I'm not afraid (I'm not afraid)
To take a stand (to take a stand)
Everybody (everybody)
Come take my hand (come take my hand)
We'll walk this road together, through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just letting you know that you're not alone
Holler if you feel like you've been down the same road (same road)

Rori and Danny were kicked back in the beach chairs that had, apparently, been put there by Steve's parents back in the day. Steve and John had gone for an ocean swim and Hank was still asleep. She inspected the new tattoo around her left wrist. Rings were too temporary and traditional. None of them would wear a ring anyway, so matching tattoos seemed the most fitting.

The tattoo was a Hawaiian Lei with hibiscus and hearts intertwined all the way around her wrist and the words "hell and back" across the inside of her wrist. The tattoo artist had told her that the ink wouldn't take very well on the scar tissue she still had there, but she couldn't tell much difference. He'd carefully placed the lettering right along the edge of the scar.

"Excuse me," a female voice came from behind them and interrupted Rori's thoughts. Rori turned in the chair to face the owner. She was on the short side of average height with dark bronze skin and deep brown eyes. Rori had never been attracted to a woman, but if she were to be, this would be the one. She was quite gorgeous. "I am looking for John Sheppard, I was told I could find him here." Rori regarded her curiously, trying to place the accent. She was wearing a pair of black tactical pants and a cropped tank top that exposed her perfectly flat stomach. This definitely wasn't Nancy, John's ex. From what he'd told Rori of her, she was the skirt wearing, business type.

"Teyla, Sam says our window is pretty small," a man said as he walked up. He was the opposite of attractive. Not very athletic, obviously, with pale skin and a receding hairline. "You find him?"

"I was just asking these nice people," Teyla, the woman, said with an annoyed tone.

"Can I ask who's looking for him" Rori asked.

"I am Teyla Emmogan, this is Rodney McKay," Teyla introduced both of them.

"Doctor Rodney McKay," the man corrected.

"We are old colleagues of John's and we need to speak to him," Teyla continued.

"He's out for a swim," Rori said. "Should be back in just a few minutes." She tossed Danny a questioning glance and he shrugged his shoulders. He'd clearly never heard of these two before either. Rori could only make one assumption from that: they were from his sealed file, from his black ops days.

"We don't have a few minutes, Teyla, time is not on our side," McKay said. "Where is he swimming?"

Rori just pointed in the general direction the guys had gone.

"So no way to contact him, then?" McKay asked.

"Nope, but they've been out for awhile and should be back soon," Danny said. "Want some coffee or something?"

"It's really nice coffee," Rori commented as she took a swig of her own.

"No thank you," Teyla replied.

"I could use some, actually," McKay replied.

"I'll be back," Danny got up and headed to the house.

"Wake up sleeping beauty while you're in there," Rori called after him.

An awkward silence filled the air until John and Steve broke the surface a little ways out. They swam until the water was shallow enough to stand and started jogging to shore. Steve playfully shoved John back into the water and John pulled Steve with him.

"He's frolicking with a guy?" McKay asked.

Rori felt even more awkward. She could feel how uncomfortable that concept was to McKay and yet, there was something else there… something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She sprang from the chair and jogged out to the water line.

"Boys! Wrap it up!" she shouted. "John has visitors!"

Steve and John both shrugged their shoulders and indicated they couldn't hear her with a hand to their ear so she waved them in. Then John caught sight of his visitors. A look of surprise and… was that dread? crossed his face. Steve laid a hand on his shoulder and John shrugged it off and ran in to meet them.

"What are you doing here?" John asked, no greeting, no pleasantries.

"We are here to request your assistance," Teyla said. "Ronan is missing."

"What kind of missing?" he asked. There was a hint of anger and fear in his voice.

"He was attempting to gather some much needed intel and was captured," Teyla said. "The new expedition leaders believed the risk is too great to launch a rescue. We already lost three men in the first rescue attempt."

John glanced from the visitors to the Ohana and back to the visitors.

"You're sure he's alive?" John asked.

"He is more valuable to them alive," Teyla replied.

"I'm assuming you have a plan, if you're here, so what is it?" John asked. Rori could tell that he had already decided to go, wherever it was, to help. Ronan must be, or have been, pretty important to him.

"It is of a sensitive nature," Teyla replied with a glance at Steve and Rori. McKay just stared at Steve as if he were a disease as the three of them stepped out of earshot.

"Any idea what's going on?" Steve asked.

"You know as much as I do," Rori replied.

She watched John's body language as he conversed with them and headed back toward the house. He didn't say anything as he passed them.

"John?" she called after him.

"Not now!" he shouted back over his shoulder and stormed inside. Rori and Steve jogged after him. Danny and Hank were in the living room with questioning looks on their faces.

"We don't know," Rori said before they could ask. They headed up the stairs together to find John in the bedroom throwing clothes into a bag. "John, talk to us."

"A very close friend of mine was captured by some very bad people. I need to go rescue him. I owe him my life. It's my turn," he said.

"These are the kind of things we help each other with," Rori said.

"Not this time," John said as he continued to throw clothes in the bag. "I can't include you guys in this."

"Those are my pants you just threw in that bag, so I think you are including us," Danny said as he put a steadying hand on John's arm. John stopped and stared into the bag with his jaw set and his brow crinkled in that angry, determined way he had.

"We'll go with you and help you," Steve said.

"You can't," John said. "Even if I wanted you too, it's classified."

"Don't worry about that," McKay said from behind them. Rori hadn't realized he'd followed them. This guy knew no boundaries. "I took the liberty of reading up on you people a little, we could use the help and a doctor would definitely be useful." Rori wasn't even going to ask how he had researched them that quickly. There was no way he had done much research on them, but her guess would have been that he pulled their government files, which would show Steve's service history and all their affiliation with Five-O.

"It's too dangerous," John said firmly.

"John, hell and back," Rori reminded as she grabbed his hand and held it up so he could see his tattoo for emphasis. "Whatever it takes."

"This might actually be hell," John said. He looked at each of them and hesitated for a second. "But, Rodney's right. We do need help and I know you guys can handle it."

"Then let's go to hell," she replied with a grin.