"You're not leaving," he announced as he strode through her door.
"Excuse me?" She asked indignantly as she stood straight, her hands stilling at her sides.
His eyes took in the many things on her bed with distaste, his lips curling in disapproval. There were a few full bags lying about the floor and he picked one up, unzipped it and began removing the contents.
"John, what are you doing?" She queried loudly as she tried to usher his hands away. He wouldn't stop his frantic movements until eventually he tipped the bag up and the contents spilled across her bed. When he stopped and thought, he almost laughed but the murderous look on her face quelled that feeling. "What are you doing?"
They stood facing one another from across her bed, hands on hips, similar indignant stares on their faces. John was not inclined to back down and it appeared that neither was she.
"You're. Not. Leaving."
Her eyebrow shot up to her hairline, a disbelieving smirk marring her lips. She shook her head and her hands shot out and grabbed the bag from his fingers, before stuffing the items he'd tipped out back into it without any thought of folding them. He stood back and watched as she continued to toss things inside, arms folded, his face blank. Eventually she stopped and tossed the bag to the bed before resuming her earlier stance.
"What?"
"You're not leaving."
"I am."
He shook his head and laughed mirthlessly, picked up the bag and held it in his hands by his side.
"You're not. You can't just up and leave. We need you here!"
"My place is with my people."
"You're place is here with us." He could see the retort in her eyes and he shook his head. "For four years, you've told your people that you can do better here than you ever could there. Why the sudden change?"
"I do not think that is any of your concern, Colonel."
He twitched at the use of his title but didn't let it show to her.
"Au contraire, I think it is my concern when a member of my team decides to leave without telling me!"
"That is what this is about? Because I didn't tell you I was leaving?"
He scoffed and shook his head, though he couldn't bring himself to look at her. There were other factors but that was certainly one of them. He frowned in her direction when she picked up another bag but before she could even put anything in it, he snatched it from her grasp and dropped it at his feet.
"I just don't understand."
"You would not."
"What is that supposed to mean?" He was irked he would admit and her blatant disrespect for their friendship was irking him even more. He moved around the bed and stood beside her, as she faced the direction John had come from. He could see her jaw working overtime and he could only imagine the grinding noise that her teeth would be making as she crushed them together. She didn't respond and he reached out to her, grabbing onto her arm. She jerked and pulled away, narrowing her eyes at him in a way that he was sure was supposed to be menacing. "What is going on?"
"Nothing is going on."
He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.
"I don't believe you." She glared at him and he wanted to smile but knew it wasn't worth his life.
"Why do you have such a desire for me to stay?"
Her question knocked him for six and he only realised how close he'd moved to her when he took a step back. He shifted his eyes to the wall behind her head and shuffled his feet.
"I just... you're... well, you're my friend and I... you're an asset to this base and... We need you here."
He caught her eye and the smile she gave him reminded him of the one when they'd first met on Athos when he'd felt as though she was seeing through him and actually seeing him.
"I see." She nodded and turned away and John could have sworn he heard a hint of dejectedness from her. "My people need me."
John inched closer to her again after a moment of indecision and his hand reached out to touch her bare arm again. She turned to him a fraction and he lowered his eyes to where the tingle in his fingers tips was.
"I need you."
He gulped as the words left his mouth in a quiet whisper and he felt every nerve ending in his body tingling with anticipation. He could see her hesitation in her face as she glanced sideways at him.
"You do not."
She stepped out of his grip and resumed packing, her hands shaking as she did so. John stood still for a moment trying to comprehend what the hell had just happened. Then he lost it. He ripped the new bag from her hands and threw it to the other side of the rooms, grabbing onto her shoulders and pulling her towards him.
"Dammit, Teyla, what do you want from me?" He yelled as she gripped her, almost shaking her. He could see the apprehension in her eyes before it melted to cold resolve and loosened his grip.
"I require nothing from you, Colonel Sheppard." He dropped his hands. "Nothing you are willing to give." She turned away from him and he ran his hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his suddenly tense neck.
Then it came to him.
"I love you," he murmured without thinking and he saw her stop, her hands stilling like cast iron over some clothing and she turned to him.
"What?"
He swallowed, his eyes finding hers, hoping that the fear he was feeling inside wasn't showing through his eyes.
"I... I love you. Is that what you want? Is that what you from me?" He couldn't keep the irritation from his voice and he saw her eyes narrow slightly.
He resisted the urge to take a step back when she stepped towards him. She eyed him again and he suddenly felt very, very exposed.
"No," she murmured quietly and she shook her head. "No," she continued more assuredly, "I want you to mean it."
"I..." He frowned as he trailed off. "I do mean it... I..."
She smiled sadly at him and jerked her head in a way he knew she had picked up from him.
"Yet you cannot bring yourself to say it again." He tried to say it again, he really, really did but the words stuck in his throat and all that happened was his mouth moved without any sound escaping. "Please, leave."
He lowered his eyes, closed his lids against the sudden pain that erupted in his chest, the deep ache in his belly and nodded.
"Okay."
He turned and left, pausing only for a second at the door before he stepped through. He waited until the door closed behind him and then thumped back against his, cradling his head in his hands, kicking himself in the backside.
He waited there for a few minutes longer and then raised his teary eyes to the ceiling.
He did love her.
He just needed to prove it.