Fic: Inter-Service Support: Feel the Bomb Drop (Stargate)
Title: Feel the Bomb Drop
Fandom: Stargate
Rating: K+
Genres: gen, friendship
Summary: Laura Cadman gets to blow up something big.
A/N: Tag to jo_graham's and amygriswold's The Lost I had had on the burner for at least two years before I decided to type it up after all (I had the entire story written in a notebook and had to type it up, which I usually don't do since my handwriting is beyond unintelligible and it's just really a pain in the ass typing anything up) and here it is (mostly because after finishing Unascended, I rediscovered that I still have notes for at least two more tags to the Legacy books and wanted to keep it in order). Mostly, it was inspired by the Atlantis engineers blowing up icebergs that were threatening to damage Atlantis (where there are explosives, there is Laura Cadman. It is known) and a special underwater encounter Jo and Amy gave Lorne. So, anyway, here it is. (also, I really need to start a series tag for this, don't I?)
( Best Laid Plans )
( What She Can Do )
Feel the Bomb Drop
“I wanna feel the car crash
I wanna feel the capsize
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop
‘Til I’m satisfied
I wanna feel the car crash
‘Cause I'm dyin’ on the inside
I wanna let go and know
That I’ll be alright, alright.”
Matt Nathanson, “Car Crash”
Well, that’s certainly something new. Blowing up icebergs, that is. She has blown up a couple of other… interesting things before but icebergs are really something special.
Not only are they pretty big - at least those they’re supposed to blow up - but their structure is pretty unique and ice is just something completely different from concrete or wood. In short, she had a minor boomgasm at the thought of doing that, followed by a major - private - freak out at actually being handed the chance to do so, since the Hammond would be staying longer than expected in Atlantis and Carter thought the city might benefit from her expertise in blowing shit up.
So she’s standing out here in the freezing cold, hunched over her notes and checking and double-checking her calculations. Not that she doesn’t trust her abilities but with this assignment, she suddenly feels the need to make sure nothing goes wrong, and she knows how much can go wrong with explosives, and Colonel Carter made it clear to her that she expects everything to run smoothly and… “We’ll have to use a blowtorch to unfreeze your feet from the ice if you keep standing there any longer.”
What the… oh, right. Major Lorne, their designated jumper pilot today. Bundled up in cold weather gear like her and the rest of the demolitions team - she refuses to call her team the Blow Jobs, like the rest of the Atlantis population and the Hammond’s crew are not so secretly doing - she can only see his eyes. The rest of his face is prudently covered by a hood, a scarf and basically everything you can and should cover your face with when temperatures are way below freezing.
She just shakes her head and returns her attention to the little notebook she used instead of a tablet. She’d done her initial calculations on a tablet PC but those are worth shit out here. So it was back to good old pen and paper and that’s why she’s so… apprehensive about it. Well, part of it, anyway.
“Captain, I mean it,” Lorne’s voice floats over to her and yes, she deliberately chooses to ignore the urging undertone.
That is until he is, judging by the sound of his voice, standing right next to her and considerably closer to being pissed at her than a moment ago. “Okay, that’s it. Are you done now or not? Because I don’t know about you but my quota of ass freezing is filled. For the rest of the month.”
Okay, maybe she should say something, after all. Glancing up from her notes, she says, “Look, I’m sorry. I’m not keen on staying here any longer than necessary, either, sir, but it’s just…” he narrows his eyes but she’s determined to say her piece, “Something’s off here and… I just… I really don’t want to…” mess it up because my CO is Samantha “Blew Up A Fucking Sun Once” Carter and I don’t know if I’m good enough to serve under her command, she nearly adds but can’t, for various reasons.
However, it almost seems like she doesn’t have to because it looks like his eyes soften a little and after what could have been a little sigh, he says, “What do you want to do, Captain?”
Well, “I think… I need to check on one, maybe two of the charges again. I checked the calculations again and at least one of them needs to be removed or the whole thing could go down the drain.”
“Alright,” he says after a moment of consideration, “I’ll come with you.”
Uh, how about no? “I appreciate that, sir, but I think I can…”
“Captain, there’s no way I’m going to let any of my soldiers wander around on an iceberg without backup.” The first thing she wants to say is that hey, newsflash, she’s not one of his soldiers but then realizes that while that might be true, it’s also completely beside the point.
