For Jennifer

[feltgoodthough]

It was dark in New Atlantis when Ronon got back from the compound after showering. He'd been for yet another late night run but he still wasn't sleeping much - not even for him. He looked at the circle of homes in the gloom and realised any one of them could be unexpectedly empty at any moment. He didn't like it. He'd never like it. Even on a wraith cull there would be the warning of the darts - here there was nothing.

He made his way to Jennifer's hut and listened carefully - he could hear her moving about so he assumed she was awake and he knocked quietly, waiting for her response.

Comments

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

Jennifer was just getting dressed for bed when she heard the knock at the door. She finished pulling on her t-shirt, slid her hair out from under the neck of the shirt and twisted it into a knot, and opened the door. "Hey, Ronon," she said, a little surprised to see him, but pleased. "Everything okay?" She eyed him. "Is your arm bothering you?"

[feltgoodthough.livejournal.com]

"Arm's fine," he assured her, leaning against the door frame. "I was just thinking . . . " he trailed off. Then shrugged it was pretty pointless to go over it again - people vanished, they both knew it. "I want to stay here tonight" he told her getting straight to the point.

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

"Sure." Jennifer knew what he'd meant by that trailing off... it was what she'd been thinking herself for the last few days. "Come on in. Um, sorry things are kind of a mess," she added hastily, closing the door behind him. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't her usual obsessive neatness either.

[feltgoodthough.livejournal.com]

Ronon raised an eyebrow at her, it just looked lived in. "It's fine," he said. Socks was curled up on the end of Jennifer's bed - not asleep but clearly settled, the cat eyed Ronon and then yawned uninterestedly. "It's weird out there," Ronon said glancing behind him at the closed door, "even now."

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Jennifer agreed. "It's like... you look out there and you don't know if the people who are supposed to be there are really there, so you want to go look." She picked up a couple of things laying around and then put them right back down again, turning back to Ronon.

That's why he came by, she thought.

She didn't say anything else, just stepped close to him and put her arms around him, resting her head on his chest.

[feltgoodthough.livejournal.com]

Ronon slipped his arms around her and held her tightly to him. "Figured you were the only one I could check on without looking crazy," he admitted. But she was also the one he wanted to make sure was there the most.

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

Jennifer didn't say anything, because she was feeling the same way. She just hugged him a little tighter and sighed. She was glad Ronon had come by, and even more glad he wanted to stay.

[feltgoodthough.livejournal.com]

Ronon kissed her hair and held on as she hugged tighter after a long moment, he pulled away a little, "tired?" he asked.

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

"Not really," she admitted, then remembering she was in her pajamas, added, "Well, I should be. But I was probably going to lay there staring at the ceiling half the night."

[feltgoodthough.livejournal.com]

Ronon did that most nights - he didn't sleep very much but he didn't think it was normal for Jennifer. "Could go for a run?" he offered.

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

Jennifer shook her head. "Then I really would be up all night," she said. Exercise didn't have the calming effect on her that it did on some people; she just got all wound up. Which was the exact opposite of what she wanted to do right now.

[feltgoodthough.livejournal.com]

Ronon knew what she meant, he felt like that after a fight not after a run. "Staring at the ceiling it is then," he teased her.

[dojustfine.livejournal.com]

"You know what I mean," she retorted, poking him in the arm. (She was going to have to be careful with that; a hard enough poke and her finger would just crumple.) "I don't have the energy for anything but sleep, but I'm not tired. Not really."

She didn't have much energy for teasing, either. When the attempt fell a little flat, it brought her back to why they were both so glum in the first place, and she hugged him tightly again, in earnest this time.