He rubbed her pregnant belly; a smile crossing both of their faces. She put her hand to his face and softly kissed him. She quickly fell asleep in his arms, soundly dreaming of their baby's future - of their futures.
Less than a day passed before their baby was born – a beautiful little girl – but there was a problem: neither the child nor its mother was breathing. The nurse took the girl and, with Rodney's help, miraculously brought her to life. The cry of the newborn rang strong throughout the infirmary of Atlantis.
"We have to bring her to Jennifer!" he exclaimed. "She's so beautiful! She looks intelligent too, I tell you, this one's got my brains."
The doctor, Carson Beckett, did his best, but Jennifer Keller would never see her baby. Her skin was already turning a pale shade of grey where once a light pink resided.
"I'm so sorry, Rodney. I did what I could," Carson choked out with a solemn tone.
Rodney ran over to his wife and laid his head on her chest, but he felt nothing. His eyes grew larger as he felt his stomach twist into a knot and his throat start to close.
"No," he whispered, tears welling up in his eyes. "Jennifer! No!" he shouted now, pounding his fist against her bed.
He held her hand to his face and stroked her messy blond hair. "Jennifer..." he whispered, trailing off.
***
The years passed and the questions arose: "Who was she, daddy? Was Mom pretty? Dad, what was she like?"
He never knew exactly how to answer, at least not without getting too emotional, and he didn't like his daughter to see him like that. Instead, he would usually just stutter a short reply that would satisfy her for the moment and shrink away into his room to mourn in silence.
It was harder some times more than others. He loved his baby girl, but sometimes to look at her broke his heart. She looked just like her mother; long blonde hair and sparkly hazel eyes. She was also just as caring, with such a strong desire to help people. Rodney expected from the time he found her taking the blood pressure of her doll and curing all of her Barbies' diseases when she was only three that she would follow in her mother's footsteps as a doctor.
It got a little easier with time, but still only rarely would a day pass when his daughter's smile wouldn't cause him to have to choke back tears. He couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if his wife were still alive. She would have been so proud of their little girl.
It broke his heart to think of how Jennifer would never see her daughter's beauty or her kindness or the straight-A progress report she brought home at every reporting period. He hated how she missed their daughter skipping four grades and her graduation from high school at the age of only thirteen, and her MD at twenty-three.
He hadn't been to Atlantis since he lost her. He didn't mention it to his little girl even once that he'd ever stepped on a land outside of North America, let alone another galaxy entirely. To her, traveling to Toronto was an adventure. She'd never think to imagine leaving the Milky Way.
He cut off all contact from all of his former teammates. He didn't want to speak to anyone who knew Jennifer, for fear he'd have to outwardly face her death. It was bad enough that the image of her lifeless figure would remain forever burned into his memory, but to have to relive it, that was just too much. So he'd started a new life with his baby and never spoke of his late wife.
He'd gotten himself a job as a high school physics teacher, a job which he knew he was over-qualified for, but for once, his ego had not gotten the better of him. He spent his life after Jennifer just going through the motions. Without her, it seemed nothing was worthwhile.
The years passed by in a blur for Rodney McKay, too quickly and too slowly at the same time. He never moved on after the death of Jennifer Keller. He tried to date a few times, but he couldn't do it. She meant too much to him. His loved for her ran too deeply through his veins.