This story just keeps turning out to be way longer than I expect it to be!... and I've barely even gotten to the proper whumpage yet! Lots more to come on this one; at least a couple more chapters... Thanks for sticking with it...

Carson's heart was in his mouth as he watched the jumper hover precariously over the ruins of the Tarin building. Somewhere under there Colonel Sheppard was buried in the rubble, injured, bleeding, needing Carson's help – and he couldn't get near him. He felt the frustration throughout his entire body, in the dryness of his mouth, the impatient pounding of his heart, the ache of muscles clenched too tightly for too long and in the tightness in his chest that made him have to concentrate on breathing slowly and calmly, forcing him to think about what should be an instinctual process.

Looking at the twisted mass of rubble, he found it hard to believe that anyone could have survived such massive destruction. He'd been dismayed to see the damage wrought by the tornado as the jumper had skimmed rapidly over the battered village but the sight that had met him as he'd exited the small craft had left him stunned; the building was a ruin, collapsed in on itself in a jagged, unsteady pile of cracked stonework and thick, heavy wooden beams snapped into pieces like so many twigs. Even as he had watched, the rubble had trembled, settling and shifting, and he couldn't imagine how they could possibly get Sheppard out from under all that.

Rodney, however, apparently could. He had taken charge of the team of marines and engineers as soon as they set foot on the planet's surface, snapping orders and quoting calculations that left Carson bewildered within mere moments. The engineers seemed to know what he was talking about though, taking his demands in their stride and setting about their work with a quiet, if serious, confidence. All Carson could do was watch helplessly as they methodically unloaded their equipment from the jumper and set about their work, moving together seamlessly as a team, all of them seeming to understand their respective roles in this operation.

Carson's only link to his patient was Teyla who was still somewhere atop the rubble, as best Carson could understand it partly wedged into a small gap in the upper layers of the debris, able to see Colonel Sheppard and the trapped child but not to reach them or offer any assistance. She had refused to leave the area as the engineering team set about their work, stating firmly that the child Anari was scared and alone and that she would not abandon her at such a time. The unspoken addendum that she would not leave Colonel Sheppard alone and trapped in the rubble was understood by all. Rodney was quick to incorporate Teyla's presence into his schemes and soon had her included in the rescue process, her careful observations of the effects of their efforts on the unstable lower levels of the ruined building being relayed directly to the team as they worked. More than once her sharp warning had had them halt their actions as the precarious debris field reacted unpredictably to their attempts to stabilise it.

Carson's understanding of the means by which the team of engineers intended to extract Sheppard from the rubble of the destroyed building was sketchy at best. It appeared to involve teams of men working around the base of the ruined house to shore up and support the unstable edifice whilst the jumper was used to carefully lift and remove large pieces of rubble from the top of the pile in an effort to simultaneously reduce the danger posed by the heavy, precariously-balanced debris and clear a path through to the ground floor level where Sheppard was trapped. One lone engineer, the smallest and lightest of the group, risked climbing up onto the unsteady mound of rubble, his weight partially supported by a complex system of ropes and pulleys stretched between stout stanchions set up around the perimeter, to attach hooks and cables around each selected piece of debris in turn, allowing the jumper to carefully, frustratingly slowly, lift each heavy piece and carry it away from the ruined house.

The operation was slow and methodical and, to Carson's mind, seemed to be making little progress towards allowing him access to his patient. He was left watching helplessly on the sidelines, Ronon hovering impatiently nearby, the two of them the only members of the Atlantis team present who had nothing to contribute to this stage of the rescue and could only watch and wait with growing impatience. Behind them, the shocked villagers watched in fearful wonderment at the men and machines who fought to rescue their friend and one of their own precious children. The Tarins clustered around Enir and Ilyona, their faces bright with hope as they focused on the drama at hand, forgetting for a short while the reality of the difficult future that lay ahead for the damaged village.

Carson was loathe to interrupt the delicate rescue operation, to distract Teyla from her vital role in the process of shoring up the ruins, but all the information he had on the condition of his patient was a brief, sketchy summary almost whispered into the radio by Teyla when he had first arrived. All he knew was that Sheppard was unconscious, his body partially buried in the rubble, and that he had at least one lacerating, possibly penetrating, injury resulting in an unknown degree of blood loss. That had been perhaps an hour or more ago.

"Teyla? It's Carson.."

"I hear you, Dr Beckett." Her voice was as steady as ever but, after more than two years in Atlantis, Carson knew the petite Athosian well enough to hear the tension in her speech, the minute thread of fear that laced her voice.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Teyla," he found himself rushing his words, at once impatient for information and regretting having to bother her, "but I was wondering if you could give me a wee update on the condition of our patients?" He found himself clenching his fists as he waited for her reply.

