Movie night lasted longer than everyone had anticipated. Everyone was roaring with laughter at the movie. Because Jennifer had gone in earlier to wrap up some paperwork in her office, she was dragging towards the end. Laura, who was sitting next to her, noticed when Jen began to lean a little heavily on her on their seat on the floor. No one else noticed, so when the end of the movie hit, everyone quickly gathered their stuff to get to bed.
Laura pretended to be looking for something until the last person left. Mitchell crouched down, looking at Jen.
"Is she sleeping?" he asked, amused.
Laura laughed. "Yeah. She has a history of not making it all the way through a movie. Jen went in at 0400 to do some paperwork, so after that, and two of your trainings, she conked out about a half hour ago. And it's next to impossible to wake the girl up." Then she frowned. "Shoot. I should have asked Ronon to carry her to her room. Can you make sure she doesn't fall over while I go call Ronon back?"
Insulted, he looked at her. "Hey, I'm capable of carrying a 100 pound woman. And who was the one who lasted 45 minutes with that beast today? Ronon's not the only tough guy around here."
He knelt down and scooped up the young doctor.
Warning him, Laura turned. "She doesn't wake up, even if you drop her. It's a med school thing. They make them sleep on the floor of the baby nursery, so they are trained to sleep through anything. But she does talk in her sleep. A lot." Leading the way, she wondered how much her friend would scream at her when she found out how to made it to bed the next morning.
Finally reaching her room, she waved her hand across it. "Rodney programmed it to accept me. If she keeps this up, maybe you can ask him to add you. Sir."
"Cute, Cadman, cute," he said. Jennifer during the walk had wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and shoulders. Now she was snuggling deeper into his arms.
"Hmm..." she murmured. "You smell good."
Doubling over and trying to contain her laughter at Mitchell's reaction, Laura covered her mouth with her hands. "We better not mention that in the morning." She turned down Jennifer's covers as Cameron gently placed her in the middle of the bed. "Want your hoodie back? She's still wearing it," she snickered. "It must smell good." Mitchell shook his head. Laura quickly took off her shoes and covered her. "Night night, Jenny Benny."
Smiling at Jennifer's friend, he glanced around the room. It was neat and sparse. She had a single photo on the night stand of herself and an older man. Her father, he presumed.
They left the room, both saying their good nights.
The next day at breakfast, Laura saw Jennifer at a table sitting by herself. Waving, she got her food and sat down across from her.
"Spill it, Cadman. How did I end up back in my room?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Laura said slyly.
Jennifer was relaxed from a long, luxurious shower. She took her time getting ready today and left her hair down. She rarely used the battery powered hot rollers, but she decided she would add a few curls today. The result was a slight, wavy curl that framed her face. Laura also noticed she was wearing a light dose of her favorite perfume.
"Looking good, doc," Sheppard said, using his crutches still. "Let me tell you, I'm going to be so glad to be rid of these things. How many more days?" He sat while Ronon got his food for him.
Jennifer, distracted by Sheppard, gave him her estimate and told him he could see her later on for a check up. Watching Mitchell walk into the room, she darted a look back to her friend.
"Please tell me, Laura, that he didn't-" Jennifer began, but watching her friend's face closely gave away who carried her to bed last night. "God, Cadman, seriously? You had to ask him?"
Looking up innocently, she put on her best angelic face. "Jen, he was the only one left in the room. Don't worry... you didn't drool on him or anything. You just talked a little."
Absolutely mortified, she didn't look up at him when he sat down. "What," she hissed at Laura, "did I say?"
Laura pretended not to hear. "So, Jen, what kind of training are you doing with your team today?"
Everyone paused to look at her, making her face redden. "Uh, medical stuff. Kind of a circuit training thing."
"Morning, doc," Mitchell grinned. "Did you say medical training? Thank goodness. I don't think I could do another round with Ronon."
Even though she didn't want to speak to him, she wondered if he was hurting. "Anything feel different today?" She asked.
He shook his head. "No. And I got my chap stick, so I'm all good." Everyone laughed, understanding the joke after watching the movie. "Stitches are holding up good. Glad to know I'll be taken care of on Atlantis if my tradition of getting the crap beat out of me holds in this galaxy."
