Extinction Event

Silver.

Moira Sheppard stared at the color as it filled her vision. Blinked. Realized she was staring at John's dog tags. She could make out his name on them, then a very long number with some letters. A silver chain amidst the dark, coarse hair of his chest. She pulled back from him, reluctant to leave the solid warmth of his body. The security of his arms as they reclined together in their bed.

She sat. Shoved her messy fall of hair behind her shoulders and stared round the room. Sunlight was beginning to infiltrate. Beams of scattered light striking the bed. The floor. The table where roses bloomed. Petals open in welcome. She wrapped the blankets around herself, tugging them from John's inert weight. "John? John!" She nudged, then pushed his bare arm.

John Sheppard snorted. Stirred at his wife's voice, her push. But not detecting anything wrong, no distress or urgency he kept his eyes closed. Snuggled into the bed. "Wha..." he mumbled, not bothering to complete the word.

"John, wake up! John!" She pushed again. Smirked. His dark brown hair was a wild mess against the white pillow. Long lashes sweeping down to perfect cheekbones. The angular planes of his handsome face at repose. A trace of stubble lining his jaw. Perfect lips set in a Cupid's bow, full and soft. Beckoning kisses. Nibbles. His bare arm was outside of the blankets. Strong muscles at rest. Dark hair lining his forearm. Strong hand snaking over to her to touch her thigh.

"Wha...no...ssh, baby," he muttered, fingers catching at the blankets at her thigh. He let the comfort of the bed enfold him. He drifted back to sleep.

"John!" She sighed. Leaned close and brushed her lips across his. "You need to get up, colonel. You need to see Elizabeth first thing and get this sorted. Before it becomes a problem, a–"

"No. Have you. Enough," he muttered, shifting. His hand sliding along her thigh.

"What? John? John!" She pushed. "Damn it, John, what does that mean? You have to go see Weir first thing! Before this disagreement becomes more than that! It will fester unless you take care of it ASAP! John!"

"Don't care, Moy." He opened one eye to blearily view her. Saw concern. Consternation. "Come back to bed, sweetheart. Ssh."

"John! Please! We can't leave things like this! Well, you can't! And avoiding the problem won't make it go away either."

"It might." He closed his eye.

"John! It won't! John!" She cursed, hit his shoulder.

"Ow!" He opened both eyes to view her. Saw frustration. He smiled. "Ah, baby, hush! Come back to bed, will you? Fuck...you look beautiful."

She frowned. "Hilarious, John! Move that fine, fine six of yours, colonel! Seriously, John, you have to fix this now! Swallow your male pride and your stubborn ego and make nice with Weir!" She sighed as he rolled onto his back. Silent. Seemingly ignoring her. "John, please! Look, I know you are upset. Angry, even. You, you shouldn't have had to shoot one of your men. I...I shouldn't have put you into that position. I should have been able to power down the lab, to let those men just take what they wanted and–"

"No." His voice was quiet. Low. So soft Moira almost didn't hear him. He opened his eyes to view her. "No, sweetheart. It's not your fault. Never. I'd do it again, Moy. If any man dares to put hands on you." He glanced at her abdomen, concealed by the blankets. "Dares to endanger you or my son. As for Weir...well...she's making decisions behind my back."

"She could say the same thing of you, John," she gently reminded. "Look, I know it's my fault, keeping that research off the main grid and not telling anyone about bio two, not even you, and trying to handle all of this plus the pregnancy and not even realizing how it's been on you and I'm sorry but you need to see–" The rest was swallowed in a long kiss as John pulled her down to him. His mouth capturing hers, tongue seeking, lips halting all speech.

"No. It's not your fault, Moira. Stop that right now, baby. All I want is to sleep, okay? With you. And John junior."

"John!" She freed herself, sat. "You need to–"

"No." He rolled onto his other side, away from her. Closed his eyes.

Moira sighed. Shook her head at his obstinacy. His protection, even now. Shielding her yet again. Taking the full brunt of the blame, the calumny. She leaned close, kissed his bare shoulder. "Fine, sweetie. You sleep. Stubborn soldier."

John smiled. "Soldier you married, doctor. Soldier who gave you that baby you're carrying. Soldier who gives you multiple orgasms every single–"

Moira laughed. "All right, colonel! Soldier who tries my patience every single time!" she retorted into his ear. He snorted a laugh. She kissed his throat. Caressed his arm. "Soldier who needs to move that fine, fine ass!" She smacked his rear.

"Hey! No." He rolled to look over his shoulder at her. "Unless you'd like one of those orgasms now, baby...then I'll–"

"No! John, you–"

"Sleep, then." He rolled back, settling comfortably.

Moira sighed. Kissed his cheek. She got out of the bed. Moved to the bathroom to clean up, to get dressed. To prepare.

Moira climbed the stairs. Finding them slightly awkward to maneuver as the baby bump was becoming a little larger. She closed the bulky blue sweater around her but it wasn't concealing her fuller figure as well as it had only days ago. She felt a hand on her elbow, gasped and almost drew away in alarm.

"Easy, Moira! You looked like you needed some help up the stairs," Evan Lorne offered.

"Oh. No, I don't!"she flared, pulling free. She climbed the stairs. "I can walk perfectly fine, thank you very much! I'm not an invalid!"

Evan smirked, following. "Okay, Moira, no need to bite my head off. Just trying to help. I should have known better. You can still see your feet, can't you?"

