The Long Way Home

Chapter Ninety One: Fireside

Maybe this is wishful thinking,
Probably mindless dreaming,

Taylor Swift – Back To December

The logs were crackling on the campfire as the two of them sat in the darkness staring into the bright flames licking up towards the night time sky. There were pinpricks of silver above them and Hope wondered briefly if the stars in this solar system had names the same way some of theirs did back on Earth. There was warmth brimming from the blazing fire, it coated her skin in the most wonderful of ways against the chill in the midnight air.

Herself and Ronon had been sitting here with some of the other people from the camp after their evening meal before they had drifted off back towards their concrete homes. It was a beautiful night, the sky above them was cloudless and Hope found herself tilting her head back to observe it as she sat closely beside Ronon.

Hope enjoyed his physical presence, it made her feel safe and secure. She didn't have to be anybody else when she was with Ronon, he was never asking anything of her, there were no expectations. She liked that sense of normalcy, in truth she craved the stability that came with the huge man. There was something about the warrior that drew her in, Hope felt a compulsive desire to know Ronon. She waited to join with him, to understand him and become one with his psyche. The urge was primal and demanding, she found it hard to fight against it whenever she was near him. In reality she didn't think she had wanted to.

Sitting beside him like this made her feel like she was at home. She was comfortable and peaceful, all that exhaustion and rage that had built up inside her over the course of their joint investigation into the missing supplies depleted in these moments alone together. She savoured the seconds that she was in his company, they were personal and intimate. There was no doubt in her mind that part of her belonged to Ronon, she had known it the second she had laid eyes upon the man.

The instant he had appeared it was like a part of her soul was fitting back into place, a piece that Hope had never realized was actually missing. For the first time in her life she felt whole and complete, her soul sang with happiness at discovering it's mate. It wanted to rush out and greet him, to play and cuddle but Hope had held it back.

It wasn't hard to see that he was damaged inside, that something horrendous had happened to him and it had scared not only his body but his soul as well. There was a sadness in his gorgeous jade green eyes and she felt like she was the only one he allowed to see it. His personal strength was an example of the sheer capacity of his will power, he had been broken down and depleted but she could see that he had managed to put himself back together again.

No matter how much the human sides of each other tried to distance themselves it appeared that their souls intentionally sought each other out. Many times over the past few weeks she had found herself slipping into a seat beside him, their clothes rustling at the closeness of her presence. He never seemed to mind her proximity, in fact she thought maybe he enjoyed it as much as she did. Simply being alongside him was enough for now, Hope didn't want to press him into anything he wasn't ready for. Despite his hard exterior he was delicate and she couldn't stand the idea of him feeling forced or pressurised.

"We used to do this back home in Holualoa. While my parents were working the late shift at the coffee farm, we used to go down to the beach with a couple of kids from the village and watch the tide come in." Hope found herself telling Ronon as she shuffled just a little bit closer to his inviting warmth.

"What's it like?" Ronon asked her in his rough rumbling tone. "The place where you live."

A smile twitched at the edges of her pretty mouth as Ronon watched the grin curve across her exotic face at the memories that possessed her. She looked dazzling in the light from the camp fire, her chestnut hair was sleek and loose falling past her shoulders as her fingers toyed with the slender beaded bracelet upon her wrist. He was scared to approach her, he knew that people found him frightening because of his size and his barbaric nature. He had led a lonely existence over the past seven years and only now was he beginning to let people in. His social skills were not up to scratch and he understood that Hope in the very least was tolerating him.