Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money off of doing this. This is simply for fun.
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Til they're before your eyes
"Major, do you have our location?" John asks through his radio.
"Yes sir." Lorne says.
"Follow the sixth dot." He tells him. "I want you to send a man down to where she's going and report to me before she comes back here.
"Will do, sir." Evan says.
Ronon is leaning against the wall staring at Jennifer. He pushes himself from it and to her, crouching in front of her. "Who are you exactly?"
"Jennifer Keller. I told you." Jennifer replies.
"What were you to me?"
"Your doctor." She says, swallowing the lump in her throat.
"Nothing more?"
She's saved from answering when Rodney adds a potion in the pot that's brewing causing an explosion.
"Rodney." Teyla chastises.
"What?" Rodney asks sheepishly. "It was bland." And then tasting the brew, he says "Now that's better." Teyla and John shake their heads.
"Explosion." Ronon says under his breath.
"What's that, Ronon?" John asks.
"Melena. She died in an explosion." Ronon says with a frown.
"No, Ronon," Jennifer says, she carefully says. "She survived. She escaped with some of your people."
Ronon shakes his head. "No. she couldn't have. I saw her die."
"Maybe you saw someone you thought who looked like her." Jennifer suggests. Unsure of her own reasoning.
"No. She died before my eyes." He says firmly. "I was in the same room with her when the blast killed her." Ronon can see it happening now. Melena, telling him that she can't leave because of the injured people in the hospital. He's pleading with her to come with him as he carries an injured child in his arms. He screams as the blast consumes her body.
Ronon gets up and then holds his head in between his hands.
"Ronon?" Jennifer asks, her voice full of concern. She cups her hands over his and asks "What's wrong?"
And then he sees Atlantis. The tall structures illuminated against the dark sky. Stars. Different patterns. He remembers being a runner. For seven years. Until John, Teyla and Rodney and another doctor, Carson, saved him. They became very good friends. He remembers Elizabeth Weir, and then Samantha Carter who replaced her after she died. Earth. Another planet in a different galaxy, untouched by the Wraith. And then Richard Woolsey, who at first annoyed him, and then earned his place in Atlantis. Then there's Evan, another member of the expedition, someone he called friend.
Then Jennifer. The doctor who he found weak and vulnerable. And then he got to know her while they were locked up in quarantine, and he realized he was wrong. He remembers her patching him up. Teasing her that he slipped in the shower. He remembers her touch. Light but determined fingers on his skin. The pleasure that he experiences whenever she glides her hands over his stitches. The small knot on her forehead when she sees him coming towards her with another injury. Sparring with her in the training room. How proud he was that she was learning fast. The times they spent talking for hours in the mess hall, talking about her father and his past. The twinkle in her eyes when she looks up at him. The faint smell of peppermint in her hair when he stands behind her at the food line. The way she scolds him when he refuses to stay in her infirmary. The way she looks at him with longing eyes, mirroring his own.
Ronon opens his eyes. Her small delicate hands still covering his big ones. He slides them from under and over hers. "I know you." He simply says to her.
"You do?" She asks. Teyla cautiously walks towards the pair as she listens.
Ronon nods. "It's a good thing you didn't come with us the last time, I would've gone crazy if anything happened to you." Jennifer's vision blurs as he says this. He brushes away the tears that slide down her cheeks. "Don't cry." He whispers.
"But what about Melena?" she asks softly, oblivious to the stares they're getting from the other three.
"She's not Melena." And when he says this, he jerks his head up and gets up from his crouching position, capturing her hand in his and bringing her up with him, he turns to Sheppard and the others. "She's not Melena!"
"You're right! I'm not Melena!" The woman impersonating Melena says as she bursts into the room with four other men, catching all of them off guard.
Jennifer gasps. Teyla and John are forced to put their weapons down as the men point their own weapons at all of them.
"Akee." Ronon says.
