[For NAeans] Teyla's disappearance pre-play.

[flyboy_shepp]

John would have been just happy sleeping away the day when he realized he'd woken up to a proper hut again in proper bedsheets, and actual warmthThat good feeling lasted for the few seconds it took to realize something scrabbling and whining at the door had woken Cash up, and Cash was nudging John's side to wake him. "Yeah, fine, I got it," he told

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[scientificsnark]

Rodney came out through the front door. He'd just been around the back, to do his daily maintenance (ie, making sure birds hadn't pooped on it) of the databanks, only to find them gone. After swallowing past the heavy dread that settled itself somewhere in between his esophagus and his stomach, Rodney had ventured into the hut only to find it empty, as well, save for Teyla's things. Even with them the place felt strangely...desolate.

When he found John on the doorstep with a look on his face like that, his fears were pretty much confirmed.

"...She could be in the Compound?" he offered, though his voice sounded pretty leaden and doubtful even to him.

[flyboy_shepp]

John had been so wrapped up in his own head, feeling out exactly what the best course to follow right now was - he was leaning toward going back to bed and not waking up for days, honestly - that he didn't hear Rodney coming, and started.

He shook his head once, and reached down to pet Evel, who'd somehow ended up in his lap.

[scientificsnark]

"John," Rodney began, about to tell him that he shouldn't jump to conclusions, maybe she'd just gone for a walk or something now that the weather was warming up again, that there could be any number of reasons why Teyla wasn't home.

But she couldn't have taken the Wraith databanks with her.

"The computers are gone," he settled on saying, heavily.

[flyboy_shepp]

"That's-" John stopped when he heard his own voice and took a breath to steady it. "Sounds about right." It hadn't really been hard to put two and two together, especially when Rodney and Carson began learning what was on them.

[dojustfine]

Jennifer couldn't help but wake up, with all the dogs barking and whining going on nearby. She jumped up, threw a jacket on over her pajamas (she didn't realize the snow was gone until she was already out the door) and ran outside. "John?" she asked, seeing him sitting there looking shell-shocked. "What happened?"

[flyboy_shepp]

John stared at Keller blankly, seeing through her before he realized she was talking to him and asking him something.

He frowned and shook his head. "Sorry if they woke you," he said, gesturing toward Evel and Cash. They were just..." Christ, what was he doing? He didn't know Keller all that well, but he wasn't going to assume she was some kind of fragile piece of china he was going to break - nobody who worked in Atlantis was.

Besides, he didn't have the energy to care either way. "Teyla's gone."

[dojustfine]

"Oh, no," she said, glancing toward Teyla's hut. She didn't know what to say--she hadn't been the Teyla that she had been close to, but she was still Teyla, and they had been getting to know each other. Teyla had been the closest thing she had had to a good girl friend on Atlantis, and now...

And no matter what space-time dimension or alternate universe or whatever Rodney's explanation was for there being here, she knew that Teyla and John were among the best of friends that could be. It had to be a blow.

"God, I'm sorry," she said quietly, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket.

[flyboy_shepp]

John just nodded in response. The sympathy just made John feel a little worse, and he wondered if everyone was going to keep saying it now. It wasn't something he could stand to keep hearing over and over, every single sorry a reminder of what had happened.

He'd argued with Teyla about it once.

Evel wandered back over and tried to work his way up into John's lap, which gave him enough of an excuse not to look at Keller.

[atlantismother]

It was early enough that she was not entirely certain what time it is, only that she had a powerful craving for Compound caffeine. She noted the return to normality with barely a glance around her hut and a grateful thought for no longer needing to bundle up.

She didn't make it across New Atlantis, before she caught sight of of John, sitting outside Teyla's hut with a stricken expression on his face. She'd seen that expression enough times in Atlantis--generally by others, rather than John himself--to know better than to wonder why Teyla's door was left ajar.

It was a horrible, cold realization.

Elizabeth made her way across the remaining distance of New Atlantis, to kneel next to where John still sat. "John..."

[flyboy_shepp]

John blinked when Elizabeth was suddenly there, unsure where she'd come from or how long she'd been there. "Yeah," he replied, half in answer, half confirming what he saw in the look on her face.

[atlantismother]

They had all known it was possible. Of course they had, as they did on Atlantis. Here, as there, it did not make it any easier to deal with when it did happen. It could be argued that vanishing was not truly death, but there was a life she had left behind. Friends and family who would have to live without her. An infant that, at best, they would never have the opportunity to share.

