fic: Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Three [PG-13]
TITLE: Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Three
AUTHOR: Tielan
SUMMARY: She had time for a squeak before he had her down on the grass, straddling her with one hand planted just below her throat. "You'd prefer I behaved like this?"
CATEGORY: crackfic, shermer_high AU
RATING: PG-13
NOTES: 31,000 words and still another few scenes to go. Eep! I'm hoping to finish the story tonight, but the beta'ing will take a few days yet, and I'm planning to hand the story out over the next couple of weeks.
Part Two
Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Three
By the next day, she'd put the incident with Kolya in the back of her mind and wasn't thinking about Ronon Dex at all.
And then Rodney cancelled lunch on her.
It was a nice day for autumn. Cooling but not cold, with a blue sky offset by the reds and golds of the dying maple leaves. Elizabeth was glad to be at a school with nice grounds and not some cold, grey block in the middle of one of the bigger cities.
She'd found a nice place out on the terrace - a bit of sun but not too much, and not the corner where the wind eddied - and was waiting for Rodney to turn up while picking through the questionable contents of her own lunch.
When he did, he sat down and wrinkled his nose at her lunch.
"That looks awful."
"Tastes it, too," she said lightly. Then she noticed he didn't have his bag or any lunch himself and her good mood fled. "Rodney..."
He saw her expression change and hurried on. "Ms. Carter agreed to let us set up the generator project in one of the labs! She's going to supervise us during the lunch hour." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "You can come and watch if you want."
Elizabeth wasn't minded to watch him fawn and fluster over Ms. Carter, who was really rather gorgeous as well as being intelligent. But it was his way of being generous and sharing his time. Never mind that she'd hoped to just hang out with him for a change. "I think I'll pass," she said.
"Okay. Your funeral." And off he went, taking her good mood with him.
It would figure, she supposed as she chased her lunch around the plate with her plastic fork, that Rodney would have to be absent on the one day when she felt like talking to someone and none of her friends were available.
She stuck her chin in her hand and glared at her lunch, then sighed. There were few things worse than eating lunch alone at this school. And after Rodney had so obviously stood her up...
Across the terrace, she angled to catch Ben Maroney's eye. She shared a few classes with him, and he wasn't bad company...
Her view across the room was cut off as a tray was set down on the table, and Ronon Dex flung himself into the seat across from her.
"Hey."
Elizabeth blinked. "Shouldn't you ask first? I might be meeting someone."
"Are you meeting someone?"
"I was."
"But you're not now?"
"I might have been."
"But you're not," he repeated, looking across at her. "Unless I'm ruining your image."
Elizabeth scowled at him, offended that he could think that of her. She'd never hesitated to associate with the people she thought were interesting, whatever their social status. If other people didn't understand, then she considered that their problem, not hers.
"I don't have an image to ruin," she retorted.
His fork paused over his food. "You think so?"
"I know so."
The expression on his face was disbelieving, but he plunged the fork in and began eating with about as much gusto as she would have expected from Rodney.
Oh, well, she thought to herself as he spun the spaghetti on his fork. At least he doesn't talk with his mouth full of food. She hadn't yet been able to break Rodney of that habit. And she'd been trying for at least two years now.
"So," she said. "Good day?"
"Only halfway through," he said. "Yours?"
"Only halfway through," she replied, and watched him check, then smile. "Trigonometry with Mr. Felger, and Ancient History with Dr. Jackson."
"Sounds tricky," he said.
"It's quite interesting," she defended. "Did you know the Ancient Romans used to place their right hand on their testicles when taking an oath? And that it's where we get the term 'testimony' from?"
Ronon paused in his eating. "I didn't need to know that."
"It's still interesting."
"Difficult for women to give an oath, though."
"Well, they couldn't," she said shortly. "A woman's word wasn't considered valid." She was still slightly pissed off about that. Dr. Jackson had tried to explain it as delicately as possible, but the girls in the class had still been horrified, and the boys had been raucously amused until Dr. Jackson shushed them.
"Because she didn't have balls?" Ronon looked like he was trying to hide a smile, and Elizabeth glared at him.
"You're angling for a kick under the table, you know."
He shifted, but the smile stayed. "I find it funny."
"Well, I don't! If you'd been a secondary citizen at any time in your life--"
Ronon gave her a long, hard look and she stuttered into silence.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said after a moment. "Do you need an escort home this afternoon?" The change of topic was unsubtle, but the question caught her by surprise. Of all the things she would have expected him to say, that definitely wasn't on the list.
"Are you offering?"
He watched her for a moment, as though deciding how to answer her.
"Only if you need one," he said.
She was in two minds about it. John had football practise on after school today, which meant she'd be walking home alone again. On one hand, she didn't want it to look like she needed Ronon's protection. On the other, she didn't really want to run into Kolya again.
And there was no way in hell that she was even going to vaguely mention her encounter with Kolya to John. For starters, he'd tease the heck out of her for needing to be rescued; then he'd go all caveman-protective of her. Not her idea of fun by a long shot.
"I'd like..." Elizabeth paused, feeling her heart pound in her chest again. It was just a friendly request. "I'd like it if you would. If it's not too far out of your way."
