It was close to evening by the time they were ready to head out, but since they were inside it didn't matter that the sky was starting to darken outside. The others were rested and had had a chance to grab a bite to eat, too, so they were ready for another walk. Sheppard handed the ropes over to the others to carry – rank hath its privileges and all that – and Mitchell handed him a telescoping pole that they would use to see how deep the water was. It was about ten feet long now, and could extend to 30 – anything deeper than that and they were screwed – but she didn't think the water would be that deep, and Sheppard agreed. Although of course, neither of them knew for certain.

Carson walked with them as far as the entrance to the lava tube and a little beyond, and Melony hung back for just a minute. He looked worried, and she didn't like that.

"You'll be careful, right?" He asked softly, so Sheppard and the others – who were already ten or twenty feet ahead and disappearing into the darkness – couldn't hear him.

She nodded, and took his hand, giving him one of her best smiles.

"We'll be fine. It's not that dangerous, Carson. The water isn't fast, and I'll make sure we're harnessed in before we try anything."

"Don't forget about the possibility of hypothermia…"

She'd told him – or maybe John had, she couldn't remember – that the water was pretty cold, and leave it to a doctor to nag. Especially a doctor who was also your lover.

"I won't. We'll be fine."

Should have left him on Atlantis…

I promised him he could come.

Talon wasn't as annoyed as he was trying to sound, though, and Mitchell knew it. She could feel the symbiote was pleased that Beckett was as worried about her health as he was.

He hesitated, but Melony couldn't stay much longer. She didn't want to let the others get too far ahead of her – running in a dark tube to catch up wasn't a good idea. Using the hand she already had hold of, she pulled him closer and kissed him lightly.

"I'll be fine. Okay?"

He sighed, and touched her cheek – a gentle touch that made Melony smile.

"Okay."

She let go of him, then, and turned and headed down the tunnel, following the sounds of Sheppard and the others – who had already reached the plank bridge and were crossing the crack in the floor that had almost broken Carson's ankle.

OOOOOOOOO

"So how do you want to do this?"

They were standing once more on the edge of the underground river, shining their lights both at the water, and along the corridor beyond.

Mitchell reached for the pole Sheppard had been carrying.

"Let's see how deep it is, first. Maybe we can just wade across."

Fat chance

I know.

But they might as well hope.

She brought the pole to the twenty-foot length, and stuck it into the water – using that to not only gauge how deep it was, but to also judge how fast the current was going under the surface. The end of the pole hit the bottom of the tube sooner than she'd expected – at around 8 feet – and it didn't seem to be all that fast. At least it didn't try to tear the pole out of her hands.

"Too deep to walk across, but it's not as bad as it could have been," She told the others as she pulled the pole out of the water and they measured it with a tape measure. Seven and a half feet. And fifteen or maybe twenty feet across.

Sheppard looked over at her.

"I'm a good swimmer."

"So am I. And it's my secret base, so it's my risk. Besides, if there's any lava lizards – or something else in the water – I'd like you to take care of it before it gets too close to me."

The current is probably too fast for something to be living in it

Let's hope, because I really didn't plan on becoming fish food.

Sheppard nodded, and pulled his pistol, while Mitchell pulled off her holster and belt and started stripping down. The tunnels were warm, but she didn't like the thought of walking around in a soaking wet uniform if she didn't have to and she wasn't modest enough to care who saw her in her underwear. (It wasn't like they hadn't seen her it when they'd been swimming on Atlantis, after all).

When she was undressed, she strapped a harness on, made certain it was secure and then double-knotted one of the 50-foot ropes to the buckle. It wouldn't be comfortable to swim in, but as Talon pointed out, it'd be a lot more comfortable than being swept away down the tunnel that they couldn't see – and who knew where that emptied out at?

"Ready?" Sheppard asked, handing the end of the rope to the others, and shining his powerful flashlight on Peterson, who was going to be the anchor and was tying the rope around his waist to make sure that even if the others somehow let go, they still wouldn't lose Mitchell.

She nodded, and walked to the edge of the water, looking down at it.

Brrrr.

Baby

Yeah, yeah.

With a sigh, Mitchell jumped into the water, while the others held the rope and shined their lights on her and the water around her, and Sheppard watched for any movement in the water besides what she was making.

"Gah…"

"You okay?"

"It's freezing."

He smiled. It wasn't like there was anything he could do about that.

"See any lava lizards?"

"No." She was still for a moment, treading water and testing the current before going out into the worst of it. "Do you?"

"Not yet."

Well, that was good. No lizards, and as far as she could tell, nothing else, either. And the water was clean – at least the bit she'd tasted when her head had gone under on her initial jump into it.

She still wasn't planning on laying pipes, though.

Are you planning on swimming?

I was hoping to wait until I regained some feeling in my legs and arms.

Try moving, Hot Shot. It'll help, I promise

She sighed, and started across, swimming at an angle so she was actually swimming upstream, so to speak – although the current was drawing her back at a rate that was directing her almost straight across.

It was easier than she'd expected, though, and she was soon scrambling out of the water on the other side.

"How was the swim?" Sheppard called. It wasn't too far away, so he didn't have to shout or anything, but he did have to raise his voice a bit.

"Invigorating," she lied. "Toss me some clothes, will you?"

He smiled, and put his gun away, then put her Beretta and holster in her pack, wrapped her clothes around that, and tied it off with a strap and then chucked it over the river at her. Mitchell didn't bother to catch it; she just moved aside and let it fall.

"Your turn, Major," she told him.

They had discussed this on the way. If Mitchell made it across – and she had – and felt that it was safe for another person to go over as well – and she did – then Sheppard would join her on the other side, and the two of them would resume the trip down the tube, to see if they could find where it emerged or ended. The last thing Melony wanted was a back door that she didn't know about where anyone could come sneaking up on her.

Sheppard scowled, but started stripping as well, complaining the entire time, much to everyone's amusement. Once he was down to his boxers, he repeated the whole put the gun in the pack and wrap it in clothes, and tossed it over to Mitchell. Then he harnessed up and hesitated at the edge of the water, while the others readied themselves to hold him while he swam.

"Don't be such a baby," Melony told him.

"It looks cold."

"It is. But it's not so bad once you can't feel your extremities."

Like that was supposed to make him fee any better? Still grumbling, he jumped into the water.