The water swirled around him, dragging him down out of sight. The air bit into Jessica's face, her teeth chattering as she shouted again and again, looking for any sign of him. Suddenly she saw the shadow on the other side of the river, bumping mercilessly against the bank. A pale skinned figure leaned over pulling him out of the water, it's teeth bared in a wide grin. Jessica screamed again, turning to run back to the bridge even though she knew she wouldn't get there in time. She crashed into something, falling back against a rock. White hair fell forward as the cat like eyes locked onto her and he leaned forward, his right hand plunging into her chest.
Jessica bolted upright, kicking off the blankets that had tangled around her. Gripping onto the side of the bed she took slow deep breaths, willing her heart to settle down. It had just been a dream, a very realistic dream, a very terrifying dream, but a dream none the less.
Making her way to the bathroom she noticed the sun hadn't risen yet, though the sky was starting to lighten. She splashed cold water over her face before dressing and heading off for a run. Just as she left she remembered the scheduled dial out was the next day, if she wanted to send a letter she had to have it finished today. Doing a U-turn she headed back to her room to grab her tablet before going for a short run to her favourite balcony.
She'd just gotten comfortable, leaning back against the wall, facing where the sun would rise when the door slid open again. Her breath caught a little as she saw Major Lorne step through, a sketchbook and pencil in hand.
He looked around, eyes widening a little in surprise when he saw her, "Jess, hey, ah, I can go if you want to be alone."
Her mouth responded before her brain had a chance to catch up, "No, don't worry about it. It's fine. Best balcony to watch the sun rise."
Almost cautiously he sat beside her, "You noticed that too did you. It took a while for me to find it but you're right. It is the best place to see the sun come up."
They sat in silence, their eyes gazing across the ocean, occasionally flicking to the other person. The sky lit up in orange as the sun began to rise. The light spilled across the water, turning the waves all shades of orange and pink. When they constantly had things to do it was nice to steal a moment like this. To just sit and breath the salt air, watching the beauty around them.
"It's Matthew's birthday soon." Jessica commented unexpectedly.
Lorne glanced across at her. It was only now that it had lightened that he noticed her slightly disheveled appearance and circles under her eyes.
"Is that why you're out here so early?" He asked.
She waved at the tablet, "I was trying to write something to my parents. They struggle around his birthday, especially since they couldn't be told how he died. This is the first time I can't visit them for it which probably won't help, they didn't like the idea of me being away, so I wanted to write to them, but nothing's coming to mind."
Lorne nodded in understanding, "When it gets to Dad's birthday and I'm, not around. I get someone to make up a basket for Mum of all the things she likes so she knows I haven't forgotten."
Jessica smiled, "I may just have to steal that idea, it's a good one."
He grinned back at her, "I do have them occasionally."
"Just occasion-" She cut out midway as someone called her on the radio, quickly tapping her ear piece she replied, "Dr. Allen here."
"There's a medical situation off world. We need you in the jumper bay in ten minutes."
As she jumped to her feet confirming the request and asking for details she vaguely noticed Lorne on his radio as well. With a quick nod to him she took off to the infirmary, pointing at the first off world capable nurse she saw and telling him to grab a med kit and get to the jumper. Grabbing her own bags she raced to the jumper bay, only stopping to get her vest and firearms.
Not surprised she saw four marines seated in the back with Lorne and his team seated in the cockpit. Quickly stowing her gear she took the last seat up front as Lorne shut the rear hatch and waited for the go ahead from the control room.
As soon as they got the signal they dropped into the gate room and slid neatly through the stargate, engaging the cloak as soon as they were through. Lorne brought up the life signs on the jumpers display while talking on the radio. The display showed two individual life signs on one side and a pair on the other side. Around them were a few groups of four life signs.
Once Lorne finished talking on the radio, Jessica pressed her ear piece, "I need reports of injuries."
Teyla replied calmly, "I am uninjured."
"Sheppard's got a hole in his leg!" McKay shouted, panicking.
Ronon merely grunted.
Jessica turned to the nurse, "Perez, go to Sheppard, patch him up and get an IV in."
Perez nodded in confirmation.
Lorne glanced at Jessica, "Why aren't you going to Sheppard?"
"Ronon never said he was fine. That probably means it's bad."
Nodding Lorne brought the jumper down as close as possible and directed the marines to go after Sheppard and McKay, his own team would be retrieving Teyla and Ronon. Exiting the jumper Coughlin took point with Reed watching their six as they maneuvered through the trees. Lorne kept an eye on the life signs detector, making sure no one was sneaking up on them.
Suddenly Coughlin threw a hand up and they all crouched down. Lorne inched forward to beside Coughlin, peering through the bushes at the group of four armed men. They started a quick quiet discussion to come up with a plan. Behind them a twig snapped causing Reed and Jessica to raise their weapons, silently scanning the trees.
