"I hope you like soup..." Beckett said when she'd let him into her quarters a little while later.

She didn't. Soup was for sick people.

"I'll eat it," she told him, taking the tray from him and carrying it over to the bed. If she was going to keep eating in her room, she was going to have to get a table or something, she decided.

"Meaning you don't like it?" He asked, following her.

"Meaning I'd rather have a steak and potatoes." She temporized.

"We don't have any of that," he said, regretfully.

"Actually, if all the supplies I brought made it through the gate, you should have."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"Jack – excuse me, General O'Neill, figured if you were all still here, and running low on supplies, you'd probably appreciate a good meal or two. Most of the other stuff are MREs and simple stuff, so tell your cooks to enjoy it while they can."

"You gated here unsure if we were even going to be here?" He asked as they both sat on the bed.

Mitchell shrugged.

"I figured if there wasn't anyone here, then I'd figure out either where you all went to, or figure out how to send a message home – or get home myself. Preferably after finding you guys."

"That took a lot of courage..."

She shook her head.

"I was the best choice, Carson. I have Talon."

"And you really didn't care if there was anyone here or not, did you?" he asked her seriously.

She hesitated, but then shook her head.

"I would have minded, because I would have had to try and figure out where you all went – I'd never have tried to get home until I knew what happened to the expedition I'd been sent to find – but as for lack of company... no, I would have been okay."

Carson didn't agree, but he didn't say anything.

"Of course, you would have run smack into that beam without Major Sheppard around to shoot it."

She smiled, wryly. "Yeah, there is that. So I suppose it's a good thing you guys were here, after all, huh?"

"I'm glad we were," Beckett agreed, taking a bite of his soup to encourage her to start eating. "It certainly beats the alternative."

She took a bite of the soup, then, because if there was one thing worse than soup, it was cold soup – and she was hungry, and found it wasn't quite as bad as she'd anticipated. The room fell into a comfortable silence as they both began eating.

OOOOOOOOOO

"You should probably sleep the rest of the night," Beckett told her when they were done eating and he'd started gathering the dishes.

"Is it that late?"

He shook his head.

"Not really, but the more you can manage to sleep during our nights, the easier it'll be for you to get yourself into the rhythm of our days and nights as opposed to Earth's."

"Doctor's orders?" She asked.

He smiled and shrugged.

"How about a strong suggestion from a friend?"

If she hadn't been pretty tired, she might have argued with him. As it was, she nodded. Talon was done with the gene insertion and was merely keeping her body from rejecting it – something he could do while he got some rest of his own – so it would be a good idea for them to rest at the same time. She'd have Sheppard teach her to fly the Puddle Jumpers the next day, and the day after that she'd go Wraith hunting.

"I had planned on doing a little more exploring, but I think you're right," she admitted. "Besides, I'm pretty tired..."

"I'm always right," he told her, standing up and picking up the tray. "I'm a doctor, after all."

She smiled, but didn't disagree. This time he was right. She walked with him to the door, and leaned against the frame.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked her, suddenly serious. "I could stay if you needed me to."

Melony shook her head, and reached out and touched his arm for just a moment in thanks.

"No, Carson, I'll be all right." Probably. "Thank you for... everything... I needed it."

He nodded.

"If you need something, I'll either be in the infirmary, or in my quarters, which are just outside the infirmary."

"I'll remember that."

"Good night, Melony."

He turned and went down the hall, carrying the tray, and Melony sighed, softly. She'd wanted him to stay – she would have really loved the company, no matter what she said – but he'd spent way too much time with her that day already. Besides, she had Talon to keep her company.

I'm not telling you a bedtime story tonight

"I'll tell you one, then," She murmured, turning and heading back into her room. "Soon as I make another pot of coffee."

A pot of coffee and a hot shower later, she was once more dressed in sweats and a sweatshirt, and was lounging in her bed, flipping idly through some of the various files on her laptop, but not actually paying attention to what she was reading.

Go to sleep

He was inside her, and knew she was tired. More than that, really, she was drained, physically and emotionally, and if they were going to get their much-needed intelligence on the Wraith, she was going to have to be at 100 percent. Once he knew it, she knew it, and she silently agreed. She turned off the laptop, and then the light, and then went to sleep.