Disclaimer: I own no part of Stargate.
A/N: I love Teyla's character, but recently I've had this impulse to put her in weird situations. This is just one of them.
Yes, "Spanky" is one of my favorite parings, but I semi-deviated away from that for this story. (For those who don't know, "Spanky" is Teyla/Ronon and "Sparky" is John/Elizabeth)
Just a oneshot that popped into my head one day
Teyla didn't know what it was, but she knew it was something.
Something that was hard-wired into the female brain to always chase after the dangerous man.
It was the reason why teenage girls on Earth always fell for the holy terrors with holes in their jeans, leather jackets and battered cars that the boys fixed on the weekends or when they had nothing else to do.
2 million light-years away, the story stayed somewhat the same.
Growing up, Teyla and her close friends had always, for some unknown reason, fancied the boys who rebelled against everything. Even though what the boys did put not only themselves in danger, but several other people as well. Twenty years later, Teyla decided to do some rebelling of her own.
One one of their more recent missions, they encountered the wraith in the final moments of a ground assault for a culling.
"Colonel Sheppard." Teyla warned quietly as she sensed the cold presence.
"What is it, Teyla?" John asked, his P-90 at the ready to shoot any hostile forces.
"It is the wraith. They are here." She looked around, trying to put a direction to the feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Why are they here? The only thing on this planet is this little village, nowhere near enough people for a successful culling." John argued
"You are wrong, Colonel Sheppard." Teyla replied solemnly
"What do you mean by that, Teyla? We've been trading with these people for almost a year now. What is it that you know that I don't?" John demanded, but Teyla remained silent
"Teyla, what information do I need to know to save people's lives?" He repeated the question in different words. He could see a single tear rolling down Teyla's cheek.
"The Gariens, like the Genii, have a small village on the surface, keeping the premise of an under developed agrarian society. However, beneath the surface is a tunnel system that covers most of the planet. There are several billion people on this world, Colonel." Teyla finished
"How did the wraith find this planet?" John asked, hoping that she could provide an answer
"Perhaps they have technology that allows them to sense life forms, much like the device in Atlantis. I do not know. What I do know is that unless we can somehow warn the people in the tunnels and tell them to close and lock all hatches and survive on reserve life support. The wraith will have not had a feeding ground so rich in five or six millenia." Teyla offered as much information as she could and John breathed a heavy sigh.
"Teyla, in the future, it would be nice to know about crusades with more notice than a wraith culling in process." He sounded tired
"I apologize, Colonel. No one could have known." She replied
"Okay, do you know how to discreetly get the word out to the people in the tunnels?" John asked, already formulating a plan.
"Yes." Teyla declared firmly.
"Alright. Ronon, Hicks, you two cover Teyla's six. Make sure that she gets where she has to go safely. Rodney, Samson and I will try and take out as many of them as we can." John gave the assignments.
"Ronon, Captain Hicks, this way." Teyla beckoned them elegantly as she climbed over the bank where the team was currently hiding. She lurked in the dense foliage and tried to find the best way to get to the tunnel entrance. Using hand motions, she indicated the way that she would take to get there. Unfortunately, the best way was a suicidal run across the battlefield. Teyla took a deep breath and bolted out of the underbrush, Ronon running beside her, shooting left and right. Just before they reached the entrance, Ronon was hit by a stunner blast and fell beside the stone rectangle that housed the hatch. Teyla pulled him up over the two foot high wall and dropped him down inside. She followed and closed the hatch behind her. The tunnel was lit by a luminescent strip that ran down the center of the ceiling. She found the people standing in formation, pointing weapons at her.
"The wraith are attacking." She said, "Get the word out. Close and lock all the hatches. Let no one in or out." citizens began to scatter and find the announcement system. Teyla bent down and looked at Ronon. He was not badly hurt, the stunner hit him in the side of his ribcage, but it had been largely blocked by his left arm. At least he could still shoot with his good hand.
"How is the situation out there, Colonel?" Teyla spoke into her radio.
"Samson is dead. I saw Ronon go down and you pull him in with you. Is he okay?" John's voice crackled back.
