Recovery - August 1st
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 1
Title: Recovery
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: Ronon’s room becomes Grand Central Station as he is down recovering from a gunshot wound and the surgery that saved his life.
Notes: Part 32 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 2
Word Count: 2685
Quick Recap (in case you don’t want to re-read all of last years): The President used the Stargate project codename “Pegasus” to hide the fact that Slayer Faith Lehane deserved a pardon for crimes committed when she was younger given her multiple world-saving actions since. She is sent to Atlantis with a team of soldiers and scientists. She quickly makes friends with Doctors Carson Beckett and Radek Zelenka. Investigating her strong ATA, Carson discovers that she’s the half-sister of John Sheppard - the military leader of Atlantis. Their bond has grown over the last two years, aided by their friends - and Pegasus-native Haly, Faith’s adoptive daughter. Trained as a medic, Faith primarily serves as Carson’s personal security detail off-world and the fourth member of Major Lorne’s team. An attraction between Faith and Ronon has slowly developed.
Faith was glad the City responded to her as she helped Ronon into his room. Carson hadn’t wanted to release him, but here she was.
“Slowly,” she said as she felt him try and sit.
Ronon managed to grunt and get seated. Only her position and bracing kept Faith from going down with him.
She tapped his shoulder. “Lay down. That was Carson’s requirement for letting you leave the infirmary.”
He would have argued, the amount of pain he was in kept him from being able to. He tilted sideways, allowing him to lay on his side. He heard Faith sigh before coming around in front of him.
“Based on past injuries, Carson thinks you’ll be up pretty soon, but only if you stay down until you actually heal.”
He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
Faith set a small cup on the bedside table. “What Carson gave you should knock you out for a while. You’ll need to take these when you wake up again.”
“’Kay,” he managed to say, but the world had started going a little fuzzy at the edge.
“Carson, Clare, and I will be checking on you frequently,” she said. “Try not to jump out of your skin when we come in.”
He huffed, but he was a little too sleepy to do more.
A buzz started somewhere before he was completely awake. It was annoying and he wanted to find something to flick in its direction.
“Woah,” a familiar voice said.
Beckett.
“You’re doing fine, lad. I just need you to wake up and take these pills.”
Ronon wasn’t certain he was cooperating but he heard. “There you go. Good.”
Cool water filled his mouth and he drank it down readily. An ache started in his gut but it slowly faded away as his mind sank down into the abyss.
The next time consciousness came it was accompanied by a small voice. He could tell Haly had been there some time, for she was just finishing telling him a story. It wasn’t one he recognized.
He shifted, glad to find that he didn’t immediately regret the action.
“And then boom! The ship went up in a ball of flame.”
Ronon wasn’t sure what she was talking about. But he wanted to wake up and ask. He pushed towards the surface, opening his eyes. He found Haly sitting at the table with a couple of take away containers and several bottles of water.
“Haly,” Teyla’s voice said kindly from behind him. “Please eat.”
“But I was waiting for him,” Haly said. Then her eyes moved to him. “Ronon!” she said, scrambling down and approaching him.
Teyla appeared in his line of sight. “How are you feeling?”
“Hungry,” his response was raspy. He wasn’t entirely sure it was the truth, so much as an automatic reaction to waking up.
“I can help you sit up,” Teyla offered.
Ronon shook his head and started moving.
“No!” Haly said with a panicky grab at his wrist. He frowned at her, seeing fear in her light hazel eyes. “You have to stay still!”
Teyla, ever patient and calm, looked at Haly. “He also needs to eat. That requires that he sit up.”
Haly screwed up her face in annoyance. She clearly had someone’s words in her head about his activities.
“I will assist him,” Teyla said, “and he will remain in bed.” The latter was said with a look at Ronon to cooperate.
“Okay, but slowly,” Haly reminded her.
Only the fact that the pain had already started to return kept him from arguing as Teyla helped him to sit up and lean against the headboard. He hated that the movement by itself left him feeling light headed and tired.
