A/N: I'm not a medical person of any standing, so if I have any terminology wrong, my mistake. :) - Nika


Jen's first thought was that she really needed to stop drinking tequila with Laura.

Her second thought, slightly scattered and a lot more intense, was the memory that there was no tequila involved.

A sudden panic that she needed to run…to move…to escape something dark and evil spurned her limbs into action. She jerked against whatever was holding her arms and legs, rolling hard to the side. Her eyes snapped open at the same time.

The room layout lighting reflected back at her along with the sense of familiarity. Her mind tried to separate the location from the fear but her body had already moved too far to the side. She tumbled off the bed with a squawk of surprise and landed unceremoniously on her side.

"Nice dismount," a familiar voice snickered.

Jen squinted up at Laura, who gingerly lowered herself to the floor. Rolling on to her side, Jen accepted Laura's hand, letting her friend pull her into a seated position.

Jen leaned back against the side of the bed. "Damn," she mumbled, closing her eyes against the crazy spinning.

"It gets better," Laura responded, sitting beside her. "Sort of."

Cracking her eyes open, Jen glanced at her friend. "You look like shit," she muttered, eyeing Laura's uncharacteristically pale complexion with concern.

Laura shrugged, then winced. "You're not exactly model material yourself, Blondie."

Clamping one hand against her forehead, Jen attempted to keep her pounding brain from drilling a hole through the front of her skull. She lifted the other hand towards the gauze behind Laura's neck.

"Ow," Laura made a face and pulled away. "Play with your own boo-boo."

Jen rubbed her fingers lightly across her own bandage. She hissed when the tender area throbbed at the added pressure. Her shoulders ached, bringing back the memory of being held upright. She turned her hands over, examining the raw stripe of skin circling each wrist. She reached for Laura's hand, turning her friends wrist around to view the matching wounds.

"What the hell happened?" she asked, releasing Laura's hand.

Laura shook her head. "I don't know. All I've got is pieces. The room…killer headache….darkness…someone trying to drown me with a water bottle. I got a good hit in though," she half smiled.

"You did?"

Laura nodded, then shrugged. "At least I think I did. Hell…I don't know." She massaged her temples. "Maybe. What do you remember?"

"Bits and pieces. Someone trying to rip my head off…"

Laura snorted in agreement.

"Hanging by my hands…." Jen slotted the fragments together, searching for more meaning than the pieces relayed. "And water…" she finished.

Laura nodded. "Yeah. That about sums it up. Head bashing, hanging, and water. Well now that that's settled…" she scowled.

"Do you think they know who did it?"

Laura shook her head. "The Justice League was here about an hour ago. They were hoping we knew."

Wanting concrete information, Jen half rose and reached around Laura to grab for the medical chart hanging off the end of her bed. Atlantis may have the technology, but her Earth-trained staff still insisted on paperwork. She settled back down onto the floor beside Laura and flipped the cover off the chart. She scanned Dr. Meyers notes, relieved to see nothing unusual. Then a word that jumped off the page, incredibly out of place. She blinked, squinted, and re-read it. It had to be wrong.

She flipped to the toxicology report.

There it was again.

Her heart skipped a few beats, adding pressure to the headache. When she hit the last page of the report, her breath caught. Every horrifying thought she could ever have come up with ended with the title of the test. She clamped her hand over her mouth, eyes locking on the last word.

Negative.

"What?" Laura asked.

Jen stared at her friend. Dear God. They'd run a rape kit?

"What?" Laura repeated.

"Get me your chart…" Jen exhaled the order, barely able to form the words.

Laura didn't hesitate. She scrambled up, swayed, grabbed the footboard for support, then pushed herself across the room. She returned, thrusting the chart into Jen's hands.

"What is it?" Laura asked, flopping down beside Jen, trying to read over her shoulder.

Jen flipped through Laura's chart.

Rohypnol.

Rape kit.

"Come on, J…you're scaring me…"

Jen shook her head and grabbed Laura's wrist. "Laura...."

"What!?" Laura croaked. "I'm dying? You're dying? What?!"

Understanding that both tests were negative drowned under the shock that they'd needed the tests run in the first place. Jen shoved the report towards Laura. "They ran a rape kit…" she whispered. "On both of us."

"W-what?" Laura snatched the clipboard. She ran her fingers across the page, pausing near the bottom. "Negative…" Laura said aloud. "It came back negative. Thank god." Then her head snapped up and she stared hard at Jen.

Jen nodded. "Negative."

"Jesus, J." Laura's arms sank, the clipboard landing with a thunk on the floor in front of her. She stared at Jen, her eyes wide and unblinking. "Why?"

Jen looked down at her own chart. "Rohypnol."

"The date rape drug?" Laura ran a shaking hand through her tangled curls.

Jen nodded. "Yeah."

Laura sank back against the side of the bed. She stared at a spot on the wall. Jen slumped, pressing her shoulder against Laura's, looking for reassurance in the contact.

"I don't remember…" Laura exhaled.

"Me either." Jen pulled her knees to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her legs she hugged herself tightly.

