Till Death Do We Part?

Chapter 10 - A Glimpse at Happiness

"I see you are finally awake."

He could do nothing but stare in shock as Teyla walked into the room.

Teyla smiled at him as she turned around and placed the basket she was carrying down on the floor. It was then that he noticed his surroundings. He was no longer in his scarcely decorated room within his crumbling facility, instead he found himself lying on a large bed in a tented room carefully furnished with Athosian décor. He looked down at his hands and found pale human skin covering them.

Teyla turned back to him and noticed the confused and dazed expression on his face. "Michael is everything all right? You look as if you have seen something troubling." She walked over to the bed.

Michael turned to her with wide eyes. "What is this? Where am I?"

A confused look appeared on Teyla's face. "What do you mean? You are home." She sat down beside him on the bed with her legs dangling off the edge. She slowly reached for him, but he quickly moved away from her touch. "Michael, what is wrong?"

He didn't respond, instead he just continued to stare at her in disbelief. This is some kind of trick, he thought to himself. This can't be real. It's a dream; yes it's just a dream. This is to be Solaris' doing. He found himself slightly less apprehensive now.

"Michael, talk to me. Tell me what is going on." Teyla pleaded with him.

"It's just a dream." He whispered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, it was nothing." He quickly answered. He knew that Solaris had to be behind this, and decided that he would play along until she ended this little game.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." He tried to think of an excuse. "I had a bad dream, that's all."

Teyla's smile returned as she nodded in acceptance. "Do you wish to talk about it?"

"No, it was nothing important." He tried to smile back, but it came off as an awkward grin.

"Well then, I suggest you get ready because Torren has been waiting for you to get up for quite sometime."

"Torren?"

"Yes, Torren," her expression turned into a questioning one. "Are you sure –"

He interrupted her before she could finish. "I was just joking."

She looked at him for a moment, seemingly assessing whether or not to believe him. She reached for him again and this time he did not move away. She touched the side of his face and felt him slightly shiver, but chose to ignore it. "I will be outside with Torren while you dress." She leaned in and kissed him quickly on the lips. She got up from the bed and hesitated for a moment before leaving the tent.

Michael watched her retreating form, then looked away and tried to organize his jumbled thoughts. His lips tingled from her kiss as a strong feeling of want emerged from within him. He forced the unwelcome feeling down and slowly got up from the bed. "This is just a dream. It's just a dream." He mumbled over and over to himself. "Solaris," he hissed. "I know you can hear me. I demand you stop this nonsense right now." Silence was his only reply. "Solaris," again no response. "Damn her," he mumbled to himself, and with a heavy sigh of frustration he began getting dressed.

Several minutes later he was done and walked out of the tent to find himself in New Athos, the land that he had invaded months ago. He glanced around and saw several people moving around already busy with work. A few of them took the time to wave at him, and it took him a few seconds to realize that he should wave back. It was a stark difference from the running and screaming he had seen the last time he'd been here. He shook away the feeling of guilt that arose within him at the thought of what he had taken away from these people. He didn't want to stop and dwell on the suffering he had caused.

He continued looking around until he spotted Teyla. As he walked up to her, Teyla glanced up in time to see him approaching.

"There you are." She smiled.

Michael opened his mouth to respond but stopped when he felt something collide into him. He looked down and saw a small child wrapped around his leg. The child suddenly looked up at him with eyes like his. "Dada, dada." The small toddler cried out and lifted his arms up indicating that he wanted to be picked up. Michael hesitated for a second before reaching down and lifting the child up into his arms. At first he held the child at half an arms length away and looked at him as if he was some strange creature, but then he quickly noticed that Teyla was watching him and he adjusted the child so that his arms were wrapped around him. The child looked about 2 years old, and mumbled out a line of gibberish that Michael could barely understand.

Teyla laughed at the child's excitement. Michael glanced back at her with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Torren wishes to show you what he found." She said to Michael though her eyes stayed on her child.

Michael looked at Torren just as the child opened his hand and held out a shinny red stone that shimmered when the sun touched it. The stone was covered in several different shades of red that made it look like flames were dancing across it. Torren stared intently at the rock as he demanded that Michael look at it.

"Oh wow," Michael had no idea what else to say.

Torren continued on babbling as if he were sharing information of the up most value and had only a short time to do it. Michael couldn't help but stare at the small child in his arms with amazement. There was no fear in Torren's eyes when he looked at him; there was no nervousness or discomfort, not even a hint of doubt. Michael imagined for a moment that what he saw in this child's eyes was what love and adoration looked like. It wasn't until that instant that Michael realized Torren had called him dada. Suddenly the weight and meaning of Torren's word finally sunk in. He's my child. The words rang through Michael's mind as a strange unknown feeling emerged from within him.

Teyla touched him on his arm pulling him from his thoughts. "Are you certain everything is fine?" She said softly.

Michael looked at her slightly startled then quickly changed his facial expression to that of a smile. "Yes it is," he replied, but when he noticed that there was still doubt in her eyes he added, "Trust me." A part of him expected her to breakout in laughter over what he was asking of her; expected her to reply that she could never trust a man she hated so much. However instead she just stared at him for a moment before smiling as if he had spoken those words to her several times before and she had no reason not to believe them now.

Teyla and Michael turned when they heard someone calling out to them. Michael quickly recognized the man as Halling, the one who had assumed leadership of Teyla's people in her absence. The tall soft spoken man approached them and informed them that there was work that could use their help. The Athosian harvest was nearly done and tonight there would be a celebration.