“Here.” Haly handed over a bottle of water.
Ronon downed the bottle quickly and held it back out to Haly. She was already handing him another one. This one he managed to only drink half before coming up for air.
Teyla approached him with one of the reusable food containers and a tall round container - a thermos. She set the container on his thigh and opened the thermos.
He frowned at the thermos. “What is it?”
“A protein shake,” Teyla explained. “It’s packed with calories and nutrients.” She set it next to him and opened the food container, revealing a meat and potato dish with a side of berries.
“Faith made the shake,” Haly told him.
Teyla nodded as Ronon picked up his fork. “It is the blend she has been working to get added to team packs.” She looked at Haly. “Go eat.”
Haly nodded and moved to the table, sitting down and opening her own dinner.
Teyla remained perched on the edge of Ronon’s bed, watching as both of them ate. She told Ronon about the repairs being done and new safety features being added to the fire suppression system and life support.
When the meals were complete and the containers gathered for return to the kitchen, John entered. He looked at Haly. “Bedtime, kid.”
She dashed towards him and checked his watch. She squeaked and ran out the door only to reappear a moment later and jump on the bed next to Ronon. She hugged his shoulder before leaving at high speed again.
Teyla managed to look down to avoid grinning right at him. “I will leave you.” She picked up the empty containers and left.
John claimed the chair Haly had been sitting in, moving it to the side of the bed. He sat down and studied Ronon. “How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” he replied shortly.
John watched him, then sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t shoot me.”
“Not about that - Elizabeth feels bad enough about shooting you and me about leaving you bleeding on the floor. But that wasn’t us.” He swallowed. “Taking you off the mission - that was me.”
Ronon considered that. Yes, it wasn’t great that his team lead thought him too volatile to go out on a mission. But if he hadn’t stayed behind, if he hadn’t been fighting…would Faith have confronted him? Or told him why she had done it? He shrugged.
John watched Ronon for a long moment. “I do trust you. In the field, here on Atlantis. I just don’t like when you get out of control, it makes it hard to work as a team.” He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“Leave it,” Ronon cut in. He considered not continuing but finally said, “You were right.”
“Did getting shot take all the fight out of you?” John asked.
Ronon gave him an annoyed look.
The door opened and Carson entered.
“Ah, Ronon, good to see you awake.” He showed a small cup in his other hand. “We kept titrating your meds, hoping there would be a point you’d have no pain but be able to stay awake. Looks like we reached that point with the last dose.” He set down the cup. “Let me take a look at your stitches.”
“Shower?” Ronon asked. He hated being dirty in his own room. After seven years of muck and blood and dirt, he liked feeling clean.
“Possibly. Let me take a look.”
88888888
Faith dealt the cards. The table was abnormally quiet. It may have been because they were all sober, an unusual occurrence for poker night. But since they were not in their own rooms, they had decided not to indulge.
“This is weird,” Katie said.
Susan shrugged. “It was either this or cancel poker night.”
Faith checked her cards.
“Two,” Katie said, tossing down cards.
“Three,” Susan said.
“One,” Laura took them.
“And two for the dealer,” Faith said moving the cards to a discard pile.
“What do we think?” Laura asked.
“About what?” Katie asked as she upped the pot with a minimal bet.
“Are we here because this is where Ronon is or because this is where Faith wants to be?”
Susan glared at Laura. “Really?”
“Oh, come on,” Laura said. “She’s been here for days. I’m just asking the obvious question.”
“We’re just having trouble predicting when he’ll wake,” Faith said. “Carson requested that someone be with him at all times.”
“And naturally, you volunteered,” she teased.
Faith sighed. It was frustrating because everything was in a kind of limbo. Until she and Ronon could talk - until she could be sure what he had meant by that whistle.
“Don’t push,” Susan told Laura.
Laura rolled her eyes.
“How long until he’s up and about?” Katie asked.
“Shouldn’t be long,” Faith replied, glad for another topic. “Carson says he’s healed, just need him awake and eating.”
