Five Conversations Janet Fraiser and Cameron Mitchell Never Had (SG-1)
Only one five things response for today. cnidarian asked for five conversations between Janet Fraiser and Cam Mitchell. As I had always suspected, it turns out that my two favorite SG-1 characters are pretty much made of awesome together. Spoilers throughout seasons 9 and 10 and for "Ark of Truth," though it's also obviously AU from "Heroes" (but the same AU--I see these five as parts of the same chronological narrative)
1.
"So you seem to be physically recovered from your ordeal, Colonel." Dr. Fraiser re-enters the room and makes an annotation on his chart before snapping the folder shut and fixing him with a firm, compassionate look. "The MRI shows no damage to your brain from the memory technology." She pauses. "How are you feeling psychologically?"
Cam shrugs. "For someone implanted with a terrible memory of something I didn't do? I'll manage, I guess." He thinks of Goa'uld symbiotes, of human-form Replicators. "But this is small potatoes compared to what you've seen around here."
Fraiser's eyes narrow. "It isn't a contest, Colonel Mitchell." He opens his mouth, but she continues. "Trauma is trauma, and people react to it differently. The same individual might weather a major trauma reasonably well and then break under the strain of something comparatively minor. I'm interested in your mental health right now, in the aftermath of the violation you have experienced."
The word "violation" rings in his ears, and he feels his breath catch a little. It's not a contest, he repeats to himself. "I think I'll be fine," he answers. "I'm shaken up, yeah, but with time to clear my head…"
She doesn't look entirely satisfied, but she nods slowly. "I want to see you in three days to check in. And if you need me before then, don't hesitate."
He smiles faintly. "Thanks."
2.
Cam likes a shortening-based pie crust. It's the way his grandmother makes hers, and it's a good, all-purpose pie crust. Nice and flaky, complements but doesn't overpower the pie.
Janet doesn't mind a shortening-based crust for something like quiche, which favors a flakier crust, but for pies she prefers an oil-based crust. It's tricky to get it mixed just right-Cassie has chucked many failed pie crusts in the garbage, and Cam is tempting her with his never-fail shortening recipe-but the end result is worth the trouble. Good, moldable pie dough with a perfect moist yet flaky consistency. Rolled thicker for cobbler, it's particularly to die for. Even Cam has to admit (though not to his grandmother) that Janet's peach cobbler is unsurpassed.
Sam refuses to take sides in the matter, claiming that she is an equal-opportunity pie fan. Jack prefers to stick with what he knows and will argue Janet's side with gusto when he's in town. The rest of the team-even Vala, much to Cam's dismay-also prefer Janet's recipe, but Cam senses that Teal'c may capitulate any day now.
3.
When they come back without Jackson, Cam knows he has to tell her himself. He doesn't really understand the thing between Fraiser and Jackson-they were together, and now they're not, the grapevine tells him, but he can tell it's more complicated than that-but regardless of what they are or aren't, she needs to hear from the leader of SG-1.
Sam gives him a look, but he ignores her, beating the rest of the team to the infirmary and catching Janet in her office. She knows before he can say anything. Her expression is similar to Sam's and Teal'c's: tired and shut down in contrast to Vala's fury. Yet underneath the resignation, he sees something in her eyes shatter a little bit.
"Jackson," Cam tries to begin.
"Dead?" she asks. Someone else might have appended an "again"-when Jackson's sitting there next to them the joke is almost irresistible-but in this moment, Cam can tell, it's never "again."
"No," Cam replies with too much conviction. "There was an Ancient device, and Adria, and Merlin, and he…" He trails off. She'll read the report. "We'll find him," he says instead.
She nods so imperceptibly he isn't sure he sees it. "Okay," she says, pressing pale lips together.
4.
After they lose Daniel, Sam nearly dies, and then recovers only to disappear. It's going to push Vala over the edge, Cam thinks, as he watches her sit in Sam's lab for hours on end, narrating her day and reading issues of Cosmopolitan aloud. Teal'c is even quieter than usual, gently kicking Vala out so he can sit with Sam in peace. Cam is restless and guilty.
