Title: Naming the Stars
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis/Torchwood
Rating: T
Spoilers: Both seasons of Torchwood and at least Season Four and the very beginning of Season Five of Stargate: Atlantis. Mr. Woolsey is in charge and Teyla had her baby.
Pairing: pre-ship Ronon/Keller, Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Neither fandom belongs to me. The title and excerpts are taken from the poem Naming the Stars by Joyce Sutphen. Check her out!

Summary: "I don't think you realize what you've given me," he said softly.

A/N: Thank you so, so much for all of the reviews! It spurs me on like nothing else! There will be an epilogue after this chapter and I may do a sequel of sorts.

I have taken gratuitous liberty with the Satedan language and based it on Tongan which is spoken in the kingdom of Tonga in Polynesia. Guess where that inspiration came from? *grins sheepishly* I've also expanded on the the rings in Ronon's hair and since I couldn't find any specific pictures of them (And believe me, I looked. A lot. Very hard work looking at pictures of Ronon Dex on Google ;), I've taken liberties once again with their shape and origin. All of the things listed in the time capsule are actually pretty similar to the objects in the Westinghouse Time Capsules buried in Flushing Meadow Park in New York and scheduled to be opened in 6539 AD.

Sorry for the massive author's note! Please let me know what you think!

Jennifer spent most of the morning trying to get caught up with all of her messages and research. When she wasn't frantically writing people back and organizing her research, she was frantically worrying about Ronon.

She knew from previous conversations that he had come to terms as best as a person can with the fate of his world. Shortly before she'd left he'd even brought up stories about his family and hometown without being prompted.

That however, did not mean that he didn't still mourn their passing. And while Jennifer was finally able to admit to herself that they were obviously teetering on the precipice of a possible relationship, had she crossed a line?

Therefore Jen found herself at one point standing in the supply closet, a bag of saline solution held limply in her hands and staring blankly at the wall berating herself for dragging all of his history back in front of him.

What right did she have to dump all of those little reminders on him? What if he'd just wanted to forget all about it? What if he was angry? What if he was sad? He'd said thank you. But, was that just a reflex? Did he mean it? Should she go find him? Should she tell Teyla?

Jennifer finally stopped herself when Marie called to her to take a look at one of the engineers who had just come in.

The doctor then didn't get much more of chance to think about anything for the next several hours. The engineer, a Dr. Perry, had presented with a severe pain in his mid-section and a high fever. A quick test confirmed acute appendicitis and Jen scrubbed up immediately.

The surgery started out fairly routine, but a small complication arose and Jen found herself in surgery for several hours trying to counteract the infection and keep the rest of him clear. Once she finished, it was well past the end of her shift and nearly past dinnertime. She stayed in the infirmary for a little longer to monitor Dr. Perry. Once he regained consciousness from the anaesthetic and had been gently scolded for letting the pain go on so long, Jennifer decided to call it a day.

She grabbed her jacket from her office and debated on whether or not she should go and find Ronon.

Still in the midst of an internal debate and absently struggling with the zipper on her jacket, she walked out of the infirmary and for the second time that day, ran straight into the Satedan in question.

She bounced off his chest and his hands grabbed her upper arms to steady her. Jennifer blinked in disbelief. He smiled at her. Her eyes widened at the sight.

"You know," he said lightly. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here."

Jen just stared and because she has no control over what her mouth does, she asked in a rather high voice, "What are you doing here?"

Ronon frowned and removed his hands from her shoulders.

"Dinner," he told her. "We're eating it."

"Oh. Oh! Are you sure? I mean," Jen said with a wave of her hands and a flap of her jacket which was still not zipping. She looked down and tried to sort out her jacket and avoid his eyes. "I wasn't sure if…"

She broke off when Ronon bent his head a little and took the end of her jacket into his hands. He carefully fitted the zip together and slowly raised the zipper. When the zip reached her chest, Jen held her breath and his hand brushed so very slightly against her. She swallowed and looked up and nearly swayed at the intense look in his eyes.

