Title: The War
Author: heimedall
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Elizabeth/Ronon
Genre: Drama, action, romance.
Warnings: Spanking, slight bondage.
Spoilers: None, set in season 2/early 3
Beta: allie_sheppard
Summary: A trip to the New Athosian homeland Karyes puts Elizabeth and Ronon into an unusual siltation on a completely different planet.


Elizabeth stumbled through the gate and was thankful for the set of strong hands that caught her, but they didn’t release her and she found she didn’t even get the chance to look back for the rest of the team as she was dragged down the steps. She stumbled at the bottom and her hands slipped into the cold snow that covered the ground.

“What the...”

“Get up,” Ronon yelled in her ear before pulling her unceremoniously off the ground. She barely had her feet back in motion when she realised just why he was giving her orders and shoving her along ahead of him.

A cry to her right made her turn in time to see a slingshot release its payload and shoot through the sky overheard. She followed its path for a moment until something whizzed quickly by her ear and Ronon yanked her arm in a different direction.

They were in the middle of a battlefield.

Her legs suddenly worked and she didn’t argue with wherever Ronon pulled her as she sped as fast as she could through the snow covered range. It seemed to go on for miles, the flat terrain giving them nowhere to hide and was filled with men firing arrows and gun type weapons over the space between them, a space Elizabeth and Ronon still occupied.

Ronon tugged on her arm again and pulled her off to the left and she stopped, it seemed those around her were refilling their weapons and he was taking advantage of that.

“Keep moving,” he demanded rounding menacingly on her.

“You’re picking a side,” she said calmly.

“I’m picking safety, yours and if you don’t get moving I can’t guarantee it.”

“You’re gonna go hide in that bunker on that side of the war,” she spat, “that means taking a side.”

“I don’t plan to help them,” he spat grabbing her arm again.

“It’s my job to stay neutral, if they control the gate and they’re fighting over that expanse we need to stay out of picking a side and hope we can talk them into letting us off the planet.”

“We don’t know anything about this war,” he shot moving to stand directly in front of her and look down in what she’d come to know as an attempt to intimidate. Any other time and it might have worked, but not this time.

“Exactly, Ronon. We could go that way and end up on the side of men who think women should be sex slaves,” she said indicating to her right where he had been heading, “or that way and find ourselves on a side where men are only good for forced labour and nothing else, or...”

“Okay,” he snapped and turned to run off along the clearing. Elizabeth didn’t hesitate to follow as shortly after he’d agreed someone behind her had shouted a single word she knew had to be their word for ‘Fire.’

She caught sight of something on her left, a man running parallel to her, his gun raised in her direction. She looked quickly around for somewhere to duck into or shield herself from him and caught sight of a man on the other side doing exactly the same.

“Ronon,” she called just as the two men turned out of their battle side and ran towards her. She saw him swing around as if he hadn’t made a turn at all and his gun was drawn instantly. He fired just past the man on the left and then rounded to fire quickly at the ground before the other. Both men stopped and stared and Elizabeth barely heard the sickening twang of a bow and the groan of pain from one of them before Ronon flattened her to the ground.

She skidded just a bit and slid down the side of a rock face into a trench, the hard surface ripped at her jacket and she felt the rough stone along her stomach as she stopped at the bottom. Ronon dropped down at her side and she watched him check either side for the planets inhabitants before he turned to her.

“You okay?” he asked eyeing her with suspicion. She could only nod. “Good,” he spat, “then we can get something straight,” he said turning to face her fully. “Stop in the middle of a battlefield again, I’ll shoot you myself.”

Too stunned to say anything, Elizabeth gawked at him, this wasn’t his usual attitude, sure stopping in a fire fight was stupid, but she had never heard him speak to her with such disrespect before. She’d have to remember to talk to him about it later, when this horror show was over.

“I thought Karyes had a rainforest around the gate,” she said, “not a battlefield.”

Ronon could only smirk at her as he checked over the ridge at the battle going on. He pulled back down quickly and looked at her, his eyes drifting down to her stomach and she felt suddenly exposed.

“You’re bleeding,” he said reaching for her stained t-shirt and it wasn’t until she felt it move and the sting of the skin beneath that she realised the rocks had cut her on the way down.

“Great,” she said checking the cut, “cold, trapped in a battlefield on an ice planet, cut off from the gate and bleeding. Things can’t possibly get worse.”

“We could have been captured,” Ronon said with amusement.

Another shout from their right drew their attention and they saw three men round the corner and head towards them.

“Seems there’s room for improvement,” Elizabeth spat as she pushed off from the side of the trench and ran a few paces ahead of Ronon in the opposite direction. She searched the rocks to her right desperately for a way out and stopped dead when two men at the other end stepped into view. Ronon barely managed to stop behind her, his tall frame pressing against her and her hand shot back to grip his thigh.

“Up,” Ronon said shortly and his hands grabbed her sides and he pushed her up the side of the rock face, she crested the top and turned back to see him jump and grip the top of the ditch. The men they had first ran from were close, and she quickly grabbed Ronon’s arm and put all her strength into pulling him up over the edge before scrambling to her feet to run.

