Author's Notes: Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.

Enjoy.

Someone was calling her name, forcing her out of the blackness which she didn't want since her head hurt badly and her stomach was rolling.

"Come on, Foster," the voice came again; "Open your eyes."

Finally she managed to follow the order and saw Brody looking down at her.

"What…" she forced out, "What…"

"Happened?" Brody suggested with a slight smile.

"That's the word," Kate moaned, she held up her hand before he could say anything else, "Hold on."

Her stomach finally revolted and she threw up.

x

Brody winced when Kate was sick, relieved however that she was finally awake. She'd been out for a while and he was beginning to get worried.

"Better?" he asked handing her a bottle of water.

She took a drink, "A little. So, what actually happened?"

"Our friend Fredrickson," Brody told her, helping her off the ground and onto the chair, "He started cutting into the rock when we were leaving. Something exploded, hit us and we crashed."

"We called," she breathed, Brody could see she was having issues focussing, "Right?"

"Yeah," he assured her, "We managed to get a distress call out but…"

"We have no idea if anyone heard," Kate finished for him. She moaned rubbing her temple, "My head feels like someone spent an hour hitting it with a baseball bat."

He couldn't stop himself chuckling, "It was just the bulkhead that got you."

Kate closed her eyes, her head dropping slightly.

"No," Brody yelled making her jump and wince, "You have a concussion, Foster. You can't go to sleep."

"I know," she sighed, "I'm trying but…

"Foster," Brody yelled when she trailed off.

Kate winced, "I have a headache, Brody. Please stop yelling."

"Sorry," he told her, "But you can't go to sleep."

x

Kate took another drink of water and accepted the mint that Brody offered her.

"Okay," Brody said after a few minutes of silence, "You need to stay awake so we're going to talk."

She looked at him in bemusement, "In all the time we've known each other we've spent about ten minutes talking that isn't work related and I can't think of any Seaquest issues we can discuss."

Brody shrugged, "Well either we talk or I keep yelling at you every time your eyes drift shut. Take your pick."

Kate let out a long sigh, "What do you want to talk about?"

"What's with you and O'Neill?" he asked after a few moments silence.

Kate chuckled, "We're friends, good friends but nothing else. Happy?"

"You guys just seem…" he trailed off not sure how to phrase it.

Kate rolled her eyes, "When I came onboard the Seaquest I'd just spent a few years living on an island with mostly just Nathan to talk to. I wasn't very good at being social at that point and Tim was the first person who really talked to me. He offered me his ear and it was through him I got to know Miguel and Lucas."

"How'd you end up staying with Bridger to begin with?" Brody asked when she finished speaking.

"This is a well known story you've probably heard already," Kate noted taking another quick drink.

Brody shrugged, "But not from the source."

x

Brody watched Kate closely as she sat silently for a few moments. She didn't look well, he could see the lump on her head where it had impacted against the bulkhead, her eyes were slightly unfocussed and her skin was paler than usual.

He knew they were in trouble. Their communications system had been destroyed so he wasn't even sure if their distress call had got out or not but he couldn't tell her that. Not in the condition she was in.

"So," he pushed again, "How did you end up living with Bridger?"

"I…" Kate sighed as she tried to focus herself, "I was a foster kid and I decided that I wanted to find out about my real mother. After some searching I finally managed to get some details. Turns out my mother was the free spirited member of the family who left to see the world when she was about nineteen after her big sister got married."

"What happened to her?" Brody pushed when she fell silent.

Kate rubbed her eyes tiredly, "She…she met some guy I have no idea who he was as there are no records on him. She fell pregnant with me and died in childbirth."

"How did that lead to Bridger?"

Kate squeezed her eyes shut wincing against her headache before continuing, "I tracked down details of my mother's only family, Carol Bridger and travelled to meet her. Only to find out she was dead."

Brody caught her arm making her jump, "Bridger took you in?"

"No," she shook her head, "We talked for a while. He was happy to meet me, told me a few stories about my mother then I headed back to the mainland. On my way to the airport the taxi I was in crashed. It was a pretty bad accident, so I'm told, I have absolutely no memory of it."

A loud creaking noise interrupted her and Brody grimaced.

"Any luck, Lieutenant?"

Tim looked over at Bridger and shook his head, "I still can't raise them, sir."

"Keep trying," he ordered, "Henderson, what's our ETA?"

"Three hours and fifteen minutes," Lonnie replied.

Bridger let out a sigh of annoyance falling silent brooding as he worried about Kate and Brody. Tim understood why the other man was so anxious, he was just as concerned.

Kate had agreed to help with the repairs at the Hawker Mining Station while they continued to the site for Dr Joseph's team research. Brody had been volunteered to pilot the launch as he was the only one not needed.

They'd been heading at full speed back to Hawker after the brief SOS, the tension rising on the bridge as that was the last they'd heard from Kate and Brody.

Bridger surged out of his seat, "Lieutenant, let me know if you hear anything. I'll be with Darwin."

Tim nodded but Bridger was gone before he saw the affirmative reply.

x

Nathan sat by the pool watching Darwin swim as he worried about his missing people. Kate hadn't been too happy that Brody was going with her but she'd given him a cheeky grin before she disappeared into the launch.

