Impulses - August 27th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 27
Title: Impulses
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG:A
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Stargate people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Faith and John have to accept the changes in themselves happened in a blink for everyone else.
Notes: Part 27 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 2
Word Count: 2575
Faith walked into the lab. Her eyes darted past plants and soil samples, containers of strange fruits.
She heard a small giggle and followed it to the back of the lab where Haly was playing with a small roly poly bug in a planter. And she looked exactly the same, her red-brown hair braided down her back, a small scrape on her left forearm from playing.
She must have sensed something because she looked up. “Faith!” She scrambled to her feet.
Faith smiled and kneeled down to catch her.
“Well, that was fast,” Katie said as she rounded the corner. “I thought I’d have her a few more hours.”
Faith chuckled around her tears as she stood holding Haly. “Yeah.”
Haly grabbed Faith’s face and looked at it. “Did you get hurt?”
“No. No, I’m fine. I’m just happy to see you.”
Haly stared at her. “Did you see Carson?”
“I actually have to go there now, wanna come with?”
She nodded.
Faith waved to Katie before leaving the lab. She walked down to the infirmary and sat on the bed next to John. She set Haly on the bed next to her.
Haly’s eyes widened at John. “You have a beard.”
John rubbed his bristled chin. “Yep, just for the time it takes Beckett to release me.”
“How?”
“Well, you saw Faith a few hours ago, right?”
Haly nodded.
“For us, it’s been longer than just a few hours,” John explained.
“Days?”
“Months,” Faith replied, showing her watch. “Six months and nine days.”
Haly’s eyes widened. She looked between Faith and John again. Her little mouth dropped open in a dramatic fashion. “Six months?”
John nodded.
88888888
By dinner that night, John had shaved and returned to his normal attire. Faith had managed to tame her hair and find something that fit. While she had not gained a lot of weight, it was enough in places to cause everything to be a little tight.
Faith sat across from John, Haly sat next to her.
“It’s strange, right?” John asked as soon as she was sitting.
“Really, really strange,” she agreed. “Even though we figured it out before they came through…I’m still having a problem reconciling all the changes I made, only for nothing to change here.”
He nodded as he looked around. “I’m going to miss the quiet.”
“But not the meditating,” she guessed with a teasing smile.
“May we join you?” Teyla asked as she and Ronon approached with trays.
“Of course,” John said, waving them to the empty seats.
“How are you doing?” Teyla asked as she sat between Ronon and John, across from Haly.
“We were cleared by Beckett.”
“But we have to get clearance from Heightmeyer,” Faith reminded him.
He grimaced.
“You seem different,” Ronon said, pointing his fork at Faith.
She narrowed her gaze on him.
“I agree,” Teyla said.
Rodney dropped down next to Haly, across from Ronon. He looked at Faith. “How did you figure out the time dilation field?”
“We didn’t really,” Faith said. “We hypothesized - based on this team, Atlantis, and the military sentiment of no man left behind - that you would be doing everything you could to get us out. The time between getting supplies as well as the lack of note or information from you made us suspect time may have been moving differently on either side of the doorway.”
“You just pulled that out of thin air?”
“Not right away. It wasn’t until we went back to the cave a few days ago that we questioned it.”
“She read a report,” John said. “From the SGC.”
“The Tok’ra spent months trying to contact Earth,” Faith explained, “while Earth and several planets were stuck in a time loop. Only O’Neill and Teal’c were aware of it.”
Rodney was nodding. “Right. Right.” But he still seemed puzzled.
“Think his head would explode if we told him you passed the MENSA exam too?” John asked in a stage whisper.
Faith flicked John’s arm. “Saying that to Dave was one thing, stop sharing.”
He rubbed his arm, a petulant expression taking over his face.
88888888
Susan watched Faith carefully.
“What?” Faith asked as she settled comfortably on the couch, crisscrossing her legs and taking a deep breath.
“I know it’s you, but…”
“I’m different?” she guessed.
“When you and Colonel Sheppard came back, it was easy to see on him. The beard gave credence to the passage of time.” Susan looked her over. “But you don’t look different, you just…seem different.”
Faith grinned. “I do look different. Carson says I put on ten pounds of just muscle.”
Susan shook her head. “What did you do for the time you were gone?”
“A lot of thinking, spent a lot of time with John. Worked through some Ascension tests the villagers assigned me.”
“Ascension tests?”
“The end goal is to shed your earthly body and become a being of pure energy.”
“Right.”
