Authors Note: WARNING: There are two scenes of domestic violence in this chapter, I think they'll be the only ones in the story though there will be several references to it in the next few chapters.

Fyd818 – I figured poor Teyla needed someone on her side right now with everything going on and her boss seemed like the perfect guy for the job. There is still something there between Ronon and Teyla and as for things working out, well we'll see lol. Thanks for the review.

Steph7085 – Thanks for the review and I hope you like this chapter.

Chapter 8

Ronon sat down at his desk opposite John and stared at his friend for a moment. He knew something was wrong with Teyla, she had been trying to hide something from him yesterday when they had both been at the hospital. Unfortunately he was out of the loop when it came to her life so he had no idea what it could be. John however had spent more time with Teyla that week than he had so it was possible he new something Ronon didn't.

"Ronon, if you don't quit staring at me I'm going to shoot you," John told him without looking up from the report he was reading.

"I saw Teyla yesterday," Ronon stated.

"Yeah, she said you stopped by the hospital," John informed him finally looking up.

"Something was wrong with her," Ronon informed his friend who had a knowing expression on his face.

"I know, when she didn't turn up at the hospital to see Elizabeth a few days ago I called and I could tell something was wrong. I went to the hospital earlier the next day to make sure I'd have the chance to talk to her."

"What did she say?" Ronon asked.

"A lie, I have no idea what's wrong with her."

"Elizabeth would get it out of her," Ronon stated and both men smiled at the thought.

"Yeah, she would," John finished and silence settled between them.

"I never saw his hands," Ronon said suddenly and John looked at him in confusion "The husband, I never saw his hands, if the skin under the victims fingernails is from her attacker then it probably comes from his hands or his arms."

"I never saw them either and he was wearing that suit jacket to cover his arms," John replied thoughtfully

- - -

There was a knock at the door and Teyla put down the book she was reading to answer it. She wasn't really reading it anyway, her mind was too much of a mess to able to focus on it properly. She opened the door and froze as she saw Michael standing in front of it, how had he found her?

"How the hell did you find me here?" she asked.

"Followed you home from work, gotta say this is a step up from the apartment you were living in when I left."

"Get out of here," she said moving to slam the door shut but Michael put his hand on it forcing it to open again and pushed past her into the house. "Michael get out!"

"Nice," he commented looking around, she noticed his eyes fall on a picture of her and Ronon and he moved to it and picked it up. "Who's this?"

"None of your business," she told him making a grab for the picture but he moved it out of her reach and continued to look at the other photos.

"He's in a lot of your pictures, so are these two," he stated gesturing to a picture of Elizabeth and John.

"Michael just give me the picture and leave," Teyla said firmly and Michael turned to look at her obviously having no intention of going anywhere. Every instinct she had was screaming at her to get away from him as fast as she could but he was in her house and if she did try to get away from him she doubted she'd get very far. "Leave or I'll call the cops."

Anger flashed through Michael's eyes and it was the only warning she got before he hit her. The force of the impact made her take a step backward in an effort to remain standing and she resisted the urge to reach her hand up to her face.

"You should know better than to threaten me Teyla," he told her angrily. "I'll be back."

Teyla watched as Michael threw the picture of her and Ronon on the floor stamping on it and shattering the glass frame. He walked out of the house then and Teyla remained where she was standing taking several deep breaths to keep herself from panicking. Her face where Michael's fist had hit her was stinging and she knew there'd be a bruise there tomorrow. She quickly ran to the door closing and locking it before going to sit on the couch.

Flashback

Teyla arrived at her apartment after yet another day of giving groups of people tours of the museum. It wasn't a particularly difficult job but it was tiring and rather repetitive though there was usually someone in the group with a sense of humour and the voice to use it. It made the job a little more interesting.

Michael was sat on the couch watching the T.V and she found herself regretting that she had ever given him the key to her home. She reached up to touch the bruise around her eye that was finally beginning to heal, though the bruises on her back and stomach were taking their time. She shook her head angry at herself for the thought and closed the door. Michael turned to look at her a smile on his face as she walked over to him. He stood up and kissed her cheek gently before looking at her for a moment.

