CHAPTER 6

The sun was setting before they could clamber down from the tree. McKay looked over at the girl's tree. "C-4 first, McKay." Sheppard replied in his Colonel voice.

"Right."

The three of them stood guard while Sheppard carefully placed the charges. Muttering constantly under his breath about explosion trajectories and falling pieces.

"I almost wish Cadman was here." Rodney muttered.

"I'll tell her you said so." Sheppard responded dryly, amused at the dismay on Rodney's face. Two years later and McKay still wasn't comfortable around Cadman. Sheppard smirked. What was it that Cadman had learned during her stint inside McKay's head that made the man pale every time she came near him?

Ronon placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Ronon knew. McKay had told him in a rare moment of camaraderie. Cadman had been able to access everything; his thoughts, his memories, his feelings. She knew of his childhood horrors and tribulations; knew the neglect of his parents; knew how he had been bullied at school; knew the humiliations he suffered in college, how he'd been the object of a sorority Pledge Week prank involving a girl he had truly liked. His entire fiasco of a life had been laid open to her. She also was aware of all his insecurities and fears; all his hopes and dreams.

For McKay that made him extremely, unbearably vulnerable to her. To give Cadman credit, she never took advantage of what she knew. Never once, not even in jest had she brought up any of the painful, embarrassing past.

Finally, Sheppard was satisfied with the placement of the C-4. He set five minutes on the timers. "When I say 'go' we head back to the cave and by 'go' I mean run. Debris is going to fall everywhere."

McKay nodded and trained his binoculars on the girl. She was perched alertly in the tree, power bar tucked in her waistband, watching them intently. "Will she be safe?"

"She should be." Sheppard replied, shrugged slightly. His first and foremost duty was to get his team safely back to Atlantis. The girl was secondary. He knew McKay would stare at him in dismay and disbelief if he said that out loud. People with just a passing acquaintance with Dr. Rodney McKay usually thought he cared for no one but himself. They were wrong; completely and utterly wrong. Oh, McKay had a strong sense of self-preservation, but he would selflessly endanger himself to save someone he thought should be saved and he would never harm anyone if he could help it.

"Most likely seeing us run she'll run as well." Teyla surmised.

Sheppard pressed the detonator. "Go!"

They took off at a steady run in the direction of the cave. Near the edge of the clearing, McKay glanced over and saw a lithe shape pacing them at a safe distance. Satisfied, he turned his attention to not tripping. They were inside the tree line when the C-4 went off scaring the entire forest into silence.

Then defiant roars and bellows sounded from all over as the huge predators vocally defended their territory. Sheppard paused long enough to train his binoculars on the Gate and saw it was still standing and the path in front of it was now clear for the jumper.

For the first half hour or so as they threaded their way slowly through the woods they saw no sign of her; then, a flicker of movement to the left. She was pacing them. Checking them out. McKay paused for a drink. He waved the others on. "Just a drink." He crabbed at them. Teyla slowed keeping him in her peripheral vision as he tipped the canteen up and swallowed. A movement coming from behind her that she didn't catch at first had her yelling, "Rodney! Down!"

She thanked the Ancestors for the training they had given him when without question he dropped like a stone and curled up in a defensive ball. Before she could fire a shot another fast moving blur appeared and leaped at the feline that had launched itself at McKay.

The two shapes tangled. A roar of pain broke the silence just as they hit the ground. The two shapes became a young feline and the young girl wrestling on the ground. Teyla couldn't fire without hitting the girl. McKay scrabbled backwards away from the fight. Ronon stepped forward just as the girl cried out in agony and shot them both.

Both bodies went limp. Stunned. Ronon strode forward, booted the feline away from the girl. Her knife stuck out of its chest. Massive paws tipped with razor sharp claws indicated the feline was still growing. Long curved fangs protruded from its upper jaw and extended past the lower jaw by about three inches. The feline twitched. Ronon flipped the setting on his gun to kill and shot it again.

Teyla ran for McKay. She grasped his arm. "Rodney, are you okay?" Her hands roamed over him checking for herself without waiting for an answer.

"Yes, yes, fine. You can quit pawing me." He stared at the girl. "She saved my life." He was shaking and staring at the power bar tucked into her waistband. His eyes trailed down her body. "She's bleeding."

Teyla glanced over and saw Sheppard was already there bandaging her leg which was actually pouring blood. He used his vest bandage and Ronon's and held his hand out for McKay's and Teyla's. He tied the bandages tightly trying to stem the flow of blood. He spared one to tied around the cut on her arm.

"Looks like the," he glanced at the still form, "saber-tooth clawed her pretty bad. Nearly hip to knee. Looks like a fang grazed her arm. She's going to need medical help, maybe surgery." He looked up at his team. "Looks like she's coming with us."