"I'm hungry," he said in a deep voice.

"Wha?" Jen said dumbly.

Ronon dropped his hand and smirked at her. Jen just looked down at her neatly zipped jacket and then back up at Ronon.

"I'm hungry," he repeated. "And I hear you've been in surgery for hours and I'm betting you haven't eaten yet."

"I haven't," she said absently. "But…"

"You have somewhere else to be?" he asked.

"No," she said with a relieved smile and because she was so happy he wasn't angry, the truth just came out. "I think I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Ronon simply grinned and they walked towards the mess hall.

Jennifer stole a glance at him. He seemed extremely relaxed and almost jovial. Well, as jovial as the man got. He caught her looking at him and just smirked while she blushed.

They were almost to the mess hall when Jen stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Ronon," she started. "I just want to--"

"Jennifer," he interrupted. He placed a warm hand over hers. "Food first. Explanations later. Okay?"

His thumb moved in a slow circle on her hand and she could feel the hard muscle of his forearm.

God, she thought to herself. Like I'm capable of denying this man anything.

Jennifer just nodded and smiled. Ronon squeezed her hand and they let their hands drop down to their sides as they entered the mess hall.

They stood in line and got their food. Jen had to bite her lip at the amount of food he put on his plate and at how the kitchen staff just shook their heads in amusement. He just grinned and actually winked at her. Jennifer laughed out loud.

Once they'd loaded up their trays, she followed Ronon to a a table where Shepperd, Teyla and Rodney were already seated and almost finished their dinners. Before they reached the table, Ronon whispered, "This okay?"

Jen looked at him in surprise and kind of touched that he'd asked her.

"Of course," she reassured him. "I haven't talked to Teyla all day."

"I figured," he said.

They joined the others and said hello. Jennifer sat down and inspected her food, while Ronon just plunked himself down and dove in.

"So I hear that Perry the Pest is in the infirmary," McKay said to Jen. "What did he do, tie his shoelaces wrong and fall down the stairs?"

"He's got appendicitis actually," Jen said glaring at him. "He spent five hours in surgery today, so be nice."

"See, I knew it," McKay said pointing his spoon at her. "He'd been complaining, 'Oh my stomach', 'Oh the pain'. But he wouldn't listen and go get checked out and now I'm going to be short an engineer for the foreseeable future."

He took a large bite of his pudding and said, "You can never be too careful. That's why I always go to my check-ups on time."

"And we're always so happy to see you," Jen said in a flat voice.

Shepperd and Teyla hid their grins. Ronon didn't.

"Cute," Rodney said with a glare. He narrowed his eyes. "What's this I also hear about you getting locked into a basement with some cute guy? You made Zelenka's year, by the way. Last I heard, he was going on about some state of the art bird cages."

Jen flushed and glared at Rodney. Ronon stopped eating and looked at her.

"Jennifer, you didn't mention he was attractive," Teyla teased, not missing the look Ronon was giving Jen.

"Yeah Doc," Shepperd added with a playful leer. "'Pleasant company', hunh?"

Jen switched her glare to Teyla and John.

"Ianto is a very nice, very smart, very involved guy," she informed them. "You could not meet a more involved fellow anywhere. And believe me, I'm not exactly on the team he bats for."

She bit back the juvenile 'so there' that threatened to escape and stabbed a piece of faux-ravioli on her plate.

"Not the team he… Oh! Well," McKay said and went back to his pudding.

"He was nice?" Ronon said grumpily as he stabbed a piece of mystery meat.

"Yes, very. He actually helped me, um, acquire something that would have normally been difficult to get," she said softly. Ronon paused mid-chew as the meaning of this statement dawned on him. He swallowed and continued to shovel food into his mouth, but leaned his leg against Jennifer's under the table. Jen smiled to herself and continued to eat her dinner.

"Smart you say," McKay said with narrowed eyes. "How smart?"

"Smart enough. Perceptive," Jen said. She thought for a moment. "Laconic."

