This is going to be a series of one-shots based around my favourite SG1 character, the delicious Colonel Cameron Mitchell, and the (in my humble opinion) very understated character of Carolyn Lam.

I think that they are really great together and my brain is buzzing with this one so I'm just going to let it out and hopefully it'll help me to complete my other story, "Coming Back Home". I have one chapter left of it to complete and the sequel has already 2 chapters done.

This one is a kind of AU/extra scene from the episode when General Landry got sick from the Prior plague. For the life of me I can't remember what it's called right now and my box set is at home. It's been bugging me and I had to get it out of my head and onto the screen before I went mad.

Tears

Carolyn sat alone in the observation room above her infirmary, watching as her father slept in one of the eight beds below. She rubbed at her neck, trying to ease some of the tension in it.

You're infected.

Her own words echoed in her head, bouncing around and around until she shook her head violently to stop them. A glance at her watch told her that it was four am. Thirty six hours without sleep, she thought ruefully, but she knew that there was no way she could sleep.

Anxiety gnawed at her stomach, causing a dull ache that her doctor's instincts told her wasn't good. Thirty six hours without sleep meant thirty six hours of too much caffeine and sugar, but what choice did she have.

The Ori plague was sweeping across the country and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world got infected too. People were dying around her and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

That was the bitter truth and she couldn't ignore it.

"Doc?"

She swung around to the door as the deep male voice brought her out of her reverie. Cameron Mitchell stood, arms folded, watching her. His eyes were bloodshot with fatigue, his sandy hair dishevelled from running his hands through it.

"How's he doing?" Cam looked at the general, his expression sober.

"He's stable," Carolyn answered evenly, her gaze returning to the eight life signs flickering on the large flat-screen monitor in front of her. "For now."

"And how are you doing?"

The quiet question made her blink and look up at him. His blue eyes locked on hers, making them sting with tears. She blinked them back viciously. No time for tears now. "I'm fine, thank you, Colonel."

"You've been running on caffeine and power bars for twenty four hours now," he contradicted, giving her a pointed glance.

"Thirty-six," she corrected, attempting to smile at him and wondering how he had noticed what she was or wasn't eating for the past two days.

"Whatever." He waved off her futile attempt to lighten the atmosphere and noticed that her attention had returned to the screen in front of her and the eight lines that indicated heartbeats. "Doctor, you can't keep this up."

Something inside her snapped. "I'm the CMO, Colonel. It's my job to keep going and to make sure that these people keep fighting." She waved at the glass that separated her from the eight people below her.

"This one." She stabbed a finger towards the monitor. "That line there is the heartbeat of Captain John Nelson. He's twenty eight years old. His wife just had their first child."

"Doc…"

"It was a girl," she continued as if he hadn't spoken. "He's at the critical stage now, and the last six patients I treated at this level of development died within twelve hours."

"Doc…" He tried again, watching her get off her chair and begin to pace like a caged lioness in the small room. "Don't."

"His wife won't get to say goodbye. His little girl will never know her father." Her voice cracked and she stopped pacing to look down at General Landry. "That's just another crime."

"Carolyn." Cam touched her shoulder. "You did everything you could. For all of them."

Her dark eyes were bitter when she turned back to look at him. "It's not enough, Colonel."

Just as he opened his mouth to reply, one of the lines on her monitor flattened and emitted a familiar, flat beep. She looked over for a moment to determine which it was and cursed. "Dammit. That's Nelson."

Cam could only watch helplessly as she ran out of the room and down the short flight of stairs. Moments later she appeared and he swore loudly when he realised that she had no mask on. She worked feverishly over Nelson's prone body, pumping adrenaline and charging up the defibrillator to try and shock him back to life.

Twenty minutes later, her shoulders slumped and she shook her head. Cam saw her mouth move and closed his eyes. He didn't need to see or hear what she was saying to know the words.

Time of death, four forty three am.

She looked up at him, meeting his gaze wordlessly before she shook her head and turned to check on her other patients.

He found her a half hour later, back in the same observation room, staring at the same flat screen with the same eight monitors glaring back at her.

"His wife will be finding out by now," she said flatly. "She'll never know how he died, or why. And neither will her daughter."

He saw her eyes dart to her father's sleeping form and knew that she wasn't just talking about Mrs Nelson and her little girl anymore.

"The Air Force takes care of its own," he said slowly, wishing that he could say something to make this even a little better for her. "She'll be well taken care of."

"That's not enough, Colonel," Carolyn hissed, springing from her chair. Her eyes snapped with temper and fatigue and a grief he had never seen in her before. "That little girl won't know why her father died, and she won't care. All she'll know is that he won't be around when she needs him and why her mom will always be sad and lonely."

"Stop it." He stepped forward and gripped her shoulders, feeling her vibrate with tension under his hands. This was a side of the cool, collected and very professional Dr Carolyn Lam that he had never seen. "Don't do this to yourself."

"I can't help them." Defeated, she bowed her head and closed her eyes.

Cam tipped a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Listen to me. You are doing everything you can. Everything," he repeated when Carolyn shook her head. "If they die, it's not your fault."

