Please see first chapter for disclaimers, ratings, warnings, pairings, etc.

Part 4/?

Chapter 4

A Fool's Paradise

"Fixed it!" Rodney yelled triumphantly from the bowels of the ship. John smiled in amazement as the controls, which had been flickering warningly for the past few hours, stabilized and brightened, showing him that the damage had indeed been repaired.

"Nice!" he exclaimed as he reviewed the ship's systems. He turned to his co-pilot. "You sure can pick 'em, Ronon."

The big man smiled. "Yeah, he's good, but I should warn you - don't tell him that he's good. He has an ego twice the size of Atlantis and talks about himself for hours."

John raised his eyebrows. "I find that a little hard to believe," he started, when a grease-covered Rodney McKay appeared in the bridge, rubbing his hands in satisfaction.

"Well, that's the hyperdrive upgraded, the life support extended, the auxiliary power doubled, and oh I fixed that little dent in the hull too," he said smugly, wiping his hands on a rag. The two men stared at him.

"What?" he asked. "It's all in a days work for a genius like myself. Now," he added, becoming slightly more businesslike. "I understand there's food somewhere on this ship?"

Sverige System - Unidentified Planet

The ship glided gently down to the field, hovering a few feet from the ground as the landing gear descended. A minute or two after the ship had come to a full and complete halt, its occupants opened the hatch and stepped onto the planet's surface. The ship's outline blurred for a second, then its image disappeared as it cloaked.

"There's a town of some sort over there," Rodney said, his eyes fixed on the hand-held scanner he had found on the ship. "They probably have lunch of some sort . . . erm, shall we?"

The six of them entered the town, drawing no untoward attention from the natives.

"They are a trading people," Teyla observed, watching men and women busily loading produce onto carts and shopkeepers haggling over prices. Elizabeth nodded, then pointed up the street, where a wooden sign hung over the passers-by.

"Look, Die Ombre Schatten, it looks like an inn of some sort," she said to her companions. John nodded.

"Let's check it out," he said, and the six travellers bent their steps towards the inn.

Planet - Die Ombre Schatten Inn

Teyla walked into the inn first, holding the door open for her friends. It was a busy place, with people sitting at tables eating and chatting with each other. Teyla noticed a man behind the bar, wiping the surface clean with a rag. He appeared to be in charge, so she walked towards him, followed quickly by Allie, who jumped up to sit on one of the stools and promptly began spinning around.

Teyla stuck out a hand to stop her daughter, raising her eyebrows in gentle admonishment, before looking up to meet the gaze of the barkeep, a young, blonde man with piercing gray eyes. He stared at Teyla for a second, then smiled at her.

"Well, what brings a beautiful woman like you to our fair planet Allura, miss?" he asked. Teyla smiled back.

"I was wondering if you had any rooms available, my friends and I are traveling and need a place to stay," she asked politely, perching on the stool next to Allie's. The man's smile widened.

"For you, we definitely have rooms," he said, looking. Teyla raised an eyebrow at him and he blushed a little, his manner turning slightly more formal.

"How many people?" he asked.

"My daughter, my husband, and I need a room" she said, emphasizing "husband" before continuing, "My name is Kyana, my daughter is Allie, and my husband is Jadin. My friends, Torri and Jake, need a room, as does our companion Sam. Is that agreeable?"

The barkeep nodded, wiping his hand off on the rag before extending it to Teyla.

"My name's Michael. Sure, we've got room, let me just go get the registry," he beamed as she shook his hand.

He walked away, and Teyla followed his progress her eyes. Ronon came up to her, sitting down and murmuring, "I don't trust him, he's too . . . friendly," before picking up Allie and tickling her gently, making her squeal with delight. Teyla shook her head, rolling her eyes, before standing to go talk to Elizabeth.

"Well?" the brunette asked as Teyla reached her. John steered his wife to a chair, earning himself a glare, but Elizabeth sat before turning back to Teyla expectantly.

"His name is Michael. He says that there are rooms for us," Teyla answered, then lowered her voice. "I gave him the names we agreed on earlier, except for Allie - I didn't change her name, because I don't think she would understand why we kept calling her Ellia."

Elizabeth and John nodded in agreement. "Sounds good," John said, looking around distractedly. "Where's Rodney?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "He's over by the bar, trying to figure out which foods don't have any lemons in them. Apparently he's quite allergic."

The three friends laughed, then Elizabeth stood so they could walk over to join Ronon, Allie, and Rodney at the bar. Michael soon returned with a list, which he handed to Teyla. She nodded her thanks, signing "Kyana Emmagan" on the registry, then handing it back to Michael, who smiled at her again.

Ronon glared at the barkeep, who shrank back a bit, then excused himself and rushed off.

"I don't like him," Ronon grumbled as the party started back to the ship to get their things. Teyla and Elizabeth shared a knowing glance, then dropped back from the men to gossip about overprotective husbands. Rodney just shook his head and returned to the solitaire game he was playing on his handheld computer.

John patted Ronon on the shoulder comfortingly, then said, "Ah, it's okay Ronon, these people seem harmless enough. What could go wrong?"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Yeah, I know, John really should know not to say that by now, but . . . anyway. And I also know that I'm officially the most un-original writer on the planet, but yes, Kyana, Jadin, and Jake are all names from fyd818's other 'fics. What can I say, she inspired me!

Izzles: Oh good, thanks! And I agree, sometimes I wish these guys would just get a day off once in a while. But then what would we write about? Heehee. Thanks for reviewing!

fyd818: I agree, Rodney's so fun! hugs David Hewlett I'm glad you liked the last line, hope this chapter made up for the cliffie! tacklehugs and thanks for letting me use the other names, too! Next chapter'll be up soonish.