19

In the mess, Ronon finds Jax sitting at a table with two other women—Lt. Cadman and a scientist he's seen on the Daedalus—eating breakfast and giggling. She sees him and waves him over. "Hey," she says, smiling. Ronon's surprised to see her having fun with other people, but when he looks in her eyes, he sees her shield firmly in place. At least she's getting out more. And he knows from experience that Jax has a wry sense of humor and is actually very personable when she wants to be, even while keeping all her secrets. It's good she's making friends.

It's been several days since the 'pheromone incident' as it's been named in the report and this is the first time Ronon's seen her or Lt. Cadman. Dr. Beckett cleared all of them after the first day, saying their brains were back to normal. But Ronon thinks Jax has been avoiding him. "Hey," he responds. "How are you?"

She nods, chewing her food. "Good. You?"

"Better."

"Wanna join us?"

Ronon glances at Laura, seeing Lt. Cadman instead. She gives him a polite nothing-happened-we-can't-forget thin, professional smile. He grins back but shakes his head, glancing around for an escape, seeing Sheppard coming into the mess. "I'm meeting the Colonel." He shrugs. "Team stuff." Jax nods.

Sheppard walks behind Ronon, heading straight for the chow line without even a glance at the women. Ronon catches a fleeting look from Jax as her eyes follow Sheppard before she quickly diverts her attention to the bowl in front of her. Ronon's eager to have a man-to-man with the Colonel about how to treat women—or at least this one, considering what he knows happened between them even if both refuse to admit it. He narrows his eyes after Sheppard. There may need to be some violence involved. Ronon turns back to Jax. "See you later?"

She grins up at him. "Yeah. Episode five, right?"

Ronon smiles and nods. "Okay." Then he heads for the line and slips in behind Sheppard. "Back in uniform, I see, Colonel."

"Yeah. Beckett just released me."

"So. I take it everything is back to normal."

"Well, as normal as it gets around here."

Ronon glances back at the women, but sees them walking out of the mess. "Okay," he says to Sheppard. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

As he fills his tray, Ronon leans toward Sheppard so that others won't hear. "What happened."

Sheppard looks at him. "Could you be more specific?"

Ronon rolls his eyes. "I could slam my fist into your head to spark your memory, if you'd prefer."

Sheppard's done filling his tray and turns to leave the line. "Do we have to do this here?"

"Why not?" Ronon follows him to a table and they sit across from each other. "Public place, keeps you safe…for now." He digs into his breakfast: scrambled eggs and bacon if he remembers correctly.

Sheppard dodges Ronon's gaze as he eats. "Look, I understand if you want to kick my ass-"

"You do?"

"But it's not gonna change anything. What happened was…out of all of our control." He finally looks at Ronon. "You're just pissed because you got caught with Cadman too soon and ended up with that nasty hangover headache."

Ronon munches on a piece of bacon, glaring at Sheppard. "No, I'm 'pissed' because of the way you just walked by Jax as if she doesn't exist."

Sheppard chokes on his breakfast, coughs and quickly looks around. "Jax is here?" He coughs again, his face turning red.

"Just left."

Sheppard turns back to Ronon, curling his upper lip and raising his brows in concern. "Did she see me do that?"

"Ah…yeah."

He presses his lips together tight, rubbing them then biting his bottom one. "Oh." His brows crease and his eyes narrow. "Crap."

Ronon continues eating, watching the other man carefully. "You didn't do it on purpose?"

He looks disgusted by the idea. "No." Then embarrassed. "I was…deep in thought as a matter of fact. About this whole," he waves his fork in a circle. "Situation."

Ronon leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. "And what were you thinking?"

"It's all jumbled up…I don't know." He leans in, whispering. "What do you think I should do?"

Ronon shrugs. "Talk to her."

Sheppard's eyes dart around quickly and he leans back shaking his head and chuckling uncomfortably. "Oh…no no no. I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well for one, from what you told me, she might kick my ass."

Ronon narrows his eyes. Sheppard's worried, but not about Jax's temper. "You're lying."

"What?"

"You're afraid."

"Yeah…I just admitted that." He digs into his food again. "Truth be told…I'm not so good with women…one-on-one. Bad timing…foot chewing…it gets messy fast."

Ronon's mind conjures up some interesting images regarding Sheppard's last remark. What does he mean foot chewing? He shakes off the thought, probably another of those colloquial things Jax is always teasing him about. He might ask her though…

He grabs Sheppard's gaze. "You're afraid you'll be tempted into action again." Ronon leans on his elbows and digs into his eggs. Sheppard stops chewing, his fork motionless in mid-air, his gaze glued to his food. He doesn't seem to be breathing either. His face quickly turns several shades of red. He swallows hard. "Thought you didn't remember." Ronon raises a brow. "That good, huh?"

"…what?" He clears his throat, his face changing color again. "Yeah…wait a minute-" he looks pointedly at Ronon, arching both brows. "I'm not having this discussion with you. Beckett said it was the combination of the chemicals and the gene. There's nothing… left over."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that. In the meantime, talk to Jax. She's not dangerous… unless you deserve it."

Sheppard shakes his head and leans in again, whispering. "What the hell am I supposed to say? 'Hey Jax, nice to see you. Funny bumping into you like this?'"

"Can we do it again sometime?" Sheppard glares at him, making Ronon laugh out loud. "You can't ignore it, Sheppard. You wanted her then…you want her again. Like you said…she's hot."

"Well, yeah…but-" He points his fork at Ronon. "That's…not what I'm thinking."

After a moment of silent eating, a thought pops into Ronon's head. He's really enjoying playing with this guy. Maybe he should up the ante. Force the Colonel to face his fears…one being the evil that is Jax, of course. He grins at the thought, watching Sheppard for a long time, letting him relax a little, thinking the conversation is over. Then, Ronon motions with his last piece of bacon. "Have you thought any about the reason the Ancient's made the device?" He chomps down on the meat.

The Colonel's brows knit in confusion then the dawn of understanding widens his terror-filled eyes as they lock onto Ronon's. "Oh God." His brows crease even tighter, Ronon's afraid they'll intersect. "She's…not…"

Ronon shrugs and raises his brows. "How'm I supposed to know? She's been avoiding me for days."

Sheppard starts shoveling food into his mouth. "Here's an idea. She's your friend. You talk to her."

"Is that your natural laziness showing, Sheppard? Or are you a coward?"

He nods, chewing quickly then shrugs. "Yeah…what? Neither." He raises his eyes. "Please?"

Ronon smirks. He never would've believed Sheppard could be afraid of someone…but here he is, terrified of a beautiful woman and all the evil powers she can wield over him. It's incredibly amusing. Then again, a lot of men in the city seem afraid of Jax, or at least…wary. And for good reason. But Ronon knows Sheppard has nothing to worry about. As far as Jax is concerned, Col. John Sheppard is a god among the lowly male mortals in this galaxy.

Ronon decides it'll be more fun to watch him squirm and chooses not to relay that particular piece of information. Might make the guy feel too good about himself. "I'll see what I can find out."

Sheppard grins with relief. "Good man."

"But, it'll cost you."

His eyes widen. "What?"

"I'll let you know," Ronon says as he gets up, taking his tray with him. He pats Sheppard hard on the back as he heads out.