"We need to do something." Rodney said, pacing back and forth, his mind abuzz with thousands of calculations. All useless in the light of John Sheppard being possibly captured or killed. But he owed it to him to try and rescue him, he didn't have a clue how Teyla would react when she regained consciousness.

"Sit down McKay." Ronon replied, indicating the chair across from him in the mess hall.

Rodney glared at him before grumbling and sitting down. Their weapons had been stored in the armory. Elizabeth had made a point of sending the Daedalus to try and extract him, since the gate was now guarded. Rodney and Ronon had gone to the near empty mess hall to collect their thoughts. Ronon was calmly thinking of solutions. Rodney's mind had already calculated the worst case scenarios, being the eternal pessimist he was.

The worst was that the Daedalus would encounter some sort of resistance in orbit of the planet that would force them to leave before beaming Colonel Sheppard out. The second worst would be that he was already dead and the Daedalus would find nothing. His mind was already abuzz with more possibilities, but they all varied on the central theme.

Rodney chowed through a power bar. He always calmed down when he ate something. Something about hypoglycemic reactions, but he honestly didn't care right now, he just had to eat something. He still hadn't noticed the burning in his legs, the unfortunate result of running for so long when you were horribly out of shape.

"What do you suggest Conan?" Rodney quipped, lacing his voice with the full force of his sarcastic personality.

"We wait." Ronon replied, ignoring the name calling. "After the Daedalus gets back, then we can decide what to do."

"What if they can't get him?" Rodney snapped. "What if he's already dead? How would that make you feel?"

"You think like that, you're damning him." Ronon's voice was low. Anyone who knew him could tell that he was rapidly losing him temper. Though you couldn't tell that from the outside.

"Great, I don't need a rephrasing of Murphy's law." Rodney snapped his fingers impatiently. "But if you've got better advice, I'm open to it."

"If it distracts you, ignore it. If it fuels the anger, use it. I told Teyla the same thing."

"In case you haven't noticed I tend to make rash and stupid decisions when I'm angry, such as letting Colonel Sheppard stay behind!" Rodney finished with a yell.

"He gave us our orders." Ronon's voice was dangerously low, and Rodney had yet to notice his hand going for the knife on his belt.

Fortunately, Rodney finally ran out of steam. He slouched in his chair, looking defeated. "The thing is, he's the only one here I can reasonably call my friend." Rodney shook his head and looked out to the ocean. "And why the hell am I telling you this?" Some of the usual sarcasm had returned.

Ronon relaxed, his hand coming back to rest by the other on the table. "Because he's my friend too. I owe him trust, something I'll have to work towards for the rest of my life."

"I just want to be doing something." Rodney gestured back towards the city. "Normally I'm not the get up and go type of person, but I have to..." Rodney trailed off. "Not like I could do anything anyway."

"We can go check on Teyla."

Rodney withdrew into himself for a minute. In all his haste, he'd forgotten about the Athosian. He could call her his friend too, she'd never taken to insulting him. Hell, she'd even put up with his antics and constant petty arguing. He nodded to Ronon, and followed him to the infirmary.

XXX

Carson glanced over at the scanner reading once again, just to be sure. After bandaging Teyla's wound they'd placed her under the scanner to make sure they hadn't missed anything. The bullet had completely missed anything important. It had missed the gall bladder, the spleen, everything and gone clean through, which was a major plus for her recovery.

Teyla had been lucky, there was no doubt about that. No internal bleeding, no organ damage. She'd be on her feet by the end of the day, but knowing the tough Athosian, it'd be earlier. He returned from the lab to the main area and nodded to the nurse monitoring Teyla.

"Any change in her condition?" Carson asked, glancing over the monitors.

"Nothing." The nurse replied. "Her heart rate is steady, blood pressure is constant, and the recent test from the lab shows no infection in her wound. Just to be sure I gave her some antibiotics."

"Always a good precaution." Carson placed his hand on Teyla's forehead. It was warm to the touch. He quickly took her temperature. She was slightly warm, but that was normal for her. He glanced down at the bandaged wound and then he noticed the one thing abnormal. Her hands were twitching.

"Kelly." He said, catching the nurse's attention. "Have her hands been twitching the whole time?"

Kelly glanced down. "Oh my god, I never noticed."

"Right, let's take a look at brain activity." They'd recently found an ancient device that could quickly and easily measure brain wave patterns. As soon as he saw the readings, he knew something was wrong.

Normally when a person was sedated, their mind was in a resting state. Teyla's was showing more activity in her subconscious than those seen during REM sleep or even when she had been connecting telepathically with the Wraith.

He tapped his radio ear piece. "Doctor Weir, I need to see you immediately."

"What's wrong?" Her voice was distorted over the radio, but she always seemed to grow concerned when he called her down to the infirmary like that.

