Title: A Blessed Man

Category: fic

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: John and Teyla aren't mine, nor are the SGA characters.

Warnings: None

Size: 1032

Summary: John had very little time but was hopeful for a lifetime with her.

A Blessed Man

John had very little time but was hopeful for a lifetime with her. He pictured Teyla in his mind and knew he really wanted to see her before he returned to the meeting. The sight of her always made him see things in perspective and reassure him why he was doing all that he did.

They stood at the large picture window in the foyer next to her suite, looking out at the Charles River on another hot summer day in Boston. Deprived of purpose, the assembled representatives from around the world passed by them, their numbers slowly dissipating.

How ironic that the very people whose lives they had saved countless times, were the ones against Teyla's presence here on Earth. If it were up to him, he'd lift up the city of Atlantis and leave them all here to rot in hell. It was no less than they deserved for thinking as they did about the woman he loved.

Still, Teyla adamantly spoke against it, and he needed more time.

True, it was only a small group, but it hurt nonetheless to hear and see how they spoke of her and Ronon and of their kind. How they blamed them for coming to Earth and causing the Wraith to enter the Milky Way Galaxy. It pained him to see her this way, tormented between a race that she sought out so fervently, and the ones whom he once used to call his own.

Standing closer to her, his mind fixed decisively on what would unfold in the next couple of months, John cared for nothing and no one but Teyla, now and for years to come. It was a decision he hadn't made lightly, not because of his feelings for her, but because of the changes that would define their future lives forever.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he studied her beautiful face; the face that had become so precious to him in so many ways. The face that always had a smile just for him. The face that housed the lips that pleased him so often. The face that for the last eight months lay in his bed every morning and every night.

Gazing out the window, softly she asked. "Your world is so rich in resources. How can they not see just how blessed they truly are?"

John turned her towards him. "We're a foolish race."

"I am marrying no fool," she quickly replied. And the face he had spent a few minutes studying turned tender and loving and he knew that everything he did was for her. It always would be.

He asked her to marry him two weeks ago while they vacationed in Hawaii. When she asked for some time to think, it had almost killed him. Yet, he always knew she'd accept. He heard it every time she spoke his name, saw it in every gaze that she sent his way, felt it in every cry of pleasure each time she surrendered her flesh to his, and each night she slept embraced in his arms.

This was her way and for now it would have to do. Later, much later, in the crest of their lovemaking, he'd make sure she showed him and he'd know she was certain.

"I guess this means I can hold off on hijacking Atlantis until after you officially become my wife." Smiling, he added, "Starting with a week or so in Maui, and hopefully, this time, without the extra baggage."

That got her to smile, but the constant reminder that Ronon and Rodney intruded his perfectly planned proposal sometimes made him think really hard to leave them both behind on Earth when the time came for him to leave.

He'd give anything to leave now, but there was still much to be done on Earth before their final departure. Once they left, there'd be no turning back. He had agonized over this decision for a very long time. He'd weighed the pros and cons, thought of all he'd miss and hadn't yet done on this planet, but the deciding factor was obvious.

They'd discussed this option quite a few times and he loved how Teyla was always the voice of reason, insisting he couldn't just leave his people. But wasn't that what she had done for him by coming here? Yes, she still had Torren and John had grown to love him like a son, but she had left her people behind to follow this crusade, to save his people and his planet.

For too long, she had been away from her people and it was his duty to get her back home and to reunite Torren to the galaxy of his ancestors, and to his biological father.

John Sheppard knew that Teyla and Torren were more than just important to him. They were his life, his family, his present and his future.

Gazing up at him, gently touching his cheek, she inquired softly. "Can you truly leave without any regrets?"

John thought back to the decision he had finally come to. Only a few could make such a commitment. John would make certain that Earth never found Atlantis ever again and that required time, skills, preparation with exact precision and above all, Rodney McKay.

Yet, this was at the heart of all her worries. John always knew, and no matter how much he tried to convince her and show her otherwise, he knew this would be something that would take time for her to truly understand. But the truth of the matter was that he had absolutely no regrets.

For John was a very lucky, blessed man. Fate had given him a life beyond his youthful imaginings and now, if he was wise enough to deserve it, a new beginning. Quietly, he looked into her face and silently he promised her. I'll be a good husband, a good father to Torren and to our children. Whatever else we decide will be right for us.

Wrapping his arm around her tiny waist, he voiced. "I'm sure," and with a smile far more careless than he felt, he added. "Would I bring Rodney along if I wasn't?"

~The end