Chap. 21:

Bolting up right in the bed his heart hammering in his chest, John darts his eyes around the room trying to remember where he is. Slowly but surely it dawns on him that he is in Lexi's quarters and as his eyes come to rest on Lexi, he feels his heart rate settle down. Running his hands over his face, he looks over at the clock on the bedside table and he sighs to himself as he sees that it's 0154.

Lying back down, he replays the previous two days in his head, a little voice telling him that Lexi is right about how he couldn't have done anything to stop Tyre from taking Ronon, even if he had been with them on the planet. Inwardly sighing, it still sucks though.

"Do I have to knock you out, to get you to sleep?" startles him out of his thoughts and he sees Lexi turning over to look at him.

Turning over onto his right side to look her in the eyes, "sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Snuggling up to him, "it's okay. Nightmare?"

"No, just have some things on my mind." he tells her, hoping that she won't see right through the lie.

Glaring at him, "John."

"Lexi, it's fine. Go back to sleep." he says, shutting his eyes and forcing his mind to stop reeling. He hears her sigh and a few seconds later her breathing evens out, signaling that she is asleep.

Opening his eyes, he runs them over her, she knows you too well, and smiling to himself, yeah and when did I let that happen? he asks himself and closing his eyes again, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, "well, I guess Carter was right." he says under his breath, as he falls into a uneasy sleep.

xxxx

The next thing he knows, he is rolling over in bed to find that Lexi is not next to him. His eyes focus on the alarm clock on the bedside table and it takes him a couple of seconds to comprehend that the numbers that are blinking back at him are wrong. Sitting up fast, he looks around the room and sees that the sun is pouring into it.

Reaching for his radio and slipping it into his ear, activating it, "Colonel Sheppard to Dr. Carter."

"John, you're up."

"Lexi, it's 1610, I had stuff to do today."

"Ah, no you didn't. I grounded you for the day, you needed to sleep."

Rubbing his hands over his face and through his hair, "Lexi!"

"No John. You're cleared for duty tomorrow, as is Ronon and if you're that upset about it, come meet me in the gym right now."

Recognizing that she is baiting him, "I'll be there in twenty." he says, as he throws the blankets off of himself and walking over to the dresser, he throws on a pair of sweats, a t-shirt, and socks. He walks into the bathroom, putting on deodorant, relieving himself and after washing his hands and brushing his teeth, he walks over to the bed and slips on his sneakers.

xxxx

Ten minutes later, he walks into the gym to see Lexi on the bike. Heading over to her, "okay, so we doing this or not?"

She gets off the bike and after each getting a set of bantos sticks, they head over to the mat. Half an hour later, sweating and cursing under his breath, she lunges at him and even though he knows he shouldn't, he goes left. The next thing he knows, she's taking him down to the mat with a thud, which knocks the wind out of him.

"You know better then to go left, John." she says, as she holds out a hand, to help him up.

Having gotten his breathing under control, he reaches out for her hand. But instead of letting her help him up, he kicks out and brings her down onto the mat as well, pinning her there.

"I've still got a few moves that you don't know, yet." he says, a smile crossing his lips.

"Oh, I don't know about that one John."

They turn their heads to see Teyla striding into the gym with Torren in her arms.

Lexi takes advantage of the fact that he's loosened his grip on her arms and within seconds, she's pinning him and he looks up at her stunned.

"See John, she's got your number." Teyla says, smirking.

Lexi stands up and holds out her hand again. He takes it and as he lets her pull him to his feet, "so Teyla, how's the kid?" he asks, stretching out his back.

"He still insists on sleeping only when he is moving." she says, handing him over to Lexi and stretching out her arms.

Watching as Lexi walks around the gym, rocking Torren back and forth, humming to him, he startles a little as he feels Teyla's hand on his arm.

Looking down at her, he sees her eyes on Lexi and Torren, a smile on her face, "what?" he asks softly, so only she will hear it.

