A/N – thank you so much for the reviews! The site was down for a while (to login) but seems to be getting better now. For some reason it will let me upload this (albeit it in a sneaky way), but won't let me reply to any reviews! Sorry about that. Here's the next instalment…

Chapter 14 – The Upward Fall

Planet Whitefall, Day Three (7 days until rescue)

Rodney woke up to someone patting his face and talking to him. He ignored the touching, but when it did not let up he coughed and mumbled, "Get off me."

The tapping stopped and turned into a constant, warm pressure on his cheek. He shook his head and kept his eyes closed. He moaned and a firm, but gentle hand on his back helped him to sit up slightly. He swallowed as a bottle was placed against his lips and he felt the icy water on its passage all the way down his oesophagus. He allowed himself to be rested him back down and kept his eyes resolutely closed.

"It's time to wake up, Rodney. You've been asleep all morning and you need to eat and have some more painkillers and antibiotics."

Rodney frowned and opened his eyes. Asleep all morning? There was work to do! And why was he on drugs? He looked around the prison of metal walls surrounding him and stopped when he saw that there was a beautiful woman with scruffy blond hair leaning over him. Her delicate hand was resting against his cheek as she peered down into his face with a questioning look. He narrowed his eyes at her and she returned a small smile.

It was fun for a few seconds, just lying there staring into her bright eyes, but then the pain started.

"Oh!" he whispered as he tried to breathe deeply and felt his arm and chest burning. He took stock of himself and envisioned a map of his body in his mind. On the image his whole chest, arm and shoulder where bright red with pain and all his breaths were short and shallow. There was a dull sting over the skin of his belly too. He turned to her and furrowed his brow, "What happened to me?"

Her face fell in concern and Rodney did not like it. Something in his mind told him that upsetting this woman was a bad idea and that he should really try to avoid it at all costs. He was still incredibly tired and longed to shut his eyes again and forget that he had woken up, but the woman looking at him did not seem to be one who was going to let him to do that without a fight.

He tested his theory by tilting his head back and allowing his eyes to close.

Sure enough, less than a second later, the constant pressure was removed and the patting was back.

"Stop that!" he cried. "You'll make my skin red and bruised!" Where had that come from?

For some reason though, when he opened his eyes again, she was smiling happily back at him. Whether it was due to the water or the pain, suddenly the neurons began firing again as he fully woke up; the sparks connected in his mind at a nauseatingly fast rate, "Jennifer…?" he asked.

Her grin broadened and she moved in with her hand again, but before she could touch him, he turned his face away and closed his eyes in anguish.

Rodney could feel that he was weaker than the day before and the pain was worse. He knew that he was slowly losing his life and no amount of food or water or pills could do anything for him. He did not know what would, except for maybe a nice bed in the infirmary, being tended by pretty doctors and nurses all day and night for at least a week.

He thought that he had been getting better, however small the decrease in pain had been. Or maybe he had just hoped he was going to be alright.

Whatever Jennifer had done, it had not been enough, and the way he had been slammed against the deck after the explosion the day before had compounded his injuries further. He did not want to tell her, for fear that she would want to push his bones around again, but he thought that his arm had now gone back to the same level of pain, if not a worse, as it had been immediately after it had been broken.

He desperately tried to hold onto each thread of his soul as it slipped away, but he did not have the strength anymore. He scrunched up his face in mourning and in his sorrow he felt a hand working its way into his and squeezing lightly. There was also a gentle grip around the back of his head and, as he focused on the contact, he was able to use it to pull himself back up out of the depths of despair and gather enough strength to open his eyes again.

He could feel bone deep weariness taking him over and his body felt weak and insubstantial, like he was just occupying a shell of constant pain and he had no desire to remain a resident. His only escape was in sleep and that was what he wanted to do the most. It was like he had become a man only capable of feeling pain and fear and it had been so long since he was free of it that he could no longer remember what life was like before. What was it like to breathe and not worry about the knife inside? Or to have full use of both arms? What he would give to be able to turn his head and not wrench his collarbone!

