Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard watched as his best friend sat slumped up against the tree. One word perfectly described the essence that Dr. Rodney McKay projected as he leaned carefully up against the rough bark of the fir-like tree: wretched. The colonel shook his head as he started across their campsite to check on the scientist.

Rodney had started the day as excited as John had ever seen him. Preliminary sensor readings indicated the possible presence of a ZPM on a planet that appeared abandoned; that was the finding of the first team sent to investigate the planet. Their report had convinced Elizabeth Weir and John Sheppard that they should check it out one more time, and for Sheppard's team to verify that they could remove the ZPM without causing any harm to the population, should one exist, or cause any negative impacts to the planet's environment or stability. Destroying planets – or solar systems –was not a habit, or a legacy, that either of them wanted the expedition to become known, or notorious, for.

John, Rodney, Teyla Emmagen and Ronon Dex had made a thorough scan of the planet from the Jumper, McKay finding no life signs from their position in the atmosphere. They landed the Ancient spacecraft on the planet near where the readings were strongest, hoping for a quick in and out once they'd verified that the planet was truly deserted.

They found the village that the previous mission had described. No sign of life could be found and by its appearance, the village hadn't been lived in for decades.

On the far side of the small town, the readings spiked wildly. An impressively large stone building seemed to house whatever was causing the strong and clear indicators of a significant energy presence. McKay was practically bouncing up and down, highly reminiscent of Tigger in his enthusiasm; did that then make John Winnie the Pooh? Rodney was sure it was a 'ZED'PM. John had surprised himself when suddenly, one day not too long ago, he'd realized that he had come to find that particular Canadian-ism endearing.

Sheppard took point and Rodney stayed immediately behind him, nearly tripping the Air Force man more than once in his anxious excitement to see what boon the energy readings had in store for them.

As fate would have it, none of them would find out what the energy reading was. As soon as John and Rodney stepped over the threshold, a loud and strident alarm went off. The decibels grew by the millisecond. John's command of "Get the hell outta here" had Teyla and Ronon stopped cold at the doorway, their forward movement cut short by the demand of their team leader.

John moved swiftly up next to Rodney. The scientist in McKay seemed to trump the frightened-out-of-his-mind-by-the-shrieking-noise team member. The colonel grabbed Rodney's arm and pulled him toward the entrance they had passed through just moments before.

Rodney's slower response set him up to be in a better position when sharp objects started hurtling towards them from the walls and into their path to safety; 'better position' being a relative term – it had definitely given McKay a better perspective on the trouble they were now in. Rodney saw, or sensed what was happening. He pushed Sheppard toward the opening with surprising force. His reward for those heroics was sharp needles, knives, arrows, pieces of wood and rocks slapping him and embedding in him in his now rush to get out.

Sheppard had landed hard on the ground, his upper body – most of his torso – now lay outside of the building. Only his legs were in danger from the debris. Luckily, the trajectory of the elements shooting towards him was mostly level and up; most of the jagged and heavy objects were just landing on or near his body. One arrow landed in the heel of his boot, another stuck through his BDU pants and lodged just barely through his skin and into his thigh.

The astrophysicist hadn't fared so well. McKay sustained innumerable cuts and deep lacerations, even gouges from the material spewing from the walls of the building. A rock felled him, fortuitously as it turned out. John grabbed for Rodney's arm and pulled him through the doorway.

And then the ground started to rumble, as though they were in a bad action-adventure movie. They were currently surrounded by many stone buildings, definitely not a place any of them wanted to be during an earthquake, if that was indeed what was happening. John yanked the arrow from his leg. It was only embedded superficially and had caused at worst a flesh wound. Rodney had been lucky that no arrow had landed successfully, but several sharp, needle-like objects were sticking in his face and neck. He was quickly covered in blood, but they needed to get away and someplace safe in order for his wounds to be tended to properly.

Rodney had sunk into shock pretty quickly. It was either that or he was in too much pain to speak. Sheppard wasn't too crazy about either option. He was conscious, but that was as far as it went. John Sheppard was always unnerved by a silent Rodney McKay. John took one side of the scientist, Ronon the other, and Teyla covered their six as they headed to the edge of town and toward their ride home.

