Scarce

Author: Cheryl W.

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Chapter 6: Company You Keep

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But mid leap, a familiar red beam struck the beast, searing a hole right though its side. The alpha crumpled to the ground, its charge halted so close to John that its massive head ended up slumping down on John's boot. Stunned, John looked up from the downed alpha and there was Ronon lowering his gun and, a moment later, huffing up to gain Ronon's side, was Rodney and Teyla.

Navigating a wide circumference around the downed beast, Rodney nonetheless rushed to John's side, gripped the wounded man's arm and gently manhandled him back from the beast. By that time Ronon was already standing over the beast. He put another round in its head, ensuring it wasn't getting up ever again. Satisfied the threat to Sheppard was neutralized, Ronon looked up to his friend, felt his gut churn at all the conspicuous blood on him, the myriad of scratches on his face and arms, the array of bandages covering him and the way Sheppard was wavering on his feet. Crap but he hadn't wanted his gut instincts that Sheppard was in danger to really be true, had at least hoped to get there before the man was hurt. Pushing that failure down, he knew he had to focus on the victory that he had stopped the beast before it could do more damage to his friend.

Teyla went to Major Lorne's side as he struggled to get from all fours to his feet. "Maybe you should remain seated, let me tend to your wounds," she soothed, her hands halting his idea to stand instead of aiding it. But Lorne shook his head, "Help me up," his eyes on Sheppard, wanted, no needed to make sure Sheppard was ok, his own pain could wait.

Teyla fought down a sigh, knew that Major Lorne was made of the same stubbornness as John, probably why John had picked him to be his second in command. But adhering to Lorne's wishes, she helped him stand and for his part, he only swayed a moment before stabilizing himself and pulling from her grip. And then he was making his way to Sheppard.

"Sit down before you fall down, Sheppard," McKay commanded, having pushed John back the final two steps to the downed tree trunk. But Sheppard's eyes swung past McKay, saw in relief that Evan was on his feet, had a swath of shredded jacket on his chest but the vest seemed to have taken the brunt of the alpha's scratch. Then Evan was there in front of John and the two soldiers said at the same time, "You ok?" but Evan tacked on a "sir" to his concerned inquiry.

It had smirks emerging on both men's exhausted faces.

Knowing his superior expected and deserved an answer, Lorne said, "I'm fine, sir, little bruised but not bleeding." Then he raised an eyebrow to John, waiting for his wellbeing report.

"It never laid a paw on me," Sheppard downplayed the peril he had been in but then amended, "Well, its head touched on my boot but I think that was his way of conceding to my superior alpha status."

"Sure it was, Colonel," Evan sarcastically agreed.

"Now will you sit down," Rodney peevishly groused, though it was a poor screen for the worry written all over his face for his best friend.

Done putting up with McKay and Sheppard's verbal sparring, Ronon came to Sheppard's other side and gently but insistently levered John down to sit on the tree trunk. Crouching down, Ronon kept his arm around John's back fearing the man would topple backwards if he didn't. "I take it this wasn't your first go around with one of these things?" his voice sharp, his frustration that he hadn't gotten there sooner tinging his words.

"Not this one, the previous alpha," John provided, saw McKay stiffen and wasn't surprised when the man nervously began scanning their surroundings with the lifesigns indicator. "You see anything around us, McKay?"

Doing a full one eighty turn, Rodney's tense shoulders slumped in relief before he reported, "No, just us here now."

"Good…because those things…not gonna go down as my favorite Pegasus animal species," John admitted, eyes swinging up to the Major.

"No argument here," Lorne wholeheartedly concurred, truly would be a happy man if the beasts one day went extinct.

"Speaking of them…what are they?" McKay asked, finally able to let his inner scientist take center stage. Didn't go and kick the beast or poke it but took a curious look from his station many feet away.

"Ghost in the Darkness," John proudly announced while Evan went with "Brotherhood of the Wolf."

Teyla's face creased in confusion. "I do not understand."

McKay nearly sighed at Sheppard's typical tomfoolery after nearly dying. "They are trying to be cute by referencing two movies with savage lions."

Ronon looked over his shoulder at the dead beast. "Lions…I've seen pictures but I don't remember the spikes or the hairless body."

It was Teyla who provided true merit to the conversation as she crossed over to inspect the beast's carcass. "I have heard them called stivers on one planet I traded with. They hunt in groups and have been known to savagely attack and murder entire villages. They are extremely hard to kill and terrorize a large area when they do not sleep away the warm time of the year."

