Sorry it took me so long to update. When RL knocks you unconscious, the fic bunnies have a hard time waking you up!

Upon reaching his quarters, John Sheppard dropped into the bed with all the force of a boulder. After the four day long grueling mission with the scientists, he was perfectly content to take a shower, wrap his arms around his blooming wife, and pass out.

Only problem was, she was not here.

John frowned. He realized that in his haste to get out of Jennifer's grip in the infirmary, he hadn't called his wife to say, "Honey, I'm home." Normally it wasn't needed; she had only recently been allowed to continue bed rest in the sanctuary of their quarters, and she was normally sitting upright in bed, an open game of Solitaire resting on the laptop in front of her, a grin towards her husband when she caught sight of him again.

The shower would normally elude him for a few moments. Just because she was pregnant didn't mean she lost the ability to passionately smother him with kisses.

He smirked for a moment, dwelling on that memory, then his focus shifted back to the blaring obvious point in front of him.

He was just in the infirmary. Elizabeth wasn't there.

But she wasn't here either.

He scratched his head.

Where was she?

Elizabeth laid back in the lounge chair that Teyla had provided for her, smiling as she felt the warmth of the Atlantean sun's rays invigorating her. Kanaan had volunteered to watch Torren for the remainder of the day, giving the girls a day off. She knew that John wasn't due back until tomorrow, watching an archeology mission on M68-936, and she was perfectly comfortable under the Athosian mother's watchful eye.

Jennifer came out through the sliding doors, holding a bag of nail polishes, lotion, and pumice stone. "All right, are we ready to kick off this low key girl's night?"

"Ugh, I've been ready!" Elizabeth groaned, laughing.

"Well, I just sent your hubby out of the infirmary, so hopefully nobody else is gonna bug me tonight."

Elizabeth sat up, jerking her head towards the doctor. "John's back?"

Keller nodded. "Yeah, Dr. Hathaway broke her ankle, so they returned early."

"Why didn't anybody tell me?"

Jennifer opened her mouth to speak, then paused as she reconsidered.

Thankfully, Teyla gracefully replied for her. "I believe that, given your condition, Mr. Woolsey would've been informed upon their return."

Elizabeth sighed. Sometimes, it was hard to keep in mind that until her due date, she wasn't the Expedition leader anymore. She was, for lack of a better term, on forced early maternity leave. She would work until the nine months was up if she could have, and Jennifer knew that. Which was probably the reason why Keller brought the hammer down so hard after her collapse.

She smiled kindly at Teyla. "Nice save."

Teyla nodded. "Don't take it personally, Elizabeth. You are well aware that, if the decision lay in our hands, we all would support your leadership. Even if it was from the infirmary."

"Amen," Jennifer agreed. "Eeh, especially on the infirmary part."

They all laughed.

"I was wondering what happened to you," a certain husband spoke up as the doors opened, allowing him entrance to the balcony.

She turned as much as her belly would allow in the lounger, smiling brightly at John. "Hey!" she exclaimed as he leant over, bracing himself on the arms of her chair as he gently kissed her.

He raised his head and cast a mocking glare at the other women. "Who gave you permission to steal my wife?"

"The little plaque down in my office that says 'Chief Medical Officer'," Keller replied smugly.

"Huh. McKay's rubbing off on you," he joked.

Jennifer blushed slightly, then turned her attention to the items that she had brought out with her. "Would you like a mani-pedi, or are you ready to leave us alone?"

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't threaten my manhood like that!" He smiled, then kissed his wife once more. "Have fun, but not too much, okay?"

"I'll try to restrain myself," she replied deadpan.

John nodded, still smiling, then stood and glanced between the other women. "Well, I'll … just leave you to it. Whatever 'it' is," he pondered as he walked off.

Once the doors shut behind him, Elizabeth turned back to face her friends. They broke out in a silly giggle, then composed themselves and began sorting colors.

"So. Red?"

She groaned. "Is there any other color?"

Jennifer laughed. Teyla smiled.

"Even though it is a moot point. I can't see my feet over my belly anymore."

