MacDonald and Diens heard the calls from a small distance away. The two ran over the the general direction of the noise. The two Lieutenants found Rhea and Mac, both of them looking exhausted and Jake looking in a large amount of pain. "Did we miss anything?" Diens asked.

"It's about time. I was wondering where the hell you'd gotten to." Mac said, feeling very tired, in pain, and almost emotional.

"We've been trying to find you. You weren't the easiest of people to find. We had to avoid two sets of worshippers just to get to here." MacDonald replied.

"And what the *hell* have you done to yourselves in there!" Diens said as she glanced down at them. She looked at Mac first, who was in the worst state of the two. She figured out exactly what was wrong with him. "Can I just ask you how you've managed to live this long?"

"I don't think that it's the right time for joking Diens," Mac said as he was helped to his feet by the medic and MacDonald.

"I'm not joking. You have multiple lacerations, broken your index and middle finger by the secondary joint, hairline fractures on the other two, you've completely *caned* the hand with stitches in. Actually, I don't think you have any stitches left anymore. To be honest, if you haven't got an infection brewing in at least one part of your body it'll be a bloody miracle."

"Come on, once we've gotten you to base camp we'll let Diens fix you up." MacDonald said.

~*~*~

"How are you O'Shea?" Diens asked her, sounding very much like her primary school librarian.

//Tired, hungry, sore. The usual caboodle.//

"I've been better," Rhea replied wearily. //A lot better.//

"Here, let me help," she said, moving to replace Diens as one of Mac's supports. The medic was probably more capable to hefting around a grown man that a Tok'ra who was one step away from falling flat on her face, but for some reason Rhea felt the need to stay near Mac. What the reason was she didn't know. It might be because of the fact that he was hurt and she wanted to protect him, or it could be due to the fact that they'd just spent over 24 hours saving each other's hides repeatedly. Right now she really couldn't give two hoots what compelled her to stagger alongside him, just that she was being compelled to do it and she always obeyed her compulsions.

It seemed like it took half a day to get back to their base camp, but they get there they did. The first thing Rhea did was finally allow her knees to give out, so she fell into a heap just inside the perimeter. Mac apparently didn't make it too far past her resting place, but she figured that his descent was slightly more controlled thanks to MacDonald propping him up. She rolled onto her back and tilted her head so that she got and upside-down view of MacDonald straightening up after lowering his CO to the ground. Mac looked at her, and wasn't so tired that he couldn't raise and amused eyebrow at her current posture. In response she stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes, causing him to wheeze with laughter. She grinned back at him and shifted her head so that she was lying in a slightly more comfortable position. Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

~*~*~

As Diens crouched at his side he heard her mutter, "Can I just ask you how you've managed to live this long?"

Mackenzie wasn't all that amused. "I don't think it's the right time for joking Diens," he scowled at her as she and MacDonald pulled him to his feet. He returned frown and lecture made him realize she *hadn't* been joking at all.

He half felt Rhea take Diens' place on his left side, and he held tightly to her, relieved to know they'd both managed to defy the odds and get out of their situation while still breathing. The trek back to base camp was hazy and he knew MacDonald more or less took his weight as he was lowered to the ground in slightly familiar surroundings.

He lifted his weary head to check on his partner in crime and saw her collapsed in a heap not too far away. And in a strange position. Kinda looking at him upside down. It posed an amusing picture and he looked at her bemused, to see her retort with a most endearing expression. One that contained crossed eyes and a jutting out tongue.

"Nice, O'Shea," he murmured at her, grinning back as he dropped his head back onto the ground. He saw her do the same, knowing she had to be as exhausted as he was.

He roused himself enough to look up at Diens as she knelt by his side. Mackenzie managed to block out whatever she was doing to his hands with great strength of mind... coupled with a bit of lip biting and gritted teeth. He knew he'd be just fine. All he needed was a bit of a rest, then he'd be ready to go again. And complete their damn mission!

"The others...," he said to Diens as she leant close. "Where are they?" Mac was more than a bit worried about McNamara, Hunter... and Start. Tirion. They should be back here where it was safe. Relatively so, anyway.

