Disclaimer - I do not own SGA or its Characters. I do own Dr. Orla Grant.
Rated T for violence & threat.
Thank you for the continued reviews, follows and likes. They are greatly appreciated.
Slightly shorter chapter but just as much fun I hope.
Sheppard dragged the steel strike bar across the flint bar from the fire kit. The sparks flickered over the char cloth and the small fire sputtered into life. Sheppard encouraged the flame, he shielded it until it took hold and smiled.
"About time," grumbled McKay as he tried to hunch over the small fire.
"Seriously? You have people here seriously injured, giving birth and in first stages of hyperthermia whining less about their predicament than you, McKay."
"They chose to come on this death trap of a mission, pun intended! I didn't. We're the rescue team by default we get to complain about the stupidity of the team needing rescuing!"
"How many times have they rescued us?" Sheppard calmly reasoned.
"How many times did they try to rescue us and ended up needing rescuing too!" Rodney snarked. He wasn't truly mad at the others he just didn't do well coping after the immediate peril was removed.
"You got wet and you got some rope burns. We can't treat either of those until we get back to Atlantis. So, I get it, you're uncomfortable, but there are others in far worse situation so I don't want to hear you griping about how bad you've got it again. Got it?" Sheppard retorted angrily.
"Fine, but I need to eat, hypoglycaemia."
"Fine, I'll see what I can do," Sheppard sighed as he stood up.
"How's he doing, Doc?" Sheppard asked Dr. Biro.
"Truth? Holding his own, barely. His blood pressure is low, if it falls any lower, he'll be at risk for organ failure. Including heart failure. He needs fluids and surgery. None of which I can offer the poor man, here," Biro sighed and reached for the foil blankets Sheppard had handed her from the survival ruck sacks. "I need two for him, I suggest one for Dr. Keller and one for Lieutenant Cadman. Both women have been through a lot and exposed to cold and wet for a greater length of time. Ideally, if I had more. I'd give them to Orla and the baby. However, Orla still has some old foil blankets, Ronon's coat and it doesn't look like Ronon intends on leaving her side. So, she has his body warmth. He may need something to keep him warm eventually. That leaves the three of us. We've had some exposure to rain and the storm but we will be fine. Maybe a chill, but nothing life threatening," Biro turned to find a smiling Sheppard. "Did I say something out of turn, Colonel?"
"Not at all, see, you can cope under pressure on a mission. I'll happily go off-world with you, Dr. B."
Dr. Biro blushed from the unexpected praise, her usual nervous and talkative manner seemed to have been replaced a confident and determined doctor. Maybe she could go off-world after all. She'd need some basic self-defence classes but just maybe she could be more than she had been.
Richard Woolsey paced the floor beside Chuck, he'd been doing so for the past thirty minutes.
"How long does a meteorological report take, anyway?" he muttered to himself.
"Mr. Woolsey, Sir. I have the latest storm report. Appears it should be clearing within the next four hours. Communications should be back within three hours, Sir."
"Thank you, Chuck. Please notify Major Teldy of the update and ask her to prepared a strike force ready to head out as soon as it is safe to do so."
"Strike force, Sir? Might be a little dramatic. What about Dr. Beckett and a small team able to fly to the drop site?" Chuck tried to reason with the tense, pacing IOA man.
"What? You understand who's on this mission and the peril, mishap, danger, all threats Atlantis will be exposed to just by them being on an away mission together!" Woolsey snapped.
"Sir, permission to speak freely?"
"Alright," Woolsey cautiously agreed.
"Dr. Keller and Dr. Grant are known to be…, hazardous off-world but only ever to themselves. They've never caused an issue for Atlantis," Chuck carefully explained.
Richard sighed; he knew the technician was right. He'd become paranoid when it came to some of the team members. He removed his glasses and scrubbed his hand over his face. "What time is it on Earth. Specifically, Pacific Standard Time?"
"Excuse me, Sir? Umm, well let me check," Chuck feverishly began to type onto his console. He stopped, looked across at Mr. Woolsey as said, "It's 17:05 PST, Sir."
"Thank you, Chuck. It's five pm somewhere, therefore I am going to my quarters to consume a very large Cabernet. Please instruct Major Teldy to be ready with her team and Dr. Beckett. Contact me in three hours when we try Colonel Sheppard. I may be compos mentis by then."
"There's a couple of MRE's and a couple of power bars, here," Sheppard offered McKay one of the power bars.
"Really?" McKay seemed wary of the offer.
"I don't know how long we'll be here but I need you to keep your strength up to help me get everyone back to Atlantis. Eat it. We'll keep the rest for later. Not feeling overly inclined to head to the back of the cave right now," Sheppard admitted as he came to sit crossed legged beside McKay. They both looked out of the cave entrance and watched as the storm continued to lash across the landscape.
"Never thought I'd be at the birth, you know, in person," McKay admitted chuckling a little at the situation.
"Not sure Orla imagined so many of us to be present for the birth either."
Laura came to sit beside the two men and tried to massage her sore hands together near the small fire. As she sat mirroring the two men she said, "Thought I'd be better down here, try to give the happy couple some time together…" Laura's comment was drowned out by the loud howl of pain from Orla.
Rodney winced, he wasn't one for pain and that sounded like a woman in pain. He looked across at Sheppard who was wincing too. The pair began to wince and hiss.
"You realise that neither of you two are actually giving birth?" Cadman reminded the two men before her.
"I know but, you know, sympathy pains and all," McKay uttered grimacing.
"Sympathy pain, for the love of," Cadman dragged her hands through her hair, immediately regretting it as the rope burns reminded her of their presence.
