Connect the Dots by liketheriver- Return Challenge
Title: Connect the Dots
Category: Gen, Angst. Return Challenge
Word Count: ~5200
Rating: T (but that might be a bit conservative)
Pairings: None
Characters: Teyla with the expedition and Athosians
Warnings: None
Spoilers: The Return and maybe a slight one for Sanctuary
Summary: Teyla Emmagan had always considered herself an Athosian, but for two and a half years she had been something more, and no matter how much she grounded herself in her Athosian heritage, she knew that alone would always seem a little less than it had before.
Connect the Dots
by liketheriver
Teyla Emmagan had always considered herself an Athosian. Even though she hadn’t stepped foot on Athos in over two years, even though the majority of her people lived several hundred miles away on the Mainland while she resided in the city of Atlantis, even though she spent the largest part of her time helping the Earth people, that was how she defined herself. Athosian. It was stable, solid, an anchor point, and now she would need that more than ever.
The Ancestors had returned to Atlantis. It was more than any of the expedition members from Earth had ever hoped to happen and it had quickly turned into what they had feared the most. After defending the city from Wraith, Genii, disease and natural disasters, they were going to lose it to the least likely source they could imagine- its creators.
And the Earth expedition weren’t the only ones being asked to leave, and that meant Teyla had news to deliver, relocation plans to make, and worst of all, goodbyes to say.
Elizabeth’s office looked the same as it always did when she stopped by to speak with her the day the Ancestors delivered their edict. They were going to be given two days to vacate the city, that was hardly enough time to inform everyone that needed to be told, much less pack. But it would be done, just as so many other difficult tasks had been done over the years.
Dr. Weir looked over her shoulder from where she stood with hands on her hips staring at the room. “Ah, Teyla. I was hoping to talk to you about the Athosians on the Mainland.”
Teyla forced a smile to match the strained one Elizabeth wore that didn’t meet the expedition leader’s red-rimmed eyes. “That is why I am here. I know that your people will be busy with their own evacuation, but I was hoping that we could have the use of several Jumpers to ferry people back from the Mainland to the city.”
“Of course. Just let me know when you will be ready and I’ll see that you get the support you need.” Teyla bowed her head in thanks and Elizabeth asked, “Where will you go?”
“The Ancestors have found a planet for us, one with a stargate.”
Elizabeth nodded her head, “Do you need any equipment, field gear to establish a camp? We’ll be pushing it to get everything we have out of the city as it is.” The expedition leader let out a pained laugh and turned her back to Teyla.
Moving to stand behind her, Teyla placed a hand on her arm and squeezed in comfort. “Elizabeth, I am sure this is only a temporary situation. General O’Neill will be able to negotiate the return of your people to the city.”
“Maybe,” she conceded, “but that doesn’t necessarily mean me.”
Teyla blinked in realization of what she meant. She had always assumed that when the expedition was allowed back in Atlantis, it would be the same people that had always been here... John, Rodney, Carson, Elizabeth, even Dr. Zelenka and Major Lorne and Dr. Heightmeyer. But now she could see that even if a delegation from Earth did return, it wouldn’t necessarily be the people that she had come to count as friends, come to consider as family. And that meant she might not be asked to return either.
“What will you do back on Earth?”
Weir shrugged, wiped quickly at her eyes and turned to face the Athosian once again. “I’m not really sure, yet. I’ve been offered a position with the SGC as a negotiator but I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do. I could go back to teaching, maybe do some writing.” She smiled again, this time with a little more enthusiasm. “Take a long bubble bath and sleep for a week.”
“There are definitely perks to returning home after a long journey,” Teyla smiled in returned.
But Elizabeth shook her head. “There are far more drawbacks to leaving it.” And Teyla understood exactly what she meant. As if in dawning, Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. “You know, I just realized something. I’ve only been a resident in Atlantis a few days more than you.”
Then it was Teylas’s smile that turned sad, but now was not the time to wallow in self-pity. There was much to do in the next two days. “It will only be temporary, Elizabeth. I know we will meet again and we will both return to Atlantis.”
“I hope you’re right.” She sighed heavily before returning to surveying the room. “But now we have the really hard work ahead of us… packing. I think I’d rather face a Wraith siege.”
Teyla nodded her agreement with a grin before taking her leave and requesting a pilot to fly her to the Mainland. She had other hard tasks ahead of her, the hardest yet to come.
“Teyla, wait up.” She turned to see Ronon jogging to catch up with her as she made her way to the JumperBay. “Where’re you heading?”
“The Mainland. I must let my people know we must move again.”
The Athosians were not a nomadic people. Hunting parties did set up temporary camps throughout the year, but they always returned to the main village. Her people had lived many generations on Athos, abandoning the city for the smaller dwellings following one of the larger cullings several hundred years prior, but even then, they had remained. All that changed, however, when the Atlantis expedition had arrived and challenged the Wraith. Not only challenged them, but attacked their Hive ship and killed their Queen and now Athos would never be safe for human habitation again.
Leaving their home had been one of the hardest things the Athosians had ever faced, but they had adapted, the majority settling on the Mainland, planting crops, building dwellings, and as children were born and old ones died over the past couple of years, establishing it as their home. And now… Now they would have to leave it all behind and start fresh once more.
“So, they aren’t going to let you stay on the Mainland?” the Satedan asked. If anyone could understand what it meant to lose his home, it would be Ronon.
“I do not think it would be wise to remain. As much as it pains me to say it, I do not think we can rely on the Ancestors to support us as the expedition does now.”
Ronon nodded in agreement with her assessment of the situation then stood awkwardly as if he were wanting to ask something but not sure exactly how to do it. And Teyla had a pretty good idea what it was he was struggling to ask. “I was hoping that you would assist with establishing the new settlement. I will be busy breaking down the village on the Mainland so it would be a comfort to know someone I trust is at the new location coordinating things there.”
“Sure, I can help. No problem.”
She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “That way you can have first pick as to where you would like your own dwelling place set up.”
