A/N- WOW! My last chapter! I really hope it's not rushed. I tried my best to make the last chapter good. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer- Nothing that you recognize belongs to me. I can honestly say that Sal Black and Kerina belong to me. :)

Ronon and Teyla had been sitting in the Mess Hall eating a much-needed late lunch when the call came in. Ronon jumped up from the table, knocking over a chair in the process, and ran out, Teyla right behind him.

They met up with Lorne and his marines only a few corridors away from where John said he was. They shared a simple nod before moving on.

The group reached the corridor that led to the balcony right as Sal Black tripped onto John.

They watched in what seemed like slow motion as John tipped backwards and fell off of the balcony. It was a scary thing to watch, knowing there was nothing they could do.

Sal Black immediately jumped up from his new position on the floor and turned around. He looked at them for a moment before running up to the right side of the balcony and jumping off. Lorne and his team looked slacked-jawed. Then they remembered that there was another smaller balcony underneath that side of the larger balcony.

Lorne nodded at Ronan and then he and his team ran to a transporter which, thankfully, was only two corridors away from them and would lead to one of the two possible places Sal Black could go from where he would exit the lower balcony. The major called for reinforcements to go the other directions.

Most of this was basically lost on Ronon, and partially lost on Teyla, both of whom had started running for where John had fallen off as soon as he had fallen.

Ronon slipped twice on the water, but he got up blindly. What were the odds that Sheppard had been able to hang on? And if he had been able to get a hold, how long exactly could he keep it?

It's amazing how long only a few seconds can seem. It's like in a major accident, right as, say, your car hits another. There's this one second where you see the other car, your family or whoever else is in your car, the street, headlights, but you also see your whole life pass before your eyes, or maybe just one moment that you loved, or just the faces of loved ones. But it goes through your mind in slow motion. That one second is as long as hours somewhere else.

Those few seconds, when Ronon and Teyla were running towards John, or earlier on when, over the video feed, they saw Rodney lurch forward and then fall, or when the Jumper was whooshing out of the water, were like that. It's a strange phenomenon that can never be proved, and yet everyone knows that it actually does happen, even if never to you.

Ronon reached the edge just a half-a-second before Teyla did. Ronon sighed deeply, turning his head briefly to collect himself. Though John had not been able to get a hold on the rails or other protrusions on the balcony, he had been able to hold on to something a couple of feet lower down with his left leg standing on a small piece of…something that was jutting out from the wall.

"Sheppard, are you okay?" Ronon yelled down, trying to make his voice heard over the whistle of the wind. John looked up, a look of relief passing over his face. He did some sort of a half nod half shake. Ronon took this to mean that he was alive but that he had been better.

"John, are you hurt?" Teyla yelled down. John used his head to point at his right leg and then he nodded.

"He has hurt his leg. I will call for a Jumper to go and get him." Teyla said, turning back to Ronon. Ronon nodded, his eyes still on John's form. Ronon itched to climb down and see if John was actually okay. But that would be a fruitless journey considering the fact that if he was actually hurt, there was very, very little Ronon could do. He hated times like this. Times when all he could do was sit around and wait for other people because he would literally be no help. They were aggravating and annoying. And a few other things as well.

After several long moments, which were in fact not quite so long, Teyla was practically having to hold Ronon down. He kept wanting to pitch over the railing and help Sheppard. Even Teyla, in all her diplomatic glory, could not persuade him not to. She had to resort to her fighting skills. They were proving quite ineffective.

Teyla saw it out of the corner of her eye while she was trying to pull Ronon back and simultaneously yelling at him. A little flying dot coming towards them from the main tower. She smiled slightly, knowing it would all be over soon enough.

"Ronon, there is the Jumper. It will be here in a moment." She spoke loudly, to be heard above the wind, but in a comforting way. Ronon looked over at it, sighed slightly, and nodded.

"John," Teyla called down, "The Jumper will be here soon." John nodded up at her, his face looking directly at the wall. Teyla nodded to herself and sighed.

oOo

John could see the Jumper closing in. Normally, or as normally as he was stuck in such a position, he would be ecstatic for the rescue. But his fingers wouldn't stop slipping and his leg hurt like crazy.

