Bunnylass – I'm glad you liked the little part about Christmas and Laura's and Carson's scene, I try to make sure all the characters are included. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

Sparkly – I have no idea where the gymnastics bit came from, it kinda wrote itself lol, glad you liked it though. Mathos makes a decision in this chapter that isn't so good for Teyla, hope you enjoy it.

Saphire – Thanks for the review, things with Mathos get much worse in this chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Kuroima – I'm glad you liked the gymnastics scene and the scene with the other characters; it's kinda hard to trying to include them all so it's good to know I'm managing lol. Thanks for the review.

Steph – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.

Jammeke – I'm glad you're enjoying the John and Elizabeth; I think they've both changed each other in this story which is what I was hoping to do. It's kinda hard including so many characters but I'm glad you enjoy their scenes as well, hope you enjoy this chapter.

AthosionWarrior – Mathos is kinda psycho isn't he lol and he gets worse in this chapter, thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 25

Defence had been a long and boring lesson; everyone had been making the finishing touches to their projects. John and Elizabeth had spent most of the lesson re-reading their project since they'd finished it last week. Once that was done, they'd put it all together, bound it in place and waited for Mathos to collect it.

Elizabeth was glad that it was done but she'd been dreading this lesson. After this Mathos was going to move Teyla to the front of the class, closer to him and away from where Jack and John could keep a close eye on her. The girls warning from the other day had been echoing in her mind ever since. The young girl's sister Kimmie Rains, was sitting in front of her working on her project, oblivious to the fact that Elizabeth knew she was relaying information to her sister.

Teyla was doing an impressive job of ignoring Mathos and Elizabeth had to give her friend her credit, she wasn't sure she'd fair so well under Mathos' constant scrutiny. The end of the lesson came and Mathos walked around the room collecting the projects and dismissing the students as he did so.

He took the project from John and he and Elizabeth stood up to put the remainder of their things in their bags. Jack handed in his and Teyla's project, Mathos added it to the top of the pile he was carrying and looked pointedly at Teyla. "I'll expect to see you on the front row next lesson Miss Emmagan," he told her and Elizabeth watched as John and Jack bit back whatever response they had in mind.

"Yes sir," Teyla replied quietly as she put her things in her bag and refused to meet the Professor's eyes.

Jack put his hand on her arm urging to head toward the door before him and she did so without resistance. John and Elizabeth walked out of the room in front of her and once they were out Teyla immediately put on a happy face and headed toward the cafeteria. Jack and John followed her and Elizabeth was about to join them when she felt someone behind her. She turned around to see Mathos standing in the doorway to his classroom. He was watching Teyla walk away intently and when he noticed Elizabeth's gaze he turned and walked away.

Elizabeth watched him disappear into his class; he was completely fixated on Teyla, to the point where he didn't even seem to care if others were noticing. He wasn't trying to be subtle or careful about it. He was openly watching her and moving her to the front of the class.

She heard the girl's voice in her head telling her that she had been lucky when Mathos had taken an interest in her and he seemed to be even more interested in Teyla. The bad feeling she'd had about Mathos in her first Defence lesson had grown exponentially since then but in that moment it increased ten fold.

"Elizabeth," she heard John call from where he was waiting for her part way down the corridor.

"Sorry," she said as she ran to catch up with him. Jack and Teyla had already disappeared around the corner and John looked at her curiously but she ignored it, she needed to figure out what to do first.

"I'll think I'll go and get my books for this afternoon, you coming?" Teyla asked Elizabeth.

"No, I'll get mine later," she replied and Teyla nodded and left.

Elizabeth watched her go wondering what to do about Mathos and the girl's warning. The chances are that Teyla, being Teyla, would brush it off and say she was fine. It only really left Elizabeth with one choice and she didn't particularly like it. She was going to have to tell Jack and John, it felt like she was going behind her friends back but what choice did she have?

