Elizabeth awoke to the sunlight shining in her eyes of the Atlantis morning. She smiled faintly, appreciating the beauty surrounding them. She looked down and realized she'd fallen asleep in Rodney's bed again. She shook her head, "one of these days Rod…we need to make this official, because I'm not comfortable sleeping here if I'm not married," she mumbled as she squeezed his hand. She loved him, and he loved her…but she'd been raised to believe one didn't move in with the man until the ring was on the finger.
She knew it was old fashioned, but they'd waited this long…it simply seemed wrong start breaking beliefs when they were so close. She rubbed his arm gently, before slipping out of the bed.
When she came out of the shower twenty minutes later she smiled to see Rodney was still fast asleep on his stomach, his short hair sticking up in every direction. Elizabeth grinned as she neared the bed. She crouched down and gently ran a hand through his silky hair, chuckling when he turned his head towards her and slowly opened his hazy blue eyes, "Hey," she whispered.
"Hey you," he replied, "Love you," he mumbled.
"I love you too. I've got a meeting in a couple hours, so how about some lunch?"
"Sounds good," he mumbled closing his eyes again.
"Don't forget honey. I love you," she pressed a kiss to his forehead, smiling at how adorable he looked half asleep.
"Won't…bye," came his half hearted response as he sank back into the bed below him. Sighing, she gently ran her hand through his irresistibly soft hair again before slipping out of the room.
"Somehow it just seems wrong that even in Atlantis I'm writing invitations to my wedding," mumbled Laura Cadman as she glared down at the simple letters asking her closest friends and family to attend her wedding. The way Carson and Laura had it figured it would be a wedding of about 25-50 guests, with Rodney as the best man and Elizabeth as the maid of honor, John was a groomsman and Teyla a bride's maid. They even had JJ and Lauryn being ring boy and flower girl.
"Hello love," Carson came into his office, smiling at his fiancée.
She grinned as she tilted her head back just in time to catch a kiss from him, "So…how goes the hunt for new quarters?"
As soon as they had hit the great city John and Rodney were off trying to find new quarters in their end of the hallway for the happy couple. John called Carson's current quarters Bachelor hall, because they were all single rooms with a bathroom. He and Rodney had both moved to the area of the city they now crowned as family arena.
"Uh…well you'll see this evening. How goes the invitations?"
"Be glad you're hunting for the living space," she mumbled miserably.
Carson chuckled and shook his head, "Trust me Laura, I am," he grinned, "So…Teyla says the priest on the mainland is more than happy to do the ceremony whenever we're ready."
"Great…any preference?" she asked.
Oh no," grinned Carson, "it's ye're turn, I chose the date for our wedding on earth. This is your decision."
"Okay, Carson focus here for a moment…I was never….nor will I ever be one of those girls that had my wedding planned by the time I was ten. Never gonna happen…I would have been happy running off to Vegas to get hitched," she screeched.
"Sweetheart, first off…you may have been happy with a Vegas wedding…but I wouldn't have been…and I'm positive our parents wouldn't have either. Laura, I'm not marrying you because you had it all planned out, I'm not one of those guys that ever wanted a girl who had it all planned out. Takes it away from the excitement," grinned Carson, "Ye pick a date for the Athosian wedding sometime in the next two and a half months and we'll work together to throw this little party together for July."
"I just wanna marry you…is that so wrong? I don't wanna go through all this," she pouted.
Carson chuckled as he hugged her, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "Tell ye what, I won't even make ye change we're name if ye don't want to," he grinned, "Don't worry love, everything will fall into place.
Atlantis slept peacefully hours later, no one expecting the youngest member of the expedition to suddenly wake everyone up. Rodney was sound asleep on the couch, a place he'd recently taken up in his room when Elizabeth had fallen asleep in his bed the last two nights. They'd gone back to their late night discussions, then Elizabeth would fall asleep at some point curled in his bed…respecting her privacy and decision to wait he always turned to the couch, it wasn't the most comfortable place…but it was his decision.
His eyes snapped open suddenly, he looked around suddenly. Two things had changed him perhaps the most; he had an instinct now that he hadn't had back on earth. He could sense things; Elizabeth called it his sixth sense. He always sensed if something was wrong with Lauryn or if something bad was going to happen on a mission. He awoke at the instant sound of a whine from Lauryn.
