Thanks to my various beta readers, particularly Tielan, who really does love Teyla more than anyone I've ever met and refused to let me do this half-way, and to Amy, Saché and I_R, who always manage to catch my tense variations and my inability to type three letter words correctly.
Spoilers: Vague season four-ish. Fic takes place between “Trio” and “Kindred”.
Rating: Kid friendly
Summary: In the Pegasus Galaxy, “that which does not kill you makes you stronger” is not a cliché. It’s a psalm.
------
Great Friends
The Athosian village on this planet was far from the Ring of the Ancestors in the hope that distance would serve an early warning. Twice the ships were heard and twice the people had time to flee. But then the Wraith came on foot in the dark of night so as not to alert the scouts with the whine of their ships. The watchers at the Ring were eliminated quickly and the village stood no chance.
It was much later, while families grieved loss and planned to move again, when Charin realized that 6-month-old Teyla, daughter of now-widowed Tagan, had not spent those hours before the attack howling because she was early cutting teeth.
------
This time, Lorne was positive the world had ended.
They had been sparring under Teyla’s watchful eye, pairs of marines hitting one another with sticks while their heavily pregnant instructor walked among them correcting a stance here and a parry there. When Lorne called a halt and sent his men to the showers, Teyla helped him collect the weapons, her fingers closing around the hilts like coming home. She had looked at him with a mischievous hope in her eyes and before he quite knew what was happening, they had squared off, saluted, and were trading strokes.
Teyla’s reflexes were not slowed and though her movements had altered, she still had impeccable grace and skill. Lorne was kept too busy defending himself to adequately dissect her technique, which he supposed spoke for itself. He certainly did not see the sequence of strokes that felled him until it was too late to stop them, and down he had gone, his ears ringing.
Before the stars had quite cleared from his eyes, indicating that the world had in fact not ended, the room went dark and a hissing noise indicated that the doors were sealing shut. Teyla was beside him in a flurry, kneeling awkwardly before abandoning her dignity and flopping sideways on to the floor. She helped him to sit up.
“Major, I do apologize,” she said. “I thought your guard was raised.”
“I’m fine, Teyla,” Lorne said, and it was more or less true. “You are hitting for two, after all. What’s happened to the lights?”
“I do not know.”
“Control Room, this is Major Lorne,” Lorne said into his ear piece. “What is the situation?”
There was no answer. Teyla retrieved her ear piece from a bench and tried to establish a contact, but was likewise met with dead air.
“I really hope this is not another virus.” Lorne declared, throwing down the Bantu stick he had been unconsciously clinging to.
Teyla went quiet, her eyes closed and her face still, and Lorne felt suddenly as though she was very far away. She exhaled loudly in the silence of the sparring room and looked at him.
“It’s not a virus, Major. It’s the Wraith.”
------
“Teyla, come down!” the boyish voice pleaded from below.
Teyla ignored it. Instead she grinned to herself and continued her climb upward. The Athosians were still relatively new to this planet, still recovering from the latest culling, but Teyla found herself quite enamoured with it. The climate and soil were more or less identical to their previous home, but this planet had trees: great, tall pines, with branches situated perfectly for climbing. Teyla had immediately fallen in love with them.
She reached a good vantage point and steadied herself against the trunk. Holding up her face to the wind, she looked around their new domain.
Athosians did not name their planets. This was for two reasons. Primarily, most of the planets were already inhabited and the Athosians were, at best, only transient guests. Secondarily, it was thought unwise to attach too much sentiment to any home which could not be picked up and carried away at a dead run. Sometimes children born on the same planet as each other formed tight bond-groups, but efforts were made to mingle as often as possible, and the groups did not typically survive adolescence.
“What does it look like, Teyla?” Halling’s voice sounded again from below. As usual, he had moved past trying to prevent Teyla from endangering herself to calm acceptance of what she was doing.
“Like all the others,” Teyla called down. “I can see the Ring from here!”
