Cam Alphabet Soup: X is for X-Ray
“Hold still, I just need to take a couple more,” Dr Lam instructed Cam as she adjusted the x-ray machine.
Holding still wasn’t a problem. It was moving that hurt like the devil, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“What’s the matter, didn’t you get my best side?” Cam gave her his most charming smile.
Carolyn shot back a smile of her own. She wasn’t entirely immune to the colonel’s charisma, but neither was she about to let him get the upper hand.
“I didn’t think you had a ‘best’ side, Colonel Mitchell,” she countered, with a slight quirk of her eyebrows that led him to wonder if he’d just been complimented or insulted.
She finished up and gave him a nod. “Okay, you can relax. I’ll just check these for secondary injuries.”
Cam tried, but relaxation didn’t come easy. He allowed himself a grimace while the Doc was distracted. Even so, he was counting his blessings. He’d been through far worse than this and come out okay. He cast a glance at the pink scar tissue on his left side, a souvenir from his near-fatal run in with the Sodan. He could feel the familiar aching in his legs that returned every time he remembered how close he’d come to being crippled for life. A deep breath banished the memory. The ache would fade momentarily.
“At least it’s a clean break,” Dr Lam commented, carefully easing him into a figure of eight wrap to support the injured arm and help it heal neatly.
“You can put your shirt back on now,” she told him. “Just don’t try to raise your right arm.”
Cam resisted the urge to ask her why not. Did she think he was stupid? Or a masochist?
Cam struggled into his shirt and fumbled with the buttons, feeling annoyed with himself for his helplessness. “Dammit,” he swore under his breath as he realized he’d put a button in the wrong hole.
Carolyn’s offer of assistance was met with a stern look and a slightly less than polite refusal. “I can manage,” he insisted.
“Alright, Colonel, but you’ve stalled long enough. You haven’t been off world in days. I want to know exactly how you came to fracture your clavicle.”
Cam looked away sheepishly. He should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret. Heck, it was probably halfway round the base already. He didn’t think his sparring-partner was the sort to boast about sending him to the infirmary, but he couldn’t be sure. Which was why he’d refused the offer of being seen safely there.
“Someone asked me to teach them a little Kendo, along with a few moves I picked up from the Sodan. I made the mistake of underestimating my opponent.”
“I know for a fact Teal’c isn’t here right now. Besides, you already know how good he is.” Carolyn was more or less thinking aloud. “Ronan isn’t visiting from Atlantis is he?”
Cam shook his head, unwisely as it strained his injury.
Carolyn was curious as to who the mystery combatant could possibly be. It had to be somebody pretty athletic and well trained; a skilled fighter, yet someone Cam had been confident of beating. By his coyness, perhaps it was Teyla. Dr Lam stifled a grin. Teyla’s reputation as a strong and capable warrior was well known even on Earth. Yes, she’d bet it was the Athosian woman. No wonder his male pride was wounded.
“Would it have been Teyla, by any chance?” Carolyn asked mischievously.
“Oh, no. Someone far more formidable! It was Jackson. I’m pretty sure I could have taken Teyla,” Cam shot back, a little too quickly. He colored. He’d just confessed not only that the archaeologist had got the better of him, but also that he pretty much considered Daniel his toughest adversary to date. Why hadn’t he just claimed it was a lucky shot, that he was distracted? Everyone would believe that, probably even Jackson himself.
“Uh, how about we pretend I didn't say that?”