A/N: So I had another fluffy chap to put in before this one, I had been looking forward to it actually, then, lo and behold, I realized I hated it! So, I'm skipping it (it wasn't that good anyway) and just posting this one. It's one of the chapters I've had written since the very beginning (originially I only planned on this being a oneshot or a two or three parter, lol) I hope you enjoy it despite the ending. -pj

Disclaimer: Still not mine. Still bummed about it.

Day One-Twenty-Five

They were under fire. Too much fire, they wouldn't be able to hold their own much longer. They were trying to retreat back to the gate to prevent being surrounded, but it was slow going.

Sheppard had allowed a few people to enter the surrounding dilapidated structures so they could try and get some better shots off on the enemy. But after one of the low-flying darts had crashed into a building after being shot down, he'd decided the whole plan was too risky and recalled them all.

"Everyone accounted for?" Sheppard shouted over the sound of stunner fire and p90s, taking out his frustration at the whole situation on a drone who stupidly stood up while trying to get to a better position.

Only an Atlantis team could manage to follow a seemingly harmless power reading and stumble onto a planet that had been abandoned by humans a hundred years ago and made into a wraith base seventy years after that. And only a rescue mission mounted by SGA1 could go this badly. If he ever found out who was to blame for the unlucky mojo that seemed to follow them around like a bad smell he was going to bury him alive.

He felt Ronon fall into the dirt beside him and the canon-like fire that immediately followed confirmed the Satedan's presence.

"All but one," the man shouted and the pointed to a building to his right and behind them slightly. The one with a burning wraith dart sticking out of the side, "Remy's still in there."

Sheppard cursed, and tapped his com, "Lieutenant, get your ass out here we're falling back to the gate."

"Yes sir!" came a staticy reply, "as soon as I shoot the other dart out of the sky."

"Negative Lieutenant that building is not going to stay up much longer," Sheppard paused as a volly of stunner fire exploded into his small crumbling barrier, "abort and get the hell out of there. That's an order!"

The only response was more static and Sheppard cursed again, "Ronon-" he turned, but the Satedan was already gone, laying down his own cover fire as he ran along the bushes and rocks that peppered the way to the building in question.

"Remy!" Ronon shouted as soon as he crossed the threshold inside. He could already smell the stink of burning flesh and metal and knew the crashed Dart was close to his position. Taking the shaky wooden stairs two at a time, he hurried up to the second and then third level, the building groaning and shifting suddenly as he went, protesting the newcomer and his added weight.

"Remy," he shouted again when he caught sight of her, leaning with her rifle outside one of the broken windows, "we need to get out of here. This building is going to collapse"

Unconcerned with his harsh voice, she took three shots and mortally wounded two of the wraith firing on her and Ronon's teams.

"Die sucker," she yelled, and if he hadn't been so concerned with both their safety Ronon might have laughed at the savage cry.

"Remy!" he said again, crossing the room toward her, stepping over pieces of broken wooden furniture and coughing to keep the concrete dust that floated in the air out of his lungs.

"Just one more…" she closed one eye and took aim at the remaining dart, which was on a direct course for the Atlantis troops. Another second and they would be in the dart's beaming storage device, so she didn't give it another second. She took her shot and it rang true, piercing the main cockpit of the craft with a mighty explosion and knocking it slightly off course. Unfortunately, that put the small, injured craft on a direct collision course with the building she and Ronon were still standing in.

She opened both her eyes wide.

"Shit!" Dropping her gun, she stood and ran back across the room, grabbing Ronon's arm as she did so, "we've got to get out of here."

They had only made it a few steps down the stairs when a deafening explosion rocked the already unsteady structure. Remy reached out for the railing to keep from falling, not realizing what the added damage would most likely do to the already unsteady building.

Ronon did, and in a last ditch effort to save her from the crushing force of the falling building, he threw his arms around Remy's torso and pulled her back and tucking her small body underneathe his as the world rained down on them.

---

"Ronon? You still with us?"

