Always A Chance Chapter 1: A Visitor, a stargate: atlantis fanfic

Disclaimer: I own the movie, a bunch of drawings and nothing else that has the word Stargate on it. No sueing please.

A/N Tinuviel Undomiel: My first Atlantis fic, soI hope you like. I think all of you Shweir and Teyla/Dex fans will.

A/N Nerwen Aldarion: I'm a Teyla/Dex fan so I usaully write those parts in this fic, my sister came up with this idea and I jumped at the chance to help her so here is the fic and I hope you like it.

Always A Chance

Chapter 1: A Visitor

The city of Atlantis was busy as usual. Everyone was occupied with either going over certain Ancient machines, or busy growing plants to create some sort of greenhouse. People tried not to look up as they passed the office door. Fighting between the commander and the Military Officer was now common place, but still they needed new gossip. What was going on now?

"Sir, you cannot be serious!"

"He is an unnecessary member of your team."

"Unnecessary!" Lt. Colonel Sheppard shouted back, "He's saved my life countless times, I think he's necessary!"

"We don't know anything about him, Colonel, he could betray us at anytime."

"Colonel Caldwell, he has helped me kill the Wraith, I don't think he's gonna betray us."

"Maybe not to the Wraith," Caldwell said.

John was silent at first, but his anger came back full throttle, "Elizabeth approved him for my team."

"Regardless as to what, Dr. Weir, approved of, she is no longer in charge, is she?" Caldwell asked, putting emphasis on John's name slip.

"Sir," John began, " Dr. Weir would never have approved Ronon if she felt that she couldn't trust him. She is...was smart, she knew what she was doing."

The Colonel was silent for several moments. He knew that the personel on Atlantis disliked him, and he knew that he wasn't mistaken at that hint of saddness in Sheppard's voice. "Alright,"
he said, "Dex may remain on your team, but I'm keeping an eye on him."

"Thank you, sir," John said. He got out of there quickly, not wanting some other problem or concern to come up.

His team was waiting for him in the gateroom, "Sorry for the hold up," John said, "Caldwell was chewing me out again."

"What was it this time," Ronon asked.

John debated for a second whether to tell the Satedian that the Colonel found Ronon 'unnecessary'. "Uh, nothing," John said. He figuered that Ronon killing Caldwell wouldn't make the commandeer like him any better.On second thought it would certainly save him the headaches that were definatley coming in the future.

"Look, as much as I love listening to the disputes between you and Colonel Caldwell, the Stargate will only be open for 38 minutes not forever," Rodney McKay said.

John shrugged, "You heard the man, M2P-604 is waiting."

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"What had gone wrong?" John thought as he stared at the blank walls. The mission was supposed to be routine, they had never anticipated that this world would be a Caridian stronghold. The Caridian's how he hated to even think about them, he hated them even more more than the Genii. After what they had done only a few months ago, taking them captive, taking so much away from them, taking... No he wouldn't think about that, not go down the terrible path that had caused such pain. Think about what had happened now.

It had been simple, he had sent Teyla and Mckay to go looking around while he and Ronon searched on their own. They had walked for awhile not seeing anything unusual, until they found the abandoned camp.

"What's this doing here?" He had asked Ronon, not really expecting an answer. But Ronon hadn't anwered, in fact he was looking around the camp very suspicously, and he had gotten out his gun.

"What are you doing?" He had asked, "It's an ambush."Was all Ronon had said. Maybe that was the mistake he hadn't believed him. He had instead continued walking around the camp and that was when about ten guys jumped out and grabbed him. Had they taken Ronon? For some reason he didn't think so, Ronon would have fought hard, all he could do was hope he had seen it was an unwinnable fight and had gone off to get Teyla and Rodney. All he could do was hope.

The door to his cell was opened, and two Caridian guards walked in with their sonic set on high. "You," He pointed to Sheppard, "Get up."

"Actually, I like my cell, I think I'll stay..." The two guards each grabbed an arm and pulled him to his feet, "Okay, I guess I'll go with you."

The two guards led John through the underground stronghold. He had no idea where they were taking him, or if they had even planned his capture. He, the dumb idiot, had walked right into that trap. The corridor turned into a large room, and they shoved him through. The room was centered with a large table. Many chairs surrounded, with high backs and comforatable cushions bordered with tassels. At the head of the table several plates with fragant food was set. Sitting in the chair in front of the meal was a middle aged, trim man in a elaborate suit with gold medals pinned to the breast. He smiled when John walked in.

"Colonel Sheppard, I'm so glad to see you."

John's eyes turned poisonous as he stared at the man, "Grael," He said in a voice that it was practically a hiss.

Grale, leader of the Caridians, smiled again, "You remember me."

"How could I forget?" John replied bitterly.

