One Week Later
Shelby is sitting on the deck of her apartment, studying for her nursing exam as she waits for her husband to come home. Officer Pete Shanahan is driving by, and catches sight of the women that's he's worried about ever since he met her in the police station months ago.
He's off duty, so he pulls over, and walks over so he's standing under her second story window.
"Is there a problem, officer?" Shelby asks, bristling at authority. Dealing with authority has always ended badly for her.
"No, I was just checking in on you," he says, not missing her negative reaction, and assuming it was due to his gender and not to his job.
It's only then that she remembers him then from the night when Teal'c got arrested, "I'm fine."
"Are you still with your husband?"
"Yeah," she says gruffly.
"Should you be?"
"I don't think it's none of your business."
"Has he… hurt you again?"
"He didn't hurt me at all. Like I told you people, it was my step-dad did, and I'm not around him anymore."
"I just… I've just worried about you," the man admits.
Shelby smiles, "Well, that's nice of you. Unnecessary in my case, but nice." She thinks of all the social workers, and police men, and teachers, and how much she resented them poking their noses into her businesses. But this is the first time that she's ever felt that these people really cared. That they were looking into her situation because it was a horrible situation, and they wanted to help her get out of it, "Do you want some tea?"
"Sure," he says.
-0-0-0-
It's a rough day. One of those days where SG-1 escapes from a herd of al-keshs and a stream of Jaffa. They barely make it out of there alive.
And Teal'c is ready to come home to his wife. He needs a hug, even though Jaffa don't ask for hugs. He needs a back massage that feels like the magic fingers that he discovered at the hotel that he and Jack visited a few years back.
And he walks in, and his wife is having tea, and touching the hand of some man.
Teal'c just walks in and towers over the man.
"Teal'c, this is Pete."
Teal'c nods.
"This is my husband, Teal'c," Shelby says, severely annoyed that her husband is doing nothing to alleviate Pete's worry about him abusing her. "Do you want me to get you something?" Shelby asks, not even noticing that this makes her sound more like a domestic servant than a wife.
"I consumed a meal with my teammates while on a mission," he says.
"Ok, how was your day?" she asks, hoping that her husband will unfreeze so that the police officer's suspicions will go away.
"I cannot discuss the specifics of my day in the presence of people who have not signed a non-disclosure agreement."
"I was really just looking for a 'good' or a 'bad'," she says.
"The day did not go well. Would you like to join me in the practice of martial arts?" Teal'c asks.
"I have company," Shelby says, looking in shock at her husband, and turning to give a smile to Pete.
"Indeed," Teal'c says leaving the room.
"I should go," Pete says.
"No, it's ok, we were having a good conversation," Shelby says quickly.
Pete stands, and puts a business card in her hand, "Listen, if you ever need me," he mutters.
"Thanks, but I won't," she says as she walks Pete out onto the porch. Once she's seen him to the car, she goes into the living room. She picks up a stick from the wall, and begins to spar with her husband.
"We really need to get a bigger place. One were we can swing a stick around without having to worry about hitting anything."
"The police man left you a number with which to reach him," Teal'c says, making a hit with more force than is strictly necessary.
"Well, yeah, but it's just if I needed to call the police for something."
"Phone numbers are a courting ritual in this country. And the number to locate the police is known to every child."
"Trust me Teal'c, it is not a courting ritual," she says, taking a step back to avoid his extra-forceful blows.
"You were sharing a beverage with him."
"Well, I would be sharing a beverage with my husband if he drank something besides water."
"Are you implying that I have caused you to be unfaithful, because I will not drink bovine lactose, beverages steeped in plants, or with bacteria growing on it?"
"I'm not being unfaithful."
"He touched your hand," Teal'c replies, using a Jaffa martial arts move that he's never taught Shelby.
She avoids it by taking several quick steps back.
"I'm not cheating on you. I was having tea with a policeman, for gosh sakes!" she says.
Teal'c doesn't respond, but keeps making moves that are way too advanced for his wife's beginning skill level. She falls to the floor, vanquished, and he doesn't stop. Teal'c holds the staff to her neck making breathing extremely difficult.
"Uncle, geez, Teal'c," she says.
"What does your parent's brother have to do with this?" he asks.
"Let me up, I give up!" she says.
There is a second between when the words reach his brain, and when he releases her neck. She puts out her hand in order to help her stand up from the floor.
"Teal'c, I would never cheat on you," she says.
"In the future you will not have conversations with men unless I am there."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that."
"In the future you will not have conversations with men unless I am there," he repeats in a more commanding tone.
"Ok, I don't know what the rules for male/female relationships are on Chulak, but here on Earth girls get to choose who to spend their time with," she says angrily, taking a step toward him.
"I will not permit you to cheat on me while remaining married," he says, taking a step toward her and towering over her.
"I am not cheating on you!" she practically shouts.
"I witnessed it myself," he says, putting a hand on her shoulder.
It's enough to put her in flashback mood. She does what she always does when she is dealing with a nasty memory, she tries to leave.
"Come back here, woman," he says, grabbing onto her hair.
She yelps in pain.
"I did not hurt you," he says.
Shelby doesn't say a word, but she walks over and grabs her shoes and her coat.
