Prison gates won't open up for me
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'
Oh, I reach for you, well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in
All I need is you, come please, I'm callin'
And, oh, I scream for you
Hurry, I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

"Rori," Hanks's voice broke through the haze and pain. Everything hurt: her head, her back, her neck, her chest. Her chest was more a pressure, almost like she was tied up with a bike chain. Not that she knew what that was like…

"Ouch," she said.

"She's awake," Hank said in a low voice over his shoulder. Suddenly, Steve and Danny were next to her, across from Hank. She tried to sit up, but her body wouldn't respond and the pain in her neck increased. She decided it was best to stay laying down.

"You okay?" Steve asked.

"She's not okay," Danny said. He looked horrified.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just feel like I got hit by a bus and I can't seem to move. What happened?" The last thing she remembered was the Wraith everywhere and being thrown back.

"We got captured and, oh by the way, there's a big bug attached to your neck," Danny blurted out.

"I thought we were going to ease her into it," Steve said.

"Wait, a bug?" Rori asked.

"It is an Eratis Bug," Teyla said. Her voice was concerned and her eyes filled with worry as she knelt next to Hank.

"The bug the Wraith evolved from?" Rori asked. Teyla nodded wearily. "Am I gonna die?" Rori questioned. She was scared. Very scared. She could feel her heart beating faster and harder in her chest.

"Damnit!" she heard John shout from somewhere out of sight.

"John, you should be here, with Rori," Teyla said. "She does not have long."

Rori let her words sink in and she felt tears involuntarily slide down her face. She didn't want to die. She knew it was a likelihood each time they took a case, or mission, and there was a time that she would have given anything to die. But she was finally happy and she couldn't let that slip away. Then the panic started to settle in. She felt trapped. She hadn't felt trapped in a very long time.

"Hank, am I going to die?" Rori asked, her voice cracked under the pain and panic. She didn't sound at all like the strong, brave woman she pretended to be.

"The bug is draining your life, your energy," Hank said. "We can't get it off."

"Shoot it!" she said.

"No!" John snapped as he appeared next to her. He squeezed her hand tightly. "Even if the Wraith didn't take our guns, it won't work."

"How do you know? It's just a bug," she said. Then she thought about the scar on his neck. He'd never told her how he'd gotten it but she'd joked that it was a vampire bite. Never again.

"I've been through this," he said. "Anything we try will just cause you more pain."

"You survived," she said.

"Barely," he said. "They had to stop my heart and they almost didn't get me back."

"Before you say to do it, know that I don't have any of my equipment," Hank said. He knew her too well.

"So I'm gonna die?" she asked. No one said anything. John just walked away, out of sight. "Guys?"

"We're not giving up," Steve said. "Right, John?"

"We need to get out of this cell if we have any chance," John said. "Anyone have anything sharp?" No one volunteered anything. "Damnit!" John exclaimed again. He wasn't thinking straight. He was panicking. She'd seen it in his eyes.

"John," she said. He didn't respond. "Help me sit up, Hank," she said. Hank and Steve helped her sit, leaning her against the wall. "John," she said firmly. He came and knelt in front of her. "Calm down. Make a plan."

"Rori, I want you to know that I didn't give all of this up because you tried to kill yourself," he said. "I gave it up because I blamed myself. I should have been there for you instead of being caught in my own little world. I'm sorry."

"John, stop this, I am not going to die," she said confidently even if she wasn't sure. She knew they were strong, but he was scared and sometimes just needed a reminder of how amazing he was. "You're not going to let that happen."

He nodded at her before he pulled Teyla, Steve and Danny off to the side. They huddled together and started talking about possible escape options. The pain was increasing at a terrifying rate, which made her think she was running out of time. She already felt weaker than she had when she'd first regained consciousness. Hank brushed her hair from her face.

"I wish there was something more I could do for you," he said. He had that helpless look in his eyes and she knew it was killing him.

"There is, you could get me a cigarette," she said, half joking because she knew he would never go for it.

"They took your tack vest," he said apologetically. That's where she always kept her pack, but she also always had a backup. Stress was a thing, especially in her life, and that was her relief.

"There's one in my boot," she confessed.

"You sneaky, sneaky woman," he said. He checked her boot and retrieved the cigarette and lighter. "You know I would never condone this."

"Except you think I'm going to die," she said. The look on his face confirmed it as he started to light the cigarette for her.

"Don't," John said, appearing next to them and taking the contraband from Hank. John gave Hank a curious look before continuing. "If you light this, the Wraith will smell it. We don't need to hurry them along. Gotta buy as much time as we can."

"Wait, that's a great idea!" Rodney spoke up. Rori hadn't been sure he was even alive, he'd been so quite.

"How?" Steve asked.

"The Wraith com in, open the door, you guys ninja fight them, bam, we're out," Rodney explained as he motioned to John, Teyla, and Steve.

"That's not gonna work, we don't have any weapons and if we're out numbered we'll never make it out alive," Steve said.

