A/N: Welcome back! Really fast, I'd like to say... before you read this chapter, make sure you've also read the one before it. It seems like fic production for the SGA fandom has tripled in popularity over the last week (or so) and so almost as soon as I posted Chapter 29, it was already pushed halfway down the page by other people's fics. I'm guessing this made it look like I hadn't actually updated when I had. My stats also indicate that only about half of my regular readership read the last chapter, so if this chapter makes references to certain things and you find yourself going, "What? When did that happen?" perhaps you missed Chapter 29. Thanks!
Anyway, this one's a bit on the short side. I wanted to get something posted now because I'm at a crossroads with my next chapter. It might be a while before I get another chapter out.
As always, hope you enjoy! Thank you again for reading and reviewing!
After the events in the bar and the bouts of illness caused by the temple, the hike back to the Stargate was long and tense. As they entered the thick of the dark forest, though, they looked over their shoulders less and little by little began to let their guard down.
The moon was already high in the sky by the time they stopped. "All right, kids," Sheppard announced, "we make camp here tonight."
Teyla began preparing a fire with Rogers and Eva assisting as they could.
Ronon pulled Sheppard aside, careful to keep his voice low. "We should keep going. This place isn't safe."
"It's still another six hours back to the gate," Sheppard argued. "Maybe you and Teyla could make a trek like that in the middle of the night, but we've got some members of our group who can't. We won't stay the full night, just long enough to get some rest."
"Sheppard, I've got a bad feeling about that village," he persisted.
The colonel sighed. "Look, if someone had followed us out here, don't you think we would have noticed by now?"
Ronon looked to the darkened trees, half expecting some ruffian to choose this precise moment to make their presence known.
"We're in the clear, Ronon," Sheppard continued. "At this point, it would take someone from the settlement longer to reach us than the time it will take us to rest."
Ronon returned his eyes to Sheppard's. "We should at least post guards tonight."
Sheppard nodded in reluctant agreement. "You take first shift, I'll take second, and Teyla can take the morning watch."
Their dinner was quiet, a stark contrast from the night before. They ate quickly and in almost complete silence, with nearly everyone retiring immediately after finishing their meals until only Ronon and Rogers were left seated around the fire.
"I'm taking first watch," Ronon said to her. "You don't uh…have to wait for me."
"Hm?" She tore her gaze away from the notepad in her hands and looked around as if only then noticing that everyone else had already left. "Oh, I'm not. I just don't think I can sleep yet. I can't stop thinking about what happened this afternoon."
Surely, she meant the poisoning attempt in the tavern. Or the discovery of the secret lab. Or the key and the cane. She was too much of a professional to be thinking about their near kiss on the floor of the temple...wasn't she?
They sat together for the next hour or so, and though neither of them said a word to the other, he was grateful for the company. Frankly, he was spent – he hadn't slept much the night before, after all – and having someone with him, someone to keep him accountable, helped him stay awake and alert. They both busied themselves with their own tasks, Ronon sharpening his knives and listening carefully to the woods around them, while Rogers occasionally clicked through the pictures on her camera, or consulted her tablet before jotting down short notes in her little book. After a while, there was a zip and a shake and he glanced up from his knives to see she had packed everything away. She stifled a quiet yawn, and he expected her to get up to go to sleep, but instead she stayed. She wrapped her arms around her midsection and fixated her gaze on the fire, entranced by the flickering flames. He let his eyes linger on her for perhaps a second or two longer than he should have until he returned his attention to his blades and sharpening stone.
A few more minutes passed. Then, out of the dark of the night, the distant beeping of a military-issue wristwatch signaled the end of his turn and the beginning of Sheppard's. Rogers shook her head, freeing herself from her fire-fueled trance, and let her eyes focus on Ronon before she stood and made her way to where Eva was already sleeping.
Ronon took a minute to pack up his knives, gave Sheppard a solid thump on the back and followed Rogers halfway across the campsite to a spot sheltered by a group of large boulders. Rogers was already halfway inside her sleeping bag and bent over Eva, smiling wistfully down at her. He watched from afar as Rogers reached out, presumably to brush a few strands of hair out of Eva's face, only to hesitate and then withdraw her hand.
