Don't Worry.

Summary: When Major Evan Lorne is captured on a routine mission, it doesn't take Colonel John Shepard long to locate him. But what else they find could change their lives. For ever.

Lorne/Shepard Lorne/Ronon Shepard/Rodney Team friendship

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except all the Halens, Alex, Abby, and Dan. Thanka.

'Here is a little song I wrote,

You might want to sing it note for note,

Don't worry be happy,

In every life we have some trouble,

When you worry you make it double,

Don't worry, be happy...'

- 'Dont worry, be happy'- by Bobby McFerrin.

The forest was dark and cold. Major Evan Lorne shivered, bringing his P90 up. Somehow a dark forest on an alien planet made him feel extremely cautious, and he wasn't in the mood to take any chances. It wasn't that he was scared of the dark per se. If he was, then he sure had made a strange career choice! He was just very aware of the fact that none of his team had nigh vision goggles with them, meaning that threats weren't exactly obvious until they were more than just threatening. He kept as best an eye out for team, but couldn't really keep tabs on all three of them as well as watching where he was going. Not in the dark. He heard a cry which sounded suspiciously like Dr Alex Smith, but he couldn't be sure. He couldn't be sure of anything in the darkness.

" Alex?" he called out. There was no reply. He looked around blindly, " Abby, can you see Alex?" his asked his second in command, Lieutenant Abby Cassidy.

" No sir." She replied, " Give me a minute, his probably walked into a tree or something. Halting, and making sure the third member of their team, Lieutenant Dan Morris also stopped, Evan heard Abby moving around, trying to locate their team mate. A moment later Abby said, " Can't find him, sir." Instantly the three military members of the team, naturally the only ones left, were alert, their guns snapping up to point forward. They moved forwards slowly, then Abby cried out.

" Damnit!" Evan swore, just as he felt a dark puncture his neck. As he sank to the ground, drug induced unconciousness taking hold of him almost immdiatley, he dimly saw Dan also falling to the ground beside him. Then the world went black and that was the last time he saw any of them alive.

He woke up in a dark room with bars over one sighed and groaned loudly, sitting up. This was the last thing he needed. Not to mention the fact that his team were not there as well. Which meant if he was rescued, or he found a way to escape, they would also need rescuing. Not to mention the fact that this meant he couldn't protect them when they were somewhere else. And they couldn't protect him. That chilling though scared him and he sat down against the back wall, knees drawn up to his chin, shaking. His annoyance was replaced by fear and a suddden realisation that he was freezing. He looked down to see that he had been stripped down to his black t-shirt and combats. He wiggled his toes; at least they hadn't taken his boots. Or his socks. Evan was one of the more stoic airmen of the expedition, and therefore looked at this situation with a certain amount of dry wit that kept him going for longer than many, but even he had to admit that this situation was a little daunting. Alone in the dark, cold, with no food or water... Even Evan could not get past his fear. Which was, of course, probably the point. He just wished he knew where the rest of his team were. He was pretty sure that none of them had escaped, although they had never located Alex before they too were abducted.

He did not know how long he sat there; it felt like days but was more likely only hours. After a while, he began to consider that perhaps fear was not exactly the best way to deal with this situation, and pulled himself into a more upright position, still keeping his legs in as tight as possible. He looked around, taking in his surroundings and trying to plan an escape. There were bars over one entire side of the small room, much like a police station cell or holding tank on Earth, and the walls were strong, probably brick, or what passed for brick on this planet, painted black, presumably to aid the appearence of being small and dark. There was one small window, high up on one side, barred and not big enough for anyone to pass through, not even a child. With another groan, Evan realised that there would be no escaping unless Atlantis launched a rescue mission. Which of course they would. Colonel Sheppard never left a man behind. Even if that man was Lieutenant Ford's replacement and everyone seemed to harbour ill-feelings towards him. It wasn't even as if he was new anymore; he'd been there for over a year now and still didn't seem to have been accepted by anyone as anything but Ford's replacement. He hadn't even known the guy and already he was living under his shadow. He frowned. That wouldn't stop Colonel Shepard from mounting a rescue, although some people might want Doctor Weie to decide otherwise, she was likly to 'ok' a mission to what was supposedly a pretty harmless planet.

Evan snorted quietly to himself. Yeah, right, harmless. Well this certainly wasn't harmless, was it? That had been a stupid snap judgement to make. He hadn't even explored properly. The people had seemed nice enough, but he always had the example of the Genii to go by. He would never forget he and his team being held by the Genii. It had been the most hours, maybe days, of his life. He shivered again, suddenly very aware that he really wasn't properly dressed for this environment. He scowled. What the hell had he done to these people to make them quite so mad. He guessed not knowing the identity of his captors was another method of breaking him down, but instead it was just making him introspecitve and pissed off. He lay down and curled up in a ball; he might as well get some sleep.