He shrugged. That seemed to be a 'yes' as far as she could tell. It wasn't an outright 'no' anyway.
For the rest of the lunch period, she chattered about classes and people, and he commented, or occasionally said something trying to get a rise out of her. She got better at realising when he was teasing, and although there were a couple of points where she wondered if she'd said something wrong, it was only a momentary pause before he had a comeback.
By the time the bell rang and they headed off to their classes, Elizabeth was glad Rodney had cancelled after all.
--
Compared with his behaviour at lunchtime, Ronon was terse in his answers on the walk home. Elizabeth found herself wondering if she'd done something wrong,
Or maybe it was just a guy-mood. John had them. Rodney had them. Hell, even her dad had them from time to time. It wasn't PMS, but it was just as terse.
They were coming out of the alleyway before she finally scraped up the courage to ask the question that had been bothering her for most of the afternoon.
"Why did you react about the 'secondary citizen' thing at lunch?"
He was quiet for a while, and she almost repeated the question. Then she caught the look he gave her, like he was measuring his words. Finally, he said, "Have you ever been a secondary citizen?"
"I'm a girl."
The sidelong glance he gave her was both appreciative and amused. "I can see that."
Elizabeth flushed. "Women are the unmentioned secondary citizens of America."
"Nobody mentions you?"
"We're disadvantaged because we're female," she said. "I mean, they tell us that we can do anything, but what they mean is we can do anything that the guys let us do."
"Like defend yourself from attackers?" Ronon kept walking.
"That's just me. Have you seen Teyla in gym class?"
"I've fought her in gym class," Ronon said. "She's good."
"She is, isn't she?" Elizabeth had little or no skill in sports, while Teyla seemed to have enough for the two of them. On the other hand, Teyla didn't have the academic ability that came easy to Elizabeth. "But that still doesn't answer why you got so huffy when I mentioned secondary citizens."
"I didn't get huffy," he said. "You don't think it's ironic that you should talk about privilege as a middle-class, white girl?"
She wasn't liking where this was going. "It's not like I asked to be born as I am!"
"Nobody does. It's still ironic."
"So you're saying that I can't talk about being a secondary citizen just because I happened to be born middle-class and white?" Elizabeth felt slapped.
"Now who's getting huffy?"
"Answer the question!"
"I'm saying you're a pretty, admired honours student at Shermer, whose not-boyfriend is the Captain of the football team. You're not the first person anyone would choose to talk about disadvantage."
"Anyone can experience disadvantage," she said, angrily. "It's not all about race!"
"Didn't say it was."
He kept walking, so she did, too. But resentment bubbled within her at his easy dismissal of her background.
You're a pretty, admired honours student at Shermer...
Elizabeth stopped. Ronon kept walking. She stared at his retreating back, her cheeks flushed.
About a half-dozen yards ahead of her, he paused and turned back. "You okay?"
You called me pretty.
She knew she was pretty. Hearing a guy say it, though - and so off-handedly - that was different. John never gave her compliments. Other girls, yes - her, no. And Rodney wouldn't know about compliments if they smacked him in the face.
Ronon certainly didn't have the faintest idea of how those words affected her - a warm glow in her stomach.
Not that it made her any less angry about his dismissal.
"Fine," she said, a little shortly.
Ronon picked up on it and tilted his head as she came alongside him. "Still mad?"
"Yes."
"Because I don't think you're disadvantaged?"
Elizabeth saw the Roxtons drive past and lifted a hand to wave at Mrs. Roxton. "Because you dismissed my opinion just because I don't fit your idea of disadvantaged!"
"I never said I dismissed your opinion," he said.
"You just don't think I know what I'm talking about."
"Have you ever experienced disadvantage for the way you look or who you are? Seriously?"
"Yes."
"When?"
She paused. Okay, so the example she had in mind wasn't about her specifically, but it still worked. "Teyla had all kinds of difficulties getting on the football team."
Ronon made a dismissive noise. "I wasn't asking about Teyla. I was asking about you."
"Kolya - the guy from yesterday."
"You said he disliked Sheppard."
"But he thought he could pick on me because I'm a girl."
"He thought he could pick on you because you can't defend yourself."
Elizabeth closed her teeth around her initial retort and just managed to get out, "I never had to defend myself before."
"Thought about learning?"
"Teyla doesn't have time."
He gave her an odd look. "I do."
"So you're offering again?"
"If you like." He was pretty cool about it, all things considered. It was like something he'd have offered anyone, not just Elizabeth.
But he'd called her pretty.
She considered the offer for a couple of houses. On one hand, it was nice to have company walking home; on the other, she didn't want to need company simply because she was afraid of meeting Kolya and his gang on the way. And, knowing Kolya, he wasn't going to give up anytime soon.
There was no way she was going to mention this to John unless she absolutely had to. That went the same for her parents, or Rodney and his family, because Rodney was almost incapable of keeping secrets since his mind didn't work in the same timezone as anything else that happened around him.
Teyla knew how to keep secrets, but she'd be concerned. She might even mention her concerns to John. Another no-go. Besides, between keeping up her grades while holding her place on the Varsity team, Teyla had more than enough to do.
