FIC Handbook to Interagency Cooperation

[shanachie_quill]

Title: Handbook to Interagency Cooperation
Characters: Evan Lorne/Aiden Bancroft-Lorne, Jonas MacFadden, Deke Zulu, Murray, Wall, Megan Reeves, Don Eppes, Charlie Eppes, David Sinclair, Colby Granger/Meredy Eppes-Granger
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis, Numb3rs
Chapter: Meredy and Colby Meet the Experts
Written For: Gommeroi (originally my co-author, now I’m finishing this for her)
Prompt:
Summary: Past and Present collide when Lorne and Aiden travel to LA to track down a goa'uld and meet with the Numb3rs team. Can everyone put their personal issues aside to find the bad guy in time?
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Spoilers: anything aired is fair game, but we went a bit AU; especially since we started writing this before everything had aired, we didn’t like all of the things that were going on and well, things just kinda got Jossed all around
Warnings: swearing, violence (although not worse than what was on the show), hey Aiden’s here of course there’s swearing, just general about what you’d see on the show, Marine shenanigans
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me; Meredy doesn’t belong to me either. Not making any money off of this.


Step Five: Meredy and Colby Meet the Experts

 

 

 

 

Colby Granger looked up from the file he had been reading as an Air Force officer in full dress blues walked into the war room. Following him was a woman that was very familiar, although Colby hadn't seen her for a few years. Colby got to his feet, setting the file on the table, and glanced at Meredy as the two visitors came to a halt. "Well, if it isn't Aiden Bancroft," he said, grinning at the woman.

Aiden held up her left hand, waving it at him so the emerald set into her engagement ring winked in the light and he could see both bands. "Actually it's Lorne now," she replied. "Hello, Colby."

He stood awkwardly for a moment, not sure if she would want him to hug her in front of the officer, but when she stepped towards him, he completed the motion and hugged her briefly.

He glanced back at Meredy as they separated. Meredy shrugged her shoulders. The two agents never kept secrets from each other so Meredy already knew about Aiden. Meredy wasn't the jealous type and she was secure with her place in Colby's affections and their life together so she didn't worry about his interactions with a former lover. Colby relaxed his stance and stood close to Meredy. "Congratulations," he said, then looked puzzled. The last time he had spoken to her, she had told him she was working overseas. "But what are you doing here?"

She motioned towards the wall screen where they had displayed the writing found at the murder scene. "Your scene popped on one of our lists and our boss thought we should come lend a hand." She moved closer to the screen, beginning to read it, and the officer shadowed her. "We came to offer assistance," she finished absentmindedly, distracted by the writing.

"You can read that stuff?" Meredy asked. "Me; I speak Spanish and German. I don't really have time to learn any new languages between work, my kid, and him," Meredy joked, pointing at Colby. Lorne glanced at Aiden, but she had already disappeared into the mindset of translating. He knew nothing short of an explosion would disturb her now. "I can't," he replied, then indicated Aiden. "She can, but I can understand the not having time to learn new languages. I've picked a little up over the years with spending time with Aiden, but I don't speak anything fluently other than English and French. It's Aiden's job to know languages though." He held his hand out to the female agent. "Lieutenant Colonel Evan Lorne."

"Agent Meredy Granger," Meredy introduced herself, smiling. "I'm his wife and partner. Our other partner Agent David Sinclair is off doing something at the moment. Is there anyone you're looking for in particular? David has gone out to do some canvasing and our boss, Agent Don Eppes, is out with Agent Megan Reeves. They went to speak to some witnesses."

Lorne shook his head. "Nope. Once Aiden figures out what that says we'll want to talk with your boss, but until then I'm just excess baggage."

"Nice to meet you, Evan. Would you like some coffee while Aiden translates that stuff?" Colby queried.

Colby watched as Meredy walked over to Aiden. "Hey, need any help?" Meredy offered the other woman, tapping her on the shoulder. "You couldn't tell us anything about this language and rituals in these photos, can you? Or are you working for some secret government agency crap and can't tell us?"

Lorne leaped forward and grabbed Aiden's hand as she swung at the federal agent, having anticipating Aiden's reaction to being touched. "Hey, snap out of it," he barked. "Hitting our friends is not allowed."

Aiden blinked and looked up at him. "What?" she asked.

He shook the hand he was still gripping. "I've talked to you about swinging before you look."

"Someone touched me," she replied.

"I know she did," Lorne soothed her. "But she doesn't know you. I'll talk to them, you go back to translating." He waited until she had turned back to the screens before turning his attention to the agents. "Please don't touch Aiden without warning," he explained. "She doesn't like people touching her and she has a habit of swinging first and thinking about it later. I'm sorry I didn't think to warn you, I'm just used to everyone knowing about that little quirk. Give her a few hours to settle in and it'll be safe to surprise her."

Colby frowned. "She didn't used to be like that."

Lorne sighed. "I know. Apparently it’s only been the last few years. We've been under fire a lot, although it’s calmed down recently. Believe me; all of us were jumping out of our skins seven months ago. Now I think you said something about coffee? And you asked a question?" He turned to Meredy. "I'm not sure how much I can tell you before certain clearances come through, but I'll try to answer what I can."