He arrived at the edge of Rogers's sleeping bag, his own bag under his arm. "She asleep?"
She looked up at him and nodded. "Out like a light."
Eva let out a quiet snore.
"She's lucky she can sleep after everything she went through," he said as he began the process of unfurling his sleeping bag next to her. He knew only too well the kind of nightmares that likely plagued her.
"Kids are resilient," Rogers said quietly, once again staring at the girl.
The expression on her face – unmistakably the look a mother gives her child – made Ronon pause. He wondered what about Eva she was appreciating. The way she took after her? Or the way she took after him?
He started to unzip his sleeping bag like he had the night before until Rogers peered up at him.
"Hey…"
Ronon looked back.
"Will you actually trade spots with me?"
"Sure," he shrugged. "Why?"
Somewhat clumsily, Rogers shifted over in her sleeping bag to make room for him. "I'd just feel better with you next to her," she confessed. "In case anything happens."
All at once, an unexpected flood of tenderness toward Rogers flowed through him. His throat was suddenly too gummed up for him to say anything, so he merely nodded in agreement, and continued unzipping his sleeping bag.
"Oh," she breathed once she realized what he was doing. "It's a lot warmer tonight. You don't have to share with me; I'll be okay."
"Good." He rezipped the bag, then placed it between Rogers and Eva, mindful to give each of them enough space. He settled into his bag and lay on his back, arm under his head as he stared at the stars.
Rogers lay down as well, also turning her gaze to the night sky. "The stars are different here," she commented after a few moments of silence.
"Than back home?"
"Well that too," she answered. "I meant different than on Atlantis."
He smiled in spite of himself. "That's what I meant. It doesn't feel like home to you yet?"
She sighed. "I think… home is wherever your family is."
He grunted.
"What?"
Despite the darkness and the fact that he could only discern the outline of the profile of her face, he could tell from the tone of her voiced that she was smiling now, too.
"I agree with you…for once," he teased.
She let out a short laugh. "Good night."
"Night, Rogers."
He lay awake looking up into the sky, wondering why his heart was racing.
Eva's snores, which had grown in frequency and volume, had been keeping him awake. Or at least, that's what he told himself every time his eyes wandered to the linguist's sleeping form. Truth be told, though, he found himself hoping the temperature would drop, wishing she would once again seek his warmth, imagining them finishing what they hadn't even started in the temple. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to indulge, if only momentarily, in the memory soon to turn fantasy; but the image he conjured every night before he fell asleep, burned into his retinas through routine, longing, and force of will, rose to the surface instead.
She knelt astride him, her hand brushing back loose blond curls to keep them from falling into her brown eyes, deepened almost to black with desire...desire for him. She laughed, then smiled down at him like he was the only man in the world. His hands encircled her hips, his fingers pressed into her soft and naked flesh, anchoring her body to his. Eviscerating guilt ripped through him and, as his eyes flashed open, she disappeared.
"Time is fleeting. Make your choice."
He turned onto his other side, his back to Rogers. He hardly knew the woman and needed to rest. But sleep still proved elusive. Just as he began entertaining the thought of relieving Sheppard of his watch – at least one of them should get some shuteye – the high-pitched whir of a Wraith dart whined overhead.
The muscles in his body froze and every last trace of warmth left his blood.
Eva's snores instantly ceased and Ronon could see the gleam of moonlight reflecting off her amber eyes, now wide open. Her gaze met his and he silently slid a P-90 in her direction. He drew his own weapon and switched it to kill. Rolling toward Rogers, he leaned over her and clapped his hand over her mouth. Her eyelids parted in panic and she bit his hand. He grimaced in pain but clamped his hand harder against her jaw, forcing the back of her head to the ground.
"The Wraith are here," he hissed.
He was shocked and a bit wounded to see some of the fear in her eyes disappear as she relaxed against his tight grip.
"Do you have your sidearm?"
She nodded.
"Don't use it unless you have to."
She nodded once more.
He removed his hand from her mouth and shook out the pain of her bite. "Stay here," he ordered, before staring pointedly at Eva. "Both of you."
A/N: Thank you again! Hope you enjoyed. Thank you in advance for your patience as I try to figure out my next chapter.