~*~

He couldn’t think straight, he was in way over his head, just this morning, two weeks into agreeing to live with the Atlanteans, he had told Sheppard that Doctor Weir affected him. Ronon vividly remembered the confused expression as John Sheppard had asked simply, ‘affected, how?’

He hadn’t meant to say anything at all, but Sheppard had been listing the duties everyone would be doing on the mission, making sure someone knew what was going on in his absence. It hadn’t taken him long to work out that John was close to Elizabeth and it was shortly after that he had learned that it wasn’t an attraction, but a very close friendship. John had gotten to his duties, the main one being Elizabeth’s safety and that had been the point he’d spat that she affected him.

‘She’s a beautiful woman,’ was all he had said, and John’s confusion had turned quickly into realisation. John had offered to put someone else in charge of her safety, but Ronon was eager to prove himself. He was the only senior staff member going on this mission apart from the Doctor and he was determined to prove himself to his new friends. They had, after all, taken him in and added him to their staff, quite high up as he managed to get a place on Sheppard’s team.

Right now, that was the last thing on his mind, surviving this with Elizabeth would be a good trick to pull off and if he did it, then he was sure they’d never question him again. But instead of thinking that, he was fixated on the muscles in her backside as she ran ahead of him. The cries of the men who had followed them had died down some time ago and their pace had slowed a little and he could see she was growing tired.

Something caught his eye and he reached out to stop Elizabeth as he turned to see what it was. Climbing out of the ground in the distance was a tower that looked shockingly similar to one of the personnel towers in Atlantis. He pointed when she was looking at him confused and she turned to examine it.

“That looks a lot like an Atlantis tower,” she said between breaths.

“Let’s go check it out,” he said, “maybe we can hide in there until someone can come get us.”

“That’s a long wait,” she said with a slight groan as she started to walk again. “The Daedalus left two days ago, their next visit isn’t for another six weeks.”

He didn’t respond and started walking, keeping ahead of her a few paces so he could control himself. He listened carefully for signs that there were more people in the area, he couldn’t afford to lose her; if he did he wouldn’t want or be able to go back to Atlantis.

“Bright sunlight,” she breathed trudging along in the snow behind him. “The Athosian settlement was meant to have, bright sunlight, lots of trees, an ocean not too far from the gate and friendly people.”

“Karyes,” Ronon corrected. The name of their new settlement had only been announced yesterday and it was still taking people time to get used to the name. The planet, as he remembered Sheppard saying, would have been a great vacation spot, the gate was placed in the middle of a forest, bright flowers and trees everywhere, you could follow a path to an open patch of land and on the left was a beautiful pale blue ocean.

Sheppard had made a joke about something called ‘Surfing’ and not long after they had arrived they had found a cave that led to an underground cavern that would have been perfect for hiding from the Wraith. He wished as much as Elizabeth did that they were there and not here, but something had gone wrong, something perhaps at the Atlantis end, as the rest of the team hadn’t followed them through and as they were the first to step into the wormhole, he suspected it had shut down after them.

Standing at the bottom of the tower Ronon looked up and examined the structure. It was almost exactly the same as the main tower used for living quarters on Atlantis, but there was patterns around the windows that were far from the Ancestors’ design. He followed Elizabeth around one side of the building, forced to jog to catch up as she vanished around the corner several paces ahead. Elizabeth had already reached the doorway when he turned the corner and he called out for her to wait before running to stand with her.

“I should go in first,” he said and she raised an eyebrow at him. “What if these people occupy this building?”

“Good point,” she said stepping back a few paces for him to take the lead.

He lowered his gun within seconds of entering the room; he could smell the damp that laced the walls. It was a cave inside, and it looked as though the opposite wall had collapsed or been blown up. There was light bleeding in through the windows of the tower.

“Wow,” Elizabeth said from behind him, “what a huge disappointment.”

Ronon couldn’t help but smirk, like him; she was hoping to find an interior that matched that of the Atlantis tower. Instead, there wasn’t even a chair let alone a whole set of rooms.

“It’s shelter, away from the fight.”

“Cold, wet and smelly,” she muttered and Ronon quirked a brow at her.

“How long until they send someone?”

“They’ve probably already tried,” she said wandering over to examine a rock with a flat top. “There’s either someone here looking for us, or they couldn’t get through the gate.”

“Or they can’t find us,” he said stopping her in mid sit. “We’re on a different planet from where they dialled, they’ll redial Karyes, find we’re not there and...”

He stopped; Elizabeth had sat down on the cold rock and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. It made him worry, he’d never seen her like this and even from this angle he could see her fight her fear. Ronon fidgeted for a moment and looked around before he turned back to see if she’d composed herself; she hadn’t.

“You okay?”

Elizabeth took a deep breath and sat up to face him. He didn’t know what he expected, tears in her eyes, pale skin, anything except the strong exterior and ready expression she had.

“We just have to wait,” she said. “Watch for any opening to use the gate or any sign that they are coming for us.”

Ronon looked around the dingy interior of their current hideaway and raised an eyebrow. If they were going to stay in here they would need to find supplies, food, blankets and fresh water, neither of them carried a field pack and Elizabeth wasn’t wearing the vest Sheppard usually made her put on.

