I wonder what Maddie and Teyla are up to, while John and Torren are in Arastica.

Chapter 15: Worry.

Teyla awoke to the sun streaming through her tiny bedroom window. She had no idea what time it was, but she certainly didn't want to get up yet. Rolling over to cuddle John she was surprised to find that he wasn't in the bed beside her and considering the state that he had been in the night before she was amazed that he would be up and around already – but then he would still be on his feet if a limb had been torn off by a wild beast.

She was of two minds on whether to get up or not, but she knew she should probably start the day – not that there was much for her to do. Torren and John seemed to spend their time exploring or researching the strange bacteria on the planet and Maddie helped them out when she could, which left her to help look after the children – although they didn't need much looking after – help to hunt for food or help out around the cabin.

After dressing herself quickly she left her room and went to the kitchen, where Dave and Maddie were setting the table for breakfast. Charlie was by the woodstove cooking eggs, some kind of bacon and pancakes. Charlie seemed to love to cook which was no doubt a good thing as she had never been able to learn the art herself.

Dave was also a good cook as well as being an expert at hunting and fishing, which didn't leave her with much to do. Both children were extremely smart, so she had to wonder where they found time to read their books, considering everything else they had to do each day.

Maddie interrupted her thoughts and greeted her cheerfully, while pulling out a seat for her, "good morning, Teyla."

"Good morning, Maddie, have you seen John or Torren this morning?"

"No, but the jumper's still out back so I assume they haven't gone far."

Charlie called out from where she was cooking, "I found a couple of notes on the table for you this morning and I think they're from John. I put them on the dresser by the bedroom doors, for you."

Looking over at the dresser, she spied two pieces of paper sitting on top. She was about to get up and get them when Maddie handed them to her.

She Carefully opened the first note and read it.

Hey, Teyla

Torren and I have gone to do a little exploring this morning, so you do not need to be worried.

After the storm yesterday evening, I saw a spire beyond the remains of the jumper we found the afternoon of Sheppard's memorial. There appears to be an ancient facility on this planet and Sheppard has been there.

The other note I have given you is from Sheppard, and it explains what I mean. I found it in the wreckage of the jumper yesterday afternoon.

I'm feeling much better than I did last night, so you don't need to worry about me. Besides, I have Torren to look after me, so there's nothing to worry about.

See you soon,

John.

"What does it say?" Maddie asked before she handed her a cup of tea.

"It is just telling me that he and Torren have gone to do a little exploring, so I need not worry about him."

Maddie, snorted, "Torren and John exploring, if it's anything like when Uncle Rodney and Torren used to go exploring, I'd be extremely worried."

Teyla sighed, as she knew that Maddie was right, "Yes much like when Rodney and John used to go exploring, someone usually ended up injured and more often than not it was John."

"What does the note from Dad say?" Charlie asked her big brown eyes open wide.

She smiled down at the child, "I will read it first and then I will let you know whether you should read it or not."

Charlie just nodded at her and went back to her cooking. She could see that the child was worried about what her father may have to say, but then she thought it was best not to upset her by telling her what was in the letter – as she suspected that it wasn't good.

Carefully opening the other letter, she started to read.

Dear John and Teyla,

If you are reading this letter, I have already gone and I feel that I need to explain why I have constantly lied to you.

Obviously, you have already found the original jumper that my Teyla and I crashed in. Miraculously neither of us was injured in the crash, but as you can see, I never lied when I told you that the jumper was totalled.

It took us a long time, but eventually, we accepted the fact that we would spend the rest of our lives here, but we also knew that you would probably land here in the future and that fact disturbed us at the time. We knew that if you ended up here it would just complicate matters and we had no idea what it would do to the timeline. I certainly wished that McKay was with us at that moment.

We made a life for ourselves here and eventually Dave and Charlie were born, and for a while, our life was complete.

As time went on and we realised that the time of your crash landing was coming closer, I began to feel frustrated so on several occasions I wandered into the field where the jumper had crashed hoping for some inspiration and, a way we could help you get off this planet and find a way home to Torren.

It was on one such walk that I saw something that looked like a tower in the distance, and I had to wonder why I had never seen it before. At the time Teyla was busy with the twins, so I set out to explore.

I had been walking for about half an hour when I felt the familiar hum of ancient tech, so I kept walking towards the structure that I had seen. As I got closer, I saw a spire and it reminded me of my home on Atlantis.

The hum was so intense by this time, and I couldn't wait to see what I had found. It wasn't long before I found an access panel and was able to go inside. The first thing I found when I went inside was a jumper bay and the first thing, I saw was a puddle jumper, and it was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.

