Chapter 4: A glitch in time.
John was surprised when he awoke in a comfortable bed with sunlight streaming through a tiny window. The pain in his arm seemed muted for now so all his muddled brain could come up with was, perhaps he was in the infirmary with Carson's good drugs running through his veins. He really hoped that the strange anomaly and crash landing on some alien planet was all a nightmare and he had broken his arm in some other accident.
When the fuzziness in his head finally cleared and he managed to look around he was disappointed that he wasn't on Atlantis. He had absolutely no idea where he was, but on the plus side Teyla was sitting next to him, in an overstuffed armchair, which looked to be homemade and it had to be the cutest thing that he'd ever seen. She looked so gorgeous in her sleep that he wanted to jump out of bed and kiss her, but he knew that could wait for another time because right now he needed to where he was and what was going on.
"Teyla," he said as loud as he dared as he didn't want to startle her.
When she didn't awake, he just lay there staring at her because Teyla gazing was one of his favourite past times. Not that he'd admit it to anyone because they may find it a bit creepy and he certainly wouldn't tell Teyla since he didn't want to scare her away.
He was about to try and wake her again, when a soft voice spoke to him, "John how are you feeling this morning?"
"I'm fine thanks Teyla," he answered giving his usual response.
"I am glad that you are feeling better, but I am sure that you are not fine," Teyla said with a smile, and he found himself thinking how much he loved her smile.
He looked around the room trying to find a clue as to where he was, but he had no clue, "Teyla where the hell are we?"
"I have a story to tell you, but I think that I may need some help so if you are feeling up to it we should head into the other room and have some breakfast."
Before he had a chance to comment further a voice called from the other side of the door, "breakfast is ready, and I've made pancakes."
The voice sounded remarkably familiar, "Teyla who is that?" He asked as a feeling of apprehension came over him.
"John perhaps you should come into the kitchen for breakfast, and I will explain everything to you."
Nodding he carefully sat up on the edge of the soft bed, and he was amazed to find that someone had changed his clothes, "Teyla did you change my clothes?" He asked feeling a bit embarrassed.
"I am sorry John, but your clothes were dirty, and I felt that you would be more comfortable in clean clothes." They appeared to be homemade using some kind of material similar to cotton for the shirt and the pants were made out of some sort of tough fabric.
"And more to the point, where did you get clothes to fit me. I didn't bring any spares with me."
"John, I really think that we should go and have breakfast, I will explain everything to you then."
He thought about asking her who was out in the kitchen making pancakes, but then he thought better of it because she would probably tell him that all would be explained if they went to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Alright you win, but my arm is beginning to hurt, do you have anything for the pain, and I may need someone to help me with my boots?"
"Take these pills John and then I will help with your boots, but then can we please go and have some breakfast as I am starving?"
Once he had dry swallowed the tablets and Teyla had helped him with his boots, he left the tiny bedroom and the first thing he saw was an older man standing by a fire cooking and he appeared to be cooking, the next thing he saw was two children sitting at a small table and for some reason, they looked a lot like him and Teyla.
He slowly approached the man by the fire and the first thing he noticed was how crooked his left arm looked, next he noticed how messy the man's dark hair was, although it seemed to be sprinkled with a large amount of grey.
The man slowly turned around and he almost fell over in shock, this man looked exactly like him, but approximately fifteen to twenty years older.
"Who are you?!" He demanded a little louder than he would have liked.
"Hey, John why don't you sit down and have some breakfast and Teyla and I will tell you everything?" The stranger suggested with a lopsided grin.
He nodded and slowly walked over to the table and sat down next to Teyla, it was then he realised that the two children were staring at him.
"Teyla," he whispered in her ear, "who are these children and why do they look so much like us and don't say you'll explain it to me over breakfast as I'm beginning to freak out a little? Or maybe I'll take a guess, we're in some kind of an alternate reality."
"We have travelled fifty years into the future, and believe it or not this man is you and he and another version of Teyla arrived on this planet fifteen years earlier than us, but unfortunately the other version of Teyla died in childbirth."
"That would explain your gravestone out in the woods and believe me when I say that freaked me out more than a little. When I woke up this morning I was really hoping that this was all a dream."
Looking around the room he soon realised that the other John and his kids had left the kitchen taking their pancakes with them. They had left a large mound on the table for them so he decided that he may as well have something to eat because he was sure that the explanation was going to take a while. He sure hoped that the other John was a good cook, since they may be stuck here for a while.
