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It was still warm, even though the sun was slowly starting to set on the horizon. John watched Elizabeth behind his sunglasses as she said her goodbyes to the five older women of the village. A small hand tucking the hem of her vest made her look down at the dark haired girl who held two little kittens in her arms.

"Oh, no, honey." She kneeled down, smiling to the girl and reaching to touch the silky hair of the small kitten. "We can´t take your kittens."

"But I want you to have them." Lora said before placing the kittens on her lap. "This is Shep," she pointed the black kitten. "And I named this one Izzie. After you." The black and white one meowed softly, placing the silky little paws against her arm and reaching up.

"I..." Elizabeth started objecting before changing her mind and smiling to Lora. "Thank you, Lora." She took a better hold of the kittens and stood up. "We will take good care of them, I promise."

She glanced at Teyla who stood behind her and gave the small kittens to her. Teyla put them carefully on the small bag she carried and smiled to Lora, promising she would carry them home carefully.

Elizabeth turned to look at the elders one more time, receiving approving smiles from the women. Lora was a great granddaughter of the eldest and her gift has been a test. Their friendship was now accepted.

With last goodbyes they left the village and started their long walk back to the jumper. Ronon and Teyla walked ahead of them, Rodney strolling slowly behind, eyes fixed on his computer tablet.

Elizabeth glanced at John as they walked in silence. His arm rested casually against his P-90, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. He was wearing a black tee shirt and pants, military issued boots and the vest that covered his upper body. Arms and face slightly tanned because of his time on the sunny planet. And he was smirking at her as he caught her staring.

"What?" She asked, turning her eyes away.

"Nothing." He was still smirking smugly.

She sighed in mock annoyance at him and he chuckled softly. "It was a good day." He changed subject smoothly.

"It was, wasn´t it." She smiled in return and he was happy to see the smile reaching her eyes.

"Guys!" Rodney called and they stopped, turning back to look at him. "I´m getting some interesting readings behind that hill. We should check it out."

John frowned and walked to where the scientist was standing. "Define interesting."

"Interesting like we should go and check it out."

John glanced at his wrist watch. "It´s getting dark soon."

"It´ll only take a minute. We should really check this out."

Teyla glanced at the small bag she was carrying. "I believe the kittens should be fed soon. Maybe I should head back to the jumper." Her words made both Ronon and John turn to look at her frowning. John because he wasn´t sure if he wanted a member of his team to turn to a female James Herriot, and Ronon because he was pretty sure the kittens would get his place in her bed for the next day or so.

"Fine, go and feed the damn cats." John sighed, almost starting to understand why she chose the cats before listening Rodney ramble about something that should have been interesting.

"I´ll go with her. In case she needs help, or something..." Ronon said, earning a soft smile from Teyla.

John glared at the taller man suspiciously. "Help. Right."

"Well, colonel," Elizabeth smiled at him softly. "I think I´ll keep you company then."

"Very well." He smiled at her in return and then turned to look at Ronon and Teyla. "You two, return to the jumper and we´ll be back in half an hour. Rodney, lead the way."

"I can´t believe she chose the cats before this. I always thought she was the adventurous one." Rodney glanced up from his computer.

"The kittens were a gift from the great granddaughter of the village elder. We really need to take good care of them." Elizabeth smiled softly.

"I´m a cat person as much as anyone. In fact, I had a cat back in Earth. Gave it to my neighbor." The look on Rodney´s face softened a little. "I miss him."

Ten minutes later John took off his sunglasses and glanced at his watch again. "Come on, McKay." He called, slightly annoyed that they hadn´t found anything yet.

Elizabeth smiled at the scientist´s reply coming from the tree line and turned to look at John. "Give him a few more minutes."

He nodded, a hand coming to rest against his gun. "So, what are you gonna do with the kittens?"

"Me?" She asked smiling. "I believe the other one is yours, colonel. Being named after you and all."

"I don´t want a cat."

"Well who said I want one?"

He smirked at her and she chuckled softly. "We´ll think of something."

"We ain´t givin´ them to Rodney, that´s for sure."

"Why not? He loves cats, you heard him yourself."

"It´s my cat."

She chuckled again. "You are one complicated man, colonel. You know that?"

"But you love the challenge."

It was a well planned ambush. For a long time they had waited for the right time. Hiding in the shadows, watching them. Waiting. Until now.

Even with years of training, and simply living under the constant threat that the Wraith were, John felt the pain on his side before realizing they had been ambushed. The blast hit him on the back, ripping through the vest that should have protected him.

She was close enough to grab him when his legs gave in and he stumbled forward, but she had no strength to hold his dead weight and she slid on the ground with him.

His shirt was soaked and she felt the warmth of the deep red blood dripping through her fingers as her hands pressed tightly against the wound.

"God." The word escaping his lips was filled with agony as he struggled to breathe, pain burning in his lung with every breath.

"No, don´t move." She tore her eyes away from the wound to look at his pain twitched face.

If she would have been a soldier, her attention wouldn´t have been so blindly on the man who was slowly bleeding to death. She had no training for situations like that. The few hours she had spent with Carson to go through the basic first aid hadn´t covered the blast gun wounds. She used her other hand to reach for her radio, leaving bloody stains against her white tee shirt.

"Ronon, Teyla, this is Weir, Colonel Sheppard´s been hit, I need a med—" Her voice trailed off when she realized someone was standing next to them. She lifted her eyes to look straight to the weapon that was pointed to her.

Her hand moved down from the radio slowly, her eyes staring the gun. John had slipped into a painless state of unconsciousness, still bleeding on the ground through her hands.

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