Thank you to all my lovely reviewers who, as always, encourage me to persevere.

Cat was on a mission and God help anyone who got in her way. The ''dream' last night was what had finally decided her and she was on her way to see the one person who could empathise and understand, determined that in some way shape or form a rescue mission had to be mounted for John. She had felt him in such a close and physical way. All she'd been doing was trying to send out positive thoughts, in the way you do when all else seems hopeless, and then there it was: his thoughts and feelings entered her; she understood his surprise; she felt his pain; she knew he needed help. It felt momentarily like he had reached out and touched her, his long fingers stroking her cheek, but when she opened her eyes the room was desolate and empty. Worse was the horrible ache in her chest as though she was being squeezed by a giant vice and the tingling in her arms and legs. She was a logical and pragmatic person, not easily drawn in by stories of ghostly contact or the like and she had no idea how she was going to communicate her absolute certainty of John's survival and the urgency of the need to find him, but she would find a way.

Teyla was in the gym sparring with a young marine and Cat hesitated in the doorway, waiting for a moment to interrupt. It didn't take long. Teyla was probably the toughest fighter in Atlantis and could even floor Ronon; the poor soldier didn't stand a chance. He picked himself up off the floor, shook out his bruised back with a wince and proudly stumbled from the room, a sideways glance at Cat the only clue to his embarrassment. Teyla turned away and grabbed the towel from the bench at the side of the gym, wrapping it around her shoulders.

'How are you, Cat?' she asked, surprised to see her friend out of her room. Since John's disappearance, Cat had hardly left it, sitting in silent contemplation, serenely waiting for something, though Teyla couldn't imagine what.

Cat began uncertainly. 'Teyla. I remember you once telling me about a dream you had when your people went missing. The one where you saw Kanaan? Well, I know that it kind off turned out not to be him, but I wondered if you believed in telepathy: that people we care about can communicate to us if they're in trouble? Because, you know, In 'Jane Eyre' that's exactly what Mr Rochester did when his house was burning down and...' She stopped and silently told herself to get to the point. Teyla was looking questioningly at her. 'I...I dreamt of John last night. At least, it didn't really feel like a dream. It felt like he was in the room with me. I was just thinking about him and the feeling kind of descended on me. It was so real. It felt real. Teyla, I know he's alive, I've known it since the day he disappeared, but he is in terrible danger. He's out there somewhere, but he's in pain. We have to find him before it's too late.' Exhausted, Cat sat down on the bench, head between her hands and began to cry, not for his loss but for missing him and fear for him.

Teyla sat next to her and put her arm around her shoulders. 'If you really do believe this, Cat, then we have to try to find him. John once trusted me, even though I know he did not believe in visions, and I trust you. We cannot ask Mr Woolsey to help, though. There will need to be another way.' At that she stood up. 'Come on. We need to find Rodney and Ronon.' Silently, Cat followed her from the room, a feeling of relief sweeping over her. At last, they would be doing something.

***

Finally, the door opened and John had some company, although in truth he would have preferred someone else. Right now, even Todd would have been better than the three men who entered. The grizzled Genii and his two lackeys grabbed his left arm roughly and pulled him upright, but his legs gave way beneath him; they had to drag him down the corridor and he was dumped unceremoniously back in the middle of the same dank, dark room as before. Charel walked from the shadows.

'You do not look so good, John,' she growled in that menacingly deep voice. 'How did it feel being so alone, not knowing when we would next meet? I expect you had had a lot to think about. Some loved ones you've left behind, huh? Someone you may never see again? Things left unsaid and undone? Maybe, you have even considered giving me some information? It would be much easier for you if you did. I can promise you a quick death if you co-operate.'

'Well, thanks for the offer but I think I'll pass. Give me a shower and a shave and I'll scrub up just fine,' he quipped back, then grimaced as he was picked up and his arms were pulled above his head and attached to a chain hanging from an iron ring on the ceiling. 'So, what entertainment is there tonight? Personally, I like 'The Princess Bride'. Great film. You should see it.' The chain tightened above him and he felt his shoulders begin to strain as the woman walked towards him.