“What’s the hold up?” Susan said. “I didn’t think much could keep him down.”
Faith shrugged. “Best Carson can figure there is something advanced about Satedan physiology. So, like me, he doesn’t react the way we think he should when it comes to healing.”
Laura made a small sound as her attention went to the bed.
Several hours later - and Faith winning a fair number of hands - poker night was wrapped up. Susan had taken the snacks, Laura had cleaned the table, and Katie had returned the cards and poker chips to their places. Laura and Katie had left, bidding her goodnight.
Susan hesitated. “I know it’s not our scheduled time, but do you need to talk?”
Faith shook her head. “Talking to you wouldn’t do any good.” She looked at the bed. “I need him to wake up so I can talk to him.”
Knowing the statement was not meant as an insult, Susan nodded. “You’re anxious.”
“Of course I am. At twenty-five, I’m finally interested in a guy who has been on the run since he was my age. I feel stupid and immature and I hate those feelings.”
Susan gave her a small, lop-sided smile. “That’s how we all feel starting a relationship,” she told Faith. “Whether we’re fifteen or twenty-five or forty. You just…you have to decide if that feeling is worth the risk. True intimacy is vulnerability. For you, choosing to be vulnerable, especially with a man, it could be very unsettling.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?”
“No! I’m making sure you know these are normal things to feel.” Her gaze darted to the bed and then back to Faith. “And not just for you.”
88888888
Faith was startled awake by movement. It took her a second to realize what it was. She looked up the bed to find Ronon watching her.
“Hey,” she said as she sat forward dropping her feet off the side of his bed. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”
“Hungry.”
“Besides, that,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
He pushed up and started to move. He paused when his gaze fell on the armchair opposite Faith. Haly was asleep with a black blanket wrapped around her, her little head propped on the arm of the chair.
Ronon kept going, making his way into the bathroom and closing the door.
Faith checked her watch. Six in the morning. Early, but not too bad. She stood and stretched. Twisting to and fro. She crossed the room to the armchair and carefully shook Haly awake. As with all kids, it took several minutes to get the girl to wake.
Haly frowned. “What?”
Faith grinned. “Ronon is awake.”
This took a second to penetrate her sleep-addled brain. Then she popped up and looked at the bed.
“He’s in the bathroom,” Faith explained. “But he’s hungry. Do you think you can go and grab breakfast?”
Haly shimmied out of her blanket and put on her shoes. “Lots of everything?”
“Lots of eggs.”
“He likes those potatoes.”
“Okay, lots of those too, whatever you think he’d like. Some juice and a couple bottles of water.”
Haly nodded, running out of the room.
Faith folded the blanket and set it on the armchair. Then she moved around the room and returned the chair to the table. She heard the shower turn on.
“There’s an image I don’t need,” Faith whispered. She grabbed her tablet off the bedside table and opened the medical chart, noting the time Ronon awoke and her observations about his movement.
She heard the shower turn off and tried to focus her wayward brain by messaging Carson about Ronon being awake and active. She hoped if the doctor had fallen asleep at his desk that the chirp from his tablet would not wake him.
The bathroom door slid open. She looked up to see Ronon with a towel wrapped around his waist. Her teeth latched onto her bottom lip to keep her mouth securely closed. He grabbed a few items from a drawer and disappeared back into the bathroom.
Faith exhaled deeply when he was gone from sight. “Behave,” she muttered under her breath.
The bathroom door opened again and Ronon emerged dressed in loose pants and no shirt.
“Haly will be back with food,” she found herself saying as he came around the side of the bed.
“I heard,” he replied.
She nodded, her attention on a bead of water that was working its way down the center of his chest. Across the small scar from Carson’s surgery and into the waist of his pants.
Faith looked away, damning her own mind. She looked back at Ronon, determined to keep her focus on his face.
Ronon was watching her, grinning just a bit.
“Shirts all in the wash?” she asked, trying to deflect.