"In Pueblo, Major," the medic replied. She pushed him back down as he tried to struggle up. "No way, sir. You're not going anywhere," she added firmly. Mackenzie knew he couldn't hope to win a battle of strength with her and did as he was told.

"Get MacDonald," he said. "He needs to go to Pueblo and make sure they don't come to any harm."

"Hunters' with them. They'll be fine," Diens replied. "Besides, we're not about to leave you and O'Shea unprotected. Not after all the trouble you two have caused."

He closed his eyes as his weariness claimed him and hoped she was right.

~*~*~

“This is a bad idea,” Hunter muttered as she pushed aside a piece of the foliage. “We should turn around and head back to the village before Mackenzie kills us all for disobeying orders.”

“They’ve been gone for a lot longer than they should have,” McNamara noted. “And I was getting bored.”

“Nice reasoning, McNamara.” The sarcasm dripped from the comment.

Angel glanced at Start. “You were bored too.” Start nodded. “Then the civilians have it,” she murmured and continued on.

The villagers had provided very little information. In fact, they had been less than helpful. Although, the shaman was kind enough to provide a written text on the Codex they were supposed to be looking for. Of course, it was in handwritten Spanish, so most of the linguist’s time had been spent attempting to translate the scrawled text. It was time well spent.

While the others were out in the jungle for that long period of time, McNamara had been able to translate a sketched map of the area, along with written directions on how to get to the section they desired. “Come on Doctor,” McNamara spoke softly as she walked next to Start. “This should interest you.”

“Why would an ancient Mexican book interest me?”

“Not the book, the map. The Mayans navigated by the stars and constellations, you know.” Angel wasn’t the best conversationalist on the team. However, the constantly bored look on Tirion’s face was starting to get to even her. The astrophysicist raised an eyebrow and glanced at the map, before turning her attention back to the foliage.

Up ahead, Hunter stopped. McNamara and Start followed suit and the younger woman watched with a degree of interest. The Sergeant made a quick hand motion and McNamara found herself being hauled into the bushes. “I thought you said you were a civilian!” she whispered quickly.

“I am,” Start replied. “But even I know the signal for ‘duck’.” The astro glanced out between the leaves to see Hunter concealing herself up ahead. A rustling in the bushes just beyond her caught both women’s attention. It was a relief to see the familiar SG-15 patch emerge from the trees on the shoulder of Lieutenant MacDonald.

~*~*~

When Rhea finally woke up from her induced-induced snooze, it was heading into evening. Someone had been kind enough to place a blanket over her and a rolled up jacket under her head. She pushed herself up onto an elbow and gave herself a quick once-over – noting almost straight away that the ribbon device she'd been wearing had been removed.

/*Yes, you're back in one piece*/ Asreal said with amusement.

Rhea blushed and hoped that no one had seen her amazed reaction at the absence of her injuries. //I still can't get used to that whole healing thing,// she replied sheepishly. She scooted up onto her knees and then onto her feet, stepping over to crouch beside a slumbering Mackenzie. In the semi-darkness it was difficult to see the bruises and abrasions that mottled his face, but she knew that they were still there.

"I wish there was something I could do," she whispered, reaching out a hand to brush his short hair back. "Hey-"

/*I can't and you know that. Now that we're blended the only way I can go anywhere is if you die. Are you that willing to heal him?*/

She tilted her head as if she was thinking, even though there was no fooling her symbiont. Mac stirred slightly, rolling over and snorting in his sleep. "Ooh, elegant," she murmured with a grin and stood up to go over to the campfire. Start, Hunter and McNamara must've been collected by MacDonald while she'd been asleep because they were all sitting around the campfire looking bored in the extreme.

"Hey," she said softly, falling into a cross-legged sitting position.

"Hey yourself," Diens replied. "How're you feeling?"

Rhea grinned. "Like I could almost do it all again."

MacDonald's eyebrows shot up. "You're kidding right?"

She shot him a look. "I said 'almost' didn't I? After all, do I look like I'm totally out of my mind?"

