“What the hell?” Sheppard craned his neck to try to better see out of the Jumper’s windshield.

McKay whipped his head to the side to look at him. “That was Teyla, I’m sure of it!”

“I’m doubling back!”

McKay let out a squawk of joy as the signal on his handheld device continued to beep. “We’ve found her. We’ve finally found her!”

Though Sheppard was concentrating on landing the ship, Rodney could see the genuine grin on his face. McKay clambered out of his seat as soon as the ship touched down. “Hold your horses,” Sheppard cautioned. “We don’t exactly know what we’re walking into.” He shifted his P-90 and held it defensively as he lowered the ramp of the Jumper, glancing to McKay. “Any sign of Ronon yet?”

McKay glanced to his device. “No, not yet.”

Sheppard nodded to him then took point, cautiously exiting the ship, squinting and coughing as he was assaulted by a billow of smoke. McKay followed, holding an arm up to shield his eyes. Once the smoke cleared he took a few more steps forward, only to freeze when he heard McKay yelp behind him. Sheppard pivoted and his face was greeted by the sizzling of a charging prod, making him momentarily go cross-eyed.

“Where do you come from?”

The voice was more commanding than the colonel would’ve expected from the size of the man who held the prod. Another similarly filthy man held a prod to McKay’s side.

“Depends on who’s asking.”

“We – we’re just travelers,” McKay spat. “Look, we’re friends of Teyla’s. Do you know Teyla?”

The man holding the prod in front of Sheppard’s face blinked. Sheppard furrowed his brow, his voice low. “He knows her.”

“Look,” McKay tried. “Just let us see her and everything will be all right. We’re not here to hurt you – we’ve been searching for her for months.”

The man holding the prod to Sheppard hesitated before lowering it, the man beside McKay doing the same. Sheppard sighed as he cleared his throat a little. “Thank you.”

McKay stepped closer to Sheppard and eyed the two men and the smoldering surroundings. “I see we’ve come at a bit of a bad time, huh?”

“John?”

The voice sounded detached, as if belonging to the smoke pluming in front of him. Sheppard squinted as the wind shifted, blowing the stinging air past his face and clearing the stretch of land before him as Teyla stepped forward, sweaty, sooty and bleeding... but alive. He blinked a few times, his eyes widening, then shifted his weight, his voice a near whisper. “Teyla...”

Her dark eyes searched his face, as if she were looking past what was before her, trying to see a hidden reality behind a dream. He cautiously took a step forward, letting go of his gun to hold out his hand. Teyla shook her head a little, her eyes beginning to shimmer with unshed tears, making Sheppard halt. He clenched his jaw, swallowing past the stickiness in his mouth from the smoke while Rodney studied them both with wide eyes. Sheppard looked to his outstretched hand and let it fall to his side, his mind racing for something, anything to say, when suddenly Teyla strode forward with a choked sob, wrapping her arms around him and resting her cheek against his chest.

Sheppard belatedly wrapped his arms around the singed woman, the scent of her scorched hair stinging his nostrils, yet he ignored it as he gently rubbed her back, startled by how much of her spine he could feel. Her fingers pinched his flesh, clutching the fabric of his vest as she let out another louder, unhindered sob. “It’s okay,” he murmured to her, his throat constricting, his eyes watering from the smoke and the desperation of Teyla’s grip. “We’re here now. Everything’s gonna be all right.”

His words sank in over a few heartbeats before she yanked away, her hair falling into her face, her hands in fists at her sides. “Where were you?”

Sheppard parted his lips but Rodney spoke first. “We’ve been trying to track you down ever since you two were kidnapped. We picked up on your subcutaneous transmitter as soon as we came through the ‘gate.” He paused as he smiled a little but his smile slipped away when a tear rolled down her cheek. He cleared his throat. “We um, couldn’t get a lock on Ronon’s though, so I figure he’s on another planet? You two were separated?”

“Rodney...” Sheppard didn’t look to him but his voice carried the caution that his eyes would have as he studied Teyla in concern.

Teyla shook her head, her dark eyes still locked onto Sheppard’s lighter eyes. Her voice took on an accusatory tone. “Where were you?”

Sheppard blinked, his gut wrenching over her reaction and Ronon’s absence. “Teyla...”

“We were alone, John. Alone!” Her eyes shimmered with tears and Sheppard merely parted his lips. “We waited and waited and you did not come.” Her lower lip began to tremble as her voice quieted to a near whisper. “He died trying to save us... trying to save me.”

Sheppard’s face relaxed as his eyes widened and Rodney’s usually slanted lips straightened. A tear slithered down Teyla’s cheek, all anger in her expression fleeing with it. Rodney’s disbelieving voice almost blended with the breeze. “...He’s dead?”

