Author's Note: Wow, it took me a lot longer than I expected to get this one out. I wanted to do a fic for the episode Doppelganger. I loved that episode as is, but I couldn't help but see the potential for some great Sheyla moments. I love John and Teyla, but they are so not easy to write. I had a lot of moments when I thought I couldn't do the characters justice, I'm still not sure I did, but I hope I at least pulled it off somewhat.

Disclaimer: They're not mine. I'm not exactly sure who owns all the rights, but it's not me. I don't mean to infringe upon them in anyway. Some of the dialogue in here is not mine, it's the property of the writer Robert C. Cooper, who I have nothing but respect for and mean no infringement on either.

Happy reading!

----"I believe one of the hardest things you can do is conquer your fears, but if you have a goal, then it's your job to open up and let it be real no matter how scary it seems." -----

"This is Colonel Carter. If I could have your attention please. I'm very sorry to have to tell you that we have lost a valuable member of the expedition today."
Teyla sat on her bed listening, her heart feeling tighter with every word.

Kate Heightmeyer had been someone that Teyla had come to think of as a friend, someone other than Dr. Weir and the members of her team she could trust. She was someone who had accepted Teyla unconditionally.

"Doctor Kate Heightmeyer meant a great deal to all of us. Her death is nothing short of tragic," Sam continued, for the first time fully feeling the burden of command weighing heavily on her shoulders.

She thought briefly back to her time at the SGC and Jack O' Neill. Had it been like this for him? Had the responsibility for the lives of the people in his command weighed this heavily on him? Her heart ached in her chest. She missed him, missed his guidance and support. If only he were here.

John sat in his quarters, his commanding officer's words echoing in his ears. He felt each word of well meaning comfort pierce into him like shards of glass.
"I'm also sorry to have to report that the threat we face is still in our midst and until further notice, the full lockdown protocol will remain in effect. Try to remain calm. We are doing everything we can to ensure everyone's safety and to resolve this situation quickly. Thank you."
John lay on his bed, his mind spinning. A few days ago his world was normal. A few days ago everyone he cared about was safe, as safe as life in this galaxy could be. But today everything was upside down, turned on its ear by a damn glowing rock.

One touch.

One touch he'd give anything to take back.

Dr Heightmeyer was dead, everyone he'd ever cared about was in danger, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

John growled in growing frustration, sitting up straight in his bed.

He got to his feet quickly as a surge of anger swelled through him. He couldn't just sit around and wait while the people he loved were in danger. He needed to do something, anything.

John's thoughts turned suddenly to Teyla. He knew she would be grief-stricken. Dr Heightmeyer had meant so much to her. They had grown so close over such a short time.

He wanted to go to her, comfort her. But he knew he couldn't.

She had looked at him as though he were a stranger, the nightmares that plagued the restless night before tainting all they had once shared. She was afraid of him. He could see it in her eyes.

'You were the big bad monster.'

John felt Ronon's words ricochet through him. She wouldn't want to see him, to be confronted at a time when she was grieving the loss of a friend with the face of her nightmare, and the cause of that loss.

John sat heavily on the bed, his heart leaden in his chest. Seeing him was the last thing she needed right now. She needed time, and space away from him.

But he needed to see her, to make sure she was alright. His heart lurched painfully in his chest and he got to his feet, walking over to his door. He waved his hand over the sensor that would open the door, watching silently as the doors slid open with a soft whooshing noise.

John's eyes met Teyla's, a look of surprise passing across his face. He hadn't expected to find her on his doorstep.

"I was just about to come and see you ...," he said hesitantly. "But I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me," John finished quietly.

Words wouldn't come for her, they stuck in her throat. When she had left her quarters she hadn't known where she was going. She only knew she didn't want to be alone anymore. The constant silence of her room was causing her mind to spin in circles. Wondering if she could have saved Kate. If she'd just been stronger…

Teyla stood inches from him, the one person in the entire galaxy she truly needed, her heart so clenched with emotion that all she could do was stare. Her body moved of its own volition, instinctively knowing where she needed to be. Teyla's arms moved around him, her head lying gently on his shoulder.

Hesitantly, John's arms circled her, holding her to him as she cried.

Zelenka walked into Colonel Carter's office, finding her sitting at her desk. She looked up at him as he entered.

"Uh, Colonel Carter? Excuse me. I think I've managed to calibrate the city-wide sensors."

Sam felt a small sense of relief at the words. Knowing, that however small, it was at least progress in finding a solution to their situation. At least now they could track it. She got up from her desk and followed him out into the control room.

"I mean, if it is working properly, you know. We had some trouble with the, um ..." He waved his hand dismissively, not bothering to explain as they reached the screen that displayed the sensor readings.

"We have a positive reading."

Sam looked at the screen, seeing a red dot blinking in front of her.

"Do we know who that is?" She asked, her eyes darting from the screen to Zelenka.

The doors to the isolation room opened and Teyla walked in to see Mckay inside. "You wanted to see me?" Teyla asked, her eyes traveling around the isolation room.

The walls were covered in a strange black material that she was not quite sure of. "Rodney?" She said, a note of fear registering in her voice. What was going on?

"I'm sorry Teyla," McKay said looking like he'd just swallowed a dose of citrus.