He waited for a moment, trying to figure out what had suddenly awoken him from his deep sleep. He didn't have to wait long when he heard the moan from the other room. Instantly he was on his bare feet and padding across the living room to Lauryn's small bedroom. He walked over to the crib and peered in side.
Lauryn slept on her side, a grimace gracing her face as she kicked her feet, her hands moving as she tried to fend someone or something off. Her hair was damp with sweat; worry creasing his own features he reached out and pressed his hand against her forehead. He was stunned when he pulled his hand away from the heat radiating from the small child.
"Lauryn?" he asked gently. Two hazy blue eyes gazed up at him and suddenly her lower lip began to tremble, "hey baby, what's got you in such an uproar?" he asked reaching into the crib and lifting her into his arms.
She instantly attached herself to him, continuing to moan and whimper. Rodney sighed; she rarely got sick, this wasn't normal. He gently rubbed her back and slipped back into the main room of their quarters. He looked around for his ear piece, unable to find it; he gave up and headed out of the quarters, heading down the hallway to the bedroom Carson had found a day earlier. He quickly knocked on the door.
Carson cracked an eye open to the sound of pounding against the door, his arms instantly tightened around the figure lying in the bed next to him. "What the bloody hell," he mumbled as he let her go and stumbled over to the door seconds later.
The door 'whooshed' open, to reveal Rodney standing their clutching a very ill looking Lauryn. She turned her sweaty face to look at her Uncle Carson, lower lip trembling. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I don't know; I woke up to hear her moaning she's running a pretty high fever. It's not normal for her to get sick…so I brought her here, I'm sorry," Rodney was at a loss for what to do at this point.
"Aye…give me a moment," slipping back into the darkness of his own quarters, Carson grabbed a pair of sweats off the nearby chair and pulled them on, he looked around for something to pull over his college t-shirt but decided it wasn't important.
"Carson?" Laura called softly from the bed.
"Shh, I'll be back later love, go back to sleep," he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek before disappearing back out of the room.
The two men slipped into the infirmary a few minutes later, Carson took her quickly and began to run the standard tests he ran for all his patients. Checking her heart rate, BP, temperature and shook his head, "she's got a fever of 101.2…it's high even for her, her heart rate is elevated as is her BP, but it's my guess she may have been having a nightmare. Her lungs are clear; everything else sounds clear as well."
"What should I do?"
"It's possible this is just the beginning of a wee cold…it's been going around, she's just like most humans, she's going to catch colds and such. I can take some blood from her if you'd like run a few more tests…not sure if it would give you anymore than what I just told you."
"What do you suggest?"
Carson shrugged as he removed his stethoscope from his neck and set it on his desk. He leaned over the little girl and looked her in the eyes, "I think as the father it's up to you. My best advice is to take her back to your room and let her sleep with you…she sleeps better with you anyway. If she still feels warm by tomorrow afternoon bring her back in here and I'll take some blood and a few cultures…I don't think it's anything though."
"If you're sure," Rodney nodded as he reached out and lifted her back into his arms. Neither man missed how she put her head against his shoulder in exhaustion as though she were trying to hold up the world on her little shoulders.
"I'm sure…come lad, back to sleep," Carson said softly.
"Sorry to wake you for anythin'," Rodney whispered as they made their way back to their quarters.
"No, don't worry about it," Carson replied as he ran his hand through the girl's damp curls, "feel better lamb," he murmured.
Slipping back into his room, Rodney lay Lauryn down on the bed by Elizabeth, he then stripped off his shoes and curled up down beside her, placing the girl directly between her parents. She turned back to him and began to whimper slightly.
Sighing Rodney continued to run a hand through her sweaty hair, trying to ignore the fever radiating off her tiny body. He pressed a kiss against her smooth forehead and smiled sadly. Pulling her closer into his arms he gently began to sing softly to her.
Elizabeth turned over and noticed Rodney gently trying to sing a fussy Lauryn back to sleep, "everythin' okay?" she slurred as she moved closer to the couple.
"She's got a fever…Carson thinks she got the cold that's been going around…but I don't know," Rodney whispered.
"What else did he say?"
"If her fever isn't down by lunch tomorrow I should bring her back in for another check up."
