Disclaimers: I own no part of the Stargate world, I make no money from this endeavour.

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Oddly the old gym seemed too small to him now as he stepped forward towards Doctor Mark Martin. The man held himself well. He obviously knew how to use the two staves in his hands. Well, so did John. Though, perhaps he shouldn't have gotten himself into this. He had no idea how good this guy was. But, John had the potential to be good, wasn't that what he held onto when he remembered his skills when he nearly became a bug?

They circled one another.

There had been no pretence of conversation when they arrived. No rules were set, they just warmed up separately and then stepped to the centre facing one another.

The doctor struck out first in a simple series of attacks that John easily blocked and attacked in return. Both stepped back and circled again. The doctor moved first again and John recognised some of the most simple Athosian techniques on display. The man moved like a text book, well if there ever was to be a text book on Athosain fighting. In fact the Doctor would probably write it John realised. The thought distracted him and he narrowly missed a hit towards his face.

"Almost Colonel," he warned John. "I was wondering how you and Teyla met." John tried to ignore the obvious attempt to distract him. He struck out and they parried through some strikes. John went for his head and knees, but both were blocked and then countered.

John stepped back; the man was good. John got the worrying feeling he was being toyed with. "We met on Athos, you know the story. You've interviewed enough people about it." He struck out again.

The doctor blocked and returned. "I know those details. I mean, when you saw her. Did you think she was beautiful? Did you flirt with her? Did you use your charm to persuade her and her people to help you?"

John pushed his temper back down. Anger never helped in a fight. "You trying to get a rise out of me? Is that the only way you think you can beat me?" John baited him in return.

"No." The doctor struck out again, John swivelled to the right, blocked the second hit aimed at his shoulder, hit out and felt his stick connect with the doctor's arm. He grunted and stepped back from John. They faced off again. John saw the red welt coming up on the doctor's forearm. He remembered Teyla had touched him there the day before. Surprised by the thought, he almost missed the doctor's next comment.

"I'm trying to get you to see that you are not as innocent either."

"I never claimed to be innocent about anything." John said as he hit out. The blows were fast and furious, but John recognised he had the upper hand. He pushed the doctor back and the round ended with John smacking the doctor's left leg out from under him.

Moving back to allow the man to regain his feet, he was surprised that he didn't feel any satisfaction at the slight victory.

Mark straightened up, his breathing fast and shallow. "Look, it's not my fault if you haven't got the guts to make a move yourself."

"What?" John asked.

"Come on, don't play stupid, I know better. I've spoken to enough people in this city to recognise your type."

John rolled his eyes dramatically to cover his sudden strike at the doctor. Mark countered it, but John could feel the man was weakening. They squared off for a few minutes, until both took small hits and moved back.

John shook his stinging wrist where he had taken a brushing strike. "My type?" He asked, oddly curious.

"Yeah. Bold, active, charming. I bet you've flirted with plenty of women off world. Maybe even had a couple of short little romances as well. In fact, it seems to me-" John cut him off with an attack. They parried again, the doctor continued his irritating commentary around his fast breathing and counterattacks. "It seems to me that you and I are very much a like." John pulled back from his attack at that.

"We're nothing alike."

"Sure, we are. Look at us; we even handle this situation in the same way. Maybe I'm a more extrovert version, but deep down we're pretty similar.

I went into the army after school, played football for the local teams. Wanted to see the world, make a difference. Sound familiar?"

"If we were that similar you would have gone into the Airforce." John frowned at him.

"I applied after my time with the army. But, a member of my family got sick and I made a choice to go to college instead to stay close to home."

"What's your point, Martin?" He asked as he once again pushed the attack. Despite how good the guy was at the fighting techniques he wasn't as quick as Teyla and John was used to training at that faster speed. He pushed his advantage feeling the end in sight.