"He's my father," she whispered. "And I've been so angry at him for so long…and now…"

"Just don't give up," Cam ordered, giving her a gentle shake to emphasize his words.

She surprised them both by dropping her head to rest it against his chest, just for a moment. The desire, the need to have someone hold her, just for even a minute, frightened her. She'd never considered herself to be needy.

The thought made her pull away slightly and fold her arms to keep from reaching out to him again.

"Colonel?" She attempted a smile, but failed. "Thank you."

He nodded and reached out to squeeze her shoulder once before he left the room.

The next twenty four hours continued in much the same fashion as the previous thirty six. Carolyn sat in the infirmary, watching her patients, powerless to stop the disease that was ravaging them slowly. Her father was slipping rapidly towards the critical stages of the disease and it looked like she was going to lose him all over again and this time he wouldn't be back.

Cam knocked softly on the wall, startling her. "Sorry," he said quietly as she jumped and sprang to her feet. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Something in his expression made her narrow her eyes. "What? What happened? Did you find something?"

"We're not sure," he answered, pointing to the infirmary. "Look."

Carolyn whirled around as a bright light shot through the room and out into the building. It grew brighter and brighter until she had to shield her eyes from the glare. When the light died, a man was standing in the room, looking at them all defiantly. Seconds later, she saw him cry out some unknown words before he burst into flames and disappeared.

"God," she whispered, for sheer lack of anything else to say. Her eyes widened as people on the beds began to stir. "Oh my God."

Cam watched as she flew down the stairs and into the room where her father was sitting up and looking around him. He didn't miss the way she stopped for a second and met the general's eyes before going straight to his bedside and pulling out her stethoscope.

Cam say the general smile and say something and found himself smiling too as Carolyn gripped her father's hand tightly for a moment before moving on the her next patient.

Maybe she'd get the second chance she wouldn't admit she wanted now.

The threat was over, for now, thanks to the prior who had sacrificed himself to cure the disease. The sick had recovered, and things on the base were slowly getting back to normal. The dead had been released to their next of kin for burial and the staff at the SGC were getting some much needed rest.

Cam stood outside Carolyn's apartment door, wondering why he was even here. Captain Nelson had been buried that morning. His young widow had remained dry eyed and silent throughout the service, her baby daughter clutched tightly to her chest.

Cam had spotted Carolyn in the crowd and waved to her, noticing for the first time how pale she looked and that she'd lost some weight in the past week. She had hurried towards her car after paying her respects and left, so he hadn't had a chance to talk to her.

He knocked once, twice, and stood back. She answered moments later and her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Colonel? What's happened? My father…?"

"No, no, he's fine." Cam assured her, kicking himself for frightening her. "He's fine. I just wanted…I-"

"Come in," she offered, holding back the door so he could step inside. She was still wearing the plain black dress she had worn to the funeral. Her black high heels lay beside the sofa and she had pulled her dark hair loose from the severe bun it had been in that morning so it fell in a soft curtain around her face.

"I wanted to see how you were," Cam said simply, perching on the arm of her brown leather sofa.

Carolyn felt the burn of tears in the back of her throat and to her horror, they rose to her eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," he soothed, stepping forward and reaching out to her, a little unnerved by the sight of her tears. Female tears always had that effect on him.

"No, please," she said frantically, skittering backwards. "Don't. I'm fine. I just need to sleep, that's all."

"Carolyn." Cam caught her hand, stilling the jerky movements. "It's okay."

It was the kindness in his voice and the caring in his blue eyes that did it. Undone, she sat on the sofa and began to weep helplessly.

Cam did the only thing he could think of. He pulled her into his lap and simply held on, letting her cry, knowing that even as strong and independent as she was, she still needed to let go sometimes.

When her sobs had slowed to shudders and the knot in her belly had loosened, she pulled back slightly to look up into his eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered quietly, mortified at seeing the wet patch on his shirt. "I'm sorry."

Cam tightened his grip when she tried to scramble from his lap. "You needed it."

She relaxed enough to smile. "I don't do this very often."

"What?" Cam joked. "Sit on my lap?"

She snorted and swatted at him. "Cry." Her gaze was serious. "I've never been the crying type."

"Nothing wrong with letting go some, now and again," Cam pointed out, still not loosening his hold on her waist. "And I have no objection to you sitting on my lap."

Carolyn yawned suddenly, making them both laugh. "Sorry," she apologized. "I haven't slept properly in-"

"A week," Cam said sternly, frowning at her. "Seems to me that you ought to sleep for at least twelve hours before you even think about going back on duty."

"I tried," Carolyn admitted in a small voice. "I got as far as three before I woke up."

"Nightmares?" Cam asked gently, sighing when she nodded once. "Okay. How about we try this? You sit here and rest a while and I'll make you some tea." He tightened his arms around her again. "You've had enough of coffee."

Carolyn nodded against his chest and sighed contentedly as he rested his cheek on top of her head. "Thank you," she murmured, smiling when she felt him press his lips to her hair.

"You're welcome," he whispered back.

Moments later, she was sleeping peacefully and Cam decided that maybe female tears weren't all bad, after all.

The End.

I know its a little AU and please excuse any mistakes; it's not beta-d at all. But do let me know what you think of it, please and thanks!