Then There Were Two (4/?)
Title: Then There Were Two (4/?)
Author: Nytel
Rating: R
Pairing: John/Teyla
Main Characters: John, Teyla
Genre: Angst/Romance
Summary: The need to find some kind of comfort during a dire war is strong. It is important to build strong bonds with family and friends, but even that my backfire.
Warnings: Sex, Character Death
Spoilers: Up to Phantoms. NOTE: CHANGED!!
Word Count: 3,903
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: - This is set some time in the future.
- Unforunately my beta was unable to help me out with this chapter, so any grammar and/or spelling mistakes are mine. I apologize if I've missed stuff in my editing.
- Special thanks to
carpenyx for helping me make this chapter work.
Chapter 4
For a moment all she could fixate on was the pain as it threatened to overwhelm her. Her vision swam in front of her eyes, but she forced herself to concentrate on her surroundings, pushing away the pain for the time being and fixing all of her attention on their situation.
The scene around her came into focus quickly; the sensation was disorienting, but she fought the case of vertigo as she looked around her. The absolute first thing she noticed was that she was clenching tightly onto her upper left arm with her right hand. She could feel the slippery warm blood seeping through her uniform and coating her fingers-she’d been shot.
She grimaced as she tightened her fingers and felt the bullet, or bullets, still imbedded in the muscle of her arm. It wasn’t a life threatening injury, but neither was it minor.
Teyla was facing back the way they had come, and she could see red flashes coming from behind her and entering the trees. It was Ronon; he was shooting at whatever had been following them-obviously she had not been imagining it.
She could dimly make out sounds as well: the noise of Ronon’s gun, intermediate and sporadic gunfire from an Earth weapon, and yelling. She could hear it, but it was stifled. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t because of the muffling effects of the fog, but because of the surge of adrenaline in her own body-it was causing her heart to beat faster, the blood coursing through her veins quickly and creating a throbbing sound in her ears.
To Teyla it seemed to take forever to recover from the initial shock of being shot, but in reality it was maybe two seconds. Her head seemed to clear as the adrenaline kicked in; its effects near immediate.
***
“Head for the gate!” Teyla yelled over the noise, her voice unaffected by the recent events and carrying just as well as she’d hoped it would. “Ronon take point!”
“No!” he yelled back, still firing into the trees, even though Teyla was uncertain how he could see what he was shooting at. “You’re shot,” he said, glaring at Rodney. “I’ll bring up the rear and you take point.”
“Do not argue,” she demanded, getting angry enough that she spun around fully in order to glare at him. “Head for the gate.” Her voice left no room for disagreement.
She turned her head to look at Rodney, making sure he understood that he was included in those directions. “Go,” she said, her voice the firmest she could make it.
For once in his life, he looked truly remorseful and Teyla found a small bit of comfort in that, but not enough to cause her anger to fade. He had shot her, and right now, in the heat of the moment, she was not in a forgiving mood.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, obviously still in shock over what had happened. They did not have time for this, apologies and everything else could wait until later, they needed to get to the gate.
She noticed that he was still holding the gun in his hands, even though they were shaking nearly enough to cause it to fall to the ground.
“Put that away,” she said, still talking over the noise of Ronon firing. Rodney gulped and holstered his gun. “Now go.”
When Rodney hesitated mid-turn she said, “We need to get those ZPMs back to Atlantis, Dr. McKay. Let’s move.” Her quickened voice sounded harsh and unforgiving to her own ears, but she would do what she had to.
“Ronon,” she called over her shoulder. “Go!”
“They’re still out there,” he said as he passed her, making his way to the designated position of point.
“What do you mean they?” Teyla asked, keeping her voice as steady as she could. She withdrew her own gun, wincing as she released pressure from the bullet wound. The uneasy feeling she’d originally had was still there, and she felt a lot better bringing up the rear with a weapon on her hand.
“Wolves,” he said, scanning the area in front of them as they began to move. “First it was one, but now there are at least three.”
Teyla followed the others as they retreated at a fast jog. She was doing her best to keep up with the other two, watch their backs and not pass out from the pain that seemed to get worse with every jarring step she took. She gritted her teeth and blinked back tears-she was leading this mission and she was responsible for getting not only the other two members of her team, but also the ZPMs, back to Atlantis safely, and she’d be damned if she was going to let a few bullets in her arm stop her from doing that.
Not even a minute after they had started heading to the gate, Teyla began to hear more rustling sounds, these ones definitely closer than the last. Then she started to see glimpses of movement out of the corners of her eyes: streaks of grey amongst the dulled green of the forest.
