Skipped ahead a bit in this one. Still don't own Stargate Atlantis or its characters.

-------------------------------------------------

Rodney placed a small glass of milk on his tray and started heading towards what had become 'their' table. Jennifer and Teylanna would almost be finished their breakfast by now, another emergency in the lab having kept him from joining them as he always did.

When he finally reached their table he sat down next to five year old Teylanna and carefully placed his breakfast tray on the table. He leaned over and kissed his daughter on top of her blond head, then looked across the table and saw that Jennifer was amused about something, and from the small smile that graced her perfect lips and the way she was looking from him to Teylanna, he knew it boded ill for him.

"What?" he demanded with a mixture of dread and resignation.

Jennifer seemed to focus on him and said a little too quickly, "Nothing." She looked down to Teylanna's tray and then to her daughter and said in her motherly voice, "Eat your eggs, please."

Rodney glanced over to the little girl next to him, and after she shoveled a particularly large spoonful of scrambled eggs into her mouth he leaned down closer to her and whispered loud enough for Jennifer to hear, "Do you know why Mommy is so happy?"

Two small yet brilliant blue eyes looked up at him. "No, Daddy."

Rodney sighed and looked back to Jennifer, whose shoulders were now bobbing up and down in barely contained laughter.

Rodney's shoulders slumped down and he said, "Okay look, something is up and I want to know what."

Jennifer smiled as she lifted her own glass of milk up to her lips, and her eyes danced as they looked at him over its edge. She placed the glass on the table and noticed that Teylanna had finally finished her breakfast.

Jennifer dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin and cleared her throat. "Teylanna, honey, why don't you tell your father what you told me a few minutes ago."

Rodney took a bite of his toast and turned to look at his little girl as she jumped up and down in her chair excitedly. "Daddy, Daddy!" she exclaimed loudly. "I know who I'm going to marry!"

The toast that he had been trying to swallow became stuck in his throat, and he wasn't sure if that was why his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets or the fact that his five year old daughter had just said she was going to get married.

It didn't help that the woman he loved, who just so happened to be a doctor, simply sat there and looked at him with a huge grin on her face as he started to choke. He reached down and grabbed his milk in his hand and managed to bring it up to his lips without spilling any, and then took in enough to wash the dastardly piece of toast the rest of the way down to his stomach.

"Really?" he managed to say without letting any of the shock, panic and confusion he was feeling into his voice. As he brought the glass back up to his mouth he asked, "And who would that be?"

He knew it had been a mistake to ask the question as soon as he saw Jennifer's eyes light up with laughter. What he didn't realize was that it had been an even bigger mistake to ask that question and then take a big gulp of drink, for when she proudly exclaimed, "Uncle John!" the milk that had barely started to roll past his tonsils immediately evacuated his mouth in a fine spray out onto the table.

"What?" he demanded as he turned towards Teylanna, completely ignorant of the trail of milk winding its way down his chin.

Teylanna smiled at him and repeated, "Uncle John."

Rodney's mouth opened and closed several times without making a sound. Before he knew it, Teylanna was skipping her way through the Mess and Jennifer, her amusement having turned to compassion and concern, was standing next to him with her hand suddenly rubbing his shoulder.

"She's five, Rodney," she said with a smile. She reached down to the table and picked up a napkin, then dutifully wiped the milk from his chin. "It doesn't mean anything." He managed to nod and Jennifer leaned down and kissed his temple. "I'm not a psychiatrist, but if you need someone to talk to, my door is always open." She leaned down another few inches and placed a sweet kiss upon his lips. "I'll see you at lunch. I love you."

"Love you, too," Rodney managed to mumble, and nearly cringed when Jennifer softly laughed at him.

It was nearly ten minutes before he had the stomach to look at his breakfast again, and even then he so didn't have the stomach for it.