Stargate Atlantis

When time is up

Disclaimer: I don't own anything...

AN: This is somewhere in the middle of season four and oh right there is spoilers for Sunday.

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He felt the bullets rip through his chest every impact pushed him further to the ground. He felt a burning sensation and watched with fascination how the blood trickled down on the floor. He glanced up at his captors.

He suddenly laughed by the irony of it all, he had run out of options. John Sheppard could not cheat death anymore.

"So...go ahead...why don't you finish what you have started?"

"I am finished, when tomorrow comes you will be no more."

The alien smiled at him and holstered his weapon.

"There's no way out of here Colonel and no one is out there to save you."

Sheppard lay his head down unable to even make the slightest move, yet his mind felt crystal clear. He could feel his life slipping away and he was helpless. He would die on a foreign planet in a distant galaxy where no one had ever heard of earth. John slowly closed his eyes letting himself succumb to the darkness.

"You cannot give up."

Sheppard opened his eyes. There was no one around and the only sound that could be heard was the sickening sound of his blood dripping down on the floor.

"Colonel Sheppard please..."

He let his eyes flicker over the surroundings but again there was nothing.

"You cannot give up, they need you especially with Elizabeth on earth."

Carson tried to shake Sheppard awake but his hands went right through.

"John please fight this."

"You are dead..."

"...you ascended...Carson?"

"We mourned you, carried you back to earth..."

"And I saw you, I was proud of you all. John listen to me, you have to fight this."

"Carson...I have three bullets in my chest...I am bleeding to death..."

"They need you." Carson tried desperately.

"And...we didn't need you?"

"I died instantly, there was nothing that you could have done to save me." He said sadly.

"But for you there is still time."

"No, no one knows where I am...my days are numbered Carson."

"You have to have faith in your team Colonel."

Tired hazel eyes glanced up at him. "We missed you."

"I have been with you ever since but you must keep it together for a little while longer."

"You will be all right and Elisabeth will too."

"How do you know..."

"I just do son."

Distant shoots echoed in the walls, they were close now.

Carson wanted desperately to squeeze his shoulder, to reassure him but he couldn't.

"Oh my God, John!" Teyla leaned over him trying to assess his injuries.

There was too much blood, she couldn't see.

"Rodney!" She screamed while trying to find his pulse.

"Rodney you have got to help me!"

"Where is he?" McKay stopped abruptly at the sight.

"No, we where too late...stupid marines can't do anything right...freaking aliens...stupid Sheppard for being in this position..."

"Rodney snap out of it!"

Ronon shouted as he run past him bending down on the other side of Sheppard.

"I...what did you say?"

"That's what Sheppard would have said."

"We got to stop this!"

She had pulled out every bandage she had in her vest but it wasn't enough, the blood just seeped through. Rodney quickly handed her what he had in his vest as Ronon gently placed Sheppard's head in his knee.

"I don't believe it...where is the damn jumper when we need it...is it so hard for them to fly here...he is bleeding to death for crying out loud!"

"Rodney..."

Teyla looked at him briefly with an expression he had seldom seen before, it was a look of defeat.

"This is Lorne we are descending the target has been neutralised."

"Well better late than ever." McKay screamed over link.

"Will I see you again?"

"John?" Teyla gently placed a hand on his head.

"John are you awake?"

His eyes where shut and his words where slurred now and they probably thought he had lost it but he didn't care.

Carson nodded, smiling slightly. "Yes probably sooner than you think."

"John..." Teyla whispered a tear streaking down her cheek.

Rodney had stopped talking just glaring at the marines as they lifted the colonel out of the cell and gently carried him towards the jumper. Ronon was shaking with anger, the air vibrated with hostility and worry.

But he was going home, living or dead. He was going home with his friends and team, home to those who respected him and treated him well, those who depended on him and he wasn't to let them down...ever.

He could hear Colonel Carter's voice and feet running towards him, Keller he assumed.

And Carson had given him hope that one day in the near future everything would be all right.

The end...

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