Title:Great Expectations -or- Five times John and Elizabeth found out they were expecting.
Author: lannakitty
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Epiphany, The Game, Echoes
Summary: 5x Sparky Baby!fic
Disclaimer: I don't own Atlantis. Unfortunately.
Notes: Fluff. Lots and lots of fluff. For oparu .who has encouraged me to write this specific fluff ;) The final part of the 5x had been turned into a full-length piece entitled "Counterpart"
5X babyfic.
5 x John and Elizabeth found out they were expecting.
*****
I
- Epiphany –
Initially, Elizabeth had been the one to embrace their new life here. Once they'd exhausted every option they could think of, Elizabeth had set her mind to Ascending. It was, she reasoned, the only way to escape and get back to their people. John had gone along with it because she wasn't going anywhere without him, and he might look like a squid made out of light, but flying and unlimited cosmic power did sound pretty cool.
It hadn't lasted long.
She'd begun to get tired and sick. John was felt mostly bored from the intense meditation. The work to keep the village self sufficient wasn't strenuous. The cause of her illness was an enigma. Elizabeth quietly ignored it. John had quietly worried and taken to watching her closely. They'd both had to confront what was really going on when Hedda, the little girl who seemed to have adopted them into her family, had exclaimed, in a rather loud voice, that she was excited to meet the new baby.
Both John and Elizabeth must have looked confused, because Teer had shooed Hedda outside. She'd apologized to them and confessed that the entire village knew and had assumed they'd known. After all, Elizabeth had been pregnant when she'd arrived weeks ago.
After that, things were much different for awhile. John seemed to have found the inner peace that radiated from the villagers. Elizabeth suffered almost constant nausea and a deep sense of despair. Neither of them could ascend while she was expecting. She simply couldn't do it and John refused to leave her. Elizabeth's sleep suffered. She had nightmares of meetings with the IOA she couldn't escape from, of John being killed by the beast that roamed outside the village, of them being rescued only to be fired and shipped back to Earth, of nameless, featureless men taking both John and her child away from her. Elizabeth knew her nightmares worried John and that just made her feel guilty.
John coped as best he could with Elizabeth's emotions by becoming the optimistic one. He pointed out that this was merely a delay in their escape plans, and maybe Rodney would find a way to get them out before she was due. He was excited about the baby and gently tried to get Elizabeth excited about it as well. Teer had helped by telling him the experience would help them ascend. Some sort of "life-giving" mumbo-jumbo he'd explained. Once the morning sickness had begun to abate and she'd felt less miserable, Elizabeth had started to see hope in his arguments.
They both continued to have their darker moments, but they'd seemed to have found equilibrium. The whole village considered them as good as married and it was sometimes hard to remember that according to the outside world, they weren't. Elizabeth's nightmares became less frequent and finally stopped after John had felt their child kick the first time.
But always in the back of their minds was that eventually, they were going to return to the outside world, and the IOA was going to be less than pleased with the months they'd spent playing house.
Unlike months earlier, Elizabeth was now determined to meet them head on and fight for what she had and all she wanted to keep. John was relieved to see Elizabeth's fire return, but concerned about the beast that continued to plague the village.
Six months after Elizabeth had insisted on taking a close look at the ancient writings through the portal and John had insisted on accompanying her, Teer came to them.
She explained she'd seen the future, and in the future, John would be the one to help them all ascend. Teer also revealed their friends had crossed the barrier and the beast was going to attack them. Both had risen, but John had pinned Elizabeth to the spot with his eyes, forbidding her to go and daring her to try. Their wills clashed but finally Elizabeth realized she couldn't go. He left at a dead run, her parting kiss burning on his lips.
Carson, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon had been grateful to see John when he burst onto the scene, coming to their aid. He'd quickly assured them that Elizabeth was safe, but that he'd told her to stay back at the village.
Then they'd told him the most amazing thing, He and Elizabeth had only been gone a few hours. Rodney had explained something about a time-dilation field. John's mind was reeling from the implications when the beast roared again. The small group clumped together, ready to make their stand when Elizabeth had called out to him.
John had been furious with her, until he was the rest of the villagers also coming out of the woods, finally facing their fears like he'd been telling them to do. When they caught sight of Elizabeth, Rodney had babbled, Carson had been shocked speechless, Ronon had smirked and Teyla had smiled.
