Chapter 6

Kanaan watched the strange version of Colonel Sheppard stroke his hand over Teyla's hair, his eyes watching the half light glint off her hair. Sheppard looked back at him with clear possessiveness and amusement. It was a taunting look and it made Kanaan bristle. It held in it all the smugness that Kanaan had known Sheppard had always been feeling. Finally Sheppard was revealing his true self - he had wanted to whisper seductive words in Teyla's ear all these years, to touch her.

Though, there was a new quality in Sheppard's eyes now, no doubt as a result of the substance Kanaan had infected into him. If Kanaan had known that the contents of the vial would have done this to Sheppard he wondered if he would have used it. Michael had said it would incapacitate him and would teach them much on the genetic nature of the Ancestors, but Kanaan was confused as to why Sheppard's eyes were more Wraith-like than anything else. He had defeated Tolim quickly, perhaps even killed him, and as Kanaan looked into those strange eyes he saw barely restrained violence beside the taunting appreciation of Teyla. He was using Teyla as a shield, hiding behind her, and sliding his mutating hands over her beautiful hair!

"Stop touching her," Kanaan ordered. A part of him knew he should not allow Sheppard to make him angry, but everything had all gone wrong. The signal being found, Sheppard catching him trying to dispose of the device, and now he had interrupted their departure from Atlantis and changed into something Kanaan didn't understand. And frightened him.

Had Sheppard been right? Would Michael hurt Teyla?

No, he was sure that would not happen – Michael seemed to care for Teyla and Torren. No, Sheppard was simply trying to once again ruin things.

"This is all your fault. If you had stayed away…I will not let you keep her," Kanaan told Sheppard.

Teyla lifted her hands slowly, cautiously. "Kanaan, he is not himself. You can see that."

Her arguments on Sheppard's behalf only made Kanaan more resentful. "No, he is making his intentions quite clear," Kanaan replied.

Sheppard bared his teeth as he smiled, leaning further over Teyla's shoulder and he brushed his nose across her cheek, but his eyes remained on Kanaan. Kanaan could hear the man's in breath, and the pleasurable growl at its end.

Anger and possessiveness flooded Kanaan's thoughts, despite his attempts to control himself. Sheppard brushed his lips and nose against Teyla's cheek again and Kanaan clenched his teeth together with growing aggression.

Then Sheppard slid one of his hands over Teyla's shoulder, pulling her back against him and the dark broken eyes locked with Kanaan's, full of baiting victory and Kanaan had had enough. He pointed the Earth weapon at Sheppard over Teyla's shoulder and fired.

The flash of the weapon's discharge blinded him for a split second, but in that fraction of a moment suddenly Sheppard was on him. A sharp painful blow against his arm sent his weapon spinning out of his grasp. Kanaan cried out at the twist Sheppard put on his arm, and then Teyla was beside him, slipping her hands around Torren held in Kanaan's other arm. This time Kanaan let her take their boy and, now his arms were free, he turned on Sheppard.

A powerful fury, that seemed to have been building for so long, was unleashed and Kanaan threw himself at the other man.

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Kanaan flew at him, but John was ready. His entire body felt ready and the anticipation felt as raw as the anger he had felt since he had seen Kanaan turn that gun on Teyla and hold his own son hostage.

Kanaan was a strong and heavy weight as he landed on John, tumbling both of them to the floor. The cold of the floor was a wonderful rush against John's shoulder as he dropped onto his back, and he brought his knees up at the man, pushing at Kanaan's belly and shoving him away.

He would have laughed in delight at the excuse Kanaan had given him, so easily provoked, and John's body was pumped ready to fight. Kanaan stumbled upright and swung out, faster than John had expected, but the new challenge only fuelled the aggression that had his heart pounding in his chest. As he traded blows and kicks with Kanaan, he felt his mind sinking into the blindness of the aggression.

It had been a worrying and familiar feeling that he had been aware of since waking up in the isolation room. Then it had been simmering in the background, turning around the anger of knowing something had been done to him, that Kanaan had betrayed Teyla and the city. Traitor!