He finds himself wandering into the infirmary with some regularity, and it doesn't really surprise him. When you join the SGC, you hear early on about Janet Fraiser: stories of lives she's saved, stories of people who had the misfortune to cross her at the wrong moment, stories that locate her as a cornerstone of the entire organization. Cam figures she's got one of those personalities that trigger people's internal homing devices; more than a few of the women in his family are like that.
"Do you ever get used to the waiting?" he asks one evening over coffee.
She doesn't answer right away, and as she spins the half-filled Styrofoam cup around in her fingers, he watches her. This latest blow, Sam's disappearance, has hit her harder than he initially realized. He and Vala have broken messily at their team's fragmentation, but Janet is more like Teal'c, with the layers of hurt curling in on each other, withdrawing away from the surface. She seems smaller, and as he studies the bones in her hands he wonders if she's actually lost weight these past few weeks.
"No," she replies eventually, looking him in the eye and daring him to hold her gaze. "You never get used to the waiting."
5.
He falls asleep again after Sam brings him the macaroons, and when he wakes it's late. The infirmary is dark and quiet, and Janet is sitting in the chair near his bed, dozing. She has sleeping in those chairs down to an art, and he wonders how many hours she's spent in them. Not on duty. When she's on duty she's on her feet, checking, monitoring, supervising, healing. But often, at the end of a long shift, she stays. She sits with her patients. She sleeps in the uncomfortable infirmary chairs.
He remembers the first time he watched her sleep in a chair, during his first overwhelming week at the SGC. It was after Vala and Jackson's hearts stopped and then came back again. Dr. Lee poked at the device all night long, and Cam sat in the observation room watching. Janet pulled a chair between her patients' beds, held Jackson's hand, and slept.
Since then he's watched her sit with all of SG-1 at one time or other, with many other members of many other teams, with anyone who needed her.
He shifts in his bed, and the movement wakes her. She stands, checks his vitals and meds, asks if he's in pain.
"No, I'm okay," he answers.
"Then try to get some more rest. That's the quickest way to heal." She smiles. "You're doing well, all things considered."
"I had to save the world," he slurs, the pain meds tugging at his consciousness once more. She laughs lightly and pats his hand; he grips her fingers in his. "Stay?"
She pulls the chair closer, keeps his hand in hers. "I'm right here."
1.
"So you seem to be physically recovered from your ordeal, Colonel." Dr. Fraiser re-enters the room and makes an annotation on his chart before snapping the folder shut and fixing him with a firm, compassionate look. "The MRI shows no damage to your brain from the memory technology." She pauses. "How are you feeling psychologically?"
Cam shrugs. "For someone implanted with a terrible memory of something I didn't do? I'll manage, I guess." He thinks of Goa'uld symbiotes, of human-form Replicators. "But this is small potatoes compared to what you've seen around here."
Fraiser's eyes narrow. "It isn't a contest, Colonel Mitchell." He opens his mouth, but she continues. "Trauma is trauma, and people react to it differently. The same individual might weather a major trauma reasonably well and then break under the strain of something comparatively minor. I'm interested in your mental health right now, in the aftermath of the violation you have experienced."
The word "violation" rings in his ears, and he feels his breath catch a little. It's not a contest, he repeats to himself. "I think I'll be fine," he answers. "I'm shaken up, yeah, but with time to clear my head…"
She doesn't look entirely satisfied, but she nods slowly. "I want to see you in three days to check in. And if you need me before then, don't hesitate."
He smiles faintly. "Thanks."
2.
Cam likes a shortening-based pie crust. It's the way his grandmother makes hers, and it's a good, all-purpose pie crust. Nice and flaky, complements but doesn't overpower the pie.
Janet doesn't mind a shortening-based crust for something like quiche, which favors a flakier crust, but for pies she prefers an oil-based crust. It's tricky to get it mixed just right-Cassie has chucked many failed pie crusts in the garbage, and Cam is tempting her with his never-fail shortening recipe-but the end result is worth the trouble. Good, moldable pie dough with a perfect moist yet flaky consistency. Rolled thicker for cobbler, it's particularly to die for. Even Cam has to admit (though not to his grandmother) that Janet's peach cobbler is unsurpassed.
