Sheppard was not stupid. He had taken the Mensa Test and passed and though he did not think intelligence was all about one's IQ, this had to mean something. And while he was reckless to the point where others regarded his actions as suicidal, he just didn't believe that to be the same.
But he did not know why he was stuck in a hole in a wall of stone boulders.
Oh, he had seen videos of crazy people and funny animals poking their head (or other body parts, mind you) into holes, thinking they'd fit through, and laughed about it, all right. But Sheppard had never quite understood how someone could risk something like that when not absolutely sure that they'd get free with little effort, if any.
Not until he had to try exactly that.
In his defense, however, the hole hadn't looked as small and tight as it felt now.
He'd come through with his head and one shoulder and arm without much problems. But no matter how much he held in his stomach or how deeply he exhaled, his ribcage was too broad to slip through as easily. And now Sheppard could move neither forward nor backward. He'd tried, but all it got him was a sore chest and back.
In other words, that's what he got for trying to help a Wraith.
Because who else, if not his favorite space vampire, could ever cause such a dilemma? Maybe geniuses like McKay, space pirates like Larrin and the Genii aside.
Although, latter played a big enough role in this not to exclude them from the grand list of people to be blamed. After all, it had been some rampant Genii who had shot the ceiling of the huge cave hall they'd been in.
Todd was actually as much a victim of the circumstances as Sheppard was, considering some giant rocks and boulders had fallen down and crushed his leg, which the Wraith had confirmed with a pained hiss.
That was also why Sheppard had tried to get through the hole in the first place, to come to the Wraith. Growling, Todd had informed him that he was too weakened to free himself without help, seeing how his body used most of his energy to try to heal his trapped leg and keep him alive through the consequences such an injury had.
Sometimes he really wasn't to be envied. And now they were both almost immobile and practically helpless until his team would be there.
Sheppard had made several attempts at encouraging smiles, though he was pretty sure they came out all wrong and looked more like bizarre grimaces. Todd, luckily, didn't call him out on faking his usually easy coming smirks.
But, hey, who could blame him in view of their situation? Sure, his position was more than uncomfortable, but it actually hurt more to see Todd suffer without being able to help him.
The Wraith really had grown on him and he didn't like not being able to protect his friends. And while it was, admittedly, more often than not Todd who did the protecting, Sheppard also didn't like owing people.
He just didn't know how it could even come to that.