She couldn’t see him, but she knew Halling was smiling. He loved the Ancients as much as she loved to run and fight. Their friendship had begun almost as soon as Teyla had learned to walk. She had followed Halling around the encampment, mimicking his actions and inserting herself into his games with the other children. At first the adults smiled indulgently, but when they saw how patient Halling was with her and how she always made him laugh, they began to understand that the future of their people would be well kept in the hands of these two children.
When he was eight and she was five, his mother and father were taken in a culling while they were off trading on another planet. After that, Halling retreated so far into his own head that the Elders became concerned. Teyla, already in possession of her characteristic stubbornness, had refused to let him go and, though he remained a more cautious and quiet individual, she made sure he was always close to the centre of events.
Teyla’s attention was drawn back to the vista in front of her when a sudden flurry of movement obscured the Ring. She squinted, and realized that a large flock of birds was taking off from the clearing, but before she could wonder why, the Ring flared to life.
“Halling!” Teyla shouted in alarm, “The Ring has opened!”
Fear gripped her now, as it always did when the Ring opened unexpectedly. She did not feel ill, like she often did before a culling, but she felt something, and the strangeness of this new feeling scared her even more. She began her descent on shaking legs.
“Wait!” cried Halling. “Before you climb down, see what it is.”
Teyla gripped the trunk again, silently berating herself for her lack of foresight and looked out. She held her breath. Her strange new feeling grew stronger as first one, then two, then half a dozen people stepped through the Ring. She tried her best to ignore her roiling stomach and focused on the newcomers.
The first thing Teyla notices was that they were not running. Where ever they were coming from, they were not being pursued. The second thing she noticed was that they were not in very good shape. Even from this distance she could see that there clothes were nearly worn through. The third thing she noticed was Halling’s unexpected arrival on the branch adjacent to hers, as his curiosity overcame him and he braved the height.
“We must go to them!” Teyla declared.
“We must go to your father,” Halling amended, and held up his free hand in defence, “These people don’t need a welcoming party, Teyla. They need real help. We must get Charin and your father.”
Halling rarely asserted himself like this, but as they climbed down, she realized he was right. She and Halling were capable, but as her father often reminded her, they were not Elders yet. When they reached the ground, Teyla answered Halling’s question gaze with a nod, and they started quickly toward their new village together.
------
Lorne spent almost twenty minutes trying to pry the door open before a particularly vicious shock convinced him that his efforts would not be successful. He swore loudly and retreated to the window seat, where Teyla sat watching him.
“I no longer sense the Wraith”, she said.
“That’s wonderful.” Lorne sat down rather gracelessly beside her. “Why is everything still not working?”
“I do not know,” came the reply. “We shall just have to wait.”
Lorne muttered something under his breath about a lack of fortification, but Teyla pretended not to hear him. He closed his eyes rather suddenly and took a deep breath. When he exhaled, he looked at her calmly.
“How did you meet Kanaan?”
The suddenness of his question caught her rather off guard. She had been hearing variations of it ever since her pregnancy became obvious, apparently it was a common question put to Earth women in her condition. Usually, her answer was quite brief, but in this case she decided that circumstances merited a somewhat longer explanation.
“It was during my eleventh year,” Teyla began. “We had just settled on a new planet. Halling and I had gone exploring, and I saw some people come through the Stargate. There were eight, the final survivors of an Athosian group.”
“You mean there are other Athosians out there besides your people?” Lorne interrupted.
“Not any more,” Teyla said. “Shortly after my father died, we decided that our numbers were too few to live in isolated groups, so we joined together.”
“I see.”
“Kanaan and his two brothers were part of the group,” Teyla went on. “I will never forget the first time I saw him.”
“Love at first sight?” Lorne was smiling now, and Teyla returned his grin. In spite of Colonel Sheppard’s movie night efforts to the otherwise, Teyla remained unconvinced that the Earth ideal of love and happiness was suitable for the Pegasus Galaxy.
