As she shifted uncomfortably, Laura placed a hand on Evan's bicep.
"Help me up."
Sheppard pushed her back down when she began pulling herself up.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Lieutenant." She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. "How about if you just stay right there until we figure out where to go from here?"
She reluctantly agreed. Lorne pulled her soggy shirt back down, squeezed her hand, and then went over to where Sheppard had joined Ronon a few feet away.
"We need to get back to the gate," he said without preamble when he'd reached them. Laura needs to get back Atlantis, he wanted to say, but knew it would come across as the distressed reaction of a worried lover rather than a focused Air Force Major.
He was both, and normally he could separate the two. But not today, not in this situation.
"Did you see anything back there?" Sheppard asked Ronon.
Ronon shook his head negatively.
"Me either," Sheppard related. "I didn't see so much as a glint of sunlight off whatever he was shooting at us with."
"Wonder why he couldn't have just said 'Get the hell off my planet' instead of trying to kill us," Evan said.
"Who ever knows in this galaxy," Sheppard responded. "Hopefully we can make our way back to the gate without any further trouble." He turned to look at Laura. "You think Cadman can make it on her own two feet?"
At that, Evan smiled knowingly.
"She's stubborn, Sir. She'd make it on her own two feet if she didn't even have her own two feet."
Sheppard chuckled and the men relocated to where Laura was impatiently, yet exhaustedly, resting.
Privately, Evan was worried sick. He would have preferred if help could come to her, but he knew that wasn't an option.
Still, if she were to move the wrong way, her broken rib could puncture a lung, and even though they'd reset her shoulder, he knew it would continue to cause her pain until treated properly.
All these thoughts he pushed back into the recesses of his mind, determined to put all his focus and effort into getting her, and the rest of them, home safely.
"Alright, Lieutenant," Sheppard was saying. "You ready to blow this joint?"
Her answer was immediate.
"Absolutely, Sir."
But both Evan and John noticed the brief second of uncertainty and fear flash across her face before being replaced by her usual determination.
They used Evan's jacket to fashion a sling for Laura's left arm to prevent movement – otherwise known as pain, Laura thought – and to keep weight off her shoulder. The two men hauled her up and kept hold of her until she was steady.
Once they let go, she looked both of them up and down. She laughed. Then she winced and placed her right hand over her broken rib, still smiling.
"With all due respect, you guys look like crap."
Evan and John looked at her and then at each other, noting the wet, disheveled hair and the soggy, muddy uniforms. Okay, so she wasn't wrong.
Grinning, Evan took a step closer to his CO and peeled a wet leaf off the side of his neck. Sheppard rubbed his neck, and to deflect his slight embarrassment, turned his gaze toward Laura.
"You don't exactly look fresh from the spa yourself, princess," he said sardonically.
Before Laura could conjure up something else witty to come back with, Ronon interrupted.
"I hate to break this up, but we're losing daylight," he reminded them.
And with that, they were all abruptly brought back to reality.
John appointed Ronon to take point, then Evan behind him, Laura behind Evan, with himself in rear.
He expected his 2IC to argue, and he could see in Lorne's eyes that the idea of not being able to keep an eye on Laura didn't sit well with him, but in the end Evan wisely kept his mouth shut.
They started out in the direction of the gate, guns at the ready and keeping a wary eye out for their elusive assailant.
Laura's P-90 had been lost in the river, which she supposed was just as well since she couldn't exactly operate it with one hand.
Instead, she insisted on carrying her sidearm in her right hand, despite Sheppard's insistence that she should just concentrate on getting herself back to the gate in one piece.
She didn't like feeling helpless, and liked being a burden even less.
Because they'd been over an hour away from the gate when they'd been attacked, and the river had carried them even farther away, Sheppard estimated it would take them maybe three hours to get back.
He didn't add that he was accounting for their slower pace because of Laura's injuries. He knew how that would go over with the Lieutenant.
After about 45 minutes, Evan noticed Laura's labored breathing behind him and suggested they rest for a few minutes. Sheppard, who had also noticed that Laura was beginning to flag, crouched in front of her when Evan helped her sit on a nearby fallen tree trunk.
He uncapped his canteen and held it out to her, watching her with worried eyes.
"How are you feeling, Lieutenant," he asked as she sipped.
She opened her mouth to reply with something he could tell already was going to be some platitude about being fine, so he cut her off with a raised hand.
"Don't give me any crap, Cadman," he said sternly.
A fire lit in her eyes before she allowed the pain to filter through and simmer it down a bit.
"Like I got shot, fell off a cliff, and thrown into a really cold river, Sir," she said finally.
He nodded in acquiescence to her sarcastic answer.
"Any trouble breathing?"
She looked at him and then up at Evan, who was hovering anxiously at her side. She knew there was no point in lying, they could hear for themselves.
"A bit," she admitted. "But I think it's more because of the pain. I'm certain I don't have a punctured lung." She thought back to a previous encounter with such an injury. "Trust me, I know what that feels like."
Evan looked like he wanted to press her further, but just then Ronon raised a hand and shushed them. Immediately, Sheppard and Lorne had their guns up as Ronon stared intently into the trees behind them.
"I saw something move," he whispered.
"An animal something? A plant something? A people something?" Sheppard quietly demanded.
They got their answer a second later when a shot rang out and splinters flew from the tree beside Ronon's head.