Grace braced herself as she stepped through the gate for the first time. In an instant, the five of them were transported to another world.

A bitterly cold one, she discovered.

John looked back to Evan, a little concerned. "Major? Is it just me or is the temperature more on the chilly side this time around?"

Evan looked down at an instrument he was holding. "Yeah. By about 30 degrees."

"Didn't notice," Ronon shrugged, walking forward as if nothing was wrong.

Jennifer rolled her eyes at Ronon. "Come on. I'm sure we can survive a little bit of wind and cold. It's not like there's a blizzard or anything."

Evan and John just looked at each other.

"Onward?" John asked.

Evan looked a little more apprehensive. "With reservations. And with the option to abort if things get any colder. We're not prepared for that."

John looked at Grace and stopping Jennifer from walking further. "You girls going to be warm enough?"

"It's not that bad of a walk," Jennifer remembered. "I think we'll be fine."

She nodded, feeling the bitter cold but knowing once they began walking she'd warm up. "I'm good."

As they walked, Jennifer and Ronon fell in step beside each other while Evan and John walked next to her. She listened as the two men inventoried what they'd brought in case the weather changed suddenly. John and Ronon both had insulated sleeping bags for the women, in case the group had to spend the night outdoors or somewhere without beds. Evan had most of the food. John, despite Jennifer's arguing, carried most of the medical supplies. The girls carried blankets and a few other essential items in their packs, mostly comprised of quick meals and small medical kits.

Grace's head jerked to her right as a man came running toward them. Evan immediately pulled her behind John and him. Ronon did the same with Jennifer.

"He's one of the villagers," John called out. "Peaceful."

"Friends," the man gasped. "Thank you all for coming. I'm Benar. I came to dial the gate to contact you." He continued struggling to breathe, making Jennifer concerned.

"Take your time," she murmured, stepping around Ronon and kneeling next to him since he was doubled over. "Slow, deep breaths."

"No time," he argued. "Two of our children fell ill over night. They are much worse than any of the elders or adults."

Jennifer looked back at their small group. "We need to hurry."

John nodded and then followed Benar. Their pace quickened as they made the two mile journey to the village.

"Ice," the Benar called out. "It's all over the trails. Please be careful." He stuck close to Jennifer since he knew she was the healer and helped guide her over spots he noticed. Ronon flanked her other side, clearly unfazed by the ice and freezing temperatures.

John and Evan, in the mean time, each took a spot nearer to Grace.

"Temperature is falling," Evan murmured to John after checking his device again. "Another ten degrees."

John nodded. "I felt it. We're about half way to the village."

Grace felt the wind cut through her bones.

"You doing okay?" Evan asked in a low voice. "Florida winters don't prepare you for this kind of weather."

"I'm good," Grace answered quickly, wishing she had gloves on. If she stuck her hands in her pockets, it threw her body off balance when they crossed over the ice.

"More ice," Benar warned. "Some of it's recent. And there could be a few small areas with water underneath."

"Water?" John barked. "Are we on a pond?"

"No, it's a stream," Ronon said, pointing to the trail of trees the water had carved through.

John cursed as they slowed down to maneuver around the patches. Soon, it became near impossible.

"I'll walk ahead of you both and try and find the less slick route. If there is one," John said. "Ronon, hang on to Jen."

Evan grabbed hold of her arm. But his action didn't help. Minutes later, the group stilled as they heard a huge cracking noise.

"What was that?" Jennifer asked in a dreaded tone.

Seconds later, Grace found the ground dissolve below her, sending her shrieking as she dropped into frigid cold water. Since Evan had been holding her, he slid into her on his side, sending half of his upper body into the water next to her.

"Stop," Evan yelled as he heard the group rush to them. "Stay back. I've got her."

"Lorne," Sheppard called out tightly.

"I've got her, Sheppard." His eyes never left Grace's. "Okay. One minute and I'll have you out. Can you stand?"

Shivering uncontrollably, she stretched her legs and felt the ground with her feet. "Yeah. Barely. It's not too deep."

"Good," Evan said calmly, even though his own body had begun to shiver. "I'm going to slowly snake back on the ice so that nothing else breaks. When I count to three, I want you to push off and then throw as much of your weight onto the ice. Get as far from the edge as possible. I think I'll be able to pull you from there."

Evan called back to Ronon. "Get the rope out, just in case this doesn't work. It's not deep, so it's just a matter of getting her out and away from the thin ice we're on."

He turned back to Grace. "Ready?"

She nodded. Once he counted to three, she vaulted onto the ice, placing her weight as evenly as possible as Evan grabbed her belt and hoisted her lower body up. They stilled as they heard another cracking sound, but this time nothing gave way.

Evan refused to let go of her. She wanted nothing but to scoot over to be closer to him, half due to the cold and the other just for the comfort.

"We need to crawl over to the group," Evan said. "Can you make it?"

She nodded and attempted to talk through her chattering teeth. "Anything- to get- away- from that- hole."

He sent her a small smile through his own chattering teeth. "Agreed."

Slowly, they each made it over. When it was safe enough, John rushed over to help her as Ronon lifted Evan to his feet.

"Nice work," John said, clearly happy both were out of danger.

