3rd Trimester (28 weeks - Delivery)

Jen flopped down at the lunch table in a display that was neither feminine nor particularly graceful. She definitely was approaching the 'you can move out any time now' part of her pregnancy.

Across from her John looked amused but turned his gaze to his tray quickly when she raised an eyebrow at his expression.

"Something funny Colonel?" She challenged.

"Nope." John shook his head, focused entirely in covering his piece of dry white meat in ketchup.

"I could have sworn you looked like you were about to say something."

Again, John shook his head.

"Don't mind her, she's in a mood." Ronon appeared behind Jennifer, sliding a tray of food in front of her and taking a seat in the empty chair next to hers.

"Yeah well I was promised a foot rub this morning." Jen grumbled, eyeing her food suspiciously. She wondered how she could be so hungry and feel so full at the same time.

"I did rub your feet." Ronon said around a forkful of potatoes. He glanced up at Rodney who had followed them to the table and was pulling up a chair, but now looked like he was regretting his choice of eating companions.

"Well not for very long." Jen reached for the crackers and water bottle.

Ronon raised his eyebrows at the scientist still hovering at the end of the table. "You gonna sit?"

"Depends, are you going to continue to discuss feet?"

John grunted. "At least the food doesn't smell like feet."

Rodney blanched, remembering the "meal" they'd been fed at the home of the ally they'd visited the day before. Although Rodney seriously wondered if they could still be considered an ally after putting the team through the torture of that so-called food.

With a sigh, he dropped into the chair and dug into his double portion of bland but olfactorily pleasing meat.

John gestured toward Ronon with his fork. "We still on for sparring later?"

Ronon's eyes slid quickly toward Jennifer, who was glaring down at her stomach where she'd dropped some potatoes onto her uniform, and then back to him.

"I'll let you know."

"Let him know what?" Laura dropped into he chair between Jennifer and John, immediately leaning down to place her hands on either side of Keller's stomach. "Good morning Jelly Bean."

She looked up and found Jen glowering at her over her water bottle.

"What?" Laura looked first at Ronon, who was still chewing, then John.

The pilot shrugged. "She's in a…" he paused. Was that a growl he just heard emanating from the CMO? "…delicate state." He continued carefully. "And carrying it beautifully by the way. Really. You're um…glowing."

The corner of Jen's mouth quirked slightly at his obvious discomfort and Laura laughed.

"Should I be jealous?"

John smirked and caught her gaze, he winked quickly. Laura's stomach did a flip flop and she resisted the urge to jump into his lap. She wasn't sure what John was thinking, but judging by the way his eyes darkened and he quickly went back to his food she didn't think his thoughts were too far from hers.

They'd started seeing each other weeks ago but were both trying to keep things under the radar for a while for obvious reasons. It was harder and harder by the day.

"No." Ronon said, catching Jen's wrist as it slid around his tray, fingers curling toward Rodney's cup of coffee.

Jen pouted, sitting back. "I was just going to smell it."

"You know better." Ronon raised an eyebrow and Jennifer rolled her eyes.

"What are you so upset about? It's my coffee she almost absconded with." Rodney picked up the mug and held it possessively to his chest.

"I don't know how you can drink that stuff so late in the day, Rodney." John wrinkled his nose at the scientist.

"He doesn't sleep." Laura quipped.

"I do too."

"Hey Rodney are you still going to be able to look at my laptop today?" Jen's eyes were locked on the roll on Ronon's plate. With a tolerant smile he nudged it over to her tray.

"Yes yes, I'll put it at the bottom of my list of very important things to do today." Rodney waved away the request. Silence descended and after a moment he looked up to see all four pairs of eyes staring at him.

"What?"

"We just got her into a good mood Rodney." John said, his voice suspiciously close to whining.

"What do you mean?" He looked over and, sure enough, Jen was pinning him with an icy glare. "I mean, um…I'll get right to it."

Laura snorted, stabbing her fork into the carrot-like vegetables on her plate. "Way to stick to your guns, McKay."

"Rodney has guns?"

They all looked up and saw Teyla approaching with Torren balanced on one hip. The happy near one-year-old extended chubby arms toward Ronon, babbling nonsensically and drooling. Teyla smiled and shifted him into Ronon's arms when he stood up and reached across the table toward her.

Rodney groaned when a drip of saliva narrowly missed his plate. "Hey! Watch that thing, will you?"

Teyla smacked him on the shoulder. "Torren is not a thing."

Rodney grimaced, swiping one of Ronon's unused napkins to wipe at the mess.

"Are you always this good with kids Rodney?" Laura sat back from the table, crossing her legs so her foot brushed subtly against the Colonel's calf.

John sent her a sideways glance. "Oh yeah," he said, talking mostly to give himself something to think about besides the Lieutenant's close proximity and the pleasant peachy smell of her hair that kept wafting over him. "You should have seen him the first time we went to MXG-677."

Teyla smiled. "Yes, all Rodney could think to do to keep the children happy was give them as much chocolate as he carried."

Jen snorted. "Remind me never to let you babysit."

"Not going to be a problem." Ronon responded, his eyes never leaving Torren's face as he held the child around the waist and bounced him up and down on round, unsteady legs.

Jen tuned out Rodney's protests that he would make an excellent babysitter, if he wanted to, since it wasn't so different from managing a dozen scientists who rarely knew what they were doing. Instead she breathed through something warm and deep swirling in her chest at the sight of the Ronon and Torren together. Ronon's long lean muscles worked to easily lift the child reapeatedly while the baby squealed in delight. He had such control the deadly force she knew he possessed seemed far off, he looked as if he would never, could never, hurt anything in the galaxy as he cradled the child to him.

