XV

Ronon was kissing along her jaw and down her neck in a way that made her writhe wantonly beneath him. A large hand on her hip held her in place, but stroked the soft skin there driving her mad. He was teasingly making his way to the aching tips of her breasts. He was going way to slow and she was consumed by her need for him.

Elizabeth awoke with a gasp, sweat cool on her skin and an acute ache of need between her legs.

"Fuck," she cursed as she struggled to untangle herself from the bed sheets.

Ever since they returned to Atlantis she had been having very erotic dreams of Ronon and the things he was capable of doing to her. Each night she would wake up with a intense need to be in Ronon's arms, in his bed. She tried to immerse herself in her work especially now that they had the pirate ship in their possession (which John had jokingly renamed the "Queen Elizabeth", a name that stuck much to her annoyance) and the map to study. Still the dreams haunted her, even when she felt she had exhausted herself beyond the point of rational thinking.

'If these dreams continue for much longer I am either going to jump Ronon right in the control room or pass out from exhaustion,' she thought grimly to herself as she pulled on clothes for the day.

She tried to avoid Ronon, but it was hard when he was on Atlantis' number one team and when he stared at her, following her every movement with his dark eyes like he knew she was having graphic sexual dreams about him every God damn night. She was startled from her musings when a shadow darkened her office door.

"You better not be here to suggest another vacation," she irritably to John Sheppard, "I still haven't forgiven you for how the last one turned out."

"But it turned out well. That map and my…err… our new ship."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "Something Ronon was perfectly capable of doing himself," she countered, "Now what do you want? I have work to do."

John took a long, hard look at her noting the exhaustion in her eyes and the dark circles beneath them that her makeup didn't quite cover. "I came to ask if you would wear those leather pants again." He barely ducked in time as an empty coffee cup came flying at his head. Instead it clattered against the glass wall of the control room, causing its occupants to look towards their leader's office in disbelief.

Color rose in Elizabeth's cheeks. "I'll take that as a no," John said lightly as stepped into the and allowed the door to close behind him with a touch from his mind.

"Oh my God, John I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"Whoa, Elizabeth," John held up his hands, "You were perfectly within your rights to throw stuff at me. I should be the one apologizing, that question was out of line."

"How about we ignore the whole incident and you tell me the real reason why you are here. And it better not be you chasing me off to get some rest or I will throw more stuff at you," she mocked glared at him.

"No. Actually it's about Ronon."

Elizabeth's smile disappeared. "Ronon?" she asked more sharply than she intended, "Is he ok?"

"Physically, yes. If anything he is stronger than ever. He is consumed with working out. Running, swimming, fighting. Yesterday he put three marines in the infirmary. It's like he is trying to lose himself in physical activity in order to forget about something." Seeing the look on Weir's face he was quick to say, "I've tried to talk to him about it, but he was about as responsive as a brick wall. I even threatened him with a forced leave from my team and still he said nothing, just shrugged at me. I thought maybe you could talk to him." He looked up at her with a hopeful smile.

"Me? Why me?"

"Well um… he won't talk to Heightmeyer and you're good with making people talk. And Ronon respects you."

"Oh," was all Elizabeth could say. "I guess I could talk to him, but I don't really think I'm going to be of any help."

John nodded his satisfaction and went to leave, but paused before the door, "Soon Elizabeth. Please," he said, giving her his best puppy-dog face, "He is looking very tired and if he pushes himself any harder he is going to hurt himself."

"Okay," Elizabeth nodded, "I'll do my best. Thank you for coming to me Colonel."

Sheppard nodded and left, leaving Elizabeth to think about how much John cared for his tea, even Rodney at his most annoying. She smiled to herself, she cared for them too, they had become like family to her. Tomorrow, she resolved, tomorrow she would talk to Ronon. John and his team needed him and though she wouldn't admit it even to herself, she needed him as well.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Elizabeth never went to bed that night. In truth she had gotten caught up in her work translating the map and forgotten everything besides it. But now she was dog tired and she wanted nothing more than to fall into bed when she stepped into her room to shower and change. Instead she forced herself to walk to the cafeteria for coffee and breakfast.

This early in the morning the cafeteria was mostly empty but for a few scientists, heads hug low over coffee mugs after pulling an all-nighter and a solitary figure wolfing down a huge stack of pancakes that had been doused in syrup.

