Infirmary

[Ascended Times.2]

Jims' eyes shot wide open as he saw her beginning to drift to sleep.
He used his training once more to force his panic down inside of him, banish it.

There was no room in the military for panic.
"Katie..." she didn't seem to respond. "Katie....!" He said again, this time he was doing all he could to force the panic down.

"KATE! You can't go to sleep! You're needed here!" Jim squeezed her hand quite hard, enough at least to attempt to wake her up.
Were it not for her dislocated shoulder, he would be shaking her awake.

"CAITRIONA!" Jim looked worried, very worried.
Gus began to walk over, he had made sure the X-rays would stay up on the board though.

[Tracy Jane]

Kate opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him, a small, weary smile on her face. She was starting to adjust to the pain, or perhaps it was the painkillers from earlier on in the day starting to take effect.

"Jim, I'm tired," she said.

Her voice sounded foreign and hollow, her irish accent becoming prominant, not just a lilt amongst the English tinged with American. But at least she was gaining a little more control over it.

She lifted her right arm up to cup his face, having to concentrate to coordinate her movements. She started to sit up, wanting to hug him and reassure him that she was alright, that it was nothing more than a bump on the head, but the movement made her nauseous so she lay back down.

"It's just a bump," she told him, "don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

[Ascended Times.2]

Jim was unsure whether to smile or frown at her trying to get up.
He decided to try a smile and go the comforting route.

"Katie, don't try and get up again...it might just be a bump, but just from the look on your face, that feeling you're now experiencing will just come back again and again...I don't want you to suffer, please. Lay still."

Jim had put both of his hands over her right and was stroking it softly with his left hand thumb.

Gus had another bandage in his hand, the one on kates' head was now being bled through and a large red stain was now on it.

Gus walked over and titled up her head slightly, wrapping the bandage around the previous one.
This time putting a small amount of tape on it to make sure it didn't come loose and was as tight as possible without being damaged.

He turned to Jim, unsure if Kate was conscious enough to hear him, or even be able to respond.

"Her painkillers from before should be kicking in quite nicely now. However, I didn't expect that she would be in here again, not this way. Not doing a similar stunt."

Jim shook his head and looked at her, he was now voicing his thoughts, much as he did with Gus and Kate, them being around at the same time seemed to make it more apparent.

"When she left, she was still in her Gym gear...She gave no hint she was going back." Jim stopped, a large frown now appearing on his face.

"Aaarg, I should have stopped her. Told her to go to her quarters and rested. But, no. I was more concerned about patching up some hurt within my team, wasn't I?!"

Jim was bitterly disappointed in himself now, he had let her down. Again.
It showed greatly in his voice, however, he continued to stroke Kates' hand.

Gus put his right hand on Jims' left shoulder.
"James. You can beat yourself up until the end of your days about it. Hell, I could aswell. I was the one who discharged her...It was bad call for the both of us. Neither of knew she was going back to the Gym...I assumed she was going to her quarters, perhaps yours."

Gus took his hand off her shoulder and nodded to him.
'It's all right' his nod said.

He then turned around and headed back towards the X-rays.
Jim gripped her hand, still stroking.

He wanted to reassure her. Make her feel she was safe.
A thought struck Jim, he knew just how to.
He leaned down slowly and kissed her softly on the lips.

He pulled up again and said "Give it some time. You'll be good again." Jim had a small smile on his face.
He still wasn't crying, despite how much he wanted to.

[Tracy Jane]

Kate suddenly felt a wave of frustration hit her and she wrinkled her nose.

"I am fine," she slurred slightly. "It was a bump on the head."

She craned her neck so she could see the doctor.

"Tell him doctor," she urged. "All head injuries look bad."

Somehow Jim's reassurance had just angered her. Not able to get out of bed and storm off, she turned her head to one side to avoid looking at him. Did they think she was a complete idiot? And why did they keep talking as if she wasn't there?

She closed her eyes, trying to force back the tears but it wasn't working.

[Ascended Times.2]

Gus heard what she said and shook his head.

He didn't say anything; he was going to let James field this one.

Jim looked back for a second and then forward.
A large frown appeared on his forehead, he was getting rather sick and tired of her bursting out in anger every single time Jim showed some compassion for her, this was it. Jim was going to snap...When was the question.

Jim had withdrawn his hands; they were now clenched together in a small red knot, his knuckles turning white.
'Calm. Jim. Don't do anything you'll regret. Remember last time you got angry. In the hangar...Calm! You're not going to snap. CALM!'

"Kate....All right. Fine. You're fine. It's just a bump." Jim was resisting the urg to throw something, scream out aloud. He stared at the roof for a moment, exhaled and then stared at the floor, he was going to snap.

Raising his eyesight a little, he focused on Kate.
His knuckles were now almost on the verge of bleeding he was pressing his hands against each other so hard.

That was it. Snap.