The three of them made their way to the cafeteria, thankfully the rest of the group who had the luxury of a free period before lunch had yet to arrive and she decided it was now or never. "I have something to tell you," she told them as they sat down and they must have detected something in her tone because they both abandoned whatever joke she'd missed and looked at her worriedly.

"A couple of days ago a girl spoke to me about Mathos, I think she might have been a senior. She said her sister was in our class and had been telling her about Mathos' attention to Teyla," Elizabeth paused to take a deep, nervous breath; she knew they were going to be mad at her for not telling them sooner.

"She said that a few years ago it had been her who was in Teyla's shoes and that Mathos had eventually given her detention as an excuse to get her alone," she continued and watched the emotion play across her friends faces, they knew what was coming. "He 'd grabbed her and she managed to run away before he got any further but she had no doubt of what his intentions had been. She reported him but there was no evidence so the charges were dropped."

Silence fell between them and Elizabeth braced herself for their reactions. "Why didn't you tell us before?" Jack demanded.

"She said she already spoke to Teyla, if Teyla didn't tell us it's because she didn't want us to know. I didn't know what to do," she defended.

"You should have told us straight away, or at least at the first chance you had," Jack told her, anger evident in his voice and she could tell he was reigning it in for her benefit.

"You should have said something," John agreed, he was angry too but doing a better job of hiding it than Jack was.

"I didn't know what to do, I needed time to think," she told them, finding her own anger now. This wasn't exactly something that happened everyday, there was no handbook for it, she just had to figure it out for herself.

"And if Mathos had tried something while you were thinking?" Jack questioned, he was almost shouting now and it was gaining a few curious glances from the people around them.

"Anything could have happened Elizabeth, you should have come to us," John told her angrily but far more quietly than Jack and Elizabeth had no idea how to respond. She didn't know how to defend what she'd done especially when they were both so angry at her for it.

Any further argument was put to a halt by the arrival of Marcus, Laura and Janet. The three of them sat down making a joke about one of their professors completely unaware of the tension between their friends. Jack and John continued to look at Elizabeth with something akin to disappointment coupled with the anger.

Elizabeth held onto her own anger for as long as she could before standing up and walking out of the cafeteria. She didn't look back even when she heard several of the unaware members of her group call after her.

"Just let her go," she heard Jack tell them.

She walked out of the cafeteria and pulled her coat tighter around herself as she headed for the trees. She waited until she was out of sight of the school before she stopped and leaned back against one of the trees.

She almost felt like crying, Teyla was getting herself deeper and deeper into trouble and Jack and John were both mad at her for keeping something important from them. The truth was, they were probably right. She should have told them about the girl straight away but even if she had, what good would it have done?

She'd had no idea what to do and she still didn't.

To make everything worse it started raining, a few drops of water at first but the torrential downpour soon began… and she couldn't bring herself to move.

She'd known everything was going too well, nothing in her life was ever this easy, this good. She'd just seem to fall into friendships with the Atala's but especially with John, Jack and Teyla. Now two of the three were mad at her and Teyla would probably join them when she found out Elizabeth had gone to Jack and John behind her back.

The other shoe finally seemed to be falling and the worst part was she had almost kidded herself into thinking it wasn't going to happen. She'd almost believed that maybe she could have this; maybe she could have no strings attached friendships and just enjoy her time at magic school... she should have known better.

Listening to her own thoughts she almost had to laugh at how pathetic she seemed, it all sounded so pitiful and yet she couldn't change the fact that it was true. Completely drenched already and knowing Teyla would have returned to the cafeteria by now, she pushed herself away from the tree and headed back into school grounds and toward the dorms.

"Elizabeth," she heard John shout but didn't feel much like stopping to talk to him right now. It was only a few seconds before she felt a hand on her arm which forced her to turn around.

"What the hell did you go down near the river for in this weather?" he asked her as he looked her up and down noticing how completely soaked she was. She was shivering from the cold and her coat could only offer her so much protection.

"John, I'm not in the mood right now, I'll see you later," she told him and turned around to leave but the man was persistent and he followed her.