The beat had been vanquished and the Villagers had begun to ascend. Teer had offered Ascension to John, but he'd declined, knowing that wasn't for him. At least not yet. Then she'd gone and John had folded Elizabeth in a hug. Her eyes were watery but they could finally go home. John let Carson fuss over Elizabeth, and only then realized, she didn't yet know they'd only been gone a few hours.
*****
II
-"It's an epidemic!"-
The chevrons on the 'gate began to activate, sounding alarms in Atlantis' control room. Elizabeth looked up from her computer with a frown. All their teams were in. She checked her watch and quickly deduced that it was a bit early for the SGC to call. Atlantis was, in what Rodney had assured her was a rare coincidence, approximately in the Eastern timezone. The Athosians were weeks away from their harvest and they weren't expecting contact from any of their trading partners. With a mental shrug Elizabeth rose and joined the technicians.
The wormhole stabilized and Elizabeth was surprised to hear General Landry's voice come in over the radio. Chuck made the connection quickly and within a moment she was in a video conference with the General.
"General Landry, what can I do for you?" Elizabeth asked politely, searching the man's face for signs of danger. He looked a little shell shocked and she suddenly knew that her quiet morning was about to be ruined.
"We have a medical situation here at the SGC," the General told her. His cheeks colored slightly but his expression remained so professional Elizabeth wasn't sure she wasn't seeing an artifact of the video link. "We're contacting you because Dr. Lam is fairly certain you've been effected as well."
"Okay," Elizabeth nodded, "What can we do?"
General Landry moved aside and Dr. Lam stepped into the video pickup. She looked tired, but her voice was strong as she spoke with Elizabeth. "I need to speak with Dr. Keller," she told Elizabeth. "There's been a problem with some of the medical supplies we've sent to you. This matter needs to be addressed immediately before it snowballs like it has here."
"Oh?" Elizabeth lifted a brow, inviting further commentary. Lam shook her head slightly.
"I need to speak with Dr. Keller," Lam insisted. Elizabeth nodded and soon the call was transferred to Keller's office. Chuck removed the command center from the circuit.
Elizabeth paced around the area for a few minutes. When it was obvious the conversation Lam and Keller were having was going to take awhile, she retreated to her office. Standing around the command center would only make people more nervous and her office was close enough she would be on hand if they needed to speak with her again.
Twenty minutes later the wormhole closed down. Twenty-five minutes later Dr. Jennifer Keller arrived at Elizabeth's door, computer in hand, cheeks red. An hour after the gate had activated, Elizabeth's whole world had changed fundamentally forever.
John found Elizabeth in her office around lunchtime. That wasn't unusual, but he'd been hearing odd rumors since that morning. He'd heard from Lorne who'd heard from Cadman who'd heard from Dr. Esposito who'd heard from Dr. Zelenka who had heard from either Chuck or Dr. Lee, John wasn't sure, that there had been a rather long conversation between the SGC and Keller.
The betting had begun about five minutes after the 'gate had shut down and no-one had heard anything else. Odds were currently favoring some really nasty Ori plague but earlier in the morning, they'd been on everything from an outbreak of the flu to alien body-snatchers. Lorne had put his money on Zombies and John and he had spent the next hour or so explaining "Zombies" to Ronon. Teyla had rolled her eyes five minutes into the conversation and had wandered off. John hadn't seen her since. Actually, a lot of the women seemed to have disappeared, he realized.
John wandered into Elizabeth's office, hands stuffed in his BDU pockets and hung by the door, waiting for her to acknowledge him. She was staring at her computer screen, idly twirling the stylus in her right hand. John waited a bit longer then finally cleared his throat. The pen skittered across her desk as Elizabeth jumped in her seat.
John lunged forward but missed catching the stylus by inches. Chuckling to himself he fetched the object from under the seat across from her. "Sorry about that," he apologized "I didn't mean to scare you like that."
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were there," Elizabeth said as she accepted the implement from him.
"Bad news from Earth?" he asked seriously.
Elizabeth's expression was inscrutable. John wondered what could be so bad that she was using her diplomatic game-face with him. "Close the door," she asked softly as her eyes drifted back to her computer.
John nodded and touched the door controls to her office he sat in the chair across from her and waited while she tapped something else out on her computer. She sighed and set the stylus in its little holder and rubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes. Elizabeth sighed and slumped in her chair, giving him a rueful smile.
John gulped. It was always a bad sign when Elizabeth slumped in her seat. It meant she'd given up on something. It happened rarely enough that he'd taken notice. Though her smile was a different twist. Normally that didn't accompany the Slump of Doom.
