CHAPTER 28 – BRING HIM BACK

It didn't take John long to organise search teams and leaving the order for everyone to gear up and meet him in the jumper bay in an hour, he had headed back to his quarters, pausing briefly outside Jo's door. He hadn't knocked, just opened the door and entered and found her sitting on the bed, holding her father's insignia. She hadn't acknowledged him immediately, but when she did look up, her eyes were bleak and he thought how different she looked from that woman who had literally swaggered through the gate over a week ago.

The toughness had been on the outside, but the inside? Pure marshmellow, and she now wore that sweetness on the outside for him to see. The shell had cracked and he knew that she was trying to take precious moments to rebuild it before departing on this mission.

"I guess there's no point in asking whether you'd consider standing down on this mission..."

She launched herself off the bed and he had to put his arms out to halt her.

"You can't leave me behind...I'd find a way..."

"Hush... I'm not leaving you behind. I just wish you'd consider sitting this one out. You're too close, and I'm worried you'll get hurt."

He wrapped her in his arms, feeling her body soften against his as she let him take her weakness and exchange it for some of his strength. He felt her hands splayed out on his back, felt their restless movement and found his own slipping under her tshirt to cup her breasts. She hadn't pulled away, had simply moaned and knowing immediately what she wanted, knowing he wanted it too, he had brought his mouth down to hers, kissing her hard and dragging her body even tighter against his own.

He drew her tshirt over her head and walked her backwards towards the bed. He'd try and take away her fears for a short while, let her take away something that she could hang onto.

His growing feelings for her. And hoped that she would come to acknowledge her growing feelings for him.

He followed her down onto the bed and his mouth and hands caressed and covered that soft skin, bringing her moaning and writhing beneath him within minutes. Her own hands ran up and down his back and stepping back to remove his own clothing, he was able to look down at her, at her already flushed skin and silver eyes that held his. He removed her trousers, kissing his way down her legs, up the inside of her thighs, smiling against her skin as he felt the muscles tighten in anticipation. She reached for him, and he groaned aloud and she began a delicious stroking rythym that had him achingly hard and desperate for release and his own hand found her moist and ready and sighing his name as he eased himself into her.

Then came release as he spiralled out of control and heard the beating of her heart as it kept pace with his, allowing himself the time to simply lie beside her, hooking a leg around her to pull her even closer as he felt his senses slowly begin to come down.

She rolled toward him and pressing her face against his chest he felt her lips curve into a smile. Her voice was muffled.

"So... trust, huh?"

"One day... yeah. That'd be nice."

"That day, John? Might be here sooner than you think... kinda thinking it's not so much fun to go it alone, all the time..."

"Yeah...?" He felt his heart lift a little at this news, but kept his voice casual.

"Yeah..." Her reply held a curious wonder, and when they rolled apart a few minutes later, emotionally sated, she was ready to throw on her clothes and head for the gear room. He stopped her briefly at the door before they left.

"I won't let you down." His voice was soft and looking into his eyes she saw the quiet intensity there.

"I know you won't John. Let's go find my father..." She reached up and gave him one last hard kiss that left him a little breathless and lighter of step as they headed down to the gear room.

Two jumpers filled with eight teams flew through the stargate a half hour later and Jo could barely contain her nervous energy. As they flew low over the planet, cloaked in case of wraith activity, John flicked concerned glances in her direction.

"He's down there John... I can sense him, somehow. Damn it. I can't believe we might have been that close before and just left him here..."

John's response was dry. "We sorta had other issues at the time... a certain someone had been attacked by a wraith and needed medical attention. Ring any bells?"

Jo didn't respond, she just leant forward in the seat, peering out through the large window, eyes flicking back and forward across the terrain. The jungle was fairly thick and covered a good part of the planet and would afford more than it's fair share of hiding places. It would be akin to that famous search for a needle in a haystack, and unfortunately they couldn't come in with alarms blaring, trying to attract his attention. They had to remain under the radar so as not to attract wraith attention. A catch 22, John had thought a little sourly.

He flicked on his radio. "Lorne? I'm going to put jumper one down near the mountain labs. Can you take the other side of the planet? We're going to have to divide this search into grids. I'll have Rodney download a topo map and we can mark it off - he'll send it through when we hit the ground. Methodical. If he's out there, we have to find a way to get him to trust us. He'll be more than just a little wary - remember, he'll likely be more than aware that an earth faction are responsible for this and will not come out into the open unless he is one hundred percent certain."

"At least we have Jo with us... if we find him, she can bring him in." Lorne's reply came back over the radio.

