So, anyone picked up on the relationship that I've been hinting at a bit; in case you haven't there is some mild slash ahead. Thanks for the continued support and I'm sorry for the slow updates, I pormise I'm working on this whenever I can.

"Hope he's ok."

John looked at Dex in surprise, "didn't realize you guys were close."

"We sparred a couple times while he was here; he's actually pretty good with some of those Sodan moves he uses. Taught me a thing or two."

"He beat you?!" John blurted out.

Ronon gave Sheppard a small smirk, "I didn't say that. I said he's good, which means he's better than you are, but I still wiped the floor with him." He couldn't quite make out what John was muttering under his breath but he was pretty sure it was something derogatory about him, so he didn't try too hard. "So you pulled him out of Antarctica?"

John looked up in surprise, his momentary animosity forgotten, "yeah, him and a couple other guys." Unbidden the images of all those that had fallien to Anubis's onslaught filled his mind. Finding Cameron alive had been nothing short of a miracle. "Mitchell was the only one we found alive, I was shocked as hell that he was still that way when we got him back to McMurdo. How'd you know?"

Ronon shrugged, "saw the scars when we were sparring, asked him about them." They lapsed into silence as both men considered the new scars Cameron was going to have after his latest adventure.

Sheppard nearly jumped out of his skin when Elizabeth once again appeared at his shoulder without warning.

"Any word from Carson yet?"

"Still in surgery."

The words had no sooner left Ronon's mouth than Beckett pushed through the recovery room door, pulling his bloodied surgical smock off as he walked towards them. The surgery and wound care had taken longer than he expected and he knew the others were anxious for news. He could see the questions in their eyes and gave a humorless smile, "well, if there's a lucky way to be unlucky than the colonel has definitely found it."

"What do you mean, Carson?"

Beckett gave another wry grin as he scratched the back of his neck, "well for one, the lad wouldn't have made it very far on the leg if he hadn't already had an intra-medullary rod in his tibia; both his tibia and fibula were bloody well shattered. And that knife in his shoulder nearly severed his sub-clavian artery. He would have bled out immediately when that blade was snapped if it hadn't also been lodged in his collar bone."

John didn't bother to attempt to hide his relief, "so he's going to be ok? I mean, we saw your assistant run for more blood." He hadn't even wanted to consider losing another friend.

"Aye, the colonel lost more blood than we were prepared for, but he'll come around given time. My staff is cleaning out the last of his lacerations now."

Weir also allowed a small smile of relief, "that's great news Carson. I'm sure Dr Lam will be very happy to hear that when she gets here."

The Scot merely nodded, maintaining a flat affect while Elizabeth and Ronon exited the infirmary discussing the progress of some civilians that Dex had been training. He waited exactly five seconds after they cleared the door frame before he literally blew up in John's face, "I can't believe she doesn't trust me! After all the bloody time we spent together at the SGC and on other assignments you would think that she would realize that I am a half-way competent physician."

"Carson."

"But no, she feels the need to traipse all the way across two bloody galaxies just to look over my shoulder with every move I make." Beckett stalked the length of the infirmary in front of Sheppard, not caring that half his staff was hearing his rant. "Just because he's usually her patient doesn't give her the bloody right to take over my infirmary-"

John raised an eyebrow as he decided that Carson had been spending way too much time around Rodney, he was starting to pick up the physicist's habits; "Carson!"

But the doctor had switched to Gaelic, oblivious to anything and everyone around him. His triad grew louder and meaner, if John's new language skills were any indication, with each passing second; people were starting to stare. To say he was surprised at the Scot's behavior would have been a fairly major understatement; in the past, Beckett had always welcomed second opinions from his colleagues and John knew how much he respected Carolyn Lam. There was definitely an ulterior motive behind this rare flash of Carson's temper. Sheppard made several grabs for Carson's arm, finally he managed to gain purchase on the rampaging physician on the fourth try, "Carson!"

"What!?" Beckett whirled back to face John, his own visage like a thundercloud, angry that the colonel had dared to interrupt him.

"They're engaged."

"Oh," Carson instantly deflated before Sheppard's eyes, "I- I just thought-"

He continued to babble, not realizing that John was slowly directing him to the privacy of his small office; he gently shoved Carson down onto the battered love seat. He knelt in front of him, his hands on Carson's knees. "Now, you want to tell me what that was about; because that was not the Carson Beckett I know and love out there." He watched as Beckett's look of distress intensified just before he dropped his head into his hands and muttered a reply. "You want to run that by me again."

Carson finally looked up, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I keep thinking that it could be you out there. You've been hurt enough times for me to know what that feels like, and this is just as bad, knowing something like this could happen to you." He paused and swallowed hard. "Then I realize how selfish I'm being and that makes me feel even worse; I can't imagine what Carolyn must be going through right now, especially knowing that the colonel has been missing for so long."

John practically jumped onto the couch and pulled Carson into a tight hug, not at all surprised when Carson's arms wrapped around his waist, returning the crushing embrace. It wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation over the course of their relationship, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. "Hey, come on babe, we've covered this before, remember. We don't know what's going to happen to either of us from day to day, but we can make the most of every minute we have together." John stroked Carson's back, trying to reassure him any way that he could; he hated knowing that Carson was feeling like this and that there was very little he could do about it. He'd felt the same uncertainty and despair the few times Carson had acquired a minor injury or gotten sick; he could only imagine how much worse it was for Carson knowing that his own injuries were occasionally life-threatening and that Carson was the one that was always expected to fix him.

They stayed that way for several long minutes until John was sure they were both feeling marginally better, "hey, let's go grab some dinner. I'm starving and knowing you, you haven't stopped for food since breakfast."

But Carson just shook his head, "Col Mitchell will be coming out of the anesthesia soon; I need to be here."

"Alright, I'll bring you back something." John dropped a lingering kiss on Carson's lips, admiring his lover's dedication even as he worried what it did to his physical and emotional well being.

STARGATE: SG-1

Exhaustion hit like a ton of bricks as Carolyn surveyed her domain, although currently it looked one hell of a lot more like a field hospital than a base infirmary. SG-3 had managed to rescue SG-12, but no one from either team had come back completely unscathed. Her gaze searched the room as she mentally tri-aged her eight patients; four fractures, three Ori staff blast wounds, two concussions-

"And a partridge and pear tree," she muttered to herself.

Thankfully it appeared that Williams was the only one that needed immediate surgery. Resigning herself to the fact that it was going to be an incredibly long day and an even longer night, she grabbed the other end of Williams' stretcher and headed for the OR. Her very capable staff would take care of everyone else until she got to them.

Lam tried not to think about how much this would delay her puddle jumper ride to Atlantis, but as much as she loved Cameron, these men needed her more right now.

She knew he would understand.