NOT THE DADDY...part 24
Pregnancy clock: 7 months, 3 weeks
"Dreya looks happier."
John nearly jumped at the voice that was almost in his ear. He turned to find Teyla smiling at him. John shifted in the wheel chair. "Yeah...she does," he acknowledged. "So...you lost?" John teased.
Teyla merely continued smiling and shook her head. "I am here to take you to the infirmary. Dr. Beckett said that you have a scheduled appointment."
"When don't I?" John grumbled. He was feeling much better now that his cold and virus thing was over, but still tired and weak, and Beckett was practically hovering over him. Although he had let John out of his room, via the wheel chair, since yesterday. But only for an hour at a time and only with a keeper near by. John had been expecting Rodney. They hadn't really talked since Dreya had confessed about her discussion with McKay.
"Are you ready?" Teyla asked, wisely ignoring his mutterings.
John sighed then nodded. "Guess so." He propped his elbow on the arm of the chair and pressed his cheek into his palm as Teyla pushed him down the hallway. They chatted a bit along the way.
Teyla did most of the talking. "Dreya likes it here."
"Yeah...I think she does," John said, and he was starting to wonder if there was a reason Teyla was bringing this up.
"The two of you have gotten close," Teyla continued.
John turned his head and eyed her with suspicion. "Of course we have. I'm sharing her pregnancy for Pete's sake!"
Teyla frowned. "Who is Pete?"
"It's an expression," John waved one hand to dispel her focus on that. "Teyla...you don't think that Dreya and I...um...you know." He couldn't say the words but he could see that Teyla did know what he was trying to say.
"I think that you care about each other, deeply," Teyla said, her tone soft and low. "I think that Dreya could care about you as something more than a bond mate and friend."
And now the light bulb went on and John felt stunned. Teyla was telling him that she believed Dreya was falling in love with him. "Um...it's just the bond thing," John countered, his words sounding pathetic to his own ears. "I mean...her husband died and she misses him and I'm sharing this bond with her and she's just kinda...transferring. Right?"
Teyla looked thoughtful. "Perhaps that is part of it," she allowed. "But I believe she cares about you in her own right. Is that so bad?"
"No...it's not bad." John meant it but, at the same time, he realized he really wasn't sure how he felt about this. And he wasn't sure how he felt about Dreya. He enjoyed her company and he was excited about the baby now and he couldn't imagine her not being in his life and..." Shit!" John buried his face in his hands. He was so confused. He wasn't in love with Dreya, that much he knew. But he wondered how he would feel about things after the baby was born. Right now he was content knowing that Dreya had agreed to remain on Atlantis after Traitor was born. She had already started work in Engineering and John knew that Rodney was very impressed with her. In fact, they were spending a lot of time together and Dreya often told John stories about Rodney's interactions with people. "She cares about Rodney too," John blurted out.
"She cares about everyone I think," Teyla replied, serenely. Then she announced, "We're here."
John hadn't noticed but, yep, they were. Beckett was striding forward to take him from Teyla. "Hey, Doc," John said in greeting.
Carson smiled at him. "Colonel. How are you feeling today?"
"Peachy." John waved at Teyla as Beckett grabbed the back of the chair.
"Still feeling tired?" Carson queried, as he wheeled John over to the curtained off section of the infirmary.
John shrugged. "I think I'm just feeling blah because of all the lying around," he offered. And he was so damn tired of doing that.
Carson patted the bed. "Jump up and we'll give you the once over." Once John did that, with his help, Carson went to work.
John closed his eyes as Beckett did his thing, almost dozing off because it had become so routine now. But he jolted back to full awareness when he heard Beckett say something surprising,
"...off bed rest. But you have to be careful," Carson said, shaking a finger at him.
"I'm off of bed rest?" John echoed, excitement just about crackling in his veins. He sat up and stared at Beckett, checking to see if the Scot was just putting him on for a laugh.
But Carson was smiling and nodding. "Aye...I thought that would get your attention and, yes. You're off bed rest, on a trial basis. But that doesn't mean you're back on duty and no running around. You're not to stay on your feet for extended periods of time. No more than ten minutes at a stretch then sit down for a bit. And you're to take naps throughout the day. I want you resting at least for an hour every four hours."
Still restrictive but John could work with that. "Does it start now?" he asked, hopefully.
"I suppose," Carson allowed. "Why don't you take a trip to the mess hall. Eat there then you can visit with Dr. Weir. She's expecting you in about an hour. Then I want you to rest. Understood?"
