I do not own or even partially own Stargate or any of the characters or get any money from writing this story. And so forth and so on. But I do own the plot, that is all mine.

Chapter Four- You Can Only Count On Yourself

They were all tense, their eyes watchful of the dense forest around them and their hands gripping their guns. The men formed a loose circle around her and the three men. These were not the desirable conditions to try and stop the flow of blood or the risk of infection. Her hands were stained black with the blood of all the men she had tried to help. Tried, being the main word. Jennifer couldn't help it as her eyes once again drifted to the man with her coat draped over his chest and face.

She would forever remember his face, so young, and his eyes filled with panic and fear but he had pushed aside his own feelings and had tried to save her. He had raced to her as she was oblivious to the gun fight. And she hadn't been able to repay him by saving him. She had tried so hard to get the damn blood to stop, had tied a tourniquet around his upper thigh to try and stop the…but she had known that it had hit the femoral artery. All she really had been able to do was hold him, was watch as the light that had been present in his brown eyes slowly dimmed. And she had been able to lie to him; he had been half gone and suddenly he had reached out a hand to her face and smiled at her, as if she had been his saving grace. He had a very nice smile, slightly crooked and his teeth had blood smeared across them, but pleasant and good in some way. "Annie, what are you doing here?" His words stilted and slow, "We still getting hitched, Annie girl? You promised. Can't go back on…on a promise."

She wished that he had never said a word. She didn't want to know of Annie, didn't want to know that there was a girl back on earth who would never know that this boy's last thoughts were of her. That there was a girl back home planning a wedding for when her fiancé returned…Annie didn't know that her world had just died. Jenn had looked up, looking for a God or a miracle, she didn't know but she had felt as if her chest would explode from the pain. Slowly she had leaned down to his ear and whispered, "Yeah, we're still getting hitched."

His grip on her neck had increase, as if he could hear her lie. "That's good, Ann. 'Cause I love you."

She had to choke back a sob, and it felt as if she would never be able to speak again but she had finally choked out, "I love you , too." And as his grip slowly loosened, she prayed for Ann as well as the young faced soldier.

As his hand dropped from her, she had calmly reached out to feel the pulse that she knew wouldn't be there. The men around her had pretended not to see her hand shake or the tears that wouldn't stop falling. She had pretended that all the water on their faces was simply rain. Putting her coat over him probably wasn't the rational choice, with the fact that it hasn't stopped raining, but it still had been the right thing to do. She was just going to be a little colder, a little wetter. She still had a sweater and light jacket underneath.

"So, Doc, is my face ever gonna be pretty again? I would hate for these lugs to have to think of another one." The softly spoken question was from the man she was currently tending to…Johnson, though the men called him Pretty Boy. The long gash on his face wasn't what she was worried about; it was the concussion that went with it. Though right now his face couldn't be described as pretty, she forced a smile for him. It felt more like a grimace.

"You'll be a little more rugged is all. But still pretty." He gently nodded before closing his eyes. "Can't go to sleep, Pretty Boy." He nodded and she gave the duty of watching him to a lean marine who seemed very at home with his gun.

It seemed absurd to her, but despite the fear and death that surrounded her at this moment, or maybe because of it, she couldn't stop thinking of Ronon. After the first night, as the rain continued to pour down and the dense forest around them became dark, she had expected him to burst through at any moment. That he was going to come and rescue everyone with his big ass gun. But rain was the only thing that entered that night, making Jennifer as cold as she felt on the inside. The inky blackness of night had softly retreated as the red sun slowly rose in the sky, and as the day began she prayed yet again for him. But no one came. As she sat there next to the deceased soldier, she realized that she was even more grateful for following her heart than ever before. Yes, she slept with Ronon and it most truly did not end well. But if she were to die here, right now, she would be eternally grateful that she had that memory. That she knew what it felt like to be loved in the physical way with a man. As the unending rain seeped through her hood and onto her head, she realized that she could never be sorry for loving Ronon.

Sounds of battle could be heard throughout the day; sometimes it seemed very close and others it seemed very far away. The ground shook and the sky turned black from the rising smoke. Jennifer didn't know how many men where still fighting but she guessed that there couldn't be much left. The men around her had argued on the first day; many wanted to go help the men still fighting, others said that it wouldn't be right to leave the Doc and the wounded. She refused to put her thoughts into it. If they wanted to leave they could, she could handle everything on her own.

But they had stayed. She felt that many still wished to leave, but she didn't think that they could stand her watching them. The second night in that clearing, she didn't-couldn't- sleep. And she reckoned that it was for the same reason that the soldiers couldn't sleep…the sounds of battle went long into the night. Close enough that screams could now be heard. The moaning of the wounded. She had to force herself to stay, to not run to them and help. But the soldiers that protected her here had stayed for her and she would stay for them.

It was on the morning of the third day that the hell that they had been hearing finally came to them. They had been praying that it was over, and that they had won, because the gun shots and shouts had long stopped. It was so silent that morning, as if they were the only living beings still there. Everyone was already up, eyes watchful. Even her two patients had guns in their hands as they sat propped up against trees, though they couldn't hold them up for long periods of time. Her scream of pain was what alerted them that the Wraith had finally come.