“For the Cloister, that meant overcoming very human issues to cause the body to go through the transformation. For me, it meant unburdening myself of the things that kept me tethered to the past.”
“Such as?”
“Pain, broken bones, and disregarded promises. I have processed my actions, why I was willing to kill for a man who was the first father figure I ever recognized.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I saw in how he treated me, someone who was like Giles was with B. Honestly, I figured if I couldn’t beat them by myself and I certainly couldn’t join them, I’d ally myself with someone who possibly could beat them. I craved that satisfaction, to show B that her sanctimonious attitude and group of very supportive friends were not going to best me.” She shifted, straightening her spine. “I did things I will never be proud of for that man, and things I can never be forgiven for - at the same time, I was a kid expertly manipulated by a wannabe demon who was over a hundred years old.”
Susan nodded. “How do you view him now?”
“With contempt, about who he was, what he made me do.”
“The fact that he was a demon?”
Faith frowned. “No. I don’t consider that a deal breaker. I used to stand guard for a guy who was a werewolf and there was Angel and Spike…”
Susan tilted her head. “What about your mom?”
“I will always harbor a hate for her but I have placed her and her abuse and the men she brought home in the proper context. Their actions - and inactions - were because of their own deficiencies, not mine.” She smiled. “Besides, I have too many people here who are worth so much more than anyone that ever hurt me. Why neglect them because I’m afraid of people who can’t reach me anymore?”
88888888
Susan sat before Elizabeth with her reports.
“Why do you look worried, Susan?”
“Not worried,” she correct. “I absolutely believe neither Sheppard is any worse for their time in the Sanctuary. The Colonel is back to himself, accepting the six months as a brief vacation to get to know Faith better.”
“And Faith?” Elizabeth asked, dreading the answer.
Susan adjusted her shoulders. “She’s more than ready to return to life on Atlantis and missions.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “But something is bugging you.”
“Not bugging me. It’s just something I can’t put my finger on.”
“Do you believe it negative?”
“No. Her progress is amazing, she has made positive leaps that are years’ worth of work in what seems to me to have been an afternoon mission.”
“Maybe it’s just the discrepancy in time?”
Susan shrugged.
Carson bustled in. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“Carson,” Elizabeth greeted with a patient smile. “What can I do for you?”
“Look!” he said as he handed her a tablet.
Elizabeth looked through the scan. “I’m not seeing anything. No breaks or signs of infection.”
“Right, that’s what’s wrong,” he told her.
“Can you try and explain it from the beginning?” she asked as she set the tablet down.
“That is Faith’s scan.”
“Okay…”
He sighed and zoomed in on her left forearm. “Do you see the remodeling from old fractures?”
She frowned at the scan. “No.”
He tapped the tablet and changed the location to the abdomen.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “I thought-”
“Yes.”
“What?” Susan asked, feeling out of the loop.
“All internal signs of damage are completely gone,” Carson said. “She still has every external scar recorded, but breaks, fractures, torn musculature, all completely repaired. Her missing organs are also…regrown.”
“Organs?”
“He means my ovary,” Faith said as she entered the office.
“Do you know how?” Elizabeth said.
“Not a clue, but most the people we spent six months with had all sorts of Ancient-like abilities.”
“It’s amazing, lass,” Carson told her.
She smiled at him. She looked at Elizabeth. “Any word on when my team will be back?”
“Tomorrow at the latest.”
“Thanks.”
88888888
Faith rolled out of the way and turned to face her opponent again. She calculated her next move. She jumped and came down with a punch. The moment she landed she pivoted and kicked out.
Ronon went crashing into the wall. He shook his head a bit dazed. When he pushed off the wall and charged her, she was ready, surrendering her weight and flipping them over. She had him, his arm pinned behind him and a knee on his thigh, most of her weight leaning into his femoral artery.
She raised an eyebrow. “We done?”
He blinked at her a few times. “Yeah.”
Faith smiled and hopped up, reaching down to offer her hand. For a second it seemed he was going to refuse, but he allowed her to pull him upright. She shook out her hand.
He grabbed her hand and checked the reddened knuckles. “Hurt something?”
“No, I just forgot that you are literally hardheaded,” she replied as she extracted her hand from him. “Of course, to you we sparred a few days ago.”
Ronon nodded.
She crossed to her bag and grabbed a water. She sat down on the bench, taking a sip. She contemplated a moment before looking up at Ronon. “You said I was different.”
He turned to regard her. “The shadow is gone.”
“Shadow?”
“In your eyes.”