“Wait here,” Ronon said and looked around. “I’m going to find food and water and hopefully something to keep us warm. If someone comes in,” he added spotting a small dip large enough for her to hide in, “hide in there.”

~*~

“What happened?” John demanded turning back to the control room as Radek ran up the stairs to find out.

“I don’t know Sir, it just shut down,” Chuck offered tapping away at the keyboard.

He’d been standing there talking to Elizabeth while the gate had been dialled. She and Radek were going to the Athosian settlement to meet with Teyla and Halling and discuss how Atlantis can continue to help them. Ronon and Sergeant Korosec had volunteered for protection detail, not that it was needed with friends, but John felt better knowing someone was there who could handle the Wraith if they showed up.

Only Elizabeth and Ronon had made it through the gate and as Radek had stepped up to the event horizon and taken a deep breath, it had shut down completely. Korosec had rounded on him instantly and he’d barely caught her motion as he’d whipped around to the control room.

“I’m not detecting a fault in the dialling program,” Radek called from the back of the control room.

“Dial Karyes,” John demanded, “I wanna check they arrived.”

He watched as the gate dialled and the wormhole burst to life, he never got bored of the sight and would never stop being awed by the mechanics of the device. He watched the shimmering pool for a moment before he reached up and activated his radio.

“Teyla?” he said curious as to if she was waiting by the gate.

“I am here Colonel; I have been waiting for several minutes for Elizabeth and Radek. Is there a problem?”

“That’s great,” he said and knew Teyla was frowning on the other side of the gate. “Just perfect,” he added. “Elizabeth and Ronon already stepped through the gate heading for you, the gate shut off after they stepped through.”

“If they are not here, where are they?” Halling asked.

“That’s a very good question, Halling.”

“Do you wish me to return, John?” Teyla asked sounding just as worried as he felt.

“Not yet,” he said with a sigh, “keep setting things up over there, I’ll contact you when I have an idea where to start looking for them.”

“Of course, I will be ready to return when you contact me.”

“Thanks. Sheppard out.”

~*~

She heard the footsteps moments before the door opened and had only just managed to make it into the small enclosure Ronon had pointed out. The extra light from outside made her eyes water as she tried to focus on the person standing in the doorway.

There was a thud as he dropped something heavy on the ground by the door and she watched as he checked his side before pulling the door shut.

“Weir?” Ronon said and she felt her heart skip a beat in her chest. It could have been anyone and it had in that moment occurred to her that hiding in the corner wasn’t a completely wise idea. If it had been someone else, how would she have escaped?

“I’m here,” she said climbing out and quickly pulling her shirt on before she rounded the rock that blocked her view. She’d been in the middle of checking her wound when he’d come back. She still needed to clean it, but that thought was put right out of her mind when she saw the blood that soaked his shirt. “What happened?” she asked moving towards him and reaching for his ripped top. His hand batted hers away and he dropped down onto the rock she’d sat on earlier.

“Those guys who followed us are still looking for us,” he said. “Managed to take a swipe at me with one of their swords. He’s dead now.”

“Let me look...”

She cut off from offering to check it as he growled and shoved her away. Her own cut gave a sharp throb as she staggered backwards and she watched him, his eyes fixed on her with a murderous stare that was completely unbecoming of him. That was twice in as many hours that he’d acted out towards her and it started to make her think that he wasn’t fit to be a member of the Atlantis expedition.

Then again, she’d never seen this side of him on Atlantis, even when she’d been watching from a distance. Ronon had always been friendly, tall, strong and intimidating, but friendly. John and Rodney both spoke highly of him and the mission reports always reflected well for him. Not that he’d lived among them for long.

“I can do it myself,” he said sounding a little apologetic for his outburst. She nodded at him and swallowed but couldn’t look away. His eyes darted to the door and then back to her before he pulled his shirt over his head. She felt her jaw drop and she had to quickly look away as arousal shot through her body. She knew he was muscular, but never before had she realised just how good he looked under his loose fitted shirt and pants.

Quickly she remembered the stuff he had dropped by the door and turned to see what he’d brought back. A sack made from animal skin lay on the ground and she approached it with caution, she didn’t like fur, or animal skins of any kind for that matter and the thought of digging through one for something that might help Ronon scared her a little.

Behind her Ronon hissed and she heard something drop to the ground and turned her head a little to see a piece of the sword drop into the dirt. Sucking in a deep breath, Elizabeth pulled the bag closer to her and opened it.

The inside was lined with a soft, almost silky fabric and she found several containers of water, bread and cheese and a range of different fruits. She pushed the contents around and pulled out a bundle of cloths tied with a braided rope. She untied the pack and separated the material to find one of an appropriate size for Ronon.

She had to prepare herself before she picked up the cloth and a container and turned back to her only companion. It was a shock to find him watching her, his eyes fixed around her middle as if he’d been watching the exposed patch on her back where her t-shirt was still rolled up. She hadn’t pulled it down properly in her haste to put it on again and it seemed to fascinate him.

Ronon’s eyes flicked up to hers and she took a sharp breath as she caught a glimpse of the lust he held back. Seven years, John had told her he’d been a runner for seven long and lonely years. Had he taken a woman in that time, found anyone to stave a need? She hadn’t been the only one to think of the question, she’d spent a half hour meeting talking to John about him and they had covered the fact that he hadn’t stopped on any planet for longer than it took to rest, bathe and eat, then he moved on.

