When hope is all that you have left
Disclaimer: The characters of this story do not belong to me. I don't own Atlantis.
Title: When hope is all that you have
There had always been that awkward silence between them. Each never knowing what to say, never knowing how to fill in the silence with words of comfort or reassurance. There had always been that awkward silence between them after the incident. After the Wraith came that one last time. It was a surprise to them all. No one was expecting them to show up after three years of peace. Everyone knew it was wishful thinking, but they had just begun to believe that the Wraith had just forgotten about them. They were far from right. By the time Rodney discovered their mistake it was too late. The Wraith were upon them, and their numbers were beyond imaginable. Atlantis had no chance. Rodney and Zelenka discovered that they could submerge the city, but there was one problem. The ZPM didn't have enough power to sustain the city while it was fully functional and submerged. They would have to set the city to slumber, set a timer for it to submerge after they left, and evacuate everyone out until they could come back to Atlantis. All they could do was hope the city would survive and evacuate.
With only ten puddle jumpers and the gate, it wasn't too difficult, if only some of the Atlanteans had been more cooperative. Especially, that pain in the neck Kavanagh, if they had just listened instead of trying to grab all their belongings and equipment. Didn't they realize that there was no time for that? Needless to say, it was more than just a mere set back.
That day most of the population of the city was lost. The remaining few escaped via puddle jumper and gate. With no way of knowing where each other were, the expedition members turned to each other for comfort. However, it didn't go unnoticed by anyone that the leader of the expedition was feeling guilty and frustrated for not seeing the Wraith's attack coming. All eyes could see that Elizabeth was scared that she didn't know where the rest of her team was. More importantly where Colonel John Sheppard was.
Ever since they were separated during the evacuation she had been quiet and distant. Rodney and Teyla couldn't even get through to her. Their kind words of comfort and reassurance were far from what they were supposed to be. Elizabeth just couldn't help, but feel responsible for the loss that Atlantis had dealt with. And who could blame her. Rodney and Teyla both just wished that they could help in some way, even if it was just by getting her to smile or laugh. Though they had only been gone for a week, it felt like a lifetime. They would have returned to the city, but Teyla and Rodney both knew that they wouldn't be able to any time soon. They couldn't take the chance that the Wraith would find them again, and they would have no way of staying in Atlantis. They had to find a ZPM first. That was their only hope.
"When do you think she will come out of it?"
"To be honest Teyla," Rodney had no idea. But he had an inkling that there was only one thing in this galaxy that would make Elizabeth Weir smile again, and that one thing was lost somewhere out there just like they were. "The moment we find John, is the moment we will see her smile again."
The sad thing is Teyla knew this to be true. It was the same way that she felt about Ronan. If she could just see him again she would tell him everything. She would tell him that he made her feel something that no one had ever made her feel before. She would look at him and tell Ronan Dex that she was deeply and madly in love with him. Teyla knew that Dr. Weir wasn't sad that she hadn't told Colonel Sheppard about her feelings for him. The team had known for awhile that John and Elizabeth had told each other how they felt. It was that John and she never got to express their feelings to each other in public.
There was always a regulation that kept them from being able to publicly display their love for each other. Teyla still didn't see what was wrong with showing the man or woman that you loved how you felt for them, but she knew that there were many things about the people of Earth that she would never really understand. Like why they find entertainment in watching a black box. She knew that Elizabeth was upset because John and she never got the chance to really start their relationship. Everyone in Atlantis knew that they both liked each other, which was obvious after Dr. Weir practically tackled (or at least that's what Rodney referred their hug to) Colonel Sheppard. Only the people closest to them such as Rodney, Carson, Ronan, and herself knew that it was much deeper than that. They loved each other, plain and simple. Or at least it should have been.
The needed to find a ZPM and fast. In the meantime, all that Teyla could hope was that they would find the Colonel, Ronan, and hopefully the rest of the expedition before they all lost hope, not just Elizabeth.