"Unless he thinks they're using her to set a trap. He's been in captivity for nearly eight months. We don't know what sort of testing or experimentation has been done on him, and what state his mind is in. Go in there carefully, and set your weapons to stun."

"John?" Jo's worried glance shot immediately his way.

"He could be dangerous Jo, and we need to be prepared. We have no idea what's going through his mind at the moment. I want your word - and I mean it! - that you will listen and not go rushing in there with your emotions at high flame. You need to temper those down, and if I think for ONE moment that you are gonna blow this, I'm gonna tie you up myself until it's all over. You got that?"

Molten silver flashed and he pushed down his smile of satisfaction. He had wanted to rattle her a little,and he had wanted her to know that she got one shot at this - blow it? And she would be out.

Once Rodney had downloaded his grid analysis and forwarded it to Lorne, John touched his jumper down, noting the absence of wraith in the vicinity of the laboratory.

"Ok teams. You have your search grids. I want regular and frequent radio contact. Anything suspicious or you think needs further investigation, radio in your location and we'll liase from there. Questions?"

He had split them into four teams of four and Lorne had the same number and configuration at his end. John had moved Jo, Teyla and Rodney into his search team and had asked Ronon to head up one of the other search teams. Ronon was comfortable in jungle terrain and had excellent tracking skills and would act as John's second in command at this end.

"Any sign of wraith, take immediate cover. Do not engage. Is that clear?"

He waited until he had received confirmation, then heading in a north west direction he had moved his team away from the jumper. They had brought along overnight gear if it seemed that a longer search would become necessary, which meant shelter, food supplies and other essential items. These would remain in the jumper and would be the central liason point should this be required.

John and his team pushed through the heavy foliage. They had selected this particular direction because he had known that it would likely provide the hardest going. He'd not allow any other team to take on more than what he himself would do. It was hard going and they had to stop frequently for breaks and water. They did see signs that someone had been through previously - telltale signs of broken foliage and light indentations in the ground. When John had bent down for a closer look he had not been able to recognise the indentations due to their loss of integrity in the humid damp air and having radioed Ronon whose tracking skills were superior to his, he found that Ronon had been unable to identify the tracks either. Human, wraith or wildlife. That was the million dollar question.

Jo, following along behind John, stumbled and Teyla who had been following her, grabbed for her arm to steady her. John had halted, and turning flicked his glance over her from head to toe. He could see that she was exhausted - still not one hundred percent healed from her previous encounter from the wraith, she really was not in suitable condition to take on a search in this particular terrain. Teyla caught his glance and released her arm, and John pulled his water bottle out of his vest, as well as some salt tablets. He gestured for the others to sit down for a few minutes, and pulling her aside her put the tablets in her hand.

"Take these. You're becoming dehydrated. Come here..." Heedless of the others sitting nearby, he pulled her towards him, allowing her to rest against him and he felt her heart racing a lot faster than it should have been. "You know that Carson was going to refuse to give you medical clearance? I had to get him to bend a few rules to allow you out here..."

"I couldn't not be here, John."

"I know that, and that's the only reason you're here now. But we don't need any heroes out here - the moment you feel faint or dizzy, I want you to speak up. This'll only work if we work - as a team. Got that? If you go down because you don't speak up, then we all go down."

She leaned against him, pushing away the dizziness that had been plaguing her, and felt a moment of guilt. It was manageable. But the moment it wasn't? Then yes, she would speak up.

The continued searching for another one hour in the same direction, then cut across the grid and headed back towards the jumper which would in effect cover the same amount of ground to the north, heading south east. They saw signs of the same tracks and again John wondered what had made them. They had seen no other sign of wildlife and Lorne had advised that when the initial recon was done of this planet, the natural wildlife found here was small and non predatory. These tracks were larger and did appear to be almost humanoid, and John after checking with Lorne and the teams on the other side of the planet, found that the tracks did not appear over there.

Four hours of searching and the sun began to go down. They arrived back at the jumper just as twilight entered the picture and Jo, after helping the others pull out the overnight gear and begin setting up, collapsed down onto one of the sleeping bags to rest, while one the marines began stoking up a fire. They would eat MRE's, but a hot cup of coffee remained more than just a luxury, it was a necessity, and Rodney busied himself with this particular task.

Teyla sat down beside Jo, and looked down at the younger woman in sympathy.

"I am sorry that we did not find your father today. Perhaps tomorrow we shall have better luck?"

"Do you think he's out here somewhere Teyla? Or do you think I'm just being fanciful..."

"If you feel in your heart of hearts that he is here, then you need to let those feelings guide you."

