FINDING THEIR WAY
Summary: Ronon and Toni Beck (OC) are out of contact with Atlantis. Are they in peril? What went wrong? And how will Sheppard deal with his teammate and girlfriend being lost together? Sheppard / OC
Disclaimer: SGA and beloved characters aren't mine. Toni is. They're just playing together for a bit.
Authors Note: Toni Beck was introduced in the story Blood Sea. This story takes place about a month after. Timeline with SGA is early in the third season. Comments and feedback are most welcome! Thanks for reading!
Finding Their Way: Chapter One
Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard circled, his full attention on his adversary. He stayed focused for any aggressive movement, ignoring the pain in his right side. Nearly faster than he could see, the weapon in the other man's hand lunged forward. John parried and stepped right. Several rapid blows echoed through the room as the two clashed.
Feeling an opening, the Colonel swung left and low. Only too late did he realize the mistake. His opponent swivel on the ball of his foot and brought down his free hand, using Sheppard's own momentum, he drove the Colonel to the ground.
"Ouch." A dry female voice came from the door.
Sheppard looked up from his place on the floor. He groaned, dropping his head back to the mat.
"Poor baby. Did that hurt? It looked like it hurt." She continued to taunt.
"Don't worry. He isn't injured," Ronon Dex smirked. "Not bad anyway."
John rolled over, pushing himself to a sitting position. He looked up at his Satedan friend, rolling his eyes. "You're gloating like kicking my ass is something new."
"No." The big man wiped a towel over his face before smiling. "It just never gets old." A female laugh drew his attention back to the door. "What are you doing down here?"
"It's here!" Dr. Toni Beck grinned ear to ear.
John turned to her, confused. Ronon, however, slapped his hands together with a resound "Yeah! Where?"
"Right here," she stepped outside the door and began to drag in a rather large package.
"What's in it?" The Sheppard stood up and joined the two of them around the box.
Toni ignored the question and instead opened her pocket knife to cut through the tape. She threw aside the foam sheet at the top, pulling out the first item. Removing the plastic revealed a high end, pre strung, compound bow.
"Sweet." Ronon took the bow from her and tested the pull weight. "It's all here?"
"Yep, two Parker compound bows, two quivers, extra carbon arrows, spare strings and tuning kit." The small marine biologist ticked off proudly.
"What the hell is going on?" John asked. And why the hell don't I already know?
"We're going hunting." Ronon began unpacking the rest of the items.
"What? When?" Sheppard didn't know where to focus his attention. Neither had mentioned anything about it. Ronon obviously anticipated this. Not only should he have known that they had plans, but he didn't even know Toni could hunt…something he felt he should know considering they had been dating for nearly a month.
"You know I have that trip to the main land to check on the lake near the Athosian settlement." Being the resident marine biologist, she'd been asked to investigate a white film developing on the surface of the water. Teyla's people were concerned it would taint the fish they relied upon.
"Yes," John chewed his bottom lip, frustrated. He pulled her a few feet from where Ronon examined each arrow he drew from the box. Speaking low, he leaned close. "I kinda thought you and I would get some time alone during that trip."
"You didn't say anything." Initially Toni didn't want to mention it until she knew it would even happen, but now she doubt that had been a good decision.
"I didn't think I had to."
"John, for all I knew you had work to do. Usually you would offer to fly me over." Toni felt a touch of annoyance creep up. "I just thought…"
"And since when do you know how to hunt?" He continued as if he didn't hear her comment.
"Since I was twelve. What the hell is the problem?"
Neither of them noticed Ronon stand and silently leave the room.
"How is that Ronon knows that and I don't?" He glared at her. Some small part of his brain registered that he was far angrier than he should be. Still, the little voice wasn't loud enough to keep the stupid comments from rolling out of his mouth.
"He asked." Toni could plainly see his anger, but she wasn't about to back down from it. "You're not exactly big on 'when I was growing up' stories, John. Don't get pissed off at me because Ronon asked a few questions you didn't. It's not like I'm withholding information from you."
"You didn't tell me about this trip." He growled out.
"True. Fine. I didn't. But not because I was keeping secrets. I didn't know if it was going to even happen until the package arrived just now. If there were no bows, then there wouldn't be a trip." Toni shook her head and for the first time realized they were alone in the room. Running Ronon out of the room while they argued pissed her off even more. "But now you know." She bit out.
John's jaw clenched. There were dozens of retorts banging around his mind, but the little part of his brain that knew that this was probably stupid kept his teeth together. So he stared, hard.
But she stared right back, unflinching. Toni watched the frustration, anger and doubt flicker through his eyes. Somehow she could read him. Fortunately, because his communication skills suck at times, she thought to herself. So, she played a hunch.
"Which bothers you more, the idea of me doing something with Ronon without you, or the fact that he knows something personal about me that you don't?"
John's mouth opened, but slammed shut. He chewed on his lip again. She saw it, that flicker of doubt was back. Toni pressed on, with far less venom in her voice. "Somehow I don't think, under other circumstances, it would bother you for Ronon to escort me on this trip. You trust him more than anyone. If I was going anywhere off Atlantis without you, I'd bet you would prefer him to be the one making sure I was safe."
"Yeah," was the only quiet admission he made.
"So it bothers you because you think that somehow he know me better now… somehow?" She guessed. Toni couldn't quite identify the look he gave her, but it wasn't angry. She touched her fingers lightly to his chest and looked up into his eyes. She felt all of her own annoyance drain away. For all of his confidence, he really was uncertain of his ability to be in a relationship. "That's not true, you know. It never could be."