The younger man grinned, but didn't answer. “So what happened to you both? When we finally located the place where you radioed us from it looked like a bomb had hit and you were gone."

Huffing a sigh, she pushed at her hair. "We didn't quite get ambushed by an eight foot tall catman. He wanted to take us back to his master, we didn't want to go. So we had a no-holds barred blow out of the extreme kind that ended with the pair of us being dragged back to Ocecotl's lair by the scruffs of our necks."

McNamara visibly winced at her blunt description of their capture. "What happened next?"

"Uh," she rubbed at the back of her neck in order to avoid making eye contact with anyone. "Well, we were going to be sacrificed in Ocecotl's honour. But since neither of us were really hot about that idea we wangled our way into escaping for a grand total of about ten hours." She grinned as she recalled the relieved look on Mac's face when she appeared at the river. "His lordship apparently took a nosedive off a waterfall while we were separated. Anyhoo, we were footloose and fancy-free until it occurred to us that you," she looked at MacDonald and Diens in turn, "might've been captured after we escaped. So, being the complete twonks we are, we managed to get captured again whilst trying to 'rescue you'."

"You went back for us?" Diens sounded a little touched by the move, if not the sentiment.

"Of course, we're not that mean." She unconsciously directed this comment at Start, who was looking bored by it all. Shaking her head, she continued. "Well, the bottom line is that we got out in one piece whilst leaving some devastation in our wake." She wasn't about to brag about her bloodthirsty ten-minute period and she certainly wasn't going to mention how close Mac came to being cat food.

"You were lucky," MacDonald said matter-of-factly.

"You don't have to tell me that!" Rhea exclaimed.

~*~*~

"We're not *that* mean.."

Tirion saw in her peripheral vision the way Rhea's eyes darted her way at the comment. Tightly clenching the muscles in her jaw, she stared resolutely into the flames, pretending she hadn't heard, or noticed. Even so, her ears continued to burn. Then occurred the thought that if it had been obvious enough to her who the throwaway line had been directed at, the others might also notice. She looked up, catching a scowl from Hunter and a raised eyebrow from McNamara. The doctor took that as a pretty strong indication they knew.

Glaring down at her hands, Tirion imagined the smug look on Mackenzie's face at the realisation that Rhea also thought she was a bitch troll from hell. Funnily enough, the immediate anger she expected to boil up her throat at the thought of Mackenzie didn't come. Instead, she found herself staring at him, her eyes fixed on his bandaged hand. He never did mention how he got it... she made a mental note to ask him when they got back.

"What are you looking at?" Rhea's voice snapped vehemently out of the darkness.

Tirion felt the rage flash in her eyes and heat rise to her cheeks. In one quick motion, she pulled out her sidearm and pointed it at Mac's head.

"Figuring out where would be the best place to put a bullet." She said, her voice level as she cocked it. "What else would I be thinking?"

The camp was suddenly deathly silent and all eyes fell on her.

"Are you fucking CRAZY!?" Rhea half-screamed moments later, launching herself forward.

Tirion pulled the trigger, and the expected resounding 'click' of an empty barrel echoed in the night. Slamming the gun into the dirt, she stood. O'Shea stopped in her tracks, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"You seem to think so.." Start hissed, then spun around and walked into the trees.

Out of ear and eyeshot (the latter being less difficult given the time of night), the woman closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm her anger. Her hands began to shake and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, leaning against a tree. The familiar sting at the back of her throat caused her to bite down forcefully on her lower lip. What did they think she was? Inhuman?

"Dammit.." She whispered, as hot tears coursed down her cheeks.

She sank down into the leaves and buried her face in her knees, no longer able to prevent her soul-wrenching loneliness spilling out onto the ground.

~*~*~

Rhea stared after Start as the latter stormed off into the jungle, a rotten feeling enveloping her. Then came the anger - anger at Start for giving her cause to be a right, royal bitch (not much cause, but some), anger at herself for taking the opportunity to needle the other woman. Any argument Start had with Mackenzie damn well wasn't her business, but she'd effectively made it that way.

