A/N: Upload on Tuesday! Woohoo! Okay, that was enough of that. The muses have decided that I need to deal with my depression again, love them too... *sigh* So fighting that. But at least I got this update uploaded. Now just to finish the series out. This is my longest-running story to date you know? I kinda want to finish it on a high note but I'm flagging recently and I know it. But this is life.

Anyway, if y'all haven't seen I recently posted several one-shots the Silmarillion/Hobbit/LOTR universe that I am pleased with, and all 15 of them are written so there will be no waiting and hoping that the one-shots are completed and I have begun the accompanying saga stories that bookend them. Hopefully, I can keep them moving at a decent pace instead of getting bogged down in the sheer multitude and weight of facts and details in the source material. Cause man, it is slow-moving at times.

Anyway, you know the deal. Like, follow, favorite, subscribe, and review!

JR

Recap:

After Ronon is accosted by a sick Atlantis Team Member he and Sophie are stuck in quarantine. And the days are counting down until the formal mating. Will they be in Quarantine for their wedding night?

Chapter 13 Quarantine Part 1

Infirmary. 0900. Quarantine. Room Three.

Smiling, Sophie pressed her hand to the glass that she had personally retrofitted into the Isolation Rooms.

It was fine and dandy to have the observation areas with their glass walls so that doctors could observe from above, but for the safety of the staff coming and going? They needed to see where their patient was from somewhere safe from possible contagions or violence. It was a fact on Earth and she had no doubt even in Pegasus that medical staff put their lives on the line every day for their patients. And if she could make them just the slightest bit safer? Well, she was going to take that time.

She had installed floor to ceiling glass that was as close to bombproof as one could get, even lacing it with the naquada composite that the observation decks used in their windows, on either side of a negative pressure airlock with built-in virus and bacteria scanners that could detect something that was two microns in size. Adding in the decontamination lights and sprayers that one of her team had found in the city databases had made the entire medical staff cheer nearly sob with happiness. She had never been thanked by so many people in her life.

If a virus or bacteria lived through everything they had placed on that airlock, it deserved to kill them, she had thought proudly the day she opened the door for Keller the first time.

On a lighter note, it had the added benefit for the morale of the less violent patients, that their loved ones could use the addition to visit. Something she was taking full advantage of.

Luka was showing off his latest bandaid on the other side of the thick glass. "Look!" He said, extending his arm so she could see. "Gran gave me triceratops. They have orange horns. I don't think they were orange in real life. She said she was sorry that she didn't have puddle jumper plasters but that bandaid companies weren't part of the official secrets act so they didn't get images of real space ships to use on them. She said I could either have fake space ships or real dinosaurs. But that she'd try to get more accurate depictions on her next order for Earth." He rambled without taking a breath as he tended to when he was nervous. Or tired. Or both.

"Would you rather have plain bandaids?" She asked. "I'm sure Gran wouldn't mind."

"No." Frowning, he rubbed at the bandaid in question. "I'd rather not be stuck with a needle. But gran said it was necessary because the lady who got sick kissed Ronon and we might have been infected because we breathed in the same air that she had. Why did she kiss Ronon? And when will you both come home? Gran said I'm staying with her until you get out and I don't want to sleep in Gran's room. I want to be in my bed with my books and my stuffed animals. It smells funny in Gran's quarters. Like antiseptic and fake fragrance from candles. I don't mind it visiting but I don't want to stay there."

"I don't know when I'm getting out," Sophie answered honestly. She had always tried to be honest with Luka, things surprised him less when she was. A less surprised Luka was a less panicked Luka. Something she had very much appreciated when there was a tense situation. Like when she had to hide him in an access tunnel at the SGC and electrocute some Wraith that had tried to make their way to the power grid.

"I know I will as soon as Keller says I'm clear." She promised. "But I may need to wait for Ronon."

"Why did that lady kiss Ronon? Doesn't she know that only you can do that?" He demanded, his voice turning petulant.

Sighing, Sophie turned a glance at her brother who was leaning back against the outside wall just grinning at her like a fool. Oh sometimes brothers were no help at all, she thought turning back to her son. "Sometimes adults are mean to each other." She tried.

When he turned the "I'm-not-buying-it" look that way as well have been written in her family's genetic code on her, she moved to sit against the wall. Explanations may take a while. "Do you remember the little boy in the playgroup on base at the SGC who got jealous of you when you came in with your new backpack?" She asked, resting her head against the glass.

Copying her posture on the other side of the glass wall but facing her, Luka nodded. "He threw it in the mud."

"Mhm. When you asked why he did it, what did I tell you?"

"Sometimes people get angry and hurt that we have something they don't." His little brow furrowed, remembering. "That the emotion was called jealousy. That it caused them to do mean things to hurt someone else sometimes. That when I felt angry or sad or hurt that someone else had something I wanted, I needed to stop myself and identify why I felt like that. That if they had earned it, I needed to be happy and proud of them and their accomplishments, and work hard to earn it myself. And if it was a gift, I could earn that too, but I needed to be happy that someone cared about them enough to give it."

"Mhm."

"So she is jealous of you and wanted to hurt you?"

Nodding, her head thumped lightly against the glass.

"And now she's sick and you may be sick because you tried to help her?"

"That right."

"Why did you help her?" He asked.

Looking at him she didn't see the anger that she thought she might, given his sort of goa'uld genes. As much as her husband's symbiote had called himself a Tok'ra, she was very well aware that to be a Tok'ra was a choice, not something that was imprinted on the genetic code. And she thanked her lucky stars each and every day that Luka seemed to have none of the megalomaniac tendencies the race was known for.