"Ronon is perfectly alright. What happened to Major Samson?" Teyla asked
"His and Rodney's position was compromised. A Wraith went after Samson. Rodney shot at it, but he just kept draining life from Samson and healing himself. I shot the wraith in the head, but it was too late for Samson." Teyla sat in silence for a moment.
"Alright Colonel. Contact me on the radio when it is safe to go back out."
"Will do, Sheppard out." The static ceased and Ronon began to come back to consciousness.
"Where are we?" He slurred, trying to open his eyes
"We are in the tunnels. We are safe. Colonel Sheppard will contact us when it is safe." Teyla reassured the runner.
"I don't like doing nothing." He replied and looked up at Teyla from his position on the floor
"Neither do I, but for the moment, we have no choice." She responded and leaned against the cold concrete wall. It was almost two hours before the Colonel's voice came through the radio saying
"Coast is clear, you can come on out." Teyla reached up and unlocked the manual release on the hatch and climbed out, followed by Ronon.
"Where's Hicks?" The Colonel asked as he walked across the burning ground.
"I don't know. I ran with Teyla, last I saw of him he was back in the bushes." Ronon pointed to their hiding spot. Further investigation revealed a skeletal shell wearing an Atlantis uniform. Every member of the team winced at the sight. The four spun around at the sound of a wraith hiss and Ronon caught it in the chest with a stun blast.
"Does Beckett need another subject?" John asked
"He has been complaining about a lack of living cells." Rodney declared
"Okay then. We're taking Mark back to the holding cell." John said and began dragging the incapacitated wraith by the wrist back to the gate.
"Mark?" Rodney asked
"Come up with another name, we'll use it." John yelled over his shoulder.
"Nevermind." He replied
Back on Atlantis, Elizabeth was slightly more than surprised to find that John brought an unconscious wraith back with him, but he was promptly put in the cage-like cell with 24 hour guard.
Teyla held her P-90 at the ready as she watched the wraith in the ancients' cage. He stormed around furiously, obviously hungry. Cold eyes flashed from behind a thick mane of slivery white hair and long fingernails clawed menacingly at the energy barrier between the bars. The barrier was the only thing keeping Teyla from falling prey to the clutches of one of the most feared enemies anyone in the Pegasus galaxy had ever known.
After seven weeks, Mark resigned himself to leaning against the far wall of the cage, his eyes closed. Teyla hypothesized that he was attempting to communicate with his fellow wraith and possibly give them instructions to Atlantis. This thought alarmed her and haunted her sleep until Rodney told her that the room was shielded against telepathy.
Teyla accepted that answer for a while until she began to question both herself and Rodney's intellect. She admitted that he was a smart man, but how could you shield a room against a genetic anomaly that allowed one individual to communicate with another mentally?
Every three weeks, Mark was tranquilized as Doctor Beckett collected tissue and blood samples to monitor his health and work on improving the retrovirus "cure" for the wraith. Mark's physical state continued to decline from lack of nutrition and he no longer leaped to his feet when the door slid open for Beckett's testing. It took him longer and longer to revive after every tranquilization. As Teyla manned her post one day when she was not off-world, she began to feel pity for Mark, however irrational it seemed. She thought about how she would feel if a field of cows imprisoned her for eating beef, fed her nothing, and analyzed her blood to see how to turn her into a fellow cow so she would stop eating them. All in all, it was a rather disturbing philosophical thought and she shook her head to clear the mental image.
"You are trying to put yourself in my position." Teyla gasped as the words appeared in her mind. She stepped backward and raised her P-90 to face Mark, who was currently in his usual position: slumped in the corner of the cell, the energy barrier glowing where he had disturbed it.
"Yes." She conversed aloud
"You cannot know my position. Every day feeling the hunger for a soul, and watching people pass before you, so close, yet just out of reach because they fear you and your kind and what you would do if set free." Mark sounded remorseful as he spoke, as if he regretted being a wraith. Teyla felt a spark of sympathy for him that was instantly doused by a bucket of cold water reminding her that the wraith have very strong minds and could make you see things that weren't there; maybe even feel things that weren't true.
