Fic: Painters and Patients
Title: Painters and Patients
Author: viciouswishes
Beta: spartacusjones
Fandom: House/SGA
Pairing: Cameron/Lorne
Rating: NC17
Setting: during-"One Day, One Room" (House) and post-"Sunday" (SGA)
Words: 3,218
Summary: Sequel to Points of Separation, Evan comes back to her.
"So you're back," Allison says as Evan sets his bags down in her entryway.
Evan nods. He wants to say that he's sorry he didn't call, that he couldn't call, but she already knows that. "For a while."
"And what makes you think I'll just clear my schedule for you?"
That fact that she's palming her cell phone means she's thinking about it. But instead of responding, Evan cups her face and kisses her. She still has her bangs and that says something.
"You think." Allison mutters between kisses, "That you. Can just come in here. And kiss me. And everything. Will be better."
Evan's hoping she forgets that it's been months since he even sent her an e-mail as he's pushing his tongue into her mouth. They never broke it off. They never do break it off. (His favorite yellow coffee mug has found a home in her kitchen.) She feels warm and fragile, yet solid, like a picket fence against his body. He needs this.
Evan should've brought her flowers. He should've brought her his painting of Atlantis, if he could've. Told her that it was a crazy fantasy he had. But Allison takes him to bed anyway.
*****
Evan doesn't think of his hands cold against Carson's coffin. Instead, he jerks and stares up at the ceiling. Allison's snoring lightly next to him. Usually he finds it endearing, if a tad annoying, but tonight, she reminds him that he's alive. That the bombs didn't go off anywhere near him.
He grasps her limp hand, feeling it's warm and her fingers curl. She gives a little whimper, and her snoring stops. Evan didn't mean to wake her. But he wanted to. "What's the matter?" she asks.
"Couldn't sleep." Evan pulls Allison closer, his body hovering over hers. He needs to taste her, feel her surround him. (There's a dot on her alarm clock that reminds him she's waking at 0700 hours.) He breathes in her, his nose running just along her hair line. Evan places a kiss next to her earlobe. "I love you," he whispers.
"I love you too." Allison leans up and kisses him. That's something they say now. They say it when they mean it and it makes all of the other shit that they can't say or don't say melt away because it's true. Evan's a man in love, and he can't see anything but her.
He groans as he starts to move inside of her, gently. Allison's mouth nips at his neck, demanding that he move faster, making him seem like he's someone who's read too many advice columns on the way sex's supposed to be when he can't even remember when they slipped out of their pajamas.
Evan's dog tags fall between her breasts. He rolls his thumb over her clit and listens to her breathing. Her body tenses and when she comes, he follows her into orgasm. Her nails drag against his back and her laughing bubbles forth as he collapses against her. "Wow," she says.
"Yeah." He places a kiss on her collarbone before rolling off her so he doesn't crush her.
*****
Allison promised to be back by dinner, but Evan finally gives up calling and goes to the hospital himself. The same antiseptic smell still lingers in the hallways and the faces in the chairs at the free clinic look just as desperate. Evan asks for Dr. Cameron at the nurse's desk.
"And why do you want to see Dr. Cameron?" a man with several days worth of stubble and a cane asks. Dr. House. Evan could never forget him "Need that special extra helping hand?" He looks Evan up and down. "You seem to be fine. Does this mean that Cameron has a friend outside the dying?"
Evan ignores him and asks the nurse again. She tells him that she can only page Cameron if it's an emergency.
"What are you going to do now, Romeo?"
"I could tell you. Or I could..." House pivots toward the clinic waiting room. "Help the sick and possibly dying."
Evan rolls his eyes. He's not stupid enough to play House's game. Evan's already been to bootcamp once. "Think I'll just look for her myself. Thanks."
"Military," House says, scowling at him. "Gotta be with that posture."
Evan keeps walking towards the elevators.
"If you really knew Cameron, you'd know that she's in the dying patient ward, nursing another one-"
The door closes and Evan slumps against back wall. He really can't understand why Allison would work for him. Maybe Evan doesn't know her as well as he thought he did.
Evan finds Allison on the fifth floor. Sure, enough she's watching over a dying man. "Hey."
"Evan." Allison turns her back on her patient and gives Evan a weak smile. Her eyes are puffy like she's been crying, and she touches his arm, leading him out of the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Dinner. I tried calling, but kept getting your voicemail." Evan wants to hug her, but she's tense, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Crap." Allison's gaze goes toward her patient. "I should've given you my pager number. I forgot. I'm sorry. You didn't search every floor, did you?"