A look of relief spread across Ronon’s face at the news that he was welcome to join them. “I’ll scout out a nice spot for you, too.”
“I should hope so,” she teased before continuing on to the Jumper.
Once there, she was surprised as to who had been assigned as her pilot. “John? I would have thought you were too busy with the move back to Earth to bother with a flight to the settlement.”
“Oh, I am,” he assured her as she took her seat and the Jumper started to rise through the opening in the roof. “But the way I figure it, I’ll be even busier by the end of the day and who knows when I’ll get to fly a Jumper again.”
“Will you go back to flying when you return to Earth?”
He shrugged. “Doubtful. I’ve been offered my own away team at the SGC and they rarely get to fly anything. And seeing as we’ll only have the one Jumper and they seem more interested in studying it than flying it, I’ll probably spend most of my time with my feet firmly on the ground.”
The thought made Teyla frown. John loved to fly. She couldn’t imagine him not flying. He had been known to sneak a Jumper out at night for a presumed “security check” of the city when they had not required the craft on missions or the team was grounded for a medical reason.
“Perhaps the F302s then?”
“Maybe,” he conceded half-heartedly as the Jumper accelerated as they left the spires of the city and headed out over open water. “But honestly, they just aren’t the same as the Jumpers. I mean, they can get the heart pumping, no doubt about it. But I don’t feel the same… connection that I do with the Jumpers.”
Connections. She knew that John was speaking of his gene that allowed him to operate the Ancestor’s equipment, but there were so many other connections that were going to be severed, as well. Rodney had received a package from his sister recently and it contained a drawing from his niece. It was from a puzzle book and it was of an Earth animal formed by connecting a series of dots in a set order. Without the lines, it would have looked like a random field of dots, but when they were connected and colored in it was a purple and green cat. Rodney had felt the need to defend the color choices as those of an artistic prodigy who wasn’t constrained by the limitations of the physical world. But Teyla now felt lines slowly disappearing from the world she had come to know and love and so many of the people who had colored it so vividly would vanish in a couple of days.
“Well, with Rodney no doubt in charge of this Jumper study at the SGC, perhaps he will allow you to occasionally fly the ship… for scientific reasons, of course.”
Her plotting grin vanished when John’s face went blank and he shook his head. “Rodney won’t be in charge of the Jumpers. In fact, he won’t even be at the SGC.”
“Where will he be?” she asked in worry.
“He’s being assigned to research in Area 51. It’s a big deal for him,” he promised when he saw the look on her face. “Kind of like a promotion.”
“Is Area 51 near Stargate Command?”
The pilot did his best to downplay her growing concern. “Relative to how far we’ll be away from you, it’s not far at all.”
“But you will not be able to see each other on a daily basis?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He forced a grin and she realized she had been seeing that a great deal lately… smiles that curved the lips but stopped short of the eyes, grins that wavered and disappeared more quickly than they normally would have. But she could not bring herself to do even that, not at this news. It was bad enough that the team was being split up, but at least she would still have Ronon and she had assumed that John and Rodney would still have one another.
“John, is there not something you could do so that you will be assigned at the same location?”
“Seriously, it’s no big deal,” he lied with a barely maintained smirk. “This sort of thing is the norm in the military. You’re never in one place more than a couple of years. And I’m lucky this time I get to say goodbye to people that aren’t dead or seriously wounded.”
“So, there is nothing you can do?”
His shoulders slumped slightly as he admitted, “No, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Will you at least retain your command position?”
His sigh was all the answer she needed but he tried his best to make her feel better about the situation. “Teyla, this isn’t anything personal against me or Rodney or anyone else. Assignments change; it’s a fact of life when you’re associated with the military as either an officer, enlisted, or civilian. And when that happens you just roll with it.”
Roll with it. More like stand there and let them roll all over you, she thought bitterly. Seeing her dismay transfer to anger he told her, “But it looks like Carson will be staying at the SGC.”
“That is good news,” she agreed. “At least for you two.”
“McKay’ll be fine.” And Teyla couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to convince her or himself. “You know how he is. He’ll demand the limelight no matter where he’s at, and have his entire staff in Area 51 just as pissed at him as they are here on Atlantis.”
“I have no fear that Rodney will make plenty of new enemies. My concerns are for his ability to make new friends.”
“He has a way of earning the respect of everyone around him,” he dismissed a little too quickly.
“Respect and friendship are not the same thing, John.” Her reminder was based on her own experience with the scientist and by the frown on John’s face, she was sure he was thinking of his own.
“He’ll be fine,” he repeated a little quieter before falling silent for a long while. When he did speak again, he changed the subject completely and asked about the relocation plans.
Teyla decided to grant him a reprieve from the topic of Rodney. Perhaps he was correct and there really was nothing to be done. If that was the case, then there was no need to make him feel worse than he already obviously did about the situation. So she told him of her plans and when she exited the Jumper when they arrived, she assured him that he could go back to Atlantis and she would radio when she was ready to return.
The settlement was located on the opposite side of the crop fields and Teyla offered greetings to people she had known since birth as she made her way across the seedlings that were being thinned in the warmth of the spring sunshine. She found Halling working among the rows and he smiled genially when he saw her.
“Teyla, welcome!” He straightened and leaned against the hoe he was using. “I am surprised to see you given your notorious dislike for planting.”
“It is not a dislike for planting,” she challenged good-naturedly, “so much as a preference for other activities.”
His laugh was abbreviated when he saw the reluctance in her eyes. “Is there a problem?”
“We must talk,” she informed him simply and he led her to his dwelling.
When he joined her at the table after he had put the teapot on to boil, he told her, “I have always found it best to deliver bad news with no preamble.”
Teyla could only nod in agreement. “The Ancestors have returned to Atlantis.”
The lines of distress at the pending report from the city changed to crinkles of joy around his eyes. “That is wondrous new!”
“Yes,” she agreed, “it is.” But she was unable to share in his delight.
“Then why the sad face?”