Her heartbeat quickened, causing her blood pressure to rise and her arm to throb painfully. She could feel more blood soaking through the material and saturating her shirt, some of it falling to the ground, leaving a trail behind them.
When she clutched her gun tighter, a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over her, but she fought it back. They must be almost there… She glanced ahead of them; she could see the break in the tree line-they were almost there.
A growl immediately brought her attention back to what was behind her. She gulped as she realized what was happening.
“They’re circling us,” she shouted up to Ronon as she aimed at one of the animals. It appeared to weave in and out of her vision, making it near impossible for her to fire at it.
“I know,” he yelled back, picking up the pace.
Teyla heard another growl and the next thing she knew there was a large animal leaping at her. She reacted on instinct and fired two shots into its chest in rapid succession. It fell to the ground, whimpering and twitching in pain. She fired a third shot, this time directly into its skull, and it stopped moving.
She forced her eyes away from the wolf… or at least that’s what people would have called it at one point. Centuries of living on a nuclear devastated planet had obviously caused the animals to evolve, mutating into grotesque beings. Catching more glimpses of the others she noticed that they all looked like that: unnatural, and skinny-on the verge of starvation. It was no wonder the animals had stalked and attacked the group; they were a fresh source of food in a barren land.
“We’re almost there,” Ronon said, firing a few rounds of his own. From the sounds of it, it was merely warning fire.
“Dr. McKay, dial the gate,” she ordered, not even turning around to look at him. She had to stay focused on this.
Teyla jogged into the clearing just as she heard Rodney start dialing Atlantis. She continued to hold up her gun with her right hand, letting her left arm hang limp at her side. It was now taking all of her concentration and effort just to keep her sidearm trained on the movement in the bushes.
The entire planet seemed to be wobbling as different parts of her surroundings swam in and out of focus. The dizziness was no longer sporadic, but instead unrelenting. Her whole arm felt as if it was on fire, and it was becoming heavier and heavier as the pain became more and more unbearable. The wetness in the sleeve of her uniform was still present and she knew that the wound was continuing to bleed profusely.
One of the remaining wolves sprang from where it had been crouched in the underbrush. Teyla fired, but her arm shook as she pulled the trigger and the bullet went wide. Thankfully Ronon was standing only a step off to her right, and he had been prepared. The animal died, a red flash of light exploding a hole in its chest.
Before Teyla could even think of responding, she heard the telltale sign that meant Rodney had established a wormhole. Immediately afterward, she heard him making radio contact with the technician in the gate room. The words themselves were distorted to her, but she knew what was going on.
“We’re good to go,” Rodney said.
Teyla glanced behind her and saw him disappear through the gate. Then she turned to look at Ronon-he motioned for her to go first. She shook her head slightly, the movement causing the dizziness and nausea to increase tenfold. “No,” she said, her voice coming out quietly and sounding odd to her ears. “Go,” she demanded, looking at the gate.
He nodded reluctantly and didn’t start moving toward the open wormhole until he was sure that she was following him, albeit unsteadily. It took much more effort than she would have liked to place one foot in front of the other without tripping.
They made it to the gate in a matter of seconds, and after she gave Ronon a stern look he walked through. She began to lift her foot to step through the event horizon, looking over her shoulder one last time to make sure that they were clear.
The remaining wolf emerged from the trees, evidently knowing that its intended meal was leaving. It crept towards her, clearly intending to jump at her.
She took a deep breath to clear her head as best she could. Then she fired her gun until there were no more bullets left. Her injury had left her unable to aim very well, but at least one of the bullets hit its mark and the wolf collapsed to the ground.
At one time she would have felt guilty for taking away the animal’s life-it wasn’t its fault that there was no food to be found. But the last few years had changed her, and now she could only feel as if she was doing it a favor.
Teyla turned to go through the gate and the movement sent waves of pressure throbbing through her head, causing her to stumble through the event horizon.
She came out the other side, barely catching sight of the gate room and its occupants before her body gave in to the injury and she fell to the floor.
***
Teyla struggled to open her eyelids, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. They felt as if they were made of metal-much too heavy to move. Her inability to get her muscles to respond scared her, and she racked her mind, trying to recall what had happened. The last thing she remembered was stepping through the gate.
She felt alarmed as she realized that she must have fainted, probably from loss of blood. That would mean that she was in the Atlantis infirmary. It explained everything from why she was groggy to the heavy feeling that encompassed her entire body, with the exception of the burning ache in her arm.