He kept trying to look up at Ronon and Teyla, but the rain would hit his eyes making it quite hard to see. He could tell, though, that Teyla had been trying to stop Ronon from climbing down before she saw the Jumper.

John sneezed. Wonderful. He was tired, cold, wet, slightly angry, his leg hurt like crazy, and now he had a cold. This was really just awesome. Really. No sarcasm intended.

He sneezed again. About a million more angry and annoyed thoughts ran through his brain. Then he saw the Jumper. He could feel his body relax at the thought of a rescue and a warm bed and some of those good drugs that would make him fall asleep for a long time. That would be nice. A long, long nap. Long nap…

John's head hit the hard metal of the building in front of him jerking him out of the sleepiness that had suddenly overcome him. He blinked his eyes open and closed a few times, trying to block out just how tired he was. It would all be over soon.

John looked over at his hands, the veins and bones standing out clearly against his skin. Man, how in the universe had he held on this long? And his leg just wouldn't stop hurting. He knew he had only sprained his ankle, but it still hurt really bad to be holding it in this position for even only a few moments.

And then here came the Jumper! Ah, like a prince on a horse, or something like that. He had never really watched any of those fairy tales or love stories. And…What am I thinking?

"Sir? We're coming in with the Jumper. We're just going to open the door and slide it just slightly under you. You'll just have to jump down on it and we'll bring you in." A voice said in his ear.

"Alright then." John said back through clinched teeth.

The Jumper closed in on John's position quite a few feet lower than they needed to be. As they lowered the Jumper down, John's eyes looked up at his hands. His left one was slipping. He tried to tighten his grip, but only caused his hand to loose grip completely. As his left hand fell to his side, John tried with all of his leftover might to keep his right hand holding on.

John grunted as he tried to lift his left hand back to where it had been holding on. The problem was that the metal…thing he had been holding onto was incredibly wet and his right hand was slipping.

John had a split second to realize that there was no way he was going to be able to hold on before his right hand slipped and his left leg gave under the sudden weight added to his leg on a too-small surface.

oOo

"John!" Teyla screamed as she saw John fell backwards. Ronon just looked on, obviously in a state of shock.

It was in that moment the Jumper jerked forward in a movement that seemed to be accidental. John hit the top of the Jumper. His face was a picture of agony and he almost doubled over before seeming to remember that he was on a very precariously not flat surface.

"Major Dailey, Colonel Sheppard has just landed on top of the Jumper." Teyla said, more just because she felt she needed to do something than because she thought the Major and his team didn't know that the loud tha-plunk they heard was John hitting the top of the Jumper.

"We know, ma'am. We're going to bring the jumper up slowly and land on the balcony." He replied.

Teyla nodded to herself. It was a very nice thing that this was a good sized balcony large enough for a Jumper to fit in. It would have been very hard to land a Jumper in most of the other balconies.

Teyla and Ronon watched in apprehension as the Jumper slowly, painstakingly so, made its way up to the balcony, Sheppard holding on for dear life on top of it.

Teyla had a brief moment to appreciate just how bizarre this picture was. John Sheppard, lying on top of a Jumper as it flew slowly up to land on the balcony in the pouring rain, after John was pushed of the same balcony by a mass-murdering hit man who went by the name of Sal Black, who kidnapped Rodney a few days ago and was now on the run from a bunch of marines. It was kind of like all of those strange action movies from Earth that John insisted on showing her. She frowned slightly. She still did not understand those movies…

She shook her head, chasing those strange thoughts away. She opted instead to think of a way to get John down from the top of the Jumper without causing any more damage to his leg.

She watched as the Jumper slowly flew over the balcony and then attempted to land without jolting too much. Teyla was painfully aware that Major Dailey was not a good driver at all. The good drivers had been off chasing Sal Black when the call had come up. He was the closest to the Jumper bay, so he was picked.

Teyla winced as the Jumper jolted painfully when it landed. The door opened and the rest of the rescue team walked out. Teyla walked forward to talk to them about a way to get John down.

"Ow!" John yelled out Teyla turned to the Jumper, expecting to see John up there. Instead, she saw John lying on the ground next to the Jumper with Ronon leaning over him and almost laughing. Teyla looked from the top of the Jumper to John several times before shaking her head.