"Understood." John would have agreed to anything in that moment. He slid his legs over the side of the bed and pushed down to his feet. He clapped Beckett on the shoulder. "Thanks for springing me, Doc. Talk to you later."
Carson grabbed his arm before he could take a step away. "You still have to check in with me daily, Colonel. And I will hunt you down and you will regret it if I do," he warned.
John nodded. "Fine. Whatever." He tugged on his arm. "Can I go now?"
"Go already." Carson gave him a playful nudge. "But call me if you need me."
"Will do." John waved and headed for the door, a smile nearly splitting his face. Sweet freedom had never felt so good.
OoO
Because John didn't want to risk losing his freedom again, he did as Beckett said and headed for the messhall. It was just past normal lunch hour so the place wasn't packed and John stepped right into line. He felt more relaxed than he had in months and he chatted with the line guys as he made his way through. Then he found a table in the corner and settled in. Even his food tasted better now.
"Mind if I join you?"
John had been so wrapped up in eating he hadn't noticed anyone approach. He hid a wince and smiled at Caldwell. "Of course, Sir," he replied.
Caldwell sat down and opened his sandwich, then said, "Good to see you up and about, Colonel."
"Good to be up and about," John replied. He then held Caldwell's gaze, wondering what the man wanted from him.
"Getting closer to the due date," Caldwell stated, sandwich now unwrapped but just sitting on his plate. His focus was solely on John.
John nodded. "Not close enough," he admitted, and got a kick from Traitor for that one. He resisted the urge to rub his belly.
Caldwell almost smiled at that. "I understand that Dreya will be remaining on Atlantis."
"Yes, Sir." John said nothing more.
"Do you think that's a good thing?" Caldwell was blunt.
John felt his defenses rising. "Why wouldn't it be? She's proven herself useful."
Caldwell shrugged. "True enough, but won't she be a distraction. She and the baby?"
"A welcome one I would think," John replied, feeling his body tighten with tension. He could almost feel his blood pressure rising and Beckett was going to kill him. So John realized a hasty retreat was in order. "I have to go." He rose from his chair and grabbed his tray, the food barely touched. "Sir." John nodded at Caldwell and headed for the exit. He dumped his tray and strode out into the corridor. Once in the transporter he leaned against the wall and pressed a hand to his belly, trying to calm Traitor. Apparently the baby didn't like Caldwell much either. "He won't be here for much longer," John said, trying to soothe them both.
All too soon the doors opened and John pulled himself together. He was smiling as he exited and made his way to Weir's office. She was waiting for him, a smile on her own face.
"Come sit," Weir invited, pointing to a chair.
"You spoke with Beckett," John said, accusingly, even as he sat down. And he did so as if dealing with a huge belly, which made him a bit awkward. He was never going to get used to the fact that his body hadn't really changed.
Elizabeth nodded. "Of course I did. How does it feel to be free?"
John felt himself relaxing. "It feels great."
"Did you eat?"
"Yes." He rolled his eyes at her and she smiled. "I saw Caldwell. He's not happy about things."
Elizabeth shrugged. "He'll get over it. He'll be gone soon enough."
John snorted. "Or not soon enough. So...got any work for me?"
"No." Elizabeth gave him the evil eye. "You're not back on light duty, John, so just enjoy the time off."
"Easy for you to say," he muttered, then he cheered up. "So...what did you want to see me about?"
Elizabeth studied him a moment then said, "About Dreya staying in Atlantis."
John frowned. "I though you approved that already? Both Dreya and Rodney said --"
"I did approve it," Elizabeth interjected. "What I'm asking is how you feel about it? Are you okay with it? Will it be a problem for you having the baby here?"
"I don't see why it would be," John replied, uncertain of the point Weir was trying to make.
Elizabeth narrowed her gaze at him, looking uncertain. Then she sighed and relaxed back in her chair. "I've been thinking that it might be a good idea for you to talk to Kate. Just talk to her about how you feel about everything that's happened."
John was beginning to catch on to what she was doing. "Is this a suggestion or are you making it mandatory to me returning to duty after the baby is born?" He didn't hide the anger he was feeling, it was sharp in his voice.
"Let's call it a strong suggestion, John," Elizabeth allowed. "You haven't really talked about this with anyone. You can't keep everything inside."
"Sure I can!" John was on his feet and glaring at her. "It's what I do. If I needed to talk, I would. Are we done?" He stood stiff and rigid, one hand pressed to his belly as Traitor started kicking up a storm. The baby could sense his stress and John knew it wasn't good for his blood pressure, which meant it wasn't good for Traitor.
