Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money off of doing this. This is simply for fun.
Nodding her head, Jennifer says aloud "Okay, It's official I'm going insane!" She throws her hands up in the air in resignation and lets out a cross between a frustrated laugh and a hysterical sigh. Turning her back to Ronon, she tugs on her ponytail and starts to step out of the room. But she stops after the second step, shakes her head and mutters "I can't believe I'm doing this." She laughs at the absurdity of it, turns around and walks towards him. Putting her hands on her hips. She looks at him, starting from his toes, travelling to the top of his head. She squints a little to stare into his eyes. She starts to raise her hand, but hesitates when he moves a little and when the expression on his face turns from surprise to contemplative. Shrugging, her hand moves another inch, curling three fingers in her hand, she pokes him on the shoulder with the remaining two.
As soon as her fingers touch his flesh she lets out a squeak and jumps back in shock. Clapping her hand over her mouth, her eyes widen every second that ticks by. Backing up slowly, head shaking, Jennifer blindly reaches behind her, looking for a non-existent doorknob. Ronon advances towards her, his eyes shifting to the sensor and then back to her. Realizing where she is, she raises her hand behind her to swipe at the sensor. As soon as she hears the swishing of the opening door Jennifer quickly turns around to leave.
"Dr. Keller?"
X
What the…? How did John pull this off? Was his first thought. But the quick look of surprise on her face is evidence that she didn't have a clue as to what's going on.
Ronon watches her as she debates with herself. Talking out loud and laughing. Strange. Earth people are definitely strange.
He can hear the beat of his own heart, as if it's right above his ear not in his chest. She looks the same. But different. And it's hard to say what it is that changed. She steps up in front of him, perusing him with amusement. She raises her hand towards him. His eyebrow raises, and she stops for a second and then continues to raise her hand. He feels a slight jab on his shoulder blades. The brief contact is enough to shock her. And him. He feels a tingle from the touch. Not like the tingles in your feet or legs when you haven't moved them for a long time. More like an electric jolt. But not like the ones he's seen Radek and Rodney get when tinkering with ancient devices. Those probably hurt. Then again, it's Radek and Rodney; they probably get their stomachs in knots just thinking about machines and stuff.
She's getting away.
Again.
"Dr. Keller?" He says. A hint of desperation laced in his voice.
This stops her in her tracks. She slowly turns around to face the man that has been haunting her dreams for over a month now.
So many questions to ask, and he can't form one cohesive thought. Before frustration sets in, Ronon quickly says "We should start with the basics." He turns around to grab his bottle of water sitting on the bench.
Jennifer is rooted to the spot. Shocked to the depths of her bones. Basics? That's it. Her eyes start to water. Good thing he has his back turned. And before he moves to face her, she turns around to hide the hurt expression on her face.
She tosses her towel on the bench opposite her and takes a deep breath before beginning.
X
Training wasn't that bad. Considering. In fact, Ronon is a good teacher. Surprisingly, she was able to concentrate, despite Laura's prediction. Maybe the surprise she felt earlier was what helped. A wake up call. That's it. Why would he care? Laura did say that the women here are always after him. What makes me different? Because I carry his baby?Ha! He doesn't even know. Probably wouldn't want to know.
"Dr. Keller?"
Jennifer turns around to the sound of a soothing voice. "Teyla." She says in greeting. She notices a baby cradled in Teyla's arms. "Is this Torren?"
"Yes. Would you like to hold him?" Teyla offers.
"Absolutely." Jennifer says, already taking him in her arms. She coos at him as he stares up at her.
"It's good practice for you." Teyla says with a smile.
"Good practice for what?" Ronon says, coming up behind the two of them. Jennifer stiffens at the sound of his deep voice.
Teyla's eyes shift to Jennifer's sudden rigidity.
"I've never held a baby before." Jennifer answers quickly without turning around. "With all the toddlers off world and Torren here, it'll give me a chance to deal with children."
Nodding in understanding, Ronon turns to Teyla. "John? Where is he?"
"Either in the mess hall or Rodney's lab." Teyla answers. Ronon nods and starts to walk away, surreptitiously looking at Jennifer holding Torren from his shoulder. Teyla sees this. Without tearing her gaze away from Ronon, she asks Jennifer "How was training?"
This snaps Jennifer out of her thoughts. "Good." She answers a little bit too excitedly. "It was good. Better than I expected."
"What did you expect?" She asks her.
"Oh. Um." Jennifer mumbles. Damn. "Well, I've never really had training so I was a bit skeptical. I thought I'd make a lot of mistakes. Not that I didn't. I did. But not as many as I thought." She half lies, talking in rapid fashion. Teyla nods at this. Jennifer bends her head down towards Torren, but her eyes involuntarily shift to look at Ronon's back.
