Chapter: 12
Note: Yes, I know, we're almost 'there', patience…
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Twenty-One years, one month and 3 days earlier
John watched as Keller laid another damp cloth over Ronon's forehead. John was surprised steam didn't hiss up from the wet cloth. Ronon's face was flushed, but pale beneath and the moisture over his face was not due to the cloth. The foul mood wasn't either.
"I'll be fine," Ronon protested as he held out one arm to block Keller away from him so that he could sit up without her trying to press him back down onto the infirmary bed.
"No, you will not. Your temperature is far too high, you have been sick twice and you need to rest," she protested, as she unsuccessful tried to stop Ronon from sitting up. The big guy paused once sat upright, looking slightly paler for a moment.
John stepped backwards. On his way in here, he had unfortunately been close enough to hear Ronon throw up and he didn't want to be close for the repeat show. He watched Ronon's face drain of colour as the cloth dropped from his forehead.
"You okay, Buddy?" John asked. Ronon grunted as a reply. "Maybe you should follow the Doc's orders," John suggested.
"Yes, lie back down," Keller repeated her order.
"No, I've fought before when I've felt like this," Ronon argued, some colour returning to his face.
"It's a basketball game, not a fight," Keller protested.
John turned to her. "Actually…" he began.
Keller glared at him over her shoulder before she turned back to Ronon, pressing her hands against his sweat-drenched shirt. "Lie back down and rest, Ronon."
"She's right, Buddy," John offered, though silently he was cursing. All the others who knew how to play were already in the teams who had been knocked out. This was the 'semi-final' and he and Ronon were set to win! Damn it! "I'll get someone else to play in your place."
"No, I've been ill before," Ronon protested as he continued to resist Keller's pressure.
"This is likely to be the stomach flu that Dr Smith brought back from Earth, so no, you actually haven't had this before."
"Stupid Earth viruses," Ronon muttered as he began to stand up from the bed.
John was beginning to think that Ronon really was going to try to play. However, as soon as Ronon was upright he began to crumple down towards the floor. John jumped forward with Keller and between them they got hold of him before he hit the floor. John grunted with the effort as he got Ronon back onto the bed. Once he was there Ronon let out a loud gruff sigh.
"Just get some sleep, and I'll get us through to the finals," John assured him, now the one to push Ronon to lie back down on the infirmary bed. This time there was no resistance and the big man lay back with a sigh of relief. John retrieved the cloth from the side of the bed and dipped it back into the bowl of water Keller had set on the side.
"Who can compete with Walker and Lorne?" Ronon asked, his eyes half closed.
"You saying I can't take them alone?" John asked jokingly.
Ronon grunted as he opened his eyes, but John laid the cloth over Ronon's forehead, purposefully covering his eyes as well. "Don't worry about it, I'll find someone."
He turned before Ronon could say anymore, because there was only ten minutes till he had to be at the gym to go down courtside on the pier or else forfeit the game. He had to find someone in ten minutes!
"Get someone good!" Ronon shouted as John left the infirmary at a near run.
"Yeah, yeah," John replied over his shoulder.
In his mind, he ran through everyone who regularly played in the large hall that they used as a gym. They had put up hoops in there last year and it had really taken off. But, try as he might, John couldn't think of anyone who practised who hadn't already played in the friendly contest. As he reached the closest transporter, he ran through the more athletic scientists he knew. He still came up empty, so he headed at a run towards the main gym, just down the hall from the old sparring gym. Inside the larger gym there were two rooms, one with the hoops, a table tennis table and a pool table. The other room had fixed exercise equipment and weights. He would poke his head in there and see if anyone looked promising as being able to learn basketball in the next ten minutes.
The doors of the transporter opened and he ran down the corridor at full pelt. He passed the closed doors to the sparring gym on his right. He still sparred with Ronon in there and had fond memories of having sparred with Teyla in there during the first two years, before the whole Bug incident. He slid to a halt. Teyla. She was a little short for basketball, but she had amazing agility and speed. He quickly reversed his direction. What were the chances that she was the one using the sparring gym right now?
He glanced at his watch – he had seven minutes now. She had been spending slightly less time back with her people, as not so many of her people required full time care, and there was the fact that she had broken up with Kanaan. John had noticed her change in mood to the day that she had split up with Kanaan, but it had taken the news to filter through by the grapevine (which was admittedly pretty fast in this city) for him to have his suspicions confirmed. He had hated seeing her look sad, though she tried to hide it, so he had attempted to encourage her to spend more time with the team. The team started their own movie nights and when Torren was with them, they would pass him around for cuddles so that Teyla didn't need to play 'mom' all evening.