My first thought was that I needed to see if it could fly as I knew that if you and your Teyla ever stood a chance to get off this rock, you would need a jumper. I also knew that I needed to do some serious calculations for that to happen. So, I got in the jumper and flew it out of the bay and hid it in the cave.

I never went to the ancient facility again, as I had found my mission in life; I knew that I needed to find a way for you and Teyla to get of this planet and even after my Teyla and Patrick died I knew that I had to find a way for the two of you to leave.

At the end of the day, there is no excuse for lying to you. I really can't explain why I did it and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Anyway, I hope that you and Teyla can find a way home to Torren, but there is one final thing that I ask of you, can you please make sure that my children are well looked after? They need a home and a family, even if you don't take them in.

Regards,

John Sheppard.

It brought her to tears that Sheppard had spent his last days working for them to get off this planet and get home, but now she wondered if they ever would. Torren didn't seem to be getting far with finding a cure for the strange bacteria that was slowly killing John and apparently at the moment he was exploring with John, so it was obvious he wasn't working on it at the moment. Todd had disappeared to who knows where and she had no idea whether he was coming back, so he wasn't much help at the moment either.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find that Maddie was looking at her with a sympathetic look on her face – at least that's what she thought it was.

"If you need to talk about what was in the letter, I'm here to listen."

"Thank you, Maddie, perhaps you may like to read the letter later. I am also worried about John, he didn't look too well last night, so I am afraid that he may have a relapse of the headache he had last night. I know that Torren is with him, but knowing John, even if he is hurting, he would never let anyone know."

"Uncle Rodney and Ronon told us countless times over the years what a stubborn man he could be, but I guess until you get a chance to witness it firsthand you couldn't understand."

Teyla sighed deeply, "anyway, there is nothing that I can do right now, so I may as well get on with my day."

"How about we have some breakfast and if they're not back by lunchtime, we can go and look for them this afternoon?" Maddie suggested.

Teyla sighed, she knew that they should probably give Torren and John some time to explore, but then she also knew that where John Sheppard was involved, anything that could go wrong usually did. "I guess that would work."

"I've made you some pancakes Teyla, and there's plenty of syrup or jam to put on them. There is also bacon and eggs, I will put them on a platter in the middle of the table if you would like some," Charlie announced putting a plate full of food in front of her.

"And I've made you some tea just the way you like it," Dave said while handing her a cup of tea.

"Thank you both for a lovely breakfast," she told the children.

Putting some jam on her pancakes she smiled at the children, who had been working hard all morning. Taking a bite, she was amazed at how much the jam tasted like strawberries. She had sampled strawberry jam on the rare occasion that the Daedalus had delivered it to Atlantis, but she had never tasted anything like it in the Pegasus galaxy – until now.

"Children this jam is delicious!" She exclaimed before she took another mouthful.

"We make it from the berries that grow wild on this planet. Dad said that they tasted like strawberries from earth. We were going to pick some more after breakfast if you wanted to come with us?" Charlie asked with a hopeful look on her face.

She needed to do something to keep her mind occupied because if she didn't, she knew that she would be worrying about John and Torren all day, "I would like that very much, Charlie."

For the next twenty minutes, she sat and ate her meal in silence. The others maintained a steady stream of conversation, but she was quite happy to listen. The children seemed to love Maddie and could talk to her about a wide variety of subjects. Maddie seemed to have endless patience with them as well. She found herself hoping that when this was all over that Maddie and Torren would look after them – even if it wasn't on this planet.

oOo

Teyla followed Charlie as she skipped and hummed on the well-worn path leading to the bridge across the river. Maddie and Dave were bringing up the rear. The children both seemed to have adjusted to life without their father, but she wondered how long it would be until they began to grieve his loss. When her father had died, it hadn't hit her right away, but eventually, she became angry that he had been taken from her and she was like that for a long time, until she let go and ended up sobbing in Charin's arms. After that, she had felt much stronger, and it was easier for her to get on with the task of leading her people.

Breakfast had been an enjoyable affair and after they had eaten they had all helped to tidy up before they had headed out for a morning of berry picking. The children had packed up the leftovers from breakfast so that they could enjoy a picnic when they were hungry.

The primary sun was high in the sky and the day was hot, but there was a gentle breeze in the air. The patch of berries they were looking for was across the other side of the river – about half an hour walk. She walked in silence, trying to shake the uneasy feeling she had about John and Torren, she was convinced that something was going to go wrong – that was if it hadn't already gone wrong.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at an enormous patch of berry bushes and the children and Maddie immediately began to pick the berries and fill their pails. Teyla decided to sit under a shady tree and watch for a while. The joy on the children's faces brought back memories of her childhood when she used to pick Mulder-berries with her father. It was a much simpler time back then – it was a time before her father had died at the hands of the wraith and a time before she had taken on the responsibility of leading her people. Then five and a half years ago she had met John Sheppard and the people of Atlantis, and her life had changed again.

