Ford head snapped up with a jerked and then he groaned as the movement jostled his leg sending sharp reminders of he broken bone to the rest of his body. He said a few choice words that, had his grandma been here, would have gotten his mouth washed out with soap, but since she wasn't here, he let them fly.
He sat there a moment trying to figure out just where he was. Slowly, his brain started to process things. They were on P3X-something or other. He had gone down in a hole to get Doctor McKay--
Doctor McKay!
He shifted around to get a better look at the injured scientist. McKay lay where he had left him. He had managed to drag him back in this side tunnel when the rest of the cavern had decided to fall in on them earlier. McKay hadn't done very well with the move and did a lot of dry heaving. Anything he had to come up had when Ford had tried to help him sit up after he found him. Anything other than horizontal was not a good idea for the man right now.
He brushed at some of the dried blood caked on the left side of McKay's face. He checked the bandage he had wound around the scientist's head to stanch the worst of the bleeding from his head wound. The skin underneath was a pasty shade of grey that white men just usually weren't. He thought about trying to wash a little of the blood off, but he didn't want to waste much of the meager water supply they had. Despite what Major Sheppard said, he had a bad feeling they were going to be down there a while.
Ford shifted a little closer, hissing in pain as the movement jarred his injured leg and rested a hand on McKay's chest. He was breathing regular, but very shallow, probably from the broken ribs. Ford gripped the scientist shoulder. "Doctor McKay?" He shook him a little. "Doctor McKay, wake up."
McKay moaned, but didn't open his eyes.
"Come on, Doctor McKay." He paused. "Rodney, I need you to wake up now."
The older man let out a moan and mumbled, "M'wake."
"Open your eyes," Ford told him.
"Conserving energy," he said very softly, his words not quite as slurred as the last time he was awake.
Ford chuckled and gave him another gentle shake. "Very funny, Doctor McKay. Open you eyes."
McKay responded with an uncoordinated swat in his general direction. "Go away," he said groaning.
"Come on, Doctor McKay. You need to stay awake. You've got a concussion," Ford told him a little more forcefully. "Open your eyes."
McKay gave a disgruntled moan and opened his eyes, but they only stayed open for a moment and then shut his eyes again. "Done," he announced in a smug voice.
Ford let out an exasperated groan of his own. "I should just let you die, "he grumbled under his breath.
That seemed to get his attention and his eyes struggled back open. "'m awake," he said, trying to sound more alert than he was actually capable of being at the moment.
He squinted a little near-sightly at Ford. "You don't look so good."
Ford gave him a crooked smile. "You said that the last time you woke up."
McKay frowned. "I did?"
"You did. Do you know where you are?" he asked him.
He looked around a little with a lost look on his face. "A cave?"
Ford frowned, the Doc was making less and less sense and he didn't think that was a good sign. "Doc, who's the president?"
McKay frowned deeply. "President of what?"
"The United States," Ford responded in concern.
McKay thought for a long moment. "Isn't it that Clint...no...you had another election...that guy from Texas...or something."
Ford's frown deepened. "What's the National anthem?"
The Scientist smiled and his eyes started to slide shut again. "Oh, Canada."
Ford looked at him a moment and then at the Maple Leaf patch on his shoulder and groaned. "You're Canadian," he said in exasperation. Of course, Canada and then all that time at Antarctica. He probably didn't keep up with American politics.
McKay grunted in agreement.
"Hey, no sleeping," Ford said, giving the other man a little shake.
He shifted, his face tightening in pain and mumbled something that sounded like "just five more minutes."
"No, can do, Doctor McKay. You've got a head injury and you've got to stay awake."
"Why?" he asked petulantly.
Ford opened his mouth to answer and he really didn't know why. It was just what you did when someone had a concussion. "Because you might die," he lied or at least hoped he was lying.
Very uncharacteristically, McKay just sighed and his eyes struggled open again and he frowned deeply, looking over at Ford. "Where are we?"
"In a cave," Ford told him with a sigh. They had gone through this every time McKay woke up.
"Why?"
"Because we fell in."
"That was dumb."
"Yeah," he said agreed, reaching for his radio. He keyed it. "Ford to Sheppard."
"Sheppard here. How ya are you two doing?"
"Are you going to be much longer, Major?"
"We're at the Puddle Jumper now. How's McKay?"
"Confused and I'm having trouble keeping him awake." He looked over at the man in question, giving him a shake.
McKay groaned in pain and gave him a dirty look a moment before his eyes started sagging shut again.
"Do what you can. How are you holding up?"
Ford sighed. He felt like crap. "I'll live, sir."
"You keep doing that," Sheppard grunted and Ford thought he could hear the whine of the Puddle Jumper's engines starting.
"Sir, what about the natives?"
"Teyla's working on straightening that out." There was a pause. "You guys hear anything down there?"
"No sir, just things settling," he answered. He heard a cascade of pebbles off to his left and McKay looked over in that direction.
"Good," Sheppard said. "Keep you eyes open. Calib, one of the elders, said there's a legend about something living down there."
"Something, sir?"
"Just keep you eyes open, Lieutenant."
He sighed and then answered. "Yes, sir."
"Just hang in there, Ford. I'll be back shortly with Beckett and some help."
"Yes, sir."
"Sheppard, out."
"Ford, out."
He looked back over at McKay and he was staring intently into the darkness. He slowly turned his head back toward him. "That's not supposed to be there, is it?" he asked.
"What?" Ford looked over to where McKay had been staring so intently and a pair of silver eyes stared back at him.