'Now then, John. Where shall we start? How about you tell me the code for the Atlantis gate?

***

Cat let Teyla tell Rodney and Ronon. Somehow it sounded truer and more sensible coming from her and she was pleasantly surprised by their reaction. Ronon was all for immediately heading off base and searching every possible planet, starting with known Genii strongholds. Fortunately, Rodney was a little more cautious and between them they began to form a plan, both men prepared to grasp at as many straws as possible, no matter how short, if it would result in the return of their friend. Rodney Mckay had grieved more that he thought possible. The worst times had been late at night when John would often arrive at his lab, either with the latest version of his remote-controlled car or some new computer game to play. Rodney and John were terrible sleepers and the years in Atlantis had not exactly made it any better, with crisis after crisis disrupting already imperfect sleep patterns, so they would often spend the early hours of the morning together in good-natured snarking and competition. Long since, Rodney had disposed of any notions of John as the thick-headed military man; in fact, that process had started almost from their first step into the city. Far from it, his friend was 'almost' equal to him in intellect and he was the only person with whom he could have that unique combination of childish banter and clever conversation. The idea that he might still be alive gave him a spark of hope that he thought had been forever extinguished and he had to admit that another miracle return from the dead would be entirely characteristic of John Sheppard.

'Okay. So what do we do? Woolsey is not likely to give us a green light for a rescue mission that is based on a 'vision' and we don't really know where to start looking.'

Cat thought for a moment. 'We could take a jumper. I mean, it's not all that long ago that I took one right from under the noses of the military.'

'Yes, we could,' replied Rodney cautiously, 'But, where will we start looking? And how will we find him, if he's still alive.' He looked sideways at Cat who scowled at him and he quickly corrected himself. 'I mean, of course he's alive. If you believe it, we believe it. Right?' McKay glanced at Ronon.

The big Satedan was leaning against the wall, in thoughtful silence. 'We take a jumper and return to the desert planet.' One of Ronon's great strengths was his ability to cut to the chase. He turned to Cat. 'What do you think?'

Cat looked at her friends. She was amazed at the speed they'd agreed to help her and was touched and moved by it. 'I think that's a good idea. I may be able to sense something when I'm there, although I 'm still not sure how this whole connection thing works. Most of the time, it's just a feeling that he's out there somewhere.' Cat put her hand on her belly. What she hadn't told them was the strangest sensation that came from inside her every-time she thought she could sense John and she was beginning to think that the link was something to do with the child she carried. After all, both she and John had very strong ATA genes and she hadn't really considered until now what that might mean for their baby. And, it wasn't as though she could call up the 'link': it just kind of happened.

Teyla looked uncomfortably at her friend. 'You cannot come, Cat. You need to think about the baby. And, if we find John, he will not be happy that we put you in so much danger.'

The determined repost gave her friends no doubt that she would be coming with them and when Cat was this determined very few were brave enough to stand in her way. Normally a gentle soul she carried a powerful stubbornness which was not to be denied. 'There is no way you're leaving me behind. I'm coming with you. You need me. If I can sense him, then it might be the only way to find him.' Just as she finished speaking a sharp and agonising pain seared across her back and she collapsed to the floor to the horror of her friends, tears springing from the suddenness of it. 'It's John. We need to find him quickly.'

***

He was in his bed back in Atlantis, curled up next to Cat, the warmth of her body soothing his aches and pains. Her perfume aroused him as he nuzzled into her neck: that trade-mark aroma of vanilla and raspberries that filled the room whenever she was around. He felt happy and content, knowing that this was where he belonged; their baby growing inside her, her stomach gently swelling under his hand as he stroked it. She turned to him and kissed him gently on the lips. 'It's alright, my darling. We're coming for you. Hold on. I love you.' John gasped as the vision begin to fade, morphing into the sharp features of a strange, tall woman with cropped hair and a mean mouth and he shouted Cat's name as he felt a burning pain in his back. Cat's face faded before him and he jerked awake. In front of him the woman was holding a nasty looking whip with metal fragments embedded in it and the source of his pain became all too clear.

