Disclaimer: I own frazzled nerves. That is all.


Rodney let out a yelp.

This wasn't the sort of thing he usually said in a briefing so naturally it caught some puzzled looks.

"Something wrong?" Elizabeth asked.

Rodney looked pitiful as he held out his hand and said sulkily,

"I got a papercut. And it's bleeding."

"Papercuts don't bleed," John snorted.

"It's bleeding!" Rodney repeated firmly.

John rolled his eyes and said,

"Are you a big boy or do you need to see Beckett?"

"John," Elizabeth warned.

She looked at Rodney's hand and thoughtfully left the table. She disappeared into her office and came out a few moments later with a bandaid. Elizabeth walked around to him and gently applied it to his sore finger. She asked with a small smile,

"Do you need me to kiss it better?"

"That doesn't work," Rodney said stiffly.

Elizabeth, regardless, gave the bandaided finger a quick little peck. She countered matter-of-factly,

"But it does help the pain."