So, this is it. This is the last tag scene I wrote back in 2008. After this the Keller/McKay stuff became so overt that my attempts to pretend that Ronon and Keller were engaged in a relationship we just weren't seeing came crashing down around me. It's hard to write canon compliant episode tags that argue one thing when the show is clearly stating something else. And these were always meant to be canon compliant.

At this point I consider this fic completed. While this may not be an ending that wraps everything up or gives everyone a happily ever after, I don't intend to continue or to attempt a rewrite of the last few SGA episodes. Seed was really the last bastion of hope for a Keller/Ronon shipper within the canon of the show, so I think it is fitting the tags end here.

Tag to Seed (the one where Keller nearly becomes a Wraith ship).

She could hear the Other moving, circling around her. Watching as her host slowly lost the fight. Jen didn't care anymore. The Other had won and Atlantis had abandoned her to this fate. It didn't matter. She was just so tired. She just wanted to sleep-to leave it all behind her. So tired.

The Other paused and Jen turned to look at it. She had long ago realized that none of this was real. The Other had taken her to a place in her own mind in order to complete the take over. It was a white room and Jen was lying on the floor as the Other circled around her. She had started thinking of it as 'the Other' when the creature took her form. No one would be able to tell them apart. They were one in the same, except Jen was real and the Other was a monster. But not for much longer. Soon the Other would be all that was left.

Jen felt her mind spread out through the organism growing out of her as the Other focused on something. Someone had entered the infirmary. The Other was trying to determine if it was friend or foe.

Jen stifled a gasp and felt hope swell inside her. It was Ronon. She didn't know how she knew this, but she did. Ronon was in the infirmary, and he was coming for her. He would save her from the other.

Jen glanced at the Other, unsure about what it would do. Would it attack Ronon? It had to. He was here to destroy it and save her. He was a threat to the Other. She had to attack him.

Don't hurt him, Jen pleaded silently, even though she knew the Other couldn't hear her. Don't hurt Ronon.

The Other nodded and then resumed circling her host. Jen watched her, wondering why she wasn't attacking. She had to attack. Ronon was a threat. Why wasn't she attacking? Why was she letting Ronon get closer and closer to them?

Through the entity growing out of her, Jen felt Ronon stop, and she knew why. That hallway had been closed off by the entity. There was no way for him to get through, unless…

Don't do it, Ronon, Jen thought. Stay away. Don't come after me. Stay away.

But Jen knew better than that, so she wasn't surprised at all when Ronon fired on the entity. The Other screamed as Ronon darted through the newly made hole. The entity attacked him, sending out tentacles to crush him. He did well, fending it off, but there was too much of it and it was too fast, even for him. The entity caught his wrists and pulled him up against the wall. More of it snaked down and curled around his neck. The Other smirked and narrowed her eyes, her complete focus on the kill.

Jen took a deep breath and struggled to sit up. It was hard at first, since the Other had been in control for so long, but as she moved it became easier. Finally she was on her feet, staring into the Others eyes.

"Get down," the Other ordered, her voice deeper and less human than Jen's.

"Let him go," Jen ordered.

"He is a threat and must be-"

The Other broke off as Jen lunged forward and tackled her, knocking them both to the ground. Jen pushed herself quickly and struck the other in the jaw. As she fought, Jen felt herself gaining some sort of control over the entity. She threw her complete focus on the few tentacles that were attacking Ronon and tried to release him. The tentacles loosened enough for him to breath and Jen held it there, realizing that she didn't have the strength to completely free him.

The Other grabbed Jen's wrist and flipped her to the side. Jen quickly rolled to her feet, the way Laura had taught her and tried to jump at the Other again. The Other caught her wrists again and held her in place. The two women stood in place, their wills battling for control over the few tentacles that held Ronon.

"Dr. Keller, this is Colonel Sheppard, do you read?"

"John! Help me!" Jen yelled.

The Other smirked. "He cannot hear you." She looked up. "I hear you, Colonel, but I am not Dr. Keller anymore."

