I want to thank all of you who are reading this fic and say thanks for the reviews. I am sorry it has been so long but Real Life has been just crazy.

Chapter 3

John called Teyla and she meet up with John and Rodney at the infirmary. They were there waiting for Jennifer and Ronon to arrive. They had tried to contact them through the radio, but Ronon wouldn't tell them much of anything.

They were all worried about Dr. Keller. However, no one was speaking to anyone else; instead, they kept their thoughts to themselves.

John, who couldn't seem to sit still, was pacing the floor. He was not happy about leaving the village, and planet, before finding the person responsible for this. He wanted to get his hands on the man who had hurt one of the people under his protection. He felt like he had failed Dr. Keller, and hoped that finding who was responsible would, in some small way, help her.

Rodney was sitting on one of the beds just staring at the floor and the door alternately. He knew that Dr. Keller was still the same person, yet this could change forever the woman that they had all come to know. How would this attack affect her?

As a fellow woman, Teyla was ready to go after the man who had violated another woman, and not just another woman, a friend. She knew that Jennifer was stronger than the woman gave herself credit for, but this was something that even the strongest woman would have a hard time with. She was glad to hear that Ronon was sticking with Jennifer and would be there for her. Jennifer would need the support of those around her and Teyla knew that Ronon would be able to read her well enough to know when things got to be too much.

Col Carter was thinking over the things she had seen in her years, and this was still one of those things that was hard to face. She liked the younger woman and wanted to give her any support that she could, and hoped that she that would be able find a way to cope. She had heard and seen woman who had lost everything because they couldn't find a way to pull themselves together again.

Carson was thinking of things that he would need to do medically to help Jennifer. He doing everything he could to not think of his colleague who would be coming in to see him as anything other than another patient. He didn't think that he would be able to finish what was needed of him if he let himself see the woman as the friend that she was. When came to Atlantis he knew that there would be wounds and emergencies, but he never thought that he would be have to treat this.

They all turned to the door when it opened, and Jennifer walked through followed by Ronon. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her right hand was bleeding. None of them knew what had happened to her hand and though they wanted to ask her so many questions, they were all afraid to break the almost eerie quiet that had settled on the infirmary. Carson took in her appearance and saw the blank face, and figured that she had had a breakdown already and that right now she was probably numb.

"She hit her hand on the mirror." Ronon told Carson, and while she was getting her hand looked over by Carson he stood a few feet away talking quietly to the others.

He told Col Carter, John, Teyla and Rodney what he knew, which wasn't much. He told them how he had found her and her initial reaction to him and of her pleas to have him stay near. He told them about her meltdown in the bathroom and her hitting the mirror.

"Is that all her blood then?" John asked indicating Ronon's forearms where the larger man had blood on them.

"Some of it, but she scratched me pretty good and she bit me a couple times." He said.

Col Carter motioned for one of the nurses and told the woman to look at his arms while Carson was finishing up with Jennifer's hand.

Carson had to give Jennifer 4 stitches to her hand. That was the easy part. Carson needed to get her into a much more private part of the infirmary to do an exam he had hoped to never do on a friend. He was leading her to the room when she suddenly stopped and looked around with a scared look on her face.

"Ronon, lad, I believe that Jennifer is looking for you." Carson called.

Once Ronon was next to her Jennifer relaxed somewhat and she grabbed his hand tightly in her non-bandaged left hand. She didn't let go of his hand until she had to change into a gown for her exam. She still had his coat with her and when she was lying on the table, she had the coat lying across her stomach. She had also reached back to where Ronon was standing and grabbed onto his hand like it was a lifeline.

Ronon kept his eyes trained on her face, or what he could see of it when her head was down. Every now and then though she would look up and see him standing there, and he could see her relax somewhat.

The attack had been violent. Carson had found countless scratches from branches and the attackers own nails. His S.E.A. exam showed him nothing he hadn't expected to see in an attack like this. There was lots of bruising and tearing. He couldn't believe that anyone could do this to another person.

Before he let her go he asked her if she wanted an emergency contraceptive just in case, but she shook her head no, reminding him that she was allergic to the medications.

Col Carter told Jennifer when the three came out after the exam, that Jennifer would of course be off duty until she felt comfortable to do so and after counseling. She also told Jennifer that her door was always open to talk.

John told Jennifer that not only he, but also Teyla, Rodney and Ronon would do whatever it took to find the monster responsible and see that he suffered.

Jennifer understood and heard what they were telling her, but she just couldn't seem to make herself show any indication. Instead, she paused as they talked to her and when they stopped, she walked away, without looking them in the eye or responding. She hoped that if she could just ignore everything right then, then she could pretend nothing had happened. It would have been more effective though if she could have smiled or even laughed, but she doubted that she would ever do either of those things again. She felt nothing but emptiness and darkness inside, and she wondered if it would ever go away. She knew what it was she felt; numb: she felt dead.

None of the people there to show her support were insulted when she walked away during the middle of one of John's sentences. None of them could even began to imagine what she must be going through right now, and they knew that right now she was trying to process what she had gone through.

TBC