"Now who's being negative?" Danny asked.

"Think this door would burn?" Hank asked from by the door. Rori hadn't noticed he'd walked away. "I mean, it's organic and flesh melts…"

"Probably, could work," Rodney said. "We could try, give me the lighter." John handed Rori's lighter over and Rodney went to the door.

"If this works I'm never complaining about your smoking again," Steve told her.

Rodney knelt down by the door and started trying to light it. Rori could just barely see as he tried several times to flick the Bic and the organic material went up in flames.

"Henry, you're a genius!" John said.

"Think you can walk?" Hank asked Rori with those worried eyes pinned on her.

"I can't feel my legs and I just lost feeling in my left arm. I'm gonna say that's a no," she replied. She was trying to sound calm and strong, but she was weak and scared. The hope of getting out of the cell was helping a bit, it gave her a surge of energy but not enough to combat the paralysis.

"I got her," Steve said as he gathered her up in his arms. Sharp pain shot from her neck, down her back, and the bug tightened its grip on her. She screamed out in pain and Steve started to put her down. "I'm sorry."

"Just go," Rori said. From her new vantage point she could see everyone in the room: Steve, John, Hank, Danny, Teyla, and Rodney. That's it. "And someone please tell me we found Ronan."

"No," Teyla said. She was disappointed and sad.

"Let's find him, then," Rori said.

"We need to get you to the Jumper," Hank said.

"We came here to rescue Ronan" Rori said through gritted teeth. "Find him."

"Yes ma'am," John said. He knew better than argue, or maybe it was just the guilt talking. Either way, Rori wasn't going to die for nothing. "Rodney, this is the right level?"

"It is, the data base said he was being held here," Rodney said.

The door had quit burning and there was just enough space for them to fit through. John went through first, cautiously, and Steve followed. "Okay," John said. "Steve, Teyla, Hank, get Rori back to the Jumper. Rodney, Danny, and I will find Ronan."

"I need my bag," Hank said. "It has all my surgical instruments and medications in it."

"They usually leave anything they take from victims in a storage room nearby," Teyla said. "We'll try to locate it on the way to the Jumper." John stopped and locked eyes with Rori. He felt guilty. She wasn't sure how she could tell him it wasn't his fault because it kind of seemed like it was. She wouldn't be in this particular situation if it weren't for him. "This way," Teyla urged Steve and Hank. Rori just let herself lean into Steve's chest as he and Hank followed the other woman. His heartbeat calmed her, it was steady and soothing.

"How did they stop John's heart the last time?" Hank asked.

"With a defibrillator," Teyla replied. "The only reason he survived is because Dr. Beckett was waiting in Atlantis only seconds away."

"I would rather not risk it," Hank said.

"Do, what, you, have, to, do, Hank," Rori said, stopping for a breath between each word. She was feeling more and more weak with each passing second.

"When we get to the Jumper," he assured her.

"You don't, have, that much, time," she said.

"We do, we're gonna make it," he said.

"You are not going to die, Rorianna," Steve whispered in her ear. "We can't die, remember?" She would have nodded, but she didn't have the strength. They slowed to a stop on Teyla's signal.

"This is the storage room," Teyla said. "It will be guarded."

Steve nodded and carefully leaned Rori against the wall. "I'll be right back," he said. "Stay alive while I'm gone." He ran off with Teyla and disappeared into a room. Hank crouched next to her and checked her vitals as muffled sounds of hand to hand combat drifted out of the room followed by gunfire.

"I guess they found the guns," Hank said. Steve and Teyla ran out of the room. She tossed Hank's bag to him and zipped up a tack vest on her chest. She'd clipped four of the five P90s to it, which would have been comical if Rori didn't feel like she was seconds away from dying.

"We need to move quickly," Teyla said as Steve gathered Rori up again. It didn't hurt this time, which was probably a bad thing, but she welcomed the relief.

"She's not doing well," Hank said.

Rori watched the wall as they quickly made their way to the hanger where they'd left the Jumper. Teyla downed every Wraith she saw as they went. The darkness was starting to creep in again. Her pain was almost completely gone now. In what was left of her conscious mind she knew for sure that was a bad thing. She heard John's voice calling out for them. She was drawn to it, comforted when Danny grabbed her hand as Steve laid her on the rubber matted floor of the Jumper. In her mind, though, she was on the beach in Hawaii waiting for John and Steve to finish their swim.

"I'm sorry, Rori, this is going to hurt," Hank said. If only she could tell him that nothing hurt anymore. Put his mind at ease that she wasn't in pain. "Everybody clear, ready?"

"Go," John's voice was confident and commanding, but Rori could also hear the terrified tone. Why were they so scared? The pain was gone. She wanted to tell them she was fine. That she was home. The waves were rolling in over the sand and the breeze was blowing on her face.

Then there was a sudden jolt of white hot pain and the darkness enveloped her. This was death.