"Fuck," Laura hissed, rubbing her hand across her forehead. "They don't just…give those things out willy-nilly, do they…"

"No. Only if they have a reason to suspect…you know." Jen squeezed her eyes closed, fighting the urge to cry. It was too much on top of everything else. She was too tired, to taxed, to weak to deal with this kind of news. This kind of situation. Yes they were negative. Yes nothing happened. But it didn't stop the feelings of horror and fright from balling up in her abdomen. She dropped her head to her knees.

Beside her, Laura remained motionless, and unnaturally quiet. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Jen rolled her head to the side and looked over at her friend. Laura was sitting motionless, staring at a spot on the wall. Her hands, lying stiffly in her lap, clenched and unclenched in a rhythmic pattern.

Jen reached out, stilling Laura's fingers.

Laura looked over, surprising Jen with the clarity in her expression. There was no worry. No fear. Nothing but a stilling calm.

Jen lifted her head.

"You know I'd never let anyone hurt you…" Laura said softly.

"I know."

"I'm going to get this guy, J."

"We'll get this guy." She squeezed Laura's hand.

"He's going to pay for this."

"We don't even know what this is."

Laura looked down at the charts on the floor at their feet. "We know enough."

"Yeah...I supposed we do." Jen chewed on her bottom lip. "So what now?"

Laura scowled. "Now we get us out of here so I can kill someone."

"Laura…" Jen admonished, but her heart wasn't really in it. Right now the small-town girl in her was overpowering the CMO.

Laura dropped her arm around Jen shoulder and hugged her tightly. "No one messes with my best girl."

Jen hugged her back, faking a light tone. "So does this mean we're officially dating?"

Laura snorted and released her. Then the smile faded as quickly as it had come. "I'm sorry."

"Don't." Jen ordered softly. "Don't go there."

"But if I hadn't taken you down there—"

"—then it would have either happened somewhere else, or to some one else."

Laura blinked. "You don't think—"

"I don't know what to think." Jen shook her head. "I mean…knowing my luck?" she shrugged and half-smiled. "It's some crazy ass alien entity who thinks I have the answer to life the universe and everything."

Laura's eyes narrowed.

"What?" Jen frowned. "You didn't see Hitchhiker's—"

"—I saw it." Laura continued to stare at her, making Jen shift uncomfortably. "I also saw cases. Big silver cases. They weren't there last time."

Jen entertained a vague recollection of large silver transport cases right before the lights were so painfully extinguished. "Yeah," she nibbled her bottom lip. "About a dozen of them? In the corner?"

"You didn't happen to recognize them?"

Jen snorted. "Sorry, was too busy trying to keep my head attached."

Laura's expression shifted, giving her a distant, pensive look.

"Oh no you don't," Jen exhaled.

"Don't what?"

"I know that look."

"What look?"

"The I'm going to do something I'm not supposed to be doing look."

"Who me?" Laura smiled, and scrambled to her feet. She exhaled sharply and grabbed for the footboard. "Whoo. Okay standing fast equals bad idea."

Jen pushed herself up, her legs wobbling. She grabbed Laura's wrist. "Where are you going?"

"To check out those cases."

"No you're not!" Jen held up her hand when Laura opened her mouth to protest. "Not without me you're not."

"You're not going anywhere, Lucky Luke." Laura's eyes narrowed. "It's too dangerous."

"Oh and it's not for you, Miss I'm so skilled I didn't hear the guy with the baseball bat?"

Laura pouted. "It wasn't a baseball bat. And stop trying to change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject, and I'm not changing my mind either."

"You're not going," Laura said firmly.

"Neither are you."

"Neither one of you is going anywhere!" Marie announced, stepping into the room. She glared at Laura. "I leave you alone for 10 minutes and you're already causing trouble."

"She wasn't—" Jen began.

"I didn't—" Laura sputtered.

"Bed." Marie held up her hand. "Now. Both of you."

Jen caught sight of a security team stationed in the hallway outside the door. Laura glared. Both men quickly averted their eyes and returned to their stationary position.

The two patients shared a glance. Bodyguards were a bad sign. Fully armed bodyguards was a really bad sign.

"Do I need to call Colonel Sheppard and tell him you're disobeying a direct order?" Marie threatened, when neither woman moved. She gently gripped Laura's upper arm and guided the Lieutenant back towards her bed.

"No," Laura sighed. She flopped into her bed and yanked the covers up.

"And you," Marie swung back towards Jen. "You should know better."

"But—"

"But nothing." Marie chastised. "Don't make me call Mr. Woolsey."

"You wouldn't…" Jen eyed her head nurse warily.

"Try me."

Jen sighed. "Fine." She dropped onto the bed, secretly relieved to be off her feet. Her head was spinning like a circus ride.

Marie waited for her to lay down before pulling the blankets up. She quickly checked Jen's vitals. Seemingly satisfied, she nodded, then leaned down. "I'm glad you're okay," she whispered.

Jen smiled. "Me too."

"Me three," Laura chimed in.

Marie straightened and walked out of the room. "Corporal Brooks," she addressed the man on the right.

He stepped forward. "Ma'am?"

"If either one of them so much as moves before I get back, put them both in restraints."

Brooks' gaze shifted from Jen to Laura.

Jen snickered when Laura smiled wickedly.

"Is there a problem, Corporal?" Marie asked, her hands on her hips.

"Ma'am. No Ma'am." Brooks shook his head quickly. "No problem."

"Good." Marie stepped out of the room. "Keep it that way."