fic: Back Home [pt.13]
TITLE: Back Home - Pt. 13
AUTHOR: renisanz
SUMMARY: Settling down won't be easy for either of them. A sequel to “Making Up the Past.” Ronon/Keller.
CATEGORY: Romance/Drama
RATING: PG-13
WORDS: 1,331
BETA: journeyman07
SPOILERS: None.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'em, but they're fun to play, not for profit.
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Back Home - Pt.12
Ronon had been staring at Rachel since she had spoken, a time ago which he was pretty sure was stretching out into minutes.
Finally, he raised and eyebrow, and suddenly the girl no longer held his gaze, and he was surprised to find a blush creeping into her cheeks.
“Sorry,” she said hastily. “Didn't mean to freak you out there. The thought just popped in my head.”
Ronon shrugged in and softened his face in an attempt to put Rachel at ease. For some reason, he liked her, and he figured that was a good thing, since he was very seriously trying to be a part of her family.
“You're right,” he said in as low voice, and at his word's the girl's disposition changed from awkward to one of barely contained glee.
“Oh my God. I knew it,” she said in an excited whisper. She looked at the door to her uncle's room and quickly schooled her features. “Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Dude...ok. I'm gonna be cool, don't worry. You want anything from the caf?”
Ronon wasn't familiar with that term, but she had said she was hungry before...maybe it was something like the mess on Atlantis.
“Sure, what would you like?” Rachel asked as she stepped away from the wall and into the walkway.
“Krispy Kreme.”
. . . . .
“Alright looks like you'll be out of here in a couple of days, Mr. Keller.” He turned to Jennifer. “It was good seeing you again.” He nodded at Aunt Jo, who had taken a seat in the chair against the wall, directly across from the food of her brother's bed.
“You, too,” Jennifer smiled in return. “Thank you,” she told Dr. Andrews before he nodded once more and turned to leave.
“Nice young man,” Mr. Keller said after the door had closed behind the doctor.
Jennifer knew that tone anywhere. “Dad...”
“What. Just making an observation. You two never,” he made a vague gesture with his hands, “dated or anything?”
“Dad!”
Her father just gave an innocent shrugged as he eyes the newspaper in his lap.
Jennifer continued, “I was too busy in med school to be concerned with dating.” Most of the guys she encountered had girlfriends already or just didn't show any interest in her, not that Jennifer minded much at the time. She was too consumed with proving that she should even be there, keeping up with her studies. Not to mention that most guys her age were either too immature, and the ones that weren't were intimidated by her intelligence, or they only wanted to hook up... The list was seemingly endless as to why she had such a lack of experiences in relationships.
“Anyway,” Jennifer sighed after getting her mind back on track. If she didn't tell her father about Ronon now, the meeting between the two men would be even more awkward. “I met someone on . . .where I'm stationed.”
“Oh?” her father looked up from his reading and into her face. “I guess it's serious if you're telling me. Usually the old father is the last to know, until it comes down to the guy asking for his daughter's hand in marriage. That is, if people even do that anymore.”
Jennifer let out a nervous laugh at that. She could already feel her cheeks growing red. She was never going to get through this if her father kept interrupting.
“Yes, it is serious, you could say. As you know, my job doesn't allow me to get much time off...” at her father's tut of agreement she acknowledged, “and yes, I know you'd like me to tell you more, but I just can't. So, uhm. . .” Jennifer steeled her self to utter the words, but they just wouldn't come. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming queasiness in her stomach, and the room began to swim. Oh, no...not now, she thought.
“Honey,” her father said, reaching for her arm, “What's wrong?”
“Sorry,” Jennifer managed to choke through her fingers, before running around the bed and into the bathroom.
Though door shut slammed behind her, as her head hung over the toilet, she was almost positive her wretching could be heard to those in the room.
Just great.
“Is she alright?” Jim asked his sister as he tried to get up out of the bed.
“Oh, she said something about catching a bug on her way here. By the sound of it, I'm pretty positive there's some small organism nesting inside her.”
Jim gave his sister an incredulous look, but simply nodded, while Joanna got up and knocked gently on the bathroom door before going inside.
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“I got this,” Ronon said, stepping ahead of Rachel in order to hand the credit card to the cashier.
“Ok, thanks,” Rachel smiled shyly. She looked a bit shocked at Ronon's actions, and for a moment he wasn't sure if he had broken some kind of social law or custom. But then that familiar blush tinted her cheeks.
Rachel seemed to pick up on his puzzlement, and as she was walking away, she mumbled, “I guess I just hang around too many jerks.”
“I guess you do,” Ronon said, as he pulled a few French fries from the tray and popped them in his mouth.
He held both their trays as Rachel walked to a table on the opposite end of the room, by the large window. “This okay, she asked, as she pulled out a chair.”
Ronon quickly surveyed the room, noting that this spot allowed quick access to the nearest exit, while also allowing him a full view of the room. “Yeah, it's good,” he said as he dropped into a chair opposite Rachel. They sat in companionable silence for a while. Rachel had an impressive appetite, finishing off her large serving of fries smothered in a meaty sauce with beans and covered with a melted cheese. The corners of his mouth curved in the barest hint of a smirk at the repulsed face she made when he asked about the lack of “green” on her plate.
With his permission, she forked a piece of lettuce from the remains of his salad. “Happy?” she cocked an eyebrow, after she finished it off.
Ronon only shrugged as he leaned back further in his chair. He mentioned they should be getting back to Mr. Keller's room.
“Dude, you haven't even told me about your grand plan,” Rachel whined.
“My plan?” Ronon repeated.
“Yeah, to woo Jen, or whatever. I'm like, a genius, so I could totally help you out.”
That didn't nothing to endear Ronon to Rachel's offer of help. Whenever the word "genius" was thrown around, he thought of a talkative pale man who liked to insult his friends and complain about everything. But Jen was a genius too, he figured out, she just didn't tell everyone about it. She didn't have to.
“So you're like Jen,” Ronon pressed, “you got put ahead in school?”
“Yeah. Not so many though. I think I'm just way less ambitious than she was. She really started to push herself with her medical career after her mom got sick. And then after she died...” Rachel shook her head, brushing stray strands of hair behind her ear. “I don't know what I'd do without my mom, you know,”' she met Ronon's eyes looking for understanding of the words she couldn't express.
Ronon held her gaze as he answered. “You survive.”
“You do, don't you,” she said quietly.
“You done?” Ronon asked, nodding to her tray that had barely any trace of the food that had been piled on it earlier.
“Yeah,” she said, sliding back from the table.
Well you're waiting at the door
When everybody's hanging out like they hung out before
You didn't have to do it but you did it to say
That you didn't have to do it but you would anyway
To give you something to go on...
--"Middle of Nowhere" by Hot Hot Heat
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A/N: Yay! Another chapter. Thank ya'll for being so patient. Review away.
To theporchlife: The comments in your review gave me a bit of inspiration for what to do with Rachel. ;)