Almost

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard awoke to an insistent noise coming from his quarters' door. With a groan he rolled of the bed, snatched a pair of his usual uniform bottoms and put them over his boxers and went to the door. As soon as he opened it, a very noisy but happy McKay walked in.

"Come on sleepyhead, Elizabeth approved the mission. Oh and Colonel? Put some clothes on your skinny butt!!"

"Yeah yeah. I'll be ready in 10 minutes. Now shoo!!" After McKay was gone, he grabbed a shower then changed into his uniform. About 15 minutes later, he walked into the briefing room. As he entered, faces turned to him.

"Sorry I'm late." He said sheepishly.

"Very well. As I was saying, the planet , according to Major Lorne, isn't very hostile." Weir carried on. "Not many villagers are dangerous but there is a civil war going on and I suggest that you don't get involved with it. Not even if your lives are threatened. We can't risk a war considering we have wraith hive ships on the way." Weir stopped talking and looked at Sheppard.

"What? I won't get involved unless they attack me!" John exclaimed back knowing what she would say.

"I wasn't going to say anything about that. Are you sure Beckett allowed you to go back to active duty?" A couple of weeks ago, Sheppard was the victim of some people whose planet was at war with each other. Of course Sheppard got injured when he tried to break the two people up. The damage caused was a stab wound to his side.

"Yeah, it wasn't even that deep." He defended.

"You were stabbed! I swear if you come back injured after splitting some people up, I will kill you myself!!" She joked.

"Erm…Ok. I won't stop anyone from killing themselves." He replied. When the conversation was over, Weir cleared them to go but to be safe. John got up but winced when the stitches in his side pulled. He closed his eyes at the slight pain and nausea. Suddenly he felt a cool hand on his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes and looked into Teyla's.

"I'm ok. Just got up too fast". He smiled at her raised eyebrow. "Honestly, I'm fine". She backed away.

"Ok, but I do not believe you should go on this mission. Myself, Ronon and Rodney can handle this." As soon as she finished talking, John shook his messy head.

"No, I'm fine. And as I said, I just stood up too quickly" He tried his most charming smile and this time it worked. It surprised him how his smile seemed to make Teyla back off. Not that he wanted her to back off. He always seemed to like her ways and when she gets confused and looks towards him to explain him what the meaning of the thing that makes her confused, he loves it. He loves it when she always takes care of him when he gets stunned.

"Ok, but don't try and wean yourself out of the next time you do this" She smiled that adorable smile of hers.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jumper Bay

"We all ready?" Sheppard asked his team. He received affirmative nods before he contacted the control room confirming them that they're ready to leave. As usual, Weir's good luck was heard and, as usual, Ronon just grunted and the rest just said thanks.

Half an hour later, they were standing outside some ruins that McKay wanted to check out. Sheppard just secured the perimeter and, after that was done, started kicking stones at McKay. Soon, Ronon joined in, but his kicks were harder than Sheppard's and you usually heard loud cursing from when it struck him on the head. This time Ronon kicked it, it hit McKay's butt and a snicker couldn't be kept in. The snicker then became a howling laugh when McKay rubbed his rear end. Nearby, Teyla watched the commotion, and even she started laughing. Ronon was just grunting but a slight smirk could be recognised.

"Oww!! Is this pick on McKay day or something?! Don't you have anything else better to do than bug the hell out of me?" Rodney's face had turned a purple colour,

"McKay…breathe. That's it buddy. Now, we are bored, so can we go now or else I'll miss the foot…" Sheppard stopped in the middle of the sentence when a whistling sound could be heard. Ronon and Teyla also heard this but McKay was oblivious to the noise.

"Yeah well you could at least shut up and let me do my job!…" McKay shouted back. As the others were listening to what the noise was, McKay just sat there and mumbled.

"McKay.."

More mumbling.

"McKay…"

More mumbling.

"Oh for God's sake…MCKAY!!!"

That got his attention.

"WHAT!"

"Will you shut up for a moment!" That was Ronon. He was a man of little words, but when he spoke, it was shocking.

"Oh, I, erm…suppose so…"McKay shut up.

At that time, the whistling noise became louder. He was just about to talk to McKay when he realised what it was.

"BOMB!!! GET DOWN!" He threw himself over Teyla as she was closer. The impact of their bodies on the floor was like a bullet being torn through his shoulder. It was then he noticed he dislocated his shoulder and possibly ripped side . He notice Ronon had done the same for McKay. They didn't seem injured. He felt Teyla start moving beneath him and winced in pain when her movements jarred his shoulder. As if sensing his injury, she stopped. The bomb could be heard ticking down. It was a mere minute when it exploded. He was aware of himself and Teyla being thrown through the sky and landing on the gravel. The impact sent his head crashing into the earth. He could see Ronon and McKay lying on the grass next to them with their eyes concentrated on the hole that was forming beneath them. He was aware of Teyla talking to him but his eyes closed. She patted his face to keep him awake, but the earth beneath them had started to give way to reveal a mine or something along those lines. Just as darkness was surrounding him he heard his name being called before he blacked out.