“Halling, the Ancestors has decreed that Dr. Weir and her people must leave the city and return to their home world.”
“That is understandable. After all, Atlantis is the Ancestor’s home.”
Teyla scowled at his dismissal of the news. “The Earth expedition has been very good to us. You and I would not be alive today if not for them.”
“Perhaps. And perhaps the Wraith never would have attacked Athos when they did if not for them.”
“It may have not been then, but it would have happened again, eventually,” she defended.
“Teyla, please do not mistake my meaning. I am grateful for what the Earth people have done for us, but they are not the Ancestors. I understand your sorrow at seeing your friends return to their home, and I will miss them, as well. But we should be rejoicing that the Ancestors have returned to us.”
“I hope you will be as joyful when I tell you that because of their return we must leave this settlement and move to a new world.”
The smile transmuted into a confused frown. “I do not understand. Why would we have to do something like that?”
“Without the Earth expedition, we Athosians will be trapped here on the Mainland. We will be cut off from the gate. And we will be at the mercy of the Wraith when they attack Atlantis once they learn the Ancestors have returned.”
“The Ancestors would not abandon us like that,” he laughed at the suggestion of such a thing.
“They do not want us in their city. Once we are gone, I have little doubt they will have any concern for us here on the Mainland.”
“But we are like their children,” he insisted. “They will not desert us.”
“Halling, the Ancestors came here from Earth,” she explained as gently as she could.
She had been raised to revere the Ancestors just as all Athosians had. But in her time on Atlantis, she had seen things, learned many more, and as much as she respected the Ancestors for the advanced race that they were, she now knew that they had many of the same failings and weaknesses as humans. Self-interest being one of the foremost.
“If they are not allowing the descendents of those they left behind on Earth to remain in Atlantis, not even those that share their blood like Colonel Sheppard or Dr. Beckett, what makes you think they will care what happens to those of us here on the Mainland?”
“But our homes, our crops…”
“Will be rebuilt and replanted on the new world that has been found for us.”
He stood and shook his head at the thought. “Surely you are mistaken. Have you spoken with the Ancestors yourself? Are you certain this is how they feel?”
“Halling, they do not want to talk. They simply want us to be gone. We are fortunate that they afforded us two days in which to do it.”
“Two days? We cannot relocate in two days. It is the Earth people. They have angered the Ancestors with their arrogance at inhabiting their city…”
She stood as well, slamming a hand down on the table to stop the pacing man in his tracks. “We are Athosians. We have done far more in far less time. But lamenting our fate and blaming others will not accomplish the move or change the fact that it must take place.”
The two stared at each other for a long moment before Halling finally asked, “There is no other way?”
“No, I am afraid there is not.” Behind her the teakettle whistled and she smiled affectionately at one of her oldest friends. “Come. Let us share a cup of stout tea to fortify ourselves against the days to come. We have much hard work ahead of us.”
And, she added silently, even harder goodbyes.
She spent the entire day and night helping her people breakdown their settlement. And when the first Jumpers started arriving in the morning, she went to greet the pilots. Carson was among them and she smiled in welcome.
“I thought you would be busy packing the infirmary.”
“There are so many members of my medical staff and Marines underfoot that it’s becoming a tripping hazard,” the told her in his distinctive brogue. “Besides, I wanted to check in on a few of my patients here before we headed back to Earth.”
“Carson, you have been a good friend to the Athosian people. I do not know how we can thank you enough for all you have done for us.”
“Aww, love,” he almost whimpered as he blushed furiously at her compliment. “It’s hard enough knowing we’re going to have to say goodbye. Don’t go and start me tearing up before it comes to that.”
“There will be many tears shed over the next few days, of that I am sure.” She stood before him and leaned her forehead against his in the traditional Athosian salutation.
When they straightened he pulled in a stuttering breath. “Well, there you go, then. Rodney’s already scorned my emotional streak today.” Blue eyes blinked rapidly as he waved a hand toward the village being disassembled in the distance. “Go on now and tell me how wee Dellan is faring or I’ll be blubbering like the babe himself.”
Teyla accompanied Carson as he made his rounds through the people in the settlement and returned to Atlantis with the first wave of Jumpers transporting people and materials to the new settlement location. After a quick check with Ronon on the progress, she decided it was time to pack her own belongings and walked through the gate into the control room.
General O’Neill and Mr. Woolsey were talking with Helia, the captain of the Ancestor’s ship, with Rodney standing with arms crossed off to the side. Neither party seemed pleased and she decided it would be best to avoid the entire situation and head straight for her quarters but she slowed on her way up the stairs when she heard Rodney speak.
“Look, we aren’t asking for the complete repository of knowledge here. But since you’ve been back in the city, entire subroutines we didn’t even know existed have started popping up in the system. We simply want to download as much information as possible for scientific study…”
“Those systems were concealed for a reason, Dr. McKay,” Helia argued. “They are of no interest to you or your people.”
“You do realize that you wouldn’t even have a city to come back to if it hadn’t been for my people. A small amount of gratitude would be nice, not to mention appropriate in this situation.”
Rodney’s bristling tone had the woman straightening in outrage and Woolsey offering, “You have to understand that Dr. McKay’s opinion doesn’t necessarily represent those of Stargate Command or Earth in general.”
“Well they should,” the scientist protested and Teyla bit her lip to keep from grinning fondly at the outspoken man’s response.
“All right, that’s enough.” General O’Neill waved an arm to silence the disagreement. “Woosley, you don’t speak for those groups either.” When Rodney smiled smugly and rocked back on his heels, the general pointed a finger at him. “And you, McKay, get the hell out of here.”
“What? But General, we need…”
“I don’t care what you think you need, Doctor. Right now you need to be packing. You have less than fourteen hours to vacate this city, so I suggest you go bubble wrap something fragile before I call one of the Marines over and have him bubble wrap you.”
“But…”
A finger waggled menacingly. “Ah, ah, ah. Not another word or Lorne breaks out the packing tape.”