So what she does say is, “I’ll be fine. Just a moment and then I’ll…”
“Request denied,” he cuts her off and even though she can only see his eyes, she can see very well that he’s not exactly happy with the situation. Yeah, well, welcome to the club. “Look, Laura, I’m not doing this because I don’t trust you to do it right. I’m just doing my job. Would you let any of your Marines just wander off alone?”
She’s silenced for a moment; not necessarily by the question but because of the use of her first name but really, that’s ridiculous. So she swallows and says, “No, sir.”
The expression in his eyes says, “Thought so,” and he asks her to lead the way. She does, so they scramble across the iceberg’s surface, towards one of the charges they planted close to its center.
The rugged and at times slippery surface of the iceberg makes climbing around quite the adventure and when they reach the charge that’s supposed to split the iceberg in half, she does have some difficulties to keep from panting.
“Please remind me,” he says and she can actually hear him taking a deep breath before continuing, “to keep from offering to accompany you anywhere again.”
She can’t grinning and she’s pretty sure that he can see it despite the scarf covering half her face. “Don’t tell me you’re too old for this, sir.”
“Just wait until we’re back in Atlantis. I’ll give you “too old for this”,” is his only reply and… the groundwork’s just too good to be wasted.
“Ah, promises, promises…” she says and deliberately does not look at him but crouches down to have a look at the charge.
At first glance, the thing looks perfectly alright. Remote detonator is placed correctly, it’s wired just like she’d told the team to, the mass seems to be right… But something feels… off. Damn, if she’d just had a tabled and a map and GPS…
“So what’s the matter?” A little startled, she realizes he crouched down next to her and hearing his voice so close threw her off for a moment.
Trying to keep the annoyance at letting him catch her off-guard, she makes an effort to concentrate on being professional. “I think it needs to be moved but I don’t want to risk it without knowing our exact position.”
“And that’s nearly impossible here, I know,” he replies and runs a gloved hand over his face. “I could ask the guys in the jumper,” yeah, he could do that but they both know that the cold fucks with the jumpers’ sensors, too and Atlantis’s sensor array is still not all good to go so that doesn’t give them any reliable data, either, “but I think you’ll have to do this one by your guts.”
No. Way. She glares at him. “Most certainly not, sir. This is science, not voodoo and if I mess it up, I could get Atlantis in pretty deep shit and…”
“I know that, Laura. Believe me, I do.” Oh yeah, she wants to ask, do you? “But you’ll have to trust your instincts here. Don’t tell me you’re too old for this.” He even dares to smirk at her.
“That was unnecessary,” she growls and he just doesn’t stop smirking.
“Well, are you, Captain?” Why, exactly, did she agree to let him come with her, again?
Oh, right, because it was an order. And anyway, her asked her something. She sighs. “No, of course not. It’s just…”
He shakes his head. “You won’t mess it up. Colonel Carter doesn’t place her faith in just anyone. She actually recommended you specifically for this,” he says and even though it’s supposed to be encouraging, the only thing she can think is that well, that’s kind of part of the problem.
But it certainly wouldn’t do to tell him that so she just mutters, half hoping he won’t hear it, “Yes, Obi-Wan. I will use the Force.”
There’s no answer from him, so he probably was wise enough not to comment on it, if he did hear it. Well, all the better. She starts to dig the charge out, and even though she should have expected it, it does surprise her that Lorne moves to help her without making a fuss. After too many minutes of cussing and freezing off their hands, they get the package free. Now, she thinks, for the hard part. Trusting her instincts, alright.
Trying to push everything non-essential - her insecurities, his presence, the waiting jumper crew - out of her mind, she thinks everything through one last time and slowly surveys her surroundings. Then, after a couple more minutes, her gaze stops at a little ridge, some feet north of the original spot of the charge. She looks at him again. “Over there.”
His eyes light up in a grin again. “Well down, young padawan.”
Shit, she thinks and tries not to look too sheepish at the fact that yes, he must have heard her muttering after all. Instead of commenting, she walks over to the designated spot, pulls the laser drill gear they found in the treasure troves of Atlantis a couple of years ago from her back and burns a neat hole into the ice, of exactly the right length, width and depth she needs. Yes, she’s been plotting for an innocuous way for it to suddenly appear in her quarters on board the Hammond and deciding to stay, why are you even asking?
