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"Sir, I'll go through all of our activities to make sure we haven't missed anything, but I think with the training change we've got it all covered," Evan said.
Since Evan had discovered John's feelings for him, he’d organized weekly meetings to rearrange their respective duties, the goal being to minimize potential breaches of the fraternisation rules by avoiding situations that would require making tough decisions or which could be considered as favoritism.
The two men had been working on this for a few weeks now, and over the course of the meetings, John had come to realize that the proposed changes were very sensible anyway for two reasons. The first, considering that Evan had to be able to take over from John in case something happened to him, it seemed more than reasonable to avoid situations where the two men would find themselves in trouble at the same time and thus risk losing the two highest ranked military officers in Atlantis simultaneously. The second, John knew that the High Command kept Evan at his Major’s rank only to not put him on the same level as John, and thus keep him in his duties on Atlantis. If Evan had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he probably would have had to return to Earth to keep the city's military command structure operating correctly. But Evan was an excellent officer and definitely deserved a promotion. Thus, John hoped that with these changes made, he could justify that Evan's change in rank was no longer an obstacle for Atlantis.
"Oh, except for the supplies," Evan added.
"Supplies?" asked John confused. "I don't feel like I'm involved at all in that area. It seems to me that you already handle that alone, Major.”
Evan pursed his lips so as not to smile broadly but was betrayed by his dimples which pleased John enormously.
"In practice, I do," confirmed Evan. "But you seem to have forgotten that I forge your signature at the end of the forms, sir."
Struggling to remember what the requisition forms looked like - John hadn’t touched them in months, if not longer - he realized that Evan was right. He shook his head ruefully, “That’s true.”
"I think that could potentially be considered favoritism," Evan suggested. "So if you're okay with it, I'd like to transfer the management of the supplies to Stackhouse. He could collect the data from the different departments, fill out the forms, and I’d just review and approve with my signature.”
John watched Evan carefully for a few moments. He had spent so much time secretly admiring his XO that he was convinced there was nothing innocent about Evan's appearance right now. "Aren't you taking advantage of the situation?"
"I’m not sure what you're trying to insinuate, sir," Evan said, trying to keep his smile back but failing miserably as before.
John burst out laughing. "You really want to get rid of this activity, don't you?"
"I just think it’d be a good opportunity for the Sergeant to have new responsibilities," Evan said as innocently as possible.
"What if I refuse?” John asked, wanting to tease Evan.
"Well, maybe I’d have a memory lapse and I wouldn't know how to forge your signature anymore," Evan said, letting a smirk appear on his face this time.
Seeing Evan's impertinence, John couldn't help laughing. "I see. In that case, please forward this to Stackhouse."
"Thanks!” Evan paused for a moment. “You know I wouldn't actually do that, right?" he said, sudden concern colouring his tone at the thought that his mock-threat may have been misinterpreted.
But John was well aware that Evan would never use his feelings to evade a duty he didn't want to have. He smiled lovingly at Evan and said, "I know. But you can still give the assignment to Stackhouse."
Satisfied, Evan smiled widely at John, then stood up. "Excellent! If you no longer need me, sir, I’ll notify Stackhouse of the change immediately."
Bursting out laughing again at Evan's impatience, John nodded to let Evan go.