"Not Dancing Together"
Written By – marielabbott, SEW Crew Member
Elizabeth maneuvered her way through the crowd with her cup, seeking a place to sit and watch the festivities. Near one of the bonfires she recognized a figure sitting on a rough hewn bench, and headed in his direction.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked Ronon, gesturing to the bench. Ronon shook his head and scooted over a little, even though there was already plenty of room for her to sit. Elizabeth sat, and nursed her warm, spicy drink as she watched the dancing couples in the firelight. Few Pegasus settlements she had negotiated a treaty with went to the trouble of celebrating their new relationship with Atlantis on such a scale.
"Not dancing?" she asked Ronon.
He looked at her in his unfathomable way for a moment, then said shortly, "No."
"You don't like dancing?" Elizabeth persisted. Even after a year, Elizabeth still had trouble at times reading the taciturn runner.
Ronon looked at her again, for such a long moment, that she feared she had somehow trespassed unintentionally into forbidden territory. He finally replied, "I used to. I haven't danced since before Sateda fell. At my engagement ceremony."
Elizabeth was slightly stunned at the personal information he had just revealed to her, as well as deeply saddened. She remembered the expression on Ronon's face while he stared at the MALP images of his devastated home world, and now realized more fully the depth of his loss.
"Ronon. I am sorry," she said quietly.
He shrugged and nodded, then looked back at her. "Don't you like dancing?"
She smiled. Ronon was capable of effectively turning the table on someone, even without his blaster. "I haven't danced since before I came to Atlantis. I had someone on Earth…someone I left to be leader of the expedition. I…haven't felt like dancing since then."
"Sorry," said Ronon, and Elizabeth recognized the sincerity in his tone.
They sat silently together for a time after that, sipping their drinks and watching the play of the firelight over the faces of the dancers.
It was Elizabeth who finally spoke again, musingly. "I like to watch dancing. Sometimes…you catch a glimpse of joy."
She wasn't expecting a reply, but Ronon said, simply, "Yeah."
A few minutes later Elizabeth raised her glass towards Ronon in an impromptu toast. "To not dancing together."
Ronon gave her one of his rare, genuinely open smiles, and clinked his cup against hers. "To not dancing together." And they finished their drinks in a companionable silence, continuing to watch the dance before them.