Not sure this is normal
When Sheppard's team arrived on Atlantis, it was already evening.
Alexander was with Mr Woolsey in his office when the gang entered it, showing a part of his findings on the Khajiit's planet.
Woolsey sent a look at Alexander telling him to leave, but John said that the young man could stay.
John, as calm as he could, explained what had happened during the day: the burnt village, the Khajiit, the machine… the Ancestor's answer to their question.
"So you're telling, colonel, that you encountered a... well, uh... a fertility machine?" Woolsey asked, incredulous. He linked his hands together, thinking about all of this; he knew how Alexander came to existence, but he hadn't thought about this happening in their own dimension.
Sheppard nodded, but not with much assurance. In fact, he felt as though his shoulder weighted a ton.
Alexander tried to lighten the mood: "So that means I'll soon have a little brother or sister?" he said, with a smile in the corner of his mouth.
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But can you believe it? That... creature that the Khajiits call 'Ancestor' said that it rarely failed!" McKay nearly yelled.
Teyla put a hand on Rodney's arm to calm him down and added: "Well, the Khajiits have been doing this ritual for quite a while now, so they should know if the machine works well or not. However, I think that a medical exam should confirm or not the... pregnancy." She sent a look at Sheppard, with a comforting smile.
Mr Woolsey looked at the team, which looked dead tired and declared: "Then a medical exam for you and Rodney is in order and we'll be able to see more clearly what is to await us. You may now all leave for the infirmary for your post-mission exam." He then turned to Alexander: "Now let's finish this, what were you saying?"
...o.o.o...
"I guess we could say that you're fine, lad. I did find some 'dead' or unactivated nanites, but I saw nothing else wrong in the scan, and the needle that pricked you didn't seem to leave a mark." Carson put down his PDA he had just used to jot down some results.
"Deactivated nanites?"
A nod. "Yes, it seems as though they did not activate the way they were supposed to. The machine on the planet was old, so it probably malfunctioned, thus sending nanites that did not do their purpose."
A small, very small, part of John felt disappointed, while the other part was relieved that the Lantean machine hadn't worked. "Thanks, Carson" he said, with a smile. He then slid down from the bed used for the Ancient scanner.
After writing more notes on the PDA, Carson looked at the other: "Well then, colonel, you know the procedure..." he started.
With an amused smile, John completed the sentence: "Yeah, yeah. If I feel any different I must come down to the infirmary to get it checked out."
"Good!" and with a friendly slap on the colonel's shoulder, Carson went further into the room to check on another patient.
John didn't budge for a while, his mind blank. Then, he shook himself mentally and left for his quarters. Tired by the whole incident, he decided that his official report could wait until morning.
On his way, of course, he met a very worried McKay, who immediately asked about the medical exam. Blue eyes wide open, he waited for the dreaded answer.
"False alarm. Doc found nothing." He then frowned: "I don't understand, though. The Khajiits said that it rarely failed."
McKay waved his hand in dismissal. "Who cares? It's probably one of those rare times!"
Sheppard just shrugged and started to walk, continuing his way.
As he walked, he could feel a presence behind him, so he stopped. And someone crashed into his back. Without turning around, he asked, irritated: "What do you want, McKay?" He hated being followed like that.
But Rodney didn't answer instantly, like he usually did.
So John resumed his journey.
And Rodney followed.
And so, John stopped again. This time, he turned around to face the scientist, but said nothing and waited.
An awkward minute passed before Rodney turned around to leave.
"Oh no you don't!" Sheppard said and grabbed the other man's arm: "Dammit Rodney, spit it out!"
The scientist frowned strangely, but reverted back to his normal self almost instantly: "How are you... feeling?"
This took John by surprise. "Huh?"
Rodney sighed exasperatedly and, not without his trademark eye roll, clarified: "Are you okay, I mean, after all what happened? With Carson's diagnostic?"
Sheppard eyed two marines on patrol that were approaching and greeted them politely, waiting for them to walk away; during that short moment, he tried to decide if he should tell Rodney what he really thought. When the soldiers were away from earshot, he faced answered: "I'm okay, I guess." There, good old 'nonchalant Sheppard' attitude.
Even though Rodney didn't seem convinced, he didn't add or prod further, which relieved John.
They parted after that and John could only think about the other man's question. Ever since they came back into the Pegasus galaxy, Rodney had been rather distant; they would rarely chat or just hang out anymore. John knew that Jennifer took a lot of Rodney's time, but he'd like her to share a bit more. But that question he had just asked, it was out of the ordinary. He shrugged and continued his way.
As he arrived in front of his door, he scoffed: he wished that Heightmeyer was still alive so he could talk with her and help him clear his mind. He didn't really like the new psychologist that had been hired before they left Earth; she was too… flirtatious with him.
But since Heightmeyer wasn't there to help, he opted for a quick shower before crashing into bed.
...o.o.o...
The day after, John woke up, feeling refreshed, and got dressed before going to the mess hall.
