Case In Point

By: Taya Henderson

The Atlantis team and SG-1 took their seats across from a panel filled with several old men and one old woman. Two of the men were dressed in military garb; the others were dressed in suits.

"We are here to discuss the validity of whether or not Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's relationship with Miss Teyla Emmagen is interfering with their jobs and missions." The middle old man said. "How do you plead?"

"They plead unaffected in this case." Daniel said, standing up.

"And you are?" The old man asked.

"Dr. Jackson, I'll be aiding in their representation during the course of this hearing." Daniel replied.

"Thank you, Dr. Please bring any proof of this claim forward at this time." The old man nodded.

"I submit Dr. Rodney McKay, Atlantis One team member, for questioning." Daniel replied and Rodney walked over to the podium and waited.

"Have you seen any evidence that Lt. Colonel Sheppard allowed his personal feelings for this young woman to interfere with your mission objectives?" One of the women asked.

"Yes." Rodney nodded. "On Atlantis, we have a rule, never leave a man behind. Sheppard follows that rule religiously, and would give his life for anyone on Atlantis. He's compromised a mission objective or two to save me, to save Teyla, to save Dr. Weir, to save anyone he could…all of which are excusable deviances from the mission. He's even done several suicide missions to keep the rest of us alive."

"In your opinion, Dr. McKay, do Miss Emmagen and Lt. Colonel Sheppard treat each other differently on missions now?" The old man in the middle asked.

"No. Teyla has always addressed Sheppard by his rank and follows his orders, despite the fact that she is in fact, not a member of the military or a citizen of Earth, so she isn't actually bound by our rules." Rodney answered. "Any other questions?"

"No, thank you, Dr. McKay." The woman nodded. "Your next evidence, Dr. Jackson?"

"General Jack O'Neill, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, and Colonel Mitchell to explain the differences between the Stargate program and the regular military, with special regard to the colony of Atlantis." Daniel explained as the three approached the podium.

Teyla looked at John as the proceedings wore on. The three Stargate officers were questioned for well over two hours, with some of the panel getting rather irritated at the answers. Finally, Daniel allowed her to speak.

"Miss Emmagen-" The old man began.

"Before you ask any more questions, I have one of my own. How, if I am not even a citizen of Earth, does my relationship fall under your jurisdiction? I was unaware that you can legally dictate how a person feels." Teyla raised an eyebrow. "Your rules say nothing about a relationship with what you call an alien, for or against. If this is so, how do you possibly have any right to say what we can or cannot do on our own free time?"

"As a member of the Atlantis team, you are thereby a citizen of Atlantis. That in itself puts you under military scrutiny, and because you are a member of Colonel Sheppard's team, you are his subordinate. This is mostly a hearing to tell Colonel Sheppard whether or not he can pursue a relationship with you, not the other way around." One of the military men, who had not spoken before, explained kindly.

"Now you may ask your questions." Teyla nodded.

"When exactly did your relationship with Colonel Sheppard start?" The woman asked.

"Just before the siege of Atlantis. I had feelings for him long before that, but we were not together until just before the hive ships arrived." Teyla explained.

"Do you have rules for your relationship to keep it from getting out of hand?" The old military man asked, just as kindly as before.

"Yes. John and I kept our relationship a secret for as long as we could, then, when we were found out, we made a bargain with Colonel Caldwell and Dr. Weir. If, for three months, it was apparent that our relationship would not spill over into our jobs, then we will be allowed to live as we choose without any hindrances or consequences." Teyla replied. "We upheld that bargain strictly, and we are always professional when we are working. I am the leader of my people, so I understand the strain a romantic relationship can put on a working relationship. We have done everything in our power to keep the two things separate."

"Is this three-month period over yet?" The woman asked. "And have you any proof of this 'professional' claim?"

"The trail was over two weeks ago. As you can see, neither she nor Colonel Caldwell has objected in any way to our behavior." Teyla said. "We did not break our bargain."

"We have here an incident report from Dr. Beckett and Dr. Weir citing a request for you two to take personal time off for several weeks. Care to explain this?" The old man in the middle asked.

"The time taken off was for a personal tragedy. You do give time off for death in the family, do you not?" Teyla bit her lip. "I do not wish to go into the details of that incident, as they are both painful and personal."

"If you do not, it could be held against you." The woman glared at Teyla.

"She had a miscarriage on a damn mission. It was devastating to us both, and we needed time off to deal with it so we can do our jobs. If you've got a problem with that, I don't know why I joined the military in the first place." John spat, standing up.

"Colonel Sheppard, restrain yourself!" The woman exclaimed.

"We will take a recess for the day to consider this new information." The middle panelist said and they got up and left.

"That could've gone better." Daniel sighed, leaning back in his seat.

"Sheppard was well within his bounds, a question like that should not be asked." Teal'c said.

"Well, who's up for lunch?" Jack asked. "Military's treat?"

"Thank you, General, but I fear I have lost my appetite." Teyla shook her head.

"Do you want me to kill them for you?" Ronan asked.

"No, Ronan. That'll just make things worse. I've already done a pretty good job of ruining things myself." John rested his head in his hands. "Why the hell are we being put through all this?"

