A/N: Sorry about the holder page. I have no frikkin clue what happened. Hopefully the correct chapter uploads this time (note: if you can see this page, it worked)

Disclaimer: I don't own this, etc

A/N: This story occurs somewhere after Trinity in Season 2. Contains spoilers for Sanctuary and Trinity.

oOo

Miracle Baby

Chapter 1

They stood in stunned silence staring at what was left of the town. The buildings were all still standing, although there was some scorching from fire. Everywhere they looked was evidence of people leaving in a hurry: the kind of hurry where you dropped what you were holding and ran so hard that if your shoes fell off, you didn't notice and kept going. The kind of hurry where you kicked over cooking pots, tripped over pets, and didn't notice or care of you kicked coals into your walls and set your home on fire.

"The Wraith were here," Teyla said finally, breaking the spell. It was an obvious statement, but someone had to make it so they could go on and do what needed to be done.

"Looks like it," Sheppard agreed glumly, still surveying the town. "They're gone, though, right?" He glanced at Teyla, relaxing slightly when she nodded.

"Yes. I do not sense their presence here."

"Doesn't look like anybody's home," Ronon observed. He was right. There was no sign of inhabitance. It wasn't really surprising that the survivors of the culling would want to leave their devastated village and the memories it contained. What was surprising that they wouldn't have returned for any of their belongings.

"Pretty thorough culling," Sheppard said grimly, peering into a few doorways. "Picking up any life signs?" He asked McKay, who had the detector out.

McKay shook his head grimly. "Not much. Oh wait!"

"What?"

McKay pointed to one of the buildings. "I'm getting one from there. Of course, it's equally likely to be a person, a bird, or this world's equivalent of a dog…" He trailed off as he noticed that the others were already heading to where he had indicated. "Careful!" he called after them. "It could be dangerous."

Sheppard turned to glance back, flicking his gaze meaningfully to the P-90 he was holding at the ready. "I think I can handle it, McKay. You coming?"

McKay rolled his eyes and followed his team towards the cottage with the life sign.

Sheppard went in first, flicking his gaze around the room. A soft cooing sound made him turn, as he discovered the source of the life sign. He lowered his weapon and went in for a closer look.

Bright hazel eyes gazed up to meet his own. A cherubic face surrounded by blond curls broke into a grin, and the baby cooed at him happily. "It's…a baby," Ronon said softly, peering over his shoulder.

Sheppard reached down, and the baby grabbed his finger. He smiled involuntarily. "But…why would they have left it?"

"You mean the villagers, or the Wraith?" McKay asked, coming to stand next to him. He was also looking down at the baby, but his gaze was more speculative than charmed.

"I do not believe anyone in the village survived the culling," Teyla said softly. She walked around the bassinet and reached down, gently picking up the baby without dislodging its grip from Sheppard's finger.

"So what then? They just…missed one?" Sheppard asked. "Culled everything but the kid?"

Teyla shrugged, not bothering to raise her gaze from the tiny, rosy face. "It would appear so."

Sheppard grinned, petting the curly head. "So you're a miracle baby, then!" he told it happily.

McKay rolled his eyes. "So if we're done naming it," he said impatiently, "I suggest we try to figure out what it's doing here."

Sheppard gave him a look. "Surviving as best it can until an adult finds it?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean," McKay said, waving a hand to indicate the baby, the bassinet, the house, and the village, "doesn't this all seem a little bit…contrived to you?"

"Rodney, what are you talking about?" Sheppard asked, confusion plain on his features.

McKay rolled his eyes and started ticking things off on his fingers. "I think I've seen this movie. Ok, one: everyone in the village was taken, except Wonder Baby there. Why leave one? Why wouldn't they either take all the infants, or none?"

"Well—" Sheppard started, but McKay held up a hand and kept going.

"Two: it looks like it's been a couple of days since the Wraith were here. There are no fires, and no smoke, so the fires are long dead. But the baby seems perfectly happy and healthy, which I would not expect from an infant left for more than a day by itself."

Teyla, Sheppard, and Ronon turned their eyes to the baby. That was a point. It did look pretty happy. Teyla shifted her grip so she could touch its face. "I believe he is running a fever," she said hesitantly. "I did not notice before, but his face is warm. Perhaps he is too disoriented to be hungry or scared?"

