Chapter 2
Neither Helen nor Carson got the chance to do anything about their feelings because the next day saw Helen off world for 2 weeks investigating a newly discovered wraith lab and Carson on the main land helping the Athosians cure a nasty outbreak of influenza. So it wasn't until they'd both returned and Helen had reported for her post mission physical did Carson even catch a glimpse of her. And even then he hadn't gotten the chance to speak to her as he was called to away when one of the teams had come back early after being attacked by the Genii suffering casualties. His staff had told him though that she had been some what withdrawn and very quiet, so he was surprised when upon arriving at the Rec room for the monthly movie night he saw her sitting on one of the many sofa's dotted around the room.
As he entered he became aware of how crowded the room was and that the only available seats were either next to Kavanaugh or Helen. Well he knew he couldn't get through a whole evening sitting next to the pompous doctor so he opted for Helen ,even though he'd suddenly become very self conscious. That was nothing compared to what Helen had started feeling the moment she'd spotted him approaching. Over the past 2 weeks she'd had a lot of time to think about how she truly felt and had come to the conclusion that she was head over heels, totally in love the Dr Carson Beckett but what she hadn't worked out yet was what she was going to do about it. But all she could think of at this moment was that he was standing in front of her asking "is it ok if I sit here?" as he pointed to the space beside her
Unable to make her mouth work she just nodded and looked back at the huge screen that had been set up trying to calm her breathing. Helen felt the sofa shift as he sat down causing her to turn her head looking to her left coming eye to eye with him,and before she knew it she had let out a tiny squeal, she quickly looked away hoping he wouldn't notice how red she'd gone and it seemed to work because he didn't say anything then to her immense relief the lights dimmed and the movie started. Half way through the film Helen began to feel sleepy but fought it with all her might, but found it almost impossible so she lent back against the sofa closing her eyes and within minutes was fast sleep. Carson had become so engrossed in the movie that he didn't notice when Helen fell asleep, he did notice however when he suddenly felt something flop onto his shoulder. He turned his head to see what was happening only to find Helen had obviously fallen asleep and slid down coming to stop, resting against him. Gently trying not wake her he tried to move her back to an upright position but this only caused her to mutter in her sleep and snuggle against him, resting her arm on his legs. Carson froze not daring to move in case it caused Helen to shift further. He didn't want her to wake up and think he was taking advantage of her, because that's something he would never do, wouldn't even think of doing, in fact he'd worked out that what he felt for Dr McCoy went way beyond anything he'd felt before, he would even go as far as to say that what he felt was love.
As the film finished Carson gently shook the figure next to him trying to wake her
"Helen lass, wake up the films finished"
"Hmm what?" came the muffled reply
"Come on you need to wake up, movies over, it's time for bed"
"Ok" she muttered but instead of getting up Helen snuggled closer
Just then Rodney walked past "Hey Rodney you work with Dr McCoy, can you help me. I've tried waking her but it had no effect"
Rodney smiled before walking over to them and leaning forward so he was close to her ear then yelled "Hey McCoy wake up"
To which she sat bolt upright "Sir Yes Sir!" she said before realising where she was and who she was with. "What McKay?" she growled sounding annoyed
"She's all yours Carson" Rodney said as he walked out of the room smiling to himself
Helen watched him leave still annoyed at being woken up, but happy he'd left, as she turned back to Carson she said "You know he always takes great pleasure at doing that if he finds me when I've fallen asleep in the lab at the end of a long night, like heeee's never done it"
"I'm sure he enjoys it knowing Rodney as I do, anyway are you ok, my staff told me you were a little quiet at your post mission physical?"
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired I guess, probably shouldn't have come here tonight but I haven't missed a movie night since I arrived. Paige and I used to love coming along when ever we were both on base and this is the chance since she was hurt so I felt I needed to be here you know what I mean?"
"Aye lass I think I do, but now I think what you need is rest, and I mean rest no coming to the infirmary tonight, Paige is fine and no stopping at the lab either also I think you should take the next few days off too."
"But"
"Hey now no arguments, you've been pushing yourself way too hard over the past month or so, so a few days rest will do you good. Doctors orders"
She went to protest again but stopped realising he was right "Ok I give in, I'll take tomorrow off, that's all though I have experiments to finish"
The next day Helen boarded a jumper that was bound for the main land, equipped with ropes and carabenas she was going climbing. Major Lorne had told her about some great looking mountainous ranges not far from the Athosian village, so she had decided to check them out. Helen entered the village to be greeted by a young woman who took her to meet Halling
"Welcome, you must be Dr McCoy, Teyla asked me to look after you today and show you around. So how may I be of service?"