It's been...5 months hasn't it?" Grael asked, "I remember that day your people came to ask us to ally with you." Grael wiped his mouth with a napkin and left the chair, "Your commander, Dr. Weir wasn't it? She seemed quite anxious for this to happen, though I can't recall why."

"The Wraith," John said, "We needed help with them."

"Oh yes," Grael smiled, "That was it. She seemed...sincere."

"She was," John said, "until you killed her."

"So she did die," Grael said, "Excellent. That virus was untested, thank you. Now I know that it works." Grael stepped closer to John so he could look him square in the eye, "I just have one last question: did she suffer?"

John looked back at the man with his jaw set. He didn't answer.

"Your silence is the answer I was hoping for," Grael said, "She suffered greatly. That must have hurt you."

John stared daggers at Grael, "I'm going to make you suffer a hundred times more than she did."

Grael laughed, "Oh, but Colonel Sheppard, you are my prisoner, I highly doubt you can hurt me." Grael nodded to the guards, "Escort him back to his cell."

It was a well known fact that Rodney Mckay was difficult to get along with, it was also known Teyla Emmagan was among the more patient of people. But today Rodney was making her patience run very thin. All he had done was complain about the inadiquacy of Radek Zelanka and a new project they were working on, and she was about to tell him that if he didn't stop talking she was not going to be responisble for what she did next.

But Ronon came running up taking all thought of Rodney out of her mind. "Ronon? Where's Colonel Sheppard?"

"He was ambushed, it was by the Caridian's." And they all knew what that meant, but one thing still worried Teyla.

"Are you alright?" She asked him

"Of course he's alright, he's standing right here. Why would you even ask him that?" Rodney asked, not being rude just being pratical.

Ronon did not miss that Teyla's cheeks turned a shade of pink, not that he minded, "I'm fine Teyla."

"One thing I want to know," Rodney began, "How did you get away?"

"We found an abandoned base, at least we thought it was abandoned, I figured out it was an ambush but John was caught."

"Why didn't you just fight them off?" Rodney asked.

"Because I don't like the odds ten to two."

"Enough!" Teyla said breaking the war of words, "Ronon, show us where the base is, we will plan a way to get him out of there." And Teyla began to walk away from the Stargate, leaving Ronon and Rodney staring after her.

"Who put her in charge?" Rodney asked and they both followed the Athosian.

The two Caridians guards brought John back to his cell, and threw him inside. John sank down onto the cold floor, and placed his head in his hands. Seeing Grael there had brought back several memories, painful memories.

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5 Months Earlier

The conference room was sunny with one wall entirely made up of a window. A metal table with high back chairs was in the middle of the room. Grael, the leader of the Caridians, was seated at the head with his personal guard to his right. Elizabeth Weir was next to him, a document in her hands. Her lovely face was crinkled in a small frown as she studied the paper before her. John was leaning in the doorway watching her, something he had always noticed was that even with a serious face, she still managed to take his breath away . The Caridians had only allowed one personal escort, Elizabeth had asked him to be her guard. John had readily agreed.

"So," Elizabeth said, "Your technology would be a great advantage against the Wraith, as you've shown me. We are willing to join forces with you, if you will help us defeat the Wraith."

"And what would you give us in return?" Grael asked.

"In return we would give you certain knowledge about the Ancients," Grael looked at her with puzzlement, "You would probably call them the Ancestors."

"Yes," Grael said, "And how do you know about them?"

Elizabeth looked at John, and he gave her a little nod, "We are currently residing in Atlantis."

"The City of the Ancestors," Grael said, "Very impressive."

"So," Elizabeth said, "You accept our terms?"

"No,we want something more."

"What more could you possibly want?" John asked.

"The City of the Ancestors," Grael said simply.

"You're not serious," John said forcing his voice to sound light.

"On the contrary," Grael siad, "We are."

Grael shot out of his seat and grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and pulled her from her seat; the chair hit the floor with a loud bang. John cocked his P90, and the Grael's guard pulled out his own weapon.

Grael pulled a thing needle from his suit jacket, "I would put the weapon down, Colonel Sheppard, it won't do any good."

"John, just go," Elizabeth said. Grael placed the thin needle at her neck.

John shook his head, "Can't do that."

"Don't worry, Colonel," Grael said, "If you just give us your code, we will leave Dr. Weir here alone."

"And what about our people?" John asked, "Am I supposed to assume that you would just walk in and take the city and leave our people stranded there?"

"John don't do this," Elizabeth said, "I don't want to see you die."

"I assure you, Colonel, that your people would be sent through the Stargate and brought here. I give you my word."

"You know what," John said, "I don't really like your word."

John fired at the guard first, he had to get rid of him first. Grael stuck the needle into Elizabeth's neck. He shoved her straight into John to keep the Colonel from firing at him. John caught Elizabeth, and watched as Grael was beamed away to somewhere.

