Second Trimester (14 - 28 weeks)

John set his laptop on the desk in Keller's room and looked over his shoulder at where she sat on her small couch kiddie corner from the desk, beside Ronon. She was definitely showing now, but if she kept her jacket zipped or was standing facing away from you, you still couldn't really couldn't tell.

"Ready?"

Ronon looked at Jennifer. She had her hands in her slightly diminished lap, twisting her fingers together while she chewed on her bottom lip. He placed one large hand over her two smaller ones, staying the movement, and nodded.

"We're ready."

John dipped his chin once and touched the radio in his ear.

"Control room this is Colonel Shepherd, patch the communication through to my laptop on a secure channel."

A few moments later the Atlantis logo on the screen disappeared and John stepped aside, revealing the image of General Jack O'Neill to the couple.

"Ronon. Colonel Shepherd," the General nodded at the men, "Ladybug."

John turned slowly toward the CMO, his eyebrows at his hairline. Ladybug? He mouthed.

Jennifer turned three shades of pink and Ronon coughed to cover a grin.

"Uncle Ja-ack," Jennifer moaned.

"Sorry, sorry," the older man responded, though he clearly wasn't. He made a show of clearing his throat. "Dr. Keller, I mean."

John leaned against the desk with his arms crossed over his chest, entirely too amused looking for Jen's tastes.

"Am I uh," he waved between the flushing doctor and amused General, "missing something?"

Ronon was the one who answered, leaning back against the coach with one arm stretched out along the back while Jen was leaned forward, face in her hands.

"Jack has known Jennifer since she was born." He jerked his chin toward the computer, "He's her Dad's best friend."

"Or at least I thought he was."

"He is! You are." Jennifer said quickly, lifting her head.

O'Neil raised an eyebrow and captured her gaze. "Then why did I have to hear about this little predicament through the flyboy here? You couldn't come to me?"

Jen straightened, her eyes flickering between John, Jack and the floor.

"I um...well I didn't want to, you know," she shrugged, "impose on you?"

O'Neil snorted and John straightened.

"Oh, but you were fine imposing on me?"

"No, I just-"

"You're my witness Ronon," Jack interrupted, "she likes me better than him."

Ronon smirked. "I already knew that, General."

John sighed and rolled his eyes. "As much fun as this whole conversation is, do you have an update for us General?"

Immediately the tone in the room sobered and Jen found Ronon's hand over hers again as he leaned forward, but she kept her eyes glued on the screen. She found that despite having known the man for her entire life, Jen had no idea what was going on behind General O'Neil's eyes. He had a heck of a poker face, she'd give him that.

"I sure do John." O'Neil glanced down at something in front of him. "The IOA already has a policy in place regarding staff that has a circumstance change due to an altered medical status. Regulation 35A, subsection fourteen alpha under the heading-"

"Medical Status Change as it Relates to Full Time Off World Personnel." Jennifer spoke in tandem with the General. "But Jack that policy doesn't extend to obstetrics."

O'Neil's eyes slid up to hers without moving his head and his lips bent slightly upward at the corners.

"It does now."

Ronon felt the tension start to leave Jennifer's body and his eyes bounced back and fourth between her and the General. He suddenly wished he'd spent a little more time studying all the regulations Woolsey liked to forward to him a few times a week, because he had no idea what they were talking about.

Jen tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "The IOA approved that?"

Jack shrugged. "Sure."

"And by "sure" you mean you slipped it into one of their hundred or so policy updates they write up and approve every week and they rubber-stamped it?"

Another noncommittal shrug.

"Sure."

Ronon looked at John, but his CO seemed just as lost as him. Maybe he didn't need to read those updates after all.

"So that means...?" The colonel started, voicing the question Ronon wanted to ask.

Jen's face broke out into a wide grin and she burst into tears, turning around to fling her arms around Ronon's neck, laughing and crying against his neck. Automatically his arms encircled her small frame, holding her tight.

"R'non we...and so glad...we can...together." Between the hiccups and the sobs Ronon was pretty sure he could hear her smiling and, if the smile that was now crossing O'Neil's face was anything to go by, this policy update was a good thing.

Shepherd nodded from his perch on the desk, his legs crossed at the ankles, apparently having come to the same conclusion.

"Plan A it is."

After a few minutes, Jennifer calmed down enough to sit back down and wiped her eyes, Ronon was still grinning.

General O'Neil cleared his throat and they all turned.

"While I have you all here, seems as good a time as any to let you know, we have a situation developing." John stood from his leaning position and put his hands on his hips. Both Jennifer and Ronon straightened. "I've already talked to Woolsey, I need you guys here for a sitrep in two hours."

SGASGASGA

Jennifer's hands were shoved inside the pockets of the men's jacket she wore, surreptitiously rubbing her firm, getting-rounder-by-the-day stomach. It was still her division yellow, but instead of the form fitting female jacket, it was a boxy men's jacket that gave her the needed extra room for her expanding waistline. Biting her lip, her eyes watched the floor passing under her feet as she made her way toward Rodney's office.

