John looked across at Teyla dancing with the Lord Mayor. She looked to be having fun as he pulled her into an overly dramatic tango. John liked these people; they had a great sense of fun and seemed genuinely friendly. They looked at the Lantean's in awe and always treated them with the utmost respect. The Pynese, as they called themselves, worshipped the Ancients but they weren't some sort of cult. He never wanted to go anywhere near a cult again not after the last one stripped him and tried to feed him to their Goddess, who happened to be a fire-breathing lizard. A fact they had failed to mention when introducing themselves. It still made him squirm just thinking about it.
No the Pynese were not like that, they wanted to learn about the Ancients. The congregation, as it were, called themselves students as they were forever following the teaching of the Ancients. Using their ways to guide them and improve their value of life.
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The Lord Mayor, Mr P, as John had taken to calling him as Lord Mayor seemed too formal for such an easy going, care free guy. Talking to him you'd never realise he was responsible for over eight thousand people.
Anyway, he was making Teyla laugh and anybody who could do that was good enough in his book. He loved to see her smile; he'd missed the extra spark in her eyes that it produced. He liked it even more when she smiled because of him but that wasn't too often lately, she'd gone through a lot and he wanted to help her through it. However, he got the feeling she didn't want anything from him other than his leadership. A wave of sadness came over him as he realised the one thing he truly wanted in the world did not want him back, not in the way he had hoped.
He snapped out of his gloom when he heard her laugh. The sound rejuvenated his heart and kick-started his brain. He looked around the room and spotted the Mayor's wife who had taken it upon herself to be John's guide throughout the town. She had her husband's warmth and a generosity second to none. She waved him over to the dance floor and he stood up to join her. Well he couldn't say no to someone who baked the best chocolate cake he had ever tasted!
She pulled him in close and whispered in his ear, "Just trying to make all the other women jealous." She giggled, her eyes shining with joy at the look of the barmaid. They continued dancing and John began to enjoy himself almost as much as Teyla was.
Mrs P grabbed his hand and pulled him over to her husband and Teyla. "I need a quick word with my better half so if you wouldn't mind swapping partners… I won't be long." She said as she whisked her husband away.
John smiled at Teyla as she continued to dance; she had the same grace that she showed in her bantos fighting. She looked up at his face and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Thank you for persuading me to come here, this is the most fun I've had in a long time."
"Good to hear." John said softly as he put his arms around her waist. "We should do this more often."
"Yes we should, you are a very good dancer John, despite your coordination!" She teased.
"Hey! Don't tell the marines that, I'll never hear the end of it; I have a reputation to uphold. And whatever you do not a word of this to McKay and Ronon." He said, trying to be stern but it came out as more of a whine.
Teyla reached up and tugged lightly at some of his hair that was stuck up more than usual.
"Oh no you don't. Lay off the hair!" Teyla laughed at how that managed to come outseriously.
They continued dancing, forgetting completely about their previous partners.
John was laughing so hard that he barely felt the light pinprick in his arm; it didn't register enough for him to take notice of it.
Mr and Mrs P returned and Mrs P pulled John off to one side. "I have something to show you." She said.
He was actually rather grateful to be taken off the dance floor as he was starting to feel light headed.
She led him down a series of corridors, keeping a firm grip on his arm, which he was particularly grateful for. The walls had started swirling as soon as they'd left the main hall and now he was having trouble concentrating enough to stay on his feet.
He was guided into a grand room and onto a comfy sofa that was soft enough to sleep on. His eyes began to drift closed as he felt a soft hand on his cheek. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of you." A warm voice said off in the distance before blackness ensued.
…………………
Teyla resumed dancing with the Lord Mayor but was a little deflated after John had left her. It had felt so good to be comfortable in his presence. She had spent so much time pushing him away that she'd almost forgotten how fantastic it felt to be near him. She knew now what a fool she had been. She was afraid of her feelings for him and didn't want to end up hurt again. But she was hurting much more without him; she was no longer going to deny herself the happiness she deserved. She only hoped it wasn't too late to get it.
"Where did your wife take John?" She asked the Mayor. He must have noticed how subdued she had been since he left and she was pretty sure that they had been purposefully pushing the two of them together on occasions.
"Don't worry, he's fine. My wife just wanted to show him her plans for redecorating her kitchen." Mr P tried to reassure her.
That was odd, why did she think John would be interested in that? It was obvious that Mr P was not a very skilled liar.
"I would like to see that as well." She blagged. "Would you take me to them."
"Of course" He said, Teyla was surprised that he had not tried to deflect her.
He strode off down a long corridor in the complete opposite direction to where his wife had taken John. Did he really think she was that stupid, or he really was just incredibly bad at being devious.
Once they were out of the main hall and she was certain that she was not being led towards her desired goal. She grabbed Mr P's arm from behind him, twisted it up his back and pressed him into the wall.
"Where is he?" She demanded in his ear.
"I assure you he is fine, we do not intend to hurt him." He blurted out.
"You did not answer my question." Teyla pointed out as she shoved his arm up tighter.
Mr P winced but managed to reply, "He is down the other hallway, I will take you… but please let him stay." His voice was starting to get desperate.
Teyla did not grace him with a response; she yanked him off the wall and pushed him in the right direction.
"We only want to learn from him. He is the closest being we have ever met to an ancient. He is truly special." He pleaded.
"If you only wanted his help, then why didn't you just ask?" She said sternly.
He flustered for a moment but answered honestly, "Because he would never have left you."
"And you have no right to take him away from me." She said through a clenched jaw.
"We are here." He said as he indicated to a door.
Teyla reacted immediately by kicking it down. She saw John dozing on the sofa and relief rushed through her. She ran over to him and rubbed his cheek to get him to wake up. There was no way she could carry him back to the gate.
Mrs P screeched "Get away from him, he is ours." Her eyes were wide with a mixture of fear, despair and desperation.
"We only wish to learn from him, he will come to no harm. The Gods graced us with his presence and we are not letting him go. He is special and he belongs with us." She continued.
Teyla stood up and marched over to the frantic woman. "He belongs with me." She said with fire in her eyes.
With that she returned to John's side and managed to rouse him enough so that she could lead him off of the Pyneses' planet.
As they left the room she shot one last, furious glance at the couple she had considered friends.
Teyla struggled under John's weight but it got easier as he came back around the closer they got to the gate.
By the time they reached it, and Teyla had opened a wormhole back to Atlantis, John was almost back to full consciousness.
"What happened?" He asked as he tried to blink the sleep out from his eyes.
"They tried to take you away from me." She told him.
"Huh?" John asked, he was still a little fuzzy from the drug and wasn't quite sure what she meant by that.
Just before they stepped through the gate, Teyla grabbed his tack vest and pulled him in to a deep kiss.
That cleared that up then.