When it all began

Lorne was scouting the terrain, while Zelenka and a few scientists were examining a strange energy reading on the planet that had been labelled safe a few weeks before.

Everything was going good… well, until one of the scientists started shouting in the radio to run and hide followed by gunshots in the background. "There's a beast coming fast at us!!!" Zelenka cried in the radio-communicators.

"10-4!" Lorne said and immediately ran in the direction where he heard P-90 gunshots.

Arriving on the spot, he assessed the situation: Zelenka on the ground, panting but in a non-critical state; two marines with their P-90 ready to shoot again if anything moved; something on the ground, that looked like a cross between a wolf and a buffalo, which was bleeding profusely and looking rather dead; a little boy crying… wait what?!

Lorne frowned and signalled to his men to lower their weapon, since the beast was obviously not going anywhere. He helped Zelenka to get up and went to the crying little boy and knelt beside him. "Hey there," he started, with a soft voice, "what are you doing here all by yourself?"

Hiccupping, the child dried his eyes with his sleeve and sniffed: "I don' know… my daddy was talking 'bout a door and… war and… another universe… it opened and then he pushed me and BANG!" he mimicked the impact with his stubby arms. "There was light and I was in a forest…" he frowned, not really knowing what had happened. He turned and pointed at the dead animal: "and that thing!!! It was running at me!"

Lorne rose an eyebrow and looked at the marines, then shifting back his gaze to the boy: "So… you don't know how you got here, right?" A quick nod was the only answer he got. "Don't worry, we'll get you back home" he falsely promised. He had no idea why or how the child got on the planet. He wasn't wearing clothes like the people on the planet wore; after thinking about it, he looked like he was from Earth or something.

Giving orders to pack the stuff; they were all going back to Atlantis; they couldn't continue with that child around, nor could they leave him there. Maybe they would find answers by going back.

Offering the little boy his hand, which he took, they all went through the gate.

(---)

An hour later, at the infirmary, Carson was just finishing clearing the team when Elizabeth entered.

"So, who's that little person major Lorne and doctor Zelenka brought back?"

Carson smiled and pointed at one of the beds farther in the infirmary. "That little guy is quite the show!" he laughed. Signing the last form, he bid goodbye to one of the scientist who sprained an ankle while trying to run away from the beast.

Elizabeth thanked Carson and went to see the boy, who was sitting on a bed, swinging his little legs while licking a lollipop. "Hi there, my name is Elizabeth. What's yours?" she asked, thinking of a way to approach him without scaring him.

"My name is Alexander. Nice to meet you, miss Elizabeth!" he smiled at her.

She sat on the chair beside the bed. "So, where are your parents, Alexander?" she started to ask, but she was interrupted by the radio-comm.

"Stargate activated, incoming is team SGA-1 and one wounded, ma'am."

She tapped her radio, "Deactivate the shield. I am at the infirmary and on my way to the control room. I am sending a medical team for the injured."

"Roger that."

Elizabeth got up and she didn't even have to say a word that Carson had already sent a team. She turned to Alexander and smiled: "Don't move, I'll be right back." She quickly got out of the infirmary to get to the control room. She hoped it was nothing serious.

When she got there, she was able to assess better the situation. "What happened?"

The four members of SGA-1 were there; the only person who was injured was Ronon, who had been scratched on the arm by a creature. However, they were all covered in blood from head to toe, except for John.

Trying to catch his breath, Sheppard explained quickly: "It was like being in Jurassic Park, there were dinosaurs everywhere."

"They smelled us and wanted to eat us…" Rodney added.

"… So we fired and even bleeding, they were still running after us" Ronon said, grinning. Nothing like a little rush of adrenaline to enlighten his day.

Rodney straightened and lifted his chin: "Yes, well, it wasn't a fun ride. We almost got killed in the process." He glared in Ronon's direction and then turned to John: "How come you're devoid of blood and not us?"

Sheppard shrugged and smiled smugly.

Elizabeth sighed. "Well, now Ronon, you will go to the infirmary." It wasn't life threatening, but the injury had to be treated to prevent infection. "Rodney and Teyla, you will also get a check-up from Dr. Beckett, and John, I'd like to hear more about how went the reconnaissance mission."