Elizabeth wasn't going to add to that.
"Okay," she said as they stopped outside her house.
Ronon looked at her. "I promise to be nice."
"I'm sure." She kept most of the sarcasm out of her voice, at least. "You're the right size, anyway."
"For what?"
"An attacker." The words were deliberately provocative, and she felt the thrill of nerves as she waited for his response.
It came completely without warning. One moment he was walking beside her, within arm's reach, the next instant, she was pressed up against his side with one of his hands pulling her arm behind her back - firm, but gentle - and the other at her throat.
Elizabeth gasped in surprise, but no terror, and after a second, he let her go and stepped away. "You have no idea," he said and his eyes were very dark and very intent in his face. If Elizabeth had been asked at that moment if any of the rumours about Ronon Dex were true, then she would have replied, 'All of them.'
"Are you crazy? If anyone had seen you..." If her dad had seen that...or if the neighbours saw it and reported it to her dad...
"Come on," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him along towards her house. "I can't believe you did that out in the street," she berated him. "Of all the stupid, idiotic things to do..."
He let her drag him up to the front door and waited as she unlocked it and hauled him inside.
"I don't see what was so stupid about it," he said shortly. "You wanted to learn self-defence--"
"And if anyone in the neighbourhood had seen you doing that, then you'd be in such trouble with my dad," Elizabeth said. "Come out the back."
The backyard was warm and sunny at this time in the afternoon, with the oak tree providing just enough shade to make the outdoors table and chairs a comfortable place to do homework in autumn and spring.
She got them lemonades - it was a relief not to have to go downstairs to the other fridge for a pepsi the way she had to with Rodney - some home-made cookies, and brought them out on a tray as he looked about the yard, taking in her mom's roses, her own miserable attempt at a vegetable garden, and the garden gnomes that dotted the landscape.
He looked startled when she set the tray on the table. "Wasn't I going to teach you how to defend yourself?"
Elizabeth looked up. "Don't you want something to eat?" She eyed him. "Rodney doesn't do anything without eating first."
"Do I look like Rodney McKay?"
She had to concede that one. "You're not hungry?"
He took a cookie - one of the choc-chips, not the snickerdoodles - and sat at the outdoor table. "I never said that."
"Have you done Mr. O'Neill's homework?" At his blank look, she elaborated. "The poems we were supposed to read?"
"Haven't got around to them yet."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but nibbled on her snickerdoodle. "Why'd you take English Lit. anyway?" Of all the senior guys who might have taken such a subject, she couldn't imagine why Ronon had chosen it. If she recalled correctly, he was doing an eclectic mix of subjects, no specific leanings - certainly not what would be expected of someone like him.
He grinned. "My mom told me to."
Her glass paused, halfway to her mouth. "Your mom told you to?" So not an answer she'd expected! "Do you always do what your mom says?"
"Nope," he said. "But neither do you."
"You don't know that."
"Don't need to," he replied. "I was short a subject, she said English Lit. And I can even read," he added, somewhat facetiously.
"I never said--" She bit off her words when she realised he was teasing her. Again. "You shouldn't do that."
The gleam in his eyes was distinctly mischievous. "It's fun."
His easy reply reminded her that she was supposed to be mad at him for his behaviour before, and she took a drink of lemonade and stood up. "Well, let's get on with it."
Ronon arched one brow as he finished his cookie and brushed himself off. "I can't teach you everything about self-defence in an hour, you know. I can show you how to get away from an attacker."
"That's what Teyla did."
"Why didn't you listen?"
"I didn't think I'd need it," she said, defensively. And at the time Teyla had started teaching her, she hadn't figured that she'd be attacked by anyone in or around Shermer. It wasn't as though this was downtown Chicago, after all.
She saw his expression, and scowled. "Are you going to teach me or not?"
Half an hour later, Ronon had showed her how to break free of a grip from behind, from the side, from the front, and was obligingly playing attacker for her - and taking her hits.
Okay, so Elizabeth was enjoying hitting him. There was a certain amount of satisfaction in the small jabs and attacks she landed on him, and she had the feeling he knew it - and allowed it.
"You're never going to be a fighter," he said when they paused a break. He'd flopped down in the grassy shade and she handed him his drink. "You're not direct enough."
"That's not a bad thing."
"Did I say it was?" He shrugged. "Sometimes fighting is needed."
"And sometimes it's not," Elizabeth pointed out.
Ronon propped himself up on his elbow. "You're a pacifist?"
"No, I just don't think that the first answer to every situation should be a fist in the face."
"Oh." He settled back down.
She climbed to her feet to get the plate of cookies. "Not your philosophy?"
"Sometimes a fist in the face is all they understand."
She was too nettled to really listen to his answer as she came back over to the grass. "Is that something you learned at Pegassus High?"
The stillness registered loudly in the quiet of the afternoon. A few houses down, the Carrington kids squealed and splashed about in their pool. And when Elizabeth looked at him, Ronon was watching her, something like resentment in his eyes.
He stood up, took his glass over to the table and put it onto the tray. "I should be getting home."
