A/N: Just asking, but how long would everyone like this to be? Relatively speaking, novel or short story, 10+ chapters. Let the shipping commence.

The planet was dead. John heaved a sigh as he looked upon the scorched landscape. The fields were black and filled with blast craters. In the distance he could see the still flaming buildings.

"A culling?" John asked, glancing sideways at Teyla.

"This looks more like an annihilation." She replied. "But we should check for survivors."

John nodded. "Stay together." He pulled out his life signs detector out of his pocket and began scanning the area. He walked slowly, scanning the area they passed. He was headed for a large group of burning buildings.

He was only a few meters from the buildings when he heard a scream. He glanced down at his life signs detector. It was beeping, showing a single life sign. It came from the building closest to him. He swore.

"Where are you?" He yelled into the building.

"HELP!" A female voice screamed, waving her arm out of the top of the building.

"Hold on!" John replied. He turned to Teyla and gave her his P90. "Hold this."

"What are you doing?" Rodney quipped.

"Saving a life." John turned to a doorway. Most of the flames were on the other side of the building. He pushed open the door and darted into the room. He needed to get to the stairs. He swore again as he saw that the stairs were engulfed in flames.

He took a deep breath and buttoned up his collar. He tucked his arms into his shoulders and quickly ran up the steps. The upstairs was a mess, black smoke was pouring from the rooms and almost every surface was covered in flames.

"Where are you?" He asked again, confused in the flaming building.

"IN HERE." The voice replied.

He knew what room to look in. He jogged down the hall and into the room. The voice belonged to a young woman, not much older than twenty. She was pinned beneath a broken table.

Protective instincts took over. He reached down and pulled the table off of her. It was the first time he got a good look at her. Her simple clothes were torn and her blond hair was a tangled mess.

"Can you move?" He asked.

"No." She replied.

"Alright, hang on." He gathered her into his arms and turned back the way he came. The fire was intensifying. He was just stepping out of the room when the ceiling came down on the hallway.

The flaming chunks of wood easily smashed through the floor. He grabbed his radio. "Teyla, I might have a problem."

XXX

"What is the problem?" Teyla responded, concerned.

"The ceiling just came down and we might have a… I'll get back to you." His voice cut off.

"Major!" Teyla yelled into her radio. "Major." The panic began to build. "We have to go in there."

Aiden nodded.

"Is this a good time to mention my mortal fear of fire?" Rodney asked sarcastically.

"Shut up McKay." Aiden snapped.

Teyla dropped both P90s to the ground and jogged into the building. She immediately noticed what he was talking about. Flaming debris made it impossible to make it to the stairwell. She glanced up. "MAJOR!" She yelled.

He waved from the second floor. "We've got a bit of a problem."

She craned her neck so that she could see the woman in his arms. "How are you going to get down?"

"Catch her." He whispered something to the woman and then slowly began to lower her.

Aiden walked over and grabbed the woman's feet. As John let go, Teyla helped catch the woman's head. Once Aiden had her in his grip, he got out of the building. More debris fell, forcing Teyla and Rodney to step back out of the way.

Teyla immediately noticed that the building was coming down. "MAJOR!" She yelled. Upon hearing no response, she tried her radio. All she heard was a strained groan from John.

"Teyla, we've gotta get out of here." Rodney said as more debris fell. He tried to pull on her arm.

"I am not leaving without him!" Teyla replied, shaking his arm off of her.

"We can't afford to lose you too!" Rodney yelled in response.

"Go, I will be along shortly." Teyla said, pushing him away and climbing over the debris.

"TEYLA!" Rodney screamed as falling debris forced him out of the building.

Teyla glanced above her. She could see through the holes in the ceiling that he was on his back. She muttered a quick prayer to the ancestors, and then climbed up a piece of flaming debris.

The pain was nothing compared to what she knew she'd feel if he died. She shook him. He grunted and rolled over, coughing. She could feel her lungs burning from the smoke that was all around her.

His eyes opened and closed again in pain. She dragged him to his feet and slid down the chunk of flaming debris. The debris snapped under both their weight, dropping both of them to the ground.

Teyla rolled, extinguishing the small flames all over her. John was conscious and trying to stand, but he was also coughing uncontrollably. Struggling herself, she allowed him to drape his arms around her shoulder and they stumbled out the door.

She collapsed only a few feet from the building. He fell with her. They both were gasping for air.

He rolled on his black, looking at her. "You should've left me." He managed to smile.

Teyla nodded weakly in return.

Aiden glanced at Rodney, who in turn shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't exactly surprising. "Let's get back to the Alpha Site." Aiden said. "Can you two stand?"

John coughed and rolled over, standing up. "Yeah. Teyla, you okay?"

She nodded again stood. Her lungs still burned but she was happy he was alive. She was happy they had all made it out, but somehow, she couldn't help but be more grateful that it was him who was alive. She smiled as she realized what she was thinking about and walked with John back up to the gate.