Story: That Point of Death
Author: Keever McD
Spoilers: Brief reference to 'Phantoms'. I have only seen a couple episodes of Season 4 so far, so don't worry about season 4 spoilers.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea of the story. Characters will be returned in more or less the same condition as they were taken. This story was un-beta'd, so all mistakes are me and my own.
"Tell me again why I had to come along on this little field trip, Sir?" Lorne asked with a sigh as he sat down at the base of the tree Sheppard was leaning against.
"Well, with Ronan out of the picture for a bit, I figured we needed an extra gun on the team. And you know the trouble we get into sometimes." Sheppard replied pulling the piece of grass out from between his teeth.
"Sometimes, Sir?"
"Okay, almost every time we leave Atlantis."
"And?"
"…Okay, fine, Rodney is paranoid. He said he'd feel safer if someone extra who knows how to fire a gun besides me and Teyla were watching his back."
"Figures. How do you stand that guy, sir?" Lorne was watching Teyla walking behind Rodney as he darted from one pedestal to the next.
They had found a planet with ruins on it last week, and this was the first time Rodney had had time to come to the planet to check it out. Ronan came down with the flu the day before they left. Beckett suspected one of the inhabitants of the previous planet had it without the team realizing and he had picked it up there and ordered Weir to order Sheppard to tell Roran to stay on Atlantis till he got over it.
"Most times I try to keep myself from shooting him. And then remember that if something really, really bad were to happed to myself, like say, get stuck in the buffer of a Wraith Dart or Atlantis were about to sink, he's the only one who could save our proverbial asses." He put the piece of grass back in his mouth, and smiled, "And then revel in the memory of getting to shoot him. I don't care how aware of the real world I was when I did it, I still like the memory."
Lorne chuckled. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to do that, sir."
"I've wanted to do it again. Just keep hoping he triggers another Wraith machine and maybe we'll both get to shoot him."
Lorne outright laughed that time.
McKay started tugging at his right ear and spun around, glaring at the two soldiers.
"Are you two talking about me?!" He yelled up the hill.
"Maybe." Sheppard replied, nonchalantly chewing on his blade of grass as Lorne turned so he was closer to the tree and facing away from McKay as he tried to control his laughter. "Why, can you tell?"
"Yes, in fact, I've got an itchy ear." McKay stated, matter-of-factly, hands on his hips.
"What the heck does that mean?" Sheppard spat out the grass.
"What? You've never heard that before? If your ear gets itchy it means someone's talking about you."
"Does that count over hundreds of light years and in different languages? Ask Zelenka about it when we get back, maybe he's complaining about you and your new upgrades."
"Har har, I know you guys were talking about me," He turned to Teyla, "Didn't you hear them talking about me?"
"I heard nothing, Rodney, we were several yards away."
"See, if anyone heard anything it woulda been Teyla, now get back to…your doo-hickeys, me and Lorne wanna get out of here."
"Fine. Let's go, there's nothing here anyways." McKay stalked towards the direction of the 'Gate in a huff.
"Yes, there are reasons we call him the Cranky Canadian."
Lorne chuckled again as he fell in line behind Teyla as they walked after McKay.
"That guy must been in a pretty bad mood for him to get this far ahead of us. Never seen anyone get so offended for talking about them." Sheppard said, scanning the trees around them, not seeing any sign of McKay at all in the growing darkness.
"I have not either, Colonel Sheppard," Teyla replied from behind him. "His country on your world must be more sensitive than either of us thought."
"Well, for the record, Lorne started it." Sheppard covered himself as he ducked under an over hanging branch.
Lorne opened his mouth to protest, but didn't get the chance. A green blast arched across his back and he fell to his knees with a gasp. Sheppard and Teyla spun at the sudden exhalation of air and raised their guns at the grove of trees behind them.
Colonel Sheppard went into autopilot from there.
"Teyla, grab the Major!" He yelled, firing into the trees.
Teyla dropped to her knees beside the Major. "Major Lorne, are you all right?"
Lorne couldn't answer. He knelt on his hands and knees, eyes wide, and mouth gapping, shaking uncontrollably. Teyla slipped her head under his arm and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, pulling him to his feet and mostly dragging him down the slightly worn path.
Sheppard started running sideways down the path behind them, keeping his gun pointed behind him at the trees. Lorne's boot caught on a root in the ground causing Teyla to pitch forward and Sheppard dove behind a tree to cover them. He clicked his radio.
"McKay, where the heck are you?"
No reply.
"McKay!!"
Still no answer.
Sheppard fired another round at the trees and dove towards Lorne and Teyla, quickly dragging Lorne up over his shoulder, while trying to pull Teyla up at the same time.
He barely made it two steps when two green bolts shot out of the trees, hitting both Sheppard and Teyla. Sheppard's arms went limp and his two companions fell to the ground. He half turned towards the people emerging from the trees and finally fell to his knees and then onto his side.
The last thing he saw before his sight faded was Lorne's face, eyes open, empty and vacant.
A/N: This is only my second story that I have released to the public. I know its not that great, but I can't think of anyways to improve it. I;m working on another chapter, but I'm a little stuck...