TITLE: Making Up the Past [Part 2

AUTHOR: renisanz

SUMMARY: "There is a reason why the people of Earth should not drink the wine."

CATEGORY: romance, angst, Ronon/Keller

RATING: PG-13

DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, but they're fun to play.

NOTES: Written for the chocfic com February Love-A-Thon at livejournal, but I missed the deadline. This story turned into a monster, and it's actually meant to be a combination of two of the prompts.

This story jumps back and forth in time much like Tabula Rasa.

You may want to read my previous fic "Save Room" before starting on this one. This story acts independently of the plot of that, but it does do a bit in establishing Ronon and Jennifer's relationship.

Now.

Ronon was thankful when Jennifer had not protested when she realized he was taking her to his room rather than her own. At the moment he wasn't up for explaining the Satedan custom he was in the process of performing. Hell, he didn't even know that tonight of all nights it would come into play.

Regretfully, he had not seen much of Jennifer since their encounter on Ferra. Jennifer was visibly unnerved by the situation. He wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of going to bed with her and not being able to remember most of it. Over the course of several weeks, and after a bit of investigating, however, he was able to recall more than a few of the events of that night. He was positive that the encounter was consensual, which he hadn't been too terribly concerned about, considering the events of the days leading up to the feast. Jennifer had kissed him days before, a memory that even now caused him to smile. He had been pleasantly surprised by the shy sensuality displayed in her affections.

Ronon remembered with great clarity how he got the cut on his hand that was bandaged when he awoke that morning. It had long since healed, but a fresh flash of anger as he thought of how lightly the guy had gotten off. He had really wanted to kill him for what he had done—and tried to do—to Jennifer.

Jennifer, however, had failed remember on her own anything about that night.

She had told him that maybe it was a good thing, since they could just forget (ha!) about that morning and continue getting to know each other better. "Just take things slow," she had said.

Easier said than done, Ronon thought. Save for a hug here and a nuzzle there (he loved the smell of her hair), their relationship had remained remarkably chaste since that night. And he was fine with that. Except, every once and a while, he would remember something from their encounter, how soft and cool her skin was again his, and it unsettled him greatly.

About seven weeks earlier.

Teyla Emmagan was now entering her sixth month of pregnancy. Today she was scheduled to visit Dr. Keller to confirm the continued health of her baby. Her appointment was not until the afternoon, however, and she had no immediate plans for the day, save for a meditation session with Ronon. It had been some time since the restless man had joined her, so she was surprised when he had suddenly requested to resume their sessions. It was possible he missed sparring with her, so meditation was the next best thing. Whatever the reason, Teyla was looking forward to the time with her friend.

The stirring baby in her belly made a point that the first thing on Teyla's agenda would be food. Rubbing her hand over her abdomen in a calming gesture, she made her way to the mess hall. The line was not terribly long, and after a few minutes, she emerged from the breakfast buffet with a bowl of oatmeal and an assortment of fruits, as well as a generous serving of bacon.

Teyla scanned the room for a suitable place to sit. She saw none of the members of her team with whom she usually dined. It was a lovely morning, so she decided that dining outside on the balcony would be quite refreshing. At first it seemed that no one else had taken advantage of the outdoor seating. Then a she heard what sounded like a sniffle from her left. Curiosity taking over, she rounded the corner of the balcony to see investigate.

"Dr. Keller?"

The young woman, jumped, slightly startled. "Oh, hey Teyla," she smiled.

Though she smiled as warmly as she could manage, Teyla could tell that Dr. Keller was upset about something. Though she may have felt differently at some point, Teyla had learned from experience that it was beneficial to have a listening ear available with which to share one's problems. That is, if the person desired to talk. She could at least offer Jennifer her company.

"Good morning, Doctor," Teyla greeted with her warmest smile. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked, indicating the chair across from the doctor.

"Yes, please. And you can call me Jennifer," she said, seeming to regain some composure.

"All right, Jennifer." Teyla smiled once more as she maneuvered into her seat. As Teyla began to make short work of her breakfast (she was "eating for two," as John had called it), she noticed that Dr. Keller's food was practically untouched.

After swallowing the last bite of her fifth piece of bacon, Teyla finally inquired, "Jennifer, is everything all right?"

