A/N: Hey, guys! I didn't forget about this story! I just...life got in the way. My Grandpa died at the end of last month, so...that sucked. Then there was New Years and all that fun stuff, and getting back into the rhythm of school and work and junk...

Anyway, here's the last chapter (or next to last, if something hits me)...tell me what you think! Love you all, and please R&R!


Chapter 8

John's stomach dropped into his shoes as Caldwell informed him that they were now orbiting the planet. He gripped the metal panel in front of him, his knuckles turning white. From beside him, he heard a quiet exhale, and his eyes shifted toward the woman standing there. Teyla caught his gaze, and her lips curved in a wry smile, knowing that his feelings mimicked her own.

"I cannot wait until this is all over, and never have to return here again," she said quietly.

John nodded. "Me, either. I think I'm gonna have nightmares about this planet for months."

Teyla's grin widened at that, and she reached over to cover his hand with hers, her fingers warm and soft on his skin. John opened his mouth to speak again, but Hermiod beat him to it.

"I have located the device."

John turned around, slipping his hand out from under Teyla's. "Good. Beam it up into the hangar."

"It will be a few moments. I must calibrate the beam to reach that far underground."

John nodded and tapped his comm. "Zelenka, you in the hangar yet?"

"Yes, Colonel. Everything should be ready in five minutes."

"Okay. As soon as the device has been transported, I'll be down there."

"Understood, Colonel."

John ended the link, and impatiently watched Hermiod as he moved various crystals on the panel before him, his pace never changing. Finally, he seemed to finish whatever adjustments he was making, and his black eyes lifted to meet John's.

"I am ready," the Asgard said.

"Colonel Caldwell," John called over the comm., "We're set to beam the device up."

"Don't wait for my permission, Sheppard," Caldwell replied. "Get your men back."

"Thank you, sir."

From where he sat on the bridge, Caldwell smiled as he switched off his earpiece. "Never leave a man behind" was more than just a military principle to John – it seemed to be as much a part of him as breathing. Over the years Caldwell had known him, John had never willingly abandoned anyone, even if it meant putting himself in the line of fire. The losses they did suffer over the years seemed not to affect John, but Caldwell knew better. The lieutenant colonel just hid his feelings, and his shortcomings, well. The hardest loss for all of them had been Elizabeth Weir, when she sacrificed herself to save Sheppard's team from the Asurans. Sure, both John and Caldwell had butted heads with her more than a few times, but overall each of them greatly respected her, and Caldwell knew that John missed her more than he let on.

"Okay, Hermiod," John said with a nod, which the alien returned wordlessly.

After a brief moment, Zelenka's excited voice called into John's ear. "It is here!"

Wincing at the sudden noise, John replied, "I read you, Radek. Be down in a minute." He turned to Teyla. "You coming?"

She nodded. "Thank you, for your help," she said to Hermiod.

"You are welcome."

With a smile at Dr. Novak, she followed John down to the hangar bay.

"How's it look, Radek?" John asked as he and Teyla stepped through the bay door. A dozen feet or so inside the room, Lorne and his men were standing by, in case anything unfriendly popped out of the device. Lorne himself nodded to John, who shot his XO a tight smile in return.

Radek Zelenka looked up from his computer and pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. He blinked rapidly at the colonel, and John suppressed a smile as he noted the resemblance between the Czech and Ted Foster.

"Ah, well, the device is still running. But the beam seems to have been disabled." Zelenka added before John could voice his concern about anyone getting too close. "Hermiod gave me blueprints to similar device, but there are enough differences to make reversing the process difficult."

To explain further, he knelt down by the control crystals. There were three rows of six crystals, and each was now clipped by a thin wire that ran into Radek's computer. John bent down beside him, a frown of concentration lining his face.

"See this?" Radek asked, pointing to one of the crystals, and John nodded. "According to Asgard technology, this control crystal should be down here." He gestured to the bottom row. "And some of these others…I have no idea what they do."