Surprised, as he didn't see any of the members of his team, he sat down at an empty table with his breakfast. It was only when he took a look at his watch that he almost choked on his food. It was nine o'clock; he usually got up at 07:00 so he could eat calmly without hearing McKay rant, but now the said man would come in soon. He deduced that maybe he was more tired then what he first thought the night before.
As he finished eating, he spotted Alexander coming into the mess hall and he couldn't stop himself from smiling at the young man's appearance: hair more than tousled, eyes still half-closed, and shirt put on backwards. A fresh I-fell-out-of-bed look.
So the man walked closer to his almost-son and tousled even more his dark brown hair.
"Mom! Stop that!" Alexander whined, pushing back the evil hand on his head.
So Sheppard whispered close to him and snickered: "Oh and by the way, nice shirt. Got dressed up in the dark?"
Alexander's eyes finally snapped open, sleep leaving entirely as he looked down. "Oh man..."
John left the mess hall with a grin on his face after putting away his empty tray.
...o.o.o...
As he sat at his desk, John was going to write his report. Yup.
"Okay!" he said with his pen in his hand, but he found out that he couldn't concentrate and didn't know where to start. He blamed it on the mess that was his desk.
So, he started by classifying the papers into piles. Then, he put all the paper clips into a little pile too. Then... Then what? He had his report to write. He hadn't written anything yet, so he couldn't take a break... yet.
Putting the end of the pen in his mouth and leaning back into the chair with his hands behind his head, his mind wandered to the medical exam. How would things be if they had been positive and he'd be... pregnant? Just the fact that he was thinking about it weirded him out… a little.
He then frowned: but the question that he really didn't have an answer to was, how Rodney would have reacted? The night before, he had seemed relieved that the results were negative. His next thought brought him back to when Alexander first came to Atlantis. Rodney had first felt weirded out, but eventually fit in and felt some kind of pride at his 'almost-son'. What could have caused such a difference in reaction now? That, Sheppard didn't know. Well... he wasn't exactly clueless... Partly, it was because of Jennifer, but there probably was something else that he couldn't pinpoint. He scoffed: "Whatever."
He looked down at the empty sheet and groaned: why things couldn't be simpler?
...o.o.o...
Alexander tried to focus on his medical readings, but something was nagging his mind. What had been told in Woolsey's office, about that damned machine... he felt like he should worry about it. That would mean that major Lorne and him...
He then started to panic: they had checked his mom all over to make sure the machine hadn't worked. But since it wasn't public knowledge that he also was a victim to the machine... he had only gone through a normal check-up when he came back from MRT-044, so Carson didn't notice anything amiss. He broke into cold sweats as he imagined all the consequences it would bring. He was doomed!
"Come on, dude... gotta take deep breaths..." he said out loud, trying to calm down. He breathed slowly, not wanting to hyperventilate like his dad usually did. "That's it, take a grip..."
He then pushed back the medical book he had been trying to read. Getting up, he decided to go on the mainland. Maybe a little swim would do him some good.
...o.o.o...
Rodney, sitting on an uncomfortable stool, twitched on his seat. Even though it was ten in the morning, there was very little people present in the laboratories.
He hadn't been able to get some sleep for most part of the night. All his thoughts went to the damned Lantean machine and Sheppard... and the medical results. Then his thoughts went to Alexander; the boy had reacted strangely when they had been informed of the machine's purpose.
Alexander... it was weird that he came back. He could remember when he first came to Atlantis. It had been quite the adventure; but he would do it all again. But if Sheppard's tests would have been positive... He scowled, not really knowing what to think if they would be in that situation.
... It wasn't that he didn't want kids... it was because it was Sheppard... Sheppard and his stupid flyboy smile... and Jennifer, sweet Jennifer. He did love her-
He was then cut out from his thoughts when arms encircled his waist from behind.
"Hey... how are you? You weren't in bed this morning..."
It was her. Rodney answered hastily: "Huh, yeah. Couldn't sleep, I guess. So I got up to get some work done instead."
"Come back to bed with me, then" Jennifer said, with a suggestive tone.
However, Rodney didn't pick up the suggestion, so he answered flatly: "Can't. Got work to do. A lot of things happened when we were off-world and Radek tried to manage, but failed miserably. So now I have to fix his mess."
Jennifer didn't say anything from being turned down, but she declared, with some hope in her voice: "My shift ends at 9pm, so I'll see you tonight, then?"
"Yeah, okay" Rodney answered nonchalantly.
He sighed as she left; he knew that he wouldn't be able to work for the whole day with that state of mind.
...o.o.o...
It was only a week later that Sheppard started to feel weird. It first started in the morning; when he'd get out of bed, if he'd stand up too fast, he'd get dizzy. He dismissed it as sleeping too much.
Then, it was breakfast; he didn't feel like eating, so he'd throw the rest of the tray in the garbage.
