Fic: Home

[meekosan.livejournal.com]

Title: Home
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Character(s)/Pairing(s): John Sheppard / Teyla Emmagan
Word Count: 2600
Disclaimer: Not mine. Characters, world, etc do not belong to me.
Summary: Written for the sheppard_hc exchange, receptient tielan who requested, John/Teyla or John & Teyla, with long-term imprisonment and infection/septicemia.

It had been a simple recon mission but before anyone knew, it went to hell in a handbag. During the firefight, Rodney and Ronon had gotten separated but John knew that they did at least make it back to the stargate to dial back to Atlantis and get to safety.

That left him with Teyla to fight their way through a large number of Wraith warriors that both outnumbered, and out gunned them. Two factors of a failed mission he never liked. For several days that was all John could remember in between extensive periods of darkness and confusion.

When he woke up, he struggled to lift his head to look around and get an idea of where he was but even before that, his first thought was the need to know where Teyla was. Pushing himself up, John tried to focus but his vision was so blurred that it took awhile to adjust to the bright sun. "Teyla?" he called out, trying not to shout.

Standing was not an option, he quickly found out as he fell right back down to his ass, cursing at the pain that shot through his leg. The commotion was enough to catch the attention of his friend that had been not far from where he was, at a nearby stream.

"John?" she asked, coming up a small, but clearly worn footpath.

He looked up at her, squinting. "Teyla? Is that you?" he asked, his voice rough from being unused in his sleep. Just how long had he been out? "Where are we?"

"We are on a planet, somewhere. I am unsure exactly where," Teyla said softly as she went to kneel beside him. "Lay back and rest. You were injured quite bad during the fight."

John looked down at his leg trying to piece everything together. "What happened?" he asked confused as hell.

She looked at him carefully as she started to remove the makeshift bandages around his leg. "You really do not remember?" she asked. The look on his face as he looked up at her said it all.

"Alright, where shall I begin..." she said slowly. "After Rodney and Ronon made it through the stargate, we struggled to fight our way through the Wraith. We had been lucky enough to distract them with what little C4 we had left to get to the dialing device. The stargate on Atlantis must have been active when we tried to dial, so to get off the planet, we started dialing the alpha site. Apparently, there was some damage done that we did not know about and we were sent to this place."

John listened quietly trying to put the vague images, or memories he did have to what she said. "So how long have we been here, and why are we still here?"

"It has been nearly fourteen cycles of the sun, so it is difficult to say. I suspect about ten days or so from what we are accustomed to," Teyla said before breaking the bad news. "We are unable to leave because the device on this world was destroyed long before we came here. I believe there may have been a battle that took the lives of the people that once lived here."

"Oh," was all he could say before wincing as the water she rinsed his leg with burned like all hell. "Let me guess...Wraith managed to stab me?"

"Something like that," she smiled slightly. "Do you feel up to eating? You really need some nourishment to help your body heal."

He shrugged, not really caring. He would eat simply because he needed to, but in all honesty, John preferred that Teyla keep the food for herself as she actually had someone to get home for.

"Do not try to spare yourself John. There is plenty of wildlife on this planet that will sustain the both of us," she added as she gave him a hard look. She knew the man, her friend very well and had already suspected that he had other thoughts going through his mind. "When you are strong enough to move more, there are some uninhabited homes down the road. It appears as if they have been abandoned a long time ago, perhaps generations."

John nodded as he slowly ate the fruit she handed him. "What else have you found?"

Teyla sighed as she looked around them. They were seated under a large tree that provided some shelter from the sun and weather, which had been the only reason she had not attempted to drag his unconscious body the distance to the village. A small fire burned a few feet away, where she began to set up what appeared to be dinner. "The water is rich with fish," she smiled. "I have noticed some wild beasts in the trees on the other side of the water but they have not come close enough to be considered a danger yet. I was thinking we should save our ammunition when we choose to hunt for their meat."

"Speaking of that...shouldn't we you know, save our weapons for defense? Against the Wraith if they attack?" he asked looking at her through squinted eyes.

"The wraith appear to either never been here or was last here when the planet held life of humans. We can devise other weapons for hunting if you wish, but it will also take time as we don't have the tools to do it faster."

Sighing, John laid his head back down. "So...Good news is that we don't have to worry about some space monster trying to eat us anytime soon. Bad news is that we are stuck here with no way home," he said, summing it up.

"It would appear to be that way. For now, you should focus on getting better. There are some plants that I am familiar with that has healing properties that I have found to create a treatment for your wounds. But you should conserve your strength," Teyla said as she reached over to add more wood to the fire.

"I don't think that sitting up and talking will do me much harm Teyla," he added pulling himself up so that he could lean against the tree more comfortably. Looking down at his leg for his first good look, he winced. The pants leg was cut up to his thigh, evidently by his friend, so that she could do what she needed to. John looked around more now that his tired eyes had adjusted to bright light. "At least it's nice..."

She looked up and around. "It is. Considering the other possible planets we could have been sent to, it certainly is," she replied.

"Help me over to the fire. I can at least hold a stick with the meat even if I can't help with the hunting right now," he said eventually.

Teyla nodded with a smile as she stood to come over to his side. "Do not put any weight on that leg. I may be tempted to break it rather than just your flesh and muscle be injured," she threatened.