“Not exactly, Major.” She said. “It was more like a sense of knowing. I was great friends with Halling, but I had always known that I was different and he was not. As soon as I saw Kanaan, I knew that we were the same.”
Lorne had slouched back against the window while Teyla spoke and she had let her head drift down until it was nearly on his shoulder. He realized her proximity quite suddenly, but before he could react or feel particularly awkward, his ear piece buzzed.
“Major Lorne, this is Sheppard. Where are you?”
“The training room, sir,” Lorne sat up straight automatically, and Teyla followed suit. “Teyla’s here. What happened?”
“Some sort of Wraith EMP.” Sheppard replied. Lorne could almost hear McKay objecting to the simplification in the background. “It knocked out all of our systems, but we managed to take them all down before they could break orbit. Radek doesn’t think they got a message out.”
“That’s good, sir.” Lorne looked at Teyla, who, having kept her radio close at hand, had heard the exchange. “What do we do?”
“Rodney’s working at putting the systems back on line, but it looks like they are all going to need to be reset manually.”
“Even the doors?”
“‘Fraid so,” Sheppard confirmed. “Sit tight, you two. We’ll be along eventually.”
“Teyla?” Keller’s voice sounded over the comms.
“Yes Doctor Keller?”
“If you go into labour, I will kill you myself.”
“Not if I get to her first, you won’t!” John said, suddenly concerned as the thought entered his mind for the first time. “Are you really okay?”
“I think I will be fine, Colonel.” Teyla said reassuringly.
John did not choose to dignify that with an answer.
------
“It has been three days, Teyla,” Halling said in a desperately reasonable tone. “If he was coming back, he would be here by now.”
“I do not know what has befallen him, but I do know that he is alive.” Teyla stared hard into the fire and Halling wondered, not for the first time, what it was exactly she saw in the leaping flames.
“You must come outside, Teyla,” Halling said firmly. “The people need you.”
He pulled her up by the shoulders and bent his head to hers.
“Three days...” Her voice shook like a leaf, but her stance beneath his hands was steady as a rock.
“I do believe you, Teyla,” he said quietly. “It will be like that pit on Alcasara when we were children. I believe you when you say he is alive. But you must come out.”
They straightened and left the tent together. Teyla squinted as she saw the damage from the latest culling in daylight for the first time.
On the surface, the encampment did not look so bad. Almost nothing had been burnt, and only a few of the shelters had been knocked over as their inhabitants fled. The Wraith had sent no ground troops, and Teyla’s warning had granted sufficient time for all of the villagers to flee into the woods. But appearances can be deceiving, and in this case, the toll was much higher than a few overturned huts.
Four separate groups of youths had been in the forest for their final survival trials when the Wraith ships came. In total, fourteen individuals were unaccounted for: all thirteen children, and Kanaan, who had been acting as their overseer. This was a tremendous blow. Now that the Athosians were starting to band together again, the loss of an entire generation to the Wraith was unspeakable.
Teyla met Charin’s eyes briefly and, as always, drew strength from the older woman’s support. Unbidden, the people began to group around her, waiting for her calm direction, sure that she was going to steer them right. As always, cold fear gripped her stomach. Her people trusted in her, but she was not always so sure of herself.
“Teyla!” And there was Jinto, toddling towards her as fast as his small legs could carry him. She swung him up into her arms.
“Are you better now, Teyla?” Jinto asked loudly. “When I had Kirsan fever, papa made me stay in bed for seven days! Did he make you stay in bed too?”
“No, Jinto. No one made me stay in bed.” She spoke over his head and saw the adults nod in understanding. “And I am not better yet. But we must all work together, and then we will be.”
Jinto smiled and his father plucked him out of Teyla’s arms. She took one last deep breath and then began to move amongst her people, answering questions, providing comfort and giving advice.
The following morning, she was holding one of the supports for a new shelter in place when she saw him. She was not entirely surprised. Her feeling had been growing all morning, though she mentioned it to no one, not even Halling.
