Cam woke up with a groan, hoping that he wasn't still in the command chair of the ship. He grimaced in pain as he turned his head, and he realised that he was in fact in a reclining position, and in the Odyssey's Sick Bay. His eyes were drawn to the chair at the side of his bed in which a dishevelled Vala was fast asleep. His pain returned with a vengeance as the drugs that he had been given were beginning to wear off. However, he was moved by the presence of his fiancée, and how it appeared that she had been at his bedside constantly for however long he had been there. It meant that she still cared about him. It also meant that she was safe, and that the Odyssey had returned to Ortus Mallum to pick her and the rest of the team up.

He didn't know about the Ark, but he didn't want to think about that right now.

An auburn haired doctor approached his bed and went about checking the monitors and IV around his bed. She asked, glancing at him as she put her clipboard down on his bed so she could tighten a tube, "How are you feeling, Colonel?"

He murmured, closing his eyes again, "I want some drugs, Doc."

He felt a prickling sensation in his arm, and the doctor said as she gently swabbed where she had injected him, "You're very lucky... all things considering. I don't know what Mr Merek did to you exactly, but you took quite the beating back there."

He chuckled humourlessly as she drew the curtain around his bed so she could change his bandages. The sound of the curtain moving woke Vala up. "He and I had a little bit of history."

The doctor smiled briefly as Vala stretched in her seat, looking at her fiancé in concern. "Well... you're doing good, Sir. You'll take a while to recover, but there's nothing permanent. Doctor Lam will run more tests on you when we get home. The SGC is better kitted out than we are, but you're fine... or you will be." Cam nodded and as she pulled his blankets back so she could replace bandages on the rest of his body, he looked at Vala, who watched him worriedly.

"Hey, baby."

Vala smiled tiredly, happy to see him talking. "You're looking better."

He smiled at her. "I probably look better than I feel... nothing out of the ordinary there." His smile wavered, the Colonel looking concerned. "How long have you been here?"

She shrugged, not wanting him to worry, and the doctor said softly, "Since yesterday evening."

Cam looked even more worried, and Vala remarked, rolling her eyes, "Doctor Newman, my dear healing woman, I was under the impression that you were complicit with the concept of discretion."

Newman retorted politely, "Well, Ma'am, you have been here a long time, and if you'd passed out from a hypo, the Colonel would have accused me of not attempting to force you out of the Sick Bay every two hours since his admittance."

Cam looked mildly amused at the thought of the doctor and the rest of his team trying to force his stubborn fiancée out of the Sick Bay. He then looked at Vala, concern on his face. "Baby, go and get something to eat. I'll be fine."

Vala shook her head. "I'm staying here, Cameron." She glanced at the doctor uneasily, as though greatly anticipating the medic's departure. When the doctor had eventually completed her tasks, she quietly left, retracting the curtain around the bed. Vala then shifted her chair forward as Cam frowned a little. She reached for his hand and said as she gazed down at him, fear in her eyes, "I'm glad you're alive."

He painfully reached up to touch her cheek, and she held his hand to her face, knowing that he was feeling too weak to keep his hand there. "I'm glad you're alive too. How did it all go?"

She cocked her head briefly as she thought of Ortus Mallum. She didn't want to worry him about what she and their friends had been through. He was in enough pain as it was without the added pain of knowing that he could have lost everyone including her. "Quite well, actually. We acquired the Ark. Muscles and Daniel saved the day. Daniel made a new friend." She shrugged. "Rather a normal mission for SG-1."

He chuckled weakly and then coughed. She helped him to sit up and gently rubbed his back as he coughed violently. He groaned in discomfort and asked as she settled him down again, "What about Jackson and Teal'c... and Tomin? How are they?"

She shrugged again. "They're not taking up residence in the medical facility of this vessel." Her optimistic façade wavered and he looked up at her with a sceptical frown.

"You're not telling me everything."

She held his hand in both of hers as she said quietly, reluctant to bring up so many bad memories, especially right now, "Cameron, please. Not now."

