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AN: Thanks so much again to Gretchen for the beta-reading. You're so incredibly fast I felt like I hadn't even sent you the story yet and you'd already beta-read it. :)
"What is Valentine's Day?" Ronon suddenly asked as he and John left the training room.
That question made John Sheppard burst out laughing. "Where did you hear about that?"
"I... um... everyone's talking about it." he replied. "Well, okay, Jennifer talked about it last time we... had lunch - with Teyla. Seems to be a really big deal."
John's eyes widened. "Jennifer? Lunch? Is there something you feel like telling me about?"
"No." Ronon frowned.
John raised an eyebrow at him before he shook his head and sighed.
"So, what is it?" Ronon pressed him. He could have asked McKay - but he was pretty sure that John's answer would be more helpful as well as much shorter.
"It's the day of lovers." John chuckled. "If there's a girl you like you send her flowers and a card on that day. Some men buy their girls a piece of jewelry. But you can also give her chocolate or... um... stuffed animals."
"Stuffed animals?" Ronon raised both his eyebrows.
"Yeah" the black-haired man grinned. "Girls like stuffed animals."
"Isn't that rather... cruel?" he asked.
John burst out laughing even harder than a minute ago. "No, Ronon, they're no real animals. They're made of... fluffy fabrics."
"I see." Ronon nodded. "And... what's the most... appropriate gift?"
Again John chuckled. "Well, that depends on what you want to tell the girl."
"Tell?" he frowned. "If I want to tell anything, I just say it. That way, there can't be any misunderstandings."
"That's a wise thing to do." John agreed. "But... girls like it if you... show them what they mean to you - especially on Valentine's Day."
"So I... um... guys buy a girl a gift." he summarized what John had just told him. "And... are there any... rules or something on what to buy a girl?"
"Not really." John shrugged. "Well, you should buy her something she likes. Not every woman likes the same kind of jewelry for example."
"How do I know what a woman likes?" Ronon asked and quickly added: "Theoretically, I mean."
"Of course." John chuckled. "Well, I don't know. I mean, if you know the woman pretty well you should know what she likes. And if you don't, you'll have to guess."
Frowning Ronon headed back to his room and wondered if he should give it a try and ask McKay. Or maybe he should ask a woman. The problem was that the only woman in this city he would ask for advice was Teyla - and she didn't know about Valentine's Day either.
He sighed and decided that he would first asked the only woman from earth he trusted enough to be sure she wouldn't laugh at him - afterwards he could still guess and make a fool of himself.
Three days later Ronon stood in front of Jennifer's door and his heart was pounding like mad.
He had fought against the Wraith so many times that he'd stopped counting. He had fought against other enemies several times after he'd moved to Atlantis - with the Replicators leading the way. He had faced death so many times. But one thing he had never been: scared.
Yet here he was, standing in front of her door a bunch of gifts in his hand and was too scared to ring. He had quickly found out that he was not at all good at guessing. He'd seen the chocolate and remembered Jennifer saying she liked everything that tasted like strawberries. He'd seen the flowers and thought that they'd look marvelous on her desk. Then he'd seen the necklace and thought it would match her beautiful eyes. At last he'd seen the stuffed puppy that repeated a message one could record to it and remembered she'd told him that she loved dogs and was sad she wasn't allowed to keep one on Atlantis.
In the end he'd bought all of it. Money was a strange invention and he didn't quite understand why he couldn't simply barter work for what he needed as it had been on Sateda.
Sighing he once more decided that human habits were really strange. Why did they need a special day to tell a woman that they were interested in her? And why did they do it through presents? Buying the wrong gift meant she could get it wrong. That wasn't very wise, was it?
Ronon took a deep breath - the fifth time in the last two minutes - and raised his hand once more to finally ring. But again he hesitated. What if Jennifer didn't like the presents? Wooing a girl from earth was much too complicated.
"Ronon." he heard the familiar voice behind him and froze for a good minute. Then he slowly turned around and gave the beauty in front of him an insecure smile.
"Hey." he greeted. "I was just about to... ring, you know."
"I worked longer today." she smiled and unlocked her door. "Come in!"
Hesitantly Ronon stepped into her room. He'd been here before but this time it somehow seemed to be different.
"Are these for me?" she asked and pointed her head at the bouquet in his hand.
"Oh... um... yeah, of course." Ronon stumbled and held the flowers out to her. "Happy Valentine's Day."
Her face lit up as she took the flowers from him. "Thank you." she smiled. "They're beautiful."
"I... um... this is for you as well." he stated and handed her the box of chocolate.
Grinning she took the sweets from him and said: "Flowers and chocolate - you know how to spoil a girl."
Ronon smirked a little. Obviously, he wasn't too bad at guessing. "And this..." he mumbled handing over the stuffed puppy.
Jennifer's eyes widened. She gave a quizzical look at first to the cute puppy and then to Ronon before she placed chocolate and flowers on the nearby table to take the animal from him.
"You said you liked dogs and since I couldn't buy you a real one..."
"Thanks." Jennifer smiled at him. "It's... really cute." She saw a sign on the dog's ear saying ‘squeeze me' and decided it couldn't hurt to follow the order.
"I wanted to buy you the perfect gift for Valentine's Day since it seems to be a real big deal." she smiled at the sound of his voice. "But I wasn't sure what would be perfect... Perfect to tell you how much you mean to me. I... I love you."
She stared at the puppy in disbelief and thought about playing the message again. She simply wasn't sure he had really said what she thought she'd heard.
Then Jennifer raised her head and a small tear ran down her cheek. She rushed over to him and threw herself into his arms. "I love you too."
After a few seconds she pulled back to look at him and explained: "Thank you, I... I'm really flattered. I... hardly ever got a Valentine's present let alone more than one."
He raised his eyebrows and asked: "I thought men buy women they're interested in presents for the Valentine's Day."
"Yeah, that's true." she nodded and looked down. "But I'm not the kind of woman many men are interested in."
Ronon frowned and cupped her chin with his hand to make her look at him: "Men from earth don't like women who are beautiful and very smart?"
She blushed at his compliment and smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, I almost forgot about the last present." Ronon stepped back and fumbled in the bag.
"Another present?" Jennifer's eyes widened. And they almost popped out of her head when he opened the rectangular black box to show her a beautiful golden necklace.
"Ronon." she gasped. "I... I can't accept that. That's much too expensive."
"I don't care that much about money." Ronon shrugged. "I save most of what I get paid for my work on Atlantis. And I thought that was a good way to spend it. I simply couldn't decide on the perfect gift for you."
"They're all perfect." she assured once again. "I'm just saying... You didn't have to..."
"But I wanted to." he softly interrupted her and held the necklace out to her. "May I help you put that on?"
"Sure." Jennifer smiled, turned around and held her long hair out of the way while his hands fastened the piece of jewelry sending pleasurable thrills down her spine every time they brushed over her skin.
"It's beautiful." she whispered while she examined the new jewelry on her in the mirror.
"It fits you well." Ronon smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
Jennifer turned in his arms to face him. "Thank you, this was the best Valentine's Day I ever had." She didn't give him any chance to say something but pulled him down for a deep and passionate kiss.
Relieved he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her close against him. The habits from earth might be strange - but Ronon decided he could get used to one or the other.