"Rodney, you have to tell me what's going on with you. I can't just guess and without a scanner, I can only make a visual diagnosis."

Rodney opened his eyes and looked up at her commanding expression. His chest throbbed again as he inhaled a deeper breath and the resulting sting made his eyes water. He mumbled, "You'll only be angry with me again. I got hurt and I know you can't do anything about it, which is why you're so cross."

Her face turned impassive as she continued to stare at him. Rodney felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny and looked away.

Jennifer's hand tightened in his again and he turned back at her to see a frown marring her pretty face as she looked down at him. She said, "Food and pills. Now."

Rodney's eyes widened at her imperious tone and when he looked at her face, her expression had hardened into the outward expression of a will which he knew he would not be able to break, even if he were not so ill. She drew back the warm cosy blankets covering him and placed a hand under his back. She helped him to first sit and then stand. The Jumper was cold and she quickly picked up the blankets and wrapped them around his shoulders. She had the coat again and it irritated Rodney. Why did she get to have it when he was the injured one?

Her voice was scarily calm as she said, "You're right. I'm very angry with you, Rodney. Why did you try and kill yourself? If you did it for my sake, then you needn't have bothered. I had a gun and now you've doomed us both. There's no more heat. Rescue is seven days away, if they're even bothering to come for us and haven't written us off as having died the moment after the gate shut down. And tonight we're going to freeze."

The corners of Rodney's eyes tightened where he stood and swayed, his balance was fragile and she had left him ready to break in the heat of her words while she rummaged through a crate and brought out the hated pills and precious MREs. But she was not quite finished.

"So, yes. I'm quite annoyed with you to say the least."

Rodney glared at her back. "But you only had one clip and there were three of them!" The argument was draining, both physically and mentally, what little energy he had managed to scrape together. He could hardly even put up a decent fight before she was off again.

She straightened up where she stood a short distance away and snapped, "And you won't even tell me what's wrong with you! If you can't trust me to say what's so terrible, then I can't help you."

Rodney's heart flopped over and skipped a beat. He knew he was still breathing, but it was suddenly like the air was not enough to sustain him. A rush of dizziness overcame him and he felt his muscles giving out. His sight was filled with white and his mind disconnected from the world. He was just about aware of the roar of blood rushing past his ears and a brief sensation of falling, before he was on the ground again, on his side, with Jennifer holding onto his waist with one hand and with the fingers of her other hand pressed into his neck.

She was muttering, "I'm sorry. So sorry! I should've made you sit."

She was quiet for a few seconds while she stared at her watch and took his pulse, "Rapid heart rate. Low blood pressure," she said. She turned to him as he managed to keep his eyes levered open. "Has there been any change in the level or distribution of the pain in your chest since your crazy stunt yesterday?"

"I, uh, no." He answered halfheartedly.

Jennifer's eyes flashed and her voice was harsh as she said, "Rodney. Now is a time for honesty. I think I can probably figure out from your reaction just then that it's probably worse."

He steeled himself and spoke quietly, "You're right. It is worse and it's getting harder to breathe. It was just at the front of my ribs at first, where the broken one is. But now it's at the back too and it's spread all the way through the entire right side of my chest."

Jennifer's worried frown made him tremble in mortal fear and he cried, "Oh, no! I really am dying aren't I? You're just trying to be nice. But I told you what it's like and now you have to be honest in return. What's wrong with me? Why am I not getting any better?"

Jennifer's face was thunderous, but when her eyes locked with Rodney's terrified and pleading ones, her expression softened. "Without a scanner I don't know for sure…"

Rodney sighed, "But you have an idea."

"Yes. You might have a pulmonary contusion."

Rodney raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "A bruise? Is that all?"