Wordlessly, Lorne hands her the package and with great care, she lowers it down into the hole after checking the remote detonator one last time. Then she meticulously fills the hole with lose ice and snow.
Then she straightens up and looks at him, trying to appear way more confident than she feels. He raises an eyebrow. “Done, Captain?”
“Done, sir.” Did she just hear him mutter “About damn time”? Again, she chooses to ignore it and instead turns to leave the scene.
For a couple of steps they walk in something that could almost be called companionable silence, until Lorne suddenly says, “About that second charge… please don’t tell me it’s one of the underwater charges.”
Oh, right, the second charge. She does a few calculations in her head and… they should be good now. She shakes her head. “Don’t worry, we won’t have to move that one.” And, okay, she knows she very much should keep her big trap shut but… again, the groundwork is just way too tempting. “Also, sir, don’t tell me you’re afraid of your new friend, the Giant Squid.”
The way he just looked at her tells her very clearly he did not expect her to know about his little diving adventure a couple of days ago. What, did he really think he’s the only inhabitant of Atlantis she’s talking to?
And apparently he realized his mistake now, scowling, “God, not another Harry Potter fan.”
What is he… oh, right. Hogwarts Lake, Giant Squid… that was easy enough that she got it even though it’s been a while since she read anything by JK Rowling. However, she decides not to join in with the allusions. That would be too easy. So she just says, trying not to grin too much, “Just roll with it, sir. You’ll never get rid of it, anyway.”
The eyes that look at her now look very much like he’d love to get even with her for that thing in the workout room right now but in the end, he just kind of… huffs and says, sounding a little as if he’s saying it more to himself than her, “Yeah, but I can still try.”
She knows she should just let it lie but a little devil must be riding her today because she can’t stop herself from saying, “I’d love to be introduced, by the way.”
“Most certainly not,” is his immediate reply and it’s almost comical how resolute he sounds.
Maybe it’s that which prompts her to cap it all off with, “Oh come on, sir. Don’t monopolize him… her… it. Anyway…”
“It’s just. Not. Funny. Captain,” he growls but something in that sounds like it very much is, even for him. Well, maybe the fact that the growl sounded very much like a desperate attempt at holding back with amusement.
“I certainly don’t think so, either.” It’s a lie, of course, because damn, this is funny. “I mean, apparently, sea food is very interested in you. That’s a very serious matter, sir.”
He snorts. “That’s rich, coming from a lobster.”
Oooh, that’s a low blow. It’s her turn to growl, absolutely not amused. “Only those crazy old Brits under crazy old Nelson called their Marines that.”
Even though she’d been resolved not to look at him again until they reach the jumper, she can’t help sneaking him a look and catches him looking questioningly and maybe even a little surprised - she can’t really tell, with most of his face obscured by fabric - at her. Involuntarily, she rolls her eyes. “What, sir? A small part of my brain is there for memorizing non-explosives related stuff.”
Either his skin suddenly overreacted to the cold or Major Evan Lorne, kick-ass Atlantis military contingent executive officer, just blushed. “Oh, I wasn’t… I mean, I… erm, always knew that, of course.”
Of course. Mh, mh. She’s not really convinced but decides to let it go. He is her superior, after all. “Yeah,” she only grumbles and adds, “And who told you about that lobster thing, anyway?”
There are little lines in the corners of his eyes, making it pretty possible that he’s grinning. “Lance Corporal O’Reilly.”
Yeah, she should have known that. An inarticulate sound of disapproval escapes her, together with a muttered, “Cheese eating surrender monkeys.”
There might or might not have been a faint snort from him. But it could also have been the crunching ice under their boots. Anyway, what he actually replies, is, “Weren’t that the French?”
Oh, now he tries to come to her with facts? No one needs facts, facts are overrated. And anyway, it’s too cold to argue, so she just grumbles, “Oh, you know what I mean.”
For a couple of steps - at least they can finally see the jumper now - there’s silence, then she hears him say, “Laura?” with a kind of amused undertone to it but she could be imagining that.
“What?” she asks, trying to sound not too petulant.
“Go easy on O’Reilly next time you two decide to beat the crap out of each other, huh?” How does he do that? Is he psychic, after all, just like the rumors always said?
She’s about to deny any intentions she had in regard to beating up O’Reilly when they have finally reached the jumper the rest of the team - two civilian technicians, three Marines and another three diving certified combat engineers - had been waiting in. So instead of wasting time with bullshitting around, they both enter the jumper.
