Fighting Fit

By Annie

EMAIL: Annie

“Hey, McKay.” Ronon peered around the door of the lab. “You ready?”

“Yep. And I have to tell you, I’ve been practicing so you might want to watch yourself, Conan.”

Ronon snorted as he led the way down to the gym. “We’ll see.” He’d started out training McKay in unarmed combat around the time it looked like the city might be taken over by the Wraith. Once the emergency was over, he’d assumed the lessons would stop so he’d been surprised when McKay found him the next day and announced he was ready for his next lesson. It had become a daily routine ever since and Ronon had to admit that Rodney was improving. He’d never be in Ronon’s league but he’d picked up enough skills to keep himself hopefully out of trouble and to be able to back up his team with more than just his brain.

Rodney strode confidently across the room and picked up two pairs of bantos sticks. Turning, he tossed two sticks to Ronon, wincing as they went wide and hit a marine who was on his way out. “Sorry,” he muttered as the man stepped over the sticks and hurried out.

Ronon shook his head, grinning. “Guess you never were too big on physical stuff,” he said, as he picked up and hefted the sticks in his hands.

“I was busy getting an education,” Rodney snapped. “And there’ve been plenty of times when you guys should be grateful that I turned my back on hockey in favor of physics—”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ronon said, surprising even himself with his acquiescence. It was true, he thought, as he took up his stance and waited for Rodney to take his. Rodney had saved their lives many times without the use of weapon or fist, though he’d done a bit of that of late as well. He was owed due respect for that. “You ready?” Ronon called across the room as he took one step forward and lifted his sticks.

“As I’ll ever be,” Rodney muttered but Ronon noticed he kept his head up and his eyes firmly fixed on Ronon’s.

Ronon was impressed. Rodney obviously had been practicing as he’d said and he decided to take the exercise up a notch. He moved forward again, bringing one stick level with Rodney’s mid-section then quickly feinted up and to the left, aiming for Rodney’s shoulder with the other just as Radek entered the room and called out, “Rodney, we’ve found an anomaly!”

Rodney swung his gaze from Ronon and over his shoulder to Radek, while stepping sideways and straight into the path of the bantos’ swing. It connected the side of his head with a thunk and he went down like a rock.

~oOo~

“I think he’s waking up.” Ronon couldn’t help the tinge of relief that crept into his voice as he saw Rodney’s eyelids flutter open. “How ya doing, McKay?”

Rodney closed his eyes again then opened them and blinked a few times, raising a hand to his head and letting out a heartfelt groan as he did. Turning his head, he glared blearily at Ronon. “You hit me!” he said accusingly.

“You walked right into my move, McKay,” Ronon said. “Sorry about that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have if Zelenka hadn’t distracted me.” Rodney pushed himself up on shaky elbows and looked around the infirmary. “Where is he? I’m going to have him doing power usage statistics till he’s old enough to retire.”

“He said he was going to run another check on that anomaly,” John said from his seat on the other side of Rodney’s bed.

“Oh God, I forgot-“ Rodney pushed himself upright then blanched. “I feel sick.”

John placed a hand on Rodney’s shoulder and pushed him back onto the pillows. “Take it easy, buddy. Carson said you’ve got a bad concussion. You’re not supposed to be moving around.”

“But the anomaly-“

“Radek will come and speak to you as soon as he knows for sure what’s going on,” John said reassuringly. “He said it’s nothing bad. Just something he wanted your input on.”

“Hey, McKay, you were doing pretty good up till that happened,” Ronon said, patting Rodney’s shoulder. “So, same time tomorrow?”

Rodney shuddered and looked over at John. “You still jogging every morning? Need a running partner?”

End