A/N: So real life has been that mad I forgot to upload this so as a special treat I will upload the next one tomorrow which is definitely not worth missing. I just hope you all like it. Thanks again for reading and all your reviews!

Chapter 10

The samples from the river were with McKay when Jennifer found him. He hadn't analysed it yet, instead he'd been analysing the village's food as he had thought that was more important. Jen settled herself to work on analysing the water.

Meanwhile, Teyla was explaining some of the many death practices that she had come across to the village leaders. They were not happy to be told that they most likely couldn't deal with their dead the way in the way they had for as long as any could remember. There was much talk that if the dead weren't floated down the river the Ancestors wouldn't look fondly upon them.

Colonel John Sheppard had tried to be of use but instead Teyla had politely, all be it through gritted teeth, asked her team leader to leave them to it. The Colonel and Ronon found themselves heading to the outskirts of the village to see how the guard duty was holding up. Ronon was hoping to get a few shots in at the beast.

Major Lorne greeted his superior as the Colonel approached.

"Coming to join the nasty beasty watch?" he said looking mischievous.

"Have there been any sighting's?" Ronon asked with an itchy trigger finger. His gun was out and he was twirling it round while his eyes searched through the darkness.

Lorne snorted before replying, "No, apparently they don't normally come close. It wouldn't surprise me if a passing one saw the commotion in the village and decided to take a look. But I think it might regret it. None of us stand much of a chance of getting a kill if it does come close anyway. Letting Cadman out with her toys means that if anything comes close, it will probably be in pieces before it hits our proximity alarms."

"From what McKay read in those reports, we don't want one those animals coming close." John said also glancing out into the darkness.

"Speak for yourself Sheppard." Ronon growled.

John rolled his eyes and tackled the matter head on, "Ok Chewy, what is the matter with you? Your mood is getting worse! You told me you were an idiot but that's all. What did you do?"

Lorne looked at the glowering Satedan sympathetically, "Laura told me what happened. I can't say I'm surprised she ended up scaring off the wrong girl."

The Colonel looked between them more confused than ever as Ronon just growled moodily.

"Major, I order you to explain." John said with a mocking smile at Ronon.

Major Lorne smirked as he explained to an amused Colonel, what had been going on for the past few months; however he did have the sense to not mention which girl Ronon was interested in. By the time Lorne had finished speaking, John's reactions had gone from confused to hysterical laughter, between laughs he managed to speak.

"What I don't understand is why you didn't ask me for advice. I am an expert in such matters."

This earned John an incredulous snort from the Major.

"Watch it Major." the Colonel warned with a grin.

Ronon had moved a metre or so away from the Colonel and the Major and was glowering into the darkness with more concentration than normal.

"Ronon?" John questioned when he realised the Satedan hadn't said anything for a while, he had not even growled in annoyance, or threatened either of them with some horrid injury.

Ronon just pointed into the darkness. He continued to stare into the darkness like an alert guard dog.

Seconds later a siren filled the air and floodlights lit up the area. All those with guns raised them and aimed them out scanning the area beyond the village. John reached up to his ear and tapped his ear piece.

"Does anyone have a sighting?"

Jennifer had just been going through the results from the water samples taken by the river when the siren had gone off. McKay had squealed like a girl and fumbled for his gun, causing many of those nearby to move to a safer distance from scared scientist. When he had caught Jen watching him, he had tried to explain himself.

"It's so I can protect us. I am trained in erm…shooting…things."

Jen raised her eyebrows at McKay before heading over to the huts. A number of people had gathered outside alarmed at the siren.

"It's ok!" she called to them.

"You are safe it's just a warning alarm if something gets too close. Stay inside and get some rest. No one will let the Feral get near the village." Jen said with the most reassuring voice she could muster.

Once everybody was settled Jen headed to speak with the village leaders. The triumvirate sat huddled together at a table with Teyla. As Jen approached Teyla got up and walked over to her friend.

"Have you completed your tests on the water?" Teyla asked.

Jen nodded,

"I've just come to explain to them what I have found."

Teyla nodded and headed back to the table.

"Doctor Keller wishes to speak to you about her tests. I will let you speak with her. We can finalize the plans later."

The trio looked up and nodded at Teyla, and then looked to Jen expectantly.

"Do you know what the poison is? Can it be reversed?" they asked eagerly.

Jen moved forward and sat down on a chair opposite them.

