FanFic100: #016 Purple
“No, this is not… Darren! No… Just great.” A little flustered she stops in front of her team leader’s door. When nothing else comes, she shrugs and wants to continue walking but then she hears something crashing to the floor and some serious cussing and so she decides that it’s probably better to reassure herself that everything is okay.
A while ago… Major Lorne - she still can’t bring herself to call him Evan in her head even though it’s been two months since he officially offered for her to call him by his first name when they are off-duty - gave her the access codes to his personal quarters in case anything happened but despite public opinion she does know how to spell politeness and so she tries the door buzzer. There’s an unidentifiable sound from the other side and that’s enough confirmation for her to come in.
She opens the door, enters and… is taken aback by the sheer chaos that greets her. The sheets on the bed are askew - she’s pretty sure that this is not their usual condition during the day - and the floor is cluttered with something that looks suspiciously like brushes and other painting utensils. But the best of all is… the way Evan and Darren, Rodney and Dusty’s son, look.
There’s really no way… she snorts. “Uh… correct me if I’m wrong but… isn't war paint supposed to be black and green?”
The look of dismay on her CO’s face tells her that he doesn’t find this funny. Not even a bit. Darren; however… seems to be very taken with some of the colors… especially blue, yellow and… purple. At least it’s not pink but she definitely needs to find a way to tell Dusty about it and see her reaction to it. But the best thing about all of this is that… an enormous amount of the purple has made it onto Evan’s face.
The very dark and dismayed look he throws her lasts for about another few seconds then he has obviously decided not to let himself be bested by a Marine as he says a little haughtily, “In the USMC maybe… but the Air Force likes to use more sophisticated colors, Captain.”
Uh-oh, he tried to “Captain” her. Ever since they agreed to be on a permanent first name basis off-duty he only calls her by her rank when she did something to really piss him off. But really, she hasn’t been in this room for more than a few moments. Usually, it does take her longer than that to do things to piss him off. Well, okay, there was this one time when she had managed to nearly sell him off to the local matriarch only seconds after entering the village … and that thing with the accidental near destruction of an Ancient space station… and… oh, okay. Sometimes she does wonder why he still keeps her on his team. So not wanting to agitate him any further she really tries to keep her amusement under wraps. “Of course. Sir.”
However… he doesn’t look like he believes her act of finding nothing funny in the whole situation. Little Darren is still very interested in the colors and somehow gives him the slip every time he tries to get him. In fact… he’s crawling towards her and when he reaches her boots he looks up at her smiling one of those irresistible baby smiles. A little dumbfounded she looks down and feels at a momentary loss of what to do. “How about picking him up?”
She looks at Evan again and there’s a faint smirk in his face. Sensing his imminent glee, she sticks out her tongue and says, “Ha, ha, very funny.”
The smirk gets broader. “He’s a baby, Cadman… not a live bomb.”
Well… he shouldn’t have said that. “I’d rather take the bomb, thank you.” The kid at her feet seems to be very interested in her boot laces all of a sudden so she takes a step back… but that doesn’t discourage him in the least. And instead of being his ever helpful self Evan just sits there on the floor, amusement written all over his face. So not fair.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a kid.” Oh, she knows very well what he’s trying to achieve with this. He wants to tickle the kick ass warrior in her to trick her into picking the kid up. He always tries to use that kind of thing to make her do something she doesn’t want to do… and dammit, each and every time it works. Just like now.
Because she is not afraid of a kid. And like hell she’ll let him believe it, even if what she’ll do next will make him incredibly smug. Squaring her shoulders and putting on her most haughty face she bends down to pick up the multicolored midget at her feet. With the kid in her arms she turns to him, looking sassy and very much like ‘Now what?’
Her CO, though, just gets up and takes a few steps towards her, grinning. “See? That wasn’t so hard.”
Again, very funny. And very, very funny that Darren has now started giving her face a make-over. Trying to dodge his little pudgy paint-smeared hands she walks up to Evan and almost shoves the kid back into his arms, stating, “Like I said… I still do bombs, not babies.”
He’s about to quip something sarcastic to that but what comes is something completely different, “Actually… I think that’s a pity.”
She knows she should just dismiss that and give him a snarky come back but it just… never comes. Two and a half years they have been team mates - even friends - now and sure, they had their flirty moments because between men and women no relationship ever happens without a little bit of flirting but it was always harmless… mostly, because he never looked at her like he looks now. Like he caught himself at something he’d never wanted to say out loud because he knew it would raise questions on her part.
A little nervously she purses her lips, all her options racing through her brain at light speed… and just for once she has a moment of panic and decides for flight instead of fight. “Right. I think… I think I should… go now. I have this… I should…”
Hastily she wants to turn around and flee his quarters but surprisingly… he halts her with saying, “Cadman… Laura.” Taking a deep breath, she turns around, mainly because of the almost tentative and very serious undertone in his voice. And because he called her by her first name which he only does very rarely.
As he’s standing there… with the kid on his hip, rubbing his neck with one hand, looking worried and contrite and like he regrets his slip of tongue… she can’t help but realizing what an attractive man he is. So, yes, of course she always knew he looked good and enjoyed seeing him both relaxed on down time and in action kicking enemy asses but this attraction… goes a little bit further than just good looks.
It scares her to feel this way about her CO… but it also kicks her warrior instincts into action because dammit nothing scares her and nothing will ever make her run away from it so she does the only thing left to her: She takes a leap of faith. “But then again… writing mission reports can wait just for a little while longer, I guess.”
The smile of relief that follows his moment of not quite realizing that she just volunteered to stay and the little butterflies in her stomach are worth the self-deprecation and the diffuse hunch that she just set events in motion that will definitely not make life easier for them in the near future - or maybe ever again. “Just for once… I agree, Ca… Laura.”
They smile at each other again, a little embarrassed and shyly… so she is kind of thankful when Darren chooses this moment to make himself known again by trying to finish the masterpiece he started on Evan’s face. It makes them laugh and she walks over to him again to lend him a hand. After all… preparing for a possible time somewhere far in the future when she’ll do both bombs and babies can’t hurt, can it?
~*~
“Power to the children
They are the true anarchists
Love chaos
Roam
Don’t know any law
No duties
Still unbroken strength
In masses.”
Herbert Grönemeyer, “Power To The Children”