Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

Ben sighed as he felt the mattress dip again.

It was the fourth time in less than an hour that his wife had rushed to the bathroom. He'd ascribed the first two times to normal morning activity but he was coming to the conclusion that Lilly was not well and the sound of retching coming from the bathroom confirmed his assumption.

He sighed again and grabbed his robe from the bottom of the bed. Mandana was now in the grips of winter and the lack of a proper source of electricity on the world he we now called home meant a lack of central heating, which meant their bedroom was freezing.

It was little things that Ben missed most about Earth, a furnace, television, computers, cars and microwave ovens, anything electrical actually. The generators supplied to each household or dwelling did not supply much power, you could run a fridge and that was about all.

He had given up his comforts of Earth living two years ago for the love of Lilly Tanger and that love had totally changed the planned course of his life. From an early age, he had wanted to be involved in the nursing profession and everything had been progressing nicely. Med school followed college and the Air Force Med Core had been his next choice.

Everything had been going according to plan in his nice, orderly life.

Janet Fraiser had stepped in and altered his course the first time. She had practically begged him to join her team at Stargate Command. The discovery of the biggest secret on Earth had tilted his world and then Lilly Tanger came along and turned it upside down, literally. Ben had fallen for the beautiful, freckled faced, red head during an urgent off world Medivac. Daniel Jackson's appendix had blown on a meet and greet mission to Mandana and SG1 had been a houseguest of Lilly's family at the time. During the near two week enforced stay, tending to the sick archaeologist, Ben Ashton had slowly grown extremely fond of the young medical student. He quickly discovered that they had so much in common, including the shared of passion for medicine. Greta Quinn, the main Platon or healer in the principality had urged Lilly Tanger to carry on his practice when he retired and she'd assisted in Daniel's recovery at Quinn farm. Greta was a mentor to Lilly and she spent weeks at his farm, learning from the elderly Platon.

Lilly's father; Sergi was the self-proclaimed leader of the small principality which meant that he spent long periods of time away from the family home and she had been torn between been supporting her mother and younger sister Cara in his absence and follow her true calling. Medicine and nursing were her life, which had been immediately obvious to Janet Fraiser and, when Daniel was fit enough to travel, she had invited Lilly to return to Earth with them to develop her skills under the guidance of the medical department at the SGC.

Medical practices on Mandana were very primitive, herbal and natural remedies were their main source of amelioration. There were no antibiotics, anaesthetics or preventive medicines and many people died young and unnecessarily. When Ben and Lilly's relationship developed on her training rotation on Earth, Ben decided to give his world up and return with her to help train personnel and to advance the medical practices, the fact that they were madly in love made his decision a very easy one.

The young couple had been working extremely hard for the last two years – with the SGC's help. Janet and her team had equiped the main hospital in the nearby town of Gowton. Every two weeks the SGC would send equipment through the Stargate to provide Lilly and Ben with all they needed to improve facilities and the recently married couple would then run training courses for the existing staff at the hospital, which included off world training back on Earth for handpicked personnel. Things were taking time, which was to be expected, slowly but surely the Mandanans were learning Earth ways and techniques, lives were being saved, including Ben's, after he contracted a serious case of pneumonia following rib fractures he suffered when he fell off the roof of his and Lilly's new cottage. He'd had to actually treat himself but Lilly had responded magnificently when Ben's condition became critical.

The Platon Ashton's made a good team and when the sound of renewed vomiting came from the bathroom, Ben knew he needed to reverse the roles and care for his wife. He crossed to the closed door, pulling his robe tighter when he started to shiver slightly.

"Are you okay?" The question sounded silly even to his own ears, of course she wasn't okay.

"Go back to bed, Benjamin." Lilly sounded exhausted.

Ben sighed and knocked on the door again. "What can I do, Lilly?"

"I'll be out in a minute, I'm fi..." The sound of vomiting then finished the conversation and Ben thought it wise to give his wife some privacy.

"I'll just be out here if you need me," he stated though he didn't expect an answer.

Xxx

The problem about being aroused so early in the morning was that Ben was now wide awake so he crossed to the French doors that opened out onto the balcony to check on the weather. The past week or so Mandana had been covered with a blanket of snow but, as Ben stepped out onto the small balcony, he was pleased to see that most of it had disappeared leaving a light frost that glistened in the late moonlight. The first glow of dawn was appearing behind the Stargate, which stood proud on Earth hill to the south and the sound of the chickens scratching in the yard meant daylight was not far away.

