passage home

"We will reach the stargate tomorrow," Teyla said as the team reached to top of the canyon.

Rodney didn't have the breath left to complain. He was bent over, his hands braced against his knees, and seriously considering just falling over and not moving again. Ever. He followed Teyla's sight line, though, and spotted the ring, shining in the setting sun, far across the plateau.

"Oh, thank you, God," he muttered.

"I thought you were an atheist," Sheppard commented as he reached the top, then turned, still on his knees, to reach down and give Ronon a hand up.

"I've revised my stance."

Ronon made it up with a pained grunt and collapsed onto the scrubby grass, lying on his back and looking up at the deep violet sky. Sheppard slumped on the ground next to him, absently rubbing his wrenched shoulder. It was a miracle any of them had managed to climb the nearly sheer cliff face, but they were all tired and unwilling to detour miles further to find an easier way up.

The jumper crash had marooned them half a continent away from the stargate. A freak storm, part of the atmospheric anomaly that interrupted Earth and Ancient technology, had hit. They'd spent a day pulling themselves together, then packed anything useful from the wreckage and set out on foot, aware that circumstances meant there would be no rescue mission. Atlantis couldn't spare people or jumpers anymore.

After weeks of walking and foraging, they were all exhausted, pushed past their limits. Even Ronon was showing the wear and tear. The only good thing had been knowing the same problems that had trapped them would keep the Wraith away. They'd only had to deal with the weather, the terrain, and the animal life.

That had been more than enough.

"We should make camp," Teyla said.

Sheppard staggered to his feet.

"Yeah, but let's get away from the edge first."

It took Rodney and Sheppard both to get Ronon on his feet and he limped with every step they took.

The four of them had been doing this so long, none of them needed to speak as they made camp. A small fire burned scavenged chunks of dried dung from the local grazers. A tin pot over it boiled a less than appetizing mixture of tubers they'd grubbed up along a riverbank three days before and meat from an unfortunate one of the grazers. They took turns stabbing pieces out of the pot with their knives and eating, before passing the cooled pot around to drink the thin broth.

Teyla began laying their blankets out. Sheppard started to stand and help her, only to drop back down and clutch his shoulder. "Ow."

"You're going to be so stiff you won't be able to move tomorrow," Rodney predicted. Sheppard had lost a hand hold going up the cliff, a dry root tearing loose under one hand, leaving him hanging all his weight from the other, before Ronon maneuvered himself under Sheppard's wildly kicking feet.

"I'll crawl," Sheppard said.

"Get over here," Ronon said, gesturing to the blankets.

Sheppard let Rodney help him over to their nest. Along with so much else, they'd given up on sleeping separately during the first snow storm. Sheppard sank down with another groan.

"Over," Ronon told him.

Sheppard rolled onto his stomach. Ronon knelt beside him and began rubbing his back. It wasn't a new thing. Everyone of them had been sprained and strained, bruised and aching more than once during their trek. A rubdown was one of the few aids they could offer each other.

Ronon worked slowly and thoroughly, drawing several moans of appreciation from Sheppard, the slowly guttering firelight gleaming of his bare arms.

Teyla curled next to Sheppard for warmth, going to sleep even before Ronon finished the massage. Rodney tossed a few more pieces of dung into the fire circle and joined them. Sheppard shifted just enough to give him room, while Ronon curled on Teyla's other side. They cuddled together, limp as four tired kittens and slept until morning.

They were still tired, weary to the bone, when the crimson sun crawled over the distant mountains -- mountains they had traversed -- but they were on their feet, with the stargate a gleaming promise of a passage home before them.