"She's probably fine Rod," Elizabeth whispered gently as she began to rub the girl's stomach in hopes to calm the whining toddler.
"Yeah…probably," he leaned down, his lips against Lauryn's forehead again and closed his eyes, taking in the smell of the shampoo Elizabeth loved to use on her. "I love you," he whispered to the haze filled blue eyes.
By mid afternoon of the next day Rodney was one hundred percent positive that primal infant instincts kicked in for children of all ages when ill. Lauryn's normal speaking ability seemed lost as she cried and whined through most of the day no matter who held her or soothed her.
Rodney looked at Carson from across their usual lunch table, his eyes begging the physician for some help as to why his little angel was suddenly feeling so terrible.
"I'll get some blood and a few cultures, but I didn't see anything' last night."
"Well I think her fever's higher and I'm pretty sure she's not faking it," stated Rodney.
Carson nodded; he understood his friend's worry. Shortly after lunch they herded the small toddler up to the infirmary and began running a full battery of tests. "I'll keep her here for observation, why don't you go find Elizabeth…hopefully when you come back I'll have something."
"Okay…" Rodney nodded and hurried out of the infirmary.
Carson sighed and looked down at his surrogate niece, "what ails ye my love?"
He'd barely gotten the sentence out of his mouth when one of the blood analysis machines from the ancients beeped. He looked over at it and felt his heart drop to his stomach. "This can't be right," he whispered as he began pressing buttons to retest the blood.
He ran the tests five more times, each time the same results showed up. His eyes moved to their little angel where he met her beautiful blue eyes, "oh Lauryn…you can't do this to your daddy…it'll kill him," Carson whispered.
As if she completely understood she slowly nodded her head and lifted her arms out to Carson. He instantly held her as she began to cry in his arms. Carson felt his own eyes beginning to water. He wished he could find strength but suddenly he wasn't sure if any of them would be able to find strength with this little one's problem.
He'd called a conference, Caldwell, Elizabeth, John, Ronan, Teyla, Laura, Rodney, Daniel, Sam and Heightmeyer were all surrounding the table. Carson's eyes moved to Daniel and Sam, they'd come with them after the trip home to Earth, they were supposed to be around for the next three months then head back home.
Taking a deep breath he looked at the sick toddler who was playing weakly with Rodney's watch as she curled in his lap. He'd given her something for pain to help calm her down, but that didn't stop the fear he felt every time he turned his gaze to her.
"So what's wrong?" John finally managed.
"Well…I ran the blood tests several times…and the results were conclusive. Lauryn's producing too many white blood cells…they're also called Solider cells…anyway the abnormal growth is causing crowding in her red blood cells and platelets…" he stopped and looked down…how do you tell a parent their child is dying.
"Wait a minute…" Heightmeyer spoke up, just before the light bulb clicked over Rodney's own head.
"Are you saying that Lauryn has leukemia?" Rodney spoke. He waited, dreading the head nod he knew was coming. Carson didn't let him down, seconds later Carson simply nodded his head sadly. Rodney felt his heart quicken, his stomach began to revolt rising to his throat and his eyes moved down to his sick little girl. She looked up at him with tired eyes. "Oh…" he felt tears begin to fill his eyes, he couldn't cry, he wouldn't cry.
"How is that possible…it's a human disease," Caldwell spoke up in confusion, his eyes on Rodney the entire time as the scientist continued to just watch his little girl.
"She has human DNA, and we're assuming that cancer is a human disease…anyone can have abnormal growth in their body. Those affected by the radiation of the Genii home world had abnormal growths."
"What are you going to do?" Elizabeth managed to pull the words from her suddenly tight chest as she gripped Rodney's forearm.
"We're going to treat her…we're not sure what type she has, most likely it's Acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL, it's common among children between two and five…it's also one of the most successfully treatable cancers out there. We'll give her radiation, chemo and as a last resort we'll try a bone marrow. Rodney, it's very possible she could pull out of this just fine…I just want you to be prepared."
"Prepared for what?" Rodney asked suddenly looking up at his best friend, "my daughter is dying!" he finally snapped and felt the tears begin to make their way down his cheeks, his eyes riveting on his daughter again.
"Why don't we leave for a few minutes," John whispered gently as he looked at Teyla. She nodded and helped get the other to agree to leave.
