She was leaning over. Arms stretched out above her head bracing herself against the hard rock wall. Her knees trembled beneath her.

As the contraction subsided, she let out the gasp she'd been holding in. They'd been trapped in here for almost two hours now. A chill shook her. Whether it was the temperature of the cave dropping or her body adjusting to what was happening, she couldn't tell. Right now she was a mess. Being strong for one person was hard enough as it is. But trying to hold it together – trying to be brave and strong – Elizabeth didn't want to do it anymore. It was too hard. She'd always been the strong one. Every time he walked through that gate, she had to be strong. Every time his team missed their scheduled check-in, she had to put on the brave face. It was always her.

And now, here in this cave, she was going to have to put on her mask as always. Her body tensed again.

"You should have told me."

"Please don't …" She eased herself to the ground. Wincing as she tried to find a comfortable position. The shadows camouflaged her grimace from John.

"No, Elizabeth … we have to help each other. I need you to communicate with me. You need me whether you want to admit it or not. You've done your part in helping me, and I can't do mine if you don't let me in. How long?"

"I didn't want to worry you … you're …"

"I'm fine." He motioned for her to sit beside him. "Everything is going to be fine."

"John, I don't know if I believe you this time. I mean we don't even know where they took her. You could very well be bleeding to death. You're legs broken. Your injury list goes on and on. We're in a dark, cold, damp cave. And I'm …" The pent up tears carved a path down her rosy cheeks. Her shoulders shook as he tried to calm her nerves. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was right. Their current situation seemed like it was their worst. But he wasn't going to let her think that. There always had to be a bright side to things, even when darkness seemed to consume you. Wiping away the tears that stained her cheeks, he combed his fingers through her curly hair, feeling her relax into him. "Do you remember what happened after Phoebus and Thalan took control?"

She laughed. "John that's not exactly something one forgets."

"This is like that."

She looked up into his eyes the way she always does when she thinks he might be losing it. "We tried to kill each other because of alien possession. We had no control over any of our actions. John, I did things that I would have never done otherwise. I shot Ronon, and Teyla almost killed you because of me. This is not the same. It's very different. We couldn't do anything to help our daughter. We can't do anything but sit here and wait for the others to dig us out, who knows how long that will take. We can't do anything. We have no control over …"

Then it hit her.

"We don't have control over anything, Elizabeth. We didn't then and we don't now. But what we do have is each other. So please … talk to me." She leaned her head heavily upon his shoulder. "Now will you let me in?"

She sighed shifting her weight, trying to ease the building pressure. Seeing her discomfort he tried to help her. "No, stop. If you keep moving like that, it might cause more damage. It might not just be a few ribs that are broken. I don't want to risk you further injuring yourself."

"So, you'd rather I sit here and do nothing, while you handle this by yourself?" He almost laughed. " Elizabeth, you know me better than that by now. I don't care how uncomfortable I am. Let me help you." She nodded in agreement.

"I just need to get up and walk around a little. I can't get comfortable on the ground." He was about to help her get up and start walking again, but another contraction hit. She tried to stifle the pain, but there was no use. Giving birth in the middle of a cold, dark cave was not something she'd been dreaming of experiencing.

"They should be ready to go by now?" He paced back and forth unable to stand still for the life of him. The last few minutes had changed him.

"They'll be ready when they're ready." Annoyance pushing her over the edge. He hadn't stopped pacing since it happened. He wouldn't even take the time to help clean up the gate room. The blood soaked the cold ground marring it. When she had handed Rodney the white cloth, he refused tossing it into the pool of red.

"Well that's not fast enough! We should've left already!" Or maybe he hadn't changed that much. He was still the same old Rodney despite the day's earlier occurrence. She knew he was just angry, but they all were. He didn't have to take his grief out on his team. "I mean, for crying out load, lives are at stake here!"

"Rodney!" Sharpness followed her words – like an arrow following its target. "We know that lives are at stake. We already witnessed one person die today, and we're doing everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen again!" He nodded his head in affirmation.

His demeanor changed. His shoulders sunk back down. A wounded spirit now stood before her.

"I should have paid more attention, you know? Let her know that she was important. She made it worth while. Yes, she could be annoying," he smiles. "But she was also very …"

"I believe you are trying to say she was a good person, Rodney. And if that is the fact, then yes, she was. And, no, you couldn't have done more. She knew how we all felt. More than that, we gave her the opportunity to experience life on Atlantis. The life she missed out on before. She knew she was loved. And doubting yourself will not do any good."

The physicist smiled. "You know, Teyla, she was right." He ceased pacing, focusing his attention on his teammate. "It's no ones' fault. But that doesn't mean I don't feel guilty."

"I know." The familiar beat of Ronon's footsteps brought her out of her recollection and back to reality.

