(takes place on Easter, a few days after John, Evie, and Aiden went back to Earth via the Gate Bridge for the first time.)

Prompt #14 - Bury

"Where are you off to?" Rodney asked when he saw Evie holding a small Easter basket and John holding a picnic basket.

"He's flying us to the mainland," Evie answered. "Aiden wanted to have a picnic."

"Aren't you worried about…y'know…" Rodney gestured. "Compromising your secret?"

Evie looked at John and pretended to look confused. "We have a secret?" she asked, playing dumb. "Aiden and I just needed a pilot." She smiled innocently.

"Wouldn't it have raised less suspicion to ask Summer to fly you over?" Rodney pressed.

"Summer's busy with her own family," she replied. "Colonel Sheppard offered 'cause he doesn't have any plans. Are you and Mary doing anything? Any special Easter traditions?"

"I do have one," Rodney answered. "It's very big in my family; we've been doing it for years. It's called the Easter Nap. It's wonderful."

Evie rolled her eyes. "You guys have fun with that. But next year you can totally bring your girls to join Aiden in hunting Easter eggs."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be there," he said. "In matching pink dresses and bows."

She laughed. "See you later, McKay."

XXXXXX

"That was a good picanic, Mommy!" Aiden said, licking cherry filling off his fingers.

"All I made was the pie, honey," she answered, putting everything back in the basket.

"But it's da bestest part!" He grinned.

Evie laughed. "Let Uncle John clean your face."

John pulled a wipe from the basket. "Buddy, how did you get pie in your hair?" he asked, amused, as he tried to clean the sticky tangle.

Aiden giggled. "I dunno!" He closed his mouth while John cleaned his face. When John moved to his hands, Aiden asked, "Unca John…howcome you got to come wif us today?"

"Well…your mom asked if I wanted to come because I didn't have anyone to eat lunch with."

"'Cause you don't gots any kids?" Aiden asked.

"That's right," John nodded.

"Ohh…" Aiden thought about this for a moment, then he looked back up at John with a grin. "I can be your kid today!" he announced happily.

John had to smile. "That sounds great. Are you ready to go find the Easter eggs?"

"Yeah!!" Aiden jumped up and grabbed John's hand, attempting to pull the pilot to his feet. "Let's go, Unca John! Mommy, where's my basket?"

"Right here, honey," Evie said, handing Aiden a colorful woven basket.

Aiden grinned and ran into the field where John and Evie had hidden the eggs. "I got one!" he cried, bending down and picking up a blue egg. He was about to put it in his basket, when he changed his mind and opened it instead. "Candy!" he exclaimed, cramming the jelly beans into his mouth.

He saw a pink egg a few yards away and eagerly dashed over to retrieve it. When he opened it, he found a red Hot Wheels car. He gasped and ran back to John and Evie, crying, "Look, Unca John, it's a car!"

"No way! That's awesome!" John answered with over-the-top enthusiasm to match Aiden's.

"C'mon, let's find mo'!" Aiden said, taking John's hand and yanking him towards a purple blob in the grass. "Mommy, I doing good!"

Evie laughed. "You're doing very good, honey."

He gasped excitedly. "Oh, look! Dis one has chockit!" He placed it in his basket. "This is the best day ever!"

John and Evie just laughed.

XXXXXX

"'All at once he saw something small and round. "Why, here's my button!" he cried. And he tried to pick it up. But, like all the other buttons on the mattress, it was tied down tight.'" John turned the page. "'He yanked and pull--'"

"Baby, you know he zonked out, like, three pages ago, right?"

John looked down at the toddler in his lap. Aiden was, indeed, asleep. "He was running around like a crazy person ten minutes ago and now he's drooling on my shirt. What's the deal?"

"Sugar rush," Evie answered with a grin. "A short energy high, followed by a crash."

"So, what do you want me to do with him?"

"Try to lay him on the blanket without waking him up," she instructed.

