding him crouched in a garden bed with a ruler, a camera and a pair of pruners.
"Lunch time already?" David asked as he started to collect the clippings he'd taken.
"When I black out, how do you always know where to find me?" Evan asked, wanting to make sure that McKay was right about the basic facts before he started asking the real questions.
David looked up from his work. "I don't know, it's like a compass or something. I just follow the feeling to you."
Evan sat down on the edge of the garden wall, wondering if he should really be pressing the issue. They were happy, they were doing okay, wasn't that what mattered?
"I know that face, what's going on?" David asked as he abandoned his pruners to come sit next to Evan.
"McKay found some stuff about the purpose of the device," Evan said. "Basically, it's job was to assign a protector, kind of like a body guard/mentor."
"Great, how do we turn it off?" David asked, pausing when Evan still didn't seem enthused. "Not that I don't like spending time with you, because I do. But it would be nice to have our own work spaces back."
Evan shook his head. "There isn't an off switch. The link is as strong as the protected needs it to be and lasts for as long as it's needed."
"Meaning we can make this thing give us some more leeway," David suggested, his goodnatured smile a little more forced than it was just a moment earlier.
"That's not really the point," Evan said, turning to look at David. "I never would have guessed. You always seem so upbeat, even when we were running for our lives, or stuck in that pit the locals on P3X-242 used as their jail. But you can't even let me out of your sight."
David's eyebrows rose. "Why are you automatically assuming that you're the protector? You're the one who is blacking out."
"You're the one who touched the device. I can be away from you if you're not aware of the absence, but as soon as you wake up, I collapse," Evan pointed out. "It's okay, it's totally not your fault. I just wish you would have told me."
"Told you? When?" David asked, standing up and walking a few paces away. "Okay, when we first met, how about this? Hi, my name is Doctor David Parrish, I've been in this galaxy for six weeks, I've seen three people die in front of me, I wake up from nightmares that the Wraith are here in my quarters sucking the life from my chest, and every time I go off-world I'm sure I'm about to die. Don't you want me on you team? Because, you know, most teams don't want a xeno-bontantist for their scientist, they want an engineer or someone who can actually keep them from dying when disaster strikes."
Evan stood and went to David, placing his hands gently on the pink skin of David's still healing hand. "The Wraith scare the hell out of me. I've never seen anything like them, never been afraid quite like that, even when I was running around firing ineffective weapons at the Goa'uld just to cause a distraction so we could get our people out. I don't think anyone in this city isn't terrified of what is out there, that's normal."
"Most people don't seem to need a nanny," David shot back, but he didn't pull his hand away from Evan's touch.
"Maybe not, but most people out here are either military trained or they worked at the SGC before they were shipped out to another galaxy," Evan shrugged. "Still doesn't mean they aren't scared. Does being with me help? Knowing I'm right there?"
David nodded, still not meeting Evan's eyes. "The nights you stay in our quarters, I don't have nightmares about the Wraith. Ever since you saved me from that Wraith on our first mission, I've associated you with safety. It's ridiculous, but I see you and I know that we will stand together against whatever happens."
"That's right, we will," Evan said.
"I suppose we should start trying to expand our range or something," David said after a long silence, his forehead down on Evan's shoulder and Evan's arms around David's back.
Evan shrugged. "Whenever you want. No rush. McKay isn't going to tell anyone about what he found, he's too busy messing around with the mini-ZPM stuff. I think the only reason he emailed me at all was because Weir made him go through his backlog of projects and clear out the stuff he'd actually finished."
"You don't mind?" David asked.
"Not at all. The other thing that translation said was that it wouldn't have worked if we weren't compatible. You being around helps me too, you know?" Evan asked, hoping that David would understand.
David lifted his head and looked into Evan's eyes. "Yeah, okay. Coffee time?"
Evan nodded. "Yeah, coffee. Maybe something stronger later tonight."
"Definitely," David agreed. "You know, there's one thing I don't understand.""
"What?" Evan asked as they walked down the rambling path through the greenhouse.
"If you're supposed to be my protector, why does it make you black out? How is that going to protect me?" David asked.
Evan blinked as he thought about it. "You know, I have no idea. No one ever said that the Ancients were practical.
"True," David agreed. "So very true."
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