Thank you all sooooo much for your comments. It's wonderful to receive them. When I received only one lovely review after 100 hits, I really thought that everyone else hated it. So, to everyone who was kind enough to read and leave a comment, I love you guys. It made my day each time a little bot message popped up in my email. A personal thanks to all those who took the trouble to review:

-auStraliS (Thank you for being the first to review! I was most excited to receive it. It was very encouraging and I loved reading every single word that you said.)
- Ocean (Why thank you, I'm continuing now.)
- sherryw (I loved hearing about all the possibilities and reading your comments. I tried to include more Shep whump in this chappie.)
- starfish (I treasured what you said. (Blush) And I was inspired to write more!)
- Titan5 (You'll never catch me, I shall rule the world!... mhahahhaha! Oops, sorry, I was somewhere else...lol. Your comments made me laugh, which was what I really needed.)
- drufan (Aww... I loved your comments about bar-b-que sauce, can I borrow it, pretty please?)
- MacGateFan (Ok, I shall do so, and thanks so much!)
- Reyson (Hmm... I think I smell burnt toast. Um, does that mean the team's in trouble?)
- sarah (I liked that scene too and loved hearing your thoughts about it. Hopefully this chap will some more scenes that you enjoy too.)
- Sheppardster (Ok, I'm continuing now, and thank you for making a perfect 10!)

Chap 2: Until the Fat Lady sings

"How are you doing, John? Is your injury bad?" Teyla asked in concern. Tied next to her team leader, she could feel John's blood dripping down from his shoulder to his arm to slide down her own hands and fingers where they were restrained together by thick ropes. She also felt warm heat radiating out from him, suggesting that he was suffering a fever. She knew that he needed medical attention and wondered how long he would remain standing before he lost consciousness.

"I'm... good. Nothing that good ol' Dr Beckett can't fix," Sheppard replied off handedly. However, despite his words, Teyla detected the tightness in John's voice and she knew that the bullet wound was causing Sheppard more pain than he let on.

"Hey, easy for you to say," Rodney complained. "I've got a friggin' bullet hole on my foot! If I don't get to Carson soon, I might be crippled for the rest of my life! Gawd, I wonder whether I have any toes left!"

Teyla smiled at Rodney's complaints, quite glad to hear it. The fact that he was doing so, meant that he couldn't be badly injured, otherwise he would remain more silent like Sheppard. It was when they were unnaturally silent about their injury, that's when she got worried.

"He shot you on your foot, Rodney, not on your toes, so I would say that they're all there," John quipped, testing the ropes that restrained them. Yep, Rodney was right, there was no way they were going to get out of them. Not without some sort of weapon to cut them free anyway.

"That Genii is mine!" Ronon suddenly snarled deeply, sounding like a bear ready for a kill. The Satedan started to struggle once more, trying to pull at the ropes in another attempt to get free.

McKay looked up at the Satedan surprised. "Well, um... thank you, Ronon. Didn't realise you cared so much."

"Not the one who shot you, McKay..., Him!" Ronon commented, his eyes shooting dark daggers at the pony-tailed Genii warrior known as Kalan. "The one who tied us up!"

Rodney turned to look at where the Satedan indicated. He saw that the pony-tailed Genii was currently twirling around something long and dark in his hand; he waved it at the Satedan whenever he saw Ronon looking his way, just to antagonise him. The scientist instantly knew why the Satedan was fuming with fury.

Rodney snorted derisively. "Oh puhlease! You're angry because that Genii lopped off one of your precious dreadlocks!" Everyone knew that Ronon was as mad as hell over the Genii who had the atrocity to slice the Satedan's hair to keep as a souvenir. If a death glare could kill, that pony tailed Genii would be a smoking pile of dust right about now.

"It wasn't your hair that he touched, McKay," Ronon griped.

"What hair? In case you haven't noticed big guy, Rodney is slowly losing his. All that brain inside his big head is not leaving much space for hair growth." That remark came from John.

"Oh har-de-har-har! And is that supposed to be funny Sheppard? This, coming from a guy whose hair can't handle a comb? It'll probably get lost in that unruly mess of yours," McKay snapped back. "Besides, I have lots of hair!"

