A/N- Short chapter. Sorry for the delay.

Chapter 7

Teyla woke up late this morning. John had not woken her like he usually did. But today felt different to her for some reason. Something was special about this day. Teyla sat up and reached under the bed for her makeshift calender. Her eyes scanned over the blocks until she found what day it was. Of course! It was her birthday! But she frowned as she realized what today was supposed to mean to her people.

Because of the Wraith, someone reaching their thirty-fifth year was special. Especially for the leader. Usually, on their birthdays, an Athosian recieves one gift from someone special, a parent, a spouse, sibling, child, etc. But on their thirty-fifth birthday, the person has a party thrown in honor of them. For the leader, it is a sign of strength.

In fact, it was exactly ten years ago that Teyla had assumed leadership when her father was taken by the Wraith. Had she been with her people, Teyla would have recieved an even more extravaggant party for lasting ten years as their leader.

Pushing those thoughts aside and relishing that today was her birthday, her day, Teyla flung the blanket off of her and all but jumped out of bed. It took all of her self control to keep from skipping to the bathroom.

As she stepped in front of the sink to brush her teeth, Teyla got quite a shock when she saw the mirror. Somehow, someway, John had found out that today was her birthday and had taken a marker and wrote: "Happy Birthday Teyla! Love John." on the mirror. And he had drawn little balloons all around it too.

Something about the word 'love' sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach. But she just ignored it and picked up her toothbrush and went on brushing her teeth and washing her face. Then she got dressed and headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

Teyla showed up in the kitchen half expecting John to be there. When she saw he wasn't, she was slightly disappointed. But her disappointment didn't last when she saw what was on the table. Every kind of breakfast food that the ship carried had been cooked and left on the table. And everything was still hot. And there was a note next to it all. It read:

"Dear Teyla,

I didn't know what you wanted and I didn't want to wake you so I made everything. I'm sorry I couldn't eat with you but I had something I needed to do. Eat as much as you want of whatever you want. I've already eaten so you don't need to save me anything. When you're done meet me in the gym. I've got a surprise for you.

Love John

P.S. AND DON'T YOU DARE CLEAN THOSE DISHES WHEN YOU'RE DONE! It's your special day so I'll get them later!"

Teyla opted for sausages and toast. But when she realized how much food was there, she couldn't waste it. John had taken a lot of time to make it. So she took a little bit of everything. Soon her plate was full and Teyla had to put her eggs on top of her pancakes to fit it all on.

After she had gone back for second helpings, Teyla was stuffed full to the brim and realized it was probably a good idea to go to the gym.

But when Teyla entered the room, all ready in her sparring clothes (which she had found along with loads of other clothes in a laundry room of sorts), she had not expected what she was now seeing. Somewhere, John had found some pieces of plywood and paint and had somehow cut the wood in the shapes of balloons and hung them up on the walls, all painted in different colors. In the middle of the room sat a table. And on the table was a round... thing. It had Happy Birthday written on it in red set on a white background.

Around the circular thing were four things wrapped in brown paper. Teyla lifted one of the packages that was long and skinny. She reached up to open it when she heard John behind her.

"Nah-ah. Sorry. You can't open those yet." His face was set in a serious expression but his eyes were laughing at her. "You're not opening presents until after lunch. Well, I guess you can open that now since you're going to spar now." He nodded towards the package that was still in her hands. Smiling curiously, Teyla pulled off the paper and two beautiful tonfa sticks tumbled out and into her hand.

"Oh! John they're beautiful! Where did you find them?" Since becoming trapped on the ship, Teyla had no means to practice with tonfa sticks. Now she had some. And these were even more beautiful than her original ones. All along the long circular sticks, little designs were carved into the wood. And the handles were wrapped tightly with leather.

"Well I found some wood and supplies in one of the rooms when I went exploring on my own once. My grandfather used to carve wood and taught me when I was little. So I made them for you because I knew you needed a pair." Teyla grinned from ear to ear and flung her arms around John's neck.

"Thank you! I love them!" When she finally let go of John, Teyla spun the tonfa sticks in her hands.

John slid the table over to the wall and pulled out a pair of his own tonfa sticks from his bag in the corner. There were, Teyla noticed, no designs carved onto his sticks. 'We'll just have to fix that.' Teyla mused to herself. She knew a thing or two about carving and planned to find out where John made the sticks and sneak in there one night to carve designs into his. Because, of course, he deserved it for everything he did for her.

"Are you ready to finally lose?" John challenged, stretching his arms out.

"That depends, are you ready to practice?" Teyla retorted, also stretching herself out.

"You've been hanging around McKay too much."

"Oh I don't know. I haven't seen him in eleven months. I think he has worn off."

"No. I don't think he has. That there was a very 'McKay-ish' response." Finished stretching, the pair stalked around each other in circles with there sticks raised.

John struck first, his overconfidence getting the better of him. For Teyla had raised her left stick a little higher than necessary and John went to strike her. But even eleven months could not drive Teyla's training from her mind. She had raised her stick as a trap, and she caught John's stick with her own before his could make contact with her side.

John saw the opportunity she had made for him. He went for it. And she caught him before he could strike her with his other stick. She let go of his other arm and hit him on the back of his knees, causing him to fall and Teyla to get the better of him. In no time at all she had him pinned to the floor with her knee on his chest.

"Okay. You win."

"It is not about winning, John, it is about the practice. And you still have not done so." Teyla smirked at him. She got off of him and he got up. They went at it again for a couple of hours. By one o'clock Teyla had him pinned down for the thirteenth time.

"I give up. Tey I will never beat you." Teyla laughed at this.

"No, you may not. But if you practice you might actually get the better of me one of these days." John smiled up at her. That quirky, warm smile that always managed to make her heart melt. "I am going to take a shower for lunch." Teyla got off and left the room, leaving John lying on the floor hoping against hope she would like her present.

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