A/N: Thank you to Alza for reading this through for me and putting to rest my fears, and thank you to all who have reviewed and encouraged me to write more of this. I hope this chapter answers some of your questions.

Chapter Thirteen

The smell of smoke filling his nostrils; the sound of screaming and shouting, of running. His chest aches in the vicelike grip they hold him in as he yells for them to let her go, to bring her back. She is limp in their arms as they step through the 'gate and he fights against his captor to let him go after her. His only reward is a blow to the side of his head. As he feels the darkness creeping in, he hears them mutter something about Atlantis, then they yank his head up to watch as they send an IDC through the 'gate, followed by some sort of machine. Their words are muffled, but he discerns 'say goodbye' and is forced to watch as what he assumes is a weapon is passed through the open wormhole. He thinks he screams his protest, but he isn't sure the sound comes out. Then his head drops forward and the darkness closes in…

---

He jerked awake, a strangled cry coming from deep in his throat. Elizabeth was out of her seat and standing beside him instantly, one hand enclosing his, the other resting on his shoulder.

"It's okay," she whispered, "It's okay."

"Teanna?" he asked through his breathlessness, as he squirmed on the bed, trying to get more comfortable.

"She's okay – "

He stopped fidgeting. "Elizabeth," he said, warningly. He always could tell when she was covering the truth.

She leaned even closer to the bed. "She has internal injuries, Carson's operating on her now. He said she should be fine though."

He rubbed a hand across his eyes and she dropped her hands, suddenly unsure as to whether or not she should be touching him. He caught her fingers as she pulled them out of his though. He caressed them gently until she looked up and met his eyes.

"I missed you," he whispered hoarsely, tears filling his eyes.

Her own eyes instantly filled with moisture, and a small sob escaped her tightened throat. "God, John, I…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. She had so many questions, but didn't feel it appropriate to bombard him with them four hours after his return when he'd been awake only a few minutes.

"I thought you were dead," he told her, pulling on her hand, encouraging her to sit on the side of the bed.

She obliged, and he grasped both of her hands now, sitting up and leaning closer to her. "That's my line," she told him quietly.

He moved his hands to cup her cheeks, wiping at her tears as his own freely flowed down his face. "I thought you were dead, Elizabeth. They made me watch as they sent a bomb through the 'gate – "

Elizabeth shifted closer to him, resting her hands on his neck. "There was no bomb, John. What are you – "

"I watched them!" he exclaimed and she started slightly. "And I screamed for you and for Jake but no sound came out…"

Elizabeth pulled herself forward, wrapping her arms around him as his crying grew more intense and his words started to fade out. He held her tightly against him, his face pressed into her shoulder, his body shaking as he sobbed with pain she could only imagine. And she cried with him. For his pain, for the years she had thought he was dead, for the last few days when he seemed so close and yet still not with them, and for the fact that he was back now.

"It's okay," she whispered, the words squeaking with her emotion. She rubbed his back soothingly. "You're okay. I'm okay and Jake is wonderful." She smiled as she spoke of his son. "He's like a little version of you. Gets up to just as much mischief." She felt him laugh against her, and her smile widened. "I'll bring him by when you've rested some more."

He tightened the embrace and for minutes they just sat in silence, holding each other, reassuring themselves that they weren't imagining this. She still had countless questions, the information he had given her had only confused her more, but she tried to push it all to one side. He was here, and for now, that was all that should matter.

---

Carson cleared his throat, obviously not wanting to interrupt their moment, but also needing to.

Elizabeth pulled out of John's arms, and slipped from her seat on the bed, to stand beside it, folding her arms across her chest, surprised to find herself anxious about what Carson had to say.

"It's good to see you awake, Colonel," the doctor said to John.

"It's good to see you, Carson," John responded. "How's Teanna?"

"She's going to be fine. She'll sleep for several hours now, and then she'll have to take it easy, but she should make a full recovery."

John sighed with relief and his entire body visibly relaxed.

"I'll release you to go back to your quarters once you've slept for a while longer," Carson promised him. "You look completely exhausted, four hours is not enough."

John simply nodded, and the unexpected instant compliance reminded Elizabeth that a lot could have changed in the four years they'd been apart.

"While you rest, I should go and explain all this to Jake," she said, stepping away, forcing a small smile.

"Stay?" John asked before she could make a further move.

"You need to rest," she told him. "And I need to tell Jake what's going on before he sees you and Teanna."

"I owe you an explanation," he said, apologetically.

She smiled again to reassure him. "It can wait until you're rested."

"Don't pull away from me."

She glanced towards Carson who nodded and slipped away to leave them alone. "I'm not pulling away, John," she said, calmly, turning back to him. "I thought you would want to see Jake, and I need to explain the situation to him before that happens."

"But you don't know what the situation is," he said, sitting up more in the bed.

"I know enough to tell him that we've found his Mom and Dad, that his Mom is poorly, but that she'll be better soon."

"Okay, that's enough for Jake, but what about you?"

"I know everything I need to know. Malnos has explained that we have no reason to fear Melera. He told us they were preparing in case your mission failed… I'm assuming your mission was something to do with Teanna. So I'm also assuming the people of Melera knew of your true identity, or at least that you weren't from their planet – or at least some of them knew something…"

She was rambling, and she knew he would see straight through it.

"I had to pretend I didn't know you," he stated, interrupting her.

She stopped speaking and met his eyes, uncertainly.

