Tag to Trio

"Good god!" Laura Cadman gasped as she collapsed to the ground at the end of the 'track' she and Jen ran every morning. A few steps ahead, Jen turned around and grinned.

"Laura?" she asked.

"I left for two weeks," Cadman panted, rolling onto her back. "Two weeks, and suddenly you're the fastest thing in Atlantis!"

"Water?" Jen asked, holding Cadman's water bottle above the woman's head. Cadman sat up and took the bottle from Jen, drinking half of it in one gulp.

"I take it you've been working out with our big, scary alien?" Cadman asked once she could breath normally again.

"I was," Jen agreed absently.

"So how are things on cloud nine?" Cadman asked, taking another drink of water.

"Um." Jen grabbed her own water bottle and sat down next to Cadman on the floor. She took a sip of water and looked at her friend. "We haven't actually talked in two or three days."

"Two or three days?" Cadman repeated.

"Four days, actually," Jen amended. "Since my last off world mission."

"I'm seeing a correlation here between you going off world and Ronon having a temper tantrum," Cadman muttered. "So what happened?"

"I have no idea," Jen admitted, taking another swallow. "I came back hurt, but it was just rope burn. I can't believe he'd be upset about that."

"So…" Cadman mused, staring into her water bottle. "There's nothing to the rumors about you and McKay?"

"McKay?" Keller repeated in disbelief. "What…? Where…?"

"I've just heard this from the rumor mill," Cadman said. "They're saying that you and McKay were seen together having a drink after your return from said mission."

"It was just a drink!" Jen exclaimed. "Someone needed to sit that guy down and explain women to him. Do you know that he nearly proposed to Katie Brown, took it back and then expected for things to continue on all fine and dandy between them?"

"No," Cadman said. "But that does explain Katie's decision to return to earth."

"Yeah," Jen agreed. "Colonel Carter and I had to explain to him that what he actually did was break up with her."

"Jesus," Cadman muttered. "And here I thought he learned something from the time I spent in his head." Jen ended up choking on her water with laughter. Cadman quickly shifted over to rub her friend's back until Jen could breath properly again. "Seriously, though, Jen" Cadman said softly. "What do you think Ronon would do if he heard those rumors before he heard anything from you?"

"Oh, you don't seriously think…?" Jen asked in disbelief. Cadman raised an eyebrow. "I have to go," Jen said, getting to her feet and rushing off to find Ronon.

"That's right!" Cadman yelled after her. "Go knock some sense into your man!"

She found Ronon in the gym, sparring against Colonel Sheppard. They were so focused on trying to beat each other up that they didn't notice her right away and Jen was too nervous to interrupt them. Sheppard saw her first and called for time out.

"Hi, Doc," he greeted. Ronon turned and when he saw her, he frowned in that scary way that had really intimidated her during her first few weeks in Atlantis. It seemed to be having the same effect now.

"Um, hi," Jen greeted, "I was hoping I could talk to Ronon for a minute."

"Is it medical?" Ronon asked, walking across the room and grabbing a towel.

"No," Jen said. "It's--" she glanced at Colonel Sheppard, wondering how much she should say. "It's personal."

"Can't right now," Ronon said. "See you later," he told Sheppard before leaving. Jen sighed, wondering how she was ever going to fix this. She should have sought him out earlier, instead of letting this stew. But she honestly couldn't believe that he thought there was something between her and McKay! It was one drink, damn it!

"Doc?" Sheppard asked and Jen turned to look at him. "Aren't you going to go after him?"

"What's the point?" Jen asked bitterly. She was going to kill McKay for this one. Or better yet, send him to Ronon.

"Doc, he really likes you," Sheppard said. "I mean really likes you. Do you realize that we haven't had to manhandle him down to the infirmary in months? That sometimes he looks for excuses to go down there? This is serious, Doc. This thing with McKay just has him a little… upset."

"Nothing happened with McKay!" Jen snapped.

"That's what I've been telling him," Sheppard agreed. "And that's what Rodney told him at gunpoint. But I think he needs to hear it from you." Jen looked back at the door and Sheppard gave her a small shove. That was all motivation Jen needed and she took off running.

"Ronon!" she called when she caught up with him.

"Not now," Ronon said, trying to brush her off.

"What do you think I'm going to say, Ronon?" Jen demanded. "What are you so afraid of?"

"You want to do this here?" Ronon snapped. "Fine. I'll make it simple. We're over and done with. Go play with McKay."

"Tempting considering the way you've been acting!" Jen snarled, poking her finger into his chest. "Except I'm not with McKay, I'm with you and I don't want to be with McKay, I want to be with you!" There was a long paused. Jen sighed and crossed her arms in disgusted. What was it going to take to get through to this guy?

Finally, almost tentatively, Ronon spoke. "With me?" he asked.

"With you," Jen said in relief, leaning forward and resting her head against his chest. "It was just a drink between friends. It didn't mean anything. You just overreacted. Again."

"I didn't overreact last time," Ronon growled.

"You did," Jen said, standing up on her tip toes and giving him a quick kiss. "Is all forgiven?"

"Is it?" Ronon asked.

Jen gave him another kiss. "I have to get going. I'll see you later."

"Hey!" Ronon called as she started to walk away. "Am I forgiven or not?"

"I'll see you later," Jen repeated. She heard Ronon growl, and turned to see him returning to the gym. Not as busy as he had made out.

That evening she was treated to a movie in Ronon's quarters, flowers and chocolate. Jen had to admit, while John Sheppard wasn't at his best around women, he could certainly give out good tips on how to grovel back into a girl's favor.