She straightened.
Ronon sighed and sat down on the other side of the bench his gaze across the gym. “The first time we met, I immediately saw it in you. You were talking to Teyla, you were ordering me around. I thought it was just because I had put your friend in danger. But it was still there when you showed me the tracker was out.” He shrugged. “Saw it when you came to my room with Sheppard. I realized it was just part of who you were, something that existed in you, but never was in control. The only time I ever saw it swallow you up was the first time we fought.”
Faith nodded. “When you had me on the floor?”
“Yeah.”
“And now?”
He turned his head to look at her, his green eyes searching hers. “Gone.”
She studied him. “And it makes you angry?”
He swallowed and shook his head, looking away. “No.”
Faith reached out and touched his elbow. “I don’t understand.”
“Just leave it,” he rasped.
But something in his voice made her slide over on the bench until she was just short of touching him. “Why are you angry?”
He stood and crossed, leaving the gym.
Faith only debated a moment before going after him. “Hey!” she snapped as she took longer strides to catch up with him.
This drew the attention of several people nearby who paused to see what was going on.
Faith nearly ran into him as Ronon turned abruptly and looked down at her. “Don’t,” he growled, his face a hair’s breadth from her hers. He was scowling and he looked serious, mean, and dangerous.
She knew it was meant to intimidate her, but the edge of her mouth twitched up in amusement. An impulse, one she hadn’t experience in years, shot through her. Part impish, part empowered, but wholly reckless. She lifted her head and kissed him - a quick peck on the lips.
It had a strange effect on Ronon, the opposite of what she thought it would be. He reared back away from her, eyes wide. Then he turned on heel and stomped away. She stared after him.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” a familiar voice muttered from nearby - Evan.
Faith turned her head to see her team. She grinned and moved towards them.
“Mask on, Major,” Stevens whispered. Evan looked at him and jerked his chin a little before facing her.
“Why do you look happy to see us?” Purell asked.
“It’s been a while,” she said.
“Three or four days,” Stevens said.
“For you. For me, it’s been over six months.”
“What?” Evan’s words burst out in surprise.
She nodded. “Yeah, so I have some specific words for my team lead who couldn’t say no to his superior.”
“What words are those?” Purell asked.
“You owe me,” she told Evan, “big time.”
88888888
Faith sat down after putting Haly in bed. “My turn to deal?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Katie replied, already tipsy from one beer.
Faith handled the cards quickly and effectively, shuffling and dealing in a matter of minutes.
“Six months?” Laura asked again.
Faith chuckled. “Yes.”
“And all you did was meditate and workout?”
“Got to know more about John, fixed some things in myself that should have been dealt with a long time ago.”
Laura nodded.
Susan smiled, glad for her.
Katie frowned at them. “What does that have to do with kissing Ronon?”
Susan’s smile slipped and she quickly became interested in precisely positioning the edges of the cards in her hand.
Laura looked at Susan. “Why is it that I’ve had to refrain from asking for over an hour, with you glaring at me every few minutes, but Katie can say whatever she wants?”
“Because she’s drunk and not responsible for what she says,” Susan replied.
Laura rolled her eyes. “Okay, now, seriously, what was that?”
“Nothing,” Faith said. “An impulse I should have ignored.”
“Wait,” Susan said, lowering her cards, “you kissed him?”
“I knew you wanted more information,” Laura accused Susan.
“Shh,” Susan hissed, her focus on Faith.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Faith said. “He was all pissed off about something, I followed him, he was trying to intimidate me, I kissed him, and he left.”
Katie giggled. “He was mad and trying to scare you and you thought that meant you should kiss him?”
“I have an epically screwed up sense of romance,” Faith replied dryly.
“What did he say about it?” Susan asked.
“We haven’t seen each other since.”
“That was a week ago,” Laura practically screeched.
“So you are avoiding him?” Susan guessed.
“I’m not avoiding anything. It was a stupid thing to do, I know that. He seems to have managed to ignore it.”
“Was it good?” Katie asked in a horrified whispered.
Faith rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t even something most of us would define as a kiss, it was just my lips…touching his lips.” She grimaced. “My team made a lot less deal of this than you three.”
“Your team saw?” Laura said.
“They happened to be there when Ronon walked away, so I’m assuming they did.”
“What made you do it?” Susan asked.
“I obviously didn’t think it through.”
“So you regret it?”
Faith frowned. Did she? “I regret that I made Ronon uncomfortable." Which means if he ever stands in a room with me again, I should apologize to him.