"Bloody fucking hell," she roared and stalked off in a direction opposite to the one Start had gone in. When she was a fair distance into the tree line, she searched for something to take her frustrations out on and immediately found a likely looking tree. She launched into an attack on the innocent plant that would've made Bruce Lee proud, and when she was finally finished it looked more than a little bedraggled. And all that Rhea had to show for the effort was some broken bones in her hands and feet.

/*Gee, you're into self-abuse,*/ Asreal commented mildly.

"Go fuck yourself," Rhea growled, her temper starting to boil again at the comment. In an attempt to calm down slightly, she sank down to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her arms around them. She swore long and loud when she accidentally bumped a very broken pinkie finger, concluding with, "Shit a fucking brick!!"

Swallowing down the rage that was balled up in her throat she took some deep breaths and literally forced herself to calm down.

/*Is it safe now? Or are going to tell me to do something else that's physically impossible?*/

Rhea chuckled silently. //No, I think it's safe... I just don't need this right now.//

/*I don't think anyone needs this right now. Think about them Rhea. You might've been out there fighting for your life-*/

//And my friggin' chastity for the umpteenth bloody time!//

/*That too. While you were off doing that, don't you think they were worried? For all they could've known, up 'til the point where you turned up, you both were dead.*/

//Please, not the guilt trip.//

/*Rheannon O'Shea, you're going to listen to me. Unlike when your mother did this you can't stalk off into your room and slam the door.*/

//I don't have to listen to you if I smack my head into that tree and knock myself out.//

/*You think the healing thing is purely voluntary? If it's not fatal I don't have to do anything.*/

//Really? You know, you could've bought this to my attention before I broke my hand.//

/*Do I sound like an idiot? You weren't listening to anything but your own anger.*/

//I hate it when you're right.//

/*C'mon, you'd better get up and go get Diens to straighten those fingers of hers so that I can actually do something about them. And then you are going to find Tirion Start and you are going to apologise.*/

//But-//

/*No buts. I've lived for centuries longer than you and I know what I'm saying. Hop to it.*/

//You know, you sound just like my mother. Except for the being centuries old part...//

~*~*~

Jake Mackenzie rolled over in his half waking state, managing to lie on his right hand - enough to jerk him fully awake. He blinked a few times, trying to bring his gaze into focus, and saw it was early morning...sometime...maybe. At least he *assumed* he'd slept through the night - he couldn't be sure. He carefully lifted his head, sure that any sudden movement would see the top fly off at the very least. His first sight was that of a sleeping Rhea O'Shea, bundled up near the almost dead fire. Further away he could make out a couple of other bundles and a figure sitting on a fallen tree trunk. Whoever was on watch. He squinted, narrowing his eyes slightly, and managed to identify the figure as Hunter.

He saw his movement had caught her attention and she walked over to crouch at his side. "How're you feeling, sir?" she asked. Mac didn't reply straight away, mainly because he didn't know. He hurt, ached and throbbed just about all over, but he felt good. Good to be alive. Pain meant he was still in the land of the living.

"I feel fine, Hunter," he told her, slightly exaggerating the truth.

He could see she knew he'd done that too. "The others...did they get back safely too?" Mac was referring to McNamara and Start, who he knew had been in Pueblo with Hunter.

"Yes, sir," came her reply. "We got back last night. McNamara has some gen on the Codex I believe." This was welcome news to Mackenzie who was keen to get the mission completed and high tail it out of Mexico.

He watched as Hunter returned to her perch and tried to determine which bundle was who. He could see MacDonald clearly enough, but the remaining three all looked alike.

A pair of eyes peered back at him, over the edge of a blanket, and Mac relaxed in relief. "Morning, doc," he said softly to Tirion Start. She looked back at him for a few seconds, before untangling herself and making her way over to him. She hugged her blanker around her shoulders as the early morning air had a distinct chill to it.

"Morning," she mumbled back at him. Mac looked up at her. Her hair was sticking out in several places and she looked half asleep still. In fact to Mac, she looked...