A few seconds later she started to hear the quiet murmur of voices. She couldn’t tell what they were saying; the words were all jumbled together. In her disoriented state she began to panic, fearful because everything was so muddled and vague. Soon after she realized that she knew the people that were talking, and instinctively she calmed-the recognition was soothing in a way, making her feel safer.
The smooth and serene sounding voice speaking right now was Carson, and from the pitch and lilt of his tone she could tell that he was explaining something to someone. Next she heard a low voice-Ronon. Then a third voice joined the conversation, this time feminine. No doubt that was Dr. Weir.
Teyla tried once again to open her eyes, hoping that this time her muscles would comply with her request. She had been shot, that was all; it did not mean that she needed to be lying around in the infirmary like she was on the brink of death.
She was surprised to hear a groan escape from her lips when she failed. The talking stopped for a moment until Carson started to say something. She must have been waking up, because she was able to pick out a few words and piece together what he was saying. He was saying her name and telling her to take it easy. Her entire body felt heavy and she wondered how long she had been out for, the thought almost causing her to panic.
Experimentally she tried moving her fingers, only to find that she could. Whatever drugs Dr. Beckett had given her must have been wearing off.
It felt like an eternity until she was finally able to open her eyes, even though in reality it was probably closer to about a minute. Taking in her surroundings quickly, Teyla noticed that she was indeed in the infirmary, and she had also been right as to who had been speaking. Carson was standing off to her left and both Ronon and Dr. Weir was near the foot of the bed, along with Rodney who looked mortified. For some reason, seeing them all there was comforting, though she could think of one person whose presence would be even more comforting.
“How are you feeling?” Dr. Beckett asked quietly, looking down at her with a slightly worried look on his face.
“I’m fine,” she said, forcing the words out past her dry throat. “What happened?” she asked anxiously, coughing afterwards at the discomfort she felt.
One of the nurses hurried over with some water, and as Teyla reached out to take the glass she realized that there was an intravenous drip in her right arm. A surge of fear passed through her body for a second before she shoved it to the side. The IV did not necessarily mean anything; it may just be precautionary.
Teyla drank the water and set the glass down on the small table beside the infirmary bed before looking around and waiting for someone to answer her question. It was Carson who complied.
“You were shot,” he said hesitantly, looking at her a little oddly.
“I know,” Teyla responded, missing the guilty look that flashed across Rodney’s face. “I mean after that.”
Carson nodded as he realized what she was asking. “I had to operate,” he explained. “One of the bullets went straight through, but the other two got lodged in your arm. It took me a while to remove them without doing too much damage to the surrounding muscle.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Truthfully, I’m just glad that they didn’t hit the bone.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
He gave her a small smile. “Don’t worry about it love.” Then he added, “You’re going to be fine, but you lost a lot of blood. Too much blood.”
He gave Teyla a look that told her he knew that she hadn’t kept pressure on the wound like she should have. But thinking about it now, she wouldn’t change that, even if she could. Her first priority was to her team and the Atlantis expedition, not to herself.
“I want to keep you over night for observation.” She nodded, relieved that was all that was necessary. “I highly doubt there will be any lasting effects, but I want to be absolutely sure.” She nodded again-Carson might be extra cautious, but it was part of what made him the good doctor that he was.
“How long until I can resume my duties?” she questioned hesitantly as she looked back and forth between Carson and Elizabeth. She hoped that it would not be too long; they needed every person that they had… and then some.
Dr. Beckett gave her a reassuring smile. “Not long,” he said. “A few days at the most. We just need to make sure that your body’s able to restore its strength. But that means that you need to rest for the next few days, don’t do anything physical.”
“Take your time,” Elizabeth said, joining into the conversation. “And don’t push yourself,” she added, raising her eyebrow to create a knowing look. She knew Teyla well, mostly because in many ways they were made from the same cloth. They weren’t the kind of people who could easily sit back and recover when there was work to be done.
“I’ll try,” she said, smiling at the other woman.
“Well,” Elizabeth said. “I suppose that’s all I can ask for.” She grinned at Teyla. “I’m sorry but there are things that I need to see to.” She paused as she turned to look at Dr. Beckett. “Keep me posted,” she said. She turned and started walking for the exit, but paused after only a few steps. “And Teyla,” she said. “You did good today.”
Teyla smiled broadly as she watched Elizabeth finish crossing the room and slip out the door. Her approval meant more to Teyla than she would ever let on.
“Alright love,” Carson said, bringing her attention back to him. “I have to go and check up on Major Lorne now, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you Dr. Beckett,” she said kindly. “For everything.”
He nodded and smiled at her before slipping away to attend to some other patients, including Major Lorne.
