MGM owns most characters.

A/N: Sorry this story took a while to get back to. I have a big rotation of stories going. Major rewrite of Missing coming so be warned. There are some spoilers for the original, but most of it will be my creation. Thanks to Betherdy for her help but any grammar errors are mine.

Teyla and Jennifer ran into the encampment. There was nothing but some supplies strewn on the ground and vacant shelters. The Athosian ran quickly from hut to hut shouting names while Jennifer scanned the tree line, fear paralyzing her.

Any moment she expected a black blur to burst from the trees. Tears threatened as memories of being attacked and watching men torn to pieces came flooding back. Clenching her fists and taking deep breaths, the physician suddenly remembered Gunny had given her a gun, which she stuffed into her backpack. Sliding her arm out made her turn and notice movement on the far side of the camp.

Jennifer ran to Teyla who was coming out of a large ceremonial hut in the center of the village. "Teyla," she whispered loudly. "There's someone in the trees over there."

Teyla followed Jennifer's hand gesture to the other side of the meadow and saw two figures draped in animal hide emerge from the underbrush. The angle of the sun, which was setting already, and their position behind the large structure should have obscured them from the new arrivals' view.

"Quick," Teyla motioned to the trees not far from the camp. "Hide."

Jennifer had hoped the Athosians were returning from a ritual hunt. She'd heard from Richards that they enjoyed hunting even when not necessary for food and often had him join them.

"They're not Athosians, I take it?" Jennifer said quietly as she and Teyla hid behind some logs at the edge of the forest. The Athosian was looking all over with a look of fear on her face. If Teyla's scared she might as well shoot me now.

The men were getting closer to the village and suddenly sprinted toward the path she and Teyla were just on. A large black duffel bag sat like a neon Come and Get Me sign in the dirt.

"Oh no," Jennifer breathed. "The bag." Her wide brown eyes met Teyla's as more guilt was added to Jennifer's conscience. First Rodney and now this.

"We must leave," Teyla said as she slowly edged back into the forest.

Yup, definitely bad. At least we've got a gun and they only seem to have some crossbows. Ignoring the fact that a crossbow could put a bolt of wood or metal through human flesh, she tried to comfort herself with the knowledge that Teyla could use her little Beretta to put the men down if need be. "Okay," Jennifer replied as she crept low to the ground like Teyla. She followed her companion until they stopped behind a large rock.

"The weapons cache is too far," Teyla said.

"What?"

"My people have a cache of weapons in case the Wraith attack," Teyla explained, looking around the rock to see if the men were following them.

"Who are they? I know that you know who they are," Jennifer asked.

"We'd better make a run for the Gate," Teyla said.

"Let me get my gun first," Jennifer replied as she started putting her pack down.

"You brought a weapon to visit my people?" Teyla asked.

"I didn't mean to offend anyone, but after my last time off world Master Gunny said I better take one every time I go," Jennifer confessed as she started unzipping the bag.

Teyla's head snapped around and her hand grabbed Jennifer's. The sound of the zipper had suddenly seemed to echo through the forest.

Jennifer swallowed hard and glanced around too. Straining to hear something since she couldn't see around the rock only seemed to cause the sound of her hammering heart to beat louder inside her head. "Who are they?"

"Bola Kai," Teyla stated.

"You know them?" Jennifer asked as she glanced around.

"I know of them. The markings on their faces are distinctive to their tribe but I have never crossed paths with them – until now," Teyla confessed as she took Jennifer's pack.

"How dangerous are they? Their weapons look primitive," Jennifer said, hoping that her intuition was wrong.

Teyla clutched the backpack and pulled a knife from her boot. "Beyond dangerous. Let's go."

Jennifer and Teyla ran as quickly and quietly as they could through the forest. Every step sounded like the crashing of an elephant through the forest to Jennifer. The Athosian didn't give her any more evil looks since the zipper incident, so Jennifer felt confident enough that she wasn't giving away their position. But the fear caused by Teyla's reaction to these primitive people wouldn't go away.

Jennifer could see a clearing up ahead in the trees that would denote the location of the gate. Not wanting to get her hopes up, she concentrated on running over the rough terrain.

Teyla dropped down behind a fallen tree and Jennifer joined her. The two women crawled on knees and elbows along the tree to look down at the gate, which was guarded by four Bola Kai.

The physician looked at Teyla to see what the Athosian wanted to do when the gate came to life. The sound caused her to nearly yell. Oh no, what if Rodney's coming early?

Jennifer's wide-eyed look caught Teyla as the Athosian slid her hand into the pack she took from Jennifer and came out with her 9mil Beretta. Only thirty rounds. Why didn't I take a couple of clips?

Jennifer didn't need to worry about Rodney coming through the gate because it was only more Bola Kai. A lot more than thirty rounds could handle.

Teyla nudged Jennifer with her arm, drawing her gaze back to the Athosian. Motioning with her hands, she directed Jennifer's gaze to a large heap of canvas-like material on the ground near the DHD. Focusing to get a better look without moving from the safety of the rotting wood they hid behind, Jennifer felt the icy grips of true terror.

The canvas held P90s, some shotguns and handguns from Atlantis. Odd that a pile of weapons and primitive warriors should instill more terror than mutant creatures, but two important things differed from her last off world disaster. There was no band of trained soldiers with weapons and explosives to protect her and the man she loved more than anything was going to come through that gate the next day and possibly be gunned down before he could get his bearings after being dematerialized.

Rodney was whistling on his way to the table in the mess hall. Everyone who heard him had to pause what they were doing and stare. News of the Gateroom encounter he had with Doctor Keller that morning made it's way around the base quickly.

How could McKay get so lucky?

I heard she dumped Lorne for him.

I heard Lorne dumped her. McKay's a rebound.

Dozens of theories swirled around the oblivious genius. He obviously passed the test. All I needed to do was show Jennifer I wasn't afraid to let anyone know I cared about her. For once he was truly grateful to John for explaining things to him.

Rodney began to put together a list in his head of everything he was going to need to make the next evening the most amazing Jennifer ever experience. I won't push you away the next time I'm lying next to you.

"Rodney," Colonel Carter called out.

"Hey, Sam," Rodney answered as he made his way to her table. "How are you today?"

"Not as good as you apparently," the Colonel responded.

Rodney felt a blush rise in his cheeks. She was his boss and did witness him kiss a colleague in the Gateroom. "Before you say it, I know it was out of line and won't happen when I'm on duty again."

"I wasn't going to mention it," Sam replied, taking a drink of coffee. "But since you mentioned it, I wanted to say that I think the two of you are perfect for each other."

"Really?" Rodney's expression turned to disbelief.

"I've seen how the two of you work together and seen the looks you share," Sam said as her voice took on a wistful quality. "It's so hard for us in the military to have any type of relationship, but there's no rules against it for you civilians."

"Why, Colonel Carter, do you have your eye on someone?"

Laughter greeted Rodney's question but he was observant enough to notice the pink stain on her cheeks and the fact that she suddenly started talking about some power fluctuations in the Gate bridge network.

A/N: A nod to KoineKid's Aftermath story with the rumor mill of Atlantis at work.