Inside the jumper, warmth hits her like a wall and they’re quick to get rid of the parka and the scarf and basically every other item of cold weather gear while Lorne has one of the Marines lifting the jumper up. When they’re away far enough from the iceberg, she’s about to reach for the remote detonator in one of their boxes but Lorne is faster than her and hands it to her with the words, “Alright, Captain, show us your masterpiece.”
Did he really have to say that? Seriously, no pressure, huh. Without a word but with a pretty deadly glare, she takes the remote from his hand and just says, “With pleasure, sir,” trying to make it sound casual.
Then she murmurs the obligatory, “Fire in the hole,” and pushes the button. Immediately, they can hear a faint rumble and then the iceberg below them splits up into several smaller pieces. With something akin to anxiety, she watches them drift apart, noticing at least three pieces veering slightly off their projected courses and she nearly curses out loud. She really should have taken the tide in account. Well, okay, she did, but she could have done that better and…
“That was… impressive.” Huh, what? Did Evan Lorne just call her work impressive?
Okay, yeah, he did. And still she can’t help contradicting him with a muttered, “Yeah, but not perfect.” Oops. She could have at least thanked him for the compliment and that’s exactly what his face and those of the team say.
Damn, that was… “There will be other icebergs to blow up, Captain,” Lorne says after a moment of silence and she could have sworn that there was that amused undertone again.
She frowns. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing, sir.”
That gets her eye rolling and, “I’ll remind you of that next time you get all bouncy at the thought of detonating really big pieces of ice.”
What… how… there’s no way he could have seen her little happy dance in her rather confined quarters onboard the Hammond. And did Arriva, one of the technicians, just snort? That guy has guts, she has to give him that. It won’t save him from being one of the divers next time they blow up an iceberg, though.
She also considers reminding the very obviously grinning Sergeant Vandenberg of the fact that he still owes her results from the shooting range but in the end, she decides to humor Lorne and the team and just leaves it at another glare before surrendering to good-natured banter. She can get back at them another time and well, she can always get back at Lorne in the workout room… but okay, maybe she’ll thank him for walking her through this first. Maybe. Someday. Yeah.
Fandom: Stargate
Rating: K+
Genres: gen, friendship
Summary: Laura Cadman gets to blow up something big.
A/N: Tag to jo_graham's and amygriswold's The Lost I had had on the burner for at least two years before I decided to type it up after all (I had the entire story written in a notebook and had to type it up, which I usually don't do since my handwriting is beyond unintelligible and it's just really a pain in the ass typing anything up) and here it is (mostly because after finishing Unascended, I rediscovered that I still have notes for at least two more tags to the Legacy books and wanted to keep it in order). Mostly, it was inspired by the Atlantis engineers blowing up icebergs that were threatening to damage Atlantis (where there are explosives, there is Laura Cadman. It is known) and a special underwater encounter Jo and Amy gave Lorne. So, anyway, here it is. (also, I really need to start a series tag for this, don't I?)
( Best Laid Plans )
( What She Can Do )
Feel the Bomb Drop
“I wanna feel the car crash
I wanna feel the capsize
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop
‘Til I’m satisfied
I wanna feel the car crash
‘Cause I'm dyin’ on the inside
I wanna let go and know
That I’ll be alright, alright.”
Matt Nathanson, “Car Crash”
Well, that’s certainly something new. Blowing up icebergs, that is. She has blown up a couple of other… interesting things before but icebergs are really something special.
Not only are they pretty big - at least those they’re supposed to blow up - but their structure is pretty unique and ice is just something completely different from concrete or wood. In short, she had a minor boomgasm at the thought of doing that, followed by a major - private - freak out at actually being handed the chance to do so, since the Hammond would be staying longer than expected in Atlantis and Carter thought the city might benefit from her expertise in blowing shit up.
So she’s standing out here in the freezing cold, hunched over her notes and checking and double-checking her calculations. Not that she doesn’t trust her abilities but with this assignment, she suddenly feels the need to make sure nothing goes wrong, and she knows how much can go wrong with explosives, and Colonel Carter made it clear to her that she expects everything to run smoothly and… “We’ll have to use a blowtorch to unfreeze your feet from the ice if you keep standing there any longer.”