"Elizabeth? Should I be concerned?" he asked warily, "because you're kinda freaking me out here."
Her answer was a short giggle he had no idea how to interpret.
Elizabeth sighed and began to explain. There was no sense in holding it off. What was done was done. "We got a call from the SGC this morning."
"So I heard," John said.
Elizabeth nodded, continuing. "It appears we have a medical epidemic on our hands," Elizabeth said, voice laced with irony John didn't understand. "As you know, we get all our medical supplies from Earth via the SGC."
"Right," John said.
"Well, apparently Dr. Lam noticed an interesting pattern in a number of the female staff there. She investigated further and found not only the root of the problem, but that it most likely will effect us as well."
"Well, she found the problem. That's good right?" John asked. Elizabeth was being evasive which made him anxious.
Elizabeth half shrugged. "Well it's going to be a problem when a quarter of their female staff goes on maternity leave," Elizabeth told him.
John blinked, then smirked. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped, his jaw snapping shut. "We're going to have one too, aren't we?"
Elizabeth nodded. "It might even be worse for us," she said softly, eyes fixed someplace in space to the left of his shoulder. "Only about half of the women at the SGC get the three month birth control shots. It's closer to 80% for the women here." She shrugged, "it was more convenient for most of us than the pill or even the patch. Something happened on the manufacturer's end with the batches the SGC, and therefore we, got."
"So, uhm, do we know how many women we're talking about? I don't mean name names, but," John trailed off with a shrug. He chuckled, "It's almost funny, you know?"
"Ten so far," Elizabeth said.
"Wow, that's" John began to say.
"That includes me," Elizabeth interrupted.
"Really so- What?" John gaped at her. "Really? You're not pulling my leg?"
"Really. I had Jenn check me first after she debriefed me," Elizabeth told him.
He grinned then schooled his features. "Uhm. Wow. So." He frowned at the floor then arched a quizzical brow in her direction. "Can I be excited?" he asked. She could hear a non-verbal "please?" at the end of his question.
The numbness she'd felt since Jennifer had told her finally broke. Her breath hitched as she tried to say something, but she knew if she said anything she was going to cry and she did not want to cry. Finally she just settled for a tiny nod.
He was out of his chair and putting his arms around her in an instant. She clung to him and buried her face into his shoulder. She'd known he would be happy. She'd thought he would be, but a tiny, doubting part of her had been whispering to her since her walk back to her office.
It was probably a horrible time, and no doubt their bosses would be pissed but she didn't care. It was unexpected but she found it wasn't unwelcome. It was about the size of a grain of rice and she already loved it because it was theirs, and everyone else and their opinions be damned. But she didn't know what she would have done if he'd rejected her- them. The little voice had been torturing her all morning, telling her she was another conquest and that he'd run from them. She felt drained from fighting with it.
"This is a good thing, right?" John asked hesitantly and Elizabeth realized she'd begun to cry. She laughed, finally free of her demons, at least for now.
"Yes," she told him. He relaxed and held her while she calmed down. Finally she got control of herself and wiped her eyes.
John sat back on his heels and grinned up at her. "So," he asked mischievously, "who else?"
She smiled serenely down at him and shook her head, laughing when he overdid the pout. It wasn't her place to tell him anyone else's news. She would however, have to see if she could arrange to be around when Teyla and Rodney told the rest of their team.
*****
III
- The Game -
Major Evan Lorne was surprised to see Radek Zelenka had also been called to Dr. Weir's office. She'd sounded more pissed than he'd ever heard her sound before, and Radek was usually very careful to always remain on Elizabeth's good side. The Czech scientists met his eyes sheepishly. Apparently he knew, or at least suspected, why they'd been called.
"What's this all about Radek?" Lorne asked as he stood next to Radek on the catwalk. Dr. Weir's office door was closed and the glass was currently the frosted for privacy.
"Is about our game," Radek told the Airforce Officer.
"The game? What ga- wait, the game? The one we said we'd never tell anyone about?" Evan asked in a low voice.
Radek nodded miserably. "Yes. She is very angry."
The door to her office opened and Colonel Sheppard appeared in the doorway. He glared at both men
"Inside!" he ordered with a sharp motion. Lorne snapped to attention and double-timed it into Weir's office. He had rarely seen Sheppard so infuriated. I was frightening to have that anger focused on him. Radek meekly followed but was no less slow.
The two men sat in the chairs across from Elizabeth's desk and waited for her to speak. Behind them, Sheppard paced back and forth angrily.