Carson looked at them for a moment before heading out of the room as well, leaving the family alone together. He stepped over to John, whose eyes were also a little glassy.
"What happens now? How can we help?" John asked.
"Be there for them; help them when or if they need someone. It's a long road they're headed down…I do believe Lauryn will live…she's a strong wee one, but they need as much rest as she will. I think perhaps, John, it would be best if Rodney took time from the team…Lauryn is going to need him and Rodney won't be much good if he worries about his daughter while he's out in the field. Teyla…perhaps you could help Elizabeth for awhile when you're not off world."
"Daniel and I would be more than willing to go off world for awhile to replace Rodney and Teyla," Sam offered.
John glanced over at Teyla, "I wish to help Elizabeth and Rodney as much as I can, but if you would prefer I remain on the team I certainly will," she stated.
"Could Colonel Carter help Elizabeth with running the city…I don't think Liz will need a lot of help, but I'm also sure that we need Teyla to continue coming with us, she knows most of the people we're visiting."
"I'm fine with that as well," Sam replied softly, she wanted to help.
"As long as they have help, aye that's fine."
Rodney curled his arms around his daughter, as he felt the tears coming fast, he was suddenly thankful of the privacy. Elizabeth leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and wrapped an arm around Lauryn, "We'll get through this, just like everything else," she whimpered softly as she allowed her own tears to begin falling down her cheeks.
"We should contact Farha," murmured Rodney as he began to rock his daughter gently.
"I'll do that, remember Rod, we're in this together…she's my daughter too," whispered Elizabeth.
Rodney smiled softly when Lauryn reached out for Elizabeth, "I doubt she'd let me forget," he rasped as he gently rubbed her back.
The door hissed open, and Carson stepped back in, looking at a complete loss for words, "I am so…sorry," he managed as he came over and knelt down beside the parents and his niece.
"So what happens now?" Rodney asked.
"She's going to have it rough for the next few days; I'm going to take some bone marrow, which is a very painful process as well as a spinal tap. I want to make positive on the diagnosis first. Then we'll begin the treatment. What we're looking to achieve is remission. Remission is a period in which the leukemia cells are destroyed replaced with healthy cells. It is done with high doses of powerful drugs given over 7 to 10 days. Then it takes several weeks for your body to start growing new blood cells. I'll keep Lauryn in the isolation room for the week, only you or Elizabeth will be allowed to stay with her…her immune system will be highly compromised at this time because she won't have the white cells to destroy any viruses she may come in contact with. We'll continue to do this for several weeks, hopefully in a month we'll be able to bring down the dosage and her body can start to regenerate her cells. She'll continue smaller doses for the next two or three years to keep the cells from returning. Rodney, Liz, the type of cancer she has, has the highest survival rate of all cancers. She's strong and was healthy before this. It's going to be a long road, but I think we can do this, we caught it early from the looks of it."
"All right then, when do we start?"
"We'll start the tests this afternoon…from there we're in it for the long haul. Daniel is temporarily going to take your position on the off world team, it wouldn't be the best idea to have you come from off world with any type of cotangent and risk her health."
"Right…okay," Rodney said nodding.
"I understand this is a lot to take in Rodney, so if ye need me to ever slow down, or ye need a break just ask…we're all in this for her," Carson offered.
"O…okay," he replied gently.
"Good man, come lad, let's get her to the infirmary and ready."
"I'll come with you," Elizabeth said standing.
"Okay hold the base of her neck and back, gently lad, don't want to hurt her, and right here under he knees. She's going to cry…it will hurt, I'm sorry lad," Carson whispered.
Rodney shook his head as he gently leaned down, putting his face in front of his daughter's. He wasn't prepared for the first cry in pain, as the child's face broke down and she began to try and fidget away from the large needle Carson was now trying to stick in her back.
Elizabeth reached out and gently began to caress Lauryn's head as the toddler continued to sniffle and whimper, "Its okay lass, its okay to cry," Carson whispered.
The needle slipped in further and she let out another cry of agony as she looked up at her daddy, "Daddy!" she cried, "Pwease," she cried.
"I know sweetie, I know, Dr. Carson is almost over," he whispered as he pressed his lips to her head as she continued to sob.
"Huwts!" the toddler cried out again.