Rodney snorted rudely from his place at the campfire. "Oh please... don't start on this mumbo jumbo. Stick to hard core facts and science Jo. Did you see any physical evidence that he was here. Anything?"

"Rodney..." John began. "Play nice..."

"Im tracking through mud and heat and humidity. Oh and mosquitos. Did I mention bugs? I hate bugs. Playing nice...? Didn't get the memo on that – sorry."

John moved so that he was standing in front of Rodney, and Ronon - standing near the outskirts of the small clearing, smirked.

"Consider the memo delivered. Got that?"

John had pushed himself right into Rodney's face and the scientist backed off. It didn't generally pay to bring the Colonel's temper up to boiling point. Rodney had felt the hot edge of that temper more than once, and he had no wish to feel it again.

"Aaah... right, Colonel."

"Sheppard. A word?" Ronon, at the edge of the clearing, stood looking into the jungle. John, after a final hard stare at Rodney, was satisfied that he would keep his mouth shut in future, and moved over to Ronon.

"Problem?"

"Dunno, Sheppard. There's something out there. Something large. Maybe a man, maybe not. Those tracks we picked up. You really think it belonged to Jo's father?"

"They were messed up, but big enough. Without shoes maybe?"

"Maybe... but just to be safe. Gonna take first watch tonight. Ok, Sheppard?"

John slapped a hand on Ronon's shoulder. "You'll get no argument from me. Once I hit that sleeping bag, it's straight over to the dark side."

Ronon huffed a laugh and looked back over John's shoulder, taking in Teyla and Jo chatting together on the sleeping bag. "She doing ok?"

"Yeah, she's holding up. Couldn't have gone on much longer though. I don't want her taking watch tonight. We'll split it between the others. She needs the sleep."

"Copy that Sheppard." and he turned back and stared off into the jungle, where the night sounds had begun to awaken in the cloying darkness. Small animals, large bugs and something else... waiting for them to sleep.

He grabbed two MRE's and two cups of coffee and moved over to where Jo's small frame was a silhoette in the darkness. The firelight flickered against the cloying humidity, the fire more for comfort and light, than heat on this sticky planet where the night temperature did not vary very much from the day. Crouching down, he placed a hand on her shoulder and when she didn't move, he sat back on his heels and pushed some hair off her face. She had fallen asleep, but needing her to eat and drink something, he gave her shoulder a gentle shake, causing her to groan slightly and reluctantly open one eye.

"Please tell me you're waking me up for something more interesting than... MRE's." Her hand moved so that it rested against his knee and he felt an answering pull inside. He needed her touch right now, and while out here, in a very public domain it could only be limited to that, he eased down beside her and allowed her to snuggle into his arms. Placing his mouth close to here ear, he made her squirm when he spoke softly into it.

"What if I told you what I wanted to do to you right now... beginning with this..." and he murmured softly, causing a clutch of need to spasm in her stomach.

Giggling a little, she pushed herself up and reached for the coffee, looking down at him as he looked up at her with amused eyes.

"Don't wanna play, huh?"

"I have a competitive streak, Colonel. Kinda like to know there's a prize at the end of the... game."

He chuckled and pushed himself up so that they sat side by side on her sleeping bag, knees touching comfortably, and he handed her an MRE. She promptly wrinkled her nose up.

"This has to be one of the things I certainly don't miss about the military."

Teyla had overheard their conversation as she walked past to talk to Ronon, and stopped briefly.

"Do you wish you could go back, Jo? I understand that you had achieved a satisfactory ranking."

She shook her head at Teyla. "That wasn't my life, not really. It was my father's. He wanted me to sign up, steering me towards it from day one. And Jack. Don't forget Jack. He's always wanted me to join the airforce... Now that I know about this... I think he would have found a way for me to come here. Even if this hadn't happened."

John turned to look at her, a finger absently stroking the inside of her wrist. "What will you do when we find your father. Have you thought beyond that? If you don't go back to the airforce, what will you do?"

"Aaah, John. Therein lies the question. I'm a gal without a country, without an anchor - at the moment. I sorta burned my bridges back on earth.. and it would take a helluva lot of explaining to try and tell people what really went down. If I ever could?"

John's voice was soft. "Stay here... with us... with me. You've got magic hands, can fix anything, by your own admission. Jack'd find a way, hell - I'd find a way."

"Bridges, John. I have a few to cross... but yeah... there's some sort of ... peace, out here. Hard to explain. A few months of turmoil, and before that? I was still adrift in a way that I can't really explain. But here? Maybe I can find that anchor here..."

She leaned into his side, enjoying the feel of his hand lightly stroking her wrist, and ate the MRE, grimacing a little.