It felt good to be the one tended to for a change. Nicholas was as efficient at first aid as he was at everything; in a matter of minutes he was kneeling at her feet, applying a makeshift icepack to her sore right wrist.

Her jacket sleeve was in the way and she smiled down at him as she shrugged it off, failing to hide a wince as she did so.

"Bastard," he breathed as she tossed the jacket aside. His fingers found sore spots on her upper arms and she craned her neck, twisting to see matching sets of fingerprint bruises forming over her biceps.

"I'm going to take him apart, slowly, one piece at a time," Nicholas threatened, this time in precise, controlled diction.

"No, you're not," she told him firmly, placing her left palm under his chin and making him look up at her face. "I'll be fine. I handled it."

That drew a wry half-smile from him, even as he shifted his head down so that he could press a light kiss to her palm. "That you did."

She brushed a fingertip over his lips. "I am glad you were there. How did you get there so soon?"

"Ran into Camille in the hallway. As it happens, she had similar suspicions about the Colonel. She wasn't particularly disposed to hear it from me, but when I said that you were concerned and were confronting Eli, she insisted on participating. So we went to find you."

"Thank you," she said softly. "I don't know if I could have done this without you."

"You would have done fine," he told her, looking up at her with open admiration. A sensation she barely recognized as happiness, it had been so long since she'd felt something so simple, so pure, flooded through her and she leaned forward to kiss him, but she was interrupted by hurried steps and another voice.

"TJ! Are you all right? What the fuck happened?" Greer came stalking over towards her, an obviously upset Scott on his heels. They sat down on the bed opposite her and Nicholas rose to turn and sit next to her instead of kneeling at her feet.

"The Colonel attacked her," Nicholas summed up.

"I can't believe he'd do that!" Greer objected, but his eyes were already running over Tamara. She didn't know the picture she made, but she felt a mess. Her hair was half-down over her shoulders and she could feel dried tear-tracks on her cheeks. She tried to lift her hands to re-secure her hair, but her right arm was still wrapped in the ice pack. That fell off and Greer gasped at the sight of her wrist.

"Proof enough for you, Sergeant," Nicholas commented disdainfully, gesturing towards the vivid bruises on her upper arms as well.

"Jesus," Greer whispered. "Son of a bitch! How could this happen?"

"Stress," she said. "We've all been under incredible pressure, the Colonel especially. He was badly injured when we got here and I don't think he ever recovered – at least not psychologically – from the trauma. He became paranoid, started spying on everyone." She shook her head. "Eli says he's been watching us since before the ice planet."

"What?" That was Scott. "I knew Eli was always playing around with the Kinos doing his documentary thing, but surely the Colonel wouldn't…"

Nicholas gave a dry chuckle. "He would and did. I figured it out not long after Telford's attempt to kill us all. He was always taking Eli away for 'private' duties. And Eli's not quite as good with the computer systems as he thinks he is. I could follow everything he was doing easily enough, once I knew to look."

"Why the hell didn't you tell anyone?" Greer demanded.

"He told me," Tamara said. "I've been worried about the Colonel's state of mind for a while now and Doctor Rush just confirmed it."

"I had no idea," Greer said, worried now, his face taut with concern and dawning guilt. "He seemed to be doing OK, as well as could be expected given the state of things here."

"I didn't see it either," Scott said, misery etched in his boyish face. "And I should have.

Tamara shook her head. "I didn't see it as soon as I should have either. He's good at hiding his emotions, he always has been. And maybe I just didn't want to see it."

"I saw it," Nicholas commented with a touch of familiar arrogance. They all looked at him. He shrugged expressively.

"He was right," Tamara said.

"Yeah, you've got a very unfortunate tendency in that direction, Doc," Greer said, rubbing at his eyes. "So what do we do now?"

"Camille Wray is talking about a court martial," Scott said.

"No," Tamara replied, insistently. "I won't press charges. He needs help, not more stress. If we were on Earth, I'd probably have him committed for treatment. Here – we just have to do the best we can. Give him as much rest as possible and see if the SGC can send through a trained therapist with the Stones."

"I appreciate this, TJ," Scott said. "The only thing he would say to me is how sorry he was, that he wanted you to know that he never meant to hurt you."

Nicholas looked unconvinced, but Tamara forestalled whatever angry comment he was about to make by taking hold of his hand and squeezing it tightly.

He frowned but gave way to the steely determination in her eyes. "That's your choice, I respect that, but he remains under guard. And I don't want him anywhere near you. He still poses a real danger."

She nodded agreement, threading her fingers through his. For a moment, she was caught up with him, as though they were alone. She leaned towards him, wanting to kiss him – but they weren't alone.

"So how long has this been going on then?" Greer interrupted, pointing at them.

"How long has what been going on?" asked a confused Scott, his innocent eyes wandering between the three of them.

"TJ and Rush here," Greer explained with a smirk on his face. "Lisa – Dr. Park – told me she saw the two of you in quite a clinch this morning."

"What? You?" Scott exclaimed. "Seriously?"

Tamara sighed and Nicholas nearly growled. "That woman is a menace," he said.

She couldn't help herself, perhaps there was some hysterics in it, but she laughed aloud.

"Oh, Nicholas, the look on your face when she made that pass at you," she laughed even harder. It was infectious, both Greer and Scott grinned as well.

"Very funny," Nicholas responded gruffly.

"It's not that bad, Doc," Greer told him, barely stifling a laugh of his own. "She's actually a pretty good lay."

Nicholas shivered. "I do not want to hear that. I do not even want to think about it."

"You'd better not," Tamara said firmly, though she was still grinning. She was gratified when the responding look in his eyes told her more strongly than words that she had absolutely nothing to worry about in that regard.

"I'm going to have to have a word with her," Nicholas did say. "This behavior has to stop."

"How about letting me handle her," Greer said with a smirk. "I think I can keep her occupied."

Scott snorted and Greer elbowed him.

"She's one of scientists, it's my responsibility," Rush told them sternly. When they all looked at him, he frowned, waved an elegant hand in the air. "I am senior scientist on this project and it is supposed to be my job to run the scientific investigations and supervise the scientific staff. The Colonel refused to let me do it, but it is what I was hired to do."

"He's right," Tamara said pointedly.

"Again," Scott shook his head. "She's all yours, Doctor Rush. I wouldn't want to attempt it."

"Yeah, 'cause Chloe would kick your ass if you looked at her twice." Greer chuckled, enjoying the relief of teasing his friend. He turned back, a bit more seriously, to Nicholas. "OK, you speak to her, but take it easy. She doesn't mean any harm."

Nicholas' mouth twisted wryly, but he nodded. "I won't argue if you can keep her out of trouble, Sergeant. In fact, the less I happen to hear about it, the better."

"Just make it very clear that you're off limits," Tamara said. "Chloe's not the only one who can kick ass if necessary." She softened it with a smile, a gentle stroke of his cheek. He leaned in to kiss her, but they had barely brushed lips when both Greer and Scott groaned loudly.

"Ewww, get a room," Scott said, with exaggerated disgust.

"Yeah, there are things I don't want to hear about – or see, for that matter," Greer added.

"Perhaps you would care to walk me to my quarters, Doctor," Tamara asked with equally exaggerated politeness.

Nicholas raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. "It would be my pleasure, Lieutenant."

They left to sniggers from Greer and a slightly bemused, slightly worried look from Scott.

---

TBC