Chapter Four: The Name Game

a/n: Okies, I realize that my last post was woefully inadequate. It was too short and I left you guys with yet another evil cliffy. So I am making it up to you in this chapter. My goal is to get at least 2000 words of actually story in, and try not to end on too big of a cliffy. So here goes nothing (Sorry it took a little longer than I had planned. I wrote the first half Thursday, and finished it today. However I so got sick and feel like crap. Hopefully it didn't effect my writing too much):

Atlantis: Remote Balcony (Evening)

"John, I'm pregnant."

Pregnant. She was pregnant. Holy crap this was big.

Her words echoed in his head. He looked at her, then he cocked his head, licked his lips (Ok, stupid fan girl but JF is SO cute when he does that!), and replied softly, "Really?"

Elizabeth slowly nodded in confirmation. Wow, he wasn't expecting this. Unbidden a voice freakishly like Rodney's filtered into his head, "Well, that's what kirking will get you."

She watched him take the news. He seemed to be taking it rather hard. Uh oh, he's frowning, this doesn't look good. "John?"

This seemed to snap him back into reality. "Oh, yeah sorry. Lost in thought."

I keep having the same problem, Elizabeth thought to herself. Oh, he looked ready to say something again.

He licked his lips again and began, "Uh, I know I am not good at……expressing…..feelings and what not……. And at times I know I can just try to laugh everything off………….but um," Come on, pull yourself together John,"We are going to do this together okay? I am going to be there for you every step of the way." He finished looking rather uncomfortable; the expression of feelings was definitely not his forte.

Elizabeth looked visible relieved. She reached over, narrowly avoiding the candles, and hugged him. She buried her head in his chest and let out a small sob.

"Elizabeth, what it is?"

"It's just; I was so worried about how you'd take it. I know I didn't plan on anything like this happening."

"Well, that is one of the potential outcomes of sex that most people do tend to overlook."

She lifted her head and smiled at him, "Are you getting cheeky with me?"

He put on his best innocent face, "Me? No! Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Good, I didn't think so," she replied with a hint of sarcasm.

o0o

Atlantis: Remote Balcony (Wee hours of morning)

Dinner hadn't been as awkward as she had foreseen. It had passed relatively well, and John's surprise turned out to be a large bar of German chocolate. I won it off of Rodney for kicking his ass in chess was how he had explained it. Typical, was how she replied but still managed to eat most of it anyway. They were celebrating after all.

Afterwards they had created a mound of pillows and settled down to snuggle together to stargaze. She had her head resting gently on his shoulder, and they each held each other's hand.

"So do we know if it's gonna be a boy or girl?" John had asked her after some time had passed.

"I don't know. I didn't ask Carson when he told me. We do however have to go back together for a parent to doctor meeting," she replied softly. "Although I didn't tell him it was you yet. I was too shocked to reveal much."

"Aww, now we can have some fun with him though, you realize that right?" he replied jokingly.

She reached over and playfully hit him, "You are so bad you know that. What kind of role model are you going to be for our child if you act like that hmm? I don't need two children yet!"

He gave her his wounded puppy dog look, "Hey, just because I know how to have fun does not make me a child. I am proud to say I am not a 'fun sucker' like some people." He looked at her.

She gave him her most serious look, "I am not a fun sucker."

"Nope, you are just a party pooper. 'Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you…..Elizabeth Weir'," he said in a sing song voice.

"Do you want me to go tell Rodney the good news now? I am sure he would have a few choice things to say to you about a little thing called 'kirking' and the consequences of it," she replied with an evil grin.

"You know what? You are going to make an excellent mother. You already have the guilting thing and war with words down."

She snuggled closer, "Aww glad you think so. Goodness knows I am going to have my hands full with the both of you."

"Thanks, thanks a lot," was all he could say.

They both settled into silence staring up at the vast sky. There were so many stars out there that made it seem so different from what they remembered from their childhoods on Earth. Even though it was greatly different, it was still home; a home that they could now pass on to their child. A little while later John broke the silence again.

"What about Jeremy if it's a boy and Bella if it's a girl?" he asked.

"Or James if it's a boy and Erin if it's a girl. We could call him Jamie," she replied.

"Eww, Jamie is such a girly name for a guy. Sure it's cute when they're like seven, not seventeen," John replied with a snort.

"Alex." That got a no from her.

"But I didn't specify girl or boy," Still 'no' from Elizabeth.

They continued to stare at the sky.

"How about Jordan if it's a guy and Ellen if it's a girl," she asked a little while later.

