Author's Note: Alright, so here is the October chapter; see? I promised that it wouldn't be too long until I got it out to you ;) Um... this chapter should start to explain a bit about the dreams and everything, and for those of you who were wondering, yes, John is goint to try to tell her in this chapter... ;) But we won't go into that here.

I have to apologize for the second half ofthis chapter, actually. I had it almost written,almost done, and I hadn't saved the last half before I had to go do something; and when I came back, my sister had accidentally turned it offwithout saving it; and so all of that word was lost. So I apologize for *this* ending; it's not nearly as good as it could have been :P. (and that it's late) I hope that you like it anyways, though. Please review, tell me what you think!

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed so far; you're all amazing people! :D

ps. Spellcheck isn't working today, and I didn't get a chance to proof-read all of it; any mistakes are mine and will be fixed once I have a chance to run it through some kind of spell-check ;). Thanks for understanding.­­

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October

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Sheppard watched Teyla nervously out of the corner of his eye as the gate was dialed. It was the first time in nearly three weeks that he had seen her; right after Ana had arrived, she had gone to the mainland to visit her people---and to give him space with his old friend, he realized. He wondered if she really believed that that had been necessary; Ana was his best friend from childhood, and still very much like a sister; but his romantic relationship with her was long over. And as far as he remembered, he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary with her that would suggest a relationship... except for kissing her that one last time. But it had been a kiss of goodbye, not romance... and besides, they had been alone; no one had seen them. He didn't understand where Teyla could have gotten such an idea.

Unless it's a subtle hint that she wants me to find someone else...

He kept glancing at her, trying to figure out what was going on behind those pretty eyes; but for her part she ignored him, focusing her attention solely on the ponderously dialing gate.

"Be safe!" Elizabeth called to them as they stepped through the gate.

"Will do!" Sheppard replied, suppressing a shudder at her words. For some reason today, her traditional blessing felt like an omen...

...He hoped that their mission would go smoothly.

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The world that they came out on was wet and cold and gray; and the atmosphere added to John's unease.

"I don't like this," he muttered. Rodney turned to look at him in suprise, as if they had just made a monumental connection; Ronon laughed at him and told him to lighten up. But Teyla, contrary to her usual reaction to their banter, was silent, offering no words of reassurance, which bothered John all the more. There was something very, very wrong here.

"Maybe we shouldn't explore too far out here," he said, trying once again to get a reaction from Teyla. She kept them balanced; and if there was anything wrong here, she would be more intune with it than anyone. "I mean, the initial scans didn't show anything interesting or dangerous; maybe this planet really isn't worth anything."

"Nah, not quite true," McKay, of all people, contradicted him. "The initial scans didn't show anything harmful, no; but there are still a lot of unexplained readings that came up; and I'd like to know more about what's going on before we abandon this place, either way." Oh, the one day that he decided to be brave...! "As long as it's something that I can do near the gate, of course. Anything else, a couple of you are going to have to go out there and take more readings for me."

"No, you can get your own darn scans, McKay," Ronon growled. The scientist was preoccupied with whatever he was doing, and he didn't even jump at Ronon's voice anymore.

"Actually, I wasn't thinking you, Ronon. Supposing something happened, I think that you're my best bet for getting out alive. I was thinking more Sheppard and Teyla."

John froze. Yes, he wanted and needed to talk to Teyla; at the very least to see if everything was alright with her. She had been acting weird, lately; and it was more than just the nightmares or Ana. There was something more going on beneath the surface, and it was hurting her. He wanted to know what it was, if there was any way that he could help her.

"Alright, fine," he agreed. Rodney looked shocked that he had so quickly agreed, but had to good sense not to say anything... Or maybe he had the good sense to heed Ronon's warning looks.

"Very well," Teyla nodded tightly, her voice clipped and a little sharp. But Rodney didn't seem interestedin contesting her, either; and so he merely nodded.

"Alright, um... well, there's a weird energy reading coming from that way," he gestured vaguely to the left. "If you kinda just follow it, you'll come up on it. I'll radio you when you get close enough. Don't worry, it's not dangerous."

Why can't you do it yourself, then? John barely bit the words back. It wasn't far, and he would be with Teyla; they could talk and he could keep an eye on her, keep her safe. That was all that mattered...

They walked until they were out of hearing range of the others in silence; and after that, all of John's attempts to start conversation were awkward and ended in failure. For a while he was forced to be content with it; if Teyla needed space, he could understand that. But it was her complete dismissal of his presense that eventually spurred him to act. Something was wrong, something more than the dreams and Ana; and she was avoiding him; and he couldn't deal with that.

