I don't know where this came from. At all.
somehowunbroken posted about the ruling yesterday, regarding DADT, and encouraged a thread about how SGA characters might respond to it. It was supposed to be a line or two, or a drabble comment. Instead, I managed to come up with 2000 words.That's the longest I've ever written. I'm shocked, at myself. And then, between the wonderful works of bergann and 
swingandswirl, I ended up with Colby, and Evan's reaction. Which amounts to an inter-galactic booty-call, without the booty (it remains decidedly off-screen), with a side helping of David running commentary on the DADT policy. Maybe having a busted foot has some use after all.
So. This ends up being for the afore-mentioned three marvellous writers. Not beta'd, and so very far out of my usual comfort zone (drabbles! 100 word drabbles.) Warnings, I guess for hand-holding, and an slight British incredulousness towards a political policy.
Colby reached up, stretching the kink out of his shoulders, and sighed. Only Tuesday. So far, the week had been nothing but filling out the paperwork and crunching the numbers that littered the corporate fraud case that had ended with one shoot-out, and one dead accountant - and who knew accountants could fire guns like that? - in the lobby of the accountancy office. Having to account for every shot fired wasn’t something that could be handed off onto Charlie. Apparently, math geniuses weren’t allowed to write up the field reports as well as solving the crimes.
“Hey, man” David’s voice broke into his thoughts as he contemplated once more his half-written report. “Seen the news?”
“What kind? The one which says Don’s the only one who has to submit a report, written on behalf of the team?” Colby quipped back half-heartedly.
David reached over, nudged Colby to the side, and pulled up the internet, then a news report. As the headline slid into view, David said without turning to look at Colby “Thought you’d be interested in keeping abreast of army news, even though you’re out of it.” He clapped a hand on Colby’s shoulder. “Score one, for another step towards equal rights, yeah?”
Dimly, Colby was aware of David heading back to his desk, but he was too busy reading the rest of the article to pay real attention. It wasn’t a repeal, and it wasn’t going to survive without serious challenges, but for a moment, Colby let something like hope flicker through him, felt the tiniest of unclenchings from around his heart, and heard himself let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding since David had first brought the article up.
Before he could lose the nerve, he copied and pasted the article, popped it into an email, and fired it off. Closing the window, he pushed the flicker of hope back down. It wasn’t a repeal, and it didn’t mean anything, just yet. And anyway, he told himself he wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would change anything for them personally, not yet. Taking another deep breath to get himself back on track, he closed the browser, and turned back to accounting for every bullet he’d fired.
*****
Checking to make sure nothing more pressing had dropped last-minute into his in-box, Colby shut down his work, and headed to the elevator with David. “Plans for your freedom?” he enquired.
“Nah, well, not beyond clearing out the science experiment that’s growing in my fridge, getting more groceries in, and then knocking back with the TV.” David grinned. “Don being kind enough to release us, now the fraud is all wrapped up, and I fully intend to relax for every moment of it. You want to come over, I’m sure I’ve beer…?”
Colby thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “Guess I ought to do the same as you - there’s probably new life to be discovered in the wake of my take-out leftovers.” He hesitated for a moment, then continued “Thanks for showing me the article yesterday. Interesting stuff.”
He knew he’d been right when David turned, deceptively casually, towards him. “So what’d you think? Bout time, right?”
Colby paused, shrugged. “It’s one judge’s opinion. It’s not a full out repeal, and it’ll be challenged. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yeah, but it’s finally getting somewhere. Tell me,” David hesitated, and Colby inwardly winced, waiting for the most awkward of questions that could well lead to a conversation he wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready to have with David. “You must’ve served with international troops - did you ever,” David paused, uncertain how to phrase it, “You don’t think there’s much in the argument that it would be bad for morale, right? I mean, other countries have equal rights of service, and it works for them…”
Colby blinked at him, caught unawares by the question. “Well, sure, there were international troops in Afghan, and we worked alongside a bunch of them. I don’t” he halted, thinking back, trying to recall. “I don’t remember if there were ever any gay personnel serving. If they were, they certainly didn’t stand out. It just never really came up.”