"What?!" She glared at him angrily, "It's a very serious injury, Rodney! If left untreated it could kill you!" Her eyes widened in realisation that she had said too much, "Oh!"

Rodney hung his head down and gritted his teeth. He had managed to get her to tell him, through feigning indifference, but she had only confirmed his worst fears. As a doctor, if she thought it was bad, he now knew for certain that he was in big trouble. He would never be able to survive for another seven days when he could hardly face the prospect of the next few minutes.

"So, it's true. I'm going to die." He wheezed. The sounds of his breathing were noisier now that he no longer had to make any effort to suppress them.

Jennifer's hands remained on him and she rubbed his side lightly, "It's just a few more days. When compared to the rest of your life and how long you've already lived. What's that?"

"Really not helping!"

Jennifer looked up and away from him where he lay, almost as though looking for strength to fall down from the ceiling and flow into her to deal with him.

She looked back down at him after a moment and said, "Come on, time to get up."

Rodney grudgingly allowed himself to be manhandled onto the rear bench. She made sure he was sitting down this time and kept her eyes on his frame so that he did not fall where she may not be quick enough to catch him next time. Rodney curled his uninjured hand around his side, just beneath the most painful area of his chest, which was centred around the broken rib. He had to bite down on a disgruntled snort that formed when he wondered what people would think of him when Jennifer was rescued and he was dead. He could imagine them talking about him and laughing at him that he had died from a broken rib; a seemingly trivial injury. Wasn't there a song about that?

He could even envision Sheppard's disbelieving face when Jennifer told him. Because John had also broken a few ribs courtesy of the starved Wraith they had found on the desert planet. He was stronger than Rodney, so of course he had survived.

He voiced his woes out loud, "I can't believe I'm going to die from a cracked rib and a bruise! That's so stupid!"

Jennifer came back over with a couple of MREs and the pill boxes. She sat down next to him very heavily and huffed out an enormous sigh. She turned to look at him and said in annoyance, "Maybe you should've thought about that before you tried to blow yourself up. But from what I can tell, you already had the injury and it just takes time for it to become apparent. It's more than a bruise anyway; it's internal bleeding."

Rodney grimaced and held his side more firmly. He should really probably stop talking about the medical things now as Jennifer was difficult company. Sheppard would have been so much better in this situation. John would just have told him to 'suck it up' and 'stop whining.' That would have been far more reassuring than a doctor telling him that he was going to die and that she couldn't do anything for him!

She opened one of the MREs and passed it to him. She ate her own in silence while Rodney brooded.

After two mouthfuls he was done and he passed the packet back to her. She pushed it away and said, "Eat as much as you can."

"What? I thought we were running low?"

Jennifer bit off some more and shrugged, "These are the last ones."

Rodney looked down at the packaging in his hand and placed it in his lap as he reached across and tore Jennifer's from her hand. He grabbed both of them and protectively drew them into himself as far as he could, given his stiff and still very sore arm where it was strapped across his chest.

He shrieked, "What do you think you're doing, then!? We should save them!"

Jennifer reached over and deftly uncurled his fingers. She easily retrieved the food from his feeble hold and pointed into the cockpit at two bright yellow crates. Rodney frowned in confusion as he followed her finger. She said, "We can have an ironic dinner later."

"You didn't!" Rodney said. He had a nasty suspicion though.

"Yes, and you did the cooking too."

Rodney shuddered and flinched. That was not going to taste very good. He was willing to put a bet on the meat being so tough and indigestible... "But that'll break our teeth and give us food poisoning!" he blurted. Which would definitely finish him off in his current state.

Jennifer sighed as she ate the rest of the MRE while Rodney rolled his own one around in his hand. Eventually he had to relent and he even managed a couple more bites before he began to feel sick again. Jennifer took it away from him after she had made sure he was done, gave him the pills and then packed it all away.

She came back towards him and held out her hand invitingly as she stood in front of him. "Come with me outside today, I need to check something and I need your help to make sure I'm not going crazy."

