One Big Hug

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis. I don't own the characters of the Atlantis universe. Blah, blah, blah. You get the drift.

Author's Notes: Again, a big thanks to all those who reviewed! This chapter is my fav. Some slight Ronon angst. Very, very slight. Yeah, so you Ronon fans out there will love this (me included; well, I enjoyed writing it, I mean.).

Sigh. I love that big hunk. :)

Isodore?" asked Melena as she felt her head pounding against her skull. She opened her eyes to see Dr. Carson Beckett, aka Rebecca's father, standing before her with a small smile.

"Hi, lass. How are you doing?"

Melena wanted to say that her head was killing her, and her chest wasn't feeling so great either. But she was a Dex, and Dexes never complain. She gave him a small smile.

"I'm fine, Uncle Carson."

"Uncle Carson…I like the sound of that."

She saw Carson smile softly as she chuckled a little.

"You're just like your father."

At the mention of her father, Melena's smile dropped. She remembered her father with a blaster and he fired it AT her. She could forgive him for the blast. He was confused. The blast didn't bother her. Hell, she dealt with situations like that in the past…just not with her father. Her father was usually kind, gentle…happy. There were times when he would be lost in his own thoughts, but he would always look up at her with a wide grin. Her father, here, though, was different. She had only caught a glimpse of him, but she could tell from his eyes that he had gone through much. The others hadn't noticed it, but she saw a shadow of pain flicker in her father's eyes before he fired the stunner at her. She snapped out of her thoughts when Carson squeezed her shoulder. She looked up to see Carson look at her worriedly.

"I'm sorry, lass, I shouldn't have mentioned-"

"No, no, it's fine. In fact, do you know where he is?"

"Actually, lass, he's been by your side since your team left. Said he felt the need to apologize."

Melena smiled slightly.

"He just left to get some food for you. He'll be back soon."

There was a small silence that stretched between the two that was soon broken by the hiss of a door. They both looked up to see Ronon with a tray of food. Carson smiled at her and patted her hand gently.

"I'll leave you two alone."

Melena smiled back. Good old Uncle Carson. No matter where she was, he always seemed to be watching over them like an elderly grandfather. He left as her father walked towards her.

"You OK?" asked Ronon as he placed the tray on the table beside her and sat on a nearby stool.

"Fine," said Melena with a nod.

"You wanna eat?" asked Ronon, nodding towards the food.

"I'm not hungry."

Ronon nodded and looked down at his folded hands. Ronon tried to think of a way to apologize to his own daughter, but stopped when he felt her hand touch his.

"It's all right. You don't have to apologize. You didn't know."

Ronon looked up at her, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw Melena with her blonde hair, fair skin, and violet blue eyes.

"Dad?"

In an instant, the image had changed, and he saw Melena, his daughter, with her jade eyes, auburn-brown hair, and dark skin, lying on the gurney.

"Right," said Ronon as he pushed the image out of his head. He got up from the chair and jerked his thumb towards the direction of the door.

"I'm gonna leave."

Ronon was about to leave when he felt her strong hand on his arm. The same arm, the same place, where she had touched him eight years ago...

"Please, I want to talk to you."

If it had been anyone else, he would have shrugged the hand off, but this…this was his daughter. Sensing the worry in her voice, he reluctantly sat back down, refusing to look at her. Ancestors, help him. He didn't know if he could handle this. The scars were still too fresh.

"You know. You never explained why you didn't think I was Melena. I mean, if you didn't recognize my name, I don't think you would have been as angry as you were. Shocked at me calling you dad, but not angry and hurt."

That snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked at her carefully. She was really observant.

"Don't need to," replied Ronon stoically. His full intention was to intimidate her, but instead of being intimidated, she grinned slightly.

"Father, you can't hide yourself from me. I know you as well as you know me. Something about my name bothers you."

Yep, this girl was definitely Teyla's daughter. Like her mother, Melena could read through people, and she knew the heart of the problem. She was tactful and very skilled in the art of persuasion. But the girl's persistence? That stubborn attitude definitely came from his former wife. In a sense, his daughter was a mixture of the two women.

"Father."

He looked up at her concerned face and looked back down at his intertwined fingers. He heard the slight pleading tone in her voice, and for some odd reason, he didn't fight back; he knew that he wouldn't get out of here without telling her. He closed his eyes and opened them again, staring intensely at one spot on the floor below.

"Melena was my first wife."

Without looking up, he could tell that he had her full attention. It made him uncomfortable.

"She worked as a nurse on Sateda. During the last culling, she had a chance to go through the Gate, but she refused, saying she had to help all those people who were dying in the hospital."

Ronon paused, replaying that scene in his mind. If only he'd grabbed her or forced her to go, then maybe…He shoved the thoughts aside, realizing that he couldn't ponder over "what ifs" and "maybes." Ronon took a deep breath, remembering the smell of smoke and death surrounding him. His comrades and his family…gone. His people dying by the hundreds. The earsplitting screams. He took in a deep, silent breath, trying to calm himself, trying to do anything but remember.

"How'd she die?"

He paused, wondering if this was really the time to be saying such things. It didn't matter. He had started, and he had to finish. He swallowed hard.

"There was a blast. She was standing in front of the window and the flames…"

He stopped, not wanting to continue. He closed his eyes, trying to stop the images from resurfacing, from engulfing him. He felt a small hand tightly squeezing his, and he looked up at his daughter. For a moment, they stayed like that: both staring at each other intently and holding their hands tightly. Before he knew what happened, she had reached over and embraced him tightly. He sat there, too stunned. With hesitation, he embraced her back.

"You can let go now," whispered Melena gently. Somehow, he knew that she wasn't referring to the tight embrace that he was holding her in. Ronon tried to keep the tears in, mentally reprimanding himself. He was a Satedan warrior. He wasn't supposed to show weakness. He was supposed to be strong and stoic and…

"It's OK," she whispered in her gentle voice, and something in Ronon's head told him that she was right—that it was finally OK to let them go. So, he let the hot, pent up tears fall soundlessly.

As she held her father tightly in her arms, Melena remembered the many times that he had done this for her. He had just sat, and without complaint, he held her tightly, letting her cry to sleep. Regardless of how upset he was, he had always been patient with her. She knew that he had been through much. What exactly he had been through was something she could never figure out and something both her parents had refused to talk about, but now, she knew that when her father was lost in his thoughts and got that faraway look, it meant that he was reminiscing about his painful past. She squeezed him tighter, knowing that this admission was hard for him.

"Everything's going to be fine," she whispered as she felt tears forming in her own eyes. Neither said anything, but they both knew that she was right.