Debbie418uk2 - Oh, good point. Sorry, I did think that in some cases, the chapters were moving a bit too quick. Hm... Ok, I'll see what I can do in future situations for sure. LOL Oh I can be mean, I just won't kill off the character, and I'll usually make things alright in the end. ;) LOL

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(Off world, John's POV)

We'd been making trade negotiations with the locals of P7X-559, when they'd been attacked by some sort of wild...uh, inhabitants? Well, they were like our versions of cavemen, with the same IQ, too. In the end, we helped them out, and now we were apparently going to be rewarded with not only a new ally, but meeting some pretty cute princess', too.

"Now you get to meet our little sister." Came one of the women.

Frowning for a moment, I looked at the others. Suddenly, I was having a very strange sense of deja vu.

We were on a planet, in an actually pretty cool castle made up with Ancient technology, meeting three princesses and were about to meet their youngest sister, whom people rarely got to see, for some reason I think I missed. The castle was surrounded by ruins and forest, and the girls were dressed similarly to any princess you can imagine.

One of the three girls walked off only to come back a few moments later with a young girl of about 15. She had long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and was tall and slightly skinny, as if she hadn't begun to fill out yet.

That's when it hit me why this seemed so familiar, and I took a quick step back. "Oh.. Ok, um, are we going to have to escort her through the woods on an errand of some sort?"

Both women seemed surprised and confused, but Rodney's eyes went wide with realization and he seemed to be struggling not to laugh.

"No, we do not allow her out just yet. When she is ready, she will be able to take care of herself." One of the elder sisters smiled. "Why do you ask?"

I felt a little embarrassed to have jumped to conclusions and shrugged. "I had a bad experience with a child princess in the past."

All of the elder sisters' eye narrowed in confusion and sudden suspicion at that, and the one holding the shoulders of the younger sister suddenly pulled her back. "And what was the name of this child princess?"

Why did I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this? "Uh, Harmony, I think."

Now the eldest, a blonde woman, stepped forward and snapped her fingers. Gone was her friendly expression and in it's place was a much more hostile one. "You! I should have recognized you! You are the one whom left Queen Harmony defenceless to the monster! Coward!" Backing away, she called the guards. "Guards!"

"Whoa! Wait! I'm not a coward!" I shouted as several armed guards came rushing into the room. "It didn't happen like that!" I took a step closer to the princess', my hands raised in what was meant as a harmless gesture, and immediately heard the firing of one of the guards' guns. A white hot pain ripped through my side, and I couldn't help the pained shout I gave, as I felt my legs collapse.

"Wait! Stop!" I heard others shouting, but everything was becoming dim very fast. "Please, you don't understand!"

Was that McKay? Well he should have some weight to pull, he was considered the 'brave knight'!

Then I heard sever blasts of a different type, and watched through blurry eyes as Rodney and the others dropped to the ground, one by one.

Oh, crap. I thought as I finally gave in to the darkness.

(Normal POV)

When Rodney came to, the first thing he noticed was John, bleeding. Badly. There was a small puddle at his side, where his wound had not been bandaged, and the first thing he did was to rush over, a little slowly because of the rush in his head, and put pressure on the wound, pulling out a field dressing to try and staunch the bleeding.

Already, John's body was cooler than it should have been, and his face was incredibly pale.

"Oh boy, not good." Turning to the others, Rodney worked to get them woken up, surmising they'd all been hit by stunners, and filled them in the best he could on the situation, which was not looking good.

"We must get John back to Atlantis as fast as possible." Teyla stated gravely, from where she had posted herself, at his side. "He continues to lose blood, and his pulse is beginning to get weak."

"Yes, yes. I know. But short of walking through walls, there's nothing we can do." Rodney stated grimly. Then, he began to quickly snap his fingers as his eyes lit up. "Wait, they're allies with Prin-I mean, Queen Harmony, right?"

Teyla nodded. "So it would seem."

Ronon was checking the single, barred window, and the single, barred door, quietly, but spoke up at this. "Why's it matter? We need to get Sheppard back to Atlantis, not worry about allies."

"No, no. You don't get it." Getting up, Rodney stumbled to the door and began to pound loudly. "Hey! Hello! Is anyone out there?!"

A moment later, and a guard came to the door, bellowing at Rodney to keep quiet, but Rodney being Rodney, he seemed not to hear him.

"Listen, I need to speak to the princess'." Seeing the guard shaking his head, he sighed in annoyance. "You don't understand, I was the, um..." Part of him wished he had a chance to rub it in, but for now he pressed on. "I was the 'hero' in the picture, remember? Me, protecting the little Queen from danger. Yes, that was me."

Now the guard's eyes widened and he opened the door, grabbing Rodney by the jacket and forcing him out of the door and down the hallway. No one could tell if it was because he'd said something wrong, or said something right.

"McKay!"

"Rodney!"

It was too late. No one had any way of knowing if his idea was going to work, but they sat back, trying in vain to stop the flow of blood from John's wound as he continuously got weaker and weaker.

There was no real way of telling how long Rodney had been gone, but after a while, the sound of the door unlocking caught Teyla and Ronon's attention. The door opened and Rodney, along with Carson and a few marines, came rushing in. The princess' stood by the door, looking surprisingly horrified as Carson injected something into John's body and the marines set up a quick stretcher.

"I've stabilized him, but he's lost too much blood. We need to get him back to Atlantis, a.s.a.p." Getting up, he rushed back out the door with the marines, leaving behind appropriately surprised and confused Teyla and Ronon.

(Later, in the Infirmary)

"It looks like the bullet pierced his kidney, and I had to operate." Carson was filling everyone in. Turning to Rodney, he raised an eyebrow before checking John's vitals one more time. "Just how did ye get them to let you call me, anyhow?"

Blushing a little, Rodney shot John a smirk. "Well, I reminded them who I was. Which is to say, the hero in Harmony's picture. Once they remembered, it was simple enough to, um..." Now he had the sense to look a little more sober. "Explain the real situation. I put in a good word for John, telling them that on our world, he would be considered the hero."

John's eyes were wide and he looked at the IV in his arms before turning to Carson. "Doc, just what the hell did you put in this stuff?"

Teyla grinned as Rodney looked a little put out, and Ronon shook his head before clapping Rodney on the back.

"We are proud of you, Rodney." Teyla stated with a warm smile as she walked over and bowed her head.

After hesitating a moment, he lowered his forehead against hers. "Uh, um, thank you?"

"Yeah, Rodney." John still stared suspiciously at the IV in his arm, but glanced at Rodney and mustered a small smile. "Thanks."

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Hope you like it.

If you're a John fan, check out 'Elizabeth's Thoughts' which deals with her thoughts on him, and interactions.

R+R please

Thank you

Tenshi