Elizabeth wasn't such an idiot that she couldn't recognise when someone was offended. And she wasn't so spineless as to just let him leave without having some idea of how she'd gotten him mad - again. "Was it because I mentioned your old high school?"
"No."
"Look, so you're not the usual kind of student at Shermer," she said impatiently. "That doesn't mean you have to get all huffy every time someone mentions it. It's not all about you."
"I know that."
"You're not behaving like it."
She had time for a squeak before he had her down on the grass, straddling her with one hand planted just below her throat. "You'd prefer I behaved like this?"
He hadn't taught her how to deal with that attack.
The grass was prickling her neck and the backs of her arms, but she looked up into the fierce, tanned features backlit by the autumn blue sky. "If you're trying to scare me, it's not working."
They probably weren't the best words to say - a challenge to him to try to scare her - but she wasn't afraid. She was startled, yes, but for all his size and speed, there was none of the menace Kolya had exuded. A dangerous competence, yes, but she could see his face, the darkly amused gleam of his eyes, and he didn't mean her harm.
Elizabeth was certain of it.
Okay, well, mostly certain.
She was right.
Ronon sat back on his haunches, effortlessly holding his weight off her body. "And Kolya thinks you're a lamb for the slaughter," he muttered.
She felt a little vulnerable as she brought herself up on her elbows. "I bite." The words were thrown out, not intended to be provocative. It took her a moment to realise what she'd said and how it could be taken - given that he was straddling her on the back lawn.
His laughter rang out as she flushed, biting her lip, and he swung his leg over her body so he landed on the grass beside her, tossing back dreadlocks. "Not too hard, I hope."
She'd just opened her mouth to make a quick retort at him when a new voice came from the house. "Lizzie?"
Crap.
Quickly, she jerked to a sitting position and glanced around the yard. "Mom?" Everything looked reasonable. Okay, so she had some leaves in her hair, and Ronon's knees were a little grassy, but...
The flyscreen door slid back, and her mom emerged, dressed as though she'd just gotten home from work. "Lizzie, I thought I asked you to fold up the washing this morning."
"Sorry, mom, but I had company." In fact, she'd forgotten about that chore entirely. "Mom, this is Ronon; Ronon, my mother."
"Hi, Mrs Weir," Ronon sat up, pushing back his dreads and climbing to his feet.
It was a relief to discover that if he could tease Elizabeth with impunity, he wasn't as comfortable at being found lounging about on the lawn by her mother.
"Hello, Ronon. It's nice to meet another of Elizabeth's friends from school." The slightest of emphasis on 'friend' said that Elizabeth's mom thought Ronon was nothing of the sort, but was going to allow the term to stand for the moment. "You're working with Elizabeth on a project?"
To give him his due, he picked up the thread better than John or Rodney would have. "Yes. We have English Lit. together."
"Oh, so you're a senior? Transferred from another school?"
"Just this year." Ronon shuffled his feet and glanced at Elizabeth. "I should be getting home."
At least he didn't sound like he was in the middle of a sulk anymore.
"Thanks for the study partnering," she said brightly - not that her mom would be one bit fooled.
"Yeah," he said as he swung his bag up on his shoulder. "See you tomorrow. Nice to meet you Mrs Weir."
If he was trying for 'harmless', Elizabeth didn't think he managed it. Her mom eyed him, not suspiciously so much as with her own private amusement. Elizabeth was in so much trouble once Ronon left.
"She doesn't believe it, does she?" Ronon muttered when they were in the hallway.
Elizabeth didn't glance back. Her mom wouldn't stoop to watching anyway - at least, not watching when Elizabeth could catch her. "No."
"Will you get into trouble?"
Her mom would probably fret and ask a few questions, but that wasn't 'trouble' per se. "No."
"Good." He gave her a quick, brief grin and a wink before he turned and walked away.
Elizabeth shut the door very carefully behind her before she went outside to bring in the drinks and cookies. Her mom was probably changing out of her work suit and thinking up all the questions she could ask her daughter about this guy who'd been stretched out on their lawn, casual as a cat.
When she came back inside with her books, her mom was waiting for her.
"I thought you and John were seeing each other."
"No, we're just friends." Although she wouldn't have minded if John asked her out, but he didn't seem to think of her that way. And he annoyed her enough as it was. If she was dating him, he'd probably annoy her a lot more.
"And are you 'just friends' with Ronon, too?"
Elizabeth had planned to do her homework at the dining room table, but dismissed it. She didn't want to sit through a grilling from her mother. "Yes," she said, crossly. "You can be 'just friends' with more than one person at a time, you know, mom."
Her mother opened the fridge. "Uhuh. Would you rather spaghetti for dinner, or chicken casserole?"
There was no way the conversation was going to just stop there. Her mother would start dinner - and the food wouldn't be the only thing getting a grilling. "Spaghetti," Elizabeth swung her bag up onto her back. Better not to tempt fate - or her mom's wrath. "I'm going to my room."
But the look she got from her mother indicated that she wasn't out of the danger zone yet.
Dinner was going to be fun.
