Here we go, not a huge amount happens here but it's one of those necessary chapters...
Happy Reading! :)
After a long few hours of relaxing and 'making out' on the bed, we decided to get some lunch after a not so subtle rumble from John's stomach. Once again, he wore his thick knitted cardigan, and it got quite a few looks but John seemed to just ignore them.
After a quite bland chicken soup, John looked up at me, "People think I'm sick." He stated and I chuckled, I could quite easily see why they'd come to that reasoning. John had almost handed over his team to Lorne and was dressing in civilian clothing whenever he could, as well as spending a whole lot of time with me, a doctor. "Aye, Rodney thought that too until you told him."
The conversation went into silence after that but it wasn't at all awkward, I think we both needed time to be with our own thoughts. The silence, however, was broken when a marine came over. A small blonde woman with a kind face,
"Sir, I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you okay?" John smiled almost amusedly, "I'm fine Corporal, don't let on but I thought I'd give Major Lorne a run for his money." He winked at her and I had to cover my mouth inconspicuously to stop from laughing.
The corporal nodded and went back to her table, almost instantly gossiping the news to the table. John and I shared a smile as we left the mess hall. We wandered down the corridors and as we did, we had some light conversation until John furrowed his brow.
"I think I need to have a conversation. I think it's about time I actually give Lorne the reigns, I can't keep him guessing."
"Is that reigns going to cover the pregnancy or are you thinking more permanent? You don't sound so sure." John sighed and his shoulders slumped, "I don't know. I mean, I love going off-world but I also know the dangers that come with doing that." We walked on to my office in the infirmary, fed up of quarters.
"In a perfect world I'd make Lorne a partner of sorts, so we could share the job instead of me being in charge all the time. My parents were never around for me as a kid, I was practically raised by my nanny and I don't want that for our kid. I want to be around but I don't want to give up my career, I love my job, I know it's dangerous but..."
I shrug, "I know this is probably wrong of me, makes me a bad future father but I think you should be just a little bit selfish. The fact is, if you're off-world I'll be here and vice-versa, so he or she won't be raised by wolves. However, you do need to consider the dangers, maybe chose missions more carefully so you don't end up in the infirmary every other week."
John sighed but he understood what I was saying, he'd have to slow down but he didn't have to stop altogether.
"How are you real?" He asked almost incredulously and I snorted with laughter, unable to help myself even when Colonel Carter came in. "Hi guys, I miss something?"
"Nah, nothing ma'am, in fact I was planning on coming and talking to you..." She raised an eyebrow and sat down next to him, "Yeah, I was hoping to hand over some of my duties to Lorne..." She nodded, which meant that she approved so far, "Which means I need to let him know what's actually going on, I think a lot of people think I'm dying or something right now."
She smiled, knowingly. "BUT, I'm not completely giving up, I'll still do my nightly patrol and some occasional paperwork and stuff like that, maybe even a few visits to the allies but for the sake of Carson and our child...No more suicide missions."
"You know what; I think that's probably the most mature speech you've ever made. Of course, I completely agree with you and I would have ordered the same thing if you hadn't have come to that conclusion already."
I had a stupid grin on my face which made her roll her eyes a little, "So when's the big speech Colonel, I know Major Lorne and his team are on base, you may want to do it soon."
"Yeah, mind if I borrow the conference room this afternoon, well more like this evening, I don't want to do this in working hours." She nodded, "It's free from sixteen hundred until tomorrow afternoon." She got up and left the office politely.
John looked over at me and actually looked relaxed for one, obviously glad that this was no longer going to be a struggling secret. "Tell you what, I'll let you get on with your work, I'll pester Rodney and whoever else I need to be at that meeting. I don't want to drag it out any longer than necessary."
He stood up and I crossed the room to meet him, snagging a quick kiss from him, "Love you," I cooed, "Now get out o' here, I'm a busy man." I gently shoved him out of the room.
So, there we go...John's coming clean about his suspicious behaviour! What will people make of it?