"Teyla, what's wrong?" he asked suddenly. She didn't even turn around.

"How far are we, Colonel?" she asked, quickening her pace a bit. The carefully deliberate way that she said his rank hurt him.

"Not that far, but Teyla, it doesn't matter!" He caughet her arm and pulled her around to face them. Teyla glanced down at his hand, and then slowly lifted her eyes to his face.

"Let me go," she whispered. Any man in his right mind would have known to stay away from her by that point; but John ignoredthe danger in her voice and her dark eyes.

"No, not until you tell me what's wrong. You've been avoiding me; and I believe that it was you who explained to me last time how dangerous it is when we do that! We both almost go killed last time. That one was my fault; but at least I'm trying here, now. What the heck are you doing?!" He hadn't thought that it was possible, but Teyla's eyes grew even colder than before.

"Let me go," she repeated. Her words were quieter, but somehow, he realized that this was even more to be feared. He changed his tack.

"Teyla, please talk to me. I want to help you, but I don't know what's wrong. Please, let me help you! I only want to help because I love---" Teyla opened her mouth to cut him off, but instead gasped, a twisted expression marring her pretty features. John was instantly worried; she looked like she was in pain...and terrified.

He grasped her shoulders tightly.

"Teyla? Teyla, what's wrong?!" Her fingers gripped his arms with bruising strength, and she clung to him like a lifeline.

"John, it's happening!" she gasped confusingly. "We have to get---"

"Hey, what's going on with you guys?!" McKay's voice sounded oddly loud over the radio. "I'm picking up a really weird energy reading from where you---Oh my gosh! It's a dart! You need to get out of there now!"

"Working on that, Rodney!" John snapped angrily, tugging Teyla and urging her along with him. But something had come over her, something like John had never seen before. She couldn't move, and she could barely breathe. All of the air that she did take in was expended in frantic, garbled whisperings, about how "they" were coming, and he needed to run; to leave her and get away, they were going to kill him if he stayed. But John had no intention of leaving her, for any reason. He took her and shook her shoulders, fighting back the panic that was threatening to overtake him as well.

"Teyla, snap out of it!" he shouted. "Nothing is going to get either one of us; we're going back to the gate, and we'll get back to the city and be fine. We can't stay here!"

"John, they're going to kill you!" Her eyes were wild, her tone frantic. "They're going to come for me, and they're going to kill you!" He realized that their situation must have reminded her in some way of her dreams; and while at any other time he would have pressed her for details, now was hardly the time or the place. He could already hear the wraith dart screeching closer, and he knew that they were running out of time to get away.

"Hurry and get away, please John! I don't want to watch you die!"

"No one is going to die, Teyla! The only thing that's after us here is a wraith dart; and you need to come with me before it catches us both." He tugged on her again, urging her to run; and her survival instincts seemed to take over, because she followed him, even though she was still gasping out nonsense with every breath. He ignored it---the first time in a long time that he had ignored her---and ran faster. But either the dart had recognized their presence, or they had spent too long arguing; because suddenly it was upon them, running them down.

The one thing that John was grateful for was that it convinced Teyla to run faster.

"How did the wraith find us?!" John panted. If Teyla answered him, he couldn't understand her.

Suddenly, the screeching of the dart was far to close for it to be following them; he looked up to see it right on top of them, the culling beam enveloping Teyla. He stumbled and fell, and watched as the dart ignored him and swept up the woman he loved.

"Teyla!" he choked, trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him, watching the dark shriek away and disappear. "NO!" He slapped desperately around for his radio, which he had lost when he fell, and managed to hook it over his ear.

"Ronon, Rodeny, whatever you do, don't try to take down the dart! Teyla's onboard..."

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Teyla shuddered and twitched, no longer having any control over her body. She had finally run when John had asked her to, only to be swept up into the culling beam and see him falling into it. Her last conscious thoughts had been guilt; she had brought this on him.

She didin't know where she was now; she was awake, but as of yet she had been unable to open her eyes, and she didn't know why. She heard things going on around her, and she heard and felt the rust of wind and fine grains of dust. She was definitely outside somewhere, not on a hive as she had expected. But there was only one wraith-like presence there, cold and familiar...

"Time to wake up now, Teyla," suddenly, she could open her eyes again. She took in as much as she could at once; she was lying on the ground, John was unconscious beside her, and there was someone else just out of her view. She twisted her neck and strained to see, and nearly choked herself gasping. Suddenly everything that had happened on this world, everything that she had been feeling, all her dreams, made sense.

