1940

Carter looked mortified, and Jack couldn't blame her. Their relationship had been put through the ringer before they'd even had one, but they'd made it through the letters and meetings with their superiors without ever mentioning the word 'sex'. Which was a good thing – he'd been fairly certain even then that she'd run for the hills and never speak to him again if it would save her from discussing her sex life with her superiors. Obviously, Doctor Lam knew they were sleeping together. But had she ever actually said that? He doubted it.

And now they sat, Sam picking at her fingernails to avoid his eyes while he watched her from his chair in the corner. "I'm sure it's gonna be fine."

"Mm-hmm," she answered tightly.

He scrambled to come up with some other platitude, but the curtain slid back abruptly to allow the doctor in. "Colonel," she greeted the patient on the bed. "What can I-"

Jack cleared his throat.

"Ah. General." She obviously hadn't seen him in the corner, and his presence sent a puzzled look over her face for half a second before she quashed it. She glanced between them once, twice, before settling back on Sam. "What can I help you with, Colonel?"

The fingernail picking increased in intensity as she opened her mouth. And moved it.

And no sound came out.

He took pity on her. "So, we were..."

He got only those three words out before it hit him – the thing that Carter had likely been fretting over all along. How bad this looked for them. "Uh, well, first off, this isn't what it looks like."

"What does it look like, General?" Lam asked evenly.

Crap. Why had he volunteered for this? "Well, we were, uh... you know. And..."

Hell. He couldn't do it either. He felt like a teenager, called on the carpet and scared to admit to his mommy that he'd felt up the neighbor girl.

"Colonel," Doctor Lam pressed, turning her entire attention to the woman on the bed.

Still unable to voice it, Carter lifted her shirt. He wouldn't have thought it possible, but it had gotten worse in the twenty minutes since he'd seen it last. It was deep purple, verging on black, and it made him nauseous.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one. When the doctor's gaze landed on his, professional had turned icy cold. But her voice betrayed nothing. "General, why don't you step out into the waiting area?"

"I'm good here." Indignation bubbled up in his chest.

"It wasn't actually a request."

Angry, he spun on Carter. "Are you gonna help me out here?"

"He didn't hurt me," she managed finally, cringing. "I mean, he didn't mean to hurt me. Really."

The small smile Doctor Lam offered her indicated she'd heard that one before. "Colonel-"

"No, listen, please." The blue eyes finally looked up, and a thousand emotions swam through them – but mostly fear. "I mean, we were... not the most gentle tonight, but it wasn't anything that could do this. I think... I think there's something wrong with me. I don't understand how this could happen."

Her plea clearly fell on deaf ears, as the glance Lam shot Jack hadn't warmed a bit. "Neither do I."

"Now, wait a-"

Jack's irritation got cut off by an unholy racket outside the curtain as the infirmary doors slammed open into concrete. "Doc! We need a doctor over here!" someone yelled among the bustle and moans of a man clearly in great pain. "Somebody get a gurney!"

"Would you excuse me a moment?" It was clearly aimed at Sam and Jack, though the doctor was already peeking through the curtain.

Nothing would make Sam happier than her exit. "Sure."

Lam had no more than pulled the divider behind her before Jack asked acerbically, "Does it bother you at all that she thinks I beat the crap out of you?"

"Of course it does," she snapped back, though softly. "What do you think that says about me, that I would let you?"

He hadn't thought of that, and it took the wind straight out of his sails.

"What happened here?" Doctor Lam's voice filtered through the flimsy curtain, reminding Sam uncomfortably that everyone could hear them, as well.

"He was working on the freight elevator, ma'am, and the cage came down on his leg."

"The safety malfunctioned?"

"No, ma'am. It opened right back up the way it was supposed to. Twice. I don't know how this happened."

Hadn't Carter said those same words not two minutes ago? Intrigued, Jack slid back his corner of the curtain. Sergeant Siler lay surrounded by medical staff, which was completely unsurprising. But his pant leg had been slit up to the knee, and the skin beneath was a rainbow of angry reds and purples.

A familiar rainbow. An uncomfortable tug in his gut pulled him to his feet, and his injured lover was right at his heels as he parted the divider further. "Does that elevator close hard enough to bruise?"

"No."

And they weren't the only ones connecting the dots. The glance Doctor Lam gave them was brief, but said everything they needed to know. Silently, Sam found Jack's hand and squeezed it hard.