Title: Impulses
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG:A
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Stargate people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Faith and John have to accept the changes in themselves happened in a blink for everyone else.
Notes: Part 27 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 2
Word Count: 2575
Faith walked into the lab. Her eyes darted past plants and soil samples, containers of strange fruits.
She heard a small giggle and followed it to the back of the lab where Haly was playing with a small roly poly bug in a planter. And she looked exactly the same, her red-brown hair braided down her back, a small scrape on her left forearm from playing.
She must have sensed something because she looked up. “Faith!” She scrambled to her feet.
Faith smiled and kneeled down to catch her.
“Well, that was fast,” Katie said as she rounded the corner. “I thought I’d have her a few more hours.”
Faith chuckled around her tears as she stood holding Haly. “Yeah.”
Haly grabbed Faith’s face and looked at it. “Did you get hurt?”
“No. No, I’m fine. I’m just happy to see you.”
Haly stared at her. “Did you see Carson?”
“I actually have to go there now, wanna come with?”
She nodded.
Faith waved to Katie before leaving the lab. She walked down to the infirmary and sat on the bed next to John. She set Haly on the bed next to her.
Haly’s eyes widened at John. “You have a beard.”
John rubbed his bristled chin. “Yep, just for the time it takes Beckett to release me.”
“How?”
“Well, you saw Faith a few hours ago, right?”
Haly nodded.
“For us, it’s been longer than just a few hours,” John explained.
“Days?”
“Months,” Faith replied, showing her watch. “Six months and nine days.”
Haly’s eyes widened. She looked between Faith and John again. Her little mouth dropped open in a dramatic fashion. “Six months?”
John nodded.
88888888
By dinner that night, John had shaved and returned to his normal attire. Faith had managed to tame her hair and find something that fit. While she had not gained a lot of weight, it was enough in places to cause everything to be a little tight.
Faith sat across from John, Haly sat next to her.
“It’s strange, right?” John asked as soon as she was sitting.
“Really, really strange,” she agreed. “Even though we figured it out before they came through…I’m still having a problem reconciling all the changes I made, only for nothing to change here.”
He nodded as he looked around. “I’m going to miss the quiet.”
“But not the meditating,” she guessed with a teasing smile.
“May we join you?” Teyla asked as she and Ronon approached with trays.
“Of course,” John said, waving them to the empty seats.
“How are you doing?” Teyla asked as she sat between Ronon and John, across from Haly.
“We were cleared by Beckett.”
“But we have to get clearance from Heightmeyer,” Faith reminded him.
He grimaced.
“You seem different,” Ronon said, pointing his fork at Faith.
She narrowed her gaze on him.
“I agree,” Teyla said.
Rodney dropped down next to Haly, across from Ronon. He looked at Faith. “How did you figure out the time dilation field?”
“We didn’t really,” Faith said. “We hypothesized - based on this team, Atlantis, and the military sentiment of no man left behind - that you would be doing everything you could to get us out. The time between getting supplies as well as the lack of note or information from you made us suspect time may have been moving differently on either side of the doorway.”
“You just pulled that out of thin air?”
“Not right away. It wasn’t until we went back to the cave a few days ago that we questioned it.”
“She read a report,” John said. “From the SGC.”
“The Tok’ra spent months trying to contact Earth,” Faith explained, “while Earth and several planets were stuck in a time loop. Only O’Neill and Teal’c were aware of it.”
Rodney was nodding. “Right. Right.” But he still seemed puzzled.
“Think his head would explode if we told him you passed the MENSA exam too?” John asked in a stage whisper.
Faith flicked John’s arm. “Saying that to Dave was one thing, stop sharing.”
He rubbed his arm, a petulant expression taking over his face.
88888888
Susan watched Faith carefully.
“What?” Faith asked as she settled comfortably on the couch, crisscrossing her legs and taking a deep breath.
“I know it’s you, but…”
“I’m different?” she guessed.
“When you and Colonel Sheppard came back, it was easy to see on him. The beard gave credence to the passage of time.” Susan looked her over. “But you don’t look different, you just…seem different.”
Faith grinned. “I do look different. Carson says I put on ten pounds of just muscle.”
Susan shook her head. “What did you do for the time you were gone?”
“A lot of thinking, spent a lot of time with John. Worked through some Ascension tests the villagers assigned me.”
“Ascension tests?”
“The end goal is to shed your earthly body and become a being of pure energy.”
“Right.”