She was startled out of her contemplations by Charlie shouting at her, "hey Teyla are you going to come and help or not?"

She tried not to laugh when she saw Charlie's face as it was all stained red from the berries that she had been eating. The Mulder-berries that she used to pick with her father were black, so her hands and face were always stained black when she had finished. Charin used to tell her stories of how the juice used to stain her face and hands for days afterwards – smiling at the memory she picked up her pail and went to help the others.

In the end, the activity was just what she needed to forget worrying about John and Torren for a while, but as the day wore on her anxiety levels began to rise again. She looked over at the children and they appeared to be tiring, so she decided that it was a good idea to finish up. Then they could go and look for John and Torren.

She pulled Maddie aside and spoke to her quietly, "I would like to go and look for John and Torren now. They really should have contacted us by now and I know that John wouldn't want us to worry, so he would have let us know what was going on if he could."

"I tend to agree with you, so how about we take the food we brought with us and go and look for them now."

She looked at the children who were now sitting down in the shade, "what shall we do with Charlie and Dave?"

"I guess that they'll have to come with us," Maddie replied.

"Or do you think that they could stay at the cabin on their own?" Teyla suggested.

"We're coming with you," Dave told them coming up and standing between them.

"If John and Torren are in trouble, we want to help," Charlie said with determination in her voice.

"How do you know what's going on?" Maddie asked Charlie.

"Because we read the letters," Dave answered.

Teyla was shocked, but then she shouldn't have been because when she was a child, she always did the opposite of what her father or Charin asked her to do. "Alright, but you will need to stay close to us and do as we ask you to do."

Charlie nodded eagerly and Dave gave her a lopsided grin, which looked exactly like Johns, "you'll need someone to fly the jumper."

"Yes, David we will, "Teyla commented, "so how about we head back to the cabin and get cleaned up before we leave."

"I will have to insert a communication device into your arms, that way we can keep in contact if we get separated," Maddie suggested.

The children looked at her in terror and Teyla knew that she needed to say something to reassure them, "do not worry children, I had mine inserted when we were on the Daedalus, and I assure you that it will not hurt."

She was relieved when they both nodded their heads and walked off in the direction of the cabin. Maddie followed and she brought of the rear.

oOo

The primary sun was low on the horizon, by the time the jumper took off from behind the little cabin. The secondary sun was still higher in the sky, so she knew that they had at least an hour until it was dark. The days on this planet were short – some days there was only six earth hours of daylight, depending on how long the secondary sun took to go down.

Teyla was positive by this time that something had gone wrong, and that John and Torren were in big trouble. She eagerly looked out the window as they flew over the area where John had discovered the remains of Sheppard's and the other Teyla's jumper a few days before – it was then that she noticed something in the distance that she hadn't seen before.

"Maddie, do you see a spire in the distance?" She asked not quite believing her eyes.

"Yep, and I'm positive that I've never seen it before," Maddie answered from behind her.

Charlie furrowed her brow, "I haven't seen it before either and I've spent all of my life here. I found the remains of the jumper a while back, but I am certain that I did not see the spire then."

"Perhaps it was cloaked until now," Teyla murmured, more to herself than the others.

"Wow!" Dave exclaimed, "that is so cool."

Teyla smiled at him as that sounded like something John would say if he was excited.

As they got closer to the spire, Teyla very quickly realised that there was a whole city in front of her and although it wasn't as big as Atlantis, it was very similar in many ways. She wondered how they were supposed to get in and when they did would they be able to find John and Torren in a hurry?

A few minutes later Dave carefully landed the jumper next to a sturdy set of doors and she was amazed at how well he had landed – it was certainly better than one of Rodney's landings.

Dave immediately opened the back hatch and prepared to leave, but Maddie stopped him before he had a chance to get far, "make sure you take a backpack with supplies, and I insist that you let Teyla go first? We don't know what we may find and if there is trouble Teyla will have a weapon with her."

"I've used a gun before when I have been hunting," Dave protested.

"Me too," Charlie added.

Teyla knew that the children would have no difficulty in handling a weapon, "Perhaps we should allow the children to have a stunner. There appears to be several in the weapons locker."

To her relief, Maddie nodded. So, she opened up the weapons locker and pulled out four stunners and gave one to Maddie and one to each of the children.

"Let us get going. Please stay behind me at all times and if Maddie or I ask you to do something please do not hesitate to do so?"