"Yeah," he said, looking down with concern at the limp body he held in his arms.

"Remy?"

"She needs a doctor, Sheppard." Ronon knew he'd told him this already, but wanted to make sure the Colonel hadn't forgotten.

"I know buddy, Jennifer's here and we've put the fire out but the engineers are still trying to work out a way to dig you out without shifting that beam that's keeping two tons of rock and debris from crushing you guys under there."

Ronon nodded, ignoring the twinges of pain that throbbed on all parts of his body, "hurry."

There was a pause and then Sheppard's voice again, which had dropped an octave to indicate his concern, "understood. Turn off your radio to conserve battery until you check in again in fifteen, got it?"

Ronon responded by turning off his radio and pulling the foreign object from his ear.

"Remy?" Ronon said loudly, feeling a little bit badly for the wince that crossed her dirty face when he did so, "you've got to stay awake Remy. Stay with me."

She frowned and, with great effort, opened her eyes. She looked around as if confused by their dirt and debris covered prison, and in the minimal light provided by the small flashlight he'd pulled from her vest, he surveyed her injuries again. Most were minor and he'd already tied off the larger lacerations on her arms as best he could and taken the weight off her severely bruised legs, but he couldn't help but think it was all for naught.

He couldn't do anything about the injury that really mattered.

The injury that could mean life or death for her.

He couldn't do anything about the eighteen inch former-chair leg that had impaled her when he'd been knocked to one side and the floor above them caved in.

She blinked slowly, her breaths coming in short, painful bursts.

"Others?" she asked a question he'd already answered twice and it gave him more concern about the other troublesome injury. The head wound that had not yet stopped bleeding.

"Yeah, Remy, they're safe. When you shot down the second dart the rest of the wraith retreated underground."

"Wait...for help?"

Ronon huffed in frustration, "I don't know Remy, probably. Right now the wraith aren't really what I'm worried about."

"What? This?" she asked lightly and looked pointedly at the piece of wood protruding from her stomach, "flesh wound."

Her face crumpled in pain and she bit her lip to keep from screaming when her hand accidentally bumped the stake when she moved into a more comfortable position.

"How 'bout us," she asked breathlessly, her eyes still squinted shut, "help comin'?"

Ronon nodded and gently stroked her blood-matted hair, "yeah. As fast as they can."

She nodded and went quiet again.

"Eyes open." He ordered.

With a frown, Remy did. "This is not as easy as it looks," sharp breath, "you know."

Ronon pursed his lips, "you've got to stay awake. Tell me about flying," he tried, remembering one time when they'd been having breakfast together and she'd carried on an entire conversation on her own just by talking about flying. He didn't know someone could talk so fast or so loud or with such a huge smile.

But, much to his surprise, Remy didn't start in on a lecture on the difference between a 'F-16 Fighting Falcon' and a 'F-15 Eagle'.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, her voice tight with strain, "didn't follow orders. Should have. I'm sorry."

Her sentences were as short as her breaths and he fought the urge to pull her closer.

"You made a mistake. Sheppard can give you a 'court ranger' or something later. Right now just focus on staying awake."

"Court Marshall." She corrected softly. She stared at the small spot of light she could see directly over her head, "and that's if I'm lucky…enough to get out…of here."

"You're going to get out of here Remy." He assured her, tightening his hand where it lay against her waist, "you will."

---

Ronon wasn't having to keep her awake anymore, there were no thoughts of sleep in Remy's head, only that of shredding, blinding, torturous pain.

Now he was having to remind her to breathe.

"Please Remy, as deep a breath as you can."

On his last radio call he'd done his best to stress how dire Remy's condition was becoming and he'd spoken to Jennifer for a few minutes. But rescue was still as least half an hour away, and that was if the wraith didn't come before then.

She smiled a pained smile and winced away a laugh.

"What's funny?"

"It just figures."

"What does?"

"This. This whole thing," she looked at him as if waiting for him to get the joke, "I touched the forbidden fruit, Ronon. It was inevitable."

