Don't Touch My Geek | Stargate

"Yeah, whatever. I think I can look after myself, geek."

Lorne halted midstep at the dismissive comment. Leading the way down the corridor as the two gate teams headed for their post-mission medical checks, he hadn't seen who the comment came from, but he could guess easily enough.

Anyone who'd been stationed to Atlantis for more than a few months quickly learned that things were different here than they were at the SGC. Here, their lives were frequently in the hands of the science staff, and they were treated accordingly. This was their playground, and the priority of every soldier on this base was to keep them safe at all costs. Sure, there was plenty of good-natured teasing between the military and science contingents, but never any serious animosity. With a scientist assigned to each gate team as well, the lines between the two groups had long since blurred past the point of recognition.

No, that comment hadn't come from any of his teammates. It had to be the young demolitions expert that had accompanied Stackhouse's team during the mission. He was one of the newest batch of transfers who'd come in on the Daedalus' last trip.

Lorne spun around immediately, fully prepared to let the young man know how welcome his attitude would be here, but he was beaten to the punch.

"Hey!" Reed snapped, eyes narrowing. "Watch your tone, Corporal. Parrish was trying to help."

The kid looked back at him in genuine surprise. "Sorry, sir." He shot Dr Parrish a sideways glare as he added, "I'm sure he was just trying to help in his own way, but--"

"No," Walker interrupted. "There's no buts about that. He was trying to make sure you didn't get yourself killed on your first off-world mission. You've been giving him attitude all day and he didn't do anything to deserve it."

"I'd listen to them, kid," Coughlin added. "Geek or not, Parrish has a whole lot more experience in the field than you do. And he's our teammate. You don't mess with him and expect us to be okay with that."

"I- I didn't--" the young man stuttered out as his eyes shot from one of them to another.

Lorne would feel a lot more sympathy for him if he hadn't spent most of the day being an asshole to their friend. Still, the kid was new and still learning; maybe he deserved to be cut a little slack. Stepping forward, Lorne inserted himself between his teammates and their prey. "They're not wrong, Corporal. You're going to figure out pretty quickly that the scientists around here are worth listening to. They know what they're talking about, and some can handle themselves in the field like a war vet. More importantly, we'd all be dead a hundred times over by now if we weren't willing to work with them to solve problems."

The corporal nodded, finally looking abashed. Lorne patted him on the shoulder and nodded toward the infirmary. "Alright, get moving. Beckett doesn't like to be kept waiting."

As the group moved forward again, Lorne looked over at Parrish to make sure he wasn't actually hurt by the new recruit's earlier words. If anything, Parrish was looking absurdly pleased -- and maybe a touch embarrassed -- by how fiercely his teammates had defended him. He was obviously going to be fine.

He exchanged an amused glance with Stackhouse, who had stood back with his team to watch the argument unfold. They obviously hadn't wanted to interfere too much with something that was clearly the business of Lorne and his teammates. But Lorne had no doubt they would gladly have jumped in if needed; like every gate team, they also had a tendency to be protective over their team's scientist.

With their subordinates just far enough out of hearing range, Stackhouse leaned closer and teased, "It was like watching a bunch of wolves protect their pup."

Lorne smiled. "Sometimes I think they forget Parrish can look out for himself," he chuckled. And honestly, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you for reading! If you would like to contact the author, please visit my tumblr or dreamwidth.