Interstellar Love

Mismatched

If there was one thing that Lorne never wanted it was to wake up in an infirmary. It meant he had been injured, despite all his training and caution. Looking around, he saw people going in and out of the room, checking up on other patients, files, or simply talking to each other.

Lorne saw Beckett coming in his direction, looking at a file in his hands, and tried his best to get his attention by sitting up on the bed. But as soon as he did that, a sharp pain shot out from his lower back all the way up to his shoulders. Letting out a small scream of pain, it sure was enough to get the Doc's attention.

- "Easy, Major Lorne. You can't be doing that." – Beckett scolded him, while helping him lay back down.

- "Sorry, Doc."

- "It's okay. I'm just glad to see you awake, Major. How are you feeling?"

- "Sore. What happened?"

- "Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

- "Crossing the gate and hearing my men telling some new doctor what had happened."

- "That would be Dr. O'Neill. She was the doctor on call that day. She had to rush you to surgery since you had lost a large amount of blood. She did a good job stitching you up, and you should have a very small scar from it."

- "Wait, you said 'that day' and... Dr. O'Neill?" – Lorne was confused. How long was he out?

- "Yes, Dr. Lara O'Neill. She's the newest addition to our medical team. And you've been in a medical induced coma for the past week and a half, Major. All that really matters is that you'll be just fine. All you need to do is give it time."

Lorne wasn't sure what he was expecting to hear. After all, he knew the wound had been bad from the worry in his men's voices and expressions. But a week and a half? Not to mention God knows how long for recovery before he could return to work.

Beckett had left after that, leaving him with his thoughts. In the middle of all that, he forgot to ask about Dr. O'Neill. By what Beckett had said, she had saved his life and he wanted to thank her. Thinking that maybe she would come by later, Lorne settled in for a long stay in the infirmary.

Lara couldn't wait to get back to Atlantis. She thought it would be an easy mission, two weeks going to the Beta and Charlie sites to give inoculations. Simple enough. Only, the reality was far from simple. Even though each site didn't have a lot of people, just essential workers and scientists, they all seemed to relish the fact that they now had a doctor there, instead of a nurse. The nurses were amazing at their jobs and did their best with what they had; the staff was just spoiled from having been in Atlantis.

The worst of them were the scientists, going to see her for every little paper cut, sometimes even interrupting her while she would be inoculating someone. What was supposed to be a two-week mission, turned into a full month and a half. She was tired, frustrated and on the verge of telling off one or two of the scientists. All she wanted was to go back to Atlantis.

Two weeks, two miserable weeks was how long Lorne had to stay in the infirmary. Beckett had just released him, but he still wasn't cleared to return to work. That would still have to wait for at least another couple of weeks.

Lorne was frustrated. He wanted to get back to work, to go back out with his team, but for now he was stuck doing administrative work, helping Sheppard and Dr. Weir with mission reports and new security updates for the city as well as for the teams.

Through all that, Lorne kept trying to find Dr. O'Neill. He had still to thank her. After a few days of not seeing her in the infirmary, he asked Dr. Keller about her. That was when he found that Dr. O'Neill was off-world and wouldn't return for at least a couple of weeks.

Thinking that, by the time he would get discharged from the infirmary, she would be back, Lorne would occasionally check in and see if she had returned. But when she didn't, he decided to ask a personal favor from Beckett. He asked him if he could let him know when she returned. Beckett agreed, knowing how important it was for him to be able to thank her for saving his life.

But now, almost a month and a half later, she still hadn't returned. He knew she was okay by reading her team's mission reports, but he still was impatient. He wished he could go through the gate and see for himself that she was okay and thank her. For now, he would just have to wait, hopefully not too much longer.