A/N: This has truly been a great experience for my first posted story! You all have made it quite memorable. I hope this chapter continues the story and doesn't disappoint.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis or it's wonderful characters.
Spoilers: Through Season 4 - Quarantine.
7 – Murphy's Law
Sheppard peeked his head in the door and looked at her for a sign that she was ready. "Tarah and I were just finishing here, Colonel," Dr. Keller said as she and the healer of the village stood.
Atlantis traded medical supplies and knowledge with the people of Pantar. In turn their healer supplied Atlantis with knowledge of different homeopathic remedies. Many that they had traded so far had helped with different rashes and irritants that the teams had returned with on many of their off world missions. Just a week ago one of the captains came back with what looked like a very serious case of poison ivy, and she didn't even want to think about all of the things the botany lab had encountered.
Dr. Keller and Tarah stepped outside and joined SGA-1, who were already gearing up for the hike back to the gate.
Jennifer handed one of her medical bags off to Ronon and turned to Sheppard. "Tarah's staff has prepared a lunch for us to take for our trip back. She has told me of a plant that I would like to get a sample of on the way back. It's on the other side of the lake we passed near the gate. It would be a lovely place to have our lunch."
"Well, it sounds like a good plan to me, Doc,." Sheppard agreed as one of Tarah's staff came out with the provisions.
Tarah began to hand the sacks containing their lunch to Ronon when John intervened. "Thank your staff for this Tarah, but letting Ronon or Rodney carry the provisions is never a good idea, like kids in a candy store."
Tarah gave Keller an odd look of confusion.
She grinned at Tarah and explained, "He means they are both always hungry, and we may not have anything left for a picnic by the time we get to the lake if they are allowed to carry the food." Jenn leaned in and hugged the woman, "Until next time, take care."
"And you," Tarah replied.
Jennifer stuck the last bite of her lunch into her mouth and looked around while chewing. It was beautiful here beside the lake, and she felt a twinge of homesickness at the sight.
Ronon must have sensed something in her demeanor because he reached out and touched her shoulder. "You ok, Doc?"
"Yeah, just thinking of home, I'm fine. This really looks like something I might see at home."
"Your world must be beautiful," Ronon observed.
"Yes it is, but there are many places in the Pegasus that are beautiful. Atlantis is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen."
Ronon agreed, "More than I'd ever imagined."
Sheppard, who was lounging back relaxing like the others, spoke up. "So are we about ready to go? Really don't want to be falling asleep and missing our return trip. It'd be awfully embarrassing to have Lorne's team find us here napping."
Jennifer grinned at the image of that before speaking up. "I need to take a hike to the far side of the lake to get a few of those plants Tarah told us about. She said they grew across the lake where there had been some volcanic activity a long time ago. It seems to grow the best in that type of soil."
She stood up to get started. "I'll just hike around real quick and retrieve a couple of the plants for the Botany lab, and then I'll be ready."
Sheppard cleared his throat and spoke as Ronon stood up next to Jenn. "Doc, I can't let you go traipsing around the lake by yourself."
Jennifer was about to protest that surely walking around the lake would be uneventful, but Ronon spoke up "I'll go with the Doc."
"Great," Sheppard said as he smirked at the Satedan. "I thought you might. Well off with you then. You're holding up my beauty sleep."
There wasn't much conversation walking around the lake, but Jenn didn't mind. Ronon had slowed his pace and they were strolling through the woods as if it was a casual walk. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was pleasant. It made her forget for a moment that they were in a different galaxy and on a mission.
After some time Jennifer struck up a conversation. "Was Sateda like this?"
"There were parts of it like this, but where I was before the end was more like what your bigger cities look like. Lots of buildings, roads and things."
"We have those where I'm from, but getting out of town and enjoying this type of scenery was always wonderful." The moment seemed so intimate that Jennifer's thoughts began to run, wondering if he ever thought about taking her hand or any of the many other thoughts that skittered through her mind.
Suddenly Jennifer felt Ronon grab for her as the bottom fell out of her world. For a second she was free falling and the next she suddenly stopped. She heard an "oomph" from Ronon as she looked around to gather her wits. She found herself sprawled across Ronon's body. As the initial shock subsided the doctor in Jennifer kicked in.
