Ronon POV

For the first time in over a week I woke up in my own bed. Sara was sound asleep beside me and as I was not expected for duty I closed my eyes for a few moments longer to savor the feeling of being home. I suspected Sara had not slept well while I was away and I slipped out of bed a short time later with the intention of making her breakfast.

I pulled on some clean clothes and headed down to the kitchen. To my surprise, Erik was there when I entered. He had obviously come straight from bed too because he was naked from the waist up and his hair was tousled from sleep.

"Morning," he greeted me as he pulled two coffee mugs from the cupboard.

I looked at the mugs. "You expecting company?"

"Marcus should be here any minute."

My interest was instantly piqued. "He made it back?"

"Yep." Erik picked up his t-shirt from the bench and pulled it on over his head. "Got a call a short time ago to say he was on his way here from Atlantis."

I digested this news silently while I pulled two more coffee mugs from the cupboard. "Mind if I stick around?"

He gave me a long look. "I understand you being concerned for Sara's safety – believe me I feel the same way – but I want to hear whatever he has to say for himself before I pass judgment."

I nodded. His words said one thing, but his body language indicated he was as angry as I was that Sara may have been put in danger unnecessarily. I gestured towards the cups he was pouring hot water into. "You making him coffee?"

"No, this is for Isobel," a slow smile spread across his face. "I think she deserves it… after last night."

The tension in the room eased and I smiled as I busied myself putting a selection of toppings onto a tray. It was obvious I was there for similar reason and I avoided his eyes as I placed some bread in the toaster.

The sound of the main door banging shut caused both us of to look towards the kitchen door. "Let me handle the talking," Erik said as he led the way from the room.

"Sure," I told him. "So long as he doesn't say anything I don't like."

Marcus was standing in the hallway alone, dressed in black leather pants and t-shirt. He stifled a yawn as we approached.

"Welcome back," Erik shook his hand and gave him a slap on the shoulder.

I folded my arms across my chest and stood back until they were done. When Marcus finally met my eyes, I did not return the nod he gave me.

"Where's the girl?" Erik asked.

"I took Marissa straight to the cottage. She was cold and tired, and I didn't think she needed to be here."

Erik nodded. "I'll go down and speak with her later."

"Better make sure you take Isobel or Sara with you when you do," Marcus warned. "She hasn't got a lot of trust when it comes to men."

"Thanks for the heads-up," Erik replied and then fell silent. He ran his hands through his long, fair hair. "I've got to tell you, Marcus… I've been hearing some pretty interesting versions of what went down with Sara yesterday." He gestured in the direction of his office. "You want to sit down and tell me your side of things?"

Marcus looked at Erik and then at me. "I guessed that was why you wanted to talk to me. Sara was put within reach of Rydan, and for that I accept full responsibility."

I stepped forward, keen to tell him exactly what I thought about his sense of responsibility.

"But," Marcus held up his hand to fend me off, "I was extremely uncomfortable about letting her take such a risk."

"You didn't let it stop you though," I said, and from the corner of my eye I saw Erik nod in agreement.

Marcus snorted. "Sara cares about the two of you more than she does her own life. Do you honestly think she was going to just sit back and watch you both die without doing anything to prevent it?"

"You were in command," Erik said. "You should have made her see sense."

Marcus looked from Erik to me, and I stared at him until he was forced to look away. I was done with talking, it was time to step things up a notch or two.

"Yes, Sara's idea was risky, and yes it was probably not the best plan we could have come up with," Marcus continued. "But at the time it was all we had… and Sara was just desperate enough that she would have gone through with it, with or without my support." He placed his hands on his hips and squared his not-insignificant shoulders. "I went up there with her to Rydan because I had no other choice. I know how much she means to you both and I did my damndest to see that she was safe."

I felt myself begin to waver. Sara was headstrong. I could imagine her giving him little choice but to follow her decision. Erik appeared to be equally short for words.

"You should have seen her up there," Marcus said, with less of an edge to his voice. "She did herself proud."

Neither Erik or I responded and he added, "If you still feel the need for retribution, then go ahead. Demote me… or step me outside. Either way, you'll make me question how well you really know Sara."

My anger slipped a little, and I glanced at Erik to see he was considerably less tense than a few minutes ago.

Marcus turned towards the door. "If that's all, I'll be on my way. Those puddle jumpers aren't exactly made for sleeping in."

"Wait," Erik said.