"How are you?" she asked him, actually looking a little concerned. Mac was surprised, while also pleased.

"I'll be up and at 'em again before you can say 'solar flare'," he replied, grinning up at her. She frowned slightly and half smiled back.

"Well, before you make any macho decisions, I think Diens should be the judge of your ability to move," she threw at him. He saw her appraising his injuries and tried to tuck both hands under the cover. But he couldn't hide the cuts and bruises on his face and head… or the pained look in his eyes. Start frowned again...just slightly...as she saw all of that.

Mackenzie knew his energy levels were pretty low, and lay back to rest once more, content to know the team... Start... was safely back together. A quick breather and he was sure he'd be up to the rest of the mission. Finding the missing Codex. He sensed Tirion staying at his side as he dozed and felt comforted by her presence. Hell, he even missed her cutting comments. Mac knew he must be feeling low if he admitted to *that*!

He also knew he'd made a bit of an ass out of himself from the moment the mission started. That fruit business to start with... losing his damn voice. To cap it all, getting him - and Rhea - in so deep they almost both died...Only Rhea's quick actions saving his own hide. No...Mac felt at an all-time low and knew he couldn't face another round with Tirion. He opened his eyes suddenly and caught her looking at him before her usual expression descended. He wondered if he's been mistaken.

//Probably,// he told himself as he drifted to sleep.

~*~*~

Rhea woke up with a groan, flopping onto her back and opening her eyes gingerly. It was already halfway through the morning, if the brightness of the sunlight managing to get past the foliage was anything to go by. She struggled up into sitting position, then stood up and stretched her arms up over her head. After the knots in her muscles loosened she lowered her heels back to the ground and let her arms flop to her sides, wondering what she was going to do about the wedgie she was currently suffering from. Before she'd given her predicament much thought, a heavy hand fell onto her shoulder and a deep voice said, "Welcome back."

Spinning on the ball of one foot, she immediately took up a defensive stance, ready to fight of an attack from... Jake Mackenzie. She relaxed her posture a bit, returning to a more normal standing position. "Uh, morning," she said with a weak smile. "Sleep well?"

"I slept fine," he replied dryly. "What happened to your hands?"

"Hands?" The offending appendages were immediately whipped behind her back and out of his sight. "What hands?"

"The ones attached to the ends of your arms," he said slowly, as if she was some kind of imbecile.

"Oh *those* hands!" she exclaimed, as if she'd never noticed that she'd had them before that moment. "Oh, they're fine. Just fine. Nothing wrong with 'em. Nothing at all." She began to back away from Mac, but he insisted on following her. "Well, except for when they don't do what I want them to. Like when I'm trying to write stuff down quickly and they just can't seem to keep up with what I'm thinking and I end up with this really dyslexic looking sentence where words start halfway through others and letters are missing off the ends. But that doesn't bother me so much now that I use my computer for most of my stuff. Of course, it doesn't help that I like to keep my nails long because I start hitting two keys instead of one and that really sucks because I think the backspace key is beginning to wear out thanks to overuse." During this entire spiel she'd managed to back up right across the clearing that their camp was set up in. She winced a little as she accidentally bumped one of her injured hands into the trunk of the tree she'd backed into.

"What happened?" Mac reiterated firmly, in a tone that wasn't going to brook any further nonsense.

She hung her head so that her flaming cheeks were hidden by her hair, which was hanging loose. "Igotintoafightwithatree," she mumbled, allowing her words to slur into one multisyllabic mess.

"You what?" A touch of anger coloured his voice.

She finally looked up at him. "I got into a fight with a tree," she repeated, enunciating every word carefully. "Happy now?"

"No. Show me," he gestured with is own bandaged hands that she was to reveal her own.

"Do I-" she protested.

"Yes," he cut in. "You do."

"Fascist," she muttered, pouting as she slowly bought her bandaged and splinted hands out from behind her back for his inspection. After perusing the palms for a moment, he made a motion for her to turn them over, which she did without saying anything.

"A fight?"

"More or less."

"With a tree."