The rolling countryside of the principality stretched out for miles, smallholdings dotted the landscape, and you could just about make out the towers of the Hospital on the outskirts of Gowton to the North. Tanger principality was very primitive. People here lived off of the land and neighbour helped neighbour. The only real major sign of industry was the Naquada mine to the west of Gowton. Sergi's grandfather had brokered a deal for the weapons grade ore with a lesser know System Lord years ago and the Goa'uld's had pretty much left the people of Mandana to their own devices. The Stargate, that was once a busy trading port, was almost dormant. Life was simple here and Ben was content to farm and contribute to the community as everyone else did. He was curious about life beyond the Stargate and Gowton but travelling by horse and buggy was time consuming and impractical. There were no maps or archive information about the geography of the planet, which had led Samantha Carter to believe that the small colony of humans was probably from another 'Earth' type planet that had sought refuge in the peaceful valley generations ago. The fact that the people of Mandana were obviously intelligent, most could read and write, had explained the similarities with Earth. Ben had concluded that God created the universe, Mandana was part of his universe and they'd been given the same skills and understanding, okay they were a long way behind Earth's development, but they were getting there. Life was about learning and they had time to evolve.

There was no rush on Mandana.

Xxx

He began to shiver again as the cockerel crowed the beginning of a new day. Ben made his way back into the bedroom at the same time a shaky Lilly appeared from the bathroom.

"You, okay?" He asked as Lilly slumped on the edge of the bed.

"Better," she nodded and started to pull some fresh clothes out of her bedside closet.

Ben immediately crossed and sat at her side. "What do you think you're doing?" He reached over and closed the drawer.

"I've got lots to do," Lilly huffed and batted his hand away.

Ben shook his head and grabbed her hand. "Not today, Lilly," he sighed.

"But..." Lilly started to complain but Ben placed his finger on her lips to end her protest.

"You've been as sick as a dog for hours," he sighed again. "No work today."

"Don't be silly – I'm fine."

"Lilly..."

"Honestly, I feel much better now." Lilly's confident swagger ended in a shiver and Ben grabbed a quilt off the end of the bed and tucked it round her shoulders.

"Well, you look awful," he said and placed his hand on her forehead.

Lilly batted it away in annoyance. "I do not have a fever," she snapped.

"No you don't," Ben conceded when he discovered cool clammy skin. "But you are sick," he shrugged and then felt Lilly's neck for any signs of raised lymph nodes. "Any headache?" he asked, tenderly palpating the nodes.

"No."

"Stomach pain?"

"No."

Ben dropped his hands and assessed his wife. She was pale and looked tired.

"You're pretty pale, Lillyput," he tenderly tucked a stray curl behind his wife's ear. "Is it just nausea?" He persisted.

"Just nausea," Lilly nodded. "Probably something I ate," she added with a shrug.

Ben then softly stroked her face. "And you look exhausted," he smiled sadly. "Why don't you grab some more sleep, hey?"

"But, I've got a full clinic..."

"I'll do it."

"And, then there's the training session on resuscitation..."

"Conrad can do that."

Conrad and Anton Beuner were the father and son team of principle hospital surgeons and were more than capable of stepping in and helping with the training.

"But..."

Ben placed his arm round his wife and eased her head onto his shoulder. "We can cope, Lillyput," he assured. "I want you to rest, Platon's orders." Smoothing down Lilly's curls, he petted her hair and rocked her slightly. "You've been on the go for months and you're not going to be any good to any one like this, especially Mari, if this is a bug then it's the last thing she needs on top of her recovery."

Mari Quinn was Greta's wife and Lilly looked upon the elderly couple as grandparents and was very close to them. Mari was recovering from a stroke in hospital with her husband constantly at her side. She was making good progress and Ben was about to discharge her. He hoped using her name as a warning would persuade his wife to stay home, rest and recover from whatever bug she was obviously struggling with. When Lilly melted in his arms and nodded her head, he knew he had won the battle so he pulled the covers back and Lilly willingly crawled into their warmth.

"Good girl," Ben praised as he then tucked her in. He brushed her long curly hair from her face. "Just try and sleep," he smiled and kissed her forehead.

"What if there is a problem...?" Lilly started to protest again.

"There won't be," Ben shrugged. "And, if there is, I'm sure we're more than able cope. Please, Lillyput, you're not well and if I was the sick one, you'd be more than insistent that I shouldn't leave my bed either."

"Yes, well, you're stubborn."

"Says the pot calling the kettle black."

"You know, I wish Samantha would send me a book explaining all your silly Earth sayings, Benjamin," Lilly yawned and pulled her covers over her face.

"Sleep well," Ben chuckled and patted her quilt-covered head. "I'll tend to the animals and bring you some ginger root before I go," he stood and poured a glass of water. "There's water here. Drink, you need fluids."

"Yes, Platon," Lilly's grumbled response was muffled by the quilt's she was cocooned in.

Ben continued to chuckle as he then gathered up his clothing and made his way to the bathroom. Neither Platon Ashton's made good patients, not good at all.