What the… oh, right. Major Lorne, their designated jumper pilot today. Bundled up in cold weather gear like her and the rest of the demolitions team - she refuses to call her team the Blow Jobs, like the rest of the Atlantis population and the Hammond’s crew are not so secretly doing - she can only see his eyes. The rest of his face is prudently covered by a hood, a scarf and basically everything you can and should cover your face with when temperatures are way below freezing.
She just shakes her head and returns her attention to the little notebook she used instead of a tablet. She’d done her initial calculations on a tablet PC but those are worth shit out here. So it was back to good old pen and paper and that’s why she’s so… apprehensive about it. Well, part of it, anyway.
“Captain, I mean it,” Lorne’s voice floats over to her and yes, she deliberately chooses to ignore the urging undertone.
That is until he is, judging by the sound of his voice, standing right next to her and considerably closer to being pissed at her than a moment ago. “Okay, that’s it. Are you done now or not? Because I don’t know about you but my quota of ass freezing is filled. For the rest of the month.”
Okay, maybe she should say something, after all. Glancing up from her notes, she says, “Look, I’m sorry. I’m not keen on staying here any longer than necessary, either, sir, but it’s just…” he narrows his eyes but she’s determined to say her piece, “Something’s off here and… I just… I really don’t want to…” mess it up because my CO is Samantha “Blew Up A Fucking Sun Once” Carter and I don’t know if I’m good enough to serve under her command, she nearly adds but can’t, for various reasons.
However, it almost seems like she doesn’t have to because it looks like his eyes soften a little and after what could have been a little sigh, he says, “What do you want to do, Captain?”
Well, “I think… I need to check on one, maybe two of the charges again. I checked the calculations again and at least one of them needs to be removed or the whole thing could go down the drain.”
“Alright,” he says after a moment of consideration, “I’ll come with you.”
Uh, how about no? “I appreciate that, sir, but I think I can…”
“Captain, there’s no way I’m going to let any of my soldiers wander around on an iceberg without backup.” The first thing she wants to say is that hey, newsflash, she’s not one of his soldiers but then realizes that while that might be true, it’s also completely beside the point.
So what she does say is, “I’ll be fine. Just a moment and then I’ll…”
“Request denied,” he cuts her off and even though she can only see his eyes, she can see very well that he’s not exactly happy with the situation. Yeah, well, welcome to the club. “Look, Laura, I’m not doing this because I don’t trust you to do it right. I’m just doing my job. Would you let any of your Marines just wander off alone?”
She’s silenced for a moment; not necessarily by the question but because of the use of her first name but really, that’s ridiculous. So she swallows and says, “No, sir.”
The expression in his eyes says, “Thought so,” and he asks her to lead the way. She does, so they scramble across the iceberg’s surface, towards one of the charges they planted close to its center.
The rugged and at times slippery surface of the iceberg makes climbing around quite the adventure and when they reach the charge that’s supposed to split the iceberg in half, she does have some difficulties to keep from panting.
“Please remind me,” he says and she can actually hear him taking a deep breath before continuing, “to keep from offering to accompany you anywhere again.”
She can’t grinning and she’s pretty sure that he can see it despite the scarf covering half her face. “Don’t tell me you’re too old for this, sir.”
“Just wait until we’re back in Atlantis. I’ll give you “too old for this”,” is his only reply and… the groundwork’s just too good to be wasted.
“Ah, promises, promises…” she says and deliberately does not look at him but crouches down to have a look at the charge.
At first glance, the thing looks perfectly alright. Remote detonator is placed correctly, it’s wired just like she’d told the team to, the mass seems to be right… But something feels… off. Damn, if she’d just had a tabled and a map and GPS…
“So what’s the matter?” A little startled, she realizes he crouched down next to her and hearing his voice so close threw her off for a moment.
Trying to keep the annoyance at letting him catch her off-guard, she makes an effort to concentrate on being professional. “I think it needs to be moved but I don’t want to risk it without knowing our exact position.”
“And that’s nearly impossible here, I know,” he replies and runs a gloved hand over his face. “I could ask the guys in the jumper,” yeah, he could do that but they both know that the cold fucks with the jumpers’ sensors, too and Atlantis’s sensor array is still not all good to go so that doesn’t give them any reliable data, either, “but I think you’ll have to do this one by your guts.”