--

Colonel John Shepard paced around the Gateroom, impatiently. He could feel Radek by his side, figeting nervously, and could hear Rodney loudly complaing to anyone who would listen about the sudden trip through the gate. John considered killing Rodney himself before Zelenka could reach him. Evan's team was now six hours overdue with their scheduled check-in, which, by John's count meant that they had missed another one. Something was wrong. John's second-in-command was nothing if not puntual; he wouldn't just forget to check in, or be late. And this was too late to be just late. Now, he was waiting for the 'ok' from Dr Elizabeth Weir to take a team to the planet and check it out. He was fairly sure that she would be fine with it, this was supposed to be a pretty harmless planet according to Major Lorne, so why was it taking her so long?

He heard a commotion off to one side and turned to see Dr Radek Zelenka shouting at Dr Rodney McKay, who had a smirk on his face and seemed to be enjoying baiting his 'friend'. John knew that Rodney cared about him really and proceded to march over and tell Zelanka to go and check the MALP one last time. He said it so forcefully thar Radek was practically half way across the room before he had even finished his sentance. Then John spun around to face Rodney, " Look, Radek and Major Lorne... they're close, okay? Very close. So stop baiting him, and stop complaining."

Rodney's face fell, but he nodded, " Sorry. I just can't help it." He said. John frowned, such an apology was unusual from the normally irate scientist, but where Radek was concerned perhaps it was not so unlikly. The two men were also very close.

John still snapped, " Well try and help it! You're both getting on my nerves." Wanting to avoid a confrontation with Rodney, he quickly said, " What the hell is taking her so long?!"

Rodney just shrugged, " How the hell should I know?"

Finally they saw Elizabeth's face over the balconey; she nodded gravely, " You have a go Colonel. Bring them all back safely."

John threw her a salute, " Yes ma'am."

--

They arrived on the planet moments later, to find the sun beating down strongly, with lucious golden fields stretching as far as the eye could see, except off to the left, where a dark green, leafy forest stood. John turned to the two teams he had brought with him,. His team, plus Radek, and the marines.

" MacGuire, Kelly, cover the gate. The rest of you fan out and start searching. For anything. And I mean anything. Could be a city, bunker in the ground..." He trailed off. They had discovered the Genii on a world like this, one supposedly harmless, a simple farming community. He saw his fears reflected in his team mates eyes. " And be carefull." he said, his voice only a whisper.

Specialist Ronon Dex moved to stand close to Shepard, " What exactly is it with Major Lorne?" He asked quietly, while keeping a close eye on his surroundings, weapon out and pointed straight ahead.

" What do you mean?" John asked, his voice laced with tension.

" Well, he always gets captured, and we always get ourselves into ridiculous situations rescuing him." Ronon glared over at McKay as he grumbled about the burns he would supposedly recieve from the strong sun.

John frowned, " As long as there isn't a repeat of last time."

Ronon grimaced. That was one memory he would like to keep repressed for a long, long time. Standing naked in the town square in order to get your people back had been humiliating and the request slightly unnerving. Evan had said he quite liked the place. No one dared ask what had happened to his team, but none of them had looked exactly unhappy when they had come back through the 'gate.

Suddeny, Ronon let out a startled yell and quicly spun round to see his friend disapear. There was a loud thud and Shepard looked down to his right.

" Ronon?" he called.

" I'm all right. Think I might have found where Major Lorne and his people are being kept." he sounded slightly sick.

" What is it Ronon?" John asked cautiously.

" You, you need to come down and see for yourself." The other man answered.

John sighed, then radioed the others, " My team, come to mine and Ronon's location, the rest of you go back to the gate and wait for my signal. Radek, you're with us."

When his team arrived, John wasted no time in explaining, " Ronon found them." he said shortly, then lowered himself into the hole, achieveing a more graceful landing than his larger friend. What he saw made him want to puke, and in fact, Rodney did puke. All over Ronon's shoes. The big Satedan wasn't exactly happy, but the expression on his face quite clearly showed that he agreed with the sentiments. Teyla, dropping down, also grimaced, but mercifully managed to keep from throwing up. Ronon patted Rodney on his shoulder, acknowleging his friend's mumbled apologies.

" Some rescue mission this turned out to be." John said.

The walls were lined with glass chambers, each filled to the top with a clear liquid, and each of Evan's team mates appeared to be suspended in the liquid. In fact, they appeared to have been drowned in in, their faces fixed in soundless screams of horror. But Evan wasn't there, and John hoped to God that he was somewhere else. He heard Zelenka drop down, and then his horrifed gasp.