"John," She said in a dangerous mother-like voice, "Did you just jump from up there." John looked at her. "John, you could have hurt your leg." John just smiled at her.

Teyla turned away as the medics went to help John onto a gurney.

"Hey, it's just a sprained ankle. It's not that bad. Come on; tell her it's not that bad…" John's voice faded as they walked him away. Teyla shook her head again.

oOo

Rodney awoke from an after-check-up nap, the check-up was actually quite tiring, to find John in the bed next to him, playing a game on a DS.

"John?" Rodney whispered in confusion, his eyebrows wrinkled together. "John?" He said again, louder this time. John looked over, saw that he was awake, and lifted an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" Rodney rasped out, his voice still a bit sore. John sighed.

"Well, uh, I found Sal Black, chased him, he tried to kill me, then he pushed me off the balcony—did I mention we were on a balcony? Then, the Jumper had to come get me, I fell of the thing that I was holding on to, the Jumper caught me, and then it landed. Oh, did I mention I sprained my leg? And now neither Carson nor Jennifer will let me up to go help with the search." Rodney blinked at him. Then he blinked again, looked around, and then blinked again.

"uh…What?"

John sighed.

oOo

"Sir, all clear here." A marine yelled back to the leader of this group—Lorne—before nodding to his companion.

"All right, but keep a close watch, he could still be here." Lorne yelled back. The two marines walked to the front of the corridor and looked around before moving on to a small room off to the side.

Sal Black sighed in relief as he ducked back behind the wall. He had been on the run for the past several moments, escaping capture more times than he would like to remember.

Sal Black looked back towards where the Marines had gone, sure that someone had been looking in his direction. He glared in that direction, but saw no one. Black walked forward slightly, still crouching, but still neither saw nor heard anyone. He then sank back into the shadows and thought about what had happened earlier.

It was so stupid of him to try to sneak up on that John Sheppard. Of course the man wasn't stupid. He had just looked so deep in thought, and Black couldn't help himself. It was driving him crazy that there had been no more strays since that scientist.

He smiled sinisterly to himself. Well, now Sheppard was dead. That was that.

oOo

The only sounds they heard were those made by marines calling in their reports, by their footsteps on the hard ground, by the clicking up their guns occasionally, and the heavy sound of the rain still falling hard against metal and water.

All of her focus was on finding Sal Black. She was listening to the tell-tale sounds of feet edging away from them, or the quiet breathing of someone other than Ronon. So far there had been nothing but the wind.

A light touch to her sleeve turned her around in a whip-lash movement, her gun raised, safety-off. It was only Ronon. He stepped back and let her breathe before motioning that they needed to talk. He pointed in the direction of a corridor. Teyla could see, quite clearly, that Lorne and two of his marines were there. Teyla nodded.

They walked over silently, trained to make no sound. Teyla nodded at Lorne, and he nodded back.

"Two of my people," He nodded towards the other two marines, "Say they got a fix on Black's location. They saw him briefly. They would have pursued, but they say he might have had a gun. They were ordered to report back if they saw more than just the knife. We don't know what this guy can do. He might be like one of you two." Lorne reported, looking pointedly at Ronon and Teyla.

"I have a plan." Ronon said simply. Teyla looked over at him, surprised, as did Lorne and, discretely, the two marines. Ronon shrugged.

"A plan?" Teyla asked, her eyes sweeping over the dark corridor around them.

"To catch Black." Ronon explained without really explaining.

"Ah." Teyla replied. "What is it then?" Ronon smiled at her mischievously before looking almost nervous and then decided.

"We'll have to make sure he is where we think he is, first. And then…"

Teyla could honestly say that she had never, before Ronon, known anyone who could explain a good plan in such a short time.

oOo

It was strangely dark to Sal Black after all of the lights that had been shown around him. He couldn't see anyone in the vicinity, nor could he hear any footsteps or voices. He couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or not.

He slowly stood up, planning on choosing a direction and walking, keeping to the shadows of course.

Then he saw light on the ground, most likely from their P-90 guns. There was only one light, though. Only one person? That wasn't smart of them. Perhaps the other had just turned the other way.

He walked forward slowly, staying in the shadows. He saw only one person ahead of him, in a large area between three corridors. A female. The one known as Teyla, but no one else.

