Intermezzo—Another Tale of Kam Anders

Tiptoeing gratefully again into the wonderful future version of Helen Pattskyn's AU-Verse. This story directly follows her Forget Not Meand my own Interlude—A Tale of Kam Anders and is written with her support, advice and contributions. The penultimate chapter is ALL Helen. Included in this story with huge gratitude (not the least of which is because it meant I got to read it first). Isn't it perfect?!?

(Be sure to read the other stories before starting this one.)

Helen's actual return to this world is coming (along with some other really good new stuff in the AU-Verse). I promise.

And thanks to both Helen and Neener for their beta'ing. This is a much better story for their efforts.

Please, please, please comment. Reviews of my previous story, intended as a one shot, are what inspired me to write this one, so if you're enjoying getting bits and pieces while Helen is busy with other things, you might want to mention it...

* * *

Chapter 1—Intermezzo

Primum non nocere.

--Galen

* * *

"Captain? A moment of your time?"

Jack startled as the ship's medic spoke from the infirmary doorway he'd just passed on his way to the mess. It was hardly the "Oi! Jack!!!" that he'd once been accustomed to hearing yelled from across the Hub by Gwen or Owen, but in truth Jack couldn't remember when a member of his crew had approached him directly in any fashion. Decades, certainly. Centuries possibly. Surely not centuries…

He paused, and turned back to face her.

"Doc?" The term was used generally for ships' medics, although most were actually corpsmen by training, if that, but Jack knew that in the case of his new medic, the honorific was actually deserved. He still didn't know the details of how she came to be struck off the Medical Register, but in the last month he'd had no reason to regret following Pete Davies' advice in signing her onto his crew. Of course, he'd had very little contact with her himself, but had made sure that she closely monitor Kam's recovery from his injuries and was thus far impressed with her efficient professionalism. Plus she was beautiful, her chocolate colored skin, flashing warm eyes and slightly exotic features hinted at a widely mixed heritage.

She indicated the infirmary door with a tilt of her head.

"In private, Sir?"

Wordlessly he followed her in. She hit the pressure pad, closing the door behind her.

"What can I do for you, Doc?"

Anna Raynor eyed the Captain thoughtfully. She'd heard a lot about Jack Harkness over the years, not much of it good. Taking this job had been a huge leap of faith, and faith in Pete Davies, not Harkness. She'd not had a lot of contact with the Captain, but what she'd seen so far had pleasantly surprised her and been at odds with most of the reputation that had preceded him.

He was incredibly gorgeous, did smell absolutely amazing, and would flirt in almost any interaction; those things were definitely true. But the man she'd observed was otherwise professional, observant, thoughtful, knowledgeable, intelligent, with high expectations for his crew, but patient and understanding of rookie errors. And on the few infirmary visits he'd attended with Mr. Anders, he'd been supportive, kind, affectionate, concerned, gentle.

Still, experience had taught her not to put much faith in people being what they seemed. Making that mistake had destroyed her career and sent her out onto the frontiers of space.

She decided she'd better speak before she lost her nerve.

"I've been reviewing the crew's medical files," she began. He waited. She continued. "There isn't one for you."

"I'm aware of that."

"I need to get you in, get your physical done. You're the only member of the crew I've not seen yet."

"I'm fine. You will not start a file on me. And that's an order."

"But sir, if something were to happen to you…"

"Believe me, Dr. Raynor, I'm hard to kill."

"Captain…"

"Doc, this subject is closed. So if that's all—"

"Actually, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." He stood quietly, watching her, waiting again.

"I've been reviewing the crew's medical files," she repeated.

"So you said."

"Mr. Anders…"

Jack's attention sharpened.

"What about him?"

"He's going to be twenty in two days." She waited.

Jack relaxed and smiled slightly at her. "Yes, I am aware of it." Kam had not mentioned his birthday again since their first interaction, just before passing through a magnetic field had sent the two of them crashing together to the deck of the ship's bridge, but Jack had looked it up in his personnel records.

"I thought maybe—" Her voice faltered. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Harkness had never done anything to make her think he'd welcome her getting involved in the private lives of his crew. On the other hand, the ship's complement totaled fifteen, and they were stuck with each other for at least the next five months. Surely anything that created a sense of comradry…

"Dr. Raynor, is there actually something I can do for you?"

"I thought I might arrange a surprise party," she finished in a whoosh.

Jack stared at her, dumb struck. Sure, he'd picked up a little something on Omega and tucked it away for Kam's birthday, but a celebration beyond a private evening had never occurred to him.

"I'm fairly certain Kam's never had a birthday," he said cautiously. "Any commemoration of one, I mean."

"I've gathered. I wasn't thinking of anything big, just maybe work with Lachlan to come up with something special for dinner, maybe," she eyed him carefully, "maybe cover the bridge with a skeleton crew for an hour or two, just get the crew together for a little celebration."

"Do you think you could do it without making a big deal about Kam?" he asked slowly.

"You don't think he'd like it?"

"I think he might be overwhelmed a little, Doc."

"Yeah, I think I could make it low key. Some of his favorite foods, just a nice dinner?"

Jack nodded.

"I could work out a crew rotation on the bridge to let everyone come for awhile."

"Do you want me to run my plans by you, Sir?"

Jack stopped himself from saying "yes". Either he decided to trust his people or he didn't. The impulse to trust was rusty.

"No. Just, Kam, he's…" He searched for the right words and failed.

"Very strong, but very vulnerable," she supplied. "I know. He's shared some of his background with me. Patient confidentiality. Don't worry. I quite like your Mr. Anders. I won't do anything to hurt him."

Jack nodded at her in polite dismissal, turned and headed for the door. But he paused at the doorway and looked back.

"Doc?"

"Sir?"

"It occurs to me that you and I haven't had much of a chance to get to know each other yet. I was heading to the mess to get something to eat." He looked around at her neat, empty infirmary, significantly changed from the disorder that had resulted from years of him being the closest thing the ship had to a medic.

"Any chance you can get away long enough to have lunch with me?" There was something in his expression that might be interpreted as a come-on, but his voice was sincere and nothing in their interactions so far suggested to Anna that there was any more to his invitation than it appeared on the surface. Reminding herself not to give anyone the benefit of the doubt no matter how innocent he seemed, she hesitated momentarily, then acquiesced. He was her captain, after all, even if he couched his request as an invitation rather than an order.

"Just give me a second to secure the meds and records."