Chapter 19

The three of them went to the dining area with Felix following the women and admiring them from behind. The entered the line-up, which was about 20 people long, and picked trays and cutlery and shuffled along the line. Felix grabbed a big Caesar salad for lunch and some dressing with it, and large milk. He followed the women to where they usually sat and it was too late as he sat down — he was sitting in an area where mostly women were sitting. He looked around for an escape but there was none in the offering, so he dug into his salad and made a point of paying attention to his food.

After a couple of minutes, Lt. Cadman asked, "Do you always ignore women when you eat, Felix?"

He couldn't answer immediately as he had a mouthful of salad; when he swallowed it he was about to reply when she added, "Took you long enough. Well — going to answer the question?"

Felix finally replied, "I wasn't ignoring you, ma'am — I was eating food that I haven't had in so long that I am definitely enjoying it. And I may get more salad, if they allow seconds here — do they?"

Laura looked at Katie who shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I don't know — I don't usually have seconds."

Felix shrugged his shoulders and went, "Okay then."

Lt. Cadman looked at him in exasperation and asked, "So that's the extent of your conversation?"

Felix looked directly at Lt. Cadman and replied softly, "Ma'am, I really do enjoy both of the company you ladies are giving me right now. But you should remember ma'am, that the only contact I've previous to this was with my team, and they are all dead. After that it was almost all hostile people, so I haven't really had the opportunity to work on my social skills. I'm sorry to put it like that, but it's the truth."

Katie was sitting open-mouthed in shock at hearing about the death of his teammates and barely any social contact, and Lt. Cadman was turning red as realized her mistake.

Felix reached across and lightly touched Laura's hand and said, "Ma'am don't worry about it — shit happens. You are excited for some new company and people forget things when they get excited. Don't sweat it, ma'am."

Lt. Cadman replied, "Maybe, but I'll bet you never forget things, do you?"

Felix looked off to the side in thought and said, "I've forgotten things before, and some things I'd like to forget but can't." With that he finished his meal rapidly, looked at the two women still eating and waited patiently until they were finished their food.

Just as they were finishing their food Dr. Weir came over with her tray of food and asked, "May I join the table?"

Felix replied, "Pull up a stump, ma'am." He saw the look of confusion on her face and asked, "You didn't grow up on a farm, did you ma'am?"

Weir replied, "No, I didn't — I'm a city girl through and through."

He smiled and replied, "It's a common term on a farm — when it is harvest time or the end of the day, people used to sit on the chopping stumps and talk about the next days work load."

Weir looked at Cadman and Katie and said, "An educated man, I see."

Lt. Cadman added, "He is also sarcastic at times as well. He kept laughing at me when I told him about me being stuck in..." and she trailed off as Felix started laughing again but into his hand.

Weir looked between Cadman and Felix and asked, "Sergeant — what do you find funny about that whole situation?"

He tried to muffle his laughter and was having a hell of a time and managed to reply, "It was just the way she put it across to me — I just found it hysterical that of all people to be stuck inside of..." That was it for Felix — he doubled over and couldn't stop laughing.

Lt. Cadman smacked him on the shoulder again and that made him laugh all the harder. She looked at Dr. Weir and asked, "Can't you make him stop? It wasn't that funny."

By now Weir is almost laughing at remembering the whole joined episode and she started snorting her laughter. The all four of them were laughing and the rest of the dining hall was looking to see three out of the four people they knew — laughing.

Laughter wasn't something normally seen or heard, but people had heard about the new strange man that had showed up from off world and was indirectly boosting morale — with laughter.

Finally they all regained their composure and Felix stood up and said, "Ladies, I'd like to stay and laugh some more but I still have gear to finish up with. Which reminds me, Leftenant — where can I find or get my hands on a few lithium AA batteries around here?"

Lt. Cadman stood up and said, "Why don't I take you to the main range and armoury where we keep the majority of that stuff? The batteries are in the same room." She nodded at Weir and Katie as she went with Felix to dump her tray.

Lt. Cadman led Felix to the main range and armoury where they found Sheppard and Teyla practicing with P90's and Ronon practicing his quick draw on targets and blasting them. Felix looked surprised when he saw all his weapons already there except for his SIG Diablo, which was already with him.

Sheppard looked up and said, "Ah Sergeant — good timing. We had been looking at your cannon here and were wondering if we may have a chance to shoot it here."

Felix raised an eyebrow and answered firmly, "It would not be a good idea to fire Sasha indoors, sir. I think she would penetrate the walls and do some harm on the other side — rounds are quite powerful. 'Pain' and 'Panic' on the other hand ... those I can fire indoors."

Ronon spoke up, "I was looking at those pistols of yours. The silencers are built into the gun, aren't they? Something like an assassin would use?"