"You really want to know?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "They're punishing you for shooting Sumner, even though you had to shoot him. They can't actually punish you, so they're doing this."

"That is not the only thing." Teyla sighed, putting a hand on John's shoulder. "My people will not yet let us wed either. We feel as though we are being tested, and we do not know why."

"Jack, I have an idea!" Sam exclaimed, grinning. "The only way we can accept testimony is if it is from a valid, trustworthy source, correct?"

"Yes." Jack nodded not understanding.

"Because he snuck-" Daniel grinned. "So then-oh. That's good."

"Will that get us off, though?" Sheppard looked up.

"Maybe. If we-I'll check on the logs…Mitchell, send out a few calls, see if we can't get security footage, Teal'c, you and Ronan go and interrogate the guy a bit more. He's-"

"I'm aware of his location." Teal'c nodded.

"Interrogate? I like the sound of that." Ronan grinned, following Teal'c out of the room.

"We'll go and check the rules." John nodded, taking Teyla's hand and walking out, followed by Daniel and Mitchell.

"What?" Jack asked, completely confused.

"We just explained it, sir." Sam replied.

"No. You were all making leaps to the same idea, and I only got as far as 'I'm hungry' before I got distracted." He said.

"Come on, let's get some lunch while I explain the plan to you." Carter shook her head and the two walked out.

"What does it say?" Teyla asked, looking at the book.

"It says that a source must have obtained the information in a legal way or it is not admissible." John grinned. "That means our case is going to be thrown out!"

"But they know." Teyla pointed out.

"Yes, but they know because of the NID guy. He was impersonating an officer, and therefore was not legally allowed on the Deadelus in the first place." He explained. "This is great, Teyla."

"I still do not understand, but it sounds like a good idea." She nodded, kissing him gently.

The court resumed the next day, and the teams were armed with their new strategy.

"I'd like to present new evidence that this case is illegal." Daniel smiled, standing up.

"Proceed." The same old man who had done much of the talking the day before nodded.

"It is illegal to board a military vessel to investigate something without informing the commanding officer, unless the commanding officer is under suspicion. The NID agent specifically stated that his assignment was to check on Atlantis's day-to-day operations. Since Colonel Caldwell has submitted a statement saying that the operative in no way attempted to inform him of this mission, the agent was illegally aboard the Deadelus, and anything he say cannot be taken in account in a court of law or a military court." Daniel explained. "Furthermore, the agent was impersonating an officer, another crime making his testimony inadmissible."

The panel shuffled through papers, looking at the reports from both the NID and from Colonel Caldwell.

"The rules stand. This case cannot be legally heard." The middle panelist nodded. "Case dismissed."

Teyla grinned, as did Sheppard, but the refrained from celebrating as they slowly walked out.

"Thank you, all of your, for your assistance." Teyla smiled. "You will never know how much this means to us."

"Yeah…thanks." Sheppard nodded, deciding to let Teyla do the talking-she was better at it anyway.

Teyla walked over to General O'Neill and placed her hands on his shoulders and bowed her head. O'Neill looked first at Daneil, who shrugged, then at Sheppard.

"Copy her." Sheppard mouthed and O'Neill touched foreheads with Teyla.

She smiled and backed away from O'Neill.

"So, anyone for a victory dinner?" O'Nell asked.

"No thank you, Gen-Jack." Teyla shook her head.

"I think we'd like to celebrate alone for the rest of the day." John grinned, taking Teyla's hand.

"Anyone else want a celebratory dinner? Compliments of the US Military?" Jack looked around.

"Will there be rations involved?" Rodney asked, excitedly.

"No. You don't actually like them, do you?" Cameron looked at the scientist.

"Oh yeah. I like that, hospital food, and airline food-only I wish they'd give seconds." Rodney explained.

Sheppard rolled his eyes as he and Teyla walked away. The last thing they heard before the door closed was O'Neill saying, "Are you sure you're human?"

Later that night, Teyla lay wrapped in John's strong arms, for the first time in many nights, she let a hopeful smile grace her lips.

"Don't smile yet." John kissed her cheek gently.

"Why not? I see no reason for the council to deny us our joining." Teyla smiled a little wider. "You are a capable leader. They have no reason to say no."

"But that's not all we have to worry about." He sighed.

"What else could there possibly be?" She looked strangely at him.

"Well…" John looked sadly. "Where are we going to go on our honeymoon?"

Teyla laughed and hit him playfully. "Do not do that."

"Sorry. So, where do you wanna go?" He asked.

"Is there not anywhere you want to go?" She replied. "Is there somewhere on your world you would enjoy visiting?"

"Well…if you want to go somewhere here…I will. But I think it would be fun to just enjoy several trips alone to the beach and enjoy some time alone in our room. Unless you know a planet where there's, like, non Wraith-infested and a great vacation spot?"

"As I have said before, I do not know of any planet untouched by the Wraith that is suitable as a 'vacation' spot." Teyla shook her head. "The mainland sounds wonderful. And Atlantis, so long as we are not disturbed."

"Not disturbed…well…maybe we'll make it a 'Do Not Disturb on Pain of Death'." John grinned.