It wouldn't be much longer now and it would be their child he was bouncing and cooing at and the thought made her smile to herself. Ronon would have taken issue with the term 'coo', but Jen didn't think there was another word that adequately described the high pitched, quiet sounds he was making as he played with the boy, smiling in a soft way she hadn't often seen.

She felt Laura's hand on hers and looked over. Her best friend was giving her a warm look and Jen flushed, realizing her hands had automatically encircled her belly again.

"You guys know what you're having yet?" John asked, shifting his gaze from Ronon to Jen.

The soon-to-be parent's eyes met quickly and Jen shook her head.

"I want to." Ronon said.

"But we're not yet." Jen raised her eyebrow at him, "we agreed."

"Why not?" John laid his hand down casually on top of the table, the side of his arm brushing against Cadman's. Without looking at him, she entwined their pinkies.

"It's a tradition in my family." Jen raised an lowered one shoulder.

John nodded. "Any other traditions?"

"Yep." Ronon answered, his eyes back on Torren. The baby resumed babbling and leaned forward, grabbing a thick dreadlock in each hand and tugged hard enough that Rodney winced in sympathy.

"Care to share?" He asked.

"Nope."

Teyla reached for Torren, saying she needed to pack him a bag before heading off to New Athos that afternoon. The baby started to fuss as Ronon passed him to his mother and Rodney preemptively leaned over his tray to protect it from possible drool bombing.

"I told you where I traded for Torren's furniture and other items, did I not?"

Ronon glanced at Shepherd who nodded back at him.

"Headed there tomorrow."

SGASGASGA

Jen reached down to readjust the pillow between her knees and scrunched her face in a frown. She'd gotten up to go to the bathroom for the third time that night over half an hour ago. Now she wasn't able to get comfortable enough to get back to sleep. She felt the bed move and stilled, hoping she hadn't woken Ronon with her constant fidgeting.

He wasn't following her to the bathroom anymore at night, but he still woke up almost as often as she did. He seemed to see it as his personal duty to make sure she was comfortable at all times, but it wasn't always possible. Pregnancy was just uncomfortable sometimes, and she thought it was harder on him than her when he was unsuccessful.

She heard Ronon's breathing change and she furrowed her brows. Opening her eyes she turned to look over her shoulder to his side of the bed.

"Ronon?"

He was sitting up on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and face in his hands, his dreads hung loose around his bare shoulders.

Jennifer sat up, turning and reaching toward him. His skin glowed with a sheen of sweat and his muscles were so tense that he jerked slightly when she touched him.

It as a nightmare then.

Ronon having nightmares was not uncommon. Jennifer supposed everyone who'd watched their people culled or destroyed by the Wraith suffered from some level of PTSD and Ronon probably had more reason for nightmares than most. When they'd first began sharing a bed she had woken more than once to find him on the floor with a blanket, so afraid of what he would do to her if he awoke confused and overcome with images he couldn't escape that he didn't trust himself to sleep beside her.

He didn't do that anymore, but that didn't mean the images he saw were any less vivid and disturbing than they used to be.

"What was it?" She whispered.

After a few moment he took a deep breath he straightened, leaning back into her touch. He stared out the window where he could see the light of a full moon through a gentle drizzle that pelted the windows.

He didn't have the urge to lie. He hadn't lied to her about this part of him in a long time. He'd found it was easier to forget when she helped shoulder the burden. Even if he did usually heavily edit the versions of his dreams that he shared.

"Rikai." His voice was hoarse and he felt her hand pause in its soothing motion. "When..when I had to...I killed him. He...I should have…" He shook his head slightly and Jen slid her hand up to his shoulder, squeezing.

She bit her lip. She remembered when he came back from that Wraith lab. The intense joy that had bouyed him for days after reconnecting with his friends had led to a spectaculary devestating crash when he found out about their betrayal. It was before they were together, but not before she'd started to realize how important Ronon was becoming to her. He'd been bleeding from his face and mouth that day, eyes shadowed and dark, hurting in ways she couldn't comprehend and couldn't heal. She'd felt guilty for weeks because despite his pain she couldn't stop being glad because he wasn't leaving.

"Come here." She said finally. Slowly, he relented to her pull on his shoulder and laid back down, turning to his side to face her. She laid one hand against his cheek, watching his face as his eyes trailed over her, coming to rest on her stomach where his thumb was rubbing circles on her skin.

She felt Jelly Bean moving and she guided his hand over the spot. A moment later Ronon gasped and pulled his hand back. He glanced at her and she grinned at him.

"Go ahead." She replaced his hand and he jerked slightly again when the baby kicked him for a second time.

Ronon sat up on his elbows, trying to get a closer look. Jennifer watched wonder and surprise chase the shadows away from his eyes. The baby kicked again and this time he laughed.

"Hello little one," his voice was soft and quiet. He moved to sit cross-legged beside her, placing his hands on either side of her stomach. He tilted his head, waiting for it to happen again.

"Try talking to them." Jennifer suggested, her voice just above a whisper.

"I..." he shook his head. "I wouldn't know what to say."

"Say anything. Talk about your day. Tell them about Sateda. Anything."

Ronon frowned, but slowly words started forming and he leaned forward, speaking almost too quietly to be heard. Jen laid back down and closed her eyes, she laughed when his beard tickled her skin. His hands stayed on her belly and occasionally the baby would kick again and it always made his words stutter in surprise before he picked up and kept going.

He told jokes. He explained battle strategy. He talked about Shepherd and Teyla. He talked about Weir. He asked the baby questions, even pausing as if the child would answer. At some point he switched from English to Satedan and the husky, melodic sounds of his mother tongue sent shivers down her spine.

Jen smiled, gently drifting off to sleep to the sound of his voice.

TBC