Teyla turned to look at the remaining two people. Ronon was… well, he was Ronon. He was sitting there and just looking at her, with maybe the barest hint of concern on his face. But he was always hard to read, unless he was angry, and right now she couldn’t tell for certain what he was thinking.
A second later he walked over to the side of her bed where Dr. Beckett had been standing. “Get better,” he said, his voice the same as normal: gruff and low. She merely nodded at his words. “I’m going to leave you two alone now,” he said, glaring at Rodney over his shoulder. “I think that Dr. McKay has something he wants to say.”
Rodney gulped audibly and began to twist his hands together in front of him.
Had the situation not been so serious, she might have laughed. Instead she nodded and Ronon gave her one more look before heading out of the infirmary.
Teyla looked at Rodney for the next few minutes as he gathered the courage to speak. Despite the fact that she already knew what he was about to say, she remained patient and let him take his time.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out eventually, not looking up to meet her gaze. “I… I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to shoot you,” he said.
“Of course not,” she said, keeping her voice and kind as she could. There were times when she disagreed with Dr. McKay, and he often got on her nerves, but right now he was truly nervous and quite obviously racked with guilt. “I have no doubt that it was an accident.”
He looked up at her and she was surprised to see the shocked look on his face. “So,” he said. “So, you’re not mad at me?”
Teyla shook her head. “No,” she said, a smile still on her face.
“Oh,” Rodney said. “Well, that’s good.”
“I know that I was angry and forceful with you before, but did you honestly believe that I would hold this against you?” she asked, hoping that his answer wouldn’t be yes.
“No,” he said, his shoulders slouching with relief. Then his whole body tensed. “Oh, shit!” he swore, tensing up again. “Oh, this is not good.”
“What?” Teyla prompted, suddenly worried that there was something she had overlooked.
Rodney turned and looked at her with an almost fearful look in his eyes. “Sheppard’s going to kill me!”
***
Five days later, Teyla found herself restlessly pacing the city. Today was the day that John was returning. She was irrationally nervous-she hadn’t seen him in two months, and knowing that she would be seeing him in only a few hours made her stomach feel queasy… but in a good way.
While he was gone, she had tried not to dwell on how much she missed him, even though she had only accomplished that with minimal success. But now that he was coming back, she let herself think about that kind of stuff. She smiled in spite of her nervousness; she wouldn’t have to miss it for much longer.
Checking her watch, Teyla headed for the control room. It wasn’t very long until the Daedalus was scheduled to drop out of hyperspace and make contact with them. She wanted, no needed to be there when it happened, even if it meant waiting in the control room until that time.
As she rounded the last corner, she saw that Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay were already in the control room.
“Teyla,” Elizabeth said when she saw her, motioning her over to where she was standing near one of the screens.
“What’s going on?” Teyla asked uncertainly.
Elizabeth smiled. “The sensors just picked up a ship that exited hyperspace.”
Teyla felt her face light up with anticipation. “The Daedalus?” she asked, even though the real question was ‘John?’
A second later the familiar crackling noise came over the communication system. Elizabeth turned to look at Rodney and he nodded. “It’s them,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Atlantis, this is Daedalus,” John said, his warm voice filtering over the radio.
Teyla felt her smile get even bigger, and even though she tried to control it, to make her happiness seem a little less obvious, she couldn’t. She was sure that she had never been this happy to hear someone’s voice before.
“Daedalus,” Elizabeth replied, pressing the button on her earpiece and speaking into the small microphone. “This is Weir.” She paused for a second. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks,” John replied brightly, his own happiness tangible, even over the radio connection.
“You’ve missed a lot,” she added. “We have a surprise for you. Well, actually two surprises.”
“Oh really?” John asked. “Well, we’ve got a surprise for you guys too.”
Suddenly a beeping noise began to emanate from one of the consoles and Teyla’s heart started to race. That was never a good sign.
“We’re picking up another ship that just dropped out of hyperspace right beside the Daedalus,” Rodney said frantically and he looked at the screen.
The smile instantly disappeared from Teyla’s face as worry and fear coursed through her veins.
“Daedalus, this is Weir. Be advised that there is another ship closing in our your position.” Her voice was frantic, but Teyla couldn’t blame her. It was just there luck that a hive ship would find their position just as the Daedalus had exited hyperspace and was at its weakest.
When a couple of seconds went by and they didn’t get a response Elizabeth tried again. “Daedalus, this is Weir. I repeat, there’s another ship closing in on your position!”
“Calm down Elizabeth,” was John’s soothing reply. “I told you we brought a surprise.”