And then, on top of everything, something weird happened during a meeting with some new recruits. He was giving a crash course on how to survive in different situations while on off-world missions, when he had to stop talking because he was getting out of breath. He then frowned, because one rarely loses breath over talking like he had been.
The recruits, were starting to wonder what was wrong with their superior, so to reassure them, Sheppard quickly blurted out: "Errr... sorry it's my… asthma acting out..."
Nods could be seen in the room and thus the meeting continued without interruption.
It's only a little later, when the recruits were leaving the room that Sheppard let his guard down and let worry claim him. He tried to assess the situation as best as he could. Asthma was probably the problem: dizziness had even been seen in some severe cases. But how could he have a case this severe in such a short amount of time? He'd better ask Carson about it. Taking all of his stuff, he was headed in the infirmary's direction.
After two minutes of walk, he chose to take a nap, instead; maybe after sleeping a bit, he would feel better. He knew he should have gone to see the doctor straight away, but he was too tired.
When he got up, he was fine, so he decided to wait a bit before alerting Carson. Maybe it was nothing after all... at least he hoped it was.
...o.o.o...
Three weeks later; it was then that Sheppard discovered that his dizziness and nausea weren't due to asthma. No. It was when he puked his guts for the third morning in line that it all fell into place: the machine had worked after all. Took by a bout of panic, he sat on the floor of his little bathroom, his body shaking from the exertion of vomiting.
He then covered his face with his hands, feeling ashamed about the situation, even though no one was watching. It was exactly four weeks since that incident on the Khajiit planet. It couldn't be something else like a stomach bug, there were too many signs. He got up from the floor and rinsed his mouth with some water.
Deciding to lie down, he moved to his bed. He then looked up at the ceiling with the fierce intent of burning it with his mind.
"Stupid diagnostic." Why did it always had to fall on him. Rodney was right; he was always out of luck.
And suddenly, he had the urge to punch himself in the stomach; but he didn't do it, because he could not hurt an innocent life. Not after waking up the Wraiths, killing thousands of innocent people.
He punched the bed instead. "Urgh! What am I gonna do?"
He tried to think of a solution. Talking to Carson about it would result in his secret being made public. He couldn't risk that. Jennifer was also out of the question. The military should never be informed of this; they'd probably send him to Area 51 or something like that. But he had to make sure that he really was pregnant and not suffering from something else.
He suddenly got an idea, so he got up and dressed up for that new day.
...o.o.o...
"With all due respect, sir, why can't you do it?"
Sheppard quickly answered: "Well, you see, I don't want anyone to learn about it... especially if it's a false alarm, you know, that kind of stuff..." He didn't finish his sentence, trying to sound sincere.
The soldier nodded. "Yeah. Okay, but what are you giving me in exchange? I don't mind lying, saying that I probably impregnated an alien woman, but..." he said with a grin. "There are some rumours that you have a secret stash of various goods from Earth..."
John faked a scowl: "Mhmm. Ok, fine, but you can't tell anyone, right?" This was too easy. Way too easy.
...o.o.o...
And that's how he found himself, in his bathroom, with a pregnancy test in hand, a few days later. He chuckled at his own cleverness; the soldier really thought that he needed him to get a test for his 'pregnant alien girlfriend' without anyone knowing. However, he didn't know if this would be a reliable test to determine a pregnancy such as his, but he had to try anyway.
As he waited for the required time, he drummed his fingers against his bathroom counter. He bit his lip with nervousness.
He looked at the stick, even though the time wasn't up yet; there already was an angry 'plus' sign glaring at him on the little screen. Slowly, with shaking hands, he looked on the test's box to make sure of what it meant.
He exhaled loudly. He was pregnant.
A cold feeling creeped up from his heels to the top of his head, like a cold wind. There was no use of denying it like before. It almost brought tears to his eyes. But he couldn't let them fall. He had to think about his future now. Their future; he wasn't alone anymore. He put back the test in its box and putting both hands around the sink, he looked at himself in the mirror above it.
He didn't look any different yet. But it wouldn't be long before it would. He would have to stop his off-world missions soon; they were too dangerous and unpredictable for him to continue. And he couldn't tell anyone about it either, otherwise he could get in trouble. He was a freak of nature.
He wanted to be happy about the whole thing, really. But anxiety about the uncertainty of what the future held had a stronger grip on him than anything else.
He turned on the cold water faucet, and rinsed his face, trying to get a hold of his emotions. He had a mission to attend to, in less than two hours. He needed to finish preparing his backpack before leaving.
Thankfully, it was only a visit with some usual traders; that wouldn't require much from him.
A/N: Hi there people! I hope you're enjoying this story like I do lol. Oh and by the way, the part where Sheppard thinks it's asthma, well I suffer from allergic asthma and when I don't take my medication, I get dizzy from not getting enough oxygen when I breathe and eventually I feel nauseous because of the dizziness. My doctor said that it wasn't common, but not rare either.
So many words, yet so little is happening in this chapter! :O
This chapter was 80%, so that's why I updated only 2 days later hehe. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think of this chapter!