Thank you so much for all the story alerts and reviews! It's really encouraging! Sorry for the delay... I'm publishing every other day now to get caught up. Hope you enjoy the chapter!


With a blink of an eye they were transported to the infirmary. John and Jennifer were both surprised to see Ronon among the military men who handcuffed the two intruders and dragged them away to a holding cell. Ronon turned back once both were in custody and made his way over to them.

"Hey," he gruffly greeted them. "Heard you guys were in trouble. Woolsey let me come."

John barely acknowledged him, sending him a brief look. "Help us get him onto the gurney."

Ronon instantly recognized the man bleeding and holding Jennifer's hand. "That's your brother."

"Yes, and I'm going to need to stitch him back together," Jen confirmed. "On three. Little movement as possible, folks. One. Two. Three."

After lifting him onto the gurney, John ducked to the side of the room to call Mitchell. He pulled out the paper he'd taken from the one man back at the house. Quickly informing Mitchell of the location of Dr. Lam, he wished the Colonel good luck and returned back to Dave's side. Seconds later, Carter appeared in the doorway.

"Glad you made it back, John," Carter placed her hand on his arm. "How's your brother?"

"Jen's running scans now," he replied, moving back over to the area he'd left Dave.

Had they not transported him to the Daedalus, Dave probably would've passed out sooner from the loss of blood. Instead, his head moved from side to side as he took in his surroundings.

"Holy smokes," he breathed, looking around still. "Where am I?"

John stayed with him as they wheeled him into the prep area for surgery. "It's a long story, bro." He stared down at his brother, guilt ridden as he took in Dave's ashen colored face. "I'm sorry. I should've never let you stay. I knew the risks involved-"

His brother looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"It's my fault," John said. "I should've known they'd find us. You weren't safe."

Jennifer overheard the last part of the conversation and made her way over. Giving a quick smile to Carter, she moved to Dave's side. Already dressed in scrubs, she called out instructions to the nurses. "Dave, we're going to start in a minute." She ran a scanner over the wound. "You have a little internal damage I'm going to fix for you. Otherwise, you should be fine. John," she turned to him. "He's going to be fine. Start breathing regularly or I'm going to admit you, too."

"Wait," Dave stopped them. It was as if the roles had reversed; now Jennifer was the one in charge, perfectly comfortable in her surroundings while John was looking like he was on the verge of panicking. "Slow down. This is a lot to process."

John took a deep breath and relaxed slightly. "Don't worry. We'll have plenty of time to talk after the surgery."

"Surgery?" his brother asked, looking up at him. "Am I in a hospital?"

Jennifer patted his arm. "Yes and no. Remember how John told you I'm a doctor? I'm also a surgeon."

"She's the best," John tried to relax more and moved along side of her. "Jen's the Chief Medical Officer where we work. She's put me back together dozens of times."

Sensing John was finally beginning to calm down, she reassured him by grabbing and squeezing his hand.

The move didn't go unnoticed by Dave, despite everything else swirling in his mind. He looked up at the two, giving a half-laugh, and finally put his head back onto the pillow. "Alright, let's get this over with. But John," he smiled weakly, "you're not getting off easy when I wake up. And I mean about everything," he nodded at their joined hands.

Flushing, Jennifer put on her mask and followed as they brought him into surgery. A quick look told her that Carter had also noticed Jennifer and John's change of relationship before ducking out of the room to work with Cameron on rescuing Dr. Lam. Shaking her head, she told herself now was not the time to think about how people would perceive them as a couple. She glanced back before going into surgery, glad to see Ronon had taken a silent vigil next to his friend.


Cameron eyed the abandoned building. Well, partially abandoned building.

He surveyed the area, checking for guards and security cameras. He narrowed in on one camera coming from the southeast side of the building. Figuring that to be his best bet, he pulled out his stunner and took it out. Knowing he'd only have a few minutes until someone came, Cam noticed a slightly opened window a few feet above the locked door. After a few failed attempts, he climbed and was able to squeeze his way through.

If Carolyn was in there, getting her out wasn't going to be as easy. He figured they'd disabled her transmitter. He just hoped it was disabled and they weren't running some type of blocking device around the building. Thinking back, he remembered when Landry demanded that she needed one. Carolyn had protested... and that was putting it lightly. Personnel could hear them fighting from his office until finally Cameron stepped in and reasoned with her. He told her if she was treating a patient off-world who didn't have one, they could target her and bring them both up if they found themselves in harms way. That did the trick, but his smooth reasoning wasn't lost on her. Glaring at him and Landry, she left the room in a huff, saying she'd get it done when she got around to it. To her surprise, Cameron cornered her before she left that day with a scientist and nurse at his side.

