A/N: I figured after whumping Major Lorne so bad in my last fic that he deserved a break/something good happening to him and I always wondered what Atlantis would be like if they had kids on it. That being said, I came up with a parenthood!fic...but I couldn't help but whump him a bit (I now know why so many people like to whump Shep...it's just so much fun). Anyhoo, this takes place during season three/four so there are spoilers and I vaguely refrence 'That Kind of Day' (my last Lorne whump fic) so you might want to jump over and read that. Standard Disclaimers for all chapters; Lorne, Carter, Shep, Beckett, ect. all belong to Cooper-Wright/MGM and are not mine (unfortunatly), Lyida belongs to BiteMeTechie, Crysta belongs to Nenya, Jason belongs to Reyclou, and I own Max. Read and please Review; seriously...tell me if I'm doing a bang-up job or...erm, not. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy watching Lorne deal with parenthood.
--
As they walked up the stairs towards the briefing room, Evan took Max's hand. "Everything's going to be fine." He assured her.
Max wasn't so sure, but realized that she needed to give them the benefit of doubt. Nervously smiling she asked, "Any regrets?"
"Nope."
"Me either."
Elizabeth saw them approach and motioned for them to enter. "Have a seat." She said, as they walked in.
Max couldn't help but glare at Woolsey, who sat with Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Beckett on one side of the room, as both she and Evan sat down on the opposite side.
They all sat in silence for a few minutes until Elizabeth, who was at the head of the table, spoke up. "While we expected this to happen eventually, given your situation, we uh...weren't expecting it to happen so soon."
"Well neither did we, I mean we talked about it…" Max replied, trailing off and a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
"Well…we're in uncharted territory here." Elizabeth said, in a neutral tone. "There are a number of things we need to consider."
"Such as?" Lorne asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, what the effects of Gate travel would be." Carson spoke up, training his eyes on the couple. "We're still not sure what could happen with Maxine going through the Gate as often as she does and while I don't see any problems occurring you never know."
"And there's the matter of your misbehavior." Woolsey spoke up, looking at them as well.
"What misbehavior? We got married on Earth, after the Ancients took back the city and after my contract was terminated." Max replied, looking at the IOA representative with a mixture of anger and confusion on her face. "So there shouldn't be any 'misbehavior' to consider."
"True," Elizabeth stated in diplomatic voice. "but you signed a new contract to continue teaching here and as a result your actions while on Earth need to be taken into consideration as well. I want you two to realize that you've put me in a very awkward position. I've had a handful of couples come to me about the possibility of starting families here and I've been very clear on the SGC policy about that. By making an exception for you is going to open a huge can of worms, one that we can't afford to deal with at the moment."
"We're far from the SGC and don't we do enough for Atlantis and Earth? Haven't we given up enough already?" Evan defended, realizing that Max's chances staying were becoming increasingly slim. "I've put the Air Force and my career ahead of everything else since I joined up but it wasn't until I came out here did I realize that life was too short to spend it alone." he continued, taking hold of Max's hand under the table and giving it a light squeeze. "Besides, we've been fairly quiet about the whole thing; we know that everyone else here can't have their spouses or families here with them and didn't want to flaunt it."
"And you haven't, but a few have come to either me or Doctor Weir expressing their concerns. There are also other things we need to consider; the biggest one being the Wraith." John said, looking at his second in command. "The Wraith threat is exactly why we can't have children in Atlantis."
"But the Wraith are exactly why we should have children here." Max argued, looking at Woolsey and then Elizabeth. "To show them that we're not afraid to continue living our lives despite the dangers around us. Besides don't you think that once the other worlds we visit see we have children here they'd be more inclined to trade and ally with us?"
"What about when the due date nears?" Woolsey asked, pointedly ignoring the question. Although he had instructions from the other members of the IOA not to let the teacher remain, he had to pretend to hear things out.
"Well," Max glanced at Lorne before continuing. "obviously it's going to be hard for me to go back and forth as it gets closer and I don't want to stay in the Athosian settlement while Evan stays here. I was assuming, hoping actually, that someone else would be brought in and then once I'm done with maternity leave I could go back with them staying since I've been asking for extra help for a while."
"Out of the question." Woolsey said, shaking his head. "The IOA only agreed to have one teacher here."
"That does sound like it would work but I don't think the Athosians would welcome another teacher from the Expedition." Elizabeth said, ignoring Woolsey's response. "I mean, it took them almost the entire time you were here until we left to gain their trust and I don't think that they'll be very happy about having someone else taking your place while you're on leave."
"Then we could get someone from the settlement to help out while I'm gone." Max replied, thinking fast. "There have been a number of Athosians who have asked about helping me. That way someone can replace me and then help out once I return, and it's someone that the Athosians know and trust to teach their children."
"And what about you Major?" Woolsey asked, his gaze sweeping over to the Major. "Can we trust that you're judgment won't be impaired while out in the field?"
