A/N: This is the last chapter. Thank you Renisanz, your help with this was invaluable and will make my future stories that much better. Your suggestions and patience was awesome.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis or it's wonderful characters.
Spoilers: Through Season 4 - Quarantine.
9 – Ronon's Way
Jennifer could feel the whoosh of the gate behind her as it shut down. Carter looked them over as she welcomed them back and told them that they would debrief in the morning. Sheppard nodded at everyone and said that he'd catch them later, and excited the gate room quickly. Ronon, who was standing very tensely in front of Jennifer with his back to her, mumbled something about having to go and walked off with out looking back.
Jenn just watched his retreating back. What had happened? She couldn't even take a step forward; she felt paralyzed. Ronon had been so quiet the whole walk back to the gate. He had handled any attempt to get him to lighten up or talk with grunts and growls.
Jenn was moving swiftly in her mind from hurt to anger. She looked over at Major Lorne and narrowed her eyes at him. "What was that all about?"
She could see Lorne squirming and struggling with exactly what to say. "I am not in the mood, Major," she firmly stated. "You know or at least have an idea what bee is in his bonnet and I want to hear about it now!"
Lorne looked at the ground. He was shaking his head, and she thought she heard him mumble about the big guy killing him. "Doc, really I…" he trailed off, which was not helping her mood.
"What is it?" she demanded. She knew that they were being observed by those still in the gate room, but she didn't care anymore. She was cold and tired and hurt and she wanted to go to bed, but something important was going on here and she needed to know what it was.
Jennifer heard a throat being cleared above her. When she looked up she saw Rodney and several other technicians. As she was looking up Chuck spoke up, "When Sheppard's team got back earlier, Lorne's team was overdue." There was a long pause before Chuck spoke up again. "Doc, if I may, the man is crazy about you."
Jennifer could feel Lorne's head whip up when he heard this, and she swung around to level her gaze at him. "What? Evan, is that true?" Lorne looked Jenn in the eye and slowly nodded his head before looking back to the ground and letting his shoulders slump in defeat.
"Jenn, it is not something that I was exactly free to tell you."
Jennifer looked back up at the control center above them and caught Chuck's eye. "But you knew," she yelled.
"Yes, ma'am," Chuck winced a little as he continued, "I think everyone knows that."
Jenn's eyes roamed the control center above and several of the technicians nodded their heads. "Except me," she whispered softly.
She felt Lorne's hand on her shoulder, "if everyone knows how Ronon feels about you it is not because he told them. It is merely an observation, and I'm sure…" Lorne raised his voice so those above could hear, "that if Ronon knew that people were even speculating about his feelings he would not be happy."
Jennifer's eyes went from sad to mad again in a matter of seconds. She looked up at the control center, "Rodney," she yelled, "where is he?"
The scientist looked down at her. "What?" he sputtered out slightly flustered.
"Don't act dumb, Rodney; I want to know where he is right now."
"Right, right, just one second." Rodney pushed some buttons on the city's consoles and after a short moment he was able to locate Ronon. He looked down at Jenn, "I don't think that …"
"Rodney, I need to know now. No matter how intimidating he is remember that I have the big needles, and you will need to see me on a regular basis while you are a member of Sheppard's team."
"I could always resign…" Rodney began to mumble.
"Rooodneeeey!" she yelled.
"Yes, yes, hang on." He took one more look at the screen. "He is in the mess, but don't…"
But Jennifer did not hear the rest; she was already storming out of the gate room.
Ronon was eating in the mess hall with Sheppard and Teyla. He knew he was in a surly mood but didn't care. They chose to sit with him so they could live with it. He was pretty sure he had been broadcasting his current mood so that it couldn't be missed.
He needed to get a grip on his mood but right now he was indulging it. He would rein it in later when he had time to breathe and think, far away from everyone. That woman was driving him absolutely crazy. Just when he thought he may be making some headway he finds her snuggled up in a cave with Major Lorne. Granted it was cold out and they did not have much with them to keep warm, but it looked pretty cozy and THAT image would not leave his mind.