Sheppard took a step back. "And it smells like he's pretty ripe," he added. "Like you'd expect from a baby left for a couple days," he said, looking meaningfully at McKay.

McKay frowned. "Ok, fine. I just don't like it."

"My god, McKay!" Sheppard snapped, losing patience. "How much of a cynic do you have to be to be suspicious of a baby?"

McKay huffed and looked away. "Fine, don't believe me. I just have a bad feeling about it."

"You have a feeling? Is your astrophysicist sense tingling?"

"Mock me all you want. But when it ends up strangling you in your sleep, don't come crying to me!" McKay turned on his heel and stomped out of the cottage.

Teyla was frowning. "I do not understand why he is so distrustful."

Sheppard shrugged. "That's just Rodney. Come on. We're not going to do any more good here, and we have to get this little guy back to Beckett."

They trooped back out after McKay, Ronon taking up position in the rear, Teyla in the middle with the baby, and Sheppard in the lead. His hand went unconsciously to his weapon, even though he doubted there was any threat here. No life signs in the village, and according to Teyla, no Wraith on the planet. They found McKay idly kicking at the coals from a dead fire.

"I suppose you'll want to take it with us," he said dully, looking at the bundle in Teyla's arms.

"Oh for the love of—" Sheppard snapped. "Yes, McKay, we want to take it with us! What would you have us do, leave it here do die? What he hell is wrong with you?"

McKay had the grace to look embarrassed. "I know it sounds stupid. But it just seems off to me."

Sheppard snorted, eyebrow cocked with seeming amusement, but his eyes were still annoyed. "Intuition? From you?"

McKay threw up his hands in exasperation. "What is with you people? Why the hell am I not allowed to have intuition?" He whirled and started walking briskly back to the Stargate. "Fine. Ignore the genius. You generally do." He called over his shoulder.

Teyla followed at a slower pace, talking softly to the baby. Ronon followed her, eyes and ears alert to the possibility of danger. Sheppard fell back to the rear, still annoyed with McKay. Annoyed, and somewhat confused.

They caught up to McKay just as he finished dialing the gate. It whooshed open, and Sheppard entered his IDC. "Back so soon?" the gate tech's voice called over the radio. "Everything ok?"

"We're good," Sheppard responded. "Long story."

"Come on through," the tech said.

They did, and in moments they stood in the Gate room as the wormhole closed behind them. Weir was already heading down the stairs to meet them, looking slightly concerned. She came up short when she saw what Teyla was holding. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked uncertainly, looking between Teyla and Sheppard.

Sheppard grinned. "Sure is."

Weir came in closer, and was immediately transformed from the leader of Atlantis to a woman who was looking at a cute baby. "Oh," she breathed. "He's beautiful."

McKay rolled his eyes, but at a sharp look from Sheppard, managed to hold his tongue. Ronon looked vaguely uncomfortable with the women and the baby. Sheppard grinned at them.

"What happened?" Weir asked, looking up at Sheppard.

His smiled dropped. "The Lasorian village was completely wiped out by Wraith a couple days ago, from the look of it. The little guy was overlooked."

"Or something," McKay muttered. Sheppard shot him a look.

"You should get him to the infirmary," Weir said, concerned. "He must be dehydrated and exhausted."

"Does he look dehydrated and exhausted?" Rodney asked her. Sheppard and Teyla both scowled at him, but he ignored them. "I mean, look at him, Elizabeth! Does he look like he's been abandoned for days?"

Weir gave McKay a confused look, then looked back at the baby. He was regarding her with half-closed eyes. He looked rather peaceful, but his face was slightly flushed. And he did look sick. "Well…yes," she said finally, looking back up.

McKay looked at her, at Sheppard, and then at the baby. "He looked…better before," he started.

"Ok, that's it!" Sheppard snarled. "Rodney, I know you don't like kids, but you're taking this thing too far! You can't possibly believe that a baby is anything dangerous, and until we have something other than your intuition to rely on, why don't you just keep your opinions to yourself!" He stopped when he realized he had gotten rather loud, and every ear in the Gate room was on him.

McKay looked at him, white-faced and speechless with rage, then wordlessly stalked out of the room, door whooshing shut behind him softly, although the implied slamming was there.

Sheppard looked around, avoiding eye contact. "Uh," he said lamely. "Let's go to the infirmary, then, shall we?"

