Title : Love Under Pressure
Date : 01 June 2007
Author : ElaineDex
Chapter : 2 of ?
Rating : M
Pairing : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Hunter/Ronon Dex/Dr. Ellie Harrison-Dex
Archiving : None
Warning : Some sexual content, possible swearing.
Spoilers : This story follows on from Love Cant Hide.
Feedback : Yes
Disclaimer : Only Ellie is mine, Stargate/Atlantis and all their characters are not. Lyssa Hunter belongs to Kazavid and comes from her stories Behind The Mask and Reunions.
Summary : When an accident causes Ronon and Lyssa to forget the past few years how will Ellie cope seeing her husband, Ronon, loving Lyssa and how will Sheppard react when he sees Lyssa kissing Ronon?
Thanks to Kazavid for her help and ideas.
"Don't be ridiculous Rodney", Lyssa said.
She had overheard McKay's comment and both she and Ronon were looking at him as though he was the one who had lost his mind.
"Do you remember me then?", Ellie asked as she stood and moved to stand near Sheppard.
Lyssa looked at the smaller woman and frowned.
"Um, well, to be honest no…….should I?" she asked and Ellie looked at Sheppard who said,
"Ellie's been on Atlantis for nearly three years so yeah, I'd say you should remember her".
Lyssa and Ronon exchanged glances and then shrugged.
"We need to get you both checked out by Beckett", Sheppard said and Ellie agreed.
"But we're ok", Ronon said missing the anguished look that Ellie threw him.
Sheppard turned to Rodney.
"You stay here with Lorne, Franks and Teyla, try to figure out what happened".
"And what if it happens to us?", Rodney moaned and Sheppard glared at him.
"Make sure it doesn't".
The journey back to the gate seemed the longest that Sheppard and Ellie had ever endured as they walked behind Ronon and Lyssa who seemed quite happy to walk with their arms wrapped around one another.
"Their memories must have gone back to the time when they were together", Sheppard said stating the blindingly obvious and Ellie looked at him.
"You think?", she snapped sounding extremely pissed off.
They got back to Atlantis and Sheppard and Ellie made sure Ronon and Lyssa went straight to the infirmary.
They hovered as Beckett examined them and then folded his arms and scratched his head.
"They seem perfectly fine to me", he said then looked at Ellie when she made a strange sound of disbelief.
"But neither of them remember me", she said and Beckett frowned and looked at Ronon who was sat next to Lyssa on the edge of the infirmary bed.
"You remember nothing about Ellie?", he asked and Ronon frowned wondering just who exactly this Ellie person was supposed to be.
He shook his head and Beckett turned to Lyssa.
"Let me see, what's the last thing you remember?"
Lyssa smiled and turned to Ronon,
"Waking up next to him and then we went off -world with Sheppard and the others", she replied and Ellie had to look away as Lyssa put her hand on Ronon's leg.
Beckett cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying,
"Well in light of things I think I'll keep you both in here overnight as a precaution, see if things start to come back to you".
He ushered Sheppard and Ellie to the door and murmured,
"We need to speak with Elizabeth. I'll get them settled and then meet you in the briefing room".
Sheppard and Ellie agreed and headed off to see Weir and await Beckett's arrival.
They didn't have to wait long and as Beckett entered the briefing room Elizabeth said,
"So…what's going on?".
"I have no idea. They're both physically fine but they can't seem to remember anything of the past three or so years".
"Great", Ellie mumbled and Sheppard had to agree with her.
"So what do you advise we do….fill in the blanks for them?", Elizabeth asked and Beckett sighed.
"I know this will be hard for you two" and he looked to Sheppard and Ellie before continuing, "but no, I think we should wait and see what happens for now. It would be better for Lyssa and Ronon if their memories returned by themselves".
"But Ronon and I……he's my….we're……", Ellie trailed off as she comprehended just how much she'd have to keep from him.
"I know it will be difficult but hopefully it'll only be short term. I'll keep them in the infirmary tonight, that should give you some time to get organised, move Ronon's things to another room and so on".
Ellie went quiet and Sheppard also began to think of how different everything was going to have to be.
"I'll inform all personnel that they're not to speak with Ronon or Lyssa unless absolutely necessary and if they do they are not to tell them anything about the last three years", Weir said.
They finished up the meeting and then Ellie stood to leave.
"If you'll excuse me I should go and collect Hope from Dr Heightmeyer".
As she left Sheppard fell into step beside her.
"It'll be ok", he said and Ellie glanced at him.
"I hope you're right", she replied.
"They'll remember everything soon, it's probably only a temporary thing", Sheppard said and Ellie nodded, neither of them convinced.
ooOoo
The next morning came and Ronon and Lyssa were exactly the same. Beckett pulled Sheppard and Ellie to one side as he said,
"I have no reason to keep them in here for another day or night for that matter. I'm going to have to release them".
"How are we going to keep them apart?", Sheppard asked and as they looked over, Ronon was caressing Lyssa's face with one of his hands and Ellie turned her back on them, feeling slightly sick.
"Well, far short of keeping an escort with them at all times, I'm not sure. You could jostle yours and Major Lorne's teams about. You have Lyssa with you Colonel Sheppard and have Ronon with Ellie? At least you'd be together then", and he glanced at Ellie who was looking a little upset.
"Yeah we could do that", Sheppard said then turned to Ellie. "We're going to have to make sure we keep them apart at night as much as possible. I'll speak with Lorne and tell him we'll have to have some overnight off-world trips".