Elizabeth frowned softly, and glanced toward Teyla's hut. From here, she could see it was unmistakably empty. It was difficult to find the proper words for the situation. She doubted there were words for quite this situation. The way of things was to shake oneself off, pick oneself up, and continue life with the belief that somewhere in another place, Teyla's life, and the life of her unborn child, continued. The way of things was to wait until her return, rather than hold a memorial.

She'd seen this enough times to know the procedure. Experienced it, as well. It did not make it seem any better this time, than it had last time.

[flyboy_shepp]

John knew that out of anyone around, Elizabeth would understand. Not that it lessened anyone else's feelings on the matter, but there was no one else on Atlantis who knew what it was like to consider everyone under their care.

One loss was one too many, and John didn't care if Teyla wasn't actually dead. They'd lost her anyway.

He looked over at Elizabeth, knowing they were going to have to pull themselves together for everyone else. "Come on," he finally said, standing up and holding a hand out to help her up. "Breakfast."

[sgmitchell]

He'd already been awake for a short while, when he heard the barking. Frankly, there were so many dogs in New Atlantis and the surrounding area, it didn't surprise him at all.

He'd just finished the chapter he was reading, though, so it was worthwhile to see what was going on. It might have been something important, like Sam. Or Ronon and Teal'c starting a sparring session. Or...Ba'al.

He tossed on a jacket--immediately thankful for the fifteenth time that morning that the cold was finally gone--and made his way out of the hut to see what the fuss was about. None of his guesses seemed to be correct, but...clearly, there was something wrong. Even if it was merely that Sheppard had fallen and broken something again.

"Sheppard." He frowned, approaching the hut--Teyla's, if he recalled correctly. "What happened?"

[flyboy_shepp]

There were some people that, even when feeling a little messed up, John would do enough to pull himself together to face. Mitchell was SGC and a friend, sure, but that was all.

John rubbed the back of his neck and sat up a little straighter. "Teyla's gone."

[sgmitchell]

"Damn it." He'd never really gotten the opportunity to get to know Teyla personally, despite her involvement in the ITF, and Morgan's friendship with her, but she'd been team. Personal team to Sheppard and the other Atlanteans, and from what he'd seen, an honorable, good woman.

He ran a hand through his hair with a grimace. Ronon'd disappeared not too long ago, and then returned. It'd been more than a bit unnerving, considering the fact that it'd undone the confidence he'd gained that the big man wasn't going to crush him for the hell of it, and messed with Brendan's head.

Was Teyla going to return in a month or two, as well? The years she'd been here, the people she'd met...the kid she'd been carrying, erased?

He scowled. "This place is sick." He reached over to grip the man's shoulder. He'd spare the man empty platitudes and stilted questions they both knew the answers to. "You want me to get outta here?"

[feltgoodthough]

Ronon often woke before the sun and today he had because of the heat. He was a light sleeper anyway and didn't like it when his surroundings changed in the night. He had not gone far just enough to get a look at the island in what he had been told was it's original state but when he came back to New Atlantis something was different. Something was wrong.

Though he'd been told enough about island disappearances from the start, (mostly in reference to himself,) they were new enough to Ronon that it took him a little longer to put it together.

Then he dropped down besides John and said nothing.

[flyboy_shepp]

There were often times John had been damn glad Ronon wasn't much of a talker, and right now ranked at the top of the list. He wasn't sure what the hell to say, or if he'd even manage saying anything at this point.

Sometimes companionable silence was really all somebody needed, and eventually John sat up straighter and tapped Ronon's leg with the back of his hand. "You okay there, Chewie?"

Yeah. Like he should be asking Ronon that.

[feltgoodthough]

Ronon clapped John on the back firmly - of course he was fine, he would never say it but if not for the baby he would have said Teyla was better off. She'd gone home. And at home she had Torren but not this child and that was troubling.

He frowned, unfolded himself from his spot besides John and moving to his feet, firmly closed the door to Teyla's empty hut. "Come on," he said to John extending a hand. He hadn't put that much thought into what next, but he figured sitting staring wasn't helping anyone.

[flyboy_shepp]

John stared at Ronon's hand for a good second before reaching out and taking it. He didn't really care what Ronon wanted to do, as long as he didn't have to think too hard.