Title: Facing the Wraith

Author: Jackee

Ships: Darn, good question. I confess that not only don’t I have a ship, I’m having a difficult time seeing Sheppard/Teyla romantically, which does little to explain this story except for that fact that I think an argument can be made that friendship is alluded to. Many thanks to the two ladies who checked this over for me.

Summary: Just a little Teyla POV episode tag for The Siege, Pt. 1 – right after Shep gets hit with the stunner.

Archive: Sure. Eventually on my web page and ff.net as well.

Rating: Um. . . my brain is stuck in stall on the new ratings . . . I’m wimping out and going with G to PG

Status: Complete

****

“Stand by.”

She heard John Sheppard’s voice in her ear through the radio. They were getting nearer to the place where the wraith was resting. She could feel it, the deep cold and the utter darkness that defined the deadly creatures. They were her enemy – and yet, in some small way, they were a part of her. A part that, oddly, she still viewed as a gift.

They moved through the darkness, she, Aiden and another, having circled around to the entrance on the other side of the room. Aside from the very small noises of their passage, all was quiet. A faint sound reached her ears – that of a door sliding open.

An instant after a gnawing intuition filled her heart, the sound of weapons fire echoed over the radio link. Wraith weapons fire. A low Wraith growl. She picked up her pace, as did the others, while at the same time pushing away the fear that reached deep into her heart.

The sound of lone echoing footsteps and of movement came eerily across the link, spurring them on. They were almost there when the heard the horrible sounds of fabric tearing.

“Nothing will keep us from our new feeding grounds!”

There was the creature, stooped, a hand thrown back, ready to feed. The blast caught him in the center of his back. But still, she didn’t breathe until she’d looked on its unconscious form and had seen that it would not move. She then leaned over John Sheppard, saw the fear that had been in his eyes as he fought the stunner weapon’s effect.

“We got him, Major,” she said, hoping to reassure him. “You’re going to be okay.” But she still needed to reassure herself. She settled a hand against his chest, felt the rapid pounding of his heart which was at odds with his struggle for movement. And then he gave in, allowing the darkness to take him.

The crisis, for the present, was over. The wraith no longer roamed freely in Atlantis, the city that had become her safe haven and that of her people. She watched as the men came and took the vile creature away to be locked in the same dungeon that had seen the other Wraith’s death. But when the doctors came to take John Sheppard, she went with them. She took his P-90 weapon and clipped it to her own uniform.

She told herself her reasons were because they were a part of the same team, and she was concerned for his safety. As Aiden was directing the security of the captured wraith, and Dr. McKay was not currently in the city, she was the only one who remained to represent the team at Sheppard’s side. But she knew that it was also because she had a depth of respect for him like no man – aside from her father – that she had ever met.

He had never once looked at her as if she were not there. He never lost trust in her, despite circumstances that seemed to indicate that he should. To her people, he had more than what Dr. Beckett called the gene; he had the heart of the Ancestors.

He did not sleep for long. They had only been in the medical bay for ten minutes when she heard his voice as he argued with the doctor. The doctor had called her to the bedside to ‘talk some sense into the Major’.

She looked into the prone man’s eyes and knew that Dr. Beckett had already lost. No matter what she said, John Sheppard would not be remaining in the medical bay. “Can he not be released into my care?” she suggested hopefully.

“You’re just as bad as he is,” Beckett accused, throwing up both his hands.

Then, likely having come to the same conclusion she did, he shook his head and sighed. “I suppose short of sedating you, I really can’t make you stay. And with that stunner in your system I can’t rightly do that either. I’ll expect to see you back here in an instant if you start to feel worse.”

“Okay, doc.” The Major was already pushing himself up out of the bed.

Dr. Beckett made a sound of disgust and left the curtained off section of the room.

Sheppard wasted no time in leaving.

“Why the hurry, Major?” she felt compelled to ask.

“In case he changes his mind.” His voice was weaker than it had been moments earlier. “And I really need to talk to that wraith.” The pace of his stride slowed once they passed through the doors out of the medical bay.

“You are not recovered,” she told him, alerting him to the fact that she was on to his pretense.

She thought that he might argue with her. Instead he smiled. “It’s a long way to the brig. What say we find a transporter?”

“I believe that to be a wise idea.” She smiled in return and moved in just close enough so that she would be there for assistance should he require it.