He moved towards her and pulled out the drawer next to her. He lifted out a shirt and pulled it on. “Better?” he asked, eyebrow raised as though daring her.
“Haly should be back shortly with food for you. I let Carson know you’re awake and about. He’ll probably want to see you soon.”
Ronon nodded.
Faith swallowed looking for the words she needed to say. Her gaze was still fixed on his chest.
He stepped back suddenly, giving the impression of letting her escape. But she hadn’t felt trapped.
She didn’t think, but followed him, closing the distance between them. She looked up into his face and placed her hands on his shoulders. She lifted up on her toes slightly, relieved when Ronon leaned down to meet her. The kiss was soft and exploring, beneath it simmered heat.
Faith pulled her head back a moment to try and get a hold on the situation but Ronon’s lips were on hers again. There was more demand this time. She smiled into it and relaxed. The arms banded around her back held her tightly.
This time he pulled back first, tilting his head to touch his forehead to hers.
“This is going to be strange,” Faith said softly.
Ronon frowned.
“I want it,” she said quickly. “Strange or not. But there’s more considerations than just me.”
“I want this too,” he assured.
“It’s not just me, Ronon,” she told him as she finally released her hold on him. “Haly is my priority.” The words tumbled from her in a surprised wave. Being a single parent had never been a problem because she had never thought that there would be a time she would want something like this. It seemed, however, there were old fears lurking just out of focus. “At the end of the day, she’s always going to have my time and my heart first.”
Ronon took her face between his hands. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.” He kissed her briefly before stepping away from her.
The door opened to reveal Haly and Evan.
“I needed help,” Haly explained as she moved to the table and set the juices down.
Evan smiled. “I figured if she was up this early it could only be because you were. Good to see you upright, Ronon.” He set the food containers down. “I’ll let Sheppard and Weir know he’s up.”
“Thanks, Major,” Haly said as she climbed up on one of the chairs and pulled a container close to her.
“Any time, Haly,” he told her before leaving the room.
Ronon took one of the seats. “What’d you bring?”
Haly pushed two containers towards him. “Lots.”
Title: Recovery
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: Ronon’s room becomes Grand Central Station as he is down recovering from a gunshot wound and the surgery that saved his life.
Notes: Part 32 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 2
Word Count: 2685
Quick Recap (in case you don’t want to re-read all of last years): The President used the Stargate project codename “Pegasus” to hide the fact that Slayer Faith Lehane deserved a pardon for crimes committed when she was younger given her multiple world-saving actions since. She is sent to Atlantis with a team of soldiers and scientists. She quickly makes friends with Doctors Carson Beckett and Radek Zelenka. Investigating her strong ATA, Carson discovers that she’s the half-sister of John Sheppard - the military leader of Atlantis. Their bond has grown over the last two years, aided by their friends - and Pegasus-native Haly, Faith’s adoptive daughter. Trained as a medic, Faith primarily serves as Carson’s personal security detail off-world and the fourth member of Major Lorne’s team. An attraction between Faith and Ronon has slowly developed.
Faith was glad the City responded to her as she helped Ronon into his room. Carson hadn’t wanted to release him, but here she was.
“Slowly,” she said as she felt him try and sit.
Ronon managed to grunt and get seated. Only her position and bracing kept Faith from going down with him.
She tapped his shoulder. “Lay down. That was Carson’s requirement for letting you leave the infirmary.”
He would have argued, the amount of pain he was in kept him from being able to. He tilted sideways, allowing him to lay on his side. He heard Faith sigh before coming around in front of him.
“Based on past injuries, Carson thinks you’ll be up pretty soon, but only if you stay down until you actually heal.”
He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
Faith set a small cup on the bedside table. “What Carson gave you should knock you out for a while. You’ll need to take these when you wake up again.”
“’Kay,” he managed to say, but the world had started going a little fuzzy at the edge.
“Carson, Clare, and I will be checking on you frequently,” she said. “Try not to jump out of your skin when we come in.”
He huffed, but he was a little too sleepy to do more.
