Author's Note: This is a little short

OOOOOO

Jack accosted Carson before he even made it to the door of the infirmary. The doctor was splattered in blood and looked tired, but he wasn't wearing a bleak look that would have told those who knew him that all was not well. Jack didn't know him well enough to know the difference.

"How is she?"

"Considering you tried to kill her?"

Jack scowled, but before he could say anything, Weir stepped in.

"Carson."

He scowled as well.

Sam looked at both men, confused by what she was seeing, because it certainly looked as though Doctor Beckett was holding a grudge against Jack for hurting Colonel Mitchell. A grudge that seemed to be far too personal.

"Is she going to be okay?" Weir asked before Jack could ask again – or wring the doctor's neck.

Carson nodded, turning towards Weir instead of O'Neill.

"We stabilized her and set the broken bone in her arm. Talon's already starting on the more serious injuries, and her breathing is steady again – as well as her blood pressure. It could have been much, much worse considering the circumstances."

"She probably had that shielding device on," McKay said, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "I would have, if I was flying in an alien ship that might have some sort of self-destruct mechanism in it."

He'd have had the Goa'uld one and the Ancient one, if it had been him.

Beckett nodded, thoughtfully.

"It's possible…"

"I want to see her." Jack said.

Big shock there.

"Me, too," Daniel said.

All of them were anxious to see her, of course – the newcomers more than the Atlanteans, because it had been so much longer for them.

Beckett looked like he was going to refuse, but he apparently changed his mind, because he nodded.

"One at a time, and not for long – and don't try to wake her up, because she needs the rest right now more than you need to talk to her."

Jack looked at Daniel, but the archeologist waved him to the door.

"You go first. I can wait."

He knew what Melony meant to him.

Nodding his thanks, Jack followed Beckett through the door and disappeared into the room. Daniel waited for him to leave and then looked at Weir.

"Is it my imagination, or does Doctor Beckett seem to be a lot more familiar with Talon and Colonel Mitchell than most?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as those who knew the truth debated how much would be telling things that Melony or Carson wouldn't want shared.

OOOOOOOO

"Over here…"

Jack followed his guide to a small room off to the side of the main infirmary and hesitated at the door just long enough to get a look at her.

She was lying motionless on a bed, attached to several machines, which were beeping softly as they monitored everything from her heart rate to her respiratory system and several other things Jack didn't even want to know about. She was pale and covered with bandages, but he wasn't so worried about that as he might have been. Not with Talon. He knew the symbiote would heal her, although he didn't like seeing her flat on her back like she was – and definitely didn't like the knowledge that it was his fault she was there.

He went over to stand by her bed, looking down at her while Beckett picked up her chart and looked to see if anything might have changed while he was gone. With a symbiote, you just never knew.

Jack brushed his hand lightly against her cheek, willing her to wake up even though the doctor had told him not to try to wake her. God, he'd missed her so much.

"She's going to be fine…"

Carson had seen the expression on his face, and the concern in his brown eyes and had felt a little of the irritation he'd felt for O'Neill (and the others who had hurt Melony) fade a bit.

Jack looked over at him, his hand taking Melony's.

"When will she wake up?"

"A few hours, a day…" he shrugged. "It depends on Talon, mainly."

Since even Janet Fraiser usually referred to Talon as 'her symbiote', Jack didn't miss the familiarity of the statement. He frowned.

"You… um… seem to be…" he hesitated, trying to come up with the right words. "On fairly good terms with Talon…"

Beckett smiled, and shook his head.

"Not really, but it's not the first injury Melony's obtained since coming here…I've come to rely on him to keep her from extended stays in my infirmary."

"She's been hurt?"

He nodded, setting the chart back down.

"The minute she came through the gate she was attacked by the city itself – or actually, Talon was."

He went on to tell the story of the anti-Goa'uld device that had flattened Melony the minute she emerged from the gate…