She saw him immediately when he entered the infirmary. He'd been stripped out of the uniform he'd been wearing on the off-world expedition and dressed in scrubs and put to bed with his entire left leg from the knee down encased in an air cast and sticking out of the blankets that were covering him. One of Beckett's staff – a doctor whose name she couldn't remember – was standing next to the bed he was in.

Jameson

Thanks.

She looked down at Beckett, but addressed the other one.

"How's he doing?"

"The ankle's too swollen to get an accurate x-ray, but we think it's just a high sprain," he told her. "We'll keep icing it to get the swelling down, and then take pictures when we can."

Carson looked up at her, his eyes just glassy enough that she could tell he'd been given something for the pain, and he reached his hand out for hers.

"Melony!"

"He's medicated," the doctor told her, smiling.

She nodded and took Carson's hand.

"He looks like it."

"We tried just giving him a local, but he was pretty sore, so we decided what the hell, and doped him up. He'll be more lucid in a couple of hours."

"I'm Lucy, now," Beckett said, still grinning.

"You're looking pretty Lucy," Melony told him, giving him a slight smile, although she was disappointed. She had hoped to have a conversation with him that didn't include him staring vacantly at her. She squeezed his hand lightly, and let it go, then turned her attention back to Jameson.

"I was wondering if you have the medical report from the tests that were done on Kale, Doctor Jameson?"

"The Light One?" He asked, frowning.

Probably isn't sure if that's a breach of patient confidentiality, Talon hazarded.

"Yeah. I was going to ask Doctor Beckett here a couple of questions, but I'm probably not going to be getting much out of him for a while, am I?"

Jameson smiled and shook his head.

"Not likely. At least, nothing that will make sense…" He shrugged, obviously debating asking whether she had a question he could answer, and visibly deciding not to. "I'll get the results for you."

"Thanks."

He left her alone with Beckett, and Melony looked back down at him.

"How do you feel, Carson?"

"I hurt my ankle."

"I know."

"I fell down a hole."

"I know."

He reached for her hand again, and Melony took it.

"Will you stay with me?" He asked her.

"I can't," she told him.

"Can't? Or don't want to?"

Medicated or not, he remembered there were problems between them, but it wasn't fair to him to try and discuss it when he wasn't in his right mind, and she wasn't even going to try.

"Right now, I can't," she said. "I'm supposed to be in a briefing."

"But you're not." He accused.

"Because I wanted to come check on you."

"I hurt my ankle."

Which was exactly why she wasn't going to try and have a real conversation with him. Medicated people were nuts, that was all there was to it.

"I know."

"I fell in-"

"A hole." She finished, sighing. "I know."

"Talon doesn't like me, does he?"

She sighed again, and shook her head.

"No. Not right now, he doesn't."

Not ever

"You don't, either."

Melony didn't feel like trying to have a three-way conversation just then. Not when one participant was medicated and the other was feeling so vindictive she was starting to get enough of an echo of it that she was beginning to feel a little grumpy, herself.

"I'm not going to discuss this with you right now, Carson. I-"

"We need to talk about it."

"Not right now."

"But-"

"No."

She let go of his hand, and sighed, looking down at him and feeling about ready to cry.

I'm sorry

It's not your fault.

She brushed her fingers along Beckett's bearded cheek, and he closed his eyes, hopefully deciding that if she was willing to touch him, then she couldn't hate him completely, or maybe the medication was just kicking in and he was getting drowsy.

"Here you go, Colonel."

Jameson's voice behind her drew her out of her thoughts, and she turned and took the folder he was offering her.

"Thanks."

She flipped it open, and looked through the medical information. She wasn't a doctor and had never pretended to have much interest in such things, but she was able to read the chart well enough – it was written in English, after all. She basically just scanned for the word pheromone, and when she found it, she read that the medics had found what Talon had already said was there. High levels of pheromones – higher than humans, anyway.

She looked up at Jameson, who had been watching her.

"When he's a bit more lucid, would you tell him I'd like him to look at this file, please?"

Jameson nodded, taking it from her.

"I'll let him know."

"I appreciate it." She looked down at Beckett, who still had his eyes closed – he looked asleep to her, but she wasn't sure. "I'll be back to check on him later."

"You want me to tell him?"

She shook her head.

"No. Thank you for your help."

"Anytime."

She turned and left the infirmary, and headed for the briefing room once more.