Mother's Intuition ~ SGA
Title: Mother's Intuition
Author: icantfollow
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard,
Prompt: #024 Family
Spoilers: Sunday
Word Count: ~1,800
Rating: PG
Summary: 'We know lots of women - they just all happen to want into your pants, or are completely insane. Neither of which are qualities I'm looking for in the woman who's going to contribute half the DNA to this kid.'
A/N: Well, it turned into a series. The overall series is going to be called Superior Genetics and starts with Baby Talk. There's going to be at least one more before the baby actually makes an appearance. XD
'Cadman.'
'Absolutely not! If you can't call a woman by her first name, then she is not fit to be the mother of our child. Besides, she goes running for fun.'
'It's not like I'm asking you to marry her, and anyway, I wasn't serious. I just wanted to see how you'd react. I guess you feel the same way about Heightmeyer, huh?'
Rodney doesn't dignify that with a response, so John sighs and crosses another name off the list he never in a million years thought he'd be writing. Of course, the fact that it doesn't really surprise him to be making said list says a lot about the past six years of his life.
'We don't really know a lot of women,' John says, frowning at the six or so names on the page.
'No,' corrects Rodney, resting his chin on John's shoulder, 'we know lots of women - they just all happen to want into your pants, or are completely insane. Neither of which are qualities I'm looking for in the woman who's going to contribute half the DNA to this kid.'
John is starting to have regrets about the whole process; it's not as if there's a line of woman waiting to be a surrogate for him and Rodney. Not to mention that it isn't simply about playing the host - the woman would actually have a genetic stake in this, and that, surprisingly, isn't really a selling point to most of the women of their acquaintance.
He wants to bring up adoption again, but Rodney has made it clear that that topic is off the table. He's gotten the idea into his head that there has to be a part of John to live on after he's gone, and, John has to admit that with legal hassle and his position in the military - not to mention the whole living in another galaxy thing - it really wouldn't be any easier.
'So we're down to two,' he says, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. A part of him is sorely tempted to just say, Remember how this was my idea? Yeah, well, I take it back. He knows Rodney though, and once Rodney has gotten an idea into his head, there is no turning back.
'Elizabeth wouldn't do it even if she could,' Rodney says leaning across John's chest, plucking the pen from his hand. 'You know how she feels about getting involved with her 'subordinates'.'
'So that leaves only one person to ask.'
'Teyla.'
John raises his head slightly. 'She could say no.'
'Yeah,' says Rodney, kissing him, 'but first we actually have to ask her.'
*
'You ask her.'
'No, you do it, this was your idea.'
Teyla looks towards the door and they clam up immediately. For a few minutes, John and Rodney stand there, shifting their weight from one foot to the other, looking like two schoolboys who are attempting to ask a girl to the big dance.
'Is something the matter?' she asks as she tidies the classroom.
'No,' says John quickly. 'We just had something important to talk to you about.'
'Please, sit,' says Teyla, gesturing towards some of the too-small chairs. 'I am listening.'
There are another several minutes of silence as Rodney nudges John and John nudges back, Teyla watching them both with an amused expression. John has no idea how to begin; the idea of having this conversation with anyone is right up there with talking about his grandmother's sex life, but it's Teyla, so it's a little bit worse.
It's not like she's judgmental or would be offended by the very suggestion, but she's so alien in so many ways, and John doesn't have the first clue how to explain this in a way she'll understand.
'You said you had something you wished to discuss,' she points out, and Rodney's mouth starts opening and closing like a fish; it would be amusing if John didn't suspect his face looked the same.
She just looks so compassionate, damn her, and finally John recognizes exactly what's been bothering him about this idea.
He knows that she'll say yes, but not for the right reasons. She's Teyla, and she loves them, so she'll say yes because it's what they want, even though she has no idea how it will affect her life. And John just can't do that to her.
So he says, 'How's everybody doing out here? The settlement still thriving?'
*
'You're a big coward,' Rodney says later that night as they're getting ready for bed.
'I didn't see you jumping in there to ask her to have our baby,' John retorts. 'And I bet it's for the same reason.'
Rodney climbs under the covers and sighs. 'She'd do it for us without taking her feelings into account. I wish she didn't care about people so much - if she had just one selfish bone in her body, it would make this so much easier.'
'So now what?'
'We could try talking about it when she's around and see if she just volunteers.'
The look John gives him is Sheppard-speak for If you try it, I will never touch you again, so Rodney lowers his eyes and mutters, 'Okay, so maybe not.'
