Ok, Thanks for the reviews! Corrections have been made.

Sorry this has taken so long. School has been nuts, finals are coming up, I had to register for next year this week, and there was all kinds of crazy homework and a lot of reading.

Anyway, I hope this is ok. I rewrote it three times. I just think my action never comes out right. Is there some secret I don't know to writing action/fight scenes? If there is let me in!

A/N: I'm taking the rating up for this chapter, the 'f word' is in there once, so be forewarned!

Enjoy.

Workday Wonders: Chapter Seven

Rodney and John stepped into the shady tree line, and began a slow trek over the dead leaves and fallen branches. For a forest it was eerily quiet, and that bothered McKay on a level he didn't know he could reach. It was just wrong; there should be something, anything other than just the sound of their footsteps. Where were the animals, he knew that that they were there, he'd seen them earlier. His eyes darted between the trees, waiting for something to spring from the shadows.

He looked behind him; the edge of the clearing had dissipated into trees, tons and tons of trees. If the Major needed to go to the bathroom did he really need to walk so far into the forest? It wasn't like there was even a path for them to follow, leave it to Sheppard to wonder into the forest for no reason other than he felt the need to defy orders.

"I think we can stop walking now." They stopped moving and John looked at him, "Do you have to go the bathroom or are you just wasting my time, because I have work to do if you want to get out of this."

"Just thought we could do some sight seeing while we were out."

"Well how about you just do what you have to, so we can get back." McKay turned around, giving John privacy. Rodney's mind wondered back to his lap top and what he'd seen before he'd been drug into the forest. For just a moment the power holding them together had weakened last night. If he could figure out what had caused it, he could probably figure out how to get away from Sheppard, and then the Major could do whatever he wanted, when he wanted, and Rodney wouldn't have to worry about what would happen.

They had just gotten into bed. John had been acting like an ass, and put his arm around McKay, and then he'd told him not to worry. Then they'd both fallen asleep.

It couldn't have anything to do with sleep that much was clear, they'd slept and awoke in the same situation. So that just leaves the brief conversation they'd had before drifting off. John had said not to worry; he was trying to comfort McKay. Was that the key? Did he need to stop worrying, and if that were it, then stop worrying about what? They'd get out of this, they had to. Hell, it was expected of them…him, to get out of it.

The Major tapped McKay's shoulder, letting him know it was ok to turn around. Rodney sighed as he took in the smug grin on Sheppard's face, how could he be so happy to be out in the middle of nowhere, bound to another person? Rodney just wanted to be back in Atlantis, free of the Major, and able to sleep in his own bed, and work without the constant questions.

"Can we go back to the jumper now that you've succeeded in wasting my time?"

"Please?" John questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Rodney glared at him, and added sarcastically, "Please?"

Before John answered a twig somewhere to the left of the pair snapped, and the strange looking plants blew in a nonexistent breeze. Sheppard automatically raised his weapon, and scanned the surrounding area. McKay stood still, praying it would just be some animal, and that it would pass by, seeing them as no threat.

As though someone answered his prayer, a large creature jumped from bushes not ten feet from where they stood. It looked like a cross between a horse and a camel. It had the head of a horse, mane and all, and a horse's tail. The body was that of a camel, humps, and the two toed feet. It looked at them with big dark eyes before taking off into the woods, leaping and bounding over fallen trees and large roots.

The two men stared at it until they could no longer see it.

"There happy? We could have died, all because you wanted to go "sight seeing" in the freaking forest. Now, to the jumper, please." John rolled his eyes, but lowered his gun and began walking the direction they had come, alongside McKay, "Thank you."

As they started their walk back his mind again wondered to the happenings of last night, and when Sheppard had said not to worry…the key had to be in that.

Ford, Teyla, and Markham made their way back toward the jumper. Each had been given what looked a lot like a duffle-bag of food and had slung it over their shoulders and carried a crate in their arms; it was the first trip of what was certain to be many. They were getting a good deal of food from these people. Ford wasn't completely certain what they had promised in return, but it must have been good. With them, chatting quietly amongst themselves, were several of the young men from the village, helping to bring the food.

