A/N: I'm going to try to finish this up in a few more chapters, but this thing just keeps wanting to get drawn out a little more. I don't know when I'll be able to post the next chapter, as I still have that term paper to work on. We'll see how things work out.


"What the…?" Rodney stammered in disbelief, blinking with confusion at the sight of Carson's beast-like hands. "What the hell happened to your hands?"

"It's because of my retrovirus research," Carson explained wearily. "The Wraith have done somethin' to the retrovirus I developed, mutated it somehow."

"How?" he exclaimed emphatically, and then brought up his hand resignedly as he reconsidered his question. "No, never mind. I don't think I want to know."

Carson waited patiently as Rodney continued stammering, raising an eyebrow with surprise when his friend suddenly seemed to have been struck speechless.

"Carson…?" he said finally.

"Aye, Rodney?"

"You wouldn't…" he tried to ask, his hesitation betraying his anxiety at being in the presence of someone who was mutating into a monster, even if this person was his friend. "Uh… You wouldn't try to hurt me… would you?"

"Hurt you?" Carson repeated with narrowing eyes, shaking his head. He was scowling with disgust and reacting as if he'd just been slapped across the face. "O' course not! Why the bloody hell would I want tae hurt ye?"

"Well, it's just that…" Rodney began uncomfortably, feeling somewhat defensive. "You just admitted to being responsible for hurting Colonel Sheppard. Were those your claw-marks on his chest, or not?"

"Aye," Carson admitted solemnly, looking away shamefully once again. "They're mine. But I just told ye, t'was an accident. I was… confused. I thought that they were tryin' tae kill me. Is he alright?"

"I'm not sure. I think you should look at him." Rodney frowned warily and sat back, feeling somewhat more confident. "So you're not confused any more, then?"

"Well…" Carson began honestly, causing Rodney to give him a startled and worried look. He tried to quickly assuage his concerns, though. "Where are we? I have no idea where they've brought me."

"You're in the other camp," Rodney said dully as he climbed to his feet. It was a question simple enough to answer, at least. "There are two groups of them, if you haven't figured that out for yourself yet."

When Carson didn't immediately move to follow suit, Rodney became impatient. "What's wrong now?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment before he looked up. "Am I a prisoner here?"

"Of course you're not a prisoner," Rodney stated, as if the idea were utterly ridiculous. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Oh, him maybe," Carson said, indicating with a glace a watchful presence at the doorway of the hut; one of the locals had been observing them carefully from that vantage point. "That, and the fact that I was bound and gagged before bein' tossed in here."

Rodney dismissed Carson's concerns with a frustrated sigh, then pulled him to his feet and dragged him over to the doorway. There were still a few people by the fire outside, including Lo'Nan and Anara, who had not moved. They watched intently as Rodney continued to yank Carson along, but said nothing. With one final shove back into Lo'Nan's hut to where John still lied unconscious, Carson knelt down to examine him, assuming the professional aura expected of a doctor. It usually came naturally to him, but as he carefully shifted the bandages on John's chest to have a look under them, he found that he was still disturbed by the unaccustomed appearance of his hands.

"Well, there's naught much I can do without my medical kit," Carson reported after a moment, looking up at Rodney as he spoke. "But the bleedin' appears tae have stopped. He's covered in blood, though. He must've lost a lot, so it's no wonder he's fallen unconscious."

"Is he going to get better soon?" a tiny, timid voice spoke from behind them.

Rodney and Carson both turned at the same time to see that Jol'Nan was watching from the doorway, his parents standing close behind him. Fear and concern were etched on his face, and so Rodney tried to pat the boy's shoulder comfortingly.

"He'll be alright," Rodney stated more confidently than he actually felt, and tried to give the boy a smile before turning back to Carson. "He will be alright, won't he?"

"Aye, Lad, he'll be alright," Carson said assuredly, forcing a grin for the boy's benefit. "He just needs tae get his rest for now, an' hopefully he'll be up and 'round again sometime tomorrow."

Jol'Nan smiled happily at the reassurance, and then suddenly reached out a tiny hand toward Carson's face. His small fingers touched the point of one of his teeth, and he grimaced with the accompanying pain. His jaw was still tender, and Carson tried to gingerly turn his head away from the boy's touch without seeming too irritated. He hadn't realized that his smile had revealed how much his teeth had shifted.

"Does it hurt?" The boy seemed to acknowledge his discomfort by quickly removing his curious hand, much to Carson's relief.

"Aye, a bit," he replied, standing up out of the boy's reach. He then turned to face his parents. "Ye did a fine job bandagin' him up, but Colonel Sheppard could still be in danger of infection. Do ye have any of that herbal remedy that the kind people in the other camp used on me?"

Anara promptly picked Jol'Nan up in her arms and strode quickly from the hut, earning a perplexed expression from Rodney. Lo'Nan waited for her to leave before responding in a low voice, almost a growl. "No, we do not. We could not find any during the raid."

Carson's brow furrowed with confusion and annoyance. "Ye mean you attacked 'em tae steal their food and their medicines?"

Lo'Nan tensed and growled at Carson furiously. The hair on his neck and arms bristled with contempt, but Rodney stepped in between them before it could come to blows. "Please, gentlemen! Let's not get too irate. We're all friends here, aren't we?"

"He fought beside them," Lo'Nan said slowly and deliberately, baring his fangs menacingly at Carson. "I do not trust him."

"You trust me, don't you?" Rodney asked desperately. He stared imploringly at Lo'Nan, trying to draw his attention away from his perceived enemy. When Lo'Nan looked down at him and visibly calmed a bit, he let out a hesitant breath of relief. "You can trust him, too."

