She turned the corner of the hallway and looked up from the notes she was scanning. She instinctually smiled as soon as she recognized Ronon's silhouette, but the smile soon faded from her lips. Enraged, he was yelling loudly at a young marine that Emma frequently crossed paths with. Even from her distance, she could feel his fury emanating in waves from his massive body. She backtracked and hid in the corner, watching.
"Corporal, stand down!" Sheppard ordered, standing next to Ronon.
The corporal stopped speaking. Seemingly satisfied, Ronon and Sheppard turned around as if they were going to leave, but Ronon quickly spun on his heel and hit the corporal directly in the face. His jaw made an awful popping sound as Ronon's fist met it with bone crushing force and he fell to the ground immediately. Panicking, Emma felt her lungs starting to contract. She shakily pulled out her inhaler from her pocket and took a hit.
"Ronon!" Sheppard bellowed, holding him back, "What the hell was that for?" He knelt on the ground and felt for a pulse on the marine's neck. Ronon menacingly looked down over him, a murderous expression accenting his harsh features. "He's knocked out," Sheppard muttered. "Medical team to the southeast pier," he said into his radio, "We have an unconscious man."
"He'll be fine," Ronon said in a low voice, still steaming with anger. Emma turned around and hurried back to her workstation, holding back tears, a familiar feeling of dread boiling in her stomach.
"Colonel," the young marine nodded to Sheppard.
"Corporal," Sheppard nodded back.
"How's the cunning linguist?" he murmured to Ronon as their shoulders collided.
"What?" Ronon asked in a threatening tone, turning around on a dime.
"You know, the redhead? How is she?" he prodded on.
"Corporal, are you stupid?" Sheppard interrupted, now standing at Ronon's side.
"You know, there's something I think about every time I see her in the corridors. Maybe you can answer this for me. I was just wondering…" he slowly began with a leer, "does the carpet match the drapes?" he continued, a glint in his cold eyes.
"Corporal!" Sheppard scolded, "You continue like this and I will report you for sexual harassment!"
"I just figured you'd know by now if she's anything like her good friend Lacey. Well…you and half the base. Maybe you could do a side-by-side comparison or uh evaluation of the two for me," he sneered.
Ronon took two strides closer to the corporal so that they were mere inches apart. He scowled down into his face. "You really want to pick a fight with someone twice your size?" Ronon growled.
"Twice my size?" he scoffed, taking a large step backwards, glancing down at Ronon's crotch. "I don't know if that's true. We could just ask Dr. Rogers to get down on her knees and decide," he shrugged.
Ronon reached out for his throat, but Sheppard caught him from behind and stopped him. "You better turn and run you piece of shit!" Ronon yelled.
"Yeah you'd know all about that," he yelled back.
"Corporal, stand down!" Sheppard ordered.
The marine shut his mouth and didn't say another word. Ronon glared at him, but turned to leave with Sheppard. As soon as their backs were to him, Cpl. Hanson made a gagging noise. Ronon rounded on him and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him unconscious before his head even hit the floor.
"Ronon!" Sheppard yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders, "What the hell was that for?" He knelt on the ground and felt for a pulse. Ronon looked down over the passed out marine, wanting nothing more than to continue to pummel him. "He's knocked out. Medical team to the southeast pier," Sheppard said into his radio, "We have an unconscious man."
"He'll be fine," Ronon snarled, still shaking with rage.
"Ronon, you know I don't want to get you into trouble, but when Col. Carter starts asking questions about Hanson, you know you'll have to take the fall, right?" Sheppard asked, stepping in front of him.
"I know," he replied, avoiding Sheppard's gaze, "And I will."
"I hate him just as much as you do, but he was standing down."
"Just as much as I do?" Ronon challenged, staring down into Sheppard's face.
He paused. "Ok, not quite," he conceded.
"John, I couldn't let him get away with saying those things about her," he said in a raised voice.
"I know you care about Emma, but—"
"But what?" he turned away, "If you'd been me, what would you have done?" Ronon asked.
Sheppard let out a breath of air and nodded. They waited for the medical team to arrive and then decided to go meet Colonel Carter before she heard the news from someone else.
"So uh…you slept with Dr. Peters?" Sheppard asked cautiously as they walked, his curiosity outweighing his concerns for his own safety.
"Once," Ronon answered brusquely, "She's…hard to resist," he explained.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sheppard mused. The two men exchanged a look of weird comprehension, then continued on their way.
She sat staring blindly at the Wraith database as memories washed over her, impeding her ability to focus.
The bar was dark and smoky. She hated places like this, it was hard for her to breathe through all the cigarette smoke, but she didn't say a word when he said that they would be going.
Just an hour ago, she had been watching a movie in the sorority house with a few of her sorority sisters laughing, gossiping, and sipping on Diet Coke. It was the end of her junior year, she was finishing up her term as social chair, and they wanted to have a quiet and informal sisterhood night. Her friend, Adriana, had gotten up when the doorbell rang and answered the door.