"It's a very long story, Elizabeth. And I promise I will give you every detail at some point. But right now, you need the abridged version so you can stop feeling betrayed."

"I don't – "

"Elizabeth. I missed you," he said again, silencing her with his words. "I missed you, and I mourned you, and I couldn't believe it when you stepped through that 'gate… But everything was in place to rescue Teanna and I couldn't – There wasn't time to explain it all without more of the Melerans having to know, and then I couldn't guarantee the secrecy of the plan. It was hard enough when Lorne arrived, but for you to be so close, and to not be able to speak to you as myself or to hold you and tell you how much I missed you… God, it almost tore me apart… Why do you think I was always there? I needed to be around you. Even if it was as Loktar."

He was visibly upset, talking about this, and Elizabeth took the few steps needed to take her back to his side.

"John, you don't have to do this."

"I want to. Now, so it's out of the way and we can all move on."

"Okay," she whispered, and she perched on the edge of the bed.

"The message about Teanna's father was a trap. We walked straight into an ambush. They'd set fire to the buildings, the people were running into the woods, shots were fired after them. Warning shots, I think, they didn't seem to be aiming at the people."

"What did they want with you and Teanna?"

"They wanted Teanna… One of them was the man who had her pinned against the wall."

"The man you saved her from."

"Yeah… His men took her and left through the 'gate. Whoever held me hit me over the head when I tried to break free to stop them. Everything's very vague after that. But I remember them saying something about Atlantis, and I watched them send an IDC and then a bomb. Then I blacked out as I tried to scream for them to stop… The next thing I knew, I woke up on Melera, in the village I told you about. I had no memories of my past. Nothing. They told me I'd been found in the woods. And from breaks to the bones in my arm and leg, they assumed I'd fallen from a tree. They put my memory loss down to that."

"But it could have been the blow to the head?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. It could have been that. Or perhaps I was drugged. I've no idea… I only started to remember two years later when I started on the council security force, I think seeing the Stargate triggered my memories. Little snippets started to come back, and then eventually I remembered Atlantis, and you, and Jake and Teanna and then…" He trailed off as his emotions overwhelmed him.

"John, you don't – "

"I do," he insisted, and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then I remembered what they did. And that it was all gone. I'd remembered home, only to realise it wasn't there anymore. I got quite depressed, and Julan – he was on the council then, but wasn't the leader as he is now – asked me what was going on. I didn't go into detail, but I told him I'd started to remember my past, and that my home was destroyed. I'd come to trust him. At first when I started to remember, I wasn't sure whether the Melerans were the ones who'd taken me. But I never saw any faces I recognised, and there was no sign of Teanna."

"How did you find her?"

"I went offworld with a council delegation for a trade negotiation. They were a little wary of the others and in situations like that it was our job to try to break free from the group and nosey around. While Malnos and I were doing that, supposedly lost looking for the great hall, we came across the kitchens and the slaves they had working in there. Teanna was one of them… We didn't have much time to talk, so I still don't know how she got there, but I promised I'd get her out… Malnos and I used the trade negotiations to figure out how that could be done, and then last night, the plan was put into motion."

"And Julan knew what was going to happen? That's what they were preparing for?"

"Yeah, just in case it was traced back to them…"

"But you came here," Elizabeth pointed out, suddenly wondering whether they should be prepared for an attack.

"We were always going to detour via several gates. So hopefully we won't be tracked to here… They don't have ships and things anyway, so the shield should keep them back."

She nodded with a certain level of relief. "Okay. Did you tell Julan you were coming here?"

"Yeah. He approached me after you left the last time, and asked if Atlantis was the home I'd told him of… He said something about you being unable to take your eyes off me," he explained with a small smirk.

Elizabeth responded with a smirk of her own. "You know, I never would have thought it possible, but I've missed that annoying, knowing smirk."

His smiled widened into a grin, and hers followed suit. Their eyes held for countless seconds, and then his expression became serious again.

"It was so hard letting you go that night…"

Her own smile fell.

"… Then I got back to my apartment, and found your GDO in my pocket." He smiled again. "And I realised there was still no fooling Elizabeth Weir."

She laughed once. "Well, you were never very good at it. Others do manage to fool me… And, if I'm honest, I don't know how much of leaving that for you was hope not certainty."

"Lorne will go mad when he finds out you intentionally left your GDO offworld."

She smirked. "Well, if you hadn't been you, then you wouldn't have been able to use it anyway. So, no harm done."

"You know that's not how Lorne'll see it," he grinned.

She leaned closer to him, so her face was only inches from his, and his grin slipped away, replaced by nervousness. "John," she said quietly, "I got you back to Atlantis… I don't care how Lorne sees it."

He laughed. "And thank you, for getting me back."

She shook her head. "Think nothing of it," she smiled. "Of course, now I know about your memory loss, I realise we're very lucky you remembered Jake's birthday."

He nodded. "True." He looked into her eyes for a second, and her heart sped up the same way it always did. Then she jumped slightly when he gently placed his right hand on her cheek. "Sorry," he whispered. "That was a nice touch, by the way."

She frowned.

"Telling me it was Jake's birthday."

"Ah," she nodded, unable to form any more of a response while his thumb was gently stroking her cheek.

"Elizabeth," he whispered barely audibly. "I know four years is a very long time…"

She found herself moving subconsciously closer to him as he spoke and her lips were only millimetres from his when an exclamation from the doorway broke them apart.

"Aunty Elizabeth!!"

TBC…