Thanks for all the fabulous reviews. Since FF is being touchy, I got frustrated with trying to reply to everyone, so instead I'll just give you all a GROUP HUG and say THANKS SO VERY MUCH for reading. Hope you like what's to come. You all rock like a rocking thing!!!

GAME OVER...part 2

It was pitch black dark, John ached from the inside out and fear was now curling up inside him from the pit of his stomach. This was definitely not one of his better days. Realizing that they had to do something, he was about to ask for suggestions when Ronon beat him to it.

"Now what?" The Satedan's voice echoed around them.

Which made John lose track of where he was standing. He'd thought Ronon was to his left for some reason, but now the big guy almost sounded like he was above John. Looking up in total darkness was a bad idea, however, since it left John with a feeling of vertigo and he forced himself not to stumble. He was afraid of what he might step in.

Realizing that Ronon was still waiting for a reply, John countered with, "Good question." He contemplated a moment then asked, hopefully, "You wouldn't happen to have any flashlights hidden somewhere handy, would you?"

"Not today," Ronon replied. "Left them in my other pants."

His reply was so perfectly deadpan that John found himself laughing, and taking note of the fact that someone was being a bad influence on the Satedan. After quelling his laughter, John made a decision. "We need to find a way out, so maybe we can pick a direction, find a wall and follow it." It was all he could think of, even though he really dreaded the thought of moving.

Ronon grunted, sounding like he was somewhere close to John's right elbow. "I'll go first. Wait for my signal." He made a sound like he was already in motion.

Which meant John didn't get a chance to veto that idea. He was the leader and he should go first. He was about ro remind Ronon of that fact when a cry rang out. "Ronon!" John listened hard, hearing only a whooshing sound, then a thud in response. He didn't have to see to know what that sound meant. Only he prayed with all his might that he was wrong. "Ronon?" He whispered the Satedan's name while fighting the urge to move. More than ever, John's instincts were telling him to keep still.

The silence continued, so John got louder. "Ronon!" He waited a twenty second count then felt panic start to sweep over him. "Guess Rodney's rubbing off on me," John muttered, trying to distract himself from what he feared was the truth. But it was freaking being surrounded by darkness, and it was making him one step from insane not knowing if Ronon was dead.

Shaking his head in the hopes of shaking off his fear, John made a mental note not to do that again. Head shaking equaled intense pain in his temples. Pain that made his eyes water and his stomach roil with nausea. It took a moment of shallow breathing to ease both the pain and the nausea, but by then John felt an almost eerie calm. He made one last attempt to call Ronon and when the Satedan didn't answer, John tapped his radio.

No surprise that he got no response. He hadn't expected too. But he had to do something. "Think, John," he chided himself. "What would Rodney do?" The answer came to him in a rush and almost made him laugh. "Panic. Bad idea. Um...there has to be a way to make the lights come on!" And in that moment it hit John like a slap in the face. He was on Atlantis and Atlantis liked him. A lot. She turned on the lights for him all the time. She let him do a lot of other things too. Things he never told anyone about, not even Rodney. Things like turning on lights and setting the temperature in his room just the way he wanted, and she even played music for him at night. Haunting melodies he'd never heard before and he had yet to figure out where the music came from. Maybe, when he and Ronon were back to the others and safe, maybe he would tell Rodney about the music.

Right now he needed to focus on finding out if Ronon was alive. So he closed his eyes, even though it seemed almost stupid to do so in the dark, and concentrated on making it light. After a moment he sensed a change around him, but he kept his eyes closed for the moment, still thinking lights and on and bright. Then he took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and opened his eyes.

"Oh...shit," John blurted out, as he caught sight of his surroundings. The lights were on, almost too bright, and they revealed something that made John almost sway and lose his balance.

He was in a circular chamber with a cross-shaped cat walk for a floor. What he was standing on was a two foot wide beam and one false step meant a forty foot drop to the floor. "That can't be good," John whispered to himself. Because he knew that Ronon must have taken that fall. Swallowing the bile that clogged his throat, John peered over the side. His breath caught in his lungs when he spotted a crumpled figure below.

"Sonofabitch!" John let anger wash away his fear for the moment. He needed to get down to check on Ronon but it didn't look like there was a way other than to jump. The two walkway beams lead to four openings, but John couldn't be sure if one of them would lead to the bottom. But it looked like he was going to have to try them when he spotted something. A ladder.

