A/N: Here is the latest installment of this story. Thanks to all those still following. And to Shadows-of-Realm for the betawork and Crye4Me for the brainstorming. There are a handful of chapters left before I put this story to bed. It has been a fun journey, but things are winding down. I can promise you a happy ending.

Chapter 26- Pre-Wedding Issues

Rodney tapped his foot impatiently as he stood in the supermarket line, waiting to pay for the unusual order Jennifer wanted thanks to the craving she was having. Sour cream and onion potato chips and catsup and mayonnaise to dip them in. He let out a loud huff as the elderly woman in front of him was paying for her fifty dollar order in change.

"You should learn to be patient. You could be like that one day," the man in line behind Rodney leaned forward to lightly admonish him.

The annoyed scientist turned around and gave the cheeky man his most 'mind your own business, you idiot' look. "I have a wife that is seven months pregnant waiting for this. Aren't you supposed to get a sty in your eye if you deny a pregnant woman food?" The man with the military haircut looked familiar, but the scientist was never good at placing names with faces. Rodney got a thrill out of calling Jennifer his wife even though there was still twenty hours before she would have the official title.

The man with salt and pepper colored hair had to laugh as the other man had a point. He recalled the cravings his wife had twenty-eight years ago and how upset she'd get if he took too long at the store. "Do I know you from somewhere?" the man asked. The scientist's face looked vaguely familiar and it drove him crazy not being able to put a name to face.

"Umm. Don't think so," Rodney quickly turned his attention to the cashier when the elderly woman finally was done paying. As soon as his purchase was paid for, Rodney only gave the other man a passing glance, "Maybe I just have one of those faces."

That is when it clicked, "Your name is McKay. You did some work with the Russian Air Force about ten years ago. Arrogant prickly SOB if I recall correctly," There was no need to recall correctly. The arrogant scientist made a last impression with his constant yelling and whining. The loud mouth had even insulted his daughter, whom he had never met by calling her a Prima Donna, pampered daddy's girl who couldn't find her way out of an open paper bag.

"Um, not one of my better moments," Rodney really did not want to rehash is time in frozen hell on Earth as he liked to call it. "As much as I would love to skip down memory lane with you, remember I have a pregnant wife with a craving so I've got to go."

Rodney's eye was twitching when he returned to the hotel and as expected Jennifer was still enjoying her nap. The day had been bad enough dealing with Katie, which went much easier than he imagined and some man he could not remember from his Russian adventure was threatening to ruin his good mood. Watching the peaceful woman sleep put Rodney at ease and he found himself calming down the longer he watched Jennifer sleep until she started snorting with laughter in her sleep.

The snorting woke Jennifer from her nap and she looked around startled, "Why did you wake me up?" she sleepily rubbed her eyes and attempted to sit up.

"Me?" Rodney looked innocently. "You woke yourself with your snorting. What was so funny?" Trying to be good boyfriend, he assisted Jennifer in sitting up. "My favorite girls enjoy their nap?" he tried to pull his hand away, but the woman had a firm grasp on it.

Jennifer nodded and yawned, "Just a really bizarre dream. I'm pretty sure our little one is still asleep." She pulled Rodney next to her on the couch. "Did you get want I asked for?" she pouted and reached for the bag.

"Potato chips, catsup and mayo," he crinkled up his nose at the combination. "And you find this tasty?" Rodney could not understand how Jennifer could enjoy a dip made of the two condiments. "What was your dream about?"

"Can you get me a glass from the bathroom?" The pregnant woman greedily reached for bag of food. "And something to stir with," the orders came out easily. "Just another crazy dream. I heard that pregnancy causes so weird dreams, but I did not know how weird. I'll be glad when they stop."

"Okay. So what was it about?" Rodney returned to the main room with the requested items. "It did not involve you and someone else?" The hints of jealousy snuck through.

"No," Jennifer looked confused and reached for the items to mix her dip. "You were in the dream and wearing a kilt on your head. You had nothing else on but the kilt and you were waving a tablet around yelling at invisible Iratus bugs. Then you jumped on one of the tables in your lab and started acting like you were in one of those Ricola commercials, playing a big sheep horn. Then Carson showed up and you jumped into his arms and it ended with you two kissing." Rodney's displeasure was obvious. "You shouldn't have asked. I told you they were weird dreams."

"I'll know better for next time. There are certain images you can never unsee. And for the record it was that crazy explosives expert that made me kiss Carson. " Rodney shook his head. "You know I almost did not make it out of the store alive. There was this grandma in front of me paying in nickels and dimes and the guy behind me knew me from when I was in Russia. I had no idea who he was."

"As long as the food and you made it out in one piece. That's all that matters," Jennifer ripped open the bag of chips. Ever since their return to Earth, her appetite had been ravenous.

Rodney laughed, "The food before me? Nice to see where your priorities are."

"Blame your daughter. She is one hungry girl today," Jennifer knew Rodney could not argue with that logic. She quickly kissed his cheek, "Is everything ready for tomorrow?"

"That's playing dirty," Rodney stooped to childish levels and stuck his tongue out. "John has the rings and my tux, we've got the license. You picked out a dress?"