Marcus stopped and turned around.

"The decisions you made may have differed from my own, but when it comes down to it you got everyone home safely… And that's what counts. I am grateful for what you did for us, and for Tarus."

Marcus half-smiled. "It's no more than you would have done for me – and probably better too". He glanced at me and was about to turn away when I nodded.

"Thanks for looking out for Sara," I told him. "She's… not someone I could be without."

He looked at me evenly. "I know."

I watched him open the door and step outside, leaving Erik and I alone.

"Well," he sighed. "I guess that's the end of it. Not that I agree with him completely, but he does have a point about Sara. She sure can be stubborn when she sets her mind on something."

I nodded. "He did the best he could. No way would I have let her go up there though."

Erik looked at me and cocked his eyebrow. "Me neither."

We both smiled.

At ease, we returned to the kitchen where I set about finishing Sara's breakfast.

Sara POV

I woke to find Ronon climbing back into bed beside me. The aroma of coffee and hot toast wafted from the nightstand and I took a leisurely stretch and then sat up in bed next to him.

"I could get used to this," I grinned.

He lifted the tray and placed it across my legs. "Your hair's a mess," he smiled, and placed a kiss on my lips.

"I think we both know why," I said as I did my best to comb the snarls out with my fingers. He passed me a mug of steaming hot coffee which I took and carefully bought to my lips. "Mmm, this tastes great."

He picked up the other mug and arranged the pillows to settle back beside me. "Natara will be awake soon."

"I know," I snuggled against him. "I'm surprised she hasn't come to check on us already."

"All the excitement last night, maybe I wore her out."

"Well, you certainly wore one of us out," I dug him slightly in the ribs. "And most enjoyably too."

He smiled at the reference to his prowess and we sipped our coffee in comfortable silence for a moment.

"A lot happened while you were away," I ventured as I realized this might be a good time to bring up the subject of Marcus with him. "There's a few things I need to talk to you about… Marcus, for a start."

He placed his empty mug on the nightstand turned back to me. It was impossible to read his expression but Marcus had always been an unspoken source of tension between the two of us and I did not expect now to be any different. Anxious to get out what I needed to say, I ran my words together.

"I know you and Erik have this whole macho 'look after Sara,' thing going on between the two of you but I don't want you giving Marcus a hard time when he gets back," I told him. He was instrumental in breaking you and Erik out… and he was really good to me while you were you were gone. To be honest, I don't know what I would have done without him."

I held his gaze to gauge his reaction and saw him narrow his eyes. "It wasn't like that," I reassured, worried he might be reading something more into the situation. "He was a friend to me, that's all.

He looked away. "Lucky for him."

I rolled my eyes. Was it possible I had met someone even more bull-headed than my brother? "If you really want to know, before we left to look for you, he congratulated me – or rather us – on our engagement."

Ronon snorted. "Took him long enough."

"Maybe…" I agreed. "But it was genuine when he finally got around to it." I began to smile. "Anyway, I don't think either of us needs to worry about that kind of thing anymore. He's turned his attention towards Marissa."

"The girl?" Ronon looked genuinely surprised.

"She's very attractive."

"No disrespect to her, but she could never replace you. Not for me anyway."

My heart swelled. "You say the nicest things."

"It's only the truth," he shrugged off my comment. "When it comes to you, no one else comes close."

I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder. "I'm so lucky to have you," I sighed contentedly. I savored the moment for a bit and then straightened up again. "So, you won't go all heavy-handed on Marcus then?"

He looked at me and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You're too late. Erik and I have already spoken to him."

"What?" I sat bolt upright. "When? Is he back already?"

"Uh huh. Got here a short time ago. Your brother met with him. I went along to listen in."

A wave of trepidation swept over me. "What did you do?"

He snorted. "Nothing. The man knows how to make a case for himself."

"Really?" I lowered my hands. "What about Erik?" I winced as I recalled how antsy he had been in his office yesterday.

"Well, he didn't demote him. Although that was the challenge."

"Marcus challenged Erik?" I was shocked. Marcus had never been anything but respectful towards Erik. But then again, Erik had never been so totally out of line about something before. "Wow."

"It's done now. No need to worry."

I exhaled. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that."

He leaned over and removed the breakfast tray from my knees. "And I don't plan on leaving again, so I guess we're all good."

I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "How 'bout we stay in bed, just like this all morning?"

