Godsdaughter77 - Glad you like it. :)

Debbie418uk2 - Rodney's not really the hero, often. And in a sense, it's kind of weird, but I end up making him be at least part of the reason John ends up in trouble, and vice versa. Hmmmm... I have a feeling a few of these will have cute outcomes, despite the 'injuries'.

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(Atlantis, Jumper, Normal POV)

"What's the readout saying?"

Shaking his head, Rodney frowned. "Not much. It looks like the strange energy signal just-just vanished." He was almost glaring at the console. "You've got to be kidding me! This... This can't be right!"

"Well, which is it?" Staring around, John set the jumper to hover and moved to the back, rustling through a pack for an MRE. "You dragged me out here at inhuman hours, without even letting me have breakfast, and there's nothing out here?!" Sitting on the bench, he unwrapped the MRE and set in with a grimace. "Oh great, meat pie."

"It's not like-really?" Turning in his head, Rodney got up. "Meat pie? What kind of meat pie? Because if it's turkey, I know I don't have a chance, but if it's chicken, or hey! Even beef will do..."

John raised an eyebrow at Rodney and seemed to hesitate a moment. "Don't you have scans to be doing?"

Rodney scowled. "Yes, yes, it's just... I work better on a full stomach?"

There was a ridiculous sense of hope there and John sighed loudly before reaching into the pack and grabbing another MRE, tossing it to Rodney. "It's chicken."

He'd managed to eat maybe a third of it before the jumper suddenly shook violently and there was a loud blast. Getting knocked off the bench, John's head struck the opposite one before he came to a stop, and he laid there a moment, trying to get his vision to stop spinning.

Not to mention, the burst of pain practically shut his mind right down.

"Damn it! What the hell?!" Rodney was shouting. "John! We're under attack!"

Shaking his head, John stayed sprawled against the bench, trying to get up the strength to standup. Under attack, that was bad. That was very, very bad.

"John!"

Blinking, he slowly managed to stand up, trying to ignore the thudding in his head, and the spinning of the jumper. "Wha...?" Staggering to the front of the jumper, John had almost made it back to his seat, cursing Rodney and his early wake up calls, and strange energy readings that led to unexpected attacks, when there was another blast and he was sent careening again.

Unfortunately, this time his arms flailed, trying to keep him steady. He felt one of them bump against something that compressed under his hand, and heard something electronic moving. Next thing he knew, he was being pulled backwards by an impossibly strong force, and felt weightless as he plunged out of the back of the jumper.

Everything was confusing and distant, and the throbbing in his head didn't make it any easier, but with an icy, painful start, everything suddenly came back into focus. Too sharp a focus.

John tried to scream. He as in agony, and the cold sent a shockwave effect through his whole body. It took him a second to realize the only thing happening was a whole lot of bubbles were escaping out of his mouth.

Since when could I breathe bubbles? No, I'm not... Nothing made sense. Shaking his head, he realized he was underwater and struggled to swim up. There was only one problem, he didn't know which way was up. Not good, what way to go? The pain was fading from his head, but along with it, the feeling was fading from his arms and legs and a new pain was starting up in his chest.

Giving up on thinking about it, John chose the easiest direction and swam in it, recalling that the water had a natural buoyancy that would help him reach the surface.

It seemed to take forever.

Finally spotting something above...or as it below?...him, John swam towards it and eventually broke the surface of the water. By now his lungs were burning, and it hurt to breathe. His head was stinging from the hit, and probably the new addition of salt on the wound. Not only that, his legs were completely numb, and his arms weren't that far behind them. His vision swam out, and John found himself sinking again, and struggled to get back to the surface.

It hit him then, that the floating object had been his tack vest, which must have come off when he fell out of the jumper.

My fault for not doing it up.

Not like he expected to go for a swim... However, he slipped it on and zipped it up, using the buoyancy to keep him afloat as he laid on his back, struggling to make sense of everything that happened.

I hit my head.

Which still throbbed and his vision was still threatening to give out.

I hit...something that... My arm, I must have hit the button to open the hatch of the jumper with my arm. Then I fell out because of the decompression.

Suddenly John felt his eyes widen and he looked around wildly. "Rodney?!" There was no other object or person on the surface of the water, so he changed his glance to the sky. "McKay!!" Feeling at his ear with numb fingers, John found a sticky spot and pulled his hand away to find blood stuck to it. Washing it off in the water, he winced as he put his hand back to his head, the fresh salt getting in the cut.

Damn! Lost my ear piece!

There was a buzz, and John looked up. There was the jumper. It was hovering right over him, but the hatch was closed. That made John frown to himself as he managed to lift a hand and wave, trying to ignore the dizziness that picked up at the slightest movement.

