DR. NICHOLAS DRABBLE # 68- LIGHTNING"

Despite all the data the Kino had gathered, no one expected a planet quite like this. He looked around, as it was abnormally dark, having some trouble even identifying who was right behind him. He could hear her breathing, so she was keeping up, be he could barely see her. Even the camouflage clothes didn't offer much more visibility. But the Kino gave enough information for them to realize the planet offered vegetation and possibly something they could kill for meat. His mouth watered just at the mere thought of meat. He looked up as Colonel Young pointed somewhere up ahead.

"This way! Matt, Greer, get ready to attack. I see what appears to be boars up in this valley."

Aside from Matt, Greer and Young, the rest of them stayed back, including himself. He looked to his left and saw Eli controlling the Kino, so they could get a closer look at the boars without startling them. When he looked to his right, he saw her studying the sky above. His eyebrow arched in question, turning so he could look up as well. At first, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Well…okay, so the planet had what appeared to be 5 moons, but even to him, that didn't seem too strange. He was about to quip her for paying too close attention to the sky and not on the mission, when it suddenly happened.

If he had even blinked for a split second, he would have missed it. But he clearly saw the flashes of patterned light in the sky. Lightning never bothered him; it was just another weather condition. But he knew it wasn't safe for just anyone to be out during a lightning storm. And he also knew Lily had an irrational fear of lightning. When the pattern of light flashed in the sky again, he felt her take a tentative step back, and could hear the panic in her breathing before he could even utter a word. It was obvious some other members of the away team were becoming aware of the lightning, but to the hunters, they weren't concentrating on anything but trying to line up the first shot for the kill.

He only took one look at her face, how frightened she truly was, and that's all it took.

"Colonel Young! We have better seek shelter; there is a lightning storm about to take place. And the lack of knowledge we know about this planet, it's not wise to be out in this."

Young glared at him long and hard and he gave the pleasure of returning the same look. If they wanted to stay out in this crap, so be it. He didn't care. But he was not going to put her in danger like this. He smirked briefly to himself; if Young wanted to be left for dead, he had absolutely no problems with that. After a moment, he saw Young nod and sigh, signaling Greer and Matt to stand down.

"Okay, you heard the man. Let's find some shelter-"

Young never finished his statement, as a lightning bolt came dangerously close to not only himself, but to the entire away team as well. He fell back, hard, into the ground and grunts some in annoyance. For a moment, he couldn't stop the ringing in his ears, thinking maybe the bolt had done the damage it had intended. But after another moment, the ringing stopped and he heard the shivering gasps for air before he saw her. He felt bad, seeing her practically trying to get sucked into the ground, shaking profusely. He frowns; she'd probably never get over that irrational fear now, having almost come so close to getting struck.

"Everyone okay?"

It seemed everyone was okay, just mainly shaken up. Understandable; hell, he could feel his own bones rattle a bit with his own nerves. But she was the worst; he had to get her out of there. He moved so quickly, no one even saw him grab her suddenly and hoist her up in his arms. He heard her protesting, telling him no; she was just too in shock to understand what he was trying to do or what she was saying. But even so, he felt her cling onto him with all of her life, shuddering into his very being.

"She's okay, but let's just dial the gate and get the hell out of here. This planet clearly doesn't have safe weather conditions for any of us to be wandering around."

"You sure she's okay?"

That was Eli, and he turned to him so he could address him properly. He shook his head and growled in annoyance, mostly at himself rather than at Eli. They should have surveyed the planet more closely, as opposed to going with their gut instinct that everything was fine. To give into the desire of wanting meat as opposed to being smart. He shouldn't have allowed this. Had he'd been smarter about all this, maybe he could have prevented this; prevented her getting so spooked and coming so close to her fear.

"She's fine, physically. But she's always had an irrational fear of lightning. I suppose almost getting struck didn't help so much."

He was glad Eli left it alone at that and didn't press the matter further. He wasn't sure as to why she had this irrational fear, but he felt it wasn't his place to ask. If it had a connection to something, she'd tell him one day or another. It's just like he would never come clean to anyone about his fear of drowning. Though, that fear did have a significant link-his father. But this wasn't about him; right now, she needed him and he felt he was the only one who could protect her at this very moment in time.

He reaffirmed his grip on her, holding her tightly to himself. He frowns as he felt her shaking and could feel her heart racing against his own chest. He thought for a moment, that she might be going into some kind of cardiac distress. Once she heard the scrapping of metal as the gate dialed, he saw her briefly peek her head up. She took a good look at him, finally understanding that he had her. He felt her, finally, start to relax some, until another flash happened. She moved her head to bury itself against the nape of his neck so quickly, that he just had to smirk. He knew she was scared, but it was kind of "cute" to see her relying so greatly on him over something as trivial as lightning. His eyebrow quirked at himself, as the word "cute" lingered in his mind; it was very unlike him to think of something or anything as cute. He chuckled softly, only Lily heard it, and she finally looked up once more. He got lost in her eyes, but for just a moment.

"Don't worry Lil, I've got you. I won't let something like lightning do you in."

"You probably think I'm some big baby, don't you?"

"No. A lot of people are afraid of lightning…"

His smile melted away quickly; he didn't want to show that he cared around the others. But he was relieved when he felt Lily starting to relax more. Eli was helping her with stating that she wasn't the only one afraid of lightning.

"What are you afraid of Eli?"

He heard her ask and for the moment, he was equally curious as to what the young man was afraid of as well. It sure as hell couldn't have been numbers.

"Clowns! They're just so fre-"

Eli never got to finish, as they heard Lilith gasp and about choked him as she locked her arms tightly around his neck again. Eli just had to open his big mouth and freak her out, once more. Why did it have to be clowns? The kid could have said ANY thing else but that.

"Look at what you've done now!"

"WHAT? How was I supposed to know that she was afraid of those too? I mean, they are freaky! Don't you agree?"

"Eli!"

Author's Notes:

I just wanted to write a drabble kind of focusing on how someone can have an irrational fear of something, with either a reason as to why, or no reason at all. I also wanted to show that Rush will step in for her, when it may seem like a trivial situation. Also, I thought some humor at the end was a nice touch!

Reviews are love!