“For the Cloister, that meant overcoming very human issues to cause the body to go through the transformation. For me, it meant unburdening myself of the things that kept me tethered to the past.”
“Such as?”
“Pain, broken bones, and disregarded promises. I have processed my actions, why I was willing to kill for a man who was the first father figure I ever recognized.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I saw in how he treated me, someone who was like Giles was with B. Honestly, I figured if I couldn’t beat them by myself and I certainly couldn’t join them, I’d ally myself with someone who possibly could beat them. I craved that satisfaction, to show B that her sanctimonious attitude and group of very supportive friends were not going to best me.” She shifted, straightening her spine. “I did things I will never be proud of for that man, and things I can never be forgiven for - at the same time, I was a kid expertly manipulated by a wannabe demon who was over a hundred years old.”
Susan nodded. “How do you view him now?”
“With contempt, about who he was, what he made me do.”
“The fact that he was a demon?”
Faith frowned. “No. I don’t consider that a deal breaker. I used to stand guard for a guy who was a werewolf and there was Angel and Spike…”
Susan tilted her head. “What about your mom?”
“I will always harbor a hate for her but I have placed her and her abuse and the men she brought home in the proper context. Their actions - and inactions - were because of their own deficiencies, not mine.” She smiled. “Besides, I have too many people here who are worth so much more than anyone that ever hurt me. Why neglect them because I’m afraid of people who can’t reach me anymore?”
88888888
Susan sat before Elizabeth with her reports.
“Why do you look worried, Susan?”
“Not worried,” she correct. “I absolutely believe neither Sheppard is any worse for their time in the Sanctuary. The Colonel is back to himself, accepting the six months as a brief vacation to get to know Faith better.”
“And Faith?” Elizabeth asked, dreading the answer.
Susan adjusted her shoulders. “She’s more than ready to return to life on Atlantis and missions.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “But something is bugging you.”
“Not bugging me. It’s just something I can’t put my finger on.”
“Do you believe it negative?”
“No. Her progress is amazing, she has made positive leaps that are years’ worth of work in what seems to me to have been an afternoon mission.”
“Maybe it’s just the discrepancy in time?”
Susan shrugged.
Carson bustled in. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“Carson,” Elizabeth greeted with a patient smile. “What can I do for you?”
“Look!” he said as he handed her a tablet.
Elizabeth looked through the scan. “I’m not seeing anything. No breaks or signs of infection.”
“Right, that’s what’s wrong,” he told her.
“Can you try and explain it from the beginning?” she asked as she set the tablet down.
“That is Faith’s scan.”
“Okay…”
He sighed and zoomed in on her left forearm. “Do you see the remodeling from old fractures?”
She frowned at the scan. “No.”
He tapped the tablet and changed the location to the abdomen.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “I thought-”
“Yes.”
“What?” Susan asked, feeling out of the loop.
“All internal signs of damage are completely gone,” Carson said. “She still has every external scar recorded, but breaks, fractures, torn musculature, all completely repaired. Her missing organs are also…regrown.”
“Organs?”
“He means my ovary,” Faith said as she entered the office.
“Do you know how?” Elizabeth said.
“Not a clue, but most the people we spent six months with had all sorts of Ancient-like abilities.”
“It’s amazing, lass,” Carson told her.
She smiled at him. She looked at Elizabeth. “Any word on when my team will be back?”
“Tomorrow at the latest.”
“Thanks.”
88888888
Faith rolled out of the way and turned to face her opponent again. She calculated her next move. She jumped and came down with a punch. The moment she landed she pivoted and kicked out.
Ronon went crashing into the wall. He shook his head a bit dazed. When he pushed off the wall and charged her, she was ready, surrendering her weight and flipping them over. She had him, his arm pinned behind him and a knee on his thigh, most of her weight leaning into his femoral artery.
She raised an eyebrow. “We done?”
He blinked at her a few times. “Yeah.”
Faith smiled and hopped up, reaching down to offer her hand. For a second it seemed he was going to refuse, but he allowed her to pull him upright. She shook out her hand.
He grabbed her hand and checked the reddened knuckles. “Hurt something?”
“No, I just forgot that you are literally hardheaded,” she replied as she extracted her hand from him. “Of course, to you we sparred a few days ago.”
Ronon nodded.
She crossed to her bag and grabbed a water. She sat down on the bench, taking a sip. She contemplated a moment before looking up at Ronon. “You said I was different.”
He turned to regard her. “The shadow is gone.”
“Shadow?”
“In your eyes.”
She straightened.