"How was your day?"

"Same as always, did five tours today we were quite busy, what would you like for dinner."

"Surprise me," he told her kissing her cheek again before sitting back on the couch. Teyla nodded her head nervously though thankfully Michael hadn't seen it. She went into the kitchen and started trying to figure out what to make. She reached to get a bowl from the cupboard but it slipped through her finger and smashed on the floor.

She cursed inwardly as dropped to her knees quickly and nervously picking up the broken pieces of glass. Michael came into the kitchen and she didn't need to look up at him to know he was angry.

"Why can't you be more careful?" he shouted and she winced at the anger in his voice.

"I'm sorry," she said almost pleading with him.

"Sorry won't replace that dish will it?" he stated kneeling down in front of her.

"It was an accident," she defended and immediately regretted it, she knew better than to challenge him. Michael grabbed her hand angrily and placed the shards of glass he had picked up in it; he then closed her hand around the glass and held it tightly. She tried not to cry out in pain as the glass cut into her skin and blood began to drip from her hand.

Michael pinned her with an angry glare. "You should learn to be more careful, now you need to clear this mess up."

Teyla nodded her head and Michael finally let go of her hand and walked out of the room. She opened her hand allowing most of the glass to fall out of it onto the floor. She started picking the remain shards out of the fresh cuts hoping none of them were bad enough to need stitches and would heal on their own.

End Flashback

- - -

"Things are getting pretty messed up aren't they?" John asked Elizabeth even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer. "How did the four of us go from being so happy to this? Our marriages are falling apart, you're in a coma, something's wrong with Teyla and we she won't tell us."

John sighed as he sat forward in the chair not letting go of her hand. "You've been lying there for two weeks. That's two weeks since I heard your voice or saw your eyes and I don't know how much longer I can hold it together. I never realised just how much you meant to me, how much I needed you until now. I don't even know if you can hear me, I hope you can, I hope you know that I would give anything in the world to go back and change this."

"Mr Sheppard," a voice said from the doorway said as Dr Beckett walked in. "I'm sorry to interrupt; I just need to check on your wife."

"That's okay and call me John," he informed the Scottish doctor.

"Then call me Carson, Teyla already does."

"I noticed," John said wit a small smile as he watched Carson check his wife's vitals and write something down on her chart.

"How are you?" Carson asked and John almost smiled again. Teyla had told him that Carson had tried to subtly do the therapist thing with her and had been waiting for his turn.

"I'm as good as I'm going to get until she wakes up," John stated.

"Well, her injuries are healing; the cuts and bruises she sustained during the accident are disappearing. I doubt she'll even have scars so things are looking up but her head injury was very severe so I can't promise anything," Carson explained and John nodded his head slowly.

"Do you think she can hear us?" he asked.

"I think so," Carson replied with a small smile.

- - -

Teyla looked in the mirror in front of her at the bruise forming on her cheek. She had tried to cover it with make up but it was still slightly visible. She picked up her phone and called the museum knowing if she went in Adam would notice the bruise and he would know what had happened.

"Hi, this is Teyla Emmagan I won't be able to make it in to work today… I think it's just a little flu or something but I'm not well enough to make it into work… thank you, I will… bye."

Hopefully that would buy her some time at least until she had to visit Elizabeth later. If she went a little earlier than usual then maybe she could avoid Ronon and John and they wouldn't see the bruise. She couldn't avoid them forever but the more time she bought herself the more time she had to come up with an excuse and the more time the bruise had to heal. Maybe if she was lucky by the time she had to face them the bruise would have healed enough to be covered by make up and they would never know.

She picked up her foundation and once again tried to cover up the bruise though she knew it was a futile effort. She had already been trying for over an hour with no such luck. Still she had nothing else to do so she might as well keep trying.

TBC