He only meant to complain; you didn’t take serving girls on hunting trips, and the alternative interpretation didn’t even occur to him until Merlin said indignantly, “I’m not going to do that!”

The high-floor apartment was elegant and scrupulously clean, full of comfortable minimalist furniture and interesting art, with a spectacular view over the Thames at night. Love the new place, he added, and left the dossier on the coffee table.

As he put his hand on the knob he hesitated, instinct waking, and looked over: she was watching him from the bedroom door, in a long patterned-silk dressing gown with her arms folded across her chest. He quirked her his most charming smile. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”

The first time was easy; back home on Earth, too busy doing new-personnel checks to take real leave, they’d gone out and gotten drunk together one night and landed in Rodney’s bed.

It shouldn’t have been that hard to get good help.

It shouldn’t have been that hard to get good help.

Fourth in a series of Master and Commander AUs. Timing is everything.

Lex gets tired of waiting.

The strangest thing about John’s job wasn’t actually the Wraith, because he’d seen the first two Alien movies about fifty times apiece, and he figured as long as they didn’t have mandibles and lay eggs in you, he was still a few points up on Ripley. It al