Who's making the alcohol?

"What are you doing?" Ronon asked from the doorway.

Jesse and Flip jumped from where they were crouched and whispering in the dark. "Damn it! Ronan can you sneak up a little louder next time! Now shh, and shut the door!" Jesse quickly pulled him in, glancing down the hallway to make sure that no one was around to notice.

Ronon rolled his eyes at Jesse's usual prickly attitude before saying, "I was not 'sneaking'. I was curious about what you and Flip were doing."

"Er, uhm, Inventory." Jesse invented quickly.

"In the dark? There are many things to do in the dark, but most of them do not involve having clothes on." Ronon teased with an almost smile.

Both Jesse and Flip gave him uncomprehending looks before identical 'eww' expressions appeared on their faces. "Get your mind out of the gutter." Jesse said in disgust.

"I got nothing to say." Flip answered good-humouredly.

"Inventory isn't usually done in the dark. Perhaps the lights don't work. Should I call for repairs?" Ronon asked before placing a hand on the light panel. "Is that better?" He continued once the lights came on.

Jesse gave an irritated huff before saying sharply, "Stop that!" Turning to Flip she asked, "I thought you said that you had disconnected all the lights?"

"I thought I did."

Turning back to Ronon, she looked up at him and said, "And you! What is it and all the 'in the darks'? I thought you were a super soldier type and could see in the dark?"

"I can see better in the dark than the majority of people here, except for perhaps Teyla, but I don't think that you are trying to improve your eye sight in here." Looking over at the large glass bottles that She and Flip had been studying, he continued, "That looks like some of the experiments that Dr. Zelanka has in a small lab. He even has pictures of Athosian fruits on it also."

Jesse gave him a look at his seemingly innocent revelation before saying thoughtfully, "Really? Huh, that could useful information."

"Yeah, but when, and how to use it? I'm not sure that I'd risk trying to blackmail him. Rumor has it that he was behind Dr. Kavanaugh's exploding toilet incident." Flip broke in just as thoughtfully.

"A collaborative effort might not be too bad. We'd have to be careful though. He is in with the Indian chiefs." Jesse said chewing on a lock of her hair.

Watching the two of them mull for a few moments longer Ronon said, "Is no one supposed to know about the rotten Athosian fruit?"

Both Jesse and Flip rolled their eyes at that. "Don't play caveman big guy. You didn't survive running from the Wraith for seven years by being stupid. You know damn well that it's fermenting, and that it's against 1,000's of military regs. So don't get all talky all of a sudden with the Indian chiefs, or Teyla for that matter." Jesse said grumpily.

"You know, fermenting would go a better if Col. Sheppard would stop turning the lights on." Flip sighed. "But I do think that we have the temp about right though."

"I think it's actually McKay with his stupid diagnostics actually." Jesse said as she joined him again in kneeling by the jars.

Ronon drew up to his full height and intoned icily, "Are you accusing me of being a tale carrier? Besides I know of no one called 'Indian chief'."

"Sure you do." Jesse said distractedly.

"Who?" He demanded as he stepped next to them. "And wouldn't it ferment better in a wooden cask?"

"They are all those that go around giving interfering and contradictory orders. And well duh! It would be better in wooden casks, but I haven't figured out how to request any with out raising suspicions."

"Your leaders are called Indian chiefs? Then how did you get these jars?"

"Yup. And they're medical requisitions that fell off the ship."

Ronon gave an annoyed sigh and said, "Why do I always feel that you are laughing at me and talking about other things than what I hear?"

"Because I usually am."

"You admit to mocking me?"

"Not precisely. I just find that interspecies communication to be haphazard and whopsided at best."

Ronon waited a moment before saying, "Teyla said something like that the other day."

"She did, did she? Good for her. I knew there was a reason I liked her. Now what did you want?"

Ronon almost purred as he looked at her and said, "I had come here for something else, but now I'd like to know, what would you do for me not to tell anyone about your 'fermenting experiments'?"

Flip looked up I alarm at his words, and opened his mouth to say something, but Jesse beat him to it and said, "Why Mr. Dex, are you acquiring the fine art of negotiating, aka 'blackmail'?"

"What were you trying to teach me about subtleties and nuances?"

"In other words I laid the ground for my own defeat?"

Flip looked between the two and said plaintively, "Are you two flirting? You are aren't you?"

Jesse and Ronon smiled at each other, and Jesse said calmly, "No we aren't, we're 'negotiating'."

"Well, it doesn't sound like negotiating to me, and my preference would is, not to be around the next time that ya'll 'negotiate'."

Ronon inclined his head and said, "Perhaps we will continue later after you have thought about what you could do for me."

"Things seem to change swiftly in this universe. Perhaps you won't have the same bargaining advantage next time we meet."

"I believe that I will take that chance."