Jen crouched down in front of the shaking scientist, taking hold of both of his hands.

"Rodney" she said gently "Please look at me. Whatever the problem is, I'm sure we can deal with it, but only if you talk to me. I can't make it right, if I don't know what IT is, can I?"

"Even you can't make everything right Jennifer. You know, you and I have a lot in common. I mean, apart from the fact that we're both geniuses – or is it genii – anyway, we're both kind of private people, not many friends and we tend to be pushy and..." he babbled.

"McKay, slow down and take a breath, then start at the beginning" Jen ordered.

"Like I said – pushy. Anyhow, both of us skipped grades, finished school earlier than we probably should have done – that's why we don't make friends easily".

A slight shuffling noise sounded behind Jen but she ignored it, focusing all her attention on McKay as he briefly looked over her shoulder with an expression that could only be described as pleading.

Rodney took a deep breath before resuming. "I was 15, but cocky as hell – thought I knew everything. But in spite of that, I believed that I should use my knowledge to help other people, so I joined a voluntary group that was helping native tribes in Central America. The village we were staying in was attacked by armed guerrillas and we were force marched to this camp. It was just so similar you know, and then when that bastard started on you with the whip, all I could see was this girl – Kirsty, her name was – being whipped to death".

Jen shuddered as Rodney fell silent for several minutes. Just as she was about to prod him into continuing he spoke quietly.

"I didn't have the courage to do what you did and take her place. I was so ashamed that I didn't do anything then and I just couldn't face you – it brought back so many terrible memories".

"What happened after that, Rodney?" Jen asked carefully.

"We were held in the camp for 5 wretched days before government soldiers mounted a rescue and stormed the place. 2 of our group were caught in the crossfire - 1 died and the other was left completely paralysed, but it was the 

natives who came off worse. Neither the soldiers nor the guerrillas gave a shit what happened to them and we lost more than half – they didn't have a Col. Sheppard you see, telling them 'no collateral damage'.

"Rodney. You were a child – probably a precocious, annoying one - but still just a child and you can't go on blaming yourself forever, for something that wasn't your fault".

"She's right you know, Rodney" came Sheppard's voice from behind her.

"Yeah" came the voice that Jen was expecting but hoping not to hear just yet, "Adults are supposed to protect children, not hurt them".

Jen turned slowly to face the 2 men, feeling the blush start as she did so.

"Colonel, Ronon" she acknowledged.

"Hey Doc. How're you doin' first day back?"

"Oh you know, tons to catch up on, DNA tests to perform, stuff like that. So I'm sure that you'll excuse me while I go and get on with it".

"Sure Doc. I guess we'll see you later then" Sheppard said slowly, as Ronon kept his eyes on Jennifer.

Jen kept her head down as she moved towards the door, only turning back to Rodney as he called out to her.

"Jennifer. I thought you needed my help with something important".

"It's okay Rodney. We can do it some other time. It'll keep" Jen said as she hurriedly made her exit, unwilling to face Ronon just yet.

"So Rodney. What did we miss?" asked Sheppard.

"You heard everything. I've no more secrets" muttered McKay.

"No I meant with the Doc".

"No idea. She came in and said she needed my help. I was nasty to her, she bullied me into spilling my guts and now you're here, she says it's not important. You work it out".

"Ronon, do you know what's up with her?"

"No, but I intend to find out" he growled. "Who would she go to with a problem?"

"Carter, I guess. Or maybe Teyla. But it's not as though you can just go asking them" replied Sheppard.

"Watch me" said Ronon, as he left the lab at a brisk pace.

"Come on McKay before he does something we'll regret".

"Don't you mean something he'll regret?"

"Nope. If he goes up against Carter, we'll definitely regret it".

"Yeah, see your point. Let's go".

By the time Sheppard and McKay caught up with Ronon, he was leaving Col. Carter's office in a foul mood and was dragged away by Sheppard, while Rodney went in to see Sam.

"She won't tell me anything" Ronon ranted as the Col. ushered him into his – Sheppard's – quarters.



"Look at it this way buddy. If the Doc told her something in confidence and then Carter told you, well you'd never trust her again, would you? We'll find out eventually, we always do" explained Sheppard as he opened a couple of bottles of beer, passing one to his friend.

As Sheppard drank his beer he waited for Ronon to calm down, which took quite a while, before he spoke again.

"Feel better now?"

"Yeah. I expect Rodney will tell us all about it later. I just have a bad feeling. Did you notice that she couldn't or wouldn't look at me, the whole time we were there?"

Meanwhile Sam was briefing Rodney, who promised he'd look into the e-mail and find out who sent it and Jennifer was being overrun with nervy children.

"Okay kids" she said as calmly as she could "I need to run a little test on each one of you. I have to take a small sample of blood, for this machine to read". She held up a strange device for them all to see and then continued "It'll only hurt a little bit and when I've finished everyone gets a lollipop. Julie and Karen are my nurses and they'll hold your hand if you're scared, and if you're scared of them, then Teyla is here as well, and she'll protect you from us scary doctors".

There were nervous giggles from several of the children as the nurses lined them up, putting Penta, Kazy and Rula at the head of the line, reasoning that since they had had more contact with Jen, they would be less frightened which would reassure the others.

After a short while and only a few tears Jen was done. Most of the children had gone back to their 'play area' with Teyla, leaving The Troublesome Trio, as Marie had dubbed Penta and the 2 little girls, with Jen.

"So what have you 3 been doing, apart from spending time with my head nurse" Jen asked as she sat on the floor in the corner of her office, where Kazy shyly curled up on her lap, sucking her thumb.

'Kids, it would appear, act pretty much the same whichever galaxy they were from' thought Jen, as she snagged a brush from the edge of her desk and started brushing the child's hair. She'd never realised just how relaxing that job could be, and soon found herself beginning to smile.



Penta, being the eldest, had obviously been elected spokesperson, and he said "Rula's been teaching us about the computers and Marie and Evan have been telling us all about Earth. It sounds like it's a great place. Maybe we'll get to go there someday. I think I'd like that".

"It has its attractions" agreed Jen "like pizza and funfairs and stuff".

"And no Wraith?" he queried.

"Yeah. No Wraith".

Just then there was a knock on the door and Dr Sharpe's voice could be heard.

"Dr Keller?" he asked, not seeing her hidden behind the desk, in the corner.

"Down here" she called.

Looking over the desk, he handed her a tablet saying "Test results are in" before going back into the Infirmary, with her thanks following him.

Studying them for a few minutes, her smile grew even broader. "God. Sometimes I really, really love my job".