With a growl, Rodney spun on his heels and started from the room. Teyla took the opportunity to hail him as soon as they were out in the hallway.
He stopped long enough for her to catch up before stalking on and grumbling under his breath. “That narcissistic, self-righteous, megalomaniacal…” He stopped short of finishing his rant and looked to his Athosian teammate. “Would you consider it an affront to your sacred beliefs if I called an Ancient a bitch?”
She raised a wry eyebrow. “It did not stop you when Chaya was here.”
“True,” he conceded. “Maybe we should have Sheppard go all glowey with Helia and she’d be in a better mood.”
“I do not think he would agree to such a proposition, Rodney.”
“It’s about time he took one for the team instead of just himself. I mean, seriously, the one time it would actually serve our purpose to go Kirk and he has to take the moral high ground. Insensitive bastard. It must be his Ancient gene that triggers that in him.”
“Speaking of Colonel Sheppard,” Teyla deftly changed the subject, “on my trip over to the Mainland yesterday, John told me that you would not be stationed together back on Earth.”
Rodney stopped and looked at her. “Did Sheppard ask you to talk to me?”
She furrowed her brow in genuine surprise. “No, he did not. I was just wondering how you felt about that.”
“It’s like I told him last night; it’s no big deal. This is actually the longest I’ve been assigned anywhere since I joined the SGC. Moving to where the work is taking place is just part of being a civilian subcontractor to the military. I’m used to starting over in new places.”
“So you have never worked with the same people for this long during your career?”
“No, actually, I haven’t.”
“Then this will be a new experience for you to leave behind people with whom you have become close.”
He blinked at her observation and for a split second she saw panic flicker in his eyes. Then he shook it off as best he could. “Well, it’s not like Sheppard and Carson won’t be within calling distance or email. And they have flights between the two facilities almost daily so I’m sure I’ll see them from time to time. Right?”
“I am sure you are correct.” She did her best to reassure him even though her own concern grew with his.
“Plus I’m going to be incredibly busy. They’re giving me my own reactor.”
“That sounds… fascinating.”
“Well, it’s not Atlantis by any means but it’s science and it’s well funded and I won’t be going on any away missions so I can concentrate on my work instead of running for my life…”
“Then I am sure you will be happy without those constant distractions you have had here.”
“What?” She realized he had been speaking more to himself than to her and he shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, yes, I am a scientist and being able to concentrate on that will be refreshing… or at least it should be. Shouldn’t it?”
This had been a mistake, but that conclusion had come too late. Her thoughts had been to make sure Rodney was not alone and all she had managed to do was make him realize how alone he was really going to be. So she decided to say what she had never told him but should have after all this time.
“Rodney, I have enjoyed working with you over the past couple of years. But more than that, I have enjoyed getting to know you, the real you. And I count myself fortunate that I was given the opportunity.” More than that, she considered herself lucky that she took the opportunity, even if it was forced on her by the fact they were on the same team.
He snorted self-consciously. “You say that like we’re never going to see each other again.”
She gave him a sad smile but did not contradict his statement.
Blue eyes widened in alarm. “Oh, my God. We may never see each other again. I may never see any of these people again.”
“Rodney, you must not think like that…”
“I need to… I need to find some people.” He seemed at a total loss, and that was something she was not used to seeing with Rodney.
“I am sure all will be well…”
“Radek and Miko and…” Fingers snapped frantically. “Ronon! Where’s Ronon?”
“He is assisting the Athosians…”
But he didn’t even seem to hear her as he continued to think out loud. “Sheppard… I need to talk to Sheppard.”
He started off toward the residential section of the city without looking back and she thought, well, at least I know how he feels even if he did not say anything. But he stopped suddenly, turned back and wrapped arms around her in an awkward hug. Completely caught off guard by the action, she barely had time to embrace him back before he said, “Goodbye, Teyla,” released her, and continued briskly down the hall.
“Goodbye, Rodney,” she said quietly to his retreating back before continuing on to her own room and beginning to pack.
Ronon stepped in the room when she finished closing the last box. “It looks different in here.”
“It looks empty in here,” she corrected glancing around with a sigh.
“Is this stuff ready to go?”
She simply nodded and started to pick up the bags but Ronon stopped her. “I was going to stop by Sheppard’s room and… you know… see how it’s going.”
She gave a mirthless laugh at the way he avoided saying what he really intended to do- say goodbye. “Have you… seen how it is going with Rodney yet?”
“He caught me in the hallway.” Brown eyes darkened with confusion. “He told me he thought of me as a long lost brother that had been raised by wolves then bumped his fist against mine.”
This time the laugh held a bit more humor. “He tries, that must count for something.”
“He does okay until he opens his mouth. You never know if what he says is going to save your life or get him killed.”
“Still, I will miss him. I will miss them all.”
“They’re not gone yet,” he reminded her with a hitch of his head toward the door.
“That is true,” she agreed and followed him to Sheppard’s quarters. But the time came sooner than any of them would like.
The final goodbyes were quick and rushed as they worked to meet the deadline and more than a few tears were shed. And then she and Ronon were standing in the sunshine of the new world with the gate shutting down behind them and the feeling that the last line of the picture that had been her life for the past two and a half years had been erased. The expedition, the team, her friends… they had been drawn together by events, connected by a common enemy, and their lives colored by pain and loss, caring and comfort, danger and escape. But now they were gone and who knew what the future would bring for any of them? Teyla Emmagan had always considered herself an Athosian, but for two and a half years she had been something more, and no matter how much she grounded herself in her Athosian heritage, she knew that alone would always seem a little less than it had before.
As much as she wanted to linger in her regret, she knew she couldn’t. She gripped her duffle bag and squared her shoulders. “Come, there is much work to be done.”
Before her, makeshift shelters, little more than hunting tents dotted the landscape as people moved amongst the beginnings of their new village, their new homes, their new lives. Stepping from the gate platform, Ronon by her side, she set her mind to putting the past behind her and focusing on the task ahead. And if she concentrated hard enough, she could already see the dots connecting and coalescing into the depiction of what was to be her future.
