Dear Jennifer,
The time has arrived. Before long, we'll be together.
Colonel Sheppard insists on keeping you surrounded by his men, but they're no match for me.
He thinks he'll keep you away, but I know you'll be happy with me.
Just wait and see... soon.
Together forever,
A friend
As Jennifer read the note, her group of protectors surrounded her. Sheppard was agitated, Evan looked angry, and Ronon just looked like he wanted to shoot something.
"Alright, people, I want a list of everyone who had access to this infirmary since Keller has been out of her office," Sheppard barked.
"Colonel," she shook her head. "That would be next to impossible. I mean, I can give you a list of my people who were on shift, those who were logged in as getting treatment, but you know as well as I do that people stroll in here all the time. We have visitors, people helping someone in due to an injury..."
Sheppard let out a frustrated sigh. "Jen, I know you've been thinking these last few days. You still can't think of anyone this could possibly be? What about the handwriting? Do you recognize it?"
She sat, frustrated with herself. "No. I wouldn't even recognize yours. Everything is so digitalized that I rarely see anything hand written unless it's my own writing or Marie's."
Instead of sitting there with nothing to do, Jennifer grabbed a medical coat and went to check on Adams. His vitals were stronger today, prompting her to begin lifting him out of the coma. When Marie came over to assist her, she gave her instructions on his continuing treatment and then turned to Evan.
"Can you post a guard next to him?" She asked. "I know you stayed with him the last few nights, but for his safety, I think it's wise."
Evan agreed. "We already talked about it. The colonel, myself, Ronon, and my team will pretty much be taken off active duty as far as gate travel and will be taking turns between you and Adams. Neither of you will be in the city without at least one or two of us by your side."
"Do you think this guy will try and risk a visit to the infirmary? Especially if he thought Adams wouldn't survive this? He must be wondering if Adams saw his face."
"I'm not sure, Jen," Evan said, slumping in the chair next to Adams. "We're just going to have to wait and see."
Later, Sheppard relieved him for a few hours so he could get some sleep. He slept for several hours, waking up feeling refreshed. Since Jennifer was working a shift in the infirmary, Evan swung by for her before getting dinner.
He could tell she wasn't sleeping well. Despite having two guards outside her door, he could imagine her feeling scared given the present situation. And knowing Jen, she probably felt guilty that a man claiming to be in love with her had put a member of his team in the infirmary.
Patiently waiting for her to close down her lap top and work for the day, they walked together to the mess hall. He could tell she needed to unwind and get her mind off of everything for a few hours. Once they got their food, he sat down across from her.
"I signed up for a game of flag football awhile back. The game's tonight. It's USAF vs. USMC. You'll be safe there with so many people around, but I don't feel comfortable leaving you on the sidelines while I play."
She looked up, rolling her eyes. "Why does it sound like I'm being babysat during all of this? Seriously, if we're in a group with a bunch of huge Marines, I'm sure one of them will come to my rescue."
"What I'm worried about is that more than likely, our attacker and admirer is probably one of them," Evan said, finishing his dinner. "Sheppard will be there, but he's playing too. So are Anderson and Miller. And that's about all I trust right now, besides Ronon, who's on in the infirmary with Adams."
"Evan, I'll be fine," she said.
"Actually," he thought, "I have an idea. They always are off balance with men and women. You can just play on one of the teams."
She snorted her water and began choking. "Me? Play football? Evan, I may be able to keep up with you running, but a sport is a different story. I've never even been to a football game."
He smiled. "Relax, it's just a flag football game. You wear a flag around your waist. There's barely any contact." Evan went over the rules of the game with her, noticing that most of it was going in one ear and out the other.
"Come on," he reached up for her hand, grabbing both of their trays. "We'll try to get you on my team. You'll have fun."
Fun was not exactly how she'd describe her time before the game. Other then there was a sprinkling of women in the game, she was surrounded by male testosterone. Both sides, obviously each wanting to win, were trash talking each other. Glancing over at Evan and his team, she saw him grinning. Obviously, this kind of behavior was typical of one of their games.
She hadn't been able to be on his team. Instead, Laura Cadman came up when she was placed on the Marine side of the "field."
"Jen, have you ever even seen a game?" Laura laughed.
"What do you think?" Jennifer hissed, clearly giving away her insecurities about being on the field. Not only were both sides going to see what an idiot she was when it came down to things like this, there were spectators as well. Lots of spectators.
A few men came jogging up to them. "Nice," one eyed her. "We got the doc! No one on that side will touch her."
Laura looked at them, confused.