He had waited a couple of weeks before he brought up the subject of Kanaan with her, just so that she knew that he knew and that she didn't have to pretend to be happy when she wasn't. It had been an uncomfortable conversation for him to start, but it had been short and she had thanked him for his concern, even going so far as to hug him, something they did rarely. He had liked the feeling of her in his arms, especially as she was free and single again. He hadn't done anything about that since, but had been trying to spend more time with her, as he waited for her to get over Kanaan a bit, and work out how to go about finding out if she would be into seeing him. He didn't want to push anything too soon, not just because he really didn't know if she was interested, but also because the last he wanted to be was the 'rebound guy'. She hadn't been looking as sad lately, but he still got the feeling that she was down. Some basketball could be just what she needed right now.
He slid to a halt at the sparring gym's doors and they slid open for him to reveal Teyla sparring with young female scientist John recognised from Rodney's lab.
"Ah, great," he said, slightly out of breath from his mad dash here. "You free in about," he checked his watch, "five minutes time?" He asked Teyla.
She and the scientist looked surprised and amused by his entrance, but Teyla lowered her bantos rods as she looked at the other woman questioningly. The woman lowered her rods as well, looking rather relieved. "I think I've had enough anyway," she told Teyla, the scientist clearly exhausted.
"Then, yes I am," Teyla told John with a questioning smile. "Why?"
"Cause I need your help with something," John told her. "You need to come with me now," he waved her towards him.
Teyla looked bemused for a moment, but nodded to the scientist and hurried to the side where her training bag sat. She picked it up and headed towards him. "What is this about?"
"You've watched us play basketball before, right?" He asked as he walked quickly down the corridor. Teyla was working to push her bantos rods inside her bag and keep up with him. John reached out to take her bag and he opened it for her as they kept walking.
"Is this about the semi-finals?" She asked, surprising John.
"You know about that?" He asked. She had been so involved with her people and Torren that she hadn't been involved with as many city wide social events, and basketball had never interested her.
"I doubt there is anyone in the city who does not," she replied with a smile as she took back her closed bag from him. "Why?" She repeated her question. John was hoping to get her to the main gym before he broke the news. The others would be meeting in there to go down to the pier together for the game.
"Ronon's got the stomach flu and I need a partner," John told her.
She looked surprised for a moment and then slowed. John had feared this. "John, I do not think I compare to Ronon," she told him looking worried.
"Course not, you're way prettier than Ronon," he joked with her, aware that he had just spontaneously complimented her, but she just kept protesting.
"Is this not the game with the very high rings set on the wall?"
"Sure, but I've seen you jump," he assured her as he reached for one of her bare elbows and pulled her with him down the corridor. She wasn't resisting too much.
"Surely you need someone more experienced to get you through to the finals?"
She had pulled to a stop again and, unwilling to force her down the rest of the corridor, he paused, turning to face her, but kept his hand loosely around her elbow. "You'll do fine, you haven't met a sport you can't do," he told her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "That is hardly true; I did not enjoy the snooker."
"Pool," John corrected her. "Besides that's not a real sport and you were great at it you just didn't enjoy it. Trust me, you'll be great at basketball. You've got a strong arm, great hand-eye coordination and you're super fast," he told her. He was aware that he was trying to charm her into agreeing.
She narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious at his compliments, but there was a touch of a sparkle to her eyes that told John that she had actually liked it. That little fact was interesting, but he was down to like two minutes to convince her.
"Do it for Ronon, he needs your help get us through to the finals," he tried next.
She raised one eyebrow showing she was fully aware of his persuasion techniques. He pulled gently on her elbow again and she slowly began moving with him, though she still looked doubtful.
"I am not sure that I can do that, John. I have only played basketball once or twice and that was last year."
He could tell he had convinced her and that she was just putting up some last arguments.
"You'll be fine. I'll brief you as we go and you've watched us playing loads of times. You'll know most of the rules without realising and you'll pick it up in no time," he reassured her, giving her his best persuading smile. "Please," he added, pulling out the big guns. It worked far better than he expected.
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
"Great, thank you, Teyla," he told her as she began moving faster along with him towards the gym.
"You may not thank me later, if I fail to play the role of Ronon," she told him.
