A young marine thumped to the floor as John and Erin walked into the gym.
"I see you're keeping busy," John quipped to Ronon, who grinned. The marine got up, groaning. "I think that's enough for one day," said John.
"Thank you sir," wheezed the marine and he staggered out of the door.
Ronon glanced over from sorting out his fighting sticks. "You always ruin my fun. So this is Erin?"
"Yep," John glanced down at the child, and was surprised to see that she looked quite scared. "Hey, what's the matter?"
Erin clutched at his trousers as she answered. "I don't know him – he wasn't in my Atlantis."
Now John could understand her fear. Ronon could be quite scary at first glance, especially for a child. "Hey, don't worry, he's a big softie really!"
Ronon grinned nicely. "It's true," he said. John was glad Ronon was playing along. "So," Ronon bent down to Erin's level, "do you like 'our' Atlantis so far?"
Erin smiled shyly at the big man, and came out from behind John's leg a little. "You have better pudding," she replied.
"We stopped by at the mess hall on the way here," John said in explanation.
Ronon nodded, then suddenly seemed fascinated by Erin's ear. Reaching across slowly, he drew out a shiny ring from her messy hair. Erin gasped with innocent amazement, and John chuckled quietly.
"How did you do that?" she smiled.
"Magic," Ronon replied, handing her the silver ring. John recognised it as one of the ones that Ronon used to tame his ferocious mane of hair. "This is for you."
Erin took it silently and stared at it, her eyes wide and her face scrunched up in confusion. John could tell she was trying to work out how the trick worked. John sidled up to Ronon, who was back to sorting out his things.
"I didn't know you could do tricks like that," he whispered.
"You didn't ask," Ronon replied, grinning. "It's just something I learned on Sateda. My niece really liked it."
John raised his eyebrows, but didn't inquire. He had known this man for 3 years, and yet Ronon still surprised him. There was so much John still didn't know about him.
"Well, I'm pretty sure Erin liked it too." John glanced over to his daughter. She was experimentally putting the ring back behind her ear to see if it would disappear. He wandered over to her. "Hey, scamp, we'd better get going if we want to see Rodney."
"Ok," she murmured, still engrossed with her investigations. John rolled his eyes to Ronon, who smiled.
"It was very nice to see you," Ronon said to Erin.
She smiled up at him. "You too. I wish that..." but then she stopped, seemingly unable to express what she was thinking. John supposed that she wished that Ronon had been in her Atlantis. "I wish that I could understand your magic," she finished, grinning and frowning at the same time, the ring held tight in her hand. Ok, maybe not then.
"Well I'm sure Rodney will help you figure it out," John said.
"That's right," exclaimed Erin, and strode out the door.
Waving at Ronon, John hurried after her. That girl certainly did know what she wanted. She must take after Elizabeth on that, John thought as he ran through the corridors after Erin.
Rodney was at his computer when John and Erin walked in. Rodney didn't seem to notice their entrance. John cleared his throat loudly.
"If you're bringing coffee then leave it on the table. If not I can't see any reason for you to need to interrupt my very important work, so just get out."
Polite, as usual. "Rodney, Erin wanted to come and see you. Is that a good enough reason?" John grinned down at Erin, who smiled back. She didn't seem surprised at Rodney's snappiness.
"Erin?" Rodney looked up eventually. "Ah yes, the other Elizabeth's daughter..."
Rodney seemed at a loss for words. John wasn't surprised. Luckily, Erin was unperturbed. She skipped over to his desk and peered at his computer. "What'cha doing?"
Rodney looked uncomfortable with the child in such close proximity. John rolled his eyes.
"Hey, Erin, give Rodney some space would you?"
"No, it's alright." Rodney finally found his voice. "I'm running a ZPM diagnostic. Hopefully it will explain the power fluctuations we've been experiencing recently."
"Oh," said Erin, peering intently at the screen. "It doesn't seem to explain much."
Rodney sighed. "Well, I wouldn't expect it to mean much to you..."
Erin looked affronted. "In my Atlantis you taught me how to understand this stuff. This diagnostic shows that nothing is wrong with the ZPM, which doesn't explain the power fluc... fluc... problems."
John grinned to himself while Rodney stuttered in reply. Erin may have the brain of Einstein, but she still stumbled over long words. It was these little defining features that made him smile. He realised he was getting quite attached to this demanding yet endearing little genius. Erin was now exploring Rodney's lab, pointing out differences to the lab in her reality.
"...but there's still a lot of food wrappers!" She grinned, happy. "Do you like Hershey's bars?"
Rodney grimaced. "Oh, no. I hate American chocolate. It's disgusting."
John felt he had to intervene. "Hey, now, American chocolate rules!"
Erin giggled naughtily. "I hate them too! In my reality you used to smuggle English and European chocolate bars from Radek's supply for me!"
"Huh," Rodney said, grinning smugly. "I must really like you then!"
Erin grinned in the same smug way. "Everyone likes me!"
"I can imagine," John murmured. "Right, scamp, we'd better let Rodney get back to his work."
"Oh, she can stay a little longer," Rodney objected, smiling gratuitously at Erin.
John knew Rodney only wanted Erin around because she complimented him. "What about your 'very important work'?" John said.
Rodney looked back at his computer and sighed. "Right. Alright Erin, you'd better do as John says."
"Can I come see you later?" Erin smiled cutely. No wonder she always seemed to get what she wanted.
"Sure."
"Come on," John said, opening the door and bowing Erin out. Erin grinned at him and skipped out. Rolling his eyes to Rodney, John followed her out. "So where do you want to go now?"
Erin thought for a moment. "I want to go back to Mummy. I miss her."
John, thinking that the meeting must be over now, answered "sure. Why don't we wait for her in the guest quarters? I'll show you how Ronon's trick works if you like."
"Really?"
"Anything you want," smiled John. "So you and Rodney are friends, huh," he asked as they walked through the corridors.
"Yep."
"Who would have thought."