Jennifer turned her attention from where it had been focused staring out over the expanse of the ocean. She looked down at her some indiscernible spot on the table, and then her eyes lifted to meet Teyla's. It appeared she was trying to decide on something.

After a moment, Jennifer sighed, and finally finding her resolve she asked, "Teyla, do you feel it's important to be honest about everything . . . even if you don't want to tell someone something that you know could only hurt your relationship."

Teyla thought for a moment. "Might this have something to do with you and Ronon?"

Jennifer blushed, apparently surprised at Teyla's forthrightness. "Why? Did he say something to you?"

"Not exactly." Teyla admitted, "I have known some time that Ronon possesses more than a casual interest in you. You two are very 'cute' together."

Jennifer seemed relieved to hear Teyla's observation.

Teyla chose not to reveal that she had also noticed the slight awkwardness in Ronon and Jennifer's interactions with one another ever since they had returned from Ferra. "What has been troubling you?" Teyla prodded.

"Well, you know that Ronon accompanied me to the wedding feast on Ferra, as a 'slight security measure', Col. Carter called it. I guess he turned out to be my date, kind of. And, things kind of got out of hand later on in the night. . ."

"Yes, I heard there was some sort of altercation between Ronon and one of the nobles." Teyla said.

"Yeah," Jennifer confirmed, wincing. "It turns out that was only one of the 'highlights' of the night . . ."

One week earlier.

After leaving Jennifer's quarters, Ronon hurried to seek out Teyla. It had been much easier to keep track of her when she was an active member of Sheppard's team. Now, with her continued search for her people, the Athosians, it wasn't guaranteed that she would even be on the base.

He was relieved when she answered the door to her quarters. Despite the afternoon sunlight, the room was dimly lit with candles. Teyla had obviously been meditating. She was doing a lot of that lately, he mused. Well, that was better than killing herself on a stationary bike, by all means, in an effort 'to keep up with' him and the rest of the team.

"Hey, Teyla." Ronon greeted, not waiting for her to invite him into her quarters. Resting his arm around her shoulders, he ushered her inside. He figured he should get straight to the point. "You sew, right?"

Teyla was reluctant to answer. Her face and body language screamed, Could you not see that I was meditating? However, she sighed and responded, "Yes . . . why?"

He put on his best pleading face. "I need a favor."

Seven hours later.

Ronon was leaning against the door of Dr. Keller's office, waiting for her to finish up her paperwork so he could then escort her to the mess hall to grab some dinner before 'movie night.'

"Ok, done!" she announced, shutting her laptop. Ronon barely contained a laugh as she practically jumped up to her chair and walked over to join him at the threshold of her office. "Sorry you had to wait. I really thought I'd be done by six." she explained.

"It's fine," Ronon reassured her as he followed her out of the office. "I like watching you work."

Jennifer turned to give him a disbelieving look. Was it bad that he found almost all of her expressions to be irresistibly cute?

"Whatever you say, Mr. Dex," she resuming her trek to the mess hall.

Ronon wondered if he would ever be able to convince Jennifer just how beautiful she was. He admitted to her that he had, at first, felt her to be too weak to be on the Atlantis expedition. However, she soon proved herself to have an impressive amount of inner strength. She was able to keep a cool head in the most tense situations, in particular when saving the life of the former head of the expedition, Elizabeth Weir. Seeing her work under extreme odds and come out victorious had caused him admire her. He then began to watch her interaction with the others Atlanteans in an quest to learn more about this petite young woman from Earth. He particularly enjoyed seeing her go at it with McKay.

Where Dr. Carson Beckett had been a great deal more tolerant of Rodney's whiny hypochondria, Keller, on the other hand, was much more direct in dismissing the scientist, and telling him in so many words that he was overreacting to whatever symptom he thought was indicative of imminent death. It was awesome to watch.

The mess hall was fairly crowded for the dinner rush, but they were able to find a quiet spot outside on the balcony. They ate in companionable silence, watching the sun set over the horizon. Then Ronon listened intently as Jennifer answered his question about what were some of her favorite movies besides Serenity. He found himself looking forward to watching them with her in the future.

Twenty-four hours later.

Ronon stood outside of Dr. Keller's quarters. He couldn't recall the last time he had been this anxious.