"Right, why don't you tell me what is going on while I eat some pancakes," he looked down at his broken arm and he soon realised that he might need some help to cut up his food, "but you may need to help me Teyla?"
"I will cut them up for you, would you like some syrup?"
"Yes please."
He watched as Teyla cut up his pancakes and he wondered if he should call in the other John to tell him what was going on. As much as Teyla could tell him what was going on he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.
"Ummm…Teyla, I think I would like to talk to the other John and let him tell me what is going on so if you don't mind I will take my pancakes and go to look for him."
"I understand, perhaps you can send Charin and David in here with me?"
His eyes opened wide, Charin and David were names that he would use if he ever had children with Teyla. This was definitely becoming weirder and weirder.
He stood to his feet and grabbed his plate with one hand, "I'm going now Teyla, see you soon."
"I will see you later John."
Taking one last look at the woman he loved, he turned and walked through the door and into the woods. He knew that he would have to tell her how he felt about her at some point in the near future because if the last few days had taught him anything it was, you never knew what was going to happen, but he should have known that by now so perhaps he was just an idiot.
Walking along a well-worn path he took some time to admire the view, the sun was out, the day was warm, and the sky was a brilliant blue so if they had to be stuck somewhere there were probably worse places to be.
Five minutes later he found the older John sitting by the river with his two children. He took the time to take a good look at the two children and he found himself looking at a young boy who looked exactly as he would have at around age ten. The young girl looked like what he imagined Teyla would have looked like at around the same age.
He went up and sat next to his older self and smiled at him. What this man must have endured for the last fifteen years was unimaginable and he knew that he had to make sure that this didn't happen to him or Teyla.
"John, we need to talk," he said to his older self.
The older man turned to look at him and he didn't miss the sadness in his expressive hazel eyes, "please call me Sheppard or Shep?" He turned to smile at his children, "and this is Dave and Charin, or Charlie for short."
He looked at each of them and gave them a lopsided grin, "pleased to meet you both."
Charin just stared at him and David smiled back at him with the same lopsided grin.
"Okay, kids how about you head back to the cabin and help Teyla. Don't forget to take your plates with you?" Sheppard suggested with the same lopsided grin.
"Can't I stay with you?" Charin asked with the same puppy dog eyes that John used when he wanted to get his own way.
"No Charlie I need to talk to John on his own," Sheppard told her and he could see the affection that this man had for his daughter.
"Alright see you later dad," Charlie said kissing her dad on the cheek.
John watched as David kissed Sheppard as well and once the children had run off, he turned to Sheppard again, "how old are you, children?"
"They're ten earth years, but the years on this planet are a different length, so they're probably closer to fifteen of this planet's years."
That fact actually blew his mind, "So that means you've been here close to twenty years, Sheppard?"
"You know what John, I gave up trying to work out how long I've been here when Teyla died. When she died, we'd been here fifteen years. I think I've been here three or four years since."
"What happened to you, Sheppard, how did you land here fifteen to twenty years before us? Teyla told me that we have travelled in time maybe fifty years into our future, but you are us and you somehow arrived before us."
He really hated time travel, and this was becoming more confusing by the minute.
"I fixed the jumper when we first crashed and tried to get off the planet, but when we did, we got sucked through the anomaly and somehow we crash-landed on this planet again. The jumper was a lost cause so we never tried again and we made a life for ourselves here. We knew that at some point you would crash land, so I have spent my life trying to work out a way that you won't get sucked through the anomaly when you take off."
He looked at his older self in disbelief, "What difference does it make if we can get off this rock if we can't go home?"
"At least if you get off this planet, you can try and find help and then maybe you can find a way home. You need to get home to T.J, John, he needs his mother and his father more than you know."
He was incredulous at that remark, "T.J has a father, he has Kanaan! And although he'll have to grow up without his mother, he will soon forget me, and he'll probably be better off without me anyway!"
"I'd like to think that you're wrong John and that is why you need to get home to him. Kanaan and Teyla argued before you left New Athos and they decided to go their separate ways. And do you know why John?"
John didn't answer because he knew it was a rhetorical question, so he just shook his head.
"Because she is in love with someone else and that someone is you?"
He couldn't believe his ears, although he'd always suspected that Teyla was in love with him, he'd never acted on it because he feared he would be rejected, but hang on how did Sheppard know what Teyla was thinking, "how do you know?"
"Because my Teyla told me many years ago and I suspect that the same thing happened between your Teyla and Kanaan before you left New Athos."
