Anything with /'s inside quotes is being spoken in Czech.

Chapter 4

Radek noticed a difference in Rodney, though a subtle one the following day and couldn't help but smile to himself. He hadn't yet told Rodney of his final decision – he had decided to 'sit on it' for a week or so, let himself get used to and truly consider the idea before taking it any further. There was no outward change in the two men's interactions, but Radek noticed the change because he'd been looking for it.

They were scheduled to go off world that day, Rodney, John, even Beckett and several others. Radek spent the morning basking in the quietness of the lab without Rodney. If anyone noticed he drank tea this morning instead of coffee, no one said anything. The highlight of his day so far had been to once again tell Kavenaugh to stuff it when the man had blustered in, trying to prove that Zelenka had reached an incorrect conclusion in a recent set of tests.

"Dr. Zelenka, my office please." To his surprise Dr. Weir called him around lunch time.

"I need you to go off world," She explained. Both of her hands were curled around a mug of coffee. "There's been an encounter with the Wraith on the planet Sheppard's team went to this morning. Dr. McKay and Lt. Cadman were taken into a Wraith Dart, which our team was able to shoot down relatively undamaged. Colonel Sheppard has requested your assistance in trying to get our people out of the ship. Can you be ready in half an hour?"

Radek's heart pounded and his arm curled around his stomach a little. "Of course. I'll assemble some equipment and a team."

On the planet, Zelenka traded nods with John as they walked from the 'gate to the fallen dart, where Radek went to work right away. He quickly worked out what had happened, his elation at working at a relatively undamaged wraith ship was muted by the realization that there was a fifty fifty chance he wouldn't be able to save Rodney.

Radek had a moment of considerable panic when the dart ship blew a circuit a few feet away from him. He felt Beckett's eyes on him, and tried to calm himself, a hand resting on his stomach, as if to calm the life there as well.

"First time off-world?" Sheppard drawled, eyes not missing the protective hand.

"Yes."

John managed to calm him down and Radek was able to get back to work. They materialized one of the bodies, and much to his relief, Rodney reappeared.

Over the next few days, Radek spent most of his time working on the Wraith dart. He was trying to fix things so Rodney and Cadman could be separate, and the city could get them both back. Part of him wondered if Cadman would find out about what Rodney knew, and what she would do or say about it, if the final separation was a success. His outburst at Rodney had been fueled a little by his own added 'conciousness' and he suspected Rodney had guessed as much.

Rodney approached him afterwards, one evening when they were in the lab late together. "I understand I have something to thank you for," he said softly, a shy little smile developing. Radek figured it wasn't the separation of Rodney and Cadman that he was being thanked for.

"You made me think of something that needed thinking. I only passed the favor on, so it would get back to you," Radek smiled, sipping his tea. "I take it things are well, then?"

"Very well, thank you. And I took pains to make sure Cadman couldn't find anything about you."

Radek nodded his thanks, and since Rodney looked like he was itching to ask, the Czech had a little mercy on the man who had so recently been through quite the experience. Radek placed a hand meaningfully on his belly, meeting Rodney's eyes. "You will be in charge of baby shower," he said with his somewhat bossy tone that he would only use on Rodney when they were alone, or if McKay crossed the line.

Rodney looked confused for just a moment, then he had that half smile of dawning realization before he broke into a wide grin. "What made you decide?" He finally asked, restoring his features.

"The city herself, I believe. I also think I decided that first day, when I spoke to you, but was afraid to say. It is not an easy decision to have made. Your Colonel helped. He's very smart. Smarter I think than even he knows."

"He isn't the only one," Rodney said with unusual insight that almost made Radek squirm.

Rodney finally headed off to bed, leaving Radek alone in the lab with his thoughts, rubbing his not-yet-bulging stomach gently.

Radek felt a little awkward as they assembled for the meeting. Elizabeth and Teyla were the only ones of the assembled group who didn't know what the exact subject of the meeting was. Dr. Beckett, John, Rodney and of course Radek already knew. Teyla was included both as a member of John's team and as the representative of the Athosian people.

"Alright, gentleman, you've got us all here, now what's this about?" Her words might seem brusque but her tone was easy, relaxed and Radek could only hope that, even if she didn't like what they told her, she could keep her calm.

"Carson?" Rodney offered.

"You actually know more about it than I do, Rodney." And he'd interrupt anything Carson said anyhow, so best to save himself the trouble. Radek had told Carson before the meeting he'd rather he himself not be the one to begin.

"The ancient medical lab we opened three weeks ago, there was a device that was activated by myself, then Dr. Zelenka helped move it. The machine in question is a portable in vitro lab. When I activated it, it began to do its job, which was to facilitate pregnancy between partners ... any two partners. When Dr. Zelenka helped me move it, it finished its job. In this case, the job involved the growth of a uterus and implantation within that uterus of a viable human embryo."

Weir looked between the three men across from her, Radek between Rodney and Carson, studying them, noticing Radek's hand resting on his middle. "So what you're saying is that Dr. Zelenka has an artificially implanted child, thanks to an Ancient device?"

"That's essentially it, yes." Carson answered, cutting off whatever Rodney might have said.

"Dr. Zelenka, where do you stand on this right now?" She asked, still trying to assemble all the facts, just in case they were calling on her to make a decision, which she would prefer to leave up to the Czech.

"No where, at the moment. I'm sitting in the conference room." He'd hoped a bit of levity would ease the tension he felt building, and it seemed to work for a moment. "I have decided for now to keep the child, barring complications."

"Why wasn't I informed of this sooner?" She wasn't accusing, but she felt as head of the expedition, something of this importance should have come to her before now.

