Author's Note: This fic is a birthday present for my very good friend, Alydia Rackham :D The original prompt for it was simply "John showing Teyla around San Francisco"... and what is to come all spiraled out of that, believe it or not ;). So the first chapter or so will deal with that; then there will be a bunch of angst...and then the ending will be happy ;) I really hope that you like it, like it, girl! Happy birthday! :D
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Prologue
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For the first time in a long time, John sought out Teyla in concern. Things had been different between them since her pregnancy, but even then there had been none of the carefully ignored awkwardness that had bled through their relationship since finding her people. Or, more accurately, since finding Kanaan.
John fought to keep from cringing at the thought of him. After all, Teyla loved him; and as long as she was happy, well, he'd just have to deal.
...But she wasn't happy.
Ever since Atlantis had come to Earth to defend it from a wraith attack, they had been unable to travel between the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies. It had only been in the past few weeks that the Apollo and Daedelus had been cleared to return to Pegasus to bring supplies and news of their success to the Athosians who had stayed in Pegasus. But the IOA, contrary to the promises that they had made to Teyla upon her arrival, were stonewalling her at every turn, delaying her from going on one of the ships to visit her people and bring back her family. He'd seen her become more and more discouraged and sad as time continued and she couldn't see her son, and he couldn't take it anymore.
Teyla seemed surprised when he knocked on her door; another painful reminder of how long it really had been since they had sought each other out when the situation was not professional.
"Colonel, is there something wrong?" she asked. For about three seconds, John was silently, quickly looking her over and noting how tense she was. He had to get her out of here.
"Come with me; I wanna show you the city." He took her hand and started to lead her away. The little resistance that she gave was more of a token protest than anything else; she wanted to get out as much as he wanted her to.
"But I am not from your world; I will make mistakes, someone will figure it out..." He smiled a little bit.
"Teyla, relax. You'll do fine; no ones going to be paying much attention to the two of us; and besides, I think that both you and Ronon have learned a lot more about Earth than you ever let on to me." A slight blush colored her cheeks, and he decided that he was right. "See? No problem. We'll go hit the town for a couple of hours and relax; and then I'll take you to talk to the IOA again. Maybe if there's two of us, they'll pay attention when we remind them that Pegasus is your home and they can't keep you here against your will." Teyla's steps faltered.
"Do you really think that they will listen?"
"Well, I have saved their butts a couple of times; so have you, kinda. I think that that's worth a few minutes of attention and respect." Something flickered in Teyla's eyes, quick enough that he wasn't sure whether or not it was his imagination, and she smiled at him; the first truly genuine smile that he had seen from her in weeks.
"Thank you," she said. "This means a great deal to me..."
"Hey, it's no problem. But first, we're gonnago wander around San Francisco for a while, and relax; you've been way too stressed lately. Might as well have some fun first before we jump into the lions den..." Teyla smirked.
"An appropriate description, I believe." She sighed briefly. "Alright, fine. Let us go see the city."
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A/N: Sorry that this was so short, and very nearly late. I had to re-write this, because my first drafts were *awful* :P But I hope that you like it! :D More should be coming soon :)