"You're right. I cannot understand how you feel. I cannot put myself in your place, because I am a human and you are a wraith. We are too different. I have never had to kill with my bare hands for my next meal, or watch the eyes of a human being go dark as they die for my hunger to be appeased."
"Will Teyla Emmagen please report to the medical laboratory? I repeat, will Teyla Emmagen please report to the medical laboratory immediately? That is all." Teyla looked up at the speaker from the citywide communicator before turning around and walking from the room. Mark leaned his head back against the bars and contemplated the human woman departing the vicinity and the weapon she thought could protect her if he was given a chance for escape.
"I was called?" Teyla asked several minutes later as she arrived in the med lab.
"Yes, Teyla. I believe that I have finally managed to create a drug that will strip away the Iratus bug DNA and leave only the human part of our little friend behind… permanently." Doctor Beckett's expression was that of a little kid in a candy store.
"Are you certain?" Teyla asked, her expression one of disbelief and wanting to believe, but at the same time trying to keep her expectations low.
"All of the simulations came out positive. All that is left is the live test." Doctor Beckett was ecstatic
"On Mark?" She replied, somewhat redundantly
"Yes, the wraith prisoner that Colonel Sheppard managed to capture."
"His name is Mark!" Teyla snapped abruptly at the Scottish doctor; the latter of which backed away slightly. He knew what Teyla could do to a person when she was ticked off.
"I'm sorry lass; I didn't know you were so insistent that he be called by the name Colonel Sheppard gave him."
"I am also sorry for my outburst… I do not know what came over me." Teyla's face now bore a look of confusion.
"The conversion should, with any luck, happen within thirteen hours. It will take that long for the retrovirus to go through the DNA strands and remove the part that comes from the Iratus bug. Nasty little beggars those are." Beckett continued as he looked over his experiment table.
"After which time, Mark will be human for the rest of his life?"
"Yes, however long that may be. We have theorized that after the conversion, the human cells have a chronological age equivalent to that of a man in his early twenties."
"Meaning that Mark would likely live for another fifty or so years?"
"Yes. I believe that is plenty long enough, considering he has probably lived for a few thousand years already."
"When are you going to test this drug?"
"At the next scheduled blood and tissue date, so that he doesn't get suspicious. He'll just wake up the next morning with no memory."
"At which time we will flesh out a lifetime for him and a situated spot in Atlantis?" Teyla continued to ask very sensible questions that she had legitimate reasons for knowing.
"Yes, however much Ronon may disapprove."
(Four days later)
"Alright, Mark, you know the drill." Colonel Sheppard said as he aimed his weapon at the wraith when the door opened. Mark sighed and extended his arm to receive the shot from the tranquilizer. He had largely given up on putting up any sort of fight when they came in to do their tests. Before he slipped into unconsciousness, he said
"This may be one of the last times you'll do this to me. My hunger is weakening me to my barest systems." With that, his eyes slid shut and Carson brought out the prepared shot of the retrovirus.
"At least he won't remember anything. We'd better not call him Mark when he wakes up, it could trigger his memory so that he would have the mind of a wraith and the body of a human." Carson noted as he dispensed the fluid into the arm of the unconscious wraith.
"Colin?" John asked absently as he stood watching the test.
"Colin will do just fine." The doctor acknowledged as he stood up.
"Now we wait?" Rodney asked, having just entered the room.
"Now we wait." Carson nodded and everyone exited to a rather uneasy night's sleep.
Teyla, for one, had a dream that as a human the containment chamber had released Mark…wait…Colin, and he wandered through the base calling for someone, anyone to hear him. It was during the night, so Teyla rose from her bed and walked out of her room to try and find Colin before he stumbled upon anything that may be classified.
"Colin?" She whispered, so as not to wake anyone else.
"Who are you?" Colin asked when he turned around.
"I'm Teyla…your wife."
With that, Teyla jolted violently awake to the searing Atlantean sun pouring generously through the large window. She thought back, out of breath, on her dream as she panicked before remembering that Doctor Heightmeyer told her that dreams don't symbolize anything, they are merely a way that the mind deals with different situations.