"Then at least you will know you look very nice," Teyla supported.

Elizabeth glared at her, then giggled. "All right, let the girl's day begin."

He hated it when people talked about him behind his back.

He hated it even more when he inadvertently overheard it.

Did people in this city really think that their gossip was kept just between a handful of people? A city where people had nothing better to do than spread rumors, because, you know, the Wraith aren't that big of a deal?

Oh wait. He's heard rumors from them too.

Screw that notion.

He took such an extra long jog the morning after returning that even Ronan Dex called it quits early. "If you feel like running yourself to death, literally, that's your call." And with that, he left John Sheppard standing on the bridge, panting as he briskly walked away.

"Am I not supposed to be grumpy? Is Elizabeth the only one that's allowed mood swings, because of the baby?" he asked no one in particular, glaring at the empty space that Ronan had just vacated. He didn't mind Elizabeth getting all the attention; he was more than happy to grin at her every day, seeing her belly slowly increase over the past months. But when people started making snide remarks about his "grouchiness", and their reasoning for it, he found it a little hard to laugh off.

He pushed himself even harder, running for another hour, pointlessly reasoning with himself that he was making up for the exercise lost by babysitting the scientists on 936. Eventually, he slowly started making his way back to their quarters, knowing that his wife would probably be awake by now. He grimaced slightly, knowing that Elizabeth would see right through his foul mood.

That is when, with his back turned away, two men walked by, seemingly engrossed in some technobabble dominated conversation.

He was wrong.

"You think Dr. Weir's gonna pop soon?"

"Yeah, I think she's due next month. Man, Sheppard looks like he's gonna have a stroke."

"Why, because of the baby?"

"Yeah! I mean, for a guy like him, it's the final nail in the coffin. He can't go Kirking around anymore. The only fun he's gonna have in the middle of the night is changing diapers."

They drifted out of range as their conversation continued to spiral downwards. John fisted his hands, wanting to hit something. How dare they suggest that he didn't want to be with Elizabeth anymore. Did he still have a bad reputation? He didn't think he did. True, there was Chaya. And that woman from the Ascended sanctuary. And Larrin had flirted pretty heavily when they encountered the Travellers, but he never responded except for a wry smile and an eyeroll when she turned her head.

They were millions of lightyears from Earth, and he couldn't help but be amazed at how many of their customs still were rampant in every day life.

A light flashed in his mind's eye. An idea popped up, followed shortly by a satisfied smile.

I know how to settle this.

He quickly frowned. If only she wasn't on bedrest. Making out with her in the Gateroom might have worked.

Teyla was surprised to walk into the gymnasium and find a slumped over colonel sitting next to the window.

"Colonel? Are you all right?"

In a weak, quiet voice, he responded with a question of his own. "What's wrong with me?"

If Teyla didn't know her friend any better, she would assume that he had been crying. "John, what happened?"

He shook his head, turning to face her while smiling wryly. "People don't think I've changed. They think that Elizabeth … the baby … it's tying me down. I can't go be a flyboy anymore."

Teyla narrowed her eyes, trying to discern the cause for his anxiousness. "Do you want to be?" she asked, almost hesitantly.

John immediately shook his head. "No, no! Not at all!" He stood, picking up a pair of bantos sticks from the window seat next to him. "I love Elizabeth more than anything. I can't wait to be a father. But … I don't know. Do I still have a reputation?" he asked honestly, crossing his arms in front of him, posture still poor. He almost came up shorter than Teyla, the way that he was standing just then.

She sighed. "When I first met you, I was not aware of any negative reputation on your part. However, after coming to live among your people, within a number of months," she shrugged, almost at a loss for words, "I admit, I began to hear gossip from some members of the Expedition. I attributed it to jealousy."

"Let me guess. Male scientists who weren't getting any?"

Teyla shot him a knowing smile as she picked up a pair of bantos rods from the same seat that John had just vacated. "If I recall correctly, Colonel, you weren't getting any, either."

John sighed. "Can we really not talk about this right now?"

"I'm sorry," she said with an exaggerated tone. "I assumed that the only reason you would be in workout clothes in the gymnasium this early in the day was if you wanted to talk."