"I have to go," he said quietly walking around her and out the door.

Teyla swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and glanced up at the observation room, her eyes meeting John's.

"It's in Teyla?" John asked, already knowing the answer but not truly believing it. He felt sick with fear. He knew what the alien inside Teyla was capable of. And he knew he couldn't do anything to help her.

"The isolation room has been lined with insulating material to prevent the entity from transferring out of her and into someone else," Sam said looking down at Teyla.

She remembered a time, not so long ago, that she had been in a similar situation. Some nights she still woke up in a sweat, seeing Jack's face as he shot her with the zat. Sam shook her head, clearing it of the memory.

"If we're right, we've got it trapped," Dr. Keller said.

John felt rage well up inside him, with himself, the situation, and the well meaning women standing beside him in the observation room. He tried to calm himself, doing his best to deal with the feeling before he spoke.

"Yeah, but that doesn't help Teyla much does it?" He asked, a note of anger still registering in his voice.

"If this thing kills people in their sleep…" John let his words trail off, the idea too horrific to think about.

"Do you think it knows it's trapped?" John asked walking into Sam's office with her. Sam leaned against her desk, watching as he paced across her office.

"I don't know why?"

"Maybe there's a way to ... I don't know, reason with it," John said uncertainly.

Sam felt a small smile pull at her lips. "Being in Doctor Weir's old office made you think of that, didn't it?"

"Normally I just shoot the bad guys," he said feeling frustration welling inside him.

Sam felt a ghost of a smile form on her lips. She could see so much of Jack in John Sheppard sometimes it was uncanny.

Sam looked up as Ronon and McKay walked in to her office.

"There has to be something we can do," McKay said, his eyes traveling from Sam to Colonel Sheppard.

McKay felt a special connection with everyone on Atlantis, he saw himself as their guardian angel watching over them and protecting them even when they didn't know it. But there were a few people, a handful of people on Atlantis that he would gladly give his life for. Sheppard, Ronon, & Teyla were part of that group. He would do anything for any one of them.

"That's what we're talking about," Sam said turning back to face John.

"OK, let's say for a second that you could somehow communicate with it. What were you planning on saying?"

"I don't know. I hadn't gotten that far," John admitted wistfully.

"It strikes me that if it feeds on fear or worse… likes the thrill of killing its host, then ... it would take the last chance it had…," Sam let her voice trail off.

"To kill Teyla," John finished, his heart plummeting into his stomach.

The words left a sick feeling inside him, a feeling that had him fighting the urge to run to her as fast as his legs could carry him, just to make sure she was still alive.

"We could give it a chance to leave," McKay said suddenly. "To go home."

"Back into the crystal," Sam said.

John looked from Sam to Rodney, hope building inside him. "Sure. Why not? Send it through the gate back to its planet."

"I've heard of people being talked through waking dreams before. Maybe -- maybe Teyla can be hypnotized into a state where she could somehow communicate with it," Sam said.

"I'm sorry. What? You want Teyla to ask this thing to leave?!" Ronon said, speaking for the first time since he walked into the room.

Ronon had never been good at this kind of thing. He wasn't much good in a situation that didn't call for him shooting something. But Teyla was like a sister to him, and she was in trouble, so he tried to understand and help in anyway he could.

"She was pretty shaken up after her first encounter with the entity. You should've seen the way she reacted to Colonel Sheppard," McKay spoke up.

"She is up against a creature apparently capable of manipulating her subconscious," Sam agreed, her brain working overtime to come up with a solution.

"I wish there was a way for one of us to get in there," John said musingly.

"Into Teyla's dreams?" Sam asked, her eyes gleaming at the possibility.

"Yeah, you know, help her out; give her a little moral support. Come on -- all the things you've seen, you've never come across a way for one person to get into another person's dreams?"

Sam smiled, an idea taking shape in her mind.

John lay on a bed a few feet from Teyla, his mind racing. He had to do this, he owed her at least this much. But he couldn't help the fear that filtered through his bravado. It wasn't something he was looking forward to, seeing himself as she saw him, watching as his double tormented her.
Sam, Ronon and McKay stood in the observation room watching as Dr. Keller, Zelenka and a few other scientists in hazmat suits set up equipment.

"We first encountered the technology ten years ago on a planet where the survivors of a holocaust were living entirely in a virtual world created in their minds. Since then, we've managed to modify it for use in the V.R. training of S.G. team members. It only took some minor calibrations to tune it in to subconscious activity," Sam explained to the two men standing next to her.

"So Sheppard is actually gonna see Teyla's dreams?" Ronon asked, his eyes trained on the two figures below him.

"Well, to be honest, the technology is untested for use in this manner. Dreams are much more random than conscious thought. It may be difficult for the system to translate what's going on in Teyla's brain so that Colonel Sheppard can understand it. I'm just hoping that the two of them will be able to interact somehow," Sam answered.

"We're ready if you are," Dr. Keller said looking between Teyla and Sheppard.

John's eyes met Teyla's, holding her gaze to him. There was so much to say, and no time to tell her.

He gave a slight nod to the doctor, his eyes never leaving Teyla's.

"Administering sedative."

Don't forget to hit that review button... How else am I gonna know what you think?