"Ronon, are you ok? Did you hit your head? Did I hurt you? I am so sorry…"
Ronon place his hands on her hips and tightened his grip to get her attention. "I'm fine, Doc, just had the wind knocked out of me."
Realizing suddenly that not only was she still laying on top of Ronon, but also that she was probably the reason that he got the wind knocked out of him she quickly sprang off of him. "I'm… I…sorry about that." Jennifer stumbled through knowing that her face was scarlet in color.
Ronon slowly got to his feet and Jennifer tried not to look at him. "How are your ribs?" she asked quietly.
She felt Ronon's finger come to rest under her chin and he applied pressure to lift her gaze to his. "I'm fine, Doc."
Jennifer saw that he was smirking and ducked her head again. "So…," she looked around and realized they were in a very large hole in the ground. It reminded her of the pits that she had seen in some of the old jungle movies that were dug as traps for tigers and things and then covered with branches and leaves to disguise them. "I guess we fell." She instantly regretted stating the obvious, but the need to say something had gotten the better of her.
It was a pretty deep hole, and as she continued to look around she felt a shiver run up her spine. Jennifer tried her ear piece to raise the rest of the team to their predicament. "Colonel Sheppard, come in." She waited and looked at Ronon with a worried expression when he didn't respond after a few seconds. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Dr. Keller. Can you hear me?"
There was still no response. "They're not answering." Jennifer looked at Ronon, worried. "Well either these broke in the fall or the volcanic activity is causing interference."
"Don't worry, Doc. We'll find a way out, and if we don't return or answer soon they'll come for us. We won't be trapped long either way."
"I'm not really worried about Sheppard coming for us. I'm worried about what must be out there that would cause the need to dig something this deep and wide to capture."
Ronon's gaze widened for a split second and his hand instinctively touched his holstered gun. "We'll be fine."
"If you say so," Jenn said, but her voice didn't hold complete conviction.
On the other side of the lake Rodney impatiently paced as best as he could. "What is taking those two so long? This is not the time for a leisurely stroll in the woods," he whined as he threw his arm in the direction of the other side of the lake. "I have things I need to be doing back in the lab and I am sure that leaving all those underlings in the lab alone was not a great idea even for such a short amount of time."
Without opening his eyes Sheppard spoke up. "I'm sure that they will be here shortly Rodney just try to relax and enjoy this rare opportunity to do nothing."
"Well they had better return in time for us to make it to Atlantis for dinner. They are serving chicken cordon blue, and I have been looking forward to it all day."
Teyla sat up from where she was relaxing to try to calm Rodney a bit. "Have you thought to track their progress on the life signs detector?"
"Yes, yes, of course I have," he said in the most exasperated tone. "I watched as they walked around the lake, stopped to retrieve the plants and have not moved from that spot since. I know that we didn't tell them to hurry, but you would think that common courtesy would prevail. They can sit and visit when we get back. Some of us do have more pressing things to be doing than sitting around this lake, no mater how beautiful and relaxing it may be."
At this Sheppard sat up. "Rodney, how long have they been in the same location?"
Rodney noted a hint of wariness in his voice which immediately put him on a slight defense. "I would have to say about an hour now."
He watched Sheppard exchange a look with Teyla as the two began standing at the same time. "Why didn't you say that to begin with?" came Sheppard's irritated question.
"What? You don't think…"
Rodney was cut off by Sheppard trying his comm. "Dr Keller, come in."
"I already tried that. The volcanic activity on this planet is interfering with the radio frequencies and you'll not be able to reach them that way," Rodney stated, like he wouldn't have tried that already.
He saw Sheppard and Teyla securing their gear and checking their weapons. "Wait a minute you two, Ronon is with her, I am sure that he can handle retrieving a couple of plants."
"Grab your stuff, Rodney. We're moving out."
"Oh, alright," he grumbled as he gathered his gear to head out. "I'm so going to miss dinner," he grumbled under his breath.
Ronon was pacing. Actually more like trudging back and forth. He noticed that Jennifer had given up trying to stay out of his way and was now in the corner watching him.