"He got away," Elizabeth said.

"It doesn't mattter, "John said, "Are you alright?"

Elizabeth rubbed her neack where the needle had pricked her, "Yeah."

"Beckett should check you out when we get back."

"Agreed," Elizabeth said, "Let's get out of here."

John nodded, "Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, Elizabeth and I are heading back. Be prepared to meet resistence, things didn't go well here."

The Puddle Jumper returned smoothly to Atlantis. Strangley, they met no resistence, and that worried John. The Jumper set itself in its dock. John looked over at Elizabeth who had a hand against her forhead.

"Elizabeth?" John asked, concerned.

She shook her head, "John," She whispered before she slumped into her chair. John jumped out of his seat and grabbed her. His team left their seats as well and moved over to John.

"Get Beckett," He said, "She needs help."

Carson Beckett placed the IV tube into Elizabeth's arm. He turned his head and say John and his team waiting out side. He left the unconcious commander and opened the Infirmary door.

"You don't have to hang out in the hallway," Carson said holding the door open. Everyone walked into the room and stood around Elizabeth.

"How is she?" John asked.

"Uhh," Carson said, "Not good. I just took a blood sample and discovered a very peculiar virus."

"A virus?" Ronon asked, "How much trouble could that be?"

"Quite a lot actually," Carson said, "This virus is highly advanced. It's seems to be preventing her from making anti-bodies to attack it. I've never seen anything like this."

"But, you can fix this," John said.

"Colonel, perhaps you don't undestand, her body cannot defend itself against this pathogen, I can try some anti-biotics, but I can't guarantee anything."

"So if this doesn't work...," John said.

"If this doesn't work, then Dr. Weir could very well die."

For weeks she held out, but she suffered greatly. Her head hurt all the time, and it got harder for her to breath and speak. John, Teyla, Ronon and Rodney were her most frequent visitors. She continued to work, going over reports and being sure that people did their jobs.

John walked into the Infrimary like he did everyday. Elizabeth was sitting up in her bed with her computer pad in her lap.

"Should you be working?" John asked.

"I've got to do something," Elizabeth said.

"You can, get well."

"I'm not sure I can do that, John."

"Don't say that," John said, "We're going to beat this."

"That's my line," Elizabeth said with a small smile.

"Yeah, I know, I kinda stole it."

Her smile grew, and she looked down at her computer. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw her blush.

"John, you haven't gone on any missions?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, you see my commander is sick so I'd thought I'd brush up on my bedside vigil skills." He wanted to make her smile again.

She did, but then she got serious, "You have to continue on your missions."

"Elizabeth..."

"No, John, I may be sick, but I'm still the commander here, and I want you to continue working."

John sighed, "Alright if it'll make you happy."

"Thank you," She said.

"Get some rest," John said, "I'll go tell my team."

Carson was in the medical lab when he saw John pass by.

"Colonel," He called out, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, Elizabeth wanted me and my team to go on a mission."

"Ah yes, about Elizabeth," Carson said, "I have some good news. I was just running through another blood sample, and I have discovered that her body is starting to make anti-bodies."

"You mean she's fighting back?"

"Yes, there are only a few anti-bodies, but it's a start."

"Thanks Doc,"John said with a big smile. He walked out of the med lab with a little more spring in his step.

John and his team stepped out of the Stargate and into the gate room

"I'd like to know what the point of that mission was?" Rodney asked.

"Hey it wasn't completely worthless," John said.

"We saw trees, trees and what do you know more trees!"

Carson walked up them still in his white lab coat.

"Hey, Beckett what are you doing here?" John asked.

Carson's face was grave and he seemed unsure what to say.

"Is everything alright, Dr. Beckett?" Teyla asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Carson said, "Colonel, Dr. Weir died while you were away on your mission."

John stood frozen where he was. The world faded away, and his mind went blank. He never thought he would hear those words. He never wanted to.

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Back in reality, John had to blink away those painful tears. He had never shown to his team- or anyone- how Elizabeth's death ahd effected him. Or at least they had never seen him cry. Teyal has spoken to him before about letting his anger go. He had learned to mask it, but he never really let it go. Maybe Teyla had seen through that, but she had left him alone. One thing he couldn't forget was the guilt. Beckett had told him countless times that it wasn't his fault. If he had kill Grael first thent he guard would have shot them both, but he still couldn't help but think that if he had shot Grael first, she might still be alive.

"Hello John," A familiar voice said from behind him.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He tilted his head, and nearly fell over.

Dressed in a floor length white gown that was similar to a gown he had seen before was the woman he had wanted to see for the past five months.

"Elizabeth?"

TBC

A/N: So how did you like it? No flames please.