P9X-664 had a large moon near full that gave off a surprising amount of light. Rodney watched as Ford and Teyla followed the border of the square until they reached the stream and crossed without using the bridge.

They were barely out of sight when something that sounded like a cannon to Rodney went off, and a corner of the pub disappeared.

"Someone's shooting at us!" Rodney exclaimed as John pushed him back against the wall with one arm.

"I got that, thanks," John replied as he raised the Beretta in his hands, eased back to the corner of the pub, and took a quick look into the square.

"Why is someone shooting at us?" Rodney asked as he unholstered his Beretta. "I thought Ford said you shot the guy in our room."

"I guess he had friends, Rodney. Maybe we should go ask him."

The cannon went off again, and Rodney realised it was actually some sort of shotgun as another chunk of the pub vanished in a spray of stone chips and dust.

John fired several shots out into the square then ducked back behind the pub.

"Maybe Ford and Teyla will come back," Rodney offered as another shotgun blast rocked the side of the pub.

"They better not," Sheppard growled. "This is why we split up, to make sure someone managed to get to the 'gate. We just got drafted to be the diversion."

Rodney heard people yelling, and a few villagers ran past the opening to the alley where they crouched.

"We can't stay here," John said as he looked out into the square again. "This alley dead-ends behind the next building. We need to get across the square and into the rest of the village."

"Cross the square?" Rodney asked. "Are you nuts! Someone is shooting at us!"

"Exactly," John said, and Rodney could tell Sheppard was trying to be patient. "So we need to move before we get pinned down back here."

Rodney squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

"Okay," John said and readied himself. "We're going to do this in two steps. Step one, get to the fountain. I'll go first. I think our friend with the shotgun is hiding around the shop stalls to our right. Once I get to the fountain, I'll cover for you."

Rodney opened his eyes and stared at John. "Who's covering for you?" he asked as more villagers woke up and came out to see what was happening.

"I'll take care of myself," John told him. "You just make sure you're ready to run when I give you the signal."

John checked his Beretta then waited for the shotgun to fire. As soon as Rodney heard the loud report, John was off and running, firing toward the shop stalls as he went. He slid to the ground behind the fountain just as the shotgun fired again, this time taking out chunks from the base of the water feature.

Rodney crept to the end of the wall where he could see John crouched behind the fountain. He took a couple of deep breaths and waited for John to tell him when to run.

John glanced back toward Rodney and raised one arm.

The shotgun went off, and another piece of the fountain was reduced to dust.

John dropped his arm and opened fire with the Beretta, laying down cover fire for Rodney.

Rodney bent down, trying to make himself as small a target as possible, and made a frantic dash of his own toward the fountain. He landed on his knees beside Sheppard just as the shotgun went off again, and Rodney felt chips of stone from the fountain cut his face and hands.

"You okay?" John asked as he gave Rodney a quick once over.

Rodney swallowed and nodded. "You?"

John smiled. "Fine."

"I'd really like to know who's shooting at us," Rodney grumbled. "What is with these people? How do they think anyone will want to be a trade partner if there's the threat of kidnapping and death if they don't get what they want?"

"One problem at a time," John replied. "First problem. Concentrate on getting away from the guy with the really big gun. The rest can wait."

Rodney saw the logic in that and nodded.

"All right," John said. "So far, so good. Now for step two. We're aiming for that alley to the left. See it?" John pointed to the narrow opening between two large ornate buildings.

Rodney found the opening and nodded. "That leads through to some workshops and out to the forest. That's where I was earlier today."

"Even better," John said. "We'll get into the trees and make our way back to the 'gate through the woods."

John pulled a new magazine for the Beretta from his vest, reloaded, glanced toward the shops, and quickly ducked back as the fountain took another hit.

Rodney heard John grunt in pain, but before he could make sure John was all right, Sheppard was up and running toward the alley and firing the Beretta back toward the shop stalls. Something caught Rodney's eye, and he noticed a patch of red where John had leant against the edge of the stone basin for the fountain.

He was still processing what the red stain meant when John shouted, "Run!" and the Beretta barked again.

Rodney ran across the square and into the alley.

Rodney slid to the ground, and John pushed him up against the alley wall just as the shotgun fired again and pieces of the building rained down on them.

"You're bleeding," Rodney exclaimed as he sat next to John, pointing to Sheppard's bloody side.