"Okay, so how long until you can figure this out?"

"A few hours, minimum. But that is the problem."

John at rubbed his forehead, feeling the beginning of a massive migraine edge into his brain. "What is the problem?"

Radek sighed loudly and stood up, and John followed him. "If these readings are correct, we only have one hour thirty minutes before the device's power fails."

Hearing this, Teyla stepped between the two men, her eyes full of concern. "If the power fails before we get Rodney and Ronon back, they will be lost to us forever."

Radek nodded. "But I think I may have solution."

"Let's hear it," John replied, wishing Radek would just get to the point. They should be working on the problem, not standing here talking about it.

"I may be able to use the Daedalus to supplement power to the device without overloading it, by connecting to some of the lower-voltage conduits on the ship. I will have to make a few calculations…"

"Just, go ahead," John interrupted him, his headache instantly mounting to a dull pounding against his skull. "The sooner we can get them outta there, the better."

"Yes, Colonel," Radek replied. He turned to one of his assistants, a slender brunette named Erika…John thought her last name began with a T, maybe?...and started giving her instructions for making the necessary modifications.

As John turned away from the scientists, Teyla snagged him by the arm and pulled him around to face her.

"Are you all right?" She asked, concern wearing lines into her forehead.

He nodded. "I'm fine. Just a headache, that's all."

Teyla's perceptive gaze bore into him, but she merely nodded back, knowing it was useless to try to get John Sheppard to admit that he was in pain. She did, however, comment on the dark circles under his eyes.

"Perhaps you should rest. Dr. Zelenka will not be ready for a while, and you look exhausted."

John shook his head. "No. I'm not getting a moment of sleep in until Rodney and Ronon are back."

Frustrated, she rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling. "Then perhaps you should see the doctor for some medicine…"

"I said 'no', Teyla!" He snapped at her, though it hurt his head to do so. Ignoring the sudden, worried glances of everyone around them, he added, "I need to be here!"

"John," she began, her voice low as she tried to soothe him, "If this works, then our friends will need you at your best. Please."

John crossed his arms stubbornly. Though the crease in his forehead had grown considerably, he stuck out his bottom jaw and shook his head. "I'm staying right here until they're out, and that's final."

"Very well," she replied with a sigh of resignation. She wasn't sure why she had tried to make him take care of himself in the first place, as she'd known he would react this way. Perhaps it was her instinct as a leader, or some kind of motherly impulse, but either way it didn't matter in the end. He'd decided that once again, caring for his friends was more important than his own well-being. It wasn't as if Teyla didn't respect and understand that sentiment – she had done much the same thing on many occasions – but still she worried about him.

A little while later, Radek had finished connecting the device to the ship's power conduits, and informed John and Teyla of the fact. Major Lorne had his men nearby, their weapons at the ready, and Lorne himself stood just behind and to the left of John. Radek looked around at all of them, his finger hovering over his computer's keypad.

"Go ahead, Doc," John prodded, a short nod punctuating his words.

"Here goes," Zelenka muttered, and pressed the final button. The device began to glow softly as before, the light a muted lilac color, and if circumstances had been any different, John would have thought it was beautiful. As it was, though, he decided that he'd rather not see that particular shade again in his life. As the ship's power ran through to the device, its glow started to grow into a fierce blinding light, now not purple but almost pure white. John shielded his eyes from the worst of it, but refused to look away completely, and after a few moments, he could make out six distinct outlines lying on the ground within the beam. Two of those, he knew, were his friends…but which ones?

Suddenly, a strange noise filled the air around them, and the beam blinked out almost immediately, leaving behind the six prone forms. Radek quickly cut the power to the device, though it made no difference; the crystals on the machine were a dull color, indicating that they were now dead.