A buzz started somewhere before he was completely awake. It was annoying and he wanted to find something to flick in its direction.
“Woah,” a familiar voice said.
Beckett.
“You’re doing fine, lad. I just need you to wake up and take these pills.”
Ronon wasn’t certain he was cooperating but he heard. “There you go. Good.”
Cool water filled his mouth and he drank it down readily. An ache started in his gut but it slowly faded away as his mind sank down into the abyss.
The next time consciousness came it was accompanied by a small voice. He could tell Haly had been there some time, for she was just finishing telling him a story. It wasn’t one he recognized.
He shifted, glad to find that he didn’t immediately regret the action.
“And then boom! The ship went up in a ball of flame.”
Ronon wasn’t sure what she was talking about. But he wanted to wake up and ask. He pushed towards the surface, opening his eyes. He found Haly sitting at the table with a couple of take away containers and several bottles of water.
“Haly,” Teyla’s voice said kindly from behind him. “Please eat.”
“But I was waiting for him,” Haly said. Then her eyes moved to him. “Ronon!” she said, scrambling down and approaching him.
Teyla appeared in his line of sight. “How are you feeling?”
“Hungry,” his response was raspy. He wasn’t entirely sure it was the truth, so much as an automatic reaction to waking up.
“I can help you sit up,” Teyla offered.
Ronon shook his head and started moving.
“No!” Haly said with a panicky grab at his wrist. He frowned at her, seeing fear in her light hazel eyes. “You have to stay still!”
Teyla, ever patient and calm, looked at Haly. “He also needs to eat. That requires that he sit up.”
Haly screwed up her face in annoyance. She clearly had someone’s words in her head about his activities.
“I will assist him,” Teyla said, “and he will remain in bed.” The latter was said with a look at Ronon to cooperate.
“Okay, but slowly,” Haly reminded her.
Only the fact that the pain had already started to return kept him from arguing as Teyla helped him to sit up and lean against the headboard. He hated that the movement by itself left him feeling light headed and tired.
“Here.” Haly handed over a bottle of water.
Ronon downed the bottle quickly and held it back out to Haly. She was already handing him another one. This one he managed to only drink half before coming up for air.
Teyla approached him with one of the reusable food containers and a tall round container - a thermos. She set the container on his thigh and opened the thermos.
He frowned at the thermos. “What is it?”
“A protein shake,” Teyla explained. “It’s packed with calories and nutrients.” She set it next to him and opened the food container, revealing a meat and potato dish with a side of berries.
“Faith made the shake,” Haly told him.
Teyla nodded as Ronon picked up his fork. “It is the blend she has been working to get added to team packs.” She looked at Haly. “Go eat.”
Haly nodded and moved to the table, sitting down and opening her own dinner.
Teyla remained perched on the edge of Ronon’s bed, watching as both of them ate. She told Ronon about the repairs being done and new safety features being added to the fire suppression system and life support.
When the meals were complete and the containers gathered for return to the kitchen, John entered. He looked at Haly. “Bedtime, kid.”
She dashed towards him and checked his watch. She squeaked and ran out the door only to reappear a moment later and jump on the bed next to Ronon. She hugged his shoulder before leaving at high speed again.
Teyla managed to look down to avoid grinning right at him. “I will leave you.” She picked up the empty containers and left.
John claimed the chair Haly had been sitting in, moving it to the side of the bed. He sat down and studied Ronon. “How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” he replied shortly.
John watched him, then sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t shoot me.”
“Not about that - Elizabeth feels bad enough about shooting you and me about leaving you bleeding on the floor. But that wasn’t us.” He swallowed. “Taking you off the mission - that was me.”
Ronon considered that. Yes, it wasn’t great that his team lead thought him too volatile to go out on a mission. But if he hadn’t stayed behind, if he hadn’t been fighting…would Faith have confronted him? Or told him why she had done it? He shrugged.
John watched Ronon for a long moment. “I do trust you. In the field, here on Atlantis. I just don’t like when you get out of control, it makes it hard to work as a team.” He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“Leave it,” Ronon cut in. He considered not continuing but finally said, “You were right.”