John glanced down at his side with a frown. "It's not that bad," he replied. "We need to keep moving," John said, his voice tight. "We're still dealing with the first problem."

John peeked around the corner of the building and jerked his head back as another shotgun blast hit the corner of the building.

"Move," John ordered. "I'll be right behind you."

Rodney got to his feet and hugged the wall as he moved farther away from the village square. He glanced back to make sure John was really following him before he randomly turned down one street and then another, the Beretta firing behind him occasionally. No one else seemed to be around. The area was the equivalent of an industrial zone, meaning no houses and no scared villagers to see where they were going.

He came out onto another street and found the blacksmith shop on one side and the woodworking shop next to it. Rodney glanced around and saw the warehouse behind him. He stopped to catch his breath, but John was right behind him, still shooting.

"He's still behind us," John said and gave Rodney a push. "Get into the alley between those workshops."

Rodney nodded and crossed the street. He glanced back at John still standing in front of the warehouse and saw someone running toward them.

"Behind you!" he shouted.

John turned and fired in the direction of the person chasing them. He ran toward Rodney and was in the middle of the street when several things happened at once. John ducked as another shotgun blast hit the wall of the warehouse. He raised the Beretta to return fire when Rodney saw the door to the warehouse open, and a young man with a lantern stepped outside and looked around.

"What's going on?" The young man asked, holding up the lantern.

Rodney heard John yell something to the man with the lantern, but it was too late.

The shotgun went off again, missing John but hitting the man with the lantern. The man fell back, dropping the lantern, which set several nearby boxes in the warehouse on fire.

John ran across the street. "Move!" he ordered and pushed Rodney farther down the alley.

Rodney turned and glanced back at John. He hadn't gone more than a few steps when he felt his ears pop just before he saw the warehouse explode. The sound of the warehouse exploding and the pressure wave hit him a split second later, throwing him against the alley wall. His head hit the wall, and Rodney felt a wet agony as his recently stitched arm hit something hard. Somehow, he had ended up lying on the ground. Rodney heard a low moan before his head dropped onto his bloody arm, and he blacked out.

~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~

Aiden ran from building to building, skirting the edge of the square, as he led the way out of the village. A few of the villagers ran into the square, but with no way to tell friend from foe, Aiden avoided everyone.

The bridge is too exposed, he said to himself and ran between two buildings near the edge of the village. They came out a dozen feet from the bridge.

"There is no way to tell how deep the stream is," Teyla said as she stopped next to him and gazed at the water.

"We'll have to risk it," Aiden replied and stepped into the water. He waded out into the middle of the stream and nodded when the water only came up to his calves. "Come on."

Teyla waded after him, and once they were across, Aiden ran for the closest trees and cover. He knelt in the underbrush, watching their backtrail as Teyla ducked into the trees and knelt beside him.

"I do not believe anyone followed us," she said, and Aiden nodded.

"I think you're right, but we'll stick to the trees. Just to be safe."

He pushed his way through the underbrush but was soon frustrated by how slow they were moving. He fought his way through more brush, then gave up and turned back to the path.

"Lieutenant?" Teyla asked as Aiden stepped onto the dirt track.

"We need to get back to the 'gate," he said with a glance at Teyla. "Going through the forest is going to take -"

A bright light lit up the sky behind them, and a few moments later, Aiden heard a muffled boom.

"Something has happened," Teyla said, staring at the reddish-orange glow coming from the village.

"Yeah," Aiden agreed.

"Should we go back? Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay may need help."

Aiden grimaced and shook his head. "We need to get to the 'gate. Doctor Weir needs to know what's happened." He stared at the village and clenched his hands into fists.

"I'm sure Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay are all right," Teyla said.

Aiden glanced at her and snorted. "No thanks to McKay, I'm sure," he replied, turning his back on the village.

"You do not agree with Major Sheppard's tactics?" Teyla asked.

Aiden shrugged and walked down the trail toward the stargate.

He'd been ordered to get to the 'gate and call for help. He saw the tactical reasons for Sheppard splitting them up and agreed with them. His problem was Sheppard having only McKay to watch his back.

Everything he knew about the events during the storm came back to him in a rush as they walked. He'd been around McKay and his various complaints and fears for months now. No matter how much Sheppard said otherwise, a part of Aiden could easily believe McKay would fold at the first sign of pressure. Which was why he didn't want to leave his commanding officer behind with essentially zero backup.

