Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money off of doing this. This is simply for fun.
Present Day (February 19, 2009):
It's been almost ten hours since Ronon walked away angry. Laura had tried to persuade her to explain to him why she reacted that way, but she had refused. Why should she be the one to make the first move? He didn't wait for her to explain. It's his fault that he jumped to conclusions.
Jennifer spots a soap stand and picks up a bar to smell it. From the corner of her eye she sees Ronon walking towards her. She puts the soap down and picks up another, her eyes still subtly watching Ronon's approach. To her dismay he gets sidetracked by an unknown woman. She's flirting with him incessantly it's sickening. But being the polite gentleman that he is he doesn't embarrass her by brushing her off.
Jennifer puts the bar of soap down and turns around in a huff and bumps into someone. A good-looking someone with big blue eyes and clean-cut blonde hair. "Oh shit, sorry!" She says.
Big blue eyed god steadies her. "It's okay." He says with a beautiful dimpled smile. He bends down and picks up her clutch. "You don't want to forget this."
"Thanks!" Jennifer says as she stares into his eyes.
"I'm Marcus by the way." The big blue-eyed god says as he extends his hand to her.
"Jennifer." She says dumbly as she shakes his hand. She turns her head around to look behind her. This time Ronon actually carefully sets the girl aside and continues to walk towards her. Jennifer's eyes grow wide and she looks back at Marcus. "I have to go."
"So soon?" He asks with a smile.
"Yeah." She says quickly. Why the hell am I running? Because Ronon might do something crazy. No he would not. Why the hell would he? You know exactly why. Her mind is debating against each other. "Fuck. I'm going crazy." She says under her breath.
"Who's going crazy?" Laura asks.
"Me." Jennifer says as she turns around to the sound of Laura's voice.
"Is your big burly warrior the cause of it?" Laura asks teasingly.
"First of all he's not my big burly warrior, second yes and third what is up with the nicknames?" Jennifer says.
"The names are just too funny. And yes he is your big burly warrior. And have you talked to him yet?" Laura asks.
"I told you, I shouldn't be the one to make the first move." Jennifer says stubbornly as she fingers a scarf hanging on a stand.
"Fine okay, no first move on your part. But he's been trying to get to talk to you and you haven't given him a chance." Laura tells her.
"Don't you have something better to do?" Jennifer asks in irritation.
"Nope." Laura answers with a smile. "Other than annoying Rodney, you and Teyla are my pet projects!"
"I thought that was Marie's plan, not yours."
"Evan made her promise not to interfere."
"I can make you promise that, too." Jennifer says.
"But would you be so cruel as to deprive me of the little joy I get out of doing this and not to mention the bride-to-be's wishes." Laura asks with a fake but pretty pout. "It is her wedding week. Don't you want her to be happy?"
"That's not fair."
"I never said I was fair." Laura says with a smile. "Look, just stop running away from him. It seems like he's really sincere about making it up to you.
"It's not entirely my fault that he has to keep looking for me in this crowd. He is an NFL player." Jennifer says. "The guys here are always talking to him. And well the girls, seventy five percent of the girls who are flirting with him don't even know he's a football player." She tells Laura. "I'll talk to him, but that's if he can get away from his adoring fans.
Laura looks at her with feigned bewildered eyes "Oh god Jen! I think your eyes are turning green!" Jennifer slaps Laura's shoulder in jest as she laughs.
X
"Have you talked to her yet?" John asks Ronon who's standing to one side, watching Jennifer.
"No." He says without looking at John.
"You know, staring at her like that is just a little bit stalker-ish. It's kinda creepy." John says with a laugh.
Ronon just gives him a look and then turns back to watching Jennifer and Laura who are playing with scarves. Wrapping and unwrapping the pieces of colorful woven fabric around their necks. "Somebody was flirting with her earlier."
"And you're surprised? She's a beautiful woman." John says. "Look, just make your move already. You're turning into a sap." He says as he backs away quickly to avoid getting hit.
Ronon ignores his comment and continues to look at Jennifer. As if reading his mind, Jennifer looks his way. At the same time he gets knocked out from behind, and he falls to his knees as his vision gets blurry.
Flashback to the Homecoming Game (October 22, 1999):
Once again, Atlantis has won another football game. The Geniis, known for being sore losers, don't even shake their hands. As Ronon's teammates dance their practiced victory dance he stands at the edge of the field and looks at the crowd. Most of the faces in the crowd painted in black and maroon, their school colors.
Ever since she started watching the games he would look for her in the bleachers. He wouldn't even wave. He'd just watch her. And when he'd watch her, he knew, he knew that she came to the games to watch him and only him, because as soon as she realizes that he's staring at her she blushes and turns away.
He never gets to catch up with her in time. She'd turn away and disappear in the crowd. Being tiny gives her an advantage. But this time he'll be able to catch up to her. This time he won't give her a chance to run away.
He catches sight of her. Only two rows from the field. He starts to walk towards her willing her to stay. Suddenly out of nowhere he gets hit in the side of his head really hard, momentarily blurring his vision. He staggers. And the last thing he sees are his teammates tackling someone to his right and the coach yelling at Jennifer whose hands are covering her mouth.
