The Long Way Home

Chapter One Hundred and Ten: Betrayal

New Athos was situated on a dense forest planet far, far away from the floating city of Atlantis and yet easily locatable by Stargate. It was where Teyla's people had settled down after the destruction of their village by the Wraith. The clone had brief memories of that, apparently it was one of it's host's most predominant fears, it ignited an uncontrollable surge of terror in her veins to think of what it was like to be culled. It wasn't her own fear, it was Hers.

The clone didn't fear the Wraith. When she had been created Michael had told her that the strain of the retrovirus she was carrying would poison any Wraith that attempted to feed off her. She was toxic to every single one of them. In the long run that hadn't mattered, Michael's ship was full of hybrids. The beings were more humanoid than Wraith but the characteristics were still there. They couldn't feed but they were still merciless, they lacked compassion the same way she did.

The host had a lot of memories of John Sheppard. It had taken a very special man to capture her heart and it seemed the sex with him was practically addictive. There were so many instances in which they had made love and the clone found herself rolling her eyes at the that particular phrase. The host thought that she meant the world to Sheppard, she didn't understand that a man like him was a waste of her own time and effort no matter how good he was in bed. Still she may have to take a tumble in the sack with him, see if he was as skilled as her counter part remembered.

Maybe she could kill him afterwards, she mused. The clone thought about it often while he slept beside her, she thought about the ways in which she could do it. It would cause such disarray in the ranks if they were to find Sheppard killed in his bed at the hands of his own wife. He deserved to be punished for his role in Michael's conversion.

The clone smiled to herself at the thought of Sheppard's face if he ever learned what had become of his real wife. It was almost worth letting slip just to see the horror taint those boyish features, the tables had been turned and now the woman he loved was becoming the one thing that Sheppard hated the most in all the galaxies. There was justice in what was happening to her host and she couldn't help but applaud Michael for the irony.

She wondered briefly how their baby was doing. Was it growing in her host like the two of them had hoped? As a replica the clone could not conceive a child, it had all the right anatomy but it simply didn't function which was why they had had to capture the real Cassandra Sheppard in the first place. She was the only one with the right ratio of human to Wraith DNA that could incubate the child that they had created inside of a test tube. After that they would be able to create stronger, more powerful hybrids and eradicate the Wraith completely. Her host would be long gone by then and Atlantis would be just another smouldering set of ruins.

As it turned out her host was well known amongst the Athosians and the clone was welcomed into the settlement with open arms. Everywhere she went there was always a child nearby, grasping at her hand or clutching onto her trousers. It appeared Cassandra Sheppard was good with kids whereas the clone was not, she grew impatient with their constant ramblings and the way they clung to her. She kept shooing them away back to their parents.

Teyla had tried to explain away Cassandra's behaviour with fatigue but even she was having trouble forcing herself to overlook the other woman's ignorant mannerisms. It wasn't like the other woman to be so rude and it just added to Teyla's increasing suspicions that something wasn't quite right with the other woman. She had asked to come here with the Athosian and now she was acting as if she couldn't wait to leave.

There had been something prodding at the Athosian woman since Cassandra had returned nd it wasn't good. Her behaviour was strange and inconsistent and Teyla couldn't help but contemplate the possibility that there was something badly wrong with Cass's spirit. She knew what it as like to have your power stripped away from you and how hard it could be to come to terms with that but she had never seen such a response to trauma as this. She feared for John sleeping beside this woman at night.

Cassandra Sheppard used to shine with the love she had for her husband, it was in her voice as she spoke and in her hands when she gestured between the two of them. Now all Teyla saw was resentment. She wondered if Michael had somehow brain washed the other woman into thinking that they had left her to be captured by the Wraith.

Maybe this wasn't Cassandra at all but some hybrid creature that Michael had created along with all the others. There was some truth in that, she thought. Michael was an excellent scientist. They had seen the evidence over and over again in the times that they had encountered him. Could he have created his own spy in Atlantis, someone that even the most highest ranking officials would never suspect?

Teyla's blood ran cold at the possibilities that sprung to mind, if that were true then it was plausible that Michael had also engineered the escape that they had in engaged in in order to free both 'Cassandra' and Hope. Was it a possibility that there were two spies on Atlantis? Teyla didn't know Hope well enough to judge if there was a discrepancy in her behaviour but for Ronon's sake she sincerely hoped that her suspicions were unfounded.

It was clear how their friend felt about the pretty petite woman. Teyla had never seen him so docile and gentle before he had met Hope and she found herself genuinely happy that he seemed to be settling down. If anyone deserved contentment it was Ronon. The hulking Satedan was finally letting someone get close to him again and she truly approved of Hope and her demeanour. Ronon needed someone who had a soothing effect on his psyche and Hope was the kind of person that eluded placidness.

It was gratifying to see the two of them holding hands as they strode through the corridors on their way to lunch or simply on a tour around the city. Ronon looked satisfied with the turn of events, Teyla knew that the last thing the Satedan had expected was to fall in love but that's what had happened and she was a firm believer of that the heart wants the heart gets. She just hoped that this wouldn't end as badly as it she imagined it could. If Hope turned out to be an altered version of herself she couldn't envisage how Ronon would feel.

Teyla found her eyes drifting to Kanaan as he wrapped his hands around a clay cup full of fruit juice. His eyes were on her once more, his small smile getting even brighter as his gaze lingered on her toned athletic form. Their relationship had started to shift recently, she could feel the winds of change in the air around them as it became more intimate. Teyla felt like she was starting to notice Kanaan for the first time not as the boy she had grown up with but as the man that he was destined to be.

Teyla found herself paying more attention when he spoke and she wondered when he had gotten so wise? While she was away making the galaxy safer for her people Kanaan was right here caring for them on their new homeworld. He had stepped up into his role as leader the same way he took to everything else, he was a serious man and he had always been that way ever since they were children. Her people needed someone who would speak for them whilst she was away and Kanaan had become that mouth piece.

When they were together, it was as if the two of them were still children. Kanaan showed her all of his vulnerabilities when they were alone and she found her own guarded defences slipping into nothing. Kanaan was the only person she could ever entirely be herself around, he knew every aspect of her heart and soul. They shared the perils of leadership and he was the only man in the world who could ever truly understand the entirety of her being.

"There is something not right." Kanaan remarked under his breath as he sat down beside Teyla, his studious oak eyes were on Cassandra as she sipped from the cup of fruit juice in her hands.

"You also sense it?" Teyla requested as she tilted her head towards her life long friend.

"I thought it was suffering but it is not." Kanaan told Teyla with the shake of his head. "It's intent."

"The more time I spend with her the surer I am that it is not Cassandra Sheppard." Teyla revealed, wrapping her arms around herself as she leaned in closer.

"She has changed too much, there is no love in her eyes, no hope or compassion." Kanaan agreed knowingly. "She has no love for the children or for our ways."

"It is not my friend." Teyla stated with the shake of her head, feeling a great sense of loss deep within the recesses of her soul.

"I am sorry, dear one." Kanaan uttered, his palm patting her hand. "Betrayal is hard to stomach."

"I'm not the one that's been betrayed." Teyla said, raising her eyes skyward, wishing she could see beyond the stars to the place where they had left their friend in the hands of a hybrid named Michael.