Author's Notes: Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.
Enjoy.
Lucas heard arguing when he reached the mess, walking in he found it was basically empty except for Miguel and Kate.
"Everything we tried has failed," Miguel gestured emphatically.
Kate shook her head, "There has to be something we haven't thought of."
"There is," he retorted, "But neither of us will think of it. We need Tim."
Kate's lips firmed before she spotted Lucas, "Maybe not. Lucas?"
Lucas winced; wishing he'd just turned and walked away the moment he realised who was in here.
"Let me see," he sighed. He took the tablet from Kate and scanned it over, every idea he thought of had already been tried and after a few minutes he sighed, "Sorry but this needs O'Neill."
Kate rolled her eyes at Miguel's look before she threw her hands in the air, "Fine, ask him."
Without another word she left them standing there.
Lucas turned to Miguel, "So, she's still not talking to him."
"What gave it away?"
x
Nathan leaned back in his chair, "I see everything is going well with the missiles."
"We are on schedule, Captain," Jonathan assured him.
"Good," Nathan mused.
"Has Dr Smith reached Chatton?" Jonathan asked.
Nathan nodded, he was disturbed and worried by the fact Piccolo and Dagwood had shared a dream. After a few minutes he shook his head, "Is there anything else for this week?"
Jonathan shook his head, "Other than the same question I asked last week."
"The answer is the same," Nathan grimaced, "Schedule Kate and Tim's shifts on the bridge so they overlap as little as possible. I'm hoping she'll forgive him at some point."
"But you don't think she will," Jonathan finished for him.
Nathan grimaced, "Kate can be stubborn. I think all we can do is give her time and hope nothing happens where he needs to depend on her."
"Well the next few months before the end of the tour are going to be an absolute joy," Jonathan sighed.
x
Tim finished the calculations and handed them to Miguel, "Here you go."
"Thanks," Miguel sighed in relief, "We would have been at this for months without you."
"How did you persuade Kate to let me have a look at it?" Tim asked,
Miguel grimaced, "By none of us being able to get it. Not even Lucas."
Tim chuckled sadly sitting on his bunk and leaning back against the wall, "She's never going to talk to me again. I really screwed things up, Miguel."
"That's one way to put it but look on the bright side," Miguel replied with a grimace, "You're getting the silent treatment, I'm not and the sarcastic remarks every so often are worse."
Tim chuckled humourlessly.
Miguel was about to leave so they could continue with the upgrades. He stopped and turned back to his friend.
"Are you going to tell me?" Miguel asked.
"Tell you what?" Tim looked at him confused.
Miguel shook his head, "Leaving without talking to her, there was more to it than she didn't like goodbyes. Wasn't there?"
"Miguel…"
"Look," Miguel cut him off, "You don't need to tell me but you might want to tell her."
Tim shook his head, "I know what she'll say, Miguel. I don't need to hear it."
Lucas sat his knees pulled up to his chest while Marshall's body was moved and the doctors checked Dagwood.
"Hey, why don't you go and get changed," Kate sat beside him, "Wendy needs to check you out but she can wait."
Lucas buried his head into his arms, "I couldn't stop him, Kate. He took the codes."
"I know," she soothed, "There was nothing else you could have done."
He shook his head, "I could have done more."
"No, you couldn't," Kate wrapped her arm around him rocking him slightly, "Wendy is an extremely strong telepath and she had no way to protect herself. So trust me there was nothing you could have done."
Lucas leaned against her not seeing Kate motion Bridger over. He looked up confused when Kate moved away and found the captain at his side.
"Hey," Bridger took the spot Kate had just vacated, "You're okay."
Not caring about how weak or childish it seemed Lucas huddled closer to the older man, while Nathan hugged him tight.
x
"The poor kid looks like he's been through the mill," Kate noted when she joined Jonathan and Brody leaving Lucas in Nathan's hands.
"We need to get the missiles checked," Jonathan told her, "Can you head to the bridge and let O'Neill know what's happening? I don't want this over the PAL."
"No problem," Kate nodded sharply before disappearing.
Brody watched her go before he turned to the other man, "Are you sure that was a good idea?"
"They have to work together," Jonathan noted, "Tim is currently in command of the bridge and I don't have time to find someone else to talk to him. He may have to give her orders one day."
Brody grimaced, "As long as I'm nowhere near that."
"Just hurry up," Jonathan told him, "We need to get the missiles looked at so the Captain can report to McGath."
x
Nathan left Lucas with Wendy so he could get checked out.
"How is he?" Kate appeared from nowhere making him jump slightly.
Nathan sighed, "He's blaming himself for giving the codes."
"I've been trained to block a scan," Kate shook her head, "And there's no way I could have hidden those codes.
"I know that, you know that," Nathan sighed, "Unfortunately Lucas is going to blame himself no matter what anyone else says."
Kate mused for a moment, "Give him a project."
"What?"
"He needs to focus on something else," Kate noted, "You know Lucas, he'll obsess on this until he goes crazy. Give him something else to work on."
"Any ideas what?"
Kate shrugged, "He's made a few project requests recently. Agree to one of them. I know he and O'Neill had a few communication upgrades they thought of."
He stared at her.
"What?"
"Its O'Neill now?" he asked, "Tell me again how fine you are with what happened?"
Kate shook her head and started walking. Nathan caught up with her, catching her shoulder and drawing her into the ward room.
"Sophie," he said after he'd closed the door, "How about you start being honest with me?"
Kate frowned at him, "Using my real name is low, Nathan."
"It's been three weeks," Nathan reminded her, "I've let it go until now but it's time you talk to me."
"About what?" she demanded.
Nathan moved her to a seat and stood above her, "How about how angry you are that Tim left without saying a word to you? How about that fact that you feel betrayed by one more person?"
Kate stared at him, "I'm fine."
"No, you're not," he replied, "I know you, Kate, remember?"
She took a deep breath, "Fine, I'm angry. Do you want me to just forget it and pretend I'm not? Because I can't do that, Nathan," she forced a hand through her hair, "And it's your fault."
Nathan stared at her for a few moments, "How?"
"You told me to make a friend," she snapped at him, "You encouraged me to open up to him and it smacked me in the face. So yes, I am angry and in my old life I could just leave, hit him or get Harkens to deal with him but I can't here." She paused and took a breath regaining her poise, "So, I'm doing this. Okay?"
Nathan nodded, "Okay."