The End
Category: Gen, Angst. Return Challenge
Word Count: ~5200
Rating: T (but that might be a bit conservative)
Pairings: None
Characters: Teyla with the expedition and Athosians
Warnings: None
Spoilers: The Return and maybe a slight one for Sanctuary
Summary: Teyla Emmagan had always considered herself an Athosian, but for two and a half years she had been something more, and no matter how much she grounded herself in her Athosian heritage, she knew that alone would always seem a little less than it had before.
Connect the Dots
by liketheriver
Teyla Emmagan had always considered herself an Athosian. Even though she hadn’t stepped foot on Athos in over two years, even though the majority of her people lived several hundred miles away on the Mainland while she resided in the city of Atlantis, even though she spent the largest part of her time helping the Earth people, that was how she defined herself. Athosian. It was stable, solid, an anchor point, and now she would need that more than ever.
The Ancestors had returned to Atlantis. It was more than any of the expedition members from Earth had ever hoped to happen and it had quickly turned into what they had feared the most. After defending the city from Wraith, Genii, disease and natural disasters, they were going to lose it to the least likely source they could imagine- its creators.
And the Earth expedition weren’t the only ones being asked to leave, and that meant Teyla had news to deliver, relocation plans to make, and worst of all, goodbyes to say.
Elizabeth’s office looked the same as it always did when she stopped by to speak with her the day the Ancestors delivered their edict. They were going to be given two days to vacate the city, that was hardly enough time to inform everyone that needed to be told, much less pack. But it would be done, just as so many other difficult tasks had been done over the years.
Dr. Weir looked over her shoulder from where she stood with hands on her hips staring at the room. “Ah, Teyla. I was hoping to talk to you about the Athosians on the Mainland.”
Teyla forced a smile to match the strained one Elizabeth wore that didn’t meet the expedition leader’s red-rimmed eyes. “That is why I am here. I know that your people will be busy with their own evacuation, but I was hoping that we could have the use of several Jumpers to ferry people back from the Mainland to the city.”
“Of course. Just let me know when you will be ready and I’ll see that you get the support you need.” Teyla bowed her head in thanks and Elizabeth asked, “Where will you go?”
“The Ancestors have found a planet for us, one with a stargate.”
Elizabeth nodded her head, “Do you need any equipment, field gear to establish a camp? We’ll be pushing it to get everything we have out of the city as it is.” The expedition leader let out a pained laugh and turned her back to Teyla.
Moving to stand behind her, Teyla placed a hand on her arm and squeezed in comfort. “Elizabeth, I am sure this is only a temporary situation. General O’Neill will be able to negotiate the return of your people to the city.”
“Maybe,” she conceded, “but that doesn’t necessarily mean me.”
Teyla blinked in realization of what she meant. She had always assumed that when the expedition was allowed back in Atlantis, it would be the same people that had always been here... John, Rodney, Carson, Elizabeth, even Dr. Zelenka and Major Lorne and Dr. Heightmeyer. But now she could see that even if a delegation from Earth did return, it wouldn’t necessarily be the people that she had come to count as friends, come to consider as family. And that meant she might not be asked to return either.
“What will you do back on Earth?”
Weir shrugged, wiped quickly at her eyes and turned to face the Athosian once again. “I’m not really sure, yet. I’ve been offered a position with the SGC as a negotiator but I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do. I could go back to teaching, maybe do some writing.” She smiled again, this time with a little more enthusiasm. “Take a long bubble bath and sleep for a week.”
“There are definitely perks to returning home after a long journey,” Teyla smiled in returned.
But Elizabeth shook her head. “There are far more drawbacks to leaving it.” And Teyla understood exactly what she meant. As if in dawning, Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. “You know, I just realized something. I’ve only been a resident in Atlantis a few days more than you.”
Then it was Teylas’s smile that turned sad, but now was not the time to wallow in self-pity. There was much to do in the next two days. “It will only be temporary, Elizabeth. I know we will meet again and we will both return to Atlantis.”
“I hope you’re right.” She sighed heavily before returning to surveying the room. “But now we have the really hard work ahead of us… packing. I think I’d rather face a Wraith siege.”
Teyla nodded her agreement with a grin before taking her leave and requesting a pilot to fly her to the Mainland. She had other hard tasks ahead of her, the hardest yet to come.
“Teyla, wait up.” She turned to see Ronon jogging to catch up with her as she made her way to the JumperBay. “Where’re you heading?”
“The Mainland. I must let my people know we must move again.”
The Athosians were not a nomadic people. Hunting parties did set up temporary camps throughout the year, but they always returned to the main village. Her people had lived many generations on Athos, abandoning the city for the smaller dwellings following one of the larger cullings several hundred years prior, but even then, they had remained. All that changed, however, when the Atlantis expedition had arrived and challenged the Wraith. Not only challenged them, but attacked their Hive ship and killed their Queen and now Athos would never be safe for human habitation again.
Leaving their home had been one of the hardest things the Athosians had ever faced, but they had adapted, the majority settling on the Mainland, planting crops, building dwellings, and as children were born and old ones died over the past couple of years, establishing it as their home. And now… Now they would have to leave it all behind and start fresh once more.
“So, they aren’t going to let you stay on the Mainland?” the Satedan asked. If anyone could understand what it meant to lose his home, it would be Ronon.
“I do not think it would be wise to remain. As much as it pains me to say it, I do not think we can rely on the Ancestors to support us as the expedition does now.”
Ronon nodded in agreement with her assessment of the situation then stood awkwardly as if he were wanting to ask something but not sure exactly how to do it. And Teyla had a pretty good idea what it was he was struggling to ask. “I was hoping that you would assist with establishing the new settlement. I will be busy breaking down the village on the Mainland so it would be a comfort to know someone I trust is at the new location coordinating things there.”
“Sure, I can help. No problem.”
She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “That way you can have first pick as to where you would like your own dwelling place set up.”
