A/N: Welcome back! I'm pretty excited about this next chapter and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's a big dose of levity after the past few chapters.

Also, FF was being super weird these past few days, so if you missed my last update make sure you check out Chapter 10 before reading this one.

As always, I love reading your reviews. Let me know what you think! I really hope you enjoy. :)

Two Months Later

"Just admit it," Sheppard said, mouth full of a bite of ham sandwich, "you wouldn't have been able to figure the damn thing out without her."

"Look, ten more minutes on my own and –"

"Rodney, you got the words for 'empty" and 'cow' mixed up," Sheppard interrupted.

"All right, fine. Her knowledge of Ancient may have come in handy…sure," McKay admitted.

"Yeah, we knew we needed to call someone when you told us the 'power source was cow,'" Ronon muttered under his breath as he picked a piece of meat from between his molars with his pinky finger.

"Oh, now I'm supposed to be an expert in Ancient as well as astrophysics?" McKay barked.

"How do you even make that mistake?" Ronon egged on. "They're not even the same part of speech."

"I'm sorry. Have we dropped into a parallel universe? Because I could have sworn that Conan the Barbarian here was just lecturing me on nouns versus adjectives."

Ronon took a drink from his water and lifted his shoulder in a dismissive shrug.

"I don't recall you offering a better translation," McKay spat. "How's your Ancient, eh?"

Ronon leaned forward and smiled calmly as McKay got increasingly worked up. "I never pretended to know any Anci—"

"You think she's single?" Sheppard ruminated, bringing an unexpected end to their squabble.

The two bickering men glanced at their friend, looks of confusion etched across their faces.

"What?" McKay asked.

"Rogers," Sheppard supplied with a nod of his chin. "You think she's single?" He tilted his head to the side and stared across the commissary while he evidently weighed the possibility.

Ronon followed his gaze until he, too, saw her. The young linguist was standing near the end of the buffet line, holding a tray full of food and engaged in conversation with one of the young marines. Based on the movement of their mouths, he was doing most of the talking; to her credit, she seemed to be enjoying herself, smiling and laughing in return, but Ronon couldn't help but notice her eyes periodically dart away from the marine, seeking out the few empty lunch tables still available in the mess hall.

"She acts like she's single," Sheppard decided aloud, his voice pulling Ronon from his observations.

He fixed his eyes on his plate and picked up a chicken bone to gnaw. "That's 'cause she's a tease," he asserted.

Sheppard raised his eyebrows. "And you know this…how?"

"Just things I've heard," Ronon shrugged as he inspected the bone for any pieces of meat he had missed.

"Corrigan tried to ask her to dinner," McKay said. "Said she turned him down."

"Stevens, too," Ronon contributed.

"And Gutierrez," McKay added. "Honestly, the line of men who want to get with her is about as long as the line of people who want to get their hands on Ronon's particle magnum."

Both Ronon and Sheppard stared at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"We've gotta work on how you phrase things, Rodney," Sheppard grimaced. "I dunno," he continued. "Just because she turned down those yahoos doesn't mean she's not single."

"Single or not," Ronon smirked, "she's too young for you."

"But not for you?" Sheppard challenged.

Ronon furrowed his brow. "What? I didn't say that."

Sheppard squinted his eyes and shifted his head from side to side. "No…but it was the way you said it."

"It did kind of sound like that," McKay agreed.

"I'm not interested," Ronon declared, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms, and resting his feet on the chair in front of him.

Sheppard sat up straight - military officer straight - in his chair. "Speak of the devil," he murmured as the red-headed woman ended her conversation with the marine, then started to search for a place to sit and eat. "Rogers!" he called out.

She jumped a bit at the sound of her name but put on another smile and made her way toward their table.

Sheppard kicked the side of Ronon's propped legs with his own. "But I just – "

"The lady's gotta sit somewhere," Sheppard hissed.

"Fine," Ronon grunted. He reluctantly obliged, brought his feet back to the floor and sat up straight. "You watch," he warned, "she's gonna flirt with you, then turn you down so hard your head'll spin," he muttered to Sheppard as she approached.

"No, she won't," he argued in a similarly low voice. Dr. Rogers appeared at the edge of their table. "Have a seat, Doctor," Sheppard smiled, trying to ignore Ronon's admonitions in his ear. "We were actually just talking about you."