TBC
Next Chapter
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Author: Nytel
Rating: R
Pairing: John/Teyla
Main Characters: John, Teyla
Genre: Angst/Romance
Summary: The need to find some kind of comfort during a dire war is strong. It is important to build strong bonds with family and friends, but even that my backfire.
Warnings: Sex, Character Death
Spoilers: Up to Phantoms. NOTE: CHANGED!!
Word Count: 3,903
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: - This is set some time in the future.
- Unforunately my beta was unable to help me out with this chapter, so any grammar and/or spelling mistakes are mine. I apologize if I've missed stuff in my editing.
- Special thanks to
carpenyx for helping me make this chapter work.
Chapter 4
For a moment all she could fixate on was the pain as it threatened to overwhelm her. Her vision swam in front of her eyes, but she forced herself to concentrate on her surroundings, pushing away the pain for the time being and fixing all of her attention on their situation.
The scene around her came into focus quickly; the sensation was disorienting, but she fought the case of vertigo as she looked around her. The absolute first thing she noticed was that she was clenching tightly onto her upper left arm with her right hand. She could feel the slippery warm blood seeping through her uniform and coating her fingers-she’d been shot.
She grimaced as she tightened her fingers and felt the bullet, or bullets, still imbedded in the muscle of her arm. It wasn’t a life threatening injury, but neither was it minor.
Teyla was facing back the way they had come, and she could see red flashes coming from behind her and entering the trees. It was Ronon; he was shooting at whatever had been following them-obviously she had not been imagining it.
She could dimly make out sounds as well: the noise of Ronon’s gun, intermediate and sporadic gunfire from an Earth weapon, and yelling. She could hear it, but it was stifled. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t because of the muffling effects of the fog, but because of the surge of adrenaline in her own body-it was causing her heart to beat faster, the blood coursing through her veins quickly and creating a throbbing sound in her ears.
To Teyla it seemed to take forever to recover from the initial shock of being shot, but in reality it was maybe two seconds. Her head seemed to clear as the adrenaline kicked in; its effects near immediate.
***
“Head for the gate!” Teyla yelled over the noise, her voice unaffected by the recent events and carrying just as well as she’d hoped it would. “Ronon take point!”
“No!” he yelled back, still firing into the trees, even though Teyla was uncertain how he could see what he was shooting at. “You’re shot,” he said, glaring at Rodney. “I’ll bring up the rear and you take point.”
“Do not argue,” she demanded, getting angry enough that she spun around fully in order to glare at him. “Head for the gate.” Her voice left no room for disagreement.
She turned her head to look at Rodney, making sure he understood that he was included in those directions. “Go,” she said, her voice the firmest she could make it.
For once in his life, he looked truly remorseful and Teyla found a small bit of comfort in that, but not enough to cause her anger to fade. He had shot her, and right now, in the heat of the moment, she was not in a forgiving mood.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, obviously still in shock over what had happened. They did not have time for this, apologies and everything else could wait until later, they needed to get to the gate.
She noticed that he was still holding the gun in his hands, even though they were shaking nearly enough to cause it to fall to the ground.
“Put that away,” she said, still talking over the noise of Ronon firing. Rodney gulped and holstered his gun. “Now go.”
When Rodney hesitated mid-turn she said, “We need to get those ZPMs back to Atlantis, Dr. McKay. Let’s move.” Her quickened voice sounded harsh and unforgiving to her own ears, but she would do what she had to.
“Ronon,” she called over her shoulder. “Go!”
“They’re still out there,” he said as he passed her, making his way to the designated position of point.
“What do you mean they?” Teyla asked, keeping her voice as steady as she could. She withdrew her own gun, wincing as she released pressure from the bullet wound. The uneasy feeling she’d originally had was still there, and she felt a lot better bringing up the rear with a weapon on her hand.
“Wolves,” he said, scanning the area in front of them as they began to move. “First it was one, but now there are at least three.”
Teyla followed the others as they retreated at a fast jog. She was doing her best to keep up with the other two, watch their backs and not pass out from the pain that seemed to get worse with every jarring step she took. She gritted her teeth and blinked back tears-she was leading this mission and she was responsible for getting not only the other two members of her team, but also the ZPMs, back to Atlantis safely, and she’d be damned if she was going to let a few bullets in her arm stop her from doing that.
Not even a minute after they had started heading to the gate, Teyla began to hear more rustling sounds, these ones definitely closer than the last. Then she started to see glimpses of movement out of the corners of her eyes: streaks of grey amongst the dulled green of the forest.