"Shut up! And yes," Moira snapped, causing Evan to laugh. She paused, staring at Elizabeth's office. The open door. The other woman sat at her desk, busily working on a computer. Expression serious.

"You need to go in there?" Evan asked quietly, standing beside her. "I wouldn't."

"Bad mood?" Moira asked softly.

"Yeah. Since breakfast. Is it important?"

"Yeah. Can't procrastinate any more."

"I can hear both of you," Elizabeth Weir called, looked up to see Evan and Moira standing near the open office door. She smiled as they exchanged a wry glance. "The door's open, as you can see. Wide open."

Moira crossed the threshold. She glanced back but Evan was descending the stairs, as in a tactical retreat. She smirked, grew serious. Turned back to see Elizabeth watching her. "May I?" she asked, indicating an empty chair.

"Of course, please! How are you feeling, Moira?"

Moira sat, shifted. Touched the baby bump under her sweater. "Okay. Sometimes I feel like a water balloon and it's only going to get worse!" Elizabeth laughed. "It's my feet. Is that weird? Out of everything it's my feet that are bothering me the most. I can't understand it."

"I'm sure that comes with the territory. How is the baby?"

"Fine. Carson says everything is fine with the baby. He's strong, healthy, and growing like he should." Moira paused, letting the small talk quietly fade. "I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize? What for?" Elizabeth asked, sensing the change in the other woman. The shift to more serious concerns. She set her work aside. Folded her hands on the table in front of her.

Moira glanced at the computer, back to Elizabeth. "For not telling you about bio two. About the research we were conducting there. It was inconsequential to any current missions but still you should have been informed. John didn't know anything about bio two until a few weeks ago."

"And yet he kept it from me as well," Elizabeth noted. A slight frown marring her features.

"Yes. But only to protect me, protect the research. It was more secure off the main grid. It wouldn't interfere with the day to day running of the city and its more vital systems."

"But look what happened, Moira. You activated a system, however inadvertently that you couldn't control. And John...he overreacted to the situation. He overreacts to every situation involving you, Moira. I mean he always has but now, now it has gotten worse! He shot a man!"

Moira sighed. Eyed her hands a moment. "I know. But you can't blame John."

"I can't? Would you like to tell me why?"

Moira met her gaze. "It's me. I have put John under tremendous pressure, without meaning to. Without even realizing it. I was so wrapped up in all of this. My research. The pregnancy. I didn't give a thought to how this was affecting John, and I should have."

"No one could blame you for that, Moira. After all, you're the one who is pregnant," Elizabeth soothed.

"No. I should have. John is under even more pressure now, but he won't admit it. He shields me from it, he protects me from everything and everyone. But sometimes he needs shielding too. Of course he won't admit it."

Elizabeth smiled. "What man would? Especially a man like John."

Moira nodded. "True. But he does."

"And that's why you're here now?"

"Yes. And to explain. I can't exculpate his actions, or excuse them. But I understand them. The way he sees things. Especially now. With being married and having a baby on the way. The added pressures of keeping the city secure and safe because of me now. Because of this baby. He locks everything down, as you know. He really won't talk to anyone, not even me sometimes. And where I'm concerned he sees things pretty much in black and white. More so now because of the baby. Suddenly he's vulnerable. There's a vulnerability in his life that wasn't there before, and I don't think he's quite sure how to adjust to that except through extremes of action and thought."

Elizabeth nodded. "I see. Yes, I can see that. It would help if he would share his concerns and his worries. Not lock them down, as you say. But as we both know he's not the kind of man to confide in anyone. Except in you."

"Yes." Moira shifted on the chair. "I just need you to cut him some slack. Maybe a lot at the moment. He'd never admit this to anyone but all of this...it's thrown him. And me... I haven't been much help either. It's thrown me too, and unfortunately he takes the brunt of my emotional storms and mood swings. Takes it in stride like he takes everything else, but I never stopped to consider how he was feeling, how he was dealing with all of this. With me, with the baby, with all of his responsibilities. So please...let's just move past all this, all right?"

Elizabeth considered. "I'm fine with that...but I do need to lay down some ground rules. No more secretive research. No more opening up new areas of the city unless I am notified first."

"Fair enough," Moira agreed. Knew there was more. Waited.

"My decisions on what missions we pursue are final. I can't have him running rogue missions across the galaxy, no matter what his agenda. I don't care what intel he has. He must clear all missions with me first."

"Fair enough...as long as you do the same," Moira countered.

"And all research, however insignificant it may appear crosses this desk before any decisions are made," Elizabeth insisted, tapping the desk for emphasis.

Moira nodded. "Fine. But it also needs to go through the department heads, of course."

"Of course." Elizabeth smiled. "I think we've reached an accord. What about John?"

"Oh, he'll agree. He's stubborn, but he'll see reason. That's why I'm talking to you instead of him. The last thing we need is him blustering and bullying over these misunderstandings."

"True. I'm glad we had this talk, Moira."

"Me too." Moira stood. "Now I really should be working in the bio lab. John had some footage to show me...some sort of creature?"

"Oh, yes. It's been transferred to the lab. I don't know what that thing is. John should have brought it back through the 'Gate, or at least taken samples." Her gaze fell to the baby bump under Moira's sweater. "But I guess he wouldn't do either of those things now."

"No," she agreed, "not even with a gentle push. Sorry. He probably won't budge on that either."

"I can understand why. Let me know what you make of it."