Thanks so much for the reviews!

Special thanks again to my betas, Merlin and Kodiak.These ladies certainly taught me a lesson or two when I first wrote this chapter. I wrote this feeling pretty pleased with myself. Big mistake! It actually ended up taking the longest of any chapter to perfect, yet when I first wrote it I was convinced it was my best. That's why we have betas, thank God! They really helped point out the error of my ways here. So, thank you again guys; you both really ARE the best. Forgot to mention last time, any mistakes are most definitely ALL mine.

Chapter 2

Two days earlier…

"Oh my, another lovely forest planet. What a surprise! Any Ewoks around Sheppard?" McKay glibly enquired of his team leader.

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard smiled as lazily as he could at the most irritating scientist he'd ever met. Strike that, the most irritating person, except maybe for Kavanagh. Nope, not going there, he thought to himself. He had realised soon after first meeting McKay that it was inevitable that the scientist would start to moan not more than five minutes into a mission. "You never know, McKay. Though I'm sure Chewie here will scare them off if you ask him nicely."

Ronon glared at Sheppard. "I like Ewoks. Return of the Jedi is the best science fiction film you've made me watch," he grunted.

"You what?" spluttered an exasperated McKay. "You like those obnoxious, fictitious beasts - are you mad? They single-handedly ruined what should have been the best Science Fiction film ever..."

Sheppard eyed Ronon critically. Nice one Dex, he thought to himself. Annoy the annoying scientist and make my life even more fun. He looked at the irate scientist and laughed, needing to bring some levity to the conversation, "McKay - breathe! He's joking. He doesn't really like Ewoks. In fact, I remember him saying they resembled some sort of mammal he enjoyed eating when he was a kid. You'd had one too many beers when we watched the film last month, and were snoring happily when he expanded on his passion for stewed Ewok."

"No. No, of course not. How could he like them? Sorry. Just feeling a little coffee deprived, it's been hours since my last cup. Ronon likes eating Ewoks, huh? I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised. Quite impressive, really." McKay quickly retrieved a life signs detector from his vest pocket, and glared at the readings on the device. "No power sources showing, or life forms. So, yet another wasted mission," he grumbled.

Sometimes Sheppard wondered how he tolerated McKay's constant whining, but long ago he'd come to the surprising conclusion that he actually liked the man. Besides, it was worth putting up with the annoying scientist, as his - friend? Yes, Sheppard supposed that was an accurate description, had saved his sorry butt on more than one occasion. If he were honest with himself, he also enjoyed the snark their relationship seemed to thrive on. Sheppard looked the scientist in the eye and knew from experience how to handle him. "Look, there's definitely people here Rodney, we know that from Teyla's contacts. That's why we're here; to make friends and trade. We just have to find them."

"I'm sure it will be great fun doing that. We can look all forward to some nice bear skins to take back to Atlantis."

McKay's sarcasm wasn't lost on Sheppard. "I'm sure you'll look delightful in one, Rodney." He raised his right eyebrow, and then gave a lopsided grin. It was just too easy to rile the impatient scientist, and he sure had had a lot of fun in the process of doing it.

"Oh very funny. Comedian today, are we?"

McKay's acerbic tone earned him a shrug and a smile from Sheppard. "I try, Rodney, I try. Anything showing up yet?" Sheppard was beginning to agree with McKay, albeit reluctantly, that this whole trip was a waste of time.

McKay scowled at his team leader, "Nope. Big nothing. Believe me, if I find anything you'll be the first to know…er, second? "

Sheppard flashed one of his trademarked grins at McKay and walked briskly ahead. "Okay, let's keep moving. We have natives to find."

"Oh, wonderful," McKay muttered as he reluctantly followed Sheppard.

oOo

It was an arduous three hours later, after Sheppard had endured what seemed like an eternity of whining from a certain genius scientist, before McKay had actually found something to report.

"Hmmm, that's strange," he murmured.

Sheppard looked back at McKay, his interest peaked. "What's strange?"

McKay waved his Life Signs Detector at him and mumbled, "I'm picking up some sort of electrical activity ahead of us."

"How far ahead?" Sheppard wanted to know.

The scientist looked at Sheppard and shrugged, "About ten miles or so. Hmmm… strange," he continued.

The Colonel sighed still watching McKay for an explanation, "How is that strange?"

"Because it seems to be moving in this direction, very quickly," was McKay's interested reply.