There was a distinct silence surrounding the area as they closed in, even a good hundred yards from the ship and Ford could tell that Sheppard and McKay were still taking a break.

He broke his hand away from his crate long enough to tap his radio on, de-cloak the ship and replace his hand before he dropped the crate.

"Major, we're almost back to the jumper. Are you-?"

"On our way back Lieutenant."

"Yes sir. Hey, Major, your first time here, you see what they use as animal labor? They're pretty crazy looking."

"Actually I think we just ran into one."

"What if we called them hamels?" Ford grinned; he could almost see the Major shaking his head. He glanced back at Teyla and Markham, they both wore small smiles, and the young men looked at him with eyes, which Ford thought, begged the question "What's he been smoking?"

"I'm sure they already have a name for them Lieutenant." McKay said over the radio, irritation passing the distance that separated them.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't call them something else. A lot of things have nicknames, like you. Most people call you Rodney or McKay but some call…" the young man trailed off, as an all too familiar sound reverberated through the air. They quickly dropped their crates and dumped the sacks beside them as Wraith darts flew over them, "Major!"

"A lot of things have nicknames, like you."

McKay looked at the Major, wasn't he going to stop the young man from finishing his sentence, not that nicknames that were less than flattering were anything new to him, but hadn't John told Ford not to name things on more than one occasion? That was reason enough to stop him from talking.

He'd have to remember to get back at the younger man later, after he was free of Sheppard, who was just smiling, enjoying McKay's torment.

'Some friend.' he thought.

Ford trailed off over the radio before completing the insult, and they knew why. They heard it coming, sailing through the air, a low whine coming from it, Wraith, more than one by the sound of it.

They stopped dead in their tracks, Sheppard gripped his gun tightly. He looked up to the tress tops, they were mostly hidden by a canopy of leaves, but stray beams of light penetrated everywhere, their eyes roamed the tree tops, trying to decide where the darts were.

"Major!" Ford's voice barley contained his panic. The jumper was left in the open, and the Wraith would have seen it by now. McKay thought frantically about the ship, his teammates and the equipment inside that could hold the answer. Had they raised the invisibility cloak? They had, but no doubt one of the three had already lowered it. The Wraith would have seen the ship and they'd be all over the area in no time!

"How many?" John shouted into his radio.

"Three darts." was Ford's answer, he swore as shots sounded through the small valley, "Sir their-" he didn't finish his sentence.

Sheppard was already running, McKay at his side, and he cut Ford off, "Ford we're on our way, just hold them off!" As they were running, McKay couldn't help but feel he was hindering the Major, and delaying help that his friends might desperately need.

Gun shots from their friends could only mean one thing, Wraith on the ground, which just made their day a whole lot worse.

"What did I say?" McKay shouted at Sheppard as they ran. He really didn't want to pull the whole 'I told you so' card, but look what Major Sheppard's persistence had gotten them into.

What if he never got to have that quite lunch or dinner or quiet anything with Elizabeth? At the very least he felt he owed it to himself, if not her, to let her know how he felt before he died.

Ford and Teyla wouldn't know how much he truly valued their friendship; he wouldn't get to tell anyone that mattered to him anything. Markham, he didn't really know the young Sergeant, but he didn't deserve to die at the hands of Wraith anymore than anyone else. Some friend…yeah, Rodney was the one who was some friend, half the people he liked to consider friends didn't even know that he felt that way.

Rodney tried to run faster, to keep up with John, it might be for nothing, but he at least had to try to help.

Ford cursed under his breath, it wasn't like either of his two teammates to leave a ship like that, especially when they'd been ordered not to. He understood they were stressing each other out, but still, he couldn't help but be angry with them, he wished that just once his CO and the doctor could do what they were asked.

They had dropped their newly acquired food, and run for cover, the young men had taken off for their homes. Ford and his teammates ran for cover, trying to reach the ship, they didn't make it more than a few steps before blue bolts of energy whizzed past their bodies. They turned back to hide as best they could behind the discarded food, but that wouldn't keep them safe for long.

A Wraith dart flew back over head, the hiss of their beam cut through the air. From his place, lying on the ground Ford looked toward the young men's retreating backs, several had disappeared.

