A/N: This is a more introspective chapter, mostly from John's perspective. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Regarding the two suns, a friend and I came to that conclusion at 3 a.m. (but we were pretty high on caffeine). Sorry about the spelling and punctuation, English is my 3rd language and I have no beta reader for this fandom.

The Prophecy

Chapter 2

Moving as quickly and quietly as possibly, Teyla moved through the station, hoping that she wouldn't run into any of her people. She fought hard to keep her emotions under control. She knew she had done the right thing, but the hurt look on John's face nearly driven her to tears, making her wish there was something she could to take make it easier for him, for both of them.

Luckily most of her people were still on the balconies watching the solar eclipse. A leader should not show weakness in public. People needed to believe that their leaders were strong. Teyla hadn't cried in front of someone else since she was very young. Growing up with the constant threat of the Wraith, she had experienced the loss of friends and family at a too young age. When she had lost her parents, she had not shed a tear in public, only days later, when she had fled into the forest to be finally alone, she had finally mourned their loss.

The corridors of the station seemed longer than ever, before she finally reached her quarters. Before she and John had gotten together she had often considered rejoining her people on the mainland to be more in touch with the Athosian community, but as her their relationship had grown, their had been no question that she would stay on Atlantis.

She opened the door to her room, sinking down on the floor, leaning against the wall as soon as the door had closed behind her. Finally alone where no-one could see here, she let go of the control that she forced upon her emotions. She allowed the tears to fall, for the first time in many years.

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John was stunned after Teyla's sudden departure. He stood there rooted to the spot, unable to process what had just happened. Like in trance, he pocketed the ring and walked back to his room, oblivious to his surroundings.

If he met anyone, he didn't notice, he functioned on autopilot as he walked through the station, mentally opened the door, put the box containing the rings back on the shelf and lied down on the bed, staring blindly on the ceiling. He had no idea how much time had passed when the initial shock of Teyla's refusal started to fade and his brain kicked back into action, analysing what had happened.

It had been totally out of the blue. He had been so sure, not for a moment had he considered that Teyla might reject his proposal. But she hadn't even given it a second thought. She hadn't asked for time to consider her decision. She had declined in no uncertain terms, without explanation, without invitation to talk about her reasons. She had said 'no' and then left.

John sat up on his bed, resting his chin on his drawn up knees. He considered himself a good judge of character and this ability had come in hand more than once on missions. How could have misjudge Teyla that badly? He had thought he knew her very well. After all they had been together for quite a while. He'd been convinced that she shared his feelings and was equally invested in their relationship. Sure, they had never talked much about feelings, they both were not the types for big words, but actions spoke for themselves, didn't they? And as for as actions, in and out of the bedroom were concerned, things were going great.

So how was it possible that he had misjudged her so completely? It was true that they had never really talked about her native culture. Teyla had made the choice to live among the humans in Atlantis and had been eager to learn about Earth and its cultures.

In many ways she adapted to the ways of the humans. John had never pressed her to share about her culture heritage, figuring that if she wanted to do so, she would. Maybe she had taken his failure to ask her as disinterest on his part. He had to admit that he was not too eager to get involved in the more spiritual aspects of the Athosian culture.

Maybe they had also made a mistake by ignoring each other's past. Teyla had asked him a lot about Earth in general, but she had never enquired about his life prior to coming to Atlantis. He had shared some tid-bits, but had not really told her much about his past. It was the same with Teyla. He knew that she had grown up on the planet they had first encountered the Athosians on, but he knew little else about her live prior to meeting her.

Suddenly he was seeing all the mistakes he had made. He didn't know what to do now. He had proposed marriage before. Back then he had been 22 years old and very drunk, but at least the-bride-to-be had accepted. It was later that he wished that she hadn't.

Was a rejected proposal a break-up? How did it work for the Athosians anyways? He realized that there was a lot he didn't know. Maybe Teyla had a problem with him having been married before. But then why hadn't she said so. Halling, who at one point had to have a female partner, hadn't remarried. Did the Athosians believe in one partner for life?

Determination replaced the pain and numbness that he felt. He was going to get to the bottom of this. He doubted that going to Teyla right now was a good idea, giving her rapid departure earlier that day. Right now they were both going to need some time.

TBC