Five Men Who Never Wanted Teyla Emmagen

- Not A Blonde -

She's not blonde. Nor is she intelligent.

Not that she's stupid, of course; but her people really are quite primitive and there's so many things she doesn't understand at the scientific and rational level.

Then again, her instincts are amazing. Even he can see that. And while Rodney has never espoused the violence of the military, he appreciates poetry in motion. Of course, to him, 'poetry in motion' is usually the spin and tumble of waves, the quantum mechanics of light and its properties, the perfection of mathematics that can be found in the equations defining a wormhole's creation.

There are times he thinks he might make an exception for Teyla.

And she's practical, competent in her own way. Rodney likes that.

He's grateful for that practicality when they find themselves under fire from a race of people who seem to believe that anyone that comes through the Stargate is bad news. Of course, they have primitive weaponry: just slingshots and arrows. Nothing like their P-90s and Berettas.

Rodney doesn't realise that he's been hit until Sheppard yells at him to get down. Teyla reaches out with one hand and yanks him down into the shadow of the rock, and his left shoulder suddenly stings.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a stone in the shoulder hurts like OW.

"Dr. McKay?" She looks at him, inquiringly, and her expression changes, hardens as she sees his wound. "Major, he has been hit."

"Will he live?"

Rodney opens his mouth to snap at the major, but the trickle of pain suddenly becomes a river of agony and the world begins to fray at the edges.

"He is bleeding heavily. He will not be able to make the full run to the 'jumper." She glances at Rodney. "Can you put your right arm over my shoulders and hold on?"

He thinks he can, but he's not too sure. Teyla continues without waiting for an answer. "Major, you and the Lieutenant will have to cover me."

"We're on it," Sheppard says.

It's a little difficult to remember the details, but she half-hauls him up, and supports him while the other two lay down cover fire, trying to prevent the locals from shooting any more holes in them. Her hair, unbound, fluffs in his face. Rodney finds the tips of the strands in his mouth and wonders if she always smells like this or if it's only when he's been shot.

When she lowers him to the side benches of the puddlejumper, he's feeling dizzy. As he lies down on the bench and she goes to the door, the side of his body that was in contact with hers is oddly cold from the absence of her.

It's the shock that makes him think of the blondes he's never kissed.

But, looking at the blurred outline of Teyla at the hatch, Rodney thinks he could like brunettes.

-oOo-