Kanaan knocked him to the floor again with his slight advantage of body weight, but John barely registered the blows to his head and arm. The anger was bubbling through his body, his arms and legs screaming to strike out and fight. Traitor! The monster had been sleeping beside Teyla each night! He had turned a gun on her and Torren.

John roared with fury, the sound bubbling up from deep inside his chest and up through his throat. It felt good and he easily swept inside Kanaan's arms and grabbed at the man's throat, squeezing. He felt the shift to his opponent, felt him stiffen and the scent of him changed…fearful…good.

Kanaan rammed his hands at John's face, clawing towards his eyes, and part of John processed that Teyla was shouting something nearby, but he was far beyond being able to understand her. Words were an effort and listening to them right now was impossible for him. He rolled, throwing Kanaan aside off him just before Kanaan's nails got any kind of purchase on John's face and eyes. He tossed Kanaan aside easily and followed, pinning him down to the ground. Kanaan fought back, but there was a struggling quality to it now.

Kanaan tried to crawl away from John, and John suspected he was trying to reach the gun that had fallen nearby. John adjusted his grasp on Kanaan and tugged him back, preventing him from getting away. Kanaan's elbow thrust up and caught John on his jaw, snapping his head back, and for a moment John's head swam. As he blinked he saw Teyla appear, her arms now empty of Torren, and she snatched the gun off the floor. Kanaan snarled and reached towards her. John didn't see what happened, but he heard Teyla's angry cry of pain, and the clutter of the gun falling over the railing.

John's head cleared and he was on his feet towards them as he heard Teyla's fist connect with Kanaan's cheek. The man didn't seem to feel it though and a new flare of anger rushed through John at the thought that Teyla would be defenceless against him.

But Kanaan didn't hit her, instead he turned and abruptly ran away from them.

"Torren!" Teyla shouted as she ran after him back down the atrium again.

John followed, overtaking her in a flash of a second. Ahead he could hear Torren crying from wherever Teyla had put him. John got a fist full of the back of Kanaan's jacket and thrust him off course against the railing. Kanaan stumbled as he fell, catching himself against the railing as Teyla overtook them to get to Torren.

John reached down and pulled Kanaan upright, got his hand around the man's throat and ran him backward away from the railing and shoved him up against the atrium wall. Kanaan grunted with a very satisfying breathless grunt and John squeezed his hand tighter around the man's neck.

Kanaan struggled against him, his strength surprisingly resistant. John caught Kanaan's flying fist in his free hand and rammed it against the wall as well.

"John!" Teyla shouted, but John ignored her. Kanaan gasped loudly, fighting for his breath and John began to squeeze just a little tighter. But, it didn't feel quite right.

He became aware that his heart was thundering in his chest and his arm felt weaker. He looked at his hand around Kanaan's throat, blinking rapidly at the urge to kill that felt so right, yet so very wrong as well. It was all the opening Kanaan had needed.

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Teyla paused with indecision as she watched Kanaan gasp out loudly, struggling against John's death grip around his throat. He was pinned up against the wall, one hand pinned out to his side as John appeared to be squeezing his windpipe shut.

"John!" Teyla shouted, but he didn't appear to either hear or understand…or perhaps care. The violence of the frighteningly fast brutal fight had shocked her, and she feared that one of them was going to get killed. She suspected it would be Kanaan, judging by the blank intent violence John was employing against him. "John, do not kill him," she shouted, but again it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

She turned back to her plan, which had been rummaging around the unconscious team members tied up across the atrium, for a radio or weapon she could use. The stunners wouldn't work on either of the men, but if she could find Ronon's… She had no idea how to open up the lock down of the atrium, but if she could get a message to the control room, maybe they could let in assistance. Despite which man won the battle across the room, she would need backup afterwards.

She heard a loud grunt and looked round to see that Kanaan had regained some air and control of the fight. John had backed up, twisted to one side as if he had been kicked or punched, but it didn't last long. There was a growl and the men were clashing again.

