A/N: I SO meant to have this up Monday to make it an even week in-between postings. Sorry, guys. Also, college is eating my life again, but if you think happy thoughts and send pixie dust, maybe, just MAYBE I'll have the conclusion all finished for next Monday. :-D


Fifteen Years Old - 2021

"I know it's not what you want to hear. Nothing makes up for all the years. I pray for the day you see I tried to raise you the best I know. Now there's only one thing I can hope: you don't end up just like me. I only wanted you to have more than I could ever dream of. I only wanted you to know everything I know and then some. I only wanted you to be more than I could ever become. I only wanted, I only wanted you." - Stellar Kart, "Only Wanted"

Evie buried her head in John's shoulder and sighed heavily. She knew they shouldn't have had sex again so soon after Aiden had started suspecting, but John had nearly died off-world and it was a "need to feel alive" plea that Evie hadn't refused.

"You want me to go talk to him?" John asked after a moment.

"No," she said quietly. "I'll do it." She got off the bed and began slipping her discarded clothes back on.

There was a long silence between them as she got dressed. John finally asked, "So… I should probably…" He slid off the bed and began picking up his clothes as well. "I guess we shouldn't--"

"We have to cool it for a while," Evie interrupted, her distraught mind racing so much she hadn't even heard John. "It's like… It's like when mom starts dating a new boyfriend type thing…even though it's different…I'm sure that's what it feels like to Aiden."

"Evie--"

"I mean, it's not like I would know what that feels like, but I'm guessing it'd be really hard…"

"Evie--"

"And he caught us having sex!" she lamented. "Of all the possible ways for him to find out, he had t--"

John cut off her nervous ramblings by pulling her into a tight hug. "Evie," he said gently. "Just talk to him, and he'll calm down. It's gonna be alright."

She clung to him, trying to convince herself that he was right. "Yeah… Everything's gonna be alright," she repeated shakily. "If…" She sighed and let him go. "I should go now." She gave him a final worried look and then quickly left.

John sank down onto the bed as he watched her go. '"It's gonna be alright"?!' he repeated to himself. 'No it's not going to be al-frickin-right! The shit's hit the fan, John, and you have to deal with the repercussions.' He looked around for something that wasn't breakable and the first thing he found was his shoe, which made an unsatisfying thud when he hurled it in frustration against the wall.

He needed to think. Stripping out of his clothes for the second time that day, he walked into the bathroom and took a shower.

XXXXXX

When Evie reached Aiden's quarters, she wasn't surprised to find it locked. "Aiden…" she called worriedly. "Can we talk?"

"Go away!" he yelled from inside and she heard the sound of glass shattering.

"Aiden, please, we need to talk," she said, and hated that she was begging.

"I said go away! I don't want to talk to you, you…whore!"

Evie could take that kind of crap from people who disapproved of her supposed fling with Rodney, but not from her son. "You do not speak to your mother like that!" she reprimanded.

"Screw you!" Aiden cried bitterly. "Mothers don't lie to their kids for fifteen years!"

Evie sighed and wiped her eyes; if she was going to get through to him, she really didn't need to be blubbering. "I'm sorry about that, Aiden, but we didn't have a choice."

"You didn't have a choice?" he asked and she could hear the derision in his voice. "Nobody even asked me! Didn't you think I might have liked to have a father growing up?" His accusing words shot to hell Evie's plan of not crying. "Or were you too busy screwing every guy in Atlantis?"

Evie slammed a hand against the wall. All she ever got was "tramp, tramp, tramp." She'd been faithful to her one and only for sixteen years, darn it! "Uncle John--" She paused and then dispensed with the lie. "Your father is the only one, Aiden."

"He's not my father!" he shouted.

"Yes, he is, Aiden," she said in a quieter tone as she let her forehead fall against the door. "Think about it. Who took you to those football games? Who taught you to fly?" If Evie had been in a more rational state, she might have worried about the possibility of someone--anyone--overhearing this entire conversation. Luckily, the hallway remained empty. "Who did I get to give you the man talk?" She smiled slightly at the amusing memory of begging John to educate Aiden in the ways of males. After a pause she asked, "Will you let me in, please?"

