Chapter 10 – Home

Jennifer looked up from the book she was reading. Loud voices were coming from the next room in the infirmary. With a smile she identified them as the shrill treble of the head nurse, and Ronon's deep rolling bass. He was probably trying to get out of bed again.

And this time, he had obviously succeeded, because he suddenly stood in the doorway. Even dressed in the baggy hospital scrubs, he took her breath away. Slowly, he walked up to her bed, dragging a rolling IV stand with him that held a pouch with a clear liquid inside. He was still rather pale, and his left arm was swathed in bandages. His eyes swept over her whole body, from the band aid on her cheek to the cast on her left leg. Pointing at the latter, he asked, "Will you be..."

"Yes, I'll be fine," Jennifer assured him. "I tore a ligament, but they've sewn it back together, and there should be no lasting ill effects." She held out her hand to him, and he took it eagerly. Noticing the slight tremor in his fingers, she looked into his face and noticed that it had turned several shades paler.

"You shouldn't be up yet," she scolded. "For God's sake, at least sit down."

Gratefully, Ronon fell into a wicker chair next to Jennifer's bed, her hand still in his. Jennifer looked down at his dark fingers entwined with her white ones. There was a lump in her throat, and she had to swallow several times before she could speak.

"Ronon..." she began. "I didn't... I mean I should have..."

"If you're sorry about what happened on the planet, don't worry," he told her softly. "It was another time and another place, and..."

"No," she interrupted him, "that's not what I meant at all. That part I will treasure forever. It's just... I should have asked you in the beginning how long the effects of that poison would last. If I had realized that you were yourself again, I would not have run away, I would..."

"But don't you see that it saved my life?" Now it was Ronon's turn to interrupt her. "It was very brave of you to follow me. And I didn't want you to remember me as a madman. If you had come to me, I would just have lain down and died in your arms."

Jennifer made a sound half way between a sob and a laugh. "Sorry to ruin that beautiful scenario for you," she said, smiling through her tears.

"You will need to make it up to me," Ronon said sternly.

Jennifer shot him a coy look. "What did you have in mind?"

Ronon tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "Once we're out of here, maybe dinner?" he suggested, his voice growing drowsy. "And afterwards maybe..."

"...a bubble bath," Jennifer continued for him.

"Mmh," was the sleepy reply. "And then..."

He had drifted off to sleep. Sighing contentedly, Jennifer snuggled into her pillows, letting her imagination run wild.

The End