What does surprise her is that she finds herself running, the shelter abandoned, towards him. Around her, cries of alarm turn to shouts of joy as eight smaller figures appear beside him. They are all running now, but Teyla is the fastest. Without thinking, she hurls himself into his waiting arms, and when she lifts her head, she is quite unsurprised to find him kissing her.
For a few moments, the world stood still, but then the others reached them and they were swept apart by the jubilant mass. Kanaan didn’t look at her when he told the story of their flight and survival, but when his charges take over that tale, firelight shining in their eyes as they related their adventures, he sat just outside the main circle and his eyes did not leave her for the rest of the night.
Teyla knew that everything had changed.
------
“You have sisters, Major Lorne?” Teyla asked.
They were sitting in the window well again, and again her head was drifting towards his shoulder.
“Yes, I do.” Lorne replied. “It’s actually part of the reason I didn’t join the expedition the first time they asked me. They really wanted me, because of the gene, but I didn’t want to leave my sisters and their kids with no explanation and have no plan of how to get back.”
“When I was a child, I often wished for an older sister, someone who could show me how to be a grown up, or a brother to train with.” She paused. “I suppose I got what I deserved with John and Rodney.”
Lorne chuckled.
“What about Ronon?” he asked.
“Ronon understands what life is like here in a way that John and Rodney never will,” Teyla said. “To them, it is still an adventure. Ronon is more solid, the way a sibling would be after the years of childhood have passed and some measure of wisdom has been acquired.”
“I am sure Rodney will be thrilled to hear you say that Ronon is wiser than he is.”
“Most Athosian children have siblings, or at least foster siblings, to grow up with but my mother died when I was a baby and my father’s position made fostering awkward.” She sighed. “I had Halling and Kanaan, but it was...complicated.”
“How?” The question slipped out before he realized how wildly inappropriate it was. Teyla was a private person, and she had already been more forthcoming than usual.
Before he could apologize, however, she replied.
“Halling believed the sun rose because it missed my presence during the night.” She did not say it unkindly. “Had we not worked together to save our people from cullings, starvation and worse, our feelings may have matured differently, but it was not to be.”
“And Kanaan?” In for a penny, in for a pound.
“He could never surprise me. I always knew where he was and what he was thinking. And he knew me in the same way. Our relationship is too open, too...honest to have developed normally.”
Teyla’s head came to rest at last on Lorne’s shoulder. For several long moments, they said nothing, and then Lorne found himself saying something he had been thinking for a long time, but had never had the opportunity to say.
“I think you are amazingly brave, having a child like this.”
“Because I am an unmarried woman?”
“No,” he said quickly, “Well, not exactly. I just meant that we’re your friends, but we’ll never really understand the intricacies of your decision making process. It’s just too alien for us.”
She smiled.
“That won’t stop us from judging you by our own standard, unfortunately,” he continued, “And there are people who will never even try to see things from your perspective. But...”
He floundered, and Teyla took his hand.
“Thank you, Major,” she said.
“Please, call me Marcus.”
“Rodney said your name is Evan.”
“Rodney’s name is Meredith.”
“I will never understand the purpose of naming a child one thing and calling him something else.”
“In my case it does make a bit of sense.” Lorne said, a bit defensively. “My father is also named Evan Marcus Lorne, so I am called Marcus to make it less confusing.”
Teyla’s raised eyebrow indicated that she still thought it was nonsensical, but she said nothing further. Her face changed rather suddenly, and she pulled his hand towards her abdomen.
“He’s kicking,” she explained.
If any other woman in the Galaxy had done this after spending four hours locked in the sparring room, Lorne would have felt rather uncomfortable. Teyla’s frankness with him, however, made the motion as natural as it was welcome.
“Major Lorne, Teyla, this is Sheppard,” the comm buzzed again. “We’re starting into your pier. We should get to you in just a little bit longer. You all still good?”