" Evan isn't there Radek." He groaned as he realised that they were going to have to take Evan past this point to get him out. If he was still alive. He hoped his second-in-command was as strong as he always appeared to be. To see your team mates, your friends, like this... He knew he wouldn't be able to deal with it. He shuddered at the thought of seeing Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon trapped in tanks filled with, god knew what it was, unable to breathe. Dead. He hoped Evan hadn't been there when they were killed. He might never have shown it but he trusted Evan and was slightly fond of the younger man. He knew that Evan did not socialize much, the fact that he was basically a replacement for Lieutenant Aiden Ford made him slightly unpopular, however, he also knew how close Evan was to his team and how much he cared for them, as John did for his team, his closest friends except for Elizabeth and possibly Evan. If they ever got him out of this, assuming that they managed to get themselves out of this in the first place, he would make sure that Evan knew how much he was appreciated and encourage him to socialize a little more.

He saw Radek staring in shock and horror at the tanks, and roughly pulled the Czech away, " I do not need you freaking out on me right now, Zelenka!" he hissed.

Radek just nodded, but his expression indicated that he got the message. He turned away from the tanks, resolutley staring in the opposite direction. John looked around, checking that the rest of his team were okay. Rodney was leaning against a wall, wiping his mouth with a cloth, a disgruntled expression on his pale face; he seemed to be back to normal, although there was a grim tinge to his usual visage. Ronon's hand was hovering beside his holstered gun, his body tense, but then that was no different to usual. He too looked disgruntled as he kicked sick off his shoes. Then again, who wouldn't if Rodney McKay had just thrown up over them? Like Rodney and Ronon, Teyla also looked grim and determined. Good, they would be okay, they could carry on with the mission. He turned to Ronon, " You done?" he asked, shooting a brief smirk at Rodney who glared back.

" Yeah..." Ronon shot Rodney a glare but softened it with a smile to show that he didn't really mean it. He just liked to tease his friend. Who usually rose to the bait perfectly, but stayed silent this time, following quickly behind when John said, " Okay, move out."

They made their way along the corridor cautiously, Radek in the middle, the other four, all carrying weapons, on the outside. He had refused to carry a gun, so he was afforded the maximum protection. he shivered slightly, recognising how cold and dark it was and hoped that Evan was in a better situation than he was. Which, he realised, was not very likely. He sighed. Since Evan had arrived on Atlantis, he had become fast friends with the young man, very close in everything they did, and Evan had been considering asking if Zelenka could be transferred to his team to replace Dr Alex Smith. It seemed very likly that Radek would be able to get that position now, if Evan survived. He shook himself and held his head high, reminding himself that being anything other than positive was a bad idea and that now would be a good time to focus on finding Evan and keeping himself alive.

--

Evan lay curled up on the floor of his cell, sleeping, when footsteps sounded outside the room, waking him up. He opened his eyes slowly and looked out to see a pair of what looked like steel-capped toes in tall leather boots.

" Get up!" A deep voice said slowly, and Evan dragged himself to his feet, staring straight at his captor.

The man was tall and thin, but well-built, and he carried a gun in one hand, and a knife in his belt. He had dark hair in a short, military cut, and the darkest eyes that Evan had ever seen. He slowly unlocked the cell door and walked in, closing it behind him. He took his gun from his holster and pointed it towards Evan's head, " Do not even think of trying anything."

" Typical." Evan said bodly, his trembling voice giving away his fear, " Different world, same cliches."

" Shut up!" One of the steel-toed boots slammed into Evan's stomach and he colapsed to the floor, his face screwed up in pain, tears of agony sliding down his pale cheeks.

The man bent down to whisper in his ear, " Just answer my questions and don't be mouthy. Then you won't get hurt. Got it?"

Evan nodded weakly, but sighed, knowing that he couldn't answer any of his captors questions. He was in for a long night, " You know I can't tell you anything, right? It's kind of against regulations and why would I want to talk to someone who shoves me into a cell for the night?"

The boot connected with his head this time and black dots swarmed around the sides of his vision, making him fight hard not to lose conciousness.He felt blood trickling down into his eye and groaned softly.

" What were you doing here?" His captor asked, " Answer me!"

" We, we're explorers. We were... exploring. It's what we do."

" Explorers with weapons?"

Evan retorted without thinking of the consequences, " We need to defend ourselves. Against people like you!" Again, the boot in the stomach. Evan curled up into a protective ball, screwing his fists up against the pain.

" You were not very effective in defending yourselves."

" It was dark!"

