Chapter 9

There was a brief moment of silence as Sam and Ronon took in Jennifer’s defensive stance and unsuitable dress. Rodney wasn’t even paying attention, his whole focus was on setting up a macro as quickly as possible to guide Serenity in to land.

“Dr. Keller, what are you doing out of the infirmary? What’s wrong? You don’t look well.” A concerned look on her face, Sam reached out a hand to steady her.

Jennifer brushed off the help and stood straighter. “I’m fine, nothing’s wrong. I just need to be here, is all.”

“What you need is to go back to the infirmary.” Ronon moved forward, his intent clear.

She backed up a step, her shoulders hitting one of the rear consoles. “No, Ronon, let me be. I need to be here.” She focused back on Sam, pleading in her face and eyes. “Colonel Carter, please let me accompany you to the East Pier. I need to meet the crew of the Serenity.”

“Why?” A perplexed look crossed Sam’s face, as well as concern at the beseeching tone.

“I…I can’t tell you right now,” and she held up a hand to forestall any protest from Ronon or Sam. “But, I assure you I will tell you everything after.” She looked from one to the other, searching for understanding, urging them to accept her explanation. “Please.”

“I’d let her,” Rodney said quietly from his hunched over position at his computer. “Something’s been happening with her lately, and I think it has to do with this.”

“Rodn…what?” Amazement colored her voice as Sam looked searchingly at Jennifer. “You have a…connection with all this?”

“I will explain later, I promise. I just can’t right now, not and still have it make sense.”

Rodney stood and clapped his hands together. “All right, I’ve got it. Just need to hit enter to make it happen.”

“Are you sure?” Sam turned to him. “Is their speed slow enough now for this to work?”

“Yep, and close enough, so if we don’t do this now, we won’t get their course corrected in time.”

“Okay, do it.”

Rodney gleefully hit the right button as Carter went to the communications screen to inform Captain Reynolds. Ronon, in the meantime, had slowly approached Jennifer.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She nodded, holding his eyes with her own. “Yes, I am. I need to do this.”

He finally nodded acquiescence. “You’re cold.” He held out his arm in invitation, and she gratefully and without hesitation, accepted. Her shivering abated instantly as his strong arms curled around her, warming her.

OOOooooOOO

Half an hour later a small group consisting of Jennifer, Ronon, Sam, John, and Rodney walked out onto the East Pier. The ship, Serenity, had settled to its extended landing struts, steam still billowing from the rear, hot metal popping as it cooled.

“I can’t believe that thing actually flies.” Rodney eyed the ship in distain, traveling over the scarred, pitted, scorched, and rusted hull.

“Sometimes it takes a little love to get past the outer surface, Rodney,” Jennifer replied quietly. She stood as close to Ronon as she could, the chill wind of the ocean cutting through the coat Ronon had lent her. It was way too big, the cuffs hanging almost to her knees and the bottom brushed her ankles. But it smelled like him, comforting her, and was much warmer than the scrubs alone.

John was on the other side of her, making her feel small and vulnerable yet still protected, standing between the two men. Sam stood on the other side of John, followed by Rodney. They approached the ship steadily without rushing. When they were within a few feet, the cargo bay doors groaned open, followed by an outrushing of musty air exchanging for clean, pure planetary air.

Four figures came out of the shadows into the bright sunlight, walking slowly down the ramp. The man facing Sam was tall with brown hair, dressed in a long brown coat, tall leather boots and his hands were at his waist, pushing back the coat to reveal a holster strapped to his right thigh. His eyes were clear and direct, frankly assessing the group facing him.

The woman opposite John was also tall, with long curly black hair. A tan top and black pants outlined her striking figure. Her chin was lifted, eyes straight ahead, lips firm. Her strong face was a neutral mask, but Jennifer knew the pain and grief it hid.

The man facing Rodney was shorter than the others, but not by much. His dark hair waved back from his face revealing intense blue eyes. Those eyes roamed all over, taking in everything and everyone. A look of pleasure lit his face at the soaring towers and unique architecture of the city behind them. Jennifer understood now why Kaylee was attracted to him.

The guy opposite her and Ronon had a suspicious expression on his face as he surveyed the Lanteans. He was tall and fair enough to look at, but Jennifer knew he pretty much had the intellect and manners of a caveman. His hand caressed the butt of his sidearm, in much the same manner as Ronon was doing. The two eyed each other, looking each other up and down, judging the others strength and possible aptitude in combat.

Jennifer rolled her eyes as she nudged Ronon unsubtly. He glanced at her briefly and relaxed his grip on the still holstered gun. He flexed his shoulders slowly, making the large sword sheathed at his back move slightly from side to side, calling attention to it, making the sun glance off the bright metal. She heaved a silent sigh.