She rose and dressed before heading down to the med lab, where Colin was transferred after the injection. He remained blissfully asleep with an expressionless face. His skin was deathly pale, as though he had never seen the light of day; more pale, even, than Rodney, who spent all his time in a lab. His long fingers were curled around one another and his long white hair spread out in a pool around him. As the only one in the room, Teyla admitted to herself that Colin was handsome in a somewhat scary, colorless way.
At that moment, Colin's eyes flickered open. In heavy contrast to the rest of his appearance, his eyes stood out a warm honey brown from the cold white of his face, hair and lips. His eyes were filled with empty confusion, and as predicted, his first question was
"Who am I?" His voice was innocent and Teyla smiled warmly
"Your name is Colin Thompson. You have been in an accident."
"What kind of accident?"
"I will go get the doctor; he is more qualified to explain your situation than I am." Teyla regarded Colin gently before returning a few minutes later; Carson Beckett in tow.
"How are you feeling, son?" Carson attempted to be cheerful
"I feel alright, except that I don't remember anything. This lovely young woman told me that my name was Colin Thompson and I was in an accident." Colin gestured to Teyla at the words 'lovely young woman'.
"Yes, well, this will take a lot of explaining, but you and the rest of your team were on another planet when you were attacked. You took a blow to the head and were left for dead; meanwhile the rest of your unit was killed. When a search party was sent afterward, we found you, barely alive."
"Another planet?"
"Yes, you see, you were part of a team that used a device called the Stargate to go to other planets and explore."
"I'm hungry." Colin complained wearily
"That's understandable, son, you've been unconscious on a feeding tube for the last thirteen days, anyone would be hungry." Carson continued to check Colin's vitals as he walked around the bed.
"I want to go do something, to remember, to get back to normal." Colin rested one of his hands on top of the sheet on the hospital bed.
"I'm sure you do, but for now you need to rest and get used to eating solid food again."
"But…"
"Doctor's orders." Beckett pointed at him with the end of the pen he was using to make notes before placing it in his pocket.
(Seven days later)
"Doctor!" Colin moaned impatiently. He was almost as insufferable as when Rodney had to spend a few days in the infirmary. Scratch that, no one could be as insufferable as Rodney, wraith or human. Teyla walked into the room to see a very bored looking Colin and a doctor who obviously had a headache.
"Is something the matter, Doctor Beckett?" Teyla asked concernedly.
"Only the most annoying patient this infirmary has ever known. With the exception of Rodney McKay, of course."
"Of course." Teyla conceded that Rodney could be a pain in the gluteus maximus (the precise scientific term) at times.
"However, I do think that Mr. Thompson is ready to leave this infirmary and see the city."
"Hallelujah!" Colin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and practically jumping down off the bed. Teyla smiled a little at his antics and motioned for him to follow her.
"So, how can I find out more about who I am?" Colin asked a few minutes into their walk.
"This could take a while. How about we sit out on the balcony?" Teyla asked and gestured toward the door, outside which was a spacious balcony where they could converse for hours without fearing anyone overhearing them. That is, unless Ronon decided that he would protect Teyla in case Colin's memory came back and was perched on the overhang above the balcony like a cat…and heard every word.
"I just can't abide the feeling that I know so much more, and that I may never remember it all ever again."
"Well, I am certain that you will remember all of the important things."
"Like what?"
"Your sister, Tracy, you love Ferris wheels…" Teyla began to list off things that a normal person may remember about him or her self. Ronon had to hold in a chuckle at the Ferris wheel part; he knew Colonel Sheppard's certain affinity for the objects. One of the members of the expedition, Tracy Thompson, had volunteered to be known as Colin's sister. She had very pale European skin and white-blond hair, so she could almost pass for an actual relation to Colin.
"Did I have a wife and children?" Colin finally asked the heart-numbing question that Teyla knew was ultimately inevitable. Ronon held his breath; this part of the lie hadn't been fleshed out, even though the best cover-story people had to have known that the question would be asked sooner or later.
