Dr. Frasier was a pleasant surprise. He'd been somehow expecting a stern, stocky, no-nonsense matron, not a petite woman with a gentle smile. And although she had to know that SG-1 was angry with him, she was still sincerely answering his questions and had the sort of presence that came across on camera as very natural. He led her through discussing some of the more devastating cases she'd encountered (emergency operations on soldiers pierced with multiple arrows and harrowing withdrawal from alien narcotics) to more funny stories, like the time SG-3 had come back from a summer festival dyed orange and her attempts to figure out what was causing the pigmentation in the increasingly-annoyed soldiers.
"It sounds amazing," he told her, still chuckling a little from a story about a bird-like mammal that'd flown through the gate and its capture in the infirmary.
"Yeah," she agreed. "I never know what's next. You just try to keep your head on straight. Of course, not everything is exotic or complicated. We also set a lot of broken bones and proscribe a ton of antibiotics."
"But still, it sometimes must be overwhelming, right?"
"Oh yes. It's funny actually; you think all the training, everything we know about medicine, it really amounts to very little. I mean, often I'm faced with situations where there's just nothing I can do." Her smile faded. "I've grown very close to the men and women here, and when they're beyond my help, it's… difficult… to be professional about it."
Hoping to return to the pleasant mood from before (and if he was honest with himself, hoping she would smile again), Emmett asked, "Is there an upside?"
He was pleased to see her brighten immediately. "Are you kidding me? I think the reason we all manage to persevere is because we feel that we're on the brink of understanding so much more, and not just about medicine but about who we are and where we came from, what the future has in store. How we fit into the grand scheme of things; what SG-1 is always calling "that meaning of life stuff."
Latching on to her reference Emmett said, "Yes, almost everyone I've talked to has referred to SG-1."
"That's understandable," the doctor told him. "I consider them among my closest friends, but they're all almost… bigger than life, somehow. Their talent for getting into trouble is only just exceeded by their ability to get out of it again." She smiled at his obvious curiosity. "Their medical files are confidential, of course, but they certainly deserve their status as icons of the SGC."
"Do you think the stargate should be made public knowledge?" he asked as the interview wound down.
She considered the question. "I think that ideally it would be revealed to the world when the major threats—the goa'uld, the replicators, things like that, are under control. When we can offer Gate travel to scientists or students, then we should. But as things are right now I think that revealing it would cause mass fear and resentment. And anyway, I wouldn't want to be famous, and I wouldn't want to have that kind of media attention focused on my daughter."
"Oh, you're married?" Emmett asked, telling himself that it would be a good chance to ask about what it was like keeping a secret, and that he was most definitely not asking to figure out if she was single.
She gave him a knowing smile and answered, "Divorced, actually. My daughter's adopted." Her smile grew playful. "She's from another planet." As Emmett was picking his jaw up off the floor, she glanced at the camera and said, "I'd prefer if you didn't include that in the documentary though. Being a teenager is hard enough, and I don't want her to be an object of curiosity to all the people who will eventually see this. I'm sure you can get information about what it's like to be an alien on Earth from Teal'c or Nyan."
Emmett reluctantly nodded for James to turn the camera off. "Nyan, maybe. He's a research assistant, right? But Teal'c? I don't think he'd be willing to talk about it."
"He is very stoic," Dr. Frasier agreed. But I think he'll warm to you once you've spoken with Sam."
"Major Carter? Do you know why she's angry with me?"
The doctor gave him an assessing look. "You really don't know, do you?"
"No, I don't," Emmett insisted.
"Well, from what I heard you tried to insinuate that she either had or wanted a relationship with Colonel O'Neill."
"Well, yes," he said, still confused.
"Since she's directly in his chain of command, it's against Air Force Regulations for them to engage in a relationship, and she were to develop romantic feelings for him, she'd basically have to get over them or transfer to another team."
"But romances develop between coworkers all the time," Emmett argued, "and I'm sure they're both professional enough to still do their jobs well."
Dr. Frasier shrugged. "Well, whether they could manage it isn't the issue; the rules they've sworn to uphold say they can't. SG-1 tends to come under a lot of scrutiny for this sort of thing because they're all like family to each other. They've acquired political enemies who would love a chance to break the team apart. To be honest, the reason they haven't been is because they always deliver such spectacular results.
"But Sam's position is more precarious simply because she's a woman. She's worked incredibly hard to reach the top of her field and her rank. Yet even now, there are people who gossip that she's achieved her rank at such a young age by sleeping her way to the top. All it would take is one "official" rumor, like some statement in your documentary, no matter if it was complementary or not, and she could be officially investigated, even court-martialed."
"I guess I'd heard somewhere fraternization wasn't allowed," Emmett mused, "but I didn't realize how serious it was. Thank you for clarifying it for me. So, I shouldn't really ask about personal relationships, then, because they won't tell me."
Dr. Frasier laughed. "Wait, what kind of relationship are we talking about?" But then she nodded. "Yes, I think you'd get the best material by talking to people about their work. If they choose to volunteer more about their families then, it's up to them."
Emmett checked his watch. "Thank you for your time, Doctor. I think I have everything I'll need from you, but I'll let you know, OK?"
"OK," she agreed, and Emmett reluctantly departed.