John nodded. He took a deep, slow breath. His hands rubbed her shoulders before moving to her hair. "Sorry." John mumbled, dipping his head closer to hers.
Toni lifted on to her toes and kissed him lightly. "S'okay," she mumbled back. "You know, you could come with us."
"I don't know." John stepped away from her, looking at the pile of equipment on the floor. "So, you hunt? With a bow?"
"Yeah," Toni smiled, accepting the question as his way to make amends. "My dad and uncles went every year. I grew up around it. Elk. Deer. I even went bear hunting once, but I just hung out. I didn't have a tag. That side of the family hunted and fished all the time."
"Really?" His eyebrow rose. He knew she grew up with a predominately male family.
She gestured to herself. "Tomboy, remember? Did you think I learned to shoot on all my ocean dives?"
"Well, no." He admitted. "I guess I never really thought about it." It took a moment before his next question spilled out. "So, uh, how'd it come up with Ronon?"
Toni sat on the floor and began to pack everything up. "A couple days ago, when you were tied up all day giving those proficiency tests, we had lunch. I'm not sure what led to it, but he made some comment about being on land amongst the trees. I got to talking about Washington. That morphed into hunting stories. We talked about the game on the mainland and how good a thick steak would be. I got the idea and figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if we could get a couple bows. Every one could be, what, four or five hundred pounds of meat? I was honestly surprised when my order arrived." She reached up to take his hand. "I'm sorry this blindsided you. I didn't mean for that to happen."
He squeezed her fingers. "Sorry I reacted like an ass."
"It's okay." She used his grip to help herself up. "But, since I was counting on Ronon to help me carry all this to my quarters…Help me with this stuff?"
John realized with embarrassment that they were alone. "Dammit."
He would have to track Ronon down later.
[ - [ - [ -
Ronon opened the door to his quarters. Seeing Sheppard there wasn't much of a surprise. The Colonel carried two cased and held them out. "Hey."
"Hey." He took the cases.
"Toni asked me to bring these by." John scowled a bit. "And, um, sorry about that back there."
"Whatever. It's okay." Ronon backed into the room to put the cases down. Sheppard followed him in. "You know, you can come to."
"Yeah, she said the same thing. For some reason I don't think it would be a good idea."
Ronon laughed once. "Don't want to look like you're bullying your way in?"
"Something like that."
"I should've said something."
"No." John shook his head. "I overreacted." They stood in silence for a moment. "I, um, I've got to get up to the control room." He began to leave, but stopped at the door. He didn't turn around, but spoke toward the wall. "Make sure she stays safe."
"You have my word."
[ - [ - [ -
"John." Elizabeth interrupted him. She motioned over his shoulder with a slight smile. "You have company."
He turned around in his chair. Toni was saying hello to Rodney on her way to Weir's office. She wore black fatigues and standard issue boots. Her long hair was pulled back in a high pony tail. No make up on her face.
She caught him looking at her and a bright smile lit her face. "Hi. Can I borrow you for a second?"
"Go ahead." Elizabeth mumbled.
John stood, motioning for Toni to join him by the railing. "This is a different look for you."
Usually she stuck to her science uniform or her preferred blue jeans. "Well…this is better for the woods."
"No, that's not what I mean." He smiled sideways at her. "You look pretty damn hot."
Toni grinned wickedly. "We're leaving soon. Walk me to the jumper?"
"After you."
They walked up to the jumper with a pile of her equipment stacked near the rear hatch. John poked his head inside. Empty. "Where's Ronon?"
"Not here yet." Toni grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him in for a kiss. Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her, holding her close. A pleasurable groan rumbled in his chest. Her mouth pulled away only enough to speak. "I wanted the chance to say 'bye'."
"Lucky me." John captured her mouth again.
He half expected a fight after taking the hunting equipment to Ronon. She surprised him by completely letting the subject drop. Toni surprised him more often than he'd care to admit. She didn't prod him to talk about his feelings, or expect what he thought was normal 'dating' stuff. She was even content to sit in each other's company without talking.
"Should I come back later?" The amused voice startled them both and jumped apart. Ronon stood at the foot of the jumper.
"Naw." John ran a hand over his mouth. "Just, ah…"
"Yeah, I got that." His friend chuckled. His attention turned to Toni. "You bringing all this stuff?"
"I have work I have to before we go play, you know." She walked over to grab one of the cases and backhanded the big man on the chest. "It should only take a couple hours. Don't get your panties in a twist."
"My what?" He looked over at Sheppard.
"You get to explain that one, babe." He playfully whacked her ass as she passed. "I'm not going there."
She laughed. The Satedan continued to look confused. Toni saw an opportunity and just had to take it. "Don't worry, Ronon. Once we take off, I'll show you my…"
"You will not!" John practically shouted, spinning around. She giggled. She did it again. "You're awful, you know that?"
"Got to keep you on your toes." Toni ran her fingers across his stomach on her back out of the jumper.
"Yeah, well." John "You do."
"Okay, that's everything." Ronon finished stowing the equipment.
"Well, you two have fun. Don't stay out too late. Drive safe. All that stuff." John scowled.
"I'll see you tomorrow night." Toni stood on tip toes and kissed him briefly before moving to the pilot's chair.
He shifted his attention to Ronon, allowing some of the concern to show on his face. "You guys be careful."
"No worries." Ronon gripped Sheppard's shoulder. The Colonel nodded, turned and left.
[ - [ - [ -