Three Wraiths marched toward them while one other made its way to the ship. Ford cursed again. He hoped the Major would show up any second and help to fend off the Wraith.

More blasts flew overhead; he peeked out from around a sack and fired at the approaching foot soldiers.

"Sir their-" he shouted.

"Ford we're on our way, just hold them off!"

Hold them off, right…five damn near impossible to kill, vampire wanna-be's? That's easier said than done.

"We need to get back to the ship." Teyla nodded, and scooted her body over, readying herself for a fast sprint up and across the ground, Ford looked at her, "I should do it."

"I will be fine Lieutenant."

He nodded, "Be careful. Me and Markham will lay down cover fire."

On the count of three Teyla darted out from their hiding place. Blasts of energy flew by her, some missing only by inches. The two men fired at the three that sought to shoot her, within moments two fell to the ground, only to rise again moments later. As she ran, she steadied her gun as best she could, and fired at the one nearing the ship.

The hiss of the Wraith beam cut the air again, and she looked back, she cringed inwardly as the rest of the young men were taken, and turned back to her objective with horror in her eyes, it was heading straight for her two friends, still on their stomachs behind the sacks and crates.

"Lieutenant!" she shouted. He turned around while Markham continued to fire. His eyes widened, when the Wraith made their pass, there would be nothing left to hide behind, and if they didn't move that would be the least of their problems. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Markham's vest, dragging him to the left and out of the beams path. It passed them, stealing away their food.

Markham scrambled to get to his feet, Ford hoisted the young man up, and they ran, dodging blasts, toward the ship. Ford pushed Markham toward the jumper, he'd need to fly the thing out of there, and then he stopped, steadied his hand and fired. Bolts flew past him; he could feel the air brush his face as they passed.

Fire sounded from the woods, Aiden spared a glance, but he didn't see the Major anywhere. One of the Wraith that had been headed his way, changed direction and began a march toward the forest.

"Sir there's one headed your way!" He kept firing and one went down, he darted from his spot and would have taken it as a small victory if it weren't for the grunt of an impact that came from ahead of him.

Ahead, Markham lay on the ground, blue flickers dissipating from his still form. "They got Markham!" he didn't know who he was telling specifically, Teyla, the Major and McKay, it didn't really matter at that point. He heard gun shots from the opposite side of the ship, Teyla. Ford stopped by Markham and fired at the still standing Wraith.

"Lieutenant you must hurry!" Teyla cried, racing around the ship to their aid. She took up firing at the Wraith, watching to see if the already fallen would rise again. Ford again grabbed onto Markham's vest and began to drag him toward the ship.

Thanking God for small favors, he pulled his fellow comrade onboard; Teyla came in behind him, closing the hatch.

"We cannot sit here." She said.

"Well what do you want me to do! He's out of it!" Ford said, gesturing to their downed pilot, "And McKay and the Major are still out there!"

"If we do nothing, they may damage our ship."

"So you want to just leave them?"

Running through the woods wasn't something Rodney did, although it seemed since deciding to join Sheppard's team, he was doing it more and more. It wasn't that he so much minded the running, it was good for him, healthy, and it would build up some muscle, but it was the exhaustion that caused him to despise doing it. When he got exhausted, he got clumsy, and slow, and none of those where what he needed now. Funny, he hadn't remembered walking this far into the woods.

But it was his luck, if anything could go wrong it would, and today was no exception. It was only a matter of time before his breathing would become erratic, and cause something to happen that inevitably cost someone their life. That moment was now.

Breathing heavily, with his vision blurring with sweat and pressure, and in desperate need of a break that he didn't want to take, he stumbled over a root, and collapsed. Ordinarily that wouldn't have been too much of a problem, but considering he was bound to Sheppard, who wanted nothing more that to reach the ship and shoot the bad guy, it was a costly mistake.

They Major came tumbling back, almost on top of McKay, and when he hit the ground his weapon discharged. There went any surprise they might have had.

'Way to go McKay. Gave away your own position and killed your friends, not bad for a days work, eh?'

His mind didn't have time for self-loathing. John was back on his feet and pulling at McKay.

"Sir there's one headed your way!"

