Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of it's characters, I'm just playing with them for a while.

Beta: The wonderful Alipeeps who's help has been invaluable.

Characters: Sheppard, McKay and Weir. Friendship not 'ship.

Spoilers: Lets just say up to the end of season two to be on the safe side.

Warnings: The T rating is for violence, if you are particularly squeamish this may not be the fic for you, please bear that in mind.

Keeping the Faith

Prologue

Sheppard watched with a smile. He was used to seeing McKay over-excited at the discovery of hitherto unknown Ancient ruins, but it amused him to see the normally calm Doctor Elizabeth Weir so animated; she was clearly relishing the time away from her desk and he hadn't seen her laugh so much in weeks. It was not often she got a chance to come off-world, so when the Guennec people had discovered these ruins following a landslide, and invited the Atlanteans to help their own historians study them, it was an ideal opportunity for her.

She would be heading back to Earth with the Daedalus in a few days and for the last fortnight had immersed herself in writing reports for the review board; he'd had to write several himself and he knew just how mind-numbing it was. Deciding along with Rodney that she had spent way too much time in her office lately, they'd made it their mission to talk her into coming along; though he suspected she only feigned reluctance in the first place to maintain an air of professionalism. So here they all were, enjoying the sunshine and the amiable company of the Guennec while Colonel Caldwell was playing big boss of Atlantis for the day.

Sitting down off to one side of the site, he took a drink from his canteen. The sun was warm, the sky was blue and no one was trying to kill him; it was turning out to be a good day. He looked around at the rest of his team. He'd expected Ronon to be bored out of his mind, and initially he had been, but he'd perked up with the arrival of an attractive young Guennec archaeologist and had been lifting and carrying for her ever since. Sheppard had to admit it was actually quite sweet to watch the big man acting like a teenager with a crush.

McKay was his usual bundle of nervous energy, but his enthusiasm had been dampened by the apparent lack of any kind of energy reading coming from the ruins. His grumbling had become increasingly irritating. As brilliant as he was, Rodney had, at times, all the emotional maturity of an eight year old.

Teyla was on babysitting duties with the scientist and John watched her fondly as she helped McKay; she had the patience of a saint and needed it. He knew that, if he, Ronan and McKay were left to their own devices for too long, they'd probably kill each other; Teyla was the one who both counselled them and knocked their heads together when it was needed. Moreover, he had to admit, she could probably kick all their asses if she had the mind to.

He surveyed the scene in front of him happily. If someone had told him just a few years ago that this bunch of oddballs would be his dearest friends, his family, he wouldn't have believed them; but back then he had been a different John Sheppard. Smiling contentedly, he lay back, resting his head against a fallen tree, and looked up at the perfect blue sky.

"You idiot!" McKay's voice broke through the gentle background murmur of the day. Sheppard sighed and sat up. Ronon was staring daggers at the scientist, who was ranting while gesticulating gesturing angrily at something on the ground. Getting resignedly to his feet, he made his way over to join them.

"Rodney, I am sure Ronon did not mean to. Did you Ronon?" Teyla, forever the peacemaker.

"He shouldn't have left it in such a stupid place," answered the Satedan.

"Well you'd know all about stupidity, wouldn't you?" countered the scientist. Ronon took a step forward; Teyla put her hand on his chest and gave him her best warning look.

Sheppard jogged up and he looked at the ground where the source of the argument lay. It was a rock; he looked up enquiringly. Ronon put his foot on the rock and rolled it over to reveal what was left of Rodney's laptop.

"Ah!"

"Ah? Is that all you can say? This…" Rodney waved his hands wildly while searching for an appropriate word, "…Neanderthal has just lost me an entire morning's work."

"I was trying to help clear the rocks out of the way."

"No, you were trying to impress your little friend over there." McKay pointed at the embarrassed young archaeologist while attempting to mimic Ronon's voice. "Me strong. Me carry rocks!"

Sheppard sighed and looked at Teyla with a pleading expression. Getting the message she took a firm hold of Ronon's arm and led him away before he got the urge to drop a rock on the scientist's head, meanwhile the Colonel put his arm around McKay's shoulder and led him away in the opposite direction toward Elizabeth.

"Problems?"

"Rodney and Ronon just had a little disagreement. But everything's fine now." McKay was sulking. "Isn't it Rodney?" His voice made it clear that things would be fine whether the Canadian liked it or not and he got a mumbled reply. Yeah! Definitely an eight year old. Sheppard rolled his eyes at Elizabeth; he could see she was trying not to laugh.

"I was about to come and ask for your advice on something actually, Rodney."

"Really?" He asked quietly, tilting his head slightly and feigning disinterest.

"Yes, it's got the rest of us completely stumped."

"Oh! Well," he said, perking up a bit. "I'm sure I'll be able to help."

"Well then, you two go and do what ever it is you're doing and I'll take a quick jog back to the jumper and get you the spare laptop." Mouthing a thank you to Elizabeth, John/Sheppard set off on the short trip back to the jumper.

It was too nice a day to hurry so he walked leisurely back up the gorge, making the most of the peace and quiet; it had been a while since he'd been able to relax like this and Guen was a beautiful planet. He'd only gone only about five hundred yards from the site, just into the trees at the top of the gorge, when he heard the noise behind him. Stopping dead he listened, instinct taking over; again he heard movement. It was probably just a wild animal of some kind, he thought, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be cautious. Shifting his grip on his P-90, he began to move warily around to where he thought he'd heard the noise, making sure he kept close to cover in case he needed it. Suddenly there was a burst of movement from the bushes just a few feet in front of him. On instinct he raised the P-90 and found himself staring his attacker in the face. A child of about eleven looked back at him. Letting out the breath he'd been holding with a relieved chuckle, he lowered the gun.

"You scared the hell out of me." He smiled at the child who just stared back unmoving. "I guess I probably scared you too huh?" He took a step forward, bending down slightly to make eye contact. "Hey! You okay?" He barely had time to register the weapon in the child's hand before the pain hit him. He fell face first to the ground, gasping for breath, his throat constricted, his whole body screaming in pain.

What the hell just happened? His chest was tight and his muscles convulsing, he managed to raise his head and his young assailant still stood there studying him without emotion. The boy's head suddenly snapped up, his attention now on something behind his victim; gathering all of his strength Sheppard started to push himself up only to feel a boot in between his shoulder blades; and he was slammed back to the ground.

The weapon was fired at him a second time and the pain was like fire inside him, and the world slowed down, silence enveloped him and slowly blackness took over.