Sheppard was becoming concerned, "Any idea what it is?"

Looking up from his LSD, McKay gave Sheppard a withering look. "What? Yes, of course I have an idea what it is. Do I look stupid?" he barked.

"Well, what do you think it is?" Sheppard was finally starting to lose his patience; sometimes McKay could really be a pain in the ass.

"Electrical storm, I'd say. A massive one. We'd better find shelter. We'll never make it back to the gate in time, and a large forest with tall trees isn't the best place to be when a storm like this hits," McKay answered.

The colonel looked around the forest and then back at his team. Great, stuck in an Ewok forest with a storm heading this way, what else could possibly go wrong? "Ok. Any ideas?"

Teyla stepped forward and calmly replied, "Yes, there are some caves up there in the hillside. Perhaps we could shelter there?"

"I noticed those a while back, too," Ronon's gruff voice agreed.

Sheppard glanced at the engrossed scientist, "Rodney, what do you think?" he asked.

"I suppose - yes, that could provide shelter from any lightening, rain and high winds until it blows over. Good idea." McKay complimented the slender Athosian and smiled briefly at her.

"Okay, let's go!" ordered Sheppard.

oOo

The climb to the caves was exhausting, especially since the sky had opened up half way there, and the team was hit by a deluge of water falling from a darkened, flashing and somewhat imposing, sky. Naturally, McKay had moaned all the way, resulting in Sheppard finally losing his patience. The pilot had just looked back at the scientist and growled, "Just shut the hell up, Rodney!"

Sheppard grimaced as he led the way, his wet clothes sticking to his skin, his boots rubbing his wet, rapidly numbing feet. Whose idea was it to come here anyway? He wondered. Why was it every mission seemed to entail rain, mud or angry natives? Well at least there weren't any angry natives chasing them this time – well, not yet.

Once at the entrance to the huge cave, Sheppard heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay, let's go in. Anything to report Rodney?"

McKay cocked his head and answered brightly, "Yes, actually. I'm picking up two life forms from inside the cave."

Sheppard spun around and glared at McKay, "What? Why didn't we detect them earlier?" he demanded. The last thing he needed was angry natives and rain, or, of course, hungry bears.

"Sometimes I think you expect me to know everything! Of course, I usually do. So it's quite understandable you would think that, I know. But even I don't know everything, Colonel. Though I invariably know more than anybody else in the Pegasus Galaxy, naturally…"

"Rodney, I wasn't blaming you. I only wanted to know why we didn't pick up any readings earlier," Sheppard soothed the flustered scientist. The last thing he wanted was a monologue from McKay stating how impossibly brilliant he was, against all the odds the galaxy threw at him.

McKay theorised, "I'd say these caves contain some sort of material that my scans can't penetrate. There could also be interference from the storm's electrical activity."

"Hopefully it's a couple of locals, sheltering from the storm. 'Course it could be a couple of bears…" Sheppard chuckled to himself as McKay looked nervously around. He just couldn't help it; baiting the scientist was too much fun to resist. I surely deserve at least that from this washout of a mission, he reasoned.

"You jest, but knowing our luck, it probably is starving,man-eating animals," groaned the wet and thoroughly pissed off McKay.

The four team members entered the darkened cave, and found themselves looking at a series of wooden doors.

McKay whistled in surprise and then asked nobody in particular, "Hello, what have we here?"

"Well, I'm no genius, but they look like doors to me," Sheppard answered, deadpan.

McKay scoffed at the pilot. "Oh we are amusing today, aren't we? Really, they're doors are they Sheppard? And here's me thinking I'm the resident Einstein," sarcasm oozed from McKay's lips. He continued his dialogue, more than a little irritated by the Lt. Colonel's attempt at humour. "I know they're doors, it was a rhetorical question. I was wondering why they are here?" McKay wanted an answer to his question.

"Perhaps you should find out, Einstein?" Sheppard could be equally caustic if he needed to be.

Sheppard took matters out of McKay's hands, when he pulled down the primitive latch to the nearest door and slowly pushed it open. The room was dimly lit inside, but clean, and furnished sparsely with basic furniture. A table was in the middle, with four chairs situated around, and a stove to the far right side. A basic sink was at a right angle to the stove and a pail of water stood next to it on the floor. Rustic, yet comfortable looking chairs were situated near to the stove.

Before any of the team could utter a word, a scream from behind had them spinning around, their guns immediately pointing in the direction of the noise…