As he pulled his mind away from that image he felt her presence nearby. He always knew when she was near. He could smell her and feel her. It had been that way since he met her. It seemed that he was damned to be haunted by this ability that would torture him for the rest of his days. He didn't dare look up, seeing her would be a blow that he wasn't ready for.
He heard Sheppard clear his throat. "Hey Doc, you want to join us?"
Ronon held his breath while his mind prayed she'd say no. But if that were so why would she be standing there.
"Actually" he heard her say in a voice filled with anger, "I need to talk to Ronon."
He guessed he was going to have to look at her after all. "I'm busy right now. It'll have to wait." He heard Teyla's sudden intake of breath. He figured he was being rude, but he really didn't want to look at her or talk to her right now.
"Ronon, unless you want me to discuss this right here, right now, I suggest you meet me out on the balcony." He'd heard her use that authoritative voice before with marines in the infirmary and had always found it sexy, not that he didn't find it sexy now, but he found it also made him more stubborn.
He knew that she had walked away and expected, no, demanded him to follow. He wanted to ignore her. Sheppard cleared his throat to speak, but Ronon observed Teyla put her hand on his upper arm to stop him. Ronon was very grateful for her intervention and nodded slightly at the two as he got up and headed to the balcony off the mess. He knew that people were trying to appear busy eating, but Atlantis was small and nothing got by anyone. He was sure that he and the doc would have an audience.
He walked through the door as it slid open and waited to hear it slide closed before quietly walking over to the railing where she was standing. At least if people did watch they wouldn't be able to hear this conversation. Her thoughts were running full steam, but she remained quiet and so he stood silently and waited for her to speak.
Jennifer tried to relax her mind, but all of the thoughts kept running amuck and she was having trouble reigning them in. They stood side by side for a very long stretch of time. She was unsure of where to start and what to say. She felt such a profound loss of something that she never even knew she had. Her anger had turned back to hurt during this waiting period on the balcony.
"Ronon, what is going on?" she asked in as even a voice as she could. She didn't want to show how hurt she was.
"What do you mean?"
"I want to know why or what has caused you to stomp all over our friendship today." She knew her voice was rising, but she was absolutely sure he knew what she was talking about.
"It's just a bad day, leave it be. Tomorrow will be better. I just need space and sleep."
"Why?"
"I don't want to go there now, Doc." His growl was getting deeper and she knew she was upsetting him with her persistence, but she no longer cared.
"Well, I do."
She felt him turn from the railing toward her and she turned to meet his angry eyes. "I'm not in a mood for talking," he said.
She decided to ignore his warning. "Are we friends, Ronon?"
She saw his jaw tighten, yet she persisted. "Did I somehow hurt our friendship?"
She watched him turn from her and start pacing. "Do you still want to be my friend?"
"Of course we are friends." he growled back at her during his pacing. "I just need some time to adjust my thinking. We should take a break and things will be better tomorrow."
"Why? Because you will find a way to hide your feelings for me and maybe find a way to only be my friend?"
She watched his head whip around and his gaze crash into hers. Her eyes widened "It's true," she breathed out. "They told me in the gate room that you cared for me, but I didn't think it could be true."
He took a step towards her, but she raised her hand. "No, wait. How long have you cared for me?" She quickly held up her hand again, "No, wait. I don't want to know." She looked at him and then down at her feet. "Were you ever going to tell me, or were you hoping it would just go away?"
"No, I would never hope for that to go away. I was trying…" Ronon stopped and lowered the strength in his voice, "I was trying not to screw up whatever possibility there might be that you would actually be interested in someone like me." His voice became more exasperated again. "I have no idea what Earth women expect or want and have found some of your courting rituals confusing and frustrating."
"Don't you think that if I was interested in you that I'd be interested in the Ronon Dex way of doing things, not the Earth male way of doing things?" She took a step closer to him as her voice became fiercer. "Why wouldn't I want to experience your way of doing things?"
"Believe me, my way of doing things would have been much more straight forward," he growled out, mirroring her frustrated anger. "I would have claimed you as mine months ago, and we would have been bound by now."