No. Way. She glares at him. “Most certainly not, sir. This is science, not voodoo and if I mess it up, I could get Atlantis in pretty deep shit and…”
“I know that, Laura. Believe me, I do.” Oh yeah, she wants to ask, do you? “But you’ll have to trust your instincts here. Don’t tell me you’re too old for this.” He even dares to smirk at her.
“That was unnecessary,” she growls and he just doesn’t stop smirking.
“Well, are you, Captain?” Why, exactly, did she agree to let him come with her, again?
Oh, right, because it was an order. And anyway, her asked her something. She sighs. “No, of course not. It’s just…”
He shakes his head. “You won’t mess it up. Colonel Carter doesn’t place her faith in just anyone. She actually recommended you specifically for this,” he says and even though it’s supposed to be encouraging, the only thing she can think is that well, that’s kind of part of the problem.
But it certainly wouldn’t do to tell him that so she just mutters, half hoping he won’t hear it, “Yes, Obi-Wan. I will use the Force.”
There’s no answer from him, so he probably was wise enough not to comment on it, if he did hear it. Well, all the better. She starts to dig the charge out, and even though she should have expected it, it does surprise her that Lorne moves to help her without making a fuss. After too many minutes of cussing and freezing off their hands, they get the package free. Now, she thinks, for the hard part. Trusting her instincts, alright.
Trying to push everything non-essential - her insecurities, his presence, the waiting jumper crew - out of her mind, she thinks everything through one last time and slowly surveys her surroundings. Then, after a couple more minutes, her gaze stops at a little ridge, some feet north of the original spot of the charge. She looks at him again. “Over there.”
His eyes light up in a grin again. “Well down, young padawan.”
Shit, she thinks and tries not to look too sheepish at the fact that yes, he must have heard her muttering after all. Instead of commenting, she walks over to the designated spot, pulls the laser drill gear they found in the treasure troves of Atlantis a couple of years ago from her back and burns a neat hole into the ice, of exactly the right length, width and depth she needs. Yes, she’s been plotting for an innocuous way for it to suddenly appear in her quarters on board the Hammond and deciding to stay, why are you even asking?
Wordlessly, Lorne hands her the package and with great care, she lowers it down into the hole after checking the remote detonator one last time. Then she meticulously fills the hole with lose ice and snow.
Then she straightens up and looks at him, trying to appear way more confident than she feels. He raises an eyebrow. “Done, Captain?”
“Done, sir.” Did she just hear him mutter “About damn time”? Again, she chooses to ignore it and instead turns to leave the scene.
For a couple of steps they walk in something that could almost be called companionable silence, until Lorne suddenly says, “About that second charge… please don’t tell me it’s one of the underwater charges.”
Oh, right, the second charge. She does a few calculations in her head and… they should be good now. She shakes her head. “Don’t worry, we won’t have to move that one.” And, okay, she knows she very much should keep her big trap shut but… again, the groundwork is just way too tempting. “Also, sir, don’t tell me you’re afraid of your new friend, the Giant Squid.”
The way he just looked at her tells her very clearly he did not expect her to know about his little diving adventure a couple of days ago. What, did he really think he’s the only inhabitant of Atlantis she’s talking to?
And apparently he realized his mistake now, scowling, “God, not another Harry Potter fan.”
What is he… oh, right. Hogwarts Lake, Giant Squid… that was easy enough that she got it even though it’s been a while since she read anything by JK Rowling. However, she decides not to join in with the allusions. That would be too easy. So she just says, trying not to grin too much, “Just roll with it, sir. You’ll never get rid of it, anyway.”
The eyes that look at her now look very much like he’d love to get even with her for that thing in the workout room right now but in the end, he just kind of… huffs and says, sounding a little as if he’s saying it more to himself than her, “Yeah, but I can still try.”
She knows she should just let it lie but a little devil must be riding her today because she can’t stop herself from saying, “I’d love to be introduced, by the way.”
“Most certainly not,” is his immediate reply and it’s almost comical how resolute he sounds.
Maybe it’s that which prompts her to cap it all off with, “Oh come on, sir. Don’t monopolize him… her… it. Anyway…”
“It’s just. Not. Funny. Captain,” he growls but something in that sounds like it very much is, even for him. Well, maybe the fact that the growl sounded very much like a desperate attempt at holding back with amusement.