As they approached their cars, Colby stiffened, saw out of the corner of his eye David’s hand twitch back toward his gun, as a shadow uncoiled itself from where it had been leaning against Colby’s car. And then he stopped, unable to believe his eyes.
“I got a 24-hour stand-down. Not quite enough time to make it home. Was hoping you’d have a little sympathy, and let me steal the couch?”
David’s head swivelled from the guy, to Colby, and back again. Colby was still standing in shock, and the hopeful look on the stranger’s face was shifting into uncomfortable wariness. Without taking his eyes from the line of sight to the man, David leaned over a little, and nudged Colby. He took a step forward, the words tumbling in aborted uncertainty.
“Evan? What are you… when did you… yeah, but … yeah…”
Some of the tension seemed to flow out of Evan, and a careful grin broke out across his features. Colby turned to David, “Major Evan Lorne, he’s an old military-“
“Air Force!!” Evan broke in.
“Air Force buddy of mine.” Colby finished with a grin towards Evan. “I’ll catch you tomorrow, man.” He said, already walking towards his car and Evan. David’s voice stopped him midway.
“Why don’t you ask for the morning off? If your buddy’s only in town for 24 hours, and the case is closed, Don might give you the down-time as well.” His smile, when Colby turned back, was open and sincere, with no questions as far as Colby could tell. He hesitated for a moment, then replied, “yeah, maybe,” before turning to cross the last few steps towards Evan. David watched the enthusiastic hugs, and back-slapping they shared, before they turned and slid into the car. He clambered into his own ride, and wondered for a moment whether Colby would show tomorrow morning. He half considered calling Don, on Colby’s behalf, and asking for the morning, before realising he was pushing boundaries and making assumptions he had no right to. Telling himself to get a grip, he pulled out of the parking garage, without a backwards glance. He had a fridge to deal with.
****
In the small space of the car, Colby and Evan looked at each other, the air suddenly tense, without words being said. Evan’s smile slipped, and he cautiously asked, “Did I make a mistake, in coming? I know I didn’t give you any notice, but after your email yesterday…” He trailed off, wondering how he’d read the situation so wrong, that he’d been so stupidly naive to think the email had meant anything more. Colby’s hand on his knee broke into his thoughts, and he looked up to warm eyes, and a smile so familiar he felt his heart ache just a little, to have it so close, after so long.
“No, no I’m just … surprised. Your posting’s so discrete; I can’t believe I’ve actually got you here, much less for 24 hours.” Colby admitted. “Did you…” He stopped, not quite sure if he wanted to push for confirmation that Evan’s downtown was a request, or an order. But Evan knew him well enough to answer regardless.
“We had a couple of points of contact about the ruling. And my CO - he told me if I finally wanted to put some of my serious amount of overtime to good use, I could take the day’s stand-down. He uh, he’s a good guy. We’re not expecting anything huge to come of this - it’s not a repeal by any means,” Colby smiled at the echo of his own thoughts, but let Evan continue, “but, people are starting to talk more about what it might mean, for the rest of the … mission.” Colby nodded carefully. He knew Evan’s posting involved an international contingent, and David’s earlier question, about how it worked for other countries when they were side by side with American regulations, came to mind. Putting aside the details that concerned others, he focused instead on “And your CO just … let you have a day off? Just like that?”
The worry - for Evan, more than for himself - wrapped itself around the syllables of the question, and Evan once more found himself wishing he could tell Colby everything, or anything, about his job. Instead, he slid his hand into Colby’s, reminding himself of the familiarity of its weight and the comfort of its warmth. “We’re still operating under DADT, and my CO’s still got his utter phobia of sharing anything personal, so its not like he told me to run off and take a day-long booty call.” The mental picture that produced, of Sheppard trying to issue Evan the directive for a little R and R, made him grin a little wildly. “But he did tell me he was sure I would put my time to good use, and we were able to find military transport at all the right times, to get me out here.”