"We're not mad at you," he tried to tell her over the sound of the rain and the occasional people shouting as they ran from one building to another. "Elizabeth, stop."

She kept going but when she heard him sigh she turned around to see him standing a few feet from her. "What?" she asked him.

"We're not mad at you," he told her again "We're mad at Mathos and Jack was just shooting the messenger, ignore him, you know how protective he is."

Elizabeth looked at the floor unsure if she wanted to hear this, it would be easier to just let go of her friendships now and let that be that. She didn't want to just let go though, she wanted to cling to everything she had gained here at Pegasus even as it was all crashing down around her.

"I have to go dry off," she told him noting that they were both still getting completely soaked by the rain. "You should do the same, I'll see you later."

John took a moment before he nodded his head knowing that was the best reaction he was going to get from her. She turned around and continued her walk toward Raildon halls, there was no point in running now, the rain had already done its damage.

- - -

"Come on Sam, shopping is always fun," Vala stated as she and Sam left Entrix towers and headed for the cafeteria. Sam pretended to consider the idea of going shopping with her friend before shaking her head. They passed by the three students who were becoming well known for being the trouble causers of their year. Kolya, Sora and Laden were walking out of the cafeteria and as soon as they were outside their mouths opened and spells came out.

Sora levitated their bags so none of them had to carry anything. Laden used a heat spell and Vala was fairly sure that Kolya was using a financial gain spell which was not only forbidden on campus but also against the ethical code. He mentioned something about leaving the crummy school and going into town for some real food as he patted his pocket which Vala didn't doubt was now more full than it had been before.

He then noticed that both Sam and Vala had watched the magical show they had put on. They both looked disapprovingly at him to which he simply smirked as he and his lackeys approached them.

"Ladies," he greeted with a tone that made them feel more like pieces of meat hung out for show.

"We're not allowed to do magic outside the classroom," Sam reminded him seemingly unbothered by him.

"And I don't think any one is allowed to use financial gaining magic at all," Vala added disapprovingly and Kolya only smirked at them again.

"I don't what you're talking about, I saw no one use magic here… and neither did you," he told them and the not so hidden threat was obvious to both women. He looked them up and down with a leer that made Vala's skin crawl.

"Dream on," she told him and anger flashed through his eyes, obviously he wasn't used to people talking back to him or telling him he couldn't have something.

"You'd do well not to get on my bad side," he warned them and Vala raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a look that almost dared him to do something. He took a step toward her but Sam quickly jumped in.

"Don't even bother," she told Kolya warningly and pushed the man back slightly. Vala would have paid big money to see Sam kick his ass but with his two lackeys in tow and Kolya's well known magical ability it might not have gone down that way so she let Sam drag her away before Kolya could do anything. She didn't need to look behind her to know that Kolya was probably contemplating coming after them.

- - -

Jack looked at Teyla who was sitting next Ronon doing an excellent job of pretending nothing was wrong with her friends or her teachers. At the edge of the table Elizabeth was sat with her book, quiet and distant. She'd pulled away from them all again over the last few days and was back to the way she'd been at the beginning, no longer getting involved with the group. He hadn't realised how much that had changed until she went back to doing it.

John had been rather quiet and he was missing his usual humour. He was currently sat with Marcus and Cameron discussing football but Jack could tell John was only paying the necessary amount of attention and rarely making comment himself, just nodding a lot. Jack himself had not gone unaffected; he knew he was being as uncharacteristically quiet as John was.

It had been him, John, Teyla and Elizabeth right from the beginning, their own little group even when the rest of the Atala's had joined them. Now it was falling apart and Jack had no idea what to do about it. He knew he shouldn't have shouted at Elizabeth the other day when she'd told them about the girl that had spoken to her. He'd been angry but that was no excuse for misdirecting it at her.

If the other members of their group had noticed something was wrong they weren't saying anything. He found it hard to believe they hadn't noticed something, the four of them were usually fairly inseparable and now they were barely speaking at all let alone to each other.