Helen smiled at Halling before replying "Well Major Lorne told me about some mountainous ranges near by, I was hoping to do some climbing"
"Yes I know the ones, they are about 30 minutes away, I will show you in just a moment, I need to deal with a village dispute first"
"No problem I'll be here"
Halling bowed and departed, leaving Helen to sort out her equipment
30 minutes later he returned to find Helen sitting with some of the village children
"Dr McCoy I am ready"
Helen said goodbye to the children, picked up her ropes etc then followed Halling toward the edge of the village.
Hours later Helen returned to find everyone enjoying their midday meal. A jumper was due to pick her up at 2pm which was still over 30 minutes away so she decided to head toward the landing site to wait. As she was passing Hallings tent he called her over "Dr McCoy, please join us"
"I wouldn't want to intrude" she replied seeing a young boy she presumed was his son Jinto sitting next to him
"It's not an intrudsion, please sit you must be hungry after your climb"
"Thank you that would be lovely" she said after a moments consideration before sitting down next to the your boy and taking the bowl she was offered
Half an hour later Helen heard her radio click and a man's voices said "Dr McCoy it's Major Lorne, are you there?"
"Yes Major I'm in the village"
"Just to let you know doctor, we are approaching you now, we've been asked to drop off some supplies then we'll be ready to leave."
"Thank you Major I'll meet you at the landing site" Helen said before clicking her radio off and turning to Halling and Jinto."Thank you for the meal and thank you again Halling for showing me where I could climb I had a really good time" and with that she rose to her feet and headed out of the village.
The flight back to Atlantis was quiet and seemed to pass in a flash and before she knew it they'd arrived back in the jumper bay. She thanked Major Lorne the headed to her room. Once she stowed her climbing gear she showered and changed then curled up in her big comfy arm chair by the window and gazed out over the ocean. She sat there for about an hour before getting bored upon which she decided to go and visit Paige.
Helen entered the infirmary to find it buzzing with activity. It looked as if one of the teams had just returned, arriving a bit worse for wear to boot. She could she Sgt Stackhouse laying on one of the beds a doctor attending to him then over in the corner she spotted one of her colleges just standing there looking some what shellshocked.So she walked over to him "Hey Gallo are you ok,what happened?"
Dr Gallo looked at her blankly before muttering "He's dead they killed him" then suddenly he keeled over. Helen grabbed him as he fell, stopping him from hitting the floor "Hey I need help over here" she shouted
Quickly she was surrounded by a nurse and a couple of airmen who helped her move Gallo over to a nearby gurney and lay him down
"What happened he was fine a minute ago?" nurse Peters asked as she started checking his vitals
"He just said he's dead they killed him then he keeled over, what happened was he out with Stackhouse's team?"
"We're not entirely sure, all we do know is that one of the two airmen that left with the team hasn't come back, and Sgt Stackhouse is in a bad way, Dr Gallo was the only one not injured."
Helen looked down at the unconscious scientist wondering what could have happened when Dr Weir arrived asking for an update, not wanting to get in the way Helen left just as one of the senior nurses started explaining what they knew so far.
Helen looked back as she slowly walked over toward Paige's bed noticing for the first time that Carson was busy working on a young woman with a huge gash down her side.
As she got closer to her friends bed the noise started to die down some what,yesterday they had moved Paige's bed to the far side if the infirmary, so she was close to one of the big windows. Carson has said it would help with her recovery, let her hear the ocean but Helen had suspected it was more to do with the fact that Paige had been a coma for almost 2 months and most of the nurses etc were beginning to believe she'd never wake up. But Helen was positive she would, plus this new area was more private, she could talk a little more openly to her friend now. As she sat down, she once again looked over toward the main treatment area to see nurses rushing about carrying trays of instruments etc.Slowly she turned back to her friend "Well Paige it looks like your going to have a bit a company, Stackhouses team came back injured and it seems one of them was killed I don't know all the details, looks bad though" she finished turning round when she heard someone behind her
"Oh hello Dr Weir"
"Dr McCoy, I was just checking in on Sgt Stackhouse and his team and saw you sitting over here, how's your friend doing?"
"She's ok I guess no real change but no worse either, thanks for asking" Helen was silent for a second before continuing "Do you know what happened, was Stackhouse's team attacked,Dr Gallo said someone was killed is that true?"