There was a long pause followed by, "Fine."

Evie waved her hand in front of the door's sensor and stepped inside. Her eyes quickly fell upon the source of the breaking glass she had heard earlier; the remnants of a picture frame lay in scattered shards on the floor. The photograph of mother and son was still intact, however. As she moved to sit on the edge of his bed, she noted the damp spot on his pillow, which explained why he was reluctant to meet her gaze. "Aiden…" she said softly. "I really am sorry." When he said nothing in response, she continued. "We were going to tell you. I'm just so sorry that you had to find out this way."

"Tell me when?" Aiden asked with a cynical tone.

Evie looked down. "We hadn't really decided yet…but soon."

"Why didn't you just…" Aiden paused for a moment, thinking. "I dunno, retire and marry him or something?" he asked at last. "I mean, if you loved him enough to come up with this lie?"

Evie sighed as she thought about the times she and John had had this conversation…once right before he was attacked by pygmies. "If I had quit the military, there was no guarantee that I would have been able to stay in Atlantis, Aiden."

It was only a few seconds before he came back with, "He could have quit with you."

"He could have, Aiden," Evie admitted. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we didn't make the right decision, but right or wrong, this is what we did. I'm sorry; I really am."

Aiden sighed and replied with an apathetic, "Whatever."

Evie sat there for a minute before she decided that this was probably as good as things were going to get right now and stood to leave.

"So…what are you gonna do now?" Aiden asked before she'd gotten far.

"What?"

"Are you two going to go on like this? I mean, am I just supposed to keep your secret?"

Evie thought about that for a while. "Well, I suppose we should talk about that," she finally answered. Then she added, "As a family."

Aiden made a face. "Ugh. Later."

Evie nodded; she wasn't going to press him. "Okay." She started walking and had almost reached the door when she turned back and asked, "Will I see you at dinner?"

"I dunno," he answered uncaringly.

Evie looked down sadly, then left him alone.

Aiden just sat on his bed for several long minutes before finally grabbing Puppy out of his cage and petting him compulsively. It wasn't the fact that John was his father that was eating Aiden up. It was that they had lied to him his whole life. Over and over throughout the years. And it wasn't just his mother and John--his father. No, he'd still stick with 'John' for now. But Rodney had lied to him, too. And he was fairly certain that Summer and Michael would have known, as well.

Aiden didn't realize that he was slowly making a fist until Puppy let out a gurgle of protest. "Sorry," he muttered to the creature, releasing his grip and patting it on the head. The more Aiden thought about it, the more bitter he became. So many lies…

"Mommy, where do babies come from?" Aaron asked, rubbing his mother's stomach where his unborn sibling was residing.

Summer hadn't expected this question from her four-year-old, but she answered sweetly and non-graphically, "Babies are made because a mommy and a daddy love each other so much."

"Oh." Aaron looked over at Aiden, who was brushing his teeth in the bathroom. "But then where did Aiden come from, Mommy?" he asked, frowning with concern. "'Cause he doesn't have a daddy…"

Wow. Sometimes she wished her son wasn't quite so curious… "He was made the same way you were, sweetie," she answered awkwardly.

"But he doesn't have a daddy," Aaron insisted.

"I know that, Aaron--"

"So where'd he come from?"

"Aaron…"

"You said he had to have a mommy and a daddy."

"His mommy slept with Uncle Rodney, okay?" she finally blurted, exasperated from her lack of sleep compounded by her son's persistent questions.

"So Uncle Rodney's his daddy?" Aaron asked, confused.

"No, sweetie. It's…complicated." She suddenly saw Aiden walking towards them and said quietly to her son, "We'll talk about it later."

"Okay, Mommy."

"Alright, boys. Time for bed," she said, standing up and ushering them towards their bed. Being taken off of active duty because of the progress of her pregnancy meant that she had to take care of Aiden whenever Evie went off-world. She was putting them to bed in the boys' room, while Michael took care of Skylar in their quarters.