"We know baby, we know," cooed Elizabeth gently as she and Rodney continued to hold their daughter still.
"Almost finished Lauryn, I promise lamb," he whimpered himself, tears filling his own eyes.
"Daddy," she whimpered again reaching a tiny free hand out, she grasped Rodney's forearm and he crumbled.
"I know honey, I know, I'm so sorry angel," he whispered through the haze of tears covering his face.
"There we go," Carson slowly withdrew the needle and looked at the parents, "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"We understand Carson," Elizabeth offered.
"She shouldn't be moved…but if you wish to hold her…be gentle," Carson offered.
Rodney nodded and moved his daughter, holding her like he had when she was just a little baby, cradling the crying toddler in his arms and rocking her back and forth gently, "Its okay, daddy's here now. I'm sorry baby…he had to do it, I know," he whispered.
Laura leaned against the door frame, watching her future husband slaving away in front of her computer. It didn't seem right anymore to want to plan her wedding. Not when they were all suddenly fighting for Lauryn's little life. John had gone to see Farha, maybe bring her back and see if there was anything they could do.
She smiled halfheartedly at the sight of Carson fast asleep, leaning on his hand, eyes closed. He looked semi peaceful, but she knew the truth. She'd been around him for the past few days since he'd learned about the leukemia. He was having just as hard a time with it as Elizabeth and Rodney were having.
She moved from the doorway to the isolation behind her. Elizabeth and Lauryn lay inside. Elizabeth slept soundly, holding her daughter tightly to her chest as though to protect her from the world. Rodney stood solemnly in front of the door, look lost and tired.
She reached out and gently squeezed his shoulder. She smiled as Rodney reached back, without looking, and grasped her hand in return. Laura came up to his side, watching the two sleep inside the room, "how ya holdin' up?" Laura asked softly.
"I've been better," he admitted looking at her.
"Have you eaten anything today?"
"Uh…" he paused, thinking about the past twenty-four hours…everything was beginning to meld together, "I had breakfast…and I think I had lunch…but honestly I don't remember," he mumbled.
"Come on, let's go get some dinner and a cup of coffee," Laura whispered gently pulling at his bicep.
Rodney willingly allowed Laura to drag him out of the infirmary. She sat him down in the mess hall, a plate of food in front of him, "I even scrounged up some blue Jell-O for you. I know it's your favorite. How's Elizabeth?"
"She's tired…we're both tired…the testing is over, Carson is positive this was caught in time and that it'll only take a month or two to send it into remission. He's not sure, but he thinks that if they can get it into remission soon it won't be back…" Rodney shrugged.
"You know Rodney, if she has your resolve; she'll pull through this just fine."
"Yeah…probably…it's just," he stopped shaking his head, "I can't believe I'm really about to tell you this…but I can't imagine my life without her, or Elizabeth anymore. I can't imagine Atlantis like it was before you ever got here. It's like we weren't whole until you and Lauryn came along…and now suddenly we're more a family than ever."
"Carson says the same thing," smiled Laura.
"He's a smart man…so soon-to-be Lieutenant Beckett…how are you holding up?"
Laura shrugged, "I'm okay-I'd be better if Carson would just let us tie the knot and get it over with. I don't want a big wedding…I don't really want a small wedding. I want him me, maybe you and Liz and a priest…that's it."
"And Carson wants friends and family?"
"Exactly…he doesn't see what I see; if we have this wedding back on Earth like he wants our parents will ask us questions, we can't tell them anything but we met through work. I don't want that…don't get me wrong I love my folks and they deserve to know, but they'd be happy just to know I'm happy, they don't need this wedding."
"You know usually it's the guy with this problem, not the girl," chuckled Rodney.
"Yeah I wear the pants in this relationship…didn't you notice…he wears the kilt," she mumbled.
Rodney's chuckle turned into a full strong laugh as he grinned at her, "you'll be fine…but seriously Laura, you need to talk to him, I'm not the most perceptive man on the face of this planet…or Earth even, but you know me well enough to know that I do know Carson. If you let him know you just want one wedding and you want it here…then he'll listen."
"But he should be happy too," Laura whined.
"He will be, trust me, Carson will be the most happy just married to you."
"I love him," she whispered smiling.
"I know…and God only knows why he loves you right back."