"No, you did not." Teyla replied evenly. She made up her own additions to the lies as she went along and later informed people so they did not contradict her in their own encounters with the newly transformed human.
"Well, that is a good thing, in a way." Colin replied as he looked out over the sea.
"What do you mean?" Teyla's heart began to beat faster.
"Because then, I would not have a chance with you." Colin looked away, as if scared to see Teyla's reaction. She placed her hand under his chin and turned his face toward hers. She smiled gently and Colin took her in his arms. When their lips met it took every ounce of Ronon's self control to avoid drawing his weapon and killing Colin on the spot; but then he saw how happy and content Teyla looked and his lust for revenge upon Colin's head slackened to a deep feeling of rejection. Teyla and Colin had not yet broken apart when Ronon crept back over the overhang of the balcony down to where he had first scaled the wall in the first place. He landed on the ground and began to walk quickly and purposefully across the city. Along the way, he met up with Colonel Sheppard who asked him
"Hey, easy big guy, what's wrong?" Ronon looked down at the Colonel with rage and tried to articulate what he was feeling. He finally settled upon.
"He took her. I was trying to build a trustful relationship with her and he took it from me."
"Wait, whoa just a minute! Who are we talking about here?"
"Teyla! She's a fine, strong woman who I could see myself bonded to; this coming from me, the man-on-the-run for the last seven years, never making ties anywhere… and he took that chance away from me."
"Okay, half my question was answered. Who's 'he'?"
"That…" Ronon groped for a suitable adjective, "Thing!"
"Colin?"
"Giving him a name won't humanize him. He was a wraith. He may have the skin of a human and the appetite of a human, but he is still distinctly wraith-like. I can see it in the way he walks. I am human. I could protect Teyla, (not that she needs it, but) I could be someone who is always there. She never saw that I was right here and she went after that…"
"Thing?" Colonel Sheppard finished the sentence for Ronon as he once again was at a loss for an adjective.
"Yes." Ronon pulled out his energy weapon and pointed it toward his own throat. The whole hallway of people turned in his direction.
"Ronon! I'm ordering you to put that weapon down!"
"Sorry Colonel, I'm no longer under your command." Just then a blur of brown hair and flesh knocked the weapon from Ronon's hand.
"What on Athos do you think you are trying to do?" Teyla stood up fuming as she disengaged the weapon
"If you hadn't noticed, I was trying to take my life."
"Why would you do that?" Teyla waved the dead gun.
"Because I love you and because you never bothered to notice that I loved you, that I was right here whenever you needed me. You never saw my affection and then you kissed that thing!" Ronon pointed a finger in Colin's direction. The hallway was listening intently now as Teyla blushed a warn crimson.
"Colin and I were the only ones on that balcony." Colonel Sheppard looked surprised and glanced from Teyla to Ronon and back again.
"Wrong!" Ronon shouted, powerful tears starting in his eyes. No one present knew it was possible for Ronon to cry. He continued carefully with, "I was sitting on the balcony overhang."
"You were spying on me?!" Teyla was furious.
"I was trying to protect you!"
"I can take care of myself!"
"I love you!"
"Well, I don't love you!"
The corridor fell silent at Teyla's powerful words. Ronon nodded, accepting his rejection. In one swift motion, Teyla flung Ronon's weapon out the doorway and it sailed out over the balcony's edge. A very faint splash was heard and everyone's suspicions that Teyla had a very good arm were confirmed. Meanwhile, Colin was feeling guilty that he was the cause of the fighting between Teyla and Ronon, but at the same time happy that, at least for a little while, Teyla loved him.
"I will haunt you for the rest of your life, I'll be the reason you don't sleep at night. When you finally realize that you should have been with me, I won't be here." Ronon spoke silently, but with such intensity that the entire corridor was witness to his word. As promised, later they found Ronon. The official cause of death was blood loss due to self inflicted wounds; unofficially it was a broken heart.
Two years later, Teyla married Colin aboard the Daedalus. At the reception, Teyla stood up and raised her glass of Athosian tea.
"To Ronon, he was a brother to me."
Everyone bowed their heads in memory of an end, and then continued to celebrate a new life.