"Elizabeth, whatev-" Radek began but was cut off by Elizabeth.
"Quiet."
Lorne sat at attention. As terrifying as Sheppard was, Elizabeth's cold fury was worse. She glared at them both, jaw set and lips in a firmly compressed line.
"I told you not to play that game," she began. Evan's blood ran cold. Radek gulped and swore the sound echoed in the too-quiet room. "I explicitly ordered you not to play with it, but you deliberately disobeyed me."
She turned her computer around and Evan would see the same simulation on the screen. He gulped as he recognized the four of them sitting in her office. Well, the four avatars of them in the Atlantis Simulation of the game. Evan frowned. He'd been sure he'd left Sheppard and Weir's avatars in their room the last time he'd played, a few weeks ago.
Beside Evan, Rdaek groaned and began swearing in Czech.
"Major Lorne doesn't seem to get it at the moment," John said, startling both men. They hadn't heard him move until he was right between their seats. "Explain it to him, Radek," John sneered and retreated back to the far corner of Elizabeth's office.
"Is not simulation of Atlantis," Radek said. Dawning comprehension bloomed on Evan's face.
"It's real?" Evan asked, horror forming in the pit of his stomach.
"It is very real, Major," Elizabeth said, her voice dripping with venom.
Evan closed his eyes in shame. "So we've been manipulating people?" he asked in a small voice.
"Its seems that's the case," Elizabeth informed him.
"We thought it was like Sims game on Earth. Avatars were just like people here," Radek told her.
"We didn't think that the game would have any effect on the actual people," Evan explained miserably. "We thought it was just a simulation. I mean when we saw you and Colonel Sheppard together we, er, well," Evan's voice trailed off as he met Elizabeth's furious glare.
"My god," Radek said beside him.
"What?" Evan asked.
"You remember last simulation?" Radek asked him.
"Y-Yes?" Evan said, trying to remember if they'd done anything silly. Suddenly it dawned on them. There'd been a button on the interface they hadn't seen before. He and Radek had decided to push it to see what it did. Well, they sort of had an idea. The icon had kinda looked like a kid and the two men had snickered at the thought of their expedition leaders reproducing. They'd pushed the button, then the Weir and Sheppard avatars had- "Oh, God!"
Elizabeth's smile was tight. "Thanks to you two, my birth control failed."
"So you're-?" Radek gestured in the air, vaguely.
Elizabeth nodded once, eyes still flinty. Radek winced.
"Congratulations?" he offered. Her replying smile was less than pleasant.
"Well, "Lorne said to Radek, "I'm glad you didn't let me play this sim like I used to play Oregon Trail when I was a kid. We'd all be dead of dysentery."
Radek forgot to be afraid and turned to his fellow prisoner. "Did you ford or float your wagon?"
"Gentlemen!" Elizabeth snapped. "I want to know exactly what you two have been doing, and I want to know now," Elizabeth said. Sheppard had stalked over and stood behind their chairs, looming. The two men exchanged a frightened glance and nodded.
*****
IV
- Echoes -
Elizabeth returned to consciousness slowly. She groaned, the sound vibrated her vocal chords, but she couldn't hear her own voice. In fact, Elizabeth couldn't hear anything. She gasped in panic for a moment, then jumped again when a gentle hand landed on her shoulder.
Elizabeth jerked away from the hand on reflex. She felt silly when she realized it was Carson standing next to her. Her racing heart calmed as she remembered what had happened to Rodney and John. Likely her eardrums had burst and she'd be unable to hear for awhile. She sighed and waved warily to Carson.
Carson held up a finger and retrieved a notepad from another bed, and a pen. He scribbled something on the surface. And held it up for her to read. "Your hearing should return. Other than that, how are you feeling?"
She shrugged, pointed at her ears and made a face. He chuckled and handed her the pad and pen. "I take it we were able to solve our problem with the solar prominence?" she asked. "How is everyone?" she asked. She was worried about John, since he wasn't here. She hoped he was tending to the city while she'd been unconscious and wasn't back on an infirmary bed. She was also worried over Teyla had been doing very poorly. Elizabeth desperately hoped no one had died while she'd been out.
Carson took the pad back and nodded. He scribbled something else down then held it up for her to read. "We were able to stop the planet from being destroyed. John will want to brief you on the details I'm sure."
Elizabeth nodded and reached for the notepad but Carson ripped off a corner of a new page and wrote something else. He handed her the paper.