"Goddamn it, McKay, get your ass up. We gotta go!" he shouted. He was slowing John down, he knew it, and John knew it. This day was horrible, all he'd wanted was a nice lunch with Elizabeth and to do some work on power input for the city, but no, Sheppard had to be gung-ho, king of the jungle, I-go-on-every-mission-no-matter-what, and look where it had gotten them.

He was up again, running with the Major, now more alert, knowing what was making it's way towards them. McKay was blaming again, and he didn't want to. He wished he could find a way to say it was partly his fault, but it just wasn't. He didn't want to be there, he didn't activate the device.

Their radios crackled to life once more, "They got Markham!" He didn't say anything after that, he wanted to shout through the radio, he wanted to know how; he wanted to that the younger man hadn't been beamed up.

His chest was on fire, his throat burned, and his lungs felt like they were about to explode. He knew he couldn't stop, someone was already hurt, maybe if he'd been able to get the device off faster, he was so close, he had an idea he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Sir we're at the ship, but Markham's out, there are still Wraith out there. Teyla says we should go up."

Probably a good idea, despite the gut wrenching effect being left on the ground gave him, but this way the ship and the people on it would be safe from harm.

"We'll be there soon." Sheppard said.

"Does that mean we can walk?" McKay huffed out. He didn't really want to be there any longer than he had to, but he just couldn't run anymore. Again, like an answered prayer, he was stopped, and could rest for a moment. It wasn't given to him for the reasons he initially thought, Sheppard had heard something.

John was beside him, gun at the ready, scanning the area. Rodney tiredly pulled his own weapon from its holster and held it at his side. Rodney's head jerked to the left, he swore he'd seen something. Looking to the right, he thought he saw it again. They had to strain their minds to remember not to fire until the saw the pasty bastards.

Out of nowhere a Wraith energy weapon fired, missed and the forest was silent again.

Rodney's mind was frantic; where was it? How could they not see the green-skinned, white-haired monster? It wasn't like it had great blending abilities, the woods were darker than it was, and it shouldn't be able to hide!

"Ford, get the ship off the ground!" McKay said into his radio as he started in the opposite direction the blast had come from.

"McKay what the hell are you doing, the ship-" Sheppard tried to dig his feet into the ground to stop the man, but when he knew what he was doing there was no stopping him.

"What? I don't know how to fly this thing."

"Just think about it." McKay told him, "Think up, and then you can target the Wraith on the ground and come get this one. We can't see it!"

"That's because you're running the wrong way. Besides Ford doesn't have the gene."

"Please Major," he paused to catch his breath, "do you know what it was like for him to know the reason he was going to die," another pause, "at the hands of that nano-virus was because he didn't have the gene?" He glanced at the Major, surprised he didn't know, "It's the first thing he and a lot of others did after we were cleared." He could still see the fear etched in the twenty-four year olds eyes. He didn't think he'd ever seen Aiden so scared, not in even in the face of the Wraith.

"Major?"

"You heard him, save our asses. Just…careful what you think of, ok?"

"Yes Sir."

"Where are you taking us McKay?"

"Away form the unseen, un-killable evil thing that wants to suck our lives out of us." The look John gave him told Rodney that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear, "Look, if we can stay away from it, Ford will be here in no time."

"And how do we do that?"

"By running…" he stopped and bent over, hands on his knees, "after this break."

Ford sat down in front of the control panel, Teyla to his right. He hadn't had the gene for very long, and even if he had, he'd never flown a ship before. There were a lot things he'd never done until he came here; this was just one more to add to the list.

"If we crash…I'm sorry."

"You will do fine."

He nodded. He took the hand controls and watched as the ship lit up. Outside the Wraith were getting up, the two he'd been after anyway, what ever Teyla did to the third one it was keeping him down.

The darts flew over them, ignoring them, they had gotten what they'd come for and now they were leaving.

"Thank God…" Ford whispered.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on getting the ship in the air, shakily it rose. He opened his eyes and smiled. They were off the ground, and the next step was invisibility. The Wraith still moving on the ground fired at the ship. It rocked, and dipped toward the ground. Ford tightened his grip on the controls as Teyla checked to make sure Markham was still doing fine. He concentrated and the ship leveled out, and an invisible wall was thrown up around it as it rose higher from the ground.