There were no radios left on the hostages, Tolim must have removed them all along with their weapons. She turned round, time running out, and spied a pile of shadows near the closed exit to the balcony. She rushed as fast as she could towards the hopeful pile of weaponry, trying to cut out Torren's wails from where she had left him tucked behind the table and chairs in a small space on her jacket. He would be safe there for now, but he was not happy about it. She loathed putting him down, but he would be safer with her having both her arms free.

She reached the pile of weapons and found several of Ronon's knives, one of which she tucked into a back pocket, and then at the base of the pile she saw the faint glow of the unusual stunner. She tore it up and out of the pile, turning back towards the fight.

She rounded the railings towards the men. John shoved Kanaan downwards, forcing his head down towards the small wall supporting the railings, but Kanaan struck out at John's middle, clearly aiming for between his legs. John turned to protect himself and punched down at Kanaan. It provided the opening Teyla needed. She fired at Kanaan.

The alien energy blast engulfed Kanaan, forcing him properly to his knees, but his eyes turned towards her and it was clear he wasn't going to fall immediately unconscious. She was about to fire again when John's fist slammed across Kanaan's cheek with an amazing force. A brief expression of shock crossed Kanaan's face before he dropped to the floor. John reached down and pulled Kanaan up off the floor enough to deliver another sharp punch. This time Kanaan slumped completely flat to the floor, finally knocked out. John stood up over him with a satisfied growl of a noise and what relief Teyla had felt scuttled back into the dark again.

John was breathing fast, the sound loud and aggressive through the dark empty atrium. The adrenaline still pumping through her system almost pushed her to stun him as well, but she held back. "John?" She asked as she began walking backwards away from him, making sure she was between him and the direction in which Torren lay.

John turned abruptly towards her as she spoke. The dark slit eyes focused on her with a predator's sharp focus and suddenly he was advancing towards her. All her nightmares combined as she darted backwards, Ronon's stunner lifting towards him.

"John!" She warned.

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"Jumper One, report," Richard tried not to demand too aggressively into his radio's mike. He stood up from leaning over Doctor Zelenka's shoulder, as he had been for the last ten minutes. The Doctor was feverishly trying yet again to release the lockdown on the end of the pier and there was nothing Richard could do at the moment. They had no radio contact with anyone in that atrium at the end of the pier and no way to know what was going on.

"Jumper One, here. Hostages are in the medical team's hands and it looks like they have no injuries other than being stunned. Marines are onboard and I am heading back out to the pier," the pilot reported. For the life of him Richard couldn't remember the man's name, but right now that didn't matter.

"Good, let me know when you get there. We need to know what's going on in there."

"Yes, Sir."

Richard kept the radio active as he turned back towards the large Ancient display that currently showed the end of the pier in question. "Lieutenant McKenzie, status?"

"It sounded like there was one crazy fight going on up there, but it's difficult to tell from down here. I have a very limited view up over the railings above," the Scotsman reported, his voice low over the radio.

Richard resisted the urge to roll his eyes – they were stuck in a position of being unable to do anything it seemed. "Your team are still blocked off from that level?" He asked in the slim chance that in asking some new possibility may present itself.

"Sorry, Sir. All entrances up to that level are blocked off, even the stairwells. The only way up there is up over the railings above us. And I'm not inclined to try that as we'll be a sitting duck as we climb up there."

Richard actually managed a smile at the term, but the tiny respite from frustration and concern only lasted a moment. "Tolim's status?"

"Doc Keller has just taken him off to the Infirmary. Looks like a broken leg, arm and a load of ribs," McKenzie replied, sounding rather pleased with the painful list. "I can still hear Torren crying," he added and the pleasure was long gone from his voice. That Torren was so upset implied Teyla wasn't with him and that worried Richard.

"Keep me apprised, Lieutenant," he instructed McKenzie.

"Aye, Sir."