"You know something Kate....Every time I show some kinds of compassion, sympathy...you turn around and snap at me. You always storm off. Or give me the silent side. Well, I’m going to tell you now. I'M SICK OF IT. Sick of how you're always going berserk over things that most people would get over!"

In the middle of Jims' yelling, he had pierced the skin of his knuckled and several fingers pressing down upon each other, blood was now trickling down his hands.

"Sick of how you treat me in general! I seem to be this plaything you bat around constantly. And for once, you're forced to remain in bed, instead of being able to storm off to your quarters, or outside, or anywhere!"

"Caitriona....GRAARGH!" Jim screamed, he turned around and started to head towards the door, but stopped halfway when he saw the amount of blood now pouring off his fingers and knuckles.

Gus walked over with several band-aids, he had seemed to take no notice of Jims' ranting and started to put them on.

"This is all we have at the moment, you will have to make due."

At the second band-aids Jim tore away and walked back to Kates' side.
"What do you have to say for yourself!!?"

[Tracy Jane]

"No, Jim," snapped Kate, avoiding his gaze. "No, most people wouldn't react to being accused of being a mass murderer, no, they wouldn't react to being caught kissing their senior officer and no, they wouldn't react to their bloke treating them like a toy."

She swung her head round to look at him, making her vision blur and inducing a feeling of nausea.

"Because if we're going to talk about playthings, Jim, how about you pretending that it was all some stupid joke, saying I didn't matter to you at all? And you're accusing me of treating you like a plaything?"

She twisted her head back to look at the ceiling and closed her eyes as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"No, Jim," she said quietly, the anger gone from her voice. "You're right, most people wouldn't react to those things. But most people haven't been through the crap we have."

[Ascended Times.2]

Jim didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The blood was now steadily running off Jims' fingers, Gus just glared at the two of them and muttered "Stubborn fools" under his breath, and he then walked over to the X-ray machine and began to reset it.

Jim closed his eyes and breathed hard for a moment, pain coursing through his hands; he continued to keep his eyes closed and began to speak.

"Kate. That was the wrong thing to say. Hell, I don't know what I was stupid. Yes, I did say that. However, you put me on the spot in front of the rest of SG-7. I wish i'd just told you how I had felt, cut through all the negative crap that has happened between now and then."

Jim began to clench his hands together, to attempt to stop the bleeding, but failed dismally.
"With that mass murdered comment. I hardly knew you then...Hardly at all....I didn't know your story..."

Jim opened his eyes, very suddenly.
"As to the kissing the senior officer. It's just as bad to kiss your second in command. Hell, I think it's worse. So, we're equally guilty on that behalf."

Jim inhaled deeply, his anger had all but gone, his adrenalin buzz was now gone.

"No. Kate. Most people haven’t been through the crap we have. But yet, we still have to continue on...Keep on going. We both hold enough bitterness, resentment towards everything to probably fill up this base ten times over. But we can't let it bog us down. We have to keep going."

Jim was very precise about his wordings.
He was calm, despite how much he knew Kate would hate it, he was calm.

"Why do we always end up yelling at each other? It seems to happen every time we encounter each other...I have no answers right now...I never seem to anymore."

[Tracy Jane]

"You noticed that too, huh?" she quipped rhetorically, with a wane smile playing on her lips. The anger had gone now, she was just exhausted. She didn't want to fight, she just wanted him near.

She turned to look at him again, raising her eyebrows and stretching out her arm to pull him closer to her. Despite everything that happened, she needed him with her.

"We just let everything around affect us," she sighed miserably. "The way life on this base works, it's so intense, so stressful, and we end up taking that out on each other. I'm just... I'm scared, Jim."

She closed her eyes again, trying to relax her face, keep her expression neutral.

[Ascended Times.2]

Jim had pretty much given up any form of anger he had originally had, he was now just calm. Calm and exhausted.

"Well...We can't block out the things around us, unfortunately. Too much happens to do that. Especially around here." At that, Jim stretched his bloodies hand around indicated around the room.

A small throb of pain shot up his arm as he unclenched his fist; it was stinging like nobodies business now.

Kate stretched out her arm and Jim moved into it without much hesitation; however when she said she was scared Jim closed his eyes again.

'As am I.' He thought, however. This time he didn't hold it back.
"As am I Katie. I'm scared for all the numerous thousands of horrors that are out there, I am scared of the amount of problems that could hit any of us at once...and most of all I am scared of loosing you."

Jim looked towards her, he should have been crying but instead he felt whole, calm, still exhausted, but not as much. It was like his body was refueling itself on the go.

[Tracy Jane]

Kate told Jim again that she wasn't going anywhere, that she'd still be here in the morning. She still felt groggy and tired, and now she was too weak to fight her body's need for sleep.

She pulled him down towards her as she propped herself up, wrapping herself around him in a tight hug, turning her head outwards, not into his neck as she usually did.

