Chapter 8
Two days later as Sara walked toward the mess hall she saw Teyla approaching her. Dressed in black leather and carrying what appeared to be an automatic weapon, the other woman presented an imposing picture. Sara waved to her and smiled in greeting, "Teyla, it's nice to see you."
"It is nice to see you as well. How are you today?"
"I'm just headed in to stock up on supplies. I ran out of fresh fruit and water today, decided I should come out of my hole for a while and get something to eat. Would you like to walk with me?"
"I'm afraid I can't. We are on our way off world."
"Oh, well let me walk with you, I wanted to talk with you about that."
The two women continued down the corridor as Sara talked, "Were you able to speak with Col. Carter and Col. Sheppard about my going to P-4579 to conduct some on site study?"
Teyla slowed a bit and looked at Dr. Clayton, "I did speak with Col. Carter about obtaining clearance for you to go off world. She and Col. Sheppard do not believe it is warranted at this point."
Sara stopped walking. She had never even considered the possibility she wouldn't be allowed to visit the civilization responsible for the manuscripts. "I'm sorry, they don't believe it's warranted at this point? What exactly does that mean?" When Teyla stopped walking Sara shook her head, "No, never mind, you have someplace you need to and I need to get back to my research." Turning on her heel she walked away without giving the other woman time to reply.
Teyla continued to the gate room, walking onto the dais with a concerned look on her face.
"Something wrong?" John asked.
"I just spoke with Dr. Clayton and she seems to be upset with your decision not to allow her to go to P-4579."
Rodney nodded, "Yeah, I figured she wouldn't take that well. She told me that in order for her research to be complete she needs to be allowed to do some field work."
John looked at Rodney, "Maybe you should talk to her when we get back. You know, explain things to her."
"Sure, right.. make me the bad guy. Thanks."
"Hey she seems to like you," John replied as they walked toward the gate, "You might be able to get her to understand why we can't take untrained civilians off world."
****
Sitting alone in her room later that evening Sara ran a hand through her hair distractedly as she scanned through the same paragraph for the third time. She set the pad down and walked out onto her balcony. Inhaling the warm sea air she leaned against the railing. She wished Molly was around. The month she had spent on Atlantis should have been invigorating, but with the revelation that her work was supposed to help mankind defeat some evil race of life sucking aliens all Sara could do was dwell on what would happen if she was unable to give them anything of real importance. How was she supposed to provide any real results when they insisted on treating her like a freshman on her first dig. The thought just brought back the anger and frustration she had been feeling all day. Turning, she walked back into her room and picked up her roller blades. She needed to get out and work off some of the excess energy.
Ronon stood on the balcony outside his room and stared into the darkness. The mission had gone as planned, but he still felt restless. He often did when the nights were so quiet. Maybe Sheppard is up for a late night sparring session, he thought. As he turned to go back into his room, he caught a glimpse of something speeding past on the platform below. He leaned out into the dark and tried to figure out what it had been, but it was gone before he could really tell. Curious he picked up his weapon from the bed side table and walked out into the corridor.
Sara smiled as the night air blew across her face. The music from her MP3 player surged through her and she pushed herself harder. Bringing her roller blades along had been one of the best decisions she had made. The information she was analyzing was dark and heavy and sometimes she just needed to get away from it. She shook her shoulders a little as the music changed. She saw the pier coming up on her left and leaned into the turn. Suddenly, there was something in her way and she over corrected to miss it. She landed with an unceremonious "thud" on her ass. She shook her head and pushed her hair out of her face. Looking up she saw a shirtless Ronon Dex standing over her, one hand on his gun and a strange look on his face. She looked away quickly, before the inevitable blush she seemed to experience around him crept up on her face. When she looked back, he had holstered his gun and his hand was out, offering to help her up.
"There aren't usually a lot of people out here at night. What are you doing out here alone?"
"Jeez, how do you get through the day being that suspicious of others?" Sara took his hand and hauled herself to her feet, not bothering to answer her question. A breeze blew in from the water and pushed her forward as she got to her feet. She bumped into his chest it smelled of sweat and leather. She felt her face heat up and quickly pushed herself backwards. Oh for Christ's sake Sara, get a grip. He's a man, not Adonis. She chided herself silently. Okay, so he's a very large man with deep green eyes and an ass you'd kill to touch...Jesus,now you sound like Molly. Her face flushed again so she allowed herself to roll a little further back, putting as much distance as she could between herself and him, keeping her eyes downcast. The last thing she needed was for him to get the wrong idea.
Ronon watched as Dr. Clayton rolled backwards away from him. When she'd slammed into his chest he'd felt an unexpected flash of awareness. Now that she had moved, he could still feel the warmth where her hands had pressed against his chest. The idea that he was attracted to this odd woman was discomforting to Ronon, he shook his head to clear it and asked again, "What are you doing out here?"
Sara looked down, "Oh, the 'blades. Right, I'm guessing there's not a lot of call for roller blades here, huh?"
Ronon shrugged, but didn't say anything.