Her heartbeat quickened, causing her blood pressure to rise and her arm to throb painfully. She could feel more blood soaking through the material and saturating her shirt, some of it falling to the ground, leaving a trail behind them.
When she clutched her gun tighter, a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over her, but she fought it back. They must be almost there… She glanced ahead of them; she could see the break in the tree line-they were almost there.
A growl immediately brought her attention back to what was behind her. She gulped as she realized what was happening.
“They’re circling us,” she shouted up to Ronon as she aimed at one of the animals. It appeared to weave in and out of her vision, making it near impossible for her to fire at it.
“I know,” he yelled back, picking up the pace.
Teyla heard another growl and the next thing she knew there was a large animal leaping at her. She reacted on instinct and fired two shots into its chest in rapid succession. It fell to the ground, whimpering and twitching in pain. She fired a third shot, this time directly into its skull, and it stopped moving.
She forced her eyes away from the wolf… or at least that’s what people would have called it at one point. Centuries of living on a nuclear devastated planet had obviously caused the animals to evolve, mutating into grotesque beings. Catching more glimpses of the others she noticed that they all looked like that: unnatural, and skinny-on the verge of starvation. It was no wonder the animals had stalked and attacked the group; they were a fresh source of food in a barren land.
“We’re almost there,” Ronon said, firing a few rounds of his own. From the sounds of it, it was merely warning fire.
“Dr. McKay, dial the gate,” she ordered, not even turning around to look at him. She had to stay focused on this.
Teyla jogged into the clearing just as she heard Rodney start dialing Atlantis. She continued to hold up her gun with her right hand, letting her left arm hang limp at her side. It was now taking all of her concentration and effort just to keep her sidearm trained on the movement in the bushes.
The entire planet seemed to be wobbling as different parts of her surroundings swam in and out of focus. The dizziness was no longer sporadic, but instead unrelenting. Her whole arm felt as if it was on fire, and it was becoming heavier and heavier as the pain became more and more unbearable. The wetness in the sleeve of her uniform was still present and she knew that the wound was continuing to bleed profusely.
One of the remaining wolves sprang from where it had been crouched in the underbrush. Teyla fired, but her arm shook as she pulled the trigger and the bullet went wide. Thankfully Ronon was standing only a step off to her right, and he had been prepared. The animal died, a red flash of light exploding a hole in its chest.
Before Teyla could even think of responding, she heard the telltale sign that meant Rodney had established a wormhole. Immediately afterward, she heard him making radio contact with the technician in the gate room. The words themselves were distorted to her, but she knew what was going on.
“We’re good to go,” Rodney said.
Teyla glanced behind her and saw him disappear through the gate. Then she turned to look at Ronon-he motioned for her to go first. She shook her head slightly, the movement causing the dizziness and nausea to increase tenfold. “No,” she said, her voice coming out quietly and sounding odd to her ears. “Go,” she demanded, looking at the gate.
He nodded reluctantly and didn’t start moving toward the open wormhole until he was sure that she was following him, albeit unsteadily. It took much more effort than she would have liked to place one foot in front of the other without tripping.
They made it to the gate in a matter of seconds, and after she gave Ronon a stern look he walked through. She began to lift her foot to step through the event horizon, looking over her shoulder one last time to make sure that they were clear.
The remaining wolf emerged from the trees, evidently knowing that its intended meal was leaving. It crept towards her, clearly intending to jump at her.
She took a deep breath to clear her head as best she could. Then she fired her gun until there were no more bullets left. Her injury had left her unable to aim very well, but at least one of the bullets hit its mark and the wolf collapsed to the ground.
At one time she would have felt guilty for taking away the animal’s life-it wasn’t its fault that there was no food to be found. But the last few years had changed her, and now she could only feel as if she was doing it a favor.
Teyla turned to go through the gate and the movement sent waves of pressure throbbing through her head, causing her to stumble through the event horizon.
She came out the other side, barely catching sight of the gate room and its occupants before her body gave in to the injury and she fell to the floor.
***
Teyla struggled to open her eyelids, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. They felt as if they were made of metal-much too heavy to move. Her inability to get her muscles to respond scared her, and she racked her mind, trying to recall what had happened. The last thing she remembered was stepping through the gate.
She felt alarmed as she realized that she must have fainted, probably from loss of blood. That would mean that she was in the Atlantis infirmary. It explained everything from why she was groggy to the heavy feeling that encompassed her entire body, with the exception of the burning ache in her arm.