Laura grinned and reached out, squeezing the scientist's hand, "you're okay McKay."
Shrugging Rodney returned the grin and the squeeze, "Yeah…you're not so bad yourself Cadman, welcome to our family."
"If you could be anywhere…right now, here would you be?" Rodney asked quietly from Lauryn's side. He held one of her small hands in his.
Elizabeth sat on the child's other side, smiling softly as she held the other hand, "at home…with you and Lauryn…probably married…with my dog," she grinned.
"Dog? Really?"
"Yeah," she said smiling, "Sage," she replied.
"Cute…I always saw you as a cat person," he pointed out.
"Nope…well I mean I like cats but…dogs are fun."
"Only if they actually stay in the house," murmured Rodney.
"You'd deprive our children of a dog?" Elizabeth said rising an eyebrow.
"You wanna deprive them of a cat? They're loyal creatures," Rodney argued.
"So are dogs, and they're cuddly, cats don't like to cuddle, they like to be worshipped."
Rodney chuckled and shook his head, "dogs are simpletons, you throw a ball and they follow, my cat didn't have to crap in someone's yard, he had a box."
"Hey, Sage was as smart as your cat was."
"Uh huh," he mumbled. "We're getting a cat," stated Rodney.
"No way," Elizabeth smiled, "our kids should grow up with a dog!"
"Dogs would be so hard to care for here on Atlantis, at least with the cat it can survive in a small space, dogs have to be walked."
"Okay…hang on a second, you realize we're arguing about our kids and we only have one?" she smiled.
"Tell you what we'll get one of each," Rodney settled grinning.
"Oh…I think I can live with that… how many kids?"
"Three, of course."
"That'd be a handful…Lauryn isn't even biologically mine and she's a handful."
Elizabeth grinned and quickly returned, "Well one of them will eventually turn out to be more like me."
"Two boys and another girl?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "honey I'm afraid that's about as much my decision as it is yours. Unless you've got your little soldiers trained…I'll be happy as long as their healthy and happy."
Rodney nodded, "Yeah, guess so…wouldn't mind a couple boys and another little girl."
"William," Elizabeth spoke suddenly, "I've always wanted to name my eldest son William Henry."
"What about Keith, I think Keith Patrick is a great name….or Lucas Keith."
Elizabeth raised an eye brow as a smirk made its way across her face, "you've really thought about this?"
"Sure why not, I want kids as much as the next person."
"Okay…our first son we'll name Lucas Keith, I don't like the name Patrick…our second we'll name William Henry."
"And our girl?"
"Obviously the baby of the family," grinned Elizabeth, "Katherine."
"Elizabeth Katherine, we'll call her Bethie for short," grinned Rodney.
"You're joking right, you can't call her Bethie, she'd hate it."
"Just because you hate being called Bethie doesn't mean she will," Rodney returned.
"Yes it does."
"Then we keep Keith Patrick."
"Fine…we'll call her Bethie," mumbled Elizabeth as Rodney's face split into a prideful grin. "Should I start preparing for these children or do I have a few years?"
"I'd like to wait personally…we're still young," grinned Rodney.
"Not that young…and no more radiation…it'll be the end of any McKay juniors."
"I love you," Rodney whispered.
Elizabeth smiled softly and nodded, "love you too."
A week soon turned into a month, Lauryn's treatment was progressing beautifully. Carson was cautious, careful and precise, making sure she got everything she needed to remain one step ahead of the disease. He was also mindful of Elizabeth and Rodney, when to get them out of the room and when to have them in the room.
Farha had graciously donated some of her bone marrow for her little sister. Carson had every intention of transplanting the bone marrow to Lauryn when she got a little stronger. However, he also had a good feeling that everything would be fine.
Rodney sat quietly in his lab; he hadn't been in the labs much since Lauryn's diagnosis six weeks ago. He'd handed all responsibility over to Radek and Sam for further duration-it had been a long six weeks. He rubbed his forehead wearily as he stared down at the little black box that sat inches away.
"Hey…what are you doing down here?" John's voice broke him from his reverie. He glanced up at his brother, and shrugged.
"Thinkin'," he whispered.
"You okay?" John asked as he took a seat beside his brother.
"Yes and No…it's been a bad day," whispered Rodney as he slowly opened the box.