"What happened?"

She looked away from him, still holding his hand as she said, tears threatening to fill her eyes, "We're all okay." She swallowed and looked at him. "That's all you need to know right know, Cameron. You'll find out soon enough, I imagine."

He reached up to touch her face. "If you've been hurt..."

She shook her head. "I'm fine. I really am. Just rest." She rested her head on his stomach with a sad expression. On hearing a painful hiss from him, she immediately sat up, worried. "Cameron?" She saw that his eyes were closed as he appeared to be in overwhelming agony.

He said, struggling to talk calmly as he took deep breaths to control the spread of the searing pain in his abdomen, "Sorry... not that I don't want you to do that, but I don't think I'm going to be able to take that without some serious screaming." He looked up at her. "Sorry, baby."

Worried, she pulled his blankets back, lifting the top of his scrubs to see extensive bandaging across his torso. She lightly fingered the edge of a bandage and then carefully pulled his top down again, replacing the blankets. "How much pain are you in?"

He replied quietly, not wanting to worry her, "Not that much. I've been better I'll admit, but..."

She raised an eyebrow at him sceptically, seeing through his façade. "Cameron..."

He smiled faintly, knowing that she knew him too well for him to get away with understating the truth or lying. "A lot. The drugs are taking the edge off it though." He paused. "I can't believe I didn't break anything... I got beaten within an inch of my life."

"That's my Cameron... takes a beating but keeps on ticking."

He chuckled. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson turned out to be family after all. I just might beat him this year for most Infirmary hours. I wonder if Landry has a prize in mind." He glanced around her and asked casually, "No Tomin?"

Her gaze fell as she appeared thoughtful, and he continued with a sigh, watching her wistfully, "Look, Vala, he's your husband... and I'm not." His gaze shifted from hers. "Doesn't mean I won't punch his lights out when I'm back on my feet though." He sighed again and looked at her. "Whatever you decide... I'll respect that decision. I just want you to know that..."

She shook her head as she placed a finger over his lips, silencing him. "Ssshh, Cameron. And I thought Daniel talked too much." She smiled briefly and then looked overwhelmingly upset as she went back to holding his hand, careful not to squeeze too hard. "Cameron. He's not my husband any more."

He frowned. "Vala..."

She shook her head once again. "No... we performed a little Ver Iscan ritual last night. He let me go so I could be free to be with you." She closed her eyes as she began to cry. "I didn't want to hurt him, yet he was the one who made the move." As her gaze remained downcast as she contemplated just how much pain Tomin was in and how much it had taken for him to end their marriage, Cam, despite the pain or the chance of further injury to himself, sat up and pulled her into his arms.

Despite the overwhelming pain, he felt as though he had finally come home when she held onto him. He closed his eyes, trying not to make a sound. Eventually, he uttered a painful exclamation, whispering as a worried Vala immediately laid him back down,

"Sorry. I tried."

She shook her head in disbelief, smiling slightly. "Cameron. You could have ripped stitches or worsened your injuries."

"Hell, I'm already in pain." He gazed up at her tenderly. "Baby, go and get something to eat. You need to rest."

"I don't want to. I'd rather be here with you."

"I'm flattered, but if you faint, Jackson is going to kill me... and then Tomin." He paused, confused. "Wait, no, the other way round... I think." He frowned.

She smiled at his confusion and carefully kissed him on the cheek. "You talk too much."

"Well, I'd do a lot less talking if I wasn't so injured right now."

"Easy, tiger."

She gently smoothed his hair back as he closed his eyes, and he murmured, "I want some macaroons."

"You know, I checked when we came on board. The Mess doesn't have any in stock."

"Huge interstellar battle ship, and no macaroons. Huh."

Sam, in black BDUs, appeared at the foot of his bed and remarked with a little smile, glad to see that Cam was awake and complaining, "Well, when we get home, I might have a go at baking you a batch from the recipe you gave me."