It was stretching it a little, but Evan couldn’t exactly divulge what kind of military transport had been involved. His grin fading a little, he ploughed on, “After I got your email yesterday, I just thought, well, it would be nice to see you.” That too, was stretching it. In truth, Evan had spent a good while trying to read into Colby’s attachment, the content of the email having run to “Don’t know if you’ve seen this, wherever you are, but it looks like times might be a-changing.”
They’d never talked about their futures; about the choices between staying in and getting out; about sharing their lives and homes with the outside world as anything more than friends. It had always been that unspoken understanding, that despite long-distance and infrequency, they mattered enough to each other to try and make it work for the time being. Colby’s email had caused Evan to wonder whether maybe it was time they had that conversation, and he’d taken Sheppard’s suggestion for stand-down as a cosmic sign. Suddenly nervous, he felt his doubts surge forward with vigour. Maybe Colby was just passing on the gossip. Maybe he didn’t want any kind of re-evaluation of their relationship, maybe-
“Hey. Stop that. I really am glad you’re here.” Colby tugged on Evan’s hand to emphasis his words. “I guess we both know that this is just a small step, but maybe,” he hesitated, eyes flicking down to their clasped hands. “Maybe this is this going somewhere, but whatever it means for the wider world, I’m just glad it means I have you for the next 24 hours.” The smile across Evan’s face worked away any of Colby’s lingering uncertainty of the politics, and he felt a wicked grin steal across his own face.
“And I must say, I think we have some spectacular re-uniting to do, never mind celebrating this triumph of sense. And whilst I want nothing more than to show you here and now just how I think we should spend the rest of the night,” he pulled his hand free to drag his fingertips down the side of Evan’s face, over the familiar shape of his body, and quickly skim across Evan’s lap before returning to Evan’s open hand, “how about we do this at home- at my place, rather than my work parking lot?”
Evan huffed out a laugh, more of relief than anything else. “Yeah, ok. Let’s go home.” he said, fingers tightening around Colby’s for a beat before letting them go. He saw the flush of delight that crept down Colby’s neck at his deliberate choice of words, and as the car started up and pulled away, he let his hand drift back to rest on Colby’s thigh. Tipping his head back and closing his eyes, he let a feeling of peace settle over him.
swingandswirl, I ended up with Colby, and Evan's reaction. Which amounts to an inter-galactic booty-call, without the booty (it remains decidedly off-screen), with a side helping of David running commentary on the DADT policy. Maybe having a busted foot has some use after all.
So. This ends up being for the afore-mentioned three marvellous writers. Not beta'd, and so very far out of my usual comfort zone (drabbles! 100 word drabbles.) Warnings, I guess for hand-holding, and an slight British incredulousness towards a political policy.
Colby reached up, stretching the kink out of his shoulders, and sighed. Only Tuesday. So far, the week had been nothing but filling out the paperwork and crunching the numbers that littered the corporate fraud case that had ended with one shoot-out, and one dead accountant - and who knew accountants could fire guns like that? - in the lobby of the accountancy office. Having to account for every shot fired wasn’t something that could be handed off onto Charlie. Apparently, math geniuses weren’t allowed to write up the field reports as well as solving the crimes.
“Hey, man” David’s voice broke into his thoughts as he contemplated once more his half-written report. “Seen the news?”
“What kind? The one which says Don’s the only one who has to submit a report, written on behalf of the team?” Colby quipped back half-heartedly.
David reached over, nudged Colby to the side, and pulled up the internet, then a news report. As the headline slid into view, David said without turning to look at Colby “Thought you’d be interested in keeping abreast of army news, even though you’re out of it.” He clapped a hand on Colby’s shoulder. “Score one, for another step towards equal rights, yeah?”
Dimly, Colby was aware of David heading back to his desk, but he was too busy reading the rest of the article to pay real attention. It wasn’t a repeal, and it wasn’t going to survive without serious challenges, but for a moment, Colby let something like hope flicker through him, felt the tiniest of unclenchings from around his heart, and heard himself let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding since David had first brought the article up.