A few seconds later she started to hear the quiet murmur of voices. She couldn’t tell what they were saying; the words were all jumbled together. In her disoriented state she began to panic, fearful because everything was so muddled and vague. Soon after she realized that she knew the people that were talking, and instinctively she calmed-the recognition was soothing in a way, making her feel safer.
The smooth and serene sounding voice speaking right now was Carson, and from the pitch and lilt of his tone she could tell that he was explaining something to someone. Next she heard a low voice-Ronon. Then a third voice joined the conversation, this time feminine. No doubt that was Dr. Weir.
Teyla tried once again to open her eyes, hoping that this time her muscles would comply with her request. She had been shot, that was all; it did not mean that she needed to be lying around in the infirmary like she was on the brink of death.
She was surprised to hear a groan escape from her lips when she failed. The talking stopped for a moment until Carson started to say something. She must have been waking up, because she was able to pick out a few words and piece together what he was saying. He was saying her name and telling her to take it easy. Her entire body felt heavy and she wondered how long she had been out for, the thought almost causing her to panic.
Experimentally she tried moving her fingers, only to find that she could. Whatever drugs Dr. Beckett had given her must have been wearing off.
It felt like an eternity until she was finally able to open her eyes, even though in reality it was probably closer to about a minute. Taking in her surroundings quickly, Teyla noticed that she was indeed in the infirmary, and she had also been right as to who had been speaking. Carson was standing off to her left and both Ronon and Dr. Weir was near the foot of the bed, along with Rodney who looked mortified. For some reason, seeing them all there was comforting, though she could think of one person whose presence would be even more comforting.
“How are you feeling?” Dr. Beckett asked quietly, looking down at her with a slightly worried look on his face.
“I’m fine,” she said, forcing the words out past her dry throat. “What happened?” she asked anxiously, coughing afterwards at the discomfort she felt.
One of the nurses hurried over with some water, and as Teyla reached out to take the glass she realized that there was an intravenous drip in her right arm. A surge of fear passed through her body for a second before she shoved it to the side. The IV did not necessarily mean anything; it may just be precautionary.
Teyla drank the water and set the glass down on the small table beside the infirmary bed before looking around and waiting for someone to answer her question. It was Carson who complied.
“You were shot,” he said hesitantly, looking at her a little oddly.
“I know,” Teyla responded, missing the guilty look that flashed across Rodney’s face. “I mean after that.”
Carson nodded as he realized what she was asking. “I had to operate,” he explained. “One of the bullets went straight through, but the other two got lodged in your arm. It took me a while to remove them without doing too much damage to the surrounding muscle.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Truthfully, I’m just glad that they didn’t hit the bone.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
He gave her a small smile. “Don’t worry about it love.” Then he added, “You’re going to be fine, but you lost a lot of blood. Too much blood.”
He gave Teyla a look that told her he knew that she hadn’t kept pressure on the wound like she should have. But thinking about it now, she wouldn’t change that, even if she could. Her first priority was to her team and the Atlantis expedition, not to herself.
“I want to keep you over night for observation.” She nodded, relieved that was all that was necessary. “I highly doubt there will be any lasting effects, but I want to be absolutely sure.” She nodded again-Carson might be extra cautious, but it was part of what made him the good doctor that he was.
“How long until I can resume my duties?” she questioned hesitantly as she looked back and forth between Carson and Elizabeth. She hoped that it would not be too long; they needed every person that they had… and then some.
Dr. Beckett gave her a reassuring smile. “Not long,” he said. “A few days at the most. We just need to make sure that your body’s able to restore its strength. But that means that you need to rest for the next few days, don’t do anything physical.”
“Take your time,” Elizabeth said, joining into the conversation. “And don’t push yourself,” she added, raising her eyebrow to create a knowing look. She knew Teyla well, mostly because in many ways they were made from the same cloth. They weren’t the kind of people who could easily sit back and recover when there was work to be done.
“I’ll try,” she said, smiling at the other woman.
“Well,” Elizabeth said. “I suppose that’s all I can ask for.” She grinned at Teyla. “I’m sorry but there are things that I need to see to.” She paused as she turned to look at Dr. Beckett. “Keep me posted,” she said. She turned and started walking for the exit, but paused after only a few steps. “And Teyla,” she said. “You did good today.”
Teyla smiled broadly as she watched Elizabeth finish crossing the room and slip out the door. Her approval meant more to Teyla than she would ever let on.
“Alright love,” Carson said, bringing her attention back to him. “I have to go and check up on Major Lorne now, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you Dr. Beckett,” she said kindly. “For everything.”
He nodded and smiled at her before slipping away to attend to some other patients, including Major Lorne.