"Hmmmm," he murmured as he returned my kiss. "Why do you think I made you breakfast?"

"I like the way you think, Specialist Dex."

He slipped his hand around my waist and pulled me closer and then we both stilled as the door to our room slowly swung open.

"Mommy?" Natara appeared in the doorway. Her hair was rumpled and she was still in her nightgown. She held her doll tightly in her right hand.

"Hey sweet-heart," I smiled and patted the bed beside me. "Do you want to come join us?"

She nodded, and then smiled as Ronon leaned forward beside me.

"How's my favorite girl?"

I helped her climb into bed so she could settle in between Ronon and I. Once there, she happily made herself the center of attention. The three of us spent the entire morning in be together, and when we finally got up around lunchtime it felt like we were truly a family again.

oOo

Kadria stopped by later that same evening. I had not seen much of her over the past week and I felt a little guilty, not in the least because I had all but forgotten the wedding plans she had been helping me with.

She joined Ronon and I in the sitting room where we were relaxing together after putting Natara to bed, and the two of them greeted each other warmly. I was reminded of the first time Ronon had come to Tarus, when Kadria was possibly the only person who had accepted him without question. Their relationship had not altered and they both seemed to genuinely get along as opposed to tolerating each other for my benefit.

We gave Kadria a brief account of what had happened yesterday, and then the conversation turned towards the plans we had been making for the wedding. It was the moment I had been dreading. I knew there was not enough time now to get our dresses made, or to finalize the many other arrangements that still needed to be set. The only option was to postpone everything until a later date.

"We've lost a whole week, and the schedule was already so tight…" I lamented. "We'll have to contact everyone and reschedule the date." I looked at Ronon and he rested his hand upon my knee. At least he was home and safe… that was the thing that mattered most.

"Well…" Kadria said, "That was what I wanted to talk to you about. While you were away, I took the pattern for your dress to Mrs. Haig in town. When you got back yesterday I went to check on her progress and she has made you a replica in calico. All you need to do is try it on and she has promised to work day and night to get the real thing ready in time for the wedding."

"Really?" I pressed my hand to my mouth in surprise. Hope flared inside me, "But what about you and Natara?" I looked to Ronon, "And you?"

"Our dresses are already done," Kadria said. "We'd already chosen the fabric and design before you got called away so I borrowed Natara from Isobel one day and let Mrs Haig take her measurements. I hope you don't mind..?"

"No," I shook my head. "Not at all." I began to smile as I pictured the dresses waiting for me to look at. My excitement checked a little as I looked at Ronon. "Have you thought about what you want to wear?"

He nodded. "I've got it sorted."

"You have?" I couldn't hide my surprise.

"The week before we were taken I went and made arrangements off-world. The clothes should be ready and waiting."

Kadria and I looked at each other in amazement.

"Don't know why you're both surprised," Ronon said. "Did you expect me to show up naked?"

I indulged my imagination for a moment and then smiled. "I can't believe you and Kadria are more organized than me!"

Kadria smiled. "I've been waiting for this day since forever. No way am I giving it up without a fight." To further prove her point she lifted her hand and began to check off her fingers, "Catering has been notified, flowers are ordered, hair and makeup still needs to be decided…" she paused. "What about wedding rings?"

Ronon and I looked at each other. We had chosen our rings together the day before he was taken. They were probably waiting right now to be collected from the jewelers after being resized. "We've got them sorted," I told her.

"Good," Kadria warmed further to her task. "I still need to go over the time-line with you, and the seating plan…"

I nodded, catching onto her enthusiasm. The wedding was really going ahead! "How about I meet you tomorrow morning and we can check out the dresses? Then we'll have lunch together and talk about the rest."

She beamed at me. "Great. You've got no idea how excited I am about this!"

"I think maybe I have," I raised my eyebrows and gave her a pointed look as I settled back onto the settee and snuggled into Ronon. The subject gradually shifted from the wedding to other things that had occurred over the last few days, and then Kadria left for home.

Ronon took my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Feeling better?"

I was still so excited by the sudden change of circumstances that I practically beamed. "You have to ask?"

He smiled. "I like seeing you this happy."

"Well, it's you who makes me this way," I told him.

"And your friend."

I nodded. "Definitely my friend. I can't believe she's done all this."

He smiled and began to lead me from the room. "Why don't we go to bed and celebrate."

oOo

A/N: Thanks chesi66 and puffally for your reviews. You both made my day