John rolled his eyes, then started to circle around her. "Ronan ditched me on the jog this morning," he said, almost sheepishly.

"He normally outlasts you. I wonder why he would do that?" she asked with prying eyes, watching John as he got into position.

"Probably because I was starting my second tour of the city."

Teyla was getting into her stance as well, but quickly stood, lowering her arms to her side. "John, did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah, I slept fine," he said, almost in self-defense. "Now are you gonna kick my butt, or what?"

"One round, then I have a short class with some of the new transfers."

John moved his head in agreement, then took up his stance again, blocking out any sounds except for his already heavy breathing.

Teyla almost shook her head at him in disbelief that he was pushing himself so hard over some, what she well knew to be, idle gossip. Despite living here in Atlantis with them for the past four years, almost five, some of their attributes were still hard to understand. Including why men felt so invulnerable that they would push themselves until they broke, just to prove a irrelevant point.

Still, she allowed him to go ahead.

She began slow, not wanting to injure him in his already weakened condition. She concluded that he must've run over ten miles this morning, given the distance that they normally tackled. She rolled her arms, then held them defensively in front of her, waiting on him to make the first strike.

John's eyes locked onto hers, still panting from his earlier beating, and grunted, stepping forward heavily as he brought the sticks he held down towards hers. She raised her sticks, harder than she anticipated, and immediately knew that John didn't want to exercise. He truly did want another beating.

She wanted to stop, to tell him to talk this out with someone, to go back to Elizabeth, not to try and kill himself, but the steel behind his hazel eyes was clear. He wasn't going to stop. And if anyone suggested it, they were only going to get in a world of hurt.

She raised her rods again in defense as he slammed his down again, but she took advantage of the lag time and smacked one across his left calf muscle, and contentedly heard him groan. "Do you really think that this is a good idea?"

He drew back, hopping to make the pain fade, starting to reanalyze their positions. "I don't wanna talk about this," he reemphasized through gritted teeth. He crouched lower, ready to spring, as she held her rods steady in front of her.

With a huff, he launched towards her, but she recognized the juvenile maneuver and rotated swiftly on her feet, catching him around the throat, holding him as he dropped his sticks to the floor in shock. "You're losing your touch, Teyla," he said with a hint of sarcasm, trying to irritate her.

She pushed him away, releasing her grip as he rolled on the floor, landing idly on his back, panting even harder. "I don't fight with opponents who are fighting for the wrong reasons. You are not getting your butt kicked because you want the extra exertion. You feel that you should be punished."

"Since when did you become a shrink?"

She glared at him, then extended her arm to him, offering to help him up. "John, you are a wonderful husband, and you will be an excellent father. Anyone who believes otherwise can answer to me."

Accepting her hand, John had to smile at her. Of all the people that he had ever known, Teyla Emmagan was always a voice of reason. Frequently, listening to that voice had helped him avoid serious harm, or worse.

"Stop beating yourself up. Literally." With a nod to the door, and a gentle yet firm hand on his arm, she told him, "Go home. Get some rest."

He sighed, then glanced at her, rather embarrassed. "Thanks," he told her, grasping her shoulder as he stood straighter.

He was close enough to the door for it to open when Teyla called from behind him. "John?"

He turned around slowly.

She approached him, staring at him deliberately. "There was a time that the rumors seemed to be easily believable. But since then, I have gained a brother." She tilted her head towards him, and he paused, then brought his head down to touch hers, almost reluctantly. "You are family to me. No matter what people with ill will may say against you, I know you, and I trust you. And I will always support you, and Elizabeth, and however many children that you bring into this world."

He pulled his head back with a grateful, earnest smile on his face. "Thank you, Teyla." As he neared the doors again, he said, "Have I ever mentioned how much that head touch thing really annoys me?"

Teyla smiled brightly. "Get some rest, John."

He shook his head obediently and left the room.

Please R&R ... little review button makes me happy! And it makes the fic bunnies relaxed, which makes it easier to write! Questions, criticism, feedback, suggestions ... anything!