A/N: Sorry about the delay, had a busy weekend. So we're back to the happy/fluffy stuff. It's so much more fun anyway! -pj
Disclaimer: Okay, I admit it. This whole thing was just part of my plot to get rid of Ronon's dreds that he wouldn't still have on the show if I owned it!
Day One-Twelve
"Personally, I blame Ronon," McKay griped from atop a gurney, his legs swung over the edge while his right foot rested in a vat of ice-water.
"And why is that Rodney?" Teyla asked tiredly, examining her own recently bandaged ankle.
"Look at him," McKay gestured wildly at the Satedan, who stood off to the side, arms crossed and leaning against the wall facing the door, "he looks practically… docile."
"Them's fightin' words, McKay," Sheppard mumbled. He glanced over his from his seat beside Rodney at the newly short-haired Ronon, who was watching disinterestedly as the scientist cotinued talking about him like he wasn't there.
"I wish I could say I was worried," Rodney continued, "but those villagers weren't the least bit intimidated by us and I'm inclined to agree with them. You're short, she's friendly and I don't even carry a gun. Ronon was the only thing we had going for us when we went on these stupid 'first contact' missions. And now…?" He shook his head in discouragement and turned to look for a nurse while Sheppard and Teyla exchanged a 'what are we going to do with him?' glance.
While Rodney was busy trying to catch a doctor, any doctor's, attention, Ronon pushed away from the wall and started for the door, passing him on his way.
"Don't worry, McKay," Ronon said, slapping his shoulder hard enough to make him slightly off balance and Sheppard had to grab his arm before he took a refreshing ice-water swim, "I'll remind you why you're afraid of me during our next sparring lesson."
"What the hel..Um, what?" Rodney's irritation at nearly tumbling off the gurney was replaced with trepidation when the warrior's words registered, "what – what do you mean?"
Ronon turned. Teyla and John looked amused and Rodney just seemed concerned. He shot them all a grin.
"You'll see."
"Yes, um, I'll see what? Exactly?"
His grin darkened slightly with mischief and he leaned forward, "that you should be more afraid of me without ten pounds of hair to slow me down. Not less."
---
Ronon stood outside Remy's quarters, twirling his bokken absently while he waited for her to answer. He chimed twice more after trying her on the com. She was in her quarters, he was sure of that much, but why wasn't she answering?
Finally he sighed and entered the key code she'd given him. It was very like her to ask to borrow his bokken for her next training with Teyla, and then not be around for him to give it to her. He stepped inside planning to drop the weapon off and then go and find her, but stopped at the sound of loud music coming from a small device on her desk.
Remy was standing with her back to him using an orange feather duster to clean some of her smaller trinkets on a set of inlayed shelves along the far wall.
He stepped in further so the door could shut, and gently lay the wooden weapon down on the table trying not to make noise, not that she could hear him anyway over what he was pretty sure was 'Highway to Hell' by that band Lorne liked. He smiled and leaned casually against the wall, watching her in amusement while she shook her hips and bounced to the beat, occasionally singing into the orange part of her duster in a voice that was loud and off-key. When she moved on to playing what Sheppard called 'air guitar' he laughed out loud and, surprisingly, Remy heard him.
She spun on her heel, holding the duster like a baseball bat in preparation of bashing the intruder. But when she saw it was Ronon, her shoulders sagged and her cheeks turned slightly pink before she started to laugh along with him. After a moment in which she seemed to consider something, she shrugged and returned to dancing, this time when it got to the chorus, she beckoned him to join in.
Ronon just raised an eyebrow.
She stuck out her bottom lip and clasped her hands together pleadingly.
Ronon still didn't move so she shook her head, mouthed 'you're no fun'. Then, lifting her orange microphone once again and abandoning all pretense of housework, she ran over to her bed and jumped up on it, effectively ruining what little tidying up she'd actually managed to accomplish. When the song finished she flopped down onto her back, sprawled out across the mattress and breathing heavily from exertion. She rolled over to grab a small remote off her bedside table and lowered the volume and then looked at him.
"You should've danced with me," she told him with a frown.
Ronon shook his head, "not my kind of music."
Remy looked disappointed and then caught sight of the bokken on the table.
"Oh, you brought it, thanks." She stood and made her way over, leaving the duster on the bed, and picked up the lightweight training weapon. She twirled it around in her hands a few times, testing it's weight, "Teyla says she'll take me to trade for my own some time next week."
Ronon nodded about to respond and then glanced over her shoulder at the balcony doors she'd left wide open.
"You do know it's raining out, right?"
Remy whirled around and cursed at the sight of nearly torrential rain pouring in through the open doors. She tossed the bokken onto the bed, where it landed gently beside the duster, and ran to pull them closed. She stopped when some of the water hit her fingers and Ronon watched curiously when he stuck her hand outside experimentally.
She turned back at him, a slightly amazed smile on her face. "It's warm," she looked back outside and up at the gray-black sky, "like bathwater."
Ronon looked on silently as Remy took a few tentative steps out onto the balcony, her hands spread out to her sides, her face tilted up into the water. A bright pink light flashed across the sky and she jumped and Ronon instinctively took a few steps forward, almost bringing him out into the rain as well.
She looked at him with wide eyes, "what was that?"
Ronon laughed lightly at her blatant worry and was unable to stop himself from crossing the threshold and coming to stand under the water with her, "Thunder Light," he said, resting his hands on her arms.
Remy glanced up nervously at the sky, "is it dangerous?"
He shook his head and she relaxed. His ears perked up to a new song on Remy's music device and she smiled, recognizing the melody.
"Mmm, I love this song," she said, leaning forward to lean her wet head against Ronon's equally wet shirt. She wrapped her arms around his back and he pulled her close.
"What is it?"
"It's called 'Laughter in the Rain', an old 70s song my dad used to play all the time," she looked up at him, blinking away water droplets, "you like it?"
Ronon didn't really respond, distracted first by her wet lips and then the way her white t-shirt, now soaked, allowed the bright red bra underneath to show through. He squeezed her tighter to him.
Aware of his roaming gaze, Remy smiled and shook her head, raising her hands to touch his short hair, that was now plastered to his scalp with warm water.
"Kiss me, Ronon," she said after a moment, letting her eyes fall from his hair to meet his.
Ronon did, without hesitation.
When he pulled back she still had her eyes closed and was still smiling. She lay her head back down against his shoulder and started to sway in time with the music.
She immediately looked back up at him, this time with a frown, when his body remained rigid and unwilling to move.
"What?" He asked innocently as another flash of Thunder Light lit up the sky above.
Remy raised an eyebrow, "you owe me a dance, Dex." She told him in a voice that allowed no room for argument and the replaced her head against his shoulder and returned to swaying.
After a moment Ronon sighed and, shaking his head only slightly, he allowed his body to relax and follow Remy's and the music. He smiled when the chorus of the song played again.
"Oooh, how I love the rainy days, and the happy way I feel inside,"
He leaned down to talk quietly in Remy's ear, causing a shiver to run up her spine.
"Yeah. I like the song."
TBC