"It's easier to explain to you in person."
"I'll be down in a minute."

XXX

When the first tear fell he finally realized just how much it hurt. It also brought him back to reality. Teyla was safe in Atlantis, as were Ronon, Rodney, Elizabeth, and everyone else. He was here by himself. He had to face this hell alone.

Orin was grinning smugly as John rose to his feet, fighting to purge the picture perfect memory of Teyla's bleeding stomach. He forced himself to concentrate, remember the facts. It wasn't long before the world faded once again. He clenched his fists and waited for the next horrible image.

He found himself on the Hive Ship were they'd been captured only months earlier. Something was different though. The two Wraith escorted him back to the cell and he was greeted with a gruesome site. Ford was clenching a piece of the wall with a vice grip, his hands white from the strain.

Ford's Lieutenant was withering on the floor in agony. Both Ronon and Teyla were shaking uncontrollably. Ignoring Ford he immediately went to Teyla and Ronon, not being able to just watch them suffer. They were both sitting down on the bench, gripping the edge of it, tremors visible in their bodies from the enzyme withdrawal.

"You two okay?" John asked.

"No, we are not." Teyla replied, carefully saying each word, her voice uneven and shaky.

"Hold in there." He replied.

It was then that Ronon collapsed onto the floor in a complete loss of control. The big runner groaned in pain as the enzyme slowly left his body. Suddenly, he stopped moving. John pushed Ronon onto his back and felt for a pulse. "Come on buddy, stay with me."

It was a futile endeavor. He didn't have time to even wait as Ford and his Lieutenant collapsed too, groaning in pain. John darted to Ford's side, placing a hand on his forehead. "Hang on Lieutenant."

Ford and his Lieutenant didn't last long either. A quick check confirmed they were dead also. He glanced at Teyla, still shaking. He couldn't do anything for anyone but her anymore. He wanted to scream, but it wouldn't do any good. Teyla was flinching at every sound, if he screamed she'd probably lose. That wasn't something he could do.

A single Wraith in a black trench coat appeared at the door. John narrowed his gaze. "What the hell do you want?"

"You will tell us everything." The wraith hissed.

John swore the Wraith sounded like Orin. It only made him angrier. He stalked across the cell towards the door. "I'll never tell you anything."
As if on cue Teyla collapsed with a gasp. "John," her voice was barely a whisper.

He forgot the wraith and came to her side. "Fight it Teyla, don't you leave too!"

If she had a reply he didn't hear it as he was throw rudely across the cell by the Wraith. His head slammed into the wall. Stars exploded in his vision, clouding it and almost making it impossible to focus. He watched as the Wraith made Teyla's last moments even worse.

The Wraith's hand raised and, even as John struggled to get up, plunged into her chest. She screamed as the wraith fed. John screamed in response and managed to leap across the cell. The wraith sidestepped and stood back up, leaving the distinct feeding mark on Teyla's upper body.

To make matters worse, when he looked down at his hands, they were long and slender... and they were wraith. John felt his stomach rebel against him again and he emptied again, his throat burning from the excursion.

The gate room returned, with a smug Orin and a nice line of his friends, all tied and gagged. Orin's sword rested on Rodney's neck. John forced himself to stand. He couldn't give in, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.

XXX

Elizabeth entered the infirmary at an accelerated pace, arriving on seconds before Ronon and Rodney. She took a deep breath as she approached Carson, knowing that he had bad news. For his part, he was standing over Teyla taking readings and recording them onto a PDA.

"What is it Carson?"

"It's Teyla's brain activity." Carson sighed, pointing to the device that was monitoring it. "See, there's another spike." The device beeped as if on command. "On top of that, it's starting to have a physical effect." He point to Teyla hands, which were now clenched into fists. "She's not doing well at all."

"There's gotta be something you can do?" Rodney quipped. The scientist was edgy and agitated from the tone of his voice. "Isn't that what you do here?"

"I don't even know why her brain activity is so high. It's not natural."

"We should wake her." Elizabeth suggested.

"I wish I could, but it's up to her to wake up on her own." Carson sighed. "Giving her more drugs now would probably make her condition worse."

Elizabeth tapped her radio ear piece. "Weir to Heightmeyer, I'd like to see you in the infirmary."

"I'll be there in a minute." Kate's response was immediate and with a hint of concern.

The news of John's capture had slowly started to filter through the expedition. The majority of the military contingent owed their lives to him. Elizabeth knew the ramifications had yet to be felt. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long before Kate showed up.

"Kate, thanks for coming. Do you know what would be causing those readings?" Elizabeth pointed to the devices attached to Teyla.

Kate's eyes narrowed as she looked at the device. "That's not natural." She said, her voice betraying the confusion.

"We know that already, will you skip to the part where we can actually do something?" Rodney's voice was laced with sharp witted sarcasm.