Sam refuses to take sides in the matter, claiming that she is an equal-opportunity pie fan. Jack prefers to stick with what he knows and will argue Janet's side with gusto when he's in town. The rest of the team-even Vala, much to Cam's dismay-also prefer Janet's recipe, but Cam senses that Teal'c may capitulate any day now.
3.
When they come back without Jackson, Cam knows he has to tell her himself. He doesn't really understand the thing between Fraiser and Jackson-they were together, and now they're not, the grapevine tells him, but he can tell it's more complicated than that-but regardless of what they are or aren't, she needs to hear from the leader of SG-1.
Sam gives him a look, but he ignores her, beating the rest of the team to the infirmary and catching Janet in her office. She knows before he can say anything. Her expression is similar to Sam's and Teal'c's: tired and shut down in contrast to Vala's fury. Yet underneath the resignation, he sees something in her eyes shatter a little bit.
"Jackson," Cam tries to begin.
"Dead?" she asks. Someone else might have appended an "again"-when Jackson's sitting there next to them the joke is almost irresistible-but in this moment, Cam can tell, it's never "again."
"No," Cam replies with too much conviction. "There was an Ancient device, and Adria, and Merlin, and he…" He trails off. She'll read the report. "We'll find him," he says instead.
She nods so imperceptibly he isn't sure he sees it. "Okay," she says, pressing pale lips together.
4.
After they lose Daniel, Sam nearly dies, and then recovers only to disappear. It's going to push Vala over the edge, Cam thinks, as he watches her sit in Sam's lab for hours on end, narrating her day and reading issues of Cosmopolitan aloud. Teal'c is even quieter than usual, gently kicking Vala out so he can sit with Sam in peace. Cam is restless and guilty.
He finds himself wandering into the infirmary with some regularity, and it doesn't really surprise him. When you join the SGC, you hear early on about Janet Fraiser: stories of lives she's saved, stories of people who had the misfortune to cross her at the wrong moment, stories that locate her as a cornerstone of the entire organization. Cam figures she's got one of those personalities that trigger people's internal homing devices; more than a few of the women in his family are like that.
"Do you ever get used to the waiting?" he asks one evening over coffee.
She doesn't answer right away, and as she spins the half-filled Styrofoam cup around in her fingers, he watches her. This latest blow, Sam's disappearance, has hit her harder than he initially realized. He and Vala have broken messily at their team's fragmentation, but Janet is more like Teal'c, with the layers of hurt curling in on each other, withdrawing away from the surface. She seems smaller, and as he studies the bones in her hands he wonders if she's actually lost weight these past few weeks.
"No," she replies eventually, looking him in the eye and daring him to hold her gaze. "You never get used to the waiting."
5.
He falls asleep again after Sam brings him the macaroons, and when he wakes it's late. The infirmary is dark and quiet, and Janet is sitting in the chair near his bed, dozing. She has sleeping in those chairs down to an art, and he wonders how many hours she's spent in them. Not on duty. When she's on duty she's on her feet, checking, monitoring, supervising, healing. But often, at the end of a long shift, she stays. She sits with her patients. She sleeps in the uncomfortable infirmary chairs.
He remembers the first time he watched her sleep in a chair, during his first overwhelming week at the SGC. It was after Vala and Jackson's hearts stopped and then came back again. Dr. Lee poked at the device all night long, and Cam sat in the observation room watching. Janet pulled a chair between her patients' beds, held Jackson's hand, and slept.
Since then he's watched her sit with all of SG-1 at one time or other, with many other members of many other teams, with anyone who needed her.
He shifts in his bed, and the movement wakes her. She stands, checks his vitals and meds, asks if he's in pain.
"No, I'm okay," he answers.
"Then try to get some more rest. That's the quickest way to heal." She smiles. "You're doing well, all things considered."
"I had to save the world," he slurs, the pain meds tugging at his consciousness once more. She laughs lightly and pats his hand; he grips her fingers in his. "Stay?"
She pulls the chair closer, keeps his hand in hers. "I'm right here."