"Your boss gave me a hint."
"You met House?"
Evan nods.
"Oh God. Does he know you're my-"
"I think he guessed." Evan reaches out and touches Allison's face. "No worries."
She moves away from his hand. "Why don't you wait for me? This shouldn't be much longer. If you want something to tide you over, the cafeteria's still open." And she disappears back into the room, pulling the door and the privacy curtains behind her.
Evan sighs and decides that he needs a cup of coffee. (Hospitals are full of coffee machines and half-empty cafeterias.) He's on his third cup and fifth magazine when he spots a nurse rushing into the room where Allison is. For another hour, he pretends to care who's dating J-Lo, but his eyes keep drifting the door. The nurse left about 45 minutes ago with the guy's charts. He's dead and Allison's still in the room.
When she finally emerges, Allison's eyes are bloodshot and she watching the floor. "I need to get cleaned up."
Evan sets down the magazine. He doesn't say anything about it being far too late for dinner, and she doesn't say anything more while he follows her down the stairwell. He almost runs into her when she stops at the bottom step, before the door.
Allison kisses him and pulls him into a hug. Her head rests on his shoulder and his hand rubs circles in her back. "I lost my patient."
"I know."
"He came here to die."
She places her hand against his chest and pushes back so she's face-to-face with him. "Marry me?" Allison brings her hand up to her face and wiping away her tears. "Marry me, Evan."
Evan pauses and grins. "Yes. I'll marry you." He tips her chin up and kisses her.
*****
Evan groans a little. The sunlight's in his eyes and he remembers that last night, he got engaged to Allison. Allison, who's under the covers and pulling down his boxers and- "Oh god," he groans as her mouth wraps around his cock.
She definitely knows what she's doing. His hands thread into her hair as her mouth moves up and down his length. Her hand plays with his balls. Evan closes his eyes and relaxes into the warm wetness of her mouth. His hips move rhythmically and when he's almost there, she moves.
"Morning," Allison says, smiling. She pulls herself up and kisses him. The sunlight's like a halo around her face, some angel come to save him. From what, he doesn't know.
"Morning to you too." Evan grabs her by the waist and rolls them over so she's on her back. He licks down her jawline and over to her ear. "I'm going to fuck you now," he whispers. He's already opening the condom wrapper.
Allison shudders. "Yes, you are." Her hands grab his ass.
Evan's lips are on her as he sinks inside of her. This time, he's not holding back, his hips moving quickly and his body seeking his release. Allison's underneath him with her hand snaking between their bodies to touch herself. His tongue traces over the bite mark he left on shoulder last night.
*****
Evan usually has more patience than this. He would've been more understanding that House had a hard time letting go if Allison hadn't come home with dried tears on her face. If Evan hadn't been dipping her down as the dance ended, if she hadn't been wearing the earrings that would go perfectly with his grandmother's wedding ring, then House's interruption wouldn't have mattered as much.
"Dancing isn't very handi-capable for cripples," House says. He's twirling his cane like he could just set it down and do the two-step until the sun came back up.
Allison glares at him. "You followed us here?" Followed them all the way from Allison's apartment in Princeton to this nightclub in Manhattan.
"Taxi driver tried to lose me on Dyer." House sips wine from the glass that Allison had been drinking out of. "Your fiancé is quite the dancer."
"Why are you here?"
It's then that Evan punches him. He's trained to fight; he's trained to save Sheppard's ass with the feel of the crack of bone and the hard cold of gun against his skin. He knows the answer to Allison's question. He doesn't think that House desires her - no, he's done with that - but he wants her to stay in his little game. House doesn't want to have to break in some med student just off their first internship, not when he already has Allison, who will stay all night holding a dying patient's hand.
Evan's hand barely stings. He's had a lot of hand-to-hand training with Teyla lately. But his knuckles glistening with blood from House's split lip.
"Oh my god," Allison says again. At least it feels like she said it before. She's bending down in her long black dress and examining House's lip. The cut's minor; she's just a good doctor. Everyone's staring at them and her cheeks burn red. Her slender, pale fingers dap his cut with an cloth napkin.
Evan stands over them, frozen and bearing witness. Allison's face is cold and the corner of House's mouth curls up like he's going to say something.
