Disclaimer & A/N: Don't own Stargate Atlantis, jabberdy-jabber. Anyway, deichtine asked for some Kate/Ronon fic over at the Challenges Forum, and this is me trying my hand at it. Just for fun! (Seriously fluffy fun... definitely fluff warnings here. This sort of stuff is so sweet you'll rot your teeth... lol.)

Kiss Me Kate

Kate Heightmeyer sat at her desk and frowned in concentration as she studied the personnel list in comparison to her records. It was quite disturbing - though not, she supposed, unpredictable - that there was a direct correlation between rank and frequency of visits. The higher up you were...

Case in point was Rodney McKay. (Oh, God, don't even start thinking about him, Kate, you know it leads to migraines.) She wasn't entirely convinced that a man who professed to be suffering from so many problems should really be the man who basically controlled half the population and - come to think of it - who was in the position to take control of the entire city itself should he ever choose to. That said, on the other hand, she wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't actually making up some of that myriad of problems, just so he could come and visit her. After all, she was the only one in the city (and certainly the only woman, hon) who was required to actually listen to every single word that came out of his mouth. (That and you're blonde, Kate, be very afraid...)

She'd sunk her head into her hands and was wondering how it was that she always seemed to be the only psychologist left in the city when there was a loud knock at the door. She glanced up, shot a look at her appointments list (no, definitely empty for the day, ha...), then ran her hands back through her hair to settle it down, and called out, "Come in, it's unlocked." All of which had only taken a few seconds, of course. (Oh, please not McKay, please not McKay...)

But it wasn't McKay. It was the Satedan (the very gorgeous Satedan, hum), Ronon Dex. She stood up behind her desk as he slid the door shut behind him, smiled her best professional smile (you always look cheesy with that smile, Kate, just can it already) and said, "Ronon. What a -" (unexpected and truly welcome) "- surprise. What can I do for you?"

(Kate! You sound like the girl behind the counter in a chemist's. Professional! Remember! Professional! Pull yourself together. Just because you've been gawping at him since he appeared in the city, doesn't mean he doesn't need your professional help. So concentrate - no, idiot - concentrate on his face...!)

He stood a little uncomfortably and asked, "I'm supposed to sit somewhere, right?"

"Oh!" she smiled again, (idiot! idiot!), and then hurried from behind her desk, pen in her hand, and motioned him over to the two chairs by the window. "Please, have a seat."

He sat, though he looked awfully out of place, and then she sat opposite him and asked, (professional voice, remember, Kate) "So. Are you here because you would like to talk? Because that's my job, to listen."

He was still looking around, curiously, then fixed his eyes back on and said, "Er - yeah. Sort of."

A smiled slipped from her eyes to her lips and she said, when it was clear he had said all that he was going to say, "Perhaps if you tell me how you knew to come here to talk, it might make the actual talking that you want to do, a little easier."

(What the hell? That didn't even make sense, Kate. Oh, how to the shrinks of famous people keep their heads in gear? If this is what you turn into because it's Ronon...)

He nodded. "Um. Okay. Teyla told me about the whole listening, talking thing. When I asked her what you do. Because I'd seen you around."

(Oh. Wo. Seen you around, seen you around, seen you around. Oops, focus, idiot!)

She smiled again, "That's fair enough. I think I tend to stand out, particularly once people get accustomed to how this city is divided in a social sense, because I'm not so easily categorised. Science, but not science. Medicine, but not medicine. And definitely not military..."

(Um, Kate, hon, why are you telling him this? He's not the psychologist, you are.)

He put his hands on his thighs and shrugged, "I don't know much about any of that. I just noticed you because you're pretty."

The pen that she'd been holding in a vain attempt to look like she was actually concentrating on her job slipped from her fingers and dropped with twing! to the floor. (Pretty! Me and pretty in the same sentence! By Ronon Dex! Ronon Dex thinks I'm pretty!)

Before she could move, he'd leant down to pick up her pen for her and then looked a little concerned as he handed it back, asking, "Where I come from, women like compliments, but...?"

Her mind racedbut she answered in a slow voice, "Well, ah - it depends on whether you came here as a patient or, ah -"

He suddenly broke into a monstrous grin, which was a surprise. Usually she saw him either concentrated (concentrated eating, concentrated stick fighting, oh yum, concentrated sleeping...) or surly (surly eating, surly stick fighting, oh yum, surly sleeping...). She really rather liked the smile. He shook his head at her, and said, "No offence, but the whole point of your job is a bit beyond me. Anyone who'd want to sit and listen to McKay whine all day..."

"Needs their head read!" she finished with a laugh, and then clamped her hand over her mouth (idiot! idiot!), before exclaiming in a rapid bumble of words, "Oh, God, but I didn't say that. I mean, I really didn't say that. It's against every regulation..."

He looked quizzical, then put his big hands on his knees, leant towards her and said, "No, I'm not a patient. And you people have too many regulations."

Suddenly, she as warming under his intent gaze. "You think?" (Oh, great, Kate, now you're sinking into McKayisms. Go intellect...)

"Hm, yeah, I think. And then Sheppard, he talks a lot, he was telling me all this complicated stuff that men on Earth have to do to make women like them."

(Kate? Um, hey, Kate? Calling Kate...?) "He was?"

"Yeah, he was. It all sounds a bit strange to me. I mean, anyone could do all that stuff and not mean it. Flowers, dinner... That's what I think."

(Kate! For the love of God... he's constructing whole sentences and you're monosyllabic!) "You do?"

"Mm, I do. So I was wondering, if I kiss you because I think you're pretty, without all that stuff, will you get upset?"

(Oh, Kate, you're not really going to...) She beamed, "Want to try?" (Oh, God, you bet I am!)

And so, quite simply, he did.

(...mm...)

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