It was the first time since coming to magic school that Jack had wanted to be anywhere else. Something had to be done about it; he wasn't going to let Mathos rip their group apart.

The four of them were free for their last period, so were Daniel, Kate and Carson but he knew they were going into town to do some Christmas shopping. He knew Elizabeth would go to library and Teyla would retreat to her room, John would most likely go to his but he was determined to fix this.

Lunch time came to an end and everyone headed off to whatever lesson they had. Jack watched his three closest friends walk away. John and Elizabeth had general magic but they were by no means heading there together. Teyla was free with him but from the looks of it she was going to go to the library to avoid him.

This had to be fixed.

- - -

Jack had been right, as soon as magical ethics had finished the four of them had gone their separate ways. Jack stood in the hallways outside the classroom for several minutes as he tried to figure out what to do. The only way they were going to fix this is if they talked which was kind of hard when they wouldn't even be in the same room together.

So, he'd just have to make them be in the same room.

He took off after John first knowing he would be the easiest to convince. He had to walk all the way up to John's room in Beltry towers and it took his friend way too long to answer the door.

"We gotta talk," Jack stated "But first we get the girls."

"I don't think they wanna talk right now," John told him sadly.

"And that is the problem," Jack replied and gave John a look that dared him to object. Knowing better than to stand in Jack's way when he was on a mission John sighed and grabbed his coat before following him.

Next stop was the library and as Jack expected he found Elizabeth there with her homework in front of her. He knew this would take longer than convincing John took so he sat down at the table and John followed suit. She looked up, surprised to see them but then looked back down at her homework.

"Ignoring me won't make me go away," Jack informed her and she sighed in much the same manner that John had and looked back at him.

"What do you want?" she asked him with more patience than he'd expected.

"I think we all need to sit down and talk," Jack told her simply "Mathos has ripped us apart and we need to put ourselves back together before his lesson otherwise he wins."

"It's not a competition," she stated flatly and continued with her work.

"I know that," he replied "I'm sorry for shouting at you other day. You, John and Teyla are the closest friends I've ever had and I don't intend to let Mathos take that away from any of us."

That seemed to hit a chord because she stopped writing and after several moments looked up at him. Another few seconds and she nodded her head and put her pen down. Standing up she packed her things away and Jack picked her bag up for her only then realising he still had his own.

The walk to Raildon Halls felt excruciatingly long and was filled with an awkward silence. Elizabeth walked into her room first and a surprised Teyla greeted them all with a flat acknowledgement of their presence. They hadn't actually told Teyla what was going on and that more than anything else had been what alienated her from the group.

Elizabeth sat down next to Teyla on her bed, Jack sat on the edge of Elizabeth's bed and John pulled up the chair near the dresser. "Now that we're all here, we need to talk. Teyla, we know about the girl that talked to you about Mathos," he began getting straight to the point.

Teyla froze; she obviously hadn't been expecting that. "How did you find out?"

"She came to talk to me," Elizabeth admitted "When she realised you hadn't really listened to her or were just pretending it wasn't happening she came to me… and I told them."

Elizabeth almost seemed to be bracing herself for Teyla's response, as thought she was expecting Teyla to blow up in her face and Jack realised just how stupid his own reaction had been. Elizabeth was closed off enough as it was and he'd probably made things a whole lot worse, he resisted the urge to hit himself.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked calmly and Elizabeth still didn't seem to think she was safe.

"What would you have said?" she questioned back "You would have said exactly what you're planning to say now. That it's nothing and the girl's wrong, that you can handle Mathos."

"You should have come to me, not Jack and John," Teyla told her, voice still calm and Elizabeth nodded her head and said no more.

"She didn't want to tell us," John informed Teyla "It was a couple of days later that she did. Mathos was really worrying her and she didn't know what else to do."

Finally Elizabeth relaxed somewhat went Teyla nodded in understanding "We were mad at Mathos and I took it out on her," Jack stated "Which I shouldn't have done and I'm sorry."

"And I didn't help matters," John continued "So I'm sorry too."