'Well, John. You can certainly take a lot, but then I knew that already. Aucustus Kolya told me about your pain threshold several years ago. You must know. I don't care that you tell me nothing. I take great pleasure in watching you suffer. You will stay in this room for as long as I wish.' As she spoke, she stroked his left cheek with her hand, then as suddenly slapped him hard, causing his head to flip sideways, trapping the muscles in the side of his neck. 'I think I will leave you now to your thoughts, John. Oh, and by the way, who is this 'Cat' person you call out for? Someone close to you? Something to do with this, maybe?' She pulled the leather thong from around his neck and the Athosian ring clattered to the floor. 'Someone you'll never see again?' With that, she strode from the room, leaving him alone, arms straining from the pain of being pulled above his head, back bleeding from the hard whip that she had repeatedly struck him with, with such apparent glee.

He tried to shift position in order to ease the agony running across his shoulders, but nothing seemed to help. In the end, he decided to stay in one place, hoping for some kind of blessed numbness to take over. He could feel his body weakening from the physical assaults, his legs barely able to hold him up, and he knew that he was in danger of giving up mentally as well. If his friends really thought he was dead, then there was no way out of this one. He could feel the thought draining him of his usual fight and determination, sucking any little strength that he had remaining like a leech. Then, across the room, he saw the shiny metal of his ring, glinting on the dark surface of the floor. That at least would keep him going. Would keep him from giving up. The ring became a symbol of hope as he hung there, drifting in and out of consciousness. That and the message from Cat. Real or imagined, he didn't care. He would cling onto it, to the end if necessary. She was coming. She wouldn't give up.

***

The silent quartet crept through the darkened corridors of Atlantis, the lights dimmed as ever to signify night's calm and rest. When they had first entered the city, the lights had come on by themselves as though recognising kind and sympathetic beings that could bring the city back her life-energy and Atlantis repaid the tenderness of her occupants, easing their passage into sleep by gradually dimming the lights each evening and conversely raising them slowly every morning.

The plan was simple, but could have far-reaching consequences. All four knew that they might never be able to return to the city again, but all were willing to sacrifice themselves on the off-chance that John was still alive. As Cat had predicted, only two marines stood guard at the entrance to the puddle-jumpers and they were easily dealt with by Ronon and Teyla. They chose Jumper 1, John's favourite and the first he flew: it seemed apt in the circumstances. Once the gate address had been dialled, there would be nothing anyone could do about stopping them and Rodney had rigged up a scrambler which would veil where they had gone, at least until Zelenka could figure out how to decode it. They had all agreed that the desert planet was the first place to search, and that a jumper was their best bet given the unstable nature of the environment there.

The last they saw of Atlantis was the rather surprised face of Chuck the technician, and the rather less surprised one of Amelia Banks who Ronon had confided the plan to that night. She raised a surreptitious hand in farewell with an encouraging smile at Ronon, and then they were gone.

They arrived through the gate in the middle of a violent sandstorm, the little jumper immediately being tossed and thrown about by the swirling winds.

'It's just as well we didn't come by foot,' moaned Rodney as he tried to steady the ship. 'We'd have been pulp by now. Okay, anyone any ideas about what we do next? I will try to re-calibrate the sensors. It may be that we missed something last time. It wouldn't be the first time that The Genii have been able to block us, after all. Maybe we missed something.' Rodney spoke with forced confidence, but his mouth was set it a grimace that could only be translated as doubt, or to the more cynical, scepticism.

They all looked at Cat. Much of the rest of 'the plan' was to play it by ear, or in this case by the sixth sense that she seemed to have developed, but since she had never been able to deliberately 'dial-up' the connection, as McKay had so sensitively put it, she really didn't know what else to do other than wait. 'Teyla. When you connect with the Wraith, how do you do it? Maybe I can try the same technique.'