"Hold still," Allison chides House as a waiter comes with ice. (Her eyes say that their dancing is over.) The crowd has broken and House's cane still leans up against the table. Evan turns around and disappears into dancers forming partners again.
*****
The pavement's quiet under Evan's feet. For once, he's glad to be in the acclaimed city that never sleeps because he doesn't think he can go back, to see her with House. There are all-night groceries and all-night porn theaters. He thinks about going in and jacking off to some big busted women with long manicured nails. Nothing like Allison.
Instead Evan finds himself entering a dollar theater, buying a tub of overly buttery popcorn, and watching Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. The movie's crap; it always has been. He needs time. Time to hope that when he goes back to Atlantis he doesn't run into Godzilla, or the Sea Monster. Time to think that the whole trip back to see Allison, to say nothing of her proposal, maybe wasn't the best thing for them. Or maybe it was.
Allison deserves more than her life at Princeton. Maybe he fancied himself too much as her white knight. Allison chose to stay with an asshole like Dr. House for this long. He doesn't understand her, not anymore.
Or maybe Evan does. She's taken pity on the sick, and House is nothing if not sick. It's what makes her a good doctor, a kind person.
Evan picks up his cell phone and texts her: Please forgive me. I love you. Stay with me. He fires off another, telling her where he is and sits back as Godzilla roars on screen. If Allison comes, he'll do it. The whole shebang with the chapel and the wedding and then they'll move to Atlantis. He'll tell her about Carson's death, about how they need more doctors, about how they can be happy. He won't pussyfoot around the Wraith or the Replicators or the thousands of other dangers in the Pegasus Galaxy. But Evan will promise her that he'll love her, that he'll always stand up for her.
The credit's roll and his popcorn's gone by the time Evan feels her hand on his shoulder. He heard the creak of the sticky doors, but didn't turn around. Not ready to have his resolve broken by the sight of her face, not just yet.
"Let's go home," Allison says. And when Evan sees her face, he feels like shit. She's been crying and worried and angry. She has every right to be.
*****
Evan slept the night holding her. His arms ache, but he can't let her go. (He can't stop saying, forgive me. Forgive me.) The numbness will wear off. He watches her sleeping and prays that her pager won't ring. Allison told him that she talked to House, but what does talking do to a man who stalked them all the way to the city.
Allison moves and kisses his cheek, stubble rough against her lips. She's still angry with him. But she's trying.
He wants to touch her. He wants to bury himself deep inside her. To look up and say, "Allison, you're right here, I see you. I know you."
But Evan draws back. "Are you hungry?" he asks.
She shakes her head and heads to her bathroom to pee. He's left with a pile of body-warm sheets and some hope that she'll return. Return to him.
He finds his duffle and goes through it to find the ring. Evan brought it with him because maybe he knew it was time. It was time to be a man and ask Allison properly.
So Evan gets down on his knee when he comes back. His hair's sticking up and her makeup's smudged from last night. But he's got the ring and the moves, even if he has morning breath and she's just in those little blue shorts and matching cami.
"Allison, I will marry you," he says. "I want to do this properly. I want to drive to a little church in Vermont, the same place my parents were married. I want you to wear white. And I want you to come back with me. I want you to come back with me as my wife."
There are tears in Allison's eyes again. There are tears in both their eyes. She gives him her hand and pulls him to his feet. She gives him a confident yes and slips the ring on her finger.
He tells her about Carson's death over coffee. He tells her about his friend, about his colleague, and about why he came back to see her.
Allison, in turn, fills out the SGC form. She signs the confidentially agreement and they fax to Colorado Springs. She's not guaranteed a job. But Evan knows that General Landry's a sucker for happy endings, and when Lorne mentions that she's going to be his wife, the paperwork won't hit any snags.
******
There are a set number of possible reactions that people have when they find out about the Stargate program and that aliens are real. There are the people like Dr. McKay who shout that they knew the government had been covering up extraterrestrial life all the time. There are the ones like Colonel Sheppard, who nod coolly. Then there are the ones that don't really believe. Evan was one of those himself. He paced around his apartment for two days, trying to wrap his brain around it, and when he finally did, he signed himself over to the program.
Allison was also a non-believer.
Evan debriefed her himself. They sat in her living room as he went over the details of the program, from unburying the Gate in Egypt to his current post on Atlantis. (Her wedding dress, white like the first Christmas snow, hung in her bedroom like a trophy.) He told her of the wonders he'd seen and of the dangers too.