They made their way over to an open room where Jennifer has set up stations before breakfast.
"OK, I'm going to be your victim today," she grinned, feeling comfortable with instructing them with something she was familiar with. "Each station has a description of what is wrong with me. It's your job to patch me up before you can move on to the next task. Some are timed, some have distractions. My lovely assistant Marie, who is a nurse in the infirmary for those who haven't met her, will provide those distractions." Marie was holding tape balls to replicate boulders falling and a radio that she demonstrated had Wraith dart sounds in the background.
"Each of you should take a turn with taking lead, but all of you should pay attention to how they are treating me in case we run into something similar on a mission," Jennifer said. "OK, first station. Someone read the diagnosis."
Daniel stepped forward and grabbed the slip. Ronon and Mitchell read over his shoulder while Jennifer sat on the ground.
"Dr. Keller is suffering from severe ankle injury. Determine whether it is broken or sprained and then treat. No time limit and no immediate threat of danger," Daniel read.
"Yeah, right," Ronon joked. "There's always a threat of danger when doc's around."
Swatting him, she looked up at Daniel. "OK, Jackson, how would you approach this?"
He knelt before her. "OK. Well, from what I can remember from past experience, you first need to make sure the person is sitting or laying down. Then," he began, gently pulling off her shoe and sock. "You take all of this off as gently as possible."
"Nice job, Daniel," she grinned. "And don't forget to admire my toes." She wiggled them. "Cadman's work from a few days ago."
The guys rolled their eyes. "Yes," Mitchell said. "Heaven forbid a woman in another galaxy go without a pedi."
"Anyways," Daniel said. "You gently rotate the foot. If the pain is mild, it's a sprain. Anything more serious and it could possibly be broken." He began rotating her foot, sending her into a fit of giggles. "Ticklish, doc?"
She couldn't stop laughing. "No. Not usually," she screamed. "Stop!"
Grinning, Daniel stopped and let go of her foot. "Next," he laughed. "We would need to check if you can put any weight on it. But sometimes sprains can be so bad you can't put weight on it. From what I can recall, if the swelling is terrible or if the bruising is bad, that points more into the broken area."
"Correct!" She said, patting him on the shoulder. "Now how would you get me back to the jumper or through the gate if I couldn't walk on it."
Ronon stepped forward and lifted her into his arms. "Easy, we would just carry you."
Rolling her eyes, she slapped Ronon to put her down. "But what if it was Ronon who gets hurt? Who's going to carry him?"
The laughed. She showed them how to make a splint and how to safely help someone to safety.
"OK, Ronon, you're up next," Jennifer said, sitting down in front of the next task. They laughed as Ronon got the task of food poisoning. Jennifer went through steps to take to nurse someone back to health.
"Guess I'm last," Mitchell said. He read off the paper. "Dr. Keller has received a gun shot wound. Check to see if the bullet went through and treat." He looked at her. "Oh, yea, I think I can do this one in my sleep." Kneeling down in front of her, he stopped. "Uh... how do you want to do this, doc?"
Suddenly embarrassed, she pulled off her jacket to reveal a sleeveless top. "OK, what would you do first?"
His brain died. Being this close to her again for the second time in the last 12 hours, he had to force himself to focus. "Blood," he blurted out. "Check. For blood."
"Yes, colonel," Jackson joked. "There's always a possibility there will be no blood from a gun shot wound."
Glaring at Jackson, he went on. "If the bullet went through, that's better. If not, it needs to be removed." He explained what he knew. "Then, the bleeding has to be stopped." Grabbing the gauze and tape, he demonstrated on her how he would patch her up.
"Good," she said, and quickly stood up. Unfortunately, her leg got tangled into his and she began to fall. Cameron caught her before she could hit the ground, but sent himself tumbling next to her. Grumbling next to him, she pushed off of him and stood.
Knowing full well that Daniel and Ronon were laughing at them, he took his time getting up. Ronon showed mercy on him and gave him a hand up.
"Well," he said. "Now that's all done. Rest up, team. Our first mission is scheduled at 0600 tomorrow."