"Because she needed it." Shrugging, she smiled tiredly. "I didn't have any doubt that Ronon didn't want her to kiss him, remember how Ronon pulled back immediately?" At his nod, she went on. "So I felt bad for her. She tried to get something that wasn't hers and never would be and got rejected. That hurts when it happens. So when she fell and started getting sick I couldn't not help her. Other people's actions do not dictate what type of person we are, Luka. Being true to your ideals and who you are is called integrity and it's a beautiful trait."

Luka frowned as he always did when he was thinking hard. Whether it was thoughts that would shape his world views or what color socks to wear. She kinda loved that frown. It was his father's frown. But she had noticed that he had begun to pick up some very Ronon-esque habits. Like grunting when he didn't feel like answering a question or wasn't truly listening in the first place. She suspected that the habit absorption would only increase after Ronon was officially part of their family.

"Luka." She said as the frown eased a bit and she knew the puzzle pieces of his world view were finally falling into place for him.

He grunted.

"How do you feel about Ronon joining the family?"

"He said I could call him dad if that was okay with you."

Sputtering in her surprise, she would have spat up her drink. Had she actually been drinking anything that was. And so far this conversation required at least a glass of sweet tea, with only two tablespoons of sugar please and thank you. Heaping tablespoons but still only two. "Is that what you want?" She nearly croaked.

His tiny brow furrowed as he picked at a piece on lint on his jeans. "Well, it's not like I know my genetic father. He's gone and can't come back." Looking up at her suddenly, his eyes narrowed. "Can he? Cause Daniel came back and that would just make things really awkward."

"Daniel ascended." She clarified. "Your father didn't."

"Okay." He chewed on his lip for half a second then nodded, blond dread like ringlets bouncing. "Good. Cause I want a dad and I like Ronon. I wouldn't know Travis and might not like him the same." Again he looked up at his mother, this time turning hopeful eyes to her. "Does that mean it's okay? That I call him dad?"

"Oh, I wish I could hug you, little man." She whispered, laying her palm against the glass where his small head rested. "If he said it's okay then it most definitely is. It'll take time to get used to but it is."

Nodding as if he made an earth-shattering decision, and maybe he had she thought with a sigh, Luka pushed to his feet. "Now I just gotta keep you both alive long enough to get some siblings out of the deal."

"Oh really?" Sophie chuckled. "Got any special requests?"

"Mhm." He answered with a teasing lilt, collecting his backpack and sliding it on his small shoulders. "I want at least one of each. Preferably more but I'll take what I can get. Gotta go check on dad and get you two mated as quickly as possible before the next big disaster."

Gaping after her son as he nearly skipped from the room, she darted her eyes to her brother who moved to follow. "Did he just?"

"Say his momma needs to get laid as politely as pie?" Gunnr chuckled. "That he did. And demanded a few buns in the oven too. Out of the mouths of babes, am I right?"

"Don't you start." She snapped.

Turning serious, Gunnr stopped at the door. "Kid has a point though. Stuff has been happening an awful lot to you and I for one am not liking the danger levels. You sure the city is safe for us?"

Knowing that his concerns deserved an honest answer, she paused and thought about how to word it. "I think it's because we're in space and on the move in a city that is still being reconstructed that most of the danger is happening here. That if we were settled and you all were back to business going from planet to planet that you'd be the ones under fire more often. And I also think that now that Earth involved in intergalactic issues and politics that we're as safe if not safer here all things considered. At least until we can meet up with the Satedan survivors and plan from there. Don't know how they're gonna take Ronon and me."

"From what he's told me." Gunnr snorted, crossing his arms over his chest making the muscles bulge in a way that, objectively speaking, she could understand why it made other females twitter like idiots. Ronon was better but that was because Ronon was hers and Gunnr was her brother. And that would be nauseating to contemplate. "They are barely getting their feet under them considering other planets thing they bring the wraith. And if he's allowed to invite them to whatever planet Atlantis settles on to work with us, I have a feeling they will accept you just fine, little momma."

"And if they don't?"

"Stop borrowing trouble, sis." He rolled his expressive amber eyes. "And if they have a problem, screw 'em."

Shaking her head, she chuckled. "Go keep an eye on my son. And tell me when Ronon and I can get out of here. I'd like to get onto making those siblings my son requested."

Putting his fingers in his ears, Gunnr refused to listen as he left.

Infirmary. 0930. Quarantine. Room Two.

Bounding into the quarantine room as soon as the heavy blast doors slid open, Luka ran into the glass wall before he could stop his forward momentum and rebounded with a thud that made Ronon wince in sympathy pain for the little boy.

"You okay?" He asked, keeling down where Luka had fallen back onto the floor.

Holding up a thumb, Luka sat up, crossing his legs and shaking his head to clear the ringing that he had given himself. "Was just in to see mom. I told her that you told me I could call you dad if I wanted."

Ronon grunted in what Luka had come to know was to be translated as "oh", or "yes", or even "go on." But it always meant that he wanted you to keep going in your story. "She asked me if I wanted to and I said yes cause I wanted a dad, dad. But it's gonna take some getting used to having a dad."

"If it makes you feel better it's going to take some getting used to having a son at all, let alone one that is much smarter than I am," Ronon admitted.

"No one is perfect." The little boy shrugged. "Also told her I wanted at least two siblings. One of each." Luka added, jumping subjects.

Ronon blinked in surprise. His just, sort of, adopted son told him that he wanted siblings. Not knowing if Luka understood what was involved in creating the requested siblings, Ronon could feel the heat creeping up the back of his neck. "We'll get right on that." He finally choked out.

Gunnr who had just caught the tail end of the conversation was nearly turning red with the effort not to laugh. When he finally calmed he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. "Jennifer said Sophie's clear. She's being discharged now. Then she and Keller are headed over here."