“Here,” she said taking a step forward and holding out the cloth and water, “you should clean that before it becomes infected.”

As soon as he took the items from her hands, she turned and moved to the other side of the cave. She took a seat in the corner with her back to the wall and Ronon to her left, she couldn’t watch him; the thoughts of how he reacted to being alone with a woman were driving her crazy. She couldn’t have feelings for him, she’d just met him.

She hadn’t been very curious to him in his first few days on the base so she knew his first impressions of her probably pointing towards her being a tight-ass leader. Not to mention she was older than him, eight or nine years difference between them.

Suddenly she felt old and she wondered if this was what middle aged women did; check out the sexy buttocks of the younger men that were now so far out of their range that it wasn’t even funny anymore. She was gonna be alone for the rest of her life and her chances to have children were quickly slipping away.

Elizabeth jumped as Ronon grabbed her arm, he’d moved without her noticing and was pulling her to her feet a little rougher than was perhaps necessary.

“Sit here,” he demanded and she had a moment’s grace to consider scolding him for his attitude towards her. “Take off your shirt.”

“Excuse me?”

“Take off your shirt,” he repeated a little slower. “I want to clean your cut.”

“Its fine,” she said confidently. “Thank you for your concern.”

“Take off your shirt,” he said again and she met his eyes. He was stubborn, more so than she was and there was no way he was letting up on this, she’d either take it off willingly or he’d take it off for her and she knew only too well if it came to that, she’d spend the rest of the trip in her bra.

Slowly, and without breaking eye contact, Elizabeth crossed her arms over her stomach and pulled the top up over her head. The clothing passed her head and once again she met his eyes, almost daring him to look at her chest. Her heart gave a little flutter as he took the challenge and glanced down her body before moving to drop down at her side.

“Move your arm,” he said and she pulled her arm back from her lap so he could get access to her stomach. She jumped again as he delicately dabbed the cloth on her side, the cool water dripping down her skin to her pants. She shuddered in the cold and felt her nipples perk and had to fight off the urge to cover her chest with her arms. She had to show him, she wasn’t afraid of him.

He finished quickly, and moved away and before she could thank him he had pulled his shirt back on and left.

~*~

“Well?” John asked stepping up to Rodney and Radek just as Radek swore.

“Sorry,” the Czech muttered before John looked down at Rodney.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said shortly from his place on the floor. “The dialling device is working at 100% and there’s nothing to suggest that the wormhole cut off early or was interrupted by something. All tests say Elizabeth and Ronon should be on Karyes.”

“They’re not,” John said firmly.

“I know that,” Rodney said sarcastically, “I’m just telling you what the computers are telling me.”

“Then the computers are lying, Rodney.”

“They can’t lie, they don’t have that programming. I could...”

“Where are Elizabeth and Ronon?”

Rodney gave a sigh and looked down at Radek. Trying to stay out of the upcoming argument, Radek quickly diverted his attention back to his laptop and began typing quickly.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Find them.”

“I’m not the answer man, the last dialled planet was Karyes,” Rodney spat at him.

“They’re not on Karyes,” John said again, his voice rising slightly.

“Saying it seventeen times a minute isn’t going to help find them.”

“Then stop wasting time and find them.”

“And what part of ‘the last planet dialled is Karyes’ didn’t you understand?”

John clenched his fists at his side, sometimes Rodney was annoyingly arrogant and he was already on the verge of snapping at someone. It wouldn’t take much more from Rodney to make John hit him. The possible punishments Elizabeth could dish out if she came back to find Rodney with a black eye made him hold back, just a little more.

“Maybe we should check the gate on Karyes,” Radek suggested.

“And what possible good will that do?”

“Well, if the wormhole wasn’t redirected from here, maybe it was pushed away from the Karyes gate at the last minute and logged over there.”

“Get going then.”

“What? Are you insane?”

“Rodney...”

“No, Elizabeth and Ronon were going to Karyes, and they’re not there, you want us to go through and end up with them?”

“Yes,” John spat, “at least then they’ll have two scientists to fix whatever problem there is with the gate they have.”

“Huh,” Rodney said looking thoughtful. “You have a point.”

“Good,” John said stepping right up close to Rodney. “Get going.”

~*~

Ronon knew he shouldn’t have left, he should have stayed with her, make sure she’s safe. On this world, leaving her alone was probably the biggest mistake he ever made, but something felt off. He’d been short tempered and his body was screaming at him that she belonged to him. She didn’t, he knew that, he wished to all the ancestors that she did, but she didn’t.

Sitting with her topless while he cleaned her cut was a whole new challenge. His whole body had demanded he take her there and then, it had taken all of his control and concentration to just do his task and move away. It had only lasted a few seconds until the smell of her arousal had reached his nose. That’s when he’d gotten up and fighting all his urges left the cave.

When he’d left before, he had found a small camp not far from them, filled with women. One of them had spotted him and instantly they had started packing up to move. It had made him think, made him wonder why this place made him feel and act different, but it didn’t affect Weir. Perhaps there was something in the air that made men fight over women; maybe that was what the war by the gate was all about.