Teyla shrugged her shoulders, 'Well, I suppose we could try. We have nothing to lose, after all. I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing, trying to obliterate every other thought other than 'Wraith'. It takes a great deal of concentration and effort and it does not always work. Shall we try?'

Cat nodded. She sat upright on her chair and closed her eyes. Truthfully, it wasn't very difficult closing her eyes and thinking of nothing but John, since she did it much of the time anyway, but trying to get rid of her fears for him, coupled with her awareness of those around her, made the whole process much harder. She could hear the wind howling outside the hovering jumper like some ancient valkyrie stalking them and could feel the sway as the little ship fought against the onslaught. For a long time she felt nothing but the tension and expectation of those around her, then suddenly the world outside her body seemed to disappear and she was in a strange, floaty place with another voice whispering something in her head which she couldn't quite grasp. Gradually, the voice became clearer although it wasn't forming words but as it cleared it seemed to become part of her, one with her, strengthening her. And then she was in another place, standing in the middle of a vast emptiness, but not alone. Together, they searched for John, ranging far and wide, scouring the galaxy, flying among the stars and swimming in the oceans. And then, she saw a figure in the distance, a figure seemingly held up by some invisible force, it's arms stretched above it. As they closed, she recognised the spiky dark hair and the black BDU trousers and swooping towards him she saw John. He was hanging from an iron hoop by a nasty looking rusty chain, an expression of both pain and determination on his face, staring resolutely at a single spot on the floor as if his life depended on it. She could see livid bruises on his face and his shirt was ripped in shreds from his body, showing the bloody wheals of the lash. His face was pale and there were deep shadows under his eyes, but he was still her John. Still fighting. She came in as close as she could and desperately tried to make him look towards her, but his eyes would not stray from the gleaming gold ring on the floor.

'John, John, can you hear me, my darling? It's Cat. We're looking for you. Rodney, Ronan and Teyla are with me and we're on the planet where you disappeared. Please, John? Please, hear me? I'm right with you. If you concentrate on me perhaps I can sense where you are? John! John!' She reached forward and touched his face, cupping his chin in her hands and trying to raise his eyes to meet hers. For a moment, she thought it was no use and then he started from his almost manic stare at the floor, looking directly into her eyes in astonishment.

'Oh, my god! Cat! Now I know I'm in trouble. I'm hallucinating,' and he shut his eyes tightly, breathing several deep breaths before he opened them again.

'You're not hallucinating, my love. I am there and not there. Please try to concentrate on my face. Maybe I can work out where you are.' He held her gaze steadily, tears welling at the sight of his wife's beautiful face, not caring if it were not real, just wanting to hold the moment. Then, as suddenly as she had appeared to him, she fragmented into sparkled pieces which blinked out like the dying gasp of a hundred stars. He stared at the empty space for several minutes before his head fell to his chest and he drifted into a peaceful state of unconsciousness, somehow reassured by the strange vision but exhausted by the exertion.

'I know where he is,' Cat shouted, at the same time as a shout of triumph came from Rodney.

'I have life signs,' he said. 'Damn those Genii and their underground shelters. The sensors couldn't pick up a signal through the peculiar metal that they have buried themselves under this time. There are definitely at least a dozen people beneath us.'

'Is one of them Sheppard?' asked Ronon.

'No-way of knowing, except...' and they all looked to Cat.

'Yes. I found him. He's here. But he's in terrible trouble. I saw him in a large, square room.' She had great difficulty putting into words the distressing sight she'd seen. At first, the elation of finding him and the joy when he looked directly into her eyes had overcome all other fears for him. Now she told them of the hoop and the chains, and the evidence of torture on his body and she understood how they needed to hurry. With absolute certainty she pressed upon her friends the awful truth. If they didn't find him soon, however hard he fought, it might be too late.

Ronon cursed and Rodney and Teyla looked at her in horrified silence. 'Right then,' said Rodney. 'There's nothing for it. We're going to have to land this bucket.'

TBC

Please R & R if you want to find out what happens next, and you know how much I always appreciate constructive criticism.