"Pretty much."

"What'd it do? Leap out a grab your butt?" he asked in obvious amusement, his blue eyes dancing with suppressed laughter.

"Oh ha ha," she spat, pushing past him to stride back towards her gear. She crouched down and began to pack up her bedroll.

"So why hasn't Asreal healed them?" he asked, having followed her back to the starting point.

"Because I'm getting a good spanking," she said, not bothering to look up from what she was doing.

"Did you just say 'spanking'?" he asked, as if he didn't believe his ears.

"Look, I know you guys get a real-hard on for that sort of thing, but it's not like that. She's punishing me for losing my rag at Dr Start," she admitted tightly.

"Losing your what?"

"Are you deaf or something?" she demanded, straightening up and looking him directly in the eyes. "I lost my temper at Start and so instead of thumping her like she deserved I went and belted the living shit out of some poor sapling. And because it's all my own stupid fault she's making me suffer for it. Happy *now*?"

"More or less," he replied, not asking anything further - probably because he could see that she was just about going to belt *him*.

"Where the hell is everyone?" she asked, finally noticing that they were the only people left in camp. Which was a good thing considering that she'd told them an enormous flurpy to explain away her new injuries.

"In the village trying to see if they can get any more information about the codex," Mac replied.

"What, and they left us here alone?"

"Diens suggested that we might like to take bit of a breather for this morning at least. I agreed with her, and if you feel up to it we'll be joining them after lunch," he explained matter-of-factly, making it clear that come hell or high water they were wandering over to Pueblo after lunch.

He sat down on a fallen tree trunk and she perched beside him. "You know you need your head read for wanting to hang around her," she told him.

He chuckled. "Probably, but we're going to finish this mission."

"If it kills you?" she added, quirking an eyebrow and looking at him.

Mac shook his head and smiled. "I wouldn't go that far."

~*~*~

To say Mackenzie was less than pleased with Rhea's latest act of self-mutilation would be a slight understatement, but he hid his feelings as he could see she wasn't precisely in the mood for a lecture. And she'd probably scolded herself anyway. Or had Asreal do that for her.

He sat down heavily, landing on an old tree trunk that lay on the ground, watching as O'Shea flopped down next to him. "You know you need your head read for wanting to hang around her," he heard her say, knowing exactly who and what she was referring to.

He laughed softly, answering her in a wry tone. "Probably, but we're going to finish this mission."

He glanced at her to see a raised eyebrow and a slight grin. "If it kills you?"

Mac returned her smile and shook his head. "I wouldn't go that far," he replied, knowing how close they'd recently come to just that. "Anyway," he continued, holding one of her injured hands gently in one of his, "I wanted to thank you. Y'know...for saving my neck back there. I mean, if it hadn't been for you, I would've..."

Rhea interrupted him. "Sshhh," she said. "No thanks needed. Besides, it was a great adventure. Aliens, jaguars, waterfall death dives, sacrifices. The whole caboodle. And I seem to recall you hoiking my ass out of trouble once or twice," she added.

Mac laughed. "I'll say one thing for you, Rheannon O'Shea. You have a wonderful way of expressing yourself."

They passed the rest of the morning amicably, before having a bite to eat.

"Ready for a little stroll?" he asked her, eager to get into Pueblo as soon as they could. He rammed a side arm in his holster, which was pretty futile as his splinted right hand would hardly handle the trigger, and his left hand wasn't a lot better. But, he felt a little more dressed with the gun at his side.

"Lets go, boss," she threw back at him, jauntily heading for the trail. Mac jogged slightly to catch up with her, hoping that this expedition wouldn't go the same way as their last joint venture. Thoughts of lightning never striking the same place twice crept into his mind, and he hoped the old adage was correct. Their trek was uneventful. Other than some rustling in the undergrowth that had them both diving nervously off the trail. Mac had almost hauled his gun out when a small - and harmless - creature leapt across the path and vanished into the trees. They grinned sheepishly at each other as they got back to their feet and forged onwards.

