sgteam14283 | bunny! (part2)

Title: Loved and Lost
Author: sgteam14283
Characters: Evan Lorne, Samantha Carter, OC
Relationships: Lorne/OC
Rating: PG13
Warnings: one naughty word
Spoilers: plot/scene from 'Road Not Taken'
Disclaimer: Lorne and Carter belongs to TPTB; everything else is Mine!
Author's Note: Was watching 'Road Not Taken' and during the scene with Sam, Lorne, and the pictures a bunny bit me so this is the one-shot (or is it a two-shot since there are two chapters?).

Review's are welcome!

Evan stared out the windshield towards the house and sighed. He had been sitting there for the last ten minutes trying to work up the nerve to actually get out and walk up towards the house. The drive on over had been uneventful, a rare occurrence these days, and he had made good time to the house.

As he had driven into the gated community he was struck at how normal everything looked, like the last three years had never happened. But then again to those who could afford to live in a place like this the last three years had been very lucrative.

Their house wasn’t hard to find; everyone at the SGC and the President's office knew where their house was; towards the end of the street where the houses and yards were bigger, fenced in, and had their own security personnel (all in addition to the security a gated community provided).

Taking a deep breath, Evan opened the car door and got out. "Now or never." He told himself as he locked the car and started up the drive towards the gate. Reaching the entrance, Evan pressed the call button on the speaker which was attached to the wall and waited for a response.

"State your name and business." Came the distorted reply.

He fished out his military I.D. and held it up towards the surveillance camera while saying, "Major Evan Lorne for-"

"Please head towards the front entrance." The voice cut him off before he had a chance to finish and the gates swung open.

As Evan walked up the drive, he wondered if she would even be home. Climbing up the steps, he was about to ring the bell when it opened and a butler stepped aside for him to enter.

Evan nodded and noticed that the man’s gaze flickered to the patches on Evan’s BDU jacket. "Mister Cale is not home at the moment, perhaps you can return tomorrow afternoon?"

Evan shook his head and said, "I’m not here to see him; is Misses Cale here at the moment?"

"She is."

"Can I speak to her?"

"She asked not to be disturbed."

"Can you at least tell her that an old friend is here to see her?"

The butler gave a curt nod and walked towards the back of the house.

Evan took a deep breath and looked around the foyer as he waited. Everywhere he looked he could see her touch; red and white roses in the vase on the table, different shades of blue through out the room. Then his gaze drifted towards the photographs hanging on the wall and he found himself drawn towards them.

There were two in particular that caught his attention; one of the whole family, looking so perfect, and one with just the two of them, gazing lovingly into each others eyes.

"Logan Cale." Evan thought with a hint of bitterness. "As rich and smart as they come."

Logan had been born into wealth; his father the CEO of Cale Industries, a large manufacturing planet, and his mother heiress to a pharmaceutical fortune. His was a ‘poor little rich boy’ story. Both his father and mother died while he was young, leaving everything to him. He was raised by his callous aunt and uncle who were only mad because they didn’t inherit anything from Logan’s parents, acting only as Logan’s legal guardians.

At first Logan tried to go against his families wishes and went into journalism but soon found that he was more technology oriented then writing so he decided to join the family business when his uncle suddenly died. His aunt tried to get Bennett, Logan’s cousin, into the position of CEO of both companies but Bennett refused, saying that the companies belonged to Logan.

By this time Logan was married for the second time, had a child, and at his wife’s urging took over Cale Industries while trusting Bennett with the pharmaceutical companies. Cale Industries already had a government contract for building satellites and was making a nice living under that.

Then Anubus attacked, the Stargate program revealed, and Homeworld Security created.

The government needed more surveillance and defense satellites and was more than willing to pay the companies with existing contracts more than enough to step up production as well as seek out new contractors. Logan, in addition to running CI, had started managing smaller businesses so overnight Logan became the most influential man in the United States, if not the most important (other than the President).

He began to become more and more involved in the goings on of the SGC and Homeworld Security until it wasn’t unusual to find someone from the Mountain talking with him at his office and house. That’s why the butler had assumed Evan was here on business.

But he wasn’t. He was here because he still had some unfinished business with Logan’s wife; Max.

Evan had met Max at a coffee shop one day, before Anubis attacked, ironically over a cup of coffee. They had both ordered the same blend and thought that it was theirs. They had exchanged a few laughs and pleasantries, then went on their separate ways; him to the Mountain and her to the local high school.

He didn’t think that he would ever see her again.

Then a few days later a neighborhood kid had asked him if he would come in for career day and since the kid looked up to him, Evan could hardly say no. So on that day he went to the school and was surprised to see that the class he was speaking to was Max’s.

After his presentation, they talked for a while and ended up going for a cup of coffee and talking well into the evening. They exchanged numbers and Evan found himself calling her almost everyday and thinking about her when he wasn’t talking to her.

It wasn’t long until they started to date and for awhile everything seemed perfect. But then the Gou’ald started to increase their activity and Evan was forced to lie to Max more and more often as to why he had to cancel their dates.

Finally Max had had enough and broke up with him, saying that she needed to be with someone who would tell the truth.

Just after they broke up Evan learned that she had been seeing Logan on the side and she had managed to get herself pregnant.

Then one day while reading the paper, for some unknown reason, he had flipped to the society page and saw Logan and Max’s wedding announcement.

In a tequila-induced fit, he gathered up every picture of them that had ever been taken and shredded them all; not wanted to be reminded of what he had lost.