'This is stupid,' John says. 'It's Teyla. We shouldn't be afraid of talking to Teyla.'
'We're men,' says Rodney, though the current placement of his hands argues against that fact. As does the fact that John wants to giggle. 'We don't talk about our feelings. This is not exactly a comfortable conversation.'
'It can't be any more uncomfortable than explaining 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell',' says John, swallowing back a laugh as Rodney's fingers tickle his sides, 'and we got through that all right.'
'That one was easy,' Rodney argues. 'Teyla doesn't come from a repressed culture like ours, or rather, yours. She understood the need for discretion, and didn't care if we wanted to make out like teenagers. "Love knows no gender." I had to talk her out of embroidering that on a pillow.'
'We'll think of a new plan of attack in the morning,' says John, running a hand through Rodney's hair. There's less of it than there used to be, just another testament to how urgent this whole baby thing really is. They aren't that young anymore, and if it doesn't happen in the next year or so, by the time the kid is ten, they'll be in their fifties. John is in good shape, but he doesn't exactly want to get mistaken for his kid's grandfather.
'John?'
'Hm?'
'What are we going to do if she says no?'
Forget it, John thinks. What he says is, 'We'll figure something out. We always do.'
*
'You are losing your touch,' Teyla says, eyes sparkling, as she leans down to help John off the floor. 'It used to take you much longer than this to lose.'
'Yeah, yeah,' John grumbles, putting a hand to his back and groaning. He hates feeling old; it's the only reason he still puts himself through this torture. Well, that and needing to be active enough for off-world duty. Still, thanks to the years of bullet wounds, crash-landings, bug-conversions, and falls into big pits, he has to admit that he's not in the shape he used to be.
'John, do you and Rodney plan to have children?'
John stumbles and nearly falls to the floor again, but Teyla catches him by the arm.
'I am sorry,' she says, looking concerned, 'was that not an appropriate question?'
'No, no, it's fine,' wheezes John, hunched over with his hands on his thighs. 'It's just - why do you ask?'
'Among my people, it is common that when two people have been together for some time, and love one another very much, they want to share that love with a child.'
It's something in the way she's looking at him; there are times when Teyla uses her 'alien' card to her advantage, feigning naivety, when she knows perfectly well what she's doing.
'We've talked about it,' John hedges.
Teyla nods as if this is exactly the answer she was looking for. 'I would like to help.'
'Have you been talking to Rodney?'
'No. I have been speaking with Dr. Cole, however, and she has informed me of a new discovery the medical team has made.' Teyla looks at John, and seems to look inside him. 'You have not been paying much attention to the medical team since Carson passed, have you?'
John flinches. 'Not as such, why?'
'They have come across what Dr. Cole describes as an 'artificial womb'. I was not sure what that meant, but it seems to be a way of creating a child without pregnancy.' Teyla forces him to meet her eyes. 'You would still need a female donor, she said.'
'Teyla, we -'
She interrupts. 'You are my family, John. I want to do this for you. If you do not want me, or have found another way, I understand. But if you are saying no because you are worried about my feelings, then I do not accept that.'
Sometimes, he hates the way she reads him, like a damn book.
'The kid would be partly yours,' he says.
'In a way,' Teyla replies, calm. 'And I will love her, and teach her what you two cannot, but she will be yours. And I will not interfere with that.'
'Teyla, I just can't let you do this. You don't know how you'll feel when the baby's born. There'll be a little person out there who's got half your DNA. What if you decide then you want more?'
She just shakes her head. 'Stop making excuses, John. Do you want a child?'
Yes, damn it, he does, and she can see it in his face.
'We'll make an appointment to discuss this with Dr. Cole in the morning.'
They bow to each other, touching foreheads, John gripping her shoulders just a little tighter than usual. Teyla starts to leave, but John has to get in a last word.
'Teyla? Why haven't you ever gotten married?'
She doesn't turn around. 'On Athos, with the fear of Wraith constantly over our head, we married for the sake of our people as a whole - a way to replace what the Wraith had taken. It was done quickly, because very rarely did our people live to any consequential age. I did not want that. I was the leader, I had responsibilities, and I could not afford to have my focus split by a family. When I married, I wanted it to be on my own terms.'
John doesn't know what to say; then again, when faced with her incredible wisdom, he rarely does.
'Thank you, Teyla.'
'We are family,' she repeats, glancing over her shoulder and smiling. 'It is what family does.'