"Major Lorne better get here soon." Teyla said worriedly studying the wounded girl.

"I'll carry her." McKay stated standing up and swiping his hands on his pant legs.

"I'll carry her." Ronon rumbled.

"Oh, yes, because I'm such a better shot than you." McKay sneered. "She's a tiny thing. I can carry her. You can limp and shoot things. And I'll keep my pack. Counterweight." He added the last to Sheppard who had reached for the pack.

Sheppard sighed. McKay proving again he wasn't a handicap to the team. He was the only one who still thought that maybe he was. "Okay, let's get going."

Ronon lifted the girl before McKay could get to her and handed her to him. McKay took her taking care not to jostle her injured leg any more than he had too. He studied her face, her form. Not a young girl, he thought, a young woman. She was older than they had originally thought. How long had she been here alone, fighting for survival and winning?

Ronon bent over the tiger and pulled her knife free, wiping it clean on the feline's pelt. He studied it briefly before shoving it in his belt. It was a well-made knife. Not something crudely made by a cave girl. It had excellent balance and heft and had a simple but elegant design. The blade long and curved with a fine edge. He looked over at the unconscious girl Rodney carried turning the puzzle over in his mind.

The pace was much slower now, but no one complained. Ronon took point, Sheppard paced slightly to the left and Teyla brought up the rear. They had carelessly let McKay fall behind and had almost lost him. Now he was surrounded, fiercely protected by those who counted him family.

Now that no one could see her Teyla let herself think about how close it had been. If she hadn't seen the movement; if the girl hadn't attacked a saber-tooth with nothing but a knife, Rodney would have been dead. Her hands shook slightly at the thought. Rodney was like a brother to her. She loved him very much as did John and Ronon. She would not be lax again.

She glanced up at him and saw a tiny trickle of blood behind his ear. He was injured? She moved quietly up next to him. "Rodney, you are bleeding."

He glanced over at her, lips pressed together. "Hit my head on a rock. I'm fine."

"Rodney, perhaps…"

"I'm fine." He hissed wincing as pain lanced behind his eyes. "The three of you need to be free to shoot whatever comes at us. I'm the only logical person to carry her. Besides, it's just a tiny cut; head wounds just bleed."

Teyla studied him for a moment then nodded and dropped back. He had earned his place; earned the right to make these types of decisions. She would not belittle him by tattling or treating him like a child.

They were still about ten minutes away from the cave when the radios crackled to life. Sheppard indicated a stop to rest as he answered Elizabeth. "We've cleared the Gate, Elizabeth. Send the jumper through. Gate faces East. The cave is north west approximately a mile, mile and a half."

Ronon took the girl from McKay and laid her on the ground gently checking the bandages. McKay sank to the ground trembling as the past events hit home. "A saber-tooth tiger. I almost got killed by a saber-tooth tiger."

"No ordinary death for you." Not a jab, but a warrior comment. He grinned and McKay grinned back weakly.

"No, no. A brilliant man should have a brilliant death."

"John? What did Rodney say about a saber-tooth tiger?" Elizabeth sounded shocked.

"One attacked us. Our wild girl defended McKay, but she was hurt pretty bad. She's unconscious. We're bringing her back with us."

"I'm sending a puddle jumper through as we speak. They should be there in fifteen, twenty minutes."

Behind them they began to hear the faint, but frighteningly familiar sounds of dinosaur feet. Too heavy for the frilled lizards.

Rodney looked up at them. "Velociraptors." He swallowed hard. Forget being a warrior. "Promise you won't let them eat me alive."

"Rodney!" Sheppard frowned at his dramatics.

"I'm serious, Colonel. I don't care if the cavalry is on the way. We are no-where near safe. She's bleeding," he pointed at the girl, "and those things probably smell blood like sharks."

Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla exchanged looks that said 'crap, McKay's right' and became very, very alert. Sometimes it paid to have a paranoid person on the team. McKay definitely found all the ways they could die in a situation which gave the rest of them a chance to plan for survival. McKay even stood up and pulled his gun ready to fight next to them.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Major Lorne. Come in."

"Major. How's the view?" Sheppard asked as if they were on vacation.

"Amazing. Never saw trees so tall, sir. I'm picking up your transmitters we are headed your way. A place to land is going to be tricky."

"The cave has a clearing in front of it."

"We'll meet you there."

"We're on our way. We wouldn't take it wrong if y'all met us halfway after landing. There are a lot of predators in these woods and we have a girl bleeding pretty bad."

"Will do, sir. Lorne out."