“Did getting shot take all the fight out of you?” John asked.
Ronon gave him an annoyed look.
The door opened and Carson entered.
“Ah, Ronon, good to see you awake.” He showed a small cup in his other hand. “We kept titrating your meds, hoping there would be a point you’d have no pain but be able to stay awake. Looks like we reached that point with the last dose.” He set down the cup. “Let me take a look at your stitches.”
“Shower?” Ronon asked. He hated being dirty in his own room. After seven years of muck and blood and dirt, he liked feeling clean.
“Possibly. Let me take a look.”
88888888
Faith dealt the cards. The table was abnormally quiet. It may have been because they were all sober, an unusual occurrence for poker night. But since they were not in their own rooms, they had decided not to indulge.
“This is weird,” Katie said.
Susan shrugged. “It was either this or cancel poker night.”
Faith checked her cards.
“Two,” Katie said, tossing down cards.
“Three,” Susan said.
“One,” Laura took them.
“And two for the dealer,” Faith said moving the cards to a discard pile.
“What do we think?” Laura asked.
“About what?” Katie asked as she upped the pot with a minimal bet.
“Are we here because this is where Ronon is or because this is where Faith wants to be?”
Susan glared at Laura. “Really?”
“Oh, come on,” Laura said. “She’s been here for days. I’m just asking the obvious question.”
“We’re just having trouble predicting when he’ll wake,” Faith said. “Carson requested that someone be with him at all times.”
“And naturally, you volunteered,” she teased.
Faith sighed. It was frustrating because everything was in a kind of limbo. Until she and Ronon could talk - until she could be sure what he had meant by that whistle.
“Don’t push,” Susan told Laura.
Laura rolled her eyes.
“How long until he’s up and about?” Katie asked.
“Shouldn’t be long,” Faith replied, glad for another topic. “Carson says he’s healed, just need him awake and eating.”
“What’s the hold up?” Susan said. “I didn’t think much could keep him down.”
Faith shrugged. “Best Carson can figure there is something advanced about Satedan physiology. So, like me, he doesn’t react the way we think he should when it comes to healing.”
Laura made a small sound as her attention went to the bed.
Several hours later - and Faith winning a fair number of hands - poker night was wrapped up. Susan had taken the snacks, Laura had cleaned the table, and Katie had returned the cards and poker chips to their places. Laura and Katie had left, bidding her goodnight.
Susan hesitated. “I know it’s not our scheduled time, but do you need to talk?”
Faith shook her head. “Talking to you wouldn’t do any good.” She looked at the bed. “I need him to wake up so I can talk to him.”
Knowing the statement was not meant as an insult, Susan nodded. “You’re anxious.”
“Of course I am. At twenty-five, I’m finally interested in a guy who has been on the run since he was my age. I feel stupid and immature and I hate those feelings.”
Susan gave her a small, lop-sided smile. “That’s how we all feel starting a relationship,” she told Faith. “Whether we’re fifteen or twenty-five or forty. You just…you have to decide if that feeling is worth the risk. True intimacy is vulnerability. For you, choosing to be vulnerable, especially with a man, it could be very unsettling.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?”
“No! I’m making sure you know these are normal things to feel.” Her gaze darted to the bed and then back to Faith. “And not just for you.”
88888888
Faith was startled awake by movement. It took her a second to realize what it was. She looked up the bed to find Ronon watching her.
“Hey,” she said as she sat forward dropping her feet off the side of his bed. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”
“Hungry.”
“Besides, that,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
He pushed up and started to move. He paused when his gaze fell on the armchair opposite Faith. Haly was asleep with a black blanket wrapped around her, her little head propped on the arm of the chair.
Ronon kept going, making his way into the bathroom and closing the door.
Faith checked her watch. Six in the morning. Early, but not too bad. She stood and stretched. Twisting to and fro. She crossed the room to the armchair and carefully shook Haly awake. As with all kids, it took several minutes to get the girl to wake.
