AN: I'd like to thank my ever gracious and kind 'unofficial' beta for helping me extensively with this chapter. Not a lot of whump but more of a "bridge" for the next chapter. This one more focuses on Sheppard's relationship with Thompson (and don't worry, it won't go as far as against regulation, for those who have been asking about that...I think). But anyways, I hope you enjoy it and review! I love reviews :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis or any of the characters. It'd be fantastic if I did, but I don't.

"Colonel, colonel," Kolya chuckled darkly, "you like to pretend you're tough but we both know you're not. You're weak. You'll never get out of this alive. Colonel, colonel, colonel…"

"Colonel!"

John's eyelids shot open, and he grabbed the wrist of the arm he felt on his shoulder. "Kolya?" he gasped.

"No, Colonel, it's me."

He looked to the sound of the voice and saw Thompson's worried expression as she hovered over his body, and he released her wrist slowly. "What happened?" He panted, and closed his eyes tightly as a sudden wave of pain engulfed him.

"You don't remember?" she asked in surprise, her brows furrowing as she studied him closer.

He shook his head as slowly as he could. "No. I remember. How long was I out?"

"Not long," she sighed, glancing towards the prison door where one Genii stood guard. "They just dumped you in here a couple minutes ago."

"We need to – ow!"

The sharp, searing pain that ripped through his shoulder as he tried to sit up brought back vivid memories of his recent torture.

"What is it?" Thompson asked, concern clouding her face as she watched him grimace in agony.

"It's nothing," he held out a hand towards her. She grabbed it, and slowly helped him lean up against the wall, "I ran into Jagrin's dagger."

She peered at his shoulder, and he immediately looked down to where she was peering. To his surprise, there was a dark red mass pooling at the point his shoulder and chest met. Tentatively, he reached out to touch it. As soon as he felt the warm liquid against his fingers, he felt a sharp throbbing in the area as well. "Ow," he muttered. Just as he was turning around reassure her that it was nothing, he saw her crawl away, grab something, and return.

"That looks pretty bad," she remarked as she studied it, trying to see in the poorly illuminated room. She looked up at him and smiled faintly. "But I'm no doctor. You'd have to take Beckett's word for it."

"Speaking of which," he started as he allowed her to feel around the area of the wound, "where is he?"

"Shh," she warned, not looking up, "I think that's what they're wondering too. They might ask us. I sent him back to the gate. I'm hoping he got through."

He nodded silently.

After a couple more seconds of soft touching, she raised the hand that held the item she had crawled over with. As he got a closer look at it, he saw that it was her hat, balled up into a mass of material that she was now pressing against the wound, causing the pain to augment dramatically.

"Ah…" he hissed quietly, trying to block out the pain.

"Sorry," she said with an emphatic wince, "but we've got to stop this bleeding."

"It hurts," he informed her, watching her expression as she concentrated on his injury.

She nodded. "I know, I know. Just try and distract yourself for a couple more minutes."

Taking her advice, the Colonel looked around the room. There was nothing of interest or worth any distraction in his sights. Everything was too darkly lit and ominous.

"Right, I'll just stare at that lovely guard over there," he turned his head slightly to the blank-faced soldier who stared straight ahead down the corridor.

She smiled and nodded at his joke, pulling back and placing his hand over the hat, forcing him to press it against the lesion himself

"You know," he adjusted himself so that he could see her face more easily, "I don't even know your first name."

Even in the darkness, Colonel Sheppard could see her raise a skeptical eyebrow at him. "I would think you would, since you approved my application for joining Atlantis two years ago."

He cringed. "To tell you the truth, it's more of an eeny-meeny-miney-mo decision for new recruits."

Thompson chuckled again and rested back on her haunches. "Well, good to know that I'm not really the best of the best."

He smiled at her in apology but she shrugged it off. "My name's Victoria," she replied in a steady voice, "Victoria Kathryn Thompson."

Sheppard nodded. "I'd shake your hand and say 'nice to meet you' but…"

"It's all right," she interjected, patting him on the shoulder. "Nice to meet you too, Colonel."

She moved over to lean against the wall next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Man, I did not think this would be happening today."

John grimaced. "To be honest, no one ever really does."

"Well," she rolled her head towards him gave a wan smile, "you face this kind of thing almost every day. I'd think you'd be used to it by now."

He shrugged. "I guess so but you know, it's not every day I meet a cult of bad guys who follow orders from a dead guy."

She chuckled softly. "Touché."

The colonel groaned against the pain in his shoulder as it began throbbing even more steadily now. The lieutenant snapped to his side and lifted his hand over the cap he was pressing against his wound. It had soaked through and was of no use now. Biting her lip, she informed him, "it's infected."

John looked down to see that the wound was red and inflamed - sure signs of infection

She growled angrily and stood up. "It's only going to get worse. We need to get you to a doctor."

"Lieutenant," he started firmly, "save your energy. You're going to need it when we break out of here. For now, get some sleep."