A look of relief spread across Ronon’s face at the news that he was welcome to join them. “I’ll scout out a nice spot for you, too.”
“I should hope so,” she teased before continuing on to the Jumper.
Once there, she was surprised as to who had been assigned as her pilot. “John? I would have thought you were too busy with the move back to Earth to bother with a flight to the settlement.”
“Oh, I am,” he assured her as she took her seat and the Jumper started to rise through the opening in the roof. “But the way I figure it, I’ll be even busier by the end of the day and who knows when I’ll get to fly a Jumper again.”
“Will you go back to flying when you return to Earth?”
He shrugged. “Doubtful. I’ve been offered my own away team at the SGC and they rarely get to fly anything. And seeing as we’ll only have the one Jumper and they seem more interested in studying it than flying it, I’ll probably spend most of my time with my feet firmly on the ground.”
The thought made Teyla frown. John loved to fly. She couldn’t imagine him not flying. He had been known to sneak a Jumper out at night for a presumed “security check” of the city when they had not required the craft on missions or the team was grounded for a medical reason.
“Perhaps the F302s then?”
“Maybe,” he conceded half-heartedly as the Jumper accelerated as they left the spires of the city and headed out over open water. “But honestly, they just aren’t the same as the Jumpers. I mean, they can get the heart pumping, no doubt about it. But I don’t feel the same… connection that I do with the Jumpers.”
Connections. She knew that John was speaking of his gene that allowed him to operate the Ancestor’s equipment, but there were so many other connections that were going to be severed, as well. Rodney had received a package from his sister recently and it contained a drawing from his niece. It was from a puzzle book and it was of an Earth animal formed by connecting a series of dots in a set order. Without the lines, it would have looked like a random field of dots, but when they were connected and colored in it was a purple and green cat. Rodney had felt the need to defend the color choices as those of an artistic prodigy who wasn’t constrained by the limitations of the physical world. But Teyla now felt lines slowly disappearing from the world she had come to know and love and so many of the people who had colored it so vividly would vanish in a couple of days.
“Well, with Rodney no doubt in charge of this Jumper study at the SGC, perhaps he will allow you to occasionally fly the ship… for scientific reasons, of course.”
Her plotting grin vanished when John’s face went blank and he shook his head. “Rodney won’t be in charge of the Jumpers. In fact, he won’t even be at the SGC.”
“Where will he be?” she asked in worry.
“He’s being assigned to research in Area 51. It’s a big deal for him,” he promised when he saw the look on her face. “Kind of like a promotion.”
“Is Area 51 near Stargate Command?”
The pilot did his best to downplay her growing concern. “Relative to how far we’ll be away from you, it’s not far at all.”
“But you will not be able to see each other on a daily basis?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He forced a grin and she realized she had been seeing that a great deal lately… smiles that curved the lips but stopped short of the eyes, grins that wavered and disappeared more quickly than they normally would have. But she could not bring herself to do even that, not at this news. It was bad enough that the team was being split up, but at least she would still have Ronon and she had assumed that John and Rodney would still have one another.
“John, is there not something you could do so that you will be assigned at the same location?”
“Seriously, it’s no big deal,” he lied with a barely maintained smirk. “This sort of thing is the norm in the military. You’re never in one place more than a couple of years. And I’m lucky this time I get to say goodbye to people that aren’t dead or seriously wounded.”
“So, there is nothing you can do?”
His shoulders slumped slightly as he admitted, “No, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Will you at least retain your command position?”
His sigh was all the answer she needed but he tried his best to make her feel better about the situation. “Teyla, this isn’t anything personal against me or Rodney or anyone else. Assignments change; it’s a fact of life when you’re associated with the military as either an officer, enlisted, or civilian. And when that happens you just roll with it.”
Roll with it. More like stand there and let them roll all over you, she thought bitterly. Seeing her dismay transfer to anger he told her, “But it looks like Carson will be staying at the SGC.”
“That is good news,” she agreed. “At least for you two.”
“McKay’ll be fine.” And Teyla couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to convince her or himself. “You know how he is. He’ll demand the limelight no matter where he’s at, and have his entire staff in Area 51 just as pissed at him as they are here on Atlantis.”
“I have no fear that Rodney will make plenty of new enemies. My concerns are for his ability to make new friends.”
“He has a way of earning the respect of everyone around him,” he dismissed a little too quickly.
“Respect and friendship are not the same thing, John.” Her reminder was based on her own experience with the scientist and by the frown on John’s face, she was sure he was thinking of his own.
“He’ll be fine,” he repeated a little quieter before falling silent for a long while. When he did speak again, he changed the subject completely and asked about the relocation plans.
Teyla decided to grant him a reprieve from the topic of Rodney. Perhaps he was correct and there really was nothing to be done. If that was the case, then there was no need to make him feel worse than he already obviously did about the situation. So she told him of her plans and when she exited the Jumper when they arrived, she assured him that he could go back to Atlantis and she would radio when she was ready to return.
The settlement was located on the opposite side of the crop fields and Teyla offered greetings to people she had known since birth as she made her way across the seedlings that were being thinned in the warmth of the spring sunshine. She found Halling working among the rows and he smiled genially when he saw her.
“Teyla, welcome!” He straightened and leaned against the hoe he was using. “I am surprised to see you given your notorious dislike for planting.”
“It is not a dislike for planting,” she challenged good-naturedly, “so much as a preference for other activities.”
His laugh was abbreviated when he saw the reluctance in her eyes. “Is there a problem?”
“We must talk,” she informed him simply and he led her to his dwelling.
When he joined her at the table after he had put the teapot on to boil, he told her, “I have always found it best to deliver bad news with no preamble.”
Teyla could only nod in agreement. “The Ancestors have returned to Atlantis.”
The lines of distress at the pending report from the city changed to crinkles of joy around his eyes. “That is wondrous new!”
“Yes,” she agreed, “it is.” But she was unable to share in his delight.
“Then why the sad face?”
“Halling, the Ancestors has decreed that Dr. Weir and her people must leave the city and return to their home world.”
