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skidmo_fic) wrote2007-02-16 11:59 pm
skidmo_fic) wrote2007-02-16 11:59 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Mom (G)
Title: Dear Mom
Rating: G
Pairing: Zelenka/Lorne
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me...sadly
Feedback: yes, please.
Summary: Evan writes home.
Author’s Notes: written for the
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slashing_lorne February challenge, prompt: marriage, first person narrative. I’m not really into the first person narrative, either writing or reading, so I did this piece as an epistolary story.February 16, 2005
Dear Mom,
Thanks for the cookies you sent. They were a big hit with all the guys. Work is going pretty well, though I’m not using my degree as much as I’d like. It’s definitely worth the sacrifice though. I wish I could tell you what we’re doing out here. It’s more important than anything I’ve ever been involved in, which means it’s also more classified. Not being able to tell you makes me appreciate what it must have been like for Dad all those years. I wish he were still around so that I could tell him that I understand now. Maybe next time you visit the cemetery you could tell him for me.
I know you worry that I work too hard and don’t take the time to make friends, but you really shouldn’t. It’s good people out here. We’re all really close. More like family than any other base I’ve been stationed at. It makes it both harder and easier to be away from home. I wish you could meet some of the people I work with. I’m sure you’d love them all. They already love you, though that probably has something to do with the cookies.
There’s a pretty long delay for mail here, so anything I tell you will probably be between three and four weeks outdated by the time you get it. Keep sending your letters though. They’re like a little piece of home for me to carry around. It gets lonely out here sometimes, even with all the people around. It’s nice to know someone back home is thinking about me.
I hope you’re keeping busy and not worrying too much about me. I know you’d tell me that you have to worry, it’s in your job description, but don’t overdo it. I’m okay here. Really. I miss you though.
Love,
Evan
***
March 20, 2005
Dear Mom,
I got a whole packet of letters from you today. It looks like you’re writing about every week. Makes me feel a little guilty that I only write you when I know we’re due for a supply run. Don’t stop on my account though. It makes for good reading in my down time. I’m afraid I can’t answer most of the questions you have. Well, I could, but then all you’d get is a piece of paper with several thick black lines through it and my signature at the bottom. I remember some of the letters we used to get from Dad and how only about a quarter of it was readable.
You asked about the people I work with, and I suppose that’s a pretty safe topic. Let me know if this whole paragraph gets blacked out though. I hate to waste the ink if you’re not even going to be able to read it.
My CO’s a good guy. His name’s Sheppard, and he was here for a year before I got assigned as his XO. He’s got a lot of responsibility resting on his shoulders, and I don’t envy him for that. You’d like him. So would Dad. He kind of reminds me of Dad sometimes actually. He’s got the same sense of humor and the same self-deprecating smile. He’s been through a lot, and you can tell it’s changed him. I wish I’d known him before.
I’ve never been in a place like this before, with the scientists and the military working side by side. Sheppard amazes me sometimes with the way he deals with life out here, so far away from everything, but it’s the scientists who are really amazing. They’re not like the military. We signed up for this. We all knew what we were getting into the moment we first put on our uniforms. The scientists though, they’re all brilliant for one. And they’ve all proven their courage more than once out here. It’s the ones you’d never expect it from that seem to pull it off the best. Take McKay for instance. He’s allergic to everything known to man, and he can’t aim a gun to save his life, but he’d gladly step in the line of fire for any of his team members. Takes a lot of guts.
I’m glad to hear things are going well back home. You’ll probably think it’s ridiculous, but I worry about you. You’re all alone. You should join a book club or a knitting circle or something like that. It would make me feel better.
Anyhow, keep those letters coming. I miss you.
Love,
Evan
***
April 30, 2005
Dear Mom,
Thanks for the brushes you sent with your last batch of letters. To be honest, I haven’t had a lot of time for painting since I got here, but I think I’ll see what sort of supplies I can pick up from the locals. I won’t be able to send you any pictures of the base or the area around it, but I might get a chance to paint some of the people. I’m sending a sketch of one of the scientists with this letter. I don’t know if I’ll end up doing a painting from it, but I thought you’d like to see some of the people I work with. His name’s Radek Zelenka. He’s from the Czech Republic, and he’s one of our engineers.
