Title: Ascension from anger
Summary: "Because, you know, I thought you guys had a thing."
Characters: John, Rodney
Pairing: John/Teyla, Teyla/Kanan.
Rating: K
Spoilers: Be All My Sins Remember'd

John didn't really know what to do. He'd gone and eaten dinner with Rodney and had cajoled the scientist about his recent dry spell and many numerous things but his mind hadn't moved from the point of Teyla's pregnancy. He was glad Rodney hadn't mentioned it, because he was pretty sure that his anger had still been at its peak then and if the snarky Canadian had even mentioned her name, or a word relating to children or pregnancy or anything similar, he may have had no tongue left to speak of anything ever again.

He sighed as he clicked another card on the game of Solitaire in front of him, groaning when it was a card as useless as his anger had been.

He'd surmised that anger was not the way to go in regards to Teyla and he supposed he should probably apologise to her before there was a rift too large to mend. But there was something inside of him nagging at him that she had betrayed him, that she had endangered all of their lives and his anger was justified. But then the reasonable side kicked in as he clicked the mouse pad again, assuring him that she had her reasons for not telling him.

There may have been some Athosian custom that didn't allow her to tell him before her people... before the father. Or maybe there was complications that she didn't want them to know about, or maybe she had actually tried to tell him and he hadn't listened.

Though he was pretty sure he would have remembered if she'd uttered those words to him. Hell, he was having a hard time trying to burn the sound of her voice saying them out now so if she'd said anything even remotely relating to her carrying a child, he would remember.

And that left her pride. It was the only thing he could think of that would have held her back from telling him. She must have known he'd remove her from his team, or maybe even think she was weak if he was aware of her situation. And to be fair to her, she hadn't been far wrong. He knew that his treatment of her was unprecedented but he had just not known how to react. It was the fact that, after not telling him for two months, she'd insulted their friendship by blurting it out in the middle of a corridor in front of Ronon. And that's what stung. John couldn't react the way he'd wanted to because he knew Ronon was watching him, and it made John giddy, especially after what Ronon had said that Sunday.

He yawned and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head.

Then his doors slid open and an out of breath Rodney McKay came hurtling through the tiny gap. John jumped up at the fervent look on Rodney's face, wondering what was so important that he'd run all the way from wherever he'd been to tell John instead of calling him on the radio. His mind instantly jumped to Teyla and his heart rate sped up.

Had something happened to her? The stunner must have hurt her somehow.

Then Rodney stopped, took a few deep breaths before yelling,

"Teyla's pregnant?"And John felt that irrepressible anger build again in his chest and he glared at Rodney. Rodney spluttered, hands flailing as he tried to grasp onto words that seemed to escape him. Finally, he settled on, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not my place to tell," John replied darkly, the glare not leaving his eyes.

"What do you mean 'not your place to tell'. It's your child too!"

John frowned at that and raised an eyebrow in Rodney's direction.

"Who told you that?"

Rodney faltered.

"One of... one of my scientists. She said..."

John shook his head.

"Oh, well... Oh.You're not the father."

"We've established that Rodney."

"Oh." John closed his eyes, wondering again how he ever managed to put up with this man sometimes. "Well... sorry."

John's eyelids sprung up and he frowned at Rodney once again.

"What for?"

Rodney, too, looked confused.

"Well, because, you know."

John waited for him to continue but when he didn't he raised his hands to the side of his face and looked at Rodney exasperatedly.

"No, Rodney I don't know."

"Well, because... you know...I figured you two... had a thing."

And that was it for John. He slumped onto his chair once again and covered his eyes. He'd avoided it all night, had somehow managed to get his inner voice to forget that fact because he too had thought they'd had a 'thing'.

When he looked up, Rodney was gone and he wondered for a moment if the scientist had been a figment of his imagination. Slowly, he exhaled and leaned back into the chair, staring at the ceiling. Then slowly, realisation dawned and he sat forward again, a fresh, slightly confused frowned appearing on his brow.

She'd thought they'd had a thing too, and that's why she hadn't told him.

He pursed his lips at that and nodded. He liked the sound of that. He mulled over that thought for some time, nodding every now and again. Resolved, he shut down his laptop and got ready for bed.

He could accept that, for now.