McKay holstered his weapon and picked the girl up with a grunt trying to ignore his pounding head and the blurring of his vision. Teyla ranged to his left, Sheppard to his right and Ronon behind him as the headed off toward the cave. Ronon had added a couple of more bandages to the girls leg and the bleeding had stopped or at least it had slowed to the point where it wasn't dripping down his arm anymore so maybe she'd live until they got her to Carson.

Minutes later they heard the thud of feet headed in their direction. Without waiting to see what it was Sheppard snapped, 'run' and they took off. McKay set as fast a pace as he could while carrying the girl, but he knew he was seriously slowing them down. Her weight put him off balance and made him awkward. His head pounded with each footfall until he thought he was going to throw up. He concentrated on not tripping and moved as fast as he could.

Behind him Teyla began firing her P-90. The gun's rapid fire strafing the front line of the pack that was chasing them. Sheppard turned and fired while she ran past him.

"Four young allosaurus!" Sheppard snapped. The information having the desired effect of speeding McKay up.

Ronon let off a few shots before he holstered his gun and snatched the girl from Rodney. He tossed her over his shoulder knowing it was bad for her leg and his, but being eaten wouldn't be good for them either.

Now they were running as fast as they could. Teyla and Sheppard turning to strafe the allosaurus slowing them down slightly, but not killing them before turning to run again.

"Lorne!" Sheppard yelled into the radio. "Now would be a good time to show up!"

"We've landed and are on our way, Sir!" Lorne responded, breathing heavily as he ran.

"Run!" Sheppard snapped as he turned and fired another burst managing to seriously wound one. He cursed when the next depression of the trigger produced not a burst of fire, but a clicking sound. He was out of ammo.

Suddenly, automatic gunfire rang out on either side of them.

"Parker and Jones is at the jumper. Go, Colonel we've got your six."

Sheppard nodded and raced after his team. Behind him he could hear sounds of disbelief and fearful cursing then he heard grenades and grinned in spite of the situation. Grenades were wonderful things.

They stumbled into the small glade and up the ramp of the puddle jumper. Ronon dumped the girl on the side bench before staggering over to the other side and collapsing himself. McKay and Teyla sat, bent over, gulping air next to him.

Lorne's team was right behind them. They filed past the exhausted First Team and took seats up front. Lorne had brought two teams which meant there were now thirteen people squeezed into the jumper. Sheppard thought inanely that he was glad it would be a short trip.

"Thanks," Sheppard muttered to Lorne as the back of the jumper shut.

"No problem, sir." Lorne replied dryly as if shooting up dinosaurs were an everyday thing.

"I see Dr. McKay has increased his running speed." Lorne stated with a small grin.

"Nothing like death on two feet racing in your direction to make you realize you have reserves."

"No, sir. I guess not."

McKay had jumped up and grabbed fresh bandages while they were talking.

"Move." He snapped at the young marine standing next to the girl. The marine jumped backwards giving McKay plenty of room. One thing you learned quickly on Atlantis: you might be able to physically bully the scientists, but they could and would make your life miserable, subtly in untraceable ways and Dr. McKay and Dr. Zelenka were they two most creative scientists.

Horror stories of cold showers, power outages, malfunctioning fire suppressant that coated everything in foam, doors and transporters not responding to your touch, toilets that wouldn't flush, and protected files on personal laptops becoming corrupted were told and re-told amongst the military personnel. Not to mention the crap details, undesirable duty hours, and no-holds barred training sessions with Teyla and Ronon if your bullying McKay resulted in him being harmed.

Quickly McKay removed one blood-soaked bandage and replaced it with a sterile one. "Did you have to jar the rest of her blood out of her?" He snapped at Ronon over his shoulder as he removed the second one and wrapped a fresh one around her leg gently, firmly.

"I could have left her as a diversion." Ronon snapped back, his leg throbbing painfully reminding him of the abuse he had heaped upon it. He could still see McKay at the base of the tree instead of safely up in the boughs. McKay dropping to the ground as a saber-tooth leaped at him and Ronon not seeing it in time because he was in front of him, not watching out for him. Rodney running awkwardly, hands full of the girl, meat-eaters snapping at their heels.

In a move that shocked everyone into complete silence, McKay turned and pushed Ronon against the bulkhead. "Don't even joke about that!" He snarled, glaring eye to eye with him, shoving Ronon's shoulders roughly before jerking back around and finishing re-bandaging her leg.

"Rodney?" Sheppard asked quietly while Ronon just blinked at him. Anyone else would have been slammed into the opposite bulkhead - hard. Rodney, Ronon knew, was still in the grips of overpowering terror and most likely guilt. They had spent three days trying not to be eaten alive. Redirecting terror into anger, lashing out that was what Rodney did; that was how he coped.