Richard turned back to Zelenka who was muttering in his own language as he jabbed away at the console. "Doctor?" Richard asked stepping up behind the Czech man. "I need those doors open."

"I do not understand how that area was isolated so completely," the Doctor muttered with frustration. "I can not even find the command to do that!"

"Can't you just release all the doors in that pier?" Richard asked.

"I've tried to open that area, but not even power is getting through to that section of the pier." The Doctor sounded more frustrated than usual and Richard had to wonder if it was the same niggling fear in the back of his mind as there was in Richard's – that for all this time they had missed that signal, who knew what was going on back in Pegasus, who knew what might have followed Atlantis here back to Earth? Hell, right now they didn't even know what was happening at the end of one the city's own piers!

Richard let out a heavy sigh and turned his attention back to the four tiny dots in that far away atrium and not for the first time did he wish there was more he could do for his people.

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John's attention dropped to the end of the stunner that pointed towards him and through the loud anger and joyous sense of victory, at having been able to slam his fist into Kanaan's jaw repeatedly, receded enough for him to frown at the familiar weapon pointed at him. Part of him had his arm already tensed to smack the weapon aside, to get it out of his path back to her side, but the realisation hit that she was the one pointing the gun at him. He paused in shock and the red tide of aggression dimmed enough for him to remember that there were no other threats here right now.

He looked up from the dark barrel, past the faint colourful glow of the stunner to her behind it. Then the truth arrived, complete and full of strange details – she was frightened of him. She was afraid he was as he had been before – the Bug. She did not trust him in this state and she was protecting her son. From him.

Despite the overwhelming violent aggression from only a few minutes ago, it shocked him that she would fear him and he didn't like it. The higher part of him wanted to tell her that she was safe with him, but then was she? He was similar to how he had been as the bug. He glanced around towards Kanaan, remembering the joyous satisfaction in beating Kanaan and he felt a flush of revulsion at himself. But, the guy deserved it. The confliction within him was confusing and worried him.

She shifted and he looked back round at her and she flinched. Torren's cries reached a new high pitch of distress, the sound almost physically painful to hear and John saw Teyla's expression tighten at the sound. He felt it himself, and with it the physical tensing that would have had him rushing to the boy's side in any other situation, but he knew that Teyla would see that action as a possible threat. He wanted to say something, but words…they seemed to difficult, too complicated or perhaps too basic. So he opened his hands, holding them out in a universal sign that he meant no harm.

Her eyes dropped down to his hands at the movement and he saw the shift to her face that told him she understood and something about her changed with it. The stunner lowered and he saw her smile tightly at him, but he knew she was still on edge – ready to defend her son and herself at a moment's notice. He kept his eyes on hers, and wondered what she saw.

Torren's cries reached another abrupt screech and Teyla looked away from him to where Torren was hidden behind the chairs. He knew that she trusted him enough to look away from him now, and she began to move towards the chairs, but her body remained angled towards John throughout. She was subtly putting herself between John and the chairs.

She was metres away from John when he decided that it was enough distance and followed her. She had reached the chairs and looked back at him cautiously as she pushed aside one chair and revealed Torren. He was lying on his back, his arms and legs waving as he cried so unhappily. John moved closer, the urge to get closer to the boy growing. He wanted to make the cries stop, to hold the boy and make the fear the boy felt disappear. Teyla's hand dropped onto Torren's belly and she made soothing sounds to comfort him, but she did not pick him up. John moved even closer and she looked back at him. He saw her hand was still tightly clenched around the hilt of Ronon's stunner though it hung at her side. She still did not trust him. The knowledge disturbed him and made him angry – angry at Kanaan, at Michael and at himself.