"Michael!" she hissed angrily, trying to rise. But an invisible force seemed to bind her the ground. She struggled harder, barely giving herself time to wonder what she was fighting against. His mental control? A force field?

MIchael laughed grimly at her.

"I said wake up, Teyla; I did not say that you could rise."

"What have you done to him?!" she demanded, still struggling but focusing on John's still-unconscious body beside her. She had caused him so much trouble already, without ever even telling him. And if Michael had done something to him...

"He is fine, for now," the half-wraith said cryptically. "And he will be...for three more days. That is how long it will take for the poison in him to run its course, and how long you have to go halfway across this planet to find the gate and get help before he dies." Teyla's eyes widened, and her struggles became violent.

"No! Do whatever you want to me, I don't care; but leave him alone!" Michael laughed at her again, and leaned down to brush a few strands of hair away from her cheek.

"Oh, Teyla, my dear, you don't understand yet, do you? This is my world, now." He stood up and backed away, and disappeared. The invisible force that had bound Teyla in place disappeared with him, and she rocketted to her feet, glancing between the place where her enemy had stood just a moment before, and John's ashen, lifeless face. No, this couldn't be the end; this was not how he was going to die!

"Michael!" she screamed his name into the cold gray sky. "I won't accept it, Michael! You said yourself that there is always a way to get what you want. You can't kill him, Michael. I will find a way to save him." But she recieved no answer from the emptiness around her.

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Sheppard returned to Atlantis under protest; but he was ultimately overruled by Ronon and McKay ganging up on them. He returned to the city seething with anger, glaring death rays at anyone who came into his line of vision.

Elizabeth was unlucky enough to do just that.

"What happened?" She asked them. "Where's Teyla?"

"She got culled!" John burst out. Ronon stepped in front of his livid friend, with a calmer explanation.

"There was a dart on the planet; it picked her up when we were split up. But it didn't go back towards the gate; it went away from it."

"Doesn't meant that it didn't dial out as soon as we left!" Sheppard said, pushing his way past Ronon. "In which case, we will have lost our chance to rescue her, and it will have been your fault."

"Hey!" Elizabeth snapped angrily at him. "This is not Ronon's fault." She turned to Rodney. "Do you think that the dart could still be there?"

"Well, judging by its distance from the gate and the general speed of a dart..." he stopped and thought for a second. "Unless there was a hive ship hidden around somewhere on that planet, there's no way that it could have gotten back to the gate. And there wasn't any hive there that I could detect."

"Alright, so they're still there."

"Isn't that what I just said---yes," Rodney sighed. Why did he even bother explaining things?

"Alright, you guys have a mission." John made a sound of dark satisfaction.

"Good. Alright, come on, we're going in on foot."

"On foot?" Elizabeth and Rodney protested as one.

"Yeah. With any luck that dart'll pick us up too; take us right to her."

"John, that's crazy!" Elizabeth cried, following him and Ronon down the stairs back towards the gate. Rodney followed as well, at a distance; he wasn't particularly interested in getting any closer to the insane Colonel than he had to.

"Yeah," Ronon agreed. "Let's do it." Elizabeth let out a muffled shriek of frustration.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're both crazy?!"

"Yeah, it's been rumored," the big Satedan said, grinning darkly at her, then looking past her at McKay. "You comin' or what?"

"I suppose that I don't have a choice, do I?" John turned around to face him, his face a mask of roiling emotions that made him back up a step. He did have the look of someone insane; it was obvious that he was ready to do anything to get her back.

On another day, in another situation, Rodney might have reminded the Colonel that they had all told him to tell her; and that that might have changed events, if even only a little. But at that moment, no such thought even crossed his mind.

"We are going to go out there and get her, and we are going to bring her back," he said. "And I don't care if you come or not; but if you don't, you'd better not be here when we get back." Rodney gulped.

"Alright, I'm coming."

"Good," he turned back towards the gate, which had just finished dialing. "Let's go."

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A/N: Alright, so there it is. *cringes* Sorry for the mega-huge cliffie! *hides* I promise that I'm going to fix all of this! (and I have it mostly written, too; just have to do some editing and it *should* be ready to post in the beginning of November) And you'll get all the answers that you could ever ask for, and the one thing that everyone has been asking for ;). So there's something to look forward to. *peeks out of hiding* Please leave a review so that I know you don't hate me...?