Author's Note: Okay, so the next few chapters are going to be just a bit short, but I'm leading up to my first really climactic moment of action that will kind of set the stage for the rest of this fic. I'm getting really excited! :)

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Chapter Four

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The woman paused in her tale as a strange look crossed Lacey's face.

"What is it, child?" Lacey looked at her, her eyes wide with wonder.

"My baby just kicked," she said. "Come feel." The story momentarily forgotten, the children crowded around Lacey, eager to have contact with the little life inside her that would soon be one of them.

"Give her some space," her mother chided them, rocking to her feet and going over to place her own hand on her daughter's round stomach. Trained by years of practice and her own pregnancies, her fingers felt a ripple of movement under the skin.

"I said to feel, not stop your story," Lacey said, smiling. "I haven't heard you tell it in so long. We want to hear the rest, don't we, children?" A chorus of "Yes!"'s resounded through the room, and the woman grinned.

"Alright. Where were we?"

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Over the next few weeks Teyla began to spend an increasing amount of time with the Dex family. That one night at dinner she had promised to help Melia with whatever she needed, and that normally consisted of help Ronon hunt for her or do other chores. Teyla was afraid of becoming too comfortable with it--- she still didn't like the Satedan--- but after seeing him rescue the deer for his sister, she was seeing him with different eyes.

As she found herself spending more and more time with Ronon, she noticed a growing unease in Halling. She had managed to keep him and Ronon from hurting each other, but she had a feeling that this sort of tentative peace was not going to last for very much longer.

In spite of her worry, she waited for Halling to say something; she knew him too well to call him out before anything else had actually happened. But it didn't take him long to speak.

"Why do you spend so much time with him?" he asked one day, when the two of them had stolen a rare moment alone together.

"Who?" she asked for show.

"Ronon Dex. You don't like him; why do you bother?"

"Melia sends him to me for help," Teyla told him. "And I do like her." Halling didn't seem to buy it.

"He's playing errand boy for his mother because he wants you." Teyla laughed, trying to lighten the statement.

"He "plays errand boy" to help his mother," she said. "He takes care of his family while his father is away fighting the wraith."

"Please be careful, Teyla. I don't want him to hurt you." he seemed about to say more, but Teyla cut him off with a quick kiss.

"Did you come here today to complain about Ronon, or to be with me?" she asked, and was rewarded with a smile of defeat.

"You know the answer to that," he said, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her in for another kiss.

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By the time that Teyla returned home, it was dark; so dark that she didn't see Ronon on the path until he stepped out in front of her. She jumped, and felt Halling stiffen beside her, but she touched his arm lightly, holding him back.

"My, um, mother wanted me to come thank you for everything you've been helping her with," Ronon said awkwardly, thrown off by Halling standing there. Teyla began to reply, nodding, but Ronon continued before she could.

"And she told me to ask you to come to dinner tomorrow, you know how she is..." Teyla hid a smile; she did know. Melia was kind and gentle and giving; over-generous sometimes, but a completely good woman. Teyla knew how much it meant to her that her invitation was accepted.

"Tell Melia that I will come," she said. "And thank you." Ronon seemed surprised at her acceptance, and stumbled back a step.

"Okay," he said. "I'll tell her." Halling frowned after him as he left, but Teyla just shook her head. She expected her friend to be upset with the Satedan, but to her mild surprise his reaction was limited to one sentence.

"Don't let him decieve you," was all that he said. She decided that she could live with that.

At the door of her tent, they parted with a quick kiss, and after she had watched him leave she pushed aside the flap and stepped into the tent.

"Adi?" she called. Tagan looked up when she came in. The cut on his forehead was almost healed now thanks to Charin, and he was wearing the scar proudly.

"Welcome home, Shona," he said, coming over to her and kissing her forehead before he bent to touch it with his own.

"Who were you with?" he asked when he released her. "Halling or Ronon?" Teyla frowned at him.

"You say that as if it would be a problem if I was with one of them."