He stopped a metre from her and he sank down into a crouch, lowering himself to her level and to stop towering over her in a way that might make her uncomfortable. It did not really occur to him to walk away completely and give her space. Kanaan may be unconscious, but he was still in the room with her and Torren, so John wasn't going to move away from her. As she had done with Torren, John had kept himself between her and the unconscious Kanaan, just in case. He glanced back at the fallen man and there was a low rumble of sound that he belatedly realised had been him – he had growled. He blinked at the realisation and looked back round to Teyla, hoping he had not worried her. But, he saw now that she had lost most of her fear of him. He met her eyes, seeing her in a very strange yet familiar way. His vision wasn't quite what it had been as the bug before, but it was close. He knew that the light level was low in the room, but he could still see her clearly. His new night vision portrayed everything in dull dark tones, but the light that he could easily see lighting up her face seemed to shimmer and glitter over her skin.

"Are you alright, John?" She asked softly. The question surprised him as it was her and Torren that he was concerned over. He nodded in reply and slid his eyes over her, seeming to know already that she was unharmed, but there was something…he could see the tear to her sleeve and he could taste the faintest sense of dried blood in the air between them. Since she was moving her arm comfortably enough to rub Torren's tummy he decided it was a superficial wound only. He vividly remembered seeing her fighting Kanaan, trying to wrestle their son out from the man's arms, and John felt the tingling sharp edge of anger again at the memory. He glanced back round at Kanaan, knowing he was still unconscious, but still wanting to visually check anyway.

"Do you have a radio, John?" Teyla asked and he looked back at her to see she had set the stunner aside and was lifting Torren up into her arms. The boy's eyes were wet from his crying, his little lower lip protruding so sorrowfully. John wanted to reach out and help add some comfort, but he feared that it would worry Teyla and that he might frighten the kid as he was. He remembered her question then and shook his head.

She looked away around the atrium as she bounced Torren lightly in her arms. "I could not find a radio before, I believe Tolim put them in the Jumper," she pondered.

A faint shiver of sensation of awareness made John look up from her and he stood up abruptly. Outside there was shift of light and the Jumper appeared up over the balcony outside. Teyla stood up beside him and moved away from the chairs as she waved to the pilot through the windows. The man waved back and several marines appeared beside him. Teyla gestured to her ear and shook her head to indicate that she had no radio. John could feel the pilot and team inside the Jumper turn their attention to him. John felt a shiver of distaste at their presence, though it also was a good thing, wasn't it? Again he felt oddly conflicted about something simple. Those thoughts were quickly set aside as he noticed Teyla moving away from him and turned his attention to following her.

She was approaching the railing and she called over the edge to those below. John had only vaguely noted that it had been McKenzie's team stationed on the floor below as he had raced past them earlier. John didn't bother to look over the railing himself, but he could hear the shuffle of boots below as the team stepped out from the darkness to look up at Teyla.

"Teyla? Are you okay?" McKenzie called up to her.

"We are fine, but we require your assistance. Kanaan is incapacitated for now, but he may regain consciousness at any moment." She glanced ever so slightly over her shoulder towards him. "And Colonel Sheppard will need to return to the Infirmary."

"We'd love to, Teyla, but we can't open the doors. Seems even Zelenka can't get that level out of lockdown," McKenzie reported from below, his voice carrying up easily through the high atrium. "We could send up some ropes and you could climb down," he suggested though it was clear he didn't really like that idea. Neither did John like the idea of Torren being carried down that way.

Teyla turned from the railing towards him, drawing his attention fully to her again. Her eyes assessed him with a single-minded focus that he actually enjoyed. "John, did you cause this lockdown?"

He immediately wanted to deny it, but he instantly knew that he had been responsible. He looked away from her towards the heavy doors blocking the exits at the far end of the atrium and frowned. He remembered wanting to isolate the area, to keep the traitor in where John could get to him. He didn't remember how he had done it, but somehow he had caused this.

"Can you let us out, John?" She asked. He frowned again at that – for some instinct wanted to say 'no' – she and Torren were safe in here with him and he could keep his eye on Kanaan. But, he also knew that was foolish – he had to get help in here. Abruptly the lights flickered on and the doors across the atrium all opened at once. John shut his eyes at the blaze of light over his sensitive eyes.

In a fraction of a second there were others in the atrium with them and John reacted, stepping across to stand between them and Teyla.

