Author's Note: The dream in the last chapter was set... two days after the kiss? This fic will (hopefully) make it through most of the episode until it eventually goes more severely AU...
------------
Chapter One
------------
Teyla avoided her team the next morning, still unnerved by her dream and everything that was going on with John. Ever since that kiss, things had been awkward. And even though it had only been two days, she could see him changing rapidly now, turning into some kinf of creature that she knew would haunt her dreams.
Instead of meeting the others for breakfast like she usually did, she decided to burn off her pent-up confusion and emotions over the recent events in the little gym that her team had claimed for their own... where John had kissed her.
Roughly, she shook those thoughts away and settled into one of her most demanding routines. Everything that she was feeling was released or forgotten as she concentrated on making each deadly strike precise and perfect. Her only distraction was a tiny inkling of a question hangng in the back of her mind. How had she not been able to beat him with this?
"You want a real target?" She jerked around to see Ronon standing in the doorway, a faintly amused smile on his lips.
"Of you don't mind hurting," she said.
"I can take a hit." Ronon selected two bantos rods from a rack on the wall. They were not his favorite weapon--- he prefered his gun or his sword or even his hands in close quarters instead of the rods--- but it was a challenging style, and Teyla's best. And more importantly, she talked better when she was sparring.
"What's got you so upset?" he asked as they faced off. "You were going hard enough to kill."
"I am... frustrated," she said. She let him make the first move.
"About what?" he grunted, swinging for her and missing. It took a bit of coaxing toget an answer, but finally he'd get her to admit her feelings.
"Must you?" she sighed when he tried.
"Yes, I must. Anything that has you fighting shadows so hard has got to be something; otherwise you'd be meditating it away." Teyla skipped back pouback out of his reach.
"It is this whole thing with Ohn..." she began slowly. It was a start, though Ronon knew that they would have to go through every layer of the situation to get down to the parts that were bothering her specifically.
"Yeah, it's getting pretty weird," he said. "He beat on our run the other day."
"He beat me sparring..." she blushed, and his rods connected with her shoulder. She stumbled away and re-focused her attention, but now Ronon was curious about what had distracted her.
"What happened with that?" he asked. "He didn't threaten you or something, did he?" Suddenly, her was concerned.
"No, he did not..." she licked her lips and flipped her hair back, wincing at the motion. Ronon saw a bruise on the back of her neck.
"Did he hurt you?" he demanded,
"No! At least, not on purpose..." Ronon dropped his fighting stance and took ehr shoulders, mindful of the bruise forming where he had accidentally hit her.
"What did he do to you?" he asked softly. Teyla lowered her eyes guiltily.
"He kissed me," she whispered, barely audible. But Ronon could understand it all now; he had probably beaten her, gone bug-crazy, and grabbed her and kissed her. The bruises were probably from the strength that he couldn't control. He'd seen a bit of a bruise on her back as well; he must have shoved her into the wall.
Ronon drew Teyla into his chest and let her lean on him, so that she could not see the anger in his eyes. He didn't completely understand what was happening to Sheppard, but he was sure that it should not have made him act so abusively towards the woman that he clearly loved---even if he would not admit it--- and should have been the thing that was keeping him sane. Teyla didn't seem to be mad at him, but Ronon was more than mad nough for the both of them. He knew their feelings for each other even if they didn't, and for Sheppard to have hurt her like that...
"Ronon," she said softly, distracting him from his quickly building rage. "There is something else that is bothering me." Ronon understood her better than anyone else; he was more like her brother than her friend. She knew that she could tell him anything, and she needed to tell someone about that dream.
They sat down on the bench by the window, and slowly, haltingly, Teyla told Ronon everything. He sat there and he listened, and he wondered if her dream was something that would actually come to pass. They'd long ago learned that Teyla's dreams usually had a reason, and the intricacy and clarity of this on made him doubt that it was caused merely by stress.
Ronon let her get everything out, knowing that she would feel better once it was done. And when she'd finished her story she breathed a sigh of relief, like a great weight had been lifted off of her.
"Feel better?" Ronon questioned.
"A little. I just wish that there was something that we could do..."
"Hey," he caught her hand. "What you need to do right now is rest; I can see it in your eyes, you're exhausted. I'll call you if anything important happend; just go rest." Teyla nodded with resignation.
"Alright," she sighed. "You promise?"
"Yeah, I promise. If you promise to really rest."
"If I can."
"I suppose thats the best that I can get." They stood up, and he walked her back to her room before heading off in search of Elizabeth. He wouldn't tell her what Teyla had told him, but he'd tell her that she'd been bruised. She needed to know what John was capable of doing right now; and she needed to know to be careful.
------------
Teyla tried to rest as she had promised, but both peace and sleep had eluded her as recent events continued to torture her confused mind. She stretched out, stretching each musc;e in an attempt to relax her body, and tried to meditate to calm her mind; but she coud not focus. Finally, mentally apologizing to Ronon, she decided that she couldn't rest. She hooked her radio around her ear and turned it on, calling Major Lorne.
"Major," she asked, "can you bring me to the mainland?"
"Sure, Teyla. What's up? Did something happen there?"
"I need to speak to Charin about something important."
"Alright, I'll meet you in Jumper bay."
"Thank you."
Within ten minutes they were in the air, but Teyla spent the shot trip in relative silence, earning strange looks from the major but beyond the point that she cared. When they reached the mainland she went straight to Charin, who, upon seeing the look on her face, quickly closed the always-opened door of her tent so that they could talk in prvate.
Unlike Ronon, with Charin Teyla needed no coaxing to reveal her troubled. She explained everything, from Elia to the kiss to her dream. Charin frowned as she listened, troubled by what her young friend told her. She had long suspected Teyla and John's feelings for each other; and listening to Teyla now she was very concerned. Her heart broke for her almost-daughter.
"Can... whatever happened to him be treated?" she asked finally. Teyla shook her head helplessly.
"They are doing all that they can; but this is a problem that they have never encountered before. I do not know if there is any way that they can help him."
"You could try," Charin suggested hesitantly. "Your dream may have been a solution; if you can protect his mind in Tutus while your friends heal his body..."
"I can't do that," Teyla said sadly. "You know how hard it is for me to get into Tutus; last time I tried I almost killed someone."
"But for him you would do it."
"I can't! I won't further risk his life to bring him to some half-imagined place of peace."
"Are you scared of him?" Charin asked suddenly. "Perhaps you should ask Halling to come back with you for a few days; just until he is healed..."
"I am not afraid for myself, Charin," she said softly. "Only for him." Charin sighed heavily. She always had been stubborn, that girl.
"Be careful, Teyla," she pleaded. "No matter what he fels, if this virus continues to control him you could be very badly hurt."
"I will be careful," Teyla promised.
-----------
A/N: Eh, so tell me what you think. And I promise, I will explain Tutus eventually. But right now it's SUPPOSED to be confusing ;) lol. Anyways, enjoy, and leave a review :D.