"I promise to behave myself," he grinned at her as they made their way to the fireside. Settling back down, he took the skewer from her as she pulled back the fabric that she wrapped around his leg. The sudden exposure to the air caused the injury to burn and he hissed through his teeth, looking down. "That doesn't look too good."

"No. It appears that an infection has started to set in. If you are up to moving tomorrow, we will make our way to one of the houses in the village," she said. "Perhaps staying out of the elements will keep it from getting worse."


True to her word, the next day the two did their best to make it into the first home in the overgrown village. Teyla settled him down as he painfully struggled to catch his breath as he breathed through the pain from his wound. Between the pain and the infection that was trying to get him, it felt as if his energy was sapped from him and could sleep for the next month if he could

"Lay down and rest," Teyla said as she looked around for anything she could use to clean the dirt and dust that settled over the surfaces from disuse.

"I'm not going to argue," John grinned as he let his head fall back to the surface of the straw like bed. "Even if it takes months for Atlantis to find us, I think we can easily call it home if the Wraith don't show up."

She smiled as she found a small broom from up the upper level of the home. "It is nice. And it will help that having a fire within the walls help contain the heat at night."

What Teyla said did not matter much as the exertion caused him to be asleep soundly when she walked back into the room. She looked at him and made a decision that in the next days she would have to find an animal large enough for its pelts.

She spent the next few hours before it was time to prepare their next meal finishing the cleaning while he slept. After she was able to get supper started in a large pot over a fresh fire, she removed the fabric from John's leg to try to clean it again.

The pain from the stinging of the water and paste from the plants she used to aid in the healing was enough to wake the man. "Geez! Couldn't you have waited until I was awake first or something? I was having a very nice dream," he complained.

"I am sorry but this still needs to be cared for, pleasant dreams or not," she said. "I was thinking that we may need to cut the fabric of the leg to keep it open."

"Yeah, that sounds good," he sighed. "Makes sense to have the fresh air exposed to it more. Dry it out some or something. We may as well tear off the other leg too. That way I got shorts. I'm sure we can wash the legs to use for something else."

She nodded in agreement before she began to pull at the fabric. Her fingers accidently brushing against the skin of his thigh causing him to jerk slightly. Teyla's eyes flashed up to his face and blushed at the expression on his face. "Sorry," she said quickly. Adding right after that, "Supper is almost ready. I managed to make something of a stew with some rabbits I've killed."

"Sounds good," John sighed as he tried to keep his face straight. While his dream was definitely nice and his body was still feeling slightly sensitive from it. The only confusing and somewhat curious thing about it was that the woman he was with in it was Teyla.

As she walked away to continue with her care of him by working on their dinner, he couldn't help but to watch her. He knew he was always attracted to her, since that first day in the Athosian camp when they met. For the sake of the expedition and the team, as much as he wished he could act on his feelings, he never knew if she could ever return them. Especially now that she had Kanaan.

He knew then that he had lost any chance with her.

---

Life on the nameless planet had become fairly mundane. There was a short while that they were worried because the wound on John's leg had become quite badly infected that Teyla, apart from doing the necessary chores, she did not leave his side. When his fever eventually broke and the infection began to clear on his own with his stubborn body finally fighting again, all he could think about during that time was her and what he would say if he ever had the chance to because it had not looked pretty.

That was nearly five months ago. It had taken him awhile before he could find the strength and courage to speak with her more. Neither of them knew how long it would be before help came, if they ever found them so they had to really begin to consider that planet to be their home and not just a safe refuge.

No one was more surprised then him when she leaned in and softly kiss him, starting on his cheek softly before making her way to his lips. Teyla had waited so long to hear those words and even after he expressed his desire not to come between her and the father of her son, she smiled before sharing that it had been over between them a long time prior. She and Kanaan remained close friends and loving parents but they were not a romantic couple, as neither of them were able to give each other their full hearts as they longed for someone else.

That night, there was little words spoken between them as their emotions and desires were expressed greatly through their touches, kisses and eventual intimacy. John couldn't help but think that they moved too fast that first night, but in the end, it truly had been a long, six year courtship between them.

John was getting better day by day. Walking was coming easier and soon he was able to help with the hunting, but until then, they were satisfied with his catching fish and taking over the cooking in their attempt to share their daily chores they had set for themselves.

He couldn't help but grin at how happy he actually realised he was as he bathed in the small lake on the outskirts of the village. He loved watching her as she moved, in and out of the water and stood there with a goofy smile that left her amused, but concern and worry in her eyes as she looked back at him.

"What's the matter?" he asked as he waded closer to her to take her in his arms.

She frowned as she settled in his arms but was unsure of how to tell him of her suspicions. Instead, she found herself wrapping her arms around him and initiating a heavy kiss in attempt to distract him but a familiar buzz caught their ear before a gust of a warm breeze flew over them. "John?" Teyla said slowly as she looked up and around.

"I felt it too," he said as he tried to look for what he believed it would be, what they had hoped for since they first arrived to this world.

Letting go of her, the two made their way over to the shore where their clothes laid across a large boulder. Heading over to the main beach, they stayed hidden in the treeline and looked at each other as the distinct outline of a jumper uncloaked and two people walked out of the back.

"Nothing changes," John said as he reached out for her hand. "I want us to stay together, no matter what."

"Good. I am pleased," she smiled at him. "I don't think that I would be willing to let you let me go easily."

He only grinned at her before looking back as the faces became more clear. Major Lorne. "Let's go home," he said as they walked towards their friends, hand in hand.