Summary – Escaping from an offworld pursuer, Rodney and John take shelter in an Ancient building.

A/N - Written for x_erikah_x in the LJ comment fic exchange. Prompt at the end.

The Accidental Incident

John and Rodney ran into the small building to escape their pursuer on the world they were exploring.

Rodney leant against the wall and placed a hand on his heaving chest as he gasped, "Did we lose it?"

John tilted his P90 up and around outside the door. "I think so." He tapped his radio, "Ronon, Teyla, report."

"We are both fine, John. We outran that beast and are heading towards the structure now."

John turned into the quite clearly Ancient room they had been heading for. Being chased by an oversized buffalo had sped them up. Just a little. "Well, what do we have here then?"

Rodney was still wheezing and was now bent double at the waist to catch his breath.

John walked a little way inside and clicked his P90 light on to pierce the gloom. The door slid shut behind him and he jumped.

He glared at the door and said slowly, "Okay. That's a little disconcerting. McKay?"

Rodney coughed and straightened up. John tracked the light over his teammate's chest to avoid blinding him, and then out into the room again.

Rodney pulled a scanner and torch out of his tac vest pockets and tapped the small screen. He frowned as he spoke, his face ghostly in the pale light and cast of the shadows shifting eerily across his features. "Minimal power reading. It looks like there are some metallic objects and motors imbedded in the walls. But I can't tell what they are or what this place was used for."

Rodney pointed his torch to the left of the room at a small console. "That should help out."

John pushed ahead of Rodney and warily used his eyes to scan the floor and ceiling and walls for any traps or danger. The room was rectangular and about the size of a couple of Puddle Jumpers end to end. No purpose was immediately apparent, unless it was a nice Ancient double garage. Right… on a planet, with no other buildings nearby? Unless a ten foot tall buffalo counted as a building. John didn't think so. He'd just have to wait for Rodney's analysis to satisfy his curiosity.

Rodney started fumbling with his computer when they reached the console. He plugged it in and pressed a few buttons while John covered him and checked in with Teyla and Ronon. They were nearly there now, but the door was still shut.

Rodney was soon deeply engrossed in his computer. John asked, "Can you open the door from here?"

Rodney glanced up and then waved his free hand about as he muttered, "No. There's a panel to the left of the door you'll need to press."

John nodded and headed back, leaving Rodney alone at the console. It was a completely empty room, so he didn't see any harm in it.

When he reached the panel, he pressed it, but nothing happened. He rolled his eyes and pressed it again, willing the stupid thing to work and open the damn door.

The door slid open, but the lights also came on and there was a metallic grating and swishing sound, followed by a harsh yelp behind him. John turned around with his eyes wide and watched as Rodney was shoved to the centre of the room by a metal vice around his midsection, attached to an arm coming from the wall. Another one coming from the other side of the room moved towards him and John had a brief glimpse of a sharp metal blade attached to the end before it slashed across Rodney.

John immediately thought and spoke, "Off, off, OFF!" As the blade sliced Rodney open, splattering blood on the floor, walls and ceiling from the speed of the arm cutting him.

The lights suddenly went out and there was the swishing sound and grate again, followed by a muffled thud of something hitting the floor heavily.

John called out, "Stay down!" But judging by the amount of blood he had seen, he was certain that Rodney didn't need telling and probably couldn't do anything else.

Light streamed in from the door and John spotted Rodney lying face down in a growing pool of his own blood. John's heart leapt up into his throat and he furrowed his brow, "McKay?" he called softly as he got nearer.

There was a small whimper and Rodney bunched one of his hands into a loose fist.

"Rodney?"

John crouched down and wrinkled his nose at the strong and unpleasant coppery smell coming from his friend's spilled blood. He just hoped there weren't any predators of the same gigantic proportions as the buffalo nearby to sniff them out.

John reached forward with a shaking hand, he tried to prepare himself for the worst as he carefully checked Rodney's back for injuries. Finding none, he gently rolled Rodney over… and gasped.

Rodney mouth was open and he was still breathing, but barely. His tac vest, shirt and jacket had a single large gash through them, and John could see there was a long and deep laceration across Rodney's chest underneath. But Rodney's neck had also been cut and his hand was split open where he had tried in vain to protect the rest of his body from the blade.

John opened his mouth in shock and his mind went blank at the seriousness of what the room had done to Rodney while acting on his command.

He quickly shook himself out of the daze and clawed together all his first aid knowledge, grabbing the bandages out of his vest. He pressed one against Rodney's neck, which seemed to be the main culprit for the blood loss, and tapped his radio. "Ronon, Teyla. Rodney's been hurt. I want you to sprint back to the gate and call in a Jumper and Beckett."

Teyla responded breathlessly, "What has happened?"

"He's been cut, he's losing a lot of blood. You know that animal chasing us? I think we've found the Ancient equivalent of an abattoir used to process the meat."

"We will hurry."

She cut the connection and John unzipped Rodney's vest and pressed another bandage down on his bleeding chest. Rodney's breath suddenly hitched and he opened his eyes. "Sh-sheppard!" he gasped as he writhed on the floor under John's hand. "Hurts…"

John could feel Rodney shaking in pain and fear, and said as offhand as he could, "Hey, buddy, looks like the room thought you were a tasty buffalo."

Rodney winced and pressed one hand against his leg where the blade had sliced open the delicate flesh of his palm. Rodney blinked up at him tiredly, "That isn't funny, Sheppard."

John kept up the pressure and felt Rodney's rapid breaths transferring through the bandage on his chest. He soon had to lay a second bandage over the one on Rodney's neck where his rapid heartbeat soaked it through.

Rodney furrowed his brow and shut his eyes. He said lazily, "Are you doing that?"

"What?"

"Making the room spin? Are you having a party? I don't like parties."

"No, Rodney. You got cut, remember? You've lost a lot of blood."

"Oh. I feel really dizzy."

"I know. Just hold on."

"This sucks."

That could be the understatement of the decade…

John knew Rodney was getting weaker from hypovolemic shock. He stared intensely into Rodney's face until the injured man opened his eyes and looked up at him, "Stay awake for me, Rodney. Ronon and Teyla have gone to get help. Not much longer now."

At least John hoped it wouldn't take too long.

This was an accident. After all, John had no idea what the room would do after his gene powered it up. He'd only wanted to open that stupid door. But a niggling doubt formed and he found himself speaking before he could really think. "Rodney, I'm really sorry. I didn't…

"It's okay."

"But I did this to you."

"No… the room did it. You just happened to turn it on with that overactive gene of yours."

The whine of a Jumper engine soon reached John's ears, and it was like the sweetest music to him. But Rodney's face was slack and pale by now, and blood splashes covered him as well as John and the floor. John had to swallow down the bile, even as he was pried away and Carson's team took over.

John glanced down at his hands, they were stained bright red and he grimaced. Rodney's sticky blood was all over him, which is what he deserved for causing the horrific injuries. He just wished the mess had stayed inside his friend or he could put it back in.

Teyla and Ronon came over and firmly guided John into the waiting Jumper behind a now well bandaged, intubated and fluid tube pierced Rodney.

The heart monitor hooked up to him beeped rapidly, but it still kept on beeping, and John felt a little of the heavy weight in his chest easing as they flew back to Atlantis.

A/N – The prompt was: Rodney whump with lots of blood and pain. John has to take care of him and overcome his OMG!RODNEY!BLOOD shock. Angst and guilt, the more the better. Bonus cookies for John POV and trapped offworld.

How could I resist something like that?!