Jennifer had quit breathing. She could feel his eyes on her, but knew he was holding his breath also. "Bound would be…" she whispered.
"Like your marriage," he answered with a whisper.
"All this time wasted." Jennifer shook her head and looked at him. "When we started to be friends I could not believe it. I was on cloud nine with the idea that someone like you would be more than friendly towards me, but actually a friend, wow. I am not the type of person that a man like you usually befriends."
Jennifer looked down and her feet, fidgeting. "I have to confess that I spent many nights wondering what it would be like if you became interested in me and wanted more then friendship, but I believed that they were just fanciful day dreams." Jennifer felt anger returning. "Now I am finding out that you truly did want more then friendship," Jennifer stated as she threw her arm in the general direction of the control room. "If I had known, I would have wanted to be claimed by you, and, by all means bind away if it means that you are mine also."
When Jennifer looked up at Ronon she could see that his eyes still showed the stormyness of anger, but also the darkness of a predator and the look was unnerving her quickly since it was all focused on her. As she began to realize what she had actually just confessed she felt a twinge of fear for what he was thinking and of what he would say next.
She quickly spoke up, "I think that you were right. Today was a bad day, and tomorrow will be a better day." She took a deep breath and quickly walked through the door and back into the mess.
As she walked through the mess she realized that she and Ronon had quite an audience and although they were all trying to act busy and oblivious she was not buying it. She would also swear that there was almost double the amount of people in the room now compared to when she walked through to the balcony earlier.
As she walked by Sheppard's table she noticed that Rodney and Lorne were both seated there. They weren't even pretending that they were there to eat. Neither had even bothered to get a tray. She acknowledged Lorne's presence as she came even with their table. "I'll see you at the briefing in the morning." After nodding at the table she continued on toward the exit.
Ronon watched the door swish closed as he processed her parting words. She wanted to be his and in turn for him to be hers. When had that happened? His mind was just not wrapping around that as fast as his heart. His heart was already beginning to soar; he could feel the adrenaline in his body as he suddenly turned to see where she was headed. As he looked through the window into the mess and realized that she was already halfway through the mess.
She was wrong; this could not wait until tomorrow.
He ran to the door and impatiently waited for it to open and allow him through. He strode up behind her as she left Sheppard's table and grabbed her arm to halt her. She stopped, but didn't turn around.
He stepped forward and reached across her body for her other arm and gently turned her around. Her eyes were closed and head bowed. With a gentle finger under her chin he lifted her face upward. Ronon took another step closer "Jennifer, look at me, please." As she opened vulnerable eyes to look into his eyes, he felt his heart pounding as his mind kept replaying the thought of her wanting to be his over and over again.
Ronon slowly began to lower his face towards hers. "This is not such a bad day." He could see tears forming in her eyes, but a slow smile made an appearance on her face at his words. Ronon leaned in closer to her and watched as she leaned in and his lips found hers.
He deepened the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. She was finally in his arms. He was kissing the Doc and she was kissing him back! As his lips moved over hers he could feel her smile and taste her tears, as her arms encircled his neck. He pulled back to be able to look at her, but didn't set her down. A smile of his own turned into a laugh as he tightened his arms around her. "I claim that I and my heart are yours, Jennifer Keller, may I claim you as mine?"
He watched as the smile on her face turned to laughter, "Ronon Dex, I will always be yours," she answered.
He smiled and kissed her soundly as he lowered her feet to the ground and slowly removed her arms from around his neck. As the kiss ended he pulled back and stared in her eyes for a moment as he let his mind catch up. A moment later he leaned over and slung Jennifer over his shoulder, heading straight for the exit.
The buzz of those laughing and talking around them had been steadily growing. Upon seeing the CMO get slung over Ronon's shoulder the crowd became deafening, yet he heard Jennifer shouting above the noise, "What are you doing, Ronon!"
With out breaking stride he shouted back at the struggling Doc, "You are mine now." He felt Jennifer's body shake with laughter as they continued toward the exit.
Ronon Dex was going to do this his way from now on.