The waters were calm. It was kind of cool out but it braced her. She had a purpose and she only stopped to take in the view for a moment. Then she continued on toward Ronon's place.

She'd been there a few times. All with Shep and Teyla in tow. Lennah guessed that this was because he wanted to do everything on her terms. She hadn't ever really spent time in there but she knew what to expect.

Or so she thought.

She waved her hand over the panel. If locked, a tone would chime. If unlocked, as it was, it would slide open.

He was with someone. Busy, apparently, and both were oblivious to the fact the door was unlocked.

The pair turned to look at Lennah as she stood, agape, in the doorway.

She should have expected this. It was a long time. And besides, what did they have? A few hot and heavy kisses? What was that compared to whatever it was they were doing, or about to do?

The woman, whoever she was, had her hands on him. Her breezy top was unbuttoned enough to see a lacy bra. She'd been kissing him when Lennah walked in. It had been the first thing she saw. Ronon's hands at the woman's waist had been the second. They gripped as he'd done to her, once or twice. He looked surprised... and guilty.

Lennah cleared her throat and looked away. "I'm sorry." She tried to look at him but could only manage the briefest of glances. "I didn't know you had company."

Her voice was on the verge of wavering and she could feel the lump in her throat building strength. She cleared it again and tried to sound cheery. "I just wanted to talk. I'll come back later."

Lennah smiled awkwardly at the woman and shrugged. She waved the door shut and headed down the hall.

It's okay. Everything's fine. She sighed and smiled to herself even as a fat plop landed on her shirt. Everything betrayed her. She fumbled to clear its remnants away and she stood a little straighter.

"Lennah." A clarion called her to the present. It wasn't a conscious decision to obey. The ringing that went through her caused pleasure and pain.

Lennah could hear him mumbling lowly to the woman and she turned casually to watch the exchange. The woman was put out, emotionally and literally. Ronon shooed her down the hall and turned to look at Lennah. His expression was unreadable.

"I've got time." He used that voice again. Lennah felt her legs moving. She was too afraid to cry now. He'd scared the tears out of her for the time being.

She rounded the corner into his room and he followed, closing and locking the door. He crossed to lean on a dresser that sat under a Satedan painting. He chose the point furthest from her in the room.

She dumbly noticed he'd shaved his goatee off. His hard jaw line was completely visible and made him more formidable.

Lennah looked around for a second when she saw him cross his arms. This made her realize she had her arms tightly hugging her center. She forced herself to relax her rigid arms to her sides.

"I have something to confess."

He didn't move or register surprise.

"I should have told you in the beginning." She looked down at her hands as she wrung them. "But I didn't want to bother you with something I thought I could handle." She sighed in resignation and continued. "I was wrong."

His stance softened in the slightest way, something in his expression. She looked at her hands until she got it all said.

"When we… About three months ago," the words, held captive for so long, now fought all the way out. "About three months ago, I started getting some... letters. I don't know who wrote them, I just found them under my door and—in certain places in my room.

"They're... gross. Sexual advances. Threats. This guy went into great detail of how he wanted me to behave and how he'd treat me if I didn't obey. They talked about you. How they hated you because you were—different. They said they'd kill you just for touching me." She heard him snort but ignored it. "I wanted to handle it. I wanted to make it stop. So I started working on who it could be before I told anyone. But then it stopped. And I learned nothing."

She finally felt calm enough to look him in the eye. "Except that I needed help. That I wanted... your help."

He looked concerned and resigned, somehow, as though he'd made a decision in the interim and was now forced to keep it. She knew she'd lost him.

Lennah was about to say as much, apologize, and leave, when he spoke.

"Let's go see Sheppard." He pushed off his ledge and moved toward the door, and Lennah.

It was stupid, but something in her wanted to reach out to him. To touch him again. But she knew that his progression through the room was more to get to the door than to be nearer her. She felt the pull and fought it even as they stood in silence just looking at each other. But she no longer had any right to him, another woman did.

She turned, head down, and stepped to the door. There was a pause as she expected him to wave his hand over the panel. But he didn't move after following her step, close enough to breathe down her neck.

He's doing this now? She thought angrily. After walking in here, finding him with a new lover, and he's doing this now? Lennah flailed her hand across the panel and hurried out the door. She would have continued on in a huff but for one thing.

When were you ever his lover?

That one thought stopped her and she looked over her shoulder at him as if waiting for him to give her that answer. She looked down again and urged him onward with a slight move of her head. They walked slowly, quietly, side by side to Sheppard's as though it might be the last thing they ever did together.