Author: icantfollow
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard,
Prompt: #024 Family
Spoilers: Sunday
Word Count: ~1,800
Rating: PG
Summary: 'We know lots of women - they just all happen to want into your pants, or are completely insane. Neither of which are qualities I'm looking for in the woman who's going to contribute half the DNA to this kid.'
A/N: Well, it turned into a series. The overall series is going to be called Superior Genetics and starts with Baby Talk. There's going to be at least one more before the baby actually makes an appearance. XD
'Cadman.'
'Absolutely not! If you can't call a woman by her first name, then she is not fit to be the mother of our child. Besides, she goes running for fun.'
'It's not like I'm asking you to marry her, and anyway, I wasn't serious. I just wanted to see how you'd react. I guess you feel the same way about Heightmeyer, huh?'
Rodney doesn't dignify that with a response, so John sighs and crosses another name off the list he never in a million years thought he'd be writing. Of course, the fact that it doesn't really surprise him to be making said list says a lot about the past six years of his life.
'We don't really know a lot of women,' John says, frowning at the six or so names on the page.
'No,' corrects Rodney, resting his chin on John's shoulder, 'we know lots of women - they just all happen to want into your pants, or are completely insane. Neither of which are qualities I'm looking for in the woman who's going to contribute half the DNA to this kid.'
John is starting to have regrets about the whole process; it's not as if there's a line of woman waiting to be a surrogate for him and Rodney. Not to mention that it isn't simply about playing the host - the woman would actually have a genetic stake in this, and that, surprisingly, isn't really a selling point to most of the women of their acquaintance.
He wants to bring up adoption again, but Rodney has made it clear that that topic is off the table. He's gotten the idea into his head that there has to be a part of John to live on after he's gone, and, John has to admit that with legal hassle and his position in the military - not to mention the whole living in another galaxy thing - it really wouldn't be any easier.
'So we're down to two,' he says, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. A part of him is sorely tempted to just say, Remember how this was my idea? Yeah, well, I take it back. He knows Rodney though, and once Rodney has gotten an idea into his head, there is no turning back.
'Elizabeth wouldn't do it even if she could,' Rodney says leaning across John's chest, plucking the pen from his hand. 'You know how she feels about getting involved with her 'subordinates'.'
'So that leaves only one person to ask.'
'Teyla.'
John raises his head slightly. 'She could say no.'
'Yeah,' says Rodney, kissing him, 'but first we actually have to ask her.'
*
'You ask her.'
'No, you do it, this was your idea.'
Teyla looks towards the door and they clam up immediately. For a few minutes, John and Rodney stand there, shifting their weight from one foot to the other, looking like two schoolboys who are attempting to ask a girl to the big dance.
'Is something the matter?' she asks as she tidies the classroom.
'No,' says John quickly. 'We just had something important to talk to you about.'
'Please, sit,' says Teyla, gesturing towards some of the too-small chairs. 'I am listening.'
There are another several minutes of silence as Rodney nudges John and John nudges back, Teyla watching them both with an amused expression. John has no idea how to begin; the idea of having this conversation with anyone is right up there with talking about his grandmother's sex life, but it's Teyla, so it's a little bit worse.
It's not like she's judgmental or would be offended by the very suggestion, but she's so alien in so many ways, and John doesn't have the first clue how to explain this in a way she'll understand.
'You said you had something you wished to discuss,' she points out, and Rodney's mouth starts opening and closing like a fish; it would be amusing if John didn't suspect his face looked the same.
She just looks so compassionate, damn her, and finally John recognizes exactly what's been bothering him about this idea.
He knows that she'll say yes, but not for the right reasons. She's Teyla, and she loves them, so she'll say yes because it's what they want, even though she has no idea how it will affect her life. And John just can't do that to her.
So he says, 'How's everybody doing out here? The settlement still thriving?'
*
'You're a big coward,' Rodney says later that night as they're getting ready for bed.
'I didn't see you jumping in there to ask her to have our baby,' John retorts. 'And I bet it's for the same reason.'
Rodney climbs under the covers and sighs. 'She'd do it for us without taking her feelings into account. I wish she didn't care about people so much - if she had just one selfish bone in her body, it would make this so much easier.'
'So now what?'
'We could try talking about it when she's around and see if she just volunteers.'
The look John gives him is Sheppard-speak for If you try it, I will never touch you again, so Rodney lowers his eyes and mutters, 'Okay, so maybe not.'