When he was just about to chime the door once more when it whooshed open.

"Hey Ronon," Jennifer smiled up at him.

As he took in the sight before him, many thoughts crossed Ronon's mind. One was that Teyla had really outdone herself with hooking Jennifer up with an outfit for the party. The dress was simple, yet elegant. It was made of satiny fabric with wide diagonal stripes in a deep blue, pale green, and yellow and cut in the style of a long tunic. Though dress accentuated her slim curves, it was modest save for the deep V-neck front that revealed a generous amount of skin.

"Sorry," she was explaining. "I was in the middle of curling my hair."

At that he finally tore his attention away from the dress to her face. He did like the soft ringlets that she'd formed her hair into, as it framed her face and neck.

Ronon was barely able to find his voice. "You look. . . uh. . . really beautiful."

Jennifer beamed. "Thanks. You look really nice, too."

"Thanks," he replied. Ronon was wearing a cream-colored long-sleeved shirt that he'd acquired on a trading excursion a few months back. Teyla had mentioned that he should try expanding his wardrobe. He didn't really see the point at the time, but now, he was quite grateful that he had followed her advice. He had also picked up a pair of dark brown leather trousers, which he wore now, as well.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jennifer replied, lifting up the small overnight bag she had packed. They would be staying as guests on Ferra until the following afternoon.

"Cool," Ronon said, taking Jennifer's bag from her and gesturing for her to go ahead of him out of her quarters.

Ronon and Jennifer got more than a few appraising looks as they made their way to the Gateroom. When the arrived in the control tower, Col. Carter, Sheppard, and Teyla were there to see them off.

"Whoah, Doc," Sheppard said appreciatively. "I guess it was a good idea to send Ronon with you. Keep the Ferran males from stealing you away."

"Thank you, Colonel," she laughed.

"You're very welcome," he replied. He gave Ronon a knowing nod.

It had been Sheppard who had suggested to Carter that Ronon accompany her to the wedding feast. Though John had readily accepted the role as 'wingman' in Ronon's pursuit of Dr. Keller. Ronon had not expected his friend's recommendation of him to act as a 'security precaution' on Keller's behalf. Carter didn't need much convincing, it appeared. At the moment she was unable to divert any attention away from her responsibilities as commander of the Atlantis base, and the Ferran Prime Minister had been satisfied with only Dr. Keller being able to attend as a representative of the Atlanteans.

"Wow, Teyla, you made this dress?" Colonel Carter was commenting.

"Yes. I was began making it before my pregnancy. So, I just tailored it a bit to fit Dr. Keller." Teyla looked at Ronon and smiled. When he had interrupted her meditation session and practically barged into her quarters, she was understandably a little peeved at him. But once he had explained to her what he needed, her demeanor instantly changed. Deep down he knew she would come through for him if she could.

"All right. Well, we won't keep you two any longer," Colonel Carter said. "We expect you back by eleven hundred hours tomorrow. Just radio in if you expect any delays." With that she walked away. Colonel Sheppard followed suit.

Jennifer gave Teyla a quick hug as the the final chevron of the 'Gate address was locked. And then the Athosian woman stepped away as well.

As they stood side by side, waiting for the wormhole to be established, Ronon felt slim fingers slide into his hand and interlock with his. Ronon was surprised to feel his neck grow warm at her touch. He had not felt this way in a very long time. It was almost like feeling it for the first time. He smiled to himself, gently squeezing Jennifer's hand in return gesture of affection.

Wormhole now locked, they walked though the "Gate, the night that lay ahead full of possibilities.

Three hours later.

Her hand around his wrist, Jennifer practically dragged Ronon to her guest quarters. "I can't believe this is happening . . . "

"I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth.

"No you're not!" Jennifer streaked. She stopped in front of her room. Ronon raised an eyebrow as she slid a hand into the front of her dress and then withdrew it to produce her door key.

She must have felt him staring. "Oh, I didn't have a purse. My bra was the next best thing," she explained. The door now open, she led him into the room.

The pointed to the edge of the bed. "Sit."

He grudgingly complied as Jennifer produced a small First-Aid kit from her overnight bag. "I never thought I would actually need this," she said, walking over to stand in front of him. "But I've learned that even the simplest mission can suddenly go awry." She pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "In this case, I don't feel at all gratified to be proved right."