"Wow," Allison says and she starts the laugh. "Tell me you're kidding. There aren't really space vampires who want to suck our life force, right? I mean you're actually stationed in North Korea, right?" Classified always equals North Korea when Evan says that he can't say where he's posted.
"Everything's true." Evan holds her hand. His finger touches her ring.
"I'm not sure I can do this. It's a lot."
"I know you can, Allison. I know that we can."
Allison starts to kiss him. She pushes Evan back on the couch and strips off her clothing. His pants and boxers are just over his ass as she takes his cock into her and fucks him. He doesn't think she takes a full breath of air until she comes.
*****
"I believe you," Allison says, "about the aliens and the starships." She stayed up too late last night, typing up her resignation letter to hand to House, Cuddy -- the hospital administrator, and probably someone in human resources. She gratefully swallows the coffee that Evan's made for her.
His hand touches her back. "It's going to be okay."
"I know." She smiles and hands him the dirty cup.
Evan doesn't expect that she'll stay later than noon. It's not a two-week notice. She has enough vacation time stored up (they both do) that they'll be in full wedding mode starting tomorrow and in a month, moving to Atlantis. Allison mutters something about not giving House any time to convince her to stay.
He waits for her to get home. He waits and watches the news. He goes to the store and buys steak, salad, and wine for dinner. He thinks about wedding invitations and flowers. He takes the back roads in Princeton to her house and gets lost for a good 15 minutes. He checks the messages on his cell phone.
Allison comes home to find him asleep on the couch. "We had a patient," she says. And he knows she's not coming. That the ring's slipping off her fingers and the dress is going back to the shop.
"It's the aliens, isn't it?" Evan asks.
"Yeah," Allison says. What she doesn't say is that she's not ready for a real relationship, one where he wants her, but doesn't need her. House needs her to support his twisted games. Evan doesn't. He doesn't have anything to offer her but his feelings, and that just isn't enough for her.
Evan really thought she was the one for him; that they could've had something beyond (his) meaningless hookups and (her) co-dependent relationships. This time, he'll tell her goodbye and try to mean it. This time, he'll get really drunk and have a hangover his first day on his journey back to Atlantis. This time, he'll paint the sad face of Allison Cameron.
Author: viciouswishes
Beta: spartacusjones
Fandom: House/SGA
Pairing: Cameron/Lorne
Rating: NC17
Setting: during-"One Day, One Room" (House) and post-"Sunday" (SGA)
Words: 3,218
Summary: Sequel to Points of Separation, Evan comes back to her.
"So you're back," Allison says as Evan sets his bags down in her entryway.
Evan nods. He wants to say that he's sorry he didn't call, that he couldn't call, but she already knows that. "For a while."
"And what makes you think I'll just clear my schedule for you?"
That fact that she's palming her cell phone means she's thinking about it. But instead of responding, Evan cups her face and kisses her. She still has her bangs and that says something.
"You think." Allison mutters between kisses, "That you. Can just come in here. And kiss me. And everything. Will be better."
Evan's hoping she forgets that it's been months since he even sent her an e-mail as he's pushing his tongue into her mouth. They never broke it off. They never do break it off. (His favorite yellow coffee mug has found a home in her kitchen.) She feels warm and fragile, yet solid, like a picket fence against his body. He needs this.
Evan should've brought her flowers. He should've brought her his painting of Atlantis, if he could've. Told her that it was a crazy fantasy he had. But Allison takes him to bed anyway.
*****
Evan doesn't think of his hands cold against Carson's coffin. Instead, he jerks and stares up at the ceiling. Allison's snoring lightly next to him. Usually he finds it endearing, if a tad annoying, but tonight, she reminds him that he's alive. That the bombs didn't go off anywhere near him.
He grasps her limp hand, feeling it's warm and her fingers curl. She gives a little whimper, and her snoring stops. Evan didn't mean to wake her. But he wanted to. "What's the matter?" she asks.
"Couldn't sleep." Evan pulls Allison closer, his body hovering over hers. He needs to taste her, feel her surround him. (There's a dot on her alarm clock that reminds him she's waking at 0700 hours.) He breathes in her, his nose running just along her hair line. Evan places a kiss next to her earlobe. "I love you," he whispers.
"I love you too." Allison leans up and kisses him. That's something they say now. They say it when they mean it and it makes all of the other shit that they can't say or don't say melt away because it's true. Evan's a man in love, and he can't see anything but her.