The sound of heels on the stone floor drew Evan out of his thoughts and he turned in time to see Max enter the foyer. He was surprised at how young she still looked; despite being in her late 30s.

She was dressed in a pale blue dress with a dark belt at her waist, wearing matching shoes as well as a simple strand of pearls. Evan’s gaze drifted down to her hands and noticed the wedding band and engagement ring; both simple but elegant and they stood out.

Nothing but the best for the wife of the largest government contractor in the United States.

"Long time no see." Evan said, faintly smiling. "What’s it been? Three, four, years?"

"Something like that." Max said, not returning the smile. "What do you want? Logan’s not here; he’s out of town and won’t be back until tomorrow so why-"

"I didn’t come here to see him." Evan said, interrupting Max. "I came to see you."

"Why?"

"Because I don’t like how we left things."

Max was hesitant to believe what Evan was telling her. Narrowing her eyes she said, “Why now?”

"What do you mean?" Evan asked, eyebrows furrowing together.

"Why show up here to talk to me about how we left things after all this time? It’s been four years since we broke up Evan. Four years. A lot’s happened in that time; I’ve gotten married, had a kid. Things have changed; I’ve changed."

"I can see that." Evan snapped. "And so have I." Pulling out the picture that Sam had given him, Evan held it out to Max. "Found this and wanted to know if you wanted it."

Max took the picture from Evan’s hand and looked at it. "I remember the day we had this taken." She said, nostalgia evident in her voice. "This was just after Major Carter got married and you thought it would be nice if her, Rodney, Robert, Julie, you and myself all took a day at the lake. ‘Team and significant other bonding’ you told me. Never mind the fact that I got sea-sick easily and hated boating."

"But it was fun wasn’t it?" Evan asked, smiling.

Max laughed and replied, "Yea it was. Especially after Rodney decided to get into an argument with Rob over some theory and he ended up tossing Rodney over the railing."

Evan gave a snort at the memory and nodded, "Yea that was funny, but Rodney had it coming."

The smile faded from Max’s face and she all but shoved the picture back at Evan. "So why did you come here?" she asked icily. "There had to be more than to just give me a picture."

Evan sighed; he knew that it was too good to last. "I wanted to say that I was sorry for having to lie to you when we were dating; it wasn’t right but that’s the way it had to be."

"Yes it was." Max replied shortly. They stood in silence until Max said, "What made you come here and say that you were sorry?"

"I can’t tell you." Evan said. There were still something’s that they needed to keep hidden from the public.

"Of course." Max said in a tight voice. "Something’s never change." She thought.

"Damn it Max, does it have to be this way?" Evan asked, frustrated.

"What else do you expect Evan? You lied to me."

"You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t wake up everyday and realize that I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me?" Evan sighed, the frustration gone only to be replaced by guilt. "Max I loved you....still love you and I screwed up big time. Can you ever forgive me for that?"

Max was silent, stunned; not by the fact that Evan admitted he screwed up but by the fact that he said he still loved her. After they had broken up, she had wanted to go back to Evan and try to fix things; to give it another go. But then she found out that she was pregnant and everything changed.

She had made the choice to see Logan while dating Evan; at first Logan had been a friend, someone to be around with while Evan was on missions. But then he became something more and she found herself falling in love with Logan; he had been there for her when she needed it, not off on some mission where Max had no idea if he would come back alive or in a body bag.

Having Jessica made that feeling grow even stronger.

Now Evan was dropping this on her and expected her to act like everything was normal? She couldn’t do that; not when she was married to Logan. Looking at him, she said, "How dare you."

"I’m sorry?"

"How dare you come in here and tell me that you still love me after all this time. I’ve gotten over you, Evan, and you need to get over me." Max replied, walking towards the door. Standing near it, she said, "I can forgive you for lying to me; I get that. But don’t expect me to ever forgive you for what you just said."

Evan didn’t know what to say. He thought that he was going to patch things up between him and Max but he only made them worse. Walking towards the door, he said, "I just wanted to make things right."

Max opened the door and said, "Well just stick to saving the world and fighting the Ori."

Evan was half-way out of the house when he stopped and turned to face Max. "Do you love him?"

"I’m sorry?" Max asked, not quite sure what Evan was asking.

"Logan. Do you love him?" Evan repeated softly.

"Yes I do." Max replied without hesitating and looking Evan straight in the eye.

Evan smiled and said, "Good. Make sure he knows how lucky he is to have you."

"He knows." Max gave Evan a slight smile and leaned her head against the door frame. No matter how much she hated him, Evan would always be a friend (as much as she hated to admit it). "Be careful out there."

"I will." Evan held the picture out to Max and said, "Here, it’s yours."

Max started to take it but hesitated and then withdrew her hand, shaking her head. "You keep it."

Evan didn’t reply; he just stuck it back into his jacket pocket and said, "See you around?"

"Maybe."

Evan just nodded his head and stepped outside. He made his way down the drive and when he reached the gate he turned around to give a final wave towards Max but saw that the door had already closed.

Max watched Evan walk down the drive and shut the door. Sighing, she shook her head and made her way to the backyard where she sat back down and picked up the book she had been reading when Evan had arrived. That part of her life had been closed for a long time and Max was only too glad to put it behind her for good.

Evan stared at the closed door for a few seconds, and then walked through the gate and back to his car. Getting in, Evan realized that even if things hadn’t worked out between him and Max here, he derived some solace knowing that at least there was one universe (if not more) where it had.