"Did you know you were pregnant?" she read on the paper. She gasped and stared at it in disbelief.
"What?" she asked, then clamped a hand on her mouth. She looked around the infirmary, sure everyone had heard her outburst and were going to come running. She looked up at Carson with wide eyes and shook her head "no". She hadn't known. She'd been feeling fine. They'd been responsible. The stress of her life meant her cycle wasn't regular. There had been no indication she should even suspect. She made a small desperate sound, but couldn't hear it. Carson wrapped an arm around her shoulder and drew her in for a hug.
Carson had suspected she hadn't known. She was shaking but she wasn't crying. He allowed her a moment to collect herself, offering silent comfort. He thought he knew who the father was, but he wasn't going to mention names unless Elizabeth did.
Elizabeth tugged on Carson's sleeve urgently. Her mouth opened but she stopped herself before she spoke. She wanted to say something but she didn't want to shout for the whole infirmary to hear. Carson seemed to understand her dilemma and handed the pen and paper back. To her.
"Is it ok?" she wrote. Carson nodded. As far as he had been able to determine, everything was still fine. Only he, and one of his most discreet nurses knew aside from Elizabeth. "Don't tell anyone yet?" she asked him.
"I won't, but it will be obvious after awhile." Carson wrote back. She nodded and swallowed, taking in a shaky breath. He sighed and added to the pad "You should tell him. He's going to be happy." She sniffed once. Tears finally falling down her cheeks. She folded the small piece of paper in one hand and lay back on the bed, curling up on her side. Carson squeezed her shoulder and left her alone.
Hours later, Elizabeth was back in her office. She'd tucked the scrap of paper into her pants when she'd left the infirmary. Now she sat at her desk, pretending to work.
She took out the paper, looked at it, folded it, opened it, then folded it again and again. Elizabeth knew Carson was correct. John would probably be happy. Well, she hoped he would be. Elizabeth didn't know what she was feeling.
She had to tell John but she wasn't sure how. It wasn't something they'd discussed or planned for. She felt stupid that they hadn't discussed it. She'd discussed such things with Simon before going to bed with him. She sighed ruefully. Everything about John Sheppard created chaos in her neatly ordered life. She should have hated him for it, but she loved him instead.
The object of her thoughts dropped into the chair across from her. Startled, she yelped and clutched the small scrap of paper. John looked at her curiously and placed a hand on hers, in silent apology for making her jump.
She smiled ruefully and willed the tears she was feeling back.
John saw through her and scooted to the edge of his chair, resting both elbows on the desk and capturing her hands in his own. Elizabeth briefly wondered how it would look to anyone outside her office, but a rueful laugh escaped as she realized that they wouldn't be fooling anyone for much longer.
John was really concerned now. He thought for a moment then made the "ok' sign with his hand and pointed to her then it, raising his eyebrows in question. Elizabeth sniffed and her hands shook.
Her eyes dropped to her desk as she processed her feelings. How did she really feel? Confused, mostly, she supposed. Was she ok?
John was frowning at her now with the look he got when he was about to haul someone, usually her, off to see Carson.
Elizabeth grabbed one of his hands and placed the small scrap of paper into it., folding his fingers around it. She sat back in her chair and waited for him to read the note Carson had written.
Elizabeth still couldn't hear, but John's slow grin spoke volumes she understood.
*****
V
-"…What?"-
"Rodney, I'm fine," John protested from somewhere in the infirmary.
"You fainted!" Rodney pointed out, torn between amusement and concern for his friend. Ronon's low chuckle carried across the room.
"I did not!" John protested. "I'm fine."
Elizabeth and Teyla paused at the door and exchanged an amused glance. Elizabeth could hear the pout in his voice. She'd been in her office when Rodney had called her, rambling something about John fainting in his lab, and couldn't he have done it in a more convenient place? But it was entirely not his fault since not of his experiments induced dizziness or fainting and Ronon was escorting him to the infirmary, and Rodney was sure john was okay, so could she please not hurt him?
Elizabeth and Teyla rounded the corner, following the voices and found John reclined on one of the infirmary beds. Rodney was hovering near the foot, his hands gestured wildly in the air as he paced. Ronon sat on the bed next to John's, legs idly kicking in the air. He offered the two women a welcoming smirk.
"Excuse me, but I'm the one who went to medical school. I'll tell you when you can get up.," Jennifer Keller replied, placing a hand on John's chest and pushing him back onto the bed with minimal effort. John stifled a groan as he squeezed his eyes shut.
