Jennifer awoke from a nightmare in the early hours and found herself in an almost deserted infirmary. She looked round and saw Ronon sleeping peacefully on the bed next to hers. Carefully sitting up she tried to shake the images of her dream from her mind and calm her breathing. When her hands had stopped trembling she slid off the bed, careful not to put any weight on her braced leg, and picked up Ronon's chart.
"You should not be up." A nurse, suddenly appearing from a side office, said in a surly voice.
"I'm fine." Jennifer dismissed her.
"In that case you can leave." The nurse said causing Jennifer to turn round surprised by the nurses tone.
"You either get back into bed and leave his chart alone or you can be discharged." The nurse clarified. "Charts are confidential and not to be view by the general public."
"I'm his doctor." Jennifer said.
"Not onboard the Daedalus you are not. I have my orders and I would prefer not to take further action." The nurse threatened leaving Jennifer gob smacked. Finally she said.
"I'll go."
"Very well." The nurse said with no hint of warmth. "You can change through there. You will find clean clothes there as well." She added as she snatched Ronon's chart from Jennifer and replaced it with a pair of crutches. Feeling somewhat dumbfounded by the treatment Jennifer made it to the room where she slowly and stiffly got changed into a Daedalus jumpsuit. Finally she replaced the leg brace that extended from the tip of her foot to half way up her thigh and left the infirmary.
Jennifer knew it was early by the lack of people milling around in the corridors. Too early to see Laura for a much needed chat. Not wanting to sleep and face the nightmares again she went to the mess to get some coffee, at least it would help her stay awake. As she hobbled her way into the mess hall, the crutches rhythmically banging the floor, she was surprised that she was not the only one up. Standing in front of the large window at the edge of the room, looking out onto nothing in particular stood Kiryk. When he heard Jennifer's entrance he quickly spun round.
"Dr Keller. How are you feeling?" He said as he unclenched his muscles and moved his hand away from his gun.
"I'm ok." She replied before hastily adding. "I'm sorry I did not mean to disturb you I will leave."
"Please stay. I was just enjoying having nothing to do."
"Well you are the first person I have ever heard onboard the Daedalus saying they enjoy boredom." She smiled as she moved over to Kiryk. As she reached him she placed her crutches against the nearest table and stood next to him.
"I thought you were confined to the infirmary." Kiryk commented.
"I was kinda thrown out." Jennifer replied.
"Should you not be resting?"
"Didn't feel like sleeping." Jennifer answered.
"Dreams?" Kiryk asked.
"Oh great you have known me for no time at all and already assume that I am traumatised by the smallest thing." She snapped. Seeing Kiryk raise an eyebrow she quickly apologised. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I am just a bit tired."
"Yet you don't sleep." Kiryk commented. Jennifer remained silent.
"When I first came a runner I did not sleep. Every time I shut my eyes I saw my people being slaughtered and fed upon like animals. In the end it was only exhaustion that let me sleep." Kiryk finally confessed.
"Isn't that the point? You went through something horrible. Most people would probably loose their mind, but you kept going. It is hardly surprising you have dreams and flash backs but me all I did was-"
"Take on an armed gang, jump off a cliff, nearly drown, have a roof fall on you and kill a man." Kiryk summarised.
"Which is stuff you do all the time."
"You are not me." Kiryk stated. "You are a doctor. Your place is not in a battle. You should not have to take lives."
"Neither should you." Jennifer shot back, causing Kiryk to give her a rueful smile and the two fell silent again.
"Shouldn't you sit down?" Kiryk eventually asked. "Your leg at least should be resting."
"All that I have done for the last day or so is either sit or lie. Besides if I sit I might fall to sleep. I would prefer to put that off for a bit."
Kiryk nodded in understanding before finally saying. "You did the right thing. Shooting the man. Had you not done so your friends would be dead."
"It doesn't feel like the right thing." Jennifer confessed. "He had as much right to live as the rest of us. He was just following orders." She added, her voice showing signs of strain.
"As soon as he tried to kill your friends he lost that right." Kiryk said. "But I'm sorry I forced you into that position. You should not have had to take the shot."
Jennifer looked round at him, her eyes swirling with emotion, but before she could say anything the mess hall's doors hissed open.
Kiryk and Jennifer looked round to see Laura Cadman enter. From her attire she was clearly about to go jogging or had just returned from jogging. Cadman, oblivious to the presence of Jennifer and Kiryk walked over to side and poured herself a big mug of coffee. When she started shovelling sugar in to the mug Jennifer said.
"Do you have any idea how bad that amount of sugar is for you?"
The unexpected voice caused Cadman to spin round. On seeing Jennifer she said.
"Gee are you trying to kill me?" She paused then said as she marched towards her friend. "What the hell are you doing here? You should be in the infirmary."
"I was thrown out." Jennifer said. Cadman looked at her unsure if she was being serious. Still unable to make her mind up she turned on Kiryk.
"You should know better." She started, pointing her finger at him. "What were you thinking?" She started. Kiryk opened his mouth to protest but Cadman continued closing in on the former runner, "You should have told her to go back to the infirmary."
"She has never listened to me." Kiryk defended, stepping closer to the Lieutenant. Jennifer opened her mouth too protest but once again Cadman was quickest off the mark.
"She never listens to anyone. So you have to make her listen." Cadman stressed.
Jennifer opened her mouth but shut it, not sure how to react to that statement.
"Sheppard said I was never to stun her again" Kiryk replied.
"You don't have to go straight for you gun. Sling her over your shoulders."
"She complained when I did that."
"Well that…whoa when did you sling her over your shoulders?"
"When I needed to get her to Celise."
"You mean when you kidnapped her?" Cadman asked suspiciously. Kiryk nodded silently. By now they were a mere centimetre apart. "Sheppard tell you not to kidnap her again?"
"Yes."
"Well you had better list-" She explained only to notice Kiryk was no longer looking at her. Following his gaze she realised that Jennifer was making her way to the entrance of the mess hall.
"Where are you going?" Cadman questioned, turning to look at Jennifer.
"To get some rest. You can just send a memo when every one has decided how to treat me." She replied, there was a clear edge to her voice.
"Wait. I didn't mea-" Cadman started only for Jennifer to cut her off.
"I know. I didn't mean for that to sound how it did." Jennifer apologised as she opened the door to the mess hall. Just as she was stepping through she said. "You know you two should probably get a room."
Kiryk looked at Cadman confused about what Jennifer had meant. The young Lieutenant though did not meet his gaze.