They had been camped now going on two hours. John walked past the fire and sat down next to his friend. The rumbling from earlier had ultimately turned to the loud sounds of a town collapsing in on itself. The rumbling stopped not long after they were out of town and they decided to rest for the night. McKay's injuries had been many, though in large part minor. There seemed to no longer be a threat from the deserted planet and John decided to let McKay rest before heading for the Jumper. They weren't due back until the morning, so there was no need to worry about contacting Atlantis. All things considered, they had gotten away easy this time.

None of the other three team members would be saying that to McKay.

"How're you doin'?" the colonel asked. Sheppard and Teyla had carefully removed the needles, a painful, uncomfortable process for the expedition's chief science officer. The hit to McKay's head – the one that had knocked him down – had caused a deep and worryingly wide cut on his scalp. It would need stitches. Teyla gently cleaned the rest of the nicks, cuts and scrapes of every size and shape that had been caused by all of those landed projectiles. Rodney had kept his face down and protected, primarily worried about his eyes and showing uncanny composure as his survival instincts kicked in. But the sides of his face, his neck, and especially his hands, had all taken a beating.

Rodney blinked, unable to work up the willpower to hide his abject misery.

"I haven't thrown up in a while," he answered accusingly but with no real venom to his voice.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"No, it's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault," Rodney said tiredly.

"Well, I let you drink too much water," John said, apology evident in his manner. "I'm sorry." Rodney tapped John's forearm, but removed his hand quickly when the action aggravated his cut and bruised hand.

"Yes, and I drank too much water. Let's just leave it at 'We bad'." Sheppard smiled, recognizing that the humor, such that it was, meant that Rodney's injuries probably weren't as bad as they looked, though John wasn't really sure how much that said, considering that McKay looked pretty damned bad.

"Do the cuts still hurt?" John asked. They had treated each cut with antibiotic cream, just in case. The scientist had shown no adverse effects other than the pain; no allergic reaction, no signs of negative reactions caused by poisons or toxins.

"Yes, the cuts still hurt!" Rodney yelled back, followed by a hiss of pain. Teyla and Ronon looked up from across the campfire. "Uh, sorry," Rodney apologized quietly, embarrassed to have made such a scene, and really sorry that the yelling had made his cheeks burn. John looked across the fire at his other two teammates, shaking his head faintly, telegraphing to them that he had things under control.

"It's okay," John said, clasping his hand warmly, gently, on the scientist's forearm. Aside from all of the cuts, McKay had gotten pretty bruised as he struggled to leave the building that seemed to be trying to kill him. "I can give you a shot of morphine," Sheppard suggested tentatively, his hand finally moving down to take McKay's hand in his own.

"What…What are you doing?" Rodney whispered nervously as his eyes shot over to Teyla and Ronon. "You can't…"

"Rodney," John whispered, "it's okay. I told them."

"You…You told them?" his lover shot back. "Why? Why would you tell them?" the scientist asked. It was pretty obvious to John that McKay wasn't too happy about the revelation.

John leaned in close. "I didn't have much of a choice. You were out of it for a while and I…well…"

Rodney watched as John stammered through his confession. Frustrated, angry and tired, McKay challenged, "You, well, what?"

John cocked his head and then with an uncomfortable grin said, "I, um, let it slip out how worried I was about you."

The admission seemed to calm the injured man. A little. "You did?" he asked with a grin that morphed to a pained grimace. John nodded his head, but his eyes had drifted up, looking at the sky, the stars, the treetops, anything but Rodney's face. "What did you say?"

"It's, uh, not what I said that tipped them off," the colonel admitted reluctantly.

"It's not what you said…" Rodney started as he thought through what he'd just been told. John finally looked Rodney in the eyes again and the scientist knew immediately what had happened.

"You kissed me in front of Ronon?" Rodney asked, a lot louder than he realized. He looked quickly across the fire and saw Ronon's shoulders shaking as he laughed. Teyla caught Rodney's eye. She smiled warmly at him, nodding her head to acknowledge him out of courtesy, and then punched Ronon in the arm. Hard. The Athosian and the Satedan began arguing and it was clear that they had forgotten about John and Rodney. For now.

