Chapter 32

Teyla stood on guard, her body tense as if waiting and preparing for a sudden attack and she heard the familiar wail of the Wraith ships. Fortunately she was able to control her fear but it still didn't stop her from wincing ever so slightly. Beckett stroked Kiki's hair, then looked down to see she had her eyes closed but she definitely weren't sleeping and he decided to let go of her. She turned over and nestled against the wall, pulling the coat that had been provided for her round her shoulders. He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going too far," he whispered then stood up, his muscles aching from the run and crossed over to Teyla.

"How is she?" Teyla asked looking round to him, then glancing over to Kiki.

"Still shaking like a leaf," Beckett replied quietly as he peered into the overpowering darkness. "Still no sign?"

"No," Teyla answered as her gaze became extremely fixated once more and her grip tightened on the weapon she had been issued. "I should not have let them go alone."

"They'll be okay Teyla," Beckett said with a reassuringly smile. "I'm sure they've got out of situations far worse than this." Teyla turned round with a look, which made her seem like she was going to argue but the Scottish doctor cut her off. "I know you're worried, the Wraith seem to be getting closer but you've got to have faith Teyla."

Her eyes searched his face a moment then turned to the forest with sad eyes. Teyla had been questioning her own faith as Beckett put it, for quite some time now. Wondering why it seemed that some planets were allowed to remain unaffected by the Wraith such as Earth while worlds should as hers saw so much culling.

--

"Oh God," McKay whined loudly as Sheppard and Ford dragged him along to the temple. "I feel like I'm dying." His legs felt heavy, his heart felt like it were trying to tear it's way out his chest and he had the mother of all headaches. McKay also didn't remember it being quite this dark before, nor did he recall that the Wraith ships sounded so close. "Does anyone not care that I feel like I'm dying?"

"I could shoot you," Sheppard replied with a huff, trying to run along with two other people more or less attached to you proved more difficult than he had first thought. "Make my job a lot easier." McKay managed to shoot him a look and kept quiet.

"Or we could leave you behind," Ford said from the other side, giving McKay a brilliant smile to which both Sheppard and McKay stopped and stared at him. The smile slowly faded. "What?"

"You don't even joke about something like that," McKay answered as Sheppard led them through the forest. "I'll have you know that I am a valuable asset to Atlantis and you would all be lost without me."

"We are lost now thanks to you," Sheppard retorted looking for the temple entrance.

Teyla tensed up and listened in, trying to drown out the awful sound of the ships and heard a twig snap in two as it fell under someone's bodyweight. "Major," she whispered into the darkness, edging out into the open with her weapon trained carefully on her intended target. That was if it were not her companions. Beckett stayed close to the wall as he watched Teyla carefully stepped out of the safety of the entrance and head over to the edge of the forest. There was no telling if it were Sheppard and Ford or the Wraith. He only hoped for their sakes it weren't the Wraith.

There was more movement, Teyla stood back and took on a tenser stance.

Sheppard stepped out first to find himself facing the barrel of a gun. "Hey Teyla, it's me!" Relief washed over her like a wave and she managed a smile for the man, lowering her weapon straight away and looking to McKay who looked terrible. "Doctor McKay, we were worried."

McKay held up a hand in an 'I'm good' fashion as Sheppard let him go, allowing Ford to take him into the temple in order to get checked over by Beckett. Sheppard remembered the doctor saying something about that he could collapse at anytime, perhaps he blacked out when he was running? He couldn't afford to have those kind of thoughts now, what mattered was finding away to get back to the gate without alerting the Wraith of their presence.

"The Wraith are drawing closer," Teyla said after watching McKay and Ford safely inside.

"You noticed that too huh?" Sheppard asked seriously, looking up into the sky and in the direction of the stargate. Someone had to go and inform Atlantis of what the Hell was going on, he didn't want them dialling into to establish radio contact and inadvertently leading the Wraith to the city. "I'm going to the gate, call Atlantis and inform of them of our situation."

"Major, it is too dangerous."

"If we don't, Doctor Weir will have Grodin dial the gate in order to find out why we haven't reported in." Sheppard paused to glance at his watch then up to Teyla. "All it takes if a Wraith ship to spot this and take advantage. I should have time to send a message and then close the gate back down."

"What if that alerts them to your position?" Teyla asked, only to be given a look, which clearly said that he knew the risks but he didn't voice them. Sheppard searched his pockets for an extra clip and loaded it into his weapon, sighting down it then looking up to Teyla.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," he finally said. "Look if I do alert them, I'll lead them away from your position. That way you'll have time to get to the gate and dial out." Teyla knew not to argue with John Sheppard, he had obviously given this plan some thought and even though she didn't like it. She knew that he was only thinking of their safety above his own. Sheppard gave her a smile, grabbed up his gun in both hands and started running in the general direction of the gate.