Teyla left Torren in the care of another woman before joining the others in the fields. Morning swiftly turned to evening as the last of the work was completed. Michael felt exhausted by the end of the day. He wanted nothing more than to lay down in bed and fall into a sweet slumber.

Teyla walked beside him and could clearly see how tired he was. She grabbed hold of his arm and linked it with hers hoping it would somehow help. "If you wish to go to bed, I am sure the others would understand."

Michael was able to stop himself from immediately tensing at her touch. Instead of feeling cautious of her, he felt almost comforted by her presence. He turned to her with a weary smile. "No, that's all right. The others worked just as much as I did. If they can partake in the celebration then so can I." Before the words even left his lips he knew that something had changed within him. A feeling of belonging came over him, and though he tried to ignore it, it refused to go away. Somewhere along the line his view on these people had changed. He had always taught of humans as disposable and unimportant beings, but the more he found himself engulfed in their world, the more he was forced to reassess his opinions on them. He felt slightly panicked at the thought that his views were changing while his doubts were strengthening. He was about to pull away from Teyla when someone yelling caught his attention.

A woman ran up to them in a panic. "Teyla, Michael I am so sorry I do not know what happened." The woman spoke in a hurry without taking a breath.

"Calm down Kara, what has happened?" Teyla asked as she reached for the woman in an attempt to still her frantic movements.

"Torren is missing. He was playing with the other children and when I turned my back for just one moment he was gone. One of the children said that he went in search of the two of you. I am so very sorry …"

The rest of the woman's pleas died on Michael's ears as an over whelming feeling of fear griped his heart. He couldn't breath for a moment as a thousands thoughts ran through his mind. He turned to the woman with rage in his eyes. "How could you have lost our child? What is wrong with you?"

The woman stared at him in shock as she took a step back from him.

"Michael we must focus on finding Torren. Yelling at her will not help." Teyla pleaded with him as she turned him towards her.

Michael took one look at the fear he could see mirrored in Teyla's eyes and forced himself to swallow the anger he felt threatening to jump out. He could only nod in response, not trusting himself to speak.

Teyla turned to the others and quickly broke everyone into groups and assigned areas to search. Seconds felt like hours and minutes like days. She and Michael separated, believing that they could cover more ground that way.

Michael ran towards the forest and began calling out for Torren. He frantically rushed pass tree after tree as his blood raced through his veins. He stopped for a second to listen for a response to his call. His eyes darted left and right, then stopped when something shinny caught his attention. He looked down to find the red stone Torren had shown him earlier. A feeling of hope emerged from within him. He has to be close. Michael called out for Torren and waited quietly for a response. Slowly he walked pass several trees. He then heard a sound so small that he wondered whether he had imagined it, but then he heard it again.

"Torren, where are you!? It's dada, yell if you hear me!" Michael's heart was beating so fast that he swore it would explode. Silence greeted him and just when he was about to call out again, he heard what sounded like crying. He rushed to the source and prayed that it was Torren, and that he was all right. His earlier exhaustion was all but forgotten as he jumped over fallen trees and dodged hazardous branches. He spotted Torren almost immediately and wasted no time reaching for him and pulling him into his arms.

The small child called out with relief as he held onto his father for dear life and cried. "It's all right you're safe. It's all right." Michael chanted over and over both for Torren's sake and his own. Michael held onto him tightly as if afraid that he would disappear. The feeling of relief that washed over him was unbelievable. And in that moment Torren's cries were joined by another, as silent tears rolled down Michael's face. Michael called to the others as he quickly headed back to the village in search of Teyla.

Teyla's heart sped up as she rushed to her husband and child. She embraced both of them and sent out a short prayer to the ancestors, thanking them for the safe return of her son. She and Michael headed to their tent with Torren, once inside she checked him for any cuts or bruises. Torren had calmed down and was no longer crying. He appeared unharmed, and had only smudges of dirt covering his hands and face as proof of his ordeal. Teyla washed the dirt from Torren's skin. Michael stood there the entire time, refusing to let Torren leave his sight.

After some time alone in their tent, they decided to join in the celebration that had already begun; now having two things to be thankful for. As time ticked by, Michael found himself gradually relieved of the feeling of dread that had seized hold of him. He sat beside Teyla and kept her close as she held Torren on her lap.

As he glanced around the room filled with people celebrating, a feeling of belonging struck him once again; and for the moment he chose not to fight it, not to ignore it. He turned to his side to find Teyla smiling at him and he instinctively smiled back. She leaned into him as he wrapped his arm around her waist, and Michael could not help but think how prefect it all felt.

Later that night after putting Torren to sleep Michael slowly crept onto the bed he and Teyla shared. She murmured softly in her half state of consciousness as she snuggled closer to him. Slowly, but with no hint of hesitation, Michael pulled her in his arms, pressing her body against his. She moved her head to rest on his chest while she shifted half her body to lie on top of his. He softly kissed her forehead and gently ran his fingers through her hair as if trying to burn this moment into his memory. Gradually he drifted off to sleep and silently prayed for all of this to be real.

-----------

A suddenly scream of pain ripped through Michael's senses as he opened his eyes. Darkness momentarily met his vision as he tried to understand what was happening. "Michael!" A voice screamed out, and within a moment he realized that it belonged to Teyla.

TBC

Drama, anyone?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did leave a review and let me know what you thought of it.