"Teyla was there, too," John responded, not exactly much of a defense. Rodney groaned, putting his hands up to his face. That was followed by a moan of pain as he pulled his sore hands down and away from his sore face. "You okay?" John asked, hating to see this man who had come to mean so much to him in such pain, especially in light of the fact that any emotional discomfort that Rodney McKay was currently feeling fell solely on the shoulders of one John Sheppard.

"No," Rodney whined, leaning his shoulder against John's. "I hurt all over." He paused and then asked worriedly, "How'd they take it?"

"Surprisingly well," John answered. "Teyla thinks it's 'wonderful'," he said, using his fingers to quote around the word.

"She may be an impressive warrior, but she's still a girl," Rodney said in explanation.

"True."

"What about Ronon?" the scientist asked, his face twisted up in concern about how the big man might react to such news. He imagined more bruises on his body, somehow.

"He said, and I quote, 'What's the big secret?' I explained to him about the U.S. military, 'Don't ask, don't tell', blah, blah, blah. He was cool with it. Said basically the Satedan version of 'Whatever floats your boat'."

"Really?"

"You think I'm lyin'?" John challenged.

"Well, no, but…you told them to be discrete?" McKay asked.

"No, Rodney, I told them to tell whoever they pleased. Of course I told them that they couldn't say anything. They understand the consequences if this gets out."

"Mm. Fine." McKay leaned a little heavier on his lover's shoulder.

"Hold on," John instructed. "Sit up a sec," he added. Rodney did as he was told. John pushed him gently away from the tree, scooted in behind him, and then pulled the scientist against his chest. "That feels better, doesn't it?"

"Mm hmm," the weary scientist replied.

John leaned down slightly and kissed Rodney's ear. "I love you," he whispered. The colonel kept his eyes on his other teammates, just in case. He knew his actions now had to be a little uncomfortable for McKay; Sheppard had at least had some time to get used to other people knowing about the change in their relationship.

"This is weird," Rodney said as he, too, kept a close eye on Ronon and Teyla, though the effort was stymied quite a bit by his tired eyes that didn't seem to want to remain open.

"Sorry," John said, removing his lips from Rodney's neck.

"No, don't be sorry. I just don't think we should get into the habit of letting our guard down," Rodney said. More discretely than John's kiss, Rodney put his fingers through John's at their side, the clasped hands still allowing them to show how they felt; Ronon and Teyla wouldn't be able to see what they were doing in the darkness, the fire blurring just enough everything at ground level. McKay added, "Even this," he said, bringing their hands up in emphasis, "is probably a bad idea."

"That sucks," John said.

"It is what it is, John. Until things change."

"Yeah," John agreed. "Still, it's kind of liberating letting Teyla and Ronon in on our secret."

"Kind of," his partner answered through a yawn.

"You should sleep," Sheppard instructed.

"Do you have to take watch?" McKay asked, barely able to get the sentence out. John squeezed him gently, knowing it would probably be the last thing Rodney felt before falling asleep.

"Nah. This planet's pretty dead, I think. Teyla and Ronon offered…" he continued, but realized that he was talking over a slight snore. John smiled crookedly and kissed the top of his lover's head. He looked up to see Teyla and Ronon watching, and smiling. They seemed to have made up. John Sheppard decided that letting their friends in on their little secret was going to make their lives just a little bit easier. At least he hoped that it would.

Yeah, John thought as he held Rodney in his arms. Life is good.

The End.

This story is dedicated to Elisa. In fact, it was written just for you, Elisa. I don't believe there is one of my SGA stories that you haven't commented on. And you have been wonderfully kind, generous and enthusiastic in reviewing these stories. Sadly, your reviews are all posted anonymously, so I never have the chance to send you a proper thank you. I hope this story works as a proper thank you. I know you like your Rodney whump. ;-) Also, please feel free to drop me a line at my email address, which is attached to my profile.

Thanks! DeniseV