“Hi,” the captain called brightly. “I must thank you nice folks again for lending us a hand. Without that assist, I think we’d be breathing water right now.” He stepped forward. “I’m Captain Reynolds, this here is my first mate, Zoe. On the other side of her is Jayne, and to my right is our good doctor, Simon Tam.”

Zoe nodded, Simon smiled sweetly, and Jayne raised an eyebrow.

Sam stepped forward. “Captain, I’m Colonel Carter, the leader of this facility. The head of the military contingent, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, head of our science department, Dr. Rodney McKay, and on the other side of John is our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jennifer Keller and Specialist Ronon Dex.”

Rodney gave a sarcastic wave and a tight smile, John nodded with a small smile turning up the corners of his lips, and Ronon raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, how come she looks like Kaylee?” Jayne was frowning at Jennifer now. Ronon took a step forward, hand grasping his sidearm.

“What? Who looks like me?” A petite figure suddenly pushed between Jayne and Zoe. “Am I late?”

There she was, right in front of her - the woman whose life Jennifer had been dreaming of lately. Kaylee Winnit Fry. They stared at each other. Kaylee’s hair was a little darker and shorter, and she had a smudge of grease on her nose, but other than that…they were identical.

Suddenly it was hard to breathe. Dark spots flashed before Jennifer’s eyes as she felt her body start to fall. Noise filled her ears in a roar, and she reached out a hand to grab Ronon for support. The other’s weren’t even looking at her, were talking to each other casually as if she weren’t even there. Her hand reached Ronon’s arm…and passed right through it. The scene started spinning, faster and faster until she closed her eyes to shut out the maddening spiral.

OOOooooOOO

The first thing Jennifer was aware of was a gentle, repetitive susurrus against her arm. The next was that she was lying on her back on a soft surface. Cool sheets brushed against her bare feet. A rhythmic beep kept time to her slow heartbeat, and soft sounds further away told of quiet industry.

She opened her eyes with an effort, blinking them several times to clear out the fog of sleep. The repetitive stroking of her arm stopped and a voice called quietly, “She’s awake.” She turned her head as two figures joined the third by her bedside.

“How do you feel?” Dr. Rhodes began checking the monitors and her vitals.

She had to wet her mouth before trying to speak. “Um,” and she paused. Her voice rasped uncomfortably, and her throat was raw. She felt groggy and limp, unable to even move.

“That’s okay, take it easy, Dr. Keller. You’ve been in a coma for several days.”

That woke her up more. “What?” She looked around at the others. Sam gazed at her in concern and Ronon…well, she really couldn’t even begin to put a name to the expression on his face, but there was caring and maybe fear there. “What happened?”

“Rodney found you collapsed in your lab after a two day stint on M5X-882. You were running a high fever and had back-to-back mild seizures. Shortly after you went into a coma.”

Jennifer stared at Sam incredulously.

“Everything looks good now," she was assured, "but I want to run some more tests to make sure you're out of the woods. I will do that later, once you've had time to adjust, and I'm sure the fever won't come back. It will take a few days before your body is stronger.” Dr. Rhodes glanced at another monitor, then back to Sam. “I think we should leave her to rest.”

Sam nodded and grasped Jennifer’s hand where it lay limply on the bed by her side. She squeezed gently and let go. After an encouraging smile, she left with Dr. Rhodes. Ronon also turned to go.

“Ronon, wait.”

He turned back, and she reached up a hand for him. He grabbed it and held on tight, telling her how much he’d worried. She tugged him closer and he moved to sit in the chair right by the head of the bed.

“Have you been here the entire time?” She smiled softly at him, taking in his wonderful hair and tattoos and wildly unconformitive outfit.

“Only the last couple of days. That’s when the Deadalus got back from Earth. We had to stop and rescue Sheppard and McKay from the Midway spot.”

She frowned, struggling fit that information into what she remembered. “Wait, how long have I been out?”

“Uh, I think about five days.”

Something didn’t add up. “When did the ship leave?”

“What ship?”

“Serenity. When did they leave?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her and shook his head. “There’s no ship with that name.” He paused. “Are you all right?”

She took a moment to process the memories that surfaced. It would take her a while to sort though the mess that was in her head right then.

“Jennifer?” He sat up straighter, concern on his face. “Hey, should I call Dr. Rhodes?”

“No, no,” she assured him. “I’ll be fine. I…I just had the strangest dream, though.”

fin

End Note - Hahahaha! Gotcha! :-)

Seriously, thanks for reading and if you reviewed, thanks doubly so! I hope you enjoyed it as I had a lot of fun writing this.