Looking up at him, "nothing. Do not worry about it."

"John, do you want to hold him?"

His eyes dart to Lexi, who is now standing in front of him and hesitating a second, "sure...hand him over."

She gently lays Torren in his arms and looking down at him, he smiles as Torren snuggles closer to his chest. Looking up, he catches the look that Lexi and Teyla are sharing and curiosity peaked, "what?" he asks again.

Smiling at him, "you look great with a kid." Lexi says.

Looking down at Torren again, "ah Teyla, you want to take him?"

"Sure." and as she takes him out of his arms, "I wouldn't worry John. I don't think that Lexi has any plans to make you a father any time soon. See you two later." she says, as she walks out of the gym, leaving him starring after her in shock.

Coming back to his senses, "Lexi?"

Meeting his eyes, "she's right John."

"She's right about what?"

"I don't have any plans for making you a father any time soon."

Eyebrows shooting up in surprise, "you don't want to have kids?"

Wrapping her arms around his neck, "oh, I do want to have kids, someday. But not right now."

Wrapping his arms around her waist, the tension seeping out of him, "with me?"

"Yes with you. I love you and sure, I've thought about it. But right now, with everything we face on a daily basis, I don't think either of us are ready to take that step."

Leaning down, he kisses her and pulling away he gestures to the door, "dinner?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. But, do you forgive me?"

Walking next to her and looking at her out of the corner of his eye, "yeah. But, don't do it again."

Stepping into the transporter and hitting the screen for the mess hall, "I can't promise that."

Stepping out of the transporter, "yes you can. It's easy. All you have to do is leave the grounding to Keller. I've gone out on missions before with little to no sleep and it's not that big of a deal."

Placing a hand on his arm to stop him from walking, "John, you didn't have a mission off world today and Ronon wasn't cleared for duty yet." and flicking her eyes around the hall, she keeps her voice low, "you needed the sleep and if I take advantage of my ability to ground you, well then, so be it."

Sighing, "Lexi, it's just that I."

"You don't like it when other people fuss over you. Yeah, I know. We've had this conversation before." she says, as she starts walking again and as he falls into step beside her, "but, I'm gonna keep having it with you, until you except the fact that we do it because we care about you."

Entering the mess and heading for the food line, "fine." and deciding to change the subject, "how's Ronon?"

Grabbing a food tray and a bottle of water, she looks at him, concern written across her face, "he's okay. He feels really bad about hitting you, though."

Also grabbing a tray and a bottle of water, "I don't blame him for it. I know he wasn't himself."

Choosing what she wants for dinner and stepping off of the food line, waiting for him, "he knows that you don't. But from what he told me, that's not what bothers him the most."

Choosing his meal and grabbing a cookie, "is it Tyre's death?"

Walking side by side to a table, "no, it's not that."

"Then what?"

"The thing that is most difficult for him to handle is that he feels that he wasn't strong enough to withstand what the Wraith did to him."

Sitting down, he nearly drops his tray in shock, "he what? There's no way that anyone could've resisted that. I'm gonna talk to him."

"No John!" she shouts at him and lowering her voice, as everyone in the mess is now staring at them, "that's not a good idea. He'll work through this on his own. Just don't push him."

Chewing his food slowly, allowing himself time to think about it and swallowing, "okay. I'll wait. I'm not happy about it, but I get it."

She pats his arm and smiling, "good. So, you feel like a movie tonight?"

Smiling around chewing, "yeah. What movie did you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know. I could go for an action flick or romantic comedy."

"The Princess Bride?"

"Ooh yeah, that would be great. Oh, wait." and reaching her hand up to activate her radio, "Dr. Carter to Major Lorne."

"Go ahead Lexibeth."

Sighing, rolling her eyes and smiling at John, "do you still have my copy of The Princess Bride?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Can I come by and get it?"

"Sure."

Looking at her watch, "fifteen minutes?"