John turned toward the bodies on the floor, his heart pounding in his chest. Rodney and Ronon were laying less than two feet apart, and surrounding them were four Wraith soldiers, their bony masks still in place over their faces. His teammates were motionless, and he unconsciously held his breath as he watched for the rhythmic rise and fall of their chests. At first nothing happened, and he began to see spots before his eyes, though he wasn't sure if that was due to lack of air, or from the intense headache pounding against his skull. Then, just as he was forced to exhale rather than pass out, he caught a twitch at Ronon's lips; a motion that he normally would not have been able to catch, but catch it he did, and the sight of it almost sent him to his knees in relief.

Almost as soon as Ronon began to wake, so did the other five individuals spread out around him, and Lorne's men wasted no time dispatching the Wraith with two shots to each chest. No sense in keeping them around, John thought, just as the Wraith closest to him grabbed his ankle with its feeding hand. Unable to jump back in surprise without toppling to the floor, John immediately reached for his sidearm, as the Wraith's feeding organ tried to find purchase on the skin hidden under his pants. Just when John's hand slipped around the grip of his gun, two more shots rang throughout the makeshift lab, and the Wraith's fell limply away from his leg. John looked up in surprise to see Evan striding toward him, his P90 already pointed safely at the ground.

"Thanks, Major," John breathed out, nudging the Wraith's body with his boot just to make sure he was really dead.

"No problem, Colonel," Evan replied grimly as Rodney began to sit up slowly behind him. The physicist clutched at his head, his eyes screwed tight against what he would probably tout as the "worst headache ever known to man", as Jennifer Keller crouched beside him to check him over. Ronon opted to remain lying where he was, one arm draped over his eyes to block out the hangar's lights. Teyla crossed the short distance between them and knelt down, placing her hand gently on the Satedan's large shoulder.

"Ronon? How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.

His arm shifted slightly, just enough for one eye to peek out from underneath. That dark brown iris stared into both of Teyla's, and he grumbled, "Like I got hit by a hundred Wraith stunners."

Teyla couldn't hide her amused smile, so she merely patted his arm and sat back on her heels. "I can imagine."

"Where are we?"

"On board the Daedalus."

Ronon huffed and turned his head to the side. He was about to pull his arm back over his face, when he saw the dead Wraith beside him, and he instinctively jerked further away from it.

"It is alright," Teyla assured him then, "it is dead."

"You sure?" He hissed as he searched his hip for his energy weapon.

"We're sure, Buddy," John said, coming to stand over him. "Lorne's team took care of them."

"I really want to get you both down to the infirmary," Jennifer interjected, in a tone that suggested it was more of a demand than a request. Then, she looked pointedly at John and added, "You, too, Colonel."

He frowned at her. "Me? What for?"

"For that headache of yours, that's what."

"It's just a headache. Get 'em all the time."

Frustrated, she sighed and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "Just…stop arguing and come on."

Sensing that he would lose this particular argument, he simply shrugged and then turned back to Ronon, who had since sat up and was now eying the four Wraith bodies around him. John extended his hand to Ronon, who took it and let the colonel pull him to his feet. When Ronon was standing steadily on his own, John looked behind him to see if Rodney also needed help, but Teyla was already assisting him. Surprisingly, Rodney was actually allowing her to guide him toward the hangar bay doors without comment, her right arm secured across his back.

As John passed Evan, he gave his XO a thankful nod, and it was returned by a grin and a light clap on his shoulder. Then, John remembered something else, and stopped at the threshold. Turning around, he saw Zelenka still standing near the now-inactive device, silently watching the cleanup around him.

"Hey, Radek," John called. The scientist immediately turned his attention to the colonel. "Thanks."

Radek's eyes widened in surprise, and he blinked a few times, as if to make sure he'd heard correctly. Then, he stammered out, "Oh, uh, you're welcome, Colonel."

As he watched John leave the hangar, Radek couldn't hide the pleased smile that overtook him. He was so used to Rodney getting all the credit for saving the day; it was nice to finally have the recognition for once.

Underneath that simple reason, however, he was truly glad that the team was back together, and they were all on their way home.

The End...maybe. LOL