Stargate Atlantis: Lion's Share2

John was trying not to laugh, not to smile but his lips quirked with the effort. The look on Rodney's face was priceless. Never in all the years that he had known the physicist had John ever seen such complete and utter shock, surprise and disbelief on Rodney's face. His mouth was open but he was rendered silent, so silent not even a breath could be heard.

Ronon was grinning ear to ear. Teyla was staring, equally surprised but she recovered quickly. Amusement and speculation glimmered in her eyes. Guns were lowered.

John noticed that suddenly everyone was looking at him. "Hey, this has nothing to do with me," he defended.

"I always assumed when this did happen it would be you," Ronon stated.

"As did I," Teyla agreed with a smile.

"Hey, it wasn't me! Not this time! Not any time, I mean I am careful! I mean, oh crap! Rodney, is it possible?" he directed the attention back to his friend.

Rodney met his gaze, flustered. "Of course it's possible! I mean…" he faltered. "Oh."

"Would you like to tell us what happened?" Teyla asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Ronon snorted.

"Not to me," John quipped.

"Is he your son?" Teyla asked, ignoring the jibes of the men.

"How the hell should I know?" Rodney snapped, backing away from the child as if distance would resolve the issue.

John allowed himself to smile now. "It's an easy question, Casanova, even for a scientist. Did you sleep with a woman here or not?"

"Perhaps it wasn't that memorable," Ronon commented.

"Not for her, anyway," John jested.

"Enough! I…I…I…" Rodney stammered. "Not exactly." Rodney was blushing.

"Not exactly?" John laughed as Ronon chuckled. "What does that mean? Do I need to bring in a biologist to explain the birds and the bees to you?"

"We should send for Carson," Teyla said, trying to keep a straight face as the men mercilessly teased their friend.

"Yes! Yes, send for Carson! He can clear this up in no time! He can take a genetic test, I mean take genetic samples and find if we are related, I mean if the kid is related to me because Carson and I are not related, not at all except in our pursuit of science not that medicine is a true science of course just a discipline of applied oh my I…" Rodney faltered again.

Teyla shook her head and moved to the boy. The child was staring at Rodney in wonder. He had never heard one person speak so many words at once, and so fast. "Barath, who is your mother?"

"Allina," he answered. "She sent me to greet you and to meet my daddy."

"Ah, well, that seals it," John remarked.

"Shut up! That does not—"

"Allina had quite the crush on you, as I recall and there you were pretending not to notice! I have to say I am impressed," John chuckled.

"A woman had a crush on him?" Ronon asked. His disbelief was obvious.

"Yes, believe it or not she did. Only he was too blind to see it…or so we thought," John stated. He elbowed his friend. "You dog you!" he joked.

"Rodney, what do you remember? Rodney?" Teyla moved to him, touched his arm. The physicist seemed to be lost in himself, in denial as he was staring at the grass, at his feet, at the trees, at anything but the boy in front of him.

"Huh? Oh. I…um, it was just a…that is to say it just sort of, um, happened…I mean it was very, very late that night and you were all asleep and I got up because I was hungry."

"What else is new?"

"John! You are not helping!" Teyla scolded. "Go on, Rodney," she soothed.

"And I ran into Allina," he added, blushing again.

"It usually takes more than just running into a woman," Ronon remarked.

"Ronon!" Teyla scolded as the men laughed. "Go on, Rodney," she encouraged.

Rodney swallowed, looking at nothing. "She was, she was working late, doing more research to find the Potentia, the ZPM as we call it, and I offered to help and we worked and worked and then we…I mean…it just happened, is all…" Rodney floundered.

"Wow. A one-night stand? I have to say, Rodney, I am both shocked and impressed."

"Working, huh?" Ronon jested.

"I think we all are surprised," Teyla agreed, but a look from her stilled the men's laughter. "Barath, take us to see your mother, please. We will help your people once we learn what has happened here." She gestured. The boy began to lead them, taking Rodney's hand.

John tapped his earpiece. "Morris, secure the 'Gate and send for Doctor Beckett. Tell him he needs to bring a DNA kit. He—" The boy's excited voice could be heard calling for daddy, and Rodney's voice refusing quickly. John smirked. "And no, that kid's not calling for me! Sheppard out."

John and Ronon exchanged a glance then followed, snickering. As they walked through what left of the woods the boy prattled on and on, voice rising in excitement. He was telling Rodney all about himself and about the aftermath of the attack and the new cave systems and how much his mother had told him about Rodney.

John advanced to walk next to Teyla. "So?"

Teyla smiled. "The child could very well be his son, colonel. There are many physical similarities, and his age is congruent with when we were here."

"Yeah, including the ability to talk endlessly."

"I heard that!" Rodney snapped.

"Sheppard."

The team halted at Ronon's warning. They had broken through the trees and were standing in a clearing. Hills rose in front of them, a wall of rocks and boulders tossed there by some long-ago avalanche or earthquake. Dark holes watched them like sightless eyes. The boy ran to one of them, shouting.

A few people emerged, including a woman that Rodney recognized. She was a lovely brunette with whom he had shared an attraction both physical and intellectual. She was a fellow scientist, of sorts. She had a brilliant mind but had been bound by the beliefs of the Brotherhood to deny them the ZPM they had so desperately needed at that time.

"Allina," Rodney said, glancing past her but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Rodney." The two stood staring at each other. Then she embraced him. "Thank goodness you came! I was afraid you were ignoring us, or did not receive our message, or decided not to come. I am so sorry! About the Potentia, about the Genii, about everything!" She drew back to meet his startled expression, to gauge his reaction. "We were foolish to cling to superstitions and old relics. We were foolish to think that the Potentias were some sort of sacred magical object and that the Ancients would return and reward us for protecting them."

Rodney was silent, staring at her. He didn't know what to say. It wasn't every day he was confronted with a woman from his past, a woman claiming that her son had been fathered by him, however inadvertently. This was more a Sheppard scenario than a McKay scenario.

"Potentias?" John asked, honing in on the plural word.

She glanced at him. "Yes, colonel. We found more. They had been hidden for centuries within this vast underground maze of caves. Those who survived hid there during the attacks."

"The Wraith?" Ronon asked.

"Yes," Allina confirmed, staring. This man was a stranger to her. "They culled then…stayed. As if they would colonize our world. In the end they destroyed our cities and just left."

"And the boy? Is he truly Rodney's son?" Teyla asked.

Allina regarded Rodney. "You have come to help us?"

"Yes," John answered, glancing at Teyla who had also noted the evasion. "How many ZPMs, er, Potentias are there?"

"Three, altogether, but one is badly damaged. I kept it in case you could fix it, Rodney. Come, please." She led him towards the caves.

John held back a few paces. Ronon joined him. "You know these people?"

"Yes. As I said, things didn't go so well the last time. We were still pretty new to the galaxy and Atlantis and all. We were naïve. We were just learning the ropes and Ford didn't expect to be jumped by the Genii." John frowned at the memory of the lost lieutenant and shoved it aside. "I'm just saying we didn't know then what we know now."

"You don't trust them," Ronon stated, gleaning the jist of what John was trying to say. It was one of those rare times when the military commander could give Rodney a run for his money.

"Exactly. Not all of them were in league with the Genii, only a fraction, but that could have changed during our absence."

"Got it." Ronon hefted his gun and strode after the others.

John turned, surveying the landscape. Blighted fields and withered trees met his gaze. It was a palette of grays and blacks and shadows, depressing in the utter destruction. He wondered what had happened to make the Wraith so vengeful. It was unlike them to nearly decimate a potential food source.

He turned back to the caves and headed for them.

His P90 was firmly in his hands.