He groans as he starts to move inside of her, gently. Allison's mouth nips at his neck, demanding that he move faster, making him seem like he's someone who's read too many advice columns on the way sex's supposed to be when he can't even remember when they slipped out of their pajamas.
Evan's dog tags fall between her breasts. He rolls his thumb over her clit and listens to her breathing. Her body tenses and when she comes, he follows her into orgasm. Her nails drag against his back and her laughing bubbles forth as he collapses against her. "Wow," she says.
"Yeah." He places a kiss on her collarbone before rolling off her so he doesn't crush her.
*****
Allison promised to be back by dinner, but Evan finally gives up calling and goes to the hospital himself. The same antiseptic smell still lingers in the hallways and the faces in the chairs at the free clinic look just as desperate. Evan asks for Dr. Cameron at the nurse's desk.
"And why do you want to see Dr. Cameron?" a man with several days worth of stubble and a cane asks. Dr. House. Evan could never forget him "Need that special extra helping hand?" He looks Evan up and down. "You seem to be fine. Does this mean that Cameron has a friend outside the dying?"
Evan ignores him and asks the nurse again. She tells him that she can only page Cameron if it's an emergency.
"What are you going to do now, Romeo?"
"I could tell you. Or I could..." House pivots toward the clinic waiting room. "Help the sick and possibly dying."
Evan rolls his eyes. He's not stupid enough to play House's game. Evan's already been to bootcamp once. "Think I'll just look for her myself. Thanks."
"Military," House says, scowling at him. "Gotta be with that posture."
Evan keeps walking towards the elevators.
"If you really knew Cameron, you'd know that she's in the dying patient ward, nursing another one-"
The door closes and Evan slumps against back wall. He really can't understand why Allison would work for him. Maybe Evan doesn't know her as well as he thought he did.
Evan finds Allison on the fifth floor. Sure, enough she's watching over a dying man. "Hey."
"Evan." Allison turns her back on her patient and gives Evan a weak smile. Her eyes are puffy like she's been crying, and she touches his arm, leading him out of the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Dinner. I tried calling, but kept getting your voicemail." Evan wants to hug her, but she's tense, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Crap." Allison's gaze goes toward her patient. "I should've given you my pager number. I forgot. I'm sorry. You didn't search every floor, did you?"
"Your boss gave me a hint."
"You met House?"
Evan nods.
"Oh God. Does he know you're my-"
"I think he guessed." Evan reaches out and touches Allison's face. "No worries."
She moves away from his hand. "Why don't you wait for me? This shouldn't be much longer. If you want something to tide you over, the cafeteria's still open." And she disappears back into the room, pulling the door and the privacy curtains behind her.
Evan sighs and decides that he needs a cup of coffee. (Hospitals are full of coffee machines and half-empty cafeterias.) He's on his third cup and fifth magazine when he spots a nurse rushing into the room where Allison is. For another hour, he pretends to care who's dating J-Lo, but his eyes keep drifting the door. The nurse left about 45 minutes ago with the guy's charts. He's dead and Allison's still in the room.
When she finally emerges, Allison's eyes are bloodshot and she watching the floor. "I need to get cleaned up."
Evan sets down the magazine. He doesn't say anything about it being far too late for dinner, and she doesn't say anything more while he follows her down the stairwell. He almost runs into her when she stops at the bottom step, before the door.
Allison kisses him and pulls him into a hug. Her head rests on his shoulder and his hand rubs circles in her back. "I lost my patient."
"I know."
"He came here to die."
She places her hand against his chest and pushes back so she's face-to-face with him. "Marry me?" Allison brings her hand up to her face and wiping away her tears. "Marry me, Evan."
Evan pauses and grins. "Yes. I'll marry you." He tips her chin up and kisses her.
*****
Evan groans a little. The sunlight's in his eyes and he remembers that last night, he got engaged to Allison. Allison, who's under the covers and pulling down his boxers and- "Oh god," he groans as her mouth wraps around his cock.
She definitely knows what she's doing. His hands thread into her hair as her mouth moves up and down his length. Her hand plays with his balls. Evan closes his eyes and relaxes into the warm wetness of her mouth. His hips move rhythmically and when he's almost there, she moves.
"Morning," Allison says, smiling. She pulls herself up and kisses him. The sunlight's like a halo around her face, some angel come to save him. From what, he doesn't know.
