Story focusing on Carolyn Lam. As they did so little with her character in the show (granted they had a lot of other things to concentrate on) i thought I would give her a side story of her own. And as so little is known about her, she gets her very own OFC as well. This should follow the show pretty well, but does take place in my SG/Sanctuary universe. Tegan Magnus is mine. Everything else isnt. Feedback would be very much welcomed :)


Dr Carolyn Lam, CMO of stargate command, had a problem. A big problem. How many other senior medical officers had to sneak around trying to avoid their boss? And it didn't help that she had only worked at the base for a few days and all the corridors looked the same. The only reliable way she had found to orientate herself was turning up in the control room. Sergeant Harriman was being very good at not laughing at her frequent visits, at least to her face. She really wished she had had more time to learn the layout of the base. The fact that she hadn't been near the gym since it was pointed out to her on her welcome tour did not fill her with confidence about her ability to find it first time, and she needed to get there for a defence lesson. Turning up late would probably not go down well, so she had set off early to try and find it.

Most of her time over the past few days had been taken up either with what General O'Neill had called the 'welcome to the mountain procedure', which included a large amount of safety briefings (most of which boiled down to 'don't touch' and 'run fast') and memos to read, or with sorting out what was going on in her own department. Her staff all seemed pleasant and hard working so far but she hadn't been there long enough to know them properly as individuals, to work out their strengths and weaknesses. Added to that, it had been strongly suggested that she read through some of the medical notes to get an impression of the sorts of injuries and problems she may come up against. So far it had been a fascinating, if terrifying, read. Talk about feeling inadequate... there was no way she was prepared for this job, no way she could be. On top of which, most people on the base treated her with the wary caution that military personnel seemed to reserve for doctors. Only here it had rubbed off onto the scientists too. She found herself wondering at far too frequent intervals if she had done the right thing accepting this post. She wanted to get this settling in period over, to be able to get into her work, feel the pull of a problem that needed solving and the satisfaction of fixing something that was wrong. She smiled wryly to herself. She wanted more control of things. At least she recognised that fact. That had to be a good thing, right?

She sighed, firmly suppressing any more internal rambling along those lines. Heading via the canteen was going to be too risky at this time of day, her father might well be topping up on coffee, so she decided to head straight for the gym. Well, head for the gym down the least used corridors that she could find. The last thing she wanted right now was a talk from the general on how important it was that she could protect herself and that she has the basic weapons training and so on. She could understand the need for hand-to-hand combat training for all SGC personnel, she just wasn't sure that she liked what that said about her job. Fighting – even in self defence or in defence of her patients (which was how the major in charge of on-base training for non military staff had tried to sell it to her) just felt wrong. Maybe that was a doctor thing...

As she had arrived a bit early for her session (she was trying not to think of it as a test) Carolyn changed, then went out and lent back against the wall of the gym, half watching the other occupants, while trying to pull herself out of her dark mood. The pair closest to her soon drew her attention. A man instantly recognisable as Teal'c from SG-1 was sparring with a young woman with shoulder length chestnut hair tied up and a lithe, wiry figure. After a bit of thought her memory dredged up a name from the many she had tried to learn in the past few days. Tegan Magnus. Doctor of something biological. They were both armed with staffs, Teal'c moving as though his was part of himself, an unstoppable force. Magnus was definitely less comfortable with the staff Carolyn judged, even to her untrained eye. However she moved with a graceful fluidity, a slight frown of concentration on her face as she blocked the attacks the jaffa made. Every so often she would move a fraction too slow and Teal'c would repeat the attack sequence until she could stop it before moving on. Even though he appeared to be a good and patient trainer Carolyn couldn't help hoping that staff training counted as too advanced to be necessary for her. Some of those blows looked painful and she was absolutely sure that she couldn't handle herself as well as Magnus did.

As if feeling the CMO's gaze the woman turned and met her eyes. A smile flickered across Magnus's face before the jaffa's staff swiped against her thigh. With a grimace of pain she turned back to her training, resetting her stance and studiously ignoring Teal'c raised eyebrow. Carolyn winced in sympathy, then turned to the door as the sergeant who would be working with her today walked in.

"Dr Lam" he said with a nod.

"Sergeant Green" she straightened up off the wall and composed her face. The guy in front of her was built like a brick wall, and was looking over her with a frown. Unconsciously she drew herself up, but then he relaxed and smiled a little at her.

"Well, at least you keep yourself in reasonable condition" he said.

Unsure of how to take that Carolyn hesitated, but he was already walking away towards a free set of mats.

"Done any martial arts? Boxing? Kickboxing?"

She followed, shaking her head "Not really my sort of thing" she tried to keep her voice neutral.

