Chapter 11
Ronon
Ronon watched as Jennifer turned back towards him, well, actually it was more like around him as she wasn't meeting his eyes. He figured there must be something on her mind but he wanted to see what she had to say before he said anything. When she had stopped by the night before, was it really only last night? and tried to give him the knife back, he had that feeling again. That feeling that said he needed to keep her safe and protected. He knew that she was a doctor and was not really able to use the knife to defend herself but it made him feel better to know she had it, and after hearing what had happened on New Athos he knew that if pushed hard enough she would use it. Her promise made him feel better about her going on future missions without him.
After she had left with plans to see him again later the next day, he felt he had something to look forward to. That is the thought that stayed with him as he drifted off into a night of dreams of eyes that changed with the light. When he woke the next day he was well rested and ready for another day of talking to a man who would still probably say nothing.
When he met up with John at breakfast though, John had some other ideas. John had thought of a new strategy and after a talk with Col Carter it was decided that the two of them would go back to the planet and see if they could find the camp that Michael's men had made, and see what they could find. Ronon was more than happy about the new plan; at least he would feel like he was going out and doing something other than just letting these men slip away. It was going to be an easy and probably pretty fast mission and he would still be back in time to meet with Jennifer. He felt that his day could not be better.
The two men got to the planet and Ronon was able to get them to the men's camp where they saw the three remaining men packing up. Ronon and John stayed hidden and watched the men leave. They followed them to the gate, and seeing the address they dialed, both men had the same thought; they needed to get to that planet today.
They dialed Atlantis and had a brief meeting with Col. Carter who agreed they needed to act immediately. John wanted Major Lorne and his men to go with them to the new planet and see what they could find. So about 30 minutes after getting back to Atlantis they were leaving again, this time with the Majors team.
Everything was quiet when they stepped through the gate. There was nothing near them other than the typical wooded area so common in this galaxy. The only visible traces of humans was a small trail that led off into the woods. They followed the trail quietly, all thinking the same thing; if they were lucky, today would be the day that the Michael threat would be over.
Ronon don't know what made him stop when he did, but something felt wrong to him. He was opening his mouth to say something when the loud sounds of gunfire rang out. For just a second there was confusion, but everyone quickly returned fire from their unseen attackers. Ronon and the others would liked to have stayed and fought, but the attackers had the advantage. They had no choice but to fall back.
He didn't see what happened to John. All Ronon knew was John was fine, then just a few moments later John had a hand to the back of his head. The hint of blood let him know that John had been hit with something. When John bent down to help a fallen marine, Ronon saw them both struggling and he ran to them to help. That was when he felt it; the fire of pain as he was shot in the leg. He did his best to ignore the pain he felt. He tried to stay as close to the trees along the path back to the gate as much for cover as to see if he could make out the men attacking them and take a few out. All he actually managed to do was break a few branches and give himself more injuries.
When they got to the gate Ronon helped by laying down some cover fire and letting Major Lorne dial the DHD. They didn't return to Atlantis immediately; instead they dialed an abandoned planet and from there they dialed Atlantis. The reason being they didn't want their attackers to know the address to Atlantis; let them search an empty planet. From this abandoned planet they went back to Atlantis. Ronon limped through the gate and looked to see that everyone had made it before he gave in to the darkness.
When he woke up he had visitors, but before anyone could say anything Jennifer was there in the room checking in on him. He wanted to know what happened to everyone else on the mission to see if everyone made it back okay, but Jennifer shooed his teammates away. Not that he was going to complain; he did have plans to see her tonight' only this wasn't quite how things were supposed to be.
Jennifer
"So, like John said you were very lucky. That bullet came very close to killing you." Jennifer told him, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't quite seem to look him in the eye. She thought if she did it would make everything too real and she couldn't handle that right now.
"Guess this means that I won't be giving you any lessons anytime soon." Ronon said jokingly.
Jennifer's eyes shot to meet his when he made his joke. She snapped and suddenly she was angry.
"How can you make jokes about that? You could have died and you think it is time to make jokes and be funny!" While yelling at him she had walked closer to his bedside. "I thought you were going to be staying here today. You could have died, and I was too much of a coward to talk to you last night like I had planned. I was scared to death when I saw you on the floor of the gate room and you make jokes!"
Ronon opened his mouth and then closed it again. Jennifer could see the confusion written all over his face and if she hadn't been so scared for him and angry she might have laughed. She realized then that he had no idea why she was yelling at him like that and knew she needed to explain herself.
"I'm sorry, let me start over and please don't say anything till I am finished or I might not get through this." Jennifer said more quietly. Then taking a deep breath she prepared herself for the talk she had intended to give him the night before.
"I thought when I got here that I wasn't cut out to be here. There was too much expected of me and I had never been in charge of a department like this. I also didn't know how to relate to the people here, you especially. When I saw you, all I saw was this guy who could probably break me in half without even breaking a sweat! Then we were stuck in the infirmary together and I was nervous. I mean we had never actually had a real conversation before, and now there we were with nothing but time. You tried to make me feel better about the situation we were in and then you told me about the woman that you lost. I knew I was seeing a side of you that very few people on Atlantis had ever seen, and that had probably not been seen by many people in years. I never knew that you could be like that and I felt so honored that I was allowed to see it. Later when we talked and you shifted closer to me I kept thinking that any second I would wake up; things were just too good. When we almost kissed I thought to myself that there had to be a catch, that someone like you would never give me the time of day, let alone be interested enough to kiss me. I was disappointed when those doors opened because I thought there goes my only chance. After that, I know we were both busy and we never really talked about it. For my part, I would rather have that memory as it was thinking that you wanted that kiss as much as I did. I feared that if we talked I would find out that you would rather have given it up to we might have been seconds away from dying and just wanted to go out on a kiss. When we were near each after that thought, all I could think about was that almost kiss and my mind would wonder. There were times I hoped that you felt the same, and others when I thought you would rather it had never happened. I went to see you last night not only to give you the knife back; I wanted to tell you all of this then but I was too chicken, and today you could have been killed. Even if you want nothing to do with me, and who could blame you; I am sure that you think I am completely crazy right now. I needed you to know that I care for you."
She ended her speech softly but knowing that he had heard every word. She didn't want to look in his eyes and see rejection so she looked at the floor. She knew she had to face him, and the repercussion of her speech, so she took another deep breath and raised her eyes to stare into the penetrating green eyes of Ronon Dex; who at that moment had the ability to give her heaven or squash her like a bug under his boot.
She met his eyes and was encouraged to see that he didn't look repulsed by what she said, but she was still nervous over the look of shock that covered his face.
TBC