- TBC -
Part Four
AUTHOR: Tielan
SUMMARY: She had time for a squeak before he had her down on the grass, straddling her with one hand planted just below her throat. "You'd prefer I behaved like this?"
CATEGORY: crackfic, shermer_high AU
RATING: PG-13
NOTES: 31,000 words and still another few scenes to go. Eep! I'm hoping to finish the story tonight, but the beta'ing will take a few days yet, and I'm planning to hand the story out over the next couple of weeks.
Part Two
Wrong Kind Of Guy - Part Three
By the next day, she'd put the incident with Kolya in the back of her mind and wasn't thinking about Ronon Dex at all.
And then Rodney cancelled lunch on her.
It was a nice day for autumn. Cooling but not cold, with a blue sky offset by the reds and golds of the dying maple leaves. Elizabeth was glad to be at a school with nice grounds and not some cold, grey block in the middle of one of the bigger cities.
She'd found a nice place out on the terrace - a bit of sun but not too much, and not the corner where the wind eddied - and was waiting for Rodney to turn up while picking through the questionable contents of her own lunch.
When he did, he sat down and wrinkled his nose at her lunch.
"That looks awful."
"Tastes it, too," she said lightly. Then she noticed he didn't have his bag or any lunch himself and her good mood fled. "Rodney..."
He saw her expression change and hurried on. "Ms. Carter agreed to let us set up the generator project in one of the labs! She's going to supervise us during the lunch hour." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "You can come and watch if you want."
Elizabeth wasn't minded to watch him fawn and fluster over Ms. Carter, who was really rather gorgeous as well as being intelligent. But it was his way of being generous and sharing his time. Never mind that she'd hoped to just hang out with him for a change. "I think I'll pass," she said.
"Okay. Your funeral." And off he went, taking her good mood with him.
It would figure, she supposed as she chased her lunch around the plate with her plastic fork, that Rodney would have to be absent on the one day when she felt like talking to someone and none of her friends were available.
She stuck her chin in her hand and glared at her lunch, then sighed. There were few things worse than eating lunch alone at this school. And after Rodney had so obviously stood her up...
Across the terrace, she angled to catch Ben Maroney's eye. She shared a few classes with him, and he wasn't bad company...
Her view across the room was cut off as a tray was set down on the table, and Ronon Dex flung himself into the seat across from her.
"Hey."
Elizabeth blinked. "Shouldn't you ask first? I might be meeting someone."
"Are you meeting someone?"
"I was."
"But you're not now?"
"I might have been."
"But you're not," he repeated, looking across at her. "Unless I'm ruining your image."
Elizabeth scowled at him, offended that he could think that of her. She'd never hesitated to associate with the people she thought were interesting, whatever their social status. If other people didn't understand, then she considered that their problem, not hers.
"I don't have an image to ruin," she retorted.
His fork paused over his food. "You think so?"
"I know so."
The expression on his face was disbelieving, but he plunged the fork in and began eating with about as much gusto as she would have expected from Rodney.
Oh, well, she thought to herself as he spun the spaghetti on his fork. At least he doesn't talk with his mouth full of food. She hadn't yet been able to break Rodney of that habit. And she'd been trying for at least two years now.
"So," she said. "Good day?"
"Only halfway through," he said. "Yours?"
"Only halfway through," she replied, and watched him check, then smile. "Trigonometry with Mr. Felger, and Ancient History with Dr. Jackson."
"Sounds tricky," he said.
"It's quite interesting," she defended. "Did you know the Ancient Romans used to place their right hand on their testicles when taking an oath? And that it's where we get the term 'testimony' from?"
Ronon paused in his eating. "I didn't need to know that."
"It's still interesting."
"Difficult for women to give an oath, though."
"Well, they couldn't," she said shortly. "A woman's word wasn't considered valid." She was still slightly pissed off about that. Dr. Jackson had tried to explain it as delicately as possible, but the girls in the class had still been horrified, and the boys had been raucously amused until Dr. Jackson shushed them.
"Because she didn't have balls?" Ronon looked like he was trying to hide a smile, and Elizabeth glared at him.
"You're angling for a kick under the table, you know."
He shifted, but the smile stayed. "I find it funny."
"Well, I don't! If you'd been a secondary citizen at any time in your life--"
Ronon gave her a long, hard look and she stuttered into silence.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said after a moment. "Do you need an escort home this afternoon?" The change of topic was unsubtle, but the question caught her by surprise. Of all the things she would have expected him to say, that definitely wasn't on the list.
"Are you offering?"
He watched her for a moment, as though deciding how to answer her.
"Only if you need one," he said.
She was in two minds about it. John had football practise on after school today, which meant she'd be walking home alone again. On one hand, she didn't want it to look like she needed Ronon's protection. On the other, she didn't really want to run into Kolya again.
And there was no way in hell that she was even going to vaguely mention her encounter with Kolya to John. For starters, he'd tease the heck out of her for needing to be rescued; then he'd go all caveman-protective of her. Not her idea of fun by a long shot.
"I'd like..." Elizabeth paused, feeling her heart pound in her chest again. It was just a friendly request. "I'd like it if you would. If it's not too far out of your way."