If her transmitter was dead, he'd be able to get Carter to lock in on them both and transport them to the Daedalus. He only hoped they didn't just have a way that would prevent them from picking up his signal.

As Cameron made his way through the dark hallway, he began hearing noises.

"Camera's dead," someone called out. "Avery— check it out."

Cameron stayed in the shadows until the man passed. He decided to let him get by, thinking it may be more of a problem for him to deal with if someone noticed the man missing right away. When another one came around the corner, he stunned him. "One down, however many to go."

Two rooms were up ahead. Labs, he figured, from the sounds coming out of them. He slowly made his way to one and saw four men huddled around a TV. A pizza box and two cases of beer lay scattered on tables. Backing up, he checked the other room. The door was unlocked. As quietly as possible, he inched it opened and found Carolyn. She was working at a computer with notes surrounding her on the table in front of her.

He gently closed the door. Looking around, he was surprised to see her unguarded. "Carolyn?" He whispered, still looking for signs that she was at least being guarded. Cameron winced when she yelped and dropped the test tube in her hand.

Thinking quickly, he backed up against the wall. A split second later, a man opened the door. "What's going on?"

Carolyn, to her credit, recovered. Dulling her eyes, she glared at the man. "I dropped something," she replied, nodding at the glass on the floor. "That's what happens when someone is forced to rush through something."

The man looked around the room. "Alright. See that it doesn't happen again. We don't have time to run out and get you more materials."

Cam could tell she wanted to fight back with sarcasm, but she held her tongue as he shut the door. Holding up a finger, he indicated for her to be quiet. They heard him call for Avery and walk down the hallway.

Making his way to her quickly, he lowered his voice. "Your transmitter," he said, pulling out his cell phone. "Is it dead or are they blocking it?"

"Dead," she replied.

He relaxed. "This is going to be easy, then."

"No!" she said, grabbing his arm. "They have someone watching my father. At his house. They showed me. If I try to escape, they threatened to—"

Shaking his head, Cam interrupted her. "He's not there. Landry hasn't left the SGC since you were taken," he assured her, then opened a channel on the radio. "Carter, lock in on me. I got her. Transmitter was damaged. No block."

"Got it," Carter said. "Nice job, Cam. I'm bringing you up to empty living quarters with a couple of beds. We still don't know how deep this is... only Caldwell will know you're there. And the General. You may need to hang out there overnight until we can get this sorted out."

The minute they were transported, Cam was surprised to have Carolyn shove him away from her. "You idiot! I don't believe you! They had footage of him walking into the house. It had a time stamp."

Wincing as he hit the table behind him in the room Sam had brought them up to. He rolled his eyes. "Carolyn, trust me on this. And think about it. Footage can be doctored. Made to look like it's live. You should know that."

"Give me a phone," she glared at him. "I want to call him."

"Fine," he bit out, throwing her the same satellite phone he'd used earlier. "And tell him the next time his ice princess gets captured, he can come get you himself."

Carolyn just pinned him with a glare while she dialed. "General?" she sighed. "I'm fine. Yeah, he's here." She took a deep breath. Cameron heard the hitch. She was upset. Never before had she displayed any emotion like this in front of him. Sarcasm, yes. Subtle words showing how much she resented her father for being absent during her childhood, of course. But the woman before him looked like she was going to break down in tears. "They said-" she got herself under control. "They said they were watching you at your house. That if I didn't work on Keller's research, they'd kill you."

Minutes went by. Slowly, the hard exterior replaced the fragile doctor. "I'm fine. Here, talk to Colonel Mitchell." She threw him the phone, stalked over to the bed, and sat rigidly while Cameron wrapped up the phone call. After hanging up, he sat down next to her.

"Sorry," he began softly, "about the ice princess remark."

She refused to look at him. "It's not the worst thing I've been called." Carolyn stood up, pacing the room. "We're not leaving this room, are we?"

Cam shook his head. "We need to sit tight. No one except Caldwell knows you're here. And Carter."