They were truly stuck. They had searched for any way out, but there weren't many options. He had even had her stand on his shoulders at one point to verify that they were in too deep for her to get out and go for help.
"At least my luck is holding at none," he heard her griping to herself. "After this I will probably never be let off world ever again. I swear it's like Murphy's Law or something. They can't let me go anywhere. Even with the scariest and most successful warrior on the base I end up in a pit while on a peaceful and what should have been uneventful mission…"
Ronon smirked when he heard her refer to him as "the scariest and most successful warrior." He kind of liked hearing her refer to him that way. He had to admit that he wouldn't mind if they did refuse to let her go off world. He'd prefer it. She'd be safer on Atlantis, and he wouldn't have to worry about her as much. As it was he tried his best to be on most the missions she went on.
A nice by-product of her ramblings was that it had obviously taken her mind off of their predicament and the possibility that this wasn't the safest spot to be in while waiting for Sheppard and the team.
As if to prove his thought he heard a low growl coming from somewhere above them. Ronon's gun was quickly pulled and aimed at the opening above. He began backing up towards where he knew Jennifer stood.
"Ronon…" he heard the fear in her voice as he continued to move back towards her. He kept his gun aimed in the direction of the growl and his body between Jennifer and the predator.
"Jennifer, it's going to be ok." He reassured her in a low rumble. He reached under his shirt and extracted a knife holstered along his side and handed it back to her. "Take this. You won't need it, but you should always be prepared."
He felt her hesitate, but was proud of her that it was only for a second. There's the brave and sure doctor who protected Teyla. The strong woman who helped me try to break out of the infirmary. His thoughts came to a halt as he heard another growl from above. It was closer and louder this time.
He felt Jennifer lightly set a hand high on his back. It was distracting in it's hesitancy and tenderness, but he knew that she was finding comfort in the contact. He took a deep breath to clear his mind and remember where they were.
The animal above them made its presence know through a loud shriek and Ronon was sure that the animal was right at the opening and that they would get their first glimpse any moment. He kept his gun aimed at the opening and slowly backed them as far away from the growling as the pit would allow. His body now blocked her from view completely. He could feel her hand still laying high on his back, "we are going to be ok, Jennifer," he whispered. He felt her forehead lay on his back near her hand conveying her acceptance of that statement.
"Isn't retrieving this plant something that the botany department should do not Atlantis' number one off world team?" Rodney complained. They had been hiking for a while now and he was getting impatient.
"Rodney, what does the life signs detector say? Can you tell how much further before we reach them?" Teyla asked in her calming voice.
"Yeah, they should be just around the next bend in this trail…" He was forced to become quiet when John held up his fist for stop. In the distance he could hear a loud shriek of an animal that made all of the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He immediately pulled up his P-90 into position.
"Let's go" whispered Sheppard. "Rodney you have our six."
"Great."
The animal was close enough that they could hear it's steps in the rustle of the leaves above. Some dirt rained down from above, causing Jennifer to close her eyes and hold her breath. She concentrated on Ronon's heartbeat in an effort to keep her mind focused.
"Ronon," she whispered, opening her eyes again and peeking around his back toward the opening. "Do you think they will be here soon?"
Without lowering his eyes or gun he whispered back "Any minute."
The growling seemed to be getting louder again and it was completely unnerving her. A movement above caught out of the corner of her eye. She squeezed both eyes shut. She heard a loud shriek from above and the animal breathing. Ronon was holding his breath and she began to hold hers once more. A moment later she heard his gun blast and felt his body relax. She pulled her head off his back again, but kept her hand resting lightly on his back not ready to let go yet.
"You ok, Doc?" she heard him ask quietly.
"Never been better," she said on a half laugh before the adrenalin rush took over and she felt herself begin to smile and laugh in relief. "I had your back the whole time."
She heard a throat being cleared above. "You two done lolly-gagging? The rest of us would like to go home." She peeked out from her hiding spot behind Ronon to look up at a grinning Sheppard.
"Let's go home, Colonel, I'm not sure how much longer my luck is going to hold for today." She said as she stepped away from Ronon.
Shepherd smirked at her. "I hear you, Doc. Ok everyone, let's get the hell out of here."
