Rodney stood in the mouth of the cave, watching the rain teem down. He sighed deeply, leaning against the cave wall and closing his eyes.
It seemed as though it had been raining forever, thought it had truly only been a few hours. It seemed like much, much longer.
Rodney opened his eyes and turned back to look at John.
John was looking back at him. At him for the first time in hours.
"Are you back with me?" Rodney asked, walking over to him.
"Where'd....I go?" John asked tiredly.
"You tell me," Rodney said, crouching down and tucking the jacket-turned-blanket closer around John.
He licked dry lips, and Rodney gave him some water from his own canteen. "Shot?"
"Right in one, Colonel Genius."
John smiled at the familiar banter, then winced as the pain made itself known. "Teyla....Ronon?"
"Gone for reinforcements. Soon as they take care of things at the village, they'll be coming for us."
"Good....that's good." John frowned. "Hey....d'you hear that?"
Rodney looked back toward the mouth of the cave. "Hey – the rain's stopped."
"Always....a good sign."
"Yeah." Rodney turned to smile at him. "Means rescue will be here sooner rather than later."
John licked his lips again and Rodney fed him a little more water. "Hey," John whispered. "Any...any sunbeams?"
Rodney frowned. "Sunbeams? I didn't notice."
"Look....please?"
Sighing, Rodney returned to the mouth of the cave. "Yes, John – the sky is full of sunbeams."
He turned to see John slide back into sleep with a definite smile on his face.
Rodney sighed and returned his gaze to the sky. He had told John the truth – sunbeams were slowly filling the sky as the rainclouds broke apart.
Such an odd thing, he thought. Such an oddly simple thing to please him so much.
It wasn't until nearly two hours later, as a Jumper de-cloaked by the cave and they were loading John aboard, that Rodney remembered the bit of folk wisdom his grandmother used to say.
Clearly John knew it too – and had been comforted by it.
"A sunbeam is a promise from God that everything is going to be all right."
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