“Acknowledged, sir,” Lorne said.
“We are all quite well,” Teyla added.
“Good. Sheppard out.”
------
“I miss the council meetings when I cannot attend them,” Teyla said, sinking back into her chair with a contented sigh. “The practicality and focus on individual needs is a welcome change from the size of the events on Atlantis.”
“The others used to fear that you would find us too simple,” Halling said. “It is good that they see your happiness at your old tasks.”
The fire burned low between them. They often lingered after the other Elders left, particularly when Teyla’s puddlejumper back to the City was delayed, but the reason was not entirely utilitarian. Teyla was always forthcoming about the goings-on on Atlantis, but there were many personal insecurities and issues she would only share with Halling.
“It is good to come home,” Teyla said.
Halling’s face was oddly set and he looked slightly uncomfortable. Teyla had been concerned all evening that his discomfort was somehow related to the recent failure of the Tava Bean crop, but the issue had been resolved with the council and Halling’s expression remained strained.
“How is Jinto?” Teyla asked, wondering if Halling’s son was the cause of his concern.
“He is well,” Halling smiled. “He loves his mother a great deal, but he tells me he looks forward to his return to us.”
“I am glad,” Teyla said, still puzzled.
Halling looked directly at her for the first time all evening. She knew his look well. It was the one he gave her when he was about to suggest something they both knew was the right course, but neither of them would particularly like.
“The Elders are hoping you will give them A Year.” Halling blinked, but did not look away.
A myriad of emotions played through Teyla’s mind. To be requested A Year was a high honour in Athosian society. It meant that she was a valued member of the village. It meant that her position was guaranteed for life. It meant one great sacrifice.
“We will take full responsibility for the outcome.” Halling’s words came fast now, almost tripping over one another. “Now that Jinto is grown, I may even – ”
“Please,” Teyla broke in, “A moment, please.”
Halling sat back again and looked at the floor. Several moments passed and the fire burned lower.
“Where is Kanaan?” Teyla forced her voice to remain steady.
“He is on Halposa, farming in the collective there,” Halling replied evenly. “He would come in a moment if you asked. You know why he stays away.”
“I do love him, you know,” Teyla said. “It is difficult for me as well.”
“I know,” Halling laughed. “By the Ancestors, I know it well. I think my life would have been quite sedentary were it not for the two of you!”
“Were we so bad?” Teyla smiled.
“You have aged me before my time,” Halling returned the grin.
“I am sorry, my friend,” Teyla said. “Deeply sorry for any trials we have cause you.”
“Will you consider it then?” Halling asked, suddenly serious again.
“Send the message to Kanaan,” Teyla said in an oddly formal tone. “If he consents, I will consent as well.”
“Do you think your friends will understand?” Halling asked.
“They will try,” Teyla said. “I am sure I will grow weary of explaining our customs to them, but they will try.”
Halling rose and walked around the dying fire. He held out a hand and pulled Teyla to her feet, then bent his head against hers.
“May the Ancestors bless you, Teyla, daughter of Tagan.” He raised his head and looked directly at her: “I think you will need all the strength their blessings can give.”
------
“Have you ever thought about having children, Marcus?” Teyla asked.
The room had grown hot as the sunlight streamed in through the windows. Apparently the environmental controls had not yet been fixed. It had been some time since they had heard from anyone, so they were unaware of what progress was being made. The combination of boredom, dehydration and heat made them both lethargic, and Lorne’s head now rested atop Teyla’s on his shoulder. The heat was slightly uncomfortable, but Lorne would not have moved for the world.
“Not really, no.” Lorne said. “I mean, it would make my mother happy, but I’ve never found the right person and I am not sure I want a family enough to give up all of this.”
He gestured around him to the room at large and then out the window.
“Would it be required of you?” There was a slight edge to Teyla’s voice.
“I would require it of myself,” Lorne said diplomatically. “Serving in the military is bad enough when you only leave your family to go to Asia. I wouldn’t want to be a galaxy away and never be able to tell my kids what I did for a living.”