Jennifer didn't look as happy. "We need to get them to shelter. Immediately."

"It's about a 25 minute walk from here if we keep up the same pace," Ronon spoke up, eying their wet clothes and obviously agreeing. "There's a cave. Teyla and I found it last trip here. About a five minute walk up that walkway."

Benar spoke up. "We keep it stocked with dry firewood. We often have harsh weather such as this. People get too far away from town and often need a place for shelter."

Grace began to shiver uncontrollably. She heard John order the others to get a blanket and worked off her soaking jacket. His hands attempted at warming her by rubbing up and down her arms, but nothing helped. As if she was observing from afar, she couldn't make out what the others were saying. John looked worried. Jennifer pulled Evan aside, called out orders to Ronon, all the while she stood there, shivering. Moving closer to John, she stumbled a bit as he grabbed hold of her tighter.


Evan was scared. Grace's lips had turned blue within minutes after he'd pulled her out. Now shivering in a thin shirt and wrapped in a blanket, he knew from Jennifer's serious tone that they had to move fast. Catching his eye, she brought over a blanket to him and lowered her voice.

"You and Ronon take her to the cave," she said. "John'll want to stay with her, but I need someone to go with me and only Ronon knows the way to the cave. Those kids may not have time."

"Tell me what to do," he said, moving from one foot to the next to try and fight the chill.

"Get there as fast as you can," she continued. "Hypothermia sets in fast. She's already showing signs of it. She's out of it, becoming uncoordinated, obviously freezing from the shock of the cold water. You both need to get out of the wet clothes. Start a fire. One sleeping bag… body heat, Evan. No time for modesty. She's going to need skin to skin contact."

He nodded. "Understood."

She gave him a few more pieces of information, as well as how to look for frostbite, and then moved to Sheppard. "She'll be fine, John. I gave them instructions and we can stay in touch with them through the radio."

Obviously, Sheppard wanted to stay, but since Ronon knew exactly where the cave was, added to the fact that Evan himself wasn't doing too well since he'd been pulled into the water, he nodded.

"Stay in contact," he said seriously. "Take care of her."

Ronon had shrugged out of his coat and pulled it around Grace's shaking form. Adding another blanket for Evan, he quickly led the way to the cave while guiding Grace. But as soon as they were out of site from Sheppard and Jennifer, Grace stumbled and fell over.

Not missing a step, Ronon reached down and swung her up into his arms. He turned to Evan, who wished he could do more but instead knew he was beginning to feel the effects of the bitter temperatures.

"It's not much farther," Ronon grunted, hurrying now that he didn't have to guide Grace.

As soon as they reached the cave, Ronon set down Grace and yanked the sleeping back out of his pack. Handing it to Evan, he turned to start a fire as Evan rolled out the bag nearby the area where Ronon was building up the pile of wood.

As soon as the bag was unzipped, Evan turned to Grace. "Grace, can you hear me?" He looked down and discovered she was unconscious. Worrying if that was a bad thing, since he hadn't asked Jennifer if he needed to keep her awake, he worked even faster.

Not thinking about anything more than getting her warm, he quickly unbuttoned her shirt. His hands were shaking so much that he couldn't get the last three buttons and ended up grabbing both sides of her shirt and tearing it apart. He threw it to the side, wrapping her upper body in a blanket and carried her over to the sleeping bag.

A quick glance over his shoulder as he removed her socks and shoes showed Ronon making progress on the fire. Turning back to Grace, he unbuttoned and removed her soaking pants. Her legs were like blocks of ice. As carefully as he could, he lifted and placed her in the bag, then quickly removed his own clothing.

"Lorne?" Ronon asked in surprise, looking at Evan as if he was crazy.

"She needs to get warm fast," Evan said as he stripped down to his boxers. "Jennifer said skin to skin contact."

Ronon nodded in understanding. Evan quickly moved next to her, zipped up the bag, and pulled her into his arms.

"Do you still need that blanket for her?" Ronon said, crouching next to her. "I think I have an idea on how to get her warm quicker."

Evan worked the blanket from around her body and handed it to Ronon. When Ronon didn't stand up, Evan looked up at him.

Ronon grimly pulled back the sleeping bag, gently trailing a finger down Grace's back.

"What?" Evan asked, immediately concerned. "Is she hurt?"

"No," Ronon answered, shaking his head. "Not from today. But someone hurt her."

Confused, Evan scooted up and looked over her shoulder. The light from outside the cave was still peaking through the doorway. It illuminated white, raised scars on Grace's back. Not just a few, but many were scattered from her neck down as far as Evan could see.

Evan felt the air leave his lungs. Rage, sympathy, and protectiveness poured into him all at once. Leaning back down, he gathered her closer.

"There's no way Sheppard knows," Ronon said as he walked away. "It explains a lot. Like her reactions to me."

Evan didn't respond. He couldn't. And if he could, he didn't have anything useful to say. So instead, he ran his hands up and down her arms, and then even more gently across her back. And every time his fingers felt a raised mark, he found himself wondering who had put those marks on her.

He knew she didn't understand anything that was going on, but her eyes had opened several times as he continued to hold her tight. Soon, the fire began to blaze and Evan found himself feeling the warmth creep back into Grace slowly.