"She lies!" Jen yelled. "I'm here and I'm fighting her!"

"Well, who are you?" Sheppard asked.

"I have no designation yet. I'll be given one when I'm complete."

"What about Ronon?"

"You mean the intruder? He's alive, for the moment. He's been neutralized. I can feel his pulse. It's weak. It would only take the slightest squeeze."

"No!" Jen yelled. "She lies! I'm fighting her, but I don't know how much longer I can hold. You have to help him, Colonel!"

"No one will help you," the Other hissed.

"Well, you don't want to do that because he's a… he's one of you, remember?"

Despite what was going on, Jen couldn't help but grin at John's near slip. She could imagine Woolsey's face if Sheppard had revealed what Ronon really was to her. The thought of that confrontation with Woosley sometime in the future and how Ronon would deal with it lifted her spirits and gave her the strength to keep fighting. They were coming. They were coming to help her and Ronon. They had to be.

"Jennifer, this is Carson."

"Dr. Beckett, I already told you, I'm not Jennifer Keller anymore."

"You're the voice she's hearing. The part of her mind that was taken over."

"You can't stop me. I'll become as I was meant to be."

"No, you're won't," Jen growled. "You're going to die. They'll kill you."

"No," the Other said. "I will kill all of them- ah!" The other screamed and buckled to her knees. Jen took the opportunity to get a better hold on the entity. She could feel John inside the isolation chamber, and she kicked the Other back so she could keep the entity from attacking him.

John stepped up to her and pressed something against her neck. The Other screamed again, jumped to her feet and pushed Jen back to the ground. Jen felt herself lose control as tentacles attacked John and tightened around Ronon.

"Ronon!" she screamed and everything exploded in white.

.

…

.

White light was hovering above her eyes. Jen groaned and tried to close them, but for some reason they stayed open. Or was it just one eye? Yes, someone was holding her left eye open.

"Jennifer, can you hear me?" she heard Carson ask as the hand was removed from eye. Jen closed it and then slowly blinked both eyes open. "Jennifer?"

"Ronon?" she whispered.

"Right over there," Carson said, nodding to the next bed. Jen turned her head and saw Ronon sitting up in the next medical bed. He grinned and waved at her and Jen felt herself relax. Carson cleared his throat and Jen looked up as Richard Woolsey entered the room.

"And John?" she asked a little louder, simply for appearance sake.

"In the infirmary," Carson said. "You and Ronon are in one of the isolation rooms," Carson said. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Together at Rodney's insistence. I can't wait to hear all about how that came about." Jen blushed as Carson stepped back and went to talk to Woolsey. Jen closed her eyes and settled back into the bed. A few minutes later, Carson and Woolsey's voice died away and then she heard some tapping. Jen opened her eyes and looked over at Ronon, who was holding up a dry erase white board and was tapping it with a marker.

Hi, the board read.

"Hi," Jen said. "What's with that?"

Ronon flipped the board around, wiped away the 'hi' away with his hand and wrote something else.

Bruised Lairanx.

Jen chuckled. "Larynx. L-A-R-Y-N-X."

Ronon shrugged and wrote something else on the board.

Can't Talk.
Doc Gave Me This.

"I'm sorry," Jen said. "I wish I could have-" She broke off as Ronon shook his head.

Fought It.
Saved Me.

Jen couldn't help but smile. "What makes you say that?"

I Know You.

Jen felt tears build in her eyes as she smiled at him. It was a warm smile that bubbled up inside her and warmed her whole body. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for coming after me, for being there, for fighting. Thanks, for everything."

Ronon set the white board down on his lap and held his hand out to her. Jen stretched her own hand out across the gap between their two beds and slipped it into his. It was warm and brought her more comfort than she had thought was within the power of simple hand holding. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut and she drifted off to sleep, content in the knowledge that she was home, that she was surrounded by the best friends she could ever hope for, and that Ronon was there and he would never leave her.