“I certainly don’t think so, either.” It’s a lie, of course, because damn, this is funny. “I mean, apparently, sea food is very interested in you. That’s a very serious matter, sir.”
He snorts. “That’s rich, coming from a lobster.”
Oooh, that’s a low blow. It’s her turn to growl, absolutely not amused. “Only those crazy old Brits under crazy old Nelson called their Marines that.”
Even though she’d been resolved not to look at him again until they reach the jumper, she can’t help sneaking him a look and catches him looking questioningly and maybe even a little surprised - she can’t really tell, with most of his face obscured by fabric - at her. Involuntarily, she rolls her eyes. “What, sir? A small part of my brain is there for memorizing non-explosives related stuff.”
Either his skin suddenly overreacted to the cold or Major Evan Lorne, kick-ass Atlantis military contingent executive officer, just blushed. “Oh, I wasn’t… I mean, I… erm, always knew that, of course.”
Of course. Mh, mh. She’s not really convinced but decides to let it go. He is her superior, after all. “Yeah,” she only grumbles and adds, “And who told you about that lobster thing, anyway?”
There are little lines in the corners of his eyes, making it pretty possible that he’s grinning. “Lance Corporal O’Reilly.”
Yeah, she should have known that. An inarticulate sound of disapproval escapes her, together with a muttered, “Cheese eating surrender monkeys.”
There might or might not have been a faint snort from him. But it could also have been the crunching ice under their boots. Anyway, what he actually replies, is, “Weren’t that the French?”
Oh, now he tries to come to her with facts? No one needs facts, facts are overrated. And anyway, it’s too cold to argue, so she just grumbles, “Oh, you know what I mean.”
For a couple of steps - at least they can finally see the jumper now - there’s silence, then she hears him say, “Laura?” with a kind of amused undertone to it but she could be imagining that.
“What?” she asks, trying to sound not too petulant.
“Go easy on O’Reilly next time you two decide to beat the crap out of each other, huh?” How does he do that? Is he psychic, after all, just like the rumors always said?
She’s about to deny any intentions she had in regard to beating up O’Reilly when they have finally reached the jumper the rest of the team - two civilian technicians, three Marines and another three diving certified combat engineers - had been waiting in. So instead of wasting time with bullshitting around, they both enter the jumper.
Inside the jumper, warmth hits her like a wall and they’re quick to get rid of the parka and the scarf and basically every other item of cold weather gear while Lorne has one of the Marines lifting the jumper up. When they’re away far enough from the iceberg, she’s about to reach for the remote detonator in one of their boxes but Lorne is faster than her and hands it to her with the words, “Alright, Captain, show us your masterpiece.”
Did he really have to say that? Seriously, no pressure, huh. Without a word but with a pretty deadly glare, she takes the remote from his hand and just says, “With pleasure, sir,” trying to make it sound casual.
Then she murmurs the obligatory, “Fire in the hole,” and pushes the button. Immediately, they can hear a faint rumble and then the iceberg below them splits up into several smaller pieces. With something akin to anxiety, she watches them drift apart, noticing at least three pieces veering slightly off their projected courses and she nearly curses out loud. She really should have taken the tide in account. Well, okay, she did, but she could have done that better and…
“That was… impressive.” Huh, what? Did Evan Lorne just call her work impressive?
Okay, yeah, he did. And still she can’t help contradicting him with a muttered, “Yeah, but not perfect.” Oops. She could have at least thanked him for the compliment and that’s exactly what his face and those of the team say.
Damn, that was… “There will be other icebergs to blow up, Captain,” Lorne says after a moment of silence and she could have sworn that there was that amused undertone again.
She frowns. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing, sir.”
That gets her eye rolling and, “I’ll remind you of that next time you get all bouncy at the thought of detonating really big pieces of ice.”
What… how… there’s no way he could have seen her little happy dance in her rather confined quarters onboard the Hammond. And did Arriva, one of the technicians, just snort? That guy has guts, she has to give him that. It won’t save him from being one of the divers next time they blow up an iceberg, though.
She also considers reminding the very obviously grinning Sergeant Vandenberg of the fact that he still owes her results from the shooting range but in the end, she decides to humor Lorne and the team and just leaves it at another glare before surrendering to good-natured banter. She can get back at them another time and well, she can always get back at Lorne in the workout room… but okay, maybe she’ll thank him for walking her through this first. Maybe. Someday. Yeah.