"Shouldn't Atlantis know we're missing?" she asked, ignoring his order to get some sleep.

"I'm sure they do," he replied trying to sound positive. "Carson probably got through and they're working on a mission right now. If not, we'd only have to wait four or more hours."

Victoria nodded slowly but he could tell she wasn't convinced. She moved over to the other side of the cell, and disappeared into the shadows. He heard her move around a little bit to get more comfortable and he did the same.

It was hard to try and fall asleep with the stab wound in his shoulder so he stayed awake, staring at the ceiling of their prison instead.

Hours later, the cell started to get colder and it wasn't long before he could hear Thompson shivering in the shadows. John on the other hand, felt warm. His jacket provided some heat but it was mostly his rising temperature that kept his body temperate –as uncomfortable as it was.

Sheppard finally made up his mind. Using his good arm to guide him, he pulled himself across the floorcomma and felt around until he finally touched a body with the tip of his fingers. He realized she was sitting up, leaning against the wall as he had. She flinched, surprised by the touch but he patted her gently. "Just me," he said in a reassuring tone, "thought you could use some warmth."

He sat down next to her and attempted to put an arm around her but she drew away quickly.

"No, thank you sir, but I'm fine." Her voice seemed restrained as if she felt more than she was saying but keeping it reined in.

As she was pulling away, he caught her by the wrist firmly. Even in the dark, he could see her stare at him in perplexity.

"Lieutenant," he began slowly, "we need to stay alive as long as possible in order to find a way out of here. In order to do that, we'll need each other and right now, both you and I need warmth. Now is not the time to be shy or…stubborn. I don't want to make this a direct order. Understood?"

There was a moment's pause – Thompson's small way of rebelling – before she settled back into position next to the Colonel.

He wrapped a tentative arm around her, and she leaned in responsively, her teeth's chattering slowly stopped as her body grew acclimatized to his warmth.

A few awkward minutes ticked by before John cleared his throat, and began his attempt at small talk. "So, is your family in the military?"

"Both my parents were killed in an Air Force mission when I was ten," she replied flatly, "it's one of the main reasons I joined the Marine Corps."

Sheppard wasn't quite sure what to say. Losing a family member would be hard in any circumstance, including his own father whom he didn't even get along very well with. "I'm sorry about that," he said, feeling uncomfortable.

She shrugged under his arm. "It was almost twenty years ago - it's nothing new to me. My aunt raised me. She's more of parent to me than either of them were and not because of the amount of years I've spent with either. My parents were often away on missions, mostly together and she would watch over me. To me it was like losing a cousin or a distant relative. I didn't know them well enough to be depressed over it."

Colonel Sheppard was fell quiet. He had never heard of a relationship between parent and child to be quite so bizarre. But he nodded in acceptance. "That must have made it easier for you."

She nodded as well and looked up at him in the dark as she smiled slightly. "It did." After a couple more seconds of silence, Victoria directed her gaze toward his wound. "How is it?"

He looked down to the area as well and touched it lightly with two of his left fingers. "The bleeding's stopped. For now."

"Let me check just to make sure." She rolled over on her side and reached her hand over for the injury.

He allowed her access to the wound and once she was done she withdrew the bloodied cap and threw it across the room. Then she reached over to her pant leg and fingered the stitching of one of the pockets. She tore the material off and placed it over the colonel's wound. Once again, she picked up his hand. and pressed it against the fabric so he could hold it himself.

"Thank you," he said to her in a genuinely grateful tone. When she looked up, she realized that he was looking straight at her. She looked away nervously and returned to her position next to him.

"You're welcome," she sighed.

xXx

There was suddenly a loud clanging at their prison door and Thompson jolted awake. She turned to see John had as well. She didn't even realize they had fallen asleep.

Jagrin stepped through the door, followed by two Genii guards.

Sheppard glanced at the Lieutenant momentarily before standing to his feet, flinching against the pain in his shoulder. Victoria followed suit.

"What do you want?" the colonel demanded.

"How's your shoulder?" the Genii man cocked his head and smiled cruelly at Sheppard.

"I've had worse," John replied flatly. "Now answer the question."

"We thought you might like some medical treatment for the wounds you've recently sustained," the blonde man offered, rocking back on his heels and folding his hands in front of him as he waited for his answer.

It took Sheppard a few moments but he finally responded with an adamant "No".

"Sir," Thompson jumped in, grabbing a hold of his arm, "with all due respect, I think you should take it. That wound is infected and it's going to get worse in time if you don't get treatment."

"Listen to the woman, Sheppard," Jagrin sneered, glancing between the two.

The lieutenant ground her teeth at the designation but kept her temper in check. The last thing her CO needed was another brawl.

"Fine," the colonel relented. Victoria could tell he was thinking that he would regret his decision, and she hoped to death that medical attention really did mean help for him.

The two guards held him by his upper arms, and escorted him out of the prison. Once again, he disappeared from her sight.