"Oh yeah, have you looked in the mirror lately and seen that receding hair line?" John countered. Winding up Rodney seemed to be the only way he knew to keep both their minds away from their injuries.

"What receding hair line? I don't have a receding hairline!" Rodney blustered and protested with indignation. "You're joking right?" his voice suddenly sounded concerned as he tried to look at the top of his head but of course, couldn't.

"Actually, I've been thinking. How did the Genii know that we were here?" Teyla voiced her concern in hopes of changing the topic of conversation quickly. She did not want to be in the middle of Rodney and John's verbal sparring. Sometimes, these two men behaved very much like Jinto and his best friend where they practically needed an adult to step in before things got out of hand. For Sheppard and Rodney, Teyla always found herself being the one to do it. She wondered when did she become the mediator for these two men.

Sheppard frowned, feeling sick and close to passing out now. Focus John, focus! he told himself. It took him a while to consider what Teyla was speaking about. "Good point, Teyla. So, do you think that we were betrayed?"

"There can be no other explanation," Teyla said, turning her head to look at John who was tied on her left side. Her disappointment with the Nonamers was now changing to anger. These people were supposed to be her friends, but they were turning out to be more like her enemies. She could not understand how Toga could pretend to be her friend, then stab her in the back with betrayal. And it looked like her lack of judgement in this people were about to cost her, John, Rodney and Ronon their lives. She was finding it extremely difficult to trust people in the Pegasus galaxy, and it made her feel ashamed over this fact. It made her realise that what she saw as a front could be very different from what was in that person's heart. The person could be as sweet as honey, but inside they could be horribly rotten, or they could only be using another for a hidden agenda of their own. Teyla was learning this lesson the hard way. It was not words but action that mattered, she was beginning to realise that. It gave the true measure of the type of person one was. Teyla thought back to that phrase that Rodney had uttered previously, and she agreed full heartedly with him: if the person only talked the talk but did not walk the walk, then that person was a coward, and the words that he or she used were just empty words, as shallow as an empty glass with no water in it.

"Do you think it's Toga?" Rodney suddenly asked subduedly.

Teyla nodded. However, realising that the scientist would not be able to see her nod as he was tied directly behind her, she replied with a hiss instead. "Yes. Why else would he remain silent or lurk in the shadows?"

"So, he's not only a coward but also a two faced traitor!" Ronon observed, still fuming with unrestrained anger, wishing that he could get his hands on all their Genii captives as well as Toga. They had shot Sheppard, and McKay, and dared to cut off one of his dreadlocks; they were so dead!

Teyla closed her eyes, feeling a wave of sadness wash over her. "Once these people were a proud, honourable people. But since the death of Toga's father, they seemed to have lost their way. They seemed to have lost their heart to fight for what is good and what is right."

"Well then, perhaps all they need is someone to teach them what it is to have a heart again - to have a sense of pride and honour. To fight for what they believe in," John spoke up.

"Oh yeah, how do you propose we do that, huh?" Rodney asked acidly. "Cos, as I recall, these people are like sheep with no true shepherd to guide the way. Hey, what am I saying? We have our very own Sheppard... Well, Sheppard, any ideas how we're going to get out of here, hmmm?"

"Possibly," replied John, much to Rodney's surprise. "If what you say is true, then we have some lost sheep that need to find their way home. After all, my name is Sheppard. I've known people like these before, Rodney. They're basically good people, but sometimes they need a reminder to find courage in themselves to do the right thing. "

"Really?" Rodney asked, having not really expected a response. "Well, you did collect two lost sheep into our team, so I guess maybe you might be on to something there."

Both Ronon and Teyla turned towards each other and lifted amused eyebrows in unison. "You have a plan, John?" Teyla asked.

"Let's just say that it ain't over yet until the Fat Lady sings," John replied with a pale smirk on his face. Things would be a tad better if he wasn't feeling so poorly at the moment.

"Fat lady?" Ronon asked puzzled, getting a similar look of confusion from the Athosian.

Rodney replied, "It's just an old Earth saying, it means..."

"It ain't over til it's over." John cut in, completing Rodney's sentence for him.

o-O-o

TBC

So, how am I doing? Is this still worth continuing? If you're reading, please review.