"You have not been poisoned by another village. Your people are sick because of a disease. One that you got because the water in your river wasn't clean. You dump all your waste and your dead into that river. Now because the river has lakes at both ends it becomes very difficult for the water to be filtered. This means that all the stuff you put into the river stays there and builds up making it unsafe for you to drink. When you float your dead down the river, their bodies are decomposing. This means their skin and all that is inside them merges into the water and effectively poisons the water. You have been lucky this hasn't happened before now. It is treatable many of your people will survive this. But things are going to have to change to stop this happening again. We can help you with that though."

The three leaders stared wide eyed at the healer as she spoke.

"Are you saying we poisoned ourselves?" Odic asked, shock emanating from him.

Jennifer shook her head in sympathy "Yes I'm afraid so, although you couldn't have known what could happen."

Heila gasped and buried her head in her hands and Alden looked down at the table in silence.

Odic recovered first.

"Thank you for your help Doctor and yours Teyla. We would like to be left in peace to discuss what we must do next."

Jen nodded and Teyla slowly lowered her head at them, before they retreated out of the building. As they walked together back towards the tent, they bumped into the colonel.

"John we heard the alarm. Has there been a sighting?" Teyla asked.

John shrugged "We went to were the alarm was triggered and there are some huge prints. Ronon's sticking around that area of the guard. Think he wants to bag himself a kill. Cadman's up there too with him. She's sulking because the beasty missed her claymores."

Jens stomach dropped at the thought of Cadman and Ronon together. She knew she had to stop thinking about them. That it was too late. She had missed her chance. She had to be happy for them and move on. She nodded at the colonel and smiled before hurrying off into the medical tent.

John raised his eyebrows at Teyla at the Jennifer's quick exit.

"It seems something it troubling Jennifer." Teyla said half to the colonel and half to herself.

John nodded his agreement.

"Has she said anything about what happened to her?"

Teyla shook her head.

"She has said nothing. It's almost as if she is avoiding us. She is very busy though perhaps she just has the villagers on her mind."

The colonel looked at the tent that Jennifer had just entered.

"Maybe we should go see McKay and see if she said anything to him," he mused

Together they headed to the scientist's small tent where he was reading though something on his laptop and eating a power bar.

"McKay!" John said causing the scientist to jump and grumble under his breath about 'sneaking up on people' and 'accidental shootings'.

Ignoring the mutterings Shepherd cut to the chase" Has your girlfriend spoken to you about what happened to her while she was missing?"

Without looking up from the screen McKay answered simply,

"I don't have a girlfriend."

Teyla and John exchanged looks.

"But I thought you and Jennifer were… together?" Teyla asked with raised eyebrows.

McKay sighed and looked up from the laptop.

"We were. She ended it. Can't really say I blame her." He finished shrugging.

"I'm sorry to hear that Rodney." Teyla said sympathetically

Rodney brushed off her concern. "She deserves better. I couldn't give her the time because I'm needed so much on Atlantis."

John rolled his eyes and shook his head at his friend's obtuse bravado.

"Well let's keep an eye on the Doc. We can find out more when she's back on Atlantis. At the moment she's got other things to worry about."

Teyla nodded "I will go and see her now see if I can help."

Jen sat at her desk, her staff had everything under control and she had little to do. Most of the patients were sleeping and any problems were being dealt before Jen had a chance to move. She knew her staff well and she knew what they were doing: they were trying to get her to rest. They held a common belief that Jen overworked herself and therefore risked her own health by not sitting back and letting them do some of the work.

A bottle of water and some food appeared on the desk in front of Jen. Jens head nurse would always be one of the worst for badgering the young doctor about sleeping, eating and drinking.

Jen didn't need to look up to know it was her one word gave her everything she needed to know.

"Eat.", Marie ordered before moving away.

Jen looked at the food; she couldn't deny she wasn't hungry. She just didn't feel like eating. Reluctantly she reached for the plate and slid it towards her. Jen managed to eat just half of it before her eyelids became heavy and she laid her head on the desk for a few moments.

Ronon having grown fed up of Cadman's complaining about the Feral getting past her claymores and then back away again, decided to go see if Jennifer needed anything doing before he grabbed a few hours' sleep. When he entered the tent he could see her at the far end asleep at her desk. He was about to turn and leave when a nurse he recognized and liked said to him.

"There's an empty bed for her behind the curtain next to the desk. I'm sure she'd be a lot more comfortable there."

Ronon looked at the nurse and inclined his head slightly before heading towards Jennifer's sleeping form.

He lifted her as gently as possible into his arms and carefully carried her over to the bed; the sleeping doctor did not stir once. He laid her down and covered her with a blanket before giving her once last look and leaving her in peace to get some much needed sleep.