Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommy's out there.

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Jennifer cracked one eye open, and through the haze of sleep that still called she glanced at the clock on the nightstand.

The luminescent red numbers read 7:45.

She sighed contentedly and snuggled her face into her pillow. Jennifer could feel her conscious mind being overcome by the sandman, and she did not resist. In fact she relished the fact that since her thirty-fifth week of pregnancy she'd been able to sleep in until eight thirty.

At least that had been the way of things until Teylanna had been born. Then she'd be awake like clockwork every couple of hours…

Jennifer's eyes shot open and she looked at the clock again to verify that she'd been asleep for almost nine straight hours, then tried to quell the panic that had taken up siege around her heart.

She sat up in the bed and reached over to wake Rodney, but his side of the bed was empty. The panic intensified at Rodney's absence. What if he'd been called away overnight to deal with some emergency and Teylanna had…

Jennifer jumped out of bed and fought back the terror induced tears in her eyes. The occupational hazard of automatically thinking the worst asserted itself and her medically trained mind ran over the worst case scenario: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

She walked swiftly to the always opened bedroom door, her loose fitting night gown billowing behind her, and all but ran through it and into Teylanna's room, which was adjacent to hers.

The sight that greeted her took her breath away, for more than one reason. First, seeing that her daughter was fine released the vise that had been crushing her heart to the point where it swelled in her chest, allowing no room for her lungs to function properly. She knew it wasn't possible, of course, but that was just the way it felt.

And second, seeing the man to whom she'd decided to give her life gently rocking their little girl in his arms was breathtaking in itself. She willed her heart to stop racing as she watched Rodney slowly rock back and forth in the rocking chair that Woolsey had given them as a present for Teylanna.

Rodney had the little girl in his arms, cuddled up in the blanket that Jeannie had sent that had been embroidered with as many math and physics equations that she could fit on it, with his head tilted downwards so that he could watch her. The look of pure love on Rodney's face warmed Jennifer to the core. And to think that a year ago she'd been worried sick about how he'd take the news about being a father.

Jennifer quietly tiptoed towards Rodney and Teylanna as to not wake the slumbering infant. She'd caught Rodney unawares as well it seemed, for he started when Jennifer placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," whispered Jennifer as she knelt down next to the rocking chair. She gazed upon her daughter and gently ran her index finer along Teylanna's hand and smiled lovingly when the little fingers wiggled in response. She turned to look at Rodney. "When I realized I'd slept through the night I was worried that something was wrong."

A look of regret flashed across Rodney's face. "I'm sorry…I just got up with her so that you could..." He shook his head and then added, "Happy Mother's Day."

Jennifer's left hand slipped behind Rodney's head and she gently pulled him towards her enough so that she could kiss him. "Thank you," she said when she'd pulled away from him.

"You're welcome," replied Rodney as he motioned with his head towards the kitchen. "Because I burned the toast, ruined the eggs and forgot to turn on the coffee pot. So much for breakfast in bed for Mommy. Not much of a gift."

Jennifer smiled as she gently raked her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. "All the gift I need is right here, Rodney." She rested her head against his shoulder and looked down just in time to watch two big, beautiful and blue eyes open to look at her. "Thank you."