"Aiden?" Teyla said. "What is the matter?"

Aiden blew out a breath and glanced back toward the village. "I don't like the idea of leaving Major Sheppard behind to deal with whatever is going on back there," he hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "by himself."

"Doctor McKay will do his best to help," Teyla reminded him gently.

Aiden scoffed as he walked along the trail. "Like he helped with the Genii invasion?" he asked with a sarcastic twist of his lips.

Teyla started to argue, but Aiden spoke over her.

"Did you know if it weren't for Major Sheppard making him wait an extra couple of minutes, McKay would have fried you and Beckett when he turned on the shield? He didn't even stop to think about the two of you still being in the hallways. He just wanted to save the day."

He walked a little faster, but Teyla stopped him with a hand on his arm. "You are wrong about Doctor McKay, Lieutenant. He is an honorable man." She let go of his arm and studied his face. "I have heard the same stories as you. I choose to believe there is more to what happened than what we know."

"Sure, whatever," Aiden replied sarcastically. He glanced back at the village and frowned at the red glow lighting the early morning sky. "We need to move."

~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~

Rodney opened his eyes and found himself lying on his side, staring at a pile of rubble where the warehouse had been. He blinked a few times and stared toward the street in a daze. Blurry images of red light and dark shadows moved in a chaotic dance in front of him. It was several long seconds before he realised the red light was the warehouse on fire, and the shadows were villagers running back and forth, frantically trying to put the fire out before it spread.

He lay coughing from the smoke and dust in the air, watching the people as memories fell into place. A man holding him at knifepoint. Needing to get back to the 'gate. Someone shooting at them.

Rodney glanced at the mouth of the alley but didn't see anyone with a gun, and no one seemed very interested in their narrow alley. Where was the man with the shotgun? he wondered.

Need to move, he told himself. He pushed against the ground and groaned as his arm throbbed. He felt something running along his arm, looked down, and saw the sleeve of his jacket was bloody.

"Not good," he muttered. He pushed up the jacket sleeve and hissed in a breath when he saw the bandage covering the knife wound was red in several places. "Popped the stitches," he muttered as he watched the red patches slowly blend together. Carson was going to kill him, he thought dully and pushed the sleeve back down.

There was a long tear in his trousers as well, and he saw his calf had a long cut from some sort of shrapnel. A careful exploration of his skull revealed a welt behind his ear, which probably explained the odd tingling at the base of his skull and the headache, and he was still coughing. He looked around bleary-eyed, still feeling dazed.

Where was Sheppard? he wondered. And Ford and Teyla?

He reached up to his ear and frowned when he didn't find the radio. "No way to call for help, then," he grumbled.

He glanced around the alley and found John about half a meter away, lying in his stomach, not moving.

"John?" Rodney called. He reached out and prodded Sheppard's arm, the only thing he could touch without moving. "John?" Rodney called again, louder. He managed to pull himself to his knees and crawled to John's side, ignoring the burning pain that ran through his leg and arm when he moved. "Hey," he said and shook John's arm.

John didn't respond to either Rodney shaking him or his name, and Rodney felt his worry notch up a level. They were on a strange planet, with who knew how many people hunting them. They needed to get back to the 'gate.

Rodney checked John's pulse and let out the breath he'd been holding when he found it, a bit fast, but there. He also found a bloody gash on his head on Sheppard's head and winced.

"That would explain why you're unconscious," Rodney muttered at Sheppard. "I don't suppose you want to tell me where else you're hurt?" he asked and shook his head. "I'm probably not supposed to move you, and Carson will likely yell into next week, but I don't see much choice. If we're going to survive this, I need to know what I'm dealing with."

He took off John's pack, carefully rolled Sheppard onto his back, and tsked when he found the wound in John's side.

"It's not that bad," he mimicked and patted his tac-vest. He found a pressure bandage and groaned as he lifted John enough to tie the bandage around his middle. "Would it kill you to admit it when you're hurt?" Rodney groused and rocked back and forth until the ache in his arm faded. "You don't have to pull this John Wayne stuff, you know."

Sheppard didn't respond, and Rodney glared at him as he ran his hands over John's arms and legs. He found another wound on John's arm and felt through his pockets for another bandage for that as well as the still-bleeding head wound.