Elizabeth sighed to herself and figured now was as good a time as any to talk with Ronon. Armed with her coffee and some pancakes of her own, she sat down across from him. "Would you like some pancakes with that syrup?" she inquired, causing him to look up from his savage eating. Something she couldn't decipher flickered across his face, before he buried it back in his food. He still ate like it was his last meal – a savage intensity of shoving anything and everything into his mouth as quickly as possible.

Elizabeth's eyes focused on his mouth and her thoughts drifted to what it would feel like for his mouth to be on her, eating her with the single minded intensity he was showing his food. Ronon sensed he something with Elizabeth and raised his head to meet her dilated, dazed eyes.

"Elizabeth?" he growled softly.

The sound of his voice brought her out of fantasy and she shook her head to clear it from her mind. Never had she wanted a man to go down on her they way she imagined Ronon doing. What was wrong with her? she noticed Ronon was still staring at her so she spoke quickly to reassure him, "Sorry about that. Never got to bed last night. I must be tired if I am zoning out."

Dex nodded a barely perceptible tilt of the head and went back to his breakfast, trying to ignore Elizabeth and the way she affected his senses.

"Ronon," she began and put a hand on his arm to gain his attention that she seemed to have lost again. When her hand met his skin it was as though an electrical current passed between them. Quickly Elizabeth snatched her hand back and tried not to look Ronon in the eye, who had once again stilled and was staring at her, wondering what she would do next.

"Well…um…" she struggled to find the words, "I noticed you have been very withdrawn and was wondering if everything was ok." Gathering her courage she fixed him with her most asserting glare.

Aburtly Ronon stood up, empty tray in his hands, "Sheppard put you up to this didn't he?"

Elizabeth felt ashamed for some reason and she didn't look at him when she nodded.

"I'm fine. It is nothing Sheppard should concern himself with," he barked at her before striding away. Elizabeth sat staring after him for a long moment then got up and went after him, mad that he should speak to her so.

When she reached the hallway her had already disappeared, but she had a good idea he was heading to the gym and went there to look.

Indeed he was there alone, beating the shit out of a punching bag. Elizabeth closed and locked the gym door then perched herself on the windowsill to watch Dex blow off some steam. Finally he slowed to a stop and stood there, persistently ignoring her, breathing heavily and dripping with sweat.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"No."

"What to talk about it?"

"No"

"Look Ronon, I've locked the door. You're not leaving here until you tell me what is bothering you. Yes, John asked me to talk to you, only because he is your friend and cares about you. But not only John has noticed your strange behavior, I have as well, long before Sheppard brought it to my attention and as leader of this expedition, it is my duty to oversee the health – physical or mental- of my people. So you better start explaining yourself unless you want me to confine you to the infirmary and let Carson figure out what is wrong." Elizabeth sat back after her little speech and looked Ronon over, knowing she had him in a tough position.

Ronon glared at her for a moment before stalking over to an exercise mat and sitting with his back to her and began stretching.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at his immature behavior and said, "I'm not going to sit here all day, I have work to do." Her statement was greeted with silence. She sighed and tapped her headset. "Beckett this is Weir, could you-"

She never finished her sentence. Suddenly Ronon was at her side, ripping the headset away from her and throwing it across the room.

"Ronon!" she gasped, surprised he would react in such a way.

He stilled, his face inches from Elizabeth's, unsure of what to do next. So he kissed her, pouring all his frustration from the past few weeks into it.

Elizabeth froze for a moment, knowing she should push him away, that this wasn't proper behavior for either of them. But instead she opened her mouth to allow Ronon's tongue to slide in and began responding vigorously. Hands that were on his chest to push him away, gripped the fabric of his sweat socked shirt to pull him closer.

Just as she was losing herself in the kiss, Ronon pushed her away from him, so hard that she went tumbling to the ground. For a second Elizabeth lay on the ground, stunned, involuntarily whimpering from the loss.

"Sorry," he said roughly, "I just-" he broke off, clenching his fists in anger at almost reveled himself to her. He had caught a scent of her arousal from his kiss and had almost torn her clothes from her lithe body and then and there ravished her. Only the knowledge that he would have been no better than the man who had tried to rape her, held him back. Even now with her spread out on the floor in front of him stirred primal urges within him.

Elizabeth was confused. First he kisses her like there's no tomorrow then pushes her away almost violently, leaving her as horny as hell and a little hurt on the ground. She pushed herself to her feet, struggling to regain her composure.

