FIC: Beside (Stargate Atlantis fic)
Beside
A Stargate Atlantis fanfic
Summary: John Sheppard never pretended to be a hero, and it's not his fault if Teyla thought he was.
Characters: John Sheppard and Teyla (if you turn your head twenty-one degrees sideways and squint, it might look a bit shippy)
Disclaimer: Sony and MGM own all things Stargate Atlantis. I'm only borrowing and will return them at the end of the fic.
Setting: Set during season one's "Letters From Pegasus", while Sheppard and Teyla are out on their scouting mission of the Wraith Armada headed toward Atlantis. Begins while flying toward the planet, just before the Wraith open their wormhole, then later while waiting on the planet for Orin's family.
Author's Note: I'm making things up about Sheppard's past from rumors on the internet, so if I'm wrong about some key facts in here, let me know. Also, my first venture into SGA fic, so if you have comments on any of it, please make them but please don't crush my fragile spirit plzthnx. *iz nervous*
Word count:: 410
~*~
Sheppard really wishes Teyla would stop looking at him like that. Like he just shot her puppy and told her there was no God.
This wasn't supposed to be a rescue mission, damn it. He can't risk going back for her friends, can't save everyone... hell, he's starting to think he can't save anyone.
There she goes again, looking at him sideways, her face blank but her glare accusing. It's not like he ever lied to her about his job, what kind of man he is. She worries about one family that might be taken by the Wraith; he worries about getting the intel on the Wraith back to Atlantis to save everyone there.
Somehow, he knows what she's doing. She's wondering if he's the man she thought he was, if she can trust him any longer. He never asked her to put him up on some pedestal.
Funny, though, how much that fall can hurt.
~~~
"What else do you want from me?"
"Too much, I fear."
He hates how her voice can be so lovely when she's driving a knife into his heart. He's tried to save everyone before. It didn't work, everyone fucking died anyway, on that dusty Afghanistan road.
Now, he can't make any promises to save her friends here; but he has to get this information back to Atlantis. He's got people to save there. Why can't she see that?
~~~
He can't do this. He can't sit, protected, in the hidden Puddlejumper, not raising a damned finger while the Wraith are taking people. He doesn't know these folks, but every time a Wraith Dart aims its beam at the ground, taking up more people to the ships, taken up to their deaths, his fingers tighten on his P-90.
"There is nothing we can do."
Stop agreeing with me! Sheppard wants to scream, to shock her out of it. He's never heard tears in her voice before, and it's freaking him the hell out. She's supposed to be the strong leader, with the sticks and the glare that can melt steel and the determination to never back down.
If Teyla's falling apart, it's worse than he wants to know.
~~~
He's got a Puddlejumper full of people, a sky full of Wraith Darts, and very little time to get to the Stargate to save all their asses. But no pressure.
At least Teyla's in the chair at his side again. It's not much, but sometimes, a little has to be enough.
the end