"Ok, weapons…" he said, looking around but knowing he would find no buttons to press. "Ok, ok. Ford, you can do this…"

"We must get to Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay."

"I know. I'm…blowing up Wraith." On cue the yellow glow of Ancient drones shot out of the ship and sought their targets, "Awesome." Ford whispered. He'd seen it done before, but it was something else to be the one controlling it, now he knew how Beckett must have felt back on Earth.

"We're coming to get you Sir. What's your location?"

"We're uh, running south of where you were. You got a life signs detector, use it!"

"Yes Sir." He hated asking stupid questions, and there was no time for that now. The jumper made it's way steadily, but to slowly for Ford's liking, out over the forest. He'd have to get some practice flying one of these days; it was no good if you could only move at the pace of a snail.

A screen popped up on the wide, front window, it showed the area on a grid map. When Ford had found the Major and McKay stuck together, he'd barely been able to contain the laughter, but was worried they may not be able to figure out how to get it off; now as he looked at the blinking dots that indicated life, he was relieved to see that it was still on them. The screen didn't distinguish who was who, but he could tell from the two dots that were so close together, who his friends were.

"He's catching up to you two. You may want to take cover."

It's near us! Where? Rodney looked over his shoulder while he ran, he couldn't see anything. He didn't know which was worse, not seeing it, or knowing it was out there. Ford had told them to take cover, so it must be close enough that debris from the blast could reach them, but why didn't it fire? He laughed to himself; maybe this one wasn't so good with moving targets.

John pulled McKay to the right; they climbed over a gigantic fallen tree that lay in a ditch, taking up half the space itself. No sooner had they made it to the top, and started to go over, when a blue blast from somewhere behind them nearly scalped them. They hunkered down beneath the tree as best as they could.

"SHOOT!" Sheppard yelled. The forest filled with noise. Dirt mixed with stones, sticks and Wraith parts rained down. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but Wraith will never hurt me" he smiled at McKay, who gave him an incredulous look before he muttered to himself.

"Sir, there's no where for me to land here, you're going to have to walk back to the field."

"No kidding." McKay said. They two men stood, and dusted them selves off. They walked around the tree and up the embankment.

"So McKay, what the hell was that? Did I witness the first psychotic break?"

"What?"

"Since when do you tell people to leave without you, especially when we were almost there?" he asked, he wasn't mocking McKay or trying to call him a coward, not really, he just wanted to let the man know he'd changed a bit, and that he could tell.

"Since my life depends on theirs. Is that a problem, because you know if you hadn't touched the device, or defied Elizabeth's orders, we wouldn't even have been in this mess." McKay stepped ahead of John, who had stopped walking. Something he said must have angered the man, because he did not look happy.

"You have to stop blaming me for this." His voice was low, ordering.

He spoke before he could stop himself, "Well it isn't my fault, and it has to be someone's." damn his mouth.

"No! McKay, no it doesn't! Why does there always have to be someone or something to blame with you?" if McKay had changed he wasn't sure what it was that was different anymore, "Ever heard of a little thing called an accident?" his voice was rising a bit.

"Accidents aren't real Major; the governments just call them that so people won't feel as bad when they fuck up really badly." Rodney was probably as stunned as Sheppard by his word choice; he couldn't recall the last time he'd sworn. It was quickly forgotten by both men.

"So someone is always at fault? How convenient that it's never you. Out of curiosity, who do blame for the Wraith, McKay?" he tried to cross his arms, but had to settle for one arm across his chest.

"Obviously the Ancients, you heard what Carson said, if they just sat back and watched-" he didn't trust the Ancients any more than he trusted Genii, not after Chaya.

"Oh please, you can't buy into that theory! They had to have just found them, there's no way they'd let something like the Wraith get as powerful as they are. They aren't some heartless race, they'd never just watch the life they created get sucked away and do nothing!"