"I'm sorry," she muttered softly, as the blood began to seep and stain Jim's uniform. Still gripping his shoulders for support, she lay her forehead against his, the tips of their noses touching.

"Much as I love this, I think..you...have.....ah......report to hand in," she said, pulling back and yawning slightly.

She placed a light kiss on his forehead and was surprised when he returned it on her lips. She raised an eyebrow as she traced the contours of his face with her finger.

"I'll still be here when you come back," she said sleepily, "I promise."

She pulled him into a hug once more before lowering herself back to the bed and shutting her eyes. She fell asleep almost instantly.

[Ascended Times.2]

Jim nodded with a smile on his face, when she apologized. "Doesn't matter." he murmured.

After the kiss and hug when she reminded him about the report, Jim was so tempted to swear.
'Son of a....That paperwork, I need to hand it in.' He thought to himself.

Jim continued to smile as she promised she would be there.
"Yes, and I’ll be back...I promise you that."

At that, Jim turned around and headed for the door, completely forgetting about his knuckles.
Gus caught up to him. He was holding a brown coloured bandage and said "Wrap this around your hand if you won't let me touch it."

Jim raised his left eyebrow and said "Go on, wrap it up." At that, Gus did as Jim had suggested. As he reminded himself and when he finished up he got a small patch of masking tape.

Surprisingly enough, Gus had a small smile on his face when he looked up instead of the angry scowl that he normally seemed to follow Jim around with.

Jim thanks him and then reached the doorway and headed for the elevator.

About halfway there, he looked around and when he saw no one, jumped up and clicked his heels together.
'Good day.' Jim thought to himself as he hit 'call elevator' button.

>>>To quarters.

[DragonGate]

((from Quarters))

Jen entered quietly, Colonel Anderson had left and they passed each other on the elevator. Kate was sleeping when she got there. Jen sat herself down, watching both a friend in one bed and a CO in the other.

[Tracy Jane]

Gus watched as the woman from the gym took a seat in the infirmary. He didn't say anything, just watched as she sat observing the two patients, becoming more and more focused upon Colonel Richardson.

After studying Howard's X-rays and making a few notes, he walked round to check on the woman, trying to be quiet so as not to disturb the second redhead sitting close by.

It wasn't a problem, head trauma victims going to sleep, but he did have to check every 1-2 hours to make sure they were asleep and nothing worse.

He gave the woman's shoulder a gentle shake before asking, "Can you tell me your name?"

"Caitriona Doherty," she mumbled sleepily. She opened her eyes, squinting at the light. "Howard, I mean. Caitriona Howard."

Gus nodded and walked away, checking off some boxes on his clipboard.

[DragonGate]

Jen was happy that Kate seemed to fine, in spite of how much blood she'd lost in the gym. Jen drug her chair to the worse-off denizen of the infirmary, Colonel Richardson. "Well, I made a friend, Colonel. She's an Englishwoman on SG-7, Colonel Anderson's team. She cracked her head doing gymnastics, so you have company in here, if you were conscious, that is."

"I'm taking the team out on an exploration, there's some ruins for MacDoreign to freak over, plants that act like animals, quick-moving, like that tentacled carnivorous plant that grabbed you on 649. General says I can't bring back anything larger than ten pounds, he knows about the pig incident. He probably knows about the flying monkeys and the fanged squirrels, too. Wild animals loose in the SGC tends to be remembered."

"I added Crescent, the captain that saved your *** out there to our roster. She's similar to MacDoreign, they'll work together good, I think. I'm in command of the team, that's a riot, huh? General Blue promoted me to major, wild, isn't it? It's supposed to be your job, but you can have it back immediately when you wake up, sir. You'd better wake up. Command of SG-5 is your job, I know Langara was supposed to be your last mission, but everything's changed now, and a bunch of young officers, god I mean, they're all in their twenties and I'm only thirty. And sometimes we scientist explorers need to reigned in, and that's where a senior officer like you comes in. Hopefully, the team won't fall apart while you're sleeping in here, sir." Jen laid back in her chair and watched the slow rise and fall of his breathing. He was alive, there was hope. "I can't give you an order, Gator, but you'd better wake up, preferably before I have to take our misfits into the field."

[Tracy Jane]

Kate lay in silence, listening to Jen talking softly to the man not far away. She resisted the urge to respond to being called an "Englishwoman", why did so many Americans assume Ireland was just another English county?

She was glad she did, though, as she heard her friend's monologue continue. Caitriona heard the nerves in her voice, the way she joked about leadership, trying to cover up her worries. Her heart bled for the younger redhead, wishing she could comfort her. But Kate knew how embarrassed she would be if she knew that she had been over heard. So no sound was made.

Caitriona lay listening to the tone of the monologue, how she referred to SG-5 as "their" misfits, like they were childr....

'God,' she thought, 'I was right.'

She was certain the Jen wasn't aware of it yet, but it was as clear as day.