He shrugged. That seemed to be a 'yes' as far as she could tell. It wasn't an outright 'no' anyway.
For the rest of the lunch period, she chattered about classes and people, and he commented, or occasionally said something trying to get a rise out of her. She got better at realising when he was teasing, and although there were a couple of points where she wondered if she'd said something wrong, it was only a momentary pause before he had a comeback.
By the time the bell rang and they headed off to their classes, Elizabeth was glad Rodney had cancelled after all.
--
Compared with his behaviour at lunchtime, Ronon was terse in his answers on the walk home. Elizabeth found herself wondering if she'd done something wrong,
Or maybe it was just a guy-mood. John had them. Rodney had them. Hell, even her dad had them from time to time. It wasn't PMS, but it was just as terse.
They were coming out of the alleyway before she finally scraped up the courage to ask the question that had been bothering her for most of the afternoon.
"Why did you react about the 'secondary citizen' thing at lunch?"
He was quiet for a while, and she almost repeated the question. Then she caught the look he gave her, like he was measuring his words. Finally, he said, "Have you ever been a secondary citizen?"
"I'm a girl."
The sidelong glance he gave her was both appreciative and amused. "I can see that."
Elizabeth flushed. "Women are the unmentioned secondary citizens of America."
"Nobody mentions you?"
"We're disadvantaged because we're female," she said. "I mean, they tell us that we can do anything, but what they mean is we can do anything that the guys let us do."
"Like defend yourself from attackers?" Ronon kept walking.
"That's just me. Have you seen Teyla in gym class?"
"I've fought her in gym class," Ronon said. "She's good."
"She is, isn't she?" Elizabeth had little or no skill in sports, while Teyla seemed to have enough for the two of them. On the other hand, Teyla didn't have the academic ability that came easy to Elizabeth. "But that still doesn't answer why you got so huffy when I mentioned secondary citizens."
"I didn't get huffy," he said. "You don't think it's ironic that you should talk about privilege as a middle-class, white girl?"
She wasn't liking where this was going. "It's not like I asked to be born as I am!"
"Nobody does. It's still ironic."
"So you're saying that I can't talk about being a secondary citizen just because I happened to be born middle-class and white?" Elizabeth felt slapped.
"Now who's getting huffy?"
"Answer the question!"
"I'm saying you're a pretty, admired honours student at Shermer, whose not-boyfriend is the Captain of the football team. You're not the first person anyone would choose to talk about disadvantage."
"Anyone can experience disadvantage," she said, angrily. "It's not all about race!"
"Didn't say it was."
He kept walking, so she did, too. But resentment bubbled within her at his easy dismissal of her background.
You're a pretty, admired honours student at Shermer...
Elizabeth stopped. Ronon kept walking. She stared at his retreating back, her cheeks flushed.
About a half-dozen yards ahead of her, he paused and turned back. "You okay?"
You called me pretty.
She knew she was pretty. Hearing a guy say it, though - and so off-handedly - that was different. John never gave her compliments. Other girls, yes - her, no. And Rodney wouldn't know about compliments if they smacked him in the face.
Ronon certainly didn't have the faintest idea of how those words affected her - a warm glow in her stomach.
Not that it made her any less angry about his dismissal.
"Fine," she said, a little shortly.
Ronon picked up on it and tilted his head as she came alongside him. "Still mad?"
"Yes."
"Because I don't think you're disadvantaged?"
Elizabeth saw the Roxtons drive past and lifted a hand to wave at Mrs. Roxton. "Because you dismissed my opinion just because I don't fit your idea of disadvantaged!"
"I never said I dismissed your opinion," he said.
"You just don't think I know what I'm talking about."
"Have you ever experienced disadvantage for the way you look or who you are? Seriously?"
"Yes."
"When?"
She paused. Okay, so the example she had in mind wasn't about her specifically, but it still worked. "Teyla had all kinds of difficulties getting on the football team."
Ronon made a dismissive noise. "I wasn't asking about Teyla. I was asking about you."
"Kolya - the guy from yesterday."
"You said he disliked Sheppard."
"But he thought he could pick on me because I'm a girl."
"He thought he could pick on you because you can't defend yourself."
Elizabeth closed her teeth around her initial retort and just managed to get out, "I never had to defend myself before."
"Thought about learning?"
"Teyla doesn't have time."
He gave her an odd look. "I do."
"So you're offering again?"
"If you like." He was pretty cool about it, all things considered. It was like something he'd have offered anyone, not just Elizabeth.
But he'd called her pretty.
She considered the offer for a couple of houses. On one hand, it was nice to have company walking home; on the other, she didn't want to need company simply because she was afraid of meeting Kolya and his gang on the way. And, knowing Kolya, he wasn't going to give up anytime soon.
There was no way she was going to mention this to John unless she absolutely had to. That went the same for her parents, or Rodney and his family, because Rodney was almost incapable of keeping secrets since his mind didn't work in the same timezone as anything else that happened around him.
Teyla knew how to keep secrets, but she'd be concerned. She might even mention her concerns to John. Another no-go. Besides, between keeping up her grades while holding her place on the Varsity team, Teyla had more than enough to do.