"No problem," Tagan said, removing a pot from the fire and ladling its contents into two bowls. "But lately you spend nearly as much time with your Satedan friend as you do with your fiancee."

"I have been helping Ronon as a favor to Melia," she informed her father, taking one of the bowls.

"You don't have to hate Ronon because it is a habit," Tagan told her. "He is a good man; a bit reckless, but good. You should not be ashamed of your friendship." Teyla didn't have a reply for that, and she took a bite of whatever it was that her father had made, hoping that he would let it go. But Tagan was not done yet.

"I want you to be honest with yourself-"

"Adi!" she finally cut him off. "I know my own heart. Ronon is my friend, yes; but I love Halling. They know where I stand."

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When Teyla arrived at the manor, Ronon was lounging around the gardens, waiting for her. He straightened up suddenly when he saw her, and she hid a smile. There was definitely something different about him.

"You came," he seemed surprised, and Teyla laughed at him.

"Yes I did. I wouldn't lie to you, Ronon."

"That's not what I meant..." he must have seem the amusement in her eyes. "...and you knew that," he sighed, a little embarrassed. "Come in." Still grinning, Teyla followed him inside.

Melia's dinner was better than usual, and Teyla suspected that it was not just to thank her. She had heard that her husband had returned from fighting and would be coming to Athos either that night or the next day.

"Thank you for all of this," Teyla said eventually, gesturing vaguely to include everything. "It was not necessary."

"Of course it was," Melia said. "You have spent so much time these past few weeks helping us; it was the very least that I could do for you. Especially since we will be going back to Sateda soon."

"What?" Teyla heard herself speak as one with Alyn and Ronon.

"You know that we can't stay here all the time, as much as I'd love to," she told her children.

"You know that we would never make you leave," Teyla said softly, afraid that they were leaving because of her people.

"It's not that," Melia assured her. "But we only live on Athos during the summer, when the city is too hot and crowded. But my husband is coming to bring us back." Teyla realized that that was the way that things had always been. She had never noticed before because she had never cared before. It was startling to realize that she did care.

"I don't want to go back," Alyn pouted. "I don't like the city. Everyone is nice here, and it's quiet."

"Alyn..." her mother warned.

Teyla suddenly felt very awkward and out of place; she knew that she didn't belong in the middle of the Dex family's argument.

"I should probably go," she said apologetically, rising gracefully from her chair. "My father will be waiting for me."

"I'll take you home," Ronon offered immediately, seeming as uncomfortable with the whole thing as she was. They quickly bid Melia and Alyn goodnight and made their escape into the dark peace of the night.

"I'm sorry about all that," Ronon apologized once they were out of the house. "I didn't know that she was going to start that tonight."

"It is not your fault," they walked quietly for a minute.

"You can come visit us on Sateda," Ronon said suddenly. "Alyn would love that. You can even bring Halling if you want..."

"I believe I would rather have you both alive at the end of my visit," she said. Ronon grinned.

"Probably wise," he said. "Wouldn't want your friend to get into a fight with me."

"I love him too much to let that happen twice," Teyla shook her head. Ronon grew very quiet beside her, and she let the silence stretch, content to simply walk with him. She felt perfectly safe and comfortable, not that she wouldn't on Athos anyways; but this was different. She didn't bother to wonder why.

They walked in gentle silence until they had almost reached her tent.

"Someone told me once," Ronon said eventually, "that you and Halling are... promised; engaged. Is that true?" Teyla nodded, wondering if he was the only person who did not know.

"Yes." Ronon sighed.

"Okay." They were at the door of her tent, and suddenly he took her shoulders in his big hands, leaned down, and kissed her lips; gently, sweetly, finally. Then he straightened and released her, and backed away into the darkness.

"Goodbye, Teyla Emmagan," he breathed. Shocked, Teyla couldn't move from that spot. She touched her fingers to her lips, still burning from that kiss, and stared at the place where Ronon had just been, her heart rending.

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A/N: Haha, I've been waiting for this part for a long time ;). And next comes the action! :)