The children both nodded and Teyla could see the excitement in their eyes. They would have never seen an ancient city before, so it was probably as exciting for them as it was for her the first time that she set foot on Atlantis.

The city looked remarkably well preserved for a city that probably hadn't been used in ten thousand years – or longer. The architecture was almost identical to Atlantis so there was no doubt in her mind that the ancients had built it at around the same time Atlantis had been built. She wondered for how many eons it had remained empty – did the Ancients abandon it at the time they went back to earth or had it been abandoned before that?

She approached the sturdy doors that they had seen from the jumper, and it didn't take her long to find an access panel on the left side. She waved her hand over it, and nothing happened.

She suspected that they needed someone with an ancient gene to open it, "Dave can you please wave your hand over the panel."

Dave stepped forward and followed her request and when he did the door opened without any problems.

When she stepped through the doors, she was surprised to find that the lights were on. John and Torren have been at work, but why have they not contacted us to let us know what is going on?" She thought as she started to walk down the long passageway in front of her.

"Teyla, there appears to be a working console and it appears to be giving us directions to the chair room."

She turned to where Maddie was pointing and saw a partial schematic of the city and it appeared to be leading them to the chair room. That is defiantly one of the first places that John may head if the city is damaged and in need of his help.

They walked in silence and all the while Teyla was taking in her surroundings. The colours around her were the same greens and reds that made up Atlantis' colour scheme, so it was obvious that the ancients had a thing for those particular colours.

A few minutes later they came to the chair room and the first thing that Teyla saw was John in the control chair – nothing unusual there, she thought as she approached him.

She got the shock of her life when she reached him as his face was covered in blood, his left arm was bent at an odd angle, and he was twitching and shaking in the chair.

"Maddie, we need to get John out of the chair now. He looks to be in a bad way."

"Yes, I see that, and I have no idea where Torren is and why he would have left John when he was in this state."

"Perhaps you should contact him?" Teyla suggested.

Maddie nodded and tapped the communications device in her arm, "Maddie to Torren come in please?"

There was no reply, so she tried again, "Maddie to Torren come in please?"

After three attempts Maddie managed to get hold of Torren and Teyla had to listen to a one-sided conversation, "Torren are you alright?"

"I can't get him out of the control chair at the moment and we're incredibly worried about him. As his injuries are severe and they need to be treated as soon as possible."

Maddie nodded and when the connection was broken, she turned to Teyla, "he's going to try and get back here as soon as possible, but for now, I have no idea what to do."

"There is not much we can do at the moment as pulling him out of the control chair may kill him."

"Will he be alright?" Charlie's little voice called from the corner.

Teyla went across and knelt by the child knowing that Charlie must be worried at seeing John in this condition so soon after her father's death, "I am sure once we can get him out of the chair that he will be fine." She reassured her – although she said it to reassure herself more than anything.

"Is that the control chair that allows someone to access the city's systems? Can this city fly?" Dave asked while staring at John.

"Yes, John is connected to the city's systems, and I have no idea whether this city can fly." Teyla replied.

"Cool," Dave mumbled.

Ignoring his comment, she placed her hand on John's arm and whispered in his ear, "John I am here now so please disconnect yourself from the city as soon as possible?"

There was no reply so she continued to speak words of support and encouragement to him – because right now there was nothing else, she could do.

She was startled when Torren rushed into the room a few minutes later speaking at the top of his voice.

"Hey guys, welcome to the city of Arastica and you have no idea what I have just found?"

Teyla looked at him suspiciously, "I have no idea, why don't you tell us?"

"I have found a room with rows and rows of ZPM's and most of them have some charge in them."

"And do you know why John is injured and, in the chair," she quizzed him?

"There is a virus in the operating system and every time he tries to eliminate the virus, it injures him and throws him out of the system."

"And you let him go back in!?" Teyla asked beginning to feel angry with him.

"No!" He shouted back, "every time I try to stop him, he does it anyway. You know how stubborn he can be."

She looked at the way Torren carried himself and she was convinced that he was injured, but before she had a chance to ask him Maddie spoke up, "Torren are you injured?"

"A console exploded, and some debris hit me in the back it's nothing."

"Well seeing as I can't do anything for John right now you may as well let me have a look at it!" Maddie demanded.

Teyla didn't miss the eye roll that Torren gave Maddie as he answered, "really you want me to take my shirt off in front of my mom and don't forget that the kids are here?"

"Really Torren," Maddie countered, "I never realised you were so shy."

Before they had a chance to continue the conversation, John sat up in the chair and yelled out, "Wraith!" And then he lost consciousness.

TBC…

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