He and Vala smiled at her in greeting, Cam replying weakly, "No offence, but the last time you baked something... you had to get a new oven."

Sam reddened a little in embarrassment as she glanced down at her feet, remembering an embarrassing baking incident in the not-so distant past. She then said with a shrug, "Well, okay, I'll let Daniel help out this time."

He smiled blissfully as he closed his eyes. "Oh, goody. Macaroons..."

Sam asked, her smile fading, "Cam, how are you feeling?"

He tried to shrug but groaned at the pain in his shoulders. "Ah! Uh, not so bad."

Vala said, glancing at her fiancé with a raised eyebrow, "He's lying."

Cam opened his eyes and scowled. "Vala!"

"Samantha's not going to think you're weak if you're in pain after the beating that you received."

Sam smiled at him teasingly, and he asked, "How's Jackson?" He glanced at Vala accusingly. "My future wife didn't say much about the mission. I know we got the Ark."

Sam replied as she sat on the edge of his bed, on the other side from Vala's seat, "We did." She turned to look at Vala. "Vala... Teal'c and Tomin are in the Mess."

Vala looked at the Astrophysicist challengingly, and Sam continued, "You've been here a long time, and Daniel will give me a hard time later on if I don't force you out. Cam's fine. Go on. I think Daniel's wandering around somewhere."

"Fine..." Vala exhaled and then leaned down to kiss Cam on the cheek as he stroked her cheek. "Cameron, I'll see you later."

Cam frowned, wanting to be able to sit up and kiss Vala without the risk of crying out in pain. "Make sure you eat properly, okay? And go have a sleep in our quarters."

The two Colonels watched Vala leave the Sick Bay, and Sam turned to look at Cam, worry in her eyes. "They were tortured."

He groaned softly and nodded in a grim acceptance as his gaze left hers. "I figured it would be something like that." He sighed as he eventually looked back at her. "Is Vala injured?"

She shook her head, still looking sad. "She appears to have got off lightly. Daniel said that it was telepathic torture transmitted from the Doci's staff, and which was designed to use the subject's fears against them." She looked down at her lap for a moment. "Daniel and Tomin bore the brunt of it... Daniel especially. But they're okay. They're doing good. As for Teal'c, he won't say anything about what happened to him, but Daniel told me that Teal'c was shot during the ambush and left for dead. However, Teal'c doesn't have any burns on his body from an Ori staff." She raised her eyebrows briefly. "It's certainly perplexing. He found his way to Celestis and freed Daniel, and they got Tomin and Vala."

He asked, looking curious, "Do you think it was the Ancients?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised... after all, Morgan took out Adria."

He instantly looked surprised. "She did?"

"Well, Daniel says that it's an eternal battle like Oma Desala and Anubis. Adria is now weaker than she was. The Ark worked."

He nodded, and he said quietly, not wanting to be overheard in case Vala was still lurking around, "Vala didn't want to talk about the whole thing... but are any of them here in the Sick Bay?"

She shook her head as she held his hand, gently smoothing it. "No. Tomin just needed a rest. Teal'c's fine... Daniel was treated in the Infirmary last night. He's got twelve stitches on his left shin... and a lot of bruising around his left shoulder. He's up and around though."

"Did he spend the night here?"

"No."

"That's good." He watched her for a moment. "How's the command going?"

She replied with a little shrug and a smile, "Good. Better than I expected."

He asked, looking at her with a teasing smile, "Did you sit in the Chair?"

She looked at him enigmatically and said as she got up, evading the question, "Get some rest, Cam. Daniel and Teal'c will drop by a little later."

"I don't know why you're so scared of that thing."

She turned to face him again, smirking. "Says the man who had to talk himself into sitting in the damn thing in the first place."

"Well, you know... I'm not a General... or even a full bird Colonel. It makes me feel old sitting there. Even Landry looks uncomfortable sitting there."

She smiled at him and said softly before leaving, "Get some rest. I'll see you later."