McKay didn't look up from what he was doing, but his hand shook as he pulled the worst-for-wear power bar from her waistband and threw it at Sheppard. "She's dying because I gave her a power bar! That's why she tried to save me, Colonel. Because I gave her nice things to eat." He swallowed hard and ran a hand over his face. He looked down at the wan, dirty face. "The saber-tooth would have gutted her. Those things would have ate her alive!"

Staring down at her pale face he began shaking in earnest. Tremors rolled through his body as shock set in. "A power bar," he muttered. Teyla silently placed a blanket around his shoulders and urged him to sit down next to Ronon.

Ronon laid a hand on his arm. "I wouldn't have left her, Rodney. I shouldn't have said it."

McKay turned wide blue eyes in his direction. "I know. 'S Okay." He realized how close he was to losing it if Ronon was calling him Rodney in public. Ronon never called him by his first name in public. "I know you wouldn't. I shouldn't have reacted that way."

Ronon leaned back, eyes closed, enduring the pain until one of Carson's medics could pump him full of the 'good drugs' as Rodney put it. Personal moment over; public façade back in place. Teyla and Sheppard found seats and relaxed.

"Tell Beckett we need a gurney for the girl and Ronon will be limping down to the infirmary to get his wound checked out." Sheppard commanded the co-pilot.

"Yes, sir."

"And Dr. McKay will be there as well to have his head wound looked at." Teyla now ratted him out.

"You're hurt?" Ronon's eyes opened and he swiveled an angry glare at glared at him as well.

"I bumped my head," he replied. "It's nothing." He glared at Teyla. She gazed back impassively sure now that he'd be checked out by a nurse.

"Let me see," Ronon ordered reaching a hand up toward his head.

"No, Conan!" Rodney swatted his hand away, glaring.

Ronon narrowed his eyes and glared. McKay folded his arms and glared back. Ronon huffed and stared at the decking then leaned back again closing his eyes. "Stubborn geek."

"Overprotective barbarian."

Sheppard shook his head pretending to be disgusted with them both. Teyla smiled slightly at all their antics.

Lorne turned his attention to the girl. Woman, he revised his thoughts as his eyes traveled her body. The bandages covered more flesh than the tattered remnants of clothing did. She had long, lean legs that didn't seem to stop. A waist that nipped in from softly rounded hips melded into a delicate looking ribcage. A ribcage that became firmly rounded breasts only partially covered by the leather top she was wearing. A long, graceful neck supported an elfin face; heart-shaped and fine boned capped by jet black hair. He saw her eyes flutter open, saw the fear and pain. Her dazed gaze landed on McKay and the fear seemed to drain from her, then she shut her eyes and was out again.

This gorgeous, built, wild woman being reassured of her safety because McKay was here was weird. Perhaps she had been hit on the head or maybe it was blood loss because no way could McKay make a rational person feel safe.

They dialed the gate and when the wormhole formed the pilot lowered the jumper down in front of it and slowly moved forward. A Tyrannosaurus Rex roared at them from the edge of the clearing. Lorne's men stared, slack-jawed at the huge beast until they dissolved into the wormhole.

Mere seconds later they reappeared on the Atlantis Gate Room. The jumper automatically rising up to the jumper bay. Dr. Beckett was there with a small team anxiously waiting for his patient.

"Oh, dear lord," he gasped when he saw her leg. "What did that?" He asked as he slid an I.V. into her hand.

"Saber-tooth tiger." Teyla answered him grimly. He cast her a startled glance before hurriedly pushing the gurney down the corridor to the transporter.

Lorne's team cleared out quickly leaving Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, and McKay to slowly make their way to the infirmary. Lorne headed to Dr. Weir's office to update her on the successful rescue mission. He decided to leave out the hand holding and embracing he had seen.

A quarter of the way down the corridor, McKay huffed, swore under his breath about he-men, and wrapped a supportive arm around Ronon's waist. "Just lean on me," he snapped worriedly.

Ronon looked down at him and although his mouth stayed firmly pressed together in pain his eyes lit with humor. He wrapped an arm around Rodney's shoulders and let him take the brunt of the weight off of his injured leg.

Groaning exaggeratedly as Ronon's weight settled on him, he tightened his grip on him. "How much do you weigh?" he muttered. "Talk about me eating too much."

"Mine's muscle." Ronon teased, pain roughening his voice more than usual.

"I am not fat!" Rodney snapped, affronted at the implied insult.

"I know. I still have more muscle."

"Yes, well, some of us have more to do than work out in the gym."

Teyla and Sheppard chucked at the two unlikely friends as they continued to bait each other all the way to the infirmary.