'Ah...Pueblo. A vision of architectural excellence,' Mac though dryly as he took in the squalid-looking dwellings. They wandered along to the village centre to see the rest of the team in deep conversation with the elders. Well, McNamara was, at least. The others sat quietly as she spoke in what to Mac sounded like pretty good Spanish. Compared to his, it was wonderful.

Heads turned their way as they drew near and Mac scowled as he saw a grinning female hovering in the background. The blasted woman who'd given him that fruit. His dark look seemed to amuse her even more. Ignoring her, he crouched down next to Diens and Start as they sat listening to the incomprehensible conversation.

"Getting anywhere, McNamara?" he asked.

"I am indeed, Major," she replied. "The map I was given yesterday shows the area that we should concentrate our search in. Fortunately, its well away from Ocecotl's lair. Tirion's been looking at in correlation with astronomical and stellar navigational techniques."

Mac glanced at the astrophysicist with a raised eyebrow. "Has she indeed? And...what have you discovered, doc?"

"I'm still working on it," she replied. "But I think I can soon pinpoint the most likely area where the Codex could be. Of course, it could feasibly have been destroyed years ago."

"Yeah... I know," he told her. "Just do you best, doc." He saw her look almost oddly at him, expecting, perhaps, an acidic remark. But, Mackenzie knew he lacked the energy *and* the inclination to fight with her. At the moment, anyway.

~*~*~

Tirion rolled the kinks out of her neck and slapped the map on the ground in front of her again.

"This can't be that hard..." She muttered, staring at it ferociously.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, the doctor was tired. She had only set foot back in the camp the previous night on her designated watch. MacDonald, the person she was taking over for, didn't say a word when she appeared. For that she was grateful. However, her night's sleep had consisted of a total of three restless hours, and now she was feeling it.

Wiping a hand across her face and suppressing a yawn, Start once again stabbed her forefinger at the place on the map she believed to be the point of reference.

"Seven degrees.. seven degrees..." The figure had been a common theme in the drawing of the map. It was also roughly the measurement between some of the more obvious constellations. With her finger still in the centre of the parchment, she pivoted her hand so her thumb came to rest on a small feature smudge. Pursing her lips, she cocked her head to the side so she could get a different view of it, and smiled. "Orion."

McNamara looked up. "Huh?"

Shrugging, Start pointed to the place where the centre of Orion's belt would be, were it superimposed on the map. "A long shot. But… I think it might be here."

"You *think* it *might*?" McNamara questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"The main features... they're arranged in the shape of the constellation Orion. Here-" She pointed again where the belt appeared. "Is the belt. Here-" Her finger moved to the centre. "Is where the centre of Orion's belt would appear when it was seven degrees over the horizon."

Angel's expression was highly sceptical. Start left the map in front of the woman and leaned back on her hands, trying to keep her voice free of annoyance. "Look, like I said… it's a long shot. Unfortunately, it's the best I can do. So, unless you have any better suggestions, that is my opinion."

~*~*~

McNamara looked deep in thought as Start spoke about what she had discovered - or thought she had discovered. "So it *might* be there." She pointed.

"Might??" Mackenzie asked, which was echoed by the other members of the team.

"That's what I said," Angel murmured.

"Hey, you wanted an assessment, that's my assessment. I'm working on next to nothing here," the astrophysicist replied quickly.

"She has a point. From a professional standpoint, I'd say we pack our gear and start walking."

"And what about from a non-professional standpoint?" Diens asked the anthropologist.

"I say we pack our gear and go home. Two injured, everyone else is tired and we've got a some..." she paused, trying to recall what O'Shea had called them. "Cat... men... people out there wanting our blood."

"My blood...and they've got enough of it already," Mac mumbled.

"She has a point, sir," MacDonald admitted.

"But..."

"But?"

"But," Angel interrupted. "If we leave now, all of this would have been for nothing."

"Oh, I wouldn't call killing a Goa'uld 'nothing'," Rhea shot to her.

"Fine. Next to nothing." All eyes glanced around at everyone else, waiting for someone to say something.