Teyla looked to him and the stoicism of her chiseled jaw was all the confirmation he needed. Sheppard swallowed hard, the action clumsy and mechanic, as if his muscles had forgotten how to move. “How?”

Teyla returned her gaze to the colonel, her brow furrowing slightly. Her voice quivered at first but she quickly reigned it in. “He was whipped... nearly to death.” She closed her eyes as twin tears slid out of the corners of her eyes before she opened them again. “His fever was high... he died while I was away, out in the fields.” Sheppard held her teary gaze, his own beginning to shimmer. “I never even said goodbye... he was all alone...” She bit her lip but a sob escaped nevertheless.

Sheppard stepped forward and pulled her to his chest, hugging her again as a tear slipped down his cheek. “I’m sure you did all you could...”

“It was not enough. I could not save him.”

McKay focused his attention on his handheld device, as if staring at the electronic grid long enough would redirect his pain.

“This is my fault,” Sheppard croaked.

“No,” Teyla replied as she shook her head and pulled back, wiping at her tears. “I am sorry, John... I should not have said – ”

“But it’s true. If I’d have gotten here earlier I could’ve saved both of you...”

Teyla sniffled and hugged him again. “You are here now.”

“I know, I know,” Curtis hissed, double-checking his stirrup.

“I just thought you might’ve – ”

“Ronon, you’ve told me what she looks like so many times by now that I probably won’t recognize her when I see her because you’ve built up this whole earth goddess image in my head and I can’t shake it.”

Ronon lightly smacked his shoulder, his eyes smiling. Curtis chuckled and mounted his horse, illuminated by the porch lantern. Once in the saddle, he glanced up at the clear sky, eyeing the stars. Ronon followed his gaze. “...What?”

“Just wondering which empty spot in the sky you’re gonna claim Teyla fell from.”

Ronon scowled this time and untied the reins from the hitch up post. “All of ‘em at once, then she rose up as a mountain and fell as a waterfall.”

“So that’s where rivers come from...”

“Exactly.” Ronon handed Curtis his reins as the older man chuckled.

Liliana watched the two from the porch, a blanket snug around her shoulders. “Be careful, darling.”

Curtis cockily tipped his hat to her. “You know I will, little lady.” She laughed and Ronon shoved against the horse’s chest to back her away.

“Guess I’m going now...” Curtis chuckled, turning his mount towards the dirt road.

Ronon watched him go. “If you’re not back by sundown I’m coming after you.”

“We’ll be back by midday – just you see,” Curtis responded. Ronon grinned. He and Liliana watched in silence until Curtis’ outline blended with the shadows and the snorting and clomping of his mount faded.

Liliana jerked her head towards the door. “C’mon back inside and get some rest, mister.”

Ronan sighed and forced himself to look away from the road and step over to Liliana. “I’m not tired.”

She rested a hand on his shoulder, guiding him into the house. “Just looking at you is making me tired. You think your lady’s gonna want to see you with circles under your eyes?”

“If she really thinks I died then she’ll be happy to see me at all.”

“The poor woman...”

Ronon sighed, trying to force his mind away from the thousands of fearful thoughts over what could’ve happened to Teyla in the time that he wasn’t there to help her protect herself. He was yanked back to the present when Liliana hugged him and kissed his cheek before returning to bed. After milling about for another few minutes he finally decided that she was right and lay down on his cot in an attempt to get some sleep.

Teyla and Binti were seated on the bench of the Jumper, each being treated by Sheppard. Binti’s burns were small but painful and the colonel warned that they would more than likely scar. She only held her head higher, gladly accepting them as battle wounds – a tattoo of her freedom. Sheppard cast worried looks to Teyla as he bandaged Binti’s arm. The Athosian looked exhausted, as if the prospect of returning to Atlantis had lifted such a weight from her shoulders that she could finally lower her guard enough to let her thoughts wander where they like, resting her body. But more than that, Sheppard knew, she could finally find the peace to mourn.

“How ya doin’ there, Braveheart?”

Teyla blinked, looking over to him and he smiled.

“You still okay?”

She took in a deep breath and stiffly nodded, straightening. “I am greatly looking forward to a bath.”

Sheppard smirked.

“Wait a minute,” McKay announced as he stepped into the back of the Jumper, joining the three, staring at his handheld device. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Sheppard glanced at him, handing Binti the rest of their medical kits. She inclined her head and stepped out into the slowly-clearing air to assist the rest of the injured. “What doesn’t?”

“Ronon.” He looked up at Sheppard, his eyes roving the American’s face for a moment. “If Ronon’s body were somewhere on this planet we would’ve picked up on the signal from his subcutaneous transmitter, just like Teyla.”

“Unless it was somehow disabled when they....” Sheppard trailed off. “I mean, they stuck those things in our backs, right?”