"What's that?" Ronon asked around a massive bite of food.

"Oh, someone who can sum up a thought in two or three words instead of twelve," Jen explained.

"So the complete opposite of McKay?" Ronon observed. The table laughed and McKay just made a face.

"Funny," McKay said.

They continued to eat and converse comfortably for quite awhile before everyone started to head off to their respective rooms and labs.

Ronon and Jen found themselves in a very similar situation to the evening before; alone in the hall and a little unsure of where to go.

"I, um, should probably go back to the infirmary and check on Dr. Perry," Jen said. "I'm on call tonight."

Ronon nodded.

"Will it take you long?" he asked stepping a little closer.

"Hopefully not," Jen said staring up at him.

"Would you… Could… Come by my room after," Ronon said in a rush, his eyes were dark and serious. Jen's eyebrows rose a little. Ronon softened his stare. "If that's okay."

"Yes! Yeah, that's fine," Jen said quickly. "Um, I'll be there in about an hour or so?"

Ronon nodded once and then turned and headed to the transport. Jen turned and walked slowly towards the infirmary.

After she checked on a comfortably sleeping Dr. Perry and made sure the night staff knew to alert her if anything changed, Jennifer found herself back in front of Ronon's door.

She raised her hand to signal her presence. The door opened immediately. Ronon stood there, his dreads loose around his head and his weapons off. She'd also let her hair down out of it's ponytail and she noticed Ronon's quick perusal of her. She smiled nervously.

"Hi?" she said.

"Hey," he said. They stood there. Ronon seemed to shake himself out of it. "Come in."

"Thanks," Jen said and she stepped inside. She inhaled the scent of his room happily.

"Why do you do that?" he asked from behind her.

"What? Do what?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"Take a deep breath whenever you walk in here," he told her, an earnest look on his face. Jen felt her face burn.

Oh, sweet Jesus, he noticed, she thought. Good luck with this one Keller, you idiot.

"Oh, um, because…" she floundered and then because this was obviously a day for complete and total stupid honesty. "It smells nice. In here. It smells, warm and comfortable. I like it."

Ronon was completely thrown for a moment, but recovered with a slow smile.

"And your room doesn't? Smell nice?" he asked as he stepped closer.

"Oh well, it does, I guess," she babbled. "You don't really notice what you smell like, after awhile... But, you always smell others. Sometimes that's what attracts you to other people. Pheromones. Although, there's really never been any conclusive evidence that that's what's at work. But the olfactory bulb is part of the limbic system and that's why a smell can really remind you of something from your childhood or…"

She trailed off. Ronon reached up and with what was becoming a signature move, traced his finger across her forehead and moved her bangs out of her eyes, but then let the finger trail down the side of her face. Her skin simultaneously flushed and broke out in goosebumps and the butterflies renting out her stomach started tap dancing.

"Then I can't wait to smell your room," he said in a rumble. She froze at the blatant implication of that statement and then Jennifer broke out into a big smile and laughed a little.

"Anytime," she said grinning.

Ronon raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Careful, Doc, I may take you up on that when you least expect it."

"Fine by me," she said still grinning. He laughed deeply.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, then Ronon got very thoughtful and looked down at the floor. Then coming to some kind of decision he walked away and went over to the small table next to his bed and picked up a familiar box. Jen felt her mouth get a little dry and her nerves came back in full force. Ronon sat down cross-legged on his bed and put the box down in front of him. He turned his head and his deep green eyes met and held Jen's for a moment. Then he tilted his head in invitation to come over. She walked over and sat gingerly on the bed, adopting his cross-legged position and just waited for him to speak.

"I don't think you realize what you've given me," he said softly. Ronon looked up at her briefly and then back down at the box. He pulled out three leather books. "These are books everyone had in their home: an herbal remedy book, a Maha, umm, I'm not sure of the English word, it tracks the sun and moon, the seasons?"

"An almanac," Jen supplied.