You’d really like him, I think. He’s brilliant and funny, and he’s got a temper like you wouldn’t believe. For a little guy, he can get awfully worked up. I’ll admit, I sometimes do my best to see just how worked up I can get him. It’s just too tempting. The sketch is of him while he’s working on some big project I couldn’t possibly begin to explain. I tried to capture the intensity and the distraction and the energy, but there’s only so much you can convey with pencils. Maybe someday you’ll get to meet the real thing.
I wish I had time to write more, but the supply carrier is only making a short stop this time and I’ve got about two months’ worth of reports to write up before it leaves. I meant what I said about that book club before. I figure that just because I don’t have time to read anything other than mission reports and requisition forms, that’s no reason you can’t make an effort to keep up with current literary trends.
I miss you, Mom.
Love,
Evan
***
June 12, 2005
Dear Mom,
I got a couple photos cleared by security on this end, and I’m sending them along with this letter. Hopefully they’ll make it to you without being confiscated. One is of Sheppard and Dr. Weir, who’s the leader of this whole expedition. I had to snap it while they were distracted as neither one of them are particularly eager to be photographed. The other one is of Dr. Zelenka and me.
I don’t mean for you to worry though. We’re pretty safe on the base here, and we’ve got a great medical staff for those little mishaps that need a bit more care. The CMO (well, he’s not technically CMO, since he’s civilian, but you get the idea) is a great guy. He’s Scottish. If you met him, you’d probably be completely besotted. Most of the women here are.
Speaking of women, I finally met someone out here. Someone very special. I know it’s not exactly kosher to fall in love in a situation like ours, but we just couldn’t help it. In a place like this, you don’t really have time to think too much about these things. I guess that’s a good thing. You also get a pretty clear perspective on what’s important and what isn’t. Conventional relationships don’t exactly work very well, but that’s okay. We’re making it work. Next time I get some leave, I’m hoping we can both come out to see you. I’m sure you two will hit it right off.
Well, I won’t keep you from your knitting circle any longer. Seriously though, join that book club already. Aunt Josie needs someone to talk to about the latest Danielle Steel crap so she can stop pestering Uncle Dave.
I miss you.
Love,
Evan
***
October 3, 2005
Dear Mom,
Things have been really hectic around here lately, which is why I haven’t written in so long. I hope you haven’t worried too much. I’ve been getting your letters regularly, but this is the first time in months that I’ve had a free minute to sit down and write back to you. Even now, I’ve only got time for a few lines.
You asked about my “special friend” in your last batch. We’re still together. It’s harder than you’d think out here. It doesn’t help that I’m military and essentially stationed on the front line. We manage to make time most weeks, but sometimes it’s really difficult to do, and I often need to remind myself that I’m in a relationship. I guess that’s one more thing I understand about Dad now.
I’ve been thinking about Dad a lot lately. He’s a big part of the reason I joined the Force in the first place, and I never really realized that until now. Thinking about him also makes me not want to waste any time on stupid petty details. I don’t want to lose anyone else only to discover that I never really knew them. I wish I could have told Dad how much he meant to me before he died. It’s a regret I’ll have to live with forever, but it’s not one I want to duplicate.
If living out here has taught me anything it’s that telling the people you care about how important they are to you is never a waste of time. That’s mostly why I’m writing now. I wanted to make sure that you know how important you are to me. Just knowing that you’re out there, thinking of me, loving me...It means the world to me.
The other day, Radek told me how he’d lost both his parents when he was still in grade school. I can’t imagine having lost you as well as Dad. He made me promise I’d tell you how much I love you. He said you never know when you won’t have the chance again.
I did mention that he’s brilliant, right?
I miss you, Mom. Keep sending those letters. Some days they’re the only things that keep me going.
Love,
Evan
***
December 30, 2005
Dear Mom,
Sorry it’s been so long again. Things slowed down here from a work perspective, but I kind of got blindsided by things on the relationship front.
I suppose I really should have seen it coming.
Believe it or not, I’m actually the romantic one in this relationship. I’ll pause for a second while you pick yourself up off the floor. Are you sitting down now? Good.