"Bridger, worried," Darwin's voice echoed through the room.

Kate's missing," he explained, "And we can't find her."

Darwin swam away for a moment before he reappeared splashing Nathan, "Darwin, help. Darwin, find Kate."

Nathan smiled, "I know you will, buddy."

"I think we're sitting on a ledge," Kate noted, wincing again as the launch began to creak again; "It doesn't seem that stable. But hopefully we should be okay as long as we don't move around too much."

Brody let out a long breath, "We've got all the supplies with us here so at least we shouldn't have to move about too much."

"There wouldn't happen to be a book or video game in the supplies," Kate grimaced, "Would there?"

Brody shook his head, "Sorry. You can finish your story though."

"It's not that interesting," Kate replied with a sigh.

He shrugged, "You've still got a concussion, Foster. I don't want you going to sleep until Wendy has checked you out. It's easier if you talk."

Kate rolled her eyes, "Fine. Where was I?"

"You were in an accident," Brody prompted.

Kate shrugged, "Okay, when they got me to the hospital I was in pretty bad shape and Nathan's details were in my pocket. They called him and he came. Took me back to the island to recuperate and I stayed."

Brody nodded.

"I told you it wasn't that interesting a story," Kate told him.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Brody asked, "What did you do before you went to the Island?"

She shrugged, "This and that. I wasn't qualified for anything. School and I were not the best of friends when I was a kid so I got odd jobs while I travelled."

x

Kate winced as Brody continued to question her. Part of it was to keep her awake but she also knew he was taking the opportunity to interrogate her about her past.

Her head was still aching but she knew she had to keep herself focussed otherwise she would trip herself up which was the last thing she needed. She was quite impressed by herself not getting mixed up or confused at any point during her story but then again lying was second nature to her. She would probably have got herself confused trying to tell the truth.

"Come on, Foster," Brody said, "You need to keep talking. I'm doing my best to think of topics."

"Okay," she dropped her head back for a moment, "I moved from colony to colony for a while after leaving school picking up any work that was going, usually waitressing in a restaurant or bar."

He stared at her hard making her feel uncomfortable.

"What?" Kate demanded after a few minutes.

"Were you on the Ornter Colony," Brody said thoughtfully, "About eight years ago?"

Kate frowned confused, "Yes. Why?" she asked, wincing that she'd admitted being there.

Brody began to laugh, "You were the waitress who slammed a tray into a guys' face when he wouldn't leave one of the others alone."

"You were there?" Kate asked genuinely stunned.

"I was on leave and came in to get something to eat with one of the guys," Brody explained, "We were about to intervene when you took him out."

Kate smiled to herself, "Believe it or not I was asked to leave after that. Apparently a waitress knocking a letch out wasn't good for business."

"I knew I knew you," Brody chuckled shaking his head, "And it's been driving me crazy. Did you know there was a robbery a few days later?"

Kate chuckled shaking her head, "No. By that point I was heading to the next closest colony hoping my ex-boss didn't talk to anyone there and I could get another job."

That was an even more blatant lie. It was Mac she'd slammed with the tray, they had just robbed the safety deposit boxes within the vaults of the colony and wanted to be memorable so that when their theft was discovered no one would think of them. They had been made to leave the colony after all.

x

Brody felt a sense of relief fill him as he finally worked out how he knew Kate Foster. It had been driving him crazy for months.

"How much air do we have left?" Kate asked suddenly.

Brody checked the readings and sighed, "Couple of hours."

"One of my first conversations with Tim," she said softly, "Was about having faith in people."

"And do you?" he asked.

"Yes," she admitted, "I have a lot of faith in Nathan and Tim but none of that matters if they didn't hear our SOS."

Brody sighed again, "Of all the ways I thought I'd die…"

"No," Kate cut him off, "We are not being maudlin," she grinned suddenly, "Especially since I see a familiar looking dolphin coming our way."

Relief filled the room at the sight of Darwin swimming in front of the launch; he did a few circles before disappearing again.

"Looks like we just have to hold on a few minutes," Kate sighed, resting her head back she closed her eyes.

"Foster!" he yelled making her jump then wince, "You can get some sleep once the doctor has seen you."

"Okay, okay," she rubbed her eyes, "Then we need to keep talking about something, anything."

Brody mused for a few moments, "Then tell me some stories about the first tour."

Kate opened her eyes relieved to find Nathan sitting beside her.

"Hey," she sighed tiredly.

He smiled resting his hand on her arm, "Hey, how'd do you feel?"

Kate shrugged slightly, "Once this headache goes away I'll be a lot better."

"Wendy says you'll be fine," he assured her, "Just give it a few days."

"Well, I have some good news. Brody remembered where he knew me from," Kate chuckled softly at the panic in his eyes, "It's actually not bad."

Nathan laughed as she explained how Brody actually knew her. Her eyes began to close again as sleep pulled her down.

"Get some sleep, Kid," Nathan kissed her forehead before leaving her to rest.

Kate smiled to herself as she settled down to sleep. All in all it hadn't been too bad a day.