Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever to these characters.
Rated K
A missing scene for SGA S4 Episode "Be All My Sins Remembered"
Crossover between SGA and The Sentinel. No, I really don't know what Blair is doing on Atlantis. Roll with it, kthx.
Roots
by Helen W.
Teyla didn't know what an anthropologist was good for, exactly. She understood the need to study others - it was an essential skill for anyone who wished to lead other than by brute force. And she appreciated the role Kate had played in the lives of so many people on Atlantis, hers not the least. But to develop an understanding of people just for its own sake - that seemed like a waste of time and skill.
But she liked Blair Sandburg, and was enough of an aesthete (lovely word, she thought) that she didn't need for him to be useful to think him a pleasant lunch partner. Especially when his teammate Jim, who observed too closely for her comfort, was elsewhere. So she caught Blair's eye as he scanned the cafeteria for a seat. Yes, lunch with Blair would distract her from her ineffectual worry about the assault on the Replicator homeworld for at least a portion of an hour.
"So I hear you've finally gone public," Blair said as he lowered herself into the seat across from her.
"Public?"
"Announced your pregnancy. Congratulations."
"You speak as if you already knew."
"Of course I knew," said Blair. "You've gained a bulge, and you've been waddling for weeks."
"I do not waddle." And I could kill you where you sit before you could get a hand raised, she didn't feed the need to articulate. "Dr. Sandburg, I appreciate it when men keep their gaze - higher."
His cheeks, she was please to notice, reddened a little. Not a blush like Rodney could produce, but enough to satisfy.
"Waddling is good," he said. "Loose-jointed is good. I thought you'd agree."
Finishing her mashed roots, Teyla eyed Blair's. If she kept him talking, she could probably remove them from his plate with minimal fuss. So, she said, "I thought, amongst your people, it was considered impolite to notice a woman was carrying a child unless - how did Rodney put it? 'You observe a baby emerging from between her legs.' One is to pretend that she is as she always has been." Unless you are John Sheppard, in which case you treat her as if she was an 80-year-old with a terminal disease, but she wasn't going to let that slip into the gossip mill just yet.
"That's mostly to keep from asking non-pregnant women when they're due. They, um, don't like that."
Teyla considered. "Yes, that could be a problem." She paused. "Are you going to eat your mashed jiji root?"
Blair gestured at his plate. "Be my guest."
Teyla scooped Blair's serving onto her own plate and ate a mouthful, which she quickly spit into her napkin. "What did you do to them?"
"Um... shook on a little fish oil."
"Never do that again to anything I am going to eat. Do I make myself clear?"
Blair nodded solemnly. "Absolutely."
She took a long drink of water, and decided she didn't have to go throw up her lunch. And... well, maybe one of Blair's chocolate chip cookies might be safe. She grabbed it; at Blair's squawk, she said, "Well, you did try to poison me."
"Fair enough," said Blair.
"So, you seem to have lots of opinions about pregnant women," said Teyla. "Was your mother a midwife?"
Blair laughed. "No, she's all over midwifery as being a source of woman power, but actually dealing with the fat, cranky people? No offense, but it just wouldn't be her thing."
"Fat, cranky people?"
"Oh, um, not you. I'm sure you'll carry well. Or if you don't it's really a beautiful thing, a pregnant woman. Um, not that you're a thing, of course not -"
"Slow down, Blair, it's all right. Hopefully I have a few more months before you have to start lying about my appearance."
"I never lie to you, Teyla," he said. "Well, not often."
"I'm starting to think you haven't known many pregnant women after all."
"Well, I was an only child," he said. "Several of my mother's sisters' children have had kids over the past few years, but I don't really know any of them well. And there aren't many mothers in academia, or in police work, or in the SGC."
"That is very sad," said Teyla. "What about your father's family?"
"Oh, I never mentioned it? I have no idea who my father is. Some guesses, but no real information. So no family there."
"Don't be ridiculous," said Teyla. "Surely your community's elders - even if your mother kept her relationship a secret, after her pregnancy became obvious, didn't they question her closely, and her likely beaus?"
"That's - that's not how Earth works. Well, how Sacramento works. If that was even where she got pregnant."
"But surely - "
"Teyla... there were 200,000,000 people living in my native country the year I was conceived. Half of them could be my father."
"Not knowing - that must be very hard."
"It's not. Well, no, actually, it is. I hate that she has never told me." He reached forward and took her hand - Blair did things like this, so she let him. "Teyla, whatever happens, I hope that you'll share your child's father with your child, in whatever way you can. Trust him or her enough."
She squeezed his hand. "I will. And, Blair, I am sorry that you had to grow up without a father. I lost my mother when I was very young, and I have missed her acutely through the years."
Blair squeezed back, then withdrew his hand. "At least I've always had Naomi. Naomi's a great mother. A great woman. Maybe you'll meet her some day."
Teyla laughed. "Is this how you attract women? Comment on our gaits and our girths, then offer to introduce us to your mother? Because if I was available and looking I believe I'd be making up an excuse to be elsewhere."
"Well, you know, if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again."
"An... interesting philosophy."
"Will you forgive me if I give you my other cookie?"
Teyla took it and rose. "I am going to go see if we have any word from the Odyssey or the Apollo."
"Let's hope for good news quickly," said Blair. "Teyla - again, congratulations. And remember, you have many friends here."
"Yes," she said, "I know."
THE END
All feedback welcomed!