This was it, his escape time. He would simply kill her, after sneaking up on her of course, and then walk away. It was quite simple.

He began to sneak forward, but stopped short. He had seen her fighting before, watched in the gym to see their fighting styles and skills. She was one of the best. If she saw him coming before he could stab her she could fight quite well. She had a gun. He had a gun as well, but Karina had damaged it during their little fight, and all he had after that was a knife.

He considered it for a moment. Then he furrowed his almost-blonde eye brows. This was too easy. Why, Oh Great Ancestors, would they let her come out alone? That would be a very bad and incredibly stupid idea. He began to walk away slowly, deciding another way would be better.

"This is Teyla." Teyla said into her radio. Teyla nodded once, twice, thrice. He couldn't hear what was said on the other side of the radio, though, because he was too far away.

"Ronon, I do not see him in this area. I have thoroughly checked it. I believe that the marines were correct when they said they saw him on the other side of this section. I will just look around in this central area before carrying on…Yes, I will join you shortly. Teyla out." Teyla finished, her voice in a quiet whisper.

Sal Black smiled. Oh no, this was far too easy. He couldn't just pass off this opportunity though, could he?

He crept forward slowly, silent and invisible. Teyla turned to where her back was facing him and shone her light down a corridor.

Black unsheathed his knife and walked out from the shadows towards the apparently unsuspecting woman.

Just as he reached her back and prepared to kill her she spun around and pointed her gun directly at him. But he had been prepared for something like this. He put himself in a ball position and rolled out from in front of her. He quickly ran into the shadows of the corridor she had previously been facing. He looked back once to see her signaling to the one known as Ronon and several other marines.

He smirked. As though he hadn't seen that coming.

He could hear them following him, while they yelled at each other to go in certain directions. They thought they could cut him off. It wouldn't work.

He continued to run, keeping to the shadows and staying silent so that he didn't make an easy target.

His eyes darted back and forth as he neared the end of the corridor. There was only a balcony at the end, and no way out.

No! No! NO! How many of these corridors did they have in the Great City?

His thoughts were running rampant through his brain. He tried to calm down, even as he continued to run forward with several people behind him. On the last balcony there had been a smaller one below. Perhaps there would be something like that here.

He opened the doors with a single thought and ran out onto the small balcony. He ran to one of the edges but saw nothing below. He looked up as in his peripheral vision he saw others coming towards him. There was no balcony above either.

He walked directly to the middle edge and couldn't help but smirk as Teyla and Ronon ran out.

"Well, that really was an ingenious plan, I'll give you that. Unless of course leading me out here to a dead end was an accident. If that is the case I must say that you are some of the luckiest people alive. Unlike that Sheppard person, of course." He smirked again, his blonde already soaked from the downpour of water.

"Col. Sheppard is still alive." Teyla yelled back as the two advanced, the marines behind them. Sal Black's smirk lifted slightly. But then it was back.

"You really are incredibly lucky, aren't you?" He asked, expecting no answer. "Well, it looks like my time is just up, eh? It's been fun." And with that he turned around and dove off of the balcony, soaring to the waters below.

oOo

Teyla and Ronon ran forward as soon as Sal Black jumped over the side. They two looked over the side but saw nothing but the dark ocean below them. They looked at each other before turning to the marines and shaking their heads. Lorne nodded and then called it in. The two turned back to each other.

"He just…jumped." Teyla said, a bit of amazement showing in her voice.

"He was crazy and decided there was nothing really to loose. I say good riddance." Ronon said, his voice gruff and quiet over the wind. Teyla nodded, her eyes still on where she thought Sal Black might have fallen.

oOo

John, with the help from some crutches, walked out towards Rodney who had convinced the doctors to let him out on a balcony with a wheel chair. He was hooked up to an IV still, but was looking pretty content just staring off into space.

John walked over and saw down in one of the chairs they had placed out there. It was early morning, the morning after Black jumped off the balcony. It was a beautiful morning, not too hot, not too cold, but just right—a perfect ending to a very long and tiresome adventure. If that's what you could call it.

"Hey, Rodney. Though I'd find you out here." John said, looking over at the scientist.

Rodney looked over at him. "You asked the doctor, didn't you?"

John nodded.

"Yeah, thought so."

"Well, it's all over now." John said, seeing Rodney's tired looking face.