“That is understandable. After all, Atlantis is the Ancestor’s home.”
Teyla scowled at his dismissal of the news. “The Earth expedition has been very good to us. You and I would not be alive today if not for them.”
“Perhaps. And perhaps the Wraith never would have attacked Athos when they did if not for them.”
“It may have not been then, but it would have happened again, eventually,” she defended.
“Teyla, please do not mistake my meaning. I am grateful for what the Earth people have done for us, but they are not the Ancestors. I understand your sorrow at seeing your friends return to their home, and I will miss them, as well. But we should be rejoicing that the Ancestors have returned to us.”
“I hope you will be as joyful when I tell you that because of their return we must leave this settlement and move to a new world.”
The smile transmuted into a confused frown. “I do not understand. Why would we have to do something like that?”
“Without the Earth expedition, we Athosians will be trapped here on the Mainland. We will be cut off from the gate. And we will be at the mercy of the Wraith when they attack Atlantis once they learn the Ancestors have returned.”
“The Ancestors would not abandon us like that,” he laughed at the suggestion of such a thing.
“They do not want us in their city. Once we are gone, I have little doubt they will have any concern for us here on the Mainland.”
“But we are like their children,” he insisted. “They will not desert us.”
“Halling, the Ancestors came here from Earth,” she explained as gently as she could.
She had been raised to revere the Ancestors just as all Athosians had. But in her time on Atlantis, she had seen things, learned many more, and as much as she respected the Ancestors for the advanced race that they were, she now knew that they had many of the same failings and weaknesses as humans. Self-interest being one of the foremost.
“If they are not allowing the descendents of those they left behind on Earth to remain in Atlantis, not even those that share their blood like Colonel Sheppard or Dr. Beckett, what makes you think they will care what happens to those of us here on the Mainland?”
“But our homes, our crops…”
“Will be rebuilt and replanted on the new world that has been found for us.”
He stood and shook his head at the thought. “Surely you are mistaken. Have you spoken with the Ancestors yourself? Are you certain this is how they feel?”
“Halling, they do not want to talk. They simply want us to be gone. We are fortunate that they afforded us two days in which to do it.”
“Two days? We cannot relocate in two days. It is the Earth people. They have angered the Ancestors with their arrogance at inhabiting their city…”
She stood as well, slamming a hand down on the table to stop the pacing man in his tracks. “We are Athosians. We have done far more in far less time. But lamenting our fate and blaming others will not accomplish the move or change the fact that it must take place.”
The two stared at each other for a long moment before Halling finally asked, “There is no other way?”
“No, I am afraid there is not.” Behind her the teakettle whistled and she smiled affectionately at one of her oldest friends. “Come. Let us share a cup of stout tea to fortify ourselves against the days to come. We have much hard work ahead of us.”
And, she added silently, even harder goodbyes.
She spent the entire day and night helping her people breakdown their settlement. And when the first Jumpers started arriving in the morning, she went to greet the pilots. Carson was among them and she smiled in welcome.
“I thought you would be busy packing the infirmary.”
“There are so many members of my medical staff and Marines underfoot that it’s becoming a tripping hazard,” the told her in his distinctive brogue. “Besides, I wanted to check in on a few of my patients here before we headed back to Earth.”
“Carson, you have been a good friend to the Athosian people. I do not know how we can thank you enough for all you have done for us.”
“Aww, love,” he almost whimpered as he blushed furiously at her compliment. “It’s hard enough knowing we’re going to have to say goodbye. Don’t go and start me tearing up before it comes to that.”
“There will be many tears shed over the next few days, of that I am sure.” She stood before him and leaned her forehead against his in the traditional Athosian salutation.
When they straightened he pulled in a stuttering breath. “Well, there you go, then. Rodney’s already scorned my emotional streak today.” Blue eyes blinked rapidly as he waved a hand toward the village being disassembled in the distance. “Go on now and tell me how wee Dellan is faring or I’ll be blubbering like the babe himself.”
Teyla accompanied Carson as he made his rounds through the people in the settlement and returned to Atlantis with the first wave of Jumpers transporting people and materials to the new settlement location. After a quick check with Ronon on the progress, she decided it was time to pack her own belongings and walked through the gate into the control room.
General O’Neill and Mr. Woolsey were talking with Helia, the captain of the Ancestor’s ship, with Rodney standing with arms crossed off to the side. Neither party seemed pleased and she decided it would be best to avoid the entire situation and head straight for her quarters but she slowed on her way up the stairs when she heard Rodney speak.
“Look, we aren’t asking for the complete repository of knowledge here. But since you’ve been back in the city, entire subroutines we didn’t even know existed have started popping up in the system. We simply want to download as much information as possible for scientific study…”
“Those systems were concealed for a reason, Dr. McKay,” Helia argued. “They are of no interest to you or your people.”
“You do realize that you wouldn’t even have a city to come back to if it hadn’t been for my people. A small amount of gratitude would be nice, not to mention appropriate in this situation.”
Rodney’s bristling tone had the woman straightening in outrage and Woolsey offering, “You have to understand that Dr. McKay’s opinion doesn’t necessarily represent those of Stargate Command or Earth in general.”
“Well they should,” the scientist protested and Teyla bit her lip to keep from grinning fondly at the outspoken man’s response.
“All right, that’s enough.” General O’Neill waved an arm to silence the disagreement. “Woosley, you don’t speak for those groups either.” When Rodney smiled smugly and rocked back on his heels, the general pointed a finger at him. “And you, McKay, get the hell out of here.”
“What? But General, we need…”
“I don’t care what you think you need, Doctor. Right now you need to be packing. You have less than fourteen hours to vacate this city, so I suggest you go bubble wrap something fragile before I call one of the Marines over and have him bubble wrap you.”
“But…”
A finger waggled menacingly. “Ah, ah, ah. Not another word or Lorne breaks out the packing tape.”
With a growl, Rodney spun on his heels and started from the room. Teyla took the opportunity to hail him as soon as they were out in the hallway.
