"You've got to be kidding me!" Rodney's head dropped forward to his chest.

Ronon laughed at him. "No."

"Relax, Rodney. A little water never hurt anyone." Sheppard elbowed him.

It had taken them nearly three hours to walk to the sacred waters. Well, it was really a small pond, and it was only sacred to the one village. The neighboring village used it to bath their animals. Either way, it was like a small oasis in the middle of a forest. Or a desert. Both.

John shook his head and looked around. The ground was sand. No small shrubs or grass grew here. But trees did. At least, he thought they were trees. They were tall enough to prevent them from landing a jumper anywhere near the water. And they had branch-like things with leaves, even if they were blue.

Rodney's reaction had come from the small temple (hut) in the middle of the pond. The water was shallow (but nearly black), so they were going to walk to it. It wasn't even far from shore. It was just that the elders required that they remove their clothes before entering. And one of them stood silently observing to make sure they followed their customs. It was a matter of judging whether the visitors would respect them. A matter of building trust.

"I am not walking naked through knee deep water that's probably full of poisons and leeches. Who knows what's been left in here from those goat things." Rodney complained. "And who knows what might be swimming in the water."

"I am sure it will be fine." Teyla was already removing her clothes, as were Ronon and Sheppard. "The natives enter this water frequently."

"Better than waist-deep, if there is poison." Ronon gave him a look. "Or things with teeth."

Rodney sighed, keeping his eyes down. John choked, trying not to laugh at the expression on McKay's face. As the scientist began to remove his clothes, Sheppard couldn't hold back his laugh. "Seriously? Where do you buy those things?" He pointed at Rodney's boxers.

"What? Why? Oh! And why are you- hey, stop looking!" Rodney scowled.

"I think they are very...amusing." Teyla said, standing nearly naked in the Athosian version of underwear.

Ronon shrugged, a smile peeping through. "Earth kids probably like them."

"Madison sent them to me! I only wore them because I was too busy- saving Atlantis, I might add- to send these to the laundry."

"Yeah. We believe you, buddy." Sheppard laughed and slid his pants down.

Everyone studiously avoided looking at the others, team closeness only went so far, after all. And John didn't think anyone would want Teyla catching them ogling her. They waded to the hut, keeping their eyes open for anything that moved in the water. When they reached the hut, it was by unspoken agreement that Sheppard would go first to make sure it was clear. Rodney entered next, with Teyla and Ronon bringing up the rear. (Sheppard had to snicker as he said it, though both Pegasus natives gave him glares.)

"There's nothing in here." Rodney huffed.

"Look around some more, McKay. You know, poke at the walls."

"I mean, it's an empty hut."

John looked. There was no hum of Ancient tech, no glow from activating Ancient equipment, nothing. Just a straw hut. He shrugged and followed Rodney out into the sunlight.

"Well, at least we gained the trust of the elders. Maybe we can trade for food?" Sheppard saw movement on the shore. "Hey!"

They all turned to see the elder who'd followed them standing on the shore. Bundled into his arms were all their clothes. Waving, he turned and began running through the trees. They could hear his giggles in the air behind him.

On Atlantis...

"Incoming wormhole." Chuck watched the monitor. "Colonel Sheppard's IDC."

Samantha Carter frowned. "They aren't due to check in for another three hours. Open a channel. "You're early. Anything wrong?"

"Hey. Uh, Sam?" Rodney's voice was shaking. Her stomach knotted. "When we shut down the wormhole, could you dial us up and send some clothes?"

"Huh?"

"We all need some clothes."

"Why?"

"Because these stupid, backwards natives thought it would be the height of hilarity to send us naked into a lake and then take our clothes! Apparently juvenile humor is universal, and we're currently wearing blue leaves." Rodney snapped.

"OK. I can do that." She silenced the chuckles from behind her, remembering a mission where she'd come back wearing a blue gown. Sometimes missions just went this way.

"Aw, Rodney's just mad because they strung up his boxers as a new flag over the meeting hall." Amid laughter, she heard Sheppard say, "His Toy Story boxers."

The control room was quiet for a moment, then Sam snorted and everyone else burst into laughter. Yeah, sometimes mission went this way.