Trying to banish the thoughts of what it would be like to touch Elizabeth’s skin again, Ronon targeted an animal he’d been following and pulled the bow string back. He’d stolen the weapon from the man he’d killed earlier, but he hadn’t taken it back into the cave. The animal darted away before he could release the string and he swore before moving to follow the beast.

He’d left the bag of fruit behind for Elizabeth, Weir, he corrected quickly, though he would have preferred to call her Elizabeth, but it never felt right. Without meaning to, he pictured her again and then swore when his relaxing body tensed again and the urge to return to her flashed through him. He let off a low growling scream and the birds that had perched in the nearby trees fled.

~*~

“Maybe the wormhole collided with something?”

“Like an invisible ice berg,” Rodney said sarcastically. This was the sixth or seventh idea Radek had come up with in the last hour and none of them were plausible.

“Fine. Then you think of something.”

“Could there be some sort of security measure on the gate?” Korosec suggested with a raised brow as she watched the two men argue. Rodney turned to look at her with a confused look her eyes darted quickly to the other scientist. “I did say that in English, right?”

“Are you a scientist?” Rodney asked.

“Well...” Korosec started but was cut off.

“No,” he said in answer to his own question. “You are not a scientist, you are a German military officer and you are here to make sure we don’t get eaten alive by some wild animal.”

“I was just...”

“You were just adding one more notch to the headache that Mr Idea Man over there started,” he turned back to the DHD on Karyes and muttered something neither of them heard. “So if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to my job and find our missing people.”

“It was just a suggestion,” the Sergeant put in before he could interrupt her.

He hated being interrupted and worse was being badgered by people who thought they knew better than him. There wasn’t a single person in two whole galaxies who actually knew more than he did and it seemed impossible to get people to realise this fact.

Shaking his head in disgust, Rodney slipped the connector into place near the control crystal and typed at the keyboard for a moment to download the DHD log. He watched the text scroll over the screen, jumbled ancient words and codes that made up the incoming and outgoing actions of the device. They were never in order, or even reverse order and he wondered if the ancients had ever needed to check the logs or if they had made it look a complete mess just to annoy him more.

“What the...” he said low as he hit a button to stop the scroll.

“What?” Radek said quickly getting to his feet and joining him. “What did you find?”

“Shut up,” Rodney spat switching programs to check his translation. “I don’t believe it,” he said going back to the log. “There’s a sub program in this Dial Home Device that detects certain things, DNA types, weapons, technology and depending on what it finds, sends the item or person somewhere else.”

“I was right?”

Rodney turned and looked and at the woman for a moment before he huffed and turned back to the computer. He scanned the log for a minute more before he huffed again.

“What?” Radek asked making Rodney roll his eyes.

“It redirected them, but I can’t work out which of the seven redirectors is Elizabeth and Ronon and which one sent who or what where.”

“So what now?” Korosec asked.

“Now we take a trip to Oz and ask the Wizard,” he spat sarcastically.

“Arrogantes Arschloch,” Korosec muttered and turned to walk a few paces away from them.

“We need to go back to Atlantis; we have to check these seven planets for them,” Rodney said managing his usual level of melodrama. He quickly dropped down and unplugged the connector and slapped the laptop shut before starting to dial the gate.

~*~

She was confused by this planet; the war outside she’d been watching from a high window for sometime seemed to be going nowhere. They appeared to be fighting over nothing and that was what confused her most. With Ronon gone, Elizabeth had climbed up the rocky side of the tower to one of the higher windows; her feet rested on a ledge just low enough for her to see through one of the stained glass panels, although she had to crouch slightly.

Originally she’d climbed up to look for Ronon, but he had long gone by the time she’d reached the ledge. She’d looked around, taking in the layout of the land, the Gate was in her view from here, although small for its distance and off in either direction from it were villages. Studying one of these villages had only added to her bemusement, it seemed, although she’d admit she couldn’t see clearly, that there was no one in these villages. So where were all the women?

Shaking her head, Elizabeth turned and sat down carefully on the ledge and looked around the cavernous interior. She’d already seen signs that once upon a time this tower was the same or similar to the one on Atlantis and she had to wonder what had happened to make them destroy it but leave the husk of the building behind.

Then there was Ronon.

Admittedly, she hadn’t known him long, he’d lived in Atlantis for only a month but in that time she’d taken in as much of his personality as she could. Everything from how he interacted with people, who he talked to or what made him talk the most. Never, in the time she’d observed him, had she seen any aggressive behaviour from him, until today.

One of her brows quirked as she considered the possibility of a link between the war and Ronon’s behaviour; was he now standing in line with the men on one side fighting? She couldn’t seriously picture it, she hadn’t been able to picture him deserting her here in the beginning, but he had. She didn’t really know him after all.

She hated sitting here, waiting for help to come or Ronon to come back, she wanted to be doing something. Taking the DHD apart to see if she could find the reason for them being here instead of Karyes; mind you, if she could get to the DHD she’d dial Atlantis and go home.

The door directly below her opened and Elizabeth looked down to see one of the locals step in cautiously and look around. She stayed still, perched on the small ledge her fingers tightening over the sides to keep her in place and she watched as he ventured in to check out the bag she’d left beside the rock.