"I can second the 'extremely hard to kill' part," Lorne provided, knew his report would have put a few more expletives into that calm chillingly true statement.

"So of course you did what is Sheppard's favorite backup plan: blow things up," McKay criticized even as he was high on relief that John's wasn't dead, was wounded, bleeding, looking like more a blood covered zombie than a jungle survivor but he'd take that good news any way it came.

"Hey, the blowing them up idea worked…for the most part," John defended himself, could also read his friend's abating worry for him through McKay's disparaging statement. Then something came to John and he looked to Ronon who was still crouched at his side, arm keeping him upright. "Not that I'm ungrateful for the save but why are you here? Lorne was only expected to do a check-in two days from now."

Rodney sheepishly looked to Ronon and Teyla, didn't want to admit to being a worried mother hen over Sheppard. It was Ronon who finally made a reply and Rodney held his breath, cringing at just what the less than tactful man would say.

"We thought you might be having fun we shouldn't miss out on," Ronon answered, his lips teasing into a smirk as his eyes twinkled as they met John's.

But it wasn't John who made a comeback to Ronon's smart aleck retort but Evan. "You're right. He is the next Jay Leno," Evan drawled then he and Sheppard were exchanging a companionable look of amusement.

"Next Leno? Ronon?! I don't get it," McKay ranted, hated when he didn't get a joke.

Not bothering to ask what Earth references Lorne was making at his expense, Ronon suggested, "I've been on enough planets to know that where there's one lethal predator there's more, especially at night, so I say we try to make it back to the 'gate before dark."

"Yeah, yeah, I really don't want to be here in the woods, at night," McKay readily agreed, eyes again nervously inspecting the woods around them for the predators Ronon alluded to.

"First we must rebandage John's wounds, inspect the Major for possible injuries," Teyla level mindedly strategized, knew that John wouldn't mention the pain he was in, and probably neither would the Major.

Of course the Colonel objected to this plan. "No, Ronon's right, we can't waste time here," the next he addressed to Lorne, "as long as you're ok to travel?"

Evan opened his mouth to say he was but he agreed with Teyla's suggestion to concentrate on John's condition, to do something about the man's bloody bandages, fever bright eyes and the pain the Colonel had to be in. But Ronon spoke before he could.

"Making sure you don't bleed to death on the trail isn't wasting time," Ronon gruffly announced, apparently a little miffed at his leader's perchance to dismiss his own mortality, to place no value on his own wellbeing.

Rodney, sitting on the tree trunk on John's other side, put in his vote. "Yeah, I didn't do a stupidly reckless Tarzan routine only for you to expire before we get you back to Carson."

"A routine you might have to perform again for us to reach the gate," Teyla unhelpfully pointed out to McKay whose face fell and he whined, "Really?! There's no better way to get up there?"

Ronon didn't bother dealing with McKay's whining, was already assessing their risk levels. "I say we travel a mile or so, get away from the bloody carnage in case it attracts something else and then we stop, treat Sheppard and Lorne."

Lorne didn't find fault with the Satedan's reasonings, knew the man wouldn't do anything to put Sheppard in more danger. "I agree. Let's move out."

Though the decision had seemingly been made, Rodney still worriedly inquired of John, "You sure you're ok to walk that far right now because…frankly, it seems there's more blood on you than I thought was ever in you." Up close and personal he could see it was blood in Sheppard's hair, smeared liberally across his face, that the bandages around his shoulder and torso weren't just specked with blood seeping through but were more like saturated with blood.

"It's mostly not my blood…" John demurred.

"Some of it isn't his blood," Lorne corrected for the new comers. "The alpha, the first alpha, the Colonel killed it but then he got trapped under it while it bleed out."

"Trapped…under it?!" Rodney voice squeaked as that mental picture hit home.

"Yeah, a mano e mano alpha showdown. There was some growling, grappling for position, gnashing of teeth," Sheppard brashly depicted the scene.

"Falling down a cliff locked in mortal combat with a snarling beast." Lorne undertoned, destroying Sheppard's mucho scene.

"Hey, it's my story to tell," John groused, not liking how Rodney's look of awe had turned into a scowl of 'really, you fell down a cliff, fighting a beast,' reprimand at Lorne's uncontrollable need to point out the picky semantics.