He tied off the last bandage and squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of vertigo hit him. Concussion? he wondered, bracing one hand against the wall. Or something worse? What did the villagers store in that warehouse?

He leant his back against the wall of the workshop they'd been hiding next to and waited for the spinning to stop. When he was sure the world would remain on an even keel, he opened his eyes and glanced toward the mouth of the alley. Flames still lit the street in front of the alley, but so far, it appeared the villagers had the blaze contained to the warehouse.

He heard a low moan and turned back to Sheppard. "John? Can you hear me," Rodney asked and started coughing again. "It would be really good for you to wake up now," he finished once he had his breath back.

John groaned but remained stubbornly unconscious.

Rodney was still deciding what to do next when he heard footsteps near their alley. The psycho with the shotgun? he wondered and felt a jolt in his stomach. Someone else looking for them?

Without a radio, Rodney had no way to know if the person coming toward the alley was friend or foe, but he didn't plan to stick around to find out. There weren't any doorways they could hide in, but he knew the street with the workshops led to the woods, so he decided to try for the cover of the forest.

"The possibility of meeting some wild animal seems like better odds than the certainty of staying here and getting shot, wouldn't you agree, Major?" Rodney said, stifling another cough as he unclipped his pack. He'd have enough trouble carrying John without the added weight from the backpack.

Rodney hid the packs as best he could, then stood. The world spun around him, and Rodney braced his hand on the wall, waiting out the dizziness.

The footsteps were almost to the alley.

"Now or never," Rodney muttered.

He wrapped his arms around John's chest and started to drag Sheppard to the end of the alley away from the still burning warehouse. His arm and leg throbbed in agony, but Rodney tried his best to ignore the pain as he tripped over some rubble in the road and fought to keep his balance.

"Carson will probably have a fit that I'm doing this too," Rodney said with a grunt as he checked the area behind him. "Would probably tell me I shouldn't be moving you at all. But I don't see where there's any other choice." Rodney grunted as he tripped over something again in the dark and readjusted his tenuous hold around John.

They were almost to the trees when he heard two voices close by.

"We lost them, Terris," a gravelly voice said, and Rodney thought it sounded like the man who had broken into their room.

"Of course we did, you idiot," another voice, Rodney assumed it was Terris, replied. "You were shooting at them. What did you think they would do? Why did I think using you for this was a good idea?"

Rodney pulled Sheppard into the shadow of one of the last buildings that abutted the forest and huddled beside him. It worried him more than a little that for all the rough treatment, John was still unconscious.

"You said you wanted them."

Rodney felt another cough building and held his breath to hold it off as long as possible.

"Yes, but I need them alive, Whelan. They can't do any trading if they're dead, can they?"

"What makes you think they have anything worth trading for?" Whelan asked.

"I met some of these people a few months ago," Terris replied. "Trust me. They have something worth trading for. We need to get to the Circle. Chances are that's where they're headed."

Terris and Whelan were barely gone before the tickle Rodney had been trying to suppress exploded in a harsh coughing fit that left him gasping for air. He lay on the ground panting for a few minutes, trying to get his breathing under control, then turned to Sheppard.

"Did you get all of that?" he asked as he checked John's bandages. "Too bad we have no idea who Terris is."

Rodney wasn't sure if the groans and slight movements he saw were from John really starting to wake up or if it was just wishful thinking on his part. "John?" he called but didn't get an answer.

"I'm really not good at this surviving in the wilderness thing," Rodney said as he slowly stood and looked around. "I think they're gone," he reported a moment later and glanced behind him toward the village. The fire glowed against the sky, and Rodney blew out a breath.

They couldn't go back, he knew. Which left the forest. He wrapped his arms around John's chest and started moving again.

"Feel free to wake up any time now," Rodney groused hoarsely as the trees closed in around them a few minutes later. "You're a lot heavier than you look, you know."

He'd hoped his constant chatter would get John to wake up, but it wasn't working. He started coughing again as he pulled John farther under the cover of the trees.

The village was finally out of sight when Rodney stopped again and leant Sheppard against a handy tree. He thought it had been about thirty minutes since the building near them had exploded, but he had no way to be sure since he wasn't wearing a watch.

"I think we're safe for the moment," Rodney said to John. He pulled a tiny flashlight and an antiseptic wipe from a vest pocket. "You're a mess, you know that?" he asked conversationally as he removed the bandage over John's eye, opened the wipe, and started cleaning the blood off John's slack face.