Both Rodney and Dr. Beckett opened their mouths to explain but Radek spoke first. "I asked that it be kept a secret, Dr. Weir." He hadn't specifically asked, but he didn't want any of the others to be subject to Weir's ire at keeping the secret on his behalf. "At first, it was my intention to dispose of the child, for reasons I need not go into now. Had that been the case, Dr. Beckett and Dr. McKay and myself would have included a classified report, and I was hoping nothing would be said after that. However, since I'm keeping the child, I believe it would be wise to give everyone here fair warning, beginning with you, Dr. Weir." He knew she'd be getting a lot of the 'political' fallout from this.

"When you put it that way, Dr. Zelenka, I can understand your silence up till now. I take it arrangements are being made to help accommodate the pregnancy?"

"Aye, with Rodney's permission, I'll be changing Dr. Zelenka's schedule a little to make time for classes and the like. He'll be joining me on the mainland when I talk to the women there about some basics, though I daresay they know a fair bit more than I do in some ways. Now that you're aware, we'd like to request larger quarters for him-"

"Though it's not a hurry," Radek already felt they were putting in too much effort on his behalf – this sort of diversion of resources was one of his fears. "It is only to allow for a nursery, a larger room can wait."

"Aye, but it's something I'd like us to think about now."

"Alright, I'm sure we can find somewhere with a nursery, or at least something we can pretend is a nursery. So you've decided to raise the child yourself, Dr. Zelenka?"

"Yes. I cannot say it will be easy, but, now that I have decided to keep the child, I do not want to give her up as soon as she is born."

"If you change your mind, Doctor Zelenka," Teyla spoke for the first time. "There are families on the mainland who would raise the child for you, though I can understand wanting to raise her yourself," she smiled at him and Radek relaxed visibly – the Athosian response was one of two he was worried about in a group sense. The Marines were, of course, the other.

"Thank you, Teyla," Weir smiled at the Athosian woman, then turned to the others. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah," John folded his hands on the table, leaning forward. "There's some concern, not all unfounded, that there might be a military response to the situation. I don't think any of the original expedition will have a problem, including the Marines. But we've got a lot of new crew now – a lot of new military who haven't been through what the rest of us have. They still think in Earth terms."

"You're worried about violence against Dr. Zelenka?" Weir wasn't surprised at the fear. "Sadly I can't say it's unfounded. I agree with you, John, everyone who came with us a year ago, I would trust not to let Dr. Zelenka come to any harm. The newer ones, I don't know. Most of them are probably going to be fine with it, they've been accepted into the Stargate program, after all. But I do agree that this situation poses a certain risk."

"I was thinking of having Harriman assigned to keep an eye on Dr. Zelenka. She's been with us since day one, and she's grounded for a few months anyway."

"Dr. Zelenka?" Weir addressed him again, wanting his take on this new development. In the back of her mind she wondered how John had found out before her, but she'd ask him later.

"I do not like the idea of having a babysitter ... or bodyguard. Perhaps we wait, see what the reaction is?" Again he was trying to put the city as a whole before his own feelings. "I do not wish to insult anyone by assuming violence. I am not so far gone that I can't run away," he cracked a lopsided, quick smile at that, once again trying to ease the tension.

"Alright. No bodyguard – yet. Then our next step is to talk to our people about this," She addressed Carson, Rodney, John and Teyla in this. "Dr. Zelenka, I know technically it isn't anyone's business but yours but this is a rather unique case. How much do you want to be public, and when?"

"It needs to be known I'm having a child. I do not think we need to mention the father, though you should know it's Rodney, and I suspect eventually that may come out. As for when, honestly, the sooner the better I believe. I don't want to wait until the pregnancy is obvious. Dr. Weir, what about Col. Caldwell?" The Daedalus was due back in less than a week now.

"I'll speak to him as soon as he returns. I think it best that if we're going to let this cat out of the bag, we do it now. Knowing that man, he'd try to drown it otherwise."

In an odd way, Radek felt privileged to hear that – it was no secret Caldwell and Weir didn't get along, but strong gossip was one thing, to see her express the dislike in such a way directly showed a trust he hadn't quite expected.

After the meeting, John went straight to Weir's office, which saved her the trouble of calling him.

John could tell by the look on her face she had something to ask as he closed the door and sat down. He waved a hand over her desk, causing the class walls to fall opaque, giving them more privacy. "Two things. First, I knew about Radek before hand because he told me ... sort of. I put a few things together, and kind of tripped over a file on Rodney's computer. I didn't want to hide it from you, but when Radek and I talked about it I didn't know yet which way he was gonna go."

Weir listened, nodding. That'd been what she was planning to ask. It hadn't surprised her that John preempted her. "I don't like that you felt you couldn't trust me with this," She held up a hand to stave off interruptions. "But considering the delicate nature of what was involved, I can understand why you didn't. And the second thing ..." She sat back, raising an eyebrow at the pilot.

"This is something that doesn't go in any official report, Elizabeth. This doesn't even go in your diary, your journal or anything besides your head." The intensity of John's insistence made her nod, though she was a little worried about what he was going to say. "You should know, as both a friend, and our boss. Rodney and I are involved." In a way, this was making up for not telling her about Radek. At least John hoped it was. "We're telling you just in case you hear anything. We're being discreet, but no one's perfect. We wanted you to know, just in case."

Just in case one of them got hurt on a mission, or worse, didn't come back. She nodded, understanding everything he said, and a lot of what he hadn't. "I appreciate it, John. Your secret's safe with me. Thank you."