"We're ready."

"It's about time."

"Not now McKay."

By the look on Teyla's face Ronon knew that McKay had been like this ever since he and Carson had left to make sure that someone would handle the rest of the clean up.

"They could be dead by now for all we know. It's been what? Two hours since she came through the gate. If we had …"

"McKay, we moved as fast as we could considering the circumstances. We had to make sure that everything would be taken care of. We didn't want …"

"And now what are we doing? Still standing here. Waiting. Now they could be gone for all we know. And you wouldn't care!" Rodney looked at Ronon dead on. Seriousness in his tone.

"That's enough!" He was sick of McKay's ramblings. He knew he didn't mean what he had to say, but taking it out on Carson and him wasn't going to make what had happened go away. "Rodney! We cleaned it up okay. She's gone! She's not coming back. I know this is hard for you. But don't you think it's hard for us too. I cleaned it up. Teyla did what she had to do. Carson, we all cleaned it up." Rodney looked at the cold floor beneath them. It was tainted to him. There was a film there that would never dissolve no matter how much muscle you put into it. Gwen had died on the floor beneath him and for all he cared nothing else mattered at the moment. "We scrubbed on our hands and knees while you walked off. I can still smell it. Its must fills my mouth to the point where I want to retch! Do you really think Elizabeth would want to see that? Do you think John would want to see that? I didn't want to let them go through that McKay! Better that I deal with it now than later. It'll be hard enough on them knowing that she's gone. Knowing that they lost their daughter!"

"There was just so much blood." Ronon eased off of the physicist. "I just … she was right there. Right there. If she had just let us help her. She was so stubborn."

"Like father like daughter." Ronon turned to look at Teyla. "We should go now. Gwen said that they were injured. As you said Rodney, time is everything."

Rodney turned once more to look at the tainted floor. It had been a long day. The new year would be starting on earth soon. Just a few more hours. It didn't seem right to start off with death. "I'm ready."

And with that the shattered team left to bring back the two people who needed all of them now more than ever.

"We can do this. It'll be okay." He brushed the loose curls behind her ear, perspiration causing them to stick to her forehead. Another hour past. They were getting closer and closer together, and still he could do nothing to help her. He tried to move, tried to get up and go to her, but the sensation that something was ripping froze him in pain. This was what he didn't want to happen, what he had been afraid of since he first acknowledged his feeling for Elizabeth. He was afraid of seeing her in pain. Afraid of not being able to step-in and take away the pain, afraid of being helpless. He pushed back the stabbing and grabbed hold of her hand. "This will all be over before you know it. They'll come." He felt her shiver.

She was afraid.

And he knew it.

"John, what if they don't get here in time? What if something happened to Gwen? What if we can't find her? Or they …" She tensed up again. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Hey, don't think like that. We'll get out of this just like we have every other time. Just like …" He had started coughing a little while ago. But this time it burned, and when he took his hand away from his mouth what he saw … the color red had become his least favorite over the years. On Elizabeth the color was one thing. He loved the red shirt she wore, but out on the field. Screams followed by red, or loud explosions and gun fire followed by red had become things that he hated more than anything else. More than Kolya, although most of the time he was responsible for any of those sounds. He hated the smell of it, the way it tasted in your mouth as you were close to the end. Much as it tasted now. The smear on his palm only confirmed what he thought the tearing meant. What the sharp stabbing sensation hinted at. He was bleeding internally, and anyone who knew what that meant knew that it could rapidly become life threatening. He could go into hemorrhagic shock, or worse. Elizabeth needed him right now.

She looked up into his eyes, the darkness making it hard to distinguish his expressions, but she could tell that something was wrong. "John? What is it?"

He quickly wiped the blood off on his uninjured pant leg. Grabbing her hand in reassurance, he continued to do his job – not only as her military commander, but as her husband. "Nothing's wrong. They'll be here soon. It'll be okay." He would keep her safe.

Even if it was from the truth.

I am so, so, so sorry for the almost five month hiatus. I just dug myself a hole and couldn't seem to find my way out of it. But now the wait is over. Another chapter will follow this one soon. I know where the rest of the story is headed now. Again, my deepest apologizes. I can't believe it took me basically five months to update and to write this. I'm truly horrified. I hate it when I am reading a story that I really enjoy, and I come to dead end or the plot isn't resolved because it hasn't been finished yet. And here, I did the very thing that I hate. Sorry. If you can't already tell, I'm going to beat myself up about this for a while. Thank you for being so patient. And Thanks for the past reviews. Here's to wrapping this up, and giving you all an ending worth the wait.

Please review or message me. If you have anything that you want to see written into the story just let me know. I'll see what I can do. I at least owe you all that.