Her eyes darted to the radio comm. she’d abandoned on an even smaller ledge to the man’s right, if he saw it, he’d know someone was in here or nearby. He picked up the bag, sorting quickly through its contents and pulled out one of the containers of water. He drank hurriedly as though he’d long run out of the liquid.

Before he could finish the bottle a bolt of electricity shot through the room at him and he crumbled to the ground. Looking down, she saw Ronon standing in the open doorway glaring at him. He moved over to the man and dragged him from the room.

Unsure if she wanted to see Ronon’s bad temper, she stayed in her place and waited. Maybe she was wrong about him; he hadn’t left her alone; he was guarding her from outside. A moment passed before he stepped back in and looked around.

“Weir,” he said carefully and she could see him looking towards the small cubby hole she had hidden in before.

“Above you,” she said and watched him swing around to look up at her. His brow rose at her and she could see he was impressed at her ability to climb up there.

“Just wanted to make sure he didn’t touch you,” he said and then headed to the door.

“Ronon, wait,” she called after him and quickly made her way down the side of the building. He waited, stood in the doorway with his back to her and she wondered if there was something going on that would stop him from looking at her.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said rather cryptically.

“Why would you hurt me?” she asked watching his shoulders tense.

“There’s something here,” he said, “something that’s playing on my strongest instinct. It’s made twice as bad as I haven’t been with a woman for seven years.”

She had no idea how to respond to this information. His shoulders squared and he glanced over his shoulder at her.

“The women on this world seem used to the men going crazy on them; they have camps they move about at the first sign of them. I came across one of their camps and watched them pack up. I wasn’t attracted to any of them, I didn’t want to go near them, I wanted to come back here.”

“It’s just because we arrived together, maybe because I was the first woman you set eyes on after we stepped through the gate.”

“Its more than that,” he admitted, “I wanted you before we came here.”

“Ronon…”

“It’s killing me to be here,” he said suddenly. “I need to go,” he added and then vanished through the door.

“Ronon,” she called after him and his foot darted back to stop the door. She waited for him to come back into the room and meet her eye before she tried to think of something to say. Several times she opened her mouth to speak, but words seemed to fail her for once and she couldn’t find a way to word what she wanted to convey.

Before she could get any further in her thoughts Ronon moved forward closing the distance between them. His arms went around her quickly and he pulled her against him before seizing her mouth with his. She was too stunned to react, her brain melting at the sudden contact and she felt him shift against her, his body moulding to hers. It wasn’t until he shifted again and his solid chest rubbed just right against her chest that she began to kiss him back.

Elizabeth knew it was wrong, letting him continue, her brain began to tick over all the possible outcomes of what they were doing and she tried desperately to focus on what would happen when they got back to the city not what would happen after the kiss ended.

Ronon’s hands moved, and she felt herself arch against him as they slipped down her back to grip her backside. He pulled her forward to crush against him and she felt his erection against her stomach and moaned into his mouth.

He growled and she felt his body twitch against her for just a second before he lunged forward and she found herself pinned to the rough wall behind her. Hands forced her pants down and she felt the button pop at the force and the zipper scrape against her skin, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to care. Ronon was assaulting her neck and it felt glorious. Elizabeth only had a moment to keep that thought as his hand shoved its way inside her panties and his finger slipped between her slick lips.

“Oh god,” she moaned over his growl and without warning the same digit was pushing up inside her. She wasn’t ready for him yet, but he didn’t pull away, he kept pushing against her until his finger was deep inside her and Elizabeth squeezed her eyes closed and dug her fingers into his back.

He pulled back just as quickly and yanked her top up over her head to drop it on the floor. Hands assaulted her breasts, fisting them tight and hard and she felt the straps of her bra slide down over her shoulders as he pushed up. His lips returned to her neck and the scratch of his beard brushed over her shoulder blade and sent a wonderful shiver down her spine.

“Take it off,” he said sharply pulling back and tugging his own shirt over his head. His eyes were fixed on her breasts as he moved and he watched as she slipped her arms up her back to unhook the covering.

He’d kicked off his shoes and undone his pants by the time she let the bra slip to the ground and he seemed to struggle for just a second with his control before it left his grasp and she lunged forward. Elizabeth felt the skin on her back cut just a little against one of the rocks and she groaned in pain and then pleasure as Ronon’s mouth engulfed one of her pert nipples.

She pushed at him, trying to create space between her and the wall but he only pushed back. Her hips jarred against his hand as he slipped it back between her legs and started to bite at her nipples. The pain was a shock to start with, painful and desperately uncomfortable even as he moved to nip his teeth along the curve of her breast.

She pushed away from the wall again and instead of succeeding this time Ronon slipped his hand between them and dug his nails into her backside before slipping them down to her thighs. He pulled away, taking her arm as he did so and moved to the rock in the middle. She staggered as she moved, her pants around her calves were still trapped on by her shoes and Ronon noticed this and turned her to perch on the rock so he could remove them.

Elizabeth took this opportunity to check him out, his tight chest muscles flexed as he worked and she could see the strain on his face as he tended to such a tedious chore. His eyes darted to her still covered sex and she watched him lick his lips hungrily. She let her eyes drift down to his cock, hard and long and standing to attention just for her.