Shrugging off a sudden wave of vertigo, John propelled himself towards the other walk beam. The ladder was at the intersection of it and the beam he was on. He ignored protesting muscles and the throbbing pain in his temples as he twisted around, stepped onto the first rung and climbed down. The moment he hit the floor he noticed something was odd about it. As worried as he was about Ronon, John took a moment to bounce on it. The stuff beneath his feet was cushiony. Which gave him hope. Maybe it was just soft enough to keep from breaking Ronon.

Rushing over to the Satedan's side, John fell to his knees beside the limp for, reaching out with a shaky hand to feel for a pulse. Release washed over him like a wave when he felt a strong beat under his fingertips. Ronon was alive. He allowed himself a smile and a shuddery breath before almost screaming when fingers banded over his wrist. John drew back his free arm, instinctively forming a fist, only to realize that it was Ronon who gripped him. A Ronon who was staring up at him with pain glazed eyes.

"Hey, big guy," John drawled. "It's just me. You okay?" Sure it was a stupid question, but John felt the need to ask it anyway. Ronon was tough, so maybe he would be able to walk away from this, relatively unscathed.

After a long moment of blinking hard and peering around, Ronon released John's wrist and attempted to sit up. He needed John's help to make it. "What happened?" he finally asked.

John almost felt like laughing, even though he wasn't sure what was funny. He was feeling kind of punch drunk at the moment. Giddy at the fact that Ronon was still alive. "You fell," he replied. "Are you hurt? Is anything broken?" John really really really hoped nothing was broken. Because no way in hell was he going to be able to carry Ronon about.

"Head hurts," Ronon said after a moment, one hand moving to the back of his head.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" John queried, holding up two.

Ronon winced then said, "Two."

Which made John very happy, and grateful that the Satedan had very thick hair. At least they weren't dealing with a bad concussion. Now for the rest of him. "What about your back and legs?" John was almost tempted to cross his fingers as he waited for an answer.

"I think I twisted my knee." This said with a grimace as Ronon shifted his left leg.

"That's not good," John muttered.

Then Ronon stated the obvious and managed to distract him. "You found the lights."

It was John's turn to grimace. "Sort of." He didn't explain further. Thankfully, Ronon wasn't a man who needed details.

"Know where we are?" Ronon had shifted up a bit more and was glancing about as he asked.

"Haven't a clue," John replied. "Radio is still dead so we're still on our own. Can you stand?" John rose to his feet then held out a hand, already bracing himself to haul Ronon upright. He knew this wasn't going to be easy on either of them if Ronon's leg wouldn't support him, at least a little. And it sucked all the more because John didn't have anything to bind it with to help.

Gritting his teeth, Ronon accepted John's hand and rose to his feet. He balanced on his good leg for a moment, sucked in a breath, then eased his weight onto the bad leg. It buckled almost immediately.

John caught Ronon, staggering a bit, feeling his own aches and pains flare up. "Maybe you should rest a bit," he suggested. "I can scout around and maybe find something useful." He was thinking a wheelchair would be good about now.

"No, we stay together!" Ronon stated, his tone sharp and firm. "It's safer that way and you know it," he added before John could protest. "And it's the only way I can keep an eye on you."

"Hey!" John was offended. Slightly. "You're the one who fell down," he pointed out.

Ronon gave him the Satedan equivalent of a stink eye. "Where's my knife?" he asked.

John glanced around, spotting the blade a few feet away. It was fortunate that Ronon hadn't landed on it and stabbed a vital organ or something, considering how shitty there luck was at this point. He picked it up, grimacing as he bent over and every muscle in his body protested. John made sure to hide his reaction as he walked over to Ronon to give his weapon back. "There's a door over there," John said, pointing off to his left. He had spotted it while grabbing the knife.

"Let's go." Ronon took one step, limping heavily, teeth gritted so hard John could hear the grinding sound and it made his own teeth ache.

"Lean on me," he ordered, moving to Ronon and slipping under one arm.

Ronon looked like he was going to push away for a moment, but then he accepted John's help and they moved off. Slowly.

It felt like it took hours to reach the doorway, but when John glanced at his watch it had only been a couple of minutes. Long, painful, minutes. He could tell that Ronon was trying not to put too much weight on him, but even a bit of weight made John's body ache from the strain of keeping them both upright.

But they made it through the doorway and, glory be, into a lighted corridor that looked perfectly normal. Which, at this point, kinda creeped John out. Mainly because he realized it had glass walls. Walls, through which, he could see water. Which meant they were below sea level. After a moment of outright staring, the panic faded into awe. "Wow," he whispered.