"What was that all about?" she spat, now mad; at his behavior, at herself for responding to him even now that they stood a good seven feet apart.

"You should let me out of here. I don't want to hurt you," he spoke slowly, as if he was struggling to reign in his temper.

"No," she stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest, "I said you're not going anywhere until we resolve this. Whatever this is."

Ronon glared at her, secretly turned on by her willfulness. "You will not like what I have to say."

"Ronon!" she cried, exasperated, "You just kissed me, you at least owe me an explanation about that."

Ronon gave in. if he thought about it, he really couldn't say not to Elizabeth Weir at all. "You," he said.

"Me? Me what?"

"You are my problem."

Elizabeth was surprised, "What's wrong with me? Have I done something to offend you?"

Dex shook his head a negative. "You are constantly in my thoughts. Every time I see you, I want to push against a wall and kiss you and then fuck you until you come screaming and –" he was interrupted by pounding on the door.

"Dr. Weir."

"Elizabeth."

It was Carson Beckett and John Sheppard. Quickly Elizabeth crossed the room and opened the door. "Are you alright in here?" Carson asked, "You called me on your comlink then you stopped answering."

"Yes, we are fine," answered Elizabeth, then turning back to Ronon, "Thank you for talking with me. If you would come to my office later this evening we can finish our discussion."

Ronon nodded and fled, causing John to step out of the doorway and watch him as he retreated down the hall.

Cason was watching Elizabeth as she picked up her headset from where Ronon had thrown it and fixed it back on her ear. "Elizabeth, lass, are you sure you're alright?"

She laughed, "Yes Carson, I'm fine. John asked me to talk to Ronon because he has been acting strangely lately. I was using you and your needles as a threat to get him to talk."

"What did he tell you?" Sheppard asked.

"Not much. He was just opening up to me when you two interrupted," Elizabeth said, sweeping out of the room with John close behind.

"Hey!" called Carson hurrying after them, "You can't use needles as a threat! That's mine. Get your own threat."

"Oh I have plenty of my own. Don't worry Carson," Elizabeth said smiling at him over her shoulder.

XVI

It was late that evening when most had saved their work and went to bed but for the skeleton night crew, a few work obsessed scientists, and the expedition's leader when Ronon Dex showed up at Elizabeth's office door.

She was ssitting in semidarkness, her face made gaunt by the glow of her laptop. She jumped at the sound of Ronon's voice near her ear.

"You haven't eaten all day have you? Come on, you need to eat." He grabbed her forearm and dragged her from her chair and towards the door. Elizabeth pulled back, causing Ronon to stop and look at her.

"What makes you think you can force me to eat?"

"You are hungry, I can tell. Besides you need a good meal, you're too skinny," he said, raking his eyes up and down her form. Elizabeth could feel herself reacting to his heavy gaze, a blush spreading across her cheeks and her nipples tightening to hard points.

"Alright," she conceded, causing Ronon's eyes to focus back on her face, "I'll go get something to eat, but only if you promise me we'll finish that conversation we started in the gym this morning."

Ronon merely shrugged in reply and proceeded to pull her out the door and across the control room. Elizabeth grinned sheepishly at the night crew as she allowed herself to be pulled along.

"Ronon is hungry," she offered by way of explanation. Ronon grunted his amusement at her white lie.

The cafeteria was deserted when they arrived. Ronon pushed Elizabeth into a chair and went to fetch two heaping plates of food.

"I can't possibly eat all of this," Elizabeth protested when he put of the plates in front of her.

"Yes you can. I got all of your favorites." Indeed he had.

Elizabeth looked at him curiously, "How did you know these where my favorite foods?"

He shrugged, "I notice things," he said before digging into his own plate of food. When he looked back up, she was still looking at him, a thoughtful look on her face.

"You promised me you would eat," he said, pointing to untouched plate

"And you promised me you would talk," she countered.

"Never promised anything."

Elizabeth thought back, it was true, he hadn't promised anything. She sighed and picked up her fork.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Elizabeth put down her fork and pushed her now empty plate away. "I can't believe I ate all of that," she exclaimed.

"Told you you were hungry," Ronon crowed. Starting around lunch, Ronon had felt a nagging hungry. After eating a huge lunch- bigger than normal anyways- he still felt hungry, but choose to ignore it. As the afternoon wore on, the hunger grew. Dinner only appeased some of it. By nine thirty Ronon was going mad with it and took a guess that it wasn't his own. Now that Elizabeth had finished eating, he finally felt satisfied himself.