Elizabeth wasn't going to add to that.
"Okay," she said as they stopped outside her house.
Ronon looked at her. "I promise to be nice."
"I'm sure." She kept most of the sarcasm out of her voice, at least. "You're the right size, anyway."
"For what?"
"An attacker." The words were deliberately provocative, and she felt the thrill of nerves as she waited for his response.
It came completely without warning. One moment he was walking beside her, within arm's reach, the next instant, she was pressed up against his side with one of his hands pulling her arm behind her back - firm, but gentle - and the other at her throat.
Elizabeth gasped in surprise, but no terror, and after a second, he let her go and stepped away. "You have no idea," he said and his eyes were very dark and very intent in his face. If Elizabeth had been asked at that moment if any of the rumours about Ronon Dex were true, then she would have replied, 'All of them.'
"Are you crazy? If anyone had seen you..." If her dad had seen that...or if the neighbours saw it and reported it to her dad...
"Come on," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him along towards her house. "I can't believe you did that out in the street," she berated him. "Of all the stupid, idiotic things to do..."
He let her drag him up to the front door and waited as she unlocked it and hauled him inside.
"I don't see what was so stupid about it," he said shortly. "You wanted to learn self-defence--"
"And if anyone in the neighbourhood had seen you doing that, then you'd be in such trouble with my dad," Elizabeth said. "Come out the back."
The backyard was warm and sunny at this time in the afternoon, with the oak tree providing just enough shade to make the outdoors table and chairs a comfortable place to do homework in autumn and spring.
She got them lemonades - it was a relief not to have to go downstairs to the other fridge for a pepsi the way she had to with Rodney - some home-made cookies, and brought them out on a tray as he looked about the yard, taking in her mom's roses, her own miserable attempt at a vegetable garden, and the garden gnomes that dotted the landscape.
He looked startled when she set the tray on the table. "Wasn't I going to teach you how to defend yourself?"
Elizabeth looked up. "Don't you want something to eat?" She eyed him. "Rodney doesn't do anything without eating first."
"Do I look like Rodney McKay?"
She had to concede that one. "You're not hungry?"
He took a cookie - one of the choc-chips, not the snickerdoodles - and sat at the outdoor table. "I never said that."
"Have you done Mr. O'Neill's homework?" At his blank look, she elaborated. "The poems we were supposed to read?"
"Haven't got around to them yet."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but nibbled on her snickerdoodle. "Why'd you take English Lit. anyway?" Of all the senior guys who might have taken such a subject, she couldn't imagine why Ronon had chosen it. If she recalled correctly, he was doing an eclectic mix of subjects, no specific leanings - certainly not what would be expected of someone like him.
He grinned. "My mom told me to."
Her glass paused, halfway to her mouth. "Your mom told you to?" So not an answer she'd expected! "Do you always do what your mom says?"
"Nope," he said. "But neither do you."
"You don't know that."
"Don't need to," he replied. "I was short a subject, she said English Lit. And I can even read," he added, somewhat facetiously.
"I never said--" She bit off her words when she realised he was teasing her. Again. "You shouldn't do that."
The gleam in his eyes was distinctly mischievous. "It's fun."
His easy reply reminded her that she was supposed to be mad at him for his behaviour before, and she took a drink of lemonade and stood up. "Well, let's get on with it."
Ronon arched one brow as he finished his cookie and brushed himself off. "I can't teach you everything about self-defence in an hour, you know. I can show you how to get away from an attacker."
"That's what Teyla did."
"Why didn't you listen?"
"I didn't think I'd need it," she said, defensively. And at the time Teyla had started teaching her, she hadn't figured that she'd be attacked by anyone in or around Shermer. It wasn't as though this was downtown Chicago, after all.
She saw his expression, and scowled. "Are you going to teach me or not?"
Half an hour later, Ronon had showed her how to break free of a grip from behind, from the side, from the front, and was obligingly playing attacker for her - and taking her hits.
Okay, so Elizabeth was enjoying hitting him. There was a certain amount of satisfaction in the small jabs and attacks she landed on him, and she had the feeling he knew it - and allowed it.
"You're never going to be a fighter," he said when they paused a break. He'd flopped down in the grassy shade and she handed him his drink. "You're not direct enough."
"That's not a bad thing."
"Did I say it was?" He shrugged. "Sometimes fighting is needed."
"And sometimes it's not," Elizabeth pointed out.
Ronon propped himself up on his elbow. "You're a pacifist?"
"No, I just don't think that the first answer to every situation should be a fist in the face."
"Oh." He settled back down.
She climbed to her feet to get the plate of cookies. "Not your philosophy?"
"Sometimes a fist in the face is all they understand."
She was too nettled to really listen to his answer as she came back over to the grass. "Is that something you learned at Pegassus High?"
The stillness registered loudly in the quiet of the afternoon. A few houses down, the Carrington kids squealed and splashed about in their pool. And when Elizabeth looked at him, Ronon was watching her, something like resentment in his eyes.
He stood up, took his glass over to the table and put it onto the tray. "I should be getting home."