"Morning to you too." Evan grabs her by the waist and rolls them over so she's on her back. He licks down her jawline and over to her ear. "I'm going to fuck you now," he whispers. He's already opening the condom wrapper.
Allison shudders. "Yes, you are." Her hands grab his ass.
Evan's lips are on her as he sinks inside of her. This time, he's not holding back, his hips moving quickly and his body seeking his release. Allison's underneath him with her hand snaking between their bodies to touch herself. His tongue traces over the bite mark he left on shoulder last night.
*****
Evan usually has more patience than this. He would've been more understanding that House had a hard time letting go if Allison hadn't come home with dried tears on her face. If Evan hadn't been dipping her down as the dance ended, if she hadn't been wearing the earrings that would go perfectly with his grandmother's wedding ring, then House's interruption wouldn't have mattered as much.
"Dancing isn't very handi-capable for cripples," House says. He's twirling his cane like he could just set it down and do the two-step until the sun came back up.
Allison glares at him. "You followed us here?" Followed them all the way from Allison's apartment in Princeton to this nightclub in Manhattan.
"Taxi driver tried to lose me on Dyer." House sips wine from the glass that Allison had been drinking out of. "Your fiancé is quite the dancer."
"Why are you here?"
It's then that Evan punches him. He's trained to fight; he's trained to save Sheppard's ass with the feel of the crack of bone and the hard cold of gun against his skin. He knows the answer to Allison's question. He doesn't think that House desires her - no, he's done with that - but he wants her to stay in his little game. House doesn't want to have to break in some med student just off their first internship, not when he already has Allison, who will stay all night holding a dying patient's hand.
Evan's hand barely stings. He's had a lot of hand-to-hand training with Teyla lately. But his knuckles glistening with blood from House's split lip.
"Oh my god," Allison says again. At least it feels like she said it before. She's bending down in her long black dress and examining House's lip. The cut's minor; she's just a good doctor. Everyone's staring at them and her cheeks burn red. Her slender, pale fingers dap his cut with an cloth napkin.
Evan stands over them, frozen and bearing witness. Allison's face is cold and the corner of House's mouth curls up like he's going to say something.
"Hold still," Allison chides House as a waiter comes with ice. (Her eyes say that their dancing is over.) The crowd has broken and House's cane still leans up against the table. Evan turns around and disappears into dancers forming partners again.
*****
The pavement's quiet under Evan's feet. For once, he's glad to be in the acclaimed city that never sleeps because he doesn't think he can go back, to see her with House. There are all-night groceries and all-night porn theaters. He thinks about going in and jacking off to some big busted women with long manicured nails. Nothing like Allison.
Instead Evan finds himself entering a dollar theater, buying a tub of overly buttery popcorn, and watching Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. The movie's crap; it always has been. He needs time. Time to hope that when he goes back to Atlantis he doesn't run into Godzilla, or the Sea Monster. Time to think that the whole trip back to see Allison, to say nothing of her proposal, maybe wasn't the best thing for them. Or maybe it was.
Allison deserves more than her life at Princeton. Maybe he fancied himself too much as her white knight. Allison chose to stay with an asshole like Dr. House for this long. He doesn't understand her, not anymore.
Or maybe Evan does. She's taken pity on the sick, and House is nothing if not sick. It's what makes her a good doctor, a kind person.
Evan picks up his cell phone and texts her: Please forgive me. I love you. Stay with me. He fires off another, telling her where he is and sits back as Godzilla roars on screen. If Allison comes, he'll do it. The whole shebang with the chapel and the wedding and then they'll move to Atlantis. He'll tell her about Carson's death, about how they need more doctors, about how they can be happy. He won't pussyfoot around the Wraith or the Replicators or the thousands of other dangers in the Pegasus Galaxy. But Evan will promise her that he'll love her, that he'll always stand up for her.
The credit's roll and his popcorn's gone by the time Evan feels her hand on his shoulder. He heard the creak of the sticky doors, but didn't turn around. Not ready to have his resolve broken by the sight of her face, not just yet.
"Let's go home," Allison says. And when Evan sees her face, he feels like shit. She's been crying and worried and angry. She has every right to be.
*****
Evan slept the night holding her. His arms ache, but he can't let her go. (He can't stop saying, forgive me. Forgive me.) The numbness will wear off. He watches her sleeping and prays that her pager won't ring. Allison told him that she talked to House, but what does talking do to a man who stalked them all the way to the city.