Elizabeth seemed to realize he was getting uptight and that it would be a bad thing, so she backed off. "Just think about it," she said. "And, yes...we're done."
John said nothing, he simply turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.
OoO
Because he was tired and pissed, John went back to his room and did nothing more than read and sleep. He woke up when Beckett came to check on him and tutted at him that his blood pressure was still a bit too high. He then got up and took a shower and headed for the messhall for dinner. He ran into Dreya and they talked about her childhood and she told him stories about her family and her home and they laughed and bonded and John found himself relaxing.
He then headed back to his room, feeling better about the world. To John's surprised, Rodney was there already, working on his laptop. "Hey, Rodney," John offered in greeting.
"I was just about to come look for you," Rodney countered, looking disgruntled. "Where have you been?"
"Having dinner with Dreya." John moved to stretch out on the bed. "We need to talk."
Rodney stopped typing. "Talk about what?"
John considered how to broach the subject at hand and decided to just put it out there, "Why didn't you tell me you talked to Dreya about staying here?"
"Because I figured you'd bitch at me," Rodney replied, with intense honesty. "And I knew you were too chickenshit to talk to her yourself so I handled it."
"I guess you did." John thought he should have been angry about it and he had been, hence his avoidance of the subject between them till now. He found that he felt grateful instead. "Thanks."
Rodney looked startled. "You're welcome. Can I get you anything? Want some juice?"
John shook his head. "Want to watch a movie?" he countered.
"I pick." Rodney typed for a moment then hit enter before grabbing the laptop and bringing it over to the bed.
"Fine, you pick," John allowed, as he settled in more comfortably against the pillows. Soon he was laughing over Rodney's choice. The Scooby Doo sequel. Then he found himself drifting off into peaceful slumber.
OoO
Three days later, John made his first foray back into Rodney's lab. Only to discover that Rodney was off and about somewhere else. So he killed some time chatting with Zelenka. The Czech updated him on some of the things they were working on, in between cataloging a table full of items.
"Ancient doo dads?" John asked.
"Yes, ones that do not work," Zelenka explained.
John was intrigued. "So they're safe to touch?"
Zelenka nodded. "Yes yes. We've tested them on dozens of people with the gene. Major Lorne is always happy to stop in and touch things." This said with a sideways look at John.
John knew what Zelenka was implying. "It's not that I mind touching things, I'm just busy and leery," he defended himself.
"Of course," Zelenka grinned.
"Any clue what this is supposed to be?" John asked, picking up what looked like a gold-plated baseball.
But before Zelenka could respond, the ball made a whirring sound and emitted a faint hiss.
Zelenka turned pale and plucked it out of John's hands, tossing it across the room. He then tapped his ear piece. "Dr. Beckett, we have medical emergency in lab. It is Colonel Sheppard!"
"Whoa...wait...I'm fine!" John insisted, trying to get Zelenka to stop pushing him towards the door. "Nothing happened."
"Go...get out of room just in case," Zelenka countered, still pushing.
John had just stepped out into the corridor when Beckett appeared, as if by magic. "That was fast," John said, properly impressed.
Carson was huffing a bit. "I was close by." He eyed John from head to toe, even as he wrist for his wrist. "What happened?"
"Nothing," John insisted.
"He activated Ancient device," Zelenka interjected. "It hissed. I tossed it away. Maybe nothing happened but I wish to play it safe."
Carson patted Zelenka on the shoulder. "You did the right thing. All right, Colonel, let's go to the infirmary."
John glared at Beckett then turned it on Zelenka. "Guys...I'm fine. Really." He looked appeasingly at Beckett. "You know I'd tell you if anything was wrong.
"Aye," Carson conceded. "But let's just confirm it, shall we?"
"Fine." John heaved a sigh and let himself be led off.
The only up side was Beckett telling Zelenka he had to go also, because he'd been in the same room and possibly exposed as well. Suddenly, the Czech thought that maybe it had been nothing after all, and he was too busy…too bad for him Beckett wasn't buying it, and Zelenka sulked all the way to the infirmary.
OoO
Two hours later he was back in his room with orders to nap. John curled up on the bed, but he didn't feel sleepy. Traitor wasn't sleepy either and John reached for his stomach only to sit up and stare at his hand. As he moved it in front of his face he could see cool patterns formed off the red glowy mist that outlined the appendage.
"Hey..." John said, then he smiled goofily.
THE END...of part 24