"I do this for exercise and to blow off steam. I can't stand going to the gym, to many people trying to hard. All that groaning and sweating, it's like sex without the good parts." As soon as the words left her mouth, Sara choked. She looked at Ronon and saw a small smile on his lips. Great, now he thinks I have sex on the brain.
"Maybe you just aren't working out with the right people."
Sara's mouth dropped open, but she closed it in a hurry. Calm down. It's not like he meant it the way you took it. Lord, Molly's right, I need to get out more often.
"Yeah, well..." She just shrugged, unable to come up with anything witty to say that didn't sound like she was trying to get him into bed.
"Having trouble sleeping?" Ronon asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah," Sara sighed and skated over to one of the nearby benches," The stuff I'm reading and some of the information we got today, it's heavy stuff. Sort of like reading Stephen King just before bedtime." She could see immediately that he didn't get the reference. "Stephen King is a novelist on Earth. He writes a lot of horror,in fact several movies have been made that are based on his work." Stop talking. Just... stop...talking. Sara began repeating in her mind. You sound like a love struck teenager.
"And this kind of thing is popular on Earth?"
Sara laughed, "Yeah, really popular."
Ronon frowned, "Your people are really strange."
Sara sat down on a stone bench looking out over the water, " I guess it could seem that way to someone not used to our cultural norms." Great, now I've gone from sounding like a sex maniac to a professor giving a lecture. "What I meant was reading all this stuff about life-sucking Wraith and evil demons bent of planetary destruction gives me the creeps."
Ronon looked out at the darkened water, his mind running through all the times he'd woken in a cold sweat after a nightmare about the war, or one of the endless nights he'd spent hiding from the Wraith. Reading about that kind of thing didn't seem all that appealing. He ran one hand across his face and looked back to where Sara was sitting. He pointed at the small black rectangle attached to her arm, "I've seen you wear that before."
Sara pulled her MP3 out of the arm band and held it out for him to see, " It's called an MP3 player. I have a bunch of music on there. It goes everywhere I do. Sometimes I can't concentrate with all the background noise, so I plug this in and drown the rest of the world out. It's just a mix of stuff, I'm never sure what I'm going to be in the mood for."
As Ronon sat down next to her she took one of his hands and turned it over, dropping the ear buds and player into his palm, "Go ahead, take a listen. I doubt anyone you know listens to Korn. I just can't picture Dr. McKay or Colonel Sheppard being big hard rock fans."
Ronon took the buds from her and slipped one into his ear. The music he heard was loud and raw. He looked at Sara, "Sheppard talks about someone called Johnny Cash a lot and the music I've heard McKay listening to wasn't anything like this." He arched an eyebrow, "You listen to this to relax?"
The look he was giving her broke some of the tension Sara was feeling, "You look like Mr. Spock when you do that. I expect to hear, 'Captain, that's highly illogical' coming out of your mouth." His look became even more confused. She pulled the bud from his ear, "Yeah, I listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Some of it helps me blow off steam, like this stuff." She looked at him, "Don't you ever just feel like you need to, I don't know, hit something?"
"When I feel like I need to hit something, I just..hit it."
"That must make you really popular at social functions."
Ronon's face broke into a wide grin as he realized she was teasing him, "I don't really get invited to a lot of parties, unless Teyla makes someone include me." He gestured to his gun and then to himself, "I intimidate people, I think."
"I can't imagine why. You look so cute and cuddly all dressed in leather, scowling at everyone and packin' heat." She tucked the MP3 player back into it's case. The silence was back and Sara couldn't think of anything to say. That wasn't actually true, she could think of a thousand questions she'd like to ask him, but just didn't think she should. Instead she stood up, "Well, now that you know I'm not a security threat, I should let you get back to sleep. I need to get back to my room anyway."
Ronon stood up as she got ready to skate away. He put one hand on her arm to stop her, "You should come down to the gym sometime and try working out with Sheppard and me."
The invitation was unexpected and Sara wasn't sure what to say, so she just stared at him.
Ronon let go of her arm and stepped back, "We'd even go easy on you."
Sara snorted, "I doubt you'd have to."
Ronon tossed his head back and actually laughed, "What, you think you could take me on?"
Sara shrugged, "You just might be surprised big guy. You just might be surprised."
Ronon stood and watched as Sara disappeared into the darkness. He had thought she was like McKay, obnoxious, to smart for her own good. His conversation with her tonight had given him a lot to think about. She was...intriguing. Intelligent, but apparently unsure of herself and even shy. Part of him hoped she would take him up on the invitation to spar with him and Sheppard. As he walked back to his room he couldn't stop himself from wondering what it would be like watching her as she worked up a sweat.
Sara got back to her room and sat down to take off her blades. Her mind was a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts. She reached for her cell phone out of habit, thinking about calling Molly. She dropped her hand as she remembered that wasn't possible. She walked to the bed and flopped down on her stomach. Reaching back she freed her hair from it's braid and shook it out. She'd probably misread what just happened, there was no way Ronon Dex had been flirting with her.