"C'mon, Aiden. Get in bed and I'll read you guys a story," she offered.

"No," he said, backing away from the low bed.

"Aiden," she said, putting a little bit of sternness into her voice, "Please get in bed."

"No! You just said that babies come from beds!" he protested.

Summer looked confused. "What?"

"You said that my mommy slept with Uncle Rodney and then she had a baby!" he exclaimed, obviously having overheard the previous conversation. His eyes were wide as he stared at the bed he shared with Aaron.

"Oh, sweetie," Summer said, bending down and gently taking Aiden's hand. "Don't worry about that. I promise you'll be fine. Do you want to pick out two books for us?" she asked, hoping to distract him.

Aiden gave the bed one last wary glance, then nodded. "The plane book, Aunt Summer! I wanna read the plane book!" he announced and began pulling his favorite book off the small bookshelf…

When Puppy began nibbling on his finger, Aiden put him back in his cage and fed him a few of the red chachi berries that the little puckmarin loved so much. On his way back to his bed, a piece of broken glass crunched under his shoe. He bent over and picked up the ruined picture frame. He slowly pulled the picture loose and lay back down on his bed as he stared at it.

It was lovely posed photograph of himself and his mother that Summer had taken only a few months ago. Looking at the picture of his mother, Aiden still couldn't believe that she'd created such a tangled web of lies to tell him…

"Mom," Aiden asked after Kyle's second birthday party. "How come Kyle has a dad and I don't?"

Evie nearly choked on her drink. "What?" she managed after she'd recovered.

"Well, I know that Rodney's my biological father, but why aren't you two together like Aunt Summer and Uncle Michael?"

Evie's mind frantically tried to come up with an answer. "Rodney and I… We decided that we didn't love each other." She wanted to kick herself for coming up with such a terrible reason.

"Then why did you have me?" Aiden pressed. "Aunt Summer said that babies are made when a mom and dad love each other."

"We…did…but then…we didn't…" Evie answered very awkwardly.

Aiden didn't look convinced, but could tell that his mom didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Okay. Whatever. Want to see if there's any leftover cake?" he asked, changing subjects.

Evie smiled and nodded…

Having completely lost his appetite, Aiden put the picture on his bedside table and lay his head on his pillow. Five minutes later, he was asleep.

XXXXXX

After John had finished his shower and gotten dressed, he sought out his wife. Knowing her pretty well, he guessed that she'd be with Summer; when he heard sobs coming through the door of the Murphys' quarters, he knew he was right. He used his gene to activate the door chimes and heard Summer's voice calling, "We're not in the mood for visitors!"

He entered anyway and noted that Summer looked relieved to see him. She was sitting on the couch holding Evie, who was practically in her lap. "What--What kind of a mother l-lies to her son?" she sobbed hysterically.

Summer gently rubbed Evie's back. She had disapproved of John and Evie's charade from the beginning, but there was no way she going to say any "I told you so"s now. "Hey," she said firmly, but lovingly, "Aiden still loves you, Evie. You know that."

"I wouldn't still love me!" she cried, the sobs starting to come harder.

Summer looked up sadly at John. He took this as his cue and sat down on the couch next to his wife.

"Evie," he said gently, touching her shoulder.

When Evie looked back and saw him, she let go of Summer and turned around, throwing her arms around John's neck. "Tell me I'm not a horrible person," she sobbed into his shoulder.

"You're not a horrible person, Evie. But we knew he'd find out sooner or later and now we've got to deal with it."

When Evie started crying harder, Summer gave John a look. "Nice going, sir," she said.

John sighed frustratedly. He was just as upset as Evie, only he was keeping it bottled up inside. How was he supposed to know what to say to make her feel better when he couldn't even convince himself that it was all going to work out happily ever after? "Hey, c'mon, Evie," he murmured, beginning to stroke her hair. "We'll get through this, okay?"

Summer mouthed the word "better."

"I don't know exactly how, but we'll get through this. Together."

Evie wasn't done crying yet, but she nodded her head and hugged him tighter.