Title: Madre

Title: Madre
Author: Obsessed1
Character(s): Teyla/Rodney/Ronon and John
Genre(s): Stargate Atlantis: Friendship piece with a little Sheppard H/C thrown in.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nothing.
Summary: Teyla and her boys.

A/N: This is a short and sappy piece. I've had such an awful day; I wanted to write something warm and fluffy. I wrote this in about ten minutes, so all mistakes are mine.

Teyla waddled into the science lab and scanned the room for Rodney. She hardly ever came down here and it seemed that the other scientists realised that too because all of a sudden they were giving her a wide berth and not because she had filled out a little over the last few months.

She heard Rodney before she found him, arguing with Radek over something complicated on the table.

"I need to finish my diagnostics before you run off and destroy it!" Rodney was saying, clutching the device in his hands as if his life depended on it, "What do you need it for anyway?"

"Rodney I already told you. We need to see how it interacts with the other devices before we collect the information off it. You could damage it."

"Me?" Teyla recognised that tone of indignation, "Me? Damage something? Who am I? Oh yes….. I would be Doctor Rodney McKay and I believe I do all the fixing around here! Your minions damage things! This could be a very important-"

And then Rodney spotted her and all of the anger and the vitriol directed at Radek seemed to dissipate with a flustered smile and a wave of his hands, "Oh Teyla…..I didn't see you there…..How…….How long have you been watching?"

"Long enough Rodney," she said, walking over to him and plucking the device from his hand, "What is this?"

Rodney held his hands next to hers, hovering over the device as if it were a newborn child. She only hoped he took as much care with her child as he did with his Ancient devices.

"We don't know. Why are you down here?" and he was looking over her shoulder.

"I am looking for John. I thought he may be here."

"Why?"

"Because he is your friend."

"Ha," Rodney snorted, taking the device back, "No, he's not here. I haven't seen him all day. I think he's avoiding me."

"Why would he do that?"

"I wouldn't let him play with my new device," he smiled again.

"Your device!" Radek fired off something, probably an Insult in Czech before saying, "I found it! It is not yours!"

"Well I pointed you in the right direction!"

"Enough!" Teyla said, hands up between them, "Why can you not share the device? Zelenka can have it for a few hours and when that time is over you may have the device Rodney. Or, you could work together."

"Work together?" Rodney said, puffing his chest out, "That wouldn't work. Would it?"

Radek pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose and shrugged, "Well we could?"

Rodney looked to Teyla, "Well…….I guess we could see how it interacts with devices-"

"-and then take the info off together and-"

"We'd need to calibrate the-"

They disappeared around the corner and Teyla hoped her little one would be better behaved.

--

Teyla had arrived at the Gym early for meditation session with Ronon. He as usual was late, slumped into the room with a sigh and sat beside her as if his body was deadweight.

She didn't understand why he came every day if he didn't enjoy meditation.

They were sitting quietly when the noise from the other room started.

Ronon was the first to get distracted and she could hear his boots scrape across the floor as he adjusted position.

"What is it?" Teyla asked, eyes still closed, palms upwards.

There was hesitation before he answered, "Some kind of contest……sounds fun."

The raucous laughter and chanting of "fight" "fight" "fight" had Teyla squeezing her eyes closed tightly to shut it out. She sensed Ronon was still staring longingly at the door.

"You can go if you wish,"

"Nah," he gave her arm a nudge, "I'll stay with you."

They sat in silence a little longer before the chanting grew louder. The boots scraped again.

"Ronon," and Teyla finally opened her eyes and turned to him, "If you wish to go. I will not hold it against you."

"I'm good," he said with a smile, "I don't-"

A roar of laughter and the sound of flesh on flesh had Ronon stopping suddenly.

"Just because I am pregnant, you do not have to stay and keep me company."

He seemed to relax a little and his eyes widened, "I can go?"

"Yes."

Ronon was already getting up, "You sure?"

"Knock yourself out."

--

Teyla knocked on the door impatiently, already calling out John's name and opening the door before he could answer. She supposed it was a trait that she had picked up from Rodney. She had seen him do it on more than one occasion and ordinarily she would have waited, but she was worried.

"Teyla! Dammit!"

John was standing in the centre of the room in boxer shorts and a black t-shirt, hair sticking out from sleep and with a pillow crease on his cheek. He started backtracking to the other side of the room, obviously irritated at her having barged in.

"Don't come in!" he shot, pressing himself against the far wall.

Teyla was confused and she took a step forwards, burgeoning belly crossing the threshold before her feet.

"What did I just tell you?" John asked, bringing a hand up to wipe across his forehead.

"You were not at breakfast or dinner. I was worried about you."

John smiled tightly, "I wasn't hungry."

"Rodney thinks that you are avoiding him," she started to cross the room and then stopped suddenly when John held his hands out and ordered her to stand still and to not advance any further.

"I wasn't avoiding him," John said, sagging against the window sill, "I was avoiding you."

Teyla felt her mouth drop open, a combination of hurt and confusion, surely plain across her face, "John?"

"I'm sick," he said bluntly, wiping his hand across his nose, "I have the flu or something and I thought…" he paused and looked embarrassed, "You're pregnant and I didn't want to make you or the baby sick."

"John," Teyla walked towards him and he made a pathetic attempt to move away, hands held up as if it were a barrier for his germs, "My child has survived an encounter with a Wraith Queen and I am in my final trimester, I am sure a cold will not harm my child. He is strong."

"I don't want to take that chance."

"Athosian women and their offspring are very hardy. Now, get back into bed before you fall down."

He regarded her with a sigh, shrinking back slightly.

"John….."

She smoothed out his bed covers and tucked the sheet back under the mattress where it had come loose. John had moved forwards a few inches, but will still standing back, concern etching his features.

She held the covers open for him, "Go on," she smiled, patting the bed.

"Teyla, you know, I can take care of myself. You don't need to-"

Teyla had closed the distance, grabbed him by his wrist and started pulling him towards the bed. He moved with little resistance, hunched over and breathing loudly as he settled on the bed.

"Have you seen Doctor Keller?" she asked as he dropped his head a little and massaged his temples.

"Yeah…she told me to sleep it off." He looked up at her and smiled, "I'll be fine in the morning. I think it's just a twenty four hour thing."

"Perhaps," she turned and scanned his room and found it disappointingly messy.

When she started moving around the room picking up dirty laundry and putting things back in their place she could see John watching her, turning his mouth up at the corner as she deposited everything into the laundry basket.

"I was going to do that," he told her, coughing into his fist.

"Yes, I am sure you were."

She came to stand in front of him, belly practically obscuring her view of him as she looked down and she realised that he did look tired. There were dark circles under his eyes, his nose was red and sore and he was sweating. The top of his t-shirt was soaked with sweat.

She couldn't help it. She held her hand out and pressed it against his forehead.

He flinched away, pouting a little.

"You are very warm."

"I think you should go," John said, shuffling back under the covers, his movements slow and sloppy, "Don't want you getting sick."

She retrieved a clean t-shirt and offered it to him, "Change into this. You will feel more comfortable."

With a sigh and considerable effort, he shucked out of his sweaty one and into a clean one.

"Better?"

He sagged back onto his bed and nodded.

He'd already started to doze off, his eyes were heavy lidded and he was clutching the covers high up on his chest.

"Sleep well John," she said, giving his hand a little tug before leaving.

John suddenly squeezed back and looked up at her with glassy eyes, "You'll be a great mom, Teyla," before the grip became looser and he drifted into sleep.

The End