Stargate Atlantis-An Alternate Universe

Misbegotten

Night had fallen on the city, but despite the calm night sky the people were still on edge. With only Michael's word that information containing the location of earth was not passed to any other wraith ships, the people of Atlantis did not exactly feel like the battle was over.

Teyla was on her way to the quarters where Michael was being kept under guard. He had requested her presence but she did not know why.

"Michael", she said as she entered the room. The was a small lamp on near the back of the narrow room, it was casting light onto a perfectly made and untouched bed.

Michael was standing at the window looking out over the city. He turned and looked at Teyla to see her take a deep breath. "Even though I saved Colonel Sheppard's life and helped him stop the hives from reaching earth you still place me under guard".

Teyla remained close to the doorway, "you have betrayed our trust in the past".

"Trust!" Micheal exclaimed as he fully turned to face Teyla, "I was your prisoner then and despite what I have done for you, here I am once again." Michael crossed the room spreading his arms as if to highlight his captivity.

A twinge of guilt flashed across Teyla's face as she remembered what they had done; what she had been a part of.

"I can't say I'm surprised", Michael began again, "I wasn't welcome among my own kind why should I be welcome here?"

"What are you talking about?"

In that moment Michael relived his meeting with queen in her chamber back on the hive ship. "She looked at me as if I was some sort of unclean thing!" The sound of pain and betrayal in Micheal's voice quickly turned into anger as he continued, almost spitting out the words as if they tasted bad on his tongue. "I may appear as a wraith again on the outside but as far as they're concerned I'm..." The pause was almost deafening. When he finally spoke again his voice was calm and low, "that is why I need your help".

Teyla took in another breath as she spoke, knowing that no matter what he asked for she could not grant it. "What do you want?"

"I can't stay here," Michael began, " and I can't return to the Wraith which means I need to make my own way." He stopped, waiting to see a reaction on Teyla's face but there was none. He stepped towards her and at the same time she stepped back. For a second he looked hurt but the emotion quickly fled his face. "And to do that I need supplies and a ship."

"We are grateful for your help," Teyla did not pause as she continued, "But we can never release you, not with the information you possess."

Michael quickly replied "Then kill me now!"

Teyla shuttered, not at the volume in which Michael responded but at the fact that she could be partly responsible for creating a situation in which a living creature would favour death over life. "There is another way," she began.

"Take the treatment again." Michael's voice had become soft again, his gaze falling to the floor as the words left his mouth.

"Yes."

"What I am is not a disease you can cure." He was once again looking at Teyla.

"Your life as a human can be long and full." Teyla pleaded, being careful to keep her distance. She had trusted Michael in the past only for him to have taken advantage of her, she was not about to let that happen again.

"And if I remember nothing of what or who I am, if this consciousness is erased? What is the difference between that and death?"

How could Teyla argue with him? She knew he was right and, even if they found a way for him to take the treatment and keep his memories, would they ever really be able to trust him? Would there ever be a time where he would not have to be constantly guarded or watched?