Too tired to keep her eyes open once she'd keyed Jack's code into her communications device, Mitchell closed her eyes, knowing it would take a moment for the signal to go through – even though he was only some ten feet away.
You'll know when it goes through anyways, Talon told her, his 'voice' cheerfully smug, although Melony couldn't tell if it was because she wasn't hurt so much or because Jack was really chewing Beckett out for trying to keep him away from her bedside.
"You listen to me, you quack, I'm not going to sta-"
Sure enough, he was in mid-tirade and just getting on a roll when he felt a sharp vibration against his wrist. Nothing painful, just so completely unexpected that he was actually brought up short, his hand coming up automatically. So quickly in fact, that Carson saw his surprised look and was concerned.
"What is it?"
He looked at the device on his wrist, pressed the receive button – a button he hadn't needed to use in what seemed to be forever – and grinned.
Quiet, I'm sleeping!
"She's awake."
He brushed past Beckett, who was wondering how he could know that just from looking at his watch, and moved the curtain that was around Melony's bed aside, walking through it and coming over to look down at her.
Melony opened her eyes when she heard him approach, and even managed a faint smile.
"Do you and Talon stay up late at night trying to think of ways to worry me…?" he asked her, sitting down on the edge of her bed and reaching out to brush a stray lock of blonde hair out of her eyes. She was due a haircut, he decided.
"You shot me down…"
"That was an accident."
"Your gun accidentally went off, pointing in my direction?"
The way she said it, he knew she was over being really mad at him – although she would probably still be a bit ticked later. He hoped so, anyways, because so far he'd been the only one she'd yelled at.
Jack smiled.
"You were in an unknown craft, and flew right over me. It was an automatic reaction."
"I didn't know anyone was there."
Not until she'd actually flown over them.
"You should have looked."
"You could have sent me a message telling me you were in the area."
"How was I supposed to do that?"
She held up her wrist – the one with the communications device on it – and Jack scowled. Yeah, he could have sent her a message. He just hadn't even thought about it.
"It's more than just a watch, you know…"
"Daniel didn't think to send you a message, either," Jack told her defensively.
"Did he shoot at me?"
There was a moment's hesitation as Jack debated lying, and then a sigh.
"No. But other people did."
Mitchell grinned, and reached for his hand, ready to stop the wrangling for a moment. She wasn't really all that ready for that – although it felt so good to have him close, and be able to tease him. She could have done without being shot down, though – and the loss of the dart was a serious annoyance, because she only had three. Two.
"How are you feeling?" Jack asked, catching the change in her demeanor easily. He knew her better than anyone else, after all.
"Tired. A little sore…" She shrugged awkwardly, because that hurt a bit. "More tired than anything."
"That'll be because Talon's healing you," Carson said, coming around and sitting on the other side of the bed, opposite O'Neill, who frowned at the familiarity in his voice and actions once more.
Melony nodded; she already knew that.
"I'd better leave you alone and let you get some rest," Jack said, but before he could make a move to leave, Melony's hand tightened on his and she shook her head.
"No. We need to talk. There's things going on and plan-"
"I know about the Wraith, Melony," Jack told her, calmly. "While you've been sleeping, we've been getting caught up on things that have been happening. I'm not completely in the loop yet, but I'm close, and the rest can wait until you're more able to tell me what's going on – and what exactly you have planned."
"How did you get here?" She asked, taking him at his word. Besides, she didn't feel like arguing. If he thought it could wait, it could.
"Toa found some more of those crystal things, we asked him what he wanted for them, a bunch of hotdogs later, here we are – and with enough to get home, too."
"The augmenting crystals?" Mitchell asked, her eyebrows coming up into her hair.
Jack nodded, and Melony felt a surge of excitement from Talon.
Ask him how many"How many?" She repeated, dutifully.
Jack shrugged.
"More than he gave us," he said. "Carter can tell you more than I can, but I think if you want more than what we have, you're going to have to be the one to ask. No matter if we gave him every hotdog in New York."
She smiled, and could feel Talon withdrawing slightly from her as he debated what advantage they could gain from the sudden addition of the crystals. Of course, most of that would depend on how many there were and how big they were, but it was a definite boon.
"I'll ask her…"
"Later, though," Jack said.
"Yeah."
"I'm going to leave you alone so you can sleep."
She nodded, her hand tightening on his for a moment.
"I'll call you…"
He smiled.
"You do that."
With that, he stood up and left her alone, heading for the door, content to go get some rest since he'd seen her and talked to her and knew that she was going to be fine.
Melony turned her head towards Carson, who was actually looking at the readouts on the screen monitoring her vital signs. She squeezed his hand, though, drawing his attention to her, and he smiled down at her.
"You should rest…"
"Did you tell him about us…?"
He paled and shook his head.
"He'll kill me."
Melony smiled, and she heard Talon's amused snort of agreement.
"I'll tell him, then. Later."
Carson nodded, and leaned over, kissing her softly. He couldn't even chide her for worrying him, because it hadn't been her fault she'd been hurt.
"You do that, and let me know in advance, so I can be on another planet."
"He's not going to kill you."
"He's been fairly terse with everyone – especially me."
"He'll get over it."
Carson nodded, again. One could always hope.
"Get some sleep. I'll come by and check on you later."
She nodded and closed her eyes, more than willing to comply.