a/n: I'VE FINALLY UPDATED!!! everyone groans

Chapter 9

"More tea, dears?" The elderly woman, Saris, asked, holding a ceramic tea pot and smiling kindly.

"No thank you." Teyla answered politely and John shook his head. Saris set the pot on the coffee table in front of them and returned to her seat next to her husband, Brenn. Brenn eyed them suspiciously, but only slightly. Saris usually had good judgment when it came to people and she believed the couple to be, as she liked to say, 'right good people.'

Brenn had been hunting in the forest when the ship had crashed and brought Teyla and John back to his home for a cup of tea and some much needed help as they seemed to be lost. Even though Brenn was a little suspicious of the two, he was a very trusting person, even to his enemies, and couldn't turn down the chance to brag about how delicious his wife's tea was.

"So you crashed here while on your way back home," Saris clarified. "And you need supplies to fix your ship so you can continue on your way?"

"That's right." John set his empty cup down on the table. "Or if your people have a way to get to the stargate, that would be even more helpful."

Saris smiled sympathetically at him. "You can try to find some supplies, perhaps from a wraith ship that has crashed recently – we can show you the site where they were placed – but I'm afraid there is no way to reach the stargate." John and Teyla had been expecting this. It seemed like they just couldn't get a break. John was secretly wondering if it was all really just a coincidence that bad stuff kept happening to them.

"In the meantime we can find you a place to stay." Brenn added. "There is a house just down the road that was recently vacated because the only occupant married. The woman still owns the house but I'm sure she wouldn't mind your using it. I will pay her a visit and ask." Brenn stood and, after a quick good-bye to his wife and Teyla and John, grabbed his coat and was gone.

"We appreciate your hospitality." Teyla said graciously to Saris while tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well you're quite welcome, dear. It's not often that we get visitors who got stranded here. We're glad to help you." Suddenly, the meaning of the word hit the two "visitors" like a ton of bricks; they were stranded. And with the stargate in orbit around the planet, there was no way in hell they were getting back to Atlantis unless they could fix the ship. But with the limited supplies the people could offer, there was a slim-to-none chance of them ever getting home. Shockingly, this news wasn't as hard on John or Teyla as one would expect it to be. They had prepared themselves for not seeing their friends and after having almost a year to get accustomed to this, they weren't as heart broken at the thought of probably never seeing them again.

"You two are dressed awfully nice for having been staying on a ship." Saris observed. "What's the occasion?" Teyla was disinclined to attract attention to herself, so she was just about to say that they were just having dinner – not a lie, but not the whole truth either – when John jumped right in and announced that it was her birthday.

Saris squealed excitedly and jumped up to hug her while Teyla shot a menacing glare in John's direction. He merely smirked in response.

After Saris poured everybody another cup of tea and made a toast to Teyla (apparently birthdays were very important on this planet because Saris told stories about past birthdays she had had in her life and how special they made her feel – or maybe it was just that this woman liked them especially for some reason or another), Brenn returned with excellent news: they could reside in the empty house until further arrangements could be made.

Brenn walked them down to the house after Saris forced them all to have one more cup of tea and congratulated Teyla again.

The place was nice enough, little homey touches were present in all of the rooms, and it was small, but not too cramped. It was big enough for no more than two people. They admired the home, and then John and Teyla walked back up to the ship to get a few necessities.

When the evening came, an awkward silence settled over John and Teyla. There was only one bedroom and although they had been sharing a bed for the past couple months, after they had dived head first into a completely new stage in their relationship, neither knew what to say when the time came to sleep.

"Well… uh do you want the bed? I can take the couch downstairs." John said uncomfortably. He had never been in a situation like this before.

"No. We… well, we've been… it shouldn't be different…" Teyla tried while awkwardly pulling at a string on her pajama top.

"Do you want me to…" John pointed over his shoulder, indicating the couch downstairs. Teyla shook her head. "Well then do you want me to…" Teyla nodded this time, knowing he meant the bed.

They got in bed and Teyla lay as stiff as a board until John wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She felt butterflies in her stomach when John kissed the back of her neck before falling asleep.

a/n: You know what to do!