Forgot to do something in my first chapter header, so I'll rectify that now: thanks to Loozy for the beta.
"You're tellin' me the damn thing was sabotaged?!"
Sam winced at Mitchell's outburst, but she could understand his disbelief. "It appears that way; and unfortunately the security videos don't give us a good look at his face."
Landry pinched the bridge of his nose; he honestly didn't know why he kept this team around, they were nothing but trouble. Even banning them from the base hadn't stopped something from happening. They'd been at this for two days now and they were hardly any closer to finding out who'd locked the Col in his room than they were the minute they'd sprung him from confinement. "Do you have anything new for us Col?"
"Not really sir, there's no way to tell who did this. But I think we should maintain a guard on Mitchell for a couple days."
"Hell no!" Cam quickly ducked his head in regret when he remembered his audience, "sorry sir, but it was a practical joke, I do not need a guard."
Teal'c and Daniel shared a look; normally they would have agreed with Mitchell, but something about this just didn't seem right. The SGC was a breeding ground for practical jokers; however, it was rare for anyone to play a joke on someone that wasn't on their team. When Sam glanced their way, they all silently agreed to keep and eye on Cameron as much as they could.
Landry knew that this conversation wasn't doing anything except pissing Mitchell off, so he decided to move on to other topics. The team was scheduled for four upcoming missions within the week; none were supposed to be anything other than peaceful and easy. Of course, he'd used those same adjectives to describe their previous mission too.
An hour and a half later Cameron trailed out of the conference room with the rest of his team in tow. He could feel them watching him and tried to shake off his irritation; easier said than done since he'd been feeling uneasy since the incident. As much as he'd insisted to everyone else that this was nothing more than a practical joke, he knew something was wrong. However, that didn't mean he wanted his friends breathing down his neck until he figured it out. "I'm going to the gym," he muttered without turning to look at them.
"I shall join you Col Mitchell."
Cam whirled and held up a hand, "no offense T, but I'd rather be alone for awhile." He turned and jogged off before anyone could argue with him.
"He's worried," Daniel observed as they watched his retreating back.
Sam nodded, "yup; and I hate to say it, but if this was anything other than a practical joke, we may just have to wait for the guy to strike again."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "I do not like that course of action."
"Neither do I Teal'c, but right now we have nothing to go on."
Forty-five minutes of hard running later, Cam wasn't feeling much better than he had when he'd left the briefing room. Usually physical activity was his best option for clearing his head and figuring things out, but none of this made sense; he couldn't think of anyone on base that would have a grudge against him. There seemed to be no discernable motive or pattern to these attacks.
He was just glad no one had found out about that fact that his tires had been slashed the day before. They'd never let him out of their sight if they knew.
Cameron could understand their concern, but the incidents didn't warrant a guard in his mind; while they were inconvenient, none of the attacks had been aimed at harming him physically.
Deciding that the treadmill wasn't helping, Cam moved over to the free weights and began a rigorous upper body workout. An hour of that and he was covered in sweat, exhausted and a bit calmer; he headed off to the locker room for a shower before going to talk to Carolyn.
Mitchell didn't say anything as he entered the infirmary and hopped onto one of the empty beds while he waited for her to finish with Reynolds's team. He returned Reynolds's sympathetic look with a 'it happens' nod of his own, all the while wondering how the whole base appeared to know what was going on. Gossip spread easier than soft butter at the SGC.
Finally Lam finished with SG-3 and turned her soft grey eyes on Cameron; she could tell from the way he fidgeted that the meeting hadn't gone well. "Any news?"
"Sam says it was deliberately sabotaged. We have the security footage from the hall, but it's not much help at all. I'm sure it was just a practical joke."
Cam kept his eyes on the floor; Carolyn had learned to read him even before his team had, and he knew she would see right through the statement. But apparently she didn't need to see his eyes to know what was going on in his head.
"That's not what you think." She pulled herself onto the bed next to him, "you think someone is doing this because they don't like you."