A man came forward, one Jennifer barely recognized as someone visiting from the last visit from the Daedalus. In the back of her mind, she began scanning some of the men around her, realizing one of them could possibly be who they were looking for. She studied the man in front of her. He was tall, about twice the size of Evan, and looked mean. When he spoke, though, he broke out in a smile. "Are you kidding, Cadman? What person would want to get the best of her? She's the one who decides which shots you need, which needles to use, how embarrassing your physical will be, and most importantly... she can send you back to Earth in a second. Keller has more power than Woolsey."
Shrugging, Jen nodded. "He's right, you know."
"Well, then let's feed her the ball and get this game won, guys!" Laura yelled.
"NO!" Jennifer yelled, although by that time the team had spread out. She turned around and saw the game was about to start.
The rules were pretty much the same as tackle American football, but that was not a big help to Jennifer. Even though her father watched a lot of football, she herself never got into the game. The only difference according to Evan was that instead of tackling a player, you had to remove the flag from the flag belt. Even though there was a totally non-contact version of the game, the leaders of both teams agreed to have some contact during the game. However, it had to be waist up and only to block a player from catching a ball.
The first half of the game flew by. Jennifer found herself having fun, even though she'd only passed the ball to another player successfully once out of the four times it came at her. She ended up paired up with Sheppard and laughed at his antics at getting away from her. He was like a kid, darting in between players at top speed, trying to escape her.
Laura was not happy that the Air Force was gaining a significant lead. Pulling together the team, the Marines put together a plan. At one point, Laura stopped listening to the men and pulled Jennifer aside.
"Hey, we need to make a few distractions," Laura said, whispering in her ear. "But I don't think Sheppard will buy it. Go stand by Lorne."
"And do what?" she asked.
Laura just looked at her. "Come on, be creative. Flirt a little. Distract him so that Sheppard can't run a play with him."
"I can't just go up and flirt with him!" Jennifer hissed.
Rolling her eyes, Laura just looked at her. "Please. I've heard from his team. You seem to be doing well in that area with him lately."
Turning red, she didn't realize she had been so obvious. Laura pushed her at Evan.
"Hey," Evan said when she got to his side. "Looks like you're having fun. What's up with Cadman?"
Jennifer just shook her head, trying to figure out how to distract him. There was a slight pause in the game as someone's shoe had flown off and needed to be fetched and put back on. Evan used the time to catch his breath, placing his hands on his knees to bend over and rest. He looked up at her, and she found herself having a hard time focusing herself. Even sweaty, the man was drop dead gorgeous.
Shaking her head, she tried to be Cadman for a minute. What would she do? Thinking over possibilities, she ended up thinking about earlier that day.
"I was thinking," she said, looking him in the eye. "We kind of got interrupted earlier. Maybe after the game, we should finish what we started earlier?"
Evan stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead onto his sleeve. Seeing her looking serious, he cocked his head. "As in, our run?"
She shook her head, slowly walking toward him. Her eyes never left his as she moved just past the area of comfort in front of him. Because she was so close, the game, which had started again, disappeared to him.
"Actually," she murmured, making him take his own step toward her so he could hear what she was saying above the screaming around them. "I was thinking more along the lines of starting where we left off."
The smile cleared off of his face. His eyes darted to her lips and then back up to her eyes. She nodded, smiling just a fraction. And then all of a sudden, the football dropped a few feet away from them.
"Lorne!" Sheppard yelled, hands upturned questioningly. "Wake up!"
Evan, still looking sideways at Jennifer, tried to get ready for the next play. Knowing she'd have to be more bold this time around to distract him, she allowed him to step in front of her but placed her hands on his arms.
"We're allowed to touch a little, right?" she asked innocently. Jennifer felt him jump beneath her hands. Seeing Laura laughing in the distance, she grew even more bold and moved them slowly to his back. "This is okay, right?"
Evan didn't respond. Totally off his game, he heard the football fall again near him.
His teammates were yelling for him to open his eyes. They must've given up on him when he destroyed a third play. A whistle went off a minute later, sending Laura running over and patting Jennifer roughly on the back.
"Nice work, Jen!" she laughed. Noticing Evan's confusion, Laura hooted at his dazed state. "Man, she's good."
Breaking out in a smile, Jen sent him a triumphant look. Understanding dawned. Instead of being angry, he took a few steps back and leveled a look at her. His lips upturned.
"You haven't learned your lesson yet, have you?" Evan said, just loud enough for her to hear. "Paybacks, Jen... looking forward to thinking up a good one."