"Alright, you're doing so good, how you feeling?" Jennifer grinned.
"Like I can't do this anymore, I'm too tired, I can't push!" Orla closed her eyes and sunk back into Ronon.
"You can do this, Little One. You got this far; you coped before I got here, alone. You're a fighter, you can do this," Ronon tried to encourage the exhausted woman in his arms.
Orla shook her from side to side. "No, I'm done. No baby."
"Your kind of at the point of not having a choice, sweetie. Come on, just a few more pushes and baby will be with us," Jennifer encouraged.
Another contraction wracked across Orla and she flinched at the intensity, holding onto Ronon's hand she began to pant, "I have to push," she roared with what could only be described as a primal roar.
"Push, good girl, push, remember breathe."
Orla pushed with all she had, before she slumped down into Ronon once more.
"I see a head," Jennifer announced.
"Seriously, you see a head?" McKay cried out as he stood and turned around. "Jeannie's labour with Madison was far longer that this!"
Sheppard grabbed hold of McKay and dragged him back onto the ground, "Really?"
"Yes, it was hours and hours. Oh, right," McKay quieted and resumed his position beside the small fire.
"One more push," Jennifer urged.
As the next contraction hit Orla tried with all she had to push but she was tiring. As the pain increased, she screamed in pain.
"Worst part, baby's shoulders, almost there. Once more. You can do this."
Orla gritted her teeth and tried with all she had; she felt a moment of relief before she fell back panting into Ronon.
"Hey you, welcome to the world," Jennifer looked up to the expectant faces before her. "You have a baby girl."
"She's okay?" Orla cried out as all pain was put aside and she tried to reach for the child.
"She looks healthy, all fingers and toes," she replied as she checked the air ways with the nasal aspirator. Jennifer rubbed the baby's back encouraging her to release a sound. As she did the small new life found her lungs and roared her annoyance at being pestered.
"Okay, best thing for baby is skin to skin contact. Orla, say hi to your daughter," Jennifer began to cry as she handed the small life over to Orla.
The little new life was immediately happy to snuggle into a warm body and ceased her wailing. "She's beautiful," Orla whispered as she started to cry also.
"Congratulations," Sheppard shouted over to the couple both too enamoured with the new life beside them to hear him,
"I actually feel sorry for the child," McKay said in hushed tones to Sheppard.
"What? Why?" Sheppard stared at Rodney incredulously.
"Seriously? You've seen how Ronon is with Orla all mean and moody if someone even looks at her. Now he has a daughter and a gun."
"Well, we have until she's a teen to work that one out?"
"We do?" McKay answered.
"Before she dates!" Sheppard mouthed.
"She's never going to be allowed to date," Cadman whispered.
"He's going to kill a lot Marines in about fifteen years," McKay half joked.
"How's Orla always managed to keep him calm?" Sheppard asked Cadman.
"I dunno, but I think you're going to have to ask her," Cadman answered honestly.
"Atlantis, this is Sheppard, do you read me?" Sheppard waited for the call back but all he heard was the static interference from the storm. He sighed. He was worried about Lorne. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard do you read me?" Nothing came back so he moved back to his place beside the caves entrance and tried to create a rescue plan.
Ronon traced his finger across his daughters' forehead, he watched as she reacted to the touch and raised her eyebrows.
"That's your daddy," Orla whispered to the bundle cradled against her chest.
"She's really okay?" Ronon whispered to Orla.
Orla turned to Ronon and smiled, "She's good."
"You okay?"
Orla nodded, still smiling, he was looking at her as though he was terrified but in awe at the same time. "I'm fine, we're fine. Your daughter's fine. Isn't she beautiful? She even has tufts of curly black hair."
"She's beautiful, wrinkly but beautiful," Ronon replied as he kissed Orla.
"All babies are wrinkly when new born, she'll grow quickly," Orla uttered totally in love with her daughter.
"Not too quickly," Ronon replied.
"So, same as we agreed?" Orla looked up at her partner's face.
Ronon nodded, "If you're happy with that, yeah," he smiled in return.
Cadman moved across the cave until she was beside the new family. "Hey, you've had dibs on the baby, now it's time to introduce her to her extended family."
Orla laughed, "Ronon want to introduce your daughter?"
Ronon tried to speak but the emotion he was feeling meant the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. He'd been waiting for this moment only to find he was the one too overwhelmed to do anything about it. "Erm," was all he could manage at first. "Our daughter… say hi to Risa Jane Dex. Risa was my Mother's name and Jane is Orla's Mother's name. This is the rest of your family… Risa," Ronon almost choked on the last words as they left his throat. Family. His family was not the family he started with but it was the one he needed.
Dr. Biro was happy to have her back to the group, her hands busy rechecking Lorne's vitals where she could discreetly swipe at her happy tears.
"Welcome to the family, Risa Jane Dex, I'm your most awesome Aunt Laura. This is Jennifer, you have yet to meet Teyla but we love you already," Cadman smiled as she stroked the tiniest finger.
"You are never to listen to your Aunt's," Ronon quickly added with a chuckle.
"She looks like a scientist," McKay added smugly.
"How do you even see that?" Sheppard asked confused.
"Look at the forehead, all that frowning. Scientist through and through. Notice Ronon rarely frowns."
"You realise Ronon is just there, Rodney?"
"Yes, but he's too enthralled with Risa to care, besides I'm right!" McKay smirked.
Dr. Biro smirked at the easy banter of the teams as she finished rechecking Lorne's vitals.
TBC ...