The first shot hit the ground at Abrina's heels. She yelped a curse and let go of John's hand and began stretching out her run.

John slowed long enough for her to get in front of him and then ran after her as another bullet came whizzing by. "Keep going!" He yelled after her.

After they entered the cover of the trees, dodging bullets all the while, John grabbed her free arm and pulled her behind a dense thicket of trees and brush. He pulled his newly acquired weapon up and prepared to shoot. He looked behind him and Abrina was facing out of the other side with the handgun raised at the ready.

"John!" she called after a moment.

He looked back across the field to see a man lift something to his shoulder. He swore and grabbed her. He pulled her back deeper into the woods, but not fast enough for the blast that hit the trees they had taken for shelter to avoid them completely. The blast propelled them forward and they hit a slope and rolled down.

When they stopped, John was face down on top of Abrina, who was face up.

Her eyes widened and she gulped for air. "What was that?!"

"I'm guessing a rocket launcher of some sort." He cursed as he realized that he no longer had the weapon he'd taken from the guard. He could feel, however, that Abrina still had the handgun as it poked him in the side.

"A what?" Then she froze when she caught sight of movement behind John and pulled the cun from between them. She aimed the handgun under his arm, firing at the soldier who was looking down the slope at him. She cursed. "I think I missed."

Before John could say or do anything more, the sound of many shots in rapid succession filled the woods and she looked at John.

He picked his head up and looked up the slope. "Those are my people," he pronounced. "Are you okay?"

She smiled. "Lost my air for a moment, but I'm better. You?"

"I'm okay. Let's go find my team."

He rolled off of her and began to stand, when he heard Lorne's voice yell. "Stay down!"

John returned to his stomach, this time and began to low crawl. When he looked back, Abrina was struggling to do the same with her injured arm. Finally, he stopped and reached for her, pulled her up to him and used his body to shield hers while the firefight continued around them.

"John, get off me."

It was his turn. "So my luck has finally turned?"



She opened her mouth, then closed it and frowned at him, even as she pinked. "No. It hasn't," she pronounced. "But my luck would if you got shot trying to protect me. Get off. Let's find cover. I can do it."

He saw the conviction in her eyes and lifted his head to look around. Finally, he saw a fallen tree ahead of them. "Can you make it over there?"

When she looked over, the tree blew up. She gasped and jumped. When she looked at him, his eyes were wide also.

He brought his eyebrows together and swallowed, looking down at her. "Not so much."

She shook her head and breathed. "No, not so much."

Something exploded near them again and she grabbed his shirt front with her injured hand and seemed to want to pull him closer with the hand still holding the weapon. He looked at her face. It was smudged with dirt and there were sticks and leaves and dirt in her hair. Her eyebrows were furrowed together and she winced with each volley, but didn't cower. She kept looking over his shoulder.

Suddenly, it stopped. The woods fell silent. She shifted to point the weapon outward.

"Careful, Abrina," John whispered. "Don't shoot one of my people."

She frowned. "At this angle, I'll be lucky to shoot in their direction, never mind actually hitting them." She cocked the weapon, then.

"Whoa!" Lorne's voice called out. "Put the gun down, lady, we're here to help."

Her eyes flicked to John. He smiled. "He's one of mine."

Rodney appeared and looked down the slope to see John get off Abrina. "Oh, give me a break," he muttered.

Teyla joined him, frowning, "What is it?" When she looked down, her smile said "I understand."

Ronon emerged from the trees from the other side, walking over to John and frowned up at Lorne, Teyla and Rodney. "What's going on?"

John helped Abrina up. "Are you okay?"

She handed him the handgun and took a deep breath. "I will be."

John took her hand to help her up the slope and turned to the rest. "Good work, guys. What took you so long?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, while Teyla and Ronon exchanged grins.