"Ah, can you come by a little later? Jamie and I are in the middle of something."

"Okay then. How about thirty minutes?"

"That'll work."

"Great, see you in thirty. Carter out."

xxxx

Twenty-five minutes later heading out of the mess for the transporter, "Lexi, why does Lorne have the movie?"

"Oh, because I lent it to him so he could watch it with Jamie. I just never bothered to get it back."

Getting into the transporter, "how long have they been seeing each other?" he asks, hitting the screen for the crew quarters.

Stepping out into the corridor and taking a right turn heading for Lorne's quarters, "um, a little longer than us."

"Really?" he asks, as they reach Lorne's quarters and he swipes the door control.

She nods at him and the doors open, Lorne of course standing to attention as soon as he sees John.

"At ease Major. Seriously, when we're off duty, you don't have to be so by the book."

"Okay sir." he says with a smile and relaxing, "here you go Lexi and thanks. Jamie really enjoyed it."

"No problem, Evan." she says, smiling.

Seeing the smile, "what?" John asks, eyebrows raised.

"Oh nothing. It's just..." she looks between them, "well, I guess I'm just happy to have two of my favorite men in one place."

"O..kay?" Lorne says, completely confused.

Seeing the looks of confusion on their faces, "really are you guys that dense? I mean I know that rank is important but, Evan he's right, off duty, is off duty." and turning to face John and pointing a finger at him, "and if you want to know how long they've been together, just ask him. I know that guys talk about these things, maybe not the same way as girls do, but you do talk about it." and turning on her heel, she leaves the two of them staring after her as she walks off towards her quarters.

After a few seconds, "well, sir. Have a good night."

"Yeah, you too. See you tomorrow at the briefing." and turning John runs to catch up with Lexi and as he does so, "hey Lexi, wait up."

Turning in the doorway and smiling, "what?"

"Nothing." he says, as she pulls him into the room.

xxxx

Ten minutes later, having changed into sweats and t-shirts, they're lying in the bed, propped up on pillows, watching the movie.

It's coming up to the point in the film where Buttercup and Wesley are walking through the Fire swamp and Lexi's leaning forward towards the screen, legs crossed under the blankets, her hands gripping her knees underneath them. However, the minute that the first burst of flames spurts up from the ground, she bolts back and buries her head on John's shoulder. He looks down to see her peeking at the screen and he shifts his right arm around her shoulders, laughing as she buries her head in his chest this time.

Looking up at him, "what's so funny?"

Not able to keep the smile from his lips, "you. How many times have you seen this movie?"

"I've lost count. Why?"

Kissing her on the forehead and looking down at her again, "because, you react as if you've never seen it before and I love that."

Smiling and refocusing on the film, "yeah, I guess I do get caught up in it. You should see me watch The Sound of Music."

Groaning and rolling his eyes, "oh, please don't tell me..."

Laughing and looking up at him again, "yep, I sing the entire soundtrack."

"Wow. You're really a geek, you know that?"

"Yeah, but since when is that a bad thing? Sometimes, geeks get the prince." she says as she leans up to kiss him.

As she pulls away, he smiles at her, a little stunned by the intensity of the kiss and by what she just said.

"Ah...should we ah, get back to watching the movie?" he asks, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

Smiling and snuggling down next to him, she refocuses on the screen. He does the same, not really focusing on the movie, though.

The movie ends and looking down at her, he sees that she's asleep. She had shifted out of his arms at one point to go grab a bottle of water from the fridge. He eases his way out of the bed and moving the laptop to the desk, taking a pit stop in the bathroom, he climbs back into the bed and getting under the blankets, he mentally shuts the lights off, completely.

He roles over onto his left side and a couple of seconds later, he feels her shift in the bed and her arm drapes over his waist. Twenty minutes later, after running through everything that they had talked about that day, and sometimes the prince gets the geek, he falls asleep with a smile on his lips.