"Well I guess that's a conversation for me and Teyla to have at some point, but what about you and your children Sheppard, will you be coming with us when we leave? If we find other people you can choose to live somewhere else."
Sheppard sighed and John didn't miss the anguish in his eyes, "as I told Teyla yesterday I'm dying and I wish to stay here with my Teyla. But I have spent a lot of time thinking about it over the last twenty-four hours and I have decided that I will come with you so that I can spend more time with my children. My only condition is that I would like to be buried on this planet." Sheppard stood up and started to walk away, "now if you don't mind I have work to do. The days on this planet are short so we will have a main meal just before dark and tomorrow I will help you fix the jumper."
He watched as Sheppard walked away and then he decided that he should probably do a little exploring of his own. Standing up he continued on the well-worn path by the river until he came to a waterfall cascading down a thirty-foot cliff, and the water was fierce as it plunged into the river beneath it. If his arm weren't broken, he was convinced that he would be the first to go for a swim in the sparkling water. Instead, he sat down beside the river and after somehow managing to get his boots off with one arm, he dangled his feet in the river.
The view was magnificent and he could see how the other Teyla and Sheppard could become attached to this place. He must have been sitting there for about five minutes when he saw a glint of metal in the distance. It looked like it might be a jumper, but he knew that it wasn't the one that he and Teyla had come in because that was in the opposite direction. Perhaps it was the one that the other Sheppard and Teyla came in, so it definitely warranted a little investigation.
His arm was beginning to hurt, but he knew that he had to see what the shiny piece of metal was, but then there was no way he was going to get his shoes and socks on. He knew that he would have to try because he didn't want Teyla or Sheppard to know what was going on until he'd had a chance to check it out.
It must have taken him about ten minutes, but eventually, he managed to get his boots and socks on. Looking at the primary sun's position in the sky he calculated that he had around three hours until sunset so judging the distance of the piece of metal he'd seen, he knew that he could get there and get back with time to spare.
He was convinced that it was on the other side of the river so he knew that he would have to find a way across. He looked up and down the riverbank trying to see if there was a way across the river and it wasn't long before he spied something in the distance. It looked as if it may be a rickety rope suspension bridge across the river, spanning it at its narrowest point.
Using his good arm to help, he pushed himself to his feet and he then began to walk slowly towards the bridge. As he got closer, he became more and more concerned about how unsafe the bridge looked, but he knew that he didn't have a choice to cross it as he was extremely curious about what was on the other side of the river.
It was another couple of minutes before he reached the rickety bridge, he stepped onto it hesitantly and he didn't like what he saw. The ropes looked old and frayed and the boards beneath his feet looked half rotten, but he knew that he needed to continue. There was something that didn't add up with Sheppard's story and hopefully, if there was a jumper on the other side of the river it would shed some light on what was bothering him.
Cautiously he took a step, and he was relieved that the board didn't give way, so he stepped onto the next board. With each step, he took he was relieved that the boards didn't give way beneath his weight and when he eventually reached the other side his fears had been alleviated for now. He didn't even want to think about crossing the bridge again on the way back, because the pain in his arm had increased tenfold and he had left his sling on the other side of the river so right now he had nothing to support his broken arm.
Slowly he ambled down a narrow rocky path by the river, the last thing he wanted to do right now, was to fall on his broken arm so he was taking things slower than he normally would.
After what seemed like forever but was probably only ten minutes, he came upon the shiny piece of metal he had spied from the opposite side of the river and just as he thought it was in fact a piece of a jumper, which meant that the rest of it must be somewhere nearby.
The path ahead of him was steep, but at the top of the hill he could see a cave, so he decided to head in that direction, and he sure hoped that there was no indigenous wildlife in the cave because the last thing he needed right now was to become a cat's chew toy.
He started to climb the hill with his arm aching with every step, it was a shame that he hadn't brought any Tylenol with him. But then he knew he was lucky because if Sheppard hadn't given Teyla that herb to help reduce his fever, he'd probably still be in bed right now.
Halfway up the hill, he took a drink of water out of his canteen as the day was hot and dry and he could have used a swim in the river or at least five minutes to rest, but for now, he really needed to keep going because he wanted to be back at the cabin by dark.