Teyla turned to look at the remaining two people. Ronon was… well, he was Ronon. He was sitting there and just looking at her, with maybe the barest hint of concern on his face. But he was always hard to read, unless he was angry, and right now she couldn’t tell for certain what he was thinking.
A second later he walked over to the side of her bed where Dr. Beckett had been standing. “Get better,” he said, his voice the same as normal: gruff and low. She merely nodded at his words. “I’m going to leave you two alone now,” he said, glaring at Rodney over his shoulder. “I think that Dr. McKay has something he wants to say.”
Rodney gulped audibly and began to twist his hands together in front of him.
Had the situation not been so serious, she might have laughed. Instead she nodded and Ronon gave her one more look before heading out of the infirmary.
Teyla looked at Rodney for the next few minutes as he gathered the courage to speak. Despite the fact that she already knew what he was about to say, she remained patient and let him take his time.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out eventually, not looking up to meet her gaze. “I… I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to shoot you,” he said.
“Of course not,” she said, keeping her voice and kind as she could. There were times when she disagreed with Dr. McKay, and he often got on her nerves, but right now he was truly nervous and quite obviously racked with guilt. “I have no doubt that it was an accident.”
He looked up at her and she was surprised to see the shocked look on his face. “So,” he said. “So, you’re not mad at me?”
Teyla shook her head. “No,” she said, a smile still on her face.
“Oh,” Rodney said. “Well, that’s good.”
“I know that I was angry and forceful with you before, but did you honestly believe that I would hold this against you?” she asked, hoping that his answer wouldn’t be yes.
“No,” he said, his shoulders slouching with relief. Then his whole body tensed. “Oh, shit!” he swore, tensing up again. “Oh, this is not good.”
“What?” Teyla prompted, suddenly worried that there was something she had overlooked.
Rodney turned and looked at her with an almost fearful look in his eyes. “Sheppard’s going to kill me!”
***
Five days later, Teyla found herself restlessly pacing the city. Today was the day that John was returning. She was irrationally nervous-she hadn’t seen him in two months, and knowing that she would be seeing him in only a few hours made her stomach feel queasy… but in a good way.
While he was gone, she had tried not to dwell on how much she missed him, even though she had only accomplished that with minimal success. But now that he was coming back, she let herself think about that kind of stuff. She smiled in spite of her nervousness; she wouldn’t have to miss it for much longer.
Checking her watch, Teyla headed for the control room. It wasn’t very long until the Daedalus was scheduled to drop out of hyperspace and make contact with them. She wanted, no needed to be there when it happened, even if it meant waiting in the control room until that time.
As she rounded the last corner, she saw that Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay were already in the control room.
“Teyla,” Elizabeth said when she saw her, motioning her over to where she was standing near one of the screens.
“What’s going on?” Teyla asked uncertainly.
Elizabeth smiled. “The sensors just picked up a ship that exited hyperspace.”
Teyla felt her face light up with anticipation. “The Daedalus?” she asked, even though the real question was ‘John?’
A second later the familiar crackling noise came over the communication system. Elizabeth turned to look at Rodney and he nodded. “It’s them,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Atlantis, this is Daedalus,” John said, his warm voice filtering over the radio.
Teyla felt her smile get even bigger, and even though she tried to control it, to make her happiness seem a little less obvious, she couldn’t. She was sure that she had never been this happy to hear someone’s voice before.
“Daedalus,” Elizabeth replied, pressing the button on her earpiece and speaking into the small microphone. “This is Weir.” She paused for a second. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks,” John replied brightly, his own happiness tangible, even over the radio connection.
“You’ve missed a lot,” she added. “We have a surprise for you. Well, actually two surprises.”
“Oh really?” John asked. “Well, we’ve got a surprise for you guys too.”
Suddenly a beeping noise began to emanate from one of the consoles and Teyla’s heart started to race. That was never a good sign.
“We’re picking up another ship that just dropped out of hyperspace right beside the Daedalus,” Rodney said frantically and he looked at the screen.
The smile instantly disappeared from Teyla’s face as worry and fear coursed through her veins.
“Daedalus, this is Weir. Be advised that there is another ship closing in our your position.” Her voice was frantic, but Teyla couldn’t blame her. It was just there luck that a hive ship would find their position just as the Daedalus had exited hyperspace and was at its weakest.
When a couple of seconds went by and they didn’t get a response Elizabeth tried again. “Daedalus, this is Weir. I repeat, there’s another ship closing in on your position!”
“Calm down Elizabeth,” was John’s soothing reply. “I told you we brought a surprise.”
TBC
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