Steph7085 – Thanks for the review, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Whirlwind-2005 – I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.
Belanna30 – Well this is the chapter you've been waiting for, sorry about the wait and thanks for the review.
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Chapter 12
John sat silently next to Elizabeth her hand in his and his thoughts a chaotic mess. He needed to do something about this Michael guy before he hurt Teyla again. He knew it wasn't his place to tell anyone especially Ronon but he doubted Teyla would do it herself. He was drawn out of his musings by a slight twitch of Elizabeth's hand. For a moment he was sure her hand had tightened slightly around his.
He was about to pass it off as his overactive and hopeful imagination when she did it again. He stood up keeping hold of her hand and leaned over the bed.
"Elizabeth?" he questioned unable to keep the hope from his voice. "Elizabeth, sweetheart can you hear me?"
He ran his free hand over her hair praying that she was finally waking up and that it really wasn't his imagination. A sound came out of her mouth which sounded suspiciously like she was attempting to form a word.
"Nurse!" he shouted to the woman passing by the room, she looked into the room and saw Elizabeth move her head slightly before nodding her own head and all but running out of the room. Elizabeth once again tried to form a word but it only came out as a jumbled sound. Carson came running into the room only moments later with another doctor and several nurses. John was ushered away from the bed and forced to stand back and watch.
"Elizabeth, love can you hear me?" Carson questioned but only got another incoherent sound in response. He exchanged a concerned glance with the other doctor that had John worried before he turned back to Elizabeth.
"John," Elizabeth finally whispered as if she was searching for him as she tried to wake up and there were relieved expressions all round the room.
"He's here," Carson reassured giving John a small smile before returning his attention to Elizabeth. John closed his eyes and let the relief finally run through him as the medical staff continued to take care of his wife. He didn't want to leave but he knew that Teyla would never forgive him if he didn't call her and Ronon would want to know too.
He caught Carson's gaze and the doctor nodded his head in understanding before John left the room. He headed toward the exit as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket switching it on as he reached the exit. He called Teyla's number and listened to the ringing tone for a few moments before she answered.
"Teyla," she answered.
"It's John, Elizabeth's awake," he stated simply and there was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
"I'll be right there," was all Teyla said before she hung up and John quickly dialled Ronon's number hoping the conversation would be just as fast so that he could get back to Elizabeth.
- - -
Teyla parked her car outside the hospital and almost ran to the doors. John had called her only ten minutes ago and told her that Elizabeth had finally woken up. She walked through the hallways of the hospital and stopped for a moment outside Elizabeth's room. Her friend was in fact awake and she watched as Carson finished whatever he was doing and left the room.
She walked in slowly and Elizabeth offered her a small smile as she did so. Teyla couldn't believe how much relief she felt at seeing her friend awake. Her relief was short lived however when Ronon entered the room behind her. She took a deep breath refusing to allow her own personal crisis to ruin this moment. She took a seat next to John beside Elizabeth bed as Ronon sat on the opposite side.
"How you doing?" she asked her friend remembering the long talk she and John had with Carson when this had all started. He had explained all the possibilities including that she would wake up with side effects from the head injury.
"I'm fine," she told her friend sounding rather tired and looking to John to finish explaining.
"Carson says she seems to be fine and have no side effects from the head injury," he told them and Teyla sighed in relief.
"You had us all worried out of our minds," Ronon told her smiling.
"I'll try not to do it again," Elizabeth stated as she looked at the fading bruise on Teyla's cheek. She looked at John and he gave her a look that told her the situation was bad.
"Hey Ronon, let's go get coffee," John suggested. He didn't want to leave Elizabeth's side but he could sense the need for the impending girl talk and decided it would be best if he and Ronon made themselves scarce for a little while. Ronon nodded his head and the two men left the room silently.
Elizabeth stared at Teyla for a minute before speaking "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"I walked into a door."
"Did that work on John and Ronon?" Elizabeth questioned.
"No," Teyla replied honestly.
"Didn't think so, so are you going to tell me?"
"You don't need this right now Elizabeth, you have enough to deal with," Teyla stated.
"That's right I do have a lot to deal with and the last thing I need is to be racking my injured head trying to figure out what's wrong with you so why don't you save me the effort, energy and pain by just telling me what happened," Elizabeth suggested and Teyla gave her a small smile glad that her friend was awake and very obviously herself.
"An ex boyfriend of mine came into town," Teyla informed her friend her smiling fading from her face. "He was abusive, that's why I left him and when he showed up here he hit me."
Teyla knew she shouldn't be surprised by the lack of judgement on her friends face but she was. Elizabeth had always been an understanding person and never judged anybody that didn't deserve to be judged. Teyla couldn't even remember why she had thought her friends would judge her for this.
"Do John and Ronon know?" Elizabeth asked.
"John does, he refused to leave my house the other day until I told him hat was going on."
"That sounds like John," Elizabeth said sadly.
"He was really worried about you, for the first week he hardly ever left your side and then he spent every spare moment here. He hates himself for being late home and blames himself for what happened," Teyla explained.
"I know, I could tell from the guilty look on his face," Elizabeth responded.
"He really does love you, you know." Teyla stated.
"I know."
- - -
"Are you going to tell me what Teyla said to you the other day?" Ronon questioned and John grimaced inwardly having successfully avoided this for days.
"No," John replied preparing himself for Ronon's response.
"What?!" Ronon shouted and everyone in the corridor around them turned to look at them.
"Keep your voice down," John told his friend "I can't tell you because it's not my place to, I told Teyla that she should tell you but it's her decision whether or not she does. I will tell you that she's not alone this anymore."
"Whatever this is?" Ronon stated bitterly, "Have you had chance to talk to Elizabeth yet?"
"No not really, I called you and Teyla whilst the doctors were with her and you both arrived as soon as they were finished. I'll talk to her later when everything's calmed down. For now I'm just happy knowing that she's awake and going to be okay," John replied his voice sounding brighter than it had in weeks. Things were a long way from fine but at least now he had the chance to make things right. Even if Elizabeth never wanted to see him again at least he had the chance.
TBC