"I'm sure it's riveting but if you're feeling just so super, let's start walking already. The smell of dead…" here Rodney looked at Teyla, "What are they again?"

"Stivers," she provided with a patient smile she kept in reserve just for McKay

"Yes, stivers. I have an acute scene of smell and they…"

"We have noses too," Lorne interrupted McKay, was about to cross to John's side to help him up but suddenly knew that McKay and Ronon weren't going to budge from their friend's side. Realizing John wasn't his to solely protect anymore, he felt half knee weakening relief and half an unexpected jealous stab of bereavement. This was the most time he had spent with Sheppard and as much as it was pure hell with them fighting to survive and yet it also wasn't hell. Sheppard had a way about him that even the life threatening situations held enjoyable comradery. It made Evan recall the civil war quote from Robert E. Lee: "It is well that war is so terrible or we should grow too fond of it."

Unaware of Evan's thwarted intentions, McKay and Ronon gently pulled John to his feet, held him between them as John bit back a choked groan of pain and hung his head, breathing hard. At John's outward show of pain, both Rodney and Ronon's faces creased in guilty concern, knew that their friend had to be in agony to let it show like he was.

Fighting to not pass out amid his body's claxon of pain, John drew in a few more deep breaths, hated that he was impeding his friends from getting somewhere safe. Well, safer, because he believed like Ronon did, that where one monster resided, there were probably more. It was the rule of the jungle or something. Slowly he came back more to himself, felt capable of opening his eyes, raising his head, found he was surrounded by worried faces after his little selfish time out. "Let's get out of here, huh? It's not at all like the travel agent promised it would be," trying to lighten the mood, assuage the worry of his friends.

Evan was there to help him with his guise. "Yeah, we definitely are going to ask for a refund, maybe demand a free trip to Hawaii."

John's eyes met Evan's in appreciative humor. "They have some of the best surfing spots in Hawaii."

Evan's smiled brightly, glad John recognized that. "I know," he smugly returned, saw John's eyes light up a tad, picking up that Evan had selected that place specifically because he knew John would like that particular amenity.

Rodney broke up the moment with an impatient, "Ok, then less talking, more moving." But still the scientist let John make the first move. So when John put one foot in front of the other, Rodney and Ronon were there matching his slow stride, arms slung around his torso, protectively supporting him between them. With care, the threesome maneuvered around the tree trunk and set out behind Lorne with Teyla bringing up the rear.

It didn't take long in their journey before Rodney and Ronon were exchanging worried looks over John's bowed head. The Colonel's at first determinedly stubborn steps had deteriorated to shuffling and they had slowed their pace so John could attempt to keep up with their motion. "Here's a good spot," Ronon announced. Though it was closer to the carnage than he liked, he refused to push Sheppard any further. Forgoing even trying to settle John sitting up against a tree, Ronon and Rodney instead started to ease the wounded man to lie down, ignored John's slurred, "Too soon to stop." With a hand cupping the back of John's neck, Ronon gently eased the man's head onto the ground.

Once lying on the ground, John closed his eyes, felt the last of the adrenaline ebb out of him leaving only pain and utter fatigue in its wake. He let himself drift, knew his life was in the hands of people that would keep him safe, that he could let his guard down now that it wasn't just him and Lorne and the beasts were all dead. His team inexplicable was there with him.

Coming to kneel beside John, Teyla started unpacking the first aid supplies she had had the foresight to bring along. Rodney, sensing she hadn't brought enough for the job, soon emptied his pockets of supplies and joined them with Teyla's. Knowing that Teyla and Rodney would see to John, Ronon stood up, came to Lorne. "Let me look you over."

"I'm good," Lorne demurred unable to look away from John's too still form, recriminations again pelting his conscience for getting his CO in this mesh, letting him be so grievously injured.

"Good like Sheppard's version of good?" Ronon cross-examined which got Lorne's attention flickering to the tall man.

"More like your version of good," Lorne gamely answered, which gained a grin from Ronon in understanding. So Ronon knew Lorne was hurt but could go on without medical treatment and wasn't putting his life or health at risk, the Major wasn't Sheppard's 'I'm in agony but I'm not going to do something unmanly like mention it' version of good.

But still Ronon reached out, run his fingers across the shredded strips of Evan's jacket, didn't find any blood under his fingertips. The scratch hadn't broken skin but Ronon had seen Lorne on the ground trying desperately to get up and get to Sheppard when the alpha was going for Sheppard. Trying to get up and failing. "Ribs?"