"It is alright, John," Teyla said from behind him and her hand touching his arm. The touch brought his more logical mind to bear and he nodded, stepping aside, aware that many of the stunners held ready across the atrium. Around the room teams flooded in, Carson with them, heading straight to the tied up unconscious forms of Kanaan, as well as Ronon and Lorne's teams that hadn't been put in the Jumper before.

So many people pouring into the room made John uneasy, but he made himself step back and to the side, keeping his hands at his sides. McKenzie came striding through the atrium as those around him set about moving hostages and Kanaan. "The atrium is secure, Sir," McKenzie reported into his ear mike, but John felt the man's attention on him. "Yes, Sir, all appears calm."

More movement nearby brought forth Carson, clearly happy that the former hostages were all fine and had turned his attention to John and Teyla. "Are you two alright?" He asked as he arrived. Teyla nodded, but John knew that wasn't entirely true.

He reached out and caught her arm, and around him everyone tensed and weapons raised towards him. He was aware that he had moved too fast, too rashly. Teyla lifted her free hand that wasn't supporting Torren towards the stunners. "It is alright, it is fine," she assured them. John had kept his fingers around her forearm as she had calmed those around them for him, but John was more interested in tilting her arm for Carson to see the torn sleeve and the long deep scratch across her skin. Carson stepped forward and took Teyla's wrist, so John released her arm.

"I am fine," she replied. "It has almost healed already," she told Carson and looked at John as well.

"Aye, I'll clean it up, but you're right it's just a scratch." Again John got the impression the calm words were for his benefit. Carson let go of Teyla's arm and turned to John. "And John, are you alright?" The words were said again with that calm slowness people used with the very sick or confused. John nodded in reply.

"He stopped Tolim and Kanaan," Teyla reported for him.

Carson nodded and John saw the soft sympathetic expression the man sent towards Teyla. John looked at her to see her turning her attention to Torren, speaking to him softly, distracting herself.

John felt the anger rising again, and this time he made himself take a breath and calm himself, glancing round to McKenzie and a few others who still had their attention subtly focused on him. They were doing their job and he was pleased with them, but at the same time he didn't like so many people around him and so many weapons near Torren and Teyla.

"We'll sort that out later," Carson was saying and John returned his attention to the conversation. Across the atrium two marines were struggling to help lift an unconscious Ronon. "Colonel, I think it would be best if we get you back to the Isolation room," the doctor suggested gently.

John glanced at Teyla beside him. She had Torren up high in one arm, her lips brushing against the soft skin of his little forehead. John could see the pain in her eyes, though it was clear that she was trying to hide it, but he could see it. It was like it was singing out around her, and it was full of barely contained shock and pain at what had happened. Once again he remembered seeing her fighting to get to her son, striking out at Kanaan – the father of their son who should have been protecting Torren, no threatening to carry him off to Michael. Michael… That he was alive…it would affect Teyla deeply. She had thought her son and her people safe from that monster, and now to find out that she had been wrong and that they had left the Athosians behind…with Michael alive and kicking.

Teyla glanced up at him, feeling his attention and she gave him that half hearted smile that attempted to hide her pain beneath. "You should go with Carson, John," she was saying. "We have everything under control."

Carson stepped closer, turning to encourage John to walk with him and John realised belatedly that they were worried about him. It was not only in Teyla's eyes alongside her shock, but it was in Carson's and McKenzie's as well. He glanced down at his hands again seeing the blue areas to his skin and nails. He had no idea what he looked like, only that it wasn't like last time. He nodded his agreement and moved forward with Carson. As they headed along the atrium John looked back past his own personal guard of two marines and McKenzie to see Teyla was gathering up Torren's baby bag, still holding the boy close. She looked back towards John again and he saw her restrained pain.

"She'll be alright," Carson suggested from John's left, but John knew that she wouldn't be. Her lover had betrayed her and the city, Michael was alive and her people left unprotected…and he knew she would blame herself for all of it. It was wrong, but she would.

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TBC