Allison moves and kisses his cheek, stubble rough against her lips. She's still angry with him. But she's trying.
He wants to touch her. He wants to bury himself deep inside her. To look up and say, "Allison, you're right here, I see you. I know you."
But Evan draws back. "Are you hungry?" he asks.
She shakes her head and heads to her bathroom to pee. He's left with a pile of body-warm sheets and some hope that she'll return. Return to him.
He finds his duffle and goes through it to find the ring. Evan brought it with him because maybe he knew it was time. It was time to be a man and ask Allison properly.
So Evan gets down on his knee when he comes back. His hair's sticking up and her makeup's smudged from last night. But he's got the ring and the moves, even if he has morning breath and she's just in those little blue shorts and matching cami.
"Allison, I will marry you," he says. "I want to do this properly. I want to drive to a little church in Vermont, the same place my parents were married. I want you to wear white. And I want you to come back with me. I want you to come back with me as my wife."
There are tears in Allison's eyes again. There are tears in both their eyes. She gives him her hand and pulls him to his feet. She gives him a confident yes and slips the ring on her finger.
He tells her about Carson's death over coffee. He tells her about his friend, about his colleague, and about why he came back to see her.
Allison, in turn, fills out the SGC form. She signs the confidentially agreement and they fax to Colorado Springs. She's not guaranteed a job. But Evan knows that General Landry's a sucker for happy endings, and when Lorne mentions that she's going to be his wife, the paperwork won't hit any snags.
******
There are a set number of possible reactions that people have when they find out about the Stargate program and that aliens are real. There are the people like Dr. McKay who shout that they knew the government had been covering up extraterrestrial life all the time. There are the ones like Colonel Sheppard, who nod coolly. Then there are the ones that don't really believe. Evan was one of those himself. He paced around his apartment for two days, trying to wrap his brain around it, and when he finally did, he signed himself over to the program.
Allison was also a non-believer.
Evan debriefed her himself. They sat in her living room as he went over the details of the program, from unburying the Gate in Egypt to his current post on Atlantis. (Her wedding dress, white like the first Christmas snow, hung in her bedroom like a trophy.) He told her of the wonders he'd seen and of the dangers too.
"Wow," Allison says and she starts the laugh. "Tell me you're kidding. There aren't really space vampires who want to suck our life force, right? I mean you're actually stationed in North Korea, right?" Classified always equals North Korea when Evan says that he can't say where he's posted.
"Everything's true." Evan holds her hand. His finger touches her ring.
"I'm not sure I can do this. It's a lot."
"I know you can, Allison. I know that we can."
Allison starts to kiss him. She pushes Evan back on the couch and strips off her clothing. His pants and boxers are just over his ass as she takes his cock into her and fucks him. He doesn't think she takes a full breath of air until she comes.
*****
"I believe you," Allison says, "about the aliens and the starships." She stayed up too late last night, typing up her resignation letter to hand to House, Cuddy -- the hospital administrator, and probably someone in human resources. She gratefully swallows the coffee that Evan's made for her.
His hand touches her back. "It's going to be okay."
"I know." She smiles and hands him the dirty cup.
Evan doesn't expect that she'll stay later than noon. It's not a two-week notice. She has enough vacation time stored up (they both do) that they'll be in full wedding mode starting tomorrow and in a month, moving to Atlantis. Allison mutters something about not giving House any time to convince her to stay.
He waits for her to get home. He waits and watches the news. He goes to the store and buys steak, salad, and wine for dinner. He thinks about wedding invitations and flowers. He takes the back roads in Princeton to her house and gets lost for a good 15 minutes. He checks the messages on his cell phone.
Allison comes home to find him asleep on the couch. "We had a patient," she says. And he knows she's not coming. That the ring's slipping off her fingers and the dress is going back to the shop.
"It's the aliens, isn't it?" Evan asks.
"Yeah," Allison says. What she doesn't say is that she's not ready for a real relationship, one where he wants her, but doesn't need her. House needs her to support his twisted games. Evan doesn't. He doesn't have anything to offer her but his feelings, and that just isn't enough for her.
Evan really thought she was the one for him; that they could've had something beyond (his) meaningless hookups and (her) co-dependent relationships. This time, he'll tell her goodbye and try to mean it. This time, he'll get really drunk and have a hangover his first day on his journey back to Atlantis. This time, he'll paint the sad face of Allison Cameron.