AN: So, what story about Sheppard would be complete without a little Whumpage? I couldn't resist putting some hurt on my favorite guy, but fear not! He shall come out of it, as always! Plus, because I love Rodney to bits and because he's often underestimated, I had to give him a bit of hero-time.

This story has really taken off! Never thought it'd be over 10 chapters, as it was only sposed to be a one-shot! Stay tuned, 'cuz this ride isn't over yet! Oh, and the whole idea of how Michael got to Teyla before she was taken in Season 4...remember the episode "Vengeance"? Yup. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I'll be explaining that in the story, too.

So, here's Chapter 10. ENJOY, and if anyone needs Kleenex, they'll be on the left. Feel free to pass them around. :)

LEGOs and Love

by scarlet79

Chapter 10

It was supposed to be a simple mission.

Go to the village, check on their supplies and write down anything they needed, maybe share a meal with them, and then come back. And that's exactly how it had started. John's team, designated AT-1, had gone through the Gate at noon, escorted by Lorne's team. Rodney quickly got their heading on the tablet, and off they went.

So how had it all gone so wrong?

Just before they had reached the village, a battalion of Wraith had emerged from the forest, firing their stunners at the two teams. Teyla had been hit, which sent John into a murderous rage. He emptied his P-90 into a half-dozen Wraith, then followed it with his back-up handgun. When that was also empty, he slipped out his combat knife and went hand-to-hand with each Wraith he met. Most he dispatched fairly easily, but one of them had managed to take a swipe at him with a knife of its own, opening a wide gash on his upper leg. As he'd fallen to the ground, Lorne sent a shot into the Wraith's exposed throat. Blue-black blood had gushed from the wound, and it fell right on top of John, its weight on his wound tearing an anguished cry from his throat.

Now, Rodney quickly stood up to dial the last symbol on the DHD and pressed the center button, then ducked back behind it as a hail of Wraith stunner-fire blasted around him. The puddle shimmered to life within the Gate, and while the sight sent a brief feeling of relief through him, it was short-lived as he took in the chaos around him.

"Atlantis, this is McKay!" He shouted into his radio.

A moment passed, and then he heard Chuck's voice reply, "This is Atlantis. We read you, Dr. McKay."

"We're under attack, and we've got injured. We're gonna need a med team in the Gate Room, now!" He looked over at Teyla and Ronon, who were tending to John. He was blessedly unconscious, having worn himself out screaming in pain from the laceration on his thigh, though Rodney wondered whether letting him pass out was really a good thing. At this moment, Ronon was tying a makeshift tourniquet around John's leg to stop the heaviest of the bleeding, so that Teyla could wrap a bandage around it, while Lorne's men – minus Lieutenant Morris – laid down cover fire for them.

"Understood," Chuck said in Rodney's ear. "Your IDC is confirmed. You may step through."

Rodney wanted to tell him that they wouldn't be stepping so much as stumbling, but he clamped his jaw shut and switched off his radio, then shouted over to Ronon, "How is he?"

Ronon kept working as he replied, "Still out. Lost a lot of blood."

Great, Rodney thought. Then, "Can you carry him?"

"Not with this arm," Ronon replied, holding up his left arm, which had shielded the rest of his upper body from an explosive a Wraith had tossed at him. Bits of shrapnel littered his tanned skin, glittering in the afternoon sun. He'd be okay, but whichever infirmary nurse was chosen to clean the bits out of his arm was going to have a field day.

Rodney looked around wildly, trying to find someone, anyone, to help John. Finally, realization dawned, and he quickly reloaded his handgun and then waited for a lull in the fighting before running, half-crouched, over to his team. Just before he could speak to them, he spied a Wraith rushing toward them, and fired a handful of shots at its head. Through sheer luck, one bullet struck it between the eyes, and it went down still snarling.

"Give him to me!" He shouted at Ronon over the sound of Lorne's men firing the last of their ammunition. "Just cover me and I'll take him back!"

"You can't carry him!" Ronon argued, but Rodney shook his head.

"I have to try. Look, I'll drag him if I have to!" Rodney glanced over to Teyla, his blue eyes pleading. "He has to get home, and so do you!"

She nodded and immediately began lifting John's unconscious body into a sitting position. Ronon stilled her with a hand on her shoulder.

"What're you doing?"

"Rodney is right. I believe he can do this." She gazed at Ronon. "Please, Ronon."

He considered their situation for a moment, and then nodded. "Okay." At another lull, Ronon lifted John off the ground. Rodney wrapped his arms under John's shoulders, then stood up straight and started dragging him to the Gate.

"We'll cover you," Ronon told him, already firing off his blaster at one Wraith after another.

Rodney kept moving toward the Gate, trying not to focus on anything but taking one step at a time, as quickly as he could. John's weight was heavy on his arms, and before he was even halfway to the Gate, he was already sweating and panting with the effort of trying to keep his grip on his injured friend. But he had to. There was a little boy who needed his dad, and Rodney would be damned before he let that boy down.

"Please, God," he muttered as he dug his heels harder into the ground and yanked John along with him. "Just one more step. Please. One more." He continued in this way, begging and dragging, until suddenly there was hard floor underneath his feet, and the blue puddle of the Gate was in front of him. Shortly after he was through, Ronon and Teyla sped through, and then a few moments after that, Lorne and his team backed into the Gate Room.