Teyla and Ronon started off at his suggestion. He started to follow, when Weir's hand on his arm stopped him. "Sheppard."

He stopped and looked at her. " Elizabeth?"

"I'd like to have a word before you go."

Sheppard swallowed, looking at her calm demeanor and her stormy eyes. He waved to Teyla. "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up." He followed Weir to her office.

As soon as her door shut, she let the anger show on her face. "John," she said, keeping her voice calm with an effort, "No matter what your personal opinion of Rodney's comments may be, it's entirely unprofessional to dress him down in public like that!"

"Which is why you're dressing me down in private now," Sheppard said, using sarcasm to mask his guilt.

Weir chose to ignore it. "While I agree with you that his distrust of the baby is somewhat over reactive, do you really believe it was a large enough transgression to embarrass him like that in front of his subordinates? And yours? And in front of me?"

Sheppard gritted his teeth. "No, probably not," he ground out.

Weir raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And I'll apologize to him once he's calmed down," Sheppard managed, in the tone of a chastised teenager.

Weir's lip quirked despite herself. "That's all I ask. That, and try to be more professional in the future. I'll talk to Rodney as well about being so…vocal with his doubts," she added, apparently well aware that Sheppard wasn't the only one who had crossed a line.

She dismissed Sheppard, who wandered in the direction of the infirmary, carefully avoiding any of the places McKay might be. By the time he arrived, Beckett had apparently finished his examination of the baby. He was lying asleep on a bed, Teyla perched beside him, and with an IV in his arm. Sheppard winced when he saw that. "How is he, Doc?" he asked, stroking a blond curl from the sleeping infant's forehead.

Beckett smiled down at the sleeping form. "He'll be fine. He was messy, o' course, and dehydrated. Running a fever. Hungry too, once I got him settled."

"So basically, like you'd expect for having been alone for a couple days, right?" Sheppard asked, ignoring Teyla's raised eyebrow.

"Aye," Beckett agreed. "Lucky little tyke. I hear you've taken to calling 'im 'Miracle.'"

Sheppard shrugged. "Well, without Ford to name things, we had to call him something."

"Aye, that's right enough," Beckett said. "I guess he's ours to name and keep now." He looked up at Teyla, who was looking a lot like a protective mother.

She met his gaze. "I would be happy to help care for him," she said in answer to the unasked question.

"Me too," Sheppard agreed, surprising himself.

Beckett smiled at him approvingly. "He has your eyes, you know."

"He—my—what?" Sheppard sputtered, causing Teyla to smile in amusement and Ronon to chuckle from his position by the door.

Beckett grinned. "His eyes are the same color as yours. Although that's unusual, actually."

"What, hazel eyes?" Sheppard asked, hoping his slight flush wasn't showing.

"Well, as you probably know," Beckett said, launching into Lecture Mode, "Caucasian babys' eyes are usually blue or gray at birth. This little guy's only a few months old, from all appearances, and so for him, yes, hazel is very unusual."

"Must be a Pegasus galaxy thing," Sheppard said dismissively.

"Many Athosian babies are born with brown eyes," Teyla agreed. "But not the blond ones, usually."

"In any event, I'm sure it's perfectly normal for a baby Lasorian."

"And now he's the last Lasorian," Ronon commented from the doorway. "The last of his people."

Teyla gave him a sympathetic look. Except for a handful of his people, only recently discovered, Ronon was the last of his kind as well. "He has a family here, now, and a people," she said gently.

Ronon looked up and met her gaze, looking uncomfortable but pleased. He shifted from his position by the door to get a better view of the baby. "So is he going to stay in Atlantis?"

"As compared to what?" Sheppard said, putting a hand protectively on the baby's stomach.

"As compared to getting adopted by, say, an Athosian," Ronon explained patiently.

"Oh," Sheppard said, relaxing. His hand didn't leave the baby, though. "I…don't know. I guess it's up to Elizabeth."

"But not something any of us have to deal with tonight," Beckett said. "I suggest you get some sleep. I need to fix up a crib, so the wee bairn doesn't fall off the bed. Teyla, love, if you'd be so kind as to keep an eye on him while I do that?"

Teyla smiled. "I would be happy to." Sheppard and Ronon, dismissed, headed off together to get something to eat, secure in the knowledge that the baby couldn't be in better hands.