Finally two more sections. Please enjoy.

XVII

Elizabeth didn't get another chance to talk to Ronon again. The Daedalus arrived the next morning, full of fresh recruits to fill the halls of Atlantis and staff the ship Elizabeth and Ronon had commandeered from the pirates. John and Ronon took it upon themselves to tease, scare, and show the new faces the ropes.

No one said any names, they respected the two men to much, but there were rumors circulating about all the havoc they were creating.

Elizabeth let it slide, knowing their fun was harmless and it gave the expedition something new to gossip about. But that was all before two technicians assigned to Dr. McKay to help made modifications to the new ship showed up at her door. As she stared at them, both panting from a sprint, she wondered if she should have stopped the mischief weeks ago.

"You need to come see this Ma'am," one of the techs managed to get out.

"Has something happened? Is someone injured?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.

They shook their heads no. "You need to see this," the man repeated.

"Is it the ship? Is something wrong with it?"

"Yes it's the ship. But I think you should come down and look at it yourself."

"Alright, I'll come see what all the fuss is about. If there isn't a problem, then why were you running?" Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow in amused askance.

"Um… Dr. McKay was yelling at us to fetch you," one man began. "He said it was urgent that you came at once," the other one finished.

"Then we better not keep him waiting," she said magnanimously, sweeping past them into the control room. Curious faces followed their process and some moved to join the party of three as they made their way to the east pier.

"Oh good you're here," Rodney greeted her as she stepped out into the sunshine.

"Rodney," Elizabeth said, "What do you need me to see so badly?"

"It's over here. I have no idea what to do about it." He led her around the side of the ship. "It was there when I got here this morning," Elizabeth faintly heard Rodney talking but she was focused on the scene in front of her.

"Oh. My. God."

Someone had painstakingly carved deep into the flank of the new ship Queen Elizabeth of Atlantis then painted the fresh grooves a blinding white.

"This is obviously somebody's idea of a joke." Elizabeth turned her attention back to Rodney who was still talking.

"Obviously," she repeated dryly. Taping her headset she said, "Sheppard, I want to see you and Dex in my office asap." She turned on her heel and headed back towards the heart of Atlantis.

"You don't think it was them do you?" Rodney yelled to Elizabeth's back. She marched on, either not hearing him or ignoring him. McKay threw his hands up in frustration and looked over the ever growing group of people in front of the newly christened ship. "Don't you people have work to do?!" he yelled. They ignored him, talking excitedly amongst themselves.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Elizabeth was at her desk, pretending to work on her laptop when John and Ronon crept meekly through her door. "Ah, gentlemen please sit down," she indicated the chairs in front of her desk with a broad sweep of her hand. "Just give me a moment to finish up." She continued to type, looking up at the pair covertly through her eyelashes.

John was fidgeting around in his chair while Ronon sat extremely still, his muscles tense as though he would bolt in a minute. Deciding against prolonging the suspense, she saved her work and closed the laptop, interlacing her fingers over top of it.

"Exactly how long did it take the two of you to redecorate that ship?"

Sheppard looked up at with a hopeful grin, "Do you like it?"

"No."

His grin disappeared.

"No John. I do not like it. It was highly unprofessional and reflects badly on both me and you who carried out this childish deed." Her voice was steadily rising in anger as she spoke, "This expedition is a very serious thing. We are very lucky to have another ship now at our disposal and we cannot treat it like a joke!"

"Wow Elizabeth, tell us how you really feel about this," John said teasingly.

"John!" Elizabeth cried, "Do I need to put you and Ronon on kitchen duty for a month or two?"

He held up his hands in surrender. "No! There is no need to do that. I am sorry Elizabeth. I didn't think this would offend you." He gave her his best puppy dog face. She still continued to glare at him. "I promise to act professionally from now on," he added.

"Yes, you better." Elizabeth said, a warning clear in her voice.

A smile crept back onto John's face. "I hate to say this, but that paint is pretty much permenate. It's not going to come off any time soon. And besides," his smile got bigger, "by now almost everyone in Atlantis knows about i. you'll probably have to keep the name by popular vote."

"Oh get out of here. I have real work I need to be doing," Weir shooed them out of her office, trying to ignore the way her body tingled when her eyes met Ronon's.

"Good job Ronon." John clapped him on the back once they were out of their leader's sight. "For a moment there I really thought she would rip us a new one," he continued, gleeful to have gotten out of trouble.

"I thought she did 'rip us a new one'." Ronon was confused.