He settled on his knees in front of her and pushed at her stomach to make her lean back on the rock; she complied easily enjoying the pressure of his hand on her belly. Ronon leaned in suddenly and bit at her thigh and she gave a sharp yelp of surprise. He repeated the move on her other thigh before covering her sex with his mouth and forcing his tongue between her sex lips.

Elizabeth dropped back her head off the edge of the stone bed and she let out a long intangible string of noises to show her pleasure. She reached down and took a tight grip on his locks, not caring if she pulled them from his head so long as he carried on with his torture on her pussy.

His hands gripped on her thigh and forced them apart, his fingers digging into the skin to the point where the pain kept the edge on the pleasure she was receiving. She’d be bruised in a few hours and explaining this to Carson when they got back would be a very tricky conversation. She pulled on his dreadlocks making him growl against her and the vibrations shot through her.

Still on his knees Ronon pulled her to her feet and used her hips to turn her to face away from him. Getting the idea, Elizabeth bent over the stone and pushed her arse towards him. A hiss pushed out through her teeth as his hand came down hard on her skin, the shock was unpleasant, but he soothed her backside with his palm for a moment.

She tried to look back, see what he was doing, but he pushed her back around as he stood up and tested her entrance with his finger again. She was ready this time and pushed back against his intruding digit. This action brought on another slap to her backside and she pulled forward again, Ronon chuckled and she turned her head just enough to see him fisting his length.

He shifted, positioning himself behind her and leaned over to place a kiss on her back before he pushed into her tight tunnel. The pleasure of his long, slow thrust was almost enough to tip her over the edge, her hips twitched slightly and Ronon quickly pulled back to take another swipe at her arse. It didn’t help him much as she tightened around him and he had to pull out to stop himself from losing it completely.

“Don’t come yet,” he said leaning over her, his hips against her backside and his hand in the middle of her back. Before he pulled back he gripped her wrists and pulled them behind her to pin them to her lower back with one hand. He fingered her slit again before pushing back inside her and started to thrust in earnest.

Elizabeth was pinned, her breasts crushed to the smooth cold rock beneath her and legs crushed against the rough side. Ronon pounded into her, one hand holding tight to her wrists behind her back and the other fingering the raw skin of her arse cheek where he’d slapped her. Every other thrust was done with slightly bent knees and the head of his cock rubbed brilliantly on a very sensitive spot making her grunt and flex on him.

She was close and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold out and she couldn’t work out if it was this fact or his own slipping control that made him thrust harder and faster into her. He took a step forward forcing her clit to rub against the rock and she cried out as her orgasm hit. Ronon didn’t stop his actions, riding her through the waves of pleasure until it became too much and he dropped down over her back as he came deep inside her.

~~**~~

“Nothing,” Lorne said stepping back through the gate. “We tried the radio’s first but there was only static, then walked for about a mile in four directions, not even animal life on that planet.”

“Alright,” John said with a sigh, “you’ve done four worlds, you’re on down time. McKay has the control room me and Teyla are taking Korosec with us to search the rest. Report to Carson for your post mission check up.”

“Yes Sir.”

John watched the second team walk away and turned to look at Teyla and Sergeant Korosec who, like him, stood ready to go. Teyla gave him a nod and he took that as an ‘all set’ signal and turned to the control room.

“Radek,” he called up, “dial another address.”

~~**~~

Elizabeth sat perched on the rock in her panties and bra and watched Ronon’s back for a moment. He was feeling guilty, she could see that clearly in the way he held his body, trying to stand tall and brave while feeling horrible inside. She opened her mouth to say something, anything – just to tell him she was okay and she had, after all, agreed to this, to an extent. But before she could get any words to form in her throat, Ronon was gone.

With a sigh Elizabeth turned her attention back to the water bottle in her hand and tipped it up to pour some of the liquid onto the cloth resting on her thigh. The cool liquid stung the scratches underneath and she hissed slightly before pulling the cloth up and using the soaked material to clean the cuts on her stomach and chest.

Carson was going to go crazy when he saw the state she was in, explaining the first cut along her stomach would be easy, but she couldn’t imagine what she’d say about all the scrapes. ‘Oh, I had sex with Ronon while he pinned me to a rock.’

She sighed again, there would be hell to pay for this trip and it was made worse by the fact that she did and didn’t wish they had landed on the right planet. Cut off from the gate while her safety was in question was a horrible thought. Being alone didn’t help as Ronon had taken off once again. But at the same time, what had just happened felt wonderful, even now while the cuts and scrapes stung.

She took a mouthful of the water and returned to cleaning her cuts. Moments passed lost in thought about how she would sort this mess out with Ronon when something caught her attention. She looked up in confusion and listened for the small sound wondering where it had come from and if it would happen again. When she heard it again, she swung around to look at the far wall and spotted her radio lying on the small shelf. It took her seconds to cross the room and snap it up.

~~**~~

Christina Korosec had always wondered what other worlds looked like, when she started working for the SGC a few months ago it had been a little bit of a shock that they all looked pretty much like Earth. Out here in the Pegasus, it was Earth style with destruction and paranoia at its best.