Lorne bristled at the implication that the sentence meant and fought to control his anger; it wouldn't help their case if he lost his cool. "I assume you mean that if I'm off world while Max goes into labor would I drop everything to rush back." He leveled his gaze at the man across the table from him and continued, "When I'm out there the mission comes first and everything else after that."
Woolsey wasn't convinced. "You say that now, but what about when it happens?"
"I won't know until it does." Evan replied in a tight voice.
"What if Atlantis was under attack and you decided to make sure your family was out of harms way?"
"Max knows how to handle a gun and I'd stay where I was assigned to make sure whoever was attacking us wouldn't get through."
Elizabeth knew from the looks on both men that things were getting heated and she wanted to keep them from reaching boiling point. "This isn't something to consider lightly, and I think we all need to gain a little perspective." She said in a soothing tone. "True, having the Wraith present makes this a dangerous situation but Maxine doesn't go on missions all that often to begin with and I don't think that she'll be going on any in the near future. Also while it would be logical to have another teacher brought over while Maxine is on maternity leave, having one of the Athosians teach in her absence would be easier in the longer run not to mention it would be a huge step in improving relations with them."
"Don't tell me that you're agreeing with them, Doctor Weir." Woolsey sputtered, not liking the turn of events.
Elizabeth held up a hand while continuing, "I'm not agreeing with either side, I'm simply stating the facts. This isn't something that we can decide on with just one meeting."
Several days later...
"I hate all this waiting." Max said as she paced back and forth in their room.
"Relax; everything's going to be fine." Evan said from his seat on the couch although he wondered if it really was going to be.
Max just glowered at Evan and continued her pacing. "I don't see why they sent Woolsey since they've obviously made up their mind." Glancing out the window she wondered how much longer it would take. "I still think they're only doing this because I told them where to shove it when they asked me to report on stuff going on here."
"Not necessarily-"
"That's what you think." Max broke in, her already bad mood worsening.
Evan saw that he wasn't helping and decided to wisely keep his mouth shut; he didn't want to end up sleeping on the couch again.
After a few minutes of silence Evan's earpiece chirped, "Major?"
It was Doctor Weir.
He sat up and glanced at Max who had paused mid-stride. "Yes?"
"I need you and Maxine to come to my office right away."
"We're there." Lorne said, standing.
Max sighed, "Here we go."
All too soon they were walking into her office and sitting down across from the Expedition's leader. Max could feel her heart pounding in her chest and was getting the feeling that she would soon be Earth-side.
Elizabeth looked at the couple on the other side of her desk and didn't know if the decision that had been made would be good or bad for them. Giving them a nervous smile she said, "I know that you're anxious to know what decision has been made but I need to tell you a few things beforehand. First off, I want to let you know that it wasn't easy to reach one. We needed to consider the facts that were discussed earlier while also taking into account both of your records."
Max and Evan shifted slightly at the revelation of Elizabeth's last sentence. While Max hadn't done anything to marr her record, Evan had a number of infractions on his. None of them were truly serious, but they were on there just the same.
Elizabeth sensed their increased discomfort, "Woolsey brought them up but they had no bearing on mine or Colonel Sheppard's decision." She assured them. "There is also the fact that if we did send Maxine home then we would have to bring another teacher over or discontinue the school at the settlement. While I don't want either to happen it would be better if the Athosians had someone they know to teach their children while she's gone."
Evan shifted, wanting to know if Max was staying or leaving. "Can she stay or not?" he asked, his impatience getting the better of his restraint.
"I was just getting to that Major." Elizabeth said, the corner of her lips twitching in a slightly amused smile. "It took some convincing but with the President's and IOA's final approval Max can stay here."
"And what about the school?" Max asked, relieved that she wouldn't be leaving.
"It'll continue for the time being and if the rest of the IOA goes along with it then you can pick one of the Athosians to help you." Elizabeth said, noticing how both of the looked much more at ease then when they first arrived.
--
The next day Elizabeth heard a knock on the doorframe and looked up to see that it was Alex. Closing her laptop she motioned for Atlantis' head chef to come in. "Have a seat."
"You wanted to see me?" Alex asked once she was seated in front of the desk.
Elizabeth nodded, "I got the list of supplies from you the other day and noticed that there's more than normal. I was wondering why."
"Mind if I take a look?" Alex asked, reaching for the list. Elizabeth handed it to her and Alex quickly scanned it. Pointing to a number of items she said, "This stuff is for the shower." Her hand moved down. "And these are for the Major and Max; they want to store up some things ahead of time, just in case."
Elizabeth sighed, "I suppose we'll have to bump a few things to make room. Though the shower is going to be fun, because I know some of the personal requisitions are for baby gifts. Thank you Alex, that's all I wanted to know."
"It's going kablooie all of a sudden, isn't it?" Alex said as she set the list down on the desk.
"What do you mean?"
Alex shrugged, "Well, they've kinda opened the floodgates. I've overheard some other people talking marriage. And babies, though they're a little quieter about that-- more careful of being overheard. I'm thinking we may be seeing a lot of weddings in the near future and a lot of maternity leaves as well."
Elizabeth nodded, the realization hitting her. "Baby fever."