They all turned and looked as Aiden sputtered, "Oh, gross. Who put something in my coffee? And why is it cold?!"

Lorne laughed as he realized Aiden had automatically picked up the cup closest to her. "Aid, that's not yours," he told her. "That's why it tastes wrong."

Aiden looked at the cup she still held. "Why would someone do that to a perfectly good beverage?"

"Obviously you've never had Colby's coffee," Meredy said dryly. "How do you take it?"

"Black," Aiden replied. "Ev, I need to talk to Daniel."

Lorne pulled the cell phone he had been given out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "Speed dial two," he told her.

"I don't want to know who one is," she commented as she hit the correct button.

"The general," Lorne replied as she began to talk in a language he didn't immediately recognize. He looked at Colby who was watching him with interest. "She loses phones easily. They gave her one when we were here on leave a few months ago and she lost it like eight times in five minutes. It's just better if I hold onto it and she doesn't have one."

"Is it safe to leave her here by herself?" Colby asked, motioning to Aiden who was pacing around the war room as she spoke on the phone.

Lorne snapped his fingers at Aiden and waited until she stopped talking and focused on him. "Do not leave this room," he told her. "I'm going with the agents to get you coffee. Pace, talk to Jackson, but do not leave. Got it?"

Aiden snapped off a mock salute, grinning at him. "Yes, Sir," she told him, then said, "No, Daniel, I was answering Evan." She switched back to the language she had been using and Lorne knew he had been tuned out again.

He indicated for Colby and Meredy to lead the way. "She'll be good for a little bit," he explained as he followed the two of them into the break room. "But I don't want to leave her alone for too long."

"I'm just impressed she obeys orders," Colby said as he poured coffee for their two visitors.

Lorne took one cup and dumped sugar into it, grinning as he did. "Oh, she argues and disobeys when she thinks she can get away with it, but she's not as much of a pain in the ass as my other civilian." He took a sip of the coffee and added a little more sugar. "Now I know you have questions, but until your clearances come though--which we are working on--all I can tell you is that we have seen the writing before and hopefully Aiden will be able to figure it out before it gets much worse."

It took a lot to get under Colby's skin, but Lorne's casual attitude about the man that had been tortured and then killed did it. "Did you see the crime scene photos?" he demanded. "How much worse can it get?" The three began walking back to the war room.

Lorne held up a hand. "I didn't mean to sound callous. I've just seen a lot over the last few years." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know how much worse it can get," he admitted. "If it’s what we think it is, this whole chop up the body thing is new for it." He handed Aiden her coffee and saw she was off the phone. "What did Jackson say?"

She took a grateful sip and shrugged. "Still arguing about the clearances, he was able to confirm what I thought I was seeing." She motioned to the view screens. "There's nothing here to tell me who did it." She pointed to a couple of specific glyphs. "But this says 'transform', this one 'change', and this last one 'transmute'."

Lorne nodded, although he wasn't sure where she was going, he had a guess. "A clone?" he asked in French. "Or just trying to change shape?"

She shrugged. "Maybe." She turned to the agents as Meredy's cell phone rang. "Is the actual scene still intact?"

Meredy held up a finger to ask Aiden to wait as she answered the phone, "Granger."

"Do you know it’s still really disconcerting to hear that name in a female voice?" her brother and boss responded.

Meredy rolled her eyes and mouthed, 'Don' to Colby. "Do you know it’s really annoying to have you say that just about every time I answer the phone?" she replied. "Did you have a reason for calling me or did you just want to piss me off?"

Don's tone turned serious as he ignored his sister's jibe. "We have another body. Female this time." He rattled off the address and directions which Meredy quickly scribbled down. "We need you and Colby down here."

"The experts are here," Meredy told him as she watched the two of them with their heads bent over some paperwork. "Do you want us to bring them, too?"

"Yeah. Might as well. Hope neither one is squeamish though. It's as bad as last one. Get here as fast as you can." Don clicked off.

"How about a new scene instead?" Meredy asked as she closed her own phone.

Lorne looked up from where he had been leaning over Aiden's shoulder. He might not be able to read the language, but he seemed to be staying close to the linguist and following her notes. Then Meredy remembered what the woman had said about her name being different and she snuck a glance at his left hand which rested on the table. Yes; there was a wedding band there. Meredy wondered how they had arranged to serve together. She knew that the military didn't let couples serve in the same chain of command, even if half of the couple was civilian. She and Colby had enough trouble in the past. Two things allowed them to stay on the same team: The team existed before they got married and the team's solve rate since Colby joined. They were very careful not to let anyone know that Don was her older brother. "There's another body?" he questioned.

Meredy nodded. "Female this time. Don wants all of us there as soon as possible."

The two experts exchanged glances, then Lorne indicated the backpack they had brought with them. "Is there somewhere we can change? I don't think we're exactly dressed for a crime scene."

Colby stood up. "There's locker rooms you can use. I'll show you."

Aiden took Lorne's hand as they prepared to follow the agent. "We stick together," she informed him.

Colby shrugged. "Whatever. You can both use the female locker room then, just lock the door when you go in."