"I don't think this will need stitches." Rodney continued his one-sided dialogue as he checked the cut once the dried blood was gone. "The bruise is going to be spectacular, though."

John groaned and turned his head away from Rodney.

Rodney stopped what he was doing and asked, "Hey, you in there? John?" He tapped Sheppard on the cheek a few times and was rewarded when John slit his eyes open and stared dully around.

"John?" Rodney said again and moved into John's line of sight.

Sheppard glanced at him, and Rodney could tell he wasn't really with it yet. "Hey," he said with a tiny wave.

John gave him a puzzled look. "R'dny?"

Rodney quirked a relieved smile. "Yeah."

John's gaze wandered back to the trees. "Whr?"

Rodney started cleaning John's arm with another wipe. "P9X-664. Do you remember what happened?"

John shook his head, groaned, and tried to pull his arm out of Rodney's grip.

"I know this probably hurts, but hold still, I'm almost done," Rodney said and quickly finished cleaning the cut. "We don't have much in the way of supplies," he added, rummaging through his pockets. "This is the best I can do for now."

He found a couple of sterile pads and some gauze and used one of the pads to cover the gash on John's head. "It's not my best work," he admitted once he tied off the bandage, "but it will do until we get back to Atlantis."

"R'dny?"

Rodney looked up from checking the gash in John's arm, then used another sterile pad and more gauze to cover it. "And a month ago, you didn't think I knew anything about first aid," Rodney muttered as he worked. "If I thought you'd remember any of this, I'd be giving you such a hard time right now, believe me."

John gave him another glazed stare, and Rodney sighed. He was starting to get worried. He wasn't used to an out-of-it John Sheppard. Even when he'd had the vampire bug attached to his neck, John had still been lucid.

"R'dny?"

"Yep," Rodney replied, "Still here."

"Whr?"

"P9X-664. The place with the huge trees."

Rodney unzipped John's tac-vest and carefully pulled it off. John groaned, and Rodney hissed in sympathy as he peeled the bloody bandage away from the tear in John's side. He hadn't had time to do more than tie the pressure bandage over John's shirt and the wound when they were in the alley. He lifted up the bloody t-shirt to get a better look at the injury.

"The bleeding has stopped," he said with a glance up at John's face. "That's good, right?"

He went through the pockets of John's vest and pulled out two more antiseptic wipes and another pressure bandage. He tried to be as gentle as possible, but John still groaned and tried to jerk away from his touch as Rodney tried to clean the wound.

"I know, I'm sorry. Sorry," Rodney muttered with a glance at John's eyes. "Almost done." He threw away the wipe, unrolled the pressure bandage, quickly tied it off, and pulled John's shirt back down. "That should hold until Carson has a chance to look at it," Rodney said as he pulled John's tac-vest back on but didn't zip it up.

Rodney sat back and glanced down at the used wipes and bloody bandages. "Can't leave this where someone can find it," Rodney said to himself.

He gathered the bloody bandages and wipes and concealed them under a nearby fern. Once he was done, he sat next to John and enjoyed the silence for a moment until he felt another tickle in his throat and started coughing again.

"Great," he mumbled, groping for his canteen. "That warehouse was probably full of asbestos or something, and I'm going to die of cancer."

John didn't say anything, but when Rodney glanced over, he noted John's eyes were still open. He wanted to believe John looked more alert, but he wasn't sure if that was, in fact, the case or just wishful thinking.

He shifted against the tree and winced as his own injuries burned. "So much for that well-honed sense of self-preservation, McKay," he berated himself as he took off his jacket and looked at his bloody arm.

The bandage over the knife wound was a mess, and he suspected he'd popped all of Carson's remaining stitches pulling Sheppard out of the village. He stared at the blood, mesmerised by the pattern.

"Now, Doctor McKay. Let's discuss your plan to save Atlantis."

Rodney squeezed his eyes shut as the knife dug into his arm again. "I already told you, there isn't any plan," he ground out between clenched teeth.

"Oh, I think there is," Kolya replied, holding up the bloody knife.

John bumped against him, bringing Rodney back to the present.