"Hmm, I like Ellen," John replied, "What about Jason?"

Elizabeth looked over at him, "I like that. Jason if it's a boy or Ellen if it's a girl."

"Okay," he replied, "We could call him Jace for short,"

He turned to look at her, and she smiled back at him.

o0o

Atlantis: Morning

Control Tower:

Rodney had just visited Dr. Weir's office to find it empty. He had asked Chuck if he'd seen her yet that morning and he had replied with a negative. He really wanted to find her to show her some new modifications he could make to make their power consumption more efficient. However, she was nowhere to be found.

Gym:

Ronon had been waiting at the gym for an hour. Sheppard had not shown up for their usual run, so he had hung around hitting the bag instead. Teyla showed up an hour later to practice with her Bantos rods. She was surprised to find Ronon their so early and questioned him about it. He shared, and she found it odd as well. They both left to find Rodney to see if he knew anything about it.

McKay's Lab:

Rodney, ever being a proactive person, wondered why he had not seen Dr. Weir. She had worse sleeping habits than him, and was usually up before more people. Well, maybe she decided to sleep in for once, he thought to himself. Goodness knows she probably deserved it.

Teyla and Ronon came in a short time after looking for the colonel. Rodney quickly denied it saying he had better things to do than to look after wayward flyboys. 'Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since last night when he practically ran me down in the halls," he said to them. He also made one more connection too, he had seen Dr. Weir slightly after heading off to meet someone looking nicer than usual. Hmm, interesting.

Rodney pulled up a scan of the city with all of the lifesigns marked. He pointed out that both Colonel Sheppard's and Dr. Weir's rooms were empty and therefore were somewhere in the city. However he had no idea how to tell them apart. He pointed this out to Teyla and Ronon who were still there, he had tried to blow them off initial but both knew better than to leave immediately.

Seeing as they were still standing there he said to them, "What if you are so worried try and contact him already!" With that he huffed and tried to go back to his work. Funny thing was this whole thing of both of them missing at the same time was interesting. Hmm, maybe? Naw! They wouldn't, would they?

Atlantis: Remote Balcony (morning)

This balcony had one feature in particular that had made it a rather desirable location. It was part of the city that the scanners had not been tweaked to pick up life signs for. Therefore, it was a perfect hideout for them.

John Sheppard was rudely awakened to the sound of his comm.

"Colonel Sheppard, please respond." Ugg, it was Teyla. Why did she need him this early in the morning? He looked down at his watch. Oh, crap. It was almost 9:30. He had already missed his run with Ronon and his training session with Teyla, not to mention breakfast.

He felt something move next to him. It was Elizabeth. She was waking up and was a little disoriented as well. He was brought out of his musings by his com again.

"John, are you there?" It was Teyla again.

He reached for his comm which had fallen out sometime the previous night and activated it, "Yep, Sheppard here" he said in the most normal voice he could muster, he was still doing the whole wake up thing. That had been a nasty habit when he overslept. He looked over and saw Elizabeth looking at him, taking the whole thing in.

"Oh, good. Ronon and I were a little concerned when you did not show up this morning. It was most uncharacteristic of you," Teyla replied coolly.

"Yeah, I thought maybe you just didn't want me to kick your ass this early in the morning," chimed in Ronon.

"Oh, yeah well I am," he was looking around for some excuse. He couldn't tell the truth of course, it would be too awkward now. "Oh, I just felt like going on a run by myself and got caught up in everything. Sorry. I am headed back now." He lied smoothly hoping they wouldn't read too much into it.

"Oh, alright then. We will see you later then," Teyla replied. He heard her comm. shut off, and then allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Good thing Rodney hadn't called or he probably would have kept asking a million questions giving him grief about the whole thing as well.

He looked back over at Elizabeth and said, "Good morning."

"I can't believe we spent the entire night out here. It is really late so I am going to head out before things get much hairier," she replied.

"Yeah, that would probably be best," he agreed.

She got up slowly, stretched and started to slip her feet into her shoes. She was about to go when he pulled her back into a passionate kiss.

"This is gonna work out ok, alright?" He asked breaking things off for a moment.

"Yep," she kissed him lightly on the lips and headed out the door with a rather large grin plastered over her face. The funny thing was that his face mirrored her own.

o0o

Atlantis Misc:

Throughout the day, anyone who came into contact with the either the head of the expedition or the military leader left the encounter in a very good mood. Their joy was infectious and the feeling over the city was one of great joy and happiness. The city itself was also mirroring John's mood because of his close connection with his genes and all.