Dr Weir looked over at the doctors and nurses as Helen said "Sorry to ask so many questions it's just I've been off world a couple of times with Sgt Stackhouse's team ,I just wanted to check they were ok"
"No that's ok ,we still don't know much other than one of the airmen, Grahams didn't return with the others,Sgt Stackhouse has just been taken into surgery,airman Chesterfield has been sedated due to her injuries and with Dr Gallo out cold,until one of them recovers enough to report we won't know what happened." Elizabeth sighed as she looked back at Helen who sat silently not really knowing what to say.
"Well I'll leave you alone, I really need to get back to the control room." And with that Elizabeth turned heading out of the infirmary.
Helen watched the expedition leader leave before turning back to her friend and proceeding to tell her about her day. About an hour and a half later Helen sighed at the same time her stomach started to growl and decided to go for dinner. She said her goodbyes to Paige then left heading toward the commissary. Once she'd eaten she felt slightly restless so returned to her room in order to change into work out gear. As she pulled on her clothes she noticed her reflection and stopped to look at what she was wearing, it was very similar to what Teyla would wear. It had been after their first sparring session that Teyla has suggested she try one of her outfits, as the jogging pants and t-shirt she'd been wearing seemed to be restricting her movements. At first Helen had been a little it weary but had soon found Teyla was right, the skirt especially allowed her to move more freely but she'd replaced the leather edged vest top with one of her own lycra ones as she felt it was more comfortable. Helen quickly checked to make sure her fighting sticks were in her bag before pulling her hair back in a pony tail then headed out of her room for the gym.
Helen had been working out for 20 minutes when then door opened and Teyla walked in.
"Greetings Dr McCoy, how are you this evening,I didn't expect to see you here today, did you enjoy your time on the main land?"
"Very much thank you, I appreciate you asking Halling to show me around he was very helpful"
"I am glad" Teyla replied moving to place her bag on the bench across from the door
"Well as we are both here, would you like to spar?"
"Yes of course, just don't tell Dr Beckett he ordered me to rest and I don't think sparring counts as resting." Helen said moving over to where Teyla was unpacking her things.
"May be we shouldn't continue then"
"No I find sparring and working out relaxing much more than lulling about reading or something"
"I agree, we will continue, and I won't say anything to doctor Beckett"
"Thank you, shall we start then?"
Carson walked back from the commissary heading back toward the infirmary when he met Major Lorne "Evening Major, you haven't seen Teyla recently at all?"
"Yes I have as a matter of fact, just a minute ago, she was heading toward the gym"
"Thanks" Carson replied turning and heading in the same direction
When he arrived outside he could hear sounds of fighting Teyla was obviously sparring with someone so he opened the door and looked in. The sight that greeted him was Teyla standing opposite a young woman dressed in the same style skirt as her and a black tank top.Assumming she was one of the Athosians here for a lesson he decided to wait a moment and watch. It wasn't until the two women started to circle each other did he realise it was Dr McCoy. He was just about to interrupt and tell her off when Teyla attacked, causing Carson to stop and watch in ore as Helen blocked then attacked back. He couldn't believe his eyes as he watched Helen hold her own against Teyla.Suddenly though she turned, performing a spectacular move, bringing Helen to her knees, pinning her with the fighting sticks before saying "Good, you are improving, that was much more difficult today"
"Thanks you, I've been practicing" Helen replied getting to her feet slightly out of
breath.
"I can see that, enough for today, besides we have a visitor "Teyla said indicating to Carson standing in the doorway.
Helen spun round to look at him, her mouth dropping open
"I thought I told you to rest" he said sounding none too happy as he moved more into the room
"I" Helen started
"Do not be angry Dr Beckett it was my I idea to spar,Dr McCoy told me of your orders but even though it looks tiring believe me it is also relaxing as well as it helps concentrate the mind"
Carson considered this for a second still a little shocked at first seeing Dr McCoy fighting and second that she could hold her own against Teyla before replying "Ok I believe you, anyway the reason I'm here is that I need to speak to you Teyla"
"Very well Dr Beckett I will finish up here then report to the infirmary, I should be no more than 20 minutes"
Carson nodded, turning to leave, quickly glancing at Helen before exiting
Teyla walked back to Helen "Have you discussed your feelings with Dr Beckett yet?
"No not yet and at the moment I don't plan to and I know what your going to say but I have to do this my own way I've thought about this a lot and I now know exactly how I feel so it's less distracting. Anyway shouldn't you be on your way to the infirmary?"
Teyla smiled "Yes of course, I will see you later, if you like we can spar again tomorrow Col Sheppard and Ronon are not due to return for a few more days"
"That would be great, I see you tomorrow evening" Helen replied before Teyla left heading toward the infirmary
The rest of the week passed quietly with Helen getting most of her experiments completed all except the last two which would require her taking a trip to the main land to collect more samples.