Author's Note: This idea came to me while I was trying to watch TV one night and the storm kept cutting out my satellite. :) If you can't watch it - write it - I guess! Just a short little 2 chapter story.
Jen had a love-hate relationship with thunderstorms.
She'd always loved lightning. The way it played across the sky with jagged white fingers, zipping through the clouds and stabbing down towards the ground. Sometimes you'd get a huge multi pronged fork that was so bright it was almost blue, sizzling and snapping before flickering out. Other times it would just be a hint of light behind the clouds.
When she was a little girl she would sit for hours just staring up at the summer sky from the cushioned comfort of the oversized front porch swing, wrapped in a quilt and watching the storm move slowly across the darkened sky.
Lighting on Earth was fascinating enough, but here… here it was absolutely amazing. Even the colours were different. The brightest bolts flashed and glowed with a deep, dark red. They lasted longer, shone brighter, and lit up the sky like fireworks.
But with the good, came the bad.
Thunder.
Jen always hated thunder. The sharp, startling cracks that startled her into jumping every time. The massive booming cannon shots that not only made her jump but usually made her squeal and drop whatever she was holding. Even the low rumbling as it built to a loud, window rattling crescendo made her jittery. She knew with storms came both light and sound, but no matter how much mental convincing she repeated to herself, the thunder got her every time.
And just like everything else in the Pegasus galaxy, the thunder had to be as explosive as the lightning. The cracks and booms were loud enough to literally vibrate the floors.
And of course, it couldn't just take an afternoon for the storm to pass.
No, no.
It had to last three days.
Three days of unrelenting flashbulbs of light every few seconds.
Three days of loud cracks, long rumbles, and explosive booms.
Three days of increased headaches which kept Jen and her team busy handing out sleeping pills and painkillers twenty-four hours a day. It also didn't help that the added atmospheric pressure was playing havoc with some of the more sensitive systems in the city, including communications. The quirky systems, added together with the noise and light show were so distracting, Colonel Carter had ordered everyone but essential personnel off-world until morning since no one could concentrate anyway.
The shield could block the storm, but not the effects.
Rodney had sequestered himself away in his lab, insisting he would find a way to modify the shield to block the light and sound, but so far had only managed to keep things dry and only slightly dimmer. As it stood, the worst part of the storm was supposed to hit sometime within the hour, and then after it blew over, the tail end would wither and fade and dawn would bring sunshine and calmer weather.
Jen sighed and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. It was hard enough sleeping with any semblance of normalcy to begin with – the added shock of sound startling you up out of bed didn't help either. At. All.
So she decided if she was going to be up all night, alone, she may as well enjoy the light show.
Sitting cross-legged near the edge of one of the long piers, she stared up into the night. A huge flash of bright red lightning forked across the sky and she braced herself for the ensuing crack of thunder. It didn't disappoint. Even ready for it she still shrieked and jumped.
Something moved beside her and she shrieked and jumped again.
"Sorry." Ronon stepped up in front of her, staring down.
She exhaled slowly and shook her head, looking up. Way up. Somehow it never failed to impress on her just how tall he was.
She wasn't really surprised to see him. Okay she was, kind of. But not. The past couple of day's she'd seen more of him than in well, ever… combined. Never alone – she'd been too busy, and even though he never said much – just the occasional hi Doc… in passing, it was enough. Enough to know he was around. He was there.
She liked it.
Seeing him.
Knowing he was always nearby.
It was… comforting.
And of course, the way he always said hi Doc in that signature growl… pretty much ensured a case of the goosebumps.
She blinked up at him, suddenly realizing she was staring at him like some kind of addled idiot.
"I ah, aren't you supposed to be off-world?" She blurted out.
"I came back." Ronon shrugged, not finishing with what was really on his mind. I came back to find you.
After making sure Teyla was settled comfortably with Major Lorne and his group, Ronon had come back through the gate with Sheppard. Both men were feeling overly restless from the lack of activity the past three days, but not willing to leave the city. Sheppard had gone to find McKay, leaving Ronon to wander about in the darkened hallways.
Ronon hadn't intended on spying. Well, not really. He'd just happened to be walking near her quarters when he'd spotted her leaving her room, wrapped in a blanket.
Curiosity had gotten the best of him.
That, and well, he liked watching her. Watching out for her.
"What…" he gave her a quick once over. "What're you doing?"
She pointed up.
A low rumbling vibrated across the city and she looked up quickly, eyes scanning the sky. He didn't bother looking up at the storm, instead choosing to study her. She seemed consistently amazed at everything new, and it reflected on her face. He knew she'd seen a lot as a doctor – and more death and horror since she'd arrived on Atlantis. Yet through it all she never lost the air of innocence which surrounded her. It pulled on his heart. He'd lost too much of himself over the years. Pieces he was only starting to find again. Pieces that she was helping return to him. And she didn't even know it. At some point in his recent days he'd made the conscious decision to do whatever it took to make sure she'd never know what that kind of loss felt like. As long as he breathed.
A massive flash of red lightning crawled over the city. Her shoulders hunched and she cowered further into to blanket, jumping at the massive explosion of sound that followed.
Even in the darkness he knew she'd have that familiar flush in her cheeks.
"I um, I don't like the thunder." She acknowledged softly.
He dropped down beside her, crossing his legs. "It's quieter inside."
"Actually I like the lightning." She shrugged under the blanket. "I know, I know. It's… it's silly. How can you like one and not the other? The lightning is just so bright here. It's like fireworks. But-"
Another huge flash and immediate crash - this one even louder. Because she wasn't paying attention, this one really did scare her and she jumped so abruptly this time she squeaked.
She giggled nervously.
Ronon raised an eyebrow.
"It's a lot louder here than on Earth."
She looked up again, eyes wide as two huge bolts of lightning met over the top of the city. Immediately joined by a third. The trio flickered and danced, following the arc of the shields up and over their heads, and with a blinding red flash, flickered out.
With a huge snapping rumble Jen felt a faint tremor vibrate through the pier and without warning, all the lights in the city went out.
"Uh oh." She looked around at the dark shapes of the towers around them. "That can't be good."
As if in response to her comment, Jen felt a quick succession of water dripping onto the top of her head.
She looked up and blinked away more cold drops as they spattered onto her face.
The force of the water increased along with an incredibly loud vibration of sound. She and Ronon both stood and stared at the thunderous spray of waves as they suddenly crashed and splattered up against the edge of the city, sending huge streams of water into the air.
There hadn't been any waves there before.
And she hadn't been getting wet before.
"The shield." Jen whispered, suddenly realizing what she was now seeing. The protective barrier which, until this exact moment, had been keeping the storm at bay was completely gone.
With a massive gust of water and wind, the deluge slammed across the city – a violent wall of driving rain heading straight for them.