"Hope the walls don't crack," Ronon responded, obviously less impressed with the sight.

"Bite you tongue!" John shot back. He didn't want them buying trouble, it seemed to find them on it's own just fine. Thank you.

Ronon was frowning. "Why would I do that?" he queried.

It took John a moment to realize Ronon was taking his words at their literal meaning. "It's just a figure of speech," he replied. "It means don't say that cause it might come true. All things considered right now, I don't want to invite trouble."

"Good point." Ronon shifted a bit, wincing, then leaning back heavily on John. "We should keep moving."

"Yeah." John knew they should but he'd really prefer sitting down and taking a nap. Still, he shrugged Ronon's arm more firmly into place over his shoulder, then forged ahead.

OoO

Rodney was getting worried. As in massively worried. They had been searching for six hours with no sign of Sheppard and Ronon. That could not be good. It didn't help that Elizabeth radioed them for updates every hour. Rodney hated having to tell her they hadn't found them yet.

Right on cue, Elizabeth called again. "Rodney, anything?"

"No!" He snapped, then he sighed a deep breath to calm himself. "Look, when we do find them," Because they so would. "You will be the first to know. Okay?"

"Okay." Elizabeth seemed to get the hint. "I'm just worried."

Teyla tapped into the channel. "We all are, but we will find them."

A moment of silence then Elizabeth replied, "I know you will. I'll let you get back to it." She signed off.

Rodney sighed again. If they didn't find them soon, he was going to start panicking.

Lorne tapped McKay on the shoulder. "Where to now?"

"I have no clue," Rodney admitted, shaking his life signs detector. Piece of crap was worthless.

"What do your instincts tell you?" Teyla countered, her hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently.

Rodney looked at her and saw worry in the dark gaze, but he could also see that she believed in him and he wasn't going to disappoint her. Or Sheppard and Ronon, for that matter. Puffing out his chest a little, Rodney took a moment to gather his composure, then he nodded to himself and strode off. His instincts were sending him back the way they came. They had run into a dead end but there was something drawing him back there. They had nothing else to go on, so Rodney was going to listen to what his gut was telling him. That Sheppard and Ronon were there, just waiting to be found.

OoO

John wondered how long they had been walking. It felt like hours and yet the corridor didn't seem to end. They turned and curved at times and he was beginning to think they were just making one giant circle around Altantis. He really hoped they weren't. Ronon was limping badly, leaning more and more heavily on John, and his own aches and pains were making themselves felt, particularly his head ache. Pain was throbbing in his temples, keeping beat with his heart, and it was starting to make him feel nauseous.

"Break time," John stated, inching Ronon over to the wall. He eased the Satedan down, plopped down beside him while stifling a moan, then reached for his water bottle. He watched Ronon grab his own. "How's the leg?"

"Hurts," Ronon grunted. "How's the head?"

John almost managed a grin at that. Ronon didn't miss anything. "Hurts," he allowed.

Ronon was silent for a time, maybe five minutes, then he started struggling to get on his feet.

"What are you doing?" John was content to sit there for a couple of hours. Although he wished he'd thought to bring a powerbar or two with him.

"We need to keep moving or we'll get too stiff to move." As he spoke, Ronon managed to get to his feet. He then reached down, gripped John by the arm and hauled him up with far too much ease for someone who was injured.

It ruffled John a bit that Ronon could manhandle him so easily, but he shrugged it off. For now. They had more pressing concerns at the moment. "Okay, we keep going," he said, since they really didn't have a choice. So he slung Ronon's arm over his other shoulder this time and they headed off.

After a time John thought he heard something. A whooshing sound maybe.

Ronon interrupted his listening. "Feels like we're in a maze," he stated.

"Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing," John replied. He was going share his belief that they were circumfrencing Atlantis, when he heard the noise again. Only louder.

"Do you hear that?" Ronon interjected, his body tensing.

John was about to reply when it hit him what it was. The sound of water. Rushing water. "Oh shit!" he hissed, as the first wave came around the far corner. It swirled around them so fast that John couldn't even get them turned to head the other way. He found himself stumbling in the waist high water, gripping Ronon for support as much as Ronon was gripping him for the same. But in the end it was a moot gesture. The second wave came, higher than the first, slamming into them like a cement wall.

Sucking in a breath, John tried to keep a hold on Ronon, not wanting them to be separated. But the last thing he remembered, before darkness claimed him, was the pain of Ronon being ripped out of his grasp.

Then John was being swept away.

THE END...of part 2