"We have to wake her." Kate said after a moment.

"But that'll cause more harm than good."

"If we don't lower that brain activity reading, or find out what's causing it, Teyla's brain will simply shut down." Kate's voice was final.

"Do it Carson." Elizabeth said quietly, startling everyone. "We can't lose Teyla too."

Carson nodded and went to gather the necessary drugs from the storage cabinet.

XXX

"Go to hell." John stated, facing Orin. He forced himself to keep a straight face. He couldn't betray the anger and the helplessness he was felling.

Orin didn't seem fazed. "Your friends first." Orin raised the sword.

John had been playing a mental game up until this point, trying to outlast the horrible images. The thought of watching Rodney's head roll down in front of him was too much. Keeping his intent masked under a constant babble about an ex-girlfriend he hid his next move.

He made the distance between them evaporate as quickly as it had first materialized. He tried to land a blow on Orin. He hand passed through. John swore and went for the sword. Again, his fist passed right through.

Orin laughed. "Fool, your mind is ours. Now tell me what I want."

"If it was yours, you wouldn't need to ask me about it!" John snapped back, still trying to gain the leverage. He was running out of things to say about his ex-girlfriend in his head.

So far Orin hadn't moved, now he did. With a single swipe, he severed Rodney's head. John swore aloud, the anger finally boiling over. He launched himself at Orin again, trying desperately to stop the madman from moving on to Ronon.

This time, he was able to draw Orin's attention. But his attention was all he got. Orin side stepped and twirled the sword, taking Ronon's head off too. John forced back the tears... fighting to gain control. He couldn't take it.

John sprinted in front of the kneeling Elizabeth, blocking Orin's path. "You've gotta go through me."

"That is where you are mistaken." Orin's smug grin intensified.

John wasn't even certain what sent him flying, only that he was now lying on his back. He rolled his head to the right in time to see Elizabeth's decapitated too. Hell, her head rolled until it was right next to him. He vomited again, the tears falling with equal verbosity.

Orin must've finally learned something from all this senseless violence. He paused before finishing what he'd started with Teyla. John forced himself to his feet, looking at the blood stained floor, then back up at Orin. He wouldn't beg, but he wasn't certain he could continue.

"You care for this one..." Orin's face was almost obscured by the massive smile. It wasn't a happy one either. "... She's the reason you stayed behind... why your team escaped but you didn't."

"Fuck you." John replied.

"You've given me all I need to break you." Orin laughed, evil and full.

The world mercifully vanished, all the blood and more all leaving him alone. He was alone in the darkness. In the darkness, John Sheppard finally lost it, crying out loud.

XXX

"Teyla!" John's voice screamed.

Teyla snapped awake. She was lying in the middle of the Athosian village. The clouds glowed a faint maroon hue. It cast only a pale light on the dwellings. She looked around, there was no one here. That is until she felt the world shake and her mind exploded in pain.

She doubled over, not being able to concentrate. Her mind rebelled against the unceasing onslaught, this wasn't her pain. It wasn't difficult for her to mute it. Her breathing was ragged and her head pounded, but she stood up and focused again.

"TEYLA!" John's voice was more frantic, louder.

The pain tripled, bringing Telya down to her knees again. She forced herself to her feet and set off towards the source of his voice. As she passed rows of the tents she glimpsed images just beyond her vision.

"You're leader looks through me as if I am not there." Her own voice, just after she'd met Colonel Sumner, John, and Aiden.

"Do I?" Such a simple question from John in return. He'd opened himself to her when he offered to partake of the Athosian tea. He'd entered her life, and from that moment on it had been different.

Without him, she would've never been accepted into the expedition. She remembered the events surrounding her locket, how she'd been accused of being a Wraith spy. It hadn't been the first time either. Yet every time he'd been there for her, placing his trust in her. Now, she'd begun to repay that. Placing her trust in him for the experiment on Michael.

If he hadn't asked, she never would've helped. She would've sooner placed a bullet in Michael's skull than try to convince him he was human. It wasn't cold, it was a fact. He was part of the race that had fed upon her father and mother. He was part of the race that had resulted in the harsh life all Athosians had lived.

As she came back to reality she looked around again, she wasn't any closer to his voice. "Colonel Sheppard!" She called out into the darkened void.

This time the pain was unbearable as she heard his voice again. She collapsed onto her back frantically trying to block the pain. All it did was get worse. She lay on her back, breathing heavily. The pain continued unabated, preventing her from doing anything more than moaning.

Without a better option, she let her mental defenses fall. The pain vanished and she immediately understood. She saw John, crying just beyond her. Teyla stood up, and began to walk over to him. That was when the world vanished.

Teyla awoke to the stares Carson and Kate. She lurched up. "JOHN!" Her voice echoed throughout the infirmary.