She sat in the now unoccupied chair next to McKay, across from Sheppard and Ronon. "I thought my ears were burning," she joked while she gathered all of her long hair to one side. "Good things, I hope?"

"Always," Sheppard replied with a toothy smile.

McKay rolled his eyes and Ronon scratched his scalp.

The young woman smiled back at Sheppard, then lowered her eyes and licked her lips as she unrolled the silverware from its napkin.

"So, Rogers, how long have you been here now?" Sheppard asked.

She chewed on a bite of salad as she thought.

Ronon stirred uncomfortably in his seat; the doctor was the only one really eating at their table, meanwhile the three of them just stared at her, waiting for her to finish chewing so she could humor Sheppard and answer his questions as he put the moves on her.

She spoke only once she had swallowed. "About six months," she finally answered.

"You like it here?" he asked.

"I love it," she answered, smiling slyly at him. "It's quite a bit different than home but…in a good way." She took another bite of her meal.

"Home," Sheppard repeated. "Where's that for you again?"

"Texas," Ronon answered for her in an effort to spare them all from the awkward pause they'd have to endure while she chewed on her greens.

She raised her eyebrows and her smile momentarily faltered. She swallowed hard. "Yeah," she choked, surprised, her eyes lingering on Ronon. She finally looked back at Sheppard. "Outside of San Antonio originally."

Sheppard stuck a potato chip in his mouth and crunched on it. "You uh…you got anyone in particular back there?"

A bold glimmer appeared in her eyes. "You're certainly not asking if I have a boyfriend back home, are you, Colonel?" she asked coquettishly.

He shrugged. "Pretty girl like you..."

"Because if you were, I'd think that such information wouldn't be any of your business." She narrowed her green eyes which, along with her copper hair and slender features, gave Ronon the distinct impression of a fox playing with its prey. "And I think that Stevens, Corrigan, Gutierrez and a few other flyboys could attest to the fact that I'm not looking for one either. I came here to work," she stated, leaning toward Sheppard, "not to play."

"I've always heard that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," Sheppard argued, mindful to keep his tone congenial, flirtatious.

"You know, people throw that phrase at me all the time," she shook her head, "and they're always shocked when I admit that I've never seen that movie," she shrugged with feigned innocence.

Ronon had been hunting enough times in his life, seen predator interacting with prey, to have an idea of what was going to happen next. He shifted around in his seat to get a better look at Sheppard.

"Oh, come on now. You've never seen The Shining?" Sheppard asked in disbelief. He had fallen into her trap. "Everybody's seen that movie!"

"Not me," she breathed, settling back in her chair while a devilish smile played on her lips. "You see, it was a little before my time… sir."

Ronon tried to turn his laugh into a cough as Sheppard shot daggers at him.

"It's actually not originally from the movie," McKay corrected them, though no one really listened. "It's a traditional English proverb that was only popularized by Kubrick…"

McKay continued to prattle on and Ronon meant to only glance back at Emma as she unscrewed the cap from her water bottle to take a quick sip from it, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from her as her lips brushed over the neck of the bottle. She must have sensed she was being watched, as her eyes quickly flickered to his, then down and away before setting the water bottle back down. She crossed her thighs under the table, accidentally brushing one of Ronon's outstretched legs with her foot as she did so. He sat bolt upright, jerked his knee back, and rattled the table with his rapid motion.

"Sorry!" she squeaked, temporarily losing her well-curated composure.

Sheppard and McKay looked over at Ronon, wide eyed with curiosity until they were interrupted by a nervous-looking technician who had approached their table.

"Um, sir?" he spoke up as he visually addressed everyone around the table except – Ronon noticed – Dr. Rogers.

"What is it, Gutierrez?" Sheppard replied, the tips of his ears still a bit red.

"Uh…not you, sir. Mr. Dex."

Ronon turned to look at him. "Yeah?" he asked with a frown.

"There's something you might want to see. Our long-range scanners have detected a tracking signal, very similar to the one from the device that was implanted into you a few years ago."

"A Runner?" he confirmed and then shrugged. "There are Runners all throughout the galaxy."

Gutierrez took a deep breath. "This signal is coming from P34-534."

"P34-534?" McKay repeated. "That's…"

Ronon finished his sentence for him. "Sateda."

A/N: Thank you again for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing, and following!