Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Part 3/?
-Chapter 2-
Heartache
"Betrothed?" Teyla spat the word back at Garros. "I am not your betrothed!" Disgust shuddered through her.
Ronon's arms loosened from around her. "He – betrothed?" He sounded shocked. Hurt.
Garros laughed again. "That is not how I remember it. The Council promised us to each other. We are bound by Athosian law, so you are still my betrothed."
Teyla tore herself free from Ronon to leap across the room. She grabbed the front of Garros' jacket and slammed him back into the wall. His head hit the surface with a sickening thud. "I am still bound by law!" she hissed. "You gave up that right when you betrayed me!" She knocked him against the wall again. "Just like you gave up the right ever to call me yours."
Roughly pushing her away from him, Garros shrugged his jacket back onto his shoulders and swiped at his mouth with the back of his hand; a nervous gesture. "By law when promised to someone you cannot marry anyone except him to whom you are pledged." His eyes slid past Teyla's shoulder to Ronon. "Perhaps you have lied to your people and him?"
She started for Garros again, but was stopped by Ronon suddenly shouldering in front of her. Teeth bared and eyes murderous, he aimed his weapon at Garros's head and growled, "I think the only one here lying is you."
Ronon's action gave Teyla time and motive to regain control of herself. She reached out and grasped Ronon's arm. It felt, through the sleeve of his coat, as if fashioned of metal. "Do not," she warned. "Please." Garros didn't matter to her – Ronon did. Without him, there was no way they would be able to complete the mission they had undertaken.
That is not the only reason, her mind whispered. But she ignored it.
Garros's gaze moved from the weapon aimed at his head, to the man holding it, to Teyla. His self-satisfied smirk had returned. He didn't have to say anything: Teyla knew exactly what he was thinking. They needed him – alive.
Gritting her teeth in frustration, Teyla latched onto Ronon's arm with both hands and pulled with all her strength, dragging him with her toward the door. She reciprocated Garros's silence. Even though she and Ronon would have to return eventually, all three of them needed time to sort things out and let their tempers cool. And, somehow, she had to make things right with Ronon.
How am I ever going to explain this?
-M54T37-
Teyla sat across the campfire from Ronon, sipping carefully at her tea, trying to watch the flames and regain a measure of calm. However, her eyes kept moving irresistibly to her silent, angry companion. Finally giving up the effort, she just sat and watched him refuse to look at her – and waited.
Her mug had been empty for a long time before Ronon spoke. "Is it true?" He still wouldn't look at her. He just went on staring down into the fire, his face mostly hidden by his dreadlocks.
"In a way." Not a very good answer, but it was the truth nevertheless.
Ronon did look up at that. "What's that mean?" His voice was low, rough; his eyes – his beautiful eyes – now reflected only bewilderment and pain. His shoulders had a weary slump she had never seen before. He looked – beaten.
With great precision, Teyla set her empty cup down by her feet. Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on her knees. "It means there is some truth in what he said. I confess, I – do not like to be reminded of it."
Ronon did not look cheered.
Teyla clenched her hands together and drew a deep breath. This was hard, so hard; she could scarcely believe how recent it all still felt. "I was only seventeen when my father was taken by the Wraith," she began. "The Council did not believe me old enough and wise enough to be their leader. However, they said they would grant me leadership if I became betrothed to the man of their choosing – to be married at eighteen years of age, as is appropriate." Teyla looked down at her folded hands, very acutely aware of Ronon's dark gaze on her. "Garros was – highly regarded by all my people as a skilled trader, a canny fighter. I agreed before I learned what kind of a man Garros truly was. He had me, the Council, the Athosian people fooled into believing what he wanted us to believe. It was only very gradually that I began to realize he was not the admirable person he claimed to be. The knowledge was – very bitter." She paused, not willing even now to be any more specific about the causes of her disillusionment.
Some brief emotion flickered rampantly through Ronon's eyes, then vanished. Teyla had a feeling she knew what it had been; if that were the case, she wasn't sure they should return to Belsa the next day. Even though it was necessary they do so.
She resumed her narrative, having to struggle now to keep her voice even and uninflected. "It was less than a month from my eighteenth birthday, and our binding ceremony. I knew the burdens, the responsibilities I was about to take on would be tremendous; I was – concerned whether I could be a worthy successor to my father. On that particular night, I could not sleep. So I left my tent and went for a walk. Even though it was night and no one was supposed to walk in the woods after dark, I went in. Something seemed to be beckoning me; an inner sense warning me something was not right." She closed her eyes; gritted her teeth against the intensity of the memory, reliving it now. Her breathing quickened. "I found Garros near the cave where I used to play when a mere child. He was very – sullen. When I asked him what was wrong, he would not tell me, but instead became very agitated, even angry. He told me not to be so interfering, to go back home and be silent like a proper woman should." A wry smile twisted Teyla's lips. "I did not take kindly to his suggestion. But it was then all my bad feelings made sense, and I knew."
She was shivering now, feeling again the shock, the horror. Only the need of the man across the campfire to have the complete truth gave her the strength to finish.