Elizabeth wasn't such an idiot that she couldn't recognise when someone was offended. And she wasn't so spineless as to just let him leave without having some idea of how she'd gotten him mad - again. "Was it because I mentioned your old high school?"
"No."
"Look, so you're not the usual kind of student at Shermer," she said impatiently. "That doesn't mean you have to get all huffy every time someone mentions it. It's not all about you."
"I know that."
"You're not behaving like it."
She had time for a squeak before he had her down on the grass, straddling her with one hand planted just below her throat. "You'd prefer I behaved like this?"
He hadn't taught her how to deal with that attack.
The grass was prickling her neck and the backs of her arms, but she looked up into the fierce, tanned features backlit by the autumn blue sky. "If you're trying to scare me, it's not working."
They probably weren't the best words to say - a challenge to him to try to scare her - but she wasn't afraid. She was startled, yes, but for all his size and speed, there was none of the menace Kolya had exuded. A dangerous competence, yes, but she could see his face, the darkly amused gleam of his eyes, and he didn't mean her harm.
Elizabeth was certain of it.
Okay, well, mostly certain.
She was right.
Ronon sat back on his haunches, effortlessly holding his weight off her body. "And Kolya thinks you're a lamb for the slaughter," he muttered.
She felt a little vulnerable as she brought herself up on her elbows. "I bite." The words were thrown out, not intended to be provocative. It took her a moment to realise what she'd said and how it could be taken - given that he was straddling her on the back lawn.
His laughter rang out as she flushed, biting her lip, and he swung his leg over her body so he landed on the grass beside her, tossing back dreadlocks. "Not too hard, I hope."
She'd just opened her mouth to make a quick retort at him when a new voice came from the house. "Lizzie?"
Crap.
Quickly, she jerked to a sitting position and glanced around the yard. "Mom?" Everything looked reasonable. Okay, so she had some leaves in her hair, and Ronon's knees were a little grassy, but...
The flyscreen door slid back, and her mom emerged, dressed as though she'd just gotten home from work. "Lizzie, I thought I asked you to fold up the washing this morning."
"Sorry, mom, but I had company." In fact, she'd forgotten about that chore entirely. "Mom, this is Ronon; Ronon, my mother."
"Hi, Mrs Weir," Ronon sat up, pushing back his dreads and climbing to his feet.
It was a relief to discover that if he could tease Elizabeth with impunity, he wasn't as comfortable at being found lounging about on the lawn by her mother.
"Hello, Ronon. It's nice to meet another of Elizabeth's friends from school." The slightest of emphasis on 'friend' said that Elizabeth's mom thought Ronon was nothing of the sort, but was going to allow the term to stand for the moment. "You're working with Elizabeth on a project?"
To give him his due, he picked up the thread better than John or Rodney would have. "Yes. We have English Lit. together."
"Oh, so you're a senior? Transferred from another school?"
"Just this year." Ronon shuffled his feet and glanced at Elizabeth. "I should be getting home."
At least he didn't sound like he was in the middle of a sulk anymore.
"Thanks for the study partnering," she said brightly - not that her mom would be one bit fooled.
"Yeah," he said as he swung his bag up on his shoulder. "See you tomorrow. Nice to meet you Mrs Weir."
If he was trying for 'harmless', Elizabeth didn't think he managed it. Her mom eyed him, not suspiciously so much as with her own private amusement. Elizabeth was in so much trouble once Ronon left.
"She doesn't believe it, does she?" Ronon muttered when they were in the hallway.
Elizabeth didn't glance back. Her mom wouldn't stoop to watching anyway - at least, not watching when Elizabeth could catch her. "No."
"Will you get into trouble?"
Her mom would probably fret and ask a few questions, but that wasn't 'trouble' per se. "No."
"Good." He gave her a quick, brief grin and a wink before he turned and walked away.
Elizabeth shut the door very carefully behind her before she went outside to bring in the drinks and cookies. Her mom was probably changing out of her work suit and thinking up all the questions she could ask her daughter about this guy who'd been stretched out on their lawn, casual as a cat.
When she came back inside with her books, her mom was waiting for her.
"I thought you and John were seeing each other."
"No, we're just friends." Although she wouldn't have minded if John asked her out, but he didn't seem to think of her that way. And he annoyed her enough as it was. If she was dating him, he'd probably annoy her a lot more.
"And are you 'just friends' with Ronon, too?"
Elizabeth had planned to do her homework at the dining room table, but dismissed it. She didn't want to sit through a grilling from her mother. "Yes," she said, crossly. "You can be 'just friends' with more than one person at a time, you know, mom."
Her mother opened the fridge. "Uhuh. Would you rather spaghetti for dinner, or chicken casserole?"
There was no way the conversation was going to just stop there. Her mother would start dinner - and the food wouldn't be the only thing getting a grilling. "Spaghetti," Elizabeth swung her bag up onto her back. Better not to tempt fate - or her mom's wrath. "I'm going to my room."
But the look she got from her mother indicated that she wasn't out of the danger zone yet.
Dinner was going to be fun.
- TBC -
Part Four