Rodney glanced over at Sheppard, then patted his pockets, searching for more bandages. All he found was the roll of gauze and sighed. He wasn't sure what had cut up his leg, but he cleaned it with the last antiseptic wipe then wrapped some of the gauze around the gashes. He covered the bloody dressing on his arm with the last of the gauze.

"I'm telling Carson this was all your fault," Rodney said and grunted as he tied off the gauze.

He pulled his jacket back on and heard something that oddly sounded like a snort of laughter. He turned and saw John looking at him, really looking at him, for the first time since the explosion.

"Are you back with me now?" Rodney asked even as he moved to see John's face better.

John nodded, then winced and rubbed his head. "Wha' happ'd?" John asked.

Rodney didn't miss the way John still slurred his words. "What do you remember?" he asked and pushed John's hand away from his bandaging efforts.

John closed his eyes for several moments, and Rodney was about to make sure he was still awake when his eyes slowly opened, and he looked around at the trees.

"Seed," John said. "Came to trade."

Rodney nodded. "Then what?"

John shrugged. "It's a jumble. An explosion. Someone holding a knife."

Rodney shuddered at the memory of yet another knife poised to kill him. "The short version is someone named Terris apparently didn't like that we were considering a trade with Rowland and decided to take measures so we'd talk to him instead."

John tried to move and winced as he grabbed at his side.

Rodney held out his canteen and the ibuprofen from his vest. "Here, take these," he said and waited for John to swallow the pills. John leant his head back against the tree and closed his eyes again.

"Radio?" John asked a few minutes later.

"Mine is probably still sitting on the table by the bed in the pub," Rodney admitted.

John felt his ear then checked his vest pocket. He pulled out the earpiece in two pieces. "Must have broken when I landed on it," John said.

"Great. So even if Ford and Teyla manage to avoid getting caught, we have no way of letting them know where we are." Rodney dropped his head back against the tree. He was exhausted but knew they couldn't stay where they were for much longer.

He glanced over at John, who had his eyes closed. "Don't go to sleep," Rodney said and poked him in the leg.

John opened his eyes and looked around them again. Rodney thought he definitely looked more alert. "Where are Ford and Teyla?"

"You sent them to the 'gate to call Atlantis for help." Rodney glanced out at the surrounding trees, refusing to meet John's gaze.

"And?" John prodded. "What's the part you're not telling me?"

"They may have run into trouble," Rodney replied and glanced at John. "Terris is heading for the 'gate, too," he finished in a low mutter.

"We need to go," John said and tried to get to his feet. He managed to get about halfway up before he started to sag, and Rodney caught him, biting back the yelp of pain as John hit his bloody arm.

"Would you take it easy?" Rodney snapped as he got one of John's arms over his shoulder. "I just got all of the bleeding stopped."

"They need help, Rodney," John ground out as Rodney pulled both of them upright.

"In case you haven't noticed," Rodney adjusted his grip on John's waist and bit back a groan as his leg protested, "we aren't exactly in fighting shape here." He took a limping step forward with John's arm draped over his left shoulder.

He wasn't sure which way the stargate was but figured the first thing they had to do was put more distance between them and the village, then they could double back and see what had happened to Teyla and Ford.

Navigating an unknown forest in the middle of the night would have been hard enough even if Rodney didn't have Sheppard to support as well. The trees blocked out most of the moonlight, causing him to trip over several unseen branches and vines. John's stumbling gait wasn't helping matters. While they may have started off well, it didn't take long for John to tire with Rodney taking more and more of his weight.

It was starting to get light when Rodney spotted an opening at the base of a tree. "Need a break," Rodney muttered under his breath and changed direction. He limped over to the tree and carefully set John down with his back against the tree.

"Hmm," John grunted and opened his eyes. "What's goin' on?"

"Rest break," Rodney replied as he knelt in front of the opening in the tree roots.

He ignored the complaints from his back as he crawled forward and peered through the trees at the hollowed-out space inside the tree. Rodney swallowed hard against both another cough and the claustrophobia as he crawled inside, looked around, and marvelled again at the sheer size of the tree. The space inside was large enough for both of them to at least sit comfortably. The ground was strewn with leaves and dried bracken, but it didn't take him long to shove the detritus out the opening. With a last look around inside, he nodded and went back to get John.

"Come on, there's a nice hidey-hole here with our name on it," Rodney cajoled as he maneuvered John into the cave and set him on the ground with his back against one wall. He held out the canteen for John to drink, then settled next to him and savored the fact he was no longer moving. His eyes started to drift shut, and he didn't try to stop them.