"I found a Kappa Sig," she called lightly as she walked back into the living room with Emma's then boyfriend. She plopped back down onto her spot on the carpet and pulled a blue pillow to her chest.
"Hey," Emma greeted tensely, standing up.
"Get your coat, we're going out," he told her slyly.
"Where?" she asked cautiously.
"It's a surprise," he responded, smiling.
She nodded and went to go find her jacket.
"Em wait!" one of her sisters called, "Tony, the movie's almost over, you should finish it with us."
Emma hurried back in and replied for him. "Uh…no, that's ok," she said quickly, "I – I've seen it before anyway. It's got a good ending," she smiled.
"What time do you think you'll be back?" her friend, and then roommate, Seline asked in a low voice. Starkly contrasting with the others in the room, her expression was grim and watchful.
Emma looked over at Tony. He shrugged. "I'll have her back by curfew, I promise," he said, pulling her close to him.
Seline didn't look amused. She raised an eyebrow and returned her gaze to the television screen with a dismissive but reluctant "Ok, whatever."
His grip on her waist grew tighter. "Good night everyone," she called as they headed out the door.
"Night Em!" a few called back.
The door shut behind them and she felt like any connection with the night she wanted to have had been severed as she looked back at the anchor-shaped doorknocker one more time.
Tony was off playing pool, only onto his second beer by now. She remained seated by the bar – he always said her presence distracted him from the game – and took a long drink from another Diet Coke that she had ordered.
A tall, handsome man approached her and she tried to avoid eye contact, but it made no difference.
"I'd offer you to buy you a drink, but it looks like you already have one," he started off saying.
She opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted.
"Wait, are you the DG president at school?" he asked.
Her eyes widened, surprised that he recognized her. She certainly did not recognize him. "Social chair," she corrected quietly.
"I transferred here last year," he explained, "and was a Fiji at my old school."
"Oh," she nodded, still avoiding his eyes.
"I was kinda bummed to see there wasn't a chapter here. We would always have Fiji and DG mixers," he laughed, "I'm Max," he smiled as he held out his hand for her to shake.
She looked down and kept her hand planted firmly on her drink. "Look, I'm sorry Max," she said quickly, "but I'm actually here with my boyfriend," she winced.
"Oh," he exclaimed, immediately backing off, "I didn't realize. I'm sorry," he apologized.
Please go away, please go away, she mentally willed to him, For the love of all that is holy, go away.
"Who's this?" she heard Tony's voice ask angrily from behind her. She felt her insides go cold.
"Sorry, dude," Max said placing his hands out in front of him, palms out, "You must be her boyfriend. I didn't mean to – "
Tony's fist met his face before he even finished his sentence. Max tried to throw a defensive punch in return, but Tony got him again, this time on the other cheek.
Emma got in between them and intercepted Tony's fist. "Stop it!" she yelled at him, staring him in the eyes. He pulled his hand away from her and he stopped, grabbing her wrist and dragging her to the car. He drove her back to her apartment building in silence. She sat in the passenger seat, praying that he wouldn't get out and walk her to the door. He stopped the car; she opened her door and began walking briskly to the entranceway. With a feeling of dread, she heard his car door slam shut, too. He caught up with her as she struggled to work her key to let herself in. As soon as she walked through the door into the complex's ante-room, he slipped in and pinned her against the wall.
"Don't you ever get in my way like that again," he snarled in her face. She said nothing. He backhanded her once across the face and tears immediately stung her eyes. Warm blood trickled down her cheek where his ring had caught her soft skin. She heard him grunting things about how she was dressed, how it was her fault that she attracted the other guy, how he was ashamed to be seen with a slut like her. Again across the face. A closed fist to the stomach. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her face to his. She yelped. "I bet you wanted to go with him, didn't you?" he whispered through his teeth, "That's why you stopped me, isn't it?" A fist to the face and her nose began to bleed. Tears fell from her eyes and she couldn't breathe. Her asthma was taking over and closing her lungs. She fell to the floor and he kicked her in the ribs and stomach. With every attempt she made to take a breath in, her lungs and throat closed more. He stamped on her hand like it was a cigarette to extinguish. She couldn't scream. He left her in the entranceway of her building and walked out the door, leaving her there. She heard his car speed off. She lay on the floor, completely unable to breathe, clutching to her stomach. With her last ounce of strength, she reached her arm up to press the call button for her own apartment.
"Emma?" Zelenka spoke, pulling her out of her reverie, "Jsi v pořádku?" he asked.
"Jsem v pohodě," she answered weakly, brushing a single tear from her eye.
She would never forget the expression on his face when he made her look at him. It was the same on all of their faces. It was the expression of someone powerful and angry dominating someone weak. It was the expression on Ronon's face as he looked down at the unconscious corporal on the floor and she couldn't shake it.
Please read and review!