"I walked past him, into the cave. I found another of my people, dead – Garros had killed him. And the cave held other things. . . He and my betrothed had been using the Athosian trade network to sell other commodities. Illegal commodities. They wanted profit for their own selves, regardless of the lives they wrecked and destroyed to get it. Garros – he knew I would be the next leader of the Athosians. He wanted that position, so he would not have to be so careful about his activities. He killed Hahno – so he would get all the profit, not just half." Her voice went hard and cold, just as her heart had then. "He told me he had an 'accident' already arranged to get rid of me after we were wed. But when I found him with Hahno and discovered what they had been doing, he decided to take care of me then."
Teyla made herself open her eyes. A muscle in Ronon's jaw was twitching spasmodically. His eyes blazed with anger.
"To this day it remains one of the most difficult battles I have ever fought. I was not quite eighteen; he was twenty-three. He had been training much longer than I, and was much stronger." She rotated her arm, allowing the firelight to shine on a thin, silvery mark on her left bicep. "This is the only physical remnant of our battle. But it has taken me a long time to learn to ignore it." She shook her hair back from her face. "There is little left to tell. Garros was cast out of the tribe and banished from Athos for his crimes. The Council dissolved our betrothal and confirmed me as leader, and a free woman. He cannot truly believe we are still betrothed. Perhaps his insistence is merely an – insane – attempt to get back at me."
Ronon's gaze shifted from her face to the scar on her arm, back again. His eyes were dark, intense – dangerous. Yet they also held a deep sadness, a grief he couldn't quite hide.
Still without speaking, he moved around the intervening campfire: suddenly, lithely, the movement almost too quick to be human. Teyla almost flinched in surprise. For a long moment, he knelt in front of her, simply staring up into her eyes. Then his gaze dropped to her arm, and he slowly raised his right hand to hover about an inch away from her skin. His eyes locked onto hers once more, as though asking permission before he touched her.
She instinctively swallowed against the pounding of her heart in her throat, and wondered if all her emotions were laid bare in her eyes for him to see. Slowly, she nodded – once up, once down. He extended his hand the tiny bit needed to close the gap.
It was the barest brush of warmth across the scar; but it went through her like a jolt of lightning. Her heart jerked and her breath caught. The night whirled and spun around her, as every suppressed emotion inside her suddenly battled for release from behind the dam she had carefully built to contain them so long ago.
Suddenly – irrationally – he meant more to her, when he shouldn't. She realized she'd been forcing herself to see him as a comrade, a teammate, denying any deeper bond. That wasn't possible any longer. She looked into his eyes, afraid of what she'd see. Or, maybe, afraid of what she wouldn't see.
Ronon's eyes were green – intense, dark, very green. She feared she could easily lose herself in their depths. They held each other's gaze for a moment that stretched out intolerably long.
A twig snapped in the fire. Ronon erupted into motion again, so suddenly Teyla jumped and gasped. In one catlike, quiet movement he was on his feet, striding away from her into the woods. His shoulders were stiff, back straight. She could feel the tension in him, even from this rapidly expanding distance.
Teyla shuddered and collapsed, falling bonelessly off her log bench. Allowing herself to sag onto her side, she curled into a fetal position and stared sightlessly at the fire.
They both struggled with the same thing; she had seen it in his eyes. Things had changed between them. And neither of them knew how to deal with it. Teyla felt the slow trickle of tears down her cheeks.
She had probably just lost her best friend.
—Ronon did not return for the rest of the night.
-To Be Continued-
Please don't hurt me! Sorry it was a bit of a wait for this chapter, I hope to have the next one up sooner. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
SpaceMonkey0941: Oops. Sorry? I've had that cliffhanger in my head for a while and had a feeling I was gonna be in major big trouble when I finally did write it. Apparently I'm right. I'm really glad you like this fic – I'm having a blast writing it! Sorry it took me a while to update – I'm hoping the next one will be sooner. Thank you much for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! -hugs-
Hannah 554: Sorry! I'd had that cliffie in my head for a while and had a feeling I'd be in trouble when I wrote it. I'm really glad that you liked the Ronon/Teyla scene at the beginning, it was my favorite to write. The explanation with Garros and Teyla is in this chapter – sorry for the wait. Thank you much for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
StarSkimmer: I'm sorry? Please don't send the Steve plushie of doom after me! I am so sorry that it's taken me a while to get this updated, I'm hoping that the next one won't be nearly as long. This chapter has the explanation for Teyla and Garros. Thank you much for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
alex: I'm really glad that you enjoyed the last chapter, and I do apologize for the evil cliffie. I'm sorry it took a while for me to get this updated; I'm hoping the next one won't be nearly as long a wait. The explanation for Teyla and Garros is in this chapter. Thank you much for the review, and I hope you enjoy!
Elfvamp1-13-97: I really like your penname! I love Ronon/Teyla fics, too – they're my favorite couple. I'm sorry it took me a little while with this update; I'm hoping that the next will be sooner. Thank you so much for the review, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter!