She sighed. "Ok, now let me look at that cut."

Ronon sat in silence as she cleaned the blood away from his knuckles. By now he was used to the feeling of her patching him up, and he was aware that now, her hands were less steady than usual. It wasn't until she had trouble opening the bandages that he stopped her, placing his hand over hers. "You ok?"

Jennifer inhaled a ragged breath and met his eyes. "No." After a moment she turned her head away, still, Ronon caught sight of the tear fall before she hastily brushed it away.

"I should have killed him." Ronon fumed.

"Maybe," Jennifer allowed. "But you didn't. And the Prime Minister gave his assurance that Lord Gaston's actions would not go unpunished."

"Whateverthat means." Ronon doubted that whatever punishment the Prime Minister meted out would be equivalent to a 'slap on the wrist.'

"Well, he at the very least has a chipped tooth, thanks to you. I'm just glad the didn't arrest you for assaulting a noble or some nonsense."

Ronon chuckled at that. "It was worth the risk." He watched as Jennifer applied a the last strip of medical tape to secure his bandage.

A slight blush grew in her cheeks. She stepped closer to him. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

When she pulled back she said, "I guess this is where we say 'goodnight.'" But Jennifer didn't move back to allow him to get up. She was basically standing in between his legs, blocking him from rising from the bed.

"Uhm. . . goodnight," He said finally. This time he leaned into her. He had only meant to give her a parting kiss. But as he drew back and Jennifer leaned into him once more, he was incapable of pushing her away.

One week later.

Teyla listened intently as Jennifer described the events of that evening.

"The next day, we came back to Atlantis. We told Colonel Carter about what had happened with Ronon's altercation. It was impossible to ignore that. However, we decided to keep our 'encounter' under wraps."

"You're the first person I've told. And I still don't remember most of it, particularly, the. . .you know. I'm almost certain Lord Gaston drugged me somehow, but nothing showed up on my toxicology screen."

Teyla did not quite know how to respond to that. She did have one question, though. "What is it that you are afraid of telling Ronon?"

Jennifer pursed her lips and then looked away. Teyla saw her jaw clench in apparent frustration.

"Jennifer, it is all right. . ." Teyla consoled, reaching out to pat the young woman's hand.

Jennifer finally met Teyla's eyes. "It's just that, well. . . Ronon was . . . my first."

"Your first. . ." Teyla turned the phrase over in her mind. Jennifer waited patiently for her to understand, and then after everything Jennifer had told her it dawned on her.

"Oh," was all Teyla could manage. This was more serious than she could have ever imagined.

"And, you can remember nothing of that night?"

Jennifer shook her head. "I mean, there's a very slim possibility that we didn't sleep together. But I think it very strange that Ronon and I just decided to remove all our clothes and sleep next to each other."

"That is . . . a valid point," Teyla agreed.

"The thing is I believe in waiting on marriage to have sex. I know it's old fashioned, but it's what I believe. It's actually helped me weed out a lot of guys who just wanted 'one thing.' And now that me and Ronon have already gone there . . ."

Jennifer's fingers toyed nervously with the tablecloth. "I just don't want him to expect certain things later down the road that I'm not prepared to give. I know he remembers some things from that night. But I can't remember anything, so I don't know if he thinks I led him on or. . ."

"Jennifer," Teyla said. "I think that you should tell Ronon how you feel. It might be better if you did not reveal to him that he was your 'first.' However, I think it would be beneficial to both of you if you discussed what each of you expects from your relationship."

At seeing Jennifer's apprehensive expression, she added, "Ronon cares for you very much. I believe he will understand."

With that, Teyla left the Doctor to her thoughts, while she took with her a better understanding of why Ronon had a sudden urge to meditate.

TBC

A/N:Dang, Jennifer. Yeah, now you guys see why this was such a doozy to write. Thank you so much to everyone who left comments. This was a very hard chapter for me. I'm constantly struggling with how much to reveal, but I think the bits I do reveal work in that the story is kind of about piecing together a puzzle of events. A little here, some more there. Will anyone ever know what really happenedthat night, and who will know what part of the story?

It's very fun to think about but a pain to decide. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)

Comments are much appreciated.