Rodney was so relieved to be home that he could've cried. As the Gate shut down, he let his legs collapse at last, and he and John both sank to the floor.

Keller ran over to them, a medical kit in her hands. "Oh my God!" she breathed as she saw the gash on John's leg. Then, her mask of professionalism slid into place, and she began ordering her team into action. In less than a full minute they had John on a gurney, his vitals all checked, and an IV in his arm. Before Rodney could think about standing, they were already wheeling John toward the infirmary.

Woolsey came down to the main room. "What happened?"

"We got ambushed, that's what!" Rodney cried, clearly upset. "I thought the last team to visit said the planet was clear!"

"It was," Woolsey confirmed.

"Not anymore," Ronon rumbled as he made his way over to Rodney and helped him to his feet.

Lorne came to stand nearby, unclipping the weapon from his tac vest. "He's right, sir. The place was crawling with Wraith. The village was probably already culled before we got there; someone from there probably unwillingly informed the Wraith that we were coming, and they decided to wait for us."

Woolsey nodded, his face paling at the thought. Then, he noticed Ronon's still-bleeding arm and turned even whiter. "You should go get that taken care of," he told the Satedan, who shrugged indifferently, as if the wound on his arm was no larger than a paper cut.

"After I check on Sheppard," Ronon replied. He turned to the rest of the team. "You comin'?"

Teyla and Rodney both nodded emphatically. They started out of the room, but Rodney just happened to look back and spied a familiar-looking black box on the floor where he and John had fallen.

The ring, his mind gasped. He had almost forgotten about John's plan to propose tonight, and from the look on Lorne's face, so had he.

Rodney waited until Teyla had turned the corner in the hall and then rushed between Lorne and Woolsey, bending down and scooping up the box all in one quick motion. Ignoring the puzzled look the IOA man gave him, Rodney stuffed the box in his pocket and then jogged out of the room and down the hall. When he arrived in the infirmary, he and the others kept to the waiting area, as the area around John's bed was in a flurry of activity. Machinery beeped incessantly and medical staff rushed to and fro, shouting back and forth at each other. One of the nurses slipped and fell to her knees, and Rodney's stomach dropped as he saw that she had slipped in blood.

John's blood.

It was everywhere – on the floor, covering Keller's hands, smeared on the handrails of the gurney. Rodney turned fearful eyes on Teyla, but she did not return his gaze. She was staring hard at John's pale face, her lips moving silently in a prayer, as if her whispered words alone could bring him back. He looked to Ronon next; the large man's jaw was clenched tight, his fists balled up at his sides, and Rodney at first thought that perhaps he was dreaming, that none of this was real and he would soon wake up, safe in his bed. He screwed his eyes shut and begged whoever was listening to make him wake up, but when he opened them again, he was still in the infirmary, watching Keller's team work on John's lifeless form.

"His heart..." he murmured then, as he heard the beep of the heart monitor. "It's still beating. That's...he's gotta be okay."

His hand stole into his pocket and touched the box he'd rescued from the Gate Room floor, and he had to blink hard to keep angry tears from falling. This wasn't fair. John had just found the family he'd always wanted, and now here he was, a hair's breadth from death.

Why couldn't it be me? Rodney asked himself. Why does it have to be John laying there? Why is it always him?

He looked at Teyla again and saw that she had finally lost the battle to keep her tears at bay. Before he could stop himself, he slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. Her arm wrapped around his waist, her hand clutching at his shirt under the tac vest that he had yet to remove, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"He's gonna be okay," he told her, though he doubted that claim himself. "He wouldn't leave you and Torren. Not now."

Keller happened to move close to them then, and he grasped her lab coat to stop her. She turned wide eyes on him, and despite the chaos that surrounded them at that moment, he couldn't help but think that she looked so beautiful standing there. Then, the panic in his chest took over and he asked, "What's going on?"

"He's lost a lot of blood, Rodney," she replied, casting worried glances back at her patient. "The wound on his leg is pretty deep – his femoral artery was severed nearly in half. As soon as we stabilize him, we'll be doing surgery to repair it."

"But he's gonna...he'll be okay, right?" His eyes begged her to give him the answer he needed to hear.

Keller sighed and glanced over at John again. "I can't say for sure. His heart is still going strong, but right now that's almost a detriment, as it's pumping out his blood faster than we can keep up with."

"You have to help him, Jennifer! He has to make it...He..." he glanced down at Teyla, who was trying hard to control her own emotions. "He's John Sheppard. He always makes it out okay."

"I'll try my best," she promised all three of them before rushing back over to the gurney.

Lorne arrived in the infirmary a few minutes later, and Rodney filled him in on John's condition. The major nodded sadly, his blue eyes downcast.

"My guys are all pulling for him," he told the three teammates. "Reed's down in the chapel right now."

"I didn't know Reed was religious," McKay wondered aloud.

Lorne nodded again. "Very. Carries a tiny Bible with him on every mission."

Rodney fell silent as he turned back to watch Keller's team, and Lorne softly added, "Let's hope someone hears him."

TBC...