Janet Fraiser walked over to the desk to sign out, her hands deep in the pockets of her jeans. As she approached the desk, she pulled her hands out, running one through her deep red hair as she drew the pen over the paper in a squiggle, frowning at the names surrounding hers in the log.

"Has Major Carter signed out yet?" she asked, starting to leaf through the pages in search of her friend's name. "I just can't see her on here."

The airman on duty matched the Doctor's frown and shook his head. "We've not seen her in days, Ma'am," he replied, turning the book round and flicking through. Taking a glance at the doctor's worried expression, he checked the computer database. "Nothing on here, I'm afraid. We had assumed reassignment."

Janet tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk as he ran a search, trying to find the last recorded log for her friend. There were a number of reasons she might try to stay on base, but this... no record in this month's logbook?!

"Last official record we have is almost two months old, Ma'am," the officer said, turning the screen to show her. "There is a note made that she was brought in… medical emergency… about two days later."

The redhead drew a sharp line through her signing out time and marched back to the elevator. Now she thought about it, she wasn't in the least bit surprised that her friend had been on base for the past couple of months, but she was annoyed that she hadn't realised sooner.

The ride down gave Janet time to cool off; her annoyance wasn't at Sam but at herself. She was worried about her friend and was aware that a certain degree of agoraphobia was a standard response to this type of abuse, but if something had been done earlier…

She hovered outside Sam's lab, unsure of what to say, how much she should mention. The memory of her friend, the strong military scientist, breaking down in front of her still haunted the Doctor. Yet Sam never seemed to mention it, seemed to act as if nothing had ever happened. And in a way, this seemed to hurt Janet more than anything else.

"Hey Sam," she said, trying to force an aura of calm friendliness into her voice as she rounded the corner into Sam's lab, a chaotic arrangement of machines and papers, translations and pictures.

Sam looked up at her as she entered and Janet was horrified at the drawn, pale face with dark circles around the eyes. This gaunt creature was nothing like her best friend, and she tried desperately to hide the revulsion she felt.

"I noticed you hadn't signed out yet," she continued, trying to surreptitiously glance at the various scribblings that Sam had scattered across the workbench. What was this project that was taking up so much of her energy?

The Major grunted without lifting her head from the computer. She was typing furiously, a deep frown on her forehead. As Janet walked round the back of her, she saw some sort of simulation program running on the screen, but she couldn't seem to work it out.

"So… I was wondering if you wanted to do pizza or something tonight," Janet ventured, keeping her distance from the blonde, not wanting to invade personal space or stress her out any more than she had to.

Sam raised her eyes briefly. "No, I've got too much work to do. Thanks for the offer though."

"At least let me give you a lift home," Janet pushed a little further.

Shutting the lid of her laptop closed, Sam shrugged. "Ok, why not." She ran a hand through short hair and looked briefly around her. "I guess I can continue this stuff at home, right?" She tucked the machine under her arm and flashed a smile at her friend. "Let's go."

Taken aback, Janet walked to the elevator with her in silence. She swiped her card and the two of them entered the car, Janet still shocked that the blonde hadn't put up more of a fight. It was almost like Sam had given up too easily. Did she really not have a problem? Not have an issue with any of this stuff? Surely that couldn't be normal.

Janet received an odd look from the airmen as the two of them signed out, but she sent a stern one back, not wanting to deter Sam just in case there was a hint of doubt there.

The journey back was exasperating for the Doctor. The conversation was stilted to an extent that she had never experienced with Sam before. She felt she couldn't just talk, that every question had to be carefully considered for its potential to hurt her emotionally, that certain topics were way off limits. And when she did choose a topic of conversation, Sam seemed to clam up, give short answers, like she wasn't interested at all.

It was bordering on excruciating when they pulled up to Sam's house, the owner sat quietly in the passenger seat, her expression unreadable. For a fleeting moment, Janet wondered if forcing her off the base had been the right decision, whether she should have left her back there and never have visited the lab.

"Say hi to Cassie for me," Sam told her in a taut voice, opening the car door.

Janet drew a deep breath. "You know, Sam… that pizza idea's still on. We can go round mine, have a couple of beers, you can stay in the spare room."

"It's okay, Janet. I have work to do," the blonde reassured her, stepping out of the vehicle. "I'm not a kid, I can look after myself."

As Sam walked towards the house, Janet leaned her head against the window, closing her eyes against the frustration she felt at the breakdown of their relationship. How it had become this bad, this strained, she would never understand.