"Then I'm showering." And without another word, she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Even though the young doctor didn't give away much information about her personal life, Cam knew she was in a desperate struggle with her emotions. After several hours of being kept in captivity, threatened that her father would be killed if she didn't obey, and now to be held in a room until they could figure out who to trust... all combined with the fact that she'd carried anger toward her father for years for placing his work before family. Cameron didn't doubt for a second that Carolyn was on the verge of a breakdown.

A knock sounded at the door. "It's Carter," Samantha quietly announced.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Sam armed with a pile of clothes and a paper bag. Leaning over, he discovered it was filled with food and bottles of water. "Thought you both could use this."

"Sam, you're a lifesaver." Cam took the items from her and placed them on the bed.

"Where's Dr. Lam?"

He nodded toward the bathroom. "Showering."

"How's she holding up?" she asked.

Cam shrugged. "The mask she wears when she doesn't want to let people in is on. For now."

Samantha's eyebrows inched up in surprise. "You figure you can get through that?"

It was no use hiding his feelings from Sam. They knew each other too well. "Planning on it."


Jennifer stripped off the scrubs after the surgery. The staff on hand was very accommodating to the surprise arrival of the doctor. A nurse had graciously thought about a change of clothing for her, seeing that she'd appeared in pajamas before throwing on a lab jacket and scrubbing in. She ducked into a side room and changed out of the scrubs while Ronon waited for her outside.

"Where's John?" she asked, a little surprised not to see him waiting outside the operating room.

If Ronon seemed surprised that she addressed John so informally, which she'd never done in his presence, he didn't say anything. However, she did notice a slight smirk rise from his mouth.

"He told me to stay here with you. Caldwell requested a debriefing." Ronon jerked his head, indicating to follow him. "I told him I'd bring you to him. He's on a radio now."

They walked as Ronon called him. A few moments later, Ronon grunted. "He said you're both staying for at least the night. They gave you a room."

Jennifer just followed, also not commenting about the situation. She figured Ronon was smart and would easily put two and two together. He stopped at a room and knocked, not leaving until Sheppard emerged from the room.

"Thanks, buddy. Get some sleep. I'll need you tomorrow," John said, pulling Jennifer inside. He shut the door once Ronon was out of sight. "Caldwell told me surgery went okay. How did it go?"

"He'll be out for a few more hours," Jennifer explained. "He lost a ton of blood. There was some damage internally, but nothing that couldn't be repaired."

John exhaled. "Thank you. For doing the surgery." He raised his hands and moved as if he was going to gather her into his arms, and then he stopped. "I'm going to have a lot to explain to him when he wakes up. Not to mention the more immediate problem of keeping you and Dr. Lam safe."

"Carolyn's okay?" Jennifer said, pretending not to notice his actions.

"Yeah," he said. "Cam got her about an hour ago and Carter sent them up here. She's okay. Turns out they were threatening her with her father, making it seem like he was in danger when the entire time he was at the SGC." He looked up and was surprised to see her tearing up.

Jennifer just stood there, trying to catch up to everything that had happened in the last few hours. "Sorry," she murmured, sinking down on the bed. "I think my brain and emotions are a little fried right now."

"Don't apologize," he said, pulling the covers back and forcing her to lie down. "I don't think either one of us expected the day to end as it did. Anyway, get some sleep. I'll be in the chair over there."

She sat up. "John, don't pretend like nothing happened before this all started tonight." Jennifer grabbed his hand and tugged him down so that he was sitting on the bed. "Look, I know you have a lot on your mind. So do I. But where does that leave us?"

He sighed. "Jen, I just don't know. Now that we've had a chance to step back a bit-"

"Step back a bit? All that happened was that your brother was stabbed, I fixed it up, and now we're here. When did we even have a chance to step back?"

John started to speak but she only interrupted him. "No. I'm not letting you quit this before we even try it." She held up a hand. "Let's compromise. We'll table the talk until this is over. But—" she stopped him from speaking. "We don't totally back away. And you're not sleeping in the chair."

Too exhausted to argue, he just held her challenging eyes. Then he couldn't help smiling. "Yeah, that girl that walked into the infirmary a few years ago is gone, isn't she? The one that would jump if you said 'boo.'"

Seeing that she'd won this argument, she smirked as he lay down and pulled her into the crook of his arm. "Sorry. She's long gone. Gotta problem with that?"

"Nope," he answered immediately, kissing her temple. "I like this one much better."

Jennifer curled into his body, feeling the comforting feel of him next to her. Clutching his shirt into her hand, she fell asleep.