Teyla nodded and Rodney confirmed with a lazy "fine".

Elizabeth then motioned John to climb upstairs in her office.

The medics transport Ronon to the infirmary and Rodney watches them go. "Well, I don't know for you Teyla," the scientist said, trying to remove his blood-covered coat, "but I'm taking a shower before going to the infirmary." She agreed with him and they both went in their own rooms to wash.

(---)

As Rodney entered the infirmary, he was assaulted by a little boy. "DADDY!!!!" he said, a huge smile on his face. He approached Rodney and clasped his legs with his tiny arms.

"Daddy? Me?" Rodney backed away, "I think you got it all wrong, kid" he said nervously. He looked around quickly, trying to see if someone could tell him what was going on.

Elizabeth chuckled. "This is Alexander. He arrived with Lorne's team from an expedition on MXT-089."

Pulling a bit on Rodney's pant leg, he exclaimed loudly: "You told me to give you this when I would see you."

The Canadian frowned and took the small USB key the boy was holding. He plugged it in a nearby computer and watched a video that was saved on the key:

"Hi. This is Doctor Rodney McKay. I am recording this because we are under attack from the Wraiths... but this time, it's big. We can no longer communicate with Earth, so I am asking a huge favour. Our son Alexander: we sent him in your universe because we can't protect him here. We sent him to you hoping that you would care for him in our stead. Please understand that this was our last option. Just tell him this whole thing, he'll understand." He paused. "Tell him that his parents love him dearly."

The video stopped playing.

Rodney was baffled; that was him... in what seemed to be another dimension; this boy really was his son. He cleared his voice and tried to sound as detached as possible: "Yes, well. It seems so. I huh…" Then he stopped in mid-sentence, focusing on one detail: who is the child's mother?

The Canadian was about to ask the question when Sheppard entered the infirmary, coming in to check if Ronon was doing okay. He still was covered in blood, but was fine.

However, he didn't have time to get near the bed that Alexander cried "MOMMY!!!" and attacked John's legs.

Everyone in the room stopped breathing, trying to see if it was a joke, but no, Alexander seemed serious about the whole declaration. He even made a sign that he wanted John to pick him up by raising his arms in the air.

John was perplexed. First, there was a child in the infirmary. Second, why that had child called him 'mommy'? "I- huh... what? Mommy?" He picked up the child, sitting him on his hip. He then looked at McKay and then at Elizabeth, wanting some kind of explanation.

Elizabeth looked as if she had just seen a ghost and Rodney…

"Why are you red in the face, McKay?" John asked, semi-curious semi-annoyed. He looked at the kid one more time and then pressed the head scientist to answer his question.

"This little boy here is your son, John" Elizabeth said, with all the tact in the world. She smiled slightly, "he is from a parallel universe where you and Rodney are his parents."

There, it had been said.

A few seconds of silence and then: "Wait- what does that mean?" Sheppard asked. Then he frowned: "Was I…? I mean the other Sheppard… was he…?" He wasn't able to finish his sentence, a bit scared of hearing the answer.

McKay didn't want to finish that question either, so staying vague on the subject, he replied "He, huh, we actually don't know… how." He shivered slightly. "Alexander, how old are you?"

The boy showed four fingers.

Maybe the kid knew the 'how'… after all, he did have McKay genes in him. He cleared his throat: "Did your parents tell you about… where you came from?"

The boy, still sitting on John's hip, nodded with confidence: "Yes, I was in mommy's belly for nine loooonng months!" He smiled broadly and hugged Sheppard who turned white as a sheet by the mere image of him…

"John?" Carson asked, seeing Sheppard's discomfort, wanted to act as fast as possible if there would be an emergency.

The military man shook his head and smiled uneasily to reassure the other: "I'm fine, doc… I think." He closed his eyes for a few seconds and shook his head. Scrunching his face, he admitted: "Okay. No. This is weird. Too weird, even for the Pegasus galaxy."

Hello people! I'm back with a new story, well... more like a series of one-shots, like mentioned in the summary. Some will be longer than others, but always revolving around McKay, Sheppard and little Alexander. Hope you will all like it, this is my first SGA fic lol