Reed saw the flash of light first, pushing Jessica out of the way before firing his weapon. The gunfire drew the attention of the group Coughlin had first spotted. They turned and started firing energy blasts into the trees. Jessica crouched between two trees. Cautiously she leaned out to fire some rounds towards whoever was firing at them, frustrated with the interruption. Her priority was her patients and she was being stopped from reaching them as quick as she needed to. She quickly made a decision, crawling from her spot and making her way to Lorne.
Grabbing the life signs detector out of her pocket she quickly said, "I need to get to Ronon."
"No. It's too dangerous." He replied, adjusting his footing.
"I can slip past these guys a lot easier than a group, especially with the distraction you're providing. I'm going for my patient."
Not giving him time to respond she checked the life signs detector and raced off to the side, running along bent in half. Carefully but quickly she made her way around the groups of people, heading towards one of the single life signs, hoping it was Ronon. Vaguely she was aware of her heart hammering in her chest, the energy provided by the constant flow of adrenaline. Her breath came heavily as she kept her gun raised in front of her.
Approaching a cliff face she checked the detector again. The single life sign was to her left, with two others near it. Silently she followed the rock, the sound of water reaching her ears. The closer she got to the life sign the louder the water was. Eventually the trees thinned and Jessica could spy a waterfall pounding off the cliff. Stopping at the last tree and peering around it she saw two men on the other side of the river.
Crouching down she raised her gun before a glint of metal caught her sight. Shuffling around the tree she picked it up, pleased to see it was Ronon's gun, though a wave of concern swept through her at the fact that he had lost it. She set it to stun and aimed at the men. Two rapid shots later they were on the ground. Taking a breath she checked the life signs detector again. If it read correctly then Ronon was behind the waterfall. She surveyed the rock face and water thundering down. There was no way in except straight through the edge of the water.
Jessica took a deep breath then stepped through. The weight of the water pushing on her head and shoulders caught her off guard making her stumbled into the wet cavern, landing on her knees.
"Ronon?" She called out, moving clear of the water and fishing a flashlight out of her bag, thankful they were waterproof.
There was a grunt in reply. Swinging the light around she found him lying up against the wall. Sweeping the torch over him she wasn't happy with what she saw. On the side of his stomach was a burning hole, a matching one on his arm, his skin had turned pale and his breath was uneven. It was a miracle he was still alive. Suddenly he wasn't so scary to her, he was just another patient.
Shrugging her bag off she hastily got to work pulling out her supplies to clean the wound and put an IV in his arm.
"Not... bad... Doc." He groaned, barely audible.
Without even looking up at him she replied, "How about you let me do my job and you do yours." She handed his gun back to him, "You shoot, I'll patch."
He gave a slight nod, a look of appreciation in his eyes at both her comment and the return of his gun. Quickly she started to clean the wounds. She knew it must hurt like hell but Ronon didn't make a sound, merely stared at the waterfall, gun in hand. After the wound was cleaned and bandaged she got an IV in, ready to be hooked up once they were back in the jumper.
She jumped a little when her radio went off, "We're coming through the waterfall. Don't shoot us."
Coughlin and Reed emerged through the water, immediately asking what she needed.
"We just need to get him back to Atlantis now."
Reed nodded and moved to beside Ronon, helping him into standing, as Jessica packed up her gear. Coughlin grabbed his other arm to get him through the waterfall.
Back onboard the jumper Jessica pushed some meds through the IV and checked on Sheppard's leg. The trip back to Atlantis was a short one. In the jumper bay two gurneys and a med team waited for the patients, immediately whisking them away to the infirmary.
Jessica was about to follow when a voice stopped her, "Dr. Allen, wait a moment please."
She turned to look at Major Lorne as the rest of the team filtered out to return their gear. His jaw was tense and mouth pressed in a firm line.
"What, the hell, was that?!" He growled at her, his voice dangerously low.
"I was doing my job." She replied coolly.
"Doing your, doing your job? You could of gotten yourself killed! My job is protect you-"
"No! Your job was to get Sheppard's team out. My job was to make sure they stayed alive."
"You're a civilian! In the field, in combat, I'm in charge and you listen to me."
"I can handle myself, thank you very much Major, you forget I'm ex-military." She could feel the fear of his anger building up inside her and unconsciously took a step back.
"Dammit, Jessica! I don't care what you were. You're a civilian now and my job is to protect you!" He was shouting now, angry at her for pulling a stunt like that but also the fact that she scared the hell out of him when she did.
Taking a deep breath to remain in control she replied, "I don't need your protection. And right now I have two patients in the infirmary who I need to check on, so if you'll excuse me..."
She stalked off, leaving him standing there fuming.