"Naw," said John, "She wasn't all that mad. Probably thought it was kind of funny. She just has to put on her leader face for the benefit of the expedition."

Ronon wasn't so sure. He could feel her anger and annoyance at the joke, but it was easing now. "Maybe she didn't want to say or do anything that would compromise your position as commander here," Ronon said. Then he walked away, leaving John gaping at him in shock.

XVIII

Ronon was no closer to solving his problem concerning Elizabeth then he was a week before when he actually admitted it to her. He tried avoiding her, which didn't work out at all – being on the number one team and all. But he tried, making up excuses to get out of meetings she headed.

But now he was running out of plausible excuses, Teyla was watching him, worried, and John was ready to physically restrain him and cart him off to the infirmary. Luckily on one knew the true cause of his strange behavior.

Now he sat in his quarters and mulled over the situation. Sheppard had put the entire team on downtime for the time being and now Ronon had nothing to distract him from thinking about Elizabeth. Not even physical exertion was working any more.

The door chime rang, alerting Ronon to the fact that someone was demanding his attention, but before he could stand to activate the door, they slid open to reveal John Sheppard.

"Hey buddy," he greeted Ronon, "What are you doing in here brooding? It's gorgeous outside and I'm taking Teyla over to the mainland. Want to come?"

"No," Ronon answered shortly.

"Oh come on Dex, don't be like this. Why won't you tell me what's bothering you? Maybe I could help."

Ronon looked up, thoughtful, maybe he was going about this thing between him and Elizabeth the wrong way. Maybe if he could win her affections, she would take more kindly to their eternal connection.

"In your culture, how does one win a female?"

Ronon's question caught John off guard. "Win a female?"

"Yes," Ronon said, impatient at his friend's lack of understanding. "Impress the female so that she sees a potential mate in you."

"Ohhhh." A look of comprehension crossed John's face. Then he grinned. "Are you telling me that you've been acting weird lately because of some girl?"

Ronon only glared at him.

"All right, all right," John surrendered, laughing, "I'll help you impress your female."

"What must I do?"

"Um. Well. Girls like getting stuff. So give her small gifts like flowers or chocolates or poetry to show you interest in her."

"What is poetry?"

"Poetry is…uh…you know what, forget poetry. I don't you are much of a poet. Stick to flowers at first."

Ronon shrugged, "Okay, is that it? You showered your females with gifts and will mate with you?"

"Oh God no," John said hastily, "There's a lot more to it. Like dates."

"Dates." Ronon repeated, not knowing if he liked the sound of that.

"Yeah dates. Listen buddy I need to go. You sure you don't want to come?"

Ronon shook his head. John went to leave, but paused in the doorway and looked back at his friend. "So you going to tell me who the lucky girl is?"

Ronon growled menacingly and John left quickly, waving a hand in goodbye.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Elizabeth looked up in alarm when John burst into her office, breathing heavily. "Colonel," she said standing up, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing is the matter. I just found out what has been bothering Ronon."

"Oh," she said, sitting back down, "And this warranted you sprinting here to tell me."

"You're not going to believe it," John said triumphantly.

Elizabeth looked at him pointedly.

"Ronon has a love interest."

"What? How do you know?" Elizabeth was surprised more at the stab of jealousy that streaked through her gut rather than John's statement.

"He asked me for dating advice."

"You're right. I don't believe you."

"Elizabeth," John whined, "I'm serious. The big guy is very serious about the whole thing."

Elizabeth thought back to that kiss in the gym. "Maybe you are right," she said slowly.

"Do you have any idea who it might be? He wouldn't tell me."

Once again Elizabeth felt a stab of jealousy. "None," she answered.

John shrugged, "I guess we'll find out soon enough. Anyways, I need to go, Teyla is waiting for me to fly her to the mainland and I think I'll stay over there for a day or two."

"Go," Elizabeth waved him off, "Enjoy your downtime."

"Yes Ma'am," John saluted with a grin and ran off, no doubt excited to share his news with Teyla.

Elizabeth buried her face in hands with a great sigh. So Ronon had a love interest. She wished it was her, but knew that was very unlikely. He had been obviously avoiding her for days now and that one night they had never talked about occurred under the influence of an aphrodisiac. She reasoned they only reason he had kissed her in the gym was to distract her from questioning him. Besides, she wasn't his type. She wasn't the busty warrior with the I-can-take-you-on-in-battle-or-in-bed attitude. She sighed again and tried to put the matter out of her mind.

Yeah, It's kinda short, but the next section is really long and I'm working on typing it now. Should be up by this weekend.