Author's Note: Hello? Anyone still out there? :P As always, I'm sorry for the delay. I must have had this chapter written out in one of my notebooks for nearly a month and a half; but between my job (which was temporary, and has now ended) and the holidays and the original fiction that I've been working on, I haven't seemed to be able to find the time to sit down and type this out. Thank you all so much for bearing with me; and Alydia, I hope that you like this chapter (you got your dancing scene, now I get my fanfiction :P lol). Much love to you, dear! :D

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story; and for everyone who is bearing with my erratic updates. You have no idea how much I appreciate it!

------------

Chapter Two

------------

Woolsey was watching when John ad Teyla beamed into the IOA building. He took in their casual, dressed down appearances and their ice cream cones in a glance, and sighed.

"I guess that there's no time to do anything about your clothes..." he said in a distracted voice, reaching for their ice cream cones.

"Hey!" Sheppard protested as he snatched his cone away. "I wasn't done with that!"

"I'm afraid that you are now, Colonel; the meeting has already started. Please make this as easy as possible," he begged when John opened his mouth to argue. "Now, the rest of the board is right through that door."

"Fine," John said tightly, taking Teyla's arm with a gentle hand and heading for the room Richard had specified.

Woolsey turned to follow them, and stopped short when he remembered the ice cream dripping on his hands. He threw a helpless glance around searching for a solution as John and Teyla entered the conference room.

------------

The entire IOA board of directors was sitting around the large table in the room that John and Teyla entered

...With no seats to spare, the Colonel realized with annoyance. Any hope he'd had that they'd been called in so Teyla could be given permission to go home was smothered and died a quick death then and there. This was downright disrespectful. Nothing good could come of it.

Mr. Coolige smiled falsely at them from his place near the head of the table, on the other side of the room.

"Colonel, Teyla, won't you come in?"

"I think we'll stand here, thanks," John said, with all of the sarcastic politeness that he could manage. "So what's up? I assume that you have a good reason for interrupting us and calling us out here on our day off?"

"You were the ones who scheduled the appointment today. We were merely forced to bump up your time slot; we have several...more pressing issues to attend to later." His eyes narrowed a little, and John fought the urge to punch him. He kind of hoped that he wouldn't be able to withstand it.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked instead, clenching his hands into tight fists at his sides. "Good news, I hope?" A collective glance went around the room.

"We've finished reviewing Ms. Emmagan's proposal," Coolige said after a moment. "We found it...very interesting."

"Then you've called us here because you've made a decision?" John prompted, ignoring Woolsey's awkward and belated entrance behind him.

Coolige nodded, the expression on his face twisting into one of such insincere regret that John almost did hit him.

"We've been forced to deny it," he told them.

John opened his mouth to explain to Coolige---in no uncertain terms---exactly what he thought of him, but Teyla's choked gasp cut him off.

"Excuse me?!" she demanded, her voice rising half an octave.

"You cannot return with any of our ships to the Pegasus Galaxy."

"My husband and son---"

"Furthermore, until further notice you are confined to Cheyenne Mountain Complex without IOA or military escort; preferably both."

"Are you kidding?!" John shouted, his words coming out hoarse. "She came here to Earth of her own free will, with the promisethat she would be able to go back for her family!" He was choking on his words now. For one, Teyla had just referred to Kanaan as her husband, something he had never heard her do before; and that notwithstanding, he was furious with Coolige and the IOA and everything that they were doing to Teyla. "You have no right to keep her here against her will!'

"We have every right, Colonel. She is an alien here, and until we can be certain that she poses no threat to us---"

"She's been to Earth before," Woolsey cut in. "She's gone through your screening before, and you had no issues with her. Why is she suddenly now untrustworthy? And why wasn't I informed of this decision?"

"Your time on the city has made you less objective. You have sides to choose from now. You couldn't have presented an unbiased vote."

"So instead you cut me out of the loop completely?"

"Unless you want to risk your own credibility with us, I suggest that you stop talking." Woolsey made a frustrated sound in his throat, but fell silent.

Blackmail. John couldn't believe the lengths that these men were taking...but he could. They were IOA. Woolsey was the best of them.

"What about Ronon?" he asked suddenly, wondering if the same restrictions would apply to the Satedan as well.

"Ronon Dex's situation here is different."

"How?"

"For one, Ronon has expressed no interst in returning to Pegasus at this time. And quite frankly, Ronon is not part wraith. Regardless of what Ms. Emmagan has or has not done, that DNA makes her unpredictable; and until we can ascertain what exactly she is capable of doing, we can't risk her being close enough for contact with the wraith. I'm sorry." Coolige stood up, and the rest of the board followed his example. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we've wasted too much time here already." One by one, they filed past them and out of the room.

John saw concern and regret on a few faces; but not enough. For the most part, the attitudes of the board members mirrored Mr. Collige's. Satisfied.

He glanced at Teyla and saw her eyes flicker back and forth in agitation between the board member's faces as they passed her. She ignored both him and Woolsey, who stood with them, his face set in an expression of anger. John was sure it was a toned-down version of his own expression.

Once the last man had disappeared down the hall, Woolsey turned to Teyla.

"Teyla, I'm sorry. Believe me, I tried to---" She didn't let him finish. Pushing past him, she walked out the door and down the hall, in the opposite direction of the board members.

Richard turned to John with an exasperated expression on his face. The Colonel held up his hands.

"Let her go. I'll take care of her. You figure out if there's anything we can do to fix this." And before Woolsey could reply, he was out the door and after Teyla.

When he caught up with her, she was standing with her back to him, her arms wrapped around herself. This time John didn't hesitate. He moved to stand behind her right shoulder, and touched her arm gently.

"Teyla, we'll figure this out; they can't keep you here." Teyla choked a sob and turned into his chest, a broken whisper escaping.

"Torren..."

John clenched his free hand into a fist, hiding it by wrapping both arms around her in a gentle hig. The IOA was going to kill her if they kept her here...and he was not about to let that happen. Somehow, he was going to make this work.