He could hear creaking and groaning in the background, ominous, terrifying sounds, as Teyla's words came back to him over the radio. "There has been little change, Carson." She sounded a little breathless, her voice strained, and in his mind's eye he pictured her wedged into the small gap in the rubble, straining forward to see as much as she could of Colonel Sheppard and the child Anari as she gave her report. "Anari appears to be unhurt aside from a few scratches and she is able to move about without difficulty. She is tired and scared but she is being very brave.." Her voice warmed as she spoke those words, her tone gentle and encouraging, and he could imagine her offering smiling encouragement to the frightened child who was obviously listening to Teyla's side of the conversation.

"Colonel Sheppard is… STOP!" A loud cracking sound almost drowned out Teyla's urgent cry and the bustle of activity around the ruins stopped dead as a cloud of dust rose in the air and a portion of the rubble suddenly dropped several feet.

"Teyla! Teyla?"

"Report!"

"Teyla!"

"Stand clear!"

The radio channel was a babble of voices as everyone spoke at once, Carson and Rodney talking over each other in their concern for Teyla, the engineers and soldiers issuing terse commands and rapid exchanges of information. The thick dust thrown into the air made Carson's eyes feel gritty and he coughed harshly, a desperate fear clenching at his stomach as he tried the radio again, "Teyla?"

There was a crackle of static and for the first time he understood how someone could actually, physically go "weak at the knees" with relief as he heard Teyla's voice, breathless and fraught but gloriously alive, "I am here, Carson."

"Oh thank god.." He staggered back a step, his shoulders slumping as, for a brief moment, the taut, fearful tension was washed away in a flood of relief. To his left, Ronon let out a muttered curse and spun on his heel, his fists clenched as he paced in frustration. Rodney, frozen in place in the midst of directing his engineering team, was white-faced and shaken. Carson sucked in a deep breath. "Are you okay, love?"

The sound of coughing came over the radio and Teyla's voice was hoarse from the dust kicked up by the collapse but her words were reassuring, "I am unhurt." There was a sharp note of urgency in her voice as she continued, "The debris has shifted and part of the side wall has collapsed. Rodney, you need to halt the excavation."

"Teyla, we can't just.."

She interrupted Rodney's protests, unable to contain the excitement in her voice as she told them, "The collapse has widened the hole in the rubble - I think I can get through. I think I can reach them."

Carson found himself barely daring to breathe, hope warring with fear as Rodney's voice crackled in his ear, those same emotions evident in his hurried words, "Teyla, be careful.."

"Stand by." Teyla's radio clicked into silence, leaving the Atlantis team in an agony of helpless anticipation, all work halted, every face turned in hope and fear towards the crumbled, shattered remains of the building. Somewhere under that weight of precarious debris, Teyla was trying to squeeze herself through a small gap in the rubble in a desperate attempt to reach their injured friend. Carson found himself imagining all too easily the tight, enclosed confines of the ruined house, the pressure of the uneven debris scraping against Teyla's small frame as she worked herself carefully, slowly, between the cracked and crumbling stonework of the collapsed upper floor. He had to remind himself to breathe as nervous tension tightened his chest, stealing the moisture from his mouth as he swallowed thickly.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.." Rodney was rocking restlessly on the balls of his feet, murmuring distractedly to himself as he chewed his lip impatiently.

The nervous silence seemed to go on forever, the continued creaking and groaning of the settling debris ominously loud in the unnatural stillness as both Lantians and villagers waited with baited breath for news.

A click and a hiss of static and then the best sound Carson had heard in a long time. "I have made it. I have reached the lower level of the house and am with Colonel Sheppard and Anari."

The engineers grinned and high-fived each other, the villagers cheering upon seeing the Lantians' reaction. Rodney closed his eyes briefly and for that short moment in time Carson could see the man's every emotion, the true depth of his friendship with the members of his team, written clearly across his face. He opened his eyes with a deliberate exhalation of breath and was once again the demanding, contrary McKay that everyone knew so well, interrupting the engineers' celebrations with a scathing comment and issuing peremptory orders that had the team quickly, if not a little sullenly, picking up their work where they had left off.

The excavation would succeed or fail on the strength of Rodney's calculations and the engineer's execution of his plan; now that someone, anyone, was able to physically examine and tend to his patients, Carson had only one concern on his mind.

"Teyla, how is Colonel Sheppard?"

TBC...