X
"Dex! You okay?" Coach Cameron asks. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Ronon opens his eyes and tries to clear his vision and focus on what's in front of him. "Jennifer?" He asks. Her face filling his vision.
"I should say that's good enough." The coach says, as he looks at Jennifer who's kneeling by Ronon's head, inspecting the bump. "But Jennifer isn't a number. How many?" He repeats.
"Three." Ronon says.
"Good." Coach says. Ronon opens his eyes and sees that aside from Jennifer and the coach, John and Evan are crouched by him, concerned looks on their faces.
"Unfortunately my wife isn't here to look at that bump on your head." Cam says. "But we've got the next best thing. Jennifer's been volunteering at the clinic, so she'll take a look at your head."
Jennifer lightly presses on his temple and Ronon winces. "Sorry." She says. She asks him a series of questions and he answers them obediently.
Jennifer finally speaks again. "I think it'll be fine. Just a bump. But I think you should go to the hospital first. Losing your vision for a few seconds is not unusual but it never hurts to be sure."
"What happened?"
"Kolya got pissed. He hit you on purpose. Don't worry." John says. "We handled it." Referring to the tackling right after Ronon got hit.
"I'll take him to the hospital. You kids can go to your party." Coach says as he helps Ronon up.
"What the hell got you so distracted anyway?" Evan asks.
Ronon turns to look at Jennifer and she blushes. He doesn't answer but smiles instead.
John doesn't miss this and his eyebrow cocks up.
"A little more relaxing, Dex, and less flirting." Coach says, amused by the teenagers. The comment makes Jennifer blush even more.
Back to the Present:
"Ronon! Ronon!" Jennifer says frantically. "You have to wake up sweetie."
His eyes fly open at the sound of her voice. "What happened."
"You got hit by a flying vase at the back of your head." Jennifer explains.
"You okay big guy?" Laura, who's sitting on his left, asks.
"I think so." Ronon replies as he tries to sit up and almost falls back down. Jennifer moves to support his head. "Am I bleeding." He asks, touching the back of his head."
"No. Thank god, no." Jennifer says to him as she inspects him. "How's your vision?"
"Fine. I think." Ronon answers.
"Can you try sitting up again?" Jennifer says to him. She helps him up, threading her arms underneath his armpits. John, Teyla, Evan and Mike are walking towards them. John rushes to his side and helps him, too.
"What the hell happened?" John asks.
"It was their fault." Laura answers, pointing to a couple standing nearby, embarrassed looks on their faces. "They were arguing and one of them threw a vase, but missed." She says accusingly.
"It was her fault." Says the man.
"My fault! I wouldn't have thrown it if it weren't for you!" The woman retorts. And then they start bickering again.
"So what's the verdict, doc?" Evan asks.
"He'll be fine." Jennifer answers as she stands in front of Ronon and feels the nape of his neck.
Mike's eyebrow is cocked up as he observes Ronon's hands resting on Jennifer's waist. And it obviously looks more like a hold of possessiveness than support.
"Does it still hurt?" Jennifer asks.
"Not as much." He answers. And then taking advantage of the situation he adds "I think I'll need a little bit of support walking though." John moves to help Ronon, but he pushes him away and swings his arm around Jennifer's shoulders instead. Laura and Teyla stifle their laughs. Jennifer doesn't even notice because she's too concerned with him.
"Do you want to sit down?"
"You called me sweetheart." Ronon says matter-of-factly.
Jennifer blushes. "Do you want to sit down?" she repeats, ignoring his statement. He nods his head and they walk towards a bench.
Their friends follow them to the bench and John says "Ronon, man, I thought, nine years ago, that getting hit in the head was a great tactic to get her attention. But this is ridiculous!" John says in jest. Ronon growls at him but John ignores it. "I think we should leave these two lovebirds alone." He says, pulling Teyla away fro the group. The others soon follow.
Jennifer, who's still flushed, pretends to inspect the bump on his head. "You can stop pretending to look at it. We both know that it's nothing serious." He says. Jennifer reddens a bit more. "I'm sorry."
This startles Jennifer. "For what?" she finally asks.
"For this morning." Ronon says as he stretches his legs in front of him. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"Well, you should be. Sorry, I mean." Jennifer says.
"Ronon's eyebrow cocks up. "Well I didn't really expect you to react that way."
"I know, it's just that I was drunk last night. I was embarrassed that I may have acted in a way that –"
"I know." Ronon says, cutting her off. "I understand. Truce?" He asks, holding out his hand.
"Truce." Jennifer says with a smile.
X
They all had dinner at a place called The Matchbox afterwards and then decided to take advantage of the night and moved onto a place called The Village Pub. Marie, Laura and Teyla pulls Jennifer onto the dance floor when the song "Walk Away" by Kelly Clarkson starts playing. It didn't take much coaxing since Jennifer has had two Midori Sours already. She's tipsy but not drunk.
John sips his drink as he watches Teyla dance to the music, the girls forming a circle. Ronon nudges him. "So you and Teyla working it out?"