Haly frowned. “What?”
Faith grinned. “Ronon is awake.”
This took a second to penetrate her sleep-addled brain. Then she popped up and looked at the bed.
“He’s in the bathroom,” Faith explained. “But he’s hungry. Do you think you can go and grab breakfast?”
Haly shimmied out of her blanket and put on her shoes. “Lots of everything?”
“Lots of eggs.”
“He likes those potatoes.”
“Okay, lots of those too, whatever you think he’d like. Some juice and a couple bottles of water.”
Haly nodded, running out of the room.
Faith folded the blanket and set it on the armchair. Then she moved around the room and returned the chair to the table. She heard the shower turn on.
“There’s an image I don’t need,” Faith whispered. She grabbed her tablet off the bedside table and opened the medical chart, noting the time Ronon awoke and her observations about his movement.
She heard the shower turn off and tried to focus her wayward brain by messaging Carson about Ronon being awake and active. She hoped if the doctor had fallen asleep at his desk that the chirp from his tablet would not wake him.
The bathroom door slid open. She looked up to see Ronon with a towel wrapped around his waist. Her teeth latched onto her bottom lip to keep her mouth securely closed. He grabbed a few items from a drawer and disappeared back into the bathroom.
Faith exhaled deeply when he was gone from sight. “Behave,” she muttered under her breath.
The bathroom door opened again and Ronon emerged dressed in loose pants and no shirt.
“Haly will be back with food,” she found herself saying as he came around the side of the bed.
“I heard,” he replied.
She nodded, her attention on a bead of water that was working its way down the center of his chest. Across the small scar from Carson’s surgery and into the waist of his pants.
Faith looked away, damning her own mind. She looked back at Ronon, determined to keep her focus on his face.
Ronon was watching her, grinning just a bit.
“Shirts all in the wash?” she asked, trying to deflect.
He moved towards her and pulled out the drawer next to her. He lifted out a shirt and pulled it on. “Better?” he asked, eyebrow raised as though daring her.
“Haly should be back shortly with food for you. I let Carson know you’re awake and about. He’ll probably want to see you soon.”
Ronon nodded.
Faith swallowed looking for the words she needed to say. Her gaze was still fixed on his chest.
He stepped back suddenly, giving the impression of letting her escape. But she hadn’t felt trapped.
She didn’t think, but followed him, closing the distance between them. She looked up into his face and placed her hands on his shoulders. She lifted up on her toes slightly, relieved when Ronon leaned down to meet her. The kiss was soft and exploring, beneath it simmered heat.
Faith pulled her head back a moment to try and get a hold on the situation but Ronon’s lips were on hers again. There was more demand this time. She smiled into it and relaxed. The arms banded around her back held her tightly.
This time he pulled back first, tilting his head to touch his forehead to hers.
“This is going to be strange,” Faith said softly.
Ronon frowned.
“I want it,” she said quickly. “Strange or not. But there’s more considerations than just me.”
“I want this too,” he assured.
“It’s not just me, Ronon,” she told him as she finally released her hold on him. “Haly is my priority.” The words tumbled from her in a surprised wave. Being a single parent had never been a problem because she had never thought that there would be a time she would want something like this. It seemed, however, there were old fears lurking just out of focus. “At the end of the day, she’s always going to have my time and my heart first.”
Ronon took her face between his hands. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.” He kissed her briefly before stepping away from her.
The door opened to reveal Haly and Evan.
“I needed help,” Haly explained as she moved to the table and set the juices down.
Evan smiled. “I figured if she was up this early it could only be because you were. Good to see you upright, Ronon.” He set the food containers down. “I’ll let Sheppard and Weir know he’s up.”
“Thanks, Major,” Haly said as she climbed up on one of the chairs and pulled a container close to her.
“Any time, Haly,” he told her before leaving the room.
Ronon took one of the seats. “What’d you bring?”
Haly pushed two containers towards him. “Lots.”