Something jostled his arm, and Rodney woke up with a start. He glanced around their tree cave and noted more light trickled into the space between the tree roots. He felt a stab of panic when he couldn't move his right arm, looked down, and saw Sheppard pressed against Rodney's side, pinning his arm between their bodies. He moved just enough to free his arm but not disturb John and scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Think," he muttered to himself. "Teyla and Ford need help. John needs Carson." He glanced at Sheppard and frowned when he saw John's hand twitching against his side even in his sleep. He also saw the fine sheen of sweat on his face and thought John's cheeks looked flushed. "Definitely needs Carson," he decided. "Too bad half the planet seems to be looking for us to hold to ransom."

He scooted out from under John, pulled himself into a low crouch, and peered out at the surrounding trees. "I think it's still morning," he said with a glance back at John. "I don't think we've been asleep more than an hour or two."

John didn't say anything, and Rodney crawled over to Sheppard's side. "I just want to see how you're doing," Rodney muttered as he checked under the bandages. "These look about the same," he said and recovered the cuts on John's head and arm. He peeked under the bandage wrapped around John's middle and frowned.

"Stop fussing," John mumbled, and tried to swat Rodney's hand away from his side.

Rodney snorted. "You're one to talk."

"Part of my job."

Rodney ignored that as he replaced the bandage around John's middle as best he could. "It looks like it's getting infected," he said seriously, and John nodded.

"Not surprised," John replied softly. "Nothing we can do about it here."

"Here," Rodney said as he offered the canteen. "You need to drink something."

John opened his eyes long enough to swallow a few sips of water then returned the canteen. Rodney finished the water and had added 'find a water source' to his mental to-do list when he felt John sag against him.

Rodney looked down at the top of John's head resting on his shoulder in surprise. He was not good at comfort. He rarely knew the right thing to do or say. What was he supposed to do next? he wondered and awkwardly patted John's arm for lack of any other ideas.

"Didn't you tell Teyla once I was the worst person to go to if you wanted to feel better?" Rodney asked even as he pulled John up so his head rested more comfortably on Rodney's shoulder. When John didn't pull away, he wrapped one arm awkwardly around John to keep him in place and went back to thinking.

Rodney had no idea where the 'gate was or even the village at this point, but what he did know was John wasn't going to be walking any farther. Before he could even think about finding the stargate or helping Teyla and Ford, he'd need to figure out a way to move John without making his injuries worse.

He sat staring at the inside of the tree for several minutes before he realised the solution was right in front of him. Neither of them would make it very far if John tried to walk, but what if he didn't have to?

"It could work," he said to himself as he peered around the cave. The momentary spurt of relief that he had a workable plan fizzled when he realised what he needed wasn't in the cave.

Stay or go? he asked himself with another glance at Sheppard. What he needed probably wasn't far, he told himself. He could leave and be back before John was even awake.

"Besides, if you waited, he would just try to say he was fine and didn't need the help."

He shifted John into what he hoped was a more comfortable position against his side as he weighed his options. What was the saying? he wondered. It was easier to ask forgiveness than permission?

John needed Carson. Teyla and Ford probably needed rescuing from angry villagers. For Rodney to do anything to help his teammates, John had to be moved.

Which meant he'd need to leave, he realised with a guilty look down at the top of John's head. If their roles were reversed, would John leave him? Rodney wondered. Did it really matter? He needed to leave to help John and save Teyla and Ford. John would understand that.

At least he hoped John would understand.

Decision made, Rodney shifted John enough to slip out of his tac-vest and jacket. He balled up the jacket, forming a rough pillow, and tried to ignore the spots of fresh blood on the gauze he'd wrapped around his arm. He laid John down on the ground with his head cushioned on the coat and covered him with an emergency blanket he found in one of the pockets of John's vest.

"Note," he muttered to himself, patting his vest pockets. "Should leave a note, just in case." He found a pencil and a pad of paper in one of the pockets, wrote a quick note, and left it where John would see it.

Rodney checked John one last time, then moved back to the opening in the tree and took a careful look around. He didn't see or hear anyone nearby and crept out of their hiding place. He arranged some branches over the hole at the base of the tree in a way he hoped looked natural and set off.