Disclaimers: I do not own these characters; this is written for fun, I make no money etc.

Spoilers: 38 Minutes

A/N: I watched this episode again, and saw a bit of it in a whole new light. This short piece resulted. I use two lines of dialogue lifted from the show. I'm sure this has been done many times before, but I haven't read any, please send links!

Summary: Short tag to 38 Minutes. Weir considers her confrontation with Kavanagh.

"You're missing my point."

Elizabeth heard his voice over and over again as she headed for her quarters. The words of Dr Kavanagh repeated in her mind, and she was unable to silence it.

With Major Sheppard safely tucked up in the infirmary, and Lieutenant Ford and the others seemingly unharmed, she had made her way to bed. A satisfactory conclusion to a horrific incident, and yet… there was something not concluded.

"Never again."

Her own words plagued her as well. How could she not revisit this with Kavanagh? You can't just chew someone out and not allow resolution. If she was the 'governor of this colony', as she had claimed, then she had to maintain the trust and loyalty of every member of that colony.

"You're missing my point."

What if he had been right? What if she was deliberately ignoring his point? As she knew she was. As she had to admit to herself, in private. She reached out to the control panel and let herself into her quarters. In here, in her own space, she might be safe from his accusation.

"You're missing my point."

Sheppard had been dying, the Iratus bug sucking the life from him. Not that it mattered; everyone in the jumper had only thirty-eight minutes to live. McKay had almost been defeated – that in itself had been frightening. The lives of her best six men (well, five men and one woman) had been hanging by a thread. A terrifyingly finite thread. What right had that given her to bypass reasonable management techniques? She didn't know. And she didn't really want to think about it.

"Never again."

It was as if she had shot herself in the foot. Twice. Treating Kavanagh as she had, and then refusing to even contemplate her own weaknesses… it made it harder to resolve than it might have been. She cursed herself as she hung her leather jacket in her wardrobe.

Sitting on her bed, she folded her hands in her lap and sighed. Even if she had reason (or was it an excuse?) to act the way she had, and even if his judgement was a little too self-preserving rather than altruistic, she had to acknowledge their combined failings, and come to some kind of peaceful truce. Dr Kavanagh was one of her most highly qualified and experienced scientists.

And he had saved the day, in the end.

She used her radio to call the Control Room. "Peter?"

"Dr Weir?" Peter's voice was as calm as ever.

"Can you arrange for Dr Kavanagh to come and see me first thing tomorrow? I would contact him myself, but I was hoping you could drop a few hints that I'm trying to… make a peace offering."

There was a silence. "Peter? Can you hear me?"

When the voice spoke, it was not Peter. "Dr Weir. Dr Kavanagh here. I came by your office to see you, I guess I had a similar thing in mind… I couldn't help overhearing, I'm standing right next to Peter."

Elizabeth looked down and smiled. "Perhaps we can talk in the morning, then?"

"Yes, all right. Goodnight Dr Weir."

"Goodnight Dr Kavanagh, Peter." She turned off her radio and removed the earpiece.

So Kavanagh had been considering this as well. Good. She would take what he offered her, and give what she had to give. Humility had never been her strong suit. But she would see his point, just this once. Call it conciliation, if you like. Conciliation was her forté, after all.

A/N: Funny how things seem different when you revisit them, huh. Thanks for reading.