Most didn't read too much into it, they attributed it to the successful trading mission that Sheppard's team had been on recently and the lull in danger that they were experiencing. Thankfully, nobody seemed to put two and two together. Well, with the exception of one Rodney McKay who was the only one other than Carson who knew that something was up. However, Rodney being Rodney and not having really great people skills was pretty clueless as well.

o0o

Atlantis: Infirmary

Carson Beckett had been rather shocked to find out that Dr. Weir was pregnant. Out of all of the people on Atlantis, he had not thought that she would be the first; however it was probably a good thing. Now, that she had broken the ice, so to speak, more would likely follow and the city would start to have families populating it, thus making more than an expedition. It was definitely what they needed, in his opinion.

He had gotten an e-mail from Elizabeth that afternoon that was both ambiguous and sneaky: In regards to my follow-up I am available to meet you later this afternoon. We can all discuss things then.

Yep, she hadn't said too much because the rumor mill was rather active on the city, and Carson tended to leave his laptop all over the place as he worked. She was being cautious.

Around four-thirty Elizabeth walked into the infirmary. Thankfully it was empty save for Carson who was working in his office. There was nobody to be found, not even a nurse.

She walked into the good doctor's office. "Where is everybody Carson?"

Dr. Beckett looked up from his computer and replied, "It was an easy day so gave them all the day off, plus this does give us more privacy. Where is your um partner in crime?"

Elizabeth gave him a nice stare and replied, "He should be here any time now. Late as usual of course."

As if by fate John Sheppard skidded into the infirmary just then. He spotted the two of them in Carson's office and headed over. Carson raised his eyebrows, and Elizabeth nodded. Yep, he couldn't wait until they went public with this, then he could make Radek pay up. Actually a lot of people would profit from this, many supported the two leaders getting together in a serious relationship. He had known that they were close, but this was the first real confirmation he had. The two had done a good job of keeping their relationship under wraps, until now of couse.

John entered and sat down next to Elizabeth, "So……what'd I miss? What Carson are you laughing at us?"

In truth, Dr. Beckett did find the whole thing rather amusing. "Well, slightly lad. Sorry. Um, yes to begin. I printed off information for the both of you regarding the whole process and parenting in general. This whole thing won't affect you too much more than the obvious, but there is one thing I would like to recommend. Well, two things actually. I suggest that you announce this soon, before Elizabeth begins to show. Because we want everyone to get used to it and not let things spiral out of hand. Also, I think that it would be wise if we got the SGC to send in someone to replace you for the last part of the pregnancy."

Elizabeth started to protest, but Carson held up his hand for her to stop, "I know love that you are going to want to continue your job. But sleepless nights and the incredible stress you put yourself under are not going to help you, plus you are going to need to back off your caffeine consumption."

John got a kick outta that, "Oh yeah, like that's going to work! Plus, you are going to be so emotional, that your judgment might be a little skewed. "

Elizabeth playfully hit him, "Hey, it's not entirely my fault remember?" she asked then looked back at Carson. "Yes, that would probably be wise even though I won't like it too much. That does bring up a good question. How will the SGC take this?"

"Yeah, that'll take some convincing on our part won't it?" John replied solemnly.

"OH MY GOD!"

The three turned to see none other than Dr. Rodney McKay standing in the doorway. They had been so into their discussion that they hadn't noticed his entry into the infirmary. He was just looking at both Elizabeth and John, pointedly starting. Then he collapsed to the floor. Carson immediately was at his side taking his pulse.

"Oh, crap. How long was he standing there?" said John looking inquisitively at Elizabeth. She just looked right back in horror.

This was bad, very bad, Catastrophic failure bad. Rodney was the last person that they wanted to find out about this yet because there was no way he would be able to keep quiet about it. Yep, they were screwed, they needed to figure out what they were going to do before he came to and left the infirmary.

tbc

a/n: Woot, 2725 words for my actual story! Ok, I don't think that this was that big of a cliffy. Yep, I will try to keep posting on this pretty regularly, but it will be slower than initially. I already had that part typed up. But now I am at the whole wip part. Yep, ok, thanks sooo much for my lovely reviews. Big hugs for all. Good things they aren't real hugs cuz I am sick and would make all of you sick. Yeah I have already gone through one box of Kleenex today. Ugg, I hate being sick. Ok, that's my rant, so yep. Okies, I'm so done. Gonna go make some hot chocolate and curl up with my puppy. Until the next chapter. (Oh, sorry for all the mistakes if there are some)