"Been thinking about proposing again?" John eyed his brother carefully, gauging his emotions and thoughts.
"This whole thing with the Leukemia…and such…it's really got me thinking…she wants three kids," Rodney smiled suddenly at the thought of having three beautiful kids with her, "I told her I wasn't ready yet…"
"And suddenly you're thinking maybe you are ready?" John guessed.
"Yeah…I'm thinking I am," Rodney replied nodding, "Truthfully John? I've been thinking a lot about mortality…lets face it, we've only got so many lives before we die…I want to spend however many I have left with Elizabeth…"
"Any ideas on when or how you want to do it?"
"Carson and Laura are getting married on the mainland in about two weeks…they're heading back to earth in another month or so to get married…I thought maybe I could propose to Elizabeth shortly before we headed back to earth…"
"Sounds like a good idea to me. You know Rodney, Lauryn is doing beautifully. I just spoke to Carson, he's fairly sure a little longer on this regiment and the cancer will be in remission…"
"Yeah…we beat it…that's what he told me, we've got this thing beat."
"You sure you're okay?"
"When Liz's mom died, she didn't feel anything, she wasn't scared she didn't really cry until the funeral was finally over. I just remember her being in an almost trance like state through the whole thing…then suddenly she snapped and started to cry."
John didn't speak, he knew Rodney needed to talk, and he was fairly sure what Rodney would say, so he just watched his brother for a moment, eyeing the scientist with compassion in his eyes.
"We've spent countless nights talking, either over Lauryn's bed or in our own bed…she's cried, sobbed, yelled and screamed. She's let out all the feelings she pent up. I haven't cried….well not really…I haven't felt anything. I've been there, holding hands, taking softly and just supporting them…I think if I start crying…I might lose it," Rodney finally managed to look at his brother.
"It's okay to lose it, you've been through the ringer, come here buddy," reaching out John pulled his brother into his arms. "I'm here Rod, you're not alone." Seconds later John was clutching his brother as Rodney finally let go of all his pent up fears and anger. He murmured softly to his brother, like their father had all those years ago after Rodney's nightmares. He'd be there for as long as Rodney needed him. That's what brothers and friends were for.
Elizabeth sat behind Lauryn on the bed; the little girl giggled as she colored another one of the books Carson had gotten for her while on Earth. Carson had smiled, "The cancer looks to be in remission," he'd explained earlier. Lauryn had survived chemo therapy, was doing much better, and had all her hair; it truly looked like she would be okay.
"Here's some more vitamins and medicine to help keep her healthy…obviously every month she'll need a treatment to keep it at bay…this will continue for about five months."
"When can she come back to our rooms?" Elizabeth asked.
"Tomorrow, maybe the day after; she's done very well, and she's been very brave," Carson whispered pressing a kiss to Lauryn's forehead.
Elizabeth looked up at the doorway to see Rodney and John walking in. She didn't comment that Rodney looked like he'd just gone through the ringer and that his normally beautiful blue eyes were blood shot and swollen, that his face was paler than usual. She just offered him a warm smile as he moved over to the bed and pressed a kiss to her lips. "We'll leave you two alone, come on Carson…we've got some plans to make," John offered his other best friend.
"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked after the two men were gone.
"I'll be fine…how's our girl?" Rodney asked as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
"She's doing well…Carson says she can come home soon…and she's done with the weekly chemo."
"Excellent…it was harder than I could have imagined to sit here watching her suffer in this bed, to know she was fighting for her life."
"Can I tell you something?" Elizabeth asked suddenly.
"Of course," Rodney replied with a nod.
"I've never love anyone or anything as much as I love you and Lauryn…I didn't think it was possible to love anyone as though they were your own child. Lauryn being sick made me realize that even if I didn't give birth to her she's my little baby girl and I adore her…she is my daughter in every sense of the word…Rodney, I'd like to sign those papers too."
Rodney grinned, "I think we can take care of that, I love you Elizabeth," he whispered leaning forward pressing a kiss to her lips.
Lauryn looked up at them with wide eyes and grinned, starting to clap loudly, causing both parents to pull apart with a chuckle, "we love you too angel," Rodney whispered as they both leaned down and pressed kisses to her cheeks, causing her to let out a squeal of joy.