"And we should all have been honest with each other," Elizabeth added "So I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry for being so pig headed, I knew Mathos was a problem and I should have told you all about the girl," Teyla took her turn.

With everything, including the apologies, out in the open the atmosphere between them felt much better already. "See what a little group therapy does?" Jack joked brining a smile to everyone's faces "There's nothing like it."

- - -

When they walked into the defence classroom they were forced to part ways, reluctant as it was. John, Elizabeth and Jack moved to sit in their usual seats at the back of the class and Teyla had to go and sit front and centre. A pleased smile appeared on Mathos' face as he greeted Teyla.

"I'm gonna wipe that look off his face," Jack mumbled under his breath.

"Get in line," John replied and quickly removed the disgusted glare from his face when Mathos glanced at them.

Teyla turned to look at them all, throwing them a reassuring smile. She was okay, at least for now.

Mathos began the lesson and spent far too much time leaning on the desk in front of Teyla. Once he'd set them work to do he gave Teyla more help from the teacher than the rest of the class got. Teyla tossed a look over her shoulder whenever she got the chance and they could do nothing but smile back and let her know they were keeping an eye on her. There was much relief when the end of the lesson arrived and Mathos had to dismiss them.

"I'll get your projects back to you as soon as I can, I do have rather a lot of them to grade. I'll see you on Friday," he said but was actually looking at Teyla when he said it. "Class dismissed."

"If I start cheering do you think I'll get in trouble?" Jack asked as he stood up and all but threw his things into his bag.

"Probably," Elizabeth replied.

"Shame," Jack said as he threw his bag over his shoulder in record time and walked across the class to Teyla. He helped her with the last of her things and they met John and Elizabeth by the door.

"All I have to say is thank God we have a free period now," Jack commented as they all left the room together "I need some cool off time."

- - -

If there was one thing Teyla hated it was how fast time seemed to move between her defence lessons. Of course when she was in them time would slow down… a lot. She pushed all thoughts of the Defence lesson she was only an hour away from facing and walked out of the cafeteria with Ronon.

She may have had a free lesson however he should really have been on his way to magical ethics by now. Not that he seemed to mind being late but she didn't want him missing something because he was here with her.

"You're about thirty seconds late you know," she informed him and he smiled and stopped walking.

"Colbrun is a nice guy, he won't mind me being a few minutes late if it's not a regular habit," he told her and then seemed to take a moment to study her. She looked down and had to try very hard not to blush under his scrutiny.

"I'm kinda glad I picked you to help me prove a point to Elizabeth," she told him, looking back up at him and hoping she'd turned the tables on him. Ronon was not the type to get embarrassed though.

"So am I," he told her and true to his nature as a man of action he leant down and planted a quick kiss on her lips. If that's all he had intended it to be she'd have to find out later because she wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer. Crashing his lips against hers, his tongue demanded entry and she granted it with only a fleeting thought to passers by. Most people were probably in lesson or hiding somewhere warm anyway.

When they parted neither of them moved far "You really are gonna be late," she told him and he smiled and shrugged.

"Could miss the lesson all together," he told her suggestively and though she knew he was joking the thought did appeal to her. She mentally slapped herself and laughed, pushing him away slightly.

"Go to your lesson before you get in trouble," she told him.

"Fine, but we're continuing this discussion later," he told her and leaned down to kiss her once more before heading into the main building. Teyla smiled and stopped herself from doing any kind of dance, no mater how much her body wanted to. Instead she forced herself to turn around and walk back to the cafeteria so she could inform Elizabeth of her and Ronon's… discussion.

Mathos stepped out from around the corner and walked to the spot she'd been standing in. Anger twisted inside him as he walked toward the door Teyla had just stepped through. He pulled it open, his eyes scanning the room and finding Teyla very quickly. She was talking to one of her friends, Miss Weir; she was smiling and very obviously excited.

He wouldn't stand for this, wouldn't allow it. That girl was his and he was going to make sure she understood that.

TBC