Chagrined as if embarrassed by the injury, Evan admitted, "Think a few might be bruised or cracked."

Ronon nodded. "Teyla can give you something for the pain."

But Evan shook his head. "No, the Colonel might need it," eyes again worriedly settling on Sheppard.

And that stubbornness eased some of Ronon's grudge against Evan for Sheppard's injuries, watched the emotions fighting to be concealed in the other man's features as the Major looked at his wounded commanding officer: Guilt, worry, fear, self-hatred and recriminations. Ronon was familiar with those feelings, had them any time Sheppard got himself hurt on his watch. Gently clamping a hand on Lorne's shoulder, he commiserated, "He's a handful, isn't he?"

Evan's head snapped to the right to look at the Satedan, surprised that the man's words weren't reproaches for what he had let happen to the Colonel but sympathetic and teasing. Evan let out a breath he felt he had been holding since the first beast attacked hours ago. "Damn it," he choked out, bending over, hands on his knees, the tension and all those hours carrying the weight of Sheppard's life solely in his hands hitting him hard now that his emotional guard was down. "Thank God you came, got here when you did."

That had Ronon swallowing hard, even he had to acknowledge, if only to himself, how close he had been to losing his best friend. If he had run slower when he heard the explosions, had gotten turned around tracking the sound, had gotten there a second later, fired a moment too late, Sheppard would be dead. He would have arrived just in time to watch the beast kill one of the people he cared about most in the world. And he didn't think he could have borne that, not after losing Malena, all of Satedan. Knew that Lorne had kept Sheppard alive long enough for him to not be too late, to not lose someone he just couldn't lose. Lowly he offered to the Major, "Thank you for keeping him alive until we got here."

But Ronon's thankfulness only made Lorne want to apologize because, ok, Sheppard was alive but the state he was in…the pain he was in…the cost it would have on him trekking back to the stargate…. None of that was worthy of a thank you, not from Ronon or McKay or Teyla and not from Sheppard. Straightening up, Lorne gritted his teeth before he spoke, "I'll scout back a little ways, make sure nothing's following us."

Ronon let the Major go, knew the man had his own ways of dealing with things, like they all did. Returning to Sheppard, he crouched down at the man's side, opposite of Telya, who was carefully removing the bandages and a makeshift bandage of a black t-shirt from John's shoulder, all of which were soaked with blood. Rodney, kneeling at John's head, was uncharacteristically quiet, usually kept up a running commentary when he was afraid, worried or sometimes amped up on too much caffeine.

The bandages finally removed, Telya tried to soak up some of the welling blood, get a visual of the wound she was dealing with. From his vantage point, Rodney leaned over, got a better look than Teyla did at first. "Oh crap, are they…" then he looked up, met Teyla and Ronon's questioning looks. "Teeth marks...he was bitten."

Ronon growled in angry frustration, that he didn't spare John this, at the knowledge that bites were very serious, led to infections quickly. Which had him reaching out, tenderly resting his big hand on John's blood stained, sweat drenched forehead. "He's hot with fever," he grimly announced, eyes meeting Teyla's across John's form.

"He can hear you, you know," John interrupted the medical show drama going on over him, his voice rough and barely above a whisper, knew he shouldn't have let himself sink down too deep into himself. It was proving hard to reopen his eyes, but he did, found worried faces again staring at him, down at him this time.

"John, we are just concerned for you," Teyla soothed, stopping her ministrations to hold John's gaze.

"Yeah if this is how you look after winning against that other alpha, can't say I'm impressed," Rodney snarked, was heartened when John's eyes lost some of their dullness and his sharp witted friend retorted, "Hey, I was really impressive! That thing was twice the size of the one Ronon killed, just ask the Major."

Not wanting Sheppard to know Lorne had gone on a solo recon and begin to worry, Ronon sarcastically drawled, "I'm sure he was. Maybe three times as big, right?"

Catching onto Ronon's taunt, John groused, "Hey, don't pick on the injured guy! I think that's a rule or something."

"No, no I don't think it is," Rodney denied, his tone light and a smirk breaking across his worry strained features.

"Well it should be," John sulked.

Breaking into the good natured ribbing, Teyla said, "I'm sorry, John, but I need to check your back. Can you roll onto your side?"

