A/N: Thanks for all of the reads and reviews. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis or it's wonderful characters.

Spoilers: Through Season 5 up to Brainstorm.

2 – The Sacrifice

Less then a week later Jennifer found herself on the Daedalus. They were on their way to meet up with Todd and his Wraith to further negotiate and hopefully administer the treatment she was working on to alleviate the Wraith's need to feed on humans. Ronon had volunteered for the mission. She found it confusing to be both excited by his presence and yet troubled to have him near

Jennifer walked into the mess hall on the Daedalus. She had finally shook Ronon for a few minutes with the excuse of grabbing a bottle of water. She also was supposed to meet Laura in her crew quarters for a moment. They would talk again later tonight since she was bunking with Cadman for the night, but she couldn't wait 'til then.

She looked over and saw Mr. Woolsey at a table. She figured she should say hi, before heading back out to find Laura. She found that he was trying to write a speech for their meeting with the Wraith delegation in just a little bit. She tried to sound encouraging before beating a quick retreat.

Once she got to Laura's room, she found her friend just finishing her change into civilian clothes.

"Hey you," Laura looked past Jennifer's shoulder, "where is your big and burly shadow?"

Jennifer tried to glare at the smirking Laura but found it impossible. "Not you too," she complained. Laura turned a confused gaze on her. "Woolsey basically just asked me the same thing… never mind. He thinks I'm grabbing a drink in the mess hall," she held the bottle of water aloft.

"So what has you pacing my quarters that couldn't wait until we get back on Atlantis," she asked sweetly.

Jenn looked down and noticed that indeed she was pacing. "I overheard something and now I need advice from my best friend."

Laura curled up on her bed and patted a seat next to her for Jenn, "Do tell all."

"I can't stay long," Jennifer reluctantly said as she walked over and climbed on the bed next to Laura. "Ok, well…I finished a shift in the infirmary a few days ago and decided to find Rodney and Ronon and thank them for rescuing my butt on a mission that day."

"Your luck holding out, huh," Cadman laughed.

"Not funny, anyway, I saw Rodney go in the gym and heard him speaking with Ronon so I was kind of glad I could talk with both of them at once. When I got closer I stopped to see what they were talking about. Come to find out they were discussing me."

Laura looked confused, "What were they saying?"

"Just that they both had romantic intentions toward me, their words, not mine."

"Well, isn't that good? I know you have a crush on Mr. big and burly, aren't you excited?

Jennifer stared at Laura, so Laura piped back in, "best friend, remember? You may not have said anything, but you kind of get a glow when you talk about him. Which is often, I might add."

"I do not glow," Jennifer spit out, but one look at Cadman and she knew she was busted.

"Alright you caught me, but the guy is kind of hot, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"Yeah, but now you know that he's interested in you too."

"It's not that simple," Jenn lamented. She got up and began pacing again. "You've served on SG teams before, you know what it's like to be in the field, on a mission. You need to be able to depend on your team to be in the moment one hundred percent of the time."

"And?"

"Ok, I forgot to tell you that they also agreed I should choose and may the best man win. Again, their words, not mine."

"So, have you chosen?"

Jennifer stopped pacing and glared at Laura, "It's not like they stopped me in the hall and asked me to choose." Jennifer shuddered and began pacing again, "Damn, that would have been so awkward."

"Door number one or door number two, I don't think it would have been a tough decision."

Jenn rolled her eyes, "Grow up. The problem is that I'm not interested in Rodney. I somehow need to let him know that without hurting him or his pride. He is my friend. I should probably also avoid getting involved with Ronon. I'm already jinxed when offworld. I don't need to be the reason that Sheppard's team is not completely in the moment when they are offworld. I kind of need them to be with it so they can deal with whatever mess I seem to find us in."

Laura was silent, Jenn gave her a moment, but still nothing from the fiery red head. "This is where the best friend is suppose to come in and save they day with her incite and wisdom. Preferably something that makes this all go back to the way it was before. I don't want to screw up any friendships or elite teams in the process." Jennifer walked toward the bed and sat on the edge.

Laura leaned forward shaking her head., "I don't think you are going to like what I have to say."

"I will try not to use the skills Ronon has taught me against you, now spill"

"I can see your concern about the distraction for Sheppard's team, but they are both big boys, maybe the truth would be best." Laura took a peak at Jennifer to see what her reaction was.

"What," Jennifer was back up pacing again, "I eaves dropped on you two the other night, and while I am flattered, I choose Ronon. Unless of course that is going to put a strain on your relationship with each other and therefore the team, then I guess I choose neither of you at this time."

"That would probably work, but I am beginning to sense that there is an underlying issue here you are not talking about." Laura cocked her head to the side and studied Jenn's reaction trying to guess the true reason for her agitation.

"That just sounded like something Teyla would say."

Laura growled in frustration, "OK, now you're just stalling."

Jennifer got a call over her com that the wraith delegation had arrived and she was needed.

"I'm on my way." Jennifer replied.

"I'll make sure to have lots of popcorn and ice cream on hand, when you get off tonight we'll talk more, you're not off the hook yet." Cadman smirked at Jenn's unease

"Whatever, Dr. Phil," Jenn spat at Laura.

"Whatever, Dr. Keller, now… go,…get,… I'm sure your big burly shadow is waiting," she teased Jenn.

Jennifer began walking back to her quarters on Atlantis. It had again been a long mission and her offworld luck had struck again. She knew she was right in thinking that having Ronon and Rodney fighting over her was not good for Sheppard's team. Why couldn't Laura let that be it, why was she making her lay on the couch for this one. Better yet, why couldn't it all just go away. She rubbed her head, better go get this over with, at least there would be ice cream.

"Hey!" She heard from behind her and she knew without turning around who the gruff voice belonged to.

"Hey," She turned and looked at the tall Satedan.

"You all done for the day?" Ronon asked her.

"Uh, Doctor Cole's taking my shift, yeah," she responded hesitantly knowing she was stalling. She really should end this before he actually stuck his neck out there. She didn't want to embarrass either of them.

"Wanna get something to eat?" She wanted to say yes so badly, but putting this off would just be mean to both of them. Better to be done with this and then she could go have a good cry and maybe another ice cream session with Laura. He could move on, sooner rather then later, and find someone else.

"Um, uh, listen," She tried to keep the tremor from her voice, "Um, I'm really glad you came on the mission. I mean, without you there, we'd probably all be dead." She smiled at him before continuing, "But ... I just wanna be clear, because, um ..." this was harder then she thought, "I just want you to know that, uh, I'm kind of ... interested in somebody else." She wasn't sure where that came from, but it sounded better then anything else she could come up with on the spot like this.

"So?" He challenged a little to quickly before looking away from her.

"I just didn't wanna give you the wrong ..."

"I didn't ... I just, um, I just wanted to get something to eat," he stumbled through his words without looking at her.

She took a deep breath, she would let him have his out. "OK, because I thought, uh ..."

"Yeah, well, you're wrong."

Jenn took a moment to look him in the eye and the pain she saw there hurt, she hated hurting him. "OK."

"OK," Ronon was still not looking at her.

"Do you still wanna go and ..." she was barely holding back tears and didn't think she could swallow food, but anything to help him through this awkward moment he deserved.

"Uh, no, I should ... I should probably ..."

Jennifer watched him turn and walk away as her first tears began to fall down her face. She turned and walked back to her quarters, she felt like running, but with the tears impairing her vision she knew that would be unwise. "Ending up in the infirmary would just be the topper," she mumbled to herself.