"My point is," he huffed as he tried to keep up with John's strikes. "My point is that we are similar. Maybe you don't like me, because I'm too much like you. And Teyla seems more interested in me than you." John struck out with twice the strength he had intended and the hit caught Martin on the torso. The breath was forced out of his chest and he doubled over in pain.

John stepped back, biting back an apology. He waited for him to regain his breath before he offered seriously. "Teyla is my friend."

The doctor straightened up, retrieved his fallen staves and looked John in the eye. "I believe that's true, maybe she always will be and maybe you don't like that thought. You don't want to make a move, but you don't want any other guy to either."

The strike came out of nowhere. John didn't see it coming, his head so full of Mark's words. The stave smashed him right across the face and he fell heavily to the floor. Pain flashed over his head and he gasped through the shock. He blinked rapidly and the blackness faded away, leaving the pain focused down to an area surrounding his left eye. He rolled over on the cold floor, the lights bright above him. He looked up to see Mark Martin pushing his staves and towel into his training bag.

"You've got some issues, Colonel. But then who doesn't. In the end it doesn't matter who has made the best moves through the fight, it's the one who wins that matters. Maybe it's time you should be honest with yourself and allow Teyla the freedom you enjoy with others."

With that he disappeared from John's field of view. He heard the doors slide open and then close behind the doctor. John lay on the cool floor, his left eye throbbing and considered what had just happened.

He did care for Teyla. No, in truth he admired her beyond what he should. A thousand thoughts and memories about Teyla flew through his mind. He was stupid to pretend his interest in her was anything other than friendship. He was surprised how well he had hidden the true depth of his feelings form himself. The thought of her being with Mark, or any other man, made him angry, panicked even. But, when had she shown any real interest in him. Hell, after that kiss in this very room they had never mentioned it again. She had told him to give the issue no further thought. He had been pleased at the time that their friendship had not been damaged, but he had given it further thought.

He starred up at the clean Atlantean ceiling and considered his options. He could talk to her, but what would he say? Would she laugh at him? Ask to be reassigned to another team? The idea of losing her friendship, of not having her close was frightening to him. Was she already in a relationship with Doctor Mark Martin anyway? He had no right to break that up. He had more honour than that. Hell, maybe he had been wrong about the doctor. Had he been judging the guy through is own misguided prejudices?

He sat up slowly, touching his swollen cheekbone gingerly. Served him right, he should have seen that strike coming. But, it wasn't every day that you realised that you…what? Loved her? The thought worried him more than he would ever admit to anyone. He didn't do well with loved ones, they tended to leave him or die. But, she did deserve to be loved.

He climbed to his feet groaning slightly at the sore muscles. He would not stand between her and the handsome, horribly insightful, doctor. She would make her own decision if she wanted to be with the doctor.

He picked up one stave, and heard the doors open behind him. Suddenly he remembered he was supposed to be training with her at 3 o'clock, surely it wasn't 3 already? He turned slowly to find her standing in the doorway, towel wrapped around her neck, deep plunging cropped top and a questioning look on her face.

He tried to think of an excuse, but he had had enough of hiding from this woman. He picked up the other fallen stave and walked over to the bench. She met him there. Her expression was not pleasant as he looked at her with a sheepish expression.

She surprised him by reaching out and grabbing him by the chin, pulled his face round so she could see his cheek clearly. She looked angry. "You should have blocked or ducked." She stated.

He hadn't expected that. "I know."

She let go of his chin, picked up her staves and headed out to the centre of the room. "We shall work on that."

The tiredness of his body became more apparent to him as he watched her swing the staves around. "I'm kind of tired, Teyla." He started.

"You should not have sparred with him; you could have seriously hurt each other." Her tone was angry, the angriest he had heard her except for that time she hit Bates.

"We know what we're doing." He pushed in return.

She indicated his face with one stave, "Apparently not. If you think you are good enough to challenge people, step up." She indicated the space in front of her. Oh, she was seriously going to kick his ass.

He reluctantly picked up his staves and walked towards her. This was going to hurt.

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TBC