McKay did the courteous thing and let the Major finish before he talked. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but they take a pretty passive-aggressive stance on – oh, everything! 'Oh, you can't come and be safe here because I can't help anyone because I was a bad girl ten thousand years ago' Boo-hoo Major. Our lives are at stake and we're they're descendants!" he was shouting, he knew it was stupid; they were fight about the Ancients, but he'd been baited and took it, he didn't care anymore. John was waiting for him to say something that would let him know what was really wrong with Rodney, "Face it, your Ancient bimbo and her friends don't care what happens to us any more than the Wraith do."

Something clicked in John's eyes, he must have said the word he was waiting for, "Elizabeth. That's what you were so worried about, I knew it."

"What?"

John moved closer to him, "You like her, a lot. I'm not blind, just like I know you aren't. This is why you've were acting all weird yesterday, why you didn't want me at lunch?"

"You didn't want me at dinner."

"I'm not trying to hide how I feel either."

"Ok, so you know I like her, big deal. I don't expect anything to come of it." He looked away from Sheppard, he gazed through the trees at the way they should be moving. The way toward the jumper, toward home, toward her.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a genius, not a hopeless romantic, I know when I've been beat Major. Congratulations, can we go now?"

"Rodney." His voice was low, but no longer angry, or questioning.

"You know, you could have anyone on Atlantis. There are women that throw themselves at you, but you don't see it." He sounded defeated, and John felt horrible. He never wanted to defeat McKay in anything, especially something that concerned the heart, an organ McKay has only begun to let people know he has.

"I said I would never do anything to you, you're my friend. I'll…I'll back off if you want me to, if you promise to make a move. Your right, I am Kirk ya know." He held out his hand for McKay to shake.

He turned around, and eyed the Major. Did he have his fingers crossed? No too easy, he probably had his toes crossed or something. He laughed at himself, here Sheppard was offering to back away from the woman they both wanted so that McKay could give it an honest shot, and he was questioning his benignity. He took John's hand, and the Major's two hands held his tight, while McKay's other hand was patting the Major's, like he was the one offering peace of mind.

"And you know, you don't have to change for anyone, not really anyway. I mean, most people like you, even though they won't admit it. And people like Kavanaugh; they don't deserve your friendship anyway. Screw them.

He was right, again. McKay didn't have to be everyone friend, that's not why he was here. They people that mattered already knew who he was…mostly. They knew that he cared even if he didn't show it all the time. Screw everyone else; he'd take quality over quantity any day.

They smiled at each other and dropped their hands to their sides. McKay was the first to look down, something felt different, and he hadn't even noticed it until that moment. Looking back and forth between his hand and the Major's he laughed out loud. He raised his left hand, it was free.

He rubbed his wrist then bent over to carefully pick up the device from the forest floor, and it all clicked in his mind, "Of course, it was like Ford said…"

"Be careful with that ok, I don't want to deal with that again." John rubbed his own wrist, and keeping his hand as far from the device as possible, he gave McKay a nudge in the direction home.

"Remember Ford's story about his Grandfather tying him to his cousin until they got along?"

"You think that's what this was about?"

"Well think about it. When did it turn on? After we'd seen Elizabeth, and now after we yell at each other and essentially make up, it comes off. It makes sense, I should have thought of this yesterday!"

"Just keep walking."

They made it back to the ship in one piece, and surprised Ford and Teyla when they McKay stopped at his laptop and the Major just kept walking. They explained what they believed to have been the reason for their release.

John patted Ford on the back, "Good job, but…mind if I fly home?"

"No problem." Ford scooted over to the front passenger chair and settled in. McKay sat behind the young man who'd given them the answer to their problem yesterday morning, and Teyla sat behind the Major.

On their flight home John glanced back at Rodney, hunched over his laptop.

"Hey McKay?" he looked up, "Bow if your gay."

"Wh-" before he finished the ship lurched forward and stopped just as suddenly. His upper body bent forward with the momentum, and then snapped back, it almost looked like he'd bowed. "Oh ha ha ha, another gay joke. How very mature. Just fly the ship."

Teyla and Ford joined Sheppard in his laughter. His friends may be immature at times, but they were good people.

There! This took forever! I know the ship has inertial dampeners, but if they feel it when the ship is shot, why not when starts and stops really fast? Please let me know what you think. Did the action-y part suck, or was it ok? There's like one more part, so keep an eye out.