Before he could lose the nerve, he copied and pasted the article, popped it into an email, and fired it off. Closing the window, he pushed the flicker of hope back down. It wasn’t a repeal, and it didn’t mean anything, just yet. And anyway, he told himself he wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would change anything for them personally, not yet. Taking another deep breath to get himself back on track, he closed the browser, and turned back to accounting for every bullet he’d fired.
*****
Checking to make sure nothing more pressing had dropped last-minute into his in-box, Colby shut down his work, and headed to the elevator with David. “Plans for your freedom?” he enquired.
“Nah, well, not beyond clearing out the science experiment that’s growing in my fridge, getting more groceries in, and then knocking back with the TV.” David grinned. “Don being kind enough to release us, now the fraud is all wrapped up, and I fully intend to relax for every moment of it. You want to come over, I’m sure I’ve beer…?”
Colby thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “Guess I ought to do the same as you - there’s probably new life to be discovered in the wake of my take-out leftovers.” He hesitated for a moment, then continued “Thanks for showing me the article yesterday. Interesting stuff.”
He knew he’d been right when David turned, deceptively casually, towards him. “So what’d you think? Bout time, right?”
Colby paused, shrugged. “It’s one judge’s opinion. It’s not a full out repeal, and it’ll be challenged. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yeah, but it’s finally getting somewhere. Tell me,” David hesitated, and Colby inwardly winced, waiting for the most awkward of questions that could well lead to a conversation he wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready to have with David. “You must’ve served with international troops - did you ever,” David paused, uncertain how to phrase it, “You don’t think there’s much in the argument that it would be bad for morale, right? I mean, other countries have equal rights of service, and it works for them…”
Colby blinked at him, caught unawares by the question. “Well, sure, there were international troops in Afghan, and we worked alongside a bunch of them. I don’t” he halted, thinking back, trying to recall. “I don’t remember if there were ever any gay personnel serving. If they were, they certainly didn’t stand out. It just never really came up.”
As they approached their cars, Colby stiffened, saw out of the corner of his eye David’s hand twitch back toward his gun, as a shadow uncoiled itself from where it had been leaning against Colby’s car. And then he stopped, unable to believe his eyes.
“I got a 24-hour stand-down. Not quite enough time to make it home. Was hoping you’d have a little sympathy, and let me steal the couch?”
David’s head swivelled from the guy, to Colby, and back again. Colby was still standing in shock, and the hopeful look on the stranger’s face was shifting into uncomfortable wariness. Without taking his eyes from the line of sight to the man, David leaned over a little, and nudged Colby. He took a step forward, the words tumbling in aborted uncertainty.
“Evan? What are you… when did you… yeah, but … yeah…”
Some of the tension seemed to flow out of Evan, and a careful grin broke out across his features. Colby turned to David, “Major Evan Lorne, he’s an old military-“
“Air Force!!” Evan broke in.
“Air Force buddy of mine.” Colby finished with a grin towards Evan. “I’ll catch you tomorrow, man.” He said, already walking towards his car and Evan. David’s voice stopped him midway.
“Why don’t you ask for the morning off? If your buddy’s only in town for 24 hours, and the case is closed, Don might give you the down-time as well.” His smile, when Colby turned back, was open and sincere, with no questions as far as Colby could tell. He hesitated for a moment, then replied, “yeah, maybe,” before turning to cross the last few steps towards Evan. David watched the enthusiastic hugs, and back-slapping they shared, before they turned and slid into the car. He clambered into his own ride, and wondered for a moment whether Colby would show tomorrow morning. He half considered calling Don, on Colby’s behalf, and asking for the morning, before realising he was pushing boundaries and making assumptions he had no right to. Telling himself to get a grip, he pulled out of the parking garage, without a backwards glance. He had a fridge to deal with.
****
In the small space of the car, Colby and Evan looked at each other, the air suddenly tense, without words being said. Evan’s smile slipped, and he cautiously asked, “Did I make a mistake, in coming? I know I didn’t give you any notice, but after your email yesterday…” He trailed off, wondering how he’d read the situation so wrong, that he’d been so stupidly naive to think the email had meant anything more. Colby’s hand on his knee broke into his thoughts, and he looked up to warm eyes, and a smile so familiar he felt his heart ache just a little, to have it so close, after so long.