Karyes was the exception to that, when she’d first set foot there with Rodney and Radek, she’d been in awe of the green moon that orbited. Except that it wasn’t a moon, Karyes was the moon and orbited a world that was ninety percent land. Uninhabited land, Radek had told her and she’d had to ask how he knew. Rodney had interrupted before he could explain but she knew she could go and ask him again later.

She liked it in Atlantis, peaceful and relaxed, well most of the time anyway. The people were friendly and the command structure easy to manage and communicate. But she couldn’t help but think of the man she was just about to follow through the gate. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. The man was like nothing she’d known before, he flaunted his command, but not to excess, he still had his control and the respect of those under him and it was clear by the way he worried and acted while Doctor Weir was off world that he had the highest level of respect for her and her command position.

She’d only met Elizabeth Weir twice so far in her few weeks of service, but that was enough to understand why he regarded her so highly. It was that reason that brought her to volunteer for the Karyes mission, onto friendly land and all she had to do was be alert and ready to help if the Wraith should arrive. It was also the reason she now followed John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan through to an unknown location.

Stepping out on the other side of the gate, Christina blinked for a moment in the sunlight and before she could focus on the land ahead of her someone grabbed her roughly by the arm and tugged her off the Stargate platform and off into the tree line behind the gate.

Something rushed past her head as she ran, her eyes fixed on Teyla a few steps ahead of her and her ears listening to the sounds of pain filled cries and footsteps right behind her.

“Elizabeth,” John practically called into his radio and Christina heard it both close over her shoulder and through the comm. “Ronon,” he tried almost aimlessly as they followed Teyla into a small cavern. “It’s a damn battlefield,” he said as he came to a stop just in front of her.

“Do you think they survived?” Teyla asked taking a deep breath.

‘Sheppard.’

Christina relaxed; her shoulders sagging as the welcome sound of Ronon’s voice drifted down her ear.

“Thank God,” John breathed next to her and she felt his hand rest on her arm. “Where are you, is Elizabeth with you?”

“We found a tower to hide in about ten minutes from the gate.”

“We’re south side,” he said, “few feet from it, can you get to us and we’ll find a way out?”

“Just wait,” Ronon said and Christina watched as John’s brow creased. “The War will pass, the women on this world tell me this happens for two days every sixth year, the men will come to their senses in about ten minutes and return to their villages.”

“We wait,” John said with a quirked brow and moved to sit by the entrance.

~~**~~

The cool breeze was welcome, the open air and freshness that wasn’t filled with the stench of blood like her previous location was a great relief. Ronon had stepped back into the tower as she’d retrieved her radio and she’d heard the whole conversation in double time. For the ten minutes it had taken this world to get back to normal, they had sat in silence and Ronon had walked two steps ahead of her back to the gate.

John had smiled at her when they reached safety and she had given him a false one in return. Carson on the other hand wasn’t as pleasant. When he’d approached her to do her post mission check, she’d asked for a private room, something Carson only gave when quarantine was required or a check up that was absolutely not to be done in an open area where anyone could walk in.

By the look on his face when he saw the amounts of cuts she had, he had looked as though he was having a heart attack. She spend the time it took him to check her scratches thinking she was off the hook of having to explain them, but he had merely waited until she was getting dressed to ask.

He’d run a million tests after that and she knew Ronon had been kept longer too as he was sitting watching her as she left over an hour ago. John had found her only a few minutes later to ask why she was still on down time, but she’d only told him that it was simply a precaution.

When the door opened behind her, she figured it was John or Carson coming to point out the hour of the day or that she was supposed to be in her quarters resting. But no one stepped up beside her and she had to turn to find out who had joined her.

“Carson finally let you out?” she asked Ronon taking in the fact that he hadn’t stepped more than a few paces onto the balcony.

“I behaved,” he said shortly and she turned back to the view.

The silence that followed was only a little uncomfortable but Elizabeth wasn’t willing to break it. He had walked away from her after their encounter after all and she knew he was feeling guilty and would talk to her in his own time.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low and she looked at him over her shoulder. He was avoiding looking at her, finding more interest in his boots than seemed reasonable.

“For what?” His eyes came up to meet hers with a look of shock, he hadn’t expected that response.

“I forced you, hurt you, bit you,” he listed off. “Then walked away.”

“You weren’t in control.”

“I was,” he said and this time she had to turn completely around to look at him. “I managed to keep my control the whole time; but I used it as an excuse to touch you.”

Elizabeth didn’t speak, wondering if he’d confess the reason for his deception. She watched him his hands fiddling with each other and he shifted his weight nervously under her gaze. Giving in on waiting, Elizabeth crossed the balcony to stand in front of him and his eyes dropped back to the floor. She had to raise her hand to tilt his chin so she could lean in and kiss him.

He was still afraid of her reaction, not responding to her kiss to begin with until he realised she was serious. When she pulled away Ronon studied her, searching for a reason she couldn’t quite put a finger on herself. There was something about him, something that screamed he’d be a better lover than anyone she’d ever known.

“I let you,” she said. “You didn’t force me, Ronon, I let you,” she smiled coyly at him. “And I’ll be damned if I don’t let you again,” she said before she pulled him down for a passionate kiss.