Ronon sighed and sat down on the other side of the bench his gaze across the gym. “The first time we met, I immediately saw it in you. You were talking to Teyla, you were ordering me around. I thought it was just because I had put your friend in danger. But it was still there when you showed me the tracker was out.” He shrugged. “Saw it when you came to my room with Sheppard. I realized it was just part of who you were, something that existed in you, but never was in control. The only time I ever saw it swallow you up was the first time we fought.”
Faith nodded. “When you had me on the floor?”
“Yeah.”
“And now?”
He turned his head to look at her, his green eyes searching hers. “Gone.”
She studied him. “And it makes you angry?”
He swallowed and shook his head, looking away. “No.”
Faith reached out and touched his elbow. “I don’t understand.”
“Just leave it,” he rasped.
But something in his voice made her slide over on the bench until she was just short of touching him. “Why are you angry?”
He stood and crossed, leaving the gym.
Faith only debated a moment before going after him. “Hey!” she snapped as she took longer strides to catch up with him.
This drew the attention of several people nearby who paused to see what was going on.
Faith nearly ran into him as Ronon turned abruptly and looked down at her. “Don’t,” he growled, his face a hair’s breadth from her hers. He was scowling and he looked serious, mean, and dangerous.
She knew it was meant to intimidate her, but the edge of her mouth twitched up in amusement. An impulse, one she hadn’t experience in years, shot through her. Part impish, part empowered, but wholly reckless. She lifted her head and kissed him - a quick peck on the lips.
It had a strange effect on Ronon, the opposite of what she thought it would be. He reared back away from her, eyes wide. Then he turned on heel and stomped away. She stared after him.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” a familiar voice muttered from nearby - Evan.
Faith turned her head to see her team. She grinned and moved towards them.
“Mask on, Major,” Stevens whispered. Evan looked at him and jerked his chin a little before facing her.
“Why do you look happy to see us?” Purell asked.
“It’s been a while,” she said.
“Three or four days,” Stevens said.
“For you. For me, it’s been over six months.”
“What?” Evan’s words burst out in surprise.
She nodded. “Yeah, so I have some specific words for my team lead who couldn’t say no to his superior.”
“What words are those?” Purell asked.
“You owe me,” she told Evan, “big time.”
88888888
Faith sat down after putting Haly in bed. “My turn to deal?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Katie replied, already tipsy from one beer.
Faith handled the cards quickly and effectively, shuffling and dealing in a matter of minutes.
“Six months?” Laura asked again.
Faith chuckled. “Yes.”
“And all you did was meditate and workout?”
“Got to know more about John, fixed some things in myself that should have been dealt with a long time ago.”
Laura nodded.
Susan smiled, glad for her.
Katie frowned at them. “What does that have to do with kissing Ronon?”
Susan’s smile slipped and she quickly became interested in precisely positioning the edges of the cards in her hand.
Laura looked at Susan. “Why is it that I’ve had to refrain from asking for over an hour, with you glaring at me every few minutes, but Katie can say whatever she wants?”
“Because she’s drunk and not responsible for what she says,” Susan replied.
Laura rolled her eyes. “Okay, now, seriously, what was that?”
“Nothing,” Faith said. “An impulse I should have ignored.”
“Wait,” Susan said, lowering her cards, “you kissed him?”
“I knew you wanted more information,” Laura accused Susan.
“Shh,” Susan hissed, her focus on Faith.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Faith said. “He was all pissed off about something, I followed him, he was trying to intimidate me, I kissed him, and he left.”
Katie giggled. “He was mad and trying to scare you and you thought that meant you should kiss him?”
“I have an epically screwed up sense of romance,” Faith replied dryly.
“What did he say about it?” Susan asked.
“We haven’t seen each other since.”
“That was a week ago,” Laura practically screeched.
“So you are avoiding him?” Susan guessed.
“I’m not avoiding anything. It was a stupid thing to do, I know that. He seems to have managed to ignore it.”
“Was it good?” Katie asked in a horrified whispered.
Faith rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t even something most of us would define as a kiss, it was just my lips…touching his lips.” She grimaced. “My team made a lot less deal of this than you three.”
“Your team saw?” Laura said.
“They happened to be there when Ronon walked away, so I’m assuming they did.”
“What made you do it?” Susan asked.
“I obviously didn’t think it through.”
“So you regret it?”
Faith frowned. Did she? “I regret that I made Ronon uncomfortable." Which means if he ever stands in a room with me again, I should apologize to him.