He stopped long enough for her to catch up before stalking on and grumbling under his breath. “That narcissistic, self-righteous, megalomaniacal…” He stopped short of finishing his rant and looked to his Athosian teammate. “Would you consider it an affront to your sacred beliefs if I called an Ancient a bitch?”
She raised a wry eyebrow. “It did not stop you when Chaya was here.”
“True,” he conceded. “Maybe we should have Sheppard go all glowey with Helia and she’d be in a better mood.”
“I do not think he would agree to such a proposition, Rodney.”
“It’s about time he took one for the team instead of just himself. I mean, seriously, the one time it would actually serve our purpose to go Kirk and he has to take the moral high ground. Insensitive bastard. It must be his Ancient gene that triggers that in him.”
“Speaking of Colonel Sheppard,” Teyla deftly changed the subject, “on my trip over to the Mainland yesterday, John told me that you would not be stationed together back on Earth.”
Rodney stopped and looked at her. “Did Sheppard ask you to talk to me?”
She furrowed her brow in genuine surprise. “No, he did not. I was just wondering how you felt about that.”
“It’s like I told him last night; it’s no big deal. This is actually the longest I’ve been assigned anywhere since I joined the SGC. Moving to where the work is taking place is just part of being a civilian subcontractor to the military. I’m used to starting over in new places.”
“So you have never worked with the same people for this long during your career?”
“No, actually, I haven’t.”
“Then this will be a new experience for you to leave behind people with whom you have become close.”
He blinked at her observation and for a split second she saw panic flicker in his eyes. Then he shook it off as best he could. “Well, it’s not like Sheppard and Carson won’t be within calling distance or email. And they have flights between the two facilities almost daily so I’m sure I’ll see them from time to time. Right?”
“I am sure you are correct.” She did her best to reassure him even though her own concern grew with his.
“Plus I’m going to be incredibly busy. They’re giving me my own reactor.”
“That sounds… fascinating.”
“Well, it’s not Atlantis by any means but it’s science and it’s well funded and I won’t be going on any away missions so I can concentrate on my work instead of running for my life…”
“Then I am sure you will be happy without those constant distractions you have had here.”
“What?” She realized he had been speaking more to himself than to her and he shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, yes, I am a scientist and being able to concentrate on that will be refreshing… or at least it should be. Shouldn’t it?”
This had been a mistake, but that conclusion had come too late. Her thoughts had been to make sure Rodney was not alone and all she had managed to do was make him realize how alone he was really going to be. So she decided to say what she had never told him but should have after all this time.
“Rodney, I have enjoyed working with you over the past couple of years. But more than that, I have enjoyed getting to know you, the real you. And I count myself fortunate that I was given the opportunity.” More than that, she considered herself lucky that she took the opportunity, even if it was forced on her by the fact they were on the same team.
He snorted self-consciously. “You say that like we’re never going to see each other again.”
She gave him a sad smile but did not contradict his statement.
Blue eyes widened in alarm. “Oh, my God. We may never see each other again. I may never see any of these people again.”
“Rodney, you must not think like that…”
“I need to… I need to find some people.” He seemed at a total loss, and that was something she was not used to seeing with Rodney.
“I am sure all will be well…”
“Radek and Miko and…” Fingers snapped frantically. “Ronon! Where’s Ronon?”
“He is assisting the Athosians…”
But he didn’t even seem to hear her as he continued to think out loud. “Sheppard… I need to talk to Sheppard.”
He started off toward the residential section of the city without looking back and she thought, well, at least I know how he feels even if he did not say anything. But he stopped suddenly, turned back and wrapped arms around her in an awkward hug. Completely caught off guard by the action, she barely had time to embrace him back before he said, “Goodbye, Teyla,” released her, and continued briskly down the hall.
“Goodbye, Rodney,” she said quietly to his retreating back before continuing on to her own room and beginning to pack.
Ronon stepped in the room when she finished closing the last box. “It looks different in here.”
“It looks empty in here,” she corrected glancing around with a sigh.
“Is this stuff ready to go?”
She simply nodded and started to pick up the bags but Ronon stopped her. “I was going to stop by Sheppard’s room and… you know… see how it’s going.”
She gave a mirthless laugh at the way he avoided saying what he really intended to do- say goodbye. “Have you… seen how it is going with Rodney yet?”
“He caught me in the hallway.” Brown eyes darkened with confusion. “He told me he thought of me as a long lost brother that had been raised by wolves then bumped his fist against mine.”
This time the laugh held a bit more humor. “He tries, that must count for something.”
“He does okay until he opens his mouth. You never know if what he says is going to save your life or get him killed.”
“Still, I will miss him. I will miss them all.”
“They’re not gone yet,” he reminded her with a hitch of his head toward the door.
“That is true,” she agreed and followed him to Sheppard’s quarters. But the time came sooner than any of them would like.
The final goodbyes were quick and rushed as they worked to meet the deadline and more than a few tears were shed. And then she and Ronon were standing in the sunshine of the new world with the gate shutting down behind them and the feeling that the last line of the picture that had been her life for the past two and a half years had been erased. The expedition, the team, her friends… they had been drawn together by events, connected by a common enemy, and their lives colored by pain and loss, caring and comfort, danger and escape. But now they were gone and who knew what the future would bring for any of them? Teyla Emmagan had always considered herself an Athosian, but for two and a half years she had been something more, and no matter how much she grounded herself in her Athosian heritage, she knew that alone would always seem a little less than it had before.
As much as she wanted to linger in her regret, she knew she couldn’t. She gripped her duffle bag and squared her shoulders. “Come, there is much work to be done.”
Before her, makeshift shelters, little more than hunting tents dotted the landscape as people moved amongst the beginnings of their new village, their new homes, their new lives. Stepping from the gate platform, Ronon by her side, she set her mind to putting the past behind her and focusing on the task ahead. And if she concentrated hard enough, she could already see the dots connecting and coalescing into the depiction of what was to be her future.
The End