He gave her a long, steady look. "You don't have to like it. You just have to be able to do it if the need arises. And you never know – it may come to be more your thing in time."

Suppressing a sigh she nodded. Really, he was right, so she stepped onto the mats willingly if not eagerly, and he gave her a small nod.

"Ok..." As he started explaining about strong centres and setting oneself correctly Carolyn glanced over his shoulder. Magnus and Teal'c had finished their sparring with a small bow to each other and were moving off. As she left Magnus glanced back at her, giving her a quick grin before heading over to replace her staff. Blinking, Carolyn refocused on the sergeant, doing her best to mimic his movements.

Hours later Carolyn stood up from her desk a bit stiffly. Her training session had actually gone better than she had feared, her general fitness and decent co-ordination pleasing Sergeant Green, who had clearly been expecting difficulties. However sitting down to paperwork all afternoon afterwards had probably been a mistake. Stretching with a soft groan she contemplated finishing her files now, but instead decided that it was as good a time as any for a coffee break. And if she took the long way around then it had less to do with avoiding her father than it did with working the kinks out of her muscles. Definitely.

Unfortunately the long way around had become much longer than planned. She was lost again, and this time had failed to find the control room as well. The floor she was on seemed to contain mostly labs for science staff. Although she was reluctant to disturb someone from their work, not to mention she wasn't really in the mood for small talk, she was also fed up of wandering concrete corridors fruitlessly. At this moment she wondered if she could ever become comfortable with working under a mountain. Firmly shaking off that thought she started glancing in the various rooms to see if she could find someone still working but not completely engrossed in study that she could disturb.

Poking her head into the corner lab she thought she had found the perfect victim. The woman working at the desk appeared to be making notes, looking up now and then at a large furry-leaved plant in front of her. Carolyn knocked gently on the door and as the woman turned she felt a slight shiver of recognition.

"Dr Magnus" she said, managing not to phrase the name as a question.

"Dr Lam" the woman replied, smiling widely. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yes. Well, nearly. I'm lost" Carolyn stepped just inside the door, hands in her labcoat pockets. "I'm really getting tired of being lost" she added quietly.

"I know how you feel" Magnus replied, putting down her pen and running her hand through her hair. "Whereabouts are you trying to find?"

"Canteen. I need coffee."

The biologists eyebrows rose. "At this time of night? Good grief doctor" her tone was teasing and Carolyn couldn't help smiling. Her voice was pleasant, low with an interesting accent that sounded British but with subtle differences.

"Paperwork doesn't care what time of day it is" she replied in a dry tone. The other woman's blue eyes danced merrily although she kept a straight face.

"If you don't mind waiting for me to finish here I was going to get a drink myself in a minute" she waved a hand vaguely at the plant.

Carolyn considered for a moment. She hadn't been looking for company, just directions. On the other hand, she didn't want to be rude and Magnus seemed pleasant enough. "Sure."

"Ok. Sit" Magnus pointed to a soft chair in the corner of the lab.

Slightly bemused Carolyn sat, wondering how she had managed to get a chair that size in here down those corridors. She had to admit it was a good idea – definitely more comfortable than the standard options. Magnus resumed her note taking, so she relaxed a little and looked around the room, being careful not to disturb her. A bench ran along two of the walls, holding a fair number of plants that she didn't recognise. At one end a selection of photography equipment stood next to a large pile of files. More files were stacked on the floor alongside some boxes. It gave the distinct impression of a work in progress.

"Ok" Magnus stood suddenly "done."

Carolyn rose from the chair, managing not to wince as her muscle protested yet again. Maybe going home for a hot bath was a more sensible idea than spending her evening ploughing through medical notes that were inches thick. Magnus was watching her closely, but made no comment for which Carolyn was grateful.

"So are you planning on spending your evening here too?" she asked as they walked down the corridor.

The other woman pulled a face "Nah. I need to see some daylight. This place is driving me a tad bonkers."

Carolyn's lips quirked upwards at the taller woman's phrasing, and she felt a weight ease hearing that someone else struggled with the base as well.

"But" Magnus continued "I do need to pick up a cup of tea before I drive home."

"The canteen does tea?"

"Its awful. Terrible. An insult to the name 'tea'. However, beggars can't be choosers."

They turned another corner and entered the canteen.

"There we go" Magnus gestured to a line of flasks set out on a table, "your coffee awaits."

"Thank you" Carolyn said.

"No problem. Nice to meet you properly" and with a final smile she walked off over to the hot water machines against the far wall. Carolyn stared after her for a second, before remembering that she didn't actually want company and that she still had three files of Dr Jacksons medical notes to get through. With a small sigh she moved to the flasks containing coffee. Maybe she would go home for that bath after all.