The expectant woman nodded, "I did. The woman had to make a few alterations, so Jeannie was going to pick it up after she got Kaleb and Madison from the airport." It wasn't the dress Jennifer dreamed of as a child, but she didn't expect to be getting married when she was seven months pregnant. The dress she picked was the closest possible considering her size. "You just have to wait until tomorrow."

"That's not a problem," Rodney stole a quick kiss before standing up. "I should be going," he started toward the door.

"Where are you going? It's way too early for bed."

"Your dad should be here soon, right?" Rodney's voice faltered. "I was just thinking maybe you should talk to him alone. You know, explain everything to him. I'm afraid if I'm here he will hit first and ask questions later. So it's in all of our best interests that I'm not here when he arrives." The scared man had the door half open by the time he finished talking.

"Rodney." Jennifer slowly got up from the couch. "There is nothing to be scared of. My father won't hit you."

"You don't know that. If someone did to my daughter what I did to you he wouldn't be standing for long." Rodney was talking a mile a minute. "Trust me I know. I'm starting to have these feelings that if one person dares to hurt my daughter that I want to break every bone in their body. Then after that feed him to Todd or throw him through the Stargate connected to a space gate." Rodney launched into a babbling paternal rant about protecting his daughter at all costs.

It was an amusing and cute non-sequitur that showed just how good of a father Rodney would be and when it really started to seem like the rant would not end anytime soon, Jennifer took matters into her own hands or in this case mouth by silencing with a kiss.

At first Rodney resisted, wanting to finish but he soon succumbed to the irresistible charm of his soon to be wife. It did not register with the couple that they were acting like two horny teenagers in the middle of the hallway with Jennifer's hands buried in Rodney's hair and his hands moving Iistlessly at his side until someone clearing their throat yanked them to reality.

There were red faces all around.

"Dad!" Jennifer smoothed out her shirt and looked anywhere but at her father.

"Oh, crap," Rodney tried to fix his messed up hair. A lump formed in his throat and it painfully made its way down his esophagus. This was some cruel twist fate was playing on him as the man with salt and pepper hair from the grocery store was now standing in front of him. The man who had called him an arrogant prickly SOB and the man Jennifer had just called dad.

Carl Keller stared in shock at the scene before him. Obviously, his daughter had left out several important facts during their correspondences over the last couple months...seven months to be exact. He had doubted Rodney assertions that he had a pregnant wife at home during their run in at the store. The lack of rings was the first hint. From the impression the prickly scientist had left he doubted he would ever find someone to put up with his behavior. It was almost a waking nightmare that he had just witnessed his very pregnant daughter in a passionate embrace with the man. The hardest thing to take that Jennifer was pregnant and never said a word. "When were you going to tell me you were having a baby and got married?" Carl was pale as he tried to digest everything.

Jennifer looked over at Rodney, confused why her father thought she was married.

"I kind of got ahead of myself earlier. Was just testing how it sounded...calling you my wife that is," Rodney's mouth went desert dry and he felt like he was on the verge of hyperventilating.

Carl let out a sigh of relief, "You really aren't married? Thank goodness. Please say he isn't the one who really got you pregnant. Do you have any idea the kind man he is?"

Jennifer saw the hurt look on Rodney's face at her father's rejection. "Of course I do," a grin spread across the pregnant woman's face as she took his hand. "A very amazing man who I am very glad that came into my life," she looked at Rodney with all the love she had for him. "And he is already a great father to our daughter."

The look and the hand squeeze from Jennifer was all Rodney needed to not run away. His six month exile in Russia had been a dark time and it was not truly an accurate depiction of who he was at that time in his life and it was a far cry from the man he was now. It was not a surprise that Carl would not want him in his daughter's life.

"Jen, do you remember the stories I told you about my time in Russia? About the loud mouth scientist who ran his mouth off constantly, putting everyone down. Including you." It pained Carl to see his only child with someone harboring so much hate and loathing.

Jennifer vaguely remembered the tales and she certainly never connected them to Rodney, "Somewhat. How many years ago was that?" She knew her husband to be could be a bit harsh with his words when he was in a bad mood and from what she knew of his time in Russia it was a very difficult time for Rodney.

The reason the hateful words stuck so clear in his mind all these years was that Carl never heard someone speak so ill of person they never met before and it was all in reaction to his words of praise he had for Jennifer. "I don't understand this. Why him?" The retired Navy Captain was stuck in his ways and could not get the image of the horrid man put of his head.

Jennifer was visibly upset by her father's words and she held onto Rodney's hand even tighter. Father or not, she was going to set the record straight. He obviously did not know Rodney the way she did. He knew nothing of the incredible man he was now. "We should take this inside," her hand remained firmly attached to Rodney's as to draw strength from him.

"Why not me?" Rodney gritted his teeth, finding the strength to speak against his would-be father-in-law. "Russia was a long time ago. Six and half years to be exact."

"Your point being?" Carl moved into the room and tried to ignore the looks between the couple. He knew what they meant and he did not want to see it. The father did not want to see the love his daughter had for a complete jerk.

"People change, Dad. I know how you are a firm believer that people cannot change, but you are very wrong. You knew Rodney for a max of six months six years ago and I've known him for two years. Can you forget about what happened all those years and try to get to know the Rodney I know? The man I am marrying tomorrow."

"Like hell you are!"

To be continued...