"Almanac. Okay. This one..." he paused and placed his hand flat on the cover, "This was created especially by our Elders for the rocket. It lists our history. The history of Sateda. Our battles, our leaders, our accomplishments." He breathed deeply and smiled wryly. "It even includes our failures. Our failure to hide ourselves from the Wraith."

Jennifer could barely breathe, let alone speak. She just watched as this amazing man laid himself and his world bare before her. He set the books aside. He reached inside the box and pulled out a small case filled with small glass vials containing what looked like seeds and roots.

"Our crops. Things that grew well on Sateda, what we based our food and livestock on," he said. He finally looked up at her and shrugged. "I was thinking that maybe the plant people might like to see them. I don't know if they'd grow here, but..."

"I think it's worth a try," Jen said quietly. "I think they'd love to see them."

Ronon nodded and put the vials down. He smiled a little as he lifted another small book and an object made out of wooden blocks.

"Tales for Satedan children," he said. "Uh, fairy tales, I think you call 'em. And this is what most kids play with. The blocks come apart and can be put back together in different ways."

He demonstrated and made a square, then a rectangle, then a triangle, his large hands nimbly moved the little pieces. Jen felt tears threaten in her eyes and burn the back of her throat. She swallowed heavily and forbid herself to fall apart.

"I'm thinking Teyla might like them for Torren," Ronon said as he set the blocks on his bedside table. Jen nodded.

He pulled out another slightly larger book with dashes and circles on it and put it on the bed.

"Music," he told her. He seemed to hesitate, but then reached into the box and pulled out a flat brown leather case. He turned it over in his hands and then reached for the thin leather cord that held it together. It opened and revealed a row of silver rings, not unlike the ones he wore in his dreads, and a set of thin pendants.

"Each one has meaning," he said. "Each one is made differently from the other, to signify the individuality of the wearer and their status. They're given to us at important times in our lives, like when we marry or choose an occupation. The colors and patterns have different meanings."

He took one of the pendants and handed it to Jen. She held it in her palm and gazed at it. The gemstone was a clear green, lighter than jade and small silver leaves like ivy, wrapped around the top and bottom. It was thin and delicate looking, about the size of a nickel, but the workmanship was perfect and reflected strength and beauty all at once.

"Ronon, this is beautiful," she said sincerely. "The gem is so clear. I've never seen a color like this, what kind of stone is it? "

"It's called lanu-maka. It signifies honesty, intelligence and goodness," he said roughly. He cleared his throat. "It's yours."

Jennifer's head whipped up so fast she practically fell over.

"What? No! I couldn't... Ronon, this is..." she tried. She took a deep breath. "Ronon, this is a piece of your world. I couldn't possibly take this."

"You wouldn't be taking it," he said patiently. "I'm giving it to you. You would be accepting it."

"But...," Jennifer broke off as she looked down at the pendant. In a small, trembling voice she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Very," he said. He bent his head to find her eyes with his; green held hazel captive. His hand reached out and covered hers that still held the pendant. "This belongs to you."

Jennifer sat very still, her eyes locked on his, she could feel the warmth of his hand spread all the way up her arm and into her chest. She smiled shyly at him.

"I'm honored to accept it," she said honestly. Ronon grinned, apparently very satisfied with her answer.

"Good," he said. He pulled her hand towards him so that she ended up with her forehead against his. "I am honored to give it to you."

Jennifer closed her eyes and felt her smile widen. She breathed him in and reveled in the way of his skin felt against hers and the way his voice vibrated throughout her body.

"I'm also honored that while you were in a difficult situation, you still thought of me and brought this part of my world back to me," he continued.

"Oh," she breathed out, drunk on the nearness of him, her eyes still closed. "I'm pretty much always thinking about you."

Jen's eyes flew open as Ronon chuckled and she realized what she just said. She made a move to pull away, but his hand tugged hers and she remained in place.

"Oh, um," she said uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to say that."

"So, you don't think about me?" Ronon asked in deep voice. He moved his head a little closer so that his nose brushed against hers and his breath ghosted over her lips.