The light in McKay’s eyes dimmed. “Oh... I guess you’re right...” He glanced to his device. “It’s always possible that someone deactivated it intentionally.”

“Rodney, these people have cattle prods and pitchforks – I doubt they even had a way of detecting something like that.”

“True, but it just seems like – ”

Teyla suddenly yelped, hunching over, hugging her stomach with her arm. Sheppard was immediately at her side. “Teyla?”

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply before straightening, looking a little pale. “I am fine...”

“No you’re not,” Sheppard squawked.

Teyla looked at him, shaking her head. “It is just an abdominal pain that will – ” She cut herself off as she hissed out air as another cramp twisted within her. She pinched her lip between her teeth until the pain passed.

Sheppard watched her in concern. “Let me see your stomach.”

Her eyes widened as she released her lip, looking suddenly panicked. “...Oh no...”

McKay ran to the ramp. “Hey – you with the medical kit – get back here!”

“That is not necessary, Rodney.” Her voice was so authoritatively quiet that Sheppard got an adrenaline rush. She caught her breath after the last cramp then met Sheppard’s concerned gaze, tears forming in her eyes. “I am bleeding.”

“What, you mean like.... ?”

She nodded, still hugging her abdomen as she gasped out a little sob.

Sheppard pulled away a bit, glancing around, looking suddenly awkward. “Uh... I don’t know if we exactly have anything to deal with... that. What have you done every other month here?”

She shook her head. “It is not that.” Another sob escaped as a cramp sent a throbbing ache throughout her pelvic region. “I had thought I was with child.”

Sheppard looked to her in surprise as she took in a shaky breath, a tear slipping down her cheek. McKay glanced to Sheppard, his mouth forming a small “O,” his eyes like an owl’s. “You mean you’re pregnant?”

Sheppard gave him a warning look.

“What? That’s what she just said!”

“I should not be bleeding,” Teyla gasped out.

Sheppard kneeled beside her and waited until she straightened before tugging up her shirt enough to look at her abdomen. He sighed at the bruising he saw from the driver Teyla had fought and killed. “We need to get you to a doctor ASAP.”

She shook her head miserably. “It cannot be stopped now.”

Sheppard shifted to sit on the seat beside her, grabbing her hand.

Teyla let out another sob as McKay rummaged through his vest pockets, trying to find anything absorbent to help her. She stared ahead, gasping through her tears. “I need this child... I cannot loose it, too...”

McKay paused in his searching and Sheppard studied her profile, his face relaxing in realization. “...Ronon’s baby?”

Teyla bit her lip, nodding. Sheppard looked to McKay who was rigid with shock. Sheppard blinked, trying to wrap his mind around this new information quickly enough to respond, but Teyla’s broken whisper beat him to it as she slowly rested her head against his shoulder. “....I am loosing all that’s left of him.”

Curtis had seen the smoke at least a mile back and had smelled it for two. He dismounted as he entered the town, glancing around at the nervous shopkeepers and traders. He jerked his head towards an overweight man selling pelts and, by the colorful jars, what looked to be snake oil medicine. “You folks fighting a fire?”

“You might say that,” responded the merchant as Curtis stepped over, his horse shaking her mane at a fly as she followed him.

“What’s going on?”

“There was a slave revolt – happened in just a few hours. Guess it started at Phelp’s Plantation and just started spreading. They’ve got it under control now.”

Curtis blinked, glancing back to the brown smoke tainting the horizon. “Have they?”

The merchant nodded, following his gaze in the early morning light. “Damn fools just went wild, you know? Murderers – all of ‘em. They killed the whole Phelps family then burned their house.”

Curtis looked at the loamy street, pressing his lips together.

“Those slaves deserve what they got.”

Curtis looked over once more. “And what was that?”

“Some of the drivers escaped and brought back reinforcements. Had to burn the devils out. Burned most of ‘em alive. Killed the rest. A slave just ain’t no good once it gets uppity, is how it is. Didn’t matter if some of ‘em were innocent – they’d seen too much. Drivers just killed them all.”

Curtis attempted to calm his rapid breathing and took off his hat, raking a hand through his brown hair. “I was on my way to see Phelps this morning.”

The merchant slowly nodded. “Well, he’s dead now.”

“Apparently so...” He turned his back on the man, closing his eyes and stretching his jaw in frustration, halting his thoughts when they conjured the image of Ronon’s broken eyes as he was told that Teyla was dead. He turned back to face the merchant. “You’re sure they killed all the slaves?”

“That’s what I heard from Smith – he’s one of the drivers that escaped.”

Curtis swallowed hard. “Where is he now?”

The merchant jerked his head. “Tavern a block over.”

“Thank you.”

Curtis tugged his mare along behind him, striding towards the tavern, his chest heaving.

Branded Heart

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