Rodney turned and looked at John, giving him the 'you're-an-idiot' look. This was a look that John was quite familiar with.

"Yes, captain obvious, it is over now. For now. As in, in a few days there will be some other…something wrong…or something." Rodney finished, somewhat awkwardly.

"Well, yeah. But that's the Pegasus Galaxy for you. Nothing you can really do about it." John replied. Rodney just shook his head. And then he sighed.

"Well, I hope that whatever it is that's going to go wrong will at least wait until I've gotten a bit better."

"Doesn't it always?"

"Yeah, it's funny how that happens. Seems like every time we get hurt, the next bad thing waits until we're better…"

John furrowed his brow. "Strange."

"Isn't it though?" Rodney looked over at him.

They sat in companionable silence for several moments, just breathing in the nice clear smell of the ocean and soaking in the beams of the sun. It was a peaceful, beautiful moment. One that could only happen to people who had just survived something along the lines of almost being blown up, almost drowning, almost dying several times, almost falling to one's death, and the very large needles of slightly angry or annoyed doctors. It was one of those moments that needed no words and could never be described to someone who had never had such a moment.

And then it was broken.

"I bet you it'll be the wraith next." Rodney said.

"It's possible, although I'm leaning more towards it being either some strange ancient artifact on some random planet, or one of your scientists blowing something up."

Rodney nodded for a moment before he realized that that was an insult to him.

"Hey! It'll probably be one of your lumbering baboons touching something they shouldn't have."

"Lumbering baboons? Seriously? Well then it might end up being…"

And thus ended the lovely moment and started up a conversation or some form of an argument that would last until those doctors with the large needles came along. It was nice while it lasted though. That bit of calm after a very long, hard storm. It never stopped being an important post-anything to anyone who had a lot of storms. Eventually those people with the storms, such as John and Rodney, just learn that time is fleeting and that these moments are best for a short time. After which it is a good time to have a good laugh.

oOo

Water spilled out into the small, metal room, making puddles on the ground. Small lights blinked along the walls and on consoles. He lifted both hands to his hair and squeezed out some more water. His hands then fell to his side as he looked around.

He was in a small, ship-like thing. There were mainly two rooms, shaped like circles slightly overlapping each other. The room he was in had several consoles and such on one wall, and a comfortable looking bench on the other. There were two space-suits on either side of the door he had entered from, as well.

He walked forward and into the other room. There were two chairs in front of a long navigational console. The rest of the room was basically filled with different consoles that did different things. He walked to one of them. It appeared to be some sort of a weapons system. He looked over at another one. Auxiliary systems.

There was something that looked like what those Earthlings called a refrigerator next to the doorway. He opened it. Inside there were old emergency rations that would most likely kill him if he even tried to eat them. But there was also a small filtering system that, when turned on, would filter the salt water. He turned it on.

He went over and sat in the pilot's seat and thought of what had just happened.

After hitting the water at such a high speed, he blacked out. The next thing he knew he was next to something that looked like a small ship. He was being held in what appeared to be a protrusion from the ship completely made of glass with only one opening. There was oxygen and he was not dead.

A small screen was on the side of the ship with words in the language of the Great Ancients running across it. He knew how to read the language, and thus read it.

It gave him instructions on how to open his pod, for that it was it called it, and swim out to the back of the ship, for that is what it was. There he would press several small buttons and then think the doors open. He would then enter another small and confining room, this one made of metal. The doors would close and the water would be drained out of the room. He could then open the next door and enter the main ship. More instructions would be waiting inside.

That is what he had done.

He smirked to himself as he read the next instructions. He turned on the ship, checked all main systems and looked at the back-up systems briefly. All that was left to do before he could swish the small ship out of the water and then out of this world was press a button.

He let his finger hover above the button for a moment. He allowed himself a small, sinister smile. Then he, Sal Black, pressed the button.

oOo

A/N- WOW! Awesome leave off place, huh? I really hope you guys liked the story. I'm particularly fond of the ending, and the middle, and all the other stuff too. The ending was pretty awesome, huh?

Oh, and Sal Black is dedicated to my older brother who is soon to go off to college and who helped me come up with him! And thanks mom for beta-ing!

Well, review please to let me know what you think of the story and stuff. Good bye story!