~*~*~

"But if we leave now all of this would have been for nothing," Angel was saying.

"Oh, I wouldn't call killing a Goa'uld nothing," Rhea blurted out.

//Oh, good on ya O'Shea,// she berated herself. Since she'd woken up the previous evening without the ribbon device still on her hand, she'd assumed that they'd removed it while she was unconscious. And with her blabbing about killing Ocecotl they were probably wondering if she was going to get a bit zap happy with the stupid thing. If they even suspected that she'd actually relocated it back in her big backpack and bought it with her they'd probably have a combined hissy fit and a half.

Angel had obviously said something while she'd been thinking because the anthropologist was now looking at each of them in turn, her green eyes finally resting on Mackenzie. The major shot a look at her, silently asking if she was willing to risk another brush with the catmen. She huffed a sigh.

"We've already come this far. Let's just get this bloody thing finished so I can go home and have a long, hot bath," she finally said with resignation.

//Asreal, as much as I know that you'd love to keep punishing me for being a real so-and-so, I can't go into this with busted up hands,// she said reasonably to her symbiont. //I promise that I'll apologise to Start as soon as I can.//

/*I'll hold you to that,*/ Asreal replied.

"Good then," Mac was saying, everyone else obviously having communicated their willingness to keep going. "If you'd like to point us in the right direction doctor."

"Uh, if you'd like to wait half an hour before carrying out that order," Rhea interjected before Start could say anything.

"Why?" the major asked, having been the first one to actually get a word out.

"Because," Rhea said, sitting down right where she'd been standing, "I'm not about to go into this without being fully prepared. You wouldn't." Darkness gathered at the edges of her vision as Asreal forced her into a healing slumber. She lay back and put her hands under her head just as she completely lost consciousness.

~*~*~

The discussion following Start's announcement - that regarding the likely location of the Codex - was animated, to say the least.

"But," McNamara interrupted. "If we leave now, all of this would have been for nothing."

Mac heard O'Shea respond with "Oh, I wouldn't call killing a Goa'uld 'nothing'."

"Fine. Next to nothing," he heard the linguist throw back. Silence followed her comment and Mac mulled over their next steps. He looked at McNamara to see her gaze pass from one to the other before resting on him. Decision time. He knew they were all waiting.

"Good then," he said, firmly. "If you'd like to point us in the right direction doctor."

Rhea interrupted. "Uh, if you'd like to wait half an hour before carrying out that order."

Mackenzie frowned at her. "Why?"

"Because, I'm not about to go into this without being fully prepared. You wouldn't," she replied. Mac watched as she settled back to let herself fall into a healing trance. He rightly assumed Asreal had finally agreed to heal her injuries. He glanced down at his own more or less useless hands and was distinctly envious.

"Seems we have an hour to kill, folks," he murmured. He wandered over to Start and picked up the map that she'd been working on, studying the area of her proposed search in conjunction with his more traditional map that he pulled out of his vest pocket. Mackenzie flattened them both on a large boulder and leant over them, comparing landmarks. He was aware of company, looking over his shoulder, but was deep in concentration.

"So," he said softly to himself, "seven degrees... Orion's belt... What the hell does *that* mean?" He traced the location indicated by Start with a splinted finger and looked at his own map. "Orion's belt," he repeated. "Three stars..." He looked at his map. "Yes! Three stars. Three mountains. Start! Over here," he called, surprised to find her at his shoulder already. He mumbled an apology at almost deafening her and pointed at the trio of mountains. "Could that be it?"

Start leant close to his map and peered from one to the other. "A high probability, I would say, Major."

Mac read from his modern map. "'Los Tres Ninos'... that's what they're called. 'The Three Children'. As soon as O'Shea wakes up, we head out." He turned to call MacDonald over. "Lieutenant. We'll need supplies. It will take a good two days hike to reach this area and the Hummers won't make it through. Take a couple of the others with you and prepare what we'll need. well join you as soon as Sleeping Beauty wakes up." MacDonald nodded and walked away to do as ordered as Mackenzie scanned the map once more, planning out their most direct route.

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