"But I'm hurt!" Rodney squeaked indignantly as he eyed the proffered hand warily.

"I know." She moved the threatening hand around and rested it sympathetically on his back. "But lying around moping all day isn't doing either of us any good."

He hummed and leaned back into her touch as she rubbed a gentle circle on his back away from the internal bruising at the back of his lung.

She smiled sweetly at him and said, "Buck up, Rodney! It's not so bad here, is it?"

Rodney grunted noncommittally and it made him cough again in agony.

She moved her hand away and Rodney felt cold.

She relinquished the coat and they made a trade. She wrapped it around his shoulders and he snuggled into the warmth which was still in the material from Jennifer's body. She zipped it up for him as he could not accomplish it with only one hand. She then drew his blankets over and around herself.

"Listen, going outside will give you something to focus on after being cooped up in here for nearly two days and besides, I'm not letting you go in here."

Rodney nodded slowly and blinked at her. "That's reassuring."

She threw up her hands, nearly dislodging the blankets from off her shoulders; his blankets. "What do you want me to say?" He narrowed his eyes at her as she continued. "That everything's going to be fine? We'll get off this world before we freeze, starve or get eaten? You'll be miraculously cured just because I'm a doctor? It doesn't work like that Rodney!"

He looked down and away from her as his sarcastic abrasiveness failed him to despair. His lower lip trembled as he said under his far too shallow breath, "I know, Jennifer. I just…" his voice trailed off to practically nothing. "I don't want to die."

He was aware of Jennifer moving towards him and of her hand under his chin. She lifted his head up until he had no choice but to meet her searching gaze. He closed his eyes and the next thing he knew, Jennifer's gentle hands were holding the sides of his head, with her fingers threaded through his hair. She tilted his head down and he felt her lips brush softly against his forehead. His eyes snapped open, just in time to see Jennifer pull back after the kiss. She looked sad as her eyes remained locked with his. She said, "I don't want you to die either, Rodney."

He was so shocked after what she had done that he just nodded slowly and Jennifer gave him an incredibly brave and small smile.

Then, just as it had started, the moment was gone. She went back to as she had been before like nothing had happened. She grabbed all the equipment and helped him to stand. She checked the pockets in the coat that Rodney was now wearing and retrieved the gun and tucked it into the waistband of her trousers in the small of her back under the blankets.

Rodney raised an eyebrow at her and she waved him off, "Just want to keep it close."

"Well, make sure the safety's on or that could be embarrassing."

Jennifer's expression turned mischievous and Rodney managed to feel a tiny amount of amusement which he shared with her as best he could in his expression.

Rodney looked down at his feet, as Jennifer guided him over to the rear hatch. She hit the release and Rodney saw the deck underneath turn from dull metal to unbelievable brightness. The coat protected him from the worst of the cold, but he knew it was there and would eventually seep in and get to him.

He heard Jennifer draw in a sharp breath next to him and he frowned.

"Rodney! What's going on?!" She said in a voice filled with terror.

He looked up and winced when the rapid movement pulled his fractured collarbone. He narrowed his eyes in the sudden onslaught of brilliant white and he felt like asking her the same thing because of what he saw happening to the world in front of them.

He looked up into the sky and all around to take in as much as he could from the vantage point of the open rear hatch. The area immediately around the Jumper was fine, but a few miles away, or possibly even closer, there was snow and ice in the air. If he had taken a photo of the scene, anyone would have dismissed it as just another snowstorm. But what they were looking at was moving. And it was going the wrong way. The snow was being pulled from the surface of the planet by something and getting drawn up in a swirl into the unusually darkened sky high overhead.

He frowned as a primal fear gripped his already overburdened heart and said in a trembling voice, "I don't know."

TBC

A/N – Wow, what's going on now? Also, was that a cliffhanger? I can't tell anymore… if the site goes down again, next chapters will be available on my LiveJournal (linked on my writer's homepage)