Title: I Won't Back Down
Note: This chapter was formally published as part of 'Musical Moments', which was a fic made up of separate little stories for each chapter, each in response to Gater 101's Music Challenge. Which involved playing a randomly generated piece of music from your player and writing whatever story comes to mind, but only for as long as the track lasts. It was challenging, but fun and resulted in seven different chapters. As I am thinking of taking some of those little stories further, I need to separate the chapters out. So, sorry for republishing (though it gives me a chance to edit out mistakes!) and sorry for those who were kind enough to leave reviews to 'Musical Moments' as I have now deleted it! I appreciated the reviews and am sorry to remove them. I highly recommend listening to the piece of music listed as you read the fic! Enjoy.
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Song: I Won't Back Down – by Johnny Cash
Sheppard placed his sandwich down onto his plate and leant past Rodney towards Ronon.
"Don't do anything, Ronon." Sheppard uttered, his voice oddly tense. "Don't get involved."
Rodney looked up from his own sandwich towards Ronon's confused look and together they watched Sheppard as he huffed out a loud breath, pushed his chair back, stood and turned to the side.
It was then that Rodney became aware of Kanaan heading towards them. Or rather striding towards Sheppard, pulling back his arm and he threw a fast hard punch directly at Sheppard's face.
Sheppard for his part didn't even try to block the hit - he just stood and waited for it. The surprisingly forceful punch knocked him from his feet and he tumbled to the floor as the entire Mess Hall fell into a tense silence.
Ronon leapt to his feet and Rodney flinched to the side, unwilling to be caught up in what could happen next.
"Ronon!" Sheppard warned from the floor, from somewhere below the level of the table.
A long silent tension held throughout the room. Rodney looked up to the clearly angry Kanaan as he glared silently down at Sheppard before he turned and marched out of the Mess Hall, his angry expression now mixed with some embarrassment.
The room remained silent for a few moments longer before the rush of voices returned. Rodney looked back to the other side of the table to see one of Sheppard's hands appear at the edge of the table and then the other as he levered himself off the floor, his cheek already bright red.
"What did you do?" Rodney asked, but he already had his own theories and no doubt the rest of the expedition would by the end of the day.
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END
[Okay that one ran over, but once I started it I had to see the story through!]