" Still you should have tried harder. Maybe then your friends would still be alive."

" You bastard!" Evan was on his feet faster than seemed humanly possible, but his captor was quicker, his gun already pressed against the back of Evan's head. Tears blurred his vision and he sank to the floor, " What did you do to them?"

" You have no need to know except that it was a very painful death, one which will be forthcoming for you as well if you do not tell me what I need to know."

For the rest of the interrogation, Evan refused to speak. His captor kicked him, punched him, threatened him with death, but to no avail. Finally he left him lying on the floor of the cell, unable to move for the extreme pain from his wounds. Tears ran down his cheeks but he made no effort to wipe them away. Strong feelings of guilt overwhelmed him and he fell asleep crying. To him it seemed as if this was his fault. He should have protected them, he should have made sure than someone remembered the damned night vision goggles, not trusting that Alex would pick them up on his way out of the jumper as he usually did.

It was like this that John and the rest of his team found him. When McKay and Ronon had finished demolishing the bars with a blowtorch and Ronon's bare hands, John and Teyla rushed over to the young man.

" He has been badly beaten." Teyla said anxiously. She felt for pulse, " But he is still alive." She told them, relief courseing through her voice.

John bent over his second-in-command, " Evan? can you hear me?" He asked urgently, " Evan?" He resisted the temptation to shake the young man.

Evan stired, " Sir?" He managed to force out.

" Hey. Welcome back to the land of the living." He looked around cautiously, " Look, we've gotta get you out of here. D'you think you can stand?"

" I, I very much doubt it, sir." His tone was apologetic, " Sorry."

" Nothing to be sorry for, Major." John was all business.

" I can try."

" Good man." He and Ronon put an arm under his on each side and pulled him gently to his feet.

He stood for a moment, then nodded, " I'll be okay, sir. As long as I don't have to run."

" Hopefully it won't come to that. We've been undetected so far." He noticed that Evan was shivering and handed him his jacket, " They take your gear?"

" Yes sir."

He handed him a gun as well. Evan resisted the temptation to enquire as to how one man could carry so many weapons on his person.

As they moved out, down the corridor, John turned to Evan, " Now, I need you to tell me what happened here." he said, motioning for Ronon to take point. Somehow they would need to sheild Evan from the gruesome sight of his dead team mates that lay in wait up ahead.

Evan closed his eyes briefly, then, " We were returning to the gate through the forest for our scheduled check-in, it was dark, and..." The young airman stared down at the floor, " Dr Smith got hit, then the rest of us."

" Where were your night vision goggles?" John asked, his tone sharper than intended.

" I, I assumed Alex had them. He always brings them. This time... he forgot."

Damn scientists, " Alright." He stopped, momentairily, " This is not your fault, okay Evan?"

Evan leaned against the nearby wall, " I, I guess not sir."

John sighed, not knowing if he really meant it, " Alright, so what can you tell me about your captors?" He asked.

" Apart from the fact that they're vicious murders with no regard for human life?" Evan ground out.

So he knew about his team, " I'm sorry Evan. But I need to know what they wanted. And who they are."

" They call themselves the Halens. They're an ancient race of people who have lived on this planet for centuries. Apparently we stumbled upon there sacred ground." he paused, " Why is it I always get the planets with the religious fanatics?" he asked, suspiciously.

" Hey, how was I supposed to know?" John replied indignantly. He grinned softly though, Evan was beginning to become his old self again.

" True. Anyway, they wanted to know where I was from, what I was doing... the usual. And as usual they wouldn't accept the peacful explorers routine."

" It isn't a routine, Evan," John reminded him, " It's the truth."

" Yeah... Well that was it really." he looked quickly at his commanding officer, " I didn't tell them anything sir."

" I can see that." he looked Evan over, " That guy was one angry son-of-a-bitch."

Evan looked at the floor, " I... may have let my mouth run away with me, sir." he said, his tone slightly embarrased.

" Ah." Was all John said.

" Hey, it's nothing you haven't done a thousand times before."

" Good point."

" And, and I was pissed off."

" Yeah."

Ronon stopped suddenly and John knew what was round the next corner. He sighed and also stopped, holding up a fist to indicate a halt.

" Evan, sit down."

" Huh?"

" You look like you're about to collapse, kid."

Evan slid down the wall to a sitting position, facing where John was crouched.

" Evan, round the corner... your team..." he didn't know how to say it, but he saw realisation in the kid's eyes.

" Th, there bodies."

" Yeah. Evan, it's bad. I don't want you to look, okay?" he spoke softly and slowly, as if talking to a small child.

Evan's voice was like that of a child as he looked it John's face, " Okay." He replied.