He scowled, pondering this. He was slowly becoming connected to Elizabeth and he knew she would soon to begin to feel the effects as well. He looked up at the sound of Elizabeth's yawn. "You should go to bed," he suggested.

"No I have to return to work. Besides…" some light returned to her tired eyes," you haven't talked to me about what happened this morning." She fixed him with a look.

Now Ronon fiddled with his empty plate, avoiding her eyes. This was something said easier in moments of passionate emotion.

"Ronon," she said, a warning note in her tone," I can pull you off active duty until this problem you have with me is resolved." A definite warning.

Dex drew in a breath and spoke, "How is the map coming along?"

His sudden question threw Elizabeth off and she flashed back to earlier that week, when she had been near tearing out her hair in frustration.

"I believe it's coded Ancient," Rodney had said to her.

And she couldn't keep the sarcasm out her voice when she had replied, "Really Rodney? Is that the reason out Ancient database reads this as a bunch of garble?"

Rodney had went off muttering and Elizabeth, left with a pounding headache, had begun the laborious task of breaking the code since McKay had 'better things to do."

"I'll run it through the computers but if the Ancient database hadn't picked it up, then I doubt our computers can do any better. You'll have to work it out by hand. Have Sheppard help you." Rodney had suggested. "He's good at puzzles like this."

It had amused John for awhile, but he made no progress and quickly grew bored. Elizabeth sighed softly, bringing her mind back to the present.

"It is slow going," she answered.

And although it didn't show, Ronon could sense frustration and disappointment in her. "You really should go to bed," he again suggested, "A good night's rest can sometimes aid with such puzzles. You will return in the morning with a fresh mind."

"Maybe you are right," she mused aloud, now preoccupied with the problem of the map that Ronon had reminded her of. Combined with the heavy food she had just consumed, Elizabeth felt a rush of tiredness wash over her like a wave. She rose from the table, "Goodnight Ronon," she breathed.

A short while later when Elizabeth fell into bed a thought hit her. Damn, Ronon had totally distracted from her original goal of getting him to talk to her. She laughed at herself as she settled under the covers. She fell asleep thinking of ways to get him to open up to her.

X-X-X-X-X-X

That same night, Ronon was in his room as well. But he wasn't sleeping. Far from it actually. He walked about his small quarters at a furious pace, cursing under his breath. He was really worried now. He could feel the bond between him and Elizabeth growing and he didn't know if it was a good thing.

When a male of his race find their true mate, they are connected for life. The first time they have sex, when the male releases his sperm it has an enzyme that bonds within the female's body and spreads, creating a link that forever bonds the two. They can sense each other's emotions, hurts, pleasures. The effect is irreversible and over the years the connection between mates grows until they can sense each other from worlds away. Ronon could recall stories of old where mate's bonds were so strong, they could speak mind to mind. But in his lifetime such a thing was now a legend. Some theorized that over time Sadaten females adapted to the enzyme allowing for mates to bind quicker but less strongly.

When Ronon had first arrived in Atlantis her was shocked to learn married Earth couples often cheated on each other. On Sadatea such a thing was impossible for the enzyme was only release when the male found hi s mate for life and the bond made them faithful to each other.

There was one drawback to such an occurrence. If one of the couple dies, there is a withdrawal of the surviving mate that is often fatal. Ronon had seen a number of widows of soldiers commit suicide or waste away to nothing because of the heartbreak.

Now the process of mating was happening to him and Elizabeth. Slower because she was of a different planet, but happening all the same. Ronon cursed himself, he had to have chosen the most unattainable woman in the entire Pegasus galaxy.

What to do about it, he didn't know. His mind was heavy with the options. Knowing what an independent woman Weir was, he didn't know if she would take kindly to the connection they now forever shared. But whatever happened from here on in, Ronon knew that he could never bring himself to leave Elizabeth's side. He would follow her through the nine circles of hell because after all they were now bonded by something stronger then blood.

A/N: I feel like I did a very bad job explaining that last part, but I am in no mood to rewrite it now. Hopefully as the story goes on, it will be clearer but I really don't know what happend next in my own story. ha. I hope you enjoyed this latest installment and if you are so inclined, please review. Feedback is fun!