X
"John." Ronon calls out as he pops his head through the door to Rodney's lab.
Rodney waves him away. "He left about five minutes ago."
"Where to?"
"Mess."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." Rodney says absently. Then his head snaps up. "Thanks? He never says thanks."
X
"You finished with that?" Ronon asks as John is about to take a bit out of his half eaten sandwich.
John pulls it out from his open mouth, looks at the sandwich and then the buffet table. "You know, if this was a restaurant, I'd maybe – maybe share this with you. But this is all you can eat." He says, waving at the long table in the middle of the room.
"Just finish your sandwich, Sheppard." Ronon says , taking the seat across Johns. "We need to talk."
"Sounds serious." John says. And then with a feigned hurt look he asks "Are you breaking up with me." His voice going an octave higher, catching the attention of everyone in the mess hall. They hear few snickers a couple of tables away. Ronon scowls at the eavesdroppers.
Fifteen frustrating minutes later, John smacks his lips together in satisfaction.
"Come on." Ronon growls.
John gets up and follows the Satedan out of the room and as soon as they step through the double doors John yells "You bastard! How dare you cheat on me!" The people inside the cafeteria burst out laughing as they hear this.
X
"Sorry man, I couldn't help it. It was just too easy." John says as they walk down the hall to go to a secluded part of the city.
Ronon ignores this and says. "You were wrong you know."
"About you cheating on me?" John says with an innocent expression.
Ronon ignores the stupid taunt. "About the girl. It's not her. The woman you found. Whoever she is, it wasn't her."
"How do you know?" John asks as they step out onto the balcony, breathing in the fresh air.
"Because the woman I've been looking for is the same woman I just trained tonight." Ronon says, crossing his arms.
"Huh? Now I'm confused." His forehead wrinkling.
"Dr. Keller." Ronon tells him. "It's her."
"Dr. Keller is your mystery woman?"
"Myst… Why the hell do you keep saying mystery woman?"
"Because she is." John replies. And with more feeling he adds "Your mystery woman."
Ronon throws him a get-serious face.
"Fine. I'll stop it." John says, holding his hands up. "Okay, so then this should be good. It's a good thing. It's the good doctor. Meaning she's here to stay." John says, smiling, nodding as he looks at Ronon who is now shaking his head, so he's shaking his head too. "No? Why not?"
"I thought it would be good…"
"No spark, huh?" John says, sympathetically putting a hand on his shoulder. Ronon looks up at him with another one of his get-serious face. John takes his hand off of Ronon's shoulder. "So what is it then?"
Ronon shakes his head in frustration and then turns around.
"Okay, so how'd training go?"
"Good."
"So that's good then?"
"No. it's not."
"It's not?"
"It went really well."
"And that's bad… how?" John asks in confusion.
"It went too well. No distractions."
"Ah. You mean she wasn't distracted. At all. Like it was normal." John clarifies. Ronon nods his answer. "So basically you think she's immune."
"Yeah."
"Maybe she's just really good at learning." John offers weakly.
"John, really?" Ronon asks in frustration. They both know that it wasn't that easy. The women on Atlantis, even the best-trained ones, with Teyla as an exception, have a very hard time concentrating when training with Ronon. That's why, Teyla is in charge of the women's training.
"Okay. Maybe that may not be the answer." John says. "What did you say to her?"
"Nothing." Ronon says. "At first." John patiently waits. "I said 'We should start with the basics.'"
John shakes his head. Snorts and then says "No wonder she seems like she didn't care." Ronon's brow furrows as he waits for the explanation. "'We should start with the basics.'! Dude, you're the one who's not affected." John says in a loud voice.
"I am affected." Ronon says in a frustrated whisper.
"Yeah you are. But you said 'We should start with the basics'."
"So?"
"So?!" John repeats with a laugh. "So to her it seems like you don't care. She's probably even got it in her head that you don't remember."
"Why would she think that?"
"Sheesh! Don't ask me. Women are complicated. And you thought the Wraith are difficult!" John says. "I'm willing to bet a month's pay that someone has already told her about you. Especially if they knew that she had training with you tonight. I'm pretty sure that she's heard how the women, and some men, are falling all over themselves for you."
"And why the hell would that matter?"
"Because now she thinks you're a player."
"A player?"
"Someone who's been with a lot of women, sometimes being with more than one woman at a time." John explains.
"You mean like you?" Ronon asks with a little bit of humor.
"I was never…"
"But that's what some of the people said." Ronon points out.
Dismissing the subject, John says "I'm, just saying, man, she probably already has the wrong impression."
"Well I'm sure she remembers me though. From her reaction…"
"How'd she react?"
"A little flustered. And then it was gone." His words from earlier dawning on him "And then she changed after I said 'We should start with the basics.'."
"Definitely, bad impression."
TBC.