"No," she said faintly, her eyes slipped shut again.

"No, you don't think about me?" Ronon said. He brushed his lips against hers so briefly Jennifer wasn't sure they'd made contact at all.

"No," she whispered urgently, aching for the touch of his lips that were right there, feeling like she would die from the anticipation. "I think about you all the time."

"Good," Ronon said again before he kissed her.

His lips pressed against hers and then slowly, oh so slowly, moved so that he captured her lower lip. Jen made a small noise in the back of her throat. He didn't deepen the kiss and she didn't force it. They just took warmth and comfort in the simple contact. Then, just as Ronon reached up with the hand that wasn't holding Jen's to cup her face...

"Dr. Keller?" came from Jen's earpiece.

Jen whimpered, her lips still against Ronon's. She felt his curve upwards into a grin. Jennifer leaned back and tapped her earpiece with such a forlorn pout, Ronon practically had to sit on his hands to stop himself from just grabbing her and throwing her down on the bed.

"Keller here," Jen said through clenched teeth.

"Sorry to bother you Dr. Keller," one of the nurses said. "But one of the Marines just came in with a serious allergic reaction to something, we don't know what, and we need you."

"Of course," Jen said falling quickly into physician mode, her mind automatically ran through all the possibilities. "Make sure his breathing is clear, put him on oxygen if you need to and prep the allergy tests. Go ahead and draw a blood sample and I'll be there as quick as I can."

"Thank you Doctor," the nurse said. "Infirmary out."

Jen sighed deeply and looked at Ronon. He was looking at her with such a warm and serious look on his face, she almost considered calling the infirmary and telling them to handle it themselves. Almost.

"I have to go," she said ruefully.

"I know," he said. Jen furrowed her brow and looked worried, so he was prompted to ask, "What?"

"It's just..." she started and then went on to say, "It's always going to be like this. I'm on call a lot."

"Jennifer," Ronon said shaking his head. "You're a doctor. I understand."

"Oh, I know you do," Jen said. "That's not what I meant. I'm just... I never know when I have to just get up and go. I just want you to be aware of that."

Ronon studied her and then comprehended what she was trying to say.

"Jen, I'm more than aware of what I'm getting myself into," he said with a small smirk. She looked up with such a hopeful expression, he began to wonder if she'd had this type of conversation before with a much different outcome. He filed that thought away for another time. "Are you? Aware, that is? I'm not an easy man. I'm a soldier. And I'm not very good at staying away from fights. Are you prepared for what that means?"

Jennifer then did something that Ronon knew he was going to cherish for the rest of his life. She smiled at him and cupped the side of his face; her small hand was warm and sure against his skin.

"Hey, you're talking to the woman who has stitched you up nineteen out of the last twenty times you've been in my infirmary," she said, her smile completely open and honest. And for the second time in their acquaintance, the first time so many months ago in a quarantined infirmary, she threw his own words back at him. "Ronon, I'm more than aware of what I'm getting myself into."

Ronon leaned into her touch and she just watched him. Then she made a face and dropped her hand.

"I really have to go though," she said reluctantly. He just nodded and uncrossed his legs and helped her off the bed.

When they reached the door, Jennifer realized that he still held her hand. She smiled at him.

"Thank you again," she said. "For the pendant. For everything."

"Thank you," he emphasized. "For the box," then he grinned. "For everything."

Jen laughed and let him open the door.

"See you tomorrow?" she asked hopefully. "Maybe lunch? Or dinner?"

"Both," Ronon corrected. "Go. Go heal somebody and then get some sleep."

"Yes, sir," Jen said straightening her spine. Then she laughed a little. "Good night Ronon."

"'Night Jennifer," he said. He watched her walk down the hall. As she turned the corner he wondered how long it would take her to realize that the pattern on the pendant he gave her matched the pattern on one of his rings.

Ronon grinned to himself and went back inside.

Look, we will say, you can almost see
the outline there: her fingertips
touching his, the faint fusion
of two bodies breaking into light.