Ellie nodded. "We could have people watch out for them too, if they try to be alone….if you know what I mean?".
Sheppard grimaced but agreed, "I'll put the word out amongst my men".
ooOoo
And so the trying times began.
Ronon and Lyssa were convinced they were still a couple and Sheppard had to keep telling himself that it was ok for Ronon to lay his hand on Lyssa's behind as they walked along……for now.
After only a day of seeing Ronon all over Lyssa, Ellie called crisis talks with Sheppard in the mess hall.
"We have to do something", she said and he agreed.
"Maybe if we spent some time alone with them it may help jog their memories", he suggested and Ellie looked at him.
"What reason could I have for being alone with Ronon?", she asked and Sheppard frowned, then smiled as he recalled something.
"You could get him to teach you how to shoot again", he said and Ellie covered her eyes as she too remembered the time a couple of years ago that had resulted in her injuring Ronon as he tried to teach her how to fire a weapon.
"Is that really such a good idea?", she said and Sheppard shrugged.
"You've gotten better with a gun since then so just pretend to be a little clueless and try not to shoot him this time. I'll book you in for some training with him this evening".
"How are you going to get some time with Lyssa?", Ellie asked and Sheppard smiled.
"I think I'll suggest she take a refresher course with me but on something a little more physical…", he replied and Ellie shook her head.
"Typical".
"I don't know what you mean", Sheppard replied innocently.
ooOoo
Ronon stood in the doorway of the fire-arms training room and observed Dr Harrison whilst she was still unaware of his presence.
There was something familiar about her but he couldn't actually remember her.
He watched as she picked up one of the guns and he suddenly had an overwhelming urge to take the weapon from her to keep her from hurting herself or him for that matter. He suddenly felt apprehensive, a feeling he didn't normally experience and he pushed the feeling to one side as Ellie turned and saw him.
"Oh…hello", she said shyly, placing the gun back on the counter.
"Sheppard said you need some training", Ronon said moving toward the cupboard where all the guns were supposed to be housed.
"Yes….I'm not very good….", she trailed off as he came to stand behind her and she could feel the heat from his body at her back through the thin material of her dress.
He handed her a small hand gun and Ellie actually bit back a smile when she recalled that it was the same type he had started her off with the last time they had done this.
Ronon looked down at her as she got used to the feel and shape of the weapon. She was quite small and he frowned as he felt a protective urge toward her.
Dismissing it he quickly told her how to hold the gun correctly and then asked her to try a few test shots at the target in front of them.
Ellie deliberately mis-aimed and consequently didn't do very well. She heard Ronon sigh and actually felt guilty.
Ronon knew this could be a long training session and he sighed. He had hoped to spend some time with Lyssa later but he'd have to see how things went here. If Dr Harrison was this bad of a shot then she needed to improve quickly or she could endanger her team-mates.
After Ellie missed a few more times, he moved closer to her and reached around her, showing her how to aim, he then moved his hands to her hips and adjusted her stance and Ellie had to bite back a moan at the feel of him touching her.
She inadvertently wiggled her hips, her butt moving against him and Ronon didn't move for a moment, he was trying to gauge whether she knew what she was doing and if she remembered that he was with Lyssa, that he wasn't open to offers.
It was only when Ellie twisted and looked up at him and said,
"Should I try again now?", that he cleared his throat and nodded, stepping back from her.
He must have been wrong, she obviously had no idea what kind of effect wiggling her butt against a man could have upon him.
ooOoo
Further down the hall Lyssa and Sheppard were stood opposite each other in the hand to hand combat training room.
"So tell me why you think this is necessary again", Lyssa said as she spun the sparring sticks in her hands at a speed that made Sheppard gulp nervously.
"Well, with your little bit of memory loss I just need to make sure you're not going to be a liability to my team", he replied and Lyssa frowned.
"Your team?", she asked. Somehow that didn't seem quite right.
"Yes, we had a shake up a while back…..you wouldn't remember", Sheppard said and Lyssa looked at him strangely.
"Come on then, let's get started", Sheppard said, waving his sticks at her, trying to look confident.
Lyssa smiled at him and Sheppard had a feeling he was going to regret this little bit of training.
They began to fight, Lyssa putting him on his back more times than he cared to think about.
Eventually Sheppard decided enough was enough. He wanted her, no needed her underneath him.
He moved quickly, taking Lyssa by surprise. He knocked her feet out from under her and she let out a startled cry as she landed hard and the air rushed from her lungs.
Sheppard sat astride her and bent low, his face close to hers. He held one of the sticks lightly across her wind pipe and she looked up at him, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
She saw something change in his eyes as they stared at one another but she couldn't pin-point what it was.
Sheppard's eyes flicked to Lyssa's lips. He wanted to kiss her so badly but knew he couldn't.
Angry and frustrated he stood.
"That's enough for now", he said and Lyssa didn't miss the cool tone to his voice.
She sat up watching as he put the sticks away. There was something different about him. He wasn't the usual jokey, carefree Sheppard she remembered.
"I suggest you get an early night and get some sleep. We're off-world early tomorrow", he said bluntly and then left her alone.
As he left he nodded to one of his men who was going to inconspicuously follow Lyssa to her quarters and make sure she was alone.
He sighed deeply, this was going to be harder than he had first anticipated. He wondered had Ellie had any better luck with Ronon.
End of Chapter 2