Author's Note: Hm, you all asked if Todd *really* betrayed her or now; here is your answer. I hope you like, and thank you all for all of your reviews and support :). Only a chapter or two more to go, methinks... *is sad :(*

-----------

Party Crashers

------------

Teyla stood her ground as the three wraith advanced on her, shifting only slightly to keep them all in her view. She had caught something odd in Todd's voice, and the wording of his sentence seemed significant; "That was a warning..."

"You would betray me to ally with this queen?" she asked carefully, turning her head slightly in the other queen's direction.

"She made me an offer that I couldn't refuse," he said.

"Really?" Teyla began, eyeing his knife with interest, noting that the queen and her commander carried no weapons, but looked ready to feed.

"Do not worry, little queen," the commander purred, cutting off whatever words may have been on the edge of her tongue. "We will take good care of you..."

"Yes we will," Todd said, as they came within reach of her. He swept his arm out... and around, slamming his knife into the throat of the other queen.

She fell back, amazement in her eyes as she watched her own blood gush from her throat. She collapsed, spasming, onto the ground; her death throes accented by gurgling shrieks.

Chaos ensued.

Teyla recognized the motion even before Todd had completed it; and realizing what he had planned and what he had truly been warning her about, she didn't hesitate, but immediately struck out at the commander, allowing her wraith-like rage to overtake her.

He reacted quicker than she would have liked, ducking away and kicking out at her viciously as he realized the situation as well.

"Teyla!" Todd called, as alarms began to wail through the ship; the queen must have triggered them. He could feel several wraith closing in on their position, and he knew that they were out of time in more ways than one. By Teyla's reaction, he would say that she would be lucky if they could change her back.

"Teyla, we need to go now!" But she didn't hear him; deaf to everything but her battle, all she could think about was this scum before her, and how he must die.

The commander was grinning wickedly, battling her with practiced ease and skill that nearly matched her own. He drove her back, and she slipped in the queen's blood, falling heavily. The commander lunged at her, and she threw her hands up, one catching his throat and the other slamming inton his chest, the feeder latching on and holding.

Teyla gave a primal, inhuman shriek, and sucked him dry, absorbing his strength and his life in moments. When she was finished, she threw the withered carcass off of herself, and paused for a breath as her body acclimated to the new strength surging in her.

Todd grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet, tugging her through the doorway before she could protest.

"We must hurry!" But they were beyond out of time.

Teyla screamed again, this time a very human scream of pain and fear; and she fell. Todd caught her before she hit the ground, but she was already unconscious, moaning and babbling incoherently, writhing in pain.

Without a second's thought, Todd swept her up in his arms and ran for the ship, forcing any other wraith in the hallways to move or be run down. He bolted of the ramp of their ship and dropped her on the bed in the living quarters before throwing himself in the pilot's chair and taking the engines off standby. Withing moments, they were at full power and had cleared the ship; and he engaged the hyperdrive, the course back to his hive already laid in. As soon as he was certain that they were safe, he left the ship on auto-pilot and went back to Teyla

She was bad; she was still screaming and moaning as if something was eating her alive from the inside out. She wouldn't make it back without completely transforming or dying without the formula.

Todd wasn't sure if it was a wise idea to risk giving her the treatment now; it had always been the un-spoken plan that Dr. Beckett would administer it, and make sure that it was done right. And his little ship was hardly a decent alternative for an operating room. But then, he didn't suppose that the injection would be too difficult, assuming that he got the right spot; the operating room would have been more to monitor her reactions to the drug. And he really didn't like the idea of what Sheppard's team would do to him if he hesitated and they couldn't save her.

He took the bottle from his coat pocket, and a syringe that he'd brought along in the extremely rare---he'd thought---case that this emergency took place. Hoping desperately that the hasty administration and circumstances would not have a negative effect, he plunged the needle into her arm.

------------

John had lost track of how many hours it had been since Teyla had contacted them. And quite honestly, he didn't really care anymore. What he was more concerned about now was figuring out the best and most painful way to kill Todd if something had gone wrong. The should never have let that wraith take her...

"Colonel Sheppard!" Speak of the devil. His voice was coming from just outside the jumper's closed hatch---which would have bothered John on any other day, that he had been able to find them after they had moved the jumper---but there was no other sounds to indicate that Teyla was with him.

John motioned for Ronon to have his gun ready, and slapped the button to lower the hatch, raising his own gun as well. On the other side stood a very worried sounding wraith; and no Teyla.

"Where is she?!" Rodney demanded, the first to regain his voice.

"She is still on my ship," Todd explained. "Dr. Beckett, I require your assistance."

"Right." The doctor grabbed his medical kit and followed Todd, the wraith explaining what had happened on the hive ship and what he had been forced to do to save her. Carson didn't answer, just nodded, mentally figuring out what Teyla's chances were that she'd be okay and normal again.

Teyla's condition hadn't changed much; but the feeders on her hands kept closing and ripping open, over and over again, as if her body couldn't decide what form it would rather take.

"What did you do?" the doctor demanded. Todd held up his hands in a surprisingly human gesture of defense.

"She was out of time!" Carson sighed, but accepted that answer.

"Alright, we need to get her back to Atlantis right now!"

"John's radioing the city to have ha med-team ready when we get back," Ronon said, poking his head through the door.

"Thank you, lad. Now help me move her to the jumper."

------------

Sheppard's team waited anxiously outside of the infirmary for news of Teyla's condition, distractedly de-briefing Woolsey as best as they could. Todd was there, but he remained in the background, not wanting to invoke the wraith of the team.

"Do you think that she'll remember anything when she wakes up?" Rodney wondered after they had explained everything to Woolsey with some level of coherence.

"Who knows?" John shrugged. "She wasn't consistent last time."

"I don't think that we should tell her," Ronon said slowly. They all looked at him.

"I thought that last time we agreed not to keep this a secret from her," Woolsey began.

"That was before she fed," Ronon reminded him. "If she doesn't remember, and we tell her what she did... it will kill her."

"But if you don't tell her and she finds out..."

"She won't," Ronon said confidently, glancing at John, who nodded his approval. "'Cuz whoever tells her is gonna be the next one to die."

"So what do we tell her instead?" Rodney asked.

"That she fell and hit her head," John said. "Hard."

"Do you think that she's going to believe that she was in a coma for that long?"

"That's the story."

"Are you sure that this is the best idea?" McKay persisted. Bu their conversation was cut short as Beckett exited the door that they had converged around, a weary look on his face.

"Well?" they all pressed anxiously.

"We ran a full check on her and saw what the drug was doing to change her back," he said slowly. "Jennifer is with her now; but I think that for now, she's out of the woods!" He anticipated the team's next question.

"Yes, you can go in and sit with her if you want, provided that you don't do anything to wake her up." In the midst of the excitement and relief, Todd slipped away and made his way back up to the gateroom, where he was allowed to dial out because of everyone's gratefulness for what he had done for Teyla. He stepped through the shimmering blue circle, and the gate shut down behind him...

The team was all lounging around Teyla's recovery room, waiting for her to wake up. Kanaan had also heard that she was back and getting better, and he and Torren joined them soon after they had been allowed in. Now they all sat restlessly, watching Teyla slowly turn back into herself and waiting for her to wake up.

------------

A/N: See? Todd *didn't* betray her... for very long, anyways. And at least this time she had a warning before he stabbed the queen ;). The last chapter should be coming soon!