Author's note: Thank you kindly for reading, and even more for reviewing! Three more chapters left!

And since a few of you have mentioned Sheppard's comments about wanting to buy Canada, I feel that I must confess that every word he spews there has come out of my mouth before, lol.

VI. Farm Boy

He never thought he could fall in love so fast yet at the same time he'd known he'd fall in love with her from the moment he finally earned her name. The days of training when he was kept away from her were agonizingly long and he lived for his brief leave-takings when he could be with her again.

When he returned to the hospital six weeks after he learned her name she bit her lip and pretended that she didn't know who he was since the only name he knew her by was "Melena" and she was now known by her title of "Dr. Dawson." He happily waited for her shift to end then took her out for the gourmet meal he'd been promising ever since he arrived at the hospital that morning. She laughed when he took her to an ice cream parlor.

Despite her assertions that she'd never date a soldier, when he came to her apartment to say goodbye on his second day of leave, she told him that it would be lovely to hear from him in the meantime and gave him her address. He couldn't stop smiling and after she bid him goodnight and closed the door she started to unpin her curls. But she couldn't get his boyish looks out of her head.

She flung open the door and ran down the hall in search of him, her hair only half free. She found him all the way in the lobby, just passing through the doors to exit the building. She squeaked his name but he didn't hear, closing the door behind him. She glanced down at her unshod feet then chased after him, flinging the door open, her naked feet plopping on the wet pavement as she ran through the rain a few steps, searching for him. A small crowd of denizens strolled past in the early evening light and she began to feel a fool as she rose on her tippy toes and wiped stray hair from her eyes, looking for him. He barely had a head start, how could he have disappeared already?

She plopped back down onto the heels of her feet, her cheeks coloring when she noticed the passerby eyeing her in her wet dress, bare feet and half-done hair. Turning to retreat back inside she bumped into someone's chest and gasped in pleasant shock when a grinning Ronon playfully pinched her sides. Her gasp morphed into a laugh as she flung her arms around his waist in a hug then yanked back to slap his shoulder. "You incorrigible little brat!"

"It takes one to know one," he chuckled.

"Are you calling me a brat?" She tried to glare but couldn't stop smiling.

He was biting the tip of his tongue and a few stray curls of his loose hair fell forward. He'd let if grow since she first met him six weeks earlier. "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled like an idiot at him and didn't realize how wet she was until she caught a woman and her husband laughing as they passed her with a, "dear, you're soaked to the bone."

Ronon seemed to notice her state then, too, and ran a warm hand down her bare arm, making her flesh tingle. "You better get inside – you need to save lives tomorrow."

He'd looked between the apartment building and her, but her eyes had never left his. "Six weeks is too long, Ronon."

"I'll write every day." His dancing eyes were locked with hers again, water drops winding down his face.

She smirked. "You better." Without much forethought, she tugged on a few wet curls until his face was level with hers, cupped his cheeks with her hands and kissed him. He was so surprised that it took him a moment before he kissed her back.

When she pulled away he smirked cockily. "I thought you said you didn't date soldiers."

Her smirk matched his as she tore her eyes from his face to straighten his jacket. "I don't." She looked back up at him and her voice squeaked huskily. "Farm boy."

His grin threatened to split his face and he got rid of it by kissing her again. It wasn't until she'd finally scampered back inside that he realized he was still in the middle of a busy walkway, surrounded by passerby, in the poring rain.

Dr. Beckett had promised not to shoo Teyla off to bed, but given the late hour, he felt he should at least offer her the suggestion once more. He quietly headed over and peeked around the corner, blinking in surprise at what he found. Teyla had joined his patient on the bed, both apparently having fallen asleep in an embrace. He bit his lower lip as he smiled, the scene speaking of more healing than he could have ever administered on his own. He folded his arms over his chest with a sigh, watching the two in sleep for a few minutes, his heart swelling. If only life were always this beautiful.
The sun haloed her hair in glittering gold as she closed her eyes with a smile, deeply breathing in the scent of the wheat field around them. "I never knew it would be so pleasant to smell the end of summer again."

Ronon remained where he'd randomly lain down in the field, a hand resting on her back, watching with wonder how the light of the setting sun colored Melena's hair. A few curls tossed playfully in the breeze as the field sighed in the gust. She rested her chin on her knees with a contented sigh, her arms hugging her legs as watched the sun begin to kiss the Western horizon.

Ronon still felt full from the large dinner his family had served he and Melena a half hour before. His family had taken to her right away, inquiring with genuine interest about all aspects of her life. His little sister had even playfully asked if she and Ronon were going to get married, justifying her question by stating that she liked Melena and wanted her around more. Ronon's chest had swelled with pride and bliss. The way his mother doted upon Melena made it seem as if she were no stranger at all, but rather a missing piece of their home that had finally found its way back to them.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Ro." She gazed at him over her shoulder. "Not just to meet your family but..." She fingered a stalk of sun-dried wheat. "...For bringing me home. I'd gotten so caught up in the momentum of the hospital and the pace of things in the city that I hadn't realized how much I missed the songs of the blackbirds and the crazy old dogs yapping in the distance."

Ronon grinned. "It's just not a home without a crazy old dog."

She playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm being serious, Ro."

His face took on an expression of innocence. "So am I. I love dogs. Especially crazy old ones."

She playfully thumped at his chest but he caught her hand and began to lazily play with her fingers, successfully wiping all notions out of her mind other than the gentle, teasing fire of his touch. Though it had been nearly six months since she had first kissed him in the rain, their respective roles in life meant that their opportunities to see each other were few and far between. They wrote everyday but Ronon's leave was never long enough. Not by a long shot.

She shifted her gaze from his fingers to his eyes. When his green met hers, both knew that the other wished they could remain together like this forever.

As the wind shifted, they could hear his mother's voice calling to his little sister in the distance. Melena glanced over but couldn't see his house since she and Ronon were so low in the field. She started to hum, her voice blending with the hissing of the wheat surrounding them. Her humming grew stronger as she closed her eyes pleasantly, feeling the brush of Ronon's fingertips on her neck as he gathered a coil of her hair, his fingers wandering through her tresses.

She grinned as she shifted her hum to the tune of a popular song that both she and Ronon had listened to on the radio. They'd been chasing each other about in a pillow fight in her apartment and the lyrics had been enough to make them pause, which was saying something. Ronon laughed when he recognized the tune, and she sang the opening verse through her grin.

"You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Among the fields of barley

You can tell the sun in his jealous sky

When we walked in fields of gold."

Her voice was pleasant, though hardly trained, yet to Ronon it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.

"So she took her love for to gaze a while

Among the fields of barley..."

Ronon knew the next line and tugged on her waist. She nestled down beside him as she sang, her cool hair soothingly tickling his skin.

"In his arms she fell as her hair came down

Among the fields of gold."

He quietly wove his voice with hers for the next couplet, yet let it dwindle, too distracted by her hand resting above his heart to remember the rest of the words.

"Will you stay with me, will you be my love

Among the fields of barley?

And you can tell the sun in his jealous sky

When we walked in fields of gold.

"I never made promises lightly

And there have been some that I've broken

But I swear in the days still left

We will walk in fields of gold

We'll walk in fields of gold..." She trailed off as she felt his lips on her throat. She tangled a hand with his curls, knowing that they'd soon be replaced by knotted locks as a symbol of his status as a Specialist. "Ronon?"

"Hmmm?"

He'd stopped kissing her so she scooted back enough to look at him, a hand resting on his cheek with a fond smile. "Will you marry me?"

For the space of a heartbeat, he forgot who and what he was. Then suddenly the vacuum was filled with every memory of her; every laugh, every touch, and every smile. Her initial coyness flooded his rationality and he was afraid to hope, even though the look in her eye now told him that this would never be a game. "...You mean it?"

A corner of her mouth quirked in nervous amusement. "Of course I mean it."

He laughed breathlessly, so overwhelmed by affection, joy and forever that he couldn't speak. Just as her smile began to fade with timid doubt he impulsively slipped a hand to her hip and kissed her on the lips through his laughter, rolling on top of her.

She gasped at the sudden wave of affection for her and laughed, kissing him back for a moment before interrupting by pressing on his chest. "...Is that a yes?"

He couldn't stop smiling. "It's a forever."

Her entire body seemed to shimmer with glee as she flung her arms around his neck as he sat up. "I love you so much, farm boy."

He kissed her again. Dried wheat leaves stuck comically out of both of their hair. "I love you too, Dr. Dawson."

She sat in his lap, wrapped up in each other as they watched the sun set. They were interrupted, however, when they heard the sound of a tractor on its way home for the night and Ronon tugged on her hand. "We better get, Lena."

She was too comfortable with her back against his chest to move. "How come?"

"...Because this is actually a neighbor's field and he's about to pass by here."

She immediately stood and yanked him to his feet, trying hard to look disapproving of such behavior.

He only shrugged as he finished dusting himself off then picked some leaves out of her hair. "We're bad farmers, remember? We haven't had a field in years."

Ronon was able to use his military training to sneak them onto the dirt road and back to his family's house without being seen. Shortly after, he and Melena announced their engagement to the family. Ronon's mother gasped, dropped and shattered a glass, then bustled forth to hug them both at once.

Ronon awoke during the night yet began to drift, comfortably cozy with his forehead snuggled against the warmth of Teyla's throat. Her arm around his neck made him ache yet was more comfortable than a pillow. She shifted and her hand lightly tugged on his hair, making him crack his eyes open, even if he were too close to see anything. She made a soft sound in her sleep, making him smile a little. He closed his eyes again but the cramp in his neck continued to prick at the back of his mind, preventing sleep. He debated shifting his weight, but his thoughts drifted like smoke, allowing him to begin to fall asleep again until a twinge from his neck reminded him that he was still awake.

With a small sigh, he lifted his chin, trying to shift. When that didn't work he pivoted the shoulder he was laying on, finding a comfortable position. But as soon as he stilled again, Teyla squirmed, shifting her arms and brushing against the bandage on his back, wakening the wound. He gritted his teeth and waited for the pain to pass, its burning tendrils making his groggy mind more aware. He tried not to clench the back of Teyla's shirt too tightly as he waited out the pain.

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