'This is stupid,' John says. 'It's Teyla. We shouldn't be afraid of talking to Teyla.'
'We're men,' says Rodney, though the current placement of his hands argues against that fact. As does the fact that John wants to giggle. 'We don't talk about our feelings. This is not exactly a comfortable conversation.'
'It can't be any more uncomfortable than explaining 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell',' says John, swallowing back a laugh as Rodney's fingers tickle his sides, 'and we got through that all right.'
'That one was easy,' Rodney argues. 'Teyla doesn't come from a repressed culture like ours, or rather, yours. She understood the need for discretion, and didn't care if we wanted to make out like teenagers. "Love knows no gender." I had to talk her out of embroidering that on a pillow.'
'We'll think of a new plan of attack in the morning,' says John, running a hand through Rodney's hair. There's less of it than there used to be, just another testament to how urgent this whole baby thing really is. They aren't that young anymore, and if it doesn't happen in the next year or so, by the time the kid is ten, they'll be in their fifties. John is in good shape, but he doesn't exactly want to get mistaken for his kid's grandfather.
'John?'
'Hm?'
'What are we going to do if she says no?'
Forget it, John thinks. What he says is, 'We'll figure something out. We always do.'
*
'You are losing your touch,' Teyla says, eyes sparkling, as she leans down to help John off the floor. 'It used to take you much longer than this to lose.'
'Yeah, yeah,' John grumbles, putting a hand to his back and groaning. He hates feeling old; it's the only reason he still puts himself through this torture. Well, that and needing to be active enough for off-world duty. Still, thanks to the years of bullet wounds, crash-landings, bug-conversions, and falls into big pits, he has to admit that he's not in the shape he used to be.
'John, do you and Rodney plan to have children?'
John stumbles and nearly falls to the floor again, but Teyla catches him by the arm.
'I am sorry,' she says, looking concerned, 'was that not an appropriate question?'
'No, no, it's fine,' wheezes John, hunched over with his hands on his thighs. 'It's just - why do you ask?'
'Among my people, it is common that when two people have been together for some time, and love one another very much, they want to share that love with a child.'
It's something in the way she's looking at him; there are times when Teyla uses her 'alien' card to her advantage, feigning naivety, when she knows perfectly well what she's doing.
'We've talked about it,' John hedges.
Teyla nods as if this is exactly the answer she was looking for. 'I would like to help.'
'Have you been talking to Rodney?'
'No. I have been speaking with Dr. Cole, however, and she has informed me of a new discovery the medical team has made.' Teyla looks at John, and seems to look inside him. 'You have not been paying much attention to the medical team since Carson passed, have you?'
John flinches. 'Not as such, why?'
'They have come across what Dr. Cole describes as an 'artificial womb'. I was not sure what that meant, but it seems to be a way of creating a child without pregnancy.' Teyla forces him to meet her eyes. 'You would still need a female donor, she said.'
'Teyla, we -'
She interrupts. 'You are my family, John. I want to do this for you. If you do not want me, or have found another way, I understand. But if you are saying no because you are worried about my feelings, then I do not accept that.'
Sometimes, he hates the way she reads him, like a damn book.
'The kid would be partly yours,' he says.
'In a way,' Teyla replies, calm. 'And I will love her, and teach her what you two cannot, but she will be yours. And I will not interfere with that.'
'Teyla, I just can't let you do this. You don't know how you'll feel when the baby's born. There'll be a little person out there who's got half your DNA. What if you decide then you want more?'
She just shakes her head. 'Stop making excuses, John. Do you want a child?'
Yes, damn it, he does, and she can see it in his face.
'We'll make an appointment to discuss this with Dr. Cole in the morning.'
They bow to each other, touching foreheads, John gripping her shoulders just a little tighter than usual. Teyla starts to leave, but John has to get in a last word.
'Teyla? Why haven't you ever gotten married?'
She doesn't turn around. 'On Athos, with the fear of Wraith constantly over our head, we married for the sake of our people as a whole - a way to replace what the Wraith had taken. It was done quickly, because very rarely did our people live to any consequential age. I did not want that. I was the leader, I had responsibilities, and I could not afford to have my focus split by a family. When I married, I wanted it to be on my own terms.'
John doesn't know what to say; then again, when faced with her incredible wisdom, he rarely does.
'Thank you, Teyla.'
'We are family,' she repeats, glancing over her shoulder and smiling. 'It is what family does.'