Dex looked over at Mitchell as Carson closed the door behind him. There was an amused gleam in his eyes, even with the strange surroundings and the injuries he'd acquired.

"Friend of yours, I take it?"

Melony smiled, and shrugged, careful not to rip her stitches.

"Nah, I barely know him. We're just a friendly group of people."

He hesitated, looking uncertain, but Melony's smile broadened.

"I'm just messing with you. He and I are definitely more than just friends."

A hint of a smile crossed Ronon's expression.

"I'm glad to hear that."

Mainly because he's next in being greeted?

Melony didn't reply to Talon. Instead, she spoke to Dex.

"He's a good doctor. One of the best I've met."

"But you might be a little biased?"

"Maybe."

Ronon shrugged.

"No matter. If he did remove the transmitter like he says he did, then I owe him."

There was a few moments of silence between them; Melony giving him time to get used to the idea of no longer being on the run from the Wraith.

It'll probably take some getting used to, I imagine, Talon told her without his usual dry humor.

Yeah.

"What happened?" He asked, finally, looking over at her once more. "How did we get here?"

"What do you remember?"

Melony wasn't sure what he'd seen and what he hadn't – since at that time she'd been a little preoccupied.

Dex shrugged.

"Getting ambushed by that cat…"

"There was more than one," Mitchell told him. "Three at least – maybe more that didn't join the fight."

"How did-"

"I had to send a couple of my guys back here before I met up with you. Doctor Weir – who is the leader of the expedition here – decided that I'd need some back up, and called in the Jaffa, who arrived pretty much at the nick of time. It wasn't looking good for a while there."

Ronon believed that.

"You mentioned the Jaffa before…" This was more of a question than anything, and Melony nodded.

"You'll have a chance to meet them – some of them, anyways. There are some here." She paused, because she didn't want him to have too many surprises thrown at him at one time. For one thing, people with surprises tended to get edgy wondering what else might be coming, and since they didn't know anything about him, she didn't want him to be surprised.

Not to mention it's not a bad idea to let him know that the Jaffa are impressive and not a group of people to screw with – given the way we were introduced to him

You mean kidnapping and imprisonment? She asked, amused.

Exactly. Now stop talking to me and turn your attention to him before he thinks you're crazy – or just attention deficit

"There are a few things you need to know about the Jaffa before you meet them," she said, taking Talon's advice.

"Such as?"

Yeah. How to describe the Jaffa to someone who'd never met them…?

"They don't really have any sense of humor…"

Dex frowned, uncertain what that was supposed to mean.

"Okay…"

"They're a warrior race…" she said. "I think I mentioned that before?"

"Yes."

"Just keep that in mind, alright? I don't want any misunderstandings before you get a chance to know each other."

Dex was quiet, thinking that through, and Mitchell was relieved when he finally nodded, seeing the wisdom behind that.

"They sound like an interesting group."

"They are. But they're-"

She was interrupted by the door opening, and Carson peeking his head in. When he saw that both of them were still awake, he stepped into the room, looking at Dex.

"Are you feeling up to some company?"

Dex shrugged. He was going to have to meet the leaders of this group of people eventually. The sooner the better, as far as he was concerned.

"Sure."

Carson turned back to the door, and motioned to someone outside the room. A moment later, Elizabeth Weir walked in.

She smiled at Melony.

"Colonel Mitchell."

Melony nodded a greeting, understanding that her role would be to make the introductions.

"Doctor Weir. May I present Specialist Ronon Dex? Ronon, this is Doctor Elizabeth Weir, the leader of the Atlantis expedition. She's in charge of things around here."

Weir nodded her head in greeting to Dex, who returned the gesture.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Dex?" Elizabeth asked.

"Fine, thank you," Ronon replied.

The door opened again, and this time Teyla, Sheppard and Teal'c entered the room, looking at Ronon with varying degrees of interest. Sheppard had an unreadable look on his face, Teyla had a slight smile of greeting, and Teal'c looked as impassive as a slab of granite.

Weir turned to the others.

"I understand you've met Colonel Sheppard and Teyla," she said as diplomatically as she could. "This is Teal'c."

Ronon was already watching Teal'c. Like Teyla and several of the Athosians had before, Ronon had noticed that Melony had a stronger life force about her when he'd first met her. The other humans in the group – including Teyla – didn't. This huge, unsmiling, dark man that he'd just been introduced to was the same. They didn't look alike, but they were definitely related in some fashion – because he'd seen a lot of different species, and none of them were like these two.

Teal'c gave Dex a slight nod, taking a measure of the man as he did so. The Jaffa didn't trust this man – especially after he heard what had happened with Sheppard's group being taken captive – and even though Teyla had shrugged that off when she'd spoken to Teal'c about him, telling him about Runners and what she knew of them.

"Where's McKay?" Melony asked, breaking the silence.

"He took some minor injuries," Carson told her as he walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, turning so he could watch everyone in the room. "We're taking care of him."

"He'll be okay?"

"He already is," Sheppard assured her.

Melony looked at Carson, who nodded his agreement. The Astrophysicist was the center of attention in the main ward of the infirmary and was lapping up the attention, even though he had no clue why everyone was so impressed with him – and no one had bothered to explain it to him.