“No, no I’m just … surprised. Your posting’s so discrete; I can’t believe I’ve actually got you here, much less for 24 hours.” Colby admitted. “Did you…” He stopped, not quite sure if he wanted to push for confirmation that Evan’s downtown was a request, or an order. But Evan knew him well enough to answer regardless.
“We had a couple of points of contact about the ruling. And my CO - he told me if I finally wanted to put some of my serious amount of overtime to good use, I could take the day’s stand-down. He uh, he’s a good guy. We’re not expecting anything huge to come of this - it’s not a repeal by any means,” Colby smiled at the echo of his own thoughts, but let Evan continue, “but, people are starting to talk more about what it might mean, for the rest of the … mission.” Colby nodded carefully. He knew Evan’s posting involved an international contingent, and David’s earlier question, about how it worked for other countries when they were side by side with American regulations, came to mind. Putting aside the details that concerned others, he focused instead on “And your CO just … let you have a day off? Just like that?”
The worry - for Evan, more than for himself - wrapped itself around the syllables of the question, and Evan once more found himself wishing he could tell Colby everything, or anything, about his job. Instead, he slid his hand into Colby’s, reminding himself of the familiarity of its weight and the comfort of its warmth. “We’re still operating under DADT, and my CO’s still got his utter phobia of sharing anything personal, so its not like he told me to run off and take a day-long booty call.” The mental picture that produced, of Sheppard trying to issue Evan the directive for a little R and R, made him grin a little wildly. “But he did tell me he was sure I would put my time to good use, and we were able to find military transport at all the right times, to get me out here.”
It was stretching it a little, but Evan couldn’t exactly divulge what kind of military transport had been involved. His grin fading a little, he ploughed on, “After I got your email yesterday, I just thought, well, it would be nice to see you.” That too, was stretching it. In truth, Evan had spent a good while trying to read into Colby’s attachment, the content of the email having run to “Don’t know if you’ve seen this, wherever you are, but it looks like times might be a-changing.”
They’d never talked about their futures; about the choices between staying in and getting out; about sharing their lives and homes with the outside world as anything more than friends. It had always been that unspoken understanding, that despite long-distance and infrequency, they mattered enough to each other to try and make it work for the time being. Colby’s email had caused Evan to wonder whether maybe it was time they had that conversation, and he’d taken Sheppard’s suggestion for stand-down as a cosmic sign. Suddenly nervous, he felt his doubts surge forward with vigour. Maybe Colby was just passing on the gossip. Maybe he didn’t want any kind of re-evaluation of their relationship, maybe-
“Hey. Stop that. I really am glad you’re here.” Colby tugged on Evan’s hand to emphasis his words. “I guess we both know that this is just a small step, but maybe,” he hesitated, eyes flicking down to their clasped hands. “Maybe this is this going somewhere, but whatever it means for the wider world, I’m just glad it means I have you for the next 24 hours.” The smile across Evan’s face worked away any of Colby’s lingering uncertainty of the politics, and he felt a wicked grin steal across his own face.
“And I must say, I think we have some spectacular re-uniting to do, never mind celebrating this triumph of sense. And whilst I want nothing more than to show you here and now just how I think we should spend the rest of the night,” he pulled his hand free to drag his fingertips down the side of Evan’s face, over the familiar shape of his body, and quickly skim across Evan’s lap before returning to Evan’s open hand, “how about we do this at home- at my place, rather than my work parking lot?”
Evan huffed out a laugh, more of relief than anything else. “Yeah, ok. Let’s go home.” he said, fingers tightening around Colby’s for a beat before letting them go. He saw the flush of delight that crept down Colby’s neck at his deliberate choice of words, and as the car started up and pulled away, he let his hand drift back to rest on Colby’s thigh. Tipping his head back and closing his eyes, he let a feeling of peace settle over him.