The signs were all there. There’d be a chocolate bar on my desk with a little note attached one day, coffee waiting for me when I got up the next. (These may seem like small things, but you’ve got to remember that on a base that only gets supply shipments once every month or two, coffee and chocolate are in high demand.) Once I even had a bouquet of local wildflowers waiting in my quarters after work. After about a week, you’d think I’d have figured out that something was up, but I guess I’m truly my father’s son, because I remained completely oblivious.
The proposal came as a total shock. In retrospect, I suppose I should have written to you several weeks ago to let you know I was engaged.
Guess what, Mom. I got engaged.
There were no rings involved though. Neither of us is very big on jewelry, and we wouldn’t have been able to find a diamond out here anyway.
Remember what I said earlier about not having time to think about those kind of things out here? Well, you don’t really have much time to do things like plan a wedding, and we’re not even sure how we would go about having a proper ceremony. We would have liked to have waited until we could be home and have our families around us, but we really don’t know when we’ll have that chance. In the end, we had a small ceremony, officiated by one of the locals. It’s not official or legal, or anything like that, but it meant something to us. As far as I’m concerned, your baby boy is married.
I wish you could have been there. It was nothing fancy, but I swear, I’ve never seen anyone look so beautiful in my whole life. I think I may have cried, but don’t let that news get out. It’d ruin my masculine reputation. Someday I’ll bring you pictures. It’s not really something I’d like the Air Force censors to be pawing through, though.
Someday, we’ll both come and visit you. I can’t say when. It probably won’t be any time soon. I’m so sorry to have gotten married without you, but we just couldn’t wait. I hope you’ll understand.
I’ve never missed you more than I did that day.
Love,
Evan
***
Maureen Lorne carefully placed the letter back in its envelope and lovingly placed it with its predecessors, carefully retying the blue ribbon that held them together. She thought for a moment about how she wished she could have been at her only son’s wedding, but her musings were cut short by the chiming of the doorbell.
She rose from her chair and made her way to the front door, wondering who could possibly be coming to see her in the middle of the day on a Thursday.
When the door opened, she gasped, too shocked to move or even breathe for a full minute. When she finally regained her composure, she reached out and pulled her son into a tight embrace. It was several minutes before she let him go.
After she released him, Evan stood to the side and gestured to the man standing next to him.
“Mom,” he said. “This is Radek Zelenka. My husband.”
She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little surprised, but she didn’t hesitate even a moment before pulling the Czech into her arms and saying, “Welcome home, Radek.”
***
Continue
Links to the rest of this series can be found here.
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And I love your icon ;).
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...so he and McKay were over sometime after March 20, and he & Radek got together in June-ish? I like that he noticed R. on some level (April's letter) before they got together. Were he and Rodney kaput by that time?
Also? Him calling Zelenka a "little guy"? V. amusing, as he's what, an inch or so taller at most? hee!
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In my mind, when I was writing this, Lorne was the sort of person who wouldn't tell his mom about a relationship until it was pretty stable. So he and McKay were together from late February through the end of March/beginning of April, and he and Radek were together sometime before he mentioned Radek in the letter. Probably mid-April.
I'm kind of with J.K. Rowling on the timeline issue though. Math is really not my thing (says the English Major turned accountant).
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Great news! You have several stories that have been nominated in the 2007 DiversiFICation Awards.
We know that most authors are thrilled to be nominated for an award and eagerly await the voting results, but there are some authors who don't care for awards and chose not to participate.
To that end we'd like you to reply to this letter letting us know if we have your permission to include your story/s in the awards.
Your nominated stories are:
Lorne/Zelenka Dear Mom http://skidmo-fic.livejournal.com/13657.html
McKay/Zelenka Moments We Choose to Ignore http://www.wraithbait.com/viewstory.php?sid=10477
For each story please let us know if you give permission for the story to be included in the awards. Also, please check the link and let us know if that is the posting of the story you want us to use when we announce nominations.
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If for some reason, you can't reply at that post, please email Waldo at smallwaldo at comast.net, but replying at the LJ post is preferred. Thanks.
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