John shrugs. "I think so." He says to Ronon as he continues to watch her. John then kicks Ronon's leg under the table and nods towards Jennifer. "Who's that?"
Ronon looks to where John's looking and sees the same guy who was talking to Jennifer at the Street Fair earlier that evening.
X
"Hey! Fancy meeting you here." Marcus says as he bends down to speak in Jennifer's ear.
Jennifer turns around and smiles as she sees him. "Hey! Are you stalking me?" She asks jokingly.
"Maybe." He teases. On stage the band is getting ready to start their second act.
From behind her, Teyla is still dancing, hardly noticing the newcomer. She's in the zone. However, Marie and Laura exchange glances and then look to where Ronon and John are sitting. It's obvious that Ronon doesn't like what he sees. He keeps on shifting in his seat and crossing and uncrossing his legs.
Marie nudges Laura and smiles wickedly.
"And who are you?" Laura asks Marcus.
"I'm Marcus." He says to them with a smile.
"Oh, yeah, these are my friends, Marie and Laura." Jennifer tells him. "And that over there" pointing at Teyla "is Teyla."
"So, Marcus, did you come here to ask our friend to dance?" Laura says, looking at Ronon at the corner of her eye, a big smile on her face.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Marcus says, holding out his hand to Jennifer as he looks back at her. "Would you care to dance?"
Marie pushes her towards Marcus and then she and Laura back up.
"Sure, why not?" Jennifer says, taking his hand. Suddenly the song changes to 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' by Jett Joan.
Laura and Marie head back to their table. Laura bends down close to Ronon's ear and says in a challenge "What now, lover boy?" Ronon growls at her. Evan gives Marie a disapproving look. She mouths 'I didn't do anything'. And then gives him an innocent smile.
Ronon watches the two dance together. Grinding his teeth together when he sees Marcus put his hands on Jennifer's waist. He's had enough so he gets up from the table. John and Evan are about to get up to stop him from doing whatever he's planning to do. He looks back at them and just calmly shakes his head. Evan then gives Marie and Laura a chastising look. They return his look with sheepish ones.
Jennifer notices that Marcus is a bit touchy feely so she tries to keep a little distance while they dance. Then she sees Ronon heading towards them and she pushes Marcus slightly away from her, but Ronon walks past her. It looks like he's heading for the hot girls standing only a few feet away from them. The girls look at him longingly, practically drooling when he passes them. But instead of talking to them he stops at the foot of the stage and speaks with the drummer. Then he turns around and watches her and Marcus.
The song ends and the drummer says something to the vocalist. The vocalist grabs his mic "This is a special request." He says as he looks at Ronon. Ronon then walks over to Jennifer, the hot girls still looking at him with lust. Jennifer's eyes don't leave Ronon's and Marcus notices this. Sensing that there's something between the two, he backs up a few steps. Not wanting to engage in a fight.
X
Teyla takes a seat at the table beside John and asks "What's going on?"
"Trouble." John says in one word.
The guitarist starts playing, and then the drummer joins in as they play the familiar song. Marie and Laura who recognize the beats immediately jump up in their seats and start to scream. "Woohoo!" Pumping their fist in the air.
Ronon pulls Jennifer against him.
So 1, 2, 3, take my hand and come with me
because you look so fine
and I really wanna make you mine.
I say you look so fine
that I really wanna make you mine.
Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks
now you don't need that money
when you look like that, do ya honey.
It's Jet's song 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl'.
Big black boots,
long brown hair,
she's so sweet
with her get back stare.
Well I could see,
you home with me,
but you were with another man, yea!
I know we,
ain't got much to say,
before I let you get away, yea!
I said, are you gonna be my girl?
"I didn't know Ronon could dance." Mike says.
"He doesn't. Just look at the guy. It's excruciating just watching him!" John says.
"Aw that's so cute." Patty says. "He's trying so hard for her." And then turning to look at Radek. "How come you don't do that for me?"
"What?!" Radek shrugs and then proceeds to speak in Czech, obviously cussing at Ronon.
Well, so 1,2,3, take my hand and come with me
because you look so fine
and i really wanna make you mine.
I say you look so fine
that I really wanna make you mine.
The Girls pull their men onto the dance floor to join Jennifer and Ronon. Laura sidles up to the couple, pulling Rodney with her and then whispers to Ronon. "Nice move, Ronon."
"Good song choice caveman." Rodney says. Ronon is too preoccupied with Jennifer that he let's the nickname slide.
Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks
now you don't need that money
with a face like that, do ya.
Big black boots,
long brown hair,
she's so sweet
with her jet back stare.
Well I could see,
you home with me,
but you were with another man, yea!
I know we,
ain't got much to say,
before I let you get away, yea!
I said, are you gonna be my girl?
You can hardly call Ronon's dance a dance, but Jennifer doesn't seem to mind. She's smiling and laughing, her face flushed with excitement as she dances around him.
Oh yea. Oh yea. C'mon!
I could see,
you home with me,
but you were with another man, yea!
I know we,
ain't got much to say,
before I let you get away, yea!
Uh, be my girl.
Be my girl.
Are you gonna be my girl?! Yea
TBC.