Their host relaxed a little more, but said nothing as he turned and left the hut to return to the comfort of the fire and his family. The rain had waned into a light drizzle, and more of his people were coming out to join them and chat. Rodney turned back to Carson and sighed heavily.

"Nice going, dummy," Rodney said irritably, punching Carson hard in the arm. "You nearly got me ripped in half."

Carson rubbed absently at the resultant sting, but did not feel like arguing.


Morning seemed to come very quickly for Rodney, although not so quickly for Carson. He had spent most of the night sitting at Rodney's side while he slept, wondering what had driven the camp which they currently resided in to hate the other so much. He had almost begun to consider those people his friends when John had come for him, and he had begun to feel quite fond of Nia. As short a time as he had known her, he found that he missed her company already, and he wished that she had been there with him.

But now, as the sun peeked over the horizon in the distance and filled the sky with hues of violet, Carson drew himself up from the spot where he had dozed and stretched out. He and Rodney had taken refuge in the hut that their hosts had originally stowed Carson rather than risk provoking another confrontation. As he pulled the cloth at the entrance aside to step through, Rodney stirred sleepily and rolled over onto his stomach to avoid the light.

After properly relieving himself just outside of the camp, he decided to have a good look around now that the daylight illuminated the sky. He wandered aimlessly through the camp mostly ignored, but a few people looked up at him from their breakfast with distrustful glances. The camp was fairly similar to the other in most respects, like construction and layout, and if he had not spent so much time there, he might not have been able to tell them apart at first glace.

He was startled as someone hastily pulled him aside by the arm, but he took a deep and calming breath as he realized it was Rodney. He must have accidentally woken him up when he left.

"Are you trying to get us in trouble again?" Rodney whispered with annoyance.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, allowing Rodney to draw him around the periphery of the camp. "I did'nae want to wake ye."

"Well, lucky for you that I did," Rodney chastised angrily, then made a motion with his head, indicating a direction behind him. "Lo'Nan is over there. I think he's been waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Carson asked as they approached Lo'Nan's hut together.

But before Rodney could respond, Lo'Nan caught sight of them and nodded a terse greeting. "McKay, I am glad you are awake. Sheppard is awake now, too."

He led them inside to see their friend and leader. Jol'Nan was giggling as he sat precariously balanced on John's legs, and was being tickled ferociously. John was trying to be careful not to re-open his wounds, but sat back and relaxed upon receiving a protective frown from the doctor in the group.

"Carson!" he exclaimed with a fatigued smile. "I'm glad you're here. You seem to be feeling better."

"Aye," Carson said hesitantly, absently rubbing his neck and trying to force a wry smile at the same time. "You seem tae be feelin' better as well, I see. I'm glad I did'nae end up doin' permanent damage to ye. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," John said, almost convincingly confident. "It was an accident, right?"

"Oh, aye, absolutely an accident," Carson assured him, lowering his eyes guiltily.

A long moment passed quietly after Carson and Rodney sat down, but Jol'Nan was not perturbed by the silence. He had decided to sit in Rodney's lap for a while instead of continuing to risk John's health, and as he again played his stalk-and-pounce game with him, Rodney turned to Carson with the most exasperated expression he could muster. But Carson wasn't about to offer up any assistance, and instead simply sat back and watched with amusement. It had felt like forever since he had been able to manage a genuine smile.

"So, Lo'Nan," John began. He didn't really like uncomfortable silences. "I was wondering... What you can tell me about this other camp?"

"What do you want to know?" Lo'Nan responded flatly.

"Well, I'm kind of curious as to why you raided their camp." John was hesitant to be so blunt, but was never very good at subtlety. "Aren't there enough resources to go around for everyone?"

Lo'Nan looked up at John curiously, but did answer. "We will not share our food with thieves. Those food stores that they stole a few days ago are meant to last us through the winter, and when it comes, we intend to survive it."

"Desperate people sometimes resort to desperate measures," John said solemnly. "I'm sure life here isn't easy for anyone in either camp, but have you considered that maybe you'd have better luck resisting the Wraith hunting parties if your two camps worked together?"

"Impossible," Lo'Nan stated angrily, but held back his temper. "You do not know them, Sheppard."

"What about those medicines that they seem to have access to?" John argued persistently. He tried to sit up straighter, and grimaced with the pain that the effort caused him. "Wouldn't it be better to trade for it rather than risk the well-being of your people with raids on their camp?"

Lo'Nan said nothing, and was seething with more anger, but John had to press him further. "Carson was there, and I remember that he said they were kind to him. We might even be able help you to negotiate terms with them."

Rising to his feet, Lo'Nan's temper began to flare, and he growled at John menacingly. "We did not start this. I will not trade with the likes of them!"

"Do you even know why your camps fight any more?" John insisted pointedly when he saw that Lo'Nan would not give him a straight answer. "Whoever started raiding who first for whatever reason doesn't matter. Like I said, desperate people do desperate things to survive. And what about the rest of your people? Don't you think they deserve the opportunity to have peaceful relations and trade with their neighbors? Aren't you tired of constantly having to fight with them?"

The last part seemed to hit Lo'Nan hard, and his shoulders slumped with the release of tension as he pondered what John had said. He simply could not refute the logic of his words. "Yes... I'm tired."

But before John could drive his point home, a howl echoed eerily through the camp. Lo'Nan's eyes grew wide and he immediately jumped to his feet, his anger over the reality of John's harsh words forgotten. "We are about to be attacked!"