“That does made sense. I had not considered it in that way.”
“Will you raise your son here?” Lorne asked. “After we find your people, I mean.”
“I do not know yet,” Teyla said. “I have to decide if I am going to be his mother.”
“Really?” Lorne said in a teasing tone, “Because from where I am sitting it looks pretty much like you are going to be a mother.”
“You misunderstand me,” Teyla smiled. “The Athosian Elders requested that I give them A Year and bear a child. This is how we ensure children of leaders who do not have time to marry. There is no constraint upon me, nor upon Kanaan for that matter, to raise our son. It is one of the many things we have to discuss, but it is our choice and I do not imagine that we shall lack for volunteers.”
“So you skipped the arranged marriage and just arranged a child?” Lorne said.
“In essence, yes.”
“That makes a lot of sense, actually.” Lorne said. “Everyone gets what they need and you know that your child will be loved regardless of what happens.”
“Yes.” Teyla said. “I must admit, I did not expect you to be so accepting. I have not told anyone else the full story.”
“I am sure it’s exactly why the Wraith had in mind when they locked us in here.”
“If I do raise the child here, may I count on your help?” Teyla asked. “I know that John and Rodney and Ronon will do their best, but I would appreciate aid from someone a little more…”
“Practical?” Lorne suggested.
“That is probably the most polite alternative, yes.” Teyla agreed. “In any case, I believe the Earth term is ‘godfather’, but not like in the movie.”
“I would be honoured,” he said.
And then, at long last, the door hissed open and a draft of fresh air wafted through the room. Lorne was sitting up by the time Sheppard entered the room with Rodney chattering on his heels, but Teyla remained where she was.
“Are you okay?” John asked, completely ignoring Lorne.
“Yes, Colonel.” Teyla smiled. “We are all fine.”
“Excellent! I knew there was nothing to be concerned about.” said Rodney breezily. John rolled his eyes. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have to go rescue our xenocryptography team.”
“And Keller wants to see you both!” John added as Rodney swept him from the room.
“Yes, sir.” Lorne stood and helped Teyla to her feet. He took both her hands: “We’ll find your people, you know. But I will still be there for you.”
Teyla smiled and walked back to the city with a great friend by her side.
------
fin
AN: This is really more of a character exercise than I story, I think. Or possibly just my attempt at therapy. In any case, I enjoyed it. I like tying up ends like “Er...where was Jinto?” and “Wait...Teyla is pregnant?”
Originally, this fic was much more about Lorne and Teyla than it was about anything else. He was, after all, the first non-Pegasus native who seemed genuinely happy for her and not only concerned. Also in my little corner of fandom, he is totally That Guy.
Anyway, they were supposed to kiss and then she was going to make a crack about developing a flanking maneuver for the next time he tried it…but then Halling got a hold of me in the second Athosian section and it became an entirely different fic.
I was trying to present Teyla as this amazing strong woman who is the shining star in a rapidly failing gene pool. They need her to reproduce. So I invented a lot of things, but I think it makes sense, given what we know of Pegasus survival techniques. Where the Genii went underground and Hoffans clung desperately to science, the Athosians developed intricate child rearing traditions, altered the definitions of “family”, “love” and “home”, and did not confine themselves to one planet. They are sort of like gypsies, I guess, in that way: never entirely welcome on inhabited planets, but sort of useful and very clever in their own right.
I also wanted to explain how someone we had never heard of developed such a huge relationship with Teyla. In my mind, they have this huge epic romance…like Angel and Buffy or something, where they just love each other a lot, but know each other’s minds so well that they drive one another crazy. I was aiming for “Tempestuous”, the two of them hammer and tongs, and poor Halling caught between them as innocent bystander.
Halling is so awesome. I take back all the mean things I said about him during “38 Minutes”.
I think that’s it, actually. Thanks for reading!
Gravity_Not_Included, June 5, 2008