Title: Praestigiae

Author: Celede

Date: 25 October 2005

Part: 1?

Rating: PG-13 (M overall)

Characters: Mostly John and Teyla but the rest of the team may be heard from

Spoilers: Set after 'Lost Boys' so everything up to then is fair game

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters are copyright of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.,

I am in no way profiting from this and no infringement is intended.

Notes: Thankyou to my uber wonderful beta Sel!

Summary: Set after 'Lost Boys' Teyla and John have been seperated from the rest, what will happen to them?

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Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was pretty sure he knew his head was throbbing before he was completely conscious. He could feel something soft beneath his face before he opened his eyes and was grateful he wasn't face first on the freezing cold floor of the Wraith hive ship.

'Thank god for small mercies,' he thought as he tried to open his eyes. Though the light was soft, it stung his eyes and he groaned as he snapped them shut again.

"Colonel Sheppard?" He knew that worried voice.

"Teyla?" He replied carefully. He forced himself to open his eyes, groaning as the pain hit him, to see if she was really there.

She was.

"Are you okay? That is a stupid question, forgive me," she said.

John noticed that her voice was forced and that she was scrunched up on the end of what he presumed was the bed within his holding cell.

"Teyla, what are you doing here? Where is everyone else?" John questioned, watching her carefully.

"I believe they discovered..." John sat straight up as Teyla began convulsing uncontrollably.

"Teyla!" John moved towards her as fast as he could.

"I am ... fine ... Colonel... they only... last a few... minutes," Teyla gasped out.

Teyla's convulsions subsided and John watched her as she sat up and looked into his eyes.

"It's the enzyme, isn't it? You're having withdrawals," John asked concerned.

"Yes, I have come to believe so, but they are not as severe now and I am bearing them well," Teyla replied.

Once John was satisfied that, apart from the obvious of being trapped in a holding cell aboard a Wraith dart, Teyla was okay he asked again where the others were.

"I do not know, Colonel. A short time after you had been taken away, the Wraith came back and brought me to this holding cell. They brought you here only a few hours. We have been here ever since. I am unaware where the others are," Teyla recounted.

"Why did they separate us?" John wondered out loud.

"I believe they discovered I was the one who had been connecting to the Wraith, I am not sure how they discovered this though," Teyla replied.

"You're taking this all very well, Teyla... Wait, what do you mean 'We've been here ever since'?" It wasn't until now that John noticed Teyla's hair seemed was longer than he remembered it. He put his hands up to his face and discovered he had a somewhat of a beard.

"Colonel, we have been here for well over a month at my estimations. You have been barely conscious or taken away by the Wraith most of the time."

"I think the situation allows for you to use my name, Teyla," John said, dryly. "How are we still alive, anyway?"

John was frustrated by the fact that Teyla had been suffering for at least a month and he hadn't had the capacity to do anything about it. He felt useless knowing that his people were somewhere aboard the ship and yet he couldn't get to them, help them, save them.

"I do not know why they have not yet fed upon us, they give us enough food and water to survive each day."

John noticed that tears were beginning to form in Teyla's eyes, so he pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her.

"Teyla, I promise I'm going to get us out of this... somehow."

"It is not that, John, I have never felt so useless in my entire life. We are stuck here, without any knowledge of the others or how we are going to escape the Wraith and there is not one thing I can do to change that. It is a horrible feeling," Teyla said softly.

"I know how you feel," John said as he tightened his hold on her.

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