"So these must be the infamous bear attack scars," Mandy said, looking at Ian's chest once he got his t-shirt off.

"Yeah."

They were a perfect set of four parallel scars about four inches long going right across his chest, and she had to admit, it was kind of impressive – and she'd seen a lot of cuts and injuries in her time.

"How did you get away?"

"A friend scared her off with a gunshot."

"Lucky you."

"Yeah."

Wasn't she supposed to be putting lotion on his back or something?

"And these?" The nurse asked, pointing to the twin scars in Ian's abdomen. They weren't hard to miss; they just weren't as noticeable as the claw marks. "From the bear, too?"

Ian shook his head, giving a purely mental sigh.

"Gunshot wounds."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You were shot?"

"Yeah."

"At the Air Force Academy?"

"No."

At the Air Force Academy he'd been attacked by invisible alien assassins, and had been kidnapped by a group of men sent there by the Vice President of the United States – but he obviously couldn't say that. Not that he wanted to, anyways.

Mandy could tell he really didn't want to talk about it, and she could understand. Maybe it had been some kind of childhood accident – although obviously he didn't do it to himself. She was doctor enough to figure that out just from the scars.

"Well, let's get something on your back, shall we?" She had a ready supply of aloe for just such an occasion, and a moment later she was slathering it liberally all over the burn on his back and shoulders, her hands gentle like only a medic could be. And she smiled when she felt, rather than heard, his sigh of relief as the sting started to fade.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thanks."

She finished, and wiped her hands.

"You're going to want to keep a shirt on for the next couple of day," she told him, coming around and standing in front of the stool he was sitting on. "And we'll need to lotion it at least a couple of times a day." She smiled. "You can either come to me, or have one of your fellow counselors do it for you. I'm sure one of the girls would be more than willing t-"

"I'll let you do it."

He hadn't missed that she was wearing a wedding ring as well.

Mandy chuckled.

"Just come here after meals, okay? We'll take care of it then." And it would give her a chance to check on his other injuries as well. With his shirt off, she'd had a chance to see just how many bruises he'd already managed to accumulate – and it was only the second full day of camp! "Any other problems?"

He shook his head, and pulled on his t-shirt.

"Nah. Just the sunburn."

"Well, you know where to find me if you need me."

He nodded and stood up, anxious to make an escape, even if it meant going back to the waterfront and playing more stupid games.

"Thanks."

OOOOOOOO

"It's just broken, Jack, it's not going to fall off."

"I know."

"Then stop hovering over me."

"I'm not hovering."

"Yes, you are, and you're driving me nuts. Why don't you go back to your office and get that mound of paperwork done?"

Jack affected an injured look, although his brown eyes gave away the fact that his feelings were far from hurt; he was just worried about her.

"You don't want my company?"

Sam wasn't falling for it. She'd known him far too long – and far too well.

"No."

"I'm crushed."

She rolled her eyes, trying to reposition her leg on the small footstool he'd padded with a pillow and brought over for her to prop her injured leg on. It was hard to do with the brand new cast that was gracing her newly broken wrist – courtesy of her fall earlier that day. But she waved his help away, irritably.

"Go. Before I decide to make you sleep on the sofa tonight."

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yes." As she'd already said a million times. "I'm just going to work on some formulas and eq-"

"Eh." He held up his hand. He didn't care what she was working on – as long as she wasn't intending to get up and try and go anywhere. And she wouldn't need to take care of Jake, because Jack was going to take their son back to his office with him so she wouldn't have to try and juggle the baby, her work, and her injured leg and hand. "I'll be in my office if you need me."

Sam nodded.

"Okay."

"But call. Don't come to-"

"I will."

She'd make sure she didn't need him.

He leaned over and kissed her, which brought a smile to her face – despite how annoyed she was.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

He turned and headed out the door, but was stopped almost immediately.

"Jack?"

He turned.

"Hmmm?"

"Aren't you forgetting someone?"

She looked pointedly at the black lab that was stretched out on the floor beside her chair, his head close to the injured knee. Jaffer looked over, as if aware they were discussing him, and wagged his tail cheerfully.

Jack shook his head.

"Nope."

And he turned and left.

Sam scowled, looking down at the lab, as if waiting for him to realize he was being left behind. Jaffer didn't budge.

"I'm not helpless, you know…"

His tail thumped lightly against the floor.

He knew. He just didn't care.

She sighed and returned to what she'd been doing. At least Jaffer wasn't looking over her shoulder – and that was a slight improvement. She supposed.