He walked steadily for twenty minutes until he reached the opening of the cave that he had seen. He was relieved that he'd managed to put his gun holster on before he'd left the cabin that morning because when he entered the cave the first thing, he saw was a large cat-like creature and it was ready to pounce. Suddenly his instincts kicked in and he was able to kill it with one shot. Other than the thud when the animal hit the ground there was no other sound. He sank to the ground and let out a sigh, as the thing looked hungry, and he really had no desire to become some animal's meal today.
Once he had taken time to get his bearings and his eyes had adjusted to the dim light, he took the opportunity to look around the cave and it didn't take him long to find a large shape that looked a lot like a jumper. How the hell did the jumper end up in this cave? He thought to himself as he approached the craft, this jumper appears to be intact, I wonder if it can actually fly and if so, why the hell is Sheppard lying to us?"
He circled the jumper a few times and concluded that the hull was completely intact, so he thought open and the back hatch opened. He took a deep breath, calmly walked inside, and wasn't surprised to see that everything looked in order. Sure, Sheppard had obviously done a few, patch up jobs, but it almost looked as good as new.
Sitting in the pilot's seat he thought on and immediately the jumper came to life, he did a few pre-flight checks, and it wasn't long until he was convinced that this bird could fly and if it could, why had Sheppard been lying to him. He thought about flying the jumper out of the cave and parking it near the cabin, but he decided that he wanted to confront Sheppard first. The man must have hidden it for a reason and there must be a reason that he hadn't taken off and gone looking for allies and a way to get back to their own time.
Exiting the jumper, he made sure that the back hatch was closed, and he started down the hill towards the rope bridge.
When he arrived at the bridge, he took a deep breath before stepping on it again because although he had crossed it once there was no way he wanted to cross it again. How many times has Sheppard crossed this bridge and how long has it been since he's used it? He thought as he began to cross it.
Gently he stood upon each board as he crossed, and everything seemed to be going fine until he reached the centre of the bridge, when he stepped on one of the boards that was slightly loose he stood still trying to steady himself with one hand. All of a sudden, he heard a cracking noise, and it didn't take too long for the inevitable to happen, the board gave way and all he could do was try and hang on with one hand, but he found it difficult to find purchase and it wasn't too long before his hand slipped off the board he was holding, and he felt himself falling towards the river below.
The cold water shocked him when landed in the river and the pain in his broken arm was excruciating as it hit the water. He took a deep breath before attempting to swim to the riverbank and it was definitely more difficult than normal because he was in agony, and he only had the use of one arm.
The river was flowing too fast for him to get to the side, so he struggled against the current, as small sticks and stones hit his body with ferocious force. The water was frigid as it continued to carry him downstream, he was beginning to tire, but at least his arm was numb now, so he wasn't in as much pain. His boots were weighing him down and making it more difficult for him to stay afloat, but there was no way he was going to be able to get them off, so he kept on struggling against the flow. He couldn't really see a way out until he saw a tree branch low enough for him to grab hold of if he were quick. Keeping an eye on the branch he counted down until he was almost below it and then he reached up with his good arm. Much to his relief, he managed to grab hold of it, but he had no idea what he was going to do next. After several attempts, he managed to pull himself up onto the log and crawl to the riverbank where he was able to lay down and rest his exhausted, cold body.
He was shivering and he ached from head to toe from his ordeal, and he knew that he should probably keep moving and get back to the cabin as soon as possible, but he was just too drained to make the effort. Closing his eyes, he thought that it wouldn't hurt to rest for a while, and it wasn't long before he fell into a deep sleep.
When he awoke again, he was shivering violently, and the vibrations were shooting through his broken arm. The sun was low on the horizon, and he had no idea how long it was going to take him to reach the cabin, but he knew that he had to start moving because if he didn't, he would freeze to death as the last two nights had been very cold and he suspected that tonight would be at least as cold or possibly worse.
He walked along a path by the river, hoping that he would reach the cabin sooner rather than later by following it. It seemed to take forever and once the primary sun had sunk below the horizon there was little light for him to see by. The temperature dropped suddenly around the same time, and he felt his body temperature dropping as well.
Stumbling along the path in the fading light he continued, he had no idea how long he'd been stumbling along like a drunk, but he let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw the light of the cabin up ahead.
A few minutes later he arrived and knocked on the door, he had no idea why he was knocking, but he could only assume it was because it wasn't his home. A split second later Teyla opened the door and he stumbled inside.
Looking around the room he noticed that the children were there, but Sheppard wasn't.
"Sheppard's lying to us," he told Teyla before collapsing on the floor and letting the darkness that was encroaching on him finally claim him.
TBC…