Currently With Ronon

John stood next to Ronon, looking at what used to be the base camp. The past days of fighting had reduced it to burnt tents and bodies and scraps of everything else. They had gathered the survivors to the middle of camp, to organize and see who was there and who was missing. Seeing the bodies that laid so vulnerable and motionless on the ground, John correctly assumed that most of those missing were dead. But, God, he prayed that he was wrong. Because he had watched Ronon become more and more dark. Had watched it begin as soon as they went through the Stargate and right into a battle. Seen his eyes go bleak, as he saw him turn over bodies that were burnt or small enough to be her, had seen his hands shake before the relief would briefly light upon his features when he found that it wasn't Jennifer.

It was one of the worst battles John had been in and it was because most of the people here had been scientists. They didn't know how to kill and weren't expected to. And because of that they were the first to die. They both stood there, knowing what they had to do, and knowing that among those bodies they were likely to find the woman that they both had come here to rescue.

Ronon must have been thinking the same thing, because he suddenly spoke in a voice that was husky and thick. "She told me that she loved me…that night." John didn't need to ask who "she" was or what night. He knew and with the knowing came pain. He looked at Ronon and found a pain and grief so deep in his eyes and plainly there on his face that he looked away, preferring to see the horror around them then the one his friend was showing. "Said she loved me because I was the only person who thought a growl was answer enough to any question." He laughed but the sound was all wrong. Ronon could hear it himself. He was broken, and would soon be falling apart. He even knew the exact moment that he would shatter…it would be the moment that he reached down and turned over a body, the stench of flesh burnt and rotting filling his nose, and seeing that the smell was coming from his Jennifer. That would be when he would cry out with rage and pain and disbelief and he would hold her body to him, cradle her, and say all the words that he should of said, that he had said too late. And he would wish that all the Wraith that he had killed could come back to life so that he could kill them all over again. He knew what he would do-because he had to do it once before. But this time was so much worse than that last time.

Silently, Teyla and Rodney joined them. Both had been talking to the soldiers, vainly trying to find where Jennifer could be. "The men said that her tent was over here." Teyla softly spoke, and as a group they followed her to a charred and burnt tent, where a large body lay in front of it. None of them spoke out loud, but as they turned over the man and brought him to where they decided the dead would go, everyone thought, "At least it's not Jennifer" and then they went back to their grim duty and slowly others joined them. They didn't worry about the fires; the rain put them out as fast as anything they could of done. Rain would forever remind him of this day or this fight. It was raining when they got here and hadn't stopped since. But then he was quite certain that he could live in a desert for a year and still think of this god awful planet.

Quickly and silently, like the grim reaper himself, they gathered the dead into their little make shift morgue. The only sound was the gentle 'plop' of the rain and the hiss of the fire as it was slowly put out. Which was why the gunshots and sudden screams were so surprising. Only a second went by, where everyone stood still. Ronon was the first to move, running in the direction of the noise. And then John and Teyla and even Rodney followed him.

Ronon dove into the brush and forest and ran toward the gunshots. He already had his gun out, reflex making him grab it upon first hearing the disturbance. He was glad that there were more Wraith left. He was going to kill each of them, going to make them wish that they had left Jennifer alone.

Even before he entered the clearing, he had a hateful thought. That maybe that Jen would be there. Maybe it had been her scream. It was a hateful thought because it brought hope. And he knew from past experience, hope that was wasted, that did nothing but lie to you, could crush and kill something inside of you that torture couldn't even touch. He knew this, and despite his best intentions not too, he hope and wished and damn well prayed, that Jennifer would be there. He just about passed out from shock, when upon coming upon the clearing that held seven soldiers and five dead Wraith, he also found Jennifer.

The moment he stepped into the clearing he had several different weapons pointed at him with very grim faces behind the barrels. It attested to the fact of how shocked he was that he didn't even give a damn about them. He couldn't take his eyes off of Jennifer. Her blue eyes were darker, as if shadows had invaded her since the last time that he had seen her and despite the fact that her eyes showed how much the sight of him was welcomed, they also showed how much it pained her. They had looked at him with the same sadness after they made love and the few times they ran into each other after. It reminded him that things between them weren't as he would like them.

She was beautiful, so God damn beautiful that he felt like crying simply at the sight of her. It didn't matter that her hair was a matted with mud and that her face was pale or her clothes so dirty that he would throw them away; to him she had never been more vital, more beautiful than at that moment. Methodically, he searched her body for injuries but couldn't tell with all the rain and mud. But she smiled at him with so much warmth and something else, that he felt himself smile slightly at her in return. She was alive. That was all that mattered.

He heard when Sheppard and the others came upon them. Sheppard went about introductions and getting the soldiers to lower their guns, as Ronon should have done. As Sheppard talked to the soldiers and received their account of events, Ronon watched Jennifer closely. She leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. She was wet, exhausted and cold. He could see her shivering. Right when Teyla started toward her, Ronon cut her off and walked to her instead. It was he who went through hell and it damn well was going to be him that got to talk and take care of her. It was as he got closer that he saw the blood.

To be continued…

So, here it is. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm really excited about the next chapter. Ronon and Jennifer are finally going to interact with each other! YEAH! Sorry this took longer than what I thought, but I was taking summer classes at two different colleges and they overlapped and ran into fall and it just got out of hand. I'm hoping to update sooner than last time!

Please, PLEASE, tell me what you think! Please?