When Carson Beckett woke up, he was half hung over and completely confused. His mouth was dry and tasted like he'd tried to eat a sweater, and he was thirsty, grumpy, and his head was pounding. And he was completely alone when he was vaguely aware that he shouldn't have been. He frowned, sitting up and rubbing his head as he looked around, trying to gather in enough wit to figure out what the heck had happened. He was in Melony's bed in the infirmary room and – oh, Jesus, he'd slept with her. No, not slept with her, because he'd slept with her before; he'd made love to her.

He felt a surge of elation as the memory grabbed him, but it dampened considerably when he realized that she wasn't with him, and there was no sign of her. Then the elation was squashed completely when he started replaying the scene from the night before in his head. Not the sex part, because while he was aware that that had happened, it wasn't the memory that kept popping into his mind, but the way he'd talked himself into her bed in the first place. Forced himself into it, basically, he realized with a frown. Had he really told her to prove it? Him? What had he been thinking? He wasn't the kind of guy that-

"Doctor?"

He jerked his attention to the door, where one very confused corpsman was standing. Looking down at himself, Carson was relieved to find that he was covered, because he also realized he was completely naked.

"Yes?" He asked, trying to make it seem like it was perfectly natural he should be in one of the infirmary beds and not his own. Hadn't he locked the door somewhere along the line?

"I was just looking for Colonel Mitchell… to check her injuries…"

"She's not here," he said, stupidly. Duh, of course she wasn't there. What? Did she dive under the bed when the door opened? "I'll find her later and check them, Robbins."

Only when the medic had left, closing the door behind him, did Carson realize that he had blood smeared in spots against his belly and chest – and he wasn't bleeding. What the hell had he done? And where was Melony? He needed to check on her; needed to make sure she was all right, and certainly needed to apologize for what had happened. That wasn't how he'd intended things to go – and certainly it hadn't been the best declaration of love in the history of mankind.

"Oh, God… what have I done?"

He dragged himself out of the bed, and reached for his clothes. He had to find her and see what damage had been done, and how he could repair it.

OOOOOOOO

When Melony woke up it was to the very gentle murmurings of Talon inside her head. The symbiote had known when she was waking, and rather than keep her asleep so she wouldn't have to face the day and the memories of what had happened, he'd decided that he'd remind her as she woke just how much he loved her. And Talon did love her. Loved her more and more every day, and with each passing hour, and wasn't afraid to share that with her, since he knew she already knew it anyways. Knew it and reciprocated that love just as readily. So her first waking thought was of love, unconditional, warm, ever-present love.

Which was good, because her next thoughts were memories of the night before and what had happened to drive her out of the bed in the infirmary and back to her own quarters. Tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered the wild look in Carson's eyes when he'd told her that she needed to prove to him that she loved him. Needed to prove to him that it wasn't Kale she was interested in – loved – but him. She stifled a sob, and hugged her pillow close to herself, feeling aches that she hadn't felt in a long time as she moved in the bed.

Easy, love…

Had he ever called her that before? Melony's attention was turned from her inner turmoil to Talon, and she could feel a simmering anger underlying the symbiote's soothing presence. But not directed at her, thank God, because she certainly deserved his anger just then.

No, you don't

You tried to warn me, and I wouldn't listen.

You were doing what you thought you had to, Melony. I couldn't have stopped you short of taking over, and you know I'd never do that without a good reason

"From now on, you should," she told him, putting her head back down into the pillow, her face buried in it so she had to switch from speaking aloud to silent communication. You couldn't have done any worse than I just did.

Her heart felt as shattered as that window she'd nose-dived through the other day.

I would have tossed him out the door, Talon told her. And Atlantis would have lost its finest doctor

She sighed, because she knew that was true. And she knew that Talon was seriously tempted to go find said doctor and do just that – only this time off a balcony somewhere. She was grateful to him. Not because he was ready to defend her virtue – which didn't quite apply in this case since she hadn't been a virgin – but because she knew he loved her so much that if she asked him to, he would take over and would dump Carson over a balcony if it would make her feel better. Which it wouldn't – although in this case it was definitely the thought that counted. She rolled over and dragged herself out of bed, again reliving the aches for just a moment, before Talon dulled them so she wouldn't be reminded of where she'd received them.

"We have work to do," she said, heading for the bathroom. She needed a shower, no matter how much else she had to do. She felt dirty. Or tainted, maybe…

OOOOOOOO

It was forty-five minutes later when she walked out of her quarters. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and a destination in mind. Not the infirmary, either. She'd never go near there again if she had any say in the matter. She was looking for Kale, and Sheppard, who'd said something about him and McKay working on a better way to brake on landings. She wanted to know if they'd come up with something yet, and if they had, she wanted to test it. Then she wanted to get the hell off Atlantis and get to work. Something to take her mind off other things that just wouldn't stop replaying in her head.

Unsure where to start looking for them – she couldn't seem to really concentrate on anything just then – she headed for the commissary, figuring that if nothing else, she might find someone who had seen one of the three she needed to talk to. And ran right into McKay as she was turning the corner.

"Jesus, McKay, I'm sorry…"

Rodney sighed, looking down at the front of his crisp freshly washed uniform – which was now covered in hot, steaming coffee from having her spill all over him. He pulled the shirt away from his chest and belly, blowing on the fabric to cool the coffee quicker. There wasn't much he could do about the wetness.

"Oh, no problem, Colonel Mitchell. I was hoping for a caffeine bath this morning and you just saved me the effort of brewing my own coffee."

"Did you get burned?" She asked, ignoring the sarcasm, since she pretty much deserved it this time.

He shook his head, realizing that he wasn't burned, and didn't need to use his best grumpiness with her and could save it for a different time when he was. Besides, she looked troubled, and he didn't think it was just because she'd spilled her coffee on him – unless it was fresh and she was upset about wasting it.

"I'm fine," he told her. "Has Beckett released you from the infirmary, then? Good. We've figure out your braking problem, if you've got time to come test it out…?"

She nodded.

"I was hoping to find you to ask you about that."

"Well, accompany me to my room so I can change, and I'll tell you all about it. Then we'll go gather up Major Sheppard and find Kale, and see if we can't keep you from rejoining Doctor Beckett in the infirmary, shall we?"

If her agreement was a little more intense than he'd expected, Rodney assumed it was simply his imagination. Everyone knew that Beckett and Mitchell had some kind of romance going on, after all, and she'd probably love a chance to get back to the infirmary. But he didn't mention that – and wouldn't – because she was one of the few people in the city that he not only respected (because of her brains – which were as close to his as he was going to find here) and feared (because not everyone could wipe out the Goa'uld, after all) but because he actually liked her (because she was just as cocky as he was and not inclined to hide the fact that in her field, she was the tops).

"Let's go."

Melony drank down the little remaining coffee in her cup, and turned to go with McKay.