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It was a beautiful day over the pier and there was quite an audience around the court and watching from some of the balconies above. A nice cool breeze kept everyone comfortable and the sun was hidden behind thin clouds, which kept it out of the eyes.
The game had started out slowly, Teyla catching the flow of the game. That he had to shout instructions to her at first had limited how successful they could be against Walker and Lorne, but after about ten minutes, she suddenly got into the game. And the woman could jump! She had worked out the tricks of how to pass the ball from watching the Lorne and Walker, and suddenly John had found himself on the receiving end of her passes, which had been rather forceful at first due to their speed, but John had been training with Ronon, so he knew how to catch them with minimal damage to his fingers.
After another ten minutes and they had begun to get in synch with each other, which wasn't that hard considering how long they had been working together as a field team. John was hassling Walker backwards as Lorne attempted to cover Teyla, but she darted left, jumped and actually did a roll across the ground. John tossed the ball, crossed around Walker and she had the ball heading back towards him just as he had gotten into place. He jumped, caught the ball and slammed it home. The cheering was almost as good as his adrenaline rush at their teamwork. John turned towards where Teyla was smiling. He lifted his hands towards her and she slapped her palms against his victoriously.
"You can't barrel roll in basketball!" Lorne protested loudly.
John turned towards him smiling. "Show me where it says that in the rule book," he called back.
"It's implicit," Lorne argued back with a smile.
"Right," John responded doubtfully. "You're just upset because she practically leapt over you."
"A lucky shot. Bring it on, Colonel," Walker baited from behind Lorne as he bounced the ball back into play.
John intercepted Lorne's attempted dunk, and then Teyla received from him and jumped up towards the hoop, one hand on Walker's back as she did.
"Foul!" Walker protested following the cheers at Teyla's hoop.
John turned. "You were in her way," he argued back, seriously impressed himself at her move.
In no time, he and Teyla had the score up high, though it was hard work against Lorne and Walker's tight offence and that Teyla's height allowed them to steal from her more easily. She got them back though, forcing fouls on them and used another barrel roll to get round Walker at one point. John was seriously enjoying himself.
That he was getting the chance to watch her at play in her low cut top and high cut sparring trousers was enjoyable enough, but as they kept winning, their high fives had shifted to slaps on the back and half hugs. When they abruptly scored their last hoop, winning the game, he got a full on hug with her which he prolonged by lifting her up from the ground for a second. It had been a great game and he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
"You're even better than Ronon," John told her afterwards as they headed off the court.
"I doubt that," she replied, a little out of breath as he was from all the excitement. Her skin was flushed and sweat glistened over her skin and he felt a full on rush of arousal looking at her. He turned his attention on the doorway into the main tower and on his water bottle, which he was currently denuding from its label.
"No, you did great, Ronon's going to be seriously impressed," John told her, keeping his attention on the bottle in his hands and remembering the sound of Ronon throwing up to help distract him from the heat running throughout his body that had nothing to do with the game.
"I do not think it is a sport that I will play often, but did I enjoy it. Thank you for encouraging me to play," she told him. His brain did really wrong things with that sentence. He cleared his throat and drank the last of his water.
"Glad you enjoyed it," he replied as he strewed on the bottle lid with far too much focus as they headed down the corridor.
"It was just what I needed," she added sounding rather thoughtful and it drew his attention back on her. He thought he saw some of that sadness in her expression again. He felt a desperate need to banish it again.
"Well, if you need more distractions, Ronon's probably going to be out of commission for a few more days and I'll need someone to beat me up," he offered her.
She grinned at his joke, but she considered the offer he could tell. "Perhaps I should try the snooker again."
"Pool," he corrected her and then he saw her little smile and he realised she had done it on purpose. There was a playfulness in her eyes, most likely brought up by the game, but he really liked having those sparkling adrenaline fuelled eyes targeted on him. Maybe he could persuade her to get more involved with the sports in the city, because she had been amazing just now. They could start with Pool if she wanted. "You know, there's a regular Tuesday night Pool game in the gym," he suggested. "We could clean up."
"Surely the cleaners clean up after such an event," she replied.
This time he didn't fall for it.
He narrowed his eyes at her, his adrenaline and arousal still lingering in his body, and he decided that more time with Teyla was definitely in order now. The playfulness in her eyes, the way she looked away amused and teasing, made some deep male instinct inside him seriously sit up and take notice, not that it hadn't been watching before now. Team evenings, Pool night and maybe he could talk her into sparring, or hoops again. Just the two of them…
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TBC
