Wondering
On a lazy evening, after a mission, the team was eating at the mess hall.
Although nothing major had happened, they were exhausted and no one was talking much during the meal.
Alexander wasn't eating and John tried to push him to eat, at least half of his plate. But Alexander didn't want to eat. John was looking desperately at Rodney to see if he had any idea of how to make the boy eat.
The Canadian shrugged and when John turned to look at his other team mates, he saw a twinkle in Ronon's eyes. John raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what the tall man had in mind.
Clearing his throat, the tall man began: "Hey, 'Xander, how about having an eating contest with me to see who's gonna finish his plate first? Huh?" The Satedan grinned when Alexander's attention was on him. "If you win, I'll teach you a few moves to impress the girls."
"When do we start?!" the boy exclaimed.
"Now" Ronon grinned.
Ten minutes later, Alexander was done eating and gone with Ronon to practice that new move. Teyla excused herself, saying that she was going to meditate in her room.
Sheppard glanced at the sea. Sighing, he relaxed in the plastic chair and put his feet on the table.
Rodney rose an eyebrow: "What all that sighing's for?"
"I dunno… What if Alexander's parents never come to pick him up?"
"Huh?!"
Sheppard tried to explain himself better: "I meant, not that I want Alexander to leave… just that what would we do if, unlike what the other McKay said, they couldn't come back for him?"
"I don't know, really. Rodney thought quickly: "I guess we could always pass him as your son, since he does look more like you." The ears and the hair was indeed an obvious giveaway.
John chuckled sadly. "I can't imagine the awkward moments, should he call me 'mommy' in front of strangers."
"You mean, the awkward moments would simply grow tenfold in number" Rodney teased. He then added, with a more serious tone: "It'd be difficult, that's for sure. We couldn't send him to Earth, he knows too much… but he couldn't stay here, too much danger and he wouldn't get a proper education."
"Yeah…" There was a pause. Sheppard wanted to add something, but there was hesitation at first. "The other day, I was wondering what it would have been like if Alexander really were our son?" he asked. "Would our life be different because of that? Would it be like in his alternate universe?"
The scientist frowned. "I don't understand what you mean, Sheppard. He is our son, Carson said it." In fact, what Rodney wasn't saying was that he did understand what John had said. He just didn't want to admit it to himself that he almost wanted Alexander to stay with them.
John rolled his eyes at that. "Whatever, I know you know what I meant."
A long silence then followed.
John was a little bit surprised that McKay wasn't talking, like he always did. "Don't you have anything to say, daddy?"
It was then Rodney's turn to roll his eyes. "Let's see…" He thought for a second, "Okay. Scientifically speaking, what is your theory on this: how did your alternate self get pregnant?" He smirked at his fast thinking.
Sheppard exaggerated a pout. "Not fair, that question is way too hard."
The scientist scoffed: "And how can that be too difficult?" Looking at Sheppard for an answer, he saw that there was something that the other wasn't admitting; but since he didn't seem to want to talk about it, Rodney didn't press the matter.
"Come on, McKay, can't you ask another question?"
John didn't want to answer? Fine. He would offer his own theory. "Well, I think that it was probably an Ancient machine or something like that."
John made a face: "And where would they find something stupid like that?"
The other man shrugged: "Maybe Atlantis," and to this John turned green, "or most probably another planet. You never know what you'll find on an unexplored site."
John made a fake smile, "Geez Rodney, thanks for reassuring me!" he said sarcastically.
"Any time, Sheppard."
So okay, this is not the one I wanted to post, but since the other idea I had was not good enough, I simply scrapped it. This one is short, but I think that would it have been longer, it wouldn't have had the same impact. Oh well...
Thanks again everyone for the so awesome reviews! I love you all so much :)