John tossed Corduroy aside and gently shifted Aiden off his lap, laying him on Evie's fuzzy blanket.

"So what's on the agenda now that he's asleep?" Evie asked. "Am I gonna sit in your lap while you read me a story?"

John shook his head. "Nope. I've got a little surprise for you."

"Does this have anything to do with that bag you had hidden in the picnic basket?"

"It does. When was the last time you went on an Easter egg hunt?"

Evie thought for a minute. "Probably when I was ten. Why?"

"I hid a few for you while you were taking Aiden to do his business."

Evie's face brightened into a smile. "Really? Aw, this is so much fun!" She giggled. "Where are they?"

"Back this way," he pointed. "Just in the area of the first ring of trees or so."

"How many are there?" Evie asked, already looking.

"Ten."

"Got one!" Evie announced, pulling a pink one from amongst some flowers. She giggled. "Oh, this brings back memories." Suddenly, she laughed loudly. "Oh, man. So we were watching home videos when I was home with my parents the other week, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And there was this one of me in pre-k, so I would have been about three. So my pre-k class is having our little Easter egg hunt, and I'm following my friend Beth and she leans over to pick up an egg--" She had another fit of laughter. "Sorry! So she leans over to pick one up, and I reach into her basket and start taking her eggs out and putting them into mine!"

"Evie, you're so awful!"

"I know!" she giggled. "And I was only three!"

John laughed.

"Ooh. There's another one."

A few minutes later, Evie had a pile of nine eggs. "Johhhn," she whined. "I can't find the last one. You didn't bury it or something, did you?"

"No. In fact you're standing right next to it."

Evie turned around. "Where?"

"Right there! If it were a snake it would have bit you!"

"Oh!" Evie grabbed a green egg from the tree branch. Then she picked up her pile of colorful eggs and sat down next to him on the blanket. She opened a pink one first and pulled out a small chocolate bunny. "Mm…chocolate's always good."

"Uh-huh."

She opened a blue one and instead of candy, found a slip of paper. She uncurled it and read, "'Because I love you, I will…put Aiden to sleep for you.'" She paused and looked at him. "What is this, like a coupon?"

"Yeah. I used to give things like that to my mom every Mother's Day. She loved 'em."

"Awesome." She opened three more containing candy and then found another one that said, "Because I love you, I will…babysit Aiden."

Evie smiled. "You know this is Easter, right? Not Valentine's Day?"

"Well, I thought you'd appreciate these more than just candy!"

"No, I do, I just… Well, now I feel really bad that I didn't do anything creative for you."

"Hey, you came up with a legit excuse to let me come out here and spend time with you and him; that's more than enough."

She smiled. "Letting me go on my own egg hunt was really creative, too."

"I have to give credit to Summer for the eggs, actually. I was just gonna put it all in a little goodie bag for you, but she said you'd enjoy hunting for them."

"But the prizes were your idea?"

"Mm-hmm."

She smiled again and reached for the next egg. She was surprised to find a movie ticket inside this one. "Oh my gosh, how in the world did you already get tickets for the new Wolverine movie?!"

"I know a few people in Colorado Springs," he answered.

"And it's for the midnight showing!"

"Yeah. I know a couple of other people from Atlantis are planning on going, so it won't seem so odd that you and I are."

"Well, I can't wait." She reached for and opened the elusive green egg. "'Because I love you, I will--'" Evie blushed and crumpled the paper. "John!" She hit his shoulder and he laughed.

"What? You didn't think they'd all be about taking care of Aiden, did you?" he grinned.

"Apparently not…" She opened the next egg and read the paper silently. "Aww," she said, then turned and hugged him. "You are so sweet."

"I have my moments," he replied.

She leaned in to kiss him and froze when she heard Aiden stirring.

"Mommy?"

Evie's heart skipped a beat, but she relaxed when she turned around and saw that Aiden was still lying on the blanket, facing the opposite direction. She turned back and quickly pressed her lips to John's. "Happy Easter," she whispered.