Elizabeth's eyebrows knit together as she moved forward, gently moving the still ranting Rodney to one side so she could take John's hand. He looked a bit green and a little guilty. They'd planned to take the day off tomorrow together, but it looked like their plans were changing.
"Hey there," Elizabeth said, drawing gentle fingers through his unruly hair then down to the side of his face so she could cup his cheek.
"Hey- Ow!" John yelped as Jennifer drew some blood. "Some warning would be nice next time," he groused as she finished the quick, if somewhat painful procedure.
Jennifer clucked at him with a small headshake. "Don't be such a baby," she teased. She handed the sample off to one of the nurses. She swabbed the small wound with antiseptic, put a bandage on the cut and folded his arm up.
"What happened?" she asked John. Her thumb brushed the side of his cheek then dropped down to join her other hand in clasping his.
He shrugged minutely and let his head fall back onto the bed's pillow, eyes closed. "I don't know. One minute I was asking Rodney something about when Jumper seven will be ready to fly again, and the next minute it was like someone turned up the gravity." John scowled speculatively at Rodney. "You didn't turn up the gravity on me, did you?"
"What? No! Why would I do that? You were bothering me for an almost legitimate reason this time." Rodney retorted.
John rolled his eyes and was gearing up to reply, but moaned suddenly and sank back into the bed.
"John is obviously not well, we should allow him to rest," Teyla stated, placing a firm hand on Rodney's elbow. She began to lead him away, giving Ronon a stern look over her shoulder until he got the idea and hopped off the bed.
"Feel better soon, 'kay?" he said, clapping John's shoulder in a brotherly way. John's teammates left the couple alone, waiting for Keller to return with her preliminary test results.
"I'm sorry," John apologized. "I was really looking forward to having some time off, just you and me, the bed and that bottle of wine I managed to smuggle in." He sighed, "I finally get you to ok some time off for the both of us and I get sick."
Elizabeth smiled softly and squeezed his hand. "I'll just have to play nurse," she suggested playfully. John's replying look started as a lecherous leer, but turned into a pale, slightly terrified look as his stomach churned. Elizabeth looked around for Jennifer or one of the nurses or for something John could be sick in. She managed to force a spare bedpan into his hands with only moments to spare.
The sound of John retching brought the nurses to his side. Elizabeth stood back as they traded his bedpan for a more appropriate container and exchanged medical jargon in hushed tones.
When John's stomach had rid itself of his lunch and what little undigested breakfast it had once contained, the nurses helped him peel off his clothes and get into some infirmary scrubs. They gave him another container to be sick in and left them with reassurances that Dr. Keller would be back soon.
Elizabeth pulled over one of ubiquitous, the high stools in the Infirmary and rubbed small circles on John's back. He listed to one side and finally ended up with his head on her shoulder. Elizabeth wrapped an arm around his shoulders and drew her fingers through his hair. John made little unhappy whines as he tried to fight the nauseous feeling.
This was how Jennifer Keller found them ten minutes later when she returned. She watched them for a moment before clearing her throat when they didn't notice her.
"I got the test results," Jennifer said when she had their attention. She frowned at John and began explaining what had taken her so long "I ran them three times to be sure, but I always got the same result. Congratulations Colonel Sheppard, you're pregnant."
"What?" John and Elizabeth asked together, neither one believing what they'd heard.
"I want to get you under a scanner," Keller explained as she helped John off the bed. Elizabeth came around to his other side and helped him shuffle over to the scanner.
"Doc?" John asked, "Uhm, I'm not the expert, but last I checked I wasn't the one who," he paused, "you know," he finished lamely.
"Got knocked up?" Elizabeth supplied in a hushed tone, trying to get John to laugh. She need a bit of humor as well. The situation was, frankly, bizarre. "How did this happen?" she asked.
"I'm not even sure my results are accurate," Jennifer told her as she began the scan. She offered Elizabeth a wry look, "and honestly? Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Elizabeth shrugged helplessly, crossed her arms then uncrossed them then crossed them again. She was unsure what to do with herself while Keller scanned John. She settled for cupping her elbow with one hand and biting her knuckle lightly while she watched John.
The green light passed over his body, making him wince when it hit his face. "Find anything yet?" he asked. "Like, how you're completely wrong?"
~Fin
***
The final 5x has been turned into a full length piece entitled "Counterpart", and can be found on my LJ or FFN Profile.