He just shook his head, the familiarity of the gesture twisting his stomach.

"Stay awake long enough for us to return to Atlantis, and I'll have someone explain to me what that means."

"Ask Scooter," she said tiredly.

Remy did as she was asked and tried to take a deep breath, this time she couldn't hold back the whimper of pain and he wished for the thousandth time that it had been him instead. She gasped and bit her lip, drawing blood that mixed with the sheen of cold sweat on her skin. Ronon knew her pulse was slow and weak. Knew she was in agonizing pain. Knew if she made it through this and made it back to Atlantis she would be on the first ship back to Earth as soon as she was stable enough to move.

Remy knew it too, he could tell by the way she kept whispering the names of the planets and their six digit ID numbers to keep herself from focusing on it too long.

As if she'd been reading his thoughts she suddenly trailed off from her chant and turned her glazed eyes to him.

"They'll send me back." Her voice was hoarse from the dust in the air and their lack of water, but he heard her all the same.

"I won't let them." He told her, taking her hand in his and running his thumb across her knuckles.

Remy grinned that half-mouth grin of hers, "you can't fight the whole IOA, Ronon. I'm a liability and an extra expense here."

Ronon pursed his lips and frowned, "Sheppard and Rodney get injured all the time. They've never gone back," he reasoned.

This time Remy's smile looked sympathetic, "They're Sheppard and Rodney, Ronon. I'm not. They're irreplaceable on this expedition. I'm…expendable."

"Don't you ever say that again, Remy." Ronon told her sharply, "you're just as irreplaceable as they are to me."

Her smile softened as her vision got fuzzy and she turned back to the dot of light she could see overhead. "I wish you ran the galaxy, Ronon. Everything looks so much different from your eyes. Better," she added as an afterthought. "We could stay on Atlantis forever. There would be no wraith…no Genii...no Micheal. We could stay forever."

Several tears escaped her eyes when she grit her teeth and her whole body tensed against another wave of pain that ripped through her body. She fought back the sobs that only made the pain worse but was not able to keep back the cry of pain that tore at Ronon's gut. He looked skyward. He could hear the others working outside to free them, but they were still a long way off. Too long.

He closed his eyes and hated himself for the words about to come from his mouth.

"Close your eyes, Remy."

After a moment his words seemed to register with her, "what?"

He licked his lips and looked down at her, "close your eyes."

Several emotions crossed her face then. Fear, disbelief, pain, understanding, relief, gratitude. She smiled briefly and touched his face and he kissed her palm tenderly when she did. She gently laid her hand back down and focused on his face for as long as possible before her vision went fuzzy again and she allowed her heavy eyelids to close.

"Tell me 'bout Sateda," she asked softly.

Ronon complied without hesitation or complaint, willing to focus on anything other than what he feared was now happening.

"I was from a small village on Sateda named Kour, the District of Dexin."

"Like your name?"

"Yeah. Like my name. It only housed a few hundred people, including myself, my mother and father and my two younger sisters." He drew his eyes away from her face and focused instead on their entwined hands, "my father was killed in an accident in the mines when I was just fourteen. The only place I could get work to support my family, as was the custom, was to join the Satedan Military Forces. I had to move to the city to complete my training. I wasn't used to so many walls. So many people. Sometimes I felt like I couldn't breathe. In one of the buildings near the base was a plant research facility. They had this room on the top floor, it was filled with plants, every plant I could think of. And the ceiling was made of glass so the sun could shine in. But at night, there were stars. Not as many as I was used to seeing back home, but some. That was the only place I felt truly at home in the city because I knew my mother and sisters were looking up at the same night sky. That we were all still connected and I wasn't alone."

He finally looked back down at Remy, well aware that she'd stopped breathing several moments ago, that she'd lost too much blood to keep her heart pumping. He swallowed hard, took a breath that came out as a sob and finally allowed himself to lift her limp form up closer to his chest.

He buried his face down in the hollow of her throat, as the light of day suddenly shown down from above.

Their rescue was here.

TBC