Carolyn had figured out early on that, although Cameron's job was foremost in his life and he would always do his best to do it right, no matter who that put him on the bad side of; his biggest fear was not being liked and respected. The man thrived on having friends, building those close personal relationships, being liked by all those he chose to surround himself with. Cam needed to be loved.
Mitchell looked at her with a startled expression that quickly softened, before he schooled his face into his best I've-got-no-worries-smile. "So the pool tournament has been rescheduled for tomorrow night if you're still up for joining us."
Carolyn took the hint and let their previous topic of conversation go, "sure, sounds good. Do you guys have a mission tomorrow?"
"No, we're not scheduled to go off world until Monday."
"Well, that's good isn't it?"
Cam shook his head, "rather be off-world, be able to concentrate on something other than this. Nobody wants to let it go." They sat in silence for a few minutes, Carolyn allowing him to pout without recrimination, before Mitchell slid off the bed in a huff. "I'm going home, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Cameron wait, you don't look like you want to be alone tonight. Why don't we grab some dinner then do a movie at my place? We can invite the team if you want."
Cam sighed, "that sounds good, but lets leave it just the two of us. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c have been hovering a bit too much lately."
STARGATE: SG-1
Carolyn smiled as she looked down on Cameron's sleeping face; apparently a quiet dinner and a funny movie had been just what the doctor ordered. She gently shook his afghan covered shoulder, "good morning sunshine."
Mitchell smiled sleepily at her use of one of his favorite sayings, until he realized that he had no idea where he was. Thankfully the previous night's events took only a second to come back and he looked up into Carolyn's grinning face. "I fell asleep, didn't I?"
"You barely made it a third of the way through the movie; I take it you haven't been sleeping well?"
"Hell, I haven't slept since I took this assignment." He stood up from the couch and efficiently folded the blanket she had placed over him the night before. Cam glanced at his watch and promptly flipped out, "I'm supposed to be at the base in half an hour."
Carolyn simply chuckled as she handed him a travel mug of coffee, "relax, you're already dressed, you don't smell all that bad, and it's only a ten minute drive to the Mountain. Ten bucks says I can even get you there early."
They headed out and jumped in her Honda since he had left his truck at the base. True to her word, Carolyn had him at the base fifteen minutes early. Sharing a joke as they walked across the parking structure, they were completely oblivious to the same cold, calculating eyes taking in their every move.
Mitchell dropped the Doc off on the twenty-sixth floor and headed for the stairs leading to the control room.
He couldn't help the smile that seemed unwilling to leave his face as he thought about the previous night. He and Carolyn had been good friends for a couple of months now, but they hadn't spent a lot of time alone off base together. Dinner had been take-out Indian, but he couldn't remember ever having a better dinner date; and this hadn't even been a real date.
He was so involved with his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps on the grate of the stairs behind him until it was too late. A swift tap on his shoulder had him turning around to the full force of a left hook hitting his jaw; without anything to grab onto, the force of the blow knocked Cameron down the stairs.
Mitchell felt himself bounce off the wall and railing several times, his arms flailed trying to gain purchase on anything that would slow his descent down the unforgiving stairs. The world seemed to pass in slow motion until he came to a sliding halt against the wall on the far side of the landing, then everything snapped back into real time and the pain hit.
He tried to push himself up off the concrete to face his attacker only to collapse back down when his body refused to obey his commands, his rattled brain struggled valiantly to organize the damage reports coming in from various parts of his body. Cam tried to force his blurred vision to focus on the face of the large man standing over him; he could see the man's lips moving but could barely make out the words over the roaring in his ears.
"Stay away…"
Mitchell didn't hear the rest as he surrendered to the darkness and pain.
Cameron's attacker looked down on his unconscious body with a feral smile. While his other attacks had been gratifying, they were nothing more than irritations to the man he despised with every fiber of his being. But causing the Col physical pain had been an unexpected rush of adrenaline and he knew he would take great pleasure in doing it again if Mitchell didn't heed his warning, or maybe even if he did.