They were due at the SGC in under an hour for a full debriefing, but for now, she knew enough. She had volunteered to be the one to tell Rodney, though it hadn't been much of a choice. Ronon and John had accompanied SGA2 through the gate to retrieve Cadman. Lorne's team would replace hers on MGP-151 to finish up the exploration and salvage of the ancient puddle jumper manufacturing lab there.

Ronon had tried to argue that he should stay with her, but she'd convinced him, with a little help from John, that she could handle Rodney by herself. And she could. She knew this would be difficult for Rodney on many levels and the last thing he needed was an overprotective Satedan reminder that she'd picked Ronon over him when she was delivering difficult news.

Jen glanced around the large lab, full to the ceiling with Ancient and Earth tech, each with their own sets of blinking lights, hums and vibrations. She followed the sound of keystrokes until she saw Rodney sitting on a stool along the counter in the far corner. He had earbuds in, bopping his head to music she couldn't hear, two cups of coffee beside him and a wrapper from a half-eaten MRE bar.

"Rodney?" She tried, but he didn't turn. She went closer and smiled slightly to hear him muttering the words to Hotel California under his breath.

"Rodney?" She said again, reaching out to touch his forearm. Rodney squeaked, though he would have called it a manly exclamation, and jumped off his stool, sending it rolling away to the other side of the room. His wide eyes closed when he recognized her and his left hand clutched his chest. He pulled his earbuds out.

"Jennifer," he exhaled loudly, "are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I tried to get your attention." Jennifer smiled gently. "Are you okay?"

He took another deep breath and waved away her concern.

"Yes yes I'm fine." His eyes skipped over her, to his computer, to her stomach, back to her face and then back to his computer. "Can I, uh, help you?"

Jen pressed her lips together and pulled her hands out of her pockets, moving deliberately. She was used to his skittishness around her by now. It had been a bumpy road back to friendship for the two of them.

"Yeah, I came to ask you for a copy of your some of your research. I'm, um, headed to the SGC in about an hour."

"Oh," Rodney perked up, "anything interesting?"

Jen bobbled her head. "That's one word for it. There seems to be some kind of security issue, terrorists have gotten a hold of some of our information and are trying to weaponize it."

Rodney raised his eyebrows, sticking his left hand in his pocket, the fingers of his right wiggled animatedly.

"What kind of research?" He continued quickly before she could respond. "I only ask because, um, I should probably come along. I think we all know I'm the foremost expert on…well pretty much all of the research happening on Atlantis and my expertise could certainly be, you know, um, useful?"

"Well, its actually…"

"Who else is going, by the way?"

Jen paused. "Me, Ronon, Cadman and John."

"Cadman? Ronon?" Rodney wrinkled his forehead. "Why would they want Ronon?"

"Well-"

He snapped his fingers, nodding, his eyes falling to where she was holding her small baby bump again. "Right right, probably won't let you out of his sight." He swallowed and shook his head. "Well what about Cadman? I, uh, yeah, you know what? I should definitely go. Who knows what kind of stuff Cindy C4 will get into on Earth. They'll probably end up dialing Atlantis and asking me to come through and sort out the mess she makes anyway, so I'll just, uh-"

"Rodney," Jen reached forward, putting a staying hand on his arm where he'd shut his laptop and had begun gathering tablets and papers that were strewn around him.

"Oh, uh." Rodney stiffened and pulled away from her, Jen pulled her hand back.

"Sorry." She mumbled, clasping her hands together tightly.

He shook his head and took a few personal space preserving steps backward, shoving both his hands in his pockets.

"Its, um, fine. Don't, worry about it-"

"It's the explosive tumors." Jen blurted out.

"-I didn't mean to…what?"

Jen took a deep breath. "Someone it trying to weaponize the radiation that caused the explosive tumors that we encountered last year."

Rodney blanched, his eyes jerking back and forth as he processed the information.

"They're trying to…what?" He said quietly, his voice low and disbelieving. Jen took a small step forward, wishing to comfort him but then stopped, realizing she didn't know how.

"General O'Neil just told us. I..." she shook her head, "I don't have the details. I've been working on it, researching the case and the radiation off and on since then." Another unhealthy habit she'd developed. Something to focus on during long, lonely nights when Ronon was off world and sleep eluded her. She wrung her hands, shaking her head at the floor. At herself.

"I don't know why. I kept thinking maybe if I had…maybe there was something…" She shook her head again. She was surprised when a moment later Rodney's warm hand landed on hers and she looked up.

"Don't do that. To, um, to yourself." His voice was soft, uncharacteristically gentle. He kept her gaze as he pressed a flash drive into her hands. Suddenly he was glad, so glad, no one had asked him to go. He'd spent over a year trying to drown himself in work, trying to escape memories and guilt. He hadn't realized, until this moment, that he wasn't the only one.

"And um, thanks. For going." He gave her a small smile. "I'll be just an email away if you need me for anything."

Jen smiled in return and nodded. "Thanks Rodney."

TBC