"So you do remember." Akee says as she saunters to the middle of the room, not quite in reaching distance for the Atlanteans.
"So you really know her?" Rodney asks.
"Yeah." Ronon answers.
"Oh, yes." Akee says. "I was Melena's friend."
"You weren't her friend for a long time before the war." Ronon says, gritting his teeth.
"Well, that's really her fault, wasn't it? She stole you from me." Akee hisses.
"I didn't know that I was anyone's property." Ronon says as he pushes Jennifer behind him.
"I knew you were going to be a problem the moment I set eyes on you." She says to Jennifer, ignoring Ronon's comment, as she tilts her head to the side to capture Jennifer's gaze. "From the way he remembered you after losing his memories – it doesn't surprise me though, you look so much like her. Although, I have to admit, you're a lot prettier. Probably because you're younger."
"Leave her out of this." Ronon growls.
"I don't think so Ronon." Akee tells him. "It makes my blood boil that you would fall for another woman like Melena. We could have been happy together." Ronon sees Jennifer wince when she says that.
"You're a Wraith worshipper, aren't you?" Rodney asks.
"Why would you betray your own people?" Teyla asks.
"Survival, of course." She snaps. "You would have done the same if you were in my place." She says, turning to Ronon.
"I was turned for a while. But I had friends who saved me." Ronon says.
"Well I didn't!" she yells. "Besides, I don't need saving."
"We can help you." Jennifer says.
"Help me?!" She laughs menacingly.
"You did this voluntarily." John states.
"I chose sides. That's what I did." She says, looking at Ronon. "If you want to win the war, if you want to live, choose the Wraith."
"I'd rather die." Ronon growls out, his hand clenching into a fist.
"It doesn't matter." She says to him. "You're all going to be turned. They will convince you over and over again. Until you yield." Then turning her head to address one of the men she says "Take them. And that one," Pointing at Jennifer, "goes first."
"No!" Ronon yells as one of the men make a move to grab Jennifer by the arms. But the another man shoves his weapon against Ronon's stomach, connecting with his injury, Ronon doubles over, landing hard on his knees, bringing Jennifer down with him on the floor with his arms shielding her from the men.
"Oh my god!" Jennifer screams. Her hands fluttering over him as the man grabs her around her abdomen.
"Jennifer!" He yells. His arms outstretched before him.
"It's no use Ronon," Akee says as she moves to the door. "You don't have a choice but to come with us." She yanks the door open and stops dead on her tracks when she finds four more Atlanteans pointing their weapons at them.
"Drop your weapons!" Major Lorne yells.
The men hesitate but Akee orders them to obey. "Do what he says."
"Right on schedule, Major." John says from behind, jerking his P90 and the other weapons from their captors. Teyla, John and Ronon push the Wraith worshippers to the middle of the path. "On your knees." He orders them.
They drop to their knees. But Akee speaks. "You're making a very big mistake."
"Why is that?" John asks.
"Because," She starts to say as Wraith warriors emerge from the bushes, their weapons pointed at them. "we have you surrounded."
The Atlanteans look around them as the Wraith circle both groups.
"No." Jennifer says as she walks around to look at Akee's face. "We have you surrounded."
"Jumper's one, two, three and four, please reveal yourselves." John says casually through his comm. The wraith warriors and worshippers look up to see four jumpers hovering above the cottage as they uncloak themselves.
Evan's team disarms the Wraith warriors. "Major cooper," John says through his comm. "Are the C4s planted?'
"Yes sir." A voice says over the comm.
"Let 'er rip!" John says, five seconds later they hear a loud explosion coming from the north. A mushroom cloud rises with the sun. "That's my fifth jumper." John explains to them. "They just blew up your hive ship."
"What do we do with them now sir?" Evan asks.
"For now, we take them to the Alpha site." John says as Akee is being pulled to her feet. She spits on the ground as she is pushed past Ronon.
TBC.