"I'll help," came simultaneously from Ronon and Rodney and then the two men were glaring at each other over Sheppard's form.

"I don't need help," John countered but pain radiated down his shoulder and his back as he started to roll to his left, found two sets of hands on him, slowing his motion into a gradual shifting that cut his pain down in half.

Hands positioned below John's shoulder wound, Rodney had levered John upper torso while Ronon did the same action from his careful hold at John's waist and legs. Then John was on his side, he had a moment of weak coughing and he found himself rolled a little further until he settled against Ronon's knees, his chin coming down to rest on the side of his friend's thigh and his hand finding a purchase on Ronon's coat to anchor himself. Hand coming to rest on John's back, Ronon watched as Teyla pulled away the bandage, revealed a matching set of wounds to the front of John's shoulder. "That thing got a good taste of you," but the tightness to his tone belied the casualness Ronon was trying to convey.

Without moving a muscle, John surprised them all by replying with a "Did it?" seemed to be asking them if that were true.

"Yeah it did! What, you didn't notice it trying to eat you?!" Rodney exclaimed, felt a little sick at the sight of the wound and more than unnerved at the bold evidence of how viciously John had been attacked.

John admitted with a bit of chagrin, "I guess that kinda got lost in the mix of falling, getting clawed to bits and generally being in unbearable pain and blacking out."

The retelling had John's three friends paling. Ronon's voice was quiet, gentle, "It sank its teeth into your shoulder, you're lucky it let go without shredding your muscles."

"It didn't let go," came Lorne's voice from above them, causing Ronon, Rodney and Teyla to look up at him, didn't like the expression on his face of bad memories resurfacing. "It died with its teeth sank into his shoulder. I had to pry its mouth open."

"Pry it's…" Rodney started as if didn't get it but his words broke off then as he did.

"That must be the stivers way of dying with their boots on," John tried to lighten the stilted mood after Evan's bombshell.

"A western reference, really?" Rodney complained, knew John, in secret, liked when he picked on him.

"Yes, a western reference, better than your scientific references that no one gets," John shot back wasn't expecting Ronon to side against him, especially if it meant taking McKay side.

"You get McKay's references," Ronon pointed out, enjoyed McKay's smug "Huh, right, he does," and John's protesting "No, I don't."

As the others kept John distracted, Teyla had been working steadfastly to clean the wound on Sheppard's back. Then she applied more clotting powder and settled gauze and bandage around the wounds before she nodded to Ronon, telling the other man that it was time to move Sheppard again.

"Gotta get you on your back, again, buddy," Ronon announced, felt John's chin tap against his thigh as the man nodded, knew Sheppard was already clamping his jaw shut, gearing up to handle the pain the movement would cause. Again Rodney and Ronon each played their part in rolling John now onto his back. Witnessing John's stiffened frame and unmeasured breaths, Ronon reached out, took John's hand in his, allowed the man an outlet for his pain, knew it was accepted when his hand was nearly crushed in the Colonel's grip.

Then Teyla treated the bite wounds on the front of John's shoulder, felt John shuddering in pain as she dabbed at the slashes on his chest and arms in rows of four from the beast's claws before dusting them with clotting powder and putting on new bandages. Sweat soaked John's hair and face and Ronon used some of his valuable water to wet a piece of his shirt that he had torn free and brushed it over John's forehead, down his face and neck.

In silence Lorne watched the tender treatment, felt horrible that his own aid to Sheppard hadn't been gentle or as comprehensive even as he knew time and being hunted had played a big factor in his actions. It still made him feel like a horrible person. Was a little surprised to know he had zoned out, that Teyla was on her feet, facing him now. "What?" he asked, thought the woman might have said something to him he hadn't registered.

"I said I would like to treat your wounds now, Major Lorne," Teyla repeated, reaching out for Lorne, wasn't prepared for the man to take a step back out of her reach.

Not wanting any time to be wasted on him, Evan excused his retreat from Teyla's good intentions, "Like I told Ronon, couple of ribs are tender but nothing that needs patched up right now."

Hearing the exchange going on above him, John murmured, "He fell too," opened his eyes to meet Evan's. "Just not as high as I did. But then he went bonus rounds with one of the beasts and got swatted, hard. Into a tree."

"Didn't take you for a tattle tale, sir," Evan jeered testily.

But John managed a smirk on his ashen features. "Turn around's fair play, Major. Let Teyla look you over, that's an order, Major."