"Where are you going?" Teal'c asks.
"I'm not going to tell you where I am going!" she says.
"You have always informed me of where you would be on previous occasions when you have left the house. I assumed that this was part of being married on this planet," he says.
"Well, the rules change after you abuse me," she says.
His heart clenches when he realizes what is happening. "I do not want you to be in danger. Take the car, and stay at a hotel or with a friend. I do not wish for you to live on the street."
"You don't have a say in where I go," he says.
"Do you have enough currency?" he asks.
"I'm not going to take your money," she says.
"Take your own money, you have a good job," he says.
She's confused by his concern. She's not used to this from the people that abuse her. But she knows that sometimes it happens.
She's seen it with her mother. Sometimes they say they are sorry. Sometimes they are sweet and romantic. Sometimes you love them, and can't imagine your life without them.
And that is worse than the abuse. The fact that she might not be able to escape it. She might be caught in the same cycle of abuse her mother, her grandmother, and untold generations of women before her were.
That scares Shelby more than anything else.
-0-0-0-
Sam goes to answer the door, and is surprised to see Shelby.
"Come on in, are you ok?" Sam asks with concern.
"I… I had to leave," she says, feeling foolish now that she's here. But she walks forward into the house.
"What happened?" Sam asks.
"He… pulled my hair. Can I stay here tonight?" Shelby asks.
"Teal'c would never hurt you," Sam says.
Jack walks in the room, "No, Samantha. If she's scared enough to leave him and come here, he hurt her. Go check to make all the doors are locked. I'll get some bedding for the couch."
-0-0-0-
Shelby is standing in the living room when Jack returns. "I'm sorry about all of this."
"Shelby, I don't think I ever told you this before, but my mom abused my dad."
"I… I might be overreacting," Shelby says, looking down.
"No, don't let Sam do that to you. I love Teal'c like a brother. But if he hurt you… I'll do whatever is necessary to keep you safe."
"He offered me money and car keys, and he was all worried about me when I left," she says.
"That sounds like Teal'c," Jack agrees.
"I love him," Shelby says.
"I know that."
"Maybe I overreacted, because when I was a kid…" she breaks off.
"Maybe, or maybe he comes from a culture with a very different view on woman than ours, and he thinks its ok to hurt women, and it's not."
Shelby touches her scalp, "Maybe it's a little of both."
"Maybe. You can decide how bad it is when morning comes," Jack says.
Shelby nods, and Jack starts to head upstairs to help Sam with tucking his children in, until he is stopped by Shelby's voice.
"Jack… maybe you can call him and tell him that I'm ok. I'm pretty sure that he's not going to come and pound down the door in the middle of the night," Shelby says.
"I'll take care of it."
-0-0-0-
"Shelby?" Teal'c asks hopefully as soon as he answers the phone.
"Sorry, T, it's just me."
"Is my wife in your place of residence?"
"Yeah, she's here and she's safe, and you should probably not be coming over tonight."
"Is she injured?"
"Not visibly, T."
"I never meant to hurt her," Teal'c says with pain in his voice.
Jack closes his eyes, "But you can't hurt her. Ever. Not even a little."
"Indeed," Teal'c says.
The Next Day
The doorbell rings, and Sam goes to answer it. Shelby is standing there in her pajamas looking at Teal'c on the other side of the door.
"Do you want me to leave?" he asks.
"No, come in," Shelby says.
"I'll just… go upstairs."
"Are you injured?" Teal'c asks.
Shelby shakes her head.
"I apologize for my actions."
"I shouldn't have left you."
"I never want to hurt you," Teal'c says.
Shelby holds her head down, and is silent.
"If you come home, I promise not to hurt you on future occasions," he says.
"I've heard that before."
"I have not said this to you on previous occasions," Teal'c says.
"No, you haven't. But I have heard it from a lot of people. When I was growing up that is the sort of thing that the people who hurt my mom… and me, said to her. They'd say it, and she took them back, she always took them back. And then eventually they would leave, but she would just find another loser. They say that people who were abused end up with abusers. I'm scared, Teal'c. I left you this time. But I'm just afraid that if I do go back to you, I might not have the courage to leave again."
"I will not injure you again," he says.
"But I never thought that you would injure me the first time."
"If I injure you again, I will force you to leave," Teal'c says.
"But what if you don't? If I can't trust you not to choke me, and pull my hair, than I can't trust you leave me after you do it."
"O'Neill will not allow you to be injured," Teal'c replies.
"Ok, so I'm supposed rely on some other man to ride up on a while horse to save me? How is that better?"
"I did not specify which member of the O'Neill family I was referring too, so you could be relying on a female to save you."
"I love you, Teal'c," she whispers.
"The feeling is reciprocal," Teal'c replies stoically.
She leans forward, and falls into his arms, "Last chance, T."
"Indeed."
Note: Teal'c comes off sounding like a jerk in this chapter, and it's partly because Jaffa culture is so different. When Teal's wife moved on after he left her, that resulted in a fight where he yanked her around by her hair so I don't think I'm way out of character here. Also, he doesn't get Earth customs, and the fact that getting a number doesn't always mean that someone asked you on a date.