Set after the series finale, well technically four years after. This fic was a product of my procrastination and the fact that SGA never resolved the whole there was something between John and Teyla.

Disclaimer: I don't own SGA or any of the characters.

She had never thought it would be this way. She never thought that she could miss a place so much that it occupied her daily thoughts, that she could vividly remember the sounds and the smells, and that her soul would yearn for it.

Around her was the familiar, the people that she had grown up with, the people that she had protected, that it was still her job to protect. She was their leader and once she had thought of nothing more than that. Once she had thought that so long as her people were together she was home.

The feel of the leather as her hand tightened its grip, the feel of the string as she pulled back, the feel of her back muscles tightening until she released the arrow- it was familiar and yet it was not. It was strange as she and her companions went to their prey. As she and her people sat together and ate in the tents.

She never thought that she could miss a place that was so unfamiliar. A building cooled with stale air, wood bar sticky with spilled drink, sweating glass in hand, and laughter at something John had said. Metal and glass rising to the sky, the harsh glare of streetlights, people in a rush all around.

When she had first arrived she had felt…out of place. When she had first ventured in the streets, out of the SGC, dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a buttoned shirt (courtesy of Jennifer) she had felt a little nervous and anxious but as John began pointing things out to her she had started to relax. And after a week or so, when she could navigate around by herself, she had felt a thrill of excitement.

What had always kept the gnawing of wanting to return to Pegasus was her son and when they had commissioned a Ship to Pegasus she had given everyone a parting hug and had not looked back.

Kanaan asked one night, "If you could go back. If you could go to Earth and take Torren with you, would you go?"

"That is not an option."

She had responsibilities in Pegasus. She had responsibilities to her people.

He came back. He and Rodney and Ronon and others from the original Atlantis expedition. There was no running towards one another and meeting with a passionate hug as in the movies Jennifer had forced her to watch. Instead she had watched stunned as he approached.

"Hey stranger," John's mouth quirked into a smile.

"It has been too long," Teyla had responded with an equally large smile on her face.

They were called back before expected. She had walked into the tent to find Torren sitting on her bed as John was strapping on his vest. John stopped and looked at her, it was a serious look. "We have to leave tonight…Teyla," he paused, unsure. "Will you come with me?" He looked at her son. "You and Torren."

The words that she had spoken to Kanaan were on the tip of her tongue-that is not an option. But she was silent instead.

Torren's brown eyes looked up at her expectantly. John looked away. "Uncle John said you liked it. He promised to take me on a Ferris Wheel."

Teyla's eyes narrowed, "He did."

"Yeah!" Torren swung his legs. "I want to go."

She had responsibilities to her people.

John held out his hand towards Torren and helped him off the bed. "C'mon buddy, you can help me round up all the troops." As he passed Teyla he said, "We leave tonight. I know that it's a lot to process…it's a lot to give up. But I'm asking you to come with me, to trust me."

She turned to watch John as he bent over and allowed Torren to scramble up his back and onto his shoulders.

It was strange as she walked through the door with a bag of food in cartons, as she handed them to John to take to the dining room. The hum of the air conditioning, the polished table, the smooth wood floor beneath her feet. It was strange how much it felt like home.

After John returned from tucking Torren into bed and sat down next to her on the couch, Teyla turned to him. "That day…you said that it was a lot to give up."

John nodded, "I did." He let an arm rest around her shoulders and she moved closer to him. He was wearing a black t-shirt and wristband and his dark hair was unruly. He looked the same as he had those first years on Atlantis. He still had his team, minus her and plus a young marine, and missions minus the Wraith.

She on the other hand, she had changed. There was a lot to give up. Not just her clothes or being placed on a team with men that she was still getting to know. She had given up her people. "Do you know why I made that sacrifice?"

He leaned away from her so he could look at her. "Because Halling promised he'd take care of everyone?"

She shook her head. "As much as there was to give up I knew there was more to be gained."

There would always be a small part of her that missed Pegasus, that missed the trees and the forests, and that missed the village life. There would always be a part of her that missed her people. That missed the sense of being needed. But John's presence, that year that she had spent on Earth with him, the three years that she had spent yearning for a place that she had become attached to, and then watching John with Torren...every day that she woke up on Earth was another day that she was glad that she had trusted John Sheppard.