The team met the next morning in the control room. Nodding once they were all there, Mitchell led the team down the stairs. Meeting Sheppard half way, he wasn't surprised with the man pulled him aside.
"Look, Mitchell," he began. "You've fully proven to be capable of taking this challenge on." Trying to be tactful, he searched for the right words. "You need to know that even though all of these missions are supposed to be to peaceful planets... you have... err... a risk factor involved on the team."
Grinning, Mitchell avoided making eye contact with Keller. "Sir, I think I've figured that out myself. I won't let anything happen to your CMO."
"No," he sighed. "Cam, you really don't know. But you will." Walking back to the control room, this time with just one crutch, he looked back. "Don't let her out of your sight."
Shaking his head, Cameron rejoined the team. "OK, team, are we set?"
Jennifer spoke up. "Set as we'll ever be," she said nervously.
Noticing her nerves, he decided to plant himself next to her as they walked through the gate.
Two weeks of several missions went by. Some went well, some went sour, and some were just downright bad. The good news was that nothing major had occurred to the improvised team, giving Cameron's confidence a boost.
The doctor did have a bit of bad luck, he quickly found out. On their second mission, he was just thinking to himself that everything had gone to plan. However, on the way back, Jennifer tripped on a tree root. It sent her flying down a hill. Since Cameron had always made an effort to stick close to her, he was the closest one to help. He failed to grab her as she went sailing by, so instead ran after her down the hill, tripping himself, until they both landed into a small area next to the river, covered in mud. Muttering about not counting chickens before they're hatched, he moved over to Jennifer to help her up. She was covered from head to toe in the slimy mess. Not even looking him in the eye, she grabbed the outstretched hand, only to have it slip from her grasp. She fell back into the mud and just layed there.
"Why me?" she asked. "Is it too much to ask for one mission to go smoothly."
Deciding he was already a mess, he plopped down next to her. "Keller, I don't think that's possible. But look on the bright side..." he said. "One look at us, and we'll get the debriefing postponed. That's a plus."
The corner of her mouth turned up. Looking at him, she wasn't at all shocked that he looked just as gorgeous covered in mud. And I'm sure I just look lovely right now. Is that mud in my eyelash? Nice, Jen, nice.
When they stepped through the gate, as he expected, Sheppard just looked at the pair and grinned. Told you so, Sheppard mouthed to Cameron from the control room.
A week later, they went on a mission to a world where they had met a friendly group of people. Even though they had little to offer in return, they appreciated the friendship from the village. Unfortunately, they discovered that a team may have infected their small population with the flu. Jennifer, who insisted on bringing at least one other medical team member, worked tirelessly for 24 hours straight giving medical attention, education, and vaccines to the group of people. The rest of the team stood watch, helping where they could, and took turns sleeping. Finally when they were able to leave, Mitchell noticed Jennifer's shoulder slumped and eyes drooping. She insisted on carrying her heavy pack the 1/2 mile they had left to walk to the gate. Watching her closely, he cursed when he saw her begin to sway and then caught her before she fell completely over. Yanking the heavy pack off and passing it off to Ronon, who eagerly stood by to help, he gathered her in his arms.
"Colonel, I'm fine. I just got dizzy."
Cameron ignored her protests. "You're tired. You barely ate at all since we've been here. And it will be quicker this way." He kept walking as if he wasn't carrying the CMO of Atlantis in his arms. The others behind his back were all smiling. It was about time their CMO found someone.
"Put me down, Mitchell. You are not carrying me like a caveman through that gate. What will people think?"
"That you're tired?" he shot back. "Hopefully we won't give Sheppard a heart attack. He'll probably assume the worst. Which means I'll be in trouble. I'm pretty sure that if something happens to you on a mission, he's going to be holding me personally responsible. So, relax, doc. Enjoy the ride."
"Besides," he said. "I have it on good authority that I smell good."
Confused, she looked up at him. "What in the world are you talking abou-" she stopped. "So that's what I said the last time you carried me. Well, don't worry. I won't be falling asleep this time."
"Sure. Whatever." He didn't look down again until they had almost reached the gate. He wasn't surprised to see her fast asleep, arms hanging on tightly to his shoulders.