Chapter 5
Ronon Dex was not exactly what one would call a connoisseur of fine art, but he did have some taste. And the cat-chorus was not it. Of course, along with his taste in music came his way of showing his criticism. In this case it was straightforward and potentially lethal: for the past half hour or so he had been shooting at the Becketts and Radek. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your point of view – the moonshine had interfered with his aim. Behind the three singers and to either side – often very to the side – were numerous dark scorched marks against the conference-room walls.
Though intermittently under fire, the three singers seemed pleasantly unaware of the music critic in their midst. The rest of the Spite and Malice players seemed unaware, as well. And Ronon really was enjoying himself.
#####
Ronon knew he had been keeping to himself, and for the most part this did not bother him. SGA-1 and a small number of others on Atlantis were as close to family as he was probably going to get again in this life. Yet he knew that even as part of that family, he never fully opened up to them. Much of himself he still kept hidden.
But recently he had discovered that there was one woman whom he would like to open up to. Unfortunately she was the one woman in the entire galaxy – two galaxies, actually – with which he had no chance whatsoever.
The problem was thus: she was beautiful, loyal, honourable and wise. And already with someone else. Of course, being the person she was, she was not the type to betray that commitment.
It had started a few months ago. One afternoon, over lunch, McKay had told Sitnalta about their trip to Dagan. He shouldn't have, really. No man ever tells a woman he lost a ZPM because he was flattered by another woman's attention. Sitnalta had then told McKay – loud enough for everyone in the mess-hall to hear – just what she thought of his intelligence. And Sitnalta being Sitnalta – and McKay being McKay – nobody had interfered with the argument. Except Elisabeth Weir. Ronon had great respect for her courage, bravery and wisdom. Then again, trying to break up a fight between McKay and Sitnalta might also be construed as foolishness, yet she had managed to do so.
With the result that Weir had asked Ronon, Sheppard and Teyla to accompany Sitnalta to the Dagan planet and to try and retrieve the ZPM. Or the 'petentium,' as the inhabitants called it. Apparently they had taken the artefact – ZPM – back and hidden it after McKay had told them the Atlantis team was not related to the Ancients. Of course, that was why Sitnalta had freaked out: the gist of her argument against McKay's intelligence was that obviously he had never heard of 'genetics.' If Sheppard had the ATA gene, it only stood to reason he was a descendant of the Ancients. So why the bloody hell (she had spent a number of hours with the Becketts earlier that week) did McKay tell them they were unrelated to the people who had built Atlantis. Had he (Rodney) never heard of bloody genetics?
Well, bloody genetics just might be to blame why the four of them – Ronon, Teyla, Sheppard and Sitnalta – had ended up going back to Dagan. McKay would have joined them, but Sitnalta had told him he would bloody hell stay behind, as he only seemed to make a mess of things.
At that stage Ronon had thought him extremely lucky not to have been the one picked by Sitnalta as lover. Women only complicated matters.
He should not have tempted fate.
Two hours later they had been back on Dagan, this time dressed as Sitnalta had instructed. Well, the rest were. Ronon had not been willing to dress up to placate the Daganians. But he had to admit the women looked stunning in their flowing white robes. So that was how the Ancients had looked like.
The Daganians never had a chance at resistance. Sitnalta had coached the four of them well and they had masterfully played their parts. Especially Teyla.
The plan had worked thus:
When they had arrived on Dagan, the four of them had walked slowly and serenely to the temple where the Daganian scholars lived. Sitnalta had queenly announced she wished to speak to whoever had been responsible for denying her the 'petentium' years ago. Half an hour later a woman named Seilan appeared. Sitnalta had demanded the return of the 'petentium' of her. Of course the woman had balked at the command. That was when Teyla had stepped in – as planned.
The young Athosian woman had delicately stepped forward and with her soft voice explained the situation to the Daganian woman. For almost an hour she had talked to Seilan while Sitnalta ignored them and the two men tried to look as fierce as possible.
Teyla explained that indeed, the 'petentium' belonged to the white-haired woman, as she is not only gifted with the genetic make-up of the Ancients; she is also the embodiment of them. And then Teyla masterfully finished with the truth about Sitnalta's heritage: SitnaltaisAtlantis, the city of the Ancients.
During the talks both Ronon and Sheppard had been uncomfortable and frustrated. Especially Sheppard. But somewhere during her performance, Ronon had found himself fascinated by Teyla. It was almost as if she knew beforehand exactly what was required to soothe and convince Seilan. If Seilan became angry, Teyla would soothe her worries. Whenever Seilan tried to invoke her ancient pledge, Teyla would accuse her of breaking them by denying Sitnalta the ZPM. And when Seilan tried to turn and walk away, Teyla crushed her resistance with the truth in that soft yet determined tone of voice she used whenever Teyla thought someone was being an idiot.
It seemed Teyla used that tone often.
But what fascinated him the most was her self-control. Teyla could probably have single-handedly defeated every warrior on Dagan in hand-to-hand combat, yet she stood there in front of Seilan, as delicate and feminine as any queen. She never once tried to enforce the talks with violence or any reference to her own training. Had it been up to Ronon, he would have shot every one of the Daganians – just because they annoyed him. Never Teyla. She was as strong-willed and feminine as she was physically strong.
And beautiful.
It was in that moment – when that thought crossed his mind – that Ronon had realised his problem. He was incredibly attracted to her, but she seemed to be loyal to Kanaan.
Besides, should he ever try and interfere with her and Kanaan's relationship – or tell her how he felt – she would kick his ass. She was completely capable of doing so if needed.
Bloody hell.
All the way back to the stargate (with the ZPM), Ronon pondered this situation. By the time they were back on Atlantis, he was completely confused. He had thought he would never feel this way about another woman – another person – again, yet now he had fallen for the only woman he could never have. Added to this quandary was the fact that he was aware that Teyla and Kanaan were not happy together. The Athosian male was still a bit strange and Teyla always seemed uncomfortable around him. It seemed as if they only stayed together for the sake of Torren.
Which was the other thing: how could one compete with the father of her child?
No wonder Ronon had been moody these past few months. He had decided not to show any of his conflicting feelings about Teyla – especially to her – but the only way to do so was to try and feel something else. Which usually ended up with him feeling angry at everyone. As it is he had already shot McKay once when the man had not even been that annoying.
Bloody hell.
#####
It suddenly occurred to Ronon that his weapon was not set on 'stun.' Had he hit either one of the three aggravators, he would have killed them. So carefully he took another swig of moonshine and then reset his weapon to a less lethal setting. Now he would only stun a person if he shot him, not kill him.
He looked at his cards again, and decided now was as good a time as any to play the joker that lay on the top of his deck. The next card was a king, which he could instantly play on top of the joker. But the card turned up after the king was another king. He was never going to play that, he just knew. So he took out his gun and shot it. Perhaps there was something more interesting underneath.