If she couldn't sleep before, now it was totally impossible. She wasn't certain what exactly happened there. And she would give anything if she could find out what that meant for him. What she meant for him. But the personal staff must wait till they solve their actual problem. And that was gonna be a tough one without a doubt.

Chapter 5

She was tossing and turning for a long time as she tried to fall asleep. The village and all of its troubles almost disappeared out of her mind and the only thing she could think of was Ronon. If she opened her eyes, she could see him still sitting where she left him. He probably wouldn't sleep at all, at least she thought that. He wouldn't rest if he wasn't sure that they would be safe.

She fell asleep at last and when she woke, she realized with relief that she had no nightmare tonight. She didn't want to hope too much that it would never return. She supposed it was just because she was too exhausted and wasn't able to dream.

When she opened her eyes, the sun was just rising. She looked at Kal who was lying close to her still sleeping. He was breathing slowly and looked still peaceful. She tried to get up silently and not to wake him, but it wasn't necessary. He was sleeping fast and just moved a little. She didn't see Ronon at first, but than she noticed him standing in front of the cave.

"I see you slept well," he said when he saw her coming.

"Yeah, I did," she replied. "I didn't think that I would at all." She was surprised how easy it was for her to talk to him. She even didn't feel as nervous as usual.

"That's good," he said and smiled at her warmly. She returned the smile back, while she was trying not to gaze at him for too long.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked. He offered her some kind of fruit. It looked like big plums, but the color was lighter. Jennifer looked at them doubtfully but they were actually good.

"Good," she said. But she wanted to talk about something else. She was wandering if he found some solution of their situation. Before she could ask, he started with it himself.

"I have to go back to the village," he said looking at her. She realized again how tall he was; she had to raise her head to look into his eyes. She scolded herself inwardly, because she was supposed to focus on what he was saying and not on how he was looking.

"I'll leave you here with Kal," he went on.

"Why? What are you gonna do?" She wasn't sure if it was the best idea.

"I'll go back and see what's happening there exactly. We need more information. I hope that Lorne will come back soon. We have to let them know that we are ok."

"Yeah. And we cannot leave the villagers there or our people." The situation seemed worse again.

"I think they will understand and come back with more people. And that they will be careful. I hope that I will find them before they can."

She looked at him. "You shouldn't do anything stupid either." Again, she spoke before she thought about it. But he didn't react.

"You know what I mean," she tried to explain. "I want you to be careful."

"Ok," he said. "But you need to be careful, too. I suppose they don't know about us but we can't be sure. I really don't wanna leave you here but I have to go back. I want you to have a gun."

He gave her one of his guns and she took it uncertainly. She had some training with guns but she really didn't want to get into any situation where she had to use it.

"You will cope with it," he tried to encourage her. He must have seen the worry in her eyes.

"I hope I won't have to," she replied doubtfully.

Ronon shook his head. "Me too," he agreed. "Stay in the cave, it will be safer. I will come back as soon as possible." She smiled, but it was difficult to pretend that she wasn't afraid.

"I left here some fruit for Kal," he added. She just nodded, because she had problems talking. She thought that he was gonna say something, but he was silent too. He turned away, but then he looked back at her and touched her hand gently. She closed her eyes, because she didn't want to see him leaving. When she opened them again, he was gone.

--

Kal slept for a long time. Jennifer sat next to him the whole time, holding the gun in her hand and trying to persuade herself that everything would be ok. In fact, they were in a much worse situation already. But she wasn't afraid just for herself and Kal. She was afraid for Ronon as well.

She knew that he was a trained soldier and was able to take care of himself. It didn't help her a lot. She hoped that nothing would happen to him. He had a talent to get into trouble and get hurt. She knew that the best because she was his doctor. He got hurt on almost every mission, although he never cared.

She was deep in her thoughts, when she noticed that Kal woke up. She smiled at him. The boy yawned and sat down.

"Good morning," she greeted him. "How are you feeling?" She really needed to do something that would divert her attention from her worries.

"I'm hungry," he said honestly. She laughed and brought him the food Ronon had left for him. Kal ate it immediately. She couldn't believe how much he was able to eat in so short time.

"Doctor, where is Ronon?" he asked when he finished.

"He went for help," she replied. "He'll be back soon." She wanted to believe that herself.

"Can I go home now?" Well, that was more difficult to answer. She wasn't sure how to start and what she should tell him, but she didn't want to lie to him.

"Not yet, Kal," she said. "But we will do everything for that. Now we must be patient."

"I wanna see my mum. We were going swimming tomorrow." He looked a bit downhearted.

"I'm sorry," she said. He sat next to her and put his head on her shoulder. She wanted to help him but she couldn't do anything. Again. She was hugging him with one hand, while she was holding the gun in the other. The situation was almost ridiculous, but she wasn't in the mood to laugh.

She didn't have Ronon's attitude and couldn't behave like nothing happened. The truth was, that they were stuck on an alien planet with people they knew nothing about. They could be much more advanced and very dangerous. And now Ronon was gone and she was responsible for this little blond boy.

--

Kal started to get bored soon and tried to find something fun to do. Jennifer didn't want him to leave the cave. She brought him some branches and he was trying to draw something into the ground. She was sitting at the entrance of the cave most of the time looking outside. It was the late afternoon and Ronon was still gone.

When it started to get dark, it was totally nerve-wracking just to sit there and pretend to be optimistic. Her thoughts were still darker and she couldn't get rid of a feeling that something had to have happened to Ronon. What if he was hurt, or worse, killed? If everything was right, he would be back already.

She was just telling Kal about her home when she heard some sounds from outside. She felt relieved, but she was rather careful. She held the gun firmly and told Kal to be quiet. They both sat to the wall and listened if they could hear something more. But she couldn't hear anything.

Jen was holding her breath and wondered if she wasn't wrong. More than likely there was no one outside and it was the wind or some animal. She was getting paranoid. She was wishing so much Ronon coming back. She felt stranded and alone and that was unacceptable, because she had to take care of Kal.

She almost forgot that she heard something but then she heard it again. Kal looked at her and she knew that he heard it as well. So it wasn't just her imagination. In a few minutes she could hear some voices. It could be Ronon with the team but she something was telling her that it wasn't. Kal looked puzzled and held her hand firmly.

It definitely wasn't the team from Atlantis. She didn't hear the whole sentences at first but she heard some unknown names and didn't recognize the voices. The only thing she knew was that they were getting closer.

"What do you think we will get?" She already could hear them. It was a deep man's voice.

"I wouldn't expect too much," said a second man. "You know the boss. He will take most of the money for himself. But we don't have to tell him about everything we find." He laughed.

Jennifer shivered. She didn't know if they were trying to find her but it wasn't important right now.

"Of course," replied the first voice. "If we find them, the swag will be ours."

They must have been really close now. She could swear she heard them breathing. Then she heard steps very close to her and she stiffened. She raised the weapon and pointed to the entrance. It was difficult to make her hand stop shivering.

She wasn't ready. This was the only thought she had in that moment. She wasn't ready to do something like this. She couldn't shoot anyone and it was irresponsible of her to believe so. She wasn't able to do anything.

She heard the steps and saw a shadow in front of the cave. Then she saw a person standing just few meters in front of her looking inside. It was almost impossible to recognize the face, but she had a feeling that she has already seen the man before. She just couldn't remember. But it wasn't something she had time to figure out. The man noticed her and took out his own gun.

"We found them," he said.

TBC

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Hi readers! Hope you didn't give up reading, sorry that the chapter took so long. I will try to be faster next time. If I write a cliffhanger, I will have to be :D Thanks for your reviews and please go on, it keeps me writing, you know ;)