Written for the sg-rarepairings ficathon at LiveJournal. The request was for a Ronon/Elizabeth story where Ronon comes to understand Elizabeth better. Contains spoilers for The Long Goodbye and vaguely for one of the storylines in Season 3's Sunday.

x x x

Of Knights And Queens

Elizabeth held back a sigh as she sat down on the chair next to his still figure. The murmurs of voices from across the infirmary soon died away, leaving her with only the beeping monitors for company.

"Don't bother saying sorry." Ronon rolled his head across to face her as he spoke.

She looked up in surprise to see that he had one eye open. "I thought you were asleep, I..."

Her voice trailed away as he sat up, wincing as he moved. She sprang forward to help him, one hand flat on his back and the other wrapped around his flexed arm as he dragged his lower body further up the bed. Ronon glanced down to where her fingers held a surprisingly strong grip, pain giving way to amusement in his expression. She pulled away.

"I am sorry, you know." Elizabeth said, in a low voice.

"Wasn't your fault."

"It was my finger that pulled the trigger."

"You weren't in control."

"That doesn't matter, I -"

"It's all that matters to me."

He smiled as saw her shoulders relax, though her hands were still clasped tightly together. Elizabeth returned to her seat, and they sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I did try to reason with her; I told her that she would be unharmed if she gave herself up."

"You would have let her go if you could?"

"Of course."

"She was a killer." She didn't hide her grimace at that particular reminder.

"She was the last of her people. She deserved more than to just fade away, if only for that reason."

Ronon watched her, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he leant back against the raised pillow and closed his eyes. He heard her sigh as she shifted in the chair, his eyelids flickering as she took a deep breath and prepared to speak again.

"I've never felt so helpless. You know, before I came to this city, to this galaxy, I'd never known anyone who couldn't be reasoned with. With humans, Goa'uld and Jaffa, even if you can't get them to see to your point of view, they all have a price you can pay or a weakness you can exploit. Then I met the Wraith. No room for reason, nothing you can take advantage of. We're just food."

She looked up briefly to see him watching her intently. "So I tried to reason with Phoebus. I offered her our help, I told her that we could try and find a way of keeping her alive, even if it in stasis. She wasn't interested. She knew that it wouldn't be the kind of life that she wanted. She wanted to die in dignity, knowing that she had beaten the enemy. She couldn't see beyond that. There was nothing that I could say to change her mind."

"But you tried anyway."

"I wish I could have done more."

"You did more than enough."

She sat up, about to protest before he cut her off.

"I'm still here, aren't I? You did enough. She could have killed me, but she didn't. I guess I have you to thank for that."

"No, you have Phoebus' poor aim to thank."

"Did you ask her not to shoot me?"

"Of course."

"Then maybe she listened to you." Ronon shrugged and gave her a small smile. "Maybe."

Elizabeth stood up, turning slightly before changing her mind and moving closer to the bed. Her hand wavered at her side before she reached for his, squeezing gently as their eyes met. He nodded in silent agreement, his fingers lingering on her skin until she turned and left.

x x x

He was sitting on his bed when the door slid open, a book held in one hand.

"Let me guess, War and Peace?" Elizabeth waited until he lay the book aside before entering.

"Yeah. Sheppard said I'd like it."

"And do you?"

"Not so far. I think that he just wanted to give me something to do." His eyes fell on the box tucked under her arm. "Looks like you're trying to do the same thing."

She smiled as she sat down on the edge of the bed, placing the box between them. "I borrowed this from one of the science labs. I figured that as you have some time on your hands, and it's not exactly strenuous, I could teach you to play. If you want me to, that is."

"Okay."

Elizabeth opened the box and emptied the contents onto the bed. Ronon picked up one of the plastic figurines as she began to place the rest on the now flattened box, the exterior of which possessed rows of alternating squares.

"That's the king. The aim of the game is to not let your king fall into enemy hands."

"And the rest of them?"

"Their ultimate aim is to protect your king, while placing your opponent's king in a position, which they can't escape from, known as 'check-mate'. I'll explain the rest of the rules as we go along."

He watched and listened as she picked up each of the small figures in turn, reciting their names and how they were allowed to move. "Sounds complicated."

"It's not. You just need to think ahead." Her lips curved into a smirk. "And show some patience."

Ronon sighed. "I've never had much of that."

"Then perhaps it's something you should learn."

She talked as they began, explaining her moves and strategies. She grinned as she realised that he didn't need her help. His movements were swift and decisive, and the piles of discarded pieces on either side of the board soon became equal in size and stature.

"Why did you come here?"

She looked up from the board, confused. "Well, I thought that you could do with something to occupy -"

"Not now, I mean, why did you come to Atlantis? To this galaxy? And I mean you, not your people."

Her eyes drifted back to the game in front of her as she contemplated the question. Finally she met his gaze, one of his captured pieces twirling between forefinger and thumb.

"When I was a child, I wanted to change the world. I guess that you could say I was ambitious." She looked up and smiled. "I got involved in politics at an early age; I was on debate teams at school and college. Most people that age get their kicks from winning at sports or scoring top marks in class. I got mine from knowing that I could change someone's opinion with a handful of words, no matter how adamant they were that they were right."

Elizabeth raised her knight and edged to her left before changing her mind and positioning it to the right. She set it down carefully, wrapping her free fingers around the pawn that she had replaced and tossing it the side. She caught Ronon's smirk as he realised that she would have taken his queen if she had gone to the left.

"Working for the United Nations was a dream come true. I couldn't imagine anything else that would give me as much satisfaction."

"What changed?" He tossed the pawn that he had just captured to the side.

"I got a phone call from the President one day and he told me about the Stargate program. I learnt that there was more to the universe than just our little world."

"And you decided that you wanted to change the universe too?"

She laughed quietly, realising that it did sound a little ridiculous. "Something like that. I wanted to make a difference."

"Do you think that you have?"

She made her move, replacing his bishop with her knight. She twirled the piece between her forefinger and her thumb as she considered the question. "Do you think that I have?"

"Yeah. I do."

He only just caught her wistful smile as she turned away to look through the window.

"Do you regret it?"

Their eyes locked. "Not for a second."

He continued to watch her as she focussed her attention on the board between them.

"You're a fast learner." She noticed the pile of her pieces that lay next to his hand for the first time.

"When it's something that interests me," Ronon replied. His eyes darted across the board, a smile playing on his lips as he moved his queen from one side to the other.

"So I guess that would be 'check'?"

x x x

Elizabeth looked up to find him leaning against in the door frame, a small flat box in his hand.

"Busy?"

She closed the file in front of her and gestured towards the chair opposite. Ronon moved to sit down, the door to her office sliding shut behind him. "Not really. What can I do for you? And before you ask, you cannot go off-world with Major Lorne's team. You're supposed to be taking a break."

"I wasn't going to ask." He placed the box on her desk, lifted the lid and proceeded to take out the pieces inside. "Since you're insisting that we all need to take a break, I'm insisting that you do as well."

He turned the box upside down and lay it flat. Raising the queen that lay closest to him, he paused, his hand hovering above the checkered board.

"White or black?"