"Yes, sir," Lorne crisply agreed. Finding a boulder, he claimed a seat, unclipped his MP90 and unzipped his vest trying to appear as compliant as possible. Teyla wasn't fooled.

"I will be quick," she knowingly assured him, knew the Major's worry was for Sheppard, like all of theirs was. Lifting his shirt up, she gently prodded his ribs, noted when he minutely flinched before circling around, checking his back which was already sporting the beginning of a deep bruise. "I know Dr. Becket has instructed us to not wrap injured ribs unless mobility is a necessity to survival. In this case, I think it best to wrap your ribs. The way to the gate will be strenuous and you could sustain further injury to your ribs without the binding to keep them from moving."

Lorne, however, didn't want any supplies to be wasted on him, especially not bandages that, more than likely, the Colonel would need before they could get him home. "No. That wouldn't be necessary."

"But Major I think…" Teyla tried to sway him but Lorne sharply retorted. "I said no."

"As you wish," she stiffly relented and yet still used gentleness when she resettled his shirt down.

Feeling like a heel, Evan grabbed Teyla's arm before she walked away. "I appreciate your concern, I do but I am alright." Then he relented, honestly confessed his fear, "I'm afraid the colonel might need those bandages."

Teyla wanted to refute the Major's prediction but couldn't, felt that growing dread as well. "How long ago was his injured?"

"About two hours," Lorne estimated, saw Teyla making the calculations in her head for how quickly John had lost blood. "The clotting powder didn't have much chance to work because we needed to keep on the move then when the beasts, the stivers, gained ground on us. We had no choice but to stand and fight."

Sensing the other man thought he needed to justify his actions, Teyla put a hand on his shoulder, "Major we are not questioning your decisions or assigning blame to you for Colonel Sheppard's injuries."

Not wanting to get into why he couldn't accept her free pass, Lorne instead commanded, "We should head out if you think the Colonel can be moved."

"He will be in pain but I have done what I could for his wounds." And there was a helpless tone in her words but she didn't seek his encouragement, simply turned back to Sheppard's side. Crouching down, she pulled out some pills from the first aid packet and met John's gaze. "I have some pills to help with the pain," then exchanging a look with Ronon, the Satedan raised John's head as she dropped the pills in John's mouth then Ronon helped John drink from his canteen. All the while, John made no protest and there wasn't any one of them that thought that was a reassuring reaction from Colonel John Sheppard.

Rodney said it best as he muttered, "Oh crap," as he watched his stubborn friend compliantly let himself be drugged while they were on a mission, with possible danger lurking around the corner. Something John would never do unless….he was in unmeasurable pain and nearly at his physical limit. It made Rodney reach out and settle his hand on John's uninjured shoulder in concern and support for the wounded man.

"I'm sorry, Sheppard, but we have to keep moving," Ronon somberly pointed out to which John nodded his head, before he swallowed, found the strength for words, "I know. I'm gonna need help up." And that was another red flag in Rodney's book: Sheppard asking for help.

Slipping back from John's side, Teyla watched as Rodney took up her position then he and Ronon levered John slowly to a stand, a shaky one but they were instantly wrapping their arms around John's waist and settling him between them so close that she knew they intended to take all of John's weight if need be. But John still had stubbornness in him, got his feet planted on the ground, his knees locked and managed to stand between his two teammates, meeting her questioning worried gaze, he nodded, gave her permission to lead away.

Nodding back to John, Teyla took point, fought to not look worriedly over her shoulder as she heard the movement of the three men behind her, knew Lorne was guarding them from the rear. She set out, knowing they were heading in the correct direction, that if she remained on course they would reach the cliff where they had descended but in all honesty, she hoped another way up the cliff presented itself because maneuvering John up the cliff by the vines as grievously injured as he was seemed like it should be their last resort, not their only option to getting John home. But then again, how many of their missions required them to count on last resort measures for their survival?! Too many for Teyla to want to count, seemed too much to think this time would be any different.

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TBC

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See again no cliffie. I can be kind, rarely.

My love to all my wonderfully kind supportive reviewers, those signed and including Guest 64, Guest, ShepFan, fs440! Reading your thoughts makes my day!

And a shout out to Guest 64: It was such an honor that I could make your day look up. It's actually one of the reasons I get up the nerve to post here…hoping that my little stories just might make someone smile.

Have a great day!

Cheryl