A/N: Thank you Linda for such a great beginning. And Happy Birthday to my friends in the JT thread for September. Hope you enjoy.
Heroes and Heroines
Dr. Jennifer Keller walks into the infirmary to check on Teyla, who was seriously injured after her last altercation with Michael. As she walks in Keller sees John sitting by Teyla's bed and holding her hand in his. His head is on the edge of the bed and he is fast asleep.
Keller has tried countless times to keep him in his own bed, because of the injuries he sustained with his own encounter with Michael, but to no avail.
Keller carefully checks Teyla's vitals. She smiles at John's tenderness towards Teyla and after seeing him like this she doesn't have the heart to make him go back to his bed. At least he was still in the infirmary where she can monitor them both.
A few hours later, Teyla begins to stir. John feels her hand moving slightly under his and looks up sleepily. He sees Teyla move slightly then wince.
"Doc!" John shouts and looks back down to Teyla.
"Teyla? Teyla, can you hear me?" John asks as he squeezes her hand a little tighter.
Teyla begins to open her eyes but the lights in the infirmary are too bright and closes them again. She flutters them until they get used to the light. When her eyes adjust she looks up and sees John standing over her.
Keller joins John at Teyla's bedside. The doctor checks Teyla's vitals. Once she is satisfied that everything is ok she looks down at Teyla and sees that she is in a little bit of pain and discomfort.
"Teyla?" Keller says and waits for a response.
"What..." Teyla tries to say but her throat is very dry and she starts to cough.
John and Keller see how much that hurts her by the look on her face. Once she stops coughing, John grabs a glass of water from the bedside table and lifts Teyla's head up slightly with his free hand and gives her a drink which she accepts very gratefully. John slowly puts her head back down on the pillow and puts the glass back on the table.
"What happened?" Teyla manages to say this time in almost a whisper.
"Don't you remember?" asks a worried John.
She frowns slightly. "Everything seems a bit unclear right now."
Teyla notices John's slightly pale complexion, "John?"
Her eyes quickly scans him, "You are injured as well?"
John silently nods, "I will be fine. What is the last thing you remember?"
Teyla's eyes sadden and she sighs, "I…I recall that Michael somehow used the stolen jumper to get into Atlantis. He erected a force field as well."
John gives her a warm smile, "That's right. He said that he had captured as well. What happened that allowed you to escape?"
Teyla's winces in pain and she pauses briefly, "He was overly confident of his accomplishments. So much so that he didn't watch me constantly. When his shield started to fail, he became distracted and irate towards his men. I took advantage of it."
Keller notices that John is turning paler and that he is holding his side where she had to stitch a deep laceration. Teyla sees the color drain from his face as well and that he is trying to fight off his fatigue.
"Ok, Colonel. I let you stay out of bed way too long," Keller reprimands.
She also sees that there is blood coming through his scrubs. She carefully helps him back to his bed.
She releases a deep sigh, "And it looks like I'll have to stitch you up again. Now, stay here and I'll be right back."
Keller gives Teyla a look, as if to hint to her to keep an eye on him. Teyla nods to acknowledge that she understands.
John turns to look at Teyla, fighting as hard as he can to keep his eyes open. He sees that Teyla is growing worried.
He forces a smile, "Don't worry, Teyla. You know me. I've been through much worse."
Teyla can't help but smile.
In a short while, Keller comes back with a nurse. The redo John's stitches and redress his wound. She gives him some medicine for his pain and in no time he falls asleep.
Teyla is tired too, but her mind keeps racing. She tries to think about what had happened when she was fighting Michael and what led up to it. She sighs in frustration and eventually falls back to sleep.