"Rodney! Hey, get down here!" he called. I can't exactly fly, you know! Wincing, John closed his eyes and let his hand drop, choking a little as it splashed up water in his face. Slowly opening his eyes, he was a little worried when they almost refused to open. Come on, gotta keep it together.

He didn't know how long he floated there. Trying everything he could think of, to keep moving, keep floating and stay awake, John was getting increasingly alarmed that the jumper was only hovering there, and his body was getting colder by the second.

I need to...close my eyes... Only for a...second... He let his stinging eyes slide shut, and welcomed the darkness that came over him, only to gasp and choke as the now seemingly warm water rose up over his face. Damn! No!

Moving his arms, John frowned as he struggled to get the pockets of his tack vest open, dropping anything he was able to discard, to lighten himself. Luckily, he hadn't been wearing his P90, and his hand gun was extremely light. He ended up dropping his sunglasses, field dressings, some of his extra ammunition, some power bars... Anything he could afford to lose. Well, ok, so he couldn't afford to lose the ammunition, but right now, trapped in the ocean, what was he going to do? Use the distant waves as target practice for the hell of it?

Eventually, though, there was nothing else he could do. Glancing up, the jumper was still there, and John got worried that something had seriously happened to Rodney. It wouldn't still be hovering there, he was sure, if Rodney was alright. But then again, with his head throbbing, his shivering from the cold and his numb body, he just couldn't bring himself to focus for any length of time, to see if there was movement at all.

In a strange way, it was almost comforting to know that at least he wasn't alone out here. As long as McKay was alright, of course.

Before he knew what was happening, John felt his eyes closing, and gave in to the blissful peace of sleep.

(Later, John's POV)

Everything hurt. That's all I could think of at the moment. My body hurt, worse than it usually did after a training session with Ronon. My head hurt worse than any hangover I've ever had. It hurt to breath, I felt things stuck to my head and arms, and I felt sick to my stomach.

"...Awake soon, I hope..."

Voices began to fade in and out, but it was hard to make sense of what was going on.

"I...leave him..."

Frowning a little, I managed to get my eyes open and barely recognized the hiss of pain that came from my overly dry throat. Closing them again, I made to move my arm but felt a pull I recognized as an IV in my arm, and a steady beeping reached my ears, telling me I was hooked up to a heart rate monitor.

"Colonel?"

"John? Are you awake?"

Opening my eyes again, I blinked and relaxed a little as I felt the burning pains in my body fading away. It hit me Carson must have put something in my IV to take it all away, but at that moment, I wanted to bless the man.

"Oh, god! Thank you god! I was worried you'd never wake up!" Rodney seemed unusually worried about me, and I felt myself frown. "I called Atlantis, and I kept waiting for help to come, but they were taking so damn long! I-I couldn't do anything! I didn't know how to fly the ship well enough to try landing it to get you, and I kept calling you, but you weren't answering, and I saw the blood on the bench..."

"...W...Why?" Geez, was that my voice? It sounded like it hadn't been used in ages! "What hap-" I ended up in a coughing fit, and I probably would have been in agony, if it wasn't for the nice drugged haze I was entering.

"You nearly drowned, Colonel." Teyla put in with a small worried smile. "We found you unconscious, in the water. Rodney was holding you up."

Closing my eyes a moment, I sought out the memory of Rodney being there with me, but nothing came to mind.

"He was in the jumper." Teyla continued, as if sensing my confusion. "He stayed there with you, not wanting to leave you alone. He was unable to get you out of the water. He remained to keep you company and keep us informed of your condition."

"And what's my...condition?" I asked, feeling awkwardly touched about Rodney's bravery.

Carson spoke up at this. "You gave us all a scare. You had a serious concussion and severe hypothermia. If Rodney hadn't jumped in when you sank under the water, you would have drowned, too."

Blinking a moment, I stared at Rodney, feeling very uncomfortable. Ok, so he saved my life, I just wasn't sure how to... "Uh, Thanks... Rodney..." Usually we were at odds, so it was a surprise to hear how brave he'd been.

Rodney, I now realized, was in a blanket. His lips were tinted blue and he shivered a little before nodding, looking unusually subdued. "Just don't pull a stunt like that again." His eyes hardened a moment and he shook his head. "Only you, Colonel, would manage to 'accidentally' open the hatch and get blown out it." He was making a face to show he had a hard time believing I managed to pull that off, while at the same time, being all too able to see it happening.

Shaking my head a little, I rolled my eyes and relaxed. In all honesty, I didn't see it coming, but it sounded ridiculously clumsy to me, too.

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Hope you like it.

R+R please.

Thank you

Tenshi